Page:Material Culture of the Iglulik Eskimos.djvu/65

Fig. 23 (Iglulik) is a swivel for placing on the harpoon line to prevent it from twisting; these are sometimes used for the kayak harpoon.

Fig. 21.4 (Ponds Inlet) is a drag anchor, which also belongs to the kayak harpoon and is fixed to the line just in front of the bladder.^[1] It consists of an almost round wooden frame, 26–29 cm in diameter, 3½ cm wide, over which is stretched a piece of unhaired sealskin, fastened to the frame by a lashing of seal-thong through a number of holes in the skin. By means of 4 thongs, running from the frame, it is fastened on to the harpoon line.

When dividing narwhals and white whales, the hunter who first hits the animal gets a half.

Big whales are only hunted occasionally. In the summer of 1922 two bowhead whales were caught, one at Repulse Bay and one at Ponds Inlet; these, however, were exceptional. There are no special weapons for whaling, the walrus and narwhal harpoons being used.

There still remain a few observations to make about the harpoon heads of the Iglulik Eskimos. In all, our collection contains 45 harpoon heads from the Iglulik Eskimos; this includes specimens in old finds which are known to be from the same culture (the Anangiarssuk and Qaersuarsuit finds), but not the Thule culture's transitional finds. Of these 45 specimens, five have open shaft sockets; these are all old specimens found in the ground, such as fig. 10.9, of antler with iron blade and two spurs, and 10, which has only one spur, both found at Iglulik. This is a form which has now gone out of use and which displays a connection with the forms of the Thule culture. Of the 45 specimens. 27 are flat and 18 thin, a feature which shows the dominating position of the flat harpoon heads in the modern culture. Most of the harpoon heads have no barbs; most of the thin ones have the blade at right angles to the plane of the line hole, whereas the flat heads always have the blade parallel with this plane. Otherwise the harpoon heads are groupable in comparatively few types, each with its particular purpose, which has already been referred to, and all of which are represented on fig. 10.

The flensing of aquatic mammals proceeds according to strict rules. Seals are flensed, as a rule by the men, in the following manner: A cut down the middle of the belly, the skin with the blubber attached is cut off, the entrails removed and the body is parted by cuts between the ribs. A bearded seal at Ponds Inlet was parted in this manner: a tightened thong made marks in the hair, and cuts. were made over these marks. All the skin from front flippers to head, which would be used for sole leather, fell to the hunter, whilst the