A complete set of bow-and-arrow tools consists of 4 pieces, viz:
a marline spike, two twisters, and a feather setter, as shown in Fig.
283, No. 89465 [962], from Utkiavwĭñ. The pieces of this set are
perforated and strung on a piece of sinew braid, 4 inches long, with a
knot at each end.
[Illustration: FIG. 283.--Set of bow-and-arrow tools. 1/3]
_The Marline spike._--This is a flat, four-sided rod of walrus ivory,
5-6 inches long, tapering to a sharp rounded point at one end, and
tapered slightly to the other, which terminates in a small rounded
knob. It is very neatly made from, rather old yellow ivory, and
ornamented on all four faces with conventional incised patterns
colored with red ochre.
[Illustration: FIG. 284.--Marline spike. 1/2]
This implement is used in putting on the backing of a bow to raise
parts of the cord when an end is to be passed under and in tucking in
the ends in finishing off a whipping. It was probably also used in
putting whippings or seizings on any other implements. We collected 10
of these tools, all quite similar, and made of walrus ivory, yellow
from age and handling. They vary in length from 4½ to 6 inches, and
are always contracted at the upper end into a sort of neck or handle,
surmounted by a knob or crossbar. No. 89463 [836] Fig. 284, from
Utkiavwĭñ has the crossbar carved very neatly into the figure of an
Amphipod crustacean without the legs. The eyes, mouth, and vent are
indicated by small round holes filled with some black substance, and
there is a row of eight similar holes down the middle of the back. The
tip of this tool, which is 5.9 inches long, has been concaved to an
edge so as to make a feather-setter of it. Through the knob at the
butt there is sometimes a large round eye, as in Fig. 285 (No. 89464
[842] from Utkiavwĭñ, 4.7 inches long). These tools are sometimes
plain, like the specimens last figured, and sometimes ornamented with
conventional patterns of incised lines, colored with red ocher, like
the others.
[Illustration: FIG. 285.--Marline spike.]
_The twisters_ (No. 89465 [962]) are flat four-sided rods of walrus
ivory, respectively 4.4 and 4.7 inches long. At each end one broad
face is raised into a low transverse ridge about 0.1 inch high and the
other rounded off, with the ridge on opposite faces at the two ends.
They are ornamented on all four faces with longitudinal incised lines,
colored with red ocher.
The use of these tools, which was discovered by actual experiment
after our return to this country[N410] is for twisting the strands of
the sinew backing after it has been put on the bow into the cables
already described. The manner in which this tool is used is as
follows: The end is inserted between the strands at the middle of the
bow, so that the ridge or hook catches the lower strands, and the end
is carried over through an arc of 180°, which gives the cable a half
turn of twist. This brings the twister against the bow, so that the
twisting can be carried no further in this direction, and if the tool
were to be removed for a fresh start the strands would have to be held
or fastened in some way, making the process a slow one. Instead, the
tool is slid back between the strands till the other end comes where
the first was, so that the hook at this end catches the strand, and
the workman can give to the cable another half turn of twist. This is
continued until the cable is sufficiently twisted, the tool sliding
back and forth like the handle of a vise. The tools are used in pairs,
one being inserted in each cable and manipulated with each hand, so as
to give the same amount of twist to each cable. At the present day,
these tools are seldom used for bow making, since the sinew-backed bow
is so nearly obsolete, but are employed in playing a game of the
nature of pitch-penny. (See below, under games and pastimes.)
[Footnote N410: See the writer’s paper on Eskimo bows, Smithsonian
Report for 1884, pt. 2, p. 315.]
These tools, of which we collected twenty-six specimens, are all of
walrus ivory, and of almost exactly the same shape, varying a little
in size and ornamentation. They vary in length from 3 to 5.7 inches,
but are usually about 4½ inches long. The commonest width is 0.4
inches, the narrowest being 0.3 and the widest 0.7 broad, while the
thickness is almost always 0.3, varying hardly 0.1 inch. Most of them
are plain, but a few are ornamented with incised lines, and two are
marked with “circles and dots” as in Fig. 286, one of a rather large
pair (No. 56521 [249] from Utkiavwĭñ). These are 5.4 inches long,
neatly made and quite clean. All the others show signs of age and use.
[Illustration: FIG. 286.--Twister for working sinew backing of bow.
3/4]
There are large numbers of these tools in the National Museum from
various points in the region where bows of the Arctic type are used,
namely, from the Anderson River to Norton Sound, and one from St.
Lawrence Island, whence we have received no twisted bows. Their use
was, however, not definitely understood, as they are described simply
as “bow tools,” “bow string twisters” or even “arrow polishers.” Mr.
Nelson informs me that the tool is now not used in Norton Sound,
except for playing a game, as at Point Barrow, but that the natives
told him that they were formerly used for tightening the backing on a
bow and also for twisting the hard-laid sinew cord, which is quite as
much, if not more, used at Norton Sound as the braid so common at
Point Barrow. I find no mention of the use of this tool in any of the
authors who have treated of the Eskimo, except the following in Capt.
Beechey’s vocabulary, collected at Kotzebue Sound: “Marline spike,
small of ivory, for lacing bows--ke-poot-tak.” The specimens from the
Mackenzie and Anderson rivers are almost without exception made of
hard bone, while walrus ivory is the common material elsewhere. The
name (kaputɐ) means simply a “twister.”
_The feather-setter_ (_ĭ´gugwau_) (No. 89465 [962]) is a flat,
slender, rounded rod of walrus ivory, 7 inches long, with the tip
abruptly concaved to a thin, rounded edge. The faces are ornamented
with a pattern of straight incised lines, colored with red ocher. This
tool is used for squeezing the small ends of the feathering into the
wood of the arrow shaft close to the nock. Fig. 287 is a similar tool
(No. 89486 [1285] from Utkiavwĭñ) also of walrus ivory, 6 inches long,
with the upper end roughly whittled to a sharp point. It is probably
made of a broken seal indicator or meat-cache marker. Several other
ivory tools previously mentioned have been concaved to an edge at the
tip so that they can be used as feather-setters. I do not find this
tool mentioned by previous observers, nor have I seen any specimens in
the National Museum.
[Illustration: FIG. 287.--“Feather-setter.” 1/2]
Fig. 288 (No. 89459 [1282] from Utkiavwĭñ) represents an unusual tool,
the use of which was not ascertained in the hurry of trade. It has a
point like that of a graver, and is made of reindeer antler,
ornamented with a pattern of incised lines and bands, colored with red
ocher, and was perhaps a marline spike for working with sinew cord.
[Illustration: FIG. 288.--Tool of antler. 1/2]