On the Expeditions to the North Pole, 2S3 



as large as apples, and where he hunted large sea-bears ! The 

 sea there was inhabited by immense giants and giantesses: and 

 there were to be seen mountains of ice, as lofty and as solid as 

 those which impeded the entrance of tlie Argonautic expedition 

 into the Black Sea! 



These are the poetic tales of the old Scandinavians, who, like 

 Jason and Hercules, sought out danger, and defied every peril. 

 But historv is more circumspect. The Iceland book, entitled 

 " The Mirror of Kings," gives a just idea of this country. It 

 shows, that ancient Greenland differed in nothing from modem 

 Greenland. The coast, even in summer, was surrounded bv 

 enormous mountains of ice, such as the Norwegians had never 

 seen in their own country. The colonists established there, knew 

 nothing of bread, nor were they skilled in agriculture. They 

 exchanged the teeth and furs of some animals for wood, which 

 they wanted for firing, and for constructing their houses. The 

 coast was uninhabited, except in those places where there was an 

 abundance offish : the interior of the country, occupied bv moun- 

 tains and vales covered with snow and ice, was as difficult of 

 access as it is at this day. The number of the colonists did 

 not exceed that of a large parish in Norwav, nor would thev 

 have had a bishop, but for their great distance from the mother 

 country. The Scandinavian colony in Greenland was divided 

 into two cantons, — one west, which had but four churches, the 

 other east, where there were two towns, or rather villages. This 

 division gave rise to a great error in geography, from which it is 

 supposed, that the eastern canton of Old Greenland occupied 

 the coast opposite to Iceland; and those unknown regions have 

 been pompously described as Jlusturlygol, in East Greenland : 

 imaginary gulfs and promontories have been traced there ; but 

 this geographical system bas been overturned i)y modern ac- 

 curacy. 



The first navigators, on going from Iceland to Greenland, 

 steered south-west, shunning a coast surrounded with iee ; and 

 tliey doubled the point of Hvarf, which is situated on the con- 

 tinent, but has before it an island with a very large mountain, 

 which they call Chemise Blanche. Following this route on the 

 modern map, it is to be inferred, that the promontory in question 

 is Cape Farewell, the known southern point of Greenland. The 

 Icelanders then sailed north-west to arrive at the colony. 



Other navigators have proved, that the point of Hvarf h the 

 southern extremity of Greenland, from which it must follow, 

 that East Greenland is only a portion, in fact, the most eastern 

 and southern part of the west coast. The name of Greenland 

 is justified only by the verdure of some tufts of grass and a few 

 flowers, which show themselves in June^ towards the soutii. 



Higher 



