 Section 79 of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Greenland and the search for the Poles. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Avae in August 2019. The world's story, Volume 8. Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Greenland and the search for the Poles. Edited by Eva March Tappen. Section 79. Waiting for the Great Giza to Spout. 1874. By Bayard Taylor. The presence of so many celebrities was due to the fact that the author's visit was made at the time of the great celebration of Iceland's millennium, the editor. I slept soundly the night after our arrival at the Gizas, but some members of our party were excited and restless. Toward morning there were several mysterious underground thumps which sent them posting to the Great Giza's brim but only denser steam and a heavier overflow of water followed. The scene in the morning was curious. We took our toilet articles and went, half-dressed, to the hollow between the Giza and the spring where the surplus overthrow is shallow and lukewarm. It was already occupied. A royal jambalane was scooping up water in his hands. An admiral was dipping his toothbrush into the stream. A Copenhagen professor was laboriously shaving himself by the aid of a looking glass stuck in a crack of the crater and the king, neat and fresh as if at home, stood on the bank and amused himself with the sight. The quality of the water is exquisite. It is like down and velvet to the skin. Soap becomes a finer substance in it and the refreshment given to the hands and face seems to permeate the whole body. If one could only have a complete bath. A day's labor would make a pool sufficient, therefore, yet the idea has never occurred to a single soul, native or foreign. I did not dare to venture a quarter of a mile away from the Giza during the whole day. We all fell into a condition of nervous expectancy which could not be escaped, comical as were some of its features. There was a pile of turf, perhaps a cartload, beside the Stroker, which lay just below our tent, and we were told that the caldron would be compelled to spout for the king as soon as he had finished his breakfast. So we sat down contented to the second plover stew which Mr Gladstone and Dr Hayes had provided for us. The farmer from whom we had procured fuel sent us several bottles of delicious cream and a large salmon for dinner. The Stroker is a pit about five feet in diameter and eight feet deep to the ordinary level of the water, which is always in a furious boiling state. Professor Stainstrup assured me that it is not connected with the Great Giza as the analysis of the water shows a difference, but the people are equally convinced that it is and that to provoke its activity diminishes the chances of the former spouting. However this may be, the royal command was given. The pile of turf was pitched into the hole and all gathered around at a safe distance, waiting to see what would follow. For ten minutes we noticed nothing except a diminution of steam. Then the water gushed up to the level of the soil in a state of violent agitation. Subsided, rose again, spouted the full breadth of the hole to a height of 15 or 20 feet, sank back and finally after another moment of quiet shot a hundred feet into the air. The boiled turf, reduced to the consistency of gravel, filled the jet and darkened its central shaft, but I did not find that it diminished the beauty of the phenomenon. Jet after jet followed, sending long plume-like tufts from the summit and sides of the main column, around which the snowy drifts of steam whirled and eddied with a grace so swift that the eye could scarcely seize it. At such moments the base was hidden and the form of the fountain was like a bunch of the Pampers grass in Blossom, a cluster of feathery panicles of spray. The performance lasted nearly ten minutes and was resumed again two or three times after it seemed to have seized. Two or three of the last spoutings were the highest and some estimated them at fully 120 feet. Finally the indignant caldron threw out the last of its unclean emetic and sank to its normal level. The king, who had turned aside to salute our company, was in the act of expressing to me his admiration of the scene when the little geezer gave sudden signs of action. There was a rush of the whole party, his majesty turned and ran like a boy, jumping over the gullies and stones with an agility which must have bewildered the heavy officials, who were compelled to follow as they best could. It was a false alarm. The little geezer let off a few sharp discharges of steam as if merely to test the pressure and then, as if satisfied, resumed its indolent, smoky habit. The cone of the great geezer is not more than 20 feet high and appears to have been gradually formed by the deposit of the salacious particles which the water holds in solution. The top is like a shallow wash bowl 30 feet in diameter, full to the brim and slowly overflowing on the eastern side. In the center of this bowl there is a well, indicated by the intense blue-green of the water and apparently 8 or 10 feet in diameter. It has been sounded and bottom, or at least a change of direction, reached at the depth of 85 feet. At the edge, where the water is shallow, one can dip his fingers in quickly without being scalded. Small particles placed in the overflow are completely encrusted with transparent selects in a day or two. Professor Steinsthrupp informed me that the water has important healing properties. The steam has an odor of sulphurated hydrogen, but the taste thereof is so soon lost that where the stream becomes cold, we used it for drinking and making coffee. I shall never forget that calm, sublime day at the geezers. After reading many descriptions, I was never less prepared for the reality of the scene. Instead of a dreary, narrow volcanic valley, here was a landscape bounded on the west by mountains, but to the north, east and south only to be spanned by a radius of 50 miles. Near us, a quiet, grass-roofed farmstead, toward the sea, meadows and gleams of rivers. In front, the broad green plain, its enclosing hills and heck-la rising lonely above them. Northward, a church and neighbouring buyers, a smooth grassy ridge beyond, the snow-streaked pyramid of the Blafjall, blue mountain, and far in the distance the luminous icy peaks of the Arna-jökull. From our tent the noise of the boiling waters could not be heard. The steam ascended quickly, soon dissipated in the light wind, and the expression of the scene before me, as I watched it for hours, lying on the soft turf of the hillside, was one of perfect peace and repose. At half past one o'clock there came a dull thud, felt rather than heard, then another and another, and we all rushed towards the great geezer. Before anyone reached it, however, the noises seized. The water rose afoot or so, giving out dens volumes of steam, but in five minutes it became quiet as before. The king and his attendant officials strayed up the hill, and there the former devoted some time to carving the subjoint rune upon one of the rocks. C. 9. 1874 There were various small parties of the native population at the geezers during the day, but fewer than might have been expected, even taking into account the sparse settlement in this part of Iceland. There were coarse, solidly built figures, the bodies much larger than the legs, the hair thick and blonde, and the faces broad, whether beaten and apparently expressionless. I saw half a dozen, four men and two women, stand vacantly grinning at the king as he passed them, and even when he politely saluted them, the men hesitated in awkward shyness before they even touched their hats. Another, to whom he was speaking in a kindly manner with his hand upon the man's shoulder, suddenly remembered that some mark of respect was necessary and snatched off his hat with as much haste as if there had been a hornet inside of it. Among the people were several sick persons who had made long journeys in the hope of finding a physician in the king's suite. Disappointed in this, they turned to Dr. Hayes and to our jovial Reykjavík friend, Dr. Hjaltalin. The first case was a man suffering from Breit's disease, for which, unfortunately, we had no medicines. But the medicine chest, when it was opened, attracted our visitors with a singular power. Men and women crowded around, gazing with eager interest, and, as it seemed to me, longing upon the bottles of pills and potions. I offered a quinine pill to a woman, and she instantly took and chewed it, without ever asking a question. To confirm a faith so profound, I felt obliged to take two of the pills myself. Soon afterwards there came a married couple, their mother carrying a baby, which, as it needed but a glance to see, was almost dying of croup. They had carried the poor child on horseback for five hours in the hope of finding relief. There was no time to be lost, hot baths and poultices were ordered at the buyer near at hand, and in the meantime an opiate was administered. The gasping and writhing of the child was too much for those strong Icelandic men. The mother stood calm and firm, holding it, but Zoéga ran away in one direction, and Aivindor in another, crying like children, and the farmers turned aside their heads to hide their tears. At the buyer nothing could exceed the kindness of the farmer's family, in fact of all who could help. The king's purveyor furnished white bread for a poultice, a hot bath was made ready, and the father stuffed the child's clothes into his bosom to keep them warm for it. All night the people watched with it, and the next morning everybody looked happy on hearing that its condition had somewhat improved. The next case was a boy with hip disease, for whom little could be done, though the doctor constructed a temporary support for his foot. The people invariably asked how much they should pay, and gratefully shook hands when payment was declined. I made an effort to talk with a group of farmers, finding them ready enough, only a little embarrassed at the start. But when I asked, do you know Sémons Edda, there was an instant flash and flame in their eyes, and all shyness vanished. Daniel and Völtsunga Sagas, Snorri Sturlesson, with a score of obscure sagas of which I have never heard, were eagerly mentioned and discussed. It was remarkable to see their full knowledge of Icelandic literature and their vital interest in it. Do you know who first discovered America? I asked. Yes, yes! They all cried in a body. It was life. The son of Errik, the Red. When was it? About the year 1000, and there was Torfin Karlsöfne, who went afterward, and Torvald. They called the country Finland. We know it, said I. I am a Finlander. They silently stretched out their hands and shook mine. An instinct of the true nature of the people arose in me. Within an hour I had seen what tenderness, goodness, knowledge and desire for knowledge are concealed under their rude, apathetic exteriors. To meet them was like being suddenly pushed back to the 13th century, for all the rich, complex, later developed life of the race has not touched them. More than ever I regretted my ignorance of the language, without knowing which no stranger can possibly understand their character. At half past four there came a repetition of Giza thumps, louder and more rapid than the first time and at eight o'clock a third manifestation. We fondly hoped that these were signs of increased activity, which would soon bring about an outburst. Our excitement increased to such an extent that, although watches had been set for the king's sake, Mrs. Halstead, Hays and