The Material Culture of the Eskimo in West Greenland. 



133 



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to mduneq, which under the prevailing primitive conditions is the 

 Eskimo's last means of extorting food from the ice-bound sea, nigpameq 

 is a chance which is occasionally taken in addition, but is one on which 

 too much preparation is not wasted. 



The hunter is called nigpartoq from nigparpog, 248, who hunts in 

 this way; nigparniarpoq, he is out on this hunt. 



Fig. 5 shows the seat of a stool from Hunde Eiland used for mduneq 

 or for nigpameq. It is made of one piece of board, and incipient cracks 

 have several times been repaired with lashings of sinew thread. The 

 legs have been fastened in by the help of bone wedges. 



3. Itsuarneq. (Fig. 6). For this two hunters are required. The 

 one lies down on a skin or a sledge on the ice, by the side of a rather 

 large hole, and covers his head with a skin to exclude the day-light. 

 Now he can see the seal in the 

 water and can make signs to his 

 comrade when the seal is below 

 the hole. Usually he makes a 

 certain movement with the one 

 foot (sometimes, and rarely, he 

 cries qâ, qå! or kê, kê!) The 

 other holds a small harpoon 

 with a very long pole, 10 — 12 

 metres, in a smaller hole next 

 to the large hole. At the base 

 of the shaft there must be 

 some small pieces of bone, which 

 allure the seal by their move- 

 ments. Itsuarneq is practised in places where it is not very deep, 

 especially in small sounds between islands where currents are felt, and 

 where, consequently, there is much animal-life. It is in a way only a 

 transformed method of fishing, the spear being provided with a loose 

 head and a line, corresponding to the larger and stronger animals which 

 are to be caught. 



According to Holm, for this mode of hunting a special harpoon 

 is used on the east coast, which differs in its construction from all the 

 other known forms by the toggling piece being hinged (see Holm, 

 PI. XVI.) At Disco Bay, small almost bisymmetrical forms such as those 

 shown in Fig. 11, к — m have especially been used. This mode of 

 hunting is no longer practised at Disco Bay, but is said to be still in 

 use in the northernmost parts of Danish West Greenland. On the other 

 hand, a harpoon on an improvised long pole is sometimes used here to 

 catch Hippoglossus vulgaris from a boat in comparatively shallow water. 



The hunters are called itsuartut, from itsuarpoq, 116, he peeps through 

 a narrow hole into something wider, itsuartorpoq or itsuarniarpoq, he is in 

 the act of hunting by this method. The long harpoon pole is called itsuartut. 







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Fig 5. Seat of a stool for mduneq 

 or nigpameq. 



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