Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1892-05-11


was scratched a sort of Y reversed.
The sender had prudently given an
PLANTATION to the bearer: "If the CHRIST
ian angekok does not understand This
symbol, will tell him tlIat / want q
pair of breeches, but / need not say
this, for he will understand" Ano;h T
time, an aUgekok announced that his
projected voyage to heaven had uot
quite s1cceeded: his sunl had risen TO
celestial regions, but his body could
not quit the earth.
A lady who ha two husbands and
practiced magic with til, N, affirmed
at she and her two accompIices had
no dealings with the devil; hut they
could converse with ghosts. She said
she had recently pad visit to the
mother of earth whom she f und
had dined with her on founder.
The angekoks often proved more
than n match for their Christian op-
ponents IN argument, and the mission
aries zeal in suppressing them is COM
prehensible. though much to be re-
gretted. When ChrIstianit was first
intro 1uced, the natl es made strong
objections to several dogmas. The Es-
klmos asked Paul Egede why our Lord
had not allowed tn IN o receive Christ
ianity sooner, for then their ancestors
might have gone to heaven too.
Another missionary having tod a ma
tive that Christ cast the wicked into
hell-tire. the latter replied, eff God is
so cruel as that. L don't care to go to
heaven" Resisting all further attempts
to convert him he added-"u don't un-
ders and a word of all that; and l am
going fishing" The Eskimos regarded
original sin as an institution peculiar
to the Kablunaks (EurCpeans), saying
that they themselves being chiefly good
people, will reach Paradise without
difficulty. They always wonder how
Adam and Eve could have b zen so silly
as to let serpent beguile them, and
ask why God did not war; them of
their danger. The DANISH coIonists
we're by no means so moderate as they
should; have been in their dealings
with the angekoks. When rIdicule and
persuasion failed they were too apt to,
have recourse to blows. In fact, rel g.
ious discussions backed up by argu-
ments Gd hOniaem, appear to have
been the missionaries favorite sport.
As all these anecdotes tend to show,
the Eskimos are simple-minded race,
good tempered, somewhat conceited.
loving to be amused and to laugh at
their neighbors. Their leedlessness
often exposes them to severe suffering
which they patiently and quickly for
get. But amiable and pleasant as they
are to each other, and to foreigners
with whom they are intimate, there is
a strange element of cruelty in them.
They kill every creature they come
across merely for sport, and have alb
solutely no pity for age or mfr n
ity. The old and sick are lett elp-
less and comfortless, and hardly
given Deedful food and clothing.
Several instances are quoted,
before the Danish settlement IN Green
land, of cripples being buried alive or
murdered by their relatives. True,
this was sometimes done at the request
of the victims themselves, who ionged
to have done with the sufferihgs OF
this mortal life.
All Eskimos, whether pure or half
breed, have au excellent opinion of
themselves. The son of a Swe lish
cook and a Greenland squaw, who
thought himself a very important
person, answered when asked if the
Governor were a greater man than he,
"Well, | am not sure. The inspector
is certainly richer than myself and
commands more men than | do. But
at Copenhagen he has superiors whom
he must obey; while have no superb
or" Every skillful hunter probably
shares this view, and if game he plcnti-
full and the feast after the hunt gay he
Is satisfied with his fate, and reg lrds
himself as perfectly happy. The
Greenlanders are certainly a clever
an intelli gent people, more suscepti-
bic of civilization than most natives OF
the New World, as is proved by the
ease with which they learn to read an d
write.
Eskimos who have made no long
voyages, believe their country to be
the most beautiful in the world; and
cir race the most talented, most in
tel!igent, most polished, very superior
to the savage, cowardly indians, aud
also TO the avaricIous, quarrelsome
Kablunaks who crossed the seas in
huge treasure-laden "oumiaks." none
of whom can hunt even passably.
Greenlandeis still cling to this opin-
ion. But their frequent intercourse
with the Danes, and the reports of
their friends Who have been TO EL
rope, have given them notion of the
superiority of European inventive
genius, and the bad impression made
by the whalersand convicrs transported
to Greenland, has been effaced by the
devotion of the missionaries aud the
kindness of the officials of the Guild OF
Commerce.