402 THOMAS THOMSEN. 
rica, and which he took to be idols; it is probable, however, that 
they were not considered on that coast as more or less than 
in Greenland, where such dolls are only playthings for 
children’”!. 
This method of quoting — and we have previously encountered 
some instances of the same thing in the foregoing — renders the book 
somewhat difficult to read with advantage, as it involves the necessity 
of having the sources quoted at hand, which, in the case of unpublished 
works, is for readers abroad an impossibility. 
It is not unusual, when at a loss for an explanation, to have recourse 
to the religious idea; the Author has, however (p. 647) here employed 
this expedient in such a manner as to preclude all reasonable discussion. 
“Fig. 368a is a fairly large doll evidently representing a woman in the 
sitting position without hair top, arms and nose but with nostrils and 
inlaid eyes in the orbits; the mouth is distended like the mouth of a 
person playing waajeertog and dark with blood. The doll probably 
represents some supernatural being and must be considered as male’. 
Something more in the way of explanation might well have been 
vouchsafed this remarkable figure. The next one, on the other hand, 
a perfectly new jointed doll (Fig. 368b) receives an unmerited share 
of attention. On p. 647 we read: “Is this doll possibly a variety of East 
Greenland origin? Among the Eskimo living outside Greenland this 
kind of doll has not been found so far as I know”. The last sentence 
is however, not to be taken as disposing of the question raised, for in 
a note on p. 681 we find the subject taken up for discussion anew, in 
the Addenda, included between the descriptive portion and the results. 
We read here: “Wooden dolls with pliable joints in arms and legs have 
been mentioned from the Chukchee and Koryaks in north-eastern 
Asia. There is reason consequently to believe that the same kind 
of dolls found among the Ammassalikers is an Eskimo product of old 
origin”. 
I cannot concur in this view, but should nevertheless be loth to 
devote further space to the subject were it not that Mr. THALBITZER 
himself attaches so great importance to it: “This — like many other 
facts of a similar kind mentioned by me — shows how cautious we must 
be in considering the apparently surprising agreement with modern 
objects from our own shops as due to ‚European influence’? We have 
probably here another proof that the Ammassalikers like all other East 
Greenlanders have stuck tenaciously in their isolation to certain old 
forms of implements, cult and luxury long after the same things have 
1 Spaced type by Tuomas THOMSEN. 
2 The words “European influence” are set in inverted commas by Mr. THAL- 
BITZER himself, presumably indicating his extreme contempt for such 
a view. 
