particular attention to be paid to the three savages who had survived the preceding, and the five who had been imported by the last expedition to Greenland. They were fed upon milk, butter, and cheese, as well as upon raw flesh and raw fish, to which they had been accustomed at home. They appeared to have an invincible repugnance to our baked bread and dressed meat; nor did they relish any kind of wine so much as the oil and grease of the whale. They often turned a wishful and desponding look to the North; and sighed so anxiously to return to the place of their nativity, that, whenever they were watched with less vigilance than usual, those who had an opportunity seized any boat that was at hand and put to sea, regardless of the dangers they had to encounter. A storm once overtook some of these intrepid adventurers at ten or twelve leagues from the Sound, and forced them back to the coast of Schonen, where they were made prisoners by the peasantry and conveyed back to Copenhagen. This caused them to be guarded with more rigour, and kept under greater restraint. But three of them fell sick and died of grief.
Five of these savages were alive and well when a Spanish Ambassador made his appearance in Denmark; and the Danish Monarch, in order to divert this stranger, caused these native Greenlanders to exhibit their manœuvres in their little canoes upon the sea. The Spanish Ambassador was quite delighted with the address which they displayed, and with the extraordinary celerity with which they glided over the waves. He made a present in money to each of the savages, which they expended in equipping themselves in the Danish fashion. They were accordingly seen booted and spurred, with large feathers in their hats; and in these habiliments they proposed to serve in the cavalry of the Danish King.
But these high spirits of the Greenlanders lasted only for a short time; for they soon relapsed into their usual melancholy. They became entirely absorbed with the idea of returning to their native country; and two of them having obtained possession of their little boats put out to sea. They were pursued, but only one of them was taken, and the other probably perished in the waves; for it cannot be supposed that he ever returned to the land of his fathers. With respect to one of the savages, it was remarked, that he shed tears whenever he beheld a child at the breast; from which it was supposed, that he had left a wife and children at home.
Of these surviving savages two pined away with regret. The two others lived ten or twelve years in Denmark after the decease of their companions. No pains were spared to reconcile them to their condition, but without success. One of them died of an illness, brought on by being employed in diving for the pearl muscle, during the depth of winter. His companion, who was inconsolable for his loss, again seized a boat and made an effort to escape from captivity. He had passed the Sound before he could be retaken, but he lived only a short time after this last attempt to recover his liberty.
Peyrere says, that an attempt was made to convert these savages to the Christian faith, but that they could never be brought to learn the Danish language; and he remarks, with much simplicity, that “la foi estant de l’oüye, il fut impossible de leur faire comprendre nos mysteres.” “Faith,” says he, “coming from hearing, it was impossible to make them comprehend our mysteries.” He adds, that those who narrowly watched their actions often saw them lift up their eyes to Heaven, and worship the Sun.
The Danish Monarch desisted from any farther attempt to discover Old Greenland; but some merchants at Copenhagen formed themselves into a Greenland Company, for the purpose of establishing a traffic with that part of the world. In 1636 this Company fitted out two ships, which visited that part of the coast of New Greenland which is washed by Davis’s Straits. When they cast anchor, eight savages came off to them in their little canoes. The Danes had displayed their knives, mirrors, and other articles upon the deck, to which the savages had also conveyed their furs, skins, and fish horns; but a gun having been inconsiderately fired, in order to celebrate the drinking of some particular health, these native traders were so frightened that they instantly leaped into the sea, from which they did not emerge till they had proceeded to two or three hundred yards from the ship.
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