355 



the Ammassalimniiut: ils entire length is 7 cm, the narrow end 

 ithe tang) being only 3 or 4 cm long; the fore part of it is 

 comparatively dumpy, while the tang is flat and slender, broad- 

 ening out in the vertical median plane. 



The strap which held the head in its recumbent position 

 in the direction of the harpoon shaft, must apparently have 

 held down the projecting corner of the basis of the tang. But 

 there is no trace of a notch for the strap in the upper 

 edge at this corner; nor is there anything of the kind to 

 be found on the corresponding heads from Ammassalik. It is 

 possible that this thin back part of the head may have been 

 somewhat longer, as it seems to be worn away or weathered 

 just around this corner. In the thick part we notice a crack, 

 which extends from the slit right down to the oblique shoulders. 



Harpoon heads of this type used for hunting seals have 

 hitherto been known only from East Greenland. Mason men- 

 tions in "Aboriginal American harpoons" that the Eskimo of 

 Point Barrow in the northernmost parts of Alaska also use a 

 special kind of harpoon in hunting on the ice: — "In hunting 

 through the ice the Eskimo of Point Barrow used a different 

 shaped harpoon, with a long ivory piece on each end and a 

 smaller head. As the seal comes up to blow they hurl this 

 spear through the hole, then they drown the seal. After the 

 animal is dead they haul it through the ice, picking the ice 

 away until the hole is large enough to get the seal out"^). 

 Hut among the illustrations of American harpoons in Mason's 

 paper the 'hinged toggle head' is only found from East Green- 

 land. On the other hand we have evidence from West Green- 

 land that the hinged toggle head was used there in former 

 times; see Appendix, figs. 78 to 81 (inv. Pfaff). 



'i Mason 111. 237; 271. 



