16 



Minileski'ifl for J. Steeisstrup. XXX. 



,<,| 



shark meat in cooked or dried C(.indilion, thai is, that they cooked or dried it as (h)g 

 food lor the sake of the dogs. At Angmagssalik I have seen fresii siiark liodies lying 

 about in the vicinity of the houses and the loose dogs tear these carcases at will, though 

 it was naturally well-known, that the dogs could become intoxicated from eating this 

 meat. We ourselves have at times fed our own dogs on shark flesh, init we always 

 cooked il first and we gave them loads of it and they look no harm. The soup was 

 thrown away. The shark liver we also gave them sometimes and this we never 

 cooked, but lei it: lie some time to drip l)eforehand, then they ate it without harm. 

 (J be ^^y impression is that what is 



necessary to make the flesh safe 

 liolh for lumian beings and ani- 

 mals, is to get the fluids to some 

 extent out of the flesh and it is 

 a matter of indifl'erence, whether 

 they are removed by cooking or 

 by (lri]j|)ing". 



A peculiar use of the 

 teeth of the (ji'eenland shark 

 is noted by G. Holm')- The 

 Angmagssalikers usually have 

 the hair of the head long, 

 but some get the hair cut 

 short already as children, in 

 front alone or the whole head 

 around. This is made by 

 the aid of the teeth of the 

 shark, while from superstition 

 it is not dared to let the hair ])e touched by iron. On plate XXVI, fig. c Holm 

 figures two such "hair-cutters" (reproduced in my fig. 3 b), that evidently are made 

 of pieces of wood with series of shark-teeth (from the lower jaw) fastened in them. 

 Graah had, indeed, already figured such a "sharks-teeth-saw'" (reproduced in my fig. 

 3 c), that he had found with the Eskimos on the southern part of the eastcoast of Green- 

 land ^). Also in West-Greenland implements of this description have been used 

 in olden times. Jap. Steenstrup mentions and figures, indeed, a quite analogous 

 implement found in the most northern part of Danish Greenland, in an old 

 Eskimo grave from the heathen times; the cutting edge is made of a row of 



Fig. 3. Eskimo knives made of teeth from the lower jaw 



of the Greenland shark (Somniosus microcephalus Bl.-Schn.). 



a ca. ^/s, b ca. 'I.i, c ca. ■'/-. 



') Meddel. om (Ironland, X, 1888, p. 62. 



-■) W. A. Graah: Undersogelses-Rejse til 0stkysten at Gronland, 18o2, pi. VI II, fig. 2. 



