128 FISH—CULTURAL ASSOCIATION. 
Halibut vessels on La Have and Sable Island Banks occasion- 
ally take these fish upon their lines. 
Mackerel vessels on the New England coast are always pre- 
pared for swordfish when cruising among mackerel schools. I 
am not aware that they are ever seen on the mackerel grounds 
of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. 
APPARATUS OF CAPTURE. 
The apparatus ordinarily employed for the capture of the 
swordfish is simple in the extreme. It is a harpoon with detach- 
able head. When the fish is struck the head of the harpoon re- 
mains in the body of the fish, and carries with it a light rope, 
which is either made fast or held by a man in a small boat, or is 
attached to some kind of a buoy, which is towed through the 
water by the struggling fish and which marks its whereabouts 
after death. 
The harpoon consists of a pole fifteen or sixteen feet in 
length, usually of hickory or some other hard wood, upon which 
the bark has been left, so that the harpooner may have a firmer 
hand-grip. This pole is from an inch and a half to two inches 
in diameter, and at one end is provided with an iron rod or 
“shank,” about two feet long and five-eighths of an inch in 
diameter. This ‘“‘ shank ” is fastened to the pole by means of a 
conical or elongated cup-like expansion at one end, which fits 
over the sharpened end of the pole, to which it is secured by 
screws or spikes. A light line extends from one end of the pole 
to the point where it joins the ‘‘ shank,” and in this line is tied 
the loop, by which is made fast another short line which secures 
the pole to the vessel or boat, so that when it is thrown at the 
fish it cannot be lost. 
Upon the end of the “ shank ”’ fits somewhat securely the head 
of the harpoon, known to the fishermen by the names of sword- 
fish iron, lily iron, or Indian dart. The form of this weapon 
has undergone much variation, aS is shown in the series of fig- 
ures of specimens in the National Museum. The fundamental 
idea may very possibly have been derived from the Indian fish 
dart, numerous specimens of whichare in the National Museum. 
However various the modifications may have been, the similarity 
