IN JULIANESHAAB. 233 



boys, who now appeared from under the fur covering, 

 it dawned upon me that we had better sleep somewhere 

 else. So after waking Sorn's family, we went into the 

 next building, where Sorn's father, Paul Egede, lived 

 with his wife and his youngest son, who was also married. 

 Paul Egede was a feeble, grey-headed old man, in whom 

 the flame of life barely seemed to flicker. His brown wife, 

 nevertheless, seemed to have a good quantity of Green- 

 land blood in her veins ; she was younger than he, and 

 quite active. Paul Egede was luxuriously clad in a shirt. 

 Madame found this superfluous while sleeping. Awakened 

 from slumber, she at first seemed to think of putting on 

 such an article of clothing; soon, however, she relin- 

 quished the idea, and stared at us vacantly. 



Old Paul spoke Danish. We greeted him, and went 

 back to the boats with his sons, which we finally hauled 

 on land. We met, too, with some preparations for our 

 stay. 



Sorn's dwelling was, according to Greenlandish ideas, 

 very roomy, and betrayed the certain well-to-do position 

 of the owner. Gold-framed looking-glasses and large 

 lithographs of English origin decorated the walls, even a 

 "Dutch " clock was not wanting. The greater part of the 

 room was taken up by the one common bedstead. Sorn 

 himself was a robust young man with the typical Danish 

 face, tolerably clean ; his wife Annie, a blonde, had once 

 been a pretty girl, but now that she had been married a 

 little while, she seemed to us somewhat faded, and not 

 free from the vice of uncleanness peculiar to all Greenland 

 women. I say purposely women, for though I do not 

 mean to assert that the Greenland girls are so thoroughly 

 clean that they wash themselves at least once a day, and 



