620 W. Thalbitzer 



imals are more realistically carved than the human figures, but as 

 faithful likeness of the portraits is not intended they are only meant 

 to represent the human shape in general, i, e. the Eskimo type ac- 

 cording to the conventional view of their ancestors. In the Ammas- 

 saliker's representation of the human figure we note his predilection 

 for emphasizing the shape of the breast and stomach, his tendency 

 to neglect the back, his ability to give the right proportions to the 

 shoulders and thighs, together with his superior neglect of the ex- 

 istence of arms and feet. While in the smaller figures the face is 

 only marked by a flat facet, at the most a childish indication of 

 eyes, nostrils and mouth, he often tries to characterize the larger 

 figures by giving them a grotesque or appalling expression; in the 

 masks they probably often imitated definite persons with tattooed 

 faces. 



While the masks are unknown from other regions in Greenland, 

 carved wooden dolls have been found in northern West Greenland 

 (Pfafi"'s coll.) though not in large quantities. With regard to the 

 Smith Sound Eskimo Kroeber mentions that their art was not spec- 

 ially well developed, though by no means despicable. This is true 

 especially with regard to the carvings of animals in ivory and bone^). 



Decorative designs. — With regard to the decoration of their 

 implements the Greenlanders are almost on a level with the other 

 Eskimo east of Mackenzie River. The decorative patterns and orna- 

 mental carvings, which are only seldom found in Greenland, show 

 the same designs as those made by the other East Eskimo, thus 

 displaj^ing a primitive and simple art. The Ammassalikers alone seem 

 to take up a special position by virtue of their relief-ornamentation 

 and sculpture in ivory and wood. We come to this conclusion by 

 comparison with the highly imaginative and multifarious art in orna- 

 mentation and carving among the Eskimo near the Bering Straits, 

 especially along the subarctic part of the Alaskan coast. Most of 

 this richness in art is absent ^mong the Central and Eastern Eskimo. 

 Common to all Eskimo both there and on the northernmost shores 

 of the Atlantic are, however, certain ornamental lines and designs 

 first pointed out by Franz Boas, patterns which are characteristic for 

 the Eskimo and which also occur in the north-eastern corner of 

 Asia'''). One of these is the alternate spur or zigzag design, the other 

 the bifurcated or trifurcated line design with two short branches 

 (Y-shaped). 



I have pointed out that the West Greenlanders have known the 

 first of these patterns on carved ivory, but they seem to have used it 



1) Kroeber 1899) p. .300, PI. XIV. 



2) Boas (1907) pp. 431 434 and 568; (1908j pp. 324-328. 



