One of the many interesting tasks that were allotted the 

 «Carlsbergfondets Expedition til Øst-Grønland» ^) commanded 

 by С Amdrup and carried out in the years 1898 — 1900, was 

 that of completing our knowledge of the Eskimo habitation of 

 the East coast of Greenland, and, if possible, gathering 

 ethnological information and making ethnographical collections. 



Our knowledge of the Eskimo habitation of the East coast 

 of Greenland is of comparatively recent date. It is true 

 there are allusions in some of the Eskimo tales which might 

 seem to indicate that some of the old Northeners came down 

 to the coast by chance , but no reliable information as to the 

 Eskimo can be obtained through this channel. 



The various ship expeditions which were despatched right 

 from the year 1579 (James Allday) down to 1787 (Egede 

 and Rothe) did not add one jot to our knowledge of the East 

 coast of Greenland, inasmuch as none of them reached the coast. 



On the other hand the Dane, Peder Olsen Walløe, 

 who went on an expedition in the years 1761 — 52, succeeded 

 in making his way in an umiak^) from Godthaab round to 

 the East coast and up along it to 60°56' latitude '^). 



Here Walløe came across Eskimo in several places, and 

 so he is the first to give us any reliable information about 

 the population of the East coast, just as he is the first white 

 man whom we know for certain to have set foot on the East 

 coast of Greenland. 



') Meddelelser om Grenland. Vol. XXVII. 

 -) Eskimo skin boat. 



I Pingel: «iNyere Rejser til Grønland». Grønlands historiske Mindes- 

 mærker. Vol. 3. P. 741-749. 



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