This ftrange and abrupt ceffation of trade and intercourfe has been attributed to various caufes; but the most probable is the following: The colony, from its first fettlement, had been har raffed by the natives, a barbarous and favage people; agreeing in customs, garb, and appearance, with the Esquimaux found about Hudion's bay. This nation, called Schrellings, at length prevailed against the Iceland fettlers who inhabited the weftern diftrict, and exterminated them in the fourteenth century: infomuch, that when their brethren of the eastern diftrict came to their affiftance, they found nothing alive but fome cattle and flocks of fheep running wild about the country. Perhaps they themselves afterwards experienced the fame fate, and were totally deftroyed by thefe Schrellings, whofe defcendants ftill inhabit the western parts of Greenland, and from tradition confirm this conjecture. They affirm that the houses and villages, whofe ruins ftill appear, were inhabited by a nation of fttangers, whom their ancestors deftroyed. There are reasons, however, for believing that there may be ftill fome defcendants of the ancient Iceland colony remaining in the eastern district, though they cannot be visited by land, on account of the ftupeddous mountains, perpetually covered with fnow, which divide the two parts of Greenland; while they have been rendered inacceffible by fea, by the vast quantity of ice driven from Spitzbergen, or Eaft Greenland. One would imagine that there muft have been fome confiderable alteration in the northern parts of the world fince the fifteenth century, fo that the coaft of Greenland is now become almoft totally inacceffible, though formerly vifited with very little difficulty. It is alfo natural to afk, by what means the people of the caftern colony furmounted the above-mentioned obftacles when they went to the affiftance of their weftern friends; how they returned to their own country; and in what manner hiftorians learned the fuccefs of their expedition? Concerning all this we have very little fatisfactory information. All that can be learned from the moft authentic records is, that Greenland was divided into two districts, called Weft-Bygd and Eaft-Bygd: that the weltern division contained four parishes and one hundred villages: that the eastern diftia was ftill more flourishing, as being nearer to Iceland, Iconer fettled, and more frequented by fhipping from Norway. There are also many accounts, though most of them romantic and flightly attested, which render it probable that part of the eastern colony ftill fubfifts, who, at fome time or other, may have given

imperfect relation above mentioned. This colony, in ancient

times, certainly comprehended twelve extenfive parishes; one hundred and ninety villages; abifhop's fee, and two monafteries. The present inhabitants of the western district are entirely igncmat of this part, from which they are divided by rocks, mountains, and deferts, and ftill more effectually by their apprehenfon: for they believe the eastern Greenlanders to be a cruel, barbarous nation, that deftroy and eat all frangers who fall into their hands. About a century after all intercourse between Norway and Greenland had ceafed, feveral thips were fent fucceffively by the kings of Denmark in order to discover the caftern district; but all of them miscarried, Among thefe adventurers, Mogens Heinfon, after having furmounted many difficulties and dangers, got fight of the land; which, however, he could not approach. At his return he pretended that the ship was arrefted in the middle of her courfe by certain rocks of loadflone at the bottom of the fea. The same year, 1576, in which this attempt was made, has been rendered remarkable by the voyage of Captain Martin Frobisher, fent upon the fame errand by Queen Elizabeth. He likewife defcried the land; but could not reach it, and therefore returned to England; yet not before he had failed fixty leagues in the ftrait, which ftill retains his name, and landed on feveral iflands, where he had fome communication with the natives. He had likewife taken poffeffion of the country in the name of Queen Elizabeth; and brought away fome pieces of heavy black flone, from which the refiners of London extracted a certain proportion of gold. In the enfuing spring he undertook a second voyage, at the head of a fmall fquadron, equipped at the expenfe of the public, entered the ftraits a fecond time; discovered upon an ifland a gold and filver mine; bestowed names upon different bays, iflands, and head-lands; and brought away a lading of ore, together with two natives, a male and female, whom the English kidnapped.

Such was the fuccefs of this voyage, that another armament was fitted out under the auspices of Admiral Frobisher, counfting of fifteen fail, including a confiderable number of foldiers, miners, fmelters, carpenters, and bakers, to remain all the winter Dear the mines in a wooden fort, the different pieces of which they carried out in the tranfports. They met with boisterous weather, impenetrable fogs, and violent currents upon the coaft of Greenland, which retarded their operations until the feafon was far advanced. Part of their wooden fort was loft at fea; and they had neither provifion nor fuel fufficient for the winter. The adinital therefore determined to return with as much ore

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as he could procure, of this they obtained large quantities out of a new mine, to which they gave the name of the Countess of Suflex. They likewife built an house of stone and lime, provid ed with ovens; and here, with a view to conciliate the affection of the natives, they left a quantity of fmall morrice-bells, knives, beads, looking-glaffes, leaden pictures, and other toys, together with feveral loaves of bread. They buried the timber of the fort where it could be easily found next year; and fowed corn, peafe, and other grain, by way of experiment, to know what the country would produce. Having taken these precautions, they failed from thence in the beginning of September; and after a month's formy paffage, arrived in England: but this noble defign was never profecuted.

