ESKIMO LIEE

BY THE SAME AUTHOR
THE EIRST CROSSING OF GREENLAND
With numerous Illustrations and a Jfcp
Cheap Edition. Crown 8vo. 7$. Gd
London: LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.
and NEW YORK: 15 EAST lGth STREET

A HUNTER, HIS WIFE, AND A YOUNG GIRL (WEST COAST OF GREENLAND)

ESKIMO LIFE

BY
FBLDTJOF NANSEN
AUTHOR OF ' THE FIRST CROSSING OF GREENLAND '

TRANSLATED BY WILLIAM ARCHER

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS

LONDON
LONGMANS, GEE EN, AND 0 0.
AND NEW YORK : 15 EAST 16"' STREET
1893
All rights reserved

TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.

Before placing his ' Eskimoliv ' in my hands for
translation, Dr. Nansen very carefully revised the
text, and made numerous excisions and additions.
Thus the following pages will be found to differ in
several particulars from the Norwegian original. I
also requested and received Dr: Nansen's permission
to suppress one or two especially nauseous details of
Eskimo manners, which seemed to have no particular
ethnological significance. The excisions made on
this score, however, probably do not amount to
half a page in all.
Dr. Nansen suggested that I should follow the
example of Dr. Kink in his ' Tales and Traditions of
the Eskimo,' and treat the word ' Eskimo ' as in
declinable. I have ventured, however, to overrule

VI ESKIMO LIFE
his suggestion. There is precedent for both ' Eskimo
and ' Eskimos ' as the plural form ; and where there
is any choice at all, it seems only rational to prefer
the regular declension.
In Chapters XIII. and XIV. Dr. Nansen naturally
makes numerous references to that great storehouse
of Greenland folk-lore, Dr. Eink's ' Eskimo Sagn og
Eventyr,' which has been translated and condensed
by the author himself, under the above-mentioned
title. Where it was possible, I have given the
reference to the English edition ; but in cases where
the text has been very freely condensed or expur
gated, I have referred to the Danish original as well.
Even where I have not done so, students of folk-lore
may be advised to go back to the original text,
which is often fuller and more characteristic than

the English version.

W. A.

AUTHOR'S PREFACE,

Eoe one whole winter we were cut off from the world
and immured among the Greenlanders. I dwelt in
their huts, took part in their hunting, and tried, as
well as I could, to live their life and learn their lan
guage. But one winter, unfortunately, is far too
short a time in which to attain a thorough knowledge
of so peculiar a people, its civilisation, and its ways
of thought — that would require years of patient
study. Nevertheless, I have tried in this book to
record the impressions made upon me by the Eskimo
and his polity, and have sought, as far as possible,
to support them by quotations from former authors.
There may even be things which a newcomer sees
more clearly than an observer of many years' stand
ing, who lives in their midst.
On many points, perhaps, the reader may not

viii ESKIMO LIFE
think as I do. I cannot, it is true, find that
whatever is is very good; I am weak enough to
feel compassion for a declining race, which is perhaps
beyond all help, since it is already stung with the
venom of our civilisation. But I comfort myself
with the thought that at least no words of mine can
make the lot of this people worse than it is, and I
hope that the reader will accept my observations in
the spirit in which they are written. Amicus Plato,
amicus Socrates, magis arnica Veritas — the truth before
everything. And if in some points I should appear
unreasonable, I must plead as my excuse that it is
scarcely possible to live for any time among these
people without conceiving an affection for them — for
that, one winter is more than enough.
During the long, dark evenings, as I sat in the
low earth-huts and gazed at the flame of the train-oil
lamps, I had ample time for reflection. It often
seemed to me that I could see these hardy children
of Nature pressing westward, stage by stage, in their
dog-sledges and in their wonderful skin-canoes, along
the barren ice-coasts ; I saw how they fought their
way onward, and, little by little, perfected their in-

AUTHOR'S PREFACE IX
genious implements and attained their masterly skill
in the chase. Hundreds, nay thousands, of years
passed, tribe after tribe succumbed, while other and
stronger stocks survived — and I was filled with ad
miration for a people which had emerged victorious
from the struggle with such inhospitable natural
surroundings. But in melancholy contrast to this inspiriting
picture of the past, the present and the future rose
before my eyes — a sad, a hopeless mist.
In Greenland the Eskimos fell in with Europeans.
First it was our Norwegian forefathers of the olden
times ; them they gradually overcame. But we re
turned to the charge, this time bringing with us
Christianity and the products of civilisation ; then
they succumbed, and are sinking ever lower and
lower. The world passes on with a pitying shrug
of the shoulders.
' What more can one say ? Who's a penny the worse
Though a beggar be dead ? '
But this people, too, has its feelings, like others ;
it, too, rejoices in life and Nature, and bleeds under
our iron heel. If anyone doubts this, let him

X ESKIMO LIFE
observe their sympathy with one another, and their
love for their children : or let him read their
legends. Whenever I saw instances of the suffering and
misery which we have brought upon them, that
remnant of a sense of justice which is still to be
found in most of us stirred me to indignation, and
I was filled with a burning desire to send the truth
reverberating over the whole world. Were it once
brought home to them, I thought, people could not
but awaken from their indifference, and at once make
good the wrong they had done.
Poor dreamer ! You have nothing to say which
has not been better said before. The hapless lot of
the Greenlanders, as well as of other ' native ' races,
has been set forth on many hands, and always without
avail. But, none the less, I felt I must unburden my
conscience ; it seemed to me a sacred duty to add
my protest to the rest. My pen, unhappily, is all
too feeble : what I feel most deeply I have failed
to express : never have I longed more intensely for
a poet's gifts. I know very well that my voice too

AUTHOR'S PREFACE xi
will be as a cry sent forth over a flat expanse of
desert, without even mountains to echo it back. My
only hope is to awaken here and there a feeling of
sympathy with the Eskimos and of sorrow for their
destiny. FEIDTJOF NANSEN.
GODTHAAB, LYSAKER :
November 1891.

CONTENTS.

CHAP. \ PAGK
I. GREENLAND AND THE ESKIMO ..... 1
*U. APPEARANCE AND DRESS . . . . . 18
III. THE • KAIAK ' AND ITS APPURTENANCES ... 30
IV. THE ESKIMO AT SEA . . . . 56
J. WINTER-HOUSES, TENTS, WOMAN-BOATS, AND EXCURSIONS 78
VI. COOKERY AND DAINTIES  89
iii. CHARACTER AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS . . 100
Villi THE POSITION AND WORK OF WOMEN . . . 121
IXA LOVE AND MARRIAGE ... . .138
X. MORALS ... ... .157
"XI. JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS — DRUM-DANCES AND ENTER
TAINMENTS . . . . . . . .186
XII. MENTAL GIFTS  ART  MUSIC  POETRY  ESKIMO NARRA
TIVES ......... 193
XIII. RELIGIOUS IDEAS • 209
_ XIV. VTHE INTRODUCTION OF CHRISTIANITY . . . ¦ 301
XV. EUROPEANS AND NATIVES . . ¦ 313
, XVW WHAT HAVE WE ACHIEVED 1  327
XVII.^^CONCLUSION . • .341

LIST OP ILLUSTRATIONS.

PLATES.
A Hunter, his Wife, and a Young Girl (West
Coast of Greenland) .... Frontispiece
' The Boundless Snow-Fields stretching Calm
and White from Sea to Sea' . . to face page 2
Covering a Kaiak . . . „ ,, 32
'The Head turned Half Backwards to watch
the Seas ' . . . „ ,, 58
Seaward in Search of Seals . . . . „ - „ 60
Seal-hunting . ...,,,, 62
Before the Wind . .... „ „ 66
A Kaiak-Man rescuing a Comrade ,, „ 68
A Kaiak-Man attacked by a Walrus . „ „ 74
Halibut-Fishing  >> 76
An Eskimo Camp  ,, „ 84
A Summer Journey ¦ . „ „ 86
Fishing . . , ,. 114
A Greenland Dance ... • • „ ,. 190
A Fiord Landscape on the East Coast (at
Tingmiarmiut) ... « 328
Northern Lights — ' The Dead at Play ' ,, 348

Greenland Indoor Dress (East Coast) — (1) Male Costume ;
(2) Female Costume . . .26
Bladder-dart . . . ... 34
Harpoon . . . .  36
The Head of the Harpoon . . .37
Lance ... ... . . .39
Throwing-stick with Bird-dart  40
The Bird-dart Thrown . . . .42
Throwing-stick with Harpoon . . . .43
Kaiak, seen fkom above . ..... 44
Kaiak-frame . . . 44
Section of the Kaiak . .... 47
Paddle .... . 40
Half-Jacket . . go,
Whole-Jacket . . . 50
Eskimo Venus and Apollo . . . igc)

ESKIMO LIFE
CHAPTEE I
GREENLAND AND THE ESKIMO
Greenland is in a peculiar manner associated with
Norway and with the Norwegians. Our forefathers
were the first Europeans who found their way to
its shores. In their open vessels the old Vikings
made their daring voyages, through tempests and
drift-ice, to this distant land of snows, settled there
throughout several centuries, and added it to the
domain of the Norwegian crown.
After the memory of its existence had practically
passed away, it was again one of our countrymen 1
who, on behalf of a Norwegian company, founded
the second European settlement of the country.
It is poor, this land of the Eskimo, which we
have taken from him ; it has neither timber nor gold
to offer us — it is naked, lonely, Uke no other land
1 Hans Egede. Trans. B

2 ESKIMO LIFE
inhabited of man. But in all its naked poverty, how
beautiful it is ! If Norway is glorious, Greenland is
in truth no less so. When one has once seen it, how
dear to him is its recollection ! I do not know if
others feel as I do, but for me it is touched with all
the dream-like beauty of the fairyland of my childish
imagination. It seems as though I there found our
own Norwegian scenery repeated in still nobler,
purer forms.
It is strong and wild, this Nature, like a saga of
antiquity carven in ice and stone, yet with moods of
lyric delicacy and refinement. It is like cold steel
with the shimmering colours of a sunlit cloud
playing through it.
When I see glaciers and ice-mountains, my
thoughts fly to Greenland where the glaciers are
vaster than anywhere else, where the ice-mountains
jut into a sea covered with icebergs and drift-ice.
When I hear loud encomiums on the progress of our
society, its great men and their great deeds, my
thoughts revert to the boundless show-fields stretch
ing white and serene in an unbroken sweep from sea
to sea, high over what have once been fruitful
valleys and mountains. Some day, perhaps, a
similar snow-field will cover us all.
Everything in Greenland is simple and great 
white snow, blue ice, naked, black rocks and peaks, \

'the boundless snow-fields stretching calm and white' from sea to sea'

GREENLAND AND THE ESKIMO 3
and dark stormy sea. When I see the sun sink
glowing into the waves, it recalls to me the Green
land sunsets, with the islets and rocks floating, as it
were, on the burnished surface of the smooth, softly-
heaving sea, while inland the peaks rise row on row,
flushing in the evening light. And sometimes when
I see the sseter-life1 at home and watch the saster-
girls and the grazing cows, I think of the tent-life
and the reindeer-herds on the Greenland fiords and
uplands ; I think of the screaming ptarmigan, the
moors and willow-copses, the lakes and valleys in
among the mountains where the Eskimo lives
through his brief summer.
But like nothing else is the Greenland winter-
night with its flaming northern lights ; it is Nature's
own mystic spirit-dance.
Strange is the power which this land exercises
over the mind ; but the race that inhabits it is not
less remarkable than the land itself.
The Eskimo, more than anyone else, belongs to
the coast and the sea. He dwells by the sea, upon
it he seeks his subsistence, it gives him all the
necessaries of his life, over it he makes all his
journeys, whether in his skin-canoes in summer, or
in his dog-sledges when it is ice-bound in winter.
The sea is thus the strongest influence in the life of
1 Saeter = mountain chalet. Trans. b 2

4 ESKIMO LIFE
the Eskimo ; what wonder, then, if his soul reflects
its moods? His mind changes with the sea —
grave in the storm; in sunshine and calm full of
unfettered glee. He is a child of the sea, thought
lessly gay like the playful wavelet, but sometimes
dark as the foaming tempest. One feeling chases
another from his childlike mind as rapidly as, when
the storm has died down, the billows sink to rest,
and the very memory of it has passed away.
The good things of life are very unequally
divided in this world. To some existence is so
easy that they need only plant a bread-fruit tree
in their youth, and their whole life is provided for.
Others, again, seem to be denied everything except
the strength to battle for life ; they must laboriously
wring from hostile Nature every mouthful of their
sustenance. They are sent forth to the outposts,
these people ; they form the wings of the great army
of humanity in its constant struggle for the subjuga
tion of nature.
Such a people are the Eskimos, and among the
most remarkable in existence. They are a living
proof of the rare faculty of the human being for
adapting himself to circumstances and spreading
over the face of the earth.
The Eskimo forms the extreme outpost towards
the infinite stillness of the regions of ice, and as far

GREENLAND AND THE ESKIMO 5
almost, as we have forced our way to the north
ward, we find traces left behind them by this hardy
race. The tracts which all others despise he has made
his own. By dint of constant struggle and slow
development, he learnt some things that none have
learnt better. Where for others the conditions which
make life possible came to an end, there life began
for him. He has come to love these regions ; they
are to him a world in which he himself embodies the
whole of the human race.1 Outside their limits he
could not exist.
It is to this people that the following pages are
devoted. The mutual resemblance of the different tribes of
Eskimos is no less striking than their difference from
all other races in features, figure, implements and
weapons, and general manner of life.
A pure-bred Eskimo from Bering Straits is so
like a Greenlander that one cannot for a moment
doubt that they belong to the same race. Their
language, too, is so far alike that an Alaska Eskimo
and a Greenlander would probably, after some little
time, be able to converse without much difficulty.
1 The Eskimos call themselves muit— that is to say, 'human
beings ' ; all other men they conceive as belonging to a different genus
of animals.

ESKIMO LIFE

Captain Adrian Jacobsen, who has travelled both in
Greenland and in Alaska, told me that in Alaska he
could manage to get along with the few words of
Eskimo he had learnt in Greenland. These two
peoples are divided by a distance of about 3,000
miles — something like the distance between London
and Afghanistan. Such unity of speech among races
so widely separated is probably unique in the history
of mankind. The likeness between all the different tribes of
Eskimos, as well as their secluded position with
respect to other peoples, and the perfection of their
implements, might be taken to indicate that they are
of a very old race, in which everything has stiffened
into definite forms, which can now be but slowly
altered. Other indications, however, seem to conflict
with such a hypothesis, and render it more probable
that the race was originally a small one, which did
not until a comparatively late period develop to the
point at which we now find it, and spread over the
countries which it at present inhabits.
If it should seem difficult to understand, at first
sight, how they could have spread in a comparatively
short time over these wide tracts of country without
moving in great masses, as in the case of larger
migrations, we need only reflect that their present
inhospitable abiding-places can scarcely have been

GREENLAND AND THE ESKIMO 7
inhabited, at any rate permanently, before they took
possession of them, and that therefore they had
nothing to contend with except nature itself.
The region now inhabited by the Eskimos stretches
from the west coast of Bering Straits over Alaska,
the north coast of North America, the North Ameri
can groups of Arctic Islands, the west coast, and,
finally, the east coast, of Greenland.
By reason of his absolutely secluded position, the
Eskimo has given the anthropologists much trouble,
and the most contradictory opinions have been ad
vanced with reference to his origin.
Dr. H. Eink, who has made Greenland and its
people the study of his life, and is beyond compari
son the greatest authority on the subject, holds that
the Eskimo implements and weapons — at any rate,
for the greater part — may be traced to America.
He regards it as probable that the Eskimos were once
a race dwelling in the interior of Alaska, where
there are still a considerable number of inland Es
kimos, and that they have migrated thence to the
coasts of the ice-sea. He further maintains that
their speech is most closely connected with the
primitive dialects of America, and that their legends
and customs recall those of the Indians.
One point among others, however, in which the
Eskimos differ from the Indians is the use of dog-

8 ESKIMO LIFE
sledges. With the exception of the Incas of Peru,
who used the llama as a beast of burden, no Ameri
can aborigines employed animals either for drawing
or for carrying. In this, then, the Eskimos more
resemble the races of the Asiatic polar regions.
But it would lead us too far afield if we were
to follow up this difficult scientific question, on which
the evidence is as yet by no means thoroughly
sifted. So much alone can we declare with any
assurance, that the Eskimos dwelt in comparatively
recent times on the coasts around Bering Straits
and Bering Sea — probably on the American side —
and have thence, stage by stage, spread eastward
over Arctic America to Greenland.
It is in my judgment impossible to determine at
what time they reached Greenland and permanently
settled there. From what has already been said it
appears probable that the period was comparatively
late, but it does not seem to me established, as has
been asserted in several quarters, that we can con
clude from the Icelandic sagas that they first made
their appearance on the west coast of Greenland in
the fourteenth century. It certainly appears as
though the Norwegian colonies of Osterbygd and
Vesterbygd (i.e. Easter- and Wester-district or
settlement) were not until that period exposed to
serious attacks on the part of the 'Skrellings' or

GREENLAND AND THE ESKIMO 9
Eskimos, coming in bands from the north ; but this
does not preclude the supposition that they had
occupied certain tracts of the west coast of Green
land long before that time and long before the
Norwegians discovered the country. They do not
seem to have been settled upon the southern part
of the coast during the first four hundred years of
the Norwegian occupation, since they are not men
tioned in the sagas ; but it is expressly stated that
the first Norwegians (Erik the Eed and others) who
came to the country, found both in the Easter- and
the Wester-districts ruins of human habitations,
fragments of boats, and stone implements, which
in their opinion must have belonged to a feeble
folk, whom they therefore called ' Skrellings ' (or
' weaklings '). We must accordingly conclude that
the ' Skrellings ' had been there previously ; and
as such remains were found in both districts, it
seems that they could scarcely have paid mere
passing visits to them. It is not impossible that
the Eskimos might simply have taken to their heels
when the Norwegian viking-ships appeared in the
offing; we, too, found them do so upon the east
coast ; but it does not seem at all probable that they
could vanish so rapidly as to let the Norwegians
catch no glimpse of them. The probability is, on
the whole, that at that time the permanent settle-

10 ESKIMO LIFE
ments of the Eskimos were further north on the
coast, above the 68th degree of north latitude, where
seals and whales abound, and where they would first
arrive on their course from the northward x (see p.
13). Erom these permanent settlements they pro
bably, in Eskimo fashion, made frequent excursions
of more or less duration to the more southerly part
of the west coast, and there left behind them the
traces which were first found. When the Nor
wegian settlers began to range northwards they at
last came in contact with the Eskimos. Professor
G. Storm2 is of opinion that this must first have
happened in the twelfth century.3 We read in the
' Historia Norvegias ' that the hunters in the un
settled districts of north Greenland came upon an
undersized people whom they called ' Skrellings,'
and who used stone knives and arrow-points of
whalebone. As their more northern settlements
became over-populated, the Eskimos no doubt began
to migrate southwards in earnest ; and as the Nor
wegians often dealt hardly with them when they
1 North of the 68th degree they could kill seals and whales in
plenty from the ice all the winter through ; and this is a method of
hunting which they must have learnt further north, where it would be
the most important of all for them.
2 Gustav Storm : Studies on the Vineland Voyages, Extracts from
Memoires de la Societe Roy ale des Antiquaires du Nord, 1888, p. 53 .
3 The Eskimos themselves have several legends as to their en
counters with the old Norsemen. See Rink : Tales and Traditions of
the Eskimo, pp. 308-321.

GREENLAND AND THE ESKIMO n
met, they may eventually have taken revenge in the
fourteenth century by first (after 1341) attacking
and devastating (?) the Wester-district, and later
(1379) making an expedition against the Easter-
district, which seems in the following century to
have been entirely destroyed.1 It was about this
time, accordingly, that the Eskimos probably effected
their first permanent settlements in the southern
parts of the country.
There is evidence in the Eskimo legends as well
of the battles between them and the old Norsemen.
But from the same legends we also learn that there
was sometimes friendly intercourse between them ;
indeed the Norsemen are several times mentioned
with esteem. This appears to show that there was
no rooted hatred between the two races ; and the
theory that the Eskimos carried on an actual war of
extermination against the settlers seems, moreover,
in total conflict with their character as we now know

1 Some writers have concluded from the mention of troll- women '
in the ' Floamannasaga ' that so early as the year 1000, or there
abouts, Thorgils Orrabeinsfostre must have encountered Eskimos on
the south-east coast of Greenland. But, as Professor Storm has
pointed out, the romantic character of this saga forbids us to base
any such inference upon it. It must also be remembered that the
extant manuscript dates from no earlier than about 1400, long after
the time when the Norsemen had come in contact with the Eskimos
on the west coast. Even if the Eskimos are meant in the passage
about the troll-women, which is extremely doubtful, it may very well
be a late interpolation.

12 ESKIMO LIFE
it. Thus it can scarcely have been such a war alone
that caused the downfall of the colony. We may,
perhaps, attribute it partly to natural decline due
to seclusion from the world, partly to absorption of
the race, brought about by the crossing of the two
stocks ; for the Europeans of that age were probably
no more inaccessible than those of to-day to the
seductions of Eskimo loveliness.
As to the route by which the Eskimos made
their way to the west coast of Greenland there has
been a good deal of difference of opinion. Dr. Eink
maintains that after passing Smith's Sound the
Eskimos did not proceed southwards along the west
coast, which would seem their most natural course,
but turned northwards, rounded the northernmost
point of the country, and came down along the
east coast. In this way they must ultimately have
approached the west coast from the southward, after
making their way round the southern extremity of
Greenland. This opinion is mainly founded upon
the belief that Thorgils Orrabeinsfostre fell in with
Eskimos upon the east coast, and that this was the
Norsemen's first encounter with them. I have
already, in a note on the preceding page, remarked
on the untrustworthiness of this evidence ; and such
a theory as to the route of the Eskimo immigration
stands, as we know, in direct conflict with the ac-

GREENLAND AND THE ESKIMO 13
counts given in the sagas, from which it appears
(as above) that the Eskimos came from the north
and not from the south, the Wester-district havino-
been destroyed before the Easter-district. It appears,
moreover, that we can draw the same conclusion
from an Eskimo tradition in which their first en
counter with the old Norsemen is described. In
former days, we are told, when the coast was still
very thinly populated, a boatful of explorers came
into Godthaab-fiord and saw there a large house
whose inhabitants were strange to them, not being
Kaladlit — that is, Eskimo. They had suddenly come
upon the old Norsemen. These, on their side, saw
the Kaladlit for the first time, and treated them in
the most friendly fashion. This happened, it will be
observed, in Godthaab-fiord, which was in the
ancient Wester-district — that is to say, the more
northern colony. There is another circumstance
which, to my thinking, renders improbable the route
conjectured by Dr. Eink, and that is that if they
made their way around the northern extremity of
the country, they must, while in these high latitudes,
have lived as the so-called Arctic Highlanders — that
is, the Eskimos of Cape York and northwards — now
do ; in other words, they must have subsisted chiefly
by hunting upon the ice, must have travelled in dog-
sledges, and, while in the far north, must have used

14 ESKIMO LIFE
neither kaiaks nor woman-boats, since the sea, being
usually ice-bound, offers little or no opportunity for
kaiak -hunting or boating of any sort. It may not be
in itself impossible that, when they came further south
and reached more ice-free waters again, they may
have recovered the art of building woman-boats and
kaiaks, of which some tradition would in any case
survive ; but it seems improbable, not to say im
possible, that after having lost the habit of kaiak-
hunting they should be able to master it afresh, and
to develop it, and all the appliances belonging to it,
to a higher point of perfection than had elsewhere
been attained.
The most natural account of the matter, in my
opinion, is that the Eskimos, after crossing Smith's
Sound (so far there can be no doubt about their
route), made their way southwards along the coast,
and subsequently passed from the west coast, around
the southern extremity of the country, up the east
coast. It is impossible to determine whether they
had reached the east coast and settled there be
fore the Norsemen came to Greenland. On their
southward journey from Smith's Sound they must,
indeed, have met with a great obstacle in the
Melville glacier (at about 77° north latitude), which
stands right out into the sea at a point at which
the coast is for a long distance unprotected by

GREENLAND AND THE ESKIMO 15
islands. But, in the first place, they may have been
able to make their way onward in the lee of the
drift-ice ; and, in the second place, this difficulty is
at worst not so great as those they must have en
countered in passing round the northern extremity of
Greenland. Moreover, the passage in an open boat
from Smith's Sound southward along the west coast
of Greenland to the Danish colonies has been several
times accomplished in recent years without any par
ticular difficulty. In opposition to this theory it
may, no doubt, be alleged that the East Greenlanders
possess dog-sledges, which are not used on the
southern part of the west coast, where there is not
enough ice for them. But if we remember with
what rapidity, comparatively speaking, the Eskimos
travel in their women-boats, and how fond they were
in former times of roaming up and down along the
coast — and when we take into account the fact that
from time immemorial dogs have been kept along the
whole of the west coast — this objection seems to lose
its weight. The Eskimos are at present spread over the
whole west coast of Greenland, right from Smith's
Sound to Cape Farewell. On the Danish part of the
west coast they number very nearly 10,000. On the
east coast, as we learn from the account of the Danish
woman-boat expedition of 1884-85, under Captain

16 ESKIMO LIFE
Holm, there are Eskimos as far north as the Ang-
magsalik district (66° north latitude), their numbers
in the autumn of 1884 being in all 548. Further
north, as the Eskimos told Captain Holm, there were
no permanent settlements so far as they knew. They
often, however, made excursions to the northward, pos
sibly as far as to the 68th or 69th degree of latitude ;
and a year or two before two woman-boats had sailed
in that direction, and had never been heard of again.
It is uncertain whether there may not be Eskimos
upon the east coast further north than the 70th de
gree of latitude. Clavering is known to have found
one or two families of them in 1823 at about 74°
north latitude ; but since that time none have been
seen; and the German expedition which explored
that coast in 1869-70, and wintered there, found
houses and other remains, but no people, and there
fore assumed that they must have died out. The
Danish expedition of 1890 to Scoresby Sound,
under Lieutenant Eyder, reports the same experience.
It therefore seems probable that they have either
died out or have abandoned this part of Greenland.
This does not seem to me absolutely certain, however.
There may be small and confined Eskimo colonies in
these northern districts, or there may be a few no
madic families whom no one has as yet come across.
This portion of the east coast must, in my opinion,

GREENLAND AND THE ESKIMO 17
be quite specially adapted for Eskimo habitation, as
it is very rich in game. It therefore seems to me
strange that when once the Eskimos had arrived
there they should have gone away again ; nor does
it seem probable that they would die out in so excel
lent a hunting-ground. If there are Eskimos upon
this north-east coast, their secluded position, debar
ring them from all intercourse, direct or indirect,
with the outer world, must render them, from an
ethnological point of view, among the most interest
ing people in existence.

18 ESKIMO LIFE

CHAPTEE II
appearance and dress
t
As I now sit down to describe these people, at such
a distance from them and from the scenery amid
which we lived together, how vividly my first meeting
with them, upon the east coast of Greenland, stands be
fore my mind's eye ! I see two brown laughing counte
nances, surrounded by long, coal-black hair, beaming,
even amid the ice, with bright contentment both with
themselves and the world, and full of the friendhest
good-humour, mingled with unaffected astonishment
at the appearance of the marvellous strangers.
The pure-bred Eskimo would at first glance seem
to most of us Europeans anything but beautiful.
He has a round, broad face, with large, coarse
features ; small, dark, sometimes rather oblique eyes ;
a flat nose, narrow between the eyes and broad at
the base ; round cheeks, bursting with fat ; a broad
mouth ; heavy, broad jaws ; which, together with the
round cheeks, give the lower part of the face a great
preponderance in the physiognomy. When the mouth
is drawn up in an oleaginous smile, two rows of

APPEARANCE AND DRESS 19
strong white teeth reveal themselves. One receives
the impression, upon the whole, of an admirable
chewing apparatus, conveying pleasant suggestions
of much and good eating. But, at the same time,
one traces in these features, especially in those of the
women, a certain touch of ingratiating petted soft
ness. ?
To our way of thinking, such a face could scarcely
be described as beautiful ; but how much prejudice
there is in our ideas of beauty ! I soon came to find
these brown faces, gleaming with health and fat,
really pleasing. They reflected the free life of nature,
and suggested to my mind pictures of blue sea, white
glaciers, and glittering sunshine.
It was, however, chiefly the young that produced
this impression ; and they soon grow old. The
shrunken, blear-eyed, hairless old women, reminding
one of frost-bitten apples, were certainly not beauti
ful ; and yet there was a certain style in them, too.
Toil had left its traces upon their wrinkled counte
nances, but also a life of rude plenty and a habit of
good-humoured, hopeless resignation. There was
nothing of that vitreous hardness or desiccated dig
nity which the school of life so often imprints upon
aged countenances in other parts of the world.
The half-caste race which has arisen upon the
west coast, of mingled European and Eskimo blood,
c 2

20 ESKIMO LIFE
is apt to be, according to our ideas, handsomer than
the pure-bred Eskimos. They have, as a rule, a
somewhat southern appearance, with their dark hair,
dark eyebrows and eyes, and brown complexion. A
remarkably Jewish cast of countenance sometimes
appears among them. Types of real beauty are by
no means rare — male as well as female. Yet there is
apt to be something feeble about these half-breeds.
The pure-bred Eskimos undoubtedly seem more
genuine and healthy.
It is a common error among us in Europe to
think of the Eskimos as a diminutive race. Though
no doubt smaller than the Scandinavian peoples, they
must be reckoned among the middle-sized races,
and I even found among those of purest breeding
men of nearly six feet in height. Their frame pro
duces, on the whole, an impression of strength, espe
cially the upper part of the body. The men have
broad shoulders, strong, muscular arms, and a good
chest ; but, on the other hand, one notices that their
thighs are comparatively narrow, and their legs not
particularly strong. When they get up in years,
therefore, they are apt to have an uncertain gait,
with knees slightly bent. This defective develop
ment of the lower extremities must be ascribed, for
the most part, to the daily confinement in the cramped
kaiak.

APPEARANCE AND DRESS 21
A noticeable physical characteristic of the women
appeared to me to be their comparatively narrow
hips, which we are apt to regard as inconsistent
with the type of feminine beauty. They certainly
seemed to me considerably narrower than those of
European women ; but it is hard to say how much
of this effect is to be ascribed to difference of dress.
The Eskimo women, however, are remarkable for
their very small and well-formed hands and feet.
Their physique, as a whole, strikes one as sympa
thetic and pleasing.
The complexion of the pure-bred Greenlander
is of a brownish or greyish yellow, and even
among the half-breeds a certain tinge of brownish
yellow is unmistakable. This natural darkness of
the skin, however, is generally much intensified,
especially in the case of men and old women,
by a total lack of cleanliness. As an indication
of their habits in this particular, it will be suf
ficient if I quote the concise description given by
our very reverend countryman, Hans Egede, of the
method of washing practised by the men in par
ticular : ' They scrape the sweat off their faces with
a knife.' The skin of new-born children is fair, and that
not merely because they have not yet had time to
grow dirty. Hans Egede Saabye noted long ago in his

22 ESKIMO LIFE
Journal x that children have on the small of their
back a bluish-black patch, about the size of a six
penny piece, from which the dark colour of the skin
seems to spread as they grow older. Holm makes a
note to the same effect in his account of the east
coast.2 I cannot speak on the subject from personal
observation. It is perhaps worth noting that some
thing similar is related of Japanese children.
Most of my readers have probably formed some
idea of the Eskimo costume from pictures (see
Frontispiece). They are probably aware that its
most noteworthy peculiarity lies in the fact that the
women dress almost like the men. Their costume is
certainty very much prettier and more sensible than
our ugly and awkward female fashions.
In South Greenland the men wear upon their
body what is called a timiak. It is made of bird-skins,
with the feathers/or down turned inwards, is shaped
very much like our woollen jerseys, and, like them,
is drawn over the head. The timiak is provided
with a hood, used as^a head-covering in the open
air ; at other times it is thrown back, and forms,
with its upstanding selvage of black dog-skin, a sort
of ''collar round the neck. At the wrists, too, the
1 Saabye : Greenland ; being extracts from a Journal Tcept in that
country in the years 1770 to 1778. London : 1818.
2 Meddelelser om Gronland. Pt. 10, p. 58. Copenhagen : 1889.

APPEARANCE AND DRESS 23
timiak is edged with black dog-skin, like a showy fur
overcoat among us. Above the timiak, an outer vest
(anorak) is worn, now for the most part made of
cotton. Trousers of sealskin, or of European cloth,
are worn upon the legs ; on the feet a peculiar sort
of shoes, kamiks, made of sealskin. These consist of
two layers, an interior sock of skin with the fur
turned inwards, and an exterior shoe of hairless,
water-tight hide. In the sole, between the sock and
the outer shoe, is placed a layer of straw or of
bladder-sedge.1 Into these kamiks the naked foot is
thrust. The costume of the women closely resembles that
of the men. In South Greenland a bird-skin jacket
is worn upon the body, which has, however, no hood
to cover the head, but instead of it a high upstand
ing collar edged with black dog-skin, which is made
to glisten as much as possible ; and outside this
collar a broad necklace of glass beads is often worn,
radiant with all the colours of the rainbow. The
wrists, too, are edged with black dog-skin. The
cotton vest above this garment is of course as
brightly coloured as possible, red, blue, green,-
yellow, and round its lower edge there generally
runs a broad variegated band of cotton, or, if pos
sible, of silk. Trousers are worn on the legs,
? Norwegian, sennegrces. Trans.

24 ESKIMO LIFE
generally of mottled sealskin, but sometimes of
reindeer-skin. They are considerably shorter than
the men's trousers, coming only to a little way above
the knee, but are richly decorated in front with
bright-coloured embroideries in leather, and white
stripes of reindeer-skin or dog-skin. The kamiks
are longer than those of the men, and come up to
above the knees; they are generally painted red,
but sometimes blue, violet, or white. Down the
front of them is sewn a band of many-coloured
embroidery. Besides the garments above mentioned, there is
another, used by women who are nursing children.
It is called an amaut, and resembles an ordinary
anorak, except that at the back there is a great en
largement or pouch, in which they carry the child
all day long, whatever work they may be about. As
the amaut is lined both inside and out with reindeer-
or seal-skin, this pouch makes a nice warm nest for
the child.
As no fashion-paper is published in Greenland,
fashions are not so variable among the Eskimos as
they are with us. Even in this respect, however,
they are no mere barbarians, as the following example
will show :
In former times, the women's anoraks and jackets
were as long as the men's ; but after the Europeans

APPEARANCE AND DRESS 25
had imported the extravagant luxury of wearing
white linen, they felt that such a wonderful tissue
was far too beautiful and effective to be concealed.
Instead, however, of cutting away their bodices from
above, like our beauties at home, they began below,
and made their anoraks so short that between them
and the trouser-band, which was allowed to slip right
down on the hips, there appeared a gap of a hand's
breadth or more, in which the fabric in question
became visible. A somewhat original style of ' low
dress,' this.
The Eskimos of the east coast wear costumes
practically similar to those here described, only that
they almost always use seal-skins instead of bird-
skins for their jackets. In North Greenland, too,
seal-skin and reindeer-skin are greatly used for these
garments, and the same was the case in earlier times
all along the west coast.
On the east coast, a surprising habit prevails ; to
wit, that in their houses and tents, men, women, and
children go about entirely naked — or so, at least, it
seemed to me. Balto, however, no doubt after closer
examination, assured me that the grown men and
women had all a narrow band around their loins, a
detail which my bashfulness had prevented me from
discovering. This remarkable observation of our
friend Balto is corroborated by the majority of

26 ESKIMO LIFE
travellers who have undertaken researches on the
subject, so I am bound to believe them. This band,
which the travellers are pleased to designate under-
drawers— how far it deserves such a name I will
leave to the reader to judge from the accompanying
illustration— is, I am told, called ndtit by the Green-
landers. In former days this simple indoor garb was worn
all over Greenland, right up to the northernmost

(2)
GREENLAND INDOOR DRESS (EAST COASt).
(1) Male costume. (2) Female costume.
settlements on Smith's Sound, where, indeed, it is
still in use.
This light raiment is, of course, very wholesome ;
for the many layers of skins in the outdoor dress
greatly impede transpiration, and it is therefore a
natural impulse which leads the Eskimo to throw
them off in the warm rooms, where they would be
particularly insanitary. When the Europeans came
lo the country, however, this free-and-easy custom
offended their sense of propriety, and the missionaries
preached against it. Thus it happens that the

APPEARANCE AND DRESS 27
national indoor dress has been abolished on the
west coast. Whether this has led to an improve
ment in moraUty, I cannot say — I have my doubts.
That it has not been conducive to sanitation, I can
unhesitatingly declare.
The Eskimos, however, are still very unsophisti
cated with respect to the exposure of their person.
Many women, it is true, make some attempt to con
ceal their nudities when a European enters their
houses ; but I greatly fear that this is rather an
affectation which they think will please us, than a
result of real modesty ; and when they discover that
we are not greatly impressed by their attempts, they
very soon give them up. In regard to their own
countrymen they show very little sense of modesty.
The hair of the Eskimos is coal-black, coarse and
straight, like horsehair, and is allowed by the men
to grow wild. On the east coast they usually do not
cut it at all, even regarding it as dangerous to lose
any of it ; they keep it back from the face by means
of a band or thong. Sometimes they take it into
their heads to cut the hair of children, and the
children so treated must continue all through their lives
to cut their hair, and must also observe certain fixed
formalities in the matter ; for instance, they must cut
the ears and tails of their dogs while they are
puppies. Iron must on no account come in contact

28 ESKIMO LIFE
with the hair, which is, therefore, sawn off with the
jawbone of a Greenland shark.
The women knot their hair in a tuft upon the
crown of the head. This they do by gathering it
tightly together from all sides and tying it up, on the
east coast with a thong, on the west coast with
ribbons of various colours. Unmarried women wear
a red ribbon, which they exchange for green if they
have had a child. Married women wear a blue, and
widows a black ribbon. If a widow wants to marry
again she will probably mingle a little red with the
black ; elderly widows, who have given up all thought
of marriage, often wear a white ribbon. If a widow
gives birth to a child, she too must assume the green
ribbon. Her top-knot is the pride of the Greenland
woman, and it must stand as stiff and straight up in
the air as possible. This is, of course, held especially
important by the young marriageable women, and
as they are scarcely less vain than their European
sisters, they draw the hair so tightly together that it
is gradually torn away from the forehead, the temples
and the neck, whence they often become more or less
bald while still comparatively young. This does not
add greatly to their attractiveness, but is, never
theless, a speaking proof of the vanity of human
nature.

APPEARANCE AND DRESS 29
In order to get the hair thoroughly well knotted
together, and at the same time to give it the glisten
ing appearance which is prized as a beauty, they
have furthermore the habit of steeping it in urine
before doing it up, thus making it moist and easier
to tighten. Mothers lick their children instead of washing
them, or at least did so in former days ; and as to the
insects they come across in the process, their principle
is, ' They bite, therefore they must be bitten.'
If any should be offended by these peculiarities
in the manners and customs of the Greenlanders,
they ought to reflect that their own forefathers, not
so many generations ago, conducted themselves not
so very differently. Let them read the accounts of
the domestic life of the Teutonic peoples some cen
turies ago, and they will learn many things that will
surprise them.

30 ESKIMO LIFE

CHAPTEE HI
THE ' KAIAK ' AND ITS APPURTENANCES
A superficial examination of certain details in the
outward life of the Eskimo might easily lead to the
erroneous conclusion that he stands at a low grade of
civilisation. When we take the trouble to look a
little more closely at him, we soon see him in
another light.
Many people nowadays are vastly impressed with
the greatness of. our age, with all the inventions and
the progress of which we daily hear, and which
appear indisputably to exalt the highly-gifted white
race far over all others. These people would learn
much by paying close attention to the development
of the Eskimos, and to the tools and inventions
by aid of which they obtain the necessaries of life
among natural surroundings which place such piti
fully small means at their disposal.
Picture a people placed upon a coast so desert
and inhospitable as that of Greenland, cut off from
the outer world, without iron, without firearms, with
out any resources except those provided by Nature

THE 'KAIAK' AND ITS APPURTENANCES 31
upon the spot. These consist solely of stone, a little
drift-wood, skins, and bone ; but in order to obtain the
latter they must first kill the animals from which to
take them. We, in their place, would inevitably go to
the wall, if we did not get help from home ; but the
Eskimo not only manages to live, but lives in con
tentment and happiness, while intercourse with the
rest of the world has, to him, meant nothing but
ruin. In order that the reader may realise more vividly
upon what an accumulation of experiences the civili
sation of this people rests, I shall try to give a sketch
of the way in which we must conceive it to have
arisen. Let us, then, assume that the ancestors of the
Eskimos, according- to Dr. Eink's opinion, lived in
long bygone ages somewhere in the interior of
Alaska. They must at all events have been in
landers somewhere and at some time, either in
America or in Asia. Besides being hunters upon
land, these Eskimos must also have gone a-fishing
upon the lakes and rivers in birch-bark canoes, as
the inland Eskimos of Alaska and the Indians of the
North- West do to this day. In course of time, how
ever, some of these inland Eskimos must either have
been allured by the riches of the sea or must have
been pressed upon by hostile and more warlike Indian

32 ESKIMO LIFE
tribes, so that they must have migrated in their
canoes down the river-courses toward the western
and northern coasts. The nearer they drew to the
sea, the more scanty became the supply of wood,
and they had to hit upon some other material than
birch-bark with which to cover their canoes. It is
not at all improbable that before leaving the rivers
they had made experiments with the skins of aquatic
animals ; for we still see examples of this among
several Indian tribes.
It was not, however, until the Eskimo encoun
tered the rough sea at the mouths of the rivers that
he thought of giving his boat a deck, and at last of
closing it in entirely and joining his own skin-jacket
to it so that the whole became watertight. The
kaiak was now complete. But even these inventions,
which seem so simple and straightforward now that
we see them perfected — what huge strides of pro
gress must they not have meant in their day, and
how much labour and how many failures must they
not have cost !
Arrived at the sea-coast, these Eskimos of the
past soon discovered that their existence depended
almost entirely upon the capture of seals. To this,
then, they directed all their cunning, and the kaiak
guided them to the discovery of the many remark
able and admirable seal-hunting instruments, which

COVEHING A KAIAK

THE 'KAIAK' AND ITS APPURTENANCES 33
they brought to higher and ever-higher perfection,
and which prove, indeed, in the most striking fashion,
what ingenious animals many of us human beino-s
really are.
The bow and arrow, which they used on land,
they could not handle in their constrained position
in the kaiak ; therefore, they had to fall back upon
throwing- weapons .
The idea of these, too, they borrowed from
America, making use in the first instance of the
Indian darts with steering-feathers, which they had
themselves used in hunting upon land. Small har
poons or javelins of this sort are still in use among
Eskimos of the southern part of the west coast of
Alaska. As one passes northward along this coast, how
ever, the feathers soon disappear, and are replaced
by a httle bladder fastened to the shaft of the javelin.
This device has been found necessary in order to
prevent the harpooned seals from diving and swim
ming. Further, it has been found necessary so to
arrange the point of the javelin that it cannot be
broken by the seal's violent efforts to get rid of it,
but detaches itself instead (at c on accompanying
engraving) and remains hanging to a line (from c
to b) fastened (at &1) to the middle of the javelin
shaft, which is thus made to take a transverse posi-

34 ESKIMO LIFE
tion, and still further to impede the movements of
the seal when it rushes away with it. Such was the
origin of the so-called bladder-dart, known to
all Eskimo tribes who live by the sea.
The bladder is made of a seagull's or
cormorant's gullet, inflated and dried. It is
fastened to the javelin-shaft by means of a
piece of bone with a hole bored through it
for the purpose of blowing up the bladder.
This hole is closed with a little wooden plug.
From this bladder- dart the Eskimo's prin
cipal hunting-weapon — the ingenious harpoon
with bladder and line — has probably de
veloped. In order to cope with the larger
marine animals, the size of the bladder was
doubtless gradually increased ; but the dis
advantage of this — the fact that it offered too
much resistance to the air to be thrown far
and with force — must soon have been felt.
The bladder was then separated from the
javelin, and only attached to its point by
means of a long and strong line, the harpoon-
bladder- line. The harpoon, which was now made
larger and heavier than the original javelin,
was henceforward thrown by itself, but drawing
the line after it. The bladder, fastened to the other
end of the line, remained in the kaiak until the

THE 'KAIAK' AND ITS APPURTENANCES 35
animal had been pierced, when it was thrown over
board. This harpoon, with all its ingenuity of structure,
ranks, along with the kaiak, as the highest achieve
ment of the Eskimo mind.1
Its shaft is made in Greenland of red drift-wood
— a sort of fir from Siberia, drifted by the polar
current across the Polar Sea — which is heavier than
the white drift-wood used in making smaller and
lighter projectiles. The upper end of the shaft is
fitted with a thick and strong plate of bone, on the
top of which is fixed a long bone foreshaft — com
monly made of walrus or narwhal tusk — which is
fastened to the shaft by means of a joint of thongs,
so that a strong pressure or blow from the side,
instead of shattering the foreshaft, causes it to break
off at the joint. This foreshaft fits exactly into a
hole in the harpoon-head proper, which is made of
bone, generally of walrus or narwhal tusk. It is
now always provided with a point, or rather a sharp
blade, of iron ; in earlier days they used flint or
simply bone. The harpoon-head is fastened to the
harpoon-line by means of a hole bored through it,
1 The Indians of the North- West and the Tchuktchi— and even, if
I am not mistaken, the Koriaks and the Kamtchatkans — use the
same harpoon, with a line and large bladder, in hunting sea animals,
throwing, the harpoon from the bow of their large open canoes or skin-
boats. It seems probable, however, that they have learned the use of
these instruments from the' Eskimos.
d 2

36

ESKIMO LIFE

and

N>

is provided with barbs or hooks so that it
sticks fast wherever it penetrates. It is,
moreover, so adjusted that it works itself
transversely into the flesh as the wounded
seal tugs at the line. It is attached to the
harpoon shaft by being fitted to the before-
mentioned foreshaft, whereupon the line is
hooked on to a peg, placed some distance up
the harpoon-shaft (at a), by means of a per
forated piece of bone fixed at the proper
distance. Thus the head and the shaft are
held firmly together.
When the harpoon strikes and the seal
begins to plunge, the bone foreshaft instantly
breaks off at the joint
(see illustration), and the
harpoon-head, with the
line attached to it, is thus
loosened from the shaft,
which floats up to the
surface and is picked up
by its owner, while the
seal dashes away, drag
ging the line and bladder
Rafter it. It must be ad
mitted, I think, that it
is difficult to conceive a

HARPOON.

THE 'KAIAK' AND ITS APPURTENANCES

37

J

more ingenious apphance, composed of such materials
as bone, sealskin, and drift
wood ; and we may be sure
that it has cost the labour of
many generations.
Two forms of this harpoon
are in use in Greenland. The
one is called undk ; its butt-end
is finished off with nothing
more than a bone knob, and it
is longer and slighter than the
other. This is called ernang-
nak, and has at its butt-end
two flanges or wings of bone,
now commonly made of whale-
rib, designed to increase the
weight of the harpoon and to
guide it through the air. It is
one of these which is repre
sented on p. 36. x
At Godthaab the ernangnak
was most in use ; but I heard
old hunters complaining that,
1 In North Greenland there is yet a
third and larger form of the harpoon,
which is used in walrus hunting, and is
hurled without a throwing-stick ; it has
instead two bone knobs, one for the
thumb and one for the forefinger. ™B HEAD 0F THB HARP00N-

f

il

n

38 ESKIMO LIFE
in a wind, it was more difficult to throw than the
unak, since a side gust was apt to take too strong
hold of the bone flanges and to make the harpoon
twist. The harpoon line is made of the hide either of
the bearded seal (Phoca barbata) or of the young
walrus. It is generally from 15 to 18 yards long,
and a good quarter of an inch (about 7 millimetres)
thick. For the bladder they use the hide of a young
ringed seal (Phoca foetida). The skin is slipped off,
as nearly as possible whole, the hair is removed, the
apertures at the head, the fore limbs, and the hind
limbs are tied up so as to be air-tight, and the whole
is dried. The line is coiled upon the kaiak-stand, which is
fixed in front of the man. It serves to keep the coil
well above the sea, which is always washing over the
deck ; and thus the line is always ready to run out
without fouling when the harpoon is thrown.
The harpooned seal is killed by means of a lance
(anguvigak). This consists of a wooden shaft (com
monly made of the light white drift-wood, in order
that it may carry well), a long bone foreshaft, and an
iron-bladed tip. In former days flint was used in
stead of iron. The foreshaft is generally made of
reindeer horn or else of narwhal tusk. In order that

THE 'KAIAK' AND ITS APPURTENANCES 39
the seal may not break it off, it is fastened to the
shaft by a joint similar to that which fastens *
the foreshaft to the harpoon.
The Eskimos have also the so called bird-
dart (nufit). Its shaft is likewise of white
drift-wood. Its point consists of a long nar
row spike, now made of iron, but in earlier
times of bone ; and besides this there are
fastened to the middle of the shaft three
forward-slanting spikes, made of reindeer-
horn and provided with large barbs. The
idea is that if the end of the dart does not
pierce the bird, the shaft shall glide along
it, and one of these outstanding spikes must
strike and penetrate it ; and it is thus, in
fact, that the bird is generaUy brought down.
Another invention, this, which no one need
blush to own.
All these projectiles can, as I have shown
above, be traced back to the Indian feather-
dart. But in order to throw their weapons fur
ther and with greater force, the Eskimos have
invented an appliance which distinguishes
them from all surrounding races, whether
American or Asiatic. This invention is the
throwing-stick. Oddly enough, this admirable lance

40 ESKIMO LIFE
device, which by its sling-like action greatly aug
ments the length and strength of the arm, is known
in very few parts of the world — probably only in
three. It is found in Australia in a very primitive
form, among the Conibos and Purus on the Upper
Amazon, where it is scarcely more developed than in
Australia, and finally among the Eskimos, where it
has reached its highest perfection.1 We can scarcely

THROWING-STICK WITH BIRD-DART.

conjecture that the throwing-stick, appearing in
places so remote from each other, springs from any
common origin, and we must thus accept the Eskimo
form of it as an original invention of that particular
race. It is generally made in Greenland of red drift
wood, and is about half a yard long (fourteen sticks
in my possession range from 42 to 52 centimetres in
length). At its lower and broader end it is about
3 inches (7 or 8 centimetres) in width, and is flat,
1 As to the different forms of the throwing-stick among the Eskimos,
see Mason's paper upon them in the Annual Report, &c. of the Smith
sonian Institution for 1884, Part II. p. 279.

