Throwing-sticks in the National Museum | Page 3

outline of the implement is quite elaborate and symmetrical, resembling at the hook end a fiddle-head, and widening continuously by lateral and facial curves to the front, where it is thin and flat. A slight rounded notch for the thumb, and a longer chamfer for three fingers, form the handle. Marks 5 and 6 are wanting. The cavity for the index finger extends quite through the implement, as it does in all cases where it is on the side of the harpoon-shaft groove, and not directly under it. The shaft groove is shallow, and the hook at the lower extremity is formed by a piece of ivory inserted in a parallel groove in the fiddle-head and fastened with pegs. It is as though a saw-cut one-eighth inch wide had been made longitudinally through the fiddle-head and one-half inch beyond, and the space had been filled with a plate of ivory pared down flush with the wood all round, excepting at the projection left to form the hook or spur for the harpoon shaft. This peg or spur fits in a small hole in the butt of the harpoon or spear shaft and serves to keep the weapon in its place until it is launched from the hand. The Ungava spear is heavier than that of the western Eskimo, hence the stick and its spur are proportionately larger. It is well to observe carefully the purport of the spur. A javelin, assegai, or other weapon hurled from the hand is seized in the center of gravity. The Greenland spears have the pegs for the throwing-stick sometimes at the center of gravity, sometimes at the butt end. In all other uses of the throwing-stick the point of support is behind the center of gravity, and if the weapon is not fastened in its groove it cannot be hurled. This fastening is accomplished by the backward leaning of the peg in the Greenland example, and by the spur on the distal end of the throwing-stick in all other cases.
CUMBERLAND GULF TYPE.
The Cumberland Gulf type is the clumsiest throwing-stick in the Museum, and Dr. Franz Boas recognizes it as a faithful sample of those in use throughout Baffin Land (Fig. 4).
In general style it resembles Mr. Turner's specimens from Ungava; but every part is coarser and heavier. It is made of oak, probably obtained from a whaling vessel. Instead of the fiddle-head at the distal end we have a declined and thickened prolongation of the stick without ornament. There is no distinct handle, but provision is made for the thumb by a deep, sloping groove; for the index-finger by a perforation, and for the other three fingers by separate grooves. These give a splendid grip for the hunter, but the extraordinary width of the handle is certainly a disadvantage. There are two longitudinal grooves on the upper face; the principal one is squared to receive the rectangular shaft of the bird spear; the other is chipped out for the tips of the fingers, which do not reach across to the harpoon shaft, owing to the clumsy width of the throwing-stick. In this example, the hook for the end of the bird-spear shaft is the canine tooth of some animal driven into the wood at the distal end of the long-shaft groove.
FURY AND HECLA STRAITS TYPE.
In Parry's Second Voyage (p. 508) is described a throwing-stick of Igloolik, 18 inches long, grooved for the shaft of the bird-spear, and having a spike for the hole of the shaft, and a groove for the thumb and for the fingers. The index-finger hole is not mentioned, but more than probably it existed, since it is nowhere else wanting between Ungava and Cape Romanzoff in Alaska. This form, if properly described by Parry, is between the Ungava and the Cumberland Gulf specimen, having no kinship with the throwing-stick of Greenland. The National Museum should possess an example of throwing-stick from the Fury and Hecla Straits.
ANDERSON RIVER TYPE.
The Anderson River throwing-stick (and we should include the Mackenzie River district) is a very primitive affair in the National Museum, being only a tapering flat stick of hard wood (Fig. 5). Marks 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 are wanting. The index-finger cavity is large and eccentric and furnishes a firm hold. The shaft-groove is a rambling shallow slit, not over half an inch wide. There is no hook or spur of foreign material inserted for the spear end; but simply an excavation of the hard wood which furnishes an edge to catch a notch in the end of the dart. Only one specimen has been collected from this area for the National Museum; therefore it is unsafe to make it typical, but the form is so unique that it is well to notice that the throwing-stick in Eskimoland has its simplest