The Native Greenlander

Heinrich Rink began his career as an administrator based at the Moravian mission at Godthaab, on the southwest coast of Greenland, in 1848. He was determined to collect legends and folk tales of Greenland natives and publish them, an ambition achieved in a five year span. Rink collected oral tales from throughout Greenland, although mainly in the southern area he administered. He was a renowned geologist, promoter of the Inuit people and scholar.

Illustrations are by Aron of Kangeq, a sealer and walrus hunter who lived at the Moravian mission at the small trading station of Kangeq. Aron was stricken with tuberculosis (which was epidemic in Greenland in that era) and confined to bed. His illustrations are famous for depicting these early encounters.