{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_58308/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_58308","id":"gutenberg_58308","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/58308","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Archaeology & Anthropology","Category: History - Early Modern (c. 1450-1750)","Category: History - Other","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Category: Travel Writing","Greenland -- Description and travel"],"text":"Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed\nProofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was\nproduced from images available at The Internet Archive)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration:\n\nOld Greenland,\n_as to its_\nEastern & Western Parts.\n_Vulgo_\nOster Bygd & Wester Bygd\n\n_Engraved for Egedes Greenland_       _by J. Smith, 1 Clements Inn, Strand_\n\n_Pub\u1d48. May 1\u02e2\u1d57. 1818 by T. & J. Allman, Princes Street, Hanover\nSquare_]\n\n\n\n\n                                   A\n                       DESCRIPTION OF GREENLAND.\n\n                            BY HANS EGEDE,\n                 WHO WAS A MISSIONARY IN THAT COUNTRY\n                                  FOR\n                          TWENTY-FIVE YEARS.\n\n                            A NEW EDITION.\n\n                                WITH AN\n                        HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION\n                                  AND\n                         A LIFE OF THE AUTHOR.\n\n                              ILLUSTRATED\n       WITH A MAP OF GREENLAND, AND NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS ON WOOD.\n\n                            SECOND EDITION.\n\n                            [Illustration]\n\n                                LONDON:\n                     PRINTED FOR T. AND J. ALLMAN,\n                    PRINCES STREET, HANOVER SQUARE;\n       W. H. REID, CHARING CROSS; AND BALDWIN, CRADOCK, AND JOY,\n                           PATERNOSTER ROW.\n\n                                 1818.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n\n                                                                    PAGE\n\nHISTORICAL INTRODUCTION                                                i\n\nLIFE OF THE AUTHOR                                                 xciii\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\n_Of the Situation and Extent of Greenland. Probability\nof its forming Part of America_                                        1\n\n\nCHAP. II.\n\n_First Settlement of Greenland, with some Thoughts on\nthe Extinction of the Norwegian Colonies; and whether\non the East Side no Remainders may be found\nof the old Norwegians: also, whether the same Tract\nof Land cannot be recovered_                                           7\n\n\nCHAP. III.\n\n_Of the Nature of the Soil, Plants, and Minerals of Greenland_        41\n\n\nCHAP. IV.\n\n_Of the Nature of the Climate, and the Temperament of the Air_        50\n\n\nCHAP. V.\n\n_Of the Land Animals, and Land Fowls or Birds of\nGreenland; and how they hunt and kill them_                           59\n\n\nCHAP. VI.\n\n_Of the Greenland Sea Animals, and Sea Fowls and\nFishes_                                                               66\n\n\nCHAP. VII.\n\n_Of the ordinary Occupations of the Greenlanders, as\nHunting and Fishing: of the Tools and Instruments\nnecessary for these Employments: of their House Implements\nand Utensils_                                                        100\n\n\nCHAP. VIII.\n\n_Of the Inhabitants, their Houses, and House Furniture_              113\n\n\nCHAP. IX.\n\n_Of the Persons, Complexion, and Temperament of the\nGreenlanders_                                                        119\n\n\nCHAP. X.\n\n_Of the Customs, Virtues, and Vices, and the Manners\nor Way of Life of the Greenlanders_                                  123\n\n\nCHAP. XI.\n\n_Of their Habits and Way of Dressing_                                130\n\nCHAP. XII.\n\n_Of their Diet, and manner of dressing their Victuals_               135\n\n\nCHAP. XIII.\n\n_Of their Marriages, and Education of their Children_                140\n\n\nCHAP. XIV.\n\n_How the Greenlanders mourn and bury their dead\nFriends_                                                             143\n\n\nCHAP. XV.\n\n_Of their Pastimes and Diversions, as also their Poetry_             154\n\n\nCHAP. XVI.\n\n_Of their Language_                                                  163\n\n\nCHAP. XVII.\n\n_Of the Greenland Trade, and whether in promoting it\nthere is any advantage to be expected_                               179\n\n\nCHAP. XVIII.\n\n_The Religion, or rather Superstition, of the Greenlanders_          183\n\n\nCHAP. XIX.\n\n_The Astronomy of the Greenlanders, or their Thoughts concerning\nthe Sun, Moon, Stars, and Planets_                                   206\n\nCHAP. XX.\n\n_The Capacity of the Greenlanders, and their Inclination\ntowards the Knowledge of God, and the Christian Religion;\nand by what Means this may easily be brought about_                  214\n\n\n\n\nHISTORICAL\n\nINTRODUCTION.\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe regions in the neighbourhood of the North Pole have lately become\nthe objects of increased curiosity; and among these regions Greenland\nhas attracted a more than usual interest. This country was first peopled\nby a colony from Iceland, which occupied both the Western and Eastern\nparts of the Island. The first settlers in the West appear to have been\ndestroyed by the natives, who are denominated Skrellings; and though a\ncommunication was preserved for several centuries between the Eastern\ncoast of Greenland and some parts of the Danish territory, yet it was\ninterrupted about the close of the fourteenth century by accumulated\nmasses of ice, which formed an impenetrable barrier of considerable\nextent around the shore; and though various attempts have been made, at\ndifferent times, to explore a passage through this frozen rampart, yet\nthere is no definite account of any attempt of this kind which has\nhitherto been successful. May we hope that the execution of this\nproject, which is prompted, not only by curiosity but by philanthropy,\nis reserved for the present era, and that it will be finally\naccomplished by the nautical skill and enterprise of this country!\n\nAs we possess indubitable evidence that a considerable extent of this\ncoast was formerly occupied by a flourishing colony, and that it\ncontained numerous villages, with a bishop\u2019s see, we cannot but be\nanxious to know what has been the fate of so many human beings, so long\ncut off from all intercourse with the more civilized world. Were they\ndestroyed by an invasion of the natives, like their countrymen on the\nWestern coast? or have they perished by the inclemency of the climate,\nand the sterility of the soil? or do they still subsist? If they\nsubsist, it must greatly interest our curiosity to learn in what manner\nthey have vanquished the difficulties with which they have had to\ncontend, both from the climate and the soil, and the total privation of\nall articles of European manufacture. In the novel circumstances in\nwhich they have been placed, have the present race advanced or declined\nin the degree of culture which their forefathers possessed? What\nproficiency have they made? or what deterioration have they undergone?\nHave they remained nearly stationary at the point of civilized existence\nat which their ancestors were placed four centuries ago? or have they\nentirely degenerated into a savage race, and preserved no memory nor\nvestige of their original extraction from, and subsequent communication\nwith, the continent of civilized Europe? These are certainly points of\ninteresting research; and to which we cannot well be indifferent as\nChristians, or, indeed, as human beings.\n\nIn the mean time, though we cannot yet supply any particulars respecting\nthe present state of the Eastern coast of Greenland, we think that the\nreaders of this new edition of Egede will not be displeased with us for\nfurnishing them with all the information which remains, respecting its\npast state, as well as with some historical details, which will render\nthe present volume more complete than it would otherwise have been.\n\nGreenland was first discovered by Eric, surnamed Rufus, or the Red, in\nthe year 981 or 982[1]. This chieftain was of Norwegian extraction. His\nfather had fled from Norway, and taken refuge in Iceland, in order to\navoid the vengeance which menaced him, on account of a murder which he\nhad perpetrated in his native land. Eric appears to have committed in\nIceland a crime similar to that for which his father had fled from\nNorway. In endeavouring to escape the pursuit of justice, Eric\naccidentally discovered the coast which is the present object of our\ninquiry. He took his departure from Iceland at the port of Sn\u00e6fellzness,\nwhich is situate in a Western promontory of that island. He arrived in\nthe vicinity of a mountain called Midjokul[2]; or, as it is denominated\nby others, Miklajokul. Peyrere interprets this, \u201c_le grand gla\u00e7on_,\u201d\nthe great mountain of ice. Subsequent navigators gave it the name of\nBloeserken, or Blue Smock, and others of Huidserken, or White Smock,\naccording to the variations in the hue of the ice in different aspects\nand at different periods of the year.\n\nEric passed the first winter after his departure from Iceland in an\nisland which he called after his own name, Ericscun, and which Torf\u00e6us\nplaces in the midst of the cultivated Eastern district. In the following\nspring he entered one of the bays of Eastern Greenland, to which he gave\nthe name of Ericsfiord; and where he formed his first settlement, which\nhe denominated Brattahlis. In the summer of the same year he explored\nparts of the more Western district, and gave names to many of the places\nwhich he visited[3]. He passed the following winter in the island of\nEricscun; and in the succeeding summer he passed over to the main land,\nand proceeded along the Northern coast till he reached an immense rock,\nwhich he called Sneefiell, or the Rock of Snow. At this point he gave\nthe name of Ravensfiord to another bay, on account of the multitudes of\nthat ill-omened bird with which this spot abounds. Other parts of the\ncoast derived their appellations from the names of the different\nadventurers who accompanied Eric in this expedition, as, Hergulfsness,\nKetillsfiord, Solvadal, Einarsfiord, &c[4].\n\nIn the following summer Eric, having conciliated the forgiveness, or\npurchased the forbearance, of his enemies in Iceland, returned to that\ncountry to procure an additional supply of inhabitants for his new\nsettlement. In order to render his proposals more attractive, he named\nthe country for which he was endeavouring to provide colonists,\nGreenland, as if, compared with the rugged sterility of their native\nIceland, it was a region of verdure and delight. He described it as\nabounding in cattle, and as rich in every species of game and fish. And\nas such delusive representations, when assisted by the vivid eloquence\nof enthusiasm, or the unhesitating assurance of effrontery, seldom fail\nof their effect, Eric returned to his recent acquisition with numerous\nships, and a large body of settlers, from Iceland.\n\nIn less than twenty years after Eric the Red had begun to colonize\nGreenland, his son Leiff, who had made a voyage into Norway, renounced\nhis Pagan errors, and received the baptismal rite. His conversion was\nowing to the example and the admonitions of King Olave Tryggwine, or\nTrugguerus[5], who had himself recently embraced the same doctrine, and\nhad been very successful in causing it to be diffused throughout his\ndominions.\n\nLeiff, having passed the winter at the court of the King of Norway,\nreturned to Greenland, in company with a priest and some other\nmissionaries, whom the King had commissioned to instruct Eric, and the\nother settlers, in the faith which Leiff had embraced. On their voyage\nto Greenland they met some mariners, who were floating upon a wreck in\nthe open sea. These they took on board, and conveyed to the new\nsettlement. Eric, at first, incensed with his son for having laid open\nto strangers the route to the new-discovered country, turned a deaf ear\nto his Christian admonitions. But the earnestness of the son, seconded\nby the instruction of the missionaries, at last prevailed over the\ninsensibility of the father, who submitted to the rite of baptism, when\nthe other Greenlanders followed his example.\n\nThe Christian doctrine, which had been thus introduced, was so much\napproved, and so generally received, that churches were established in\ntwelve different parts of East Greenland, and in four of the Western\ndistrict. Torf\u00e6us makes the year 1000 the era of the conversion of the\nGreenland colonists to the Christian faith. This historian of ancient\nGreenland has also preserved a list of its bishops, from the year 1021\nto 1406, after which period no mention is made of any subsequent\nepiscopal appointments; and indeed the intercourse between Greenland and\nthe native region of the first settlers appears to have been previously\ndiscontinued.\n\nA Danish Chronicle, which M. Peyrere had consulted, refers the discovery\nof Greenland to a much earlier date than that which has been given upon\nthe authority of Torf\u00e6us; and the earlier date of 770 is more likely to\nbe true, if, as M. Peyrere mentions, there is a bull of Pope Gregory IV,\nin 835, relative to the propagation of the Christian faith in the North\nof Europe, in which Iceland and Greenland are particularly mentioned.\n\nThe Danish Chronicle, to which Peyrere appeals, states, that the Kings\nof Denmark, having been converted to Christianity during the empire of\nLouis le Debonaire, Greenland had become an object of general attention\nat this period.\n\nThe Danish Chronicle relates, that the first settlers in Greenland were\nsucceeded by a numerous posterity, who penetrated farther into the\ncountry, and discovered, among the rocky heights and icy mountains, some\nfertile spots, which were more auspicious to pasturage and cultivation.\nThey followed the division of Greenland which Eric had established, and\ncalled the two settlements in the East and the West, Osterbygdt and\nWesterbygdt.\n\nIn the Eastern district the Greenlanders erected a town, to which they\ngave the name of Garde, where, according to Peyrere, who refers to the\nChronicle, the Norwegians established a sort of emporium for the deposit\nand sale of their merchandize. The town of Garde became also the\nresidence of their bishops; and the church of St. Nicholas, the patron\nof sailors, which was built in the same town, became the cathedral\nchurch of the Greenlanders.\n\nAs the temporal jurisdiction in Greenland was subject to the kings of\nNorway, so the spiritual power of the bishops was subordinate to that\nof the archbishops of Drontheim; and the bishops of Greenland are said\nfrequently to have passed over to Norway, in order to consult their\necclesiastical superior.\n\nThe Danish Chronicle, which was one of the early documents upon which\nPeyrere founded his narrative, relates, that an insurrection broke out\nin Greenland, in 1256, when the inhabitants refused any longer to submit\nto the tributary exactions of Magnus, King of Norway. On this occasion,\nEric, King of Denmark, at the request of Magnus, who had married his\nniece, equipped a naval armament in order to quell the rebels, and\nrestore the authority of his nephew. The Greenland insurgents no sooner\nbeheld the flag of the Danish fleet approaching their coast than they\nwere struck with a panic, and sued for peace.\n\nThis peace was ratified in the year 1261. Angrim Jonas, who records the\nabove-mentioned transaction, gives the names of the three principal\ninhabitants of Greenland, who signed the treaty in Norway.\n\u201cDeclarantes,\u201d says Angrim, as quoted by Peyrere, \u201c_suis factum\nauspiciis ut Groenlandi perpetuum tributum Norveguo denuo jurassent_.\u201d\nUnder their auspices the Greenlanders had been again brought to swear to\npay a perpetual tribute to the Norwegian.\n\nIn composing his account of ancient Greenland, Peyrere derived his\nprincipal information from an Icelandic and a Danish Chronicle. The\nfirst was the production of Snorro Sturleson, who was a native of\nIceland, and chief justiciary of that island in 1215. We are also\nindebted to him for the compilation of the Edda.\n\nIn the Icelandic Chronicle above-mentioned, which appears to be a tissue\nof different narratives, one of the chapters is entitled, a Description\nof Greenland, which Peyrere has copied into his account as literally as\nthe difference of languages would admit. There is a similar description\nin Torf\u00e6us (p. 42, &c.), with particular but unimportant variations.\nBoth the accounts are founded on the authority of Ivar Bert or Ivar\nBevius, who had, for several years, been steward or maitre d\u2019hotel to\nthe Bishop of Garde, and was one of the persons who had been selected by\nthe governor to expel the Skrellings from the Western province of\nGreenland or Westerbygdt, which they had invaded and depopulated.\n\nPerhaps it will be best to insert this description of Eastern Greenland,\nwhich was the most flourishing settlement of the Norwegians in this\ncountry, as it is found in the narrative of Peyrere, and in the history\nof Torf\u00e6us. If the skill, the philanthropy, and the enterprize of some\nEnglish navigators should ever obtain an access to this long lost\nsettlement, and the passage should again become as safe and practicable\nas it was in ancient times, it will be an interesting research to\ncompare the present state of this district with the early accounts.\n\nThe most Eastern town in Greenland, says Ivar Bert, as exhibited in the\nFrench version of Peyrere, is called Skagefiord[6], where is an\nuninhabitable rock, and farther out in the sea is a shoal, which\nprevents ships from entering the bay, except at high water, and it is at\nthis time, or during a violent storm, that numbers of whales and of\nother fish enter the bay and are caught in abundance.\n\nAs you proceed a little higher towards the East, there is a port called\nFunkabadir, from the name of a page or missionary of St. Olave, King of\nNorway, who, with several other persons, suffered shipwreck at that\nspot[7].\n\nIn a still higher latitude, and close to the mountains of ice, or, as\nTorf\u00e6us says, \u201c_propius Alpes_,\u201d is an island, named Roansen or\nRanseya[8], which, in early times, appears to have been celebrated for\nthe quantity of animals, particularly of white bears, which it furnished\nfor the chace. Torf\u00e6us says, that these white bears were not to be\nhunted without leave of the bishop. Beyond this spot the land and ocean\nare said to present nothing but an accumulation of snow and ice.\n\nTo the West of Herjolfsness is Kindilfiord, or, as Peyrere spells it,\nHindelfiord, which is described as a cultivated and well peopled bay.\nUpon the right, as you enter the bay, there is a church, called\nKrokskirk or Korskirk, with a monastery consecrated to St. Olave and to\nSt. Augustin, the domain of which extends to Petersvic, where there are\nnumerous habitations. It also possesses the territory on the opposite\nside of the bay.\n\nNext to Kindilfiord is Rumpesinfiord, or Rumpeyarfiord[9], in an\ninterior recess of which there is a convent, dedicated to St. Olave,\nwhich is proprietary of the whole district to the shore of the bay. This\nbay contains many holms or little islands, the property of which the\nmonastery divides with the episcopal see. Numerous hot springs are found\nin these islands, of which both Peyrere and Torf\u00e6us say, that they are\nso hot as to be inaccessible during the winter, but that in summer the\ntemperature is so much reduced, that they become the resort of many\npersons in a diversity of maladies.\n\nNext to Rumpesinfiord, is Einarsfiord, and between them is a large\nmansion, named _Fos_, fit for a king or \u201cregi competens\u201d in the language\nof Torf\u00e6us[10]. Here is also a large church dedicated to St. Nicholas.\nAs you enter Lunesfiord, to the left, there is a little promontory\ncalled Klining; and beyond it an arm of the sea, denominated Grantvich.\nFarther in the interior is a house[11], named Daller, which belongs to\nthe bishop\u2019s see. The cathedral is at the end of the bay. Here is a\nlarge wood, in which cattle are left to browse.\n\nThe whole of Lunesfiord, with the large island which is called Linseya\nby Torf\u00e6us, Reyatsen by Peyrere, is appropriated to the cathedral. This\npart abounds with rein deer, which are hunted with the consent of the\nbishop. The island of Reyatsen contains a species of stone or marble,\nout of which they cut bowls, jugs, and different kinds of culinary\nvessels, which possess the property of resisting the fire.\n\nMore to the West is an island named Langent, where there are eight\nfarms[12]. In the vicinity is Ericsfiord; and at the entrance of this\narm of the sea there is an island called Herrieven, or the Harbour of\nthe Lord, half of which belongs to the bishop\u2019s see, and the other half\nto the church, which is called Diurnes, which is seen on entering\nEricsfiord[13].\n\nThe country, says Peyrere, copying the Icelandic Chronicle, is unpeopled\nand desert between the Osterbygdt and Westerbygdt; and upon the borders\nof this desert there is a church, called Strosnes, which was formerly\nthe metropolitan see, and the residence of the bishops of Greenland. The\nWesterbygdt is represented as occupied by the Skrellings[14]. This part\nof the country is described as possessing horses, oxen, sheep, goats,\nand other animals, but no human beings, either Christian or Pagan.\n\nSuch is the account which is given of the ancient state of Greenland by\nIvar Bert, the author of the Chronicle, which is mentioned above, and in\nwhich, if there be some inaccurate representation, there is probably\nmore truth.\n\nPeyrere remarks, that the Icelandic Chronicle is incorrect in describing\nthe church of Strosnes as the episcopal see, since that honour always\nbelonged to the town of Garde. The Danish Chronicle, whilst regretting\nthe interruption of the communication with Greenland, assures us, that,\nif the episcopal residence of Garde[15] were still standing and\naccessible, we should find a great number of documents for a complete\nand authentic history of Greenland.\n\nThe Iceland Chronicle, according to Peyrere, gives a varying and\ninconsistent account of the fertility of Greenland. In one part it says,\nthat the country furnishes the best corn which is to be found in any\npart of the world; and that the oaks are of such vast bulk, and such\nstately growth, that they produce acorns as large as apples. But in\nanother passage the same Chronicle affirms, that no seed of any kind,\nwhich is sown in Greenland, will grow on account of the cold; and that\nthe inhabitants are unacquainted with the use of bread. The latter part\nof this account harmonizes with that of the Danish Chronicle, which\naffirms, that when the country was first discovered by Eric the Red,\nthe sterility of the soil obliged him to subsist entirely upon fish.\n\nBut in the same Danish Chronicle, which has just been mentioned, we find\nit asserted, that, after the death of Eric, his successors, who\npenetrated farther into the country, discovered some fertile spots\nbetween the mountains, and fit either for pasture or tillage. The\nIcelandic Chronicle contradicts itself when it says, that nothing will\ngrow in Greenland owing to the intensity of the cold. Peyrere also\nremarks, that that part of Greenland, which was peopled by the\nNorwegians, is in the same latitude as Upland, which is the most fertile\nprovince in Sweden, and produces fine crops of grain. And the Icelandic\nChronicle itself says, in another place, that the cold in Greenland is\nnot so great as in Norway; and very good corn is grown in that country.\n\nGreenland, says Peyrere, like other countries, which are composed of\nplains and mountains, exhibits great diversities of soil, and though the\nclose approximation to the farthest North, in many situations, destroys\nthe process of vegetation, yet there appear to be localities, which are\nby no means destitute of fertility. There are pastures possessing\nexcellent herbage; and amongst the animals, which contribute to the\nsubsistence of man, or to other uses, we find[16] sheep, oxen, horses,\nrein deer, stags, and hares; and of the more savage animals, we find\nwolves, foxes, and an abundance of white and black bears. The Icelandic\nChronicle mentions beavers and martens.\n\nPeyrere adds[17], that grey and white falcons abound more here than in\nany other part of the world. The superior excellence of these birds\ncaused them to be formerly sent to the kings of Denmark, who made\npresents of them to the kings and princes in the neighbouring countries,\nwhen falconry constituted one of the amusements of the great.\n\nThe above-mentioned author, who wrote in the middle of the seventeenth\ncentury[18], says, that in Greenland nature produces a singular\nphenomenon, which is described as a sort of miracle in the Icelandic\nChronicle. This phenomenon is no other than what is commonly called the\n_Northern Lights_. These lights are mentioned as appearing more\nparticularly about the time of the new moon; and illuminating the whole\ncountry, as much as if the moon were at the full. \u201cThe light is more\nbright,\u201d says Peyrere, \u201cin proportion as the night is more dark.\u201d\n\nThe Danish Chronicle, which is quoted by Peyrere, relates, that in the\nyear 1271 a violent hurricane from the North East drove a vast\naccumulation of ice upon the coast of Iceland, which was covered with so\nmany bears and so much wood that it led to the supposition, that the\nterritory of Greenland was extended more to the North East than had been\nhitherto imagined. This circumstance tempted some Northern sailors to\nattempt the discovery, but they found nothing but ice. The kings of\nNorway and Denmark had long before this fitted out ships for the same\npurpose, but without any more success than the Icelanders had\nexperienced. The principal incitement to these voyages was a received\nopinion, or traditionary report, that this country contained numerous\nveins of gold, of silver, and precious stones.\n\nThe Danish Chronicle pretends, that some adventurous merchants formerly\namassed a large treasure by these expeditions. But regions of silver and\ngold have always been amongst the favourite illusions of mankind; and\nthe imagination has revelled in visionary mines of the precious metals,\nnot only in the South but in the North; and both at the Equator and the\nPole.\n\nIn the time of St. Olave, King of Norway, some sailors from Friesland,\nincited by the thirst of gold, are said to have undertaken a voyage to\nthe North Eastern extremity of Greenland; but, instead of returning home\nwith mountains of wealth, they were happy to escape the fury of the\nwinds on this rocky coast, in any miserable asylum which they could\nfind.\n\nThe Danish Chronicle, which is a mixture of truth and fable, adds, that\nthe Frieslanders, having made a landing upon the coast, discovered some\nwretched cabins just rising above the earth, around which lay heaps of\ngold and silver ore. Each of the sailors helped himself to as much as\nhe could carry away. But, when they were retreating to the shore, in\norder to re-embark with their treasure, they saw some human forms, as\nugly as devils, issuing out of their earthen huts, armed with bows and\narrows, and accompanied with dogs of vast size. Before all the sailors\ncould reach the shore some of them were seized by these frightful\narchers, who tore them limb from limb within sight of their companions.\nThe Danish Chronicle adds, that this region is so rich that it is\npeopled only by devils.\n\nPeyrere tells us, that one of the chapters in the Icelandic Chronicle\ndescribes the ancient route between Norway and Greenland, before the\nnavigation was rendered impracticable by the descent of accumulated\nmountains of ice from a more remote point of the North. But what is\nmentioned concerning this route contains nothing very definite or\nsatisfactory.\n\nThe above-mentioned Icelandic Chronicle has another chapter on the\naffairs of Greenland, transcribed from an old book entitled _Speculum\nRegale_. This chapter describes some marine monsters of enormous\ndimensions, which were formerly seen upon the coast of Greenland. The\nNorwegians called the first of these prodigies Haffstramb; and speak of\nit as showing itself breast high above the waves. It resembled the human\nform in the neck, head, visage, nose, and mouth, except that the head\nwas more than usually elevated, and terminating in a point. It had wide\nshoulders, at the end of which were two stumps of arms, without any\nhands. The body tapered downwards, but it was never visible below the\nmiddle. It had a frozen look. The emersion of this phantasm above the\nwaves was the signal of a hurricane.\n\nThe second monster received the appellation of Marguguer. It resembled\nthe female form as far as the middle. It had large breasts and\ndishevelled hair; its stumps of arms were terminated by large hands, the\nfingers of which were united by a web like the toes of a goose. It has\nbeen seen holding fish in its hands, and putting them into its mouth.\nIts appearance always presaged some violent storm. If it turned its eye\nto the sailors, when it plunged into the water, it was a sign, that\nthey would not suffer shipwreck; but, if it turned its back, it was a\nsure omen, that they would perish in the deep.\n\nThe third phenomenon received the name of Hafgierdinguer, which was not\nproperly a monster, but consisted of three large bodies or mountains of\nwater, which the tempest impelled into that form; and when,\nunfortunately, any ships happened to become engaged in the triangular\nsurface, which these three mountains formed, there was but little chance\nof their escape. This marine monster appears to have been engendered by\nstrong currents conflicting with opposing winds, which suddenly arise\nand swallow up the vessels which happen to be within the shock of these\nfurious elements.\n\nThe Danish History relates, that in the year 1348, a great pestilence,\nwhich was called the _black plague_, depopulated a great part of the\nNorth. It carried off most of the sailors and merchants of Norway and\nDenmark who were engaged in the trade between Greenland and those\nkingdoms. About this period the navigation to Greenland became less\nfrequent, and the traffic began to be discontinued. But the learned\nWormius assured Peyrere, that he had read in a Danish manuscript, that\ndown to the year 1484 there was a company of more than forty sailors, at\nBergen, in Norway, who went every year to Greenland and brought back\nsome valuable products. Some German merchants had come to Bergen for the\npurpose of purchasing these products, which the Greenlandmen were not\nwilling to dispose of; and it is added, that the Germans, resenting this\ndisappointment, invited the Greenland traders to a supper, at which they\nput them treacherously to death. But, as Peyrere remarks, this account\nhas not much appearance of truth; nor is it probable, that the\nnavigation between Greenland and Norway was, at this period, so open as\nthe above details would induce us to suppose. Those details are,\nbesides, refuted by the following facts.\n\nThe revenue accruing from the province of Greenland was, in ancient\ntimes, appropriated to the domestic expenses of the Norwegian king; and\nno one could go to Greenland without the royal permission, upon pain of\ndeath. In the year 1389, Henry, Bishop of Garde, in Greenland, embarked\nfor Denmark, and was present at the meeting of the States of that\nkingdom, which were held at Funen in the reign of Queen Margaret, who\nunited the kingdoms of Denmark and of Norway under the same crown. At\nthis time some Norwegian merchants, who had gone to Greenland without\nleave, were accused of having purloined the revenue which was reserved\nfor the expenditure of the queen. The queen showed no lenity towards\nthese merchants, and would have proceeded to take away their lives, if\nthey had not made oath upon the Holy Evangelists that their voyage to\nGreenland was unpremeditated, and that they were forced to that\ndestination by the violence of a sudden storm. They alleged that they\nhad brought back only commodities which they had purchased, and that\nthey had not in the least interfered with the revenue belonging to the\nqueen. They were accordingly set at liberty; but the danger which they\nhad escaped, and the more rigorous prohibitions which were issued,\nprevented any other individuals from that time from attempting to carry\non any traffic with the interdicted coast.\n\nSome time after this the queen herself dispatched some vessels to\nGreenland; but of which no tidings were ever received; and they must\nconsequently have perished. This disastrous expedition contributed to\nput an end to the intercourse with Greenland; and the queen having her\nattention occupied by her hostilities with Sweden, lost sight of this\nremote colony, or left it to its fate.\n\nThe Danish Chronicle relates, that in the year 1406, Eskild, Archbishop\nof Drontheim, wishing to exercise the same ecclesiastical authority over\nGreenland, which his predecessors had done, sent a prelate named Andrew,\nin order to succeed Henry, in the see of Garde, if he were dead, or to\nconvey some intelligence concerning him if he were living. Nothing more\nwas ever heard of Bishop Andrew, after his embarkation for Greenland;\nnor were any farther tidings ever received of Henry, Bishop of Garde.\nAfter this, the intercourse between Norway or Denmark and Greenland,\nsuffered an interruption from that period to the present; nor is there\nmuch probability that it will ever be renewed.\n\nQueen Margaret was succeeded, upon the throne of Denmark, by Erick, of\nPomerania, who gave himself little trouble about a settlement so remote\nas that of Greenland. His successor, Christopher of Bavaria, was\nemployed during his whole reign in making war upon the Pomeranians.\n\nThe house of Oldenburg began its reign in Denmark in the year 1448.\nChristian, who was the first sovereign of that race, and of that name,\nneglected his dominions in the North in order to turn his attention to\nthe South. He made a pilgrimage to Rome, where he obtained from the Pope\na grant of the country of Ditmarsh, and permission to establish an\nacademy at Copenhagen.\n\nChristian I was succeeded by Christian II, who, at the period of his\ncoronation, bound himself by a solemn promise to make every possible\nexertion to restore the intercourse between Denmark and Greenland, and\nto recover that settlement. But this monarch, instead of recovering what\nhis predecessors had lost, himself lost part of what they had possessed.\nHis tyrannical barbarities caused him to be expelled from Sweden, which\nQueen Margaret had united with the Danish and Norwegian crown. From\nSweden Christian II retired into Denmark; but the same conduct which had\noccasioned his expulsion by the Swedes, soon led to his deposition by\nthe Danes. It is on this account that he is represented with a shivered\nsceptre amongst the Danish kings.\n\nEric Valkandor, who had been chancellor to Christian II, and was a\nDanish gentleman of great and generous sentiments, had been made\nArchbishop of Drontheim. After the disgrace of his master, he retired to\nhis archiepiscopal see, where he exerted himself with great zeal and\nactivity in order to renew the communication with Greenland, and to\ndiscover the fate of that ancient settlement. This learned prelate made\nit his business to read all the books in which it was mentioned, to\nexamine all the merchants and mariners who had any knowledge of it; and\nhe also caused a chart to be formed of the route which was supposed to\nhave been observed. He was on the point of putting his projects in\nexecution, when, being suspected of favouring the cause of the deposed\nmonarch, he was deprived of his archbishoprick, and banished from the\nNorwegian territory. The benevolent scheme, which he had formed, was\nthus disconcerted; and the hopes, which had been excited, vanished in\ndisappointment. The good Archbishop Valcandor retired to Rome, where he\nended his days.\n\nFrederick I was succeeded by Christian III, who had an expedition fitted\nout for the discovery of the lost settlement in Greenland; but this\nproved as abortive as similar attempts had previously been. This monarch\nnow repealed the ordinances which his predecessors had established, by\nwhich all communication with Greenland had been strictly prohibited,\nwithout a special permission from the crown. The intercourse was now\nrendered free, without any limitations or restraints. But this act of\nroyal grace came too late to be of any use; for the Norwegians at this\nperiod had degenerated from the enterprizing valour of their ancestors;\nand they were, at the same time, so impoverished that they did not\npossess the means of equipping any vessels for such a difficult and\nhazardous undertaking.\n\nFrederick II entertained the same project as his father, Christian III,\nand he dispatched _Magnus Heigningsen_ to attempt the discovery of\nGreenland. This Magnus Heigningsen, if the relation be not fabulous,\nactually discovered the long lost land, but was prevented by the\noperation of some mysterious cause from reaching the shore. His ship,\nwithout any visible cause, was stopped in its course, though in the\nmidst of deep water and a fresh breeze, without any obstruction from the\nice. As this Magnus Heigningsen could not advance any farther he was\nhappy to be able to retreat; and he accordingly sailed back to Denmark.\nWhen he got back to that country he published an account of what had\nhappened to his ship; and pretended that its farther progress had been\nstopped by a great loadstone at the bottom of the sea.\n\nThe Danish Chronicle, of which Peyrere has made such liberal use, gives\nthe following account of the expedition of Sir Martin Frobisher to\nGreenland in 1576.