Gladstone volunteered to keep independent watch for us. The two former passed half the night sitting on the edge of the Giza basin. They were once scared away by a thump which threatened to split the rocky shell under their feet, but nothing followed except a violent overflow of water. I heard the noises twice during the night and waited vainly for a call. The twilight was so bright that the spectacle would have been visible at any hour. Had it come. End of section 79 He would have noticed that an Icelanders surname always end in son. That is very like our English names, but in the case of the Icelander the name is what is called a petronymic, the name of his father, and may change with every generation. Thus, suppose a man is christened Jón, and he calls his son Paul, Paul, the son would be called Paul Jónzón, but if Paul grew up and had a son he might very likely wish to name him after his father. Thus the child would be Jón Paulzón. Sometimes the son bears his father's Christian name, and then he would be Jónzón. I know a man called Magnus Magnuson, and he told me his ancestors had been Magnus Magnusons for many, many generations. He would think it would be very puzzling to trace their pedigrees, but they do not find it so. Many families can trace their line back quite to the saga times. But what about the girls? They are called Paul Stottir, Paul's daughter, Jón Stottir, as the case may be. Whenever you ask the name of a man or a woman, you are given the Christian name only. If you want to know more, you must say Huesón, whose son, or Huesotir. Sometimes when girls go abroad to live they add the son to their father's name, and use it for a surname as daughter would seem strange. A married woman in Iceland is usually given her patronymic as well as her husband's name. For instance, Frü, Mrs, Margret, Thordar Stottir, Sigurtsson, is the daughter of Thord and wife of Sigurtsson. They are one or two old family surnames in Iceland, but they are quite the exception. They have pretty little abbreviations to their names. A girl whose name is Sigrid will be called Sika, Gunna is her patron. With men, Togi stands for Thorgrim, Sigi for Sigurd, Brinky for Brynjulf and Monkey, which sounds very like Monkey, for Magnus. They use all the old historic and heroic names still, and it is funny to see on the shop doors names which you have hitherto associated only with the chieftains and great men of the sagas, now born by your bootmaker and watchmaker. End of section 80. This recording is in a public domain. Section 81 of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Greenland and the Search for the Poles Read for LibriVox.org by Thomas Peter. Greenland Part 1 Stories from the History of Greenland Historical Note The history of Greenland begins in 985 when Eric the Red made a voyage along its coast, and with all the wisdom of an experienced colonizer, gave to the country the attractive name of Greenland. Settlements were made, Christianity was introduced and Greenland had even a bishop of her own. Those were the palmy days of the island, and then it was in the year 1000 that Leif Ericsson made his famous voyage to the south, where he is supposed to have landed on what are now the shores of the United States. In 1260 Greenland became a territory of Norway and thus came into the union of the Scandinavian countries at the end of the 14th century. Not long after this union Greenland seems to have vanished from the memory of mankind and for more than 200 years nothing was known of the colonists. In the heart of one man, however, an Norwegian clergyman named Hans Agid, there was a deep longing to learn what had become of the lost people. He could not bring himself to believe that they had all perished and ever before him was the picture of the descendants of these pioneers icebound in some corner of the coast and shut away from all Christian teachings. After most earnest pleading he aroused some interest in the forsaken people and in 1721 he set sail for Greenland to search for them and become their pastor. The colonists had disappeared from the territory of Greenlanders. He became so true a friend and so worthy a teacher that he well deserved his title the Apostle to Greenland. In 1733 the Moravians also sent out missionaries. The inhabited portion of the land from Agid Fjord on the east to Tessiusak on the west is under the control of the Danish government. What is known of more than Greenland has come to us entirely from all of whom, Nansen and Piri have crossed the ice cap which covers the interior of the country. End of section 81 this recording is in the public domain. Section 82 of Norway, Sweden, Denmark Iceland, Greenland and the search for the poles. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Jane Bennett. The World's Story, Volume 8 Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Greenland and the search for the poles edited by Eva March Tabin. Section 82 How Eric the Red Came to Greenland 983 by Dr Isaac I Hayes. Eric was a high-handed son of a yaw, Earl of Yadar in Norway who opposing the encroachments of the king upon his feudal rights in common with his class was forced to flee the country. Escaping with his son he established himself in Iceland, which was then being peopled by such refugees from tyranny and wrong and a society was being formed, which for love of liberty and the actual possession of republican freedom has never been excelled. These Icelanders were then and they continued to be for centuries afterwards the most intellectual and refined people of the north of Europe. And this is not surprising when it is remembered that the best blood of Norway and Denmark went to swell its population. In fact, Iceland gave literature and laws to the whole Scandinavia. The child was wiser than the parent. Her writers first put in shape the Norse mythology and many of the most distinguished families of Norway and Denmark are now proud to trace their origin back to the old freedom loving yawls and sea kings who founded a nation upon a rock which had been forced up by terrestrial fires into an atmosphere so cold and forbidding that the snows gathered upon its lofty summits while volcanic heat wrestled in the bowels of its mountains. Erik received his surname of red or rother from the colour of his hair and his corresponding disposition doubled the significance of the name when it was made to signify he of the red hand as well as of the red head. The truth is he was, according to all accounts, much addicted to their then popular pastime of cutting people's throats and for his last offence of this description he was banished from Iceland for a space of three years. The immediate offence was for killing a churlish nave who would not return a borrowed doorpost which was always a sacred object and was preserved with pious care by the Scandinavians. Perhaps if the borrowed article had been a book instead of a doorpost as in the case of fighting St. Colombo the decree might have been different. Being banished where should Erik go? He could not return to Norway and there was no place where he could set the soul of his foot with any safety. So he bethought him of the legendary land of Bjorn for, according to the Iceland landnaama that was the name of the man who had visited the land to the west of Iceland. This land Erik would go in search of and risk his life and everything upon the hazard. He set sail from Bredifjord in Iceland sometime during the summer of the year 983 in a small half-decked ship and in three days he sighted land. Not all together liking the looks of it he coasted southward until he came to a turning place or Havath now called Cape Farewell. Thence he made his way northward to the present site of Julianna Sharp where he passed the three years of his forced exile. He liked the country well as much as he had disliked it before when he saw it from the other side. Upon the meadowlands, besides the fjord, immense herds of reindeer were browsing on the luxuriant grass sparrows cheered among the branches of the little trees. He thought the place would do to settle in and named it Greenland but to be precise is always well to be. I quote from an old north saga of the before mentioned Are the Wise, a saga written in Iceland about the year 1100, the original of which was in existence up to 1651 and a copy of which is still preserved in Copenhagen. Thus runs the tale the land which is called Greenland was discovered and settled from Iceland. Eric the Red was the man from Bredifjord who passed Thither from hence Iceland and took possession of that portion of the country now called Ericsfjord. But the name he gave the whole country was Greenland for Kwathi. If the land have a good name it will cause many to come hither. He first colonised the land 14 or 15 winters before Christianity was introduced into Iceland as was told by Thorkil Gelusson in Greenland by one who had himself accompanied Eric thither. This Thorkil Gelusson was uncle to Are the Wise and the historian was pretty likely therefore to be accurate in his information. Upon returning to Iceland Eric was graciously received and what with the fine name he had given to his new country and the fine promises he held out he had no trouble in obtaining all he asked for. That he is 25 ships loaded with adventurous people and all the appliances for building up a colony. Thus provided he set sail in the year 985 but only 14 of these ships ever reached their destination. Some of the remaining 11 were lost at sea others were wrecked upon the eastern coast of Greenland others put back to Iceland in distress. Eric was resolved to found a nation for himself and these 14 cargoes of people gave him a sufficient nucleus he went far up his fjord and began a settlement a house was also built nearer to the sea probably a lookout house for Eric expected other ships and he like a prudent man that he was would set a watch for them the ruins of this house may still be seen and are not 5 minutes walk from the pastor's house at Juliana's sharp. According to his expectations other ships arrived bringing cattle sheep and horses likewise his wife sons and daughters the settlement grew and prospered Norwegians, Danes, Icelanders people from the Hebrides from the British Isles from Ireland and even from the south of Europe came there in ships to trade emigrants poured in new towns were built new farms were cleared and ambitious and adventurous men surged up and down the coast for other fields were on to play their enterprise how far north the most adventurous went we cannot certainly know but Ranff places one of their expeditions in latitude 75 degrees a point to which the stouter ships of modern times cannot now go without encountering serious risk and all this was ventured 800 years ago in half decked ships and open boats it is positively known that one of their expeditions reached as far as Upernavi latitude 7250 a stone having been discovered near there in 1824 by Sir Edward Parry bearing the following inscription in runic characters Erling Savitsen and Bjorn Thorodason and Eindred Odson on Saturday before ascension week raised these marks and cleared ground 1135 think of clearing ground in Greenland up in latitude 72 degrees 50 what kind of ground would now be found to clear naked wastes alone and the desert sands are not more unproductive but as intimated already the climate has certainly changed during the 700 years since this event happened in evidence of which it is not unimportant to observe that in the old chronicles of the voyages of those ancient Northmen there is very little mention made of ice as a disturbing element in