332 



fjord', at about 68° lat. N., 31° 35' long.W. (opposite to Iceland). 

 The barrenness of the stretch of coast, which extends 300 miles 

 to the north of this district, between Kangerdlugsuak and Cape 

 Brewster (at the entrance to Scoresby Sund), is illustrated by 

 the fact that only 3 former Eskimo settlements with about 20 

 houses were discovered here; while further to the north, in the 

 vast fjords of Scoresby Sund and Franz Josephs Fjord and north- 

 wards to Shannon Island, which lies 300 miles to the north of 

 Cape Brewster, 25 settlements with over 100 houses are known 

 through the discoveries of earlier expeditions; so that it would 

 seem that the population was in former times larger to the 

 north, where the coast of Greenland (about half-way up it) 

 curves round in a due northerly direction than South of Cape 

 Brewster, where it falls away in a NE/SW direction. 



As regards the distribution of the former population south 

 of Cape Brewster, I must refer the reader to the tables given 

 by G. Holm and Amdrup in "Meddelelser om Grønland" vol. X, 

 183—200, and XXVIII, 296 (this volume); as for Scoresby Sund, 

 detailed information will be found in Ryder's paper (Medd. om 

 Grønl. Vol. XVII, 286). In the table that follows (pag. 333) I have 

 put together the facts which i have been able to glean, on the 

 basis of the reports of previous expeditions, with regard to the 

 distribution of the population north of Cape Brewster. 



Geographically, as well as from the point of view of its 

 contents, the Amdrup collection falls into two parts. One part 

 consists of objects found north of the Kangerdlugsuak fjord; 

 the population is considered to have become extinct only a few 

 generations back. The second part consists of objects excavated 

 within the Ammassalik district itself, and for the most part 

 belonging to the same culture which we know from the present 

 inhabitants of this district. 



The commander of the Expedition, G. Amdrup, lieutenant 

 (now captain) in the navy, conducted in person the excavations of 

 the house-ruins, graves, and rubbish heaps in which the objects 



