218 PESCIUPTION OF GREENLA>;r». 



ception of spiders. There are a great number of gnats that 

 sting very sharply, and the sting is followed by large swellings 

 on the face. They have no soft water, but such as they get 

 from the melting snow. The chronicle states, that the cold 

 which seizes the ground stops the passage of the sources. 

 They have very large dogs, which they attach to their sledges 

 and u?e as we do horses. 



Here this account ends, and I do not know whether the 

 Danish Chronicler has taken it from the English history of 

 Martin Frobishcr, or whether he has wi'itten it from any 

 legend that he may have heard, as the ancient Danes used 

 to do, who composed the histories of their times in ballads. 



To return to the kings of Denmark. Christian IV, now 

 reigning, son of Frederick II, took the subject of Greenland 

 very much to heart, and resolved to discover it, although his 

 father and grandfather had in vain attempted to do so. For 

 the accomplishment of this design he sent for a captain and 

 a clever pilot from England, who had the reputation of 

 knowing this sea very well, and of being well acquainted 

 with the whole of this route. Being provided with this 

 pilot, he fitted out three vessels under the conduct of Gotske 

 Tiindenau, a Danish gentleman, their admiral. They left 

 the Sound in the early part of the summer of the year 1605. 

 The three vessels sailed together for some time, but as the 

 English captain had gained the height he desired, he took 

 the route of south-west for fear of the ice, so that he might 

 be able the more easily to land in Greenland. The route he 

 took corresponded with the old Icelandic route which I 

 have instanced to you, which recommends the same mode 

 of proceeding. The Danish admiral, thinking that the 

 English captain should not have taken this south-west route, 

 continued his own towards the north-east, and arrived alone 

 on his side in Greenland. No sooner had he cast anchor 

 than a number of savages, who had discovered him from 

 the top of the shore where they Mere, jumped into their 



