high and 20 cm thick. If there is only a thin layer of snow it is necessary to cut them so that their greatest dimension is horizontal; but it is both easier and quicker — and therefore always preferred — to cut them vertical. The Eskimo holds the knife with both hands and works with long, firm strokes, striking several times for each cut so that it becomes rather wide. When the blocks are cut vertically and they are not cut out of a slope, it is not so easy to bring the first one up whole. After its outline has been cut down to a suitable depth it can be loosened at the base by treading very lightly on it at the top. The succeeding blocks are easier to get out, when one can stand in the cavity left by the first block. These blocks are cut loose at the sides and base, but at the back only half way down, after which they are loosened by one or two well-directed stabs downwards along the back. If one tried to cut right down at the back the block might easily break.
The snow knife [pana] was originally made of antler or bone; these are still in use among the isolated tribes around the magnetic North Pole, but disappeared long ago among the Caribou Eskimos and their neighbours on the northeast, the Aivilingmiut. If water was applied to the edge of a bone knife of this kind, a very sharp edge of ice could be formed. Snow knives from the Barren Grounds are mentioned by Boas and Hanbury, and the former describes specimens from the Qaernermiut and the Hauneqtôrmiut[1]. The Caribou Eskimos have two types of snow knives, of which one is mostly used in the north, among the Qaernermiut, and is identical with the Aivilik and Iglulik snow knife, whereas the latter extends to the south and is especially to be found among the Pâdlimiut. Among the snow knives described by Boas there are, however, two of the southern type from the Qaernermiut.
The typical Qaernermiut snow knife has a long, narrow and slightly curved steel blade fixed in a long wooden handle, which at the butt end terminates in a unilateral "beak" on the same side as the edge. The Eskimos purchase ordinary butcher's knives and haft them themselves. They are always very cautious with their purchases of knives and carefully test the flexibility of the steel, see that the blade is straight, etc., as this is very essential for snow cutting. The Pâdlimiut snow knife has a shorter and heavier, two-edged blade which is thickest along the median line and in which at the rear end there is a notch on each side. This type, copied in ivory, is known from Labrador.[2] It is an old type which the Hudson's Bay Com-
