A Description of Greenland

Old Greenland, as to its Eastern & Western Parts. Vulgo Oster Bygd & Wester Bygd
Engraved for Egedes Greenland by J. Smith, 1 Clements Inn, Strand
Pubᵈ. May 1ˢᵗ. 1818 by T. & J. Allman, Princes Street, Hanover Square

BY HANS EGEDE, WHO WAS A MISSIONARY IN THAT COUNTRY FOR TWENTY-FIVE YEARS. —————— A N E W E D I T I O N. —————— WITH AN HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION AND A LIFE OF THE AUTHOR. ILLUSTRATED WITH A MAP OF GREENLAND, AND NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS ON WOOD. S E C O N D E D I T I O N.



THE regions in the neighbourhood of the North Pole have lately become the objects of increased curiosity; and among these regions Greenland has attracted a more than usual interest. This country was first peopled by a colony from Iceland, which occupied both the Western and Eastern parts of the Island. The first settlers in the West appear to have been destroyed by the natives, who are denominated Skrellings; and though a communication was preserved for several centuries between the Eastern coast of Greenland and some parts of the Danish territory, yet it was interrupted about the close of the fourteenth century by accumulated masses of ice, which formed an impenetrable barrier of considerable extent around the shore; and though various attempts have been made, at different times, to explore a passage through this frozen rampart, yet there is no definite account of any attempt of this kind which has hitherto been successful. May we hope that the execution of this project, which is prompted, not only by curiosity but by philanthropy, is reserved for the present era, and that it will be finally accomplished by the nautical skill and enterprise of this country!