706 W. Thalbitzer 



brothers escaped, the name of the older one was Kaissape (or Kasape 0])^). In 

 their flight they were pursued by Oongortoq, who was the fastest of the Norse- 

 men; he succeeded in overtaking Kaissape's brother, whom he killed by cutting 

 ofl his arm with an axe, afterwards holding it up in the air, so that his fleeing 

 brother might see it. According to D^ Kaissape fled out of the fjord, turned 

 southwards to the large island Akia on the southern side of which his father- 

 in-law's house lay near Kancjermiutsiah (on the chart called Kangarmiutsialc); 

 but according to C^ the fleeing Eskimo took the route northwards over to Nars- 

 saq in the neighbouring fjord. From both sources we hear, that the Eskimo 

 plotted revenge by stratagem. Kaissape (D^) is said to have made a boat out 

 of an enormous piece of drift-timber and fitted it up with so many white skins, 

 that it was quite covered with these and thus resembled a large ice-hummock, 

 if seen from the land. He practised with this strange craft near a small island 

 Pingiviarneq (on the chart called Pinguiarneh)^) opposite to the house of his 

 father-in-law. Two summers passed ere his preparations were complete. He 

 travelled by boat southwards and northwards, in order to find an assistant of 

 sufficient strength (i. e. without religious flaAvs) and a sufficiently strong charm. 

 When all was ready and the crew trained, they set ofi, a whole fleet of kaiaks, 

 with the wooden boat in tow and approached Qaqortoq. Their stratagem prov- 

 ed successful, they took the Norsemen by surprise, the house (church?) was 

 set on fire and only Oongortoq escaped, carrying his httle son in his arms. 



The correctness of the report of Oongortoq's flight is to a certain extent 

 corroborated by the fact, that the places at which he is said to have lived during 

 this time, are in full agreement with what is known from other quarters about 

 the main settlements of the old Norsemen in the country. The Eskimo and Norse 

 names of these places could not have been in better agreement, if the Eskimo 

 had carried on archæological investigations all the way from Qaqortoq to the 

 south point of the country. They are easily identified on comparing the Eskimo 

 names of the old tale, as they are found still on the modern charts of South Green- 

 land, with the Norse place-names (known only from the old Norse literature, the 

 sagas etc.), as they have been located within quite recent times by Finnur Jonsson 

 on the basis of the archæological investigations made in South Greenland by 

 G. Holm, F. Petersen and D. Bruun^). 



Hvalseyarfjord was the name of the northern arm of Einarsfjord where lay 

 Hvalsey 'the whale island', in the Eskimo language Arpatsiwik^) . On the main- 

 land under a high mountain lies the ruins of the Qaqortoq church and in its neigh- 

 bourhood the remnants of a large farm') . Round about in the district there are 

 ruins of old Icelandic farms, one of which may possibly have been that of Oong- 



^) Probably pronounced with q: Qassape or Qaaisape. 



'^j It must he remembered, that the orthography on the charts is not the phonetic 

 one, whereas the tale is written in the real dialect of this district. 



') The modern charts referred to are these: "Grønlands S3^dligste Del" by G. Holm 

 (1880 — 81) in Medd. om Grønl. VI; "Sydgrønland, Kagsimiut til Julianehaab" by 

 T. V. Garde (1893), ibid. vol. XVI, PI. IX; "Nordbo-Ruiner i Julianehaab's Om- 

 egn" by D. Bruun (1896), ibid. vol. XVI, PI. XIX; -Grænaland, Eystri ByggÖ" by 

 F. .lonsson (1899) ibid. vol. XX, PI. II; "Nordbo Ruiner i Julianehaab's Omegn" 

 by M. Clemmensen (1911) ibid. vol. XLVII. PI. XXV. 



*) There is a possibility that the original meaning of this name is 'the place 

 where whales are captured" and not the one given on p. 705 (footnote), the latter 

 agreeing with the explanation of the present Greenlanders. 



^) G. Holm (1894) p. 97 and PI. XVII (with ground-plan of the group of ruins near 

 Qaqortoq). Somewhat further south near Uperniviarsuk lies another farm, see 

 Frode Petersen П89(;) p. 4U9. 



