Part 23

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.

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.”]

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.

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.

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.

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.]

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.

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.

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.”]

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.