NATIVES OF GREENLAND. 71 



whose mother was evidently a native, though his father was 

 Danish. The contour of his countenance proves this. 

 This youth, I was informed, had been left behind by his 

 father, whether from the boy's own choice, or the father's 

 will, did not appear. Some of the children of the Euro- 

 peans bj^ the Uskee Avomen are quite fair, but all have that 

 remarkable attachment to their country which the genuine 

 natives evince. The young man who amused the people 

 at Hull, Leith, and in the Thames, widi the exercise of his 

 kaiak was the son of a Dane, but his mother was a native 

 of Greenland. It is said that the sister of that young man 

 was so much grieved at the thoughts of his going from 

 his dear home that she pined away and died of grief. 

 Such is their excessive attachment to their country. 



In their intercourse with strangers, they are at first shy 

 and cautious, but firm in their manners. That reserve soon 

 disappears when they are kindly treated, and they freely 

 communicate their knowledge of any thing asked them. 

 Their experience extending but little beyond the arts be- 

 fitting the necessary occupations of their own peculiar 

 mode of life, makes their information of , inconsiderable 

 value when applied to the greater concerns of European 

 commerce. They appear sensible of their deficiency in 

 this respect ; and when they give reply to the inquiries of 

 the whale hunters, it is always frank but diffident. Any 

 effort to extend their experience beyond the contracted 



