Treats of the ordinary Occupations, as Hunting and Fishing: of the Tools and Instruments necessary for these Employments: of the House Implements and Utensils, &c., of the Greenlanders.
Treats of the ordinary Occupations, as Hunting and Fishing: of the Tools and Instruments necessary for these Employments: of the House Implements and Utensils, &c., of the Greenlanders.
AS every nation has its peculiar way of living and of getting their livelihood, suiting their genius and temper to the nature and produce of the country they inhabit; so the Greenlanders likewise have theirs, peculiar to themselves and their country. And though their way and customs may seem to others mean and silly, yetthey are such as very well serve their turn, and which we can find no fault with. Their ordinary employments are fishing and hunting: on shore they hunt the rein deer, and at sea they pursue the whales, morses, seals, and other sea animals, as also sea fowls and fishes. The manner of hunting the rein deer has been treated of above in the fifth chapter; but there we took no notice of their bows and arrows, which they make use of in the killing those deer. Their bow is of an ordinary make, commonly made of fir tree, which in Norway is called tenal, and on the back strengthened with strings made of sinews of animals, twisted like thread: the bow string is made of a good strong strap of seal skin, or of several sinews twisted together; the bow is a good fathom long. The head of the arrow is armed with iron, or a sharp pointed bone, with one or more hooks, that it may keep hold, when shot into a deer’s body. The arrows they shoot birds with are at the head covered with one or more pieces of bone blunt at the end, that they may kill the fowlwithout tearing the flesh. The sea fowls are not shot with arrows, but with darts, headed with bones or iron, which they throw very dexterously, and with so steady a hand at a great distance, that nobody can hit surer with a gun. They are more frequently employed at sea than on shore; and I confess they surpass therein most other nations; for their way of taking whales, seals, and other sea animals is by far the most skilful and most easy and handy.
When they go whale catching, they put on their best gear or apparel, as if they were going to a wedding feast, fancying that if they did not come cleanly and neatly dressed, the whale, who cannot bear slovenly and dirty habits, would shun them and fly from them. This is the manner of their expedition: about fifty persons, men and women, set out together in one of the large boats, called kone boat; the women carry along with them their sewing tackles, consisting of needles and thread, to sew and mend their husbands’ spring coats, or jackets, if they should be torn or pierced through, as also tomend the boat, in case it should receive any damage; the men go in search of the whale, and when they have found him they strike him with their harpoons, to which are fastened lines or straps two or three fathoms long, made of seal skin, at the end of which they tie a bag of a whole seal skin, filled with air, like a bladder; to the end that the whale, when he finds himself wounded, and runs away with the harpoon, may the sooner be tired, the air bag hindering him from keeping long under water. When he grows tired and loses strength, they attack him again with their spears and lances, till he is killed, and then they put on their spring coats, made of dressed seal skin, all of one piece, with boots, gloves, and caps, sewed and laced so tight together that no water can penetrate them. In this garb they jump into the sea, and begin to slice the fat of him all round the body, even under the water; for in these coats they cannot sink, as they are always full of air; so that they can, like the seal, stand upright in the sea: nay they are sometimes so daring, that they will getupon the whale’s back while there is yet life in him, to make an end of him and cut away his fat.
They go much the same way to work in killing of seals, except that the harpoon is lesser, to which is fastened a line of seal skin six or seven fathoms long, at the end of which is a bladder or bag made of a small seal skin filled with air to keep the seal, when he is wounded, from diving under the water, and being lost again. In the Northern parts, where the sea is all frozen over in the winter, they use other means in catching of seals. They first look out for holes, which the seals themselves make with their claws, about the bigness of a halfpenny, that they may fetch their breath; after they have found any hole, they seat themselves near it upon a chair made for this purpose; and as soon as they perceive the seal come up to the hole and put his snout into it for some air, they immediately strike him with a small harpoon, which they have ready in their hand, to which harpoon is fastened a strap afathom long, which they hold with the other hand. After he is struck, and cannot escape, they cut the hole so large, that they may get him up through it; and as soon as they have got his head above the ice, they can kill him with one blow of the fist.
A third way of catching seals is this: they make a great hole in the ice, or, in the spring, they find out holes made by the seals, through which they get upon the ice to lie and bask themselves in the sun. Near to these holes they place a low bench, upon which they lie down upon their belly, having first made a small hole near the large one, through which they let softly down a perch, sixteen or twenty yards long, headed with a harpoon, a strap being fastened to it, which one holds in his hand, while another (for there must be two employed in this sort of capture) who lies upon the bench with his face downwards, watches the coming of the seal, which when he perceives, he cries “Kæ;” whereupon he, who holds the pole, pushes and strikes the seal.
