Ethnographical collections from East Greenland. 



417 



kind ill West Greenland. It does not agree with the East Green- 

 land harpoons, where the knobs are so kirge, that a piece of bone 

 is required not very much smaller than that necessary for a couple 

 of feathers. I do not know the reason, why some prefer the one 

 kind of harpoon, others the other; possibly it arises from differ- 

 ences in personal taste and qualities. Judging by analogy from 

 others of the Ammassalik weapons, it may be that the feather 

 harpoon is a local development in West Greenland, which tlirough 

 trading connections has found its way up along the east coast to 

 the Ammassalikers and has there partly superseded 

 or mixed with the knob-harpoons. To obtain a clear 

 elucidation of the whole question it would be neces- 

 sary to investigate, how widely both kinds are dis- 

 tributed on the west coast, and, if possible, what the 

 relation between them was in former times. Fabricius 

 adds the information to his description of these har- 

 poons, that the feather-harpoon was chiefly used from 

 Frederikshaab in South Greenland and northwards 

 to Diskobugt. Regarding the knob-harpoon in West 

 Greenland he states, that it occurs in two types, the 

 one adapted to be thrown by means of the throwing 

 stick, the other provided with ivory pegs for casting 

 with the hand alone^). In East Greenland (at Ammas- 

 salik) the difference is not known; knob-harpoons 

 are always thrown with the throwing stick. On the 

 other hand, we find the same difference in the use 

 of the lances at Ammassalik. 



The lances (cf. pp. 47 and 48). 



Technical ^^»§- i^^- 



,. , . . . , , . Bone knob for the 



names: awahsaq lance; aijiwujaa its head or point; j^^^^j ^^^^ ^^ 



ipuliijaa, iputiijaa, iputeraa its loose shaft; säüutaa the harpoon shaft. 

 double straps which connect the loose shaft with the (Greenland Col- 

 wooden main shaft; aataakitaa first bone peg (for «"У Administra- 

 throwing stick) on the shaft side; napaataa second 

 bone peg (for throwing stick); tikaarït, tikaaijut peg for finger grasp. 

 The lances, as will be seen from the illustrations (figs. 106 and 

 114), are usually shorter and thicker in the wooden shaft than the 

 harpoons. The foreshaft is here as in the latter a bone or ivory 

 cap (fig. 110), round or rectangular in circumference, provided with 

 a socket for the reception of the loose shaft's basal tenon (fig. 107). 

 The loose shaft {ipuliijaq) consists of three parts, — 1. the head or 



1) Fabricius (1810) p. 142. 

 XXXIX. 



27 



