DESCRIPTIONS OF THE PLATES BONE IMPLEMENTS, ETC. 



B. BONE IMPLEMENTS, &c. 



B. PLATE I. 



The specimens figured in this Plate belong to the Category of Arms, or, perhaps, 

 of Fishing-Implements, made of Reindeer's Horn. Whether considering them as 

 Arrow-heads, or as Harpoon-heads, we see that all, both large and small, have on 

 each side recurved points, hooks, or barbs, cut out of the sides, and sometimes 

 opposite, sometimes alternate. The upper end, more or less elongated and pointed, 

 is sometimes rounded and nearly smooth. One would scarcely think that weapons 

 of so little sharpness could pierce the flesh of animals, even that of fishes, had we 

 not known that the Esquimaux of our own day (particularly those of the more 

 northern regions, who have not yet been able to get any iron) are obliged to make 

 their tools and weapons of bits of wild Reindeer Horn, and that these are not 

 the less formidable to wild beasts *. 



All the "Weapon-heads are tapered, and even pointed, at the lower end or butt, 

 without doubt to fit into a socket in the end of a wooden shaft. Two or three lines 

 distant above this tapering butt-end there are nearly always two little eminences 

 or knobs, probably to aid in fixing the implement in the shaft, unless, indeed, it 

 was for the fastening of a line for attachment t- 



* In his ' Polar Regions ' (8vo. Edinburgh, 1861) Sir J. Richardson remarks, p. 308, " A strong arm is 

 required, as well as much address to bend an Eskimo bow. In the hands of a native hunter, it will 

 propel an arrow with sufficient force to pierce the heart of a Musk-ox, or break the leg of a Reindeer. Iron 

 obtained by barter, or from wrecks, is employed to point weapons, or to make flenching knives ; but among 

 the Kittegareut native copper is extensively used for the purpose, and for making ice-chisels. The more 

 northern Eskimos are compelled to resort to the antlers of the Deer for the construction of the indispensable 

 ice-chisels. Flint or chert, obtained from the Silurian limestone, is chipped to make arrowheads, pre- 

 cisely similar to the flint weapons so commonly found in the soil of various parts of Europe, and even now 

 frequently fashioned by the natives of Australia. The nature of this material has caused the form of the 

 weapons to be alike in all these distant localities." And at p. 307 he says, " Strong cord is made from 

 strips of Seal-skin hide ; and the sinews of Musk-oxen and Deer furnish bow-strings, or cord to make nets 

 or snares." 



t Sir J. Richardson states (Polar Regions, 1861, p. 309), " The harpoons and lances used in killing Whales 

 and Seals have long shafts of wood or of Narwhal's tooth ; and the barbed point is so constructed that, 

 when the blow takes effect, it is left sticking in the body of the animal, while the shaft attached to it by a 

 string is disengaged from the socket, and becomes a buoy of wood." 



C 



