first settlement of greenland, with some thoughts on the extinction of the norwegian colonies; and whether on the east side no remainders may be found of the old norwegians: also, whether the same tract of land cannot be recovered.

it is undoubted that the ancients, not so much driven by any necessity or compulsion as led by a natural and inbred curiosity, embarked upon many strange ventures; as for instance, to discover and settle colonies in so many formerly quite unknown and uninhabited countries, to whose discovery what particular accidents have most contributed we learn by the several histories and descriptions thereof. for the almighty{8} and good god, who has not in vain created the vast globe of the earth, has also not intended, that any part or province of it should lie buried in eternal oblivion, useless to mankind. and that greenland by such means has been discovered and inhabited by our old norwegians and icelanders, we are fully informed by the annals of iceland; where we read, that the brave and valiant erick raude (or red) who was the first discoverer of this country, after he, in company with several other icelanders, in the year of our lord 982, by mere casualty fell in with the land, and had taken a survey of its present state, he returned to iceland the next year, 983, spoke much in commendation of the land, calling it the greenland, by which he persuaded many of his countrymen to follow him thither, in order to find out places fit for dwelling, and to settle there[22]. they no sooner were arrived{9} and settled here, but they found god was come along with them; i mean the saving knowledge of his most holy word. for the said erick raude’s son, called leif, after he had been instructed in the gospel truths by king olaf (who was the first christian king of norway), brought along with him from norway to greenland a priest, who taught and christened all the inhabitants of the country. thus this country has first been settled by norway and iceland colonies, which, in after-times, have increased and been provided with many churches and convents, bishops and teachers; which lasted as long as the correspondence and navigation continued between them and norway, until the year 1406, when the last bishop was sent over to greenland. yet the norwegians were not the original natives of the land; for, not long{10} after their arrival, they met with the old inhabitants, a savage people dwelling on the western shore, originally descended from the americans, as may with great probability be gathered from the agreement of their persons, customs, and habits with those who dwell to the north of hudson’s bay; as likewise while those, that inhabited the northern parts (now known by the name of davis’s straits), advanced nearer and nearer to the south, and often made war upon the norwegians. concerning the cause of the ruin and total destruction of that so well established norwegian colony there is nothing found upon record; the reason of which i think to be, that after all correspondence and navigation ceased between greenland and norway, partly by the change and translation of the government in queen margaret’s reign, and partly by the next following continual wars between the danes and swedes, which caused the navigation to those parts to be laid aside, and chiefly by the great difficulty and innumerable dangers of such navigation; which several{11} causes cut off all intelligence, that might be had of that country’s state, as may be seen in pontanus and claudius lyscander.

the ancient historians divide greenland into two parts or districts, called west bygd, and east bygd. as to the west district, which is said to have contained four parishes, and one hundred villages, all we find in the ancient histories amounts to this, viz. that in the fourteenth century it was sorely infested by a wild nation called schrellings, and laid so waste, that when the inhabitants of the eastern district came to the assistance of the christians, and to expel the barbarous nation of the schrellings, who were fallen upon the christians, they found to their great astonishment the province quite emptied of its inhabitants, and nothing remaining but some cattle and flocks of sheep, straying wild and unguarded round about the fields and meadows; whereof they killed a good number, which they brought home with them in their ships. by which it appears, that the norway christians in the western district were destroyed,{12} and christianity rooted out by the savage heathens. the modern inhabitants of west greenland, being, no doubt, the offspring of the before mentioned wild and barbarous schrellings, have no certain account to give us of this matter; though they will tell you, that the old decayed dwelling places and villages, whose ruins are yet seen, were inhabited formerly by a nation quite different from theirs; and they also affirm, what the ancient histories tell us, that their ancestors made war with them, and destroyed them[23].{13}

now, as to the eastern district, its present state is entirely unknown to us, as there is no approaching it with any shipping, upon account of the vast quantity of ice, driven from spitzbergen and other northern coasts upon this shore, which, adhering to the shore, barricades the land, and renders it wholly inaccessible. we may nevertheless gather from the above-mentioned expedition of the east greenlanders against the schrellingers, that after the destruc{14}tion and total overthrow of the western district and its colonies, the eastern were yet standing and flourishing. but in what year this happened no notice is taken by the old historians. nevertheless, from many tokens and remainders of probable evidence it may be inferred, that the old colony of the eastern district is not yet quite extinct. to the confirmation of which, thormoder, in his history of greenland, alledges the following passage:—

