102 



A SUMMER VOYAGE TO THE ARCTIC 



The following day we landed at Godhavn, the ca})ital of tlie 

 Danish inspectorate of North Greenland, and were cordially re- 

 ceived by the government officials. The interior of the island of 

 Disko, on which Godhavn is situated, is an elevated plateau 

 averaging three or four thousand feet in height and covered with 

 an ice-ca]). The passage through the remarkable channel east 

 of Disko, called the Vaigat, was a continual |)anorama of fine 

 scenery. High mountains rose directly from the water on either 

 side, with glaciers coming down between them and glimpses of 

 the interior ice-cap presenting themselves at intervals. The 

 Vaigat itself was so filled with enormous bergs that the shiji had 

 to wind its course among them. Entering Umanak fiord on the 

 night of August 4, a most beautiful Arctic midnight scene was 

 spread out before us. The sun dipped only about two degrees 

 below the horizon at midnight, so that after about an hour of 

 glowing sunset there was bright sunshine again, raying along 

 the northern border of the fiord were the highest mountains in 

 this part of Greenland, sharp, cragged peaks of over 6,000 feet. 

 To the eastward were groups of mountainous islands, and be- 

 tween them could be seen the smooth, white swell of the great 

 interior ice- cap of Greenland. To the south were the mountains, 

 glaciers, and green foothills of Nugsuak peninsula, and to the 



A SETTLEMENT ON UMANAK FIORD 



