PROJECTILE WEAPONS.

_Firearms._--When Dease and Simpson first met these people, in 1837,

they had no firearms, but the next party of whites who came in contact

with them (Pullen and Hooper, in 1849) found the “chief” in possession

of an old shaky musket of English make, with the name “Barnett” on the

lock.[N289] Hooper believed this to be the gun lost by Sir John

Franklin’s party in 1826.[N290] This gun was, however, often seen by

the people of the _Plover_ (in fact, Capt. Maguire kept it on board of

the _Plover_ for some time[N291]), and was found to have on the lock,

besides the name “Barnett,” also the date, “1843,” so that of course

it was not lost in 1826. Armstrong[N292] also mentions seeing this

gun, which, the natives told him, they had procured “from the other

tribes to the southward.” In the summer of 1853 they began to purchase

guns and ammunition from the eastern natives. Yûksĭña and two other

men each bought a gun this year.[N293]

[Footnote N289: Hooper, Tents, etc., p. 239.]

[Footnote N290: Franklin, 2d Exp., p. 148. In the hurry of leaving

Barter Island “one of the crew of the _Reliance_ left his gun and

ammunition.”]

[Footnote N291: See McClure’s N. W. Passage, p. 390.]

[Footnote N292: Narrative, p. 109.]

[Footnote N293: Maguire, Further Papers, p. 907.]

[Illustration: FIG. 176.--So-called dagger of bone. 1/2]

As the whalers began to go to Point Barrow in 1854, the opportunity

for obtaining firearms has been afforded the natives every year since

then, so that they are now well supplied with guns, chiefly of

American manufacture. That all their firearms have not been obtained

from this source is probable from the fact they have still in their

possession a number of smoothbore percussion guns, double and single

barreled, of Russian manufacture. They are all stamped in Russian with

the name of Tula, a town on the Oopa, 105 miles south of Moscow, which

has received the name of the “Sheffield and Birmingham of Russia,”

from its vast manufactory of arms, established by Peter the Great.

These guns must have come from the “Nunatañmiun,” who obtained them

either from the Siberian traders or from the Russians at Norton Sound

through the Malemiut. Both smoothbore and rifled guns are in general

use. The smoothbores are of all sorts and descriptions, from an old

flintlock musket to more or less valuable single and double percussion

fowling-pieces. Three of the natives now (1883) have cheap double

breechloaders and one a single breechloader (made by John P. Lovell,

of Boston). Guns in general are called “cupûñ,” an onomatopœic word in

general use in western America, but many of the different kinds have

special names. For instance, a double gun is called madro´lĭñ (from

_madro_, _two_). The rifles are also of many different patterns. The

kind preferred by the natives is the ordinary Winchester brass-mounted

15-shot repeater, which the whalers and traders purchase cheaply at

wholesale. This is called akĭmiɐlĭñ (“that which has fifteen,” sc.,

shots). The whalers are also in the habit of buying up all sorts of

cheap or second-hand guns for the Arctic trade, so that many other

kinds of guns are also common. Of breechloaders, we saw the Sharpe’s

rifle, savĭgro´lĭñ (from a fancied resemblance between the crooked

lever of this gun and the crooked knife, savigro´n); other patterns of

Winchester; the Spencer repeater, kai´psualĭñ (from kaipsĭ,

cartridge); the peculiar Sharps-Hankins, once used in the U.S. Navy,

and which was the favorite weapon of the rebel Boers in South Africa;

the Peabody-Martini, made in America for the Turkish Government,

marked on the rear sight with Turkish figures, and, exposed with a

corpse at the cemetery, one English Snider. The regulation Springfield

rifles belonging to the post, which were often loaned to the natives

for the purpose of hunting, were called mûkpara´lĭñ (from _mûkpara´_,

book, referring to the breech action, which opens like a book).

They formerly had very few muzzle-loading rifles, but of late years,

since the law against trading arms to the natives has been construed

to refer solely to breech-loading rifles, the whalers have sold them

yäger rifles, of the old U.S. Army pattern, Enfield rifles, ship’s

muskets with the Tower mark on them, and a sort of bogus rifle made

especially for trade, in imitation of the old-fashioned Kentucky

rifle, but with grooves extending only a short distance from the

muzzle. They of course depend on the ships for their supplies of

ammunition, though the Nunatañmiun sometimes bring a few cartridges

smuggled across from Siberia. They naturally are most desirous to

procure cartridges for the rim-fire Winchester guns, as these are not

intended to be used more than once. They have, however, invented a

method of priming these rim-fire shells so that they can be reloaded.

A common “G. D.” percussion cap is neatly fitted into the rim of the

shell by cutting the sides into strips which are folded into slits in

the shell, a little hole being drilled under the center of the cap to

allow the flash to reach the powder. This is a very laborious process,

but enables the natives to use a rifle which would otherwise be

useless. Such cartridges reloaded with powder and home-made

bullets--they have many bullet molds and know how to use them--are

tolerably effective. Great care must be taken to insert the cartridge

right side up, so that the cap shall be struck by the firing pin,

which interferes with using the gun as a repeater.

They are very careless with their rifles, allowing them to get rusty,

and otherwise misusing them, especially by firing small shot from them

in the duck-shooting season. As a rule they are very fair shots with

the rifle, but extremely lavish of ammunition when they have a supply.

The only economy is shown in reloading cartridges and in loading their

shotguns, into which they seldom put a sufficient charge. In spite of

this some of them shoot very well with the shotgun, though many of

them show great stupidity in judging distance, firing light charges of

shot at short rifle range (100 to 200 yards). Though they mold their

own bullets, I have never known any of them to attempt making shot or

slugs. This, which they call kăkrúra (little bullets, from kă´kru,

originally meaning _arrow_ and now used for _bullet_ as well) is

always obtained from the whites. The gun is habitually carried in a

case or holster long enough to cover the whole gun, made of sealskin,

either black-tanned or with the hair on the outside. This, like the

bow case, from which it is evidently copied, is slung across the back

by a thong passing round the shoulders and across the chest. This is

the method universally practiced for carrying burdens of all sorts.

The butt of the gun is on the right side, so that it can be easily

slipped out of the holster under the right arm without unslinging it.

Revolvers are also carried slung in holsters on the back in the same

way. Ammunition is carried in a pouch slung over the shoulder. They

are careless in handling firearms and ammunition. We knew two men who

shot off the tip of the forefinger while filing cartridges which had

failed to explode in the gun.

_Whaling guns._--In addition to the kinds of firearms for land hunting

above described a number of the natives have procured from the

whalemen, either by purchase or from wrecks, whaling guns, such as are

used by the American whalers, in place of the steel lance for

dispatching the whale after it is harpooned. These are of various

patterns, both muzzle and breech loading, and they are able to procure

nearly every year a small supply of the explosive lances to be shot

from them. They use them as the white men do for killing harpooned

whales, and also, when the leads of open water are narrow, for

shooting them as they pass close to the edge of the ice.

_Bows_ (_pízĭ´ksĕ_).--In former times the bow was the only projectile

weapon which these people possessed that could be used at a longer

range than the “dart” of a harpoon. It was accordingly used for

hunting the bear, the wolf, and the reindeer, for shooting birds, and

in case of necessity, for warfare. It is worthy of note, in this

connection, as showing that the use of the bow for fighting was only a

secondary consideration, that none of their arrows are regular “war

arrows” like those made by the Sioux or other Indians; that is, arrows

to be shot with the breadth of the head horizontal, so as to pass

between the horizontal ribs of a man. Firearms have now almost

completely superseded the bow for actual work, though a few men, too

poor to obtain guns, still use them.

Every boy has a bow for a plaything, with which he shoots small birds

and practices at marks. Very few boys, however, show any great skill

with it. We never had an opportunity of seeing an adult shoot with the

bow and arrow; but they have not yet lost the art of bow-making. The

newest boys’ bows are as skillfully and ingeniously constructed as the

old bows, but are of course smaller and weaker. The bow in use among

these people was the universal sinew-backed bow of the Eskimo carried

to its highest degree of efficiency.[N294] It was of what I have

called the “Arctic type,” namely, a rather short bow of spruce, from

43 to 52 inches in length, nearly elliptical in section, but flatter

on the back than on the belly, and slightly narrowed and thickened at

the handle. The greatest breadth was usually about 1¼ inches and the

thickness at the handle about three-fourths of an inch. The ends were

often bent up as in the Tatar bow, and were sometimes separate pieces

mortised on. Strength and elasticity was given to the brittle spruce

by applying a number of strands of sinew to the back of the bow in

such a way that drawing the bowstring stretched all these elastic

cords, thus adding their elasticity to that of the wood. This backing

was always a continuous piece of a three-ply braid of sinew, about the

size of stout pack thread, and on a large bow often 40 or 50 yards

long. It began, as on all Eskimo bows which I have been able to

examine (except those from St. Lawrence Island and the mainland of

Siberia--my “western type”), with an eye at one end of the cord looped

over one nock of the bow, usually the upper. The cord was then laid on

the back of the bow in long strands running up and down and round the

nocks, as usual on the other types of bow, but after putting on a

number of these, began running backward and forward between the bends

(if the bow was of the Tatar shape), or between corresponding points

on a straight bow, where they were fastened with complicated hitches

around the bow in such a way that the shortest strands came to the top

of the backing, which was thus made to grow thicker gradually toward

the middle of the bow, where the greatest strength and elasticity were

needed. When enough strands had been laid on they were divided into

two equal parcels and twisted from the middle into two tight cables,

thus greatly increasing the tension to be overcome in drawing the bow.

These cables being secured to the handle of the bow, the end of the

cord was used to seize the whole securely to the bow.

[Footnote N294: See the writer’s paper on the subject of Eskimo

bows in the Smithsonian Report for 1884, Part II, pp. 307-316.]

[Illustration: FIG. 177.--Boy’s bow from Utkiavwĭñ. 1/8]

This seizing and the hitches already mentioned served to incorporate

the backing very thoroughly with the bow, thus equalizing the strain

and preventing the bow from cracking. This made a very stiff and

powerful bow, capable of sending an arrow with great force. We were

told by a reliable native that a stone-headed arrow was often driven

by one of these bows wholly through a polar bear, “if there was no

bone.” Three bows only were obtained: One from Nuwŭk, one from

Utkiavwĭñ (a lad’s bow), and one from Sidaru.

[Illustration: FIG. 179.--Large bow from Nuwŭk. 1/8]

The bow from Utkiavwĭñ, No. 89904 [786] (Fig. 177), though small, is

in some respects nearer the type than the other two, and has been

selected for description. The body of the bow is a single piece of the

heart of a log of spruce driftwood 36¼ inches long, elliptical in

section, flattened more on the back than on the belly. It is tapered

to the nocks, which are small club-shaped knobs, and narrowed and

thickened at the handle. The backing is of round three-ply braid of

sinew in one continuous piece. The string is a round four-ply braid

with a loop at each end, made by tying a single knot in the standing

part, passing the end through this and taking a half hitch with it

round the standing part (Fig. 178). The upper loop is a little the

larger.

[Illustration: FIG. 178.--Loop at end of bowstring. 1/2]

No. 89245 [25] (Fig. 179), from Nuwŭk, is a full-sized man’s bow,

which is old and has been long in use. It is of the same material, and

is 47.3 inches long. Its greatest breadth is 1⅓ inches, and it is 0.8

inch thick at the handle. It is slightly narrowed and thinned off from

the broadest part to about 6 inches from each tip, and is then

gradually thickened to the nocks and bent up so that the ends make an

angle of about 45° with the bow when unstrung. The ends are separate

pieces fitted on at the bends. The ends of the body are chamfered off

laterally to a wedge which fits into a corresponding notch in the end

piece, making a scarf 3¼ inches long, which is strengthened by a

curved strap of antler, convex above and thickest in the middle,

fitting into the bend on the back. The joint is held together wholly

by the backing.

