of Greenland.
193
more Fooleries to be obſerved[1]. It is cuſtomary among them, for married Women to waſh and cleanſe themſelves after their Months, that their Huſbands may not catch a Diſtemper and die. Likewiſe, if they have happened to touch a dead Corpſe, they immediately caſt away the Clothes they have then on; and for this Reaſon they always put on their old Clothes, when they go to a Burying, in which they agree with the Jews,They have Numbers of Jewiſh Rites. as in many other Uſages and Ceremonies; for Example, to bewail the Loſs of their Virginity; to mark themſelves upon thir Skin; to cut their Hairs round the Head, which the Lord forbids the Jews to do, Levit. 19. When I conſider this and many other of their Cuſtoms, which ſeem to be of a Jewiſh Extraction, I am not far from acceding to the Opinion of a certain famous Writer, concerning the Americans;
O
among
- ↑ Argnakaglertoko, a Woman that lives by Rule, they ſay, can lay the Storm, by going out of Doors and filling her Mouth with Air, and coming back into the Houſe, blows it out again. If ſhe catches the Rain-Drops with her Mouth, it will be dry Weather; and other ſtrange Effects they aſcribe to her.
