SYNOPSIS OF PROCEEDINGS. 36 1 



without getting out of the boat and without getting a drop of water 

 into it. The language of the Eskimos is most pecuHar and difficult 

 for a stranger to master. It is composed almost entirely of nouns and 

 verbs, and by suffixes and affixes to these the other parts of speech are 

 added. It is possible to express a long sentence with a single word. 

 The investigations of Rink have shown that all the Eskimos from 

 eastern Siberia to eastern Greenland have words in common, proving 

 the common origin of the race. 



From Umanak several trips were made in small boats to the great 

 glaciers at the head of the Fiord. The largest of these is the Karajak. 

 The face of this glacier, from which the bergs break off into salt water, 

 has a width of about four miles, a height above the water of over 250 

 feet, and in the center moves with a velocity of from 20 to 35 feet per 

 day. A single iceberg breaking off from this glacier has been esti- 

 mated to contain 24,000,000 cubic yards of ice. The breaking off 

 of a berg is always a most interesting sight because of the great noise 

 and commotion caused. The surface of a glacier near its front is a 

 mass of jagged pinnacles with deep crevasses between. Further up 

 the surface becomes smoother, and finally, back on the distant horizon, 

 can be seen the smooth, white plain of the great ice-cap which covers 

 Greenland. A climb to the summit of a 3,000-foot mountain near its 

 edge gave a grand view of the inland ice and the glacial work along 

 its border. That this ice sheet was once more extensive than it is 

 now is proved by the rounded outlines and glacial scratches found 

 even to the summit of the coast mountains. On the other hand the 

 climate of Greenland must, at one time, have been very much warmer. 

 In the vicinity of Umanak Fiord coal deposits and the fossils of semi- 

 tropical trees are found. Notwithstanding the nearness of the ice-cap 

 the present climate in Greenland is much milder than that on the oppo- 

 site side of Davis Strait. In the fiords the summer is moderate and 

 pleasant. Wherever there is soil there is an abundance of wild flow- 

 ers and grasses, but no trees. A curious meteorological fact is that the 

 Fohn wind which blows directly off the ice-cap, alwavs brings the 

 warmest weather, said to be due to its sudden descent from the ele- 

 vated interior. 



The " Hope " called for us at Umanak on September 9. Our home- 

 ward journey followed much the same course we had come over. We 

 encountered the only storm of the voyage in crossing Davis Strait. 

 Off Cape Mercy the " Hope" was caught in a heavy ice pack in 

 which she was held for three days. Finally the ice loosened and the 

 ship reached open water in Cumberland Sound. Two days were 

 spent in the vicinity of Blacklead Island, a Scotch whaling station 

 with a large Eskimo settlement. From here we brought to America an 

 English missionary and the agent of an American whaling station, 

 the latter bringing with him over a ton of bone taken from a single 

 whale. The return from Cumberland sound was without incident save 

 some beautiful auroral displays at night, and we landed at Sydney on 

 September 26. 