The fourth way is this: in the spring, when the seals lie upon the ice near holes, which they themselves make to get up and down, the Greenlanders, clothed with seal skins, and a long perch in their hand, creep along upon the ice, moving their head forwards and backwards, and snorting like a seal, till they come so near him, that they can reach him with the perch and strike him. A fifth manner of catching seals is, when in the spring the current makes large holes in the ice, the seals flock thither in great shoals; there the natives watch their opportunity to strike them with their harpoons, and haul them upon the ice. There is yet a sixth way of catching seals, when the ice is not covered with snow, but clear and transparent; then the catchers lay under their feet foxes or dogs’ tails, or a piece of a bear’s hide, to stand upon and watch the animal, and when by his blowing and snorting they find what course he takes, they softly follow him and strike him.
In fishing they make use of hooks and angles of iron or bones. Their lines are made ofwhalebones cut very small and thin, and at the end tacked together; and with such lines they will draw one hundred fishes to one which our people can catch with their hemp lines. But to catch halibut they use strong lines made of seal skin, or thick hemp lines.
Their way of fishing the small salmon or sea trout is this: at low water they build small enclosures with stone, near the river’s mouth, or any other place where the salmon runs along; and when it begins to flow, and the tide comes in, the salmon retreats to the river, and in high water passes over the enclosure, and remains in the river till the water again falls; then the salmon wants to go to sea again; but the fishermen way-lay him at the enclosure and stop his passage. And soon after, when the water is quite fallen and it is low ebb, the salmon remains upon dry land, and may be caught with hands. And where they are left in holes, they take them with an instrument made for this purpose, viz. a perch headed with two sharp hooked bones, or with one or two iron hooks.
The rogn fish, or roe fish, so named from the great quantity of roe that is found in it, as he is commonly found in shallow water and upon the sands, so he is caught like the salmon with the before-mentioned instrument. There is such abundance of these fishes, that, as they cannot consume them all fresh, they are obliged to dry them on the rocks, and keep them for winter provision. When roe fish catching is over, which happens in the month of May, then the Greenlanders retire into the bays and creeks, where the lod or stint fishing then takes place. There are such numberless shoals of them near the shore, that they catch them in a kind of sieves fastened upon long poles, and throw them upon the shore; they open and dry them upon the rocks, keeping them for their winter stock. This fish is not agreeable, nor reckoned wholesome, when eaten fresh; besides they have a nauseous smell, but when dried they may pass. The natives eat them with a bit of fat, or soused in train oil: and so of all other sorts of fishes, what the Greenlanders cannot consumefresh they dry upon the rocks in the sun, or in the wind, and lay them up for the winter.
Now as to the Greenland boats, there are two sorts of them; the one of which the men alone make use, is a small vessel sharp and pointed at both ends, three fathoms in length, and at most but three quarters of a yard broad with a round hole in the midst, just large enough for a man’s body to enter it, and sit down in it, the inside of the boat is made of thin rafts tacked together with the sinews of animals, and the outside is covered with seal skins, dressed and without hair; no more than one can sit in it, who fastens it so tight about his waist, that no water can penetrate it. In these small boats they go to sea, managing them with one oar of a fathom in length, broad at both ends, with which they paddle sometimes on one side, and sometimes on the other, with so much swiftness, that they are said to row ten or twelve Norway miles in a day. They chiefly make use of them in catching of seals and sea fowls, which they can approach on a suddenand unawares; whereas we in our large boats can very seldom come so near as to touch them. They do not fear venturing out to sea in them in the greatest storms, because they swim as light upon the largest waves as a bird can fly; and when the waves come upon them with all their fury, they only turn the side of the boat towards them to let them pass, without the least danger of being sunk: though they may happen to be overset, yet they easily raise themselves again with their paddle; but if they are overset unawares (as it often happens) and the boat be not close and tight about their waist, they are inevitably drowned.
The other kind of boats are large and open, like our boats, some of them twenty yards long; and these are called kone boats, that is, women’s boats, because the women commonly row them; for they think it unbecoming a man to row such a boat, unless great necessity requires it: and when they first set out for the whale fishing, the men sit in a very negligent posture, with their faces turned towards theprow, pulling with their little ordinary paddle; but the women sit in the ordinary way, with their faces towards the stern, rowing with long oars. The inside of these boats is composed of thin rafts, and the outside clothed with thick seal skins. In these boats they transport their baggage, as tents and the like household furniture, when they go to settle in some distant places in quest of provision. In these boats they also carry sails, made of the bowels and entrails of seals. The mast is placed foremost on the prow, and as the sail is broad at the upper end, where it is fastened to the yard and narrow at the lower end, so they neither want braces nor bowlines and sheet ropes, and with these sails they sail well enough with the wind, not otherwise. These boats, as they are flat-bottomed, can soon be overset.
