PREFACE 



To those readers who are not familiar with the physical con- 

 ditions of the immense mass of land known as Greenland it may 

 be of use to explain that the inhabitants of the larger south half 

 are spoken of as Greenlanders and those to the north of Melville 

 Bay as Polar Eskimos or Arctic Highlanders. The inland- 

 ice forms a barrier between the two, so that communication 

 between them can only be made by ship. 



Never before has the Arctic Highlander been made known 

 to us in such intimate detail and with such true and affectionate 

 understanding of his life and character as Rasmussen here gives 

 us ; he speaks as one of them, who has lived their life and shared 

 their experiences, and to whom, as a people, he has become 

 deeply attached. No wonder then that never before has an 

 explorer been rewarded with such unstinted and devoted service 

 as he receives from them. It is well to make this point clear, 

 which Rasmussen in his narrative so modestly accepts as natural 

 and does not emphasize. Early expeditions in those regions 

 used one or two Eskimos as hunters and dog-drivers, and gained 

 their experience of Arctic life at great cost and with but small 

 results. Peary, in his twenty-four years of patient and deter- 

 mined effort to discover the hidden secrets of the Polar Basin, 

 advanced step by step to the knowledge of the Eskimo's char- 

 acter and the value of his hunting craft and wonderful travelling 

 instinct, but Rasmussen alone has led an important and success- 

 fid expedition equipped and conducted entirely in Eskimo 

 fashion and maintained, in its long and adventurous journey, 

 by Eskimo hunting. It is only such a combination of European 

 leadership and skill, adapted to native craft and conditions, that 

 could have made such an extended exploration possible to him. 

 The interest of the narrative is great, and sustained at a high 

 level by the literary charm of the descriptions and the unaffected 

 light and shade which runs through the whole story. It is the 

 mark of a leader to keep his party in good spirits ; it is the duty 

 of the historian to show upon whom fell the responsibility and 

 the decisions in emergencies. It was right to call it a great 

 adventure, but Rasmussen, in the spirit of the true explorer, 

 says : " The risk one runs on such expeditions (when their lives 

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