1888.] PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 171 



The East Greeulanders have, however, done a curious thing in copy- 

 ing the civilized harpoon. It is generally stated, and in all probability 

 is true, though I have not been able to learn who first adopted the idea, 

 that the modern American " toggle-iron" was suggested by the usual 

 Eskimo weapon, much as the " Eob Roy" canoe, with its double-bladed 

 paddle, is a civilized modification of the kayak. Thus we have an in- 

 vention originating among savages, adopted and modified by civilized 

 men, and then taken back with its modifications by savages of the same 

 race as the inventors, who could have had no possible kuowledge that 

 it was the old harpoon of their fathers coming back to them in this 

 strange shape. 



It is not stated how generally this peculiar pattern of harpoon is used 

 by the East Greeulanders. In view of what I have said of the probable 

 weakness of this type, as compared with the usual Eskimo harpoon or 

 civilized " iron," I should not be surprised to learn that the specimens 

 brought back by Captain Holm were rather unusual even in East 

 Greenland, and had been made as experiments by some particularly 

 enterprising and ingenious native. 



Smithsonian Institution, December 5, 1887. 



