The Material Culture of the Eskimo in West Greenland. 159 



numerous other purposes. From his own hunting the Eskimo furnishes 

 whalebone, which in many respects is a capital material, being elastic 

 and tough while it does not absorb water and is not brittle when cold, 

 but is, on the other hand, too pliable. Even when several layers are 

 put together sufficient rigidity cannot be obtained to allow of an ar- 

 row for big game attaining such speed that it kills. Nor can bone and 

 ivory, the Eskimo's most important material render substance for a 

 bow fit for use ; they are sufficiently rigid, but not sufficiently elastic, 

 and only in the shape of the jaws or ribs of whales might pieces be 

 found which were sufficiently large and straight ; but even if holes by 

 the hundred had been bored here a piece for a bow could hardly be 

 split out without its breaking. 



Forced by this deficiency of material the Eskimo then makes an 

 invention which, in its genial simplicity, seems to me fully worthy of 

 being placed on a level with the greatest inventions of our time. As 

 he cannot get sufficient elasticity in the bow-stave itself he entirely 

 removes from the bow-stave the element which produces elasticity. He 

 makes his bow-stave of a suitable length by patching it together with 

 bits of such materials as he has at hand: wood, whalebone, bone; 

 and this bow-stave, which need not have any elasticity at all, is backed 

 with a series of strings of braided sinew-thread, or, failing this, thin, 

 selected lines of rawhide. These strings are fastened to the bow-stave 

 by lashings. The sinew-thread and the rawhide line have more than 

 enough of elasticity and toughness, but no rigidity whatsoever; the 

 bow-stave has now to furnish this, while the main task — elasti- 

 city — is transferred to the backing. In this construction, the 

 Eskimo bow differs fundamentally from all other bows. In its principle 

 it somewhaj- reminds one of the common hand-saw used by carpenters. 



Complete Eskimo bows are not often to be met with in collections. 

 It is the first instrument to be superseded by the rifle ; and it is only 

 in the most remote districts of Arctic America that Eskimo who still 

 use bows may, perhaps, still be found. Complete bow-staves, or 

 pieces of these, are found often enough in ruins and graves, but the 

 sinew backing has rottened or been eaten away by animals. Here, 

 round Disco Bay, the hunting of Caribou has also played an impor- 

 tant rôle, and even on the island itself, where to-day no deer is to be 

 found, one often comes across implements for the hunting of Caribou ; 

 shooting screens, also, and land-marks to point the way. 



From north-west Disco, in 1 902, I brought home a couple of bow-staves 

 without sinew backings, they have been delivered to the National Museum 

 m Copenhagen, and now I can only mention them according to memory 

 and scarce notes. Since then I have not succeeded in finding com- 

 plete bow-staves, only pieces of these and fragments of arrows. Fabri- 

 cius had before him a complete bow with its appurtenances, and has 

 given an exhaustive description and a ' bad illustration of this, but 



LI. 13 



