NELSON] NET-MAKING IMPLEMENTS 193 



MARLINSPIKES 



Marlinspikes are used for tying and slipping meshes while making 

 nets; they also serve for slipping meshes to enlarge or to reduce their 

 size when it is desired to change the uses of nets. 



Figure 21, plate lxxii, illustrates a large marlinspike, from Raz- 

 binsky. It is made from reindeer horn, tapers to a blunt end, and lias 

 the upper end forked. 



Figure 18, plate Lxxir, shows an implement, from the lower Kusko- 

 kwim, similar to the last mentioned but smaller in size. A curved mar- 

 linspike from Pastolik ^figure 17, plate lxxii) is made of ivory and is 

 oblong in cross sec- 

 tion. Another exam- 

 ple, from Cape Nome 



(figure 19, plate ■ FlG.r>6-I\orvinarlinsi.ike(i). 



Lxxii), has an ivory 



point fitted into a slot in a wooden handle and held in place by a 



rawhide lashing. 



Figure IG, plate lxxii, represents a marlinspike from Norton sound; 

 it is made of ivory and is double pointed ; it is nearly plain on two 

 sides and convex on the other. A line of walrus is etched upon one 

 side, houses on another, and a conventional pattern ornaments the 

 third. 



Figure 56 shows a marlinspike used for slipping knots in large nets. 

 It is from Nunivak island and is round in shape, the handle terminat- 

 ing in a figure of the head of a murre, with the mouth, nostrils, and 

 eyes marked by incised lines. A marlinspike from Norton sound 

 (figure 57) has a bone point set in a slot in the wooden handle and held 

 in position by lashings of spruce root. The example from Cape Nome 



Fig. 57 — Marlinspike with bone point (^). 



(figure 20, plate lxxii) has a large, blunt point at one end and at the 

 other a small, spur-like point which serves for loosening knots. 



Figure 15, plate lxxii, represents a marlinspike from Kotzebue 

 sound; it is a long, slender rod of ivory, triangular in cross section, 

 having all its surfaces ornamented with etched figures of whales, wal- 

 rus, and hunting scenes. A specimen from the lower Yukon has a 

 round ivory point set in a wooden handle and held in place by a lashing 



of sinew cord. 



ri;els 



Several forms of reels are employed for holding the small cord used 

 in making nets. 



Figure 24, plate lxxii, represents one of these reels from Norton 

 sound. It is neatly groove! ; at the tips of the arms of the fork at one 

 end are two seal-heads, and the hind-flippers are at the other end; a 

 18 ETH 13 



