The women never wash themselves during their mourning time, nor appear well dressed, or with braided and tied up hair, but dishevelled, and hanging about the face. They must put on their hood as often as they go out of doors, which is not customary at other times: but they believe they otherwise should soon die. They bewail their dead long enough: for, as often as any of their friends and acquaintance come from other places to see them, the first thing they do is to sit down in great sadness, and weep and bemoan the loss of their deceased friend: after which they are comforted with good cheer. But if the deceased has left no friend or relation behind him, he may lie long enough where he died, whether at home or abroad before any body comes and buries him. If a person dies in the house, his body must not be carried through the ordinary entry of it, but conveyed out at the window; and if he dies in a tent, he is brought out at the back part of it. At the funeral a woman lights a stick in the fire, brandishing the same and saying _piklerrukpok_, that is, Here is no more to be got. When little children die and are buried, they put the head of a dog near the grave, fancying, that children having no understanding, they cannot by themselves find the way, but the dog must guide them to the land of the souls. CHAP. XV. [Illustration] _Their Pastimes and Diversions, as also their Poetry._ The Greenlanders have several kinds of sports and recreations, with which they pass their time, when they have nothing else to do, or when they visit one another: of which these are the most remarkable. When they meet together for diversion’s sake, the first step made is always banqueting and revelling, where they stuff themselves with all the dainty bits and the best cheer the country affords; as rein deer and seal flesh dried or boiled; and the tail of a whale, which they reckon among the greatest delicacies. Of these things they eat very greedily; for it is a great honour done to the landlord who treats, that his guests, when come home, complain that their belly was too small, and that it was ready to burst. After the repast, they get up to divert themselves in this manner: one of the company takes a drum, which is made of a broad wooden hoop, or of the rib of a whale, covered with a thin skin, with a handle to it; which drum he beats with a stick, singing at the same time songs, either concerning the common affairs in general, or his own private ones in particular. In which, at the end of each verse, the whole chorus of men and women join with him. He that can play the most odd and comical gestures, and play the most ridiculous tricks with his face, head, and limb, turning them awry, passes for the most ingenious fellow; as he by his awkward and out of the way postures can make others laugh.