rise and sunset would he six hours, and in the other nine hours long. 
 
 Tin- single sentence in ttie Saga, or half sentence, on which the decision 
 of the (|ucsti(Mi is balanced, is this: "The sun shines there on eykt and 
 dagmal on the shortest day of the year." 
 
points of time, not /lours. To find this the astronomer Hishop Thorlaciiis 
 
 was iiistrurted in nl -irvr the time of suniiM- •nnd sunset at Rcykholt on 
 the first Saturday occurring l^'twccn the iith and the 17th of Octoher. 
 One was found to occur at lialf-past seven in the morning, and the otlier at 
 
 MJiBmi [II »Miii 
 
"The \iir«if,'i:ins wlui first went ovlt to Iculanil were sprunf; from soiiie of the iiuist 
 distiiij;iiisheil families in the l.iiid of their nativity. . . . 'I'heir ])re(lonilnant character is that 
 of unsuspecting frankness, pious contentment, and a steady liveliness of temperament, com- 
 bined with a strength of intellect and aruteness of mind seldom to be met with in other parts 
 of the world. I'lKir /,iii!;iiiij,'c; ilras, and mode of life han km inviiiiabl} the same during a 
 period of nine centuries." 
 
"h,u:i ::: o^l ";:; u' l!:"l t, «.u>c ,l.l n..es of ...ee .>ivi,ion, ..«rec wi.h ...o,e o. th. 
 »ub-.l.v ,,on ot one , r ^^^ „,,,.urin;4 time by the 5unN p.^age over 
 
 :::r Sr^L^l t :!;.. as L as .Hu.^M. whc. U^. n.nUe.o„ W.,... .hat^ountry: 
 " m on 1i.U in use was the natural horizon of each township. .livi,ie,l into c^ht equal .art . - I.V 
 m^unt^in Ukl -'- -^^ -- -'-"^-^ conveniently, and by pyramids of stone where natural nu.U, 
 
' I li.il il oiiiits .It .1 MiiT hour 111 Miiillicrn N'lrw.iv sii|i|i'iris ilif i \\\u luvn al I'rnics^nr Sturm 
 tli.U Ihc tituc v.iriis with the l.ititude llui tlic Liliimli' uf NULiMs, of soutliern IclUihI, and Kriks- 
 (j<>rd in (Irccnl.md were all included willdn two or tliri'i- degrees. 
 
 • ViijfiiMon «ay«: " Tlie»e iLivnutrki .ire traclitii>n.\l on every farm ; anil many uf lliiMii, no doubt, clali' from the rarlint 
 srtttrr^. AmRrimison confirms thi^ statement. It wan the immemorial practice in Norway. 
 
The precise latitude indicated In- the shortest day of nine- liours. as 
 accepted by Rafn, was 4' ^4 '« • !<»' t'^^ precession of the equinoxes 
 in the interval since Leif's tin.e has been calnihtrd (see paper by Storm); 
 and it results in making the site to which Leifs observation applies to 
 
... _, 
 
 whicli it is safe to say includes only uliiit was rcj^ardcd by instructors as 
 established geographical truth, occius the following: — 
 
 ' Corrected for precession of tin- c(|iiinoxc» and refraction, by Ntr. Coelinuyden, of Copcnh.i^en. 
 
' Aniicjiiiiates American*, p. jgj. 
 
 r ;? ' tf ' !ll!!. ' !Lg!l ' .. 
 
(txWi'aloaj 
 
 

 
 

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Outlook from near the Site of Leifs Houses Frontispiece. 
 
 Page 
 Vineland of I.eif Erikson i« 
 
 Length of Shortest Day 31 
 
 Outline of Coast from Cape Farewell, Oreenland, southward jg 
 
 Region of Vineland, between Cape Ann and Cape Cod, — folding sheet of Maps . .28-29 
 
 Vineland of I.eif between Cape Ar.n and Cape Cod, — sheet of Maps . . . .29-30 
 
 Flat Rocks on Kast Coast of Newfoundland (Helluland), near St. Johns .... 30 
 
 C'aptain James Cook's Map (1775) 31 
 
 Ilydrographic Chart of Fog lianks J2 
 
 Nova Scoti.i, Admiralty Chart ^t^ 
 
 ('osa's Map (1500) .►, 
 
 Ruysch's Map (1507) ., 
 
 Hendricxsen's Map (1614-1616), Dutch Archives 1, 
 
 Southac's Map (1694-1734) ,. 
 
 Local Map of Cape Cod Peninsula e,^ 
 
 Detailfd Maj) of Cape Cod Peninsula of Co.ist Snr\'ey ei 
 
 Tracings, showing Archipelago in Forty-third Degree 53 
 
 Was there a City of Nortimbega in the Forty-third Degree, — sheet of Maps. . . 54 
 
 .Mlefonsce and the Two Cape Bretons, — sheet of Maps eg 
 
 Vineland Hasin C,- 
 
 Coast Survey, the C.umet and Plymouth 71-72 
 
 I^eiPs huulfall on Cape Cod and Route to Site of his Houses on the Charles River 7^-74 
 
 Remalu>; of Ilrik's House at Rrattahliil, Circenland -, 
 
 Fiiuivalents of the River ( harles, — sheet of fourteen Maps 76-77 
 
 Chamjilain's Majis of Kast Coast of Cape Cod, against Chatham and Nauset Harbor . . 78 
 
 Present View of Straumil a-.id Straumfjord, against Chatham, C:ape Cod .... 79 
 
 •xsemi'sm, ■mmr.sr.i^: 
 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 2 
 
 Page 
 
 Birch-bark Canoe and Esquimaux Skin-boat 
 
 Folding Map of Charles River ~ '' 
 
 Equivalents between Cape Ann and Cape Cod 90-91 
 
 Boston Back Bay and Harbor 9^-93 
 
 Northmen's Landing and Settlement 93-94 
 
 Photograph of traces of Leifs House and Charles River 95 
 
 Photograi)h of conceived Site and traces of Thorfinn's Long House 95 
 
 Photograph of traces of Thorfinn's House 9 
 
 Photograph of Fish-pit and Thorfinn's Landing 9 
 
 Photograph of Site of Huts ^^ 
 
 Stone Walls of Ancient Norumbega, at Watertown, - Photographs by Miss Cornelia 
 
 Horsford '°^ 
 
 Map of Ortelius. .57°; Solis, ,598; and Botero, ,603, - showing Norumbega and 
 Norvega (Norway), Carenas and the Rio Crande, Claudia and Nova Francia, 
 
 all in the same degree of latitude with Boston '° 
 
 Greenland, region about Eriksfjonl and Leifs Home at Brattahlid "« 
 
 Notf. -m THE RF.AnF,R.-Some of the Illustrations may seem misplaced; but they were 
 needed at different points. My wish has been to place in accessible form as much of 
 ,he material collected and used by me as I might venture to insert, with less regard to 
 the criticism than to the ser^•ice of the reader. 
 
 

 PREFACE. 
 
 TN my address at the unveiling of the statue to Leif Erikson in Boston, 
 Oct. 29, 1887, I sketched an outline of the evidence that the Vineland 
 of the Northmen was in southeastern New England. 
 
 In 1889, under the title of " The Problem of the Northmen," I gave, 
 in a letter to the President of the American Geographical Society, an out- 
 line of the Discovery of the Site of Leif's Houses in Vineland, speaking 
 of it as the fulfilment of a prediction. Later, in the same year, on the 
 occasion of the completion of a commemorative Tower, at the mouth of 
 Stony Brook, I communicated to the Geographical Society the Discovery 
 of the Ancient City of Norumbega. 
 
 The detailed evidences of the accuracy of my later deduction have 
 just been published in a letter to President Daly, entitled " The Defences 
 of Norumbega." The present paper points out the Landfall of Leif on 
 Cape Cod, and the site of the houses he built in Vineland ; discusses 
 the exploration of the Charles River by Thorwald, the site of his wreck, 
 where he set up his old keel, — Kjalarnes (Cape Cod) ; and his burial- 
 place, — Krossa-ness (the Gurnet); and indicates the locality of Straum- 
 fjord (Chatham), the southernmost point reached by Thorfinn. 
 
 The literature of the subject has been recently enriched by an elabo- 
 rate paper from the pen of Prof. Gustav Storm, of Christiania. It gives 
 a recast of the evidence of the trustworthiness of the Sagas. The 
 author attaches little significance to the part played by Bjarni and Thor- 
 wald in the identification of the region of Vineland, does not attempt the 
 Landfall of Leif nor the site of his houses, and follows with a presen- 
 
4 PREFACE. 
 
 tation of the evidence that Newfoundland was Markland, and Nova Scotia 
 was Vineland. The work well illustrates the inherent difficulties of the 
 problem even to a Scandinavian scholar, and the great patience and care 
 with which through many years Professor Storm has pursued it. This 
 learned author, like Forster,' seems to have been repelled by the manifold 
 repetitions and defective sequences in the relations preserved under the 
 head of Thorfinn's Sagas. The cargoes of selected wood {m'dsurr) shipped 
 to Greenland ; the details of topography and hydrography ; the islands 
 observed ; the alternating shallows at the mouth of the river flowing 
 through a lake to the sea ; the Hop (a small landlocked bay, salt at flood 
 tide and fresh at ebb), on the shore of which and in the same house Leif, 
 Thorwald, Thorfinn, and Freydis successively dwelt ; the fish-pits, the 
 sand-beaches, the muddy banks of the river, — all are alike of relatively 
 less interest to Forster, Malte-Brun, Laing,^ and Storm. Had it fallen 
 to their lot, ;icquainted as they were with the Vineland Sagas, to pass a 
 lifetime in the territory where the terms of the Sagas might apply and 
 their applicability be tested, — something the record of which would 
 be sought for in vain in books, because a book cannot contain the 
 record of what has not been found, — the problem would doubtless long 
 since have been solved. 
 
 More than fifty years ago, the historian George Bancroft, after such 
 examination of the subject as to him then seemed possible, left it con- 
 ceivable that the Northmen may have reached the shores between Belle 
 Isle and Hudson's Straits ; and this notion is adopted by Justin Win- 
 sor, the editor of " The Narrative and Critical History of America,"* 
 after a lecent elaborate collocation of the literature of the subject. 
 Referring to Mr. Bancroft's statement that " Scandinavians may have 
 reached the shores of Labrador; the soil of the United States has not 
 
 ' Mr. J. R. Forster, author of " Hisloirc des Ddcouverlcs et des Voyages fails dans Ic Nord. 
 Paris. MDCCI. XXXVIII." 
 
 ' Samuel Lainj;. Ksq., transLitor from the Icelandic of the llcimskringla. London, 1.S44. 
 » Vol. i. p. 93. 1S89. 
 
PREFACE. 5 
 
 one vestige of their presence," — Mr. Winsor says it "is as /rue now as 
 when first wriiten." 
 
 Rev. Edmund F. Slafter, D. D., the careful editor of " Beamish's Trans- 
 lation of the Vineland Sagas,"* in the publications of the Prince Society, 
 says in his Introduction (page ii): — 
 
 "The ground has been carefully surveyed, and the conclusion has been reached 
 that no remains are to be found on the coast of America that can be traced to the 
 visits of the Northmen in the tenth century." 
 
 The Committee appointed by the Massachusetts Historical Society to 
 investigate the problem of the Northmen give the following as, in the 
 judgment of the Corresponding Secretary, " the result of the best historical 
 criticism" : '^ — 
 
 " There is the same sort of reason for believing in Leif Erikson that there is for 
 believing in the existence of Agamemnon. They are both traditions accepted by the 
 later writers ; but there is no more reason for regarding as true the details related 
 about his discoveries than there is for accepting as historical truth the narrative 
 contained in the Homeric poems." 
 
 These authorities seem to have written under the impression that the 
 evidence, if there be any, of the presence of the Northmen at any par- 
 ticular point on the New England coast might be found in print. As 
 they have failed to find it, they have been led to the conviction that 
 such evidence cannot be found.' 
 
 The problem of the Northmen in America has been studied for the 
 
 most part, and necessarily, in libraries. 
 
 It was at one time thoucht to 
 
 ' Voynfies of the Northmen to America. 1877. p. It. 
 
 ' I'roceedinjis of tlie M.issachusetts Ilistoric.il Society, December, 1887; also N.irrative and 
 Critical History of America, vol. i. p. 98. 
 
 ' I'rof. Henry Mitchell, a lifelonp officer of the United -States Coast Survey, professionally familiar 
 with llie outline of oiir Kastcrn shores, in a paper which I have been permitted to see, — written many 
 years a','0, and read be''nre .1 social gatlierins;. but not printed, — expressed the conviction, after a care- 
 ful sillily of the S.aijas that l.eif's Landfall was on Cape Cod, .and Vineland the west sliore of Cape 
 Cod Hay. Tliis was the result of what m.ay be reg.arded as the earliest study of the Siigas in their 
 application to the actual Atlantic coast. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 be a question mainly, if not solely, of textual interpretation. From the 
 time of Torfasus — who, in 1 705, first called attention to the Sagas telling 
 of the discovery in 1000 of America by Northmen — the determina- 
 tion of the places of their Landfall and settlement has been believed to 
 rest on the meaning of a single Old Norse word, eyktarstad, since this 
 and the sentence in which it occurred in the Saga of Eirik Raude (Erik 
 the Red) might, if rightly understood, give the latitude of Vineland. It 
 will be seen, in the progress of the present paper, that this meaning 
 still plays a most important part as a coincident test in the solution 
 of the problem. 
 
 Such a problem must be worked out, ultimately, in \\\tjield. It must 
 be solved by the juxtaposition of the descriptive terms of the Sagas con- 
 taining the record of the discovery with the observed geography, in- 
 cluding tiie latitude and longitude, the topography and hydrography, the 
 geology and natural history of the regions assumed to have been visited 
 and occupied, and by the study of the logs of the early Norse navigators 
 as left us in the Sagas. To all this must be added the terminology 
 of local names, and the ethnology of the region since the advent of 
 the Northmen. 
 
 Since the days of Rafn, Agassiz has found tha region I have assigned 
 to the early occupancy of the Northmen to be a vast area of countless 
 moraines, without which there could have been no salient of Cape Cod. 
 Bache and Mitchell and Davis of the Coast Survey have determined the 
 curves and currents, tides and soundings of our coast to the British lines, 
 and learned much of the laws that govern the changing banks. The 
 Admiralty charts of British North America and careful explorations by 
 compe^ nt men have given us the coast-lines from Cape Sable along 
 Nova Scotia, Cape Breton, Newfoundland, and the shores of Labrador 
 to Cape Chudlcigh. All these unite to enable us to see where the Vine- 
 land of the Sagas was possible and where it was impossible. The study 
 of the aboriginal languages in connection with the territorial limits of 
 Indian tribes has come to be felt, as it was not earlier, to be a factor in 
 
PREFACE. 7 
 
 the solution of geographical problems. Photography has appeared to 
 make it possible for a student to command the scenery, the maps and 
 charts, and the ancient geographical manuscripts of the world. Earlier it 
 was not so easy as it now is to visit Norway, study its instructive topogra- 
 phy, and become acquainted with the usages of the people from whom the 
 enterprising Northmen of ancient Iceland went out ; or, by personal in- 
 spection, to become familiar with the features of our own New England 
 coast. It is only within comparatively recent times that southern Green- 
 land has been the subject of careful study by scientific men of Sweden, 
 Denmark, and Nor.iav. They have brought to light the remains of 
 churches and dwellings and cemeteries of the Northmen of the time of 
 Eirik Raude and the centuries that followed immediately after. Norden- 
 skjbld has given us, among many other most interesting pictures, photo- 
 graphs of the possible remains of Leif's paternal mansion, — Brattahlid, — 
 in which were celebrated the nuptials of Thorfinn Karlsefni and Gudrid. 
 
 Tlie more I have studied the Saga of Eirik Raude the more pro- 
 foundly have I become impressed with the fidelity and trustworthiness of 
 the memories that were held in tradition, and finally taken down and 
 preserved on the introduction of the art of writing. 
 
 I have before me, I believe, the chief sources of our knowledge of the 
 early discovery of Vineland. But it seemed to me desirable to discuss 
 the individual renderings of the Sagas, one by one ; and so I have had 
 made, at my side as it were, a new translation of the Summary of the 
 Vineland Sagas in Peringskjold's Heimskringla. 
 
 This summary — tlie so-called interpolation into the life of Olaf 
 Tryggvasson — seems a res7ime of the Vineland Sagas. Some details are 
 omitted, which other relations supply. The whole expedition to Straum- 
 fjord, except the supply of food from the castaway whale (the scene of 
 which seems to be misplaced), is wanting, — as is also the account of 
 the profusion of ducks' eggs^ on Monomoy; the occurrence of great 
 islands before the mouth of Charles River (the Brevsters and the others); 
 
 ' See Xotes in Appendix. 
 
 SE 
 
8 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 the exploration of the river by Thorwald during the summer after the 
 first winter, and the general features of the Charles ; the shallows at the 
 entrance of the river to the Back Bay below the Brookline bridge ; vari- 
 ous topographical features and bearings that enable one to identify im- 
 portant localities; and many other particulars, such as the occurrence of 
 young corn-plants at the time of fish-spawning, the fish-pits, some of 
 the visits of the Skrai'lings, and certain incidents of the battle in which 
 Freydis took part. But the continuity of the story, embracing the prin- 
 cipal and more important events, — the work of one Saga man, principally 
 of compilation, — forced upon me the desirability of a new translation, for 
 which a rare opportunity by a thoroughly educated native Icelander pre- 
 sented itself. 
 
 Mr. Arngrimsson has made at my instance a fresh rendering of the 
 original Norse, as given in Peringskjbld. To this I have only ventured 
 to add from the translations of the other Sagas, by different persons on 
 different ships at different times, such fragments in the form of notes 
 as help to fill out the portraits of the voyages and experiences, and as 
 have enabled me to realize to myself the story in its proper sequences. 
 That others may enjoy the fruits of this work, I print them in con- 
 nection with the Peringskjold Saga in the Appendix. To this I have 
 added a part of the so-called Thorfinn Sagas, from the translation made 
 under the supervision of Rev. Dr. De Costa, and contained in his " Pre- 
 Columbian Discovery of America." 
 
 Of the accuracy of the picture I have produced for study there can be 
 no doubt, on looking at the results at which I have arrived. They clear 
 up the misapprehensions that have arisen since the Northmen came, and 
 make intelligible the relations of Verrazano, Gomez, Parmcnticr, Alle- 
 fonsce, Thevet, Ramusio, David Ingram, John Dee, Haki.'yt, Sir Hum- 
 phrey Gilbert, Champlain, Lescarbot, and others, and the cartography 
 of a century and more, stamped with the name Nokumiiega. 
 
 It has seemed to me well to submit a considerable selection of the 
 pictures, maps, charts, cuts, photographs, etc., which have served in my 
 
PREFACE. 9 
 
 research, along with my exposition of the old story of the Sagas. They 
 may enable those interested in the subject better to see upon what my con- 
 victions rest ; and they may lend assistance in lines of inquiry which I have 
 not pursued, and so contribute to the aid of others in the study of the early 
 history of this coast region. My purpose in the paper that follows is 
 mainly to demonstrate beyond the reach of question the locality of Leif's 
 Landfall and the site of his houses in Vineland. 
 
 To the officers of the United States Coast Survey and Hydrographical 
 Bureau at Washington I am greatly indebted for authoritative maps, charts, 
 and records. The City Government of Cambridge has given me the kind 
 co-operation of the office of the City Engineer in the surveys of the region 
 of Charles River and in the production of maps. The priceless collection 
 of maps and charts of the late J. Carson Brevoort relating to the Cartogra- 
 phy of New England has long been drawn upon by me for photographic 
 copies, and is now, as a whole, in my possession. I have also had the 
 loan of the collections of maps of the late Mr. S. L. M. Barlow, of New 
 York, for utmost freedom in photographic copying, of which I have taken 
 full advantage, especially in all the maps illustrating the beginnings of 
 New France. From the Rev. Dr. B. F. De Costa I have the original tra- 
 cings of the map of Hieronymus Verrazano of 1529, of that of William 
 de Teste, and also of John Rotz ; of the New England portions of the 
 Molyneux Globe and also of the Leno.x Globe, and the precious photo- 
 graphic negatives of Maiollo's map of 1 524-1 527 from the Ambrosian 
 Library at Milan. 
 
 The Leno.x, John Carter Ii.own, American Geographical Society, Con- 
 gressional, Boston Public, Athenasum, and American Academy libraries, 
 and, above all, the Harvard College Library have given me co-operation on 
 every hand. To Baron Nordenskjold of Stockholm, M. Gaffarel of Dijon, 
 M. Beauvois of Colberon, Cote d'Or, I am indebted for their publications 
 in fields of labor connected with the Northmen. I have most valuable 
 works from the library of the late Dr. Worsaae, of Copenhagen, relating to 
 
lO 
 
 TREFACE. 
 
 Vineland. I have also possessed myself, in the publications of the Royal 
 Geographical Society of Denmark, of copies of a considerable number of 
 ancient maps of Danish and Icelandic authorities. The Bibliotheque 
 Nationalo of Paris has, through the co-operation of Miss Healy, the 
 daughter of the artist, furnished me with photographs of specific por- 
 tions of the manuscripts and of original pen-and-ink sketches relating to 
 the American coast, by Allcfonsce, the pilot of Roberval.* I have been 
 so fortunate as to secure a perfect copy of Thevet's " Cosmographie " 
 
 of 1575- 
 
 Photographs, sketches, and original drawings of various intercstmg 
 
 points have been furnished me by Miss Cornelia Horsford. To Mr. Samuel 
 
 Adams Drake, the historian, I am indebted for photographs and maps of 
 
 the coast of Newfoundland. 
 
 All these have made it possible to test the relations of the Sagas by 
 methods, — in some respects quite new. 
 
 I may not forget to acknowledge the varied services of Mr. Thomas J. 
 Kiernan of Harvard College Library, and of Mr. George Davis of the 
 Cambridge City Engineer's office. 
 
 ' The efforts that resulted in giving to me these precious aljsolute f.u-similes have led to the 
 extension of the service to students of any ancient manuscripts in the archives of the L.br.iry, upcn 
 payment of the cost. 
 
DESCRIPTIVE NORSE WORDS EMPLOYED IN THE SAGAS OF ERIK 
 THE RED AND OF THORFINN. 
 
 Budir, — Booths ; temporary abodes, less substantial than permanent dwellings ; as, booths 
 at a fair. 
 
 Furdustrand, — From furda, spectre, and strand, a shore : furdustrandir, spectral or wonder- 
 ful strands; applying to a long sand-beach, convex to the sea, in sailing past which new 
 shore is constantly entering on the horizon before and vanishing behind. Possibly, also, 
 because of the appearance of mirage ; also because it was so long sailing past it, a curve 
 I of constantly increasing radius. 
 
 Helluland, or Helleland, — Slate-rock, fissile, flat-stone, or broad-stone land. Authority,— 
 educated Norwegians (Vigfusson). 
 
 HoU, — Contracted from hvdil, hill or hillock (Vigfusson). Ulks-water (Patterdale, England) 
 has the same root. 
 
 Hdp, — A small landlocked bay, or inlet, connected with the sea so as to be salt at flood 
 tide and fresh at ebb (Vigfusson)." Name given by Thorfinn to the lake through which 
 a river flowed to the sea ; also applied to the country surrounding the lake." 
 
 Husa-snotrn, — House-scales for weighing. Swedish wag, Latin statemm ligneam, wooden 
 scale-pan (Peringskjold). 
 
 * Old Norse Dictionary, p. 281. 
 
 ■^mp,n. (Anglo-Saxon /r<v>/ Scottish //o/,-, ,»oty« ; pcrlmps connected with A.-S hop English 
 hoop, with reference to a curved or circular form.) .•/ .„,/„// laudlocked bay, or inlet, connected with 
 the sea so as to be salt at flood and fresli at ebli Frcqiu-nt in niodcrn usage. 
 
 The trutlifiilness of the description, In tlie iise of the single word hdp applied to the lower Charles 
 IS worthy of notice. At Hood the w.itcr in the great expansion c.illed the liack Hay (the " lake " of I eif ) 
 rises some ten to twelve feet, and backs up the river proper to the fall at Watertown, making at Mood 
 a salt-water balh.ng-resort near (-.erry's Landing (at the site of Leifs houses), and overspreading all the 
 me,idows with salt water: while at ebb the fresh w.iter, now ten or twelve feet lower in the narrow and 
 shallow channel of the river proper, is prolonged into the area of the Hack liay, through which the 
 river Hows into the sea. '^ 
 
 There is another division of the definition of hdp by Vigfusson (ist ed. ii. 3R7): "A local name, 
 HSp, Hops-OS, Vestr-hop I.andr: in England, local names, as Stanhope, Easthope (Kemble's Dipl.); 
 
13 
 
 UESCRll'TlVE NORSE WORDS, ETC. 
 
 Hveiti-ax, — llvciti, wheat, and ax, car-of-corn (Vigfussoii)- Skeat says the word wheat is 
 derived from a Teutonic root wliich means ?<'////c', and qualifies the color of the (lour made 
 from the grain, kernel, or corn of whatever kind. JhiUir is tvhite, as applied to the Wiiile 
 River in Iceland (Henderson). H.aving in mind the general law of aboriginal languages, 
 that names are descriptive of the objects to which they are attached, Hveiti-ax would be 
 white ear-flf-ciirn. JIvciti qualitied the color of the aggregation of kernels on the spike. 
 Indian corn, if white, ailmits of such a descriptive name. Kernels, up to the time of 
 ripening, are white. In ripening, some varieties take on color. If the ear of Indian corn 
 was green, that is, unripe, when first observed, it was white. 
 
 ^alarnes, — From kjolr, keel, and nacs,^ nose. Kjalar is the genitive. Kjalar-nes, the 
 name of the north end of Cape Cod, — the ness of the Keel (Tliorw.dd and Thorfinn). 
 Merriam's map of about the end of the sixteenth century has /'. {P. ^ Promonto- 
 rium) Coaranes, probably from i.atives, the offspring of mixed parentage. Lok gives 
 Caremis, Mercitor C. lie Arenas, Ch.implain Cape lilam\ Gosnold Cape Coii, to the 
 same point. 
 
 Krossa-nes, — From krossa, to inark with a cross, and nes, a promontory (Vigfusson). 
 Thorwald directed crosses to be set up at his grave. Vallard, on his map of 1543, recog- 
 nised the Krossa-nes in his Cap de Croix, near C. de Arenas. 
 
 Harkland, — Primarily a boundary ; wooded land, and also open field ; land inviting to 
 settlement (Norwegians. Danes, and Swedes ; also Vigfusson). 
 
 Hater, — Mdsur-:^>nosurr, "spot wood;" curly maple; decorative wood ; any marbled or 
 veined wood (see Vigfusson ; Beamish, Prince Society's Ed., p. 68). Also burr, burl, 
 borl, or warty outgrowth on oak, ash, birch, and other trees. Mosur ^=.0\i\ High German 
 knorrigcr auswuchs. 'Pough and decorative ; used to make platters, bowls, chalices, 
 scale-pans, cups, and maces. M asur, — a as in fate. 
 
 Elleshoop in Ilolstoin (rirein) ; Kinttiope, St. Afaif^anl's hope, <:iQ.,\n Orkney." The name has no 
 equivalent in our lannu.^^;e, and taken in connection with tlie phrase a riTer Jlowiiit; through a /iii-e 
 into the sea. and the statement in the Sa^as th.it the lake was so shallow at ebb tiile that vessels 
 could not enter the river above (Cottage Kami station) to .sail up except at flood, it presents a picture 
 that can scarcely lie matched for clearness and conipUteness. What was true in the year rooo is true 
 to-day. What was a hdp. an inlet, a landlocked bay, alternately deep enough to (loat sea-going vessels 
 and shallow enough to ground tliem at the mouth of die river in the upper part, alternately .salt and 
 fresh, was not more true nine hundred years ago than it is to-day. The map which I have compiled, 
 compared witli that published at \'alladolid iu i5i>S. which gives the site of the Norwegian colony 
 on tlie Kio Crande (the Charles), may be studied in this connection and with the S.agas. \'errazano 
 (1524) described this like, in his letter to the King, as "among sm.all hills, and as three leagues 
 around, and connected by a river half a league long with the sea " His map shows the mouth 
 of the river .Anguilemc, entering from above the lake. 
 ' Aaes. or ness, or nes, nose. 
 
DESCRIPTIVE NORSE WORDS, ETC. 
 
 u 
 
 SkrOBUngi, Skraellngjar, — Ski-ill, a mob (Vigfusson; ; applied to the great crowd of 
 Indians in tlicir canoes and in tlieir eager traffic; as, " Tlie wliole water looked as if 
 sprinkled with cinders" (Smith), or "sown with coal" (Beamish). Primarily, it does 
 not mean the Indians, much less the Esquimaux; rather the lowest of men, hideous 
 in personal appearance. It means also a mob, a disorderly crowd without a leader. 
 The first party, in nine skin-boats (birch-bark canoes) were not called Skrailings in the 
 Saga ; they were not numerous enough to be called a mob, and were too distant to 
 be distinctly seen. 
 
 Stranmey, Straumb, — From Unumr, stream, race, or tide, and o or oe, island. It applies 
 at Chatham, the " heel " of Cape Cod, to a long narrow beach parallel to the shore, 
 between which and the mainland, and outside as well, the tide is visible and strong. 
 
 Straumgard, — From straumr, current, and ffird, sound, tidal frith, oblong bay or channel, 
 in which the tidal current is noticeable; a channel extending Mn-//^'//, — that is, w/ a 
 cul-de-sac. 
 
 Vinland, — Named from its productions, Winland (or Vineland), — Leif ; Adam of Bremen. 
 
THE 
 
 LANDFALL OF LFIF ERIKSON 
 
i 
 
'sy^ 
 
 VINLAND OF LEIF ERIKSON. 
 
 INCLUDING THE 
 
 RIVER, FORT AND CITY OF NORUMBEGA. 
 
 THE HOP OF THORFINN, 
 
 (the ancient Boston Back Bay) 
 
 AND THE ADJACENT COAST. 
 
 AS DETERMINED BY 
 
 EbfH Norton Horsford. 
 
 o 
 
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 "-^-^sr^^^-^, 
 
 
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 «i»-^ 
 
 THE LANDFALL 
 
 A CCEPTING the discovery of America by Northmen about a. d icoo, 
 — doubted only by those who liave not liad the leisure and oppor- 
 tunity patiently to examine the evidence bearing upon the subject, — and 
 recognizing it as settled, that somewhere within a fortnight's sail to the 
 southwest of Greenland there must be the Vineland of Leif, so long the 
 theme of fireside story, of tradition, of record in the Sagas, in the relation 
 of Adam of Bremen, and in the church archives touching the departure 
 of Bishop Erik Gnupsson ' to Vineland, — the question is one, not of the 
 reality of discovery, but of locality. 
 
 To Humboldt, its ])lace was between Boston and New York. Accord'- 
 ing to Rafn, Leif Erikson set up his houses — the earliest Norse dwellings 
 in New England — on the shores of Narragansett Bay. The following 
 paper rests on the conviction that Leif did not go to the south of Cape 
 Cod, but built his houses within the limits of the present city of Cam- 
 bridge, on the banks of the river Charles, not far from its entrance into 
 Massachusetts Bay, at Boston. How can we find 
 
 Where Leik eirst made Land? 
 
 Geographical position is expressed in terms of latitude and longitude, — 
 that is, in distance counted in degrees and fractions from the equator toward 
 the pole, and in distance in degrees and fractions from an accepted meridian 
 crossing this line at right angles. For example, Cambridge Observatory is 
 so many degrees, minutes, and seconds of latitude from the equator; and 
 
 ' The story of the ;ippoinlnipnt of liisliop Erik I'psi (Gmipssnn) to missionnry service in Vine- 
 land in 1121 is .1 matter of well-known rccoril, preserved in tlie archives of the Vatican. 
 
 ^^ 
 
 -B--« 
 
 Vt' 
 
i8 
 
 rut: landfai.i. ok i.kit erikson, 
 
 so many degrees of longitude, or hours and fractions, west from the Ob- 
 servatory at Grecnwicii, England : furnished with these terms and a mod- 
 ern globe, we at once find the site of the Cambridge Observatory. This 
 is an easy task. With our geograpliical situation along a nortli and south 
 ocean shore, whicli substantially replaces the longitude, we have but one 
 term — the latitude — to find. Hut the problem of the discovery by North- 
 men is one reaching back to times when there was no (Ireeinvich Obser- 
 vatory, and to people who had no written language ; who knew little or 
 nothing of the equator or of globes, and to whonj the oceanic world was 
 the North Atlantic. Even with the latitude only to ascertain, one wonders 
 how there could have been left to us a record of the discovered region that 
 might be interpreted, with precision, after nine hundred years. 
 
 Bearing upon this question, ih ;e are, in the Icelandic History of the 
 i)iscovery of America — the \'ineland Sagas — hints of the coast-line and 
 topography, of the vegetation, animal life, climate, the length of the shortest 
 day of the year, the logs of the ships, and the diaries, more or less com- 
 plete, of the chief persons connected with the Landfall and colonization nf 
 V'ineland. .All these contribute to the determination of the latitude. 
 
 Besides the writers who have found evidence of the presence of the 
 Northmen in Massachusetts and Rhnde Island, there have long been learned 
 men who held to the notion that VMneland should be sought farther north. 
 
 Of the region-- to which V'ineland has been assigned by authorities 
 that accept the fact of the discovery, but are not agreed as to its latitude, 
 the extremes are the coast of Labrador from Cape Chudleigh — the 
 entrance to Hudson's Straits — to Belle Isle, and the coast of south- 
 eastern New England. 
 
 These two regions are greatly contrasted in their topography and 
 hydrography. They are unlike in their relative maximum growth of trees 
 and shrubbery. The coast of Labrador has no beaches, no forests, — only 
 stunted birches, low pines (evergreen, coniferous trees), and shrubbery, — 
 no meadows, and little or no arable land; but it h.is bold, rocky shores, and 
 lofty mountains, and long Arctic winters, and ice-bound coasts for more 
 
^4 
 
 AND SITK OK HIS HOUSES IN VINELAND. 
 
 19 
 
 than half the year, while southeastern New England has extensive beaches, 
 forests, meadows, land that may be cultivated, low mountains only, — or 
 hills of a few hundred feet, — winters of moderate duration, and not infre- 
 quently the ground for considerable periods quite free from snow, while the 
 larger harbors are rarely frozen over. 
 
 Vegetation. 
 
 Beside these more general contrasts, there arc, or were, in the field of 
 vegetation two special ones of great significance. 
 
 In Vineland, wherever that may have been, Indian corn (maize) grew 
 
 wild, — solved itself , as the stories of the discovery (the Northern Sagas) 
 
 say. (Beamish.) 
 
 It was called "inayes, like Virginia w/irat," by Capt. Jdlin Smith, and " Indian wheat" 
 by De Soto. Indian corn {Zia Mays) is indigenous in America, and ripens under 
 favorable circiinistances. It was found here by the Spaniards : Coronado ate of it at 
 Zufti in 1 537-1 540; De Soto found it in 1541 in our present Gulf States. In south- 
 eastern New England it ripens : Champlain found it along our coast in 1604-5 ; Capt. 
 John Smith saw it growing on the islands in Hoston harbor in 1614; the Pilgrims 
 found it near Provincetown in 1620 ; Iligginson writes of its having been planted and 
 growing well in 1629, Winthrop was glad to purchase it of Indians in 1630. 
 
 In Labrador Indian corn does not ripen ; it cannot, of course, grow toild. 
 Why ? Unripe seeds do not germinate. 
 
 Again, in the Vincland of the Northmen, according to the descriptions 
 of the country given in the Sagas, f;rctpes grew ivild. and were found in 
 great abundance. Hence the name of the country, — Vineiand. 
 
 Grapes ^owW/// in southeastern New England. 
 
 Grapes do not grow in Labrador. 
 
 The first point, then, so far as vegetation is concerned, is that Labrador 
 could not have been the Vineiand wlierc forests prevailed, and where corn 
 and grapes greio ivild. 
 
 Tlie second point is, that what is now southeastern New England might 
 have held tlie Vineiand of the Northmen, so far as \.\\^ forests and grapes 
 and corn are concerned. 
 
ao 
 
 THE LANDFAI.I. OK I.KII KKIKSUN, 
 
 Climate. 
 
 On tlie subject of climate as inHucnciug vegetation there is other 
 evidence. 
 
 Opposite Greenland [th.nt is in Labrador] there are such hard frosts tliat il is 
 not habitable, so far as is known. — IcfUuuiic Sthool History; Auti</uitaits Ameri- 
 caiicc, p. 283. 
 
 What was true when this was written is scarcely less true to-day. 
 The shores of Labrador are only scantily peopled along the sea, and are 
 ice-bound far toward the s' ..son of suninu'r. In southeastern New I'-ngiand 
 some winters were so mild that cattle did not require to be housed. 
 (Vineland Sagas.) What was true of eastern Massachusetts nine hundred 
 years ago is true to-day. The winter of 18.S8-1889 was so mild that in 
 Cambridge the snow scarcely interfered with grazing, and cattle might 
 h.ivc lived in open fields upon the grass as it grew and ripened on the 
 sward. 
 
 The third point is, that Labrador, so far <is climate is concerned, 
 could not have been the X'ineland of the Sagas. 
 
 The fourth pf)int is, that so far .xs relates to climate, Vineland might 
 have been in southeastern New England. 
 
 ' The tnnsl.ition of ilic p:iss.\q;es rcLilinj to the sc.ison of winter may not be the best. One 
 cannot s.iy what the tiner shades of meaning of the Irelanclic wonts may have liccn. lint the I-aiiii 
 terms chosen liy Rafn and Peringskjdld, as equivalents, present no difTiculty Kafn gives: •• Nullis 
 incidentibus algoril)Us hicmalibiis." Peringskjold gives : •' Ncc gclu ullum liiemis essct." The phr.i.scs 
 arc equivalent to s.aying simply that " the winter wiis mil<i" 
 
 Let us glance .at historic records. 
 
 It is recorded in the diary of the A|)ostle Kliot and liis colleague Danforih as follows: 
 "1646. This year winter was one of the mildest that we ever had; no snow all winter long, no 
 sharp weather. . . . We neviT had a Imd day to ;;i>e preach to the Indians all this winter." 
 
 The winter of 1774 1775 was mild. There was plougliing. and the peach-trees were in Mossom 
 on the loth of .•Vpril. —the day of the battle of Lexington. 
 
 The mean temperature of the winters for iiinrieen years just just, a.s taken from the I'nited 
 States Signal Service Station of Boston, has been for Oecember. 30 i' Kah. ; January, 20.2i Kebruary, 
 27.7'; March, 33 7 , — an average for the four months of 29.5'. 
 
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AND SITE OK HIS HOUSES IN VINELAND. 
 
 31 
 
 Lenctii ok the Day. 
 
 Another branch of evidence is in the length of the shortest day of the 
 year in Vineland. On this the most eminent scholars have differed. Let 
 us see on what the question rests. 
 
 We are familiar with the steadily decreasing elevation of the sun at mid- 
 day as autumn advances, until about the 21st of December, when he paurss 
 and turns again to ascend. At this time our day has its least length. 
 This day, to our south, all the way to a point some 23" 28' south of the 
 equator, would be longer than it is here. North of us it would be shorter. 
 Nice observation and a little calculation would enable one to tell how far 
 north from the equator he is, if note is taken of the time between sunrise 
 and sunset of the shortest day, — the 21st of December. 
 
 Now, this observation of the length of the shortest day in Vineland, on 
 the occasion of tiieir irst visit, was made by the Northmen, but unhappily 
 in terms which by the most eminent Icelandic scholars have not been 
 interpreted alike ; as a consequence, there has not been .igrcement among 
 them as to the length of the shortest day, and of course the latitude of 
 Vineland has not been fixed from this relation. 
 
 The most important of these opinions gave six hours as the minimum 
 length of the shortest day in the year at \'inoland. and nine hours as the 
 maximum length. Intermediate lengths have been suggested, — as seven 
 h(iur> and eight, — and also an estimated length greater than nine hours. 
 Ikit it would take one too far to con>idcr more than two of these estimates. 
 1 will take that of si.x hours and that of nine hours. These days would 
 be composed each of one half on either side of midday. In one case 
 the half would h(\ three hours long, and in the other the half would be 
 four hours and a half long. In the one case the whole day between sun- 
 rise and sunset would be si.x hours, and in the other nine hours long. 
 
 The single .sentence in ttie Saga, or half sentence, on which the decision 
 of the question is balanced, is this : " The sun shines there on ey^-/ and 
 dtxgmal on the shortest day of the year." 
 
22 
 
 THE LANDKAI.I. OK I.K.IK KRIKSON, 
 
 The Other half of the sentence is: " Day and night were more nearly 
 equal in Vineland than in Greenland." This latter fragment has weight, as 
 showing the difiiculty of accepting for Vineland the shortest day as one of 
 six hours. The day and niglit, in tliat case, would tiol be more itmrly equal, 
 as the south of Greenland and the north of Vineland would be in the same 
 latitude. 
 
 The condition of the problem of the latitude of Vineland, as determined 
 by the shortest day, may be thus summed up : — 
 
 Risk, in a letter writtL-n December, 183 1, to Mr. VVhcaton, our Minister at Copen- 
 hagen, pronounced it practically impossible of solution. liishop Sveinsoii, of Skalholt, 
 did not understand it. Torf.xiis, sent to him by the Kin^; of Denmark to be in- 
 structed as to the meaning of cyktarslad and dagmalastad, at first thought the day to 
 be six hours long. I'orstcr interpreted the passage in the Saga to mean tvj;/// 
 hours, — a notion later held by Torl;eus. \'idalin, and after him I'inn Jonsson, Rafn, 
 and Finn Magnussen, held the day to be nine hours long. 
 
 This subject was discussed in the Ai)|ieiuii.\ to my .Address at the un- 
 veiling of the statue to Leif in Boston in i-SSy. My effort was needlessly 
 elaborate. I there attempted a solution of the question of the time of 
 eykt, which has been so often sought. It depended largely on whether 
 eyktarstad was a particular hour or the end of a particular hour, and was 
 practically settled when Vidalin found, in the passage in .Snorri's " Kdda," 
 that at Reykholl autumn ends and winter begins at sunset at the time 
 of eykt. Sunset is essentially a point of time, and not ar. hour: all le.xi- 
 cographers are agreed on this. The beginning of winter, at Reykholt, the 
 residence of Snorri Sturlason, where the. above observation was made, was 
 in the week including the middle of October. The point or time of eykt 
 by modern reckoning would be ascertained by a determination of the time 
 of sunset or sunrise ; they are alike equidistant from midday. They are 
 points of time, not hours. To find this the astronomer Bishop Thorlacius 
 was instructed to observe the time of sunrise und sunset at Reykholt on 
 the first Saturday occurring between the iith and the 17th of October. 
 One was found to occur at half-pa.st seven in the morning, and the other at 
 
AND SITK Ol- HIS HOUSKS IN VINELAND. 
 
 23 
 
 half-past four in tne afternoon. The one was daomalastad, the time of break- 
 fast ; the other, cyktarslad, the time of the afternoon lunch, at Reykholt. 
 
 Professor Storm has arrived at the conclusion that as the time of cykt 
 varies with the latitude in Norway, it is therefore of no value in determin- 
 ing the latitude of Vineland. Vigfusson mentions that cykt, the afternoon 
 lunch, occurs in Norway — he does not mention the degree of latitude — 
 at half-past three. At the home of Bjiirnsen, in the region of interior Nor- 
 way, Gudbrandsdal, it is now at about five o'clock. In the neighborhood 
 of Christiania it is at half-past five. The Church seems, doubtless for 
 well-considered reasons, to have tried to make cykt coincident with 7iona 
 (the ninth hour), at three o'clock. 
 
 It is n(.t remarkable that Professor Storm came to the conviction that 
 Leif's observation that on the shortest day in Vineland the sun shone on 
 tykt and dai^nia/, was of no value in determining its latitude. Hut in 
 this deduction of Professor Storm a consideration of domestic habit has 
 momentarily escaped him ; its significance will be apparent. 
 
 Of Icelandic life we have an authoritative picture in Henderson. 
 
 In 1814 ami 1S15 a Scotch gentleman, Dr. Ilcntlerson, went on horseback, at- 
 tended by an adequate escort with suitable equipment, entirely around the coast of 
 Iceland, and crossed the country in various directions four times. He liad, as a 
 scholar and philanthropist, supervised the printinj; of the Hiljlc in Icelandic, and as 
 the apjcnt of the British and Foreign Hible Society, undertaken the distribution of 
 the Hible to such families of Iicland as had not before jwssesscd it. It became his 
 duty to visit the clergy and learned men. including the officials, and also the people 
 of all ranks in their homes. This labor occupied him, except during the winter, for 
 two years. To no I'.iiglishman (M- Scotchman probably, before or since, has it been 
 possible to become better .acquainted with the general cultivation, the habits, the 
 domestic life, the inherited ways, the usages, of the Icelandic people, than he was. 
 I lis opportunities do not seem ever to have been equalled by any man of any natioii- 
 iility. die jniblished bis journal ; in that he remarks : — 
 
 " The Norwegians who first went over to Iceland were sprung from some of the most 
 distinguished f.imilies in the l.ind of their nativity. . . . Their jvedoniinant character is that 
 of unsuspecting frankness, pious contentment, and a steady liveliness of tempera?uent, com- 
 bined with a strength of Intellect and .iruteness of mind seliloin to be met with in other parts 
 of the world. Their /(//^-vi/^v, liress, and mode of h/c have then invarnil>t\ lite same during a 
 (•criihl of nine cenliiries." 
 
24 
 
 THE 1.ANUKALL OK I.EIK ERIKbON, 
 
 EvKTARSTAD and Dagmai.astad. 
 
 What do tliesc old Norse words, cyktaistad and dai^malasUui, mean? One 
 of them, the latter, is still in use in Iceland. \Vc can see its meaiiiuij without an 
 etTort. Dii<- means "day," early morninj^; mal means " meal ;" stad or lad means 
 "time" or " tide." ICarlv moriiing — meal-lime — breakfast varies, as to precisely 
 when it is served, with domestic habits and social classes ; but it is a morniug 
 
 meal. 
 
 About cyktaistad there has been a va> nount of discussion. The root of tlie 
 word is tykt. Tliis was held by a srcat authority in Icelandic mailers — I'iun 
 Ma^nussen — to mean " oiLjhlh." But Professor \'igfus.son, of O.xford, England, 
 in his " Icelandic i:)iclionary," says " lykt has noliiing to do with (///./,' the Icelan- 
 dic word for " eighth." ' Vigfusson also says : " In Norway ykt means a luncheon 
 
 ' There .1 c re.isons for hesit.iting about accepting the conclusion of Viytusson. Tiic origin of 
 this system of u! 'sions of three hours e.ich solmus ,i n.itur.il one. and of very early cl.ile 
 
 In the "Hook .jf .Sun Di.ils," Geori;e Ikll & Sons, Lontlon, 18S9, paiie iS. Introduction, the Kev. 
 D. H. H.iij;h. in a p.ipcr iKlore the Yorkshire .Archasological .Society (Journal, vol. v pait xvii ) is 
 authority for the following;; — 
 
 " The octaval .system is of very aiK'iciiI origin. We tiiid in Job xniii. S. 9, alliisiun m.ule i" a man with his 
 face toward ihe sunrising, locikin>; Ix'fore, bchiiid, to the right liand and !o the left, or, -as it is rendered by the 
 Targum. ' ri>iiiR, selling, glowin)!, hiding," corrcspDndiiiK «ith the four cardinal p<jints ; and ihc courses of the 
 day and ni,i;lit were similarly divided into four part.^. This the C'haldxans ^ulxhvidcd bv three. The four in 
 their hands Iwcanie twelve ; in those of the F.gyptians, (irecks and Romans, twentvfour. liul the .Northmen — 
 nor they alone, for the s.in)e practice h.is Iwen found to exist in parts of llindu.^tan and in llutinah — held to 
 the four great divisions of time, dividing aiui sulnlividing them .as follows : — 
 
 " I. Morgtn, sun E N. E. to E. S. E =» I eikt, or tide |()ld Engl'sh] = 2 stundr «« 4M A. M. to ^^ a. m. 
 