navigation and this brings us back to where we started to the growth of glaciers in the Greenland fjords from these glaciers come the icebergs and the fjord which receives a glacier is not habitable there was no glacier in Eric's fjord when Eric went there and there are none now but it is surrounded by them the mountains are of such peculiar formation that they keep back the frozen flood from Eric's fjord itself and thus it was that this spot of earth was and still is fit for human life an oasis in a desert a patch of green in a wilderness of ice end of section 82 section 83 Norway, Sweden Denmark, Iceland Greenland and the search for the poles this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Jane Bennett the world's story volume 8 Norway, Sweden Denmark, Iceland Greenland and the search for the poles edited by Eva March Tappen section 83 How the Greenlanders Got a Bishop 1126 by Dr Isaac I Hayes the introduction of Christianity into Greenland was accomplished by Leith son of Red Eric a man who discovered America two grand achievements which rank Leith Eriksson as one of the heroes of history with respect to the former event an old Icelandic saga thus briefly records the fact when 14 winters were passed from the time that Eric the Red set forth to Greenland his son Leith sailed from thence to Norway and came thither in the autumn Trigvathor arrived in the north from Helferland Leith brought up his ship at Nidoros and went straight away to the king Olaf declared under him the true faith as was his custom unto all heathens who came before him and it was not hard for the king to persuade Leith there too and he was baptized and with him all his crew nor was it hard for King Olaf to persuade his subjects generally there too his Christianity was very new and rather muscular and under the persuasive influence of the sword this royal missionary made more proselytes than ever were made before in the same space of time by all the monks and missionaries put together when Leith came back to Greenland with a new religion the priest's debut his father Eric was much incensed and declared the act pregnant with mischief but after a while he was prevailed upon to acknowledge the new religion and at the same time to give his wife the odd hilda who had proved a more ready subject for conversion leave to build a church thus runs the saga Leith straightway began to declare the universal faith throughout the land and he laid before the people the message of King Olaf and detailed unto them how much grandeur and great nobleness there was attached to the new belief Eric was slow to determine to leave his ancient faith but the odd hilda his wife was quickly persuaded there too and she built a church which was called the odd hilda's Kirk and from the time she received the faith she separated from her husband which did sorely grieve him and this appears to have been the last and as the sequel shows was the most potent argument for his conversion to get his wife back he turned Christian and ordered the pagan rites to be discontinued and the pagan images of Thor and Odin and the rest of them to be broken up and burned whether this first Greenland church of the odd hilda's was built at Bratallid or Garda cannot now be positively said but we might perhaps find some reason to conclude it was the latter from the fact that an old man named Grima as the saga states who lived there in a Bratallid made complaint I get but seldom to the church to hear the words of learned clerks for it is a very long journey there too this much however we do know that the church, wherever it was situated was begun in the year 1002 and was known far and wide by the name of its pious lady founder several churches and three monasteries were built afterwards one of these latter was near a boiling spring the waters from which being carried through the building in pipes gave a pleasant warmth to the good monks who occupied it and they needed no other heat the year round the Christian population of Greenland became in cause of time so numerous that it was necessary for the bishop of Iceland to come over there frequently to administer the duties of that part of his sea for the diocese Gada as it was called was from the first attached to the sea of Iceland 100 years thus passed away and both in spiritual and temporal matters the Northmen in Greenland were getting along finally their intercourse with Europe was regular and their export trade especially in beef was considerable indeed Greenland beef was for a long time highly prized in Norway and there was no greater luxury to set before the king the people were almost wholly independent of the Icelandic government under a system of their own devising which appears to have perfectly satisfied the necessities they lived quite un molested by the outside world and undisturbed by wars and rumours of wars the descendants of Eric the red were as happy as any people need wish to be they lacked only one thing to complete their scheme of perfect independence they needed a bishop of their own which would cut them loose from Iceland altogether and in truth the Icelanders were such a liberty loving people that they were in no wise inclined to dispute their claims but a bishop they could not have cut the sanction of the powers that ruled in Norway for the pope would not appoint so high an officer for any of the regions directly or indirectly subject to the control of Norway except upon the nomination of the king after consultation with his spiritual advisers numerous petitions were accordingly sent over to the king in order to secure his good offices for a time these efforts were attended with but partial success since a temporary bishop only was vouchsafed to them in the person of Eric, not the red who went to Greenland in the year 1120 and without remaining long went home having however visited Vinland in the interval this Vinland being the America which Columbus thought to be a part of Asia some four centuries later finding they did not get a bishop of their own according to their desserts as they estimated them they grew indignant and one of their chief men named Sokka declared that they must and would have one their personal honor and the national pride demanded it and indeed the Christian faith itself was not in safety otherwise accordingly under the advice of Sokka a large present of Walrus ivory and valuable furs was voted to the king of Norway and Einar, son of Sokka was commissioned to carry the petition and the present the result proved that the inhabitants of Greenland were wise in their day and generation for whether through the earnestness of their appeals or the value of their gifts or through the persuasiveness of the ambassador or through all combined they obtained in the year 1126 Bishop Arnold who forthwith founded his Episcopal sea at Garda and there erected a cathedral which was built in the form of a cross Arnold seems to have been the most excellent and pious leader of these struggling Christians zealous as the famous monk of Iona without the impulsiveness of that great apostle of Scotland he bound his charge together in the bonds of Christian love and gave unity and happiness to a prosperous people he died in the year 1152 and thenceforth until 1409 the sea of Garda which he had founded was regularly maintained according to Baron Halberg in his history of Denmark 17 successive bishops administered the ordinances of the church in Greenland the list terminating with Andreas who was consecrated in 1406 the sea and Andreas expired together and the last account we have of either was made in 1409 when it is recorded that he officiated at a marriage from the issue of which men now living up proud to trace their ancestry this was his last official act so far as we have record end of section 83 section 84 of Norway, Sweden, Denmark Iceland, Greenland and the search for the poles this is Libervox recording all Libervox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit Libervox.org recording by Patrick Seaman the world's story, volume 8 Norway, Sweden, Denmark Iceland, Greenland and the search for the poles edited by Eva March Tappen section 84 the search for the lost colonies of Greenland 1579 to 1671 by Dr. Henry Rink after 1409 the Greenland colonies seem to have been, for many years utterly neglected if not entirely forgotten some people have supposed that pirates or the Eskimos called Scralings or the Black Death had swept away the inhabitants others believed that the Danish navigation laws caused the decay of the settlements whatever may have been the cause the colonies disappeared and no remains of them were found until 1721 the time of Hans Ægida the editor in 1579 and 1581 the first expeditions were dispatched from Denmark for the rediscovery of Greenland and the resumption of the trade with the inhabitants it seems to have been a firm belief that people of Norse descent still live there but so totally had the knowledge of the colony been neglected that these expeditions only tried to reach the east coast opposite to Iceland they did not even like Erik the Red sail southwards to learn where the coast might be inhabited there the pack iced bordering the east coast proved impenetrable the result of their attempts consequently was a total failure and the rediscovery of the sailing route to the deserted settlements became the achievement of a foreign nation and the accidental result of explorations undertaken was a very different object in view it was John Davis who in the year 1585 in search of the northwest passage around America discovered the straight named after him and following the west coast of Greenland succeeded in landing there in about 64 degrees north latitude re-entered a fjord and bartered with the natives it is a well-known fact that in this and the following voyages he penetrated into the Baffins Bay to upwards the latitude of the present northmost settlement surveying the coast on both sides these discoveries in Denmark revived the thought of the long neglected and given up settlement and even led to the opposite extreme in giving rise to the most sanguine expectations with regard to its significance and riches in 1605 Christian IV of Denmark sent out three ships under the command of two Englishmen and one Dane named Linda now who were accompanied by one James Hall who having been in Greenland before was appointed pilot or sailing master shortly after the excited Greenland the commanders fell out and the ships separated Linda now succeeded in getting through the ice and finding a harbor somewhere about 62 degrees or 63 degrees north latitude here they met with a great number of natives and began to barter with them by the sailors and narwhal horns the natives proved to be very thievish snatching away everything they could lay hold on and the Europeans, per contra availed themselves for the favourable state of the market by giving a single nail it is told for wares worth from two to three Danish dollars having carried on the traffic for a significantly long time they secured two of the native merchants themselves and threw them into the ships hold along with the other articles going for show to Denmark the two poor wretches fell into a state of fury so that the crew were obliged to have them tied to the mast and with gunshots they frightened away their countrymen who were coming out to the rescue meanwhile the other ships had gone much farther north and landed somewhere south of 67 degrees north latitude they likewise met with many natives and commenced bartering with them for skin, whale bone, narwhal horns and walrus tusks the commanders of these ships could