328 
GREENLAND VOYAGE. 
their supplies were cut of, as it is said they were, 
by the descent of the polar ice, would cease to be 
a distiuct people;—for being then reduced to the 
necessity of following the occupation of the Es¬ 
quimaux, and of copying their manners, they 
would probably become gradually incorporated 
with the aborigines, until few traces of their ori¬ 
ginal civilization remained. 
The very extraordinary circumstances connect¬ 
ed with these colonies of Icelanders, as regards 
their original planting,—flourishing condition*— 
reception of Christianity,—and their total separa¬ 
tion from the world, since the beginning of the 
fifteenth century:—and the very important ques¬ 
tion respecting their fate, to which their early his¬ 
tory gives rise, rendered researches for inhabitants 
on this coast an object to me of the most intense 
interest. Hence, it may readily be conceived 
what was the nature of my disappointment, when, 
on descending to the latitude of 69° 30', where I 
was only at the distance of about seventy leagues 
from the site of the northern colonies, as given by 
Crantz, the main interests of my voyage obliged 
me to put about, and return to the northward. 
This disappointment was the greater, since I could 
observe no other liinderance to my penetration 
along the coast. I had reason, indeed, to believe, 
that could I have been justified in devoting three 
