288 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1888. 



Not many stone spear heads are found in this region. There is one 

 in the Emmons Collection in New York, but how it was attached to the 

 spear shaft does not appear. Marchand (1793) describes the war spear 

 as consisting of two j^arts, a wooden shaft and an iron head, shaped like 

 a Swiss halberd.* Plate xvii, Fig. 64, shows a wooden ceremonial 

 spear, doubtless an imitation of an ancient form of copi^er or stone- 

 headed spear. Fig. 113, Plate xxvi, is a 8itka war spear with carved 

 handle or shaft and steel bayouet pointed head. In general the war 

 spears have shafts from 10 to 14 feet long, whereas the hunting spears 

 are much shorter. 



Fur-seal spear. — This in general consists of a long, light cedar shaft and 

 a detachable head. The shaft is of the primitive type with a socket in the 

 upper end to receive the butt end of the detachable head. This latter 

 was formerly made of bone but later and at present of iron or steel. 

 (Plate XXIX, Figs. 133«, 134a, 135 and 136.) The steel ones are generally 

 made by the Haida themselves from old flat files which they purchase 

 from the traders. The end is sharply pointed, as shown in the figure, 

 while the edges and back are wrought into sharp barbs to hold in the 

 flesh. A loop of wire, or a shackle near the butt end, serves for the 

 attachment of one end of a strong cord of plaited sinew, sea-weed, or 

 vegetable fibre, the other end being secured to a float or bladder. This 

 spear is nothing more nor less than a harpoon. The seal being struck, 

 the head detaches itself and the animal is thus secured to one end of a 

 line. When not in use, the head is carried in a sheath made of two 

 pieces of cedar wood in the shape of a fish's tail, securely lashed together 

 with bark or spruce root lashings. (Figs. 1336 and 134&.) When 

 about to be used, the sheath is removed and the detachable head fixed 

 in the socket of the light cedar shaft. Figs. 135 and 136 represent de- 

 tachable spear heads of bone, with barbed edges. The cross sections 

 c and d show that one is lenticular in shape and the other triangular. 

 This type of spear head is not unlike that of the Eskimo and Aleut and 

 is of very primitive design. Arrow-heads of this shape and description 

 are common amongst the Eskimo but are rare in the coast Indian region. 

 The fur-seal spears here described are virtually harpoons. 



Salmon spears. — Primitive types of salmon spear heads are shown in 

 Figs. 137 and 138, Plate xxix. The shafts are now, as always, of light 

 cedar wood, the recent changes in the character of the spears being due 

 to the substitution of large steel fish hooks for spear heads. These 

 hooks, purchased from the traders, are lashed to the spear shaft near 

 the end, as shown in Fig. 149, Plate xxx, and the old-fashioned spear 

 head done away with altogether. This is a very effective spear, and in 

 the Indian's hands seldom fails to bring up its victim. Fig. 137e is a 

 bone salmon spear head from the Emmons collection. Fig 149a is a 

 Tlingit salmon gig of deer antler for snagging salmon, also from the 



'Marchaud, Voyage, torn, ii, p. 68, also quoted by Bancroft. 



