654 



W. Thalbitzer 



Fig. 377. Rattle 



poq, 4t reverberates in the air, it sounds loudly' or imitciwoq 4t is 



full-moon'). 



The rattle (fig. 377) consists of a number of bear-teeth suspended 



in a heap by short straps to a small piece of skin ^). Nothing shows 

 that it has been used as a toy or that this object 

 originates from older times. But it is of interest, be- 

 cause it is in agreement with the rattles in the tales. 

 In No. 19 in Holm's collection of tales (here pp. 269 — 

 270) we hear of rattles hanging in the house-passage as 

 signals, because they rattle at the mere touch of any- 

 body passing through. In another tale (no. 7, p. 248) 

 it is mentioned how in a similar way three stones 

 are placed in the house-passage as signals, which by 

 their noise made the arrival of newcomers known to 

 the inhabitants. In a West Greenland tale the rattle 

 in the house-passage is also spoken of^). 



Puzzles (p. 63) are shown in figs. 378 a and b with 

 two pairs of beads and two single beads respectively, 



made of bear's otherwise quite the same. The person now aims at 

 teeth. collecting all the beads on the part of the string to 



(Holm coll.). 1/4. the left or right of the hole in the middle of the stick 



and to bring them back to their place again. The string is undivided, 



only doubled like a loop 



through the hole and both 



ends are then drawn through 



the loop from the other side 



and made fast to the ends 



of the stick. In a this stick 



is made of wood, in b of 



bone. To anyone unacquaint- 

 ed with the trick it naturally 



requires great patience to 



find how to move the bead 



from the one side of the 



string to the other. The name 



of the toy (ikaartaat) means 



'transference to the other 



side.' 



Fig. 378. 



Puzzle with movable beads. 

 (Holm coll.). Vi. 



Spindle buzzes {awilertwaain 'boomers, roarers,' figs. 379 — 

 380, cf. p. 519) are a toy as common at Ammassalik as the wing-shaped 



1) J. Petersen's collection in the National Museum contains tAVO quite similar rattles 

 from Ammassalik. 



2) Rink (1866) p. 49. 



