Page:American Anthropologist NS vol. 1.djvu/80

 or shell, or with one hardened by fire. Every Eskimo kaiak has among its multifarious accouterments a large stabbing lance which may be driven again and again into the seal or other animal. The western Eskimo have a form of lance with detachable points that are left in the animal. Each hunter carries a bag of them, and when he comes in close quarters with a walrus or other game, he plunges one after another into the beast until it is killed. Blades of iron have universally taken the place of stone and other substances. The Cree Indians extemporize a lance by lashing a hunting knife to a long pole. On the Mosquito coast the turtle is struck with a lance having a point like a file and without barbs. A spear in this connection is a lance with barbs on the point, and the bird, mammal, or fish is transfixed and retrieved.

In the Eskimo area the bird-spear, so called, exists universally; that is, the points at the working end are barbed, and there are barbed pieces also on the sides. These perform the function not only of transfixing, but, as mentioned in a former section, of entangling and grasping. The fish-spear exists in great profusion throughout Eskimo territory where fish are in abundance and may be captured by spearing (plate, e).

An interesting group of devices for piercing are the bows and arrows. The following table will set forth the types of these weapons in the areas named:

1. Arctic area; compound bows in the east, sinew-backed bows in the west.

2. Athapascan area; long, straight bows of willow and birch with wristguard on the bow.

3. Algonquian-Iroquois; plain or self-bow of hardwood—ash, hickory, osage orange, and oak.

4. Muskhogean bow; long, with rectangular cross-section, of walnut and other hardwood.

5. Rocky Mountain bow, in two varieties—plain or self-bow of Bois d'Arc, and a compound bow of buffalo horn in two or three pieces, wrapped and strengthened.