GREENLAND. 



a woman is in laliour, tlic polTips hold a cliambei-pot over 

 her head, as a charm to halleii the dohvery ; ami wlicii a 

 child is a year old, the mother licks and (labhers it all over, 

 to render it, as !he imagines, more flrong and hardy. Their 

 cU)aths are made of the (kins of rein-deer, feals, and birds. 

 The, men wear tlieir hair fhort, commonly hanpjing down 

 from tlie crown of th.'irhcad on every fide, and fquared oif 

 at their foreheads. Some cnt it off as liigh as their poll. But 

 it would be a reproach to a woman to cut oft" hev hair, 

 which is never done except in cafes' of the deepeit mourning, 

 or if they rcfolve never to marry. All the Greenlanders 

 fpeak the fame language, though different dialefts prevail 

 in -different parts of the country. Some few words are pro- 

 bably the relics of the old Norwegian ; but thefe excepted, 

 their language fccms to have no alTiiiity in etymology, de- 

 clenfion, or hgnification, with any of the Northern, Tarta- 

 rian, or Indian languages, as far as they are known to us ; 

 but we mufl except the language of the Efcpiimaux in La- 

 brador, who fee m, as we have already laid, to be one people 

 with the Greenlanders. Their great number of polyf\-llables, 

 and of repeatedly combined wm-ds, make their language very 

 intricate. Nevtrthtlefs, it abounds fo much witli words, 

 that the Greenlander.<;, like the Chinefe Tartars, have a 

 proper word for every objeCl or art that reqi'.ires the leaft 

 dil'cinclion. Befides, their words are varied and declined 

 vith fucli diffei-ent modifici.tious, yet accorduig to a fixed 

 rule with few exceptions, : nd are attended with prefixes and 

 fuflixes, far more than the Hebrew, that tlie language is not 

 onlv graceful, but plain and unequivocal. Moreover, they 

 join many words together, as we have already laid, like the 

 North Americans, fo that they can exprefs themfelves very 

 concilely and yet lignificantly. Some of our letters are 

 wanting in tlieir language, and they never begin a word with 

 B, D, F, G, L, 11, or Z. They feldom join many con- 

 fonants together, and never at the beginning of a fyllable. 

 The accent, upon which much depends, muil be laid upon 

 the proper fylhible, commonly tlie lall ; and the Green- 

 landers, efpccially the women, accompany manv words, not 

 only with a particidar accent, but with a certain iVgnihcaiit 

 nfpecl, which is iiccefuiry to be regarded in order to afcertain 

 their meaning. They have but fev.- adjedtives, and thefe are 

 motlly participles ; they are placed after the fubllantive, 

 which always begins the fenteiiee. Subllantives, as well as 

 verbs, Iiave fmgular, dual, and plural numbers, but no gen- 

 ders, and I hey want no article. The dual and plural are 

 formed according to the different termination of the word, 

 with few exceptions. Tlie declcnfions are eafy ; the geni 

 live has at the Cf;d a b, or if a vowel follows, an ih, either 

 by addition or cliange ; and the rell of the cafes have a pre- 

 poiltion affixed to them. Tiie jironouns are not placed be- 

 fore the word, but one or two of its letters are attached to 

 it at the end, and in diilVrent ways according to tlie different 

 numbers. They have only five prepolitlons, which are not 

 fet before tlie nouns, as in other languages, but at the end, 

 and again are varied in declining, 'i'iie verbs have been 

 divided into five conjugations, according to their termina- 

 tions. They have three tenfes, theprefent, preterpcrfect, and 

 future; and they have fix moods, tlie indicative, imperative, 

 permiffive, coniuactive, and infinitive. The Greenlanders 

 liave no verbs deponent nor palfive, but the latter are formed 

 from the active by fome adjunction. They have feveral 

 claffes of adverbs, like other nations ; but their numerals a'-e 

 few, fo that they can fcarcely count five ; but in order to 

 arrive at 20, they count the lingers of both hands and the 

 toes of both feet. If they want to proceed farther, they 

 begin iigain with their fingers and toes. Tliey tack their 

 conjunctions to the end of a word, as the Latins do their 



que ; and they do not want interjections. Their fyntax is 

 fimple and natural ; the capital word Hands in the front, 

 and the rell follow in order according to their importance. 

