Page:Material Culture of the Iglulik Eskimos.djvu/86
Fig. 42 (Iglulingmiut) is a typical Iglulik sledge (qamutik). The runners (qamutin) consist of whole planks, although the upper edge of one of them is a separate piece nailed on. The length is 3.53 m; height of runners 19 cm, thickness 4–5 cm, distance between them 41 cm. They are shod with whalebone (perraq); the noses of the runners are barely turned up. The cross-bars (naput) are about 70 cm long, 6–18 cm wide; thus they vary considerably, are roughly made, and lashed on to runners with seal-thong. The uprights (napariaq) are formed of a caribou antler with the side branches hewn off: their height above the ground is 78 cm.
To this sledge belongs a draught strap, consisting of a cross-strap which has two loops to go through holes in the runners, where they are held by pieces of antler (tuklerutit), long, pointed at one end. rounded on one side, flat on the other, with a deep. wide groove across the middle in which the loop of the cross-strap rests, whilst a thin cord, tied to the strap, passes over the runner and fastens in a hole in the thick end of the antler toggle; the length of this toggle is about 8 cm. The draughts-strap itself, which runs from the middle of the cross-strap, is 85 cm long and is closed by a buckle of ivory (pardleriaq); this is shown on fig. 43. It measures 8.8 × 5.6 × 3.9 cm, oval in cross-section, pierced longitudinally by a cylindrical hole, through which one end of the strap passes; its loop drops over a stud, carved like the head of a seal, at one end of the buckle. whilst in a similar one at the other side of the cavity there is a hole in which the other end of the strap is fastened. The buckle is decorated with dot-and-circle ornamentation.