these families have a
small lamp continually burning before them, by means of which they cook
their food, and light themselves, and, what is equally necessary in so
cold a country, keep up agreeable warmth throughout their apartment.
They have a few deer, which sometimes visit them in the summer, and
which the Greenlanders kill whenever they can catch them; but they are
almost entirely destitute of all the vegetables which serve as
nourishment to man, so that they are obliged to be continually upon the
sea, in order to catch fish for their maintenance.

_Tommy._--What a dreadful life that must be in a country which is so
cold!

_Mr Barlow._--In consequence of that extreme cold, those northern seas
are full of such immense quantities of ice, that they are sometimes
almost covered with them. Huge pieces come floating down, which are not
only as big as the largest houses, but even resemble small mountains.
These are sometimes dashed against each other by the winds, with such
immense force, that they would crush the strongest ship to pieces, and
with a noise that exceeds the report of a cannon. Upon these pieces of
ice are frequently seen white bears of an enormous size, which have
either fallen asleep upon them, and so been carried away, or have
straggled over those ice hills in search of fish.

_Tommy._--And is it possible that the inhabitants of such a country can
find enough in it for all their necessities?

_Mr Barlow._--The necessities of life are very few, and are therefore to
be found even in the most rugged climates, if men are not wanting to
themselves, or deficient in industry. In plentiful countries like this,
and in most of the more temperate climates, great numbers are maintained
in idleness, and imagine that they were only born to live upon the
labour of others; but, in such a country as Greenland is described to
be, it requires continual exertion to procure the simplest support of
human life; and therefore no one can live at all who will not employ
himself in the same manner as his neighbours.

_Tommy._--You said that these people had neither flesh nor corn; do they
then clothe themselves with the skins of fish, as well as live upon
them?

_Mr Barlow._--There is in those seas a peculiar species of animal called
a _seal_. He is nine or ten feet long, and has two small feet before, on
which he is able to walk a little upon the shore, for he frequently
comes out of the sea, and sleeps, or amuses himself