n of Denmark in these lands.

[Illustration]

CHAPTER X.
DANGEROUS SAILING.

Shandon, Dr. Clawbonny, Johnson, Foker, and Strong, the cook, got into
one of the boats and made their way to shore.

The Governor, his wife and five children, all Esquimaux, received
their visitors kindly. The doctor, who was the philologist of the
party, knew enough Danish to establish friendly relations; moreover,
Foker, the interpreter of the party as well as ice-master, knew a
dozen or two words of the language of the Greenlanders, and with that
number of words one can express a great deal, if he is not too
ambitious.

[Illustration]

The Governor was born on the island of Disco, and he has never left
the place; he did the honors of his capital, which consisted of three
wooden houses, for himself and the Lutheran minister, of a school, and
shops which were supplied by what was cast upon the shore from wrecked
ships. The rest of the town consisted of snow huts, into which the
Esquimaux crawl through a single opening.

A great part of the population came out to meet the _Forward_, and
more than one of them went as far as the middle of the bay in his
kayak, fifteen feet long and two broad at the widest part.

The doctor knew that the word Esquimaux meant "eater of raw fish"; but
he knew too that this name is considered an insult in this country, so
he forbore giving it to the inhabitants of Greenland.

And yet, from the oily sealskin clothes and boots, from their squat,
fat figures, which make it hard to distinguish the men from the women,
it was easy to declare the nature of their food; besides, like all
fish-eating people, they were somewhat troubled by leprosy, but their
general health was not impaired by it.

The Lutheran minister and his wife, with whom the doctor had promised
himself an interesting talk, happened to be away on the shore of
Proven, south of Upernavik; hence he was compelled to seek the company
of the Governor. The chief magistrate did not appear to be very well
informed: a little less, he would have been a fool; a little more, and
he would have known how to read.

In spite of that, the doctor questioned him about the commerce,
habits, and manners of the Esquimaux; and he learned, by means of
gestures, that the seals were worth about forty pounds when delivered
at Copenhagen; a bear-skin brought forty Danish dollars, the skin of a
blue fox four, and of a white fox two or three dollars.

In order t