\n\nFrobisher set sail from England in the year just mentioned, and\ndiscovered the coast of New Greenland, but did not make any landing till\nhe returned with another expedition in the following spring. The\ninhabitants of that part of the coast where he disembarked, abandoned\ntheir dwellings, and fled in different directions at the approach of the\nEnglish. The alarm of some of these natives appears to have been so\ngreat that they clambered up to the tops of some rocky precipices, from\nwhich they threw themselves into the sea.\n\nThe English, who found it impossible to allay the suspicions, or\nconciliate the confidence of these savages, took possession of the huts\nwhich they had deserted. They were, in fact, tents formed of sealskins,\nstretched upon four poles, and sewed together with sinews instead of\nthread. All these tents had two entrances, one of which fronted the\nWest, and the other the South; but they were closed against the winds\nfrom the East and the North, by which they were liable to be the most\nincommoded.\n\nThe English discovered in these cabins only an ancient matron, who\nappeared a picture of hideous deformity, and a young woman, who was in\nthe family way, and had a little child holding her hand. These two last\nthey carried off, regardless of the opposition of the old beldam, who\nset up a frightful howl. Departing from this point, they steered along\nthe Eastern coast, where they beheld a marine monster as large as an\nox, with a horn projecting from the snout of more than two yards in\nlength, which they took for the unicorn. Proceeding in a North-east\ndirection, they landed on another part of the coast of Greenland, which\nthey discovered to be subject to earthquakes, that threw great rocks\ndown into the plain. Here they found some gravel abounding, as they\nimagined, with particles of gold, of which they carried off a\nconsiderable quantity.\n\nThey spared no pains to conciliate the natives of this part of the\ncoast, who themselves made a show of a desire to maintain an amicable\ncorrespondence. But these demonstrations of friendship appear to have\nbeen designed only to put the English off their guard; for, when\nFrobisher had landed, he was suddenly attacked by a body of savages, who\nhad concealed themselves behind a bank for that purpose. He retreated to\nthe shore and eluded their machinations. The savages, however, still\nimagined that the strangers might be caught in the snare; and in order\nto entrap them, they scattered pieces of raw flesh along the shore, as\nthey would have done to allure dogs. Finding this attempt fail, they had\nrecourse to another stratagem. They carried a lame man, or at least one\nwho feigned to be lame, down to the sea-side; and, having left him\nthere, they went away and kept themselves entirely out of sight. They\nsupposed that the English would make an attempt to carry off this lame\nman in order to serve them as an interpreter, or to procure some\nintelligence by his means. But Frobisher, who suspected some deception,\nordered a shot to be fired over his head, when he instantly sprung up\nupon his legs and ran away with precipitate velocity.\n\nThe savages now appeared in great numbers, and assailed the English with\na shower of arrows and stones; but they were soon repulsed by a\ndischarge of great and small guns.\n\nThe native Greenlanders are represented as perfidious and cruel, neither\nto be softened by caresses nor moved by benefits. This, however, is the\ncharacter of very imperfect knowledge and limited observation. They are\ndescribed as plump in their appearance, active in their limbs, and with\nan aspect of olive hue. Some of them are reported to be as black as\nnegroes. Their clothes are made out of the skin of the seal, and sewed\nwith sinews. The women wear their hair loose, but throw it back behind\ntheir ears in order to show the face, which they paint blue and yellow.\nThey wear no petticoats, but short trousers made of fish-skin, drawn one\nover the other; in the pockets of which they carry their knives, little\nmirrors, and the working materials, which they procure from foreigners\nor obtain from the wrecks which may happen upon their coasts. The shirts\nor chemises of both sexes are made from the intestines of fish, and\nsewed with fine sinews. They wear their clothes loose, and gird them\nwith a belt made of fish-skin. They are disgustingly dirty, and covered\nwith vermin. Their criterion of wealth is the number of bows and\narrows, of slings, boats, and oars, which an individual may possess.\nTheir bows are small, their arrows thin and armed at the end with a\nsharp point of bone or horn. They are expert in the use of the bow and\nthe sling; and in killing fish with the spear. Their little boats are\ncovered with sealskin, and can hold only one man. But they have larger\nboats formed of wood, covered with the skin of the whale, and which will\ncarry twenty men. Their sails are made of the same materials as their\nshirts; or of the intestines of fish fastened together by fine sinews.\nAnd though they make use of no iron in the construction of their canoes\nor boats, they are put together with so much skill, and so well\ncompacted, that in them they venture out into the wide ocean with\nperfect security. They have no venomous reptiles or insects; but are\nsometimes infested with swarms of gnats. They make use of very large\ndogs for the purpose of drawing their sledges. All the fresh water which\nthey possess they procure from the melted snow.\n\nSuch are the principal particulars which are detailed in the Danish\naccount of Frobisher\u2019s voyage. We will now proceed to relate some\nattempts of the Danes to renew their intercourse with Greenland,\nsubsequent to those which have been previously mentioned, and which\nproved abortive.\n\nChristian IV resolved, if possible, to signalize his reign by the\ndiscovery of that lost settlement, which his father and grandfather had\nsought in vain. For this purpose he sent for an experienced mariner from\nEngland, who had the reputation of being well acquainted with the\nNorthern ocean, and with the route to Greenland. Having procured this\nskilful auxiliary, whose name was John Knight, the Danish monarch\nequipped three stout ships, which he put under the orders of Godske\nLindenau, who sailed from the Sound on the breaking up of the ice in the\nyear 1605. The Englishman, who was appointed to the command of one ship,\nhaving reached the latitude he wished, steered his course to the South\nWest in order to avoid the ice and to make the land with less risk. The\nDanish admiral Lindenau, thinking that the English captain was\ndeviating from the right track by keeping to the South West, continued\nhis route to the North East, and arrived on the coast of Greenland\nwithout either of the other ships. Admiral Lindenau had no sooner come\nto an anchor, than a number of savages put off their boats from the\nshore to visit his ship. The admiral gave them a very hospitable\nreception, and made them a present of some wine, which, however, was not\nagreeable to their taste; and they manifested signs of their dislike.\nThey saw some whale oil, which they expressed a desire to have; and it\nwas accordingly poured out for them in large mugs, which they drank with\navidity and delight.\n\nThese savages possessed a number of skins of the fox, the bear, and the\nseal, with many horns in pieces, ends, and trunks, which they exchanged\nwith the Danes for knives, needles, looking-glasses, and trifles of\ndifferent kinds. They showed no desire for gold or silver money, the\noffer of which provoked their ridicule or excited their contempt. They\nmanifested on the other hand a passionate eagerness for every article of\nsteel manufacture, which they were willing to purchase by the sacrifice\nof their greatest valuables, as of their bows and arrows, their boats\nand oars. When they had nothing more to offer in exchange, they stripped\nthemselves to the skin, and offered to make away with all the clothes\nthey possessed.\n\nGodske Lindenau remained three days in the road, but it is not said that\nhe once went ashore. He was probably afraid of trusting the lives of\nthe small number of persons he had with him in the midst of such a mass\nof savages, by whom they were so greatly outnumbered.\n\nHe took his departure upon the fourth day; but before he set sail he\nsecured two of the natives on board his ship in order to carry them to\nDenmark; but they made so many violent efforts to escape, that it became\nnecessary to secure them by cords in order to prevent them from plunging\ninto the sea. When the savages upon the beach saw two of their\ncountrymen made prisoners and fastened to the deck of the Danish vessel,\nthey discharged a shower of stones and arrows upon the Danes, who were\nobliged to terrify them to a distance by firing off one of their great\nguns. The admiral returned to Denmark by himself, without knowing what\nhad befallen the other two ships, with which he had originally embarked.\n\nThe Danish account of this expedition says, that the English captain\nwith the two Danish vessels, which had separated from that under\nLindenau, reached the coast at the Southern extremity of Greenland, or\nCape Farewell. It is also certain that the English commander entered\nDavis\u2019s Straits, and coasted along the shore to the East. He discovered\na number of good harbours, a fine country, and verdant plains. The\nsavages in this part of Greenland carried on some traffic with him; as\nthose upon the other side had done with Lindenau; but they exhibited\nmore distrust; for they had no sooner received the Danish commodities in\nexchange for their own than they took to their boats with as much\nprecipitation as if they were pursued by an enemy.\n\nThe Danes armed themselves for the purpose of making a landing in one of\nthe bays. The soil, where they went ashore, appeared to be a mixture of\nsand and rock, like that of Norway. Some fumes exhaled from the earth\nmade them suppose that there were mines of sulphur in the neighbourhood;\nand they found many pieces of silver ore, which yielded twenty-six\nounces of silver to the hundred weight of ore.\n\nThe English captain, who discovered many fine harbours or bays along\nthis coast, gave them Danish names, and before his departure made a\nchart of what he had seen. He also directed four of the best formed\nsavages, whom the Danes could seize, to be conveyed on board his ship.\nOne of these four natives became so outrageous, that the Danes, not\nbeing able to haul him along, knocked him on the head with the but end\nof their muskets. This intimidated the three others, who followed\nwithout farther resistance.\n\nBut the natives of the place, who had beheld one of their companions put\nto death, and three made prisoners, united themselves in a body to\navenge the one and to rescue the others. They pursued the Danes to the\nshore in order to execute these resolutions, and to prevent their\nembarkation. The Danes, however, saved themselves and their boats by a\ntimely use of their fire-arms, which diffused great terror among the\nenemy. They now made good their retreat to their ships, and returned to\nDenmark with the three captured Greenlanders, whom they presented to the\nking, and who were found to be much better made and more civilized than\nthose whom Godske Lindenau had imported. They also differed in manners,\nlanguage, and dress.\n\nThe Danish monarch, who was gratified by the result of this first\nexpedition, dispatched the same Admiral Lindenau to Greenland with five\nstout vessels in the following year, 1606. He departed from the Sound\nupon the 8th of May; having on board his ship the three savages whom the\nEnglish captain had conveyed away, in order to serve as interpreters and\nguides. One of these savages fell sick and died during the voyage; and\nhis body was thrown overboard. Godske Lindenau took the same route\nwhich the English captain had observed, and passed by Cape Farewell into\nDavis\u2019s Straits. One of his five ships was lost sight of in a fog; but\nthe four others arrived in Greenland. The natives showed themselves in\ngreat numbers upon the coast, but manifested no inclination to trade, or\nto trust the Danes, who, in their turn, showed the same want of\nconfidence. This obliged the latter to proceed higher up the coast,\nwhere they discovered a finer harbour than that which they had left; but\nthey found the natives as suspicious and intractable as at the former\nstation, and indicating a determination to resort to force if the Danes\nattempted to land.\n\nThe Danes, not willing to hazard a landing in such inauspicious\ncircumstances, sailed to a greater distance. As they proceeded along the\ncoast, they met some of the natives in their canoes. They surprised six\nof these at different times, and took them on board along with their\ncanoes and little equipments.\n\nThe Danes, having afterwards cast anchor in a third bay, one of the\nattendants of Godske Lindenau, who was a hardy and enterprising veteran,\nsolicited the permission of his master to proceed alone to the shore, in\norder to reconnoitre the land, and, if possible, to establish some\nintercourse with the savages. But this unfortunate valet had no sooner\nset his foot upon the beach than he was seized, stabbed, and hacked in\npieces by the natives; who, after this atrocity, retired out of the\nreach of the Danish guns.\n\nThese savages had knives and swords made of the horns or teeth of that\nfish which they call unicorn, and which they ground to an edge upon a\nstone; nor were they less sharp than if they had been made of iron or\nsteel.\n\nGodske Lindenau, not finding it practicable to establish any amicable\ncommunication with the people of this district, set sail for Denmark;\nbut of the six Greenlanders whom he had recently forced on board, one\nwas pierced with such regret at the thought of never more seeing his\nnative home, that he threw himself into the ocean in a paroxysm of\ndespair. Upon their return the Danes had the pleasure of rejoining the\nfifth ship, which had disappeared in a fog; but they had been only five\ndays together when they were all separated by a storm; and a month\nelapsed before they could re-unite when the tempest had passed away.\nThey arrived at Copenhagen upon the 5th of the following October, after\nhaving experienced many awful perils and hairbreadth escapes.\n\nThe King of Denmark, who deserves praise for his perseverance, now\ndetermined upon a third expedition to Greenland. He accordingly ordered\ntwo large ships to be fitted out, which he placed under the command of a\nCaptain Karsten Richkardisen, a native of Holstein, whom he furnished\nwith some sailors from Norway and Iceland that were acquainted with the\nnavigation. These vessels sailed from the Sound on the 12th of May, but\nthe Danish Chronicle has not stated in what year; nor was it known to\nPeyrere. On the 8th of June Richkardisen discovered the high points of\nthe Greenland mountains; but he was prevented from landing by the rocks\nof ice which ran out far into the sea and rendered the coast\ninaccessible. He was therefore obliged to return without accomplishing\nthe object of his voyage, as he despaired of being able to penetrate the\nicy barrier which blockaded the shore. No similar attempt has hitherto\nbeen successful; and the Eastern coast of Greenland, though for several\ncenturies well known to, and habitually visited by, the Norwegians and\nDanes, is, at present, a _terra incognita_, notwithstanding the spirit\nof European adventure and the zeal of modern discovery.\n\nThe King of Denmark caused particular attention to be paid to the three\nsavages who had survived the preceding, and the five who had been\nimported by the last expedition to Greenland. They were fed upon milk,\nbutter, and cheese, as well as upon raw flesh and raw fish, to which\nthey had been accustomed at home. They appeared to have an invincible\nrepugnance to our baked bread and dressed meat; nor did they relish any\nkind of wine so much as the oil and grease of the whale. They often\nturned a wishful and desponding look to the North; and sighed so\nanxiously to return to the place of their nativity, that, whenever they\nwere watched with less vigilance than usual, those who had an\nopportunity seized any boat that was at hand and put to sea, regardless\nof the dangers they had to encounter. A storm once overtook some of\nthese intrepid adventurers at ten or twelve leagues from the Sound, and\nforced them back to the coast of Schonen, where they were made prisoners\nby the peasantry and conveyed back to Copenhagen. This caused them to be\nguarded with more rigour, and kept under greater restraint. But three of\nthem fell sick and died of grief.\n\nFive of these savages were alive and well when a Spanish Ambassador made\nhis appearance in Denmark; and the Danish Monarch, in order to divert\nthis stranger, caused these native Greenlanders to exhibit their\nman\u0153uvres in their little canoes upon the sea. The Spanish Ambassador\nwas quite delighted with the address which they displayed, and with the\nextraordinary celerity with which they glided over the waves. He made a\npresent in money to each of the savages, which they expended in\nequipping themselves in the Danish fashion. They were accordingly seen\nbooted and spurred, with large feathers in their hats; and in these\nhabiliments they proposed to serve in the cavalry of the Danish King.\n\nBut these high spirits of the Greenlanders lasted only for a short time;\nfor they soon relapsed into their usual melancholy. They became entirely\nabsorbed with the idea of returning to their native country; and two of\nthem having obtained possession of their little boats put out to sea.\nThey were pursued, but only one of them was taken, and the other\nprobably perished in the waves; for it cannot be supposed that he ever\nreturned to the land of his fathers. With respect to one of the savages,\nit was remarked, that he shed tears whenever he beheld a child at the\nbreast; from which it was supposed, that he had left a wife and children\nat home.\n\nOf these surviving savages two pined away with regret. The two others\nlived ten or twelve years in Denmark after the decease of their\ncompanions. No pains were spared to reconcile them to their condition,\nbut without success. One of them died of an illness, brought on by being\nemployed in diving for the pearl muscle, during the depth of winter. His\ncompanion, who was inconsolable for his loss, again seized a boat and\nmade an effort to escape from captivity. He had passed the Sound before\nhe could be retaken, but he lived only a short time after this last\nattempt to recover his liberty.\n\nPeyrere says, that an attempt was made to convert these savages to the\nChristian faith, but that they could never be brought to learn the\nDanish language; and he remarks, with much simplicity, that \u201cla foi\nestant de l\u2019o\u00fcye, il fut impossible de leur faire comprendre nos\nmysteres.\u201d \u201cFaith,\u201d says he, \u201ccoming from hearing, it was impossible to\nmake them comprehend our mysteries.\u201d He adds, that those who narrowly\nwatched their actions often saw them lift up their eyes to Heaven, and\nworship the Sun.\n\nThe Danish Monarch desisted from any farther attempt to discover Old\nGreenland; but some merchants at Copenhagen formed themselves into a\nGreenland Company, for the purpose of establishing a traffic with that\npart of the world. In 1636 this Company fitted out two ships, which\nvisited that part of the coast of New Greenland which is washed by\nDavis\u2019s Straits. When they cast anchor, eight savages came off to them\nin their little canoes. The Danes had displayed their knives, mirrors,\nand other articles upon the deck, to which the savages had also conveyed\ntheir furs, skins, and fish horns; but a gun having been inconsiderately\nfired, in order to celebrate the drinking of some particular health,\nthese native traders were so frightened that they instantly leaped into\nthe sea, from which they did not emerge till they had proceeded to two\nor three hundred yards from the ship.\n\nThe Danes at last succeeded in appeasing the apprehensions of the\nGreenlanders, and in alluring them again on board their vessels. The\nDanish commander having remarked an inlet of the coast where there was a\nbank of sand, which bore a strong resemblance to gold, his cupidity made\nhim imagine, that he had discovered a mine of wealth. He lost no time in\nfilling his ship with this fancied gold dust, and made the best of his\nway to Denmark, exulting in dreams of visionary opulence.\n\nBut the master of the Greenland Company, who was less credulous than the\ncaptain of the expedition, having caused this precious sand to be\nexamined by the goldsmiths at Copenhagen, they were not able to extract\nfrom the whole mass a single particle of gold. The captain was\naccordingly ordered, to his great mortification, to throw the whole of\nthis valuable lading into the sea.\n\nIn this last expedition to Greenland the Danes secured and carried off\ntwo of the natives before they left the coast. When they had reached the\nopen sea, the Danes released these captives from their bonds, when,\nfinding themselves free from restraint, the love of liberty prevailed\nover every other sentiment, and they plunged into the waves in order to\nregain their native shore. But that shore was too remote for them to\nreach, and they perished in the vain attempt. It is pleasant to\ncontemplate that sentiment, which attaches us to our native land,\noperating alike in all regions and climes, and attaching the human being\nto a country of almost invincible sterility and perpetual frost, as well\nas to one where there are the richest products and the most genial\nseasons.\n\nIn the year 1654 a ship was sent to Greenland, under the command of\nDavid Nelles, the success of which terminated in carrying off three\nnative women from the open part of the Eastern coast. The last voyage,\nwhich was not more successful than the preceding, was made in the year\n1670. This expedition was fitted out by order of Christian V, and was\ncommanded by Captain Otto Axelson; but Crantz[19] says, \u201cWe have no\naccount of its issue;\u201d and, according to Torf\u00e6us, Axelson never returned\nto tell what he had seen.\n\nNone of the expeditions which have sailed from Denmark, or other\ncountries, have been successful in recovering the knowledge of that part\nof the Eastern coast which was peopled by settlers from Iceland and\nNorway, and is denominated Old Greenland. In the account which the\nIcelandic Chronicle gives of the ancient route, it is stated, that half\nway between Iceland and Greenland there was a cluster of little islands,\nor rocks, called Gondebiurne Skeer, which were inhabited by bears. The\ndrifting ice has probably collected round these islands, and been so\npetrified by successive accumulations as to become impenetrable to the\nsun.\n\nPeyrere, whose account of Greenland has been generally followed in this\nIntroduction, tells us, that he was once inclined to believe, that\nGodske Lindenau had actually reached the coast of Old Greenland in his\nfirst voyage, and that the savages whom he carried off were descendants\nof the first Norwegian settlers, whose remains have been so anxiously\nsought. But this impression was effaced by the information of many\npersons who had seen these savages at Copenhagen, and who assured him,\nthat they had not the smallest resemblance to the Danes or Norwegians in\ntheir language and manners, and that the Danes and Norwegians could not\nunderstand a word that these native Greenlanders uttered.\n\nIn the expedition to Greenland, which was undertaken in the year 1636,\nthe natives upon the western coast, who had some traffic with the Danes,\nwere asked, whether there were any inhabitants like themselves beyond\nthe mountains which were seen in the distance. The savages replied by\nsigns, that there were more people beyond the mountains than there were\nhairs on their heads; and that they were men of large stature, with\ngreat bows and arrows, who destroyed every body that came in their way.\n\nThe knowledge which the Danes have at any period acquired respecting the\npeople or the products of Greenland, never extended beyond a narrow slip\nof territory along the coast. They knew nothing of the remote interior\nof the country from actual observation; and their settlements occupied\nonly a very small comparative portion of the whole. Much is still left\nto be explored; but the nature of the country itself opposes such an\naccumulation of obstacles to the research of the traveller, that they\nare not soon likely to be overcome. More, however, of the coast will\nprobably soon be discovered than has ever previously been explored; or,\nif explored, it has at least been concealed for many centuries. When the\nenterprizing spirit of an English navigator is directed to that quarter\nof the world, we feel a firm confidence, that nothing will be left\nuntried, which skill or courage can effect, to extend our acquaintance\nwith these Northern regions, and to make valuable additions to our\npresent stock of information respecting the countries in the more\nimmediate vicinity of the North Pole.\n\n\n\n\nSKETCH\n\nOF THE\n\nLIFE OF HANS EGEDE.\n\n\nThe Author of the present Volume was born in Denmark, on the 31st of\nJanuary, in the year 1686. He was educated for the Christian ministry,\nand became pastor to a congregation at Vogen, in Norway, and appears for\nsome time to have exercised the same functions at Drontheim, in that\nkingdom. In an early period of his ministry he was seized with a strong\ndesire of making himself acquainted with the fate of the Norwegian\nfamilies who had formerly been settled in Greenland, and of whom no\nintelligence had been received for several centuries. All the inquiries\nwhich he could make led to the conclusion, that that part of the coast\nwhere these settlements had formerly existed had been rendered\ninaccessible by the ice; and that the ancient settlers had been\ndestroyed either by the effects of the climate or the hostility of the\nnatives. But these unfavourable representations did not repress the\nardour of Egede to embark in this perilous undertaking; and either to\ndiscover the old Norwegian settlements, or to form a new one, and to\ndevote his life to the instruction of the barbarous and uncivilized\nGreenlanders in the salutary truths of the Christian doctrine.\n\nHe was a man of warm temperament, and mingled with such a portion of\nenthusiasm as does not readily suffer its exertions to be relaxed by\ndifficulties, or the hopes which it has conceived to be extinguished by\ninauspicious circumstances. For many years he attempted in vain to\ninterest the Danish government in the furtherance of the scheme which he\nhad conceived. His memorials were disregarded, and his proposals were\nconsidered as visionary and impracticable. But at last Frederick IV,\nKing of Denmark, issued an order to the magistrates at Bergen to make\ninquiries of all the masters of vessels and traders, who had been in\nDavis\u2019s Straits, concerning the state of the traffic with Greenland;\nand, at the same time, to learn their opinion about forming a new\nsettlement upon that coast. But the answer which they returned was not\nat all favourable to the wishes of our author, and the project seemed\nnever likely to be accomplished.\n\nAfter more ineffectual attempts, his perseverance at last triumphed over\nevery obstacle; and he persuaded some merchants and others to subscribe\nsome small sums, out of which he collected a capital of about 2000_l._\nOf this inconsiderable sum he himself had furnished about 60_l._, which\nconstituted his little all. With these slender means, which seemed\ntotally inadequate to the undertaking, a ship was purchased, called the\nHope, in which Egede was to be conveyed to Greenland, and to lay the\nfoundation of the meditated establishment. But, in the spring of 1721,\nthe Danish monarch, who had been brought to think more favourably of the\nexpedition, appointed Mr. Egede to be pastor of the new colony, and\nmissionary to the Heathen, with a pension of 60_l._ a year, and 40_l._\nfor his immediate exigencies.\n\nEgede embarked for Greenland, with his wife and four small children,\nupon the 12th of May, 1721; and he landed in Ball\u2019s River, in the 64th\ndegree of North latitude, upon the 3d of July, in the same year. The\ncompany on board the ship consisted of forty persons. They lost no time\nin building a house of stone and earth, upon an island near Kangek,\nwhich they called Haabets Oe, or Hope Island, after the name of the ship\nin which they had made the voyage.\n\nThe conduct of Egede as a missionary deserves the highest praise. He\nconciliated the confidence of the natives, ministered to their wants,\nlearned their language, and gradually introduced some additional rays of\nintellectual light into their minds.\n\n\u201cAs soon,\u201d says Crantz, vol. i. p. 286, \u201cas he new the word _kina_, i.\ne. what is this? he asked the name of every thing that presented itself\nto the senses, and wrote it down.\u201d But his children, by continually\nconversing with the children of the natives, learned the language,\nparticularly the pronunciation, with much more facility than himself;\nand he was enabled to make considerable use of their proficiency in the\nvernacular tongue of the country, in promoting the purposes of his\nmission.\n\nUpon the death of Frederick IV, and the accession of Christian VI, the\nDanish government, dissatisfied with the expense which the settlement in\nGreenland had occasioned, and the faint prospect which appeared of any\nadequate remuneration from the trade with that country, issued, in 1731,\na mandate for the relinquishment of the colony, and the return of the\nsettlers. But this zealous missionary resolved not to abandon the good\nwork which he had begun; and though most of the settlers left the coast\nin the ship which had been sent to conduct them home, he remained behind\nwith ten seamen whom he had persuaded to adopt the same determination.\nThe Danish monarch, either sympathising with his constancy, or moved by\nhis entreaties, assisted him with some supplies in the following year;\nand in the year 1733 he was cheered by the assurance that the mission\nshould be more effectually supported, and the trade with Greenland more\nvigorously prosecuted than it had hitherto been.\n\nWhen the advanced age, or rather the growing infirmities of Egede, which\nhad been increased by the corporeal toils he had undergone, and the\nmental solicitudes he had experienced, no longer permitted him to\ncontinue his former occupation, his eldest son Paul became his successor\nin the mission. After an abode of fifteen years in this sterile region\nand inclement climate, he returned to Copenhagen in the year 1736.\nThough he had relinquished the mission, he was not inattentive to its\ninterests; for he devoted much of his time, after his return, to the\ninstruction of young missionaries in the language of Greenland. He also\ncomposed a grammar and a dictionary of that language, into which he\ntranslated the New Testament for the use of the mission and the benefit\nof the natives. He published the Description of Greenland, which is\ncontained in the present Volume, at Copenhagen, in the Danish language,\nthe year preceding his death, which took place in 1758[20].\n\n\n\n\nA\n\nDESCRIPTION\n\nOF\n\nGREENLAND:\n\n\nShowing\n\nTHE NATURAL HISTORY, SITUATION, BOUNDARIES, AND\nFACE OF THE COUNTRY;\nTHE NATURE OF THE SOIL;\nTHE RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE OLD NORWEGIAN COLONIES;\nTHE ANCIENT AND MODERN INHABITANTS;\nTHEIR GENIUS AND WAY OF LIFE, AND PRODUCE\nOF THE SOIL;\nTHEIR PLANTS, BEASTS, FISHES, &C.\n\n\nBY HANS EGEDE,\n\nMISSIONARY IN THAT COUNTRY FOR TWENTY-FIVE YEARS.\n\n\nTRANSLATED FROM THE DANISH.\n\n\n\n\nTO\n\nHIS MOST SERENE ROYAL HIGHNESS\n\nFREDERICK,\n\nHEREDITARY PRINCE, SUCCESSOR TO THE CROWN OF DENMARK AND NORWAY.\n\n\n\nMAY IT PLEASE YOUR MOST SERENE\n\n    ROYAL HIGHNESS,\n\n_As I took the freedom most humbly to address to the King your Royal\nFather an account of the Greenland Mission\u2019s beginning and propagation,\nwhich his Majesty with so glorious a zeal protects and encourages; so\nlikewise, with the same most humble submission, I presume to offer to\nyour most Serene Royal Highness this present survey or Natural History\nof Greenland; endeavouring by this means to insinuate and recommend to\nyour Royal Highness\u2019s favour and protection so pious an undertaking;\nbecause the poor Greenlanders have a right to claim your protection, as\nwell as the kingdoms of Denmark and Norway, and are in hopes of\nenjoying, one day, the greatest blessings under your happy reign._\n\n_This little Work cannot fail of a gracious reception from your Royal\nHighness, as it aims only at, and is calculated for, the honour of God\nand your Royal Family\u2019s exaltation; the last of which wholly depends on\nand necessarily follows the first; for when the poor Greenlanders shall\nhave learned to know and worship God as their Creator and Redeemer,\nthen they will likewise learn to acknowledge and honour a Christian\nSovereign as their king and ruler, through whose most Christian care and\nbeneficence they have been brought to the knowledge of Salvation._\n\n_May the Kingdom of God daily increase, and be spread far and wide,\nunder the government of your Royal House. May the word of God run\nswiftly under the sway of its sceptre, as it doth in the East, so also\nnow in the coldest North._\n\n_That it may please Almighty God to make your Royal Highness\u2019s name as\nthe name of the great and mighty ones upon Earth; that he may establish\nand powerfully support the Royal Hereditary Throne, and place you as a\nblessing before his face to all eternity, are the hearty wishes and\nprayers of_\n\n                     _Your Serene Royal Highness\u2019s\n                            most obedient,\n                             most humble,\n                               and most devoted\n                                 Subject and Servant_,\n\n                                     HANS EGEDE.\n\nCopenhagen, July 20, 1741.\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nA friend of mine, who lived some time in Greenland, published (unknown\nto me) some years ago, a Description of Greenland, under the title of A\nNew Survey of Old Greenland, which, not long after my arrival in those\nparts, I had sketched, to satisfy some of my friends, according to the\nknowledge I then had acquired; but having since that time got a fuller\nlight in these matters, partly by my own observations and partly by\nthose of my Son Paul Egede, who has been four years missionary in the\nNorth West colony of Greenland, I have found it necessary to perfect and\nenlarge this little Work in embryo, under the same title that it made\nits first appearance, with some useful Additions, and with a new\ncontrived Map of the country, that the reader may the better comprehend\nwhat he finds in this Sketch.\n\nThough Greenland be a country of a vast extent, yet it affords but a\nnarrow field for any observation or remarks of consequence; there being\nno strong or well built towns to meet with; no well ordered polity or\ncivil government; no fine arts and sciences, or the like; but only a\nnumber of mean, wretched, and ignorant Gentiles, who live and improve\nthe land according to their low capacity.\n\nI must own, that Greenland, in its present state and condition,\ncompared with other countries, is but very mean and poor, though not yet\nso despicable and wretched but it may, using care and industry, not only\nrichly maintain its own inhabitants, but also communicate to others out\nof the remainder of its products.\n\nAs for the land in itself, it yields little or nothing, not being\nmanured or cultivated, but lies altogether waste and untilled;\nnevertheless the ancient histories and accounts, yet extant, of the\nland, make it appear, that it is not unfit for several products; and\ntherefore I do not question but it might retrieve the loss of its former\nplenty and fruitfulness, should it come to be well settled again, and\ncultivated. But as to the seas, they yield more plenty and wealth of all\nsorts of animals and fishes than in most other parts of the world,\nwhich may turn to very great profit; witness the exceeding great riches\nmany nations have gathered, and are still gathering, from the whale\nfishery, and the capture of seals and morses, or sea horses.\n\nThus it is confessed, that Greenland is a country not unworthy of\nkeeping and improving. And this has been the well grounded opinion of\nour late monarchs of Denmark, and many of their chief counsellors, who\nhave made so much of Greenland, that they have spared no costs in\nfitting out several ships for its discovery, of which hereafter farther\nnotice shall be taken. This discovery has been chiefly undertaken to the\nend, that the Christian religion, which has been unfortunately worn out\nin these parts of the world, might again be re-established, and the poor\ninhabitants, _viz._ the offspring of the old Northern Christians, if\nthrough God\u2019s mercy any such may yet be found there, as true subjects to\nDenmark and Norway, might be assisted and comforted both as to body and\nsoul. And although these most laudable endeavours of those glorious\nmonarchs, of pious and blessed memory, have not had all the success one\ncould desire, yet they have opened the way for fresh attempts of the\nsame nature, which (God be thanked) have not been lost, inasmuch as the\nWestern coast of Greenland (by the Danes called Westerbygd) not only has\nbeen fully discovered, but also several new lodges have been there\nerected, and the holy word of God has been preached, with God\u2019s\nblessing, to these ignorant Heathens, that dwell in those places where\nChristianity has been quite extinct and forgot. All this ought to\nencourage us to continue our endeavours to discover the Eastern shore,\nwhere it is confessed the chief colony has been seated; and perhaps the\noffspring of the old Norwegians and Icelanders may be recovered; which I\ndo not think impossible, provided we go on in the right way, as I hope\nto show in the following treatise.