Exclusive Greenland.

Hokitika Guardian, 29 September 1921, Page 4

Exclusive Greenland.

. A DITTDE-KNOWN COUNTRY. DIFFICULTIES OF ENTRANCE. There is something .significant in the visit of lint King and Queen of Denmark lo Greenland. This is the Fust time Greenland lias been visited hy its K ill”. It can he said of Greenland that il is the most exclusive country in the xvoild next to Tibet, and more mistaken notions are held about it probably than any other land. In the first place:, you cannot land there without tilts |.ormisyion of the Spanish 'Government, and there is only one Englishman living today who has visited it, namely, Mr Roger I’ocoek. From 173.1. right up till now, only two Englishmen d.ave set foot iii Denmark’s nortlioi'n posM's-

A small gun-boat patrols the coast in the summer, but il is not the guiib -at, or the .International Treaty which keeps steamers awnv from its sin us. The la xx- is hacked l>y the meii-ice of a,u uiiliuoyed, unlightod coast, nnehartered Hides and currents, the icepack the berg stream and fog. For a ship to attempt to ,-cnch a settlement wit limit a Danish pilot, spells disaster. A et* the Government trading slops visit the eoloiiv every year, safely negotiating the -clangeroiiiS coasts because of the secret ] ilot bonk they carry, a copy of wliiell no one has yet' been able to se-

lf was 2D)) years ago that Dr Dans Kgcclo, a Danish Dutheran clergyman, settled in Grecnlalnd, and to-day till* Greenland Fskimes xvlwi number 2)1.001) are all Christians. It xvas to help the mission that the Danish Government planted trading posts up :»nd doxvn llnx eo ist very liiuc-h like those of the Hudson Ray Company, to buy sea-oil. eiderdown. skins, and xvalrus-ivory from the m iixv:*. in exchange for i-olfee. sugar, cloth, needles, and other treasures of the white man.

'lhe “Royal Trade" as it is filed loses about i’.jOOO a year, hut Denmark has always heett anxious over the welfare of these little people of the Far North. Liquor and disoa.se are the two evils which the Government endeavour to keep out of the colony. Every man no matter his position, is stripped and medically examined before lie van proceed to Greenland. Ho carefully is tile rule enforced. Flint ti e last ease of contagious disease in Greenland was one of smallpox in IS2o. ‘.Mi years ago.

While in Northern Canada, Siberia, and Alaska, the Eskimo tribes are g>'a-I unity dying ntU, these of Greenland

:uv inrn'nsui'j;. Although some 2-1(1 Danish gs-ntWfoll-live among the Greenland Eskimos, veu can hardly reler to Hum e their rulers fur the Eskimos govern tlieiuHclvr.-. The hitter ore all armed, v.l-i', the Danes are not. They run D'eir ~-.*n alfairs will,”,it the least iiiteilvi-i-m e. There is no gox ernment. as we understand the term, and no polieeinar mid there has been mi) crime ,or Hil) v, ars hack. I) is the pure .mar,-by w hich politi, ians mid philo-chci-dream abmit, and the* only exampa* ever realised in this wicked world. It is because the Eskimos are a line race of people and the Danes wise and good. Contrary to general belief, tin* Greenland Eskimos do not lead a nomadic life, wandering bore anil there, Lot dwell in settlements 'of which there, are 170. all scattered along Hie coast, the two capitals being Gndthanb and Godh.iven. Tn the larger towns or settlemenls one finds elum-hes "ith steeples, organs, and oil-painiings. Here you lind pure-blooded Eskimo priests and physicians, as well as a. native newspaper and an illustrated journal produced entirely bv Eskimo labour. In the summer months the climate is delightful. Southern Greenland being on a level with the Shetland Island. Ihe people have gardens, where they growhrof, oli, radishes, turnips, lettuces, s-pinaeh. leeks, paish-x, potatoes and earlots. Of radishes they get two clops each summer, and strawberries and :-u cumbers are grown and ripened regular. Iv in frames. At I insnsk is the most unit herly garden in the world. Warm winds blow during tin- summer and there* is no ,-h bright sunshine, so that ill that sea.-on many ol the people go about almost naked. Mosquitoes and llie.s are a gloat plague. Greenland is not so large as it appears nil an ordinary map. being put 7.llF lkltl square miles in area. True. Wu> interior of tile country is a vast icecap or glacier, uhi.-li pours, it is estimated. thousand million tons of if into the mean every year. Every Eulopeau who lots lived in Greenland longs ( , go hack and the King and Queen ol Denmark were no doubt , harmed with this distant part of their realm, especially if they saw as they probably did, some of the magnificent auroras and mini' halos that are very common.