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^S5 
 
 DISCOVERY OF AMERICA BY THE NORSEMEN. 
 
lP»t,5^4 
 

 1. Die Entdeckung von Arnerica durch die Islander im 
 zeltiiten und eilften Jahrhunderie. Von K. H. Hermes. 
 Braunschweig. 1844. 8vo. pp^ 134. 
 
 2. Antlquitatcs Americanos sive jSci'iptores Septentrio- 
 nales lierum Ante-Coliimbiananim in America. Edidit 
 Societas Regia Antiquariorum Septentrionalium. Hafnise. 
 1837. 4to. pp. 
 
 3. J)ie Entdeckung Amerikas im zehnten Jahrhundert. 
 Von C. C. Rafn. Aus der dan. Hdschrift von G. Moh- 
 nike. Stralsund. 1838. 8vo. pp. 38. 
 
 4. The Discoveri/ of America hy the Norsemen hi the 
 Tenth Oentiirj/. By N. L. Beamish. London. 1841. 
 8vo. pp. 23y. 
 
 The term ''Anglo-Saxon," -which has got into such common 
 use of kite, as a comprehensive appellation for the various 
 branches of the English stock, is doubtless a very convenient 
 one, has acquired a definite meaning, and we should hardly 
 know what to substitute in its place. Nevertheless, the as- 
 sumption which it seems to make, that the "Anglo-Saxon" 
 nations are the descendants of the old Angles and Saxons, or 
 belong physically or morally to that type, is very clearly erro- 
 neous. On the contrary, a large admixture tVom the Norse or 
 Scandinavian branch of the great Germanic stock is both 
 historically certain, and, moreover, very obvious in the present 
 character of these nations. Perhaps it avUI be safest to con- 
 fine ourselves to the circle of our own immediate observation. 
 This, at least, we may confidently assert, that the modern New 
 England character has in it much more of the Norse than of 
 the Saxon. Not that in any case we hold to the doctrine that 
 all traits and qualities are derived from one's ancestors, any 
 more than we do to the preformation or pill-box theory in 
 Physiology — that all the human race were contained in embryo 
 in Adam. The most important part of the character of indi- 
 viduals or of nations is not what they got from their forefathers, 
 but what in the course of their moral development they have 
 arrived at themselves. Nevertheless, in Vnc foundation of the 
 character, in the instinctive tendencies and predilections of a 
 man or a nation, the influence of blood is not to be denied. 
 Now if we compare the modern Angles and Saxons, namely, 
 the Germans of the neighbourhood of the Elbe, the genuine 
 descendants of the invaders of England under ITengst and 
 
Horsa, witli ourselves, what do we find ? Why, the restless 
 activity, the impatience of control, and the practical faculty 
 which distinguish tiie Yankee, are precisely what the German 
 lacks. Yet we need not go far to find these traits again, only 
 across the Baltic, — not, indeed, in any great development 
 nowadays, for reasons which it wo\ild take us too long to touch 
 upon here, — but strikingly characteristic of the old Norsemen. 
 One of the most prominent features of the New England char- 
 acter is a talent for maritime afiairs. The New Englander is 
 born with a love for the ocean and an intuitive skill in naviga- 
 tion. The novelist Seatsfield has made use of this trait in 
 one of his stories, where an American, being in a boat ex- 
 posed to danger in a sudden storm on one of the Swiss lakes, 
 astonishes his German companions by assuming the command 
 and bringing; them to shore in safety. This talent we find 
 prominent, also, in the Scandinavians, particularly those of for- 
 mer times, but not at all with the Germans. Even now you 
 find Swedish and Danish sailors scattered all over the Avorld, 
 but who ever saw a German sailor? The Hollanders, indeed, 
 impelled by the all-powerful SDirit of traffic, do carry on an 
 extensive commerce ; but their vessels are mere warehouses 
 afloat, they are driven to sea by the necessity of the case, and 
 do not take to it Avith any guMo or good will. England is now 
 a great maritime power. But when England was Saxon it 
 liad no sailors and no fleet. Kuig Alfred had to work hard 
 to get up a coast-guard to keep off the Norsemen. Ships he 
 could build, but for seamen to work them he had to employ 
 *' ])irates " — )io doubt another swarm from the same hive. 
 Some time after this, though of uncertain date, we find a law 
 of the Anglo-Saxons, that " any merchant who fared thrice 
 over the high sea in his own craft was thenceforth of thane- 
 right Avorthy ; " that is, he was raised to the nobiUt}'- in reward. 
 But the Norsemen needed no such l)ribe. I^ong before that 
 they had circumnavigated Europe from the "White Sea to the 
 Black. Their discovery of the Faroes is of unknown antiquity. 
 These islands, whicli are four hundred miles from the coast of 
 Ncrway, have never had anv but a Norse name, the significa- 
 tion* of which Avould seem to indicate, that at the remote 
 period when they first appear in history, and when they had 
 no regular inhabitants, tliey Avere used as depots of provisions 
 for the Avundering voj'agers. 
 
