Greenlanders

“ According to the relation and opinion of those Greenlanders, that inhabit the gulf of Disco, in 69°, Greenland is an island, which they infer from the strong current that runs from the North, and keeps the ice open even into the midst of the sea: they will also tell you, they have spoken with people different from themselves on the other side of the ice, and hailed them. Their language, they say, is the same, but the persons different, so that a small strait only divides Greenland from America. ”

“ 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 ”

“ The Greenlanders are entirely without political control; having nothing which represents it more nearly than the deference paid to the opinion of some old man, skilled in seal-catching and the signs of the weather. But a Greenlander who is aggrieved by another has his remedy in what is called a singing combat. He composes a satirical poem, and challenges his antagonist to a satirical duel in face of the tribe: "He who has the last word wins the trial." ”

“ The foreigners are regarded both by themselves and by the Greenlanders as a higher race and the lords of the country, to whom all obedience is due; whereas, if they were really there for the sake of the natives, they ought rather to be their self-sacrificing servants. Half voluntarily, half involuntarily, the Europeans have themselves emphasised this relation, and have all along treated the natives as a subject race. ”

“ As for the Greenlanders, if it be true, as is supposed, that a remnant of the old Norway Christians incorporated themselves and became one people with them, the Greenlanders may thence have heard and adopted some of their notions, which they may have new-modeled in the coarse mould of their own brain. ”

“ 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, yet{101} they 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. ”

“ That the Greenlanders and they agree in every circumstance of customs, and manners, and language, which are demonstrations of an original identity of nation, had been discovered about twenty years ago. ”

“ Can any one help thinking, but that such evil doers (the remotest from the life, which is God alone) must be deemed the most unhappy{224} of all? Whilst on the other hand, the Greenlanders pass their lives, as I may say, in a natural innocence and simplicity. ”

“ The Greenlanders have a great wealth of fairy tales and legends, many of them very characteristic. Nothing affords a better insight into the whole spiritual life of the people, their disposition, feelings, and moods, than the matter of these legends and the manner in which they are told. We find in them a considerable talent for narrative and gift of imagination, along with a grotesque humour, which of course often takes the form of coarseness. ”

“ From what I have just said, and from many other passages in this book, the reader may perhaps be inclined to conclude that the Greenlanders are a people of no natural independence, and born for subjection. ”

“ Crantz, in his account of Greenland, quotes Dalagen's relation of the ways and usages of the Greenlanders, and says, "Whoever finds drift-wood, or the spoils of a shipwreck on the strand, enjoys it as his own, though he does not live there. But he must haul it ashore and lay a stone upon it, as a token that some one has taken possession of it, and this stone is the deed of security, for no other Greenlander will offer to meddle with it afterwards." Such is the instinctive law of nations. ”

“ Poor dreamer! You have nothing to say which has not been better said before. The hapless lot of the Greenlanders, as well as of other 'native' races, has been set forth on many hands, and always without avail. ”

“ One of the commandments against which the Greenlanders oftenest sin is the seventh. Virtue and chastity do not stand in great esteem in Greenland. Many look on it (on the West Coast) as no great shame if an unmarried girl has children. ”

“ Whether genuine or not, this statement may correctly describe the fate of the Greenland settlements. Deserted by the mother country, and left to their own resources, the Greenlanders were forced to adopt the Eskimo mode of life, and became absorbed in them. ”

“ If any should be offended by these peculiarities in the manners and customs of the Greenlanders, they ought to reflect that their own forefathers, not so many generations ago, conducted themselves not so very differently. Let them read the accounts of the domestic life of the Teutonic peoples some centuries ago, and they will learn many things that will surprise them. ”

“ Possessing great natural intelligence combined with love of instruction, the Greenlanders may justly claim to be civilized. The great majority read and write their mother-tongue, and sing European melodies, while several speak English or Danish. Nearly all the families have their little library, and read their Eskimo newspaper, as well as the collections of national legends, illustrated with engravings by native artists. Greenland even ”

“ The native Greenlanders are by no means deficient in intelligence. Mr. Hall gives a fac-simile of a wood-cut representing a woman and child drawn and engraved by one of them who had received no instruction in art, and no education of any sort beyond that of the majority of his countrymen. The great festival of Greenland is the birthday of the King of Denmark, in which all the population, native and European, who can be assembled, take part, his Majesty furnishing the cheer. ”

“ The heathen natives brought to Captain Holm a map of the east coast north of Angmagsalik, which they had cut out in wood.
The Greenlanders have, in my opinion, an indubitable artistic faculty, and if their culture in this direction is but little developed, I believe the reason lies in their hard fight for existence, which has left them no time for artistic pursuits. Their art [49] consists chiefly in the decoration of weapons, tools, and garments with patterns and figures, cut out of bone or wood, or embroidered in leather. ”

“ We are sure that our readers would not wish to live in Greenland; yet the inhabitants of that island think their country the best in the world. If at any time a Greenlander is carried to a warmer clime, he longs for his native snows; and, if he cannot hope to return, he sometimes pines away and dies.
Crossing Davis’ Strait, which is not very wide, we reach that part of the American continent which is called Labrador. This is the country of the Esquimaux.
These people resemble the Greenlanders in several important respects. Like them, they are low in stature, and in complexion are very sallow. ”

