138(1 THE SCANDINAVIANS. 13 



the contrary, it is not yet wholly destitute of its 

 old Norwegian inhabitants.'** 



The several attempts that have been made to 

 approach this coast, bound in chains of '' thick- 

 ribbed ice," and to ascertain the fate of the un- 

 happy colonists, will be noticed in their proper 

 places. Hitherto, all endeavours have been fruit- 

 less, but the recent disruption of the ice from 

 that coast may afford the opportunity of exa- 

 mining into the fate of the wretched inhabitants, 

 and of ascertaining, if possible, in what manner they 

 perished, after the closing of the icy barrier upon 

 them, and whether any and what records or ruins 

 have been left behind them. Such a research is at 

 least an object of rational curiosity, and it would 

 be a reproach to the Danish government, if it 

 neglected the only opportunity that may occur for 

 instituting this inquiry. 



NICOLO AND ANTONIO ZENO. 1380. 



The history of the noble family of Zeno is well 

 known and celebrated in the records of Venice. 



* Hans Egede, Crantz, Torfaeus, and a host of writers, concur 

 in the planting and destruction of these two settlements; yet in 

 spite of these authorities, and the repeated attempts on the part 

 of the Danish government to examine into the state of the ancient 

 colony on the eastern coast, a M. Eggers undertook to prove, in 

 1792, that the eastern colony never had existence, and that it was 

 only called East Greenland from being situated on the 'west side. 

 This question will more properly be examined in the descriptive 

 volume. 



