556 



GREEN MOUNTAINS GREENOCK. 



They consist of bows and arrows, lances, javelins, 

 and hnrpoons. Their canoes are made of laths, bound 

 by whalebone, and covered with dressed seal-skin. 

 They show a wonderful skill in BMttuingthein, even 

 in the most boisterous weather. They also use 

 sledges, drawn by dogs, in which they sometimes go 

 from thirty to forty miles from the land on the frozen 

 sea. The swiftness of these animals is such, that in 

 nine or ten hours, they accomplish a distance of about 

 sixty miles. The language of the Greenlanders is 

 the same as that spoken by the Esquimaux in Labra- 

 dor, and on the shores of Hudson's bay. Traces of 

 it are also said to be found on the north-west coast of 

 America, as far as Nootka sound. The variety in 

 the forms of the verbs, in combination with the pro- 

 nouns, is a remarkable peculiarity of this language. 

 The superstitious Greenlanders pay great respect to 

 their angekoks or sorcerers, who are at the same 

 time their priests and physicians. They have but 

 very rude notions of a Supreme Being. 



During the prevalence of the north-east winds, the 

 cold is often so great, that the mercury sinks to 48 

 below the freezing point of Fahr. The west winds 

 coming from Davis's straits are always damp, and ac- 

 companied by thaws. The basis of the mountains 

 and rocks is a fine-grained granite, with gneiss, mica 

 slate, hornblende, and whitestone. Many interesting 

 and uncommon minerals are found magnetic iron 

 ore, gadolinite, zircon, schorl, tourmaline, the finest 

 garnets, sodalite, iolite, and hypersthene of a beauti- 

 ful light blue. Among the animals are the polar fox, 

 the white hare, the reindeer, the white bear, the arc- 

 tic fox, the walrus, various kinds of seals, and the 

 narval. The Greenland whale (see Whale, and 

 fVhale Fishery) is found in great numbers and of an 

 enormous size, Of the birds, the principal is the 

 cinereous eagle ; the snowy owl, and others of the 

 falcon tribe, inhabit the high rocks ; the water-fowl 

 are numerous. A species of mosquito, is exceed- 

 ingly troublesome in the warm weather. The exports 

 are whalebone, oil, skins, and furs, eider down, the 

 horns of the narval, &c. The imports are provisions, 

 gunpowder, cotton and linen goods, iron and glass 

 wares, &c. In the inlets and bays which intersect 

 the coast of Greenland, immense masses of ice are 

 accumulated during a series of years, which, being 

 loosened during the heat of summer, lose their points 

 of support from the shore, and plunge into the ocean 

 with a thundering noise. Being afterwards set adrift 

 by the currents, they embarrass the navigation of the 

 polar seas, and become the terror of the mariner. 

 Those masses of ice are formed both of fresh and of 

 salt water, and sometimes rise more than 500 feet 

 above the surface of the water. The salt water ice 

 occurs in immense fields, of many thousand fathoms 

 in length and breadth, divided by fissures, but fol- 

 lowing close on each other. When the wind begins 

 to blow, and the sea to rise in vast billows, the violent 

 shocks of those masses of ice against each other, fill 

 the mind with astonishment and terror. The coasts 

 of Greenland are surrounded by many thousand 

 islands of different sizes, on which the native inhabi- 

 tants frequently fix their residence, on account of their 

 good situation for sea game. 



GREEN MOUNTAINS ; a range of mountains, 

 commencing in Canada, and extending south through 

 Vermont, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. They 

 divide the waters which flow into the Connecticut 

 from those which flow into lake Champlain and the 

 Hudson. Among the highest summits in Vermont 

 are Mansfield mountain, Camel's rump, and Killing- 

 ton peak. West rock, near New Haven, Conn., is 

 tlie southern termination of the chain. The natural 

 prowlh upon these mountains is hemlock, pine, spruce, 

 and other evergreens, and they derive their name 



from their green appearance. There are many fine 

 farms among these mountains, and much of the laud 

 upon them is excellent for grazing. 



GREENOCK, mi important sea-port town in Ren- 

 frewshire, Scotland, situated on the southern bank of 

 the firth of Clyde, twenty-two miles below Glasgow, 

 lat. 55 57' 2'' N.; long. 4 45' 30" W. The name 

 Greenock is supposed to be derived either from the 

 British Graenag, signifying a gravelly or sandy 

 place, or from the Gaelic Grainach, signifying a sunny 

 bay. The town of Greenock is, comparatively, of 

 recent erection. Crawford's Dyke, which forms now 

 an eastern suburb of the town, was erected into a 

 borough of barony in 1633, by Charles I. Its quay or 

 pier is older than that of Greenock, the quay of the 

 latter not having been begun before 1707. In 1636, 

 Greenock was formed into a parish, but for more 

 than half a century consisted only of a row of 

 thatched cottages, stretching along the bay, and inha- 

 bited by poor fishermen. Sir John Shaw, the baron 

 of the place, in 1696, made application to the Scot- 

 tish parliament for public aid to build a harbour, but 

 was unsuccessful. The inhabitants, feeling the im- 

 portance of the measure, afterwards entered into 

 a contract with their baron, and agreed to assess 

 themselves in the sum of Is. 4d. sterling on each 

 sack of malt brewed into ale within the village, the 

 money so levied to be applied in defraying the cost 

 of erecting a harbour. A harbour was, in conse- 

 quence, begun in 1707 ; and more than ten acres 

 were enclosed by two circular quays, with the inter- 

 vention of a middle one ; the whole consisting of 

 about 2000 feet of stone work, executed at an 

 expense of .5625. By the year 1740, the whole of 

 this sum was cleared, with a surplus of 1500. 



Since that time the old harbourage accommodation 

 has been almost entirely renewed at an expense, 

 including the construction of several docks, of above 

 120,000; and, in every respect, Greenock is now 

 the most convenient port in Scotland, with the excep- 

 tion, perhaps, of Dundee. The extent of the quays 

 is as follows : 



East quay, 



Entrauc-e to Harbour, 

 Custom- house quay, 

 Entrance to harbour, 

 West quay, 



Ko<-t. 

 631 

 103 



220 1 

 6U 



Extreme length from east to west, 

 Breadth of piers, 



The road or outer harbour is narrowed by a sand 

 bank of considerable breadth, stretching from Dum- 

 barton to a short distance below the town. At the 

 bottom or tail of the bank, and which, as a loosing 

 place, experienced mariners prefer to any other in 

 the firth, there is at all times sufficient depth of 

 water, abundance of room, and good anchorage for 

 hundreds of ships of any burden. Nearly opposite 

 to this, on the south-west, is erected a battery, which 

 commands the entrance into the Clyde. 



After the erection of the harbour, Greenock con- 

 tinued to increase gradually, until the middle of the 

 last century, when its advances to commercial impor- 

 tance were strikingly rapid. It participated largely 

 with Glasgow in the tobacco trade with the American 

 colonies, and, like Glasgow, suffered much by the 

 breaking out of the revolutionary war. But it 

 speedily recovered its prosperity, and became the 

 centre of commerce for the west of Scotland. The 

 progressive increase of its trade is well illustrated by 

 the increase upon its Custom-house receipts. In 

 1728, the gross receipt of its customs was 15,231 ; 

 in 1770, 57,336; in 1794, 77,680; in 1802, 

 211,087; in 1814, 376,713 ; in 1828, 455,596; 

 in 1829, 432,435; in 1830, 554,961; in 1831, 

 592,008 ; in 1832, 564,548 ; in 1833, tile year in 



