NELSON] THROWING STICKS N53} 
weapon struck in the middle of the cirele on the water where the bird 
had gone down. Bird spears are generally cast overhand, so as to 
strike from above, but if the birds are shy and dive quickly, the spears 
are cast with an underhand throw so that they skim along the surface 
of the water. I have seen a hunter throwing a spear at waterfowl on 
the surface of a stream when small waves were running; the spear 
would tip the crests of the waves, sending up little jets of spray, and 
yet continue its course for 20 or 25 yards. This method is very confus- 
ing to the birds, as they are frequently struck by the spear before they 
seem to be aware of its approach. When throwing spears into flocks 
of partly fledged ducks or geese that are bunched together, two or 
even three are sometimes impaled at once upon the triple points. 
Hunters in kaiaks are able to follow a seal or a diving waterfowl in 
calm weather by the lines of bubbles which rise from the swimming 
animal and mark its course beneath the surface. On one occasion I 
amused myself for nearly half a day with two Eskimo companions in 
kaiaks by pursuing half-fledged eider ducks in the sea off the end of 
Stuart island. After a little instruction from my companions I was 
surprised to see how readily the birds could be followed, for when they 
came to the surface they were always within easy range of a cast of 
the spear. 
In using the throwing stick for casting the spear in a curve through 
the air by an overhand motion, the throwing stick is held pointing 
backward; the end of the spear shaft is laid in the groove on its upper 
surface, resting against the ivory pin or other crosspiece at the outer 
end; the shaft of the spear crosses the fingers and is held in position 
by grasping with the thumb and forefinger around the throwing stick. 
The under side of the spear rests upon the extended end of the third 
finger, which lies along a groove in the throwing stick. This gives the 
outer end of the spear an upward cant, so that when it is cast it takes 
a slightly upward course. If the cast is to be made directly forward 
‘with a vertical motion of the hand, the spear is held with the groove 
upward; but in throwing the spear along the surface of the water the 
throwing stick is so held that the groove faces outwardly. In using 
throwing sticks that have pins set along the side for finger-rests, the 
spear is held in position by the thumb and second finger instead of 
with the thumb and first finger, as is usual with other throwing sticks. 
In the case of the three-peg throwing sticks the spear rests upon the 
turned-in ends of the first and third fingers, while the thumb and 
second finger hold it in position from above. 
The throwing sticks used by the Unalit Eskimo are made of a length 
proportioned to the size of the person who is to use them; this is 
determined by the measurement of the forearm from the point of the 
right elbow to the tip of the outstretched forefinger. Throwing sticks 
used with the spears for hunting white whales are made longer by the 
width of the forefinger than those used for seal and bird spears. 
The ordinary length of the seal spears used with throwing sticks by 
