138  S^[ITIISONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    96 
The  ivory  object  shown  in  plate  48.  figure  24  (cut  18.  27  in.)  may 
have  been  used  for  setting  the  feathers  in  the  arrow  shaft ;  the  sharp, 
straight  lower  end  would  have  been  well  adapted  to  such  a  purpose. 
Wound  Plugs 
Wooden  plugs  like  those  shown  in  plate  35.  figures  11-14,  are  de- 
scribed by  Nelson  as  follows : 
To  insure  the  seals  floating  while  being  towed,  it  is  a  common  practice  to  make 
slits  in  the  skin  at  various  points  and,  with  a  long  pointed  instrument  of  deer- 
horn,  to  loosen  the  blubber  from  the  muscle  for  a  space  of  a  foot  or  more  in 
diameter.  Then,  by  use  of  a  hollow  tube,  made  from  the  wing-bone  of  a  bird 
or  from  other  material,  air  is  blown  in  and  the  place  inflated ;  wooden  plugs 
are  then  inserted  in  the  slits  and  driven  in  tightly  to  prevent  the  air  from 
escaping.  By  the  aid  of  several  such  inflated  spots  the  seal  is  floated  and  the 
danger  of  losing  it  is  avoided.    [Nelson,  1899,  p.  131,  pi.  52,  fig.   19.] 
It  is  likely  that  they  were  also  used  as  in  the  Central  region  and 
Greenland  to  close  the  wound  made  by  the  harpoon.  Twenty-three 
were  found  at  Miyowagh,  as  follows:  Cut  i,  60  inches.  Cut  5,  30 
inches;  42  inches.  Cut  9,  depth  unknown  (3).  Cut  10,  31  inches 
(2)  ;  54  inches.  Cut  13,  40  inches.  Cut  16,  12  inches;  26  inches;  46 
inches;  52  inches.  Cut  18,  49  inches;  53  inches.  Cut  19,  45  inches 
(pl-  35-  fig-  II)  ;  59  inches  (pi.  35,  fig.  14)  ;  86  inches  (pi.  35,  fig.  12). 
Cut  2;^,  45  inches ;  64  inches.  Cut  24,  64  inches.  Cut  25,  72  inches 
(pi.  35,  fig.  13).   None  was  found  at  the  Hillside  site. 
The  general  shape  is  wedgelike,  with  the  upper  end  pointed  and 
tapering  and  the  lower  thicker  end  either  rounded  or  squared  off.  They 
were  perforated  at  the  upper  end,  so  that  a  number  of  them  could 
be  strung  together  on  a  line.  Plate  35,  figure  12,  is  unique  in  having 
two  small  wooden  plugs  set  in  rectangular  slots  at  the  larger  end.  The 
distribution  shows  the  wound  plug  to  have  been  an  Old  Bering  Sea 
type  which  seems  to  have  been  less  extensively  used  during  the  Punuk 
period. 
Mk.\t  Hooks 
Although  no  longer  in  use  on  St.  Lawrence  Island,  these  imple- 
ments no  doubt  correspond  in  function  with  the  blubber  hooks  from 
Point  Barrow  described  by  Murdoch :  "  For  catching  hold  of  pieces 
of  blubber  or  flesh  when  '  cutting  in  '  a  whale  or  walrus,  or  dragging 
them  round  on  shore  or  on  the  ice,  or  in  the  blubber  rooms,  they  use 
hooks  made  by  fastening  a  backward-pointing  prong  of  ivory  on  the 
end  of  a  wooden  handle,  which  is  bent  into  a  crook  at  the  other  end." 
(Murdoch,  1892,  p.  310).    From  Kotzebue  Sound  southward  to  the 
