Throwing-sticks in the National Museum - Third Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the - Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1883-'84, - Government Printing Office, Washington, 1890, pages 279-289 by Otis T. Mason
page 16 of 30 (53%)
page 16 of 30 (53%)
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BRISTOL BAY TYPE.
The throwing-stick from Bristol Bay resembles in general characteristics those from Nunivak Island and Cape Vancouver. In outline it has the shape of the broadsword. Its cross-section is bayonet-shaped. It has no distinct handle beyond a slight projection from the end. The thumb-groove is shallow and chamfered on the lower side to fit exactly. There is a long, continuous notch for the four fingers, in which the index finger and the middle finger are set off by pegs. There is a depression, more or less profound, to receive the tips of the fingers. The groove for the harpoon or spear-shaft is at the lower extremity and runs out entirely near the index finger. The ivory plug at its lower extremity is beveled to receive a notch in the end of the spear or harpoon shaft (Figs. 18-19). A freshly-made implement, looking as if cut out by machinery, resembling closely those just described, is labeled Kadiak. The constant traffic between Bristol Bay and Kadiak, across the Alaskan peninsula, may account for the great similarity of these implements. Furthermore, since the natives in this region and southward have been engaged for more than a century in fur-sealing for the whites, there is not the slightest doubt that implements made by whites have been introduced and slightly modified by the wearer to fit his hand. KADIAK OR UNALASHKA TYPE. In the National Museum are four throwing-sticks, one of them left-handed, exactly alike--two of them marked Kadiak and two Unalashka (Figs. 20-22). They return to the more primitive type of the area from |
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