VOYAGE TO GREENLAND. 
151 
on his return to Denmark, to land in Old Greenland, 
but all his efforts proved abortive. M. Egede gave 
it as his opinion that the only practicable method 
of reaching that part of the country, would be to 
coast north about in small vessels, between the 
great ice fields and the shore ; as the Greenlanders 
had declared that the currents which rush conti- 
nually from the bays and inlets, and run south- 
westward along the shore, prevent the ice from 
adhering to the land, so that there is always a 
channel open, through which vessels of small burden 
might pass, especially if lodges were built at proper 
distances on the shore, for the convenience and 
direction of the adventurers. In 1731, a royal 
edict was published enjoining all the king’s sub- 
jects in Greenland to return home ; and the colonies 
were thereby dissolved. But M. Egede, being 
zealous for the salvation of the inhabitants, staid 
behind, together with his family and some others 
who chose to follow his fortunes. This zealous 
man who was called the arctic apostle, feeling a 
deep desire to explore the eastern side, accompa 
nied some Greenlanders, who went fifty leagues 
for the purpose of catching deer, to determine if 
it was practicable ; and, on the 2d of September, 
1751, he fitted out an expedition from the west side 
to explore the opposite boundary ; when, having 
passed over much uneven ice, full of clefts, he was 
compelled to relinquish the enterprise after five 
days’ toil, the particulars of which are thus related : 
“ About north-east, or east north-east, are the 
