110 G. Holm. 



68°^) lat. N., and northwards from it the ice-fjord of Kangerdlug- 

 suak runs inland. 



On the other side of the ice-fjord the coast falls away towards the 

 East. Only a few of the natives have been to the northernmost 

 Aputitek and no living person has ever passed the vast ice-fjord of 

 Kangerdlugsuak. 



Ten years before our arrival some of the natives travelled 

 north in the beginning of summer, after the sun had reached its 

 highest point. When they came to the northernmost part of Kiali- 

 nek, they remained there to hunt narwhals at Nualik and Aputitek; 

 but they returned the very same summer to overwinter at Ang- 

 magsalik. 



If we except the ice-fjord of Ikersuak, there are places for 

 overwintering on all the fjords as far as southern Aputitek, while 

 on the northerly stretch of country people overwinter on the islands 

 of Patuterajiiii and northern Aputitek. The people who once lived 

 on the coast in question lived more by narwhal and bear hunting 

 than by seal hunting, 'for narwhals and bears could be hunted 

 the whole year round'. The most common kind of seal was the 

 Greenland seal, which were found in large numbers. In former 

 times people frequently travelled from the Angmagsalik district to 

 Kialinek; but as they suffered from famine for several winters and 

 manv died of starvation, this coast has not been inhabited in recent 

 years. In older times there was always plenty of game both 

 in the Kialinek district and Patuterajuit. There were many people 

 up there in those days, and it is related that the descendants of 

 the people who had travelled thither crossed the vast ice-fjord of 

 Kangerdlugsuak and passed on further north. 



A man who is still alive told me that his father once drove in a 

 sledge from northern Aputitek to the district round Kangerdlugsuak. 

 Here he found a house which had just been deserted by its inmates, 

 who had driven away in sledges. It could be seen from the sledge- 

 tracks that they have gone northwards. They lay down to sleep 

 in the house, but as he was stabbed in the leg with a knife while 

 he was asleep, he returned as fast he could to Aputitek, without 

 seeing anything of the inhabitants. Nothing has ever been heard 

 since of the people up in the north. 



From the northernmost point which has been visited, viz. 

 northern Aputitek, it is possible on a clear day, just to catch a 

 glimpse of the tongue of land on the north side of Kangerdlugsuak, 



') According to Amdrl'p we now know that the latitude is 67°47'8 (Medd. 

 cm Grønland XXVII, p. 270.) 



