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water — in the one case for their kayaks, in the other for the 

 even surface of ice. Lastly, the conditions for landing from 

 the water with the kayak and from the ice with the dog-sledge 

 are very much the same, as they both require an even, slop- 

 ing beach. 



The summer hunting from the kayak however is on the 

 whole not so very important. When the spoil has been killed, 

 it is towed on land, where the sealer himself skins it and 

 places it in the depot, when it is not at once divided up on 

 the spot for distribution at the settlement or among the parti- 

 cipators in the hunt and towing. The distribution takes place 

 according to fixed rules. The first harpooner or the one who 

 first struck the animal has the first right to take certain, spe- 

 cially good pieces; then come the second and third harpooners 

 and then the others taking part. The animal on being cut up 

 is divided into definite portions, the principal of which, accor- 

 ding to a drawing of a walrus accompanied by an explanation 

 which I received from Napsanguark, are the two breast- 

 pieces, the lateral halves of the back, the neck, head, the front 

 flippers, the two lateral halves of the body, the hind limbs, the 

 two rib-pieces , the two stomach-pieces , the two lumbar por- 

 tions, the tail with its root and the liver. The Eskimos have 

 an excellent knowledge of the anatomy of the animals and 

 divide up a walrus with surprising skill and speed. 



That it is the man among the Polar Eskimos who skins 

 the animals, whereas this is distinctly woman's work among 

 all the other Greenland Eskimos, finds its simple explanation 

 in this, that the usual spoils for the Polar Eskimos are much 

 larger animals, which cannot be brought home whole to the 

 settlement with the kayak or on the sledge, as is the case with 

 the smaller seals in South Greenland. This appears very 

 distinctly when we consider the Polar Eskimos" ice-hunting of 

 the walrus, as will be described below. 



Towards autumn , when the reindeer are fat and come 



