FISH-HOOKS. 123 



the following manner : The pinion of a goose is taken, and the smaller boue is 

 sharpened and fastened hook-shape to the larger ; a piece of fish-skin is cut in 

 the shape of a fish and sewed on the hook ; that part representing the head is at 

 the point of the hook ; that representing the tail is where the bones have crossed 

 each other ; a line is then knotted to the larger bone, and all is complete."* 



FIG. 182. Baited bone fish-hook. Kutchin Indians, Alaska. 



Prehistoric fish-hooks of this kind, as far as known to me, have not been 

 preserved. After the decay of the ligature the constituent parts of such a hook 

 would become separated, and, when discovered, their real character probably 

 would escape recognition in most cases. Mr. A. T. Gramage, of Damariscotta, 

 Maine, informs me that he has found in the artificial shell-deposits near that 

 place quite a number of double-pointed bone rods, which, he suggests, were parts 

 of fish-hooks. 



I now pass over to a description of North American fish-hooks made of a 

 single piece of bone or horn. 



Fig. 183 (on page 124). The original of this bone hook was presented to the 

 National Museum by Dr. W. J. Hoffman, of the Bureau of Ethnology. It is as 

 simple a form of a fish-hook as could be conceived ; there is not even a distinct 

 notch at the upper end of the shank, only a faint trace of> one being visible. The 

 surface of the hook shows the striae produced by the scraping-instrument used 

 in fashioning it. Dr. Hoffman has furnished me with the following account 

 relating to its discovery : 



" Traces of aboriginal settlements occur quite abundantly along the valley 

 of the Missouri River, north of the mouth of Oak Creek, at the former location 

 of Grand River Agency, Dakota. The latter stream (Oak Creek) , emptying into 



* Jones : The Kutchin Tribes ; Smithsonian Report for 1866, p. 324 ; figure on the same page. 