We never saw bows of this pattern made and consequently did not learn

how the bending was accomplished. The method is probably the same as

that seen by Capt. Beechey in 1826, at Kotzebue Sound (Voyage,

p. 575). The bow was wrapped in wet shavings and held over the fire,

and then pegged down on the ground (probably on one side), into shape.

A strip of rawhide (the split skin of the bearded seal, with the grain

side out), 1 inch wide, runs along the back from bend to bend under

the backing. The chief peculiarity of this bow is the third cable,

above the other two, and the great and apparently unnecessary

complication of the hitches.

No. 72771 [234], from Sidaru (Fig. 180_a_ and _b_), is a bow with bent

ends like the last, but all in one piece and smaller. Its length is

43½ inches and its greatest breadth 1⅓. The backing has only two

cables, and its chief peculiarity is in having the loose end of the

last strand twisted into one of the cables, while the seizing, of the

same pattern as in the last bow, is made of a separate piece. The

workmanship of this bow is particularly neat, and it is further

strengthened with strips of rawhide (the skin of the bearded seal,

split), under the backing. The method of making the string is very

ingenious. It appears to have been made on the bow, as follows: Having

the bow sprung back one end of a long piece of sinew twine was made

fast temporarily to the upper nock, leaving an end long enough to

finish off the bowstring. The other end was carried round the lower

nock and the returning strand half-hitched round the first snugly up

to the nock, and then carried round the upper nock and back again.

This was repeated, each strand being half-hitched round all the

preceding at the lower nock until there were eight parallel strands,

and an eye fitted snugly to the lower nock. The bight was then slipped

off the upper nock, the end untied and the whole twisted tight. This

twisted string is now about 2 inches too long, so the upper eye is

made by doubling over 2 inches of the end and stopping it down with

the free end mentioned above, thus making a long eye of seven strands.

With the end, six similar strands are added to the eye, each being

stopped to the twist with a half hitch. The end is neatly tucked in

and the strands of the eye twisted tightly together.

[Illustration: FIG. 180.--Large bow from Sidaru. 1/8]

In my paper on Eskimo bows, already mentioned, I came to the

conclusion that the bows formerly used by the Eskimo of western North

America and the opposite coast of Asia were constructed upon three

well defined types of definite geographical distribution, and each

easily recognized as a development of a simple original type still to

be found in Baffin Land in a slightly modified form. These three types

are:

I. The Southern type, which was the only form used from the island of

Kadiak to Cape Romanzoff, and continued in frequent use as far as

Norton Sound, though separated by no hard and fast line from

II. The Arctic type, to which the bows just described belong, in use

from the Kaviak peninsula to the Mackenzie and Anderson rivers; and

III. The Western type, confined to St. Lawrence Island and the

mainland of Siberia.

I have shown how these three types differ from each other and from the

original type, and have expressed the opinion that these differences

result from the different resources at the command of the people of

different regions. I have also endeavored to account for the fact that

we find sporadic examples of the Arctic type, for instance as far

south as the Yukon, by the well known habits of the Eskimo in regard

to trading expeditions.

Outside of the region treated in my paper above referred to, there is

very little material for a comparative study of Eskimo bows, either in

the Museum or in the writings of travelers. Most writers have

contented themselves with a casual reference to some of the more

salient peculiarities of the weapon without giving any detailed

information. Beginning at the extreme north of Greenland, we find that

the so-called “Arctic Highlanders” have hardly any knowledge of the

bow. Dr. Kane saw none during his intercourse with them, but Dr.

Bessels[N295] mentions seeing one bow, made of pieces of antler

spliced together, in the possession of a man at Ita. In Danish

Greenland, the use of the bow has been abandoned for many years. When

Crantz[N296] wrote it had already gone out of use, though in

Egede’s[N297] time it was still employed. It appears to have been

longer than the other Eskimo bows. Nordenskiöld[N298] reproduces a

picture of a group of Greenlanders from an old painting of the date of

1654 in the Ethnographical Museum of Copenhagen. The man holds in his

left hand a straight bow, which appears to have the backing reaching

only part way to the ends like a western bow without the end cables,

and yet twisted into two cables. If this representation be a correct

one, this arrangement of the backing, taken in connection with what

Crantz and Egede say of the great length of the bow, would be an

argument in favor of my theory that the St. Lawrence Island bow was

developed from the primitive form by lengthening the ends of the bow

without lengthening the backing. The addition of the end cables would

then be an after invention, peculiar to the western bow. In Baffin

Land the bow is very rudely made, and approaches very closely to my

supposed primitive form. Owing to the scarcity of wood in this region

the bow was frequently made of reindeer antler, a substance still more

unsuitable for the purpose than the soft coniferous woods used

elsewhere. There are in the Museum three specimens of such antler

bows, brought from Cumberland Gulf by Mr. Kumlien.

[Footnote N295: Naturalist, vol 8, No. 9, p. 869.]

[Footnote N296: “In former times they made use of bows for land

game; they were made of soft fir, a fathom in length, and to make

it the stiffer it was bound round with whalebone or sinews.”

History of Greenland, vol. 1, p. 146.]

[Footnote N297: “Their Bow is of an ordinary Make, commonly made

of Fir Tree, . . . and on the Back strengthened with Strings made

of Sinews of Animals, twisted like Thread.” “The Bow is a good

fathom long.” Greenland, p. 101.]

[Footnote N298: Voyage of the Vega, vol. 1, p. 41.]

The first mention of the Eskimo bow with sinew backing will be found

in Frobisher’s account of his visit to Meta Incognita in 1577:[N299]

“Their bowes are of wood of a yard long, sinewed on the back with

strong sinewes, not glued too, but fast girded and tyed on. Their bowe

strings are likewise sinewes.”

[Footnote N299: Hakluyt’s Voyages, 1589, p. 628.]

Of the bow used at the straits of Fury and Hecla we have a most

excellent figure in Parry’s Second Voyage (Pl. opposite p. 550,

Fig. 22), and the most accurate description to be found in any author.

It is, in fact, as exact a description as could be made from an

external examination of the bow. From the figure the bow appears to

have been almost of the arctic type, having an unusual number of

strands (sometimes sixty, p. 511) which are not, however, twisted, but

secured with a spiral wrapping, as on southern bows. The backing is

stopped to the handle, but not otherwise seized. It appears to have

been rather a large bow, as Parry gives the length of one of their

best bows, made of a single piece of fir, as “4 feet 8 inches”

(p. 510). “A bow of one piece is, however, very rare; they generally

consist of from two to five pieces of bone of unequal lengths,

fastened together by rivets and treenails” (p. 511). Parry also speaks

of the use of wedges for tightening the backing. Schwatka[N300] speaks

of the Netyĭlĭk of King Williams Land as using bows of spliced pieces

of musk-ox horn or driftwood, but gives no further description of

them. Ellis[N301] describes the bow in use at Hudson’s Strait in 1746

as follows:

Their greatest Ingenuity is shown in the Structure of their Bows,

made commonly of three Pieces of Wood, each making a part of the

same Arch, very nicely and exactly joined together. They are

commonly of Fir or Larch, which the English there call Juniper, and

as this wants Strength and Elasticity, they supply both by bracing

the Back of the Bow with a kind of Thread or Line made of the Sinew

of their Deer, and the Bowstring of the same material. To make them

draw more stiffly, they dip them into Water, which causes both the

Back of the Bow and the String to contract, and consequently gives

it the greater force.[N302]

[Footnote N300: Science, vol. 4, 98, p. 543.]

[Footnote N301: Voyage to Hudson’s Bay, p. 138.]

[Footnote N302: Compare what I have already said about the backing

being put on wet.]

Ellis’s figure (plate opposite p. 132) shows a bow of the Tatar shape,

but gives no details of the backing, except that the latter appears to

be twisted.

We have no published descriptions of the bows used in other regions.

As far as I have been able to ascertain, the practice of backing the

bow with cords of sinew is peculiar to the Eskimo, though some

American Indians stiffen the bow by gluing flat pieces of sinew upon

the back.

One tribe of Indians, the “Loucheux” of the Mackenzie district,

however, used bows like those of the Eskimos, but Sir Alexander

Mackenzie[N303] expressly states that these were obtained from the

Eskimo.

[Footnote N303: Voyages from Montreal . . . to the Frozen and

Pacific Oceans, p. 48.]

_Arrows._--With these bows were used arrows of various patterns

adapted for different kinds of game. There are in the collection

fifty-one arrows, which are all about the same length, 25 to 30

inches. In describing these arrows I shall employ the terms used in

modern archery[N304] for the parts of the arrow. The greatest

variation is in the shape and size of the pile. The stele is almost

always a straight cylindrical rod, almost invariably 0.4 inch in

diameter, and ranging in length from 20 to 28 inches. Twenty-five

inches is the commonest length, and the short steles, when not

intended for a boy’s bow, are generally fitted with an unusually long

pile. From the beginning of the feathering the stele is gradually

flattened above and below to the nock, which is a simple notch almost

always 0.2 inch wide and of the same depth. The stele is sometimes

slightly widened just in front of the nock to give a better hold for

the fingers. The feathering is 6 or 7 inches long, consisting of two,

or less often, three feathers. (The set of sixteen arrows from Sidaru,

two from Nuwŭk, and one from Utkiavwĭñ, have three feathers. The rest

of the fifty-one have two.) The shaft of the feather is split and the

web is cut narrow, and tapered off to a point at each end (Fig. 181).

The ends of the feathers are fastened to the stele with whippings of

fine sinew, the small end of the feather which, of course, comes at

the nock, being often wedged into a slit in the wood (with a special

tool to be described below), or else doubled back over a few turns of

the whipping and lashed down with the rest. The small end of the

feather is almost always twisted about one turn, evidently to make the

arrow revolve in flight, like a rifle ball. Generally, if not

universally, the feathering was made of the feathers of some bird of

prey, falcon, eagle, or raven, probably with some notion of giving to

the arrow the death-dealing quality of the bird. Out of the fifty-one

arrows in the collection, only nine are feathered with gull’s

feathers, and of these all but two are new, or newly feathered for

sale to us.[N305] Dr. Simpson[N306] says that in his time “feathers

for arrows and head-dresses,” probably the eagles’ feathers previously

mentioned, were obtained in trade from the “Nunatañmiun.”

[Illustration: FIG. 181.--Feathering of the Eskimo arrow.]

Four kinds of arrows were used: the bear arrow, of which there were

three varieties, the deer arrow, the arrow for geese, gulls, and other

large fowl, and the blunt headed arrow for killing small birds without

mangling them.

[Footnote N304: Encyclopedia Britannica, 9th edition, article

Archery.]

[Footnote N305: On this subject of using the feathers of birds of

prey for arrows, compare Crantz, History of Greenland, i, p. 146,

“the arrow . . . winged behind with a couple of raven’s feathers.”

Bessels, Naturalist, vol. 18, pt. 9, p. 869 (the three arrows at

Ita had raven’s feathers). Parry, 2d Voyage, p. 511, “Toward the

opposite end of the arrow are two feathers, generally of the

spotted owl, not very neatly lashed on;” and Kumlien,

Contributions, p. 37, “The feather-vanes were nearly always made

from the primaries of _Strix scandiaca_ or _Graculus carbo_.” The

last is the only mention I find of using any feathers except those

of birds of prey.]

[Footnote N306: Op. cit., p. 266.]

_Bear arrows._--These are of three kinds, all having a broad, sharp

pile, often barbed. The first kind has a pile of flaked flint, called

kūki (“claw” or “nail”), and was known as kukĭ´ksadlĭñ (“provided or

fitted with claw material”). Of this kind we have eight complete

arrows and one shaft.

