Ethnographical collections from East Greenland. 399 



the hunter, who hunts alone at the breathing hole (attiwa) of 

 the seal in the winter ice^). He sits or stands on his ice-stool, 

 the while he waits for the slight movement in the water of the 

 hole, which tells him of the oncoming seal. For the seal has var- 

 ious holes at different places on its way under the ice, and it often 

 lasts many hours, before the animal appears. He must wait sound- 

 less and immovable, not to frighten it. Under his feet he has either a 

 small mat or a pair of shoes or sandals of bear or dog skin. When 

 the snout of the animal sets the water in movement he strikes it 

 with his ice harpoon (sämmiä) and lets it swim away with the 

 loosened harpoon head and the line, until it becomes tired and 

 again seeks up to breathe. When he has succeeded in striking it 

 with his lance and killing it, he widens the hole with the pick, 

 which is attached to the butt end of the shaft of the weapon, and 

 drags the animal up on the ice. — In the northern fjords of West 

 Greenland several hunters went out in a group on the ice to 

 distribute themselves at the breathing holes of the seals and wait 

 at them like so many nippartut, and this "company hunt" is called 

 there maawtut, from mawpoq, meaning 'sinks his weapon through 

 the ice' i. e. carries on this kind of seal hunting on the ice. This 

 expression and probably also even the hunting in company is un- 

 known at Ammassalik. 



In spring the bright light of the sun in the still air attracts the 

 fjord seals up on to the ice to sun themselves and sleep. They 

 scrape their breathing holes larger and creep up through them. 

 Aorniarteq (from aorpoq 'to crawl') is the name for the hunting 

 method, or rather the hunter, who hunts the seal up on the ice by 

 crawling towards it and surprising it {taqertsertarpaa). If the seal 

 notices the approaching hunter, the latter deceives it either by 

 imitating the puffing sound and movements of a seal with the head 

 and body whilst creeping forward, or by pushing a block of ice 

 like a shield in front so that the seal mav not see him. In this 

 way it is possible to approach so near to the animal as to strike 

 it. For this and the following method of hunting a special kind of 

 harpoon (tookaq) is used. The shaft is 2 to 3 meters long and it is 

 pushed forwards resting on a miniature sledge of wood (qanimutaak), 

 figs. 117 and 126. Both in East and West Greenland, as the result 

 of European influence, it has become customary to attach a small 



') atte (with suffix attiiva) "the uppermost part of the breathing hole of the seal 

 in the ice" corresponds to the West Greenland aLLo; ki^^'kk^^'гleq "the widened 

 lower part of the breathing hole"; naalarpoq "to listen". The hunter finds his 

 way to the hole by listening for the breathing of the seal, which is heard far 

 over the ice. If he finds a hole, he looks first to see if there is any thin ice 

 over it; in such cases he knows, that there is no seal below. 



