GREENLAND t—INHABITANTS. 
337 
whom they had been left, being Esquimaux. But 
there were some exceptions. The division of 
hard bones and the ivory of unicorn’s horns, by 
drilling contiguous series of holes, is a process, 
which, as far as I know, is not usually practised by 
Esquimaux. Now, this was apparently the plan 
that these people invariably adopted for cutting 
hard substances; and it may be considered as in¬ 
dicative of their having had some communication 
with people of other habits than those natural to 
the Esquimaux. Another circumstance, of a still 
more striking description, was the discovery of a 
wooden coffin in a grave at Cape Hope. This was 
almost a proof of some connection with Europe¬ 
ans ; but it could not be satisfactorily determined, 
that, in this solitary example, the coffin was posi¬ 
tively deposited by any of the natives. 
On the whole, however, I conceive, that the re¬ 
mains we met with were not entirely Esquimaux. 
They indicated practices among the inhabitants 
that were in favour of the supposition of an ad¬ 
mixture with some other nation,—doubtless the 
ancient colonies planted by the Icelanders. Hence, 
there is some reason to believe, that these colonies 
were not entirely depopulated,—that they are not 
yet extinct; though it is more than probable, that 
sucli of the colonists as outlived the “ black-death,” 
and the privation they must have suffered, when 
Y 
