Per Deborah Ann Head, 6-3-2009, style of manufacture of this mat is not typical of the Tlingit. Collection locality of Sitka appears to have been erroneously attached to a number of the objects in the Howard collection. Mat may instead have been collected by Howard on Kodiak Island or Unalaska, Aleutians, where he also visited/collected in 1867.

FROM CARD: "FISH SPEAR.-SHAFT OF CEDAR, 1/2 INCH IN DIAMETER, PAINTED RED, AND END ENLARGED INTO A HEAD IN OUTER END OF WHICH IS INSERTED AND LASHED A FLAT BARBED PIECE OF BONE 1 FOOT IN LENGTH. IN A SLOT IN OUTER END OF LATTER IS LASHED A METAL SPEAR-HEAD. USED IN FISHING BY ALASKAN INDIANS, SITKA. LENGTH, 4 FT. 9 INS.; POINT, 3 INS. ALASKA, 1867. 5,775. COLLECTED BY CAPTAIN HOWARD, U.S. REVENUE MARINE SERVICE."On the shaft of the artifact itself, "Ounalaska" is written in old handwriting and Sitka has been crossed out. Per Aron Crowell, 2008, this object is an Aleut/Unangan whale dart, and therefore the Unalaska locality would be correct.Provenience note: collection locality of Sitka appears to have been erroneously attached to a number of the objects in the Howard collection. It appears the majority of the objects were probably instead collected in Unalaska/Aleutians (and some in St. Paul/Kodiak, Kodiak Island.)

FROM CARD: "ROSA LIAPUNOVA, SOVIET CURATOR OF THE USSR'S STATE MUSEUM OF ETHNOGRAPHY IN LENINGRAD SUGGESTED THAT THE "PIPESTEM" CAT. 8813 MAY BE THE BODY OF THE STAND FOR "ARTIFICIAL BIRD ON ORNAMENTED STAND", CAT. 4128. THE LENINGRAD MUSEUM HAS A SIMILAR ITEM. L. EISENHART 1989."