THE 'KAIAK' AND ITS APPURTENANCES 41
with a thickness of rather more than half an inch
(about l-i- centimetre). The sides, at the lower and
broader end, have indentations in them for convenience
in grasping — on one side for the thumb, on the other
for the fore-finger ; while on the upper flat side there
runs a long groove along the whole length of the stick,
to receive the dart or harpoon.1 The throwing-stick
is found in two forms. The one is most used for the
bladder-dart and the bird-dart ; it has at the upper
narrow end a knob which fits into an indentation in a
plate of bone fixed to the butt end of the dart.
(Compare illustrations on pp. 40 and 42). The
other form is used for harpoons and lances ; it has a
hole in the upper narrow end, into which fits a back
ward-slanting spur in the side of the harpoon or lance-
shaft, and it has besides another hole further down
and near the grip, into which fits another slanting
spur. (Compare illustration, p. 43). Throwing-
sticks of this sort are used in the North, for example
in Sukkertoppen, for the bird-dart as well.
A third form of the throwing-stick is used in the
most southern part of Greenland and on the east
coast for the ernangnak or flange harpoon. This
form has in its upper narrow end a small knob, as in
'- 1 In some places— for example, in the most southern part of Green
land and on the East Coast— there is only a hoUow for the thumb, while
the other side is smooth or edged with a piece of bone in which are
notches to prevent the hand from slipping.

42 ESKIMO LIFE
the bird-dart throwing-stick, and this knob fits into
an indentation in the butt end of the harpoon between
the bone flanges ; in the lower end of the shaft, on
the other hand, near the grip, there are one or even
two holes into which fit bone knobs in the side of
the harpoon shaft, as above described.
When the harpoon or the dart is to be hurled,

THE BIRD-DART THROWN.

the throwing-stick, of whatever form it may be, is
seized by the grip 'and held backward, together
with the weapon, in a horizontal position. (See
illustration, page 40) ; being then jerked forward
with force, its lower end comes away from the dart
or harpoon, while, with the upper end, still fitted to its
knob or peg (see illustrations on this and the next
page), the thrower hurls the weapon away to a con
siderable distance and with great accuracy. This is
an extremely simple and effective invention.

THE 'KAIAK' AND ITS APPURTENANCES 43
Besides the weapons above mentioned, the Eskimo
has behind him in his kaiak, when he goes out hunt
ing, a knife with a handle about 4 feet long (1-20
metre) and a pointed blade measuring some 8 inches
(20 centimetres). This is used for giving the seal or
other game its finishing stroke. He has, moreover,
a smaller knife lying before him in the kaiak ; it is
used, amongst other things, for piercing holes in the

THEOWIXG-STICK WITH HARPOON.

seal through which to pass the bone knobs of the
towing-line, wherewith the seal is made fast to the
kaiak and towed to land. To» this end, too, he always
carries with him one or more towing-bladders, which
he inflates and. fastens to the seal in order to keep
it afloat. These bladders are made of the pouch of
small whales (e.g. the grampus).
To complete this description, I should also men
tion the bone-knife which forms part of the kaiak-
man's outfit, especiaUy in winter, and which is prin
cipally used for scraping the ice off the kaiak.

44

ESKIMO LIFE

1

VMS

KAIAK, SEEN
FROM ABOVE.

From the accompanying draw
ing, the reader wiU be able to
form an idea of how all these
weapons are fitted to the kaiak
when it is in full hunting trim:
a is the kaiak-opening ; b, the
harpoon-bladder ; c, the kaiak-
stand with coiled harpoon-line (e) ;
d, the harpoon hanging in its
place ; /, the lance ; g, the kaiak-
knife ; h, the bladder-dart ; i, the
bird-dart ; k, its throwing-stick.
But the most important thing
of all yet remains, and that is a
description of the kaiak itself.
It has an internal framework
of wood. This, of which the
reader can, I hope, form some
conception from the accompany
ing drawing, was formerly always
made of drift-wood, usuaUy of the
white wood, which is lightest.
For the ribs, osiers were some
times used, from willow bushes
which are found growing far up
the fiords. In later days they
have got into the habit of buying

KAIAK -
FRAME.

THE 'KAIAK' AND ITS APPURTENANCES 45
European boards of spruce or Scotch fir in the west
coast colonies, although drift-wood is still considered
preferable, especially on account of its lightness.
This framework is covered externally with skins,
as a rule with the skin of the saddleback seal (Phoca
groenlandica), or of the bladder-nose or hood seal
(Cystophora cristata). The latter is not so durable
or so water-tight as the former ; but the skin of a
young bladder-nose, in which the pores are not yet
very large, is considered good enough. Those who
can afford it use the skin of the bearded seal (Phoca
barbata), which is reckoned the best and strongest ;
but, as it is also used for harpoon lines, it is, as a
rule, only on the south and east coast that it is found
in such quantities that it can be commonly used for
covering the kaiak. The skin of the great ringed
seal (Phoca foetida) is also used, but not so frequently.
The preparation of the kaiak-skins wiU be de
scribed subsequently, in Chapter VIII. They are
generaUy fitted at once to the kaiak in a raw state ;
but if they have been already dried they must be
carefully softened for several days before they can
be used. The point is to get them as moist and
pliant as possible, so that they can be thoroughly
weU stretched, and remain as tense as a drum-head
when they dry. The preparation of the skins, and
the sewing and stretching them on the kaiak, belongs

46 ESKIMO LIFE
to the women's department ; it is not very easy
work, and woe to them if the skin sits badly or is
too slack ! They feel it a great disgrace.
All, or at any rate a great many, of the women
of the village are generally present when a kaiak is
being covered ; it is a great entertainment to them,
especially as, in reward for their assistance, they are
often treated to coffee by the owner of the kaiak.
The cost of the entertainment ranges, according to
his wealth, from threepence or fourpence up to a
shiUing or more.
In the middle of the kaiak's deck there is a hole
just large enough to enable a man to get his legs
through it and to sit down ; his thighs almost en
tirely fill the aperture. Thus it takes a good deal of
practice before one can slip into or out of the kaiak
with any sort of ease. The hole is surrounded by
the kaiak-ring, which consists of a hoop of wood.
It stands a little more than an inch (3 or 3^ centi
metres) above the kaiak's deck, and the waterproof
jacket, as we shall presently see, is drawn over it.
At the spot where the rower sits, pieces of old kaiak-
skin are laid in the bottom over the ribs, with a piece
of bearskin or other fur to make the seat softer.
As a rule, each hunter makes his kaiak for him
self, and it is fitted to the man's size just like a
garment. A kaiak for a Greenlander of average size

THE 'KAIAK' AND ITS APPURTENANCES 47
measures, in the neighbourhood of Godthaab, about
6 yards (51 metres) in length. The greatest breadth of
deck, in front of the kaiak-ring, is about 18 inches (45
centimetres), or a little more ; but the boat narrows con
siderably towards the bottom. The breadth, of course,
varies according to the width of the man's thighs,
and is generally no greater than just to allow him to
slip in. I should note, however, that the kaiaks in
Godthaab fiords — as, for example, at Sardlok and
Karhok — were longer and narrower than the kaiaks
on the sea-coast, for example at Kangek, obviously
for the reason that on the open coast they are ex
posed to heavier seas, and must therefore be stiffer
and easier to handle. The shorter and broader
kaiaks are better sea-boats, and ship less water.
The depth of the kaiak from deck to bottom is
generaUy from 5 to 6-J inches (12 to 15 centimetres),
but in front of the kaiak-ring it is an
inch or two more, in order to give room
for the thighs, and to enable the rower section op

THE KAIAK.

to get more easUy into his place. The (Thedotteaiinere- presents tlie skin.)
bottom of the kaiak is pretty flat, sloping
to a very obtuse angle (probably about 140°) in the
middle. The kaiak narrows evenly in, both fore and
aft, and comes to a point at both ends. It has no
keel, but its underpart at both ends is generally
provided with bone flanges, for the most part of

48 ESKIMO LIFE
whale-rib, designed to save the skin from being
ripped up by drift-ice, or by stones when the kaiak
is beached. Both points are commonly provided
with knobs of bone, partly for ornament, partly for
protection as well.
Across the deck, in front of the kaiak-ring, six
thongs are usually fastened, and from three to five
behind the rower. Under these thongs weapons and
implements are inserted, so that they lie safe and
handy for use. Pieces of bone are let into the
thongs, partly to hold them together, partly to keep
them a little bit up from the deck, so that weapons
can the more easily and quickly be pushed under
them, and partly also for the sake of ornament. To
some of these thongs the booty is fastened. The
heads of birds are stuck in under them ; seals,
whales, or halibut are attached by towing-lines to the
thongs at the side of the kaiak ; and smaUer 'fish are
not fastened at all, but either simply laid on the back
part of the deck or pushed in under it.
A kaiak is so light that it can without difficulty
be carried on the head, with all its appurtenances,
over several miles of land.
It is propelled by a two-bladed paddle, which is
held in the middle and dipped in the water'on each
side in turn, like the paddles we use in canoes. It
has probably been developed from the Indians' one-

THE 'KAIAK' AND ITS APPURTENANCES 49
bladed paddles. Among the Eskimos on the south
west coast of Alaska the one-bladed paddle
is universal ; not until we come north of the
Yukon Eiver do we find two-bladed paddles,
and even there the single blade is still the
more common. Further north and eastward
along the American coast both forms are
found, until the two blades at last come
into exclusive use eastward of the Mackenzie
Eiver. The Aleutians seem, strangely enough, to
be acquainted with only the two-bladed
paddle,1 and this is also the case, so far as
I can gather, with the Asiatic Eskimos.2
In fair weather the kaiak-man uses the
so-caUed half-jacket (akuilisak). This, is made
of water-tight skin with the hair removed,
and is sewn with sinews. Eound its lower
margin runs a draw-string, or rather a draw-
thong, by means of which the edge of the
jacket can be made to fit so closely to the
1 On this point, see even such early authors as Cook and
King, A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean, Sc, 3rd ed., ii. p. 513,
London, 1785.
2 It is.. remarkable that the inhabitants of St. Lawrence
Island do not seem to use the kaiak at all. They have large
open skin-boats (baidars) of the same build as those of the
Tchucktchi. (Compare Nordenskiold, The Voyage of the
Vega, ii. p. 254, London, 1881.)

50

ESKIMO LIFE

kaiak-ring that it can only be pressed and drawn
down over it with some little trouble. This done,
the half-jacket forms, as it were, a water-tight
extension of the kaiak. The upper margin of
the jacket comes close up to the armpits of the
kaiak-man, and is supported by braces or straps,
which pass over the shoulders and can be length-

HALF-JACKET.

WHOLE-JACKET.

ened or shortened by means of handy runners or
buckles of bone, so simple and yet so ingenious that
we, with all our metal buckles and so forth, cannot
equal them.
Loose sleeves of skin are drawn over the arms,
and are lashed to the over-arm and to the wrist, thus
preventing the arm from becoming wet. Watertight
mittens of skin are drawn over the hands.

THE 'KAIAK' AND ITS APPURTENANCES 51
This half-jacket is enough to keep out the smaller
waves which wash over the kaiak. In a heavier sea,
on the other hand, the whole-jacket (tuilik) is used.
This is made in the same way as the half-jacket, and,
like it, fits close to the kaiak-ring, but is longer
above, has sleeves attached to it, and a hood which
comes right over the head. It is laced tight round
the face and wrists, so that with it on the kaiak-man
can go right through the breakers and can capsize
and right himself again, without getting wet and
without letting a drop of water into the kaiak.
It wiU readily be understood that it is not easy
to sit in a vessel like the kaiak without capsizing, and
that it needs a good deal of practice to master its
peculiarities. I have seen a friend of mine in Nor
way, on making his first experiment in my kaiak,
capsize four times in the space of two minutes ; no
sooner had we got him up on even keel and let him
go, than he again stood on his head with the bottom
of the kaiak in the air.
But when one has acquired by practice a mastery
of the kaiak and of the two-bladed paddle, one can
get through the water in all sorts of weather at an
astonishing speed. The kaiak is beyond comparison
the best boat for a single oarsman ever invented.
In order to become an accomplished kaiak-man,
one ought to begin early. The Greenland boys often
E 2

52 ESKIMO LIFE
begin to practise in their father's kaiak at from six
to eight years old, and when they are ten or twelve
the provident Greenlander gives his sons kaiaks of
their own. This was the rule, at any rate, in former
times. Lars Dalager even says : ' When they are
from eight to ten years old they take seriously to
work in little kaiaks.'
From this age onwards, the young Greenlander
remains a toiler of the sea. At first he generaUy
confines himself to fishing, but before long he ex
tends his operations to the more difficult seal-
hunting. You cannot rank as an expert kaiak-man until
you have mastered the art of righting yourself
after capsizing. To do this, you seize one end of
the paddle in your hand, and with the other hand
grasp the shaft as near the middle as possible;
then you place it along the side of the kaiak with its
free end pointing forward towards the bow; and
thereupon, pushing the end of the paddle sharply
out to the side,1 and bending your body well forward
towards the deck, you raise yourself by a strong cir
cular sweep of the paddle. If you do not come right
up, a second stroke may be necessary.
1 While the paddle is being pushed out sideways, until it comes at
right angles to the kaiak, it is held slightly aslant, so that the blade, in
moving, forces the water under it, and acquires an upward leverage.

THE 'KAIAK' AND ITS APPURTENANCES 53
A thorough kaiak-man can also right himself
without an oar by help of his throwing-stick, or
even without it, by means of one arm. The height
of accomplishment is reached when he does not even
need to use the flat of his hand, but can clench it ;
and to show that he really does so, I have seen a
man take a stone in his clenched hand before cap
sizing, and come up with it stiU in his grasp.
An Eskimo told me of another who was so extra-
ordinarUy skilful at righting himself that he could
do it in every possible way : with or without an oar,
with or without a throwing-stick, or with his clenched
hand. The only thing he could not right himself
with was — his tongue ; and my informant protruded
that member and made some horrible grimaces with
it to illustrate what exertions it would cost to recover
yourself with so inconvenient an: implement.
In earher times, on the west coast of Greenland,
every at aU capable kaiak-man was able to right
himself; but in these later days, since the intro
duction of European civiUsation, and the consequent
degeneracy of the race, this art has declined, along
with everything else. It is still quite common, how
ever, in many places. For instance, I can assert of
my own knowledge that at Kangek, near Godthaab,
almost aU the hunters possessed it. On the east coast,
according to Captain Holm, it seems to be usual, yet

54 ESKIMO LIFE
not so much so as it was in former times upon the
west coast. Nor is this to be wondered at, as it is
far more necessary on the west coast, where there is
little drift ice and heavy seas are common.
A kaiak-man who has entirely mastered the art
of righting himself can defy almost any weather. If
he is capsized, he is on even keel again in a moment,
and can play like a sea-bird with the waves, and cut
right through them. If the sea is very heavy, he
lays the broadside of his kaiak to it, holds the
paddle flat out on the windward side, pressing it
against the deck, bends forward, and lets the wave
roll over him ; or else he throws himself on his side
towards it, resting on his flat paddle, and rights him
self again when it has passed. The prettiest feat of
seamanship I have ever heard of is that to which
some fishers, I am told, have recourse among over
whelming rollers. As the sea curls down over them
they voluntarily capsize, receive it on the bottom of
the kaiak, and when it has passed right themselves
again. I think it would be difficult to name a more
intrepid method of dealing with a heavy sea.
If you cannot right yourself, and if there is no
help at hand, you are lost beyond all hope as soon
as you capsize. This may happen easily enough —
a wave can do it, or even the fouling of the harpoon-
line when a seal is struck. Just as often, too; it

THE 'KAIAK' AND ITS APPURTENANCES 55
happens through an unguarded movement in calm
weather, or at moments when there seems to be no
danger. Many Eskimos find their death every year in this
manner. For example, I may state that in Danish
South Greenland in 1888, out of 162 deaths (of which
90 were of males), 24, or about 15 per cent, (that is
to say, more than a fourth part of the male mortality),
were caused by drowning in kaiaks.
In 1889, in South Greenland, out of 272 deaths
(of which 152 were of males), 24, or about 9 per
cent., were due to the same cause. This in a popu
lation of 5,614, of which 2,591 were males.

56 ESKIMO LIFE

CHAPTEE IV
THE ESKIMO AT SEA
One often hears the Eskimo accused of cowardice.
This is no doubt mainly due to the fact that his
accusers have seen him only on land, or in fine
weather at sea ; and then he is 'too good-natured and
easy-going to show any courage. It may be, too,
they have not taken the trouble to place themselves
in sympathy with his view of life ; or else they may
have called upon him to do things which he neither
understood nor cared about.
If by courage we understand the tigerish ferocity
which fights to the last drop of blood, even against
superior force — that courage which, as Spencer says,
is undoubtedly most common among the lowest races
of men, and is especially characteristic of many
species of animals— it must be admitted that of this
the Eskimos do not possess any great share. They
are too peaceable and good-natured, for example, to
strike back when attacked ; and therefore Europeans,
ever since the time of Egede and the first mission
aries, have been able to strike them with impunity

THE ESKIMO AT SEA 57
and to call them cowardly. But this sort of courage
is held in no great respect by the natives in Green
land, and I am afraid that they do not look up to us
any the more because we exhibit a superabundance
of it. They have from all time respected the beauti
ful Christian doctrine that if a man smite you on the
right cheek, you should turn to him the left also.
But to conclude from this that the Eskimo is a
coward would be unjust.
To estimate the worth of a human being, you
must see him at his work. Follow the Eskimo to
sea, observe him there — where his vocation lies — and
you wiU soon behold him in another light ; for, if we
understand by courage that faculty which, in mo
ments of danger, lays its plans with calmness and
executes them with ready presence of mind, or which
faces inevitable danger, and even certain death,
with immovable self-possession, then we shall find
in Greenland men of such courage as we but rarely
find elsewhere.
Kaiak-hunting has many dangers.
¦ Though his father may have perished at sea, and
very likely his brother and his friend as well, the
Eskimo nevertheless goes quietly about his daily
work, in storm no less than in calm. If the weather
is -too terrible, he may be chary of putting to sea;
experience has taught him that in such weather

58 ESKIMO LIFE
many perish ; but when once he is out he goes ahead
as though it were all the most indifferent thing in the
world. It is a gallant business, this kaiak-hunting ; it is
like a sportive dance with the sea and with death.
There is no finer sight possible than to see the kaiak-
man breasting the heavy rollers that seem utterly to
engulf him. Or when, overtaken by a storm at sea,
the kaiaks run for the shore, they come like black
storm-birds rushing before the wind and the waves,
which, like rolling mountains, sweep on in their wake.
The paddles whirl through air and water, the body is
bent a little forwards, the head often turned half
backwards to watch the seas ; all is life and spirit —
while the sea around reeks like a seething cauldron.
And then it may happen that when the game is at its
wildest a seal pops its head up before them. Quicker
than thought the harpoon is seized and rushes through
the foam with deadly aim ; the seal dashes away with
the bladder behind it, but is presently caught and
killed, and then towed onwards. Everything is done
with the same masterly skill and with the same quiet
demeanour. The Eskimo never dreams that he is
performing feats of heroism.
Here he is great — and we? Ah, in these sur
roundings we are apt to seem very small.
Let us follow the Eskimo on a day's hunting.

' THE HEAD TUENED HALF BACKWARDS TO WATCH THE SEAS '

THE ESKIMO AT SEA 59
Several hours before dawn he stands upon the
outlook-rock over the village, and scans the sea to as
certain whether the weather is going to be favourable.
Having assured himself on this point, he comes slowly
down to his house and gets out his kaiak-jacket. His
breakfast in the good old days consisted of a drink
of water ; now that European effeminacy has reached
him too, it is generaUy one or two cups of strong
coffee. He eats nothing in the morning ; he declares
that it makes him uneasy in the kaiak, and that he
has more endurance without it. Nor does he take
any food with him — only a quid of tobacco.
When the kaiak is carried down to the beach and
the hunting-weapons are ranged in their places, he
shps into the kaiak-hole, makes fast his jacket over
the ring, and puts out to sea. From other houses in
the viUage his neighbours are also putting forth at
the same time. It is the bladder-nose that they are
after to-day, and the hunting-ground is on some
banks nine miles out to the open sea.
It is calm, the smooth sea heaves in a long swell
towards the rocky islets that fringe the shore, a light
haze stiU lies over the sounds between them, and the
sea-birds floating on the surface seem double their
natural size. The kaiaks cut their way forwards,
side by side, making only a silent ripple ; the paddles
swing in an even rhythm, while the men keep up an

60 ESKIMO LIFE
unbroken stream of conversation, and now and then
burst out into merry laughter. Bird-darts are thrown
in sport, now by one, now by another, in order to
keep eye and hand in practice. Presently an auk
comes within range of one of them ; the dart speeds
through the air, and the bird, transfixed, attempts,
with much flapping of wings, to dive, but is held up
next moment upon the point of the dart. The point
is pulled out, the hunter seizes the bird's beak be
tween his teeth, and with a strong twitch breaks its
neck, then fastens it to the back part of the kaiak.
They soon leave the sounds and islets behind
them and put straight out to the open sea.
After some hours' paddling, they have at last
reached the hunting-ground. Great seal-heads are
seen peering over the water in many directions, and
the hunters scatter in search of their prey.
Boas, one of the best hunters of the village, has
seen a large he-seal far off, and has paddled towards
it ; but it has dived, and he lies and waits for its re
appearance. There ! a little way before him its
round black head pops up. He bends well forward,
while with noiseless and wary strokes he urges the
kaiak toward the seal, which lies peaceful and undis
turbed, stretching its neck and rocking up and down
upon the swell. But suddenly it is on the alert; it has
caught a glimpse of the flashing paddle-blade, and now

%*¦

- . - ;. —

AA5

SEAWAED IN SEAECH Of SEALS

THE ESKIMO AT SEA 61
looks straight at him with its great round eyes. He
instantly stops paddling and sits motionless, while the
way on the kaiak carries it noiselessly forward. The
seal discovers nothing new to be alarmed at, and
resumes its former quietude. It throws its head
backwards, holds its snout straight up in the air, and
bathes in the morning sun which gleams upon its
black, wet skin. In the meantime the kaiak is
rapidly nearing ; every time the seal looks in that
direction, Boas sits stiU and moves no muscle ; but
as soon as it turns its head away again, he shoots
forward like a flash of lightning. He is coming
within range ; he gets his harpoon clear, sees that
the Une is properly coiled upon the stand ; one
stroke more and it is time to throw — when the seal
quietly disappears under the water. It was not
frightened, and wiU consequently come up again at
no great distance. He lies stiU and waits. But the
minutes drag on ; a seal can remain under water
an incredible time, and it seems even longer to
one who is waiting for his prey. But the Eskimo
is gifted with admirable patience ; he lies absolutely
motionless except for his head, with which he keeps
watch on every side. At last the seal's head once
more appears over the water a little way off and to
one side. He cautiously turns the kaiak, unobserved
by his prey, and once more he shoots towards it

62 ESKIMO LIFE
over the mirror-like sea. But suddenly it catches
sight of him again, looks at him sharply for a
moment, and dives. He knows its habits, however,
and at full speed he dashes towards the spot where
it disappeared. Before many moments have passed
it pops up its head again to look around. Now he
is within range : the harpoon is seized and carried
back over his shoulder, then with a strong move
ment, as if hurled from a steel spring, it rushes
whistling from the throwing-stick, whirling the line
behind it. The seal gives a violent plunge, but at
the moment it arches its back to dive, the harpoon-
sinks into its side, and buries itself up to the shaft.
A few convulsive strokes of its tail churn the water
into foam, and away it goes, dragging the harpoon-
line behind it towards the depths. In the meantime
Boas has seized the throwing-stick between his teeth,
and, quicker than thought, has thrown the bladder
out of the kaiak behind him. It dances away over
the surface of the sea, now and then seeming on the
point of disappearing, as indeed it finally does.
Before long, however, it again comes in sight, and
he chases after it as quickly as his paddle can
take him, snapping up on the way his harpoon-
shaft which has floated to the surface. The lance
is laid ready for use. Next moment the seal comes
up; infuriated at its inability to escape, it turns

SEAL-HUNTING

THE ESKIMO AT SEA 63
upon its pursuer, attacks first the bladder, which it
tears to pieces, and then goes straight for the kaiak.
Again Boas is within range ; the animal arches its
back and hurls itself forward with gaping maw, so
that the water foams around it. A miss may now
cost him his life ; but he calmly raises his lance and
sends it speeding with terrible force through the
seal's mouth and out at the back of its neck. A
shudder runs through it, and its head sinks ; but the
next moment it raises itself perpendicularly in the
water, the blood pours frothing from its mouth, it
gapes wildly and utters a smothered roar, while
the hood over its nose is inflated to an astounding
size. It shakes its head so that the lance-shaft
' quivers and waves to and fro ; but it does not
succeed in breaking it or getting free from it. A
moment more and Boas's second lance has pierced
through one of its fore-flappers into its lungs ;
the seal coUapses, and the fight is over. He
paddles up to its side, and as it still moves a little,
he gives it a finishing stab with his long-handled
knife. Then he sets quietly about pulling out his
lances and replacing them in the kaiak, takes out his
towing-line and blows up his towing-bladder, which
he fastens to the seal, cuts the harpoon-head out and
once more makes it fast to the shaft, coils the line on
the stand, and takes out a new bladder and places it

¦64 ESKIMO LIFE
behind him. Next, the seal's flappers are lashed
close to its body, with the thong designed for that
purpose, and the animal is attached by means of
the towing-line to one side of the kaiak, so that it
¦can easily be towed along, its head being fastened to
the foremost pair of thongs on the deck, and its tail
to the hindmost. Now Boas is ready to look about
him for more game. He is lucky, and has not paddled
far before he catches sight of another seal. In an
instant he has cast loose the one already killed,
which is kept afloat by the towing-bladder, while he
again sets off in pursuit, This one, too,^ he kills,
after some wary stalking and eager waiting ; he.
takes it in tow and returns for his first prey. The
two great animals are fastened one on each side of
the kaiak. He has now a good cargo, and cannot
get very quickly through the water ; but that does
not prevent him from increasing his bag. As soon
as another seal comes in sight those already secured
are cast loose, and when the next one is kiUed it is
fastened behind the others. In this way one man
will sometimes come towing as many as four seals,
or even more at a pinch.
Tobias, in the meantime, another of the best
hunters of the village, has not been quite so for
tunate as Boas. He began by chasing a seal which
•dived and did not come up again within sight. Then

THE ESKIMO AT SEA

65

he set off after another ; but as he is skimming over
the sea towards it the huge head of a hooded seal J
suddenly pops up right in front of the kaiak, and is
harpooned in an instant. It makes a frightful wal
lowing and dives, the harpoon-line whirls out, but
suddenly gets fouled under the bird-dart throwing-
stick ; the bow of the kaiak is drawn under with an
irresistible rush, and before Tobias knows where he
is, the water is up to his armpits, and nothing can be
seen of him but his head and shoulders and the stern
of the kaiak, which sticks right up into the air. It
looks as if it were aU over with him ; those who are
near him pjaddle with aU their might to his assist
ance, but with scant hope of arriving in time to save
him. Tobias, however, is a first-rate kaiak-man. In
spite of his difficult position, he keeps upon even keel
while he is dragged through the water by the seal,
which does aU it can to get him entirely under. At
last it comes up again, and in a moment he has seized
his lance and, with a deadly aim, has pierced it right
through the head. A feeble movement, and it is
dead. The others come up in time to find Tobias
busy making his booty fast and to get their pieces of
blubber from it.2 They cannot restrain their admira-
1 Hoettesoel, the full-grown male of the Klapmyts (bladder-nose).
It has a hood over its nose, which it can innate enormously.
2 When a seal is killed, each of the kaiak-men in the neighbourhood
receives a piece of its blubber, which he generally devours forthwith. F

66 ESKIMO LIFE
tion for his coolness and skill, and speak of it long
afterwards. Tobias and Boas, however, are the best
hunters of the village. It is related of them that, in
their younger days, they were such masters of their
craft that they even disdained the use of bladders.
They made fast the harpoon-line round their own
waist or round the kaiak-ring, and when the har
pooned seal was not killed at the first stroke, they
let it drag themselves and the kaiak after it instead
of the bladder. This is looked upon by the Green-
landers as the summit of possible achievement, but
there are very few who attain such mastery.
Hitherto the weather has been fine, the glassy
surface of the sea has been heaving softly under the
rising sun. But in the course of the last hour or
two, black and threatening banks of clouds have
begun to draw up over the southern horizon. Just
as Tobias has made fast his seal, a distant roar is
heard and a sort of steam can be seen rising over
the sea to the southward. It is a storm approaching,
and the steam is the flying spray which it drives
before it. Of all winds, the Greenlanders fear the
south wind (nigek) most, for it is always violent and
sets up a heavy sea.
The thing is now to get under the land as quickly
as possible. Those who have no seals in tow have
the best of it, yet they try to keep with the others.

B I!
H
aW
oacq

THE ESKIMO AT SEA

67

One relieves Boas of one of his seals. They have
not paddled far before the storm is upon them ; it
thrashes the water to foam as it approaches, and the
kaiak-men feel it on their backs, like a giant lifting
and hurling them forward. The sport has now
turned to earnest ; the seas soon tower into moun
tains of water and break and welter down upon
them. They are making for the land with the wind
nearly abeam ; but they are stiU far off, they can see
nothing around them for the spray, and almost every
wave buries them so that only a few heads, arms,
and ends of paddles can be seen above the combs of
froth. Here comes a gigantic roUer — they can see it
shining black and white in the far distance. It
towers aloft so that the sky is almost hidden. In
a moment they have stuck their paddles under the
thongs on the windward side and bent their bodies
forward so that the crest of the wave breaks upon
their backs. For a second almost everything has dis
appeared ; those who are further a-lee await their turn
in anxiety ; then the biUow passes, and once more the
kaiaks skim forward as before. But such a sea does
not come singly ; the next will be worse. They hold
their paddles flat to the deck and projecting to wind
ward, bend their bodies forward, and at the moment
when the white cataract thunders down upon them
E 2

68 ESKIMO LIFE
they hurl themselves into its very jaws, thus some
what breaking its force. For a moment they have
again disappeared — then one kaiak comes up on even
keel, and presently another appears bottom upwards.
It is Pedersuak (i.e. the big Peter) who has capsized.
His comrade speeds to his side, but at the same
moment the third wave breaks over them and he
must look out for himself. It is too late — the two
kaiaks lie heaving bottom upwards. The second
manages to right himself, and his first thought is for
his comrade, to whose assistance he once more
hastens. He runs his kaiak alongside of the other,
lays his paddle across both, bends down so that he
gets hold under the water of his comrade's arm, and
with a jerk drags him up upon his side, so that he
too can get hold of the paddle and in an instant raise
himself upon even keel. The water-tight jacket has
come a little loose from the ring on one side and
some water has got in ; not so much, however, but
that he can still keep afloat. The others have in the
meantime come up ; they get hold of the lost paddle,
and all can again push forward.
It grows worse and worse for those who have
seals in tow; they lag far behind, and the great
beasts lie heaving and jarring against the sides of the
kaiaks. They think of sacrificing their prey, but one
difficult sea passes after another, and they wiU still

A KAIAK-MAN RESCUING A COMRADE

THE ESKIMO AT SEA 69
try to hang on for a while. The proudest moments
in a hunter's life are those in which he comes home
towing his prey, and sees his wife's, his daughter's,
and his handmaiden's happy faces beaming upon
him from the shore. Far out at sea he already sees
them in his mind's eye, and rejoices like a child.
No wonder that he will not cast loose his prey save
at the direst pinch of need.
After passing through many ugly rollers, they
have at last got under the land. Here they are
somewhat protected by a group of islands lying far
to the southward. The seas become less violent, and,
as they gradually get further in, they push on more
quickly for home over the smoother water.
In the meantime the women at home have been
in the greatest anxiety. When the storm arose they
ran up to the outlook-rock or out upon the headlands,
and stood there in groups gazing eagerly over the
angry sea for their sons, husbands, fathers, and
brothers. So they stand watching and shivering,
until, with eyes rendered keener by anxiety, they at
last discern what seem like black specks approaching
from the horizon, and the whole village echoes to one
glad shout : ' They are coming ! They are coming ! '
They begin to count how many there are ; two are
missing ! No, there is one of them ! No, they are
aU there ! They are aU there !

70 ESKIMO LIFE
They soon begin to recognise individuals, partly
by their method of paddling, partly by the kaiaks,
although as yet they are little more than tiny dots.
Suddenly there sounds a wild shout of joy : ' Boase
kaligpok ! ' (' Boas is towing ') — him they easily
identify by his size. This joyful intelligence passes
from house to house, the children rush around and
shout it in through the windows, and the groups
upon the rocks dance for joy, Then comes a new
shout : ' Ama Tobiase kaligpok ! ' (' Tobias too is
towing ') ; and this news likewise passes from house
to house. Next is heard : ' Ama Simo kaligpok ! '
' Ama David kaligpok ! ' And now again comes
another swarm of women out of the houses and up
to the rocks to look out over the sea breaking white
against the islets and cliffs, where eleven black dots
can now and then be seen far out amid the rolling
masses of water, moving slowly nearer.
At last the leading kaiaks shoot into the little bight
in front of the village. They are those who have no
seals. Lightly and with assured aim one after the
other dashes up on the flat beach, carried high upon
the crest of the waves. The women stand ready to
receive them and to draw them further up.
Then come those who have seals in tow ; they
must proceed somewhat more cautiously. First, they
cast loose their prey and see that it comes to the

THE ESKIMO AT SEA 71
hands of the women on shore. Then they themselves
make for the land. When once they have got out of
the kaiak, they, like the first comers, pay no heed to
anything but themselves and their weapons, which
they carry to their places above high-water mark.
They do not even look at their prey as it lies on the
shore. From this time forward all work in connec
tion with the ' take ' faUs to the share of the women.
The men go to their homes, take off their wet
clothes and put on their indoor dress, which, as we
have seen, was in the heathen times exceedingly
airy, but has now become more visible.
Then at last comes the first meal of the day ; but
it does not begin in earnest till the day's ' take ' is
boiled and served up in a huge dish placed in the
middle of the floor. Then there disappear incredible
quantities of flesh and raw blubber.
When hunger is appeased, the women always set
themselves to some household work, sewing or the
like, whilst the men give themselves up to weU-earned
laziness, or attend a little to their weapons, hang up
the harpoon-line to dry, and so forth.
Then the hunters begin to relate the events of the
day, the family listening eagerly, especiaUy the boys.
The narrative is sober, with none of that boasting or
striving to impress the hearers with an exaggerated
idea of the difficulties overcome, in which we

72 ESKIMO LIFE
Europeans, under similar circumstances, would often
indulge. But at the same time it is lively and picturesque,
with a peculiar breadth of colouring. Experiences
are described with illustrative gestures, and, as
Dalager says : " When they have come so far in the
story that the cast has to be depicted, they swing the
right arm in the air while the left is held straight out
to represent the animal. Then the demonstration
goes on as follows : ' When the time came for using
the harpoon, I looked to it, I took it, I seized it, I
gripped it, I had it fast in my hand, I balanced it ' —
and so forth. This alone may go on for several
minutes, until at last the hand sinks to represent the
throw ; and after that they do not forget to make
note of the last twitches given by the seal."
At other times the most remarkable events are
dismissed in a few words. But as often as an
opportunity presents itself, a broad humour enters
into the narration, and. is unfailingly rewarded by
shrieks of laughter from the eager listeners. No
more perfect picture could be imagined of happy
family life.
So the days pass for the Eskimo. Although there
is nothing unusual in experiences such as these, they
have for him a distinct attraction. His best thoughts
are wedded to the sea, the hard life upon it is for him

THE ESKIMO AT SEA 73
the kernel of existence — and when he is forced to
remain at home, his heart is heavy. But when he
grows old — ah, then the saga is over. There is
always a melancholy in old age, and nowhere more
than here. These kindly old men have also in their
day known strength and youth — times when they
were the pillars of their little society. Now they
have only the memories of that life left to them, and
they must let themselves be fed by others. But when
the young people come home from sea with their
booty, they, too, hobble down to the beach to receive
them ; even if it were but a poor foreigner like me,
they were glad to be able to help me ashore with my
kaiak. And then when evening comes they set them
selves to story-teUing ; adventure follows adventure,
the past comes to life again, and the young people
are spurred on to action.
The hunting is often more dangerous than that
described above. It wiU easily be understood that
from his constrained position in the kaiak, which
does not permit of much turning, the hunter can
not throw backwards or to the right. If, then,
a wounded seal suddenly attacks him from these
quarters, it requires both skill and presence of mind
to elude it or to turn so quickly as to aim a fatal
throw at it before it has time to do him damage. It
is just as bad when he is attacked from below, or

74 ESKIMO LIFE
when the animal suddenly shoots up close at his side,
for it is lightning-like in its movements and lacks
neither courage nor strength. If it once gets up on
the kaiak and capsizes it, there is little hope of
rescue. It will often attack the hunter under water,
or throw itself upon the bottom of the kaiak and
tear holes in it. In such a predicament, it needs very
unusual self-mastery to preserve the coolness neces
sary for recovering oneself upon even keel and re
newing the fight with the furious adversary. And
yet it sometimes happens that after being thus
capsized the kaiak-man brings the seal home in
triumph. A stiU more terrible adversary is the walrus ;
therefore there are generally several in company
when they go walrus-hunting, so that one can stand
by another if anything should happen. But often
enough, too, a single hunter will attack and over
come this monster.
The walrus, I need scarcely say, is a huge animal
of as much as 16 feet (5 metres) in length, with a thick
and tough hide, a deep layer of blubber, a terribly
hard skull, and a powerful body. There needs, then,
a sure and strong arm to kill it. The walrus has the
habit, as soon as it is attacked, of turning upon its
assailant, and will often, with its ugly tusks, make
itself exceedingly unpleasant. If there are several

A KAIAK-MAN ATTACKED BY A WALRUS

THE ESKIMO AT SEA 75
walruses in a flock, they will very likely surround
him and attack him all at once.
Even the Norwegian hunters, who go after the
walrus in large, strong boats, each containing many
men, armed with guns, lances, and axes — even they
stand much in aAve of it.
How much more courage and skill does it re
quire for the Eskimo to attack it in his frail skin
canoe, with his light ingenious projectiles — and
alone !
But this is no unusual occurrence for the Eskimo.
He fights out his fight with his dangerous adver
sary ; calmly, with his lance ready poised for throw
ing, he awaits its attack, and, cooUy seizing his
advantage, he at the right moment plunges the
weapon into its body.
Coolness is more than ever essential in walrus-
hunting, for the most unforeseen difficulties may
arise ; and catastrophes are by no means rare. At
Kangamiut, some years ago, a kaiak was attacked
from below, and a long walrus-tusk was suddenly
thrust through its bottom, through the man's thigh,
and right up through the deck. His comrades at
once rushed to his assistance, and the man was
rescued and helped ashore.
Besides these animals, the Eskimo also attacks
whales from his little kaiak. There is one species in

76 ESKIMO LIFE
particular which is more dangerous than any other —
the grampus, or, as he caUs it, ardluk. With its
strength, its swiftness, and its horrible teeth, if it
happens to take the offensive, it can make an end of
a kaiak in an instant. Even the Eskimo fears it ;
but that does not prevent him from attacking it
when opportunity offers.
In former times they hunted the larger whales as
well, using, however, the great woman-boats, with
many people in them, both men and women. For
this sort of whale-hunting, says Hans Egede, ' they
get themselves up in their greatest finery as if for a
marriage, for otherwise the whale will avoid them ;
he cannot endure uncleanliness.' The whale was
harpooned, or rather pierced with a big lance, from
the bow, and it sometimes happened that with a
whisk of its tail it would crush the boat or capsize
it. The men were often so daring as to jump on
the whale's back, when it began to be exhausted, in
order to give it a finishing stroke. This method of
hunting is now unusual.
It is not only the larger animals that expose the
Eskimo to danger. Even in ordinary fishing — for
example, for halibut — disasters may happen. If one
has not taken care to keep the line clear, and it gets
fouled in one place or another, while the strong fish
is making a sudden dash for the bottom, the crank

THE ESKIMO AT SEA 77
kaiak is easily enough capsized. Many have met
their end in this way.
But we must not dweU too long on the shady
sides of life. I hope I have succeeded in givino- the
reader a slight impression of the life of the Eskimo
at sea, and of some of the dangers whicli are his
daily lot — enough, perhaps, to have convinced him
that this race is not lacking in courage when it
comes to the pinch, nor in endurance and cool self-
command. But the Eskimo has more than this ; when
disaster overtakes him, he will" often show the rarest
endurance and hardihood. In spite of the many
dangers and sufferings inseparable from his industry,
he devotes himself to it with joy. If the history of
the Es.kim.os had ever been written, it would have
been one long series of feats of courage and forti-
tude ; and how much moving self-sacrifice and devo
tion to others would have had to be recorded!
How many deeds of heroism have been irrecover
ably forgotten ! And this is the people whom we
Europeans have called worthless and cowardly, and
have thought ourselves entitled to despise.

ESKIMO LIFE

CHAPTER V
WINTER-HOUSES, TENTS, WOMAN-BOATS, AND
EXCURSIONS.
In winter the Greenlanders live in houses built of
stones and turf. They rise only from four to six feet
(one and a half to two metres) above the level of the
ground, and the floor is sunk somewhat beneath it.
The roof is flat or slightly arched. From outside, the
whole structure generally looks like an insignificant
mound of earth.
There is only one room in these houses, and in it
several families generally live together — men and
women, young and old. The roof is so low that a
man of any stature can scarcely stand upright. The
room forms an oblong quadrangle. Along the whole
of the longer wall, opposite the door, runs the chief
sleeping-bench, about six feet six inches in width,
upon which sleep the married people, with grown-up
unmarried daughters and young boys and girls.
Here they lie in a row, side by side, with their feet
towards the wall and their heads out into the room.
Hans Egede Saabye says, in his before-mentioned

WINTER-HOUSES, TENTS, WOMAN-BOATS, &o. 79
Journal, that they make their marriage-bed under the
sleeping-bench. I saw nothing to indicate that any
such practice now exists anywhere in the Godthaab
district. Unmarried men generaUy lie upon smaller benches
under the windows, which are in the opposite long
wall, and of which there are one, two, or three,
according to the size of the house. The windows
were formerly filled with gut-skin, or some similar
material ; but nowadays, on the west coast, glass is
commonly used. Against the side walls, too — the
shorter waUs — there are generally benches. These,
or the window-benches, are, as a rule, assigned to
strangers as their sleeping-places.
When several families, as is generally the case,
dweU in one house, the chief sleeping-bench is divided
into staUs — one for each family. The stalls are marked
off by wooden posts, placed against the outer edge of
the bench, and reaching to the roof, from which low
partitions extend to the back waU. It is incredible
how little room they are content with. Captain Holm
describes a house on the east coast which measured
about twenty-seven feet by fourteen and a half, and
in which dwelt eight families, consisting in all of
thirty-eight persons. In one stall, four feet broad,
dwelt a man with two wives and seven children.
This does not give much space to each.

80 ESKIMO LIFE
They use sealskins or reindeer-skins to lie upon,
and also, in former days, as bedclothes, going to
bed entirely naked, with the exception of the before-
mentioned indoor dress. Nowadays, on the west
coast, down quilts are commonly used as bedclothes.
Internally, the waUs of the house were in former
times always lined with skins. The floor was formed
by the naked earth, partly paved with flags. Nowa
days, since the introduction of so much European
luxury, they have begun, on the west coast, to line
the walls with boards and to lay wooden floors.
They have even, to a certain extent, adopted the
habit of washing the floors — so much as several
times a year.
The house is entered through a long and narrow
passage, partly dug out beneath the level of the
ground, and, like the houses, walled with stones and
turf. You descend into it from the level of the
ground through a hole. It is, as a rule, so low and
narrow that one has to crouch one's way through it,
and a large man finds it difficult enough to effect an
entrance. I was told at Sardlok of a fat storekeeper
from Godthaab who stuck fast at a difficult point in
the passage leading to Terkel's house There he
stuck, struggling and roaring, but could not advance,
and still less retreat. In the end, he had to get four
small boys to help him, two shoving behind and two,

WINTER-HOUSES, TENTS, WOMAN-BOATS, &c. 81
from within the house, dragging him in front by the
arms. They laboured and toiled in the sweat of their
brows, but the man was jammed as fast as a wad in a
gun-barrel, and there was some thought of puUing
down the walls of the passage in order to liberate
him, before he at last managed to squeeze through.
If I remember rightly, a window had to be torn down
in order to let him out of the house again.
From the passage, you enter the house through a
little square opening, usually in the front long wall,
which is closed by a door or trap-door.
The purpose of this passage is to prevent the cold
air from coming in and the warm light air from
escaping. It is to this end that it is made to lie
lower than the house ; by which means, too, a little
ventilation is obtained, since the heavy bad air can,
to some extent, sink down into it and escape.
In Greenland houses of the old style there are no
fireplaces ; they are warmed, as weU as lighted, by
train-oil lamps, which burn day and night. They
are left burning aU night through, not merely for the
sake of warmth, but also because the Eskimos are
exceedingly superstitious, and therefore afraid of
even sleeping in darkness. You may hear them
relate, as a proof of extreme poverty, that this family
or that, poor things, have to sleep at night with no
lamp burning. G

82 ESKIMO LIFE
The lamps are large, flat open saucers of soap-
stone. They are of semi-circular form, and along
the straight side lies the wick, which is formed of dry
moss, or, nowadays, of cotton. These lamps rest on
a wooden stand, and are placed on a little table or
raised place in front of the sleeping-bench. There is
generally one of these lamp-tables to each family. If
several families dwell in one house, there are many
lamps, for each family has at least one burning, and,
as a rule, more.
In former days, food used to be cooked over these
lamps in soapstone pots, which hung from the roof.
The preparation of food, like every other business of
life, of course went on in the common room.
So it is to this day on the east coast. • On the
west coast, modern civilisation has effected a change,
in so far that food is now generally cooked in a
special room with a fireplace, built on to the side of
the passage leading into the house. Peat is used as
fuel in these fireplaces, and also lumps of dried sea
gulls' dung. Iron saucepans, too, bought at the
stores in the colonies, are now used instead of soap-
stone pots.
Many West Greenlanders have, moreover, become
so highly sophisticated as to have bought stoves,
which they use instead of the train-oil lamps for
heating their houses. The fuel used is the same as

WINTER-HOUSES, TENTS, WOMAN-BOATS, &o. 83
that mentioned above. At the same time, however,
the indispensable lamps are kept burning, for the
sake of light, if for no other reason.
Li former days the houses were generaUy large,
and several families lived in each. By this means
they were able to economise in fuel, and they lived
warmly and comfortably, while in many other ways
the habitation in common was found advantageous.
In this point the influence of the Europeans has
been unfortunate. They have encouraged the dis
tribution of the families into separate small houses,
and have even offered prizes for house-building; it
was thought to be such a grand thing that each
famUy should have its own home for itself. The
result was that the houses became poorer and colder,
more material in proportion was needed for warming
and fighting — material which was not always forth
coming — and the advantages of the old system of
partial communism were sacrificed ; so that the
separation tended to the greater discomfort of the
greater number.
In winter, when everything is frozen hard, these
houses are aU well enough ; but in summer, when
the moisture exudes i'rom the thawing waUs and the
roof leaks and sometimes falls in, they are anything
but wholesome dweUing-places. As soon as spring
arrives, therefore, with the month of April, the
G 2

84 ESKIMO LIFE
Greenlanders used always in former days to quit
their houses, often unroofing them themselves, in
order that they might be thoroughly ventilated and
washed out by the autumn rains — an exceedingly
simple method of house-cleaning.
The whole summer through, and a good way
into the autumn (until September or October), the
Greenlanders dwelt in tents, each family, as a rule,
having its own. These tents are of a peculiar semi
circular form, with the entrance-door in the high
flat side. Internally, they are arranged very like
the houses, with the sleeping-bench running along
the curved back wall opposite to the door, which
is closed with a curtain of semi-transparent gut-
skin. The waUs of the tent consist of an outer
layer of water-tight skin with the hair taken off
(old boat-skins being used as a rule), and an inner
layer of reindeer- or seal-skin with the fur turned
inwards. These tents are tolerably warm, and in
them, as in their houses, they go without clothes.
The woman-boat is inseparably connected with
this summer tent-life. These boats, which are from
30 to 40 feet long (10 to 12 metres), have received
their name from the Europeans, because, unlike the
kaiaks, they are rowed by women.
They are entirely open boats, consisting of a
wooden framework covered with sealskin, and are

1

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AN ESKIMO CAMP

WINTER-HOUSES, TENTS, WOMAN-BOATS, &c. 85
narrow in proportion to their length, and flat-
bottomed. They are easy to row, but their shape
renders them defective and inconvenient sea-boats,
so that as soon as there is any wind the Greenlanders
make for the land with them. They have generaUy
a small sail which can be set in the bow, for running
before a fair wind ; but it wiU be readily understood
that they are not good sailing-boats. Sailing is, on
the whole, a pursuit of which the Eskimo under
stands Uttle, and for which he has no great liking.
In these boats there is room for all a family's
worldly goods — tents, household implements, dogs,
children, women, &c. They are rowed by as many
as half a score of oarswomen, and when they are so
weU ' manned,' they attain a good speed. A run of
fifty EngUsh miles a day is not at all uncommon.
They are generaUy steered by the paterfamihas,
while the other males of the family follow in their
kaiaks. In their - woman-boats, the Greenlanders used
to move from one hunting-ground to another aU
through the summer. For one or two months they
always went far up the fiords in search of reindeer,
and there they lived on the fat of the land.
In those days they often undertook long journeys
up and down the west coast, as they do to this day
on the east coast. To show how long these journeys

86 ESKIMO LIFE
sometimes are, I may mention that on the east coast
families travel from the Angmagsalik district, in 65^°
north latitude, the whole way to the trading-settle
ments west of Cape Farewell, and back again — a
distance of about 500 miles. They do not generaUy
travel quickly; one of two woman-boats which we
met on the east coast at Cape Bille in 1888, on their
way southwards, did not reach Pamiagdluk, west of
Cape Farewell, until two years later, in 1890 — and
this is only a distance of some 180 miles, which we
with our boats could no doubt have covered in a
week or two. But as soon as the Eskimos come to a
place where there are plenty of seals, they go ashore,
pitch their camp, take to hunting, and live at their
ease. When the autumn and winter approach, they
choose a good site and build a winter-house, con
tinuing their journey in the spring or summer as
soon as the ice permits. The woman-boat in ques
tion had in this manner spent three years on the
passage from Umivik, and would no doubt take
pretty nearly as long to return. The other woman-
boat that was passing southwards from Cape BiUe
got as far as Nanusek, about 65 miles from the
trading-settlements west of Cape Farewell, and there
went into winter quarters ; but then the father of
the family died, and they faced round and set about
the long journey back to Angmagsalik, without ever

A SUMMER JOURNEY

WINTER-HOUSES, TENTS, WOMAN-BOATS, &c. 87
having reached their goal, the trading-settlements,
or accomplished their errand.
Journeys along the west coast were of course
easier and more rapid, as the drift ice did not there
present impediments.
By means of this habit of wandering they es
caped the evil effects of too great seclusion in
separate viUages ; they met together and kept up
intercourse with other people, so that there was all
through the summer a certain life and traffic from
which they reaped many benefits. Their minds were
enlivened, interest in hunting was stimulated, and
skiU was developed in many different ways, to say
nothing of the fact that the frequent changing of
hunting-grounds brought much more game within
their reach.
This summer life in the comparatively clean,
airy tents, besides being exceedingly pleasant, was .
as we may easily understand, very much healthier
than confinement in the close, evil-smeUing earth
cabins. No wonder, then, that the Greenlanders'
fairest dreams of happiness were associated with the
woman-boat and the tent.
Here again, alas ! we Europeans have brought
about melancholy changes. Hans Egede, indeed,
complained bitterly of the difficulty of getting the
Greenlanders to leave off their perpetual wanderings

88 ESKIMO LIFE
and settle down peaceably in one place, so that he
could preach Christianity to them at his ease ; he
even proposed that they should be forcibly bound
down to a less migratory life. If this pious man,
who thought of nothing but the advancement of the
Kingdom of God, had been living now, he might in so
far have been happy ; for the Christian Greenlanders of
to-day scarcely travel at all. By reason of the great
impoverishment which we have brought upon them,
there are every day fewer and fewer hunters who can
procure enough skins to make a woman-boat and a
tent, both of which are of course necessary for travel
ling. They are more and more forced to pass the
whole year round in the unwholesome winter houses,
which are, of course, mere hot-beds for bacteria and
all sorts of contagious diseases, while the men are
thus unable to change their hunting-grounds, and
must keep to the same spots year out year in. By
this means the ' take ' is of course greatly diminished,
food is consequently much less plentiful, and the in
dispensable sealskins become fewer and fewer. As
soon as the whole Greenland community has sunk to
the level of Egede's ideal and has entirely abandoned
its migratory habits, it will be almost, if not quite,
beyond salvation. The decline in this direction has
of late years been very alarming.