 Tlieir ftvleor modeof fpeakingisnotat all hyperbolical, pom- 

 pous, or bombafl, like that of the orientals, but limple and 

 natural ; yet they are fond of fimilitudes and metaphors. 

 Tlieir poetry has neither rhyme nor nieafure ; but it confills 

 of (liort periods ; which, however, are lung to a certain time 

 and cadence. 



The Greenlanders h.avc no traditions of the moll memo- 

 rable events of their anccftors in heroic fongs, as other nations 

 have, \vlio poffefs no written records. All they can fay of 

 their progenitors is, that they were brave leal-catchers, 

 and that they killed the old Norwegians. Yet in their fatiri- 

 cal fongs, to which they arc much addicted, they are more 

 acute. They are well verl'ed in genealogy, and can often 

 trace their pedigree as far back as ten of their progenitors, 

 together with all the collateral branches. Then- iraperfeCt 

 aiithmctic we have already noticed. Of writing tliey have 

 no conception. On their firll acquaintance with Euro- 

 peans, tliey were frightened by ipeaking paper. In cliro- 

 nologv, they reckon their years by winters, and tlieir days 

 bv nights. Thev are not learned enough to fix tlie equi- 

 noxes, but they can guefs at the winter folilice, within a 

 few days by the fun-beams upon the rocks ; and then they 

 celebrate their new year by a fun-feafl. From hence they 

 reckon three full moons to the fpring, and then they move 

 from their winter houfes into tents. In the fourth moon, 

 ;. e. in April, they know that the fmall birds make tiieir ap- 

 pearance, and the ravens lay eggs. In the fifth their 

 angmarfet, and the feals with their young ones give joy to their 

 coalls bv their revolutionary vifit. In the fixth the eider-fowls 

 breed. When they lofe the moon in the bright funimer nights, 

 they carry on their calendar partly by the growth of eider- 

 fowls, and lize and Ihape of the feals, and partly by the 

 flilning of the fun on the dial of the rocks and mountains; 

 fo that thev exactly tell when the feals, fiflies, and birds will 

 arrive in flocks and flioals here and there, and w hen it is time 

 to repair to the winter-houfes, in which they generally lliel- 

 ter themfelves foon after Michaelmas. They divide the day 

 according to the ebb and flood, and the night by the rifiiig 

 and fetting of certain flars. They think the globe of the 

 earth Hands upon polls, which are fo rotten with age, that 

 they often crack ; and that they would have funk long ago, 

 if they had not been kept in conllant repair by the Angc- 

 koks, who foinetimes bring back a piece of rotten wood as 

 an evidence of their important ferviee. Their allronomy 

 makes the firmament to rell on a lofty pointed hill in the 

 north, and on that centre it performs its revolulions. But 

 this fpccimen is fufficient. \Vheii it thunders, two women 

 are flretching and flapping a dried feal-lkin, and the thunder 

 is oceafioned by that rattle. The ir.yltery of the Aurora 

 Borealls is unravelled by the fouls of the dead frllking at a 

 dance or a foot-ball. The rains arc the overflowings of the 

 celellial refervoirs ; and if the banks flitiuld brealv, the Ikv 

 would fall down. Such is their meteorology ! In m.edicine 

 and forgery they are no lels ignorant than in the other 

 fciences. 



When a Greeiilander is in the conflicts of death, they ar- 

 ray him in his bell cloaths and boots, and bend his legs up 

 to his hips, i^robably that his grave may be the fhorter. 

 After death, they filently bewail him for a fliort hour, and 

 next jM-epare for his burial. Tlie corpf'e, being wrapped and 

 fewed up lu the man's bell feal or deer-lkin, is laid in the 

 burying place, covered with a flvin, and alfo with fome green 

 fods, and finally with heaps of great broad flones to keep off 

 the birds and foxes. Near the burying fpot they depofit 



I lie 



