spear of somewhat peculiar design. It is in all about five feet long, and consists of a wooden handle terminated at one end by a slender barbed ivory or iron rod, sharply pointed. About half way up the handle, three pointed barbed ivory fingers are securely fastened. The handle is then fitted into a wooden socket, which is held in the hand, and from which the spear is thrown. It is claimed that by means of the wooden socket the spear can be thrown with greater precision than by the bare hand, to which it would adhere more or less. However that may be, an Eskimo can hurl his bird-spear a marvellously long distance, and with deadly effect.
If the point of the spear misses the bird, one of the side fingers is almost sure to pierce it, or catch it between the fingers and the spear handle.
In this way, ptarmigan, ducks, and other land and sea fowls are obtained in considerable numbers. They are usually speared while sitting in flocks upon the snow or in the water, but they are also frequently killed in this way when on the wing. Sometimes the bow and arrow is used for bringing down the feathered game, but the spear is the instrument chiefly employed.
Fish are caught both by spearing and with the hook. The latter is of the crudest design, and is used in trolling. A troll consists of a heavy iron hook, fastened to the face of a small ivory disk, to which is attached a fine, strong line, made from plaited deer-skin sinews.
Fish are not, however, caught so much with the hook as they are by the spear. Indeed, it is chiefly by means of the harpoon and spear that the Eskimo larder is supplied. The fish-spear is a kind of three-pronged barbed fork, fastened to a handle. It is used chiefly for
