A LAND OF SUNSHINE 23 



'It is reported,' says the father, 'that the monster 

 called Merman is found in the seas of Greenland 

 ...another prodigy called Mermaid has also been 

 seen there.' In this connexion reference may be 

 made to a description of a Merman quoted by Mr 

 Whymper in an article on his travels in Greenland 

 (Alpine Journal, vol. v, 1870) which, he states, 

 'clearly refers to a kayaker.' An Eskimo in a 

 kayak, his body clothed in skins, might well 

 produce the impression of some strange or mythical 

 apparition. 



Fancy with fact is just one fact the more. 

 The father adds : ' Only a small part of the land 

 thaws out, while all the rest remains under the ice 

 ...all the mountain ranges and all the valleys are 

 covered with ice... the land has beautiful sunshine 

 and is said to have rather a pleasant climate.' The 

 son replied, as many people who have not been to 

 Greenland would also reply, ' it is hard for me to 

 understand how such a land can have a good 

 climate.' 



Greenland in the summer is truly a land of sun- 

 shine, and for many weeks the sunshine is con- 

 tinuous; the temperature in the warm season 

 seldom falls below the freezing-point. The rainfall 

 in the south is relatively high, about six times as 

 much as in the north: in the district where our 

 work lay the average annual rainfall is about nine 

 inches. Theaccompanying chart, simplified from one 

 published in the recent official book on Greenland 1 , 

 gives in a convenient form certain meteorological 

 1 Grfnland (Copenhagen, 1921), vol. i, p. 162. 



