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finger which lay along the bone. He could bring the cutting 

 edge of the saw with force right in under the index finger 

 without cutting himself, and the accurately cut pieces being 

 chipped off the bone quickly acquired the desired form. Later, 

 the bone thus cut down was bent by alternately working with 

 the hands and dipping it in hot water. 



After hunting the Polar Eskimos lake the greatest interest 

 in hand-work. We cannot help noticing the attention and 

 intelligence, with which they take hold of and consider an 

 apparatus, they get into their hands, the use of which they 

 know. Nor would it be possible for them to sit and work at 

 their apparatus with the care and accuracy they employ, if a 

 certain amount of pleasure in working with the hands was not 

 present. 



"Hand culture" stands very high among the Polar Eskimos 

 and it has scarcely at any time been higher than it is now. 

 On this point as on others there can be no talk of any 

 "demoralisation" among them. On the contrary, their acquisi- 

 tion of the European aids has opened up the possibility of 

 further development of skill and ingenuity in overcoming tech- 

 nical difficulties, which in the old days of the stone-inplements 

 could only be overcome by the employment of an enormous 

 amount of time and patience. 



The child is taught partly by play and imitation, partly by 

 the direct instruction of the father. Toys for the smaller 

 children are made by the father from bone, in the shape of 

 figures representing animals and human beings. It is not im- 

 possible, however, that some of the figures do duty as a kind 

 of pedagogic means of instruction. The larger boys make for 

 themselves toy-harpoons, toy-sledges, toy-stools for Maupok- 

 hunting etc., and these are true copies of the apparatus of the 

 older Eskimos'. 



Before the Polar Eskimos obtained guns, and before the 

 Ponds Inlet Eskimos taught them the use of the kayak and 



