Oldal 1 [1]
OCR
A,N2 or August IMPRESSIONS FROM GREENLAND. NOTE : the observer who has given us these infomations has just retumed from a flying trip to Greenland in connection of certain economic surveys he was called upon to make in the country. He is not one of our usual observers, The first and basic impression of the observer is a two-pronged : the great beauty of the land, its magnificent sceneries and the efeat lonelyness of a country with but very littie population 3 second the high type of the few people who live on the land, almost exclusively on its Western Coast, A few facts are essential : the Island has 2,175,600 square kilometers, The population, as last counted, was 21,000, though according to local informations it must have increased since, to somewhere around 24.000* The Capital City of the South, capital of the whole Island and residence of the Governor is Godthaab with a population of 800. The Capital city of the North is Godhavn, pope300. The main airport is at Juliamehaab, po.800. Important is also the "city" of Sukkertoppen with also 800 people. The population is composed of Eskimos and Danes, The Eskimos are very friendly, get along beautifully with the Danes, They are mostly hunters and fishers, They are not keen on progress, will not be easily "civilized", but are quite happy in their present status of life, In fact, they show a magnificent sense of adaptation to the natural variations of their environment, They have the gift to live on the land. As they have no agriculture, no forestry, they get everything from the sea. They use driftwood and fishes bones, skins and especially oil. Their sheep live of the grass, Their permanent huts are made of grasse As long as they are not in too close contact whth civilization, they maintain their numbers, despite poor health and incredibly short span of lifee But in touch with civilization, their number decreases rapidly, since they have a great tendency to everything that is bad in this civilization. Somehow their fate seems similar to the one of the American Indian, though the Danes do everything to help them, The Danes on the Islend are of a very high type. They are enthusiastic Greenlenders. Somehow. the lend has a terrible force of attramtio#i. People there are quite happy,- despite cold, harsship and isolation, It is a fact that an
