COASTS OF GREENLAND. 345 



which had been -established on the shore, and sub- 

 sequently invaded by the water. 



The submerged forests in Fundy Bay, Nova 

 Scotia, the subsidences at otlier points on the coasts 

 of Labrador and Upper Canada, show that Davis 

 Straits and the north -east of America are in the 

 same line of motion as Greenland. 



Several very flourishing Danish missions existed 

 in Greenland in the ninth century, as is proved by 

 papal bulls. These coasts, now unapproachable on 

 account of the ice, which entirely shuts them in, 

 possessed at that time an active and industrious 

 population. Two towns, one cathedral, eleven 

 churches, and three or four monasteries, show the 

 prosperity of these colonies in the middle ages. 

 The channel which separated Greenland from Ice- 

 land was frozen over during the winter, but each 

 year the passage had been free in the warm season, 

 and a Danish fleet carried supplies to the colonists, 

 in exchange for the products of the chase and the 

 fisheries. 



In 1408 the ice did not break up. Subsequently, 

 communication being interrupted, and the colonists 

 separated from the mother-country, they were either 

 massacred by the Esquimaux, or perished of cold 

 and hunger. These coasts have since become still 

 colder, and glaciers have covered the ruins of th© 



