380 



The smell of the rotten flesh was soon very unpleasant, but 

 one quickly became accustomed to it. Laughter and cheer- 

 fulness prevailed. 



After the feast was over, Knud Rasmussen was successful 

 in persuading Masaitsiak and Ajorsalik to sing. They placed 

 themselves inside the densely packed tent, opposite one another 

 on the floor in front of the opening, and began their preparations. 

 But these took up some time , as they were both obviously 

 nervous. Like European virtuosi they complained that there 

 were various things which prevented their doing themselves 

 justice. It was too light and there were too few people, said 

 Masaitsiak. According to European taste there were already 

 far too many in the small space; but the Eskimos like best of 

 all to pack themselves so close together on the platform and 

 the floor in front, that one can hardly move. 



At last Masaitsiak began to sing, beating the drum at the 

 same time: ". . . iah-iah-iah-ah-iah-ah-aha . . .", all still without 

 a word, and now and then the whole company joined in with 

 some tones as chorus. He kept his eyes closed the whole time, 

 and Ajorsalik later did the same thing. The expression of the 

 face gradually altered to the mood of the song , and the face 

 appeared to be turned more and more upwards. At the same 

 time he began to dance. This means , that the soles of the 

 feet remained firmly planted at the same spot, but the knees 

 bent and the body swung and turned on the hips. The different 

 movements were neither strong nor violent, and they were com- 

 bined, with constant changing of the manner, almost like the 

 few tones of the song. The drum was used at the same time, 

 being held in the left hand and ieaten with more and more 

 force. So long as Masaitsiak sang and danced, he gave himself 

 up to it entirely and his whole body and all his movements 

 expressed the feeling of the song and dance. Ajorsalik stood 

 the whole time in front of him with a small stick ca. 15 cm 

 long in the hand. At the moment when Masaitsiak was about 



