The Material Culture of the Eskimo in West Greenland. 169 



dive away from the hunter. As the lance with a fixed point on a movable 

 foreshaft occurs here in any case in the neighbourhood, on Southampton 

 Island for instance, it seems that the lance with the detachable point 

 is regarded as particularly adapted to Caribou hunting. 



Whether the Greenlanders brought it with them as a special wea- 

 pon for hunting Caribou and discovered only when meeting with the 

 hooded seal that it might adapt itself in their case also, or whether for 

 Caribou hunting they on the whole preferred it to the ordinary kayak 

 lance is very difficult to ascertain. That they hunted Caribou in lakes 

 and at the heads of the fjords where the animals were driven out 

 by systematic "driving" is well known, and it may happen occasionally 

 still. It has also been mentioned before, for instance by Fabricius, II. 

 p. 239, and is said to be illustrated even by Egede. Steensby, there- 

 fore, is incorrect when he states the contrary (Eskimokulturen, p. 67 

 and other places). 



VIL Spears. 



I have not much to say about the fishing spear {kakiak or kakissat, 

 163). Both the commonly distributed forms, the bifurcated as well as 

 the trifurcated one, as they are figured by Holm from the east coast 

 for instance, are well known to the West Greenlanders but are not used 

 here, and have hardly ever been of much importance here at Disco Bay 

 where no doubt they have mostly been used for Cyclopterus. For 

 catching trout (Salmo alpinus) a far more effective method was employed 

 in bygone times, namely damming the rivers with rows of stones. 

 Perhaps they were used sometimes in the winter for trout catching in 

 the open holes of rivers and lakes (cf. M. P. Porsild: Hvor opholder 

 den grønlandske Laks sig om Vinteren? Arb. f. den Danske Arktiske 

 Station paa Disco No. 1). 



VIII. The Evolution of the Types of Missile 

 Weapons of the Eskinno. 



We have previously seen how, by adopting a purely technological 

 point of view we get the Eskimo missile weapons grouped in a series 

 of generic and specific types. It now remains for us to examine how 

 these types stand in relationship to one another and how, technologi- 

 cally regarded, they have evolved from one another. 



We begin with the bow and arrow. Taken jointly they certainly 

 cannot be termed a simple thing, but constitute a veritable machine; 

 but in some measure it is natural to begin here, as this weapon is common 

 to all mankind; moreover we find among the arrows here some of the 

 most simple forms: a stick with a stone in one end and a feather in 



