DISKO ISLAND 9 



land. On July 4 we availed ourselves of an invita- 

 tion from the Inspector for North Greenland (Mr 

 Lindow) to accompany him and Mrs Lindow in 

 his motor-boat to Godhavn, on the south coast of 

 Disko Island, which we reached in six hours. In 

 crossing the bay we were often enveloped in a 

 dense fog; as it gradually rolled away, retreating 

 like a high wall of uniform height, the sun lit up 

 emerging icebergs; in front of us were the flat- 

 topped basaltic mountains of Disko resting on 

 rounded hummocks of the older gneiss a remnant 

 of the ancient continent which had existed for 

 countless ages before the overlying strata were 

 poured as molten lava over its weather-worn sur- 

 face. 



Godhavn has about 150 inhabitants; the Settle- 

 ment, which was a favourite place of call for British 

 whalers, and is described by many Arctic explorers, 

 has no resident doctor. If medical aid is required 

 on any part of Disko Island in the summer a 

 message is sent by a Greenlander in his kayak to 

 the doctor at Egedesminde; in the winter the 

 journey is made on a dog-sledge. We took up our 

 quarters at the Danish Arctic Station (Frontispiece 

 and Fig. 9), which was to be our base. The Station 

 is situated about a mile from the harbour. 



The primary object of our expedition was to 

 collect fossil and living plants and other natural 

 history specimens. The localities visited for scien- 

 tific purposes are included within the square bracket 

 on the side of the larger map (Map A), from 

 Upernivik Island to the south coast of Disko 



