INTRODUCTION. XV 



liopcd that, at no very remote period, such parts of 

 the coast of Spitzhergen as have not been visited, 

 may be explored by some of our steamboats in favour- 

 able seasons, as the results of Captain Gaimard's ex- 

 pedition shew that there are yet many " gleanings" 

 to be gathered in the natural history, as we know 

 there are in the geography, of that finest and most 

 accessible of the islands within the Arctic circle. 



The second document in the volume is a translation, 

 now newly made, from the " Relation du Greenland" 

 of Isaac de la Peyrere, so celebrated for his strange 

 opinions on the subject of men existing on the globe 

 before Adam. It was during a residence in Denmark 

 in 1644, with M. de la Thuillerie, ambassador from 

 France to Copenhagen, that he compiled his " Rela- 

 tion de ITslande" published with his name in Paris, 

 1663 ; and at the same time collected the mate- 

 rials for his " Relation du Greenland," the work 

 now translated, which he dates from the Hague, 

 1646, but which likewise remained unprinted till 

 1663, when it appeared anonymously. Niceron, in 

 his " Memoire pour servir a I'histoire des Hommes 

 illustres", in referring to these two works, with justice 

 remarks, " Elles sent toutes les deux curieuses et 

 estimees, et La Peyrere n'y paroit nuUement vision- 

 naire, comme il I'a paru dans ses autres ouvrages. II 

 les ecrivit pour faire plaisir a M. la Mothe le Vayer, 

 son ami, que aimoit ces sortes de livres." The 

 " Relation du Greenland" was reprinted in the first 

 volume of the " Recueil des Voyages au Nord," and a 

 translation was given in Churchill's Collection. As a 



