432 W. Thalbitzer 



On the whole the common Ammassahk harpoon head gives the 

 impression of being a simplified and recent type. The harpoon 

 heads belong to the weapons, the Eskimo wear down most quickly 

 and lose most readily. When we consider the trade in bone and 

 iron which the Ammassalikers have carried on with the south for 

 many generations, it is only natural, that such an adaptable ware 

 as the harpoon head should undergo changes under the influence of 

 the material and new forms introduced from the south. 



The old-time whaling harpoon head is known from West Green- 

 land^) and the small forms of this type for the seal hunting are 

 known from almost all Eskimo regions and even outside these being 

 the most widely spread type. We find it from North-east Green- 

 land (Amdrup coll. no. 5, cf. p. 425) over Smith Sound ^) and Hudson 

 Bay (Aivilik)^) to Alaska^) and down along the northern coasts of the 

 Pacific, on the Asiatic side to Kamtschatka °). But from Ammassalik 

 we have only a mere reminiscence of this type (fig. 136, cf. p. 427). 

 The hunting of large whales has long ceased to exist here and there 

 is no distinct whaling harpoon head in the collections from this 

 place either of the true, large size or of the miniature used in the 

 seal hunting. 



Likewise the broad and flat harpoon head which has two basal 

 barbs terminating in blunt edges and a row of decorative notches 

 (at least three) in the basal edge, so common from Smith Sound 

 and Central Eskimo regions, is unknown at Ammassalik. The Smith 

 Sound Eskimo call this head tokaq, the Central Eskimo on Baffin 

 Land call it tokang or naulang, and they use it for hunting white 

 whales and other cetaceans whose skin is soft. The West Greenlander 

 uses the name tookaq for the head of their common sealing harpoon. 

 The pointed form with its base bevelled so as to form one fairly 

 sharp barb (the small head of the whaling harpoon type) is called 

 ssako among the Smith Sound Eskimo, according to Kroeber, and it is 

 used for hunting seals and walrus. Parry and Boas give the name as 



^) A whaling harpoon head from West Greenland may be seen illustrated in "Med- 

 delelser om Grønland" XXVIII, figs. 101 and 102, where it unfortunately is 

 misnamed "head piece of an adze" (in agreement with the inventory list of the 

 Pfaff collection). Shorth' after the publication of my description, during a visit 

 to the British Museum, I remarked that the two bone pieces were identical in 

 form with a whaling harpoon head there from West Greenland. The error, 

 which dates back to the long staj^ in Greenland of the collector Dr. Pfaff, shows 

 the uncertainty of the natives' own determfhations of obsolete weapons. 



-) Kroeber 1899) p. 27«, fig. i;i 



'■'') Boas (И)01) p. 79, figs. 108 a e. 



') Murdoch (1892) pp. 218 et seq.; Mason (1900) p. 278, fig. 74. 



■') Seen in Vienna Hofmuseum; cf. works of Bogoras, Jochelson, Swanton etc. (Jesup 

 N'oitli Pacific Kxpeditionj. 



