Page:A description of Greenland.djvu/253

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of Greenland.
205

ing upon her Back, without ſhe firſt ſpits upon her Fingers, and rubs her Belly with it.

For the ſame Reaſon the young Maids are afraid to ſtare long at the Moon, imagining they might get a Child by the Bargain. During the Eclipſe of the Sun no Man dare ſtir out of the Houſe; and likewiſe, when the Moon is eclipſed, no Women goes abroad, becauſe they fancy, that both hate the Sex of the other. The Sun rejoices at the Death of a Man.The Sun for Joy puts on her Pendants, or Ear-bobs; the Reaſon of which they take to be the Hatred ſhe bears againſt her Brother, which alſo reaches to his Sex. As on the contrary, the Greenland Women wear their Pendants at the Birth of a Boy, becauſe ſo uſeful a Creature is come into the World. Their Notion about the Stars is,Origin of the Stars. that ſome of them have been Men, and other different ſorts of Animals and Fiſhes. The faint Light of ſome Stars they attribute to their eating the Kidney; and Brightneſs of others, to their feeding upon Liver. They give alſo Names to many Stars and Conſtellations,

viz.