The Religion, or rather Superstition, of the Greenlanders.
THE Greenlanders’ ignorance of a Creator would make one believe they were atheists, or rather naturalists. For, when they have been asked from whence they thought that Heaven and Earth had their origin, they have answered nothing, but that it had always been so. But if we consider, that they have some notion of the immortality of souls[36], and that there is another much happier life after this; moreover, as they are addicted to different kinds of superstition, and that they hold there is a Spiritual Being, which they call Torngarsuk, to whom they{184} ascribe a supernatural power, though not the creation or the production of creatures (of whose origin they tell many absurd and ridiculous stories), all this, I say, supposes some sort of worship; although they do not themselves, out of their brutish stupidity, understand or infer so much, or make use of the light of nature and the remaining spark of the image of God in their souls, to consider the invisible being of God by his visible works, which is the creation of the world.—Rom. i. For which reason, instead of attaining the knowledge of God and true religion, they are unhappily fallen into many gross superstitions.
But notwithstanding that all these superstitions are authorized by, and grounded upon the notion they have of him they call Torngarsuk, whom their lying angekuts or prophets hold for their oracle, whom they consult on all occasions, yet the commonalty know little or nothing of him, except the name only: nay even the angekuts themselves are divided in the whimsical ideas they have formed of his{185} being; some saying he is without any form or shape; others giving him that of a bear, others again pretending he has a large body and but one arm; and some make him as little as a finger. There are those who hold he is immortal, and others, that a puff of wind can kill him. They assign him his abode in the lower regions of the Earth, where they tell you there is constantly fine sunshiny weather, good water, deer, and fowls in abundance. They also say he lives in the water; wherefore, when they come to any water, of which they have not drank before, and there be any old man in the company, they make him drink first, in order to take away its Torngarsuk, or the malignant quality of the water, which might make them sick and kill them. They hold furthermore, that a spirit resides in the air, which they name Innertirrirsok, that is, the Moderator or Restrainer, because it is pursuant to his order, that the angekuts command the people to restrain or abstain from certain things or{186} actions, that they may not come into harm’s way. According to their theology, or mythology, there is yet one spirit, harbinger of the air, whom they stile Erloersortok, which signifies a Gutter, because he guts the deceased, and feeds upon their intestines. His countenance, they say, is very ghastly and haggard, hollow eyes and cheeks, like a body that is starved.
Each element has its governor or president, which they call Innu?[37]; from whence{187} the angekuts receive their torngak, or familiar spirits. For every angekkok has a torngak, who attends him, after he has ten times conjured in the dark.
Some have their own deceased parents for their torngak, and others get theirs out of some of our nation, who they say discharge their fire arms when they wait before the entry of the place where the angekkok performs his conjuration. Whether Torngak and Torngarsuk be one and the same thing I shall not decide; but certain it is, that one is derived from the other. From Torngarsuk the angekuts pretend they learn the art of conjuring; which they are taught in this method. If one aspires to the office of an angekkok, and has a mind to be initiated into these mysteries, he must retire from the rest of mankind, into some remote place, from all{188} commerce; there he must look for a large stone, near which he must sit down and invoke Torngarsuk, who, without delay, presents himself before him. This presence so terrifies the new candidate of angekutism, that he immediately sicken, swoons away, and dies; and in this condition he lies for three whole days; and then he comes to life again, arises in a newness of life, and betakes himself to his home again. The science of an angekkok consists of three things. 1. That he mutters certain spells over sick people, in order to make them recover their former health. 2. He communes with Torngarsuk, and from him receives instruction, to give people advice what course they are to take in affairs, that they may have success, and prosper therein. 3. He is by the same informed of the time and cause of any body’s death; or for what reason any body comes to an untimely and uncommon end; and if any fatality shall befal a man. And though this lying spirit of the angekuts is oftentimes found out by their gross mistakes, when the events do not answer their false predictions,{189} as commonly happens; yet, for all that, they are in great honour and esteem among this stupid and ignorant nation, insomuch that nobody ever dare refuse the strictest obedience to what they command him in the name of Torngarsuk, fearing, that, in case of disobedience, some great affliction and misfortune may happen to him. Among many other fibs, and most impudent lies, they make also these silly stupid wretches believe, that they can, with hands and feet tied, mount up to Heaven, and see how matters stand there; and likewise descend to Hell, or the lower regions of the Earth, where the fierce Torngarsuk keeps his court. A young angekkok must not undertake this journey but in the fall of the year, by reason, that then the lowermost Heaven, which they take the rainbow to be, is nearest to the Earth.
