In the spring, towards the month of
April, they catch a sort of fish called rogncals, or stone biter; and in
May another fish, called lyds or stints: both sorts are very savoury;
they frequent the bays and inlets in great shoals. There are also
whitings in abundance; but herrings are not to be seen. Moreover there
is a kind of fish, which neither myself nor any of my company had ever
seen before: this fish is not unlike a bream, only it is prickly with
sharp points all over, with a small tail. There are different sizes: the
Greenlanders say they are well tasted.
Among the testaceous animals in Greenland the chief are the muscles, of
which there are great quantities; they are large and delicate. In some
waters I have found of those larger sorts, in which the Norwegians find
pearls. These have also pearls, but very small ones, not bigger than the
head of a pin. I shall say nothing of the other sea insects, as crabs,
shrimps, &c. though they be not rare here; yet lobsters, crawfish, and
oysters, I never met with. According to information had of Greenlanders,
on the Southern coasts they sometimes catch tortoises in their nets; for
they tell you, that they are covered with a thick shell, have claws and
a short tail; and moreover that they find eggs in them, like birds’
eggs.
_Of Greenland Sea Birds._
Amongst the sea fowls the principal are those they call eider-fowl, and
ducks; of which there are such numbers, that sometimes sailing along,
you find the whole sea covered with them; and when they take their
flight, you would think there was no end of them, especially in winter
time, when in large flocks, to the number of many thousands, they hover
about our colony, morning and evening; in the evening standing in for
the bay, and in the morning turning out to sea again. They fly so near
the shore, that you may from thence shoot them at pleasure. In the
spring they retire towards the sea; for upon the island that lies
adjacent to the coast they lay their eggs, and hatch their young ones,
which arrive in June and July.
The natives watch them in this season to rob them of their eggs and
their young ones. The fine down feathers, which is the best part of this
bird, so much valued by others, the natives make nothing of, leaving
them in the nests.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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