\n\nHow praiseworthy and glorious an enterprize would it be, to undertake so\ngreat and wholesome a work, chiefly in regard to these unhappy people,\nwho, by a just judgment of God, now for upwards of three hundred years,\nhave been debarred all communication with Christians; which to remedy\nnot only our civil but Christian duty obliges us. It becomes us\ntherefore heartily to pray God Almighty, that he will be pleased to\nappease his wrath kindled against these poor wretches, and to disclose\nto our most gracious sovereign, and to other well intentioned\nChristians, the best way and means to this country\u2019s discovery and\nhappy restitution. And though we should fail of success, in still\nmeeting with the aforesaid offspring of the old Norwegian and Iceland\nChristians, who, for aught we know, may be all extinct and destroyed, as\nwe found it on the West coast; yet, for all that, I should not think all\nour labour lost, nor our costs made to no purpose, as long as it may be\nfor the good and advantage of those ignorant Heathens, that live there;\nto whom we have reason to hope our most gracious sovereign will also\nextend his fatherly clemency, and Christian zeal, to provide for their\neternal happiness, as he so graciously has done for those on the Western\nshore; seeing that by these means the old ruined places might anew be\nprovided with colonies and inhabitants, which would prove no small\nadvantage to the king and his dominions. This my well meant project,\nthat God in his mercy will advance and promote, to the honour of his\nmost Holy Name, and the enlightening and saving of these poor souls, is\nthe sincere desire of\n\n                                                            HANS EGEDE.\n\n\n\n\nTHE\n\nNATURAL HISTORY\n\nOF\n\nGreenland.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n_Of the Situation and Extent of Greenland._\n\n\nGreenland lies but forty miles to the West of Iceland, beginning from\n59\u00b0 50\u00b4 North Latitude. The Eastern coast extends itself in the North as\nfar as Spitzbergen, between 78\u00b0 and 80\u00b0; which is thought to be an\nisland, separated from the continent of Greenland. The Western shore is\ndiscovered as far as seventy odd degrees. Whether it be a large island,\nor borders upon countries to the North, is not yet found out; there\nseems great reason to believe it is contiguous to America on the North\nWest side; because there we meet with the bay or inlet, which in the sea\ncharts is called Davis\u2019s Straits, from an Englishman, who in the year\n1585 was the first discoverer of it; and is yearly frequented by ships\nof different nations, on account of the Whale Fishery: but nobody as yet\nhas been able to find out the bottom of it. And according to the notice\nwe have endeavoured to gather from those Greenlanders who live farthest\nto the North, there is either but a very narrow passage between America\nand Greenland, or, as is most likely, they are quite contiguous[21]:\nand I am the more inclined to believe this, because the farther you go\nNorthward in the said Strait, the lower is the land; contrary to what we\nobserve where it borders on the seas or main ocean, it never wants lofty\npromontories. It has been the commonly received opinion, of a long\nstanding, that Greenland borders upon the Asiatic Tartary and Muscovia\non the North East: what confirms them in this notion is an old story\nthey give credit to, that a certain Harrald goat did travel by land,\nover mountains and rocks, from Greenland to Norway, bringing along with\nhim a she goat, of whose milk he lived on the journey; by which he got\nthe surname of Harrald goat. Furthermore, the ancient Greenland\nChristians, in their Chronicles, relate, that there were come to them\nfrom the Northern parts, foreign rein deer and sheep, marked upon the\nears, and with some marks tied to their horns; from which they\nconcluded, that the Northern parts of Greenland were also\ninhabited.--Vid. Theodore Torlaccius. But the contrary is proved by\nlater experiments made by the navigation of Dutchmen and others to the\nNorth.--See Zordrager\u2019s Greenland Fishery, Part ii, ch. 10.\n\nGreenland is a high and rocky country, always covered with ice and snow\n(except on the sea side, and in the bays or inlets) which never thaws\nnor melts away. You may judge of the height by the prospect they yield\nat more than twenty Norway miles distance from the shore. The whole\ncoast is surrounded with a vast number of large and small islands. There\nare a great many inlets and large rivers to be met with, among which the\nprincipal is called Baal\u2019s River, in 64\u00b0, and has been navigated\neighteen or twenty Norway miles up the country; where the first Danish\nlodge was settled in the year 1721. In all sea charts you will find\nlaid down Frobisher\u2019s Strait and Baer Sound which they pretend, form two\nlarge islands, adjacent to the main land; which I think are not to be\nfound, at least not upon the coast of Greenland; for I could not meet\nwith any thing like it in the voyage I undertook in the year 1723\nSouthward, going upon discoveries; though I went as far as to 60\u00b0 that\nway: but at present the newer charts lay them down, the Northern strait\nin 63\u00b0, and the Southern in 62\u00b0. Some of the ancients, whom Thormoder\nfollows in his Greenland History, place them between 61\u00b0 and 60\u00b0. So\nthat the charts differ mightily in this particular. Besides this, there\nis not a word or a syllable mentioned in our ancient records of\nGreenland of the aforesaid two straits and large islands: they only\ninform us, that after the old Norwegians and Icelanders had began to\nsettle colonies on the East side of Greenland, over against Iceland,\nthey continued to spread themselves all along the shore and in the bays,\nas far as Baal\u2019s River, where they stopped, and where we find many ruins\nof the old Norwegian edifices. And whereas I myself have lately met\nwith so many stone buildings, so far to the South, I think my conclusion\nis good, that the land upon which these houses stand is no particular\nisland, but contiguous to the main. It is therefore very reasonable to\nbelieve, that whereas the ancients took notice of, and so accurately\ndescribed, all those bays and islands that were inhabited, they would\nnot have passed by in silence these two large islands upon which such\nstately buildings were erected. And for this reason I have hereto joined\na new map or delineation of Greenland, to show the contiguity of the\nEast and West Greenland, agreeably to other new charts of Thormoder and\nothers, which I follow, as far as I find them not contradictory to the\ndescription of the ancients and to my own experience.\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. II.\n\n     _First Settlement of Greenland, with some Thoughts on the\n     Extinction of the Norwegian Colonies; and whether on the East Side\n     no Remainders may be found of the old Norwegians: also, whether the\n     same Tract of Land cannot be recovered._\n\n\nIt is undoubted that the ancients, not so much driven by any necessity\nor compulsion as led by a natural and inbred curiosity, embarked upon\nmany strange ventures; as for instance, to discover and settle colonies\nin so many formerly quite unknown and uninhabited countries, to whose\ndiscovery what particular accidents have most contributed we learn by\nthe several histories and descriptions thereof. For the Almighty and\ngood God, who has not in vain created the vast globe of the Earth, has\nalso not intended, that any part or province of it should lie buried in\neternal oblivion, useless to mankind. And that Greenland by such means\nhas been discovered and inhabited by our old Norwegians and Icelanders,\nwe are fully informed by the annals of Iceland; where we read, that the\nbrave and valiant Erick Raude (or red) who was the first discoverer of\nthis country, after he, in company with several other Icelanders, in the\nyear of our Lord 982, by mere casualty fell in with the land, and had\ntaken a survey of its present state, he returned to Iceland the next\nyear, 983, spoke much in commendation of the land, calling it the\nGreenland, by which he persuaded many of his countrymen to follow him\nthither, in order to find out places fit for dwelling, and to settle\nthere[22]. They no sooner were arrived and settled here, but they found\nGod was come along with them; I mean the saving knowledge of his most\nholy Word. For the said Erick Raude\u2019s son, called Leif, after he had\nbeen instructed in the Gospel truths by King Olaf (who was the first\nChristian king of Norway), brought along with him from Norway to\nGreenland a priest, who taught and christened all the inhabitants of the\ncountry. Thus this country has first been settled by Norway and Iceland\ncolonies, which, in after-times, have increased and been provided with\nmany churches and convents, bishops and teachers; which lasted as long\nas the correspondence and navigation continued between them and Norway,\nuntil the year 1406, when the last bishop was sent over to Greenland.\nYet the Norwegians were not the original natives of the land; for, not\nlong after their arrival, they met with the old inhabitants, a savage\npeople dwelling on the Western shore, originally descended from the\nAmericans, as may with great probability be gathered from the agreement\nof their persons, customs, and habits with those who dwell to the North\nof Hudson\u2019s Bay; as likewise while those, that inhabited the Northern\nparts (now known by the name of Davis\u2019s Straits), advanced nearer and\nnearer to the South, and often made war upon the Norwegians. Concerning\nthe cause of the ruin and total destruction of that so well established\nNorwegian colony there is nothing found upon record; the reason of which\nI think to be, that after all correspondence and navigation ceased\nbetween Greenland and Norway, partly by the change and translation of\nthe government in Queen Margaret\u2019s reign, and partly by the next\nfollowing continual wars between the Danes and Swedes, which caused the\nnavigation to those parts to be laid aside, and chiefly by the great\ndifficulty and innumerable dangers of such navigation; which several\ncauses cut off all intelligence, that might be had of that country\u2019s\nstate, as may be seen in Pontanus and Claudius Lyscander.\n\nThe ancient historians divide Greenland into two parts or districts,\ncalled West Bygd, and East Bygd. As to the West district, which is said\nto have contained four parishes, and one hundred villages, all we find\nin the ancient histories amounts to this, viz. that in the fourteenth\ncentury it was sorely infested by a wild nation called Schrellings, and\nlaid so waste, that when the inhabitants of the Eastern district came to\nthe assistance of the Christians, and to expel the barbarous nation of\nthe Schrellings, who were fallen upon the Christians, they found to\ntheir great astonishment the province quite emptied of its inhabitants,\nand nothing remaining but some cattle and flocks of sheep, straying wild\nand unguarded round about the fields and meadows; whereof they killed a\ngood number, which they brought home with them in their ships. By which\nit appears, that the Norway Christians in the Western district were\ndestroyed, and Christianity rooted out by the savage Heathens. The\nmodern inhabitants of West Greenland, being, no doubt, the offspring of\nthe before mentioned wild and barbarous Schrellings, have no certain\naccount to give us of this matter; though they will tell you, that the\nold decayed dwelling places and villages, whose ruins are yet seen, were\ninhabited formerly by a nation quite different from theirs; and they\nalso affirm, what the ancient histories tell us, that their ancestors\nmade war with them, and destroyed them[23].\n\nNow, as to the Eastern district, its present state is entirely unknown\nto us, as there is no approaching it with any shipping, upon account of\nthe vast quantity of ice, driven from Spitzbergen and other Northern\ncoasts upon this shore, which, adhering to the shore, barricades the\nland, and renders it wholly inaccessible. We may nevertheless gather\nfrom the above-mentioned expedition of the East Greenlanders against the\nSchrellingers, that after the destruction and total overthrow of the\nWestern district and its colonies, the Eastern were yet standing and\nflourishing. But in what year this happened no notice is taken by the\nold historians. Nevertheless, from many tokens and remainders of\nprobable evidence it may be inferred, that the old colony of the Eastern\ndistrict is not yet quite extinct. To the confirmation of which,\nThormoder, in his History of Greenland, alledges the following\npassage:--\n\nBishop Amand, of Shalholt in Iceland (who, anno 1522, had been\nconsecrated, but, anno 1540, again resigned), once returning from Norway\nto Iceland, was by a storm driven Westward upon the coast of Greenland,\nwhich he coasted for some time Northwards, and made land towards the\nevening, finding themselves off Herjolsness. They came so near to the\nshore, that they could descry the inhabitants driving their flocks in\nthe pasture grounds: but as the wind soon after proved fair they made\nall the sail they could, steering for Iceland, which they reached the\nday following, and entered the Bay of St. Patrick, which lies on the\nWest coast of the island, in the morning early, when they were milking\ntheir cows.\n\nBirn of Skarsaa (as we learn by the aforesaid Thormoder Torfager) gives\nthe following relation:--\n\n\u201cIn our time,\u201d says he, \u201cone named John Greenlander, who for a\nconsiderable time had been employed in the service of the Hamburgh\nmerchants, in a voyage from thence to Iceland, met with contrary winds\nand stormy weather, in which he narrowly escaped being cast away, and\nlost with ship and crew upon the dreadful rocks of Greenland, by getting\nin at last to a fine bay, which contained many islands, where he happily\ncame to an anchor under a desert island; and it was not long before he\nspied several other islands not far off, that were inhabited; which, for\nfear of the inhabitants, he for a while did not dare to approach; till\nat last he took courage, and sending his boat on shore, went to the next\nhouse, which seemed but very small and mean. Here he found all the\naccoutrements necessary to fit out a fishing boat; he saw also a fishing\nbooth, or small hut, made up of stones, to dry fish in, as is customary\nin Iceland. There lay a dead body of a man extended upon the ground with\nhis face downwards; a cap sewed together on his head; the rest of his\nclothing was made partly of coarse cloth, and partly of seal skin; an\nold rusty knife was found at his side, which the captain took, in order\nto show it to his friends at his return home to Iceland, to serve for a\ntoken of what he had seen. It is farther said, that this commander was\nthree times by stress of weather driven upon the coasts of Greenland, by\nwhich he obtained the surname of Greenlander.\u201d\n\nThis relation can be of no more than a hundred years standing, as\nTheodore Torlack affirms: because the above mentioned annals, in which\nwe read it, were composed by Biorno of Skarsaa within these thirty\nyears.\n\nThe same author furthermore informs us, that in Iceland there has often\nbeen found, scattered here and there on the sea shore, old broken pieces\nof deal boards, parts of the ribs of boats, which on the side were\ntacked together, and pasted with a sort of pitch or glue made of the\nblubber of seals. Now it is admitted, that this kind of glue is nowhere\nmade use of but in Greenland; and a boat of this make was in the year\n1625 found thrown up, upon a point of land near Reiche Strand, the\nstructure of which was very artificial, joined together with wooden\nnails, not unlike that in which Asmund Kastenrazius, in the year 1189,\nin company with twelve men, crossed over from Greenland to Iceland;\nwhich boat was likewise tacked together with wooden nails, and the\nsinews of animals. The same historian, in his book De Novitiis\nGroenlandorum Indiciis, tell us, that some years ago, they found an oar\nupon the Eastern shore of Iceland, whereon these words were carved in\nRunick characters: _Oft var ek dascedar ek dro dik_, which signifies,\n\u201cOften was I tired, when I carried thee.\u201d Besides this, I find a\nrelation in a German writer, whose name is Dithmarus Blefkenius,\nconcerning a certain monk, born in Greenland, who, as companion to the\nbishop of the place, in the year 1546 made a voyage into Norway, where\nhe lived until the year 1564, and where, the author says, he got\nacquainted and personally conversed with him. This monk told him many\nstrange and surprising things of a Dominican convent in Greenland,\ncalled St. Thomas\u2019s Convent; to which his parents sent him in his youth\nto become a monk of that order. But the truth of this relation is very\nmuch questioned, being, together with several others of Blefkenius\u2019s\nrelations, refuted and gainsaid by Arngrim, in his Treatise, entitled\nAnatome Blefkeniana. Blefkenius\u2019s relation is nevertheless confirmed by\nseveral other authors. Erasmus Franciscus, in his book called East and\nWest India State Garden, in a place where he treats of Greenland tells\nus, that a captain of a Danish ship, by name Jacob Hall, being ordered\nby the King his master to undertake a voyage to Greenland, he touched\nfirst at Iceland, where he from the King\u2019s lieutenant got intelligence\nof Greenland, which before was unknown to him. And that he might the\nmore fully be informed of every thing relating to this matter, a certain\nmonk was sent for to instruct him herein, who was said to be a native of\nGreenland; of whom the said Jacob Hall, in his short description, gives\nthe following account, according to our above-mentioned author, Erasmus\nFransciscus.\n\n     \u201cThere has formerly been a convent in Iceland, called Helgafield,\n     or Holy Mountain, in which, though it was decayed, lived a certain\n     friar, native of Greenland, with a broad and tawny face. This friar\n     was sent for by the King\u2019s lieutenant, in the presence of Jacob\n     Hall, who wanted to be informed of the state of Greenland. The\n     friar accordingly told him, that being very young, he was entered\n     into this convent by his parents; and that he afterwards was\n     commanded by the same bishop, of whom he had received the holy\n     orders, to go along with him from thence to Norway, where he\n     submitted himself to the bishop of Drontheim, to whose authority\n     and jurisdiction all the priests of Iceland were subject; and being\n     returned to his native home, he again retired and shut himself up\n     in his former convent. This is said to have happened in the year\n     1546. He said moreover, that in the convent of St. Thomas, where he\n     also had passed some time, there was a well of burning hot water,\n     which, through pipes, was conveyed into all the rooms and cells of\n     the convent to warm them.\u201d\n\nBut I think there is as much reason to question the authenticity of this\nrelation as of the former, inasmuch as there is no such thing to be\nfound in our Danish archives or annals. Notwithstanding which, what\nconcerns St. Thomas\u2019s convent in particular is confessed, and confirmed\nby the old histories of Greenland. Nicolas Zenetur, a Venetian by birth,\nwho served the King of Denmark in the quality of a sea captain, is said\nby chance to have been driven upon the coast of Greenland in the year\n1380; and to have seen that same Dominican convent. His relation is\nalledged by Kircherus in the following words:--\n\n     \u201cHere is also a Dominican convent to be seen, dedicated to St.\n     Thomas, in whose neighbourhood there is a volcano of a mountain\n     that vomits fire, and at the foot thereof a well of burning hot\n     water. This hot water is not only conveyed by pipes into the\n     convent, and through all the cells of the friars to keep them warm,\n     as with us the rooms are heated by stoves of wood fire or other\n     fuel; but here they also boil and bake their meat and bread with\n     the same. This volcano, or fiery mountain, throws out such a\n     quantity of pumice stone, that it hath furnished materials for the\n     construction of the whole convent. There are also fine gardens,\n     which reap great benefit from this hot water, adorned with all\n     sorts of flowers, and full of fruit. And after the river has\n     watered these gardens, it empties itself into the adjoining bay,\n     which causes it never to freeze, and great numbers of fish and sea\n     fowl flock thither, which yields plentiful provision for the\n     nourishment of the inhabitants.\u201d\n\nOf all the attested relations, that of Biorno of Skarsaa, concerning\nBishop Amund of Skalholt, who was driven upon the coast of Greenland,\ndeserves most to be credited; by which we learn, that the colony of the\nEastern district flourished about one hundred and fifty years after the\ncommerce and navigation ceased between Norway and Greenland; and, for\naught we know, is not yet wholly destitute of its old Norwegian\ninhabitants. We have not been able to get any account of this matter\nfrom the modern Greenlanders, as they entertain no correspondence with\nthose parts: either being hindered by the ice, which renders them\naltogether inaccessible; or else for fear the inhabitants of that\ncountry might kill and devour them; for they represent them as a cruel,\nbarbarous, and inhuman nation, that destroy and eat all foreigners that\nfall into their hands. Yet notwithstanding this, if we may believe the\nrelation of those adventurers, who have coasted a great part of the\nEastern shore, there is no other sort of inhabitants found on this than\non the Western side. But how it comes to pass, that the Eastern\ndistrict, which was so well settled with Norway and Iceland colonies,\nthat it contained twelve large parishes, and one hundred and ninety\nvillages, besides one bishop\u2019s see and two convents, and flourished till\nthe year 1540, at last has been destroyed and laid waste, is what I\ncannot conceive. The opinion of some, that the black plague, so called,\nwhich ravaged the Northern countries in the year 1348, also reached\nGreenland, and made its havock among its Eastern colonies, is without\nany ground or reason; because the commerce was carried into Greenland\nuntil the year 1406; and in 1540 that colony was still subsisting. If\ntherefore this district be destitute or bereft of its old inhabitants,\nit is not unlikely they have undergone the same fatality as the Western\nones, being destroyed by the barbarity of the savage Schrellingers.\n\nA whole century passed from the cessation of all commerce and navigation\nbetween Norway and Greenland, till new adventurers began to apply\nthemselves to the discovery of the Eastern district. The first of those\nwho took this affair to heart was Erick Walkendorff, archbishop of\nDrontheim, who was resolved, at his own charge, to fit out ships for\nthis purpose, but was stopped in this pious design by King Christian the\nSecond, whose disgrace he had incurred. The next was King Frederick the\nFirst, whose mind, as it is reported, was bent upon the said expedition,\nbut it was never put in execution. Christian the Third (as Lyscander\nrelates) sent several ships with the same design, but without making any\ndiscovery. Frederick the Second succeeded his royal father, as well in\nthe government as in his good design about Greenland; on which errand he\nsent Mogens Heinson, a renowned seaman in those days. This adventurer,\nafter he had gone through many difficulties and dangers of storms and\nice, got sight of the land, but could not approach it; whereupon he\nreturned home again, and pretended, that he might have got on shore, if\nhis ship had not been stopped in the midst of its course, by some\nloadstone rocks hidden in the sea, so that he could not proceed though\nhe had a very favourable and strong gale of wind, and no ice to hinder\nhim: which frightened him and made him sail back again to Denmark. But\nthe true loadstone rocks, in my opinion, was the terrible fright he was\nin of not getting safe through the dreadful ice mountains, which\nthreatened him, or else the strong current, which always runs along the\nstates promontory with such violence and rapidity, that it often stops a\nship under full sail, so that the ship can make but little or no way at\nall against it. The cause by others assigned for this strange effect,\nthe fish Remora, which the Northlanders call Kracken, is nothing but a\nfabulous story of the too credulous ancients, and labours under no less\nabsurdities than the former opinion, that rocks of loadstone, laying on\nthe bottom of the sea, can stay the course of a ship that sails on the\nsurface of it.\n\nIn the same year that Mogens Heinson went upon the Greenland discovery,\nthe English histories inform us, that Captain Martin Frobisher, an\nEnglishman, was by the glorious Queen Elizabeth sent upon the same\nerrand. This adventurer got sight of the land, but being partly hindered\nby the ice, which adhered to it, and partly by the shortness of the\nwinter days (for it was late in the year), he could not approach it, and\nso returned to England again. Next year in the spring, he went upon the\nsame expedition with three ships. After having gone through many great\ndangers of the ice and storms, he at length reached the shore, where he\nfound a wild and savage nation; who, when they saw the English coming to\nthem, being frightened, left their huts, and ran away to hide\nthemselves. Some from the highest rocks threw themselves into the sea;\nwhereupon the English entered their huts, where they met with nobody but\nan old woman, and a young one, who was pregnant, and those they carried\naway with them. It is also reported, that they here found some sand\nwhich contained particles of gold and silver, of which they filled\nthree hundred tuns, and brought it home with them to England. As to this\ngold and silver sand, I cannot help questioning whether they found any\nsuch on the Greenland shore, inasmuch as Sir Martin, in the same strain,\nrelates wonderful things of the politeness and civility of a nation that\ndwelt in those parts; of which he says, they were governed by a prince,\nwhom they called Kakiunge; and carried him in state on their shoulders,\nclothed in rich stutfs, and adorned with gold and precious stones, which\ndoes not at all agree with the meanness and coarseness of Greenland and\nits inhabitants; but rather seems to belong to the rich kingdoms of Peru\nand Mexico, where gold and silver abounds; and from whence he may have\nbrought the above-mentioned gold and silver sand.\n\nBut I think it high time to leave such uncertain relations to their\nworth; and turn our thoughts towards the pious endeavours of our most\ngracious sovereigns the Kings of Denmark to discover and recover\nGreenland again. An we find, that after the expeditions of Frederick\nthe Second, Christian the Fourth, his successor, with great cost,\nordered four different expeditions for this discovery. The first was\nundertaken, under the command of Godske Lindenow, with three ships. And,\nas the history tells, Lindenow with his ship arrived upon the East coast\nof Greenland (which I hardly can believe), and found none but wild,\nuncivilised people there, like those Frobisher is said first to have met\nwith. He staid there three days, during which time the wild Greenlanders\ncame to trade with him; changing all sorts of furs and skins with pieces\nof precious horns, against all kinds of small trifling iron ware, as\nknives, scissars, needles, common looking glasses, and other such\ntrifles. When he set sail from thence, there were two Greenlanders\nremaining in the ship, whom he carried off, and brought them home along\nwith him: these as they made all their endeavour to get away from him,\nand sometimes would have jumped into the sea, they were obliged to tie\nand secure them; which, when their countrymen observed, who flocked\ntogether upon the shore, they made a hideous outcry and howling, flung\nstones, and shot their arrows at the sailors, upon which they from the\nship fired a gun, which frightened and dispersed them; and so the ship\nleft them. The two other ships, that set sail in company and under the\ncommand of Lindenow, after they had doubled Cape Farewell, steered\ndirectly for the Strait of Davis; in which navigation they discovered\nmany fine harbours and delightful green meadow lands, but all the\ninhabitants along the coast wild and savage as before. It is pretended\nalso, that they in some places found stones, which contained some silver\nore, which they took along with them; of which one hundred pounds\nyielded twenty-six ounces of silver. (Here again I cannot forbear\nquestioning, whether this silver ore has been found on the Greenland\nshore, or rather over against it on the American coast.) These two ships\nalso brought four savages home with them to Copenhagen.\n\nThe second expedition was made by order of the same King in the year\n1606, with five ships under the conduct of the before-mentioned Admiral\nLindenow; bringing along with them three of the savages (one of them\ndying in the voyage) which they had carried off the year before from\nGreenland. But this time he directed his course to the Westward of Cape\nFarewell, standing for the Straits of Davis; where he, coasting along,\ntook the survey of several places, and then returned home again.\n\nThe third and last expedition of this glorious King was only of two\nships, commanded by Captain Carsten Richards, a Holstenian by birth; he\nspied the land and its high and craggy rocks afar off, but could not\ncome near it on account of the ice; and so, after he had lost his labour\nhe returned home.\n\nThe fourth expedition of King Christian the Fourth, under the conduct of\nCaptain Jens Munck, in the year 1616, was not made for the discovering\nof Greenland but to find out a passage between Greenland and America to\nChina; the misfortunes of which expedition are related by the said\ncommander.\n\nThere was, besides these four expeditions at the King\u2019s cost, a fifth\nundertaken, in the same King\u2019s reign, by a company settled in Copenhagen\nin the year 1636, of which company the president was the lord high\nchancellor, Christian Friis, as Lyscander informs us. Two ships fitted\nout by this company, directing their course to the Westward of\nGreenland, fell in with the Straits of Davis, where they traded for a\nwhile with the savages; but this was not the main concern of the\ncommander, who was acquainted with a coast, whose sand had the colour\nand weight of gold, which he accordingly did not miss, and filled both\ntheir ships with the same. After their return to Copenhagen, the\ngoldsmiths were ordered to make a trial, whether this sand would yield\nany gold or not; who, not being skilful enough to make such a trial,\ncondemned it to be all thrown overboard, which was done by order of the\nhigh chancellor, president of the company. Some part of the said sand\nwas yet kept out of curiosity, out of which an artificer, who afterwards\ncame to Copenhagen, did extract a good deal of pure gold. The honest\nand well-meaning commander, who went upon this adventure, was turned out\nof favour, and died of grief soon after; whereby, not only the treasure\nthey had brought home, but also the knowledge of the place where it was\nto be found, was entirely lost, as he kept this a secret to himself.\n\nIn the year 1654, during the reign of King Frederick the Third, a noble\nand wealthy adventurer, by name Henry Muller, fitted out a ship for\nGreenland, under the command of David de Nelles, who arrived safe in\nGreenland, and brought from thence three women, whose names were\nKunelik, Kabelau, and Sigokou; who, according to the opinion of Bishop\nTorlais, who had perused the said captain\u2019s journal, were taken in the\nneighbourhood of Herjolsness, on the Eastern shore, as Thormoder Torf\u00e6us\npretends; but which I cannot be made to believe. My opinion is, they\nwere brought from the Western shore, near Baal\u2019s River, as some of the\ninhabitants, who are still living, had in fresh remembrance, telling me\ntheir names, as they are laid down in the fore-mentioned Journal.\n\nThe last adventurer, that was sent upon the discovery of Greenland,\naccording to Torf\u00e6us in his History of Greenland, was Captain Otto\nAxelson, in the year 1670, in the reign of Christian V of glorious\nmemory. But what success this adventurer met with he leaves us to guess.\nNevertheless we find, in a manuscript description of Greenland, written\nby Arngrim Vidalin, Part iii, chap. 1, that his said majesty did invite,\nand with great privileges encourage Mr. George Torm\u00fahlen, counsellor of\ncommerce at Bergen, to fit out ships for the said discovery; whereupon\nthe said counsellor not only got ready shipping well stored for such an\nexpedition, but also got together a number of passengers, who resolved\nto go and settle in those parts, whom he provided with all things\nnecessary for that purpose; both provision and ammunition, as well as\nhouses made of timber, ready to be erected in that country. But this\ngreat design miscarried, the ship being taken by the French and brought\ninto Dunkirk.\n\nThus, for a long while, it seemed, that all thought of Greenland was\nlaid aside until the year 1721; when after many well-meant invitations,\nand projects proposed by me to the Greenland company at Bergen in\nNorway, approved and authorised by his late majesty Frederick IV of\nglorious memory, the company thereupon resolved not only to send ships,\nbut also to settle a colony in Greenland in 64\u00b0; when I went over with\nmy whole family and remained there fifteen years. During my stay I\nendeavoured to get all the intelligence that could be procured both by\nsea and land of the present state of the country, and did not lose my\nlabour; for I found some places that formerly were inhabited by the old\nNorwegians, on the Western shore. Which expedition I have lately treated\nof in another treatise, and set out in all its circumstances, and with\nall the difficulties it has laboured under; wherefore I think it need\nnot be here repeated.\n\nBut whereas my main drift and endeavour has been all along chiefly to\ndiscover the Eastern district of Greenland, which always was reckoned\nthe best of our ancient colonies, accordingly I received from the above\nmentioned Greenland company at Bergen a letter, in the year 1723, in\nwhich I was told, that it was his majesty\u2019s pleasure, that the East\ndistrict might likewise be visited and discovered. Which the better to\neffectuate, I took the resolution to make this voyage in person; and\naccordingly I coasted it Southwards, as far as to the States Promontory,\nlooking out for the Strait of Frobisher, which would have been my\nshortest way, according to those charts, which lay the said strait down\nin this place; but such a strait I could not find. Now as it grew too\nlate in the year for me to proceed farther, the month of September being\nnearly at an end, when the winter season begins in those parts,\naccompanied by dreadful storms, I was obliged to return.\n\nIn the year 1724 the directors of the said Bergen company, according to\nhis majesty\u2019s good will and pleasure, fitted out a ship to attempt a\nlanding on the Eastern shore, as had been formerly practised on that\ncoast which lies opposite to Iceland. But the surprising quantity of\nice, which barricadoed the coast, made that enterprise prove abortive\nand quite miscarry, as many others had done. As there was no appearance\nfor ships to approach this shore, the same king, in the year 1728,\nresolved, besides other very considerable expenses, to have horses\ntransported to this colony, in hopes, that with their help they might\ntravel by land to this Eastern district: but nothing was more impossible\nthan this, project, on account of the impracticable, high, and craggy\nmountains perpetually covered with ice and snow, which never thaws.\nAnother new attempt by sea was by order of the said king made in the\nyear 1729, by Lieutenant Richard; who with his ship passed the winter\nnear the new Danish colony, in Greenland, and in his voyage back to\nDenmark made all the endeavours he could to come at the aforesaid shore,\nopposite to Iceland; but all to no purpose, being herein disappointed,\nlike the rest before him.\n\nAll these difficulties and continual disappointments have made most\npeople lose all hopes of succeeding in this attempt: nevertheless, I\nflatter myself to have hit luckily on an expedient, which to me seems\nnot impracticable though hitherto not tried, or at least but lightly\nexecuted; _viz._ to endeavour to coast the land from the States\nPromontory, or (as we call it) Cape Prince Christian, Northwards. The\ninformation I have had of some Greenlanders, who in their boats have\ncoasted a great part of the East side, confirms me in my opinion; for\nalthough an incredible quantity of driven ice yearly comes from\nSpitzbergen or New Greenland along this coast, and passes by the States\nPromontory, which hinders the approaching of ships as far as the ice\nstretches, whereabout the best part of the Norwegian colonies were\nsettled; yet there have been found breaks and open sea near the shore,\nthrough which boats and smaller vessels may pass; and according to the\nrelation of the Greenlanders, as well as agreeably to my own experience,\nthe current, that comes out of the bays and inlets, always running along\nthe shore South Westwards, hinders the ice from adhering to the land,\nand keeps it at a distance from the shore; by which means the\nGreenlanders at certain times, without any hindrance, have passed and\nrepassed part of this coast in their kone boats (so they call their\nlarge boats); though they have not been so far as where the old Norway\ncolonies had their settlement; of which no doubt there are still some\nruins to be seen on this Eastern shore. Furthermore I have been credibly\ninformed by Dutch seamen that frequent these seas, that several of their\nships have at times found the East side of Greenland cleared of the ice\nas far as 62\u00b0; and they had tarried some time among the out rocks on\nthat coast, where they carried on a profitable trade with the savages.