Chap. r. 
lying round the NORTH POLE. 
ec 
and precious Stones, againfl all Kinds of fmail Iron- 
“ ware ; fuch as Knives, Seiflars, Needles, common 
Looking-Glaffes, and other fuch Trifles. When he fet 
fail from thence, there were two Groenlanders remain- 
ed in the Ship, whom he carried off, and brought 
“ them home with him. Thefe, as they endeavoured 
“ to get away from him, and fometimes would have 
“ jumped into the Sea, they were obliged to tie and 
“ fecure, which, when their Countrymen obferved, who 
“ flocked together on the Shore, they made an hideous 
“ Out-cry and Howling, Tung Stones, and fhot their 
‘‘ Arrows at the Sailors •, upon which thofe from the 
Ship fired a Gun, which frightened and difperfed 
“ them, and fo the Ship left them. The two other Ships 
“ that fet fail in Company, and under the Command, of 
“ Lindenow, after they had doubled Cape Farewell^ fteer- 
ed direflly for the Streight of Davis^ in which Navi- 
“ gation they difcoyered many fine Harbours^ delightful 
green Meadow Lands, but all the Inhabitants along 
“ the Coafts wild and favage. It is pretended alfo, that 
“ they, in fome Places, found Stones Which contained 
“ fome Silver Ore, Which they took along with them ; 
“ of which one hundred Pound yielded twenty-fix 
“ Ounces of Silver. Thefe two Ships alfo brought four 
“ Savages home with them to Copenhagen^ 
“ The fecond Expedition was made by order of the 
“ fame King, in the Year i6o6j with five Ships, under 
“ the Conduft of the afore-mentioned Admiral Linde- 
“ now^ carrying along with him three of the Savages 
“ (one of them dying in the Voyage) which they had 
“ brought off the Year before from Greenland. But 
‘‘ this Time he direded his Courfe to the Weftward of 
“ Cape Farewell., ftanding for the Streight of Davis, 
where, coafting along, he took the Survey of feveral 
“ Places, and then returned home again. The third and 
lafb Expedition of this glorious King, was only of two 
‘‘ Ships, commanded by Captain Carjten Richards, an 
“ Holjienian by Birth. He efpied the Land, and its high 
“ and craggy Rocks afar off, but could not ‘come near 
it on Account of the Ice, dnd fo returned home. The 
fourth Expedition of King Chrifiian IV. under the 
‘‘ Condud of Captain Jens Munch, in the Year 1 6 1 6j 
“ was not made for the difeovering of Greenland, but 
“ to find out a Palfage between Greenland and America 
to China, the Misfortunes of which Expedition are re- 
“ lated by the faid Commander. 
“ There were befldes thefe four Expeditions at the 
“ King’s Coft, a fifth, undertaken in the fame King’s 
“ Reign, by a Company fettled in Copenhagen, in the 
“ Year 1636; of which Company, the Prefident was the 
“ Lord HighChancellor EraV. Two Ships, fitted 
“ out by this Company, direded their Courfe for the 
“ Greenland, fell in with the of Davis, 
where they traded for a v/hile with the Savages but this 
“ was not the main Defign of the Commander, who was 
“ acquainted with a Coafl whofe Sand had the Colour and 
“ Weight of Gold, which he accordingly did not mifs, 
and filled both their Ships with the fame. After their 
“ Return to Copenhagen, the Goldfmiths wete ordered to 
“ make a Trial whether this Sand would yield any Gold 
“ or no ; who not being fkilful enough to make fuch a 
Trial, condemned it to be all thrown over-board ; 
‘‘ which was done by Order of the High Chancellor, 
Prefident of the Company. Some Part of the faid 
Sand was yet kept out of Curiofity, out of which an 
“ Artificer, who afterwards came to Copenhagen, did ex- 
tra6t a good deal of pure Gold, The honefl; and well- 
meaning Commander who went upon this Adventure 
was turned out of Favour, and foon afterwards died 
“ of Grief, whereby not only the Treafure they had 
brought home, but alfo the Knowledge of the Place 
“ where it was to be found was entirely lofl, as he 
kept this abfolutely a Secret to himfelf. 
