164 



THE SEA. 



called to them in their own language to approach. The reply was " No, no ; go away ! " 

 and one man said, "Go away; I can kill you!" holding up a knife. The interpreter, 

 however, threw them an English knife, which they accepted, and pulled their noses, which 

 Ross represents to mean a sign of friendship. They soon became more familiar, and 

 pointing to the ships, asked, " What great creatures these are. Do they come from the sun 

 or the moon? Do they give us light by day or by night?" To which Saccheous 

 replied, " They are houses made of wood/' The natives would not believe this, answering, 



FISKEEN'JES, SOUTH GREENLAND. 



"No, they are alive; we have seen them move their wings." Ross entitles these 

 natives the " Arctic Highlanders." There is a good deal of rather doubtful matter in 

 the narrative of Ross, and it is certainly more than likely that these people had often 

 seen whale-ships. 



Not far from Cape Dudley Digges Ross observed some of the cliffs covered with 

 the crimson snow often mentioned in other Arctic narratives, and indeed noted by 

 Saussure in the Alps. "This snow," he says, "was penetrated even down to the rock, 

 in many places to a depth of ten or twelve feet, by colouring matter/'' Some of this 

 having been bottled, was analysed on their return by Mr. Brande, the celebrated chemist, 

 who, detecting uric acid, pronounced it to be no other than the excrement of birds. 



