IN NORTHERN MISTS 



ence alluded to, at Godthaab, may be accounted for by a later immigration from 

 the north to the northern west coast, which did not come any farther south 

 than this. That the boundary-line between the two kinds of Eskimo should be 

 so sharp just between Ny-Herrnhut and Godthaab, which lie close together on 

 the same peninsula, is easily explained by the fact of the former settlement 

 having always belonged to the recently abandoned German Moravian mission, 

 while the latter was the seat of Egede's and the later Danish mission. There 

 is always the essential objection to be made against the Eskimo having im- 

 migrated to the southern east coast round the north of Greenland, that the 

 conditions of life for Eskimo, who live principally by sealing and whaling, 

 were poor on the north coast of Greenland, where there are no seals worth 

 mentioning and few bears; and they can scarcely have got enough musk-oxen 

 to support themselves. Their diffusion to the east coast could not have gone 

 on rapidly. In the ice-bound regions they may have forgotten the use of the 

 kayak, as the Eskimo of Smith Sound had done until thirty years ago, when 

 they became acquainted with it again through a chance immigration from the 

 west. In any case, their practice in building and using kayaks must have 

 greatly fallen off. But when the Eskimo came southward on the east coast 

 they again had use for both the kayak for sealing and the women's boat for 

 traveling, and it is scarcely likely that the craft they produced after such a 

 break in the development should be so near to the women's boats and hand- 

 some kayaks of the northern west coast as we now find them; unless, indeed, 

 we are to suppose that they improved them again through contact with the 

 Eskimo of the northern west coast, but in that case the whole theory appears 

 somewhat strained. 



We will now look at what the known historical authorities 

 have to tell us about the Eskimo in Greenland during the 

 early days of the Norse settlement. I have already stated 

 (pp. 12 £.) that the Norse name " Skraeling " for Eskimo 

 must originally have been used as a designation of fairies 

 or mythical creatures. Furthermore, there is much that 

 would imply that when the Icelanders first met with the 

 Eskimo in Greenland they looked upon them as fairies; 

 they therefore called them " trolls," an ancient common 

 name for various sorts of supernatural beings. This view 

 persisted more or less in after times. Every European who 

 has suddenly encountered Eskimo in the ice-covered wastes 

 of Greenland, without ever having seen them before, will 

 easily understand that they must have made such an impres- 

 sion on people who had the slightest tendency to superstition. 

 The mighty natural surroundings, with huge glaciers, floating 

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