415 



a round knob. Particularly characteristic are the four notches 

 for flnger-rests which lie in a row along the under side of 

 the handle. 



On the back of the handle there is a distinctly carved 

 ornament, half of which, however, is weathered or worn away 

 (see Fig. 33 a). 



From the underside of the knob-like head a hole has been 

 bored obliquely into the medullary channel, so thai its path lies 

 in the longitudinal direction of the handle, one of its mouths 

 looking towards the finger-rests, while the other faces the end 

 of the handle within the medullary channel (see Fig. 33 b). 



I am of the opinion that this piece is the old handle of 

 a drum. As far as I know, this is the first time that a drum- 

 handle of this type, and made of bone, has been found in 

 Greenland. In type it approaches very closely to the handles 

 from Alaska described by Murdoch and Nelson. The former^) 

 states that the Point Barrow Expedition brought home 8 handles 

 for drums which exhibit but slight variations. The commonest 

 material for the handle is walrus ivory; only two out of twelve 

 were of antler. Their length is from 46 to 5*4 inches. Mur- 

 doch gives illustrations of several specimens, two of which, 

 like inv. Amd. 55, have four notches for the fingers; all of 

 them have at the end a knob carved either as a human or 

 an animal head. Nelson^) also speaks of the ornamentation of 

 the drum handles: "One of these handles (number 43807), which 

 was obtained at Shaktolik, is of walrus ivory, and is six inches 

 long by an inch and a half in diameter. It is carved in the 

 form of a walrus, the well-made head being placed at the inner 

 end; on the lower side are four diagonal grooves for finger- 

 rests, and at the rear the animal's flippers are represented. 

 The back is etched with short lines to indicate bristly hairs". 

 This last feature reminds one of the ornament found on the 



') Mnrdoch I, 386-387, (Igs. 384 and 385. Cf. Wilson II, 561—562. 

 *) Nelson 351. 



27* 



