The Material Culture of the Eskimo in West Greenland. 207 



purpose the cutting edge of the Ulo must be blunt as the blade is 

 pressed with force against the skin, and forms a considerably larger 

 angle with it than during the removal of the blubber. For this 

 purpose a special implement is often used, which may resemble an 

 old-fashioned Ulo, kiliortut, 177, (see Fig. 47, F.), but the blade is 

 less curved and no attempt has been made to obtain a particularly 

 slender stem, or else the handle is fixed directly to the blade without 

 a stem, which is of little importance here. Moreover, when the blade 

 is of metal it has a slightly concave surface, to receive the fat which 

 is scraped off (mame, 200) and which is eaten as a kind of delicacy. 

 Therefore, a suitably large and strong mussel-shell makes the most 

 natural scraper, and is used even at the present day whenever 

 nothing better is obtainable. 



When the skin is washed the same implements are used, a blunt 

 Ulo or a scraper on the hairy side of the skin, in order, by the same 

 movements, to squeeze water and dirt out of the fur. For this also 

 a special implement is sometimes used, generally made of bone, 

 shaped like a long, shghtly curved knife with a handle which is a 

 prolongation of the blade. 



When the prepared skins are to be cut out for sewing, the sharp 

 Ulo is again used, and the skin is cut against a firm foundation of 

 , wood or bone, the curved side of the edge being drawn along the 

 skin. If particularly accurate and small pieces have to be cut out, 

 as for example for skin embroidery, the points of the Ulo are used, 

 or the blade is supported at the upper edge by the point of the 

 third finger, which is just able to reach it. When pieces of 

 furry skin are going to be joined together, care has to be taken that 

 the fur lies naturally, and as all the hairs on the seal are bent from 

 the fore-end backwards, the fur must not be damaged at the 

 edges because in the finished garments the hairs must everywhere 

 be bent downwards so that water and dirt may run off easily. 

 If the skin has been cut carefully the hair-layers will be con- 

 tinued over the seams of the skin-pieces. The skin is therefore cut 

 from the fleshy side and the woman cuts in a sitting posture, keeping 

 the one end of the skin fixed between her abdomen and thigh, the 

 other between the fingers of her left hand, so that the part of the 

 skin which she cuts, is spread out over the palm of her left hand. 



For European materials — cloth — a pair of scissors is always 

 used, and never the Ulo, 



We shall now consider a series of typical forms of the Ulo 

 (Figs, 45 and 46), With the exception of Nos, 1 and 3 all are 

 chosen from Mason's monograph, and the illustrations are all ob- 



LI. 16 



