Chapter III: Modern Greek Literature (1453-1908) (4)

The northern east coast was sighted by Hudson (1607) in about 73 deg. 30' N. (C. Hold with Hope), and during the 17th century and later this northern coast was probably visited by many Dutch whalers. The first who gave more accurate information was the Scottish whaler, Captain William Scoresby, jun. (1822), who, with his father, explored the coast between 69 deg. and 75 deg. N., and gave the first fairly trustworthy map of it.[4] Captains Edward Sabine and Clavering (1823) visited the coast between 72 deg. 5' and 75 deg. 12' N. and met the only Eskimo ever seen in this part of Greenland. The second German polar expedition in 1870, under Carl Christian Koldewey[5] (1837-1908), reached 77 deg. N. (Cape Bismarck); and the duke of Orleans, in 1905, ascertained that this point was on an island (the Dove Bay of the German expedition being in reality a strait) and penetrated farther north, to about 78 deg. 16'. From this point the north-east coast remained unexplored, though a sight was reported in 1670 by a whaler named Lambert, and again in 1775 as far north as 79 deg. by Daines Barrington, until a Danish expedition under Mylius Erichsen in 1906-1908 explored it, discovering North-East Foreland, the easternmost point (see Polar Regions and map). The southern part of the east coast was first explored by the Dane Wilhelm August Graah (1829-1830) between Cape Farewell and 65 deg. 16' N.[6] In 1883-1885 the Danes G. Holm and T. V. Garde carefully explored and mapped the coast from Cape Farewell to Angmagssalik, in 66 deg. N.[7] F. Nansen and his companions also travelled along a part of this coast in 1888.[8] A. E. Nordenskiold, in the "Sophia," landed near Angmagssalik, in 65 deg. 36' N., in 1883.[9] Captain C. Ryder, in 1891-1892, explored and mapped the large Scoresby Sound, or, more correctly, Scoresby Fjord.[10] Lieutenant G. Amdrup, in 1899, explored the coast from Angmagssalik north to 67 deg. 22' N.[11] A part of this coast, about 67 deg. N., had also been seen by Nansen in 1882.[12] In 1899 Professor A. G. Nathorst explored the land between Franz Josef Fjord and Scoresby Fjord, where the large King Oscar Fjord, connecting Davy's Sound with Franz Joseph Fjord, was discovered.[13] In 1900 Lieutenant Amdrup explored the still unknown east coast from 690 10' N. south to 67 deg. N.[14]

From the work of explorers in the north-west it had been possible to infer the approximate latitude of the northward termination of Greenland long before it was definitely known. Towards the close of the 19th century several explorers gave attention to this question. Lieutenant (afterwards Admiral) L. A. Beaumont (1876), of the Nares Expedition, explored the coast north-east of Robeson Channel to 82 deg. 20' N.[15] In 1882 Lieut. J. B. Lockwood and Sergeant (afterwards Captain) D. L. Brainard, of the U.S. expedition to Lady Franklin Bay,[16] explored the north-west coast beyond Beaumont's farthest to a promontory in 83 deg. 24' N. and 40 deg. 46' E. and they saw to the north-east Cape Washington, in about 83 deg. 38' N. and 39 deg. 30' E., the most northerly point of land till then observed. In July 1892 R. E. Peary and E. Astrup, crossing by land from Inglefield Gulf, Smith Sound, discovered Independence Bay on the north-east coast in 81 deg. 37' N. and 34 deg. 5' W.[17] In May 1895 it was revisited by Peary, who supposed this bay to be a sound communicating with Victoria Inlet on the north-west coast. To the north Heilprin Land and Melville Land were seen stretching northwards, but the probability seemed to be that the coast soon trended north-west. In 1901 Peary rounded the north point, and penetrated as far north as 83 deg. 50' N. The scanty exploration of the great ice-cap, or inland ice, which may be asserted to cover the whole of the interior of Greenland, has been prosecuted chiefly from the west coast. In 1751 Lars Dalager, a Danish trader, took some steps in this direction from Frederikshaab. In 1870 Nordenskiold and Berggren walked 35 m. inland from the head of Aulatsivik Fjord (near Disco Bay) to an elevation of 2200 ft. The Danish captain Jens Arnold Dietrich Jensen reached, in 1878, the Jensen Nunataks (5400 ft. above the sea), about 45 m. from the western margin, in 62 deg. 50' N.[18] Nordenskiold penetrated in 1883 about 70 m. inland in 68 deg. 20' N., and two Lapps of his expedition went still farther on skis, to a point nearly under 45 deg. W. at an elevation of 6600 ft. Peary and Maigaard reached in 1886 about 100 m. inland, a height of 7500 ft. in 69 deg. 30' N. Nansen with five companions in 1888 made the first complete crossing of the inland ice, working from the east coast to the west, about 64 deg. 25' N., and reached a height of 8922 ft. Peary and Astrup, as already indicated, crossed in 1892 the northern part of the inland ice between 78 deg. and 82 deg. N., reaching a height of about 8000 ft., and determined the northern termination of the ice-covering. Peary made very nearly the same journey again in 1895. Captain T. V. Garde explored in 1893 the interior of the inland ice between 61 deg. and 62 deg. N. near its southern termination, and he reached a height of 7080 ft. about 60 m. from the margin.[19]

_Coasts._--The coasts of Greenland are for the most part deeply
indented with fjords, being intensely glaciated. The coast-line of
Melville Bay (the northern part of the west coast) is to some degree
an exception, though the fjords may here be somewhat filled with
glaciers, and, for another example, it may be noted that Peary
observed a marked contrast on the north coast. Eastward as far as Cape
Morris Jesup there are precipitous headlands and islands, as
elsewhere, with deep water close inshore. East of the same cape there
is an abrupt change; the coast is unbroken, the mountains recede
inland, and there is shoal-water for a considerable distance from the
coast. Numerous islands lie off the coasts where they are indented;
but these are in no case large, excepting those off the north coast,
and that of Disco off the west, which is crossed by the parallel of
70 deg. N. This island, which is separated by Waigat Strait from the
Nugsuak peninsula, is lofty, and has an area of 3005 sq. m. Steenstrup
in 1898 discovered in it the warmest spring known in Greenland, having
a temperature of 66 deg. F.

