412 



W. Thalbitzer 



Fig. 109. Two bone caps for the foreshaft 



of a harpoon, a upper side, Ъ дпаег side. 



Nualik. (Amdrup coll.). ^1-2. 



Central and West Eskimo; but so far as Greenland is concerned, it 

 does not agree exactly, the foreshafts here being flat, rectangular 

 plates or caps^). Also the joining of the loose shaft and the fore- 

 shaft differs. Instead of having a basal tenon at the end, the loose 

 shafts of the West Eskimo are only whittled off below to fit the con- 

 ical socket in the block- or pear-shaped foreshaft^). Amdrup found 



three foreshafts of this kind 

 further north on the east 

 coast of Greenland (on Dun- 

 holm Island 69° 54' N. lat.)^). It 

 is possible, that this kind of 

 foreshaft (pear-shaped) has 

 been common formerly on 

 the Greenland walrus and 

 whale harpoons. Further 

 south, at the "dead house" 

 on Nualik, Amdrup found various harpoon and lance shafts (figs. 

 112 and 114) of the special Greenland type, some with the caps still 

 on them. The illustrations (figs. 109 and 110) show the occasional 

 difference, that the cap of the harpoon is rectangular and has on the 

 top a low, square-shaped, projection in the flat upper side of which 

 the socket is made, whereas 

 the cap of the lance is circular. 

 The fairly long groove on the 

 underside of these caps is in- 

 tended to fit the end of the " 

 wooden shaft, which at its flat- 

 tened top has a corresponding 

 ridge to fit the groove; in fig. 

 110, further, two wooden nails 

 have been used in the attach- 

 ment. The rectangular cap 



measures 4 by 48 cm. A rectangular cap of ivory, thus a foreshaft 

 of the Ammassalik type, was found by the 2nd German North Pole 



Fig. 110. Bone cap for the foreshaft of a 



lance, a upper side, Ъ lateral view. 



Nualik. (Amdrup coll.). '/o. 



') A foreshaft of block-shaped or pear-shaped form (e. g. foreshaft of a barbed har- 

 poon. Mason 1. с p. 199) is found however, on the Greenland bladder dart 

 (figs. 105 and 124) and ituartit harpoon (fig. 117); it may be compared with the 

 block of bone which forms the lowest part of the lance's loose shaft (fig. 107). 



-) Boas (1888) figs. 417, 419, 420. (1901) fig. 8. Something resembling a projection 

 is indicated, iiowever, in the qatilik or large spear, by Parry from Iglulik (N.W. 

 corner of Hudson Bay; 1824, PI. fig. 20, and Boas (1888) p. 492. fig. 42.''). 



=') Thalbitzer (1909 pp. 361—364 and 443—446. In Scoresby Sound Byder found 

 two loose shafts of harpoons, of separate types (i. с one with basal tenon, one 

 with tapering basal point) Ryder (189.')) fig. 12. 



