GREENLAND. 



from both hues at once : but tliey afErm, that a (Irong 

 current runs from the north into the ftrait, which prevents 

 their coming to one another. 



The name G>reenland was given to the caft fide of this ter- 

 ritory many himdred years ago by the Norwegians and Ice- 

 landers, who are faid to iiave fir(l difcovered it, becaufe its 

 appearance was greener than that of Iceland. But this eall iide, 

 fonietimes called O/d or Lo/l Greenland, is now almoil totally 

 unknown, becaufe ihips cannot navigate this coaft, on account 

 of the great quantities of fioating ice. 'VcR Greenland lies 

 between tlie ttraits of Davis and Fvobiilicr, and Iceland, and 

 is bounded on the W. by Baffin's bay, on the S. by Davis's 

 ftrait, and on the E. by the northern part of the Atlantic 

 ocean ; but its northern boundaries are unknou-n. It reaches 

 from the fouthernmoft point of Cape Farewell, and Staten- 

 hook, in the 59th degree, on the right fide north-ealhvard, 

 towai"ds Spitzbergen, to the Soth degree ; and on the left 

 fide ojjpoiite to North America, N. W. and N. till about 

 the yyth degree; the coails having been fo far difcovered. 

 !Mo!l of the Greenlanders live from Statenhook to the 62d 

 degree, or, as the inhabitants fay, in the foutli ; but as no 

 Europeans live there, thefe parts are impcrfecT:tly known. 

 The interior of this dreary country is extremely mountain- 

 ous, and fome of the mountains are fo liigh that thev may 

 be difcerncd at the diil:ance of 40 or 60 leagues. This is 

 particularly the cafe with that wliich is the higheil mountain 

 in the country, called " Hiorte-tak," or ftag's-horn. It 

 has three branches or points, the moft lofty of which ferves 

 as a fea-mark to navigators, and alfo as a weather-gage, for 

 when a ftorm is approaching from the fouth, the funimit of 

 this mountain is enveloped in a fmall mifty cloud. The 

 hills and rocks of tliiscoun try arecoveredivith perpetual fnow; 

 though the low lands on the fea-coall are clothed with verdiu'e 

 in the fummer feafon. The ice and fnow, like the glaciers of 

 Switzerland, fill the elevated plains, and even many vallies. 

 The coall is indented with many bays and creeks that enter 

 far into the land: and it is encompafTed with innumerable 

 large and fmall illands, and both vifible and imperceptible 

 rocks. The fliore, however, is in many places inacceffible 

 on account of the floating mountains of ice. This country 

 is faid to have been difcovered by fome emigrants from Ice- 

 land : the dillance, according to the bell maps, being about 

 S' of longitude, in lat. 66 , or nearly 200 geographical 

 miles, though fome maps reduce it to 5", or not more than 

 1 30 geographical miles. The dilcovery was accidentally 

 made by Eric Raude, or the red-headed, who being exiled 

 from Iceland on account of tlie murdpr of one of its cliicfs, 

 found this country; and, coafting along the S. W. border, 

 wintered at an agreeable iiland near a found, which he called 

 Eric's found. Having in the following year examined the 

 main land, he returned in the third year to Iceland: and in 

 order to induce the inhabitants of Iceland to accompany him 

 he called it Greenland, exprcffing its verdant appearance, 

 a id reprefented it as abounding with pafture, wood, and 

 filli. The eiTecl of his reprcfentation was fuch, that in the 

 fucceeding year he was followed by twcnty-iive fliips full of 

 colonills, who had furnidied thcmfelves richly witli houle- 

 hold goods and cattle of all iorts : however, only fourteen 

 of tl'.efe fliips arrived fafe : but in procefs of time more co- 

 lonics flocked to Greenland, both on the eaft and weft fide, 

 from Norway as well as Iceland. Torfa-us, a native of 

 Iceland, ill his " Groenlandia Antiqua,' dates the difcoverv 

 of Greenland in the ■jear 9S2. But it has been inferred 

 feom a bull iffued by pope Gregory IV. in 835, and which 

 commits the converfion of the northern nations, and in cx- 

 prefs words, of the Icelanders and Greenlanders, to the firft 

 northern apollle Anfgarius, (if this bull be indeed authentic,) 



