Ethnographical collections from East Greenland. 367 



them at the right distance from one another (serving also as 

 handle), there is the difTerence, that in West Greenland it is lashed 

 to the uprights, in East Greenland fixed into holes in these. 



The reason for the characteristic form of the uprights in the 

 Ammassalik sledge may be, that the broad base below forms a 

 guard for the baggage, which is usually placed on the hindmost 

 part of the seat (here there are special holes in the broad cross- 

 pieces of the seat for fixing the baggage). It often happens, in fact, 

 when journeying on the uneven sea ice or along the ice-foot at 

 ebb-tide, that the sledge runs against corners of screw-ice or ice 

 hummocks. This might be a satisfactory explanation of the origin of 

 this special type in this region of Greenland. On the northern part of 

 the east coast, however, we only find sledges (or fragments of sledges) 

 without uprights resembling the sledges of the Central Eskimo. 

 Away from Ammassalik the uprights on the sledges are only used 

 in northern West Greenland (wooden uprights of cylindrical poles) 

 and in Baffins Land (reindeer horns); elsewhere the Eskimo sledges 

 have no uprights. In addition to this, journeys are not made by 

 sledge in the southermost parts of the east coast, and sledges are 

 not used, nor have they been used earlier on the part of the west 

 coast, which lies south of Holstensborg (бб^' N. lat.). The type of 

 the broad uprights used by the Ammassalikers is an isolated phen- 

 omenon, and it is not clear, what chance has given them the idea 

 of the special form of their uprights'). 



Technical names: Maatoolee^, kaatoilin slodge; i^"nna a sledge run- 

 ner; narciän the foremost part of the runners; pertaaiät the bone keels 

 of the runners; ikaarïtaat, ikaajjuiaat the cross-pieces of the seat; 

 narciccar the foremost cross-piece of the seat ; erqiwa the hindmost 

 part of the seat; napaaiai the uprights; sannee"^taa the cross-bar 

 between the uprights; nutootaan the cross-shaped straps between the 

 uprights; miaa^"laa strap fixed in a hole in the next last cross-piece 

 of the seat for tying the baggage. 



Measurements: sledge fig. 71: runners length Гб8т.; height of 

 uprights 4Г5ст., breadth below 31cm., at the top (handle) 12 cm. 

 The uprights diverge upwards, the runners downwards; distance 

 between the uprights above 45 cm., at the seat 36 cm. The distance 

 between the runners at the seat is 35'5 cm., at the keel 425 cm. 

 Each of the uprights is fixed on the seat and held in position by 

 means of 2 straps through two transverse holes in the runner and 

 two corresponding holes in the nether part of the upright. 



1) See also my comparative study of the Eskimo sledge types in "Ethnological; 

 Description of the Amdrup Collection" pp. 388— 395, cf. pp. 508-519. 



