34 HUNTERS AND HUNTING IN THE ARCTIC 



news to him. On ascending the bridge, however, 

 he was compelled to agree that there was a house 

 on the island. He nevertheless persisted in 

 his belief that it was unoccupied. Indeed, as 

 the man had now vanished, and I could find 

 no other trace of life on the island, I began to 

 think I had been the victim of an optical 

 illusion. A fresh discovery increased my un- 

 certainty, whilst, at the same time, it caused 

 me delight. In a distant hollow, where a few 

 scanty herbs struggled hard for life, I saw a 

 musk-bull feeding. This time there could be 

 no doubt. At last fortune had favoured me 

 by revealing to my eyes a live musk-bull ! 

 I longed to add it to my trophies. Short-lived 

 indeed was my joy ; the glasses fell from my 

 hands. For here, in this far-off, desolate and 

 uninhabited land, a domestic musk-cow was 

 calmly feeding. Behind it trailed a long rope 

 as it moved leisurely towards the hut. The man 

 I had first seen suddenly reappeared and com- 

 menced hauling up a flag. The irony of it ! 

 The man commenced to lead his cow home, 

 undoubtedly that he might milk it and welcome 

 us with a glass of fresh milk when we disem- 

 barked. Here was a model farm in Greenland ! 

 Try as I would, I could not dissemble my 

 intense disappointment. I vowed I would write 



