GREENLAND :—INHABITANTS. 335 
would excite their alarm. It is most likely, that, 
to people who had never seen a vessel of any de¬ 
scription, not even of the size of a boat, impelled 
by sails, an object of this description so perfectly 
under command, and capable of such velocity, 
would be mistaken for a living creature. If so, it 
would not be surprising, if any inhabitants that 
we might have been near, should have fled on our 
approach, and concealed themselves until we re¬ 
tired. 
Perhaps, however, they had retired from these 
haunts that we visited, to some neighbouring dis¬ 
tricts, to which the seals, birds, and other animals, 
affording them subsistence, had retreated. All 
along this coast, where we touched, the fewness 
of the animals was remarkable; and this circum¬ 
stance alone was sufficient to account for the de¬ 
sertion of the different hamlets that we discovered. 
The place of resort of the seals and other marine 
animals, is probably determined by the supply of 
food which the contiguous seas afford. Now, this 
supply, on account of the constant action of cur¬ 
rents, is continually varying. But as the natives 
of such a country must be chiefly dependent on 
these animals for their subsistence, they must 
pursue them to whatever part they may retreat 
to, whether it be immediately on the sea coast, or 
whether it be in the depths of the great inlets, by 
