Implements and Artefacts of the North-east Greenlanders. 



415 



(76 56'), tent 634. As features peculiar to all the specimens may be 

 mentioned a notch at the edge near the end and a chamfer running 

 down the outer edge and terminating 5-7 cm. within the notch (see 

 Fig. 23). This is used for the purpose of securing the lashing with 

 which the cross-bar was fastened to the runner. As is well known, 

 the shoes are the only parts of the sledges fastened with nails; 

 all other parts are lashed together with thongs for the sake of 

 elasticity. The cross-bars are secured by a thong which is car- 

 ried across them in a line with the outer side of the runner, then 

 passed through the latter to the inner side, where it again cros- 

 ses the cross-bar. The notches have served to receive the outer 

 thong and thereby guard against slipping, while the increasing 



breadth of the cross-bar prevented the inner transverse thong from 

 working inwards towards the middle. In the specimens from Sj'tten- 

 kilometerna3sset the breadth of cross-bars between the bottom of 

 the notches is 5'5 cm. and 3'7 cm. respectively. 



While sledge shoes have been brought home by all the expedi- 

 tions, the material for the study of the wooden parts of the sledge 

 is more scanty. In the Berlin Museum there is a complete sledge 

 found by KOLDEWEY'S expedition near Cape Hold-with-hope (73^2), 

 in Stockholm there are a runner and some cross-bars from the 

 NATHORST expedition and the National Museum at Copenhagen has 

 a toy sledge brought home by Captain AMDRUP from Skaergaards 

 Halv0 (6807') 1 . SCORESBY also found a sledge runner, but I do not 

 know where it is preserved. 



In the light of the above material it is of course impossible to 

 determine for certain the relation of the North-east Greenland sledge 



1 As regards these specimens I refer the reader to THALBITZER I, pp. 508511 

 and 388-394. 