The unusual glaciation of the east coast is evidently owing to the
north polar current carrying the ice masses from the north polar basin
south-westward along the land, and giving it an entirely arctic
climate down to Cape Farewell. In some parts the interior ice-covering
extends down to the outer coast, while in other parts its margin is
situated more inland, and the ice-bare coast-land is deeply
intersected by fjords extending far into the interior, where they are
blocked by enormous glaciers or "ice-currents" from the interior
ice-covering which discharge masses of icebergs into them. The east
coast of Greenland is in this respect highly interesting. All coasts
in the world which are much intersected by deep fjords have, with very
few exceptions, a western exposure, e.g. Norway, Scotland, British
Columbia and Alaska, Patagonia and Chile, and even Spitsbergen and
Novaya Zemlya, whose west coasts are far more indented than their east
ones. Greenland forms the most prominent exception, its eastern coast
being quite as much indented as its western. The reason is to be found
in its geographical position, a cold ice-covered polar current running
south along the land, while not far outside there is an open warmer
sea, a circumstance which, while producing a cold climate, must also
give rise to much precipitation, the land being thus exposed to the
alternate erosion of a rough atmosphere and large glaciers. On the
east coast of Baffin Land and Labrador there are similar conditions.
The result is that the east coast of Greenland has the largest system
of typical fjords known on the earth's surface. Scoresby Fjord has a
length of about 180 m. from the outer coast to the point where it is
blocked by the glaciers, and with its numerous branches covers an
enormous area. Franz Josef Fjord, with its branch King Oscar Fjord,
communicating with Davy's Sound, forms a system of fjords on a similar
scale. These fjords are very deep; the greatest depth found by Ryder
in Scoresby Sound was 300 fathoms, but there are certainly still
greater depths; like the Norwegian fjords they have, however, probably
all of them, a threshold or sill, with shallow water, near their
mouths. A few soundings made outside this coast seem to indicate that
the fjords continue as deep submarine valleys far out into the sea. On
the west coast there are also many great fjords. One of the best known
from earlier days is the great Godthaab Fjord (or Baals Revier) north
of 64 deg. N. Along the east coast there are many high mountains,
exceeding 6000 and 7000 ft. in height. One of the highest peaks
hitherto measured is at Tiningnertok, on the Lindenov Fjord, in 60
deg. 35' N., which is 7340 ft. high. At the bottom of Mogens Heinesen
Fjord, 62 deg. 30' N., the peaks are 6300 ft., and in the region of
Umanak, 63 deg. N., they even exceed 6600 ft. At Umivik, where Nansen
began his journey across the inland ice, the highest peak projecting
through the ice-covering was Gamel's Nunatak, 6440 ft., in 64 deg. 34'
N. In the region of Angmagssalik, which is very mountainous, the
mountains rise to 6500 ft., the most prominent peak being Ingolf's
Fjeld, in 66 deg. 20' N., about 6000 ft., which is seen from far out
at sea, and forms an excellent landmark. This is probably the Blaaserk
(i.e. Blue Sark or blue shirt) of the old Norsemen, their first
landmark on their way from Iceland to the Oster Bygd, the present
Julianehaab district, on the south-west coast of Greenland. A little
farther north the coast is much lower, rising only to heights of 2000
ft., and just north of 67 deg. 10' N. only to 500 ft. or less.[20] The
highest mountains near the inner branches of Scoresby Fjord are about
7000 ft. The Petermann Spitze, near the shore of Franz Josef Fjord,
measured by Payer and found to be 11,000 ft., has hitherto been
considered to be the highest mountain in Greenland, but according to
Nathorst it "is probably only two-thirds as high as Payer supposed,"
perhaps between 8000 and 9000 ft.

Along the west coast of Greenland the mountains are generally not
quite so high, but even here peaks of 5000 and 6000 ft. are not
uncommon. As a whole the coasts are unusually mountainous, and
Greenland forms in this respect an interesting exception, as there is
no other known land of such a size so filled along its coasts on all
sides with high mountains and deep fjords and valleys.

_The Inland Ice._--The whole interior of Greenland is completely
covered by the so-called inland ice, an enormous glacier forming a
regular shield-shaped expanse of snow and glacier ice, and burying all
valleys and mountains far below its surface. Its area is about 715,400
sq. m., and it is by far the greatest glacier of the northern
hemisphere. Only occasionally there emerge lofty rocks, isolated but
not completely covered by the ice-cap; such rocks are known as
_nunataks_ (an Eskimo word). The inland ice rises in the interior to a
level of 9000, and in places perhaps 10,000 ft. or more, and descends
gradually by extremely gentle slopes towards the coasts or the bottom
of the fjords on all sides, discharging a great part of its yearly
drainage or surplus of precipitation in the form of icebergs in the
fjords, the so-called ice-fjords, which are numerous both on the west
and on the east coast. These icebergs float away, and are gradually
melted in the sea, the temperature of which is thus lowered by cold
stored up in the interior of Greenland. The last remains of these
icebergs are met with in the Atlantic south of Newfoundland. The
surface of the inland ice forms in a transverse section from the west
to the east coast an extremely regular curve, almost approaching an
arc of a wide circle, which along Nansen's route has its highest ridge
somewhat nearer the east than the west coast. The same also seems to
be the case farther south. The curve shows, however, slight
irregularities in the shape of undulations. The angle of the slope
decreases gradually from the margin of the inland ice, where it may be
1 deg. or more, towards the interior, where it is 0 deg. In the
interior the surface of the inland ice is composed of dry snow which
never melts, and is constantly packed and worked smooth by the winds.
It extends as a completely even plain of snow, with long, almost
imperceptible, undulations or waves, at a height of 7000 to 10,000
ft., obliterating the features of the underlying land, the mountains
and valleys of which are completely interred. Over the deepest valleys
of the land in the interior this ice-cap must be at least 6000 or 7000
ft. thick or more. Approaching the coasts from the interior, the snow
of the surface gradually changes its structure. At first it becomes
more coarse-grained, like the _Firn Schnee_ of the Alps, and is moist
by melting during the summer. Nearer the coast, where the melting on
the surface is more considerable, the wet snow freezes hard during the
winter and is more or less transformed into ice, on the surface of
which rivers and lakes are formed, the water of which, however, soon
finds its way through crevasses and holes in the ice down to its under
surface, and reaches the sea as a sub-glacial river. Near its margin
the surface of the inland ice is broken up by numerous large
crevasses, formed by the outward motion of the glacier covering the
underlying land. The steep ice-walls at the margin of the inland ice
show, especially where the motion of the ice is slow, a distinct
striation, which indicates the strata of annual precipitation with the
intervening thin seams of dust (Nordenskiold's kryokonite). This is
partly dust blown on to the surface of the ice from the ice-bare
coast-land and partly the dust of the atmosphere brought down by the
falling snow and accumulated on the surface of the glacier's covering
by the melting during the summer. In the rapidly moving glaciers of
the ice-fjords this striation is not distinctly visible, being
evidently obliterated by the strong motion of the ice masses.

