II 
My field of work with its boundaries well-defined from the 
start proved, however, big enough for a year, for it was soon 
apparent that the tribe possessed a large surplus of old traditions 
beyond those observed by Holm's Expedition in 1883—85, and 
that the dialect deviated far more from that of the west coast 
than had been believed hitherto. In other words, in 1905 there 
was much as yet unknown to European science. 
It was just as little possible for me as it was for G. Holm to 
exhaust the stock of unwritten literature or spiritual productions 
of the people of Ammassalik. This was not on account of the size 
of the population, nor because of their scattered habitations. The 
enormous east coast of Greenland (20 degrees) has now only one 
inhabited district which could be placed on the island of Sjælland 
(Zealand). In 1905, there were not over 470 inhabitants, divided 
among 18 dwelling-places along the Bræ Fjord (Sermilik), the 
Extra-Bræ Fjord (Sermiligaq), the Ammassåt Fjord (Ammattalik) 
the Lake Fjord (Tåseesaq) and the islands outside these (Kulusuk, 
etc.): nearly all these human beings bore pagan names, only 
20—25 of them had been baptised by the missionary. The old 
traditions were still alive, it was merely a question of finding them. 
Nor was I everywhere successful in sounding the deep nor trawling» 
it clean. This I foresaw when I left the place, hundreds of vague 
suggestions in my collected material brought it continually before 
me and I was finally and again made acutely conscious of the 
richness and density of the folk-lore plankton there present when 
Knud Rasmussen, four years ago, made a hasty raid through 
the Ammassalik district to collect the last as yet uninvestigated 
material from that place. Now, anyone by comparing his and my 
collections from Ammassalik — though indeed both are but the 
aftermath from the days of G. Holm — can realise the magnitude 
and wealth of the spiritual life which animated the tribe before 
it became Christianized. 
Happily, at the time of my visit 18 years ago, the inhabitants 
of Ammassalik were pagan and unable to read and write. Happily 
indeed, the art of writing was a novelty among them. The poetry 
and epic literature of their forefathers lived solely along the in- 
visible chords of their mother tongue, — rested solely on the art 
