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CHARACTER AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS
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if possible marking it in one way or another. For this form of property the Eskimo has the greatest respect, and one who has left a piece of driftwood on the shore may be sure of finding it again even several years after, unless Europeans have come along in the meantime. Any one taking it would be regarded as a scoundrel.

As to their customs in lending and trading, I may again quote Dalager: 'If one man lends another anything, for example a boat, a harpoon, a fishing line, or other sea-implement, and it comes to harm—if, for instance, the seal gets away with the harpoon, or the fish breaks the line, or the fish or seal does injury to the boat—the owner must bear the loss, the borrower making no reparation. But if anyone borrows darts or implements without the knowledge of the owner, and they come to harm, the borrower is bound to make good the damage. This happens very seldom; for a Greenlander must be hard pushed before he will trouble his neighbour to lend him anything, for fear of any harm occurring to it.

'When one makes a purchase from another, and the wares do not suit him, he can return them even after a considerable time has elapsed.

'If one buys of another such costly things as a boat or a gun, and the buyer is not in a position to satisfy the seller in ready money, he is allowed credit