NORSEMEN AND ESKIMOES 3 
distances travelled by the Norse colonists pre- 
sumably in search of seals and other animals. 
Christianity was introduced soon after the arrival 
of the first colonists; the first of a long line of 
bishops was appointed, and churches were built. 
In 1261 the Republic of Greenland became part 
of the powerful Norwegian kingdom, which also 
included the Orkney and Shetland Islands, the 
Faroes, Iceland, and the Isle of Man. For a time 
the new colony flourished, but about the middle 
of the fourteenth century, owing to various causes, 
communication with the home country practically 
ceased and a period of decline ensued. It was 
probably in the thirteenth century that the Norse- 
men first came into contact with the Eskimoes, or 
Skraellings as they were then called. Accounts 
have been handed down of fights between the 
natives and the Icelanders and excavations have 
brought to light Norse skulls transfixed by stone 
arrow-heads of a type that is still found among the 
débris of old Eskimo settlements. Though precise 
information is lacking, it is probable that the Norse- 
men ceased to exist in Greenland more than three 
hundred years ago. When Martin Frobisher and 
John Davis landed in Greenland in 1578 and 1585 
respectively, no Norsemen were seen. 
In the early part of the eighteenth century Hans 
Egede, a pastor in Norway and the son of a Dane, 
was able to gratify his desire to visit Greenland in 
search of descendants of the original settlers. He 
sailed from Bergen on May 3, 1721, in the ‘Haabe’ 
(the ‘Hope’). Hans Egede felt that it would be 
I—2 
