24 DANIEL BRUUN. 
warmer and better periods — were the same in those times as now, one 
was obliged in the olden days to land at about the same place as now, 
or in the neighbourhood of Nunarssuit. There is no doubt of this being 
the case when one reads the old course direetions correctly. 
One of the most important treatises in existence which gives evi- 
dence concerning the nature of Greenland, is the “Konungs Skuggsja” 
(“ Kings-Mirror”) from the thirteenth century. It appears in the form 
of a discourse between a father and son, in which the first named explains 
and the son enquires: «The Father — — — as soon as one has crossed 
the greater part of the great sea there is such a profusion of ice on the 
water, such as one never sees in any other part of the world. This ice 
is partly so flat that it seems to be frozen to the sea itself, of about 
4 to 5 ells thick, and it lies so far from land that it takes four or 
more days to reach it when one crosses the ice; but this ice lies more 
to the northeast or north beyond the land, than towards the south, 
southwest or west, and therefore all who wish to reach the country should 
sail round it to the southwest and west until he has passed all the places 
where ice is to be expected, and then sail straight up to the land (as stated 
by us). But it has continually happened that the sailors have sought 
land too early and therefore have been surrounded by ice. Many in 
this situation died, but some escaped; we have met some of them and 
heard their reports and tales. All those who have been in this drift of 
ice have grasped the same remedy, and have drawn small boats up onto 
the ice with them, and so sought land, but the ship and all other pro- 
perty remained behind to perish, some had, moreover, before they 
reached land, been obliged to spend 4 or 5 days on the ice, others much 
longer. 
This ice is of wonderful construction; at times it lies as still as can 
be expected with several creeks or big fiords, but at other times its speed 
is so great and violent that it does not move slower than a ship before 
a good wind, and it floats as often against the wind, as with it, when 
it is once well started. There is another sort of ice in the sea, which 
is of another form and which is called “Falliökull” by Greenlanders. It 
is of such a shape as if a high mountain stood up out of the sea, and it 
never mixes with other ice but keeps to itself. In this sea there are 
also many kinds of whales of which we have spoken before. One says 
there are all sorts of seals in the sea, which float with the ice — as if 
they never lacked food there.» 
This record shows that the old ice-navigators knew exactly the 
movement of the ice and its situation. They knew that they had to 
round the southwest coast of Greenland to be able to land. 
Also in the descriptions by Ivar BAarpson, which dates from 
the 14th century, one finds the exact information of navigation: when 
one sails from Bergen to Greenland one should: 
“Arrive at a high piece of land called Hvarf in Greenland; the 
