Ethnographical collections from East Greenland. 669 



as merchandise or indirectly through imitation, without the groups 

 being otherwise assimilated. As criteria of genetic connection the 

 ethnographic criteria are of less importance than the linguistic ones, 

 but on the other hand they may, through archæological investigations 

 in the regions where the people have once lived but are now extinct, 

 fill up the gaps in our knowledge about the earlier distribution 

 of the groups. 



The future will probably bring much new material of a similar 

 Icind as in these Greenland collections from the same coasts and 

 from those further west and we are still far from reaching the 

 bottom of these researches. The old migration history of the Eskimo 

 lies hidden in their tracks, in their ruins and remains scattered over 

 North Canada and the arctic archipelago. 



In the following I shall add some scattered information about 

 collections, persons, and implements connected with the ethnology 

 of the Eskimo, obtained partly from old texts partly from arctic 

 traditions and recent investigations which have appeared since the 

 beginning of this book had been printed. 



To рад. 326. 



The collections. Among the collections from Greenland in the Stock- 

 holm Eiksmuseum, that of pfafp from central and northern West Greenland 

 occupies a prominent place. Brought together during Pfaff's stay of more than 

 20 years in North Greenland as doctor, this collection consisted originally of 

 •3108 objects, of which unfortunately about 50 seem to have been lost^). The 

 collection, which was first offered to the National Museum of Copenhagen, was 

 bought by G. Retzius in 1881 for 4000 Kr. and deposited in the Nordiska Museum 

 of Stockholm, from which in 1903 it was transferred to the Ethnographical De- 

 partment of the Eiksmuseum. It contains specimens of nearly all the Eskimo 

 implements and their numerous small varieties used in North-west Greenland. 

 The majority of the stone implements are from Kekertak {Qeqertaq in Disko 

 Bay) and the greater part of the remainder (mainly objects of wood, bone and 

 ivory found in graves and ruins) originate from Jacobshavn, but a large number 

 are from other settlements between Umanak Fjord (ca. 71° lat.) and the southern 

 district of Egedesminde (ca. 67° lat.). 



Nordenskiöld's collections from Greenland are small but of interest in 

 that they contain some of the earliest obtained specimens both from Ammassa- 

 lik and Cape York, dating from the years 1873, 1883, 1885 and 1896. His large 

 collection from the Vega Expeditions (1878 — 81) contains Eskimo objects 

 irom the Bering Straits and the extreme north-east of Asia. 



Besides the already-mentioned objects contained in Nordenskiöld's Green- 

 land collections (see pp. 326 footnote ^, 430 footnote ^, 433 and 590), I may men- 

 tion here the beautiful throwing-stick of a knOb-harpoon procured by him in South 

 Greenland; it is marked in the inventory of the Museum 1896.6.1 and is called 



1) The catalogue (MS.) written 1878 by Pfaff himself contains much valuable infor- 

 mation regarding the objects. 



