306 PREHISTORIC FISHING. 



from the ocean, and is formed of nearly all its products, the most important of 

 which are the whale and halibut. Of the former there are several varieties which 



are taken at different seasons of the year. The California gray is the 



kind usually taken by the Indians, the others being but rarely attacked. 



" Their mode of whaling, being both novel and interesting, will require a 

 minute description not only the implements used, but the mode of attack, and 

 the final disposition of the whale, being entirely different from the practice of 

 our own whalemen. The harpoon consists of a barbed head, to which is attached 

 a rope or lanyard, always of the same length, about five fathoms or thirty feet. 

 This lanyard is made of whale's sinews twisted into a rope about an inch and a 

 half in circumference, and covered with twine wound around it very tightly, 

 called by sailors ' serving.' The rope is exceedingly strong and very pliable. 



FIG. 368. Makah harpoon-head and line. 



" The harpoon-head is a flat piece of iron or copper, usually a saw-blade or 

 a piece of sheet copper, to which a couple of barbs made of elk's or deer's horn 

 are secured, and the whole covered with a coating of spruce gum. The staff is 

 made of yew in two pieces, which are joined in the middle by a very neat scarf, 

 firmly secured by a narrow strip of bark wound around it very tightly. I do 

 not know why these staves or handles are not made of one piece ; it may be that 

 the yew does not grow sufficiently straight to afford the required length ; but I 

 have never seen a staff that was not constructed as here described. The length 

 is eighteen feet ; thickest in the centre, where it is joined together, and tapering 

 thence to both ends. To be used, the staff is inserted into the barbed head, and 

 the end of the lanyard made fast to a buoy, which is simply a seal-skin taken 

 from the animal whole, the hair being left inwards. The apertures of the head, 

 feet, and tail are tied up air-tight, and the skin is inflated like a bladder. 



