[104] In speaking of the immediate vicinity of Wonder-strand, the second account of Thorfinn's expedition says, "There were places without harbors," which has always been the case, this coast being dangerous; yet it is said above that "they landed to wait for good weather." This would be impracticable now, except at Chatham; yet at that day, notwithstanding the absence of harbors, they would find accommodation for their small vessel somewhere between the island and the mainland. From Bradford's History, p. 217, we learn that in 1626-7, there was at this place "a small blind harbore" that "lyes aboute y^e middle of Manamoyake Bay," which to-day is filled up by recently formed sandy wastes and salt meadows. This "blind harbore," had at its mouth a treacherous bar of sand. If this harbor had existed in the days of the Northmen, they would not of necessity discover it; and hence while Leif might have landed here and found protection, Thorfinn, in his much larger ship, might have found it needful to anchor, as he appears to have done, in the grounds between Isle Nauset and Point Gilbert, while explorations were being made on the land.

[105] "Honey dew," says Dr. Webb, "occurs in this neighborhood."—Antiquitates Americanæ, p. 443.

[106] This sound may have been the water between Point Gilbert and Isle Nauset.

[107] Archer says in his account of Gosnold's voyage: "Twelve leagues from [the end of] Cape Cod, we descried a point [Point Gilbert] with some beach, a good distance off." It is said that the ness, or cape, went out northward but we must remember that eastward is meant.

[108] This is precisely the course they would steer after doubling that ness or cape which existed in Gosnold's day, and which he named Point Gilbert. The author does not agree with Professor Rafn, in making this point to be at the eastern entrance to Buzzard's bay. If he had known of the existence of the Isle Nauset, he would not have looked for the ness in that neighborhood. At that time Cape Malabar probably did not exist, as we know how rapidly land is formed in that vicinity; yet it would not have attracted notice in comparison with the great broad point mentioned by Archer.

[109] After passing Point Gilbert, shoal water may almost anywhere be found, which appears to have been the case anciently.

[110] The river was evidently Seaconnet passage and Pocasset river.

[111] This lake is Mount Hope Bay. The writer of the Saga passes over that part of the voyage immediately following doubling of the ness. The tourist in travelling that way by rail will at first take Mount Hope Bay for a lake.

[112] Salmon were formerly so plentiful in this vicinity, that it is said a rule was made, providing that masters should not oblige their apprentices to eat this fish more than twice a week.

[113] It is well known that cattle in that vicinity can pass the winter with little or no shelter, and the sheep on Nantucket, can, when necessary, take care of themselves.

[114] This is an exaggeration, or, possibly, the writer, who was not with the expedition, meant to convey the idea that there was no frost, compared with what was experienced in Greenland and Iceland. The early narrator of the voyage unquestionably tried to make a good impression as regards the climate. In so doing, he has been followed by nearly all who have come after him. Eric the Red told some almost fabulous stories about the climate of Greenland; and yet, because his accounts do not agree with facts, who is so foolish as to deny that he ever saw Greenland? And with as much reason we might deny that Leif came to Vinland. With equal reason, too, we might deny that Morton played the rioter at Merry Mount; for he tells us in his New English Canaan, that coughs and colds are unknown in New England. Lieutenant Governor Dudley of Massachusetts complained of these false representations in his day.

