404 THOMAS THOMSEN 



There are four end-pieces of similar bows in this collection : 



L. 3439. Renskiurct. house 131 (Fig. 19). To the .right in the figure the 

 knob for the bowstring is seen. The bow is bent 10 cm. from the end. For 

 the lirst 8 cm. the breadth increases from 21 to 2'6 cm.; after that it decre- 

 ases abruptly to 2'4; this narrower part of the bow is about 31 cm. long; 

 then it increases again abruptly in breadth. The length is about 44 cm. 

 After the bow has been discarded, the other end lias intentionally been cut 

 off square. The narrower portion has probably been strengthened by the 



Fig. 19. /i. 



application and lashing on of a piece of whalebone, but no holes are found 

 like those in the West Greenland bows to fasten the pieces together. In 

 course of time the bow has become badly warped. 



L. 3440. From the same house as the preceding. It is now quite straight, 

 without any curvature; one end terminates in a knob, the other is broken; 

 length 38 cm., breadth 2 2'1 cm.; weathered. 



L. 3414. Renskaeret, house 130; length about 31 cm., breadth 1'6 I'Scm.. 

 much weathered. One end terminates in a knob, the other is broken. About 

 4 cm. from the unbroken end there is a notch on each side. 



L. 3327. Maroussia, house 141 ; length 12 cm., breadth about 24 cm. 

 One end terminates in a knob, the other now in a bevel. 



A breadth of T6 2'4 cm. is very narrow for a bow. There is, 

 however, a West Greenland bow of similar breadth, with a length 

 of 82 cm. 3 



Several of the existing strips of whalebone of similar breadth 

 are probably also fragments of bows. The fact that the whalebone 

 is apt to split into lamella? is the reason why only very little of 

 this material is in a condition which renders it possible to form an 

 opinion regarding its fashioning. 



The specimen first described is the only one sufficiently well 

 preserved to exhibit the original curvature of the bow. 



Arrows. 



In order that the section on the North-east Greenland arrow- 

 heads may be better understood, I give some prefatory notes on the 

 form of this weapon in the rest of Greenland. 



The West Greenland arrowheads of bone vary greatly in form 2 . 

 But as a rule they have long-oval blades, of more or less consider- 

 able length, tapering to a shank approximately circular in section. 

 When the head is cut from the solid, and not provided with a 

 separate blade inserted in a slit at the front (which is rather uncom- 



' BIRKF.T-SMITH II, p. 22, Fig. 3 c ! Cf SOLBERO, p. 73, Fig. 54. 



