GREENLAND BY THE POLAR SEA 



by the wind in the lives of a hunting people whose subsistence 

 depends entirely upon the sea. 



The south-west wind decides the fate of the summer ; for if 

 it blows too frequently Melville Bay and all the north-west 

 coast is filled with pack-ice, which gives rise to raw weather and 

 poor hunting. The only beneficent act performed by this wind 

 is in the autumn, when it not only makes the ice settle early, 

 but also carries a lot of ice-bears on flakes from Baffin Bay in 

 towards the land. 



All camps from Cape York southward range under 

 Nigerdlit. The mainstay in these places is the seal, but first 

 of all it is the many bears in Melville Bay which lure people 

 up here. 



The Cape York district has no real summer ; if now and then 

 one crosses a glacier, winter hunting is possible all through the 

 twelve months of the year. The scarcity of open water is 

 responsible for poor hunting with kayaks and small winter- 

 stores. The little Sea-kings are therefore a boon ; and they 

 are found in millions in the mountains hereabout. For the 

 winter-store they are preserved in a peculiar way. During 

 May and June they are pickled whole, feathers and all, in big, 

 newly-flayed sealskins stripped whole from the seal, so that only 

 a small opening remains near head and back flappers, and this 

 can easily be drawn together. As soon as this skin is filled it is 

 covered securely with stones so that the rays of the sun cannot 

 reach it, as this would give the meat a bitter taste. The birds 

 now slightly decay, and at the same time the blubber from the 

 skin permeates the flesh. This dish, which is looked upon as an 

 extraordinarily delicate morsel, is offered to all guests during 

 winter as the best thing one can give to friends. 



Even if there is some lack of meat here, there are other 

 things which, according to the opinion of the inhabitants of the 

 south-west, make this district preferable. 



There is an abundance of blue fox, so that the people here, 

 besides being able to procure pelts to excess, also have many 

 "sale-foxes " for disposal. Then there are the bear-skins, which 

 give warm trousers and lovely rugs for the bunks, and bring in 

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