340 



the people of Ammassalik have in recent times adopted a 

 modern form of kaiak (with perfectly straight stern) which has 

 superseded their old-fashioned type (with upturned stern); simi- 

 larly they have modified certain implements used in connection 

 with the kaiak, for instance the receptacle for the harpoon line 

 on the kaiak deck, perhaps also the types of their harpoon 

 heads. It is, at any rate, a matter of certainty that the typical 

 harpoon heads which the people of Ammassalik now use, differ 

 considerably from those which have been found in the ruins 

 and graves in the northerly districts of the East coast; as to 

 this the Amdrup collection gives distinct testimony. The same 

 is true respecting the base end of the loose foreshaft [inv. 

 Amd. 11 and 12]. 



But what is of particular interest to us here, is that, in 

 spite of these and other divergences, certain of the individual- 

 ising features which characterize the culture of the people of 

 Ammassalik are found recurring in implements from the northern- 

 most part of the coast. A crucial case are the three small 

 specimens of ivory ornaments for attachment, which were found 

 in Sabine Island, 9 degrees of latitude north of Ammassalik. 

 For this kind of ornamentation is otherwise not known at all 

 from any Eskimo district other than Ammassalik^). But the 

 'wing-harpoon' (inv. Ryder), the characteristically jointed woman's 

 knife [inv. Amd. 45), the urine tub {inv. Amd. 52) the flat bodkin 

 {inv. Amd. 32), the round ivory pearls, {inv. Amd. Ill — 112), 

 the wooden toy buzz {inv. Amd. 113), perhaps also the drill 

 with its accessories {inv. Amd. 77 — 78), and the thimble-guards 

 {inv. Amd. 46 — 48) all exhibit such surprising similarities to 

 the corresponding implements used at Ammassalik, that the 

 resemblance cannot be accounted for by a mere coincidence. 



Comparison seems to show that there is a continuity in 

 the material culture along the whole of this coast, though, to 



Ï) G. Holm in «Meddelelser om Grønland» X, 151 — 153; PI. XXX sqq. 