In the Year 1654, during the Reign of King 
Fred.erick III. a noble and wealthy Adventurer, Henry 
Muller, fitted out a Ship for Greenland, under the 
Command of David de Nelles, who arrived fafe in that 
Country, and brought from thence three Women, 
whoje Names were Kunelick, Kabelau, and Sigokou, 
379 
“ who, according to the Opinion of Biiliop Terlais, who 
“ had perufed the faid Captain’s Journal, were taken 
“ in the Neighbourhood of Herjolfnefs, on the eaftern 
“ Shore j but which I cannot believe. • My Opinion is, 
“ they v/ere brought from the weftern Shore near Bauds, 
River, as fome of the Inhabitants who are ftill living 
“ had in frefh Remembrance, telling me their Names, 
“ as they are laid down in the afore-mentioned Journak 
“ The lafl; Adventurer that was fent upon the Difeovery 
“ of Greenland, according to Forfeeus in his Hijlory of 
Greenland, was Capt. Otto Oxelfo7i, in the Year i6yo, 
“ in the Reign of Chrifiian V. of glorious Memory ; l3ut 
“ what Succefs this Adventurer met with he leaves us to 
“ guefs s neverthelefs we find, in a Manufeript Deferip- 
“ tion of Greenland,, written by Arngrim Vidalen, That his 
“ faid Majefty did invite, and with great Privileges en- 
“ courage, Mr. George Formunten, Coimfellor of Com- 
merce at Bergen, to fit out Ships for the faid Difeovery 5 
whereupon the faid Coimfellor, not only got ready 
“ Shipping well-ftored for fuch an Expedition, but alfo 
“ got together a Number of PaflTengers, who refolved 
“ to go and fettle in thofe Parts j whom he provided with 
“ all Things neceflary for that Purpofe, both Provifion 
“ and Ammunitionj as well as Houfes made of Timber, 
“ ready to be erefted in that Country ; but this great 
Defign mifearried, the Ship being taken hj the.French, 
“ and carried into Dunkirk. 
“ Thus for a long while itfeemed that all Thought 
“ of Greenland was laid afide, until the Year 1721, when, 
“ after many well-meant Invitations and Projedls pro- 
“ pofed by me to the Greenland Company at Bergen in 
“ Norway, approved and authorized by his late Majefty 
“ Frederick IV. of glorious Memory, the Company 
“ thereupon refolved, not only to fend Ships, but alfo 
“ to fettle a Colony in Greenland in the 64th Degree \ 
“ when I went over with my whole Family, and re- 
“ mained there fifteen Years. During my Stay, I endea- 
“ voured to get all the Intelligence that could be, both 
“ by Sea and Land, of the prefent State of the Country, 
“ and did not lofe my Labour ; for 1 found fome Places 
“ that formerly were inhabited by the Norwegians on the 
“ weftern Shore. 
“ But whereas my main Drift and Endeavour has 
“ been all along to difeover the eaftern Diftridt of Green- 
“ land, which always was reckoned the beft of our ancient 
“ Colonies ; accordingly I received a Letter from the 
“ above-mentioned Greenland Company at Bergen, in the 
“ Year 1723, in which I was told, that it was his Ma- 
“ jefty’s Pleafure, That the Eaft Diftridt- might likewife 
“ be vifited, and difeovered *, which, the better to effedt, 
“ I took the Refolution to make this Voyage in perfon, 
“ and accordingly I coafted it fouthwards as far as, the 
“ States Promontory, looking out for the Streight of 
“ Frohifher, which would have been my fliorteft way 
“ according to thofe Charts, which lay the faid Streighe 
“ down in this Place •, but fuch a Streight I could not 
“ find. Now, as it grew too late in the Year for me to 
“ proceed further, the Month of September being near at 
“ an End, when the Winter Seafon begun in thofe Parts, 
“ accompanied' with dreadful Storms, I was obliged to 
“ return. In the Year '1724 the Diredlors of the faid 
“ Bergen Goiivpsxij, according to his Majefty’s Good-will 
“ and Pleafure, fitted out, a Ship to attempt a Landing 
“ on the eaftern Shore, as had been formerly pradtifed 
“ on that Coaft which lies oppofite to jc eland but, the 
“ furprifing Qiiantities of Ice which barricaded the Coaft 
“ made the Enterprize abortive and quite mifearry, as 
“ many others had done, as there was no Convenience for 
“ Ships to approach this Shore. 
“ The fame King, in the Year 1728, tefolved, be- 
“ fides other very confiderable Expences, to haveFIorfes 
“ tranfported to this Colony, in hopes that, with their 
“ Help, they might travel by Land to this eaftern Dif- 
“ tridl : But nothing was more impoffible than this 
“ Projedt, on Account of the impafiable, high and 
“ craggy Mountains,- perpetually covered with Ice and 
Snows, which never thaw. Another new Attempt 
“ by Sea was, by Order of the fame King, made in the 
1‘ Year 1729, by Lieutenant Richard, v/ho with his 
