Note 28 — CHAP. V.
Reading edition
The farther you go Northwards, the seldomer you meet with rein deer, except in the 3d or 4th degree to the North of Disco, where they are in great numbers; perhaps by reason either of its joining to America, or else because the deer pass over to the islands upon the ice, in quest of food, which the main land, covered with ice and snow, does not afford them. The natives, instead of reason, give us a very childish tale for the vast number of rein deer being found upon Disco Island, as follows:—
A mighty Greenlander (one Torngarsuk, as they call him, who is father to an ugly frightful woman, who resides in the lowermost region of the Earth, and has command over all the animals of the sea, as we shall see hereafter) did with his Kajar, tow this island to the place where it now lies, from the South where it was before. Now, as the face of this island resembles very much the Southern coasts, and the root angelica is likewise found upon it, which grows nowhere else in the neighbouring parts, this confirms them in their credulity. And furthermore, they assure you, that a hole is seen to this day in the island, through which the towing-rope had been fastened by Torngarsuk.