A Description of Greenland

by Hans Egede

Nises or porpoises, otherwise sea hogs, are also placed in the class of whales, though of a much smaller size, and are met with in all seas. His head resembles that of a butts-head-whale: his mouth is armed with sharp teeth: he has spouts or pipes like a whale. He has a fin upon the middle of his back, which towards the tail is bended like a half-moon. Under the belly there are two side fins, overgrown with flesh and covered with a black skin. His tail is broad like that of a whale. He has small round eyes; his skin is of a shining black, and the belly white. His length is five to eight feet, at most. His fat makes fine oil, and the flesh is by the Greenlander reckoned a great dainty.

Of other Sea Animals.

The sea horse or morse has the shape of a seal, though much larger and stronger. He has five claws on each of his feet, as the seal: his head rounder and larger. His skin is an inch thick, especially about the neck, very rough, rugged and wrinkled, covered with a short, brown, and sometimes reddish, or mouse-coloured hair. Out of his upper jaw there grow two large teeth or tusks, bended downwards over the under jaw, of the length of half a yard, and sometimes of a whole yard and more. These tusks are esteemed as much as elephants’ teeth; they are compact and solid, but hollow towards the root. His mouth is not unlike that of a bull, covered above and beneath with strong bristles as big as a straw: his nostrils are placed above his mouth, as those of the seal: his eyes are fiery red, which he can turn on all sides, not being able to turn his head, by reason of the shortness and thickness of his neck. The tail resembles a seal’s tail, being thick and short: his fat is like hog’s lard. He lies commonly upon the ice shoals, and can live a good while on shore, till hunger drives him back into the seas; his nourishment being both herbs and fishes: he snores very loud, when he sleeps; and when he is provoked to anger, he roars like a mad bull. It is a very bold and fierce creature, and they assist each other, when attacked, to the last. He is continually at war with the white bear, to whom he often proves too hard with his mighty tusks, and often kills him, or at least does not give over till they both expire.

The seals are of different sorts and sizes, though in their shape they all agree, excepting the clap-myss, so called from a sort of a cap he has on his head, with which he covers it when he fears a stroke. The paws of a seal have five claws, joined together with a thick skin, like that of a goose or a water fowl: his head resembles a dog’s with cropped ears, from whence he has got the name of sea dog: his snout is bearded like that of a cat: his eyes are large and clear with hair about them: the skin is covered with a short hair of divers colours, and spotted; some white and black, others yellowish, others again reddish, and some of a mouse colour: his teeth are very sharp and pointed. Although he seems lamish behind, yet he makes nothing of getting up upon the ice hills, where he loves to sleep and to bask himself in the sun. The largest seals are from five to eight feet in length; their fat yields better train-oil than that of any other fish. This is the most common of all the sea animals in Greenland; and contributes the most to the subsisting and maintaining of the inhabitants, who feed upon the flesh of it, and clothe themselves with the skin, which likewise serves them for the covering of their boats and tents: the fat is their fuel, which they burn in their lamps, and also boil their victuals with.

As for other sea monsters and wonderful animals, we find in Tormoder’s History of Greenland, mention made of three sorts of monsters, where he quotes a book, called “Speculum Regale Iclandicum;” or, the Royal Island Looking-Glass, from whence he borrows what he relates[29]. But none of them have been seen by us, or any of our time, that ever I could hear, save that most dreadful monster, that showed itself upon the surface of the water in the year 1734, off our new colony in 64°. This monster was of so huge a size, that coming out of the water, its head reached as high as the mast-head; its body was as bulky as the ship, and three or four times as long. It had a long pointed snout, and spouted like a whale fish; great broad paws, and the body seemed covered with shell work, its skin very rugged and uneven. The under part of its body was shaped like an enormous huge serpent, and when it dived again under water, it plunged backwards into the sea, and so raised its tail aloft, which seemed a whole ship’s length distant from the bulkiest part of the body.

Of other Fishes.

Of fishes properly so called, the Greenland sea has abundance and of great diversity, of which the largest is called Hay, whose flesh is much like that of the halibut, and is cured in the same manner; being cut into long slices, and hung up to be dried in the sun and in the air, as they cure them in the Northern parts of Norway; but the Greenlanders do not much care for it; its flesh being of a much coarser grain than that of the halibut. This fish has two fins on the back, and six under the belly; the two foremost are the longest, and have the shape of a tongue: the other two middlemost are somewhat broader than the rest, and the hindermost couple near the tail are alike broad before and behind, but shorter than the middlemost: his tail resembles that of the sword fish. There are no bones in him, but gristles only. He has a long snout, under which the mouth is placed like that of the sword fish: he has three rows of sharp pointed teeth; his skin is hard and prickly, of a greyish hue; his length is two or three fathom; he has a great liver, of which they make train oil, the biggest of which makes two or three lasts. It is a fish of prey, bites large pieces out of the whale’s body, and is very greedy after man’s flesh: he cannot be caught with lines made of hemp, for with his sharp teeth he snaps it off; but with iron chains. And the larger sort are taken with harpoons, as we do the whales. The rest of fishes that haunt the Greenland seas are the halibut, torbut, codfish, haddock, scate, small salmon, or sea-trout of different kinds and sizes (the large salmon not being so frequent in Greenland); and these are very fat and good; they are found in all inlets, and mouths of rivers. Cat-fish is the most common food of Greenlanders, insomuch, that when all other things fail, the cat-fish must hold out, of which there are abundance, both winter and summer. In the spring, towards the month of April, they catch a sort of fish called rogncals, or stone biter; and in May another fish, called lyds or stints: both sorts are very savoury; they frequent the bays and inlets in great shoals. There are also whitings in abundance; but herrings are not to be seen. Moreover there is a kind of fish, which neither myself nor any of my company had ever seen before: this fish is not unlike a bream, only it is prickly with sharp points all over, with a small tail. There are different sizes: the Greenlanders say they are well tasted.

Among the testaceous animals in Greenland the chief are the muscles, of which there are great quantities; they are large and delicate. In some waters I have found of those larger sorts, in which the Norwegians find pearls. These have also pearls, but very small ones, not bigger than the head of a pin. I shall say nothing of the other sea insects, as crabs, shrimps, &c. though they be not rare here; yet lobsters, crawfish, and oysters, I never met with. According to information had of Greenlanders, on the Southern coasts they sometimes catch tortoises in their nets; for they tell you, that they are covered with a thick shell, have claws and a short tail; and moreover that they find eggs in them, like birds’ eggs.

Of Greenland Sea Birds.

Amongst the sea fowls the principal are those they call eider-fowl, and ducks; of which there are such numbers, that sometimes sailing along, you find the whole sea covered with them; and when they take their flight, you would think there was no end of them, especially in winter time, when in large flocks, to the number of many thousands, they hover about our colony, morning and evening; in the evening standing in for the bay, and in the morning turning out to sea again. They fly so near the shore, that you may from thence shoot them at pleasure. In the spring they retire towards the sea; for upon the island that lies adjacent to the coast they lay their eggs, and hatch their young ones, which arrive in June and July.