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on between Greenland and Norway until the year 1406. At that period the late bishop was sent over, and soon after the colony was totally lost. By some means or other, all communication between Denmark and Greenland was cut off, and the Danish colony sunk into oblivion.* That a civilized colony should thus suddenly disappear, after several centuries of fixed settlement and regular communication with the parent countries, and within less than a week's sail of Iceland, stillsubject to Denmark, is perhaps a circumstance unparalleled in history. And it appears not a little astonishing, that such a colony should have prospered during so long a period of time in a country which now appears so inhospitable. The existence of this colony, however, is a fact of unquestionable authenticity; and during the long space of at least five centuries, it was well known to the European world. Mr. Anderson mentions a bull of Pope Gregory IV, bearing date in the year 835, constituting Ausgarius, then bishop of Bremen, archbishop of the north, and particularly of Norway, Iceland, and Greenland.t

This strange and abrupt cessation of all trade and intercourse, has been attributed to various causes. It has by some been supposed that the colonists were extirpated by the natives, but there is no satisfactory evidence of the fact. It has also been said, that an epidemical disease swept away most of the Greenland merchants and seamen, in consequence of which the intercourse with that country was interrupted, and afterwards entirely broken off by reason of the various revolutions, &c. which took place in Denmark and Norway. But the most probable supposition is, that a vast quantity of ice from the Arctic ocean having drifted on the coast in some severe winter, had intercepted the communication between the land and the sea. This colony being in consequence completely imprisoned by the frozen ocean, had, through want of supplies from Europe, undoubtedly perished. That this was

*Morse, p. 104. Anderson fixes the period when all communication between Greenland and Europe ceased in the year 1348. Hist. Comm. vol. 1. p. 326.

† And. Hist. Comm. ubi supra.

And. Hist. Comm. vol. 1. p. 327.

Morse's Amer. Geog. p. 104.

the case, is something more than conjecture; for various expeditions have, in successive reigns, been sent out from Denmark, for the express purpose of discovering the remains of the colony, if any such existed. It was at least expected that the ruins of the cathedral, the churches, and some other buildings, would be found; and that it might be ascertained whether any descendants of the Europeans yet remained. All the vessels, however, sent out for that purpose, have found the eastern shore towards Iceland, where the principal colony was settled, totally inaccessible, by reason of the vast accumulation of the ice.* Accidents of nearly a similar nature, but of which the effects were of shorter duration, have occurred also in Iceland, where the immense quantities of ice drifting on the coast, has, during a long time, interrupted all communication with the sea; and by preventing supplies from abroad, caused many of the inhabitants to perish by famine.t Such was the case in 1756, as before observed. It is evident, that since the latter part of the fourteenth, or the commencement of the fifteenth century, a very great change has taken place in the northern regions, chiefly from the encroachments of the arctic ice. Ever since that period, the eastern coast of Greenland, the seat of the ancient colony, which was before without difficulty visited every summer, has been found absolutely inaccessible; while a range of impassable mountains, covered with perpetual ice and snow, preclude the possibility of approach from the west.

The western coast of Greenland has been explored by Davis, and other English navigators; but Great Britain has never attempted to establish any colony in this unpromising region. In 1721, the Greenland Company, at Bergen, in Norway, established a colony on the western coast, in about 64° north latitude. These new colonists were accompanied by Mr.

* There was also at the same time a colony on the western coast, but inferior to that on the east. Of the western colony some remains, as ruins of churches, &c. have been found.

† See article Iceland.

And. Hist Comm. on the authority of the Copenhagen Gazette, vol. 1. p. 327. before quoted,

Egede, a pious Norwegian clergyman. This gentleman remained many years in Greenland, and to his abilities and precision we owe a great part of our knowledge of that country.* Being actuated by an ardent curiosity, and at the same time strongly impressed with an idea of the melancholy situation of the Icelandic colony, if it still existed, he made an attempt to reach the eastern district, by coasting along the southern shores, but found his design impracticable. In 1728, his Danish majesty caused horses to be transported to Greenland, in order to facilitate the means of travelling over land from the western to the eastern district; but the immense mountains of ice and snow in the interior, rendered all access from this quarter not less difficult than from the ocean. The impracti cability of reaching the place where this famous colony was formerly seated, seems now to be fully proved; and its venerable relics, locked up in eternal ice, will, in all probability, never be discovered.†

NEW BRITAIN.

