GRKKNFINCH 



GREENLAND 



405 



in the Cretaceous system. In uch rocks glau- 

 urw in the form of grains, which in many 

 ca.se are casts o! minute sli.-ll>. Tin- -am.- mate- 

 n.tl luis Item met with in the >li.-ll- of recent 

 rlii/n|MMls ami in fragments of coral dredged up in 

 ii.-.-|i water. There is also a green earth used a* a 



Iii-iiH-iit liy painters in water-colours, who know it 

 \ tin' name of Mountain ti'irr/i. For their use it 

 i> in.i-.ily drought from Monti: liolilo, near Verona, 

 ami from ( '\ pins. 



<.r nfinrli, or GKKKN LIXNKT (Liyurinus 

 i*), a liinl of the finch family ( Fringiludae ), a 

 common resident in most parts of Britain, fre- 

 quent ing gardens and copses and cultivated dis- 

 trict- .generally. It occurs in many parts of 

 Knro|M>, and extends its range into Asia, also 

 visiting in winter .such regions as North Africa, 

 . \-i.i Minor, ami Palestine. The bill is much 

 thicker than that of the true linnets, to which, 

 however, it is nearly allied. A prevailing green 

 tint, mingling with gray and brown, characterises 

 tin- plumage, and gives the bird its name. The 

 female i> mm-h less brilliant and somewhat smaller 

 than tin- mall-, which measures about 6 inches in 

 length. 'I'lii' ni-st, usually placed in shrubs, is 

 somewhat loosely built of fibres, moss, hair, and 

 tin- like ; the eggs (four to six) are greenish-white, 

 with brownish or gray snots ; two broods are often 

 reared in a season. The food consists of insects, 

 seeds, and lii-riics. The proper song of the green- 

 linrh is not very sweet, but in confinement it 

 readily imitates the song of other birds, and in 

 coii'-cnm-nce of this and of its very easy domestica- 

 tion it is rather a favourite cage-bird. See Howard 

 Saumlers, Mu/iiml of British Birds. 



(reengage* a variety of plum, of a green or 

 yellow colour and roundish shape, the Heine 

 Clautle of the French, generally esteemed as one 

 of the linest varieties in cultivation, if not certainly 

 superior to all others. It is not of the largest 

 si/e, but in delicacy and richness of flavour it is 

 unsurpassed. Some reckon it a variety of Prunus 

 iii-iitifin. others as a distinct species, P. itaiica. 



Greenheart, or BEBEERU ( Nectandra Rodiei), 

 a tree of the order Lauracere, a native of Guiana, 

 of great value as a timber-tree, and also yielding a 

 valuable medicinal bark. The timber is commonly 

 called Greenhcart ; the bark is better known as 

 Bebeeru (Bibiri, &c., or Sipiri), and its alkaloid 

 M Hi lii rine or Bebeerine (q.v. ). The wood is ex- 

 tremely strong and hard, resembling ligimm-vitie. 

 It takes a high polish. It is so heavy as to sink 

 in water. It j, remarkable for its durability, and 

 for being almost exempt from the attacks of the 

 white ants on land and of the teredo in water. 

 It is much valued by harlxmr engineers, and is 

 admirably adapted for all purposes which demand 

 exceptional strength and durability. Its costliness, 

 however, largely restricts its use, save for turning. 

 Other species yield valuable timber, notably iV. 

 ijiini-inmi, the ' Laurier marbre ' of Martinique. 

 The seeds of \. 1'm-htiry are used as a digestive 

 tonic, and in diarrluea and dysentery, especially 

 in Ura/il ; they are known as Pichurim Bean's 

 ( F'l/ni /, i<-/i itn in of pharmacy). 



<!< M h on x>. See Pi, \vr-norsES. 



(rrcnlaml. an extensive region, stretching, so 

 far as we know, from 59 45' to 83$ N. lat. and 

 from 17 to 7.r W. long., its north-eastern ex- 

 tremity, however, being not yet accurately defined. 

