386 FOUR YEARS IN THE WHITE NORTH 



profitable, for the sharks are few and small; but at 

 Proven, the neighboring village to the north, hundreds, 

 even thousands, are caught each year. Generally the 

 liver is the only part used. In times of stress, however, 

 the meat is dried for dog food. As dog food, shark 

 meat is not very desirable, for, unless it be very care- 

 fully dried, the dogs become intoxicated after eating 

 it, and for several hours are too drunk to pull a sledge. 



In addition to hunting seals and catching sharks, I 

 went caribou-hunting with Herr Neilsen, the factor at 

 Proven; twice went to Upernavik to pay my respects 

 to Governor Vinterberg and to visit him and his family 

 and the rest of the Danes there; and whenever I could 

 I went for long drives along the coast. Because the 

 snowfall was unusually heavy I could do no scientific 

 work in my own fields. At the end of May the snow 

 was still nearly ten feet deep in places, and over five 

 feet deep on the level. When I left South Upernavik 

 in mid-July, great drifts and fields of snow lay scattered 

 about the mountains still. 



I learned to like the Eskimos of the little village very 

 much. Their lot is a hard one, yet they are ever cheer- 

 ful, ever happy, and nearly always hopeful. Consump- 

 tion is rampant among them, and I think that over 

 half the deaths are from this dread disease. The 

 Danish doctors are doing their utmost to combat the 

 plague, but with little success, for the conditions and 

 habits of living are conducive in the extreme to the 

 continuance and spread of the disease. The little sod- 

 walled houses, overcrowded, ill- ventilated, usually lighted 

 with only one tiny window, are almost ideal culture- 

 ground for the germ of the disease. Nothing is more 

 pathetic than to see the little diseased children, some 



