Introduction. 



AMONG the wealth of scientific material brought home by the 

 Danmark Expedition from North-east Greenland, the ethno- 

 graphical collection is not the least important part. 



It was the Leader of the Expedition, L. Mylius-Erichsen, who 

 devoted to this sphere of work his keen interest and energy. He 

 himself was not fated to see the results of his endeavours; in the 

 spring of 1907, he recorded with enthusiasm his discovery of the 

 first traces of Eskimos north of the inhospitable Jøkelbugt, which 

 he had for some time regarded as the northernmost limit of human 

 occupation on this coast ^; six months later, he perished during a 

 winter journey over the inland ice. After his death, the archæo- 

 logical-ethnographical work was carried on by Chr. Bendix-Thostrup, 

 whose personal activity in this field includes numerous investigations, 

 and the careful labelling of the large mass of material. Each member 

 of the expedition, however, made collections and excavations at the 

 places visited, and it is only by such united effort that so extensive 

 finds could have been made^. 



After the return of the Expedition, the work remaining to be 

 done was divided, Hr. Bendix-Thostrup, who had personally super- 

 vised the greater part of the operations, undertaking to compile the 

 descriptions of settlements and ruins'', while the task of dealing 

 with the actual objects found was allotted to the present writer, as 

 one connected with the Museum side. I take this opportunity of 

 profilering my respectful thanks to the Committee of the Danmark 

 Expedition for having entrusted the work to my care. 



Such a division rendered it natural to arrange the material 

 according to the nature of the objects concerned, rather than by 

 locality; in so doing, a clearer view of the culture of North-east 

 Greenland would be obtained, while at the same time, the repetition 

 inseparable from a record based on locality could be avoided. Such 

 local dissimilarities as exist are, moreover, but slight, and may 

 better be referred to while dealing with the separate implements, 

 or subsequently noted. 



' cf. Thostrup p. 209. - loc. cit. p. 183. ^ Chr. Bendix-Tho.strup: Ethnogra- 

 phical description of the Eskimo settlements and Stone Remains. Kbh. 1911 

 (Medd. om Grønl XLIV). 



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