Ethnological Sketch of the Angmagsalik Eskimo. 53 



tween Igdloluarsuk and Akorninarmiut , which belonged to the 

 legendary hero Uiartek. The traps were constructed of stones of 

 great size, and were just large enough for the bear to squeeze him- 

 self in as he tried to get at the bait, which consisted of a whole 

 ringed seal. The trap was covered by large stones, and the trap- 

 door hung by heavy rawhide thongs^). 



Shark hunting is a winter pursuit of great importance for the 

 natives of Angmagsalik. A great opening is cut in the ice, and 

 stale blubber, weighted with a stone, is sunk down into the water. 

 On the ice above it is placed seal flesh, the blood of which gradu- 

 ally dyes the water. The hunt begins at dark; the natives run 

 about over the ice shrieking in order to attract the sharks. When 

 the sharks come up to the surface, they remain quite motionless 

 and submit unresistingly to being stuck with the harpoon. The 

 natives often make such a great haul that they have to stop hunt- 

 ing. The women take part in this hunting. 



Fishing. — Salmon are caught in the rivers in summer wdth a 

 barbed three-pronged fork or spear; the middle prong is sharp while 



^) On the West coast at Nugsuak there is a similar bear trap, Л¥111с11 has often 

 been mentioned and described, the most recent description being that of Dr. 

 Steenstriip (in Medd. om Grønl. V, page 6), who adopts the view generally 

 held that it was built by Dutch whalers. He says: "It can hardly have been 

 built by the Greenlanders themselves, as we do not hear of their catching bears 

 in traps, and as, moreover, the way in which the trap is built is not at all 

 characteristic of the Greenlanders". To this I repl}^: 1) According to the le- 

 gends, the Eskimo on the East coast of Greenland used to catch bears in traps. 

 2) The first legend they had from the West coast as to the origin of the 

 Nugsuak trap, was that a native Hercules of the name of Tuningajek had 

 built it ("GiESECKES mineralogiske Rejse i Grønland" ved F. Johnstrup, p. 257. 

 New edition in "Meddelelser om Grønland" XXXV, p. 347). Afterwards it was 

 related that it was erected by a mighty angakok, Kunningajek (Annaler for 

 noi'd. Oldkyndighed. 1838—39, p. 244). About the same time as this last 

 tale, another version appeared as to its having been constructed by a Dutch 

 whaler which wintered at the place. When we see with what suspicion 

 Europeans received the idea of the trap being the work of Greenlanders, no 

 one who knows the Greenlanders will be surprised at their not having ven- 

 tured to contradict them, and at their afterwards having actually explained 

 the origin as the Europeans would have it to be. 3) To the objection that the 

 mode of construction is not characteristic of the Greenlanders, I shall merely 

 reply that the bear traps are of exacth' the same construction as the fox traps, 

 and that the Greenlanders had no reasons to build traps just as sheltered as 

 their houses with alternate laj^ers of stone and earth. I may also add that 

 both on the East and on the West coast of Greenland, there are houses which 

 under exceptional conditions have been built without the use of earth. 



Near Igaliko, too, there is a stone building which, according to the 

 Greenlanders, was once a bear trap (Grønlands historiske Mindesmærker III, 

 p. 816). 



