CEL III] 
Tribes A round the Pole 
23 
Bay makes it probable that, at one time, there was some 
intercourse by way of Davis Strait. 
Equally ingenious is the use of an air bladder attached 
to their harpoons to retard the seal in its rush when 
struck, and to keep the harpoon floating if the quarry is 
missed. The point of the harpoon is also so fitted that, 
when the seal is struck, it slips out of the shaft, obviating 
the danger of the shaft being broken by the animal's 
struggles, and of the barb slipping out of its body. The 
point is attached to the shaft by a thong. 
Seals provide material for clothes, boots, tents, and 
food. The Greenland dogs are excellent for their purpose 
and draw sledges 30 or 40 miles a day over smooth ice 
easily; but the dog as a draught animal is an Asiatic 
invention. The Greenland sledge consists of a couple 
of boards for runners, 6 feet long, with cross pieces, 
and two upright poles for guiding. All is kept together 
by seal-skin thongs, thus affording elasticity. On smooth 
ice a pace of 16 miles an hour can be attained, the load for 
dogs being nearly 500 lb. Eskimo necessary furniture con- 
sists of lamps, wooden tubs, dishes, and stone pots. Their 
arms are bows and arrows, bird darts, javelins, and lances. 
The wood required by the Greenland Eskimo is 
provided by the Arctic current. Flowing down the east 
coast of Greenland it is diverted by the Gulf Stream, 
turns round Cape Farewell, and flows up the coast of 
Greenland bearing abundance of drift wood!. Again 
meeting the Baffin Bay current, it is turned again down 
into the Atlantic. This drift wood consists of coniferous 
trees which must come from Siberia. Pieces 60 feet long 
are found on the coast so far north as 6o° 30', one yielding 
3 cords of wood in 63 0 N., and pieces of 12 to 30 feet are 
not uncommon. 
The Angekoks, like the Shamans of Siberia, are the 
priests and physicians of the Eskimos, who believe in a 
great first cause, and in spirits, especially evil spirits, who 
have to be propitiated. They have myths and traditions, 
but none that throw any certain light on their origin and 
history. By far the best account of the arms, tools, and 
utensils of the Eskimos of West Greenland is by Porsild 1 . 
1 Studies on the Material Culture of the Eskimo in West Greenland (Kjcrfben- 
havn, 1915), Morten P. Porsild. 
