The Material Culture of the Eskimo in West Greenland. 199 



Consequently, the knife-blade, as far as its working part is con- 

 cerned, now resembles the crooked carving knife of the other Eskimo 

 tribes and of the North American Indians of our day. 



For the handles A — D, the lanceolate, double-edged knives are 

 mostly used, which in museum catalogues and archæological publications 

 are often called "arrow-points." For the handle E, on the other 

 hand, the sharp two-edged flakes of rock-crystal, chalcedon and 

 jasper are used, and this, in transverse section, forms an isoscele 

 triangle with very obtuse epical angle. In my collection there are 

 several specimens which in a length of 3 — 4 cm. are only 5 — 6 mm. 

 broad. The one edge of the flake is fixed in the socket of the bone 

 shaft, where it is secured only by pressure against the elastic rim of 

 bone, or, if necessary, with a couple of lashings with thread at the 

 ends, or also with a kind of putty made of blood, oxidized lamp-oil 

 and soot. Such flakes can be as sharp as razors, but the edge is 

 naturally not particularly durable; they are used on hard materials 

 for the final dressing and polishing only. The flakes are principally 

 used for such work as the fashioning of whip-lashes and laces for boots 

 or clothes, where it is, on the whole, a question of the rawhide being 

 well rounded without loss of strength. The finished rawhide-line of 

 the skin of the bearded seal is trapezoid in transverse section and 

 rather hard and stiff, and here the edges are removed by a sort of 

 planing, so that the transverse section becomes elliptical or round; 

 but very sharp knives are required for this. 



The knife-handles which are not cut aslant at the end, but 

 which in place of this have a socket, were a sort of hand-knife in- 

 tended mostly for the man's minor works in skin : for fashioning 

 thongs, traces, etc., or for cutting; but they might also be used for 

 carving. The guiding-stick was then merely pointed at both ends, 

 the one end just being inserted in the socket of the handle ; but 

 its stability was not so good, which would be noticed especially 

 in large carvings, though it had this advantage that by slight 

 movements of the hand the blade could be placed at a slight angle 

 to the longitudinal lie of the guiding-stick. If it could be afforded 

 both forms would be kept. 



Holm, in his table XVIII, has seven knives with stone blades, 

 of which six are short and lanceolate while the seventh is longer 

 with the shape of an oleander-leaf. A couple of the shafts are broken, 

 and it cannot be seen from any of the others that they have been 



left hand and chin. The knife is held in the right hand, the right forearm rests 

 on the right knee, and the cutting motion comes from his lifting his right heel 

 off the ground. It is, then, a method of working which has this in common with 

 the method described, that the knife is guided by something more than the 

 mere hand. 



