Ad. s. Jensen : The Selachians of Greenland. 15 



East Greenland. The Greenland sliark is very common at Angmagssalik, accord- 

 ing to G. HoLM^); and Mag. se. C. Kruuse, who lived at Angmagssalik in 1901 — 02, has 

 informed me, that it penetrates right to the head of the fjord. During the wintering 

 of Ryder's Expedition (1891 — 92} in Scoresby Sound a couple of specimens were taken 

 in the neighbourhood of Hekla Harbour, writes E. Bay^). The last-mentioned author 

 reports likewise, that a Greenland shark was captured whilst the ship was in among 

 the pack-ice on July ISth 1891 (at 75°6' N., 10°29' W.), where the depth to the bottom 

 was over 500 fathoms; according to the accounts of the sealers, moreover, it is not at 

 all rare out among the drifting ice. 



In winter the shark.fishing is often of great importance for the Angmagssalikers, 

 wiitt's Holm (1. c). "A large hole is cut in the ice and a piece of old blubber fastened 

 to a stone is let down into the water. Above this is placed seal meat, from which the 

 blood gradually flows out into the water. The fishing is carried on when it is dark, the 

 Greenlanders running about on the ice and shouting to attrået the sharks up to the sur- 

 face. When these come to the surface, they remain quite quiet and allow themselves 

 to be killed by the harpoons. The catch is often so great, that the fishing is stopped 

 owing to the superabundance. The w^omen share in the fishing". 



Pastor P. RiiTTEL, who worked as missionary among the (at that time) heathen 

 Eskimo on the east coast of Greenland from 1894 to 1904, has kindly give me the fol- 

 lowing information, which gives a good picture of the use of the sharks among a race 

 of people uninfluenced by civilization. 



"The natives at Angmagssalik used shark meat as food both for themselves and 

 for their dogs, and they used shark oil for the lamps. The flesh was prepared by hanging 

 a long piece up under the roof inside the house (thus in winter); the liquid in the flesh 

 dripped of itself, so that the meat at last became a sloppy mess. As soon as it was thought, 

 that enough had dripped off, the meat was eaten (thus raw as it was). How long it was 

 supposed to hang before being eaten, I cannot say, but in times of scarcity it did not have 

 much chance to hang long in any case. That the flesh at last turned bad ("mikiak") 

 by hanging in this way goes without saying, and so far as I know no other method was 

 used of preparing the "mikiak". I believe in faet, that the natives also cooked the fresh 

 shark meat (for human food), but this I can no longer remember for certain. On the 

 other hånd, I am certain, that shark meat in the dried condition is used as human food, 

 but it was probably but little that was used in this way. The Angmagssalikers are 

 not unfond of eating shark meat, preferring especially the cartilaginous parts of the 

 head, but it was an inferior kind of food for them and they were not long contented 

 with it at a time. I do not know, w^hether the Angmagssalikers gave their dogs the 



•) Meddelelser om Grønland, 10 Hefte, 1888, pp. 54 & 81. 

 ■-) Meddelelser om Grønland, 19 Hefte, 1896, p. 68. 



