THE SUKKERTOPPEN. 
33 
On the 20th an unknown schooner came within the 
same dome of mist with ourselves. We had not seen 
a sail since leaving Newfoundland, and the sight 
pleased us. We showed our colors, hut the little craft 
declined a reciprocation. 
On the same day, jutting up ahove the misty hori- 
zon, we sighted the mountainous coast of Greenland. 
It was a hold antiphrasis that gave such a vernal title 
to this hirth-place of icehergs. Old Crantz, the quaint- 
est, and, in many things, the most exact of the mis- 
sionary authorities, says that it got the name from the 
Norsemen, because it was greener than Iceland — a poor 
compliment, certainly, to the land of the G-eysers I 
We first made the coast near Sukkertoppen, a re- 
markable peak, called so, perhaps, because its form is 
not unlike that of a sugar-loaf, perhaps because its 
top is whitened with the sno w. Mountains that mark 
their unbroken profile on the distant sky are very apt 
to suggest these fanciful remembrances to the naviga- 
tor ; and it is probably this which makes their names 
so frequently characteristic. 
This peak is a noted landmark, and gives its name 
to the entire district it overlooks. Our own observa- 
tions confirm those of Oraah and Ross, which place it 
in latitude 65° 22' north, longitude 53° 05' west. It 
may be seen under ordinary circumstances many miles 
out to sea. 
We were favored in our view of the Sukkertoppen. 
We had approached it through an atmosphere of fog ; 
and when the morning of the 23d gave us a clear sky, 
we found ourselves close upon the beach, so close that 
we could see the white surf mingling with the snow 
streaks. A more rugged and inhospitable region nev^er 
met my eye. Its unyielding expression differed from 
