240 Morten P Porsild. 



the implements of the East Greenlanders, based on all the available 

 collections and on the author's own studies in the field. In this work 

 Thalbitzer has also taken the opportunity to correct some erroneous 

 statements concerning West Greenland implements which he had made 

 in a previous work, and which I have pointed out in the present 

 work. But at the same time he happens to have made some fresh 

 mistakes — probably owing to want of sufficient museum-material 

 from West Greenland. In so far as they have reference to the parti- 

 cular subjects, of which 1 have been treating, I feel it my duty to 

 correct these positive errors before they circulate further. Lastly, there 

 are points regarding which Thalbitzer's and my opinion do not coin- 

 cide, because we regard the problems from different points of view, 

 and try to solve them in different ways. 



In consequence of all this I should have liked to rewrite some 

 parts of the present work, but during the short space of time which 

 intervenes in Greenland between the arrival and the departure of the 

 steamer it has been impossible for me to do more than read through 

 — in proof — that part of my MS. which had already been printed, 

 and to write some scattered additional remarks to those parts of my 

 work where they were most urgently needed owing to the new pub- 

 lications. 



To page 126. 



Thalbitzer says (loc. cit. p. 425) "Which of the flat sides of the har- 

 poon we should call the upper or under side, must depend upon how the 

 Eskimo places the head on the harpoon shaft, when he lays it on the kaiak, 

 or Ufts it preparatory to casting." With this I can fully agree, but when 

 the author "imagines, that in throwing the belly of the harpoon toggle looks 

 upwards, — thus the basal barbs, produced by the bevelling of the base, 

 lie in the plane of the under side," he is mistaken. Just the reverse is the 

 case; during the throw the harpoon must be placed with its bevelled togg- 

 hng butt above the foreshaft, and the loop of the line below, otherwise the 

 loosening of the shaft will be impeded, as also the toggUng movement of 

 the harpoon. Therefore I call the side which faces upwards during the 

 throw the dorsal side, and almost all my figures — and those of others 

 also — show the harpoons as seen from the ventral side. 



To page 130. 



At the hinder end of the toggling butt of numerous harpoons of more 

 primitive workmanship there is a number of small notches which Thalbitzer 

 (p. 432) supposes to be merely ornamental. They are, however, of decidedly 

 technological importance, as without them the butt would slip from the 

 layer of fat. Therefore, they are not found in the more highly developed 

 harpoon-forms, where the toggling butt is acutely triangular or deeply bi- 

 furcated, because they are not wanted. 



To page 152. 



Mason is right when he describes foreshafts of harpoons and lances as 



