Some of the southern parts of Greenland are fertile; but, in general, the soil resembles that of other mountainous countries; the hills being barren, and the valleys and low grounds being rich and fruitful. The principal quadrupeds of this country are rein-deer, dogs resembling wolves, Arctic foxes, and white or polar bears. The walrus and several kinds of seals frequent the shores. Eagles and other birds of prey are numerous. Whales and porpesses abound along the coasts; and the adjacent sea and bays yield an abundance of holibut, turbot, cod, haddocks, and other fish.
The inhabitants of Greenland are supposed to have had their origin from the Esquimaux of Labrador, for they nearly resemble that people. They are short, and somewhat corpulent; and have broad faces, flat noses, thick lips, black hair, and a yellowish tawny complexion. The keenness of the wind and the glare of the snow, render them subject to painful disorders in the eyes: they are also afflicted with many diseases, which tend to render them short lived. They are a quiet, orderly, and good-humoured people; but of a cold, phlegmatic, and indolent disposition. They never wash themselves with water, but lick their hands, and then rub their faces with them; in the same manner as a cat washes herself with her paws. In most of their habits they are extremely filthy.
When animal food can be procured, they prefer it to any other; but, in times of scarcity, they are sometimes compelled to subsist on sea-weeds, and on roots dressed in train-oil and fat. The intestines of animals, and offals of various kinds, are accounted by them as dainties.
Their clothes are chiefly made of the skins of rein-deer and seals. The men wear their hair short; and commonly hanging down from the crown of the head on every side. The women, on the contrary, seldom cut their hair.
The Greenlanders all speak the same language, though different dialects prevail in different parts of the country; and so numerous are the words of their language, that, like the Chinese, they are said to have a proper word for every object or art that requires distinction.
These people have no traditions respecting the memorable actions of their ancestors; further than that, many winters ago, some Norwegian settlers were slain by the population of the adjacent country, who unanimously rose in arms against them. Among other strange notions entertained by the Greenlanders, they imagine that rain is occasioned by the overflowing of reservoirs in the heavens; and they assert that, if the banks of these reservoirs should burst, the sky would fall down. The medical practice in this country is confined to a set of men who have the appellation of "Angekoks," or conjurers.
When a Greenlander is at the point of death, his friends and relatives array him in his best clothes and boots. They silently bewail him for an hour, after which they prepare for his interment. The body, having been sewed up in his best seal or deer-skin, is laid in the burying-place, covered with a skin, and with green sods; and, over these, with heaps of stones, to defend it from the attack of predaceous animals. Near the place of interment, the survivors deposit the weapons of the deceased, and the tools he daily used. With the women are deposited their knives and sewing implements. The intention in so doing is, that the person departed may not be without employment in the next world.
The Greenlanders are said to worship the sun, and to offer sacrifices to an imaginary evil spirit, that he may not prevent their success in hunting and fishing. They have a confused notion respecting the immortality of the soul, and the existence of a future state; and they believe that the spirits of deceased persons sometimes appear on the earth, and hold communication with the "Angekoks," or conjurers, to whom peculiar privileges and honours belong.
The traffic that is carried on among the Greenlanders is simple and concise, and is wholly conducted by exchange or barter. These people very rarely cheat or take undue advantage of one another; and it is considered infamous to be guilty of theft. But they are said to glory in over-reaching or robbing an European; as they consider this a proof of superior talent and ingenuity.
Wherever a great assembly or rendezvous of Greenlanders takes place, as at a dancing-match or any grand festival, there are always some persons who expose their wares to view, and who publicly announce what goods they want in exchange for them. The chief articles of traffic, with Europeans, are fox and seal-skins, whale and seal-oil, whalebone, and the horns of narwhals. For these, they receive, in exchange, iron points for their spears, knives, saws, gimlets, chisels, needles, chests, boxes, clothing, and utensils of various kinds.