The Angmagsalik Eskimo. 395 



214 — 16, are of a different although in itself typical form, which fact 

 the Editor has not seen fit to note (Fig. 1 in the present work) 1 . 



From the dipper No. 213 the Editor might have gained some 

 idea as to the purpose of the two holes in the ancient bottle from 

 1849. They were intended, as a matter of fact, to receive a wooden 

 tube, the lower end of which fitted into the lower and smaller of the 

 two holes, the tube itself serving both as a handle and a sucking pipe. 

 Its length was such as to permit of the bottle being entirely filled, the 

 air passing out through the tube while the vessel was filling. This Eskimo 

 drinking vessel certainly seems to reveal a higher degree of ingenuity 

 than the Tantalus arrangement suggested by Mr. Thalbitzer's explana- 

 tion. The fact of this bottle's having originally been furnished with a 

 sucking pipe of this nature is noted, by the way, in the Museum 'Register. 



Fig. 1. 



In view of the interest attaching to this old-fashioned article, I ap- 

 proached Kolonibestyrer Johan Petersen with the object of gaining 

 some further information as to his specimen. He informed me that it 

 had been made to order especially for his collection, on the model of a 

 type then obsolete. This fact is also noted in the Museum Register. 



Mr. Thalbitzer concludes his remarks with the following words : 

 "These objects (the wooden bottle etc.) show us some recent examples 

 of the Ammassalikers' skill in converting pieces of material of different 

 shapes — here a round piece of wood — into useful objects which are 

 not typical, rather quite unique, but may however, serve for practical 

 purposes". It should be observed, however, as we have seen from the 

 foregoing, in the first place, that the objects are not "recent examples" 

 of Angmagsalik work one of them being the oldest piece of work ever 

 brought home from there, and further, that they are, according to Johan 

 Petersen's explanation, old and typical forms. 



1 The name Mikeeki, however, does not occur anywhere in the English 

 catalogue of the collection lodged in the Museum. 



