400 Thomas Thomsen 



in the Royal Museum (Det kongelige Kunstkammer) in 1737 label- 

 led: "Greenlandic". The same form of bow is indicated in an illu- 

 stration in Johann Andersen. ^ As this is the form of bow stave 

 we meet in North-east Greenland, its main form will be described 

 here on the basis of the West Greenland material, in order that 

 we may gain a better understanding of the fragments found by the 

 Danmark Expedition. The backing need not be taken into conside- 

 ration, as it is wanting in all the specimens to be described in the 

 following. 



The "Tatar" bow is shorter than the straight variety, being 

 Г12 — 1-34 metres long. The length is 2-06 — 214 times the distances 

 between the middle of the bends'^. The extreme breadth occurs 

 immediately within the bend and decreases thence both towards 

 the ends and towards the grip. It is thickest at the grip; in two 

 cases it is somewhat less thick within the bends than towards the 

 ends. The only complete specimen of the three bows has at the 

 bends a curved piece of bone inserted between the bow stave and 

 the backing; at the grip a piece of whalebone is inserted in a cor- 

 responding manner. Two of the bows are in one piece, while one 

 of the staves from Disco is composed of three pieces which have 

 been mortised together in a manner similar to that described below 

 in the case of the North-east Greenland specimens. The straight- 

 formed West Greenland bows in the Museum are made of one piece, 

 with the exception of one in which the two pieces have been joined 

 together not by a mortice, but by means of a bevelled splice. It is, how- 

 ever, of slight importance whether the bow is made of one or several 

 pieces, this being dependent on the greater or less supply of wood. 



In the following table are given the chief measurements of the 

 West Greenland bows of this form and of the fragments of North- 

 east Greenland bow staves found by the Danmark and the Ryder 

 Expeditions. As to the bow stave L. с 1424, С. Ryder-' is undoubt- 

 edly wrong in regarding the small notch at the back as intended 

 for a splice; the specimen does not decrease in thickness towards 

 the fracture ; I am inclined to believe that the bow has been in one 

 piece, and that the notch was intended for a piece of whalebone 

 similar to that found on the old West Greenland bow. 



' Andersen, the plate opposite p. 286. C. Ryder (I, p. 307) drew attention to the 

 two bow- forms from Greenland; but the material in the Museum has increased 

 somewhat since then ; at that time there existed only one bent bow. 



- I. e. the points at either end where the l)ow is bent up, as in bows of "Tatar" 

 shape. 



3 Ryder I. p. 307. 



