Greenland by the Polar Sea
GREENLAND
BY THE POLAR SEA
THE STORY OF THE THULE EXPEDITION
FROM MELVILLE BAY TO CAPE MORRIS JESUP
BY KNUD RASMUSSEN
TRANSLATED FROM THE DANISH BY
ASTA AND ROWLAND KENNEY
WITH PREFACE BY ADMIRAL SIR LEWIS BEAUMONT, G.C.B
WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS IN BLACK AND WHITE,
EIGHT COLOUR PLATES, AND MAPS
LONDON: WILLIAM HEINEMANN
CONTENTS
| PREFACE BY ADMIRAL SIR LEWIS BEAUMONT, G.C.B. | v | ||
| INTRODUCTION | xvii | ||
| CHAPTER I | |||
| FROM THE LIFE AND HISTORY OF THE ESKIMOS | 1 | ||
| CHAPTER II | |||
| THE GREAT SLEDGE JOURNEY TO THE NORTH COAST OF GREENLAND | 33 | ||
| CHAPTER III | |||
| WASHINGTON LAND TO HALL LAND | 61 | ||
| CHAPTER IV | |||
| CAPE SUMNER TO DRAGON POINT | 80 | ||
| CHAPTER V | |||
| SHERARD OSBORNE FJORD TO NORDENSKJÖLD FJORD | 94 | ||
| CHAPTER VI | |||
| THE CAMP BY THE OWL'S NEST | 124 | ||
| CHAPTER VII | |||
| CAPE SALOR TO LOCKWOOD'S BEACON | 137 | ||
| CHAPTER VIII | |||
| DE LONG FJORD TO CAPE SALOR | 152 | ||
| CHAPTER IX | |||
| ACROSS MELTING ICE TO SUMMER VALLEY | 166 | ||
| CHAPTER X | |||
| SHERARD OSBORNE FJORD TO ST. GEORGE FJORD | 182 | ||
| CHAPTER XI | |||
| THE HOMEWARD JOURNEY ACROSS THE INLAND-ICE | 210 | ||
| CHAPTER XII | |||
| SEEKING HELP | 241 | ||
| CHAPTER XIII | |||
| A RACE WITH DEATH | 259 | ||
| CHAPTER XIV | |||
| A RUNIC MEMORIAL | 271 | ||
| CHAPTER XV | |||
| HOME TO THULE | 284 | ||
| APPENDICES | |||
| FLORA AND FAUNA ON THE NORTH COAST OF GREENLAND | 292 | ||
| BASED ON DR. WULFF'S NOTES BY C. H. OSTENFELD | |||
| GEOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS | 301 | ||
| BY LAUGE KOCH | |||
| THE ROUTES OF ESKIMO WANDERINGS INTO GREENLAND | 312 | ||
| INDEX | 321 | ||
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
To face page
| ||
| Trangraven: the Harbour for the whole Merchant Fleet of Greenland | xviii | |
| The Colony: Egedesminde (North Greenland) | xviii | |
| Leaving the Church at Jacobshavn | xix | |
| With the Sledges as Ferries we of Qaersorssuaq cross over to Upernivik Island | xx | |
| Upernivik Island | xx | |
| The Expedition Ship "Danmark" at Thule Harbour | ххі | |
| John Ross' first Meeting with Polar Eskimos | xxiv | |
| The Route | 1 | |
| Eskimos at Ikerasak, Umanaq Fjord | 4 | |
| Tasiussaq: the most Northern Colony in Greenland | 4 | |
| The Devil's Thumb | 5 | |
| The Whalers' Fleet, 1818 | 8 | |
| The Sailing Ships breaking through the Ice at the time of John Ross | 8 | |
| Returning from Walrus Hunting, Thule | 9 | |
| Tobias Gabrielsen | 12 | |
| Simon, the Old Bear-Hunter | 12 | |
| An Old Wanderer from Melville Bay | 12 | |
| Eskimo Boy from Upernivik | 13 | |
| Thule | 13 | |
| Eskimos Drinking Coffee in Old Style | 16 | |
| Qingminegarfik in Inglefield Gulf | 16 | |
| Sabine Island: Melville Bay | 17 | |
| Arnanguaq | 18 | |
| Eskimo returning to Harbour | 18 | |
| Sketches by Qujakitsunguaq | 19 | |
| Harpooning a Walrus from a Kayak | 20 | |
