Egede, H: Journals in Greenland

Hans Egede's remarkable 1770-1778 journals were first published in 1818 when the British launched their great nineteenth-century Arctic explorations and such information was in enormous demand. The coast of eastern Greenland had been virtually inaccessible to Europeans for four centuries. Egede's fascinating writings relate his determined quest for remnants of old settlements, keen observations of the Greenlandic Inuit on subjects as varied as polygamy, witchcraft, health, education, how the Inuit's contact with outsiders affected this indigenous people, and previously little-known information about the geography of the island's eastern territories. After years of being out-of-print, Egede's colorful accounts are once again made available to English-speaking readers in this wonderful and timely new series, launched just as the eyes of the world are, not a moment too soon, drawn northward.