Ethnographical collections from East Greenland. 67 Î 



distant places in late summer to hunt crested seals and to barter (cf. p. 333). 

 The geologist Giesecke was the next European who (in 1806) reached the east 

 coast south of Greenland^). 



■ But a more northern part of the coast which cannot be designated more 

 nearly than as being west of Iceland had probably been visited earlier some 

 few times. These visits became without any consequence for the exploration. 



A report from Iceland dated 1757 informs us that in the previous year 

 the east Greenland coast had been visited by a Dutch whaler named Tonis Ru- 

 landt, though however it has been impossible to find the exact place where he 

 landed^). He is said to have observed immense masses of drift timber at the 

 place where he landed and where he built a stone-cairn 6 feet in height. But 

 he saw no trace of human beings. 



With regard to the question as to the position of the old Eystribygô (Østre- 

 bygd, Eastern settlement) in Greenland nothing since Egger's prize-essay (in 

 1794) has altered the supposition, that the Eystribygô lay on the southern part 

 of the west coast in the Juhanehaab district. The archæological discoveries of 

 churches and farms from the time of the Norsemen have fully confirmed the 

 old hypothesis. It is quite a diiïerent thing that we cannot totally set aside 

 the possibility that some day we may find traces (cairns or even houses) of Ice- 

 landic-European origin on the east coast. Some casual landing, a preliminary 

 settlement might well have taken place without having been carefully noted 

 in the annals of history. Up to the present time only one single Norse ruin 

 has been found on the east coast, namely, near Narssaq in the large Kanger- 

 dlugsuatsiak Fjord (60°30' N. Lat.) only two or three days' journey north of 

 Cape FarveP). Near Ammassalik no such traces of Norse colonization have 

 hitherto been found and the rumours of such discoveries from this place, that 

 have been reported on one or two occasions^), have not been confirmed on closer 

 examination at the place itself. This question has been dealt with partly by 

 myself partly by C. Kruuse in his last paper^). While the latter builds upon 

 his botanical and archæological observations I mostly rely upon the contents 

 of a letter from Johan Petersen with regard to some excavations made by him 

 in the summer of 1912 near Ammassalik. Both Johan Petersen and Kruuse come 

 to the result that there is no trace whatever of a previous Norse colonization. 



With regard to the access to Kangerdlugsuatsiak Fjord from West Green- 

 land, this fjord cuts some 64 kilometers into the east coast and the inner part 

 may easily be reached by land (the inland ice) from the bottom of the fjords 

 Tasermiut and Ilua on the west coast, as the distance between the heads of the 

 fjords of the east and west coast is here only about 20 kilometers. In the Middle 

 Ages the west Greenland fjords mentioned above were inhabited by the Norse 

 descendants of the Icelanders. According to the Greenlanders of to-day the 



1) It has been doubted by Holm if Giesecke as stated by himself like Wallöe has 

 reached and visited Aluk. Holm (1894) p. 151. 



2) The manuscript in the Royal Library (Copenhagen), Ny kgl. Saml. 1295 d, fol.; 

 containing "Beretning om Grønlands Østre Side 1756" by Björn Jonsen, dated 

 Balleraae 1757. Published by О. Irminger in Geografisk Tidsskrift. Vol. 7 (1884). 



^) Nordenskiöld (1883) p. 244. Information originating from the missionary Brod- 

 beck's boating-expedition in 1881 to this fjord. The ruin was later on examined 

 by Holm and Garde, see Medd. om Grönland, IX p. 160. 



*) Latest by M. Clemmensen in Meddelelser om Grønland XLVII (1911) pp. 356—357. 

 But according to Rosing's statement in 1861, the Eastlanders did not know of 

 any ruins of foreign origin on their coast. See this volume p. 341. 



'") C. Kruuse (1912) p. 286. Thalbitzer: Om Nordboruiner i Østgrønland, in "Atlanten" 

 November 1912 (pp. 253—262). 



