518 W. Thalbitzer 



eristic of a twisting and plaiting implement to have small holes 

 arranged two by two. I think that it has probabW been the 

 custom to wind the material (frayed sinew-thread or whale-bone) 

 round the board and use the two nearest holes for drawing through 

 the fibres to be twisted. As the material was* gradually used up 

 and more holes became uncovered, it was possible to fasten the 

 twisted thread in the single holes that alternate with the double 

 ones, or to begin twisting another thread through a new pair of 

 holes nearest to the material wrapped round the board. The other 

 board has been used for winding up the finished thread, thus as a 

 kind of reel (but unlike the typical reels known from Alaska) ^); the 

 side notches as well as the holes have been excellently suited for this 

 purpose and the implement has possibly also been employed as a 

 reel for thicker skin thongs, so that it has been of similar use to 

 the drying frame of fig. 259. It must be observed regarding these 

 two boards, that no similar objects occur in the other collections, 

 they are unique; but on the other hand my informant did not 

 hesitate in his determination, so that he must have recognized them 

 from previous experience. The thought has struck me whether there 

 might possibly be a connection between the shape of these implements 

 and the implement from southern West Greenland, seen in fig. 392. 

 Fig. 239 is a characteristic twisting implement (pertaawin) cut 

 from ivory in the shape of a seal; it is very common at Ammassalik 

 but unknown from any other Eskimo regions. The same kind of 

 implement is seen in fig. 243 and 246 made of bone and ivory. The 

 ornamentation consisting of black dots in regular patterns is very 

 common on such ivory carvings representing animals (cf. fig. 374). 

 The probable use of the implement is best seen from fig. 243, where 

 by means of a short noose it is hung in a large bone-hook, which 

 again is suspended on a line fastened to the ceiling or the drying 

 frame. I imagine that the material is hung on the hook, and from 

 there the fibres are drawn down through the two small eyes or 

 bone-rings on each side of the seal-bod}^ and further on through 

 the two small holes of the tail-part (the hind paws); thus placed it 

 would be easy to twist them with the fingers or if the strands are 

 already twisted into thread to plait them into a cord. A third small 

 ring is found under the belly of the seal (see fig. 239a and 243, but 

 is missing in the specimen in fig. 246); it is probably meant for 

 inserting the end of the finished cord. Instead of placing the mat- 

 erial on the hook, one might use bone-rings of various shapes 

 (figs. 240 and 245), hung in a strap under the ceiling. The imple- 

 ment in fig. 240a is a combination of a hook and a ring (the up- 



•i Nelson (1899j p. Ill, PI. XI.VIll^. 



