112 ACCOUNT OF THE AllCTIC REGIONS. 



related in a Danish voyage, undertaken for the re- 

 covery of the last colony in Greenland, hy IMogens 

 Heinson. This person, who passed for a renowned 

 seaman in his day, was sent out by Frederick II. 

 King of Denmark. After encountering many dif- 

 ficulties and dangers from storms and ice, he got 

 sight of the cast coast of Greenland, and attempted 

 to get to it ; hut tliough the sea was quite free 

 from ice, and the wind favourable, and blowing a 

 fresh gale, he, after proceeding several hours with- 

 out appearing to get any nearer the land, became 

 alarmed, tacked about, and returned to Denmark. 

 On his arrival, he attributed this extraordinary cir- 

 cumstance, magnified, no doubt, by his fears, to his 

 vessel having been stopped in its course by " some 

 loadstone rocks hidden in the sea." INIost authors 

 who have had occasion to refer to Heinson's voyage, 

 have speculated on this circumstance ; but no one, 

 I believe, has satisfactorily explained the origin of 

 his fears. The true cause, however, of what he 

 took to be a submarine magnetic influence, arose, I 

 doubt not, from the deceptive character of the land 

 as to distance, which I have attempted to describe. 

 From this character of Spitzbergen, there is lit- 

 tle probability of strangers getting too near the 

 shore, or running into danger ; for even in hazy or 

 snowy weather, the effulgence of the land penetrates 

 the density of the atmosphere, to several times the 

 extent to which other objects are visible ; and even 



