52 W. THALBITZER 
Fig. 7. Kooilse, 
prominent singer and bear hunter, rower and seal hunter. Has 
on his breast three scars from wounds caused by a bear’s claws. 
A band of beads on his hair, amulet bands on his arms. 
i (W. T. phot.) 
How very 
differently the 
national form 
of song in East 
Greenland strik- 
es one by com- 
parison with 
that from the 
opposite side of 
the land! At. 
Ammassalik the 
European music 
was quite in- 
comprehensible 
to the natives. 
They could only 
think of it as 
comic, when 
they heard one 
of the trained 
voices of our 
opera singers in 
the phonograph. 
Nor could they 
take pleasure in 
the West Green- 
land dance mel- 
odies, which I 
played for them 
several times 
on my violin, 
curious to see 
what effect they 
would make on 
them. I do not 
mean with this 
that I consider 
them unmusical 
On the contrary, 
the fact was 
rather that every second or every third among them was able to sing 
in their national manner, and a surprising number of them were 
even in the possession of a large stock of the traditional songs. 
