Mr Barlow.—That you need not wonder at, when you consider that one country frequently produces what another does not; and therefore, by exchanging their different commodities, the people of both may live more conveniently than they did before.
Harry.—But does not almost every country produce all that is necessary to support the inhabitants of it? and therefore they might live, I should think, even though they received nothing from any other country.
Mr Barlow.—So might your father live, perhaps, upon the productions of his own farm, but he sometimes sells his cattle to purchase clothes; sometimes his corn to purchase cattle. Then he frequently exchanges with his neighbours one kind of grain for another, and thus their mutual conveniency is better promoted than if each were to confine himself to the produce of his own land. At the same time, it is true, that every country which is inhabited by men, contains within itself all that is necessary for their subsistence, and what they bring from other countries is frequently more hurtful than salutary to them.
Harry.—I have heard you say that even in Greenland, the coldest and most uncomfortable country in the world, the inhabitants procure themselves necessaries, and live contented.
Tommy.—What! is there a part of the world still colder than Lapland?
Mr Barlow.—Greenland is still farther north, and therefore colder and more barren. The ground is there covered with eternal snows, which never melt, even in the summer. There are scarcely any animals to be found, excepting bears, that live by preying upon fish. There are no trees growing upon any part of the country, so that the inhabitants have nothing to build their houses with, excepting the planks and trees which the sea washes away from other countries and leaves upon their coast. With these they erect large cabins, where several families live together. The sides of these huts are composed of earth and stones, and the top secured with turf; in a short time the whole is so cemented with frost, that it is impenetrable to the weather during the whole winter. Along the sides of the building are made several partitions, in each of which a Greenlander lives with his family. Each of these families have a small lamp continually burning before them, by means of which they cook their food, and light themselves, and, what is equally necessary in so cold a country, keep up agreeable warmth throughout their apartment. They have a few deer, which sometimes visit them in the summer, and which the Greenlanders kill whenever they can catch them; but they are almost entirely destitute of all the vegetables which serve as nourishment to man, so that they are obliged to be continually upon the sea, in order to catch fish for their maintenance.
Tommy.—What a dreadful life that must be in a country which is so cold!
Mr Barlow.—In consequence of that extreme cold, those northern seas are full of such immense quantities of ice, that they are sometimes almost covered with them. Huge pieces come floating down, which are not only as big as the largest houses, but even resemble small mountains. These are sometimes dashed against each other by the winds, with such immense force, that they would crush the strongest ship to pieces, and with a noise that exceeds the report of a cannon. Upon these pieces of ice are frequently seen white bears of an enormous size, which have either fallen asleep upon them, and so been carried away, or have straggled over those ice hills in search of fish.
Tommy.—And is it possible that the inhabitants of such a country can find enough in it for all their necessities?
Mr Barlow.—The necessities of life are very few, and are therefore to be found even in the most rugged climates, if men are not wanting to themselves, or deficient in industry. In plentiful countries like this, and in most of the more temperate climates, great numbers are maintained in idleness, and imagine that they were only born to live upon the labour of others; but, in such a country as Greenland is described to be, it requires continual exertion to procure the simplest support of human life; and therefore no one can live at all who will not employ himself in the same manner as his neighbours.