230 3 THE POINT BARROW ESKIMO. 
one end through holes in the foreshaft. No. 56768 [532] is peculiar in 
having the tang on the shaft and the corresponding cleft in the fore- 
shatt. The shaft itself varies little in shape and proportions, and at 
the present day is sometimes made of ash or other hard 
wood obtained from the ships. The line catch is gener- 
ally a little hook of ivory or hard bone like the one de- 
scribed, but two specimens have small screws fastened 
into the shaft to serve this purpose. The finger rest is 
ordinarily of the same shape as on the type and fastened 
on in the same way, but No. 56771 [535] has this made of 
a knob of ivory elaborately carved into a seal’s head. 
The eyes are represented by round bits of ivory with 
pupils drilled in them inlaid in the head. This is evi- 
dently the knob of a seal drag (see below) as the longitud- 
inal perforation from chin to nape now serves no purpose. 
It is fastened on by a lashing of whalebone, which runs 
round the shaft and through a transverse hole in the knob. 
Harpoons closely resembling these in type are used by 
the Eskimo of western North America wherever they habit- 
ually hunt the walrus. At many places this heavy spear 
is armed at the butt with a long sharp pick of ivory like 
the smaller seal spear. Two of these large harpoons ap- 
pear to be rigged especially for the pursuit of the bearded 
seal, as they have heads which are of precisely the same 
shape and material as the small seal harpoons in the col- 
Fic. 222.—Fore- 5 5 
shaft of walrus lection. Both these heads have lanceolate iron blades, 
harpoon. conoidal antler bodies with double barbs, and are more 
slender than the walrus harpoon heads. No. 56770 [534], Fig. 219, 
has a head 4 inches long and 0:7 broad at the widest part, and fastened 
to a very long line (12 fathoms long) without a leader, the end r 
being simply passed through the line hole and seized down 
to the standing part with sinew braid. This is the method 
of attaching the head of the small seal harpoons. This line 
is so long that it may have been held in the boat and not 
attached to a float. No. 56768 [552], however, has a leader 
with a becket of the ordinary style. Fig. 223, No. 56611 
[89], is a head similar to those just described, and probably, 
from its size, intended for large seals. It is highly orna- 
mented with the usual reddened incised pattern. 
The throwing harpoon for small seals is an exact copy in 
miniature of the walrus harpoon, with the addition of a long 
bayonet-shaped pick of ivory at the butt. The line, however, F!6- 223.— 
is upwards of 30 yards long, and the end never leaves the ners 
hand. The line is hitched round the shaft back of the line seals. 
vatch, which now only serves to keep the line from slipping forward, as 
the shaft is never detached from the line. This harpoon is used exclu- 
