Man's understanding was originally enlightened to know the law of God, and his will and affections were inclined to obey its enactments. Love is the fulfilling of the law, and love worketh no ill to his neighbour. But now that this holy law has been defaced from the mind of man by sin, and all the affections of his heart run in direct opposition to its holy, just, and good requirements, mankind have found it necessary, for the preservation of the peace of society, to establish laws which should govern men, by operating upon those corrupt motives which now influence human conduct.

The two great powers by which human society, unhinged as it is from God, is preserved from total disorder and ruin, are civil law and the law of opinion. It requires no depth of discernment to see, that, if the influence which the dread of punishment and disgrace exercises upon the conduct of men were withdrawn, this world would be a hell of confusion and misery; and, therefore, men see the expediency of employing these corrupt motives for the preservation of social order. We have seen that the Greenlanders have not the benefit of civil laws; but what they lose in this respect, they endeavour to make up, by bringing the law of opinion into stronger operation. If they do not restrain men by fear of punishment, they find they must restrain them by the dread of disgrace. The means which they employ for this purpose are very singular.

If a Greenlander thinks himself aggrieved by another, he discovers no symptoms of anger or vexation, but he composes a satirical poem, which he recites, with singing and dancing, in the presence of his domestics, and particularly the female part of his family, till they know it by rote. He then, in the face of the whole country, challenges his antagonist to a satirical duel. The latter appears at the appointed place, and both parties enter the lists. The complainant begins to sing his satire, dancing to the beat of the drum, and cheered by the shoutings of his partisans, who join every line, while he repeats so many ludicrous stories of which his adversary is the subject, that the auditors cannot forbear laughing. When he has finished, his opponent steps forth, and retorts the accusation, amidst the applauses of his party, by a similar string of raillery. The accu

MORAL CHARACTER OF THE NATIVES.

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ser renews the assault, and is again rebuffed; and this continues till one of the competitors is weary. He who has the last word wins the trial, and obtains thenceforward a reputable name. An opportunity is here offered for telling very plain and cutting truths, but there must be no mixture of rudeness or passion.

"This contest," observes Mr. Crantz, "serves a higher purpose than mere diversion. It is an excellent opportunity for putting immorality to the blush, and cherishing virtuous principles; for reminding debtors of the duty of payment; for branding falsehood and detraction with infamy; for punishing fraud and injustice; and, most of all, for overwhelming adultery with its merited contempt. Nothing so effectually restrains a Greenlander from vice, as the dread of public disgrace. And this pleasant way of revenge even prevents many from wreaking their malice in acts of violence and bloodshed. Still it is easy to see that the whole affair depends upon volubility of tongue; and the most celebrated satirists and moral philosophers of the Greenlanders, are generally the most profligate in their lives."

As to the morality of the Greenlanders, being ignorant of the true God, they of course do nothing that is acceptable in his sight; yet do they live in society as peaceably as most other people; and, by the peculiar circumstances in which they are placed, are preserved from many of those gross enormities which are common in other nations; but still we see enough, even upon the surface of their history, to convince any one that they, like all heathens and unbelievers, are dead in trespasses and sins, and that however they may be restrained from certain gross vices, and excited to the practice of some seeming virtues, by the influence of corrupt motives, still they carry within them, entwined around and bound up with their very being, all those principles of depravity, which, although their acting is restrained by love of the praise or fear of the anger of man, by considerations of self-interest as to health or property, and by the force of conflicting lusts, do still tend to exhibit, even in their external history, such a character as the Holy Spirit has drawn of the heathen in the sacred Scriptures. "And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them

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over to a reprobate mind, to those things which are not convenient being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant-breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: who knowing the judgment of God (that they which commit such things are worthy of death), not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them," Rom. i. 28-32.

The truth of these observations will be sufficiently manifest in the course of the history: we shall, however, subjoin some illustrations.

