ESKIMO WANDERINGS INTO GREENLAND 



patched together; they were small and always very fragile, for the Eskimos 

 lacked the tools for proper workmanship. On these sledges were trans- 

 ported, during the great camp-breakings, stone pans, lamps, and skin tents, 

 all of which were heavy and unwieldy articles; further, a kayak, if a man 

 possessed one, the spare clothes of the family, and whatever else they 

 illicit own of tools and things which could not be replaced in a hurry. Even 

 if all these articles represented merely the most modest idea of what a 

 household would reckon as its property and worldly possessions, they were 

 nevertheless difficult to transport and demanded proper roads. Those of the 

 children who were too small to walk were strapped like phantastic bundles of 

 skins on top of the loads, and as, during long removals, out of consideration 

 for the food, often only a few dogs were kept, the adults had, as a rule, to 

 assist in the pulling and pushing of the sledges. It is easy to understand that 

 for such a transport a reasonably good condition of the ground would be 

 necessary . 



As a rule the removals took place during the months of April and May ; 

 there was then warm sunshine, and the children, who must always be con- 

 sidered, suffered less from bad weather. During this season, when the seals 

 begin to crawl up on the ice, there were also better prospects for hunting on the 

 way if the game did not yield sufficient daily food. One must remember that 

 no provisions could be brought, apart from a few meals, so that all food for 

 men and dogs must be acquired on the way. During summer and autumn no 

 travelling was undertaken in high Arctic regions like those we are now con- 

 sidering. In the summer no road was to be found, and in the autumn it 

 would be unjustifiable to set out towards unknown districts with winter and 

 darkness before one and no depots to fall back on. These depots, or meat-pits, 

 on which life and welfare depended, must generally be collected during May, 

 June, and July, these being the only months when one can reckon on a sur- 

 plus. If one were in a locality where the summer and autumn catch were 

 favourable, one might also reckon on August and September. With regard to 

 conditions for travelling and hunting along the ntorth coast during the months 

 mentioned, it will be sufficient to refer to the preceding travelling description. 

 The peculiar conditions of ice and snow forbid sealing to the extent which is 

 necessary either for travellers with families, or for a stationary life in camp ; 

 and the ice-free inland tracts are not sufficiently extensive to yield game for 

 wandering, not to mention for wintering, tribes. It must be taken for granted 

 that the musk-ox has gone north of Greenland only in small and casual herds. 

 As we found no winter-houses, tent-rings, fireplaces, or other traces of Eskimos, 

 this negative result is entirely in accordance with the conditions for existence 

 which nature offers. 



This, then, disposes of the theory of a folk-wandering north of Greenland, 

 for it would be unthinkable apart from winter stations by one of the fjords on 

 the north coast. From the tent-rings by Hall's Grave, the most northerly 

 known on Greenland's west coast, to the tent-rings by Independence Fjord, 

 the most northerly known on Greenland's east coast, there is a distance of no 

 less than 1,000 kilometres along the route which an Eskimo family would 

 follow. From the houses in Benton Bay, the most northerly known on Green- 

 land's west coast, to the winter-houses by Sophus Miiller Point on the east 

 coast, there is a distance of about 1,500 kilometres along the sledge track 

 north of Peary Land, or a distance approximately as great as from I'pernivik to 

 Frederikshaab. An Eskimo family would never traverse such a distance in 



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