| Eskimos going out on the New Ice to hunt Walrus | 20 | |
| Harpooning Walrus | 20 | |
| Walrus being pulled up by the aid of Primitive Tackle | 20 | |
| Two young Eskimo Mothers with their Children | 21 | |
| Grazing Reindeer | 22 | |
| Musk Cows with Calf | 22 | |
| Swimming Reindeer pursued by Kayaks | 22 | |
| Seal being Harpooned as it comes up to its Breathing-Hole | 23 | |
| Killed Musk-Oxen being Skinned | 23 | |
| Polar Eskimos dressed in Fox Fur Coats | 23 | |
| Polar Eskimos' House | 24 | |
| Asarpaka | 24 | |
| Kagssaluk | 24 | |
| Bearded Seal | 25 | |
| Killed Narwhal | 25 | |
| Walrus breaking the Surface of the Sea | 28 | |
| The Three Brothers | 29 | |
| The Beautiful Isigaitsoq | 30 | |
| Eskimo Boy | 30 | |
| Eskimo Girl | 30 | |
| Inuteq | 31 | |
| Ajorssalik | 31 | |
| Hall's Grave | 31 | |
| Little Incidents from Everyday Life | 32 | |
| Thule Station | 33 | |
| A Jolly Evening at Thule before breaking up for the Journey | 33 | |
| From Thule to Humboldt Glacier | 34 | |
| The "Danmark" in Winter Harbour | 35 | |
| One of the Sledges near Ulugssat | 35 | |
| The Pack-Sledges set out from Neqe | 40 | |
| Young Bear-Hunter | 41 | |
| Two Eskimo Boys of Seventeen Years | 41 | |
| The Meat-Matador Majaq | 50 | |
| Eskimo Smile | 50 | |
| Winter-House before the Snow Falls | 51 | |
| My Own Dogs ready for Starting | 51 | |
| Fine Driving along the Beautiful Frontage of the Mountains of Washington Land | 56 | |
| Nasaitsordluarsuk: the Youngest Member of our Expedition | 57 | |
| The last Immigrant From Baffin Land: Merqusak | 57 | |
| Forward at an even Trot | 60 | |
| The little Bear, surrounded by all the Dogs | 60 | |
| From Humboldt Glacier to Newman Bay | 61 | |
| Cape Constitution | 86 | |
| Page of Peary's Report | 87 | |
| Cape Sumner: Dragon Point | 92 | |
| Markham Plants the Union Jack farthest North | 94 | |
| Lieut. L. A. Beaumont | 94 | |
| Sherard Osborne Fjord | 95 | |
| Beaumont's Report, 1876 | 96 | |
| Beaumont's Report, 1876 | 97 | |
| Beaumont's Map from 1876 | 98 | |
| The Land round Cape May | 99 | |
| The first Three Musk-Oxen | 104 | |
| Inukitsoq's Ten Musk-Oxen | 104 | |
| A Rest off Stephenson Island in the Mouth of Victoria Fjord | 105 | |
| The White Wolves Howl their peculiar melancholy and desolate Lamentation | 112 | |
| The Low Glacier with Lines of Movement | 113 | |
| Digging Ourselves Out after a Snowstorm | 113 | |
| Ajako at Beaumont's Beacon | 116 | |
| Dr. Thorild Wulff, taken at the time we left Etah | 117 | |
| A General Council | 117 | |
| Cape Wohlgemuth | 128 | |
| View towards the Whirlpool in I. P. Koch Fjord | 129 | |
| Lockwood's Report at Cape Mohn | 148 | |
| Lauge Koch | 149 | |
| The Snow begins to get Wet | 149 | |
| De Long Fjord | 152 | |
| Another Report from Lockwood deposited at Cap Bennett | 158 | |
| Towards Cape Ramsay | 159 | |
| The Sledge being Sucked Down by the Water under the Snow | 166 | |
| On the Look-out for Musk-Ox | 166 | |
| Crossing Sherard Osborne Fjord | 167 | |
