when they attended on their chieftains to the mild air of Spain, or Sicily, and sung their valiant deeds."* The Greenland colonies were less fortunate. The great island (if it be not a peninsula) known by the name of Greenland, is divided into two distinct parts by a central ridge of lofty mountains, stretching north and south, and covered with perpetual ice and snow. On the east and the west sides of this ridge, the ancient Scandinavians had established colonies. That on the west had progressively increased until it enumerated four parishes, containing one hundred villages: but being engaged in perpetual hostility with the native tribes, in possession of this territory and of the neighbouring islands, to whom they gave the name of Skrælings, but who have since been known by that of Eskimaux, the colony on that side would appear to have been ultimately destroyed by these hostile natives. The ruins of their edifices were still visible in 1721, when that pious and amiable missionary Hans Egede went to that country, on its being re-colonized by the Greenland Company of Bergen in Norway, and have since been more circumstantially described. The fate of the eastern colony was, if possible, still more deplorable. From its first settlement by Erie Rauda in 983 to its most flourishing period * Introd. to Arct. Zool. i. p. 44. about the commencement of the fifteenth century, it had progressively increased in population; and, by the latest accounts, consisted of twelve parishes, one hundred and ninety villages, one bishop's see, and two convents-one of which is supposed to have been that which is described by Zeno as situated near the spring of hot water. A succession of sixteen bishops is recorded in the Iceland annals; but when the seventeenth was proceeding from Norway in 1406 to take possession of his see, a stream of ice had fixed itself to the coast and rendered it completely inaccessible; and from that period to the present time, no intercourse whatever has been had with the unfortunate colonists. Thormoder Torfager, however, relates, in his History of Greenland, that Amand, bishop of Skalholt in Iceland, in returning to Norway from that island about the middle of the sixteenth century, was driven by a storm near to the east coast of Greenland, opposite to Herjolfsness, and got so near as to be able to distinguish the inhabitants driving their cattle in the fields; but the wind coming fair, they made all sail back for Iceland. Hans Egede conceives this account of Amand worthy of credit, from which, he observes, "we learn that the eastern colony continued to flourish at least one hundred and fifty years after commerce and navigation had ceased between it and Greenland;" and he adds, "for aught we know to the contrary, it is not yet wholly destitute of its old Norwegian inhabitants."* The several attempts that have been made to approach this coast, bound in chains of " thickribbed ice," and to ascertain the fate of the unhappy colonists, will be noticed in their proper places. Hitherto, all endeavours have been fruitless, but the recent disruption of the ice from that coast may afford the opportunity of examining into the fate of the wretched inhabitants, and of ascertaining, if possible, in what manner they perished, after the closing of the icy barrier upon them, and whether any and what records or ruins have been left behind them. Such a research is at least an object of rational curiosity, and it would be a reproach to the Danish government, if it neglected the only opportunity that may occur for instituting this inquiry. NICOLO AND ANTONIO ZENO. 1380. The history of the noble family of ZENO is well known and celebrated in the records of Venice. * Hans Egede, Crantz, Torfæus, and a host of writers, concur in the planting and destruction of these two settlements; yet in spite of these authorities, and the repeated attempts on the part of the Danish government to examine into the state of the ancient colony on the eastern coast, a M. Eggers undertook to prove, in 1792, that the eastern colony never had existence, and that it was only called East Greenland from being situated on the west side. This question will more properly be examined in the descriptive volume. The extraordinary adventures of the two brothers NICOLO and ANTONIO, in the northern seas, were first published by Francesco Marcolini, in 1558, and afterwards in Ramusio's Collection of Voyages and Travels.* They are stated to have been drawn up from the letters sent by Antonio Zeno to his eldest brother Carlo, and delivered to Marcolini for publication by a descendant of the Zeno family, who laments the imperfect state into which they had fallen, by his ignorance of their importance at a time when he was incapable of exercising a judgment on their contents, and had carelessly and thoughtlessly destroyed some of them; that, however, in more mature years, he had collected together their scattered remains, and put them into order, with the view of preserving the memory of these early and interesting discoveries, made by his two noble relations. 1 From this circumstance, it is evident that great allowances must be made for what may appear to be inaccurate or mysterious; but the relation, as we have it in its mutilated state, contains so much curious and correct description, and so many interesting discoveries, that it must always maintain its ground as one of the most important in the history of early navigation. From this relation, it appears that Nicolo, being desirous of seeing foreign countries, fitted out a ship at his own ex * Dello Scoprimento del l'Isole Frislanda. pense, and passed the Strait of Gibraltar, with an intention of visiting England and the Low Countries; but, in the course of his voyage, a violent storm arose, and his vessel was cast away on the coast of a large island which is called Frisland. Fortunately for him and his crew, he was saved from a savage attack made on them by the natives of the island, by the interference of a chieftain of the name of Zichmni, under whose protection he placed himself and all his people. This prince was also lord of certain small islands to the southward, called Porland, and duke of Sorano, lying opposite to Scotland. "Of these northern parts," says the narrator, "I drew out a copy of a navigation chart, which I still possess among the antiquities of our house." This Zichmni, being a great warrior by sea, and finding Nicolo a man of judgment and discretion, and well experienced in sea affairs, engaged him in an expedition to the westward. It consisted of thirteen vessels, with which they took possession of Ledovo and Ilofe, and some other small islands, in which the Venetians obtained great renown, as well for their valour as their skill in sea affairs. On their return to Frisland, Nicolo was made captain of Zichmni's fleet, and so well pleased with the honours he received, that he wrote to his brother Antonio to join him; who accordingly 'fitted out a ship and proceeded thither, where he remained fourteen years, ten of them alone, and four in company with his brother Nicolo; the |