Page:Material Culture of the Iglulik Eskimos.djvu/61

socket and a faint spur, in which is a hole for the line which is to hold the head on to the harpoon shaft. It has been about to split, and Image missingFig. 18.
Lance (Parry's collection, Royal Scottish Museum, Edinburgh). Image missingFig. 19.
Lance-foreshaft. 1 : 2. has been repaired by putting a copper rivet through it, and it has had a lashing through two holes and grooves.

The other loose lance heads in the collection are smaller, 5½–9 cm long; only one has a faint spur in a plane at right angles to the blade; the others have it in the same plane. One is seen in the preliminary archaeological report^[1] Fig. 3 No. 4 above.

The method of hunting the walrus from the ice is as follows: There are always several hunters together — never less than two, most often more. They take up positions by the ice edge and scan the open water for walruses; very often they try to decoy the walruses closer by making grunting noises. When one comes sufficiently near it is harpooned. The shaft of an ice-hunting harpoon is stuck into the ice through the end-loop of the line so as to hold the latter. If they do not succeed in making the line fast in this manner. the hunter will often try to hold the walrus by bracing his feet with all his strength against a firmly frozen block of ice.^[2] If he is compelled to let go, the harpoon and Image missingFig. 20.
Loose lancehead. 1 : 2. line are lost as well as the walrus; it does happen, too, that he himself becomes entangled in the line and is pulled into the water by the walrus; not a few Eskimos lose their lives in this manner. Once the walrus is securely fastened to the ice it is doomed; every time it slackens the line a little it is pulled further and further towards the ice and at last it is so near that the hunters can thrust their lances into it. No shooting is indulged in if possible, in order not to scare the other walruses away.

A similar method is followed on winter ice, which is no thicker than that the walrus can thrust his head through it when coming up to breathe. The hunters stand scattered about the ice with their harpoons ready;