No. 89240 [25], Fig. 182, will serve as the type. The pile is of black

flint, double edged and sharp pointed, 2 inches long, with a short

tang inserted into a cleft in the end of the stele, and secured by a

whipping of about fifteen turns of fine sinew. The stele is of spruce,

25½ inches long and four-tenths inch in diameter, and painted with red

ocher from the feathering to 5 inches from the pile. The three

feathers, apparently those of the gyrfalcon, have their ends simply

whipped to the stele. They are 6 inches long. This is one of the two

arrows from Nuwŭk with three feathers.

[Illustration: FIG. 182.--Flint-headed arrow (kukĭksadlĭñ). 1/8]

[Illustration: FIG. 183.--Long flint pile.]

No. 72780 [234_a_], from Sidaru, is feathered with three raven

feathers, of which the small ends are wedged into slits in the wood.

The pile is of brown jasper, long and lancet-tipped, expanding into

rounded wings at each side of the base. The stele is peculiar only in

being slightly widened in front of the nock. It is of pine, 26.8

inches long, and painted with two rings, one red and one green, at the

middle of the feathering.

[Illustration: FIG. 184.--Short flint pile.]

The only variations of importance in these arrows are in the shape of

the pile, which is made of black or gray flint, or less often of

jasper, mostly variegated, brown and gray. There are four patterns to

be found in the series of eight arrows and twenty-two stone piles. The

first is long and narrow, like No. 56704 [232], Fig. 183, from

Utkiavwĭñ, which is of gray flint. The next is similar in shape, but

shorter, as shown in Fig. 182 (No. 89240 [25], from Nuwŭk), which is

only 2 inches long, exclusive of the tang. The third pattern, which is

less common than the others, is about the size of the last, but

rhomboidal in shape (Fig. 184, No. 56691_c_ [64_c_], from Utkiavwĭñ,

of dark grayish brown flint, rather coarsely flaked). The fourth kind

is very short, being not over 1½ inches, including the half-inch tang,

but is 1 inch broad, thick and convex on both faces. It is triangular,

with a square base and curved edges (Fig. 185, No. 56702_b_ [113_b_],

from Utkiavwĭñ, newly made for sale).

[Illustration: FIG. 185.--Heart-shaped flint pile.]

[Illustration: FIG. 186.--Arrows: (_a_) Arrow with “after-pile”

(ipudlĭgadlĭñ); (_b_) arrow with iron pile (savidlĭñ); (_c_) arrow

with iron pile (savidlĭñ); (_d_) arrow with copper pile (savidlĭñ);

(_e_) deer-arrow (nûtkodlĭñ).]

No stone arrow or dart heads made by these people have anything like

barbs except the square shoulders at the base. They seem never to have

attained to the skill in flint-working which enabled many other

savages to make the beautiful barbed heads so often seen. To keep the

flint-headed arrow from dropping out of the wound they hit upon the

contrivance of mounting it not directly in the stele but in a piece of

bone upon which barbs could be cut, or, as is not unlikely, having

already the deer arrow with the barbed head of antler, they added the

flint head to this, thus combining the penetration of the flint arrow

with the holding power of the other. I was at first inclined to think

that this piece of bone bore the same relation to the rest of the

arrow as the fore shaft of many Indian arrows, and was to be

considered as part of the stele. Considering, however, that its sole

function is to furnish the pile with barbs, it evidently must be

considered as part of the latter. I shall designate it as

“after-pile.” Arrows with this barbed “after-pile” form the second

kind of bear arrows, which are called ipudlĭ´gadlĭñ (“having the

ipu´dlĭgɐ” [Gr. ipuligak, the similar bone head of a seal lance with

iron tip]). After the introduction of iron, metal piles sometimes

replaced the flint in arrows of this kind. We collected eight with

flint and two with metal piles. No. 72787 [234_a_], Fig. 186_a_, has

been selected to illustrate this form of arrow. This pile is of gray

flint with the tang wedged by a slip of sealskin into the tip of the

after-pile, which is cleft to receive it and kept from splitting by a

whipping of sinew. The after-pile is fitted into the tip of the stele

with a rounded sharp-pointed tang, slightly enlarged just above the

tip. It is of reindeer antler. The rest of the arrow does not differ

from those previously described. The stele is of pine and is feathered

with three gyrfalcon feathers.

Two others from Sidaru have only a single barb on the after-pile, but

the other four have two, one behind the other on the same side. No.

89237 [164], from Utkiavwĭñ, differs in no respect from the

single-barbed flint arrows from Sidaru, but No. 72763 [164], from the

same village, has four small barbs on the after-pile, which is

unusually (nearly 7 inches) long, and a pile of sheet brass. This has

the basal angles on each side cut into three small, sharp,

backward-pointing teeth. The total length of this arrow is 28 inches.

The after-piles of all arrows except one were of reindeer antler,

which is another reason for supposing that this form of arrow is a

modification of the deer arrow. After the introduction of iron, this

metal or copper was substituted for the flint pile of the

kukĭ´ksadlĭñ, making the third and last form of bear arrow, the

sa´vĭdlĭñ (“fitted with iron”). This arrow differs from the others

only in the form of the pile, which is generally broad and flat, and

either rhomboidal, with the base cut into numerous small teeth, or

else triangular, with a shank. The barbs are usually bilateral.

No. 72758 [25], from Nuwŭk, represents the first form. The pile is of

iron, rough and flat, 2½ inches long. No. 72770 [241_b_], from

Utkiavwĭñ, is of the same form. No. 72760 [165], Fig. 186_c_, from

Utkiavwĭñ, has a similar pile 3.3 inches long, but has each of the

under edges cut into four sharp, backward-pointing teeth. No. 72778

[234_b_], Fig. 186_d_, has a pile of sheet copper 2.3 inches long, of

the same shape, but with six teeth. This arrow came from Sidaru. No.

72765 [25], from Nuwŭk, is a long, narrow iron pile with three

bilateral barbs, all simple.

Nos. 72755 [25], from Nuwŭk, 72759 [25], also from Nuwŭk, and 72764

[165], from Utkiavwĭñ, show the shanked form. The first is triangular,

with a flat shank and a simple barb at each angle of the base. It is

of steel (piece of a saw) and 2.8 inches long. The second resembles

No. 72760 [165], with more teeth, mounted on a slender cylindrical

shank 1½ inches long. It is of iron and 3.9 inches long. The third is

a long pile with a sinuate outline and one pair of simple bilateral

barbs, and a flat shank one-half inch long. Nos. 72757 [25] (Fig.

186b) and 72762 [25], both from Nuwŭk, are peculiar in being the only

iron-pointed arrows with unilateral barbs. The piles are made of the

two blades of a pair of large scissors, cut off at the point, with

enough of the handle left to make a tang. The unilateral barb is filed

out on the back of the blade, which has been beveled down on both

faces to a sharp edge. All of these broadheaded arrows have the

breadth of the pile at right angles to the plane of the nock, showing

that they are not meant to fly like the Sioux war arrows. Although

iron makes a better material for arrow piles and is more easily worked

than flint, the quivers which some men still carry at Point Barrow

contain flint as well as iron headed arrows. They are probably kept in

use from the superstitious conservatism already mentioned. It is

certain that the man who raised a couple of wolf cubs for the sake of

their fur was obliged by tradition to have a flint-headed arrow to

kill them with. These arrows, we were informed, were especially

designed for hunting “nä´nu,” the polar bear, but of course they also

served for use against other dangerous game, like the wolf and brown

bear, and there is no reason to believe that they were not also shot

at reindeer, though the hunter would naturally use his deer arrows

first.

[Illustration: FIG. 187.--Pile of deer arrow (nûtkăñ).]

Deer arrows have a long trihedral pile of antler from 4 to 8 inches

long, with a sharp thin-edged point slightly concaved on the faces

like the point of a bayonet. Two of the edges are rounded, but the

third is sharp and cut into one or more simple barbs. Behind the barb

the pile takes the form of a rounded shank, ending in a shoulder and a

sharp rounded tang a little enlarged above the point.

No. 72768 [162], Fig. 186_e_ from Utkiavwĭñ, has a pile 3½ inches long

with two barbs. The pile of No. 89238 [162] from the same village is 3½

inches long and has but one barb, while that of No. 89241_a_ [162] is

7.8 inches long and has three barbs. The rudely incised figure on the

shank of No. 89238 [162] represents a wolf, probably a talisman to

make the arrow as fatal to the deer as the wolf is. No. 56588 [13],

Fig. 187, is a pile for one of these arrows slightly peculiar in

shape, being elliptical in section, with one edge sharp and two-barbed

and a four-sided point. The figure shows well the shape of the tang.

The peculiarity of these arrows is that the pile is not fastened to

the shaft, but can easily be detached.[N307] When such an arrow was

shot into a deer the shaft would easily be shaken out, leaving the

sharp barbed pile in the wound.

[Footnote N307: Compare the passage in Frobisher’s Second Voyage

(Hakluyt, 1589, p. 628). After describing the different forms of

arrowheads used by the Eskimo of “Meta Incognita” (Baffin Land) in

1577 he says: “They are not made very fast, but lightly tyed to,

or else set in a nocke, that upon small occasion the arrowe

leaveth these heads behind them.”]

[Illustration: FIG. 188.--Kûñmûdlĭñ arrow pile.]

The Eskimo told us that a deer wounded in this way would “sleep once

and die,” meaning, apparently, that death would ensue in about

twenty-four hours, probably from peritonitis. The bone pile is called

nû´tkăñ, whence comes the name of the arrow, nû´tko´dlĭñ. We collected

ten arrows and three piles of this pattern. No. 89460 [1263], Fig.

188, is a peculiar bone arrow pile, perhaps intended for a deer arrow.

It is 7 inches long and made of one of the long bones of some large

bird, split lengthwise so that it is rounded on one side and deeply

concave on the other, with two thin rounded edges tapered to a sharp

point. Each edge has three little barbs about the middle of the pile.

This was the only arrowhead of the kind seen at Point Barrow, and the

native who sold it said it was a “Kûñmûd´lĭñ” arrow. I was pleased to

find the truth of this corroborated by the Museum collection. There

are two arrows from the Mackenzie region (Nos. 1106 and 1906) with

bone piles of almost the same form.

For shooting gulls, geese, and other large fowl they used an arrow

with a straight polygonal pile of walrus ivory, 5 or 6 inches long and

about one-half inch in diameter, terminating in a somewhat obtuse

polygonal point, and having one or more unilateral barbs. These piles

are generally five-sided, though sometimes trihedral, and have a long,

rounded tang inserted into the end of the shaft. Fig. 189_a_

(No. 89349 [119] from Utkiavwĭñ), represents one of these arrows with

a five-sided pile 5.5 inches long, with four simple barbs. The rest of

the arrow does not differ from the others described. No. 89238 [25],

from Nuwŭk, has a trihedral pile 6.6 inches long, with a single barb.

Another from Nuwŭk (No. 89241 [25]) has a trihedral pile 5.3 inches

long, with two barbs, and one from Utkiavwĭñ (No. 89241 [119]) has a

five-sided pile with three barbs. The remaining three, from Sidaru,

all have five-sided piles with one barb.

Arrows of this pattern are called tuga´lĭñ (from tu´ga, walrus ivory).

There are also in the collection two small arrows of this pattern

suited for a boy’s bow. They are only 25 inches long, and have roughly

trihedral sharp-pointed ivory piles about 4 inches long, without

barbs. (No. 89904_a_ [786] from Utkiavwĭñ). These arrows are new and

rather carelessly made, and were intended for the lad’s bow (No. 89904

[786]) already described. The three kinds of arrows which have been

described all have the pile secured to the stele by a tang fitting

into a cleft or hole in the end of the latter, which is kept from

splitting by whipping it with sinew for about one-half inch.

