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The Natural Hiſtory
In their aſtronomical Syſtem, the Heaven turns about upon the Point ofa huge Rock. The Snow, according to their Fancy, is the Blood of the Dead, on account that it turns reddiſh if you keep it in the Mouth. The Rain comes from a Ditch or Weer above in Heaven;What the Rain is. when it overflows there, it Rains here below.
They meaſure the Time by Months.They have no Calendar or Almanacks, nor do they compute or meaſure the Time by Weeks or Years, but only by Months; beginning their Computation frum the Sun's firſt riſing above their Horizon in the Winter; from whence they tell the Month, for to know exactly the Seaſon, in which every ſort of Fiſhes, Sea Animals, or Birds ſeek the Land; according to which they order their Buſineſs.
As nonſenſical now as theſe Notions of the Greenlanders are (as they in reality are) yet they come ſhort of the Egyptian King Ptolomy's Infatuation, who by the loathſome Flattery of his Aſtronomers was perſuaded that his Queen Berenice's Head of HairBerenice's Hair turned into Stars. was2
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