THE TRIP TO HOLSTEIHBORG. 205 



Eskimos relaxed their vigilance, and, crowding close to 

 each other for warmth, sang weird native songs. Cold and 

 fatigued from our cramped position, we dozed as best we 

 could. Morning was dawning as we entered the harbor of 

 Kangarmuit, or Old Sukkertoppen, amid a grand chorus of 

 howls from a colony of dogs, which gave to the slumbering 

 village the first intimation of the presence of strangers. 



For several days the wind blew strongly from the south- 

 west and the sea and sky were threatening. If the condition 

 of the elements was at times unfavorable to our plans, it had 

 the redeeming feature of adding to the picturesqueness and 

 impressiveness of the scenery along the coast. We were once 

 encamped on a little island, named by us " Windy Cove,'* 

 for thirty-six hours, during which the gale, which had been 

 steadily gaining in violence since our first night, finally 

 ended. Not until midnight of the fourth day was the water 

 smooth enough for a boat like ours to venture out. So we 

 made a midnight breakfast, broke up our camp, and at two 

 o'clock in the morning embarked for a run of twenty-two 

 hours to Holsteinborg. 



The air was cold and piercing after the storm. If we suf- 

 fered some discomforts in consequence, we were richly com- 

 pensated for it by the magnificence of the scenery. The 

 heavy black clouds remained, though the wind had mod- 

 erated, giving a wild and unnatural look to the rugged coast. 

 North and south, as far as the eye could reach, lay a grand 

 chain of mountain ranges. In distant spots one could see 

 the great white masses of the inland ice, which cast its glare 

 into the sky with intense brightness. Between them and the 

 sea, still spotted with foamy whitecaps, rose a great barrier 

 of mountains split into a hundred ragged peaks. Some pro- 

 jected into the heavens for several thousand feet ; some 

 seemed like ruined castles built on impregnable heights, and 

 many ended at the very water's edge in steep precipices that 