 * F(pr<^jar, that is, " sherp-i?lands. 
 
About the year 8G0, a seafarer, named Gardar, was unex- 
 pectedly driven on to the shores of Iceland ; and within a 
 year or two, and without any concert with Gardar, another 
 Norseman, named Naddodd, took shelter there under similar 
 circumstances. Now Iceland lies, at a rough calculation, about 
 six hundred miles to the westward of Norway. Yet, within 
 sixty years after its discovery, the population seems to have 
 reached about its present number, namely, 50,000, principally 
 by direct immigration from Norway. At one time this immi- 
 gration was so great, that Harald the Fair-haired, fearing a 
 depopulation of his kingdom, forbade any one to leave it 
 without permission, under penalty of a fine of five ounces of 
 silver. IMore tluin forty years before, one Gunnbiorn had 
 already discovered the clifis oflf the east coast of Greenland, 
 about two hundred rniles to the westward of Iceland. Towards 
 the end of the tenth century, Eirek the Red established a 
 colony in Greenland. 
 
 It is true, in most or all of these instances the discoverers 
 had been driven out of their course by storms. Yet they must 
 have been somewhere in the neighbourhood of the shores on 
 which they were driven. And the facility with which the 
 passage direct to Iceland and afterwards to Greenland was 
 made shows that voyages of such extent Avere already familiar 
 to them. Now, if we consider that in these voyages tliey did 
 not merely coast along the shore, where there might be a 
 cliance of shelter in case of need, like the Phoenicians, but 
 puslied boldly out into the restless North Atlantic in their 
 undecked boats, without even the aid of the compass, we must 
 acknowledge that for pure daring the exploits of these Norse 
 sailors are even yet unequalled. 
 
 This habit of making long voyages is shown also in many 
 provisions of the ancient Icelandic code, the '•' Gray Goose," 
 which was reduced to writing from ancient oral tradition, in 
 the beginning of the twelfth century. In a special chapter, 
 *' Of Naval Aftairs,"' provisions are made for taking the testi- 
 mony of witnesses about to depart "in the floating fir" (a 
 fiotandifuro^ ; fox harbor duties ; for general average in case 
 of jettison : concerning tlie mutual rights and duties of ship- 
 owners and charterers, of sailors and skippers, of tenants in 
 common of ships. Among other things, every householder 
 who kept any servants was bound to assist, once a year, Avith 
 all his retinue except his sliepherd, in launching or haulinjj 
 up any vessel. Like the inhabitants of the New Eng-and coast, 
 
the sterilitv of the land aiTorcVing no scope for their energetic 
 disposition, thev became of necessity a seafaring nation. 
 