| Musk-Ox ready to Die | 172 | |
| Breaking up for Musk-Ox Hunting in Macmillan Valley | 173 | |
| "The big Bull made a sudden Sortie, quick as Lightning" | 176 | |
| Through Lakes of Melted Ice | 177 | |
| "The Bull stood there, its phantastic Summer Coat fluttering in the Breeze" | 188 | |
| Dr. Wulff ready to go through the Water | 189 | |
| We Ferry across the Coastal Lane by Dragon Point | 189 | |
| "Patiently, almost shyly, it allowed us to Photograph it at a Distance of Two Metres" | 204 | |
| "They approached us slowly and fearlessly" | 205 | |
| Ascending the Inland-Ice, with a View of St. George Fjord | 210 | |
| We are Stopped by Land with Steep Slopes | 210 | |
| The North Coast of Greenland | 211 | |
| The same District Mapped by the Thule Expedition | 211 | |
| Through the big Ice Lakes near Cape May | 216 | |
| The Rotten Ice in St. George Fjord where Ajako Shot his Seal | 217 | |
| The big River by the Tent-Camp in St. George Fjord | 226 | |
| Against the Snowstorm | 227 | |
| At the Brink of the Abyss, the Devil's Cleft | 236 | |
| The Devil's Cleft | 237 | |
| Map showing where Wulff Died | 254 | |
| Captain George Comer | 255 | |
| The Crockerland Expedition's Hut | 255 | |
| Our Hostess: Ane Sofie from Kangerdlugssuag | 288 | |
| Mission House at Kangerdlugssuag | 288 | |
| Our Dogs | 289 | |
| White-Blossomed Saxifrage in front of a Stone Block | 294 | |
| Types of Grasses | 294 | |
| Various Herbaceous Plants from the North Coast of Greenland | 295 | |
| A many years old Specimen of the Arctic Willow | 296 | |
| Section of the Thickest Stem of Willow which the Expedition Found | 296 | |
| An exceptionally vigorous Shoot of Arctic Willow | 296 | |
| A small Reed | 297 | |
| Yellow-Blossomed Saxifrage | 297 | |
| Herbaceous Plants with Rosulate Radicle Leaves | 298 | |
| White Puff-Balls among Grass and Willow Leaves | 298 | |
| Types of Grasses growing in Moist Places | 299 | |
| Fossilized Ortoceratite from Washington Land | 302 | |
| Trilobite and Brachiopod from Warming Land | 302 | |
| Coral from Washington Land | 302 | |
| Trilobite and Brachiopod from Warming Land | 303 | |
| Coral from Washington Land | 303 | |
| Geologic Map of North-west Greenland | 308 | |
| Tail-Shell of a Trilobite from Washington Land | 309 | |
| Small Chart of Air | 309 | |
| Bird's-Eye View of the great Fjords on the North Coast of Greenland | 312 | |
| Map showing Immigration to Greenland | 313 | |
| Eskimo Hunting Implements | 314 | |
| Eskimo Implements | 315 | |
| Greenlanders from the middle of the Seventeenth Century | 316 | |
| Uphill | 317 | |
| Eskimo Stone Huts in Spring | 317 | |
COLOUR PLATES
BEAR HUNT
Frontispiece
| ||
| ESKIMO GRAVES, SAUNDERS ISLAND | 14 | |
| FLENSING THE NARWHAL | 26 | |
| SNOW HUTS NEAR AN ICE MOUNTAIN | 52 | |
| A SNOWY OWL DEFENDING HIS WIFE'S EGGS AGAINST THE WOLF | 132 | |
| LANDSCAPE IN GREENLAND | 200 | |
| INGLEFIELD LAND | 286 | |
| THE COLONY: HOLSTENBORG (SOUTH GREENLAND) | 306 | |
| MAP | 326 | |