CHAPTER VI
COOKERY AND DAINTIES
One feature of the Greenlanders' daily life, which to
us seems strange enough, is that they have no fixed
meal-times ; they simply eat when they are hungry, if
there is anything to be had. As already mentioned,
the hunters often go the whole day without anything
to eat. They have a remarkable power of doing
without food, but to make up for this they can con
sume at a sitting- astonishing quantities of meat,
blubber, fish, &c.
Their cookery is simple and easy to learn.
Meat and fish are eaten sometimes raw or frozen,
sometimes boUed, sometimes dried ; and sometimes
meat is aUowed to undergo a sort of decomposition
or fermentation, when it is called mikiak, and is eaten
without further preparation. A dish of this sort,
which is very highly esteemed, is rotten seals'-
heads. The blubber of seals and whales is generally eaten
raw. My dainty readers will of course shudder at
the very thought of eating raw blubber ; but I can

90 ESKIMO LIFE
assure them that, especially when quite fresh, it is
very good. It has a sweetish, perhaps rather
mawkish, taste, reminding one of cream, with nothing
of what we should call an oily or fishy flavour ; this
does not make itself felt until the blubber has been
boiled or roasted, or when it has grown rancid. There
are still people, no doubt, who believe that the Eskimos
are in the habit of drinking train-oil, although even
Hans Egede has pointed out that this is a mistake.
That they do not always refuse it, however, when it
comes in their way, I was able to assure myself at
Godthaab ; for I always saw our old maid-servant
Eosina take a sip or two out of our lamp when she
was cleaning it in the morning, and, as she usually
did, had filled the vessel a little too full. It did not
seem at all to disagree with her.
They also preserve the stalks of angelica in train-
oil, preparing them, according to Saabye's account,
in the following peculiar fashion ; ' A woman takes a
mouthful of blubber, chews it, ahd spits it out, and
so continues until she thinks she has enough. When
the angelica-stalks have steeped for a certain time in
this liquid, they are taken out and eaten as dessert
with much appetite.'
Of vegetable food, the primitive Greenlanders used
several sorts ; in addition to angelica, I may mention
dandelions, sorrel, crowberries, bilberries, and different

COOKERY AND DAINTIES 91
kinds of seaweed. One of their greatest delicacies is
the contents of a reindeer's stomach. If a Green
lander kiUs a reindeer, and is unable to convey much
of it home with him, he will, I believe, secure the
stomach first of aU ; and the last thing an Eskimo
lady enjoins upon her lover, when he sets off rein
deer-hunting, is that he must reserve for her the
stomach of his prey. It is no doubt because they
stand in need of vegetable food that they prize this
so highly, and also because it is in reality a very
choice collection of the finest moss and grasses which
that gourmet, the reindeer, picks out for himself. It
has undergone a sort of stewing in the process of
semi-digestion, while the gastric juice provides a
somewhat sharp and aromatic sauce. Many will no
doubt make a wry face at the thought of this dish,
but they reaUy need not do so. I have- tasted it,
and found it not uneatable, though somewhat sour,
like fermented milk. As a dish for very special
occasions, it is served up with pieces of blubber and
crowberries. Another dish, which will doubtless shock many
Europeans, is the entrails of ptarmigans. In this
case they do not confine themselves to the stomachs,
but devour in a twinkling the viscera with their con
tents. The remainder of the ptarmigan they sell to
the traders for a penny or less (5 to 8 ore). This

92 ESKIMO LIFE
is the reason why, in Greenland, one never sees
ptarmigan whole, except those one has shot oneself.
One time when we went on a hunting expedition
up the Ameralik fiord, and had the Greenlander Joel
with us, he devoted a day to tearing the entrails out
of all our ptarmigan ; but as they numbered a good
many more than a hundred, he could not devour the
whole on the spot, and gathered up the remains in a
large sack. Upon its delicious contents, which must
have become a sort of gruel before he reached home,
he no doubt intended to feast in company with his
well-beloved Anna Cornelia. I hope the reader will
pardon my inability to inform him how this dish
tastes ; it was the one Greenland dehcacy which I
could not make up my mind to essay.
Among other dainties I must mention the skin
(matak) of different sorts of whales, especially of
white whale and porpoise, which is regarded as the
acme of deliciousness. The skin is taken off with the
layer of blubber next to it, and is eaten raw without
further ceremony. I must offer the Eskimos my
sincerest congratulations on the invention of this
dish. I can assure the reader that now, as I write
of it, my mouth waters at the very thought of matak
with its indescribably delicate taste of nuts and
oysters mingled. And then it has this advantage
over oysters, that the skin is as tough as india-rubber

COOKERY AND DAINTIES 93
to masticate, so that the enjoyment can be protracted
to any extent. Even the Danes in Greenland are
greatly addicted to this delicacy when it is to be
had ; they cook it, however, as a rule, thus making
it of a jeUyish consistency and easy of mastica
tion. The taste of nuts and oysters 'disappears
entirely. A delicate dish, which does not, however, rival
matak, is raw hahbut-skin. It has the same advan
tage that, by reason of its toughness, it goes such a
long way. I can confidently recommend it as ex
ceedingly palatable, especiaUy in winter.
The Greenlander is also very fond of raw seal
skin with the blubber. Its taste was very tolerable,
but I could not quite reconcile myself to the hairs,
and therefore took the liberty of spitting them out
again, after having made several vain attempts to
swallow them.
They eat the flesh of seals, whales, reindeer, birds,
hares, bears, even of dogs and foxes. The only
things, so far as I know, that they despise, are ravens ;
as these birds feed to some extent upon the dung-
heaps, they are regarded, like the plants that grow
there, as unclean.
Lean meat they do not care about at all ; there
fore they prefer, for example, sea-birds to ptarmigan.
It happened once that in one of the colonies in South

94 ESKIMO LIFE
Greenland, a clergyman, who had just arrived in the
country, invited some of his flock to a party, and his
wife treated them to the greatest delicacy she knew,
namely, roast ptarmigan. The Greenlanders ate very
sparingly of it, though their hostess pressed it hospi
tably upon them. At last she asked whether they did
not like ptarmigan. Oh yes, they answered, they ate
it sometimes — when there was a famine.
What I have said above wiU doubtless be enough
to prove that the Eskimos .are by no means so easily
contented in their diet as is generally supposed. In
famine times, however, they will eat almost anything.
Dalager assures us that they will, for example, ' cut
their tent skins to pieces and make soup with them,'
and it is not uncommon to hear of some one who has
made soup of his old skin trousers.
The method of serving the food differs consider
ably from that which obtains in Europe. There are
no tables in the Greenland house ; therefore the dish
is placed in the middle of the floor, and the people sit
on the benches around, and dip into it with the forks
provided by Nature. It seldom occurs to them to
place the dish upon a box or any other raised place ;
it seems almost a necessity for ,them to stoop. An
example of this may be found in an anecdote of
a young Danish lady who, soon after her arrival in
Greenland, got some Eskimo women into her house

COOKERY AND DAINTIES 95
to do washing. Coming into the wash-house, she
found them bending over the wash-tubs, which stood
upon the floor, and, thinking this an awkward
position, she brought them some stools to place the
tubs upon. Shortly afterwards she went in again
to see how they were getting on, and found them,
to her astonishment, standing upon the stools and,
of course, stooping stiU more awkwardly over the
tubs, which remained upon the floor. Se non e vero
e ben trovato.
Of aU the many delicacies to which we have
introduced them, the Christian Greenlanders are most
addicted to coffee, and the indulgence in it has on
the west coast become almost a vice. They brew it
strong, and seldom drink less than two large bowls
at a time ; and it is not at all unusual for them to
take coffee four or five times a day — it tastes so nice
and puts them in such exceUent spirits. They are
not insensible to its deleterious effects, however, and
therefore young men are allowed little or none of it,
lest it should spoil them for hunting. A dizziness
from which the older men sometimes suffer, and
which makes them unsteady in the kaiak, they
attribute in large part to coffee. This harmonises
curiously with the results of recent physiological
experiments, which have shown that the most
dangerous poisons contained in coffee — cafeonet, &c.

96 ESKIMO LIFE
— attack precisely that part of the nervous system
on which equilibrium depends.
Next to coffee they are devoted to tobacco and
bread. On the west coast, tobacco is for the most
part smoked or chewed ; while snuff is the East
Greenlanders' weakness. The women on the west
coast, too, are given to snuffing, and it is often an
unpleasant surprise to observe an attractive young
woman blackening her nostrils and upper lip with
a copious pinch. They grind their own snuff with
flat stones, out of undamped roll-tobacco, which they
cut up small and dry over the lamp. To make it go
further it is sometimes mixed with powdered stone ;
and it is kept in horns of different sizes. On the
east coast, snuff performs a definite social function.
The Eskimos have no words for ' good-day ' or ' wel
come,' and fill up the gap by offering their snuff-horns
to any stranger who is acceptable in their sight,
whereupon the newcomer responds by offering his
horn in exchange. When they part, the same cere
mony is repeated.
The West Greenlanders prepare their chewing
tobacco in a way which to us seems somewhat sur
prising. A deep Danish porcelain pipe is half-filled
with smoking-tobacco, which is then thoroughly
drenched with water, after which the pipe is filled
to the brim with dry tobacco ; then it is smoked till

COOKERY AND DAINTIES 97
the fire reaches the wet tobacco and is extinguished.
The ashes are then knocked out, and as much oil as
possible is scraped together from the oil-cell, the pipe-
stem, the old accretions in the pipe-bowl, &c, and is
added to the already well impregnated mass in the
bottom of the bowl, which is then considered ready
for chewing. This particularly strong preparation is
specially prized for use on board the kaiak. /
The Government has, fortunately, prohibited the
sale of brandy to the Greenlanders. Europeans,
however, are allowed to order it from home, and
may treat the Greenlanders with it. It is very
common to let them have a dram when they are
serving as rowers on board the boats of Europeans
traveUing in the summer-time, and after any bargain
has been concluded with them. It has furthermore
been wisely ordained that the kifaks, or those who
are in the employ of the Danish Company, get each
his dram every morning ; while the hunters, who
ought to be more capable and better men than the
kifaks, cannot obtain any without either entering
into the service of the Europeans or selling something
to them. They are passionately fond of brandy — women as
weU as men — not, as they often confided to me, be
cause they like the taste of it, but because it is so
delightful to be drunk; and they get drunk when-
/ H

98

ESKIMO LIFE

ever an opportunity offers, which is, happily, not
very often. That the intoxication is really the main
object in view appears also from the fact that the
kifaks do not greatly value their morning dram,
because it is not enough to make them drunk.
Several of them, therefore, agreed to bring their
portions into a common stock, one of them drinking
the whole to-day, the next to-morrow, and so on by
turns. Thus they could get comfortably drunk at
certain fixed intervals. When the authorities dis
covered this practice, however, they took means to
stop it.
Unlike their sisters here in Europe, the Eskimo
wives, as a rule, find their husbands charming in
their cups, and take great pleasure in the sight of
them. I must confess, indeed, that the Eskimos,
both men and women, seemed to me, with few ex
ceptions, considerably less repulsive, and, of course,
considerably more peaceable, in a state of intoxi
cation than Europeans are apt to be under similar
conditions.^/ When the Europeans first came to the country,
the natives could not at all understand the effects of
brandy. When Christn)as approached, they came
and asked Niels Egede when his people were going
to be ' mad ' ; for they thought that ' madness ' was
an inseparable accompaniment of the feast, and the

COOKERY AND DAINTIES 99
recurring paroxysm had become to them a landmark
in the almanack. They afterwards ascertained that
it was due to this liquor, which they therefore called
silaeriinartok — that is to say, the thing which makes
men lose their wits ; but now they usually call it
snapsemik.

H 2

100 ESKIMO LIFE

CHAPTEE VII
CHARACTER AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS
When I see all the wrangling and all the coarse
abuse of opponents which form the staple of the
different party newspapers at home, I now and then
wonder what these worthy politicians would say
if they knew anything of the Eskimo community,
and whether they would not blush before the people
whom that man of God, Hans Egede, characterises as
follows : — ' These ignorant, cold-blooded creatures,
living without order or discipline, with no knowledge
of any sort of worship, in brutish stupidity.' With
what good right would these ' savages ' look down
upon us, if they knew that here, even in the public
press, we apply to each other the lowest terms of
contumely, as for example ' liar,' ' traitor,' ' per
jurer,' ' lout,' ' rowdy,' &c, while they never utter
a syllable of abuse, their very language being un
provided with Words of this class, in which ours is
so rich. This contrast typifies a radical difference of
character. The Greenlander is of all God's creatures

CHARACTER AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS 101
gifted with the best disposition. Good-humour,
peaceableness, and evenness of temper are the most
prominent features in his character. He is eager to
stand on as good a footing as possible with his
feUow-men, and therefore refrains from offending
them and much more from using coarse terms of
abuse. He is very loth to contradict another even
should he be saying what he knows to be false ; if
he does so, he takes care to word his remonstrance in
the mildest possible form, and it would be very hard
indeed for him to say right out that the other was
lying. He is chary of teUing other people truths
which he thinks wiU be unpleasant to them ; in such
cases he chooses the vaguest expressions, even with
reference to such indifferent things as, for example,
wind and weather. His peaceableness even goes so
far that when anything is stolen from him, which
seldom happens, he does not as a rule reclaim it
even if he knows who has taken it. ' Give to every
man 'that asketh of thee ; and of him that taketh
away thy goods ask them not again ' (Luke vi. 30).
The result is that there is seldom or never any
quarrelling among them. The Greenlanders cannot
afford to waste time in wrangling amongst them
selves ; the struggle to wring from nature the neces
sities of life, that great problem of humanity, is
there harder than anywhere else, and therefore this

102 ESKIMO LIFE
little people has agreed to carry it on without need
less dissensions.
On the whole, the Greenlander is a happy being,
his soul being light and cheerful as a child's. If
sorrow overtakes him, he may perhaps suffer bitterly
for the moment ; but it is soon forgotten, and he is
once more as radiantly contented with existence as
he used to be.
This happy levity of his saves him from brooding
much upon the future. If he has enough to eat for
the moment, he eats it and is happy, even if he has
afterwards to suffer want — which is now, unfor
tunately, often the case, and becomes so oftener year
by year. His carelessness has frequently been made a sub
ject of bitter reproach to him. The missionaries
declare, no doubt rightly, that it makes him inacces
sible to civilisation, and have tried to exhort him to
greater providence and frugality. They quite over
look the fact that it is written, ' Take ye no thought
for the morrow. . . . Behold the fowls of the air :
for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather
into barns ; yet your heavenly Father feedeth
them.' This levity of mind has also its bright side ; it is
even, in a way, the Eskimo's chief strength.
Poverty and want have, with us, two conse-

CHARACTER AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS 103
quences. The most immediate is, of course, the
physical suffering ; but together with it and after it
comes mental suffering, ' the cares of bread,' the un
ceasing anxiety which pursues one night and day,
even in sleep, and embitters every hour of life. In the
majority of cases, this is probably what tells most upon
our poor people ; but for this, the bodily sufferings,
which, after aU, are generaUy transitory, would be
easily supported. But it is precisely from this phase
of suffering that the Eskimo's elastic spirit saves him.
Even a long period of starvation and endurance is at
once forgotten so soon as he is fed ; and the memory
of bygone sufferings can no more destroy his enjoy
ment and happiness, than can the fear of those which
to-morrow or the next day may bring. The only
thing that reaUy makes him unhappy is to see others
in want, and therefore he shares with them whenever
he has anything to share.
What chiefly cuts the Eskimos to the heart is to
see their children starving ; ' and therefore,' says
Dalager, ' they give food to their children even if
they themselves are ready to die of hunger ; for they
live every day in the hope of a happy change of
fortune — a hope which really sustains life in many
of them.' In order to obtain a clearer conception of the
radical difference between the Eskimo character and

104 ESKIMO LIFE
ours, we ought to study the Eskimos in their social
relations. It is not unusual to hear people express the
opinion that the Eskimo community is devoid of
law and order. This is a mistake.
Originally, on the contrary, it was singularly well
ordered. It had its customs and its fixed rules for
every possible circumstance, and these customs and
rules were handed down from generation to genera
tion, and were almost always observed ; for the
people are really incredibly well-disposed, as even
Egede himself, who has, as we have seen, written so
harshly of them, cannot help admitting in such a
passage as, for example, the following ; ' It is won
derful in what peace and unity they live with each
other ; for quarrelling and strife, hatred and covetous
ness, are seldom heard of among them.1 And even
if one of them happens to bear an ill-will to
another, he does not let it be seen, nor, on account
of their great tenderness for each other, does he
take upon himself to attack him openly with vio
lence or abuse, their language being indeed devoid
of the necessary words.' Observe that this is said
1 ' When they have seen our dissolute sailors quarrellmg and
fighting, they regard such behaviour as inhuman, and say : " They do
not treat each other as human beings." In the same way, if one of
the officers strikes a subordinate, they at once exclaim : " He behaves
to his fellow -men as if they were dogs." '

CHARACTER AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS 105
by a missionary of heathens, who, therefore, could
not have developed this peaceful temper through the
influence of Christianity.
Then came the Europeans. Without knowing or
understanding the people or its requirements, they
started from the assumption that it stood in need of
improvement in every possible way, and consequently
set to work to disturb and overturn the whole social
order. They tried to force upon the Eskimos a
totaUy new character, gave them, all in a moment,
a new religion, and broke down their respect for their
old customs and traditions, of course without being
able to give them new ones in their place. The
missionaries thought that they could make this wild,
free people of hunters into a civilised Christian
nation, without for a moment suspecting that at
heart these people were in many respects more
Christian than themselves, and, among other things,
like so many primitive people, had put into practice
the Christian doctrine of love (charity) very much
more fuUy than any Christian nation. The Euro
peans, in short, conducted themselves in Greenland
exactly as they are in the habit of doing wherever
they come forward in the name of the Christian
religion to ' make the poor heathen partakers in the
blessings of eternal truth.'
Very characteristic of this view is the following

106 ESKIMO LIFE
utterance of Egede's, of which I have already spoken :
' The inborn stupidity and dulness of the Green
landers, their slothful and brutish up-bringing, their
wandering and unstable way of life, certainly offer
great hindrances to their conversion, and ought as
much as possible to be obviated and remedied.' What
a lack of comprehension ! Only think, to want to
obviate and remedy the nomadic life of a tribe of
hunters ! What would remain to them ? I may
add that he at another time proposes to attain this
end by means of ' chastisement and discipline.'
The Eskimos at first listened in astonishment to
the strangers. They had hitherto been very well
content with themselves and their whole way of
living ; they did not know that man and his life
on earth were so miserable as the missionaries again
and again assured them they were. They had not,
as Egede says, ' any just realisation of their own
profound corruption,' and had great difficulty in
understanding a religion so cruel as to condemn
people to everlasting fire. They could quite weU
recognise ' original sin ' as a common characteristic
of the kavdlunaks (Europeans), for it was clear
enough that many of them were bad ; but the
kaladlit (Eskimos) were good people, and ought
without any trouble to get into heaven.
When in 1728 a number of Danish men and

CHARACTER AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS 107
women came to Godthaab to colonise the country,
many of them gave great offence to the heathens by
their evil ways, so that they ' often asked how it
was that so many of our people were so bad.
Women (that is, Greenland women), they said, are
naturally quiet and modest ; but these (the Euro
peans) were boisterous, brazen, and lacking in all
womanly propriety. Yet they surely all knew
God's will.' And the Greenlanders looked down
upon and laughed at the stupid, self-satisfied
Europeans who preached so finely but practised so
little what they preached, and who, besides, knew
nothing about hunting or about all the things whicli
the Eskimos regarded as the most important in life.
The power which comes of a higher development
graduaUy gave the Europeans the upper hand, so
that in the course of time they have brought about
a complete disturbance of the primitive social order,
and replaced it by an indeterminate mixture of
Eskimo and modern European habits and civilisa
tion ; whUe they have also effected a deplorable
mixture of breeds, and produced, without the help
of the clergy, an exceedingly mongrel population.
But, as the Eskimos are a very conservative
people, we can still find many important traces of
their primitive condition.
The Greenlanders, like all nations of hunters,

108 ESKIMO LIFE
have a very restricted sense of property ; but it is
a mistake to suppose it entirely non-existent.
As regards the great majority of things, a certain
communism prevails ; but this is always limited to
wider or narrower circles according to the nature
of the thing in question. Ascending from the
individual, we find in the family the narrowest
social circle ; then come housemates and the nearest
kinsfolk, and then all the families of the village.
Private property is most fully recognised in the
kaiak, the kaiak-dress and the hunting-weapons,
which belong to the hunter alone, and which no
one must touch. With them he supports himself
and his family, and he must therefore always be
sure of finding them where he last laid them; it
is seldom that they are even lent to others. In
former times, good hunters would often own two
kaiaks, but that is seldom the case now. Snow-
shoes may almost be regarded as belonging to
implements of the chase; but as they were intro
duced by the Europeans, they are not considered
matters of private property in the same degree ;
so that while an Eskimo seldom or never touches
another's weapons he will scarcely think twice about
using another's snow-shoes without asking leave.
Next to clothes and hunting implements come the
tools which are used in the houses, such as knives,

CHARACTER AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS 109
axes, saws, skin-cutters, &c. Many of these, and
•especially the women's sewing materials, are regarded
as altogether private property.
Other household implements are the common
property of the family or even of all the occupants
of the house. The woman-boat and the tent belong-
to the father of the family or to the family as a whole.
The house belongs to the family, and if several
families live together they own it in common.
The Eskimo knows nothing of private property
in land ; yet there seems to be a recognised rule that
no one shaU pitch a tent or build a house at a place
where people are already settled without obtaining
their consent.
As an example of their consideration for each
other in this respect I may cite a custom which was
thus described by Lars Dalager more than a hundred
years ago : ' In the summer, when they take their
tents and baggage with them, and think of settling
down at a place where other Greenlanders are living,
they row very slowly towards the shore, and when
they come to within a gunshot of it they stop and lie
upon their oars without saying a word. If those on
shore are equally silent and give no sign, the new
comers think they are not wanted and therefore row
away as fast as possible to some unoccupied place.
But if those on shore, as generally happens, meet

110 ESKIMO LIFE
them with compliments, such as : " Look here ! here
are good places for your tents, a good beach for your
woman-boats — come and rest after the labours of the
day ! " they, after a little consideration, lay in to
the shore where the others stand ready to receive
them and to help with the landing of the baggage.
But when they are starting again, the people of the
place confine themselves to helping in the launch oi
the woman-boat, and let the strangers themselves see
to the rest, unless they happen to be very good-friends
or near relations, in which case they are despatched
with the same marks of honour with which they
were received, and with ^some such phrases as this :
" Your visit will be a pleasant memory to us.'' ' :
We may perhaps find the rudiments of the con
ception of private property in land in the fact that
where dams have been built in a salmon river to
gather the fish together, it is not regarded as the
right thing if strangers come and interfere with the
dams or fish with nets in the 'dammed-up waters, as
Europeans were often in the habit of doing in earlier
times. This too is mentioned by Dalager.
Driftwood belongs to whoever first finds it float
ing in the sea, wherever it may happen to be. In
order to sustain his right to it, the finder is bound to
tow it ashore and place it above the high-water line,
1 Dalager, Gronlandske Relationer, Copenhagen, 1752, pp. 15-16.

CHARACTER AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS 111
if possible marking it in one way or another. For
this form of property the Eskimo has the greatest
respect, and one who has left a piece of driftwood on
the shore may be sure of finding it again even several
years after, unless Europeans have come along in the
meantime. Any one taking it would be regarded as
a scoundrel. As to their customs in lending and trading, I may
again quote Dalager : ' If one man lends another
anything, for example a boat, a harpoon, a fishing-
line, or other sea-implement, and it comes to harm —
if, for instance, the seal gets away with the harpoon,
or the fish breaks the line, or the fish or seal does
injury to the boat — the owner must bear the loss,
the borrower making no reparation. But if anyone
borrows darts or implements without the knowledge
of the owner, and they come to harm, the borrower
is bound to make good the damage. This happens
very seldom ; for a Greenlander must be hard pushed
before he wiU trouble his neighbour to lend him
anything, for fear of any harm occurring to it.
' When one makes a purchase from another, and
the wares do not suit him, he can return them even
after a considerable time has elapsed.
' If one buys of another such costly things as a
boat or a gun, and the buyer is not in a position to
satisfy the seller in ready money, he is allowed credit

112 ESKIMO LIFE
until he can pay up. But if the debtor dies in the
meantime, the creditor never makes any claim. This,'
adds Dalager, 'is an inconvenient habit for the
merchants of the colony, who are always bound to
give credit ; whereof I have had several experiences,
especially this year, many of my debtors having de
parted this life, and thus brought me into consider
able perplexity.'
On his complaining to k some influential and
reasonable Greenlanders,' they advised him ' to re
gister his claim at once, but to let the man's lice die
in the grave (as they expressed it) before he pro
ceeded to execution.'
Beyond the articles above enumerated,1 the
Greenlander, according to his primitive customs, can
possess but little. Even if he had a faculty for lay
ing up riches, which he very seldom has, his needier
fellows would have the right to enforce a claim upon
such of his possessions as were not necessary for him
self. Thus we find in Greenland this unfortunate
state of things : that the European immigrants, who
are in reality supported by the natives, often become
rich and live in abundance (at any rate, according to
the Eskimo ideas), while the natives themselves are
in want.
1 Dogs, however, must be added to the list, and, in the case of the
North and East Greenlanders, dog-sledges.

CHARACTER AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS 113
The Greenlander has not even unrestricted rights
over the game he himself secures. There have been
fixed rules from time immemorial according to which
it is divided, and there are only a few sorts of animals
which he can keep pretty well to himself and to his
famUy. To these belong the atak or Greenland seal ;
but even in its case he must give a portion of blubber
to each of the kaiak-men who are present when he
takes it, and in the same way the children of the
village, when he comes home, receive a little scrap
of blubber apiece. There are fixed rules for other
sorts of game, in accordance with which the whole
animal is divided among those who were present
when it was kiUed or even among all the houses of
the viUage. This is especially the case with regard
to the walrus and several sorts of whales, as, for
example, the white whale ; of this the hunter receives
only a comparatively small portion, even when he
has kiUed it without help from others. When a whale
of any size is brought to shore, it is said to be quite
a horrible, sight to see all the inhabitants of the
viUage, armed with knives, flinging themselves upon it
to secure each his share, while it is stiU in the water.
The scene is so sanguinary that Dalager declares
that he has ' never seen or heard of a whale being
cut up without someone or other being mutilated, or
at least badly wounded, so great is the careless i

114 ESKIMO LIFE
eagerness with which several hundred people will
rush upon the fish, each one doing his best for him
self, and, therefore, paying very little heed as to
where he slashes with his knife.' It is characteristic
of their amiability, however, that ' when one of them
has thus come to harm, he does not bear any grudge
against the man who injured him, but regards it as
an accident.' It is not only with respect to the larger animals
that such rules hold good ; they also apply in the
case of certain fishes. Thus . if a halibut is caught,
the fisher is bound to give the other kaiak-men upon
the hunting-ground a piece of the skin for division
among themselves ; and in addition to this, when he
comes home, he generally gives some of the animal
to his housemates and neighbours.1
1 When several are hunting in company, there are fixed rules to
determine to whom the game belongs. If two or more shoot at a
reindeer, the animal belongs to him who first hit it, even if he only
wounded it slightly. As to the rules for seal-hunting, Dalager says :
' If a Greenlander strikes a seal or other marine animal with his light
dart, and it is not killed, but gets away with the dart, and if another
then comes and kills it with his darts, it nevertheless belongs to the
first ; but if he has used the ordinary harpoon, and the line breaks,
and another comes and kills the animal, the first has lost his right to
it. If, however, they both throw at the same time and both harpoons
strike, the animal is cut lengthwise in two, and divided between them,
skin and all.' ' If two throw at a bird simultaneously, it is divided
between them.' ' If a dead seal is found with a harpoon fixed in it, if
the owner of the harpoon is known in the neighbourhood, he gets his
weapon back, but the finder keeps the seal.' Similar rules seem also
to be in force upon the east coast.

AA

X.

CHARACTER AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS 115
Even when a Greenlander has fulfilled all the
aforesaid laws, he cannot always keep to himself his
own share of his booty. For instance, if he makes a
catch at a time when there is scarcity or famine in
the viUage, it is regarded as his duty either to give a
feast or to divide his prey among other families, who
may perhaps have had to go for long without fresh
meat. After a good haul, they make a feast, and eat as
long as they can. If everything is not eaten up, and
there is plenty in the other houses as well, what
remains is stored against the winter ; but in times of
scarcity it is regarded as the duty of those who have
anything to help those who have nothing, even to the
last remnant of food. After that, they starve in
company, and sometimes starve to death. That some
people should Uve in profusion while others suffer
need, as we see it occurring daily in European com
munities, is an unheard of thing in Greenland ; except
that the European settlers, with the habitual provi
dence of our race, have often stores of food while the
Greenlanders are starving.
It wiU be understood from what has been said
that the tendency of the law is, as much as possible,
to let the whole village benefit by the captured
prey, so that no family shaU be entirely dependent
upon the daUy ' take ' of those who provide for it.
i 2

116 ESKIMO LIFE
These are laws whicli have developed through the
experience of long ages, and have become established
by the habit of many generations.
The Greenlander is, on the whole, like a sympa
thetic child with respect to the needs of others ; his
first social laiv is to help his neighbour. Upon it, and
upon their habit of clinging together through good
and ill, depends the existence of the little Greenland
community. A hard life has taught the Eskimo that
however capable he may be, and able as a rule to
look after himself, there may come times when with
out the help of his fellow men he would have to go
to the wall; therefore, it is best to help others.
' Therefore, all things whatsoever ye would that men
should do to you, do ye even so to them ' — this com
mandment, one of the first and most important of
Christianity, Nature itself has instilled into the Green
lander, and he always acts up to it, which can
scarcely be affirmed of Christian nations. It is un
fortunate that, as he advances in civilisation, this
commandment seems to lose its power over him.
Hospitality to strangers is a no less binding law
among the Eskimos than helpfulness to neighbours.
The traveller enters the first hut he comes to, and
remains there as long as convenient. He is kindly
received and entertained with what the house can
offer, even if he be an enemy. When he proceeds

CHARACTER AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS 117
on his way, he often takes a store of food along with
him ; I have seen kaiak-men leave houses where they
had remained weatherbound for several days, loaded
with halibut flesh, which had been presented to them
on their departure. No payment is ever made for
the entertainment. A European, too, is everywhere
hospitably received, although the Greenlanders would
not think of making similar claims upon his hospi
tality. Europeans, however, often make some sort of
recompense by treating their entertainers to coffee
and such oilier delicacies as they may have with
them. That hospitality is considered a very binding
duty upon the east coast of Greenland appears from
several remarkable instances related by Captain
Holm. I may refer the reader to what he tells of
the murderer Maratuk, who had killed his stepfather.
He was a bad man, and no one liked him ; yet when
he -presented himself at the house of the murdered
man's nearest relatives, he was received and enter
tained for a long time — but they spoke ill of him
when he had gone.
Hospitality is of course forced upon them by
their natural surroundings ; for it often happens that
they are overtaken by storms "when far from home,
so that they are compeUed to take refuge in the
nearest dwelling-place.

118 ESKIMO LIFE
It seems, unhappily, as though hospitality had
declined of late years on the west coast. Doubtless
it is once more the Europeans who have given the
example. And the fact that the people are by no
means so well-to-do as in earlier times, and are
therefore less able to entertain strangers, has no
doubt tended in the same direction.
Many of my readers are probably of opinion that
I am unjust to us Europeans ; but that is far from
my intention. If the Europeans have not had the
best influence, the fact cannot always be directly
laid to their charge ; circumstances have rendered it
inevitable, in spite of excellent intentions on their
part. For example, they have conscientiously la
boured to foster the sense of property among the
Greenlanders, encouraging them to save up portions
of their booty, instead of lavishing it abroad in their
usual free-handed way, and so forth ; the principle
being that a more highly-developed sense of property
is the first condition of civilisation. Whether this is
a benefit may seem doubtful to many ; for my part I
have no doubt about the matter. I must admit, of
course, that civilisation presupposes a much greater
faculty for the acquisition of worldly goods than
the Eskimo is possessed of; but what I cannot
understand is what these poor people have to
do with civilisation. It assuredly makes them no

CHARACTER AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS 119
happier, it ruins what is fine and admirable in their
character, makes them weaker in the struggle for
existence, and inevitably leads them to poverty and
misery. But more of this at a later opportunity.
The laws upon which the heathen community in
Greenland rests are, as we have seen, as nearly as
possible socialism carried into practice. In this
respect, accordingly, they are more Christian than
those of any Christian community. The social re
formers of to-day might learn much in these high
latitudes. Spencer has in one of his books pointed out that
mankind has two religions. The first and most
natural is the instinct of self-preservation, which
impels the individual to protect himself against all
outward opposition or hostile interference. This he
caUs the rehgion of enmity. The other is the in
stinct of association, which impels men to join
feUowship with their neighbours ; and to it we trace
the Christian doctrine that you should love your
neighbour as yourself, and should even love your
enemies. This he caUs the religion of friendship.
The former is the religion of the past, the latter that
of the future.
Precisely this religion of the future -the Eskimo
seems to have made his own to a peculiar degree.
The men of some tribes or races are driven to com-

120 ESKIMO LIFE
bine with each other by the pressure of human enemies,
others by inhospitable natural surroundings. The
latter has been the case with the Eskimos. Where
the instinct of association and mutual help has been
most strongly developed, the^e has the community's
power of maintaining itself been greatest, arid it has
increased in numbers and in well-being ; while other
small communities, with less of this instinct, have
declined or even succumbed altogether.
In so far as we believe with Spencer that the
religion of friendship is that of the future, that self-
sacrifice .for the benefit of the community is the
point towards which development is tending, we
must assign to the Eskimo a high place in the scale
of nations. It is a question, however, whether our forefathers
also, in long bygone ages, did not act upon a
similar principle. It may be that social develop
ment proceeds in a spiral with ever wider and wider
convolutions.

121

CHAPTEE VIII
THE POSITION AND WORK OP WOMEN
Many leading thinkers have remarked that the social
position occupied by its women affords the best
criterion of a people's place in the scale of civilisa
tion. I am not entirely convinced that this is always
the case ; but if it is, I think we have here another
indication that the Eskimo must be allowed to have
reached a pretty high level of development. For
the Eskimo woman plays no insignificant part in the
life of the community.
It is true that, according to the primitive Eskimo
conception, she is practically regarded as the pro
perty of her husband, who has either carried her off,
or sometimes bought her, from her father. He can
therefore send her away when he pleases, or lend
her, or exchange her for another ; and, when he can
aubrd it, he can have more wives than one. But as
a rule she is weU treated, and we find this conception
of her as the husband's chattel more clearly marked
among many other races ; there is even a good deal

122 ESKIMO LIFE
of it in our own society, only under a somewhat
different disguise.
There are some who maintain that our women
have plenty to do, but that the great mistake is that
their employments are not exactly the same as those
of the men. These people will be no better con
tented with the state of affairs in Greenland, for
there, top, the employments of the two sexes are
entirely distinct.
It is true that both sexes wear trousers, and have
done so from time immemorial ; but nevertheless
they have not yet attained to the conception that
there is little or no difference between men and
women. They hold that there are, among other things,
certain essential physical differences, and imagine
that women are not as a rule so strong, active, and
courageous as men, and that they therefore are not
so well fitted for hunting and fishing. On the other
hand, they do not think that men are best fitted to
have the care of children, to give them suck, and so
forth. This is no doubt the reason for the very clear
line of demarcation between the employments proper
to the two sexes in Greenland.
To the man's share faUs the laborious life at sea,
as hunter and food-provider ; but when he reaches

THE POSITION AND WORK OF WOMEN 123
the shore with his booty, he has fulfilled the most
important part of his social function. He is received
by his womenfolk, who help him ashore ; and while
he has nothing to do but to look after his kaiak and
his weapons, it is the part of the women to drag the
booty up to the house. In earlier times, at any rate,
it was beneath the dignity of any hunter to lend a
hand in this work, and so it still is - with the
majority. The women flay the seal and cut it up according
to fixed rules, and the mother of the family presides
at the division of it. Further, it is the women's
duty to cook the food, to prepare the skins, to cover
the kaiaks and woman-boats, to make clothes, and to
attend to all other domestic tasks. In addition to
this they build the houses, pitch the tents, and row
the woman-boats.
To row in a woman-boat was formerly, at any
rate, quite beneath a hunter's dignity, but it was the
part of the father of the family to steer it. Now we
often see men sitting and rowing, especially if they
are hired by traveUing Europeans. When you have
become thoroughly accustomed to their way of life,
this makes an unpleasant impression ; the kaiak is
and must be the indispensable condition of their
existence, and one feels that they ought to neglect
no opportunity for exercising themselves in its use.

124 ESKIMO LIFE
Even now no hunter of the first rank will condescend
to enter a woman-boat, except as steersman.
When the family is out reindeer-hunting, it is of
course the men who shoot the reindeer, while it
often faUs to the share of the women to drag the
game to the tent ; and this is a laborious business,
calling for a great deal of endurance.
The only sort of fishery with which the women
as a rule concern themselves is caphn-fishing. The
season for this is the early summer, when the caplin
appear on the coast in such dense shoals that they
can be drawn up in bucketsful into the woman-
boats. The fishing continues until a sufficient store
is laid up against the winter ; when once that is
done they care no more about them, however abun
dant they may be. The fish are dried by being spread
out on the rocks and stones ; it is the women's
business to look after them, and, when they are
dried, to pack them together.
Sometimes they take part in seal-fishing, when a
sort of battue is made, the seals being hunted into
narrow sounds and fiords and driven ashore.
Only a few cases are on record in which women
have tried their hand at kaiak-fishing.
Captain Holm mentions two girls at Imarsivik on
the east coast who had taken to the kaiak. The pro
portion between men and women in the village was

THE POSITION AND WORK OF WOMEN 125
unfortunate, there being only five men out of a
population of twenty-one. We are unhappily not
informed whether these women had attained as
great skill in hunting as their male comrades.
They had entirely adopted the masculine manner
of living, dressed like men and wore their hair like
men. When they were allowed to select what they
wanted from among Holm's articles of barter, they
did not choose needles or other feminine implements,
but preferred spear-heads for their weapons. It must
have been difficult to distinguish them from men ; I
must doubtless have seen them when 1 was on the
east coast in 1888, without suspecting their sex.
Holm mentions that one or two other girls in the
same place were also destined to be trained as
hunters, but they were as yet too young.
While the men pass most of their time on the sea,
the women remain at home in their houses ; and there
you will generaUy find them busily occupied with one
task or another, in contrast to those fair ones on our
side of the ocean who do nothing but eat, lounge
about, gossip, and sleep. When they go beyond the
circle of their, ordinary domestic employments, it is
generaUy to busy themselves with the weapons of the
men, ornamenting them with bone-carvings, &c. ;
these are their chief pride.
The men generaUy sit at the outer edge of the

126 ESKIMO LIFE
sleeping-bench with their feet on the floor ; but the
women always sit well back on the bench, with their
legs crossed, like a tailor on his table. Here they
sew, embroider, cut up skins with their peculiar
crooked knives, chew bird-skins, and in short attend
to many of their most important occupations, while
their tongues are in ceaseless activity ; for they
are very lively and seldom lack matter for con
versation. I cannot, unhappily, quite acquit them
of the proverbial feminine loquacity ; and, if we may
believe Dalager, they are not altogether free from
graver defects. He says : ' Lying and backbiting
are chiefly to be found among the women. The men,
on the other hand, are much more honest, and shrink
from relating anything which they are unable to sub
stantiate.' Oh woman, woman, are you everywhere the
same !
The very first thought to which Loke gave birth,
It was a lie, and he bade it descend
In a woman's shape to the men of earth.
The preparation of skins is a very important part
of the women's work, and as the methods are ex
tremely peculiar, I shall give a short description of
them, as I learnt them from the Eskimos of the Godt
haab district. The processes vary according to the
different sorts of skins and the purposes for which
they are destined.

THE POSITION AND WORK OF WOMEN 127
Kaiak-skins are dressed either black or white.1
The black skin (erisdk) is obtained by scraping the
blubber from the under side of the skin while it is
fresh, and then steeping it for a day or two in stale
urine, until the hairs can be plucked out with a knife.
These being removed, the skin is rinsed in sea water,
and in summer it is then dried, but not in the sun.
In winter, it is not dried, but if possible preserved by
being buried in snow. Whether in summer or winter,
however, it is best if, immediately after being washed,
it can be stretched on the kaiak so as to dry upon
the framework. These skins are dark because the
grain or outer membrane of the skin of the seal is
either black or dark brown.
White kaiak-skins (unek) are prepared in this way :
WhUe they are quite fresh, and after the blubber has
been roughly removed, they are rolled up and laid in
a tolerably warm place either out of doors or in.
There they Ue until the hairs and the outer membrane
can easily be scraped away with a mussel-shell. For
this purpose, however, the Greenland beauties gene
rally prefer to use their teeth, since they can thus
suck out a certain amount of blubber, which they
consider delicious. Then, in summer, the skins are
1 The skins used, as before mentioned (p. 45) are usually those
of the saddleback seal or hood seal ; but the skin of the bearded seal
is also used, and occasionally that of the ringed seal or even of the
mottled or common seal (Phoca vituKna).

128 ESKIMO LIFE
hung up to dry — not in the sun — upon a wooden rail,
and are often turned in order that they may dry
evenly all over. In winter they are preserved, like
the black skins, in the snow. The dark membrane
being scraped away, these skins are quite light-
coloured or white when they are finished.
It must be noted ' that neither of these sorts of
skins is stretched while drying.
Both sorts are used for woman-boats as weU as for
kaiaks. For the kaiak, the white skins, which ought always
to be kept well greased with seal-blubber, are con
sidered best in summer ; the black, on the other hand,
which are never greased, are preferred in winter. A
well-appointed hunter, therefore, ought to re-cover
his kaiak twice a year : nowadays, however, he can
generaUy do so only once, and sometimes only once
in two years.
If the sealskins are to be used for kamiks (shoes),
the blubber and the inner layer of the skin itsetf is
scraped away with a crooked knife (ulo) upon a
board made for the purpose out of a whale's shoulder-
blade. When the ' skin has been scraped thin it is
steeped for a day or so in stale urine until the hairs
can be plucked off with a knife. This done, the
skin is stretched, by means of small bone pegs,
upon the earth or the snow, and dried. Then it is

THE POSITION AND WORK OF WOMEN 129
rubbed until it is soft, and the process is complete .
As this sort of skin has its outer membrane intact, it
is of a dark colour.
White kamik-skins are prepared up to a certain
point Uke the foregoing, but when the hairs have
been removed they are dipped in warm water (not
too warm) until the black membrane is loosened,
and then steeped in sea water, as cold as possible.
If all the membrane is not removed, the skin is
again dipped alternately in warm water and sea
water until it comes away. Then the skin is pegged
out and dried like the black skin.
The white skins, not being as strong and water
tight as the black, are used almost entirely by
women, who either keep them white or dye them
in different ways.
Sole leather for the kamiks is prepared in the
same way as the black kaiak-skin, but is pegged
out while drying.
Skins for kaiak-gloves are prepared at first
Uke the black kamik skins, but after the hairs have
been removed they are dressed with blood, and
then roUed together and put away. This is re
peated two or three times until they become
entirely black. Then they are stretched for dry
ing — in summer out of doors, but in winter in the
houses. This skin is wonderfully water-tight. K

130 ESKIMO LIFE
If the sealskin is to be prepared with its hairs
on, as for example, for the inner sock of the kamiks
or for jackets, it is scraped on the blubber side
with a crooked knife," just like the ordinary kamik-
skin. Then it is steeped in water, and washed with
soft soap ; whereupon it is rinsed out ih clean water,
stretched, and dried as above described. It is then
made soft and pliant by rubbing, and is ready for
use. Reindeer skin is simply dried and rubbed, no
water being applied to it.
In preparing bird-skins, the first step is care
fully to dry the feathers ; then the skins are turned
inside out, and the layer of fat is scraped away as
thoroughly as possible with a mussel shell or a
spoon, and is eaten — it is held a great delicacy.
Then the skins are hung up under the roof to
dry. After a few days, the last remnants of fat
are removed from them by means of chewing,
then they are dried again, then washed in warm
water with soda and soap three times over, then
rinsed out in very cold water, pressed, and hung
up for the final drying. If the feathers are to be
removed so that only the down is left, as, for
example, in the case of the eider duck, they are
plucked out when the skin is half dry. Then it is .
thoroughly dried and cut up, and so is ready for use.

THE POSITION AND WORK OF WOMEN 131
The chewing above mentioned is a remarkable
process. The operator takes the^ dry skin, almost
dripping with fat, and chews away at one spot until
all the fat is sucked out and the skin is soft and
white ; then the chewing area is slowly widened, the •
skin gradually retreating further and further into
the mouth, until it often disappears entirely, to be
spat out again at last with every particle of fat
chewed away. This industry is for the most part
carried on by the women and children, and is very
highly rehshed by reason of the quantity of fat it
enables them to absorb. Ln times of scarcity, the
men are often glad enough to be aUowed to do their
share. It is a strange scene that is presented when
one enters a house and finds the whole of its popula
tion thus engaged in chewing, each with his skin in
his mouth. The exceUence of the Greenland bird-
skins is due to this process. How few of those who
have admired the exquisite eider-down, rugs which
adorn so many a luxurious European home, have
any idea of the stages through which they have
gone ! And how many a European beauty, resplen
dent in costly skins, would shudder if she could see
in a vision aU the more or less inviting mouths
y through which her finery has passed, up there in
the far North, before it came to deck her swan-like
form ! K 2

132 ESKIMO LIFE
On the whole, the Greenland women make great
use of their teeth, now to stretch the skins, now to
hold them while they are being scraped, and again
for the actual scraping. It is rather startling to
us Europeans to see them take up a skin out of the
tub of fetid liquor in which it has been steeping,
and straightway fix their teeth in it and begin to
dress it. The mouth, in fact, is a third hand to
them ; and therefore the front teeth of old Eskimo
women are often worn away to the merest stumps.
The sinews of seals, whales, and reindeer are used
as thread in making garments out of skins. The
sinews are simply dried. For sewing kaiak-jackets,
kaiak-gloves, and sometimes for kamiks, the gullet
of the saddleback seal, the ringed seal, the bladder-
nose seal, the small mottled seal, and the cormorant
is also used. The outer membranes of the gullet
are cut away while it is quite fresh, and then it is
drawn over a round stick prepared for the purpose,
and greased with blubber. Sometimes the guUet is
also scraped with mussel-shells. When it has dried
upon the stick and has been cut lengthwise into
narrow strips, it is ready for use. The thread thus
obtained has this advantage over the sinew-thread
that it does not soften in water.
The Greenland women are very capable at their
work, and are especially skilful with their needle.