as a little resist the temptation of carrying homes and specimens of the human inhabitants in order to exhibit them on their arrival in Europe after having killed a good many of them says the old record they succeeded in capturing four alive though not without running great risks the prisoners were so savage and unmanageable that the sailors were obliged to shoot one of them to reduce the others to order on the voyage however they grew quite merry and the captain trained one of them to jump about at a given sign from him when he nodded at them and to go aloft with the sailors when these three ships have returned safely to Copenhagen in the same year they attracted general attention but of all the wares and curiosities they had carried home with them as such excitement as some specimens of silver ore which the voyagers pretended to have discovered at one of the Northwest Heards the king in the hope of acquiring a lucrative colony levied a special Greenland tax throughout his dominions and then next year he equipped no less than five ships for an expedition chiefly with the aim of mining silver ore the stolen Greenlanders who were appointed interpreters to the explorers the accounts of this enterprise are not very detailed but has been reported that they reached the supposed silver mine found it all right shipped full cargo of ore and bartered with the natives of whom they stole five whereas in retaliation for other offenses one of the ships crew had been put on shore as punishment for some crime was torn to pieces by the Greenlanders in October the same year the expedition returned but as it appears resulting in utter disappointment the purchases of Greenland articles had only been few probably on account of the stores having been exhausted in the preceding year no further mention is made of any silver mine and it is supposed that it proved to be only the invention of a swindler and that those who had been duped quietly put aside the mineral cargo after having ascertained to be devoid of any metallic contents the human specimens were exhibited and their limbs measured and examined for the purpose of describing this new race later on one of them died of homesickness another made a desperate attempt at getting back to Greenland and his kayak in which he perished the third of the poor witches died from being overworked and compelled to go fishing in winter as well as in summer the last one tried to make his escape but was overtaken and died of grief and vexation the result of these explorations have been particularly disappointing as regards the rediscovery of the ancient colonies desolate and barren rocks have been found instead of farms and green pastures and the strange people of whom a few individuals have been brought home and minutely examined for no resemblance at all to the reputed settlers has taken centuries to discover the real cause of this disappointment which undoubtedly must be ascribed to an overrating of what Eric the Red considered an inhabitable country the want of success on the part of the explorers first led to the resumption of the old idea that the abandoned settlements had been situated to the east of Cape Farewell thither the king accordingly in the following year 1607 dispatched an expedition which however soon returned after several perilous and disastrous efforts to penetrate the belt of pack ice encumbering the whole of the coast with the failure of this expedition the government temporarily gave up all further attempts whereas some private expeditions English as well as Danish visited Greenland in the same century until the government again in 1670 and 1671 sent out two ships probably to the east coast with what result is however unknown these other voyages in the meantime gave rise to several commercial undertakings fishing being tried in the new branch of the Atlantic discovered by John Davis they were carried on by English French and Dutch vessels and the whale fishery had a long continued importance and Davis straight after the whale had become scarce in the Spitsbergen seas but only the Dutch seemed to have carried on any traffic with the inhabitants of the Greenland coast in connection with the whale fishery this commerce already flourished in the earliest part of the 18th century the whalers on sailing up and down the straight occasionally dropped in here and there anchoring up in the bays awaiting the arrival of the natives who used to bring out the products of their country for sale many cairns erected by them and also many names of places and several traditions indicate that the Dutch have thoroughly searched the coast from Cape Farewell up to 73 degrees north latitude but there are no signs left that any settlements or temporary fishing establishments have ever existed or been attempted or intended by them nor have their explorations in any way added to the general store of geographical knowledge end of section 84 this recording is in the public domain section 85 of Norway, Sweden Denmark, Iceland, Greenland and the search for the poles this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information please visit LibriVox.org the world's story volume 8 Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Greenland and the search for the poles edited by Eva March Tappen section 85 The Apostle to Greenland 1721 to 1736 by Jacob A. Rees the Norwegian clergyman Hans Eggert could not give up the thought that descendants of the lost colonists of Greenland were still living shut away from mankind and from the gospel at length his earnest entreaties prevailed the king of Denmark appointed him missionary to the Greenlanders and promised him a small salary in May 1721 he set sail on the ship hobbit the hope for the unknown shores and the land of ice the editor early in June they sided land but the way to it was barred by impassable ice a whole month they sailed to and fro trying vainly for a passage at last they found an opening and slipped through only to find themselves shut in with towering icebergs closing around them signal that she had struck and the captain of hobbit cried out that all was lost in the tumult of terror that succeeded Eggert alone remained calm praying for a sucker where there seemed to be none he remembered the 107th Psalm he brought them out of darkness and the shatter of death and break their bands in sunder and the morning dawn dawn clear the ice was moving and their prison widening on July 3 hobbit cleared the last ice reef and the shore lay open before them the Eskimos came out in their kayaks and the boldest climbed aboard this ship in one boat sat an old man who refused the invitation he paddled about the vessel mumbling darkly in a strange tongue he was an Angacoc one of the native medicine men of whom presently Aged was to know much more as he stood upon the deck and looked at these strangers for whose salvation he had risked all his heart fell they were not the stalwart Northmen he had looked for and their jargon had no home-like sound but a great wave of pity swept over him and the prayer that rose to his lips made for strength to be their friend and their guide to the light not at once did the way open for the coveted friendship with the Eskimos while they thought the strangers came only to trade they were hospitable enough but when they saw them build clearly intent on staying they made signs that they had better go they pointed to the sun that sank lower toward the horizon every day and shivered extreme cold and they showed their visitors the icebergs in the snow making them understand that it would cover the house by and by when it all availed nothing and the winter came on they were tired into their huts and cut the acquaintance of the white men they were afraid that they had come to take revenge for the harm done their people in the olden time there was nothing for them and this he did they seized their spears when they saw him coming but he made signs that he was their friend when he had nothing else to give them he let them cut the buttons from his coat throughout the 15 years he spent in Greenland that he had never wore furs as did the natives the black robe he thought more seemingly for our clergyman to his great discomfort and his diary and in his letters that often when he returned from his winter travels it could stand alone when he took it off being frozen stiff after a while he got upon neighborly terms with the Eskimos but if anything the discomfort was greater they housed him at night in their huts where the filth and the stench were unendurable they showed their special regard by first licking off the piece of seal but before him and if he rejected it they were hurt their housekeeping of which he got an inside view was embarrassing in its simplicity the dish washing was done by the dogs licking the kettle clean often after a night or two in a hut that held half a dozen families he was compelled to change his clothes to the skin in an open boat or out on the snow but the alternative was to sleep he was told that sometimes froze his pillow to the bed and the tea cup to the table in his own home above all he must learn their language it proved a difficult task for the Eskimo Tong was both very simple and very complex in all the things pertaining to their daily life it was exceedingly complex for instance to catch one kind of fish was expressed by one word in quite different terms they had one word for catching a young seal another for catching an old one when it came to matters of moral and spiritual import the language was poor to desperation Egid's instruction began when he caught the word kind what is it and from that time on he learned every day but the pronunciation was as varied as the work a day vocabulary and it was an unending task it proceeded with many interruptions from the Anger Cox who tried more than once to bewitch him but finally gave it up convinced that he was a great medicine man himself and therefore invulnerable but before that they tried to foment a regular mutiny the colony being by that time well underway and Egid had to arrest and punish the leader the natives naturally clung to them Egid had mastered their language and tried to make clear that the Anger Cox deceived them when they said they went to the other world for advice they demurred did you ever see them go he asked well have you seen this God of yours of whom you speak so much was their reply when Egid spoke of spiritual gifts they asked for good health and blubber our Anger Cox give us that Hellfire was much entheological evidence in those days but among the Eskimos it was a failure as a deterrent they listened to the account of it eagerly and liked the prospect when at length they became convinced that Egid knew more than their Anger Cox they came to him with the request that he would abolish winter very likely they thought that one who had such knowledge of the hot place ought to have influence enough with the keeper of it and this favor it was not an easy task from any point of view to which he had put his hands as that first winter wore away there were gloomy days and nights and they were not brightened when with the return of the sun no ship arrived from Denmark the Dutch traders came and opened their eyes wide when they found Egid and his household safe and even on friendly terms with the Eskimos the Arabs called the missionary that as the nearest they could come to the Danish Prost priest Peles was not there after blubber they told the Dutchman but to teach them about heaven and of him up there who had made them and wanted them home with him again so he had not worked altogether in vain but the brief