55 
of their soil, and the abundance of fish: the ruins of their houses 
bear testimony to the wealth and comfort of their former inhabit- 
ants, in comparison with the remains of other buildings in other 
Firths. You will find here a very luxuriant vegetation, with several 
plants foreign to this part of the arctic regions, and probably im- 
ported and cultivated by the former settlers ; for instance, the Sorbus 
Aucuparia, different species of the Potentilla, of Carex, the Pin- 
guicula Vulgaris, &c. all plants which only are found in the neigh- 
bourhood of former Norwegian settlements. Pinguicula is used in 
different parts of the north of Europe, particularly in Norway, 
Iceland, and Lapland, to prevent the curdling of milk. Both 
Firths abound in shrubs, particularly in species of Salix, Betula, 
and Juniperus. Most of the fragments of bells were found in the 
neighbourhood of the churches of these two Firths; and the ruins 
of the buildings brave the destroying power of time and climate. 
I have followed in this essay such authorities only as appeared to 
me authentic, supported by my own experience with respect to the 
undoubted Icelandic ruins, which I found on the coast, and which 
differ widely from the remnants of old Greenlandic houses, as to 
their form, structure, and durability. There is no want of histo- 
rical accounts written by Icelandic and Danish authors, with respect 
to the old settlements ; but these accounts are so contradictory, that 
it is quite impossible to reconcile them. Thormodus Torfeus, late 
historiographer to the King of Denmark, published in his Green- 
landia Antiqua (Havnie, 1706, 8vo.) four different maps, or Deli- 
neationes Gronlandiz, which differ from each other as materially as 
if maps of different countries. The earliest, of 1570, is of Sigurdus 
Stephanius ; the second, of 1606, is from Gudbrandus Torlacius, an 
Icelandic bishop; the third is from another Icelander, Jonas Gud- 
mundus ; the fourth, of 1668, from Theodorus Torlacius. To these, 
VOL. XIV. K 
