471 



The simple square handle and the tlat teeth are also found 

 in the types which are described from Baffin Land, from the 

 west coast of Hudson Bay '), all of which, however, in contra- 

 distinction to those from West Greenland, are ornamented either 

 with indentations along the edges, or with etched designs on 

 the faces. The simple type occurs also in North Alaska, side 

 by side with more elaborate forms, the one where the top of 

 the handle is formed as a ring being apparently the most 

 common. None of the combs figured in Murdoch^) are orna- 

 mented. 



It turns out accordingly that this specimen from the en- 

 trance of Scoresby Sound in North East Greenland is cut upon 

 a bolder design than any other known Eskimo comb. The 

 boldly curved outline, the division of the handle into two sec- 

 tions, which is a development of the known type from West 

 Greenland with a circular blade projecting from the top of the 

 comb, are in themselves a new departure. The artisan had a 

 further exercise for his originality and imagination in the orna- 

 mentation of the frame. A study of the ornaments shows that 

 he was familiar with Eskimo ornamentation, as he has employed 

 one or two of its typical forms in the execution of his task. 



The ornamentation consists of incised figures. The motif 

 of the border ornament is two parallel lines each of which is 

 decorated with a regular and unilateral row of small transverse 

 bars, in such a manner that the row of bars in each line 

 faces that of the other line, each bar in the one line pointing 

 towards a space between two bars on the other line. The 

 ornament is thus a combination of two simpled ones, or rather 

 a duplication of the single line, decorated with bars. 



Although ornaments on bone work from West Greenland 

 are extremely rare, I have found both these forms of orna- 

 mentation on bone implements from that region. The simple 



M Boae I. 559, fig. 513; II, 107, fig. 1.06 (cf. 7.5, fig. 103). 

 ^) Murdoch 1, 150. 



