IN^TRODUCTION. 



'T'HB mining town of Ivigtut is situated on the south side 

 of Arsuk fjord in South Greenland (lat. 61° 15', long. 

 48° 10'), and about ten miles distant from the open sea. 

 This fjord is about twenty miles long by two in width, and 

 is surrounded by cliffs rising one thousand to two thousand 

 feet above the level of the sea, — one peak, Kunnak, reach- 

 ing forty-four hundred feet. These cliffs are here and there 

 broken by small valleys diversified by thick willow bushes 

 and meadow plots, also by lakelets, and streams that teem 

 with trout. On the uplands, among the hills, are several 

 lakes of varying size ; but there is very little vegetation, 

 while the interior of the country is covered with eternal ice. 

 A glacier extends down into Arsuk fjord and forms its 

 inner terminus. 



It is the fjord itself that at all seasons is the chief theatre 

 of animal life. Polar bears, brought by the big ice, float in 

 occasionally ; whales, even three or four kinds, are frequent 

 visitors ; and seals, which form the principal food-supply of 

 the Eskimos, are abundant. Close to where the ice descends 

 into the fjord and the cliffs are steepest, a large number of 

 Gulls hatch their eggs in summer, while during winter tlie 

 open part of the fjord is visited by large flocks of Eider 

 Ducks and Murres. Other swimmers do not enter so far 



