28 
SUKKEEXOPPEi\. 
rocky gorge, so narrow and broken that a stairway 
connects the detached groups of huts, and the tide, as 
it rises, converts a part of the groundplot into a tem- 
porary island. 
01 all the Danish settlements on this coast, it struck 
me as the most picturesque. The rugged cliffs seemed 
to blend with the grotesque structures about their base. 
The trim red and white painted frame mansion, which, 
in virtue of its green blinds and flagstaff, asserted the 
APPROACH TO SUKKERTOPPEN. 
gubernatorial dignity at Fiskernaes, was here a lowly, 
dingy compound of tarred roof and heavy gables. The 
dwellings of the natives, the natives themselves, and 
the wild packs of dogs that crowded the beach, were all 
in keeping. It was after twelve at night when we came 
into port; and the peculiar light of the Arctic summer 
at this hour,—which reminds one of the effect of an 
eclipse, so unlike our orthodox twilight,—bathed every 
thing in gray but the northern background—an Alpine 
chain standing out against a blazing crimson sky. 
Sukkertoppen is a principal depot for reindeer-skins; 
