CH. XI] 
John Davis 
95 
tained the ships for several days at the Scilly Islands, 
Davis employed his time in visiting every island of the 
group, plotting and describing every isle and rock, and 
making a regular survey for the use of navigators. 
A fair wind at last sprang up and took them northward 
over the Atlantic, where one or two porpoises were har- 
pooned, and a number of whales seen. It was on the 
20th July, 1588, that Greenland, the country of the old 
Norse colony, was sighted, and Davis named it the 
"Land of Desolation": for "the irksome noise of the 
ice and the loathsome view of the shore bred strange 
conceits among us/' This was on the east side. Davis 
considered that he was well to the westward of the 
Frieslanda of Zeno, and in the channel between Labrador 
and Greenland as shown on Mercator's map, so, after 
rounding the southern point, he steered north and on the 
29th sighted land in 64 0 15' N. The wind being strong 
from the north he anchored in a fjord, which was named 
Gilbert Sound. It is the Godthaab of the Danes 1 . 
On the Greenland coast the numerous small granite 
islands scattered in great numbers at the entrances of 
the deep fjords, are well clothed with moss, grasses, and 
wild flowers in the summer, and embosomed in a deep 
blue sea on which bergs and pack-ice float here and there, 
and become distorted on the horizon by refraction . 
Nowhere does nature present a more lovely scene. 
Davis, with Janes and Eston, landed on a small 
island and had his first interview with the Eskimos. 
He was followed by the captain of the Moonshine with 
the four musicians, and a good understanding was soon 
established. Next day many kayaks were darting round 
the ships, and there was perfect confidence. Five kayaks 
and some native clothing were purchased. On the 1st of 
August Gilbert Sound was left and, shaping a W.N.W. 
course, the opposite shore was sighted in 66° 40' N., 
anchorage being found in a bay which Davis called after 
his old school — Totnes Road. He then discovered and 
examined the entrance to Cumberland Gulf. He was 
very observant of the fauna and flora, the bears, five of 
1 It must be remembered that Davis was entirely ignorant of the 
Norse colony and of the Icelandic Sagas, which were only brought to 
light by Professor Ram in our own day. 