[115] This passage was misunderstood by Torfæus, the earliest writer who inquired into these questions, and he was followed by Peringskiold, Malte-Brun and others, who, by their reckoning, made the latitude of Vinland somewhere near Nova Scotia. Yet the recent studies of Rafn and Finn Magnussen, have elucidated the point: "The Northmen divided the heavens or horizons, into eight principal divisions, and the times of the day according to the sun's apparent motion through these divisions, the passage through each of which they supposed to occupy a period of three hours. The day was therefore divided into portions of time corresponding with these eight divisions, each of which was called an eykt, signifying an eighth part. This eykt was again divided, like each of the grand divisions of the heavens, into two smaller and equal portions, called stund or mal. In order to determine these divisions of time, the inhabitant of each place carefully observed the diurnal course of the sun, and noted the terrestrial objects over which it seemed to stand. Such an object, whether artificial or natural, was called by the Icelanders, dagsmark (daymark). They were also led to make these daymarks by a division of the horizon according to the principal winds, as well as by the wants of their domestic economy. The shepherd's rising time, for instance, was called Hirdis rismál, which corresponds with half-past four o'clock a. m., and this was the beginning of the natural day of twenty-four hours. Reckoning from Hirdis rismál the eight stund or eighth half eykt ended at just half-past four p. m.; and therefore this particular period was called ϰατ᾿ εξοχήν, eykt. This eykt, strictly speaking, commenced at three o'clock p. m., and ended at half-past four p. m., when it was said to be in eyktarstadr or the termination of the eykt. The precise moment that the sun appeared in this place indicated the termination of the artificial day (dagr), and half the natural day (dagr), and was therefore held especially deserving of notice: the hours of labor, also, are supposed to have ended at this time. Six o'clock a. m. was called midr morgun; half-past seven a. m., Dagmal; nine a. m., Dagverdarmal. Winter was considered to commence in Iceland about the seventeenth of October, and Bishop Thorlacius, the calculator of the astronomical calendar, fixes sun-rise in the south of Iceland, on the seventeenth of October, at half past seven a. m. At this hour, according to the Saga, it rose in Vinland on the shortest day, and set at half-past four p. m., which data fix the latitude of the place at 41° 43´ 10´´, being nearly that of Mount Hope Bay." See Mem. Antiq. du Nord, 1836-7, p. 165. Rafn's calculation makes the position 41° 24´ 10´´. It is based on the view that the observation was made in Vinland when only the upper portion of the disc had appeared above the horizon. The difference, of course, is not important. Thus we know the position of the Icelandic settlement in New England. See Antiquitates Americanæ, p. 436.

[116] In those turbulent times children were not brought up at home, but were sent to be trained up in the families of trusty friends. This was done to preserve the family line. Often, in some bloody feud, a whole household would be destroyed; yet the children being out at foster, would be preserved, and in due time come to represent the family. In Leif's day, heathenism and lawlessness were on the decline. We have a true picture given us by Dasent, of the way in which children were treated in the heathen age.

He says: "With us, an old house can stand upon a crooked, as well as upon a straight support. But in Iceland, in the tenth century, as in all the branches of that great family, it was only healthy children that were allowed to live. The deformed, as a burden to themselves, their friends, and to society, were consigned to destruction by exposure to the violence of the elements. This was the father's stern right, and, though the mothers of that age were generally blessed with robust offspring, still the right was often exercised. As soon as it was born, the infant was laid upon the bare ground, and, until the father came and looked at it, heard and saw that it was strong in lung and limb, took it up in his arms, and handed it over to the nurse; its fate hung in the balance, and life or death depended upon the sentence of its sire. That danger over, it was duly washed, signed with the Thunderer's [Thor's] holy hammer—the symbol of all manliness and strength—and solemnly received into the family as the faithful champion of the ancient gods. When it came to be named, there was what we should call the christening ale. There was saddling, mounting and riding among kith and kin. Cousins came in bands from all points of the compass: dependents, freedmen and thralls all mustered strong. The ale is broached, the board is set, and the benches are thronged with guests; the mirth and revelry are at the highest, when in strides into the hall, a being of awful power, in whom that simple age set full faith. This was the Norne, the wandering prophetess, sybil, fortune teller, a woman to whom it was given to know the weirds of men, and who had come to do honor to the child, and tell his fortune.... After the child was named, he was often put out to foster with some neighbor, his father's inferior in power, and there he grew up with the children of the house, and contracted those friendships and affections which were reckoned better and more binding than the ties of blood."—Antiquaires du Nord, 1859, pp. 8-9.

[117] There is nothing in this to indicate that Tyrker was intoxicated, as some have absurdly supposed. In this far off land he found grapes, which powerfully reminded him of his native country, and the association of ideas is so strong, that when he first meets Leif, he breaks out in the language of his childhood, and, like ordinary epicures, expresses his joy, which is all the more marked on account of his grotesque appearance. Is not this a stroke of genuine nature, something that a writer, framing the account of a fictitious voyage, would not dream of?

[118] Grapes grow wild almost everywhere on this coast. They may be found on Cape Cod ripening among the scrub oaks, even within the reach of the ocean spray, where the author has often gathered them.