THE POSITION AND WORK OF WOMEN 133
One has only to examine the seams of a kaiak-skin,
a kaiak-jacket, or a gut- skin shirt to convince one
self of this. But their skill is still more conspicuous
in the admirable embroideries with which they orna
ment their trousers, kamiks, and other garments.
On the west coast, where they have learned the use
of dyes from the Europeans, they now execute these
embroideries with smaU patches of hide of different
colours, which they sew together into a sort of
mosaic. They work entirely in freehand, without
any pattern to go by, and display great neatness and
precision, to say nothing of their sense of colour
and of form.
In living with the Eskimos in their homes, one
does not at aU receive the impression that the women
are particularly oppressed or slighted. It seemed to
me, on the contrary, that the housewives of Godt
haab and the surrounding district often played a
very important part in the domestic economy, in
some cases even ruling the roost. Judging from my
own experience, then, I should say that there is a
good deal of exaggeration in what Dalager says of
the women, that ' even what ought to be the best
hours of their hfe, from the time they come to
maturity, are nothing but a long chain of trouble,
contempt, and sorrow.'
It cannot be denied that in social Ufe one observes

134 ESKIMO LIFE
a certain difference of status between men and
women. Thus at meal-times or at coffee-parties, the
hunters and the men of most importance are first
helped, then the less important males, and finaUy the
women and children. Dalager, in last century,
makes a similar remark in his description of a ban
quet. The men, he says, take the leading place, and
tell each other their adventures, while ' the women
too have in the meantime formed a little party by
themselves in another corner, where, no doubt,
nothing but empty chatter is to be heard.' But, if it
comes to that, such a description would apply in
several other parts of the world besides Greenland.
I must admit, however, that the Eskimo men
sometimes show themselves sadly deficient in pohte-
ness towards the ladies. For example, ' when the
women are hard at work, building houses, drawing
water, or carrying heavy burdens of one sort or
another, the men stand by with their hands thrust
into the breast of their jackets, and laugh at them,
without offering the slightest help.' But is this so
very much worse than what we often see in Norway,
when a Bergen peasant, returning from market,
lights his pipe, stretches himself in the stern of the
boat, and lets his women row him home ?
That women are not held in such high esteem as
men is also unhappily evident from the fact that

THE POSITION AND WORK OF WOMEN 135
when a man-child is born, the father is jubilant, and
the mother beams with pride, while if it be a girl,
they both weep, or are at any rate very ill content.
But is this so very much to be wondered at?
With aU his goodness of heart, the Eskimo is, after
aU, no more than a man. The boy is, of course,
regarded as the kaiak-man and hunter of the future,
the support of the family in the old age of his parents,
in short as a direct addition to the working capital ;
whUe they no doubt think that there will always be
plenty of girls in the world.
The same difference is observable in the bringing-
up of the children, the boys being always regarded
as the food-providers of the future, who must in
every way be weU cared for ; and if a boy's parents
die, his position is never a whit the worse, for all the
neighbours are quite willing to receive him into
their houses and do aU they can to make a man
of him. With the girls it is different; if they
lose their parents and have no relations, they can _
always, indeed, have plenty of food, but they have
often to put up with the most miserable clothing, so
that it is pitiful to see them. When they come to
the marriageable age, however, they stand on pretty
much the same level as girls who have been more
fortunately situated ; for no such thing as a dowry is
known, and their chances simply depend upon

136 ESKIMO LIFE
' beauty and solidity, which shaU secure them favour
in the eyes of the young men — lacking these they
are despised, and will never be married, since there
are always plenty to choose from.' Of this, however,
they cannot complain, for the men themselves are no
better off. If they are not strong enough to make
good hunters, as sometimes happens, they have poor
enough chances of ever finding a mate, and are
looked down upon by every one.
That boys are regarded very much in the light of
capital appears from the fact that although widows
are not in demand in the marriage-market, it some
times happens that they find a husband, ' especially
if they have a family of boys ; in that case they are
pretty sure one day to make a match with a respect
able widower.'
Even in death, women seem to be placed at a dis
advantage, as we may conclude from the foUowing
remark of Dalager's : ' It sometimes happens that a
woman of no great importance, when mortal sickness
falls upon her, is buried alive. A horrible case of
this sort occurred a short time ago at this very place.
Several people declared that they had heard the
woman, a long time after her burial, caUing out from
her grave and begging for something to drink. If
you remonstrate with them upon such inhuman
cruelty, they answer that when the patient cannot

THE POSITION AND WORK OF WOMEN 137
recover, it is better that she should be put away in
her last resting-place, than that the survivors should go
through the agony of death in observing her misery.
But this reasoning wiU not hold good ; for if any male
person were thus barbarously dealt with, it would
be regarded as the most brutal murder.' Yes, this
was iU done ; but fortunately such events are very
exceptional. Their real reason, moreover, is pro
bably to be found in the Eskimos' intense dread of
touching dead bodies, which makes them clothe the
dying, whether men or women, in their grave-
clothes, often long before death occurs, preparing
everything for the carrying out of the corpse and its
burial, while the patient himself lies and looks on.
For the same reason, they shrink from assisting one
who has met with an accident at sea, if he seems to
be already in the pinch of death, fearing lest they
should happen to lay hands upon him after life has
"departed.

138 ESKIMO LIFE

CHAPTER IX
LOVE AND MARRIAGE
Love, that power which permeates aU creation, is by
no means unknown in Greenland ; but the Greenland
variety of it is a simple impulse of nature, lacking
the many tender shoots and intricate blossoms of the
hot-house plant which we know by this name.
It does not make the lover sick of soul, but
drives him to sea, to the chase ; it strengthens his
arm and sharpens his sight ; for his one desire is to
become an expert hunter, so that he can lead his
Naia home as his bride, and support a family. And
the tender young Naia stands upon the outlook-rock
gazing after him ; she sees with what speed and cer
tainty he shoots ahead, how gracefuUy he wields the
paddle, and how lightly his kaiak dances over the
waves. Then he disappears in the far distance ; but
she stiU gazes oyer the endless blue expanse, which
heaves over the grave of so many a bold kaiak-man.
At last he comes home again, towing his booty ;
she rushes down to the beach and helps the other

LOVE AND MARRIAGE 139
women to bring his prey ashore, while he quietly
puts his weapons together and goes up to his house.
But one evening he does not return, for all her
waiting and gazing ; aU the others have come — him
the sea has taken. She weeps and weeps, she can
never survive the blow. But her despair does not
last long ; after aU, there are other men in the world,
and she begins to look on them with favour.
The pure-bred Eskimo generally marries as soon
as he can provide for a wife. The motive is not always
love ; ' the right one ' has perhaps not yet appeared
on the scene ; but he marries because he requires a
woman's help to prepare his skins, make his clothes,
and so forth. He often marries, it is said, before he
is of an age to beget children. On the east coast,
indeed, according to Holm, it is quite common for a
man to have been married three or four times before
that age.1
Marriage in Greenland was, in earlier times, a
very simple matter. When a man had a mind to a
girl, he went to her house or tent, seized her by the
hair or wherever he could best get hold of her, and
dragged her without further ceremony home to his
house,2 where her place was assigned her upon the
1 Meddelelser om Grbnlamd, pt. 10, p. 94.
3 It sometijnes happened, too, that he got others to do this for him ;
but the affair must always take the form of a capture, or abduction.
Similar customs, as is well known, formerly prevailed in Europe, and
have even, in certain places, survived down to our own day.

140 ESKIMO LIFE
sleeping bench. The bridegroom would sometimes
give her a lamp and a new water-bucket, or
something of that sort, and that concluded the.
matter. In Greenland, however, as in other parts
of the world, good taste demanded that the lady
in question should on no account let it appear that
she was a consenting party, however favourably
disposed towards her wooer she might be in her
heart. As a well-conducted bride among us feels
it her duty to weep as she passes up the church,
so the Eskimo bride was bound to struggle against
her captor, and to wail and bemoan herself 'as much
as ever she could. If she was a lady of the very
highest breeding, she would weep and ' carry on '
for several days, and even run away home again
from her husband's house. If she went too far in
her care for the proprieties, it would sometimes
happen, we are told, that the husband, unless he
was already tired of her, would scratch her a little
on the soles of the feet, so that she could not walk ;
and before the sores were healed, she was generally
a contented housewife.
When they first saw marriages conducted after
the European fashion, they thought it very shock
ing that the bride, when asked if she would have
the bridegroom for her husband, should answer
Yes. According to their ideas, it would be much

LOVE AND MARRIAGE 141
more becoming for her to answer No, for they regard
it as a shameful thing for a young lady to reply to
such a question in the affirmative. When assured
that this was the custom among us, they were of
opinion that our women-folk must be devoid of
"¦ modesty. The simple method of marriage above described
is stiU the only one known upon the east coast of
Greenland, and a good deal of violence is sometimes
employed in the carrying off of the bride. The
lady's relations, however, stand quite unmoved and
look on. It is aU a private matter between the
parties, and the Greenlander's love of a good under
standing with his feUows makes him chary of mixing
himself up in the affairs of others.
It sometimes happens, of course, that the young
lady reaUy objects to her wooer ; in that case she
continues her resistance until she either learns to
possess her soul in patience, or until her captor gives
her up.
Graah relates a curious instance1 proving how
difficult it is for an onlooker to determine what are-
really the lady's sentiments. An able-bodied young
rowing-woman in his boat, an East Greenlander
named KeUitiuk, was one day seized and carried to
1 W. A. Graah, Narrative of an Expedition to the East Coast of
Greenland, London, 1837, pp. 140-143.

142 ESKIMO LIFE
the mountains by one of her countrymen named
Siorakitsok, in spite of the most violent resistance on
her part. As Graah believed that she really disliked
him, and as her friends affirmed the same thing, he
went after her and rescued her. A few days later,
as he was preparing to set forth on his journey
again, and the boat had just been launched, Kellitiuk
jumped into it, lay down under the thwarts, and
covered herself with bags and skins. It soon ap
peared that this was because Siorakitsok had just
landed on the island, bringing his father with him to
back him up. While Graah's back was turned for a
moment, he jumped into the boat and dragged the
fair one out of her hiding-place. Convinced that
her brutal wooer was reaUy repulsive to her, Graah
thought it his duty to rescue her. When he came
up, the suitor had already got her half out of the
boat, and his father stood by on shore ready to lend
a hand. Graah tore her from his grasp, and re
commended him instead to try his luck with ' Black
Dorothy,' another of the rowing-women, whom he
would have been glad to get rid of. The baffled
bridegroom listened to him quietly, ' muttered some
inaudible words in his beard, and went away with
wrathful and threatening looks.' The father did not
take his son's fate much to heart, ' but helped us to
load the boat,' says Graah, k and then bade us a no

LOVE AND MARRIAGE 143
doubt well-meant farewell.' When they were about
to start, however, Kellitiuk was nowhere to be found,
although they shouted and searched for her all over
the httle island. She had evidently hidden her
self away somewhere, and they set off without her ;
so it appears that she had, after all, no irreconcilable
antipathy to Siorakitsok.
Among the heathen Greenlanders, divorce is as
simple an affair as marriage. When a man grows
tired of his wife — the reverse is of rarer occurrence —
he need only, says Dalager, 'lie apart from her on
the sleeping-benches, without speaking a word. She
at once takes the hint,' and next morning gathers all
her garments together and quietly returns to her
parents' house, trying, as well as she can, to appear
indifferent. How many husbands at home could
wish that their wives were Greenlanders !
If a man takes a fancy to another man's wife, he
takes her without ceremony, if he happens to be the
stronger. Papik, a highly respected and skilful
hunter at Angmagsalik, on the east coast, took a
fancy to the young wife of Patuak, and, towing a
second kaiak behind his own, he set off for the place
where Patuak lived. He went to his tent, carried off
the woman, made her get into the second kaiak, and
paddled away with her. Patuak, being younger
than Papik, and not to be compared with him in

144 ESKIMO LIFE
strength and skill, had to put up with the loss of his
wife.1 There are cases on the east coast of women who
have been married to half-a-score of different men.
Utukuluk, at Angmagsalik, hai. tried eight hus
bands, and the ninth time she remarried husband
No. 6.2
Divorce is especially easy so long as there are no
children. When the woman has had a child, es
pecially if it be a boy, the bond is apt to become
more lasting.
On the east coast, if a man can keep more
than one wife, he takes another ; most of the good
hunters, therefore, have two, but never more.3 It
appears that in many cases the first wife does not
like to have a rival ; but sometimes it is she that
suggests the second marriage, in order that she may
have help in her household work. Another motive
may also come into play. ' I once asked a married
woman,' says Dalager, ' why her husband had taken
another wife ? "I asked him to myself," she replied,
" for I'm tired of bearing children." '

ue>

1 Holm, Meddelelser om Gronland, pt. 10, p. 96.
2 Holm, Meddelelser om Gronland, pt. 10, p. 103.
3 Dalager states that, in his time, on the west coast, ' scarcely one
in twenty of the Greenlanders had two wives, very few three, and still
fewer four ; I have, however, known a man who had eleven.'  Gron-
landske Relationer, p. 9.

LOVE AND MARRIAGE 145
The first wife seems always to be regarded as the
head of the household, even if the husband shows a
preference for the second.
Polyandry seldom occurs. Nils Egede mentions
a woman who had two husbands, but both she and
they were angekoks.1
On the introduction of Christianity, these primi
tive and simple marriage customs were of course
abolished on the west coast of Greenland, where
people are now united with religious ceremonies as
in Europe. The bride, too, is no longer required to
offer so determined a resistance.
But if it was formerly easy to get oneself a wife,
under the new order of things it has become difficult
enough. For the ceremony must necessarily be per
formed by a clergyman, the native catechists, who
fill the place of the pastors in the various villages,
not being reckoned good enough. If, then, you
happen to live at a place which the pastor visits only
once a year, or perhaps once in two years, you must
take care to come to an understanding with the
lady of your choice just in time to seize the oppor
tunity. If a young feUow should take it into his
head to marry just after the pastor has gone away,
he must wait a year, or perhaps two, before he can
go through the necessary ceremony, unless, indeed,
1 Angekok = medicine-man, or priest. L

146 ESKIMO LIFE
he and his bride are prepared to take a long journey
in search of clerical ministrations.
Such a state of things would inevitably lead
many to form less binding connections, or to marry
without the help of the clergy, even if the Green
landers were naturally less inclined towards such
laxity than as a matter of fact they are. I have
heard of a case in which a cleric, on coming to a
certain viUage after a two years' absence, had to
confirm a girl, marry her, and christen her child on
the same day. This may be called summary pro
cedure. Such an arrangement cannot but be hurtful,
tending to undermine all respect for the ceremony
whose impressiveness it is sought to enhance by
making the clergy alone competent to officiate at it.
On the introduction of Christianity, polygamy
was of course abolished. The missionaries even in
sisted that when a man who was married to two
wives became a Christian, he should put away one
of them. In 1745, an Eskimo at Frederikshaab had
a mind to be baptised, ' but when it came to a ques
tion of putting away his second wife, he began to
hesitate, for he had two sons by her, whom he would
thus lose. In the end he changed his mind and went
his way.'1 For this one can scarcely blame him.
Similar cases, in which it is required that a man shall
1 Dalager : Gronlandske Relationer, p. 9.

LOVE AND MARRIAGE 147
put away one of his wives, with whom he has perhaps
lived happily for many a year, still occur now and
then, when a Greenlander from the east coast settles
on the west coast (near Cape Farewell) and is
baptised. The hardship which the man is thus forced
to inflict upon the woman need scarcely be insisted
upon. Even to Dalager, in last century, it appeared
an injustice, and ' how far it conflicted with the
ordinances of God that a man should have more than
one wife, seemed to him a problem.'
Polygamy, however, is still occasionally to be
found upon the west coast, a second wife being
apparently one of the indulgences which first occur
to a Greenlander's mind when he is inclined to kick
over, the traces.
In Greenland, as elsewhere, the position of
women in marriage differs according to the circum
stances of each particular case. As a rule the man
is the master ; but I have also seen cases, doubtless
exceptional, in which the grey mare has been the
better horse.
Among the primitive Eskimos, the wife seems
practically to have been regarded as the husband's
property. It sometimes happens on the east coast
that a formal bargain and sale precedes the marriage,
the bridegroom paying the father a harpoon, or
something of the sort, for the privilege of wedding L 2

148 ESKIMO LIFE
his lovely daughter. Sometimes, on the other hand,
the father will pay a hunter of credit and renown to
_ take his daughter off his hands, and the daughter is
bound to marry at her father's bidding.1 Moreover,
it often occurs on the east coast that two hunters
agree to exchange wives for a longer or shorter
period — sometimes for good. Temporary exchanges
of wives still occur, doubtless, on the west coast as
well, especially during the summer reindeer-hunting,
when the people are living in tents in the interior of
the country. At these times they allow themselves
many liberties which cannot be controlled by the
missionaries. Married people as a rule live on very good terms
with each other. I have never heard an unkind word
exchanged between man and wife ; and this is the
general experience. Dalager declares that 'the
longer a married couple live together, the more
closely are they united in affection, until at last they
pass their old age together like innocent children.'
They are, on the whole, exceedingly considerate to
wards each other, and may sometimes be seen to
exchange caresses. They do not kiss as we do, how
ever, but press their noses together or snuff at each
other. This process I am unfortunately unable to
describe, as I lack the necessary practice.
1 Holm : Meddelelser om Gronland, pt. 10, p. 96.

LOVE AND MARRIAGE 149
On the east coast, too, the relation between
husband and wife seems to be very good as a rule,
though it appears, according to Captain Holm, that
scenes of violence are not unknown.
A certain Sanimuinak one day came home to his
spouse Puitek, bringing with him a second wife, the
young Utukuluk (the before-mentioned lady of the
nine husbands), whereupon Puitek became angry
and feU to scolding her husband. This made him so
furious .that he seized her by the top-knot and struck
her with his clenched fist on the back and in the face.
At last he seized a knife and stabbed her in the knee,
so that the blood spurted forth.1 Holm also relates
a case in which a man received a sound thrashing
from his wife. Scenes of this sort, however, are very
rare among this peaceable people.
Any very deep love between man and wife is no
doubt exceptional, depth of feeling being, on the
whole, uncommon among the Eskimos. If one dies
the survivor is generaUy pretty easily consoled. ' If
a man loses his wife,' says Dalager, ' not many of his
own sex come to condole with him. The women
folk, on the other hand, squat along the inner edge
of the sleeping-benches in his house and bewail the
deceased, while he, in response, sobs and wipes his
nose. After a short time, however, he begins to
1 Holm : Meddelelser om Gronland, pt. 10, p. 102.

150 ESKIMO LIFE
adorn himself as he used to in his bachelor days,
polishing up his kaiak and his weapons with par
ticular care, these being the things with which a
Greenlander always makes the greatest show. When,
at sea, he comes dashing up to his comrades in this
brilliant array, they say to each other : " Look, look
— here comes a new brother-in-law." If he over
hears it, he says nothing, but smiles to himself.' It
is highly incumbent upon a widower's new wife to
lament her own imperfections and belaud the virtues
of her predecessor : ' Whence we learn that the
Greenland women are as apt at acting a part, where
their interest is concerned, as are others of their sex
in more polite countries.'
The chief end and aim of marriage in Greenland
is unquestionably the procreation of children.
Therefore, as in the Old Testament times, unfruitful
women are contemned, and a childless marriage is
often dissolved.
On the average, the pure-bred Greenlanders are
not prolific. Two, three, or four children to each
marriage is the general rule, though there are in
stances of families of six or eight, or even more.
Twins are uncommon, and I was often asked by
the women if it were true that in the land of the long
beards (Norway) women gave birth to two children
at a time. When I answered that they not only

LOVE AND MARRIAGE 151
bore twins but also triplets and even four children
at a birth, they shrieked with laughter and declared
that our women were like dogs : for human beings
and seals bear only one at a time.
As a rule, the Greenland women suffer little in
childbirth. As an example of how easily they take
this incident in their lives, I may quote a case men
tioned by Graah. As he was passing by Bernstorffs-
fiord, on his journey along the east coast, one of the
women of his company was taken with labour-pains.
They hastened to land upon a naked rock on the
north side of the fiord. While the labour continued,
the husband stretched himself on the rock and fell
asleep ; but presently they awakened him with the
joyful intelligence that a son had been born to him.
As already stated, this is regarded as a piece of good
luck, while the birth of a daughter is a matter of in
difference. 'Ernenek accordingly (that was the
husband's name) expressed his satisfaction by smiling
on his spouse and saying " Ajungilatit " (Not' so bad
for you). With our new passenger, we at once pro
ceeded on our journey.' *
The heathen Greenlanders kill deformed children
and those which are so sickly as to seem unlikely to
live ; those, too, whose mother dies in childbirth, so
1 W. A. Graah, Narrative of an Expedition to the East Coast of
Greenland, London, 1837, p. 135.

152 ESKIMO LIFE
that there is no one to give them suck. This they do,
as a rule, by exposing the child or throwing it into
the sea.1 However cruel this may sound to many
European mothers, it is nevertheless done from com
passion, and it is undeniably reasonable ; for under
such hard natural conditions as those of Greenland,
we cannot wonder that people are unwilling to bring-
up offspring which can never be of any use, and can
only help to diminish the common store of suste
nance.2 It is for the same reason that people who
have grown so old as to be quite unable to fend for
themselves are held in small esteem and are thought
to be better out of the way. On the east coast it
sometimes happens that old people, who seem likely
to die, are drowned, or else drown themselves.
Similar practices also obtained in former days upon
the west coast (compare next chapter).
Greenland mothers are very slow to wean their
children. They often give suck until the child is
three or four, and I have even heard of cases in
which children of ten or twelve continued to tqke
the breast. A European at Godthaab told me that
he had seen a dashing youth of twelve or so come
1 Compare P. Egede, Efterretninger om Gronland, p. • 107 ; and
Holm, Meddelelser om Gronland, pt. 10, p. 91.
Although, as we have seen, the Eskimos are not greatly delighted
at the birth of daughters, they do not, like so many other primitive
people, make a habit of killing female children.

LOVE AND MARRIAGE 153
home in his kaiak with his booty, rush up to his home,
and there consume a biscuit, standing between his
mother's knees, and drinking, from time to time, from
her breast.
All the children of Christian Greenlanders are of
course christened and given names. The original
Greenland names however, have, owing to the in
fluence of the missionaries, almost entirely died out.
In their stead are used all possible Biblical names
from both the Old and the New Testament. No
where in the world, probably, is one surer to meet
with the whole dramatis personoe of the Scriptures,
right from Father Adam down to Peter and Paul.
Our notable friend Dalager does not seem to have
hked this misuse of the Bible, and therefore, he
says, ' I once asked a certain missionary why a
Greenlander, when he was christened, could not be
aUowed to retain his former name, which was pro
bably a very natural and good one. " It sounds ill "
he replied, " to have a Christian called after a seal or
a sea-bird." I smiled and answered that at home
there were plenty of Ravens, Hawks, and Crows,
who passed for excellent people none the less.' On
this point I cannot but agree with Dalager.
The Greenlanders are exceedingly fond of their
children and do everything to make them happy,
especially if they are boys. These little tyrants will

154 ESKIMO LIFE
often rule over the whole house, and the words of
Solomon : ' Chasten thy son while there is hope,
and let not thy soul spare for his crying,' are by
no means acted upon. Punishment, especially of
course where their own flesh and blood is concerned,
they regard on the whole as inhuman. I have never
once heard an Eskimo say an unkind word to his
child. With such an upbringing, one might expect
that the Greenland children would be naughty and
intractable. This is not at all the case. Although I
have gone about a good deal among the Eskimos on
the west coast, I have only once seen a haughty
Eskimo child, and that was in a more European than
Eskimo home. When the children are old enough
to understand, a gentle hint from father or mother is
enough to make them desist from anything forbidden.
I have never seen Eskimo children quarrelling either
indoors or in the open air ; not even talking angrily to
each other, much less fighting. I have watched them
playing by the hour, and have even taken part in
their football (a peculiar game of theirs, very like the
English football), which, as we know, is rather apt to
lead to quarrels ; but I have never seen an angry or
even an unfriendly look pass between them. Could
such a thing happen in Europe ? I shall not attempt
to determine what may be the reason of this remark
able difference between Eskimo and European chil-

LOVE AND MARRIAGE 155
dren. No doubt it is mainly due to the excessively
peaceable and good-humoured temperament of the
race, devoid of aU nervousness or irritability. It
may partly be attributed, also, to the fact that the
Eskimo women always live in the same room as their
children, and carry them with them in the amauts on
their backs even when they go to work. Thus they
can give them much more constant care, and there is
a more unbroken intercourse between children and
parents in Greenland than in Europe.
We must not judge the Eskimo boys too severely
if they now and then amuse themselves with throwing
stones at the Colonial Manager's or the Pastor's fowls
and ducks, or if they make occasional irruptions into
the Manager's garden and root up or destroy the
plants. It must be remembered that the conception
of property in land, and the notion that one is not at
liberty to chase or to appropriate whatever moves or
grows upon the face of the earth, are quite foreign
to their instinctive ideas. Even if such conceptions
are inculcated upon them, they do not grasp them
clearly ; they are, and will always remain, notions
which the European foreigners have tried to intro
duce in their own interests, and which are founded
upon no natural right.
In order to exercise their eyes and their arms,
the provident Greenlander gives his sons, even while

156 ESKIMO LIFE
they are mere children, toy bird-darts and harpoons ;
and with these, or, failing these, with common stones,
one may see the three or four-year-old hunters prac
tising upon small birds and anything else worthy of
their passion for the chase which they happen to
come across. I have already mentioned that they
commence practising in the kaiak at a very early
age. It is, of course, of the greatest importance for
the Greenland community that the rising generation
should be brought up to be expert hunters. On this
their whole future depends.
The girls, too, must be early trained in their life-
work ; they must learn to sew, and to assist their
mother in her domestic labours.

157

CHAPTER X
MORALS
The Eskimo has, of course, like every other race of
men, his virtues and his foibles ; possibly with this
difference from the civilised European, that the
former are more numerous in proportion to the
latter. But, on the other hand, neither his virtues
nor his foibles are found in such high development.
Even the earliest accounts of Greenland, how
ever, such as Egede's, Cranz's, Dalager's, and others,
show clearly enough the falsity of the frequent
assertion that the Eskimo stands upon a low moral
plane ; although in some of these writers, for
example in Hans Egede, we can trace an evident
tendency to paint the Eskimo, individually and
socially, in as dark colours as possible, in order to
prove how sadly this people stood in need of the
lights of religion, and how necessary it therefore
was that the Greenland mission should be supported.
One of the most prominent and attractive traits
in the Eskimo's moral character is certainly his

158 ESKIMO LIFE
integrity. If some Europeans have denied him this
virtue, it can only be, I am sure, because these
gentlemen have not taken the trouble to place them
selves in sympathy with his modes of thought, and
to realise what he regards as dishonourable.
It is of special importance for the Eskimo that he
should be able to rely with confidence upon his
neighbours and his fellow-men ; and it is the first
condition of this mutual confidence, on which depends
all united action in the battle for life, that every man
shall be upright in his dealings with his neighbours.
The Eskimo therefore regards it as in the highest
degree dishonourable to steal from his housemates or
from his fellow-villagers, and it. is very seldom -that
anything of the sort occurs. Even Egede tells us
that they let their goods and chattels ' lie open to
everyone without fear of anyone stealing or taking
away the least portion of them. . . . This mis
demeanour is so repulsive to them that if a girl is
found stealing, she loses all chance of making a good
marriage.' For the same reason they very seldom lie to each
other — especially the men. The following trait, re
lated by Dalager, affords a remarkable proof of this :
' In describing a thing to another person, they are
very careful not to paint it in brighter colours than
it deserves ; especially in the sale of an object which

MORALS 159
the buyer has not seen, even although the seller may
be anxious to get rid of it, he will depreciate it rather
than overpraise it.'
When one owes another money, the creditor may,
as a rule, be assured that the debtor will pay up as
soon as ever he can. The Danish merchants confirm
this trait. They have often told me that they lend
with confidence to the Greenlanders, because it very
seldom happens that they are not repaid in full.
The Eskimo's conception of his duties towards
strangers, especially towards people of another race,
is not quite so strict. We must remember that • a
foreigner is to him an indifferent object, whose
welfare he has no interest in furthering ; and it
matters little to him whether he can rely on the
foreigner or not, since he has not got to live with
him. Thus he does not always find it inconsistent
with his interests to appropriate a little of the
foreigner's property, if he thinks it can be of use to
him. The first Europeans who came to the country
suffered a good deal from this peculiarity. We can
not greatly wonder that the Eskimos stole from
them, when we consider how the European expedi
tions at first conducted themselves, after the land
had been discovered anew. They often plundered
the natives, maltreated their women, and what was

160 ESKIMO LIFE
worse, tempted them on board their ships, set sail,
and took them as prisoners to Europe. Thus the
Eskimos had from the first but little reason to regard
us as friends. Nor does it seem by any means irre
concilable with European morality to plunder foreign
peoples, if we may judge by the way in which we
deal with the native races in Africa and elsewhere.
Or let us suppose that it had been the Eskimos who
came and planted themselves upon our shores, and
behaved to us as we did in Greenland. — would it
then have been altogether inconsistent with our
moral code to rob and filch from them whatever we
could ?
It must also be taken into account that in com
parison with the Eskimos the Europeans possess pro
perty in superabundance. According to Eskimo
morality, therefore, it appears that we ought to be
able to dispense with some of our superfluity, and
if we decline to do so it is because we are miserly
and selfish.
As the Europeans have gradually settled down
in the country and ceased to be regarded a,s
foreigners, matters have altered a good deal, and
theft even from them is now rare. I believe, however,
that when an opportunity offers the natives are
still inclined to appropriate trifles which they think
can never be missed. I have myself seen respect-

MORALS 161
able Greenlanders fill their pockets and gloves with
meal from the barrels in the store, quite unabashed
by the fact of my observing them. In such a case
they no doubt think that it is the Royal Greenland
Company from whose superfluity they are helping
themselves. The company will neither be richer
nor poorer for a few handfuls of meal, which for
them are of great moment — and in this comfortable
conviction they go on their way rejoicing. I am
afraid that such modes of thought are not peculiar
to Greenland. For the rest, it must be remembered as an extenu
ating circumstance that the Eskimos were from the
first, and even down to comparatively recent times,
shamelessly defrauded by the European traders, who
used false weights and measures, and gave them,
in barter, wares of wretched quality. I need only
mention, on Saabye's authority, that the traders of
last century used excessively large four-bushel mea
sures, which had, in addition, no bottom, but were
carefully placed over cavities in the floor. These the
natives had to fill with their blubber when they
wanted to sell it, so that what passed for four bushels
was in reality at least six. They knew and under
stood quite well that they were being cheated, but
they submitted uncomplainingly. Such practices
are now, of course, things of the past. M

162 ESKIMO LIFE
As a proof of the Eskimo's scrupulous respect for
the moral law which he recognises, I may remind the
reader that he never touches driftwood which another
has placed above high-water mark, though it would
often be so easy to appropriate it without fear of
detection. And when we Europeans break through
this law, and help ourselves without ceremony to
their stored-up driftwood — as we have often done, I
am sorry to say, intentionally or otherwise — have not.
the Eskimos, I. wonder, at least as good right to
despise us as we have to look down upon them ?
Fkjjhling-midA^u^^ sort, as before.
mentioned, are unknown among them, and murder is
very rare.' They hold it atrocious to kill a feUow-
creature ; therefore -war is in their eyes incomprehen
sible and repulsive, a thing for which their language
j has no word ; and soldiers and officers, brought up to
' the trade of killing, they regard as mere butchers.
It has, indeed, as Egede says, ' occurred now and
then that an extremely malicious person, out of
rankling hatred, has killed another.' But when he
adds that ' this they regard with the greatest cool
ness, neither punishing the murderer nor taking the
thing to heart in any way,' I believe that he is not
quite just to them. They certainly abhor the crime,
and if they do not actively mix themselves up in the
matter, it is because they regard it as a private affair

MORALS 163
A
i
between the murderer and his victim. It is not the
business of the community, but simply of the mur
dered man's nearest relatives, to take revenge for his
death, if they are in a position to do so ; and thus we
find, even among this peaceable folk, traces of a sort
of blood-feud, though the practice is but slightly
developed, and the duty does not, as a rule, seem to
weigh heavily upon ' the survivors. In cases of
extreme atrocity, however, the men of a village have
been known to make common cause against a mur
derer, and kiU him.
Here, as elsewhere, women and love are among
the most frequent causes of bloodshed.
The attack often takes place at sea, the murderer
transfixing his victim from behind with his harpoon,
or capsizing his kaiak and cutting a hole in it. It
does not accord with the Eskimo's character to
attack another face to face, not so much because he
is afraid as because he is bashful, and would feel it
embarrassing to go to work under the other's eye.
They do not regard it as criminal to kill old
witches and wizards, who, they think, can injure and
even kill others by their arts. Nor is it inconsistent
with their moral code to hasten the death of those
who are sick and in great suffering, or of those in
delirium, of which they have a great horror.
Of our commandments, the seventh is that which
M 2

164 ESKIMO LIFE
the Greenlanders are most apt to break ; for, as the
reader may already have gathered from the foregoing
chapter, virtue and modesty are not held in high
esteem among them. This is especially the case
among the Christian Eskimos of the west coast, who
have come much in contact with us Europeans. By
many of them it is not regarded as any particular
disgrace for an unmarried girl to have children. Of
this I have seen frequent examples. While we were
at Godthaab, two unmarried girls of the neighbour
hood who were with child made no sort of attempt
to conceal the fact, and even tied up their top-knots
with green ribbon1 long before it was necessary,
seeming almost proud of this visible sign that they
were not disdained. I have seen green-tops who
not only wore the colour in their hair, but trimmed
and embroidered their anoraks quite stylishly with
ribbons of the same hue, though such a proceeding is
neither obligatory nor customary.
The missionaries have, of course, been vehement
in their denunciations of the prevalent laxity in this
direction, and have tried to inculcate a stricter
morality upon the youth of both sexes, from their
schooldays onwards ; but they do not seem to have
succeeded in inducing their flocks to regard the
1 As stated on p. 28, green top-knots are worn by unmarried
women who have had children.

MORALS 165
matter from a higher standpoint, for things grow
worse rather than better. When a young woman
stands in an iUicit relation to a man, she attempts no
concealment ; if the man be a European, indeed, she
positively glories in it, and it seems to procure her
additional consideration among her female friends.
For this state of things the Europeans themselves are
chiefly to blame. In the first place, the young men
who have come to Greenland have often behaved ill
to the native women, and set a bad example ; and, in
the second place, the Europeans have on the whole
managed so to impose upon the natives that the
women will now prefer the commonest European
sailor to the very best Eskimo hunter. The result is
that during the century and a half since we settled
in the country, the race has suffered so large an
admixture of European blood that it is now extremely
difficult to find a single pure-bred Eskimo on the
whole west coast.1 And this although the Europeans
form but • a small fraction of the population of the
country, a few hundred as against ten thousand.
It is obvious that the proneness of the Europeans
to this form of immorality has not made it any easier
for the missionaries to vindicate the sanctity of the
1 One reason of this is also to be found in natural selection, for the
half-castes are now generally regarded as handsomer than the pure
bred Eskimos, and are consequently apt to be preferred in marriage.

166 ESKIMO LIFE
seventh commandment. My experience, and I believe
that of most observers, is that the native women
of the colonies, where many Europeans reside, are
much more immodest than those of the villages
where there are no Europeans. For example, I may
mention that the women at Sardlok, Kornok, Kangek,
and Narsak made an altogether better impression
than those at Godthaab and New Herrnhut, where
their behaviour was often the reverse of discourag
ing towards young men who happened to take their
fancy. Sexual morality seems to have been considerably
higher among the heathen Eskimos before the Euro
peans came to the country. Even Hans Egede, who
does not, as a rule, depict their moral qualities in
too bright colours, says in his ' New Perlustration ' :
' Young girls and maidens, on the other hand, are
modest enough. We have never seen them conduct
ing themselves wantonly with the )Toung men, or
making the least approach to such conduct, either in.
word or deed. During the fifteen }ears I was in
Greenland, I knew of only two or three unmarried
girls who gave birth to children ; for this they re
gard as a great disgrace.'
Dalager's general testimony to the national
character in this respect is that 'the Greenlanders
are certainly inclined to the sin of incontinence, but

MORALS 167
not so much so as other nations.' Of the girls he
says that ¦• in their first years of maturity they bear
themselves very chastely, for otherwise they are
certain to spoil their chances in marriage.'
Among the heathens of the east coast at the pre
sent day, the matter does not seem to be regarded so
seriously ; for Holm assures us that ' it is not considered
any disgrace for an unmarried girl to have children.'
The strict morality which obtained among the
unmarried youths and maidens of the west coast in
the heathen days, seems to have been very consider
ably relaxed when once they were married. The
men, at any rate, had then the most unrestricted
freedom. Egede says that for long ' he could not
ascertain that men had to do with other women
than their own wives, or wives with other men ; but
at last we discovered that they were none too par
ticular in this respect.' He describes, among other
things, a remarkable game for which ' married men
and women come together, as though to an assembly.'
The men stepped forth by turns, and, to the accom
paniment of a drum, sang songs in honour of women
and love ; whereupon shameless license became the
order of the day for aU present. ' But in this game
the young and unmarried are forbidden by modesty
to take part ; married people see in it nothing to be
ashamed of.'

168 ESKIMO LIFE
Egede also remarks that women regard it as a
great honour and happiness to become the concubine
of an angekok — that is, ' one of their prophets and ¦
learned men.' 'Many husbands even regard this
with favour, and will sometimes pay the angekoks to
lie with their wives, especially if they themselves
have no children by them.'
The Eskimo women, then, are allowed far greater
freedom in this respect than women of Germanic stock.
The reason probably is that whereas inheritance,
and the continuance of the race and name, have been
matters of supreme importance to the Teutons, the
Eskimos have had little or no property to transmit
from father to son, - while for them the great con
sideration is simply that children shaU be born.
With reference to the above-mentioned game,
however, Dalager declares that it is of very rare
occurrence, ' and that it is to be observed that a
married woman who has duly become the mother of
a family never takes part in it.'
On the other hand, he tells us that widows and
divorced wives are not so particular. While it is
very seldom that ' a young girl has a child, one sees
older women bearing just as many children as if
they were living in wedlock. If they are reproved
for this, even by their own countrymen, they wiU
often answer that their conduct does not proceed

MORALS ]69
from mere wantonness, but from a natural longing to
bear children, which leads them to seduce many a
worthy man.'
On the east coast, too, the morality of married
people seems to leave a good deal to be desired, ac
cording to our ideas. I have mentioned, for instance,
that the men often exchange wives ; but the ex
change is strictly a personal matter, and the husband
will usually resent any unfaithfulness on the wife's
part to the man to whom he has lent her, he himself,
however, claiming full liberty. While living in their
winter houses they often play a wife-exchanging or
lamp-extinguishing game, like that above mentioned ;
but in this the unmarried also take part. Holm tells
us that ' a good host always has the lamps put out at
night when there are guests in the house.'
So far as I know, this game is no longer prac
tised on the west coast. Married Christian Green
landers, however, do not seem to have any over
weening respect for the seventh commandment, and
irregularities of conduct are far from uncommon.
The morals above described seem to us very bad
on the whole ; but it does not follow that the
Eskimos share this feeling. We should beware how
we fix ourselves at one point of view, and unsparingly
condemn ideas and practices which the experience of
many generations has developed among another

170 ESKIMO LIFE
people, however much they may conflict with our
own. There may be underlying reasons which do
not at once meet the eye, and which place the whole
matter in a very different light.
The conceptions of good and evil in this world
are exceedingly divergent. As an example, let me
cite the case of the Eskimo girl who, when Niels
Egede spoke to her of love of God and her neigh
bour, said to him : ' I have given proof of love for
my neighbour. Once an old woman who was ill,
but could not die, offered to pay me if I would lead
her to the top of the steep cliff from which our people
have alwaj's thrown themselves when they are tired
of living ; but I, having ever loved my neighbours,
led her thither without payment, and cast her over
the cliff.' Egede told her that this was ill done, and
that she had killed a fellow-creature. ' She said no ;
but that she was filled with pity for her, and cried
after she had fallen over.' Are we to call this a good
or an evil deed ?
Another time, when Egede was-" explaining how
God punishes wicked people, an Eskimo remarked
that in that respect he was like God, for he had
killed three old women who were witches.
The same divergence of judgment makes itself
felt with regard to the seventh commandment. To
the Eskimo the other exhortation to increase and

MORALS 171
multiply seems to be of greater weight. The reason
may partly be that his race is by nature unprolific.
Like many other peoples, the Eskimos found it
strange that we should not regard polygamy with
warm approval. Among them, a man was held in
esteem in proportion to the number of wives he pos
sessed, and they therefore thought the Old Testament
patriarchs more reasonable than we. This, however,
is a view which we find prevailing among our own
forefathers, until weU on in historical times.
When Paul Egede was remonstrating with the
Greenlanders one day upon their polygamous pro
clivities, one of them fell to eulogising his own
wife for her ' good humour in never being angry
because he loved strange women.' Egede said that
" women in our country could not endure that their
husbands should care for others ; they would turn
them out of their houses.' ' It is no praise to your
women,' replied the Eskimo, ' that they want to
have their husbands all to themselves and to be
masters over them ; we hold that a fault.'
Their way of thinking in these matters is less
ideal and more practical than ours, and their point
of view entirely different. Their habit of exchanging
wives, for example, and their treatment of barren
women, seems to us wanton and immoral ; but when
we remember that the production of offspring is the

172 ESKIMO LIFE
great ends and aim of their conduct, and reflect what
an all-important matter this is for 'them, we may
perhaps pass a somewhat, milder judgment.
If a Greenlander's wife does, not bear children,
his marriage fails of its chief purpose, and it is
quite natural that he should try to find a remedy.
A young man whose wife had no children once
offered Niels Egede a fox-skin either to come to his
aid himself in the matter, or to order one of his
sailors to do so, and was much astonished to find
Egede indignant at the proposal. ' There would be
no disgrace,' he said, ' for she is married, and she
could have one of your married sailors.'
It appears, however, that even the married
Greenlanders are not by nature devoid of what we
understand as moral feeling, for their everyday be
haviour is, as a rule, quite reputable and void of
offence ; on that point all travellers must agree.
If a heathen — and in many cases even a Chris
tian — Greenlander refrains from having to do with
another man's wife, whom he has looked upon Avith
favour, it is generally, no doubt, more because he
shrinks from quarrelling with the husband than
because he regards adultery as morally wrong ; but
we may gather from the following saying, current at
Angmagsalik, that even on the east coast there is a
vague feeling that it is not the right thing. 'The

MORALS I7:j
whale, the musk-ox, and the reindeer,' so the saying
runs, ' left the country because men had too much
to. do with other men's wives." Many men declared,
however, that it was ' because the women were
jealous of their husbands.' The jealousy of the
women was also aUeged as a reason for the fact
that the channel which formerly went right through
the country, from the Sermelik Fiord to the west
coast, had been blocked with ice.1
Egede relates that, strangely enough as he
thought, the women before his arrival had felt no
jealousy when their husbands had more wives than
one, ' and got on very well with each other ' ; but as
soon as he had preached to them the wickedness of
such proceedings, they began to show much annoy
ance when their husbands wanted to take second
wives. • When 1 have been reading with them,' he
says, ' and instructing them in the Word of God,
they have often urged me to bring the seventh com
mandment sharply home to their husbands.' The
men, as may be supposed, did not at all approve of
the missionaries' influence over the women in this
respect, and one of them, whose two wives had
faUen by the ears, said angrily to Niels Egede : ' You
have spoiled them with your teaching, and now
they're jealous of each other.' It appears to me
1 Holm : Meddelelser om Gronland, pt. 10, p. 100.

174 ESKIMO LIFE
that the man's anger was not without justification.
What should we say if Greenlanders came to our
country, forced themselves into our houses, and
preached their own morality to our wives ?
Before we utterly condemn the morality of the
Eskimos, we ought also, perhaps, to remember the
golden maxim that those who live in glass houses
should not throw stones. European morality is in
many respects of such doubtful value that we have
scarcely the right to pose as judges. After all is
said and done, it is possible that the most essential
difference between our morality and that of the
Eskimos is that with us the worst things take place
behind the scenes, in partial or complete secrecy,
and therefore produce all the more demoralising
effect, while among the Eskimos everything happens
on the open stage. The instincts of human nature
cannot be altogether suppressed. It is with them as
with explosives : where they lie unprotected on the
surface, they may be easily ' set off,' but they do
little mischief; whereas when they lie deeper and
more concealed, they are perhaps less easily kindled,
but when once they take fire the explosion is far
more violent and destructive, and the greater the
weight that is piled upon them, the greater havoc do
they work.
According to the Eskimo code, marriage between

MORALS 175
first cousins, or between any near relations, is pro
hibited. Even foster-children, who happen to have
been brought up in the same household, cannot
marry. A man should, if possible, seek his wife in
another viUage.
This rule answers to the so-called law of exogamy,
or prohibition of marriage with blood relations, with
people of the same family name, or even belonging
to the same clan (among the Chinese), gotra (among
the Hindus), or gens (among the Romans ?), which is
also found in slightly different forms in the Greek, and
formerly in the Catholic, Church, among the Slavonic
and Indian races, and in many other quarters.
Plutarch says of the Romans that in earlier times
they no more thought of marrying women of the
same stock than they would in his day think of
marrying aunts or cousins. Our own forefathers, in
long past ages, probably observed the law of exo
gamy, which, however, stands in sharp opposition
to the feeling now dominant in Norway, that natives
of the same place should be chosen in marriage, and
if possible near relatives, even first cousins. It seems
to be the general rule that we find the widest circles
of prohibition against marriage among savage
peoples, while among modern and civilised nations
a greater freedom prevails. Exogamy would thus
appear to be a relic of barbarism from which we Nor-

176 ESKIMO LIFE
wegians have very thoroughly freed ourselves. It is
very difficult to explain the origin of this law. Many
writers,- as we know, seek to trace it to- the primitive
conception of woman as a chattel, and commonly as
a captive of the spear, whence it followed that a
wife ought not. to be taken from among relations or
friends, but should be carried off from another tribe.
Although the scientific authorities are against me, it
appears to me by no means impossible that we may
also find at the root of the custom the belief that
marriage between near relations produces a weakly
progeny. This belief, at any rate, prevails among
almost all nations in the form of a dread of incest.
It is true that modern research has sought to show
that marriage between kinsfolk is not injurious; but
whether well-founded or not, the contrary belief has
undoubtedly been entertained, and from it the law
of exogamy would naturally follow. The fact that
among the Greenlanders it goes the length of for
bidding marriage between people of the same viUage
is easily explicable when we think of the above-
mentioned customs, which render it impossible to
be sure who may or may not be half-brothers and
sisters. In several respects the morality of the heathen
Eskimos stands considerably higher than that which
one generally finds in Christian communities. As I

MORALS 177
have already pointed this out (in Chapter VIII.), I will
here only remind the reader of their self-sacrificing
love of their neighbour and their mutual helpfulness,
to which, indeed, we find no parallel in European
society. These virtues, however, are not unfre
quently to be found among primitive peoples, and
are probably in the main due to the simpler struc
ture of society. A more developed and consequently
more complicated social order leads to the decline of
many of the natural virtues of humanity.
But the Eskimo's love of his neighbour goes the
length of restraining him from slandering him, and
even from any sort of evil-speaking, ¦especially in the
case of a neighbour in the literal sense of the word.
Scandal and malice are inconsistent with his peace
able and kindly disposition. As before remarked,
the women do not seem to be quite so exemplary in
this respect ; but we know that such weaknesses are
commonly attributed to the softer sex all the world
over. Reverence for the aged is not a prominent feature s
of the Eskimo character. They are honoured, indeed,
so long as they are able to work, and if they have
in their younger days been good hunters, and have
sons, they may retain great influence and be regarded
as the head of the household. A woman who has
able-bodied sons may also be treated with reverence, N

178 ESKIMO LIFE
even should she attain a great age. A widow especi
ally has often great power, governing the house as
long as she lives, and having the upper hand of her
daughters-in-law. But, as a rule, when people grow
so old that they cannot take care of themselves, they
are apt to be treated with scant consideration, espe
cially women. Sometimes the younger generation
will even go the length of making fun of them, and
to this the poor old people submit with great pati
ence, regarding it simply as the way of the world.
That the reader may form some conception of a
primitive Eskimo's habits of thought on moral ques
tions, I quote the following letter from a converted
Greenlander to Paul Egede.1 I reproduce it here,
because it in many respects bears out the views
above expressed, and Egede's book 'Accounts of
Greenland,'2 in whicli this translation is printed (pp.
230-236) is now not easily obtainable. The writer
was a heathen who had been baptised by Paul
Egede's father, Hans Egede. The letter, which was
of course written in Eskimo, gives evidence not only
of a peculiar moral point of view, but also of a keen
understanding, and of feelings which, as Paul Egede
says, one would scarcely expect ' in so stupid a
1 Paul Egede was for many years a missionary in Greenland, but
had at this time (1756) returned to Copenhagen.
Efterretninger om Gronland.

MORALS 179
people as we have hitherto taken them to be.' It is,
as will be seen, an answer to an epistle of Egede's,
and runs as follows : —
Amiable Pauia ! *
You know how precious and agreeable your letter is to
me ; but how appalled I was when I read of the destruction
of such multitudes of people in the great earthquake,2 incon
ceivable to us, which you say devoured in one moment more
people than there are in all our country. I cannot tell you
how this moved me, or how frightened we were, so that many
fled from the -place where they lived to another, which was
quite as unsafe, though it was on a rock ; for we see even
here that rocks have been split open from the top to the very
depths, though when it happened none, of us know. Granite
rocks, such as our land consists of, and sand-hills like your
land, are equally easy for God to overthrow, in whose power
the whole world stands, and we poor little animals are easily
buried in the ruins. You give me to understand that with
you there have been neither snow nor great cold this winter,
and conclude that it must have been all the severer with us ;
but we, too, have had an unusually mild winter. I hear that
your learned men are of opinion that this mild weather has
been caused by the warm vapours emanating from the earth
at the time of the earthquake, which have warmed the air and
melted the snow-material. But if I had not heard that this
was the opinion of the learned, I should have thought that
the warmth of the- earth would avail little to heat the height
and breadth of the air— as little as a man's breath avails to
warm a large house in which he simply breathes for a moment
1 Pauia or Pavia is the Eskimo corruption of Paul.
2 [Evidently the earthquake at Lisbon. — Trans.]

180 ESKIMO LIFE
and then goes out again. The south winds, which are always
warm, and have blown all the year through with us, are the
cause of the moderate cold we have had ; but why the south
wind blew I cannot tell, nor the learned either, perhaps.
Were these wretched people killed by the heat, or did the
earth swallow them up, or were they shaken to death ?
Skipper B. thought that their own houses must have fallen
upon them and killed them. Your people do not seem to
care very much about it ; for they are not only cheerful and
merry, but they relate that the two nations l who come here
whale-fishing, not your countrymen, but of the same faith as
you, are lighting with and shooting each other both by land
and sea, hunting each other as we hunt seals and reindeer,
and stealing and taking away ships and goods from each
other, from people they have never seen or known, simply
because their lord and master will have it so. When I asked
the skipper, through an interpreter, what could be the cause
of such inhumanity, he answered that it was all about a
piece of land right opposite ours,2 so far away that it could
only be reached after three months' sailing. Then I thought
that there must be great scarcity of land where these people
dwell ; but he said no, that it was only because of the great
lords' greediness for more riches and more people to rule
over. I was so astounded by this greediness, and so
terrified lest it should fall upon us too, that I was almost
out of my mind ; but I presently took heart again,
you will scarcely guess why. I thought of our snow-clad
country and its poor inhabitants, and said to myself:
' Thank God ! we are poor and possess nothing which these
greedy Kablunaks [so they call all foreigners] can desire.
1 Probably the Dutch and English.— [Surely rather the French and
English. — Trans.]
2 Doubtless America.