The men meddle with no work at home but what concerns their tools for hunting and fishing tacklings,viz.their boats, bows, arrows, and the like. All other work, even of building andrepairing their houses, belongs to the women. As dexterous and skilful as the men are at their work, so the women are not behindhand with them, but according to their way and manner deserve to be praised and admired.
Of the Inhabitants, their Houses, and House Furniture.
IT is undoubted, that the modern inhabitants of Greenland are the offspring of the Schrellings, especially those that live on the Western coast; and there may be some mixture, for aught we know, of the ancient Norway colonies that formerly dwelled in the country, who in length of time were blended and naturalized among the natives, which is made probable byseveral Norway words found in their language. For, although the Norway colonies were destroyed, yet there were, no doubt, some remains of them, which joined with the natives and became all one nation. With these inhabitants all the sea coasts are peopled, some more and some less.
The coast is pretty populous in the Southern parts, and on the North in 68° and 69°; though, compared to other countries, it is in the main but thinly inhabited. In the inner parts of the country nobody lives, except at certain times in the summer season, when they go rein deer hunting. The reason of this is, that (as has been said above) the whole upland country is perpetually covered with ice and snow.
As to their houses or dwelling places, they have one for the winter season and another for the summer. Their winter habitation is a low hut built with stone and turf, two or three yards high, with a flat roof. In this hut the windows are on one side, made of the bowels of seals dressed and sewed together, or of the maws ofhalibut, and are white and transparent. On the other side their beds are placed, which consist in shelves or benches made up of deal boards raised half a yard from the ground; their bedding is made of seal and rein deer skins.
Several families live together in one of these houses or huts; each family occupying a room by itself, separated from the rest by a wooden post, by which also the roof is supported; before which there is a hearth or fireplace, in which is placed a great lamp in the form of a half moon seated on a trevet; over this are hung their kettles of brass, copper, or marble, in which they boil their victuals: under the roof, just above the lamp, they have a sort of rack or shelf, to put their wet clothes upon to dry. The fore door or entry of the house is very low, so that they must stoop, and most creep in upon all fours, to get in at it; which is so contrived to keep the cold air out as much as possible. The inside of the houses is covered or lined with old skins, which before have servedfor the covering of their boats. Some of these houses are so large, that they can harbour seven or eight families.
Upon the benches or shelves, where their beds are placed, is the ordinary seat of the women, attending their work of sewing and making up the clothing. The men with their sons occupy the foremost parts of the benches, turning their back to the women: on the opposite side, under the windows, the men belonging to the family, or strangers, take their seats upon the benches there placed.
I cannot forbear taking notice, that though in one of these houses there be ten or twenty train lamps, one does not perceive the steam or smoke thereof to fill these small cottages: the reason, I imagine, is, the care they take in trimming those lamps,viz.they take dry moss, rubbed very small, which they lay on one side of the lamp, which, being lighted, burns softly and does not cause any smoke, if they do not lay it on too thick, or in lumps. This fire gives such a heat, that it not only serves to boil theirvictuals, but also heats the room to that degree, that it is as hot as a bagnio. But for those who are not used to this way of firing, the smell is very disagreeable, as well by the number of burning lamps, all fed with train oil, as on account of divers sorts of raw meat, fishes, and fat, which they heap up in their habitations; but especially their urine tubs smell most insufferably, and strike one, that is not accustomed to it, to the very heart.
These winter habitations they begin to dwell in immediately after Michaelmas, and leave them again at the approach of the spring, which commonly is at the latter end of March; and then for the summer season lodge in tents, which are their summer habitations. These tents are made of rafts or long poles, set in a circular form, bending at the top, and resembling a sugar loaf, and covered with a double cover, of which the innermost is of seal or rein deer skins with the hairy side inward (if they be rich), and the outermost also of the same sort of skins, without hair, dressed with fat, that the rain may notpierce them. In these tents they have their beds, and lamps to dress their meat with; also a curtain made of the guts or bowels of seals sewed together, through which they receive the day light instead of windows. Every master of a family has got such a tent, and a great woman’s boat, to transport their tents and luggage from place to place, where their business calls them.
The Greenlanders’ Persons, Complexion, and Temperament.
