MURDOCH. | SEAL HARPOONS. 
sively for retrieving seals that have been shot in open 
holes or leads of water within darting distance from the 
edge of the solid ice, and is thrown precisely as the 
walrus harpoon is, except that the end of the line is 
held in the left hand. In traveling over the ice the 
line with the head attached is folded in long hanks 
and slung on the gun case at the back. The rest of 
the weapon is carried in the hand and serves as a staff a 
in walking and climbing among the ice, where the 
sharp pick is useful to prevent slipping and to try 
doubtful ice, and also enables the hunter to break 
away thin ice at the edge of the hole, so as to draw 
his game up to the solid floe. It can also serve as a 
bayonet in case of necessity. This peculiar form of 
harpoon is confined to the coast from Point Barrow to 
Bering Strait, the only region where the seal is pruned 
with the rifle in the small open holes of water. 
Since my note in the Naturalist was written, I have 
learned from Mr. Henry Balfour, of the museum at Ox- 
ford, that their collection contains two or three speci- 
mens of this very pattern of harpoon, undoubtedly col- 
lected by some of the officers of the Blossom. Conse- 
quently, my theory that the retrieving harpoon was a 
modern invention, due to the introduction of firearms, 
becomes untenable, as the Blossom visited this region # 
before firearms were known to the Eskimo. It was A 
probably originally intended for the capture of seals 
“hauled out” on theice in the early summer. There is 
no doubt, however, that it is at the present day used 
for nothing but retrieving. 
Though this weapon was universally used at Point 
Barrow, we happened to obtain only two specimens, 
possibly because the natives thought them too neces- 
sary an implement to part with lightly. No. 89907 
[1695], Figs. 224, 225, has a new shaft, ete., but was 
used several times by the maker before it was offered 
for sale. Such a retrieving harpoon is called natlige. 
The shaft (iptia) is of ash, 4 feet 5 inches long and 1 
inch in diameter, tapering very slightly to each end. Ao ‘5 
The ice pick (tau) of walrus ivory, 14 inches long and y 
1 inch wide, has a round tang fitting into a hole in the é 
butt of the shaft. Close to the shaft a small hole is .F| 
drilled in one edge o° the pick, and through this is 
passed a bit of seal “iong, the ends of which are laid 
along the shaft and neatly whipped down with sinew 
braid, with the end wedged into a slit in the wood. 
Fig. 224.—Retrieving 
seal harpoon. 
‘See the writer’s note un this weapon, American Naturalist, vol. 19, p. 423. 
