642 



W. Thalbitzer 



kalilua the handle, grip; kättiwa the drum-stick; kalittor beating the 



drum. 



In West Greenland the hoop of the drum according to Hans 

 Egede was made either of whale-vertebra or of wood ^). With 

 regard to the skin, the gastric peritoneum of the bearded seal 

 was preferred^). According to Kroeber seal intestine stretched 

 over an elliptical bone frame is the usual material for the drum 

 near Smith Sound; it is beaten with a walrus-rib ^). 



Outside Greenland the drums are on an average larger than 

 the specimens known from this country. Closely related forms 

 of drums are met with both among the Indians and among 

 all the North Asiatic people, where shamanism is or was 

 prevalent, even as far as the Laplanders. The Eskimo are 

 probably the only people who beat only against the border of 

 the drum, the others beat the skin. Lyon describes the drum 

 from Iglulik north of Hudson Bay exactly as the Greenland one*). 

 "The drum of which I have spoken is formed of whalebone, 

 and over this a thin skin or bladder is stretched. It is played 

 on by being beat on the lower edge, and not the skin, 

 and sounds like a bad tambourine. I saw two only of 

 these instruments, both of which were children's toys." 

 From the beginning of the 18th century the Eskimo 

 drumming and dancing was mentioned from the north- 

 eastern corner of Newfoundland by the first missionaries 

 who landed there ^). 



Fig. 364 shows two small implements, belonging 

 to the function of the angakoq, namely his beating-skin {mak- 

 kortad) and beating-stick (anaalutaa). The latter is probably 

 nothing else but an ordinary drumstick, the first is a small, 

 round piece of skin, so small that it can easily be kept in the 

 hollow of the hand. The angakoq uses it to produce a continual 

 beating noise, whilst he conjures his spirits into the house. In 

 tale no. 30 in Holm's collection (p. 285) we hear of 

 an angakoq on the point of using this small implement. 



Mi 



Fig. 363. 



Drumstick. 



(Greenl. Admi 



nistration 



coll.). 1/б. 



• 



Tupilak (pp. 100—103, fig. 365). — In contrast to 

 the amulets, which are used to protect and strengthen 

 the wearer, tupilaks are made for the purpose of in- 

 juring enemies. Like the amulets they are also made 

 living by the solemn and mysterious recitation of a (Thalbitzer coll.). 

 spell over them, after which ceremony they are sent 



Fig. 364. 

 Angakoq's rapping 

 stick and skin. 



') H. Egede ^741) p. 85. 



-) Glahn (1771) p. 272. Against Cranz' statement, that the skin of the tongue of 



the whale might be used for this purpose, Glahn remarks, that this is "a fable 



which has been palmed off upon the author." 

 3) Kroeber (1899) p. 303. 



*) Lyon (1824) p. 144; cf. Amundsen (1907) p. 261. 

 5) Cranz (1771) III p. 296. 



