Page:Life with the Esquimaux - 1864 - Volume 1.djvu/63

42 Holsteinborg District begins at North Strömsfiord, and extends for about ninety-two English miles. Its breadth eastward from the sea is also about ninety-two miles. There are four fiords in the district, and the mountains upon it are high, though not so lofty as farther north. The only European who has penetrated far to the eastward through this district is Kielsen, in 1830. He found the land not so mountainous as toward the sea.

The harbour of Holsteinborg is good, and well landlocked. The spring tides are about 12 feet.

The buildings have, as I was told, the best appearance of any in Greenland. They may be thus enumerated:

The governor's house; priest's house; the church; the lieutenant governor's house; the dance-house; school-house; brewing house; the blacksmith's; two warehouses; one cooperage; one "try" house for oil; thirteen Esquimaux houses, Danish built; three turf houses for Esquimaux, and one dead-house, where deceased persons are placed for six days before burial. Graves are dug, even in winter, for burying. Thus the total number of buildings in Holsteinborg amounts to 29.

The population is as follows:

The inhabitants in Holsteinborg District proper number 197; in Kemortusük, 103; in Omanausük, 97; in Sarfangoak, 158; in Itiblik, 108—making a total of 663 souls.

In the town of Holsteinborg there are only ten Europeans, but throughout all Greenland in 1855 they numbered 250. At that date it was estimated there were 9,644 Esquimaux, three-fourths of whom were of Danish blood and the rest pure.

In the Holsteinborg District there are three small schooners, five small boats, and eleven whale-boats. In 1859, which was considered a bad year, only one whale was captured, though sometimes ten and twelve have been caught in a single season. Of reindeer 300 were secured; of seal-blubber, 5,000 lbs.; liver of sharks, 2,000 lbs.; blue fox-skins, 100; white foxskins, 150; eider-down, before cleansing,