132 GREENLAND. 



seal, walrus, bear, &c., vast quantities of codfish, and 

 occasionally dried salmon. 



The Danish settlements and habitations of the Eskimo 

 are situated along the coast from Cape Farewell, the 

 most southern point of Greenland, to lat. 73 N., and at 

 each settlement a governor or chief factor resides with 

 his small staff of Danish officials and workmen. Round 

 them gather a mixed Eskimo population, subsisting by 

 the chase, the results of which they bring to the Danish 

 storehouse, and barter for goods and provisions. 



It was in the middle of July that I first saw the coast 

 of Greenland. The mountains in the neighbourhood 

 of Cape Farewell looked in the distance like the teeth 

 of a jagged saw, peak after peak looming out of the 

 mist, and showing their uneven tops covered with snow, 

 which clothed their slopes down to the sea, or inland 

 to the valleys lying between them and the mountains 

 of the interior. No name seemed to be more inappro- 

 priate than Greenland ; nothing appeared but dark rock 

 and unsullied snow. On landing, however, I found some 

 little vegetation. Greener than other Arctic lands it 

 may be, but to one whose recollections were fresh 

 of the pleasant grassy fields of our own country the 

 name seemed a mockery. 



On a nearer approach to the coast, the low land 

 appears stretching out as islands with interlying pas- 

 sages and sounds, barren and bare enough in appear* 

 ance, but free from snow during the summer. Nearer 

 still, at the distance of a mile or so, there appears a 