The ice-cap of Greenland must to some extent be considered as a
viscous mass, which, by the vertical pressure in its interior, is
pressed outwards and slowly flows towards the coasts, just as a mass
of pitch placed on a table and left to itself will in the course of
time flow outwards towards all sides. The motion of the
outwards-creeping inland ice will naturally be more independent of the
configurations of the underlying land in the interior, where its
thickness is so enormous, than near the margin where it is thinner.
Here the ice converges into the valleys and moves with increasing
velocity in the form of glaciers into the fjords, where they break off
as icebergs. The drainage of the interior of Greenland is thus partly
given off in the solid form of icebergs, partly by the melting of the
snow and ice on the surface of the ice-cap, especially near its
western margin, and to some slight extent also by the melting produced
on its under side by the interior heat of the earth. After Professor
Amund Helland had, in July 1875, discovered the amazingly great
velocity, up to 64-3/4 ft. in twenty-four hours, with which the
glaciers of Greenland move into the sea, the margin of the inland ice
and its glaciers was studied by several expeditions. K. J. V.
Steenstrup during several years, Captain Hammer in 1879-1880, Captain
Ryder in 1886-1887, Dr Drygalski in 1891-1893,[21] and several
American expeditions in later years, all examined the question
closely. The highest known velocities of glaciers were measured by
Ryder in the Upernivik glacier (in 73 deg. N.), where, between the
13th and 14th of August of 1886, he found a velocity of 125 ft. in
twenty-four hours, and an average velocity during several days of 101
ft. (Danish).[22] It was, however, ascertained that there is a great
difference between the velocities of the glaciers in winter and in
summer. For instance, Ryder found that the Upernivik glacier had an
average velocity of only 33 ft. in April 1887. There seem to be
periodical oscillations in the extension of the glaciers and the
inland ice similar to those that have been observed on the glaciers of
the Alps and elsewhere. But these interesting phenomena have not
hitherto been subject to systematic observation, and our knowledge of
them is therefore uncertain. Numerous glacial marks, however, such as
polished striated rocks, moraines, erratic blocks, &c., prove that the
whole of Greenland, even the small islands and skerries outside the
coast, has once been covered by the inland ice.

Numerous raised beaches and terraces, containing shells of marine
mollusca, &c., occur along the whole coast of Greenland, and indicate
that the whole of this large island has been raised, or the sea has
sunk, in post-glacial times, after the inland ice covered its now
ice-bare outskirts. In the north along the shores of Smith Sound these
traces of the gradual upheaval of the land, or sinking of the sea, are
very marked; but they are also very distinct in the south, although
not found so high above sea-level, which seems to show that the
upheaval has been greater in the north. In Uvkusigsat Fjord (72 deg.
20' N.) the highest terrace is 480 ft. above the sea.[23] On Manitsok
(65 deg. 30' N.) the highest raised beach was 360 ft. above the
sea.[24] In the Isortok Fjord (67 deg. 11' N.) the highest raised
beach is 380 ft. above sea-level.[25] In the Ameralik Fjord (64 deg.
14' N.) the highest marine terrace is about 340 ft. above sea-level,
and at Ilivertalik (63 deg. 14' N.), north of Fiskernaes, the highest
terrace is about 325 ft. above the sea. At Kakarsuak, near the
Bjornesund (62 deg. 50' N.), a terrace is found at 615 ft. above the
sea, but it is doubtful whether this is of marine origin.[26] In the
Julianehaab district, between 60 deg. and 61 deg. N., the highest
marine terraces are found at about 160 ft. above the sea.[27] The
highest marine terrace observed in Scoresby Fjord, on the east coast,
was 240 ft. above sea-level.[28] There is a common belief that during
quite recent times the west and south-west coast, within the Danish
possessions, has been sinking. Although there are many indications
which may make this probable, none of them can be said to be quite
decisive.[29]

[_Geology._--So far as made out, the structure of explored Greenland
is as follows:

1. _Laurentian gneiss_ forms the greatest mass of the exposed rocks of
the country bare of ice. They are found on both sides of Smith Sound,
rising to heights of 2000 ft., and underlie the Miocene and Cretaceous
rocks of Disco Island, Noursoak Peninsula and the Oolites of Pendulum
Island in East Greenland. Ancient schists occur on the east coast
south of Angmagssalik, and basalts and schists are found in Scoresby
Fjord. It is possible that some of these rocks are also of Huronian
age, but it is doubtful whether the rocks so designated by the
geologists of the "Alert" and "Discovery" expedition are really the
rocks so known in Canada, or are a continuous portion of the
fundamental or oldest gneiss of the north-west of Scotland and the
western isles.

2. _Silurian._--Upper Silurian, having a strong relation to the
Wenlock group of Britain, but with an American facies, and Lower
Silurian, with a succession much the same as in British North America,
are found on the shores of Smith Sound, and Nathorst has discovered
them in King Oscar Fjord, but not as yet so far south as the Danish
possessions.

