56 A SUMMER IN GREENLAND 



tion not previously met with. We were awakened by 

 a tune played in slow time and repeated many times 

 'diminuendo' until further sleep was impossible. 



The scene reproduced in Fig. 24 is in striking 

 contrast to that at the same locality a few days 

 previously when our boat was at the mercy of the 

 gale. Across the Vaigat is the mountainous coast 

 of the Nugssuaq Peninsula: the successive flat 

 summits on the left exhibit the characteristic form 

 of the volcanic rocks which cover the underlying 

 sedimentary strata, distinguished by their yellow 

 or bright red colour, even at a distance of ten 

 miles or more, from the brown lavas above. The 

 motor-boat on the left had just arrived from God- 

 havn, whence it had been sent by Mr Porsild who 

 feared that the 'Clio borealis' (the motor-boat in 

 which we were travelling) had met with a mishap. 

 As we left Godhavn, our friend Ludwig Geisler 

 gave us a salute of two rifle shots; a few hours later 

 we met the two kayakers whom we had sent with 

 a request for help. 



It is the duty of Eskimo women to skin and cut 

 up the seals, and this is performed with wonderful 

 dexterity by the aid of a simple knife with a semi- 

 circular blade attached to a broad wooden handle. 

 It is said that a woman dressed in her best can cut 

 up a seal without receiving a single splash of blood. 



The chief recreation is dancing. I recall one 

 evening at Holsteinsborg on the mainland coast 

 when we danced in the open until midnight to 

 the accompaniment of a concertina played with 

 great skill by a Greenlander. 



