369 



harpoon fashion by a rawhide-line through a line-hole. A spear 

 of this kind (fore-piece and wooden shaft) is about two metres 

 long. Besides this kind of spear, which according to Amundsen 

 is used for salmon-spearing from a kaiak^ the Gjøa collection 

 has also some salmon spears of tlie ordinary well-known type 

 (two-pronged or three-pronged forks on either side of a bone- 

 point at the end of a shaft). However, as inv. Amd. 17 is 

 not arranged so as to form a detachable fore-piece, it is not 

 quite justifiable to compare it with these western fish-spears; 

 especially, as fish-spears with detachable heads, as far as I 

 know, are not known from any district in Greenland. 



A quite similar weapon-head was found in North East 

 Greenland by the Swedish Expedition (Inv. Nathorst in the Riks- 

 museum at Stockholm)^). It is 19'5cm long. The slit for the 

 blade is very narrow and deep, and a transverse hole has been 

 pierced through the head, to receive a nail. The centre of 

 the piece is flatter than its fore part, and just here a lateral 

 barb with a sharp tip is placed. The back part, again, is more 

 or less cylindrical in cross section. At its rear extremity, this 

 head is carved in the shape of a tang with a knob-like exten- 

 sion at the tip. The upper side is smooth, the under side 

 spongy. 



There is another quite similar bone head in Vienna (in 

 Uie k. k. Naturhistorisches Hofmuseum, inv. no. 4905, see 

 Appendix fig. 82); it belongs to a small collection of stone and 

 bone implements which in 1876 was presented to the Museum 

 at Vienna by the late Steinhauer, custodian at the National 

 Museum at Copenhagen. It probably comes from West Green- 

 land. The end of it is partially broken off', being split length- 

 wise. Viewed from the side, the knob-shaped head is hardly as 

 broad as in inv. Amd. 17^ and the lateral barb is placed at 

 right angles to the blade slit, whereas in inv. Amd. 17 it lies 



M Stolpe PI. V, fig. I. i C'arrow-head"). 