3. _Devonian_ rocks are believed to occur in Igaliko and Tunnudiorbik
Fjords, in S.W. Greenland, but as they are unfossiliferous sandstone,
rapidly disintegrating, this cannot be known. It is, however, likely
that this formation occurs in Greenland, for in Dana Bay, Captain
Feilden found a species of _Spirifera_ and _Productus mesolobus_ or
_costatus_, though it is possible that these fossils represent the
"Ursa stage" (Heer) of the Lower Carboniferous. A few Devonian forms
have also been recorded from the Parry Archipelago, and Nathorst has
shown the existence of Old Red Sandstone facies of Devonian in Traill
Island, Geographical Society Island, Ymer Island and Gauss Peninsula.

4. _Carboniferous._--In erratic blocks of sandstone, found on the
Disco shore of the Waigat have been detected a _Sigillaria_ and a
species of either _Pecopteris_ or _Gleichenia_, perhaps of this age;
and probably much of the extreme northern coast of Ellesmere Land, and
therefore, in all likelihood, the opposite Greenland shore, contains a
clearly developed Carboniferous Limestone fauna, identical with that
so widely distributed over the North American continent, and referable
also to British and Spitsbergen species. Of the Coal Measures above
these, if they occur, we know nothing at present. Capt. Feilden notes
as suggestive that, though the explorers have not met with this
formation on the northern shores of Greenland, yet it was observed
that a continuation of the direction of the known strike of the
limestones of Feilden peninsula, carried over the polar area, passes
through the neighbourhood of Spitsbergen, where the formation occurs,
and contains certain species identical with those of the Grinnell Land
rocks of this horizon. The facies of the fossils is, according to Mr
Etheridge, North American and Canadian, though many of the species are
British. The corals are few in number, but the _Molluscoida_
(_Polyzoa_) are more numerous in species and individuals. No Secondary
rocks have been discovered in the extreme northern parts of West
Greenland, but they are present on the east and west coasts in more
southerly latitudes than Smith Sound.

5. _Jurassic._--These do not occur on the west coast, but on the east
coast the German expedition discovered marls and sandstones on Kuhn
Island, resembling those of the Russian Jurassic, characterized by the
presence of the genus _Aucella_, _Olcostephanus Payeri_, _O.
striolaris_, _Belemnites Panderianus_, _B. volgensis_, _B. absolutus_,
and a _Cyprina_ near to _C. syssolae_. On the south coast of the same
island are coarse-grained, brownish micaceous and light-coloured
calcareous sandstone and marls, containing fossils, which render it
probable that they are of the same age as the coal-bearing Jurassic
rocks of Brora (Scotland) and the Middle Dogger of Yorkshire. There is
also coal on Kuhn Island.

The Danish expeditions of 1899-1900 have added considerably to our
knowledge of the Jurassic rocks of East Greenland. Rhaetic-Lias plants
have been described by Dr Hartz from Cape Stewart and Vardekloft. Dr
Madsen has recognized fossils that correspond with those from the
Inferior oolite, Cornbrash and Callovian of England. Upper Kimmeridge
and Portlandian beds also occur.

6. _Cretaceous._--Beds of this age, consisting of sandstones and coal,
are found on the northern coast of Disco Island and the southern side
of the Noursoak Peninsula, the beds in the former locality, "the Kome
strata" of Nordenskiold, being the oldest. They reach 1000 ft. in
thickness, occupying undulating hollows in the underlying gneiss, and
dip towards the Noursoak Peninsula at 20 deg., when the overlying
Atanakerdluk strata come in. Both these series contain numerous plant
remains, evergreen oaks, magnolias, aralias, &c., and seams of lignite
(coal), which is burnt; but in neither occur the marine beds of the
United States. Still, the presence of dicotyledonous leaves, such as
_Magnolia alternans_, in the Atanakerdluk strata, proves their close
alliance with the Dakota series of the United States. The underlying
Kome beds are not present in the American series. They are
characterized by fine cycads (_Zamites arcticus_ and _Glossozamites
Hoheneggeri_), which also occur in the Urgonian strata of Wernsdorff.

7. _Miocene._--This formation, one of the most widely spread in polar
lands, though the most local in Greenland, is also the best known
feature in its geology. It is limited to Disco Island, and perhaps to
a small part of the Noursoak Peninsula, and the neighbouring country,
and consists of numerous thin beds of sandstone, shale and coal--the
sideritic shale containing immense quantities of leaves, stems, fruit,
&c., as well as some insects, and the coal pieces of retinite. The
study of these plant and insect remains shows that forests containing
a vegetation very similar to that of California and the southern
United States, in some instances even the species of trees being all
but identical, flourished in 70 deg. N. during geological periods
comparatively recent. These beds, as well as the Cretaceous series,
from which they are as yet only imperfectly distinguished, are
associated with sheets of basalt, which penetrate them in great dikes,
and in some places, owing to the wearing away of the softer
sedimentary rocks, stand out in long walls running across the beds.
These Miocene strata have not been found farther north on the
Greenland shore than the region mentioned; but in Lady Franklin Bay,
on the Grinnell Land side of Smith Sound, they again appear, so that
the chances are they will be found on the opposite coast, though
doubtless the great disintegration Greenland has undergone and is
undergoing has destroyed many of the softer beds of fossiliferous
rocks. On the east coast, more particularly in Hochstetter Foreland,
the Miocene beds again appear, and we may add that there are traces of
them even on the west coast, between Sonntag Bay and Foulke Fjord, at
the entrance to Smith Sound. It thus appears that since early Tertiary
times there has been a great change in the climate of Greenland.

Nathorst has suggested that the whole of Greenland is a "horst," in
the subordinate folds of which, as well as in the deeper "graben," the
younger rocks are preserved, often with a covering of Tertiary or
later lava flows.[30]--J. A. H.]

