DESCRIPTION OF GllKKNLAND. 243 



jcctured that tlicy Avere the remains of sacrificed animals, 

 which the savages had eaten after their fashion, that is 

 to say, raw, and torn in pieces as dogs tear them, with 

 their paws and teeth. He remarked in passing through the 

 woods, quantities of trees cut with iron and steel instru- 

 ments. They found also dogs bridled or muzzled with straps 

 of wood. And what confirmed him more than all in the be- 

 lief that this country was inhabited, was, that he saw marks 

 of tents, which had been raised in different parts ; and in the 

 same places found pieces of the skin of bears, wolves, stags, 

 goats, dogs, and seals, which had served as coverings for 

 these tents. These appearances made it manifest that these 

 people lived like the Scythians, and encamped themselves in 

 tents like the Laplanders. 



The Danes, when hutted and established in their winter 

 quarters, made a good provision of wood to keep themselves 

 warm, and also of venison for food. Captain Munck first 

 killed with his own hand a white bear, which he and his 

 companions ate, and expressly state that they found it very 

 good. They killed a number of hares, partridges, and other 

 birds, which he does not mention, but which he says were 

 very common in Norway. He also says they took four black 

 foxes, and some sables, which is the name they give every- 

 where in the north to the sobeline martens. 



One thing which j)uzzled the Danes was, that they saw in 

 the sky of this country things which were not usually seen 

 in the sky at Denmark. The narrative says, that on the 

 twenty-seventh of November there appeared three suns dis- 

 tinctly formed in the heavens,^ and remarks at the same time 

 that the air of this country is very thick. Two suns, no less 

 distinct, appeared on the 24th of the following January ; and 

 two others less distinct on the 10th of December, which is the 



^ For the representation of a similar phenomenon, see illustration 

 facing page 72 of " Gerrit de Veer's Thi-ee Voyages by the North- 

 East," edited for the Hakluyt Society by Dr. Beke. 