 The particular exploit Avhich forms the subject of the -works 
 at the head of this article is probably no novelty to any of 
 our readers, yet, as it has been discredited by influential 
 Avrlters, and as those Avho have admitted the authority of the 
 account have drawn some conclusions from it which we shall 
 feel obliged to criticize, avc ])lace before them, nearly entire, 
 the more important documents in this case. The perusal 
 must, we think, produce the conviction of their genuineness 
 in the mind of any unprojadiced person. The skepticism 
 above alluded to is not, indeed, of much importance, since it 
 is not shared, we believe, by any writer qualified to pi'onounce 
 a critical opinion on the matter. It rests, no doubt, mainly 
 on a vague notion of the antecedent improbability of so exten- 
 sive a voyage having been made at that early period and with 
 such imperfect means. But a moment's consideration of the 
 f\icts above stated will show Iioav mifounded such a notion is. 
 'I'he Norsemen had already been, for more than a century, in 
 the habit of making voyages direct from Norway to Iceland, 
 if not direct to Greenland, (since we hear of arrivals in the 
 Greenland colony "from Norway"). At all events, they 
 could have touched only at Iceland. The colony on the west 
 coast of Greenland consisted at that time of above one hun- 
 dred and thirty farms. Probably it had already i-eached its 
 most populous state. Now the distance across Davis' Strait, 
 even at its mouth, is only about the same as from Norway to 
 Iceland. But if we take it somewhat to the southward of 
 Disco, (which we know the ancient colonists reached, and even 
 went further north,) it is not more than two hundred miles. 
 Greenland evidently belongs much more to the New World 
 than to the Old ; and if we take into consideration the southerly 
 current flowing out of Davis' Strait along the Labrador coast ; 
 the prevalence of northerly winds in those regions ; and above 
 all, the fact that the voyagers to Greenland had occasion to 
 run so far to the westward in order to reach that colony, 
 whereas there was before nothing to attract them to cruise in 
 that direction : it was much more probable, a ■priori^ that some 
 of them, missing the point of Ca])e I'arewell, or driven off to 
 sea in their nortliern exjdorations of BafHn's Bay, should reach 
 the coast of Labrador, than that they should have discovered 
 Greenland. It would be singular, indeed, if these bold ad- 
 
9 
 
 vcnhirers, Avli<«e dwelling, as Tucitus said even in las time, 
 seemed to be the ocean, had missed the discovery of an exten- 
 sive continent comparative] y close at liand. 
 
 Such are the antecedent probabilities. In this position of 
 things, the internal evidence of -the documents themselves 
 would seem, as we said, sufficient to convince any unpreju- 
 diced person of the correctness of the main facts they assert. 
 It may be intei-esting, besides, to have in convenient compass 
 tlie earliest fragment of history relating to this country, and 
 this may serve at the same time as an illustration of what was 
 said concerning the sea-faring talent of the Scandinavians, 
 and as a specimen of their exploits. 
 
 The following translations are taken from the Thhttr FArels 
 rauda and the Crraenlendinga tliait (" the piece about Eirek 
 the Red" and "the piece about the Greenlanders"), which 
 are presented here nearly entire. These pieces are fragments 
 which have been interpolated into a Life of King 01 af Trygg- 
 vason. The manuscripts are of the end of the 14th century, 
 (1387-1395.) but the style and other evidences show them 
 to be copies from much older ones. 
 
 It seems that among a large number of Icelanders who 
 accompanied Eirek the Red, (who was the first to make a 
 voyage to Greenland, after its discovery by Gunnbiorn,) was 
 (me llerjulf, whose son Biarni, a merchant, had been in the 
 habit of passing every other winter at home with his father, 
 and then sailing again on distant voyages. 
 
 '•That same summer (9Sij or 98G) came Binrni with liis ship 
 lo Eyrar, in the spring of which liis father had sailed from the 
 island. Thei^e titbiigs seemed to Biarni weighty, and he would 
 not unload liis ship. Then asked liis sailors Avhat he meant to 
 do, he answered tlnit lie meant lo Iiold to his wont and winter with 
 liis iather, 'and I will bear for Greenland if you will follow me 
 thither.' All said thc^y would do as lie wished. Tlien said 
 Biarni, ' Imprudent tiiey will think our voyage, since none of ns 
 has been in the Greenland sea.' 
 
 " Yet they bore out to sea as soon as tliey were boiin.* and 
 .sailed three dnvs till tlie land was sunk, then the fair wind fell oft" 
 and there arose north winds and fops, and they knew not whitlier 
 they fared, and so it went for many dnys. After that they saw 
 the sun, and could then get their bearings. Then they lioisled 
 sail and sailed that day beibre tliey saw land, and they eoiniselled 
 with themselves what land that might be. But Biarni said he 
 
 * Or bound, (bunir) , namely, icadv, as we say a ship is bound for London. 
 
