I TBANSPOLAR FLIGHT.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 75, 28 March 1924, Page 11

I TB ANSPOLAR FLIGHT.

ii »■ j AMERICAN ARMY PLANS. I rt>DM cOVER L ° ST CONTINENT |.~ 45 ESKIMO TKADITIOX. I Tjeut-Comninnclor Fifeburgi. Green, - : "'. nt -fjc Monthly" regnrdin.sr the proI ?°2 tin-polar flight next summer of I rt-e navy dirigible named the I Lib, points out the thrill** i Abilities in the way ot discovery of i gTpUst une,,.10r,,i area on the W : fa* of the glebe- Hl ' s »^- r " ts that r 2: unknown area in the polar sea may I boated by subterranean fires, and that • ( tre may "be found the descendants of ;IT ]os t" colonists from Ireland who -ttlcd'in Greenland, under Erie the tfj in 985 A.D. Eskimo tradition, : ifodares Lieut.-Comraander Green, oners i credible, if surprising, explanation of -rte disappearance of the colonists. MBiel}"' tllllt t!ie ' ivnite men swarmed ortli to a wonderful land long known to the natives, but which they feared to approach because of superstitious 'folief in evil spirits. It is pointed Out in the article that geologists, tidal experts, and explorers have presented indisputable proof of the existence of 'this ' ost continent. Only a few years j0.,, Captain Keenan. an American ■ffhalcr, reported that he had sighted land north-east of I'oint Barrow, which is at the northernmost end of Alaska, and Peary sighted distant peaks from an opposite direction. That the landmass is there, declares Commander Green, is not open to doubt. The fact is also emphasised that Iceland, the twin of the supposed lost continent, is a centre of volcanic activity, and arpups that a similar .geological am j meteorological condition '.exists with regard to the lost continent in the polar regions, that it lies "like a titian emerald in an alabaster setting, : 3 green fertile land, hidden from the world by a huge barrier of ice impassable "to men in ships." The sapi of Eric the Tied gives an account Of the discovery of Greenland 'by one Gunnbiorn. who was driven off the West Coast of Iceland by successive gales. The discoverer only saw the land, which was first explored by Eric the Bed, who gave it the name of Greenland, and shortly afterwards founded a settlement that flourished for more than four hundred years, records of which were handed down uninterruptedly until the fifteenth century. The colonists left Iceland in 2i5 vessels, and successive migrations hronsht the population to 10,000. About the year 1000. Christianity was adopted as the religion, and a number of churches were built on the East Coast. A bishop was appointed, ■who was suffratran of the Archbishop of Tronkjem, in Xorwav. A monastery, dedicated to St. Thomas, was erected at a small town called Albe. and for 350 years a Sregfnlar trade was kept up with Xorway and Denmark. In the year 1408 the last bishop was over to Greenland. Then war broke out be-! tween Norway and Denmark, and communication with Greenland ceased. When it was resumed there was no sign of the colony, and it has never been beard of since. . ; In the year 1001. Biorni Henriuffson, when on a Voyage from Iceland "to' Greenland, was driven towards the southirest, and discovered Labrador. This »used Lief, tlie son of Eric the Red, to saU on a voyage of discovery from Jreenland. He reached the land found )y Biorni Henriuffson, and, continuing lis course, reached a snugf harbour, vhere he remained the winter. His report as to the position of the sun on he shortest day ]>laced his position a ittfc to the northward iof Xew York. According to this, the voyagers from Jreenland found America 500 years jefore it was re-discovered by Columbus, rhe next year after Lief returned to Jreenland his brother Thorvald ex)lored what was called Vineland, because fild grapes were found by a south lountryman called Tyrker," who had rendered inland. A colony -was afterrards planted on the American shores >y Thorfin, an Icelander, and a regular rade in furs was established. Records rere carried down to the twelfth cen•ury, when a bishop of Greenland isited the colony and promulgated the aith. The subsequent fate of this olony, like the one in Greenland, is lost n. conjecture. Such is the history of Ireenland and Vineland as given, by the Jd record keepers of Iceland. The Americans in their project are herefore looking for the descendants of he iardy explorers who first planted a obny of Europeans on their shores.