Page:A description of Greenland.djvu/233

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of Greenland.
185

groſs Miſtakes, when the Events don't anſwer their falſe Predictions, as commonly happens; yet, for all that, they are in great Honour and Eſteem among this ſtupid and ignorant Nation; inſomuch that no Body ever dare refuſe the ſtricteſt Obedience to what they command him in the Name of Torngarſuk, fearing that, in Cafe of Diſobedience, ſome great Affliction and Misfortune may happen to him. Among many other Fibs, and moſt impudent Lyes, they make alſo theſe ſilly ſtupid Wretches believe,They make People believe, they can mount to Heaven, and deſcend to Hell. that they can, with Hands and Feet tied, mount up to Heaven, and ſee how Matters ſtand there; and likewiſe deſcend to Hell, or the lower Regions of the Earth, where the fierce Torngarſuk keeps his Court. A young Angekkok muſt not undertake this Journey but in the Fall of the Year, by Reaſon, that then the lowermoſt Heaven, which they take the Rainbow to be, is neareſt to the Earth.

The Farce or Impoſture is thus acted: A Number of Spectators aſſemble in

the