 " 2. D<igr, sun E. S. E. to \V. S W. = j elkts, or tides = 6 stundr »= 7'i a. m. to 4W r. M. 
 
 " 3. Afuin, sun \V. S. W to \V. N. \V. = 1 eikt, or tide =; • stundr = 4'a r. M. to 7'* I' M. 
 
 " 4. Xott, sun \V. .\. W. to E. N. E. = 3 eikts, or tides •= 6 .stundr «=■ 7!^ r. M. to jS \ m." 
 
 " .Mr. Haigh continues: '• From the hours allotte<I to Moryen anil Nott, it would seem that this 
 system took its rise in l.at. 4;'' .N., the Caucasian home of the Aryan r.ice. !i);ht and darkness bcinj; 
 at the summer solstice about lifteen and nine hours. res()ectively." 
 
 This gives a day between 7.30 a. m and 4 30 v. M of nine hours, which is the length of the 
 shortest day in the latitude of lioston. It is a piece of independent evidence of Ihe accuracy of the 
 views of Vidalin. Rafn. and Finn .Magnussen. 
 
 In Iceland and the Faroe Islands the orlaval division still exists. Sir Richard Burton, in liLs 
 ■• l,'ltima Thule." written in l.S7S tells us that day night is liivided l-y the Farriesc into eiyht, and by 
 the Icelanders into nine, watches. .Seven of the latter number three hours each, and the rem.iining 
 two an hour .md a h.df, — which practically corresponds with Ihe eight tides of the Norsemen, if the 
 subdivision of one portion lie .allowed for, while Ihe names of three divisions agree with those of the 
 .ancient d.iys. In Iceland, also, the primitive mcKle of measuring time by the sun's p.issage over 
 natural objects w.as still in vogue .as l,\te as i8i3-iSi4. when Dr. Henderson visited th.it country: 
 ' The only dial in use w.as the natural horinn of each township, divided Into eight equal parts, — by 
 mountain peaks when such were situated conveniently, ancl by pyramids of stone where natural marks 
 
mmmm. 
 
 AND SITli OF HIS HOUSES IN VINELAND. 
 
 25 
 
 taken at about half-past three o'clock in the afternoon."' The ancient Edda says 
 ^^/XV occurred at sunset at the be<,inning of winter, — the middle of October (iith- 
 ijtli)- Half-past three — if iyi-/ coincides with " sunset" — would give a day seven 
 hours long. But this sunset of the I'alda, according to astnjuomical observations 
 occurs at half-past four, which would make the day nine hours long. 
 
 It is not remarkable that a family in which was such enterprise and 
 I'ntrcpidity, not to say turbulence of spirit, as characterized Erik and his 
 fiimily, sliould have found its wav from Norway to Iceland. 
 
 Most of the emigration about the end of the nintli century, it is said, 
 was from the region about Trondhjem, and between that neighborhood 
 and the Sognefjord, wliich is in the general latitude of Greenland and lower 
 Iceland. Erik's earlier residence was in the northern part of Iceland ; but 
 he went out to Greenland from Schncfcllsnes, the southern promontory of 
 Breidafjord, not more than a degree of latitude above that of Reykholt. 
 The f/mc of o'/7, the afternoon lunch, was naturally about the same in 
 the region from which he emigrated that it was at Snorri's home. The 
 time of cyl-/ was fixed by the relative measures of day and night, the 
 climate, the requirements of their lives, and the employments of husbandry 
 in which almost the entire people passed their days. 
 
 Now, Lcif's father (Eirik Raude^ and his family resided in Iceland 
 down to 9S5. Eeif was a lad whose years, judging from his later career, 
 
 were wantiiij;- ThcF.e m irks n:»tural or .Trtitici.il, had been fixed by the first colonists, and the latter 
 b ul boon renewed and kopi in repair t'roni generation to generation.' * Twelve years before Dr Hen- 
 derson's journey, an indefatigable antiqiiariin wanderer. Arent^. visited the district of Sondfjord 
 [SoKncfjurd ?] in Norway, and h.i.s left a record of the eii;ht tides of daynight which were in ii.se among 
 the people there, and of the regulation thereof, by marks on hill and valley, so .accurately that mid- 
 day was seldom at variance with clock time. That the octaval system was still in vogue .at the time 
 of the Norman Conquest is shown by the Kirkilale dial, the most interesting and complete of all the 
 early specimens 
 
 ' That it occurs at a later hour in southern Nonvny supports the onviciion of I'roCessor .Storm 
 th.it the tune varies with the latitude lUil the l.iliinde of .\idaros. of southern Iceland, and Kriks- 
 fjiird in (Ireeidand were all included within two or three degrees. 
 
 • VigfuHson *av^: '* These (bv-ni.irk^ .ire tr.lJiti1m.1l on every farm ; AnA many of thorn, ninlcubt. flate frorti the earliest 
 Mttlcn. Amgrimsson confirms this statement. It was the imnieinurial (iractice in Norway. 
 
26 
 
 THIi LANDFALL 01" LEIK LKIKSON, 
 
 may have been twelve or fifteen at the time of tlie emigration. The 
 habits of domestic Iceland, in regard to meal-times as in re-rard to their 
 general lives, were fixed. The family after their arrival at Brattahlid. in 
 Greenland, naturally obeyed these habits, although they were somewhat 
 farther south than they had been in Iceland ; and Leif carried the liabil of 
 lunch at half-past four with him to N'ineland, — as did all his company. 
 There, to him and to them, the time of cykt was an absolutely settled thing. 
 It was the time in tlie afternoon iclun the appetite, spontaneously obeyint^ its 
 lifelong habit, demanded food. The men of his company obeyed the habit 
 in which they had been trained and to which they, like Eirik's family, had 
 been accustomed in Iceland. The defining nf the length of the shortest 
 day of the year as one including dagvial and eykt between sunrise and sun- 
 set, appealed directly and clearly to what every one knew. The Saga-men 
 who told the story of Leif's expedition aftir its nturn, at firesides and 
 gatherings for two hundred years and more, — down to the time the rela- 
 tions were committed to writing, — indicated by cykt what to us is umler- 
 stood when one says half-past four in the afternoon. 
 
 Between eykt, occurring at half-past four in the afternoon, and the 
 correspondingly distant time from midday, dagmal, occurring at half-past 
 seven in the morning, were nine liours ; from wiiu h the latitude of \'ine- 
 land has been calculated. 
 
 If one reflects for a moment, it will be seen that the time of eykt and 
 the corresponding length of the shortest day in Vineland at the last rest on 
 the astronomieal observations of Bishop Thorlacius. 
 
 The fifth point is that the place where Leif passed his winter in 
 Vineland was in iha fortv-thinl degree of north latitude, the latitude of 
 .Massachusetts Bay. 
 
 The precise latitude indicated by the shortest day of nine hours, as 
 accepted by Rafn, was 41 24 10. But the |irecessi(m of the equinoxes 
 in \W interval since Leifs time h.as been calculated (see pai)er by .Storm); 
 and it results in making the site to which Leif's ob.servation applies to 
 
HMH 
 
 ANU SlTi: Ol'" HIS HOUSES IN VINKLAND. 
 
 27 
 
 be ill 42° 21',' Tlie site of Leif's houses, as I find their traces, inde- 
 pendent of the question of the testimony of the region of tlie shortest day. 
 is in 42" 22' 30". This near coincidence is of course accidental. Without 
 watches and tiic habits that go with them, such precision is not suppos- 
 able. (The subject will be resumed further on.) 
 
 Longitude. 
 
 Whether or not we accept as conclusive the argument that the latitude 
 of Vineland is in the region of the forty-second and forty-third degrees, 
 some twelve clays' sail southwest of Greenland, there can be no doubt as to 
 the longitude, as Vineland must be on the Atlantic coast. The maps of 
 the sixteenth century uniformly give the coast in this latitude, southwest 
 of Greenland, somewhere between the"290lh and 310th meridians, counting 
 eastward from the dividing line between Sjianish and Portuguese claims as 
 zero, established by the Pope, at Fcrro, the most western of the Canaries. 
 These ancient cjegrees of longitude include the seacoast of Massachusetts, 
 lying between 70" and 71 ' west from Greenwich, of English reckoning. 
 
 TiiK Slurs' Logs. 
 
 W'e come now to the evidence of the region of Vineland as determined 
 bv what mav be called the logs of the discoverers in connection with ac- 
 cepted and well-known ancient and modern geography. 
 
 If the Northmen were ignorant of the terms "latitude" and "longi- 
 tude," they had something like an ecjuivalent for them in dirccttoii 
 and succession and sailins^ time from known points. A glance at their 
 methfxl will enable us to see the range of its service. Here is an 
 examjile of it. 
 
 In what ap])cars to be a summhry of early Icelandic school geography, 
 which it is safe to say includes only what was regarded by instructors as 
 established geographical truth, occurs the following: — 
 
 ' Corrected (or precession of the equinoxes and refrnttion, by .Mr. Geelmuyden, of Copenh.ij;en. 
 
38 
 
 THE LANDFALL OF LLIF ERIKSON, 
 
 " Now it is to he told wluit lies opposite Greenland, 
 there that it is not habitable, so far as is known." 
 
 There are such hard frosts 
 
 This gives the cliaractor of what we ixcognize as Labrador. 
 
 " South of Greenland is Hclluland ; nr.rt is Mark-land : from thime it is not far to 
 Vineland the Good" ' 
 
 This taiccs for granted that as certainly as there was a Greenland, 
 there was a Vineland. Its general direction from Greenland is given; it 
 is to the southerly, and two countries of unknown extent intervene between 
 it and Greenland. The geographical jwsition of Greenland we know. To 
 the east of it lies Iceland, defined in the old geography as Ix'ing north 
 of Ireland ; and to the east of Iceland is Norway. These three are 
 nearly along an east and west line. To the direct south of Greenland 
 there is only open sea; but at the west of south there are three projection.s, 
 — capes, or islands, or countries. Mow far from (Greenland, or how far 
 from one another these projections are, the ancient record does not tell. 
 
 Looking at our maps of to-day, we see at the southwest of Greenland in 
 succession three great projections from tlie mainland into the Atlantic, — 
 Newfoundland. Nova Scotia, and Cape Cod. Mav these be the three be 
 fore named, — Helluland, Markland. and Vineland, in the old geography.'' 
 
 These three undetermined, and the other three well known, si.x 
 
 points in all. — are on ii long, irregular curve going out from Norway 
 and Iceland westerly, and then southwesterly to V'ineland, Let us glance 
 at them side by side. 
 
 N. 
 
 In the old geography we have 
 
 Greenland, Iceland, Norway. 
 W. Ifdtuland. 
 Mtirkland. 
 Vineland. 
 
 In our modern maps we have 
 
 Greenland, Iceland, Norway. 
 Newfoundland. 
 Nova Scotia. 
 Cape Cod. 
 
 E. 
 
 ' Antiquitates Americin^r. p. 28v 
 

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 tfrom A.Frenci) map 1543 
 
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AND SIT1-: OF HIS HOUSES IN VINELAND. 
 
 29 
 
 The first three names in horizontal succession in either column are 
 the same, and well known. They bear to-day the names they bore nine 
 hundred years ago ; their latitude and longitude are well known. 
 
 The second three names in either column are borne by projections, 
 provinces, or regions lying to the southerly of Greenland. In the first 
 column they arc unknown ; in the second they are known. 
 
 Let us consider the relative distances of these projections and their 
 directions from one another in each column. 
 
 They were subjects of instruction in the schools. At Skalholt, not 
 far from the modern Reykjavik, in very early times was established one 
 of the two great institutions 
 
 of learning of Iceland. The ip . ld .. %- fiLw4>^LJfr, .itUli^r»Mt^ 
 other was at Holum. One 
 of the most learned and 
 renowned officers of instruc- 
 tion at Skalholt was Ste- 
 phanius, who, to assist in 
 teaching his classes the his- 
 tory of Icelandic discoveries, 
 prepared a map, of which 
 a copy has been preser\'ed, 
 and is herewith presented 
 to the reader. 
 
 On this we see the names 
 of the localities just men- 
 tioned as occurring in the 
 old school geography. We 
 see their conceived relative 
 positions, and their estimated relative distances apart, coinciding with 
 those in the first of the columns just presented. Norway, Iceland, and 
 Greenland arc on a line running easterly and westerly. Greenland, Hcl- 
 luland, Markland, and Vineland are on a curve, the chord of which bears 
 
 iis 
 
li . 
 
 30 
 
 THE LANDFALL OK LEIK KKIKSON, 
 
 - 1 
 
 to the west of south. We see that from Greenland to Hclluland is far- 
 ther than from the nearest point of the latter to Mari<lancl; and we also 
 see that the latitudes of Stephanius were a subject of estimate only. 
 
 This map and the extracts from the old school geography give us three 
 points, and their succession and general direction from Greenland. So far 
 there is not enough to relieve us from tlie possibility that Hclluland, Mark- 
 land, and Vineland might have been parts of Labrador. We have not 
 as yet enough to determine where the three points were, but enough to 
 show that they had a basis in trusted history. 
 
 Before turning to that, let us consider how much we still need of what 
 we have not, to enable us to determine the place of I'iiieUuid. 
 
 The Greenland of the old geography and of Stephanius's map is, as 
 already intimated, the Greenland which wc know, whose southernmost point 
 is Cape Farewell, in latitude 60" 10' N. Southwesterly from it stretches 
 tlie western Atlantic shore. On our modern maps we see precisely what 
 there is of districts, or great capes, or projections into the Atlantic along 
 this shore. About this there can be no mistake ; they stand out in marked 
 prominence. They are, as we have seen, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and 
 Cape Cod. They correspond with Helluland, Markland, and Vineland, in 
 general direction from Greenland, in succession, in number, and in relative 
 position. What more do we need to enable us to say that the two sets of 
 threes are one and the same set, and that the Cape Cod of to-day was the 
 Promontorium V'inlandia' of Stephanius ? The one thing still lacking is 
 this : We need the equivalent of the latitude of Promontorium Vinlandice. 
 We need distances in addition to directions and succession. 
 
 Happily, something of this kind has been preserved to us in the account 
 of the discovery of Vineland. 
 
 * 
 1 
 
 TiiE Logs ..\gree. 
 
 In this it is mentioned that two navigators — one sailing northeasterly 
 and ending his voyage in Greenland, and the other sailing southwesterly. 
 
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•msfmrnm^r 
 
 AND Sine OK HIS MOUSES IN VINEI.AND. 
 
 3« 
 
 going out from Greenland with purpose to reverse the voyage of the 
 first — observed tliree great projections; the second navigator verifying 
 the t)bservations of the first, and in addition giving names to the projec- 
 tions. These names were the names given in the fragment of Icelandic 
 school geography and on Stephanius's map, — Helluland, Markland, and 
 
 Vineland. 
 
 liut the history gives us more. It gives in general terms the /I'me 
 rec|uired and the direction for sailing from one poiiJ to the next and it 
 gives the appearance of the projections, — their physical and geographical 
 characteristics. 
 
 Let us apply the descriptions given in this history to these projections 
 as we know them to-day. 
 
 The first projection encountered in sailing southward from Greenland 
 — Helluland — is described by its discoverer as an island, \^re?,Qn\.\v\g flat 
 rocks at the shore where the ship touched, and behind them, in the in- 
 terior, snow-covered mountains. Being an island, it could not have been 
 Labrador. It is called Icaria on the map of the Zeni. 
 
 The j^ro;/// — Markland — is described as being zcit/iout mountains; 
 wooded, and skirted -with sand-beaches. 
 
 The ///m/— Promontorium Vinlandia> — is described as being wooded, 
 having low hills in the interior, extended sand-beaches, and figured as having 
 a bay at the west, opening out to the ocean on the north. 
 All this is from Icelandic history. 
 
 Now let us look at the geographical characteristics of what may be 
 these same projections as we know the: i to-day. 
 The //>j/ projection is Newfoundland (Helluland .'). 
 We present a photograph of the shore of Newfoundland in the neigh- 
 borhood of the most prominent salient on the east coast, — St. John's, the 
 Cape Speer (Spear) of Capt. John Rut, 1527.' In the offing an iceberg 
 looms through the fog ; there is no beach. The shore is an expansion of 
 flat rocks. In the mist one sees a bold promontory on the right. The 
 ' See letter to Henry VIII. | I'urchas, vol. lii. p- 809. 
 
j 
 
 \ 
 
 32 
 
 THE LANDl ALL OF LlilK ERIKSON, 
 
 loofathom line closely apiM-oaclies the shore.' Newfoundland is sur- 
 rounded by water. Its length on the eastern face is three hundred and 
 
 twenty miles. 
 
 In a valley in the interior not distant from St. John's (the capital and 
 seaport), trees attaining to the maximum size, indicated in the accompanying 
 photograph, are found in sheltered places. For the most part, the native 
 soil of the southeasterly portion is covered with scattered shrubbery and rank 
 grasses. Far in the interior and nearer the northwestern coast of the island 
 are forests. There are mountains in the southern part, and snow-covered 
 mountains in the northern part. The Sagas seem to make this distinction. 
 
 The sciond projection is Nova Scotia (Markland .-'). 
 
 According to the Admiralty chart of Nova Scotia and Cape Breton 
 (presented herewith), the trend of the. southern coast is E. N. Fi. and 
 W. S. \V. This coast is the lee side of the land as regards glacial move- 
 ment. Sable Island is what remains, above water, of a long moraine 
 swept by the glaciers coming from the north, — the monument of count- 
 less wrecks and their cause. Much of Nova Scotia is bordered by sand- 
 beaches and bluffs, as mentioned by Leif, which, it will be later observed, 
 are wanting on the coast of Maine, as they are on the cast coast of 
 Newfoundland. The whole region is low, wooded along the coast, and 
 without mountains. It is not an island. 
 
 The //«></ projection is Cape Cod ( Promontorinni Vinlandia>?). 
 
 This region has been elaborately survej'cd by the United States Govern- 
 ment. I present, first, a comprehensive outline of the territory of the most 
 southern of the three great projections, — extending from the mouth of the 
 Mcrrimac to, and including, the entrance to Narragansett Bay; second, a 
 detailed map of the peninsula of Cape Cod from the United States Coast 
 Survey. ■ ' ' ^ ,■ 
 
 It will be seen that Cape Cod fPromontorium Vinlandi.T ?) is bordered 
 by sand-beaches ; that it ha.s small hills in the interior, but no mountains. 
 
 > .See herewith the Ailmir.ilty (li,iri liy the great navii;.->tiir and discoverer Capt. James Conk ; 
 also chart, United States Hydrographical Bureau, is introduced later. 
 
i 
 
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I 
 
 11 
 
 AND SITE OF HIS HOUSES IN VINELAND. 
 
 33 
 
 We are, let us remcriiber, seeking now only for an equivalent of the 
 latitude. 
 
 We have found, as the result of an examination of the charts of the 
 Admiralty and United States Coast Survey and familiar modern history, 
 that the first great projection southwest of Greenland — Newfoundland — 
 is an island, and has snow-covered mountains, but no sand-beaches; that the 
 second of the great jjrojections — Nova Scotia — is girt about with sand- 
 beac/ies, and has no mountains ; and that the third of the great projections 
 — Cape Cod — is bordered with sand-beaches, and is without mountains. 
 
 We arc entirely safe in the conclusion, aside from the evidence in the 
 succession of the projections, ihat Newfoundland could not have been the 
 Vineland of the old Icelandic school geogra])hy. Why not ? Because 
 it has snow-covered mountains and no sand-beaches. F r the same reasons 
 it could not have been the Markland of the Sagas. 
 
 Vineland must then have been either Nova Scotia or Cape Cod, — both 
 of which present extended sand-beaches and no mountains. 
 
 The S.\gas. 
 
 Let us now look at the history to which we have been referring. It is 
 contained in what have been called the Vineland Sagas. 
 
 They constitute a small body of Icelandic literature that has come down 
 to us from the period of the events narrated, for a long time held in mem- 
 ory by frequent recitations, the habit of the people, and as part of a system 
 of education, and sometimes for professional .service, — transmitted from sire 
 and matron to son and daughter as fireside entertainmen*: and culture for 
 a series of generations, and then, with the introduction of the art of 
 writing, transferred to parchment.' 
 
 ' S.iga-mcn. The children of Iccl.iiid of our day (so I g.itlicr from native Icelanders) know of 
 nothing more s.irred th.in the duty of .ilisolute .iccur.icy in rcpeatini; a Saija. Rev. Dr. Henderson 
 (iSi 3-i,Si4) dwells on the intellectual accomplishments in the humlilest <if the people a.s something 
 without a parillel in his experience as a liriton This finest sense of fidelity to the text of an author 
 was in the olden time as trusted in Iceland as. .ircordinj; to Mr. Cushini.'. it is in our day in llie Priest- 
 hood of Zuni. 
 
 The decisions of the courts, the edicts of the Althing;, the chronicles of kings and people, the 
 
34 
 
 THE LANDFALL OF LLIl' KRIKSON, 
 
 The Sagas on which it is assumed this nld Icelandic geography, and 
 Stcphanius's map, and also the essential points of the earliest discovery of 
 the coast of New England rest, were preservi d in two families of distinc- 
 tion. One of them was that of Hirik Kaiide (Erik the Red), an Icelander 
 of distinction ; and the other was that of Thorfmn Karlsefni, a man of 
 wealth, and a gentleman accredited as of royal descent. 
 
 That the trustworthiness of these Sagas relating io events said to have 
 occurred nine hundred years ago should be called in question by those who 
 have not carefully studied them, is natural. Nevertheless, we may for 
 the present regard tiieir trustworthiness as potential, and takinsi; them on 
 credit, proceed on the assumption that what they promise ntixy be ful- 
 filled ; and if we should find their descriptions and predictions to be verified 
 by facts, we shall then have no doubt of the actual trustworthiness of the 
 Sagas. 
 
 The Thorfinn relations, as given in Rafn's " Antiquitates Americana'," 
 bear witness to the difficulties that have arisen to perplex translators and 
 even the earliest scribes who collected and arranged the original traditions. 
 The forms of expression in which this feeling of doubt is conveyed are 
 familiar ; such as, " They .say," or, " Some men say," or, " It is said." 
 There are, in the order of arrangement, palpable defects of sequence, — 
 much to be criticised, undoubtedly, if we were considering the relations as 
 typical models of historical writing; but as a collection of recorded verities 
 in the history of an ancient peojile, to be studied not (inly for what is 
 obvious, but for what may be foinid between the lines, they are of inesti- 
 mable value. The departure of Thorfinn's fleet from Greenland is men- 
 
 gene.ilogies and histories of f.imilies, the titles to csl.ite.s, .is helil l)y llie S.i);a-mcii. were truslcil 
 implicitly 
 
 The summ.iry of the X'incl.inii S.ii^as. as civcn liy I'crinsskjold. diffiTs so verv little from llint in the 
 " Antlquilate^ " of kafri that Lainj; remarks anil Mr. .ArngrimsMin as well ■ that both of llieni. with 
 the exception of here and there another word for the same idea, are possibly copies of .1 common orijjinal 
 by different scribes. As Mr. Ciishin); intbrms me lie has heard lontj relations of a given romance by 
 different members of the Zmli Priesthood (Saga-men), which did not differ from one another bv a word, 
 it is quite conceivable that the X'ineland .S.ii;a of ICrik Raiidc, in Peringskjohl, and that preserved in 
 the " Antiquitates " of Rafn, were written down from the lips of iliffenni Saga-men. and not improli- 
 ably .at different limes. 
 
 jSKfBiasiiS' 
 
AND SITK or HIS HOUSES IN VINELAND. 
 
 tioned at least five times. The relations differ in the kind and variety 
 of niiniitia; which they ha^c preserved. In some cases we have hearsay. 
 The relators may have been — indeed must have been — on different 
 ships ; they did not visit the same places at the same time ; there were 
 several and various accounts of the same event. But notwithstanding all 
 these drawbacks, the Sagas, closely studied, strengthen one another, and 
 clear up what are obscurities to the superficial reader. 
 
 The Sagas have been accepted as in a sense historical by scholarly 
 men, known to all as men of renown. Our ambassador to the Court of 
 the King of Denmark many years ago, — Mr. Wheaton, afterward minister 
 at Berlin, — investigated their claims, and trusted them. Humboldt inves- 
 tigated and accei)ted them. So did the geographer Kohl ; so did Kafn, the 
 Magnussens, VMgfusson, Konrad Maurer, Worsaae, Edward Everett, J. Eliot 
 Cabot, B. F. De Costa, Nordenskjold, and his Scandinavian contempora- 
 ries. They were accepted as traditions, held by men habitually truthful, 
 of events that transpired some nine hundred years ago, and which some 
 centuries later were committed to writing in the language of the relators 
 and carefully preserved to the present time. The office of Saga-man was 
 in a sense professional. 
 
 Not content with the genital conclusion to which the most learned — 
 perhaps one should say the most patient and thorough — in many fields of 
 geographical, pliilosophical, and historical research had arrived l^eforc him. 
 Prof. Gustav Storm, of the University of Christiania, with the original 
 authorities before him, made the whole field of the Vineland Sagas a 
 subject of prolonged and exhaustive analytical study.' 
 
 Professor .Storm takes exception only to some minor points. His 
 conclusions in regard to the trustworthiness of the Sagas of Eirik Raude 
 and of Thorfinn Karlscfni are in every essential jiarticular identical with 
 
 ' T'rofessor Storm li.is l)pcn enK.igcd in this study fi r m.iny ycnrs. Sume ten years ayn, lie 
 puiilislicd n (i.iper upon a snlijert of kindre<l interest. His more recent research, puMislied in 
 Coivnliajjen, I have had carefully translated into I'.nijlish by an accomplished Norwegian lady. 
 Miss !n;;e!>or;^ Ka'-miisscn, now of Milwaukee. Wis., that I nii^;lit have the latest results of scholarlv 
 research in this field. 
 
36 
 
 TUld LAN DI ALL OK LEIF ERIKSON, 
 
 
 those of Rafn, Worsaae, HuniU/Jl, Whcaton, Kolil, J. Eliot Cabot, B. F. 
 Uc Costa, and of all others, as Mr. Cabot remarks, •'competent to form 
 a judgment on them." 
 
 Professor Storm has pursued to their issues other important inquiries 
 connected with the Northmen, lie finds the story by the Prelate Adam 
 of Bremen of his interview with the King of Denmark in regard to 
 Vineland, somewhere about 1070, — once questioned, then overlooked, then 
 quite forgotten, and then taking its place in history. — to be entirely 
 trustworthy. This is the relation : — 
 
 " Besides, it was stated [by the King] that an island had been visited by many, lying 
 in that ocean, which was railed Vineland, because vines making excellent wine grew 
 there spontaneously ; cereals grew there without planting, of their own accord. This 
 we know, not from fabulous reports, but by the certain testimony of the Danes." 
 
 Professor Storm discusses the story of Ari Marson, a kinsman of 
 Erik the Red. which records a possible visit to America as early as 982 ; 
 but it is foreign to the object of this paper.' So, too, he takes up the 
 stories of Bjorn Asbrandsson and Gudleif Gudlaugsson ; but they also 
 belong to another field of inquiry. 
 
 II 
 
 Tni. Southern Limit of the Vineland of Leif. 
 
 Before turning to the language of the Sagas, one thing further may be 
 mentioned in determining the southern limit of our search for Vineland 
 as given on Stephanius's map. Stephanius says: " Beyond Promontorium 
 Viiilandix uwis a great lyulf, of li'hich not/iins; was kti07un" If Promon- 
 torium Vinlandia? was the peninsula of Cape Cod. it follows that \ineland 
 must have been north of the forty-first dec^ree. 
 
 We have the Promontorium X'inlandia-, with the bay wide-mouthed on 
 the west, open tt) the north, corresponding with the Hook of Cape Cod. 
 
 Besides this, in a relation of the Saga, which we anticipate, it is men- 
 tioned that a merchant-ship of one of the Northmen was driven on a neck 
 
 ' See also the le.irned rliscussion in great detail nf the .story of Ari Marson and (Ireat Ireland, 
 by Beauvois, at the Congre.ss of Americanistes at Nancy in 1.S75. 
 
 ik 
 
 ■A'l^Tia;!^^."^' ■iC:-i-^A: 
 
AND SITK OF HIS HOUSES IN VINEI.AND. 
 
 37 
 
 z^bife:^. 
 
 
 c'rnd broke off its keel. To repair this — that is, to renew the keel — 
 the vessel, Professor Mitchell thinks, was beached at high tide, careened, 
 and Mie work done between tides.' The construction of the hull of a 
 vessel of this period is exhibited in the drawing of the recently exhumed 
 Gokstad Viking ship, which I saw in 1880, and which has been the sub- 
 ject of an elaborate paper by M. Nicolayson, of Christiania. I add, from 
 Du Chaillu's " Viking Agi'," a cut show- 
 ing the mode of attaching the keel. 
 One sees how precisely the terms of 
 the Saga apply. The keel was not 
 merely broken, it was broken off. This 
 beaching was possible on or near the 
 
 interior shores of Cape Cod, just outside the Hook, or anywhere lower 
 down the inner shore where the tide is some ten to twelve feet, but not 
 
 possible anyivlierc south 
 of t/ic peninsula 0/ Cape 
 Cod. 
 
 Why? On Nantuc- 
 ket, opposite Buzzard's 
 May, the tides will not 
 permit it ; and on Shel- 
 Ur Island, ir ( lanliner's 
 i5ay, the mean tide is 
 less than three feet. In 
 such depth a mcrchant- 
 shi|i, with a complement 
 of thirty to forty men, and construction providing for a cargo, loulil 
 not be careened for repairs to its keel. 
 
 Profes.sor Mitchell's view, however, if accepted, confirms Stephanius, and 
 limits the southern range of our search for Vincland. 
 
 ' Tills view, so very tliouj^litful of I'rofossor Mitcliell, is open to question, li the lij;lit of .1 stone 
 tablet fonnil in .i grave across the Hay in Essex County, a /jr j/w/A- of which appears on our title 
 page, and to wliich I sh.ill Liter recur. 
 

 I 
 
 \t] 
 

 EXPEDITION OF BJARNI. 
 
 Driftino in Long Northeast Winds anu Storms and the SoirrHERLV-SErriNf; Arctic 
 
 Current.' 
 
 BjARNi.a Norwegian niercliant and ship-master, on a voyage in 985 from 
 Iceland to Greenland, had been driven in a northeast storm, accompanied 
 by fog and rain for many days, upon a low, wooded projection of the coast, 
 having here and there little hillocks in the interior. He did not land, as 
 the country did not look like Greenland, — which he had heard was a 
 region of ice-covered mountains and little vegetation, — but sailed to the 
 northeast, with a fair wind, for two days, when he came to another projec- 
 tion, also low, relatively without mountains, and wooded. Leaving this 
 second projection without landing, and with the same favoring wind, after 
 three days' sail he came on a high land, having snow-covered mountains, 
 which proved to be an island, the nearest part of which was from three 
 to four days' sail to the southwest of Greenland. After sailing three days 
 more, under stress of canvas so great as to compel him to shorten sail, 
 he reached Herjulfsncss, the residence of his father, at the southern 
 extremity of Greenland. 
 
 I liere reprociiice a part of a recent pilot-chart issued by the Government 
 IIydroi,napliic:il liiircaii, on which is given the tracks of various derelicts, and of the 
 great timher-rafl that went to pieces Dec. 18, 1887, showing the course pursued by 
 them in drifting ; and, besides these, showing the course of a buoy which broke hose 
 from ifs moorings off Cape A'lUr. and after forty-six days was captured off Nantuclcet 
 Shoals. Its course lay along, and just witliin, the margin of the Arctic current. (.See 
 arrows j Its progress may have been hastened by a northeast wind, and it may have 
 been retarded by a southwesterly wind. Hut the chances are that tlie record on the 
 chart indicates very fairly the rate of the Arctic current, as, unless the wind was exactly 
 with, or exactly in the teeth of, the course of the current, the buoy would have been 
 blown into the Gulf Stream or toward the shore. Such a current, with the addition 
 > See S.iga of T.rik the Red in tlie Appcmlix 
 
40 
 
 THE LANDFAI.I. OF LKIF F.RIKSuN. 
 
 of a northeasterly wind, Hjarni hail.' Hjarni's story determines that the land he first 
 saw after the lon<^ easterly storm — thi- same that I.eif reaches as his most southern 
 point — wtis some fourtcin days' sail, with a fair wind, southwest from Greenland. 
 
 Dr. De Costa gives — on his tracing of Hieronymus Verrazano's map, made in the 
 Vatican Library — Rio da kisses, in thi- group of thirty-eight islands which his brother 
 Giovanni counted in his voyage northwaril. Desimoni made it Caho dcs hasas in 1524. 
 Cabo de basses and />'. des basses occur also on the Uauphin map (Jomard), north of 
 Terra Nova (one of the Penobscot group), so called, 154? 
 
 The presence of this name, H. des Hasscs QlJass Harbor.'), on the maps, and of 
 other names, as of I'renchman's Bay and of Monte de Trigo* on Hieronymus X'erra- 
 
 ' In the CISC of John Kut. cited in my Address .it the unveilinj; n( tlic statue to I.cif Erik.snn. in 
 Boston, Oct. 29. 1S87. .ind quoted from in the letter found in Turcliis (vol. iii. p. 809), his ship was 
 driven by a wind from e.istnortlieast, which drove liini obliquely into the Arctic current. His ])Osition 
 at the beginniuK of the .storm w.as in 53° north ; longitude not definitely known. After some twenty 
 days he found Inmsell off Cape De li.as H.irbor (Uass Harbor, Mount Desert), twenty-five leagues 
 (Rut's estimate) north oi .St. John's Harbor (Gloucester, M.a.ss.), in the forty-third degree, according 
 to AUefonsce. from which place his letter was written. • 
 
 - Tti-jujiit, — in allusion to the ancient chariot-races. See Hakluyt Society, William Strackey. 
 Hy R. H. M.ijor. 1 add the cuts showing how the group of three peaks seems, to one sailing by, to 
 pass and be passed, as if in a race. 
 
 ?•'<< / 
 
 
 
 iLL»i<''> 
 
 r 
 
 /?^. £ 
 
 ~^*< 3. 
 
 — ^ — i f^ , ■- 
 
 
 r,> ^ 
 
AND SITli OF HIS HOUSES IN VINELAND, 
 
 41 
 
 zailo, Gastaldi, and Ruscclli, taken in connection with the presence of a Piedmont 
 pilot with Capt. John Rut on the "Mary Guilford" in 1527, — who, with several 
 sailors on shore with him, accordinj; to Ramusio, were put to death with frightful 
 torture by the Indians in this neighborhood, — lends su|)port to the notion that it 
 was Giovanni Verrazano who perished hereabout and then, and not as a pirate in 
 Spain, according to Buckingham Smith and Mr. Murphy. 
 
 Bjarni's log gives distances in nautical values. They require to be 
 translated. But as we now know tlio distance from Belle Isle to Green- 
 land, the path through which he had sailed, and the times during which he 
 sailed from point to point throughout his route, we may arrive at a rough 
 estimate of his rate. 
 
 From the most northern part, of Newfoundland to Cape Farewell is 
 about si.x hundred and ninety miles. This Bjarni sailed in three days 
 and nights, — at the rate of about two hundred and thirty miles a day, or 
 nearly ten miles an hour.' 
 
 From Cape Race to Belie Isle Bjarni sailed along the land, on the look 
 out for any indication there might be of a channel, so as to be able to 
 ascertain whether or not he was coasting an island, and therefore he did 
 not record the time. (The distance from Cape Race to Belle Isle is 
 three hundred and twenty miles.) 
 
 From Cape Sable, the low wooded land, to Cape Race, the high land of 
 snowy mountains, Bjarni consumed three days and nights. His log states 
 that " t/iey kept the sea for three days and ni_<^/its, until a fine breeze from the 
 sont/iiccst." The distance on the map, in right line, is the same from Cape 
 Sable to Cape Race that it is from Belle Isle to Cape Farewell ; and one 
 version of the log records the same time for sailing the one stretch and the 
 other. 
 
 From the southernmost land Bjarni had seen, — Promontorium Vin- 
 landia^ — the first he again saw was after sailing away two days and 
 nights, with " the land on the larboard and their s/ieet on the land side.'' 
 
 ' The S.nga tr.msl.itcd from Peringskjiilil gives the time as tour days. It will later appear that 
 three days is probably more nearly correct. 
 
43 
 
 THE 1.ANDKAIJ. OF I.KIK FRIKSON. 
 
 i 
 
 ^i I 
 
 The land and tlic slu'ct on tlic larboard side indicate a wind from the 
 southerly. Hjarni had been for many days in a frightful northeast storm 
 accompanied by fog and rain, which had driven him from the neighbor- 
 hood of Iceland through all the intervening sea — he did not know how 
 far — to the neighborhood of Promontorium V'inlandiiv.' Such a storm 
 must have had its counterpart to the far southwest. It had swept across 
 the country. Fair weather iiad followed. I he storm centre (the lowest 
 barometer) had passed to the north of him. Later tlie breeze was " fine 
 from the southwest," and later still became a gale. This summary of 
 the meteorology, to which Hjarni was a witness, is a familiar one at the 
 signal-service stations. 
 
 As a matter of course, about the time the .storm centre passed to the 
 northwest of him the wind was less strong where he was, and, as might be 
 presumed, thev were forty-eight hours in running from Promontorium Vin- 
 landi-T to Markland (on our maps from Cape Cod to Cape Sable), — about 
 two hundred and seventy-five miles, or scarcely si.\ knots an hour. 
 
 Let us now return to the equivalent of the latitude. Having the direc- 
 tions, we seek the distances. A [)art of them we know, because we know 
 that Greenland and the island to the southerly of it — Newfoundland — 
 were the Greenland and the Helluland which were familiar to Hjarni 
 and Leif. They were familiar not only to them, but to their successors. 
 Thorlacius maps them. .So do others, before Torfa-us wrote.- 
 
 The distance from Cape Race, where Hjarni, sailing to the northeast, 
 first found high mountains, to Cape Farewell (Greenland) is in hUitude 
 more 'Cn'xn four fifths of the whole distance from Promontorium Vin- 
 landicX (Cape Cod) to Greenland. 
 
 From Cape Farewell to Cape Race is, in right line, ten hundred and 
 ninety statute miles; and in degrees of latitude it is 13" 30', while from 
 Cape Race to Cape Cod it is 4" 30'. 
 
 ' See Stcplianius's .M.ip, p.ige 29. 
 
 > Sec Tidskrift. iS,S5-i886. 
 
 -^■■yjJtaiiatei^'jK^ifc^i,, , , -_ - 
 
- 
 
 Norfolk'* •" 
 
 Sch." 
 
 
 .JU 
 
 ,/ Nov.W "^'<,\. 
 
 Oct 240^- 
 
 
 Kiiv. 3 
 
 -o 
 
 N 
 
 :t.l 
 
 

 Bk.Lavar* 
 
 ■o- 
 
 Jan. 29, 
 
 
 
 Oci 
 
 ^ItaiM 
 
' '.v " 
 
 
 . f 
 
 
 's^ 
 
 \ 
 
 < 
 
 1 
 
 
 te 
 
 MriM 
 
I' ! 
 
 n imm i i ,. ^.«>».i»n^f«is.»-nii,»yj»iiy»>ji.f *,'. 
 
AND SITE OF HIS HOUSES IN VINELAND. 
 
 43 
 
 ' The trend of Nova Scotia and Cape Breton is about E. N. E. and 
 W. S. VV. ; but from Cape Sable to Cape Race it is nearer N. E. by E. ; and 
 from Cape Cod to Cape Race it is nearly N. E. 
 It may be stated thus : — 
 
 Cape Farewell is in 60° 10' Latitude, and 43° Longitude. 
 Cape Race „ 46° 40' .. - 53° 'o' „ 
 
 Cape Sable „ 43" 3o' .. -. 65= 10' 
 
 Cape Cod „ 42° lo' „ .. 70" 10 
 
 The total northing between Cape Cod and Cape Sable is only 1° 20', 
 and between Cape Cod and Cape Race 4° 3o'- But the difference in 
 longitude between Vineland (Cape Cod) and Helluland (Cape Race) is 17°. 
 
 Let us now recall the object of immediate search. It is the latitude of 
 Vineland. We have brought it down to a range of 4" 30' of latitude, — that 
 is, it is within extreme limits of about three hundred miles north and south, 
 along a northeasterly and southwesterly shore of the Atlantic. This 
 assumes for the moment that the Vineland of Leif did not extend south of 
 the elboiv of the peninsula of Cape Cod. This Stephanius said, and this 
 we have stated in passing on page 37 i but we shall later more fully see 
 the demonstration of its truth. That, and the testimony of the name 
 " Kjalarnes," and the renewal of Thorwald's keel go together. Let us 
 consider the situation anew. 
 
 Now, Bjarni was three days and nights, with a " f^ne breeze from the 
 southwest," in making the 3° lo' of latitude and 12° of longitude between 
 Cape Sable and Cape Race, — six hundred and ninety statute miles; and 
 he was two days and two nights, with a southerly (?) wind, making the 5" 
 of longitude with the i" 20' of latitude between Cape Cod and Cape 
 Sable, -two hundred and seventy-f^ve miles. Taking the latter division 
 of the voyage in reverse, Leif made it in two days, -that is, probably 
 two days and nights; as he came upon land in the early (.?) mornmg 
 (those who landed observed the dew). The times would then be prac- 
 tically identical. 
 
44 
 
 THE LANDFALL OF LEIF EklKSON, 
 
 [if 
 
 I 
 
 Leif's Exi'kdition and Lanokai I.. 
 
 Leif, having heard Hjanii's story, buys, equips, and mans his ship. He 
 touches the island Bjarni had coasted, notes the flat rocks along the shore 
 (see photograph, page 31), calls it Helluland, and sails away for Bjarni's next 
 salient, taking it in reverse. He finds the shore sandy, calls the land Mark- 
 land, and sails away for the next point. 
 
 Here is Leif's record from the time uf leaving Markland: ' — 
 
 " Leif said, ' We shall give this land a name according tt) its kind, and call it 
 Markland.' Then they hastened on board, and put to sea again, with the wind from 
 the northeast, and were out for two days until they sighted land. They sailed to the 
 countrj', and tame to <ui island that lay to the north of the mainland." 
 
 One relator says, " where they disembarked to wait for good weather." Another 
 relator says: "Walked ashore there, and looked about in tine weather. They noticed 
 that dew was on the grass, and happening to touch it with their hands and put it 
 into their mouths, i^iought they had never tasted anything so sweet." ^ 
 
 > See S.iga of Krik K,\iifle. .Appendix. 
 
 » W. W. Withcrspoon (.■\meritaii .Xmliroimloeist. vol xi. p 380), says : " Whilst travclliii); through 
 the State of Nev.idn, ... my attention was attracted to numbers of Indians, principally squaws and 
 ■ children, camped along the borders of Honey I.ak-. The shores of this lake were bordered by large 
 beds of tides, or rushes, crowin;: in the shallows. I was told that the Indians came to the lake every 
 year to gather honey-dew; and never having heard of this before. I made a hurried investigation, and 
 found the tulcs when freshly gathered to be .sparsely covered with small, clear, bright points or drops 
 of a sticky and verv sweet liquid, resembling honey in both taste and consistency. The drops in some 
 instances were a little larger than a pin's head, hut as a nile were very minute. This. I was told, was 
 the 'honey-dew ; ' and it was to gather this that the Indians were then gathering the tulcs, . . . 
 
 " 1 was informed by the white men living near Hcmcy Lake that the lake derived its name from 
 this honey-dew Whether the dew is the result of perforations in the stalks produced by insects, or is 
 ,1 deixisit made by some insect. I am unable to say." 
 
 Touching tlie last point the following observation will have weight. Driving in Lenox. Mass.. late 
 in September. 1889. I noticed the leaves on shagbark hickory-trees by the loadsidc to be apparently 
 varnished on one side. On eximination I found the substance sticky, and to be sweet to the taste. 
 The quantity that had issued was so considerable as to have dripped and stained the fence rails and 
 the ground. On some leaves there were little white crystalline scales. looking and tasting precisely 
 like cane sugar. It was palpably an exudation from the leaf. The leaves of elms were also varnished; 
 but the substance, though viscid, was bitter to the tasie The day was dull, and the season h,a<l been 
 marked by unusual rainfall. The coachman and the domestics at my house said they hai Irequently 
 observed the same phenomenon in Ireland. 
 
 I have noticed the growth of rushes in low areas alx>ut Cape Cod. and much of a long, slender- 
 leaved grass, deeply rooted in the sands : but having been accustomed to think that the sweetness 
 of the dew observed by the Northmen was another word for refreshing i)urity, very natural to men 
 who had for a long time been at sea. it had not occurred to me to look for indications of honey-dew 
 
 I 
 
 !■ 
 
 mt&m*. 
 
 SLilgMISSBg 
 
T' 
 
1. 
 
 J(J".'?"P?."*I» 
 
 TIIK 
 
 RIVER h GULF or ST LAWRENCE 
 
 .NEW FOUNDLAND.NOVASCOTIA 
 
 AM) TIIK. 
 
 UANKS \I).IA( KNT. 
 
 lUliM riiK 
 
 IIHITISII \ 
 
 llMIKM.rV KUKM M MAUINK M.iir S lOVST srl(\KYS. 
 
 (r7 f«f r '«./ J^m^tf * !«" '"J -*» '.f* 
 
 5>rw»rt ttitmir J <»m»» .CMnMaM 
 
 \» 
 
 
 
 
 ■-•ii'"" 
 
 i' 
 
 ! '/ 
 
 s.i... i*.'kf:' •: 
 
 
 ■^ 
 
 
 
 
 .,:.^^i^»M^-'f' 
 
 L"s:affiaasfes 
 
yv 
 
 
 1 ■•' t;. -^ 
 
 
 
 
 /lA fM 
 
 ■^ 
 
 
*#««W'«*«»!S!«I»W»«*! 
 
 ,.^-W!9««*i»ft>i» ■ 
 
AND SITE OF HIS HOUSKS IN VINELAND. 
 
 45 
 
 
 Having landed and observed the sweetness of the dew, they again 
 embarked. 
 
 " 'J'hen they went on board, and sailed through ' a bay that lay between the 
 island and a ness that jutted out northeastward^ from the mainland, and steered 
 . . . westward," past the ness." 
 
 The two great facts relating to the Landfall are — {\) descending from 
 the nortlieast upon an island lying to the north of the mainland; and (2) 
 its having on the west a broad bay opening out to the north. 
 
 Leif, in plain sailing to the southwest from Ncwfoimdland, could not 
 have fallen on an island on the north shore of Nova Scotia, even if he 
 might have been west of the island of Newfoundland. 
 
 Why .•' Because Prince Edward Island, or Cape Breton, or the Mag- 
 dalen Islands, would have intercepted hint. 
 
 But in sailing from Cape Race, reversing Bjarni's route, might not 
 Leif have fallen on an island on the south side of Nova Scotia? Yes. 
 But how will he, on leaving the island, as the Saga requires, sail through 
 or across a bay or sound opening outward to the north ? Look at the 
 Admiralty map; look at the chart of Stephanius; look at the sentence 
 above from the Saga ! 
 
 All the bays on the south shore of Nova Scotia which Leif could have 
 reached by sailing from Cape Race at the northeast, open to the ocean, 
 not to the north, but to the south. 
 
 On reflection it will be clear to the reader, with the maps before him, 
 that this is conclusive as to the latitude of the Landfall. It could not have 
 been on the coast of Maine, as there are no sand-beaches from Portland to 
 Frenchman's Bay; and a sandy shore is essential, though not enough of 
 itself to determine Vincland. 
 
