3 i2 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



possesses at least one original work, the account of the voyages 

 of Hans Hendrik, companion of Kane, Hall, Hayes, and Nares. 



Formerly, the right of property was restricted to objects of 

 personal use, such as clothes and weapons ; the hunting-grounds 

 belonged to the whole community, and the produce of the chase 

 or fisheries was equally distributed among all. The rights of 

 communal property were also regulated and safeguarded by gen- 

 eral assemblies followed by public banquets. But the Europeans 

 have changed all that by introducing the principle of sale and 

 purchase, by enlarging to their own profit the rights of personal 

 ownership, and proclaiming the new gospel of "every man for 

 himself." The result is a general impoverishment and moral 

 degradation of the people. They are no longer like the Eskimo 

 visited by Graah on the east coast — " the gentlest, the most upright 

 and virtuous of men." Nevertheless, the language possesses not 

 a single abusive term, and it is impossible to swear in Eskimo. 



The part of Greenland where Eric the Red built his strong- 

 hold, and where the banished Norsemen flocked around him, is 

 still one of the least deserted regions, as it also is the most fertile 

 and temperate. Julianahaab, capital of this district, contains one 

 fourth of the entire population of the country grouped on the 

 banks of a small stream in a grassy valley near a deep fiord, 

 which is unfortunately not easily accessible to shipping. 



Upernivik (Upernavik) and Tasiusak, lying still farther north 

 in 73° 24' north latitude, are the last European settlements in 

 Greenland, gloomy abodes lost amid the snows at the foot of yel- 

 lowish or brick-red rocks. In winter the sun sets for eighty days, 

 yet by a sort of mockery this glacial district bears an Eskimo 

 name meaning " spring." The horrors of war were extended to 

 this extremity of the habitable world at the beginning of the 

 present century, when Upernavik was burned by the English 

 whalers, and all communication between Greenland and Den- 

 mark interrupted for the seven years from 1807 to 1814. 



The Siamese Government is taking great pains to encourage the speedy develop- 

 ment of the enormous potential resources of the country, and has sagaciously done 

 much in that direction. Telegraphs have been established ; schools, hospitals, and 

 other public buildings have been erected, and are increasing every day. A tramway 

 company, supported mainly by Siamese capital, is running street cars in the me- 

 tropolis. A river flotilla company, wholly Siamese, carries the passenger traffic of 

 the stream on which Bangkok is built ; important gold-mining operations have 

 been begun by a company, in which a majority of the subscribers are Siamese ; 

 and a trunk line of railway is under contract. A large and lucrative export 

 trade in cattle has sprung up ; and mills, docks, and fleets of German and Eng- 

 lish ships, all doing a flourishing business, attest the prevalence of a spirit of 

 enterprise. 



