3?8 H I s T o p. Y ^ C o u NT R I E s Book II, 
vther Nations, to make toy ages for Difeo^oery in ihefe northern Parts, hy. Phe Difeovery Smtzbero-en, 
Dr Greenland, more properly New Greenland j and a foort Account of the Difpute bemeen the Englifh 
and Dutch, about that Difeovery, 15. A Defeription of this Country, its Iflands,Bays, Sounds, Harr 
hours, and the iifual Places where the Englifh and Dutch fx themfelves ajhore, during the Whale FiW 
ing. 16. Phe ooil, Climate, and Seafons, mthis Country ; with fome curious Pemai'ks on the Colour of the 
Sea W ater. 17. Of the Animals that are found here, particularly Deer, Pears, Foxes, &c. with the 
Method of dr ef ing their Skins upon the Spot, iS, A diftinB Account of the Whaley the Size, Strength, and 
Manner f Swimming of that ^ Creature ^ and the vaji ^antities of Oil extraSied from the Fat, or%lkber, 
19. An accurate Account of the Manner of catching the Whale, cutting up, and making Frain Oil and 
Bone, from it, as praBifed in this Fifiery. 20. Of the other valuable Fifi in thefe Seas,fuch as the Fin-ffj 
Morje, Horfe-whaks,Dragon-ff, Whiteff, Sword-ff, Sea-unicorn, Hay-fijh, and the Pr fits derived 
from them. 21. Of the Countries adjacent to Spitzbergen, or Greenland, fuch as Mayen’s Ifland, Nova 
Zembla, &c. the Reafons why they were formerly frequented, and have been fince defer ted. 22.' Of the 
Land of Ytdzo, or fubjeB to the Emperor of Japon ; fuppofed to join to, or to be divided 
by^ a narrow Str eight from, the North Continent, either of Greenland or Nova Zembla. 23. Of the un- 
difeovered Parts of the World, from the Borders of the Land ^ Yedzo, to the Frontiers ^ North 
America Hudfon’s Bay. 24. Of the Advantages that might attend the farther and more complete 
Knowledge of thefe Countries, towards the perfeB underflanding of the terref rial Globe, and the mutual 
Relation between its Parts, zq. A circumfiantial Account oftheprefent State of the Whale-fifhery , and a 
Computation, as near as may he, of the Share of fever al Nations in the annual Produce of that Fifhery. 
H E R E is hardly a general Rule that it. And according to the Notice We have endeavoured 
admits ot fewer Exceptions than this ; to gather from thofe Greenlanders, who live farthefl to the 
That no Sort of Knowledge is bur- North, there is either but a very narrow Paflage between 
thenfome, or appears, upon Reflec- America and Greenland, Or, as is moft likely^ they are 
tion, not worth obtaining. If there quite contiguous ; and one is the more inclined to bdieve 
were any fuch dyrk and ufelefs Spot this, becaufe the farther you go Northwards in the faid 
in the noble Science of Cofmogra- Streight, the lower is the Land, contrary to what we 
phy, or general Knowledge of this Globe, one might ex- obferve where it borders on the Sea or main Ocean, where 
pedl it fhould lie in this very Quarter, upon which v/e are it never wants lofty Promontories, 
now entering; I mean the Hiflory of thefe Northern It is faid to have been firft difeovered by a 
Countries lying round the Pole, of which, hitherto, we gian, named Eric Retcep, who, having committed a 
cannot, with any Certainty, fay whether they belong to Murder in Iceland, refolved to fly to fom'e ftrange Coun- 
this or that Quarter of the World, or whether they do try. He landed here, and becaufe of its Greennefs, cal- 
not form a fifth Part diftindf ; that is to fay, aivided led it Greenland ', he fent his Son to Olaus Frugger, King 
from Europe, Afta, Africa^ and America', and, if fo, of to get his Pardon, which Was obtained.’ Upon 
there may be, very probably, a fixth Part lying in the this many Gentlemen ventured to plant there, fettled 
like IVIanner round the South Pole. Chriftianity, and built two Towns, called Garde and 
But Experience has taught us, that the Knowledge of Albe. The King fent thither a Viceroy, who had his 
thefe dark and dreary Regions is very far from being Seat at Albe, which was alfo made a Bifhop’s See, and 