THE Greenlanders, as well man as womankind, are well shaped and proportioned, rather short than tall, and strong built, inclined to be fat and corpulent; their faces broad, thick lips, and flat nosed; their hair and eyes black, their complexion a very dark tawny; though I have seen some pretty fair. Their bodies are of a vigorous constitution. There are seldom found any sick or lame, and but few distempers are known among them, besides weakness of the eye-sight, which is caused by the sharp and piercing spring winds, as well as the snow and ice, that hurt the sight.
I have met with some that seemed infected with a kind of leprosy; yet (what is surprising to me), though they converse with others, and lay with them in one bed, it is not catching. They that dwell in the most Northern parts are often miserably plagued with dysenteries or bloody fluxes, breast diseases, boils, and epilepsy, or falling sickness, &c. There were no epidemical or contagious diseases known among them, as plague, small-pox, and such like, till the year 1734, when one of the natives, who with several others were brought over to Denmark, and together with his companions had the small-pox at Copenhagen, coming home again to his native country brought the infection amongst them; of which there were swept away in and about the colony about two thousand persons. For as the natives as well as the animals of this climate are of a hot nature, they cannot bear the outward heat, much less the inward, caused by this burning distemper, which inflames the mass of blood to that degree, that it cannot, by any means, be quenched. They are very full of blood, whichis observed by their frequent bleeding at the nose.
Few of them exceed the age of fifty or sixty years; many die in the prime of their life, and most part in their tender infancy; which is not to be wondered at, considering they are quite destitute of all sorts of medicines, and ignorant of all that may strengthen and comfort sick bodies. To supply which defects, they know of nothing better than to send for their divines, which they nameangekuts, who mutter certain spells over the sick, by which they hope to recover.
For outward hurts, as wounds, cuts of knives, and the like, they sew or stitch them together. If any grow blind, as it often happens to them, the eye being covered over with a white skin, they make a small hook with a needle, which they fasten into this skin, to loosen it from the eye, and then with a knife they pull it off. When children are plagued with worms, the mother puts her tongue (salva vericâ) into theanusof the children, to killthem. Burnt moss with train oil mixed together serves for plaisters to fresh wounds; or they cover them with a piece of the innermost rind of a tree, and it will heal of itself.
The Greenlanders are commonly of a phlegmatic temper, which is the cause of a cold nature and stupidity: they seldom fly into a passion, or are much affected or taken with any thing, but of an insensible, indolent mind. Yet I am of opinion, that what contributes most to this coldness and stupidity is want of education and proper means to cultivate their minds. In which opinion I am confirmed by the experience of some who had for some time conversed with us, especially the young ones, who easily have taken all that they have seen or heard among us, whether it was good or bad. I have found some of them witty enough, and of good capacity.
The Customs, Virtues, and Vices, and the Manners or Way of Life of the Greenlanders.
THOUGH the Greenlanders are as yet subject to no government, nor know of any magistrates, or laws, or any sort of discipline; yet they are so far from being lawless or disorderly, that they are a law to themselves; their even temper and good nature making them observe a regular and orderly behaviour towards one another. One cannot enough admire how peaceably, lovingly, and united they live together; hatred and envy, strifes and jars are never heard of among them[31]. And although it may happen that onebears a grudge to another, yet it never breaks out into any scolding or fighting; neither have they any words to express such passions, or any injurious and provoking terms of quarrelling. It has happened once or twice, that a very wicked and malicious fellow, out of a secret grudge, has killed another; which none of the neighbours have taken notice of, but all let it pass with a surprising indolence; save the next kindred to the dead, if he finds himself strong enough, revenges his relation’s death upon the murderer. They know of no other punishment; but those old women called witches, and such as pretend to kill or hurt by their conjuring; to such they show great rigour, making nothing of killing and destroying them without mercy. And they pretend that it is very well done; those people not deserving to live, who by secret arts can hurt and make away with others.
They have as great an abhorrence of stealing or thieving among themselves, as any nation upon Earth; wherefore they keep nothing shut up under lock and key, but leave every thingunlocked that every body can come at it, without fear of losing it.
This vice is so much detested by them, that if a maiden should steal any thing, she would thereby forfeit a good match. Yet if they can lay hands upon any thing belonging to us foreigners, they make no great scruple of conscience about it. But, as we now have lived some time in the country amongst them, and are looked upon as true inhabitants of the land, they at last have forbore to molest us any more that way.
As to the transgression of the seventh commandment, we never have found them guilty in that point, either in words or deeds, except what passes amongst the married people in their public diversions, as we shall see hereafter.
