The Angmagsalik Eskimo. 



397 



M 



at the end, so that they are hardly suitable for use with the mouthpiece. 

 As regards the points, it should be noted that neither of them is sharp, 

 the "point" of a., for instance, being a flat surface 8 mm square. With 

 regard to the reference to Fig. 202, however, as a drill "used for making 

 large holes" it should be noted that this implement is pointed. 



It would seem then, that the Editor's opinion as regards the pur- 

 pose of these implements must rest on the fact of similar instruments 

 being found among other Eskimos. We may therefore 

 proceed to consult the authorities he quotes. 



Boas' Fig. 36 does not include a drill haft at 

 all. What Cand. Thalbitzer has taken for a shaft 

 is, as a matter of fact, the drill bow itself. The text 

 on p. 28 simply states: "The shaft of the drill is 

 always thin in the middle, to prevent the strap of 

 the bow from sliding off (Fig. 37)". Figs. 37b and c, 

 and Murdoch Fig. 159 again, illustrate nothing more 

 than just this very feature. For greater convenience 

 of comparison, one of the two whetting irons in ques- 

 tion is shown in Fig. 2 a of the present work, together 

 with the most characteristic of the drill shafts given 

 in the illustrations quoted. 



The Editor need not, by the way, have remained 

 long in doubt either as to the origin of the imple- 

 ments concerned or as to their purpose ; full informa- 

 tion on both heads could have been obtained on en- 

 quiry at the Museum; Holm has expressly noted 

 them, at time of delivery, as whetting irons 1 . 



Another of Holm's whetting irons, a peculiar 

 piece of work, is shown in Thalbitzer's Fig. 218c 

 together with two other objects, together described 

 there as "whetting stones". That the term is not 

 due to a printer's error may be seen from the text, 

 where we are informed that "the stone" is "inserted 

 in a wooden haft carved like a dog (?)". 



The Editor might well be unable to see from his 

 photograph, that the "stone" was of iron, he must, 

 however, when actually handling it in the Museum, 

 have given the object but slight scrutiny. Nevertheless, 

 Museum studies apart, he might easily have ascertained the true facts 

 of the case from the book; the piece in question is shown in one of the 

 illustrations in the Danish edition of Holm's work 2 together with a 

 number of women's knives, and there described as "a whetting iron for 



1 They are two of the four described as "4 whetting irons" in the catalogue 

 of the collection as given in Medd. om Grønland, vol 10, p. 353. 



2 Medd. om Grønland, 10. Plate XIX h. 



Fig. 2. V 2 . 



(b After F. Boas: 



Eskimo of Baffin 



Land and Hudson 



Bay fig. 37c). 



