CHAP. X.

The Customs, Virtues¹, and Vices³, and the Manners or Way of Life of the Greenlanders.

THOUGH the Greenlanders are as yet subject to no government, nor know of any magistrates⁴, or laws, or any sort of discipline; yet they are so far from being lawless or disorderly, that they are a law to themselves; their even temper and good nature making them observe a regular and orderly behaviour towards one another. One cannot enough admire how peaceably, lovingly, and united they live together; hatred⁵ and envy, strifes and jars are never heard of among them[31]. And although it may happen that one{124} bears a grudge⁶ to another, yet it never breaks out into any scolding or fighting; neither have they any words to express such passions, or any injurious and provoking terms of quarrelling. It has happened once or twice, that a very wicked and malicious⁷ fellow, out of a secret grudge, has killed another; which none of the neighbours have taken notice of, but all let it pass with a surprising indolence; save the next kindred to the dead, if he finds himself strong enough, revenges his relation’s death upon the murderer. They know of no other punishment; but those old women called witches, and such as pretend to kill or hurt by their conjuring⁸; to such they show great rigour, making nothing of killing⁹ and destroying them without mercy. And they pretend that it is very well done; those people not deserving to live, who by secret arts can hurt and make away with others.

They have as great an abhorrence¹⁰ of stealing or thieving among themselves, as any nation upon Earth; wherefore they keep nothing shut up under lock and key, but leave every thing{125} unlocked that every body can come at it, without fear of losing it.

This vice² is so much detested¹¹ by them, that if a maiden¹² should steal any thing, she would thereby¹³ forfeit¹⁴ a good match. Yet if they can lay hands upon any thing belonging to us foreigners, they make no great scruple¹⁵ of conscience about it. But, as we now have lived some time in the country amongst them, and are looked upon as true inhabitants of the land, they at last have forbore to molest¹⁶ us any more that way.

As to the transgression¹⁷ of the seventh commandment, we never have found them guilty in that point, either in words or deeds, except what passes amongst the married people in their public diversions, as we shall see hereafter.

As for what we call civility and compliments, they do not much trouble themselves about them; they go and come, meet and pass one another, without making use of any greeting or salutation: yet they are far from being unmannerly or uncivil in their conversation; for they{126} make a difference among persons, and give more honour to one than to another, according to their merit and deserts. They never enter any house where they are strangers, unless they are invited, and when they come in, the master of the house, to whom they pay the visit, shows them the place where they are to take their seat.

As soon as a visitor enters the house, he is desired forthwith to strip naked, and to sit down in this guise¹⁸ like all the rest; for this is the grand fashion with them to dry the clothes of their guest. When victuals¹⁹ are put before him, he takes care not to begin eating immediately, for fear of being looked upon as starved, or of passing for a glutton²⁰. He must stay till all the family is gone to bed before he can lie down, for to them it seems unbecoming that the guest goes to rest before the landlord. Whenever a stranger comes into a house, he never asks for victuals, though never so hungry; nor is there any need he should; for they generally exercise great hospitality, and are very free with{127} what they have; and what is highly to be admired and praiseworthy, they have most things in common; and if there be any among them (as it will happen) who cannot work or get his livelihood²¹, they do not let him starve, but admit him freely to their table, in which they confound us Christians²², who suffer so many poor and distressed²³ mortals to perish for want of victuals.

Finally, the Greenlanders, as to their manners and common way of life, are very slovenly²⁴, nasty, and filthy²⁵; they seldom wash themselves[32], will eat out of plates and bowls after their dogs, without cleansing²⁶ them; and (what is most nauseous to behold), eat lice and such like{128} vermin, which they find upon themselves or others. Thus they make good the old proverb, what drips from the nose falls into the mouth, that nothing may be lost. They will scrape the sweat from off their faces with a knife, and lick it up. They do not blush to sit down and ease themselves in the presence of others. Every family has a urine tub placed before the entry, in which they make water, and leave it so standing²⁷ till it smells most insufferably, for they put in it the skins, which are to be dressed, to soak or steep, which affords not the most agreeable scent²⁸; to the encreasing of which the rotten pieces of flesh meat and fat thrown under their benches contributes a great deal; so that delicate noses do not find their account among them. Yet through long custom the most nauseous things become more supportable.

Notwithstanding, however, their nasty and most beastly way of living, they are very good natured and friendly in conversation. They can be merry and bear a joke, provided it be within due bounds. Never any of them has offered in{129} the least manner to hurt or to do harm to any of our people, unless provoked to it. They fear and respect us as a nation far superior to theirs in valour and strength.

1 virtues   

美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处

参考例句：

• Doctors often extol the virtues of eating less fat. 医生常常宣扬少吃脂肪的好处。
• She delivered a homily on the virtues of family life. 她进行了一场家庭生活美德方面的说教。

2 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

3 vices   

缺陷( vice的名词复数 )； 恶习； 不道德行为； 台钳

参考例句：

• In spite of his vices, he was loved by all. 尽管他有缺点，还是受到大家的爱戴。
• He vituperated from the pulpit the vices of the court. 他在教堂的讲坛上责骂宫廷的罪恶。

4 magistrates   

地方法官，治安官( magistrate的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• to come up before the magistrates 在地方法院出庭
• He was summoned to appear before the magistrates. 他被传唤在地方法院出庭。

5 hatred   

n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨

参考例句：

• He looked at me with hatred in his eyes.他以憎恨的眼光望着我。
• The old man was seized with burning hatred for the fascists.老人对法西斯主义者充满了仇恨。

