Upon the death of Frederick IV, and the accession of Christian VI, the Danish government, dissatisfied with the expense which the settlement in Greenland had occasioned, and the faint prospect which appeared of any adequate remuneration from the trade with that country, issued, in 1731, a mandate for the relinquishment of the colony, and the return of the settlers. But this zealous missionary resolved not to abandon the good work which he had begun; and though most of the settlers left the coast in the ship which had been sent to conduct them home, he remained behind with ten seamen whom he had persuaded to adopt the same determination. The Danish monarch, either sympathising with his constancy, or moved by his entreaties, assisted him with some supplies in the following year; and in the year 1733 he was cheered by the assurance that the mission should be more effectually supported, and the trade with Greenland more vigorously prosecuted than it had hitherto been. When the advanced age, or rather the growing infirmities of Egede, which had been increased by the corporeal toils he had undergone, and the mental solicitudes he had experienced, no longer permitted him to continue his former occupation, his eldest son Paul became his successor in the mission. After an abode of fifteen years in this sterile region and inclement climate, he returned to Copenhagen in the year 1736. Though he had relinquished the mission, he was not inattentive to its interests; for he devoted much of his time, after his return, to the instruction of young missionaries in the language of Greenland. He also composed a grammar and a dictionary of that language, into which he translated the New Testament for the use of the mission and the benefit of the natives. He published the Description of Greenland, which is contained in the present Volume, at Copenhagen, in the Danish language, the year preceding his death, which took place in 1758[20]. A DESCRIPTION OF GREENLAND: Showing THE NATURAL HISTORY, SITUATION, BOUNDARIES, AND FACE OF THE COUNTRY; THE NATURE OF THE SOIL; THE RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE OLD NORWEGIAN COLONIES; THE ANCIENT AND MODERN INHABITANTS; THEIR GENIUS AND WAY OF LIFE, AND PRODUCE OF THE SOIL; THEIR PLANTS, BEASTS, FISHES, &C. BY HANS EGEDE, MISSIONARY IN THAT COUNTRY FOR TWENTY-FIVE YEARS. TRANSLATED FROM THE DANISH. TO HIS MOST SERENE ROYAL HIGHNESS FREDERICK, HEREDITARY PRINCE, SUCCESSOR TO THE CROWN OF DENMARK AND NORWAY. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR MOST SERENE ROYAL HIGHNESS,