The lands of silence

by Sir Clements R. Markham

It was found that the Dutch had long frequented Davis Strait for the whale fishery. Several ships arrived every year and they made use of two or three harbours, but had no permanent settlement.

In the second year after his arrival Hans Egede undertook a boat voyage in search of the lost Greenland colony. The distance was great from Gilbert Sound to Cape Farewell, and then round to the east side of Greenland, for the general belief then was that the “East Bygd” of the Norsemen was on the east coast. On Egede’s map Frobisher’s Strait was shown to pass through Greenland, instead of on the other side of Davis Strait, and he naturally relied upon being able to make a short cut to the east coast by passing through it. This was the last time that anyone was misled by the errors of Niccolo Zeno’s chart. For the first land of Frobisher was supposed to be the Friesland of Zeno, in which case the second land would be Greenland. In reality the first land was Greenland, and the second land of Frobisher was the other side of Davis Strait.

Hans Egede proceeded along the coast to the southward, examining the principal fjords, discovering the ruins of the church at Kakortak[95] and other vestiges of the Norsemen, little thinking that all the time he was in the “East Bygd,” which he supposed to be on the other side of Greenland. He looked out anxiously for Frobisher’s Strait, which of course he never found, and went almost as far as Cape Farewell. The lateness of the season at last obliged him to return.

Hans Egede then devoted all his energies to the instruction and conversion of the Eskimos, who were scattered in small bodies along the coast. He carefully sought out any words in their language that resembled those of the Norsemen[96]. Probably he thought that these Greenlanders had Norse blood in their veins, that in fact they represented all that remained of the lost colony. The Danish Government came to the conclusion that Greenland might be a valuable acquisition and there was still a desire to reach the east coast where the East Bygd of the Norsemen was supposed to be. In 1728 Major Paar arrived as Governor with five ships, one of them a man-of-war, bringing materials for a fort and a garrison, as well as horses for crossing to the East Bygd, so little was the inland ice then understood. Major Paar removed the settlement from Kenget Island to the mainland, on the south side of Gilbert Sound, where it received the name of Godthaab, and is now the capital of Danish Greenland. Unfortunately a form of scurvy broke out and the people died off rapidly, the mortality continuing until the spring of 1729, when the survivors were sent home, and this first attempt at a colony came to an end, leaving Hans Egede almost in despair. His eldest son Paul was sent to Copenhagen to complete his education.

Governor Paar made an attempt to comply with his instructions about the east coast. On April 25th, 1729, he set out with a party of seven men to explore the Amaralik Fjord, but found it impossible to make any progress on the inland ice, and returned on the 7th of May. On the map in the English translation of the book by Hans Egede there is a strait passing right across Greenland from Disco Bay with the following legend:—“It is said that these streights were formerly passable but now they are shoot up with ice.” All the names from Ivar Bardsen are scattered along the east side of Greenland in this map of 1740.

The attempt to form a colony had a very injurious result for the mission, as it made most of the natives move northwards to Disco Bay.

The death of King Frederick IV, who had steadily supported Egede and the Greenland enterprise, seemed to be a mortal blow. The Government of his successor, Christian VI, saw no probability of any commercial advantage, and considered that the ten years of missionary efforts had produced little or no result. An order was therefore issued that the colony was to be given up, Hans Egede being given the option either to return with the rest or to remain. He resolved to stay, ten sailors volunteering to stand by him, and after much importunity, a year’s provisions were left with him. His youngest son Nils was now old enough to assist his father, and undertook the commercial part of the work, going about to collect blubber and other products, and striving, when possible, to take the part of a catechist. But privations and anxieties were telling upon Egede. A feeling of despondency was beginning to weigh him down, and he was only encouraged to perseverance by the heroic constancy of his wife.

At last hope was revived. In May, 1733, a ship arrived with the news that the Greenland trade was to be continued, and that the King would make an annual grant of £400 a year to the mission. In the same ship three Moravian missionaries arrived who formed a station which they called “New Herrnhuth,” a few miles from Godthaab, and worked in harmony with the Danish missionaries[97]. But progress was still further delayed by an appalling calamity. An Eskimo boy who had been at Copenhagen brought back the smallpox. It spread like wildfire, and threatened to wipe out the whole Eskimo race. The sufferings were terrible and several thousands died.

Hans Egede’s eldest son Paul had returned, and gave lessons in the Eskimo language, of which he was a master, having learnt it from childhood, to the Moravian missionaries. He afterwards had charge of the mission station of Christianshaab in Disco Bay until 1740. The devoted wife of Hans Egede died in December 1735, a true Christian heroine, full of zeal for the conversion of the natives and of helpful care for their welfare. With the loss of his brave wife Hans Egede felt that his work was at an end and sailed with his daughters and his youngest son on the 9th August, arriving at Copenhagen on the 24th September, 1736. His wife’s remains were taken with him, and interred in St Nicholas churchyard.

Hans Egede had made a beginning. He had sown the good seed. He left four missionaries and two catechists in Greenland, twenty or thirty adult converts, and about a hundred baptized children. He had formed rather a high opinion of the Eskimo character after an experience extending over 15 years. He looked upon the Greenlanders as even-tempered and good-natured, of orderly behaviour and hating every kind of strife. There was no thieving among themselves, though foreigners were considered fair game. They were hospitable, and every one was content with his own state and condition.