200 Morten P. Porsild. 



so adjusted that they could be used with the guiding-stick, A couple 

 of them, the two furthest to the right might, however, perhaps have 

 been used in this manner. 



Boas illustrates from Aivilik a couple of double-edged stone knives 

 (Fig. 125) set in bone handles prolonged with wood. From the form 

 of this prolongation it would seem that they might suitably be lashed 

 to a guiding-stick. The same author has in his Fig. 90 the bone 

 handle for a sanardlit of the type Fig. 41, E with a small groove for 

 the insertion of a sharp-edged flake. This handle also is cut aslant 

 below, but not in the same plane as mine is, and has a number 

 of holes which presumably have been used for fastening to the 

 guiding-stick, but whether with nails or lashings cannot be seen from 

 the figure. 



Fig. 42 firstly shows four old handles for man's knives for free- 

 hand carving. 



A is from the bone of a whale (?), here the blade still remains, 

 it is of iron and fastened with a copper nail. It is worthy of notice 

 that the blade is not fastened in a slit or kerf, but in a narrow, 

 bored out socket, so that the bone has retained its full strength. 

 Disco Fjord. 



В is of antler, the blade has been of iron, and has been fastened 

 with two nails; the slit for it has been sawed. Sarqaq. 



С is a long, rather thin, slightly curved, pentagonal handle of 

 antler. The blade has been fastened in a rather large socket without 

 the aid of a nail. Save for the presence of rust, the idea of a stone 

 blade would suggest itself absolutely, but in all probability the blade 

 has been a piece of unforged telluric iron. Later, by oxidation of the 

 iron and by desiccation, the bone has split from the socket downwards. 

 Possibly this has been the handle for a sanardlit. Disco Fjord. 



Z) is a small knife-handle which broke when the socket for the 

 blade was bored. It is decorated with the dot and circle ornamen- 

 tation^ known in so many districts and cultures. Mason (p. 296) 

 says "this decoration, wherever found, is an emblem of the existence 

 of steel tools." This is not strictly accurate. Very few pieces of flint or 

 chalcedony need be chipped off before one finds a piece which, when 

 turned can produce beautiful dots and circles in bone. But as a 

 rule it happens that these figures do differ somewhat from those 

 which are produced with steel tools, because the grooves and ridges 

 are rounded, owing to the instrument being blunt. A sharp steel drill 

 produces sharp edges and he who has steel instruments understands 



^ As regards the occurrence of this ornamentation in primitive art, see in 

 addition, Hoffmann's observations in "The Graphic Art of the Eskimo," pp. 

 800 sqq. 