summer passed and still no relief ship the crew of Hobbit Egid had at last to give a reluctant promise that if no ship came in two weeks he would break up his wife alone refused to take a hand in packing the ship was coming she insisted and at the last moment it did come a boat coming in after dark brought the first word of it the people assure her voices speaking Danish and flew to Egid who had gone to bed with the news brought good cheer the government was well disposed trading and preaching were to go on together as planned joyfully then they built a bigger and a better house and call their colony God Thab good hope the work was now fairly underway of the energy and the hardships it entailed even we in our day that has heard so much of Arctic exploration can have but a faint conception shut in on the coast of eternal ice and silence say when in summer the Arctic rivers were alive and crash after crash announced that the glaciers coming down from the inland mountains were casting their calves the great icebergs upon the ocean the colonists counted the days from the one when that year's ship was lost to sight till the returning spring brought the next one their only communication far off home in summer the days were sometimes burning hot but the nights always bitterly cold in winter says Egid hot water spilled on the table froze as it ran and the meat they cooked was often frozen at the bone when set on the table summer and winter Egid was on his travels between Sundays sometimes in the trader's boat more often the only white man with one or two Eskimo companions taking out the people when night surprised him with no native hut in sight he pulled the boat on some desert shore and commending his soul to God slept under it once he and his son found an empty hut and slept there in the darkness not until they came again did they know that they had made their bed on the frozen bodies of dead men who had once been the occupants of the house and had died they never knew how Merrill was everywhere again and again his little craft was wrecked once the house blew down over their heads in one of the dreadful winter storms that ravaged those high latitudes often he had to sit on the rail of his boat and let his numbed feet hang into the sea to restore feeling in them on land he sometimes waited waist deep in snow climbed mountains and slid down into valleys having but the haziest notion where he would land at home his brave wife sat alone praying for his safety and listening to every sound that might herald his return tremble and doubt they did egged owns but neither ever flinched their work was before them and neither thought of turning back the natives loved him there came a day that brought this message from the north say to the speaker to come to us to live the other strangers who come here can only talk to us of blubber blubber blubber and we also would hear of the great creator egged went as far as he could but was compelled by ice and storms to turn back after weeks of incredible hardships the disappointment was the more severe to him because he had never quite given up his hope of finding remnants of the ancient Norse settlements the fact that the record spoke of bidge settlement and an east bidge had mislead many into believing that the desolate east coast had once been colonized not until our own day was this shown to be an error when Danish explorers searched that coast for a hundred miles and found no other trace of civilization than a beer bottle left behind by the explorer nor dense yield egged's hope had been that Greenland might be once more colonized by Christian people when the Danish government after some years sent up a handful of soldiers with a major who took the title of governor to give the settlement official character as a trading station they sent with them twenty unofficial Christians ten men out of the penitentiary and as many lewd and drunken women from the treadmill who were married by lot before setting sail to give the thing a halfway decent look they were good enough for the Eskimos they seemed to have thought at Copenhagen their fathered a terrible winter during which mutiny and murder were threatened it is a pity, writes the missionary that while we sleep secure among the heath and savages among so-called Christian people our lives are not safe as a matter of fact they were not for the soldiers joined by the mutiny against Egid as the cause of their having to live in such a place and had not sickness and death smitten the malcontents neither he nor the governor would have come safe through the winter on the Eskimos this view of the supposed fruits of Christian teaching made its own impression after seeing a woman scourged on shipboard for misbehavior they came innocently enough to Egid and suggested that some of their younger cocks be sent down to Denmark to teach the people to be sober and decent there came a breathing spell after ten years of labor in what had often enough seemed to him the spiritual as well as physical ice-bearance of the north when Egid surveyed a prosperous mission with trade established 150 children christened in school and many of their elders asking to be baptized in the midst as rejoicing the summer's ship brought word from Denmark that the king was dead and orders from his successor to abandon the station Egid might stay with provisions for one year if there was enough left over after fitting out the ship but after that he would receive no further help when the Eskimos heard the news they brought their little children to the mission these will not let you go they said and he stayed his wife whom hardship and privation and the lonely waiting for her husband in the long winter nights had at last broken down refused to leave him though she sadly needed the care of a physician a few of the sailors were persuaded to stay another year so now he wrote in his diary when on July 31 1731 he had seen the ship sail away with all his hopes I'm left alone with my wife and three children ten sailors and eight Eskimos girls and boys who have been with us from the start God let me live to see the blessed day that brings good news once more from home his prayer was heard the next summer brought word that the mission was to be continued partly because Egid had strained every nerve to send home much blubber and many skins but it was as a glimpse of the sun behind dark clouds his greatest trials trod hard upon the good news to Rowe's interest in the mission Egid had sent home young Eskimos from time to time three of these died of smallpox in Denmark the fourth came home and brought the contagion all unknown to his people it was the summer fishing season when the natives traveled much and far and wherever he went they flocked about him to hear Lord's land where the houses were so tall that one could not shoot an arrow over them and to ask a multitude of questions was the king very big had he caught many whales was he strong and a great anger cock and much more of the same kind in a week the disease broke out among the children at the mission and soon word came from islands and fjords where the Eskimos were fishing of death and misery unspeakable he was virgin soil for the plague and it was terribly virulent striking down young and old in every tent and hut more than 2,000 of the natives one fourth of the whole population died that summer of 200 families near the mission only 30 were left alive a cry of terror and anguish rose throughout the settlements no one knew what to do in vain did Egid implore them to keep their sick apart in fever delirium they ran out in the ice fields or through themselves into the sea a wild panic seized the survivors and they fled to the farthest trugs carrying the seeds of death with them wherever they went whole villages perished and their dead lay unburied utter desolation settled like a paw over the unhappy land through it all a single ray of hope shown the faith that Egid had preached all those years in the life he had lived with them bore their fruit they had struck deeper than he thought they crowded to him all that could as their one friend dying mothers held their suckling babes up to him and died content in a deserted island camp a half grown girl was found alone with three little children their father was dead when he knew that for him and the baby there was no help he went to a cave and covering himself in the child with skins lay down to die his parting words to his daughter were before you have eaten the two seals and the fish I have laid away for you palace will come no doubt and take you home for he loves you and will take care of you at the mission every nook and cranny was filled with the sick and dying Egid and his wife nursed them at night childlike when death approached they tried to put on their best clothes or even to have new ones made that they might please God by coming into his presence looking nice when Egid had closed their eyes he carried the dead in his arms to the vestibule where in the morning the men who dug the graves found them at the site of his suffering the scoffers were dumb what his preaching had not done to win them over that dreadful year left Egid a broken man in his dark moments he reproached himself with having brought only misery to those he had come to help and serve one thorn which would think he might have been spared rankled deep in it all some missionaries of a dissenting sect Egid was Lutheran had come with the small pots shipped to set up an establishment of their own their head was a man full of misdirected zeal and quite devoid of common sense who engaged Egid in a wordy dispute about justification by faith and condemned him and his work unsparingly he had graved doubts whether he was in truth the converted man it came to an end when they themselves fell ill and Egid and his wife had the last word after their own fashion they nursed the warlike their illness with loving ministrations and gave them back to life let us hope wiser and better men at Christmas 1735 Egid's faithful wife Gertrude closed her eyes she had gone out with him from home and kin to a heart in heathen land and she had been his loyal help me in all his trials now it was all over that winter scurvy laid him upon a rest of the old home his son had come from Copenhagen to help happily yet while his mother lived to him he would give over the work in Denmark he could do more for it than in Greenland now he was alone on July 29 1736 he freezed for the last time to his people and baptized a little eskimo to whom they gave his name Hans the following week he sailed home carrying as all his earthly wealth his beloved dead and his motherless children the eskimos gathered on the shore and wept as the ship their friend away they never saw him again he lived in Denmark 18 years training young men to teach the eskimos they gave him the title of bishop but so little to live on that he was forced in his last days to move from Copenhagen to make both ends meet his grave was forgotten by the generation that came after him no one knows now where it is but in ice skirt Greenland where the northern lights on wintry nights flash to the natives their message from the souls that have gone home his memory will live when that of the north pole seeker whom the world applause is long forgotten Hans Egged was their great man their hero he was more he was their friend end of section 85 this recording is in the public domain section 86 of Norway Sweden Denmark Iceland Greenland and the search for the poles this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information nor to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org