10 
 
 thought it could not be Greenland. They asked him whether he 
 would sail to the land or not. ' This is my counsel, to sail nigh 
 to the land,' (said he) ; and so they did, and soon saw that the 
 land was without fells, and wooded, and small heights on the land, 
 and they left the land to larboard, and let the loot of the sail look 
 towards land.* After that they sailed two days before they saw 
 another land. They asked if Biarni thought this was Greenland. 
 He said he thought it no more Greenland than the first ; 'for the 
 glaciers are very huge, as they say, in Greenland.' They soon 
 neared tlie land, and saw it was flat land and overgrown with 
 wood. Then the fair wind fell. Then the sailors said that it 
 seemed prudent to them to land there. But Biarni would not. 
 They thought they needed both wood and water. ' Of neither 
 are you in want,' said Biarni ; but he got some hard speeches for 
 that from his sailors. He bade them hoist sail, and so they did, 
 and they turned the bows from the land and sailed out to sea with 
 a west-southwest wind three days, and saw a third land ; but that 
 land was high, mountainous, and covered with glaciers. They 
 asked then if Biarni would put ashore there, but he said he 
 would not; 'for this land seems to me not very promising' Tliey 
 did not lower their sails, but held on along this land, and saw that 
 it was an island ; but they turned the stern to the land, and 
 sailed seawards with the same fair wind. But the wind rose, and 
 Biarni bade them shorten sail and not to carry more than their 
 ship and tackle would bear. They sailed now four days, then saw 
 they land the fourth. Tlien they asked Biarni whether bethought 
 that was Greenland or not. Biarni answered, ' That is likest to 
 what i^ said to me of Greenland, and we will put ashore.' So 
 they did, and landed under a certain ness (cape), at evening of the 
 day. And there was a boat at the ness, and there lived Herjulf, 
 the father of Biarni, on this ness, and from him has the ness 
 taken its name, and is since called Herjulfsness. Now fared 
 Biarni to his father, and gave up sailing, and was with his father 
 whilst Herjulf lived ; and afterwards lived there after his father." 
 
 Eirck tli3 Red, the leader of tiie colony, was still looked 
 upon as its head, and IJiarni once haviy.L;; paid him a visit, and 
 being well received, the conversation fell upon his adventures 
 and his discoveries of unknown lands. All thought Biarni 
 had shown very little curiosity in not. making further explora- 
 tions. There was luueli talk about voyages of discovery, and 
 Leif, the eldest of Eirek's three sons, resolved to see this 
 newly-diseovered country. Accordingly he paid Biarni a 
 visit, bought his vessel of him, and engaged a crew. 
 
 * Ok Ifelti skaut horfa a land. 
 
11 
 
 He now endeavoured to persuade his father to accompany 
 him, and after some trouble succeeded. But the old man, on 
 the way to the vessel, fell from his horse and injured his foot. 
 Thereupon he said, " It is not fated that I should discover 
 more countries than those we now inhabit, and we can now no 
 longer fare all together." So he returned home, but Leif 
 with his companions, thirty-live in all, set sail. 
 
 (A. D. 999.) " First they found the land wliich Biarni had found 
 last. Then sailed they to the land, and east imclior and put off a 
 boat and went ashore and saw there no grass. Mickle glaciers 
 were over all the higher parts, Ijut it was like a plain of rock 
 from the glaciers to the sea, and it seemed to them that the land 
 was good for nothing. Then said Leif, '"We have not done about 
 this land like Biarni, not to go upon it; now I will give a name 
 to the land, and call it Heiluhuid (Hat-stone land). Then tliey 
 Avent to their ship. After that tliey sailed into the sea, and ibuiid 
 another land, sailed up to it and cast anchor; then ])ut otf a boat 
 and went ashore. This land was flat and covered v/ith wood, and 
 broad white sands wherever they went, and the shore was low. 
 Then said Leif, ' From its make shall a name be given to this 
 land, and it shall be called Markland (Wood-land). Then they 
 Avent quickly down to the vessel. Now they sailed thence into 
 the sea witli a northeast wind, and were out two days before they 
 saw land, and they sailed to land, and came to an island that lay 
 north of the land, and they went on to it and looked about them in 
 good weather, and found that dew lay upon the grass, and that 
 happened that they pat their hands in the dew and brought it to 
 their mouths, and they thought they had never known any thing 
 so sweet as tliat was.* Then they went to their ship and sailed 
 into that sound tliat lay l)etween tiie island and a ness which went 
 northward irom the land, and then steered westward past the 
 ne.*s. There were great slioals at ebb-tide, and their vessel stood 
 up, and it was far to see from the ship to the sea. But they were 
 so curious to fare to the land tliat they could not bear to bide till 
 the sea came luider their ship, and ran ashore where a river flows 
 out from a lake. But wlien the sea came under their ship, tlien 
 took they the boat and rowed to the ship, and took it up into the 
 river and then into the lake, and tliere cast anchor, and bore from 
 the ship their skin-cots, and made there booths. 
 
