418 W. Thalbitzer 



blade (in olden days of stone), which is pressed and nailed fast into 

 a groove in the end of — 2. the thin bone shank, which again at its 

 lower end is fixed into — 3. a block of bone, in which are bored 

 the two transverse holes for the double straps. The bone block is 

 not found in all lances (see for example fig. 106 c/). The thin shaft 

 part of the ipuliijaq was already often of iron in 1884 when the 

 Europeans came to Ammassalik. Even at the "dead house" further 

 north Amdrup found the fore-piece of a lance with an iron head of 

 European manufacture (fig. 121). 



The lance is a weapon, which the Ammassalikers use not only 

 from the kaiak but also from the sledge, where it has its place in 

 two loops along the one runner. 



The two lance shafts from the "dead house" in the Amdrup 

 collection (fig. 114) led the collector to enquire at Ammassalik as to 

 their use, and he obtained the following information. The short 

 lance was used on sledging for bear hunting. The longer one was 

 used on the kaiak for bear and narwhal hunting. Besides this one a 

 lighter lance was carried on the kaiak for seals. — The two shafts 

 found by Amdrup are of fir, with very fine rings in the wood. No 

 doubt all the wooden weapon shafts have been made of drift-wood 

 from Siberia. 



There are two kinds of lance, those thrown with the throwing 

 stick, and those thrown directly with the hand without throwing 

 stick. The lances which are used with the throwing stick from the 

 kaiak have no peg for the finger (tikaagut) on the shaft. The other 

 ones have the tikaagut and they are used especially on the sledge. 

 The latter manner has the advantage that there is no risk of losing 

 the throwing stick; perhaps the sight is better when the throwing 

 stick is used. With the tikaagut the cast is said to be longer than 

 with the throwing stick. The tighter the throwing stick sits on the 

 shaft, the further the weapon can be thrown. The skilled hunter has 

 the throwing stick tighter on the shaft than the beginner or the un- 

 skilled. The small parts of the weapon are adjustable; the two pegs 

 for the throwing stick are so placed and whittled as to increase the 

 weapon's accuracy in hitting and the power of the hunter to use it. 

 A difference between the lances of West and East Greenland is the 

 use of the throwing stick at Ammassalik. In West Greenland the lance 

 was thrown with the hand alone according to the earlier authors ^). 

 But the present South Greenlanders liave adapted the lance also for 

 being thrown with the stick from the kaiak. 



In bear hunting, when the bear is the attacking party, the lance 

 is thrown attached to the harpoon line, which the hunter always 



1) Fabricius (1810 j pp. Kit; 179. Cranz (1770) p. 195. 



