GREENLAND AND THE GREENLANDERS. 309 



Robert Brown regard it as essentially the same as that of the 

 north European highlands and lacustrine regions. Even on the 

 west coast, facing America, this- European physiognomy is said to 

 prevail, although to a less degree than on the opposite side, which 

 appears to be much poorer in vegetable forms. But, though lim- 

 ited, the American element is important, supplying to the natives 

 numerous edible berries, alga?, and fuci, which have saved whole 

 tribes from starvation during periods of scarcity. The Europeans 

 have also their little garden-plots, where they grow lettuce, cab- 

 bage, turnips, and occasionally potatoes about the size of school- 

 boys' marbles. 



The great bulk of the present population consists of Danes, 

 Danish half-breeds, and the Eskimo proper, more or less modified 

 by crossings with the early Norse settlers. Nearly all the inhabit- 

 ants, already Christianized and civilized by the missionaries, are 

 grouped in parishes, whose organization differs from correspond- 

 ing European communities only in those conditions that are im- 

 posed by the climate and the struggle for existence. There still 

 survive, however, a few tribes of pure Eskimo stock, such as those 

 recently discovered by European explorers beyond the Danish ter- 

 ritory north of Melville Bay and on the east coast. Others also may 

 perhaps exist along the shores of unvisited or inaccessible fiords. 

 But the most northern camping-ground hitherto discovered is 

 that of Ita (Etah), situated in Port Foulke on Smith Sound, in 78° 

 18' north latitude. In 1875 and again in 1881 it was found aban- 

 doned ; but it is known to have been previously inhabited, and the 

 natives had returned to the place in 1882 and 1883.* When vis- 

 ited by Hall and his party, this little group of twenty persons, who 

 had never seen any other human beings, fancied that the strangers 

 were ghosts, the souls of their forefathers descending from the 

 moon or rising from the depths of the abyss. In their eyes the 

 ships of John Ross were great birds, with huge, flapping wings. 



Among the Greenland Eskimo are most frequently found men of 

 average and even high stature, especially on the east coast. Most 

 of those on the west side are short, but thick-set and robust, with 

 short legs, small hands, and a yellowish- white complexion. The 

 face is broad and flat, the nose very small, the eyes brown and 

 slightly oblique like the Chinese ; the hair black, lank, and falling 

 over the forehead ; the expression mild, suggesting that of the seal, 

 the animal which is ever in their thoughts, and whose death is their 

 life. They have also the seal's gait and carriage, as well as a 

 rounded figure well lined with fat to protect it from the cold. 

 What essentially distinguishes the Eskimo from the Mongolian, 

 with whom he was till recently affiliated, is the extremely " doli- 



* Greely, Three Years of Arctic Service. 



