Implements and Artefacts of the North-east Greenlanders. 387 



L. 4135, Rypefjeldet, spring settlement, tent 609 (PI. XIV, 15). Like the 

 preceding, but without notches; the fore end wanting; present length 81 cm.; 

 extreme breadth of blade 21 cm.; tang 12 cm. in breadth. 



These slate blades, both in form and mode of attachment to 

 the shaft, are closely related to the bone heads described on p. 362 

 as arrowheads. Nor is the breadth of the tang greater than in 

 these. The reason why I nevertheless cannot regard these specimens 

 as arrowheads is that one of them, that found on Snenæs, is 

 furnished with a nail hole. This method of attachment between 

 head and shaft is unknown in arrows. Judging from the finds, 

 no bone foreshaft had been inserted. The small group, peculiar to 

 North-east Greenland, which has been further supplemented by a 

 specimen from the Nathorst Expedition ^ must be left for future 

 consideration, when further finds may possibly bring shafted spec- 

 imens to light. 



Loose shafts and Foreshafts of Weapons. 



As is well-known, kayak-harpoons for throwing are furnished 

 with a loose shaft W'hich is connected to the shaft itself by means of 

 a movable joint; this is absent in ice-hunting harpoons, used for 

 thrusting when hunting seals at breathing holes. In these, only the 

 harpoon head can be detached, while the bone piece between the 

 head and the shaft is spliced to the latter and is thus transformed 

 from a loose shaft into a foreshaft. It is then of course superfluous : 

 and we also find, at Angmagsalik, the harpoon head placed directly 

 on the pointed fore end of the shaft ^. 



In North-east Greenland, on the other hand, these bone pieces 

 belonging to ice-hunting harpoons are found, and are represented in 

 the collections by several specimens, of very unequal size. 



L. 3103, Eskimonæsset (PI. X, 5). A 426 cm. long piece, circular in section, 

 of a narwhal tusk, 29 cm. thick at the base and tapering towards the roun- 

 ded tip upon which the harpoon head is placed. At the butt end it has a 

 bevelled plane, 10 cm. long, for application to the shaft. 



L. 3120, Thomas Thomsens Næs (PI. XV, 5). Similar to the above, but 

 shorter and somewhat damaged at both ends. Length 22 7 cm ; extreme 

 thickness 2 cm. The bevelled plane is now only 3 cm., but was probably 

 originally 5 cm. long. 



L. 3187, Syttenkilometernæsset (PI. XX, 9); length 42 cm., extreme thick- 

 ness 2 cm. Very similar to L. 3103, but the oblique splice 96 cm. long has 

 a notch halfway down which must have fitted on to a corresponding notch 

 on the shaft, to prevent the planes from slipping away from each other 

 during the thrust. 



The specimens in question are all circular in section, and the 



oblique splices terminate in a fine edge at the butt end. Herein 



1 SOLBERG, PI. 9, 8. 



Holm, PI. XV, Fig. 2 from the right; Thalbitzeu II, p. 420, Fig. 116. 



