Adventures in the Arctic Regions; Romantic Incidents & Perils of Travel, Sport, and Exploration Around the Poles

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1910. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER XI SEEKING LOST COLONIES IN GREENLAND Greenland five centuries ago--The Danish search for lost coloniesCaptain Wilhelm Graah--Difficulties of landing--Snow!--The rudder jammed--Ashore at last--Hunting for a night's lodging--Perseverance rewarded--Exploring the plateau--Natives--The Angmakmk fish--Fishing with pails--An unknown island--A mysterious tunnel--The abyss--An underground lake--An anxious moment--Hauling the lieutenant up--Driven landwards by an ice-river--An Eskimo burial-ground--A strange disappointment. Five hundred years ago, parts of the east and west coasts of Greenland were occupied by flourishing colonies of Danish or Scandinavian settlers, or, as some say, by the descendants of the original Icelandic discoverers of America. We are told that the colonies comprised at least a hundred villages, two or three large towns, and nigh upon twenty churches. Whether the temperature of the island gradually decreased, and so drove the settlers farther south again, or whether savages from the north came down and rendered their stay unpleasant, history does not say; the fact remains, however, that the population of Greenland to-day is only ten thousand and a few odd hundreds--the thousands being Eskimos, and the hundreds servants of the Danish administration. In the year 1829 some Danish archaeologists petitioned their Government to make inquiries into these lost colonies, with the result that a young naval commander, Wilhelm Graah, was sent to explore both coasts in the brig Whale, and to examine and report on whatever ruins and relics he might find. Discoveries of a kind interesting to both naturalists and antiquarians were certainly made, and in making them Captain Graah encountered all kinds of thrilling experiences, and more than once came...