MORALS 181
What we have upon the earth they do not care to possess,
what we require for food and clothing swims in the great
sea ; of that they may take as much as they can, there will
always be enough for us.' If only we have as much food as
we can eat, and skins enough to keep us from the cold, we are
quite contented ; and yon know very well that we let to
morrow take care of itself. Therefore we will not fight with
anyone, even if we were strong enough ; although we can
as justly say that the sea belongs to us as the believers in
the East can say of the unbelievers in the West that they
and their possessions belong to them. We can say it is our
sea which surrounds our land, and that the whales, cachalots,
grampuses, porpoises, unicorns [that is, narwhals], white
whales, seals, halibuts, salmon, cod, and sea-scorpions which
swim in it belong to us too ; but we willingly allow others
to take of this great store as much as they please. We are
happy in that we have not so great a natural covetousness as
they. I have often wondered at the Christians, and have not
known what to think about them — they leave their own
beautiful land, and suffer much hardship in this country,
which is to them so rough and disagreeable, simply for the
sake of making us good people ; but have you seen so much
evil in our nation, have you ever heard such strange and
utterly senseless talk among us ? Their teachers instruct us
how we are to escape the devil, whom we never knew ; and
yet the roystering sailors pray with the greatest earnestness
that the devil may take them, or may split them. I daresay
you remember how I, in my youth, learned such phrases from
them to please them, without knowing what they meant,
until you forbade me to use them. Since I have come to
understand them myself, I have heard more than I wanted of
them. This year in particular I have heard so much of the
Christians, that if I had not, in the course of long familiarity

182 ESKIMO LIFE
with them, known many good and worthy men among them,
and if Hans Pungiok and Arnarsak, who have been to your
country, had not told me that there were many pious and
virtuous people there, I could have wished that we had never
set eyes upon them lest they should corrupt our people. I
daresay you have often heard how my countrymen think of
you and yours that you have learned good behaviour among
us ; and when they see a pious person among you, they will
often say, ' He is like a human being,' or ' a Greenlander.' You
no doubt remember that funny fellow Okako's idea of sending
angekoks [that is, medicine-men] to your country to teach
the people to be good, as your king has sent preachers hither
to teach us that there is a God. which we did not know before.
But I know that your people do not lack instruction, and
therefore that proposal is of no use. It is strange enough,
my dear Pauia ! — your people know that there is a God, the
creator and upholder of all things, that after this life they will
either be happy or miserable, according as they shall have con
ducted themselves here, and yet they live as if they were under
orders to be wicked, and it was to their honour and advantage
to sin. My countrymen, on the other hand, know nothing
either of a God or a devil, believe neither in punishment nor
in reward after this life ; and yet they live decently, treat
each other kindly, and share with each other peaceably when
they have food to share. There are, of course, bad people
among us too, which proves that we must be of one stock ;
and perhaps we must thank our barren land for the fact that
most of us are above reproach. (You do not think, I hope,
that I am talking hypocritically about my countrymen, for
you know by experience that what I say is true.) When I
have heard accounts of your pleasant country I have often
envied its inhabitants ; for they have great abundance of the
delicious fruits of the earth, and of animals, birds, and fishes

MORALS 183
of innumerable sorts, fine large comfortable houses, fine
clothes, a long summer, no snow or cold, no midges, but
everything pleasant and desirable ; and this happiness, I
thought, belonged to you alone because you were believers,
and, as it were, God's own children, while we, as unbelievers,
were placed in this country as a punishment. But, oh, we
happy Greenlanders ! Oh, dear native land ! How well it
is that you are covered with ice and snow ; how well it is
that if in your rocks there are gold and silver, for which the
Christians are so greedy, it is covered with so much snow
that they cannot get at it ! Your unfruitfulness makes us
happy and saves us from molestation ! Pauia ! we are indeed
contented with our lot. Fish and flesh are our sole food ;
dainties seldom come in our way, but are all the pleasanter
when they do./ Our drink is ice-cold water ; it quenches
thirst and does not steal away the understanding or the natural
strength like that maddening drink of which your people are
so fond./ Our clothing is of unsightly thick-haired skins,
but it is well suited to this country, both for the animals,
while the skins are still theirs, and for us when we take
them from them. Here then, thank God, there is nothing to
tempt anyone to come and kill us for its sake. We live without
fear. It is true that here in the North we have the fierce white
bears ; but to deal with them we have our dogs, which fight
for us, so that we do not run the slightest risk. Murder is
very seldom heard of among us. It does not happen unless
someone is suspected or accused of being a magician and of
having killed someone by his witchcraft, in which case he is
killed without remorse by those whose duty it is, who think
they have just as good right as the executioner in your
country to take the lives of malefactors ; but they make no
boast of it, and do not give thanks to God for it like the great
lords in your country, when they have killed all the people of

184 ESKIMO LIFE
another land, as D. has told me. It surely cannot be to the
good God of whom you teach us, who has forbidden us to
shed blood, that they give thanks and praises ; it must be to
another who loves slaughter and destruction. I wonder if it
is not to the Tornarsuk [the devil] ? Yet that cannot be
either ; for it would be flying in the face of the good God to
give any honour to Satan. I hope you will explain this to
me at your convenience. I promise not to tell my country
men about it. It might lead them to think like Kaua, who
dared not become a Christian for fear he should come to be
like the wicked sailors. I will not tell you anything about
the conversion of my countrymen, for I know that our
teacher has given you all information. The thing you desired
me to look into I will, as far as I am able, attend to. I have
not been able to make the experiment with the compass,
since the cold this year has been only moderate. The cause
of the two conflicting currents is no doubt what you say.
Since you value so much the two fishes almost turned to
stone, I shall try to procure more for you ; they are found
in clay beds, as you suppose. Now I seem to have been
speaking to you and you to me — now I must close my letter.
The skipper is ready and the wind is fair. The mighty Pro
tector of all of us guide them over the great and perilous
sea, and preserve them, especially from the wicked men-
hunters, of whom 1 see they are most in dread, so that they
may come scatheless to their fatherland and find you, my
beloved, with gladness. Paul Greenlander.
Greenland, 1756.
This letter, as well as what has been stated in the
earlier part of this chapter, surely justifies us in
saying that the primitive morality of the Eskimo

MORALS 185
stands in many respects close to that of ideal Chris
tianity, and is even in one way superior to it ; for, as
the letter-writer says, the Greenlanders ' know no
thing either of a God or a devil, believe neither in
punishment nor in reward after this life, and yet they
live virtuously ' none the less.
Many people will, no doubt, think it astonishing
that we should find so highly developed a morality
among a race so uncultivated, and so unclean in
their outward habits. Others will perhaps find it
more surprising that this morality should have been
developed among a people who have no religion, or
at any rate a very imperfect one, as we shall pre
sently see. Such facts are inconsistent with the
theory which is stiU held in many quarters, that
morality and religion are inseparable. A study of
the Eskimo community shows pretty clearly, I think,
that morality to a great extent springs from and rests
upon natural law.

186 ESKIMO LIFE

CHAPTER XI
JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS  DRUM-DANCES AND
ENTERTAINMENTS
I have again and again -sought to impress upon the
reader that the Eskimos are a peaceable and kindly
race. There is no more striking proof of this, I
think, than their primitive judicial process.
It is a mistake to suppose that the heathen
Eskimos had no means of submitting any wrong they
had suffered to the judgment of their feUows. Their
judicial process, however, was of a quite peculiar
nature, and consisted of a sort of duel. It was not
fought with lethal weapons, as in the -so-called
civilised countries ; in this, as in other things, the
Greenlander went more mildly to work, challenging
the man who had done him wrong to a contest of
song or a drum-dance. This generally took place
at the great summer meetings, where many people
were assembled with their tents.xThe litigants stood
face to face with each other in the midst of a
circle of onlookers, both men and women, and, beat-

JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS, DRUM-DANCES, ETC. 187
ing a tambourine or drum, each in turn sang satirical
songs about the other. In these songs, which as a
rule were composed befor'ehand, but were sometimes
improvised, they related aU the misdeeds of their
opponent and tried in every possible way to make
him ridiculous. The one who got the audience to
laugh most at his jibes or invectives was the con
queror.! Even such serious crimes as murder were
often expiated in this way. / It may appear to us
a somewhat mild form of punishment, but for this
people, with their marked sense of honour, it was
sufficient ; for the worst thing that can happen to a
Greenlander is to be made ridiculous in the eyes of
his feUows, and to be scoffed at by them. It has
even happened that a man has been forced to go into
exile by reason of a defeat in a drum-dance.
This drum-dance is still to be found upon the
east coast. It seems clear that it must be an ex
ceedingly desirable institution, and for my part I
only wish that it could be introduced into Europe ;
for a quicker and easier fashion of settling quarrels
and punishing evil-doers it is difficult to imagine.
The missionaries on the west coast of Greenland,
unfortunately, do not seem to have been of the same
opinion. Being a heathen custom, it was therefore,
in their opinion, immoral and noxious as well ; and
on the introduction of Christianity they opposed it

188 ESKIMO LIFE
and rooted it out. Dalager even tells us that 'there
is scarcely any vice practised among the Greenlanders
against which our missionaries preach more vehe
mently than they do against this dance, affirming
that it is the occasion of all sorts of misbehaviour,
especially among the young.' This policy he did
not at all approve. He admits, indeed, that the
dances may be the occasion of a few irregularities,
but adds that if a girl has made up her mind to
part with her virtue, she is not likely to select so
unquiet a time and place ; and one cannot but agree
with him when he exclaims, ' And in truth, if people
danced to such good purpose among us, we should
presently see every second moralist and advocate
transformed into a dancing-master.'
The result of this inconsiderate action on the
part of the missionaries is that, in reality, no law
and no forms of justice now exist in Greenland.
The Europeans cannot, of course, or at any rate
should not, mix themselves up in the Greenlanders'
private affairs. But when, on some rare occasion, a
crime of real importance occurs, the Danish authori
ties feel that they must intervene. The conse
quences of such intervention are sometimes rather
surprising. At a settlement in North Greenland
some years ago (so I have been told), a man who
had killed his mother was punished by banishment

JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS, DRUM-DANCES, ETC. 189
to a desert island. In order that he should be able
to support himself in solitude, they had to give him
a new kaiak, and a small store of food to begin
with. Some time afterwards, the food having run
out, he returned to the settlement and declared that
he could not live on the island, because there was
not enough game in the waters around it. He
therefore settled down again in his old house, and
the only change in his life brought about by his
matricide was that he got a new kaiak.
The managers of the colonies sometimes have
recourse to a more effective method of punishment
in the case of women : it consists in excluding them
for a certain time from dealinp; at the stores.
Besides being a judicial process, the drum-dance
was also a great entertainment, and was often danced
merely, for the sake of pastime. In this case the
dancers sang songs of various kinds, beating a
drum the while, and going through a varied series
of more or less burlesque writhings and contor
tions of the body. This is another consideration
which ought to have made the missionaries think
twice before abolishing the drum-dances, for amuse
ment is a necessity of life, serving to refresh the
mind, and is of quite peculiar importance for a
people which, like the Greenlanders, inhabits an
inhospitable region and has few diversions. To

190 ESKIMO LIFE
make up for the loss of the drum-dances, they have
now borrowed from the European whale-fishers and
sailors many European dances, especially reels,
which they have to some extent modified according
to their own taste. At the colonies, the carpenter's
shop, the blubber-loft, or some other large apart
ment, is generally used as a ball-room, and here
dances take place as often as the managers or other
authorities will give permission — generaUy once a
week. In the other villages the dancing takes place
in the Greenlanders' own houses.
A Greenland ball offers a picturesque spectacle —
the room half lighted by the train-oil lamps, and the
crowd of people, young and old, all in their many-
coloured garments, some of them taking part in the
dance, some standing as on-lookers in crowded
groups along the walls and upon the sleeping-benches
and seats. There is plenty of beauty and of grace
ful form, commingled with the most extravagant
hideousness. Over the whole scene there is a sense
of sparkling merriment, and in the dance a great
deal of grace and accomplishment. The feet will
often move so nimbly in the reel that the eye can
with difficulty follow them. In former days the
music was generaUy supplied ' by a violin, but now
the accordion, too, is much in use.
The unhappy Eskimos who belong to the German

JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS, DRUM-DANCES, ETC. 191
or Herrnhut communities, of which there are several
in the country, are forbidden to dance, and even to
look at others dancing. If they do, they are excom
municated by the missionaries, or put down in their
black books.
Among other amusements, church-going takes a
prominent place. They find the psalm-singing ex
tremely diverting, and the women in particular are
very much addicted to it.
The women, however, find shopping at least as
entertaining. As the time for opening the stores
approaches, they are to be seen, even in the winter
snowstorms, standing in groups along the walls and
waiting for the moment when the doors of Paradise
shaU be flung wide and they can rush in. Most of
them do not want to buy anything, but they while
away the hours during which the store is open,
partly in examining all the European articles of
luxury, especially stuffs and shawls, partly in flirting
with the storekeepers, and partly in exchanging all
sorts of more or less refined witticisms and ' larking '
with each other.
The rush is particularly great every summer,
after the arrival of the ships with cargoes of new
wares from Europe. Then the stores are liter aUy in
a state of siege the whole day long. Like their
European sisters, the Eskimo women are fond of

192 ESKIMO LIFE
novelties of aU sorts, so that as soon as they arrive
the stores do a roaring trade in them. The main
point, so far as I could understand, is that the wares
shall be new ; the use they are to be put to is a
minor consideration.

193

CHAPTER XII
MENTAL GIFTS  ART — MUSIC — PO ETRY — ESKIMO
NARRATIVES
The Greenlanders are endowed with good mental
faculties and great inventiveness. Their implements
and weapons, as we have seen, afford a striking proof
of this. The missionaries, too, especially at first,
found only too ample opportunity to judge of the
keenness of their understanding, when they were so
foolish as to let themselves be drawn into discussions
with the heathen angekoks. When the missionaries
were cornered, however, they had often arguments
in reserve which were much more forcible than those
of the natives. They wielded, as my friend, the
master carpenter at Godthaab used to say, ' a proper
fist,' and to its persuasions the peaceable Greenlanders
could not but yield.
To prove that their natural parts are good, I may
mention that they learn to read and write with com
parative ease. Most of the Christian Eskimos can
now read and write, many of them very well; in-
o

194 ESKIMO LIFE
deed, their faculty for writing is often quite mar
vellous. Even the heathen Eskimos learn to play
dominoes, draughts, and even chess, with ease. I
have often played draughts with the natives of the
Godthaab district, and was astonished at the ability
and foresight which they displayed.
All our ordinary branches of education they
master with more or less readiness. Arithmetic is
what they find most difficult, and there are compara
tively few who get so far as to deal competently with
fractions ; the majority have quite enough to do with
addition and subtraction of integers, to say nothing
of multiplication and division. The imperfection of
their gifts in this direction is no doubt due to age-old
causes. The Eskimo language, like most primitive
idioms, has a very undeveloped system of numerals,
five being the highest number for which they have
a special word. They count upon their fingers:
One, atausek ; two, mardluk ; three, pingasut ; four,
sisamet; five, tatdlimat, the last having probably
been the original word for the hand. When an
Eskimo wants to count beyond five, he expresses six
by saying ' the first finger of the other hand ' (arjinek
or igluane atausek) ; for seven he says ' the second
finger of the other hand ' (arjinek mardluk), and so
forth. When he reaches ten he has no more hands
to count with, and must have recourse to his feet.

MENTAL GIFTS, ART, MUSIC, POETRY, ETC. 195
Twelve, accordingly, is represented by ' two toes
upon the one foot ' (arkanek mardluk), and so forth ;
seventeen by ' two toes on the second foot ' (arjer-
sanek mardluk), and so forth. Thus he manages to
mount to twenty, which he calls a whole man (inuk
ndvdlugo). Here the mathematical conceptions of
many Eskimos come to an end ; but men of com
manding inteUect can count stiU further, and for
one-and-twenty say ' one on the second man ' (inup
dipagssdne atausek). Thirty-eight is expressed by
' three toes on the second man's second foot ' (inUp
dipagssdne arjinek pingasut), forty by ' the whole of
the second man' (inup dipagssd ndvdlugo), and so
forth. In this way they can count to a hundred, or
' the whole of the fifth man ' ; but beyond that his
language will not carry even the most gifted Eskimo.
This is, as wiU be easily understood, a somewhat
unwieldy method of expression when one has to deal
with numbers over twenty. In former days there
was seldom any need to go further than this ; but
the introduction of money and trade has, unfortu
nately, rendered this more frequently necessary. It
is therefore not surprising that, in spite of their
remarkable power of resistance to foreign words,
the Greenlanders have begun more and more to
adopt the Danish numerals, even for the smaller num
bers. By their aid they have now got so far that
o 2

196 ESKIMO LIFE
they can count to over a hundred, which they call
untritigdlit1 ; but I strongly suspect that they have
still a difficulty in forming any distinct conception of
so high a number. A thousand they call tusintigdlit.2
This primitive Eskimo method of numeration
answers to what we find among most primitive
peoples, the fingers and toes having been from aU
time the most natural appliances for counting with ;
even our forefathers no doubt reckoned in the same
way. Imperfect though it be, however, this method
is a great advance upon that of the Australian tribes,
who cannot count beyond three, or in some cases not
beyond two, and whose numerals , consist of : ' One,
two. plenty.' That the forefathers of the Eskimos,
as of all other peoples, at one time stood on this level
appears from their original grammar, in which we
find a singular, dual, and plural, as in Gothic, Greek,
Sanscrit, the Semitic languages, and many others.
All travellers agree in acknowledging the Es
kimo's remarkable sense of locality and talent for
topography. When Captain Ommaney, in 1850,
asked an Eskimo from Cape York to draw the
coast, he took a pencil, a thing he had never seen
before, and sketched the coast-line along Smith's
Sound from his birthplace northwards with astonish
ing accuracy, indicating aU the islands, and the more
1 Danish, hundrede. 2 Danish, tusinde.

MENTAL GIFTS, ART, MUSIC, POETRY, ETC. 197
important rocks, glaciers, and mountains, and men
tioning the names of aU of them. The heathen
natives brought to Captain Holm a map of the east
coast north of Angmagsalik, which they had cut out
in wood. The Greenlanders have, in my opinion, an in
dubitable artistic faculty, and if their culture in this
direction is but little developed, I believe the reason
lies in their hard fight for existence, which has left
them no time for artistic pursuits. Their art x con
sists chiefly in the decoration of weapons, tools, and
garments with patterns and figures, cut out of bone
or wood, or embroidered in leather. The designs
often represent animals, human beings, woman-boats,
and kaiaks ; but they are conventional, and intended
rather for decorative or symbolic effect than as true
reproductions of Nature ; indeed, they have as a rule
assumed quite traditional forms. Some, too, are of
religious significance, and represent, for example, the
torndrssuk — one of their spirits or supernatural
beings. When they really try to copy Nature, they
sometimes display a rare sense of form and power
of reproducing it, as may be seen from the remark
able pictures given by Captain Holm of dolls and
1 The most important contribution to our knowledge of Eskimo art
in its primitive condition is to be found in Captain Holm's instructive
account of the Eskimos at Angmagsalik, Meddelelser om Gronland,
pt. 10, p. 148, &c, with illustrations.

198 ESKIMO LIFE
toys from the east coast, which are therefore quite
uninfluenced by European art-products.
Weapons and tools were doubtless among the
first things upon which the human artistic faculty
thought of exercising itself; but the human body
itseU was perhaps a still earlier subject for artistic
treatment. Relics of this early form of art are found
among the Eskimos, the women seeking to heighten
their attractions by means of geometrical lines and
figures which they produce upon face, breast, arms,
or legs, by means of drawing sinews, blackened with
lamp-soot, through the skin.
Hieroglyphics, which many believe to have been,
in part at least, the origin of art, seem oddly enough
to have been unknown among the Greenlanders, un
less indeed the symbolic designs in their ornamenta
tion can be supposed to have some such significance.
The only attempt at real picture-writing which I
have been able to discover among them does not
evince a very high order of talent. It was a missive
to Paul Egede from an angekok, which consisted
simply of a stick, upon whicli was drawn, with soot
and train oil, a figure like this : A- The angekok
called after the letter-carrier, as he took his de
parture, 'If Pauia Angekok does not understand
what I mean (though he probably will), then say to
him : " This means a pair of trousers which I want

MENTAL GIFTS, ART, MUSIC, POETRY, ETC. 199
him to buy for me at the stores." But he will
understand it well enough.'
Eskimos who have seen specimens of European
art and methods of representation, will sometimes
produce remarkable things without any sort of in
struction. A Greenlander named Aaron once fell

ft)

ESKIMO VENUS AND APOLLO.

sick and had to keep to his bed. Dr. Rink sent him
some materials for wood-engraving and some old
woodcuts. Lying in bed, he at once began to illus
trate the Eskimo legends, and he not only drew his
pictures, but also cut them on the wood.
As an example of their talent for sculpture I
here reproduce two heads, carved in wood, which a
native of a village in the Godthaab district brought

200 ESKIMO LIFE
to me. They seem to me to betray a marked sense
of humour ; and one can scarcely doubt that it is
the features of his own race whicli the artist has
immortalised. Of musical talent the Greenlanders have a good
share. They pick up our music with remarkable
ease, and reproduce it, sometimes vocally, for they
are very fond of singing, sometimes on the violin,
guitar, organ, accordion, or other instruments, which
they quickly teach themselves to play upon. This is
the more remarkable as their primitive music, which
was performed at the drum-dances, is monotonous
and undeveloped, like that of most primitive peoples.
It employs only a few notes, as a rule not more than
five ; but it is nevertheless peculiar and not' without
interest. It is believed to be in the main an imita
tion of the rushing of the rivers. The East Green
landers told Holm that when they sleep beside a
river they hear the singing of the dead, and this
thev seek to imitate.
The primitive characteristics of their music have
of course been more or less destroyed by their
intercourse with Europeans. They have now
adopted many European airs, and it produces a
quaint and surprising effect, among the moun
tains and the glaciers, suddenly to hear a snatch
of a Copenhagen street song, as for example,

MENTAL GIFTS, ART, MUSIC, POETRY, ETC. 201
' Gina, lovely maiden mine, . . . won't you come
along ? '
The Greenlanders have a great wealth of fairy
tales and legends, many of them very characteristic.
Nothing affords a better insight into the whole
spiritual life of the people, their disposition, feelings,
and moods, than the matter of these legends and the
manner in which they are told. We find in them a
considerable talent for narrative and gift of imagi
nation, along with a grotesque humour, which of
course often takes the form of coarseness.
Besides this legendary lore (see next chapter) and
narratives of exploits and adventures, the Green
landers had a poetry of their own. The songs were
either lampoons, such as they used to sing at the
before-mentioned drum-dances, or else descriptions
of different objects and events.
When, on the introduction of Christianity, the
drum-dance was abolished, the art of versification
also fell into disuse or assumed new shapes. StiU,
however, the Greenlanders make up songs. They
are often of a jocose character, the poet setting
forth to ridicule, in a more or less innocent manner,
the peculiarities of others. I understand that several
songs of this nature were composed with reference
to members of my expedition. Indeed I have often
heard them sung about the settlement of an evening,

202 ESKIMO LIFE
though I never succeeded in obtaining the text of
any of them.
Thanks to the initiative of Dr. Rink, an Eskimo
newspaper, Atuagagdliidit, has ever since 1861 been
published in Godthaab. It is printed by a native,
Lars MoUer, who has been to Copenhagen to learn
the trade, and who even draws and lithographs
pictures for it. It is published twelve times a year,
and is distributed gratis to the community, the
expenses being borne out of the public funds. Its
contents consist partly of translations from the
Danish, partly of independent contributions from
the natives describing their hunting, their travels,
and so forth. Thus a whole new literature has been
called into existence.
A specimen of their method of narration was
given in ' The First Crossing of Greenland,' Vol. H.
pp. 217-236. It consisted of the account given
by an Eskimo named Silas, in the Atuagagdliidit,
of his expedition from Unanak on Godthaab-fiord
to the Ameralik fiord to render assistance to the
four members of our expedition who had remained
behind there in October 1888, after Sverdrup and I
had proceeded to Godthaab. The foUowing narra
tive, from the Atuagagdliidit, is also a good sample
of their style. It exemplifies, moreover, the strong
hold which their superstitions still possess upon the

MENTAL GIFTS, ART, MUSIC, POETRY, ETC. 203
Eskimo mind, and is thus of interest with reference
to the matter of my next chapter. I have to thank
Mrs. Signe Rink for her kindness in translating it for
me. At last I send you something which I have long thought
of contributing to your ' Varieties ' column. There is not
much in what I have to tell, but what there is I have seen
with my own eyes. I refer to the comical customs in con
nection with the killing of a bear in certain southern dis
tricts, which are quite unknown elsewhere. These things
took place in the year 1882-83 down at Augpilagtut, a little
way from Pamiagdluk.1 There are two Eskimo houses at
Augpilagtut. In one of them lived three seal-hunters with
their families, to wit, Benjamin, surnamed Akatit, Isaac,
or Umangujok, and lastly Moritz ; and in the other dwelt
Mathasus, who was generally called Ulivkakaungamik, or
' the full-stuffed,' from a catch-word he himself was in the
habit of using. He was over seventy, but still went
hunting very often, and had even killed many bears all by
himself. It happened one Sunday, when all the other hunters had
gone to sea, that we who remained behind held a prayer-
meeting in Mathasus's house. When it was over, Benjamin's
son was the first who went out, and he came rushing back
again crying, ' There's a bear right outside here, eating the
blubber.' I was half frightened, half rejoiced by this news ; but old
Mathaeus positively trembled with delight, and burst forth,
' Thanks to him who brings such good tidings ; I must go
out at once and kill the bear.' I looked at him, thinking
1 Near Cape Farewell.

204 ESKIMO LIFE
that he was going to pick out for himself a good weapon, a
long knife or spear. But nothing of the kind ! The weapon
he had taken scarcely stuck out from his clenched fist. What
use can that be, I thought, against the bear's hide and thick
layer of fat. However, the women of the house would not
let him attack the bear, and all seized upon him to hold him
back, I helping them. The women all untied their top-knots
and let their hair spread loose, that the bear might think
they were men, and therefore keep his distance. For our
heathen forefathers thought that bears had human under
standing. As we were afraid lest this bear should take it into his
head to come into the house through the gut-skin window, I,
too, had to think about getting hold of some weapon or
other, and therefore asked for their axe ; but I of course
found that it had been lent to the people of the other house.
At the same time I caught sight of a woman's knife lying
upon the ipdk 1 beside the lamp, and that I seized, along with
a piece of wood from an old kaiak-keel, which I wanted to tie
to the knife and use as a spear-shaft. But no sooner had I
taken these things than someone behind me cried, ' Give
them to me ; I am ever so much stronger than you ! ' It
was no other than Mathteus's daughter, a widow. She took
them both away from me.
The house-clock 2 now began to strike eleven, and that
brute of a bear forthwith began to look hungrier. I rushed
at once to stop the striking, but in my consternation I made
a mistake and increased the racket, until at last I managed
1 The ipak is an extension of the sleeping-bench (generally square)
on which they place the lamp with its wooden stand.
2 Cheap Nuremberg or Swiss clocks are among the articles of
luxury which commerce has introduced into Greenland ; they are to
be found in the remotest corners of the country.

MENTAL GIFTS, ART, MUSIC, POETRY, ETC. 205
to get the weight loosened and the striking stopped. The
women were still holding tight to Mathseus to keep him back.
Then, all at once, the mother of the boy who had seen the
bear began to slip her trousers down to her knees, and so go
shuffling round the room, while she plaited some straws.
This, they said, was to weaken the bear, so as to make it
easier to get the better of him. In the meantime, old
Mathseus shook the women off and set forth. I rushed after
him, and came up with him before he had quite got out of
the entrance-passage. He told me to go quietly, and said,
' Hush, hush, now he's going down towards the sea.'
Mathasus's rifle was lying in his kaiak on the beach, and
as soon as the bear had passed the kaiak, the old man crept
cautiously on all fours in the same direction. I stood at
the entrance to the passage and saw the bear suddenly turn
and rush roaring towards him. This frightened me so that
I fled over to the other house where, in my hurry, I came
tumbling in at the door. While I still lay grovelling upon
the floor, I could see through the window 1 how the bear
and Mathseus stared each other straight in the face, each on
his own side of the kaiak, Mathasus making grimaces, and
the bear roaring with his mouth wide open, ready to bite him ;
but Mathseus planted his foot firmly against the kaiak and
aimed, without once taking his eyes off the bear for a single
moment ; and then he fired. I now hurried out, just in time
to see him thrust his sealing-lance into its carcase. Then he
called loudly to those in the house that now they had better
come and get their ningek (slice of fat). In their hurry to
outstrip each other, the women almost stuck' fast in the
narrow house-passage, part of which they tore down. When
they reached the bear, they all thrust their hands into the
1 Which is very low in the genuine Eskimo huts.

206 ESKIMO LIFE
wound and lapped some of the blood, while each of them
named the part of the animal which she wanted to have. At
last my turn came to drink the blood, and I did so, saying
that I wanted one ham as my portion ; but thereupon they
answered that all the limbs were already bespoke, and that I,
moreover, had neglected to touch the bear when I came up
to it. It was extremely vexatious that I had forgotten this
detail. The mother of the boy who had first seen the bear
now ran for a bowl of water and made us all take a mouthful
of it, though none of us was thirsty. This she did in order
that her son might always have good luck in spying bears.
The drinking of the blood was meant to prove to the whole
race of bears how they thirsted after them. Before they set
to work to cut up the bear, they kept drumming at his skin
and crying : ' You are fat, fat, beautifully fat.' This they do
out of politeness, in the hope that the bear may really be fat;
but when we skinned this one it was found to be quite un
usually lean.
When they carried the head into the house, I went along
with them, knowing that they would go through certain
ceremonies with it. First it was placed on the edge of the
lamp-table with the face towards the south-east ; then they
stopped its mouth and nostrils with sediment from the lamps
and other sorts of grease ; and lastly, they bedecked the
crown of the head with all sorts of little things, such as shoe-
soles, sawdust, glass beads, knives, &c. The south-east
direction is due to the fact that it is from this quarter of the
compass that the bears generally come, being carried by ' the
great ice ' round the southern extremity of the land. The lamp-
moss in the nostrils is meant to prevent the bear they next
attack from scenting the approach of men ; and the greasing
of the mouth is designed to give it pleasure, as the bear is
supposed to be a lover of all sorts of fried grease. The head

MENTAL GIFTS, ART, MUSIC, POETRY, ETC. 207
is covered with knick-knacks because they think that the
bear is sent to them by their forefathers for the purpose of
bringing these things with it to the other world ; and as they
reckon that the bear's soul cannot reach its home in less than
five days, they always refrain for that time from eating its
head, lest its soul should die on the way, and the little gifts
to their relatives should thus be lost. They are even careful
to stop up all the holes in the neck where the head has been
cut off, in order to prevent the soul from bleeding to death
on its journey. For my part, I call all this idolatry. The
heathens, indeed, believed in the old days that everything,
whether living or dead, had its soul ; but there is nothing
that one ought to mix up with man's immortal soul. The fact
that, even in our days, so long after the introduction of
Christianity, the people here in the far south still cling to
some of the habits of their forefathers is due to their frequent
(almost yearly) intercourse with the heathens of the east
coast. I left Augpilagtut in 1885. I am not quite sure whether
even out at Pamiagdluk there may not be a few families who
still lean to these bear superstitions ; but all certainly do not
— not Isaac's family, for one. At other places, for example
here at the Colony, they have scarcely even heard of the
customs I have described.
I had not been told on what day they intended to cook
the bear's head, and was therefore surprised by a sudden
invitation to come and share in it. I cut the snout off with
out ceremony ; but they soon let me know that I had made
a mistake, at once tearing it out of my hands. I confess I
was a good deal offended, and told them straight out that,
however foolish they might think me, I did not believe a bit
in all this. They assured me quite earnestly that in that
case I would never kill a bear, whereupon I answered that

208 ESKIMO LIFE
this prophecy was very likely to be fulfilled, since I was so
short-sighted that the bear would probably be licking me
before I was aware of its presence.
They have also these further customs : If they see the
track of a bear in the snow, they eat a little of it in order to
assure themselves of killing the bear if it should happen to
come back the same way. Little boys are given the kidneys
of bears to eat, in order that they may be strong and
courageous in bear-hunting. Furthermore, they are careful
during the aforesaid five days not to make any jingling noise,
for the bear is supposed to dislike any sort of clinking or
clanking. Mathseus told me that the bear I had seen him kill was
his eleventh, and that he had not been in the least afraid of
it because in this case he knew he had his rifle to trust to ;
but that once before when he had seen a bear come crawling
up the beach in the same way, he had rushed right in upon
it with only his lance. He said he could not remember how
long ago that was.

209

CHAPTER XIII
RELIGIOUS IDEAS
Religion and religious ideas are among the most
remarkable products of the human spirit. With aU
their reason-defying assertions and astounding incon
gruities, they seem at first sight inexplicable. Time
out of mind, therefore, men have found it difficult to
conceive them as having arisen otherwise than
through a supernatural or divine revelation, which,
it would foUow, must originally have been imparted
to aU men alike. But gradually, as people became
acquainted with the more or less rudimentary reli
gions of the various races, which often differ greatly
on the most essential matters, they began to doubt
the accuracy of this assumption, and came more and
more to consider whether religious ideas must not be
reckoned as a natural product of the human mind
itself, under the influence of its surroundings.
The first theory was that they arose from a
religious craving common to all human beings, which
was itself, therefore, in a certain sense supernatural. p

210 ESKIMO LIFE
It is a mysterious incomprehensible presentiment,
says Schleiermacher, which drives mankind across
the boundaries of the finite world, and leads everyone
to religion; only by the crippling of this natural
proclivity can irreligiousness arise. ' Religion begins
in the first encounter of the life of the All with that
of the individual ; it is the sacred and infallible inter
marriage — the creative, productive embrace — of the
universe with incarnate reason.'
Gradually the explanations became less vague and
high-sounding. Peschel and others held that religious
ideas arose from the need of conceiving the cause or
beginning of all things, or, in other words, that it
was the sources of movement, life, and thought,
which mankind sought after, with its inborn longing
to realise the absolute. Others hold, with Max
Midler, that a longing for the infinite, a striving to
understand the incomprehensible, to name the un-
nameable, is the deep spiritual bass-note which
makes itself heard in aU religions. Others again, like
0. Pfleiderer, see in mankind's inborn and incom
prehensible thirst for beauty, its fantasy, and its
gesthetic sense, the first germs of religious conscious
ness. Some theorists, finally, have sought to explain
religious ideas as an outcome of the moral sense of
mankind, of its thirst for righteousness.
In the light of a moderately penetrating study of

RELIGIOUS IDEAS 211
the religious ideas of the Eskimos, as of every other
primitive people, all these philosophic theories vanish
away. In our empirical age, people have come more
and more to recognise that religious ideas must be
ascribed to the same natural laws whicli condition all
other phenomena, and to hold, as David Hume first
maintained, that they can be traced for the most part
to two tendencies in our nature— .-or perhaps we
should rather caU them instincts — which are common
to aU animals ; to wit, the fear of death and the desire
of life. From the former instinct arises fear of the
dead and of external nature with its titanic forces,
and the craving for protection against them. From
the latter arises the desire for happiness, for power,
and for other advantages. Thus, too, we understand
the fact that the early religions are not disinterested,
but egotistical, that the worshipper is not so much
rapt in contemplation of the enigmas of nature and
of the infinite, as eager to secure some advantage to
himself. When, for example, amulets and fetishes
are supposed to possess supernatural power, they are
not only treasured, but worshipped.
It is difficult, not to say impossible, to search
back to the first vague forms in which religious ideas
dawned in the morning of humanity, when thought
began to emerge from the primal mists of animal
consciousness. It was with religious ideas in that
r 2

212 ESKIMO LIFE
time as with the first organic beings which arose upon
our earth — they had not yet assumed such deter
minate forms, their component parts were not yet so
definitely fixed, as to leave traces behind them ; what
we find are the more advanced stages of develop
ment. The first ideas must have been exceedingly
obscure impressions, dependent upon many outward
chances, and we can no more reason ourselves back
to them, than we can conceive the appearance of the
first organisms. Nor can we determine at what stage
of the development of humanity these first vague
germs of religious ideas appeared — whether, for ex
ample, they were present in our simian forefathers.
It does not even seem to me certain that the lower
animals are devoid of all superstitious feeling. We
cannot, therefore, expect to discover in any now
existing race a total lack of even the mOst rudimen
tary superstitious conceptions. We must rather
wonder that in a people otherwise so highly developed
as the Eskimos, they should still remain on such a
remarkably low level.
In the light of our knowledge of the primitive
religions, it seems to me best not to regard the
aforesaid instincts as the direct cause of superstitious
conceptions, but rather to distinguish between at
least three germs or impulses, which have provided
the material out of which these instincts — in reality

RELIGIOUS IDEAS 213 •»
resolvable into* one, the instinct of self-preservation —
have fashioned all reUgious systems. The three
germs are : our tendency to personify nature, our
belief in its and our own duality and in the immor
tality of the soul, and the belief in the supernatural
power and influence of certain inanimate objects
(amulets). In order to recognise the great impor
tance of these germs, especially at a primitive
stage of development, we must try to throw our
minds back to the standpoint of the child, which
most nearly answers to that of primitive man. To
personify nature is for the child no mere passing
fancy ; he consistently regards all surrounding
objects, animate and inanimate, as persons, and will,
for example, carry on long conversations with his
toys. A child of my acquaintance, standing one
day in the kitchen watching some long sausages
boiling in a pot, exclaimed to the cook : ' I say, are
these sausages kiUed yet ? ' All of us, probably, can
remember from our childhood how we personified
trees, certain mountains, and the like. It is the
same proclivity, as Tylor says, which reappears in
our often irrational desire or thirst for vengeance
upon inanimate things which in one way or another
have caused us pain or injury. For example, when
we were crossing Greenland, Sverdrup and I had a
sledge which was heavy to draw ; it would have

214 ESKIMO LIFE
caused us quite real satisfaction to have destroyed it,
or otherwise revenged ourselves upon it, when we at
last left it behind. Another inseparable characteristic
of the child-mind is its determination to see in every
movement or occurrence in its little world the
activity of a personal will.
In the first childish philosophy of the human
race, the same method of regarding aU natural
objects as persons must have been quite inevitable.
Trees, stones, rivers, the winds, clouds, stars, the sun
and moon became living persons or animals. The
Eskimos, for example, believe that the heavenly
bodies were once ordinary men and women before
they were transferred to the sky.
But after or along with this proclivity there must
also have arisen quite naturally the tendency to con
ceive a twofoldness, a duality, in nature and in man,
the feeling of a visible and tangible, and of an
invisible and super-sensible, existence. Let us, for
instance, with Tylor, conceive an ignorant primitive
man hearing the echo of his own voice ; how can he
help believing that it is produced by a man ? He
knows nothing of the theory of sound-waves. But
when he hears it time after time, and can find no
man who produces the sound, it is inevitable that he
should attribute it to invisible beings.
Or take, for example, the dew, which he sees

RELIGIOUS IDEAS 215
appearing and disappearing, he cannot tell whence
or whither ; the stars which are lighted in the even
ing, and put out again at morning ; the clouds which
gather aU of a sudden, and of a sudden are dis
persed ; the rain, the wind, the currents in the water
— must not aU these arouse in him the thought or
conception of visible and invisible existences ? When
the primitive Eskimo first met with the glacier which
he saw gliding out into the sea, and giving birth,
from time to time, to mighty icebergs, could he see
in this anything else than the activity of a live
being ? He attributed life to the thing itself, and
regarded these monstrous births as voluntary and
awe-inspiring actions.
Or, to take another example, when a primitive
man saw his own shadow or his own image in the
water, now here, now gone again, eluding alike his
touch and his grasp, how could this fail to arouse in
him the conception of tangible and intangible ex
istences, things that could now be here and at the
next moment could vanish away ?
There were plenty of grounds, in short, for the
evocation of the idea of duality in nature, of a
visible and an invisible phase of existence. But this
belief in the duality of nature must have been greatly
strengthened by the primitive man's conceptions of
himself. When he slept, and dreamed that he was

216 ESKIMO LIFE
out hunting, was dancing, was visiting others, in
short, was wandering far and wide, and then awoke
and discovered that his body had not moved from
his cave or hut, and heard his wife or his com
panions corroborate this, he naturally could not but
believe that he consisted of two parts, of one part
which could leave him at night and go through all
these experiences, and one which lay still at home.
To distinguish between dreams and reality was far
more than could be expected of him. The speech
of many primitive races cannot to this day, as
Spencer points out, express this distinction, having
no means of saying ' I dreamed that I saw ' instead
of ' I saw.' When he had further noticed that his
shadow foUowed him by day but not by night, it
was quite natural that he should give to the part
that was separable from him the name of ' shadow '
or ' shade,' which, therefore, came to mean the same
thing which others denominate soul or spirit. We
shall presently see that the Eskimo has acquired in
this way his belief in, and his name for, the soul.
The conviction of his own kinship with all the
objects around him is further strengthened by the
observation that they have shadows as well as
himself. But when primitive man was brought face to
face with death it must have made a powerful

RELIGIOUS IDEAS 217
impression upon him, and the belief in his own
duality must have been confirmed in a still higher
degree. Here, he saw, was the same body, the same
mouth, and the same limbs ; the only difference was
that in life they spoke and moved, whereas now all
was stiU. Their speech and motion must be due to
some life-giving principle, and this must of course
be the soul, which, as he knew from dreams, had the
power of quitting the body. We must also hold it
only natural that the soul, which at death departed
from the body, came to be associated with the breath
of the mouth, which was now gone ; and therefore (as
for example among some of the Eskimos) man was
endowed with two souls, the shadow and the breath.
This behef in the duality of the soul, whicli is some
times also traceable to the shadow and the reflection
in the mirror, is very widely spread, and to it we
may probably trace our own distinction between soul
and spirit, psyche axid pneuma.
It might at first sight seem natural for primitive
man to conclude that the soul no less than the body
dies at death. There are, in fact, some who think
so ; but most of them, on meeting the dead again in
their dreams, were driven to the conclusion that
their souls still lived. Furthermore, it was not at all
difficult to conceive that, as the soul was temporarily
absent from the body in sleep, delirium, and so forth^

218 ESKIMO LIFE
it was permanently absent in death. Thus the belief
in the continued life of the soul has quite naturally
and inevitably arisen ; and as the idea of annihilation
is very unattractive to every living creature, this
conception of immortality has appealed forcibly to
the human mind.
But as most men are afraid of death and of the
dead, they do not like to meet them again as ghosts ;
and, terror stimulating the imagination, a super
natural power is attributed to them, mainly hurtful,
but sometimes helpful as well. People therefore
come to think it wisest to propitiate and make friends
with them. Thus has arisen that worship of the dead
which plays so great a part in the religion of most
races, and which lies, if not at the foundation, at any
rate, very near to it, in almost all religions — as, for
instance, among the Eskimos.
It cannot be thought unnatural that the spirits of
the dead, and especially those of the more eminent
among them, such as chiefs and princes, were gradu
ally converted into gods.
The word for God among the Hebrews (il or el),
among the Egyptians (nutar), and among many other
peoples, meant only a powerful being, and could be
applied as well to heroes as to gods. As there were
upon the earth peculiarly powerful men, so there
must be in the spirit-world peculiarly powerful

RELIGIOUS IDEAS 219
spirits ; and these naturally became the divinities par
excellence whom it was specially important to worship.
Thus we arrive at last at the belief in one God, at
the moment when absolute monarchy is established
in the spirit world.
But alongside of this ancestor-worship, we recog
nise as a powerful factor in the development of
superstitious ideas the marked tendency of the human
race to attribute supernatural power to certain in
animate objects, which, in the primitive stage, are
used to avert or influence the power of the dead or
to attain other advantages ; and from this has de
veloped the whole wide-spread belief in amulets, and
possibly also, in a measure, fetish-worship. We shall
consider later how the belief in the power of the
amulet may have arisen.
An important force tending towards the continu
ance and development of superstitious conceptions,
when they have once arisen, is of course to be found
in the authority of the medicine-men (spirit-exor-
cisers), or of the priests, over their fellow-men.
Some minds, and these the ablest, naturally came to
have a better understanding than the others of super
natural things, and to stand in a closer relation to
the dead. It was clear that they could thus help
their neighbours, when, for example, there was ques
tion of applying the powers of the dead to the benefit

220 ESKIMO LIFE
of an individual or of a body of men ; and the priest
thus attained power and influence in the community,
and often advantages of a more material nature as
well. It has thus always been to the interest of the
medicine-men and priests to sustain and nurture
superstitious or religious ideas. They must them
selves appear to believe in them ; they may even
discover new precepts of divinity to their own ad
vantage, and thereby increase both their power and
their revenues.
Among people like the Eskimos, yet another in
fluence comes into play, which colours their super
stition ; the influence, to wit, of the natural sur
roundings among which they are placed, and of the
hard and hazardous life they lead. It is a recog
nised fact that a race which lives by hunting and
fishing has a special tendency to become supersti
tious; of this we have a striking example in our own
country. Compare the men of the west and north
coasts with those of the eastern districts. The
former have to look mainly to the sea for their
livelihood, they are dependent on wind and weather,
on the coming of shoals of fish, &c. — in short, on a
whole series of influences unfathomable by man,
which they describe in one word as chance, and
which may be not only unfavourable but even fatal
to them. Inevitably, therefore, they become super-

RELIGIOUS IDEAS 221
stitious ; nor is there any part of the country where
pietism and obscurantism find such fertile soil as on
the west coast. When we turn to the peasant of the
eastern districts we find a remarkable difference.
He dwells at ease upon his farm ; somewhat depen
dent, it is true, on wind and weather, but in a com
paratively secure position ; and therefore he is less
superstitious. How much more strongly must the
stimulus towards superstition act upon the Eskimo,
whose whole life depends upon hunting and fishing !
And it is still further intensified by the perpetual
danger in which he lives, and by his Arctic sur
roundings. Nature so wild and majestic as that of
Greenland — with its glaciers, icebergs, mirages,
tempests, and the long winter nights with the
shimmering Northern Lights — obtains an irresistible
power over the mind, evokes reverence and terror,
and feeds the imagination. We look upon all these
marvels in the dry light of reason ; but primitive
man, like a child, ekes out defective comprehension
with wild fantasy, and his belief in the supernatural
is strengthened and developed.
Morality, which many believe to be intimately
connected with religious conceptions, has in its origin
little or nothing to do with them. As already in
dicated in Chapter X. it springs from the social
instinct, and is, among primitive races, quite distinct

222 ESKIMO LIFE
from superstitious ideas. Thus they have no re
wards beyond the grave for a life of moral ex
cellence. The Eskimos are in some measure an example of
this. It is true that we find hints in the Greenland
legends of punishment in this life for evil-doing, and
especially for witchcraft, at the hands of supernatural
powers. The dead may possibly to a certain extent
requite survivors for benefits conferred upon them
during their life ; the souls (or inue P) of animals can
revenge a too cruel slaughter of their offspring ; the
soul or spirit of a murdered man demands that his
murder shall be avenged ; wrong done to the weak
is punished in divers fashions, and so forth. But all
these notions are so vague that they cannot be
conceived as primary or fundamental, but rather as a
sort of occasional overgrowth, due to the natural
mingling of social relations and laws with the primi-
\tiye legends. They may therefore be regarded as the
first hesitating steps of the religious ideas towards
morality. It is not until a considerably later stage
that religion has consciously and in earnest entered
into an alliance with morality which helps to
strengthen both. Religion has thereby acquired a
strong back-bone, and moral precepts produce a
deeper impression when they come from an exalted
and divine source, and are moreover reinforced by

RELIGIOUS IDEAS 223
promises of rewards and punishments beyond the
grave. A remarkable feature in all religions is that in
spite of their great differences in many essentials,
there are also such great and important similarities
spread over the whole earth. This may be explained
in two ways : either on the theory that all religion is
the result of the same causes, acting independently
in different places, or on the theory that religious
conceptions have arisen in one place and have thence
spread all the world over. For my part I believe
that we may have recourse to both theories in order
to explain this similarity of religions. The human
brain and nerve-system are astonishingly similar*
among all races ; the differences consist chiefly in
the development which must be associated with the
progress of the higher races. It follows that we
must assume the same laws of thought to hold good
throughout, especially in earlier and less complex
stages of development ; and as experiences must in
a certain measure have been everywhere identical,
people must not only have arrived at the same right
conclusions, but must have also, when the right ex
planation did not lie on the surface, have everywhere
fallen into the same fundamental errors ; and upon
these errors religions are built. But in addition to
this, certain definite religious conceptions have pre-

224 ESKIMO LIFE
sumably shaped themselves in particular places, ahd
have, in the form, of mouth-to-mouth traditions and
legends, permeated all races of the earth. We shall
subsequently find speaking evidence for the belief
that they may have reached even such remote races
as the Eskimos.
The faith of the Greenland Eskimo is of great
interest towards the elucidation of the questions
above touched upon. It is so primitive that I doubt
whether it deserves the name of a religion. There
are many legends and much superstition, but it all
lacks clear and definite form ; conceptions of the
supernatural vary from individual to individual, and
they produce, as a whole, the impression of a religion
in process of formation, a mass of incoherent and
fantastic notions which have not yet crystallised into
a definite view of the world. We must assume that
all religions have at one time or another passed
through just such a stage as this.
The Greenlanders, like all primitive races, origin
ally conceived nature as animate throughout, every
object — stone, mountain, weapon, and so forth —
having its soul. We still find traces of this belief.
The souls of tools, weapons, and clothes, follow the
dead on his .wandering to the land of the shades ;
therefore they are laid in the grave, that there they
may rot and their souls may be set free. Gradually,

RELIGIOUS IDEAS 225
however, this belief has, in the confused and illogical
way peculiar to primitive races, mixed itself up with
a totaUy different one : the belief, to wit, that the
souls of the dead can take up their abode in different
animals, objects, mountains, and the like, which they
subjugate to themselves, and from which they can
issue from time to time, even showing themselves to
the hving. There has thus arisen the belief that in
every natural object there dweUs a particular being,
caUed its inua (that is, its owner) — a word which,
characteristicaUy enough, originally signified human
being or Eskimo.
According to the Eskimos, every stone, mountain,
glacier, river, lake, has its inua ; the very air has
one. It is still more remarkable to find that even
abstract conceptions have their inue ; they speak for
example of the inue of particular instincts or passions.
This may seem surprising in a primitive people, but
it is not very difficult to explain. When, for example,
a primitive man suffering from violent hunger, feels
an inward gnawing, it is quite natural that he should
conceive this to be caused by a being, whom he
therefore- describes as the inua of hunger or appetite.
As a rule, these inue are invisible, but when they are
seen, according to Rink, they take the form of a
brightness or fire, and the sight of them is very
dangerous. Q

226 ESKIMO LIFE
Man himself, according to the Greenlanders, con
sists of at least two parts : the body and the soul —
and these they hold to be quite distinct from
each other. The soul can only be seen by aid of a
particular sense which is found in men under certain
conditions, or in those who possess a special gift : to
wit, the angekoks. It appears in the same shape as
the body, but is of a more airy composition. The
angekoks explained to Hans Egede that souls were
' quite soft to the touch, indeed scarcely tangible at
all, just as if they had neither muscle nor bone.' *
The people of the east coast hold that the soul is
quite small, no larger than a hand or a finger. The
Greenlanders' word for the soul is tarnik ; this re
sembles the word tarrak, which signifies, shadow, and
I think there can be no doubt that they have origin
ally been the same word, since the Eskimo, as before
indicated, used to regard the soul and the shadow as
one and the same thing.2 This tallies exactly with
what we find among other peoples. The Fijian, for
example, calls his shadow his dark soul, whicli leaves
him during the night ; his image in the mirror is his
1 As to the constitution of the soul see also Paul Egede, Efter-
retinger om Gronland, p. 149, and Cranz, Historic von Gronland,
p. 258. " Paul Egede says expressly (Efterretinger om Gronland, p. 126)
that the natives make no distinction between tarrak and tarnek
(tarnik), and he himself uses the two words indifferently. See also
the same work, p. 92.