[119] In Peringskiold's Heimskringla, which Laing has followed in translating Leif's voyage for his appendix, this statement of the cutting of wood is supplemented by the following statement: "There was also self-sown wheat in the fields, and a tree which is called massur. Of all these they took samples; and some of the trees were so large that they were used in houses." It is thought that the massur wood was a species of maple. Others have declared that it must have been mahogany, and that therefore the account of Leif's discovery is false. They forget that even George Popham, in writing home to his patron from Sagadahoc, in 1607, says that among the productions of the country are "nutmegs and cinnamon." Yet shall we infer from this that Popham never saw New England?

[120] See Adam of Bremen's testimony in the Introduction.

[121] It will be noticed that they were close upon the Greenland coast.

[122] They were evidently Norwegian traders who were shipwrecked while approaching the coast and sailing for the Greenland ports.

[123] Gissur, called the White, was one of the greatest lawyers of Iceland. We read that "there was a man named Gissur White, he was Teit's son, Kettlebiarne the Old's son, of Mossfell [Iceland]. Bishop Isleif was Gissur's son. Gissur the White kept house at Mossfell, and was a great Chief."—Saga of Burnt Nial, vol. i, p. 146.

[124] Hialte was doubtless the same person who entered the swimming match with King Olaf. See Saga of Olaf Tryggvesson.

[125] This is an error, unless the writer means that the voyage to Vinland, afterwards undertaken, was a part of the same general expedition. Leif went to Greenland first, as we have already seen.

[126] These pagans did not always yield even so readily as Eric. Some in Norway became martyrs to the faith of Odin. See Saga of Olaf Tryggvesson (passim), in vol. i of Heimskringla.

[127] See note to foregoing account.

[128] These appear to have been married men or secular clergy.

[129] This clearly indicates a voyage around Cape Cod.

[130] This cape was evidently, not Point Gilbert, but the terminus of Cape Cod, known as Race Point, a dangerous place for navigation. It would seem that this was the place referred to, for the reason that the next place mentioned is the east shore, meaning the shore near Plymouth, which is readily seen from the end of Cape Cod in a clear day. It was undoubtedly the vicinity of Race Point that they called Kialarness, or Keel Cape.

[131] Here the version in Antiquitates Americanæ, p. 42, is followed, instead of Peringskiold, whose version does not mention the point of land. This place is regarded as Point Alderton, below Boston Harbor. Thorvald evidently sailed along the shore to this point, which is the most remarkable on the east coast.

[132] These screens were made of planks which could be quickly arranged above the bulwarks, thus affording additional protection against arrows and stones.

[133] These people are sometimes called Smællingar, or small men. Others deduce their name from skræla, to dry, alluding to their shriveled aspect; and others from skrækia to shout. It is evident from the accounts of Egede and Crantz, that they formerly inhabited this part of the country, but were gradually obliged to go northward. It is well known that in other parts of America, these migrations were common. And these people were more likely to take a refuge in Greenland than the Northmen themselves.

[134] The conduct of Thorvald indicates magnanimity of character, thinking first of his men, and afterwards of himself.

[135] Christianity was introduced by Leif, Thorvald's brother, in 1001-2.

[136] This is evidently an error, for Christianity was introduced by Leif, before he sailed on his voyage to Vinland. Errors like this abound in all early annals, and why should the Icelandic chronicles be free from them? Every such case will be impartially pointed out. The treatment of this passage by Smith, in his Dialogues on the Northmen, p. 127, is far from being candid. He translates the passage thus: "But Eric the Red had died without professing Christianity," and refers the English reader to the Saga of Thorfinn Karlsefne, Antiquitates Americanæ, pp. 119-20, as if he would there find a reason for his rendering of the text, which is unequivocal, and is translated literally above. On turning to the authority in question, we find nothing more said than that "Eric was slow to give up his [pagan] religion," and that the affair caused a separation between him and his wife. That he was slow to give up his pagan belief, would seem to indicate that he did give it up eventually. Moreover, we have the direct statement that he was baptized. Second Narrative of Leif, p. 38.

[137] Norway lay east of Iceland, and hence the people of that country were sometimes called Eastmen.

