Naturforskeren Otto Fabricius. 375 
fordi Fabricius kendte hvert eneste Redskab af Selvbrug, har han kunnet 
beskrive dem bedre end andre. 
" For at gore det klart, hvor stor en Værdi Fabricius” ethnografiske 
Arbejder har, skal anføres nogle Udtalelser af Forfattere, som selv har 
beskæftiget sig med Studiet af Eskimoernes Ethnografi, nemlig THAL- 
BITZER, PORSILD og STEENSBY, og derfor har de bedste Forudsætninger 
for at kunne værdsætte dem. 
WILLIAM THALBITZER, Docent ved Universitetet i eskimoisk Sprog 
og Kultur, skriver: »The ethnography of the West Greenlanders as а 
whole is not yet written. The most exact contributions I known are, 
of ancient date, Отто (or Отно) FABrıcıus’ description of the hunting 
weapons of the southern and central West Greenlanders (1810 and 
1818), and from recent years А. KROEBER’s monograph on the northern- 
most West Greenlanders, the Smith Sound Eskimo (1899). In addition 
to these two very different, but excellent monographs... .«. 
Morten P. Ровзио, Leder af den Danske arktiske Station paa 
Disco, skriver: »Later, the clergyman, naturalist and philologist, Отто 
FABRICIUS contributed a series of notes on the material culture of the 
West Greenlanders, which, as regards accuracy and profound under- 
standing, far surpasses the works of his predecessors and of many 
later authors. FAgrıcıus’ abilities were especially suited for this work; 
because, besides his knowledge of natural science and of languages, he 
had, for the accomplishment of his work, the invaluable advantage of 
being himself able to hunt in the Eskimo manner: to manage his kayak, 
and to use the special Eskimo hunting weapons. Therefore, as regards 
this point, no one has been able to distinguish, as he could, between 
what was essential and what was incidental. 
 Fagricius’s works should therefore be the classic for every one 
who studies this subject. That they have, unfortunately, not become 
so is due to several circumstances, and, in particular, to the fact that 
they are written in Danish and that they occur scattered, in the form 
of numerous small treatises, and often even as unimportant supple- 
ments to, or parts of, purely zoological works. They are, moreover, 
very sparingly illustrated, and the drawings are not happy, being faulty 
as regards measurements, etc.?. It is much to be wished that а complete 
edition of all Fasricrus’s ethnological papers could be published in 
1 W. THALBITZER: The Ammasalik Eskimo; Meddelelser om Grønland, Bd. 
XX XIX, 1914, р. 330. 
* That Fasricius’ works were also forgotten in Denmark at an early period 
may be seen from the fact that C. C. Rarn, when writing a report of antiquities 
given to what afterwards the National Museum, based that report on the works 
of Cranz, Parry, and several others without mentioning those of Fasricrus, and 
explains the implements illustrated by him quite incorrectly (Antiquarisk Tids- 
skrift, 1854). 
