So A SUMMER IN GREENLAND 



no audible signs of quarrelling: the Greenlander 

 appreciates peace; his sharpest weapon, as a Dane 

 familiar with the people said to me, is irony. The 

 majority show, in a greater or less degree, signs of 

 admixture of Eskimo and European blood. Many 

 have Mongolian features; some resemble North 

 American Indians, and others might pass for 

 Europeans. A few of the men we met had thick 

 black curly hair in contrast to the usual straight 

 black hair. The natives that are true to type have 

 broad oblong faces with chubby cheeks, high 

 cheek-bones and a pointed crown, flat noses, and 

 small dark eyes. 



The men are taught at an early age the art of 

 hunting seals, walrus, and other animals, and this 

 involves, as the first step towards efficiency in pro- 

 curing the necessaries of life, the mastery of the 

 kayak. A Greenlander is inseparable from his 

 kayak, the long, narrow boat (Fig. 20) which Sir 

 Clements Markham has aptly described as 'the 

 most perfect application of art and ingenuity to the 

 pursuit of necessaries of life within the Arctic 

 Circle.' The kayak and harpoon, says Nansen, 

 'rank as the highest achievement of the Eskimo 

 mind.' A kayak is about 17 ft. long, rather less 

 than 2 ft. broad and with a depth in the middle 

 of about 9 inches. The open wooden framework 

 (Fig. 21) is covered, except in the centre where a 

 circular hole is left to fit the kayaker, with seal- 

 skins that are put on in a raw or wet state, and con- 

 tract on drying. The harpoon-shaft with throwing- 

 stick and a line attached at one end to the barbed 



