Treats of the Nature of the Soil, Plants, and Minerals of Greenland.

AS to the nature of the soil, we are informed by ancient histories, that the Greenland colonies bred a number of cattle, which afforded them milk, butter, and cheese in such abundance, that a great quantity thereof was brought over to Norway, and for its prime and particular goodness was set apart for the King’s kitchen, which was practised until the reign of Queen Margaret. We also read in these histories, that some parts of the country yielded the choicest wheat corn, and in the dales or valleys the oak trees brought forth acorns of the bigness of an apple, very good to eat[24]. The woods afforded plenty of game of rein deer, hares, &c. for the sport of huntsmen. The rivers, bays, and the seas furnished an infinite number of fishes, seals, morses, and whales; of which all the inhabitants make a considerable trade and commerce. And though the country at present cannot boast of the same plenty and richness, as it lies destitute of colonies, cattle, and uncultivated; yet I do not doubt, but the old dwelling places, formerly inhabited and manured by the ancient Norway colonies, might recover their former fertility, if they were again peopled with men and cattle; inasmuch as about those places there grows fine grass, especially from 60° to 65°. In the great Bay, which in the sea charts goes under the name of Baal’s River, and at present is called the Bay of Good Hope (from the Danish colony settled near the entrance of this inlet), there are on both sides of the colony many good pieces of meadow ground, for the grazing and pasturing numbers of cattle, besides plenty of provision, which the sea as well as the land yields. Trees or woods of any consideration are rarely met with; yet I have found in most of the bays underwoods and shrubs in great quantity, especially of birch, elm, and willows, which afford sufficient fuel for the use of the inhabitants, The largest wood I have seen is in the latitude of 60° and 61°, where I found birch trees two or three fathom high, somewhat thicker than a man’s leg or arm: small juniper trees grow also here in abundance, the berries of which are of the bigness of grey peas. The herb called quaun, which is our angelica, is very obvious and common, as well as wild rosemary, which has the taste and smell of turpentine; of which, by distillation, is extracted a fine oil and spirit, of great use in medicine. That precious herb, scurvy grass, the most excellent remedy for the cure of the distemper which gives its name, grows everywhere on the sea side, and has not so bitter a taste as that of softer climates; I have seen wonderful effects of its cure. The country also produces a grass with yellow flowers, whose root smells in the spring like roses: the inhabitants feed thereupon, and find benefit by it. In the bays and inlets you have wild thyme at the side of the mountains, which after sunset yields a fragrant smell. Here also you meet with the herb tormentil, or setfoil, and a great many other herbs, plants, and vegetables, which I cannot call to mind, and whose names indeed are altogether unknown to me. Their most common berries are those called blew-berries, tittle-berries, and bramble-berries. Multe-berries, which are common in Norway, do not arrive here to any perfection, on account of the thick fogs that hang upon the islands, when these plants bud. This country affords the most pleasant prospect about the latitude of 60° to 64°, and seems fit to be manured for the produce of all sorts of grain; and there are to this day marks of acres and arable land to be observed. I myself once made a trial of sowing barley in the bay joining to our new colony, which sprung up so fast, that it stood in its full ears towards the latter end of July; but did not come to ripeness, on account of the night frost which nipped it and hindered its growth. But as this grain was brought over from Bergen in Norway, no doubt it wanted a longer summer and more heat to ripen. But I am of opinion, that corn which grows in the more Northern parts of Norway would thrive better in Greenland, inasmuch as those climates agree better together. Turnips and cole are very good here, and of a sweet taste, especially the turnips, which are pretty large.

I must observe to you, that all that has been said of the fruitfulness of the Greenland soil is to be understood of the latitude of 60° to 65°, and differs according to the different degrees of latitude. For in the most Northern parts you find neither herbs nor plants; so that the inhabitants cannot gather grass enough to put in their shoes to keep their feet warm, but are obliged to buy it from the Southern parts.

Of Greenland metals or minerals I have little or nothing to say. It is true, that about two Norway miles to the South of the colony of Good Hope, on a promontory, there are here and there green spots to be seen, like verdigris, which shows there must be some copper ore. And a certain Greenlander once brought me some pieces not unlike lead ore. There is likewise a sort of calamine, which has the colour of yellow brass. In my expedition upon discoveries, I found, on a little island where we touched, some yellow sand, mixed with sinople red, or vermillion strokes, of which I sent a quantity over to the directors of the Greenland company at Bergen, to make a trial of it; upon which they wrote me an answer, that I should endeavour to get as much as I could of the same sand; but to theirs as well as my own disappointment, I never was able to find the said island again, where I had got this sand, as it was but a very small and insignificant one, situate among a great many others; and the mark I had taken care to put up was by the wind blown down. Nevertheless there has been enough of the same stuff found up and down in the country, which, when it is burnt, changes its former colour for a reddish hue, which it likewise does if you keep it awhile shut up close.

Whether or no this be the same sort of sand as that of which Sir Martin Frobisher is said to have brought some hundred tons to England, and was pretended to contain a great deal of gold; and again (as we have above taken notice of) of which some of the Danish Greenland Company’s ships returned freighted to Copenhagen in the year 1636, is a question which I have no mind to decide. However, thus much I can say, that by the small experience I have acquired in the art of chemistry, I have tried both by extraction and precipitation if it would yield any thing, but always lost my labour. After all I declare, I never could find any other sort of sand that contained either gold or silver. But as for rock crystal, both red and white, you find it here: the red contains some particular solis, which can only be produced by the spagyric art.

Stone flax, or what they call asbestos, is so common here, that you may see whole mountains of it: it has the appearance of a common stone, but can be split or cloven like a piece of wood. It contains long filaments, which, when beaten and separated from the dross, you may twist and spin into a thread. As long as it has its oily moisture it will burn without being consumed to ashes.

Round about our colony of Good Hope there is a sort of coarse bastard marble of different colours, blue, green, red, and some quite white, and again some white with black spots, which the natives form into all sorts of vessels and utensils, as lamps, pots to boil in, and even crucibles to melt metals in, this marble standing proof against the fire[25]. Of this marble there was brought a quantity over to Drontheim in Norway, which they made use of in the adorning of the cathedral of that city, as we have it from Peter Claudius Undalin[26].

Amongst the produce of the sea, besides different shells, muscles, and periwinkles, there are also coral trees, of which I have seen one of a fine form and size.