\nAnd I myself, in my return from Greenland homewards in the year 1736,\nfound it to be so when we passed the States Promontory and Cape\nFarewell, and stood in near the shore, where at that time there was no\nice to be seen, which otherwise is very uncommon. But as this happens\nso seldom, it is very uncertain and unsafe for any ship to venture so\nfar up under the Eastern shore. But, as I observed a little before, it\nis more safe and practicable to coast it from the Promontory along the\nshore in small vessels; especially if there be a lodge erected in the\nlatitude of between 60\u00b0 and 61\u00b0: and it would be still more convenient,\nif there could be a way and means found likewise to place a lodge on the\nEastern shore in the same latitude. For according to the account the\nancients have left us of Greenland, the distance of ground that lies\nuncultivated between the West and East side is but twelve Norway miles\nby water. See Ivarus Beri\u2019s relation; or, according to a later\ncomputation, it is a journey of six days in a boat. And as the ruins of\nold habitations, which I have discovered between 60\u00b0 and 61\u00b0, are\nwithout doubt in the most Southerly part of the West side, it of\nnecessity follows, that the distance cannot be very great from thence to\nthe most Southern Parts of the Eastern side. Now, if it should be found\npracticable, at certain times, to pass along the shore with boats or\nsmall ships to the East side, to the latitude of 63\u00b0 and 64\u00b0, little\nlodges might be settled here and there with colonies; by which means a\nconstant correspondence might be kept, and mutual assistance given to\none another, though larger ships could not yearly visit every one of\nthem, but only touch at the most Southerly ones. I am also persuaded,\nthat the thing is feasible, and if it should please God in his mercy to\nforward this affair, colonies might be established here, which, without\ngreat trouble, might be supplied yearly with all necessaries.\n\n\n\n\nCHAP III.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n_Treats of the Nature of the Soil, Plants, and Minerals of Greenland._\n\n\nAs to the nature of the soil, we are informed by ancient histories, that\nthe Greenland colonies bred a number of cattle, which afforded them\nmilk, butter, and cheese in such abundance, that a great quantity\nthereof was brought over to Norway, and for its prime and particular\ngoodness was set apart for the King\u2019s kitchen, which was practised until\nthe reign of Queen Margaret. We also read in these histories, that some\nparts of the country yielded the choicest wheat corn, and in the dales\nor valleys the oak trees brought forth acorns of the bigness of an\napple, very good to eat[24]. The woods afforded plenty of game of rein\ndeer, hares, &c. for the sport of huntsmen. The rivers, bays, and the\nseas furnished an infinite number of fishes, seals, morses, and whales;\nof which all the inhabitants make a considerable trade and commerce. And\nthough the country at present cannot boast of the same plenty and\nrichness, as it lies destitute of colonies, cattle, and uncultivated;\nyet I do not doubt, but the old dwelling places, formerly inhabited and\nmanured by the ancient Norway colonies, might recover their former\nfertility, if they were again peopled with men and cattle; inasmuch as\nabout those places there grows fine grass, especially from 60\u00b0 to 65\u00b0.\nIn the great Bay, which in the sea charts goes under the name of Baal\u2019s\nRiver, and at present is called the Bay of Good Hope (from the Danish\ncolony settled near the entrance of this inlet), there are on both sides\nof the colony many good pieces of meadow ground, for the grazing and\npasturing numbers of cattle, besides plenty of provision, which the sea\nas well as the land yields. Trees or woods of any consideration are\nrarely met with; yet I have found in most of the bays underwoods and\nshrubs in great quantity, especially of birch, elm, and willows, which\nafford sufficient fuel for the use of the inhabitants, The largest wood\nI have seen is in the latitude of 60\u00b0 and 61\u00b0, where I found birch trees\ntwo or three fathom high, somewhat thicker than a man\u2019s leg or arm:\nsmall juniper trees grow also here in abundance, the berries of which\nare of the bigness of grey peas. The herb called quaun, which is our\nangelica, is very obvious and common, as well as wild rosemary, which\nhas the taste and smell of turpentine; of which, by distillation, is\nextracted a fine oil and spirit, of great use in medicine. That precious\nherb, scurvy grass, the most excellent remedy for the cure of the\ndistemper which gives its name, grows everywhere on the sea side, and\nhas not so bitter a taste as that of softer climates; I have seen\nwonderful effects of its cure. The country also produces a grass with\nyellow flowers, whose root smells in the spring like roses: the\ninhabitants feed thereupon, and find benefit by it. In the bays and\ninlets you have wild thyme at the side of the mountains, which after\nsunset yields a fragrant smell. Here also you meet with the herb\ntormentil, or setfoil, and a great many other herbs, plants, and\nvegetables, which I cannot call to mind, and whose names indeed are\naltogether unknown to me. Their most common berries are those called\nblew-berries, tittle-berries, and bramble-berries. Multe-berries, which\nare common in Norway, do not arrive here to any perfection, on account\nof the thick fogs that hang upon the islands, when these plants bud.\nThis country affords the most pleasant prospect about the latitude of\n60\u00b0 to 64\u00b0, and seems fit to be manured for the produce of all sorts of\ngrain; and there are to this day marks of acres and arable land to be\nobserved. I myself once made a trial of sowing barley in the bay joining\nto our new colony, which sprung up so fast, that it stood in its full\nears towards the latter end of July; but did not come to ripeness, on\naccount of the night frost which nipped it and hindered its growth. But\nas this grain was brought over from Bergen in Norway, no doubt it wanted\na longer summer and more heat to ripen. But I am of opinion, that corn\nwhich grows in the more Northern parts of Norway would thrive better in\nGreenland, inasmuch as those climates agree better together. Turnips and\ncole are very good here, and of a sweet taste, especially the turnips,\nwhich are pretty large.\n\nI must observe to you, that all that has been said of the fruitfulness\nof the Greenland soil is to be understood of the latitude of 60\u00b0 to\n65\u00b0, and differs according to the different degrees of latitude. For in\nthe most Northern parts you find neither herbs nor plants; so that the\ninhabitants cannot gather grass enough to put in their shoes to keep\ntheir feet warm, but are obliged to buy it from the Southern parts.\n\nOf Greenland metals or minerals I have little or nothing to say. It is\ntrue, that about two Norway miles to the South of the colony of Good\nHope, on a promontory, there are here and there green spots to be seen,\nlike verdigris, which shows there must be some copper ore. And a certain\nGreenlander once brought me some pieces not unlike lead ore. There is\nlikewise a sort of calamine, which has the colour of yellow brass. In my\nexpedition upon discoveries, I found, on a little island where we\ntouched, some yellow sand, mixed with sinople red, or vermillion\nstrokes, of which I sent a quantity over to the directors of the\nGreenland company at Bergen, to make a trial of it; upon which they\nwrote me an answer, that I should endeavour to get as much as I could of\nthe same sand; but to theirs as well as my own disappointment, I never\nwas able to find the said island again, where I had got this sand, as it\nwas but a very small and insignificant one, situate among a great many\nothers; and the mark I had taken care to put up was by the wind blown\ndown. Nevertheless there has been enough of the same stuff found up and\ndown in the country, which, when it is burnt, changes its former colour\nfor a reddish hue, which it likewise does if you keep it awhile shut up\nclose.\n\nWhether or no this be the same sort of sand as that of which Sir Martin\nFrobisher is said to have brought some hundred tons to England, and was\npretended to contain a great deal of gold; and again (as we have above\ntaken notice of) of which some of the Danish Greenland Company\u2019s ships\nreturned freighted to Copenhagen in the year 1636, is a question which I\nhave no mind to decide. However, thus much I can say, that by the small\nexperience I have acquired in the art of chemistry, I have tried both by\nextraction and precipitation if it would yield any thing, but always\nlost my labour. After all I declare, I never could find any other sort\nof sand that contained either gold or silver. But as for rock crystal,\nboth red and white, you find it here: the red contains some particular\nsolis, which can only be produced by the spagyric art.\n\nStone flax, or what they call asbestos, is so common here, that you may\nsee whole mountains of it: it has the appearance of a common stone, but\ncan be split or cloven like a piece of wood. It contains long filaments,\nwhich, when beaten and separated from the dross, you may twist and spin\ninto a thread. As long as it has its oily moisture it will burn without\nbeing consumed to ashes.\n\nRound about our colony of Good Hope there is a sort of coarse bastard\nmarble of different colours, blue, green, red, and some quite white,\nand again some white with black spots, which the natives form into all\nsorts of vessels and utensils, as lamps, pots to boil in, and even\ncrucibles to melt metals in, this marble standing proof against the\nfire[25]. Of this marble there was brought a quantity over to Drontheim\nin Norway, which they made use of in the adorning of the cathedral of\nthat city, as we have it from Peter Claudius Undalin[26].\n\nAmongst the produce of the sea, besides different shells, muscles, and\nperiwinkles, there are also coral trees, of which I have seen one of a\nfine form and size.\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. IV\n\n_Of the Nature of the Climate, and the Temperament of the Air._\n\n\nThe natives of Greenland have no reason to complain of rains and stormy\nweather, which seldom trouble them; especially in the Bay of Disco, in\nthe 68th degree of Latitude, where they commonly have clear and settled\nweather during the whole summer season: but again, when foul and stormy\nweather falls in, it rages with an incredible fierceness and violence,\nchiefly when the wind comes about Southerly, or South West; and the\nstorm is laid and succeeded by fair weather as soon as the wind shifts\nabout to the West and North.\n\nThe country would be exceeding pleasant and healthful in summer time,\nif it was not for the heavy fogs that annoy it, especially near the sea\ncoast; for it is as warm here as anywhere, when the air is serene and\nclear, which happens when the wind blows Easterly; and sometimes it is\nso hot, that the sea water, which after the ebbing of the sea has\nremained in the hollow places of the rocks, has often, before night, by\nthe heat of the sun, been found coagulated into a fine white salt. I can\nremember, that once, for three months together, we had as fair settled\nweather and warm sunshine days as one could wish, without any rain.\n\nThe length of the summer is from the latter end of May to the midst of\nSeptember; all the remaining part of the year is winter, which is\ntolerable in the latitude of 64\u00b0, but to the Northward, in 68\u00b0 and\nabove, the cold is so excessive, that even the most spirituous liquors,\nas French brandy, will freeze near the fire side. At the end of August\nthe sea is all covered with ice, which does not thaw before April or\nMay, and sometimes not till the latter end of June.\n\nIt is remarkable, that on the Western coasts of different countries,\nlying in one and the same latitude, it is much colder than on the\nEastern, as some parts of Greenland and Norway. And though Greenland is\nmuch colder than Norway, yet the snow never lies so high, especially in\nthe bays and inlets, where it is seldom above half a yard higher than\nthe ground; whereas the inland parts and the mountains are perpetually\ncovered with ice and snow, which never melts; and not a spot of the\nground is bare, but near the shore and in the bays; where in the summer\nyou are delighted with a charming verdure, caused by the heat of the\nsun, reverberated from side to side, and concentred in these lower parts\nof the valleys, surrounded by high rocks and mountains, for many hours\ntogether without intermission; but as soon as the sun is set, the air is\nchanged at once, and the cold ice mountains make you soon feel the\nnearness of their neighbourhood, and oblige you to put on your furs.\nBesides the frightful ice that covers the whole face of the land, the\nsea is almost choaked with it, some flat and large fields of ice, or bay\nice, as they call it, and some huge and prodigious mountains, of an\nastonishing bigness, lying as deep under water as they soar high in the\nair. These are pieces of the ice mountains of the land, which lie near\nthe sea, and bursting, tumble down into the sea, and are carried off.\nThey represent to the beholders, afar off, many odd and strange figures;\nsome of churches, castles with spires and turrets others you would take\nto be ships under sail; and many have been deluded by them, thinking\nthey were real ships, and going to board them. Nor does their figure and\nshape alone surprise, but also their diversity of colours pleases the\nsight; for some are like white crystal, others blue as sapphires; and\nothers again green as emeralds. One would attribute the cause of these\ncolours to metals or minerals of the places where this ice was formed;\nor of waters of which it was coagulated: but experience teaches me, that\nthe blue ice is the concretion of fresh water, which at first is white,\nand at length hardens and turns blue; but the greenish colour comes from\nsalt water. It is observed, that if you put the blue ice near the fire\nand let it melt, and afterwards remove it to a colder place, to freeze\nagain, it does not recover its former blue, but becomes white. From\nwhence I infer, that the volatile sulphur, which the ice had attracted\nfrom the air, by its resolution into water, exhales and vanishes.\n\nThough the summer season is very hot in Greenland, it seldom causes any\nthunder and lightning; the reason of which I take to be the coolness of\nthe night, which allays the heat of the day, and causes the sulphureous\nexhalations to fall again with the heavy dew to the ground.\n\nAs for the ordinary meteors, commonly seen in other countries, they are\nvisible in Greenland; as the rainbow, flying or shooting stars, and the\nlike. But what is more peculiar to the climate, is the Northern Light,\nor Aurora Borealis, which in the spring of the year, about the new\nmoon, darts streams of light all over the sky, as quick as lightning,\nespecially if it be a clear night, with such a brightness, that you may\nread by it as by daylight.\n\nAt the summer solstice there is no night, and you have the pleasure to\nsee the sun turn round about the horizon all the twenty-four hours; and\nin the depth of winter they have but little comfort in that planet, and\nthe nights are proportionally long; yet it never is so dark, but you can\nsee to travel up and down the country, though sometimes it be neither\nmoonshine nor starlight: but the snow and ice, with which both land and\nsea is covered, enlightens the air; or the reason may be fetched from\nthe nearness of the horizon to the equator.\n\nThe temperament of the air is not unhealthful; for, if you except the\nscurvy and distempers of the breast, they know nothing here of the many\nother diseases with which other countries are plagued; and these\npectoral infirmities are not so much the effects of the excessive cold,\nas of that nasty foggish weather which this country is very much subject\nto; which I impute to the vast quantity of ice that covers the land and\ndrives in the sea. From the beginning of April to the end of July is the\nfoggish season, and from that time the fog daily decreases. But as in\nthe summer time they are troubled with the fog, so in the winter season\nthey are likewise plagued with the vapour called frost smoke, which,\nwhen the cold is excessive, rises out of the sea as the smoke out of a\nchimney, and is as thick as the thickest mist, especially in the bays,\nwhere there is any opening in the ice. It is very remarkable, that this\nfrost, damp, or smoke, if you come near it, will singe the very skin of\nyour face and hands; but when you are in it, you find no such piercing\nor stinging sharpness, but warm and soft; only it leaves a white frost\nupon your hair and clothes.\n\nI must not forget here to mention the wonderful harmony and\ncorrespondence which is observed in Greenland between fountains and the\nmain sea, _viz._ that at spring tides, in new and full moon, when the\nstrongest ebbing is at sea, the hidden fountains or springs of fresh\nwater break out on shore, and discover themselves, often in places where\nyou never would expect to meet with any such; especially in winter, when\nthe ground is covered with ice and snow; yet at other times there are no\nwater springs in those places. The cause of this wonderful harmony I\nleave to the learned inquiry of natural philosophers; how springs and\nfountains follow the motion of the main sea, as the sea does that of the\nmoon. Yet this I must observe to you, that some great men have been\ngreatly mistaken, in that they have taken for granted and asserted, that\nin Norway and Greenland the tide was hardly remarkable. (See Mr. Wollf\u2019s\nReasonable Thoughts on the Effects of Nature, p. 541.) Whereas nowhere\ngreater tide is observed; the sea, at new and full moon, especially in\nthe spring and fall, rises and falls about three fathoms.\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. V.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n     _Of the Land Animals, and Land Fowls or Birds of Greenland; and how\n     they hunt and hill them._\n\n\nThere are no venomous serpents or insects, no ravenous wild beasts to be\nseen in Greenland, if you except the bear, which some will have to be an\namphibious animal, as he lives chiefly upon the ice in the most Northern\nparts, and feeds upon seals and fish. He very seldom appears near the\ncolony, in which I had taken up my quarters. He is of a very large size,\nand of a hideous and frightful aspect, with white long hairs: he is\ngreedy of human blood[27]. The natives tell us moreover of another kind\nof ravenous beasts, which they call Amarok, which eagerly pursue other\nbeasts, as well as men; yet none of them could say, they ever had seen\nthem, but only had it from others by hearsay; and whereas none of our\nown people, who have travelled up and down the country, ever met with\nany such beast, therefore I take it to be a mere fable.\n\nRein deer are in some places in so great numbers that you will see whole\nherds of them[28]; and when they go and feed in herds they are\ndangerous to come at. The natives spend the whole summer season in\nhunting of rein deer, going up to the innermost parts of the bays, and\ncarrying, for the most part, their wives and children along with them,\nwhere they remain till the harvest season comes on. In the mean while\nthey with so much eagerness hunt, pursue, and destroy these poor deer,\nthat they have no place of safety, but what the Greenlanders know; and\nwhere they are in any number, there they chase them by clap-hunting,\nsetting upon them on all sides, and surrounding them with all their\nwomen and children, to force them into defiles and narrow passages,\nwhere the men armed lay in wait for them and kill them: and when they\nhave not people enough to surround them, then they put up white poles\n(to make up the number that is wanted) with pieces of turf to head them,\nwhich frightens the deer, and hinders it from escaping.\n\nThere are also vast numbers of hares, which are white summer and winter,\nvery fat and of a good taste. There are foxes of different colours,\nwhite, grey, and blueish; they are of a lesser size than those of\nDenmark and Norway, and not so hairy, but more like martens. The natives\ncommonly catch them alive in traps, built of stones like little huts.\nThe other four-footed animals, which ancient historians tell us are\nfound in Greenland, are sables, martens, wolves, losses, ermins, and\nseveral others; I have met with none of them on the Western side.--See\nArngrim Jonas\u2019s History of Greenland; as also Ivarus Beni\u2019s Relation,\nmentioned by Undalinus.\n\nTame or domestic animals there are none, but dogs in great numbers, and\nof a large size, with white hairs, or white and black, and standing\nears. They are in their kind as timorous and stupid as their masters,\nfor they never bay or bark, but howl only. In the Northern parts they\nuse them instead of horses, to drag their sledges, tying four or six,\nand sometimes eight or ten to a sledge, laden with five or six of the\nlargest seals, with the master sitting up himself, who drives as fast\nwith them as we can do with good horses, for they often make fifteen\nGerman miles with them in a winter day, upon the ice: and though the\npoor dogs are of so great service to them, yet they do not use them\nwell, for they are left to provide for and subsist themselves as wild\nbeasts, feeding upon muscles thrown up on the sea side, or upon berries\nin the summer season; and when there has been a great capture of seals\nthey give them their blood boiled and their entrails.\n\nAs for land fowls or birds, Greenland knows of none but rypper, which is\na sort of large partridges, white in winter, and grey in summer time,\nand these they have in great numbers. Ravens seem to be domestic birds\nwith them, for they are always seen about their huts, hovering about the\ncarcases of seals, that lie upon the ground. There are likewise very\nlarge eagles, their wings spread out being a fathom wide, but they are\nseldom seen in the Northern parts of the country. You find here falcons\nor hawks, some grey, some of a whitish plumage, and some speckled; as\nalso great speckled owls. There are different sorts of little sparrows,\nsnow birds, and ice birds, and a little bird not unlike a linnet, which\nhas a very melodious tune.\n\nAmongst the insects of Greenland, the midge or gnats are the most\ntroublesome, whose sting leaves a swelling and burning pain behind it;\nand this trouble they are most exposed to in the hot season, against\nwhich there is no shelter to be found. There are also spiders, flies,\nhumble bees, and wasps. They know nothing of any venomous animals, as\nserpents and the like; nor have they any snakes, toads, frogs, beetles,\nants, or bees; neither are they plagued with rats, mice, or any such\nvermin.\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. VI.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n_Of the Greenland Sea Animals, and Sea Fowls and Fishes._\n\n\nThe Greenland Sea abounds in different sorts of animals, fowls, and\nfishes, of which the whale bears the sway, and is of divers kinds,\nshapes, and sizes. Some are called the finned whales, from the fins they\nhave upon their back near the tail; but these are not much valued,\nyielding but little fat or blubber, and that of the meaner sort; they\nconsist of nothing but lean flesh, sinews, and bones. They are of a\nlong, round, and slender shape, very dangerous to meddle with, for they\nrage and lay about them most furiously with their tail, so that nobody\ncares to come at them, or catch them. The Greenlanders make much of\nthem, on account of their flesh, which, with them, passes for dainty\ncheer. The other sort of whales are reckoned the best for their fat, and\nfins or whalebones. These differ from the first sort, in that they have\nno fin on the back towards the tail, but two lesser ones near the eyes,\nand are covered with a thick black skin, marbled with white strokes.\nWith these side fins they swim with an incredible swiftness. The tail is\ncommonly three or four fathoms broad. The head makes up one-third of the\nwhole fish. The jaws are covered, both above and beneath, with a kind of\nshort hair. At the bottom of the jaws are placed the so called barders,\nor whalebones, which serve him instead of teeth, of which he has none.\nThey are of different colours, some brown, some black, and others yellow\nwith white streaks. Within the mouth, the barders or whalebones are\ncovered with hair like horse-hair, chiefly those that inclose the\ntongue. Some of them are bent like a scymitar, or sabre. The smallest\nare ranged the foremost in the mouth, and the hindermost near the\nthroat; the broadest and largest are in the middle, some of them two\nfathoms long, by which we may judge of the vast bigness of this animal.\nOn each side there are commonly two hundred and fifty, in all five\nhundred pieces. They are set in a broad row, as in a sheaf, one close to\nthe other, bent like a crescent or half-moon, broadest at the root,\nwhich is of a tough and grisly matter, of a whitish colour, fastened to\nthe upper part of the jaws near the throat, and they grow smaller\ntowards the end, which is pointed; they are also covered with hair, that\nthey may not hurt the tongue. The undermost jaw is commonly white, to\nwhich the tongue is fastened, inclosed in the barders, or long whale\nbones; it is very large, sometimes about eighteen feet, and sometimes\nmore, of a white colour, with black spots, of a soft, fat, and spungy\nmatter. The whale has a bunch on the top of his head, in which are two\nspouts or pipes, parallel one to the other, and somewhat bent, like the\nholes upon a fiddle. Through these he receives the air, and spouts out\nthe water, which he takes in at his mouth, and is forced upwards through\nthese holes in very large quantities, and with such violence and noise,\nthat it is heard at a great distance, by which, in hazy weather, he is\nknown to be near, especially when he finds himself wounded, for then he\nrages most furiously, and the noise of his spouting is so loud, that\nsome have resembled it to the roaring of the sea in a storm, or the\nfiring of great guns, His eyes are placed between the bunch and the side\nfins; they are not larger than those of an ox, and are armed with\neyebrows.\n\nThe penis of a whale is a strong sinew, seven or eight, and sometimes\nfourteen feet long, in proportion to his bulk: it is covered with a\nsheath, in which it lies hidden, so that you see but little of it: the\nnature of the female is like that of the four-footed animals: she has\ntwo breasts with teats like a cow; some white, others stained with\nblack or blue spots. In their spawning time their breasts are larger\nthan usual; and when they couple together, they reach their head above\nwater, to fetch breath, and to cool the heat contracted by that action.\nIt is said, that they never bring forth more than two young ones at a\nspawning, which they suck with their teats. The spawn of the whale,\nwhile it is fresh, is clammy and gluish, so that it may be drawn out in\nthreads like wax or pitch; it has no relation to that which we call\nspermaceti, for it is soon corrupted and by no art can be preserved.\n\nThese sea animals, or rather monsters, are of different sizes and bulks;\nsome yield one hundred, and some two or three hundred tuns of fat or\nblubber. The fat lies between the skin and the flesh, six or eight\ninches thick, especially upon the back and under the belly. The thickest\nand strongest sinews are in the tail, which serves him for a rudder, as\nhis fins do for oars, wherewith he swims with an astonishing swiftness,\nproportioned to his bulk, leaving a track in the sea, like a great ship;\nand this is called his wake, by which he is often followed.\n\nThese sea monsters are as shy and timorous as they are huge and bulky,\nfor as soon as they hear a boat rowing, and perceive any body\u2019s\napproach, they immediately shoot under water and plunge into the deep;\nbut when they find themselves in danger, then they shew their great and\nsurprising strength; for then they break to pieces whatever comes in\ntheir way, and if they should hit a boat, they would beat it in a\nthousand pieces. According to the relation of the whale-catchers, the\nwhale, being struck, will run away with the line some hundreds of\nfathoms long, faster than a ship under full sail. Now one would think,\nthat such a vast body should need many smaller fishes and sea animals to\nfeed upon; but on the contrary, his food is nothing but a sort of\nblubber, called _pulmo marinus_, or whale food, which is of a dark brown\ncolour, with two brims or flaps, with which it moves in the water, with\nsuch slowness that one may easily lay hold of it, and get it out of the\nwater. It is like a jelly, soft and slippery, so that if you crush it\nbetween your fingers you find it fat and greasy like train oil. The\nGreenland seas abound in it, which allures and draws this kind of whales\nthither in search of it; for as their swallow or throat is very narrow\n(being but four inches in diameter), and the smaller whalebones reaching\ndown his throat, they cannot swallow any hard or large piece of other\nfood, having no teeth to chew it with, so that this sort of nourishment\nsuits them best, their mouth being large and wide to receive a great\nquantity, by opening it and shutting it again, that nature has provided\nthem with the barders or whalebones, which by their closeness only give\npassage to the water, like a sieve, keeping back the aliment. Here we\nought to praise the wise and kind providence of an Almighty Creator, who\nhas made such mean things suffice for the maintenance of so vast an\nanimal.\n\nNext to this there is another sort of whales, called the North Capers,\nfrom the place of their abode, which is about the North cape of Norway,\nthough they also frequent the coasts of Iceland, Greenland, and sundry\nother seas, going in search of their prey, which is herring and other\nsmall fish, that resort in abundance to those coasts. It has been\nobserved, that some of these North Cape whales have had more than a tun\nof herrings in their belly. This kind of whales has this common with the\nformer called fin-whale, in that it is very swift and quick in its\nmotion, and keeps off from the shore in the main sea, as fearing to\nbecome a prey to its enemies, if it should venture too near the shore.\nHis fat is tougher and harder than that of the great bay whale; neither\nare his barders or bones so long and valuable, for which reason he is\nneglected.\n\nThe fourth sort is the sword-fish, so called from a long and broad bone,\nwhich grows out of the end of his snout on both sides, indented like a\nsaw. He has got two fins upon his back, and four under the belly, on\neach side two: those on the back are the largest; those under the belly\nare placed just under the first of the back: his tail broad and flat\nunderneath, and above pointed, but not split or cloved. From the\nhindermost fin of the back he grows smaller: his nostrils are of an\noblong shape: the eyes are placed on the top of his head, just above his\nmouth. There are different sizes of sword-fish, some of twenty feet,\nsome more, some less. This is the greatest enemy the true whale has to\ndeal with, who gives him fierce battles; and, having vanquished and\nkilled him, he contents himself with eating the tongue of the whale,\nleaving the rest of the huge carcase for the prey and spoils of the\nmorses and sea birds.\n\nThe cachelot or pot-fish is a fifth species of whales, whose shape is\nsomewhat different from that of other whales, in that the upper part of\nhis head or skull is much bigger and stronger built; his spouts or pipes\nare placed on the forehead, whereas other whales have them on the\nhinder part of the head: his under jaw is armed with a row of teeth\nwhich are but short: his tongue is thin and pointed, and of a yellowish\ncolour: he has but one eye on the side of the head, which makes him of\neasy access to the Greenlanders, who attack him on his blind side. Of\nhis skull that wrongly so called spermaceti is prepared, one yielding\ntwenty to twenty-four tuns thereof. The rest of the body and the tail\nare like unto those of other whales. He is of a brownish colour on the\nback, and white under the belly: he is of different sizes, from fifty to\nseventy feet long.\n\nThen comes the white fish, whose shape is not unlike that of the great\nbay whale, having no fins upon the back, but underneath two large ones;\nthe tail like a whale; his spouts, through which he breathes and throws\nout the water, are the same; he has likewise a bunch on the head: his\ncolour is of a fading yellow; he is commonly from twelve to sixteen feet\nin length, and is exceeding fat. The train of his blubber is as clear as\nthe clearest oil: his flesh as well as the fat has no bad taste, and\nwhen it is marinated with vinegar and salt, it is as well tasted as any\npork whatsoever. The fins also and the tail, pickled or sauced, are good\neating. This fish is so far from being shy, that whole droves are seen\nabout the ships at sea: the Greenlanders catch numbers of them, of which\nthey make grand cheer.\n\nThere is yet another smaller sort of whales, called but-heads, from the\nform of its head, which at the snout is flat, like a but\u2019s end: he has a\nfin upon his back towards the tail, and two side fins: his tail is like\nto that of a whale. In the hinder part of the head he has a pipe to\nfetch air, and spout the water through, which he does not spout out with\nthat force the whale does: his size is from fourteen to twenty feet: he\nfollows ships under sail with a fair wind, and seems to run for a wager\nwith them; whereas, on the contrary, other whales avoid and fly from\nthem. Their jumping, as well as that of fishes and sea animals,\nforebodes boisterous and stormy weather.\n\nAmong the different kinds of whales some reckon the unicorn, as they\ncommonly call him, from a long small horn that grows out of his snout;\nbut his right name is nar-whale. It is a pretty large fish, eighteen or\ntwenty feet long, and yields good fat: his skin is black and smooth\nwithout hair; he has one fin on each side, at the beginning of his\nbelly: his head is pointed, and out of his snout on the left side\nproceeds the horn, which is round, turned, with a sharp taper point; the\ngreatest length of it is fourteen or fifteen feet, and thick as your\narm. The root of it goes very deep into the head, to strengthen it for\nsupporting so heavy a burthen. The horn is of a fine, white, and compact\nmatter, wherefore it weighs much: the third part of it, beginning from\nthe root, is commonly hollow; and there are some very solid at the root,\nand above it grows more and more hollow. On the right side of the head\nthere lies another shorter horn hidden, which does not grow out of the\nskin, and it cannot be conceived for what end the All-wise Creator has\nordained it: he has, like other whales, two pipes or spouts which\nterminate in one, through which he breathes and fetches air, when he\ncomes up out of the sea with his head. Here I must observe to you, that\nwhen the whale comes up to fetch air, it is not water he throws out at\nthe spouts, as the common notion runs; but his breath, which resembles\nwater forced out of a great spout. As for the rest of the unicorn or\nnar-whale\u2019s body, it is perfectly of the same shape as that of other\nwhales.\n\nConcerning this animal\u2019s horn, which has given occasion to so many\ndisputes, whether it be a horn properly so called, or a tooth, my reader\nmust allow me a little digression, to make these gentlemen disputants\naware of their mistake, who pretend it to be a tooth and not a horn,\nbeing placed on one side of the snout, and not on the top of the\nforehead, where other animals wear their horns. (See Wormius\u2019s Museum,\nl. iii. ch. 14.) But it appears clearly to all beholders, that it\nneither has the shape of a tooth, such as other sea animals are endowed\nwith, nor has its root in the jaws, the ordinary place of teeth, but\ngrows out of the snout. And besides, the absurdity is much greater to\nhold and maintain, that animals wear teeth on the snout or head, like\nhorns: or dare anybody deny, that the whale\u2019s spouts are his nostrils,\nthrough which he fetches breath, because they are on the top of his\nhead; or question, that the clap-mysses\u2019 (a large kind of seal) eyes are\nsuch, because they are placed in the hindermost part of the head? Ought\nwe not rather to think, that an All-wise Creator has placed this horn\nhorizontally, to the end that it may not be of any hinderance to the\ncourse and swimming of this animal in the water, which would happen if\nit rose vertically? Furthermore, this horn serves many other ends, as to\nstir up his food from the bottom of the sea, as he is said to feed upon\nsmall sea-weeds, and likewise therewith to bore holes in the ice, in\norder to fetch fresh air. The inference these gentlemen are pleased to\ndraw from the generality of fishes and sea animals having no such paws\nor claws as land animals have, is as lame, and of as little force. And\nit is much less absurd to hold, that sea animals have something common\nwith those of the land, as it is confessed, that many of them have a\ngreat resemblance together in figure and shape, viz. sea-calves,\nsea-dogs, sea-wolves, and sea-horses, together with mermen and mermaids,\nas it is pretended. Who is ignorant of the winged or flying fishes; and\nof others with long nebs or bills like birds; also of birds with four\nfeet like beasts, and why then may there not be sea-unicorns as well as\nland unicorns; if any such there be in _rerum natura_? for it is a\ndifficult matter to determine what kind of animal the Scripture\nunderstands, when it speaks of the unicorn, as in Psalm xxix. ver. 6,\nand in other places; whether it be such a one as Plinius and other\nwriters describe, giving him the body of a horse, with a stag\u2019s head,\nand a horn on his snout; or whether it ought not with better reason be\napplied to a certain animal in Africa, called rhinoceros, whose snout is\nhorned in that fashion. If one had patience to consider the vast\ndisagreement that reigns between these writers, one would conclude that\nthis animal is peculiar to the climate where the fabulous bird ph\u0153nix\nbuilds its nest; that is to say in Utopia, or nowhere. For some describe\nthis animal as an amphibious one, that lives by turns upon land and in\nthe water; some will have him to be in the likeness of an ore white\nspotted, with horse feet; others make a three years\u2019 colt of him, with a\nstag\u2019s head, and a horn in the front one ell long; and others again tell\nyou it is like a morse or sea-horse, with divided or cloven feet, and a\nhorn in the front. There are authors, who attribute to him a horn ten\nfeet long, others six, and others again but the length of three inches.