JUN -4 \%Q 



In the year 1884, Gustav Holm, then First Lieutenant in the Danish 

 Navy, landed in the Angmagsalik district for the purpose Of wintering 

 among an Eskimo tribe, concerning which nothing was known in Europe 

 at that time. The event forms something of an epoch in the history 

 of Danish arctic investigation. The discovery of Angmagsalik opened 

 up a new and important field for research: the tribe in question, living 

 untouched by civilisation, had retained much which the Eskimos of 

 Western Greenland had discarded during the course of close upon 200 

 years of Danish influence, and had, on the other hand, developed in 

 their isolation various peculiarities unknown to their kindred on the west. 



There was much to do, and much was done, that winter in Ang- 

 magsalik : an extensive collection illustrative of native culture was brought 

 home in the following year, and the results of the winter's work were 

 set forth in an exhaustive treatise 1 , cleverly and brightly written, and 

 illustrated with numerous plates, the appearance of which deservedly 

 aroused considerable remark. 



Despite the care and acumen exhibited in gathering together the 

 original collection (now preserved in the National Museum at Copen- 

 hagen) the material nevertheless naturally needed to be augmented here 

 and there. Such supplementary material was also furnished, in consider- 

 able quantity, by С Ryder, who stayed for some time at Angmagsalik 

 in September 1892, on his return from the expedition to Scoresby Sound 2 . 



A further unique addition was made to the collection by G. Ам- 

 drup's Expedition, 1898 — 1900. At Nualik, north of Angmagsalik, 

 Lat. 67°15'5" N.) the travellers came upon a house with furnishings and 

 gear intact, while skeletal remains of the inmates scattered about out- 

 side seemed to suggest that the entire family had perished simultaneously 

 by some mischance, in all probability poison. On coming in to Angmag- 

 salik, Capt. Amdrup showed some of the implements found to natives 



1 G. Holm: Ethnologisk Skizze af Angmagsalikerne. 1887. (Meddelelser om 

 Grønland vol. 10.) 



2 Cf. Meddelelser om Grønland vol. 17, p. 138 ff. 



