86 A SUMMER IN GREENLAND 



harmony of colour. Fig. 3 8 shows a small portion 

 of the view seen from the beach of Upernivik 

 Island. The local catechist, a bespectacled Eskimo, 

 who was my companion during a morning scramble 

 over the rocks to a neighbouring glacier, appeared 

 to be suffering from tuberculosis, a disease that is 

 alarmingly prevalent in the country. After our 

 evening meal on the motor-boat we decided to pay 

 a visit to the catechist's house and took with us a 

 supply of coffee berries from which an unusually 

 tall and powerfully-built Eskimo woman prepared 

 the very strong black coffee with a slightly burnt 

 flavour which the natives love. There were only 

 four cups: after the European guests had been 

 supplied these were passed round in turn among 

 two other groups of four. The room was small and 

 without ventilation; callers dropped in one by one 

 until the place was crowded with men and women, 

 most of whom were smoking pipes, and small 

 children. The walls were decorated with coloured 

 pictures and post-cards, a mixture of pages from 

 Danish comic papers and coloured prints of sacred 

 subjects. 



One of the houses of the Settlement was without 

 a roof and appeared to be in ruins. Though to a 

 less extent than formerly it is still a common 

 practice in some districts for the Greenlanders in 

 summer to lead a more wandering life, or to 

 establish themselves in a good hunting locality, 

 travelling in umyaks, and sleeping in tents made 

 of skins of the bearded seal thrown over a cunningly 

 arranged framework of poles and oars. On their 