\n(See Pliny, Munsterus, Marc. Paulus, Philostratus, Heliodorus, and\nseveral others, whose relations are of the same authority with mine, as\nthat of the Greenlanders, concerning a fierce, ravenous wild beast,\nwhich they call Amavok; which all pretend to know, but no person ever\nyet was found, that could say he had seen it.)\n\nNises or porpoises, otherwise sea hogs, are also placed in the class of\nwhales, though of a much smaller size, and are met with in all seas. His\nhead resembles that of a butts-head-whale: his mouth is armed with sharp\nteeth: he has spouts or pipes like a whale. He has a fin upon the middle\nof his back, which towards the tail is bended like a half-moon. Under\nthe belly there are two side fins, overgrown with flesh and covered with\na black skin. His tail is broad like that of a whale. He has small round\neyes; his skin is of a shining black, and the belly white. His length is\nfive to eight feet, at most. His fat makes fine oil, and the flesh is by\nthe Greenlander reckoned a great dainty.\n\n\n_Of other Sea Animals._\n\nThe sea horse or morse has the shape of a seal, though much larger and\nstronger. He has five claws on each of his feet, as the seal: his head\nrounder and larger. His skin is an inch thick, especially about the\nneck, very rough, rugged and wrinkled, covered with a short, brown, and\nsometimes reddish, or mouse-coloured hair. Out of his upper jaw there\ngrow two large teeth or tusks, bended downwards over the under jaw, of\nthe length of half a yard, and sometimes of a whole yard and more. These\ntusks are esteemed as much as elephants\u2019 teeth; they are compact and\nsolid, but hollow towards the root. His mouth is not unlike that of a\nbull, covered above and beneath with strong bristles as big as a straw:\nhis nostrils are placed above his mouth, as those of the seal: his eyes\nare fiery red, which he can turn on all sides, not being able to turn\nhis head, by reason of the shortness and thickness of his neck. The tail\nresembles a seal\u2019s tail, being thick and short: his fat is like hog\u2019s\nlard. He lies commonly upon the ice shoals, and can live a good while on\nshore, till hunger drives him back into the seas; his nourishment being\nboth herbs and fishes: he snores very loud, when he sleeps; and when he\nis provoked to anger, he roars like a mad bull. It is a very bold and\nfierce creature, and they assist each other, when attacked, to the\nlast. He is continually at war with the white bear, to whom he often\nproves too hard with his mighty tusks, and often kills him, or at least\ndoes not give over till they both expire.\n\nThe seals are of different sorts and sizes, though in their shape they\nall agree, excepting the clap-myss, so called from a sort of a cap he\nhas on his head, with which he covers it when he fears a stroke. The\npaws of a seal have five claws, joined together with a thick skin, like\nthat of a goose or a water fowl: his head resembles a dog\u2019s with cropped\nears, from whence he has got the name of sea dog: his snout is bearded\nlike that of a cat: his eyes are large and clear with hair about them:\nthe skin is covered with a short hair of divers colours, and spotted;\nsome white and black, others yellowish, others again reddish, and some\nof a mouse colour: his teeth are very sharp and pointed. Although he\nseems lamish behind, yet he makes nothing of getting up upon the ice\nhills, where he loves to sleep and to bask himself in the sun. The\nlargest seals are from five to eight feet in length; their fat yields\nbetter train-oil than that of any other fish. This is the most common of\nall the sea animals in Greenland; and contributes the most to the\nsubsisting and maintaining of the inhabitants, who feed upon the flesh\nof it, and clothe themselves with the skin, which likewise serves them\nfor the covering of their boats and tents: the fat is their fuel, which\nthey burn in their lamps, and also boil their victuals with.\n\nAs for other sea monsters and wonderful animals, we find in Tormoder\u2019s\nHistory of Greenland, mention made of three sorts of monsters, where he\nquotes a book, called \u201cSpeculum Regale Iclandicum;\u201d or, the Royal Island\nLooking-Glass, from whence he borrows what he relates[29]. But none of\nthem have been seen by us, or any of our time, that ever I could hear,\nsave that most dreadful monster, that showed itself upon the surface of\nthe water in the year 1734, off our new colony in 64\u00b0. This monster was\nof so huge a size, that coming out of the water, its head reached as\nhigh as the mast-head; its body was as bulky as the ship, and three or\nfour times as long. It had a long pointed snout, and spouted like a\nwhale fish; great broad paws, and the body seemed covered with shell\nwork, its skin very rugged and uneven. The under part of its body was\nshaped like an enormous huge serpent, and when it dived again under\nwater, it plunged backwards into the sea, and so raised its tail aloft,\nwhich seemed a whole ship\u2019s length distant from the bulkiest part of the\nbody.\n\n\n_Of other Fishes._\n\nOf fishes properly so called, the Greenland sea has abundance and of\ngreat diversity, of which the largest is called Hay, whose flesh is much\nlike that of the halibut, and is cured in the same manner; being cut\ninto long slices, and hung up to be dried in the sun and in the air, as\nthey cure them in the Northern parts of Norway; but the Greenlanders do\nnot much care for it; its flesh being of a much coarser grain than that\nof the halibut. This fish has two fins on the back, and six under the\nbelly; the two foremost are the longest, and have the shape of a tongue:\nthe other two middlemost are somewhat broader than the rest, and the\nhindermost couple near the tail are alike broad before and behind, but\nshorter than the middlemost: his tail resembles that of the sword fish.\nThere are no bones in him, but gristles only. He has a long snout, under\nwhich the mouth is placed like that of the sword fish: he has three rows\nof sharp pointed teeth; his skin is hard and prickly, of a greyish hue;\nhis length is two or three fathom; he has a great liver, of which they\nmake train oil, the biggest of which makes two or three lasts. It is a\nfish of prey, bites large pieces out of the whale\u2019s body, and is very\ngreedy after man\u2019s flesh: he cannot be caught with lines made of hemp,\nfor with his sharp teeth he snaps it off; but with iron chains. And the\nlarger sort are taken with harpoons, as we do the whales. The rest of\nfishes that haunt the Greenland seas are the halibut, torbut, codfish,\nhaddock, scate, small salmon, or sea-trout of different kinds and sizes\n(the large salmon not being so frequent in Greenland); and these are\nvery fat and good; they are found in all inlets, and mouths of rivers.\nCat-fish is the most common food of Greenlanders, insomuch, that when\nall other things fail, the cat-fish must hold out, of which there are\nabundance, both winter and summer. In the spring, towards the month of\nApril, they catch a sort of fish called rogncals, or stone biter; and in\nMay another fish, called lyds or stints: both sorts are very savoury;\nthey frequent the bays and inlets in great shoals. There are also\nwhitings in abundance; but herrings are not to be seen. Moreover there\nis a kind of fish, which neither myself nor any of my company had ever\nseen before: this fish is not unlike a bream, only it is prickly with\nsharp points all over, with a small tail. There are different sizes: the\nGreenlanders say they are well tasted.\n\nAmong the testaceous animals in Greenland the chief are the muscles, of\nwhich there are great quantities; they are large and delicate. In some\nwaters I have found of those larger sorts, in which the Norwegians find\npearls. These have also pearls, but very small ones, not bigger than the\nhead of a pin. I shall say nothing of the other sea insects, as crabs,\nshrimps, &c. though they be not rare here; yet lobsters, crawfish, and\noysters, I never met with. According to information had of Greenlanders,\non the Southern coasts they sometimes catch tortoises in their nets; for\nthey tell you, that they are covered with a thick shell, have claws and\na short tail; and moreover that they find eggs in them, like birds\u2019\neggs.\n\n\n_Of Greenland Sea Birds._\n\nAmongst the sea fowls the principal are those they call eider-fowl, and\nducks; of which there are such numbers, that sometimes sailing along,\nyou find the whole sea covered with them; and when they take their\nflight, you would think there was no end of them, especially in winter\ntime, when in large flocks, to the number of many thousands, they hover\nabout our colony, morning and evening; in the evening standing in for\nthe bay, and in the morning turning out to sea again. They fly so near\nthe shore, that you may from thence shoot them at pleasure. In the\nspring they retire towards the sea; for upon the island that lies\nadjacent to the coast they lay their eggs, and hatch their young ones,\nwhich arrive in June and July.\n\nThe natives watch them in this season to rob them of their eggs and\ntheir young ones. The fine down feathers, which is the best part of this\nbird, so much valued by others, the natives make nothing of, leaving\nthem in the nests.\n\nThere are three sorts of ducks. The first have a broad bill, like our\ntame duck, with a fine speckled plumage. These build their nests upon\nthe islands as the eider fowls do. The second sort is of a lesser size,\ntheir bills long and pointed; they keep most in the bays and in fresh\nwaters, where they nest among the reeds. The third sort are called wood\nducks, resembling very much those of the first sort, though somewhat\nlarger in size; the breast is black, the rest of the body grey. These do\nnot propagate in the common way of generation by coupling like other\nbirds, but (which is very surprising) from a slimy matter in the sea,\nwhich adheres to old pieces of wood driving in the sea, of which first\nis generated a kind of muscles, and again in these is bred a little\nworm, which in length of time is formed into a bird, that comes out of\nthe muscle shell, as other birds come out of egg shells[30]. Besides\nthese there is another sea bird, which the Norway men call alkes, which\nin the winter season contribute much to the maintenance of the\nGreenlanders. Sometimes there are such numbers of them, that they drive\nthem in large flocks to the shore, where they catch them with their\nhands. They are not so large as a duck, nor is their flesh so well\ntasted, being more trainy, or oily. The lesser sort of alkes, which also\nabound here, are more eatable than the large ones. Besides this vast\nnumber of sea fowls, there is yet one of a smaller size, by the natives\ncalled tungoviarseck, which, for the sake of its beautiful feathers,\nought not to be forgot: it has the size and shape of a lark.\n\nWild geese or grey geese keep to the Northward of Greenland; they are of\nshape like other geese, somewhat smaller, with grey feathers. They take\ntheir flight from other Southern climates over to Greenland every\nspring, to breed their young ones; which, when grown and able to fly,\nthey carry along with them and return to the more Southern and milder\nclimates, where they pass the winter season.\n\nIn short, I have myself found in Greenland all the several sorts of sea\nfowls which we have in Norway; as all kinds of mews large and small,\nwhich build their nests in the clifts of the highest rocks, beyond the\nreach of any one; and some upon the little islands, as the bird called\nterne and the like; whose eggs they gather in great abundance among the\nstones: the lundes, or Greenland parrot, so called on account of its\nbeautiful plumage and broad speckled bill: the lumbs, the sea-emms, a\nfowl of a large size, and very small wings, for which reason he cannot\nfly: besides snipes, and a great number of others; some too common to be\nenumerated and described here, and others, of which I know not the\nname.\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. VII.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n     _Treats of the ordinary Occupations, as Hunting and Fishing: of the\n     Tools and Instruments necessary for these Employments: of the House\n     Implements and Utensils, &c., of the Greenlanders._\n\n\nAs every nation has its peculiar way of living and of getting their\nlivelihood, suiting their genius and temper to the nature and produce of\nthe country they inhabit; so the Greenlanders likewise have theirs,\npeculiar to themselves and their country. And though their way and\ncustoms may seem to others mean and silly, yet they are such as very\nwell serve their turn, and which we can find no fault with. Their\nordinary employments are fishing and hunting: on shore they hunt the\nrein deer, and at sea they pursue the whales, morses, seals, and other\nsea animals, as also sea fowls and fishes. The manner of hunting the\nrein deer has been treated of above in the fifth chapter; but there we\ntook no notice of their bows and arrows, which they make use of in the\nkilling those deer. Their bow is of an ordinary make, commonly made of\nfir tree, which in Norway is called tenal, and on the back strengthened\nwith strings made of sinews of animals, twisted like thread: the bow\nstring is made of a good strong strap of seal skin, or of several sinews\ntwisted together; the bow is a good fathom long. The head of the arrow\nis armed with iron, or a sharp pointed bone, with one or more hooks,\nthat it may keep hold, when shot into a deer\u2019s body. The arrows they\nshoot birds with are at the head covered with one or more pieces of bone\nblunt at the end, that they may kill the fowl without tearing the\nflesh. The sea fowls are not shot with arrows, but with darts, headed\nwith bones or iron, which they throw very dexterously, and with so\nsteady a hand at a great distance, that nobody can hit surer with a gun.\nThey are more frequently employed at sea than on shore; and I confess\nthey surpass therein most other nations; for their way of taking whales,\nseals, and other sea animals is by far the most skilful and most easy\nand handy.\n\nWhen they go whale catching, they put on their best gear or apparel, as\nif they were going to a wedding feast, fancying that if they did not\ncome cleanly and neatly dressed, the whale, who cannot bear slovenly and\ndirty habits, would shun them and fly from them. This is the manner of\ntheir expedition: about fifty persons, men and women, set out together\nin one of the large boats, called kone boat; the women carry along with\nthem their sewing tackles, consisting of needles and thread, to sew and\nmend their husbands\u2019 spring coats, or jackets, if they should be torn or\npierced through, as also to mend the boat, in case it should receive\nany damage; the men go in search of the whale, and when they have found\nhim they strike him with their harpoons, to which are fastened lines or\nstraps two or three fathoms long, made of seal skin, at the end of which\nthey tie a bag of a whole seal skin, filled with air, like a bladder; to\nthe end that the whale, when he finds himself wounded, and runs away\nwith the harpoon, may the sooner be tired, the air bag hindering him\nfrom keeping long under water. When he grows tired and loses strength,\nthey attack him again with their spears and lances, till he is killed,\nand then they put on their spring coats, made of dressed seal skin, all\nof one piece, with boots, gloves, and caps, sewed and laced so tight\ntogether that no water can penetrate them. In this garb they jump into\nthe sea, and begin to slice the fat of him all round the body, even\nunder the water; for in these coats they cannot sink, as they are always\nfull of air; so that they can, like the seal, stand upright in the sea:\nnay they are sometimes so daring, that they will get upon the whale\u2019s\nback while there is yet life in him, to make an end of him and cut away\nhis fat.\n\nThey go much the same way to work in killing of seals, except that the\nharpoon is lesser, to which is fastened a line of seal skin six or seven\nfathoms long, at the end of which is a bladder or bag made of a small\nseal skin filled with air to keep the seal, when he is wounded, from\ndiving under the water, and being lost again. In the Northern parts,\nwhere the sea is all frozen over in the winter, they use other means in\ncatching of seals. They first look out for holes, which the seals\nthemselves make with their claws, about the bigness of a halfpenny, that\nthey may fetch their breath; after they have found any hole, they seat\nthemselves near it upon a chair made for this purpose; and as soon as\nthey perceive the seal come up to the hole and put his snout into it for\nsome air, they immediately strike him with a small harpoon, which they\nhave ready in their hand, to which harpoon is fastened a strap a fathom\nlong, which they hold with the other hand. After he is struck, and\ncannot escape, they cut the hole so large, that they may get him up\nthrough it; and as soon as they have got his head above the ice, they\ncan kill him with one blow of the fist.\n\nA third way of catching seals is this: they make a great hole in the\nice, or, in the spring, they find out holes made by the seals, through\nwhich they get upon the ice to lie and bask themselves in the sun. Near\nto these holes they place a low bench, upon which they lie down upon\ntheir belly, having first made a small hole near the large one, through\nwhich they let softly down a perch, sixteen or twenty yards long, headed\nwith a harpoon, a strap being fastened to it, which one holds in his\nhand, while another (for there must be two employed in this sort of\ncapture) who lies upon the bench with his face downwards, watches the\ncoming of the seal, which when he perceives, he cries \u201cK\u00e6;\u201d whereupon\nhe, who holds the pole, pushes and strikes the seal.\n\nThe fourth way is this: in the spring, when the seals lie upon the ice\nnear holes, which they themselves make to get up and down, the\nGreenlanders, clothed with seal skins, and a long perch in their hand,\ncreep along upon the ice, moving their head forwards and backwards, and\nsnorting like a seal, till they come so near him, that they can reach\nhim with the perch and strike him. A fifth manner of catching seals is,\nwhen in the spring the current makes large holes in the ice, the seals\nflock thither in great shoals; there the natives watch their opportunity\nto strike them with their harpoons, and haul them upon the ice. There is\nyet a sixth way of catching seals, when the ice is not covered with\nsnow, but clear and transparent; then the catchers lay under their feet\nfoxes or dogs\u2019 tails, or a piece of a bear\u2019s hide, to stand upon and\nwatch the animal, and when by his blowing and snorting they find what\ncourse he takes, they softly follow him and strike him.\n\nIn fishing they make use of hooks and angles of iron or bones. Their\nlines are made of whalebones cut very small and thin, and at the end\ntacked together; and with such lines they will draw one hundred fishes\nto one which our people can catch with their hemp lines. But to catch\nhalibut they use strong lines made of seal skin, or thick hemp lines.\n\nTheir way of fishing the small salmon or sea trout is this: at low water\nthey build small enclosures with stone, near the river\u2019s mouth, or any\nother place where the salmon runs along; and when it begins to flow, and\nthe tide comes in, the salmon retreats to the river, and in high water\npasses over the enclosure, and remains in the river till the water again\nfalls; then the salmon wants to go to sea again; but the fishermen\nway-lay him at the enclosure and stop his passage. And soon after, when\nthe water is quite fallen and it is low ebb, the salmon remains upon dry\nland, and may be caught with hands. And where they are left in holes,\nthey take them with an instrument made for this purpose, viz. a perch\nheaded with two sharp hooked bones, or with one or two iron hooks.\n\nThe rogn fish, or roe fish, so named from the great quantity of roe that\nis found in it, as he is commonly found in shallow water and upon the\nsands, so he is caught like the salmon with the before-mentioned\ninstrument. There is such abundance of these fishes, that, as they\ncannot consume them all fresh, they are obliged to dry them on the\nrocks, and keep them for winter provision. When roe fish catching is\nover, which happens in the month of May, then the Greenlanders retire\ninto the bays and creeks, where the lod or stint fishing then takes\nplace. There are such numberless shoals of them near the shore, that\nthey catch them in a kind of sieves fastened upon long poles, and throw\nthem upon the shore; they open and dry them upon the rocks, keeping them\nfor their winter stock. This fish is not agreeable, nor reckoned\nwholesome, when eaten fresh; besides they have a nauseous smell, but\nwhen dried they may pass. The natives eat them with a bit of fat, or\nsoused in train oil: and so of all other sorts of fishes, what the\nGreenlanders cannot consume fresh they dry upon the rocks in the sun,\nor in the wind, and lay them up for the winter.\n\nNow as to the Greenland boats, there are two sorts of them; the one of\nwhich the men alone make use, is a small vessel sharp and pointed at\nboth ends, three fathoms in length, and at most but three quarters of a\nyard broad with a round hole in the midst, just large enough for a man\u2019s\nbody to enter it, and sit down in it, the inside of the boat is made of\nthin rafts tacked together with the sinews of animals, and the outside\nis covered with seal skins, dressed and without hair; no more than one\ncan sit in it, who fastens it so tight about his waist, that no water\ncan penetrate it. In these small boats they go to sea, managing them\nwith one oar of a fathom in length, broad at both ends, with which they\npaddle sometimes on one side, and sometimes on the other, with so much\nswiftness, that they are said to row ten or twelve Norway miles in a\nday. They chiefly make use of them in catching of seals and sea fowls,\nwhich they can approach on a sudden and unawares; whereas we in our\nlarge boats can very seldom come so near as to touch them. They do not\nfear venturing out to sea in them in the greatest storms, because they\nswim as light upon the largest waves as a bird can fly; and when the\nwaves come upon them with all their fury, they only turn the side of the\nboat towards them to let them pass, without the least danger of being\nsunk: though they may happen to be overset, yet they easily raise\nthemselves again with their paddle; but if they are overset unawares (as\nit often happens) and the boat be not close and tight about their waist,\nthey are inevitably drowned.\n\nThe other kind of boats are large and open, like our boats, some of them\ntwenty yards long; and these are called kone boats, that is, women\u2019s\nboats, because the women commonly row them; for they think it unbecoming\na man to row such a boat, unless great necessity requires it: and when\nthey first set out for the whale fishing, the men sit in a very\nnegligent posture, with their faces turned towards the prow, pulling\nwith their little ordinary paddle; but the women sit in the ordinary\nway, with their faces towards the stern, rowing with long oars. The\ninside of these boats is composed of thin rafts, and the outside clothed\nwith thick seal skins. In these boats they transport their baggage, as\ntents and the like household furniture, when they go to settle in some\ndistant places in quest of provision. In these boats they also carry\nsails, made of the bowels and entrails of seals. The mast is placed\nforemost on the prow, and as the sail is broad at the upper end, where\nit is fastened to the yard and narrow at the lower end, so they neither\nwant braces nor bowlines and sheet ropes, and with these sails they sail\nwell enough with the wind, not otherwise. These boats, as they are\nflat-bottomed, can soon be overset.\n\nThe men meddle with no work at home but what concerns their tools for\nhunting and fishing tacklings, _viz._ their boats, bows, arrows, and the\nlike. All other work, even of building and repairing their houses,\nbelongs to the women. As dexterous and skilful as the men are at their\nwork, so the women are not behindhand with them, but according to their\nway and manner deserve to be praised and admired.\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. VIII.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n_Of the Inhabitants, their Houses, and House Furniture._\n\n\nIt is undoubted, that the modern inhabitants of Greenland are the\noffspring of the Schrellings, especially those that live on the Western\ncoast; and there may be some mixture, for aught we know, of the ancient\nNorway colonies that formerly dwelled in the country, who in length of\ntime were blended and naturalized among the natives, which is made\nprobable by several Norway words found in their language. For, although\nthe Norway colonies were destroyed, yet there were, no doubt, some\nremains of them, which joined with the natives and became all one\nnation. With these inhabitants all the sea coasts are peopled, some more\nand some less.\n\nThe coast is pretty populous in the Southern parts, and on the North in\n68\u00b0 and 69\u00b0; though, compared to other countries, it is in the main but\nthinly inhabited. In the inner parts of the country nobody lives, except\nat certain times in the summer season, when they go rein deer hunting.\nThe reason of this is, that (as has been said above) the whole upland\ncountry is perpetually covered with ice and snow.\n\nAs to their houses or dwelling places, they have one for the winter\nseason and another for the summer. Their winter habitation is a low hut\nbuilt with stone and turf, two or three yards high, with a flat roof. In\nthis hut the windows are on one side, made of the bowels of seals\ndressed and sewed together, or of the maws of halibut, and are white\nand transparent. On the other side their beds are placed, which consist\nin shelves or benches made up of deal boards raised half a yard from the\nground; their bedding is made of seal and rein deer skins.\n\nSeveral families live together in one of these houses or huts; each\nfamily occupying a room by itself, separated from the rest by a wooden\npost, by which also the roof is supported; before which there is a\nhearth or fireplace, in which is placed a great lamp in the form of a\nhalf moon seated on a trevet; over this are hung their kettles of brass,\ncopper, or marble, in which they boil their victuals: under the roof,\njust above the lamp, they have a sort of rack or shelf, to put their wet\nclothes upon to dry. The fore door or entry of the house is very low, so\nthat they must stoop, and most creep in upon all fours, to get in at it;\nwhich is so contrived to keep the cold air out as much as possible. The\ninside of the houses is covered or lined with old skins, which before\nhave served for the covering of their boats. Some of these houses are\nso large, that they can harbour seven or eight families.\n\nUpon the benches or shelves, where their beds are placed, is the\nordinary seat of the women, attending their work of sewing and making up\nthe clothing. The men with their sons occupy the foremost parts of the\nbenches, turning their back to the women: on the opposite side, under\nthe windows, the men belonging to the family, or strangers, take their\nseats upon the benches there placed.\n\nI cannot forbear taking notice, that though in one of these houses there\nbe ten or twenty train lamps, one does not perceive the steam or smoke\nthereof to fill these small cottages: the reason, I imagine, is, the\ncare they take in trimming those lamps, _viz._ they take dry moss,\nrubbed very small, which they lay on one side of the lamp, which, being\nlighted, burns softly and does not cause any smoke, if they do not lay\nit on too thick, or in lumps. This fire gives such a heat, that it not\nonly serves to boil their victuals, but also heats the room to that\ndegree, that it is as hot as a bagnio. But for those who are not used to\nthis way of firing, the smell is very disagreeable, as well by the\nnumber of burning lamps, all fed with train oil, as on account of divers\nsorts of raw meat, fishes, and fat, which they heap up in their\nhabitations; but especially their urine tubs smell most insufferably,\nand strike one, that is not accustomed to it, to the very heart.\n\nThese winter habitations they begin to dwell in immediately after\nMichaelmas, and leave them again at the approach of the spring, which\ncommonly is at the latter end of March; and then for the summer season\nlodge in tents, which are their summer habitations. These tents are made\nof rafts or long poles, set in a circular form, bending at the top, and\nresembling a sugar loaf, and covered with a double cover, of which the\ninnermost is of seal or rein deer skins with the hairy side inward (if\nthey be rich), and the outermost also of the same sort of skins, without\nhair, dressed with fat, that the rain may not pierce them. In these\ntents they have their beds, and lamps to dress their meat with; also a\ncurtain made of the guts or bowels of seals sewed together, through\nwhich they receive the day light instead of windows. Every master of a\nfamily has got such a tent, and a great woman\u2019s boat, to transport their\ntents and luggage from place to place, where their business calls them.\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. IX.\n\n_The Greenlanders\u2019 Persons, Complexion, and Temperament._\n\n\nThe Greenlanders, as well man as womankind, are well shaped and\nproportioned, rather short than tall, and strong built, inclined to be\nfat and corpulent; their faces broad, thick lips, and flat nosed; their\nhair and eyes black, their complexion a very dark tawny; though I have\nseen some pretty fair. Their bodies are of a vigorous constitution.\nThere are seldom found any sick or lame, and but few distempers are\nknown among them, besides weakness of the eye-sight, which is caused by\nthe sharp and piercing spring winds, as well as the snow and ice, that\nhurt the sight.\n\nI have met with some that seemed infected with a kind of leprosy; yet\n(what is surprising to me), though they converse with others, and lay\nwith them in one bed, it is not catching. They that dwell in the most\nNorthern parts are often miserably plagued with dysenteries or bloody\nfluxes, breast diseases, boils, and epilepsy, or falling sickness, &c.\nThere were no epidemical or contagious diseases known among them, as\nplague, small-pox, and such like, till the year 1734, when one of the\nnatives, who with several others were brought over to Denmark, and\ntogether with his companions had the small-pox at Copenhagen, coming\nhome again to his native country brought the infection amongst them; of\nwhich there were swept away in and about the colony about two thousand\npersons. For as the natives as well as the animals of this climate are\nof a hot nature, they cannot bear the outward heat, much less the\ninward, caused by this burning distemper, which inflames the mass of\nblood to that degree, that it cannot, by any means, be quenched. They\nare very full of blood, which is observed by their frequent bleeding at\nthe nose.\n\nFew of them exceed the age of fifty or sixty years; many die in the\nprime of their life, and most part in their tender infancy; which is not\nto be wondered at, considering they are quite destitute of all sorts of\nmedicines, and ignorant of all that may strengthen and comfort sick\nbodies. To supply which defects, they know of nothing better than to\nsend for their divines, which they name _angekuts_, who mutter certain\nspells over the sick, by which they hope to recover.\n\nFor outward hurts, as wounds, cuts of knives, and the like, they sew or\nstitch them together. If any grow blind, as it often happens to them,\nthe eye being covered over with a white skin, they make a small hook\nwith a needle, which they fasten into this skin, to loosen it from the\neye, and then with a knife they pull it off. When children are plagued\nwith worms, the mother puts her tongue (_salva veric\u00e2_) into the _anus_\nof the children, to kill them. Burnt moss with train oil mixed together\nserves for plaisters to fresh wounds; or they cover them with a piece of\nthe innermost rind of a tree, and it will heal of itself.\n\nThe Greenlanders are commonly of a phlegmatic temper, which is the cause\nof a cold nature and stupidity: they seldom fly into a passion, or are\nmuch affected or taken with any thing, but of an insensible, indolent\nmind. Yet I am of opinion, that what contributes most to this coldness\nand stupidity is want of education and proper means to cultivate their\nminds. In which opinion I am confirmed by the experience of some who had\nfor some time conversed with us, especially the young ones, who easily\nhave taken all that they have seen or heard among us, whether it was\ngood or bad. I have found some of them witty enough, and of good\ncapacity.\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. X.\n\n_The Customs, Virtues, and Vices, and the Manners or Way of Life of the\nGreenlanders._\n\n\nThough the Greenlanders are as yet subject to no government, nor know of\nany magistrates, or laws, or any sort of discipline; yet they are so far\nfrom being lawless or disorderly, that they are a law to themselves;\ntheir even temper and good nature making them observe a regular and\norderly behaviour towards one another. One cannot enough admire how\npeaceably, lovingly, and united they live together; hatred and envy,\nstrifes and jars are never heard of among them[31]. And although it may\nhappen that one bears a grudge to another, yet it never breaks out into\nany scolding or fighting; neither have they any words to express such\npassions, or any injurious and provoking terms of quarrelling. It has\nhappened once or twice, that a very wicked and malicious fellow, out of\na secret grudge, has killed another; which none of the neighbours have\ntaken notice of, but all let it pass with a surprising indolence; save\nthe next kindred to the dead, if he finds himself strong enough,\nrevenges his relation\u2019s death upon the murderer. They know of no other\npunishment; but those old women called witches, and such as pretend to\nkill or hurt by their conjuring; to such they show great rigour, making\nnothing of killing and destroying them without mercy. And they pretend\nthat it is very well done; those people not deserving to live, who by\nsecret arts can hurt and make away with others.\n\nThey have as great an abhorrence of stealing or thieving among\nthemselves, as any nation upon Earth; wherefore they keep nothing shut\nup under lock and key, but leave every thing unlocked that every body\ncan come at it, without fear of losing it.\n\nThis vice is so much detested by them, that if a maiden should steal any\nthing, she would thereby forfeit a good match. Yet if they can lay hands\nupon any thing belonging to us foreigners, they make no great scruple of\nconscience about it. But, as we now have lived some time in the country\namongst them, and are looked upon as true inhabitants of the land, they\nat last have forbore to molest us any more that way.\n\nAs to the transgression of the seventh commandment, we never have found\nthem guilty in that point, either in words or deeds, except what passes\namongst the married people in their public diversions, as we shall see\nhereafter.\n\nAs for what we call civility and compliments, they do not much trouble\nthemselves about them; they go and come, meet and pass one another,\nwithout making use of any greeting or salutation: yet they are far from\nbeing unmannerly or uncivil in their conversation; for they make a\ndifference among persons, and give more honour to one than to another,\naccording to their merit and deserts. They never enter any house where\nthey are strangers, unless they are invited, and when they come in, the\nmaster of the house, to whom they pay the visit, shows them the place\nwhere they are to take their seat.\n\nAs soon as a visitor enters the house, he is desired forthwith to strip\nnaked, and to sit down in this guise like all the rest; for this is the\ngrand fashion with them to dry the clothes of their guest. When victuals\nare put before him, he takes care not to begin eating immediately, for\nfear of being looked upon as starved, or of passing for a glutton. He\nmust stay till all the family is gone to bed before he can lie down, for\nto them it seems unbecoming that the guest goes to rest before the\nlandlord. Whenever a stranger comes into a house, he never asks for\nvictuals, though never so hungry; nor is there any need he should; for\nthey generally exercise great hospitality, and are very free with what\nthey have; and what is highly to be admired and praiseworthy, they have\nmost things in common; and if there be any among them (as it will\nhappen) who cannot work or get his livelihood, they do not let him\nstarve, but admit him freely to their table, in which they confound us\nChristians, who suffer so many poor and distressed mortals to perish for\nwant of victuals.