Part 26
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.
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.
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.
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.
THRUSTING WEAPONS.
_Harpoons._--For the capture of seals as they come up for air to their breathing holes or cracks in the ice a harpoon is used which has a short wooden shaft, armed, as before, with an ice pick and a long, slender, loose shaft suited for thrusting down through the small breathing hole. It carries a núalɐ like the other harpoon, but has only a short line, the end of which is made fast permanently to the shaft. Such harpoons are used by all Eskimo wherever they are in the habit of watching for seals at their breathing holes. The slender part of the shaft, however, is not always loose.[N337] The foreshaft is simply a stout ferrule for the end of the shaft. These weapons are in general use at Point Barrow and are very neatly made.
[Footnote N337: Parry, Second Voyage, p. 507, Iglulik.]
We obtained two specimens, of which No. 89910 [1694], Fig. 227, will serve as the type. The total length of this spear when rigged for use is 5 feet 3 inches. The shaft is of spruce, 20½ inches long and 1.1 inches in the middle, tapering to 0.9 at the ends. At the butt is inserted, as before, an ivory ice pick (túu) of the form already described, 13¾ inches long and lashed in with sinew braid. The foreshaft (kátû) is of walrus ivory, nearly cylindrical, 5¾ inches long and 0.9 inch in diameter, shouldered at the butt and fitted into the tip of the shaft with a round tang. The latter is very neatly whipped with a narrow strip of white whalebone, which makes eleven turns and has the end of the last turn forced into a slit in the wood and wedged with a round wooden peg. Under this whipping is the bill of a tern as a charm for good luck. (As the boy who pointed this out to me said, “Lots of seals.”)
The loose shaft (ígimû) is of bone, whale’s rib or jaw, and has two transverse holes above the shoulder to receive the end of the assembling line (sábromia), which not only holds the loose shaft in place, but also connects the other parts of the shaft so that in case the wood breaks the pieces will not be dropped. It is a long piece of seal thong, of which one end makes a turn round the loose shaft between the holes; the other end is passed through the lower hole, then through the upper and carried down to the tip of the shaft, where it is hitched just below the whalebone whipping, as follows: three turns are made round the shaft, the first over the standing part, the second under, and the third over it; the end then is passed under 3, over 2, and under 1 (Fig. 228), and all drawn taut; it then runs down the shaft almost to the butt-lashing and is secured with the same hitch, and the end is whipped around the butt of the ice pick with five turns. The head (naúlɐ) is of the ordinary pattern, 2.8 inches long, with a copper blade and antler body. The line (túkăktĭn) is a single piece of seal thong 9 feet long, and is fastened to the head without a leader, by simply passing the end through the line-hole, doubling it over and stopping it to the standing part so as to make a becket 21 inches long. The other end is made fast round the shaft and assembling line just back of the middle, as follows: An eye is made at the end of the line, by cutting a slit close to the tip and pushing a bight of the line through this. The end then makes a turn round the shaft, and the other end, with the head, is passed through this eye and drawn taut. When mounted for use, the head is fitted on the tip of the loose shaft as usual and the line brought down to the tip of the shaft and made fast by two or three round turns with a bight tucked under, so that it can be easily slipped. It is also confined to the loose shaft by the end of the assembling line, which makes one or two loose turns round it. The slack of the line is doubled into “fakes” and tucked between the shaft and assembling line.
The other specimen is of the same pattern, but slightly different proportions, having a shaft 18½ inches long and a pick 19 inches long. The loose shaft is of ivory, and there are lashings of white whalebone at each end of the shaft. The assembling line is hitched round the foreshaft as well as round the two ends of the shaft, and simply knotted round the pick. The line is of very stout sinew braid, and has an eye neatly spliced in the end for looping it round the shaft. Fig. 229, No. 89551 [1082], is a model of one of these harpoons, made for sale. It is 16¼ inches long, and correct in all its parts, except that the whole head is of ivory, even to having the ends of the shaft whipped with light-colored whalebone. The shaft is of pine and the rest of walrus ivory, with lines of sinew braid. We also collected four loose shafts for such harpoons. One of these, No. 89489 [802], is of whale’s bone and unusually short, only 14 inches long. It perhaps belonged to a lad’s spear. The other three are long, 20 to 25 inches, and are made of narwhal ivory, as is shown by the spiral twist in the grain.
