172  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    96 
Fishing  line. — Figure  9  is  a  fishing  line  from  cut  26,  depth  39  inches, 
made  of  thin  strips  of  baleen  tied  together  with  small  tight  knots; 
it  has  been  carefully  looped  and  tied  together  at  the  middle  so  as  to 
unroll  without  tangling. 
Fishhook.— Plate  56,  figoire  3,  is  probably  a  fishhook;  it  consists  of 
a  wooden  shaft,  with  a  small  pebble  for  a  weight,  and  a  sharpened 
bird  bone  for  a  barb,  both  attached  by  means  of  baleen  lashings. 
Figures  8  and  9  (cut  18,  27  in.,  and  cut  2^,  22  in.)  are  two  small 
objects  of  unknown  use,  square  in  cross-section,  made  by  plaiting 
together  four  interlocking  strips  of  baleen.  The  technique  has  a  wide, 
if  sporadic,  distribution.  An  object  identical  with  those  illustrated, 
but  made  of  bark  and  used  as  a  child's  toy,  is  described  from  the 
Tver  government  in  the  Volga  region,  U.  S.  S.  R.  (Zolotarev,  1926, 
p.  154,  fig.  10,  p).  The  British  Guiana  Indians  make  toys  of  leaf 
strands  which  are  exactly  similar ;  and  specimens  in  the  United  States 
National  Museum  show  that  similar  plaited  ornaments  were  made  by 
the  Mohave  and  by  certain  Mexican  tribes. 
Figure  10  (cut  18,  40  in.)  is  a  fragmentary  object  consisting  of 
three  small  pieces  of  wood  lashed  together  with  baleen ;  use  unknown. 
Figure  11  (cut  18,  32  in.)  is  a  strip,  or  strips,  of  baleen,  neatly  wound 
and  tied  up  with  a  strand  of  the  same  material.  Figure  12,  from  the 
same  location,  is  a  flat  sliver  of  wood  with  a  small  baleen  loop — a  slip 
knot — tied  to  one  end;  possibly  a  snare.  Figure  13  (cut  27,  16  in.) 
is  a  piece  of  wood  to  which  a  small  sharp  sliver  of  bird  bone  has  been 
lashed  by  means  of  a  strand  of  baleen.  Figure  16  (cut  21,  24  in.) 
is  a  small  piece  of  wood  with  a  wisp  of  human  hair  attached. 
Figure  14  (cut  27,  26  in.)  is  a  small  bundle  of  grass,  tapering  to  a 
bifurcated  end,  and  wrapped  with  baleen.  Its  use  is  unknown,  although 
it  resembles  the  arrow  targets  of  grass  wrapped  with  sinew  used  by 
the  northern  Plains  Indians  (Culin,  1907,  p.  384,  391). 
The  toy  bows  of  baleen  (pi.  55,  fig.  i,  and  pi.  56,  fig.  15)  have 
already  been  described. 
Objects  of  Wood 
Many  wooden  objects  and  fragments  were  found  in  the  permanently 
frozen  soil  at  the  lower  levels  of  the  Hillside  site  and  Miyowagh,  but 
their  identification  presents  unusual  difficulties.  Most  of  them  are 
broken  and  incomplete,  and  others — as  is  also  the  case  with  many 
artifacts  of  ivory,  bone,  and  stone — seem  to  have  no  counterparts  in 
modern  Eskimo  culture.  Furthermore,  a  great  many  of  them  are  of 
a  rather  generalized  nature  and  could  easily  have  served  more  than 
one  purpose.  Some  of  these  wooden  objects,  the  exact  functions  of 
which  are  uncertain,  are  described  below. 