Å Greenlander will not rob, murder, strike another, nor vent his anger in open violence, because it might cost him or his dearest friend his life. Again, they must demean themselves regularly, decently, and peaceably towards one another, or else their reputation would be blasted by common fame. The young people must treat one another with decency and due reserve, or they would forfeit their good name and fortune. Their apparent love to one another, their amicable disposition, and obliging services in domestic life, and their hospitality towards strangers, do not issue from a native benevolence or compassion towards the helpless (we shall see the reverse presently), but from self-love and interest. It is their interest to impart of their abundance to the rest of the house, that they may receive as much from them again. They must help their neighbours, that their neighbours may help them. They must be hospitable to strangers, that their name may be extolled all over the country, and that they may receive the same treatment, when, according to custom, they travel all round the land, and have no time to procure provisions for themselves. In short, the character our Saviour gave the heathen, Matt. v., that they only love those that love them, and do good to those from whom they expect the same, is truly verified in the Greenlanders.

Many particulars which characterize the intercourse of the Greenlanders with each other, clearly shew that selfishness is the root from which their most specious

CRUELTY TO WIDOWS AND ORPHANS.

virtues grow.

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Where this corrupt motive does not operate, the unfeeling cruelty of their natural character quickly discovers itself.

For instance, if a stranger die, and leave no near relations, or sons that can soon be of service, no one will take charge of the fatherless family, except somebody happen to want a maid-servant. No one gives them either food or shelter, but they rob them of the best they have, and afterwards they can see the poor people perish with cold, and starve with hunger, with as much indifference as if they were creatures of another species. If people ashore see a kayak overset at sea, and the unfortunate man is no relation nor has particularly served them, they behold with insensibility, nay, with a certain entertainment, his vain struggles to save himself. It is too much trouble for them to step into their kayak, and hasten to his help; and should they be incommoded with the shrieks and cries of the female relations, they slink away. But if they put to sea together, they will help one another up, because that is not much trouble to them. The cruelty of the Greenland character also appears in the treatment of animals ; even the children can torture a poor little useless bird to death with a savage pleasure; nay, so little compassion and sympathy is found among them, that it does not shew itself even in the sex that is commonly soft and tender by nature.

But the selfishness and cruelty of the Greenland character is most manifest in the treatment of widows and orphans. When a poor destitute widow, that has no near relations, lies with her children on the ground, bewailing the loss of her husband almost to distraction, she is visited by her neighbours, who, at the same time that they bear the accents of condolence on the tongue, only seek their own advantage, by purloining the property of her deceased husband. The despoiled widow has no court of judicature in which to lodge her complaint, or sue to for a recovery; and so she and her children must submit to the cruel injustice of their countrymen. A little while they protract life, by eating fishes, muscles, and sea-grass, but finally they must starve and freeze to death, having no clothing or lampoil. Thus it may be truly said of this heathen people,

"Every one loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards : they judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them." But they had not heard the words of the Almighty-" Ye shall not afflict any widow or fatherless child: if thou afflict them in any wise, and they cry at all unto me, I will surely hear their cry; and my wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the sword, and yonr wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless." The happy alteration which took place, when these commands were written upon the hearts of the Greenlanders in the blood of Jesus, will appear in the course of this history.

Before any Missionaries arrived in the country, the Greenlanders were supposed to be gross idolaters, who prayed to the sun, and sacrificed to the devil, that he might be propitious to them in their fishery. Mariners were not led to these conclusions from conversing with the natives, whose language they could not understand, but from various observations which they made of them. They saw that the Greenlanders every morning, as soon as they arose, stood on some eminence, apparently buried in thought, with their eyes directed to the rising sun, in order to conjecture from the colour of the sky, or the motion of the clouds, whether fair or stormy weather was to be expected. This is still their regular practice; but the sailors, who were ignorant of their motive, imagined that they were paying their devotions to the rising luminary. Others observed, in deserted places, numerous square enclosures, and on an elevated stone, some cinders, with a heap of bare bones lying upon them-this was quite sufficient to induce the belief that the Greenlanders had performed sacrifices there. But these enclosures were the summer residences of the Greenlanders, who pitch their tents in such rectangular forms, and use the coals for cooking their provisions.

The poor Greenlanders had, in fact, no public worship, nor any ceremonies which might be construed into the service of the Deity. There is no word in their language for the Divine Being, from whence the first Missionaries were led to imagine that they had no conception whatever of a God. Upon being asked who made the heavens, earth, and every thing around them, they answered, "We cannot tell;" or, "We know