386 THOMAS THOMSBN 



ecution; in addition, it was more fragile. Therefore the blade was 

 placed transversely to the line hole, so as to receive the pressure 

 on the edge and not on the face. The iron blade, which stands a 

 greater pressure, could, on the other hand, be turned in the plane 

 of the line hole and receive the pressure on its face. 



This theory does not agree with the conditions prevailing in 

 North-east Greenland; as already mentioned, all the harpoon heads 

 with slits had the latter placed in the plane of the line hole, although 

 they can hardly have had iron blades l . 



It is probable that the smallest of the above-mentioned blades, 

 as for instance PI. XIV, 68, were blades of arrowheads, but no 

 definite line of division can be drawn. Thus an examination of the 

 iron blades on the West Greenland harpoon heads in the National 

 Museum 2 will show that they vary from 2'2 to 6*7 cm. in length, 

 and from 1*9 to 3*4 cm. in breadth; on the other hand, the dimens- 

 ions of the arrowheads rise as high as 6 cm. in length and 3 in 

 breadth, a size which corresponds broadly with that of a pair of 

 Eskimo stone blades known to have been used in hunting whales 

 and larger seals 3 . 



A preliminary stage is illustrated in PI. XIV, 12. The slate is 

 only roughly fashioned into the desired shape; the edges are still 

 thick, and the grinding has not been begun. The specimen, which 

 is 9*8 cm. in length and 5'7 cm. in extreme breadth, was found in 

 tent 485 on the western camping ground near Saels0en 4 . 



b. Slender, leaf-shaped. 



There are a few slate blades of different shape, with a slender 

 blade and a short, flat tang tapering at the rear end. 



L. 3767, Snenses, house 406 (PI. XII, 2); length 11'3 cm., the blade, which 

 is thin, has an extreme breadth of 2-3 cm.; the tang is furnished with a nail 

 hole 2'8 cm. from the butt end. 



L. 3469, Renskaeret, house 132 (PI. XIV, 16); length 9 cm.; the blade, which 

 is thicker than the preceding one, is 2'4 cm. in extreme breadth; the tang, 

 which is 1,2 cm. broad, has at the edges near the rear end two pairs of 

 notches for lashing. 



1 In the National Museum in Copenhagen are four harpoon heads with stone 

 blades from West Greenland; all of them have the blades placed in like manner 

 in the plane of the line hole. 



2 Those in which the stone blade still remains fixed in the slit are too few to 

 enable us to draw any conclusions from them. 



3 One was found in 1699 on the coast of Greenland in a whale (Jon. ANDERSON, 

 p. 294, cf. Fig. at p. 286); another in the National Museum in Copenhagen 

 (Mus. No. 21) was in 1793 cut out of a bearded seal (erignathus barbatus) at 

 Egedesminde; it is 6 cm. in length and 4 cm. in breadth. 



4 THOSTRUP, pp. 295 et seq. 



