Page:American Anthropologist NS vol. 1.djvu/84

Rh Instead of reeds the Napo Indians use a tube made in the following manner: A good piece of chonto palm, the hardest palm found in the country, is selected and a groove cut into it with a knife, to the length of about 7 to 9 feet. This groove is then scraped and rubbed with sand, finer and finer, until it assumes perfect smoothness. Another half tube, exactly similar, is made, and the two are then bound together with wax and fiber, the result being a long, heavy pipe with a bore about three-eighths of an inch in diameter, which on examination proves to be almost as true and polished as a gun barrel. Through this the insignificant though deadly poisoned-tipped darts are blown with unerring precision, conveying silent and sure death to their mark.

Next to the bow and arrow the most complicated piercing weapon for hunting is the harpoon, which may be described as a retrieving spear with a movable head. It may be either barbed or toggled. The barbed harpoon is universal in America, and the toggle exists in some areas in a very simple form; but the whole outfit of the Eskimo in the use of this apparatus, and the apparatus itself, form a most intricate device for hunting.

From old graves in Greenland and other Arctic areas toggle heads have been found which show the transition from the barbed head to a very simple form of the toggle. Examining these in comparison with the latest forms proves that Siberian, Russian, and European influences have combined with Eskimo ingenuity in developing the modern form. Even for this most improved type there are varieties differing in size, material, shape, and relationship of the parts according to the environment, the animal to be captured, and the intelligence of the maker. So we have whale harpoons, walrus harpoons, seal harpoons, hand harpoons, thrown harpoons, retrieving harpoons, and harpoons with floats.

The Giliak long pole and float combined do not extend in America, but eastern Greenlanders have a small sled to carry the point on the ice which corresponds exactly in function with