The fourth kind, the blunt bird arrow (kĭ´xodwain), on the other hand,

has the pile cleft to receive the wedge-shaped tip of the stele and

secured by a whipping of sinew. The four arrows of this kind in the

collection are almost exactly alike, except that three of them,

belonging to the set from Sidaru, have three feathers. Fig. 189_b_,

No. 72773 [234_c_] from Sidaru represents the form of arrow. The pile

is of hard bone 2.3 inches long. A little rim at each side of the butt

keeps the whipping of sinew from slipping off. The rest of the arrow

differs from the others described only in having the end of the stele

chamfered down to a wedge-shaped point to fit into the pile.

[Illustration: FIG. 189.--Arrows: (_a_) fowl arrow (tugalĭñ); (_b_)

bird arrow (kixodwain).]

This is the kind of arrow mostly used by the boys, whose game is

almost exclusively small birds or lemmings. Nowadays the bone pile is

often replaced by an empty cartridge shell, which makes a very good

head. I have seen a phalarope transfixed at short range by one of

these cartridge-headed arrows. An assortment of the different kind of

arrows is usually carried in the quiver. The lot numbered 25, from

Nuwŭk, which I believe to be a fairly average set, contains two

flint-headed bear arrows, one barbed bear arrow with a steel pile, six

bear arrows with iron piles, one deer arrow, two fowl arrows, and one

bird arrow.

As I have already said, all these arrows are flattened above and below

at the nocks. This indicates that they were intended to be held to the

string and let go after the manner of what is called the “Saxon

release,” namely, by hooking the ends of the index and second fingers

round the string and holding the arrow between them, the string being

released by straightening the fingers. This is the “release” which we

actually saw employed both by the boys and one or two men who showed

us how to draw the bow. This method of release has been observed at

Cumberland Gulf[N308] and at East Cape, Siberia, and is probably

universal among the Eskimo, as all the Eskimo arrows in the National

Museum are fitted for this release. There is ample material in the

Museum collections for a comparative study of Eskimo arrows, which I

hope some day to be able to undertake, when the material is in a more

available condition. One or two references to other regions will not,

however, be out of place. The arrow with a barbed bone after-pile

seems a very general form, being represented in the Museum from most

of the Alaskan regions, as well as from the Mackenzie. Scoresby

mentions finding the head of one of these at the ancient settlements

in east Greenland.[N309] The arrow, however, described by Capt.

Parry[N310] has a real foreshaft of bone, not a barbed after pile. One

of these arrows from the Mackenzie has the after pile barbed on both

sides, the only instance, I believe, in the Museum of a

bilaterally-barbed Eskimo arrow where the pile is not wholly of metal.

[Footnote N308: “In shooting this weapon the string is placed on

the first joint of the first and second fingers of the right

hand.” (Kumlien, Contributions, p. 37.)

“Beim Spannen wird der Pfeil nicht zwischen Daumen und

Zeigefinger, sondern zwischen Zeige- und Mittelfinger gehalten,”

Krause Brothers, Geographische Blätter, vol. 5, p. 33.]

[Footnote N309: Voyage to the Northern Whale Fishery, p. 187.]

[Footnote N310: 2d Voyage, p. 511, and figured with the bow (22)

on Pl. opposite p. 550.]

_Bow cases and quivers._--The bow and arrows were carried in a bow

case and quiver of black sealskin, tied together side by side and

slung across the back in the same manner as the gun holster already

described. We obtained one case and quiver which belong with the bow

and arrows (No. 25, from Nuwŭk) and a single quiver with the bow and

arrows (No. 234, from Sidaru.) The case, No. 89245 [25], Fig. 190_a_

(pizĭ´ksĭzax), is of such a shape that the bow can be carried in it

strung and ready for use. It is made by folding lengthwise a piece of

black sealskin with the flesh side in and sewing up one side “over and

over” from the outside. The bag is wide enough--6 inches at the widest

part--to allow the bow to slip in easily when strung, and the small

end is bent up into the shape of the end of the bow. Along the folded

edge are three round holes about 10 inches apart, through which a

round stick was formerly thrust, coming out from the inside through

the first hole, in through the second and out through the third again.

This served to hold the case in shape when the bow was withdrawn, and

to its ends were fastened the thong for slinging it across the

shoulders. It was gone from the specimen before we obtained it.

[Illustration: FIG. 190.--Bow case and quivers.]

The quiver (No. 89240-1 [25], Fig. 190_b_) is a long, straight bag of

the same material, open at one end, with a seam down one side, and the

edge of the mouth opposite to the seam forming a rounded flap 2 inches

long. The other end is closed by an elliptical cap of white tanned

seal skin, turned up about 2 inches all round, and crimped round the

ends like a boot sole. Its extreme length is 30 inches, and its

circumference 1 foot. Inside along the seam is a roughly rounded rod

of wood about ½ inch in diameter, with one end, which is pointed,

projecting about 1½ inches through a hole in the bottom, and the other

projecting about 1 inch beyond the mouth, where it is secured by a bit

of thong knotted through a couple of small holes in the bag close to

the edge and passing round a notch on the stick. The stick serves to

stiffen the quiver when there are no arrows in it. A bit of thong is

knotted round the middle, one end being hitched into a loop on the

other, for tightening up the quiver and confining the arrows.

The quiver from Sidaru (No. 72788 [234] Fig. 190_c_) is like the

preceding, but larger at the bottom than at the mouth. The latter is

8½ inches in circumference and the former 12¾, and the seam is left

open for about 7½ inches from the mouth to facilitate getting at the

arrows. The stiffening rod is made of pine, and does not project

through the bottom or reach the edge of the mouth. It is held in by

two pieces of thong about 10 inches long, which also serve to fasten

it to the bow case. This quiver is nearly new.

[Illustration: FIG. 191.--Quiver rod. 1/3]

It is probable that the form of the bow case and quiver varied but

little, among the American Eskimo at least. Those figured by Capt.

Lyon[N311] are almost exactly like the ones we collected at Point

Barrow, even to the crimped cap on the bottom of the quiver. A similar

set belong with a lad’s bow in the Museum from Point Hope (No. 63611).

Nordenskiöld, however, figures a very elaborate flat quiver[N312], in

use at Pitlekaj, which is evidently of genuine Asiatic origin.

[Footnote N311: Parry’s 2d Voyage, Pl. opposite p. 550, Fig. 24.]

[Footnote N312: Vega, vol. 2, p. 106.]

[Illustration: FIG. 192.--Cap for quiver rod.]

Some pains seem to have been bestowed on ornamenting the quiver in

former times, when the bow was in more general use. Fig. 191, No.

56505 [231], from Nuwŭk, represents what we understood had been a

stiffening rod for a quiver or bow case. It is of reindeer antler, 17

inches long, and one end is very neatly carved into the head and

shoulders of a reindeer, with small, blue glass beads inserted for the

eyes. The lanceolate point at the tip was probably made with an idea

of improving it for sale. The hole at the back of the neck is for a

thong to fasten it on with. A similar reindeer head of antler, Fig.

192, No. 89449 [1066], also from Nuwŭk, seems to have been a cap for a

quiver stick. The back of the neck makes a half-ferrule, in which are

three holes for rivets or treenails.

_Bracers._--In shooting the bow, the wrist of the bow hand was

protected from being chafed by the bowstring by a small shield or

“bracer” of bone or horn, strapped on with a thong. We never saw these

in use, as the bow is so seldom employed except by the children. Two

of these, newly made, were offered for sale. I will describe one of

these, No. 89410_b_ [1233], Fig. 193.

[Illustration: FIG. 193.--Bracer.]

It is of pale yellow mountain sheep horn, convex on the outer face and

concave on the inner and considerably arched lengthwise. In the middle

are two straight longitudinal narrow slots, which serve no apparent

purpose except ornament. The short slot near the edge at the middle of

each side, however, is for the thongs which strap the bracer to the

wrist. One of these is short and made into a becket by fastening the

ends together with double slits. One end of the other is passed

through the slot, slit, and the other end passed through this and

drawn taut. A knot is tied on the free end. This thong is just long

enough to fasten on the bracer by passing round the wrist and catching

the knot in the loop opposite. The other, No. 89410_a_ [1233], is like

this, but 1 inch shorter and nearly flat. The arch of the specimen

figured is probably unintentional and due to the natural shape of the

material, as it does not fit well to the wrist. It is probable that

these people used a flat bracer, as Fig. 194, No. 89350 [1382], from

Utkiavwĭñ, is apparently such an implement. It is a thin elliptical

plate of hard bone, 2½ inches long and 1½ wide, with two rows of holes

crossing at right angles in the middle. The holes at the side were

probably for the thong and the others for ornament, as some of them go

only part way through. Four small pebbles are lodged in the four holes

around the center in the form of a cross.

[Illustration: FIG. 194.--Bracer of bone.]

Mr. Nelson collected several specimens of bracers from Kotzebue Sound

and St. Lawrence Island. These are all slightly larger than our

specimens, and bent round to fit the wrist. They are of bone or

copper. When Beechey visited Kotzebue Sound, in 1826, he found the

bracer in general use.[N313] I find no other mention of this implement

in the writers who have described the Eskimo.

[Footnote N313: “They buckle on a piece of ivory, called

_mun-era_, about 3 or 4 inches long, hollowed out to the wrist, or

a guard made of several pieces of ivory or wood fastened together

like an iron-holder.” Voyage, p. 575.]

_Bird darts._--For capturing large birds like ducks or geese, sitting

on the water, especially when they have molted their wing feathers so

as to be unable to escape by flight, they use the universal Eskimo

weapon, found from Greenland to Siberia, namely, a dart with one or

more points at the tip, but carrying a second set of three ivory

prongs in a circle round the middle of the shaft. The object of these

prongs is to increase the chance of hitting the bird if he is missed

by the head of the dart. They always curve forward, so that the points

stand out a few inches from the shaft, and are barbed on the inner

edge in such a way that, though the neck of a fowl will easily pass in

between the prong and the shaft, it is impossible to draw it back

again. The weapon is in very general use at Point Barrow, and is

always thrown from the boat with a handboard (to be described below).

It can be darted with considerable accuracy 20 or 30 yards. We seldom

saw this spear used, as it is chiefly employed in catching molting

fowl, in the summer season, away from the immediate neighborhood of

the station. It is called nuiă´kpai, which is a plural referring to

the number of points, one of which is called nuiă´kpûk (“the great

nuiăk”).[N314]

[Footnote N314: This word appears to be a diminutive of the

Greenlandic nuek--nuik, now used only in the plural, nugfit, for

the spear. These changes of name may represent corresponding

changes in the weapon in former times, since, unless we may

suppose that the bird dart was made small and called the “little

nuik,” and enlarged again after the meaning of the name was

forgotten, it is hard to see any sense in the present name, “big

little nuik.”]

[Illustration: FIG. 195.--Bird dart.]

No. 89244 [1325], Fig. 195, from Utkiavwĭñ, has been selected as the

type of this weapon. The shaft is of spruce, 61⅓ inches long and 0.7

inch in diameter at the head. The end of the butt is hollowed out to

fit the catch of the throwing board. The head, of white walrus ivory,

is fitted into the cleft end of the shaft with a wedge-shaped tang as

broad as the shaft. The head and shaft are held together by a spaced

lashing of braided sinew. To the enlargement of the shaft, 22 inches

from the butt, are fastened three curved prongs of walrus ivory at

equal distances from each other round the shaft. The inner side of

each prong is cut away obliquely for about 2 inches, so that when this

edge is applied to the shaft, with the point of the prong forward, the

latter is about 1 inch from the shaft. Each prong has two little

ridges on the outside, one at the lower end and the other about 1 inch

above this. They are secured to the shaft by three separate lashings

of sinew braid, two narrow ones above the ridges just mentioned and

one broad one just below the barb. In making this the line is knotted

round one prong, then carried one-third of the distance round the

shaft to the prong; half hitched round this, and carried round next

the next prong; half hitched round this, and carried round to the

starting point, and half hitched round this. It goes around in this

way seven times, and then is carried one prong farther, half hitched

again, and the end taken down and made fast to the first narrow

lashing. The shaft is painted with red ocher to within 13½ inches (the

length of the throwing board) from the butt. This is an old shaft and

head fitted with new prongs, and was made by Nĭkawa´alu, who was

anxious to borrow it again when getting ready to start on his summer

trip to the east, where he would find young ducks and molting fowl.

