242 GREENLAND. 



oil, if they have conveniences on shore ; otherwise they barrel up the 

 pieces, and bring them home. Every fish is computed to yield between 

 60 and 100 barrels of oil, of the value of 31. or 4/. the barrel. The 

 Greenland whale fishery is principally carried on by the English and 

 (when at peace with England) the Dutch nations : in 1785, the former 

 employed 153 ships in this fishery, and the latter 65. 



The vast fields and mountains of ice in these seas, many of which 

 are above a mile in length, and 100 feet in thickness, are equally stu- 

 pendous, and, when illuminated by the sun's rays, dazzling and beauti- 

 ful. Their splendour is discernible at the distance of many leagues. 

 In one place, it is said, at the mouth of an inlet, the ice has formed mag- 

 nificent aixhes, extending the length of about 25 miles. But when the 

 pieces floating in the sea are put in motion by a storm, and dash one 

 against the other, the scene they exhibit is most terrible. The Dutch 

 had thirteen ships crushed to pieces by them in one season. 



By the latest accounts from the missionaries employed for the con- 

 version of the Greenlanders, their whole number does not amount to 

 above 957 constant inhabitants. Mr. Crantz, however, thinks the rov- 

 ing southlanders of Greenland may amount to about 7000. They are 

 low.of stature, few exceeding five feet in height, and the generality 

 are not so tall. The hair of their heads is long, straight, and of a 

 black colour : but they have seldom any beards, because it is their con- 

 stant practice to root them out. They have high breasts and broad 

 shoulders, especially the women, who are obliged to carry great bur- 

 dens from their younger years. They are very light and nimble of 

 foot, and can also use their hands with much skill and dexterity. They 

 are not very lively in their tempers ; but they are good humoured, 

 friendly, and unconcerned about futurity. Their food is principally 

 fish, seals, and sea-fowl. The men hunt and fish ; but when they have 

 towed their booty to land, they trouble themselves no farther about 

 it ; nay, it would be accounted beneath their dignity even to draw out 

 the fish upon the shore. The women are the butchers and cooks, 

 and also the curriers to dress the pelts, and make clothes, shoes, and 

 boots out of them ; so that they are likewise both shoemakers and 

 tailors. The women also build and repair the houses and tents, so far 

 as relates to the masonry, the men doing only the carpenters work. 

 They live in huts during the winter, which is incredibly severe ; but, 

 according to Crantz the Moravian missionary, in thellongest summer 

 days it is so hot, from the long continuance of the sun\rays, that the 

 inhabitants are obliged to throw off their summer garments. They 

 are very dextei'ous in hunting and fishing, particularly in catching 

 and killing seals. 



Greenland was first discovered in the ninth century by some Ice- 

 landers who were by accident driven on the coast. So favourable was 

 the account they gave of the country, that several families went and 

 settled there, and established a colony, which was converted to Chris- 

 tianity by a missionary, sent thither in the reign of Olaf, the first 

 Christian monarch of Norway. Under the protection of this prince, 

 the Greenland colony continued to increase and thrive ; several towns, 

 churches, and convents were built, and bishops appointed, under the 

 jurisdiction of the archbishop of Drontheim. The colony appears 

 then to have extended over above 200 miles in the south-eastern ex- 

 tremity of the country, and to have carried on a considerable com- 

 merce with Norway ; but the intercourse ceased in 1406, when the 

 last bishop was sent, and from that time till the beginning of the last 



