184 



THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA. 



scraped from the sides of a friendly rock, over which are 

 mounded stones of various sizes to keep the body from wild 

 beasts, and serve as a monument. In examining illustration 

 No. 3 the reader will observe that the graves are simply 



stone mounds. We found in 

 all of the old graves only skulls, 

 securing five in good condition 

 in one mound, and no other 

 bones. A fine collection was 

 gathered, but it went down 

 with the Miranda. 



There are exceptions to the 

 average mound, as may be 

 noted by illustra- 

 tion 4. The Danes, 

 who are in control 

 of all the Greenland 

 coast below Melville 

 Bay, have a wooden 

 enclosure surround- 

 ing their graves, the 

 wood being brought 

 from Denmark; and 

 [wooden crosses 

 mark the graves of 

 the more favored or 

 better portion of the 

 Eskimos. All the other graves, filled with the poor, 

 simple children of the frozen north, have no other monu- 

 ment than a heap of stones, which in a later day is 

 overturned by some explorer in search of human frames 

 in the interest of science. This brief article cannot give 

 the reader my thoughts fully as I contemplated this God's 

 acre. Here are the bones of human beings, some of 



No. 5. LUTHERAN CHURCH. 