bishop amand, of shalholt in iceland (who, anno 1522, had been consecrated, but, anno 1540, again resigned), once returning from norway to iceland, was by a storm driven westward upon the coast of greenland, which he coasted for some time northwards, and made land towards the evening, finding themselves off herjolsness. they came so near to the shore, that they could descry the inhabitants driving their flocks in the pasture grounds: but as the wind soon after proved fair they made all the sail they could, steering for iceland, which they{15} reached the day following, and entered the bay of st. patrick, which lies on the west coast of the island, in the morning early, when they were milking their cows.

birn of skarsaa (as we learn by the aforesaid thormoder torfager) gives the following relation:—

“in our time,” says he, “one named john greenlander, who for a considerable time had been employed in the service of the hamburgh merchants, in a voyage from thence to iceland, met with contrary winds and stormy weather, in which he narrowly escaped being cast away, and lost with ship and crew upon the dreadful rocks of greenland, by getting in at last to a fine bay, which contained many islands, where he happily came to an anchor under a desert island; and it was not long before he spied several other islands not far off, that were inhabited; which, for fear of the inhabitants, he for a while did not dare to approach; till at last he took courage, and sending his boat on shore, went to the next house, which seemed but very{16} small and mean. here he found all the accoutrements necessary to fit out a fishing boat; he saw also a fishing booth, or small hut, made up of stones, to dry fish in, as is customary in iceland. there lay a dead body of a man extended upon the ground with his face downwards; a cap sewed together on his head; the rest of his clothing was made partly of coarse cloth, and partly of seal skin; an old rusty knife was found at his side, which the captain took, in order to show it to his friends at his return home to iceland, to serve for a token of what he had seen. it is farther said, that this commander was three times by stress of weather driven upon the coasts of greenland, by which he obtained the surname of greenlander.”

this relation can be of no more than a hundred years standing, as theodore torlack affirms: because the above mentioned annals, in which we read it, were composed by biorno of skarsaa within these thirty years.

the same author furthermore informs us,{17} that in iceland there has often been found, scattered here and there on the sea shore, old broken pieces of deal boards, parts of the ribs of boats, which on the side were tacked together, and pasted with a sort of pitch or glue made of the blubber of seals. now it is admitted, that this kind of glue is nowhere made use of but in greenland; and a boat of this make was in the year 1625 found thrown up, upon a point of land near reiche strand, the structure of which was very artificial, joined together with wooden nails, not unlike that in which asmund kastenrazius, in the year 1189, in company with twelve men, crossed over from greenland to iceland; which boat was likewise tacked together with wooden nails, and the sinews of animals. the same historian, in his book de novitiis groenlandorum indiciis, tell us, that some years ago, they found an oar upon the eastern shore of iceland, whereon these words were carved in runick characters: oft var ek dascedar ek dro dik, which signifies, “often was i tired, when i carried thee.” besides this, i{18} find a relation in a german writer, whose name is dithmarus blefkenius, concerning a certain monk, born in greenland, who, as companion to the bishop of the place, in the year 1546 made a voyage into norway, where he lived until the year 1564, and where, the author says, he got acquainted and personally conversed with him. this monk told him many strange and surprising things of a dominican convent in greenland, called st. thomas’s convent; to which his parents sent him in his youth to become a monk of that order. but the truth of this relation is very much questioned, being, together with several others of blefkenius’s relations, refuted and gainsaid by arngrim, in his treatise, entitled anatome blefkeniana. blefkenius’s relation is nevertheless confirmed by several other authors. erasmus franciscus, in his book called east and west india state garden, in a place where he treats of greenland tells us, that a captain of a danish ship, by name jacob hall, being ordered by the king his master to undertake a voyage to greenland, he{19} touched first at iceland, where he from the king’s lieutenant got intelligence of greenland, which before was unknown to him. and that he might the more fully be informed of every thing relating to this matter, a certain monk was sent for to instruct him herein, who was said to be a native of greenland; of whom the said jacob hall, in his short description, gives the following account, according to our above-mentioned author, erasmus fransciscus.

