Tin: DAXis/i AncTic sr.\T/nx at coDriAVN 



583 



Of these s|ii'iiii:'-\\;iUM'i't!. liotlicMiso- 

 like jiloti', llcrr l'oi-siltl lias iiuule reser- 

 vations wlici-c the iiiuisiial life forms 

 ami liixuriaiit vegetation may be pre- 

 serxeil. and their hahitats remain iin- 

 changed. He has ])oste(l conspicuous 

 signs, with notices in Eskimo, defining 

 the limits of liis reservations; since he 

 Iniiiis ami llshcs almost not at all, he 

 felt justilied in explaining to the Es- 

 kimo that because he did not disturb 

 their eider duck, or seals, or salmon, 

 they ought to leave to him his plants 

 and hugs. The Eskimos were amused 

 and pleased at his way of putting it, 

 and liave respected his reservations most 

 scrupulously. 



Godhavn lies on a splendid little har- 

 bor quite sheltered from icebergs and 

 the fierce southwest storms that sweep 

 the coast. It nestles at the foot of 

 frowning basalt and sandstone cliffs 

 more than two thousand feet high, cut 

 by two deep gorges near the village. 

 Down one of these gorges flows the Eed 

 Eiver, up the valley of which sledging 

 to the interior and across to Disco Fjord 

 is rather easy after the first autumn 

 snowfall. East of the village several 

 seams of lignitic coal outcrop not far 

 from the shore line, and afford an 

 abundance of first-rate fuel. Not far 

 east of the village, too, is the basalt 

 exposure from which telluric iron is ob- 

 tained; it was this telluric iron that 

 Nordenskjold considered meteoritic, 

 and which led him to declare that if 

 the pieces he obtained were part of the 

 countr}^ rock, then the whole island was 

 a meteorite. 



The Danish station at Godhavn is not 

 large but it is very well planned and 

 constructed, and very Avell furnished 

 and equipped, not only as a scientific 

 laboratory but also as a home for the 

 director and his family, and for the 

 men who w^ork with him there from 

 time to time. It is a frame building 

 about twenty meters long and fifteen or 

 more wide, two stories high. It in- 

 cludes the residence of Herr Porsild, 



several guest rooms, a large laboratory, 

 an equally large library and herbarium, 

 a good dark room, and a small observa- 

 tory. 



The laboratory is well equipped with 

 chemicals ; physical instruments such as 

 balances, thermometers, and barome- 

 ters; surveying instruments; cameras 



Just beyond tlie boundary of tlie map at the 

 north is the northern limit of the Danish province 

 of North Greenhmd and the beRinniug of Melville 

 Bay. The scenery of the west Greenland coast is 

 comparable with that of Norway ; in fact, no other 

 known land of such size as Greenland has so many 

 bold precipices, deep fjords, and valleys along iti 

 coasts. Often mountain peaks from six f.liousand 

 to seven thousand feet high stand less than two 

 miles back from tlie sea. At Jakobshavn is one of 

 the most active glaciers in the world, with an aver- 

 age velocity of fifty feet a day, discharging great 

 quantities of icebergs into Disco Bay (tlie glaciers 

 of the Alps average from one to three feet a day). 



A Danish government boat makes one trip each 

 summer between Copenhagen and Holstensborg, 

 and attempts to go on to Godhavn, and later to 

 Upernivik if good luck attend it. Communication 

 with Melville Bay and regions farther north is 

 only by special dog sledge from Upernivik, and if 

 weather conditions are bad, often all the way from 

 Holstensborg 



