NORTH POLE OF THE WINDS 



per to a bottle partly closes the entrance to the 

 great Sondre Stromfjord and is known as the 

 Simiutak (Eskimo for "stopper"). This moun- 

 tain and the glaciers which appeared on the other 

 side of the fjord showed clearly that we were 

 about twenty miles up the fjord from the mouth. 



We might have been in much worse plight. We 

 had with us tents and sleeping bags, cooking uten- 

 sils and a fair quantity of food. There was a brook 

 less than two hundred feet away, and there were 

 probably fish in the fjord, and perhaps hares up 

 over the cliff on the plateau. About 50 miles down 

 the coast was, we knew, a little Eskimo fishing set- 

 tlement called Kangamiut, and there was pretty 

 sure to be a Danish official and a motor-sloop there. 



Along the coast were skerries or rocky islets 

 which act as breakwaters to keep off the seas, and 

 the skipper with one of the crew now volunteered 

 to go in the twelve-foot dinghy carrying a note 

 from me to the Danish manager. I therefore pre- 

 pared a note describing our situation and offering 

 compensation to come in and take us out. As the 

 wind was high and high waves were rolling in we 

 felt somewhat concerned lest our boat party might 

 not win through to the settlement. The sun, 

 however, now came out and we spread our wet 

 clothing on the rocks to dry. 



292 



