The Greenland Bow. lå 
stave consists as a rule of one or more pieces of reindeer antler or 
wood, the latter being, in Greenland, invariably driftwood, which is 
carried to the coast by the Arctic current; a kind of light, reddish 
wood from a Siberian conifer was preferred, as it is in our own days 
for making harpoons. The material was doustless split in the usual 
way by boring a great many holes by means of the bow-drill, the 
work being completed by the adze and the knife. The bow 
stave can also, though this appears to be of very rare occurrence, be 
fashioned of whalebone, a material which, from its great pliability, 
would seem but ill suited to such use. No specimens of this character 
have been found in Greenland; there is however, in the National 
Museum, a bow-stave made of whalebone, believed to be from the 
Chukchee country (Pb 14; Fig. 3, a). The stave has evidently formed 
part of a backed bow, being notched at the edge as these generally 
are, and not like the compound bows, nor is it pierced with the 
characteristic holes found in the latter type, intended to receive the 
lashing for the two portions (vide p. 21). 
The backing consists of a cord, passed several times to and fro 
along the back of the stave. For this, braided sinew thread is gene- 
rally used. This may among the Eskimo be of several qualities. For 
the coarser sorts, sinews of white whale (Beluga leucas) or narwhal 
(Monodon monoceros) are employed; the sinews of reindeer furnish an 
excellent material, while that of the bottle-nosed seal (Cystophora cri- 
stata) is also used, the poorest kind being made from the sinews of 
the harp seal (Phoca groenlandica)?. The end of the dried sinew is 
ravelled out with a needle, after which the sinew is split with the 
thumbs, the other fingers holding apart the fibres already made. The 
strands are then rolled over the thigh or the cheek and may now be 
used directly or plaited as a cord. The finished sinew thread is kept 
hanging on the double-hooked thimble guards. — The backing has, how- 
ever, evidently in many cases been made of hide thongs cut from the 
tough skin of the ribbon seal (Erignathus barbatus), such as are made 
especially in what is now the Julianehaab District, and thence are traded 
far to the northward. The thongs are very carefully cut in a spiral, while 
the hide is yet remaining on the animal, and are four or five in number, 
according to its size. After this, they are tanned in urine, stretched 
in the open air, and finally made soft and supple by drawing them 
through the holes of a thong smoother, which is often but the penis 
bone of a seal with holes bored through it. — Finally, narwhal gut is 
also mentioned as used among the Polar Eskimo for bows of peculiar 
excellence. The backing was sometimes twisted with a kind of 
1 FABRICIUS, Gronl. Landd.-, Fugle- og Fiskef. p. 235. 
2 Fapricius, Gronl. Sele, I, р. 139; II, р. 134. 
3 STEENsBY, Polar Esk. р. 356. 
