The Ammassalik Eskimo. 461 
where considered it their duty to collect material, and this applies not 
least to museums in smaller countries which have the good fortune 
through their government to stand in relation with the colonies of their 
own land. As far back as 1887 the Danish ethnographer К. BAHNSON 
trenchantly observed that “the museum which fails to avail itself of 
the present time bars the way to its own development”, And from 
this point of view, he notes the rich material from Greenland in the 
Copenhagen Museum, especially Holm’s collection from East Green- 
land, but criticises sharply, on the other hand, the inadequacy of the 
exhibits intended to represent West Greenland culture in the Museum. 
“From the West Coast, we still lack a collection made with the same 
degree of thoroughness as Horm's. True, there is a considerable amount 
of material from this region in the Museum, but a number of the details 
which make our view of the East Greenlanders’ life so vivid are absent 
in the case of the West Coast, although this part of the country has 
been far longer known to us. Now that Holm has led the way, it can 
scarcely be long before a similar systematic collection is made on the 
West Coast, especially in the northern districts, where the inhabitants 
are nearer now to their former state in this respect than is the case farther 
south. It is a national duty to have Greenland represented in exhaustive 
completeness, since Denmark is the only country having the opportunity of 
collecting there, and Greenland, moreover, is our most remarkable colony’’.” 
At the Meeting of the Landsraad in South Greenland on the 2 Sep- 
tember 1913, the Inspector of South Greenland as Chairman and some 
of the native representatives, on the occasion of the debate which had 
arisen concerning the preservation of culture memorials from Green- 
land, put forward a sharp criticism of the passiveness which the Danish 
National Museum up to that time had exhibited with regard to the 
work in Greenland, and laid down at the same time the plan for the 
Greenland Museum at Godthaab, which it has now been decided to 
erect?, And finally, in 1916, a circular was issued by the Danish State, 
1 К. Bannson, Etnographiske Musæer i Udlandet (in Aarböger for nordisk 
Oldkyndighed, 1887, p. 179). 
2 Cf. ibid. pp. 196—197. 
3 Beretninger og Kundgorelser vedrørende Styrelsen af Grønland No. 2, 
1914 p. 194—195. — The Chairman of the South Greenland Landsraad 
stated under discussion of point 11 of the proceedings as follows: He 
wished to draw attention to the fact that the question only of late years 
had become one of present moment, as it had been found that both 
foreign visitors and Danish residents in Greenland systematically and 
without any consideration caused old graves to be plundered and their 
contents scattered abroad. He was keenly interested in the plan for 
preserving the old memorials of former culture, but he considered it 
unreasonable that grave finds should be handed over to the National 
Museum, and was surprised at the sudden interest now exhibited by the 
Museum, which had never before attached any importance to the ques- 
tion. Instead of entering into communication with the Danish residents, 
the Museum had remained passive, and had thus permitted the greater 
