
imposed from without by foreigners must at least need a very long time
to take root in the national life. Many Greenlanders now regard it as
a distinction to serve as a councillor; but I have also known others,
and these the most capable among them, who do not appreciate the
honour, holding it of more importance to look to their hunting and to
the support of their families than to travel long distances in order
to attend meetings where, after all, with their exaggerated deference
towards the Europeans, they can do nothing but follow their lead and
agree to what measures they propose.

From what I have just said, and from many other passages in this book,
the reader may perhaps be inclined to conclude that the Greenlanders
are a people of no natural independence, and born for subjection.
This, however, is quite a mistake. On the contrary, the Greenlander's
love of freedom and independence has always been very marked. When the
Europeans first came to the country, the natives held themselves at
least their equals, and the idea of standing in a menial or subordinate
position to another man, as they saw the Europeans do among themselves,
seemed to them strange and degrading. It is true that the father of a
family exercises a certain authority in his own household, and perhaps
over all the families who live in the same house; but this authority is
so mild and unobtrusive that it is scarcely felt. They have servants,
too, in so far that women who have no parents or other relatives to
provide for them are often received into the house of a hunter, to
assist the mother, daughters, and daughters-in-law in the household
work; but they stand on a footing of equality with them, and are thus
servants in name rather than in reality. Male servants are entirely
unknown. Consequently they could with difficulty reconcile themselves
to the idea of going into service; and they still dislike above
everything to be ordered about in a domineering fashion, even if their
extreme peaceableness of disposition prevents them from protesting
