724 W. Thalbitzer 



originally more in the shape of the corresponding, horizontal peg of 

 the Smith Sound Eskimo, whereas now the cylindrical upright bone- 

 peg (a diminutive prop) of the South Greenland kaiak is also copied 

 at Ammassalik. 



Whilst the ice-sealing harpoons of the Ammassalikers connect 

 them with the high-arctic culture of the coast, their kaiak harpoons 

 are in agreement w^th those of the South Greenlanders. Like the 

 latter they have their knob and feather harpoons, which in the or- 

 dinary Greenland way are thrown by means of special throwing sticks. 

 At Ammassalik both the front end and the back end of the throw- 

 ing stick for the knob harpoon and the lance have holes for the 

 loose insertion of the corresponding bone-pegs on the under side of 

 the harpoon shaft, whereas the throwing stick of the feather harpoon 

 only has one hole (or two adjacent holes) in the front end and in 

 the back end instead of hole an outstanding spur or bone peg 

 adjusted in the space between the feathers to the butt end of the 

 shaft (the shaft end being of bone and bevelled with a slanting 

 surface which fits the spur). Even in this special Ammassalik feature 

 there is an approximation to the adjustment of the throwing stick 

 of the South Greenlanders. 

 J The loose harpoon heads (toggles) are at Ammassalik, as else- 



where in Greenland, of different types which are used indiscrimin- 

 ately ; the form most typical for this district now is also known from 

 northern West Greenland, though seldom there; a second common, 

 long and slender form with bilateral barbs towards the point is com- 

 mon to Ammassalik and the whole of the west coast. A third, now 

 obsolete type resembled the diminutive whale-harpoon type known 

 from northern East Greenland, wehere Amdrup found a specimen 

 (inv. no. 5) on the Skærgaard Peninsula (and a couple nearly similar, 

 nos. 6 and 7), and several were found earlier by Hammar (Nathorst 

 Expedition) ^) in Franz Joseph's Fjord. This relict at Ammassalik 

 thus also bears witness of the continuity with the north. We come 

 to the same result when we compare the characteristic, hinged toggle 

 head used by the Ammassalikers in their ice-sealing with the North- 

 East Greenland harpoon point of almost the same form, which Am- 

 drup (inv. no. 10) found at the Skærgaard Peninsula. 



The lateral prongs of the bird-dart and the mode by which they 

 are attached to the shaft, on the other hand, connect Ammassalik 

 with South Greenland-). 



The same is true regarding the form of the Ammassaliker's sin- 

 gle sealing bladder, which by means of a short, fixed strap under- 



Ч Tlialbitzer (1909) p. ."509. 



-J Scluiltz-Lorentzcn (19Ü4i p. ."ПЛ. 