As for what we call civility and compliments, they do not much trouble themselves about them; they go and come, meet and pass one another, without making use of any greeting or salutation: yet they are far from being unmannerly or uncivil in their conversation; for theymake a difference among persons, and give more honour to one than to another, according to their merit and deserts. They never enter any house where they are strangers, unless they are invited, and when they come in, the master of the house, to whom they pay the visit, shows them the place where they are to take their seat.
As soon as a visitor enters the house, he is desired forthwith to strip naked, and to sit down in this guise like all the rest; for this is the grand fashion with them to dry the clothes of their guest. When victuals are put before him, he takes care not to begin eating immediately, for fear of being looked upon as starved, or of passing for a glutton. He must stay till all the family is gone to bed before he can lie down, for to them it seems unbecoming that the guest goes to rest before the landlord. Whenever a stranger comes into a house, he never asks for victuals, though never so hungry; nor is there any need he should; for they generally exercise great hospitality, and are very free withwhat they have; and what is highly to be admired and praiseworthy, they have most things in common; and if there be any among them (as it will happen) who cannot work or get his livelihood, they do not let him starve, but admit him freely to their table, in which they confound us Christians, who suffer so many poor and distressed mortals to perish for want of victuals.
Finally, the Greenlanders, as to their manners and common way of life, are very slovenly, nasty, and filthy; they seldom wash themselves[32], will eat out of plates and bowls after their dogs, without cleansing them; and (what is most nauseous to behold), eat lice and such likevermin, which they find upon themselves or others. Thus they make good the old proverb, what drips from the nose falls into the mouth, that nothing may be lost. They will scrape the sweat from off their faces with a knife, and lick it up. They do not blush to sit down and ease themselves in the presence of others. Every family has a urine tub placed before the entry, in which they make water, and leave it so standing till it smells most insufferably, for they put in it the skins, which are to be dressed, to soak or steep, which affords not the most agreeable scent; to the encreasing of which the rotten pieces of flesh meat and fat thrown under their benches contributes a great deal; so that delicate noses do not find their account among them. Yet through long custom the most nauseous things become more supportable.
Notwithstanding, however, their nasty and most beastly way of living, they are very good natured and friendly in conversation. They can be merry and bear a joke, provided it be within due bounds. Never any of them has offered inthe least manner to hurt or to do harm to any of our people, unless provoked to it. They fear and respect us as a nation far superior to theirs in valour and strength.
Of their Habits, and Way of Dressing.
THEIR clothes are, for the most part, made of rein deer and seal skin, as also of bird’s skin nicely dressed and prepared. The men’s habits are a coat or jacket, with a cap or hood sewed to it, to cover the head and shoulders, in the fashion of a domino, or monk’s hood. This coat reaches down to the knees. Their breeches are very small, not coming above their loins,that they may not hinder them in getting into their small boats. And as they wear no linen, the hair of the skins the coat is made of is turned inward to keep them warm. Over this coat they put on a large frock, made of seal skin dressed and tanned, without hair, in order to keep the water out; and thus they are dressed when they go to sea.
Between the leathern frock and the under coat they wear a linen shirt, or, for want of linen, made of seal’s guts; which also helps to keep out the water from the under coat. Of late they appear sometimes in more gaudy dresses, as shirts made of striped linen, and coats and breeches of red and blue stuffs, or cloth, which they buy of ours, or the Dutch merchants, but fashioned after their own way; in these they make parade and feast, when they keep holidays on shore. The stockings they wore formerly were made of rein deer, or seal’s skin, but now they like better our sort of worsted stockings, of different colours, white, blue, and red, which they buy of us. Theirshoes and boots are made of seal’s skins, red or yellow, well dressed and tanned; they are nicely wrought, with folds behind and before, without heels, and fit well upon the foot[33].
The only difference between the dress of the men and the women is, that the women’s coats are higher on the shoulders and wider than the men’s, with higher and larger hoods. The married women, that have got children, wear much larger coats than the rest, most like gowns, because they must carry their children in them upon their backs, having got no other cradle or swadling clothes for them. They wear drawers, which reach to the middle of the thigh, and over them breeches: the drawers they always keep on, and sleep in them. Their breeches come down to the knee: these they do not wear in thesummer, nor in the winter, but when they go abroad; and as soon as they come home they pull them off again. Next to their body they wear a waistcoat made of young fawns’ skins, with the hairy side inward. The coat, or upper garment, is also made of fine coloured swans’ skins (or, in defect of that, of seal skins) trimmed and edged with white, and nicely wrought in the seams, and about the brim, which looks very well. Their shoes and boots, with little difference, are like those of the men. Their hair, which is very long and thick, is braided and tied up in a knot, which becomes them well. They commonly go bare-headed, as well without as within doors; nor are they covered with hoods, but in case it rains or snows. Their chief ornament and finery is to wear glass beads of divers colours, or corals about the neck and arms, and pendants in their ears. They also wear bracelets, made of black skin, set with pearls, with which they also trim their clothes and shoes.