“ From these are descended lineally the Greenlanders; which may pass for a remnant, though an adulteration from the true tradition of the origin of man. But as to us foreigners, whom they stile Kablunæt (that is, of a strange extraction) , they tell a most ridiculous story, importing our pedigree from a race of dogs; they say, that a Greenland woman once being in labour, brought forth at the same time both children and whelps: these last she put into an old shoe, and committed them to the mercy of the waves, with these words ”

“ He gave a name to the country and called it Greenland and said that it must persuade men to go thither if it had a good name. They found there both east and west in the country the dwellings of men and fragments of boats and stone implements such that it might be perceived from these that that manner of people had been there who have inhabited Wineland and whom Greenlanders call Skraelings. ”

“ On the contrary, the Greenlanders love of freedom and independence has always been very marked. When the Europeans first came to the country, the natives held themselves at least their equals, and the idea of standing in a menial or subordinate position to another man, as they saw the Europeans do among themselves, seemed to them strange and degrading. It is true that the father of a family exercises a certain authority in his own household, and perhaps over all the families who live in the same house ”

“ Bills of fare vary much in Greenland. I have inquired of Petersen, and he tells me that the Greenland Esquimaux (there are many Greenlanders of Danish origin) are not agreed as to which of their animals affords the most delicious food; some of them prefer reindeer venison, others think more favourably of young dog, the flesh of which, he asserts, is ‘just like the beef of sheep.’ He says a Danish captain, who had acquired the taste, provided some for his guests, and they praised his mutton! ”

“ That some people should live in profusion while others suffer need, as we see it occurring daily in European communities, is an unheard of thing in Greenland; except that the European settlers, with the habitual providence of our race, have often stores of food while the Greenlanders are starving. ”

“ The Greenlanders, who live mostly upon seals, think it sufficient to catch and bring them on shore; and would rather submit to starve than assist their women in skinning, dressing, or dragging home the cumbrous animals to their huts. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Greenland is considered as a peninsula attached to America, wretchedly barren, for no trees grow there. But God, who made man of the dust, also promised to supply his wants, and most wonderfully is this exemplified with regard to Greenland. To provide the inhabitants with the means of warming and nourishing their bodies, God causes the sea to drive vast quantities of wood from distant shores, and with thankfulness the poor Greenlanders regularly gather these providential supplies from their own coasts. ”

“ Cape Prince Christian, Northwards. The information I have had of some Greenlanders, who in their boats have coasted a great part of the East side, confirms me in my opinion; for although an incredible quantity of driven ice yearly comes from Spitzbergen or New Greenland along this coast, and passes by the States Promontory, which hinders the approaching of ships as far as the ice stretches, whereabout the best part of the Norwegian colonies were settled; yet there have been found breaks and open sea near the shore, through which boats and smaller vessels may pass ”

“ In the classification of these numerous tribes, it is considered that much remains to be done.
For the tribes on the shore of the Northern Ocean, and for the parts immediately south of Behring's Straits, the general character, both physical and moral, seems to be Esquimaux. The enormous line of coast over which this nation is extended has long been known. The language and manners of Greenland have been known to us since the times of the earliest Danish missionaries; so that details, both physical and moral, of no savages are better understood than those of the Greenlanders. ”

“ I think you are right; still, men get accustomed to everything, and these Greenlanders appear to me better off than the workingmen of our large cities; they may be unfortunate, but they are not miserable. ”

“ The Greenlanders are constantly obliged to make voyages to the uninhabited regions in the northern land’s end or point, both for the sake of wood [i.e., driftwood] and sealing; it is called Greipar and Króksfjarðarheiðr; it is a [Pg 300] great and long sea voyage thither; [271] as the Skáld-Helga saga clearly bears witness, where it is said of it:
“‘Garpar kvomu i Greypar norðr. The men came to Greipar in the north, Grönlands er þar bryggju sporðr.’ [272] There is the bridge-spur (end) of Greenland. ”

“ And such there are who have been blessed with{223} the true knowledge of God; yet do nevertheless refuse him that obedience, which, as our Creator and Master, and in regard of our redemption and a thousand other particular kindnesses, he has the best of titles to demand it upon, according as he requires it of us in his holy Word. If the life of the Greenlanders, which we call poor and despicable, with respect to morality, be compared to that of the most pretended Christians ”

“ This animal is the constant prey of the Greenlander, and furnishes him with all he wants. The flesh he eats, the fat serves him to feed his lamp, which is almost as necessary as food itself in that cold climate. With the skin he makes clothes that are impenetrable to the water, or lines the inside of his hut to keep out the weather. As this animal is so necessary to the existence of a Greenlander, it is his greatest glory to chase and take him. ”

“ The Muscovy Company of England, the East India Company of Holland, both knew the Greenland of the Danes; and sent their ships to fish at Spitzbergen, east of Greenland. But was Greenland an island, or a great continent? Were Spitzbergen and Greenland [5] parts of a vast Polar land? Did the mountains wreathed there in eternal mists conceal the wealth of a second Peru? Below the endless swamps of ice, would men find gold sands? And when one followed up the long coast of the east shore—as long as from Florida to Maine—where the Danish colonies had perished of cold centuries ago—what beyond? ”