NATIVES OF GREENLAND. 69 



far as Disko. Here discovery seemed to terminate ; but 

 not long after, other navigators met with a population 

 sprinkled over the low islands up to the seventy-third de- 

 gree, where the voyagers saw many women in boats, and 

 traded with them for seal skins, and unicorns' horns. It is 

 a positive fact, moreover, that they have been met with at 

 the Devil's Thumb, in the seventy-fifth degree nearly, pro- 

 vided with musquets. How much further north they can be 

 traced is doubtful ; but that they can exist beyond the de- 

 gree stated by Mr. EUis is without question. Hence also 

 arises a presumption that the cold in those high latitudes is 

 not of such severity as to forbid livino- there throuoh the 

 winter, particularly if due precaution be observed. 



At Disko, or rather at Lievely, there is a Danish settle- 

 ment, where a factor constantly resides, and lives very com- 

 fortably. The Danish government maintains a governor for 

 the superintendence and management of their concerns in 

 that quarter, who constantly resides there. Butfon ha- 

 zarded an opinion that there was no ice at the pole, ground- 

 ing his conjecture on the supposed warmth of the atmos- 

 phere in that place ; but this part of the subject shall be 

 taken into consideration more fully, when we come to dis- 

 cuss the question of a north-west passage. 



The Danes in re-establishing their claims to the posses- 

 sion of Greenland, have done very little towards amelioratino- 

 the condition of the natives. The natural disposition 



