Implements and Artefacts of the North-east Greenlanders. 



367 



cut off below. Another grave-find, from Umanaq\ contains a bodkin 

 of a type similar to that from Rypefjeldet, moreover, a number of 

 bones slightly pointed or quite unworked, three of which are pierced 

 at the point, and could not therefore have served as implements; 

 lastly, a dagger-shaped piece of bone and two small human figures, 

 likewise adapted for suspension. 



The two last finds, especially the pointed bones, remind one 

 of the pendants which are found on Central Eskimo belts, hang- 

 ing all along the skin strap. These also include small carved im- 

 plements, knives, snow knives, etc. I am inclined to believe that 

 the bodkins, when they occur in larger numbers, have been used 

 in a similar way, the more so, as both the East Greenland finds 

 contain belt-fasteners (PI. VII, 7). There is, moreover, contemporary 

 evidence of the fact that bodkin-like pieces of bone have been used 

 as belt ornaments at Davis Strait in the 17th century; the statement 

 runs as follows: — "Elles sont ceintes d'une courroye de cuir, à laquelle 

 au lieu de clefs, elles attachent plusieurs osselets, qui sont pointus comme 

 des poinçons, et de même longueur que des aiguilles de teste.'' '^ It is 

 true, on the accompanying illustration the bodkins are seen hanging 

 in a bunch from the belt; but I feel convinced that this is due to 

 the artist having understood the author's remark about the keys as 

 if he meant a bunch of keys; the large bow Avith which the belt is 

 fastened in front suffices to show that the drawing is not trustworthy. 



Besides the objects found in the grave and in the small grave 

 deposit it remains to be mentioned that an antler, cut off at the 

 lower end, was found stuck in between two stones of the grave, and 

 that a worked piece of wood 1-19 metre long, was laid across the 

 grave as a support for the stone roofing; at its thicker end it is 

 bent, terminates in a point, and is furnished with a rectangular 

 hole (Fig. 1). This object is not Eskimo workmanship; it is probably 

 a tiller which has drifted ashore \ It is interesting on account of 

 the use to which it has been put in the construction of the grave, 



1 Mus. No. 3926. 



■^ L. D. P. Louis dePoincy): Histoire Naturelle et Morale des Antilles de l'Amérique, 

 Rotterdam 1658, p. 200. In a digression the author devotes a chapter to a journey 

 made b}' a Dutch captain to Davis Strait in 1656. I am unable to identif}- more 

 exacth' the locality' described; as regards his route it is only stated that he 

 ^'arriva sur la fin du mois de Juin dans le Detroit de Davis, d'au étant entré 

 dans une revière qui commence au soixante quatrième degré et dix minutes de 

 la ligne en tirant vers le Xord, il fit voile jnsques au septante deuxième, sous 

 lequel la terre que nous allons décrire est située'. The chapter in question has 

 been translated into English by David Mac Ritchie: The Eskimos of Davis 

 Straits in 1656 (The Scottish Geographical Magazine for June, 1912). 



'' The National Museum contains another specimen of this kind from West-Green- 

 land (Mus. No. L. 5670); it has been used as a block for the üre drill. 



