18 FINE ARCTIC SCENERY. Chap. I. 



unveiled to our anxious gaze that memorable 

 evening, all the magnificence of her natural 

 beauty. Was it to welcome us that she thus 

 cast off her dingy outer mantle and shone forth 

 radiant with smiles ? — such winning smiles ! 



A faint streak of mist, which we could not 

 account for, appeared to float across a low wide 

 interval in the mountain range ; the telescope 

 revealed its true character, — it was a portion of 

 the distant glacier. "We found ourselves upon 

 the Tallard Bank, 30 miles north of our port, 

 having been rapidly carried northwards by the 

 Spitzbergen current. 



July 20th. — This morning the chief trader of 

 the settlement, or, as he is more usually styled 

 by the English, the Governor, came off to us, 

 and his pilot soon conducted us into the safe 

 little harbour of Frederickshaab. I was much 

 gratified to learn that we were just in time to 

 secure a passage home for our ailing shipmate. 



For trading purposes Greenland is monopo- 

 lized by the Danish Government ; its Esquimaux 

 and mixed population amount to about 7000 

 souls. About 1000 Danes reside constantly 

 there for the purpose of conducting the trade, 

 which consists almost exclusively in the ex- 

 change of European goods for oil and the skins 

 of soals, reindeer, and a few other animals. 



