ESKIMO AND SKR^LING 



and literature of Europe in the fifteenth century. Claudius 

 Clavus in his description of the North (before the middle 

 of the fifteenth century) speaks of Pygmies (" Pigmei ") in 

 the country to the north-east of Greenland; they were 

 one cubit high, and had boats of hide, both short and long 

 (i.e., kayaks and women's boats), some of which were hanging 

 in the cathedral at Trondhjem (see further on this subject 



Eskimo playing ball with a stuffed seal. Woodcut from Greenland 

 illustrating a fairy-tale, drawn and engraved by a native 



under the mention of Claudius Clavus). 'He further speaks of 

 " the infidel Karelians," who " constantly descend upon Green- 

 land in great armies." ^ The name may be derived, as shown by 

 Bjombo and Petersen, from the Karelians to the north-east of 

 Norway on older maps and have been transferred to the west, and 

 it may then perhaps also have been confused with the name of 

 Skraeling. 



Michel Beheim, who traveled in Norway in 1450, gives in his poem about 

 the journey [Vangensten, 1908, p. 18] a mythical description of the Skraelings 

 (" schrelinge")j who are only three "spans" high, but are nevertheless dan- 

 gerous opponents both on sea and land. They live in caves which they dig 

 out in the mountains, make ships of hides, eat raw meat and raw fish, and drink 



1 Cf. Bjombo and Petersen, 1904, pp. 179, 236. 



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