The Morning herald., 1878-03-18

yswaAMlNafOH sDsl. March Is, 1878
sARylG ExPLOEING.ExPE Edition
arc We doubt II exploring expeditions
/. the Ar,ic seas were. ever as numerous 9
any enc time, as now. Capt. Mares, VIII
undertook the last English expedition i
search Of an open Polar Sea and failed t
find it, is 10 make another attemptto pene
,trats the mystery. Of the Polar circle
Prof. yNoBdenshield is attacking to som
extent Che same mystery.from the opposit
hide of the Ice barrier. The American Po
,lare colonization scene, asproposed by Cap
tain Rowland and undertaken under th'
auspices ofthe government, is already il
process of execution, so far as the prelini-
nary arrangements are conce, ned; and
now the steam yacht Polaris, in which
Capt Sherard Osburne cruised in the Pc.
lar seas during the Mares expedition, has
been bought by Mr.. James Gordon Ben
nett, who has undertaken to fit her out and
to bear the entire expense Of an indepen
dent expedition to the Polar seas if th.
government will detail the necessary Of
fcers from the United strtes navy to take
command Oi the vessel. While the Polar
pack is thus bsseiged on all sides, it has
been suggested that enc Of the expeditions
be diverted to the west coast of Greenland
for q lost Danish colony that aourished
there for five hundred years and then SUD
denly disappeared and wasnever afterwards
heard Of 1t will lie recollected that the
thousandth anniversary Of the discovery
Of Greenland was celebrated last year
The settlement of that bleak and ice-bound
torritery dates back to the year 9S7 of our
era, and two fourishing colonies from
Norway and Denmark occupied, one the
eastern and one the western coast of Green
and, being separated from each other by
eighty miles of desert. d. 81
u. These colonies maintained thems
selves by fishing and by raising sheep and
cattle, the pasturage on the valleys being
luxuriant and good. AT one time the
West Greenland colony had four parish
churches and one hundred and ten farm
Villages, but about the year 1850 the colo
nists, while. weakened by a pestilence,
were attacked by Esquimaux and extermi-
mated. L. ..
The eastern colony being much more
populous survived. In 1406 it had two
towns, eleven parish churches, one hun
dred and ten plantations or farm Villages,
two or more monastries, and was the seat
ofs bishopric. A few years later it disap.
peared from human knowledge. The sew
enteenth bishop sent out from Norway to
take possession of the holy see was pre-
vented BY the ice pack from reaching
land. What the fate of the colony was
after it was cut off from the outer world
noman knows. The only subsequent in
formation about it was contained in let
ter from Pope Nicholas V to the Bishop of
Ireland, dated 144s, which stated that the |
colony was attacked thirty years before by |
q hostile feet and laid waste with fire and
sword. Such was not the belief, nor was
it entertained by the Danish Government
which sent out many expeditions in search
Of the lost colony, but none could pene-I
trate the ice barrier. In 1892 Captain
scoresby found the eastern coast free from
ice and sailing along it from 75O to 69o
met with fields producing luxuriant grass,
some houses containing hunting apparatus
and household utensils, but no inhabitants
Captain Clavering in 1923, and Captain
Crash traced a part of the coast line de-.
scribsd by scoresby, but the exploration
was left unprotected because Of the inter.
position OF ice barriers. Enough, how
ever, was discovered. by Graah to leave
very little doubt that the ruins at Igalliko
Fiord marked the site Of the lost colony
The traditional belief is nevertheless still
strong that the ancient colony survives; s;
that beyond the ice.pack there are green
inland valleys,upon which herds Of reindee
feed and cattle browie, and where the
remnant Of these hardy Norsemen may
yet be found. From this belief the sug-
gsstiou Of correspondent, himself an ex-
officer Of the United States Navy, that the
"grsndest undertaking Of the present age
would be to strive to reach that isolated
colony" We fear that it would be time
and money wasted, and that an exploring