OF AN ARCTIC EXPEDITION. 279 



Serniksoak, or great glacier of the interior, confines them to the 



sea-coast. These "Arctic Highlanders" number abont 140 souls, 

 and their existence depends on open pools and lanes of wat< r 

 throughout the winter, which attract animal life. Hence, it is 

 certain that where such conditions exist man may be found. The 

 question whether the unexplored coast of Greenland is inhabited, 

 therefore, depends upon the existence of currents and other con- 

 ditions such as prevail in the northern parr of Baffin's Bay. But 

 this qrxestion is not even now left entirely to conjecture. It is true 

 that the " Arctic Highlanders." told Dr. Kane that they knew of no 

 inhabitants beyond the Humboldt glacier, and this is the furthest 

 point which was indicated by Kalli-hirua (the native lad who was 

 on board the Assistance) on his wonderfully accurate chart. But 

 neither did the Eskimo of Upernivik know anything of natives 

 north of Melville Bay until the first voyage of Sir John Ross. Yet 

 now we know that there either are or have been inhabitants north 

 of the Humboldt glacier, on the extreme verge of the unknown 

 region ; for Morton (Dr. Kane's steward) found the runner of a 

 sledge made of bone lying on the beach on the northern side of it. 

 There is a tradition, too, among the " Arctic Highlanders," that 

 thei-e are herds of musk-oxen far to the north, on an island in an 

 iceless sea. On the eastern side of Greenland there are similar in- 

 dications. In 1823, Captain Clavering found twelve natives at Cape 

 Borlase Warren in 76 D x. ; but when Captain Koldewey Avintered in 

 the same neighbourhood in 1869 none were to be found, though 

 there were abundant traces of them and ample means of subsistence. 

 As the Melville Bay glaciers form an impassable barrier, preventing 

 the " Arctic Highlanders " from Avandering southwards on the west 

 side; so the ice-bound coa-t on the east side, between Scoresby's 

 discoveries and the Danebrog Isles, would prevent the people seen 

 by Clavering from taking a southern course. The alternative is 

 that, as they were gone at the time of Koldewey's visit, they must 

 have gone north. 



These considerations lead to the conclusion that there are or 

 have been inhabitants in the unexplored region to the north of 

 the known parts of Greenland. If this be the case, the study of all 

 the characteristics of a people who have lived for generations in a 

 state of complete isolation, woul 1 be an investigation of the highest 

 scientific interest. 



Light may not improbably be thrown upon the mysterious 

 wanderings of these northern tribes, traces of which are found in 

 every hay and on every cape in the cheerless Parry group; and 

 these wanderings may be found to be the most distant waves of 



