Ethnographical collections from East Greenland. 723 



the southernmost part of the coast and connect them with the north 

 land. Their hunting methods on ice agree with those of the Eskimo at 

 Umanak (Oommannaq) in the north part of West Greenland. The 

 ice stool for sealing on the ice with the three high legs is known 

 among the Smith Sound Eskimo in Greenland and the Point Barrow 

 Eskimo in Alaska, but not from other districts. The lower foot- 

 stool of a different type, of which Amdrup found two examples (inv. 

 nos. 65 — 66) at Cape Tobin, is unknown at Ammassalik, but is un- 

 doubtedly of the same kind as that described by Egede from North- 

 West Greenland ^) and a similar stool was found by Sverdrup on 

 Heiberg Land at the commencement of the more northern route of 

 immigration (over Grinnell Land) to Greenland"). — The small wound- 

 plugs of bone for the slaughtered seals also belong to the sealing on 

 the ice and must have come from the north. The large wooden 

 wound-plugs on the other hand are shared in common by the Am- 

 massalikers with the other Greenlanders. 



The original kaiak-form of the Ammassalikers resembled more 

 what we still find in the northern West Greenland at Upernawik 

 and Smith Sound than the South Greenlanders'. It had upturned 

 keel at the stern end and three-jointed ribs (separate bottom and side 

 ribs) instead of straight keel and rounded ribs; the last forms have 

 only been adopted at Ammassalik within recent times, where they 

 mortise the keel and ribs together just as the South Greenlanders 

 do. Southern features have thus replaced the original northern in 

 the construction of the kaiak; similarly the Ammassalik kaiak oars 

 originally looked more like those of the Smith Sound and Central 

 Eskimo than the South Greenlanders'. White bleached skins are 

 used to cover both the kaiak and umiak; this feature the Ammas- 

 salikers have in common with the South Greenlanders only, whilst 

 the North Greenland boat covers are prepared from black skins •^). 

 The kaiak stand or receptacle for the harpoon line on the kaiak 

 was originally cross-shaped, which is also known from northern West 

 Greenland, but now the hoop-shaped receptacle of the South Green- 

 landers has been adopted. 



The various bone-eyelets, which hold the cross-straps in position 

 on the kaiak deck are as on the South Greenland kaiak, but there 

 is a local deviation in the length and position of some of the cross- 

 straps. Further, the small bone peg or attachment, which is fixed 

 on the kaiak deck to the right of the man- hole to bear the harpoon 

 shaft and hold it in its place (pp. 395 — 396), was probably formed 



1) H. Egede (1741) p. 58; fig. on PI. to p. 58. 



^) Thalbitzer (1909) p. 434 (pp. 427—435; figs. 38 39). 



3) Cf. also Schultz-Lorentzen (1904) pp. 311 (with note) and 312. 



46* 



