112 G. Holm. 



where out to sea, except that a narrow tongue of land forms a 

 nunatak on the northern part of the glacier. One day's journey 

 north of this large glacier lies the northernmost place which has 

 been visited by the Angmagsaliks, namely the island of Northern 

 Apiititek, where the sun never sets in summer, but is seen night and 

 day in its progress round the sky. From Sermiligak there are seven 

 day's journeys to this spot. Going still further north we come at 

 last to the Kangerdlugsuak ice-fjord, 16 miles in breadth, in the inner 

 end of which there is a vast glacier which is perpetually filling the 

 fjord with great ice-bergs. In this fjord there are so many narwhals 

 'that there is a smell of vomiting'. 



Mythic countries. — The legendary land of Akilinek has al- 

 ready been mentioned (p. 84). It is said that if one climbs the 

 mountains on a clear day, the clouds hanging over the mountains 

 at Akilinek can be distinctly seen. When they heard that I had 

 been there, they enquired whether I had seen the one-eyed people 

 that dwelt in those parts, and they also asked us whether we had 

 visited the land to the north, 'where people get bald'. 



Finally they spoke of a land called Tinidarfimiut, which lies just 

 opposite Angmagsalik on the other side of Greenland. There the 

 tides for a long stretch of coast recede very far, forming small 

 lagoons in which seals are left and can then be easily caught. 



Numeral system. — Like the other Eskimo, the Angmagsaliks 

 use the five-system and always count on their fingers. By the aid 

 of their toes, however, they are able to count up to twenty, but 

 they have no words for the higher numbers. Though they are thus 

 unable to conceive a high number, they have a remarkable memory. 

 Thus, for instance, when we asked Utuak how old his son was he 

 reckoned up where he had lived in all the winters and intervening 

 summers that had past since the birth of his son thirteen years ago. 

 When he repeated the enumeration without connecting it with figures, 

 it turned out that he reached the same result. 



Intellectual power. — The Angmagsaliks are very quick-witted. 

 They knew well how to use the things that fell into their possession, 

 as for instance things which were washed up by the sea. I may 

 mention as an instance in point that they used the bolt-sockets on a 

 large brass mounting which was fixed to a boat which had been 

 found crushed in the ice the year before, as ferrules to keep the 

 iron heads of bird-darts in place. They thoroughly understood how 

 to use and economise iron. Small fragments that could not be used 



