296 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



On the top of a long pole are fastened two tolerably long sharp- 

 pointed bones, the tops bent a little outwards and the inner side 

 provided with teeth pointing backwards, to hold the fish securely 

 when struck. These bones are fastened to the shaft in such a man- 

 ner that each, independently of the other, is in some way movable 

 inwards and outwards ; their sides are therefore flat at the other 

 end, and the inner edge provided with one or more teeth pointing 

 forwards, in order to be tied fast, so that they can not be torn away 

 by the fish ; and, in order to prevent their being bent too much 

 apart, they are tied together by means of a strap at a short distance 

 from the handle. 



~No long unilateral harpoons have been found here with these 

 basal teeth, nor are they as long as those described by Prof. Nilsson. 

 He adds that " the bone points, in all 11 inches long, are, to a length 

 of 5 inches, fastened to the shaft, and consequently protrude 6 

 inches beyond it." It was his opinion, too, that these implements 

 were not for spearing fish, but for shooting birds on the wing. 



The Canadian Indians used something similar in early days, 



replacing bone or horn with iron when this could be had. The eel 



fishery was then of large proportions, and the ^Relation of 1634 



describes the spear used in this : 



This harpoon is an instrument consisting of a long stick, three 

 fingers thick, to the end of which they attach a pointed iron, which 

 they arm on each side with two little curved rods, which come 

 almost together at the end of the iron point ; when they come to 

 strike an eel with this harpoon, they pierce it with this iron, the 

 two sticks adjoining, yielding through the force of the stroke, and 

 allowing the eel to enter ; after this they contract again by them- 

 selves, because they were opened merely by the shock of the stroke, 

 and prevent the speared eel from escaping. 



The description of spearing eels by night, by Indians in lighted 

 canoes, is precisely like that given by travelers in New York a 

 century ago. Le Jeune adds that " some will catch three hundred, 

 and many more, in a single night, but very few at other times." 

 The French accounts of fishing at Onondaga lake far exceed this 

 estimate. When they were there in 1655, Father Dablon said 

 " some take with a harpoon as much as a thousand in a single 

 night ; " but then the size of fish stories is proverbial. 



Fish weirs were quite generally used by the Indians, not essen- 

 tially differing from those of the whites. David Zeisberger men- 

 tioned six of these between Oneida and Cross lakes in 1753. They 