 Had it depended alone on a belt of sandy shore or lowland, wooded, 
 and the absence of snow-covered mountains (as these qualities are common 
 to the peninsulas of Cape Cod and of Nova Scotia), the Landfall might 
 
 ' Thea- .ire oilier versions : as, " across a bay," and " into a sound." 
 " Another version is "■north." » .SVi/'/frt' westward. 
 
 H 
 
46 
 
 TUK LANDFALL OK LEIF ERIKSON, 
 
 have been on Nova Scotia, tliough Markland with ^andy shores could 
 not have been Newfoundland. Wliy ? A\:c/oii>iti,'an(/ /ms no sand-beaches. 
 But coiiiing from the northeast upon the Landfall ^t the notlh of the 
 mainland, and then sailing westward through a bay opening out to the 
 north and past a ncss jutting out from the mainland to the northeast, 
 determines the question adversely, so far as Nova Scotia is concerned. 
 
 There is a feature of the coast which may be mentioned as most inter- 
 esting and corroborative. It is that the southernmost part of Vineland on 
 Stephanius's map, in presenting a bay opening to the ocean on the north, 
 as already observed, and having a long, narrow promontory going north- 
 ward, the continuation of the mainland on the east, corresponds to Cape 
 Cod Bay, already referred to, and suggests the name which the Dutch 
 gave to Cape Cod, — Witle Moek {White Hook). 
 
 Tin; Island on wiricii the Landfall Occurred. 
 
 but it must be admitted that the island which was Lcifs Landfall is 
 not on our modern maps, nor on the map of Stephanius. Have we then 
 made a mistake, after all ? No ; the island was there. It existed down 
 to 1602. Gosnold saw it. It was there to Allefonsce in 1543, to Ruysch 
 in 1507, to Cosa in 1500, probably to the crew of John Cabot in 1497, 
 and we may add to Lcif in icxx). 
 
 It was the Kjblrnes (Kjalarncs) of Tliorwald and Thorfinn; the Coar- 
 anes of Merriam ; the Carenas of Lok ; the Cape Arenes of Thevet ; the 
 Cape de Arenas of Mercator; the C. de arena of Vallard; the C. de 
 Sablons of the Dauphin niaj); the Cap Blanc of Champlain (1605); the 
 Insel Baccalaurus of Ruysch (1507), and its equivalent, the Cape Cod of 
 Gosnold (1602), — the Cape Cod of to-day. 
 
 North End of Cape Cod an Isl.\n». 
 
 How far southwar<l might, tlie island of Leifs Landfall extend.' According to 
 Cosa, Ruysch, Allefonsce, and Gosnold, it was near the summit of the Cape. But a 
 strait may have been observed farther south. I submit — 
 
 \ 
 
 .^^MiCihi 
 
X 
 
 '^ t-«HV-''r-^':t.M 
 
 r 
 
 ik 
 
 
 mmi 
 
 ;lt 
 
 
 
 / 
 
 u 
 
 '\ 
 
 \ 
 
 M-5V 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 /" 
 
 
 
 ft 
 
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 AND S1TI-: OK Ills HOUSI.S IN VINKLAND. 
 
 47 
 
 1. Southack's map, from surveys begun in iC>i)\, and published in 1734. It 
 presents a passage across the cape, or peninsula, which Soiithack traversed in a 
 whalebdat in 1717- It is now crossed by two bridges. It liad its eastern terminus 
 in Nausel I larbor, and its western outlet is now Hoat Meadow River. Tliis passage, 
 answering to po])ular belief on the Cape, was closed in about 1740. It appears to me, 
 passing along the highway, to be filled up with blown sand, through which still creeps 
 a slender rivulet. 
 
 2. We have the map of the Dutch explorer, from surveys of Hendricxscn, in 
 1614. It shows ojjen way through Mass River on the south side to Hass Hole on the 
 north, now occupied with the river, swamps, ponds, and an area of -sand-ridges thrown 
 up by wind and water. 1 have visited the region. Through this pass the Puritan 
 Colony of i6^*<, going to Quinnipiac frf)ni Boston, afterward settling at Guilford, 
 according to tradition, jjrobably passed. It is one of the routes which it has been 
 proposed to open for a ship-canal across the peninsula of Cape Cod. This ancient 
 channel, cutting off the eastern part of the [K-ninsiiIa, made, as seems probable, the 
 great triangular Island of Louisa of X'errazano, — about the size, as he estimated, of 
 the Island of Rhodes.' The map of Ilendricxsen bears rather on the merging of 
 the numerous original more or less detached moraines into the present continuous 
 peninsula. 
 
 V We have the map of Ruysch, bearing date of 1507, produced from records by 
 Portuguese discoverers of the earlier years of the si.xtecntli century. Although a 
 little distorted, there can be no question that In. Raccalaurus was the portion of the 
 present Cape Cod within which the Pilgrims anchored in 1620, around which " the 
 Race " sweeps, and on which stands Provincetown to-day. A glance at the large and 
 detailed Coast Survey Map of Cape Cod shows the Islet Haccalaurus united by a long 
 neck, quite slender toward the south, connecting with the main peninsula near the 
 Highland Light. Il shows, loo clearly to leave a doubt, that th('re was a time when 
 the long, narrow strip of drift sand constituted a part of the body of the ancient 
 moraines at cither end. 
 
 4. A few years nearer to the time of Leif we have Cosa's map of 1500. As 
 Cosa was not on the New England shore, the portion of the map north of the West 
 Indies must have been supplied to him. As John Cabot is the only earlier navigator 
 whose sketch of the region of Ca()e Ann and Cape Cod has come down to us, it is fair 
 
 ■o^~ 
 
 ;<•.►"' 
 
 .*vi*: 
 
 
 ' 1 quote ttic followinf; froin I'lrevoort's ver.sion of \'iTr.iz,ino. p.it;p 43 : " Weijjhinfj .inclior [in 
 Itoston HarlM)r], Wf s.iilcd e.islwaril, .is the l.ind Uirneil tint w.iy, ruiinini; ci.;IUy leifjues K.imusio 
 s.iys fifty], U'c snw .ilways in siijlit of it an i^limd 01' tri.mgnlir form, (list, int ten le,ij;iies from the 
 continent, in .size like the Isl.ind of Rhodes, full of hilis. covered with trees, and thicklv inh.il)il(d, 
 [judj;iu;;j from the series of fires which we s.iw them ni.ikinjj all aloni; the shore. We baptized it with 
 the n.inie of your illustrious mother [Louisa]." V'crrazano appears, in dclerniinir.f; the lan<l at the 
 ea.stward as an island, to have passed through the channel of Hass River from Cape Cod l!ay to Vine- 
 yard Sound. This .intient strait is now larijely tilled in the central portions with blown sand. It has 
 been repc.iledly proposed to reopen the pass.agc for ship navigation. 
 
Thf, Summit ok Cai-k Cod an Island. 
 
 Allefonsce (1543) gives tlie island as the easternmost projection of 
 Terra do la Franciscane, — the Nova I'rancia ( Gallia) of V'erra/ano. 
 
 Attentive study of the charts from Cosa, Riiv>eh. and Southack, side 
 by side with the detailed Coast Survey map of Ca|)e Cod, enables one 
 to see that the navigators who furnished the originals may have found 
 
 ' John Cal)Ol in i4'*7 Sec inscription I'ii Lok s map. 
 
 \l 
 
 48 
 
 TllK LANIJIALI. OK I.KIK KKIKSON. 
 
 to infer that one of Cabot's crew shipped with Cosa ami f;avc liini tlic outline of this 
 portion ot iiis niaj). It is, naturally, out of proportion, but shows a larger and lesser 
 island at the summit of the Cape. The narrow straits, in keeping with the idea that 
 the whole region was niaiio up of islanils, were like the rest of Cosa's great maji. and 
 doubtless his own work I'he Charles (the Kio Ciranile: and the rocks and islands 
 at its mouth are there as they are on Kuysch's, and as described by Alletonsce and 
 Thevct, and as they ap|)ear on the Coast Survey Chart. 
 
 The portion of the map which 1 ascribe to the sailor, reached from Cavo do 
 V'nglaterra — Ca|)e Hritain (Hrelon), Cape Ann — to Cape Cod, the salient beyond 
 the most distant Hag, — a memory of the act of sovereignty (planting a tlag) of John 
 Cabot. It bears the Venetian and Uritish arms quartered on Humboldt's copy. See 
 Cosa's map in llumboUlt's " M.xamen Critique ;" also (Joniara and Stevens. 
 
 Near Cape Hreton is Cavo .St. Johan of Lok's map, the C. .Sainct Jean of Thevet, 
 the alternative St. Johan of Allefonsce, — the Hay of .St. John of Cajit. Jnhn Rut. 
 The site of Boston Harbor, and the rocks anil islands ne.ir its entrance, are indi- 
 cated, as is also the salient below Cohasset, — the site of the fourth tlag counting 
 from the north, — and next the (jurnet, or possibly the salient of Manomet, on which 
 is set up the fifth (lag. Against the coast between Cape Britain (Breton) and Cape 
 Cod is the recognition of the discovery of the bay,' in the inscription " M.ir descu- 
 bierta por ingleses." The fifth flag is followed by the scuyiu- nf Cape Cod Bay and 
 the islands at the northern end. The larger may represent the part of the eminence 
 behiiul I'rovincetown, and the smaller the bulbous expansion at the end of the low 
 neck which runs out from Race I'oint. See Cap de la Franci-scane, on Allefonsce's 
 map, referred to in his te.\t as C. de .N'orombergue. 
 
 If it is obvious from the detailed map of the Coast Survey that I'rovincetown was 
 once an island, it is equally obvious that r.imct River was once a i)assage through ; 
 and that this was true of Boat Meadow Creek and Bass River 
 
 Thus we see that tl;c present north end of Cape Cod may have been (in at least 
 four ways) part of an island, five hundred years after the Saga of ICrik the Red 
 required that it should be an island. 
 
 J 
 
 J 
 4 
 
AND SlTi: OK Ills HOUSES IN VINELANU 
 
 49 
 
 a channel above the Highland I.iglit, and anulhcr at I'amet River ; or, as 
 we liave seen, a clianncl may have been at Uuat Meadow River, where 
 St)Uthack went throuj^li in the whaleboat in about 1717; or at Bass River, 
 according to the tradition that one of the English ships in 1639 with 
 the colony for New Haven sailed across Cape Cod; or as making to 
 Verrazano the Island of Louisa, 1524. . . 
 
 How WAS ALL THIS PoSSIIU.E ? 
 
 To tlie geological student it is obvious, as already intimated, that the 
 whole peninsula was originally a cluster of terminal moraines, which 
 from an early period, under the influence of currents and tides and 
 winds, have been coalescing, — tlie abrasion carrying the sand and fine 
 gravel away from the parent mound in a talus along the edges of the 
 
 stream. 
 
 It will serve to make the matter more clear, if we dwell a moment 
 on the geological history of Cape Cod. 
 
 The region of the forty-fir>t, forty-second, and forty-third degrees of 
 latitude was swept by an endless succession of glaciers, each succeeding 
 the otlicr, as a general thing, leaving its terminal moraines a little less 
 advanced, — giving us tlie ridges so incomparably displayed along the 
 valley of the Charles above Waltham, through more or less of the town 
 of Plymouth, and throughout the peninsula of Cape Cod, Martha's Vine- 
 yard, Nantucket, and Long Island, New York. One sees evidence of 
 them, possibly, in the fishing-banks of to-day. To see how recently 
 some of these clianges have been made, compare the map of Captain 
 Southack with tlw Coast Survey charts, — areas that were dry at low 
 tide two hundred years ago are now at all tides under water; or com- 
 pare them with the maps of Champlain, with the salient of the shallow 
 terminating in Haturier. Currents have cut down mounds and dispersed 
 them, or have filled uj) areas of slack water with drifting sand. The 
 closing up of the mouths of harbors, and the projection of long narrow 
 
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 THE LANDFALL OF LKIF ERIKSON, 
 
 beaches are familiar phenomena. Look at the beacli that has run out be- 
 tween the current of Eel River, having its mouth ori<;inally near Chilton 
 Downs, the tide sweeping up between Manomet and Urown's so-called 
 Sunken Island. It is as wide at Cedar Point agaiii>t the Cowyard, lliree 
 miles away, as it is wiiere it si)rings from the mainland. Or, look at tiie 
 beach that unites Sacpiish Head with the Gurnet, or that leads noith- 
 west from the latter to Hrant Point. 
 
 The translation of sand by water and wind is a familiar phenomenon 
 on the south shore of Long Island, New York. Napeague Heach, near 
 the east end, is a strip, several miles wide, of sand-dunes, now uniting 
 Montauk with the portions of Long Mand farther west. The beach 
 was at one time an open strait. Indeed, the Indian name, Napeague, — 
 "divide under rcv;A-/-,"~ describes its larlier condition. West of East 
 Hampton, along the great South Hay, and farther along down to Rock- 
 away and Coney Island, beaches are continually opening and riosing, 
 vanishing and re-forming. 
 
 It is not improbable that the beach between Provincefown and the 
 Highland has been repeatedly opened and closed. Some twenty-five 
 years ago heavy storms occasionally made a breach over some jiarts of 
 the Neck; and the Ciovernmcnt, alarmed at the possibility of the isol.a- 
 tion of Provincetown, directed a line of piles to be driven where the 
 danger seemed imminent. In spite of this, great alarm was felt during 
 the winter of 1S8S-18S9, lest a break should occur. ;\ look at the 
 detailed Coast Survey map will show, near the Hii;!iland Light Life- 
 saving Station, how very narrow the beach is at the head of the swamp 
 and meadow of the little bay which was open to Cape Cod Hay be- 
 fore the breakwater tr.aversed by the railroad and highway was set up. 
 (Coast Survey, Detailed Map.) 
 
 It is not impossible that this beach, open at the time of Leif, was 
 continuous at the time of Thnrwald and Thorfinn ; .again open at the 
 time of Ruvsch, and closed toThevct; open again to Gosnold (1602), and 
 closed to Prinne and Chani])laiii and the Pilgrims. The year 1889 has 
 
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 AND SITE OF HIS HOUSES IN VINELAND. 
 
 51 
 
 witnessed such wearing away of the neck north of the Highland Light 
 Life-saving Station, that vessels outside can now see through the depression 
 the light on the point beyond Provincetown harbor. 
 
 There can be nothing violent in assuming that the In. Baccalaurus, 
 observed by the early Portuguese navigators and recorded by Ruysch, 
 was in existence at the time of Leifs Landfall. It bore the Same name 
 that it bears now, Baccalaurus, — " Cod." There is no more question of 
 this than that the region north of Pamet River was an island in earlier 
 times. 
 
 i/» 
 
 Let us now look at the detailed map of the peninsula of Cape Cod, 
 which the Office of the Coast Survey has kindly permitted me to use. 
 It enables us to realize that we have before us the portrait of a crescent- 
 shaped cluster of glacial moraines. The last glacier had melted away in 
 its seat, in Cape Cod Bay. The map shows the cliannels among these 
 ancient moraines now closed at points; filled up with wind-blown sand, 
 as at Bass Hole and Boat Meadow River; or shut in at the east end, as 
 at Pamet River, and lastly near the Highland Light, where once may 
 have been the channel that separated the island for Leifs Landfall. 
 
 From the point of the Landfall which we have now reached, the dem- 
 onstration that we stand on — Promontorium Vinlandia; — is established 
 by the doctrine of exclusions. Let us recall the argument. 
 
 TiiK Landfall. 
 
 We reduced the range of its latitude to an ocean front of three hundred 
 miles. Vincland required sand-beaches. The north part and the south 
 part. Nova Scotia and Cape Cod, had extended sand-beaches. The part 
 between — the State of Maine, like Newfoundland and Labrador farther 
 north — had no sand-beaches. Vincland must be Nova Scotia or Cape 
 Cod. It could not be Nova Scotia. Why .' Because Leif landed on the 
 southern, after two days' sail from tiie more northern, of two sandy coasts. 
 The island on which ho landed was on the north side of the mainland, 
 
 -^■^ ' i 
 
' !' 
 
 if: 
 
 52 
 
 THE LANDFALL OF LEIF ERIKSON, 
 
 at the east of a bay opening out to the ocean on the north. The ccn- 
 ditions are impossible for Nova Scotia. (Sec the Admiralty map.) 
 
 Having determined the initial point of Vineland, the remainder of 
 what is said in the Sagas may be studied as prediction, the verification 
 of which must be sought in ancient and modern maps or other records, 
 in the charts of the United States Coast Survey, in local histories, in the 
 geology and geography of the region, and in field exploration. 
 
 The discussion about the length of the shortest day as indicating the 
 latitude, takes on its proper place. So, too, I.aing's stories of the grapes 
 and of poor Tyrker, over which some conscious experts have waxed merry ; 
 the white car of the unripe Indian corn being wheat (a grain that was 
 not heard of here till Champlain brought it I; the trouble about the pro- 
 fusion of eggs of water-fowl on Monomoy, even now described by sports- 
 men in the terms employed in Thorfinn's Saga ; the pleasantry about 
 Vineland's possible extension to Africa, and the early visit to Muitra- 
 manna-land (White Man's Land) to the south, — all which may have 
 interest to j)atient students, but has little or no necessary connection 
 with the Landfall of Leif. 
 
 The sixth point is that the Sagas alone yield a demonstration that 
 Leif's Landfall was on Cape Cod. 
 
 The Vineland of Leif lay in the forty-second and forty-third degrees. 
 
 ^Lassachusctts also lies in the forty-second and forty-third degrees of 
 north latitude. Let us become familiar with its ocean front.' 
 
 ' Plwtoj^raphs of Afdfis of the A\"v Eni;/ami Coast from A. D. 1000, <rr ^v'-'c» on Sli/iluinius's 
 .\fap of 1 570, dmvn to the I 'nited States Coast Sun'ey Mop of 1K66. 
 
 StfphaniuM (i;7o) 1000 John Hoc 15S1 
 
 ]ohn Cabol (chart in I.tik's map of icS-^ . x^tyj MoUnrtix <i]obe 1592 
 
 Cca 1500 Wvttlift 1597 
 
 Kuy>ch 1507 Siilij 1598 
 
 Verrazano (MaiolIo>) 1524 Mcrmm *. f 
 
 French M.ip (The Oanphin) 1546 Cliamplain iftii 
 
 Thevct about is?6 Coast Survey 1S86 
 
 Mercator . is^g 
 
 These outlines m.ike sufficiently clear that the Rio (Innde of Ruysch. the Charles of John Smith, 
 and the Norumbega of Allefonscc ami Thevet were one and the same. I'here is on one hide of 
 
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AND SITE OK HIS HOUSES IN VINELAND. 
 
 53 
 
 Characteristics of the Region in the Latiti-de of the Forty- 
 second AND FORTY-TIIIKD UeOREES. 
 
 We have before us the region in which we are to seek for Leif's houses. 
 It embraces tlic shores of Massachusetts 13ay. It is unique in its geography 
 and geology. Its great salient, Cape Cod, is the most striking feature of 
 the Atlantic coast between Florida and Newfoundland. The peninsula 
 from Buzzard's Hay to the Race (the summit of the peninsula of Cape 
 Cod) is a collection of terminal glacial moraines, gradually wearing away 
 to constitute or to modify the banks and shoals that border the shores. 
 At Portland, within a few leagues of the northern limit of Massacliusetts, 
 sand-beaches, that have extended almost without interruption from the 
 coral reefs of Morida to that point, practically cease. Maine, Newfound- 
 land, and Labrador, at the best, i)rcsent uniformly sharp, rocky outlines 
 to the sea. Nova Scotia presents a border of sand-be"aches. The brow 
 of the one-hundred-fathom line that like a shelf, as Agassiz says,' stretch- 
 in'' from the outer banks of Newfoundland to the Straits of Florida. 
 
 the mnutli nf .-i river an Island Claudia and Cape Hrcton, and on tlie oilier Cape Cod. hearini; 
 sometimes the names that have preceded it ; and much more that will reveal itself to a student ol 
 the collection of maps. The eliief purpose in view was to show th.at there was a river having an 
 archipelago at its mouth in the forty-third deforce. 
 
 1 have also introduced several other collections of sections of maps, to save space in illustration. 
 Thcv will aid the student, and do not need to be particularizwl here. 
 
 I'hotof^niphs of Afafis hcnrinii on the presence of an amient ah alhd Xaiumlvi;a on a river of 
 the same name in the forty-third degree, showing that the name is the dialectic equivalent of 
 
 A'or'iuay. 
 
 Peter Martyr i52o-'!37 
 
 Mcrcatrir 
 
 Wvtdiet '517 
 
 Solis ■ • • 'i"'7 
 
 naiipliin >M3-'546 
 
 Thc'et '55^ 
 
 Mcrcator '5^") 
 
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 Jmlatis '5W 
 
 Pietro I'lancic 1594 
 
 I)e llry '59* 
 
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 Quadili . 1600 
 
 Hondius, Mercator ifioo 
 
 CKimplain <f'>» 
 
 Orlelius '570 
 
 .'inlij 1598 
 
 Botcro '603 
 
 > Cruises of the •' Wake." (See Hydrographic Chart of Atlantic Coast.) 
 
54 
 
 THE LANDFALL OK LF.IK KKIKSON, 
 
 comes U|) to witliiii twenty miles of the Ilij^lilaiul I-iylit on Cape Cod. 
 It seems to marl; under water, in some degree, the area of glacial in- 
 tluence. Iie)c)nd this brow sets abrujitly in the great deep of the 
 Atlantic. 
 
 Our Arctic Current, sweeping southward between the shore and the 
 western margin of the Cjulf Stream, ha.-> influenced the history of the 
 Western World scarcely less than the cod-fish, whose empire the .\rctic 
 Current shares," from its great breadth again^t northern Newfoundland to 
 its vanishing puint against Hatteras.'^ This current contributes, if it does 
 not largely provide for, a maximum rise of tide in Massachusetts Hay of 
 iVom ten to twelve feet, while immediately to its south — as on Nantucket 
 — the average tide is but little over three feet. The change in the height 
 of the tide is in keeping with a change in the temperature of the water. 
 It is cold north of Cape Cod, when it is relatively warm immediately to the 
 south. 
 
 It was tt) this promontory of Cape Cod that the Ciulf .Stream (see 
 Pilot Chart), brought navigators who had aimed to strike the coast at 
 lower latitudes. V'errazano. for example, ignorant both of the power and 
 direction of the Gulf Stream from the Straits of l-lorida, and of the 
 eastward veering of the needle on the west side of the line of no vari- 
 ation, was conducted by invisible influences to the north of his purposed 
 destination, — latitude 34" north. The master of the "Mayflower" was 
 alike the unconscious victim of the Gulf Stream and magnetic deviation.'^ 
 Kunstmann's gap, on one of his maps of the Atlantic co.ist, illustrates the 
 
 t 
 
 ' The current varies from one to two .mil .1 li.ilf milis ,in lionr, wlicrc ol)scr\ations have licen 
 nia>!e from some distance n(jrtli of lUIIe Isle. 1 North Atlantic I'ilot.) Anything more siiccitic I 
 have not {ound. 
 
 '' A buoy drifted, as related on page 39, in the outer margin of the outer current from 
 off Cape Kace to Nantucket Shoals, through twenty and a li.ilf degrees of longitude and .six 
 lUgret's of latitude, between Nov. 2, 1SS7, and Dec. 1. 18S7. (Ilydmgraphic liureau, W.tsh- 
 inglon, D.C. Sec map of lo^s <lispersed in storm, Ilvdrogr.iphlc Uurcau ) With a north 
 easterly wind. Hjirni and Capt. Jolin Kiit in.iy both have full the olTccl of the current. See i)ages 
 40-11. 
 
 ' I he late J Cirson lircvoort was. I believe, the first to recognize the intluence of the Gulf 
 Stream in the landfall of the I'ilgrims and of v'errazano. 
 
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WAS THERE A CITY OF NORUMBEGA IN THE 43d DEGREE? 
 
 PETER MARTYR. 
 
 ORBI8 TERRAE C0MPEND108A DE8CRIPTIO n 
 
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AND SITE OF HIS HOUSES IN VINELAND. 
 
 55 
 
 uniform experience. He did net sketch the coast, which it must have 
 been guess-work to do. The cajje of the Bertomens (Cape Breton = Cape 
 Ann) and the short section to the south including the river and the coast 
 immediately following show where the trustworthy cartography ceased. 
 Thus we see on many maps the Chesapeake Bay placed side by side with 
 the Bay of St. Christopher (Plymouth Harbor), the interval spanned with 
 a comma. Sebastian Cabot's map of 1544 covers it with a panther's tail. 
 Navigators had failed to reach the intervening shores ; or if they did, 
 had not found recognition. 
 
 To this Gulf Stream and the Arctic Current, as well as to the north- 
 east and southeast winds, so frequent against the great salient, and the 
 trend of the coast from the north to the pocket of Cape Cod, may have 
 been largely due, from very early days, the visits to our immediate 
 shores of the bold adventurers — the Basques and Bretons, the Portu- 
 guese and Spaniards — as well as of the navigators of England and 
 France. Did the Basques early tind the Baccalaos, and carry the name 
 to their language? Was Cape Cod — still bearing its red cedars, the 
 He arb-cs — by metathesis become Brazil, which so long held its place 
 north of the tropics? 
 
 The fragment between Cape Cod and Cape Ann — this Massachusetts 
 Bay, a crescent floating, a waif on the sea — was again and again placed 
 on charts, with little or no extension north or south ; or attached to the 
 cast coast of Asia, as on Ruysch's map. (See, for example, the maps of 
 Schoner and the Lenox Globe.) 
 
 It was the chance landfalls of the navigators tiiat revealed the presence 
 of the cod, with which, as with the stock-fish, in Icelandic and Norwegian 
 waters they were familiar; and its discovery on our shores ga\e, as we 
 have seen, the great impetus to maritime enterprise in the north Atlantic 
 in the sixteenth century. 
 
 It was mainly that they might profit by the industry of cod-fishing that 
 the Portuguese and French and English came to Massachusetts Bay. It 
 was to the circumstance of finding the cod along the Massachusetts shore, 
 
56 
 
 THE LANDFALL OF LEIF ERIKSON, 
 
 — the Bacca-loo' (the Indian name of the cod-fish) against the New-found- 
 land of John Cabot, — with their supposed coincident range, possibly more 
 than to any other one thing, that we ascribe the march of those two names, 
 Baccalaos and Newfoundland, side by sjde northward along the coast. 
 They paused awhile beyond Cape Ann (the earlier Cape Breton) with 
 the Dauphin map and Vallard, with the map of 1544 ascribed to Sebas- 
 tian Cabot, Gastaldi and RusccUi, with Merriam and Lok, against the 
 Archipelago off the coast of Maine; and then with Diego Ilomcm and 
 Mercator, carrying features of the cluster opposite the mouth of the 
 Penobscot, presented on \^errazano's map, they were largely transferred 
 to the mouth of the grcit River of Canada, of Jacques Cartier, — the 
 river St. Lawrence. 
 
 The great oceanic currents from the north nearer the shore and from 
 the south farther east, and the prevalence of long northeast storms accom- 
 panied by fog and rain, were prominent among the agencies that determined 
 Bjarni's earliest approach to Cape Cod ; they were more or less the same 
 that brought to the neighborhood of this bold projection John Cabot in 
 1497, and, as we have seen, the Bretons earlier, and the Basques possibly 
 earlier still ; and later, the Portuguese, and Verra/.ano and Thcvet, and the 
 Pilgrims. They were the same agencies that so long concealed from navi- 
 gators' all detail of the region from St. Augustine to Chatham Light, 
 
 ' See letter of Raimundus ; W'insor, vol. iii. p. 54. 
 
 lltxaa, lioiii. Ditxi. llaros. occur on ancient mnps as geojjraphiral words up and down tlie coast 
 on both siilos of North and South Aniciic.i, and on both sides of Africa The word /uuiii — coni- 
 |)Oundcd of fii/i, "water,' and iiJtid, " lanil" - is obviously aulochtlionous Wlut seem derivatives 
 enter into Kuropean langua/^os, ancient and modern. It is also Alj;on(iuiii for "sliect of still water,'' 
 surrounded more or less perfectly by Lind. /.oo is still preserved in Mic-mac for "food " (Rand's 
 Mic-mac Oiciionary) /{<ti:, it/oo is " h.\y-(ood" Tlic name of an isl.ind off the coast of Newfound- 
 land is now spelled Banalieu. The I'ortuguese (Ruysch's map) on the original " newe fonde lande" 
 (see Roll map) (first so called by Henry VII.). the coist of Mass.icluisctts, pave the .idjective 
 form as qualifying an isl.ind, - /wrc-/ liiucaljunis. The Dutch .lion;; the south shore from Point 
 Judy eastward (Juuide of Thevet) gave the form of easier ,illcranre, — Ciifulitau. The (lerman 
 his Kahi.'jttu. The Spaniard, from Don (juixole down to the bill of fare at H ivana. calls the cod- 
 fish hacalaos. 
 
 • The chart of Chaves which Oviedo saw is unhappily lost. Like th.it of Kiliero, it must, of 
 course, have had the aid of some Spanish log-books in its projection, of possible date earlier tl an 
 Verrazano. 
 
 ft 
 
 1 1 
 
f 
 
 AND SITE OF HIS HOUSES IN VINELAND. 57 
 
 finally giving it up to the enterprise of the brilliant but ill-fated Raleigh 
 
 in 
 
 "■V fc> t> " "f '" — 1 "- — - "■ 
 
 1607, and two years later to Hendrik Hudson. 
 
 Early Outlines ok Southeastern New England. 
 
 Let us glance at the coast of southeastern New England as preserved 
 to us on earlier maps. I have added (see list, pages 47-48) photographic 
 copies of fragments of a number of ancient maps, with some tracings 
 and outlines of dates spanning a period of nearly nine hundred years. 
 
 Promontorium VinlandiaL\ on the map of Stephanius of 1570, is a part 
 of the record of the Landfall of Leif, and was first seen by him in the 
 summer of 1000 a. d. 
 
 In the explanation of the map, Stephanius remarks, as translated by 
 Mr. J. Fulford Vicary, the author of "Saga Time": — 
 
 "The Geographical Society in Copenhagen have published a chart in their 
 eighth number for the year 1885-1886. The date of this chart is 1570. It is by 
 the rector of Skalholt School, Sigurd Stephanius. The chart is based on the 
 historical Sagas. 
 
 " The explanation of the chart, as given by the worthy schoolmaster, Sigurd 
 Stephanius, is literally translated. (Stii^n 7 tine, p. 197.) 
 
 A. "This is where the English have come [Cape Ann to Marblehead], and has 
 a name for barrenness, cither from sun or cold. 
 
 li. " Tliis is whore Vinland lies, which, from the abundance of useful things or 
 from the land's fruitfulncss, is called good. Our countrymen [Icelanders] have 
 thought that to the soiif/i it ends with the lui/d sea, ami that a son mi or fjoni sepa- 
 rates it from America. . . . 
 
 C. "A rocky land often referred to in histories [I lelluland = Icaria = New- 
 foundland]." 
 
 A. " This IS where the Ettj^Iish have come, and has a name for barren- 
 ness, either from sun or cohi" 
 
 Looking at the outline across from Promontorium \'inlandia\ one 
 recognizes the angles of the coast at the northern margin of Massachu- 
 .setts Hay from Marblehead Neck around Cape Ann. This includes the 
 site of the Landfall of John Cabot in 1497, the Cavo de Yngla-Terra 
 
58 
 
 THE LANDFALL OF LKIF ERIKSON, 
 
 (Enc^land^ Britain- Hrcton). the Cape Breton and St. Johan of Allc- 
 fonsco in the forty-third degree. -the modern Gloucester, the (N)oranbega 
 of Hieronymus Verra.ano's map (.5=9). and, possibly, the Normans O 
 (Island), still preserved as Norman's Woe near Norman's Cove on the local 
 
 maps of Essex County. .-.,,,, oo 
 
 The angle at A is where, in my letter to Judge Daly, March ..1885 
 
 I placed the Landfall of John Cabot in I497- , , , • . 
 
 The region occupied by the Skra-lings. in the neighborhood of which 
 according to the Sagas. Vincland is to be sought, is at h on the west 
 side of Massachusetts Bay. ., , , 
 
 No rivers are indicated on the map of Stcphanms ; but on that of 
 I ok which contains the chart of Massachvi^ctts Bay by John Cabot 
 made in .497.and on that of Cosa, .500,-which I conceive to be the work 
 of the careful sailor who made the voyage of 1497 ^vith John Cabot, and 
 afterwards shipped with Cosa (who was not personally on our coast).- we 
 have about midway of the bay. the mouth of a river confounded with a 
 channel, connected with the St. Lawrence, and making an island as it 
 also appears on Lok's map, and in it islands extending out ,nto the sea. 
 On neither of the maps is the name of the river given; but on the 
 map of Ruvsch (isoyX which includes the region from Cape Ann around 
 Cape Cod 'to Narragansett Bay. we have the river and islands at the 
 mouth, and the river called R/o Grande (R Grado, Portuguese). Alle- 
 fonsee speaks (.543^ of the region as having been discovered by the 
 
 Portuguese. , , 1 .1 
 
 Thevet gives the two names of the river which he heard, - the 
 Acrcruncia of the Iroquois and the Norombegue of the French. On Mer- 
 cator's map the name is Rio Grande, and the same on Soliss map, - on 
 both of which we have the city of Norombegue. To the same nver seem 
 to have been given various other names, including Gomez. Gamas. Gas. 
 and Guast.^ less lasting. Verra.ano i^^2^^^^ it the name Angu.lenu^ 
 the translation of the Algonquin Mis-sha-um (the great parallel-sided) 
 
 1 Gu.ist, an officer of De Mont's cxpcilition. 
 
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RELATIONS OF ALLEFONSCE TO THE T\ 
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ANU SHE OF HIS IIOUSKS IN VINKLAND. 
 
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 or Hig Eel River. On tliis river, near its mouth, is the name Norman 
 Villa. The same name is found on the river called Sole on the globe of 
 Ulpius, 1542. The river was sometimes called by the Indian descriptive 
 name Mcss-adchu-sec (great hill's mouth), as Rasles heard it; and Smith 
 gave to it the name of his I'rinci", \vhiel> it still bears, — the Charles. 
 Kohl speaks of the alternation of the names Rio Grande and Norom- 
 begiie, which, in common with Champlain and most other writers of the 
 last three centuries, he confounds with the I'enobscot, — the Pentagoet 
 of Maine. 
 
 I may refer to the accompanying collections of tracings (see page 
 48) to show these alternations, and their uniform companionship with the 
 island Claudia and what I conceive to be the outline of coast at Salem, 
 which in my paper on the Landfall of Cabot I have likened, for conveni- 
 ence and also an argument, to the capital letter M. They will leave in 
 the mind of the student no douI)t on the point. 'I'hese sheets will also 
 serve to illustrate various points to be taken up later. 
 
 The main point to be established here and by these tracings is that 
 the river midway between the Ca])c Breton of Allefonsce in the forty-third 
 degree and the Carenas of Lok, or between Cape Ann and Cape Cod, 
 having its mouth not far from Claudia, and having in and near its mouth 
 many islands and rocks, is the modern Charles, finding its mouth in 
 Boston Harbor in latitude 42 22'. 
 
 We have been conducted to the fact of landing by Lcif on the shore 
 of a lake. Let us now return to the Saga of l-irik the Red. 
 
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 SUMMARV OF BjARNl's ReTI'RN X'oVAGE. 
 
 Bjarni related ' that from the southernmost land he saw, leaving the 
 land "on the larboard with their sheet on the land side," he sailed two 
 da}S and two nights before he sighted land again. Now, assuming 
 that the point from which he sailed was Cape Cod, and that the point 
 
 ' See Appendix. 
 
fl 
 
 60 
 
 THE LANDFALL OF LEIF ERIKSON, 
 
 of land lie saw first, after sailing forty-eight hours, was Cape Sable, 
 the southwest roach of Nova Scotia, we find, estimating by the scale 
 on the map, that he had sailed about two hundred and seventy-five 
 miles. Then he sailed with "a fine breeze from the southwest for three 
 days and three nights," and "saw a third land, which was high and 
 mountainous, wich snowy mountains." (Newfoundland is mountainous in 
 the southern part, and has snow-covered mountains in the northern part.) 
 " They let the sail stand [did not shorten], and kept along the land, 
 and sazc it was an island" Then they turned from the land, and " stood 
 out to sea with the same breeze" (from the southwest). But tlie wind 
 increased, and " lijarni bade them shorten [equivalent to taking a reef], 
 and not sail more than ship and tackle could safely bear. After sailing 
 three days and nights,' they made, the fourth time, land ; and wlien they 
 asked Bjarni whether he supposed this was Greenland, he replied, ' This 
 country is most like what I have been told of Greenland. Here let us 
 make for land.' They did so, and came to the land in the evening 
 under a ncss, where they found a boat. On this ncss dwelt Bjarni's 
 father Herjulf, and from that is called Hierulfsness." 
 Let us glance again at the 
 
 SUMMARV OF THE StORV OF LlCIF. 
 
 Lcif bought Bjarni's ship. Bjarni's story was alro.uiy familiar to him. 
 Leif organized a crew of thirty-five men, and .sailed in the .spring of the 
 year 1000, reversing the track of Bjarni. in these days the story would 
 be contained in the ship's log. He touched at the point Bjarni left 
 last before reaching Hierulfsness, his father's residence. The Saga has 
 preserved the name Lcif gave, — Helluland (flat-rock land). "There 
 was no grass to be .seen ; there were large snowy mountains up the 
 country." The shores were flat. 
 
 Leif went on, still reversing Bjarni's route, till he came to the next 
 
 ' PeringskjoKI s.iys four days and nij;lit». 
 
if 
 
 AND SITK OF HIS HOUSES IN VINELAND. 
 
 6i 
 
 salient, which was, in point of attractiveness, the opposite of Helluland. 
 It was not mountainous, not rocky, not desolate, but wooded ; was skirted 
 with extensive white sand-beaches, and inviting to settlement. He landed, 
 examined, and called it Markland (woodland). He resumed the reverse 
 route of Bjarni, always with a northeast wind, and in two days came to 
 the most southerly land that Bjarni had seen. 
 
 Leif's Route from his Landfam. to the Site of his Houses. 
 
 We have followed Leif to his Landfall. We have seen that it was on 
 an island at the north end of Cape Cod, now connected with the promon- 
 tory. That this northern extremity of Cape Cod was the Kjalarnes of 
 Thorwald and Thorfinn will become clear when we turn to the Sagas 
 relating to these explorers. 
 
 It seems better to present here the different relations, or versions, or 
 English translations of the story of Leif that have been studied by me.' 
 They sometimes vary slightly fiom one another, but occasionally in a 
 most important way. I have thought to present the remainder of Leif's 
 story in sets of corresponding passages. This will enable the reader better 
 to see the field of study upon which conviction must largely rest, and per- 
 haps better enable him to understand the method of research. "v 
 Here follow, with Smith's, the corresponding passages in other versions 
 of the story before me. 
 
 Smith says ; '■ Returning to their ship, they sailed through a bay which lay 
 between the island and a promontory runninr; toward the northeast, and directing 
 their course westward, tliey passed beyond this promontory." 
 
 Deamish: ".After that they went to the ship, and sailed into a sound which lay 
 between the island and a ness [promontory] whicii ran out to the eastward of the 
 I.md, and then steered westward past the ncss." 
 
 ' I do nut (lislinnuish lietwecn different versions, diffrront relations, or different S.iga.s orTli.ieltir 
 The essential thing is to gam the pictures impressed on dilierent minds by the same olijects 
 
62 
 
 THE LANDFALL OK LKU" EKIKSON, 
 
 Dc Costa: "Then they went on boanl, aiul sailed into a sound that was between 
 the island and a ness that went out northward ixom the land, and sailed westward 
 past the ness." 
 
 yatms Eliot Cabot says, " steered westward." 
 
 II. 
 
 Smit/i : " In the bay there were shallows left of very great extent." 
 
 Btawis/i : " It was very shallow at ebb-tide, and their ship stood up so that it was 
 far to see from the ship to the water." 
 
 De Costa : " There was very shallow water at ebb-tide, so that the ship lay dry ; 
 and there was a long way between their ship and the water" 
 
 Cabot : " There were great shoals at ebb-tide, and their vessel stood up, and it was 
 far to see from the ship to the sea." 
 
 The language clearly refers to grounding in an ebb-tide in the mud. 
 If the bottom had been gravel, the ship, having a keel, would have 
 careened, not "stood up." 
 
 in." 
 
 Smith: " So great was the desire of the men to land, that without waiting for the 
 high tide to carry them nearer, they went ashore where a river poured out of a lake. 
 When the tide rose, they took their boat and rowed back to the ship, and passed first 
 up the river and then into the lake. Having cast anchor," etc. 
 
 Inamis/t: "So much did they de--ire to land, that they did not wait until the 
 water again rose under their ship, but ran at once on shore at a jjlacc where a river 
 flows out of a lake; but so soon as the waters rose up under the ship, then li>iik tiiey 
 boats and rowed to the ship, and floated it uj) the river and thence into the lake, and 
 there cast anchor." 
 
 D<- Ci'sta : " They were so desirous to get to the land that they would not wait 
 till their ship floated, but ran to the land, to a place wlicre a river comes out of a lake. 
 ,\s soon as their ship was afloat, they took to the boats, rowed to the ship, towed her 
 up the river and from thence into the lake, where they cast anchor." 
 
 Cabot : " Ilut they were so curious to fare to tlie land that they could not bear to 
 bide till the sea came under their ship, and ran ashore where a river flows out from 
 a lake. Hut when the sea came under their ship, then took they the boat and rowed 
 to the ship, and took it up into the river and then into the lake, and there cast 
 anchor." 
 
 Arng;rimsson says, "moved," or " floated," -not moved it, but uioved loil/i it, as 
 it floaud. 
 
 il 
 
AND SITE OF HIS HOUSES IN VINELAND. 
 
 63 
 
 IV. 
 
 Smit/i: "They disembarked, and erected temporary habitations. Having subse- 
 quently determined, liowcver, to remain there during the winter, they built more 
 permanent dwellings." 
 
 Beamish : " They brought up from the ship their skin cots, and made there 
 booths. After this they took counsel, and formed the resolution of remaining there 
 for the winter, and built there large houses." 
 
 Dt- Costa: "They carried their beds out of the ship, and set up their tents. 
 They resolved to put things in order for wintering there, and they erected a large 
 house." 
 
 Cabot : " Afterwards they took counsel to stay there that winter, and made there 
 great houses." 
 
 Arn^nmsson is substantially the same as De Costa. See Appendix. 
 
 V. 
 
 Smith: "Their dwellings being completed, Leif said to his companions, 'I pro- 
 pose that our numbers be divided into two companies, for I wish to explore the 
 country ; each one of these companies shall alternately remain at home and go out 
 exploring. Let the exploring party, however, never go farther than they may return 
 the same evening ; neither let them separate one from another.' It was so arranged. 
 Leif himself, on alternate days, went out exploring and remained at home." 
 
 Beamish says substantially the same. " Now they did so for a time." 
 
 Dc Costa adds: "This they continued to do for some time." He uses "fellow- 
 travellers" instead of "companions." 
 
 Cahot says : " Hut when they had ended their house-building, then said Leif to his 
 companions, ' Now let our company be divided into two parts, and the land kenned ; 
 and one half shall ken the land, and fare not further than that they may come home 
 at evening, and they shall not seiiarate.' Now so thev did one time, Leif ch;inged 
 about, so that he went with them [one day], and [the next] was at home at the 
 house." 
 
 vt 
 
 Smith: "So great was the goodness of the land that they conceived that cattle 
 would be able to find provender in winter, none of that intense cold occurring to 
 which they were accustomed in their own country, and the grass not withering 
 very much." 
 
If 
 
 64 
 
 THE LANDFALL OF LEIF ERIKSON, 
 
 neamisli : "The nature of the country was, as tlicy thought, so good tlial cattle 
 would not require house-tccding in winter, for there came no frost in winter, and little 
 did the gras> witiier then." 
 
 De Costa: "The country appeared to them of so good a kind that it would not 
 be necessary to gather fodder li.)r the cattle in winter. There was no frost in winter, 
 and the grass was not much withered." 
 
 Cabot: "There was the land so good, as it seemed to them, that no cattle would 
 want fodder for the winter. There came no frost in the winter, and little did the 
 grass fall ott then." 
 
 VII. 
 
 Smith: The equality in the length of the days vi^as greater there than in Green- 
 land or Iceland. On the shortest day the sun reniaired above the horizon from half- 
 past seven in the morning till half-past four in the afti.'rnoon. 
 
 Beamish: " Day and night were more equal than in Greenland and Iceland, for 
 on the shortest day was the sun above the horizon fron half-past seven in the forenoon 
 till hall'-past four in the afternoon." 
 
 De Costa: "Day and night were more equal thai; in Greenland and Iceland, 
 for on the shortest day the sun was in t!ic sky between tyktarstad and the 
 dat^malastaJ!' 
 
 Arngrimsson : Same as De Costa. 
 
 Cabot: "Day and night were more equal than in Greenland or Iceland; the sun 
 had there cyktarslad imA Jagmalastaii on the shortest day." 
 
 The Saga says: " Meira var thar jafndaegri en a Graenlandi edr Islandi ; sol hafd 
 thar cyktars-tad ok dagmala-stad um skamdcgi." 
 
 Literally translated, it read.s, — 
 
 " More was there equality-of-day-and-night than in Greenland or Iceland ; sun 
 have there aftcrnoon-lunch-time and breakfast -time on the shortest day." 
 
 Rafii translates the Saga into Latin as follows: — 
 
 Ibidem major, quam in Graenlandia aut Islandia, fuit dierum xqualitas ; ubi dies 
 brevissimus erat, sol ubi locum habuit (supra liorizontom fuit) ah liura ante meridiem 
 dimidiata octava, usque ad horam quintam post meridiem dimidiatam. 
 
 The mcanint; of ev^iars/ad w^^ discussed under the head of Lad/tide, 
 and will be resumed further on. 
 
 b4. 
 
AND SITE OK HIS HOUSES IN VINELAND. 
 
 65 
 
 VIII. 
 
 Sniit/t: "It happened one evening that one of the company was missint^. This 
 was Tyri<er the German. Leif felt much concern for him, . . . and went with twelve 
 others to seek the man. When they had gone but a short distance from the dwelling 
 •Tyrker met them. 'Why have you stayed out so late, friend .' ' said Leif. 'I have 
 not been much farther, . . . but I have found vines and grapes.' 'Is this true.'' said 
 Leif. ' Yes ; indeed it is,' answered he. 'I was brought up in a land where there 
 was abundance of vines and grapes." " 
 
 Bciwiisli : Substantially the same, except he says, "Why wert thou so late, my 
 fosterer .' " 
 
 Cabot says, " my fosterer." 
 
 De Costa says : " Why art thou so late, my foster-father .' " 
 
 Amgrimsson uses also the expression "foster-father." ^ 
 
 '■"'"" IX. ■'-' ' 
 
 Smith: "They passed the night in sleep. On the following morning Leif said to 
 his companions : ' There are two matters now to be attended to on alternate days, — to 
 gather grapes or cut down vines, and to fell timber with which we may load the ship.' 
 Tlic task was immo "atcly commenced. It is said that their long-boat was filled with 
 the grapes.' And now, having felled timber to load their ship, and the spring coming 
 on, they made all ready for their departure. 
 
 " Leif gave the land a name expressive of its good qualities, and called it Vineland 
 (land of wine). Tlien they put out to sea, having a fair wind, and at length came 
 within sight of Greenland and her icy mountains." 
 
 Aiugfimssou says: "A cargo of wood was hewn for the vessel.^ . . . There 
 was self-sown corn," — corn growing spontaneously. 
 
 lumnifli says : " Now was a cargo cut down for the ship ; " they saw Greenland, 
 and the "mountains below the jokelis." 
 
