1804.] State of the Weather in Greenland and Terra Labrador. 17 
examining the animal, there appears no 
ground for believing, that it can volunta- 
rily difcharge its quills ; and it has been 
juttly obferved, that it is no more pro- 
bable, than that an enraged turkey-cock 
fhould fhoot its feathers. 
The ac¢coun's of female birds of differ- 
ent fpecies putting out, in advanced age, 
the plumage of the male, naturally excite 
fulpicion ; there are, however, fome ac~ 
counts of this circumflance, which appear 
fo well authenticated, that they demand 
attention, if they do not pofitively efta- 
blifh the faét. It mui; however, be re- 
membered, that the transformation is 
merely in outward appearance, the fex of 
the bird remaining (as might be expeéct- 
ed) precifely as before. 
The opimion which has been very com- 
moniy entertained even by many highly 
refpectable naturalifts, that all the thells, 
bones, fragments cf marine animals, im- 
preffions of plants, and other adventitious | 
matters, found buried in the earth, at all 
known depths, are remains of the Univer- 
fal Deluge, is of a nature that its proba- 
bility may be decided by judicious obfer- 
vation, and I believe will be found wholly 
untenable : but I mult defer fome re- 
marks on this and other fimilar opinions 
te afuture opportunity. | 
ah J. J.G. 
ea 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
OBSERVATIONS on” the sTaTz of the 
‘WEATHER 74 GREENLAND Gad TERRA 
LABRADOR, betweeu the YEARS 1790 
and 1801.* 
HESE obfervations may ferve to con- 
firm, elucidate, or render more com- 
plete, the information to be found relative 
to the climate and weather of thefe north- 
ern countries, to be found in feveral well- 
known Travels, and particularly in Cranz’s 
Hiftory of Greenland, 
The Moravian Brethren have now three 
communities, or miffionary fettlements, in 
Greenland :—:. New Herrvhot, built on 
the Balfriviere, on a peninfula net far 
from the Danifh colony Gedhaab, in 64° 
34’ north latitude, and founded in 1733. 
Lichtenfels in the Fifcherfiorde. 
eighteen miles farther fouth, on an tfland 
four miles in circumference, founded in 
m2. 
175%. —3. Lichtenau, in South Green-. 
* Extracted from the MS. Journals of the 
Moravian Miffionaries, 
Monrury-Mac. No. 111. 
land, in fixty-one degrees and a few mi~ 
nutes north latitude, on the bay of Agd- 
luit. This fettlement has exited fince the 
year 1774. 
The peninfula which is known by the 
name of Terra Labrador, extends from 
the fifry-fecond to the fixty-firft degree 
of north latitude, fo that the moft north- 
erly point of Labrador lies nearly under 
the fame latitude as Cape Farewell, the 
moft fouthern part of Greenland. Seme 
members of the Moravian Brotherhood 
having difeovered, in 1752 and 1764, that 
the Greenlanders and Efkimaux Indians 
were but one nation, and that they {poke 
afimilar language, they gradually form- 
ed among the latter (whofe dwellings are. 
fcattered over a coaft about feven hundred 
miles in length,) the following miffionary 
ftations and communities :—1. Nain, in 
1771, fituated in. 56° 55’ of north lati- 
tude.—2. Another on the ifland Kival- 
lek, to the north of Nain, on a narrow 
gulf, which the Efkimaux call Okkak, 
i. e. Tongue.— 3. Hoffenthal, in 1782. 
This miflionary fettlement is the mott 
fourthern on the coaft, and Okkak the 
moft northern, lying nearly u:der the 
hfty-eighth degree of noith latitude. 
On the 21ft of January, in 1790, the 
thermometer rofe at Lichtenfels, in Green-= 
land, five degrees above the freezing- 
point, though for fome time previous the 
cold had been very fevere; the thermo- 
meter having, on the 19th of December, 
1789, fallen eighteen degrees below the 
freezing-point: but in a few days it 
again became cold. In the beginning of 
Auguit there were a couple of exceffively 
hot days at Lichtenau, and it was impof- 
fible to remain out of doors on account of 
the immenfe {warms of flies. Immedi- 
ately after the 19th of September, the. 
ground in the neighbourhood of New 
Herrnbut was entirely covered with fhow, 
and winter already {et in. 
During this winter there was much 
{now in Labrador, accompanied with in- 
tenfe froft, fo that the thermometer of 
Fahrenhei: frequently food at from thirty 
to thirty-five degrees below 03; and at Hot. 
fenthal, on the 6th of January, even at 
forty degrees. The bay near Nain was not 
free from ice til] the beginning of july,— 
On the-zd of Auguit, there was much 
lightning, in the night at Hoffenthal,— 
The Efkimaux, to whom this was rather 
an unufual phenomenon, awakened the 
Miffionaries, {upvofing that the houle was 
on fire 
Sofi | 
D fast | Ca 
