GREENLAND. 



methods peculiar to themfelves, and correfponding inipkv 

 mcnts, for accomplifhing their objeds both by fea and land ; 

 whicli we Ihall not here defcribe. The Greenland canoe, or 

 «' kaiak,'' like tliat in Nova Zenibla and Hudfon's bay, is 

 about three fathoms in length, pointed at both ends, and 

 i of a yard in breadth. It is conftriifted of thin rafts 

 faftened together with the finews of animals, and covered 

 with dreffcd'fcal-flcin, both above and below, fo that only a 

 circular hole is left in the middle, large enough to admit the 

 body of one man. Into thi.i the Greenlander thrufts himfelf 

 up to the waill, and fallens the fldn fo tight about him that 

 no water can enter. Thus fecured, and armed \yitli a paddle 

 broad at both ends, he ventures out to fca in the inoic 

 ftorniy weather to catch feah and fea-fowl ; and if he is 

 overfet, he can eafily raife himftlf by means of his paddle. 

 The "kone-boat'' is made of the fame materials, but more 

 durable ; and fo large, that it will contain 50 perfons with 

 all their tackle, baggage, and provifions. It is fitted with 

 a mall, which carries a trianguLir fail made of the mem- 

 branes and entrails of feals, and is managed without the help 

 of braces and bowlines. Thefe kones are flat-bottomed, 

 and fomctinics 6c< feet in length. They are left to the con. 

 dutl of the women, who are obliged to do all the drudgery, 

 including even the building and repairing of their houfes, 

 while the men ai-e wholly employed in preparing their hunt- 

 ing implements and iilhing-tackle. 



Greenland is a country very thinly inhabited. In winter 

 they live in houfes and in fummer in ten's. The houfes are 

 conllrudled of Hones, on a lleep rock, with layers of earth 

 and fods between them. On thefe walls they rell the beam, 

 or connetted beams, for the length of the houfe, being from 

 4 to 12 fathom ; and over thefe they lay the rafters, with 

 fmall wood between them ; the whole is covered with bil- 

 berry -bulhes, and then with turf, with line earth on the top. 

 Their houfes have neither door nor chimney ; the ufe of both 

 being fnpplied by a vaulted paffage made of Hone and earth, 

 entering through the middle of the houfe. The walls are 

 hung on the infide with old worn tent and boat fkins, 

 faftened with nails made of the ribs of feals ; and the roof 

 is covered with them on the outfide. In tlieie huts, fo coii- 

 ftrufted, they are guarded from wind, dair.p, and cold. 

 The floor is divided into feveral apartments, fepaiated by 

 fkins, according to the number of families for which it is 

 deligned. On thefe floors they lleep on pelts ; and they 

 commonly flt in them all day long, the women cooking and 

 fewing, and the men carving their tackle and tools On 

 the front wall of th<; houfe are feveral fquare windows, about 

 two feet in fi/.c, made of fealV guts and halibut's maws, and 

 fewed fo neat and tight, that the wind and Inow are kept 

 out, and the light let In. Thefe huts are v.ell warmed with 

 fires, and lighted by means of lamps filled with train oil, 

 and furnilhtJ with mofs iiiilead of a wick, which burns fo 

 brifht that the houfe is both lighted and warmed by it. 

 Over the lamp is fufpended a bailard-marble kettle, in which 

 they boil all their meat ; and over this again is a wooden 

 rack, on which they lay their wet cloaths and boots to dry. 

 On the outfide of liieir dwelllng-houfe they have their little 

 ilore-houfes, in whicli they lay up their little flock of fltfli, 

 fifh, train oil, and dried herrings ; and dole by their flore- 

 houfes they lay their boais, with their bottoms upwards, 

 under which they hang their hunting and lilhing tackle and 

 their fl<ins Their fummer tents are made with poles, put 

 together in a conical form, covered on the inlide with rein- 

 deer fliins, and on the outtides with fcal-fl<ins, doubled, or 

 fo dreffed that the rain cannot penetrate them. Cranlz's 

 liiftory of Greenland, vol. i. 