[Illustration: FIG. 196.--Point for bird dart.]

[Illustration: FIG. 197.--Ancient point for bird dart.]

The form of head seen in this dart appears to be the commonest. It is

called by the same name, nû´tkăñ, as the bone head of the deer arrow.

There is considerable variation in the number of barbs, which are

always bilateral, except in one instance, No. 56590 [122], Fig. 196,

from Utkiavwĭñ, which has four barbs on one side only. It is 7¼ inches

long exclusive of the tang. Out of eight specimens of such heads one

has one pair of barbs, one two pairs, two three pairs, one four

unilateral barbs, one five pairs, one six pairs, and one seven pairs.

The total length of these heads is from 9 inches to 1 foot, of which

the tang makes about 2 inches, and they are generally made of walrus

ivory, wherein they differ from the nugfit of the Greenlanders, which,

since Crantz’s time[N315] has always had a head of iron. Iron is also

used at Cumberland Gulf, as shown by the specimens in the National

Museum. Fig. 197 represents a very ancient spearhead from Utkiavwĭñ,

No. 89372 [760]. It is of compact whale’s bone, darkened with age and

impregnated with oil. It is 8.7 inches long and the other end is

beveled off into a wedge-shaped tang roughened with crosscuts on both

faces, with a small hole for the end of a lashing as on the head of

No. 89244 [1325]. This was called by the native who sold it the head

of a seal spear, ă´kqlĭgûk, and it does bear some slight resemblance

to the head of weapon used in Greenland and called by a similar

name[N316] (agdligaḵ). The roughened tang, however, indicates that it

was intended to be fixed permanently in the shaft, and this, taken in

connection with its strong resemblance to the one-barbed head of the

Greenland nugfit[N317] as well as to the head of the Siberian bird

dart figured by Nordenskiöld[N318], makes it probable that it is

really the form of bird dart head anciently used at Point Barrow. It

is possible that this pattern has been so long out of use that the

natives have forgotten what this old point was made for and supposed

it to belong to a seal spear.

[Footnote N315: History of Greenland, vol. 1, p. 148.]

[Footnote N316: Crantz, vol. 1, p. 147, and Figs. 6 and 7, Pl. V.]

[Footnote N317: Ibid., Fig. 8.]

[Footnote N318: Vega, vol. 2, p. 105. Fig. 5.]

One of the eight heads of the ordinary pattern in the collection, No.

56592 [284], a genuine one, old and dirty, is made of coarse-grained

whale’s bone, an unusual material. No. 89373 [948], from Utkiavwĭñ, an

ivory head of a good typical shape, has been figured (Fig. 198) to

show a common style of ornamenting these heads. A narrow incised line,

colored with red ocher, runs along the base of the barbs on each side

for about three-fourths the length of the blade. These heads are

sometimes secured by treenails as well as by a simple lashing, as is

shown by the holes through the tang of this specimen.

[Illustration: FIG. 198.--Point for bird dart. 1/3]

[Illustration: FIG. 199.--Bird dart with double point. 1/5]

An improvement on this style of dart, which appears to be less common,

has two prongs at the tip instead of a sharp head, so that the bird

may be caught if struck on the neck with the point of the spear. No.

89905 [1326], Fig. 199, from Utkiavwĭñ, is one of this pattern. The

two prongs are fastened on with a lashing of fine sinew braid. The

rest of the dart does not differ from the one described except in the

method of attaching the three prongs at the middle (Fig. 199_b_).

These are fitted into slight grooves in the wood and secured by two

neat lashings of narrow strips of whalebone, one just above a little

ridge at the lower end of each prong and one through little holes in

each prong at the top of the oblique edge. Each lashing consists of

several turns with the end closely wrapped around them. There is one

specimen, No. 89242 [526], in the collection which not only has not

the prongs at the middle, but lacks the enlargement of the shaft to

receive them. The head is undoubtedly old and genuine, but the shaft

and fittings, though dirty, look suspiciously fresh. I am inclined to

believe that this head was mounted for sale by a man who had no prongs

ready made, and was in too much of a hurry to get his price to stop to

make them. Imperfect or unfinished objects were frequently offered for

sale.

The bird darts used at Point Barrow, and by the western Eskimo

generally, are lighter and better finished than those used in the

east. The latter have a heavy shaft, which is four-sided in Baffin

Land, and the prongs are crooked and clumsy.[N319]

[Footnote N319: See Crantz’s figure referred to above; also one in

Parry’s second voyage, Pl. opposite p. 550, Fig. 19, and Rink,

Tales., etc., Pl. opposite p. 12.]

Fig. 200, No. 89380 [793], is a fragment of a very ancient narwhal

ivory spearhead, dark brown from age and shiny from much handling,

which appears to have been worn as an amulet. It was said to have come

from the east and to belong to a bird dart, though it does not

resemble any in use at the present day in this region. It is a slender

four-sided rod, having on one side three short oblique equidistant

simple barbs. The resemblance of this specimen to the bone dart heads

from Scania figured by Dr. Rau[N320] is very striking.

[Illustration: FIG. 200.--Ancient ivory dart head. 1/2]

_Seal darts._--The Eskimo of nearly all localities use a dart or small

harpoon to capture the smaller marine animals, with a loose, barbed

head of bone fitted into a socket in the end of the shaft, to which it

is attached by a line of greater or less length. It is always

contrived so that when the head is struck into the quarry, the shaft

is detached from the head and acts as a drag upon the animal. This is

effected by attaching an inflated bladder to the shaft, or else by

attaching the line with a martingale so that the shaft is dragged

sideways through the water. Nearly all Eskimo except those of Point

Barrow, as shown in the National Museum collections and the figures in

Crantz[N321] and Rink[N322], use weapons of this kind of considerable

size, adapted not only to the capture of the small seals (_Phoca

vitulina_ and _P. fœtida_), but also to the pursuit of the larger

seals, the narwhal and beluga. At Point Barrow, however, at the

present day, they employ only a small form of this dart, not over 5

feet long, with a little head, adapted only for holding the smallest

seals. That they formerly used the larger weapon is shown by our

finding a single specimen of the head of such a spear, No. 89374

[1281] Fig. 201. It is of hard, compact bone, impregnated with oil,

8.1 inches long. The flat shank is evidently intended to fit into a

socket. The two holes through the widest part of the shank are for

attaching the line.

[Footnote N320: Prehistoric fishing, Figs. 94 and 95, p. 73.]

[Footnote N321: History of Greenland, vol. 1, p. 147, Pl. V, Figs.

6 and 7.]

[Footnote N322: Tales, etc., Pl. opposite p. 12 (“bladder

arrow”).]

[Illustration: FIG. 201.--Bone dart head. 1/3]

This is very like the head of the weapon called _agligak_ (modern

Greenlandic agdligak), figured by Crantz, and referred to above,

except that the barbs are opposite each other. Mr. Lucien M. Turner

tells me that it is precisely like the head of the dart used at Norton

Sound for capturing the beluga. The native who sold this specimen

called it “nuiă´kpai nû´tkoa,” “the point of a bird dart,” to which it

does bear some resemblance, though the shape of the butt and the line

holes indicate plainly that it was a _detachable_ dart head. Probably,

as in the case of the ancient bird dart point, No. 89372 [760],

referred to above, this weapon has been so long disused that the

natives have forgotten what it was. The name ă´kqlĭgûk, evidently the

same as the Greenlandic _agdligak_, is still in use, but was always

applied to the old bone harpoon heads, which are, however, of the

toggle-head pattern (described below). It seems as if the Point Barrow

natives had forgotten all about the ă´kqlĭgûk except that it was a

harpoon with a bone head for taking seals. At the present time the

small bladder float, permanently attached to the shaft of the harpoon,

is never used at Point Barrow. That it was used in ancient times is

shown by our finding in one of the ruined houses in Utkiavwĭñ a very

old broken nozzle for inflating one of these floats. Fig. 202, No.

89720 [756], is this specimen, which was picked up by Capt. Herendeen.

This is a rounded tube of fossil ivory, 1.3 inches long and about

one-half inch in diameter, slightly contracted toward one end and then

expanded into a stout collar. At the other is a stout longitudinal

flange, three-fourths inch long, perforated with an oblong slot.

Between the flange and the collar the surface is roughened with

crosscuts, and the other end is still choked with the remains of a

wooden plug. This nozzle was inserted into a hole in the bladder as

far as the flange and secured by tying the bladder above the collar.

The whole was then secured to the shaft by a lashing through the slot,

and could be inflated at pleasure and corked up with the wooden plug.

[Illustration: FIG. 202.--Nozzle for bladder float.]

[Illustration: FIG. 203.--Seal dart. 1/12]

As I have already said, the only harpoon of this kind now used at

Point Barrow is a small one intended only for the capture of small

seals. It has no bladder, but the rather long line is attached to the

shaft by a martingale which makes the shaft drag sideways through the

water. Three of these little darts, which are thrown with a handboard

like the bird dart, make a set. The resistance of the shafts of these

three spears darted into the seal in succession is said to be

sufficient to fatigue the seal so that he can be easily approached and

dispatched. We never saw these weapons used, though they are very

common, as they are intended only for use from the kaiak, which these

people seldom use in the neighborhood of the villages. When in the

_umiak_, shooting with the rifle is a more expeditious means of taking

seals. We collected three sets of these darts (kúkigû).

No. 89249_b_ [523], Fig. 203, has been selected for description. The

shaft is of spruce, 54½ inches long, and 0.8 inch in diameter at the

tip, tapering slightly almost to the butt, which is hollowed on the

end to fit the catch of the throwing board. The foreshaft is of white

walrus ivory 5 inches long, and is fitted into the tip of the shaft

with a wedge-shaped tang. This foreshaft, which has a deep oblong slot

to receive the head in the middle of its flat tip, serves the double

purpose of making a strong solid socket for the head and giving

sufficient weight to the end of the dart to make it fly straight. The

head is a simple flat barbed arrowhead of hard bone 2.3 inches long

and one-half inch broad across the barbs, with a flat tang, broadest

in the middle, where there is a hole for attaching the line. This head

simply serves to attach the drag of the shaft to the seal as it is too

small to inflict a serious wound. It is fastened to the shaft by a

martingale made as follows: One end of a stout line of sinew braid 5½

feet long is passed through the hole in the head and secured by tying

a knot in the end. The other end of this line divides into two parts

not quite so stout, one 3 feet long, the other 2 feet 8 inches. The

latter is fastened to the shaft 18½ inches from the butt by a single

marling hitch with the end wedged into a slit in the wood and seized

down with fine sinew. The longer part serves to fasten the foreshaft

to the shaft, and was probably put on separately and worked into the

braiding of the rest of the line at the junction. The foreshaft is

kept from slipping out by a little transverse ridge on each side of

the tang. When the weapon is mounted for use the two parts of the

bridle are brought together at the middle of the shaft and wrapped

spirally around it till only enough line is left to permit the head to

be inserted in the socket, and the bight of the line is secured by

tucking it under the last turn. When a seal is struck with this dart

his sudden plunge to escape unships the head. The catch of the

martingale immediately slips; the latter unrolls and drags the shaft

through the water at right angles to the line. The shaft, besides

acting as a drag on the seal’s motions, also serves as a float to

indicate his position to the hunter, as its buoyancy brings it to the

surface before the seal when the latter rises for air.