\n\nFinally, the Greenlanders, as to their manners and common way of life,\nare very slovenly, nasty, and filthy; they seldom wash themselves[32],\nwill eat out of plates and bowls after their dogs, without cleansing\nthem; and (what is most nauseous to behold), eat lice and such like\nvermin, which they find upon themselves or others. Thus they make good\nthe old proverb, what drips from the nose falls into the mouth, that\nnothing may be lost. They will scrape the sweat from off their faces\nwith a knife, and lick it up. They do not blush to sit down and ease\nthemselves in the presence of others. Every family has a urine tub\nplaced before the entry, in which they make water, and leave it so\nstanding till it smells most insufferably, for they put in it the skins,\nwhich are to be dressed, to soak or steep, which affords not the most\nagreeable scent; to the encreasing of which the rotten pieces of flesh\nmeat and fat thrown under their benches contributes a great deal; so\nthat delicate noses do not find their account among them. Yet through\nlong custom the most nauseous things become more supportable.\n\nNotwithstanding, however, their nasty and most beastly way of living,\nthey are very good natured and friendly in conversation. They can be\nmerry and bear a joke, provided it be within due bounds. Never any of\nthem has offered in the least manner to hurt or to do harm to any of\nour people, unless provoked to it. They fear and respect us as a nation\nfar superior to theirs in valour and strength.\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. XI.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n_Of their Habits, and Way of Dressing._\n\n\nTheir clothes are, for the most part, made of rein deer and seal skin,\nas also of bird\u2019s skin nicely dressed and prepared. The men\u2019s habits are\na coat or jacket, with a cap or hood sewed to it, to cover the head and\nshoulders, in the fashion of a domino, or monk\u2019s hood. This coat reaches\ndown to the knees. Their breeches are very small, not coming above their\nloins, that they may not hinder them in getting into their small boats.\nAnd as they wear no linen, the hair of the skins the coat is made of is\nturned inward to keep them warm. Over this coat they put on a large\nfrock, made of seal skin dressed and tanned, without hair, in order to\nkeep the water out; and thus they are dressed when they go to sea.\n\nBetween the leathern frock and the under coat they wear a linen shirt,\nor, for want of linen, made of seal\u2019s guts; which also helps to keep out\nthe water from the under coat. Of late they appear sometimes in more\ngaudy dresses, as shirts made of striped linen, and coats and breeches\nof red and blue stuffs, or cloth, which they buy of ours, or the Dutch\nmerchants, but fashioned after their own way; in these they make parade\nand feast, when they keep holidays on shore. The stockings they wore\nformerly were made of rein deer, or seal\u2019s skin, but now they like\nbetter our sort of worsted stockings, of different colours, white, blue,\nand red, which they buy of us. Their shoes and boots are made of seal\u2019s\nskins, red or yellow, well dressed and tanned; they are nicely wrought,\nwith folds behind and before, without heels, and fit well upon the\nfoot[33].\n\nThe only difference between the dress of the men and the women is, that\nthe women\u2019s coats are higher on the shoulders and wider than the men\u2019s,\nwith higher and larger hoods. The married women, that have got children,\nwear much larger coats than the rest, most like gowns, because they must\ncarry their children in them upon their backs, having got no other\ncradle or swadling clothes for them. They wear drawers, which reach to\nthe middle of the thigh, and over them breeches: the drawers they always\nkeep on, and sleep in them. Their breeches come down to the knee: these\nthey do not wear in the summer, nor in the winter, but when they go\nabroad; and as soon as they come home they pull them off again. Next to\ntheir body they wear a waistcoat made of young fawns\u2019 skins, with the\nhairy side inward. The coat, or upper garment, is also made of fine\ncoloured swans\u2019 skins (or, in defect of that, of seal skins) trimmed and\nedged with white, and nicely wrought in the seams, and about the brim,\nwhich looks very well. Their shoes and boots, with little difference,\nare like those of the men. Their hair, which is very long and thick, is\nbraided and tied up in a knot, which becomes them well. They commonly go\nbare-headed, as well without as within doors; nor are they covered with\nhoods, but in case it rains or snows. Their chief ornament and finery is\nto wear glass beads of divers colours, or corals about the neck and\narms, and pendants in their ears. They also wear bracelets, made of\nblack skin, set with pearls, with which they also trim their clothes and\nshoes.\n\nThe Greenland sex have, besides this, another sort of embellishment,\nviz. they make long black strokes between the eyes on the forehead, upon\nthe chin, arms, and hands, and even upon the thighs and legs: these they\nmake with a needle and thread made black. And though this to others\nseems a wrong way of embellishing, yet they think it very handsome and\nornamental. And they say that those who do not thus deform their faces,\ntheir heads shall be turned into train tubs, which are placed under the\nlamps in Heaven, or the land of souls.\n\nThey keep their clothes pretty clean, though in other things, especially\nin their victuals, they are not so nice, chiefly the women, who have got\nchildren, are very dirty and slovenly, well knowing, that they cannot be\nrepudiated, or sent a packing. But those wretches that are barren, or\nwhose children are dead, and do not know the moment they may be sent\naway, are obliged to take more care of their cleanness and property,\nthat they may please their husbands.\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. XII.\n\n_Of their Diet, and manner of dressing their Victuals._\n\n\nThe Greenlanders\u2019 provision and victuals are flesh and fish meat (for\nthe country affords no other kind of provision) as rein deer, whales,\nseals, hares, and rypes, or white partridges, and all sorts of sea\nfowls. They eat their flesh meat sometimes raw, sometimes boiled, or\ndried in the sun or wind; but their fish meat is always thoroughly done,\nor they eat it dried in the sun or air, as salmon, roe-fish, halibut, or\nthe small stints, which, in the months of May and June, they catch in\ngreat abundance, and keep them cured and dried for winter provisions.\nAnd whereas, in the winter season, it is very rare to get seals, except\nin the most Northern parts where they take them upon the ice; so they\nmake all the provision of them they can get in the fall, and bury them\nunder the snow, until the winter comes on, when they dig them up, and\neat them raw and frozen as they are. Their drink is nothing but water,\nand not, as some writers have wrongly pretended, train oil; for they do\nnot so much as eat the fat, but only in sauces to their dried fish.\n\nFurthermore, they put great lumps of ice and snow into the water they\ndrink, to make it the cooler to quench their thirst. They are, taking\nthem in general, very hoggish and dirty in their eating and dressing of\ntheir victuals; they never wash, cleanse, or scour the kettles, pots, or\ndishes, in which they dress, and out of which they eat their victuals;\nwhich when dressed, they often lay down upon the dirty ground, which\nthey walk upon, instead of tables. They will, with so great an appetite\nand greediness, feed upon the rotten and stinking seal flesh, that it\nturns the stomach of any hungry man who looks upon them. They have no\nset time for their meals, every man eats when he is hungry, except when\nthey go to sea, and then their chief repast is a supper, after they are\ncome home in the evening; and he, whose supper is first ready, calls his\nneighbours to come and partake of it, as he does again with them\nreciprocally; and so it goes round from one to another.\n\nThe women do not eat in company with the men, but separately by\nthemselves; and in the absence of their husbands, when gone a fishing,\nthey being left to themselves, invite one another, and make grand cheer.\nAnd as they eat heartily, when they can come at it, so they can as well\nendure hunger, when scarcity of provision requires it. It has been\nobserved, that in great scarcity, they can live upon pieces of old\nskins, upon reets, or sea weeds, and other such trash. But the reason\nwhy they can endure hunger better than we foreigners, I take to be,\ntheir bodies being so squat and corpulent, their fat yielding them\nmatter of nourishment within themselves, for a while, till it be\nconsumed.\n\nBesides the fore-mentioned provisions, they also eat a sort of reddish\nsea weed, and a kind of root, which they call tugloronet, both dressed\nwith fat or train oil; the dung of the rein deer, taken out of the guts,\nwhen they cleanse them; the entrails of partridges, and the like\nout-cast, pass for dainties with them. They make likewise pancakes of\nwhat they scrape off the inside of seal skins, when they dress them. In\nthe summer they boil their meat with wood, which they gather in the\nfield, and in winter time over their lamps in little kettles of an oval\nfigure, made of brass, copper, or marble, which they make themselves.\n\nTo kindle the fire, when extinguished, they make use of this expedient,\nwhich shows their ingenuity: they take a short block of dry fir tree,\nupon which they rub another piece of hard wood, till, by the continued\nmotion, the fir catches fire. When we first came among them, they did\nnot like to taste any of our victuals, but now they are glad to get some\nof it, especially bread and butter, which they like mightily, but they\ndo not much care for our liquors; yet notwithstanding, some of them, who\nhave lived some time among us, have learnt to drink wine and brandy, and\nnever refuse it, when it is offered them. But as for tobacco, they do\nnot at all like it, nor can they bear the smell or smoke of it.\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. XIII.\n\n_Of their Marriages, and Education of their Children._\n\n\nThe most detestable crime of polygamy, which reigns so much among the\nHeathens, the Greenlanders are not so much addicted to; for commonly\nthey are contented with one wife. There are some, but very few, that\nkeep two, three, or four wives: but these pass for heroes or more than\nordinary men, in that, by their industry, they are able to subsist so\nmany wives and children. And what is remarkable, before our arrival,\nthere was never heard of such a thing as jealousy among those wives, but\nthey agreed very well together, though the first wife was reckoned the\nmistress. Since our arrival, as we have informed them of the word and\nwill of God, importing, that in the beginning the All-wise Creator made\none man and one woman, to live in matrimony as husband and wife, there\nhas been some resentment in the wives, when their husbands have had a\nmind to take any other besides them; they have addressed themselves to\nme, and desired me to put a stop to such a proceeding. Also when I have\ninstructed them in their catechism and the Christian doctrine, they have\nalways put me in mind, not to forget fully to instruct their husbands in\nthe duties of the seventh commandment.\n\nSome time passed before we could learn how the men behaved themselves\nwith regard to other men\u2019s wives, or the women _vice versa_, till at\nlast we perceived them not to be over scrupulous in this matter, of\nwhich we were more fully convinced, by hearing of a certain illegal game\nused among them; which is this. A number of married men and women meet\ntogether at an assembly; where, after they have taken their fill of\nfeasting and revelling, they begin singing and dancing, according to\ntheir own way; and in the mean while one after another take a trip with\neach other\u2019s wife, behind a curtain or hangings made of skins at one end\nof the house, where their beds are placed, and there divert themselves.\nThose are reputed the best and noblest tempered, who, without any pain\nor reluctancy, will lend their friends their wives.\n\nBut, as I observed above, none but married people frequent these sort of\ngames, which, they imagine, is not unbecoming. Especially the women\nthink themselves happy, if an angekkok, or prophet, will honour them\nwith his caresses: there are even some men so generous, that they will\npay the angekkok for it; chiefly if they themselves have no children;\nfor they fancy that an angekkok\u2019s child will be more happy and better\nqualified for business than others.\n\nMaidens, on the contrary, and unmarried women, observe much better the\nrules of modesty and continency; for I never saw any of them entertain\nany loose or slippery conversation with young men; or show the least\ninclination to it either in words or deeds. During fifteen full years\nthat I lived in Greenland, I did not hear of more than two or three\nyoung unmarried women, who had been guilty of incontinence; because it\nis reckoned the greatest of infamies. It is remarkable, that natural\ndecency is observed by them; for they refrain from marrying their next\nrelations, even in the third degree, taking such matches to be\nunwarrantable and quite unnatural. It is likewise reckoned uncouth and\nblameable, if a lad and a girl, that have served and been educated in\none family, should desire to be married together; for they look upon\nthem as brother and sister.\n\nThe ceremonies they use in their marriages and weddings are as\nfollow:--When a young man likes a maiden, he commonly proposes it to\ntheir parents and relations on both sides; and after he has obtained\ntheir consent, he gets two or more old women to fetch the bride (and if\nhe is a stout fellow, he will fetch her himself). They go to the place\nwhere the young woman is, and carry her away by force; for though she\never so much approves of the match, yet out of modesty she must make as\nif it went against the grain, and as if she was much ruffled at it; else\nshe will be blamed and get an ill name, as if she had been a love-sick\nwench. After she is brought to the house of the bridegroom, she keeps\nfor some time at a distance, and sits retired in some corner, upon the\nbench, with her hair dishevelled, and covering her face, being bashful\nand ashamed. In the mean while the bridegroom uses all the rhetorick he\nis master of, and spares no caresses to bring her to a compliance with\nhis ardent wishes; and the good girl being at length persuaded and\nprevailed with, yields kindly to his ravishing embraces; and then they\nlie down together, and so the wedding is over. But sometimes they take a\nshorter way to go to work, which is to gratify their inclinations\nwithout the advice or consent of the parents[34]. Nevertheless their\nmatrimony is not of so indissoluble a nature but that the husbands often\nrepudiate and put away their wives, if either they do not suit their\nhumours, or else, if they are barren and do not bring forth children\n(which they hold to be very ignominious), and marry others. But if they\nhave children by them, they bear a great deal with them, and keep them\nfor life. It is not rare to see that a man beats his wife, and gives her\nblack eyes, for her obstinacy and stubbornness sake; however they are\nsoon reconciled and good friends again, without bearing any grudge. For,\naccording to them, it signifies nothing, that a man beats his wife; but\nthey do not like that a master should drub a servant maid. Likewise they\nthink it heinous that a mother chastises her children; and if she falls\nfoul of her maid, it is with them unpardonable; and such a woman gets an\nill name.\n\nIf one of the party dies, the relict, whether husband or wife, is at\nliberty to marry again.\n\nThe women are of a very hardy and strong nature, which they chiefly show\nin their child-bearing; for as soon as it is over, they will go to work\nand do their ordinary business as usual. But sometimes they pay very\ndear for this bravery, it costing them their lives. The day after their\ndelivery they go abroad to work, being girt with a waist belt two or\nthree inches broad, which they also wore before their delivery. As soon\nas the child is born, the mother dips her finger into water, and rubs\nthe child\u2019s lips with it; or she puts a little bit of snow into its\nmouth, saying, \u201cImekautit,\u201d which signifies, Thou hast drunk a good\ndeal; and when she eats, she takes a bit of fish, and holds it to the\nchild\u2019s mouth, and shakes her hand, with this word, \u201cAiparpotit,\u201d that\nis to say, Thou hast eat and kept me company. They cut the navel-string,\nnot with a knife, but with a muscle shell, or they bite it off with\ntheir teeth; and when the string is dry they use it as an amulet.\n\nThey hold a chamber pot over the head of the woman in labour, imagining\nthat it helps to hasten her delivery. The child being a year old, the\nmother slabbers and licks it all over, from head to foot, that it may\ngrow hale and strong. They seldom bear twins, but monsters are often\nbrought forth. In the year 1737 a woman, in the Bay of Disco, was\ndelivered of a hideous monster; the eyes were placed on the side of the\nnose: it had a pointed snout and no ears. Instead of hands and feet it\nhad paws, and very thick thighs. Its front was covered with hair like\nthose of a rein deer, and the sides were covered with something like a\nwhite skin of a fish. In the same place another monstrous birth was seen\nin the year 1739, without a head, four-footed, with long nails, like\nclaws; it had a mouth upon the breast, and claws upon the back.\n\nThey have a very tender love for their children, and the mother always\ncarries her infant child about with her upon her back, wrapped up in her\ncoat wherever she goes, or whatever business she has in hand, for they\nhave no other cradles for them. They suckle them till they are three or\nfour years old or more; because in their tender infancy they cannot\ndigest the strong victuals that the rest must live upon.\n\nThe education of their children is what they seem little concerned\nabout; for they never make use of whipping or hard words to correct\nthem, when they do any thing amiss, but leave them to their own\ndiscretion. Notwithstanding which, when they are grown, they never seem\ninclined to vice or roguery, which is to be admired. It is true, they\nshow no great respect to their parents in their outward forms, but\nalways are very willing to do what they order them; though sometimes\nthey will bid their parents do it themselves. They are under the care of\ntheir parents, boys as well as girls, till they are married; afterwards\nthey shift for themselves, yet so, that they continue to dwell in the\nsame house, or under the same roof with their fathers, together with\nother kindred and relations; and what they get, they all enjoy in\ncommon.\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. XIV.\n\n_How the Greenlanders mourn and bury their dead Friends._\n\n\nWhen any person dies, they take what belongs to him, as house-furniture,\nutensils, and clothing, and throw it all out into the field, that by\ntouching of them they may not become unclean, or any misfortune befal\nthem on that account: and all that live in the same house are obliged to\ncarry out any thing of their goods that is new and has not been used;\nbut in the evening they bring them all back again, for then they say the\nstench of the dead body is quite dissipated. Then they begin to lament\nand mourn for their dead friend, with tears and ghastly howlings, which\nthey continue for an hour, and then the nearest relations take the body\nand carry it to the grave, made up of stones thrown together in a heap,\nunder which they bury him dressed in his best clothes, and well wrapt up\nin skins of rein deer or seals, with his legs bent under his back. Near\nthe burying place they lay his utensils, _viz._ his boat, bows, arrows,\nand the like; and if it be a woman, her needles, thimbles, and the like;\nnot that they believe they stand in need of those things, when they are\ncome to the land of souls, or in the other world, whither they are\nretired, but for the aversion they have for those things: lest by\nrefreshing the memory of the deceased, they might renew their grief and\nsorrow for his loss; for if they should bewail him and weep too much,\nthey think he will endure the more cold where he is.\n\nThey think themselves unclean if they touch any thing belonging to the\ndeceased; as likewise he that has carried him to the grave, and buried\nhim, is reckoned unclean for some time, and dares not do certain things:\nnay, not only the kindred and relations of the deceased, but likewise\nevery one that has lived in the same house with him, are obliged to\nabstain from certain victuals and work, for a while, according to the\ndirection of the _angekkuts_ or divines.\n\nThe women never wash themselves during their mourning time, nor appear\nwell dressed, or with braided and tied up hair, but dishevelled, and\nhanging about the face. They must put on their hood as often as they go\nout of doors, which is not customary at other times: but they believe\nthey otherwise should soon die.\n\nThey bewail their dead long enough: for, as often as any of their\nfriends and acquaintance come from other places to see them, the first\nthing they do is to sit down in great sadness, and weep and bemoan the\nloss of their deceased friend: after which they are comforted with good\ncheer. But if the deceased has left no friend or relation behind him, he\nmay lie long enough where he died, whether at home or abroad before any\nbody comes and buries him. If a person dies in the house, his body must\nnot be carried through the ordinary entry of it, but conveyed out at\nthe window; and if he dies in a tent, he is brought out at the back part\nof it. At the funeral a woman lights a stick in the fire, brandishing\nthe same and saying _piklerrukpok_, that is, Here is no more to be got.\n\nWhen little children die and are buried, they put the head of a dog near\nthe grave, fancying, that children having no understanding, they cannot\nby themselves find the way, but the dog must guide them to the land of\nthe souls.\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. XV.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n_Their Pastimes and Diversions, as also their Poetry._\n\n\nThe Greenlanders have several kinds of sports and recreations, with\nwhich they pass their time, when they have nothing else to do, or when\nthey visit one another: of which these are the most remarkable. When\nthey meet together for diversion\u2019s sake, the first step made is always\nbanqueting and revelling, where they stuff themselves with all the\ndainty bits and the best cheer the country affords; as rein deer and\nseal flesh dried or boiled; and the tail of a whale, which they reckon\namong the greatest delicacies. Of these things they eat very greedily;\nfor it is a great honour done to the landlord who treats, that his\nguests, when come home, complain that their belly was too small, and\nthat it was ready to burst.\n\nAfter the repast, they get up to divert themselves in this manner: one\nof the company takes a drum, which is made of a broad wooden hoop, or of\nthe rib of a whale, covered with a thin skin, with a handle to it; which\ndrum he beats with a stick, singing at the same time songs, either\nconcerning the common affairs in general, or his own private ones in\nparticular. In which, at the end of each verse, the whole chorus of men\nand women join with him.\n\nHe that can play the most odd and comical gestures, and play the most\nridiculous tricks with his face, head, and limb, turning them awry,\npasses for the most ingenious fellow; as he by his awkward and out of\nthe way postures can make others laugh.\n\nThey show their wit chiefly in satirical songs, which they compose\nagainst one another; and he, that overcomes his fellow in this way of\ndebate, is admired and applauded by the rest of the assembly. If any\nbody conceives a jealousy, or bears a grudge to another upon any\naccount, he sends to him, and challenges him to a duel in such or such\nassembly; where he will fight it out with him in taunting ditties.\nWhereupon the defied, in defence of his honour, prepares his weapons,\nand does not fail to appear at the time and place appointed, if his\ncourage do not forsake him. When the assembly is met, and the combatants\narrived, every body being silent and attentive to hear what end the\ncombat will take, the challenger first enters the lists, and begins to\nsing, accompanying it with the beat of his drum. The challenged rises\nalso, and in silence listens, until his champion or adversary has done\nsinging. Then he likewise enters the lists, armed with the same weapons,\nand lays about his party the best he can. And thus they alternately sing\nas long as their stock of ditties lasts. He that first gives over, is\nreckoned overcome and conquered. In this sort of taunting ditties they\nreproach and upbraid one another with their failings. And this is their\ncommon way of taking vengeance.\n\nThere is not to be expected great ingenuity or sallies and points of wit\nin their poesies, yet there is some cadence and number in their verses,\nand some kind of rhyme in them. For an instance of which I join hereto a\nGreenland song, or ode, composed by one of the natives, who formerly\nlived in our colony, by name Frederick Christian, upon the birth day of\nhis then royal highness, Prince Christian, on the 30th of November,\n1729, which is as follows.\n\n\nA\n\nGREENLAND SONG,\n\nCOMPOSED\n\nBY FREDERICK CHRISTIAN,\n\nA Native.\n\n\nAmna aja aja, aja aja, &c. [Entry.\n\n    _One morning as I went out, and saw,\n    That flags and colours were flying,\n    And that they made ready\n    To fire the guns;\n    Then I demanded,\n    Why do you fire?\n    And they answered me, because the King\u2019s Son\u2019s\n    Birth day was celebrated,\n    Who is to be king after his father,_\n\n    Annigamma irsigeik, amna aja aja, &c.\n    Arvallirsullitlarmeta: amna aja, &c.\n    Opellungarsullarmeta, amna aja, &c.\n    Erkaiseigamig og, amna aja aja, &c.\n    Tava orkarbigeik, amna aja aja, &c.\n    Saag erkaisovise? Amna aja, &c.\n    Tava akkyanga, assuog Nellermago,\n    Okuine annivine nellermago, amna aja, &c.\n    Angune tokkopet kongingoromagame, amna aja, &c.\n\n    _And succeed in the kingdom.\n    Thereupon I said to my friend,\n    Let us make a song\n    To the King\u2019s Son;\n    For he shall be made king.\n    This my little song shall praise him:\n    \u2019Tis said, he is a brave prince,\n    Let us therefore rejoice;\n    For he shall be our king,\n    After his Father\u2019s death,\n    We rejoice also, because\n    He loves us as his Father does;\n    Who sent over clergymen to us,\n    To teach us the word of God;\n    Lest we should go to the Devil.\n    Be thou like him, so shall we love thee,_\n\n    Kingoreis semmane; amna aja, &c.\n    Tava ikkinguntiga; amna aja aja, &c.\n    Pitsimik sennegiluk; amna aja, &c.\n    Kongib imna niamganut, amna aja, &c.\n    Kongingoromamet; amna aja aja, &c.\n    Pisingvoara una; amna aja aja, &c.\n    Ostantigirfar\u00e6t sillakartok unnertlugo, amna aja, &c.\n    Tipeitsutigeik: amna aja aja, aja aja.\n    Kongingoromamet; amna aja aja, aja, &c.\n    Angune-oy tokkoppet: amna aja aja, &c.\n    Tipeitsokigogut: amna aja aja, aja, &c.\n    Attatatut asseigallo\u00e4patit: amna aja, &c.\n    Pellesille tamaunga innekaukit: amna aja, &c.\n    Gudimik ajokarsokullugit: amna aja, &c.\n    Torngarsungmut makko inneille pekonnagit: amna aja, &c.\n    Iblile tameitit neglitsomapaukit,\n\n    _And cherish thee,\n    And be thy servants.\n    Our ancestors have also been thy servants,\n    Even they.\n    That thou hast thought on us,\n    This we know very well, O gracious Son of the King.\n    We hope thou wilt continue so to do,\n    The King thy father has before possessed us,\n    When thou shalt be our King thou\u2019lt prove good enough.\n    Whatever we possess\n    Shall be thine altogether.\n    When Greenland shall have received instruction,\n    Then shall they love God and honour the King.\n    Let us be merry,\n    And of the King\u2019s Son\n    Drink the health. And say, Long live Christian!_\n\n    Asseigomarpaukit: amna aja aja, &c.\n    Kivgakomarpautigut: amna aja aja, &c.\n    Siurlit karalit kivgarimiaukit,\n    Juko: amna aja aja, aja aja, &c.\n    Isumatigautigut: amna aja aja, &c.\n    Nellungikallorapagut, Kongib Niarnga ajungitsotit,\n    Teimatoy isumariotit: amna aja aja, &c.\n    Kongib Angutit pekaramisigut,\n    Iblile Kongingoruit namaksimotit: amna aja, &c.\n    Tomasa pirsaugut: amna aja aja, &c.\n    Piarmapotit makko: amna aja, &c.\n    Karalit illerpeta: amna aja, &c.\n    Gud negligomaparput, Kongible nalleklugo: amna aja aja, &c.\n    Tecpeitsukigisa: amna aja aja, aja, &c.\n    Kongiblo Niarnga: amna aja aja, &c.\n    Skaalia immerlugo: amna aja aja, &c.\n    Tave okarpogut, Christian innuvit: amna aja, &c.\n\n    _And thy Consort.\n    May thy years be many!\n    (This I wish) Frederick Christian, and my friend\n    Peter, who were the first baptized of Greenland.\n    Would to God our countrymen were also._\n\n    Nulliello: amna aja aja, aja aja, &c.\n    Okiutikit armarlesorsuangorlutik: amna aja, &c.\n    Friderik Christian ikingutigalo; amna, &c.\n    Peder, karalinit kockkartoguk: amna, &c.\n    Kannoktok! Ekkarlivut tamakilit makko: amna aja, &c.\n    Amna, aja aja, aja aja, aja aja, hei!\n\nThey have, besides this, another sort of diversion, accompanied with\nsinging, which consists in swopping or bartering. He that performs the\noffice of drummer and singer, exposes one thing or other to sale, at any\nrate he thinks fit; if any of the company has a liking to it, he shows\nhis consent by giving the seller a slap on his breech, and the bargain\nis done, and cannot be retrieved, whether good or bad. The boys and lads\nhave also their pastimes and plays, when they meet in the evening. They\ntake a small piece of wood, with a hole in it at one end, to that they\ntie a little pointed stick with a thread or string, and throwing the\npiece with the hole in it up into the air, they strive to catch it upon\nthe pointed stick, through the hole. He that does it twenty times\nsuccessively, and without failing, gains the match, or party, and he\nthat misses gets a black stroke on his forehead for every time he\nmisses. Another boy\u2019s play is a game of chance, like cards or dice; they\nhave a piece of wood pointed at one end, with a pin or peg in the midst,\nupon which it turns; when the boys are seated around, and every one laid\ndown what they play for, one of them turns the pointed piece of wood\nwith his finger, that it wheels about like a mariner\u2019s compass; and when\nit has done, he that the point aims at, wins all that was laid down.\nBall playing is their most common diversion, which they play two\ndifferent ways. They divide themselves into two parties; the first party\nthrows the ball to each other; while those of the second party endeavour\nto get it from them, and so by turns. The second manner is like our\nplaying at foot ball. They mark out two barriers, at three or four\nhundred paces distance one from the other; then being divided into two\nparties, as before, they meet at the starting place, which is at the\nmidway between the two barriers; and the ball being thrown upon the\nground, they strive who first shall, get at it, and kick it with the\nfoot, each party towards their barrier. He that is the most nimble\nfooted and dextrous at it, kicking the ball before him, and getting the\nfirst to the barrier, has won the match.\n\nThus (they will tell you) the deceased play at foot ball in Heaven, with\nthe head of a morse, when it lightens, or the North-light (aurora\nborealis) appears, which they fancy to be the souls of the deceased.\n\nWhen their acquaintance from abroad come to see them, they spend whole\ndays and nights in singing and dancing; and as they love to pass for men\nof courage and valour, they will try forces together, in wrestling,\nstruggling, and playing hook and crook, which is to grapple with the\narms and fingers made crooked, and intangled like hooks. Whoever can\npull the other from his place, thinks himself a man of worth and valour.\nThe women\u2019s or rather the maiden\u2019s plays, consist in dancing around,\nholding one another by the hand, forming a circle, and singing of\nsongs.\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. XVI.\n\n_Of their Language._\n\n\nThough the Greenland language has not affinity with other European\ntongues, yet it seems to have borrowed some words from the Norwegians,\nwho formerly inhabited part of the land; for such words agree both in\nname and signification; as, for example, _Kona_, a Woman; _Nerriok_, to\neat, from the Norway word _Noerrie_. The herb _Angelica_, which they in\nNorway call _Quaun_, the Greenlanders call _Qvaunnek_. A Porpoise, in\nNorway called _Nise_, they call _Nise_. Ashes, in Norway, _Aske_, in\nGreenland, _Arkset_. A Lamp, in the Norwegian, _Kolle_, in the\nGreenlandian, _Kollek_. Some of their words resemble Latin words of the\nsame signification; as, _Gutta_, a drop; in the Greenland tongue,\n_Gutte_, or _Kutte_. _Ignis_, Fire, they call _Ingnek_. And some they\nhave got from Hebrew roots, as, _Appa_, a word the children use to name\ntheir father, and some others.\n\nThe accent and pronunciation of it is hard and difficult, because they\nspeak very thick, and in the throat. The same language is spoke\nthroughout the whole country, though the accent and pronunciation\ndiffers here and there as different dialects; chiefly towards the\nSouthern parts, where they have received and adopted many foreign words,\nnot used in the Northern parts. But the angekuts, or divines, make use\nof a particular speech, whenever they conjure; for then they use\nmetaphorical locutions and words in a contrary sense. The women-kind\nalso have a particular pronunciation peculiar to themselves, and\ndifferent from that of the men, making use of the softest letters at the\nend of words, instead of hard ones; for example, _Am_ for _Ap_, that\nis, _Yes_. _Saving_, for _Savik_, a _Knife_. Their language, in common,\nwants the letters, _c_, _d_, _f_, _q_, _x_. They have besides many\ndouble and unknown consonants, which is the cause, that many of their\nwords cannot be spelt according to their manner of pronouncing them. For\nthe rest, their expressions are very natural and easy, and their\nconstructions so neat and regular, that one would hardly expect so much\nfrom a nation so unpolite and illiterate. The language is very rich of\nwords and sense, and of such energy, that one is often at a loss and\npuzzled to render it in Danish; but then again it wants words to express\nsuch things as are foreign, and not in use among them. They have\nmonosyllables and polysyllables, but most of the last. Their words, as\nwell nouns as verbs, are inflected at the end, by varying the\nterminations, without the help of the articles or particles, like the\nGreek and Latin. The adjectives always follow their substantives; but\nthe possessive pronouns are joined to the nouns, as the Hebrew\nsuffixa[35]: nor have the nouns alone their suffixa, but the verbs also.\nTo satisfy the reader\u2019s curiosity, I have hereto joined a list of some\nof the words and a sketch, showing the construction and inflections of\nthis language.\n\n\nVOCABULARY\nOF THE\nLANGUAGE OF GREENLAND.\n\n_Singular._            _Dual._       _Plural._\n\nInnuk, _Mankind_,      Innuk,      Innuit.\nAngut, _a Man_,        Angutik,    Angutit.\nArnak, _a Woman_,      Arnek,      Arnet.\nNiakok, _the Head_,    Niakuk,     Niakut.\nIrse, _an Eye_,        Irsik,      Irsit.\nKingak, _the Nose_,    Kingek,     Kinget.\nKinak, _the Face_,     Kinek,      Kinet.\nKannek, _Mouth_,       Kannek,     Kangit.\nOkak, _Tongue_,        Okek,       Oket.\nKiut, _a Tooth_,        Kiutik,      Kiutit.\nKartlo, _a Lip_,        Kartluk,     Kartluit.\nSuit, _an Ear_,          Siutik,     Siutit.\nNyak, _Head of Hair_,    Nytkiek,    Nytkiet.\nS\u00e6kik, _the Breast_,     S\u00e6kkirsek,  S\u00e6kkirset.\nIviange, _Bubby_,        Iviangik,   Iviangit.\nTue, _Shoulder_,         Tubik,      Tubit.\nTellek, _Arm_,           Tellik,     Tellit.\nIkusik, _Elbow_,         Ikivtik,    Ikivtit.\nArkseit, _Hand (that is the Fingers), is plural only_.\nTikek, _Finger_,         Tikik,      Tirkerit.\nKukik, _Nail_,           Kukik,      Kuket.\nNak, _Belly_,            Nersek,     Nerset.\nInnelo, _Bowel_,         Inneluk,    Inneluit.\nOkpet, _the Thigh_,      Okpetik,    Okpetit.\nSibbiak, _the Hip_,      Sibbirsek,  Sibbirset.\nSerkok, _Knee_,          Serkuk,     Serkuit.\nKannak, _Shank_,         Kannek,     Kannerset.\nIsiket, _Foot, is only of the plural number_.\nKimik, _Heel_,           Kimik,      Kimikt.\n\nThe construction with Possessive Pronouns is thus.\n\nIglo, _a House_,            Igluk,      Iglut.\n_My House_,     Igluga,     Igluka,     Igluka.\n_Thy House_,    Iglut,      Iglukit,    Iglutit.\n_His House_,         Igloa,      Igluk,    Iglo\u00ebi.\n_His own House_,     Iglune,     Iglugne,   Iglune.\n_Our House_,         Iglout,     Iglogat,   Iglovut.\n_Your House_,        Iglurse,   Iglursik,   Igluse.\n_Their House_,       Iglo\u00e6t,     Iglo\u00e6k,    Igl\u00f6eit.\n_Their own House_,   Iglurtik,   Iglutik,   Iglutik.\n\nThis same Noun\u2019s construction with the suffixas at Prepositions, _mik_\nand _nik_, _mit_ and _nit_, which signifies from; _mut_ and _nut_, to;\n_me_ and _ne_, on or upon, is thus performed.\n\n_Singular._                   _Dual._  _Plural._\n_To the House_,         Iglomut,       Iglugnut,      Iglunut.\n_To my House_,          Iglumnut,      idem,          idem.\n_To thy House_,         Iglungnut,     idem,          idem.\n_To his House_,         Igloanut,      Igloennut,     Iglocinut.\n_To his own House_,     Iglominut,     Iglungminut,   Iglominut.\n_To our House_,         Iglotivnut,    Iglutivnut,    idem.\n_To your House_,        Iglusivnut,    idem,          idem.\n_To their House_,       Iglo\u00e6nut,      idem,          Igl\u00f6einut.\n_To their own House_,   Iglomingnut,   idem,          idem.\n\nAs to the verbs, they are either simple or compounded: there are five\nconjugations, to which may be added a sixth of negative verbs. There are\nthree tenses in all, the present, preterit, and future; and six moods,\n_viz._ indicative, interrogative, imperative, permissive, conjunctive,\nand infinitive.