366 Prof. Nordenshidld — Expedition to Greenland. 



yacht, whence lie was to sail through the Waigat up to Upemi- 

 vik, and who had offered us a place on board as far as our routes 

 were the same — we had agreed with several Kayak men from Ikamiut 

 and the surrounding districts, that they on an appointed day were to 

 meet at the place of our tent at Tessiursarsoak. Our intention was to 

 have the whale-boat dragged over the low neck of land which at Sar- 

 piursak separates the innermost part of the north arm of Auleitsiviks- 

 fjord from Disko BajJ-, and thus entirely to avoid the long circuit round 

 Kangaitsiak. At the apppointed time we saw a whole flotilla of 

 these small, elegant, and light vessels approaching our tent. We 

 immediately started, and, as soon as the necessary dram of welcome 

 had been distributed to the canoe-men, rowed over to the other side, 

 where Dr. Oberg, with the crew of the zoological boat and a number 

 of other men, awaited us. We were now a numerous body of men, 

 but Greenlanders are neither strong men nor inclined to unusual 

 exertions. We were accordingly obliged to let our people row the 

 whale-boat all the way round, while we ourselves, with our effects, 

 passed directly over to Sarpiursak, where two other whale-boats lay 

 at our disposal. 



According to Dr. Eink, the interior of the fjord we had just left 

 had never before been visited by Europeans, and even natives only 

 visit it in summer to hunt and fish, usually in an " umiak," which is 

 carried over the neck of land. It is seldom that they row from the 

 mouth to the end of the fjord. They are afraid of the violent currents 

 which the tide water produces in the long narrow estuary, and 

 which, as the Greenlanders several times, with horror painted on 

 their countenances, informed us, when we wished to take advantage 

 of the favourable but violent current to get on faster, had once 

 swallowed up two " umiaks," with all the men, women, and 

 children on board. There must now, however, be but very little to 

 be got by hunting there ; at least, during the whole of our 

 journey we saw no reindeer. But there are persons still living who 

 remember the time when thousands of reindeer were killed in these 

 parts for the sake of the skins only. This abundance of game 

 enticed a few families to settle there also during winter, and one 

 meets in several places traces of old hoixses. The shores of the fjord 

 are occupied. by gneiss hills separated from each other by valleys, in 

 which grass and lichen grow plentifully, thus affording copious 

 pasture for such reindeer as may occasionally stray thither. This is 

 an event which has now become rare, but many maintain that the 

 good times may return, for that, according to their account, the rein- 

 deer make periodical migrations, sometimes appearing at a particular 

 place in vast numbers, and then suddenly disappearing, and there 

 are many persons who connect this account with that of an inland 

 tract free from ice, or even with the story of wild inhabitants with 

 European features in the interior of the country. To us the 

 visit to this fjord was interesting, partly because we hoped thus to 

 become acquainted with the true, unmixed Greenlander scarcely in 

 contact with civilization, and partly for botanical reasons. We 

 hoped in fact here, far from the moist fogs of the ocean, to find a 