“there has formerly been a convent in iceland, called helgafield, or holy mountain, in which, though it was decayed, lived a certain friar, native of greenland, with a broad and tawny face. this friar was sent for by the king’s lieutenant, in the presence of jacob hall, who wanted to be informed of the state of greenland. the friar accordingly told him, that being very young, he was entered into this convent by his parents; and that he afterwards was commanded by the same bishop, of whom he had received the holy orders, to go along{20} with him from thence to norway, where he submitted himself to the bishop of drontheim, to whose authority and jurisdiction all the priests of iceland were subject; and being returned to his native home, he again retired and shut himself up in his former convent. this is said to have happened in the year 1546. he said moreover, that in the convent of st. thomas, where he also had passed some time, there was a well of burning hot water, which, through pipes, was conveyed into all the rooms and cells of the convent to warm them.”

but i think there is as much reason to question the authenticity of this relation as of the former, inasmuch as there is no such thing to be found in our danish archives or annals. notwithstanding which, what concerns st. thomas’s convent in particular is confessed, and confirmed by the old histories of greenland. nicolas zenetur, a venetian by birth, who served the king of denmark in the quality of a sea captain, is said by chance to have been{21} driven upon the coast of greenland in the year 1380; and to have seen that same dominican convent. his relation is alledged by kircherus in the following words:—

“here is also a dominican convent to be seen, dedicated to st. thomas, in whose neighbourhood there is a volcano of a mountain that vomits fire, and at the foot thereof a well of burning hot water. this hot water is not only conveyed by pipes into the convent, and through all the cells of the friars to keep them warm, as with us the rooms are heated by stoves of wood fire or other fuel; but here they also boil and bake their meat and bread with the same. this volcano, or fiery mountain, throws out such a quantity of pumice stone, that it hath furnished materials for the construction of the whole convent. there are also fine gardens, which reap great benefit from this hot water, adorned with all sorts of flowers, and full of fruit. and after the river has watered these gardens, it empties itself into the adjoining bay, which causes it never to freeze, and great numbers of{22} fish and sea fowl flock thither, which yields plentiful provision for the nourishment of the inhabitants.”

of all the attested relations, that of biorno of skarsaa, concerning bishop amund of skalholt, who was driven upon the coast of greenland, deserves most to be credited; by which we learn, that the colony of the eastern district flourished about one hundred and fifty years after the commerce and navigation ceased between norway and greenland; and, for aught we know, is not yet wholly destitute of its old norwegian inhabitants. we have not been able to get any account of this matter from the modern greenlanders, as they entertain no correspondence with those parts: either being hindered by the ice, which renders them altogether inaccessible; or else for fear the inhabitants of that country might kill and devour them; for they represent them as a cruel, barbarous, and inhuman nation, that destroy and eat all foreigners that fall into their hands. yet notwithstanding this, if we may believe the{23} relation of those adventurers, who have coasted a great part of the eastern shore, there is no other sort of inhabitants found on this than on the western side. but how it comes to pass, that the eastern district, which was so well settled with norway and iceland colonies, that it contained twelve large parishes, and one hundred and ninety villages, besides one bishop’s see and two convents, and flourished till the year 1540, at last has been destroyed and laid waste, is what i cannot conceive. the opinion of some, that the black plague, so called, which ravaged the northern countries in the year 1348, also reached greenland, and made its havock among its eastern colonies, is without any ground or reason; because the commerce was carried into greenland until the year 1406; and in 1540 that colony was still subsisting. if therefore this district be destitute or bereft of its old inhabitants, it is not unlikely they have undergone the same fatality as the western ones, being destroyed by the barbarity of the savage schrellingers.{24}

