A GREENLAND CEMETERY. 



183 



of Melville Bay are Lutherans, having been Christianized 

 many decades ago by Danish missionaries. I found that they 

 were poor in all things except good nature, and were espe- 

 cially poor as to a suitable ground whereupon to deposit their 

 dead, there being no soil or vegetation in all that section. 

 Our two weeks' stay gave us ample opportunity to visit the 

 natives in their homes, which are simply squalid huts, but no 

 chance to see a funeral. However, I visited the cemetery, 

 and found that as there are no trees there can be no wood, 

 and consequently, no coffins. The only wood is either 

 brought from Copenhagen or caught from the drift. The 



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a ii HI I II Iff: 'ill 



No. 4. WOODEN ENCLOSURES. 



dead, wrapped in sealskin, are simply laid on the surface of 

 the rocks. (Hair seal is the mainstay of the natives : skin 

 for clothes, flesh for food, fat for light and heat. ) The body 

 u then covered to the depth of perhaps ten inches with moss 



