The Material Culture of the Eskimo in West Greenland. 241 



sometimes having a socket at the base and sometimes a tenon, because both 

 forms occur indiscriminately, although perhaps the former is now more com- 

 mon. Of ten specimens of igimaqs which I have before me, three have 

 tenons, six sockets, and one nothing at all, being simply cut straight ofi. 

 And very much the same is the case with the foreshafts of the lances (of. 

 Thalbitzer, p. 411, and my Fig. 16, r, s, where both specimens have tenons). 



To page 146. 



Thalbitzer says p. 418 "With the tikaagut (lance thrown by hand) 

 the cast is said to be longer than with the throwing stick." This must be 

 a misapprehension, because just the reverse is the case, the throwing stick 

 increasing the length of the arm and adding to its power. If a man has 

 sufficient courage he may approach so close to the prey that he can throw 

 with his hand alone ; if not, or if the prey is dangerous, he must throw 

 from a greater distance, and then a throwing stick is necessary. The throwing 

 stick is one of the numerous precautionary measures found in the kayak. 



To page 146. 



I have lately had an opportunity of studying a collection of harpoons 

 from a single settlement, viz. Hunde Eiland in Disco Bay. There were 46 

 pieces, no longer in use ; the majority were of recent date. And either, be- 

 cause they were broken and could not very well be mended oftener, or be- 

 cause they had been lost by accident or had become useless owing to the 

 violent death of their owner, they had been cast aside. A smaller number 

 were found in old sites of houses, or at the coast, and of these some were 

 undoubtedly old. 



As regards form and size there were no two identical pieces in the whole 

 collection. In all the newer harpoons the length of the bone piece, excluding 

 the blade, varied from 7 to 10 cm. Among the older harpoons some were 

 small in size, only 4 — 6 cm. long. Excepting a few, they have all had, or 

 still have, iron blades. Taking the forms which I have illustrated in Fig. 

 11 (p. 141) as a starting point we may group them as follows: — 



A. With two lateral barbs. 



I. Cf. Fig. 11, d, f, r; toggUng butt bifurcated ; 9 pieces. 

 11. ,, ,, ,, q: toggling butt undivided, pointed; 6 pieces. 



III. Togghng butt with one large median point and two small 

 points near base, or with three points of nearly equal size, 

 or with a smaller median and larger basal point. Thus, this 

 group contains fair transitions between the two former ; 6 

 pieces. 



B. Without lateral barbs. 



IV. Cf. Fig. 1, C; toggling butt bifurcated; 10 pieces. 



V. ,, ,, ,, , В ; Fig. 11, a ; toggling butt undivided. In this 



group several are very old ; one may have had a stone blade. 



Most of them are probably harpoons for thrusting ; 6 pieces. 



VI. Transitional types between IV and V: togghng butt trifurcated ; 



2 pieces. 



Thus, the harpoons hitherto mentioned form two quite 

 parallel series. Besides these we found some groups diverg- 

 ing from those mentioned above. 

 VII. Small harpoons without lateral barbs, togghng butt bifurcated, 

 not lying on the dorsal side, thus having two symmetrical 



18* 



