319 



Thus on the stretch between the Angmagsalik 

 District and ScoresbySund we found about 60 winter 

 houses. The following general description holds good of them 

 all with a few exceptions. 



The houses are rectangular with parallel back and front 

 walls. The front wall is almost always a little shorter than 

 the back wall, which causes the side-walls to converge slightly. 

 All the walls are perpendicular. The passage-way strikes out 

 as a rule from the middle of the front wall, perpendicular or 

 nearly perpendicular to it. The length of the passage-way 

 given above for each house merely indicates that the passage- 

 way must have had at least that length ; but in many of the 

 houses we measured it must undoubtedly have been longer. 



The lie of house is never determined according to the 

 four points of the compass ; the decisive factor for the in- 

 habitants seems always to have been ready access to the sea. 

 The building materials are stone and turf, in a few places only 

 stones; in the latter case, however, the interstices have perhaps 

 been bunged up with moss or snow. 



In the above particulars the construction of the houses is 

 in complete accordance with that employed both at Angmag- 

 salik^) and at Sc ore sb y Sund and to the north of it^). 



But if we consider the dimensions of the houses, we shall 

 find that on the stretch of coast from Angmagsalik to 

 Nordre-Aputitek there are houses of very varying size, 

 ranging from the size employed in the Angmagsalik 

 District to that employed at Scoresby Sund and to the 

 north of it. Out of the fifty houses Ryder found at 

 Scoresby Sund the largest was 2*7 x 3*8 metres, the 

 smallest Г6 x 2*5 metres, being thus houses only intended for 



') Meddelelser om GiMnlaiid. Vol. X. P. 66— G9. 



-') -Meddelelser om Grønland. Vol. XVII. P. 296. — A. G. Nathorst. Två 



•Somrar i Norra Ishat'vet. Senare Delen. P. 342. — Die zweite Deutsche 



Nordpolarfahrt. Vol. I. P. .020. 



21* 