the world's story volume 8 Norway Sweden Denmark Iceland Greenland and the search for the poles edited by Eva March Tappan section 86 a model parliament by Dr. Isaac I Hayes now these Greenlanders or Eskimos are not prone to be governed yet the Danish rule is satisfactory and they submit to it without a murmur and nonetheless readily that they have a voice in their own affairs each little town or hunting station is at liberty to send up a representative to sit in the parliament of Julie Anna Schaab the number of representatives is 12 the names of the most important towns besides the capital Nanor Talik Frederiksdal Liktenau these two latter are missions of the Moravian brethren Egaliko and Krocksimut the parliament house is not an imposing I should say its dimensions are about 16 by 20 feet it is one story high is built of boards lined on the inside and on the outside is plastered over with pitch it has no lobby for the accommodation of people who come to the capital with axes for the public grindstone nor committee rooms for the better confusion of the public business in the center of the one room there stands a long table of plane pine boards on either side there is one long bench of the same material and on each bench sit six parliamentarians dressed in seal skin pantaloons and boots and Guernsey frocks with broad suspenders across their shoulders the faces of these parliamentarians are all of a very dusky hue the color of their hair is very black you have any greater familiarity with combs and brushes than their faces with soap and towels however they are an amiable looking party at least they grin and show their fine white teeth when I enter and are all together perhaps quite clean enough for ordinary parliamentary work every man of them has a pencil in his hand and a piece of paper on the table before him and each one is as busy taking notes there on as some of our own honorable members are said to be in taking notes of another description but I must not neglect to mention one article of the parliamentary costume for it shines out so conspicuously that it must be noticed I mean the official cap always worn when the house is in session which is supplied to each member by royal bounty this cap is of the brightest kind of scarlet cloth with a broad guilt band around it the royal emblems are emblazoned in front and above these there is a golden polar bear with a crown on his head standing uncomfortably on his hind legs to typify green land there is a 13th cap at the head of the table and this 13th cap covers the head of the genial Mr. Anton pastor of Julie Anna Shab and president of the Julie Anna Shab the aggregate amount of dignity possessed was quite wonderful and was in truth as overwhelming as the fishy odor with which it was impregnated but neither the fishy odor nor the dignity appeared to interfere with the transaction of business on the contrary they seemed to be working away like beavers and indeed they disposed of matters with such an amazing degree of promptness that I fell instantly to wondering whether dignity would not be a good thing to introduce into parliaments congresses assemblies and such like things generally and as to the fishy atmosphere I have no doubt that it was quite as wholesome as the atmosphere of some of our own legislative halls where lobbyists are so thick about the doors and avenues that all the purity whichever does go in is soon done for of the kind of business brought before this dignified tribunal I will give a few samples the first was a petition for relief the petitioner himself stood there in person looking the very picture of full-lorn destitution he stated that he had lost his canoe, kayak and he produced evidence enough to show without any swearing false or otherwise that it had been crushed and lost in the ice the man who had hardly closed on his back to cover his nakedness showed further that he had a wife and family who had no friends to assist them and were entirely dependent upon himself for support I thought it a doubtful support at best and so appeared to think the parliament since they voted in order for a small stipend of food and clothing as per schedule to be drawn from the public storehouse and paid for out of the parliamentary funds the man was sent to work in the government blubber house at 22 skillings 11 cents a day the next case was similar in character only the petitioner was a well-known young hunter who had lost his kayak by a fearful accident which had nearly cost him his life as well as boat and from the effects of which he had barely now recovered all that I could comprehend was that some of his ribs had been stove in the case being proven the question before parliament was whether they should grant him relief which was unanimously voted in the affirmative how much was the next question after 13 pencils had cycled for a minute or so they made it out $14 7 American for material for the kayak $4 for harpoon spear etc and 6 to pay debts contracted at the government storehouse for necessary comforts during his sickness a third case was that of an old man who received one dollar to buy a spear with another was from a man who had a family of girls and no umiak he received $24 one half of which he was to refund within two years one hunter got a rifle on the same terms a sick woman obtained some flannel for a shirt the means to bury her dead husband these and a number more of similar character were soon disposed of some of the cases were represented by proxy the applicant residing at Nen-Nor-Talik or other distant outpost whence to come would be difficult others presented their petitions in person some appeals were thrown out in part or all together but these were very few for public opinion is strong in green land and a lofty sense of pride prevents begging except in the last extremity in the case however of the kayak and the umiak there was presented a prospect of future public advantage for in encouraging these people by providing them with boats the public revenues are increased they're adding to the public industry thus do we see that as village Hamptons and mute in glorious Milton's may sometimes lie in the village churchyard so savage legislators and law givers may be Solans and Adam Smiths all in one and they not know anything about it and the world be none the wiser and thus we see these green land parliaments serve an excellent purpose they take care of the poor they render assistance to the unfortunate they provide certain means of punishing the indolent and guilty they reward the industrious and when they have finished with their business they adjourn and go home to do their talking and what more do you want with a parliament nobody certainly would desire them to vote away millions of acres of the public lands for although they might very well do so without injury to anybody there are no dangerous corporations to be benefited thereby and no public interests to be sacrificed by such procedure and therefore no motive end of section 86 this recording is in the public domain section 87 of Norway, Sweden, Denmark Iceland, Greenland and the search for the Poles read for LibriVox.org by Abayi Greenland Part 2 Stories of Life in Greenland historical note safe for the island continent Australia Greenland is the largest island in the world three fifths of the land is covered by ice which is perhaps three thousand feet or more in thickness on the low lands of the east and west which border on the sea the snow is not permanent as in the interior and here the inhabitants some twelve thousand in number make their homes in the west there is a valuable mine of cryolet but aside from working this the chief industries are fishing winter is bitterly cold but the long days of summer bring enough of sunshine and warmth to produce not only moss and grass and flowering plants but also trailing shrubs and even trees five to six feet in height to the southern shores the kindly ocean currents bring quite an amount of driftwood which is of the greatest value to the natives end of section 87 this recording is in the public domain section 88 of Norway, Sweden, Denmark Iceland, Greenland and the search for the poles this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org the world's story volume 8 Norway, Sweden, Denmark Iceland, Greenland and the search for the poles edited by Eva March Tappan section 88 Greenland Customs of Two Centuries ago by Hans Ajid going wailing 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 fly from them this is the manner of their expedition about 50 persons men and women set out together in one of the large boats called cone boats 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 fasten 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 in order that the whale when he finds himself wounded and runs away with the harpoon mate the sooner be tired the air hindering him from keeping long underwater when he grows tired when one 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 around the body even under the water for in these coats they cannot sink as they are always full of air like the seals stand up right 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 the houses of the Greenlanders as to their houses or dwelling places they have one for the winter season and another for the summer their winter habitation is a low hut built with stone and turf two or three yards high with a flat roof this hut the windows are on one side made of the bowels of seals dressed and sewed together or of the maws of halibut and are white and transparent on the other side their beds are placed which consist of shelves or benches made up of deal boards raised half a yard from the ground their bedding is made of seal and reindeer skins several families live together in one of these houses or huts each family occupying a room from the rest by wooden posts by which also the roof is supported before which there is a heart or fireplace in which is placed a great lamp in the form of a half moon seated on our trivet over this are hung their kettles of brass copper or marble in which they boil their vitals under the roof just above the lamp they have a sort of rack or shelf to put their wet clothes upon to dry the four door or entry of the house is very low so that they must stoop and must creep in upon all fours to get in at it which is so contrived to keep the cold air out as much as possible the inside of the houses is covered or lined with old skins which before have served for the curving of their boats some of these houses are so large that they can harbor seven or eight families upon the benches or shelves where their beds are placed is the ordinary seat of the women attending their work of sewing up to clothing the men with their sons occupy the foremost parts of the benches turning their back to the women on the opposite side under the windows the men belonging to the family or strangers take their seats upon the benches they are placed I cannot forbear taking notice that although in one of these houses there be ten or twenty train lamps one does not perceive the steam or smoke there up to fill these small cottages the reason I imagine is here they take in trimming those lamps these they take dry moss rubbed very small which they lay on one side of the lamp which being lighted burns softly and does not cause any smoke if they do not lay it on too thick or in lumps this fire gives such a heat that it not only serves to bore up their vitals but also heats the room to that degree that it is as hot as a bath house but for those who are not used to this way of firing the smell is very disagreeable as