194 DESCrvIPTION OF GREENLAND. 



they might have been Americans, or possibly the aborigines 

 of New Greenland, discovered by the Danes in the reign of 

 Christian IV, king of Denmark, and of whom I shall speak 

 hereafter. He also thinks that their country bordered on 

 Old Greenland, which the Norwegians inhabited, and that 

 they occupied one part of Vestrebug before Eric the Red 

 took possession of the other. 



To tell you my own notion upon the subject, there was no 

 need of bringing Americans here at all; and the latter con- 

 jecture of M. Vormius is very judicious and correct ; to 

 which I will add, that by the same reason that Vestrebug 

 had its original inhabitants when the Norwegians arrived 

 there, Ostrebug had them also, and that as the eastern part 

 was nearer the Arctic Sea, was not so fertile, and conse- 

 quently less inhabited than the west, the Norwegians, who 

 met with less resistance on that side than on the other, took 

 possession more easily of Ostrebug than of Vestrebug. And 

 this is why I do not find in my histories that they made any 

 very persevering attempts at advancing by the westwards ; 

 but that they did so to the north, in which direction I ob- 

 serve that they marched eight whole days without discover- 

 ing anything but snow and ice, of which the valleys were 

 full. 



By this you may judge, that the tract of country which 

 the Norwegians took possession of in Greenland was en- 

 closed between the southern and the eastern seas, the moun- 

 tains of the north, which are inaccessible on account of the 

 ice, and the Skreglingres, who arrested their progress on 

 the side of Vestrebug. You will also notice on this subject, 

 that the Icelandic Chronicle affirms as an undoubted truth, 

 that the Norwegians held such small possessions in Green- 

 land, as to have been only reckoned in Denmark equal to 

 the third part of a bishopric, and the bishoprics of Denmark 

 are not larger than those of France. 



M. Vormius thinks the Skreglingres were not far from 



