Evening journal., 1921-07-21
GREENLAND in
ICE Age GRIP
King of Denmark Visits His
Bleak American Colony
in Northland
POPULATION is
ONLY $4,000

THE largest island in the world
(if Australia be classed as a con-
tinent), the land reaching closest to
the North Pole. the country harbor-
/, ing the northernmost civilized COM
munity. and the one land mass
where conditions OF the great ice
age are now dominant-such is
Greenland" says a bulletin issued by
the National Geographic Society in
connection with visit now being
made by the King Of Denmark TO
his bleak American colony.
"Mercator Of map fame has un-
Willingly confused the mind OF
the world in regard to Greenland"
continues the bulletin because the
sphere Is fiattened out on many maps
as though its surface we're stretch
ed, Greenland, vast as II is, is made
to appear many times larger. II is
as though the country were reflected
in one OF the mirrors set up at
country fairs to make the thin ap-
pear fat.
But viewed properly, the great
northern island bulks large enough
TO command respect II its northern
most point were placed at the Can
adian border in North Dakota its
southernmost point would reach to
the mouth of the Rio Grande, the
southern extremity OF Texas. It's
greatest width Is approximately
equal to the distance from New York
TO Chicago
But though tho island Is almost
continental in size, having an area
OF about 100000 square miles, Il has
d only $1,000 inhabitants, the daily
4 population for this sparse popula-
\ ton is not alone the far northern
q position Of tho country, for the low
d er half of the island is In approx
4 mateiy the same latitude as the
Il Scandinavian peninsula with it's s.
q 600, 900 souls. But while Scandinavia
z is bathed by the warm Gulf Stream.
4 and Iceland too is benefited by IL,
4 Greenland lies far from its influence
and Is washed only by icy Arctic
n currents.
Exposed 70 the fun effects OF the
frosts Of the Arctic, the great island
which at one time in geologic his
tory had the climate and verdurs OF
California. has been changed into a
frozen desert The once green HIS
and FtilegS anu even MOUNTAINS nave
been literally buried under a sheet
of snow and ice varying from hun
dreds TO thousands of feet IN thick
ness. All but a few mountain peaks
have been submerged, and the en-
# tire vast interior OF the country is a
I3 nearly a level plateau OF ice.
Al "Only a narrow fringe along a
' part OF the coast is free from the
y ice cap, and even this ground is
# frozen In winter and covered with
snow. II Is along the fiords OF these
narrow ice-free sections OF the
coast that the few thousand Eski-
mos and the handful OF Danes that
make up the population Of Green
81 land find a precarious livelihood.
During the short summer the in
terior OF Greenland presents hem
omena to be found nowhere else IN
the world; but the frozen wastes arr
- - inaccessible and only a few eyes
have beheld the changes that take
II place there when the sun swings tc
@ the north. Great lakes are formed
b mighty rivers flow between blue
't< crystal banks, their waters never
touching a stone nor a fragment OF
- soil until they finally plunge down
" some chasm in the ice. Glaciers push
| put Of the countless fiords. some dis