The farce or imposture is thus acted: a number of spectators assemble in the evening at one of their houses, where, after it is grown{190} dark, every one being seated, the angekkok causes himself to be tied, his head between his legs and his hands behind his back, and a drum is laid at his side; thereupon, after the windows are shut and the light put out, the assembly sings a ditty, which, they say, is the composition of their ancestors; when they have done singing the angekkok begins with conjuring, muttering, and brawling; invokes Torngarsuk, who instantly presents himself, and converses with him (here the masterly juggler knows how to play his trick, in changing the tone of his voice, and counterfeiting one different from his own, which makes the too credulous hearers believe, that this counterfeited voice is that of Torngarsuk, who converses with the angekkok.) In the mean while he works himself loose, and, as they believe, mounts up into Heaven through the roof of the house, and passes through the air till he arrives into the highest of heavens, where the souls of angekkut poglit, that is, the chief angekkuts, reside, by{191} whom he gets information of all he wants to know. And all this is done in the twinkling of an eye.
Concerning the angekkut poglit, whom we just now mentioned, as they pass for the heads of the clergy, and are reckoned the most eminent and wisest of all, they also must pass through the inferior orders, and several hard trials, before they can attain to this high degree of pre-eminency; for none is deemed worthy of such a dignity, but he that has made his noviciateship in the lower rank, as an ordinary angekkok. The trial he must undergo, is this: they tie his hands and feet, as aforesaid, and after the light is put out, and they are all left in darkness (that nobody may see how the trick is played, and their imposture be discovered), then they pretend that a white bear enters the room, takes hold of his great toe with his teeth, and dragging him along to the sea shore, jumps with him into the sea, where a morse is ready, and takes hold of him by his privy parts, de{192}vouring him, together with the white bear. A little while after all his bones are thrown in upon the floor, one after another, not one missing; and then his soul rises up off the ground, which gathers the bones, and animates the whole body again, and up starts the man, a hale and entire as ever he was; and thus he is made an angekkok poglik.
The angekkuts, as before observed, are kept in great honour and esteem, and beloved and cherished as a wise and useful set of men; they are also well rewarded for their service, when it is wanted. But, on the contrary, there is another sort of conjurers or sorcerers, especially some decrepid old women, which they call illiseersut, or witches, who persuade themselves and others, that, by the virtue of their spells and witchcraft they can hurt people in their life and goods. These are not upon the same footing with the angekkuts; for as soon as any one incurs only the suspicion of such demeanor, he or she is hated and detested by every body, and at{193} last made away with, without mercy, as a plague to mankind, and not deemed worthy to live.
Moreover the angekkuts abuse the people’s credulity, making them believe, that they can cure all sorts of diseases; though they apply such remedies as have no virtue in them to cure, such as muttering of spells, and blowing upon the sick bodies; wherein they resemble to a hair those conjurers of which the prophet Isaiah speaks, chapter viii, verse 19.
And if by chance any one, who has been under these jugglers’ hands, recovers, they do not fail to ascribe it to the virtue of their juggling tricks. At times they use this way of curing the sick; they lay him upon his back, and tie a ribbon, or a string, round his head, having a stick fastened to the other end of the string, with which they lift up the sick person’s head from the ground, and let it down again; and at every lift he communes with his Torgak, or familiar spirit, about the state of the patient, whether he shall recover or not; now, if his{194} head is heavy in lifting it, it is with them a sign of death; if light, of recovery[38]. Notwithstanding all this, I am loth to believe, that, in these spells and conjurings, there is any real commerce with the devil; for to me it clearly appears, that there is nothing in it but mere fibs, juggling tricks, and impostures, made use of by these crafty fellows for the sake of filthy lucre, for they are well paid for their pains. Nevertheless, it cannot be denied, but that the evil spirit has a hand in all this, and is the chief actor upon this stage, to keep these poor wretches in their chains, and hinder them from coming to the true knowledge of God.
The angekkuts can also persuade whom they please, that th............