Ethnographical collections from East Greenland. 365 



persons, was almost 12 feet in cicumference and 5 feet high. "The 

 framework was composed of wood and whalebone" ^). 



Graah describes a tent from the southern part of the coast, 

 which he saw in 1829 at Illailek (about 68^ 30' N. lat.) and gives a 

 picture of a tent ^). Here the space in front is formed as an inde- 

 pendent construction of 4 supports, connected together above by 

 cross-sticks which reach right over to the uppermost part of the 

 archway and appear to be bound to the outermost tent poles. 

 His remark that "the tent space is usually surrounded by a 4 foot 

 high wall", probably only refers to the fact, also known from 

 Ammassalik, that quite a low wall of stones and turf is built in a 

 circle, on which rest on the one hand the lowermost ends of the 

 tent poles, on the other the border of the platform at the back of the 

 tent. I know nothing to indicate, that there is a free wall round 

 the tent; in West Greenland, on the other hand, there may be a 

 short wall in front of its entrance with openings to both sides, 

 which mainly serves the purpose of shelter (qanisaq, Kleinschmidt's 

 Dictionary p. 130) and such a wall can also be seen in Graah's 

 figure. 



Hans Egede's description of the tents of the South-West Green- 

 landers in the 18th century agrees with what we find at Ammassa- 

 lik^). The skins used in the interior of the tent, apart from the 

 sealskins, were reindeer skins with the hairy side out towards the 

 interior of the tent. The outer, hairless skin was made water-tight 

 by smearing it over with blubber. "Each head of a family has such 

 a tent for himself and his family, along with a large women's boat 

 for the removal of their tents and property". 



Giesecke mentions (May 4, 1811) a special kind of tent from the 

 Umanak Fjord in North-West Greenland, which he saw in 1811^): 



"Wir nalimen bei dem Grönlander Thimoteus unser Nachtquartier. Er 

 wohnte in einem Ekortok, einer Art Zelte, welche die Grönländer in Omenaks- 

 fjord im Frühjahre gebrauchen, um sich mehr vor der Kälte zu schüzzen. 

 Sie gehen niclit wie im Sommer ganz sclaräg hinter zur Erde nieder, sondern 

 die Felle werden auf der Rückseite gegen die Erde zu ganz perpendikular 

 abwärts gebogen, die Brixen [platforms] werden dadurch schmaler aber 

 auch etwas höher von der Erde gegen hinten zu. Der Eingang, durch wel- 

 chen man kriechen muss, ist von behaarten Seehundefellen, und nicht, wie 

 im Sommer, von Därmen. Ueber dem Eingange ist ein ^li Ellen breites 

 und ^/2 Elle hohes Fenster von weissgegerbtem dünnem Seehundefell an- 



1) Clavering (1830) p. 21. 



•-) Graah (1832) p. 73. 



3) H. Egede, Naturel Historie (1741) pp. 65— 66; cf. German ed. (1763), p. 140 arid 



PI. IX. 

 *) Giesecke (1878), p. 237; 2nd Ed. (1910) p. 318. 



