GREENLAND BY THE POLAR SEA 



lay below the ice-foot, and the water had already begun to find 

 outlets in the fissures which were being formed off the coast. 



By Cape Bennett we found a tumbledown beacon, where 

 another letter from Lockwood had been deposited . A short greet- 

 ing to other coastal travellers had been scribbled, probably during 

 a coffee-halt ; otherwise the note contained nothing remarkable. 



After twelve hours of a dead-march through heavy snow 

 with water beneath, we reached Cape Neumeyer, having 

 covered a distance of 30 kilometres. 



Once more fog and rain forced us to lie over, and in order 

 to suffer as little as possible from the bad state of the ground, 

 we covered our skis and the over-runners of our sledges with 

 sealskin, which slips easily across the wet snow. 



BY THE FLESH-POTS 



June 27th. — The Eskimos say that at the bottom of the 

 ocean lives an old hag who rules over all aquatic animals. The 

 history of her life is involved and circumstantial. Originally 

 she was married to a storm-bird in human likeness, but on a 

 voyage, when the travellers were on the point of being wrecked 

 and were of the opinion that her husband was the cause of the 

 storm, she was thrown overboard. As she tried to cling to the 

 gunwale of the boat, her hands were chopped off, whereafter 

 she sank to the bottom. At the bottom of the sea she developed 

 peculiar and great qualities, which made her the ruler of all 

 aquatic creatures. She got a small house where she lived ac- 

 cording to human customs, happily and in abundance. But her 

 handless stumps of arms made it impossible for her to comb her 

 hair or to free herself from vermin. The wise men among the 

 humans had to assist her in this work by spirit journeys to the 

 bottom of the sea. In her gratitude she sent huge shoals of 

 animals to the sealing-grounds, so that the camp which had sent 

 its necromancer down to her grew rich. She was given the 

 name of " The Great Flesh-pot." 



Although none of us were in the possession of qualities which 

 permit one to make a spirit journey down to the source of all 

 abundance, Ajako was of the opinion that somehow the woman 

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