POLAR REGIONS. 



401 



In u'Jcivilized countries, there are few artificial distinctions, but man is there honored only in 

 proportion to his usefulness to the community. In Greenland, therefore, to be expert in killing 

 the seal, walrus, and whale, is to have the best title to respect ; and to be inexpert in these pur- 

 suits, is to be despised. The pursuit of sea animals is in Greenland a service of toil and dan- 

 ger. The hunter in his frail bark must fear no tempest. His light and frail boat passes over 

 the wave or underneath it. If he is overturned, so that his head is downwards and his boat 

 above him, a stroke of his paddle recovers his place, and he is again seen hke a bird skimming 

 the waters. If he break or lose his paddle, there is no hope for him. A crowd of idlers 

 may see his peril from the shore, may have their boats at hand, ready to follow the slightest 

 trace of a whale, yet, unless there were some relationship, or other circumstance stronger than 

 general humanity, not one of them would move to rescue a drowning man. 



The Greenlanders indemnify themselves for their toils at sea, by taking their ease on shore ; 

 where all the labors, and even those of bringing the huge stones for their dwellings, are per- 

 formed by females. The lot of the females is hard ; degraded to the rank of slaves, they are 

 not permitted even to eat in the company of men. In such a state of society, marriage is hardly 

 ever a contract made by the consent of both parties. The marriages are made with little cere- 

 mony, and the courtships are very summary. The lover, after an understanding with the pa- 

 rents, sends or goes for his bride, and resistance on her part is of little avail ; indeed, a certain 

 degree of it has grown into a custom, for it is thought discreditable in a woman to be lightly oi 

 willingly won. Before marriage, the females are said to conduct themselves in a more moral 

 way than after, and there is little evil that can be justly said of them while they are single. 

 There are few divorces where there are children ; though this depends upon the will of the 

 husband, whose authority is unlimited. He may beat his wife without reproach, but would sub- 

 ject himself to much animadversion were he to strike a female domestic ; for the wife to strike 

 one, is unpardonable. 



Bad as is the state of wives, it is yet enviable compared with the condition of widows. A 

 widow has no friend ; every door is closed upon her, and her relations that come to condole 

 with her rob her of all she has. If she has the greater misfortune to be deemed a witch, she 

 holds her life and her property by a tenure equally frail. Any one who fancies that he is in- 

 jured by her in health or property, may unite the powers of judge and executioner, and take the 

 life of the reputed witch. Yet the Angekuts or conjurors are held in veneration. 



At funerals, it is common to throw out the goods of the -deceased, and for the women to be 

 dishevelled and clothed in their poorest attire. The men sometimes gash themselves, to ex- 

 press or represent grief. The women lament and howl over the dead body, which, after these 

 observances, is taken from the tent or hut by a private outlet, and buried under a heap of stones. 

 The spear, boat, &c., of the deceased are placed near the grave. The rites of sepulture are, 

 however, seldom paid to one who had no friends. There are no people so poor and miserable, that 

 they have not a national pride, and it is conunon with many tribes of savages to designate them- 

 selves by a word signifying men, intending thereby their superiority over the other races of mankind. 

 It even seems, that a man is the more closely bound *to his own country, the less it is a subject 

 for envy. That the sentiment of patriotism is the strongest in countries the least dehghtful, 

 may appear from the few Greenlanders who have been forcibly removed from their home. Two 

 of them in Denmark, who had been there some time, recovered their own boats, that could 

 contain but one person, and put to sea to return to their country ; a storm drove them 

 back after they had. gone man}^ lea2;ues. They made afterwards a similar efibrt, and were pur- 

 sued ; one was retaken, the other perished. Another Greenlander jumped from the ship that 

 was carrying him away, in the vain attempt to reach Greenland by swimming. Of the first men- 

 tioned, one would shed tears when he beheld a child at the breast. It is probable, that it re- 

 minded him of the situation of his own family. The Greenlanders are a peaceful race, though 

 they are revengeful, and carry for a longtime the remembrance of a wilful injury. They are to 

 a considerable degree social and hospitable, and so little addicted to railing or calumny, that 

 there is hardly a term of reproach in the language. 



8. Religion. The Greenlanders have some obscure conceptions of a future state, and be- 

 lieve in the supernatural powers of their Angekuts or jugglers. They wear amulets to defend 

 them from disease and misfortune. There is in Greenland a mission or two, one of which is a 

 Moravian ; but the success has not been general or very encouraging. It is said, however, to 

 be very difficult to make the natives conceive of invisible things, or to elevate their minds c.bove 

 (he objects of the senses. 



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