Aboriginal American Harpoons

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Excerpt from Aboriginal American Harpoons: A Study in Ethnic Distribution and InventionConnecting lima - The connecting line of a barbed harpoon at' first was only a bit of string or thong uniting the head to the shaft. If there be no connecting line between head and shaft, the weapon is called a rankling arrow, because the head stays in the animal and causes death. However, the rude F uegian inventors have gotten beyond that, for the thong is carried halfway down the shaft and made fast here and there with knots. The same happy thought is called by Murdoch an assembling line, since it serves in case of a break in the shaft to save the pieces. In the larger harpoons and the more delicate ones the assembling line is a separate affair. The line of the more complicated barbed harpoons is fastened at one end through the line hole of the head. The other end is bifurcated, like the martin gale of a bridle, or a kite string. One end of this martingale is tied to the shaft near the foreshaft, the other near the butt end of the shaft. When the harpoon is ready to be hurled the line is neatly rolled on the shaft, the head is placed in its socket, and a slipknot around the shaft takes the slack in the line. When the game is struck the head is pulled from its socket, the slipknot is released, and the line unrolls. The foreshaft being of bone, drops lowest in'the water, so that the shaft acts as a drag. It serves also as a buoy, since the upper end, especially when feathered, bobs about over the water and shows the position of the game.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.