 " Afterwards they took counsel to stay there that winter, and 
 made there great liouses. Tliere was no scarcity of salmon in tlie 
 rivers and lakes, and larger salmon than they had before seen. 
 
 * Probalily tlie so called lioney-tlew, a swcpt substance deposited on plants 
 by certain insects, [aphides,) wliicli ofleii attracts swarms of ants and fiies to 
 rose-hushes infcsied Iv them. 
 
12 
 
 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 off there. Day and night were 
 more equal tliere than in Greenland or Iceland; the sun had there 
 eyl-tarstad and dagmalastad* on the shortest day. But 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 of the people shall be at the house at home, 
 but the other half shall ken the land, and fare not further than 
 that they may come home at evening, and they shall not separate.' 
 Now so they did one time. Leif changed about, so that he went 
 with them (one day) and (the next) was at home at the house. 
 Leif was a mickle man and stout, most noble to see, a wise man 
 and moderate in all tilings. 
 
 * 2. LEIF THE LUCKY FOUND MEN ON A SKERKT AT SEA. 
 
 '• One evening it chanced that a man was wanting of their peo- 
 ple, and this was Tyrker, the Southerner.! Leif took this very 
 ill, for Tyrker had been long with his parents, and loved Leif 
 much in his childhood. Leif now chid liis people sharply, and 
 made ready to fare forth to seek him, and twelve men with him. 
 But when they had gone a little way, there came Tyrker to meet 
 them, and was joyfully received. Leif found at once that his 
 old friend was somewhat out of his mind ; he was bustling and 
 unsteady-eyed, freckled in face, little and wizened in growth, but 
 a man of skill in all arts. Then said Leif to him : ' ^Yhy wert 
 thou so late, my fosterer, and separated fi'om the party?' He 
 talked at first a long while in German, and rolled many ways his 
 eyes and twisted his face, but they skilled not what he said. He 
 said then in Norse after a time : ' I went not very far, but I have 
 great news to tell ; I have found grape-vines and grapes.' ' Can 
 that be true, my fosterer,' quoth Leif. 'Surely it is true,' quoth 
 he, 'for I was brought up where there is no want of grape-vines 
 or grapes.' Then they slept for the niglit, but in the morning 
 Leif said to his sailors, ' Now we shall have two jobs ; each day 
 wr will either gather grapes or hew grape-vines and fell trees, so 
 there will be a cargo lor my ship,' and that was the counsel taken. 
 It is said that their long boat was iilled with grapes. Now was 
 hewn a cargo for the ship, and when spring came they got ready 
 and sailed oiF, and Leif gave a name to the land after its sort, and 
 
 * Das^malaatad was 7 1-2. A. M., the hour of sunrise in tlic south of Icehind 
 on the first day of winter, (Oct. 17th.) Eijkturstad was the period fixed (in 
 the laws.) as the end of tlie natural day; namely, 4 1-2, P. M. — Antiquitatcs 
 Jlniericanct, p. 435. 
 
 These, therefore, were two great periods of the day, and arc not to be taken 
 too minutely. 
 
 t That ia, the German. 
 