a whole century passed from the cessation of all commerce and navigation between norway and greenland, till new adventurers began to apply themselves to the discovery of the eastern district. the first of those who took this affair to heart was erick walkendorff, archbishop of drontheim, who was resolved, at his own charge, to fit out ships for this purpose, but was stopped in this pious design by king christian the second, whose disgrace he had incurred. the next was king frederick the first, whose mind, as it is reported, was bent upon the said expedition, but it was never put in execution. christian the third (as lyscander relates) sent several ships with the same design, but without making any discovery. frederick the second succeeded his royal father, as well in the government as in his good design about greenland; on which errand he sent mogens heinson, a renowned seaman in those days. this adventurer, after he had gone through many difficulties and dangers of storms and ice, got sight of the land, but could not{25} approach it; whereupon he returned home again, and pretended, that he might have got on shore, if his ship had not been stopped in the midst of its course, by some loadstone rocks hidden in the sea, so that he could not proceed though he had a very favourable and strong gale of wind, and no ice to hinder him: which frightened him and made him sail back again to denmark. but the true loadstone rocks, in my opinion, was the terrible fright he was in of not getting safe through the dreadful ice mountains, which threatened him, or else the strong current, which always runs along the states promontory with such violence and rapidity, that it often stops a ship under full sail, so that the ship can make but little or no way at all against it. the cause by others assigned for this strange effect, the fish remora, which the northlanders call kracken, is nothing but a fabulous story of the too credulous ancients, and labours under no less absurdities than the former opinion, that rocks of loadstone, laying on the bottom of the sea, can stay the course of a ship that sails on the surface of it.{26}

in the same year that mogens heinson went upon the greenland discovery, the english histories inform us, that captain martin frobisher, an englishman, was by the glorious queen elizabeth sent upon the same errand. this adventurer got sight of the land, but being partly hindered by the ice, which adhered to it, and partly by the shortness of the winter days (for it was late in the year), he could not approach it, and so returned to england again. next year in the spring, he went upon the same expedition with three ships. after having gone through many great dangers of the ice and storms, he at length reached the shore, where he found a wild and savage nation; who, when they saw the english coming to them, being frightened, left their huts, and ran away to hide themselves. some from the highest rocks threw themselves into the sea; whereupon the english entered their huts, where they met with nobody but an old woman, and a young one, who was pregnant, and those they carried away with them. it is also reported, that they here found some sand which contained particles of gold and{27} silver, of which they filled three hundred tuns, and brought it home with them to england. as to this gold and silver sand, i cannot help questioning whether they found any such on the greenland shore, inasmuch as sir martin, in the same strain, relates wonderful things of the politeness and civility of a nation that dwelt in those parts; of which he says, they were governed by a prince, whom they called kakiunge; and carried him in state on their shoulders, clothed in rich stutfs, and adorned with gold and precious stones, which does not at all agree with the meanness and coarseness of greenland and its inhabitants; but rather seems to belong to the rich kingdoms of peru and mexico, where gold and silver abounds; and from whence he may have brought the above-mentioned gold and silver sand.

but i think it high time to leave such uncertain relations to their worth; and turn our thoughts towards the pious endeavours of our most gracious sovereigns the kings of denmark to discover and recover greenland again. an{28} we find, that after the expeditions of frederick the second, christian the fourth, his successor, with great cost, ordered four different expeditions for this discovery. the first was undertaken, under the command of godske lindenow, with three ships. and, as the history tells, lindenow with his ship arrived upon the east coast of greenland (which i hardly can believe), and found none but wild, uncivilised people there, like those frobisher is said first to have met with. he staid there three days, during which time the wild greenlanders came to trade with him; changing all sorts of furs and skins with pieces of precious horns, against all kinds of small trifling iron ware, as knives, scissars, needles, common looking glasses, and other such trifles. when he set sail from thence, there were two greenlanders remaining in the ship, whom he carried off, and brought them home along with him: these as they made all their endeavour to get away from him, and sometimes would have jumped into the sea, they were obliged to tie and secure them; which, when{29} their countrymen observed, who flocked together upon the shore, they made a hideous outcry and howling, flung stones, and shot their arrows at the sailors, upon which they from the ship fired a gun, which frightened and dispersed them; and so the ship left them. the two other ships, that set sail in company and under the command of lindenow, after they had doubled cape farewell, steered directly for the strait of davis; in which navigation they discovered many fine harbours and delightful green meadow lands, but all the inhabitants along the coast wild and savage as before. it is pretended also, that they in some places found stones, which contained some silver ore, which they took along with them; of which one hundred pounds yielded twenty-six ounces of silver. (here again i cannot forbear questioning, whether this silver ore has been found on the greenland shore, or rather over against it on the american coast.) these two ships also brought four savages home with them to copenhagen.