well by the number of burning lamps all fed with drain oil as on account of diverse sorts of raw meat fishes and that which they heap up in their habitations these winter habitations they begin to dwell in immediately after my comas and leave them again at the approach of the spring which commonly is at the latter end of March and then for the summer season lodge in tents which are their summer habitations these tents are made of rafts or long poles set in a circular form bending at the top and resembling a sugar loaf and covered with a double cover of which the innermost is of seal or reindeer skins with the hairy side inward if they be rich and the outermost also have the same sort of skins without hair dressed with fat that the rain may not pierce them in these tents they have their beds and lamps to dress their meat with also a curtain of the guts or bowels of seals so together through which they receive the daylight instead of windows every master of a family has got such a tent and a great woman's boat to transport their tents and luggage from place to place where their business calls them games of the Greenland boys the boys and lads have also their pastimes and plays when they meet in the evening they take a small piece of wood with a hole in it at one end to which they tie a pointed stick with a thread of string and throwing the piece with a hole in it up into the air they strive to catch it upon the pointed stick through the hole he that does it 20 times successively and without failing gains the match or party and he that misses gets a black stroke on his forehead for every time he misses another boys play is a game of chance like cards or dice they have a piece of wood pointed at one end with a pin or peg in the midst upon which it turns the boys are seated around and everyone laid down what they play for one of them turns the pointed piece of wood with his finger that it wheels about like a mariners compass and when it has done he that the point aims that wins all that was laid down ball playing is their most common diversion which they play two different ways they divide themselves into two parties the first party throws the ball to each other while those of a second party endeavor to get it from them and so by turns the second man is like our playing at football they mark out two barriers that three or four hundred paces distant one from the other then being divided into two parties as before they meet at the starting place which is at the midway between the two barriers and the ball being thrown upon the ground they strive who first shall get at it and kick it with the foot each party towards their barrier he that is the most nimble footed and dexterous at it kicking the ball before him and getting first to the barrier on the match thus they will tell you the deceased play at football in heaven with the head of a moose when it lightens or the north light or aurora borealis appears which they fancy to be the souls of the deceased when their acquaintance from abroad come to see them they spend whole days and nights in singing and dancing and as they love to pass from in of courage and valor they will try forces together in wrestling struggling and playing hook and crook which is to grapple with the arms and fingers made crooked and entangled like hooks whoever can pull the other from his place thinks himself a man of worth and dollar the women's or rather the maidens plays consist in dancing around holding one another by the hand forming a circle and singing of songs in a section 88 this recording is in the public domain section 89 of Norway Sweden Denmark Iceland Greenland and the search for the polls this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org the world's story volume 8 Norway Sweden Denmark Iceland Greenland and the search for the polls edited by Eva March Tappen section 89 how to build a woman's boat by Dr. Isaac Hayes a woman's boat or Umiak is rode by women a man will sometimes take the steering or but he would feel humiliated at rowing in a craft requiring so little skill the kayak is a man's boat the editor you will first obtain five round sticks of wood 36 feet long more or less according to the length you desire to make the boat these must be as light as possible and not over two inches in diameter since the country produces no wood you will of course have to go to the governor for the materials which he keeps in his store houses replenishing the stock each year by shipments from Denmark but since you will not find a stick 36 feet long you will have to procure several which you lash together until you have obtained the requisite length having done this you place three of them on the ground parallel with each other the outer ones being six feet apart then across them at the middle you lash with firm thongs of raw seal hide a piece of inch plank three inches wide and six feet long then you bring the ends of the three long sticks together lashing them firmly next you lash other pieces of board across at intervals of two feet of course these are of different lengths thus you have obtained the bottom of your umiak this done you proceed to erect the skeleton fastening the stem and stern posts firmly with lashings also the ribs the ribs in their place you secure along the inside of them at about 16 inches above the floor a strip of plank on this you place the forts the middle one being six feet long the other shorter as you approach either end ten forts is the proper number this completes the skeleton all but the placing of the rails or gun whales which are the two remaining 36 foot sticks being fastened with thongs to the ribs and to the stem and stern posts your skeleton is finished and it is exceedingly light strong and elastic but now instead of covering this novel sort of boat skeleton with planking you stretch over to a coat of seal hide it can scarcely be called leather it has been however tanned and dried and afterwards thoroughly saturated with oil until it is as to water as a plate of iron a number of skins aren't necessarily required and these the women will sew together for you so firmly with sinew thread that not a drop of water can find its way through the scenes this skin coat being cut and fashioned to fit the skeleton as neatly as a slipper to the foot is drawn on and firmly tied it is very soft when you draw it on but when it dries it is as tight and hard as a drum head and when the skin becomes a little old the light will come through it as through parchment when a float in the umiak you can always discover how much water you are drawing by looking through the side of it this is not a pleasant operation however for a nervous person since one can hardly resist the impression that he is in a very treacherous sort of craft this light and elastic boat is propelled with short oars having broad blades which are tied to the gun whale instead of being thrust out through roll locks these oars are shot with bone to protect them from the ice a single mast is erected in the bow upon which is run up a square sail when the wind is fair if the owner of the boat is enough he gets the material for his sail from the governor but if not he makes it out of seal skins I have observed that he gets the wood from the governor's stores not all of it however for the obliging sea brings him an occasional tree that has floated with the ocean current from the forests of Siberia or a plank perhaps that has fallen overboard from a passing vessel or a spar or other portion of a wreck thus before the Danes came here did the Eskimos obtain all the wood they used from this source they also procured their iron in the shape of spikes nails bands and bars attached to these waves of the sea thus through the ocean currents which carry heat and cold to the uppermost parts of the earth scatter also blessings to mankind end of section 89 this recording is in the public domain section 90 of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Greenland and the search for the poles this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org the world's story volume 8 Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Greenland and the search for the poles edited by Eva March Tappen section 90 the Eskimos and their ways from the Corn Hill magazine everybody knows what manner of creature an Eskimo is the strange and fidel the like of whom was never seen read nor heard tell of as Stout Martin Frobischer describes him from morning to night under my window in Jacob Chauvin Kirk in nearly 70 degrees north latitude there stands a group of the queer little folks fur clad from head to foot good-naturedly grinning at our small witticisms in very bad Greenlandish until the dirt cracks into huge asterisks on their brown globose good-humored cheeks all the children have their hair in their eyes and their hands in the pockets of their ragged mangy-looking skin breeches it is summertime and their toes protrude through their sealed skin boots without fear of frostbite no sooner do they devour their rather more than modicum of the blubbery seal which their father has killed in his skin kayak like in covered rocks with flowers and ferns and creeping things on the chance of us killing or a biscuit from the Nalagak to Luit the big Englishman and they will scramble amid the snow and slush with Mary's shouts for the smallest coin thrown out to them Kayanke thank you thank you the fortunate one shouts the last syllable echoing from behind the rocks for young Greenland is off to hair merches the trader to buy lump sugar then there are the women some of them good-looking enough when clean and tidy as for the old ones they are so hideous that I do not at all wonder that some of old Frober's sure sailors pulling the boots off one of them to see if her foot was not cloven after the fashion ascribed to the evil one there is now very little pure eskimo blood in Danish Greenland their hair and blue eyes are just about as common as black hair and black eyes everybody however dresses a la eskimoisca man woman and child blonde or brunette the woman's dress is not at all in elegant and is much more suited to the climate than would be European garments as well as fur but in summertime a little lighter and more varied raiment is ventured on the round hooded jacket is made of Czech calico tartan silk or even blue velvet fur lined made rather short to show the white chemise beneath it would no doubt be warmer to have it a little larger but then fashion sways as much in Greenland as in Europe and the arctic bells would rather shiver as much cold than disobey its dictates then the trousers are of seal skin striped with either duck's necks or ornamented with little strips of the curious skin embroidery so much effective among these people the boots are the grandest of all the articles of wardrobe and are made of dyed seal skin leather some of them have regular tops like a pair of hunting boots and between the foot of the boot and the top is a piece of white calico often embroidered so that the general effect of red and green boots and calico embroidery when collected on a mass on some rocky point as you sail in a Greenland fjord is sufficiently striking a white non-like scarf is sedately folded round the neck and over the breast and the hair is twisted into a top knot doubled upon itself and tied with a piece of colored ribbon now this constant pulling up of the hair to the top of the crown is apt to result in a circlet of baldness to conceal this defect the Greenland coquette from 8 to 80 folds a handkerchief generally of black silk round her head finishing off with a fancy knot in front this knot is pinned