454 



transverse holes which have been bored here, the outer- 

 most of which is broken open at the extreme point of the 

 bow, have thus horizontal paths. The inner hole has been 

 perforated obliquely inwards, so that its path points in the 

 direction of the other end of the bow, this having been done 

 in order to obviate the strap rubbing against the edge of the 

 hole in which it was fastened. At this end also there is a 

 smaller hole within the larger ones, pierced through, but stopped 

 up with a bone plug. 



The drill strap was held fast by a knot on the inner side 

 of the outer hole, and was carried from it through a shallow 

 groove in the outer side of the bow, then drawn through the 

 inner hole directly over to the upper end of the bow and fastened 

 in the hole. Every trace of the strap itself has disappeared. It 

 is generally a leather thong, which is so loose that it can be 

 passed once round the drill shaft; the latter is set in revolution 

 alternately to the right and to the left, the drill bow moving to 

 and fro in the manner of a horizontal saw. The drill shaft 

 (fig. 47 d) is held in a vertical position by the upper end resting 

 against a head-piece of bone which the workman holds fast 

 between his teeth, and in which there is a cavity sufficiently 

 deep to prevent the shaft from slipping out^). Inv. Amd. 28, 

 29, and 30 are head-pieces (or 'drill caps') of this kind. 



Ryder ^) found in Scoresby Sound both a fragment of a 

 drill bow and a head-piece (a bone from a reindeer's foot^). — 

 Inv. Amd. 78 is an intact specimen of a drill bow; and a very 

 fine piece of work too. 



Inv. Amd. 79 (Fig. 48), from Cape Tobin, is a knife, 20 cm 

 in length, consisting of a thin wooden haft tapering towards 

 the top, in which has been inserted a still thinner iron blade, 



') Holm PI. 18, Mc Guire I, 707, 720. 

 ^) Ryder 323. 



^) A mouth-piece of deer's knuckle-bone is also mentioned as belonging 

 to a fire-making set from Point Barrow, Alaska. See Hough I, flg. 31. 



