JULY, 1857. ESQ UIMA UX TENT. 1 7 



Cod-fishing was now in full activity, and the few men not so 

 employed had gone up the fiord to hunt reindeer. 



The solitary dwelling-house belongs of course to the chief 

 trader, and is a model of cleanliness and order; built of wood, 

 it exhibits all the resources of the painter's art ; the exterior 

 is a dull red, the window-frames are white, floors yellow, 

 wooden partitions and low ceilings pale blue. The lady of 

 the house had resided here for about eight years, and ap- 

 peared to us to be, and acknowledged she was, heartily tired 

 of the solitude. She gave me coffee, and some seeds for 

 cultivation at our winter quarters : these were lettuce, 

 spinach, turnips, carraway, and peas, the latter being the 

 common kind used on board ship ; usually they have only 

 produced leaves on this spot, but once the young peas grew 

 large enough for the table. I expressed a wish to see the 

 interior of an Esquimaux tent. Petersen pulled aside the 

 thin membrane of some animal, which hung across a door- 

 way, and served to exclude the wind, but admitted light ; for, 

 although past midnight, there was good daylight. Some 

 seven or eight individuals lay within closely packed upon 

 the ground ; the heads of old and young, males and females, 

 being just visible above the common covering. Going to 

 bed here only means lying down with your clothes on, upon 

 a reindeer skin, wherever you can find room, and pulling 

 another fur-robe over you. 



Fiskernaes appeared to be a sunny little nook, yet all the 

 people we saw there were suffering from colds and coughs, 

 and many deaths had occurred during the spring. The boys 

 brought us handfuls of rough garnets, some of them as large 

 as walnuts, receiving with evident satisfaction biscuits in 

 exchange. 



By next morning we were able to put to sea, and early on 

 the day following arrived off the large settlement of God- 

 haab ; it is in the " Gilbert Sound " of Davis, and appears 



c 



