IN JULIANESHAAB. 241 



Towards morning it fell somewhat lower. I accom- 

 panied Captain Bang in a walk to the Harefjeld, where 

 he wished to survey the condition of the ice. The sea 

 seemed quiet, but broad stripes of ice lay before us, and 

 above and below the Islands Akkia and Storo, the straits 

 were full. That did not look like soon getting away ! 

 In the evening I was invited alone to the house of the 

 governor of the colony. There I met the pastor and 

 the doctor. If my host thought that I should reveal 

 myself as a thorough Austrian, he had an opportunity 

 of undeceiving himself. 



The walk to the lake near Julianeshaab is as pleasant 

 as it is instructive. Huge cliffs, from which a foaming 

 torrent after a short course falls into the sea, hem it 

 in towards the colony. In the background rise pictu- 

 resque rocks, reflecting their bald high tops in the clear 

 quiet waters. On the banks lie soft moss cushions, in 

 which the feet sink up to the ankles. The majestic peace 

 of the far north lies over the landscape, and particularly 

 over the sea. How utterly different is the character of 

 our own Alpine scenery. We are strongly reminded of 

 that hidden sea basin, which no one seeks, and which 

 touches the feet of the glaciers. 



The Storefjeld, too, a high mountain of 1200 feet, the 

 highest anywhere near the colony, was climbed. To the 

 dome-shaped top we made our way over cliffs and through 

 ravines ; it was climbing the Alps in miniature ; one could 

 once more use ones limbs properly, if only the abomin- 

 able Greenland summer plague, the gnats, had not been 

 there. These small tormentors followed us at every 

 step ; no beating about helped one, and no tobacco 

 smoke ; they swarmed in the valley as on the heights, 



R 