RELIGIOUS IDEAS 227
light soul. Tarrak in the Greenland language means
both shadow and reflection, so that the original word
for soul meant all these three things. According to
Cranz,1 some of the Greenlanders believed that man
had two souls : his shadow and his breath (compare
above, pp. 216, &c). The general belief in Egede's
and Cranz's time seems to have been that the soul
was most intimately connected with the breath. For
instance, the angekok used to blow upon a sick man
in order to cure him or give him a new soul.
It is worth noting that Hanserak, a native cate-
chist from West Greenland who accompanied Captain
Holm on his journey along the east coast (in 1884-85),
stated in his diary (written in Eskimo), with reference
to the Angmagsaliks' belief in the soul, that ' a man
has many souls. The largest dwell in the larynx
and in the left side, and are tiny men about the size
of a sparrow. The other souls dwell in other parts
of the body and are the size of a finger joint. If
one of them is taken away, its particular member
sickens.'2 Whether this belief has ever been wide
spread among the Eskimos does not appear from
other sources of information.
The soul is quite independent, and can thus leave
the body for any time, short or long. It does so
1 Historie von Gronland, p. 257.
2 See Holm, Meddelelser om Gronland, pt. 10, p. 112. « 2

228 ESKIMO LIFE
every night, when, in vivid dreams, it goes hunting
or joins in merrymakings and so forth. The soul can
also remain at home when the man is on a journey, a
notion which Cranz believes to arise from home-sick
ness. It can also be lost, or stolen by means of
witchcraft. Then the man falls iU and must get his
angekok to set off and fetch his soul back again. If,
in the meantime, any disaster has happened to it,
for example if it has been eaten up by another
angekok's tornarssuk, the man must die. An
angekok, however, had also power to provide a new
soul or exchange a sick soul for a sound, which,
according to Cranz, he could obtain from, say, a
hare, a reindeer, a bird, or a young child.
The strangest thing of all is that the soul could
not only be lost in its entirety, but that pieces of it
could also go astray ; and then the angekok had to
be called in to patch it up.
Among the Greenlanders of the east coast, accor
ding to Holm, a third element in addition to these
two enters into the composition of man : to wit ' the
name ' (atekata). ' The name is as large as the man
himself, and enters into the child after its birth, on
its mouth being damped with water, while at the
same time the " names " of the dead are spoken.'
Among all the Greenlanders, even the Christians, the
first child born after the death of a member of the

RELIGIOUS IDEAS 229
family is almost always called after him, the object
being to procure peace for him in his grave. The
East Greenlander believes that the ' name ' remains
with the body or migrates through different animals,1
until a child is caUed by it. It is therefore a duty
to take care that this is done ; if • not, evil conse
quences may foUow for the child to whom the name
ought to have been given.
This belief is remarkably similar to one which (as
Professor Moltke Moe2 informs me) is current in
Norway : to wit, that the dead ' seek after names.'
A pregnant woman dreams of one or other departed
relative who comes to her (' seeking after a name '),
and after him she must call her child ; if not, she is
guilty of an act of neglect, which may injuriously
affect the child's future.3 The same superstition is
also found among the Lapps. Among the Koloshes in
North- West America, the mother sees in a dream the
departed relative whose soul gives the child its like-
1 A similar idea is also current on the west coast (compare
Meddelelser om Gronland, pt. 10, p. 342), but seems there to have
reference to the ordinary soul of the deceased. The distinction between
the soul and the name cannot, therefore, be sharply drawn among the
different tribes.
Throughout the foot-notes to this chapter, Dr. Nansen is profuse
in his acknowledgments of the assistance rendered him by Professor
Moltke Moe. I have ventured to concentrate these recurrent acknow
ledgments into this one note, and shall refer to Professor Moe only
where he figures as the authority for a statement of fact. — Trans.
3 See also Liebrecht, Zur Volkskunde, p. 811.

230 ESKIMO LIFE
ness. Among the Indians also the naming of chil
dren is made to depend on a dream.1
In Greenland, as everywhere else, the name is of
great importance ; it is believed that there is a
spiritual affinity between two people of the same
name,2 and that the characteristics of a dead person
are transmitted to one who is called after him, who,
moreover, is specially bound to defy the influences
which have caused his predecessor's death. Thus
the name-child of a man who has died at sea must
make it his special business to defy the sea in his
kaiak — a notion which is also found among other
races, for example, the Indians.
The Greenlanders are very much afraid of men
tioning the names of the dead. On the east coast,
according to Holm, this fear goes so far that when
two people have borne the same name the survivor
must change his ; and if the deceased has been named
after an animal, an object, or an abstract idea, the
word designating it must be altered. The language
is thus subjected to important temporary changes,
for these re- christenings are accepted by a whole
1 Klemm, Culturgeschichte, iii. p. 77 ; Tylor, Primitive Culture
(1873), ii. p. 4 ; Antiquarisk Tidsskrift, 1861-63, p. 118.
2 It appears to me that exogamy between two of the same surname,
which is found among many races (see p. 175), can easily be explained
on this principle, since the same name creates a close spiritual
affinity, which may, like blood-affinity, act as a bar to marriage.

RELIGIOUS IDEAS 231
tribe.1 The same custom is very widely diffused among
the Indians of North America and of Patagonia,
among the Samoyedes in Asia, and the Gipsies in
Europe. It is also found in Eastern Africa, in
Madagascar, Australia, Tasmania, New Guinea, and
the Society Islands. When Queen Pomare of Tahiti
died, the word po (night) was dropped from the
language, and mi took its place.2
The fear of mentioning the names of the dead is
also found in Europe — in Germany, the Shetland
Islands,3 and elsewhere — and, no doubt, among us in
Norway as well. In Greenland, as among some
native races in America and in the Sunda Islands,4
sick people who bear the same name as one who is -
dead change it in order to cheat death.
The East Greenlanders are also afraid to speak
their own names. Holm says that when they were
asked what they were called they always got others
to answer for them. When a mother was asked
' what was the name of her child, she answered that
she could not tell. The father likewise refused to
1 See Holm, op. cit. p. Ill, where examples of such re-christenings
are given. Holm thinks that ' the old names reappear when the
deceased is quite forgotten.' It seems to me more natural to suppose
that this occurs as soon as a child has been called after the dead man.
2 Nyrop, Mindre Afhandlinger udtjivne af det philologisk-his-
toriske Samfund, Copenhagen, 1887, pp. 147-150.
3 Nyrop, op. cit. pp. 136 «Sr 137.
4 Liebrecht, Academy, iii. (1872), p. 322.

232 ESKIMO LIFE
say ; he intimated that he had forgotten it, but
that we could learn it from his wife's brother.' x
Among the Indians, the name plays agreat part ; they
even try to keep it secret, and therefore a man is often
called by a nickname.2 Among many races, custom
forbids the mention of the names of relations, as, for
instance, a husband's, a mother-in-law's, a son-in-law's,
the names of parents, or the name of the king. This
potency of the name goes to considerable lengths
amongst certain races. When the King of Dahomey,
Bossa Ahadi, ascended- the throne, he had everyone
beheaded who bore the name of Bossa.
The fear of mentioning names is common to
humanity ; we find it in many of our legends,3 and it
prevails among us even to this day, especially upon
the west coast.4 It may probably be traced to the
fact that the name and the thing are apt to melt
into one. People come to think that when once the
name is known the thing 5 is known as well, so that
1 Meddelelser om Gronland, pt. 10, p. 113.
2 See Schoolcraft, in Antiquarisk Tidsskrift, 1861-63, p. 119, &c,
Also Andree, Ethnographische Parallelen und Vergleiche, p. 180 ;
Tylor, Early History of Mankind, p. 142.
3 The reluctance prevailed among our forefathers. ' Sigurd con
cealed his name because people believed in the old days that a dying
man's curse had great power, when he called his enemy by name.' —
ScBmundar Edda, ed. by Sophus Bugge, p. 219.
4 Information received from Prof. Moltke Moe.
5 The way in which name and thing melt into one appears clearly,
to mention one instance, in the Swabian custom of ' throwing the
names of three shrewish women ' into the wine, in order to turn it
into good vinegar.

RELIGIOUS IDEAS 233
the mention of its name comes to exercise an in
fluence upon the thing itself. A man may thus lose
his strength by revealing his name. Therefore, too,
we may suppose that dead people do not like to be
called by their names, and that to name them may be
a means of summoning them from their graves or of
disturbing them in their rest. The Greenlanders
dare not even speak the name of a glacier (puisortok)
as they row past it, for fear lest it should be offended
and throw off an iceberg.1 A similar notion is very
prevalent among the Indians and others, who dare
not speak the names of places or of rivers.2
With reference to the soul's life after death, the
Greenlanders seem to have had diverse opinions.
Some, whom the missionaries call stupid and brutish
people, thought that aU was over at death, and that
there was no life beyond the grave. Most of the
Greenlanders, however, seem to have thought that
even if the soul was not quite immortal, it was yet in
the habit of continuing to live after leaving the body,
1 Compare Nansen : The First Crossing of Greenland, i., p. 328 :
abridged edit., p. 160.
2 As to the significance of the name and its mention among the
different races, compare Kristoffer Nyrop's comprehensive essay, ' The
Power of the Name,' in Mindre Afhandlinger udgivne of det philo-
logisk-historiske Samfund, Copenhagen, 1887, pp. 119-209. See also
B. Grondahl in Annaler for nordisk Oldkyndighed, 1863, p. 127, &c. ;
Moltke Moe, in Letter stedtske Tidsskrift, 1879, p. 286, &c. ; S. Grundt-
vig, Danmarks gamle Folkeviser, ii. p. 339, &c. ; H. Spencer, Principles
of Sociology, vi. p. 701.

234 ESKIMO LIFE
or at any rate of coming to life again even if it had
'died along with the body. In that case it went
either to a place under the earth and the sea or to
the upper world in the sky, or rather between the
sky and the earth.1 The former place is regarded as
the better of the two ; it is a very good land, where,
according to Hans Egede, there is ' lovely sunshine,
excellent water, animals and birds in abundance.'
To many it may seem strange that, unlike us, they
should place their happiest region under the earth or
the sea ; but this, it seems to me, may easily have
arisen from their having seen the heaven and the
mountains reflected in the water, and believed that
it was another world they saw. No doubt they have
in process of time discovered that it is only a reflec
tion, but the original belief in an under-world has
maintained itself none the less. It is particularly
characteristic that this under-world is placed under
the water, and that there is much sunshine in it ; for
it must have been chiefly in the sunshine that they
saw the reflection.
The other region, in the over-world, is colder ; it
is like the earth with its hills and valleys, and over it
is arched the blue heaven. There the. souls of the
dead dwell in tents round a lake, and when the lake
1 Compare Rink, Aarbbger for nor disk Oldkyndighed og Historie,
1868, iii. p. 202.

RELIGIOUS IDEAS 235
overflows it rains on earth. There are many crow
berries there, and many ravens, who always settle on
the heads of old women 7 and cling on to their hair ;
it is difficult to drive them off, and they seem to fill
the place of lice here on earth. The souls of the
dead can be seen up there by night, in the form of
northern lights, playing footbaU with a walrus head.
On the east coast, however, it is believed that the
northern lights are merely the souls of stillborn or
prematurely born children, or of those who are
killed after their birth. These children's souls ' take
each other's hands and dance around in mazy
circles. They play at ball, too, and when they see
orphan children, they rush upon them and throw
them to the ground. They accompany their sports
with a hissing, whistling sound.' 2 Therefore, the
northern lights are called alugsukat, which appears
to mean untimely births, or children born in con
cealment. This notion of the Greenlanders seems to
be closely related to the Indians' belief 3 that the
northern lights are the dead in dancing array.
The Eskimos have no hell. Both the above-
named regions are more or less good, and whether
the soul goes to the one or to the other does not

1 Compare Paul Egede, Efterretninger om Gronland, p. 149.
2 Holm, Meddelelser om Gronland, part 10, p. 113.
3 Communicated to me by Moltke Moe.

236 ESKIMO LIFE
seem to depend particularly upon the man's good or
evil acts.
Egede, however, asserts that to the lovely land
under the earth there go only ' women who die in
childbirth, men who are drowned at sea, and whale-
fishers, as a reward for the evil they have suffered
here on earth ; all others go to the sky.' x It seems
doubtful whether this was ever a general belief. An
exactly analogous idea is to be found among our
selves. An old woman in Telemark said to Moltke
Moe, speaking of her son : ' Ah, yes, he is certain
enough to have gone straight to heaven ; for you
know it's said in God's Word that those who are
drowned at sea or die in childbirth go straight away
to the Kingdom of God.' 2
From other accounts, in any case, it seems
that these are not. the only souls which go to the
under world. The destination of the soul may
partly depend on the treatment of the bod}'. Paul
Egede says (Efterretninger om Gronland,^. 174) that ' it
was their custom to take people who were sick unto
death gently out of bed, and, laying them on the
1 See on the same subject Paul Egede, Efterretninger om Gron
land, p. 117. 'Accordingto some accounts, witches and ' wicked people '
go to the over-world.
2 Communicated by Moltke Moe. Compare also J. Flood, Gron
land, Kristiania, 1873, p. 10, note. Similar notions are said to be
current in Bavaria and in the Marquesas islands. Compare Liebrecht,
in the Academy, iii. (1872), p. 321.

RELIGIOUS IDEAS 237
floor, to swathe them in their grave-clothes. This
lowering them down from the bed probably sym
bolises their wish that after death they may descend
beneath the earth. But if a man dies before he is
taken from the bed, his soul goes upward.' On his
inquiring why a dog's head was laid beside the
grave, he was answered ' that it was a custom among
some of their fellows to lay a dog's head beside a
child when it was buried, in order that it might scent
about and guide the child to the land of spirits when
it came to life again, children being foolish and wit
less, and unable to find their own way.' x It seems as
though Captain Holm 2 doubted the correctness of
this trait (which, however, he quotes from Hans
Egede), on the ground that he could discover no such
poetical custom among the East Greenlanders. But
in this he does not seem to be quite justified ; for, on
the one hand, we are scarcely entitled to doubt so
definite a statement by a man like Paul Egede, who
knew the Greenlanders and their language so well,
while, on the other hand, we must always remember
how fluctuating and changeable are religious concep
tions. Analogous customs, moreover, are found
among the Indians. The Aztecs killed a dog at
1 P. Egede, Efterretninger om Gronland, p. 109. See also H.
Egede, Det gamle Grbnlands nye Perlustration, p. 84. Cranz, Historie
von Gronland, p. 301.
2 Meddelelser om Gronland, part 10, p. 106, note.

238 ESKIMO LIFE
funerals, and burned or buried it along with the
body, with a cotton thread tied around its throat.
Its function was to lead the deceased over the deep
waters of Chiuhnahuapan on the way to the land of
the dead.1
The journey to the beautiful region is, however,
no easy matter. Egede says that there is on the way
a high sharp rock, ' down which the dead must slide
on their backs, wherefore the rock is bloody.' Cranz
asserts that it takes the souls five or even more days
to slide down this rock or mountain ; and those
luckless ones are especiaUy to be pitied who have to
make the journey in winter or in stormy weather,
for then they can easily come to harm. This they
call the second death, after which nothing is left of
them.2 They fear this very much, and, in order to
avert it, the survivors, during the critical days, are
bound to observe certain precautions. Similar
legends as to the many difficulties besetting the long-
journey of souls to the land of the dead are to be
found amongst most races.3 It seems probable that
these difficulties have arisen in order to serve as tests
through which the good can pass more easily than
1 Tylor, Primitive Culture (1873;, i. p. 472.
2 This conception of a second death, or the death of the soul, is
found among many races : Hindus, Tartars, Greeks, Kelts, Frenchmen,
Scandinavians, Germans, &c.
3 Tylor, Primitive Culture, ii. p. 44.

RELIGIOUS IDEAS 239
the wicked. But since, among the Eskimos, the
difficulties afford no touchstone of moral qualities, we
must conclude that the legend describing them must
be borrowed from others, and most probably from
the Indians. The sharp rock in particular reminds
us of the Indians' ' mountain ridge, which was as
sharp as the sharpest knife,' along which the souls
had to pass on the way to their dwelling-place,
Wanaretebe.1 The Greenlanders seem generally to have attri
buted a soul to animals, which, like the human soul,
could survive the body and journey to the regions
beyond. This appears clearly enough from the bear
story related in Chapter XII (see p. 206). It also
appears from the custom mentioned on p. 237 of lay
ing dogs' heads in the graves of children ; for it is
of course the dog's soul, dwelling in its head, which
is to accompany the child. For the rest, this is a
general belief among primitive peoples. The Kamt-
chatkans, for instance, believe that the souls of all
animals, even of the smallest fly, come to life again
in the under- world.
The Greenlanders know of many supernatural
beings of a higher order. Among those who stand
nearest to man, and are most useful to him through
1 Rnortz, Aus dem Wigivam, Leipzig, 1880, p. 133 ; compare
p. 142.

240 ESKIMO LIFE
the medium of the angekoks, we must first name the
so-called tornat (the plural of tornak). These are the
angekoks' ministering spirits, who impart to them
their supernatural power. They are often said to be
souls of the dead, especially of grandfathers or other
ancestors ; but they may also be the souls of various
animals, or other supernatural beings, either of
human origin, like the kivigtut, to be hereafter men
tioned, or independent spiritual essences dwelling in
the sea or far inland. They may also be the souls of
absent Europeans. An angekok would as a rule
have several, some acting as councillors, others as
helpers in danger, and others, again, as avengers and
destroyers. These last were despatched by the
angekok to show themselves in the form of ghosts,
and thus to frighten to death those against whom the
vengeance was directed.
In connection with, or superior to, the tornat, we
find the tdrndrssuk, which is generally held to be
their master, or a particularly powerful tornak. The
tornarssuk was regarded as, on the whole, a benevo
lent power ; through his tornak the angekok could
get into communication with him and obtain wise
counsels. But evil deeds seem often to have been
attributed to him. With him, as with all the other
supernatural beings, it probably depended on the
angekoks whether he should be beneficent or the

RELIGIOUS IDEAS 241
reverse. His home lay in the under-world, in the
land of the souls. As to his appearance, ideas were
very vague ; some holding that he had no form at
aU ; others that he was like a bear ; others, again, that
he was huge and had only one arm ; and some, finaUy,
that he was no larger than a finger. As to his nature,
according to Hans Egede, there was no less difference
of opinion; for while some held that he was im
mortal, others believed that it needed very little to
kiU him. Thus Egede relates that during an ange-
kok's magic operations, or while he is communing
with the tornarssuk, ' no one must scratch his head,
or faU asleep ; for by such means they say the
wizard may be killed, and even the devil [that is,
the tornarssuk] himself.' Dr. Rink holds that aU
this is founded upon misunderstandings on the part
of Egede and the other missionaries, and that, on the
whole, very little was known either as to the tor-
narssuk's appearance or as to his nature. The
heathens on the east coast, however, seem, as we
shaU see, to know aU about him.
In this tornarssuk many have been fain to see a
beneficent supreme being whom the Eskimos wor
ship ; answering, accordingly, to our God. Never
theless he was, on the introduction of Christianity,
transformed into the devil, with whom he is now
synonymous. I cannot help believing that EgedeK

242 ESKIMO LIFE
and the first missionaries have had some hand
in working-up this conception of him as God.
They no doubt started, as many missionaries do
even to this day, from the hypothesis that every
people must have a conception of God or of a bene
ficent supreme being, and, assuming this, they pro
bably cross-questioned the poor heathen so long
about their tornarssuk, that they at last came to
answer just what their questioners desired. More
over, they doubtless talked so much of their good
and almighty God that the heathen priests, in order
not to be beaten, began to maintain that they, too,
had such a God to help them. That the tornarssuk
was not so great a spirit as is commonly stated seems
evident from Captain Holm's account of the heathen
East Greenlanders' belief. Their tornarssuk is a much
less imposing creature, who dwells in the sea, and
whom many people, both angekoks and others, can
see and have seen. They therefore describe him
with great exactitude, and have even numerous
representations of him. He is long, like a large
seal, but fatter than a seal, and has, among other
things, long tentacles. Holm, judging from their
descriptions, has come to the heretical opinion that
he must be an ordinary cuttle-fish. He devours the
souls of those whom he can capture, and is often
quite red with blood. One must admit that if this

RELIGIOUS IDEAS 243
creature is descended from our innate conception
of God, he has deplorably degenerated. More
over, he is not, on the east coast, one and in
divisible ; but every angekok, according to Holm, has
his tornarssuk. He has also a coadjutor, aperketek,
a black animal as much as two ells in length, and
with great ' knife-tongs in his head.' Holm says ex
pressly that he could discover no trace of a concep
tion of the tornarssuk as the master of the tornak ;
and we are thus forced to subtract a little from the
power and importance attributed to this spirit by
former authors.1
It seems to me clear that this belief in the tor
narssuk, no less than in the tornat, must be traced
to a belief in the spirits or ghosts of ancestors. We
may possibly find evidence of this in the words
themselves. It seems probable that tornak may have
been the same word as tarnik or tame (that is, soul),
which again resembles tarrak (shadow — compare p.
226). We find some support for this theory in the
fact that tdrnak appears on the east coast in the form
of tartok or tartak, which is the same word as tarrak.2
1 It is interesting to note that the Alaska Eskimos seem to believe
in a being similar to this tornarssuk of the east coast of Greenland,
with long tentacles, &c. See Holm : Meddelelser om Gronland,
part 10, p. 115, note 1.
2 Tartok means properly ' dark.' Among the Eskimos of Southern
Alaska, the same word, taituk, means ' mist.' In East Greenland
tdrtek means ' black.' (Compare Rink : Meddelelser om Gronland,
part 11, p. 152.) E 2

244 ESKIMO LIFE
Thus it appears to me probable that aU these words
were originally one and the same, signifying shadow,
reflection, or soul, and also designating the souls of
the dead. Tdrndrssuk, again, is certainly a deriva
tive of tornak, having probably been in its origin
the same as torndrssuak, that is to say, ' the big, or
the bad and horrible, tornak.' This implies that he
was originally a particularly powerful tornak, which,
among some tribes, has graduaUy obtained a sort of
dominion over the other tornat or souls of the
dead. That these souls should have become the subject
of peculiar superstitions is readily comprehensible
when we observe the fear with which they still re
gard the dead, and stiU more, of course, their spectres.
These gengangere are often visible and may be very
dangerous, though sometimes, too, they are tolerably
well disposed. The most amiable way in which they
can manifest themselves is in a whistling sound, or a
singing in people's ears. In the latter case they are
begging for food, and to such a request a Green
lander wiU reply : ' Help yourself ' — meaning ' from
my stores.' : That the ghost is not always hostile
appears from what Niels Egede 2 relates of a boy at
1 Rink : Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo, p. 44. In Scotland
a singing in the ears is called ' the dead-bell,' and portends the death of
a friend. Hogg : Mountain Bard, 3rd ed. p. 31.
2 Tredie Continuation, &c, p. 74.

RELIGIOUS IDEAS 245
Godthaab who, playing one day with several others
in the neighbourhood of his mother's grave, sud
denly saw a shape rising up from it. He and the
others took to their heels, but the ghost ran after
them, caught her son, ' embraced him, kissed him,
and said, " Do not be frightened of me ; I am your
mother, and love you " ; ' with more to the same
effect. Their customs at the death and burial of their
friends show how much they fear the dead, and
especiaUy their souls or ghosts. The dying are often
dressed in their graveclothes — that is to say, in their
best garments — a httle while before death. The legs,
too, are often bent together, so that the feet come up
under the back, and in this position they are sewed
or swathed in skins. The object is, no doubt, that
they may take up less space and need a smaller
grave ; and it is done during their life in order that
the survivors may have to handle their corpses as
little as possible. This dread of touching a dead
body goes so far (as before mentioned on page 137)
that they will not help a man in danger — for example,
a kaiak-man who is drowning — when they believe
that he is at the point of death.
When they are finally dead, they are taken, if it be
in a house, out through the window ; if in a tent,
through an opening cut in the skins of the back

246 ESKIMO LIFE
wall.1 This corresponds remarkably with the common
custom in our own country of carrying a body out
through an opening in the wall made for the pur
pose.2 The reason is, no doubt, the same in both
cases— namely, that these openings can be entirely
closed again, so that the spectre or soul cannot re
enter, as it might if the body were carried out by way
of the passage or the door. It is not improbable that
the Greenlanders may have borrowed the habit from
the ancient Norwegian or Icelandic settlers in Green
land. It is mentioned in several sagas as having been
the custom of the heathen Icelanders. In the Eyr-
byggja Saga3 it is said : ' Then he [Arnkel] let break
down the wall behind him [the body of Thorolf], and
brought him out thereby.' The clothes and other
possessions of the deceased are also at once thrown
out, that they may not make the survivors unclean.
This recalls our death-bed burning, which is also a
1 Holm, however, tells us (Meddelelser om Gronland, part 10,
p. 105), that on the east coast the body is sometimes dragged out
through the house-passage by means of a thong looped around the
legs. In such cases, I take it, the dread of touching the body must
have conquered the dread of taking it out through the passage, for if
it is taken through the window it must be lifted and handled. By
dragging it with the feet foremost and pointing outwards they pro
bably think to hinder the soul from effecting a re- entrance.
2 From information given me by Moltke Moe. Compare also
Liebrecht, Zur Volkskunde, p. 372.
3 Morris and Magniisson, The Saga Library, vol ii. ' The Ere-
Dwellers,' p. 88.

RELIGIOUS IDEAS 247
widespread custom among our kindred races in
Europe.1 The survivors also carry their own possessions
out of the house, that the smell of death may pass
away from them. They are either brought in again
at evening, or, as on the east coast, are left lying out
for several days. The relatives of the dead man, on
the east coast, go so far as to leave off wearing their
old clothes, which they throw away.2
When the body is carried out, a woman sets fire
to a piece of wood, and waves it backwards and for
wards, saying : ' There is nothing more to be had
here.' This is, no doubt, done with a view to show
ing the soul that everything belonging to it has been
thrown out.
Bodies are either buried in the earth or thrown
into the sea (if one of the dead man's ancestors has
perished in a kaiak (?) ). The possessions of the
deceased — such as his kaiak, weapons, and clothes ;
or, in the case of a woman, her sewing materials,
crooked knife, &c. — are laid on or beside the grave,
or, if the body is thrown into the sea, they are laid
somewhere upon the beach. This seems to be partly
due to their fear of a dead person's property and
1 See Moltke Moe's paper in the Norske Vniversitets-og Skolean-
naler, 1880, and the works there cited.
2 Holm, Meddelelser om Gronland, part 10, p. 107.

248 ESKIMO LIFE
unwillingness to use it ; partly, too, as Hans Egede
says, to the fact that the sight of these things and
the consequent recollection of the dear departed
would be apt to set them crying, and ' if they cry
too much over the departed they believe that it
makes him cold.' x This idea reminds one strongly
of the second song of Helge Hundingsbane, where
his widow Sigrun meets him wet and frozen, and
wrapped in a cloud of hoar frost, by reason of
her weeping over him. (' Helge swims in the dew
of sorrow.' 2) Compare also the well-known Swedish-
Danish folk-song of 'Aage and Else,' in which we
read : ' For every time that in thy breast
Thy heart is glad and light,
Then all within my coffin seems
With rose-leaves decked and dight.
Por every time that in thy breast
Thy heart is sad and sore,
Then all within my coffin seems
To swim hi red, red gore.'
But, beyond this, it was doubtless the belief of
the Greenlanders that the deceased had need of his
implements, partly for earthly excursions from the
grave, partly also in the other world. They saw,
indeed, that the implements rotted, but that only
1 Hans Egede, Bet gamle Grbnlands nye Perlustration, p. 83.
2 See P. A. Godecke's translation of the Edda, p. 170, and notes
on p. 335.

RELIGIOUS IDEAS 249
meant that their souls followed the soul of the
deceased. Those who carry the body out, or have
touched it or anything belonging to it, are for some
time unclean, and must refrain from certain foods
and occupations, which the angekoks prescribe ; in
deed, all those who live in the same house must
observe the like precautions, partly to avoid injury
to themselves, partly in order to place no hindrance
in the way of the departed soul on its journey to the
other world.
They must weep and mourn for a stated time
over the deceased ; and if they meet acquaintances
or relatives whom they have not seen since the
death took place, they must, even if it be a long
whUe after, begin to weep and howl as soon as the
newcomer enters the house. Such scenes of lamen
tation must often be exceedingly ludicrous, and are,
in fact, the merest comedy, ending in a consolatory
banquet. They have also many other mourning
customs, which exercise a tolerably powerful in
fluence upon their lives. Those, for example, who
have carried out a body must do no work in iron for
several years. Moreover, we must remember the
before-mentioned dread of uttering the name of the
deceased. The great object of all this is no doubt, as the
East Greenlanders said to Holm, ' to keep the dead

250 ESKIMO LIFE
from being angry ; ' whence we see what a powerful
influence over this life they attribute to the de
parted. There is, therefore, nothing improbable in
the theory that the whole belief in the tornat and
tornarssuk may have developed from this fear. In
process of time, however, other kinds of superstition
have doubtless come to play a part in the matter.
The Greenlanders believe in a whole host of
other supernatural beings. Of these I can only
mention a few.
Marine animals are under the sway of a gigantic
woman whom some call ' the nameless one,' others
Arnarkuagssdk, which simply means ' the old woman.'
Her dwelling is under the sea, where she sits
beside a lamp under which, as under aU Greenland
lamps, there is a saucer or stand to catch the
dripping train-oil. In this saucer whole flocks of
sea-birds are swimming, and out of it proceed aU
the sea animals, such as the seal, the walrus, and
the narwhal. When certain impurities gather in her
hair, she keeps the sea animals away from the coasts,
or they remain away of their own accord, attracted
by the impurities ; and it is then the angekok's diffi
cult duty to seek her out and appease or comb her.
The way to her abode is perilous, and the angekok
must have his tornak with him. First he passes
through the lovely land of spirits in the under-world ;

RELIGIOUS IDEAS 251
then he comes to a great abyss, which he can cross
only (by the help of the tornak) on a large wheel as
smooth as ice, and whirling rapidly. Then he passes
a boiling cauldron with live seals in it ; then either
through a dangerous picket of angry seals who
stand erect and bite on every side, or else past a
huge dog which stands outside the woman's house,
and gives warning when a great angekok approaches.
This dog takes only a few winks of sleep every now
and then, and one must be ready to seize the oppor
tunity ; but this only the highest angekoks can
manage. Here, again, the tornak must take the
angekok by the hand ; the entrance is wide enough,
but the further way is narrow as a thread or the
edge of a knife, and passes over a horrible abyss.
At last they enter the house where the woman is
sitting. She is said to have a hand as large as the
tail-fin of a whale, and if she strikes you with it
there is an end of you. According to some accounts,
she tears her hair and perspires with fury over such
a visit, so that the angekok, aided by his tornak,
must fight with her in order to get her hair cleaned
or combed ; while others hold that she is accessible
to persuasions and appeals. His task achieved, the
return journey is comparatively easy for the angekok.1
1 Paul Egede, Continuation af Belationerne, &c, p. 45 ; Hans
Egede, Grbnlands nye Perlustration, p. 118 ; Rink, Tales and Tradi
tions of the Eskimo, pp. 40, 466.

252 ESKIMO LIFE
This myth reminds us strongly of the visits to the
under-world or Hades which play so prominent a
part in European legends, for example, in those of
Dionysos, Orpheus, Heracles, and others (compare
also Dante), and to which we have a paraUel in our
own mythology in Hermod's ride to Hel to bring-
back Balder. Similar legends are also found, how
ever, among the Indians. From information given
me by Moltke Moe, it seems scarcely doubtful that
this Eskimo conception is coloured by, or even bor
rowed from, European legends. The smooth wheel,1
for example, and the bridge which is narrow as a
thread or a knife-edge, reappear, sometimes in the
same words, in mediasval legends of journeys to the
under world. In an old baUad of the north of
England mention is made of ' the bridge of dread
no wider than a thread.' Tundal sees in purgatory
a narrow bridge over a horribly deep, dark, and
malodorous valley, and so forth. The oldest ap
pearance in legendary literature of this hell-bridge
is in Pope Gregory the Great's Dialogues, dating
from the year 594 (lib. iv. cap. 36).2 But these
mediasval conceptions, in their turn, are indubitably
1 The Dakota Indians relate that on the way to Wanaratebe there
is a wheel which rolls with frightful velocity along the bottom of the
abyss below the mountain ridge mentioned on p. 239. To this wheel
are bound those who have treated their parents despitefully. See
Liebrecht, Gervasius Otia ImperiaUa (1856), p. 91, note.
2 Reference communicated by Moltke Moe.

RELIGIOUS IDEAS 253
coloured by Oriental traditions. The Jews speak of
the thread-like hell-bridge, and the Mahommedans
believe that in the middle of hell all souls must pass
over a bridge narrower than a hair, sharper than a
sword, and darker than night.1 According to the
Avesta, the souls of the old Parsees, on the third
night after death, had to cross the ' high Har a ' — a
mountain which surrounds the earth and reaches
right to heaven — in order to arrive at the Tsjinvat-
bridge which is guarded by two dogs. In the
Pehlevi writings, this bridge is said to widen out to
nearly a parasang when the souls of the pious pass
over it, but it narrows in before the ungodly until
they topple down into heU, which lies right under.2
An analogous conception is found (compare
Sophus Bugge, op. cit.) in the old folk-song 'Drau-
mekvasdi,' as to the Gjallar bridge on the way to
the land of the dead. It hangs high in air so
that one grows dizzy upon it (' Gjallarbrui, hon
henge saa hogt i vinde '), and in some variants of the
song it is expressly stated to be narrow, whilst in
others it is said to be ' both steep and broad.' In
1 See Sophus Bugge, Mythologiske Oplysnmger Ul Draume-
kvcedA, in Norsk Tidsskrift for Videnskab og Literatur, 1854-55,
p. 108-111 ; Grimm, Mythologie, p. 794 ; Liebrecht, Gervasius Otia
Tmperialia, p. 90. Compare also H. Hiibschmann, Pie parsische
Lehre vom Jenseits und jiingsten Gericht, in Jahrbiicher fur pro-
testantische Theologie, v. (Leipzig, 1879), p. 242.
2 Compare H. Hiibschmann, op. cit., pp. 216, 218, 220, 222.

254 ESKIMO LIFE
the Eddas we are told that Hermod, on the way to
Hel, rode over the Gjallar-bridge, which was roofed
with shining gold, and which thundered under his
horse's hoofs not less than if five squadrons of dead
men (that is to say 250) had been passing over it.
It seems probable that this belief of the Green
landers in a narrow bridge or pass must be coloured
by these European, or partly Oriental, conceptions,
imparted to them by the ancient Scandinavians. At
the same time there may also be something more
original at the root of it. Thus we find among the
Indians the notion of a snake-bridge, or a tree trunk
swinging in the air, which leads over the river of the
dead to the city of the dead.1
The notion of the huge dog who guards the
entrance to the woman's house reminds us stronolv
of Hel's terrible dog Garm, with the bloody breast,
who barks before the Gnipa-cave. For the rest, this
notion of the dog in the other world is a common one.
Among the Hindoos, two dogs watch the path to the
abode of Jama,2 and among the old Parsees, two dogs
guard the Tsjinvat bridge (see last page). The
1 Tylor, Primitive Culture, ii. 50. Compare, too, the Indians'
conception of a mountain ridge as sharp as the sharpest knife (see
p. 239). It is of course possible that the Indians may have got
this idea from the Eskimos, or more probably, perhaps, from the
Europeans after the discovery of America.
' Sophus Bugge, op. cit., p. 114.

RELIGIOUS IDEAS 255
Indians station a huge and furious dog at the other
end of the above-mentioned snake bridge.1
In European folk tales, and especially in those of
Scandinavia, we often meet with an old woman who
bears rule over animals. She likes to be caUed
' Mother,' is fond of being scratched or washed, and
is glad to get hold of a pair of shoes, a piece of
tobacco, or the like. If the Ash-Lad meets her and
does her any such service, she requites him with a
' motherly turn,' making her animals help him or
giving him gifts. But besides this common theme
which reappears in a majority of our folk-tales, we
can also point to a particular story which is founded
on similar conceptions. The Ash-Lad Ncomes to the
ogress with a whole company of animals, the stoat,
the tree-bear (the squirrel), the hare, the fox, the
wolf and the bear, to try to rescue his sister whom
she has carried off. While he is eating, the ogress
cries ' Scratch me ! scratch me ! ' ' You must wait
till I've finished,' says the boy ; but his sister warns
him that if he does not do it at once the ogress will
tear him to pieces. Then he makes the animals
scratch her, one after the other ; but none of them
content her until it comes to the turn of the bear,
who claws her till her itch departs. In several .
1 Tylor, op. cit. p. 50. Compare Knortz, Aus dem Wir/wrim, p.
142. «

256 ESKIMO LIFE
variants, three brothers make the attempt one after
the other, and she kills the first two of them.1 Even
at first sight this Scandinavian group of stories seems
suspiciously like the Greenland legends, the scratch
ing and washing especially reminding us strongly of
the hair-combing ; but when we also find that
Arnarkuagssak is unknown to the Alaskan Eskimos,
the connection seems to be clear. According to one
Greenland legend she was the daughter of a power
ful angekok who, being overtaken by a storm, threw
her out of the woman-boat to save himself. She
clung on to the gunwale, whereupon he, one by one,
cut off her fingers and her hands. These were trans
formed into seals and whales, over which she ob
tained dominion ; and when she sank to the bottom,
she took up her abode there for good. Among the
Eskimos of Baffin's Land the same legend is told of a
woman named Sedna, who has, however, become a
different being from Arnarkuagssak. The latter
seems to be unknown on the Mackenzie river. ' If
it should appear,' says Dr. Rink, ' that the Green
land myth is not known in Alaska either, we must
conclude that it was invented during the course of
1 Communicated by Moltke Moe, from his unpublished collection
of folk-tales. See also a tale reported from Flatdal in Fedraheimen,
1877, No. 18; a Hardanger tale (watered down) in HaukenEes's
Natur, Folkeliv og Folketro i Hardanger, ii., 233. Danish variants
in Kl. Berntsen, Folke-Mventyr, I. (Odense, 1873) p. 116; Et.
Kristensen, Jyska Folkeminder, v. 271.

RELIGIOUS IDEAS 257
the emigration to Greenland.' J It seems more
natural, however, to conjecture, as I have done
above, that it descends from the old Scandinavians.
On the whole, then, it seems probable that this
Greenland divinity was originally a character in old
Norwegian folklore, and that the description of the
journey to her abode is descended from, or at least
coloured by, European myths and legends, imported
by the old Scandinavian settlers ; but more original
Eskimo elements may also be mixed up in it, having
their origin in the west, and resembling the myths
of the Indians.
The souls who go to the over- world have to
pass the abode of a strange woman who dweUs at
the top of a high mountain. She is caUed Erd-
laversissok (i.e. the disemboweller), and her properties
are a trough and a bloody knife. She beats upon a
drum, dances with her own shadow, and says nothing
but ' My buttocks, &c.,' or else sings ' Ya, ha, ha, ha ! '
When she turns her back she displays huge hind
quarters, from which dangles a lean sea-scorpion ;
and when she turns sideways her mouth is twisted
utterly askew, so that her face becomes horizontaUy
oblong. When she bends forwards she can lick her
1 Rink, Meddelelser om Gronland, part 11, p. 17. Compare
Boas, Petermann's Mittheilungen, 1887, p. 303 ; Rink and Boas,
'Eskimo Tales and Songs,' in Journal of American Folk-Lore,
1889 (?), p. 127. S

258 ESKIMO LIFE
own hindquarters, and when she bends sideways she
can strike her cheek, with a loud smack, against her
thigh. If you can look at her without laughing you
are in no danger ; but as soon as anyone begins to
smile she throws away her drum, seizes him, hurls
him to the earth, takes her knife and rips him up,
tears out his entrails, throws them into the trough,
and then greedily devours them.1 In this story, too,
we meet with more than one trait of Scandinavian
tradition.2 Thus ' the underground folk ' cannot
endure laughter ; the human being who wounds
them by laughing at them must pay dear for his
thoughtlessness. And in two names for the Jotun-
woman which are preserved in Snorro's Edda,3
Bakrauf and Rifingafla (' the woman with the cleft
or torn hindquarters ') we find exactly the same idea
which is represented in the ogress of the Greenland
legend. On the same journey the souls also pass the
dwelling of the Moon Spirit. The way they have to
go is described as very narrow, and one sinks in it
up to the shoulders.4 This reminds us of the bogs
1 Note by Glahn in Crantz's Historie von Gronland, Copenhagen,
1771, p. 348. Rink, Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo, p. 440 ;
Danish edit. pp. 87, 166, suppl. p. 44.
2 Communicated by Moltke Moe.
3 I. 551, 553.
4 Rink, Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo, p. 440 • Danish edit
p. 87.

RELIGIOUS IDEAS 259
which are said in our ' Draumekvsedi ' to lie in the
neighbourhood of the Gjallar-bridge, and into which
the wicked sink.1

Hog'e se den Gjallarbrui,
ho tisst 'punde skyi hange ;
men eg totte tyngre dei Ga-
glemyrann, —
gu' bsere den, dei ska gange ! 2

High is the Gjallar-bridge ; it
hangs,
Close to the clouds, in air ;
But worse I deem the Gagle-
moss —
God help who treadeth there !

In Denmark, too, popular legend speaks of these
heU-bogs or heU-mosses. Thus it seems that here
again we can trace the influence of the ancient
Scandinavians, to whom the conception of such peni
tential swamps in the under-world no doubt came
from the ecclesiastical vision-fictions of the middle
ages. When kaiak-men are at sea, they believe them
selves to be surrounded by the so-called ignerssuit
(the plural of ignerssuak, which means ' great fire ').
These are for the most part good spirits, inclined to
help men. The entrance to their dweUings is on the
sea shore. ' The first earth which came into exist
ence had neither seas nor mountains, but was quite
smooth. When the One above was displeased with the
people upon it, he destroyed the world. It burst
open, and the people feU down into the rifts and
1 Compare Sophus Bugge, op. cit., p. 115.
2 Noted by Moltke Moe. s 2

260 ESKIMO LIFE
became ignerssuit, and the water poured over every
thing. When the earth reappeared, it was entirely
covered by a glacier. Little by little this decreased,
and two human beings fell down from heaven, by
whom the earth was peopled. One can see every
year that the glacier is shrinking. In many places
signs may yet be seen of the time when, the sea rose
over the mountains.' x
In this myth we can trace influences from no
fewer than four different quarters. The conception
of the ignerssuit, who resemble men and live under
the earth, suggests the Indian legend that men for
merly lived under the earth, but began one day to
climb to the surface by means of a vine which grew
up through a fissure or chasm in a mountain. When a
fat old woman (or man) tried to clamber up, the vine
broke off, and the rest had to remain below, while
those who had reached the top peopled the earth.2
The two beings who fall down from heaven
appear to belong to the cosmogony of the Finnish-
1 Holm, Meddelelser om Gronland, part 10, p. 144.
2 Compare K. Knortz, Aus dem Wigivam, p. 130. H. de Charencey
(Mehisine, i. 225) mentions (quoting from Malthaeus, Hidatsa Grammar,
1873, Intr. p. xvii.) that the forefathers of the Minnetarees, a
tribe belonging to the Missouri region, lived at the bottom of a great
lake, and climbed up to the surface of the earth by help of a big tree,
which ultimately broke, so that many of them had to remain below.
(From an unpublished manuscript by Moltke Moe.) This legend pre
sents an even closer analogy to that of the ignerssuit, who dwell under
the sea.

RELIGIOUS IDEAS 261
Ugrian races, or to be borrowed from the same
source. Among the Vogulians, the two first people
descended from heaven in a cradle of silver wire.
The idea that heaven is the birthplace of humanity
is also found in the myths of other Finnish-Ugrian
tribes in Asia and Europe.1
Similar ideas have also reached the Indians (per
haps through the Eskimos ?) Thus the Hurons
believe that the first human beings came from
heaven.2 The idea that the earth was originally flat
and then split up also reminds us of the Finnish-
Ugrian cosmogony, according to which the earth,
1 See J. Krohn, Finska Litteratur-Historie, 1st Part, Kalevala
(1891), p. 165. Moltke Moe has directed my attention to this simi
larity, and has lent me the MS. of an as yet unpublished essay on
legends of this class. As a rule, the connection between earth and
heaven is effected by a great tree, by whieh people climb up and down.
The myth of such heaven-trees is to be found in almost every quarter
of the world. We find it in Scandinavia (Tgdrasil) no less than in
Polynesia, Celebes, Borneo, New Zealand, &c. Among the Vogulians,
the son of the first two human beings (see above) transforms himself
into a squirrel, climbs up a tree to heaven, and afterwards climbs down
again. (Compare A. Lang, Myth, Ritual and Religion (1887). i. 182,
note 2.) Among the Indians the first man climbs into) a tree, in chase
of a squirrel, and so reaches heaven, whence he returns with the
elements of civ$isation, or, according to some, in order to take his
sister up with him again. (Compare Tylor, Early History of Man
kind (2nd ed.), p. 349.) The gipsies on the borders of Transylvania
have a legend of a great tree from which flesh fell down to earth, and
from whose leaves human beings sprang forth (H. von Wlislocki,
Mdrchen und Sagen der transsilvanisohen Zigeuner, No. 1.) There
is probably some connection between these myths and the Greenland
legend ; it is quite natural that in the Eskimo version the tree should
have disappeared.
2 Compare A. Lang, Myth, Ritual, and ReUgion, i. 181.

262 ESKIMO LIFE
when first created, formed a quite smooth and level
crust over the water, but was afterwards made to
billow by an internal convulsion, and stiffened in its
billowy form, whence the origin of mountains and
valleys.1 We may distinguish a third element in the people
who originally dwelt upon this flat earth, in its dis
pleasure with whom the Power above caused the
earth to split and the water to rush forth. It seems
scarcely doubtful that this conception is due to a
direct intermixture of the Christian or Jewish legend
of the Deluge, which might, of course, have passed
from the west coast up along the east coast. Possibly,
however, the notion of the flood may have been sup
plemented by touches from a very widespread legend
in Europe, and especially in Scandinavia, as to how
the subterranean or invisible people (huldre-folk)
came into existence. The Lord one day paid a visit
to Eve as she was busy washing her children. All
those who were not yet washed she hurriedly hid in
ceUars and corners and under big vessels, and pre
sented the others to the visitor. The Lord asked if
these were all, and she answered c Yes ' ; whereupon
He replied, ' Then those which are " dulde " (hidden)
shaU remain "hulde" (concealed, invisible).' And
1 Compare J. Krohn, op. cit., pp. 163-173.

RELIGIOUS IDEAS 263
from them the huldre-folk are sprung.1 Be this as it
may, the ignerssuit cannot but remind us of the sub
terranean people in our Scandinavian folk-lore.
FinaUy we have as a fourth element the glacier,
which must belong exclusively to Greenland itself.2
Among other supernatural beings may be men
tioned the different sorts of inland -folk who live in
the interior of the country or upon the ice-fields.
Some of these are called tornit (the plural of tunek)
or inorutsit, or, upon the east coast, timersit. They
are of human aspect, but of huge stature. Some say
they are 4 metres (13 feet) in height, and others that
they are as taU as a woman-boat is long, that is to
say at least 10 metres (more than 32 feet). Their
souls alone are as big as ordinary people. They
live by hunting both land and sea animals. They
can run exceedingly fast. On the sea they do not
use kaiaks, but sit in the water ' with the fog for
1 Communicated by Moltke Moe. Others relate that it was the
ugly children whom Eve concealed, or that she was ashamed of having
so many. (See Faye, Norske Folkesagn, 2nd ed. p. xxv. ; Soegaard,
Fra Fjeldbygdeme, p. 102 ; Dblen, 1862 (III.) No. 17 ; Storaker and
Fuglestedt, Folkesagn fra Lister og Mandals Ami, p. 51 ; Finn Magnu-
sen, Eddalceren, hi. p. 329 ; Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie, 4th ed.
iii. 163, &c.) The legend is originally Jewish, and may be traced to
the Babbis ; see, for example, Liebrecht on Gervasius Tilberiensis
Otia Imperialia, p. 70.
2 Paul Egede gives a somewhat different account of the ignerssuit's
fall from human estate. They ' formerly dwelt upon earth, until the
time of the great flood, which caused the earth to capsize, so that
what had formerly been uppermost was now below.' — Continuation
af Relationerne, p. 96.