the second expedition was made by order of the same king in the year 1606, with five ships{30} under the conduct of the before-mentioned admiral lindenow; bringing along with them three of the savages (one of them dying in the voyage) which they had carried off the year before from greenland. but this time he directed his course to the westward of cape farewell, standing for the straits of davis; where he, coasting along, took the survey of several places, and then returned home again.

the third and last expedition of this glorious king was only of two ships, commanded by captain carsten richards, a holstenian by birth; he spied the land and its high and craggy rocks afar off, but could not come near it on account of the ice; and so, after he had lost his labour he returned home.

the fourth expedition of king christian the fourth, under the conduct of captain jens munck, in the year 1616, was not made for the discovering of greenland but to find out a passage between greenland and america to china; the misfortunes of which expedition are related by the said commander.

there was, besides these four expeditions{31} at the king’s cost, a fifth undertaken, in the same king’s reign, by a company settled in copenhagen in the year 1636, of which company the president was the lord high chancellor, christian friis, as lyscander informs us. two ships fitted out by this company, directing their course to the westward of greenland, fell in with the straits of davis, where they traded for a while with the savages; but this was not the main concern of the commander, who was acquainted with a coast, whose sand had the colour and weight of gold, which he accordingly did not miss, and filled both their ships with the same. after their return to copenhagen, the goldsmiths were ordered to make a trial, whether this sand would yield any gold or not; who, not being skilful enough to make such a trial, condemned it to be all thrown overboard, which was done by order of the high chancellor, president of the company. some part of the said sand was yet kept out of curiosity, out of which an artificer, who afterwards came to copenhagen, did extract a good{32} deal of pure gold. the honest and well-meaning commander, who went upon this adventure, was turned out of favour, and died of grief soon after; whereby, not only the treasure they had brought home, but also the knowledge of the place where it was to be found, was entirely lost, as he kept this a secret to himself.

in the year 1654, during the reign of king frederick the third, a noble and wealthy adventurer, by name henry muller, fitted out a ship for greenland, under the command of david de nelles, who arrived safe in greenland, and brought from thence three women, whose names were kunelik, kabelau, and sigokou; who, according to the opinion of bishop torlais, who had perused the said captain’s journal, were taken in the neighbourhood of herjolsness, on the eastern shore, as thormoder torf?us pretends; but which i cannot be made to believe. my opinion is, they were brought from the western shore, near baal’s river, as some of the inhabitants, who are still living, had in fresh remembrance, telling me their names,{33} as they are laid down in the fore-mentioned journal.

the last adventurer, that was sent upon the discovery of greenland, according to torf?us in his history of greenland, was captain otto axelson, in the year 1670, in the reign of christian v of glorious memory. but what success this adventurer met with he leaves us to guess. nevertheless we find, in a manuscript description of greenland, written by arngrim vidalin, part iii, chap. 1, that his said majesty did invite, and with great privileges encourage mr. george tormúhlen, counsellor of commerce at bergen, to fit out ships for the said discovery; whereupon the said counsellor not only got ready shipping well stored for such an expedition, but also got together a number of passengers, who resolved to go and settle in those parts, whom he provided with all things necessary for that purpose; both provision and ammunition, as well as houses made of timber, ready to be erected in that country. but this great design miscarried, the ship being taken by the french and brought into dunkirk.{34}

thus, for a long while, it seemed, that all thought of greenland was laid aside until the year 1721; when after many well-meant invitations, and projects proposed by me to the greenland company at bergen in norway, approved and authorised by his late majesty frederick iv of glorious memory, the company thereupon resolved not only to send ships, but also to settle a colony in greenland in 64°; when i went over with my whole family and remained there fifteen years. during my stay i endeavoured to get all the intelligence that could be procured both by sea and land of the present state of the country, and did not lose my labour; for i found some places that formerly were inhabited by the old norwegians, on the western shore. which expedition i have lately treated of in another treatise, and set out in all its circumstances, and with all the difficulties it has laboured under; wherefore i think it need not be here repeated.