[138] Winter began October 17. See p. 32, note 6.

[139] They probably had diminutive horses in Greenland, like this of Iceland to-day.

[140] Thorstein Black was a pagan, who nevertheless saw the superior value of the new faith.

[141] We must here remember the simplicity of manners, which then (as now) prevailed among the Icelanders. The tourist in Iceland is always surprised by the absence of all prudery.

[142] Whoever inclines to dismiss this whole narrative as an idle fiction, must remember that all history is more or less pervaded by similar stories. The Rev. Cotton, Mather, in his Magnalia of New England, gives the account of a great number of supernatural events of no better character than this related in the Saga. Some are ludicrous in the extreme, and others are horrible, both in their inception and end. Among other stories, is that of Mr. Philip Smith, deacon of the church at Hadley, Mass., and a member of the General Court, who appears to have been bewitched. He was finally obliged to keep his bed. Then it is said that the people "beheld fire sometimes on the bed; and when the beholders began to discourse of it, it vanished away. Divers people actually felt something often stir in the bed, at a considerable distance from the man; it seemed as big as a cat, but they could never grasp it. Several trying to lean on the bed's head, tho' the sick man lay wholly still, the bed would shake so as to knock their heads uncomfortably. A very strong man could not lift the sick man, to make him lie more easily, tho' he apply'd his utmost strength unto it; and yet he could go presently and lift the bedstead and a bed, and a man lying on it, without any strain to himself at all. Mr. Smith dies.... After the opinion of all had pronounc'd him dead, his countenance continued as lively as though he had been alive.... Divers noises were heard in the room where the corpse lay; as the clattering of chairs and stools, whereof no account could be given."—Magnalia, ed. 1853, vol. i, p. 455. The account is vouched for by the author, who was one of the most learned divines of his day. Another is given, among the multitude of which he had the most convincing proof. He writes: "It was on the second day of May, in the year 1687, that a most ingenious, accomplish'd and well-dispos'd young gentleman, Mr. Joseph Beacon by Name, about 5 o'clock in the morning, as he lay, whether sleeping or waking he could not say (but he judged the latter of them), had a view of his brother, then at London, although he was himself at our Boston, distanc'd from him a thousand leagues. This his brother appear'd to him in the morning (I say) about 5 o'clock, at Boston, having on him a Bengale gown, which he usually wore, with a napkin ty'd about his head; his countenance was very pale, ghastly, deadly, and he had a bloody wound on the side of his forhead. 'Brother,' says the affrighted Joseph, 'Brother,' answered the apparition. Said Joseph, 'What's the matter Brother? how came you here?' The apparition replied: 'Brother I have been most barbarously and inhumanly murdered by a debauch'd fellow, to whom I never did any wrong in my life.' Whereupon he gave a particular description of the murderer; adding, 'Brother, this fellow, changing his name, is attempting to come over to New England, in Foy or Wild: I would pray you on the arrival of either of these, to get an order from the governour to seize the person whom I now have describ'd, and then do you indict him for the murder of your brother.' And so he vanished." Mather then adds an account, which shows that Beacon's brother was actually murdered as described, dying within the very hour in which his apparition appeared in Boston. He says that the murderer was tried, but, with the aid of his friends, saved his life. Joseph himself, our author says, died "a pious and hopeful death," and gave him the account written and signed with his own hand. And now, while New England history abounds with stories like this, men incline to question an Icelandic writer, because he occasionally indulges in fancies of the same sort. Rather should we look for them, as authentic contemporary signs.

[143] Thorhild's Church. See Antiquitates Americanæ, p. 119.

[144] Literally, Biarne Butter-tub, from which we may, perhaps, infer his personal peculiarity.

[145] Throughout this narrative of Thorfinn, the name of Eric occurs where that of Leif should be given. Eric died five years before Thorfinn came over to Greenland. This account having been written in Iceland, the author made a very natural mistake in supposing that Eric was still at the head of the family. The proper change has been made in the translation, to avoid confusion.

[146] Yule was a pagan festival, held originally in honor of Thor, the god of War, at the beginning of February, which was the opening of the Northman's year. But as Christianity had been established in Greenland for five years, the festival was now probably changed to December, and held in honor of Christ.