264 ESKIMO LIFE
their kaiak.' ! They can catch seals from the land
(in great traps), and they can carry two huge
saddlebacks or bladder-noses inland with them in a
sealskin bag upon their shoulders. As a rule they
stand on a hostile footing towards men, but they
are also open to friendly intercourse, and will some
times even exchange wives with them.
Another class of inland folk are the igaligdlit
(the plural of igalilik), who go about with a whole
kitchen on their backs. The pot alone is so huge
that they can boil an entire seal in it ; and it boils
even as they carry it about. A third class are the
erkigdlit (the plural of erkilek), who, according to
some, are like men above and dogs below, but
according to others have dogs' heads or dogs' noses.
They are expert archers, and carry their arrows
in quivers on their backs.2 They are hostile to
men. I may also mention the isserkat (the plural
of isserak), who ' blink lengthwise ' — which probably
means that their eye-holes are perpendicular instead
of horizontal. As Rink has shown, there can be very little
doubt that these inland folk, who aU play a pro-
1 This suggests our Norwegian ' draug ' which sails in a half boat
(i.e. a boat split in two longitudinally) ; and it does not seem impos
sible that we may here trace the influence of the old Scandinavian
settlers. 2 Paul Egede : Efterretninger om Gronland, p. 172.

RELIGIOUS IDEAS 265
minent part in the Eskimo legends, were originally
different races of Indians with whom the forefathers
of the Greenlanders, while they still dwelt on the
north coast of America, had dealings, sometimes ami
cable, but generaUy hostile. They brought with them
to Greenland stories of these adventures, and they
still laid the scene in the interior of the country,
where the Indians in process of time became en
tirely mythical beings. The word tunek seems
simply to mean Indian, and is so used to this day
by the Eskimos of Labrador. By the Eskimo
tribes on the west coast of Hudson's Bay and
further west the word erkigdlit is applied to the
Indians of the interior. The description of the
tornit as large and swift applies well to the Indians,
who are taUer than the Eskimos, and have the
upper hand of them by land. The fact that the
erkigdht are clever with the bow and carry their
arrows in quivers — a custom not in use among
the Greenlanders — also suggests the Indians. So,
too, do the dogs' legs or dogs' faces attributed t6
them, these having no doubt arisen from the Indians'
own belief that they are descended from a dog (see
p. 271).1 The isserkat, ' those who blink lengthwise,'
1 Legends of dog-men being widely spread over the world (they
are found, for instance, among the Greeks), it is possible that the
Eskimos may have received them from some other quarter, and applied
them to the Indians, who, they knew, claimed descent from a dog.

266 ESKIMO LIFE
may originally have been Indian races with remark
ably oblique or otherwise peculiar eyes ; such tribes
are described by travellers. Here, then, we have
supernatural or mythical beings who may be as
sumed to be of historical origin. The legends of
wars with them have also, no doubt, a certain his
torical foundation. In the same way, probably,
did the classical peoples come in contact with the
mythical races of their legends.1
The kivitut (the plural of kivitok) are beings of a
peculiar nature. They have at one time been ordi
nary men, who for some reason or other, often quite
insignificant, have fallen out with their families or
their companions, or have felt aggrieved by them,
and have therefore turned their backs upon their
feUows and fled to the mountains or into the interior.
Here they henceforth live alone, feeding upon animals
which they kill without ordinary weapons, simply
by throwing stones at them, an art in which they
become very skilful. While the kivitok has only
been a short time away, it is still open to him to
return to his fellows ; but if he does not within a
certain number of days obey the voice of his home
ward longing, he loses the power of resuming his
place among men. Some hold that a year is the
1 Compare Tobler : ' Ueber sagenhafte Volker des Altertnms,' &c,
in Zeitschrift der Vblkerpsychologie, vol. xviii. (1888), p. 225.

RELIGIOUS IDEAS 267
aUotted period. He now acquires supernatural
faculties ; he becomes so swift of foot that he can
leap from one mountain peak to another, he can
catch reindeer without weapons-, and whatever he
aims at he hits. He grows to a great size, clothes
himself in reindeer skins, and, according to some,
his face turns black and his hair white. Further
more, he becomes omniscient or clairvoyant ; he can
hear the speech of men from any distance, and
comes to understand the language of the animals.
But he pays for all this in his inability to die, and
he is always mournful, shedding tears of longing
for humankind to which he can never return. He
can, however, when opportunity offers, especially at
night, make his way into houses or store-rooms to
pick up something to eat, or perhaps a little tobacco.
Those who have wronged him are always in danger
of his vengeance.
The remarkable feature of this belief is that it
probably has a certain foundation in fact. Suicide is
almost unknown in Greenland, except in the case of
a few old or hopelessly infirm people, who, finding
themselves at death's door, sometimes throw them
selves over a precipice into the sea (compare p. 170)
in order to put an end to their sufferings and assure
themselves burial. On the other hand, it now and
then happens that someone or other, wounded, per-

268 ESKIMO LIFE
haps, by a single word from one of his kinsfolk,
runs away to the mountains, and is lost for several
days at least. I myself know Greenlanders who have
done this ; and authentic examples are given of
people who have lived for j^ears as kivitoks. About
twenty-five years ago, on the island of Akugdlek in
North Greenland, a cave was found which bore evi
dence of having been a human habitation for a con
siderable time. A weU-trodden path led up to it,
and within it was a hearth, a hole in the ground
which had served as a store-room, a soft bed of moss,
remains of dried fish, edible roots, &c. A few paces
away, there was found a smaUer cave with stones piled
up against its mouth. In this the kivitok had buried
himself when he found death approaching. There he
lay, still in his sealskin jacket ; he had himself, from
within, closed up/ the entrance to the sepulchre with
a stone. The Greenlanders recognised him, and con
cluded that he must have lived there as a kivitok for
two or three years. His reason for turning his back
upon mankind is said to have been that, as a bad
hunter, he was looked down upon and shghted by
his kinsfolk ; and, after the death of his little son,
life became so hard for him that he fled.1

1 See Hammer, Meddelelser om Gronland, part 8, p. 22 ; E. Skram
in Tilskueren, October, 1885, p. 735. As to kivitut, see also Rink, Tales
and Traditions of the Eskimo.

RELIGIOUS IDEAS 269
As Moltke Moe has pointed out to me, there is a
remarkable resemblance between these kivitut and
the utilegumenn, ' out-liers ' so common in the Ice
landic popular legends — criminals, that is to say,
who have fled to the mountains and live in the wil
derness far from mankind. The great part which
these ' out-liers ' play in the popular fantasy, and the
mystic fear with which they are regarded, has caused
them, from a very early period, to be in great mea
sure confounded in common belief with trolls, huldre-
folk, and other legendary creatures, in whose super
natural faculties they partake. They can see into
the future, they know what is happening in distant
places, they can conjure up mists and lead the tra
veUer astray, and they possess superhuman strength.1
Like the kivitok, they seek the abodes of men in order
to pick up something to eat ; they steal sheep, food,
and clothes from the people of the settlements. The
most characteristic feature of both the Greenland and
the Iceland legends is that men, by being cut off from
society, obtain supernatural power. The coincidence
becomes still more striking when we observe that
both in Greenland and in Iceland these legends form
an essential part of living popular tradition and
1 See Arnasen, Islenzkar pjoSsogur, ii. 160-304, translation by
Powell and Magniisson (London, 1866), pp. cxlvi, and 101-231. Maurer
Isldndmche'Volkssagen, p. 240; Carl Andersen, Islandske Folkesagn,
2nd ed., p. 258.

270 ESKIMO LIFE
belief. Among other races (with the partial excep
tion of Norwegians of the west coast, and especially
of Nordland) similar ideas are scarcely to be found
at aU. The conclusion, then, is almost inevitable,
that the belief in the kivitok is derived from the
ancient Scandinavians, or rather from the Icelanders
in particular. I have stiU to mention, among the remarkable
beings known to the Greenlanders, the igdlokok, who
is like half a human being, with half a head, one eye,
one arm, and one leg. Precisely similar beings are
also to be found among the Greeks, the Mohamme
dans, the Zulus, and the Indians.1
As to the creation of the world, the Greenlanders
had no definite opinion. The earth and the universe
must either have come into existence of their own
accord, or must have existed from all time and be
destined so to endure.
Nor had they any clear idea as to the creation
of man, or of the Eskimo race itself. Some were of
opinion that the first man grew up out of the around
and mated with a mound of earth. It brouoht forth a
girl, whom he took to wife.2 This notion of growino-
1 P. Egede, Efterretninger om Gronland, p. 172 ; Tylor, Primitive
Culture, i. 391; Tobler, op. cit.,V. 238; Liebrecht in The Academy
iii. (1872), 321.
2 P. Egede, Continuation af Relationerne, p. 97; H. Egede, Grbn-
lands Perlustration, p. 117.

RELIGIOUS IDEAS 271
up from the ground is quite common, occurring in
Scandinavia and Iceland,1 among other places. We
say : ' He who strikes the earth with a stick beats his
mother ; he who strikes a stone beats his father' — an
idea which closely corresponds with the Eskimo con
ception, in which, no doubt, the man should properly
be represented as rising from a rock.
As to the origin of us Europeans, they have a
legend which is not altogether flattering to our
vanity. An Eskimo woman, with whom no husband
would remain for any time, at last took a dog to
mate, and was brought to bed of a mingled litter of
human children and puppies. The puppies she
placed on an old shoe-sole and pushed them out to
sea, saying, 'Be off with you and become kavdlunaks'
(i.e. Europeans). Therefore it is, say the Eskimos,
that the kavdlunaks always live on the sea, and that
their ships are shaped like a Greenland shoe, round
before and behind. The human children she placed
upon wiUow-leaves and despatched them in the oppo
site direction, so that they became inland-folk or
Indians (erkiligdlit or tornit).2 Precisely similar
1 Compare Liebrecht, Zur Volkskunde, 'p. 332, and the 'authorities
there cited. See also Moltke Moe in Letterstedtske Tidsskrift, 1879,
pp. 277-281.
2 H. Egede, Gronlands Perlustration, p. 117 ; P. Egede, Con
tinuation af Relationerne, p. 47 ; Rink, Tales and Traditions of the
Eskimo, p. 471 ; Meddelelser om Gronland, part 10, pp. 290, 342.

272 ESKIMO LIFE
legends are to be found among the Eskimos of Baf-
finsland,1 and also on the north coast of Alaska;
though there they refer to the Indians alone, not to
the Europeans. Analogous myths of descent from
dogs (or wolves, or bears) occur among many races,
Aryan as well as Mongolian or American.2 They lie
at the root of the mythology of many Indian tribes,
who hold that the first woman took a dog to mate,
and that they themselves are descended from this
connection. It seems to me evident that the Eskimos
have taken their legend from this source, and that
they originaUy applied it to the Indians alone. When,
subsequently, they fell in with another strange race
(the Europeans), they extended it so as to account
for them also. It is noteworthy that the shoe which
turns into a ship occurs in the Baffinsland versions
as well. The Eskimos, according to some authorities,
trace the origin of death to a woman who once said:
'Let people gradually die, or else there wiU be
no room for them in the world.' Others believe that
two of the first human beings quarreUed, the one
saying 'Let there be day and night and let men
die,' the other 'Let there be night alone, and let
1 Rink and Boas, Journal of American Folklore (1888 ?) p. 124.
" F. Liebrecht, Zur Volkskunde, 1879, pp. 17-25 ; J. C. Muller,
Geschichte der americanischen TJrreligionen, pp. 134, 65.

RELIGIOUS IDEAS 273
men live for ever ; ' and after a long quarrel the former
gained the victory. Others, again, hold that there
was a race between a snake and a louse as to whicli
should first reach mankind ; if the snake arrived
first they should live for ever, if the louse arrived
first they must die. The snake got a long start, but
feU over a high precipice by the way, and had to
make a long detour, so that the louse won the race
and brought death with it.1 These myths, by their
very meaninglessness and incoherence, seem to show
that they come from elsewhere, and are fragments of
older beliefs whose original point and meaning is
forgotten. If we look around in the world, we shall
find remarkable analogies among the most distant
races. The second myth (that of the quarrel) re
appears in the Fiji Islands, where the moon wrangles
with a rat, maintaining that men ought to die and
come to life again as she herself does ; while the rat
maintains that they ought rather to die like rats —
and he gets the best of it. Among the Indians it is
two wolf-brothers, ancestors of the race, who 'quarrel.
The younger says : ' When a man dies, let him come
back the following day so that his friends may re
joice.' ' No,' says the elder, ' let the dead never

1 P. Egede, Continuation af Relationerne, pp. 32, 80 ; Efterret
ninger om Gronland, pp. 127, 106. H. Egede, Grbnlands Perlus-
tration, p. 117. T

274 ESKIMO LIFE
return.' Then the younger kills the son of the elder,
and that is the beginning of death.1
We find remarkable analogues in South Africa
to the myth of the snake and the louse. On
the Gold Coast, among the Zulus, and elsewhere, it
is related that the first great Being sent an animal (a
chameleon) to mankind with the message that they
were to live and never die. But then the Being
changed his mind, and sent after it another animal
(the fleet-footed salamander) with the message that
they were to die ; and as the latter arrived first, so it
was. There are several forms of this myth. Among
the Hottentots it was the moon who sent the message
to mankind : ' You, like me, shall die and come to
life again.' But the hare heard this, and ran ahead
and said : ' You, like me, shall die and never come
to life again.' 2 This myth, again, is remarkably
similar to the Fiji legend quoted above ; and thus
we have a bridge between the second and third
Greenland myth, which must accordingly be taken
to be two variants of one original — an exceedingly
ancient one, since it has spread so far.
1 Tylor, Primitive Culture, i. 355 ; A. Lang, La Mythologie
(Paris, 1886), pp. 204, 206 ; Smithsonian Institute, Annual Report of
the Bureau of Ethnology, 1879-80, p. 45. The choice between day
and night in the Greenland form of the myth may possibly be bor
rowed, directly or indirectly, from the biblical cosmogony.
2 Christaller in Zeitschriftfiirafrikanischen Sprachen, I. 1887-88,
pp. 49-62. Compare also Bleek, Reinekc Fuchs in Afrika (Weimar,
1870) : Tylor, op. cit., p. 355 ; A. Lang, op. cit., p. 203.

RELIGIOUS IDEAS 275
The Eskimos trace to their fellow-countrymen the
origin of almost everything in external nature. It
was an old man hewing chips from a tree that
brought into being the fishes and other marine
animals. He rubbed the chips between his legs
(' sudore testiculorum ') and threw them into the
water, upon which they turned into fishes. The
Greenland shark, however, is of different origin :
' One day a woman was washing her hair in urine.
A gust of wind carried away the cloth with which
she was drying her hair, and it became a shark ;
wherefore the flesh of this fish still smeUs of urine.' 1
The heavenly bodies were once ordinary Eskimos,
living upon the earth, who, for one reason or an
other, have been translated to the skies. The sun
was a fair woman, and the moon her brother, and
they lived in the same house. She was visited
every night by a man, but could not tell who it was.
In order to find out, she blackened her hands with
lamp-soot, and rubbed them upon his back. When
the morning came, it turned out to be her brother,
for his white reindeer-skin was all smudged ; and
1 Hans Egede, Gr-onlands Perlustration, p. 117 ; P. Egede, Con
tinuation af Relationerne, pp. 20, 60. As to washing in urine (see
p. 29), I may remark that it seems to have been a custom of untold
antiquity. We find aUusions to it even in the sacred writings of the
Parsees. Thus it is said (Vendidad, 8, 13) that corpse-bearers shall
wash themselves with urine 'not of men or women, but of small
animals or beasts of draught.'

I
l>76 ESKIMO LIFE
hence come the spots on the moon. The sun seized
a crooked knife, cut off one of her breasts, and
threw it to him, crying : ' Since my whole body
tastes so good to you, eat this.' Then she lighted a
piece of lamp-moss and rushed out ; the moon did
likewise and ran after her, but his moss went out,
and that is why he looks like a live cinder. He
chased her up into the sky, and there they still are.1
The moon's dwelling lies close to the road by which
souls have to pass to the over-world ; and in it is a
room for his sister the sun. This myth seems to
have come to the Eskimos from the westward.
Among the North American Indians the sun and
moon are brother and sister, and even so far away as
among the Indians of the Amazon district we find
the same myth, only that there the moon is a woman
who visits her brother the sun in the darkness. He
discovers her criminal passion by drawing his black
ened hand over her face. (Compare also the myths
from Australia and the Himalayas on the foUowing
page.) Among the Incas of Peru, the sun and moon
were at the same time brother and sister and man
and wife. (Compare also the Egyptians' Isis and
Osiris.) 2 It is remarkable that among the Green-
1 P. Egede, Continuation af Relationeme, p. 16 ; H. Egede,
Grbnlands Perhistration, p. 121; Rink, Tales and Traditions of
the Eskimo, p. 236 ; Holm, Meddelelser om Gronland, part 10, p. 268.
2 A. Lang, Custom and Myth, p. 132 ; Tylor, Primitive Culture*
i. 288.

RELIGIOUS IDEAS 277
landers the sun is conceived as being beautiful in
front, but a naked skeleton behind.1 This so strongly
suggests our beautiful ' huldre,' who are hollow when
seen from behind, that it seems as though the idea
must be a European and especially a Scandinavian
one, imported into Greenland by the old Norse
settlers. According to the East Greenlanders, the
reason why the sun has nothing but bare bones be
hind is that, when she is at her lowest point, that is
to say on the shortest day, people cut her back with
knives in order to make her rise again. The flesh is
thus cut away, and only the bones remain.2
The moon has not yet turned over a new leaf,
but stiU pays frequent visits to the earth in search of
amorous adventures. Therefore, it behoves women
to beware of him, not to go out alone in the moon
light, not to stand looking at his orb, and so forth.
This erotic proclivity of the moon's seems to be of
very ancient date. In Australia he is a tom-cat who,
on account of an intrigue with the wife of another,
was driven forth to wander for ever. Among the
Khasias of the Himalayas, the moon every month
commits the unpardonable sin of falling in love with
his mother-in-law, who throws ashes in his face, thus
1 Compare Rink, Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo, pp. 237,
440. Danish ed. suppl. p. 44. Liebrecht in Germania, vol. 18 (1873),
p. 365. 2 Holm, Meddelelser om Gronland, part 10, p. 142.

278 ESKIMO LIFE
causing the spots upon it.1 According to a Slavonic
legend, the moon was the sun's husband, who, on
account of infidelity with the morning star, was cleft
in twain.2 Among the old Greeks and Romans the
moon was of female sex, indeed, but the fair Luna
was by no means exempt from amatory tendencies.
Among the Eskimos, again, the moon is supposed to
be the cause of cold weather. He produces snow by
whittling a walrus tusk, and strewing the shavings
upon the earth, or else by blowing through a reed ;
and when he visits the earth, he always comes driving
in a sledge over the winter ice. It is quite natural
that such associations should attach to the moon,
since it is in the ascendant during the night and in
winter. As a frigid and austere influence, too, he is
naturally enough regarded as a man ; while further
south, where heat is more dreaded than cold, it is
the sun who is supposed to be of the sterner sex.
Thunder they believe to be produced by two old
women fighting for a dry and stiff skin, and tugging
each at her end of it ; in the heat of the contest they
upset their lamps, and thus cause the lightning. The
origin of fogs they trace to a tornarssuk who drank
1 This myth is so strikingly like the Greenland legend that there can
scarcely be a doubt of their having sprung from the same source.
Among the Khasias to love your mother-in-law is the direst sin, while
among the Greenlanders it is worst to love your sister.
2 Tylor, Primitive Culture, i. 354. See also A. Lang, Myth
Ritual, and Religion, i. p. 128.

RELIGIOUS IDEAS 271)
so much that he burst.1 As to the cause of rain, they
have on the east coast another legend in addition to
that already mentioned. Rain, according to this
account, is produced by a being named Asiak, who
dweUs in the sky. In ancient days, after a long
drought, the angekoks would set out for his abode to
beg for rain. When they arrived, they would peep
in, and would usually see his wife sitting on the edge
of the sleeping-bench, while Asiak himself would be
lying covered up close to the wall. On their implor
ing her aid, she would ultimately reply : ' Last night
he wetted his rug a little, as he usually does ; '
whereupon she would take up the piece of bear-skin
on which he had been sitting, and would shake it,
thus causing it to rain upon earth.2 The very fact
that the angekoks are represented as begging for
rain, which is of no service whatever to a people of
hunters and fishers like the Eskimos, seems to prove
that this myth must have originated in other latitudes,
where agriculture is practised. It is not impossible,
as Holm conjectures, that Asiak may be identical
1 P. Egede, Efterretninger om Gronland, pp. 150, 206.
2 Holm, Geografisk Tidsskrift (Copenhagen, 1891), xi. 16. The
idea that rain is due to the overflow of a lake in the over- world may
possibly be traceable to more southern regions, where agriculture and
artificial irrigation are practised, and where accordingly the mountain
lakes have been dammed up. In the Greenland myth there is also
mention of the lake being closed by a dam. (Compare Egede and
Cranz.)

280 ESKIMO LIFE
with the rain-gods of several of the American abori
ginal races — deities who lived on the tops of high
mountains. The Mayas of Yucatan, it may be noted,
called their rain-god Chac. But it is also possible
that the whole myth may come from further west.
Among primitive races, rain was very generally
traced to a similar origin. In Kamtchatka we meet
with the idea in its crudest form. When the modern
Greek peasant indicates rain by the phrase Karovpaei
6 #eds, he is merely employing an image at least as
old as Aristophanes, who makes one of his characters
in ' The Clouds ' (v. 373) remark that formerly when
it rained he used to believe Zeus Sta koctkivov
ovpelv. The same idea, more or less disguised, and
generaUy with a touch of the jocose in it, reappears
in many popular expressions current in Germany,
Belgium, Norway, and elsewhere. They have all
their root in a belief of primeval antiquity, which
can also be traced among many other races — for
example, among the old heathen Arabians, and even
among the Jews.1
In their beliefs or superstitions the Eskimos used
to be, and still are on the east coast, instructed by ,
their priests or exorcisers, the angekoks (angakok,
1 See Schwartz, Die poetischen Naturanschauungen, i. pp. 138,
259 ; ii. p. 198 ; Schmidt, Das Volksleben der Neugriechen, i. p. 31 ;
Belgisch. Museum, v. p. 215 ; Ign. Goldziher, Der Mythos bei den
Hebrdern, p. 88.

RELIGIOUS IDEAS 281
plural, angahit). These men are the wisest, and
ablest among them, but also, as a rule, the craftiest.
They assert that they have the power of conversing
with spirits, journeying both to the under-world and
to the sky and other places unattainable to ordinary
mortals, conjuring up the tornarssuk and other
supernatural beings, obtaining revelations from them,
and so forth. They influence and work upon their
countrymen principally through their mystic exor
cisms and seances, which occur as a rule in the
winter, when they are living in houses. The lamps
are extinguished, and skins are hung before the
windows so that it is quite dark. The angekok him
self sits upon the floor. By dint of making a horrible
noise so that the whole house shakes, changing his
voice, beUowing and shrieking, ventriloquising,
groaning, moaning, and whining, beating on drums,
bursting forth into diabolical shrieks of laughter, and
all sorts of other tricks, he persuades his companions
that he is visited by the various spirits he personates,
and that it is they who make the disturbance.
In order to become an angekok a long apprentice
ship is naturally required, frequently as much as ten
years. The neophyte must often and for long periods
go into solitary retirement,1 and rub a stone round
1 This idea recurs in several parts of the world. Compare Christ's
forty days' solitude in the. wilderness.

282 ESKIMO LIFE
upon another stone, following the sun, for several
days on end, whereupon a spirit comes forth from
the mountain. Then he must die of fright, but after
wards come to life again ; and thus he gradually
obtains the mastery of his tornat. He must not
reveal that he is going through this probation until
it is completed, but then he must make public
announcement of the fact. If he is to be a regular
tip-top 1 angekok, it is highly desirable that he
should be seized and dragged to the seashore by a
bear ; then there comes a walrus, buries its tusks in
his genital organs, drags him away to the horizon,
and eats him up. Thereupon his bones set off home
wards, and meet the shreds of flesh upon the way ;
they grow together again, and he is whole once more.
Now he is at the head of his profession.
The influence of these angekoks of course de
pended upon their adroitness ; but they do not seem
to have been mere charlatans. It is probable that
they themselves partly believed in their own arts,
and were even convinced that they sometimes received
actual revelations ; although Egede is not inclined to
believe that they had ' any real commerce or under
standing with the devil.'
They can also cure diseases by reciting charms,
give a man a new soul, and so forth. Among the
1 So in original (Trans.).

RELIGIOUS IDEAS 283
diseases which they profess to cure are reckoned
inability to catch seals, in a man, and, in a
woman, inability to bear children. In the latter
case, the East Greenland angekok, even to this
day, has to journey to the moon, from which a
chUd is thrown down to the woman, who becomes
pregnant of it. After this laborious journey, the
angekok has the right to lie with the woman.1 This
visit to the moon is, of course, connected with the
aforesaid erotic proclivities of that luminary. Among
the Indians, too, the moon seems to possess an in
fluence over procreation.
In order that the angekok may heal diseases he
must be weU paid ; otherwise his arts will be of no
avail. It is of course not he himself that receives
the gifts, but the tornak, for whom he merely acts as
agent. By reason of their connection with the super
natural world, the most esteemed angekoks have con
siderable authority over their countrymen, who are
afraid of the evil results which may follow any act of
disobedience. For it is in Greenland as it used to be
here, with priests who were really masters of their
craft — they were not only the servants of God, but
knew ' the black book ' as well, and had power over
the devil. The angekoks, indeed, are for the most
1 Holm, Meddelelser om Gronland, part 10, p. 131.

284 ESKIMO LIFE
part well disposed ; but they may also work evil by
robbing other people of their souls and giving them
to their tornarssuk to eat, by sending their tornat to
frighten the life out of their enemies, and so forth.
Thus we find even among the Eskimos the beginnings
of priestly rule.
For the most part, however, it is people of
another class who are guilty of such misdeeds as
killing others by magic, bewitching their weapons,
and the like. These are the so-called ilisitsoks,
who may be either male or female.1 These wizards
and witches are much hated. It used to be held
that most evils, especially death and disease, were
due to them ; and if an old woman was suspected of
being an ilisitsok she was remorselessly killed. This
cannot surprise us, when we remember how our own
ancestors, with the priests at their head, used to burn
their witches. While the angekoks commune with the
spirits in the presence of other people, the ilisitsoks'
dealings with the supernatural powers are carried on
in the deepest secrecy and always to noxious ends.
They must be instructed in secrecy by an older
ilisitsok and must pay dear for the teaching. It does
not seem to be clear what supernatural powers they
have dealings with; they are doubtless different from
1 Angekoks, too, might be of either sex, but women seem always
to have been in the minority among them.

RELIGIOUS IDEAS 285
those known to the angekoks, and are purposely kept
secret. In their diabolical arts they use many dif
ferent properties, as for instance human bones, the
flesh of corpses, skulls, snakes, spiders, water-beetles,
and the Uke ; but their most potent device consists in
making tupileks. A tupilek is prepared in the dead
liest secrecy of various animals' bones, skins, pieces of
the anorak of the man who is to be injured or por
tions of the seals he has caught ; all this being
wrapped together and tied up in a skin. Finally, it
is brought to life by dint of singing charms over it.
Then the ilisitsok seats himself upon a bank of stones
close to the mouth of a river. He turns his anorak
back to front, draws his hood up over his face, and
then dangles the tupilek between his legs. This
makes it grow, and when it has attained its proper
size it glides away into the water and disappears. It
can transform itself into all sorts of animals and
monsters, and is supposed to bring ruin and death
upon the man against whom it is despatched ; but if
it fails in this, it turns against him who sent it forth.1
These tupileks remind us strongly of the wide
spread belief both in Norway and Iceland in gand or
' messengers,' and it seems scarcely doubtful that the
1 Holm, Meddelelser om Gronland, part 10, p. 135 ; Rink, Tales
and Traditions of the Eskimo, pp. 53, 151, 201, 461 ; N. Egede,
Tredde Continuation af Relationeme, pp. 43, 48 ; P. Egede, Efter
retninger om Gronland, p. 18, &c.

286 ESKIMO LIFE
Eskimos have borrowed this conception from our
ancestors in Greenland. The ' gand ' in Iceland is
also a fabulous, magic creature, sent forth b)* wizards,
with the power of transforming itself into every pos
sible shape ; and if it does not succeed in destroying
the person against whom it is sent, it returns and
kiUs the sender. It can, however, in Greenland, no
less than in Iceland and Norway, be snapped up by
other wizards or witches, and its evil influence thus
averted.1 Rink sees in these ilisitsoks and their connection
with the powers of evil a possible survival from an
older or primseval faith in Greenland, which is per
secuted by the priests of the new faith, the angekoks.2
Just so do we find that witchcraft among us consisted
largely of remnants of the old heathenism and was,
therefore, bitterly persecuted by the Christians.
There seems to be much in favour of this ingenious
conclusion of Rink's. It appears to me possible,
however, that as the tupilek is descended from the
ancient Scandinavians' belief in gand or ' mes-
1 Compare Carl Andersen, Islandske Folkesagn og Eventyr, 2nd
edit. (1877) pp. 144-149. It is interesting to compare these Icelandic
tales with the East Greenland legend related by Holm (Meddelelser
om Gronland, part 10, p. 303), which is very similar in matter, though
of course adapted to the conditions of life in Greenland. Analogous
tales are also to be found in Norway, according to Moltke Moe, who
has directed my attention to this remarkable similarity.
2 Bink, Tales and Traditions of the Eskimos, p. 42.

RELIGIOUS IDEAS 287
sengers,' so the origin of the whole witch-lore may be
found in the same quarter. There seem to be sufficient
points of likeness to justify such a conjecture.1 It is
by no means improbable that precisely this belief in
the power of the Evil One, the contract with Satan,
the Black Book and so forth — in a word the whole
belief in wizardry which lay, and to some extent still
lies, at the very root of the superstitions of our race,
even deeper, one might almost say, than the belief in
God — might have been the first thing borrowed by
the Eskimos in their dealings with our forefathers.
This rapid and eas}r way of obtaining supernatural
power must have been particularly attractive to
them. So far as I have been able to learn, too,
witchcraft does not play anything like such a pro
minent part among the more western Eskimos, if it
is to be found at all (?).
I have still to speak of the Greenlanders' belief
in amulets. They are used by almost everyone, and
consist of particular objects, generally portions of
animals or of human beings. Charms are sung or
1 One of the characteristics of the ilisitsoks, as well as of the ange
koks, is that they breathe fire. In the medieval legends, and even in
more recent European folk-lore, this faculty was attributed to the Devil,
and was often extended to those who had sold themselves to him.
The Greenland fire-breathing is probably connected with this mediaeval
superstition. The ilisitsoks, moreover, when seen by the angekoks
during their exorcisms, are observed to be black from the hands up
to the elbows— a trait which may also have its origin in the popular
European conception of the Devil and his host as black in colour.

288 ESKIMO LIFE
muttered over them, and they are given by parents
to their children while they are still quite little ; or
young people are instructed by their elders how to
find amulets for themselves. They are worn all
j through life, as a rule upon the body or among the
clothes. The men, for example, often have them
sewn into skin pouches made for the purpose, and
worn upon the breast, while women often tie them
into the topknot of their hair. Others are placed
in the house-roof or in the tent ; or in the kaiak
to prevent it from capsizing. One man as a rule
will have several amulets. They are supposed to
have power to protect one against witchcraft, and
against injury from spirits, to be of assistance in
times of danger, and to endow their possessor with
certain peculiar faculties. Some amulets can even
be used to disguise their possessors in the shape of
animals, and thus remind us of the ' hamlobing ' (the
putting on of falcon-skins, swan-skins, &c.) in our old
mythology. If, for example, a man has a bird or a
fish for his amulet, he may by calling upon it trans
form himself into a bird or a fish ; or he may trans
form himself into a tree, seaweed, or the like, if his
amulet consists of a piece of wood or of seaweed. The
belief in amulets, as we all know, is spread over the
whole world, and can be traced from the most primi
tive right up to the most highly developed races.

RELIGIOUS IDEAS 289
Among the Eskimos it no doubt dates from a very
early stage of development, and is the most primitive
of their existing religious conceptions. The origin
of this belief appears to me quite explicable. Some
times, of course, it may have arisen from a mere
external accident, for example the observation of a
series of fortunate events — that a man who is in
possession of some particular object has always been
lucky in his fishing, and so forth. But as a rule its
source lies deeper. When, for example, a man sees
that a bird, such as the falcon, cleaves the air with in
credible ease and has extraordinary powers of attack
with beak and claws, he is apt to attribute these
powers to every part of the animal, and especially to
the head, with the soul inhabiting it, to the beak,
and to the claws. It is not at all unnatural that
barren women, in order to have children, should take
pieces of a European's shoesole and hang them round
their necks. Seeing that Europeans are prolific, they
think that through these shoesoles, on whicli our
strength has rested, some part of it will ' pass into
their garments and serve them to the like end.'1
When a boy who spits blood, and whose family is
consumptive, is given a seal-blood plug as an amulet
(the plug which is used to stop the flow of blood
from the wounds of a captured seal), and when this
1 Hans Egede, Grbnlands Perlustration, p. 116. (J

290 ESKIMO LIFE
is sewn into the anorak upon his breast, the reason is
surely clear enough. It is based upon the same belief
unsympathetic transference which plays so great a part in
the popular superstitions of all countries. The Eskimos
often have for amulets portions of their forefathers'
clothes or other possessions, as a rule of their grand
fathers'. This has no doubt its origin in the belief
that the souls of the dead can protect them, and that
when they carry some portions of the dead man's
possessions about with them, it is easier to come into
rapport with him. Cases are also recorded of the
carrying about of small male and female figures to
serve as amulets.1 The transition from this belief in
amulets to fetish-worship, or rather idol- and image-
worship, does not seem to me to be very difficult.
The Greenlanders also think they derive super
natural help from their charms. These are employed
in sickness, in danger, against enemies, &c, and have
about the same influence as the amulets. Even less
than the amulets, however, have they any connection
with spirits, and the method of their action is
unknown — no one knows even the meaning of the
words which are spoken. They are simply old
formulas which have been handed down by means of
sale from generation to generation. They have to
be learned in secrecy, and must be paid for on the
1 Compare Holm, Meddelelser om Gronland, part 10, p. 118.

RELIGIOUS IDEAS 291
spot and at a very high rate, else they have no
efficacy. They are uttered slowly in a subdued,
mystic tone ; 1 it seems as though they were con
nected to a certain extent with witchcraft. They
remind us forcibly of our old witch-crones and their
often meaningless formulas. It seems to me pro
bable that they must be reminiscences of old cus
toms, imported from outside, whose original significa
tion has been lost. According to Rink, charms may
also be learnt by listening to the song of birds.2
Besides these formulas, magic songs are also in
use. The words of these, however, are comprehen
sible, and they may be sung in the hearing of others.
According to Rink, it is as a rule the deceased
relations and ancestors of the person using the
charm, and especiaUy his grandparents, whose help
is invoked in these formulas and in the songs. From
Holm's account, on the other hand, we gather nothing
of this sort. It seems to me not unreasonable, how
ever, to suppose that they, and also the amulets,
have often a certain connection with the dead, and
may thus be the beginning of (or a survival from) a
more developed ancestor-worship. When a boy is
for the first time placed in a kaiak, the father, by
1 Holm, Meddelelser om Gronland, part. 10, p. 119.
2 Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo, p. 51 ; Danish ed. suppl.
p. 194. rr 2

292 ESKIMO LIFE
means of magic songs, will invoke for him the pro
tection of his deceased grandparents and great-grand
parents. Offerings to the supernatural powers are very
infrequent among the Greenlanders. The most com
mon form of offering is made to the inue of the sea,
the so-called kungusutarissat (the plural of kungusu-
tariak). They are fond of foxes' flesh and foxes'
tails, which are, therefore, offered to them whenever
a fox is caught, that they may make the fishing
successful In travelling, too, the Eskimos will make
offerings to certain headlands, glaciers, and the like,
which they regard as dangerous, in order to get past
them unharmed. The offering is as a rule thrown
overboard into the sea ; it often consists of food, but
may also take the form of beads or other things
which they value.
Besides these religious ceremonies the Green
landers have others, especially certain rules of life as
to fasting, abstinence, and the like, which must be
observed, for example, by women immediately before
or after the birth of a child. It would, however,
lead us too far to go in detail into these matters.

From this survey of the religious conceptions of
the Greenlanders, it will doubtless appear that they
are not so exempt from foreign influences as many

RELIGIOUS IDEAS 293
have been inclined to think. We can trace in them
admixtures from many quarters ; we have found
myths whose place of origin is certainly as distant as
Central Asia ; nay we have even found some which
unquestionably bridge the distance between Green
land, South Africa, and the Fiji Islands.1 The migra
tions of such myths presuppose immense periods of
time. What is perhaps most interesting for us,
however, is the traces which we find of our own
forefathers' visits to Greenland. It is not only a few
ruined buildings that bear witness to their presence ;
they have also left an unmistakable imprint on the
spiritual life of the natives. I shall cite one or two
more examples of remarkable resemblances to Euro
pean, and especially Scandinavian, superstitions,
which must in aU probability have arisen from inter
course with our forefathers.
The Greenlanders believe that children born in
secresy, or murdered after birth, become dangerous
spectres (angiak). Among other things, they are in
1 As regards the greater part of these myths, the theory that they
were invented independently in different parts of the world seems
quite inadmissible; the coincidences are too numerous and too cha
racteristic. Examples may be cited, indeed, of the same invention
having been made independently by different races remotely situated
from each other ; but they are remarkably rare. On the other hand,
it is surprising how certain tools, cultivated plants, and arts or accom
plishments have been handed on from people to people over immense
tracts of the earth. (Compare Peschel, Abhandlungen zur Erd- und-
Vblkerkunde, 1877, i. p. 468).

294 ESKIMO LIFE
the habit of seeking out a dog's skull, which they use
as a kaiak, in order to persecute and kiU their kins
folk—either their mother's later-born children, or, it
may be, their mother's brothers, who, by reproaching
her for her misconduct, have led her to conceal the
birth. Sometimes, too, they pursue people in the
form of a feather, a mitten, &C.1 This conception is
very like the belief in what is called utburden, which
is very widespread in Norway. These are children
who, being born in concealment and killed, have not
. received a name. They cannot rest, but, in the form
of visible or invisible ghosts, they pursue either the
mother or people who pass by the place where they
have been laid.2 The resemblance between this
Norwegian conception and the Greenland supersti
tion is so great that there is every probability of its
having been imported into Greenland by the old
Scandinavians.3
1 Glahn, Nye Sanding af det kongelige norske Videnskabelige
Selskabs Skrifter, i. 1784, p. 271. Rink, Tales and Traditions of the
Eskimo, pp. 45, 391, 439 ; Kleinschmidt, Den grbnlandske Ordbog,
p. 33. 2 See Moltke Moe's Introduction to Qvigstad and Sandberg :
Lappiske Eventyr og Folkesagn, p. vii ; Nyrop, Mindre Ajhand-
linger udgivne af det philologisk-historiske Samfund, Copenhagen,
1887, p. 193 ; Liebrecht, Zur Volkskunde, p. 319.
3 I must not omit to note, however, that similar conceptions are to
be found in different parts of the world. In Tahiti, Oromatus, the
mightiest of spirits, is said to have come into existence in this way,
and among the Polynesians generally the souls of children are regarded
as being especially dangerous. (Compare F. Liebrecht, in The

RELIGIOUS IDEAS 295
Passing on to their fairy tales, we find many which
resemble Norwegian and other European legends.
For example we have in Norway an as yet unpub
lished tale 1 of three sisters who were bent upon
getting married. The one said, ' I am minded to
marry even if I got only a fox for a husband ; ' the
second said she would marry if she got only a goat,
and the third if she got only a squirrel. Thereupon
there came a fox, a goat, and a squirrel, and took
each his wife. Their father afterwards paid a visit
to each of his sons-in-law. When he came to the
squirrel's house, the squirrel bade his wife hang a
pot over the fire, and then aU three went out and
came to a river, into which the squirrel dived and
brought up a trout. When the man reached home
he bade his wife put a pot on the fire and go out
with him. On reaching a river, the man tried to
Academy, hi. 1872, p. 321.) One of my reasons for thinking that the
Greenlanders may have borrowed their angiak from the Scandinavians
is that, so far as I can ascertain, other Eskimo tribes have no such
belief — at least it cannot be common among them. There is no
mention of the angiak even among the legends eoUected by Holm on
the east coast. On the other hand, there are several apparently more
primitive myths of ordinary children who are turned into monsters.
(Compare Meddelelser om Gronland, part 10, p. 287 ; Rink, Tales and
Traditions of the Eskimo, p. 258 ; Danish ed. suppl. p. 125.) One of
these, who on the east coast is the child of the moon by a human mother
(Meddelelser om Gronland, part 10, p. 281), has on the west coast
become an angiak. This is, no doubt, a late recasting of the legend
— a theory which is borne out by the fact that variants occur on the
west coast in which the angiak is an ordinary child.
1 Communicated by Moltke Moe.

296 ESKIMO LIFE
dive as he had seen the squirrel do, but was drowned.
In Greenland we find this story split into two. In
the one it is two sisters who go down to the shore
and wish, the one for an eagle, the other for a whale,
as a husband ; and these animals at once come and
carry them off.1 In the other we are told of a pair
of old people who live alone with their daughter.
One day there comes a big unknown man, who says
that he lives near them to the southward, and asks
for their daughter in marriage. He obtains her, and
on leaving her home asks his father-in-law to come
and pay them a visit. This the father-in-law does.
When he enters the house, his daughter hangs a
kettle over the fire and her husband goes out. The
old man looks after him through the window, but
sees only a cormorant whicli flies over the water,
dives, and comes up with a sea-scorpion. Presently
the son in-law comes in with the sea-scorpion, which
he gives to his father-in-law to eat. On the old
man's return home he asks his wife to hang the pot
over the lamp, then rows with her a little way out
from the land, and ties a stone round his neck and a
long rope round his waist, saying to his wife : ' I wiU
dive into the water, and when I tug at the rope you
must haul me up again.' He jumps overboard and
1 Rink, Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo, p. 126 ; Holm,
Meddelelser on Gronland, part 10, p. 276.

RELIGIOUS IDEAS 297
sinks, and when his wife hauls him up again he is
drowned.1 The resemblance between this story and
the latter part of the Norwegian one is so great that
there can scarcely be any doubt as to its origin. We
must, however, take into account the possibility that
it did not come through the old Scandinavians,
but through Hans Egede and his people, or even
later. The following story resembles both Asiatic and
European legends. A reindeer-hunter once saw a
number of women bathing in a lake. He took away
the clothes of the fairest of them, who had therefore
to foUow him home and become his wife, whilst the
others rushed to the shore, put on their clothes, and
were transformed into geese or mergansers and flew
away. His wife bore him a son ; but presently she
set to work coUecting feathers, by means of which she
changed both herself and her son into birds, and flew
awa3' with him one fine day, when the man was out
hunting. He set forth to search for them, and came
upon a man who was cutting chips of wood which
were transformed into fishes. This man placed him
upon the tail of a big salmon which he made out of
a chip, and told him to close his eyes, whereupon the
1 Rink, Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo, Danish ed. suppl.
p. 119.

298 ESKIMO LIFE
fish brought him to his wife and son.1 The American
Eskimos have an altogether similar story. Among
the Samoyedes it is related that a man went out on a
journey and came upon an old woman who was fell
ing birch trees. He helped her, and went with her
to her tent, where he hid himself. Then in came
seven girls, who talked to the old woman and went
away again. She said to him : ' In the darkest part
of yonder wood there is a lake ; there the seven girls
will bathe ; take away the clothes of one of them ' —
and he did so. The remainder is quite different from
the Greenland story, and there is nothing at all about
their being changed into birds, though their home
was in air or in the sky.2 This story, whose likeness
to the Greenland legend is remarked by Dr. Rink,3 is
not, however, so like it as an Icelandic stoiy, in
which we are told that a man was walking early one
morning beside the sea and came to the mouth of a
cave. He could hear sounds of dancing and merri-
ment from inside the cave, and outside it lay a heap
of sealskins, one of which he took home with him.
Later in the day he came again to the mouth of the
cave ; there sat a fair young woman quite naked, and
1 P. Egede, Continuation af Relationerne, p. 19 ; Efterretninger
om Gronland, p. 55 ; Rink, Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo,
p. 145 ; Meddelelser om Gronland, part 11, p. 20, Suppl. p. 117.
2 Castr^n, Ethnologiske Foreldsningar, Helsingfors, 1857, p. 182.
3 Meddelelser om Gronland, part 11, Suppl. p. 117.

RELIGIOUS IDEAS 299
weeping. She was the seal Avho owned the skin. He
gave her clothes, took her home with him, married
her, and they had children. But one day when the
man was out fishing his wife found the old sealskin ;
the temptation was too strong for her, she said good
bye to her children, put on the skin and threw her
self into the sea.1 The Greenland story, for the rest,
resembles the swan legends which are spread over
almost the whole world, and of which we have
several in Europe. That it cannot have been intro
duced into Greenland of recent years is proved by
the fact that Paul Egede heard it there so long ago
as 1735. The possibility that it may have been
brought to Greenland by the old Scandinavians seems
to me strengthened by the fact that swan-legends and
stories of a like nature do not seem to have been
common in America. Powers, for example, in his
book about the Indians of California, says that he can
find no stories of this nature among them.2
If space permitted I could adduce several other
remarkable coincidences between the folk-lore of

1 C. Andersen, Islandske Folkesagn, 1877, p. 205.
2 The Iroquois, however, have a legend of seven boys who were
transformed into birds and flew away from their parents. They have
also a tale of a young man who goes out fishing and comes upon some
boys who have put off their wings and are swimming. They give him
a pair of wings which enable him to fly away with them ; but they
afterwards take his wings away from him and leave him helpless.
Compare Rink, Meddelelser om Gronland, part 11, p. 21.

300 ESKIMO LIFE
Greenland and that of Europe, and especially of
Scandinavia. It appears, then, that the intercourse
between the old Scandinavians and the natives must
have been greater than has generally been believed. l
1 It has hitherto been supposed that there are no traces of such
intercourse except in the Eskimo legends (mentioned in Chapter I.), of
their encounters with the old Scandinavians, and in the three following
words : nisa for nise (porpoise), kudnek for kvanne (angelica) and
kaldlek (meaning Greenlander). The derivation of nisa (old Norse
nisa) and kudnek seems probable enough, though some doubt is
thrown on the latter by the fact that in Labrador the word is apphed
to an eatable sea-weed. Kaldlek was supposed to be the same as the
Norwegian skrselling — the name given by our forefathers to the Eski
mos, which in an Eskimo's mouth would sound something like kalalek.
It is rather surprising, however, to find the same word among the
Eskimos of Alaska in the form of katlalik or kallaaluch, meaning an
angekok or chieftain (Rink, Meddelelser om Gronland, part 11, Suppl. p.
94 ; Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo, Danish ed. suppl. p. 200). It
is possible, however, that the word may have been imported into Alaska
from Greenland in modern times. Another thing which, as it seems to
me, may possibly be a relic of the old Scandinavians, is the cross-bow
which Holm found upon the east coast, and which was formerly in use
on the west coast also. So far as I know, it is not found among the
Indians.

301

CHAPTER XIV
THE INTRODUCTION OF CHRISTIANITY
All this superstition of which I have been speaking
of course seems to us mere meaningless confusion,
the extirpation of which must be an unmixed advan
tage. But if we place ourselves at their point of
view, is it so much more meaningless for them than
our Christian dogmas, which lead them into a world
entirely foreign to them ? In order to understand
these dogmas, they had first to transpose them into
their own key of thought, or, in other words, they
had to make them more or less heathen before they
could reaUy grasp them at all. It is useless to
imagine that a people can suddenly, at a word of
command, begin to think in an entirely new manner.
This transmutation has cost them much labour, and
though they are still heathen at bottom and believe
in their old legends, jet the new doctrine has intro
duced confusion into their ideas. This alone might
tempt one to think that it would have been better to

302 ESKIMO LIFE
have let them preserve their own faith undisturbed.
It gave them, with their comparatively meagre capa
city for ideas, the easiest explanation of their sur
roundings ; it peopled nature with the supernatural
powers which they needed for consolation when
reality became too hard and complex for them.
And how characteristic these myths are of the
Eskimos — for example, the conception of the region
beyond the grave ! Here there is neither silver nor
gold, neither gorgeous raiment nor shining palaces,
as in our stories ; earthly riches have no value for
the Eskimo. Nor are there lovely women, flowery
gardens, and so forth. No ; at most there is a mud
hut, a little larger than his own, and in it sit the
happy spirits eating rotten seals' heads, which lie in
inexhaustible heaps under the benches ; and around it
there are splendid hunting-grounds, with quantities of
game and much sunshine. In his eyes our Paradise
of white-robed angels, where the blessed sit around
upon chairs, seems a tedious and colourless existence
which he does not understand, and which excites no
longing in him. We can scarcely wonder at an
angekok, who said to Niels Egede that he far pre
ferred the tornarssuk's or 'Devil's house,' where he
had often been ; ' For in heaven there is no food to
be had, but in hell there are seals and fishes in
plenty.'

THE INTRODUCTION OF CHRISTIANITY 303
One would expect that the missionaries' victory 1
over heathendom would be a very easy one among so
peaceful and good-humoured a people as the Green
landers ; but this can scarcely be said to have been
the case. The natives had many objections to allege
against the Christian assertions. For example, they
could not understand that the sin which Adam and
Eve committed ' could be so great and involve such
melancholy consequences ' as that the whole human
race should be condemned on account of it. ' Since
God knew aU things, why did he permit the first man
and woman to sin ? ' The idea of free-wiU seems to
them, frankly speaking, mere rubbish, and, but for
free-wiU, Adam's offspring would never have been
corrupted, and the Son of God need not have
suffered. One girl was not at all contented with the an-
1 Missionary activity in Greenland, then a possession of the Nor
wegian crown, was commenced in 1721 by Hans Egede, who to that
end set on foot a combined commercial and missionary company in
Bergen. This mission was afterwards supported by the Danish-Nor
wegian Government, and after the separation of 1814, by which
Denmark retained the Norwegian possessions of the Faroe Isles, Ice
land, and Greenland, by the Danish Government alone. Ten years
after Egede's arrival in the country, Count Zinsendorf, who had heard
of his mission, despatched three Moravian brethren to Greenland.
These also formed a little congregation, and the German or Hernhutt
mission has hkewise obtained a footing. It has now a few stations in
the Godthaab district, and one or two in the extreme south of the
country. The peculiarity of these Hernhutt communities, so far as I
could gather, is that in them the natives have sunk to an even greater
depth of misery than elsewhere.