GreBNLAND, £■«/?» or Spitjbergen, was formerly con- 



fidered as part of the continent of Well Greenland, but ft 

 is now known to be a colle6tion or group of iflands, varying 

 in their extent, and lying between 76 46 N. lat. the lati- 

 tude of the South Cape, and 80'^ 30', the northerninoil 

 point of the Seven iflands, and bctvi'cen 9 ' and 23 E. long. 

 Sir Hugh Willougliby, who lirfl; difcovered land in this 

 hitrh northern latitude, A. D. I553> called it Crocniand ; 

 conceiving it to be part of the weltern continent. It was 

 afterwards vifited, A. D. IJ95, by William Barcntz and 

 John Cornelius, two Dutchmen, who claimed the honour 

 of the firft difcovery, and called the country '• Spitfbergen,'' 

 or fharp mountains from the numerous Iharp pointed aiid 

 rocky mountains which they obferved in it ; and in order 

 to afcertain their own claims, they pretended that this «-ar, 

 not the country difcovered by fir Hugh Willougliby, which 

 ill the maps and charts delineated by the Hollanders was 

 denominated " Willougliby land,'' though no fuch land 

 ever exifted. It is moreover faid, that before the voyage 

 of thefe Dutchm.en, an Enghlh navigator, wliofe name was 

 Stephen Burrows, had coailed along a defolate country 

 frora 78° to 8c" 11' N. lat. which mull have been Spitlber- 

 geii. This country was alfo vifited at different times by 

 navigators, who were employed in exploring a paffage to 

 the Eafl: Indies by the north-pole ; a project which was 

 fuggefted and ftrongly recommended by Robert Thorne, 

 a merchant of Briflol, as early as the year 1527. Bourne, 

 in his " Regiment of the Sea," written about the year 1577, 

 mentions this as one of the live ways to Cathay, and leenis 

 to admit the prafticabiiity of it from a miflaken notion of the 

 mildnefs of the climate near the pole, ow ing to the conflant 

 prefence of the fun during the fummer. In 1607, a voyage 

 was propofed by fome London merchants, for the difcovery 

 of a paffage by the north pole to Japan and China, and it 

 w-as undertaken by Henry Hudfon, who i'ell in with land to 

 the wcllward in 73 N. lat.; and foon after he fell in with 

 Spitfbergen, where he met with much ice ; and this navi- 

 gator advanced to the latitude of 80 23'; but he was pre- 

 vented from proceeding farther by the ice. In 1609, Jonas 

 Poole was appointed by the Mufcovy company on the fame 

 fervice ; and he with mucii difficulty made the fouth part of 

 Spitfbergen, afterwar-ds failing along and founding the coaft, 

 giving names to feveral places, and making many very ac- 

 curate obfervations. Having twice attempted in vain to 

 get beyond 79 50', he was obliged to i-elinquifli his objeft 

 and to return home. A fccoiul attempt in the following 

 year was equally unfuccefsful. In the year 1614, another 

 voyage was undertaken, in which Baffin and Fotherby were 

 employed ; and Fotherby made a fecond attempt in tVe 

 following year ; but their progrefs was obllrudled by the 

 ice. This country and the adjoining feas have fince been 

 frequently reforted to by fliips employed in the whale 

 fifhery ; but its fituation was never accurately afcertaincd 

 till captain Phipps (now lord Malgrave) undertook a voyage 

 by order of his majcfly George III. in the year 1773. -He 

 found that the land, which was formerly fuppofed to extend 

 as far as 83° N. lat., terminated with the " Seven iflands," 

 the mofl northerly point of which does not exceed 80 30' 

 N. lat. He obferved other lands lying eaftward at a con- 

 fiderable diflance ; but Spitfbergen was found to be cncom- 

 paffed by water and in no part of it to be contiguous to the 

 continent ofAfia. He explored, with a degree of refolu- 

 tion and perfeverance that did honour to himfelf and his 

 afTociates in this expedition, the northern and weflern coafls, 

 though he was prevented by the ice from advancing fo far 

 northwards as he wiflicd ; and he af(?ertained by accurate 

 obfervation the longitudes and latitudes of feveral points, 

 capes, and bays, which he vifited. On liis approach to the 



land 



