Ethnological results of the Point Barrow expedition: Ninth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1887-1888, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1892, pages 3-442Murdoch, John
History
Ethnological results of the Point Barrow expedition: Ninth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1887-1888, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1892, pages 3-442
Murdoch, John
Eskimos -- Alaska -- Barrow, Point, Region
The only variations of importance in these arrows are in the shape of
the pile, which is made of black or gray flint, or less often of
jasper, mostly variegated, brown and gray. There are four patterns to
be found in the series of eight arrows and twenty-two stone piles. The
first is long and narrow, like No. 56704 [232], Fig. 183, from
Utkiavwĭñ, which is of gray flint. The next is similar in shape, but
shorter, as shown in Fig. 182 (No. 89240 [25], from Nuwŭk), which is
only 2 inches long, exclusive of the tang. The third pattern, which is
less common than the others, is about the size of the last, but
rhomboidal in shape (Fig. 184, No. 56691_c_ [64_c_], from Utkiavwĭñ,
of dark grayish brown flint, rather coarsely flaked). The fourth kind
is very short, being not over 1½ inches, including the half-inch tang,
but is 1 inch broad, thick and convex on both faces. It is triangular,
with a square base and curved edges (Fig. 185, No. 56702_b_ [113_b_],
from Utkiavwĭñ, newly made for sale).
[Illustration: FIG. 185.--Heart-shaped flint pile.]
[Illustration: FIG. 186.--Arrows: (_a_) Arrow with “after-pile”
(ipudlĭgadlĭñ); (_b_) arrow with iron pile (savidlĭñ); (_c_) arrow
with iron pile (savidlĭñ); (_d_) arrow with copper pile (savidlĭñ);
(_e_) deer-arrow (nûtkodlĭñ).]
No stone arrow or dart heads made by these people have anything like
barbs except the square shoulders at the base. They seem never to have
attained to the skill in flint-working which enabled many other
savages to make the beautiful barbed heads so often seen. To keep the
flint-headed arrow from dropping out of the wound they hit upon the
contrivance of mounting it not directly in the stele but in a piece of
bone upon which barbs could be cut, or, as is not unlikely, having
already the deer arrow with the barbed head of antler, they added the
flint head to this, thus combining the penetration of the flint arrow
with the holding power of the other. I was at first inclined to think
that this piece of bone bore the same relation to the rest of the
arrow as the fore shaft of many Indian arrows, and was to be
considered as part of the stele. Considering, however, that its sole
function is to furnish the pile with barbs, it evidently must be
considered as part of the latter. I shall designate it as
“after-pile.” Arrows with this barbed “after-pile” form the second
kind of bear arrows, which are called ipudlĭ´gadlĭñ (“having the
ipu´dlĭgɐ” [Gr. ipuligak, the similar bone head of a seal lance with
iron tip]). After the introduction of iron, metal piles sometimes
replaced the flint in arrows of this kind. We collected eight with
flint and two with metal piles. No. 72787 [234_a_], Fig. 186_a_, has
been selected to illustrate this form of arrow. This pile is of gray
flint with the tang wedged by a slip of sealskin into the tip of the
after-pile, which is cleft to receive it and kept from splitting by a
whipping of sinew. The after-pile is fitted into the tip of the stele
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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