The same authority, p. 155, gives another character, i, with the same meaning as the last. The author says: “It is supposed to be turned on end. It is better to regard the old form with its three descending lines as a picture of water flowing downward.”
k, from Copway (a), represents the character for “land.” It is a turtle, and refers to a common cosmologic myth concerning the recovery of land after the deluge.
G. Holm (a) gives the following account, translated and condensed, descriptive of Fig. 455, a wooden map made by the natives of the east coast of Greenland:
Fig. 455.—Greenland map.
In reference to map making I will only remark that many are inclined to enlarge the scale as they approach the better known places, which in fact is quite natural, as they would not otherwise find room for all details. As a natural result, map drawing in the form of ground plat is something quite new to them. Their mode of representing their land is by carving it on wood. This has the advantage that not only the contour of the land, but also its appearance and rock forms, can in a certain degree be represented.
The block of wood brought back represents the tract between Kangerdluarsikajik, east of Sermiligak, and Sieralik, north of Kangerdlugsuatsiak. The mainland continues from one side of the wooden block to the other, while the islands are located on the accompanying block without regard to the distance between them in reference to the mainland. All places where there are old ruins of houses, and therefore good storage places, are marked on the wood map, which also shows the points where a kayak can be carried over the ground between two fiords when the sea ice blocks the headland outside. This kind of models serves to represent the route the person in question has followed, inasmuch as during his recital he moves the stick, so that the islands are shown in their relative positions. The other wooden map, which was prepared by request, represents the peninsula between Sermiligak and Kangerdluarsikajik.
A and B represent the tract between Kangerdluarsikajik (immediately east of Sermiligak) and Sieralik (slightly north of Kangerdlugsuatsiak). B represents the coast of the mainland, and is continuous from one side of the block to the other, while the outlying islands are represented by the wooden block of A, on which the connecting pieces between the various islands must be imagined as being left out. While the narrator explains the map he moves the stick to and fro, so as to get the islands into the right position in reference to the mainland.
Kunit explained the map to me. The names of the islands on A are: a, Sardlermiut, on the west side of which is the site of an old settlement; b, Nepinerkit (from napavok), having the shape of a pyramid; c, Ananak, having the site of an old settlement on the southwest point. (Note.—Others give the name Ananak to the cape on the mainland directly opposite, calling the island Kajartalik.) d, Aputitek; e, Itivdlersuak; f, Kujutilik; g, Sikivitik.
For B I obtained the following names, beginning at the north, as in the case of the islands: h, Itivdlek, where there are remains of a house; i, Sierak, a small fiord, in which salmon are found; k, Sarkarmiut, where there are remains of a house; l, Kangerdlugsuatsiak, a fiord of such length that a kayak can not even in a whole day row from the mouth to the head of the fiord and back again; m, Erserisek, a little fiord; n, Nutugat, a little fiord with a creek at the bottom; o, Merkeriak, kayak portage from Nutugkat to Erserisek along the bank of the creek, when the heavy ice blocks the headland between the two fiords; p, Ikerasakitek, a bay in which the land ice goes straight out to the sea; q, Kangerajikajik, a cape; r, Kavdlunak, a bay into which runs a creek; s, Apusinek, a long stretch where the land ice passes out into the sea; t, Tatorisik; u, Iliartalik, a fiord with a smaller creek; v, Nuerniakat; x, Kugpat; y, Igdluarsik; z, Sangmilek, a little fiord with a creek; aa, Nutugkat; bb, Amagat; cc, Kangerdluarsikajik, a smaller fiord; dd, Kernertuarsik.