_Minerals._--Native iron was found by Nordenskiold at Ovifak, on Disco
Island, in 1870, and brought to Sweden (1871) as meteorites. The
heaviest nodule weighed over 20 tons. Similar native iron has later
been found by K. J. V. Steenstrup in several places on the west coast
enclosed as smaller or larger nodules in the basalt. This iron has
very often beautiful Widmannstatten figures like those of iron
meteorites, but it is obviously of telluric origin.[31] In 1895 Peary
found native iron at Cape York; since John Ross's voyage in 1818 it
has been known to exist there, and from it the Eskimo got iron for
their weapons. In 1897 Peary brought the largest nodule to New York;
it was estimated to weigh nearly 100 tons. This iron is considered by
several of the first authorities on the subject to be of meteoric
origin,[32] but no evidence hitherto given seems to prove decisively
that it cannot be telluric. That the nodules found were lying on
gneissic rock, with no basaltic rocks in the neighbourhood, does not
prove that the iron may not originate from basalt, for the nodules may
have been transported by the glaciers, like other erratic blocks, and
will stand erosion much longer than the basalt, which may long ago
have disappeared. This iron seems, however, in several respects to be
unlike the celebrated large nodules of iron found by Nordenskiold at
Ovifak, but appears to resemble much more closely the softer kind of
iron nodules found by Steenstrup in the basalt;[33] it stands exposure
to the air equally well, and has similar Widmannstatten figures very
sharp, as is to be expected in such a large mass. It contains,
however, more nickel and also phosphorus. A few other minerals may be
noticed, and some have been worked to a small extent--graphite is
abundant, particularly near Upernivik; cryolite is found almost
exclusively at Ivigtut; copper has been observed at several places,
but only in nodules and laminae of limited extent; and coal of poor
quality is found in the districts about Disco Bay and Umanak Fjord.
Steatite or soapstone has long been used by the natives for the
manufacture of lamps and vessels.

_Climate._--The climate is very uncertain, the weather changing
suddenly from bright sunshine (when mosquitoes often swarm) to dense
fog or heavy falls of snow and icy winds. At Julianehaab in the
extreme south-west the winter is not much colder than that of Norway
and Sweden in the same locality; but its mean temperature for the
whole year probably approximates to that on the Norwegian coast 600 m.
farther north. The climate of the interior has been found to be of a
continental character, with large ranges of temperature, and with an
almost permanent anti-cyclonic region over the interior of the inland
ice, from which the prevailing winds radiate towards the coasts. On
the 64th parallel the mean annual temperature at an elevation of 6560
ft. is supposed to be -13 deg. F., or reduced to sea-level 5 deg. F.
The mean annual temperature in the interior farther north is supposed
to be -10 deg. F. reduced to sea-level. The mean temperature of the
warmest month, July, in the interior should be, reduced to sea-level,
on the 64th parallel 32 deg. F., and that of the coldest month,
January, about -22 deg. F., while in North Greenland it is probably
-40 deg. reduced to sea-level. Here we may probably find the lowest
temperatures of the northern hemisphere. The interior of Greenland
contains both summer and winter a pole of cold, situated in the
opposite longitude to that of Siberia, with which it is well able to
compete in extreme severity. On Nansen's expedition temperatures of
about -49 deg. F. were experienced during the nights in the beginning
of September, and the minimum during the winter may probably sink to
-90 deg. F. in the interior of the inland ice. These low temperatures
are evidently caused by the radiation of heat from the snow-surface in
the rarefied air in the interior. The daily range of temperature is
therefore very considerable, sometimes amounting to 40 deg. Such a
range is elsewhere found only in deserts, but the surface of the
inland ice may be considered to be an elevated desert of snow.[34] The
climate of the east coast is on the whole considerably more arctic
than that of the west coast on corresponding latitudes; the land is
much more completely snow-covered, and the snow-line goes considerably
lower. The probability also is that there is more precipitation, and
that the mean temperatures are lower.[35] The well-known strangely
warm and dry _fohn_-winds of Greenland occur both on the west and the
east coast; they are more local than was formerly believed, and are
formed by cyclonic winds passing either over mountains or down the
outer slope of the inland ice.[36] Mirage and similar phenomena and
the aurora are common.

_Fauna and Flora._--It was long a common belief that the fauna and
flora of Greenland were essentially European, a circumstance which
would make it probable that Greenland has been separated by sea from
America during a longer period of time than from Europe. The
correctness of this hypothesis may, however, be doubted. The land
mammals of Greenland are decidedly more American than European; the
musk-ox, the banded lemming (_Cuniculus torquatus_), the white polar
wolf, of which there seems to have been a new invasion recently round
the northern part of the country to the east coast, the Eskimo and the
dog--probably also the reindeer--have all come from America, while the
other land mammals, the polar bear, the polar fox, the Arctic hare,
the stoat (_Mustela erminea_), are perfectly circumpolar forms. The
species of seals and whales are, if anything, more American than
European, and so to some extent are the fishes. The bladder-nose seal
(_Cystophora cristata_), for instance, may be said to be a
Greenland-American species, while a Scandinavian species, such as the
grey seal (_Halichoerus grypus_), appears to be very rare both in
Greenland and America. Of the sixty-one species of birds breeding in
Greenland, eight are European-Asiatic, four are American, and the rest
circumpolar or North Atlantic and North Pacific in their
distribution.[37] About 310 species of vascular plants are found, of
which about forty species are American, forty-four European-Asiatic,
fifteen endemic, and the rest common both to America and Europe or
Asia. We thus see that the American and the European-Asiatic elements
of the flora are nearly equivalent; and if the flora of Arctic North
America were better known, the number of plants common to America
might be still more enlarged.[38]

In the south, a few goats, sheep, oxen and pigs have been introduced.
The whaling industry was formerly prolific off the west coast but
decayed when the right whale nearly disappeared. The white whale
fishery of the Eskimo, however, continued, and sealing is important;
walruses are also caught and sometimes narwhal. There are also
important fisheries for cod, caplin, halibut, red fish (_Sebastes_)
and _nepisak_ (_Cyclopterus lumpus_); a shark (_Somniosus
microcephalus_) is taken for the oil from its liver; and sea-trout are
found in the streams and small lakes of the south. On land reindeer
were formerly hunted, to their practical extinction in the south, but
in the districts of Godthaab, Sukkertoppen and Holstensborg there are
still many reindeer. The eider-duck, guillemot and other sea-birds are
in some parts valuable for food in winter, and so is the ptarmigan.
Eggs of sea-birds are collected and eider-down. Valuable fur is
obtained from the white and blue fox, the skin of the eider-duck and
the polar bear.