 ' The grapes may have dried on the vines and been calhercd in that condition, which .seems 
 more proliable ; or they may have been galherod soon after Tyrkir's surfeit, and dried l)eforc being 
 shipped in the long-boat The sm.\ll boat at the stern was ready to use for the rescue of the ship- 
 wrecked sailors on the home tiound voy.ige. We see that the vessel was a merchantman, square 
 at the stern. -—««/ a rikini; ship, sharp at both ends It had been bought of the Supercargo, 
 lijarni Herjulfson. 
 
 " " Arborcsqiie mrtsur.x," trees bearing warts, or burrs, or borls. Next to the preservation of the 
 name Kjiilr-naes in Coaranes and Carcnas. the hewing of burrs or ni.isur wood, for shipping is of the 
 first signiticance as the key to tlie story of the later \ineland. 
 
66 
 
 THE I.ANUIAI.I. OK l.I.IF EKIKSON, 
 
 Dr Cos/ii: " A cargo of wood was liewii for the vessels, . . . lands below the iie 
 mountains." 
 
 Ciihot : " Now was liown a cargo for the ship, . . . fells under the glaciers." 
 
 All say that Leif called the land Viiieland, from its products, or qualities, 
 or sort. 
 
 Summary of the Voyage from the Landfall to the Site 
 
 OK the HoiSES. 
 
 We have seen that, "returning to their ship, tlicy sailed through a bay 
 which lay between the island and a promontory running from the mainland 
 toward the northeast, and directing their course westward they passed 
 beyond this promontory." » 
 
 T/uy came across the mouth of Cape Cod B'\\ past the Ciunnt, and 
 Cohassel rocks, and into Boston Bay. 
 
 " In the bay there were groat shoals at ebb-tide, and the vessel stood up. 
 and it was far to see from the ship to the sea." 
 
 They (grounded at ebb-tide on soft bottom against Fort Point, opposite 
 Nodd/e's /stand (East Boston). 
 
 " So great was the desire of the men to go ashore, that they would not 
 wait the return of the tide, but sprang ashore and ran to the land where a 
 river flows out of a lake." ' 
 
 The mouth of the river between Fort Point and A'oddh's J stand. 
 
 " So soon as the waters rose u]) under the ship, then took they their 
 boats and rowed to the ship, and moved it up the river, and thence into the 
 lake, and there they cast anchor." 
 
 ' In one of Thorfinn's relations it is mentioned that "before the mouth of the River were grcit 
 Islands." This m.iy refer to the outer month .il N.int.isket It may have also included Noddle's 
 Island, Castle Island, Governor's Island, and many oiliers within the l)ay. 
 
 They had grounded on ehb tide (it w.is in the ncijjhborhood of half tide) ; Ihey floateil off on flood 
 tide They moved — /loaled - up the river. TliCy could not go .ashore in the lake (the Hack liay 
 and meadows) Why .' Because there was a ^nutt extent of mini on either siiie of the ihamiel 
 (See Coast Survey Chart of lioston ) 
 
 This Uack Day and meadows covered at high tide was Thorfinn's Wuyt. — the small landlocked 
 bay, salt .at tiood tide, and fresh at ebb. (Vigfusson ) See Map of Cambridge and inscriptions. 
 
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 m^ domt' fivnv the IfarroW'S.iov in i'/nnt/t>r o^f/fintf t>irn'tv7 hv it on Ifintini/'s 
 ledffe.ar ti^^ the (Tutnnd. hi ffif M/nirtot'the AifirfiHCt, the flootl ihirintf 
 . a ^rt ofifsperioti seti 6/ the Stmffmtirtl , (att in mtf .ffivntj. Ttte rtih whu'^ 
 is j6wNff, sett to the Nor^ward , and tfretfrnnv o iftnttt workno/ mtset to hraf 
 down ^teMvrrows tugaittsf an ehh eitrrenf. 
 
 v-2e 
 
 Abrevuriions iiM'd in the liolfoius of ihifi OihtI . 
 vu tbr .'Ifiiff . • sf. far SttnteJt. \ Itrlt. tvrJtnihen. 
 
 /// ^..Fine. 
 
 frs..-. fitnrse. 
 st/i. . Stirhv. 
 ^nn. . .. Stnoll . 
 
 r 
 
 25 
 
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 gr. ^. 
 
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 .S/teOs. I hu. 
 .(Srtvrd. \ifk. 
 (toy . 
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 '7 
 
 Ara. 
 
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 18 
 
 
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 Si4fh Water FiiU and lltonf/e JiOSWN U. i^ 
 
 Spring HiIm rise IhitT 
 
 JTenp do. do. ffh „ 
 I^MMv rise and fitll' ot'JtJes J(t „ 
 
 NOTE. 
 
 Sonifies Sunken Jiot^k ♦ 
 
 Jtitek n'fffirc Wolev. • 
 
 JltH'h fmn.ih . . • 
 
 ShtMl. ^^ 
 
 Fathoms. <^.) 
 
 JJte smauiiHffs within .the ttoHe»i snitiire.t 
 are oftntKmt in tiTt.t/ntse wiihonf »> ioUnmis 
 at mnm low Water. 
 
 Muov f> 
 
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 tnm Hit if ttnfi/ n'ifhin /^ itn'it-s ot'f/ie I.itfht . Jloint ^Ihrftm wiM ifteti 
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 /fttiinff it ott tfir ^fafifoavd hiuuJ^4it*^l ■.tlrer jV. K *:i Ifext ' tit/tiftf/ 
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 up Ht'fh the Jin.st fWr/ ot"' iui7it/pt Maml.hwp mitl-t-ftituuel . fimf\ii' Hf*oot 
 A'. H\hv 2forth.ifHfi/ up H'ifh JM<'A^ Mule,wJ*i4^i in tet) on thr porf imtul. 
 H7wn lo/u/Ivitruit 2ii//if heu/\r UT S. W.vttt'r Ji' 'i JV. 21, //ti/t.v, tfu' rout'jre iif 
 thett ahouf X W. ftv y. to fftf Tppet^ M<h7/4^ t/ttov. ^'aifiut/ t/u'.v 7u,\'t nturst- fAe 
 bl€U-k hif}y.v ttrt' tf/t on titt'jmrt 7umit.Uft4i r*it ou thv,xf»u7Hhirt7 hitfut .titit^^ 
 ptiMiru/ ffte hu^n oo the t^tpfrMi4i(i/f,ruoXW.h}J\\% ■titetottvoidt/te.s/ioul 
 ■Sftof ot*J::i /eef.f/u-ucf u/^out y^W.hy iV.to t/if tun'/torotff. 2/ftf siu7i»ff lirtes on 
 the chart , fnitfJi t7tp best irutn- of''t?ie AHu'n Ship /hftuo*'/. 
 
 f'e.Kvct.y 4ifrtof utort' f7ttin it or ^jt drutt . vis/titu/ /J/ tvttir />'r/ston ffttrttor 
 bv t/ie tray ot\lInuu7 Sound . utar tntnifZo/u/ Lfu/tf7 lit/7tf to fttfir S.W. h W.on 
 whii7t /H'uriuff7ttftp it,nH4l rnu tor if .unfit, ni/ftiu 's iniJt' of^tTtf J.i«/hf,ir7ufi 
 t/tf ttfUfw is a.v ti7H>vf. 71u>rf is iinofher ihann*7 fa enter ttt*^ Harttot' ffinntyh Jirvad. 
 StnoHt.tbr iftforrnatiort m rel4itLOTV fo if see stuUny lines on Chjorf 
 
 fur dimtions fo ,rail Oft t7ie Typstem or Imck vniy. see fhtirt. 
 
 Jieti(in</ into Boston Jlfu-ffor rmrk*' useot^^e t/tartnuf ffuif wi/7 be the hesf ^uiite. 
 
 To Aup FiHliennen. 
 4 tree on. Liffiejffo^ Islfuut .Jusf ot*en fo the South mud tff' I'/ J/let^on. £K/f . 
 Ufni tHreenUfhxHtt o/wu fa the^ £ushr€trd of^tfte Outer Jtretyftm^mtirTts t/te spttf 
 of^^ tiuhants on- Thieres Ledffe . Two hufs on Stony BtYU-7i,jusf open^ tfw 
 Nor^tn-m^i ot' IVantoskef Hill Outih.uud luint ou JMdoi'h's Island optn 
 toSoutii of' Inuih .nuu'lis the flounder Ground . 
 
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RIVER FLOWING THROUGH A LAKE 
 INTO THE SEA' 
 
 VINLAND OP THE NORTHMEN 
 
 CopieH cJi^der Ir^striictior^ by 
 
 Geo. DaVis, Civil Erpgii^ecr. 
 
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 Scdtie of Miles. 
 
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 » = ^IJE Of LEIf '5 )4odSE5. 
 
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 ':J3osTON 'C^ 
 
 'RIVER FLOWING THROUGH A LAKE 
 INTO THE SEA' 
 
 VINLAND OP THE NORTHMEN 
 
 6opiecl Cii^cler li^slrlictioi? by 
 
 Geo. DttVis, Civil Ei?^ii?e«r. 
 
 
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AND SITE OF HIS HOUSES IN VINELAND. 
 
 67 
 
 / 
 
 / 
 
 WM the rettirn 0/ the tide they rowed to the ship. They floated up the 
 river on the flood into the lake, and there cast anchor. 
 
 Except at high tide the vessel (it was a merchant-ship) could not enter 
 the Charles near and below che Brookline Bridge. Thorfinn states this 
 later of his vessel. 
 
 There is no practicable landing-place going up the river between the 
 Back Bay proper and Symonds's hill, near Gerry's Landing, — against the 
 foot of Appleton Street, Cambridge.' 
 
 " They brought up from the ship their skin cots, and made booths. 
 After this they took counsel together, resolved to remain for the winter, 
 and built there large houses." 
 
 THORWALD'S EXPEDITION TO VINELAND. 
 
 Exploration of Charles River westward from Leif's Houses bv Thorwald's Men. 
 
 " Now Thorwald [a. n. 1002] made ready for his voyage with thirty men, 
 after consulting with his brother Lcif. They rigged their ship and put to 
 sea. Nothing is related of this expedition until they came to Vineland, to 
 the booths put up by Leif, where they secured the ship and tackle, and 
 remained quietly all winter and lived by fishing." Thorwald mentions the 
 abundance and size of the salmon. I have a salmon-sinker of stone picked 
 up on the bank of the Charles, near the site of Leif's houses, and I have 
 seen and photographed four others found within a short distance of the 
 memorial terrace in front of Professor Longfellow's house. 
 
 " In spring Thorwald ordered the vessel to be rigged, and that some men 
 should proceed in the long-boat westward along the coast, and explore it 
 during the summer. They thought the country beautiful and well wooded, 
 the distance small between the forest and the sea, and the strand full of 
 white sand. There were also many islands and very shallow water. They 
 found no abode for man or beast ; but upon an island far toward the west 
 
 ' See map of the "river flowing through .1 lake to the sea." 
 
lit 
 
 68 
 
 THE LANDKAI.L OF LEIF ERIKSON, 
 
 they found a corn-barn constructed of wood. They found no other trace 
 of human work, and came back in autumn to Leif's houses." 
 
 This was the first exploration of Charles River by Northmen of which 
 we have record. 
 
 " They thought the country beautiful and well wooded, the distance 
 small between the forest and the sea ; '" thai is, as far as tide-water ex- 
 tended, the margin of meadow was narrow, and the upland covered with 
 beautiful forest. This very well describes the narrow strip of meadow 
 between the rise of land on either side and the immediate bank of the river, 
 as far as VVatertown, — the head of tide-water. 
 
 " The strand was white sand," as contrasted with the black mud of the 
 meadows along the margin of tide-water. " There were also many islands 
 and verj' shallow water." 
 
 There arc several islands in the expansion of the river between the 
 Arsenal and the higher lands, about a mile below the Watertown dam. 
 There are also occasional islands between Watertown and Waltliam. From 
 these to the bridge below the Boston and Albany Crossing there is the 
 group of many islands, a cluster of summits of ancient moraines against 
 Fort Norumbega. Several of these are now but three or four feet out of 
 water, as those opposite the mouth of Stony Brook. Thcu may have been 
 more before the erection of the dam of some ten feet at Waltham. There 
 are many islands above the Boston and Albany Crossing, at Wcilcslcy and 
 Needham and in Mcdway, and one in Winthroii's pond in Holliston. 
 
 The shallows alternate with still water throughout the whole distance ; 
 they are the sites for mills and manufacturing establishments along the 
 river, for some thirty miles or more. 
 
 The single wooden corn-barn observed on an island " far towards the 
 west " points to the growth of the grain, and perhaps to the prudence of 
 the natives, in securing the corn against squirrels or other rodents by a belt 
 of water. There are extensive plains in Millis and Medway and Hollis- 
 ton, along the shores of the Charles and Bogasto (Norse, Borj^ar-s/o?). 
 Throughout this plateau corn is now a regular and successful crop, and 
 
 ■■ 
 
 wm 
 
 
AND SITE OK HIS HOUSES IN VINELAND. 
 
 69 
 
 here I saw in 1889 the loft of a barn filled with cornstalks intended for 
 fodder for the cattle. 
 
 The description of the Charles River in the few sentences quoted might 
 challenge in its completeness any effort of a surveyor or engineer of to-day. 
 Thevet wrote of it as "one of the most beautiful rivers in the world." 
 To him it bore the Iroquois name of Agoncy (or Agguncia) ; and he and 
 Allefonsce knew it as the Norimbega and Norombergue, and it was known 
 before and after that as the Rio Grande, a name given by the Portuguese 
 navigators (Ruysch's map) as already mentioned. 
 
 " 
 
 Exploration of Coast Northward and Eastward from Mouth of 
 CuARLKs River, hv Thorwald. 
 
 The next summer (1004) Thorwald, with a portion of his company, in 
 the great ship coasted along the eastern shore, and in passing round the 
 land to the northward encountered a violent storm. They were driven by 
 
 f 
 
 I 
 
 the storm against a neck of land, and the keel was broken off.' Here they 
 remained for some time, whilo they renewed their keel." Then Thorwald 
 said to his companions : " Now let us fix up the old keel on this neck of 
 
 ' The accompanying cut. from Du CliaiUu's " Vikin;; Age," shows how the keel was attnched, ami 
 how it might be wrenched off, and tlie necessity of being able to get iimh-r the luill to make repairs. 
 
 ' Thorwald .and his men set up the broken keel on a sandy cape, and called it Kjihrnes; .iiul 
 Thorfinn found an old keel set up in the sand on a sandy cape. The sandy cape was not far from 
 
 ; 
 
i 
 
 70 
 
 THE LANDFALL OK LEIK ERIKSON, 
 
 land, and let us call the place Kjalarncs " ' (promontory of the keel, or keel 
 promontory). This was their first i)romontory, as vvc shall later sec, — the 
 Promontorium Vinlandia.- of Stephanius's map. 
 
 the promontory f.imili.ir to them all .is shown in the S.ig.-i, antl not far from where in turn Leif, Thor- 
 walil, 'I'horfinn, and Kreydis had dwelt in Leifs houses on the shore of a '• like throujjh which a 
 river tlowed from the land and passed into the sea." This was the Hi^p of I'horfinn, defined to be a 
 •• small l.mdloiked li.iy, salt at Hood-tide and fresh at ebb." Such a Hdp lies at the northwest of the 
 Cape Old of tiosnold, widiin a distance of forty miles. The convex coast of Furdustrand, — the 
 Tromontorium Vinlandia? of the map (jf Stephanius, with its deep bay on the west, like our Cape 
 Cod and Cape Cod l!ay. which we recoi;ni/.e to be the only great he.idland and bay on our c «ist 
 looking nortliward with clear e.vpanse to Newfoundland, will find place for discussion on other ,).ajj;es. 
 On the titlepage I have placed a picture of a legendary cut. It is of a small t.iblet, a few inches in 
 length, of which a photograph, procured by Mr. Andrew K. Ober of Hevcrly, lies before me. It 
 was taken, some years since, from a grave in Essex County, .iliout forty miles from Cape Cod across 
 .\Lissachusetts Iby ; and a sketch of it with the date has been preserved by I'rofessor I'utnam of the 
 Peabody .Museum. With it were other articles, as a circular brass shield and remair.s of an iron 
 axe. The tablet may suggest pictorially —the story of Thorwald's kcLl, with its curved end set 
 up in the sand. And with this hint one has an idea, as one studies the lines, of the method by which 
 the wrecked vessel was disjjosed in a cr.idlc and transported on a r.aihvay with skids up the slope of 
 the neck into position for repairs. 
 
 The tablet seems to suggest a considerable line of movement, and a change in its direction before 
 launching. The large Coast Survey map, assuming the wreck to have occurred on the nick between 
 the Race light and tlie bulbous end of the cape looking soutlnvard, will help the student to form a 
 conception of the course pursued in the extemporized shipyard nine hundred jears .igo. 
 
 The cut introduced from Uu Chaillu will dlustrale how the keel w.is attached. 
 
 It is not without interest that something like this picture, including especially the elevtition, and a 
 suggestion of oarsmen (the dots stand in early Icelandic for units, and here possibly for units of 
 oarsmen), exists in the centre of the inscription on Dighton Rock. This part has been pronounced by 
 
 an accomplished expert (see Schoolcraft), familiar with the meaning of Indian characters, not to be of 
 Indian oriuin, while all the rest is the work of Indians. 
 
 ' Danish. Wiicjy Swedish, «(7J/ Anglo- S.ixon, «rtf.t. .W'fj is modern English. 
 
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AND SITE OF HIS HOUSES IN VINELAND. 
 
 71 
 
 Smith says of Thorwalcl (page 112): " Having done as he desired [set up 
 the old keel], they sailed along the coast, leaving that neck to the eastward,' 
 and entered the mouths of the neighboring bays, until they came to a 
 certain promontory which was covered with wood," — the Gurnet. It was 
 larger formerly. The mass of bowlders extending out from its base show 
 that the bluff has worn away, especially on the east side. " Here they cast 
 anchor and prepared to land ; and Thorwald and all his companions went 
 on shore. Then said Thorwald, 'This is a pleasant place, and here I 
 should like to fix my habitation,' " — " my farm," Laing ; " my abode," De 
 Costa; "my dwelling," Beamish; "my dwellings," Cabot; "my home," 
 Arngrimsson. 
 
 > Over this passage much thought has been expended. lieamish snys: "After tliat they sailed 
 away around the eastern sliores of the land and into the mouths of tlie friths which Lay nearest 
 thereto, and to a point of land which stretched out and was covered all over with wood." Arnj;rims- 
 son says, "eastward off the shore." (See Appendix.) If tlie vessel .sailed around the island and 
 cape, eastward, and then southward along the east face of t'l.c peninsula of Cape Cod, it would come 
 to Nauset (Norse, A'aes j and Algonquin, et. — newt the Cape) headland and harbor and strait, open 
 to Captain SouUiack in 1717 through to Cape Cod li.ay. Il Thorwald went farther south, he would 
 cr.counlcr Point Care and I'oint Gilbert of Dr. De Costa, - and possibly more prominent at the time 
 of I.eif than at the time of Champlain, — who gave the outline of the coast and the bays. Champlain 
 encountered Indians, and had several fights wilh thcnv If this latter be the correct understanding 
 of the Sagas, the place where Thor.vald landed, admired the ncss as a possible future home, provoked 
 a battle, w.as wounded, died, and was buried, may have been in the region of Chatham, to which Thor- 
 finn came later. This does not commend itself to me 
 
 The ui.iform persuasion, in which I have shared, that Krossa-ncs (the crosses at the promon- 
 tory) was the Gurnet, was supported by the name C. St. Croix on the .nap of Vall.ird de Dieppe 
 (•543) '' 's entitled to more study. Accepting this view, it is obvious that if I.eif's Landfall co- 
 incides with Kjalarnes, Thorwald, in sailing to the westward, — that is, in leaving the neck where he 
 h.ad been wrecked, to his eastward, — did substantially what I.eif did ; that is, "he sailed through a 
 bay." He more closely followed its shores. It follows that the "certain promontory" was approached 
 by sailing, as a whole, westward. To Leif this promontory bore northwest and southeast This is the 
 second promontory observed by I.eif, by Thorwald. and by Thorfinn when he went westward to Leif's 
 houses from Kjalarnes seeking Thorhall. To Thorwald there was within this promontory a bay of 
 san<ly shores, of "shallows," in which, later, appeared an innumeratile midiitude of canoes The 
 shallows and wide beaches .at low tide are there still. 
 
 This was the beginning of the promontory of the Saga of Erik the Red, " running toward the 
 north or northeast," the promontory from beyontl which I.eif sailed weslwanl. and on which Thorwald 
 provoked tlie collision with the Skra;lings, in which he lost his life, — the Gurnet. 
 
 m 
 
^n 
 
 72 
 
 THE LANDFALL OK LEIF ERIKSON, 
 
 1^ 
 
 
 ( ! 
 
 The Gurnkt, or Krossa-nes, or Promontory of the Crosses.' 
 
 This promontory has been mentioned as the burial-place of Thorwald, 
 where he directed two crosses to be set up at his grave. It is possibly 
 recalled in the name C. St. Croix on the map of Vallard de Dieppe of 1543. 
 It is the first cape north of C. Arenas (Carenas, Lok"s map). The same 
 name also occurs with a little modification, possibly indicating that the 
 names were found, not bestowed. The name C. de la Croi.\ is also giv-cn 
 to the south side of tiie entrance to t'le Archipelago, — usually identified as 
 the Archipelago of Gomez, — or Boston Harbor.' This point is at the 
 outer mouth of the Rio de Gam.xc, — one of tlie many names of the Rio 
 Grande, — of the Anguiicme of V'errazano, th<^ Mishaum^ of the In- 
 dians, the Charles. This angle suggests the form of the cross. It bore 
 the Iroquois name of Aiayascon (the arm).* De Laet gives the same 
 meaning to the word. We have retained the name in its possible Algon- 
 quin equivalent, Nantaskct, attaching it to one part of the angle ; and 
 Hull, the luiglish name, to the other. Thevet, in his Cosmography, 
 when treating of Norumhega and Haccalaos. speaks of the islands .St. 
 Croix, which term may include both the modern Point Allcrton and 
 the Gurnet, where Thorwald was buried. 
 
 " Here they cast anchor and prepared to land ; and Thorwald and all 
 his companions went on shore. " Within this promontory was a bay having 
 a sandy shore, on which, under their overturned canoes, were Indians. 
 These were seized and killed, with the exception of one who escaped. 
 
 
 
 ' In the .iddress at tlie nnvcilinp; of the st.ituc to I.eif Erikson. 18S7. the siigKCslion i.s made 
 th.it tl-is name, like St t liristi>|ilur and San Antonio. St. John the liaptisl. I'arailisi) and Refugio. 
 Is possibly a herilaj;c from ISisliop I'psi who came here in ii;i, or from some of his siuiessors, 
 preserved liy the people of mixed descent found lure by the French. To the Church must also be 
 ascribed the names I'aradiso and Kefuj^io on the maps of (iastaldi, Ruscelli, \errairani>. I Ipius's 
 globe, and in the text of Thevet. iUino's Cluvcriiis. and ()j;ilby. (See Ilefenc es of .Norumbepa. 1891.) 
 
 ' The archipclaj;!) of Hoston H.ay and that off the coast of Maine confused the cartographers, 
 Rio Cirande appeared at sever.d points. 
 
 • Mii \ha-um, "great par.dlcl sided river;" that is, Uij; F'el. 
 
 • Thcve', Monlanus. De Lael. 
 
: 
 
 
 / 
 
 
 } 
 
ri'^'i — . — STRAUMEr 
 
 , S BAY WHERE SERVANrS WERE 
 WE: ,,,,,5.. ••SENT TO THE SOUTHWEST 
 
 \flSif<UtJfarl. ^ 
 
 lHavtor 9 ANOTHER BAY -THE ENTRANCE 
 l»l»»>.., , . . • • TO STRAUMFJORD 
 
 iURTtti 
 
 aw 
 
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 lua 
 
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 T' 
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 - -.1.1^ ajjnut»flij « 
 
 .:ib. 
 

 AND SITE OF HIS HOUSES IN VINELAND 
 
 73 
 
 " Having returned to the promontory, they looked round and saw in the 
 inner bay several elevations,, which they considered to be habitations." 
 Such or similar structures were seen in the same region, were figured by 
 Champlain six hundred years later, and indicated on maps and a globe of 
 earlier date.' " An innumerable multitude of canoes were seen approaching 
 from an inner bay, by which Thorwald's party was immediately attacked." 
 In the fight Thorwald was fatally wounded. He requested tliat lie might 
 be buried on the promontory. " Tiiere bury me," he said, " and place a 
 cross at my head, and another at my feet, and call that place for evermore 
 Krossa-nes " (Cape of Crosses). 
 
 Sailing past the Gurnet. 
 
 Careful reading will satisfy the student that it is recorded in the Sagas 
 that all except Freydis sailed past the promontory of the Gurnet, as also 
 did the unfortunate Thorhall, — the latter sailing only southward. All 
 except Freydis came to Lcif's houses. 
 
 'V i 
 
 The Significance of Carenas cannot be overestimated. 
 
 The significance of the name Carenas on the map of Michael Lok of 
 15S2, as the probable heir of Kjalarncs, the name of the cape on which 
 Thorwald's vessel was wrecked in 1004, greatly impressed me some years 
 ago, as indicating the region of Vincland. Was Carenas the spot where 
 Thorwald and his men set up in the sand the old keel that had been broken 
 off \\\\QK\ in a storm his vessel had been driven on shore? Carenas was a 
 very simple instance of metathesis : Carenas = Karanes. On another map 
 (Merriam ?) of about the same period, and nearly against the same geo- 
 graphical point, occurs P. Coaranes = Promontorium Coarancs.' (Ice- 
 
 ' l.uni^d I'lllit. on tlie m.ips of M.iiollo and Hieronymus Verr.izrino, and the glohe of Ulpius. 
 
 '■' Kjiiliiiiiis is tlie yenilive ot A'/ii/)tii\ ; A'jii/r is AVt'/, aiul Hit is iiixe. or pronioiilory. K/o/rnes 
 as iitlcrcil liv a native Irelaiidcr. anil ('otiniHfs by a Kiiro|Haii of lower latitude, differ but little 
 from catli other 
 
74 
 
 THE LANDFALL OK LEIF ERIKSON, 
 
 landers to-flay spell the name Koarancs, leaving out the o and accenting the 
 a, and giving it an accent equivalent to oa.\ There is also on the same 
 map, and next in succession against the same promontory, C. de las Arenas. 
 It is indicated both by the contour of the coast and Ny the geographical 
 names for a considerable distance on either side. In the same geo- 
 graphical order of succession on either side — that is, at I he same point — 
 there are on maps of earlier and later date C. des Sablons (1543), C. de 
 arenes (1556), C. de arenas (1569), C. de Arena, — all of the sixteenth cen- 
 tury, and the Cape Cod of Gosnold in 1602, and C. Blanc in 1604 of 
 Champlain. It is impossible to escape the conviction that they all be- 
 long to and qualify points on, or very near, the same geographical salient 
 looking northward at the southern limit from the forty-third degree. This 
 is our Cape Cod. 
 
 How obvious is the thread of white sand running through these names 
 from the Kjolrnes of icxx) to the Cap Hlanc of 1604-1612-1632 ! The 
 promontory to which it applies is stamped on the map of Stcphanius, 
 deduced mainly from the Vineland Sagas, and continued down to the 
 Coast Survey map of to-day. 
 
 T 
 
mm 
 
 
 r.--i'. - 
 
 R.„s o. EK.K-S HO.SH w..nKB T.„.K,,.. .M> C;unK„> W.KH M.KK,.,. (l.o. Second Oe.n,a„ Nor.,. 
 Pole Expedition, damn, Vuc^cry 0/ .Immm). 
 
 SKETCH 
 
 OF 
 
 THE THORFINN EXPEDITION TO VINELAND. 
 
 T N tliis enterprise three or more ships took part, and altogether not 
 A less than one hundred and sixty persons, of whom at least seven 
 were women. They were provided with supplies of cattle a.^d whatever 
 else mi^'ht be needed for settlement in a new country. 
 
 Tho^'rfinn Karlsefni, with his wife Gudrid and their companions, 
 embarked on the ship in which Thorf^nn came to Greenland the year 
 before Snorri Thorl)randson went with liis own ship and company. 
 Bj.rni Grimolfson and Thorhall Gamlason sailed in the ship that brought 
 Tliorbiorn to Greenland. Among the women besides Gudnd. the wife of 
 Thorfinn, was Freydis, the half-sister of Lief, the wife of Thorvard. 
 
 These vessels sailed southwest from Eiriksfjord,^ Greenland, in the 
 sprin.^ of .007, and arrived in the neighborhood of Boston in the latter 
 part of May, soon after the time of corn-planting,- the spawning-season; 
 that is, the time when tlie f^sh go up the rivers and smaller sti-eams, to 
 
 . The modern Igaliko Kjord See NordenskjoWs Den andra Dicksonska expedition en till 
 Gri5nl.ind. 
 
76 
 
 THE LANDFALL OF LKIF ERIKSON, 
 
 il i 
 
 deposit their spawn where their eggs have greater chance of protection 
 at the time of hatching. 
 
 The fleet — pcrliaps not Including Tliorliall's ship — remained in 
 port for two months, during whicli time Leif's houses, lent to Tliorfinn 
 were surrounded by a stockade for the greater safety of Gudrid and 
 her housi'hold. Here Ciudrid and Hjarni and a iiundrcd men remained; 
 while 'Jhr^rfinn and Thorhall, witli two vessels, went southeastward to 
 Kjalarncs and Straumfjord (Cape Cod and Ciiatham). Corn was now 
 in I'le ear. After a short stay, Thorliall, who desired to explore 
 Vineland, sailed northward round the outside of tlic cape, hut when he 
 turned westward was blown out to sea and lost. Thorfinn went to seek 
 him; but nut finding him after long search, returned to the site of 
 Leif's houses. Let us proceed more in detail. 
 
 The events of the Thorfinn -Sagas grouj) themselves under two heads. 
 
 Under the first head fall the discovery of tiic two harbors on the 
 outside of Cape Cod; the three days" tour of the Irish* servants; the 
 story of the long narrow island of Straumey, of which the present Mo- 
 nomoy is the southern extension ; the story of the narrow strait (Straum- 
 fjord) between the Straumey and the mainland at Chatham, of the count- 
 less ducks' eggs, and of the Wunderstrand (or the I-'urdustrand, so 
 called), the convex sandy shore, — so wearisome is the pursuit of a 
 vanishing horizon, along a cur\e of constantly increasing radius, to Nau- 
 set Harbor!^ 
 
 ' Irisli anil Scot were tlic s.ntne. 
 
 - Tliortinn's S.i;;a mentions going south along tlic I'unlnslr.iml, anil s.iys it was uvniliijul, 
 iH'caiise it seemed si> Umi; to sail p.ist it. It was curved. 
 
 The .Saga says, "TliiKi; m.(MN to ii|- <<)Vks." A glance at the det.iiled (.'oast .Survey map 
 of Cape Co<l peninsula will reve.il the condition that tnu>t have prevailed. In still e.iilier times the 
 whole salient was a cluster of detached niornines. These gridu dly coabsced under the influences 
 of winds, waves, tides, and the .Arctic current. Once I'.imet Kivcr must have been a str.dt. The 
 eastern end of the v.dity must have been open to the sea The swamps and ponds farther south 
 with scattered dunes show that there were numerous coves between I'amct River and the |ircscnt 
 entrance to Nauset HarUir. Champlain s maps and (losnold's rel.itions. to which Hr. Oe Costa has 
 called attention, show that the present prolon;;ed continuous be.ach is relativily modern. It is 
 obvious that there must h.ivc been coves in Thorfinn's time. 
 

 
 
 
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 [^■- - 
 
 
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Ruysch, 1507. 
 
 
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 Tracing of Wm. de Testie, by Rev. Dr. de Costa 
 
 
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 1580. 
 
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 John Dee, 1580 
 
 Solis, 1598. 
 
 C31 
 
 Mernam 1 
 
 From the Molineaux Globe, 1592. 
 
 
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 AND SITE OF HIS HOUSES IN VINELAND. 
 
 77 
 
 Under the second head falls the determination of the site of Leif's 
 
 houses. , . , 
 
 The vessel in which Gudrid sailed with Thorfinn Karlscfni, her hus- 
 band, carried sixty men and five women. They sailed long, until they 
 came to a river which flowed through a lake and passed into the sea. 
 Before the mouth of the river were great islands. They passed up into 
 the lake. Karlsefni sailed through the lake as far as the mouth of the 
 river (above), and called the place Hdp. They found sandy shoals there, 
 so that they could not pass up the river except at high tide. Having 
 entered its mouth, they cast anchor, and took possession of Leif's houses, 
 l-inding thoir cattle and stores. The other vessels probably stopped fcr 
 a time in the neighborhood, possibly at anchor in Boston Harbor or in 
 
 the Hack Hay. 
 
 They had arrived at Vincland possibly in May or early June (the time 
 of early corn-plants), and had remained licre some two months, erecting 
 additional houses. - some nearer, others farther from the water, - and 
 enclosed some of them in a stockade. It was here (later) that Snorr. 
 (son of -Iliorfinn and Gudrid) was born. They observed Indian corn, 
 new/y sown, — that is, when the recently planted corn had just appeared 
 above the ground, and was of course without tassels or ears, — growing 
 wild on lowlands; and vinos (the Saga does not say j^w/w; it was too 
 early) on the uplands. Fish were found in all the rivers. They dug 
 pits for them at the margin of extreme high tide, and where the land 
 was highest, to catch them in the spawning-season. 
 
 EXPKDITION TO StRAUMFJORD. 
 
 Some two months after arriving in Vineland, two vessels at least — one 
 under Thorhall, and the other having Thorfinn on board — sailed away 
 around Cohasset and along the Scituatc beach, and across the mouth of 
 Cape Cod Bay to Kjalarnes, where, leaving on their right the old keel 
 set up by Thorwald, they sailed along the outer, convex shore of Cape 
 Cod, wondering at the retreat of the horizon as they went southward. 
 
 1/ 
 
 k 
 
I 
 
 i 
 
 78 
 
 THE LANDFALL OF LEIF KRIKSON, 
 
 Thoifinn gave to it the descriptive name of " Wiinderstrand," or " Pur- 
 dustrand." At length they came to where the .shore was indented 
 with coves.' Here they anchored, and sent out two Scotch servants," 
 directing them to run for three days to tlie southwest, and report what 
 tiiey saw. On their return one brought a bunch of grapes, and tlie other 
 a white ear-of-corn. Two months before, they had seen corn in an 
 earlier stage (recently planted), and vines, 7iot grapes. Now they saw corn 
 white in the ear,^ and the fruit of the vine, — a bunch of, grapes. (Both 
 were unripe.) 
 
 Thorhall and Thorfinn f iled farther, coming to another bay. Against 
 it was an island, which Thorfinn described as the resort, at nesting-time, 
 of innumerable sca-fowI, and called it Straumey, — Straumo. They 
 steered the ship into a long bay between tlie i.sland and the mainland. 
 The island was narrow and long, having little or no indentations, as may 
 be inferred, since the explorers could at the same time observe the strong 
 tide on the outside of the island and that in the channel between the 
 island and the mainland. This was the Straumfjord. Thorfinn described 
 the long bay, or channel, in the name " Straumfjord." It lay again.st the 
 present Chatham ; it lies there now. This was the limit of Thorfinn's 
 explorations to the south. Stephanius says the Northmen did not go 
 south of Proniontorium Vinlandia' (Cape Cod, the Peninsula). 
 
 Thorhall, weary of the hard fare, and desiring to go back and ^xplore 
 Vincland, sailed northward along the conve.v beach of Furdustrand, or 
 Wundcrstrand, round Kjalarne> (the Cape of the Keel), and would have 
 sailed westward to Vincland, but was blown out to sea. He had with 
 him nine men, all the others preferring to stay with Thorfinn. 
 
 ' Cliinipl,\in. in 1604-5, observed b.iys and figured lliem. Tlie expression " indented with coves" 
 ni:iy rclcr to tlie condition of tl):n;;s before the n, >r,imes li.^d co.ilesced to their present slate. 
 
 ' Monomoy .ind Nauset beach (Straumey) filfil the requirements of the Saj;a as to the flocks 
 of birds and Iheir nesting. Nauset lulfils the needs of the country into whicli the Scotch 
 servants were sent, to run to the .southwest and return within three days. Old Chatham Harbor, 
 and the lone, narrow ^^y stretching southward, fulfil the needs of Straumfjord; and against it lies 
 the long, narrow island (Straumey). on b«)th sides of which the tid.d currents observed by the 
 Northmen nviv be observed to day. See Appendix anil detailed Coast Survey map of Cajjc Cod. 
 
 • It was white ; all Indian corn (maize) is white when urripe. See Oossary. 
 
 f''ilif faiiT^rtft < ' -t^ 
 
 
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 C'llAMI'I.AINS EnTHANCR TO NaUSRTI llAHIIorR. 
 
i-f. I ^ I 
 toof.inte 
 
 AND SITE OF HIS HOUSES IN VINELAND. 
 
 79 
 
 
 Reading between the lines, one sees tliat Thorfinn observed the storm 
 which sprang up immediately after Thorhall's departure, ^ave up his 
 projecled expedition southward, and went promptly with one ship to the 
 rescue of Thorhall. 
 
 "Sailing northward round Kjalarnes, they went westward after passing 
 thai promontory, — the land lying to the left hand [the Gurnet and 
 Cohassct]. There they saw extensive forests." 
 
 " When they had sailed for some time, they came to a place where a 
 river flowed from southeast to northwest.' Having entered its mouth, 
 they cast anchor on the southwestern bank."^ 
 
 It is not necessary to dwell on the fate of Thorhall. The record 
 of his purpose and departure left us testimony of the situation of Vine- 
 land from Cape Cod. He went northivard around Furdustrand, and 
 attempting to sail 'westward to V'ineland, was blown off to sea. He went 
 partly round the Race on which the old keel had been set up. 
 
 Thorfinn, one sees, was familiar with the position of Vineland with 
 regard to Straumfjbrd and Kjalarnes before Thorhall started to sail 
 there} 
 
 The men, under Thorfinn's direction, felled timber, hewed it, brought 
 it to the ship, and piled it on a cliff to dry. The vines, which ran to 
 the tops of high trees, were cut down to facilitate gathering the grapes, 
 which were dried for fi'^'ire use.* 
 
 r* 
 
 ' The site of Leifs houses, .is .ilrc.idy referred to. See the large m.ip of the Ch.irles River from 
 .tbove the C.imbri(li;e Cemetery to the Warren Uridjje. 
 
 ' This applies to a point in the appr<i.ich of the Charles with flood-tide to Synionds's hill and the 
 southwestern hank o( the bayou ithe mnuth o, the rivulet from Mount Auburn). It is the only point 
 wlitrc such l.indini; is practicable, and is between the onU prnmnntorv (from beliiml which, at the 
 southwest ttom the houses, the river issues), and the onlv difT on the river in its east and west 
 course, — the cliff on which 'I hortinn, as will laier appear, piled his niosurr (burrs of trees) to dry. 
 immediately on the steep bank of the river, convenient for lo.adins; on the ship. The southwest liank 
 is near the head of a little bayou above (ierry's Landing, where there is solid land easy to reach with 
 a plank 
 
 • They consumed, as the relator says, jiiw<' time in reachine their destination, — T.eif's houses. 
 They were looking; for Tliorh.ill, whose wrecked ship mii;ht be found somewhere on the shores of 
 Cape Cod l!ay, or I'lymoulh Harbor, alonj; the ,Scituate beach, or among the Cohasset rocks. 
 
 < See " Discovery of the Site of the Ancient City of Norutnbesa (i.'^Sg)." 
 
 <• ,D 
 
 <k. 
 
 (*> 
 
 bpc 
 
I 1 
 
 'I I 
 
 t£ 
 
 80 
 
 'llli: LANDFALL OK LLIF JiRlKSON, 
 
 Thorfinn went several times back and fortli between Hdp and Straiim- 
 fjiird. Me had, as we Iiave seen, established his wife in a dwelling pro- 
 tected by a stockade, — naturally, before the birth of Snorri, her son. I 
 find no evidence that she left Vineland for any point whatever after her 
 arrival, till she sailed with her husband and her little boy, in his third 
 year, for Greenland. 
 
 Thorfinn decided to explore the rcgi about Hdp. This enabled 
 him to see that the river, which flowed ,)ast his dwellings Uirough a 
 lake to the sea, came first from the west to the cast (Waltham to Cam- 
 bridge). -At the point near which the houses were built there was a cliff, 
 and also a cove where the ship might lie against the solid land, — the 
 southwest bank (southwest from the dwelling-house of Leif, afterward 
 occupied by Thorfinn's lurty), out of the way of the tidal currents. 
 Elsewhere the banks are uniformly of meadow submerged by high tides, 
 unsuited eitiier to loading a ship or to landing from a ship. 
 
 After the first winter, one morning early, they saw from Leif's houses 
 nine birch-bark canoes (mistaken for boats of sealskin) coming down the 
 river, which issued from behind a promontory to the southward. The 
 men in the canoes were small of stature, fierce in expression, swarthy, 
 with ugly hair, great eyes, and broad cheeks. They remained some 
 time, wondering at the new-comers, and then retired round the pro- 
 montory to the sout/rwi-sf. (One relation says to the soutii.) 
 
 Later, there was a second vi.sit of these fierce canoe-men, and a third, 
 and perhaps more visits, coming from beyond the promontory at the 
 southward or southwestward, in such numbers that the whole water 
 looked as if " s/>rifi/(:M rci/// coais" (the brown or copper-colored faces 
 ill the canoes). The Northmen called these natives Skralin^cr, which 
 means, primarily, "men of the lowest order, hideous in appearance;" and 
 secondarily, "a mob, a crowd without a leader," which came to be ap])lied 
 to the Indians as a race.' They came for barter, and sold furs for strips 
 
 ' Cnntz (Vol. L, p. 2;4) siys the n.ime means nlso " scn»|).s or pairitiRs," — that is, <Ht<ar/\. 
 This name has been mistakenly .ind persistently applie.l lo the Esquimaux of Newfoundland, 
 Labrador, and Greenland, a.s if it were the name of a //;/'<• of Indians. 
 
A bfl•e^^ bi»rK crho? of A\aine. 
 
 5kit\ boat o; t^e ^ia,5j^& Indians 
 
.1 
 
 1 
 
 I 
 
 h 
 
 n 
 
 Sn/sW |o ■Jojlfl-; /'tfid ^'Jitd A 
 
 
 ■ *w.«b " Sfc- J^"' 
 
 
AND SITE OF HIS HOUSES IN VINELAND. 
 
 8l 
 
 of red cloth. On another occasion they received in exchange, as perhaps 
 they did also when the red cloth failed on a former visit, products of the 
 dairy. Later still, the bellowing of a bull frightened the visitors, and 
 they fled to their canoes and rowed back to the southwest. Still later, 
 they came in great numbers and attacked the Northmen, who, finding 
 themselves far outnumbered, fled along the river till they came to some 
 rocks, where they turned about and fought valiantly.' 
 
 The company of Thorfinn, after three years, abandoned the houses 
 and returned to Greenland. 
 
 I have thus given, in a few words, a summary of the story, that we 
 might have it in outline. I proceed to show how its sequences have 
 been misapprehended by the ancient scribe. 
 
 The Storv ok Thorfinn, — now Composed. 
 
 When the Thorfinn narratives are carefully studied, they prove, as 
 already remarked, to be at least five distinct relations (Rafn recognized 
 that there were several) and a part of a possible sixth, — possibly, also, 
 of a seventh, and even more. They are the recollections of men on 
 different vessels of a fleet of at least three ships, — recollections held in 
 tradition in families for several generations, which have been somewhat 
 added to by the scribes or copyists from other Sagas; as in the case of 
 Thorhairs fate and Freydis's career, and tlie sale of tlie mouirr wood 
 to the Bremen merchant.^ 
 
 One of these relations was by a shipmate who went with Bjarni Grim- 
 olfson and Gudrid to I.eifs houses. Another was by one on the same 
 
 ' At some h.ilf-milc 'oclow the site of I.eif's d\vcllinu;s there are stiH some enormous liowlders 
 in the b ink of the river helnw h.ilf-tide, .it the entrance to a httle cove ; and the shore al>ove for a long; 
 distance, hcini; meadow bank, (lid not permit ot landini;. Kocks and ■■ hard pan " at various moderate 
 dei)tlis have been found for a distance of some two hundred feet toward llie sohd Ian<l, by driving 
 down steel rods. They indicate at least that in this ref;ion of moraines tliere were some very large 
 detached masses of rock which might have aflorded aid to persons (lying down stream, where now the 
 ground is covered with the houses of a city. 
 
 ' The latter part of the Hauksbok Saga is the moKt disconnected and most marred by imperfect 
 sequence and hearsay of any that relate to Thorfinn's expedition, 
 
 6 ' • 
 
! 
 
 
 , I:. 
 
 
 82 
 
 THE LANDIAI.L OF l.EIF ERIKSON, 
 
 vessel, who, after two months' stay at Leif's houses, went to Kjalarnes 
 and along Furdustrand with the Scotch servants, and returned, after a 
 short stay at Straumfjiird, to Leif's houses. Another relator stayed 
 through a winter at Straumfjord. Still another went with the ship 
 to find Thorhall. One party remained only half a month at some 
 place — probably near 'Ihorfinn's (Leif's) house — waiting. 
 
 With this key, the whole becomes wonderfully intelligible. In the 
 following paragraphs I present, nearly in the language of the Sagas, 
 what concerns the geography of tlie expedition, and serves to determine 
 the site of the houses. 
 
 I submit, first, what seem to me to be the opening paragraphs of the 
 separate relations. 
 
 First Ri-!atioti. "The conversation often turned, at Hrataliliil, on the dis- 
 covery of Vineland the Good, and they said that a voya^^e there had fjreat hope 
 of gain. And after this, Karlsefni and Snorri made ready for going on a voyage 
 there, the following spring. Bjarni and Thorhall Gamlason joined him with a 
 ship. There was a man named Thorvard, and also Thorwald, son of Erik, and 
 Thorhall the Hunter, and he was in the same ship with Thorvard and Tiiorwald 
 These used the ship which brought Thf)rhiorn from Iceland There were, in all, 
 forty men and a hundred." (Dc Costa, page 51.) 
 
 Second Relation. " And Karlsefni and Snorri resolved to seek Vineland, and 
 there was much discu;;sion about it. Hut it turned out that Karlsefni and .Snorri 
 prepared their ships to seek Vineland the following summer. And in this enterjirise 
 Hjarni and Thorhall joined as comrades with their own ship and crew, who wore 
 their followers. There was a man named Thorwald, a relation of l'>ik. TliDrhall was 
 called the Hunter, . . . was of great stature, ... of a hard nature, taciturn, . . . 
 crafty, malicious. ... He went in the ship with Thorwald. . . . He used the 
 ship in which Thorbiorn came. . . . They carried forty and a hundred' men." (De 
 Costa, page 57.) 
 
 Third Relation. " At this time . . . much was sjioken about a Vineland 
 voyage; and both Gudrid and others persuaded Karlsefni much to that expedition. 
 Now this expedition was resolved upon, and they got ready a crew of si.vty men 
 
 ' Tlie Norse Imndreil w.is 120. 40+ 120 ;^ iCiO, the number of Tliorfinn's total comp.-jny. 
 
AND sitl; of his houses in vineland. 
 
 83 
 
 and five women. . . . They put to sea with the ship, and came to Leif's houses 
 safe, and carried up their goods." (De Costa, page 64.) 
 
 Another account says: — 
 
 "Kailsefiii asked Lcif for his houses in Vineland, but he said he would lend 
 them, but not give them. Then they put to sea with the ship [the one that 
 containctl Gudrid, with sixty men and five women], and came to Leif's houses 
 safe, and carried up their goods." (De Costa, page 72.) 
 
