American History Leaflets.

COLONIAL AND CONSTITUTIONAL.

No. 3.-MAY, 1892.

EXTRACTS FROM THE SAGAS DESCRIBING THE VOYAGES TO VINLAND.

THE following extracts from the Sagas contain nearly all that is known of the voyages to Vinland of Leif Ericsson, Thorvald Ericsson, Thorfinn Karlsefni, and Biarni Heriulfsson. The translation used is that of Arthur Middleton Reeves in his Finding of Wineland the Good, London, Henry Frowde, 1890. Reeves also gives phototypic facsimiles of the more important manuscripts. The Friis Book was written not earlier than 1260 and is probably the oldest MS. in which any of these voyages is described. Hauk's Book was compiled between 1299 and 1334 and the Flatey Book was completed nearly a century later. No satisfactory explanation of the words dagr, eyktarstadr, and dagmalastadr has yet been given. Many scholars, among others Reeves and Storm, are inclined to accept only such portions of the Flatey Book as are confirmed by the earlier accounts. For further references, see Reeves's Wineland, and Winsor's America, I., 87 and following.

THE FRIIS' BOOK STORY.

VINLAND THE GOOD FOUND.

LEIF, a son of Eric the Red, passed this same winter, in good repute, with King Olaf, and accepted Christianity. And that summer, when Gizur went to Iceland, King Olaf sent Leif to Greenland to proclaim Christianity there, He sailed that summer to Greenland. He found men upon a wreck at sea and succoured them. Then likewise he discovered Vinland the Good, and arrived in Greenland in the autumn.

THE STORY AS GIVEN IN HAUK'S BOOK.

LEIF THE LUCKY FINDS VINLAND.

LEIF put to sea [from Norway] when his ship was ready for the voyage. For a long time he was tossed about upon the ocean, and came upon lands of which he had previously had no knowledge. There were self-sown wheat-fields and vines growing there. There were also those trees there which are called mausur, and of all these they took specimens. Some of the timbers were so large that they were used in building. Leif found men upon a wreck and took them home with him and procured quarters for them all during the winter.

VOYAGE OF THORFINN KARLSEFNI AND SNORRI.

About this time there began to be much talk at Brattahlid, to the effect that Vinland the Good should be explored, for, it was said, that country must be possessed of many good qualities. And so it came to pass, that Karlsefni and Snorri fitted out their ship for the purpose of going in search of that country, in the spring. Biarni and Thorhall joined the expedition with their ship, and the men who had borne them company. . . They had in all one hundred and sixty men, when they sailed away to the Western Settlement and thence to Bear Island. Thence they bore away to the southward two dægr. Then they saw land, and launched a boat, and explored the land, and found there large flat

stones, and many of these were twelve ells wide; there were many Arctic foxes there. They gave a name to the country and called it Helluland [the land of flat stones]. Then they sailed with northerly winds two degr, and land then lay before them, and upon it there was a great wood and many wild beasts; and land lay off the land to the southeast, and there they found a bear, and they called this Biarney [Bear Island], while the land where the wood was they called Markland [Forest land]. Thence they sailed southward along the land for a long time, and came to a cape; the land lay upon the starboard; there were long strands and sandy banks there. They rowed to the land and found upon the cape there the keel of a ship, and they called it Kialarnes [Keelness]; they also called the strands Furdustrandir [Wonder-strands], because they were so long to sail by. Then the country became indented with bays, and they steered their ships into a bay. It was when Leif was with King Olaf Tryggvason, and he bade him proclaim Christianity to Greenland, that the King gave him two Gaels [Scots]; the man's name was Haki, and the woman's Haekia. The King advised Leif to have recourse to these people, if he should stand in need of fleetness, for they were swifter than deer. Eric and Leif had tendered Karlsefni the services of this couple. Now when they had sailed past Wonder-strands they put the Scots ashore and directed them to run to the southward, and investigate the nature of the country, and return again before the end of the third halfKarlsefni and his companions cast anchor, and lay there during their absence, and when they came again, one of them carried a bunch of grapes, and the other an ear of self-sown wheat. They went on board the ship, whereupon Karlsefni and his followers held on their way, until they came to where the coast was indented with bays. They stood into a bay with their ships. There was an island at the mouth of the bay, about which there were strong currents, wherefore they called it Straumey [Stream Isle]. There were so many birds there, that it was scarcely possible to step between the eggs. They sailed through the firth and called it Straumfiord [Streamfirth], and carried their cargoes ashore from the ships and established themselves there. They had brought with them all kinds of livestock. It was a fine country there. There were mountains there

