The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1878-07-25

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Danish colony was beset by Esquimaux
and broken up, and the last that was
heard of either settlement was In 1925,
In 144S Pope Nicholas V. in a letter to
the English court stated that the colo
nists had been attacked by a feet Of saw
ages and murdered to man, but he did
not vouch for the accuracy of his infor'
nation. In 1922 Capt. scorsby discoV-
cred huts containing hunting gear and
household utensils of Morse pattern on
the west coast, and claimed that these
had been the dwellings of the lost colo
nists. The popular idea at that time was
that settlement of the descendants OF
these Norsemen existed in some terra
incognita far beyond the ice.fields and
near the pole and Lieutenant Frederick
Schwatka, who sailed for the Arctic seas
last month, was credited in a Washing
ton despatch the other day with saying
that "the grandest undertaking of the
present age would be to strive to reach
that isolated colony"
In some of the old records of the Rec
OlleCt Fathers in this city, which we're
sent to Paris in 1859, frequent mention
was made of legends and traditions con-
cerning this Morse colony. The first of
the RecolleCts landed in Canada in one
of Champlain's ships in 1915, nearly two
centuries after the Greenland colony dis
appeared. Others rapidly followed them
and in 1852 one of the missionary faith
ers, Father de Maurine, sailed to the
west shore of Newfoundland, where he
found several camps of Esquimaux, who
were wintering there. He learned from
them-it was an Esquimaux tradition
that at one time in the remote ages, as
he expresses it, men of the stature and
mien of French sailors lived in peace
and amity with their forefathers. There
were hundreds of them, and sometimes
they took ship and sailed away to the
southeast, returning after many days
with companions who settled with them.
After countless years these strangers di.
vided themselves into two bodies, one
going to the west and the other to the
east shore. From that time forth their
nature seemed changed, and they attack
ed and murdered one another. One win
ter it was dark for four months, and the
cold was so intense that even the Esqui-
maux perished in their abodes. Fearing
that the strife of the strange people had
enraged the god of the wind and sea, the
Esquimaux fled while it was yet dark to
the southward; and when the darkness
passed away, they sailed in fright to
lonely island, where they dwelt many
years. On their return they found the
face of the earth changed. Vast ice
fields covered the pasture lands where
the strangers had lived, and 'the whole
region was desolate. The strangers
houses were buried beneath mountains
of ice, and no living thing was to be seen
but the bear and the Walrus.
Father Paul Ragueneau, the celebrated
Jesuit, whose reports to his superiors in
France contain much trustworthy infor.
nation concerning New France, and fig
ured conspicuously under the regime of
M. De Ailleboust towards the close of
the seventeenth century, relates at sec.
Ond hand an Indian tradition closely re-
sembling that current among the Esqui-
maux. But perhaps the most important
story is that told by the Jesuit Malli.
geye. In 1913, accompanied by several
Hurons he advanced along the north
shore of the Gulf and penetrated into
Labrador. Eighty days journey inland
be came upon solitary band of savages
who spoke the Huron tongue with diff
Guilty. From the chief and medicine
men he learned that they were the de.
5Cendants of party of Hurons who had
fed from an intertribal war, not through
cowardice, but because they had taken
wives from the band which the Hurons
had attacked. Their fathers had met
with Esquimaux, and the two peoples
had been blended into one. They had
preserved their language to some extent
but the Esquimaux tongue was more fa-
miliar to them than the Huron. They
were rich in Esquimaux traditions, and
these they had illustrated by rude paint.
ings on wood and stone. They interpre.
ted many of these hieroglyphics for Fa-
ther Malligeye, the principal one, which
covered nearly hundred wooden tab.
let's, having reference, beyond doubt, to
The Morse colony. It ran thus: Far
back in the past, when the Esquimaux
thought they were the only people on
The earth, and that the earth was bound.
ed by their familiar shores, feet of
strangers landed and took possession of
4 beautiful county where the grass was
always green. They built houses of
wood and stone, and had focks and |
herds which their women watched |
while the men were fishing. Other fleets
came after them, and the Esquimaux
thought this new race was sent to drive |
lhem into the sea, but the strangers were |
kind in manner though wild in aspect,
with red flowing hair. They prospered |
and grew in numbers, and took wives
from among the Esquimaux. One day |
after moons without number had passed, |
the north wind became hot and sultry. |
1t was like the breath of fire for many |
days, and then booming and thunder. |
ing noise was heard to the north, and |
5he crash shook the heavens and made |
the rocks tremble. This continued for |
Iong time, and the north wind began to |
grow colder and colder, until at length |
men died by the fire from cold. The |
knew then that the ice. fields |
Of the north had broken loose. Their |
traditions told them that, and they has.
tened to the shore with their wives and |
children, and sailed to an island to the |
northwest. The strangers Knocked them |
as they left. Many, many years after
this, the Esquimaux returned, only to |
find that the ice had overwhelmed the |
strangers, and swept the meadows and |
even the streams into the sea, leaving |
nothing behind but naked rocks and |
huge mountains. From that time forth |
,he land was cold and dreary.
These traditions, quantum valeant, &C.
count very satisfactory for the sudden |
disappearance of the Norsmen; but it is
ust possible that Lieut.. Schwatka may |
set them at naught by the discovery of |
Morse monarchy or republic beneath the |
Oole.-N. Y. World.
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