464 WILLIAM THALBITZER. 
is simply repeating a correction which I myself had made, the correc- 
tion on my part being naturally due to my co-operation with the natives, 
or notes from the time of my stay, and not museum studies. 
A mere reiteration of this nature would surely seem to be super- 
fluous. 
An Eskimo work of Art. 
р. 399—400. — With regard to Hr. THomsen's note as to this, I 
would first of all observe, that his characterisation of the two faces 
must be taken on his own responsibility; and further, that he entirely 
ignores my principal statement. I emphatically pointed out that we 
have here “the only really old evidence of the occurrence of masks or 
mask-like objects in Greenland”. The remainder is based upon mere 
conjecture as to the purpose of the objects, and I have left the question 
open. It should in this connection be noted, that the object is only 
a fragment, the neck of the head being broken, and there is nothing 
to preclude the supposition that it may have been placed on a memorial 
post several feet high such as those described by Метзом from South- 
West Alaska}. 
I admit that my memory here played me false, so that I referred 
to the object as a grave find, whereas the inventory lists record it as 
found on the excavation of an old house, evidently owing to the fact 
that the carving of the wooden block was done during winter in the 
house in question. This need not, however, contradict my explanation 
of the purpose for which it was intended. 
Wooden Dolls. 
p. 400—402. — My reference to RYDER and GRAAH is in connec- 
tion with a sentence in my book reading as follows: 
“As already mentioned the wooden dolls of the Ammassalik children must 
be considered in the main as toys but it is possible, that by the grown-up people 
they were formerly given a significance beyond their capacity as playthings” >”: 
1 NELSON writes: (1. с. р. 318—319) that it was the custom south of the 
mouth of the Yukon river ‘‘to erect memorial posts for all people who 
die in such a manner that their bodies are not recovered (e. g. drowned 
at sea, or buried by a landslide in the mountains”). At the annual 
feast for the dead, sacrifice is made to the figure of the deceased, and a 
new coat placed on the figure. In addition to the fact that ‘‘a number 
of small wooden figures” might be erected at the grave “in honor of 
people whose bodies were lost” we have the occurrence, for instance, at 
a grave at Tununek, of a single “post” upon which were “‘nine images 
of the large hair seal” in a row, i.e. miniature bodies no larger than the 
double mask found in East Greenland. 
2 “Ryper (1875) рр. 139—140; Graan (1832) р. 101”. Quotation from Med- 
delelser om Grønland 39, pp. 644—645. 
