The Angmagsalik Eskimo. 397 
at the end, so that they are hardly suitable for use with the mouthpiece. 
As regards the points, it should be noted that neither of them is sharp, 
the “point” of a., for instance, being a flat surface 8 mm square. With 
regard to the reference to Fig. 202, however, as a drill "used for making 
large holes” it should be noted that this implement is pointed. 
It would seem then, that the Editor's opinion as regards the pur- 
pose of these implements must rest on the fact of similar instruments 
being found among other Eskimos. We may therefore 
proceed to consult the authorities he quotes. 
Boas’ Fig. 36 does not include a drill haft at 
all. What Cand. THALBITZER has taken for a shaft 
is, as a matter of fact, the drill bow itself. The text 
on p. 28 simply states: "The shaft of the drill is 
always thin in the middle, to prevent the strap of 
the bow from sliding off (Fig. 57)”. Figs. 37b and c, 
and Murpocx Fig. 159 again, illustrate nothing more 
than just this very feature. For greater convenience 
of comparison, one of the two whetting irons in ques- 
tion is shown in Fig. 2a of the present work, together 
with the most characteristic of the drill shafts given 
in the illustrations quoted. 
The Editor need not, by the way, have remained 
long in doubt either as to the origin of the imple- 
ments concerned or as to their purpose; full informa- 
tion on both heads could have been obtained on en- 
quiry at the Museum; Horm has expressly noted 
them, at time of delivery, as whetting ironst. 
Another of Horm’s whetting irons, a peculiar 
piece of work, is shown in THALBITZER’s Fig. 218c 
together with two other objects, together described 
there as “whetting stones”. That the term is not 
due to a printer’s error may be seen from the text, 
where we are informed that “the stone” is “inserted 
in a wooden haft carved like a dog (?)”. Fig. 2. "Ys. 
The Editor might well be unable to see from his (? After Е. Boas: 
и уе Eskimo of Baffin 
photograph, that the “stone” was of iron, he must, Тапа and Hudson 
however, when actually handling it in the Museum, Bay fig. 37e). 
have given the object but shght scrutiny. Nevertheless, 
Museum studies apart, he might easily have ascertained the true facts 
of the case from the book; the piece in question is shown in one of the 
illustrations in the Danish edition of Horm's work? together with a 
number of women’s knives, and there described as “a whetting iron for 
1 They are two of the four described as “4 whetting irons” in the catalogue 
of the collection as given in Medd. om Grønland, vol 10, p. 353. 
2 Medd. om Grønland, 10. Plate XIXh. 
