Fig. 219.—Walrus-harpoon head, with line.
The commonest method is that already described. When the longer end is doubled over, a slit is cut through both parts close to the end of this through which the shorter end is passed. A slit is then cut a few inches from the tip of this part, the bight of the becket passed through this slit and all drawn taut. This makes a very strong splice. Fourteen beckets are spliced in this way. A variation of this splice has a slit only through the end part of the longer end, the shorter end being passed through and slit as before. In one becket the standing part of the longer end is passed through the slit of the end part before going through the line hole, while the rest of the becket is made as before. A reversed splice is found on three of the leaders, which is made as follows: When the long end is doubled over, the short end is slit as usual and the longer end passed through this and slit close to the tip. Through this slit is passed the head and all drawn taut. The splice is always firmly seized with sinew braid. The main line, which serves to attach the head to the float, is always made of stout thong, preferably the skin of the bearded seal (very fine lines are sometimes made of beluga skin), about one-third inch square, and, when properly made, trimmed off on the edges so as to be almost round. It is about 10 yards long. It is fastened into the becket of the leader with a becket hitch tied upside down (No. 56771 [535], Fig. 218), or by means of a small becket, made either as on the specimen described (No. 56770 [536], Fig. 219), or spliced with double slits. The long becket at the other end for attaching the float is made either by tying a carrick bend with the end stopped back to the standing part (Fig. 220, No. 56767 [531]), or by splicing (Fig. 221, No. 56769).
Fig. 221.—Walrus-harpoon head, with line.
The loose shaft varies very little in shape, though it is sometimes rounded off at the butt without a shoulder, but the line which secures this to the foreshaft is put on differently on each of the six spears. Five of them have the end simply passed through the hole in the loose shaft and spliced to the standing part, but two (the type figured and No. 56768 [532]) have the other end carried down and hitched round the tip of the shaft; another has it passed through a hole in the foreshaft, taken 1½ turns round this and knotted (No. 56771 [535]); another has a loop as long as the foreshaft with the short end passed under the first turn of the shaft lashing before it is spliced, and the long end secured as on the first mentioned; and the fifth has the end passed through a hole in the foreshaft and carried down and wrapped round the shaft lashing. The sixth has one end passed through a hole in the smallest part of the foreshaft and knotted at the end, the other end carried up through the hole in the loose shaft and down to a second hole in the foreshaft close to the first, then up through the loose shaft, and down through the first hole, and tucked under the two parts on the other side.
The foreshaft is made of walrus ivory or the hard bone of the walrus jaw and varies little in form and dimensions. It is sometimes ornamented by carving, as in No. 56772 [536], or by incised patterns, as in Fig. 222, No. 56538 [98], and generally has one or two deep longitudinal notches in the thickest part, in which the lines can be drawn snugly down. It usually is joined to the shaft by a stout, wedge-shaped tang, which fits into a corresponding cleft in the shaft, and is secured by wooden treenails and a wrapping of seal thong or sinew braid, sometimes made more secure by passing one end through holes in the foreshaft. No. 56768 [532] is peculiar in having the tang on the shaft and the corresponding cleft in the foreshaft. The shaft itself varies little in shape and proportions, and at the present day is sometimes made of ash or other hard wood obtained from the ships. The line catch is generally a little hook of ivory or hard bone like the one described, but two specimens have small screws fastened into the shaft to serve this purpose. The finger rest is ordinarily of the same shape as on the type and fastened on in the same way, but No. 56771 [535] has this made of a knob of ivory elaborately carved into a seal’s head. The eyes are represented by round bits of ivory with pupils drilled in them inlaid in the head. This is evidently the knob of a seal drag (see below) as the longitudinal perforation from chin to nape now serves no purpose. It is fastened on by a lashing of whalebone, which runs round the shaft and through a transverse hole in the knob.