232 
THE POINT BARROW ESKIMO. 
225. —Details of retrieving seal har 
The foreshaft (ukumailuta) is of walrus 
ivory, 44 inches long and 14 inches in diam- 
eter at the thickest part, and secured to the 
shaft by a whipping (ni/mxa) of seal thong, 
The loose shaft (igimt) is also of ivory and 2 
inches long and secured by a thong (ipiuta) 
spliced into a loop through the hole at the 
butt, as previously described. The end is 
hitched round the tip of the shaft with a 
marling hitch, followed by a clove hitch be- 
low the whipping. The ivory finger rest 
(ti‘ka) is fastened on with a lashing of whip 
cord (white man’s) passing round the shaft. 
The line catch (ki/lerbwin), which was of 
ivory and shaped like those on the walrus 
harpoons, has been lost in transportation. 
The head differs only in size from those just 
described as intended for the bearded seal, 
except in having a hexagonal body. It is 
3°3 inches long and has a blade of iron fas- 
tened into a body of walrus ivory with a 
single wooden rivet. While there is no 
detachable leader, the head is attached by 
a separate piece of the same material to the 
line (ttikaksia), which is 86 feet 10 inches 
long and made of a single piece of fine seal 
thong about one-eighth inch thick. This 
shorter piece is about 27 inches long and 
is passed through the line hole and doubled 
so that one part is a little the longer. Itis 
fastened strongly to the end of the line 
by a complicated splice made as follows: 
A slit is cut in the end of the main line 
through which are passed both ends of 
the short line. The longer part is then 
slit about 2 inches from the end and the 
shorter part passed through the slit, and 
a slit cut close to the end of it, through 
which the longer end is passed. The 
whole is then drawn taut and the longer 
end clove hitched round the main line. 
No. 89908 [1058] is one of these spears 
rigged ready for darting. The line is se- 
cured at about the middle of the shaft 
with a couple of marling hitches. This 
specimen, except the head, is new and was 
rather carelessly made for the market. It 
has neither line catch nor finger rest. The 
