GREENLAND BY THE POLAR SEA 



one journey, but must have several intermediary stations with good hunting 

 on the way. Further, the hunters must, in order to carry on from day to 

 day, travel under the impression that the hunting along the route they follow 

 will be increasingly better the further they go. Our expedition, which con- 

 sisted only of selected men equipped with the very best of gear and weapons 

 of our time, barely escaped from this coast, so poor in game, this despite the 

 fact that we visited it in the most favourable season when hunting should be 

 at its best. 



Certain writers support their defence of a folk-wandering north of Green- 

 land by pointing out that the climatic conditions in these regions were once 

 different, and that at that time a heat wave passed over the north of Greenland 

 with a milder climate, which gave quite different conditions of existence than 

 the present. If we assume that this period coincides with the post-glacial heat 

 wave known in Scandinavia — and there are many indications of this proba- 

 bility — the period of the milder climate would then be some 6,000 years ago; 

 but the Eskimo wanderings probably took place 1,000 or 1,200 years ago, so 

 that this heat wave cannot have influenced the migrations here mentioned ; 

 when they took place conditions must have resembled those of the present 

 time. 



In addition to the obstacles on the road and the conditions of the ice, which 

 hinder the movements of the aquatic animals, there are also other natural 

 phenomena peculiar to the north coast which must be taken into consideration. 

 The great fjords, St. George Fjord, Sherard Osborne Fjord, Victoria Fjord, 

 Nordenskjold Fjord, I. P. Koch Fjord, and the other greater and smaller 

 incisions right up to de Long Fjord, are all filled with floating inland-ice ; and 

 through this no seal is able to work a breathing-hole. 



Another circumstance which, though of less importance compared with 

 those already mentioned, nevertheless made an impression on our Eskimo 

 members, is the uncommonly poor material for houses which is to be 

 found ; the coast consisted mostly of loose, slaty, and easily crumbling sand- 

 stone, unsuitable for the building of stone nouses. An Eskimo would scarcely 

 settle down here voluntarily. The opinion which has occasionally been voiced 

 to the effect that the Eskimos, during their visit to the north coast, contented 

 themselves with only snow-huts during the winter, is improbable, and betrays 

 a complete ignorance of natural conditions in Greenland, and of Eskimo 

 habits. Apparently one forgets that not in all seasons of the year, not even in 

 all places, is it possible to build snow-houses. During autumn and the first 

 part of winter, in September, October, November, eventually also in 

 December, one only occasionally finds snow drifted together to such a con- 

 sistency that it would be possible to cut out of it blocks for building material. 

 And during these months no hunter would let his wife and his children lie 

 freezing in a skin tent. The season of the snow-houses only comes when the first 

 hunting excursion begins, with the return of the light period. 



The lines of the Eskimo migration from the north to the east coast were 

 previously drawn through Peary Channel, through which one could penetrate 

 from Nordenskjold Fjord into Independence Fjord without leaving the coast, 

 conveniently hunting game on both shores. As we have now succeeded in 

 proving that instead of sea one meets here with a belt of ice of considerable 

 breadth, this short cut also is eliminated. Remains then only the inland-ice, 

 . in as far as it can be traversed behind Peary Land's north coast from Nor- 

 denskjold to Independence Fjord. But the conditions for an ascent are very 



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