140 
SURVEY OF THE INTERTROPICAL 
1821, a point like the hammer, and has, at the other 
Dec. 31. end, three or four splinters, of sharp-edged quartz, 
stuck on in a row with gum, thus forming a sort 
of jagged instrument, of which the following is a 
represention:^ — 
M I — 
It is thus used : after they have put within their 
teeth a sufficient mouthful of seal’s flesh, the 
remainder is held in their left hand, and, with 
the ‘‘ taap'' in the other, they saw through, and 
separate the flesh*. Every native carries one 
or more of these knives in his belt besides the 
hammer, which is also an indispensable instru- 
ment with them. 
We did not perceive that these people ac- 
knowledged any chief or superior among them ; 
the two parties that collected daily on the op- 
posite sides of the harbour, evidently belonged 
to the same tribe, for they occasionally mixed 
with each other. Their habitations were pro- 
bably scattered about in different parts, for when 
* A very g-ood idea may be obtained of the manner in which 
these “ taaps" are used, by referring" to Captain Lyon's drawing" of 
the Esquimaux sledges, at p. 290, of Parry’s Second Voyage : the 
natives of King George's Sound, however, hold the knife under^ 
handed, and cut upwards. 
