IN NORTHERN MISTS 



In the first place the decHne must be attributed to changes 

 in the relations with Norway. From the " King's Mirror '* 

 (c£. Vol. I, p. 277), among other authorities., we see that 

 the Greenlanders doubtless had to manage to some extent 

 without such European wares as flour and bread; they 

 lived mainly by sealing and fishing, and also by keeping 

 cattle, which gave them milk and cheese. But there were 

 many necessary things, such as iron for implements and 

 weapons, and to some extent even wood ^ for larger boats 

 and ships, which had to be obtained from Europe, besides 

 the encouragement and support which was afforded in many 

 ways by communication with the outer world. This was not 

 of small moment to people who lived in isolation under such 

 hard conditions, at the extreme limit at which a European 

 culture was possible; it wanted little to turn the scale. It 

 is therefore easy to understand that as soon as communica- 

 tion with the m^other country declined, the conditions of 

 life in Greenland became so unattractive that those who 

 had the chance removed elsewhere, and doubtless in most 

 cases to Norway. 



But at the same time there was certainly a physiological 

 factor involved. For the healthy nourishment of a European, 

 cereals (hydrocarbons) are necessary, and there can be no 

 doubt that a prolonged exclusive diet of meat and fat 

 will, in the case of most Europeans, reduce the vital force, 

 and not least the powers of reproduction. This agrees with 

 my own experience and observation under various conditions, 

 as, for instance, during ten consecutive months' exclusive 

 diet of meat and fat. It is also confirmed by physiological 

 experiments on omnivorous animals. The Greenlanders were 

 reduced to living by sealing, fishing, and keeping cattle; 

 milk, with its sugar of milk, was their chief substitute for 

 the hydrocarbons in cereals; besides this, they no doubt 



^The driftwood that was washed ashore along the coasts could not pos- 

 sibly suffice for shipbuilding; but they doubtless obtained timber also from 

 Markland (cf. pp. 25, 37). 

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