The shaft is usually painted red except so much of the end as lies in

the groove of the throwing-board, in the act of darting. These darts

vary but little in size and material, and are all of essentially the

same pattern. They are always about 5 feet in length when mounted for

use. (The longest is 64⅓ inches, and the shortest 57.) The head, as

well as the foreshaft, is sometimes made of walrus ivory, and the

latter sometimes of whale’s bone. The chief variation is in the length

of the martingale, and the details of the method of attaching it. No

two are precisely alike. The foreshaft is generally plain, but is

occasionally highly ornamented, as is shown in Fig. 204, No. 56516

[105]. The figures are all incised and colored, some with ocher and

some with soot.

[Illustration: FIG. 204.--Foreshaft of seal dart. 1/2]

Both of the kinds of darts above described are thrown by means of a

hand board or throwing-board. This is a flat, narrow board, from 15 to

18 inches long, with a handle at one end and a groove along the upper

surface in which the spear lies with the butt resting against a catch

at the other end. The dart is propelled by a quick motion of the

wrist, as in casting with a fly-rod, which swings up the tip of the

board and launches the dart forward. This contrivance, which

practically makes of the hand a lever 18 inches long, enables the

thrower by a slight motion of the wrist to impart great velocity to

the dart. The use of this implement is universal among the Eskimo,

though not peculiar to them. The Greenlanders, however, not only use

it for the two kinds of darts already mentioned, but have adapted it

to the large harpoon.[N323] This is undoubtedly to adapt the large

harpoon for use from the kaiak, which the Greenlanders use more

habitually than most other Eskimo. On the other hand, the people of

Baffin Land and the adjoining regions, as well as the inhabitants of

northeastern Siberia, use it only with the bird dart.[N324] Throughout

western North America the throwing-board is used essentially as at

Point Barrow. Prof. O. T. Mason has given[N325] an interesting account

of the different forms of throwing-board used by the Eskimo and Aleuts

of North America.

[Illustration: FIG. 205.--Throwing board for darts. 1/4 1/4]

[Footnote N323: Crantz, vol. 1, p. 146, Pl. V, Figs. 1 and 2, and

Rink as quoted above, also Kane, First Exp., p. 478.]

[Footnote N324: Parry, Second Voyage, p. 508 (Iglulik); and

Nordenskiöld, Vega, vol. 2, p. 105, Fig. 5.]

[Footnote N325: Smithsonian Report for 1884, part II, pp.

279-289.]

We obtained five specimens of the form used at Point Barrow. No. 89233

[523], Fig. 205_a_, belonging to the set of seal darts bearing the

same collector’s number, has been selected as the type. This is made

of spruce, and the hole is for the forefinger. A little peg of walrus

ivory, shaped like a flat-headed nail, is driven through the middle of

the tip so that the edge of the head just projects into the groove.

This fits into the hollow in the butt of the dart and serves to steady

it. It is painted red on the back and sides. Fig. 205_b_, No. 89235

[60], differs from this in having a double curve instead of being

flat. A slight advantage is gained by this as in a crooked lever. The

catch is a small iron nail. The others are essentially the same as the

type. No. 89234 [528], has a small brass screw for the catch, and No.

89902 [1326], has an ivory peg of a slightly different shape, the head

having only a projecting point on one side. They are generally painted

with red ocher except on the inside of the groove. There appears to be

no difference between throwing-boards meant for seal darts and those

used with the bird dart.

Unfortunately I had no opportunity of observing accurately how the

handle was grasped, but it is probably held as seen by Beechey at

Eschscholtz Bay,[N326] namely, with the forefinger in the hole, the

thumb and middle finger clasped round the spear, and the third and

little fingers clasping the handle under the spear. This seems a very

natural way of holding it. Of course, the fingers release the spear at

the moment of casting. All the throwing-boards from Point Barrow are

right-handed.

[Footnote N326: Voyage, p. 324.]

[Illustration: FIG. 206.--Harpoon head. 1/2]

_Harpoons._--All kinds of marine animals, including the smaller seals,

which are also captured with the darts just described and with nets,

are pursued with harpoons of the same general type, but of different

patterns for the different animals. They may be divided into two

classes--those intended for throwing, which come under the head of

projectile weapons, and those which do not leave the hand, but are

thrust into the animal. These fall properly under the head of

thrusting weapons. Both classes agree in having the head only attached

permanently to the line, fitted loosely to the end of the shaft, and

arranged so that when struck into the animal it is detached from the

shaft, and turns under the skin at right angles to the line, like a

toggle, so that it is almost impossible for it to draw out.

No. 89793 [873], Fig. 206, is a typical toggle head of this kind,

intended for a walrus harpoon (túkɐ), and will be described in full,

as the names of the different parts will apply to all heads of this

class. The _body_ is a conoidal piece, 4½ inches in length, and

flattened laterally so that at the widest part it is 1 inch wide and

0.7 thick. On one side, which may be called the _lower_, it is cut off

straight for about half the longer diameter, while the upper side is

produced into a long, four-sided spur, the _barb_. The _line hole_ is

a round hole about one-fourth inch in diameter, a little back of the

middle of the body, at right angles to its longer diameter. From this,

on each side, run shallow _line grooves_ to the base of the body,

gradually deepening as they run into the line hole. In the middle of

the base of the body is the deep, cup-shaped _shaft-socket_, which

fits the conical tip of the shaft or fore shaft. In the tip of the

body is cut, at right angles to the longer diameter of the body, and

therefore at right angles to the plane of the barb, the narrow _blade

slit_, 1.1 inches deep, into which fits, secured by a single median

rivet of whalebone, the flat, thin _blade_ of metal (brass in this

case). This is triangular, with curved edges, narrowly beveled on both

faces, and is 1.9 inches long and 1 broad.

[Illustration: FIG. 207.--Harpoon head. 1/3]

The body is sometimes cut into faces so as to be hexagonal instead of

elliptical in section as in Fig. 207 (No. 89791 [873]), and

intermediate forms are common. When such a head is mounted for use a

bight of the line or _leader_, a short line for connecting the head

with the main line, runs through the line hole so that the head is

slung in a loop in the end of the line. The tip of the shaft is then

fitted into the shaft socket and the line brought down the shaft with

the parts of the loop on each side resting in the line grooves and is

made fast, usually so that a slight pull will detach it from the

shaft. When the animal is struck the blade cuts a wound large enough

to allow the head to pass in beyond the barb. The struggles of the

animal make the head slip off the tip of the shaft and the strain on

the line immediately toggles it across the wound. The toggle head of

the whale harpoon is called kia¢ron, of the walrus harpoon, tukɐ, and

of the seal harpoon, naulɐ. They are all of essentially the same

pattern, differing chiefly in size.

[Illustration: FIG. 208.--Ancient bone harpoon head.]

There is in the collection an interesting series of old harpoon heads,

showing a number of steps in the development of the modern pattern of

harpoon head from an ancient form. These heads seem to have been

preserved as amulets; in fact one of them is still attached to a belt.

They are not all of the same kind, but since the different kinds as

mentioned above practically differ only in size, their development was

probably the same. The earliest form in the collection is No. 89382

[1383], Fig. 208, from Nuwŭk, which is evidently very old, as it is

much worn and weathered. It is a single flat piece of fine-grained

bone 3 inches long, pointed at the end and provided with a single

unilateral barb. Behind this it is narrowed and then widened into a

broad flat base produced on one side into a sharp barb, in the same

plane as the other barb, which represents the blade, but on the

opposite side. The line hole is large and irregularly triangular, and

there are no line grooves. Instead of a shaft socket bored in the

solid body, one side of the body is excavated into a deep longitudinal

groove, which was evidently converted into a socket by a transverse

band, probably of sealskin, running round the body, and kept in place

by a shallow transverse groove on the convex side of it. A harpoon

head with the socket made by inclosing a groove with thongs was seen

by Dr. Kane at Smith Sound.[N327]

[Illustration: FIG. 209.--Harpoon heads: (_a_) ancient bone harpoon

head: (_b_) variant of the type. 1/2]

[Illustration: FIG. 210.--Bone harpoon head. 1/2]

The next form, No. 89331 [932], Fig. 209_a_, has two bilateral barbs

to the blade part, thus increasing its holding power. Instead of an

open transverse groove to hold the thong, it has two slots parallel to

the socket groove running obliquely to the other side, where they open

into a shallow depression. Figs. 209_b_ and 210, Nos. 89544 [1419] and

89377 [766], are variants of this form, probably intended for the

larger seal, as the blade part is very long in proportion. No. 89544

[1419] is interesting from its close resemblance to the spear head

figured by Nordenskiöld[N328] from the ancient “Onkilon” house at

North Cape. No. 89377 [766] is a peculiar form, which was perhaps not

general, as it has left no descendants among the modern harpoon.

Instead of the bilateral blade barbs it has an irregular slot on each

side, which evidently served to hold a blade of stone, and the single

barb of the body is replaced by a cluster of four, which are neither

in the plane of the blade nor at right angles to it, but between the

two. No modern harpoon heads from Point Barrow have more than two

barbs on the body. The next improvement was to bore the shaft socket

instead of making it by inclosing a groove with thongs. This is shown

in Fig. 211 (No. 89379 [795], from Utkiavwĭñ), which is just like No.

89544 [1419] except in this respect. The line grooves first appear at

this stage of the development.

[Illustration: FIG. 211.--Bone harpoon head. 1/2]

[Footnote N327: Second Grinnell Exp., vol. 1, Figs. on pp. 412 and

413.]

[Footnote N328: Vega, vol. 1, p. 444, Fig. 5.]

The next step was to obtain greater penetration by substituting a

triangular blade of stone for the barbed bone point, with its breadth

still in the plane of the body barb. This blade was either of slate

(No. 89744 [969] from Nuwŭk) or of flint, as in Fig. 212 (No. 89748

[928], also from Nuwŭk). Both of these are whale harpoons, such as are

sometimes used even at the present day.

[Illustration: FIG. 212.--Harpoon head, bone and stone. 1/3]

Before the introduction of iron it was discovered that if the blade

were inserted at right angles to the plane of the body barb the

harpoon would have a surer hold, since the strain on the line would

always draw it at right angles to the length of the wound cut by the

blade. This is shown in Fig. 213 (No. 56620 [199], a walrus harpoon

head from Utkiavwĭñ), which has the slate blade inserted in this

position. Substituting a metal blade for the stone one gives us the

modern toggle head, as already described. That the insertion of the

stone blade preceded the rotation of the plane of the latter is,

I think, conclusively shown by the whale harpoons[N329] already

mentioned, in spite of the fact that we have a bone harpoon head in

the collection, No. 89378 [1261], figured in Point Barrow report,

which is exactly like No. 89379 [795], except that it has the blade

_at right angles_ to the plane of the body barb. This is, however,

a newly made model in reindeer antler of the ancient harpoon, and was

evidently made by a man so used to the modern pattern that he forgot

this important distinction. The development of this spear head has

been carried no further at Point Barrow. At one or two places,

however, namely, at Cumberland Gulf in the east[N330] and at Sledge

Island in the west (as shown in Mr. Nelson’s collection), they go a

step further in making the head of the seal harpoon, body and blade,

of one piece of iron. The shape, however, is the same as those with

the ivory or bone body.

[Illustration: FIG. 213.--Harpoon head, bone and stone. 1/2]

[Footnote N329: Compare, also, the walrus harpoon figured by Capt.

Lyon, Parry’s Second Voyage, Pl. opposite p. 550, Fig. 13.]

