Ethnographical collections from East Greenland. 495 



ments distinct, they are in Greenland, on the other hand, often suf- 

 ficiently specialized for that purpose. Of special importance in this 

 direction is the fact, that the loose stone-blades are sometimes found 

 firmly inserted in position in the haft of the implement. From the 

 traces of use we may sometimes find out the character of the imple- 

 ment. The weapon heads as well as the men's knives are double- 

 edged, and the lateral surfaces especially of the latter often have a 

 median ridge, at least near the point, wherefrom they slope or arch 

 evenly down to meet in the sharp edges. The weapon heads have 

 arched surfaces with or without a median ridge and are of a sym- 

 metrical leaf or lancet shape with a pointed end. Sometimes they 

 have a basal tang or narrow from the middle downwards, for attach- 

 ment to the haft, but very often the arrow or harpoon heads consist 

 of a flat, triangular stone with a straight base and with one or two 

 transverse holes for rivets (fig. 210/). A basal tang is often found in 

 the large double-edged blades (pana) in West Greenland, but large and 

 small knive-blades occur with as well as without such basal tangs. 

 Single-edged stone-knives are rare but not unknown (found both in 

 Alaska^) and in Greenland). 



The two celts found by Johan Petersen testify to the former use 

 of stone adzes at Ammassalik. This fact agrees with the oral in- 

 formation he received from Ajukutooq, Avgo's son, who told him 

 that his father had possessed an old adze found in a ruined house 

 with a celt of stone which was tied to the handle. Such adzes 

 were remembered by several others. The cutting edge of the celts 

 were ground; the handles were of wood or bone (of whale). 



As to the method of working stone implements Ajukutooq further 

 related : the hard kinds of stone were hammered on with an other 

 stone, the stones of softer material (slate etc.) were fashioned by 

 grinding them on the smooth part of a rock or on a loose stone. 

 Soapstone pots and lamps were wrought partly with implements of 

 whalebone (namely adzes and a kind of chisel) and partly with 

 stone tools. The former were handled in this manner: one held the 

 implement while another hammered on it with a hammer stone. 

 The more delicate part of the work (the smoothing etc.) was per- 

 formed with stone implements. 



Fig. 204 a is a double edged stone-blade with a median ridge wedged 

 into the end of a hollow bone; the sides of the haft are ornamented with 

 black dots. 6 is a double-edged blade with serrated edges and has undoubt- 

 edly been used to saw bones and similar soft material, с is like a but the 

 haft without ornamentation. In d the haft and blade belong to the same 

 piece but the latter has fallen out; the side of the haft is broken and has there- 

 fore been whipped with sinew thread; at the end it has the seal- tail orna- 



Ï) Murdoch (1892) pp. 153—154, fig. 107. Thalbitzer (1909) p. 440. 



