^yere obferved to feed upon dead cattle,
and the flieep eat o f each others
wool. In the year 1755, towards
the end o f the month o f May, in
one night the ice was one inch and
five lines thick. In the year 1756,
on the 26th o f June, fnow fell to
the depth o f a yard, and continued
falling through the whole months o f
July and Auguft. In the year following
i t froze very hard towards the
end of May and the beginning o f
June in the foutli part of the iiland,
which occafioned a great fcarcity o f
grafs, infomuch that the inhabitants
had little or no fodder the enfuing
winter for their cattle ; thefe frofls are
generally followed by a famine, many
examples o f which are to be found in
the Icelandic chronicles *.
Befides
* T h e cold feems to have become more intenfe in
Iceland fmce the time when thefe before-mentioned
fir-trees were growing, and before the ocean was fo
very much covered with floating ice.
Thefe fafts feem to confirm very much the opinion
of count Buffon ; in confequence o f which he believes,
that the country towards the poles was formerly more
habitable than it is at prefent : he is o f opinion, that
the ikeletons of elephants found far north in Sibe^
ria, are almoil irrefragable proofs o f the formerly
tDilder
Befides thefe calamities, a number
o f bears yearly arrive with the ice,
which commit great ravages, particularly
among the flieep. The Icelanders
attempt to deftroy thefe intruders as
foon as they get fight o f them ; and
fometimes they aiTemble together, and
drive them back to the ice, with
which they often float off again. For
want o f fire-arms they are obliged to
make ufe o f fpears on thefe occa-
fions. The government itfelf takes
every poilible method to encourage
the natives to deftroy thefe animals,
by paying a premium o f ten dollars
milder temperature of the air; iince they could fcarcely
be found in Siberia in fuch numbers unlefs they had
exifled there. Buffon Epoques de la Nature, p. 165,
&feq. T h e eaftern ihores o f Greenland were formerly
inhabited by a colony of Norwegians, and they
had there a bifhop’s fee, called Gardar, to which belonged
farms, woods, paftures for cattle, granges, and
tillage-land. See Crantz’s Hiftory of Greenland, vol.
I. p. 245, which evidently proves the mildnefs of
thefe now inhofpitable regions. Ships failed formerly
to the eaftern coaft ; whereas for a great number of
years paft it has been inacceflible on account of the immenfe
mafles of ice found there. Are Frode in Scheda
Iflandia, Oxon. 1716 , cap. 2, p. 10, fays, That at
the firft landing o f the Norwegian colonifts, Iceland
was covered with woods and forefts in the fpace between
the ihores and mountains.
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