The harpoon used for the whale fishery is a heavy, bulky weapon, which is never thrown, but thrust with both hands as the whale rises under the bows of the umiak. When not in use it rests in a large ivory crotch, shaped like a rowlock, in the bow. The shaft is of wood and 8 or 9 feet long, and there is no loose shaft, the bone or ivory foreshaft being tapered off to a slender point of such a shape that the head easily unships. This foreshaft is not weighted, as in the walrus harpoon, since this is not necessary in a weapon which does not leave the hand. The harpoon line is fitted with two inflated sealskin floats.
No complete, genuine whaling harpoons were ever offered for sale, but a man at Nuwûk made a very excellent reduced model about two-thirds the usual size (No. 89909 [1023], Fig. 230), which will serve as the type of this weapon (a´jyûñ). This is 6 feet 11 inches in length when rigged for use. The shaft is of pine, 5 feet 8½ inches long, with its greatest diameter (1½ inches) well forward of the middle and tapered more toward the butt than toward the tip, which is chamfered off on one side to fit the butt of the foreshaft (igimû), and shouldered to keep the lashing in place. The foreshaft is of whale’s bone, 11½ inches long, three-sided with one edge rounded off, and tapers from a diameter of 1 inch to a tapering rounded point 1½ inches long, and slightly curved away from the flat face of the foreshaft. It will easily be seen that the shape of this tip facilitates the unshipping of the head. The butt is chamfered off on the flat face to fit the chamfer of the shaft, and the whole foreshaft is slightly curved in the same direction as the tip. It is secured to the shaft by a stout whipping of seal thong. The head is 7 inches long, and has a body of walrus ivory, which is ornamented with incised patterns colored red with ocher, and a blade of dark reddish brown jasper, neatly flaked. This blade is not unlike a large arrow head, being triangular, with curved edges, and a short, broad tang imbedded in the tip of the body, which is seized round with sinew braid. The body is unusually long and slender and is four sided, with a single long, sharp barb, keeled on the outer face. The line hole and line grooves are in the usual position, but the peculiarity of the head is that the blade is inserted with its breadth in the plane of the body barb. In other words, this head has not reached the last stage in the development of the toggle-head. The line is of stout thong (the skin of the bearded seal) and about 8½ feet long. It is passed through the line hole, doubled in the middle, the two parts are firmly stopped together with sinew in four places, and in the ends are cut long slits for looping on the floats. When the head is fitted on the foreshaft the line is secured to the flat face of the foreshaft by a little stop made of a single strand of sinew, easily broken. About 28 inches from the tip of the shaft the line is doubled forward and the bight stopped to the shaft with six turns of seal thong, so that the line is held in place and yet can be easily detached by a straight pull. The ends are then doubled back over the lashing and stopped to the shaft with a single thread of sinew.
Fig. 231 is a toy model of the whale harpoon, No. 56562 [233], 18½ inches long, made of pine and ivory, and shows the manner of attaching the floats, which are little blocks of spruce roughly whittled into the shape of inflated sealskins. A piece of seal thong 13½ inches long has its ends looped round the neck of the floats and the harpoon-line is looped into a slit in the middle of this line.
We collected thirteen heads for such harpoons, which have been in actual use, of which two have flint blades like the one described, two have brass blades, and the rest either blades of slate or else no blades. The flint blades are either triangular like the one described or lanceolate and are about 3 inches long exclusive of the tang. The three separate flint blades which we obtained (Fig. 232, No. 56708 [114], from Utkiavwĭñ, is one of these, made of black flint) are about 1 inch shorter and were perhaps intended for walrus harpoons, though we saw none of these with flint blades. They are all newly made for the market.
The slate blades of which we collected eleven, some old and some new, besides those in the heads, are all triangular, with curved edges, as in Fig. 233 (No. 56709 [139] from Utkiavwĭñ, made of soft purple slate), except one new one, No. 56697_a_ [188_a_], which has the corners cut off so as to give it a rhomboidal shape. The corners are sometimes rounded off so that they are nearly heart-shaped. These blades are usually about 2¾ inches long and 2 broad; two unusually large ones are 3 inches long and nearly 2¼ broad, and one small one 2.1 by 1.6 inches, and are simply wedged into the blade slit without a rivet. The brass blades are of the same shape.
