LIBERALITY OF THE CHIEF TRADER. 31 



was no public stock from which to supply my wants ; 

 and so ffreat and universal had been the ravages of 

 disease among the animals, that many hunters were 

 wholly destitute, and none were in possession of their 

 usual number. He however at once dispatched a cou- 

 rier to Upernavik, and others to various small settle- 

 ments, and thus heralded the news that any hunter 

 who had an extra dog would find a market for it by 

 bringing it forthwith to Proven or Upernavik. 



This action of the Chief Trader was the more ap- 

 preciated that it was disinterested, and was uncalled 

 for either by any official demands which were laid 

 upon him, or. by any special show of dignity or im- 

 portance with which the insignificant schooner lying 

 in the harbor could back up my claims. The State 

 Department at Washington had, at my solicitation, 

 requested from the Danish Government such recogni- 

 tion for me as had been hitherto accorded to the 

 American and English naval expeditions ; but the 

 courteous response which came in the form of a com- 

 mand to the Greenland officials to furnish me with 

 every thing in their power did not reach the settle- 

 ments until the following year. The commands of his 

 Majesty the King could not, however, have stood me 

 in better stead than the gentlemanly instincts of Mr. 

 Hansen. 



There is little in the history of Proven, either past 

 or present, that will interest the readers of this nar- 

 rative. What there is of it stands on the southern 

 slope of a gneissoid spur which forms the terminus of 

 one of the numerous islands of the vast archipelago 

 lying between the peninsula of Svarte Huk and Mel- 

 ville Bay. A government-house, one story high and 

 plastered over with pitch and tar, is the most conspic- 



