KAKSIMIUT. 265 



under the influence of liquor, no longer masters of them- 

 selves. Mofczfeld's wife was no exception to the rule, and 

 even her offspring were in high spirits. They had got pos- 

 session of the emblem of their father's pride and dignity, the 

 cylinder hat, and were quarrelling over it to their hearts' 

 content, as, sitting on the roof of the house, they played 

 with it as prettily as an ape or a cat might. Only two of the 

 whole number of the inhabitants were really sober, Hans, 

 Motzfeld's son, and a young girl named Concordia, who 

 was a praiseworthy exception to the rest of her country- 

 women. In the evening they brought the crane back to 

 the ship. How much, or rather how little, of his liquor 

 Mr. Motzfeld found left on his return, what heavy punish- 

 ment he awarded to the culprits who had drunk it, and 

 with what joy he saw his cylinder hat once more — of all 

 this I was unfortunately not an eyewitness; but the 

 respected reader can, without much trouble, picture it for 

 himself. The next morning brought a thick fog, which, 

 however, cleared at noon, and the wind was fair ; we, 

 therefore, weighed anchor, and bade adieu to Kaksimiut. 

 Above, on the rocks, sat the maidens of the place ; they 

 had soon formed a fervent fiiendship for our people on 

 board, and, as they saw the whole establishment depart- 

 ing, waved a sad farewell to us ; indeed, some of them 

 were wiping their eyes. So rare and entertaining a 

 visit, and of such short duration ! 



In and out among the islands, we now floated north- 

 wards. Soon the steep fall of the giant Serminalik, the 

 most southerly moraine in West Greenland lay before us. 

 A powerful broad belt here forced the inner ice over the 

 berg into the sea. Since we had left East Greenland 

 we had not seen a glacier so near to us. On the east 



