r 
Chap. I. lying round the NORTH POLE. ' 387 
Trouble, engage the Gromlanders to gain them in time a 
better, and more certain Account •, for, without doubt, 
in one Summer, they might do more towards the fettling 
the Poffibility, or Impoffibility, of .finding a North-weft 
PalTage by their Difcoveries on Land than we have been 
able to do, in upwards of one hundred and fifty Years, 
by Sea befides, they might alfo make . Difcoveries on 
the oppofite Coaft, looking towards Spitzbergen which 
would lead us to a Certainty, whether there be an open 
Sea on that Side, or not ; a Thing which, as the Reader 
will fee hereafter, is a Matter of far greater Importance 
than is commonly imagined. It was to penetrate into 
thefe Secrets of IN^ure, and to open to Mankind the 
entire Knowledge of the Univerfe, that fo many Expe- 
ditions were made towards the North, by the Englijh and 
Jjiitch^ in the Beginning of the laft Century j but which, 
after all, ferved only to difcover another Country to the 
Eaft of Greenland, which, for any thing that is hitherto 
known, is abfolutely uninhabited, but muft not therefore 
be left undeferibed, efpecially as we want not ftifiicient 
Materials for that Purpofe. 
1 4. The Country of Spitzbergen, or Greenland, lies the 
Jieareft to the North-Pole of any yet examined by Sea- 
men, that is, from 76 to 82 Degrees North Latitude •, 
but whether it be Continent or Ifiands is not yet difeove- 
ed. It received its Name of Greenland from the EngliJJo, 
on Account of its being thought Part of Old Greenland 
but the Dutch call it Spitzbergen, that is, fharp Moun- 
tains, becaufe the icy Rocks of this Country miOunt like 
Pyramids, one behind, or rather, above another, to mar- 
vellous Heights. There are great Difputes as to the 
Difeovery of this Place : For, on the one hand, we affert 
that it was found out by Sir Hugh Willoughby, in 1553 ; 
which the Dutch deny,, and have invented a Country 
called Willoughby Land, and placed it in their Maps, to 
quit themTelves of this Difficulty. He was afterwards 
frozen to death, with his Ship and Company, in the 
River Arzana in Lapland, leaving upon his Table an Ac- 
count of his Difcoveries, drawn up in very concife 
Terms Wherein he mentions failing for feveral Days 
on theWeft-fide of a Country, in a very high Lftitude, 
which it is believed, and on very good Grounds, could 
be no other than Greenland. After this, Mr. Stephen 
Burrows, in the Year 1556, arrived in the Latitude of 
78 Degrees, and failed along a Coaft altogether defolate, 
the Ice blue, and abounding with Birds, to the Latitude 
of 80 Degrees 1 1 Minutes ^ which was certainly no other 
than Greenland. 
The Dutch Difeoverers were William Barentz, and John 
Cornelius, who vifited this Country in 1595, and called 
it Spitzbergen. Our Maps differ from the Dutch, becaufe 
the Names of Places in them are all Englijh -, whereas, 
in the Dutch Maps, they are in their own Language *, 
which however determines notning as to the Matter of 
Fatft, or who were the firft Difeoverers. If we decide the 
Points according to Evidence, the Difeovery perhaps ought 
to be adjudged to the Englijh •, but the prefent Pof- 
fefiion, and tlie Profits refulting from thence, are moft 
undoubtedly wholly in the Dutch. 
1 5. Spitzbergen is aftuaily undifeovered on the North, 
fo that it is not poffible to lay with Certainty, how it is 
bounded ; On the Weft it has the Northern Ocean ; on 
the South, the fame Ocean between it and the Mufeovite 
Lapland -, on the Eaft an undifeovered Country, to which 
it is joined by an Ifthmus ; on the Weft-fidc of it lies 
Charles IJland, which is divided from the main Land by 
a narrow Streight called Foreland Ford, between which 
and Mufcle Haven are the higheft Mountains, moft of 
which are of a red Colour, and refleft the Sun-beams fo 
as to feem all on fire ; but feven of the Mountains, all of 
a remarkable Sharpnefs, are of a fine Sky-blue. South- 
Haven is the moft commodious Place on the Ifland, afford- 
ing all the Conveniences neceffary for repairing leaky or 
damaged Ships, and is fo large that thirty or forty 
Sail may ride at Anchor there very conveniently ; here 
alfo may be had frefh Water, from the melting of the. 
Snows ; for as to the Rivers they are brackifh, as far as 
hitherto they have been difeovered, and no Springs or 
W ells have been yet found. 
