656 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1818. 



it has uniformly produced else- 

 where, and more especially in 

 countries where the population is 

 small when compared to the ex- 

 tent of territory. 



I am very sensible that I may 

 have been led into errors of fact 

 or inference. In that case I 

 can plead lionesty of intention, 

 and the difficulty of collecting at 

 a single point, and within a limited 

 time, correct information; or of 

 analyzing that which was col- 

 lected, respecting a people in a 

 state of revolution, who are spread 

 over an immense country, and 

 whose habits, institutions, and 

 language, are so different from 

 our own. 



I have only to add, that we 

 were politely received by the 

 Supreme Director, who made 

 every profession for our govern- 

 ment, and every offer of accom- 

 modation to us, as its agents, 

 which we had a right to expect, 

 and that the people manifested 

 on all occasions the most friendly 

 dispositions. 



Description of Greenland, by Hans 

 Egede. 



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 in- 

 habit; so the Greenlanders like- 

 wise have theirs, peculiar to them- 

 selves and their country. And 

 though their wpy and customs 

 may seem to others mean and 

 silly, yet they are such as very 

 well serve their turn, and which 

 we can find no fault with. Their 



s 



ordinary employments are fishing 

 and hunting; on shore they hunt 

 the rein deer, and at sea they 

 jjursue the whales, morses, seals, 

 and other sea animals, as also 

 sea fowls and fishes. The manner 

 of hunting the rein deer has been 

 treated of above in the fifth 

 chapter; but there we took no 

 notice of their bows and arrows, 

 which they make use of in the 

 killing those deer. Their bow is 

 of an ordinary make, commonly 

 made of fir tree, which in Norway 

 is called tenal, and on the back 

 strengthened with strings made 

 of sinews of animals, twisted like 

 thread : the bow string is made 

 of a good strong strap of seal 

 skin, or of several sinews twisted 

 together ; the bow is a good 

 fathom long. The head of the 

 arrow is armed with iron, or a 

 sharp pointed bone, with one or 

 more hooks, that it may keep 

 hold, when shot into a deer's 

 body. The arrows they shoot 

 birds with are at the head covered 

 with one or more pieces of bone 

 blunt at the end, that they may 

 kill the fowl without tearing the 

 flesh. The sea fowls are not shot 

 with arrows, but with darts, 

 headed with bones or iron, which 

 they throw very dexterously, and 

 with so stendy a hand at a great 

 distance, that nobody can hit 

 surer with a gun. They are more 

 frequently employed at sea than 

 on shore ; and I confess they sur- 

 pass therein most other nations ; 

 for their way of taking whales, 

 seals, and other sea animals is by 

 far the most skilful and most easy 

 and handy. 



When ihey go whale catching, 



they put on their best gear or 



appartl, as if they were going to 



a wedding 