The Greenland sex have, besides this, another sort of embellishment, viz. they make long black strokes between the eyes on the forehead, upon the chin, arms, and hands, and even upon the thighs and legs: these they make with a needle and thread made black. And though this to others seems a wrong way of embellishing, yet they think it very handsome and ornamental. And they say that those who do not thus deform their faces, their heads shall be turned into train tubs, which are placed under the lamps in Heaven, or the land of souls.
They keep their clothes pretty clean, though in other things, especially in their victuals, they are not so nice, chiefly the women, who have got children, are very dirty and slovenly, well knowing, that they cannot be repudiated, or sent a packing. But those wretches that are barren, or whose children are dead, and do not know the moment they may be sent away, are obliged to take more care of their cleanness and property, that they may please their husbands.
Of their Diet, and manner of dressing their Victuals.
THE Greenlanders’ provision and victuals are flesh and fish meat (for the country affords no other kind of provision) as rein deer, whales, seals, hares, and rypes, or white partridges, and all sorts of sea fowls. They eat their flesh meat sometimes raw, sometimes boiled, or dried in the sun or wind; but their fish meat is always thoroughly done, or they eat it dried in the sun or air, as salmon, roe-fish, halibut, or the small stints, which, in the months of May and June, they catch in great abundance, and keep them cured and dried for winter provisions. And whereas, in the winter season, it is very rare to get seals, except in themost Northern parts where they take them upon the ice; so they make all the provision of them they can get in the fall, and bury them under the snow, until the winter comes on, when they dig them up, and eat them raw and frozen as they are. Their drink is nothing but water, and not, as some writers have wrongly pretended, train oil; for they do not so much as eat the fat, but only in sauces to their dried fish.
Furthermore, they put great lumps of ice and snow into the water they drink, to make it the cooler to quench their thirst. They are, taking them in general, very hoggish and dirty in their eating and dressing of their victuals; they never wash, cleanse, or scour the kettles, pots, or dishes, in which they dress, and out of which they eat their victuals; which when dressed, they often lay down upon the dirty ground, which they walk upon, instead of tables. They will, with so great an appetite and greediness, feed upon the rotten and stinking seal flesh, that it turnsthe stomach of any hungry man who looks upon them. They have no set time for their meals, every man eats when he is hungry, except when they go to sea, and then their chief repast is a supper, after they are come home in the evening; and he, whose supper is first ready, calls his neighbours to come and partake of it, as he does again with them reciprocally; and so it goes round from one to another.
The women do not eat in company with the men, but separately by themselves; and in the absence of their husbands, when gone a fishing, they being left to themselves, invite one another, and make grand cheer. And as they eat heartily, when they can come at it, so they can as well endure hunger, when scarcity of provision requires it. It has been observed, that in great scarcity, they can live upon pieces of old skins, upon reets, or sea weeds, and other such trash. But the reason why they can endure hunger better than we foreigners, I take to be, their bodies being sosquat and corpulent, their fat yielding them matter of nourishment within themselves, for a while, till it be consumed.
Besides the fore-mentioned provisions, they also eat a sort of reddish sea weed, and a kind of root, which they call tugloronet, both dressed with fat or train oil; the dung of the rein deer, taken out of the guts, when they cleanse them; the entrails of partridges, and the like out-cast, pass for dainties with them. They make likewise pancakes of what they scrape off the inside of seal skins, when they dress them. In the summer they boil their meat with wood, which they gather in the field, and in winter time over their lamps in little kettles of an oval figure, made of brass, copper, or marble, which they make themselves.
To kindle the fire, when extinguished, they make use of this expedient, which shows their ingenuity: they take a short block of dry fir tree, upon which they rub another piece of hard wood, till, by the continued motion, the fir catches fire. When we first came among them,they did not like to taste any of our victuals, but now they are glad to get some of it, especially bread and butter, which they like mightily, but they do not much care for our liquors; yet notwithstanding, some of them, who have lived some time among us, have learnt to drink wine and brandy, and never refuse it, when it is offered them. But as for tobacco, they do not at all like it, nor can they bear the smell or smoke of it.
Of their Marriages, and Education of their Children.
