Ethnological Sketch of the Angmagsahk Eskimo. 



9 



umiaks, which was in such a sorry state that it was no longer fit 

 for use and was not worth repairing, and accordingly had been 

 discarded and taken to pieces. The wood-work was covered with 

 large sods, upon which in turn the skin covering of the discarded 

 umiak had been laid. The interior length of the house was 28 

 feet, the breadth 11 feet, and the height 54i feet. It was divided 

 into three rooms, the two outer ones serving as living-rooms; one 

 of them was occupied by Knutsen , Johan our interpreter and 

 myself, the other by Hanserak, Samuel, and our six women rowers. 

 Along the back wall there was in each of these rooms a platform 

 made of stone and turf and covered with skin. It did duty as a 

 sleeping-place. Each of the living rooms was provided with a 



Fig. 2. The house of the Expedition at Tasiusarsik kitdlek. (Knutsen del.) 



window, and the walls were hung with skins. The floors were 

 strewed with gravel, upon which in our room bottom-boards from 

 the umiaks were laid. Doors there were none; but before the 

 openings into the centre room, canvas curtains were hung. 



From the centre room, which was used as a provision chamber 

 and store room, a long, low, narrow passage-way led out into the 

 open. Like the rest of the house, it was constructed of turf and 

 stones, and it was made long and narrow in order to prevent the 

 cold from penetrating. We were obliged to have the greater part 

 of the work completed before frost set in. But as soon as the 

 roof was finished, we started on the 13th September off afresh 

 on our journey of exploration. 



The goal of our journey was the most northerly inhabited 

 place, namely Sermiligak. The weather was very stormy and rainy, 

 but the ice laid no serious obstacles in our path. 



From a high mountain top on an Island on the east side of 

 the Sermiligak Fjord the country was occupied in the name of the 



