418 



a necklace or of a belt. Ryder ^) also found at 'Hekla Havn' 

 in Scoresby Sund a collection of small carved bone beads, 

 which may have formed a necklace. A necklace consisting of 

 perforated teeth from West Greenland is in the National Mu- 

 seum at Copenhagen^). 



Whole teeth of this kind used as ornaments are as a rule 

 fastened to and hung from the lower edge of skin girdles 

 which are worn round the women's waists. Nelson^) makes 

 mention of belts of this kind among the Alaska Eskimo. 

 "Throughout the Eskimo country from the lower Kuskokwim 

 to the Arctic coast, a favorite waist belt worn by the women 



is made from the incisors of reindeers These rows of 



teeth are sewed along a strap of rawhide, one overlapping the 

 next in scale-like succession, so that they form a continuous 

 series along its entire length .... when worn, the belts are 

 brought loosely round the waist and held in place by a toggle 

 or button". 



In the Gjöa collection (Amundsen) in the Ethnographical 

 Museum at Christiania, there are several belts of a similar kind 

 from King William Land and Boothia. Some of them consist 

 of narrow, double strips of skin, others are broader; all of 

 them are richly hung with teeth or other objects, used as 

 ornaments, but always in such a way that the ornaments on 

 each belt are similar in kind: in No. 16153, for instance, 26 

 teeth of the same kind are strung in the sinew-cord loops at the 

 lower edge of the belt, and all the teeth have their tips pierced. 

 In No. 16167 about 100 teeth (of seal?) have been fastened to a 

 quite narrow girdle, each tooth having been strung on a loop, 

 the ends of which are sewed in at the upper edge of the belt 

 in the intervening space between the double layer of skins ; the 

 teeth here are pierced at the roots, and hang in such a manner 



1) Ryder 338. 



'-') Kobenhavn Nationalmuseum, Ethnographical section. Vitrine 77, No. 54. 



3) Nelson 59. 



