This text has been selected for inclusion in the EEBO-TCP: Navigations collection, funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. To the extent possible under law, the Text Creation Partnership has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above, according to the terms of the CC0 1.0 Public Domain Dedication ( http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/). This waiver does not extend to any page images or other supplementary files associated with this work, which may be protected by copyright or other license restrictions. Please go to http://www.textcreationpartnership.org/ for more information.
GReenland or Gronland is Seated under the Frozen Zone; doubtful whither an Island or a Continent, by reason part of those Seas are not Navigable upon the account
of the Mountains of Ice that Float there∣in, and for that none ever yet passed o∣ver Land to the extent of that dismal Coun∣try; where from the 14 of October to the 12 of February no Sun appears, but the Moon shines as in England, and for 3 Months and a half, in Summer time they have no Night, as for humane Inhabitants there are none; yet the Woods and Caves a∣bound with Bears, Foxes, and Dear, and the Voyages the English make thither, are upon the account of the Whale Fishery, Whales in abundance being found in those deep Seas, the Ships seting out in May, and Arriving in June at Green-Harbour and Bell-Sound. They set up their Caldrons Pres∣ses and other necessaries, then put again to Sea, and when they perceive the Whales coming by the rising of the Water, they send out Skiffs with Hasping-Irons and Ca∣bles; when the men therein taking their advantage strike the Whales, who no sooner find themselves wounded but Plunge to the Bottom, those in the Boat giving them Rope, and by their Sinking know where they will rise; and give notice to the Ships who stand off for fear of being overset, when they rise with horrible Bellowing, they make towards the Shore spouting Blood and Water; the Reason of their so doing
is to indeavour the rubing out of the I∣rons upon the Sands, but in vain for then by force of Cables they draw them on shoar, and their cut out their Pulps, of which they make the Oyl, and their Fins, of which our Whalebone is made by drying and prepar∣ing; so that sometimes one Whale is found to yield 3 Tuns of Oyl, and half a Tun Weight of Whalebone. Here it was that several Persons were left a whole Winter (the Ship going away during their Hunting up in the Country) and lived in a Hutt upon Bears-Flesh, Venison, Wild-Foxes, Birds, and the Greens or pressings of the Whales, till next year the Ships came a∣gain, and fetched them off. For 7 Months, all the Seas are Frozen over, and the Country is covered with Mountains of Snow.
In this Tract is Nova Zembla, where the Pole is elevated 76 degrees, and whither the Dutch yearly resort to Fish for Whales, and such other Fish as yield matter for Oyl. It abounds in Dear, Wild-Foxes, and the like as Greenland; and in it likewise not long since several Dutchmen were forced to Winter, & suffered great Extremity by Rea∣son of the excessive cold. There are found likewise Sr. Hugh Willoughby's Island, called Queen Elizabeths Foreland; likewise Freez∣land,
Iceland and others of lesser note, but by Reason of the excessive cold, few of them are Inhabited, and the chief Com∣modities they yield are Ling, Cod, and Fish Oyls.
And thus according to my promise hav∣ing taken Survey of the Trade of all the known part of the Ʋniverse, as near as can be gathered from long experience and cre∣dible Authority, I shall return with Joy to Tread my Native Soil, and there take a View of what yet remains in relation to Trade and Commerce. And first I shall be∣gin with Exchanges, that one necessary part of all Navigational and Inland Com∣merce.