The Story of North American Discovery and Exploration. Julius E. Olson
is certain that the country produces the vine naturally, — that it bears a grape that ripens perfectly, the berry as large as the muscat.”
40 An animal unknown to the natives. As Fiske suggests, “It is the unknown that frightens.”
41 A euphemism for pregnant; the original is eigi heil.
42 Thus reaching the western coast of Cape Breton Island and Nova Scotia, according to Storm.
43 The Norse word is Ein-fœtingr, one-footer. The mediaeval belief in a country in which there lived a race of unipeds was not unknown in Iceland. It has been suggested by Vigfusson that Thorvald being an important personage, his death must be adorned in some way. It is a singular fact that Jacques Cartier brought back from his Canadian explorations reports of a land peopled by a race of one-legged folk. See Reeves, The Finding of Wineland, p. 177, (56).
44 The literal translation is: “The men drove, it is quite true, a one-footer down to the shore. The strange man ran hard over the banks. Hearken, Karlsefni!”
45 As skilled mariners the explorers were undoubtedly competent to make such a deduction as this. If Storm and Dieserud are correct, the explorers saw from the north coast of Nova Scotia the same mountains that they had seen from the south coast.
46 The Beothuk Indians of Newfoundland, according to Storm.
47 Nothing can with certainty be extracted from these names. The chances that they were incorrectly recorded are of course great. Storm contends that they cannot be Eskimo. Captain Holm of the Danish navy, an authority on the Eskimos, says, “It is not impossible that the names may have been derived from Eskimo originals.” Fiske says, p. 189, note: “There is not the slightest reason for supposing that there were any Eskimos south of Labrador so late as nine hundred years ago.” In this connection Captain Holm says: “It appears to me not sufficiently proven that the now extinct race on America’s east coast, the Beothuk, were Indians. I wish to direct attention to the possibility that in the Beothuk we may perhaps have one of the transition links between the Indians and the Eskimo.” See Reeves, p. 177, (57).
48 The description is clearly suggestive of processions of Christian priests, in white vestments, with banners, and singing (Storm).
49 Vellum AM. 557 has not the words “Ireland the Great.” As to “White-men’s-land” (mentioned also once in the Landnama-bok), Storm traces its quasi-historical origin to the Irish visitation of Iceland prior to the Norse settlement. See Studies on the Vineland Voyages, p. 61. The explanation is, however, hardly convincing. See Origines Islandicae, Vol. II., p. 625.
50 AM. 557 says “Iceland’s sea” (i.e., between Iceland and Markland), and Hauk’s Book, “Greenland’s sea” (i.e., between Iceland and Greenland).
51 Thorlak was born in 1085, consecrated bishop in 1118, and died Feb. 1, 1133. These dates are definitely known, and are important. “The bishop’s birth-year being certainly known, one can reckon back, and according to the regular allowances, we shall have Hallfrid born about 1060, and her father about 1030, in Vinland, and Karlsefni as far back as 1000.” Vigfusson in Origines Islandicae, Vol. II., p. 592. Vigfusson seeks to corroborate the above by other allied lineages. If his deductions are correct, they are revolutionary with reference to the generally accepted chronology of the Vinland voyages. He is convinced that Leif belongs to an older generation than Karlsefni and his wife, and that Leif’s declining years coincide with Karlsefni’s appearance on the scene. The expeditions would then stand in the year 1025-1035, or 1030-1040, while Leif may have headed the first expedition, say in 1025. And he thinks that various things outside of the genealogies point to this.
52 Biorn was consecrated bishop in 1147, and died in 1162. His successor was Bishop Brand “the Elder,” who died in 1201. Both Hauk’s Book and AM. 557 refer to him as “the Elder”; hence the originals could not have been written before the accession of the second bishop Brand, which was in 1263. He died the following year. AM. 557 concludes with the words “Bishop Brand the Elder.” But in Hauk’s Book the genealogical information is carried down to Hauk’s own time. He was a descendant of Karlsefni and Gudrid, through Snorri, born in Vinland.
The Vinland History of the Flat Island Book1
A Brief History of Eric the Red.2 — There was a man named Thorvald, a son of Osvald, Ulf’s son, Eyxna-Thori’s son. Thorvald and Eric the Red, his son, left Jaederen [in Norway], on account of manslaughter, and went to Iceland. At that time Iceland was extensively colonized. They first lived at Drangar on Horn-strands, and there Thorvald died. Eric then married Thorhild, the daughter of Jorund and Thorbiorg the Ship-chested, who was then married to Thorbiorn of the Haukadal family. Eric then removed from the north, and made his home at Ericsstadir by Vatnshorn. Eric and Thorhild’s son was called Leif.
After the killing of Eyiulf the Foul, and Duelling-Hrafn, Eric was banished from Haukadal, and betook himself westward to Breidafirth, settling in Eyxney at Ericsstadir. He loaned his outer daïs-boards to Thorgest, and could not get these again when he demanded them. This gave rise to broils and battles between himself and Thorgest, as Eric’s Saga relates. Eric was backed in the dispute by Styr Thorgrimsson, Eyiulf of Sviney, the sons of Brand of Alptafirth and Thorbiorn Vifilsson, while the Thorgesters were upheld by the sons of Thord the Yeller and Thorgeir of Hitardal. Eric was declared an outlaw at Thorsnessthing. He thereupon equipped his ship for a voyage, in Ericsvag, and when he was ready to sail, Styr and the others accompanied him out beyond the islands. Eric told them, that it was his purpose to go in search of that country which Gunnbiorn, son of Ulf the Crow, had seen, when he was driven westward across the main, at the time when he discovered Gunnbiorns-skerries; he added, that he would return to his friends, if he should succeed in finding this country. Eric sailed out from Snæfellsiokul, and found the land. He gave the name of Midiokul to his landfall; this is now called Blacksark. From thence he proceeded southward along the coast, in search of habitable land. He passed the first winter at Ericsey, near the middle of the Eastern Settlement, and the following spring he went to Ericsfirth, where he selected a dwelling-place. In the summer he visited the western uninhabited country, and assigned names to many of the localities. The second winter he remained at Holmar by Hrafnsgnipa, and the third summer he sailed northward to Snæfell, and all the way into Hrafnsfirth; then he said he had reached the head of Ericsfirth. He then returned and passed the third winter in Ericsey at the mouth of Ericsfirth. The next summer he sailed to Iceland, landing in Breidafirth. He called the country, which he had discovered, Greenland, because, he said, people would be attracted thither, if the country had a good name. Eric spent the winter in Iceland, and the following summer set out to colonize the country. He settled at Brattahlid in Ericsfirth, and learned men say, that in this same summer, in which Eric set