406 



GREENLAND 



GREENLET ISLAND 



estimated at 1000 feet, is pushed on an average with 

 a velocity of 50 feet in twenty-four hours into the 

 sea, where it breaks into fragments the bergs. 

 The mass thus annually delivered into one of the 

 largest class of ice-fjords would be equal in size 

 to a mountain more than 1000 feet high and 

 covering 4 sq. m. 



The coast-margin that surrounds the ice-covered 

 inland is by no means devoid of perpetual ice 

 itself, but its glaciers are more or less isolated. 

 It is very mountainous ; bold headlands, 3000 to 

 5000 feet high, are common in the north as 

 well as in the south, and some mountains even 

 rise to a height of 6000 to 7000 feet. Low flat 

 land is found only in small patches, especially 

 round the heads of some of the fjords. These 

 inlets generally take the form of narrow channels, 

 frequently more than 1000 feet deep. During the 

 summer the whole east coast, and the west coast 

 up to 64 N. lat. , are more or less encumbered 

 with drift-ice from the Spitzbergen sea. 



The climate of Greenland, when contrasted with 

 the climate of the eastern coasts of the Atlantic in 

 the same latitude, shows a surprising difference. 

 The southern point of Greenland has a mean 

 temperature like that of the most northern shores 

 of Iceland and Norway. But the difference con- 

 sists more in the want of summer than in the 

 severity of the winter. The following figures give 

 the approximate mean temperature in Fahrenheit 

 respectively of the summer, the winter, and the 

 year for three stations on the west coast : Lichtenau 

 (604 N. lat.), 44, 22, and 33; Upernivik (73 

 N. lat.), 38-2, -6-6, and 1 3 '3 ; Rensselaer Har- 

 bour (78 N. lat.), 33-4, - 28 '6, and - 2-5. The 

 minimum observed in the north was -66 '5; the 

 maximum in the south 68. On the east coast, 

 in 74J N. lat., the summer heat was about 40, 

 the winter 10 ; the maximum was 55 '6, the 

 minimum - 40 '4. The mean temperature of the 

 winter months on the west coast is very variable 

 from one year to another, owing especially to a 

 warm wind from south-east and east. 



The mountains of Greenland consist chiefly of 

 granitic and gneissose rocks. On the west coast, 

 between 69 15' and 71 20' N. lat., they are inter- 

 rupted by high tablelands, consisting of trap and 

 basalt, accompanied by sandstone and slate, with 

 beds of coal. The fossil flora discovered in con- 

 nection with the latter exhibits 613 species, 

 partly Cretaceous, with subtropical forms, partly 

 Tertiary, indicating a climate like that of southern 

 Europe. Metallic ores have hitherto proved rather 

 scarce. Besides coal, different varieties of graphite 

 have been discovered, but the only mineral of 

 real economical value hitherto made use of is 

 cryolite, which is exported for the manufacture of 

 soda and a very pure alum. The mine is situated 

 at Ivigtut (61 10' N. lat.). It is worked by foreign 

 labourers, and the export is about 10,000 tons 

 annually. A remarkable collection of different 

 minerals occurs in close connection with the cry- 

 olite, comprising lead and tin ore, but only in 

 small quantities. Another peculiar group of min- 

 erals occur in connection with eudialyte some- 

 what farther south ; this mineral also has become 

 an object of commercial speculation. A mineral- 

 ogical rarity is finally the native iron, of which 

 a mass found on Disco Island was estimated to 

 weigh 46,200 pounds. 



In sheltered slopes and valleys around the fjords 

 south of 65 N. lat. copse-woods are found, con- 

 sisting of alder, white birch, more rarely rowan- 

 trees, which grow to 6 or 8 feet high. The highest 

 birch discovered measured about 14 feet. Berries 

 are abundant, especially crowberries and whortle- 

 berries. An attempt to grow potatoes at the south- 

 most settlement failed. The Greenland flora 



comprises 395 species of phanerogams and higher 

 cryptogams, and 330 species of mosses. 



