Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1893-02-01

dogs.
Hoardlng and saving are things un-
known among the Greenlanders.
There is a community Of all goods
amongst them: If the lamps in one
igloo burn low for want of blubber, so
it is within all the neighboring huts.
The successful hunter never thinks OF
hiding tie result of his skill and nights
of sleepless watching-no. he calls tis
neighbors, who come down to the
shore in crowds, women and all, with
their uU IS, (women's knives), and there
! and then "hense" 4. e. skin and cut up,
| Whatever game the unselfish Innuit has
brought home. Although throughout
Danish Greenland, the religion of the
Lutheran church is firmly established,
there still are many curious traces of
their old beliefs, which in many in
stances they have managed to weave
into the doctrines inculcated by Hans
! Egede and his successors.
: Mr.. Hall found that the Eskimo took
little pleasure in occult science; to him
: speculation of "rhe Beginning of
/ Things" had but few allurements. His
account of the creation of man, has .
! dry, unconscious humor about it. Ac-
/ cording to him. the first man made by
"The Great Beng" was failure, and
was cast aside and called Kod luna,
which means white man. A second
attempt of the Great Being resulted in
the formation of "perfect man, and
! he is called Iunu or Eskimo.
OF heaven and hell he thus sums up
/ the attributes:
Rood-le-rdr- nlt-ung (heaven) is up
ward. Everybody happy there. All
the time light, no snow, no ice, no
storms; always pleasant, no trouble,
never tired, sing and play all the time
all his will go On without end.
Ad-Le-par-1ae-ua (hslD Is downward.
Always dark there, no sun, trouble
there always, snow flying all the time,
terrible storms, cold, oh, very cold;
great deal of ice there. All who go
there must stop forever.
Only good Innuits (Esquimaux go 10
! KoOdLepdrmiunQ, those who have been
kind to poor and hungry. No one
killed by accident or who kills himself
can get there.
They have tradition of the Deluge
which they attribute to "a very high
tide" and will say: earth once all
covered with water. Why2 Look at
the tops of the mountains and you will
find shells and stones that live only In
the sea"
The EsquImsux language contains no
'scolding words" nor does a father or
mother ever think of beating an undu-
tilul child. A prolonged silence fol-
lows upon any act of misconduct; the
offended, child or adult, is ostracised
for time, no one speaking to the cul
prit. But where a neighbor has done
another a wrong, the one who thinks
he has been wronged or insulted, calls
all his friends around him and then
war of words eusues. The friends sit
round, while the injured one takes a
drum, and there and then commences
to sing a satirical song, eItempore, re-
lating the others misdeeds and turn
ing him into ridicule, beating on the
drum the while.
When he has finished comes the turn
OF the other, who sat stolidly by dur.
ing these cutting attacks. He rises up
with sealskin tamborine and sings his
song. He who makes the audience
laugh most Is judged to be in the right.
These ''nith songs" as they are termed,
are very quaint, containing, rs they in
variably do, smart hits at blunders
made in Kyaking or seal fishing, or
nate swain to get wife.
The male and female Greenlander
dress nearly alike. The narrow door
sort OF petticoat The dress consists
of tight-fitring jacket and trousers.
made of sealskiu, several pairs of warm
stockings, and over these ,top-boots OF
sealskiD. The women bind handker-
OH
their top-knots of black hair to stand
straight up upon their heads, and to
their tickets is attached a hood or
"amowt," =" In which the babies nestle,
warm and snug, Just psepinR over their
mothers shoulders.
The house consists Of one room, di-
vided by a ledge, which is partitioued
off into stalls or sleeping eompartme nts.
The walls are hung with skins and the
floor paved with fiat stones. The en-
trail of the seal, strained on frame,
serves as a window, while in the mid
die of the room stands the stone trough,
which, filled with oil, is the Greenland
er's ''all in all" without this lamp he
could not live-he has no water other
than the snow melted over the precious
lamp; by the lamp they dry their cloth
DOOls huu ebOChlllR, huu
stockings. and boil the seaPs blood and
the grateful coffee; round Its glowing
hight they gather and tell tales of
''hair-breadth scapes by sea and
land"
The duty of keeping the lamp well
filled devolyes upon the ladies of the
household, who bite off bits of blub-
ber, chew them, suck out the oil and
spirit it into cone-like dishes. So eX
pert are they, that the oil comes out
of this dental mill unmixed with any
particle of moisture, and so rapidly is
it done that lamp is filed in few
minutes.
Space will not permit of description
IN detail of the curious laws and cus-
toms OF this interesting race, which,
alas in spite of Denmark's maternal
watchfulness, is fast dying out. They
have peculiar reluctance to pronounce
their own names. On being asked his
name, q Greenlander will nudge his
neighbor, who then, also reluctantly,
whispers something to him, whereupon
the first one plainly replies: "Iakugok"
/. e,"he says THAT my name Isl Jacob"
Thus does DR.. Rink describe this
amusing trait, and, among the many
quaint episodes IN the life of the prim-
tive Greenlander so graphically de-
scribed by him, our lady readers will
be Interested in the account of: "a
Greenlander's Courtship and Mar
riage.'
The suitor comes to tue priest and
the proce edIngs are then as follows:
The suitor: 'I should like to have a
wife"
The priest: "Whom?"
He names her.
"HGst thou SPOKEN with her?"
Sometimes they say, "Yes, she j. not
unwilling, but thou knowe,t woman
kind" More frequently they answer
"No "
"Why not?" says the priest
at is difficult; girls ere prudish, thou
must speak to her, suswers the wooer,
who, though brave hunter, is timid
lover.
In this case the priest summons the
girl. She comes. and aftel some casual
questiors, he begins the proposal in
= a fnlloutnu