Ethnographic Description of the Eskimo Settlements 



203 



Graves. We found 12 graves, but did not examine all of them 

 closely. They were usually well-built stone structures with many or 

 heavy stones above К In most cases the body had been bent 

 double and sewed up in a skin. The graл'es are now partially filled 

 with gravel or small stones. The choice of direction seems to have 

 been accidental. The grave implements were found partly in, partly 

 outside the graves or between the stones of the graves. Fox-traps 

 had been built about the grave places for the foxes enticed by the 

 smell of the bodies, which shows, that the Eskimos left no occasion 

 unused for their hunting. 



The graves were constructed above the ground (fig. 12); they 



Fig. 12. (Irave 323. East shore of Stormljugt. 



Seen from the north. 15eh)\v. to the right of the grave is seen tlie receptacle 324 



for tlie grave articles. (Photo, hy the author). 



were usually found in the neighbourhood of the winter settlements, 

 so placed that the smell from the graves would be driven away 

 from the settlement by the prevailing N. W. wind. 



Remains of children's playthings were found almost every- 

 where. We find that they have very closely copied the shelters 

 (416—417) and meat-depots (178—179) of their parents, but other 

 stone structures also occur (fig. 13), in which the children's own in- 

 genuity displays itself in the figures. 



Playthings of an older character were found, on even ground 



' Cf. ScoRESBY 1: p. 213; Pansch: p. 55; Koldewey: I, pp. 594— 95; Ryder: p. 339; 

 Nathorst: p. 162 and .Amdrlp 2: p. 328. 



16* 



