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use while the other is also occasionally employed. Indeed it is
not before we reach somewhat beyond the Mackenzie R. that
the well known Greenland kayak-oar acquires that right of
exclusive use to which it is really entitled.
Passing to the weapons used for sealhunting from kayak,
we see the principal and most original of them, the LARGE HARPOON
WITH BLADDER AND LINE also gradually invented, being completed
and duly appreciated in almost the same proportion as the
former implements. First, as a curiosity, it may be mentioned,
that in Southern Alaska we meet with harpoons still furnished
with bird’s feathers like the arrows of the landchase. However
it must have been observed early, that a seal, even when hit
by a harpoon must be able to escape more easily than a
terrestrial animal — namely by diving. To prevent this, a small
inflated bladder was attached to the end of the harpoon. A
small harpoon fashioned in this way has also been preserved
almost unaltered from Kadjak in Alaska to Greenland. It is
used for smaller seals under the name of BLADDER-ARROW. But
already in Alaska it was by and by found necessary to enlarge the
bladder for the capture of larger animals, and at the same time
of course, the missile, by offering too much resistance to the
air, grew more and more unfit for being thrown to a suitable
distance. In fact, specimens are seen in Alaska of so monstrous
a shape that they would amaze a Greenlander. This
inconvenience then gave rise to the invention of the large harpoon
and the bladder to be separately thrown out, only connected
with the harpoon by means of the hunting line. This
contrivance, as a kayak tool, is unknown in Southern Alaska, although
large bladders are used in the same way for whalefishing by
the Indians. Even at Point Barrow the large bladder like the
double-bladed paddle is applied only in peculiar cases, whereas
the «bladder-arrow» serves for ordinary use.
One more invention indispensable in completing the large
harpoon is developed and gradually makes its appearance in
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