IN THE YEAR 1613. 
29 
It does not appear that any specific name was given 
to the country by the Dutch at that period; although 
subsequently they called it Spitzbergen, on account of 
its sharply pointed mountains. To the English it con¬ 
tinued to be Greenland, even after its entire separation 
from Greenland Proper was believed, and when it was 
also designated as “ King James’s Newland.” * 1 It was 
sometimes termed j East Greenland; and a distinction 
was observed by retaining the Danish diphthong in the 
name of the ancient country, which often degenerated 
from Groenland, or Groinland, to Groneland. 2 
After the establishment of trade with Russia by the 
Muscovy Company, the attention of the English was 
directed towards the West, in the hope of a passage 
north of the American Continent. Frobisher, Gilbert, 
De Veer speaks of it only as a “ part of Greenland,” and as the “ eastern part of Green¬ 
land;” implying ignorance of its being a distinct body of land* If he knew it to be 
an island, it is not easy to imagine why he should fail to report it as such. Editions of 
his narrative were printed in various languages, which are noticed in the publication 
of the Hakluyt Society. The account that appeared under the name of Gerard, in 
1613 (see ante , p. 252, n.),-—which the editor considers to have concealed, by its imper¬ 
fections, the fact of circumnavigation,---is professedly taken from Barents’s own notes, 
“ escrit de la main propre de Guillaume Bernard.” Although the truth of that asser¬ 
tion may be doubted, yet, as the object of the publication was to prove the right of 
the Dutch to possession of the country, it is remarkable that the incident of circum¬ 
navigation should not have been noticed, if it really happened. 
1 In the account of Hudson’s Voyage, in 1607, he speaks of it as called Newland 
by the Hollanders. — Purchas , vol. iii. p. 571. 
2 Whether Groenland was so named, by Eric the Red, because it seemed to him 
verdant as compared with Iceland, or simply because he thought the name would be 
attractive to his countrymen, is not quite clear. “Terrain quam invenerat Grcen- 
landiam (viridem terrain) nominavit; dicebat enim, hanc rem hominibus suasuram eo 
demigrare, quod terra specioso nomine gauderet.” Antiquitates Americans , Particula 
de Eiriko Rufo , p. 13. 
Intercourse with that part of Greenland which was colonized by the Danes has 
been prevented by the ice since the beginning of the fifteenth century; but Scoresby, 
who landed on the coast some degrees further north, found it richer in plants and ver¬ 
dure than any other seen by him within the Arctic Circle. The grass, in one place, 
was a foot in height; and there were meadows in several places, that appeared nearly 
equal to any in England. — Voyage of 1822. 
