324 



salik as to musk-oxen and reindeer having lived in the 

 Angmagsalik District in former times^) must certainly 

 be regarded as a tradition which has its origin in the fact 

 that their forefathers had once lived in districts where these 

 animals occurred^). It is true that the stone-wall at Kulusuk 

 mentioned by G. Holm as being intended for the purpose of 

 stalking reindeer, and subsequently photographed by W. Thal- 

 bitzer, seems to make against this theory. But, for the 

 present, I am inclined to doubt whether this wall was really 

 used for stalking reindeer. For during the fifteen years 

 during which the colony at Angmagsalik has existed, 

 in the course of which time it has been visited by several 

 expeditions, not the slightest trace has been found that might 

 seem to indicate that these animals had lived in the Ang- 

 magsalik District, whereas in practically all the kitchen- 

 middens in the Scoresby Sund district, reindeer bones, 

 pieces of reindeer horn etc. were discovered^). But if this 

 view is correct, it likewise points to the conclusion that the 

 forefathers of the Angmagsalik Eskimo must once have 

 lived in the district from Scoresby Sund to the north. 



In conclusion I shall mention just one factor which may 

 also be supposed to have been at work in the Eskimo's south- 

 ward migration. As Ryder has pointed out, the musk-ox can 

 hardly have occurred in very large numbers when the Eskimo 

 were living at Scoresby Sund, whereas reindeer must at 

 that time have been found in great multitudes. But as regards 

 the reindeer it has been ascertained by the expeditions sent 

 out during the last ninety years that there has been a con- 

 siderable fluctuation in their numbers. And there are various 



Ч G. Holm. Meddelelser om Grønland. Vol. X. P. 53 og 84. 



'') This possibility has already been broached by Ryder in Meddelelser 



om Grønland. Vol. XVII P. 304 and later by H. Winge in the same 



work. Vol XXI P. 474. 

 ») Meddelelser om Grønland. Vol. XVII. P. 324. 



