206 THE LAST CEL'ISE OF THE MIRANDA. 



extended almost perpendicularly from the base to the top. 

 Between them, the overhanging glaciers dipped into the mas- 

 sive fissures, and deep, beautiful fiords ran for miles back tow- 

 ard the interior. The new-fallen snow completely covered 

 the upper portion of the peaks, its brightness intensified by 

 the dark blue of the mountains below the sharply marked 

 snow-line. As the morning advanced, the sun began to 

 pierce the heavy clouds, making a thousand different lights 

 and shadows, and giving an effect the beauty and grandeur of 

 which were truly inspiring. 



Many times we wished the rest of the party might have 

 witnessed these scenes. We began to realize what might have 

 been our enthusiasm for Greenland and Arctic voyages if 

 fate had not so suddenly brought the expedition to an end. 

 I feel that we were most fortunate to have had the oppor- 

 tunity of viewing so much of the Greenland coast. We also 

 had a chance to compare the natives of the different settle- 

 ments. Kangarmuit did not differ much in character from 

 Sukkertoppen, except that it was smaller and the Eskimos 

 were, on the whole, less prosperous. In Itirdlek, however, one 

 could not fail to notice the contrast. The natives were 

 abjectly poor and dirty, and their houses, as a rule, were far 

 worse than those of the most degraded in Sukkertoppen. 



In Holsteinborg all was different. An air of comparative 

 respectability and prosperity impressed itself upon us at once. 

 A suspicion of cleanliness, both of the houses and inhabitants, 

 was very evident, and after our visits at Kangarmuit and 

 Itirdlek we felt we had reached Greenland's metropolis. The 

 neat and spacious quarters of Governor Miiller and his assis- 

 tant, Herr Koch, and the government buildings for the seal- 

 oil industry, naturally formed the bulk of the settlement. 

 Perhaps our royal reception at the hands of Governor Miiller 

 and his hospitable wife had much to do with our favorable 

 impressions of the place. They certainly showed us every 