THE most detestable crime of polygamy, which reigns so much among the Heathens, the Greenlanders are not so much addicted to; for commonly they are contented with one wife. There are some, but very few, that keep two, three, or four wives: but these pass for heroes or more than ordinary men, in that, by their industry, they are able to subsist so many wives and children. And what is remarkable, before our arrival, there was never heard of such a thing as jealousy among those wives, but they agreed very well together, though the first wife was reckoned the mistress. Since our arrival, as we have informed them of the word and will ofGod, importing, that in the beginning the All-wise Creator made one man and one woman, to live in matrimony as husband and wife, there has been some resentment in the wives, when their husbands have had a mind to take any other besides them; they have addressed themselves to me, and desired me to put a stop to such a proceeding. Also when I have instructed them in their catechism and the Christian doctrine, they have always put me in mind, not to forget fully to instruct their husbands in the duties of the seventh commandment.
Some time passed before we could learn how the men behaved themselves with regard to other men’s wives, or the womenvice versa, till at last we perceived them not to be over scrupulous in this matter, of which we were more fully convinced, by hearing of a certain illegal game used among them; which is this. A number of married men and women meet together at an assembly; where, after they have taken their fill of feasting and revelling, they begin singing and dancing, according to theirown way; and in the mean while one after another take a trip with each other’s wife, behind a curtain or hangings made of skins at one end of the house, where their beds are placed, and there divert themselves. Those are reputed the best and noblest tempered, who, without any pain or reluctancy, will lend their friends their wives.
But, as I observed above, none but married people frequent these sort of games, which, they imagine, is not unbecoming. Especially the women think themselves happy, if an angekkok, or prophet, will honour them with his caresses: there are even some men so generous, that they will pay the angekkok for it; chiefly if they themselves have no children; for they fancy that an angekkok’s child will be more happy and better qualified for business than others.
Maidens, on the contrary, and unmarried women, observe much better the rules of modesty and continency; for I never saw any of them entertain any loose or slippery conversation with young men; or show the least inclination to it either in words or deeds. During fifteen full years that I lived in Greenland, I did not hear of more than two or three young unmarried women, who had been guilty of incontinence; because it is reckoned the greatest of infamies. It is remarkable, that natural decency is observed by them; for they refrain from marrying their next relations, even in the third degree, taking such matches to be unwarrantable and quite unnatural. It is likewise reckoned uncouth and blameable, if a lad and a girl, that have served and been educated in one family, should desire to be married together; for they look upon them as brother and sister.
The ceremonies they use in their marriages and weddings are as follow:—When a young man likes a maiden, he commonly proposes it to their parents and relations on both sides; and after he has obtained their consent, he gets two or more old women to fetch the bride (and if he is a stout fellow, he will fetch her himself). They go to the place where the youngwoman is, and carry her away by force; for though she ever so much approves of the match, yet out of modesty she must make as if it went against the grain, and as if she was much ruffled at it; else she will be blamed and get an ill name, as if she had been a love-sick wench. After she is brought to the house of the bridegroom, she keeps for some time at a distance, and sits retired in some corner, upon the bench, with her hair dishevelled, and covering her face, being bashful and ashamed. In the mean while the bridegroom uses all the rhetorick he is master of, and spares no caresses to bring her to a compliance with his ardent wishes; and the good girl being at length persuaded and prevailed with, yields kindly to his ravishing embraces; and then they lie down together, and so the wedding is over. But sometimes they take a shorter way to go to work, which is to gratify their inclinations without the advice or consent of the parents[34]. Nevertheless theirmatrimony is not of so indissoluble a nature but that the husbands often repudiate and put away their wives, if either they do not suit their humours, or else, if they are barren and do not bring forth children (which they hold to be very ignominious), and marry others. But if they have children by them, they bear a great deal with them, and keep them for life. It is not rare to see that a man beats his wife, and gives her black eyes, for her obstinacy and stubbornness sake; however they are soon reconciled and good friends again, without bearing any grudge. For, according to them, it signifies nothing, that a man beats his wife; but they do not like that a master should drub a servant maid. Likewise they think it heinous that a mother chastises her children; and if she fallsfoul of her maid, it is with them unpardonable; and such a woman gets an ill name.
If one of the party dies, the relict, whether husband or wife, is at liberty to marry again.