[147] Widow of Thorstein Ericson. Rafn thinks, as she is mentioned in this Saga by two names, Gudrid and Thurid, that one was her name in childhood, and the other in her maturer years, when Christianity came to have a practical bearing. Her father's name was Thorbiorn, derived from Thor. It was supposed that those who bore the names of gods would find in these names a charm or special protection from danger.

[148] This is a mistake, Eric's son was dead. It must have been another Thorvald.

[149] The Northmen had two ways of reckoning a hundred, the short and the long. The long hundred was a hundred and twenty. We read in Tegner's Frithiof's Saga:

Professor Rafn infers that the long hundred was here meant, because he thinks that the inscription on Dighton Rock indicates CLI., the number of men Karlsefne had with him, after losing nine.

[150] The present island of Disco, also called by the Northmen, Biarney, or Bear island.

[151] The northern coast of America was called Helluland the Great, and Newfoundland, Helluland, or Little Helluland.—Antiquitates Americanæ, p. 419.

[152] Supposed from the distance to be the Isle of Sable.

[153] Leif had left the keel of his vessel here on the point of this cape, which was Cape Cod. In calling it by this name, they simply followed his example.

[154] This bay was the bay then situated between Point Gilbert and Isle Nauset, which Professor Agassiz proves to have existed. The writers do not mention this island in either of the accounts of Thorfinn's voyage; but it has been shown that Isle Nauset lay close to the shore, so that they would not know that it was an island without particular examination; and if they were aware of its existence, it was not necessary to speak of it. Leif landed upon it, therefore it was mentioned by the author who wrote the account of his voyage. Yet Thorfinn's chroniclers help to prove its existence, by showing that beyond Wonder-strand there was a bay where they could safely ride at anchor for three days.

It must be noticed that the events are not set down in their exact order, for after the writer gets the vessels into the bay, he goes back to speak of the landing of the Scots. Gosnold anchored in this same place in the night, and in the morning he remarked the number of coves, or as he calls them "breaches," in the land. The Saga mentions the same thing, saying that the land "became indented with coves." These coves have now disappeared, yet the testimony of Gosnold shows how accurately the Northmen observed this part of the coast. Like Gosnold, they found it convenient and safe to lie here for a while.

[155] This is the first time we hear of slaves being brought into Vinland. We have already seen that with the proud Northman, slavery was a reality. One of the near relatives of Ingolf, the first Northman who settled in Iceland, was murdered by his Scotch (Irish) slaves.

[156] This was Nantucket or Martha's Vineyard, then probably united, forming one island.

[157] Nantucket island, which then was probably united with Martha's Vineyard.

[158] Straumey, or Straum Isle, which, perhaps, indicates their knowledge of the Gulf stream.

[159] The gull, or some similar bird is here referred to.

[160] Buzzards Bay. The general positions are fixed by the astronomical calculations from the data given in Leif's voyage. See note to p. 33.

[161] The shore opposite Martha's Vineyard.

[162] It would appear from what follows that he was engaged in a heathen invocation. This is the only instance on record of honor being paid to this heathen god on the shores of New England, yet we unwittingly recognize him every time we say Thursday, that is, Thor's Day.

[163] In olden times a certain portion of every whale cast ashore on Cape Cod, formed a perquisite of the clergy.

[164] Literally the Red-beard, as Thor is supposed to have had a beard of that color. The principal deity of the Northmen was Odin, a king who died in his bed in Sweden, and was afterwards apotheosized. He was called the "Terrible god." The souls of men slain in battle were received by him into the hall of the gods. Next was Frigga or Frey, his wife, considered the goddess of earth and mother of the gods. She finally fell into the place occupied by the classic Venus. Next was Thor the Red-beard, synonymous with Jupiter. These three composed the supreme council of the gods. Afterwards came the good and gentle Balder, the Northman's Christ; then came Brage, patron of eloquence and poetry, and his wife Iduna, charged with the care of certain apples, with Heimdal the porter of the gods and builder of the rainbow, and Loke, a kind of Satan or evil principle, aided by his children, the Wolf Fenris, the Serpent Midgard, and Hela, or Death.

[165] We shall see from another part of this work, that the trade at that period between Ireland and Iceland, was very large.