[Footnote N330: See Kumlien, Contributions, p. 35, and Boas,

“Central Eskimo,” p. 473, Fig. 393.]

All of the Eskimo race, as far as I have any definite information, use

toggle harpoon-heads. There are specimens in the National Museum from

Greenland, Cumberland Gulf, the Anderson and Mackenzie region, and

from the Alaskan coast from Point Barrow to Kadiak, as well as from

St. Lawrence Island, which are all of essentially the same type, but

slightly modified in different localities. The harpoon head in use at

Smith Sound is of the same form as the walrus harpoon heads used at

Point Barrow, but appears always to have the shaft socket made by a

groove closed with thongs.[N331] In Danish Greenland, however, the

body has an extra pair of bilateral barbs below the blade. The

Greenlanders have, as it were, substituted a metal blade for the point

only of the barbed blade portion of such a bone head as No. 89379

[795].[N332]

[Footnote N331: Kane, 2d Grinnell Exp., vol. 1, pp. 412 and 413

(Fig. 1), and Bessells, Naturalist, vol. 18, pt. 9, p. 869, Figs.

6-12.]

[Footnote N332: Crantz, vol. 1, p. 146, and Pl. V, Figs. 1 and 2,

and Rink Tales, etc., Pl. opposite p. 10.]

Curiously enough, this form of the toggle head appears again in the

Mackenzie and Anderson region, as shown by the extensive collections

of Ross, MacFarlane, and others. In this region the metal blade itself

is often cut into one or more pairs of bilateral barbs. At the Straits

of Fury and Hecla, Parry found the harpoon head, with a body like the

walrus harpoon heads at Point Barrow,[N333] but with the blade _in the

plane_ of the body barb. Most of the pictures scattered through the

work represent the blade in this position, but Fig. 19 on the same

plate has the blade at right angles to the barb, so that the older

form may not be universal. At Cumberland Gulf the form of the body is

considerably modified, though the blade is of the usual shape and in

the ordinary position. The body is flattened at right angles to the

usual direction, so that the thickness is much greater than the width.

It always has two body barbs. On the western coast the harpoon heads

are much less modified, though there is a tendency to increase the

number of body barbs, at the same time ornamenting the body more

elaborately as we go south from Bering Strait. Walrus harpoon heads

with a single barb, hardly distinguishable from those used at Point

Barrow, are in the collection from the Diomedes and all along the

northern shore of Norton Sound, and one also from the mouth of the

Kuskoquim. They are probably also used from Point Barrow to Kotzebue

Sound. At St. Lawrence Island and on the Asiatic shore they are the

common if not the universal form.[N334] The seal harpoon head (naulɐ)

at Point Barrow appears always to have the body barb split at the tip

into two, and this is the case rarely with the tu´kɐ. This form, which

appears occasionally north of Norton Sound (Port Clarence, Cape Nome),

appears to be more common south of this locality, where, however,

a pattern with the barb divided into three points seems to be the

prevailing form. I will now proceed to the description of the

different forms of harpoon with which these toggle heads are used.

[Footnote N333: 2d Voyage, Pl. opposite p. 550, Fig. 13.]

[Footnote N334: Museum collections and Nordenskiöld, Vega, vol. 2,

p. 105, Fig. 1. This figure shows the blade _in the plane_ of the

barb, but none of the specimens from Plover Bay are of this form.]

Throwing-harpoons are always thrown from the hand without a

throwing-board or other assistance, and are of two sizes, one for the

walrus and bearded seal, and one for the small seals. Both have a long

shaft of wood to the tip of which is attached a heavy bone or ivory

foreshaft, usually of greater diameter than the shaft and somewhat

club-shaped. This serves the special purpose of giving weight to the

head of the harpoon, so it can be darted with a sure aim. The native

name of this part of the spear, ukumailuta (Greenlandic, okimailutaĸ,

_weight_), indicates its design. This contrivance of weighting the

head of the harpoon with a heavy foreshaft is peculiar to the western

Eskimo. On all the eastern harpoons (see figures referred to above and

the Museum collections) the foreshaft is a simple cap of bone no

larger than the shaft the tip of which it protects. Between the

foreshaft and the toggle-head is interposed the _loose shaft_

(i´gimû), a slender rod of bone whose tip fits into the shaft socket

of the head, while its butt fits loosely in a socket in the tip of the

foreshaft. It is secured to the shaft by a thong just long enough to

allow it to be unshipped from the foreshaft. This not only prevents

the loose shaft from breaking under a lateral strain, but by its play

facilitates unshipping the head. On these harpoons intended for

throwing, this loose shaft is always short. This brings the weight of

the foreshaft close to the head, while it leaves space enough for the

head to penetrate beyond the barb.

The walrus harpoon varies in size, being adapted to the strength and

stature of the owner. Of the six in our collection, the longest, when

mounted for use, is 9 feet 6 inches long, and the shortest 5 feet 8

inches. The ordinary length appears to be about 7 feet. It has a long,

heavy shaft (ipua) of wood, usually between 5 and 6 feet long and

tapering from a diameter of 1½ inches at the head to about 1 inch at

the butt. The head is not usually fastened directly to the line, but

has a leader of double thong 1 to 2 feet long, with a becket at the

end into which the main line is looped or hitched. At the other end of

the line, which is about 30 feet long, is another becket to which is

fastened a float consisting of a whole sealskin inflated. When the

head is fitted on the tip of the loose shaft the line is brought down

to the middle of the shaft and hooked by means of a little becket to

an ivory peg (ki´lerbwĭñ) projecting from the side of the shaft. The

eastern Eskimo have, in place of the simple becket, a neat little

contrivance consisting of a plate of ivory lashed to the line with a

large slot in it which hooks over the catch, but nothing of the sort

was observed at Point Barrow.

The harpoon thus mounted is poised in the right hand with the

forefinger resting against a curved ivory projection (ti´ka) and

darted like a white man’s harpoon, the float and line being thrown

overboard at the same time. When a walrus is struck the head slips off

and toggles as already described; the line detaches itself from the

catch, leaving the shaft free to float and be picked up. The float is

now fastened to the walrus, and, like the shaft of the seal dart, both

shows his whereabouts and acts as a drag on his movements until he is

“played” enough for the hunters to come up and dispatch him. This

weapon is called u´nakpûk, “the great u´na or spear.” U´na (unâk,

u´nañ) appears to be a generic term in Eskimo for harpoon, but at

Point Barrow is now restricted to the harpoon used for stabbing seals

as they come up to their breathing holes.

We collected six of these walrus harpoons complete and forty-two

separate heads. Of these, No. 56770 [534], Fig. 214_a_, has the most

typical shaft and loose shaft. The shaft is of spruce 71 inches long,

roughly rounded, and tapering from a diameter of 1½ inches at the tip

to 0.8 at the butt. The foreshaft is of white walrus ivory, 6.7 inches

long, exclusive of the wedge-shaped tang which fits into a cleft in

the tip of the shaft. It is somewhat club-shaped, being 1.6 inches in

diameter at the tip and tapering to 1.3 just above the butt, which

expands to the diameter of the shaft, and is separated from the tang

by a square transverse shoulder. The shaft and foreshaft are fastened

together by a whipping of broad seal thong, put on wet, one end

passing through a hole in the foreshaft one-quarter inch from the

shaft, and kept from slipping by a low transverse ridge on each side

of the tang. In the tip of the foreshaft is a deep, round socket to

receive the loose shaft, which is a tapering rod of walrus ivory 4.4

inches long, shouldered off at the butt, which is 0.7 inch in

diameter, to a blunt, rounded tang 0.9 inch long. It fits loosely into

the foreshaft up to the shoulder, and is secured by a piece of narrow

seal thong which passes through a transverse hole one-half inch above

the shoulder. The end is spliced to the standing part with double

slits about 6 inches from the loose shaft, and the other end makes a

couple of turns outside of the lashing on the shaft mentioned above

and is secured with two half-hitches.

[Illustration: FIG. 214.--Walrus harpoons. 1/12 1/15]

The line catch (ki´lerbwĭñ) is a little, blunt, backward-pointing hook

of ivory inserted in the shaft 17 inches from the tip and projecting

about one-third inch. Ten and one-fourth inches farther back and 90

degrees round the shaft from the line catch is the finger rest--a

conical recurved piece of ivory 1 inch high, with a flat base, resting

against the shaft and secured by a lashing of whalebone, which passes

through two corresponding holes, one in the rest and one in the shaft.

The head and line belonging to this harpoon are intended for hunting

the bearded seal, and will be described below. No. 56772 [536], Fig.

214_b_, from Utkiavwĭñ, is fitted with fairly typical walrus gear. The

head is of the typical form, 6 inches long, with a conoidal body of

walrus ivory, ornamented with incised lines colored with red ocher,

and a blade of steel secured by a whalebone rivet. The “leader,” which

is about 15 inches long, is made by passing one end of a piece of

stout walrus-hide thong about one-quarter inch wide through the line

hole and doubling it with the head in the bight, so that one part is

about 6 inches the longer. The two parts are stopped together about 2

inches from the head with a bit of sinew braid. The ends are joined

and made into a becket, as follows: The longer end is doubled back for

7 inches and a slit cut through both parts about 2 inches from the

end. The shorter end is passed through this slit, and a slit is cut 5

inches from the end of this, through which the loop of the other end

is passed and all drawn taut. The whole joint is then tightly seized

with sinew braid so as to leave a becket 3 inches and a free end 4

inches long. This becket is looped into an eye 1½ inches long at the

end of the main line, made by doubling over 5 inches of the end and

stopping the two parts firmly together with sinew braid. The line is

of the hide of the bearded seal, about the same diameter as the

leader, and 27 feet long. It is in two nearly equal parts, spliced

together with double slits, firmly seized with sinew braid. There is a

becket about 8 inches long at the other end of the line for attaching

the float, made by doubling over the end and tying a carrick bend, the

end of which is stopped back to the standing part with sinew braid.

The becket to hook upon the line catch is a bit of sinew braid,

fastened to the line 2½ feet from the head, as follows: One end being

laid against the line it is doubled in a bight and the end is whipped

down to the line by the other end, which makes five turns round them.

I will now consider the variations of the different parts of these

harpoons in detail, beginning with the head. Our series is so large,

containing in all forty-eight heads, besides some spare blades, that

it probably gives a fair representation of the common variations. The

longest of this series is 6 inches long and the shortest 3½, but by

far the greater number are from 4½ to 5 inches long. Their proportions

are usually about as in the types figured, but the long head just

figured (No. 56772 [534]) is also unusually slender. Sheet brass is

the commonest material for the blade (thirty blades are of this

material), though iron or steel is sometimes used, and rarely, at

present, slate. There is one slate-bladed head in the series

(No. 56620 [199]) figured above, and four blades for such heads. The

blade is commonly of the shape of the type figured, triangular with

curved edges, varying from a rather long triangle like the slate blade

just mentioned to a rather short one with very strongly curved edges

like Fig. 215_a_ (No. 89750 [1038]), which is peculiar as the only

walrus harpoon head with a body of reindeer antler. It also has an

iron blade and a rivet of iron, not seldom with rounded basal angles

so as to be almost heart-shaped, like Fig. 215_b_ (No. 56621 [283]).

A less common shape of blade is lanceolate, with the base cut off

square as in Fig. 216_a_ (No. 89764 [940]). Only eight blades out of

the series are of this shape. A still more peculiar shape of blade, of

which we saw only one specimen, is shown in Fig. 216_b_ (No. 89790

[943]). This is made of brass. It was perhaps meant for an imitation

of the barbed blades used at the Mackenzie, of which I have already

spoken.