Christian IV. king of Denmark, being defirous of discovering the old Greenland fettlement, fent three ships thither, under the command of captain Godske Lindenow, who is faid to have reached the caft coast of Greenland, where he traded with the favage inhabitants, fuch as they are ftill found in the weftern district, but faw no figns of a civilized people. Had he actually landed in the eaftern divifion, he muft have perceived fome remains of the ancient colony, even in the ruins of their convents and villages. Lindenow Kidnapped two of the natives, who were conveyed to Copenhagen; and the fame cruel fraud was practifed by other two fhips which failed into Davis' ftraits, where they difcovered divers fine harbours, and de

Nothing can be more inhuman and repugnant to the dictates of common juftice than this practice of tearing away poor creatures from their country, their families, and connections: unless we fuppofe them altogether deftitute of natural affection; and that this was not the cafe with those poor Greenlanders, fome of whom were brought alive to Copenhagen, appears from the whole tenor of their conduct, upon their first capture, and during their confinement in Denmark. When first captivated, they rent the air with their cries and lamentations: they even leaped into the fea; and, when taken on board, for fome time refuted all fuftenance. Their eyes were continually turned towards their dear coun try, and their faces always bathed in tears. Even the kindness of his Danish majefy, and the cartiles of the court ard people, could not alleviate their grief. One of them was perceived to fhed tears always when he faw an infant in the mother's arms; a circumflance from whence it was naturally concluded, that he had left his wife with a young child in Greenland. Two of them went to fea in their little canoes in hope of reaching Greenland; but one of them was retaken. Other two made the fame attempt; but were driven by a form on the coast of Schonen, where they were apprehended by the pealants, and reconveyed to Copenhagen. One of them afterwards died of a fever, caught in fifhing pearl, during the winter, for the governor of Kolding. The reft lived fome years in Denmark; but at length, fecing no profpect of being able to revift try, they funk into a kind of melancholy diforder, and

their r

Fightful meadows covered with verdure. In fome places they are faid to have found a confiderable quantity of ore, every hundred pounds of which yielded twenty-fix ounces of filver. The fame Admiral Lindenow made another voyage to the coaft of Greenland in the year 1606, directing his courfe to the weftward of cape Farewell. He coafted along the ftraits of Davis, and having made fome obfervations on the face of the country, the harbours and iflands, returned to Denmark. Carften Richards, being detached with two fhips on the fame difcovery, defcribed the high land on the eastern fide of Greenland, but was hindered by the ice from approaching the thore. Other expeditions of the fame nature have been planned and executed with the fame bad fuccefs, under the aufpices of a Denish company of merchants. Two fhips returned from the western part of Greenland loaded with a kind of yellow fand, fuppofed to contain a large proportion of gold. This being affayed by the goldfmiths of Copenhagen, was condemned as ufelefs, and thrown overboard; but from a fmall quantity of this fand, which was referved as a curiofity, an expert chemift afterwards extracted a quantity of pure gold. The captain, who brought home this adventure, was fo chagrined at his difappointment, that he died of grief, without having left any directions concerning the place where the fand had been difcovered. In the year 1654, Henry Moller, a rich Dane, equipped a vessel under the command of David de Nelles, who failed to the weft coaft of Greenland, from which he carried off three women of the country. Other efforts have been made, under the encouragement of the Danish king, for the difcovery and recovery of the old Iceland colony in Greenland; but all of them mifcanied, and people began to look upon fuch expeditions as wild and chimerical. At length the Greenland company at Bergen in Norway, tranfported a colony to the western caft, about the fixty-fourth degree of latitude; and thefe Norwegians failed in the year 1712, accompanied by the Rev, Hans Egede, to whofe care, ability and precition, we owe the beft and mcft authentic account of modern Greculand, This gentleman endeavoured to reach the eastern diftrict, by coaling fouthwards, and advanced as far as the States Promontory; but the feafon of the year, and continual ftorms, obliged him to return; and as he could not even find the ftrait of Frobisher, he concluded, that no fuch place ever exifted. In the year 1724, a hip, being equipped by the company, failed on this difcovery, with a view to land on the caft fide oppofite to Iceland; but

the vaft fhoals of ice, which barricadoed that part of the coaft, rendered this fcheme impracticable. His Danifh majefty, in the year 1728, caufed hoifes to be tranfported to Greenland, in hope that the fettlers might by their means travel over land to the eastern diftri&t; but the icy mountains were found impaffable. Finally, Lieutenant Richards, in a fhip which had wintered near the new Danish colony, attempted, in his return to Denmark, to land on the eastern fhore; but all his endeavours proved abortive.

Mr. Egede is of opinion, that the only practicable method of reaching that part of the country, will be to coaft north-about in fmall veffels, between the great flakes of ice and the fhore; as the Greenlanders have declared, that the currents continually rufhing from the bays and inlets, and running fouth-weftwards along the shore, hinder the ice from adhering to the land; fo that there is always a channel open, through which vessels of fmall burden might pafs, efpecially if lodges were built at convenient distances on the fhore, for the convenience and direction of the adventurers.

That part of the country which is now vifited and fettled by the Danes and Norwegians, lies between the fixty-fourth and fixty-eighth degrees of north latitude; and thus far it is faid the climate is temperate. In the fummer, which continues from the end of May to the middle of September, the weather is warm and comfortable, while the wind blows eafterly; though even at this time forms frequently happen, which rage with incredible violence; and the fea coafts are infested with fogs that are equally difagreeable and unhealthy. Near the fhore, and in the bays and inlets, the low land is clothed with the most charming verdure; but the inland mountains are perpetually covered with ice and fnow. To the northward of the fixty-eighth degree of latitude the cold is prodigiously intenfe; and towards the end of Auguft all the coaft is covered with ice, which never thaws till April or May, and fometimes not till the latter end of June. Nothing can exhibit a more dreadful, and at the fame time a more dazzling, appearance, than those prodigious maffes of ice that furround the whole coaft in various forms, reflecting a multitude of colours from the fun-beams, and calling to mind the enchanted scenes of romance. Such protpects they yield in calm weather; but when the wind begins to blow, and the waves to rife in vaft billows, the violent fhocks of those pieces of ice dafhing against one another, fill the mind with horror. Greenland is visited with thunder and lightning, but the