28 DO REINDEER CROSS THE GLACIER? Chap. II. 



South Greenland have failed, yet, by studying its character 

 and attending to this remark, I think places might be found 

 where an attempt would succeed. Mr. Petersen tells me 

 that the Esquimaux of Upernivik are unable to account for 

 occasional disappearances and reappearances of immense 

 herds of reindeer, except by assuming that they migrate at 

 intervals to feeding-grounds beyond the glacier, the surface 

 of which he also says is smooth enough in many places 

 even for dog-sledges to travel upon. As there is much 

 uninhabited land both to the northward and southward of 

 Upernivik, I do not see the necessity for this supposition. 

 The habits of the Esquimaux confine them almost exclu- 

 sively to the islands and sea-coasts. 



