386 



THE POLAR WORLD. 



land of souls. The heat, which soon put an end to this excursion, was so great 

 that many of the plants had shed their seeds, and some were already complete- 

 ly dried up and shrivelled. • 



The part of the coast of East Greenland discovered by Scoresby, and that 

 which was visited the year after by Clavering, lay, however, too far to the north 

 to afford any clue about the extinct Scandinavian settlements, even supposing 

 them, as was then still believed, to have been partly situated to the east of Cape 

 Farewell. At length in the year 1829, Captain Graah, who had been sent out 

 by King Frederick VI. of Denmark, succeeded in exploring the south-eastern 

 coast of Greenland, from its southern extremity to the latitude of 65° 18', 

 beyond which no colony could ever have existed ; and as he nowhere found 

 either the most insignificant ruins or the least traces of an ancient Christian 

 settlement in the language and customs of the natives, it was now fully proved 

 that the east bygd of the old chroniclers was, in reality, situated on the south- 

 western coast of Greenland, in the present districts of Julianshaab and Lichte- 

 nau, a coast which, in comparison with the more northern colonies of Frederik- 

 shaab and Fiskernas, distinctly trends to the east. 



The present Danish settlements, which are confined to the more sheltered 

 fjords of its western coast, are divided into a north and south inspectorate, the 

 former extending from lat. 67° to 72°, and comprising the districts of Upernavik, 

 Omenak, Jakobshavn, Christianshaab, Egedesminde, and Godhavn, on Disco 

 Island ; while the latter contains the districts of Holsteensborg, Sukkertoppen, 

 Godthaab, Fiskernasset, FrederiKshaab, and Julianshaab. 



In the year 1855 the population of the South Inspectorate consisted of 6128 

 aboriginal Greenlanders, or Esquimaux, and 120 Europeans; that of the North 

 Inspectorate, of 3516 of the former, and 128 of the latter ; a very small number 

 if we consider that it is scattered over a space of 12° of latitude. In a country 

 like this, such toions as Godhavn, with 150 inhabitants, or Godthaab, the most 

 populous of all, with 330, pass for considerable cities. 



But, in spite of its scanty population, Greenland is a valuable possession of 

 the Danish crown, or rather of the Danish company, which entirely monopolizes 

 the trade, and manages its affairs so well that the Greenlander receives for his 

 produce only about the sixth part of its price at Copenhagen. According to 

 the average of six years (1850-1855), the total value of the exports from 

 Greenland amounted to 378,588 rix-dollars ; that of the importations from 

 Denmark, to 164,215; but in the latter sum was included not only the price 

 paid to the Greenlanders for their goods, but all the stores and provisions 

 necessary for the agents and servants of the company, the missionaries, and the 

 administration of the colony. The trifling amount which, after all deductions 

 and charges, the poor Greenlander receives for his seal-skins or his blubber, 

 he generally spends in tobacco, candy-sugar, coffee, and sea-biscuits, for his real 

 wants are amply supplied by his own country, and he has not yet learned to 

 invest his gains more profitably. Like all other Esquimaux, he depends chiefly 

 upon the sea for his subsistence. Of the various species of Phocae found in 

 the Greenland waters the most valuable is the hispid seal [Phoca hispida), 

 both from its numbers and from its frequenting the fjords during the whole 



