246 Morten P. Porsild. 



the history of the lamp during 3 — 4 generations, and often such specimens 

 had with their changing owners made most extensive wanderings within West 

 Greenland, so that they were obtained far from the place where they were 

 made. In some cases, apart from the labels, it was possible on petrographi- 

 cal evidence alone to arrange them in groups around the localities, by no 

 means numerous, where a serviceable soapstone occurs. But not even within 

 a single such centre of production was it possible, either in form or in size, 

 to demonstrate points which could be regarded as conventional or regional. 



Thalbitzer, on pp. 501 and 674, mentions whetstones with holes, and 

 suggests that this is perhaps due to foreign influence. Here, at Disco Bay, 

 almost all ancient whetstones have holes, while they are absent from the 

 modern specimens, and, according to tradition, the explanation is simply this, 

 that before Europeans came into the country there were no pockets in the 

 trousers, and therefore a cord was necessary to carry the whetstone when 

 travelling or hunting Caribou. 



To Thalbitzer, page 554. 



Here, stave-vessels are extremely common in old graves and sites of 

 houses, and I think there is no need to refer them to foreign influence. Be- 

 sides, in some points they differ from European cooper's work. 



To Thalbitzer, page 574. 



Frocks of bird's skins (tiuiiaq's) are commonly used also by women in 

 West Greenland, even in our days. 



To Thalbitzer, page 677. 



As has several times been mentioned, in West Greenland lances occur 

 both with and without a throwing stick, and the author is doubtless right 

 in regarding the latter form as the older. Nansen's record of a harpoon 

 thrown without a throwing stick is not due to misunderstanding. Such forms 

 of ùnâq still occur, and used to be more common formerly. 



Thalbitzer has, on page 681, drawn attention to a statement of Beh- 

 rens, otherwise undoubtedly quite overlooked, that at Umanaq a "skin 

 basket and a kind of implement made of reindeer-horn" are used for gather- 

 ing berries, and he "imagines that this implement may have been a comb." 

 It is not. I possess two specimens, one of which, from Hunde Eiland, is 

 very old, and much worn. It consists of a rather thin shell of antler, 22 

 cm. long and 6 cm. broad, rounded off and pierced with a hole at either 

 end. The bone piece is moreover sufficiently curved to allow the handle, a 

 18 cm. long wooden stick, to protrude with its ends about one cm. through 

 the holes, so that the whole implement resembles the hilt of a sword. The 

 other specimen is from Skansen, on Disco Island; here the bow is made of 

 whalebone and is slightly more curved. The implement is called humicjuitt 

 from the same root as kumigfa (192), he scratches him or he louses him. 

 The berries are scraped off in the autumn or winter after the frost has set 

 in, and the name takes it origin from the fact that the berries are consi- 

 dered to be the louse of the earth. They are scraped off, not into a basket, 

 but into a bag made of an old boat-skin. My specimen is 38 cm. high, 

 and about 32 cm. in diameter ; it is provided on one side with a carrying 

 strap. The bottom is of thinner skin, and is provided with numerous small 



