208 THE GEEMAN AECTIO EXPEDITION. 



whom curiosity had allured from their huts. The features 

 of the young girls and women are, according to our 

 esthetic opinions, far below the level of the agreeable, and 

 the bodily mien is more repulsive than attractive. The 

 dress of the Greenland women differs little from that of the 

 men. They wear boots covered with gaudy leather em- 

 broidery, which reach to the knee ; short drawers of seal- 

 skin, which without straps are hung around the hips, 

 fitting closely to the body; and the coat-of-mail shaped 

 " Natzek," pointed before and behind, which proceeds 

 from the fur round the body. The narrow drawers compel 

 them to walk with bent knees and body bent forward, 

 shuffling one foot before the other, giving them some- 

 what the appearance of apes. If this in itself is not nice, 

 imagine a pair of old crones, with all the burden and de- 

 formity of old age ; and added to that, broad, wrinkled 

 faces, with noses smeared thickly with snufF, and bleared 

 eyes, surrounded with disordered fluttering grey hair ! 

 I made as large a detour as possible, to avoid the 

 crowd, in advancing to meet the approaching mis- 

 sionary, Mr. Spindler, and his kind wife, who welcomed 

 us heartily, and expressed their pleasure in receiving such 

 an unexpected visit from countrymen. Mr. Spindler, a 

 very intelligent and learned man, who gave us much 

 information on Greenland affairs, is in the prime of life, 

 and seems not yet to be quite acclimatized. Mrs. 

 Spindler, a lively talkative woman, provided for us as 

 well as she could. The mission-house shelters three 

 missionaries and their families. Only Mr. Spindler was 

 at home, his two colleagues having gone to fetch wood 

 from the Lichtenau Fjord: whilst the northern lying 

 coast, namely the neighbourhood of Lichtenfels, receives 