would be one of constant dread and turmoil by reason of the inhabitants of the country, so they forthwith prepared to leave and determined to return to their own country. They sailed to the northward off the coast, and found five Skrellings, clad in skin-doublets, lying asleep near the sea. There were vessels beside them, containing animal marrow, mixed with blood. Karlsefni and his company concluded that they must have been banished from their own land. They put them to death. They afterwards found a cape, upon which there was a great number of animals, and this cape looked as if it were one cake of dung, by reason of the animals which lay there at night. They now arrived again at Streamfirth, where they found great abundance of all those things of which they stood in need. Some men say that Biarni and Freydis remained behind there with a hundred men, and went no further; while Karlsefni and Snorri proceeded to the southward with forty men tarrying at Hop barely two months, and returning again. the same summer. Karlsefni then set out with one ship, in search of Thorhall the Huntsman, but the greater part of the company remained behind. They sailed to the northward around Keelness, and then bore to the westward, having land to the larboard. The country there was a wooded wilderness, as far as they could see, with scarcely an open space; and when they had journeyed a considerable distance, a river flowed down from the east toward the west. They sailed into the mouth of the river, and lay to by the southern bank. . .

Then they sailed away back toward the north, and believed that they had got sight of the land of the Unipeds; nor were they disposed to risk the lives of their men any longer. They concluded that the mountains of Hop, and those which they had now found, formed one chain, and this appeared to be so because they were about an equal distance removed from Streamfirth, in either direction. They sailed back and passed the third winter at Streamfirth. Then the men began to divide into factions, of which the women were the cause; and those who were without wives endeavored to seize upon the wives of those who were married, whence the greatest trouble arose. Snorri, Karlsefni's son, was born the first autumn, and he was three winters old when they took their departure. When they sailed away from Vinland, they had a southerly wind, and so came upon Markland, where they found five Skrellings, of whom one was bearded, two were women, and

two were children. Karlsefni and his people took the boys, but the others escaped, and these Skrellings sank down into the earth. They bore the lads away with them and taught them to speak, and they were baptized. They said that their mother's name was Vætildi, and their father's Uvægi. They said that kings governed the Skrellings, one of whom was called Avalldamon, and the other Valdidida. They stated, that there were no houses there, and that the people lived in caves or holes. They said that there was a land on the other side over against their country, which was inhabited by people who wore white garments, and yelled loudly, and carried poles before them, to which rags were attached; and people believed that this must have been White-men's-land or Ireland the Great. Now they arrived in Greenland, and remained during the winter with Eric the Red.

THE FLATEY BOOK STORY.

VOYAGE OF BIARNI HERIULFSSON.

BIARNI arrived with his ship at Eyrar [in Iceland] in the summer of the same year, in the spring of which his father had sailed away [with Eric to Greenland]. These tidings. seemed great to Biarni and he would not unload his cargo. His shipmates asked him what he intended to do, and he replied that it was his purpose to keep to his custom and receive from his father winter-quarters. "I will take the ship to Greenland if you will bear me company." They all replied that they would abide by his decision. Then said Biarni : "Our voyage must be regarded as foolhardy, seeing that no one of us has ever been in the Greenland sea." Nevertheless they put out to sea when they were equipped for the voyage and sailed for three days, until the land was hidden by the water, and then the fair wind died out, and north winds arose, and fogs, and they knew not whither they were drifting, and this lasted for many dægr. Then they saw the sun again and were able to determine the quarters of the heavens. They hoisted sail, and sailed that dægr through before they saw land. They discussed among themselves what land it could be, and Biarni said that he did not believe it could be Greenland. They asked whether he wished to sail to this land or not.