ant, who happened to be otherwise
engaged. They had probably some little business to transact with them
before starting for their homes, often many miles from the colony, and
it might be of the greatest importance to them to get away as soon as
possible in order to reach their destination betimes. If the weather
happened to look threatening, every minute would be more than precious;
but there they would stand waiting, as immovable as ever, and to all
appearance as indifferent. If I asked them if they were going to make
a start, they only answered, 'I don't know,' 'Perhaps, if the weather
doesn't get worse,' or something to that effect; but I never once heard
the smallest murmur of impatience.

The following occurrence, for which my informant vouches, affords an
excellent illustration of this side of their character. An inspector at
Godthaab once sent a woman-boat with its crew into the Ameralik fiord
to mow grass for his goats. They remained a long time away, and no one
could understand what had become of them. At last they returned; and
when the inspector asked why they had been so long, they answered that
when they got to the place the grass was too short, so that they had to
settle down and wait until it grew.

With just the same patience do the Greenlanders await the ripening of
their own ruin. They are a patient people.

Footnotes.

[174: P. Egede, _Efterretninger om Groenland_, p. 21; compare also p.
25.]




CHAPTER XVI

WHAT HAVE WE ACHIEVED?


The purpose of our mission and of our work of civilisation in Greenland
was, in the first place, to win honour for ourselves before God and
man, and secure our own salvation in the other world; and, in the
second place, to benefit the natives. But what have we done?

Let us first look at the purely material side. It might seem at first
sight as if we ought to have been able to bring to a people like this,
living practically in the Stone Age, many things that would aid them in
their hard fight for existence. As a matter of fact, this has been by
no means the case. T