A Description of Greenland

by Hans Egede

The natives watch them in this season to rob them of their eggs and their young ones. The fine down feathers, which is the best part of this bird, so much valued by others, the natives make nothing of, leaving them in the nests.

There are three sorts of ducks. The first have a broad bill, like our tame duck, with a fine speckled plumage. These build their nests upon the islands as the eider fowls do. The second sort is of a lesser size, their bills long and pointed; they keep most in the bays and in fresh waters, where they nest among the reeds. The third sort are called wood ducks, resembling very much those of the first sort, though somewhat larger in size; the breast is black, the rest of the body grey. These do not propagate in the common way of generation by coupling like other birds, but (which is very surprising) from a slimy matter in the sea, which adheres to old pieces of wood driving in the sea, of which first is generated a kind of muscles, and again in these is bred a little worm, which in length of time is formed into a bird, that comes out of the muscle shell, as other birds come out of egg shells[30]. Besides these there is another sea bird, which the Norway men call alkes, which in the winter season contribute much to the maintenance of the Greenlanders. Sometimes there are such numbers of them, that they drive them in large flocks to the shore, where they catch them with their hands. They are not so large as a duck, nor is their flesh so well tasted, being more trainy, or oily. The lesser sort of alkes, which also abound here, are more eatable than the large ones. Besides this vast number of sea fowls, there is yet one of a smaller size, by the natives called tungoviarseck, which, for the sake of its beautiful feathers, ought not to be forgot: it has the size and shape of a lark.

Wild geese or grey geese keep to the Northward of Greenland; they are of shape like other geese, somewhat smaller, with grey feathers. They take their flight from other Southern climates over to Greenland every spring, to breed their young ones; which, when grown and able to fly, they carry along with them and return to the more Southern and milder climates, where they pass the winter season.

In short, I have myself found in Greenland all the several sorts of sea fowls which we have in Norway; as all kinds of mews large and small, which build their nests in the clifts of the highest rocks, beyond the reach of any one; and some upon the little islands, as the bird called terne and the like; whose eggs they gather in great abundance among the stones: the lundes, or Greenland parrot, so called on account of its beautiful plumage and broad speckled bill: the lumbs, the sea-emms, a fowl of a large size, and very small wings, for which reason he cannot fly: besides snipes, and a great number of others; some too common to be enumerated and described here, and others, of which I know not the name.

CHAP. VII.

Treats of the ordinary Occupations, as Hunting and Fishing: of the Tools and Instruments necessary for these Employments: of the House Implements and Utensils, &c., of the Greenlanders.

AS every nation has its peculiar way of living and of getting their livelihood, suiting their genius and temper to the nature and produce of the country they inhabit; so the Greenlanders likewise have theirs, peculiar to themselves and their country. And though their way and customs may seem to others mean and silly, yet they are such as very well serve their turn, and which we can find no fault with. Their ordinary employments are fishing and hunting: on shore they hunt the rein deer, and at sea they pursue the whales, morses, seals, and other sea animals, as also sea fowls and fishes. The manner of hunting the rein deer has been treated of above in the fifth chapter; but there we took no notice of their bows and arrows, which they make use of in the killing those deer. Their bow is of an ordinary make, commonly made of fir tree, which in Norway is called tenal, and on the back strengthened with strings made of sinews of animals, twisted like thread: the bow string is made of a good strong strap of seal skin, or of several sinews twisted together; the bow is a good fathom long. The head of the arrow is armed with iron, or a sharp pointed bone, with one or more hooks, that it may keep hold, when shot into a deer’s body. The arrows they shoot birds with are at the head covered with one or more pieces of bone blunt at the end, that they may kill the fowl without tearing the flesh. The sea fowls are not shot with arrows, but with darts, headed with bones or iron, which they throw very dexterously, and with so steady a hand at a great distance, that nobody can hit surer with a gun. They are more frequently employed at sea than on shore; and I confess they surpass therein most other nations; for their way of taking whales, seals, and other sea animals is by far the most skilful and most easy and handy.

When they go whale catching, they put on their best gear or apparel, as if they were going to a wedding feast, fancying that if they did not come cleanly and neatly dressed, the whale, who cannot bear slovenly and dirty habits, would shun them and fly from them. This is the manner of their expedition: about fifty persons, men and women, set out together in one of the large boats, called kone boat; the women carry along with them their sewing tackles, consisting of needles and thread, to sew and mend their husbands’ spring coats, or jackets, if they should be torn or pierced through, as also to mend the boat, in case it should receive any damage; the men go in search of the whale, and when they have found him they strike him with their harpoons, to which are fastened lines or straps two or three fathoms long, made of seal skin, at the end of which they tie a bag of a whole seal skin, filled with air, like a bladder; to the end that the whale, when he finds himself wounded, and runs away with the harpoon, may the sooner be tired, the air bag hindering him from keeping long under water. When he grows tired and loses strength, they attack him again with their spears and lances, till he is killed, and then they put on their spring coats, made of dressed seal skin, all of one piece, with boots, gloves, and caps, sewed and laced so tight together that no water can penetrate them. In this garb they jump into the sea, and begin to slice the fat of him all round the body, even under the water; for in these coats they cannot sink, as they are always full of air; so that they can, like the seal, stand upright in the sea: nay they are sometimes so daring, that they will get upon the whale’s back while there is yet life in him, to make an end of him and cut away his fat.

They go much the same way to work in killing of seals, except that the harpoon is lesser, to which is fastened a line of seal skin six or seven fathoms long, at the end of which is a bladder or bag made of a small seal skin filled with air to keep the seal, when he is wounded, from diving under the water, and being lost again. In the Northern parts, where the sea is all frozen over in the winter, they use other means in catching of seals. They first look out for holes, which the seals themselves make with their claws, about the bigness of a halfpenny, that they may fetch their breath; after they have found any hole, they seat themselves near it upon a chair made for this purpose; and as soon as they perceive the seal come up to the hole and put his snout into it for some air, they immediately strike him with a small harpoon, which they have ready in their hand, to which harpoon is fastened a strap a fathom long, which they hold with the other hand. After he is struck, and cannot escape, they cut the hole so large, that they may get him up through it; and as soon as they have got his head above the ice, they can kill him with one blow of the fist.