Ethnographical collections from East Greenland. 



465 



short feather ribs or strips of whale-bone, which hold them out 

 stiff from the stone and allow them to dangle (fig. 173 a). That these 

 sinkers are intended to go fairly deep down in the water is evident 

 from the length of line on which they hang (cf. p. 438). 



At the "dead house" Amdrup found two characteristic sinkers 

 of this type, tlie one made of soapstone with a groove round about 

 for the line. And in Johan Petersen's collection from Ammassalik 

 there are two sinkers one of which is shaped like a 

 fish or a seal (fig. 173 a). 



The form of these sinkers and dependent pieces 

 of ivory fully agrees with corresponding apparatus 

 from West Greenland and from the West Eskimo 

 districts'). But there is this difference, that every- 

 where else it is 

 the custom to at- 

 tach a single or a 

 set of fish-hooks 

 to the sinker, sus- 

 pended from this' 

 on a line of whale- 

 bone or feather- 

 ribs. It is a fact, 

 however, that the 

 Ammassalik Esk- 

 imo do not know 

 the use of fish- 

 hooks; this was 

 first made known 

 by G. Holm 2) and 

 afterwards con- 

 firmed by Ryder ^) 

 and Johan Peter- 

 sen. Their sinkers seem to be a rudimentary remnant of the original 

 Eskimo fishing-apparatus. They take the allured fish (sea-scorpion) 

 by means of a leister. 



The sea-scorpions are only taken in such shallow water at Am- 

 massalik, like the salmon, that it is possible to see the fish at the 

 bottom. When they are caught through a hole in the ice, the hunter 

 lies down and covers his head, so as to see the bottom better. 



Fig. 172. Stone sinkers and decoj^s for fishing. 

 (Holm coll.). i|4. 



1)0. Fabricius (1812) pp. 261—263. Boas (1901) fig. 30. Nelson (1899) PI. LXVII 



and LXIX. 

 ') G. Holm in this work p. 55. 

 3) Ryder (1895J p. 139. Rink (1891) p. 10. 



XXXIX. 



30 



