The Material Culture of the Eskimo in West Greenland. 



181 



beam of the screen is attached to the crooks of the sledge, a couple 

 of stretchers (naparqiitai, 235) with holes at the top are stuck in 

 under the upper cross-beam, their lower, pointed ends being pushed 

 down into a depression in the front cross-beam of the sledge, while the 

 screen is tightened so as to slope slightly backward by an adjustible 

 line, which hooks on to a peg on the hind edge of the sledge. 



From this shooting screen (Fig. 30), which is therefore an old 

 invention, but remodelled since the introduction of the rifle, the 

 shooting screen for kayak use (Fig. 31) has developed, which is 

 of rather recent date, but nowadays so common in the northern 

 part of Danish Greenland that hardly a kayak is without it. The screen 

 is built in a similar manner, but is smaller, being about 70 cm. broad 

 and 30 cm. high. In the centre the lower portion is cut out for the 

 fore end of the kayak. Instead of the sledge here is a wooden block 

 with a dovetailed slot which fits the kayak, the fore end of which 



Fig. 31. Shooting screen for kayak, seen from the hunter's place. 



in transverse section forms an inverted isosceles triangle. This piece 

 of wood {talutarfik, place for talutaq) has on its front edge two hooks 

 which grip the lower cross-beam, on the top there are holes into 

 which one or two stretchers fit tightly, so that a tightening-line can 

 be avoided. The screen therefore is held fast only by the tension 

 of the cross-beams. 



This small shooting screen cannot hide the kayak and hunter 

 entirely, but when it is in use the hunter has a white linen blouse 

 outside his other clothes ; it only reaches to the middle of his chest. 

 Further he has a white cover for his cap, and in recent times it has 

 become more and more common to paint the skin covering of the 

 kayak with white oil colour, which prevents the skin from absorbing 

 so much water and becoming so heavy and also increases its dura- 

 bility. A white-clad hunter in a white painted kayak with shooting 

 screen may thus, seen from the front, astonishingly resemble a block 

 of ice. 



If the wind becomes too strong, so that the shooting screen is in 



