Page:Life with the Esquimaux - 1864 - Volume 1.djvu/72

Rh of Greenland rocks and of fossil fish—capelin (Mallotus villosus)—called by the Greenlanders "angmarset," by the Danes "sild," and by the English "capelin." This fish is about six inches long, of a bluish-brown colour on the back, and silver-white on the belly. The fossils were found about 100 miles up a fiord, the entrance to which is close by here. Though they are of great value, the lieutenant governor most generously presented the whole to me.

At his house I saw some very good snow-shoes, such as are used in Norway. They are about six feet long by five inches wide, and covered with sealskin. They are made of a flat, thin piece of board, bent up at its fore part. This is the kind of snow-shoe Parry bought at Hammerfest, in Norway, when on his North Pole voyage in 1827. He afterwards used them for runners, on which he placed his two boats to be drawn over the ice. We spent the evening in the governor's house, where a pleasant party was assembled, among whom were the priest's wife, Mrs. Kjer, and another lady, Feoken Bülou, daughter of the governor of the district of Goodhaab. The priest himself was absent on a journey. During conversation I related how Clintock found the paper belonging to Sir John Franklin's Expedition, and deep interest was evinced by all in the subject. The governor read from M$c$Clintock's work that portion relating to his visit here, and which I have already transcribed. When the part was translated which referred to the priest's wife being "blue with the cold," it caused immense merriment, none enjoying the joke more than the lady herself. The whole scene, indeed, was such as I cannot readily forget. The Esquimaux servants, in their costume, were around, Clintock's book in the governor's hand, while the chart and fac-simile of the Franklin record lay open before him.

After tea the ladies commenced knitting some lace, and during the evening Madam Kjer presented me with a mustard-ladle and two salt-shovels, all of ivory walrus tusk, made by an Esquimaux with only a knife! They were of excellent workmanship, and I valued them greatly. I had previously E 2