a 
MURDOCH. ] BIRD DART. 211 
in a circle round the middle of the shaft. The object of these prongs is 
to increase the chance of hitting the bird if he is missed 
by the head of the dart. They always curve forward, 
so that the points stand out a few inches from the 
shaft, and are barbed on the inner edge in such a way 
that, though the neck of a fowl will easily pass in be- 
tween the prong and the shaft, it is impossible to draw 
it back again. The weapon is in very general use at 
Point Barrow, and is always thrown from the boat with 
a handboard (to be described below). It can be darted 
with considerable accuracy 20 or 30 yards. Weseldom 
saw this spear used, as it is chiefly employed in cateh- 
ing molting fowl, in the summer season, away from the 
immediate neighborhood of the station. It is called 
nwia/kpai, which is a plural referring to the number 
of points, one of which is called nuia/kpiak (‘the great 
nuiak”).! 
No. 89244 [1325], Fig. 195, from Utkiavwin, has been 
selected as the type of this weapon. The shaft is of 
spruce, 614 inches long and 0-7 inch in diameter at the 
head. The end of the butt is hollowed out to fit the 
catch of the throwing board. The head, of white wal- 
rus ivory, is fitted into the cleft end of the shaft with> 
a wedge-shaped tang as broad as the shaft. The head 
and shaft are held together by a spaced lashing of 
braided sinew. To the enlargement of the shaft, 22 
inches from the butt, are fastened three curved prongs 
of walrus ivory at equal distances from each other 
round the shaft. The inner side of each prong is eut 
away obliquely for about 2 inches, so that when this 
edge is applied to the shaft, with the point of the prong 
forward, the latter is about 1 inch from the shaft. Each 
prong has two little ridges on the outside, one at the 
lower end and the other about 1 inch above this. They 
are secured to the shaft by three separate lashings of 
sinew braid, two narrow ones above the ridges just 
mentioned and one broad one just below the barb. In 
making this the line is knotted round one prong, then 
carried one-third of the distance round the shaft to the 
prong; half hitched round this, and carried round next 
the next prong; half hitched round this, and carried 
round to the starting point, and half hitched round 
'This word appears to be a diminutive of the Greenlandic nuek—nuik, now 
used only in the plural, nugfit, for the spear. These changes of name may rep- 
resent corresponding changes in the weapon in former times, since, unless we 
may suppose that the bird dart was made small and called the ‘little nnik,” 
and enlarged again after the meaning of the name was forgotten, it is hard to see any sense m the 
present name, ‘‘ big little nuik.” 
Fie. 195.—Bird dart. 
