FISHING APPLIANCES.
The use of shell in the manufacture of fishing implements seems to have been almost unknown among the tribes of the Atlantic coast, and with the exception of a few pendant-like objects, resembling plummets or sinkers of stone, nothing has been obtained from the ancient burial mounds of the Mississippi Valley. Hooks of shell, however, are very plentiful in the ancient burial-places of the Pacific coast, and are frequently so well shaped as to excite our admiration. Hooks and other fishing apparatus, in whole or in part made of shell, are extensively employed by the present natives of the Pacific islands and among the numerous tribes of the northwest coast, although bone and ivory are in much higher favor for these purposes.
We cannot say with certainty for what purpose the various sinker-like objects of shell were used. In all cases they are so perforated or grooved as to be suspended by a string; but it is the custom of all savage peoples to employ very heavy pendants as ornaments for the ears or for suspension about the neck, and where stone could be secured for such ordinary uses as the sinking of nets or lines, it seems improbable that objects of shell, which form superb ornaments, would be so employed.
That hooks were used to some extent by the Atlantic coast Indians is proved by the association of bone hooks with other ancient relics. I am not aware that their use has been noticed by early writers, who describe at length, however, the capture of fish by means of arrows, spears, and nets. The ancient Mexican manuscripts contain many drawings showing the use of nets in fishing, but the use of hooks and lines is not suggested.
In the absence of positive proof as to the exact manner in which the plummet-like objects were utilized, I shall for the present follow the custom of the best authors and classify the heavier specimens as sinkers. The smaller specimens will be described as pendant ornaments.
In Fig. 8, Plate XXVIII, a very handsome specimen from a refuse heap on Blennerhasset Island, Ohio River, is shown. It has been cut from the columella of a Busycon perversum, the reverse whorl being indicated by the well-preserved spiral groove, and was suspended by means of a small, well-made perforation near the upper end. The surface is weathered and chalky with age.
Another specimen, from the same locality, differs but slightly from this; the perforated end is broken away; the surface is deeply weathered, and the more compact laminæ stand out in high relief.
Two specimens from Sarasota Bay, Fla., resemble these very closely in shape and size; instead of a perforation, however, they are grooved near the upper end. They are made from the columellæ of the Busycon perversum. One of them is shown in Fig. 9, Plate XXVIII.
It is possible that a number of the small shells usually supposed to be perforated for use as ornaments have been used for sinkers. One such specimen, collected by Professor Velie in Florida, is preserved in the national collection. It is made from an almost entire specimen of a small but compact univalve—a dextral-whorled Busycon or a Strombus. A shallow groove has been cut near the basal point for the purpose of attaching a line.
A fourth specimen, from Florida, is represented by a cast presented by Professor Velie; it is three inches in length and nearly one inch in diameter, and has been derived from the columella of a Busycon perversum. It has a broad groove near the upper end, with a long, sloping shoulder, the body being somewhat conical below. Other specimens of similar character have recently been added to the national collection. A grooved specimen of medium size was obtained from a mound at Madisonville, Ohio, and is figured by the explorers.[45] A few smaller specimens come from New York, and others from Kentucky, but they were probably intended for ornaments, and as such I prefer to class them.
From the Pacific coast we have a large number of examples, one of the finest being illustrated in Fig. 7, Plate XXVIII. It is a flattish, somewhat pear-shaped pendant, and has a neatly cut groove near the upper end. It was collected by Bowers on the island of Santa Rosa, Cal., and was probably made from a Pachydesma or Amiantis.
A new-looking specimen from Santa Barbara, carved from a flat bit of pearly Haliotis, represents a fish, the mouth, gills, body, and tail being distinctly shown. It may have been used as a bait.
By far the most interesting examples of fishing implements of ancient date have been obtained from graves in California; these are well represented in the collections made by Schumacher and Bowers. A number of specimens may be seen in the National Museum; one sinker from this collection has already been described. Fish-hooks, however, constitute the great majority of the specimens, and many of them are of such unprecedented forms that they have been mistaken for ornaments. The marked peculiarity consists in the great width of the body of the hook, and the deeply involuted character of the barbless point, making it seem impossible that a fish should be impaled at all. It may be that this hook was intended only as a contrivance for securing bait, and that the fish, having swallowed this, was unable to disgorge it, and in this way was secured by the fisherman.
In Plate XXVIII, three of these hooks are illustrated. The method of fastening them to the line is not well known, and the form does not suggest it, except in a few cases in which the shaft is enlarged slightly at the upper end. The head is never perforated, but is frequently pointed, and may have been inserted in a head of some other material and secured by means of asphaltum. The fact that portions of this material still adhere to the upper part of the shaft confirms this conjecture. None of these hooks are barbed. Similar hooks of bone, exhibited in the national collection, have barbs on the outside, near the point. Hooks resembling these are used by some tribes to secure the ends of strings of beads.
Prof. F. W. Putnam has described a number of these hooks which belong to the Peabody Museum. The largest is two and three-fourths inches in length and one inch wide at the middle of the shank. These came from San Clemente, San Miguel, and Santa Cruz islands, and the mainland about Santa Barbara, and are accompanied by stone implements used in their manufacture.[46]
The natives of Tahiti had fish-hooks made of mother-of-pearl, and every fisherman made them for himself. They generally served for the double purpose of hook and bait. "The shell is first cut into square pieces, by the edge of another shell, and wrought into a form corresponding with the outline of the hook by pieces of coral, which are sufficiently rough to perform the office of a file; a hole is then bored in the middle; the drill being no other than the first stone they pick up that has a sharp corner; this they fix into the end of a piece of bamboo and turn it between the hands like a chocolate mill; when the shell is perforated, and the hole sufficiently wide, a small file of coral is introduced, by the application of which the hook is in a short time completed, few costing the artificer more time than a quarter of an hour."[47]
The specimens illustrated are made from the thicker portions of species of the Haliotis or of the valves of the dark purplish Mytilus californianus. They are handsome objects, their surfaces being well rounded and polished. In the collection there are specimens which illustrate very well the process of manufacture. A series of these is given in Plate XXVIII. Fig. 1 shows a small fragment broken out roughly from the shell, probably by a stone or shell implement. Fig. 2 shows a similar specimen in which an irregular perforation has been made. In Fig. 3 we see a considerable advance toward completion; the hole has been enlarged by rubbing or filing with some small implement, and the outline approximates that of the finished hook. Figs. 4, 5, and 6 represent typical examples of the completed hooks. These range in size from one-half to three inches in length, the width being but slightly less. The skill acquired in the manufacture of such objects of use is of the greatest importance in the development of art. It is only through the mastery of material thus engendered that the arts of taste become possible.
PL. XXVIII—SHELL FISHING APPLIANCES.
1, 2, 3. Manufacture of hooks.
4, 5, 6. Hooks from graves, California.
7. Pendant or sinker, California.
8, 9. Pendants, Atlantic slope.
(1/1)