rs we continued much of Captain Rink's opinion, till at last
I had an opportunity of asking Andrew what he thought about the matter.
He then told me that, on account of the clearness of the atmosphere, and
the brightness of the snow-covered hills or icy plains, they appear to a
person unaccustomed to look on them to be very much nearer than they
really are. He assured me that it would be a long time before I should
be able to judge of distances; and that he had known a person mistake a
few stunted shrubs appearing above the snow a few yards off for a forest
in the distance, while land many miles off appeared, as it had to me,
close at hand.

It was evening, or I should rather say near midnight, when we really got
close in, when we found that the valleys were magnificent fiords, or
gulfs running far inland, and that the rocks and icebergs were of vast
height. As we sailed along the coast, nothing could be more beautiful
than the different effects of light and shade--the summits of the
distant inland ranges shining in the sunlight like masses of gold, and
the icebergs in the foreground tinged with the most beautiful and
dazzling colours.

Beautiful as was the scene, I had no idea that any civilised beings
dwelt in such a region of eternal snows. What was my surprise, then, to
find the ship brought to an anchor off a small town called Leifly,
belonging to the Danes! They have several small colonies along the
coast, at each of which are stationed missionaries engaged in the pious
work of converting the Esquimaux to Christianity.

I thought that where we lay at anchor was directly under the overhanging
cliffs; but I found, from the time the boat took reaching the shore,
that we were several miles off. Several Esquimaux canoes came off to
the ship to barter with us. One man sits in each boat, which is so long
and narrow, that one is surprised it should be able to encounter the
slightest sea. The whole is decked over, except a round opening, in
which they seat themselves.

All these people were Christians; and in each canoe was a strip of paper
stuck in a thong under the deck, on which were written, in Danish,
passages from the Scriptures. They were comfortably dressed in sealskin
coats, trousers, and boots, with a sealskin helmet. Their heads were
large, with a narrow, retreating forehead; strong, coarse black hair,
flat nose, full lips, almost beardless chin, and full lustrous black
eyes--not beauties, certainly