Herjulf was a son of Bard the son of Herjulf, who was related to Ingolf the founder of the Iceland colony. Ingolf gave land between Vóg and Reykjaness to Herjulf (the elder) and his people. Herjulf (the younger) lived first at Drepstok. He had a wife named Thorgerd, and their son was Bjarni, a very promising man. He had taken to foreign voyages from his youth. This brought him both wealth and credit, and he used to spend his winters alternately abroad and with his parents. Bjarni soon had a trading-ship of his own, and the last winter that he was in Norway was when Herjulf undertook the voyage to Greenland with Eric, and removed his home there. Herjulf had on board his ship a Christian from the Hebrides, who composed the Song of the Tidal Wave, which contains this verse:—

Herjulf settled at Herjulfsness; he was held in the greatest respect. Eric the Red lived at Brattahlid; he was the most distinguished person there, and was obeyed by all. Eric’s children were Leif, Thorvald, and Thorstein, and a daughter named Freydis, who was married to a man named Thorvard: they lived at Garda, where the cathedral is now: she was a very haughty woman, but Thorvard was a man of no account; she was married to him mainly for his money. People were heathen in Greenland at that time.

Bjarni arrived in his ship at Eyrar in the summer of the same year in the spring of which his father had sailed away. Bjarni was much concerned at the news, and would not discharge his cargo. His crew thereupon asked him what he meant to do; he replied that he meant to keep to his custom of passing the winter with his parents, ‘and I will’, said he, ‘take my ship on to Greenland, if you will accompany me’. They all said that they would abide by his decision; upon which Bjarni remarked, ‘Our voyage will be considered rash, since none of us have been in Greenland waters.’ Notwithstanding this they put to sea as soon as they had got ready, and they sailed for three days before the land was laid; but then the fair wind ceased, and north winds and fogs came on, and they did not know where they were going, and this went on for many days. After this they saw the sun, and so were able to get their bearings, whereupon they hoisted sail, and after sailing that day they saw land, and they discussed among themselves what land this could be, but Bjarni said he fancied that it could not be Greenland. They asked him whether he would sail to this land or not. ‘I am for sailing in close to the land’, he said, and on doing so they soon saw that the land was not mountainous, and was covered with wood, and that there were small knolls on it, whereupon they left the land on the port side, and let the sheet turn towards it. Then after sailing two days they saw another land. They asked Bjarni if he thought this was Greenland; he said that he did not think this was Greenland any more than the first place, ‘for it is said that there are very large glaciers in Greenland’. They soon neared this land, and saw that it was a flat country and covered with wood. At this point the fair wind dropped, whereupon the crew suggested that they should land there: but Bjarni would not. They considered that they were short both of wood and water. ‘You are in no want of either’, said Bjarni, but he got some abuse for this from his crew. He ordered them to hoist sail, which was done, and they turned the bows from the land, and sailed out to sea for three days before a south-westerly breeze, when they saw the third land: now this land was high and mountainous, with ice upon it. So they asked if Bjarni would put in there, but he said that he would not, since—as he put it—this land appeared to him to be good for nothing. Then without lowering sail they kept on their course along the coast, and saw that it was an island: once more they turned the bows away from the land, and held out to sea with the same breeze; but the wind increased, so that Bjarni told them to reef, and not crowd more sail than their ship and rigging could stand. They now sailed for four days, when they saw the fourth land. Then they asked Bjarni if he thought this was Greenland, or not. Bjarni replied, ‘This is most like what was told me of Greenland, and here we will keep our course towards the land.’ So they did, and that evening they came to land under a cape, which had a boat on it, and there on that cape lived Herjulf, Bjarni’s father, and it is from him that the cape received its name, and has since been called Herjulfsness.

Bjarni now went to his father, and gave up voyaging, and he was with his parents as long as Herjulf was alive, and afterwards he succeeded his parents, and lived there.