540 W. Thalbitzer 



be spread out in a pot and roasted (without using water) so that it 

 becomes a sort of cake (ersaaijulilin). In winter the natives prepare 

 the frozen blood (qeetciässaq) which after boiling is taken out into 

 the frosty air to coagulate. 



The hide of seals (and whales) is eaten unboiled and raw as a 

 special dish. The whale-hide is however sometimes boiled, the 

 walrus hide always. Other sorts of dishes are prepared from the 

 blubber-like inner membrane of the fleshy side of the hide, which is 

 scraped off, if the skin has to be used as leather; it is called mamia 

 ('its mame,' p. 504) and is eaten as a delicacy, sometimes boiled, most 

 often unboiled or rather, after being kept in a skin-bag during the 

 winter, in a dried state as a cake-like mass. Cut up in small pieces 

 it is cooked in fresh water and remains there until it is sufficiently 

 old and stiff (ittersoileq). The hide of sharks is hung up on the 

 drying-frame in the house and eaten dried and unboiled. Hides of 

 bears and dogs are the only ones not eaten. 



Salmon (kaporniakkät), sea-scorpions (qiwaaqit) and caplins 

 {keersakkat, replacing the tabooed ammattät) are partly eaten fresh- 

 boiled, partly dried (winter-food). Split and dried salmon are called 

 miV"cin or mat'^ceen, dried caplins keersakkat panérsimalin. The 

 preparation of the caplins, after they have been taken out of the 

 water with a scoop (qaleq), is as follows (cf. pp.467, 503—504): first 

 they are spread out on the drying places of the rocks, if possible 

 arranged in rows (eeoralin); when they become dry on the upper 

 side they are turned round, generally on the third day; when dry 

 the tail of each fish is bored through with a bone needle (p. 513, 

 fig. 234) and with the tails overlapping each other they are sewn 

 together two by two, thus forming broad bands that are rolled up 

 into large bales. They are now by means of the umiaks taken to 

 the stone-cellar (the distant store-room, qimmutuliwik) where they 

 are left until they are wanted in the course of the winter. Then 

 they are portioned out in the house and are eaten preferably with 

 blubber; but if they have become moist they are cooked in the pots. 

 — The following fishes are eaten in a boiled state: sea-scorpion, 

 Norway haddock, lumpsucker (nipisaait) fjord-cod {ook^"kat), which 

 are captured with spears or taken with the hands or found in the 

 stomachs of the large seals. The same is the case with the different 

 kinds of mussels, crayfish and shrimps (perqitannaat), crabs {piitcu- 

 kuttin), sea-snails (pusirjalin), sea-anemones (sunaan^^'ai, oersartik), etc. 



Black crowberries (pukukkat) and bilberries (whortleberries, 

 keetarnän) are gathered during the autumn and placed in a special 

 bag; the same is the case with various green herbs with juicy leaves 

 called qoojiiit which are frozen during the winter preserved in the 