 Fmirth Relation. " Karlscfni, with Snorri and Hjarni and the rest of his 
 comrades, sailed south. They sailed long, until they came to a river which flowed 
 from the land through a lake and passed into the sea. Before tkc mouth of the 
 river lucre ,!^rcat islands, and thty were not able to enter the river cxeept at the 
 hii^hest tide. Karlscfni sailed into the mouth of the river, and called the land 
 H6p." (De Costa, page 69.) 
 
 Fifth Relation. " It is said that Karlscfni and Snorri and Rjarni and his 
 comrades sailed along the coast to the south. They sailed along until they came 
 to a river flowing from the land through a lake into the sea, where there were 
 sandy shoals, where it was impossible to pass up except with the highest tide 
 Karlscfni sailed up to the mouth of the river with his lolk, and called the place 
 H6p.' " (De Costa, page 56.) 
 
 Sixth Relation, — a fragment which shows the perplexity t)f the scribes. " It is 
 some men's say, that Bjanii and Gudrid remained behind, anil a hundred men 
 with them, and did not go farther [than Leif's houses] ; but that Karlscfni and 
 Snorri went southward, and forty men with them, and were not longer in Hop 
 than barely two months, and the same summer came iaei [from Straumfjord]." 
 (Beamish, I'rince Society, page 58.) 
 
 ' This paragraph h.is iiniformly licen siippo.scil to l)e an account of an cxpcilition from Straum- 
 fjord to tlie soMl/i. Careful study will reveal to tlie student tli.it as Tluirfinn entered Hop and 
 arrived in this expedition at l.eifs houses in Vinel.ind, from which Thorwald h.ul .sailed no//// to 
 explore to the north aiul east, this understandin;!; of the paragraph must he given up. A little further 
 study of the fifth and sixth relations will show that on this reading alone the whole sequence of 
 events in the stories ol Leif, Thorwald, I'horliail, and Tliorfinn, which has perplexed all students 
 of the Vineland Sagas, comes into instant harmony. 
 
 The lowland about Hi5p was where the indigenous Indian corn grew, .and the higher land 
 where grapevines flourished. It was near where I.eiCs houses were that the skin boats (birch- 
 burk ranoes) first appeared It was the lake through which, to the se.a, a river flowed inuiiediately 
 from the west. It also flows for a short distance from southeast to northwest directly toward the site 
 of Leif's houses. The Hdp was a 1 ike, -a small landlocked bay. salt at flood-tide and fresh at ebb. 
 
 How do we know that rhorlinn came back to leif's house.' liecau.se the Saga s.ays so; 
 because, moreover, there was his home, and there were -his wife and .son. 
 
 *l 
 
 1/ 
 
84 
 
 THE LANDFALL OK LF.IF FRIKSON, 
 
 Seventh Relation, — a fragment. "They passed half a month here \there, — 
 Beamish] carelessly, having brought with them their cattle [ami mniistd t/mnselvcs, 
 and did not pcrcdvc aitything luzo. — UeaniishJ." 
 
 H 
 
 »» 
 
 ! I 
 
 Tiiorfinn's Expf.dition. 
 
 I now present an atteiiipt at continuous relation, made up of selections 
 from the different relations. 
 
 The conversation frequently turned, at Hrattahlid, on the discovery of Vineland 
 the Good ; many saying that an expedition there held out a fair prospect of gain. 
 At length Thorfinn and Snorri made preparations for going on an expedition 
 thither in the following spring ,1007). Ujarni Griniolfson and Thorhall Gamlason 
 determined to accompany them. There were one hundred and sixty in all, of 
 whom seven were women. They took with them all kinds of livestock, for they 
 designed to colonize the land. Thortinn asked I.eif to give him the dwellings 
 which he had erected in Vineland. Leif told him that he would grant him the 
 use of them, but that he could not give them to him. . . . Thorfinn, with Snorri 
 Thorbrandson and Bjarni Grimolfson and all the rest of the company, sailed 
 toward the soutliwcst. They went on for scmie time, until they came to a river 
 which, flowing from land, passed through a lake into the sea. They found great 
 islands before the mouth of the river. Thorfinn and his companions sailed u[) 
 as far as the mouth of the river (at the Hrooklyn Hridge), and called the place 
 H6p. . . . They found sandy shoals there, so that they could not i)ass up the 
 river except at high tide.' They . . . came to l.eifs booths hale and whole, and 
 landed their cattle. They took their cargo from the ship, and prepared to remani 
 there. They had with them all sorts of cattle. The country there was very beau- 
 tiful. They undertook nothing but to explore the land. Having landed, they 
 observed that where the land was low, recently planted (or "new sown") corn 
 grew wild. Where it was higher, vines were found. The cattle went up into the 
 country. They dug fish-pits where the land began, and where the land wjis 
 highest ; and when the tide went down there were sacred fish (halibut) in 
 the pits. 
 
 ' The "sandy sho.->Is" applied to the mouth of the river, where it enters, below tlood-tide. 
 the "Back Hay," ne.ir the Cottaiie F.wm Station on the Uoston ami Albany Railro.id. The "j;re.it 
 islands'' were against the outlet of the river, Ix'jow the lake, into the bay, — visible from the 
 eminence of the old Fort Point and intliidini; those farther out, against Nantaskct See Coast 
 Survey map. • 
 
AND Sine OK Ills HOUSES IN VINliLAND. 
 
 85 
 
 Thorfinn Karlscfni and his people had made their dwellings above the lake; 
 and some of tiie houses were near the water, others more distant. (Beamish, 
 Trince Society, vol. i. p. 55.) 
 
 Now took they out their goods and made a separate building, and set that 
 building farther from the strand or the edge of the lake. (Ikamish, I'rince Society, 
 page 65.) Now hereof is this to say. Karlsefni (Thorfinn) had posts driven 
 stron;;ly round about his booths, and mule all complete. At this time Gudrid, 
 the wife of Karlsefni (Thorfinn), bore a man-child, and he was called Snorri. 
 
 Karlsefni had wood felled and hewed and brought to the ship, and had the 
 wood piled on the cliff to dry. l''.very river was full of fish. In the forest there 
 were a great number of wild beasts of all kinds. 
 
 Thence they sailetl toward the south for two days, and arrived at a ucss, or 
 promontory of land,' They sailed along the shores of this promontory, the land 
 lying to the starboard. These shores are extensive and sandy. They made 
 for land, and found on the ness the keel of a ship; whereupon they called the 
 place Kjalarncs. And the strands they called luirdustrands, for it was long and 
 wearisome to sail by them, then the land became indented with coves. 
 
 King Olaf Tryggvason had given Leif two Scots, a man named Ilaki and a 
 woman named Ilckia. They were swifter of foot than wild animals; these I.eif 
 had given to Thorfinn, and they were then in his ship. When tliey had sailed 
 beyond Furdustrands, then set they the Scots on shore, and bade them run to 
 the southward of the land and explore its qualities, and come back again within 
 three days. They stayed away the appointed tmie ; but when they came back, 
 the one had a bunch of grapes, and the other an ear *" r rn.'-* These went on 
 board, and after that they sailed farther. 
 
 They sailed into a fjiird (bay, or strait") ; there lay an island before it, on 
 each side of which were strong currents. They called this island Straumey, 
 — Straum-oe (stream, or current island). There were so many eider-ducks on 
 the island that one could hardly walk without treading on the eggs.^ They 
 called tiie place Straumfjord (bay of currents).' 
 
 They were there for the winter without having provided food beforehand. 
 In the summer the fishing declined, and they were badly off for provisions; then 
 
 ' Cohasset. 
 
 ' How ohvious th.it tliis w.is of later date than that of tlic first landing, when the corn Thorfinn's 
 parly saw was " new sown." — that is. reirntly planlci!, and hfoic cars had appeared 
 • See ,\V>/(M in .Xppendix al)0ut liirds eggs. 
 < That is, open at tioth extremes, so tliat water may pass throngh 
 
r 
 
 86 
 
 Tin: LANPFALI. OF l.KIK KRIKSON. 
 
 ♦ » 
 
 ■ I 
 
 disappeared I'lioi hall the Iliintsiiian. They searched after Thorhall for tliiee days, 
 and (omul hini on the tup of a nuk, . . . They hade him come home with them, and 
 he did so. A short time after a whale was cast ashore. . . . 'I'he cooks dreased the 
 whale, and they all ate of it, but wore all taken ill immediately afterwards. They 
 threw all the remainder of the llesh from the rorks into the sea, commending 
 themselves to God ; aftijr which the air became milder. They were again able 
 to go fishin}?, nor from that time was there any want of provisions, for there was 
 abundance of wild aiiiinals hunted on the mainland, of ej;;,'s taken on the island, 
 and of fish caught in the sea. 
 
 And now they began to dispute where they should go next. Thorhall the 
 Hunter wished to go north, round l'"urdustrands and Kjalarnes, and so to explore 
 Vinland. Thortinn would go southwest along the coast. It was thought more 
 advisable that each should explore separatclv. Thorhall, therefore, got ready 
 out under the island with only nine men. All the others went with Thorfinn. 
 
 Thorhall's ]wrty then sailed northward, round riinliistrands and Kjalarnes, 
 and would sail westward, but were driven off by a strong adverse wind. Afterward 
 Thorfinn went with one ship to seek Thorhall the Hunter, but the rest remained 
 behind, and they sailed northward past Kjalarnes, ami thence westwaril, the 
 land lying on their larboard (left hand). There were wild woods over all as far 
 as they could see, and scarcely any open places. When they had sailed for some 
 time, they came to a place where a river flowed from southeast to northwest. 
 Having entered its mouth, they cast anchor on its southwestern bank. 
 
 One morning early, as they were looking round, they jaw a number (uinel 
 of canoes, in which poles were carried, rowed from the south round a cajic. These 
 poles vibrated in the direction of the sun, emitting a sound like reeds shaken by 
 the wind. Then said Thorfinn, "What do you think this means?" .Snorri Tiior- 
 brandson answered, " Perhaps it is a sign of [xiace. Let us take a white shield and 
 hold out toward them." They did so. Upon this, those in the canoes rowed 
 toward them, seeming to wonder who they were, and went up upon the laiul. 
 They were swarthy in complexion, short, and savage in ap|)earance, with ugly hair, 
 great eyes, and broad cheeks. When they had stayed sonic time, and gazed at the 
 strangers in astonishment, they tleparted and retired beyond the promontory to the 
 southwest. 
 
 One morning they saw a great number of canoes approaching from beyond 
 the promontory at the southwest. Thc> were in such great numbers that the 
 whole water looked as if it were sprinkled with coals. I'oles were, as before, 
 suspended in each canoe. (They were descending the river on the early ebb 
 tide, — the banks weie full, — and holding u\i their paddles) Thorfinn and his 
 
J 
 
 i 
 
Ikkii^n. 
 
 
■ -JM I Th.'/ nr^n/ tn ftr sAw ^/m ujtfi/ Mty ci^^ *•" -'^l ^ 
 
 'n-Atre I 
 
CAMBRIDGE. 
 
 L . Gerry's Landing, Site of- LeIFs houses 
 
 at end of Bluff — Symonds Hill. 
 
 T ThorF-inn's Landing . 
 
 R . Rocks where Norse party got ashore 
 
 from pursuit of the Skraellings 
 
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AND SITI OF HIS MOUSES IN VINELAND. 
 
 87 
 
 party held out a white shield ; after which a barter of goods commenced between 
 them. Tiicse people desired above all thiiif^s to obtain red cloth ; in exchange 
 for which they dffered various kinds of skins, some perfectly gray. They were 
 anxious, also, to purchase swords and spears; but this 'I'horfinn and Snorri 
 forbade. For a narrow strip of red cloth they gave a whole skin, and tied the 
 cloth round their heads. (They were familiar with woven fabrics; the wan 
 woman who visited Gudrid wore a woven petticoat.) Thus went on thcit 
 traffic for a time. When the supply oi cloth began to run short, Thorfinn's 
 people cut it into pieces so small that they did not exxeed a finger's breadth ; 
 and yet the mob (Skra;lings) then gave for them as much as before, and even 
 more. 
 
 One morning (this may have been on another vessel of the fleet returning 
 from Straumfjord) as they were tacking around they saw a great number of 
 canoes, in which poles (paddles) were carried. The Norsemen held out a white 
 siiield, — the sign of peace. Then those in the canoes — .Skra'lings — rowed toward 
 them, seeming to wonder who they were, and laniled. They were swarthy in 
 complexion, short and savage in appearance, with ugly hair, great eyes, and broad 
 cheeks. When they had st.nyed for some time and gazed at the strangers in 
 astonishment, they departed and retired beyond the piovionioiy to llu southwest. 
 
 Either on this or on a subsccincnt occa.^ion, and more than once, the 
 "mob" wore Mipplicd with milk porridge in e.xchange for furs. 
 In the progress of one occasion of barter, — 
 
 " It hapjiened that a bull which Thorfinn had brought with him, rushing from 
 the woods, bellowed lustily. The mob was terribly alarnictl at this, and running 
 down qu'ckly to their canoes, rowed bac k toward the southwest ; from which time 
 they were not seen for three weeks. At the end of that time a vast number of the 
 canoes of the mob were seen coming from the southwest. i\ll their poles [paddles .' — 
 the) were floating with the ebb-tidej were on this occasion turned opposite to the 
 sun, and they all howled fearfully. Thorfinn's party raised the red shield. The 
 mob [Skralings] landed, and a battle fo'' .wed. There was a sharp shower of 
 weapons, for the mob Msetl slings. Tho.tinn's party saw the mob raise on a long 
 pole a large glube not unlil\e a sheep's p.Tunch, and -'.Imost of a blue color. 'I'licy 
 hurled this from the pole toward the paiiy of Thorfmn, and as it fell, it made a 
 great noise. This caused great alarm to Tiiorfinn and all his people; so they thought 
 of nothing but running away, and fell back along the river ['77<ri' along the river,' 
 another version], for it appeared t" them that the mob pressed upon them from all 
 
8S 
 
 THK I.ANDl'ALI. OV LEW KRIKSON, 
 
 
 sides. They did not halt till they reached some rocks,' where llicy turned about and 
 fought valiantly. Freydis [half-sister of Leif], going out and seeing the followers of 
 Thorfinn flying, e.vclaimcd : ' Why do strong men like you run from such weak 
 wretches, whom you ought to destroy like cattle ? If I were armed, I believe that 
 I should fight more bravely tiian any of you.' The mob pursued her. She saw 
 a man lying dead, in whose head a flat stone (flint arrow-head) was sticking. His 
 sword lay naked by his side. This she seized, and prepared to defend herself. 
 The mob came up with her. She struck her bared breast with the naked sword, 
 which so astonished the mob that they fled back to their canoes, and rowed off 
 as fast as possible. One of the Skrxlings had taken up an axe and looked at it 
 awhile, and wielded it against one of his comrades and cut him down, so that he 
 fell dead instantly. Then the stout man took the axe, looked at il awhile, and threw 
 it into the sea as far as he couKl. 
 
 '• Tlu rtnin and his people i)raised the courage of I-'reydis. Two of their num- 
 ber fell, and a great number of the mob. Then the followers of Thorfinn, having 
 been so hard pressed by the mere numbers of the enemy, returned home and 
 dressed their wounds. Considering how great the multitude which had attackcil 
 them, they perceived that those who had come up from the canoes could have 
 been only a single band, and that the remainder and greater part must have come 
 upon them from ambush, — or, according to another relation, that there may have 
 l)een superhuman aid. 
 
 " Karlsefni stayed there with his tncn the whole winter, but toward spring he 
 made known th.it he would not stay there any longer, and would return to (ireen- 
 land. Now they prei)arcd for this voyage, and took much goods from thence, — 
 vines, grapes, and skin-wares (peltry, furs). They put to sea, and their ship cnme 
 to Kriksfjord."^ 
 
 I t 
 
 f 
 
 Wo return now to the bearing of the points gained from tho Thorfinn 
 Sat^as upon the demonstration of the site uf Leif's houses. 
 
 u 
 
 ' I!o«Uler.s le.iciing to n l)luff. Tliere were l.irge bowlders in the gr.ivt-l. of which the rocks, 
 .still visihie ;il low tide near Collet'' Wharf, .ire .in illustration. The City Lnyincer h.is, .it my 
 instance, fcunrl similar ones by drivinij down a steel rod for a distance of soine hundreds of feet 
 toward the firm land. .See on map of river flowin;; through a Like to the sea, iniluding I'horfinn's 
 Clitl and the Rocks. 
 
 - It will be observed that I have omitleil many details that do not concern the question of the 
 l.amlf.dl and the site of l.eit's houses. -Some of them arc of the deepest interest, and have been 
 treated with a view to giving them a place in the .Appendix ; but their volume ha.s compelled me 
 to exclude much that had been prepared. 
 
 .^ 
 
AND SITE OF HIS HOUSES IN VINELAND. 
 
 39 
 
 RESUME. 
 
 Leii''s Houses on tiik Charles. 
 
 My recent papers ' have identified on the river Charles the site of Nor- 
 umbcga, a settlement of Northmen, as that of the modern Watertown. 
 Here are the walled remains of an aneient city on a river in the forty- 
 third degree, above a Hdp, through which the river Charles flows to the 
 sea. Numerous maps, and the geographical literature of the sixteenth and 
 seventeenth centuries, settle it. Norumbega was a form of Norway,— 
 Norvega, Norbega, Nor'mbega, — a region where Northmen, men of Nor- 
 wegian descent, lived. 
 
 The site of Leifs houses is three miles below that of Norumbega. 
 
 Thus, the name Norumbega applied to a river, a city, and a region 
 of country which- on numerous maps was in Nova Francia,— the origi- 
 nal new France of Verrazano, — in which, according to Mr. Bancroft, 
 was situated the modern city of Boston. 
 
 The maps of Ortelius, Solis, and Botero are manifestly copies of a 
 common original. They present to us a Province of Norway in - New 
 France, in tliat portion of the modern State of Massachusetts looking 
 out on the Bay between Cape Cod and Cape Ann in the forty-third 
 
 degree. 
 
 In this province are Norumbega and \'incland. 
 
 Let us recall what the Sagas and more recent authorities say of the 
 three points, — Cape Ann, Cape Cod, and the mouth of the Charles 
 River at Nantisket. 
 
 •' Before the mouth of the river," — that is, the river on which, within 
 its mouth, were the houses l.eif built, and on which river at the head 
 
 ' Di .very of llie Ancient City of Norunibeg.1, iS8y. The Defences of Norumbega, 1S9!. 
 
 >1 
 
 ■ i 
 
 I 
 
90 
 
 TIIK LANDFALL OK LKIT ERIKSON, 
 
 I ;» 
 
 i 1 
 
 of tide water, three miles above, was the city of Norumbcga, — "before 
 tlic mouth of [this] river," Thorfinn says, "were gnal islanUs." So say 
 Allefonsce and Thevet, Champhiin and W'intluop, and the Coast Sur- 
 vey. .All except -Allefonsce record the elbow of Nantasket and Hull. 
 The last three place the name Cohasset at the salient opjKKsite Nahant. 
 
 Thorwald attempted in his second season in V'ineland to exjjlore the 
 shore to the cast and north from the moutli of the river, — the trend 
 towards Cape Ann, — and around the land to the northwest; but he 
 was driven off by a storm, and swept upon the neck of Cape Cod, where 
 he was wrecked, and where the keel of his ship was broken off. Here 
 it was that after renewing his keel, he set up the old one, and called 
 the cape Kjalarncs, — Cape of the Keel. From this — the genitive, the 
 nominative being Kjblrncs, afterward becoming Coaranes — there came 
 Carenas, C. de Arenas, Cape Sablons, Cape Hlanc, and W'itte Hoeck ; 
 and last, Cai)e Cod, — all of which apply to the same point. 
 
 Thortinn sailed from Leif's houses out through the harbor, along 
 Scituate beach, across Cape Cod Hay, around Kjalarnes, and southward 
 along the Furdustrand (the curved east side of the peninsula) to .Straum- 
 fjord (Chatham), the /nrl oi Cape Cod, and later, seeking Thorhail, he 
 returned rt)und Kjalarnes, along the shores of the Bay, p.ast the Ciiirnit 
 to Hop, — the Boston Back liay, — coming to I.,eif's houses on the Charles 
 near the Cambridge City Hospital. 
 
 Lcif first landed — made his Landfall- on an i.'-land at the north 
 end of Caj^e Cod (the Kjalarnes of 'I'horwald and Thorfinn), now joined 
 to the main land, and afterward sail(cl arnv.s Cape Cod Bay. Thorwald 
 also sailed across the liay. Lcif and Thorfinn sailed westerly, past tlie 
 promontory, beginning at the Ciurnet (where Thorwald lost his life and 
 was buried) and stretching to the northward-northeastward, from the 
 main land to Cohasset, between which and N'aliant was the gate to l^os 
 ton Harlior, (the Porl aux /s/rs of Champlain), the oiit.r mouth of 
 Charles River; thence to the inner mouth of the river against La>l Bos- 
 tor, and up the Charks thnm-h the Back Bay and river above Brook 
 
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EQUIVALENTS BETWEEN CAPE ANI 
 
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 AND SITE OF HIS HOUSES IN VINELANU. 
 
 91 
 
 line Bridge, to tiie soutli end of Symonds's hill near the Cambridge City 
 Hospital. Here was the site of Leif's houses. 
 
 Let us look at the forms of expression in the different translations. 
 Sailing across the mouth of a bay, or " through a bay," or, as another 
 relation says, " into that sound that lies between the island and the ness 
 which jutted out north of the main land, and steered westward past the 
 ness-" or according to another version, "westward past a promontory 
 nroiectincr to the northeastward from the main land,"- all these leave 
 from Cape Cod but one path for Leif's vessel. This path led westerly 
 toward the Gurnet, and then northwesterly along the Sc.tuate beach and 
 past the Cohasset rocks; which salient coast -the Gurnet, Scituate beach 
 and Cohasset - constitutes the promontory projecting northerly and 
 northeasterly from the mainland ; and then sailing westerly tluough the 
 channel a-ainst Nantasket to the mouth of a river " before which, as 
 Thorfinn's Saga says, "there were great islands" (Noddles Island, Cas- 
 tle Island. Governor's Island, and the lesser islands nearer the entrance 
 to the harbor), where Leif's ship grounded on an ebb tide. At this point 
 the vessel sat upri-ht, "stood up ".(of course, in a yielding bottom). At 
 the inner mouth of the river there are two fjords. They are the lower 
 Chadcs leading to the Boston Back Bay, and the Fort Point Channel 
 leading to the South Bay, separated from the I'.ack Bay in early times 
 (see De Barre's map) by a neck, at the narrowest part but a few rods 
 wide The study of the map and the course of the tide tells us in gen- 
 eral terms where the grounding on an ebb tide must have been. The 
 vessel must have been to the northerly of I'ort Hill.' Why? 
 
 First, for this reason : The inner mouth of the river before which 
 were the great islands was to the north of the ancient Fort Hill. 
 
 The place before the mouth of the river where Leif's ship grounded 
 on an ebb tide, and " stood up," was in soft bottom (had it been hard 
 bottom she would have careened, - not "stood up," as the Saga says), out 
 of the swash channel. Looking at the surroundings on the Coast Sur- 
 
 ' See also Pilot Cli.\rt of Boston Harbor. 
 
9a 
 
 THE LANDFALL OF LEIF ERIKSON, 
 
 vcy and the bearings as given in the Sagas, one sees that it was proba- 
 bly in the ancient shallows off the present site of Fancuil Hall, not far 
 from a line at the same time tangent to the ancient salient of Fort Hill, 
 and also to that of Copp's Hill. 
 
 Where the vessel grounded, the men took boat and rowed to the 
 Boston shore. At Cape Cod they had been ashore for a few hours, — 
 only touched on an island. They were naturally impatient to be on the 
 mainland where (for example) they might get fresh water. For a brief 
 time a part of the crew were on terra Jirma. On the return of the tide 
 the men went on board the vessel. 
 
 Second, when the rising tide lifted the vessel it " moved, '^ — the literal 
 language of the Saga. It was not towed or rowed, but Jloated of itself, 
 or"'.novcd." Had it grounded to the south of I'^rt Hill, it would have 
 been carried up Fort Point Channel, in which case the next terms in 
 the Saga would not apply. They require a " rirer /hzving throui^k a 
 lake.'' The vessel, therefore, could not have gone up into the south 
 bay, into which, as no ri\er enters, no river could flow t/irouj;/i. 
 
 The vessel could only have gone up the Charles, which still flows 
 through the ancient I5ack Bay, or what remains of it after the great 
 encroachment of the cities on either side.' 
 
 The Coast .Survey map of I?oston Harbor and the Hack Hay, in its 
 recorded soundings with the more lightly shaded bed of the stream at 
 low water, will illustrate what is said of the lake through which the 
 river flowed to the sea. 
 
 The large detached map from the Warren Bridge to the west bound- 
 ary of the Winchester I^lacc exhibits in great detail the features to 
 which the S.igas refer. 
 
 It will be a light task to see where the vessel must have gone after 
 entering the I^ack Bav on the rising tide. On either side of the chan- 
 nel at low tide was mud, and beyond it were the hare mud flats, in 
 
 ' Sec map of tlie river flowing through a lake to the sea, showing ani lent extent of the IJack I!ay. 
 
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AND SITE OF HIS HOUSES IN VINELAND. 
 
 93 
 
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 places three quarters of a mile wide, left as the salt water retreated 
 with the ebb. The vessel was a merchant ship, and had only a single 
 square mainsail. It was in a narrow channel ; they could not beat, and 
 there was little or no use for oars. They had obviously no alternative 
 but to yield to the current of the flood tide until tiiey came to a prac- 
 tical landing-place. Why ? Because the shore was constantly being 
 swallowed up by the rising tide. Close study of the Coast Survey map 
 of the lower Charles (above the bridge at the Cottage Farm Radway 
 Station; that is, above the ancient Back Bay) will show. that, by reason 
 of the meadow banks of mud, it was not till the vessel reached the 
 ancient bluff of .Symondss hill that its occupants could go ashore. At 
 this point the vessel could rest on an even keel at low tide. Here he 
 n^ainland. thirty-f^ve feet above high water, had been under-cut to be- 
 come a cliff by the abra.ion at flood and ebb of the outer curve o the 
 current of the Charles. At the west end of the bluff was eligible land- 
 ing, and building ground. Here, and here only, is where the nvcr flows 
 from the soul/uasl to the «.r//r.«/, as required by the Sagas, -directly 
 toward the end of the bluff, the site of Leifs houses, as remarked by 
 Thorfinn. It is the only point on the river to which the language of 
 the Sa-as f^ts. From there could be seen the promontory at the 
 south a°.d southwest, from beyond which the river issued beanng its 
 tlcet of Skracling canoes, and behind which to the southwest they later 
 retired, as related in Thorfinns Saga.^ There is the only landmg-place 
 where Thorfinn could have gone ashore on the southwest bank, as 
 viewed from Leifs houses. 
 
 TlK. Coast Survey map shows the first spot where a plank could 
 reach fro.n the deck of the vessel to solid huid above tide-water A 
 .lance will show - as a personal exploration by boat would br.ng 
 vividly before a student -the first spot where Leifs vessel could have 
 laid in the water and also against the bank at all tides.^ 
 
 Uated li I Uul. w),o lr'equcn..y in his cnnoc ,owed up ,..e river: when .oM the sU.ry of the 
 
 #■■■- 
 
94 
 
 THE LANDFALL OF LEIF ERIKSON, 
 
 b|i| 
 
 Nor is there any point above for a considerable distance where 
 landing from a vessel's deck is possible, — certainly none below the 
 Winchester Place, the present western bounds of the Cambridge City 
 cemetery, nearly a mile away along the river. Why? Hccause the 
 meadow and its soft, abrupt muddy banks lie between the immediate 
 water of the river and the higher solid land ; and here there is the 
 fatal condition that the river flows, from the west instead of from the 
 southeast. So far, the demonstration is one resting on the doctrine of 
 exclusions. 
 
 Nevertheless, the positive determination of the exact point where 
 Leif built his houses cannot be established from the Saga of Erik the 
 Red alone. We have found the first point where Lcif could have gone 
 ashore and laid his ship; but the absolute conviction which adequate 
 evidence gives as to the precise site of Leif's houses rests upon evi- 
 dence which is found in other Sagas. 
 
 Thorfinn came several years later directly to Leif's houses, and oc- 
 cupied them during the three years that he was in Vineland. Certain 
 incidents occurring during his stay were recorded in the Sagas. Others 
 occurred during the stay of Freydis, who also dwelt at Leif's houses. 
 These incidents bear upon the tojiography, hydrography, and relative 
 position of prominent points, — as of the houses, the Ianding-])!aces, the 
 fish-pits, the promontory, tlie rocks above half-tide, — which, it will be 
 clearly seen, establish that one spo/ only, and that but a few rods square, 
 could have been the site of Leif'-s houses. It rests on the form of de- 
 monstration that any alternative is absurd. 
 
 To illustrate these incidents it has seemed to me better to present 
 the required features on a skeleton map of absolute accuracy, — a de- 
 tailed Coast Survey map' of the Charles River, — in connection with a 
 
 S,i!;a, lie responded tint llie first spot wliere I.eif (ftili/ Iiive I.mried wis the Miilf V nowii as 
 Sjmonds's lidl. There are, it is triic, a few y.irrls of slupiiit; liird shore .it the south cud of the 
 lirrvoklinc I!rid.;e but not eligible, because the v.irvin^ line of the '•hnre would not jjermit the 
 vessel at .tII tides to lie in the u'atti , or on even ketl. .ind at the simc lin-e be .iccessible from 
 the .shore. 
 
 ' Coast Survey m.ip, not before primed, supplied to me b) the City Engineer .Also Davis's chart. 
 
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 TRACES OF CONCEIVED SITE OF LONO HOU.^E OF TIIORFINN 
 LEIF'S HOUSE IN THE DISTANCE. 
 
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AND SITt OF HIS MOUSES IN VINELAND. 
 
 95 
 
 ■^ 
 
 map of the shores produced from recent actual survey; also numerous 
 photographs. 
 
 The photograph facing the titlepage gives Thorfinn's landing-place, 
 on the southwest bank, on the return from the search for Thorhall, on the 
 branch stream, at the extreme right; the promontory, from beyond 
 which at the south the river i.sues; the course of the nver from the 
 southeast to the northwest; one of four fish-pits, and the traces near it 
 of the remains of Leifs principal house; also the course of the nver 
 below, past the rocks, -all on three combined photographs, makmg a 
 
 continuous whole. . xr , , „, 
 
 Let us remember that Thevct had described the elbow at Nantasket, 
 Civcn its latitude, 42° 14'. '"^"d recorded the Irocois name, - A.ayascon 
 (which means the human arm), our Nantaskct; that Champlau. found 
 and left the name Yrocois on the Charles; that Verrazano had described 
 the outer and inner harbor (the Back Bay), and had given the estimated 
 rise and fall of the tide at the mouth of the river, and found it eight 
 feet. This point could not have been south of Cape Cod. as beyond 
 Monomoy the average tido is from three to four feet. 
 
 Allefonsce and Thcvet had described the rocks and islands off the 
 ,nouth of Boston Harbor and Charles River as in the forty-third degree. 
 Thorfinn's Saga had mentioned, as already n-f.-red to. the islands be ore 
 the mouth of the river, -the " Muchas Islas" and " Lagus Islas of so 
 many later maps, and also recalled in the " Port aux Isles of Cbam- 
 phin Thevet, .Allefonsce, and Vornizano had f.nuul the river having 
 the same name. Norumbega.' "IMie forty-third was the degree in which 
 O.Wlby placed Norumbega. Verrazano and Thevet, Gastaldi and Kuscelli 
 an°d Ikino, had placed the Refugio. Paradiso, and Flora between Cape 
 Breton (Cape Ann) and the mouth of the Norumbega River ^the Charles). 
 
 The name Norumbega, with dialectic modification, applied, according 
 to Thevet and Allefonsce a.id Solis. and a great number of maps of 
 
 ' Thevet says Norumbegue. "marked on some ch.uts as tl.e Rio Grande" - Kom.. 
 
96 
 
 TIIK LANDIAM. OF MMF KRIKSON, 
 
 i>i 
 
 ;!-> 
 
 
 the s.xtecth century, not o.ily to (I,c river, but also to a city, of which 
 the co.neut.unai device was given on the maps at a short distance up 
 the nver fron, the lake, less than three miles above the site of I eifs 
 houses. This lake (the «ack Hay at flood tide) was called by Thor- 
 f.nn "Hop." which is Icelandic for a •small land-locked bay salt at 
 tlood tide a,ul fresh at ebb." and which is the wonderfully pc'rfect do- 
 scr.pt,on of the ancient Hoston Hack Bay. includin.^ the mc.adows sub- 
 merged at high tide. Verrazano and Ulpius saw the '' AWman l7//a" 
 at the site of Leifs houses on the Charles, looking out on the mead- 
 ows. I he "Hop" of Thorfinn (the I5ack Bay) was described by Ver- 
 razano as -a small lake, son>e three leagues around, among numerous 
 small lulls. -Iremont. Copps, Bunker, Breed's. Winter. Corey's Mt 
 Auburn, etc. ' 
 
 The lesser chart, on which are in.licated the sites of the fish-i^its the 
 dwellings, and the topography incidentally described, requires only the 
 careful reading of the Saga (which I luue had newly translated from 
 I enngskjold and printed in the .Appendix, and u ith it sections from the 
 so-called rhorfinn's Sagas) to enable one to see where Leif landed 
 where later he built his houses, and where he passed his only winter in 
 Vineland ; the spot where Thorwald came, and from which rowing west- 
 ward he explored the Charles, through its shallows and its islands- the- 
 •spot to which, after the shipwreck at Kialarnes (Cape Cod), and the 
 Innial of their leader on the Gurnet, his crew returned to pass the win- 
 ter, and m the spring following to bear tl-.e heavy tidings home to I eif 
 at Brattahlid. To ti.is spot later came Thorfinn and Gudrid, and with 
 them the households - men an'd women - and equipment f<,r founding 
 a coloivy Here Snorri was born. l-Von, here went out the expedition 
 t.nder Thorfinn along the Scituate beach, and past the Gurnet, and across 
 the entrance to Cape Cod Ray, around the long curve east and south of 
 Cape Cod, to Nauset Harbor southward, and then to the next harbor 
 farther south on the east f.ace of the peninsula, and the quarters at 
 Chatham against Straumo and Straumfjord, - the region of the junctinn 
 
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 l-'ish Pit on liiu- nC sin-iiii iroiii the high Limls of Mt. Anliuni fiimifiv, in (nurc. (oriur nl" it'm.iiiiN nf 
 hortimrs lung Ikmisc :it Icll loTrmninnl, Site of two lints nn tin- riL;lu .ilwu.- ilir M.i.hv.iv. 
 

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 AND SITE OK HIS HOLSKS IN VINKLAND. 
 
 97 
 
 >ri>m'iiiiii<1. 
 
 with the mainland of the sandspit of Monomoy ; the region of the Old 
 Stage Harbor and Champlain's collision (six hundred years later) witii 
 tlie natives, some of them of Norse blood (^as found by the Pilgrims in 
 1620); the region beyond wliich southward Thorfinn did not go} From 
 this expedition Thorfinn sailed northward along the Furdustrand and 
 westward, at length returning to Leif'o houses, after seeking in vain to 
 find Tiiorhall. Here, too, came Freydis and tlie ill-fated Helge and Fin- 
 bogi, and tlieir crews and women. Mere was the site indicated by Ver- 
 razano of the Norman Villa, whirii, renewed by successors to Thorfinn, 
 may have held Lcif's house still standing in 1524. 
 
 I have selected from many photographs one showing the inequalities 
 nf the surface at the site of Leif's house before the grass had started in 
 the spring; and another of a larger house, the building of which I have 
 ascribed to Thorfinn, for reasons which careful study of the Sagas and 
 the locality will enable any reader to see for himself. Near tiiem are 
 tlie fish-pits, and tlie only siiip-landing place meeting the special require- 
 ments of the Sagas. It is solid earth in the midst of marsh at the 
 southwest of Leif's house and on the southwest bank. There is dut one 
 suck spot. Near it are tiie traces of one hut in the side hill ; and 
 there arc also traces of what may have been several others, referred 
 to in tlie Sagas. I introduce several i)hotographs of the region. The 
 photograph against the titlepage should be studied, and also the charts 
 of the river, — jiarticularly the large one of Cambridge, and that smaller 
 one of the region of Clerry's Landing. 
 
 After the dealii of Leif's father, and of the brotiierA Thorstein and 
 'Ihorwald, Thorfinn came to Cireenland, where he was receised by Leif, 
 will) had succeeded to his father's estates and prerogatives as well as to 
 his name, — i.iiiU. It was to the heir lurik, (r lirik,'- to whom Gudrid 
 
 ' See Stciilinnins in S;ign Time. 
 
 • The Il.iuks liok S.ii;.i uiiifcirmly speaks of I.cif as Erik Sec Reeves's translation of original, 
 l8yo, "Vincl-md dct (iotlie." 
 
 
98 
 
 THK LANOrAU. OF LKIK KKIKSON, 
 
 It- !n 
 » 
 
 referred the wealthy nobleman Thorfinn who sued for her hand; and it 
 was in the paternal mansion which Lcif had inherited that her nuptials 
 were celebrated. 
 
 It was the consent of Leif which Thorfinn secured, to occupy the 
 house which Lcif had built in the V'incland he discovered and owned, 
 and the country wliich. in keeping with the generally prevailing notion, 
 he regarded as an island (see Adam of Bremen), and which seems — by 
 Northmen, at least — to have been recognized as Leif's. — that is, Mrik's. 
 That this claim was recognized by his successors will be obvious to the 
 careful student. 
 
 ! have added a series of maps, fmm Stephanius down to and includ- 
 ing the Coast Survey, to enable such as care to read somewhat more of 
 the evidence for themselves to gratify their wish. 
 
 That Carenas (Kjalarnes= Cape Cod), Krossaness (the Gurnet), Port 
 aux Isles (Cohasset), Vingacrt's Eylan (Vinelandl, the valley of the 
 Charles against Cambridge, Nantasket, and the Archipelago of Boston 
 Harbor, are to be found in the region ascribed to the site of Leif's 
 houses mav be supplemented by one further important branch of evi- 
 dence. Properly to weigh this evidence requires a little patience. We 
 need some knowledge of the social life of Iceland. Let us try to place 
 ourselves in a position to understand it. 
 
 Al.I, WHO FOMOWFD LkIF FROM BRATTAIII.in IN C.Kl IM AM) CAMK TO 
 
 Lkik's Hoi sfs. 
 
 First of thorn in point of time was Thorwald. 
 
 " Thorwald, Leif's brother, two years after Leif's return, upon consulta- 
 tion with Leif, made ready for his voyage, and put to sea. Nothing is said 
 of their expedition until //icy came to Lci/'s /ii>iiscs." 
 
 Thorfinn, with his expedition of three or more vessels and one hundred 
 and sixty souls, of whom seven were women, came — with at least the part 
 of the fleet which contained his wife Gudrid, the women of the colony. 
 
AND SITE OF HIS IIOUSICS IN VINELANI). 
 
 99 
 
 Hjarni Grimolfson, and the larger part of the company — directly to Lei/'s 
 /lousis, and built additional houses. 
 
 Frcydis in the joint expedition with Helge and Vmx\hog\ came directly 
 to Lii/'s /louses. 
 
 What a fortunate circumstance that there were so many of Norse 
 blood and habits resident, successively, in the same houses! They must 
 have looked out on the same landscape, fished from the same banks, 
 rowed on the same river, had more or loss common experiences. Their 
 narrations must have some qualities in common. In a certain sense 
 they must be like the Gospels, — they must be repetitions. The student 
 of the Sagas appreciates this, and it helps and guards his judgment. 
 
 All that is recorded as basing been seen about the residence of Lcif 
 in \'incland, whether by him or his brother Thorwaid, or by Thorfinn 
 or Gudrid or I'Veydis; all that is said of houses, some nearer to the 
 water and some farther away; of fish-pits in which the fish were taken 
 in the spawning season; of the collection of maser wood, the canals for 
 transporting it, and the cliff on which it w-as i)iled to dry; of the points 
 of compass, as the river flt)wing toward the house, from southeast to 
 northwest; of the Skraclings issuing in canoes from behind the prom- 
 ontory at the south; of the landing by Thorfinn, on his return from 
 seeking Thorhall, on the southwest bank of the tributary stream ; of the 
 small land-locked bay, the Hop; of the tides, alternate salt and fresh water; 
 of the collisii)ns and the flag of truce (the whole shield); of the newly- 
 planted corn ; of grapes and their gathering; of the dairy and its products ; 
 of the furs and .salmon-fishing; and of much more of the topography and 
 the life iu N'iiicland, — all help to make identification of the site of the 
 house certain. The variety of the sources of evidence and the extent of 
 its accumulation help us to see how impossible it is to conceive of two 
 localities agreeing with each other in so many features. 
 
 When I predicted, at a scientific gathering, that Leif's houses once 
 occupied a specific locality of linuted extent, I had not recently been at 
 

 ICX3 
 
 THi: I.ANDFAI.I. OF LKIF ERIKSON, 
 
 the place, nor did I for more than a year tliercaftcr visit it, as it had 
 not occurred to me that tlie traces of wooden dwelHng-housos could 
 have been so long preserved. So it hapjiened that in finding, as soon 
 as I looked for them, the outlines of the foundations of houses, the fish- 
 pits, and the extraordinary topographical features required by the Sagas, 
 I had the satisfaction of looking upon what might bo regarded as the 
 fulfilment of my own predictions, — that is, my deductions from the 
 Vincland Sagas (the ships' logs) applied to the charts of the Coast 
 Survey. These had given me the precise spot of Lcif's houses on a 
 north and south coast, which gave me. on the maps, the latitude. It re- 
 mained to compare this with the evidence, in Lcif's observation, as to the 
 length of the shortest day in Vine' nd. This topic has been discussed 
 at some length on pages 21-23; ^'^'^ its great significance and conse- 
 quent importance, and the respect due to difference of opinion, justify 
 additional consideration. 
 
 L.\TITUDE OF ViNELAND. 
 
 Leif had remarked that on the shortest day of the year in Vineland 
 they had the sun at h'yktarst.-id and at D.ignialastad. It was a striking 
 fact which everybody knew was impossible to experience in Greenland 
 or Iceland. It was early seen that this observation held the key to the 
 latitude of Vineland. 
 
 Eykt was an established meal in Iceland : a lunch between dinner and 
 supper ; and dac;ntal w.is breakfast, — the last as distant, before noon, from 
 the midcKay meal, as the first was, in the afternoon. These times — 
 das^mal and cvkt — fell at sunrise and sunsrt in Vineland on December 
 21. As they were points of time equi-distant from midday, if one could 
 know the true time when ryfct occurred at sunset, at a given ])lace, he 
 would know the length of the shortest day of the year at tluit place. 
 If one knows the length of tiie shortest day f)f the year at a given 
 place, a little calculation gives him the latitude. How was this time 
 found out .' 
 
 
AM) SITE OF HIS HOUSES IN VINELAND. 
 
 lOI 
 
 It happened once that Snorri Sturlcson, the great poet and historian of 
 Iceland, observed and left on record that cykt occurred at his residence — 
 Reykholt — on the opening day of winter; that is, on the first Saturday 
 between the iith and the 17th of October. 
 
 To know, then, tlic time of cykt, it was only necessary to know at what 
 hour and minute sunset took ])lace at Snorri's residence on the opening day ■ 
 of the Icelandic winter, about the 15th of October. The enlightened King 
 of Denmark, made aware of this, directed Thoriacius, an astronomer, to 
 determine by careful observation the exact time of sunset on this day at 
 Reykholt. 
 
 It was found to be at half-past four. This was the moment of eykt. 
 An event occurring at cykl occurred at half-past four in the afternoon. 
 
 This four hours and a half before sunset in the afternoon, with as 
 much more after sunrise in the forenoon, gave the total length of the 
 day as nine hours, wherever sunset and eykl might be coincident in time. 
 
 Lcif's observation gave to Rafn the length of the shortest day, as 
 observed in Vineland. It rested, we see, on the astronomical observation 
 of Thoriacius. It gave the site of Lcif's houses, according to Rafn, near 
 Newport, on the shore of Narragansctt Bay. 
 
 Hut. somewhat unhappily for this result, it was later found that the 
 time of the lunch in Norway, called cykt, was not everywhere at the 
 same time. It varied with the latitude and the prevailing habits of 
 the people. At Hjornsen's home in Gudbrandsdal it is the meal taken 
 at al)out five. I found it farther south, in Christiania, half an hour 
 later; and north of Trondhjem it is said by V^igfus.sen to be at half- 
 past three. At Snorri's mansion in Iceland it was at half-past four. 
 
 This irregularity in Norway led Professor Storm, of the University of 
 Christiania, to the conclusion that cykt as a point of time was varia- 
 ble, and must be given up as a factor in determining the latitude of 
 V^iiieland. Eykt, he reasoned, must be regarded as an hour ending at 
 half-past four. This view bail a measure of support in the ecclesiastical 
 ordinances of Iceland. 
 
I02 
 
 THE LANDFALL OK Ll-.ll" KKIKSON, 
 
 
 I have been led to another conclusion. 
 
 The fact that Snoiri recoids the coincident occurrence of cykt and 
 of sunset carries in it the point of moment ; to wit, tiiat one of the 
 two factors was variable in its time. Tlie other was uniform in its 
 time. Eykt, at Reykholt, as time was constant. Sunset as time was 
 variable. Sunset is a point, not an hour. 
 
 Why was tykt constant.' Eyli was a lunch, the time of takint; which 
 was fi.xed by a human want. The time for this meal, like the moment 
 of midday, for obvious domestic and social reasons, — such as economy 
 of time, the keeping of appointments, the needs of cattle and i^heeji in 
 feeding and watering, of herdsmen and shepherds, — must be the sanw in 
 the same (general hlitude throughout considerable districts. The con- 
 venient and successful jjursuit of the chief avocations, — sucli as attend- 
 ance at school, on public gathering.s grazing, farming, fishing, domestic 
 duties, and economies, etc., — made it desirable. The habit would be onic 
 exacting, all the more with a people who from necessity arc constantly 
 employed, and therefore have no time to lie wastid in the needless over- 
 lapping of engagements. Habits acquired in early life arc broken up 
 with difficulty in later years. The Rev. Dr. Henderson, the missionary 
 to Iceland in 1S13 and 18 [4, says the iiabits and customs of the people 
 have remained unchanged for nine hundred years. 
 
 flalf-past four as eykt wa^ a period, or brief interval, for a hurriitl 
 meal as well known as twelve, or noon, at Re\kholt. 
 
 The farmers, the shepherds, the fisliermon, the mothers, the chiklreii, 
 in the general latitude of Reykholt, a few leagues only from Reykavik 
 the present c.ipital, on the one hand, and less from Skalholt the great 
 school, on the other, would all obey the same cykt. .So it came about 
 that when Eirik Raude gathered his siiips and their crews in lircidafjord, 
 and departed from Schnefelsncss, within the same degree of latitude as 
 Reykholt, for (iunniborn's Island and Greenland, they took with them 
 the lifelong habit of a lunch at half-p.ast four. As a matter of habit, 
 the lunch and the lime of it were coupled in their minds and their 
 
 k^ 
 
AND SITE Ul" HIS HOUSES IN VINELANU. 
 
 103 
 
 wants. They nccflcd the lunch at Iialf-past four as distinctly as they felt 
 tht- want of the midday meal at twelve. Eykl meant lialf-past four, as 
 niidday meant twelve. It was Eyktar-stad. 
 
 This habit had become a second nature, which they kept up because 
 of its being a part of an organism, and arranged all tlieir appointments 
 to meet it in Greenland, somewhat farther south. The boy Lcif when he 
 went with his father had tlic habit. When, fifteen years later, to man- 
 hood grown, he bought Hjarnis ship and manned it with tiiirty-five 
 sailors, he found a body of men who had lived in the haljit of a lunch 
 at half-past four, and needed it ; and when they ail reached X'ineland, 
 they found it convenient — indeed necessary — to observe the hour of 
 4:30 for cykt, the .'\fternoun Lunxii. 
 
