Ethnographical collections from East Greenland. 439 



each shank is inserted into a separate socket on the flat end. F'ig. 139a 

 shows a specimen with split foreshaft. 



Figs. 139 b and 141a show the second type of salmon spear, a 

 kind of barbed leister (kakippaak). Instead of having toggles at the 

 ends its two shanks have broad ends with barbs bending inwards 

 (qiseetaak) and between them a more slender prong with pointed end. 

 This last is fixed in a socket or pit in the foreshaft, whilst the two 

 outermost and longer prongs are only lashed to the sides of the 

 conical swelling of the shaft. 



This weapon is used, when the salmon enter the rivers or at 

 the mouths of these in the summer. It is a great day at the tenting- 

 ground, when the salmon are first reported. The cry goes round 

 from tent to tent and all the men hasten down to the 

 river with their spears, springing out at once on to the 

 rows of stones which project up over the water (salmon 

 dykes, cf. p. 407). There is light the whole night long 

 at this time of year and the fishing is continued night 

 after night. 



The sea-scorpion spear {känneen or siättiwin) is a 

 true, barbed leister, with two or three prongs on which 

 the barbs bend inwards, inserted into a groove in the 

 triangular expansion of the foreshaft, the fixing being 

 secured by a lashing of sinew cord or rawhide line 

 (figs. 140 and 143). One of the two spears illustrated has Fig. 144. 

 prongs of bone, the other of iron. — This weapon is also Throwing 

 used sometimes in catching salmon. But it has often 



*^ er harpoon. 



obtained a special importance as an instrument for dragg- (Holm coll.). 

 ing up the seaweed at ebb-tide at places where the screw- ^/s? 



ice has made an opening down to the water. In times 

 of famine, when there is a lack of marine animals, the seaweed 

 affords a|bare living in place of meat and fish and it is said on 

 many occasions to have saved a settlement from perishing of hunger. 



Throwing sticks {ajätcin, pp.46 — 47; figs. 144 to 149, cf. figs. 48 

 and 49) are used in casting the kaiak weapons: the harpoons, lances, 

 bird darts and bladder darts. The lances are also thrown, however, 

 without using the throwing stick, by the hand alone. As a rule the 

 weapon is thrown with the right hand, but left-handed persons are 

 not rare. Johan Petersen knew four men at Ammassalik, who used 

 the left hand in throwing the harpoon and thus had this lying on 

 the left side of the kaiak. 



For each kind of weapon there is a special throwing stick with 

 varying modes of attachment. Fig. 145 shows two throwing sticks 