At Tasiusak (73 deg. 22' N.), the most northern civilized settlement
in the world, gardening has been attempted without success, but
several plants do well in forcing frames. At Umanak (70 deg. 40' N.)
is the most northern garden in the world. Broccoli and radishes grow
well, turnips (but not every year), lettuce and chervil succeed
sometimes, but parsley cannot be reared. At Jacobshavn (69 deg. 12'
N.), only some 15 m. from the inland ice, gardening succeeds very
well; broccoli and lettuce grow willingly; the spinach produces large
leaves; chervil, pepper-grass, leeks, parsley and turnips grow very
well; the radishes are sown and gathered twice during the summer (June
to August). In the south, in the Julianehaab district, even flowering
plants, such as aster, nemophilia and mignonette, are cultivated, and
broccoli, spinach, sorrel, chervil, parsley, rhubarb, turnips,
lettuce, radishes grow well. Potatoes give fair results when they are
taken good care of, carrots grow to a thickness of 1-1/2 in., while
cabbage does poorly. Strawberries and cucumbers have been ripened in a
forcing frame. In the "Kongespeil" (King's mirror) of the 13th century
it is stated that the old Norsemen tried in vain to raise barley.

The wild vegetation in the height of summer is, in favourable
situations, profuse in individual plants, though scanty in species.
The plants are of the usual arctic type, and identical with or allied
to those found in Lapland or on the summits of the highest British
hills. Forest there is none in all the country. In the north, where
the lichen-covered or ice-shaven rocks do not protrude, the ground is
covered with a carpet of mosses, creeping dwarf willows, crow-berries
and similar plants, while the flowers most common are the andromeda,
the yellow poppy, pedicularis, pyrola, &c. besides the flowering
mosses; but in South Greenland there is something in the shape of
bush, the dwarf birches even rising a few feet in very sheltered
places, the willows may grow higher than a man, and the vegetation is
less arctic and more abundant.

_Government and Trade._--The trade of Greenland is a monopoly of the Danish crown, dating from 1774, and is administered in Copenhagen by a government board (_Kongelige Gronlandske Handel_) and in the country by various government officials. In order to meet the double purposes of government and trade the west coast, up to nearly 74 deg. N., is divided into two inspectorates, the southern extending to 67 deg. 40' N., the northern comprising the rest of the country; the respective seats of government being at Godthaab and Godhavn. These inspectorates are ruled by two superior officials or governors responsible to the director of the board in Copenhagen. Each of the inspectorates is divided into districts, each district having, in addition to the chief settlement or _coloni_, several outlying posts and Eskimo hunting stations, each presided over by an _udligger_, who is responsible to the _coloni-bestyrer_, or superintendent of the district. These trading settlements, which dot the coast for a distance of 1000 m., are about sixty in number. From the Eskimo hunting and fishing stations blubber is the chief article received, and is forwarded in casks to the _coloni_, where it is boiled into oil, and prepared for being despatched to Copenhagen by means of the government ships which arrive and leave between May and November. For the rest of the year navigation is stopped, though the winter months form the busy seal-killing season. The principle upon which the government acts is to give the natives low prices for their produce, but to sell them European articles of necessity at prime cost, and other stores, such as bread, at prices which will scarcely pay for the purchase and freight, while no merchandise is charged, on an average, more than 20% over the cost price in Denmark. In addition the Greenlanders are allowed to order goods from private dealers on paying freight for them at the rate of 2-1/2d. per 10 lb., or 1s. 6d. per cub. ft. The prices to be paid for European and native articles are fixed every year, the prices current in Danish and Eskimo being printed and distributed by the government. Out of the payment five-sixths are given to the sellers, and one-sixth devoted to the Greenlanders' public fund, spent in "public works," in charity, and on other unforeseen contingencies. The object of the monopoly is solely for the good of the Greenlanders--to prevent spirits being sold to them, and the vice, disease and misery which usually attend the collision between natives and civilization of the trader's type being introduced into the primitive arctic community. The inspectors, in addition to being trade superintendents, are magistrates, but serious crime is very rare. Though the officials are all-powerful, local councils or _parsissaet_ were organized in 1857 in every district. To these parish parliaments delegates are sent from every station. These _parsissoks_, elected at the rate of about one representative to 120 voters, wear a cap with a badge (a bear rampant), and aid the European members of the council in distributing the surplus profit apportioned to each district, and generally in advising as to the welfare of that part of Greenland under their partial control. The municipal council has the disposal of 20% of the annual profits made on produce purchased within the confines of each district. It holds two sessions every year, and the discussions are entirely in the Eskimo language. In addition to their functions as guardians of the poor, the parish members have to investigate crimes and punish misdemeanours, settle litigations and divide inheritances. They can impose fines for small offences not worth sending before the inspector, and, in cases of high misdemeanour, have the power of inflicting corporal punishment.