304 ESKIMO LIFE
swer she received to these objections. ' She wanted
to have them so answered that she could inwardly
assent and feel that the answer was true, and that
she could silence those who had so much to say
against this part of our doctrine.' Similarly, they
were of opinion that Adam and Eve must have been
very foolish to think of chattering with a serpent,
and ' that they must have been very fond of fruit
since they would rather die and suffer pain than
forego a few big berries.' Others thought that it
was just like the kavdlunaks (Europeans) ; for ' these
greedy people never have enough ; they have, and
they want to have, more than they require.' One
angekok thought it was very unlucky that Christ, the
great angekok, who could even bring the dead to life,
was not born among the Eskimos ; they would have
loved him, and obeyed him, and not done like the
foolish kavdlunaks. ' What, madmen ! to kill the
man who could bring the dead to life ! ' When they
saw that Christian Europeans quarrelled and fought,
they had little faith in the Christian doctrines, and
said : ' Perhaps, if we knew as much as they, we,
too, would become inhuman.' And they thought
that it was impossible to find well-behaved Europeans,
' unless they had been several years in Greenland and
had there learnt mores.'
Some asked, since Christianity was so essential,

THE INTRODUCTION OF CHRISTIANITY 305
why God had not instructed them in it sooner, for
then their forefathers, too, could have gone to heaven.
When Paul Egede answered that perhaps God had
seen that they would not accept the Word, but rather
despise it, and thereby become more guilty, an old
man said that he had known many excellent people,
and had himself had a pious father ; and even if
some of them might have despised the Word, ' stiU
there were the women and children, who are all
credulous.' When Paul Egede explained to them
that worldly goods are ' trumpery,' altogether un
worthy to go to heaven, someone answered : ' I did
not know that these things were not worth thinking
about ; if it is so nice there, why are we so unwiUing
to leave the earth ? '
When the Scriptures came to be translated, con
siderable objections presented themselves. Many
even of the Christian Greenlanders thought that it
would not be advisable for their unbelieving coun
trymen to be told, for example, of ' Jacob's slyness
and treachery towards his father and brother, of the
patriarchs' polygamy, and especially of Simeon's and
Levi's matchless wickedness.' ' The story of Lot,'
too, they thought unfortunate. ' A selection of
what was most important would be best for this
people.' 1
1 Compare Paul Egede, Efterretninger om Gronland, pp. 117, 162.
X

306 ESKIMO LIFE
The sacrament of the altar, of course, seemed in
their eyes the most arrant witchcraft, and baptism
likewise. One time, says Niels Egede, when they
had seen some Europeans going through this cere
mony, ' an angekok asked me why I was always
denouncing those who practised witchcraft, when
here was one of our own priests performing sorceries
over us ? ' To which Egede found no better answer
than that it was ' in accordance with Christ's com
mand ; ' he did not think ' the dog had any right
to know more.' Once, when the missionaries told
a man ' that he should especiaUy thank God who
had given him many children,' he became very
angry and answered, 'It is a great lie to say that
God has given me children, for I made them myself.
" Is it not so ? " he said, turning to his wife.'
Their criticism of the doctrine and practice of
the missionaries was sometimes so mordant that the
intelligent and honest merchant Dalager has to admit
that ' even the stupidest natives from far beyond the
colony have often confronted me with such objections
on these points as have made me groan, while the
perspiration stood on my brow.'
Divine service seems at first to have bored them
very much ; they preferred to hear about Europe,
and would ask many naive questions: 'Whether
the King was very big ? Was he strong ? Was he

THE INTRODUCTION OF CHRISTIANITY 307
a great angekok? And had he caught many
whales?' Paul Egede records that when they
thought his father's sermons too long ' they went up
to him and asked him if he was not soon going to
stop. Then he had to measure off upon his arm how
much of his discourse was left, whereupon they went
back to their places and sat moving their hands
down their arms every moment. When the preacher
paused at the end of a paragraph, they made haste
to move the hand right out to the finger-tips ; but
when he began again they cried " Ama " (that is,
" StiU more ") and moved the hand back again half
way up the arm. The singing was in my department,
and when I began a new psalm, or sang for too long,
they would often hold a wet sealskin mitten over my
mouth.' The missionaries' treatment of the natives was not
always of the gentlest. I may cite a couple of ex
amples chosen at random from their own statements :
' I gave him to understand,' says Niels Egede, ' that if
he would not let himself be persuaded by fair means,
but despised the Word of God, he should receive the
same treatment from me as other angekoks and liars
had received (namely a thrashing).' ' When I had
tried aU I could by means of persuasion and ex
hortation, without avail, I had recourse to my usual
method, flogged him soundly and turned him out of
x 2

308 ESKIMO LIFE
the house.' 1 A girl was beaten by her priest, ' be
cause she could not believe that God was so cruel as
he represented Him to be ; he had said that all her
forefathers were with Tornarssuk, and were to be
tortured to aU eternity, because they did not know
God.' She tried to defend them by suggesting that
they knew no better, whereupon he lost his temper ;
and when at last she said ' that it was horrible for
her to learn that God was so terribly angry with
those who sinned that he could never forgive them,
as even wicked men will sometimes do,' he gave
her a beating.2 It cannot but jar upon us to hear of
such conduct on the part of our countrymen and
Christian missionaries towards so peaceable a people ;
and it would scarcely make a better impression upon
the natives themselves. We can only admire the
good humour which prevented them from driving the
missionaries out of their houses. In excuse for the
missionaries, we must remember that they were born
in Europe, and in a much ruder age than our own.
The conversion of the natives at first went but
slowly and with difficulty ; but they gradually dis
covered that the missionaries were in reality great
angekoks, and that their ceremonies, such as baptism,
their doctrines and formulas, the Christian books,
1 Niels Egede, Tredie Continuation af Relationerne, pp. 32, 45.
2 Paul Egede, Efterretninger om Gronland, p. 221.

THE INTRODUCTION OF CHRISTIAN ITY 309
and so forth, were magical appliances, potent for
curing disease, protecting against want, and ensuring
good fishery and other advantages ; not to mention
that conversion and a little appearance of contrition
often bore immediate fruits in the shape of small
rewards from the eager missionaries. Accordingly
they said of them : ' They are good people, they
gave us food when we believed and looked sorrow
ful.' A father whose son was dangerously ill, after
having had recourse to various angekoks, took
counsel with an old and experienced one ' as to
whether he should not seek help from the priest at
the Colony ; ' whereupon the old man calmly answered :
' You may do as you please ; for I am of opinion
that the Word of God and the words of skilful ange
koks are equaUy powerful.' This gradually became
the general opinion ; and as it fortunately chanced
in several cases that the Word of God seemed more
effectual than that of the angekoks, it was natural
that some should let themselves be baptised. The
example once given, there were plenty to follow it,
especiaUy when distinguished hunters led the way.
But if the Greenlanders nominaUy went over to
Christianity, they held, and still hold in a greater or
less degree, to their old faith as well. It was at
first very difficult to convince them of the falsity of
the grotesque inventions of their angekoks. When

310 ESKIMO LIFE
they were reproached with their credulity they
answered simply ' that they were not in the habit of
lying and therefore believed all that people said to
them.' That they were not absolutely simple-minded,
however, in their acceptance of aU that the Europeans
told them, seems clear from this, amongst other
things, that when some Greenlanders could not get
Niels Egede to swallow their assertion that ' they
had killed a bear on Disco which was so big that it
had ice on its back that never melted,' they said :
' We have believed what you tell us, but you wiU not
believe what we tell you.'
To show what a little way below the surface
Christianity has gone, and how some of them, at any
rate, still understand baptism, I may mention that some
years ago in North Greenland a catechist (a man who
has received a theological education, and supphes the
place of the clergyman in his absence) baptised not
onlv his parishioners, but also his puppies in the
name of the Father, the Son, &c. His wife was
childless, and he took this means, as he thought, of
setting matters right ; and, sure enough, next year
she bore a child.
The part of their old heathenism which now most
haunts their fancy is, so far as my experience goes,
the belief in the kivitut or mountain-men (see above,

THE INTRODUCTION OF CHRISTIANITY 311
p. 266). Of these they stand in great dread, and
frequently think they see them. While we were at
Godthaab several of them were seen. Whenever
anything is stolen from one of their store-rooms it is
of course the kivitut who have done it, and if a
kaiak-man disappears, and his body is not found, he
is at once supposed to have taken to the mountains,
and become a kivitok. This belief seems of late
years to have gained ground greatly. A catechist,
in the ' Atuagagdliutit,' takes his countrymen to task
on the subject, and exclaims : ' No, let us believe of
those who perish on the treacherous sea that they
rest their limbs upon the great burying-ground at the
bottom of the ocean, and that their souls live in the
joys of eternity.'
I had once an unpleasant proof of the ingrained
nature of this superstitious terror. At Godthaab,
late one evening, I went over to one of the Green
landers' houses with a letter which was to be sent off
early next morning with some kaiak-men from an
other place. When I entered, the whole house was
in deep slumber ; men and women side by side on
the chief sleeping-bench like herrings on a thwart.
Not to disturb them more than necessary, [ wanted
to awaken the only unmarried son of the house,
Jacob, who lay alone on the window-bench. He and
I were excellent friends, and saw each other daily. I

812 ESKIMO LIFE
shook him, and shouted ' Jacob ' into his ear. He
slept as heavily as ever, and I had to shake him long
and violently before he at last opened his eyes a little
and grunted. But when he saw me bending over
him, his eyes grew glassy with terror, and he sat up,
uttered a frightful shriek, and kicked and struck out
at me. He went on shrieking more and more wildly,
and fought his way backwards on the bench. All of
those upon the main bench now sat up too and stared
in blank affright at me, while poor I stood there in
speechless astonishment at the hubbub I had created.
At last I recovered my powers of speech, approached
Jacob, held out my hands towards him, and spoke
some reassuring words. But that only made him
worse than ever. When I saw that words were of
no avail, I stopped speaking, and began to laugh,
whereupon the yells ceased as suddenly as they had
begun, and Jacob became as red in the face as he
had formerly been white, and muttered something in
a shamefaced way about having dreamt of a kivitok
that wanted to carry him off to the mountains. I
gave him my letter, and withdrew as quickly as I
could. The next day it was known over all the
Colony that I had been a kivitok ; for the neighbours
had heard the yeUs.

CHAPTER XV
EUROPEANS AND NATIVES
The relation of the Europeans to the Greenlanders is
in many respects unique, for the Eskimos have been
treated more tenderly than any other primitive
people which has been subjected to our experiments
in civiUsation. The Danish Government certainly
deserves the highest respect for its action in this
matter, and it were much to be desired that other
States would foUow the example here given them.
Care for the true welfare of the natives has been
largely operative in their policy, and there is scarcely
another instance of a people of hunters which has
come into such close contact with European civilisa
tion and proselytism, and has held its own so weU for
so long a time.
We do not often meet with such enthusiasm as
that which impeUed our countryman Hans Egede
and the first missionaries to seek out this at that
time almost unknown land, and led them to endure so
many hardships there. They did it with the best of

314 ESKIMO LIFE
motives, and thought that they were thereby advanc
ing both the spiritual and temporal welfare of the
Eskimo. If we compare this mission and the treat
ment of Greenland as a whole with the conduct of
Europeans under similar circumstances in other
parts of the world, we cannot but recognise the
working of an unusually humane spirit ; and as we
examine the whole history of the government of
Greenland down to our own day, we find ever new
and gratifying examples of this spirit.
With all the good will in the world, however,
civilised men cannot resist the tendency to look down
upon a primitive people as essentially their inferiors.
Even in the history of Greenland we find many proofs
of this. We learn from his own writings that the
devoted Hans Egede himself cherished no small con
tempt for the natives whom he held it his mission to
christianise. He even relates how he often beat
them, and had them flogged, or given the rope's end.
On one occasion, learning from a smaU boy that an
angekok, named Elik, had said that it would be an
easy matter to root out the foreigners who had come
to their country, he set off with seven armed men,
fell upon the angekok, took him prisoner, and
brought him to the colony. There ' he received
some blows with the rope's end, and was put in irons.'
In the evening the angekok's sons came to inquire

EUROPEANS AND NATIVES 315
about their father, and ' were permitted, at their own
request, to pitch their tents in the colony.' After a
few days the prisoner was set at liberty, and they
went away. One might suppose that after such
treatment the Greenlanders would bear ill-will to
the foreigners ; but their good-humour and hospitality
are incomparable. As luck would have it, the fol
lowing winter, Hans Egede's son, Paul, who had
taken part in this high-handed proceeding, was
driven by stress of weather to a place where he was
surprised to find the angekok Elik. It was not par
ticularly pleasant, as he himself confesses ; but to his
astonishment he was invited to take up his quarters
with the angekok, who spread a reindeer skin for
him upon his own sleeping-bench. There Paul
Egede had to remain for three days, and was enter
tained with the best of everything.1 This is indeed
' To return good for evil ' and ' To do good to them
that hate you ' ; but Egede attributed it to the Green
landers' wiUingness ' to put up with punishment when
they feel they have deserved it.'
Hans Egede had also another habit, which does
not show the greatest possible consideration towards
the natives ; he would now and then take children
to his house, against their parents' wishes, and keep
them there to learn the language from them. In this
' P. Egede, Efterretninger om Gronland, p. 21 ; compare also p. 25.

316 ESKIMO LIFE
connection they made a song about him : ' There
has come a strange man over the great sea from the
West, who steals boys, and gives them thick soup
with skin upon it (that is, porridge) to eat, and dried
earth from his own land (that is, ship's biscuits).'
When Paul Egede on one occasion offered a mother
a present if she would let her son remain some time
longer with him, she answered that children were not
articles of commerce.
We can still find evidences in Greenland of how
difficult it is for us to get rid of our ingrained con
tempt for all so-caUed aborigines. The motive of
the Europeans for supporting colonies in the country
is that they may be a blessing to it ; it is, of course,
exclusively for the sake of the mission and of the
natives that trade is carried on. Nevertheless, the
relation between the natives and the foreigners has
come to rest on an entirely wrong basis. The
foreigners are regarded both by themselves and by
the Greenlanders as a higher race and the lords of
the country, to whom all obedience is due ; whereas,
if they were reaUy there for the sake of the natives,
they ought rather to be their self-sacrificing servants.
Half voluntarily, half involuntarily, the Europeans
have themselves emphasised this relation, and have
all along treated the natives as a subject race. We
came to the country to preach Christianity ; but how

EUROPEANS AND NATIVES 317
does this accord with our Christian doctrine of free
dom and equality, and especially with the example
of Christ himself ?
As an instance of the extent to which this abuse
has been carried I may mention that at several settle
ments in South Greenland the natives are forbidden to
keep dogs, because the handful of European families
who hve there want to keep goats. This prohibition
has, it is true, in many cases been determined upon
in the local council (see p. 321) ; but it has been
proposed by the Europeans, and as the Greenlanders,
as I have said, always follow their lead, it was not
difficult to get them to consent to it, against their own
real wishes. I have heard them regretting bitterly
that they should have been so foolish as to agree to
such a prohibition. The most glaring injustice,
however, is to be seen in the villages where the
German missionaries reside, and where, for no other
reason but that his own goats may live in peace, the
reverend gentleman issues an ukase forbidding his
flock to keep dogs.
I have spoken of this to many otherwise intelli
gent and kind-hearted residents in Greenland,., but
found them aU of the opinion that since the dogs
chased and worried the goats, it followed as a matter
of course that they must be prohibited. On my ob
jecting that the Europeans were few and the Green-

318 ESKIMO LIFE
landers many, so that it was more reasonable that
the latter should forbid the keeping of goats, they
simply laughed in my face. It did not seem to
occur to them that they themselves are the inter
lopers, and that the Eskimos have kept dogs from
time immemorial. Nor did they see anything par
ticularly wrong in the fact that the goats often
tore the turf from the roof and walls of the Green
landers' houses, injured their fish when it was hung
up to dry, and so forth.
Another result of the different manner in which
the rights of the Europeans and of the natives are
regarded is to be found in the regulations concerning
the sale of brandy. While it is illegal, as stated in
Chapter V., to sell brandy to the natives of the
country, the European residents are free to have as
much of it as they please. This is unfortunate : for
it can scarcely fail to annoy the natives to have it
perpetually brought home to them that they are not
held good enough to be entrusted with that which
the meanest European may have at will. But this
ordinance becomes still more hurtful from the fact
that the Greenlanders who enter into the service of
Europeans are allowed brandy every day, while
others can obtain it if they sell something to tbe
Europeans. That this may easily lead to the cravest
abuses is clear enough, and we may be sure that it

EUROPEANS AND NATIVES 319
has actually done so. I pass over minor inconsis
tencies, such as the fact that certain individual
natives of mixed descent and of social importance
are allowed to order from Europe a stated quantity
of brandy every year.
It was of course a clear necessity to forbid the
sale of brandy in Greenland, on pain of greatly
accelerating the extermination of the native race.
But the only right and consistent thing to do would
have been to make the prohibition apply to natives
and Europeans alike. Many maintain, I am aware,
that this would have been to inflict an unjust hard
ship upon the Europeans, who have all their lives
been accustomed to this stimulant ; and I know that
this would have been specially the case with regard
to people from Denmark, where brandy is drunk at
almost every meal, even among the working classes,
and where it is thus regarded as weU-nigh a necessity
of hfe. But notwithstanding this, I cannot but hold
to my opinion that a general prohibition would have
been the only right and advantageous thing for both
parties. Such a demand cannot be called unjust ;
for if the prohibition is known beforehand, it is
always open to any European to refrain from going
to Greenland, and I have no fear but that, in any
event, there would always be plenty of Europeans
in the country.

320 ESKIMO LIFE
But my demands would go stiU further. I hold
that not only should the sale of brandy be pro
hibited, but also the sale of coffee, tobacco, and the
other indubitably noxious, or at any rate valueless,
products which we have introduced among the na
tives. It is certain that they had no desire for them ;
on the contrary, it took us a long time to make them
acquire the taste for them. The East Greenlanders
to this day do not like coffee. On the west coast, as
before stated, we have been unhappily successful in
begetting this taste, and coffee has contributed not a
little to the decline of the race. But if the sale of
coffee to the natives were forbidden, its importation
for the use of Europeans should, of course, be for
bidden as well. Many wiU call this fanaticism, but
I cannot help it. My opinion is that if it be indeed
for the sake of the natives that we have come to
their country and undertaken to live there and teach
them, we must prove this by our conduct, we must
fulfil consistently the duties imposed upon us by
such a responsible and difficult mission, and we must
submit to the small deprivations it may involve.
Such a work of self-sacrifice cannot be carried on
without deprivations. The Apostles of the Lord
have always regarded suffering as an essential part
of their calling, and if we cannot endure it we are
neither fitted for, nor worthy of, such a task, and

EUROPEANS AND NATIVES 321
ought to refrain from it altogether. If, on the
other hand, we have come to Greenland not for tbe
natives' sake but for our own, that is quite a dif
ferent matter ; but in that case let us call things by
their right names, and not use big words such as
civilisation and Christianity.
In order to remedy the state of lawlessness which
arose from the disuse of the old customs throuo-h
the influence of the missionaries, and from the fact
that the meanest European felt himself entitled to
look down upon and domineer over the natives, the
enthusiastic energy of Dr. Rink has succeeded in
introducing the so-caUed local councils (forstan-
derskaber), which consist partly of native members,
chosen by the different villages or small districts.
The intention was that in these councils all the
internal affairs of the community should be regulated,
the poor-rate should be determined, and, in general,
law and order should be maintained. As the Green
landers, however, did not themselves understand
these matters, the pastor in every district was to act
as chairman of the council, and the other European
residents were to be members of it, and to advise
and guide the native councillors. It now appears
that the Europeans have gradually got into their
hands the whole real authority, and that the others
simply obey their wishes. It was a fine idea, and

322 ESKIMO LIFE
worthy of all recognition, that the natives should
acquire the habit of seU-government, and Dr. Rink's
innovation marks a turning-point for the better in
the history of the Greenlander. It suffers, however,
from the disadvantage inseparable from all measures
which the Europeans can devise for the benefit of
the natives — to wit, that it has not arisen from
among the people themselves who are to profit by
it. The introduction of new social customs is no
where to be effected in a moment ; changes cannot
be brought about by a single act of will, but must
be the result of a long process of development in
the people themselves. An institution imposed from
without by foreigners must at least need a very long
time to take root in the national life. Many Green
landers now regard it as a distinction to serve as a
councillor ; but I have also known others, and these
the most capable among them, who do not appre
ciate the honour, holding it of more importance to
look to their hunting and to the support of their
families than to travel long distances in order to
attend meetings where, after all, with their exagge
rated deference towards the Europeans, they can do
nothing but follow their lead and agree to what
measures they propose.
From what I have just said, and from many other
passages in this book, the reader may perhaps be

EUROPEANS AND NATIVES 323
inclined to conclude that the Greenlanders are a
people of no natural independence, and born for
subjection. This, however, is quite a mistake. On
the contrary, the Greenlander's love of freedom and in
dependence has always been very marked. When the
Europeans first came to the country, the natives held
themselves at least their equals, and the idea of
standing in a menial or subordinate position to
another man, as they saw the Europeans do among
themselves, seemed to them strange and degrading.
It is true that the father of a family exercises a cer
tain authority in his own household, and perhaps
over aU the famUies who live in the same house ; but
this authority is so mild and unobtrusive that it is
scarcely felt. They have servants, too, in so far that
women who have no parents or other relatives to pro
vide for them are often received into the house of a
hunter, to assist the mother, daughters, and daughters-
in-law in the household work ; but they stand on a
footing of equality with them, and are thus servants
in name rather than in reality. Male servants are
entirely unknown. Consequently they could with
difficulty reconcile themselves to the idea of going
into service ; and they still dislike above everything
to be ordered about in a domineering fashion, even
if their extreme peaceableness of disposition prevents
them from protesting openly.
y2

324 ESKIMO LIFE
This love of freedom rendered it difficult at first
for the Europeans to procure native servants. Gra
dually, however, European influence has demoralised
the natives in this respect as well, so that even
hunters now enter the service of the Company and
sometimes feel a certain pride in so doing ; for,
among other things, they thus, as Danish ' officials,'
are entitled to their snapsemik (dram) every morning.
Danish ladies can still bear witness to the fact
that it is not so easy to avoid giving offence to the
pride of their Greenland maid-servants. They are
active and agreeable so long as they are well treated ;
but if a hard word is addressed to them, they will
often disappear without ceremony and not come
back again. If then the mistress is not prepared to
eat the leek and beg pardon, she must look out for
another handmaiden.
If the Greenlander sometimes impresses one as
being of a servile disposition, I think the effect is
due to his astounding patience and power of taking
everything, even to the most open injustice, with
imperturbable calmness. It must be this patience
which Egede describes as ' the Greenlanders' inborn
stupidity and cold-bloodedness, their lazy and brutish
upbringing,' and so forth. I believe it is the hard
ship of their life that has taught them this apparently
phlegmatic calmness. The very uncertainty of their

EUROPEANS AND NATIVES 325
hunting, for instance, often puts their patience to
the severest tests ; as, for example, when they strike
a run of ill luck, and come home day after day with
no booty to their hungry families. Egede least of
ah had any right to complain of this characteristic ;
since but for it, and their extreme peaceableness of
disposition, they would certainly not have put up so \
amiably with the often violent proceedings of the '
first Europeans. I had many an opportunity of
admiring their stoical patience — when, for example,
I would see them in the morning -standing by the
hour in the passage of the Colonial Manager's house,
or waiting in the snow outside his door, to speak to
him or his assistant, who happened to be otherwise
engaged. They had probably some little business to
transact with them before starting for their homes,
often many miles from the colony, and it might be of
the greatest importance to them to get away as soon
as possible in order to reach their destination be
times. If the weather happened to look threatening,
every minute would be more than precious ; but
there they would stand waiting, as immovable as
ever, and to aU appearance as indifferent. If I asked
them if they were going to make a start, they only
answered , ' I don't know,' ' Perhaps, if the weather
doesn't get worse,' or something to that effect ; but I
never once heard the smallest murmur of impatience.

326 ESKIMO LIFE
The following occurrence, for which my infor
mant vouches, affords an excellent iUustration of
this side of their character. An inspector at Godt
haab once sent a woman-boat with its crew into the
Ameralik fiord to mow grass for his goats. They
remained a long time away, and no one could under
stand what had become of them. At last they
returned ; and when the inspector asked why they
had been so long, they answered that when they got
to the place the grass was too short, so that they
had to settle down and wait until it grew.
With just the same patience do the Greenlanders
await the ripening of their own ruin. They are a
patient people.

CHAPTER XVI
WHAT HAVE WE ACHIEVED?
The purpose of our mission and of our work of
civilisation in Greenland was, in the first place, to
win honour for ourselves before God and man, and
secure our own salvation in the other world ; and, in
the second place, to benefit the natives. But what
have we done ?
Let us first look at the purely material side. It
might seem at first sight as if we ought to have been
able to bring to a people like this, living practically
in the Stone Age, many things that would aid them
in their hard fight for existence. As a matter of
fact, this has been by no means the case. The
things that were of most importance for them, their
weapons and their hunting implements, were in no
way susceptible of improvement at our hands. It is
true that we brought them iron, which is useful for
harpoon-points and knives ; but the Greenlanders
were not entirely ignorant of it before, and, can,
besides, get on quite weU without it. They fitted

328 ESKIMO LIFE
their harpoons with points of hard ivory or stone,
they made their knives of the same material, and
caught, in those days, a great many more seals than
they do now.
But have not our firearms been of great advan
tage to them? Quite the reverse. The rifle, for
example, has enabled them to perpetrate terrible
slaughter among the reindeer, merely for the sake of
a small and momentary gain. This went so far, that
on the narrow strip of naked, broken country which
stretches along the west coast, no fewer than 16,000
reindeer were killed every year, only the skin, as a
rule, being taken and sold to the Europeans, while
the flesh was left behind to rot. Of course, this pre
sently led to the almost total extermination of the
animals, and hunting almost entirely ceased because,
as it was explained, ' the reindeer had left the coast.'
In former days, when they hunted with bow and
arrow, they could kill all that they required, but the
slaughter was never so great as seriously to diminish
the numbers of the reindeer.
For marine hunting, too, the rifle has been the
reverse of an advantage. When there are many
seals in the fiord, they are frightened by the shots
and set off to sea, whereas harpoon-hunting is carried
on in silence. Moreover, it is, of course, easier to
kill seals with the rifle than to harpoon them, and

WHAT HAVE WE ACHIEVED r- 329
therefore the rifle has led to a decline in skill with
the harpoon. And yet the harpoon remains of
supreme importance ; for while the rifle hunter
must stop at home in rough weather, the harpoon
hunter can go out in aU weathers and support his
family. Harpoon hunting, too, is the more rational
method, the wounded animal being almost always
secured ; whereas of seals wounded by the rifle, at
least as many escape and die to no purpose as are
secured and brought home.
Nor has the shot-gun been of real service. In
many districts it has tempted the inhabitants to
devote themselves more to the easier bird-shooting
than to seal-hunting, which is and must be the pur
suit upon which depends the very existence of the
Eskimo community ; for the seal provides flesh,
blubber, both for food and fuel, and skins for kaiaks,
boats, tents, houses, clothes, boots, and so forth —
nothing can replace it. Another evil is that, by help
of the shot-gun, the Greenlanders are enabled to kill
so many birds of certain species (for example, eider-
ducks) that their numbers are yearly decreasing ;
and this will soon lead to great misery, for bird-
hunting has now become the chief means of support
of many families. At Godthaab, for example, the
inhabitants live upon it during the greater part of
the winter, there being few capable seal-hunters. In

330 ESKIMO LIFE
earlier times, the Eskimo killed birds with his
throwing-dart. It, too, was an effective weapon,
and the birds he wounded he secured ; when he now
sends his smaU shot scattering in among a flock of
eider-duck, who can reckon how many are destroyed
without doing any good to anyone ?
No, we certainly cannot flatter ourselves that we
have perfected his methods of hunting ; we have
only introduced disturbance into them, the fuU ex
tent of whose ruinous results we cannot even yet
foresee.y But worst of all is the irreparable injury which
all our European commodities have done to him. We
have, as I have shown, been so immoral as to let him
acquire a taste for coffee, tobacco, bread, European
stuffs and finery ; and he has bartered away to us his
indispensable sealskins and blubber, to procure all
these things which give him only a moment's doubtful
enjoyment./ In the meantime his woman-boat has
gone to ruin for want of skins, his tent hkewise, and
even his kaiak, the essential condition of his existence,
will often lie Uncovered on the beach. The lamps in
his house have often to be extinguished in the winter,
because the autumn store of blubber has been sold to
the Company. He himself must go on winter days
clad in European rags instead of in the warm fur
garments he used to have. He has grown poorer

WHAT HAVE WrE ACHIEVED? 331
and poorer, the delightful summer journeys have for
the most part had to be abandoned for want of
woman-boats and tents, and all the year round he has
now to live in confined houses where contagious
diseases thrive and play worse havoc among the
population than they ever did before. To show how
great the decadence has been in certain districts, I
may mention that at a place near Godthaab where a
few years ago there were eleven woman-boats,1 there
was now only one, and that one belonged to the
missionary.2 The statistics of population in Greenland during
recent years may at first sight seem encouraging.
For example, the number of natives on the west coast
was, in 1855, 9,644, while in 1889 it was 10,177.
But we must not lull our conscience to sleep with
these figures ; they are unfortunately deceptive, and
the figures of the intervening years will show that
the population fluctuates very greatly. In 1881 it
was no more than 9,701, and in 1883 only 9,744
(thus showing an increase of only 100 since 1855).
In 1885 it had risen to 9,914, and in 1888 to 10,221 ;
1 That a man should have a woman-boat, which was formerly the
general rule, is now regarded as a conclusive proof of exceptional
wealth and capability ; for he must of course catch many seals in order
to have enough skins for it. Compare ante p. 85.
2 It must be mentioned, however, that accidental circumstances,
such as the removal of some good hunters to other places, had con
tributed in some measure to this great falling off.

332 ESKIMO LIFE
but then it fell again in 1889 to 10,177. I have no
later statistics. These figures, in which increase and
decrease alternate, show that the state of things can
not be healthy. It ought not to be forgotten, too,
that Hans Egede, a century and a half ago, estimated
the population of the west coast at 30,000. This is
probably a large over-estimate, but there is an
enormous margin between 30,000 and 10,177.
Assuredly this people is sailing with ' a corpse in the
cargo.' 1
Disease has of late years increased alarmingly.
It is especially the Greenlanders' scourge, consump
tion, or more properly tuberculosis, which makes ever
wider ravages. There can be few places in the world
where so large a proportion of the population is
attacked by it. It is not quite clear whether we im
ported this disease into Greenland, but most probably
we did ; and at any rate, as I have several times
pointed out, our influence has in more ways than one
tended strongly to promote the spread of this and
other contagious diseases.2 Tuberculosis is now so
common that it is almost easier to number those who
are not attacked by it than those who are. It is re-
1 An allusion to the well-known nautical superstition. — Teans.
2 For instance, by causing the natives to wear worse clothes, and
to hve all the year round in their damp, insanitary houses, where the
germs of disease find the best possible soil to flourish in, by intro
ducing European articles of diet, and so forth.

WHAT HAVE WE ACHIEVED ¦

833

markable, however, what a power of resistance the
natives show to this disease. They are sometimes so
far gone in it while young as to spit blood copiously,
and yet survive to a good age. I have even seen
excellent hunters who had consumption, and who
would one day lie abed spitting blood, and a few days
later would be out at sea again. This power of
resistance is probably due in part to the amount of
fat they consume, and especially to the blubber which
is admirably adapted to fortify them against the
disease. It is proved, too, that people at the Colonies,
who consequently live largely upon European fare,
are most apt to succumb to it. As a rule, however,
it reduces their strength aU round, so that those
attacked by it can do little for themselves ; and it is
clear that this must hamper the activities of so small
a community. An epidemic disease such as small
pox, which we have of course also imported and
thereby greatly thinned the population, is much to
be preferred ; for it kills its victims at once, and does
not keep them lingering like this slow, sneaking
poison.1
1 It is strange that the Greenlanders have in great measure escaped
syphilis, which is usuaUy one of the first gifts we confer upon those
primitive people whom we select as subjects for our experiments in
civiUsation. It is found only in one place, Arsuk in South Greenland,
where they try to isolate it. It is only of recent years that it has been
introduced, but from what I hear it appears to have spread, and it seems
probable that it will continue to do so, and in course of time affect the
whole population.

334 ESKIMO LIFE
We see, then, that the result of our influence upon
the Greenlanders' material circumstances has been
a continuous decline from their former weU-being
and prosperity towards an almost hopeless poverty
and weakness.
Many will admit this, but object that it was reaUy
to raise the level of their spiritual life and culture
that we went to Greenland, and that this cannot be
done save at the expense of their temporal welfare.
Let us, then, look a little at this side of our activity.
Many people think that a highly developed and
civilised community can be fashioned at one stroke
out of so unpromising material as a primitive race.
This is a great mistake ; human nature is not to be
transformed at the good pleasure of individuals.
It is, indeed, capable of modification ; but the de
velopment always occurs slowly, like development
in nature as a whole. We must not imagine,
therefore, that we have the right, as we have done
in Greenland and in other places, to swoop down
upon a primitive race with our civilisation and im
pose it upon them. 'Try to fit a hand with five
fingers into a glove with four,' says Spencer, ' and the
difficulty is strikingly like the difficulty of implanting
a complex or composite idea in a mind which has not
a correspondingly composite faculty.'
The only change which can be brought about

WHAT HAVE WE ACHIEVED? 335
with any sort of rapidity among a primitive race is
the change towards degeneration and ruin. Such a
change, in the spiritual sphere, sets in as soon as we
attempt to impose ethical conceptions upon a people
at a stage of cultivation different from our own.
This is precisely what we have achieved among the
Eskimos. When, for example, in contempt of their
own laws and ordinances, we have sought to impose
upon them our conceptions of property, which are
undeniably fitted for a more developed but less
neighbour-loving community than that of Greenland,
how can we expect to bring about anything but
confusion and ruin ? Their whole social scheme was
arranged to fit their primitive socialistic conceptions
of property, and as their habits of life are irrecon
cilable with the new and foreign conception, de
generation is inevitable. And as with the idea of
property, so is it with all the other ideas which we
have sought to implant in them.
To take one more example : How baneful to them
has been the introduction of money ! Formerly they
had no means of saving up work or accumulating
riches ; for the products of their labour did not last
indefinitely, and therefore they gave away their
superfluity. But then they learned the use of
money; so that now, when they have more than
they need for the moment, the temptation to sell the

336 ESKIMO LIFE
overplus to the Europeans, instead of giving it to
their needy neighbours, is often too great for them ;
for with the money they thus acquire they can
supply themselves with the much-coveted European
commodities. Thus we Christians help more and
more to destroy instead of to develop their old self-
sacrificing love of their neighbours. And monejr
does still more to undermine the Greenland com
munity. Their ideas of inheritance were formerly
very vague, for, as before mentioned, the clothes and
weapons of a dead man were consigned with him to
the grave. Now, on the other hand, the introduction
of money has enabled the survivors to sell the effects
of the deceased, and they are no longer ashamed to
accept as an inheritance what they can obtain in this
way. This may seem an advantage ; but, here, too,
their old habit of mind is upset. Greed and covet
ousness — vices which they formerly abhorred above
everything — have taken possession of them. Their
minds are warped and enthralled by money.
Let us, however, look at another aspect of the
case. Our true aim, I suppose, was, after all, to
make them a cultivated people, and open up to them
a wider range of spiritual interests. But even if we
could actually attain this end, must it not neces
sarily be perilous in the highest degree to give a
people like the Eskimos new interests which may

WHAT HAVE WE ACHIEVED? 337
divert them from the one thing needful — the duty of
providing for themselves and their families. It is
vaunted as a brilliant achievement that the majority
of the natives of the west coast can now both read
and write. Unfortunately for them, they can ; for
these arts are not to be learned for nothing, and they
have indeed to pay dear for their acquirements. It
is seh-evident that an Eskimo cannot possibly devote
his time to these branches of knowledge and never
theless be as good a hunter as when he had only one
interest in life, and learned nothing except hunting
and the management of the kaiak.1 We have direct
evidence of the fact that skiU with the kaiak has
declined, in the many accidents which have happened
of late years. Formerly, according to Rink, no
more than fifteen or twenty deaths in kaiak-hunting
occurred during the year; but in 1888 and 1889
there have been thirty-one fatal kaiak accidents each
year. The chief aim of aU education must surely be to
make the rising generation good and capable citizens
of the community in which their lot is cast. But in
what way does an Eskimo become a capable citizen
of his little community ? Since hunting and fishing
1 Just as I am sending this to press there appears Gejerstam's
Kulturkampen i Herjedalen, in which the author argues, as I do, that
our school teaching has been the ruin of the Lapps, by weakening
their interest in the business of their lives.

338 ESKIMO LIFE
are the sole means of supporting existence assigned
by Nature to this community, it follows that he can
become a capable citizen only by acquiring the
greatest possible skill in these pursuits. Of what
profit, then, to the Eskimo, is his ability to read and
write ? He assuredly does not learn hunting by help
of these arts. It is true that by means of the few
books he possesses he may gain information as to
other and better countries, unattainable conditions
and alleviations, of which he before knew nothing ;
and thus he becomes discontented with his own lot,
which was formerly the happiest he could conceive.
And then, too, he can read the Bible — but does he
understand very much of it ? And would it not do
him just as much good if the matter of it were related
to him, as his old legends used to be ? There can be
no doubt that the advantage is dearly bought. We
must bear well in mind that the Eskimo community
lives upon the very verge of possible human existence,
and that a concentrated exertion of aU its energies is
necessary to enable it to carry on the fight with in
hospitable nature. A little more baUast and it must
sink. This is what is already happening, and all the
wisdom in the world is of no avail.
The upshot, then, of European activity in Green
land has been degeneration and decadence in every
respect. And the only compensation we have made

WHAT HAVE WE ACHIEVED?

339

to the natives is the introduction of Christianity. In
so far we have achieved a happy consummation, for,
in name at least, all the Greenlanders of the west
coast are now Christians. But the question seems to
me to be forced upon us whether this Christianity,
too, is not exceedingly dearly bought, and whether
the most ardent believer ought not to have some
doubts as to the blessings it has conferred upon this
people, when he sees how it has cost them their whole
worldly welfare ?
What part of Christianity is most to be valued,
its dogmas or its moral teaching ? It seems to me
that even the best Christian must admit that it is the
latter which is of enduring value ; for history can teach
him how variable and uncertain the interpretation
of the dogmas has always been. Of what value, then,
have these dogmas, which he understands so im
perfectly, been to the Eskimo ? Can anyone seriously
maintain that it is a matter of essential moment to a
people what dogmas it professes to believe in ?
Must not the moral laws which it obeys always be
the matter of primary concern ? And the Eskimo
morahty was, as we have seen, in many respects
at least as good as that of the Christian communities.
So that the result of aU our teaching has been that,
in this respect too, the race has degenerated.
And lastly comes this question : Can an Eskimo

340 ESKIMO LIFE
who is nominally a Christian, but who cannot support
his family, is in ill-health and is sinking into deeper
and deeper misery, be held much more enviable than
a heathen who lives in ' spiritual darkness,' but can
support his family, is robust in body, and thoroughly
contented with life ? From the Eskimo standpoint
at any rate, the answer cannot be doubtful. If he
could see his true interest, the Eskimo would assuredly
put up this fervent petition : God save me from my
friends, my enemies I can deal with myself.

341

CHAPTER XVII
CONCLUSION"
Let us cast a backward glance over the foregoing
chapters, and mark what lesson they teach us.
They show us a people, highly gifted by nature,
which used to live happily, and, in spite of its
faults, stood at a high moral standpoint. But our
civilisation, our missions, and our commercial pro
ducts have reduced its material conditions, its
morality, and its social order to a state of such melan
choly decline that the whole race seems doomed to
destruction. And yet, as we have seen, it has been more
kindly and considerately dealt with than any other
people under similar conditions. Is not this a serious
warning for us? And if we look around among
other primitive peoples, do we not find that the result
of their contact with European civilisation and Chris
tianity has everywhere been the same ?
What has become of the Indians ? What of the

342 ESKIMO" LII E
once so haughty Mexicans, or the highly gifted
Incas of Peru? Where are the aborigines of
Tasmania and the native races of Australia ? Soon
there will not be a single one of them left to raise an
accusing voice against the race which has brought
them to destruction. And Africa ? Yes, it, too, is
to be Christianised; we have already begun to
plunder it, and if the negroes are not more tenacious
of life than the other races, they will doubtless go
the same way when once Christianity comes upon
them with all its colours flying. Yet we are in no
way deterred, and are ever ready with high-sounding
phrases about bringing to the poor savages the
blessings of Christianity and civilisation.
If we look at the missions of to-day, do we not
almost everywhere learn the same lesson ? Take for
instance a people like the Chinese, standing on a
high level of civilisation, and therefore, one would sup
pose, all the better fitted to receive the new doctrine.
One of ' the most enlightened mandarins in China,
himself a Christian, and educated at European uni
versities,' writes in the North China Daily News an
article about the missionaries and their influence, in
which, among other things, he says : ' Is it not an
open secret that it is only the meanest, most helpless,
most ignorant, necessitous, and disreputable among
the Chinese who have been and are what the mis-

CONCLUSION 343
sionaries call " converted " ? . . . I ask whether it
cannot be proved that these converts — men who have
thrown away the faith of their childhood, men who
are forbidden by their teachers to show any sym
pathy, or indeed anything but contempt, for the
memories and traditions of our ancient history —
whether it cannot be proved that these men, as soon
as they have had to relinquish the hope of worldly
gain, have shown themselves to be worse than the
worst of the common Chinese rabble ? The mis
sionaries are ready enough to tell their hearers that
the mandarins are a parcel of idiots who believe in
heavenly portents and all such nonsense, while the
very next day they wUl probably be telling the same
listeners that the sun and moon reaUy stood still at
the command of the Hebrew general, Joshua.' As
to the aUeged beneficence of the mission towards the
natives in the way of relieving poverty and misery,
the writer asks : ' Can it be shown that this assis
tance affords even the barest equivalent for the
money which the Chinese Government has to pay for
the protection of the missionaries ?, I believe that
the interest alone of these immense sums would be
sufficient to support a much larger staff of skilful
European doctors and nurses. . . . Let it be shown
what proportion of the millions which compassionate
people in Europe and America subscribe for the

344 ESKIMO LIFE
China missions reaUy goes to the relief of misery.
Let it be shown how much goes to the support of the
missionaries and their wives and children, to the
building of their fine houses and sanatoriums, to
postage and paper for their voluminous rose-coloured
reports, to the expenses of their congresses, and
many other things. ... Is it not an open secret
that the whole mission is nothing but a charitable
foundation for the benefit of unemployed persons in
Europe and America ? ' He further asks whether it
is not notorious that the missionaries, ' with their
high opinion of their own infallibility, are often in
trusive and arrogant, and apt to mix themselves up,
with self-imposed authority, in matters that do not
concern them ? If anyone doubts that the mission
aries, taken as a whole, are inclined to these vices,
let him study and note the tone and spirit of their
own writings.'
This account of matters forcibly reminds us, in
many particulars, of what we have just seen in
Greenland. The main difference is that when the
Chinese offer resistance to the missionaries who have
come among them uninvited, they are not simply
cuffed and flogged. Recognising the evils that
threaten them, they ' beg the foreign powers, in the
interests of China as well as of America and Europe,
to recall the missionaries,' and having begged in vain,

CONCLUSION 345
they then try to expel them by force ; whereupon
these gentlemen, who have come to preach the
Gospel of Peace, call upon their Governments for
protection, and are supported by gunboats and troops
who direct a destructive fire of shells and grape-shot
upon the natives, and secure for the pious mis
sionaries a sanguinary compensation for the harm
done to their goods and gear, as though it had never
been written : ' Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor
brass in your purses ' (Matthew x. 9).
In aU this we recognise the race which, when
China sought to protect itself against the ruinous
opium-poison, forced it, by means of a bloody war,
to open its harbours to the noxious traffic, in order
that Europeans might grow rich while the Chinese
social fabric was being undermined — from first to
last a piece of such shameless scoundrelism that no
language has words adequate to describe it. The
Eskimos, unfortunately, do not seem to be so far
wrong in thinking the Europeans a corrupt, and dis
honourable race, which ought to come to Greenland
in order to learn morals.
But do not the missions elsewhere produce better
results ? Scarcely. Statistics have recently been pub-
fished as to crime in India, which cast grave doubts
upon the benefits resulting from missionary enterprise.
As to Africa I can find no statistics, but from all 1

346 ESKIMO LIFE
can learn it appears that there, too, the results of the
missions are nothing to boast of. African travellers
are, I believe, unanimous in declaring that the native
converts to Christianity are by no means those whom
they prefer to take into their service or to rely upon
in any way. And Norway, too, contributes its
hundreds of thousands1 yearly to the missions both
in Africa and India ! Have we so much superfluous
wealth that we cannot employ this money to better
advantage at home ? The desire to help these poor
savages whom we have never seen, and whose needs
we do not know, is no doubt a noble aspiration ; but
I wonder whether it would not be nobler still to
help the thousands of unfortunates whose necessities
we have daily before our eyes ? Since we are bent
on doing good works, why not begin with those
nearest to us ? Then, when all at home were beyond
the need of assistance, it would be time enough to
look abroad and inquire whether there are not else
where others who need our help. ' Charity begins
at home.' I am by no means arguing that aU missionary
enterprise must necessarily be hurtful ; but I am of
opinion that in order to be really beneficent it must
fulfil conditions which, in our time, are almost
beyond attainment. In the first place, it demands
1 Crowns, the krone being equal to Is. l^d.— Trams.

CONCLUSION 347
such a number of noble, self-sacrificing, and alto
gether remarkable men as we cannot hope to find all
at one time. One may come to the front, perhaps
two or three, but there can be no steady supply of
them. And then we must remember that so many
evil influences follow in the wake of a mission, that
the most ideal missionaries can neither hold them
aloof nor repair the damage they do to the natives.
So the result, is always the same in the end.
Are we never, then, to open our eyes to what we
are reaUy doing ? Ought not all true friends of
humanity, from pole to pole, to raise a unanimous
and crushing protest against all these abuses, against
this self-righteous and scandalous treatment of our
feUow-creatures of another faith and at another stage
of civilisation ?
The time will come when posterity will sternly
condemn us, and these abuses, which we now hold
consistent with the fundamental principles of Chris
tianity, wiU be branded as profoundly immoral.
MoraUty will then have so far developed that men
wiU no longer consider themselves justified in swoop
ing down upon the first primitive people that comes
in their way, in order to satisfy their own religious
vanity and -to do ' good works ' which shall minister
to their self-complacency, but which may or may not
be beneficial to the race in question. Then only

348 ESKIMO LIFE
competent' and in every sense well-equipped people
will take upon themselves to study the life and
civilisation of another race in order to see whether
it needs our assistance, and if so, in what way it can
best be accorded ; and if the result of the inquiry is
to show that we can do them no good, they will be
left alone. But before that time comes, most of
such races, even of those which now survive, wiU
have been. swept away.
If we ask, in conclusion, whether there is no
hope of salvation for the Eskimo community, every
one who knows the circumstances will be forced to
admit that the only expedient would be for the
Europeans gradually to withdraw from the country.
Left to themselves, and freed from subversive foreign
influences, the Eskimos might possibly recover their
old habits of life, and the race might yet be saved.
But this possibility must doubtless be regarded as
merely Utopian, at any rate for many a long day to
come. In the first place, it would be a severe blow
to the vanity of a European state to have to give up
an experiment in civilisation which it has once
begun, and which it has recorded in large letters to
the credit side of its account in the other world ;
and in the second place it would be useless for the
Danish colonies to withdraw unless the ships of other

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NORTHEBN LIGHTS — 'THE DEAD AT PLAY'

CONCLUSION 349
nations could be restrained from trading with the
natives and importing European commodities, espe
cially brandy.
But apart from their intercourse with us, another
danger threatens the Eskimos : to wit, the alarming
decrease in the number of seals. This is not due to
their own fisheries, in which the ' take ' is infini
tesimal in comparison with the hundreds of thousands
of newly born seal-whelps which the European and
American sealers slaughter every year, especially
upon the drift-ice off Newfoundland. Here it is
again the white race which injures the Eskimo ; but
even if he knew of it, he would not have the power
to set any Umits to the abuse ; his voice cannot
make itself heard. Yet seal-hunting is an industry
with which our society could very well dispense,
whUe for the Eskimo the seal means life itself.
Thus we find this loveable people inevitably
destined either to pass utterly away or to decline
into the shadow of what it once was. But the
Greenlander bears up cheerfully, and is perhaps
happier than we are apt to be ; he does not realise
his own ruin, and does not hate us, but gives us a
friendly welcome when we come to him.
Greenland was once an exceUent source of revenue
to the Danish Government ; but that time is past.
Now the Royal Greenland Company and the mission

350 ESKIMO LIFE
cost large sums every year, and the sums will grow
ever larger. Is it to be expected that the Danish
Government will keep this going for ever ? Would
it not be better and wiser for us first to recall our out
posts, and then gradually to withdraw the colonies
and hand over the warehouses and buildings to the
natives ? In my own opinion, the very best thing
we could do in the end would be to pack up all the
stores, put them and the traders on board the Com
pany's nine ships, and set sail with the whole back
to Denmark. This will have to be done sooner or
later, but perhaps not until there are no natives left
behind to inhabit the land. The lifeless numbness
of the inland ice will extend to the margin of the
sea, where only the mournful wail of the seagulls
will be heard along the unpeopled shores. The sun
will rise and set and waste its glory over a deserted
land. Only once in a while will some storm-driven
ship skirt the desolate coasts. But in the long-
winter nights the dead will dance in shimmering
sheets of light over the eternal silence of the snow-
fields. THE END.

P1UNTED liY
SPOTTIS1VOODE ANT1 CO.. NEW-STREET Si)fAJtE
LONDON

¦ rn i— iimi m

YALE UNIVERSITY

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