[166] This corresponds precisely to Mount Hope bay. The Taunton river runs through it, and thence flows to the sea by Pocasset river and Seaconnet passage. Hop is from the Icelandic I Hópi, to recede, hence to form a bay. The coincidence in the names is striking.

[167] Perhaps wheat. Sialfsana hveitiakrar.

[168] In Iceland the halibut is called the sacred fish. Pliny uses the same name, which indicates that the water is safe where they were found. The halibut and most of the flat fish, such as flounders, are plentiful in that vicinity. The flounders are easily taken, and those who know how, often find them in very shoal water, burrowing just under the surface of the sand like the king crab.

[169] This is language that might be employed by an Icelander, to indicate the difference between the new country and his own. It may have been an intentional exaggeration, similar to those of Eric in describing Greenland. Yet even if it were a serious attempt at history, it could not be regarded as farther from the truth, than Dr. Cotton Mather's description of the climate of New England, where he tells us that water tossed up in the air, came down ice; and that in one place in Massachusetts, it actually snowed wool, some of which, he tells us, he preserved in a box in his study.

[170] The red shield was the sign of war, and the white, of peace.

[171] This account can hardly be explained. These people, doubtless, had their own ideas of the best method of conducting a fight. They were evidently Esquimaux, and formerly, according to Crantz, appear to have lived on this coast before it was occupied by the Indians, who, being a superior race, soon drove them away.

[172] This appears childish, yet there is nothing to indicate that it was not so.

[173] Thiorfinn's experience was similar to that of most early colonists in America.

[174] This, very likely, was a short exploration up Narragansett bay.

[175] The ancient Mexicans mixed human blood with bread offered on the altar of their deities.

[176] The lines inclosed in brackets, convey what the writer understood to be a mere rumor. This report was evidently untrue, yet it shows his honest intentions.

[177] They appear to have sailed around Cape Cod, then steered across to Plymouth, coasted up the shore towards Point Alderton, and entered Scituate harbor, or some other river mouth on that coast.

[178] Einfoetingr, from ein, one, and fótr, foot. This term appears to have been given by some old writers, to one of the African tribes, on account of a peculiarity of dress, which Wormskiold describes as a triangular cloth, hanging down so low, both before and behind, that the feet were concealed. In an old work called Rimbigla, a tribe of this class, dwelling in Blaland, Ethiopia, are thus described.—Beamish's Northmen, p. 101. We do not say how far the Saga writer employs his fancy on the Uniped, yet he is quite excusable, considering the weakness of modern writers. In 1634, Hans Egede wrote as follows about a hideous monster: "July 6th, a most hideous sea monster was seen, which reared itself so high above the water, that its head overtopped our mainsail.... Instead of fins, it had broad flaps like wings; its body seemed to be overgrown like shell work.... It was shaped like a serpent behind, and when it dived, ... raised its tail above the water, a whole ship's length."—Egede's Greenland, p. 85; Crantz's Greenland, vol. iii, p. 116. Hudson even describes a mermaid.

The Rev. Dr. Cotton Mather, who has before been quoted, gives among other notable facts in his Magnalia, the statement, that in June, 1682, Mary Hortado, of Salmon Falls, was going with her husband "over the river in her canoe, when they saw the head of a man, and about three foot off, the tail of a cat, swimming before the canoe, but no body to join them.... A stone thrown by an invisible hand after this, caus'd a swelling and a soreness in her head: and she was bitten on both arms black and blue, and her breast scratch'd. The impression of the teeth, which were like a man's teeth, were seen by many."—Magnalia, vol. i, p. 454.

[179] See p. 41. This may be a wrong version of the death of the son of Eric.

[180] The Blue Hills, which extend to Mount Hope.

[181] That is, they fled into their abodes.

[182] The location of this place will be discussed in the Minor Narratives.

[183] This was the teredo, which is often so destructive, and which caused Columbus to abandon a ship at Puerto Bello, because he could not keep her afloat. See Irving's Columbus, p. 287.

[184] This was truly in accordance with the noble spirit of the great Northmen, who had no fear of death, which to heroes, is the shining gate of Valhalla.

[185] This is one evidence that history was cultivated in Greenland.

[186] Here the writer is correct. See note 2, p. 51.