A Danish _coloni_ in Greenland might seem to many not to be a cheerful place at best; though in the long summer days they would certainly find some of those on the southern fjords comparatively pleasant. The fact is, however, that most people who ever lived some time in Greenland always long to go back. There are generally in a _coloni_ three or four Danish houses, built of wood and pitched over, in addition to storehouses and a blubber-boiling establishment. The Danish residents may include, besides a _coloni-bestyrer_ and his assistant, a _missionair_ or clergyman, at a few places also a doctor, and perhaps a carpenter and a schoolmaster. In addition there are generally from twenty to several hundred Eskimo, who live in huts built of stone and turf, each entered by a short tunnel. Lately their houses in the _colonis_ have also to some extent been built of imported wood. Following the west coast northward, the trading centres are these: in the south inspectorate, Julianehaab, near which are remains of the early Norse settlements of Eric the Red and his companions (the _Oster-Bygd_); Frederikshaab, in which district are the cryolite mines of Ivigtut; Godthaab, the principal settlement of all, in the neighbourhood of which are also early Norse remains (the _Vester-Bygd_); Sukkertoppen, a most picturesque locality; and Holstenborg. In the north inspectorate the centres are: Egedesminde, on an islet at the mouth of Disco Bay; Christianshaab, one of the pleasantest settlements in the north, and Jacobshavn, on the inner shores of the same bay; Godhavn (or Lievely) on the south coast of Disco Island, formerly an important seat of the whaling industry; Ritenbenk, Umanak, and, most northerly of all, Upernivik. On the east coast there is but one coloni, Angmagssalik, in 65 deg. 30' N., only established in 1894. For ecclesiastical purposes Danish Greenland is reckoned in the province of the bishop of Zeeland. The Danish mission in Greenland has a yearly grant of L2000 from the trading revenue of the colony, besides a contribution of L880 from the state. The Moravian mission, which had worked in Greenland for a century and a half, retired from the country in 1900. The trade of Greenland has on the whole much decreased in modern times, and trading and missions cost the Danish state a comparatively large sum (about L11,000 every year), although this is partly covered by the income from the royalty of the cryolite mines at Ivigtut. There is, however, a yearly deficiency of more than L6000. The decline in the value of the trade, which was formerly very profitable, has to a great extent been brought about by the fall in the price of seal-oil. It might be expected that there should be a decrease in the Greenland seal fisheries, caused by the European and American sealers catching larger quantities every year, especially along the coasts of Newfoundland and Labrador, and so actually diminishing the number of the animals in the Greenland seas. The statistics of South Greenland, however, do not seem to demonstrate any such decrease. The average number of seals killed annually is about 33,000.[39] The annual value of imports, consisting of manufactured goods, foodstuffs, &c., may be taken somewhat to exceed L40,000. The chief articles of export (together with those that have lapsed) have been already indicated; but they may be summarized as including seal-oil, seal, fox, bird and bear skins, fish products and eiderdown, with some quantity of worked skins. Walrus tusks and walrus hides, which in the days of the old Norse settlements were the chief articles of export, are now of little importance.

_Population._--The area of the entire Danish colony is estimated at 45,000 sq. m., and its population in 1901 was 11,893. The Europeans number about 300. The Eskimo population of Danish Greenland (west coast) seems to have decreased since the middle of the 18th century. Hans Egede estimated the population then at 30,000, but this is probably a large over-estimate. The decrease may chiefly have been due to infectious diseases, especially a very severe epidemic of smallpox. During the last half of the 19th century there was on the whole a slight increase of the native population. The population fluctuates a good deal, owing, to some extent, to an immigration of natives from the east to the west coast. The population of the east coast seems on the whole to be decreasing in number, several hundreds chiefly living at Angmagssalik. In the north part of the east coast, in the region of Scoresby Fjord and Franz Josef Fjord, numerous ruins of Eskimo settlements are found, and in 1823 Clavering met Eskimo there, but now they have either completely died out or have wandered south. A little tribe of Eskimo living in the region of Cape York near Smith Sound--the so-called "Arctic Highlanders" or Smith Sound Eskimo--number about 240.

_History._--In the beginning of the 10th century the Norwegian Gunnbjorn, son of Ulf Kraka, is reported to have found some islands to the west of Iceland, and he may have seen, without landing upon it, the southern part of the east coast of Greenland. In 982 the Norwegian Eric the Red sailed from Iceland to find the land which Gunnbjorn had seen, and he spent three years on its south-western coasts exploring the country. On his return to Iceland in 985 he called the land Greenland in order to make people more willing to go there, and reported so favourably on its possibilities that he had no difficulty in obtaining followers. In 986 he started again from Iceland with 25 ships, but only 14 of them reached Greenland, where a colony was founded on the south-west coast, in the present Julianehaab district. Eric built his house at Brattalid, near the inner end oi the fjord Tunugdliarfik, just north of the present Julianehaab. Other settlers followed and in a few years two colonies had been formed, one called Osterbygd in the present district of Julianehaab comprising later about 190 farms, and another called Vesterbygd farther north on the west coast in the present district of Godthaab, comprising later about 90 farms. Numerous ruins in the various fjords of these two districts indicate now where these colonies were. Wooden coffins, with skeletons wrapped in coarse hairy cloth, and both pagan and Christian tombstones with runic inscriptions have been found. On a voyage from Norway to Greenland Leif Ericsson (son of Eric the Red) discovered America in the year 1000, and a few years later Torfinn Karlsefne sailed with three ships and about 150 men, from Greenland to Nova Scotia to form a colony, but returned three years later (see VINLAND).

When the Norsemen came to Greenland they found various remains indicating, as the old sagas say, that there had been people of a similar kind as those they met with in Vinland, in America, whom they called _Skraeling_ (the meaning of the word is uncertain, it means possibly weak people); but the sagas do not report that they actually met the natives then. But somewhat later they have probably met with the Eskimo farther north on the west coast in the neighbourhood of Disco Bay, where the Norsemen went to catch seals, walrus, &c. The Norse colonists penetrated on these fishing expeditions at least to 73 deg. N., where a small runic stone from the 14th century has been found. On a voyage in 1267 they penetrated even still farther north into the Melville Bay.

