Ш 
of memorizing. In the texts and melodies published here, we find 
an echo from the soul of these people. In them, as in a mirage, 
we see the inherent laws of their own psyche which have de- 
veloped under the conditions of Eskimo society in Greenland. 
All this lay in darkness before me when I began that long year 
on the east coast, facing a winter and summer without any con- 
nection whatsoever with north or south, with the new or the old 
world outside the Arctic Current. Filled with enthusiasm for my 
task I collected a large and curious material whose scientific value 
I at once understood. I had been preparing for the task for several 
years, along the Greenland west coast, and in Copenhagen, Berlin, 
Paris. During my stay in the latter city I met Professor Marcel Mauss 
with whom I often discussed the plan for my expedition and 
who obligingly worked out with me a questionnaire which was 
of valuable assistance, when, a few months later, I pitched my 
tent near Ammassalik. Here, day by day, in intimate talks with 
the natives, I made new notes for my card catalogue on the old 
beliefs and customs of the tribe. I still possess much more material 
systematically noted from the same place which I hope to publish 
before I die. 
In Copenhagen I continued the work begun in Greenland, 
translations and commentaries of the Eskimo texts. However 
this comparative study made me realize the necessity for supple- 
mentary information and a new trip. Therefore, in the summer 
1914, I made my third visit to Greenland. In the southernmost 
districts, near Cape Farewell, I sought out the latest emigrants 
from the east coast, those who still bore Eskimo names from a 
pagan past. On August 28 I had reached the little village Sam- 
1115504, near the east coast, and sat surrounded by relatives and 
former neighbors of my Ammassalik friends, absorbed in digging 
out their traditions, when the direful message of the outbreak of 
war in Europe reached. us through the shout of a passing kaiak- 
man and necessitated our all too hasty return. 
Up to date, as before mentioned, so much of the book is 
ready: Second Part, I—III, corresponding to a half volume; in 
the second half volume, I hope, in a few years, to be able to 
publish everything dealing with beliefs and customs, a complete 