1-" 
 
 called it Vinland (Wine-land). They sailed then afterwards into 
 the sea, and had a fair wind until they saw Greenland, and the 
 fells under the glaciers. Then a man took the word, and said to 
 Leif, ' Why steerest thou the ship so close to the wind ? ' Leif 
 answered, 'I look to my steering and to something more, and 
 what see ye remarkable ? ' They said they saw nothing that 
 seemed remarkable. ' I know not,' said Leif, ' whether I see a 
 ship or a rock.' Now they looked, and said it was a rock. But 
 he saw further than they, and saw men on the rock. ' Now we 
 must bite into the Avind {heitbn undir vedrit)' said Leif, 'so that 
 We may near them if they are in need of our aid, and it is need- 
 ful to help them ; but if so be it that they are not peaceably dis- 
 posed, all the strength is on our side and not on theirs.' Now 
 they came close to the rock, and furled thenr sail and cast anchor, 
 and put out another little boat which they had with them. Then 
 asked Tyrker, Who rode before them? (who was their leader.) 
 He said he was named Thorir, and that he was a Norseman of 
 kin. ' But what is thy name ? ' Leif told his name. ' Art thou 
 son of Eirek the Red of Brattahlid ? ' said he. Leif said it was 
 so. ' Now will I,' said Leif, ' bid you all to my ship, and as many 
 of the goods as the ship will carry.' They were thankful for the 
 chance, and sailed to Eireksfirth with the cargo, until they came 
 to BrattahHd, and then unloaded the ship. Afterwards Leif bade 
 Thorir to stay with him, and also Gudrid, his wife, and three 
 other men, and got lodgings for the other sailors, both Thorir's and 
 his own fellows. Leif took fifteen men from the rock ; after that 
 he was called Leif the Lucky : Leif was now both well to do and 
 honored. That winter there came a great sickness amoiig Tho- 
 rir's people, and carried off Thorir and many of his people. This 
 winter died also P^irek the Red. 
 
 "Now there was a great talk about Leif's Vinland voyage, and 
 Thorvald, his brother, thought the land had been too little ex- 
 plored. Then said Leif to Thorvald, ' Thou shalt go with my 
 ship, brother! if thou wilt, to Vinland; but I want that the ship 
 should go first after the wood that Thorir had on the rock ; ' and 
 so was done. 
 
 3. THORVALD FARES TO VINLAND. 
 
 "Now Thorvald made ready for this voyage with thirty men, 
 with the counsel thereon of Leil", his brother. Then they fitted 
 out their ship, and bore out to sea, (A. D. 1002,) and there is 
 nothing told of their voyage before they came to Vinland to Leif's 
 booths, and they laid up their ship and dwelt in peace there that 
 winter, and caught fish for their meat. But in the spring Thorvald 
 said they would get ready their ship, and send their long boat and 
 some men with it along to the westward of the land, and explore it 
 during the summer. The land seemed to thorn iair an(I woodv, 
 
14 
 
 and narrow between the woods and the sea, and of white sand. 
 There were many islands and great shoals. They found neither 
 man's abode nor beasts ; but on an island to the westward they 
 ibund a corn-shed of wood ; more works of men they found not, 
 and they went back, and came to Leif's booths in the fall. But 
 the next summer fared Thorvald eastward W'ith the merchant-shii) 
 and coasted to the northward. Here a heavy storm arose as they 
 were passing one of two capes, and drove them up tliere and 
 broke the keel under the ship, and they dwelt there long, and 
 mended their ship. Then said Thorvald to his companions : 
 ' Now will I that we raise up here the keel on the ness and call it 
 Keelness,' and so they did. After that they sailed thence, and 
 coasted to the eastward, and into the mouths of the firths that 
 were nearest to them, and to a headland that stretched out. This 
 was all covered with wood ; here they brought the ship into har- 
 bour and shoved a bridge on to the land, and Thorvald went ashore 
 with all his company ; he said then, ' Here it is iair, and here 
 would I like to raise my dwelling.' They went then to the ship, 
 and saw upon the sands within the headland three heights, and 
 tliey went thither and saw there three skin-boats, and three men 
 under each. Then they divided their people, and laid hands on 
 tiiem all, except one that got off with his boat. They killed these 
 eight, and went then back to the headland, and looked about them 
 there, and saw in the firth some heights, and thought they were 
 dwellings. After that there came a heaviness on them so great 
 that they could not keep awake, and all slumbered. Then came 
 a call above them, so that they all awoke : thus said the call : 
 ' .\wake, Thorvald ! and all thy company, if thou wmH keep thy 
 life, and fare thou to thy ship, and all thy men, and fare from the 
 land of the quickest.' Then came from within the firth innumer- 
 able skin-boats, and made toward them. Thorvald said then, 
 ' We will set up our battle-shields, and guard ourselves the best 
 we can, but fight little against them' 80 they did, and the 
 Skraelings shot at them for a while, but then fled each as fast as 
 he could. Then Thorvald asked his men if any of them was 
 hurt; they said they were not hurt. 'I have got a hurt under 
 the arm,' said he, 'for an arrow flew between the bulwarks and 
 tiie shield under my .arm, and here is the arrow, and that will be 
 my death. Now I counsel that ye make ready as quicklv as may 
 l)e to return, but ye shall bear me to the headland Avhich I thought 
 the likeliest place to build. It may be it was a true word I spoke, 
 that I should dwell there lor a time There ye shall bury me, 
 and set crosses at my head anrl feet, and call it Krossanes hence- 
 forth.' Greenland was then Christianized, but Eii'ek the Red had 
 died before Christianity came thither. Now Thorvald died, but 
 they did every thing according as he had said, and then went and 
 luund their companions, and told each other the news thev had to 
 
