The •angekut are somewhat acquainted with physics, particularly meteorology ; they observe the weather with great attention, and from the state of the atmosphere they make very accurate conclusions respecting its changes, even at a distance of three or four days; and as the natives procure their food from the sea,this habit is of great import ance to them. The angekut are also the physicians of their countrymen, and prescribe generally a certain diet, as most of the diseases result from their very irregular mode of living. if diet is ineffectual, amulets are applied, presented in bones of different animals, particularly of rein deers and seals. The most common diseases arc eruptions of the skin ; one is a sort of small pimple, which in a very short time covers the whOle body ; the best remedy is to drink a decoction of ledum groenlandieum. The other is a kind of leprosy, which infects their whole body with can cerous boils and scurf. Those who are afflicted with it, are abandoned by their relations, and die in the greatest misery. The smallpox and measles were formerly un known to them, but were conveyed from time to time by European vessels to these poor people, and committed dreadful devastations. These diseases are mortal to the Greenlanders, their skins being so dirty and oily as to pre vent the eruption. In the year 1733, the first year of the mission, 3000 people died of the smallpox. But vaccina tion is now employed by the Danish government with great success. All the other diseases which arise, where the air is condensed by cold, and perspiration is obstructed, are very common in Greenland. A wounded or fractured limb is cured very quickly by themselves, but they have no remedies for internal diseases, such as consumption, blood-spitting, pleurisy and diarrhea. Scurvy is not very common amongst them, as they do not use salt meat or fish. The want of food, to which they frequently are ex posed in winter, produces very serious complaints, which are particularly perceptible in the following spring. It frequently happens in winter, when the frozen sea refuses the necessary supply to the wretched family, when the last thong of leather is swallowed up, and when there is no longer oil to burn in their lamps, that the hunter returns with an animal, and some of these poor creatures devour the raw or half-boiled meat, and falling victims to the in dulgence of their appetite, instantly die of indigestion.
They bury their dead generally on a small hill, in a sit ting posture, dressed in their best clothes, and covered with seal-skin. The land being a mass of rocks, the inhabit ants are obliged to build graves of stone, which are co vered with plates of mica slate, or clay :slate, to prevent carnivorous animals from destroying the bodies. Their kajaks (canoes), instruments, and utensils, are placed by the side of the grave. They return from the burial-place to the house of the deceased, to continue the lamentation, which consists of a dreadful monotonous howling, support ed by all the attendants, who sit with their faces turned to the ground. When this is over, some refreshment is taken, and each returns to his own house.
The whole coast of Greenland, receiving the beams of the sun in a very oblique direction, is deprived of that ge neral comfort which other parts of the earth enjoy-. The
soil being shallow, is frozen during the greater part of the year ; and the ice having taken possession of all the of this barren and rocky land, the winds which blow over these are, even in summer, extremely cold. The prevailing winds are those from the east and north-east, north west and north. The cold which the north-eastern wind brings in winter is almost insupportable ; and the thermometer is very often at —35° or 36° of Reaumur (-48° of Fahrenheit). The winds which blow directly from the sea (Davis Strait), are moist and generally attended with rains, in winter with snow and sleet ; and are more boisterous in spring and au tumn than in other seasons. Winds reflected from the moun tains, and striking through the vallics with great violence, are extremely dangerous to vessels sailing near the coast. Strong stormy winds from the W. or S.W. always break the sea-ice even in the middle of winter. The cold sets in with the month of January, accompanied with but little snow, which generally falls either before or after that time. More snow falls in the south than in the north. The sea does not freeze before the beginning of January, forming thus on its surface clammy spherical concretions, which in crease rapidly, and as they join together, present a crust of the thickness of an inch in a very few hours. This coagu lation only takes place when the sea is calm. Previous to that operation of nature, the sea smokes, like burning turf land ; and a fog or mist arises, called frost-smoke. This cutting mist frequently raises blisters on the face and hands, and is very pernicious to the health. It appears to con sist of small particles of ice, and produces the sensation of needles pricking the skin. The same icy particles carri ed up by the wind, cause probably another phenomenon which is frequently seen in winter round the moon, a ring of light, or halo, called by the Greenlanders Illuparosek ; this ring appears at a great distance from the moon, and haS a fine pearly lustre. It is seen at a time when the horizon is quite clear, and every star may be distinguished. Mock suns are also very frequently seen in this country, lint only in winter. In January 1809, six were observed at the same time, all of a pale yellow colour. The remotest was paler than the others.—See HALO.
Of all the phenomena peculiar to this country, the au rora borealis is the most beautiful. It streams here with peculiar lustre, and with a of colours, which hav ing great brilliancy, sometimes dart their sportive fire, and fill the whole horizon with the most beautiful tints of the rainbow. They are very rarely observed in the north of the horizon, commonly in the east and in the zenith. They appear sometimes to stand very low, and then they are much agitated, and a crashing and crackling sound is heard like that of an electric spark, or of the falling hail. They are more frequent and more powerful from the 60th to the 67th degree than in higher latitudes. The Greenlanders believe, that they are the souls of the deceased fighting together in the air.