Page:A description of Greenland.djvu/78

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50
The Natural Hiſtory
oily Moiſture, it will burn, without being conſumed to Aſhes. Round about our Colony of Good Hope there is a Sort of coarſe baſtard Marble.Marble of different Colours, blue, green, red, and ſome quite white, and again ſome white with black Spots, which the Natives form into all Sorts of Veſſels and Utenſils; as Lamps, Pots to boil in, and even Crucibles to melt Metals in, this Marble ſtanding Proof againſt the Fire[1].Which abides the Fire. Of this Marble there was brought a Quantity over to Drontheim in Norway, which they made Uſe of in the adorning of the Cathedral of that City, as we have it from Peter Claudius Undalin[2].

Amongſt

  1. The Lamps and Pots, which the Southern Greenlanders make of this Marble, and ſold at a very high Price; ſo that the Natives of the Northern Parts, where ſuch Marble is not to be had, buy them at the Rate of eight or ten Rain-Deer Skins a large Pot, and a Lamp at two or three Skins.
  2. According to what the Natives tell, there is in the Southern Parts a Hot-Well, of a Mineral Quality; which, if you waſh therein, cures the Itch: they waſh their Skins in them, and it takes away all Dirt and Foulneſs, and makes them look like new.