318 



Knud Rasmussen. 



Those on the eastern side were of unusually small circumference, 

 and the tents must thus either have been intended for merely temporary 

 use, as for instance while on hunting expeditions, or possibly the 

 builders may have lacked sufficient material — drift-wood or skins — 

 to make them of the customary size. We found however, two pieces 

 of drift wood deposited in one of the rings, where they had evidently 

 been placed for safe keeping, as too valuable to be lost. One of these 

 pieces measured 3.30 m. long, the other slightly less. The dimensions 

 of the tent rings themselves were as follows: 1) 2.28 m, from entrance 

 to back of bench, breadth of the bench itself 1.58 m. 2) 2.30 m. from 



a 50 IQO 



' ' ' ' I I ' ' ' ' I 



Eskimo tent rings. E. side of Brønlunds Fjord, Peary Land. 



entrance to back of bench, breadth of the bench itself 1.30 m. (vide 

 sketch with dimensions etc.). 



The tents faced towards the north-east, the entrances looking out 

 towards the fjord. The hunting grounds appeared to have been chosen 

 with unerring instinct, for the fjord was full of seals basking in the 

 sun, while in the uplands behind, musk ox, hare and ptarmigan 

 abounded. 



The tent rings on the western side of the fjord, numbering five 

 in all, were considerably larger. The best-preserved specimen had an 

 outer room or passage way measuring 1.80 by 1.15, the distance from 

 inner end of this to back of bench being 3.10, and breadth of 

 bench itself 2.30. A tent of this construction with the outer room or 

 passage, is called by the Eskimos "qarnisalik" (vide sketch). 



The largest of the well preserved rings measured 4 m. long by 

 2.70 broad. 



