52 G. Holm. 



that the nets were placed across a narrow sound or the interior of 

 a fjord. A net of this kind was found about 50 years ago at 

 Julianehaab hanging on an iceberg. According to the tradition, the 

 West Greenlanders used also, before the arrival of Europeans, to 

 capture seals in nets; and the Western Eskimo practise this method 

 of hunting up to the present day. As the description given by the 

 Angmagsalik people of a net of this kind was very hazy, I imagine 

 that the above-mentioned net w^hich has been found at Julianehaab, 

 comes from North West America, like the throwing-stick ^) found 

 by Rink and a stone head, (figured in "Meddelelser om Grønland" 

 X, PI. XVI) which was found lying on the drift-ice tied with osier 

 to a broken shaft. The fact is that the Greenlanders never use 

 vegetable substance for this purpose. 



Narwhal hunting. — Narwhals often come in shoals in spring, 

 go up the fjords, especially Sermilik, and are caught with the har- 

 poon at the large openings in the ice. They are harpooned from 

 the kaiak as they lie up on the surface of the water and rest after 

 feeding. This kind of hunting is practised in spring, when the 

 heavy drift-ice has gone away. 



Bear hunting. — Bears are generally caught before retiring to or 

 after leaving their dens. When the bear is found, the hounds are let 

 loose and keep it at bay, till the huntsman can come up and stick 

 his lance into it. Sometimes, however, it takes the aggressive and 

 throws the hunter to the ground, but the latter generally escapes 

 with a few not very serious bites and scratches. When there are 

 no hounds, the bears generally take to flight when they catch sight 

 of human beings. Old bears, however, may be dangerous. 



Thus thirty years ago, as the natives told us, a bear eat up a 

 man, while several others who witnessed the scene tried in vain to 

 attack it. Last year a man who had broken his lance in struggling 

 with a bear took a rawhide thong and throttled it. Occasionally 

 bears are caught in their dens. This is done by making a hole in 

 the roof of the den, and sticking the bear through it with the 

 lance; the bear as a rule makes no attempt to escape out of his den. 



In former days bears were also caught in traps, which were 

 arranged like fox traps, that is with trap-doors. The natives told 

 us of three traps of this kind, which they say can be seen to this 

 very day, namely one at Tugtilik, which is said to have belonged 

 to Kagsagsik. the legendary hero of the Easterners, one at Igdlolu- 

 arsuk, which is said to be quite in ruins, and one at Pudolik (be- 



Geografisk Tidsskrift, Vol. IX, p. 76. 