 There was only one day in the whole year in Vineland, in which 
 there was a shade less of light at the breakfast and at the afternoon 
 meal. 
 
 The injlcxihility of habit preserved for us the time of its sunset, and 
 with it the length of the shortest day, in Vineland. 
 
 TiiK Length ok the Shortest Day ok the Year at Lkik's Mouses 
 
 IN Vineland. 
 
 In addition to what has alreadj- been said as to liow the length of tiic shortest 
 day of tile \ear came to have such siffnificance, I give the following. 
 
 Autumn lasts till the sun sets in !•>> ktarstadr ; winter till the (vernaO equi- 
 nox; spring till the May "moving days;" summer till the autumnal ciiuinox 
 (Snorri). On this, I'aul Vidalin, and after him Bishop h'inn Jiinson, assuming 
 that the beginning of winter corresponds with that of the Icelandic c.ilendar, — the 
 work between the nth and the 17th of October, as the sun sets on the 17th 
 of October at 4:30 at Reykholt, the lesitKnce of Snorri, — I'^yktarstadr was in- 
 ferred to be 4:30 P. M. ; thus making, Storm suggests, cykt the hour between 
 3:30 and 4: 30, 
 
 This is on the notion that eykt referred to an hour and not to a point of 
 time at the end of the hour. 
 
 With the idea that the term referred to an luuir, it was found that while 
 the beginning of the region of nine hours for the shortest day would be, as 
 given by Rafn, in the region of Newport, the point of exactly eight hours for 
 
i 
 
 ^ 
 
 tB ) 
 
 104 
 
 TllK LANDFALL OK LEIK EKIKSON. 
 
 rf 
 
 the shortest day would be found iiDith of llie latitude of St. John's, Newfound - 
 laud (^more strictly at 49' 55')- 
 
 The region throughout which the length of the shortest day ( December 2 1 1 
 would be between nine hours and eight hours would include Nova Scotia near its 
 northern limits. 
 
 The determination of the latitude of a shortest day of nine hours, as given 
 by Rafn, was 41' 24' 10'. 
 
 This, revised by Professor Hugge of Copenhagen, gave 41° 22'. 
 
 Mr. Geelmuyden, observing tliat neither the effect of the precession of the 
 equinoxes nor that of refraction had been taken into account by Professor 
 Hugge, revised his solution and gave, as published in Professor Storm's paper, 
 the latitude of the shortest day of the year nine hundred years ago as "42' 21'" 
 (^ about that of Boston).' . 
 
 The late Mr. Arthur Wellington Reeves reo,'iested Captain Phythian, Supcrin- 
 tenilent of the United States Nav.il Observatory .it W.ishington, to repeat the 
 calculation of Mr. Geelmuvden. Their results alike niaile the beginning in a 
 sliortest day of eight hours, — that is, the northernmost point where Leif could 
 have passed his winter. — somewhere not n<irth of about 49°. It might be f.irther 
 south. Professor Storm has sought evidence in natural history to prove that 
 Vineland was Nova Scotia. 
 
 I add from Professor Storm's pajier the extract from Mr. Geelmuyden's 
 communication : — 
 
 " Ulsudrsaett lH;ing the oct.mt of the horizon that lus the soiilliwest niidw.ml. accord 
 ingly between 22.5' and 67.5° azimuth, eyktarst.idr will be :n the direction 22.5° plus 
 i54S° equals S--^" ^^om south to west. Now, roiiipiiting the latitude where the sun sets in 
 this ilirectioii on the shortest day of the year (iith eentury) we fjet ^t)° 55'. Here, therefore, 
 or further south, tlic oljservation [of l-eif) must nceils have been taken." 
 
 Captain Phythian says: — 
 
 '■ .As the solution of the (|uestion yon ]>ro]>ose depends of course upon the mterjirct.!- 
 tion of the data fnrnishe<l, it is nccess,iry that I should give in detail the process by which 
 the amplitude of the sun is derived from the statement contained in your letter. 
 
 " F.yktiirstaiir is assumcil to be the position of the sun in the hori/on when setting. 
 The southwest octant you define [Mr. Reeves h.id quoted Geelmuyden] to be the octant hav- 
 ing S. \V. as to its centre ; its limits, therefore, are S. 12]^° W. and S. 67'..° \V. 
 
 ' A year before the appearance of I'rnfussor .Siorm's paper I h.a<i pointed out, in a com- 
 munication before a scientific society, witliin a few huiKired feet, the site of l.eif s houses, as indi 
 cated m the S.a!;as. .\ year and a half later I went to look lor. an<l found, the traces of 
 houses where I h.vl predicted they would be found. I lound the latitude of the site Irom the 
 Coast Survey to he 42 22 20" Miss F'cndleton took the determined laiitudc of the College Obser- 
 vatory, half a mile north of tho site of Leif's houses. 
 
 Lt * 
 
AND SITE OF HIS HOUSES IN VINELANU. 
 
 '05 
 
 " It is eykt wlicn the southwest octant having been ilivided into thirds, the sun lias 
 traversed two of tliese and has one still to go. That is, it is eykl when the point of the 
 horizon is 30° west of S. 22!^' \V. or S. S2jj° \V. I'roin this the sun's amplitude when in 
 the point of the hori/on is VV. 37° 30' S. 
 
 •' The siMi's declination on the shortest day of the year 1015 was S. 23° 34' 30" 
 (nearly). 
 
 "The simple fornuila for finding the sun's amplitude when in the true horizon is suffi- 
 i;iently accurate for the conditions of the case. 
 
 " It is Sin ,\ = .Sin du see. L; from which sec. L ;:= Sin .\ co sec. d. 
 
 " Solving with above data, — 
 
 A =- — 37° 30' log. sin. — 9.7.S445 
 
 d =— — 23° 34' 30" log. CO sec. 0.39799 
 
 L=. + 4S"'56' log. sec. 4-o.i8::.44 
 
 " By this method, calling the refraction t,^", we find the latitude to be 49° 50.2'. 
 
 " The d.ita furnished .nre not sufficiently definite to warrant a more positive assertion 
 than that the explorers [I^'ifs party in 1000] could not have been, when the record was 
 made, farther north tlmn Lat. (say) 49"." 
 
 Mr. Gcelnniydcn placed the point of n'-^V, — that is, 4:301'. M., — where the 
 shortest day u.is nine hours ion;,', in latitude 42' 21', — the latitude of Boston. 
 
 Captain I'hytliian, on tiic notion that i-y/ct to Leif was an hour ending at 
 4.30 V. .M., found the extreme northern limits of the region which the terms of 
 the Sagas could be made to include at 49", — the upper part of Newfoundland, 
 but excluding Labrador. 
 
 The Vincland Sagas and log-books had conducted me, independ- 
 ently of the bearing *of the length of the shortest day in the year in 
 Vineland, to the site of Leif's hotises, where he passed tlie winter of 
 1 000- 1 00 1, the latitude of which the Coast Survey gave as 42° 22' 20". 
 In this latitude tiie Saga had said the day was nine hours long. 
 
 lo test my reasoning from the ships' logs, I submitted to the Assist- 
 ant-Professor of Mathematics at Wellesley College, Miss Ellen F. Pen- 
 dleton, the following question: ll'/ial zcas Ihc laiqlh of tJn' shorUst day 
 of the year 890 years ago, in ladlude 42" 22' 20".' 
 
 To this request Miss Pendleton sent the following reply, taking as 
 absolutely determined the latitude of the Cambridge Observatory, 42" 22' 
 48", which is within a few feet of half a mile nearly due north from the 
 traces of Leif's houses. 
 
io6 
 
 THE LANDFALL OF LEIF ERIKSON, 
 
 ! 
 
 " To lind the length of the day in any latitude, we have simply to calculate tiie hour 
 angle /', for sunrise, in the Z J'. S. triangle, by means of the well-known formula, — 
 
 Sin '4 p - /Sin M [ C + (<» - »)] Sin y. [ C~{<t>- «)] \M 
 ' \ cos (^ COS 8 / 
 
 where </> is the latitude, X the declination of the sun, and C t'lc zcnilh distance of the sun. 
 For the shorUst day of the year looo A. u. in the latitude of Cambridge, Mass., wc have 
 the following data : — 
 
 ^ = 4j° 2i' 48.3", the latitude of Cambridge Observatory (Mass.), 
 (= 90° -|- 16' (the mean semi-dianielcr of the sun) 
 -}- 34' (the mean refraction at the horizon), 
 = 90° 50'. 
 8 = — J3»34 25'5-" 
 
 " Hence we have — 
 
 log sin 'i [(+(</. — X)] = 9 99>o278 
 
 log sin 3i [{— (0 — «)] =9.3332732 
 
 log cos ^ =9.8684621 
 
 log COS 8 =9.9621546 
 
 log sin Yi P = 9.7468421 
 ••• /i P = 33° S<i' 9.78" 
 
 and y'j of 2 y = 9 hr. 2 m. 58.6 sec, the length of the shortest day of the year 1000 .\. n., 
 in the latitude of Cambridge, Mass." 
 
 It will be seen that this coincide.s substantially with the time — nine 
 hours — deduced from the observations of the astronomer Thorlacius, 
 of the time of sunset at Reykholt, the residence of Snorri Stiirleson, 
 on the day of the opening winter ; that is, the first Saturday that fell 
 between the iith and i "th days of October. This determination, at the 
 instance of the King of Denmark, followed the remark of Snorri, — that 
 on that day cyki occurred at his residence at sunset, — upon which, 
 mainly, Rafn based his conception of the latitude of Vincland. 
 
 With the latitude fixed on our north and south coasts, there is noth- 
 ing further required to determine the site of I.eif's houses. 
 
 Near this site we find, besides what seem to be the traces of 
 houses, the fish-pits, the topography, the relative positions, the climate. 
 
 ' See .Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge. Vol. .XVI IL 
 
 ' { 
 
 \ 
 
n 
 
 l|F 
 
 * n 
 
 
 Twii <|ii<k> .1. i i,-;., ,; lam :ii W atntivw n 
 
 A 
 
 -^^m^ 
 
 •<, ■• ■ r • » 
 
 ' ^ ^J 
 
 lio.Mli 'lillM 'il.!...^!!. \\ ll. I l.i" li. 
 
%'^ 
 
 ANU SITE OF HIS HOUSES IN VINELAND. 
 
 107 
 
 ^ 
 
 the occasional mild winters, and the native fruits and grains mentioned 
 as characteristic of Vineland in the Sagas of Leif and Thorfinn, and 
 in the relation of Adam of Bremen. 
 
 SlMMARY. 
 
 Thus have been brought into harmony the ancient geography of the 
 North Atlantic, as shown on Stcphanius's map, with the more recent on 
 the Admiralty charts and the work of the United States Coast Survey; 
 the records of sailing-time, and the directions in which the wind blew to 
 Bjarni and to Leif; the coast lines and topography and their distinguish- 
 ing features, described by one and recognized by the other; the st'Ty of 
 Thorwald's broken keel set up at Kjalarncs as told in the Sagas, and 
 the story as told on the s/a>ic tablet found in an ancient grave ii't far 
 from Norman's O, across the bay from Cape Cod ; the undercurrent of 
 details murmuring through the Sagas of Erik the Red and Thorfinn 
 Karlsefni, and the lesser strains of Thorwald and Thorhall, of Tx rker 
 and Freydis, of Gudrid and Snorre Thorbrandsson, ail in the same key ; 
 the story of the King of Denmark to Adam of Bremen of the Vine- 
 land of wine and cereals, and the stories of Leif and Tho nn of the 
 Vineland of grapes and corn ; the furs of the Northmen and of the Breton 
 French ; the fish-pits and the sacred fish at the spawning season, and also 
 the time of the young corn-plants ; the pavements of Stony Brou,. and the 
 fishway at Watertown, the ancient Norumlxga on maps and in records 
 from 1520 to 1634; the maps of Champlain and Lescarbot, with the rela- 
 tions of Purchas ; the walls, docks, and wharves a league above Leif's 
 houses, at the head of tide-water on the Charles ; and lastly, the length of 
 the shortest day of the year in Vineland, in terins which vual it.s latitude 
 and at the same time refer it to astronomical observation, — all these have 
 been brought by research, mainly in the field, into harmony with oiii 
 another, and with the conclusion ih.at the Landfall of Leif was in the lati- 
 tude of Boston, and his Vincland-home in the basin t)f Charles River in 
 till' State of iMassachusetts. 
 
io8 
 
 THE LANDFALL OK LEIK ERIKSON, 
 
 
 What nkxt of tuf. Northmen ? 
 
 It requires liule knowledge of human nature to sec that after the 
 report brought home by Leif and Thorfinn of the attractiveness of the 
 country, wliere grapes and corn grew without culture, and where the win- 
 ters were not severe, others would repeat Thorfinn's effort at coloniza- 
 tion; that in time these efforts would be successful; and that ulti- 
 mately the people of Greenland would be transferred, as a whole, to 
 the more attractive country. The Northmen coming down liere would 
 brino- their language, and impress it more tir less on localities, streams, 
 bavs, etc., and we might expect to find traces of these names still 
 
 Is it possible to find traces of the habits or the language of the 
 Northmen in the X'ineland to which Leif came? 
 
 It has been intimated in my preceding paiiers that the number of 
 Northmen who came was large, and that to some extent they became 
 merged in the native people. The drift of my immediately preceding 
 paper — "Thf Defences of Norumbega"— is to show that Norumbcga 
 was a sea-port, from which considerable commerce was cirried on, and 
 that there were white people throughout the territory of New l^ngland. 
 Of the-e white people, Peter Martyr. Merrera, Navarettc, Verrazano, and 
 lacciues Cartier have written. It is recorded of the whites that they 
 had blue eyes and red hair, and that they maintained habits eminently 
 characteristic of the Northmen. Among other things, they pre.serveil 
 their own ancient hi-tory in their families by recitation and song (by 
 rci)caliiig Sagas). They kej.t tame deer, and made cheese from their 
 milk. They maintained commerce in furs, fi>li, and choice wood. 
 
 Among them were S,ri^-,i mat, — \h<^ Snc<rtrios of Lescarbot. and the 
 Sas^nmons of early New lOngland histf)ry I'hey were the gifted talkers 
 and leaders. The name of Ked Jacket, the great Indian orator, was 
 
 i 
 
ii*. 03«rmu^4 
 
 
 ORTELtUS, .1570. 
 
 SO/./S /s at 
 
 
 rriiU.nt 
 
 COTFKO, 1603. 
 
 ••They s«ll«1 Iohk niilll ili,..» ,.uii.,. to a rlvr. ul.icli tJon-.l fioiu tl..- Ininl 
 throinfl. n Ink- nnil i,n>-.c,l ii,i„ t|,^ «,.a.' Ttiorlli.ir.^ Shkh. 
 
 Tl... Kr.nch (llplonmll.f!. hIwsv, r-ni, n.lu.rr.l tl,.t |»„,t(.ti was l„,ilt nitliln thv ..Tijttiml limits ..f 
 

 
 
 ft 
 
 *>^m««QML 
 
 
 ..;:R=<i^V ^S"^ 
 
 .otji i^ijiwrao 
 
 »€V 
 
 /^ 
 
 '■'■j£«»vtA 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 '^ 
 
 5&iik-, 
 
 
 ..5_l-__-i._^~u- — «-: 
 
 ^i^'- *;■,-■.'>■ 
 
 i 
 
 /^--o., '^ 
 
 iHJ^l.<"\' 
 
 
 v,-^..-^-^-^.-^': 
 
 t^ .a f^■•^p^^^■ 
 
 •.v,»4 v»a:.. 
 
 : .->-.:^^^ }■ ■■7',. f ^ 
 
 
 V-,. w/ 
 
 AM. / 
 
 \ /; 
 
 ) 
 
 irtlBtli'i* ;!(«' !J^"' "■!'■<;! :.;tii I'-f" 
 
 "». -•»)!!; i| ^ij 
 
 ;1: ,(■;,,, H '..ll 
 
 l\ ■ ( 'IVll!<\ >ltl«l'l »' I**, 
 
 ^ 
 
1 
 
 AND S1T1-: OF HIS HOUSES IN VINELAND. 
 
 109 
 
 S<igHoa-/ia. It was sometimes written Sago-ye-wah-ia, — of which the 
 phrase a rousing orator would be an idiomatic equivalent.' 
 
 That Sak — Old Norse for Prince — and Sachem have a common 
 root was recorded by Roger Williams. 
 
 The Narragansctt tribe, among whom Williams lived and wrote, were 
 the Wampanoags, the tribe of King Philip, and his father, Massasoit, the 
 (i-jcnd of the linglish. They were the people of Wampanakka, the 
 Indian fur " While-man's-land," — Huitra-manna-land, — of which land 
 Thorfinn was told by the Skracling boys. The people were described 
 as dressed in lung white gowns, and going in processions, bearing staves 
 and banners, and shouting (chanting). The boys remembered the cere- 
 monies which they had witnessed. These were evidences of the presence 
 of missionaries of the Church. 
 
 To this class of reminiscences belong the stories of Ari-Marson 
 and r>iurn Asbrandson, — ])erhaps also those of .St. Brandan, and of St. 
 Culumba (see Gaffarel and Beauvois), the legends of the Basques, and 
 of llie white men encountered by Columbus in the West Indies. (.See 
 Ir\ing anil Herrcra.) 
 
 
 My next paper will trace the connection between the Northmen and 
 the name of the Western Continent. The name seems to have arisen 
 in Vineland, which, in all its extension (see map, page 29), was regarded 
 by the Northmen as a part of the discovery by Erik when he fell 
 upon Greenland, in 982. The natives of Vineland could not easily 
 utter "I'irikr" or "/Kirekr" (Norse forms) without prefi.xing an «/, — 
 out of which, to the listener, arose " Hm-erik.i " -- Amf.ric.\. 
 
 ' .S"iJj,v got hi (gooil t.ilkor) was the phr.isc among the Senec.i Indians applied to a missionary 
 
{ 
 
 ' i-i 
 
 f 
 
.M.\r Of Southern Point oh Gkef.ni.and from Hvitserker (Capb Farewell) Northwestwari), including 
 
 KklKSEJURDER Willi UraTTAHLID (Kbik's IIoISE) KhiKSOE, ANIl Nl'IMllROUS SETTLEMENTS. 
 
 (From Danish Archives, Cronan, Dutvvery oj Amtricii.) 
 
 A P V II N 1) I X. 
 
 A SUMMARY OK THE VINELANU SAGAS IN rERINGSKIOLDS EDITION OF 
 THE HEIMSKRINGLA OF SNORRI STURLEYSON. 
 
 iil 
 
 I. 
 
 Leif Kuikson Uaiti/kd. 
 
 TllAP summer [999 a. t>., fifteen years after the settlement of Greenland], Leif 
 the son of I'jrik the Red came from Greenland to Norway. I. eif visited King Olaf 
 was converted to Christianity, and remained that winter with the Kinsj. 
 
 Ici.i AM) CllKlSlfANl/.i:i). 
 
 But when King Olaf had nearly prejiared his army for departure from Nidaros, 
 he placed tiensmen [retainers] over all Thr.iiulheim's districts, shires, and provinces. 
 
1 12 
 
 TIIK I.ANDI AI.l. or I.r.IK ERIKSON, 
 
 i 
 
 To Ici'l.uul he sent Gizur the Wliite iind HjaUi Skcj:;i;i;ison to advocate Cliristianity ; 
 and with them he sent a priest iiaiiud 1 hi)rmotl and other urd.iiiieil men. Hut he 
 retained as hostages four Icelanders, whom he deemed the noblest; namely, Kjartan 
 Olafsson, Ilalldor GiRlmmulsson, Kolbein 'Ihoriiarsson, and Sverlin^; Riinolfsson. 
 Hut out ut' tji/ur's auvl iij.ilti's travels it remains for me to relate, that they reached 
 Iceland before the Althing met ; ' that they went to the Assembly, and that Chris- 
 tianit\' was at that Althing legally adopted in Iceland, and thatsunmier every man 
 was baptized. 
 
 GrEEM.AMi ClIRlSTIAN'IZKD. 
 
 During the same summer [a. D, iooo] King flat sent I-eif Eiriksson to Green- 
 land. On the sea he picked up a crew who la\' on a shii)'s wreck and were helpless. 
 .\nd then he fouiui Vineland the Fair, ami came that summer to Cireenl.uul, bringing 
 with him a priest and preachers, and went to his father at Hrattahlid. After that he 
 was called " I.eif the I.ucky." Hut his father s.iiil it was about even, — that he had 
 saved a crew at sea, and brought a juggler [so he called the priest] to land. 
 
 11. 
 
 HjAKM IU:kiii.fsso\'.s Voyack. 
 
 Heriulf was the son of Hard Herjulfsson. a relative of Ingolf the Colonist.' To 
 him Ilerjulf Ingulf had given the land between Vog and Reykj.mes. Ilerjtdf dwelt 
 first at Drejistukk. His wife was named Thorgerd; but their son, Hj.\rni. He was 
 .1 man of great promise. When tjuite young, he longed to go abroad, and soon 
 acquireil both wealth and distinction, and jiassed the winters abroatl and with his 
 father alternately. 
 
 It was not long before Hj.irni owned a trading-vessel. Hut the l.i-,t uintiT he was 
 in Nonva)', his father, Ilerjulf, ilisposed of his farni ,inil wiiit to Grecnlaml with 
 Ivirik. Along with Ilerjulf was a SaNon,^ a Christian, — the same who composed 
 llafgenlinga I.<-iy [The Song of the Tempest]. In it occurs the following stanza, 
 the forty-ninth : — 
 
 ' Atlhitii;. the general a-sHcin'.'fv i)f the Icchnilic ri>mmon»T.illh Thcic the piusllv iii.igistratcs ifihfiir) 
 aiid other cliiefs l^iyr/'v?'" I imt tvci\ vear tn cn.iit laws and adminislct jusliie l>iirmi; the lirsl stixty-six 
 iKarsl of the oloniiation ptri.xl (UHjx.imi liJ) there w.as no .Milling, Inil the kailin); mrn hrld thiir meetings 
 at Kjal.irncs. in the south of Iceland The Althing wa» iiiaugur.iicil in i)ya a. i>., and was held cvciy year at 
 Thingvellit until the year iXoo. Then lliete was no .Mthiiig untd l.S4i; hut since then, the nuMlern Althing 
 ha* liecn held .it Kevkjavik. 
 
 ■■' Inp'.ll. a Norwegian thief, wai the first Scandinavian colonist in Icclan<!; sttili- I Ihcte in S;^ \. ii., and 
 tfM»k u|i his ali'Mlc wl'.eie now stands Ucvkjavik, the capital of It'elantl. 
 
 " Suihir mi' lur. — that is, " a man fiom the south ; " a Saxon or Germ.in Rafn • SiiJrrvitr, a man from 
 the llelii .le». 
 
 
AND Sni OK ms HOUSES IN VINiaAND. ,13 
 
 '• God of earth and Ciod of heaven, 
 Guard thy ser\ ants ' on their journeys; 
 To the hind of lofty mountains 
 , I^ad lis safely, I implore thee." 
 
 Horjulf abode at Hcrjtilf^incss, and was held in tlie highest esteem ; 2 but IJrik the 
 Red abode at Hiattahlid. and was there very hit^hly honored, and by all respected.'' 
 
 These were Hirik's sons: l.cif, 'riiorvald, and Thorstein ; but his dausjhter was 
 called Frcydis. She was married to a man named Thorvald, and dwelt at Cardar, 
 which is now a bishoij's se.it. She was very inii)erious in temper ^ and avaricious;' 
 but riior\ald was a weakling. 
 
 The people of Greenland were then all heathen. 
 
 That summer Hjarni landed at ICyrar, his father having left in the spnng. The 
 news seemed to him grave tidings, and he would not unload his vessel. The sailors 
 then asked him what he proposed doing. He replied that he would do as he was 
 wont, and dwell with his father during the winter. " .\nd," said lijarni, " if ve will 
 accompany me, I will sail for Greenland," All said tiny were willing to obey his 
 orders. Then said Hjarni, " Rash will our vojagc appear, since none 0} us has' ever 
 sailed the Greenlaiul sea." 
 
 Nevertheless, the\- put out to sea as soon as tlu\\- were ready, and sailed three 
 days, until the land was out uf sight; but then the f.iir wind fell, and north winds and 
 fogs came upon them, and tliev' knew not whither they went. And this lasted for 
 many dnya.* 
 
 After th.it, they saw the stm, and then the directions ■'^ could be distinguished. 
 They now hoisted sail, and s.iiled that day ere they saw land. They now dL-^ctissed 
 among themselves what country this could be, but lijarni said he did not think it was 
 Greenland. Thj sailors asked whether or not he would sai' 'o land there. " My 
 advice is," said lijarni, " to sail close by the land." And mcy did so, and directly 
 observed that the country w.as not mountainous, but h.id small hills and was grown 
 over with forest. They left the country on the larboard, and let the stern " of the 
 ship l.x.k landward, Tluy then sailed two davs ere they saw another country. The 
 sailors asked whether Hj.irni supposed this was Greenland yet. lie re[)lied th.at he 
 did not think this was Greenl.md, any more than the former country. " For," said 
 he, "great glaciers are s.iid to br in Greeiil.ind." I'n ^rntly they neared land, 
 and saw that it w,is level ami wooded. Then the fair wind fell, and the sailors talked 
 
 ' I.ilcr.illy, " tliy monks " 
 
 ' More liter.illv, " liocanii' a crc.it nnhlcni.m " 
 
 • I.iter.illy, ".I grc.il tcrm.ii;;inl." 
 
 * /M^iir Is here cquival-nl to ihc F.nslish wor.l ".I.i; " ti, niodi-rn IccKiiulic ,/.,--«,■ means onlv d.iv vr night, 
 — that is, a duration of twelve liours; hut In old kcl.oiilic the woid JwiT'ii ^ignltkd both d.iy .<«,/ mglil, — that 
 is, a duration of twenty four hours; and thai is the meaning icre 
 
 ' That is, the c|uarter» of the heavens. 
 
 « So I'eringskjold ; but Uafn rcad.s, /,'/« sl:ii,/ /u-rfU ,i hii,/, ~ that is, " let the swelling sail look landward." 
 
 8 
 
_. -.---^r-^ 
 
 ill 
 
 
 114 
 
 THE LANDFALL OF LEIF EKIKSO\, 
 
 about that tlu-y thmi^lu it opportune to lanil there ; but Hjanii would not. Tiny 
 claimed they needed both wood and water. " Of neither are ye ill supplied," said 
 Bjarni. Hut for this he was somewhat blamed by his crew, lie bade them hoist 
 sail ; and they diil so, and turneil the prow from lanil, and sailed seaward before 
 a southwesterly wind for three days, and then saw the third country. lUit that 
 country was hi^h and mountainous,' and glaciers upon the mountains. The sailors 
 askeil if Hjarni would put in there. 
 
 Hut he replied, he would not. "For," said he, "this country seems to me unin- 
 viting." Now they lowered not the sail, but coasted along the country, and saw it 
 was an island. Once more they put the ship about with stern towards land, and 
 sailed seawaril with the same wind as before. Hut the wind increased, and Hjarni 
 bade them shortrn, and not sail more than ship and tackle nnilil bear safe!)-. They 
 now sailed four d.iy^. and then saw the fourth country. Tlio en w then a.-ki il Hjarni 
 whether he supposed this was Greenland. He replied: " This country is most like 
 what I have been told of Gr;.'enland. Here let us make for land." They did so, and 
 in the evening; luulol under a certain cape where a bo.it was found. 15ut on that 
 headland lived Hjarni's father Hcrjulf ; and from that has the ncss received its name, 
 and been called Herjnlfsiiess. Hjarni now went to his father, gave up sailing, and 
 remained with him while he lived ; and abtide there after his father's death. 
 
 III. 
 
 Lkif Kuikson's Kxi'KinrioN'. 
 
 The next thing to rel.ite is, th.it Hjarni Herjulfsson came from Greenland to 
 interview Karl Firik. and w.as well received by him. Hjarni related his travels in 
 which he had seen unknown countries. Hut he w.is counted negligent," since he had 
 nothing [from personal experience] to tell about those countries; and for this .some 
 • blame was attached to liim. Hjarni, however, joined the l-'arl's court, and the follow- 
 ing summer went out to Greenland. There was now much talk about exploring 
 expeditions.^ Accordingly I.eif I'.iriksson from Hrattahlid went to Hjarni Herjidfsson, 
 bought his ship, and engaged a crew; so that they were thirty-five in .ill, 
 
 I.eif then asked his father to take the .sole command of the expedition ; but F.irik 
 excused himself, saying he was now growing <>ld and less able to bear t<iil and expo- 
 sure than formerly. I.eif said that he would still bring more fortune in his tr.iin than 
 any of his rckitives. .At last Kirik yi'lded to his request; ruul when tin y had made 
 everything ready he rode from his hon.r ti> the ship; and there was then but a short 
 distance to go to the ship. Hut the horse which larik rode stumbled, and he fell otf 
 and injured his foot. 
 
 ' Jhiull, Rliricr, 'ir iletp snow remainin'.; "ii ihc grniinil from vc.ir to vc.ir. 
 
 ' More literally, " not inquiring or curious." ' l..itutiUtt. laiid searrli. 
 
 /i 
 
 V .1 
 
 \ it 
 
 •l 11 
 
 \ 
 
AND SITE OK HIS UOUSKS IN VINKLAND. 
 
 "5 
 
 Then said l';irik, " It is not clucrccd that I slioiild discover more countries tiuin 
 this one we now inhabit; and farther sliali we not together travel." 
 
 Kirik then returned to Jirattahiid; but Lcif went to his siiip, and his companions, 
 a crew of thirty-five, with iiini. In their company was a German, named 'lyrkir. 
 They then fitted out their shii), and when they were ready, sailed seaward. 
 
 They now found tliat country first whicli Mjarni liad lound last. Tliere they stood 
 in, cast anchor and put out a boat, and went ashore, but Cuuld see no grass [herbage]. 
 Great glaciers covered the iiighhinds, but it was as one flat rock from tlie sea to tiie 
 glaciers. The country appeared to be utterly worthless. 
 
 Then said Leif : " The same thing has not happened to us which did to lijarni, 
 that we have not stepped ashore; and now I shall give this country a name, and call 
 it Helluland [Flat-Kock land]"' 
 
 They liien went to the ship, and put out to sen and found another country. They 
 again sailed to land, cast anchor, put out a boat, and walked ashore. That country 
 was level and wooded, and white sands in many places where they went, and not 
 steep along the sea. 
 
 Then l.eif said : " This country -iliall be named according to its qualities, Markland '^ 
 [Woodland]." 
 
 Then going down again t.. the ship ,\s cpiickly as possible, they sailed seaward, 
 and for two ila\s they sailetl with a northeasterly wind until they sighted land. They 
 sailed to the country, and came to an isl.uid which lay to the north of the mainland, 
 walked ashore there, aiul looked about in fine weather. They noticed that dew was 
 on the grass, and happening to touch it with their hands and put it into their mouths 
 thought they never had ta>tcd anything so sweet as that. They then went to their 
 ship, and sailed into that sound which l.iy between the island and the ness which 
 jutted out north of the mainland, and steered westward past the ness. There great 
 shallows extended at ebb tide, and then their ship stood aground, and then it ap- 
 peared far from the vessel to the .sea. lUit so eager were they to go ashore, th.it 
 they could not wait until the sea should return to their ship, but leaped ashon- 
 where a river flowed out of a lake. Hut when the tide returned to their ship, then 
 tl -y took the bo.it and rowed to the ship, and it moved [floated] up into the river, 
 and then into the lake. There they cast anchor, and carried their leathern ham- 
 mocks" ashore, and made booths there. They then decided to dwell there during 
 the winter, and erected there a large building There was no lack of salmon, either 
 in the lake or the river, and greater salmon they had never seen. Hut the ipialit)- 
 of the country w.is so good according to uh.it it seemed to them that live-stock 
 would not ncctl provender in winter. \o frosts came there during the winter, and 
 
 ' More litor.illy, " Kl.i);stnne-l.ind." //Mi. i flatstone or tl.ii;stonc. 
 
 '■' M.UKiii of iMilliv.itid linil. The ii.iinc C.ipe St M.irk i* found in thi* region, on cirlv m.ip5. 
 " //<).//,■/. plural of //lij/if. .1 naulic.il lirni for " h.immiirk " Tlice li.ininiotks were leather b.ags. and the 
 sailors used lu luiiig them .ashore .and keep ihein in the iiarliorliooths (Vigfusson) 
 
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 THE LANDFALL OF LflF ERIKSON, 
 
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 herbage withered there but little. Day and night were there more even than in 
 Greenland or Iceland, for on the shortest days* the sun had the place of eykt* and 
 the place of dagmal.^ 
 
 But when they had completed the building, Leif thus addressed his companions : 
 " Now will I that our company be divided into two divisions, for I want to have 
 this country explored. One division shall remain at home about the house,* the 
 other examine land ; but go no farther than that they may come home in the even- 
 ing, and separate not." 
 
 For a while they did this. Leif alternately went with them or remained about the 
 house. Leif v.'as a large and strong man, of commanding presence, wise, and in all 
 things moderate. 
 
 Leif stays in Vineland during that winter, then sails to Greenland and saves 
 a castaway crew. 
 
 One evening it so happened that one of the cn:w was missing; it was Tyrkir the 
 German. About this Leif was greatly troubled ; for Tyrkir had been with him and 
 his father for a long ^imc, and had been very fond of Leif in his childhood. Leif 
 accordingly greatly upbraided his companions, and prepared with twelve men to seek 
 him. But when they had gone but a short distance from the liouse, Tyrkir walked 
 towards them and was received with great joy. Leif directly observed that his 
 foster-father was in good humor. 
 
 Tyrkir had a prominent forehead, twinkling eyes, a tiny face, was small of stature 
 and insignificant in appearance, but well skilled in every handicraft. 
 
 Then Leif addressed him : " Why wert thou so late, my fosterer, and separate 
 from the company?" 
 
 Tyrkir then spoke first a long while in German, and roiled his eyes about and 
 made grimaces. ]iut when they did not understand what he said, he after a while 
 spoke in Norse, saying, " I did not go much farther than ye, yet I have some news 
 to relate, for^ I found wine-wood' and grapes." 
 
 " Can that be true, my fosterer?" said Leif. 
 
 " Certainly it is true," quoth Tyrkir, " for I was born in a country where neither 
 wine-wood [vines] nor grapes were wanting." 
 
 They now slept over the night. Hut in the nmrning Leif said to his companions, 
 " Now we shall carry on two occupations, each alternate days, — either gather grapes, 
 
 ' SiamJfui, the shortest days in winter 
 
 • EyktarstaJr, — t.\\M is, the plate (>( eyll, or fytlmart, at the lime of the fiflh watch; or afternoon 
 lunch-time. 
 
 ' D,t,fmJAi-!ta(/r,thc place o( (/,icm<i/, or the third watch , the day meal mark, that is, lircakfast-time. (Willi 
 the time of fyie, at 4.30 P M., as determined by Thorlacfiis at Reykholt ; anil ilat^miil, cnrri's|)ondlngly far from 
 noon, at 7.50 A M. the shnrtcsl dav in Vineland w.is nine hours long, indicating a latitude of 41°+. — E. N. II.) 
 
 « Stall i.Shitlini;), a hut , a shed ; a rude temporary dwelling. 
 
 • Ptiiit. " for ; " wantinn m Rafn. 
 
 • yinfi./r, — literally, "wine wood," (;rape vines. 
 
 '^ 
 
 I 
 
AND SITE OF HIS HOUSES IN VINELAND. 
 
 117 
 
 or cut vines and fell the forest, so that it may make a cargo for my ship ; " and this 
 plan was adopted. It is said that after the ship's boat had been loaded with grapes, 
 a cargo [of wood] was cut for the ship. There also were fields ' of wheat' growing 
 wild " and certain trees called mosur ; * and of all these things they took some samples 
 with them. Some of the trees were used for building-timber. When spring came, 
 they made ready and sailed away. Leif named this country, after its good qualities, 
 Vineland [VVincland]. 
 
 They then sailed seaward with a fair wind, till they saw Greenland and its ice- 
 covered mountains.^ 
 
 Then one of the men addressed Lcif, saying, •' Why stccrest thou so in the teeth 
 of the wind? " 
 
 " I attend to my helm," said Leif, " but yet to something more now. Tell mc, 
 what strange things can ye see?" 
 
 They replied that they could not see anything out of the common. 
 " I know not," said Leif, " whether I sec a ship or a rock." 
 
 Prcsentlj' they discerned it, and declared it was a rock. Hut he saw so much 
 better than they that he could see men on the rork. 
 
 " Now will I," said Leif, " that we let the ship bite the wind so that we can reach 
 these men, if they require our presence and have need of our assistance. Hut in 
 case they are not peaceable, then we have everything in our own hands, and not 
 they in theirs." 
 
 They now made for the rock and lowered [the sail] bfit little, cast anchor, and 
 put out the second boat, which they had brought with them. Then Tyrkir inquired 
 who was their leader. They replied that his name was Thorir, and that he was a 
 Norwegian. "Hut," said he, "what is thy name?" Leif gave his name. "Art 
 thou," said Thorir, " the son of Eirik the Red, from Brattahlid? " Leif said he was. 
 
 " And now will I," said Leif, " invite ye all on board my vessel, with such of your 
 valuables as the ship can carry." 
 
 They accepted the offer, and then all sailed with this cargo to Eiriksfjord, until 
 they came to Hrattahlid, and unloaded the ship. Lcif then invited Th6rir and Gudrid 
 his wife and three others to his house, but secured winter quarters for the rest of 
 Th6rir's crew and for his own companions. 
 
 > W.inting it. Rafn. from " There .ilso were fields," etc., to "buikling timber." 
 
 '' So in all the manii'icripts. Hv,iti, — Modern Icelandic, hvM: D.inish. hvede ; Swedish, ivrtf ; German, 
 H^riun (compare the adjective h//iir, " white |") —the name of a grain yielding white flour. [The Icelandic 
 word in Thorfinn's Saga is /nritinx (i/j- — earofcorn; li-.cilinx is, literally, " while car-of^:orn "). Corn is a 
 generic term in Kngland, under which is included wheat as a cereal grain. Wheat was not known in America 
 before Champlain, while Indian corn was indigenous. The Vineland discoverers would naturally give the name 
 kveiti tn a new kind of grain yielding white flour, such as Indian corn. — E. N. H.] 
 
 * Literally, "self-sown." 
 
 « \Mii!urr. m. Old High Oerm:,i,. tuastir ; Old F.nglish. masfr. — K. N. H.J 
 
 " i.itcr.illy, " ntountains under snow." 
 
fr ! 
 
 if 
 
 ii8 
 
 THE LANDFALL OF LEIF ERIKSON, 
 
 Leif took fifteen men from the rock. After that he was called " Leif the 
 Lucky." ' 
 
 Leif now acquired both ample wealth and honor. That winter a great sickness 
 broke out amon(j Thorir's crew, and carried off Thorir and a great part of his com- 
 pany. That same winter also died Eirik the Red. 
 
 There was now great talk about Lcif's expedition to Vincland ; and to Thorvald 
 his brother it seemed that too little of the country had been explored. 
 
 Then said Leif to Thorvald, "Take thou my ship, brother, if thou wilt, to 
 Vinelan(.l ; but yet I would have the ship first go after the timber which Thdrir had 
 on the rock." 
 
 That was done. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Thorwald Erikson's Expedition. 
 
 Of Thorvald, Lei/'s Brother, ami the Skraeliiigf in Vineland. 
 
 Now Thorvald prepared for this expedition, taking with him thirty men, accord- 
 ing to his brother's advice. Then they fitted out their ship pnd sailed seaward; and 
 there is no report of their journey until they came to Leifs booths in Vineland, and 
 stayed there during the vinter, and subsisted by fishing. 
 
 Hut in the spring Thorvald said that they slioiild make the ship ready, and that 
 the ship's boat and a number of men with it should go along the west of tlie country 
 and explore there during tlie summer. 
 
 The country appeared to them beautiful and well wooded, and but a short 
 distance between the forest and the sea and white sands. Numerous islands were 
 there, and great shallows. Nowhere found they any abodes of men or beasts; but 
 on one island far to the west they found a corn-shed.''* No other vestiges of men did 
 they find, and in the autumn they returned to Leifs booths. 
 
 Hut the following summer Thorvald went in the trading-vessel along the east side, 
 and rounded the country on the north. ^ Then a great storm fell u|)on them off a 
 certain headland, and they were driven there ashore, and broke off the keel from 
 under the ship. There they had a long ilelay while rejjairing the vessel. 
 
 Tlien saitl Thorvald, " Now will I tliat we erect the keel lu-re ujion this ness, and 
 call it Kjalarnes [Cape (^ the KcelJ ; " and they did so, Then the}- sailed away and 
 stood eastward off the land,* and into those bays which there lay nearest, and to that 
 headland which there jutted out. 
 
 ' Leifr. inn hef'i-ni ; so c.tllcd in Iceland, rather than Leif Kiriksson. 
 
 ' Kornhjiilmr, — literallv. " a corn (c grain< helmet ; " a covering for corn or grain. 
 
 ' N.tutical, " stood otT the north shore." 
 
 * Aiisir /yri: l.inJil,— literally, '• Eastward, .irounci the land " The |)repositio;i fyrir with accusative, and 
 joined to an aiHerh denolin); direction (a auslr. the east), signifies motion toward tlial direction (expressed 
 by the ending " ward " in »uch compuundi a»" eastward") and beyond or past the place or point occupied by its 
 
 I ( 
 
 M 
 
 I 
 
AND SITE OF HIS HOUSES IN VINELAND. 
 
 119 
 
 This headland was all covered with forest. Here they ran the vessels into an 
 anchorage and put out gangways, and then Thorvald walked ashore with all his 
 
 companions.' 
 
 Then said Thorvald, " Here it is beautiful, and here would I make my home." 
 They then walked to the ship and saw on the sand, in from the headland, three 
 hillocks ; and going thither they saw three skin-boats,^ and under each three men. 
 They then divided their forces, and seized them all except one, who escaped with 
 his boat. They killed the eight, and then walked back to the cape ard looked 
 around there, and saw towards the inner part of the bay several hillocks, which they 
 .supposed to be dwellings [.settlements, h'i'^ir.] Thereupon a drowsiness came 
 over them, so great that they could not keep themselves awake, but fell all asleep. 
 Then a cry broke upon their ears, ard they all awoke. Thus said the cry: " Awake, 
 Thorvald, and all thy companions, if thou wilt .save thy life; and go on board thy 
 ship with all thy men, and depart from this country at once ! " ' 
 
 Then from the inner part of the bay countless skin-boats approached and bore 
 down upon them. Then said Thorvald, " Let us advance the battle-covers [shields] 
 to the gunwale, and defend [ourselves] as best we may, but not attack them much." 
 This they did. Hut the Skraelings shot upon them awhile, then fled each as best 
 
 he could. 
 
 Then Thorvald asked his men if any of them were wounded. They replied that 
 they were not. " I have," said he, " received a wound under the arm. An arrow 
 flew between the gunwale and the shield and lodged in my armpit; here is the 
 arrow still, and this will cause my Gcath. Now I advise this: that ye prepare for 
 your journey homeward as quickly as possible. But me ye shall carry to the head- 
 land which I thought so inviting to dwell on. Mayhap that my words will come 
 true, and that I shall dwell there awhile. There ye shall bury me, and place a cross 
 at my head and another at my feet, and ever after call the headland Krossanes 
 [Cape of Crosses]." 
 
 Thorvald then expired, and his companions did everything as he had directed. 
 Afterwards they went and joined their companions, and then each told the other such 
 tidings as they knew. 
 
 That winter they dwelt there, and gathered wine-wood [grape-vines] for the 
 ship, and grapes. Hut in the spring they set sail for Greenland, and reached 
 liiriksfjord in safety, and told Lcif the sad tidings. 
 
 object {^ee Vigfnsson) [ne.imish s.ivs " After tlint thev sniled aw.iy round the ea.stern shores of the land, and 
 into the muuths of the friths which lay nearest thereto, and to a point of land which stretched out and was 
 covered .ill over with wood " Smith says : " Having done as he desired, ihcy sailed along the coasts leaving 
 that neck to the eastward, .and entered the mouths of the neighboring b.iys." Both are consistent with the 
 Coast Survey chart. — E. N. H ] 
 
 I [The Gurnet. — E. N 11.] 
 
 ' l!irchb.irk canoes. 
 
 • [This cry was probably from one of Leif's party who had remained in Vineland — E. N. H.] 
 
 f;;l 
 
 ti\ 
 
I20 
 
 THE LANDFALL OK LEIF ERIKSON, 
 
 lit 
 
 4| 
 
 :■ n 
 
 Thorstein Erikson's Expedition to Vineland. 
 
 In the mean time it had come to pass in Greenland that Tliorstein of Eiriksfjord 
 had taken a wife, and obtained Gudrid, Thorbjorn's dau";hter, who had been married 
 to Th6rir Eastman, mentioned above. Thorstein Eiriksson became now desirous to 
 go to Vineland after his brother's body, and accordin{,'ly fitted out the same vessel, and 
 chose all his crew accordinjj to size and strength, taking with him twenty-five' men 
 and his wife Gudrid. When ready, they sailed seaward and out of sight of land. All 
 summer they were tossed about, a.id knew not whither they went ; but when the first 
 week of winter was past,^ they made land at Lysufjcird in Greenland, in the Ves- 
 turbygd [Western settlement]. Thorstein now sought winter quarters for them, and 
 obtained lodgings for all his sailors; but himself and his wife were still without a 
 place. Accordingly, they two had to remain for some nights at the ship. One day 
 it so happened that men came to their tents early. Their leader asked who were in 
 the tent. 
 
 Thorstein answered, " Two men ; but who asks? " 
 
 " Thorstein is my name," replied the other, " and I am called Thorstein Svartur 
 [the Black], But my errand hither is to invite ye both, thee and thy wife, to dwell 
 with me." 
 
 Thorstein Eiriksson said he would consult his wife. But she bade him decide this. 
 Accordingly he accepted the offer. 
 
 "To-morrow, then," says Thorstein, "I shall come for you with a team. I 
 do not indeed lack anything to provide for ye; but it is very lonesome in my 
 house. There my wife and myself dwell alone, for I am very singular.^ 1 also have 
 another religion * than \e have, and yet I suppose yours the better." 
 
 In the morning, accordingly, Thorstein the Black came after them; and they went 
 with him to dwell, and were well entertained. 
 
 Gudrid was a noble-looking woman, discreet, and knew well how to conduct her- 
 self among strangers. 
 
 It happened early in the winter that a disease broke out among Thorstein Eiriks- 
 son's sailors, and several of his men died. Thorstein bade them make coffins about 
 the bodies of the deceasetl, and move them to the ship, and there keep them. " For 
 I will," said he, "have them all taken to luriksfjord next summer."' 
 
 ' PeringskjriUl translate? hiilfaii prijja taiii; by " fifty." 
 
 '■^ I The winter was reckoned by the .incieni Northmen to commence on the first Saturday which fell between 
 the nth and iSlh days of October — J. T. SMITH. It was on this .Saturday that Eykt at Reykholt occurred at 
 •unset. — E N. II. 1 
 
 ' F.iiif'ykkr, sclf-villcd. 
 
 • Literally, " custom." 
 
 » An illuMlraiion of tl e rigid adherence to the ceremonies of the Church. 
 
 %\ 
 
 '/I 
 
 i 
 
AND SITE OF HIS HOUSES IN VINELAND. 
 
 131 
 
 It wa3 not long before the sickness came into Thorstein's home ; and his wife, 
 named Grimhild, was the first to take the disease. She was an exceedingly large 
 woman, and strong as a man ; but yet the disease laid her low. Soon after this, 
 Thorstein Eiriksson became ill; so that they were both sick at the same time. And 
 then Grimhild, the wife of Thorstein the Black, died. But when she was dead, 
 Thorstein, her husband, walked out of the sitting-room ' after a board to lay the 
 body on. 
 
 Then said Gudrid, " Be not long away, my Thorstein." 
 
