NELSON] FISH SPEARS Oey 
about four feet in length; it is in two sections with overlapping euds 
beveled and held together by a lashing of twisted sinew cord. 
Another spear from the same locality (figure 1, plate LXxvit) is sim- 
ilar to the preceding except that it has four points instead of three 
surrounding the central point, which are also held in position by an 
ivory ring. The inner sides of all the points on both of these spears 
are notched to form barbs. 
From the lower Kuskokwim northward to Kotzebue sound spears 
used for taking salmon and whitefish have large points of bone, deer- 
horn, or ivory, with from one to three barbs. They are pierced near the 
butt for the attachment of a cord, and at this end are of a rounded 
wedge shape for insertion into a slot in the end of a long wooden shaft; 
a stout sealskin line is made fast to the point, drawn up along the 
shaft, and terminated in a coil, which is held in the hand of the fisher- 
man. When a fish is struck the shaft becomes detached, leaving the 
barbed point in the fish, which is hauled ashore by aid of the line. 
The points of these spears vary considerably in character, as is shown 
in the examples described; they are intended for capturing large fish in 
the streams flowing into the sea, or in the tributaries of the larger 
rivers in the interior; but they are also sometimes used for spearing 
white whales. 
Figure 7, plate LXVIII, illustrates one of these points from Norton 
sound; it is made of bone and has four barbs, two on each side; to 
the hole in the butt is attached a piece of stout rawhide line. A slen- 
der point of deerhorn, from Kowak river (figure 30, plate LXV1I1), has a 
barb on each side. Another from the same locality (figure 2, plate 
LXVII1) is a flat, slender point of bone with a single barb. A bone 
point from Chalitmut (figure 3, plate Lxviit) has a single barb and is 
made in two pieces; the overlapping ends are riveted together and 
wrapped with two rawhide lashings. A short, rudely made bone point 
from Norton sound (figure 8, plate LXvIIr) has two barbs, one on each 
side, and two holes near the base. Figure 4, plate Lx vii, from Agiuk- 
chugumut, and figure 29 of the same plate, from Norton sound, repre- 
sent bone points with one barb. 
To attract pickerel and large whitefish within reach of their spears 
while fishing through holes in the ice, the Eskimo of the lower Yukon 
make use of the figure of a fish about six or seven inches long. They 
have two holes pierced through the back for sinew cords, which are tied 
together a few inches above and continue thence upward as a single 
string. These images are well fashioned, with the eyes, gill openings, 
scales, and lateral line indicated by etched lines. The fisherman stands 
directly over the hole and dangles the image a few feet below the sur- 
face of the water, holding the spear in his hand ready to thrust on the 
approach of the fish, which rush at the lure and are readily speared. 
Figure 6, plate LX VIII, represents one of these lures, which was obtained 
at Razbinsky. 
