156 Morten P. Porsild. 



their relative scale proportions, so that they give only a false represen- 

 tation of how the weapon looked. Cranz's illustration, (Tab. V) is a 

 good deal better, and from more recent times we have illustrations in 

 Nansen, p. 29 and Nordenskiöld, p. 480. The last two illustrations 

 are of specimens from South Greenland where the bladder-dart is still 

 in use ; reciprocally they agree well with each other, but seem to differ 

 in the form and placing of the bladder from the description of Fabricius. 

 As his also originates from South Greenland a slight development seems 

 to have taken place in this respect; but as I have not before me the 

 South Greenland form or illustrations of details from more recent 

 times, I shall not enter further into this matter. 



Here, on the northern part of the coast, the instrument is no 

 longer used, and only very old people from certain remote-lying dis- 

 tricts have in their childhood and youth used the bladder-dart, be- 

 fore a rifle could be afforded and before they could be trusted to 

 handle a harpoon and large buoy. An old hunter, here on Disco, has 

 made me a full-sized model, and, therefore, an instrument which, though 

 it has never been used for hunting, yet might so be used, and which 

 represents that form which the bladder-dart had here at the time 

 when it ceased to be employed. 



An illustration of this model (Fig. 27, g) will be found in a later 

 section, with scale attached, also some details on a rather larger scale. 

 The shaft is of fir, very light, and tapering backwards while the rear- 

 end itself is somewhat thickened. Here is inserted a piece of bone 

 Avith a slight depression {qaquisâ, 123). The fore end is secured from 

 splitting by sinew-thread lashing, here a hole with rounded edges is 

 bored into which the basal-piece {torrutâ, 374) of the iron point fits 

 with a tang. The iron point {siigâ or sâguâ, 340) has been bought in 

 the shop and matches that of the bird-dart. In the side of the torrutaq 

 there is an eye though which passes a line (isugdlua, 111) connecting 

 this piece with the shaft. 



At about half its length the shaft is pierced by the line which after- 

 wards passes through the one end of the curving bone tube {suvdluligssa, 

 from suvdlulik, provided with a tube, 347) and down again through 

 the shaft where it ends in a knot. The bladder {nakerutâ, 222) is 

 made from the gullet of a large bird: a cormorant or a gull; and 

 sometimes of a seal. It is elongated, slightly curved and points back- 

 wards, and is so fixed that it forms part of a very steep spiral. The 

 loose end is held in to the shaft by a thin ring of split quills (tai^siâ, 

 361); whalebone, also, is sometimes used for this. This ring goes 

 through a fissure in the outer edge of the shaft. 



The throwing stick is the same as that of the bird-dart; on the 

 whole, it will be seen that many of the details together with their 

 designations are identical as regards these two darts. 



When the bladder-dart is to be used, the torrutaq is placed in the 



