396 Thomas Thomsen. 



WHETTING IRONS. 



Besides whetstones, iron is now also used at Angmagsalik for whet- 

 ting knives. Kolonibestyrer Johan Petersen states, according to W. 

 Thalbitzer, that the iron is only used for sharpening women's knives, 

 whereas the men still whet their knives on stone. Thus the women in 

 this case stand for progress, since the whetting iron cannot be of very 

 ancient date in a place where iron Was so rare that pieces were often 

 hacked off from the women's knives to make needles. Some specimens 

 are, however, preserved in the National Museum, three of them shown 

 in W. Thalbitzer's work. 



Two characteristic examples are shown in Fig. 190: "Drills or whet- 

 ting irons? (Holm coll.)" and are mentioned on pp. 479 — 80 under drills, 

 as follows: "The two, very finely worked wooden hafts (drills?) in fig. 190, 

 which were likewise 1 brought home by Holm from Ammassalik, have 

 regular-^ring grooves either for ornament or as bed for the drill line. 

 The one has a thin cylindrical iron point, the other a heavier point, 

 square in section (cf. fig. 202) with blunt end. The form of the shafts 

 of these sticks is extremely rare even at Ammassalik, but incisions carved 

 in the shaft to keep the string in position are known from other Eskimo 

 regions (Baffin Land and Alaska)". And in a footnote, the Editor refers 

 to "Boas (1901) p. 28; see figs. 36 and 37b, с Murdoch (1892) fig. 159". 



It is thus evident that the Author entertains some doubt as regards 

 these objects, more especially in connection with the grooves in the 

 hafts; he reassures his readers, however, by reference to competent 

 authorities. One is therefore somewhat surprised to find, a little farther 

 on, the following remarks anent whetstones: "The two drill-like objects 

 in fig. 190 are (according to Johan Petersen) whetting irons for women's 

 knives whereas men's knives are always sharpened on whetstones". 



In the face of this, we must, it seems, relinquish altogether the 

 "drüT'alternative, and accept, once and for all, the two formerly doubt- 

 ful implements brought back by Holm as whetting irons. On the last 

 page of the book, however, (p. 755) we find the term "whetting irons" 

 again qualified by a parenthetic query "(drills?)" in addition to which, 

 the implements in question are here included among the objects con- 

 cerning which the Editor is in doubt as to whether they may possibly 

 have originated from Graah's voyage, or have been sent over later by 

 Johan Petersen. 



Despite Johan Petersen's negation, the Editor is still, as we see,, 

 loth to relinquish his original idea: we can only suppose that he must 

 have some strong grounds for retaining it. 



Such grounds would hardly be furnished by the appearance of the 



objects themselves, which exhibit but very slight resemblance to drills. 



To the description given should, by the way, be added that the hafts 



are over 2 cm. thick at the top, the one marked b. being perfectly flat 



1 This refers to Fig. 191 of which, however, с was brought home by Ryder^ 



