184 Tllb] CEPwMAN AKt.TIC EXPI'^DITION. 



potatoes) ; then pancakes and pickled gherkins, witli light 

 white wine. 



In the afternoon, curiosity moved me to pay another 

 visit to the Esquimaux village. All the houses stood 

 empty ; the windows were taken out, the inside was stiff 

 with dirt. The huge dung-heap, which here never fails 

 at any Greenland dwelling, spreads a pestilential odour, 

 and it is not to be wondered at that millions of flies 

 crawl in and around, setting the heaps perfectly in 

 motion. In the absence of men, some goats received us ; 

 and as I seated myself at the other end of the village, 

 to take a sketch of the mission, the horned fourfooted 

 beasts took me for some exotic dainty, and nibbled at 

 me so all over, that I was at last obliged to go away, 

 followed by a herd of them. 



And now it was time for the evening meal — a large 

 dish of milk-soup, and a mountain of excellent egg-cakes. 

 The missionaries have chickens, which in the summer, 

 when the village is deserted, find plenty of nourish- 

 ment. Over this, of course, much was asked and re- 

 lated. Strangely enough, we now learned that, quite 

 unintentionally, we had found the best way from East 

 Greenland. Prince Christian Sound was, according to the 

 missionaries, quite blocked with ice and difficult to cross, 

 being filled up with earth as we thought it was not ; and 

 our Fjord was a discovery. We were also enlightened as 

 to why we had not seen any inhabitants. All Green- 

 landers have a great dread of the men who live high up 

 in the north on the east side, and who, according to their 

 ideas, are cannibals. (See, too, Graah's communications 

 on this head.) This idea may be an echo of the old 

 Norse traditions. Imagine us, therefore, in our three 



