THE ESKIMO LANGUAGE 41 
length, does duty for a whole sentence. The two 
Eskimo words given below are quoted from the 
well-known Danish authority, Rink. In the course 
of a discussion why certain birds in Greenland are 
particularly shy, an Eskimo by the words ‘ maniar- 
neqarnertik nujorqautigingikaluargorpat,’ which 
may be freely translated: ‘presumably indeed their 
shyness is not the result of their eggs being re- 
moved,’ politely expressed his dissent from the 
view that they had become so because their nests 
were often robbed. The words are constructed as 
follows: man (eggs)-far (remove)-ne (the act of)- 
qar (get)-ner (the fact of)-tik (their), nujor (shy)- 
qa (become)-ut (cause)-igi (have as)-ngi (not)- 
kaluar (indeed)-qér (presumably)-pat (they it). 
I am indebted to Mr Erling Porsild for another 
example of a long word which is vouched for by 
the Rev. H. Ostermann, the leading Danish 
authority on Eskimo grammar, namely: eqa- 
lugssuarniarfiliarniarniarumagaluarpunga, which 
means: ‘I should certainly like to go to the place 
where sharks are caught.’ 
Some of the Greenlanders understand Danish 
and a few speak it a little, but even if a native has 
a knowledge of Danish, he rarely attempts to use 
the language because of his dread of seeming 
ridiculous. The language, with its wealth of con- 
sonants and long words, when spoken in sonorous 
tones by a venerable native preacher at a Sunday 
evening service which I attended at Godhavn 
sounded not unpleasantly; the sermon was delivered 
with an eloquence that was impressive despite the 