\n\nThe examples of the simple verbs are these. The first conjugation ends\nin _kpok_, as _Ermikpok_, he washes himself: _Aglekpok_, he writes.\n\nThe second ends in _rpok_, as _Mattarpok_, he undresses himself:\n_Aularpok_, he sets out on a journey: _Ajokarsorpok_, he teaches.\n\nThe third conjugation ends in _pokpurum_; that is, in _pok_ preceded by\na vowel, as _Egipok_, he throws away; _Inginok_, he sits down;\n_Akpapok_, he runs.\n\nThe fourth ends in _ok_ or _vok_, as _Pyok_, he receives: _Aglyok_, he\ngrows: _Assavok_, he loves.\n\nThe fifth conjugation ends in _au_, as _Irsigau_, he ogles; _Arsigau_,\nhe resembles; _Angekau_, he is tall.\n\nThe sixth conjugation of negative verbs ends in _ngilak_, as\n_Ermingilak_, he does not wash himself: _Mattengilak_, he does not\nundress himself: _Pingilak_, he receives not: _Egingilak_, he throws not\naway: _Irsigingilak_, he ogles not.\n\nInflexion of a Verb with the suffixes of a person agent of the first\nconjugation in _kpok_.\n\nIndicative.           Present.\n\n_Singular_.   _Dual_   _Plural_.\n\n_He washes himself_,   _The two wash themselves_,   _They wash themselves_,\nErmikpok.            Ermikpuk.                  Ermikput.\n\n_I wash myself_,       _We two wash ourselves_,     _We wash us_.\nErmikpunga.          Ermikpoguk.                Ermikpogut.\n\n_Thou wash thyself_,   _You two wash yourselves_,   _You wash yourselves_.\nErmikpotit.          Ermikpotik.                Ermikpose.\n\nThe inflexion with suffixes of a person patient is formed this way.\n\n_Thou washest me_.   _Ye two wash me_,     _You wash me_,\nErmikparma,        Ermikpautiga.       Ermikpausinga.\n\n_He washes me_,      _The two wash me_,    _They wash me_,\nErmikpanga.        Ermikpainga.        Ermikpanga.\n\n_I wash him_,        _We two wash him_,    _We wash him_,\nErmikpara.         Ermikparpuk.        Ermikparput.\n\n_He washes him_,     _The two wash him_,   _They wash him_,\nErmikp\u00e6.           Ermikp\u00e6k.           Ermikp\u00e6t.\n\n_Thou washest him_,  _Ye two wash him_,   _You wash him_,\nErmikpet.          Ermikpartik.        Ermikparse.\n\n_I wash thee_,       _We two wash thee_,   _We wash thee_,\nErmikpaukit.       Ermikpautikit.      Ermikp\u00e6utigit.\n\n_He washes thee_,       _The two wash thee_,     _They wash thee_,\nErmikpatit.           idem.                  idem.\n\n_Thou washest us_,      _Ye two wash us,_        _You wash us_,\nErmikpautigut.        ----pautigut.          Ermikpausigut.\n\n_He washes us_,         _The two wash us_,       _They wash us_,\nErmikpatigut.         idem.                  idem.\n\n_I wash you_,           _We two wash you_,       _We wash you_,\nErmikpause,           idem.                  idem.\n\n_He washes you_,        _The two wash you_,      _They wash you_,\nErmikpase.            idem.                  idem.\n\n_I wash them_,          _We two wash them_,      _We wash them_,\nErmikpaka.            Ermikpauvut.           idem.\n\n_He washes them_,       _The two wash them_,     _They wash them_,\nErmikpei.             Ermikpatik.            Ermikpase.\n\n_Thou washest them_,    _Ye two wash them,_      _Ye wash them_,\nErmikpatit.           Ermikpatik.            Ermikpeit.\n\n\nInflexion of the Negative Verb.\n\n_He washes not_         _The two wash not_       _They wash not_\n_himself_,              _themselves._,            _themselves._,\nErmingilak.           Ermingilek.            Ermingilat.\n\n_I do not wash_         _We two wash not_        _We wash not_\n_myself_,               _ourselves_,             _ourselves_,\nErmingilanga.         Ermingilaguk.          Ermingilagut.\n\n_Thou dost not wash_    _Ye two do not wash_     _You do not wash_\n_thyself_,              _yourselves_,            _yourselves_,\nErmingilatit.         Ermingilatik.          Ermingilase.\n\n     With the suffixes of the patient person the negative verbs are\n     inflected like the affirmatives; as,\n\n_He washes me not_,     _Ye two wash me not_,    _They wash me not_,\nErmingilanga.         idem.                  idem.\n\n_Thou washest me not_,  _Ye two wash me not,_    _You wash me not_,\nErmingilarma.         Ermingilautinga.       Ermingilausinga.\n\nAnd in the same manner you may inflect all verbs whatsoever.\n\nThe preterits and futures have the same suffixa as the present tense.\n\nConcerning the compounded verbs, it is to be observed, that, whereas\ntheir auxiliary verbs are but few, they make use of several particles to\nsupply their place, which are annexed to the simple verbs, and so make\nthem compounded verbs, yet these particles by themselves are not used,\nnor of any signification. And by this connection or composition the\nsimple verbs change their conjugation. As for example,\n\nFirst, in this expression, they used to do so and so, the composition is\nformed thus; of the simple verb _Erminpok_, he washes himself, in the\ncomposition is made _Ermingarace_, he uses to wash himself. _Kieavok_,\nhe weeps; _Kieeillarau_, he uses to weep; _Aularpok_, he goes from home;\n_Aulararau_, he uses to go from home.\n\nSecond, when the expression runs thus, he comes to do this or that, it\nis turned in this manner. _Ermigiartorpok_, he comes to wash himself;\n_Aglegiartorpok_, he comes to write. And so in all other compositions.\n\nBut there are not only verbs compounded with one, but sometimes with\ntwo, three, or more particles joined to the verb, when there is a longer\nsentence to be expressed. And for this reason, the words and particles\nundergo a great many changes and variations, inasmuch as they retain but\ncertain radical letters, the rest either being thrown away and\nquite lost, or else changed for others. As for instance,\n_Aulisariartorasuarpok_, he made haste to go out a fishing. Here three\nverbs are joined together in one. _Aulisarpok_, he fishes; _Peartorpok_,\nto go about something; and _Pinnesuarpok_, to make haste. Again,\n_Aglekkinniarit_, endeavour to write better. Here we have another\nthreefold composition. First, _Aglekpok_, he writes; then _Pekipok_, to\nmend, or do better, and at last _Pinniarpok_, to endeavour. From whence\ncomes the verb _Aglikkinniarpok_, he endeavours to write better; in the\nimperative mood, _Aglekkinniarit_, as above.\n\n\n_The Creed, and the Lord\u2019s Prayer, translated into the Greenland\nLanguage._\n\nARTICLE I.\n\nOperpunga Gud-mun Attatavnut, ajuakangitsomut, killagmik nunamiglo\nsennarsomut.\n\n\nARTICLE II.\n\nOperpunga Jesus Christusmut, Ernetuanut, Nallegautimut, Annersamit\nhelligmit pirsok, Niviarsamit Mariamit erniursok; anniartok Pontius\nPilatus-mit; Isektitaursok, tokkorsok, illirsorto, allernum akkartok.\nUllut pingajuane tokkorsonit makitok; Killangmut Kollartok; Angume Gub\ntellerpiet tungane ipsiarsok; tersanga amma tikiytsomaryok, umarsullo\ntokongarsullo auiksartitsartorlugit.\n\n\nARTICLE III.\n\nOperpunga Gub Annersanut, opertokartoniglo nuname: Innungliglo\nhelligniglo illegeinik, Synderronermiglo, Timiniglo umaromartonik,\ntokkorsublo Kingorna tokkoviungitsokartomik. Amen.\n\n\n_The Lord\u2019s Prayer._\n\nNALLEKAM OKAUSIA.\n\nAttavut killangmepotit, akkit usorolirsuk; Nallegavet aggerle; pekorset\nKillangme nunam etog tamaikile: Tunnisigun ullume nekiksautivnik;\npissarauneta aketsorauta, pisingilaguttog akectsortivut; Ursennartomut\npisitsaraunata; ajortomin annautigut: Nallegauet, Pisarlo, usornartorlo\npigangaukit isukangithomun. Amen.\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. XVII.\n\n     _Of the Greenland Trade, and whether, in promoting it, there is any\n     Advantage to be expected._\n\n\nThe goods and commodities Greenland affords for the entertaining of\ncommerce, or traffic, are whale blubber or fat, and whale bones, unicorn\nhorns, rein deer skins and hides, seal and fox skins. These wares they\nbarter against merchandizes of our produce, as coats and shirts made of\nwhite, blue, red or striped linen or woollen cloth; as also knives,\nhand-saws, needles, hooks to angle with, looking-glasses, and other such\nmerchandize or hardwares: besides what they buy of wood, as rafts,\npoles, deal boards, chests; and of brass and copper, as kettles and the\nlike, tin dishes and plates; for which they pay to the full price. At\nthe beginning of our late settlement in those parts the trade was much\nbrisker than at present, and much more profitable; for foreign traders\nflocking thither in great numbers have so overstocked them with goods,\nand undersold one another, to draw the natives to them from others, that\nthe trade is considerably slackened and fallen. Yet I trust, that, if we\nonce became masters of this trade, as it in justice belongs to us, by\nthe right the King of Denmark lawfully claims to these countries as much\nas any kingdom or province subject to him; I trust, that, with this\nproviso, the trade to Greenland would prove as profitable as any other\nwhatsoever; which has been evidenced not long ago, when by his Majesty\u2019s\nspecial order foreign trade has been prohibited within a certain\ndistance on each side of the colonies. For if the lading of some ships\nwith fish and train from Finmark, and others of fish, train, salt meat,\nand butter from Iceland and Fero, bring to the traders considerable\nprofit; who would question, but the same or better advantage may be\nexpected from the importing quantities of whale train, whale bones,\nrein deer hides, fox and seal skins, which are of more value than the\nIceland or Feroe? And, if the produce or commodities of Greenland were\nformerly reckoned of that importance, that they were deemed sufficient\nto maintain the King\u2019s table, why not also at present? provided\nGreenland may by settlements and improvement retrieve its former\nabundance, which is not impossible.\n\nIf the old lands, formerly inhabited and manured by the Norway colonies,\nwere anew peopled with men and cattle; they would, without doubt, yield\nas much as either Iceland or Feroe, seeing there is as good pasture\nground as in those islands. I shall forbear to mention salmon and cod\nfishing, as it seems at present to be but of little or no importance,\nespecially on the West side; though I am credibly informed by the\nnatives, that on the Southern coast they catch abundance of fine large\ncod. Yet this may be more than sufficiently compensated by the whale\nfishery on the North and the capture of seals on the South, which if\nrightly undertaken, and with vigour set on foot, will bring as much, nay\nfar more profit than the salmon and cod catching does in other places;\nchiefly the seal capture, which can be undertaken at very small\nexpenses, _viz._ at the coast with strong nets, with which they may\ncatch many thousands in Greenland; which, if hitherto not practised,\nought to be imputed to negligence and want of a good regulation. In\nshort, Greenland, as we see, is very convenient for trading, and may be\nvery well worth one\u2019s while to take in hand. But there is little to be\ndone, without an established and formed company of men of substance as\nwell as resolution; being altogether impossible and above the strength\nof any private man to master it and go through with it.\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. XVIII.\n\n_The Religion, or rather Superstition, of the Greenlanders._\n\n\nThe Greenlanders\u2019 ignorance of a Creator would make one believe they\nwere atheists, or rather naturalists. For, when they have been asked\nfrom whence they thought that Heaven and Earth had their origin, they\nhave answered nothing, but that it had always been so. But if we\nconsider, that they have some notion of the immortality of souls[36],\nand that there is another much happier life after this; moreover, as\nthey are addicted to different kinds of superstition, and that they hold\nthere is a Spiritual Being, which they call Torngarsuk, to whom they\nascribe a supernatural power, though not the creation or the production\nof creatures (of whose origin they tell many absurd and ridiculous\nstories), all this, I say, supposes some sort of worship; although they\ndo not themselves, out of their brutish stupidity, understand or infer\nso much, or make use of the light of nature and the remaining spark of\nthe image of God in their souls, to consider the invisible being of God\nby his visible works, which is the creation of the world.--Rom. i. For\nwhich reason, instead of attaining the knowledge of God and true\nreligion, they are unhappily fallen into many gross superstitions.\n\nBut notwithstanding that all these superstitions are authorized by, and\ngrounded upon the notion they have of him they call Torngarsuk, whom\ntheir lying angekuts or prophets hold for their oracle, whom they\nconsult on all occasions, yet the commonalty know little or nothing of\nhim, except the name only: nay even the angekuts themselves are divided\nin the whimsical ideas they have formed of his being; some saying he is\nwithout any form or shape; others giving him that of a bear, others\nagain pretending he has a large body and but one arm; and some make him\nas little as a finger. There are those who hold he is immortal, and\nothers, that a puff of wind can kill him. They assign him his abode in\nthe lower regions of the Earth, where they tell you there is constantly\nfine sunshiny weather, good water, deer, and fowls in abundance. They\nalso say he lives in the water; wherefore, when they come to any water,\nof which they have not drank before, and there be any old man in the\ncompany, they make him drink first, in order to take away its\nTorngarsuk, or the malignant quality of the water, which might make them\nsick and kill them. They hold furthermore, that a spirit resides in the\nair, which they name Innertirrirsok, that is, the Moderator or\nRestrainer, because it is pursuant to his order, that the angekuts\ncommand the people to restrain or abstain from certain things or\nactions, that they may not come into harm\u2019s way. According to their\ntheology, or mythology, there is yet one spirit, harbinger of the air,\nwhom they stile Erloersortok, which signifies a Gutter, because he guts\nthe deceased, and feeds upon their intestines. His countenance, they\nsay, is very ghastly and haggard, hollow eyes and cheeks, like a body\nthat is starved.\n\nEach element has its governor or president, which they call Innu\u00e6[37];\nfrom whence the angekuts receive their torngak, or familiar spirits.\nFor every angekkok has a torngak, who attends him, after he has ten\ntimes conjured in the dark.\n\nSome have their own deceased parents for their torngak, and others get\ntheirs out of some of our nation, who they say discharge their fire arms\nwhen they wait before the entry of the place where the angekkok performs\nhis conjuration. Whether Torngak and Torngarsuk be one and the same\nthing I shall not decide; but certain it is, that one is derived from\nthe other. From Torngarsuk the angekuts pretend they learn the art of\nconjuring; which they are taught in this method. If one aspires to the\noffice of an angekkok, and has a mind to be initiated into these\nmysteries, he must retire from the rest of mankind, into some remote\nplace, from all commerce; there he must look for a large stone, near\nwhich he must sit down and invoke Torngarsuk, who, without delay,\npresents himself before him. This presence so terrifies the new\ncandidate of angekutism, that he immediately sicken, swoons away, and\ndies; and in this condition he lies for three whole days; and then he\ncomes to life again, arises in a newness of life, and betakes himself to\nhis home again. The science of an angekkok consists of three things. 1.\nThat he mutters certain spells over sick people, in order to make them\nrecover their former health. 2. He communes with Torngarsuk, and from\nhim receives instruction, to give people advice what course they are to\ntake in affairs, that they may have success, and prosper therein. 3. He\nis by the same informed of the time and cause of any body\u2019s death; or\nfor what reason any body comes to an untimely and uncommon end; and if\nany fatality shall befal a man. And though this lying spirit of the\nangekuts is oftentimes found out by their gross mistakes, when the\nevents do not answer their false predictions, as commonly happens; yet,\nfor all that, they are in great honour and esteem among this stupid and\nignorant nation, insomuch that nobody ever dare refuse the strictest\nobedience to what they command him in the name of Torngarsuk, fearing,\nthat, in case of disobedience, some great affliction and misfortune may\nhappen to him. Among many other fibs, and most impudent lies, they make\nalso these silly stupid wretches believe, that they can, with hands and\nfeet tied, mount up to Heaven, and see how matters stand there; and\nlikewise descend to Hell, or the lower regions of the Earth, where the\nfierce Torngarsuk keeps his court. A young angekkok must not undertake\nthis journey but in the fall of the year, by reason, that then the\nlowermost Heaven, which they take the rainbow to be, is nearest to the\nEarth.\n\nThe farce or imposture is thus acted: a number of spectators assemble in\nthe evening at one of their houses, where, after it is grown dark,\nevery one being seated, the angekkok causes himself to be tied, his head\nbetween his legs and his hands behind his back, and a drum is laid at\nhis side; thereupon, after the windows are shut and the light put out,\nthe assembly sings a ditty, which, they say, is the composition of their\nancestors; when they have done singing the angekkok begins with\nconjuring, muttering, and brawling; invokes Torngarsuk, who instantly\npresents himself, and converses with him (here the masterly juggler\nknows how to play his trick, in changing the tone of his voice, and\ncounterfeiting one different from his own, which makes the too credulous\nhearers believe, that this counterfeited voice is that of Torngarsuk,\nwho converses with the angekkok.) In the mean while he works himself\nloose, and, as they believe, mounts up into Heaven through the roof of\nthe house, and passes through the air till he arrives into the highest\nof heavens, where the souls of angekkut poglit, that is, the chief\nangekkuts, reside, by whom he gets information of all he wants to know.\nAnd all this is done in the twinkling of an eye.\n\nConcerning the angekkut poglit, whom we just now mentioned, as they pass\nfor the heads of the clergy, and are reckoned the most eminent and\nwisest of all, they also must pass through the inferior orders, and\nseveral hard trials, before they can attain to this high degree of\npre-eminency; for none is deemed worthy of such a dignity, but he that\nhas made his noviciateship in the lower rank, as an ordinary angekkok.\nThe trial he must undergo, is this: they tie his hands and feet, as\naforesaid, and after the light is put out, and they are all left in\ndarkness (that nobody may see how the trick is played, and their\nimposture be discovered), then they pretend that a white bear enters the\nroom, takes hold of his great toe with his teeth, and dragging him along\nto the sea shore, jumps with him into the sea, where a morse is ready,\nand takes hold of him by his privy parts, devouring him, together with\nthe white bear. A little while after all his bones are thrown in upon\nthe floor, one after another, not one missing; and then his soul rises\nup off the ground, which gathers the bones, and animates the whole body\nagain, and up starts the man, a hale and entire as ever he was; and thus\nhe is made an angekkok poglik.\n\nThe angekkuts, as before observed, are kept in great honour and esteem,\nand beloved and cherished as a wise and useful set of men; they are also\nwell rewarded for their service, when it is wanted. But, on the\ncontrary, there is another sort of conjurers or sorcerers, especially\nsome decrepid old women, which they call illiseersut, or witches, who\npersuade themselves and others, that, by the virtue of their spells and\nwitchcraft they can hurt people in their life and goods. These are not\nupon the same footing with the angekkuts; for as soon as any one incurs\nonly the suspicion of such demeanor, he or she is hated and detested by\nevery body, and at last made away with, without mercy, as a plague to\nmankind, and not deemed worthy to live.\n\nMoreover the angekkuts abuse the people\u2019s credulity, making them\nbelieve, that they can cure all sorts of diseases; though they apply\nsuch remedies as have no virtue in them to cure, such as muttering of\nspells, and blowing upon the sick bodies; wherein they resemble to a\nhair those conjurers of which the prophet Isaiah speaks, chapter viii,\nverse 19.\n\nAnd if by chance any one, who has been under these jugglers\u2019 hands,\nrecovers, they do not fail to ascribe it to the virtue of their juggling\ntricks. At times they use this way of curing the sick; they lay him upon\nhis back, and tie a ribbon, or a string, round his head, having a stick\nfastened to the other end of the string, with which they lift up the\nsick person\u2019s head from the ground, and let it down again; and at every\nlift he communes with his Torgak, or familiar spirit, about the state of\nthe patient, whether he shall recover or not; now, if his head is heavy\nin lifting it, it is with them a sign of death; if light, of\nrecovery[38]. Notwithstanding all this, I am loth to believe, that, in\nthese spells and conjurings, there is any real commerce with the devil;\nfor to me it clearly appears, that there is nothing in it but mere fibs,\njuggling tricks, and impostures, made use of by these crafty fellows for\nthe sake of filthy lucre, for they are well paid for their pains.\nNevertheless, it cannot be denied, but that the evil spirit has a hand\nin all this, and is the chief actor upon this stage, to keep these poor\nwretches in their chains, and hinder them from coming to the true\nknowledge of God.\n\nThe angekkuts can also persuade whom they please, that they have no\nsouls, especially if they are in a bad state of health, pretending they\nhave the power to create new souls in them, provided they pay them well\nfor it, which the ignorant fools are very willing to do. They prescribe\nto all rules of conduct and behaviour in different cases, which rules\nnone dare refuse to live up to with the greatest exactness imaginable;\nas for example, if any dies in a house, those of the house cannot, for a\nset time, do all sorts of work; especially the relations of the deceased\nare obliged to abstain, not only from certain works, but likewise from\ncertain victuals.\n\nIf a patient be under the hands of an angekkok, he must live by rule,\nwhich they are accustomed to observe so exactly, that even when we have\nassisted many of them with our medicaments, they have always demanded\nwhat sort of diet they were to keep. Women in childbed are to abstain\nfrom working, and from certain victuals, viz. flesh meat, which their\nown husbands have not taken, or that of a deer, whose entrails are not\nsound, but damaged. The first week after the delivery they eat nothing\nbut fish, afterwards they are allowed meat. The bones they pick in this\nstate must not be carried out of doors. After the first childbed, a\nwoman is not allowed to eat of the head or liver. They must not eat in\nthe open air. During their lying-in they have their water pails for\nthemselves alone; if any unwittingly should drink of this water, the\nrest must be thrown away. Their husbands must forbear working for some\nweeks, neither must they drive any trade during that time: likewise if\nany body be sick, they do not care to meddle with any trade. They are\nnot allowed to eat or drink bareheaded. They pull off one of their\nboots, and lay it under the bowl which they eat out of, to the end (as\nthey imagine) that the infant, being a male, may become a good seal\ncatcher. During the infancy of the child, they dare not boil any thing\nover the lamp, nor let any strangers light a fire with them; and many\nmore fooleries to be observed[39]. It is customary among them for\nmarried women to wash and cleanse themselves after their months, that\ntheir husbands may not catch a distemper and die. Likewise, if they have\nhappened to touch a dead corpse, they immediately cast away the clothes\nthey have then on; and for this reason they always put on their old\nclothes when they go to a burying, in which they agree with the Jews, as\nin many other usages and ceremonies; for example, to bewail the loss of\ntheir virginity; to mark themselves upon their skin; to cut their hairs\nround the head, which the Lord forbids the Jews to do, Levit. xix. When\nI consider this and many other of their customs, which seem to be of a\nJewish extraction, I am not far from acceding to the opinion of a\ncertain famous writer, concerning the Americans; among whom as he found\nsundry Jewish rites and ceremonies, he took them to descend from Jews,\nor rather from some of the ten tribes of Israel, who were led into the\nAssyrian captivity, and afterwards dispersed into unknown\ncountries.--See hereon Espars, 1. iv.\n\nA superstition very common among them is, to load themselves with\namulets or _pomanders_ dangling about their necks and arms, which\nconsist of some pieces of old wood, stones or bones, bills and claws of\nbirds, or any thing else, which their fancy suggests to them; which\namulets, according to their silly opinion, have a wonderful virtue to\npreserve those that wear them from diseases and other misfortunes, and\ngives them luck to good captures. To render barren women fertile or\nteeming, they take old pieces of the soles of our shoes to hang about\nthem; for, as they take our nation to be more fertile, and of a stronger\ndisposition of body than theirs, they fancy the virtue of our body\ncommunicates itself to our clothing.\n\nConcerning the creation and origin of all things, they have little to\nsay, but they think all has been as it ever will be. Nevertheless they\nabound in fables in regard to these matters. Their tale of the origin of\nmankind runs thus: at the beginning one man, _viz._ a Greenlander,\nsprung out of the ground, who got a wife out of a little hillock[40].\nFrom these are descended lineally the Greenlanders; which may pass for a\nremnant, though an adulteration from the true tradition of the origin of\nman. But as to us foreigners, whom they stile _Kablun\u00e6t_ (that is, of a\nstrange extraction), they tell a most ridiculous story, importing our\npedigree from a race of dogs; they say, that a Greenland woman once\nbeing in labour, brought forth at the same time both children and\nwhelps: these last she put into an old shoe, and committed them to the\nmercy of the waves, with these words; Get ye gone from hence and grow up\nto be Kablun\u00e6ts. This, they say, is the reason, why the Kablun\u00e6ts always\nlive upon the sea; and the ships, they say, have the very same shape as\ntheir shoes, being round before and behind.\n\nThe reason why men die, they tell us, is, that a woman of their nation\nonce uttered these words; _Tokkolarlutik okko pillit, sillarsoak\nrettulisavet_, Let them die one after another; for else the world cannot\nhold them. Others relate it in this manner: two of the first men\ncontended with one another, one said, _Kaut sarlune unnuinnarluna,\ninnuit tokkosarlutik_; that is, Let there be day, and let there be\nnight, and let not men die. The second said, _Unnuinnarlune, kausunane,\ninnuit tokkosinnatik_; that is, Let there be nothing but night, and no\nday, and let men live; and after a long contention the first saying got\nthe day. Of the origin of fishes and other sea animals they tell a\nridiculous story, _viz._ an old man was once cutting chips off of a\npiece of wood; with these chips he rubbed himself between the thighs,\nand threw them into the sea, whereupon they immediately became fishes.\nBut of a certain fish called hay, they derive his production from this\naccident, that a woman washing her hairs in her own water, a blast of\nwind came and carried away the clout with which she dried her hairs, and\nout of that clout was produced a hay fish; and for this reason they say,\nthe flesh of this fish has got the smell of urine.\n\nThey have got no notion of any different state of souls after death;\nbut they fancy that all the deceased go into the land of the souls, as\nthey term it. Nevertheless they assign two retreats for departed souls,\n_viz._ some go to Heaven, others to the centre of the Earth; but this\nlower retirement is in their opinion the pleasantest, inasmuch as they\nenjoy themselves in a delicious country, where the sun shines\ncontinually, with an inexhaustible stock of all sorts of choice\nprovision. But this is only the receptacle of such women as die in\nlabour, and of those that, going a whale fishing, perish at sea; this\nbeing their reward, to compensate the hardships they have undergone in\nthis life; all the rest flock to Heaven.\n\nIn the centre of the Earth, which they reckon the best place of all,\nthey have fixed the residence of Torngarsuk and his grandame, or (as\nothers will have it) his lady daughter, a true termagant and ghastly\nwoman, to whose description, though already made in my continuation of\nthe relations of Greenland, some time ago published, I shall yet allow a\nplace in this treatise, and is as follows. She is said to dwell in the\nlower parts of the earth under the seas, and has the empire over all\nfishes and sea-animals, as unicorns, morses, seals, and the like. The\nbason placed under her lamp, into which the train oil of the lamp drips\ndown, swarms with all kinds of sea fowls, swimming in and hovering about\nit. At the entry of her abode is a _corps de garde_ of sea dogs, who\nmount the guard, and stand sentinels at her gates to keep out the crown\nof petitioners[41]. None can get admittance there but angekuts,\nprovided they are accompanied by their Torngak, or familiar spirits,\nand not otherwise. In their journey thither they first pass through the\nmansions of all the souls of the deceased, which look as well, if not\nbetter, than ever they did in this world, and want for nothing. After\nthey have passed through this region, they come to a very long, broad,\nand deep whirlpool, which they are to cross over, there being nothing to\npass upon but a great wheel like ice, which turns about with a\nsurprising rapidity, and by the means of this wheel the spirit helps his\nangekkok to get over. This difficulty being surmounted, the next thing\nthey encounter is a large kettle, in which live seals are put to be\nboiled; and at last they arrive, with much ado, at the residence of the\ndevil\u2019s grandame, where the familiar spirit takes the angekkok by the\nhand through the strong guard of sea dogs. The entry is large enough,\nthe road that leads is as narrow as a small rope, and on both sides\nnothing to lay hold on, or to support one; besides that, there is\nunderneath a most frightful abyss or bottomless pit. Within this is the\napartment of the infernal goddess, who offended at this unexpected\nvisit, shows a most ghastly and wrathful countenance, pulling the hair\noff her head: she thereupon seizes a wet wing of a fowl, which she\nlights in the fire, and claps to their noses, which makes them very\nfaint and sick, and they become her prisoners. But the enchanter or\nangekkok (being beforehand instructed by his Torngak, how to act his\npart in this dismal expedition) takes hold of her by the hair, and drubs\nand bangs her so long, till she loses her strength and yields; and in\nthis combat his familiar spirit does not stand idle, but lays about her\nwith might and main. Round the infernal goddess\u2019s face hangs the\naglerrutit (the signification of which is to be found in my son\u2019s\njournals) which the angekkok endeavours to rob her of. For this is the\ncharm, by which she draws all fishes and sea animals to her dominion,\nwhich no sooner is she deprived of, but instantly the sea animals in\nshoals forsake her, and resort with all speed to their wonted shelves,\nwhere the Greenlanders catch them in great plenty. When this great\nbusiness is done, the angekkok with his Torngak proud of success make\nthe best of their way home again, where they find the road smooth, and\neasy to what it was before.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nAs to the souls of the dead, in their travel to this happy country, they\nmeet with a sharp pointed stone, upon which the angekkuts tell them they\nmust slide or glide down upon their breech, as there is no other passage\nto get through, and this stone is besmeared with blood; perhaps, by this\nmystical or hieroglyphical image, they thereby signify the adversities\nand tribulations those have to struggle with, who desire to attain to\nhappiness.\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. XIX.\n\n     _The Greenlanders\u2019 Astronomy, or their Thoughts concerning the Sun,\n     Moon, Stars, and Planets._\n\n\nThe notions the Greenlanders have of the origin of heavenly lights, as\nSun, Moon, and Stars, are very nonsensical; in that they pretend that\nthey have formerly been so many of their ancestors, who on different\naccounts were lifted up to Heaven and became such glorious celestial\nbodies.\n\nTheir silly stories concerning this matter have been related in the\ncontinuation to the Greenland Memoirs, or relations, but as this book\nvery likely may not come to the hands of every body, I shall shortly\nremember some of them here. The Moon, as they will have it, has been a\nyoung man, called Anningait, or Anningasina; whose sister was the Sun,\nnamed Malina, or Ajut (by which latter name they call any handsome\nwoman, for whom they have a value, Ajuna.) The reason (why these two\nwere taken up into Heaven) they give, is this: there were once a number\nof young men and women assembled to play together in a house made of\nsnow (according to their custom in the winter season), when the Moon or\nAnningait, who was deeply in love with his sister, who assisted at this\nassembly, was used every night to put out the light, that he might\ncaress her undiscovered; but she not liking these stolen caresses, once\nblackened her hands with soot, that she might mark the hands, face, and\nclothes of her unknown lover, who in the dark made addresses to her, and\nby that discover who he was: hence, they say, come the spots that are\nobserved in the moon; for as he wore a coat of a fine white rein deer\nskin, it was all over besmeared with soot; hereupon Malina, or the Sun,\nwent out to light a bit of moss; Anningait, or the Moon, did the same,\nbut the flame of his moss was extinguished; this makes the Moon look\nlike a fiery coal, and not shine so bright as the Sun. The Moon then run\nafter the Sun round about the house to catch her; but she, to get rid of\nhim, flew up into the air, and the Moon pursuing her, did likewise; and\nthus they still continue to pursue one another, though the Sun\u2019s career\nis much above that of the Moon[42].\n\nThey also tell us, that the Moon is yet obliged to seek for his\nlivelihood upon the earth and sea, in catching of seals, as a food he\nformerly was used to; which they pretend he is doing, when he appears\nnot in the air: nay, they do not stick to say, that she now and then\ncomes down to give their wives a visit, and caress them; for which\nreason no woman dare sleep lying upon her back, without she first spits\nupon her fingers and rubs her belly with it.\n\nFor the same reason the young maids are afraid to stare long at the\nmoon, imagining they may get a child by the bargain. During the eclipse\nof the sun no man dare stir out of the house; and likewise when the moon\nis eclipsed, no woman goes abroad, because they fancy that both hate the\nsex of the other. The sun for joy puts on her pendants, or ear-bobs; the\nreason of which they take to be the hatred she bears against her\nbrother, which also reaches to his sex. As on the contrary, the\nGreenland women wear their pendants at the birth of a boy, because so\nuseful a creature is come into the world. Their notion about the stars\nis, that some of them have been men, and other different sorts of\nanimals and fishes. The faint light of some stars they attribute to\ntheir eating the kidney; and brightness of others to their feeding upon\nliver. They give also names to many stars and constellations, _viz._ the\nthree stars in the belt of Orion, they name Siektut, that is separated;\nbecause these three, they say, before their metempsychosis, or rather\nmetamorphosis, were three honest Greenlanders, who being out at sea, a\nseal catching, were bewildered, and not being able to find the shore\nagain, were taken up into Heaven.\n\nUrsa Major, the great bear star, is styled by those that dwell in 64\u00b0,\nTugto, or rein deer; while they that live in the bay of Disco at 69\u00b0,\ncall it Asselluit, the name of a tree, to which they tie their line when\nthey shoot seals. Taurus, the second sign in the Zodiac, is named\nKellukturset, or kennel of hounds, who seem to have a bear among them;\nby this constellation they reckon their hours by night. Iversuk, that\nis, two persons that contend with songs or verses in taunting one\nanother, as is customary among the Greenlanders. These two stars are in\nthe constellation Taurus, of which heretofore, Aldebaran or Nennerroak,\nthat is, a light which lights the two singers. Canis Major is called\nNelleraglek, which is the name of a man amongst them; this they say has\ngot on a coat of rein deer\u2019s skin. Gemini, Auriga, and Capella, are\nnamed Killaub Kuttuk, that is, the breast bone of Heaven.\n\nWhen two stars seem to meet together, they say, that they are visiting\none another; others will have it to be two women, who being rivals, take\none another by the hair.\n\nConcerning thunder and lightning, they say that two old women live\ntogether in one house in the air, who now and then fall out and quarrel\nabout a thick and stiff outstretched seal skin (because such a skin, if\nbeaten as a drum, has some likeness to the noise of thunder); while they\nare thus by the ears together, down comes the house with great bouncing\nand cracking, and the lamps are broken, the fires and broken pieces fly\nabout in the air, and this, in their philosophy, is thunder and\nlightning.\n\nIn their astronomical system, the heaven turn about upon the point of a\nhuge rock. The snow, according to their fancy, is the blood of the dead,\non account that it turns reddish if you keep it in the mouth. The rain\ncomes from a ditch or wear above in Heaven; when it overflows there, it\nrains here below.