Ethnographical collections from East Greenland. 437 



bird darts with marked blunt heads, such as are known among Lhe 

 West Eskimo'). But Hans Egede mentions a contrivance which 

 serves the same purpose and is also known in Alaska, namely, 2 or 

 3 blunt heads {miiän 'its heads' from nuik) which are placed on the 

 end of the foreshaft ^'). The intention in throwing these darts is 

 more to stun the bird or to keep it unwounded on the lateral prongs 

 of the shaft than to wound it; it is desirable as far as possible to 

 avoid ruining the skin, as it has to be used for the bird skin frocks^). 

 — Amdrup found what is possibly the bone head of a bird dart on 

 Dunholm in the north, with unilateral barb and groove for a blade"^). 



Fig. 142 shows one of the three lateral prongs {aaiän 'its prongs', 

 from sing, aaq) which are so characteristic of this weapon. They 

 are placed in a circle round the shaft, just a little behind the 

 middle, each in its own plane, and serve as a kind of reserve points, 

 in case the point of the head misses the bird. The butt ends of 

 these prongs are fixed in holes on the shaft side and in addition to 

 this they are united, through holes higher up, by means of whip- 

 pings which keep them in place. The Ammassalikers have this way 

 of fastening the prongs of the bird dart in common with the south- 

 ern West Greenlanders, whereas the central West Greenlanders secure 

 the three prongs on the shaft by means of two set of whippings, 

 one at the foot end (which is not mortised, only lashed on the shaft) 

 and the other higher up''). The prongs are always provided with 

 two or three barbs facing the shaft. Only the prongs which have 

 been found at various places in the northernmost parts of East 

 Greenland (by Koldewey, Ryder, Nathorst and Amdrup)*'') deviate in 

 this respect by having a single barb on the outer edge besides tw^o 

 or three on the inner. Everywhere else points of this kind have 

 only unilateral barbs ^). 



According to Johan .Petersen a narrow thong with two bone 

 beads on it lay along the wooden shaft of the old-time bird darts 



1) Nelson (1899) p. 152, PI. LIX, Lyon (1824) p. 326 and PI. between pp. 16—17 



(Man of Savage Island). 

 ^) H. Egede (1741) p. 56: "The bird darts are provided with two or three blunt 



bones on the end, in order simply to kill the bird and not to damage the 



flesh." Solberg (1907) p. 68. 

 s) Murdoch mentions two kinds of bird darts from Point BarroAv (1892, pp. 20 — 213), 



one of them having a double fork instead of a single point for its head. Lyon 



knows the same type from Iglulik (1824, p. 326). 

 ■^) Thalbitzer (1909) pp. 366—370. Fig. 8 and PI. XVI, 17. 



5) Schultz-Lorentzen (1904) p. 313. Thalbitzer (1909) pp. 507—508, figs. 83 and 84. 



6) Thalbitzer (1909) pp. 372—^373. Fig. 16. 



^) An exception, however, is illustrated by Nelson in a "prong or spur for attach- 

 ment to the side of the shaft of a bird-spear" from St. Lawrence Island in 

 Bering Strait, which has bilateral barbs. Nelson (1899) fig. 42» (of p. 149). 



