The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-09-13
IN THE FROZEN NORTH.
Everyday Life in Greenland DiskO and Its
People.

i
a professional way and at one time found HIM
self in Greenland. OF life in that land of per-
petual cold he wrote:
"a sunny pleasant little spot is Disko,p says
/ the great correspondent just now. during its
| few short weeks of summer, when the grass is
peeping out timidly between the rocks. and the
great round. smooth powders exchange their
winter dress of snow for one of moss, deep. green
and soft when the melted snow comes tumbling
! down the ravines in white, feecy torrents and
the tall, rugged cliffs in the glow of the summer
sun turn warm, reddish purple. like a great
red curtain drawn across to shelter the little
| bay from the biting northern blasts. Altogether
/ the place has a warm comfortable look, very
/ agreeable after the chilly winds and ley air Of
| those northern seas
Eve took walk about the village. The peo-
| pie, young and old, men, women and children,
! turned out to see us, and greeted us with pleas
ant smiles many Of them giving us good morn
ing in English which they pronounced very
| we'll
1.-THE girls were all dressed in their best finery,
and some of them, especially those who had
Danish blood, were very pretty; only it
rather difficult at rso to bring oneself to believe
that they were girls at all.
This is the country for Mrs Boomer; the
women all wear trousers and would scout the
idea of anything else as absurd and probably in
decent l should pity the girl who tried to in
troduce the fashion Of petticoats in Greenland
The brazen faced thing!' would be tine verdict
of every Disko woman and Dsko society would
know her no more
THE Disko costume appears very funny until
you get accustomed to it. but rather pretty, new
ertheless The hair is done up in kind of top
knot on the crown of the head: loose fitting
jacket, made ofany kind of light thin stuff of any
color, trimmed with fur collar reaching to the
waist; pair of sealskin trousers, the hairy side
out, descend nearly to the knee where they are
confined with garter pair of boots meet
the trousers at the knee, the feet and ankles be
ing OF red leather, the upper portion of white
linen. trimmed with fur around the tops. Imae-
inc pretty girl clothed in this costume with
the darkest, demurest eyes and the sunniest
brown complexion ever painted by sunshine and
sea breezes and ocean spray, and you have a fair
idea of d Disko girl. You should see them trip
ping about in their little red BOOTS that scarcely
seem to touch the ground, so soft in their tread
or sprnging over the rocks like young antelopes
to know how charming girl may be in boots and
breaches. And they have the daintiest little feet
and hands. too--feet and hands that would make
the prettiest American or English burst with
envy, so finely shaped, SO small, so delicate and
yet so strong
These girls dance like sylphs. a fact we soon
discovered. 1t is the custom in Disko to give
hall to every ship that comes there, and the
Pandora, of course, could not form an exception
to.the rule The entertainment proved to be
very great success
THE festive hall was no other than the work
shop of Diskos lonely carpenter, which had been
cleaned and transformed for the OCCASION and
inscribed over the door. in chalk, the following
legend: Musi chat dor ope not O'clock
which Esquimaux attempt at written litera-
ture was finally dec1phered to mean: Music
Hall door open at s o'clock Further ihves,
tigation proved that this was the only record the
Alert and Discovery had left of their visit here.
Il will not deny that this hall, twelve feet by
fifteen, was perhaps a little warm and close
when twenty of our blue jackets and the whole
population of the village had crowded into it,
and that a little more room might have been
desirable But there were no pettcoats no
tn ma tra led a
woman took no more space than man, and
that made vast deal of difference After 4
while, however. we found the place so oppres-
sively hot that we decided to adjourn to the
open air.
The dancing was continued outside with re-
/ newed enthusiasm, and am ready TO aver that
l never enjoyed q dance more in my life Off
GERS and blue jackets all mixed together on eqna
terms, and went through waltzes, polkas and
cotillons with vigor and good will only to be
acquired by forty days at sea.
MY partner was demure little beauty with
dark slightly amond-shaped eyes, a skin as
brown as that of the nut-brown maid herself
| the reddest ripest lips and the daintiest little
feet that were ever seem A greater pleasure
even than to encrcle her slender waist or to gaze
into her dark eyes, was to watch her little red
booted feet as they skinned over the ground |
like the wings of a sea bird over the waves-a |
pleasure quite lost when you dance with girl |
who wears petticoats! The motion of dancing I
had caused her boots to settle down. leaving lust
L
contrasting with the white starched linen tops /
of the boots, appeared as brown as walnut |
This popularity of the Disco girls is a hit of |
coquetry by which they probably Indemnify |
themselves for not wearing low necked dresses |
But girl who should expose her bust as a Euro
pean lady does at a ball or theater would be |
hooted out of the village.
II could not talk much with her. but | had
been studying Eskimo with Joe and could say |
good many things. though, as IS always the case,
not the things wanted to say. | opened the /
conversation during one of these pauses III the |
dance by uttering the following easy little word,
which had learned from Joe for the occasion:
"Audlarhartiguemangr ihyermaarmerical' / |
asked, in as careessly natural voice as Icould. |
'sShe looked at me in doubt
"Nuliagurga!" lcontinued gravey.
She evidently regarded it as somewhat |
abrupt way of opening conversation, but she |
grasped the situation instantly, smilingly kissed
her hand to me and, with merry little laugh, |
replied. 'Ukharluguangutil,' which would be |
equivalent in English to You must ask pa,
please
But her pa was away fishing expeditions
distance of three or four days march, and as
the Pandora steamed out of the little bay an
hour after our dance was over, the match was
untimely broken off.
1T should not be forgotten about these girls /
that they were all very well behaved They al
lowed the men not even kiss nor squeeze of
the hand. They knew as we'll how to maintain
their dignity and keep the people at proper
distance as any other young ladies. They were
all good Christians and church going people, be-
longing do ali the Esquimanx Of Greenland, /
to some form of Lutheran faith, to which they |
have been converted by the mild and benehcent
influence of the kindly Danes. They have a |
neat little wooden church. where they have re-
ligious service every Sunday. and apastor, VINO |
goes the rounds of a district and appears among |
them three or four times year, and they lead a |
quiet innocent, virtuous and. to all appearances,
happy life in their little icehound world The |
summer is probably the most lonesome time for |
Them as nearly all the men are away then on |
the hunting and fishing grounds We only saw /
about five or six about the village, but they took |
no part in the festivities, and the girls look for
ships touching here--a very rare occurrence-as |
the great event of the summer