The common material for the body seems to have been rather coarse whale’s bone, from the rib or jaw. Only two out of the thirteen have ivory bodies, and these are both of the newer brass-bladed pattern. The body is very long and slender, being usually about 8 or 8½ inches long (one is 9¼ inches long) and not over 1½ inches broad at the widest part. It is always cut off very obliquely at the base, and the part in front of the line hole is contracted to a sort of shank, as in Fig. 234 (No. 89747 [1044]), a head with slate blade (broken) and bone body. This represents a very common form in which the shank is four-sided, while back of the middle the outer face of the barb rises into a ridge, making this part of the body five-sided. The edges of the shank are sometimes rounded off so as to make this part elliptical in section, and all the edges of the body except the keel, on the outer face of the barb, are frequently rounded off as in Fig. 235_a_, No. 89745 [1044], which has a slate blade wedged into the bone body with a bit of old cloth and a wooden wedge. Fig. 235_b_, No. 56602 [157], from Utkiavwĭñ, is a head of the same shape, but has a brass blade and a body of ivory. This blade is wedged in with deer hair, but the other brass-bladed harpoon, No. 56601 [137], has a single rivet of whalebone.
The blade slit, and consequently the blade, is always in the plane of the barb, which position, as I have said before, corresponds to the last step but one in the development of the harpoon-head. When the blade is of flint and inserted with a tang, the tip of the body is always whipped with sinew braid, as in Fig. 212, No. 89748 [928], from Nuwŭk. This specimen is remarkable as being the only one in the series with a double point to the barb. These bodies are sometimes ornamented with incised lines, in conventional patterns, as shown in the different figures. A short incised mark somewhat resembling an arrow (see above, Fig. 234, No. 89747 [1044]) may have some significance as it is repeated on several of the heads. Harpoon-heads of this peculiar pattern are to be found in the Museum collection from other localities. As we should naturally expect, they have been found at the Diomede Islands, St. Lawrence Island, and Plover Bay. It is very interesting, however, to find a specimen of precisely the same type from Greenland, where the modern harpoons are so different from those used in the west.
That the line connecting the head with the float line is not always so long in proportion as represented on the two models is shown by Fig. 236, No. 89744 [969], the only specimen obtained with any part of the line attached. A piece of stout walrus-hide thong 2 feet long is passed through the line-hole and doubled in two equal parts, which are firmly stopped together with sinew about 2 inches from the head. Another piece of similar thong 4 feet 2 inches long is also doubled into two equal parts and the ends firmly spliced to those of the short piece thus: The two ends of the long piece are slit and one end of the short piece passed through each slit. One of these ends is then slit and through it are passed the other end of the short piece and the bight of the long piece, and all is drawn taut and securely seized with sinew. The becket thus formed was probably looped directly into the bight of the float line.
The foreshaft is much larger than that of the model, though of the same shape. No. 56537 [97], Fig. 237, from Utkiavwĭñ, is of walrus-ivory and 15.8 inches long with a diameter of 1½ inches at the butt. The oblong slot at the beginning of the chamfer is to receive the end of the lashing which secured this to the shaft. This form of foreshaft is very well adapted to insure the unshipping of the toggle-head, but lacks the special advantage of the loose-shaft, namely, that under a violent lateral strain it unships without breaking. The question at once suggests itself, why was not the improvement that is used on all the other harpoons applied to this one? In my opinion, the reason for this is the same as for retaining the form of toggle-head, which, as I have shown, is of an ancient pattern.
That is to say, the modern whale harpoon is the same pattern that was once used for all harpoons, preserved for superstitious reasons. It is a well known fact, that among many peoples implements, ideas, and language have been preserved in connection with religious ceremonies long after they have gone out of use in every-day life. Now, the whale fishing at Port Barrow, in many respects the most important undertaking in the life of the natives, is so surrounded by superstitious observances, ceremonies to be performed, and other things of the same nature as really to assume a distinctly religious character. Hence, we should naturally expect to find the implements used in it more or less archaic in form. That this is the case in regard to the toggle-head I think I have already shown. It seems to me equally evident that this foreshaft, which contains the loose shaft and foreshaft, undifferentiated, is also the older form.
Why the development of the harpoon was arrested at this particular stage is not so easily determined. A natural supposition would be that this was the form of harpoon used by their ancestors when they first began to be successful whalemen.
That they connect the idea of good luck with these ancient stone harpoons is shown by what occurred at Point Barrow in 1883. Of late years they have obtained from the ships many ordinary “whale-irons,” and some people at least had got into the habit of using them.
Now, the bad luck of the season of 1882, when the boats of both villages together caught only one small whale, was attributed to the use of these “irons,” and it was decided by the elders that the _first_ harpoon struck into the whale must be a stone-bladed one such as their forefathers used when they killed many whales.
In this connection, it is interesting to note a parallel custom observed at Point Hope. Hooper[N338] says that at this place the beluga must always be struck with a _flint_ spear, even if it has been killed by a rifle shot.
[Footnote N338: Corwin Report, p. 41.]