The Material Culture of the Eskimo in West Greenland. 211 



of sheet iron, rivetted to two stems. Notice the shortness of the 

 stems here caused by the relatively great height of the blade. 



Fig. 46, 15, 16. North Alaska, Point Barrow. Primitive types. 

 Blades of hornstone and slate. 



Fig. 46, 17. West Alaska, Kotzebue Sound. Primitive type. 

 Blade quadrant-shaped and of sheet iron. 



Fig. 46, 18—19. West Alaska, St. Michaels. One a primitive 

 form with slate blade; the other a more modern form with iron 

 blade. Both rather small. 



Fig. 46, 20. South Alaska, Kadiak. Primitive form with 

 stone blade. 



Fig, 46, 21. Thlinkit Indians, Fort Wrangel, Alaska. The blade 

 is of iron, forged into two points which are driven into a piece of 

 wood, a method which differs remarkably from those of the Eskimo; 

 it could not have been made by an Eskimo , because the only 

 fire at the maker's disposal was the flame from a seal-oil lamp. 

 The form obtained is however nearly the same as regards fitness 

 for use. 



All the forms figured here, can, together with all the 

 others illustrated by Mason and other authors be com- 

 prised within a few types connected by very easy transi- 

 tional stages: — 



A. The primitive type; the blade sector- or quadrant-shaped,^ 

 frequently of stone, rarely of sheet-iron; fastened by various 

 means in the centre of the sector to a piece of wood or bone. 

 Examples Fig. 45, 7 and Fig. 46, 15, 17, 19 and 20. 



B. The blade ordinarily in form of a segment of a circle; some- 

 times nearly straight. Of stone or hoop-iron either first put 

 into a backing of bone to give it firmness, or fastened with two 

 stems direct to the handle. Examples Fig. 45, 3, 4 — 6, Fig. 46, 

 14, 18, 21. 



C. The last and best developed form, the blade frequently of iron, 

 fastened with a single stem to the handle. As soon as the 

 material permits, i. e. as soon as it is made of steel, stem and 

 blade are of one piece, and the blade attains the final, ideal, 

 broad lanceolate type. Examples Fig. 45, 1 and 2 and Fig. 46, 

 9-13. 



We may perhaps regard as a fourth type, an implement which 

 Mason has included among his Ulos (PI. LIX, 1; LXIV, 4. etc.): the 



1 The form which most frequently occurs on spUtting flint or flint-Uke 

 stones. 