 He promised this. 
 
 Then said Thorstein Eiriksson, "In a strange manner does the housewife now 
 act; for now she rises upon her elbow, pushes her feet out of bed,* and fumbles for 
 
 her shoes." 
 
 Just then Thorstein the Black came in ; and directly Grimhild lay down, and then 
 it creaked in every timber of the house. Thorstein now made a coffin about Grim- 
 hild's body, and buried it. He was a man of great size and strength, and required it 
 all before he could move her out of the house. 
 
 But now Thorstein Eiriksson became rapidly worse, and died. This weighed 
 heavily on his wife Gudrid. They were then all 'in the same sitting-room. Gudrid 
 had been sitting in a chair in front of the bench on which her husband had lain. 
 Then Thorstein the Black took her off the chair into his arms, and sat down on the 
 other bench opposite the corpse; and reasoned with her in many ways, and consoled 
 her, and promised that he would accompany her to Eiriksfjord, and take with her 
 the body of Thorstein her husband, and those of his companions. " I also shall," 
 added he, " take more servants into the house to comfort and cheer thee." 
 
 She thanked him. 
 
 Then Thorstein Eiriksson sat up and said, "Where is Gudrid?" Three times 
 he said this, but she remained silent. 
 
 Then she said to Thorstein [the Black], " Whether shall I make reply to this 
 
 or no?" 
 
 He bade her not answer. Then Thorstein the Black walked across the floor, and 
 sat down on the chair; but Gudrid sat on his knees, and he said, "What wilt thou. 
 Namesake ? " 
 
 After a while the other replied : " I should like to tell this Gudrid her destiny, 
 that she may the more easily bear my death. For now I am come to good abodes 
 of rest. But this I have to tell thee, Gudrid : that thou shalt be married to an 
 Icelander, and ye two shall live long together, and from ye will spring many men,^ 
 
 it,; 
 
 1 
 
 ' Stofa {Gnxmm, Stubt ; Danish, i'/c*; Swedish, j/x^ ; English, " stove "), a bathing-room with a stove; 
 a small detached sinRlc room ; a ladies' sitting-room in ancient dwellings, distinct from skili. Along the walls 
 were arranged beds and benches, as may be seen in the b,iJ >lof,s, in Iceland, at the present day. 
 
 '' S/oH: a timber, a board A'uiiu stotk, the board in the side of the bed. 
 
 ' Noble men. 
 
133 
 
 THE LANDFALL OF LEIF ERIKSON, 
 
 
 vigorous, illustrious, excellent, and lovable. Ye two will go from Greenland to Nor- 
 way and thence to Iceland, and there make your home, and there ye shall dwell a 
 long time. And thou shalt live longer than he. Thou shalt go abroad and go south,' 
 and come ' ick to Iceland to thy estate ; and then a church will be erected there, 
 and in it shalt thou be ordained a nun. And there shalt thou die." 
 
 Then Thorstein sank back, and his body was enswathed and taken on board the 
 ship. 
 
 Thorstein the Black kept well everything he had promised Gudrid. In the spring 
 he sold his farm and live-stock, made the ship ready, engaged a crew, and went to 
 Eiriksfjord, where all the corpses were buried at church. 
 
 Gudrid went to Leif at Brattahlid ; but Thorstein the Black took up his abode in 
 Eiriksfjord, and dwelt there while he lived, and was always looked upon as an able 
 and valiant man. 
 
 VI. 
 
 Of Thorfinn Karlsefni's Expedition to Vineland, and of 
 
 THE SKRAELINGS. 
 
 The same summer,' there came a ship from Norway to Greenland. The skipper* 
 was named Thorfirin Karlsefni. He was the son of Thord Hesthofda, the son of 
 Snorri, the son of Thord from Hofdi. Thorfinn Karlsefni was very wealthy, and re- 
 mained during the winter at Brattahlid with Leif Eiriksson. 
 
 Soon he began to pay his attentions to Gudrid, and wooed her; but she referred 
 to Leif to answer on her behalf After this she was betrothed to him, and their 
 wedding made that winter. 
 
 Then there was the same talk as before about going to Vineland ; and people 
 greatly urged Karlsefni to go, — both Gudrid and others. 
 
 The expedition was accordingly decided upon, and he engaged a crew of sixty 
 men and five women. Karlsefni and his crew made that agreement that they should 
 all share equally whatever goods they obtained. They took with them all kinds of 
 live-siock, for they intended to settle the country if they could do so. Karlsefni 
 asked Leif for his houses in Vineland ; but he said he wouli' lend his houses, not 
 give them. 
 
 After this they put to sea, and arrived safe ind sound at Leif's booths, and car- 
 ried their leathern hammocks ashore there. Soon a great and good catch came into 
 their hands, for a large and good whale [ro/ir whale] was there cast ashore. Accord- 
 ingly they cut up the whale, and now there was no lack of food. Their cattle went up 
 
 1 So Rafn and PcrinRskjold. I.ittrally, " Ro South," hut idiomatically meaning " go to Rome." 
 » Thit is. when Thnrstcin tho Hl.ick came to F.iriksfjord. 
 ' Literally, " tht man who steered the ship." 
 
 !l! 
 
 i 
 
AND SITE OF HIS HOUSES IN VINELAND. 
 
 '23 
 
 into the country ; but soon the male animals became unmanageable, and gave much 
 trouble. They had brought with them one bull. Karlsefp.i had his men fell trees 
 and hew timber for the ship, and placed the wood on a certain rock to dry.' They 
 made use of all the natural wealth there, both grapes and all kinds of game and 
 other products. 
 
 This first winter past, the summer came, and then they became aware of Skraelings. 
 Out of the woods where their cattle were [grazing], a large company of men emerged. 
 Then the bull began to roar and bellow exceedingly loud; but at this the Skraelings 
 became frightened, and ran away with their burdens, which were gray fur, sable fur, 
 and all kinds of peltry; and now the Skraelings turned to Karlsefni's farmstead, 
 and wanted to enter the houses, but Karlsefni ordered to guard the doors. Neither 
 understood the other's language. Then the Skraelings let down their bundles, and 
 untied these and offered to them for barter, and wanted mostly weapons in exchange. 
 But Karlsefni prohibited to sell the arms. He now contrived a scheme in this way: 
 he would have the women carry out milk (or milk-food^) to the Skraelings; and when 
 they saw the milk, then they would buy that and nothing else. This trading expe- 
 dition of the Skraelings amounted, then, to this, — that they carried their goods away 
 in their stomachs, while Karlsefni and his companions retained the bundles and 
 peltry; and with this result the Skraelings went away. 
 
 It row behooves to relate that Karlsefni had a strong stockade made about his 
 building, and fortified the place. At this time Gudrid his wife gave birth to a male 
 child, and this boy was named Snorri. 
 
 Early the next winter the Skraelings came to them, much more numerous than 
 formerly, but having the same goods as before. Then Karlsefni said to the women, 
 " Now ye shall carry out that food which was most used on the former occasion, and 
 nothing else." And when the Skraelings saw that, they threw their bundles inside 
 the paling. But Gudrid sat in the door within by the cradle of her son Snorri. 
 Then a shadow fell on the door, and there walked in a wom.in with a black woven 
 [cloth] kirtle,' rather short of stature, wearing a ribbon^ about her head, with light 
 brown hair, wan-looking, and so large-eyed that none had ever seen so large eyes in 
 any man's head. 
 
 She walked to where Gudrid sat, and said, " What is thy name?" 
 
 The other replied, " I am called Gudrid ; but what is thy name? " 
 
 " Gudrid am I hight," replied the other. 
 
 Then the housewife offered her hand, inviting her to sit beside her. But it hap- 
 pened, all at the same time, that Gudrid heard a great crash, and the woman dis- 
 
 ' [The transLition by Mr. J- Eliot Cabot differs in two particuLirs, both of which commend themselves. 
 It rcids : " Karlsefni had wood filled and hewn, and ttotighl to Iht i/iif, and the wood filed on the cliff to 
 dry" — K.. N. ii] 
 
 - Riinyl, milk or milk-food 
 
 ' This, iind the command of the Icelandic tongue, determined the Norse origin of the woman. 
 
 * A habit still preserved among some Indian tribes. 
 

 \\ 
 
 * 
 
 t I 
 
 l! 
 
 124 
 
 THE LANDFALL OF LEIF ERIKSON, 
 
 appeared ; and just then one of the Skraelings was killed by one of Karlsefni's men,' 
 because he had tried to take away their weapons. 
 
 And now the Skraelings went away as quickly as possible, but their clothing ' and 
 wares lay there behind. No one had seen the woman but Gudrid alone, 
 
 [Let us consider this incident ! The house is surrounded by a stockade of upright logs, — that 
 is, a palisade for defence against surprise or as-^^ult in Thorfinn's absences. The door does not 
 open on hinges, but is arranged to slide in a groove parallel to tlie threshold. As there were 
 no windows, the figure of the woman in the doorway darkened all the room. A woman glides in, 
 and is kindly invited by a gesture to sit beside Gudrid. The unexpected guest is fair, has large 
 eyes, auburn hair bound by a band of cloth — a snood — around the forehead. It was for such 
 use that the red flannel was sought and purchased, as described in other Sagas. The woman 
 wears a woven gown. Here is the textile fabric of which, vaguely, Champlain heard six hundred 
 years later. With the shout or scream near by attending the killing of a Skraeling by one of 
 Gudrid's housemen or guard, the woman vanished. 
 
 How natural to ask the name of the woman by the side of Snorri's cradle, — Gudrid, — and 
 how natural the repetition of the inquiry, and the answer ! This strange woman spoke in 
 Icelandic ! What a world of revelation is presented in this fact ! JVorse people were already 
 here. One realizes what Freydis said : " Expeditions to Vineland were commonly regarded as 
 profitable and honorable." There was commerce here. Gudrid told the dignitaries at Rome of 
 the beautiful country in the far wes.t ; of Vineland the Good, and of the Christian settlements 
 made there by S<'andinavians. Adam Von Bremen was told by the Danish King that he had 
 subjects there, in the land where corn grew wild and grapes abounded. And this occurred 
 near Gerry's Landing, between Norse women, nine hundred years ago ! — e. n. h.] 
 
 "Now we shall have to form our plans," said Karlscfni; " for I suspect they will 
 visit us the third time, and for war and in great numbers. We shall now adopt this 
 plan, — that ten men go out on this ness and show themselves; but the rest of our 
 force shall go into the woods, and there be cutting a clearing for our cattle when the 
 enemy emerges from the forest. We shall also take the bull along, and let him go 
 ahead of us." ° 
 
 But where the mi.'eting was intended the landscape was such that a lake was on 
 one side, but forest on the other. Karlsefni's plan was accordingly adopted. 
 
 The Skraelings now came to the place which Karlscfni had intended for the fight; 
 and there a battle was fought, and large numbers of the Skraelings were slain. 
 Among the Skr^.eiings there was one large and handsome man, and it seemed to 
 Karlscfni that he was their chief. Now, one of the Skraelings had picked up an axe 
 and looked at it awhile, and lifted it against his comrade and struck him. The man 
 
 ' Litera'ly, "man-servant." 
 
 ' Klitnli, cloth or clothes 
 
 • A curious coincidence with the pl.in of ihe early New-England colonists, who, when working in the field, 
 placed the cattle between themselves and the forest as scouts; for on the approach of the Indians the cattle used 
 to show signs of great terror 
 
AND SITE OF HIS HOUSES IN VINELAND. 
 
 »25 
 
 immediately fell down dead. Then the great man took the axe and looked at it 
 awhile, and then hurled it out on the sea as far as he could. The Skraelings then 
 fled, each as best he could, to the woods? ; and thus their conflict for the time ended. 
 
 Karlsefni and his men stayed there that whole winter; but in the spring Karlsefni 
 announced that he would not remain there any longer, but would return to Greenland. 
 
 Accordingly they made ready for the voyage, and took with them great wealth in 
 vines, berries, and peltry. Then they put to sea, and brought the vessel safe and 
 sound into Eiriksfjord, and abode there during the winter. 
 
 VII. 
 
 Of Freydis, Eirik's D.\UGHrER, and her Expedition to Vineland, 
 
 AND her Crimes. 
 
 Once more there arose a talk about an expedition to Vineland, for it was looked 
 upon as profitable and honorable. That summer in which Karlsefni came from Vine- 
 land, a ship came from Norway to Greenland. Two brothers, Hclgi and Finnbogi, 
 steered the ship. They remained in Greenland that winter. These brothers were 
 Icelanders by birth, and hailed from the Austfjords [the East-fjords]. 
 
 The narrative now turns to where Freydis, Eirik's daughter, made a trip from her 
 home at Gardar, and visited the brothers Helgi and Finnbogi, and proposed to them to 
 go to Vineland with their ship, and that they should go halves in' whatever wealth they 
 obtained there. The brothers agreed to this. She then went to see Leif, her brother, 
 and requested him to let her have the buildings which he had caused to be erected in 
 Vineland. But he replied as on a former occasion, — said he would lend the houses, 
 not give them. Between F"reydis and the brothers mentioned above there was an 
 agreement that either party should have thirty men skilled in arms on board that 
 ship, and women in addition. But Freydis broke this at once, and had five r • : more, 
 and hid them so that the brothers became not aware of :hem until they came to Vine- 
 land. And now they put to sea. They had agreed before that they should sail close 
 together if possible, and there was but little difiference between them ; but yet the 
 brothers arrived a little before the others did, and had then carried their stores up to 
 Leif's houses. But when Freydis arrived, then her crew cleared th.- ships and carried 
 their goods to the houses. 
 
 Then said Freydis, " Why did ye carry your goods in her"? " 
 " Because we thought," replied they, " that every word of agreement between us 
 would be kept." 
 
 "To me," she answered, " Leif granted and lent these houses; not to ye." 
 " In wickedness shall we brothers not be able to match thee," said Melgi. 
 
 ' Literally, " go halven in," etc 
 
 MU 
 

 136 
 
 THE LANDFALL OF LFIF KKIKSON, 
 
 
 I 
 
 h 
 
 m 
 
 « 
 
 They then carried their goods out and put them ' carefully away, and made a shed 
 building fo' hemselves farther from' the sea on a lake shore, and fortified it well; 
 but I'-reydi. ad her men cut timber for her ship. 
 
 Winter now approached ; and then the two brothers proposed that athletic games 
 should begin, and chief amusements be held. This was done awhile, until the men 
 made accusations against one another. Then a quarrel arose, and the games were 
 discontinued, and intercourse between the houses ceased. This went on during a 
 great part of the winter. 
 
 One morning early it came to pass that Frcydis arose from her couch and 
 dressed, without pulling on her shoes or stockings.'' Hut the weather was such that 
 much dew had fallen. She took her husband's cloak and put it on, and then she 
 walked to the house of the brothers. But a ..iiort while before some man had walked 
 out and shut the door half-way.® She opened the door, and stood in the doorway, 
 and there remained silent. 
 
 Hut Finnbogi lay farthest in the house. He was awake, and said, " What wilt thou 
 hither, Freydis?" 
 
 She replied, " I wish that thou wouidst arise and walk out with me ; I want to 
 speak to thee." 
 
 He did so ; and they walked to a tree which lay by the wall of the house, and sat 
 down there. 
 
 " How dost thou like it here? " she began. 
 
 " I like the country well, but do not like the coldness between us, for it seems to 
 me without good cause." * 
 
 " Now spcakest thou the truth," she replied ; " and so it seems to me. But my 
 errand hither is that I would trade vessels with ye brothers, for ye have a larger ship 
 than I ; and I would away from here." 
 
 " That I shall bring about," said he, " if thou art then satisfied." 
 
 With this they separated ; and she walked home, but Finnbogi went to his bed. 
 
 She then stepped into her bed with cold feet; and with that Thorvald awoke, and 
 asked why she was so cold and wet. But she replied in a great huff, — 
 
 " I had gone to the brothers to ask leave to purchase their ship, for I wanted 
 to buy a larger vessel Rut they became so incensed that they beat me and ill-treated 
 me. Rut thou, poor wretch ! art not likely to wish to avenge or obtain satisfaction for 
 my shame nor thine. I now begin to feel that I am no longer in Greenland, and from 
 thee I shall obtain separation unless thou avenge this." 
 
 ' *«(ii »<■/««; wanting in Rafn. 
 
 ' Ra(n . forr =fjarr, — that is, " farther away." Peringsltjold : fyrr, possibly ^fyrir, " before." 
 » Uofm/. 
 
 ♦ SHIiifdi. shoe-clothes. 
 
 ' Literally, lokuit hurdiniri i tiuitjan klofa, — that is, " shut the door to the middle of the groove." 
 *■ More liicr.illy, " The qiLiIitv of the country seems good to mc, but that coldness between us seems to me 
 evil, for I think it without good cause." Ptistr, storm, anger. 
 
 I 
 
AND SITE OF HIS HOUSES IN VINELAND. 
 
 127 
 
 But he could not bear her rebuke.'and bade his men arise at once and don their 
 armor; and they did so, and went to the house of the brothers and walked in upon 
 them asleep, and then led each one out as he was bound. But Freydis had every one 
 who came out put to death. Thus all the men were killed ; but the women were still 
 alive, and no man would kill them- 
 
 Then said Freydis, " Hand me the axe ; " and that was done. Then she fell upon ' 
 the five women who were there and left them dead. 
 
 After this wicked deed Freydis and her men went to their own house, and no 
 one could notice anything but that Freydis thought she had well managed. 
 
 And to her companions she said, "If we have the good fortune* to reach Green- 
 land, then," added she, " shall I have that man's life that tells of these events.' But 
 let us say that when we left they dwelt there behind." 
 
 Now, early in the spring they fitted out that ship which had belonged to the 
 brothers', and loaded it with all the goods which they could obtain and the ship could 
 carry. Then they put to sea, and had a quick passage, and brought their ship into 
 Eiriksfjord early that summer. 
 
 There was Thorfinn Karlsefni with his ship, bound for a voyage and awaiting a 
 favorable wind. It is said that no costlier ship ever left Greenland than the one he 
 
 commanded.* 
 
 Freydis went to her farmstead, which all the while had remained unharmed. She 
 granted her followers a large booty, for she wanted to have her crime kept secret. 
 But all were not so reserved '^ in remaining silent about their evil deeds and wicked- 
 ness, that these did not come to light at last. And finally this came to the ears of 
 her brother Leif, and the story seemed to him most horrible. Lcif then took three 
 men of Freydis's crew, and tortured them all at the same time to tell* the truth about 
 this event And their evidence was all one way.' 
 
 Then said Lcif, " I have not a heart to deal with my sister as she deserves; but 
 this I prophesy, that their offspring will never prosper." * 
 
 And thus it came to pass that from that time no one thought of them* anything 
 but evil.'" 
 
 ' rfqr Ann, attacks. 
 « "If it (alls to our lot." 
 » All'imliim. events, deeds. 
 
 ♦ I.ilerallv, "steered." 
 
 » t/MJhm ,ml:an, " reserved, close ; " but in modem Icelandic, " faithful to his word." So translated by 
 Peringskjnlil and Rafn. 
 » l,iter.ally, " to tell." 
 ' That is, " agreed on everything." 
 
 • Literally, "thrive." 
 
 « i"rcy<lis and her husband, or Freydis and her companions. 
 >» More literally, " counted them worth anything but evil." 
 

 'U 
 
 I 
 
 4 
 
 11 
 
 128 THE LANDFALL OK LEIF ERIKSON, 
 
 MosuRR-wooD. Thorfinn Karlsefni and his Lineage. 
 
 It is now necessary to relate that Karlsefni fitted Dut his ship and sailed from 
 Greenland to Norway. He had a speedy passage, ant' came to Norway with every- 
 thing safi: and sound, and remained there during the winter and sold his wares. He 
 and his wife were highly favored by the leading men of Norway. Hut in the follow- 
 ing spring he rigged out his vessel to sail to Iceland Hut when he was all ready, and 
 his ships lay oflT the bridges waiting for favorable wind, there came to him a German 
 related to people in Hremeu ' in Saxon-land.' He desired to purchase of Karlsefni his 
 /nisa-snotni.^ 
 
 " I will not sell," said Karlsefni. 
 
 " I oficr you half a pound of gold," * said the Southerner. 
 
 Karlsefni thought this a good bid, and closed the bargain. The German then 
 went away with the husa-siiotra. Hut Karlsefni knew not what wood was in it. 
 It was mi.surr^ from Vincland. And now Karlsefni put to sea, and brought his 
 ship to Skagafjord, in the north quarter of Iceland. There he remained during the 
 winter. In the following spring he bought the GlumbiV Estate [see Henderson's 
 map of Iceland], on which he built a house, and where he lived during the remainder 
 of his life, much honored. 
 
 f! 
 
 If! 
 
 
 From Karlsefni and his wife sprang a numerous and illustrious race. Thorfinn 
 being dead, Gudrid and Snorri remained on the estate, — the latter being the son 
 born in Vineland. When Snorri married, Gudrid took a journey to Rome, and 
 
 ' I.it^r.i]ly, "rel.ited to |icoplc in liremen " Drcmen w.i.s a strongly fortified commercial city, of great 
 enterprise .inil we.ilth, on the Wcscr. 
 
 **>.i\iinl.inil, — a gcri r»1 name for the ri-gion of Ilanse towns. 
 
 ' [Perincskjiild's transLaiion into Swedish is 10.;^, "scales for weighing;" .and his transl.itiim into Latin is 
 Lignr.im sttilmtm. Anilriws and Stodilard give for shin a, " ( I ) steelyard ; also, a balance, a goldsmith's scaler. 
 (;) polelwr of a chariot ; also, a kind of platter, so called from its rescnihlancc to the scale of a steelyard or 
 balance " These I-itin eipiivalcnts mav reconcile the variously suggested meanings The steelyard .and .scaler 
 perform somewhat the same otfice, and the names might 1k' equivalent, and were iiuleetl. The bar of a steelyard, 
 pole-bar, brootn-handle, and house-bar — all (tf which have been suggested bv translators — have a common 
 quality. The sealc-pan is thin and concave. One made of masur-wood — burr wood — might lie thin, not liable 
 to crack or warp, and 'aslinn. The nilerhicing fibres of such wood give v.alue to it for chalices, goblets, and 
 maces ; besides, it was a deciirative wood. In such wood the Hremen merchant could see a value for industrial 
 uses, — as we use like wood in the form of veneers for furniture, for interior linish. for bowls, kncadingtroughs 
 mortars (for household use), etc. — K. N 11 ) 
 
 * .l/.>>^. eight ounces. Keamish estimates the value at sixteen potmds sterling Herrcr.a, the Spanish 
 amhor. mentions a half mark as equal to eight imnces. 
 
 '■ IVringskjold and Uafn, mauuir ; Vigfusson, mMUur ; Modern and Old High German, masur = knorri^tr 
 ,111 mm, hi i High German and Old English, m.rcer, — a maple-tree, spot wood Canto V, last stan/a, and 
 .^p|icndix, Sc.itt's "Lord of the Isles": " Itring here," he said, "the makers four," — large wooden ilrinking 
 cups or goblet*. 
 
1 
 
 AND SITE OF HIS HOUSES IN VINELAND. 
 
 129 
 
 afterward returned to her son's house, who had meantime built .1 church at Glumbae. 
 Gudrid subsequently entered a convent, and passed the remainder of her life in 
 solitude. 
 
 Snorri had a son who was named Thorgeir. He was the father of Ingveld, the 
 mother of Bishop Brand. The daughter of Snorri, Karlscfni's son, was named Hall- 
 frit, f Icr son was Runoif, the father of Bishop Th6rlak. 
 
 Karlscfni and Gudrid had another son named Bjarni. His daughter was Thornun, 
 mother of Bisliop Bjarni. l'"rom Karlscfni many great and good men are descended ; 
 and of ail men Karlscfni has most clearly reported of all these e.Kpeditions of which 
 anything is now related. 
 
 IX. 
 
 Narr.\tives of Tiiorfinn Karlsefni.' 
 
 There was a man named Tliord, who dwelt at Hofda, in Hcifda-Strand. He 
 married Fridgerda, daughter of Thonr the Idle, and of I'Vidgerda the daughter of 
 Kiarval, King of the Irish. Thord was the son of Biarne Byrdusmjor, son ol Thor- 
 vald, son of .\slak, son of Biarni Ironsides, son of Ragnar Lodbrok. They had a 
 son named Snorri, who married Thorhild the Tartridge, daughter of Thord Geller. 
 They had a son named Thord Horsehead. Thorfinn Karlscfni was his son, whose 
 mother's name was Thorunn. 
 
 Thorfmn occupied his time in merchant voyages, and was thought a good 
 trader. One summer he fitted out his ship for a voyage to Greenland, attended 
 by Snorri Thorbrandsson, of Alpafjord, and a crew of forty men. There was a man 
 named Biarni Grimolfsson, of Breidafjord, and another named Thorhall Gamlasson, 
 of Auslfjoril. The men fitted out a ship .at the same time, to voyage to Gtecn- 
 land. They also h.id a crew of forty men. This ship and that of rhorlinn, as soon 
 as they were ready, put to sea. It is not said how long they were on the voyage; 
 it is only told that both ships arrived at I'.riksfjord in the aiitunm of that year. Leif 
 anil other people rode down to the ships, and friendly exchanges were made. The 
 captains requested I.eif to take whatever he desired of their goods. Leif in return 
 entertained them well, and invited the princip.il men of both ships to spenil the 
 . winter with him at Brattalilid. The merchants accepted his invitation with thanks. 
 Afterwards their goods were moved to Br.ittalilid, where they hail cver\' entertain- 
 ment that they could desire; therefore their winter quarters pleased them much. 
 When tlie Yulc-fe.ist began, Leif was silent, and more depressed than usual. Then 
 Karlscfni said to Leif, — 
 
 ' \Thi« tr.iii<l;.!i<ui of tlir Thorfinn S.igas I h.ivc taken from Dr. lie Costii's " I'rcCi.lumliun Discovery o( 
 America," (Wges 49-61. .iJiling occasional notes ami parallel p.issaRes from other relations. — K. N. it.) 
 

 130 
 
 THE LANDFALL OF LEIF ERIKSON, 
 
 " Are you sick, friend Lcif ? You do not seem to be in your usual spirits. 
 You have entertained us most liberally, for which we desire to render you all the 
 service in our power. Tell me what it is that ails you." 
 
 " You have received in the kindest manner what I n.-ve been able to offer 
 you," said Leif, " and there is no idea in my mind that you have been wanting in 
 courtesy ; but I am afraid lest when you go away it may be said that you never saw 
 a Yule-feast so meanly celebrated as that which draws near, at which you will be 
 entertained by Leif of Brattahlid." 
 
 " That shall never be the case, friend," said Karlscfni. " We have ample stores 
 in the ship ; take of these what you wish, and make a feast as splendid as you 
 please." 
 
 Lcif accepted this offer, and the Yule began ; and so well were Lcif's plans made 
 that all were surprised that such a rich feast could be prepared in so poor a country. 
 
 After the Yulc-fcast Karlscfni bcy;an to treat with Leif as to the marriage of 
 Gudrid, — Lcif being the person to whom the right of betrothal belonged. Lcif 
 gave a favorable reply, and said she must fulfil that destiny which fate had assigned, 
 and that he had 'leard of him none except a good report; and in the end it turned 
 out that Karlsef'.ii married Gudrid, and their wedding was held at Brattahlid this 
 same winter. 
 
 The conversation often turned at Brattahlid on the discovery of Vineland the 
 Good, and they said that a voyage there had great hope of gain. And after this 
 Karlscfni and Snorri made ready for going on a voyage there the following spring. 
 Biarni and Thorhall Gamlasson, before mentioned, joined them with a ship. There 
 was a man named Thorvald, who married I-'reydis, natural daughter of Erik the Red, 
 and he decided to go with them, as did also Thorvald, son of Erik. And Thor- 
 hall, commonly called the Hunter, who had been the huntsman of Erik in the 
 summer and his steward in the winter, also went. This Thorhall was a man of 
 inmiense size and great strength, of dark complexion and taciturn, and when he 
 spoke it was always jestingly. He was inclined to give Leif evil advice, and was an 
 enemy of Christianity. He knew much about desert lands, and was in the same 
 ship with Thorvard and Thorvald. These used the slii[) which brought Thorbiorn 
 from Iceland. There were in all forty men and a hundred.' 
 
 They sailed tj the west district, and thence to Biarncy; hence they sailed south 
 a night and a day. Then land was seen, and they launched a boat and e.xjjlored the 
 land ; they found great flat stones, many of which were twelve ells broad. There 
 were a great number of foxes there. They called the land Ilelluland. 
 
 Then they sailed a d.ay and a night in a southerly course, and came to a land 
 covered with woods," in which were many wild animals. Beyond this land, to the 
 
 1 
 
 ' A hundred w.is equ,il to one hiindreii and twenty, [There were one hundred »nd sixty in all. — E. N. 11.] 
 ' Powibly Ihcy touched the cistern extremity uf Nova Scotia or Cape ISrclun. 
 
1 
 
 AND SITE OF HIS HOUSES IN VINELAND. 
 
 13' 
 
 southeast, lay an island, on which they slew a bear. 
 Island, and the land Markland. 
 
 They called the island Bear 
 
 Thence they sailed south two days, and came to a cape. The land lay on the 
 right [starboard] side of the ship, and there were long shores of sand. They came 
 to land, and found on the cape the keel of a ship ; from which they called the place 
 Kialarness, and the shores they also called Wonder-Strand, because it seemed so long 
 
 sailing by. 
 
 Then the land became indented with coves, and they ran the ship into a bay, 
 whither they dire'- cd their course. King Olaf Tryggvesson had given Leif two Scots,' 
 — a man named Haki and a woman named Hekia ; they were swifter of foot than 
 wild animals. These were in Karlscfni's ship. And when they had passed beyond 
 Wonder-Strand, they put these Scots ashore, and told them to run over the land to the 
 southeast three days, to discover the nature of the land, and then return. They had 
 a kind of garment that they called kiafal, which was so made that a hat was on top, 
 and it was open at the sides, and had no arms ; it was fastened between the legs with 
 a button and strap. Otherwise they were naked. When they returned, one had in 
 his hand a bunch of grapes and the other an ear of corn. They went on board, 
 and afterwards the course was obstructed by another bay. Beyond this bay was 
 an island, on each side of which was a rapid current, which they called the Isle of 
 Currents (Straum-b = Straumcy). There was so great a number of eider ducks 
 there that they could hardly step without treading on their eggs.* They called 
 this place Streamfirth (Straumfjord). Here they brought their ships to land, and 
 prepared to stay.'' 
 
 They had with them all kinds of cattle. The situation of the place was pleasant, 
 but they did not care for anything except to explore the land. 
 
 Here they wintered without sufficient food. The next summer, failing to catch 
 fish, they began to want food. Then Thorhall the Hunter disappeared. 
 
 They found Thorhall, whom they sought three da>s, on the top of a rock, where 
 he la)' breathing, blowing through his nose and mouth, and muttering. They asked 
 why he had gone there. He replied that this was nothing that concerned them. 
 They said that he should go home with them, which he did. Afterwards a whale 
 
 ' [This term .ipplied to the inhabitants of both Scotland and Ireland. — E N ii.] 
 
 ^ See iVolt-s, p. 141. 
 
 " [The two preceding paragrajihs evidently l)elong ti> another Saga; the succeeding paragraphs have also 
 the appearance of being fragments of scp.iratc rel.itions. in all probability misplaced by a copyist. In the 
 original of this Thorfinn Sag.i, l.cif was called Kirik. The Sagas of Kirik Raudc (Krik the Red) include 
 the stories of the expeditions and iliscoveries made by the f.itlier and the sons. (In the dc.tlh of the father .and 
 both brothers, I.eif succeeded to the patrimony and all rights of discovery of the family, and also, It would seem, 
 to the name of the father —EN 11 ] 
 
 f: 
 
f il. 
 
 hi 
 
 132 
 
 THE LANDKALI. OF LEIF ERIKSON, 
 
 was cast ashore in that place, and they assembled and cut it ii[), not knowing what 
 kind of a whale it was. They boiled it with water, and devoured it, and were taken 
 sick. Then Thorhall said, " Now you sec that Thor is more prompt to give aid than 
 your Christ. This was cast ashore as a reward for the hymn which I composed to 
 my patron Thor, who rarely forsakes me." When they knew this, they cast all the 
 remains of the whale into the sea, and commended their affairs to God. After which 
 the air became milder, and opportunities were given for fishing, and from that time 
 there was an abundance of food ; and there were beasts on the land, eggs on the 
 island, and fish in the sea. 
 
 
 ! ! 
 
 They say that Thorhall desired to go northward around Wonder- Strand to explore 
 Vineland, but Karlscfni wished to go along the shore south. Then Thorhall prepared 
 himself at the island, but did not have more than nine men in his whole company; 
 and all the others went in the company of Karlscfni. When Thorhall was carrying 
 water to his ship, he sang this verse: — 
 
 " People s.iid when liitlier I 
 Came, that I the best 
 Drink would h.ave ; but thi? land 
 It justly becomes me to blame. 
 I, a warrior, am now obliged 
 To bear the pail; 
 Wine touches not my lips, 
 IJut 1 bow down to the spring." 
 
 And when they had made ready and were about to sail, Thorhall sang, — 
 
 " Let us return 
 Thither where tour] countrymen rejoice. 
 Let the ship try 
 The smooth ways of the sea, 
 While the strong heroes 
 
 Live on Wonder-Strand, and there boil whales, — 
 Which is an honor to the land." 
 
 Afterwards he sailed north, to go around Wonder-Strand and Kialarncs; but 
 when he wished to sail westward they were met by a storm from the west and driven to 
 Ireland, where they were beaten and made slaves. And, as merchants reported, there 
 Thorhall died. 
 
 It is said that Karlsefni, with Snorri and Biarni and his comrades, sailed along 
 the coast south.' • 
 
 ' (This p.iraRr.iph l.iid the ffuiiKliiion nf the notion ih.il Thorfinn went south of Cape Cod. I have referred 
 to it in the text, page 85 Of the early Norlhmcu coming to Vineland none passed Mononioy. — E. N. H ] 
 
 :* 
 
 i 
 

 AND SITE OF HIS HOUSES IN VINELAND. 
 
 133 
 
 They sailed long, until they came to a river flowing out from the land through a 
 lake into the sea ; here there were sandy shoals, which it was impossible to pass up 
 except with the highest tide. Karlsefni sailed up to the mouth of the river with his 
 folk, and called the place Hop. Having come to the land, they saw that where the 
 ground was low, corn grew, and where it was higher, vines were found. Every river 
 was full of fish. 
 
 They dug pits where the land began, and where the land was highest; and when 
 the tide went down there were sacred fish in the pits. 
 
 There were great numbers of all kinds of wild beasts in the woods. 
 
 They stayed there half a month, and enjoyed themselves, and did not notice any- 
 thing ; they had their cattle with them. 
 
 And early one morning, when they looked around, they saw a great many skin 
 boats [birch-bark canoes], and poles were swung upon them, and it sounded like 
 reeds shaken by the wind, and they pointed to the sun.' 
 
 Then said Karlsefni, "What may this moan?" 
 
 Snorri Thorbrandsson replied, " It may be that this is a sign of peace; so let us 
 take a white shield and hold it towards them." 
 
 They did so. Thereupon they rowed towards them, wondering at them, and 
 came to land. These people were swarthy and fierce, and had bushy hair on their 
 heads; they had very large eyes and broad cheeks. They stayed there for a time 
 and gazed upon those they met, and afterwards roivcd away southward around 
 the ness. 
 
 Karlsefni and his people had made their houses above the lake, and some of the 
 houses were near the lake, and others more distant. They wintered there, and there 
 was no snow, and all their cattle fed themselves on the grass. Hut when spring 
 came, they saw one morning early that a number of canoes rowed from the south 
 around the ness, — so many as if the sea were sown with coal; poles were also 
 swung on each boat. Karlsefni and his people then raised up the shield, and 
 when they came together they began to trade. And these people would rather 
 have red cloth; for '.ins they offered skins and real furs. They would also buy 
 swords and spears; liit this Karlsefni and Snorri forbade. For a whole fur skin the 
 Skraclings took a p oce of rod cloth a span long, and bound it round their heads. 
 Thus went on their traffic for a time; then the cloth began to be scarce with 
 Karlsefni and his people, and they cut it u]) into small pieces, which were not wider 
 than a finger's breadth ; and yet the Skraelings gave just as much as before, and 
 more. 
 
 ' Possibly the paddles were simply held up while the canoes Hoatcd with the ebb tide. When they 
 returned up the river they /uJ to row; it was aj^niiitst the tide. 
 
'34 
 
 THE LANDFALL OF LEIF ERIKSON, 
 
 It happened that a bull which Karlsefni had, ran out of the wood and roared 
 aloud; this frightened the Skraelings, and they rushed to their canoes and rowed 
 away toward the south, and after that they were not seen for three whole weeks. 
 But at the end of that time a great number of Skraelings' ships were seen coming 
 from the south like a rushing torrent [ebb-tide. — E. N. U.], all the poles turned from 
 the sun, and they all yelled very loud. Then Karlsefni's people took a red shield 
 and held it towards them. The Skraelings leaped out of their vessels, and after this 
 they went against each other and fought. There was a hot shower of weapons, be- 
 cause the Skraelings had slings. Karlsefni's people saw that they raised up on a 
 pole a very large ball, something like a sheep's paunch [seal-skin distended. — 
 E. X. H.], and of a blue color; this they swung from the pole over Karlsefni's men 
 upon the ground, and it made a great noise as it fell down. This caused great fear 
 with Karlsefni and his men, so that they thought only of running away, and they 
 retreated along the river; for it seemed to them- that the Skraelings pressed thm 
 on all sides ; they did not stop until they came to some rocks, where they made a 
 bold stand. 
 
 Freydis came out and saw that Karlsefni's people fell back, and she cried out, 
 " Why do you run, strong men as you arc, before these miserable creatures, whom 
 I thought you would knock down like cattle? And if I had arms, methinks I 
 could fight better than any of you." They gave no heed to [her?] words. 
 
 Freydis would go with them, but she was slower because she was pregnant ; 
 still she followed after them into the woods. She found a dead man in the woods ; 
 it was Snorri Thorbrandsson, and there stood a flat stone in his head ; the sword lay 
 naked by his side. This she took up, and made ready to defend herself Then the 
 Skraelings came toward her. She drew out her breasts from under her clothes and 
 dashed them against the naked sword ; by this the Skraelings became frightened, 
 and ran off to their ships and rowed away. Karlsefni and his men then came 
 up and praised her courage. Two men fell on Karlsefni's side, but a number of 
 the Skraelings. Karlsefni's band was overmatched. And now they went home 
 to their dwellings and bound up their wounds, and considered what crowd that was 
 that pressed upon them from the land sitle ; and it now seemed to them that it could 
 hardly have been real people from tin- ships [canoes], but that these must have been 
 optical illusions. The Skraelings also found a dead man, and an axe lay by him ; 
 one of them took up the axe and cut wood with it; and then one after another 
 did the same, and thought it was a fine thing and cut well. After that one took it 
 and cut at a stone so that the axe broke; and then they thought it was of no use 
 because it would not cut stone, and they cast it away. 
 
 Karlsefni and his people now thought that they saw, although the land had many 
 good qualities, that they still would always be exposed there to the fear of attacks 
 from the original dwellers. They decided, therefore, to go away, and to return to 
 their own land. 
 
 1 
 
 «' 
 
 It #t 
 
AND SITE OF HIS HOUSES IN VINELAND. 
 
 135 
 
 They coasted northward along the shore, and found five Skrachngs clad in skins 
 sleeping near the sea. They had with them vessels containing animal marrow mixed 
 with blood. Karlscfni's people thought that these men had been banished from 
 the land; they killed them. 
 
 After that they came to a ness ; and many wild beasts were there, and the ness 
 was covered all over with dung from the beasts which had lain there during the 
 night. 
 
 Now they came back to Sfraumfjord, and there was a plenty of everything that 
 they wanted to have. 
 
 It is thus that some men say that Biarni and Gudrid stayed behind, and one 
 hundred men with them, and did not go farther; but that Karlscfni and Snorri went 
 southward, and forty men with them, and were not longer in H6p than barely two 
 months, and the same summer came back. 
 
 Karlsefni then went with one ship to seek Thorhall the Hunter, but the rest 
 remained behind ; and they sailed northward past Kialarness, and thence westward, 
 and the land was upon their larboard. There were wild woods over all, as far as 
 they could see, and scarcely any open places. And when they had sailed long, 
 a river ran out of the land from west to east. They sailed into the mouth of the 
 river, and lay by its banks. [The foregoing paragraph should follow that immedi- 
 ately after Thorhall's second song. It shows, like the one just before it, the confu- 
 sion of the copyist, or of the original scribe; and the two together testify to the 
 conscientiousness of the relators. — E. N. Ii.] 
 
i 
 s 
 
 I'M 
 
 I 
 
NOTES. 
 
 Map of Ruysch. 
 
 This map of Ruyscli, 1S07, lias preserved — 
 attaclied naturally to the coast of Asia, in keep- 
 ing witli tlie Ideographical notions of the clay — 
 a wonderfully accurate chart of the coast from 
 Cape Ann around the peninsula of Cape Cod and 
 including Narra,i;ansett liay. The In. Uiggettu — 
 the dialectic equivalent of Uagaduce (Trumbull) 
 and of Aqnidnet (noted Ijy Roger Willi.inis, and 
 still preserved at Newport) — seems to have 
 marked the extent of the I'ortuguese explor.itions. 
 We have, besides, Cape Portogessi in tlie latitude 
 of Cape Coil; Terra Nova, the land discovered 
 by John Cabot in 1497; the Rio (Irande, — the 
 name, preserved for more than a century, of the 
 Charles, —with llie Archipelago (of (iomez) at 
 its mouth, and the Baia de Rockas, for which the 
 numerous " Breakers " of the Coast Survey chart 
 furnish the equivalent. There are also given 
 Gloucester Harbor, and the mouths of the gulfs 
 on either side of Salem Neck. The point of 
 greatest significance is the island — In. Bacca- 
 lauras — against the end of Cape Cod. 
 
 Let us refresh tin' recollection for a moment by 
 glancing at the si dure of Cape Cod. It has 
 been studied by .Agassiz as a tine exhibition of 
 terminal mor.iines. The whole region is charac- 
 terized by glacial deposits. The town of I'ly- 
 mouth includes more than a hundred lakes and 
 ponds which occupy depressions in the great 
 group of moraines. Indeed, a large part of this 
 region of the State is marked by them. The 
 chain of moraines extending eastward and north- 
 ward from Onset I'ay to the Race where the last 
 great glaciers died out in Cape Cod B.iy, was 
 doubtless traversed by many channels that have, 
 from that day on, been closing U]) with sand 
 through the great natural agencies. — currents, 
 winds, and waves, — until now, with the excep- 
 
 tion of a few points, on either side of the penin- 
 sula the beaches are continuous. New beaches 
 form, and old ones are froin time to time swept 
 away, in the neighborhood of Chatham. They 
 show the instrumentalities which, in times gone 
 by, have modified the character of the Cape, and 
 which were quite adequate to connecting the 
 beach and the cluster of moraines and the sand- 
 dunes at the northern end, with the Highland 
 Range. In some instances channels have been 
 in part filled by blown sand. Such is the channel 
 of the ancient Bass River, still open at both 
 extremes and for a considerable distance inland, 
 and there closed by blown sand. This was prob- 
 ■ably the channel traversed, according to tradi- 
 tion, by the ship of the New Haven colonists in 
 1639. It was, I conceive, this channel that made 
 all easterly and northerly from it the Island of 
 Louisa of Verrazano (1 524), which was, he writes, 
 Irian ^u!ar ami of ahvut the she of the /slaiiii of 
 Rhodes. 
 
 Cabf.nas. 
 
 To return to Lok's map containing the inscrip- 
 tion, "J. dabot, 1497.-' If Cabot's chart of 1497, 
 referred to by Raimundus (see Dr. Deane's paper 
 in the "Narrative and Critical History of Amer- 
 ica," ill. 54.), was incorporated into Lok's general 
 map, including Cartier's river of Canada of 1534- 
 1535. — the St. Lawrence, — on the one hand, 
 and Verrazano's isthmus. — which I have else- 
 where (in '■ Address." r.S,S7, and also in " Landfall 
 of Cabot" and "Site of Norumbega." 1S.S6) 
 pointed out as the narrow strip eastward from 
 Barnstable, to thr north of which would, of course, 
 be Cape Cod, — then this portion of the map, as- 
 suming it to bear properly the date of 1497, con- 
 tains the earliest recognition, after the Saga time, 
 of the Norse name Cahi;nas. 
 
'38 
 
 THE LANDFALL OK LEIK ERIKSON, 
 
 I 'J 
 
 iif 
 
 i>ri 113 
 
 The Icelandic schoolmaster Slepliaiiins, in his 
 map illustrating the j,'toj{rapliy of Xiiiclanil anil 
 the bay it (aces, (•ives the nortlicrn angle within 
 Cape Ann to Englishmen, and the southern sa- 
 lient (Cape Cod) to I'romontorinm Vinlandi;e. 
 Cosa had recognized, in 1500, the previous pres- 
 ence of the English in this bay. It is in the 
 inscription "mar descnbierta por inglescs." In 
 point ot time this is next to the insiription, "J. 
 (labot, 1497, " virtually endiirsed by Lok in his 
 dedication to Sir I'hilip Si<lney, as a copy of a 
 chart by Cabot. It is associated with Steplnnius 
 note A. in the descri|)tiiMi of his map (see .Saga 
 Time). "Where the I'nglish have come," ap- 
 plied to the salient, where Johr Cabot made his 
 Landfall, June 24, 1497. We have also on I.ok's 
 map that which makes it unspeakably valuable. 
 — the association of Cape Kreton and St. John 
 (which Allefonsce put in latitude 43°) and No- 
 rumbcga with the Landfall of the N jrihmen. 
 On this map also are Cahenas, Verr.iz.ino"s 
 Isthmus, lioston llarlior, and .Salem Neck, all 
 imperish.ibly linked with the Landl'all of John 
 Cabot in T497, — l/ie lUii/iest fact in the liislory 
 of British sovcreii^nty in .lincricu. 
 
 On Mkrriam's Map we havk P. Coara.ncs. 
 
 I am indebted for this map to the late J. Car- 
 son Hrevoort, in early life attaclu' to the Spanish 
 Mission under Washington Irving. 
 
 This CoaraniS (it might equally well be A'ocir- 
 iiiit-s) represents very nearly the pronunciation 
 of K/ii/rnrs, nom , and Kjalanies, gen. A cul- 
 tivated Icelander and a Norwegian, — both uni- 
 versity men, — to whom 1 have submitted it, say 
 that the / and rare interchangeable in Icel.indic 
 as in other languages. Roger Williams and John 
 Eliot both observed that alum and arum were 
 the Indian words for "dog," in localities very near 
 one another. There is a slight but not unusual 
 metathesis in going from Coarancs to Carenas. It 
 was doubtless the name as given by a native in 
 whose family it had been preserved. .Side by side 
 with it on the same map is the duplicate, the C. de 
 has Arenas by a Portuguese cartographer, — the 
 C. de Arenas of .Mercator. Next on the north is 
 Christoval, - the harbor of Plymouth on many 
 maps ; beyond is .Montana Verde (the Blue Hills), 
 and a little farther the Kio Grande (the Charles;. 
 
 Norumbega and New France are given in larger 
 letters nearly .igainst Cape lireton (Cape Ann). 
 
 These rel.itions fix the position and identity 
 of (.'ape Cdd with the Caren.is of Lok, which had 
 \'errazano's Isthmus (liarnst.d)le) on the south, 
 and Cape liieton (,Cape Ann) on the north, 
 
 A Briki- Descriition of the Whole EARrii. 
 
 (/■>.»/,! Aiitt</uiliilei Amcriitiutr, /t 2'<i.) 
 
