184 
GJKEENLASLli VOYAGE. 
curiosity was heightened almost to the utmost 
pitch, by the historical recollections of the Ice¬ 
landic colonies that had at a remote period been 
planted a few degrees to the southward, upon the 
same line of coast,—and particularly by the hope 
which I could not avoid indulging, that I might 
be able to discover some traces of those hardy 
people, the fate of whom, for near four centuries, 
has been a problem of such intense and almost 
universal interest. An additional interest attached 
to the investigation of this country (if the interest 
•excited by the above considerations were capable of 
augmentation), was the circumstance of the singu¬ 
lar and total failure of the many attempts of the 
Danes to reach this coast, for the recovery of the 
ancient colonics,—together with the peculiar en¬ 
joyment that necessarily arose out of the convic¬ 
tion, that the shore on which I designed to land 
was entirely unknown to Europeans, and totally 
unexplored. 
As we stood in, I obtained several series of 
bearings of headlands, &c. with altitudes of the 
sun for the longitude, designed for the extensiou 
of my survey. Finding the coast bold, we reach¬ 
ed within three quarters of a mile of the beach, 
where 've had soundings in 25 fathoms: the wea¬ 
ther being then extremely fine, and highly fa¬ 
vourable for my purpose, I took a boat at p. m. 
and proceeded to the shore. I landed m fifteen 
r 