Christianity was introduced by Leif Ericsson at the instance of Olaf Trygvasson, king of Norway, in 1000 and following years. In the beginning of the 12th century Greenland got its own bishop, who resided at Garolar, near the present Eskimo station Igoliko, on an isthmus between two fjords, Igaliksfjord (the old Einarsfjord) and Tunugdliarfik (the old Eriksfjord), inside the present colony Julianehaab. The Norse colonies had twelve churches, one monastery and one nunnery in the Osterbygd, and four churches in the Vesterbygd. Greenland, like Iceland, had a republican organization up to the years 1247 to 1261, when the Greenlanders were induced to swear allegiance to the king of Norway. Greenland belonged to the Norwegian crown till 1814, when, at the dissolution of the union between Denmark and Norway, neither it nor Iceland and the Faeroes were mentioned, and they, therefore, were kept by the Danish king and thus came to Denmark. The settlements were called respectively _Oster Bygd_ (or eastern settlement) and _Vester_ (western) _Bygd_, both being now known to be on the south and west coast (in the districts of Julianehaab and Godthaab respectively), though for long the view was persistently held that the first was on the east coast, and numerous expeditions have been sent in search of these "lost colonies" and their imaginary survivors. These settlements at the height of their prosperity are estimated to have had 10,000 inhabitants, which, however, is an over-estimate, the number having probably been nearer one-half or one-third of that number. The last bishop appointed to Greenland died in 1540, but long before that date those appointed had never reached their sees; the last bishop who resided in Greenland died there in 1377. After the middle of the 14th century very little is heard of the settlements, and their communication with the motherland, Norway, evidently gradually ceased. This may have been due in great part to the fact that the shipping and trade of Greenland became a monopoly of the king of Norway, who kept only one ship sailing at long intervals (of years) to Greenland; at the same time the shipping and trade of Norway came more and more in the hands of the Hanseatic League, which took no interest in Greenland. The last ship that is known to have visited the Norse colony in Greenland returned to Norway in 1410. With no support from home the settlements seem to have decayed rapidly. It has been supposed that they were destroyed by attacks of the Eskimo, who about this period seem to have become more numerous and to have extended southwards along the coast from the north. This seems a less feasible explanation; it is more probable that the Norse settlers intermarried with the Eskimo and were gradually absorbed. About the end of the 15th or the beginning of the 16th century it would appear that all Norse colonization had practically disappeared. When in 1585 John Davis visited it there was no sign of any people save the Eskimo, among whose traditions are a few directly relating to the old Norsemen, and several traces of Norse influence.[40] For more than two hundred years Greenland seems to have been neglected, almost forgotten. It was visited by whalers, chiefly Dutch, but nothing in the form of permanent European settlements was established until the year 1721, when the first missionary, the Norwegian clergyman Hans Egede, landed, and established a settlement near Godthaab. Amid many hardships and discouragements he persevered; and at the present day the native race is civilized and Christianized. Many of the colonists of the 18th century were convicts and other offenders; and in 1750 the trade became a monopoly in the hands of a private company. In 1733-1734 there was a dreadful epidemic of smallpox, which destroyed a great number of the people. In 1774 the trade ceased to be profitable as a private monopoly, and to prevent it being abandoned the government took it over. Julianehaab was founded in the following year. In 1807-1814, owing to the war, communication was cut off with Norway and Denmark; but subsequently the colony prospered in a languid fashion.

_Authorities._--As to the discovery of Greenland by the Norsemen and
its early history see Konrad Maurer's excellent paper, "Geschichte der
Entdeckung Ostgronlands" in the report of _Die zweite deutsche
Nordpolarfahrt 1869-1870_ (Leipzig, 1874), vol. i.; G. Storm, _Studies
on the "Vineland" Voyages_ (Copenhagen, 1889); _Extraits des Memoires
de la Societe Royale des Antiquaires du Nord_ (1888); K. J. V.
Steenstrup, "Om Osterbygden," _Meddelelser om Gronland_, part ix.
(1882), pp. 1-51; Finnur Jonsson, "Gronlands gamle Topografi efter
Kilderne" in _Meddelelser om Gronland_, part xx. (1899), pp. 265-329;
Joseph Fischer, _The Discoveries of the Norsemen in America_,
translated from German by B. H. Soulsby (London, 1903). As to the
general literature on Greenland, a number of the more important modern
works have been noticed in footnotes. The often-quoted _Meddelelser om
Gronland_ is of especial value; it is published in parts (Copenhagen)
since 1879, and is chiefly written in Danish, but each part has a
summary in French. In part xiii. there is a most valuable list of
literature about Greenland up to 1880. See also _Geographical
Journal_, passim.

Amongst other important books on Greenland may be mentioned: Hans
Egede, _Description of Greenland_ (London, 1745); Crantz, _History of
Greenland_ (2 vols., London, 1820); _Gronlands historiske
Mindesmerker_ (3 vols., Copenhagen, 1838-1845); H. Rink, _Danish
Greenland_ (London, 1877); H. Rink, _Tales of the Eskimo_ (London,
1875); (see also same, "Eskimo Tribes" in _Meddelelser om Gronland_,
part xi.); Johnstrup, _Giesecke's Mineralogiske Reise i Gronland_
(Copenhagen, 1878). (F. N.)

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Inglefield, _Summer Search for Franklin_ (London, 1853).

[2] _Second Grinnell Expedition_ (2 vols., Philadelphia, 1856).

[3] Davis, Polaris (_Hall's_) _North Polar Expedition_ (Washington,
1876). See also Bessels, _Die amerikanische Nordpol-Expedition_
(Leipzig, 1879).

[4] _Journal of a Voyage to the Northern Whale Fishery_ (1823).

[5] _Die zweite deutsche Nordpolarfahrt_ (1873-1875).

[6] _Reise til Ostkysten af Gronland_ (1832; trans. by G. Gordon
Macdougall, 1837).

[7] _Meddelelser om Gronland_, parts ix. and x. (Copenhagen, 1888).

[8] _The First Crossing of Greenland_, vol. i. (London, 1890), H.
Mohn and F. Nansen; "Wissenschaftliche Ergebnisse von Dr F. Nansen
Durchquerung von Gronland" (1888). Erganzungsheft No. 105 zu
_Petermanns Mitteilungen_ (Gotha, 1892).

[9] A. F. Nordenskiold, _Den andra Dicksonska Expeditionen til
Gronland_ (Stockholm, 1885).

[10] _Meddelelser om Gronland_, pts. xvii.-xix. (Copenhagen,
1895-1896).

[11] _Geografisk Tidskrift_, xv. 53-71 (Copenhagen, 1899).

[12] _Ibid._ vii. 76-79 (Copenhagen, 1884).

[13] _The Geographical Journal_, xiv. 534 (1899); xvii. 48 (1901);
_Tva Somrar i Norra Ishafvet_ (Stockholm, 1901).

[14] _Meddelelser om Gronland_, parts xxvi.-xxvii.

[15] Nares, _Voyage to the Polar Sea_ (2 vols. London, 1877). See
also Blue Book, journals, &c., (Nares) Expedition, 1875-1876 (London,
1877).