The Mountains about South Haven are very high, efpe^ 
dally on the Left ^ and in the Midft of the Harbour is 
an IQand called Deadmand s Iflamd, becaufe ftich as die in 
the Voyage are iifually buried here ; if the Bodies can be 
preferved froiTi the Bears, they remain uncorrupt tor many 
Years. There are feverai Ifiands in this Neighbourhood, 
called Fowl Ifiands, from the prodigious Number of Birds 
that are bred there. The next capacious Haven is that 
called by the Dutch, Maurice Bay, v/here fome have 
wintered .‘ Near this Place were a few Cottages built by 
the Dutch, for the Convenience of making their Oil, 
and this Place they call Smearboufg, or the Haerlem 
Cookery. In the North Bay there is an ifland which the 
Dutch call Voegelfang, from the great Noife which the 
Fowls make when they take their Flight whence fome 
have imagined the famous Problem of our Birds of 
Paffage may be eafily folved, fince they fiippofe they are 
bred in the Fowl-Ijlands, and at a certain Seafon of , the 
Year fly fouthward from, the Ifland before-mentioned. 
Deer Sound is fo called from the Abundance of De^r 
^ which feed about it, though the Soil feems to be all Slates 
fet edgewife. Mufcle Flaven lies at the Mouth of the 
Waygate. Martens d.Hiimburgher, who has given us the bell 
Account of this Country, failed as high as 8 1 Degrees 
North, where the Ice hindered him from approaching. 
16. The Soil of Greenland is for the moft part nothing 
but Rocks, or Heaps of vaft Stones, fo very high, that 
half of them are loft in Clouds ; the Valleys between them 
are full of Stones and Ice, Vv?hich fall from thofe prodi- 
gious Mountains. About Deer Sound and Mufcle Haven 
there is fome low Land, which is alfo ftony, and, for 
the moft part, covered with Snow and Ice ; and this being 
melted, as it fometimes is in the Summer, difeovers no- 
thing but a barren Soil, covered v/ith Heath, Mofs, and 
very few Plants. Such of the Mountains as are expofed 
to the warm Air and Sun-beams are likewife covered wirii 
Heath and Mofs •, and, in the Clifts of thofe Rocks, 
there are infinite Numbers of Fowls, that reft there all 
the Year. 
The Dung of thofe Birds, with the Mofs w'^affied down 
by the, melted Snow, makes a rich kind of Mould on 
fome Places near the Shore, where it produces a kind of 
Lettuce, Scurvy-grafs, exceeding mild and pleafant, 
Sorrel, Snakeweed, Moufe-ear, Heart’s-eafe, wild Straw- 
berries, Houfe-leeks, W all-pepper, and fome Plants 
unknown to us. The Sea is obferved not to be fo fait 
here as in other Places', and changes (as it does every 
where) its Colour with the Sky. If the Air be clear, the 
Sea is blue ; if cloudy, green ; if foggy, yellow/ •, in 
ftormy Weather, quite black : But there is one thing re- 
markable, which is, that, in fair Weather, the Sea is fo 
clear, that you may fee ten or twelve, or even fourteen 
Fathom deep. The Air is fo cold, that there is almoft 
a continual Froft, which is ftrongeft in April and May, 
and then in a manner intolerable, efpecially if the Wind 
blows from the North or Eaft ^ South or Weft Vf inds 
bring Snow or Rain, and moderate the Cold. In 
June, July, and Auguji the Weather is uftially calm •, 
and in the laft tv/o Months, but efpecially in July, the 
Sun fhines fo hot, as to melt the Tar between the Seams 
of a Ship, if the Wind cannot come at it. 
The Sun appears about the Middle of February, and 
difappears about the ift of October •, but they have- a Tw/y- 
light v/hen he comes near their Horizon. From the Be- 
ginning of May to the ift of Auguji the Sun never fets 
yet they reckon Day and Night very eafily : for, when 
he is in the Weft, they call it Night j and, w/hen he 
comes about again to the Eaft, they reckon another Day 
begins. It is obferved, by Martens, that the Light of 
the Sun is then like that of the clear Moon, fo that Men 
may look upon it without dazzling their Eyes. 
17. The Beafts of this Country are white Bears, very 
differently fhaped from thofe that are feen elfewhere ; 
they have long Heads like Dogs, and bark like a Dog 
that is hoarfe. They are leaner and fwifter than other 
Bears, and very bold. Some of them are fix Feet high, 
and fourteen Feet long ; and there has been fometimes an 
hundred Weight of Fat taken out of one of them. When, 
any of them are killed and not carried off,^ the reft eat 
them 
