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Show 356 MR. R. BROWN ON THE MAMMALS OF GREENLAND. [May 28, (or at least had a few years ago) more than 60,000 lbs. of it lying on the ground in a heap *. - I have gone into the history of the Reindeer in Greenland at some length, because I found that though the Reindeer in Lapland is familiar to many, yet the animal in its wild state is much less known, and I have seen most erroneous statements regarding its distribution in Greenland. 12. [Ovis ARIES, Linn. Grcenl. Saua. At present it is only known in the district of Julianeshaab, to the number of between twenty and thirty. It was already introduced in Fabricius's day. In the summer they feed in the valleys, and in the winter are kept under shelter. They cannot, therefore (nor, indeed, can any of the colonist fauna), be said to be acclimatized.] 13. [Bos TAURUS, Linn. Grcenl. Umimak. At present there are thirty or forty grazing about in the southern valleys during the summer, and kept at stall in the winter. Some of the more enterprising natives also keep a few cows. I was told by the Danish residents that though there was quite enough grass occasionally found round the settlements in the summer, even further north, they could not be kept on account of the dogs. The old Icelandic Sagas describe the Norsemen as keeping herds of cattle in the valleys of Greenland up to the Middle Ages ; and I have no doubt of the accuracy of the statement. The place where they prosper best now is just on the site of one of these ancient colonies. If they left any behind them when the colonies were exterminated by the Eskimo, who about this period make their appearance in South Greenland, they must have died out, or, more likely, were slaughtered by the natives (if a people who, to all appearance, were only wandering hordes who had now for the first time crossed Melville Bay from the north, can be so styled) ; for when Greenland was again visited by the Europeans no cattle were found. It is somewhat curious that the Greenlanders apply the Eskimo name of the Musk-Ox to the domestic Ox, showing a recollection of the existence of the former in the land they came from, though it is no longer a native of Greenland to the south of Cape York.] 14. [CAPRA HIRCUS, Linn. Grcenl. Sauarsuk. As far back as the days of Fabricius, the Goat had been introduced into the southern settlements of Greenland, and was found profitable ; they feed on the grass which springs about the old * For many of the foregoing statements I am indebted to Dr. Rink, Royal Inspector of South Greenland, whose work (Gronland Geographisk og Statistisk, kc.) is the standard on all subjects connected with that countrv. |
