APPENDIX. 583 



handle is of wood and grooved, and the iron blade is inserted, and then 

 is fastened hy means of thongs twisted round it. 



A perfectly similar handle was found in another place, but without 

 any iron in it. 



This is the only instance of our finding iron material in North- 

 East Greenland. Still such iron instruments must always have been 

 very scarce. Iron is not anywhere found in the land in the form of ore, 

 but it is real wrought iron imported. 



As to its origin, two hypotheses only present themselves. Either 

 the natives obtain it through exchange with the inhabitants of the 

 southern districts, and these similarly obtain it from the west coast, in 

 traffic, which, though not impossible, seems to us still very improbable ;* 

 or else it is a piece of the iron which Clavering, in 1823, presented to 

 the natives in the form of knives and other implements. 



3 See Parry's Journal, p. 286. 



THE END. 



