NATURAL HISTORY of NORtVAY* g|j 



tion to the cruelties which king Olaus Trygonis exercifed upon 

 his fubje&s, who, according to the cuflom of thofe times, and 

 the principles o£ the popifh fpirit, endeavoured to propagate the 

 chriflian religion, or rather a meie hypocritical profefilon of it^ 

 by force. 



Since I wrote the above account, I happened to caff my eyes 

 upon a book, entitled, A General Account of the Continent of 

 America, and its Inhabitants. Publifhed this year, with a preface 

 by Docl:. Siegen, Jac. Baumgartens. This work treats more 

 largely of the people I have mentioned above, their difference 

 from the other Americans, and their foreign original in P. I. C. 

 I. p. 27. and feq. feci:. 13. in thefe words; " The nation of the 

 Efkimaux, which inhabit the country from 52 to 60 degrees of 

 north-latitude, between Hudfon's bay and the ftrait of Belleifle, 

 Separating the continent of Labrador from Newfoundland, have 

 mch peculiar cuftoms, agreeing fo little with thofe of the other 

 Indian nations of America, nay their form is fb different from 

 the reft of the inhabitants of this part of the world, that I believe 

 we mould not err, if we were to derive them from a quite diffe- 

 rent origin. They are tall and better made than the other In- 

 dians ; they have curled hair, which they clip off at their earsj 

 and let their beards grow. 



Their hair is generally black, though fome of them have 

 light coloured, and others have red hair, like the inhabitants of 

 the northern parts of Europe. 



The name Efkimaux feems to be derived from the word efki- 

 manfic, which in the language of the Abenaques, implies men 

 who eat flefh raw. For as the inhabitants of this country live 

 by hunting and flfhing, they eat the game they kill, and the 

 fiifi they catch, raw and bloody, without any preparation. The 

 neighbouring Indians give them another name, which fignifles 

 fugitives or run-aways, not becaufe they are cowards, but on 

 account of their brifk, active, turbulent, difpofitions. 



They live in a conflant diffruft of their neighbours, and are 

 continually upon their guard againfl any incroachment, avoiding 

 as much as pofTible all commerce with other nations. Some 

 affirm, that this nation proceeds from fbme Bifcaians who were 

 fhipwreck'd with feveral veflels in thefe parts; if this be true, 

 1 they 