NEW BRITAIN comprehends the countries of Labrador, New North Wales, and New South Wales, all lying contiguous to Hudson's Bay, Labrador being on the east, New South Wales on the south, or rather south-west, and New North Wales on the west side of that inland sea. Great Britain claims the sovereignty of those regions, and possesses some forts, as Albany fort, Moose and East Main factory on James bay, which reaches inland about 300 miles, with about 150 in breadth. There are also further to the south, and on the confines of Upper Canada, Brunswick-house, and some others. Severnhouse, in the north, York fort on Nelson's river, and Fort

• Egede's Journal is replete with curious information, although he has been accused of being too credulous: and in respect of the sea-snake, some what inclined to fiction.

For a more particular account of Greenland, see Egede and Crantz, from whom this sketch is chiefly selected. Since Mr. Egede's return in 1736, the Danes have established some colonies on the western coast; and there is a Moravian colony, which in 1761 was in a flourishing state. And. Hist. Comm. vol. 3. p. 212.

Churchill, or Prince of Wales, the most northern settlement. Notwithstanding, however, these scattered settlements, or fac tories, the whole extent of country may be considered as belonging to the aborigines, and probably no attempt will ever be made to subdue and colonize the interior.

The face of the country is various; that part called Lubrador, is full of frightful mountains, many of which are of a stupendous height. The valleys present numerous lakes, formed by the rains and the melting of the snows, and produce a few stunted trees, such as pines, firs, birch, and a species of juniper. The mountains produce nothing but moss, or, in some places, a few blighted and thinly scattered shrubs. The severity of the climate is equal to the barrenness of the soil, and greatly resembles that of Greenland. Even in the parallel of 57, the cold is in winter excessive. The rivers are covered with ice eight feet in thickness. Port wine, and even brandy, freezes into a solid mass. Through the intenseness of the frost the rocks often burst with a tremendous noise equal to that of the heaviest artillery, and throw out splinters to an astonishing distance. In May the ice begins to disappear. The hot weather commences about the middle of June, and the heat is sometimes violent. The thunder storms, though not frequent, are tremendous. In the winter season, the beauties of the firmament in some measure compensate the horrid prospect which the face of the country displays. Mock suns and halocs frequently appear. The sun rises and sets with a large cone of yellowish light. The night is enlivened by the aurora borealis, which diffuses an endless variety of lights and colours over the whole concave of the sky; and the stars shine with a fiery redness. But as this country extends from 50° 40' to 63° north latitude, the climate admits of some variety. In the parallel of 60° north all vegetation ceases. A late tra-' veller, however, who at different intervals resided a long time in those regions, thinks that the southern parts might admit of some improvement. But it must be observed, that this imperfect sketch of Labrador is taken only from the sea-coast..

* Morse's Amer. Geog. p. 108.-Pennant's Arct. Zool. p. 296.
Morse, ubi supra.-Cartwright's Journal, vol. 3.

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The interior has never been, and in all probability never will be explored. The zoology consists of white and black bears, wolves, beavers, rein-deer, and numerous animals of the fur kind. The birds are those common to the arctic regions. The natives are chiefly Esquimaux, apparently the same people as the Greenlanders, and resembling, as already observed, the Samoieds and Laplanders. But in some of the mountainous parts another race exists, that might afford a subject of curious inquiry. They live in wigwams, or tents, covered with skins and the rind of birch trees, their food being rein-deer, and various other kinds of wild animals. They resemble gypsies, with something of the French feature, and seem to be descendants of the French settlers in Canada, as they appear to be a kind of Roman Catholics, and resort to Quebec for the purpose of religion. What could induce Frenchmen to retire into these dreary regions, and habituate themselves to a savage life, appears somewhat mysterious. The most probable conjecture is, that they have originated from a mixed breed of French and Canadian savages, who, for some unknown reason, have fixed their residence in this uninviting country.

NEW NORTH AND SOUTH WALES.

THE Countries on the west and south-west of Hudson's-Bay, commonly called New North and South Wales, are less mountainous than Labrador on the eastern side. As far inland as the Hudson's-Bay Company have settlements, which is about 600 miles to the west of Fort Churchill, at a place called Hudson's-house, latitude 53°, longitude 106°, west from Greenwich, the country is flat. In some parts, however, the coasts and the adjacent lands are high and rocky. Several parts of the flat country are tolerably wooded with pines, birch, willows, &c. In some places, as already observed, there is a tolerable pasture-ground. In fine, it appears, from the best accounts, that the face of the country has not quite the same aspect of unconquerable sterility as that of Labrador on the eastern side of the Bay. The climate, however, in the same parallels of latitude, is little less rigorous. The animals are the same, but they appear to be more numerous.

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