but whereas my main drift and endeavour has been all along chiefly to discover the eastern district of greenland, which always was reckoned{35} the best of our ancient colonies, accordingly i received from the above mentioned greenland company at bergen a letter, in the year 1723, in which i was told, that it was his majesty’s pleasure, that the east district might likewise be visited and discovered. which the better to effectuate, i took the resolution to make this voyage in person; and accordingly i coasted it southwards, as far as to the states promontory, looking out for the strait of frobisher, which would have been my shortest way, according to those charts, which lay the said strait down in this place; but such a strait i could not find. now as it grew too late in the year for me to proceed farther, the month of september being nearly at an end, when the winter season begins in those parts, accompanied by dreadful storms, i was obliged to return.

in the year 1724 the directors of the said bergen company, according to his majesty’s good will and pleasure, fitted out a ship to attempt a landing on the eastern shore, as had been formerly practised on that coast which lies{36} opposite to iceland. but the surprising quantity of ice, which barricadoed the coast, made that enterprise prove abortive and quite miscarry, as many others had done. as there was no appearance for ships to approach this shore, the same king, in the year 1728, resolved, besides other very considerable expenses, to have horses transported to this colony, in hopes, that with their help they might travel by land to this eastern district: but nothing was more impossible than this, project, on account of the impracticable, high, and craggy mountains perpetually covered with ice and snow, which never thaws. another new attempt by sea was by order of the said king made in the year 1729, by lieutenant richard; who with his ship passed the winter near the new danish colony, in greenland, and in his voyage back to denmark made all the endeavours he could to come at the aforesaid shore, opposite to iceland; but all to no purpose, being herein disappointed, like the rest before him.

all these difficulties and continual disap{37}pointments have made most people lose all hopes of succeeding in this attempt: nevertheless, i flatter myself to have hit luckily on an expedient, which to me seems not impracticable though hitherto not tried, or at least but lightly executed; viz. to endeavour to coast the land from the states promontory, or (as we call it) cape prince christian, northwards. the information i have had of some greenlanders, who in their boats have coasted a great part of the east side, confirms me in my opinion; for although an incredible quantity of driven ice yearly comes from spitzbergen or new greenland along this coast, and passes by the states promontory, which hinders the approaching of ships as far as the ice stretches, whereabout the best part of the norwegian colonies were settled; yet there have been found breaks and open sea near the shore, through which boats and smaller vessels may pass; and according to the relation of the greenlanders, as well as agreeably to my own experience, the current, that comes out of the bays and inlets, always running along the{38} shore south westwards, hinders the ice from adhering to the land, and keeps it at a distance from the shore; by which means the greenlanders at certain times, without any hindrance, have passed and repassed part of this coast in their kone boats (so they call their large boats); though they have not been so far as where the old norway colonies had their settlement; of which no doubt there are still some ruins to be seen on this eastern shore. furthermore i have been credibly informed by dutch seamen that frequent these seas, that several of their ships have at times found the east side of greenland cleared of the ice as far as 62°; and they had tarried some time among the out rocks on that coast, where they carried on a profitable trade with the savages. and i myself, in my return from greenland homewards in the year 1736, found it to be so when we passed the states promontory and cape farewell, and stood in near the shore, where at that time there was no ice to be seen, which otherwise is very uncommon. but as this hap{39}pens so seldom, it is very uncertain and unsafe for any ship to venture so far up under the eastern shore. but, as i observed a little before, it is more safe and practicable to coast it from the promontory along the shore in small vessels; especially if there be a lodge erected in the latitude of between 60° and 61°: and it would be still more convenient, if there could be a way and means found likewise to place a lodge on the eastern shore in the same latitude. for according to the account the ancients have left us of greenland, the distance of ground that lies uncultivated between the west and east side is but twelve norway miles by water. see ivarus beri’s relation; or, according to a later computation, it is a journey of six days in a boat. and as the ruins of old habitations, which i have discovered between 60° and 61°, are without doubt in the most southerly part of the west side, it of necessity follows, that the distance cannot be very great from thence to the most southern parts of the eastern side. now, if it should be found practicable, at certain times, to pass along{40} the shore with boats or small ships to the east side, to the latitude of 63° and 64°, little lodges might be settled here and there with colonies; by which means a constant correspondence might be kept, and mutual assistance given to one another, though larger ships could not yearly visit every one of them, but only touch at the most southerly ones. i am also persuaded, that the thing is feasible, and if it should please god in his mercy to forward this affair, colonies might be established here, which, without great trouble, might be supplied yearly with all necessaries.