6 grudge   

n.不满，怨恨，妒嫉；vt.勉强给，不情愿做

参考例句：

• I grudge paying so much for such inferior goods.我不愿花这么多钱买次品。
• I do not grudge him his success.我不嫉妒他的成功。

7 malicious   

adj.有恶意的，心怀恶意的

参考例句：

• You ought to kick back at such malicious slander. 你应当反击这种恶毒的污蔑。
• Their talk was slightly malicious.他们的谈话有点儿心怀不轨。

8 conjuring   

n.魔术

参考例句：

• Paul's very good at conjuring. 保罗很会变戏法。
• The entertainer didn't fool us with his conjuring. 那个艺人变的戏法没有骗到我们。

9 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

10 abhorrence   

n.憎恶；可憎恶的事

参考例句：

• This nation has an abhorrence of terrrorism.这个民族憎恶恐怖主义。
• It is an abhorrence to his feeling.这是他深恶痛绝的事。

11 detested   

v.憎恶，嫌恶，痛恨( detest的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• They detested each other on sight. 他们互相看着就不顺眼。
• The freethinker hated the formalist; the lover of liberty detested the disciplinarian. 自由思想者总是不喜欢拘泥形式者，爱好自由者总是憎恶清规戒律者。 来自辞典例句

12 maiden   

n.少女，处女；adj.未婚的，纯洁的，无经验的

参考例句：

• The prince fell in love with a fair young maiden.王子爱上了一位年轻美丽的少女。
• The aircraft makes its maiden flight tomorrow.这架飞机明天首航。

13 thereby   

adv.因此，从而

参考例句：

• I have never been to that city,,ereby I don't know much about it.我从未去过那座城市，因此对它不怎么熟悉。
• He became a British citizen,thereby gaining the right to vote.他成了英国公民，因而得到了投票权。

14 forfeit   

vt.丧失；n.罚金，罚款，没收物

参考例句：

• If you continue to tell lies,you will forfeit the good opinion of everyone.你如果继续撒谎，就会失掉大家对你的好感。
• Please pay for the forfeit before you borrow book.在你借书之前请先付清罚款。

15 scruple   

n./v.顾忌，迟疑

参考例句：

• It'seemed to her now that she could marry him without the remnant of a scruple.她觉得现在她可以跟他成婚而不需要有任何顾忌。
• He makes no scruple to tell a lie.他说起谎来无所顾忌。

16 molest   

vt.骚扰，干扰，调戏

参考例句：

• If the man continues to molest her,I promise to keep no measures with the delinquent.如果那人继续对她进行骚扰，我将对他这个违法者毫不宽容。
• If I were gone,all these would molest you.如果没有我，这一切都会来骚扰你。

17 transgression   

n.违背；犯规；罪过

参考例句：

• The price can make an action look more like a transaction than a transgression.罚款让一个行为看起来更像是一笔交易而不是一次违法行为。
• The areas of transgression are indicated by wide spacing of the thickness contours.那幢摩天大楼高耸入云。

18 guise   

n.外表，伪装的姿态

参考例句：

• They got into the school in the guise of inspectors.他们假装成视察员进了学校。
• The thief came into the house under the guise of a repairman.那小偷扮成个修理匠进了屋子。

19 victuals   

n.食物；食品

参考例句：

• A plateful of coarse broken victuals was set before him.一盘粗劣的剩余饭食放到了他的面前。
• There are no more victuals for the pig.猪没有吃的啦。

20 glutton   

n.贪食者，好食者

参考例句：

• She's a glutton for work.She stays late every evening.她是个工作狂，每天都很晚才下班。
• He is just a glutton.He is addicted to excessive eating.他就是个老饕，贪吃成性。

21 livelihood   

n.生计，谋生之道

参考例句：

• Appropriate arrangements will be made for their work and livelihood.他们的工作和生活会得到妥善安排。
• My father gained a bare livelihood of family by his own hands.父亲靠自己的双手勉强维持家计。

22 Christians   

n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Christians of all denominations attended the conference. 基督教所有教派的人都出席了这次会议。
• His novel about Jesus caused a furore among Christians. 他关于耶稣的小说激起了基督教徒的公愤。

23 distressed   

痛苦的

参考例句：

• He was too distressed and confused to answer their questions. 他非常苦恼而困惑，无法回答他们的问题。
• The news of his death distressed us greatly. 他逝世的消息使我们极为悲痛。

24 slovenly   

adj.懒散的，不整齐的，邋遢的

参考例句：

• People were scandalized at the slovenly management of the company.人们对该公司草率的经营感到愤慨。
• Such slovenly work habits will never produce good products.这样马马虎虎的工作习惯决不能生产出优质产品来。

25 filthy   

adj.卑劣的；恶劣的，肮脏的

参考例句：

• The whole river has been fouled up with filthy waste from factories.整条河都被工厂的污秽废物污染了。
• You really should throw out that filthy old sofa and get a new one.你真的应该扔掉那张肮脏的旧沙发，然后再去买张新的。

26 cleansing   

n. 净化(垃圾) adj. 清洁用的 动词cleanse的现在分词

参考例句：

• medicated cleansing pads for sensitive skin 敏感皮肤药物清洗棉
• Soap is not the only cleansing agent. 肥皂并不是唯一的清洁剂。

27 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

28 scent   

n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉

参考例句：

• The air was filled with the scent of lilac.空气中弥漫着丁香花的芬芳。
• The flowers give off a heady scent at night.这些花晚上散发出醉人的芳香。