 It may \te taken for proved that it constitutes an 

 bland engirt by smaller islands, l.ut an island of 

 abnoel continental si/e. Even its southern end 

 M a t horoughly arctic character. It was discovered 

 by the earliest Scandinavian settlers in Iceland. 

 Alter having lieen sighted by Gunbjorn, it was 

 visited by Erik the Red, who, after having explored 



it, founded there in the year OHO two colonic*, the 

 u-ierliygd and Wenterbygd (Eastern and \V extern 

 Settlement*). The colonies uf terwards came under 

 the dominion of Norway, but were neglected and 

 siillered from disaster and privation, I-'inall\, th'- 

 Weaterbygd was attacked and destroyed bv Eckimo 

 intruders from the north some years at't-r \:;\ 

 Subsequently the connection with Europe gradually 

 grew less ami less, until, according to obscure 

 accounts, it wholly ceased after 1448, and Green- 

 land almost j.assed into oblivion. When it wan 

 rediscovered by .John Davis in 1585 the Eskimo 

 were the only inhabitants. In 1721 the modern 

 Danish settlements on the west coast were founded 

 by Kgede (q.v.) as missionary stations. During 

 the three centuries since Davis 's discoveries the 

 question of the site of the ancient colonies, and the 

 possibility of remnants of a Scandinavian popula- 

 tion being found somewhere, have been the subject 

 of much discussion; they have even given rise to 

 several expeditions. Remarkable ruins of un- 

 doubted Scandinavian origin were early discovered 

 on two points of the west coast, one in the present 

 district of Julianshaab between 60 and 61 N. lat., 

 the other in Godthaab between 64 and 65. In each 

 case the ruins lie scattered over an area of some 

 hundred square miles, occupying small flat and 

 fertile spots around the heads of the fjords. The 

 southern group contains about one hundred such 

 spots, each with ruins of from two or three up to 

 thirty houses ( possibly the old Osterbygd); the 

 northern group is smaller. In 1885 it was proved 

 conclusively that no ruins of a similar description 

 exist on the east coast. The part of the Greenland 

 coast still unknown is that between Cape Bismarck 

 ia 76J N. lat. and Independence Bay in 81 37', 

 discovered in 1891 by Peary, about half a degree 

 south of the NE. corner of GreenLand, which he was 

 the first to reach, and which he visited again in 

 1895. In 1898 he planned an expedition to the 

 North Pole to start from this corner of Greenland. 

 The whole coast-line of Greenland may be roughly 

 estimated at 3600 miles, or 192,000, following every 

 island, fjord, and peninsula. The area again may 

 be variously estimated at 512,000 and 320,000 so. 

 m., according as one includes or omits the islands 

 and fjords running inland, which are 60 miles 

 long on an average. The interior of Greenland is 

 of great interest with regard to physical geography 

 in general. Owing to its sixe and continental 

 character, it is the only known home on the 

 northern hemisphere of real icebergs. Nearly half 

 of the supposed circumference of the interior has 

 recently been explored by a series of expeditions, 

 whose results explain adequately how the ice- 

 bergs are produced. It has been proved that a 

 huge ice-sheet covers the whole of the interior like 

 a deluge. The surface of this enormous glacier, 

 only occasionally interrupted by protruding moun- 

 tain-tops, rises slightly towards the interior. 

 Several travellers have tried to penetrate into this 

 unknown region, crossing the ice till they reached 

 hei-hts of 7000 feet ; but it was not until '1888 that 

 Greenland was crossed from east to west (by Nan- 

 sen ), when the ' divide ' was found to attain some 

 10,000 feet above the sea. On account of this ice- 

 cap Greenland has no rivers corresponding to its 

 magnitude : instead of its lieing drained by rivers, 

 the inland ice at certain points of the coast is 

 thrust into the sea by forces which have their origin 

 in extensive lateral glaciers in the interior. These 

 points are represented bv the so-called ice-fiords, 

 of which six or eight of first-rate magnitude are 

 found in Danish Greenland (between 67 N. lat 

 on the east coast and 75 on the west coast). Fi\ 

 of these have l>een narrowly explored, and it 

 has been ascertained that the inland ice, which 

 produces the bergs, and whose thickness may be 