\n\nThey have no calendar or almanacks, nor do they compute or measure the\ntime by weeks or years, but only by months; beginning their computation\nfrom the Sun\u2019s first rising above their horizon in the winter; from\nwhence they tell the month, to know exactly the season, in which every\nsort of fishes, sea animals, or birds seek the land; according to which\nthey order their business.\n\nAs nonsensical now as these notions of the Greenlanders are (as they in\nreality are), yet they come short of the Egyptian King Ptolemy\u2019s\ninfatuation, who by the loathsome flattery of his astronomers was\npersuaded that his Queen Berenice\u2019s head of hair was translated into\nHeaven and astrified, if I may say so; which constellation to this day\ngoes by the name of Coma Berenices, or Berenice\u2019s hair; and what\ntravellers relate of China and the East Indies, where some are of\nopinion, that the Sun\u2019s eclipse is nothing but that a certain devil or\nsprite sometimes swallows up the Sun, and then again spews it out.\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. XX.\n\n     _The Capacity of the Greenlanders, and their Inclination towards\n     the Knowledge of God, and the Christian Religion; and by what Means\n     this may easily be brought about._\n\n\nAs the Greenlanders are naturally very stupid and indolent; so are they\nlikewise very little disposed to comprehend and consider the divine\ntruths which we expound to them; and notwithstanding people in years\nseem to approve of the Christian doctrine, yet it is with a surprising\nindifference and coldness. For they can neither comprehend the miserable\ncondition they are in; nor do they rightly understand and value the\nexceeding great mercy and loving kindness God has shown towards mankind\nin his dear Son Christ Jesus, so as to move them to any desire and\nlonging after it; some few excepted. This is to me an undeniable\nevidence that the carnally-minded man cannot comprehend the things that\nbelong to God; for to him they seem to be foolish, and he cannot know\nthem, as the Apostle speaks, 1 Cor. ii. But as they in general are so\ncredulous, that one can make them believe any thing, so they are\nlikewise in this grand affair. They never question what they are taught\nof God and Christ; but at the same time it never takes any rooting in\ntheir mind, because it passes without any consideration and feeling. For\nwhich reason they do not contradict or dispute with us the matters\nproposed; and very few have offered any objections, or desired any\ndifficulty to be explained. And as their behaviour is silly and\nchildish, so we have used the same method in teaching them, as we do to\ninstruct little children; inculcating the Christian truths into their\nmind by frequent repetitions, and making use of simple and obvious\ncomparisons, which, I thank God Almighty, has not wanted his blessing.\nFor I have perceived in some the working of his grace in a serious\namendment of their lives; and their endeavours have been to advance in\nthe way to perfection, though all as yet is but a beginning and infancy,\nas we have mentioned in the last year\u2019s Memoirs or Relations of\nGreenland.\n\nIt is a matter which cannot be questioned, that if you will make a\nChristian out of a mere savage and wild man, you must first make him a\nreasonable man, and the next step will be easier. This is authorised and\nconfirmed by our Saviour\u2019s own method. He makes a beginning from the\nearthly things; he proposes the mysteries of the kingdom of God in\nparables and similitudes. The first care taken in the conversion of\nHeathens is to remove out of the way all obstacles which may hinder\ntheir conversion, and render them unfit to receive the Christian\ndoctrine, before any thing successfully can be undertaken in their\nbehalf.\n\nIt would contribute a great deal to forward their conversion, if they\ncould by degrees be brought into a settled way of life, and to abandon\nthis sauntering and wandering about from place to place to seek their\nlivelihood. But this cannot be hoped until a Christian nation comes to\nbe settled among them (I mean in such places where the ground is fit for\ntillage and pasturage) to teach them, and by little and little accustom\nthem to a quiet and more useful way of life, than that which they now\nfollow.\n\nThey should also be kept under some discipline, and restrained from\ntheir foolish superstitions, and from the silly tricks and wicked\nimpostures of their angekkuts, which ought to be altogether prohibited\nand punished. Yet my meaning is, not that they, by force and constraint,\nshould be compelled to embrace our religion, but to use gentle methods.\nIs it not allowed in the church of Christ to make use of Christian\ndiscipline at times and seasons, with prudence and due moderation; which\nis a powerful means to advance the growth of piety and devotion? How\nmuch more is it necessary to apply the same means here to grub up an\nuntilled ground, where a new church is to be planted? Else it would be\nthe same imprudence as to throw good seed into thorns and briars, which\nwould choak the seed.\n\nBut as the chief fruit of our labours and teaching is to be expected\nfrom the growing youth, so if some good regulations and small\nfoundations were laid for the bringing up a number of children in the\nChristian faith and piety, no doubt God would prosper it; inasmuch as\nthese poor children and growing youth are very tractable and teachable,\nand good natured; showing no inclination or propensity to vice. Neither\ndo they want capacity; for I have found they will take any thing as soon\nas any of our own children. Now if these gifts or natural talents were\nforwarded by the gifts of grace, who would question their growth and\nadvancement in the Christian faith and virtues, which would ripen to the\nfull harvest of eternal happiness? Good God! how easy a thing would it\nbe to help these poor wretches out of their misery, if those that God\nhas blessed with wealth were heavenly minded, and would be sensible of\nthe wretched condition of their fellow creatures, and contribute out of\ntheir abundance to the founding of a school in these parts, and the\nproviding of other most necessary things!\n\nHis Majesty, out of his wonted most glorious zeal for the growth and\nadvancement of the church of Christ, has most graciously provided, by a\nconsiderable sum of money yearly set apart, for the Greenland\nMissionaries\u2019 entertainment, which royal bounty continues to this day;\nfor which goodness the most gracious God will bless his Majesty and all\nthe royal hereditary house, and be their reward for ever. But as a good\ndeal of this bounty money must be employed in the promoting of trade\n(without which the mission could not subsist), but little remains for\npromoting the proper end of the mission, which is the conversion of the\nHeathens, in which at present are employed no more than four\nmissionaries, and two catechists, besides some few charity children\nbelonging to both colonies, whose entertainment is to be provided for.\nHitherto we have not been able to do great matters, but contented\nourselves with some excursions here and there instructing the natives;\nwho likewise, when they have had an opportunity, come to us with their\nfamilies to be instructed. But as these excursions of ours, and those\nvisits of theirs have not been very frequent, and only for a short time,\nby reason of the impossibility of travelling at all seasons, which has\nobliged us to leave them for a while to deal for themselves; it is not\nto be expected that our pains-taking should have had that success, which\nwould attend it, if there were missionaries settled in different\nstations amongst them. For in several years we count but between twenty\nand thirty aged persons, and a hundred and odd young ones, that have\nbeen found capable to receive the holy sacrament of baptism. If amongst\nourselves we had no schools, nor other pious foundations, for the\ninstruction and Christian education of youth and old people, pray what\ngreat feats would one or two teachers in a whole country be able to do,\nby once or twice a year taking a journey throughout the land, and\npreaching a passage sermon? The apostles of Christ did not think this\nmethod sufficient; but after they had preached the word of God up and\ndown, they besides ordained and constituted teachers and catechists\neverywhere. And if so wholesome a method be followed in Greenland, who\nwill question a happier success?\n\nAnd this is all I at present have to say of the affairs of Greenland;\nleaving it to the judgment of others to be made out and decided, whether\nGreenland is a country that deserves to be improved and taken care of,\nor no? And whether its inhabitants may be called happy, or no? All\nthings well pondered, both the affirmative and negative may be true,\nwithout the least contradiction. For Greenland can pass for no better\nthan a dismal and pitiful country, in regard to the greatest part of it,\n_viz._ all the inland country, which is perpetually covered with ice and\nsnow, that never melts, and therefore of no use to mankind; and as to\nthe remaining part, on the sea side, most of it lies uncultivated and\nuninhabited. But here it may again be said, that as to the first part,\nor the inland country, it is a thing that is past remedy; but as to the\nlast part, or the sea side, it may be put in a better state by\nsettlements, and manuring, so that it may recover its former fertility;\nand thus it might be reckoned a good and profitable country, provided\nthe formerly inhabited tracks of land were anew settled and peopled. I\nwill forbear to mention the great wealth and richness, which lies hidden\nin the Greenland seas, and can never be exhausted.\n\nFrom the land I will go to the inhabitants, which every body will think\nmore wretched than happy, considered as destitute of the true knowledge\nof their Creator; and besides lead but very poor and despicable lives.\nThe knowledge of God is undoubtedly that which affords the greatest\nhappiness to mankind; as the want of it makes one the most wretched of\nall beings. But who would dare to deny it, if I should find out somebody\nyet more wretched than they? And such there are who have been blessed\nwith the true knowledge of God; yet do nevertheless refuse him that\nobedience, which, as our Creator and Master, and in regard of our\nredemption and a thousand other particular kindnesses, he has the best\nof titles to demand it upon, according as he requires it of us in his\nholy Word. If the life of the Greenlanders, which we call poor and\ndespicable, with respect to morality, be compared to that of the most\npretended Christians; I am afraid they will confound others on the great\nDay of Judgment. For though they have no law, yet by the light of nature\ndo some of the works of the law, as the apostle says, Rom. ii. What\nthoughts will any one harbour, who seriously considers the predominant\npassions, as greediness after gain, covetousness, unmeasured ambition\nand pride, sumptuous, voluptuous, and prodigal lives; envy, hatred, and\nmutual persecutions, and innumerable other vices and crimes of most\nChristians? Can any one help thinking, but that such evil doers (the\nremotest from the life, which is God alone) must be deemed the most\nunhappy of all? Whilst on the other hand, the Greenlanders pass their\nlives, as I may say, in a natural innocence and simplicity. Their\ndesires do not extend farther than to necessary things; pomp and pride\nis unknown to them; hatred, envy, and persecution never plagued them;\nneither do they affect the dominion over one another. In short, every\none is contented with his own state and condition, and are not tormented\nwith unnecessary cares. Is not this the greatest happiness of this life?\nO happy people! what better things can one wish you, than what you\nalready possess? Have you no riches? yet poverty does not trouble you.\nHave you no superfluity? yet you suffer no want. Is there no pomp and\npride to be seen among you? neither is there any slight or scorn to be\nmet with. Is there no nobility or high rank amongst them? neither is\nthere any slavery or bondage. What is sweeter than liberty? And what is\nhappier than contentedness? But one thing is yet wanting: I mean, the\nsaving knowledge of God and his dear son Christ Jesus, in which alone\nconsists eternal life and happiness. John xvii. And this is what we\noffer you, in preaching to you the holy Gospel.\n\nNow, God, who bade light shine forth in darkness, enlighten your hearts,\nin the light of the knowledge of God\u2019s glorious appearance in and\nthrough Christ Jesus. May he deliver your souls from the slavery of the\nDevil, and of sinful lusts, as you are free from corporeal bondage, to\nthe end that you always may be free with the Lord both in soul and body.\nAmen.\n\n\n                               THE END.\n\n\n                        CHARLES WOOD, Printer,\n                 Poppin\u2019s Court, Fleet Street, London.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[1] Torf\u00e6i Gronlandia Antiqua Havni\u00e6, 1706, p. 16; see also Peyrere\nRelation du Groenland, p. 84. These two authorities are principally\nfollowed. Peyrere\u2019s work is in Recueil de Voyages au Nord, tome premier.\n\n[2] Torf\u00e6us, p. 13, \u201c_medias alpes_.\u201d\n\n[3] Torf\u00e6us, p. 14.\n\n[4] Ibid., p. 19.\n\n[5] Peyrere.\n\n[6] Torf\u00e6us possessed three versions of this account in German, Danish,\nand Icelandic. His narrative runs,--The most Eastern settlement of\nGreenland lies under the promontory of Herjolfsness, and is called\nSkagefiord. Here is an uncultivated mountain, called Barrafell. At the\nmouth is a long sandbank (_pulvinus longus_), stretched across, so that\nno ships can enter, except when the water is raised to a great height\nby the wind and tide. At that time numbers of whales crowd into the\nbay. Here is a never-failing fishery, which is part of the episcopal\ndomain.\n\n[7] Torf\u00e6us and Peyrere.\n\n[8] Torf\u00e6us says, \u201cubi publica _in sylvis_ venatio.\u201d Of what trees\nwere these woods composed? Peyrere, copying the Icelandic Chronicle,\nsays, \u201cO\u00f9 il se fait grande chasse de toutes sortes de bestes, et entre\nautres de quantit\u00e9 d\u2019ours blancs.\u201d\n\n[9] Torf\u00e6i Hist. p. 45.\n\n[10] Peyrere\u2019s words are, \u201cil y a une maison royale nomm\u00e9e Fos.\u201d\n\n[11] Torf\u00e6us calls it \u201cvilla magnifica.\u201d\n\n[12] Torf\u00e6us says, \u201crusticorum vill\u00e6.\u201d\n\n[13] Peyrere.\n\n[14] Doctor Wormius, who was famed for his great research in Northern\nantiquities, told Peyrere, that these savages, the aborigines of\nGreenland, inhabited one side of the bay of Kindelfiord, in the Western\ndistrict, and that the Norwegians had a settlement on the opposite\nbank. When, then, the author of the Icelandic Chronicle said, that the\nSkrellings possessed all the Westerbygdt, he meant only the country to\nthe West of this bay. A small party of Norwegians, who had passed over\nto the Western bank, were destroyed by the Skrellings. This caused the\nViceroy of Norway, who is called judge of Greenland, to dispatch a ship\nwith a large force to revenge this affront. But the savages, at the\nsight of this vessel, took to flight and concealed themselves in the\nwoods and rocks; which occasioned Ivar Bert to represent the country as\ndestitute of inhabitants.\n\n[15] Angrim Jonas, of Iceland, according to Peyrere, says expressly,\n\u201cFundata in Garde Episcopalis residentia in sinu Eynatsfiord\nGroenlandi\u00e6 Orientalis.\u201d\n\n[16] Peyrere, p. 99.\n\n[17] P. 99. See also Crantz, vol. i. p. 78.\n\n[18] Peyrere\u2019s account of Greenland is dated from the Hague, 18th June,\n1646.\n\n[19] Vol. i. p. 278.\n\n[20] The Moravian mission in Greenland began in the year 1733. The\nbrethren of this mission have two settlements or villages upon the\nWestern coast. One of these, which is called New Herrnhut, is on Ball\u2019s\nRiver; and the other, which is denominated Lichtenfels, is at the\ndistance of thirty-six leagues from the first, and more to the South.\nCrantz says, that, at his departure from Greenland, four hundred and\nseventy Greenlanders were living at New Herrnhut in sixteen houses.\nThe brethren themselves describe this place as a sort of green Oasis\nin a cheerless desert. \u201cNo one,\u201d says one of the missionaries, \u201cwould\nexpect to find such a pleasant place in such an unpleasant land. The\ncountry consists entirely of bald rocks, thinly interspersed with spots\nand veins of earth, or rather sand. But our house, area, garden, &c.\nlook very regular and decent, and all the adjacent land round about\nthe place, where once not a blade of grass grew in the sand, is now\nenrobed with the most beautiful foliage, so that New-Herrnhut may be\ncalled a garden of the Lord in a most frightful wilderness.\u201d Crantz,\nvol. i, p. 162, 163. In p. 399, of the same volume, Crantz extols the\nsoft beauty of this little Greenland village, compared with the rugged\nsterility around. \u201cOn the spot,\u201d says he, \u201cthat formerly consisted of\nnothing but sand, nay, on the very rocks, grows now the finest grass,\nthe ground being manured for so many years with the blood and fat of\ntheir seals. And when the Greenlanders live in their winter houses, one\nmay see every evening, yea, throughout the whole night, a beautiful\nillumination, which is the more agreeable as the houses stand in two\nparallel lines, are of equal height, and have light in all the windows.\u201d\n\n[21] According to the relation and opinion of those Greenlanders, that\ninhabit the gulf of Disco, in 69\u00b0, Greenland is an island, which they\ninfer from the strong current that runs from the North, and keeps the\nice open even into the midst of the sea: they will also tell you, they\nhave spoken with people different from themselves on the other side of\nthe ice, and hailed them. Their language, they say, is the same, but\nthe persons different, so that a small strait only divides Greenland\nfrom America. The said straits are so narrow, that men on both sides\ncan shoot at once one and the same fish. The continent farthest to the\nNorth is all covered with ice; the islands only uncovered, where rein\ndeer, and also geese and other wild birds, are found in great numbers.\n\n[22] Historians disagree about the time of the first settlement of\nGreenland. The Icelanders (as we have mentioned) will have it to be in\nthe year 982-3. But Pontanus, in his Danish History, refers it to the\nyear 770; making his assertion good by a bull of Pope Gregory the IVth,\nwho in the year 835 sent to Bishop Ansgarius, wherein the propagation\nof the Gospel is recommended to him, as archbishop of the Northern\nCountries, and especially of Iceland and Greenland.\n\n[23] The Greenlanders relate a very ridiculous story, as well\nconcerning the origin of our colonies (whom they call by the name of\nKablun\u00e6t) as of their total overthrow, as follows: a Greenland woman,\nin her child-bearing, was once delivered of Kablun\u00e6t and dogs\u2019 whelps,\nof which the parents were highly ashamed, and for that reason withdrew\nfrom their neighbours and countrymen. This monstrous breed being grown\nup, became so troublesome to their father, that he was not able to\nendure them; wherefore he retired yet farther to some distant place.\nMeanwhile this inhuman race came to this horrible agreement amongst\nthemselves, to devour their own father, whenever he should happen to\ncome among them; which a little after came to pass, when he visited\nthem with a present of some part of a seal, which he had taken,\naccording to custom. Kablun\u00e6t immediately went down to him, to whom the\nfather delivered the piece of seal\u2019s flesh he had brought them. But he\nwas no sooner got ashore, than the doggish race seized and devoured\nhim, and then ate the seal\u2019s flesh given them. Whilst the Kablun\u00e6t\ndwelled there, one of the Innuits (or mankind), for so they call\nthemselves, came rowing along the shore, and throwing his dart at some\nsea fowl, missed what he aimed at; which one of the Kablun\u00e6t, who stood\nupon a point of land running out into the sea, observing, mocked and\nridiculed him, and, laying himself down upon the ground, told him that\nas he saw he was so dexterous in shooting, he would be the bird; he\nmight throw the dart at him, and take care not to miss him: whereupon\nInnuit shot and killed him. This death caused continual strifes and\nwars between the Kablun\u00e6ts and Innuits, which last at length became\nmasters, and overthrew the former.\n\n[24] A Greenlander, who came from the most Southern part of the country\nnear the States Promontory, told my son, when he saw some lemons in his\nroom, that he had seen fruits much like those growing upon trees in his\ncountry, though they were four times less; which I take to have been\nsome of those acorns, which I above took notice of, treating of the\nnature of the soil.\n\n[25] The lamps and pots, which the Southern Greenlanders make of this\nmarble, are sold at a very high price; so that the natives of the\nNorthern parts, where such marble is not to be had, buy them at the\nrate of eight or ten rein deer skins a large pot, and a lamp at two or\nthree skins.\n\n[26] According to what the natives tell, there is in the Southern parts\na hot well, of a mineral quality; which, if you wash therein, cures\nthe itch; they wash their skins in it, and it takes away all dirt and\nfoulness, and makes them look like new.\n\n[27] In the 76th degree of latitude the number of bears is so great,\nthat they in droves surround the natives\u2019 habitations, who then, with\ntheir dogs, fall upon them, and with their spears and lances kill them.\nIn winter, instead of dens or caves under the earth, as in Norway\nand other places, here the bears make theirs under the snow; which,\naccording to the information the natives have given me, are made with\npillars, like stately buildings.\n\n[28] The farther you go Northwards, the seldomer you meet with rein\ndeer, except in the 3d or 4th degree to the North of Disco, where\nthey are in great numbers; perhaps by reason either of its joining to\nAmerica, or else because the deer pass over to the islands upon the\nice, in quest of food, which the main land, covered with ice and snow,\ndoes not afford them. The natives, instead of reason, give us a very\nchildish tale for the vast number of rein deer being found upon Disco\nIsland, as follows:--\n\nA mighty Greenlander (one Torngarsuk, as they call him, who is father\nto an ugly frightful woman, who resides in the lowermost region of the\nEarth, and has command over all the animals of the sea, as we shall see\nhereafter) did with his Kajar, tow this island to the place where it\nnow lies, from the South where it was before. Now, as the face of this\nisland resembles very much the Southern coasts, and the root angelica\nis likewise found upon it, which grows nowhere else in the neighbouring\nparts, this confirms them in their credulity. And furthermore, they\nassure you, that a hole is seen to this day in the island, through\nwhich the towing-rope had been fastened by Torngarsuk.\n\n[29] The above-mentioned author calls the first of these monsters\nHavestramb, or Mer-man, and describes it to have the likeness of a man,\nas to the head, face, nose, and mouth; save that its head was oblong\nand pointed like a sugar-loaf; it has broad shoulders, and two arms\nwithout hands; the body downwards is slanting and thin; the rest below\nthe middle, being hid in the water, could not be observed. The second\nmonster he calls Margya, or Mer-woman, or Mermaid, had from the middle\nupwards the shape and countenance of a woman; a terrible broad face,\na pointed forehead, wrinkled cheeks, a wide mouth, large eyes, black\nuntrimmed hair, and two great breasts, which showed her sex; she has\ntwo long arms, with hands and fingers joined together with a skin,\nlike the feet of a goose; below the middle she is like a fish, with\na tail and fins. The fishermen pretend, that when these sea monsters\nappear, it forebodes stormy weather. The third monster, named Hafgufa,\nis so terrible and frightful, that the author does not well know how to\ndescribe it; and no wonder, because he never had any true relation of\nit: its shape, length, and bulk, seems to exceed all size and measure.\nThey that pretend to have seen it, say, it appeared to them more like\na land than a fish, or sea animal. And as there never has been seen\nabove two of them in the wide open sea, they conclude, that there can\nbe no breed of them; for if they should breed and multiply, all the\nrest of fishes must be destroyed at last, their vast body wanting such\nlarge quantity of nourishment. When this monster is hungry, it is said\nto void through the mouth some matter of a sweet scent, which perfumes\nthe whole sea; and by this means it allures and draws all sorts of\nfishes and animals, even the whales to it, who in whole droves flock\nthither, and run into the wide opened swallow of this hideous monster,\nas into a whirlpool, till its belly be well freighted with a copious\nload of all sorts of fishes and animals, and then it shuts the swallow,\nand has for the whole year enough to digest and live upon; for it is\nsaid to make but one large meal a year. This, though a very silly and\nabsurd tale, is nevertheless matched by another story, every whit as\nridiculous, told by my own countrymen, fishermen in the Northern part\nof Norway. They tell you, that a great ghastly sea monster now and then\nappears in the main sea, which they call Kracken, and is no doubt the\nsame that the islanders call Hafgufa, of which we have spoken above.\nThey say, that its body reaches several miles in length; and that it is\nmost seen in a calm; when it comes out of the water, it seems to cover\nthe whole surface of the sea, having many heads and a number of claws,\nwith which it seizes all that comes in its way, as fishing boats with\nmen and all, fishes and animals, and lets nothing escape; all which it\ndraws down to the bottom of the sea. Moreover they tell you that all\nsorts of fishes flock together upon it, as upon a bank of the sea, and\nthat many fishing boats come thither to catch fish, not suspecting that\nthey lie upon such a dreadful monster, which they at last understand by\nthe intangling of their hooks and angles in its body; which the monster\nfeeling, rises softly from the bottom to the surface, and seizes them\nall; if in time they do not perceive him and prevent their destruction,\nwhich they may easily do, only calling it by its name, which it no\nsooner hears, but it sinks down again as softly as it did rise. They\ntell you of another sea spectre, which they call the Draw, who keeps to\nno constant shape or figure, but now appears in one, now in another.\nIt appears and is heard before any misfortunes, as shipwrecks and the\nlike, happen at sea, which it forebodes with a most frightful and\nghastly howling; and they say it sometimes utters words like a man. It\nmost commonly diverts itself, in putting all things out of order, after\nthe fishermen are gone at night to rest; and then he leaves behind him\na nasty stench. The fishermen will not suffer the truth of this tale to\nbe questioned, but pretend it is confessed. But the most superstitious\namong them go yet a step farther, and will make you believe, that there\nappears to them another kind of sea phantom, in the shape of a child\nin swadling clothes, which they call Marmel, and sometimes draw him\nout of the sea with their angling hook, when he speaks to them with a\nhuman voice. They carry him to their home, and at night they put him\ninto one of their boots, there to rest. In the morning, when they go a\nfishing again, they take him along with them in their boats, and before\nthey let him go, they set him a task to inform them of all they want to\nknow, upon which they dismiss him.\n\n[30] What so many authors of great note relate of the wood ducks, and\naffirm to be an unquestionable truth, is by as many learned writers\ntreated as an old woman\u2019s tale, pretending that such an heterogeneal\ngeneration passes the ordinary bounds of nature.\n\nOthers (in consideration of so many authors of credit, who affirm that\nthey have been eye witnesses to this strange and wonderful generation)\nhave taken great pains to demonstrate the causes and probability\nof it physically and philosophically, amongst whom is the learned\nfather Kirkerus, in his Mundus Subterraneus; where he maintains, that\nthe semen of this extraordinary generation is neither contained in\nthose old pieces of wood, that drive in the sea, nor in the muscles\noriginally; for a piece of wood cannot produce a living animal, this\nexceeding the virtue nature has endowed it with; much less the summer\nfroth of the sea, which adheres to the rotten piece of wood, and may\nproduce shells or muscles. Then he forms the question, from whence\ncomes this semen or seed, which produces such a strange fruit as a\nliving bird? which question he strives thus to resolve; that, whereas\nhe has been informed by certain Dutchmen\u2019s journals or voyages into the\nNorthern seas, that this sort of birds, peculiar to that climate, make\ntheir nest and lay their eggs upon the ice; when the ice by the heat of\nthe sun thaws and breaks asunder, this innumerable quantity of eggs are\nlikewise mashed and crushed to pieces and beaten about by the waves;\nand that if that part of the egg, which contains the seed, encounters\nany subject matter proper to foment and brood it, and is received in it\nloco nutricis, assisted by the temperament of the air, the earth, or\nthe sea, it becomes in due time a perfect bird. This is the renowned\nfather Kirkerus\u2019s notion concerning the generation of these birds.\nBut if one examines his reasoning, it is found altogether incoherent:\nfor it was never known, that sea fowls lay their eggs upon the naked\nice, but commonly upon the islands and rocks in the sea, which are\nsurrounded and sometimes covered with ice; and consequently when the\nice breaks, and drives away from the islands, the eggs remain still in\ntheir nest, without receiving any hurt. And thus the Dutch found it at\nNova Zembla, in the year 1569; but what they saw was not the right sort\nof wood ducks, but what they in Norway call gield ducks; for wood ducks\nnever are seen to couple, nor to lay or hatch their eggs. Secondly, it\nseems no less absurd to maintain, that eggs, after they are mashed in\npieces, and beaten about by the waves, retain as much seminal virtue as\nwill serve to procreate a bird. From whence I infer, that either the\ninformation the good father had got from the Dutch voyages was intirely\ngroundless, or this pretended generation goes beyond the bounds of\nnature. As to the first inference, it is not impossible that the\nauthors who relate this story may have been imposed upon by a common\nthough false report of vulgar and ignorant people; as any one may, that\ntakes a thing for granted upon a bare hearsay, without the attestation\nof eye witnesses in such a matter. For my part I do not doubt at all\nof this wonderful generation; for though I have not beheld it with my\nown eyes, yet I have met with many honest and reasonable men in my\nnative country, who have assured me, that they have found pieces of\nold, rotten, driven wood in the sea, upon which there hang muscles, in\nsome of which they saw young birds, some half formed, others in full\nperfection and shape. From whence I conclude, that those fowls spring\nfrom no other seed than some clammy and viscous matter floating in the\nsea, precipitated upon pieces of old rotten wood as aforesaid; of which\nthere is first formed a muscle, and then a little worm in the muscle\nshell; from whence at last a bird proceeds. And although this may seem\nto exceed the ordinary bounds set by nature in the procreation of other\nbirds, yet it is observed and confessed, that the sea produces many\nstrange and surprising things, and even living animals, which we cannot\naffirm to have had being from the first creation; but that by virtue of\nthe primitive blessing God gave the sea to produce, it may yet bring\nforth many uncommon and wonderful things; as for example, many sorts\nof sea insects, viz. crabs and the like. And thus the sea or water in\ngeneral may with reason be stiled _pater et mater rerum_; i. e. \u201cthe\ncommon parent of things.\u201d Nature seems to delight sometimes in forming\nout-of-the-way things: thus we see divers insects formed out of the\nvery dung of animals; some of which insects often change their kind\nand shape, _viz._ from a small worm into a flying animal; as flies,\nbeetles, butterflies, and so forth.\n\n[31] When they see our drunken sailors quarrelling and fighting\ntogether, they say we are inhuman; that those fighters do not look upon\none another to be of the same kind. Likewise, if an officer beats any\nof the men, they say, such officer treats his fellow creatures like\ndogs.\n\n[32] The way the men wash themselves is to lick their fingers (as\nthe cat does his paws) and rub their eyes with them to get the salt\noff, which the sea throws into their face. The women wash themselves\nin their urine, that their hair may grow, and to give it (according\nto their fancy) a fine smell. When a maiden has thus washed herself,\ntheir common saying is _niviarsiarsuanerks_, that is, she smells like a\nvirgin maid. Thus washed they go into the cold air, and let it freeze,\nwhich shows the strength of their heads, and it well becomes foreigners\nto do so.\n\n[33] In the summer they wear short frocks, as also in winter, when they\nwork on the ice in the bays; but then they put a white covering over\nit, that they may not frighten the seals.\n\n[34] When a man sends for his son\u2019s bride, to be conducted to his\nhouse, if he be in good circumstances he makes a great feast; and\nthrows out for prizes several presents of poles, rafts, knives, and\nother toys. The same is practised the day following after the bedding\nof the new-married couple. If they have children before the year is\npast, or if they often breed, they are blamed, and compared to dogs.\nA new married woman is ashamed for having changed her condition for a\nmarried state.\n\n[35] In its inflections it agrees with the Hebrew.\n\n[36] The angekuts say that souls are a soft matter to feel, or rather\nthat they cannot be felt, as if they had neither sinews nor bones.\n\n[37] The Innu\u00e6, or inhabitants of the sea, they call Kongeuserokit; of\nwhom they say, that they feed upon fox tails. Ingnersoit, a sort of\nsea sprites, which inhabit the rocks that lie upon the coast; which,\nthey tell you, will carry away the Greenlanders, not to do them any\nharm, but to enjoy their company. Tunnersoit are phantoms living in the\nmountains; and Ignersoit, or fiery sprites (because they appear to be\nall over fire) live near the shore, in steep and craggy cliffs. This is\nthat meteor which we call the Flying Dragon. Innuarolit they pretend to\nbe a people of a dwarfish size, like pigmies, and are said to inhabit\nthe East side of Greenland. Erkiglit, on the contrary, are said to be\na nation of a huge and monstrous size, with snouts like dogs; they are\nlikewise said to dwell on the East side. Sillagiksortok, a spirit, who\nmakes fair weather, and lives upon the ice mountains. Nerrim Innua, or\nthe ruler of diet, because he prescribes rules for the diet or eating\nof those that are obliged to keep abstinence. They ascribe also some\nsort of divinity to the air, and for fear of offending it they will\nrefrain from certain things and actions; for which reason they are\nafraid to go out in the open air in the dark.\n\n[38] While angekkuts are conjuring, nobody must scratch his head,\nnor sleep, nor break wind; for they say, that such a dart can kill\nthe enchanters, nay the devil himself. After a conjuration has been\nperformed, there is a vacancy from working for three or four days.\n\n[39] _Argnakaglertoko_, a woman that lives by rule, they say, can lay\nthe storm, by going out of doors and filling her mouth with air, and\ncoming back into the house, blows it out again. If she catches the rain\ndrops with her mouth, it will be dry weather; and other strange effects\nthey ascribe to her.\n\n[40] A word not known to me in the Danish tongue.\n\n[41] Others say, that a huge dog watches the entry, and gives warning,\nwhen an angekkok attempts to get in, and defends the entry. Wherefore\nthe angekkok must watch the minute, that the dog falls asleep (which\nlasts but a moment), to steal in upon her. This moment nobody knows but\nan angekkok poglik; wherefore the other angekkuts often return home\nagain without success. This frightful woman is said to have a hand as\nbig as the tail of a whale, with which, if she hits any body, he is\nat one stroke mouse-dead. But if the angekkok conquers her (which he\ndoes if he can get at her _aglerrutut_, which hang dangling about her\nface, and rob her of them) then she must discharge all fishes and sea\nanimals, which she has detained in captivity; who thereupon return to\ntheir wonted stations in the sea.\n\n[42] They assign the Moon a house in the Western part of the world,\nwhere he is often visited and resorted to by the angekkuts. And the\nSun, they say, has her abode in the East; but she is inaccessible on\naccount of her heat, which keeps the angekkuts at a distance; at which\nshe is sorely grieved, because she cannot learn by them how matters\nstand upon Earth.\n\n\n\n\nTypographical errors corrected by the etext transcriber:\n\nForbisher=> Frobisher {x 5}\n\nno such piercing or singing sharpness=> no such piercing or stinging\nsharpness {pg 56}\n\nlike a cresent=> like a crescent {pg 68}\n\nfiring of great gnns=> firing of great guns {pg 69}\n\nhis mouth his armed=> his mouth is armed {pg 82}\n\nHis length his five=> His length is five {pg 82}\n\ncome up to to the hole=> come up to the hole {pg 104}\n\nsea dogs, who mount the the guard=> sea dogs, who mount the guard {pg\n202}\n\nNone can can get admittance=> None can get admittance {pg 202}\n\nOu il se fait grande=> O\u00f9 il se fait grande {note, pg xxviii}","title":"A Description of Greenland","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":52578}