14 NEW LAND. 



We announced our arrival by a salute of ten shots, a ceremony 

 that was received with immense appreciation by the native popu- 

 lation. Egedesminde answered by saluting from some guns on 

 the beach, and simultaneously the Danish flag was run up at the 

 Superintendent's house. From behind a little island darted one 

 kayak after another, and there were soon five or six of them 

 splashing round the ' Fram.' 



A Greenlander, when in his kayak, becomes a sort of aquatic 

 animal ; the water is his natural element, and packed into his 

 light canoe, he weathers seas that would be fatal in any ordinary 

 boat and even ventures far out to sea. In it he attacks seals and 

 walrus, and generally comes off the conqueror, except when his 

 prey manages to capsize the boat, when he is hopelessly lost ; 

 though this is a thing which seldom happens. 



As soon as we had cast anchor in the harbour, Baumann and I 

 rowed ashore to call on the Superintendent. We were received on 

 the quay by quite a crowd of beaming, laughing Eskimo, of both 

 sexes, dressed in their best, to do honour to the KaUunaks 

 (Europeans). The women had piled their raven locks in high 

 topknots, twisted round by a coloured braid, and round their necks 

 were their pretty multi-coloured bead necklaces. On their bodies 

 they wore an anorak or blouse of textile material, and trousers 

 made from the mottled skin of the common seal (Phoca vitulina) 

 the most expensive seal-skin in Greenland and trimmed with 

 fantastic embroideries. As foot-gear they wore kamiks, which 

 were also made of seal-skin, trimmed with fur round the tops, 

 and with strips of skin, dyed red, yellow, and dark blue. 



As we rowed ashore, we became painfully aware, at some 

 distance off, of a train-oil factory which was situated on a little 

 island close to the settlement. The odour could hardly be called 

 fragrant, but one gets used to everything in this world. The Super- 

 intendent's house was situated in the midst of the closest group 

 of houses, and not far from it was the school, a gabled building, 

 which was also used as a mortuary chapel and a ball-room. It 

 had never occurred to anybody to feel shocked at this extraordinary 

 rotation of utility ; the one condition was inevitable, and, as for 

 the other, poor humanity must have its amusements. A little 



