286 On the. Expeditions to the North Pole. 



*' The hot water of the volcano, falling into a large haven, pre- 

 vents the sea fronn freezing, in consequence of which, so great a 

 quantity of birds and fish are attracted to this place, that the re- 

 ligious draw from them as much as is necessary for their own sub- 

 sistence, and for that of a great number of the inhabitants of the 

 country, whom they constantly employ in building, in hunting, in 

 fishing, and various other occupations." 



The narrative treats afterwards of the barter trade^ which these 

 monks carry on with Norway and Iceland. 



" During winter a great number of ships are always to be found 

 here, which cannot get away in consequence of the sea being 

 completely frozen, and therefore wait the return of spring." 



The old chart, designed upon wood, which exhibits the course 

 of the navigation of tlie brothers Zeni, represents Greenland under 

 a figure approaching that which is now given to it, and under 

 the double name of Grolandia and Evfrroenland. 



The monastery of St. Thomas is placed there at three degrees 

 northward of the island ; a position which answers to that of 

 Point Cham, where the whalers have met with floating pieces of 

 hollow stone. It is also about this jilace that Volkart Boon, a 

 whaler of Sleswick, discovered in 1761 a large gulf. 



The details which the Zeni give with respect to the houses and 

 canoes of the savage inhabitants of the country, coincide exactly 

 with all that we know of the present Esquimaux of Greenland. 



" The canoes of the fishermen of En^^roeidand have the form 

 of a weaver's shuttle ; they are made of the bones of marine ani- 

 mals, covered with several plies offish-skins sewn together. These 

 canoes are so impermeable and so solid, that in the greatest tem- 

 pests, the persons who are in them content themselves with remain- 

 ing at their ease, without caringwhere thewinds or waves maybear 

 them, well persuaded that their canoes run no risk of being broken 

 or submerged; should it even happen that they are thrown upon a 

 rock, they sustain no damage." 



It would be a singular event to see the English re-discover the 

 monastery of isaint Thomas, or some similar locality. If in the 

 fourteenth century, some poor preaching friars were able to create 

 a commodious habitation and a smiling garden in the midst of 

 eternal ice, what may not the enlightened industry of the nine- 

 teenth century achieve ? Were a small colony of learned men to 

 sojourn for some years in a similar place, it would enrich science 

 with precious discoveries. Magnetism, universal gravitation, the 

 aurora borealis, and many other phsenomcna, could in no place 

 be observed with more advantage. 



[To b(i contiuued.] 



XLVIII. On 



