120 Morten P. Porsild. 



fully understand all its small details, which, at first sight, we either 

 do not notice at all, or regard as unimportant for the purpose of the 

 implement, and therefore readily consider them to be peculiarities of 

 style belonging to a certain district or tribe. This I have specially ex- 

 perienced when studying the Greenland dog-sledge with its appurte- 

 nances. My first sledge I bought ready-made ; the sledges I afterwards 

 wanted I built myself, and both my successful and unsuccessful attempts 

 towards emancipating myself from the forms which are in vogue in the 

 neighbourhood of my home have taught me the intention of many small 

 details which, at first, I did not even notice; and also, that individual 

 parts occurred which were solely due to old-estabhshed use of material 

 ■of inferior quality and could, therefore, be very well replaced by some- 

 thing better. By simultaneously studying sledge-types owned by clever 

 sledge-drivers. Greenlanders and Danes, I got an eye for differences 

 which were adaptations to local conditions, for example, the occurrence of 

 much or little hummocky ice ; much or little overland driving ; etc. Thus, I 

 can fairly well distinguish sledges from the different settlements near Disco 

 Bay. Whereby I think I have gained knowledge which enables me bet- 

 ter to estimate the type of sledges, intended to be drawn by dogs, from 

 entirely different regions; for instance, those of the Samoieds and the 

 Indians. At first these appeared to differ so greatly from those of the 

 Eskimo, that they could not at all be compared with the latter, but 

 now their form mainly serves to inform me of the conditions of climate 

 and of the supply of material in the region in question. 



The above-mentioned ideal end, viz., personally to be able to form an 

 opinion of the implement as a user, we can, however, only rarely attain. 

 In the majority of cases it must suffice us to observe the use of the 

 implement and to try to supplement our observations by questioning 

 the user himself. But here it should be remembered that we cannot 

 put any question we please. If an Eskimo hunter is asked why his 

 harpoon is as it is, he no more has an answer ready at hand than 

 a cultivated person would have if, for instance, he were asked why a 

 pair of scissors has the form it has. If, on the other hand, the hunter 

 is asked why his harpoon has this or that detail, wherein it differs from 

 all others, then information as good and well-founded may be expected 

 as would be had on asking a tailor why a particular pair of scissors has 

 just a special peculiarity. 



It may now be asked: will nothing be left which cannot be 

 solved by technological investigations? In the majority of 

 cases the answer will be in the negative, unless there are ornamenta- 

 tions. But sometimes there will be differences of construction also, which 

 the technological investigation cannot explain, and which then, in re- 

 turn, often have considerable interest of another kind. Firstly, we 

 must here remember that the same end may be reached in several ways, 

 and this may result in an implement having several ideal forms which 



