476 



W. Thalbitzer 



and iron blade ^). The short-bladed, single-edged working-knife, which 

 is characteristic for Ammassalik, differs somewhat, on the other hand, 

 from the West Eskimo types, the latter being as a rule so-called 

 "crooked knives" with the blade inserted into a lateral groove at 

 the end of the haft^). Further north on the east coast this type, 

 provided with wooden haft or bone haft, has been found by the 

 2nd German North Pole Expedition-^), by Ryder*) and by Amdrup^) 

 (at Cape Tobin). On the other hand, a true "crooked knife" has 

 not been found at Ammassalik, though the form of the small saws 

 and shark's tooth knives may be derived from it. As in the Alaskan 

 knife the blade of the Ammassalik knife as a rule has the bevel on 



the one face only, but a special character of 

 the latter is, in addition to the insertion in a 

 terminal socket, the concave edge of the blade. 

 Shark's tooth knives (fig. 187) for cutting 

 hair have been mentioned on p. 32. Such 

 knives seem also to have been known in West 

 Greenland in earlier times, for Olearius men- 

 tions, that his Greenlanders had some knives, 

 which they called ekalugsaa, that is they 

 explained with this word, that the knives 

 were made from sharks (presumably the 

 teeth of sharks)*^). The teeth are inserted 

 into grooves along both edges, like the small 

 iron blades in the primitive knives we know 

 from northern West Greenland and South- 

 ampton Island (see p. 489). 

 The saws (pilätteen, figs. 188 and 199) are described on p. 41. 

 They are of two types, the one primitive, perhaps to some extent 



Fig. 186. Sheaths for hunting 

 knives. (Holm coll.). Ms. 



Boas (1901) figs. 103 and 112. Nelson (1899) PI. LXV. — The following informa- 

 tion regarding the distribution of the Eskimo long knife, which is called pana 

 in West Greenland and likewise in the East Greenland tale on Kunuk [see this 

 Vol. p. 240) has been kindly given me by Commander G. Holm: "The Eskimo at 

 Kotzebue Sound obtain these knives from Asia and sell them again to the more 

 eastern Eskimo at Colville River (Simpson: The Western Eskimo p. 266); the 

 North-west Indians use similar knives (Smithson. Report of Nat. Mus. 1888, 

 p. 283). Similarly in California and south-west right to Oregon (Contributions 

 to North American Ethnology III, pp. 52 and 79)." The name pana is also knoAvn 

 in Alaska; see e. g. Murdoch (1892) p. 156, and Barnum (1901) p. 359: 'Храпаку 

 a variet}' of spear having a large blade." 



Murdoch (1892 pp. 157 — 161; Nelson (1899) p. 85; Boas (1901 1907) pp. 87 

 and 365. 



Koldewey (1874j p. 623. 

 Ryder (1895J p. 322, figs. 21 Ъ, с. 

 Thalbitzer (1909), fig. 48, pp. 454-459. 



Olearius (1656) p. 174. Illustration from southern East Greenland by Graah 

 (1832) Fl. VII. 



