_Blubberhooks_ (nĭ´ksĭgû).--For catching hold of pieces of blubber or
flesh when “cutting in” a whale or walrus, or dragging them round on
shore or on the ice, or in the blubber rooms, they use hooks made by
fastening a backward-pointing prong of ivory on the end of a wooden
handle, which is bent into a crook at the other end. Those specially
intended for use in the boats have handles 7 or 8 feet long, while
those for shore use are only 2 or 3 feet long. These implements, which
are common all along the Alaskan coast, may sometimes be used as
boathooks, as appears to be the case farther south, though I never saw
them so employed. We brought home two short hooks and one long one,
No. 56766 [126], Fig. 311. This has a prong of walrus ivory fastened
to a spruce pole, 7 feet 7¾ inches long, to the other end of which is
fastened a short crook of antler. The pole is elliptical in section.
The crook is a nearly straight “branch” of an antler with a transverse
arm at the base made by cutting out a piece of the “beam” to fit
against the pole, and is held on by three neat lashings of whalebone
of the usual pattern. The upper two of these are transverse lashings
passing through corresponding holes in the pole and crook. The lowest,
which is at the tip of the arm, is at right angles to these, passing
through wood and antler. The lashing of whalebone close to the tip of
the crook, passing through a hole and round the under side of the
latter, is to keep the hand from slipping off. The prong is held on by
two lashings of small seal thong, each passing through a large
transverse hole in the prong and a corresponding one in the pole. The
upper pair of holes do not exactly match. There are also two unused
holes, one in the pole below the upper hole and one above the upper
hole in the prong. These holes and the new appearance of the lashings
indicate that the prong is part of another hook recently fitted to
this pole. The two lashings are made by a single piece of thong. The
whole is old and weathered and rather greasy about the prong and the
tip of the pole.
[Illustration: FIG. 311.--Long blubber hook. 1/30]
[Illustration: FIG. 312.--Short-handled blubber hook. 1/6]
Fig. 312 (No. 89836 [1203] from Utkiavwĭñ) is a similar hook with a
short handle, 34 inches long, for use on land. The crook is made by
bending the handle. The prong, of walrus ivory as before, is 7 inches
long, and held on by two stout lashings of whalebone, which pass round
the end of the handle instead of through it. The prong and tip of the
handle are very greasy.
No. 89837 [1353], from the same village, is a similar hook rather
rudely made. The crook is bent only at an angle of about 45°, and
there is somewhat of a twist to the whole handle. The prong, which is
of antler, is 7¾ inches long and shouldered at the butt like that of
the long hook described. It is fastened on by two thick lashings of
stout seal thong passing around prong and handle and kept from
slipping by notches in the latter, and on the butt end of the former
and by a large flat-headed brass stud driven into the prong below the
upper lashing.
_Fish scaler._--Fig. 313 (No. 89461 [1279] from Utkiavwĭñ) represents
a little implement which we never saw in use, but which we were told
was intended for scraping the scales off a fish. The specimen does not
appear to be newly made. It is a piece of hollow “long” bone, 8 inches
long, cut into the shape of the blade of a case knife, flat on one
face with a broad, shallow, longitudinal groove on the other.
[Illustration: FIG. 313.--Fish scaler. 1/2]