Ethnographical collections from East Greenland. 413 



Expedition in Franz Josephs Fjord ^), evidence of the continuity of 

 the South Greenland culture as far north on this coast. At Smith 

 Sound foreshafts are also used, which had distinctly the character 

 of flat caps^). 



The connection between the different parts of the harpoon — 

 the head, loose shaft and wooden shaft — is made everywhere by 

 means of two independent systems of straps or lashings. — 1. The 

 connection of the loose bone shaft with the wooden shaft is that 

 of a ball-and-socket joint. At the butt end of the loose shaft (in 

 both harpoon and lance) there are two perforations, close above one 

 another, the top of the wooden shaft likewise has two perforations, 

 but side by side in a horizontal direction. The line is drawn through 

 four times and thus appears as two straps or short thongs crossing 

 each other on both sides of the harpoon shaft ^g^, 



(seen in fig. 104). They are so tight, that they Ê^r;A 



keep the loose shaft fast in the socket in cast- I* }-l 

 ing, and it is only the shock against the animal, ; 

 or the movements of the latter when the weapon påmnml 

 has penetrated its skin, that bends the bone 

 shaft and the much heavier wooden shaft from 

 connection with each other (the straps also, | 

 when they become wet, will be more elastic) 

 and thus loosens the straps ; thanks to the straps 

 the bone shaft is not lost but is dragged with the 

 wooden shaft floating on the surface. — 2. A single 

 long line is looped through a hole in the harpoon "- ^ 



head, which is set loosely on the point of the 



loose shaft; the line is tightened along the shaft Fig. ill. Bone knob for 

 by an oblong clasp of bone with two or several ^^^^^ ^°^ °^ ^'^''P''"" 



1 * 1 • 1 •. *u 1- u • ^ J shaft. Nualik. (Amdrup 



eyelets, which sits on the line, being drawn down ^.^^jj . i|^ 



on to a peg which is placed on the side of the 



wooden shaft (see also fig. 104). The rest of the line lies coiled up 

 on the kaiak stand and the other end is connected with the short 

 line of the sealing float by means of a peg in a loop (or bone eye) 

 (fig. 154). 



The knob at the butt of the harpoon shaft, which acts as counter- 

 poise, is a cylindrical block of bone (in East Greenland often of 

 narwhal tusk), with a deep socket into which the end of the shaft 

 is mortised; it is further fixed by bone nails. In the lower end of 

 the knob is fixed, like an ornamental peg, a small stubby piece of 



1) Koldewey (1874) pp.605 (fig. 17 &) and 623. 



2) Kroeber (1899) p. 281, cf. PI. XI, 2. 



