INTRODUCTION 



of the summer the old expedition ship the Danmark called at 

 my station on its way to Etah to fetch the American Crocker- 

 land Expedition, which for several years had wintered there. 

 On board this ship was a Swedish scientist, Dr. Thorild Wulff, 

 whose original field of labour comprised only the districts round 

 Smith Sound and Melville Bay ; but when Dr. Wulff heard that 

 we had postponed our expedition until the following year, he 

 announced himself with great enthusiasm as a fellow-member 

 for the sledge journey in the spring. 



His name as a botanist, and his expert knowledge of the 

 Arctic flora, made it a matter of course that he should be 

 accepted as a member of the proposed expedition to regions 

 which had never been visited by experts. 



The expedition then wintered at my station Thule, being 

 constantly in training by sledge journeys, which reached to 

 Etah in the north and right down to Upernivik in the south. 

 It will merely lead to a repetition of the experience of other 

 expeditions if I describe our excursions during the period whilst 

 we were waiting for the light — that is, from October to 

 February. And as it cannot be presumed that all who may 

 read this book know anything about the Polar Eskimos, I will 

 instead attempt to give a sketch of the people whose ways of 

 finding a subsistence and whose travelling technique was the 

 base on which we built our great journey. 



With occasional breaks I have lived with this people — the 

 Arctic Highlanders — since 1903, and I have learned to love 

 them as highly as I admire their remarkable ability to live the 

 life of these harsh regions. But first it will be appropriate to 

 give an account of my expedition and its plan. 



The scientific equipment of the expedition was very simple — 

 as is necessary for a long sledge journey. It consisted of one 

 theodolite, three aneroid barometers, one cooking barometer, 

 one maximal and two minimal thermometers, various spirit and 

 mercury thermometers, one anemometer, and one hygrometer. 

 Finally, Dr. Wulff brought everything necessary for pressing 

 and preserving plants. 



During the preparations for this journey, the seriousness 

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