 "The earth is said to be divided into three part.s. 
 One of these is called Asia, and extends from 
 northe.ist t" southwest, and occcupies the middle 
 of the earth. In the eastern part are three sep,a- 
 rate regions, called Indialand. In the farthest In- 
 dia the Apostle Bartholomew pre.iclied the faith ; 
 and there he likewise gave up his life (for the 
 name of Christ). In the nearest India the Apo.s- 
 tle Thomas preached, and there also he suffered 
 death for the cause of (Jod. In that p.irt of the 
 earth called Asia is the city of .Nineveh, greatest 
 of all cities. It is three ilays' journey in length 
 and one day's journey in bre.idth. There is .also 
 the city of Babylon, ancient and very large. 
 There King Nebuchadnezzar formerly reigned; 
 but now that city is so thoroughly destroyed that 
 it is not inh.abited by men on account of serpents 
 and all manner of noxious creatures. In Asia is 
 Jerusalem, and also Antinch; in tliis city Peter 
 the .Apostle founded an Episcop.d seat ; and there 
 he, the first of all men, sang Mass. Asia Minor 
 is a region of Great Asia. There the Apostle 
 John preached, and there also, in the city ot 
 Kphesus, is his l(mib. They say that four rivers 
 flow out of Paradise. One is called Pison, or 
 Garjges ; this empties into the sea surrounding 
 the world. Pison rises under a mountain called 
 Orcobares. The second river flowing from Para- 
 dise is called Tigris, and the third Euphrates. 
 Both empty into the Mediterranean (Sea), near 
 Antioch. The Nile, also calleil Geon, is the 
 fourth river that runs from Par.adisc. It sep.a- 
 rates Asia from Africa, and (lows through the 
 whole of Egypt. In Egypt is New Babylon 
 (Cairo), and the city called Alexandria. The 
 second part of the e.arth is called .Africa, which 
 extends from the southwest to the northwest. 
 There are Serkland, and three regions called 
 lll.dand (land of black men. or negroes). The 
 Mediterrane.in Sea divides Europe from .Africa, 
 
 i 
 
 — ,:...- -i, 
 
AND SITE OF HIS HOUSES IN VINELAND. 
 
 '39 
 
 Europe is the tliircl pnrt of the cirth, extended 
 from west and northwest to the norihcast. In the 
 east of ICurope is llie kingdom of Russia There 
 are HohoKard, I'alteskia, and Smalenskia. South 
 of Russia lies the kingdom of (Irecce. Of tliis 
 kinjjdom the cliief city is Constantinople, which 
 our people call Miklajjard. In Miklaj^ard is a 
 church, which the people call St. Sophia, hut the 
 Northmen call it .I'^gisif. This church exceeds 
 all the other churches in the world, bolli as re- 
 spects its structure and size. ISulijaria and a 
 great many islands, called the (Ireek Islands, be- 
 long to the kingdom of Greece. Crete and Cy- 
 prus are the most noted of the (Ircek islands. 
 Sicily is a great kingdom in that part of the earth 
 called Europe. Italy is a country south of the 
 great ridge of mountains called by us Mundia 
 [Alps]. In the remotest part of Italy is Apulia, 
 called by the Norihnien I'ulsland. In the mid- 
 dle of Italy is Rome. In tlie north of Italy is 
 Lombardy, which we call l.ombard-l.ind. North 
 of the mountains on the east is Germany, and on 
 the southwest is Erance. Ilispania, which we 
 call .Spainland, is a great kini;dom that extends 
 soutli to the Mediterranean, between I.ombardy 
 and France. The Rhine is a great river that 
 runs north from .Mumlia between (Germany and 
 France. Near the outlets of the Rhine is Fries- 
 land, northw.ird from the sea North of (lermany 
 is Denmark. The ocean runs into the Haltic 
 Sea near Denmark. Sweden lies east of Den- 
 mark, and Norway is at the north North of 
 Norway is Finnmark ; the coast bends thence to 
 the northeast, and then toward the east, until 
 it reaches I'ermia, which is tributary to Russia. 
 From Perniia desert tracts extend to the north, 
 reaching as far as Greenland, lieyond Green- 
 laud, southward, is Ilelluland; beyonil that is 
 .M.arkland : from thence it is not far lo Vineland, 
 which some men are of the opinion extends to 
 Africa. England and Scotland are one island, 
 but each is a separate kingdom. Iceland is a 
 great island. Iceland is also a great island north 
 of Ireland. All these countries are situated in 
 that part of the world called Europe. Next to 
 Denmark is Lesser Sweden ; then is Oeland, 
 then Gottland, then Helsingeland, then Vernie- 
 land, and the two Kvendlands. which lie north 
 of liiarmeland. From Biarmeland stretch desert 
 lands toward the north until Greenland begins. 
 
 South of Greenland is Ilelluland ; ncxl is Mark- 
 land. From thence it is not far to Vineland 
 the Good, whicli some think goes out to Africa ; 
 and if this is so, the sea must extend between 
 Vineland and Markland. It is told that Thor- 
 fiini K.irlsefni cut wood here to ornament his 
 house ; went afterwards to seek out Vineland the 
 Good, aiul came there where they thought the 
 land was, but did not reach it, and got none 
 of the wealth of the land.' Leif the Lucky first 
 discovered \'ineland, and then he met some mer- 
 chants in distress at sea, and by God'.s grace 
 saved their lives ; and he introduced Christianity 
 into Greenland, and it flouri.ihed so there that an 
 Episcopal seat was set up in the place called 
 (iardar. I'.ngland and Scotland are an island, 
 and yet each is a separate kingdom. Ireland is 
 a great island. These countries are all in that 
 part of the world called Europe." 
 
 Eggs on Straumfy. 
 
 The eggs were not improbably, as Dr. De Costa 
 suggests, gulls' eggs. No mention is made in the 
 Saga of the eider-down in which the Iceland 
 mother embeds her eggs. One of the Thorfinn 
 narratives speaks only of binh in connection with 
 the profusion of eggs. Two speak of eider-ducks 
 in the same connection. 
 
 The sentences in the Norse relations are as 
 follows : — 
 
 "I. There were so many cider-ducks [iri/«> ) on llie 
 island \Sliaiimi-y\ that one could scarcely walk in con- 
 sL-epience of the eggs." (lieamish, l*rince Society's 
 I'uhlications, p. 51,) 
 
 "2. On the island there were an immense number 
 of eider-ducks, so that it w.is scarcelv possible lo walk 
 wiUiont treading on their eggs." (Ueamish, Prince 
 Sociel\'s Pultlicatimis, p. 105 ) 
 
 "3. There was a grc.it nuniher of birds, and it was 
 .scarcely possible to tiiul a place for their (cet among 
 the eggs." (IJe Costa, I'rc-Cohunbian Discovery nf 
 America, i86S„ p. 66 ) 
 
 It is evident thjt some of the narrators or 
 translators did not regard the source of the eggs 
 as eider-ducks. 
 
 Fifty years ago there were on the coast, in lali- 
 
 r An alliisi.in, finssibly. to his .ibandcmmcnt of the con- 
 templated fxpc'ilition sonthward I'om Straumfjnrd (Chat- 
 ham), when he went to seek The'-han. 
 
140 
 
 THK I.ANDKALL OK I.KIK KRIKSON, 
 
 IS 
 
 
 ,1. ,« 
 
 ■I 
 
 tucic 4i°-42', some twcniy-fivf distinclly named 
 kinds of wild ducks wtll known to sportsmen and 
 collectors of birds. This list ini ludcd livu kinds 
 of coot, of which the eider duck wis one. A 
 single one, oidy, of all these dilferent kinds of 
 ducks was known to nest in the rej;ion, .ln,is 
 .\poiiui. (Letter of Dr. De Kay, first znoloj;ist 
 of the Natur.d History of New York, to Thomp- 
 son, hist <rian of l,ong Islaml, 1S43: Tliotiipson's 
 History, vol. ii. p. 24S.) I'ossihiy others did ; but 
 the far greater number were transient, ami this 
 must, to most of thei. , h.ive been near \.\m south- 
 ern limit of thi-ir mi);rati<)n. 
 
 Immense (locks .-■( <lucks, — black, red-heads, 
 old squaws, cools, and others, besides gulls, 
 peeps, pipers, snipe, plover, etc.. formerly crossed 
 the sand be.iclies, the ducks tlyini; so low .is 
 sometimes to be knocked down with clubs. They 
 are now much less numerous and more shy, — so 
 sportsmen inlbrm me. .Men who shoot lor market 
 now sopietimes bag a thousand birds a day on 
 .\Ionomoy. Kgg-colleclors gather, of gulls' eggs, 
 a peckbaskclful in a morning. A sea-captain who 
 h.id been there many years a'.;n, spoke of the 
 eggs, in the language of the S.iga. " You couhl 
 siorce/y uutlk willioiit st<f>/>iiif; on tlhiit." 
 
 Fifty years .ago, says an old farmer, boys were 
 allowed to go from Cliatliam (against the ancient 
 Straumfjord) "gull-egging," immedi.itcly after 
 corn-planting, some time in June. This was .1 
 kind of holiday privilege. 
 
 The eider-duck is a native of the Arctic re- 
 gions. Sportsmen having preserves among the 
 islands off the main shore of l.al)rador tell me 
 that the nesting-season of eider-ducks is in early 
 summer, and that they nest in great numbers on 
 the islands along the coast, in tut'ts of shrubbery. 
 I'rof. A. S. I'ack.ard observed their nests on this 
 coast in places so sheltered, atiii not on saml. 
 The egg.s Thorfinn's party observed were on the 
 iiinil, and therefore, it is to be presumed, could 
 not have been eider eggs. A little reflection will 
 Impress the careful student of the incompatibility 
 of the eiiler-ihick coming to'nest so far south, to 
 a region of forests and me.adows and grapes and 
 corn growing wild, such as the .Saga describes. 
 They came here possibly in southern migration 
 after nestini^. Numerous ducks, of various kinds, 
 and eggs on the sand very close together were 
 seen undoubtedly, as they may have been seen 
 
 any time within the last two hundred and lifty 
 ye.irs; but the circumstance that one of the Saga 
 rel.itions docs nut specialize the kind of birds is 
 more in keeping with the prob.diilities than the 
 statement of the other two lel.itions, - that the 
 eggs were the eggs of eider-ducks. 
 
 Icelanders h.ive informed me that the eider is 
 domesticiled in Iceland, and that special arrange- 
 ments are made for its nests. 
 
 As the (locks of ducks were so large fifty years 
 ago, and so tatnc that individu.il birds were 
 somititnes knocked down with a c.iiie when they 
 were (lying across a beach from water to water, it 
 is not impossd)le that the Northmen of Thortinn's 
 party may have knocked down a duck of the family 
 of coots, — which embraces the eider, — and so, 
 with the observed profusion of eggs, laid the 
 foundation for the statement in the Sagas. 
 
 TosinuN OF riiK lloi-. 
 
 In the S.iga of Thorfinn, after a version of the 
 death of Thorwald, it is stated that " they looked 
 upon the mountain range that was at ll(>p and 
 that which they now lound, as all one, and it also 
 ,i/>f>iitr,-if ti> fit' ofi-(/iiiil length from Sirauiiijjorii 
 lo fiotli /ifdirs." 
 
 Thorlinn, sailing across the bay from the Cape 
 near I'rovincetown, may have caught glimpses of 
 the hills in the interior beyond the ( iiirnet and I'ly- 
 moiith, and conceived them to be identical with, or 
 of the same range as, the Hills (Blue Hills of 
 Milton) visible from the li.ack I!ay(H('ip) and from 
 many points about lioston. The language of the 
 Sagas — dilVerently ren(lered by lieamish. Smith, 
 Klioi, De Costa, and others — appear to leave it 
 possible that Thorfinn m.iy have seen these hills 
 from SIraumey (Chatham lieach), and that he 
 was leil lo a personal examination of the locality. 
 The Coast Survey map (p. 04), presenting the 
 stations used in triangulalion of the coast of Mas- 
 sachusetts, exhibits an open trough for the line 
 of vision from the Hlue Hills to Chatham. In 
 onler lo its service in Thorfinn's interest, there 
 must have been eminences from which the inter- 
 vening hills would be below the range of vision. 
 .Such elevations I did not find. The wiilth of 
 land area, made up of moderate hills and valleys, 
 on the line toward the Hlue Hills from Chatham 
 Lights, w.ts .at least some sixteen miles. I 
 
 :if 
 
 i 
 
AND SITK OK HIS HOUSES IN VINELAND. 
 
 141 
 
 Icarntil from an .issistaiil to the former Chief of 
 Ihf Coast Survey, - t'aplaiii Elilrid^e, — still re- 
 siding on tlie spot, that llie observations between 
 tlic station nearest to Cliatli.im and the illue Hills 
 were coiidueted with the aid of rockets. The 
 distance for direct vision was too jjrcat. Only 
 looniinj; (refraction) could have availe<l at a dis- 
 tance so Hreat, seventy miles. 
 
 One of the i)assaj;es bearin;^ on the point is 
 the following; " Then, havini; returned, . . . (hey I 
 concluded that the hill.s which were in H(ip were I 
 tlie same as these which they h .Tc saw [from 
 the Gurnet]." 
 
 The ran;j;e of blue hills in the >;incral direction 
 from the north beyond the (inrnet I have re- 
 peatedly seen from the elevation above I'rovince- 
 town, and .dso from the Highland Light, lint in 
 sailing from I'rovincetown to lioston, on a line 
 passing near to Minot's Ledge Light, I carefully 
 watched for the appearance of the Illue Hills, and 
 did not distinctly see them with a glass until 
 approaching Cohassct, or later, I'oint Allerlon. 
 I am satislied, therefore, that although the lilue 
 Hills are several huiuln-d feet high, it was not the 
 lilue Hills proper, but what seemed to be a con- 
 tinuation of tlic range, that was seen by the 
 Northmen from the Curnet, or from the emi- 
 nences of the north end of Cape Cod. 
 
 I'ROMONTORIKS OF CaPK Cull ANM THE C.URNKT. 
 
 Let US put together the quotations from the 
 Sagas bearing on the relations of the two pro- 
 montories to each other. 
 
 Lcif hnil toni'hcd on the island " lying opposite to 
 the norlliirly part of the niiiinl.-xnd," and "siiik'd 
 throii)rh !i Ijiiy wliieh lay lielwecn the inland and n 
 pronionloiy running; towards the northeast, iinil 
 direelinjj their conrsi' westward, they passed lieyoiid 
 the pronionlory." He enine lo "where a river Hows 
 frcnn tlie land through 11 lake into the sea." 
 
 "Thorhall the Hunter wished to go north, round 
 Furdtistrand and Kjalarncs, anti so to explore Vine- 
 land." 
 
 Thorhall's desire to exp!t>rc Vineland betrays 
 that his visit to the region had been for a brief 
 inlcrvnl only, and had preceded his visit to 
 Straumfjord. 
 
 "TliorhnH's partvtlicn sailed northward round Kur- 
 dustraiidir and Kjalarncs. liut when they desired to 
 
 sail Ihcncc westward they were met by an adverse 
 tempest and driven off. 
 
 " Thorlinn went with one ship to seek Thorhall tin, 
 Hunler, the rest runiaining behind. Sailing north- 
 K'./n/ round Kjal.irnes, they went uifi/wiiiil after pass- 
 ing //(,!/ (•ntmoiilctry lying to their left hand. There 
 they saw extensive forests." 
 
 'I'liere were, then. t7Vt> promontories. On one 
 Leif had landed. On this Thorw.dd had set up 
 the old keel in the sand, and called the place Kj.v 
 larnes. Thortinn, some years later, came upon this 
 old keel, and recognized the place as Kjalarncs, 
 h.aving heard Thorwald's story. How plainly 
 this Saga shows that the experiences of Leif and 
 Thorwald were familiar to Thorlinn and Thor- 
 hall I Krinn this point Thorwald and Thorfinn 
 sailed wi-slcr/v to the scioinl promontory. Here 
 Thorwald was buried. Thorlinn sailed past it 
 on his return from Siraumcy to the site of I.eifs 
 houses, as Lcif had done after his Landfall, to 
 where "a river (lows from the land through a lake 
 into the sea." 
 
 Let us pause a moment to consider. 
 
 . /// three, — I.eiJ\ J'horuKi/ii, nil,/ T/iorfinn, — 
 as we shall later still more plainly see, /;(((/ /'een 
 at a point — a promnntory — soiil/ienst of Vine- 
 land. To one the point had been recognized as 
 an i.flan<i. The other two had recognized it as a 
 cape, — a nes, — and marked by a monument (the 
 old keel) iliat gave its name. I'roin this point 
 all three had soiled westward to a second prom- 
 ontory riiiinini; to the north or northeast. One of 
 f'.em, Thorwald.vinf, buried there. Two of them, 
 Thorfinn and L ', pa.ised the promontory, and 
 sailing westerly came to where a river /lowed out 
 of a lake. All three had been in this Aj^v [the 
 H(lp| before, as all had stopped at Leif s houses. 
 Kjalarncs and Krossa-nes and the river on the 
 banks of which the houses were built were fa- 
 iiiiliar to these three men. 
 
 SuiM'osi.n Landfall of I.fif on Nantucket. 
 
 The prevailing notion has been that I.eifs 
 Landfall was on the island of Nantucket. It was 
 enterinincd by Rafn. This mistake was doubtless 
 due largely to the absence of accurate early maps 
 of Cape Cod, and also to an inadequate appreci.i- 
 tion of Its earlier geography, — as a chain of 
 glacial moraines, originally a crescent-sh.Tped 
 
'4^ 
 
 THE LANDKALL OF LlilK EKIKSON, 
 
 1 
 
 
 ti 
 
 collection of hillocks of varying, moilerate lieiglit, 
 moreor less sunouniled by water; hut later, by nat- 
 ural agencies, — currents of water, anil winds and 
 waves, - resolved into a continumis peninsula. 
 
 The Saga of Erik the Red required that tlie 
 I-andf.dl should have been on an isliiiiJ north of 
 n projection of thi- mainlantl- 'i'luTe is now no 
 su';h island. According to the nioclcrn maps, 
 one may now drive Ironi the extreme of tlie Cape 
 to Buzzard's li.iy. I!ut the student of geograpliy 
 and of the S.agas had no alternative. Hi must 
 liii'^e an islam! for I.eif's Laniifiil. Why not 
 take Nantucket ? It was, to be sure, not on the 
 north of the mainland, but it had ollur desirable 
 attributes It was nearly as far east as Cane 
 Cod. It lay in tlie course of a northeast wind 
 and the Arctic current, such as h.iil brought 
 Diarni. by chance, in sight uf land, and such as l.eif 
 had enjoyed on his List two days before the Land- 
 fall ; it was more or less surrounded by sand- 
 banks and beaches. As the Saga s.iys, " Tlurc 
 were Ion:; shores if sanJ." To its north were 
 great salients. They were readily distinguished 
 from one another. These projections (llelluland 
 and Markland) are on the Icelandic school ch.irt 
 of Stephanius, between the salients of tireenland 
 on the north and rromonlorium \'inlan<li.i.' on 
 the south. 
 
 This excludes Labrador, a country of desolate 
 mountains, bold rocky : hores, and pr.icti:ally «(> 
 beathes. from the possibility of being \'ineland. 
 Southwest of (Heenl.ind, across the Str.iils of 
 lielle Isle, lies .NcwInuiKlland. This w.is the 
 last point left by lii.irni on bis return from the 
 South before reaching lireenland, and the first 
 touched liy l.eif going South, after leaving (ireen- 
 land. l.eif iiillcii it Helliiliinii. Its shore was 
 covered by flat rocks (see phoiograpli, p 31). — 
 its interior marked by mountains covered, at the 
 times of liiarni's and Leif 's visits, with snow. 
 Marklanil, the next projection, was •■ low, Hat, 
 and overgrown with wihmI; an<l the strand far 
 around consisted of a while s.ind, and low toward 
 the .sea.'' 
 
 Now. as a fact it seems that southwest from 
 Greenland (in which direction lay llellulandi is 
 our Newfoundland of rocky shores, no beaches. 
 and mountains of scant vegetation in the in- 
 terior This is what liiarni saw, and what 7ve 
 know. V - 
 
 Hut Markland hail a " straml far around of 
 white Slim/.'' This must ha:'e lieen Nova .Scotia, 
 whicli is bordered with .sand-beaches, This Lei/' 
 saw, and we know. Two days' s.dl toward the 
 southwest w.is I'romuntoriiim Vinlamliie, which 
 was also low and "ooded, " anil there were long 
 shores of sand." This must have been Cape Cod^ 
 with its shores of s.ind, since C,\\k Ann, another 
 salient, is roiUy, and all the region from I'ortland 
 to I'assam.u|uodily is without beaehes. 
 
 On this I'romoiiloriinn Vinhmdia; Leif is con- 
 ceived to have made his Landfall To the north- 
 west of it was the V'inelaJid of the Northmen. 
 
 " Tliey ciiiic ,i}^in in ^islu of I,in,l, .ipproachinR which 
 tlicy tomlied npcui ,in i«,I.,n I lyin.i; uppositc in tlie uortlieily 
 p.irt of tlic lu.iinlatul (iitcr.illy, northward of the lanti, — 
 iwrjr or /,in,titn). lien- tlu'V l.uvleil. iind fouini the .lir 
 rcmarkaljlv pleasant." In fcrinRskiold's Hciiuskriniila we 
 have; "They . . . madr land. 'I'hcy sailed towards it, and 
 came to an island which lay on the north side of the land, 
 where they disenibarki-d to wait lor i;oud weatluT." 
 
 This constitutes the Landfall.' 
 
 Dr. He Costa conceives the island on which 
 Leif touched to have been outside and to the east, 
 against the town of Orleans, and to be now washed 
 away. There is, off this shore, a point, some 
 miles out, known as Crab I.cd^e, where anchors 
 sometimes become ent ingled and bring up roots 
 of trees. (See Chaniplains .Map 1612; Cape 
 Haturier.) This lends support to the notion that 
 there was once an island here (;\gassiz was in- 
 clined to think .so), which has been gradually cut 
 down by currents. — as lirown's Island off S.iquish 
 lieach. near I'lymouth, is by some conceived to 
 have been 
 
 Rafn, as we h.ave seen, regarded the island on 
 which l.eif touched .is Nantucket, south of \'ine- 
 yard Sound, and so did Smith and the earlier 
 writers generally. 
 
 The essentiil thing is \.hM l.eif loucheii on an 
 island M the north of what seemed the mainland. 
 It was on one side (the east side) of a bay, - that 
 is, a sheet of water largely bounded by land, not 
 a strait or sound ami it was of<en on the north. 
 
 ' I'rof Ilenrv Mitthi-11. of thi' t'nited States Coast 
 Piincv. ni.iv hale h' en possil)Iv earlier than myself to IioM 
 that Leif landed on the northerly part of ihc present Cape 
 Cod. 
 
'^ 
 
 I 
 
AND SITE OF HIS HOUSES IN VINELAND. 
 
 •43 
 
 Clearly the island could not have been Nantuket.' 
 His visit must have been brief. No mention is 
 made of their setting up booths ; they " touched" 
 only. Tliey were able to recognize, with little 
 delay, the relations of their landing-place to a 
 bay thioiij^h or across which they sailed to a 
 promontory "running to tlie northeast." That 
 must have been on tlie larboard, as lie sailed away 
 from his landfall. Leif may have first sailed south- 
 ward some distance to recognize that he had 
 touched on an island. The essenli.d feature was 
 a bay opening northward, with an island at the 
 nortliern extremity of the promontory on the east 
 side. (See maps later.) 
 
 Bur ONE FURDUSTRAND TO WHICH THE .Saga 
 
 AIM'LIES. 
 
 \ furdustrand is necessarily a curved sandy 
 shore, with tlie convexity toward the sea. It 
 cannot be a straight beach, nor a beach concave 
 toward the sea. 
 
 Where can such a beacli be found south of 
 Portland to Annisquam. or from Marblehead to 
 tlie Gurnet ? In all this coast the curves that 
 are convex toward the sea are too short. Most 
 of the curves are reversed, — that is, concave 
 toward the sea. Tliere are no beaches of any 
 considerable length from Portland to the Grand 
 Mcnan. It is an archipelago of rocky islands 
 with bold shores. There are sand-beaches on 
 the south coast of Nova Scotia, but none run- 
 ning northward toward an o/i,-n sea and cun'inj; 
 round into a bay at the west. The curvatuie 
 and horizon do not permit a funlustrand. — a 
 wundorstr.ind And, finally, on the coast of 
 Newfoundland and Labrador there are practi- 
 cally no beaches whatever.'- 
 
 ' Tlie isKind of N.in'uckel is not on one side of o ^17;', the 
 shore of which is of nt^cessity, iti outline, .i sort of sack. It 
 IS, on tlie oilier h.iin!, nn one siile of a ujntttt, — not a sack. 
 l)ut a ihatuul. — where the averaqe tide rises little more 
 than three feet, whereas in ('ape Cod Ray i* rises from eleien 
 to twelve feet. As an island it tills the need of the Sav;a, 
 whicli the f'n-u-nl ('.ipe Cod does not. lUit we shall see 
 th.it t-'apc Cod was, in eiirlier times, quite .ideqiiatc to meet 
 this requirement of the Saija. 
 
 '^ There is (see Mitchell. Address at unveilint; nf I.eif's 
 statue) mention in separate .'^afias of a I'nrdtistrand on the 
 coast of Labrador, of another on the coast of (ireenland 
 and also of still another on the coast of Iceland. They may 
 
 Fl RDl'STRANU A.ND MlRAGE. 
 
 After Thorfinn had found Th' rwald's keel, and 
 had sailed far enough around the Race to take in 
 the great salient sweep of the shore toward Nauset 
 harbor, he recognized the retreat of the vanishing 
 point as they approached the horizon, and called 
 the shores Furdustrands. They were also called 
 Wunderstrands, — possibly from the occurrence of 
 the mirage, which is familiar to ship-masters sail- 
 ing along these coasts.' 
 
 The curve, which is of constantly increasing 
 radius as one goes out from Provincetown harbor 
 around the Kace to the e.ast and south at 41° 51', 
 approaches, toward Monomoy, sufficiently near to 
 a straight line to lose its character as a furdu- 
 strand. That is, observed from a vessel at a little 
 distance off the shore, the vanishing-point of the 
 bluff at the south would be as distant as the van- 
 ishing-point of the general horizon ; whereas be- 
 fore, the extension of the beach was constantly 
 proceeding as the ship advanced. At length the 
 shore line was nearly straight against Nauset 
 harbor ; and here was the end of the Furdu- 
 strands. 
 
 The only section on the New England coast, so 
 far as I have been able to discover from the Coast 
 Survey map, where north and south trend, con- 
 vexilv to the sea, and a b.ay at the north and west 
 are possible, is that embracing the chain of ancient 
 glaci.al moraines, strung together with convex 
 outline against Cape Cod Hay. 
 
 Grapes and Corn on Cape Con. 
 
 It was at this point — the south side of the 
 opening to Nauset harbor— that the Scotch ser- 
 vants were put ashore to run over the land to the 
 «)HM;i/(;'v/ (lieainish), southwest (Smith). Here 
 they found graiie ///(//and coin in the ear They 
 had seen it two months e.irlier just out of the 
 
 have lieen caused by niiraije. The shore had some quality 
 that made it wonderful, unique, but it was a shore of sand, 
 — a beach. 
 
 ' I have seen the whole Peconic Bay. near the east end 
 of I.oni; Island. N^' , -twenty^me miles hing. — lifted up 
 so as to lie visible fnun Itchind a hill one hundred and eighty 
 feel hii;h, a mile distant and at the level of the sea. This was 
 in the neiyhliorhfiod assit;ne<l to the legend which lay at 
 the foundation of I.ont;fellow's "Phantom .Ship." I have 
 seen Illock Island, with its sand-bluffs and hotels, at a dis- 
 tance of forty miles across water. 
 
144 
 
 THE LANDFALL OF LEIK KKIKSON, 
 
 '^ 
 
 ground at Vinelaiul ; iioiv there were mis of corn 
 and /iiiiu/ii's of grapes. 
 
 The significance of tliis relation may not be 
 easily overestimated. Consider tliat wherever 
 the vessel may have laid, l/u-n was a region of 
 land to the south or sout/iwesl of it, a condition 
 not permitted <itivu'/ifri-on an east aitit-.i'est loast. 
 like the coast west iVom Chatham or Monomoy, 
 to and including Long Island Sound. This 
 consiiieration alone precludes the presence of 
 the Northmen of T/iorJinn's party from all the 
 re^;ion of Narr.igansett li.iy. 
 
 The next sentence in lieaniish is, "These 
 went on board, and al'ter that sailed they farther. 
 They sailed into a fritli,' — long bay; a fjord, — 
 a channel. 
 
 Smith renders it : " They went on board, and 
 then the ship proceeiicd on their course until the 
 land was intersected liy another day." The fjoril 
 was then the seeon,/ bay on the e.ist coast, — 
 Chatham Bay, and they had put the servants 
 ashore at ihc /irst; that is, Nauset Bay, the en- 
 trance to which in earher times was some distance 
 to the north of where it is now. Judging from llie 
 termination of the bluff, it must have formerly 
 been a: 41° 5!', whereas it is now about 41° 4O'. 
 The opening through the beach, with the pre- 
 dominance of curients to the south, is const.mtly 
 setting southward. — so Coast Survey officers 
 have told me. — Imilding on at the southern end 
 of the northern bar. and wearing off correspond- 
 ingly from the northern end of the southern 
 bar. 
 
 Champlain obscrveil there two harl)ors, and pic- 
 tured them, riie entrances ,ire through ridges of 
 sand. 1 present heliotype copies of his sketches. 
 This sand-ridge is, in m.iny respects, the most 
 remark.djle feature of our coa>t. For some time 
 before 1S55 it was cut through against the 
 Chatham Light, constituting the entrance to 
 Chatham liarbor. Hut the storm of l.'^;^. which 
 c.irricd aw.iy .Minot's Ledge Light, cut down the 
 bluff against the old Chatham I,ii;ht-houso. and 
 undermining the tower wlicre the bluff is not less 
 than forty feet high, b.ack for three hundred feet, 
 it obliterated the be.ich for the time being. The 
 harbor was open at the date of the accompanying 
 Co.ast Survey maps, but it is now close<l as the 
 resultant of the prevailing wave am! current 
 
 aciion, which must alw.ays maintain the bars, 
 and if broken away by a storm, renew them. 
 There are now two lights side l)y side several 
 hundred feet back from the bluff. 
 
 A glance at the Coast Survey map will show 
 the extraordinary features of this ridge .as it was 
 before 1855, but not as it is to-day. The beach 
 or island or sand-ridge at low tide is now .almost 
 continuous from the entrance of Nauset Hay to 
 the southern end of Monomoy. From the face 
 of the b.uffat the beginning of the beach to the 
 present terminus of .Monoinoy, it is not less 
 than twenty-one miles. 
 
 .At the time of Champlain the entrance to the 
 old Chatham harbor, north of the Lights, was 
 possibly farther to the north. 
 
 SrK.VC.MKV AMI Straumfjord. 
 
 In Thorfinn's time this bar was the Straumey 
 (Straum 6, — an islanJ ma.ie or iiisl:ii:^iiislied />y 
 currents). The channel between the island and 
 the shore, only a few hundred yards in width in 
 some places, was the Straumfjord, — a fjord 
 /larini; a slroni; em rent throiii^h it. It is the 
 same to-d.ay. To-day the current through this 
 channel is about si.\ knots with either tide. The 
 island — the long, narrow beach — is the great 
 .shooting ground of Massachusetts sportsmen fo. 
 duck, plover, snipe, etc., in their migrations north 
 and south. From here, in the season, small 
 birds by the thousand arc shipped daily to the 
 (Juincy Market. Mere are quantities of gulls' 
 eggs on the sand wastes. In earlier times, 
 ship-masters have told me, the eggs were so 
 numeious as to make it dillicull to walk with- 
 out treading on them, — precisely the language 
 of the Sagas. 
 
 This was the spot which meets the needs of the 
 S.tga that describes the movements of the Tlior- 
 finn expedition before the defection of Thorhall, 
 who wanted to go north around Furdiislrand, 
 and 7oest~ii'arii to explore I'ineland. with whose 
 location he was plainly fimiliar. It was clearly 
 at the northwest of Cape C oil. 
 
 This is in keeping with the remark of Stepha- 
 nius, that the water south of Straumfjord was 
 rcgardeil as a <;Hlf that separated Vineland. as an 
 island, from .America. 
 
 The presence of the Northmen in Narragansctt 
 
 i'- i 
 
AND SITE OF HIS HOUSES IN VINELAND. 
 
 145 
 
 Bay, before and after tlie discovery of Vineland, 
 is conceivable. Tlie liistorical record to wliich 
 Stepliaiiius refers applies to the time before 1012. 
 
 TllORFlNN'S Cl.IFK, AND THE CaPE ST. MaRGIIA- 
 RITA OK VERRAZANO. 
 
 The promontory at the southwest ; the expanse 
 of the nnuUly banks of the meadows covered at 
 high water; the very few points of hard soil where 
 the crew could have landed, — that is, the points 
 which were of solid mainland, and not marsh ; 
 the rocks at College Wharf below half-tide where 
 tlie Northmen jumped ashore in the fight with 
 the Skraelings ; the creek, or bayou, where the 
 vessel could be hauled up, ns Thorwald mentions, 
 for the winter, and from which landing on solid 
 ground on the southwest bank was not only easy, 
 but the o«/cpoint where it was possible ; the course 
 of the river .above the l.inding; the presence of 
 salmon in the river : the birch-bark canoes resem- 
 bling and suggesting the skin canoes with which 
 they (the Northmen) were acqu unted, — all these 
 are obvious to the careful student of the river and 
 its history, although it may be very difficult to 
 make it clear to one who cannot or does not 
 visit the localities. Even the Skraelings, men- 
 tioned in the Sag.as as dealers in peltry of various 
 kinds and in quantity, were described by Alle- 
 fonsce and Tlicvet, by David Ingram in connection 
 with the story of Xorumbega, by the liretons, the 
 Dutch, and the ICnglish. Hut there is one thing 
 called for in the Sag.as that docs not now exist 
 on the banks of the river. It is mentioned in 
 the Thorlinn .Sagas th.U //.• pi/fii wod on a cliff 
 near III,- ship to ./rv, where it might be swept by 
 the breezes, and be not far from an adequ.ate 
 depth of water for easy loading. 
 Where is the clilT? 
 
 All the wants of tlic narrative but this are met 
 near Gerry's Landing, Symonds's hill, — the spot 
 to which laden vessels came, and from which the 
 supplies coming by water for the early Watertown 
 were for a long time carried up. 
 
 There is no other point on the river where the 
 Northmen cnuld have landed on x\w soii;hwest,rn 
 hiiii of the river, with a promontory at their south- 
 west, from behind which above the landing the 
 river issued to sweep past the dwellings down to 
 the Lake, and where in a sheltered recess the ship 
 
 could lie in safety through the winter. At no 
 other point on the tidal portion of the river is the 
 ebb current from the southeast to the northwest. 
 The Saga demands a cliff at this particular point. 
 The cliff is wanting. 
 
 Fifty years ago the milldam across the B,ack Bay 
 did not exist. Men who were living in Cam- 
 bridge at that time may remember to have strolled 
 along what was then called Bank Lane, a pathw,ay 
 by which, skirting the meadow-banks along the 
 river, the proprietors — owners of ripariiin rights 
 in the gr.ass of the marsh lands— were able to 
 reach and remove their hay. Between Gerry's 
 Landing' and Mt. Auburn Street, abutting on the 
 river, tliey recall, as I do, — and I h.ave been a res- 
 ident here only forty-four years, — the steep, beet- 
 ling bank, swept by the current of the Charles at 
 its base. Some remember the swallows' nests 
 near the top. The height of the bluff is vari- 
 ously remembered; but the late Mr. Coolidge, 
 who owned the neighboring land, and who culti- 
 vated for a term of years the higher land north- 
 west of the landing, remembered it as sloping 
 slightly toward the foundation of the City Hos- 
 pital, and as having .about the same height as the 
 foundations of his own residence, — thirty-five 
 feet above high- water mark. Tliis bluff was 
 cut down to aid in filling low places in Cam- 
 bridge, and for filling up the mill-dam across the 
 Back Bay. 
 
 Thus we have the Last requirement of the Sa- 
 gas, — the cliff on which Thorfinn piled his hewn 
 wood to dry, and from which it could be easily 
 shot t3 the vessel to be stowed aw.iy for its voy- 
 aire. How tlie wood became wet and needed to 
 be dried before shipping, belongs to another line 
 of inquiry.'' 
 
 It will f.acilitate the understanding of the text 
 if it is remarked here, — wli.it will become obvious 
 further on to one familiar with the locality, — that 
 Leifs ship grounded on the Hats, prob.ably above 
 Castle Island during ebb-tide, and that the men 
 ran asiicre somewhere in the neighboHiood of 
 Dock Square, or of East Boston. The tide was 
 issuing between Copp's Hill and Noddle's Island 
 (East Boston). When the ebb ceased and the 
 
 1 So called from its neamejs to tlie residence of Vice- 
 President Elbridge Cerry. ni.w tlie home of Prof. James 
 Kussell Lowell. 
 
 « Sec " Discovery o( the Ancient City of Norumlwga," 
 
 10 
 
146 
 
 THE LANDFALL OF LEIF ERIKSOM, 
 
 I) 
 
 riood-tide rose, " they passed up," — " floated " or 
 "moved "up, — the river. Tliey could not sail 
 up (the river was too narrow), and they were not 
 rowed up. 
 
 Direction of the Flow ok the Charlks. 
 
 The river of Leif, up which he flontctU at the 
 outlet of tlie lake between Copp's Hill on one side 
 and Charlestown and Noddle's Island on the 
 other, is still deep at low tide (Des Harres gives 
 three fathoms, presumably at low water. V'erra- 
 zano gives ei^l\t feel). Thorfinn and his com- 
 panions sailed, or Hoated, up as far as the mouth 
 of the river above (Cottai;e Farm Station on lios- 
 ton and Albany Railroad), and called the pl.ice 
 '• Hiip." This was the name of the Hack liay and 
 meadow region above, covered with water at 
 flood-tide.' The term is descriptive of a land- 
 locked harbor, with the flood and ebb allernalely 
 salt and fresh. (See Gloss.iry.) 
 
 Thorfinn's approach to the site of Leif's houses 
 is thus described; — 
 
 Sailing; norlh around KjaLirnes, they went west- 
 ward after passing Ihat /"rominiftiry [tljc (iurnct and 
 Cohasset], the land lying to their left hand [larboard). 
 There they saw c.vtciuleil f.)rests [the region from Ije- 
 low Manomet toward Plymouth]. When tiiey had 
 s.iiled for some time they came to a place where a 
 riz'er Jiinucd from the s\nttht\ist to thf tiortftwest [Sy- 
 nionda's hill near Cambridge City llospital.) Having 
 enteied its mouth, they cast anchor on the southwtst- 
 trn batik [mouth of the rivulet draining Mt. .\uburnl. 
 — SMrni, p. 1S5. 
 
 The only portion of the Charles where the 
 current is from southeast to northwest is in the 
 last quarter of a mile as it aporoaches Symonds's 
 hill. See city map, page 94. 
 
 The Gurnet Krossa-nes. 
 
 The moraine of the Gurnet above high water 
 is probably some twenty or thirty acres in extent; 
 and the highest point —the Nose — on which the 
 light-house (seventy-two feet tall) stands, which 
 is probably several feet above the summit of the 
 
 t The word " mouth " as applied to the rivfr seems 
 to have been used to desij^u.ite .it least two localities — one 
 bctwe-n Copp's Mill and Noddle's IsLind, another at Hrook- 
 linc Hridge. Possibly there was another at the limit of flood- 
 tide. 
 
 original moraine (thrown up for purposes of mili- 
 tary defence), may be some forty feet above high 
 water. As it presents a bluff to the east — the 
 ocean — it was once larger. The tide is some 
 ten to twelve feet. 
 
 The distance from the Spit at I'rovincetown to 
 the Gurnet is some seventeen miles. It is not 
 impossible that the altitude of the promontory 
 was a|iparently greater from refraction at the 
 time of Leif, as the I'rovincetown hills seemed 
 higher from the (iurnet than they really were at 
 the time of my last visit in the month of July. 
 
 As some students of the subject have been led 
 by its intrinsic difficulties to place Vineland on 
 Nova Scotia, I have prepared a map showing 
 where the shortest day of six, seven, eight, and 
 nine hours would place Vineland, and where it 
 could not be, under the topographical conditions 
 supplied by the Sag.is. 
 
 The shores of Markland (Nova Scotia) were 
 sandy. The shores of Vineland (the Furdustrand 
 — Straumey) were sandy. From Cape Chudieigh, 
 the entrance to Hudson Bay (the northern limit 
 of ISisliop Sveinson's Vineland) to lielle Isle was 
 praclic.dly willioul beaches. From lielle Isle to 
 Cabot's Strait, the eastern face of Newfound- 
 land, the shore, like that of Labrador, is bold, 
 rocky, desolate, and uiillioiil heailie^. The coast 
 of Nova .Scotia is girt about with white sand- 
 be.aches. The coast from Frenchman's Day 
 to Portland is bold and rocky, and without 
 beaches. From Portland south, with trifling in- 
 terruptions, to Florida the coast is a long line of 
 san<l-beaches 
 
 As tlie \'ineland of Leif and Thorwald and 
 Thorfinn was marked by sand-beaches, the pos- 
 sible Vineland — regardless of considerations of 
 latitude — was limited to Nova Scotia and some 
 region south of Portland, .Me. 
 
 The accompanying tuap enables one to see 
 where the shortest days of various lengths would 
 place Vineland. Except for the shortest day of 
 nine hours, — which, with corrections for the pre- 
 cession of the F.qninoxes, would come exactly 
 where I have found the remains of I.eifs and 
 Thorfinn's houses, — the points indicated for eight, 
 seven, and six hours are only apiiroximate. 
 
 I have already alluded to the recognition of 
 Boston li.irk Hay and the Charles on the map of 
 II Vcrrazano (lake three leagues around), and to 
 
 ifii 
 
AND SITE OF HIS HOUSES IN VINELAND. 
 
 M7 
 
 the name Norman Villa (Northmen's Settlement, 
 or cluster of bouses). This name corresponds 
 in place with the same name on Ulpius's globe, 
 and appears next but one to AnRuileme (Kel 
 River), the equivalent of the Algonquin Mishaum, 
 the Indian name of the Charles at the lime of 
 Winthrop. H was also called Afcss-ailioo-sec, 
 — Great-hillsnioulh, — (Rasles) Massachusetts 
 (Masmchiiu-ll. which would also be "the neigh- 
 borhood of the great hills •), and, earlier, Gamas 
 and Gomes (Gomez ?) Guasl and Sole, as well as 
 K. Grande, and Norumbi5gue. The next name 
 (that is, bitwen the name of the Nordimen's 
 Settlement - Norman Villa — and Anguileme) 
 is Cape SI. Mar,;liarila, the promontory at the 
 southwest from Norman Villa, from behind which 
 the Charles issues. It may be of no especial sig- 
 nificance in a region in which to-day the ox-eye 
 daisy abounds in its season; still it is not without 
 interest that daisies occur here in |)rofusion, — 
 one of a series of coincidences, which, with the 
 restored clitf, and the •• rocks" elsewhere men- 
 tioned, contribute to make the logical chain 
 complete. 
 
 I have indicated die points on the section of the 
 map of the Charles, showing the upper part olthe 
 lake throu-h which the river flows to the sea. I 
 have .son..;ht by photographs an<l sketches lo make 
 the locality of the Landing readily reiognizable. 
 
 In coming up Ihe Charles with the flood-tide 
 for the first time, I.eil's attention would be dr.uvn 
 to the muddy banks .and soft meadows on either 
 side alter entering the liack Bay, and to their 
 unsuitableness as places for l.inding and build- 
 \\vi\ and his cyo would be caught by the bluff 
 of"" Syinonds's hill, and, as naturally as did 
 Sallonslall six hundred and thirty years later, 
 he woidd anchor at Gerry's Landing. It also 
 seems natural that he shoidd set up his tents 
 for the first lime on, or near, Symonds's hill. 
 Later, he built a bouse, or houses, at the foot of 
 the hill near Gerry's Landing. Here Thorfinn 
 landed first, and occupied Leif's limises. Later, 
 he landed on the southwest bank, on his return 
 after bis search for Tlinrliall. So we have near 
 the head of the bayou, at a bit of mainland, the 
 spot where tn3 ship's party wont ashore, and 
 near it are the traces of dwellings and the fish- 
 pits, still to be seen. 
 
 The Chart of the Charles. 
 
 This chart, prepared by the United States 
 Coast Survey, has not before been published. 
 The depths are taken at extreme low water. It 
 will be observed that the depth of the little har- 
 bor, where I conceive the Norse ship to have 
 been sheltered, was from five to ten feet in the 
 middle, at the least, at all times, and at high tide 
 it was ten to twelve feet more. Here I conceive 
 Thorwald drew up his ship for a winter. In this 
 little harbor the choice wood was first gathered 
 for shipment, and from this little cove Thorfinn 
 carried it by hand to the top of the neighboring 
 cliff (Symonds's hill) to dry. From the cliff it 
 could be easily loaded on the ship. 
 
 On the southwest bank of this inlet the upland, 
 for a few feet along the shore, comes down to 
 the margin of the channel, — providing the essen- 
 tial landing-pl.ace at all times; the first, if not 
 the only spot, as one goes up the lake (the great 
 Hack liay and the river meadows submerged at 
 high tide), having a cliff on the river bank, in 
 all the lower CliarUs. ICverywhere else is mud 
 below and ineadow above, if we except the rocks 
 below the College wharf, of which possibly the 
 Norsemen, at the battle under Thorfinn, took 
 advantage.' 
 
 At the site of the ancient cliff (Cabot's render- 
 ing of the Saga) the channel followed up curves 
 first to the southeast and then to the west, around 
 a promontory (Cape St. Margharita of Verrazano), 
 and now occupied by the Cambridge City Ceme- 
 terv. It was, I conceive, iVom beyond this prom- 
 ontory along the Charles — the Misliaum (Eel 
 
 1 " I'hcv licRan lo fly .ilnng tlie course of llie river, (or 
 tlii>y ini.ii,'inod tlienisclvos lo be surrmindcil on all -.i-lcs by tlic 
 .Skraclinss. I'licy cliil not lialt till they rcaclicil some rocks, 
 when tliey turncil alxiut .ind fought valiantly. 
 
 •■ [■"reyilis, l.eif's half-sister, endeavored lo keep up with 
 them. Tlic Skraelings pursucil her. She saw a man lying 
 deail. This w.is Thorbr.and, Ihe sim of Sni.rri [SmilhJ, in 
 whose head a flat stone was stickini; [a Hint arrow-head |. 
 His sword lay nakeil by his side. This she seizeil, and pre- 
 pared to defend herself. The Skraclings came up with her. 
 She struck her breast with the naked sword, which so aston- 
 ished the Skraclinns that they fled hack to their canoes, and 
 rowed off as fast as thcv c<uild." 
 
 There is only one spot within several miles aloni; the 
 Charles where this incident connected with the rocks couUi 
 have occurred, and thai is just below the College wharf, — 
 Ihe site of an ancient ferrv. 
 
1 I 
 
 148 
 
 THE LANDFALL OK LEIF ERIKSON. 
 
 Kiver of the Indians), the Anguilenie of Verra- 
 z^ino — that the fleets of canoes first came down, 
 and after gazing at the strangers returned without 
 landing. Later, and repeatedly, tliey came for 
 friendly barter with furs, l^ater still, they came 
 with an evident purpose to drive the Northmen 
 out. It was some three leagues only from this 
 
 point up the river that the Bretons, more than 
 four centuries later, established their trading-post 
 at Norumbega, where they bartered French orna- 
 ments and implements for " furs and skin ware.s." 
 It was there, in 1569, that Ingram came, and 
 from there he brought his story of Norumbega, 
 — a city three quarters of a mile long. 
 
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 THE ENU. 
 
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