Ethnographical collections from East Greenland. 



523 



relict оГ Ihe needle-case or rather of the strap drawn through the 

 bone-tube of the needle-case. As previously mentioned, needle-cases 

 of bone or ivory have formerly been used everj^- 

 where in Greenland and probably also at Am- 

 massalik, where some day a specimen of this 

 implement will be brought to light. But per- 

 haps one or two centuries have passed since the 

 last specimen was thrown away at this place 

 and the broader skin-triangles, into which the 

 metal-needle could easily be stuck in order to 

 be quite secure, came into use. 



From the districts lying between Greenland 

 and Alaska I do not remember to have seen any 

 illustration of thimble-guards of the type men- 

 tioned (a double-hook of bone). In the figures 

 from the west coast of Hudson Bay ^) the sewing 

 rings are seen hanging on the strap itself of 

 the needle-case. 



Sewing rings or thimbles (tikeq, plur. tikin, 

 tikiijin, fig. 252) are for the women the same as 

 the finger protectors (p. 481) are for the men; 

 the former are placed on the forefinger of the 

 worker, the latter on the thumb. The women 

 make their sewing-rings themselves from an oval 

 or round piece of tough seal skin; along the one 

 edge of this piece they cut a free rim , thus 



making a noose which 



S^ÊÊÊ^k may be drawn over the 

 ^I^^B finger-nail while the 

 А^^щА round part lies as a 

 ^ЩйЕюЗР shield covering the soft 

 side of the finger tip. 

 The Ammassalik type 



of sewing ring corresponds exactly to the 

 type from Baffin Land figured by Boas, 

 and in Alaska the shape is also the same^). In Scoresb}^ Sound in 

 East Greenland Ryder found a sewing ring shaped like a figure of 8, 

 i. e. with double shield''). 



How the sewing rings are placed on the thimble-guards at Am- 

 massalik is seen from figs. 241, 249a, с and 251. 



a 



Fig. 251. Needle skin 



лу1111 thimble guards 



and a comb. (Petersen 



coll.). Vs. 



Fig. 252. 

 sealskin. 



Thimbles made of 

 Thalbitzer coll.). 4i. 



1) Parry (1824) p. 550, fig. 25. Boas (1901) pp. 93—94, figs. 136 b, d. 



■-) Boas (1888) p. 524, fig. 473 (1901) p. 94, fig. 136. Nelson (1899) p. 109, PI. XLIV. 



3) Ryder (1895) p. 334, fig. 32. 



