SHERARD OSBORNE FJORD 



his own. In Thule he found a field of labour which entirely 

 engrossed him. 



" During all his life he had led a nomadic existence — during 

 the Danmark expedition on the east coast, where he had rich 

 opportunities to make himself useful to, and beloved by, all his 

 comrades ; and later on in various positions on such far-stretch- 

 ing coasts as from Cape Farewell, and now to Greenland's 

 northern extremity. 



"The little orphan boy from Rittenbenk was to die not 

 merely as the Greenlander, but altogether as the man who 

 traversed and learned to know the greatest stretch of his 

 Fatherland's coast. 



"Peace had begun to settle over him, and he was just on 

 the point of reaping the fruit of many years of industriousness, 

 to build house and home, and for ever settle down in the camp 

 which he had chosen so far north — then misfortune overtook 

 him and struck him down, here, far from friends and relatives. 



" The Polar Eskimo has a proverb which says that no man 

 will settle down and take up new land for good until death 

 overtakes him and ties his body to a stone mound ; first then 

 is it possible to attach a man to a country. I therefore propose 

 that we hold to this idea, born by the enormous spirit of liberty 

 of primitive man, and to this island, where Hendrik found his 

 grave, give his name. 



'* Hendrik was a Christian man ; we all know how fond he 

 was of singing his hymns when occasionally his mind was sad ; 

 so before we lose sight for ever of the land where he fought 

 the last big fight alone, we will say the Lord's Prayer in his 

 own tongue, as a final farewell from his old comrades." 



o '20'.) 



