90 A SUMMER IN GREENLAND 



having put on the official uniform, including a 

 cocked hat, he pinned the badge of knighthood 

 on the breast of the Danish Factor and presented 

 medals to a few of the senior natives. This ceremony 

 would have been performed by the King of Denmark 

 had not the disaster to the S.S. 'Bele' interfered 

 with his plans. Immediately after the presentation 

 the Inspector took snapshots of his audience; the 

 King's representative became an interested photo- 

 grapher. Coffee and cigars were handed round to 

 the men and women of the Settlement and at the 

 conclusion of the more public ceremony the Danish 

 officials and their English guests toasted the 

 recipients of the royal honours in official wine. 



The scarcity of good harbours on the coast of 

 the Nugssuaq Peninsula and the sudden storms 

 are serious drawbacks to travellers who trust solely 

 to a motor-boat and have not a supply of petrol 

 sufficient to enable them to return to a place which 

 they have been compelled, unexpectedly, to leave 

 through stress of weather. The proximity of ice- 

 bergs on an exposed coast is also a source of 

 danger; frequently during the night blocks of ice 

 and small icebergs bumped against the sides of 

 the boat and had to be dealt with promptly. 



One of the best known localities in Greenland for 

 fossil plants is Atanikerdluk (Map 5, Atk.), an 

 uninhabited part of the coast separated by a wide 

 stretch of sandy beach from a peninsula that juts out 

 into the Vaigat. It was here that we had our greatest 

 disappointment in the course of a four-weeks 

 expedition. On the evening of the second day the 



