THE NORTH RIDING PROJECT

They saw a fine inlet, but did not enter it, for fear of the cannibals, which are said to live in that place, and of which all Greenlanders have a dread from former times.  In the opinion of Kojake they became cannibals at first out of necessity, because once, in a great famine in winter, they had nothing but human flesh to eat; and, as they relished it, they had now inured themselves to this strange and unnatural food.  “They do not like to slaughter middle aged people, even in a time of dearth, but only old people and forsaken orphans; and they will preferably spare their dogs at such a time, because of their usefulness, and slay some unnecessary person, in their stead.”

Scoresby/Journal