The fauna numbers 33 species of mammalia, 

 124 of birds, 79 of fishes. It is from the animal 

 kingdom, especially from the seals and whales, 

 that the natives derive almost their whole sub- 

 sistence. The number of these animals annually 

 killed in the Danish trading districts on the 

 west coast is estimated as follows : Phoca fcetida, 

 51,000; Phoca vitulina, 1000; Phoca grcenlandica, 

 33,000 ; Phoca barbata, 1000 ; bladdernose seals, 

 3000 ; walrus, 200 ; white whales, 600 ; narwhals, 

 100 ; humpback whales, 1 or 2. Reindeer, of which 

 25,000 were shot annually in the years 1845-49, 

 are now rather scarce. Of fish sharks only have 

 any commercial value, but several other kinds afford 

 food for the inhabitants. American ships have for 

 some years tried halibut- fishery on the banks off 

 the west coast. The dogs used for draught are of 

 great importance in the north. A few goats and 

 horned cattle have been kept by the Europeans, 

 but more as a curiosity. 



The inhabitants of Greenland (see ESKIMO) are 

 of the Eskimo race, more or less mixed with Euro- 

 pean blood. The individuals of the mixed race 

 hardly differ as to language and habits from the 

 genuine Eskimo. Besides the natives, about 250 

 Europeans usually reside in the country, thirty 

 to forty of whom have married native women. 

 The number of natives, including the mixed race, 

 was, in Danish West Greenland, 9648 in the year 

 1855, 9983 in 1886; in Danish East Greenland, 

 548 in 1884 ; the Smith Sound tribe may number 

 150 ; and lastly some few must be added for the 

 imperfectly known north-eastern coast, where 

 natives have been met with. The whole popula- 

 tion in this way may amount to 11,000. 



Since 1774 the trade of Greenland has been a 

 royal monopoly ; the service employs 2 inspectors, 

 30 agents and clerks, and 180 handicraftsmen, 

 boatswains, and labourers, most of the latter being 

 natives. There are 12 chief stations for trading 

 and the Danish Mission ; the southernmost is 

 Julianehaab (60 42' N. lat.), the northernmost 

 Upernivik ( 72 48' N. lat. ). At Godthaab there is 

 a seminary for training native catechists ; of late, 

 too, natives have been appointed pastors. The 

 Moravian Mission has four chief stations. Since 

 1863 a municipal system has been tried, for which 

 native representatives are elected by their country- 

 men. During the twenty years from 1853 to 1872 

 the annual export by the royal trade was 1185 tuns 

 of oil and 40,000 skins, besides some eider-down, 

 feathers, &c. In 1890-95 the exports and' imports 

 were each a value of between 25,000 and 30,000 

 a year. 



Further information will be found in Danish Green- 

 land, by the present writer ( Lond. 1877 ), and the series 

 Meddtlelser om Gronland ( Copenhagen, 1879-95 ), which 

 give the results of investigations since 1876. As regards 

 the rest of Greenland, our principal sources are, for the 

 east, the works of Scoresby, Clavering, and the second 

 German north polar expedition ; information about the 

 north-western part is scattered over the reports of several 

 well-known Arctic expeditions, especially those by Kane, 

 Hall, Nares, and Greely. See also Nordenskib'ld's record 

 of his exploration on the east coast and the interior 

 (German, 1886), and Nansen's account of his expedition 

 across the interior of southern Greenland in 1888. 



, a small town of Berwickshire ( q. v. ), 

 on the Blackadder, 38 miles ESE. of Edinburgh 

 (by rail 55). Its court-house (1834) is a large 

 Grecian pile. Pop. 744. 



Greenlet Island, a small island in the Strait 

 of Belle Isle, in 51 34' N. lat. and 56 36' W. 

 long., the proposed landing-place of a Canadian 

 Atlantic cable, to extend from near Clew Bay, in 

 Ireland. 