Vol. XVI. 



that Greenland muft have been difcovered and planted about 

 the year 830, by the Icelanders and Norwegians. Leif, 

 the fon ot Eric Raude, is faid to have made a voyage to 

 Norway, A. D. 999, to give the king, Olaus Tryggefon, 

 an account of the new colony in Greenland ; and tJiis king, 

 having jull renounced heatlienifm, converted Leif, and per- 

 fuaded iiim to be baptized, and to take witli him to Green- 

 land a prieft, for the converfion of the inhabitants. Upon 

 his retum his father was induced to embrace Chriflianitv, 

 and the reft of the colony followed his example. In the 

 year 1122 they chofe Arnold, a Norwegian, for their 

 bifhop; and he fixed Iiis epifcopal refidence at Gardar. Iii 

 the year 1261, tliey, and the Icelanders, fubjecled them- 

 felves voluntarily under the Norwegian fceptre ; and from 

 that time they were governed by a king's deputy from Nor- 

 way, according to the laws of Iceland ; and when an arch- 

 biihopric was erected at Drontheim in Norway, the Green- 

 land bifliops became fulTragans to this metropolitan. The 

 intercourfe between this colony in Greenland and Norway 

 continued, with little interruption, till the beginning of the 

 I5lh century ; the laft of 17 bifliops being appointed in the 

 year 1406. During this period the Greenland trade is fajd 

 to liave been very confiderable ; and it is very probable that 

 they exported a large quantity of flefli, butter, cheefc, fifa, 

 train, and pelts, cliiefly by means of foreign fliips ; for 

 though the Norwegian fettlcrs in Greenland, upon their firft 

 eflablifliment, failed in their own veftels from Iceland and 

 Norway to this country, they afterwards very much neglect- 

 ed navigation. After the period above-mentioned Green- 

 land feems to have been little regarded, and its intercourfe 

 with other countries almoil wholly coalVd. In order to ac- 

 count for this fudden change of condition, it ftiould be 

 confidcred, that the firft fettlcrs were very much haraft'ed bv 

 the natives, who were a barbarous and lavage people, and 

 who reienibled, in their culloms, garb, and appearance, the 

 Efquimaux found about Hudfon's bay. Thefe people were 

 denominated " Skr.ellings," or " Korralit,'' an appellation 

 affumcd by the Efquimaux. The Danilh Chronicle, a 

 work written in verfe, and, indeed, of doubtful authority, 

 though cited by Torfjeus, informs us, that certain Armenians 

 were firft driven hither by a ftorm, and that from hence 

 they peopled Norway and America, and that many tribes 

 were found in Greenland, who were governed by difterent 

 chiets. The Skrxllings, it is fuppofed, and not without 

 fome degree of probability, firll came to Greenland in the 

 14th century, not from the eall out of Europe, but fr-cSK 

 the weft out of North Am.orica. But their origin is traced 

 to the N. E regions of Great Tartary, between the Ice- 

 fea (mare glaciale) and Mungolia. They firft came into 

 Tartary, after the great diiperfion of the natioiis, and .were 

 driven on further and further by imperious or more potent 

 nations that followed them, till at laft they were compelled 

 to withdraw into the remoteft corner of Tartary near Kam- 

 flvatka, and from hence they migrated to America ; extend- 

 ing themfelves round the S.E. part of Hudfon's bay, or 

 through Canada as far as the North fea : and here, it is fup- 

 pofed, they were firil found by the Norwegians in the i ith 

 century. Dreading and wifliing to avoid the moleftation 

 which tlicy fuftered from the other Indians, thefe fugitives 

 retreated northwards, till, probably, in the 14th century, 

 they eillier crofted Davis's ftraits in their boats, from Cape 

 Wallingham, in the 66th degree, to tlie South-bay in Green- 

 land, which can be icarcely 60 leagues wide; or elle they 

 went higher up by Baffin's bay, and fo came down on the 

 parts where the Norwegians formerly had their habitations, 

 firft on the weft fide, and then bv degrees round to the eall. 

 Thefe Skrxllings are fuppofed to have exterminated the Icc- 

 5 13 laud 



