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Harpoon

Object Number:37-22-190A
Current Location: Collections Storage
Culture:Sherbro
Provenience: Sierra Leone
Sherbro Island
Yoni
Section:African
Materials:Fiber
Wood
Length: 220 cm
Width: 3 cm
Credit Line:Expedition to Sierra Leone, West Africa; Henry Usher Hall, 1937
Other Number:16 - Collector Number

Description

Wooden shaft (A) [tthawk ibas] with socketed iron head [ibas] having a single barb. The bottle-shaped float (B) [hoe] is attached to the shaft by a long line which is held in loops in the left hand until the harpoon is thrown. The float supports the shaft inthe water when the ibas [detached from its normal position on the shaft, but held to it by the short multiple sling] has buried itself in the flesh of the quarry: tarpon [kwa], porpise [bim], manatee [piom], etc. On land the harpoon, without the float, is used in hunting antelope [tshal], bush cat [sipik], bush pig [ pio tohe], python [pe], crocodile [ki], etc.

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