136 THE ESKIMO ABOUT BERING STRAIT [eth.ann. 18 



hole in the tip in which is fitted a wooden socket with an oval slot, to 

 receive the wedge-shape base of a detachable barbed point of bone or 

 deerhorn. The heads of some of these spears are shaped into roniided, 

 tapering- points, which are inserted in the ends of the wooden shafts; 

 in others the heads have deep, wedge-shape slots in which the bev- 

 eled ends of the shafts are fitted, and have a small shoulder at their 

 upper ends to prevent the lashings from slipping. In all instances the 

 heads are held firmly in position by strong lashings of braided sinevr 

 coM, which sometimes extends up the shaft in a long spiral, with from 

 one to three bands of wrapping at the upper end, inclosing the (piills 

 of feathers placed near the butt, the other ends of the feathers being 

 inserted in deep slits in the shaft, as ,are also the ends of the sinew 

 cord, to hold the wrappings in position. The ivory points for these 

 spears are from an inch to three inches in length, and have two or three 

 barbs along each side, with the points and edges formed by four beveled 

 faces, and are pierced near the base to receive a sealskin cord which 

 connects them with the hafts. When the spear is thrown, the barbed 

 point, when imbedded in the animal, is immediately detached from the 

 head of the shaft, to which it remains attached only by the sealskin 

 cord which has been wrapped around the shaft; as it unwinds the 

 shaft of the spear is drawn crosswise after the retreating animal, and 

 serves as a drag to exhaust its strength and render it more easily over- 

 taken by the hunter. The method most frequently used, however, is 

 to attach to the barbed i)oint a line about 3J feet in length, which is 

 divided at about two thirds of its length into two ends, which are 

 attached to the shaft about two feet apart, a little nearer to the head 

 than to the butt, and are then wound tightly about the shaft. Plate 

 LUX, drawn from a ])hotograph, illustrates the attitude of a St Michael 

 man casting a seal spear from a kaiak. 



Figure 2, plate liv, from Unal^klit, is made with the head, point, 

 and lashings placed upon the hafts in the usual manner, but the butt 

 is without feathering. 



Figure 4, plate liv, a typical spear of this class, from Norton 

 sound, has on the butt three feathers from a cormorant's tail, but is 

 otherwise very similar in its finish to the one just described. 



Figure 3, plate liv, from St Michael, is a spear having an ivory head 

 fitted upon the shaft by means of a slot. The barbed point is attached 

 to the shaft by a line about IC inches long, fastened just above the 

 lashing which binds the head to the shaft. 



Figure 5, plate liv, from Big lake, has an ivory head, roughly trian- 

 gular in cross section, with angles rounded and the butt cut down to 

 a smaller size and inserted in a slot on the end of the wooden shaft, 

 which is attached to the head by a rawhide lashing passed through a 

 hole in the shaft and in the adjoining part of the head. Outside of this 

 the usual sinew lashing holds the shaft firmly over the end of the head. 



Figure 6, plate liv, from Cape Vancouver, is another spear, with a 

 double-feathered butt and an ivory head carved at the end to represent 



