EVENING PAETY ON SHORE. 



59 



Yankee-brewed rye liquors, and good tea. A Danish custom of 

 shaking hands on rising from table followed. We then went out 

 for a walk, and to call on the lieutenant governor. This gentle- 

 man was very kind and urbane in his demeanor. He brought 

 forth numerous specimens of Greenland rocks and of fossil fish — 

 capelin (MaUotus villosus) — called by the Greenlanders " angmar- 

 set," by the Danes "sild," and by the English "capelin." This 

 fish is about six inches long, of a bluish-brown color on the back, 

 and silver-white on the belly. The fossils were found about 100 

 miles up a fiord, the entrance to which is close by here. Though 

 they are of great value, the lieutenant governor most generously 

 presented the whole to me. 



At his house I saw some very good snow-shoes, such as are 

 used in Norway. They are about six feet long by five inches 

 wide, and covered with sealskin. They are made of a flat, thin 

 piece of board, bent up at its fore part. This is the kind of snow- 

 shoe Parry bought at Hammerfest, in Norway, when on his North 

 Pole voyage in 1827. He afterward used them for runners, on 

 which he placed his two boats to be drawn over the ice. 



"We spent the evening in the governor's house, where a pleas- 

 ant party was assembled, among whom were the priest's wife, Mrs. 

 Xjer, and another lady, Feoken Bulou, daughter of the governor of 

 the District of Godhaab. The priest himself was absent on a 

 journey. During conversation I related how M'Clintock had 

 found the paper belonging to Sir John Franklin's Expedition, and 

 deep interest was evinced by all in the subject. The governor 

 read from M'Clintock's work that portion relating to his visit 

 here, and which I have already transcribed. When the part was 

 translated which referred to the priest's wife being " blue with the 

 cold," it caused immense merriment, none enjoying the joke more 

 than the lady herself. The whole scene, indeed, was such as I can 

 not readily forget. The Esquimaux servants, in their costume, 

 were around, M'Clintock's book in the governor's hand, while the 

 chart and fac-simile of the Franklin record lay open before him. 



After tea the ladies commenced knitting some lace, and during 

 the evening Madam Kjer presented me with a mustard-ladle and 

 two salt-shovels, all of ivory walrus tusk, made by an Esquimaux 

 with only a knife! They were of excellent workmanship, and I 

 valued them greatly. I had previously offered the ladies two pin 

 and needle cushions, which they kindly accepted. 



During a conversation with the governor this day he informed 