[Illustration: FIG. 215.--Typical walrus-harpoon heads. 1/2]

[Illustration: FIG. 216.--Typical walrus-harpoon heads. 1/2]

The blade, when of metal, is generally fastened in with a single

rivet. One only out of the whole number has two rivets, and three are

simply wedged into the blade slit. The slate blades appear never to

have been riveted; Nordenskiöld, however, figures a walrus harpoon

from Port Clarence[N335] with a jade blade riveted in. The rivet is

generally made of whalebone, but other materials are sometimes used.

For instance, in the series collected two have rivets of iron, two of

wood, and five of rawhide. The body is generally made of white walrus

ivory, (five of those collected are of hard bone, and one already

mentioned and figured, No. 89750 [1038], Fig. 215_a_, is of reindeer

antler), and the hexagonal shape, often with rounded edges, and the

line grooves continued to the tip, as in Fig. 217_a_, No. 89757 [947],

appears to be the commonest. Three out of the forty-eight have

four-sided bodies. It is unusual for the body barb to be bifurcated,

as is common farther south. Only three out of the forty-eight show

this peculiarity, of which No. 56613 [53], Fig. 217_b_, is an example.

[Footnote N335: Vega, vol. 2, p. 229, Fig. 3.]

The specimens figured show the different styles of ornamentation,

which always consist of incised patterns colored with red ocher or

rarely with soot. These never represent natural objects, but are

always conventional patterns, generally a single or double border on

two or more faces with short oblique cross-lines and branches. Harpoon

heads at Point Barrow are probably never ornamented with the “circles

and dots,” so common on other implements and on the harpoons of the

southern Eskimo.

[Illustration: FIG. 217.--Typical walrus-harpoon heads. 1/2]

Twenty-eight of the heads still have the leaders attached to them. The

object of this short line is to enable the hunter to readily detach a

broken head and put on a fresh one without going to the trouble of

undoing a splice, which must be made strong to keep the head from

separating from the line. It is made of a stout piece of rawhide

thong, the skin of the walrus or bearded seal, about one-third inch in

diameter, and usually from 2 to 3 feet long. It is always passed

through the line hole, as in the specimen described, and the ends are

made into a becket for attaching the line, with an end left to serve

as a handle for pulling the two beckets apart when the main line ends

in a becket. Occasionally (two are made this way) the longer end is

simply doubled in a bight, and the three parts are then seized

together with sinew braid, but it is generally made with a splice, the

details of which differ slightly on the different leaders.

[Illustration: FIG. 218.--Walrus-harpoon head, with leader. 1/3]

[Illustration: FIG. 219.--Walrus-harpoon head, with line. 4/9]

[Illustration: FIG. 220.--Walrus-harpoon head, with line. 1/3]

The commonest method is that already described. When the longer end is

doubled over, a slit is cut through both parts close to the end of

this through which the shorter end is passed. A slit is then cut a few

inches from the tip of this part, the bight of the becket passed

through this slit and all drawn taut. This makes a very strong splice.

Fourteen beckets are spliced in this way. A variation of this splice

has a slit only through the end part of the longer end, the shorter

end being passed through and slit as before. In one becket the

standing part of the longer end is passed through the slit of the end

part before going through the line hole, while the rest of the becket

is made as before. A reversed splice is found on three of the leaders,

which is made as follows: When the long end is doubled over, the short

end is slit as usual and the longer end passed through this and slit

close to the tip. Through this slit is passed the head and all drawn

taut. The splice is always firmly seized with sinew braid. The main

line, which serves to attach the head to the float, is always made of

stout thong, preferably the skin of the bearded seal (very fine lines

are sometimes made of beluga skin), about one-third inch square, and,

when properly made, trimmed off on the edges so as to be almost round.

It is about 10 yards long. It is fastened into the becket of the

leader with a becket hitch tied upside down (No. 56771 [535], Fig.

218), or by means of a small becket, made either as on the specimen

described (No. 56770 [536], Fig. 219), or spliced with double slits.

The long becket at the other end for attaching the float is made

either by tying a carrick bend with the end stopped back to the

standing part (Fig. 220, No. 56767 [531]), or by splicing (Fig. 221,

No. 56769).

[Illustration: FIG. 221.--Walrus-harpoon head, with line. 1/2]

The loose shaft varies very little in shape, though it is sometimes

rounded off at the butt without a shoulder, but the line which secures

this to the foreshaft is put on differently on each of the six spears.

Five of them have the end simply passed through the hole in the loose

shaft and spliced to the standing part, but two (the type figured and

No. 56768 [532]) have the other end carried down and hitched round the

tip of the shaft; another has it passed through a hole in the

foreshaft, taken 1½ turns round this and knotted (No. 56771 [535]);

another has a loop as long as the foreshaft with the short end passed

under the first turn of the shaft lashing before it is spliced, and

the long end secured as on the first mentioned; and the fifth has the

end passed through a hole in the foreshaft and carried down and

wrapped round the shaft lashing. The sixth has one end passed through

a hole in the smallest part of the foreshaft and knotted at the end,

the other end carried up through the hole in the loose shaft and down

to a second hole in the foreshaft close to the first, then up through

the loose shaft, and down through the first hole, and tucked under the

two parts on the other side.

The foreshaft is made of walrus ivory or the hard bone of the walrus

jaw and varies little in form and dimensions. It is sometimes

ornamented by carving, as in No. 56772 [536], or by incised patterns,

as in Fig. 222, No. 56538 [98], and generally has one or two deep

longitudinal notches in the thickest part, in which the lines can be

drawn snugly down. It usually is joined to the shaft by a stout,

wedge-shaped tang, which fits into a corresponding cleft in the shaft,

and is secured by wooden treenails and a wrapping of seal thong or

sinew braid, sometimes made more secure by passing one end through

holes in the foreshaft. No. 56768 [532] is peculiar in having the tang

on the shaft and the corresponding cleft in the foreshaft. The shaft

itself varies little in shape and proportions, and at the present day

is sometimes made of ash or other hard wood obtained from the ships.

The line catch is generally a little hook of ivory or hard bone like

the one described, but two specimens have small screws fastened into

the shaft to serve this purpose. The finger rest is ordinarily of the

same shape as on the type and fastened on in the same way, but No.

56771 [535] has this made of a knob of ivory elaborately carved into a

seal’s head. The eyes are represented by round bits of ivory with

pupils drilled in them inlaid in the head. This is evidently the knob

of a seal drag (see below) as the longitudinal perforation from chin

to nape now serves no purpose. It is fastened on by a lashing of

whalebone, which runs round the shaft and through a transverse hole in

the knob.

[Illustration: FIG. 222.--Foreshaft of walrus harpoon. 1/3]

Harpoons closely resembling these in type are used by the Eskimo of

western North America wherever they habitually hunt the walrus. At

many places this heavy spear is armed at the butt with a long sharp

pick of ivory like the smaller seal spear. Two of these large harpoons

appear to be rigged especially for the pursuit of the bearded seal, as

they have heads which are of precisely the same shape and material as

the small seal harpoons in the collection. Both these heads have

lanceolate iron blades, conoidal antler bodies with double barbs, and

are more slender than the walrus harpoon heads. No. 56770 [534], Fig.

219, has a head 4 inches long and 0.7 broad at the widest part, and

fastened to a very long line (12 fathoms long) without a leader, the

end being simply passed through the line hole and seized down to the

standing part with sinew braid. This is the method of attaching the

head of the small seal harpoons. This line is so long that it may have

been held in the boat and not attached to a float. No. 56768 [532],

however, has a leader with a becket of the ordinary style. Fig. 223,

No. 56611 [89], is a head similar to those just described, and

probably, from its size, intended for large seals. It is highly

ornamented with the usual reddened incised pattern.

[Illustration: FIG. 223.--Harpoon head for large seals. 1/2]

The throwing harpoon for small seals is an exact copy in miniature of

the walrus harpoon, with the addition of a long bayonet-shaped pick of

ivory at the butt. The line, however, is upwards of 30 yards long, and

the end never leaves the hand. The line is hitched round the shaft

back of the line catch, which now only serves to keep the line from

slipping forward, as the shaft is never detached from the line. This

harpoon is used exclusively 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 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 hunted with the rifle

in the small open holes of water.[N336]

[Footnote N336: See the writer’s note on this weapon, American

Naturalist, vol. 19, p. 423.]

Since my note in the Naturalist was written, I have learned from Mr.

Henry Balfour, of the museum at Oxford, that their collection contains

two or three specimens of this very pattern of harpoon, undoubtedly

collected by some of the officers of the _Blossom_. Consequently, 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 probably

originally intended for the capture of seals “hauled out” on the ice

in the early summer. There is no doubt, however, that it is at the

present day used for nothing but retrieving.

[Illustration: FIG. 224.--Retrieving seal harpoon. 1/10]

Though this weapon was universally used at Point Barrow, we happened

to obtain only two specimens, possibly because the natives thought

them too necessary an implement to part with lightly. No. 89907

[1695], Figs. 224, 225, has a new shaft, etc., but was used several

times by the maker before it was offered for sale. Such a retrieving

harpoon is called naúlĭgɐ. The shaft (ipúa) is of ash, 4 feet 5 inches

long and 1 inch in diameter, tapering very slightly to each end. The

ice pick (túu) of walrus ivory, 14 inches long and 1 inch wide, has a

round tang fitting into a hole in the butt of the shaft. Close to the

shaft a small hole is drilled in one edge of the pick, and through

this is passed a bit of seal thong, 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. The foreshaft (ukumailuta) is of

walrus ivory, 4½ inches long and 1½ inches in diameter at the thickest

part, and secured to the shaft by a whipping (nĭ´mxa) of seal thong.

The loose shaft (ígimû) is also of ivory and 2 inches long and secured

by a thong (ĭpíuta) 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 below 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´lerbwĭñ), 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 fastened 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

(tûkăksia), 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. It is 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.

[Illustration: FIG. 225.--Details of retrieving seal harpoon. 1/4]

No. 89908 [1058] is one of these spears rigged ready for darting. The

line is secured 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 foreshaft and ice pick are lashed in with sinew braid, which

is first knotted round the tip of the shaft and then hitched round

with a series of left-handed soldier’s hitches. The end of the thong

which holds the loose shaft is passed through the hole in it and

knotted and the other end hitched into the pulley at the smallest part

of the foreshaft. The head is like that of the preceding, but has a

conoidal body of reindeer antler, a common material for seal-harpoon

heads, and the line, which is of stout sinew braid 43 feet long, is

attached to it simply by passing the end through the line hole and

tying it with a clove hitch to the standing part 9½ inches from the

head. This spear is about the same size as the preceding. These

weapons are all of the same general pattern, but vary in length

according to the height of the owner. The heads for these harpoons, as

well as for the other form of seal harpoon, are usually about 3 inches

long, and, as a rule, have lanceolate blades. The body is generally

conoidal, often made of reindeer antler, and always, apparently, with

a double barb. It is generally plain, but sometimes ornamented like

the walrus-harpoon heads.

[Illustration: FIG. 226.--Jade blade for seal harpoon.]

No. 89784 [1008] was made by Ilû´bw’ga, the Nunatañmeun, when thinking

of coming to winter at Utkiavwĭñ. He had had no experience in sealing,

having apparently spent all his winters on the rivers inland, and this

harpoon head seems to have been condemned as unsatisfactory by his new

friends at Utkiavwĭñ. It looks like a very tolerable naula, but is

unusually small, being only 2½ inches long.

We saw only one stone blade for a seal harpoon, No. 89623 [1418], Fig.

226. This is of light olive green jade, and triangular, with

peculiarly dull edges and point. Each face is concaved, and there is a

hole for a rivet. (Compare the jade-bladed harpoon figured by

Nordenskiöld and referred to above.) It is 2 inches long and 0.7 inch

wide at the base. It appears to have been kept as an amulet. The other

form of seal harpoon comes properly under the next head.