NELSON] FISH SPEARS 195 



about four feet iu length; it is in two sections with overlapping cutis 

 bev^eled and lield together by a lashing of twisted sinew cord. 



Another spear from the same locality (iigure 1, plate Lxvii) is sim- 

 ilar to the preceding except that it has four points instead of three 

 surrounding the central point, which are also held in position by an 

 ivory ring. The inner sides of all the points on both of these spears 

 are notched to form barbs. 



From the lower Kuskokwim northward to Kotzebue sound spears 

 used for taking salmon and whitefish have large points of bone, deer- 

 horn, or ivory, with from one to three barbs. They are pierced near the 

 butt for the attachment of a cord, and at this end are of a rounded 

 wedge shape for insertion into a slot in the end of a long wooden shaft; 

 a stout sealskin line is made fast to the point, drawn up along the 

 shaft, and terminated in a coil, which is held in the hand of the fisher- 

 man. When a fish is struck the shaft becomes detached, leaving the 

 barbed point in the fish, which is hauled ashore by aid of the line. 



The points of these spears vary considerably in character, as is shown 

 iu the examples described; they are intended for capturing large fish in 

 the streams flowing into the sea, or in the tributaries of the larger 

 rivers in the interior; but they are also sometimes used for spearing 

 white whales. 



Figure 7, plate lxviii, illustrates one of these points from ^N^orton 

 SDund; it is made of bone and has four barbs, two on each side; to 

 the hole in the butt is attached a piece of stout rawhide line. A slen- 

 der point of deerhorn, from Kowak river (figure 30, plate lxviii), has a 

 barb on each side. Another from the same locality (figure 2, plate 

 LXVIII) is a flat, slender point of bone with a single barb. A bone 

 point from Chalitmut (figure 3, plate lxviii) has a single barb and is 

 made in two pieces; the overlapping ends are riveted together and 

 wrapped with two rawhide lashings'. A short, rudely made bofie point 

 from JSTorton sound (figure 8, plate lxviii) has two barbs, one on each 

 side, and two holes near the base. Figure 4, plate lxviii, from Agiuk- 

 chugumut, and figure 29 of the same plate, from Norton sound, repre- 

 sent bone points with one barb. 



To attract pickerel and large whitefish within reach of their spears 

 while fishing through holes in the ice, the Eskimo of the lower Yukon 

 make use of the figure of a fish about six or seven inches long. They 

 have two holes pierced through the back for sinew cords, which are tied 

 together a few inches above and continue thence upward as a single 

 string. These images are well fashioned, with the eyes, gill openings, 

 scales, and lateral line indicated by etched lines. The fisherman stands 

 directly over the liole and dangles the image a few feet below the sur- 

 face of the water, holding the spear in his hand ready to thrust on the 

 approach of the fish, which rush at the lure and are readily speared. 

 Figure G, plate lxviii, represents one of these lures, which was obtained 

 at Kazbinsky. 



