136 THE ESKIMO ABOUT BERING STRAIT [ETH. ANN. 18 
hole in the tip in which is fitted a wooden socket with an oval slot, to 
receive the wedge-shape base of a detachable barbed point of bone or 
deerhorn. The heads of some of these spears are shaped into rounded, 
tapering points, which are inserted in the ends of the wooden shafts; 
in others the heads have deep, wedge-shape slots in which the bey- 
eled ends of the shafts are fitted, and have a small shoulder at their 
upper ends to prevent the lashings from slipping. In all instances the 
heads are held firmly in position by strong lashings of braided sinew 
cord, which sometimes extends up the shaft in a long spiral, with from 
one to three bands of wrapping at the upper end, inclosing the quills 
of feathers placed near the butt, the other ends of the feathers being 
inserted in deep slits in the shaft, as are also the ends of the sinew 
cord, to hold the wrappings in position. The ivory points for these 
spears are from an inch to three inches in length, and have two or three 
barbs along each side, with the points and edges formed by four beveled 
faces, and are pierced near the base to receive a sealskin cord which 
connects them with the hafts. When the spear is thrown, the barbed 
point, when imbedded in the animal, is immediately detached from the 
head of the shaft, to which it remains attached only by the sealskin 
cord which has been wrapped around the shaft; as it unwinds the 
shaft of the spear is drawn crosswise after the retreating animal, and 
serves as a drag to exhaust its strength and render it more easily over- 
taken by the hunter. The method most frequently used, however, is 
to attach to the barbed point a line about 34 feet in length, which is 
divided at about two-thirds of its length into two ends, which are 
attached to the shaft about two feet apart, a little nearer to the head 
than to the butt, and are then wound tightly about the shaft. Plate 
Lit, drawn from a photograph, illustrates the attitude of a St Michael 
man casting a seal spear from a kaiak. 
Figure 2, plate Liv, from Unalaklit, is made with the head, point, 
and lashings placed upon the hafts in the usual manner, but the butt 
is without feathering. 
Figure 4, plate LIv, a typical spear of this class, from Norton 
sound, has on the butt three feathers from a cormorant’s tail, but is 
otherwise very similar in its finish to the one just described. 
Figure 3, plate Liv, from St Michael, is a spear having an ivory head 
fitted upon the shaft by means of a slot. The barbed point is attached 
to the shaft by a line about 16 inches long, fastened just above the 
lashing which binds the head to the shaft. 
Figure 5, plate Liv, from Big lake, has an ivory head, roughly trian- 
gular in cross section, with angles rounded and the butt cut down to 
a smaller size and inserted in a slot on the end of the wooden shaft, 
which is attached to the head by a rawhide lashing passed through a 
hole in the shaft and in the adjoining part of the head. Outside of this 
the usual sinew lashing holds the shaft firmly over the end of the head. 
Figure 6, plate Liv, from Cape Vancouver, is another spear, with a 
double-feathered butt and an ivory head carved at the end to represent 
