86 A SUMMER IN GREENLAND 
harmony of colour. Fig. 38 shows a small portion 
of the view seen from the beach of Upernivik 
Island. The local catechist, a bespectacled Eskimo, 
who was my companion during a morning scramble 
over the rocks to a neighbouring glacier, appeared 
to be suffering from tuberculosis, a disease that is 
alarmingly prevalent in the country. After our 
evening meal on the motor-boat we decided to pay 
a visit to the catechist’s house and took with us a 
supply of coffee berries from which an unusually 
tall and powerfully-built Eskimo woman prepared 
the very strong black coffee with a slightly burnt 
flavour which the natives love. There were only 
four cups: after the European guests had been 
supplied these were passed round in turn among 
two other groups of four. The room was small and 
without ventilation; callers dropped in one by one 
until the place was crowded with men and women, 
most of whom were smoking pipes, and small 
children. The walls were decorated with colcured 
pictures and post-cards, a mixture of pages from 
Danish comic papers and coloured prints of sacred 
subjects. 
One of the houses of the Settlement was without 
a roof and appeared to be in ruins. Though to a 
less extent than formerly it is still a common 
practice in some districts for the Greenlanders in 
summer to lead a more wandering life, or to 
establish themselves in a good hunting locality, 
travelling in umyaks, and sleeping in tents made 
of skins of the bearded seal thrown over a cunningly 
arranged framework of poles and oars. On their 