The women are of a very hardy and strong nature, which they chiefly show in their child-bearing; for as soon as it is over, they will go to work and do their ordinary business as usual. But sometimes they pay very dear for this bravery, it costing them their lives. The day after their delivery they go abroad to work, being girt with a waist belt two or three inches broad, which they also wore before their delivery. As soon as the child is born, the mother dips her finger into water, and rubs the child’s lips with it; or she puts a little bit of snow into its mouth, saying, “Imekautit,” which signifies, Thou hast drunk a good deal; and when she eats, she takes a bit of fish, and holds it to the child’s mouth, and shakes her hand, with this word, “Aiparpotit,” that is to say, Thou hast eat and kept me company. They cut the navel-string, not with a knife,but with a muscle shell, or they bite it off with their teeth; and when the string is dry they use it as an amulet.
They hold a chamber pot over the head of the woman in labour, imagining that it helps to hasten her delivery. The child being a year old, the mother slabbers and licks it all over, from head to foot, that it may grow hale and strong. They seldom bear twins, but monsters are often brought forth. In the year 1737 a woman, in the Bay of Disco, was delivered of a hideous monster; the eyes were placed on the side of the nose: it had a pointed snout and no ears. Instead of hands and feet it had paws, and very thick thighs. Its front was covered with hair like those of a rein deer, and the sides were covered with something like a white skin of a fish. In the same place another monstrous birth was seen in the year 1739, without a head, four-footed, with long nails, like claws; it had a mouth upon the breast, and claws upon the back.
They have a very tender love for theirchildren, and the mother always carries her infant child about with her upon her back, wrapped up in her coat wherever she goes, or whatever business she has in hand, for they have no other cradles for them. They suckle them till they are three or four years old or more; because in their tender infancy they cannot digest the strong victuals that the rest must live upon.
The education of their children is what they seem little concerned about; for they never make use of whipping or hard words to correct them, when they do any thing amiss, but leave them to their own discretion. Notwithstanding which, when they are grown, they never seem inclined to vice or roguery, which is to be admired. It is true, they show no great respect to their parents in their outward forms, but always are very willing to do what they order them; though sometimes they will bid their parents do it themselves. They are under the care of their parents, boys as well as girls, till they are married; afterwards they shift forthemselves, yet so, that they continue to dwell in the same house, or under the same roof with their fathers, together with other kindred and relations; and what they get, they all enjoy in common.
How the Greenlanders mourn and bury their dead Friends.
WHEN any person dies, they take what belongs to him, as house-furniture, utensils, and clothing, and throw it all out into the field, that by touching of them they may not become unclean, or any misfortune befal them on that account: and all that live in the same house are obliged to carry out any thing of their goods that is new and has not been used; but in the evening they bring them all back again, for then they say the stench of the dead body is quite dissipated. Then they begin to lament and mourn for their dead friend, with tears and ghastly howlings, which they continue for an hour, and then the nearest relations take thebody and carry it to the grave, made up of stones thrown together in a heap, under which they bury him dressed in his best clothes, and well wrapt up in skins of rein deer or seals, with his legs bent under his back. Near the burying place they lay his utensils,viz.his boat, bows, arrows, and the like; and if it be a woman, her needles, thimbles, and the like; not that they believe they stand in need of those things, when they are come to the land of souls, or in the other world, whither they are retired, but for the aversion they have for those things: lest by refreshing the memory of the deceased, they might renew their grief and sorrow for his loss; for if they should bewail him and weep too much, they think he will endure the more cold where he is.
They think themselves unclean if they touch any thing belonging to the deceased; as likewise he that has carried him to the grave, and buried him, is reckoned unclean for some time, and dares not do certain things: nay, not only the kindred and relations of the deceased, but likewise every one that has lived in the same house with him, are obliged to abstain from certain victuals and work, for a while, according to the direction of theangekkutsor divines.
The women never wash themselves during their mourning time, nor appear well dressed, or with braided and tied up hair, but dishevelled, and hanging about the face. They must put on their hood as often as they go out of doors, which is not customary at other times: but they believe they otherwise should soon die.
They bewail their dead long enough: for, as often as any of their friends and acquaintance come from other places to see them, the first thing they do is to sit down in great sadness, and weep and bemoan the loss of their deceased friend: after which they are comforted with good cheer. But if the deceased has left no friend or relation behind him, he may lie long enough where he died, whether at home or abroad before any body comes and buries him. If a person dies in the house, his body must not be carried through the ordinary entry of it, butconveyed out at the window; and if he dies in a tent, he is brought out at the back part of it. At the funeral a woman lights a stick in the fire, brandishing the same and sayingpiklerrukpok, that is, Here is no more to be got.
When little children die and are buried, they put the head of a dog near the grave, fancying, that children having no understanding, they cannot by themselves find the way, but the dog must guide them to the land of the souls.