ufelefs and unprofitable, and flill farther from being dry had a Cathedral. They write alfo of a Monaftery, dedi- 
or unentertaining. We have thrown them into a Sec- cated to St. Fhomas, which they pretended was built of 
tion by themfelves, for the Reafon before affigned ; be- Pumice-Stone, and that it had a Spring fo hot, as to boil 
caufe there is no Certainty of thefe Countries being joined their Meat, and being conveyed into the Rooms by 
to any Part of the known World, and we have chofen to Pipes, warmed them as well as Stoves : But this feems 
place them at the Head of this Book, becaufe all we fabulous. This fmall Colony failed in 1 349, whether by 
know of them is from their being vifited by Europeans. a Difeafe they call the Black Plague, or the Barbarity of 
It is for the fame Reafon that we begin with Green- the Natives, is not certain. In 1406 the Bifhop of Drcn- 
land, which, for any thing that appears from Hiflory, theim fent one Andreas to bring an Account of the State 
was the firft of them that was difeovered. The Reader of Chriftianity there, but he never returned, 
is to obferve, that though Greenland and Greenland be The fabulous Accounts after this Period are not worth 
the fame Words, the former being only the Banijh Way preferving, becaufe they contain nothing certain, ufeful, or 
of pronouncing, and writing the latter, yet they are now entertaining; as to Sir Martin FrchiJhedsYoy zgts, v/e 
made ufe of to denote two different Countries, fometimes fhall have Occafion to mention them in another Place. It 
alfo diftingiiifhed by the Names of Old and New Green- is fufficient for our Purpofe to take Notice here, th.n his 
land', for want of attending to which, many modern Difeoveries upon the Coaft of Greenland put the Panes 
Authors have fallen into great Miftakes and Abfurdities. upon attempting fomething on that Side alfo, but with very 
We fnall begin with the firft of thefe, and after giving little Succefs ; what they have fince done, from that 
the beft Account of it we can, we fliall then proceed to Time to this, is much more within our Power, and wor- 
the latter. . thy of the Reader’s Notice ; which therefore v/e Ihall 
2. Greenland lies but forty Miles to the Weft off of Ice- give him in the Words of the Reverend Mr. John Egede, 
land, beginning from the 59thDegree 50 Minutes of North a Panijh Miffionary, who has written a Hiflory of this 
Latitude. The Eaftern Coaft extends itfelf to the North, Country from his own Knowledge, and in his own Lan- 
as far, probably, as Spitzbergen, or Greenland, between guage, wherein, as to that Matter, he gives us the fol- 
78 and 80 Degrees, which is thought to be an Ifland fe- lowing, curious, and authentic Account, 
parated from the Continent of Greenland. I'he Weftern 3. “ After the Expeditions of Frederick II. Chrijlian 
Shore is difeovered as far as 7 1 or 72 Degrees. Whether ‘‘ IV. his Succeffor, with great Coft, ordered four dif- 
it be a large Ifland, or borders upon Countries to the “ ferent Expeditions for this Difeovery. The firft was 
North, is not yet found out. There feems great Reafon “ undertaken under the Command of Godjke Lindenow, 
to believe it is contiguous to America on the North-weft “ with three Ships. And, as the Hiflory tells, Linde- 
Side, becaufe^ there we meet with the Bay or Inlet, which “ now, v/ith his Ship, arrived upon the Eaft Coaft of 
in the Sea Charts is called PaviA s Streight, from that “ Greenland (which I can hardly believe) and found 
Lmom Englijhman, who in the Year 1585, was the firft “ none but wild, uncivilized. People there, like thofe 
Difeoverer of it, and is yearly frequented by Ships of “ Frohijher is faid firft to have met with. He ftaid 
different Nations, on Account of the Whale Fifliery, but “ there three Days, during which Time the v/ild Green-. 
no body, as yet, has been able to find out the bottom of f landers came to trade with him, changing Furs, Skins, 
** and 