on unlike the ladies chignon in Europe is a hollow sham lined with all sorts of rubbish such as old rags and clippings the color of the ribbon with which the knot is tied denotes the condition of life of the wearer when unmarried it is pink when married blue if a widow in service it is green with gold if a widow at home black the description of seal used for dress is also of importance the smooth model cassette yak foca betulina being most highly valued for this purpose when a Greenland pyramids would grow in favor with his this being he presents her with what she values rather more albeit she is not insensible to the charms of trinkets a dappled seal skin to make her a pair of trousers some of the young fellows are stalwart handsome fellows and the admixture of Danish blood shows itself in the features the nose especially that organ in the regular eskimo being merely a flattened tubercle meandering inside of his cheeks in an expanse of nostril let us look in on what the English voyagers jocularly call the lieutenant governor his duties are really more those of a country shop keepers assistant than anything else hair assistant he is called in the settlement in the books of the government he is styled a volunteer though why he should be so called it is hard to say as he receives pay though certainly that is small enough he is at present in the top of the settlement very busy but yet with leisure enough to smoke the biggest of big pipes merchant ting he assures us is strong work he is absolutely toil three hours today he is just so three skillings worth of soft soap to an old woman and six skillings worth of coffee to a small boy and is now putting up some iderdown for hair pastor the new missionary who has just arrived with the of all every officer and missionary coming out for the first time is entitled to 48 pounds of unclean iderdown at six skillings per pound and two bare skins for a sleeping bag at the country trade price of five rigs dollar troops of little boys and women drop in and out for the shop is only open so many hours a day and there is no opposition if you are not pleased with your purchase you will be always most politely told to go to the next shop which is in Reykjavík in Iceland or possibly Moose factory in Hudson Straits. Covet or coffee notwithstanding its high price seems to be the article chiefly in demand whatever else may be wanted Covet must be had and to procure this a woman will allow her children to go about like half skin seals and her husband to want the most common necessaries allowed to be sold the natives take coffee instead and to such an extent that it has been not in aptly styled the curse of Greenland. For a family to consume one and a half pounds per diem is no uncommon extravagance and the polite little trader turns to his books and shows me that some families when in luck the father having killed a white whale or many seals will use as much as five pounds of coffee daily half of this is wasted in the green beans are roasted in a pot or on a flat stone until they are charred black they are then smashed up with a stone in an old leather mitten without fingers until they are roughly bruised when they are thrown by the handful into water and boiled for some time the result is that liquid black enough in all conscience with half beans floating about in it and very bitter but it is strong and that is the main thing a bit of candy sugar is taken into the mouth and the coffee is sipped the sugar meantime dissolving and imparting a certain degree of sweetness to the bitter liquid. This is drinking coffee a lot grand laundice but practice is required to accomplish it satisfactorily for the sugar will slip down without the coffee and the coffee without receiving its proper saccharine addition. Hair assistant asks the hulking looking Greenlander standing at the door with his pockets while he is not out seal hunting for independently of his regard for the welfare of the natives hair cola net bestie rur is directly interested in the produce of the hunt he gives a growl and replies I've had no covet today and then as if correcting himself besides there was a hole in my kayak and my boy is not well and but the real truth was no covet just as I am talking to him a little boy who is working for me begs a few skillings on account as he is out of covet and finds it impossible to get along without his accustomed beverage then arrived two brothers from a distant settlement with blubber and skins which net nearly two pounds what do they buy some bread some butter some tobacco a little powder and shot the rest all goes in coffee and sugar the better is of course quite in their way my friend the school master of Christians hub is rather fond of thanks or the refuse of the blubber and butter a rather greasy dish however the traditional blubber eating of the natives is so far as danish greenland is concerned rather mythical blubber is too precious for winter light and heat to be rationally expended as food and accordingly we find that they use it but rarely and only as we would use fat to lean meat the shop itself is about as dirty a little shop as could be imagined meaning everything which could possibly be required for use either among the Danes or Eskimo all heat up in confusion they the greenlanders are very humorous people fond of little rough jokes the most communicative and pleasant with those whom they like and trust but they are very little to be depended on and are curiously vacillating and fickle however if they once decide not to go anywhere with a person whom they despise or dislike no bribe will tempt them to change their determination though on the other hand even if you are a favorite it is not altogether certain that they will really go with you until you are fairly outside of the place the only way to secure them is to advance a little of their pay beforehand they're never known to break a contract of this nature but then they must have their own way and to pass a trading post without sleeping and drinking covet would be an innovation unheard of in Greenland on all sides you would be told that it was impossible they are fond of ridiculing the Europeans indeed this forms their principal amusement in the winter any little peculiarity in person manner or conduct will be instantly noted within the day of your arrival the result is that no European in the country is known by anything but some sobriquette sometimes not over complimentary one of the governors who has a remarkably prominent nose is called cringelik the nose another tolgac the raven from his dark complexion the third pitted with the smallpox as known as cheese rind all the naturalist was known by a word which signifies the diligent catcher the name being applied in derision of his entomological and botanical researches and not in admiration of his ability to catch seals of which indeed he caught none one of our party being a little stout man was called at one place apolir soak the little pot gee and at another settlement he used to be known as the peddler hair a being a collector of all sorts of eskimo curiosities while another foreigner who did not impress the people much with his wisdom is remembered as pit lociac the weak minded man or fool the president writer was first called you suck the bearded seal and finally settled down as being the tallest man of the party into nair ker soak great muscle nair k flesh soak great they are very fond of a name which by a slight twist of the tongue can be converted into a double entendre as many eskimo words can be several only differing slightly in the sound though with an entirely different meaning of course you are the last man to know of your own name among themselves they are not a bit better ask a native his name and he will hesitate to tell you if it is very good his modesty will keep him from mentioning it but if it is the contrary his shame will equally act as if he were requiring the desired information in reality very vain and great braggarts they are effectively modest when speaking of themselves or their property would you lend me they would say your fine large kayak as my miserable thing has got a hole in it in every district or to the government appoints a parson and all the natives aren't nominally Christians and are baptized married and buried after the Lutheran fashion the priest comes round when certain dispensation being allowed in the meantime and a refusal to complete his engagement being perfectly unknown on the side of the male lover the Lutheran missionaries are supported by the government and come out for a term of years Greenland fallen to the lot generally of the least brilliant of the theological licentious of Copenhagen University the Moravians the celebrated Unitas Fratrum of Hernd Hut in Germany also have missions in South Greenland but they are not allowed to stretch farther north than 65 degrees and it is only recently that they were allowed to baptize a Mary they are a self denying set of men and women but much too austere for the Greenlanders temporal welfare round a Moravian settlement the natives are generally a miserable ragged set of wretches attendance at church three times a day allowing of little time to attend to seal catching the Danes though they bring out stores like them the proverbial professional hatred not being starved even out of Greenland and moreover the Hernd Hussians are Germans there is not now a real healthy pagan in Danish Greenland Hans Hendricks Smith Sound Wife so celebrated in Dr. Hayes' narrative being the last but Zhang Hu's pretty daughter whose love episode poor Kane has told us all about is now settled down at proven a regularly Christian woman occasionally a wandering savage or two comes round Cape farewell from the east coast from unknown lands only a few years ago some came to be on luck declaring that it was two years since they had left their homes in the far north somewhere near the pole doubtless such windfalls are however soon pounced upon by the nearest parson and baptized Nolan's Rowlands under the name of Peter or Jens or Hans and a most cherishing description of his conversion instantly dispatched by the next ship to the Don Scott Missionaire did Scott grift the last real pagan however it was an old fellow who lived up at Uber Novick in 70 degrees north latitude when asked to be a Christian he would slap his broad chest and shout in a voice as if from a drum why should I be baptized I can provide for my family I don't hang on the whites like the baptized Greenlanders and so he lived and died this representative man every Sunday there is service and the little wooden church the men sitting on one side and the women on the other the priest is a sight for gods and men clad in his seal skin trousers and boots with a dog skin jacket the color which beeps up above his high Lutheran rough services in Eskimo as are also the sweetly sung hymns and Eskimo plays the organ very well indeed while the congregation in tone out some such hymn as the following scare but sir met the tanko up cow to go a gut so our poke in our long got lower more poop etc on a summer morning when it is in session their issues through the cracks in the church door and I'm a state of the odor of ancient seal the church wall seems to be a regular place for hanging up all sorts of implements of the chase for instance there's a muscular to hanging in the corner some paddles and seal lines all on the outside it seems as if some of O Pliny's hyperbore had hung up their arms on the walls of the temple of Neptune in gratitude for their escape from shipwreck in section 90 this recording is in the public domain