tell, and lived there tliat winter, and gathered grapes and vines 
 for loading the ship. Then in the spring they made ready to sail 
 for Greenland, and came with their ship to Eireksfirth, and had 
 great tidings to tell to Leif." 
 
 In the meanwhile Thorstein, Eirek's third son, had mar- 
 ried Gudrid, the widow of the Norwegian Thorir, whom Leif 
 had rescued from the rock. When the news of his brother's 
 death arrived, Thorstein resolved to go after Thorvald's dead 
 hodj, in order to give it a Christian burial. Accordingly he 
 set off", but after driving about the whole summer unsuccess- 
 fully, he was obliged to put in at the western settlement of 
 Greenland, where they remained that winter. Here Thorstein 
 and many of his men died of a pestilence, and Gudrid returned 
 to Leif, at the eastern settlement. This summer a rich Nor- 
 wegian, named Thorfin Karlsefni, came to Greenland and 
 stayed at Leit^s house, where he fell in love with Gudrid and 
 married her. There being still a great talk about Vinland, 
 Thorfin was persuaded to undertake a voyage thither, which 
 he did, taking with him his wife and a company of sixty men 
 and five women. (A. D. lOOT.) 
 
 "This agreement made Karlsefni and his seamen, that they 
 should have even handed all that tiiey should gel in the way of 
 goods. They had witli them all sorts of cattle, as they thought, to 
 settle there if they might. Karlsefni begged Leif for his house in 
 Vinland, but he said he would lend him the house, but not give it. 
 Then they bore out to sea with the ship and came to Leif's 
 booths hale and whole, and landed there their cattle. There soon 
 came into their hands a great and good prize, for a whale was 
 driven ashore, both great and good ; then they went to cut up the 
 whale, and had no scarcity of ibod. The cattle went up into the 
 country, and it soon happened that the male cattle became wild 
 and unruly. They had with them a bull. Karlsefni had wood 
 felled and brought to the ship, and iiad the wood piled on the cliff 
 to dry. They had all the good things of the country, both of 
 grapes and of all sorts of game and other things. After the first 
 winter came the summer, then they saw appear the Skrielings, and 
 there came from out the wood a great number of men. Near by 
 Avere their neat-cattle, and the bull took to bellowing (tok at beJJa) 
 and roared loudly, whereat the Skntlings were frightened, and 
 ran off with their bundles. These were furs and sable-skins and 
 skin-wares of all kinds. And they turned towards Karlsefni's 
 booths, and wanted to get into the house, but Karlsefni had the 
 doors guai'ded. Neither party understood the other's language. 
 Then the Skraelings took down their bags, and opened them, ai.d 
 
16 
 
 offered them for sale, and wanted above all to have weapons for 
 them. But Karisefni forbade them to sell weapons. He took this 
 plan ; he bade the women bring out their dairy stuff* for them, 
 and so soon as they saw this they would have that and nothing 
 else. Now this was the way the Skriclings traded, they bore otf 
 their wares in their stomachs, but Karlsefni and his companions 
 had their bags and skin-wnres, and so they parted. Now hereof 
 is this to say, that Karlsefni had posts driven strongly round about 
 his booths, and made all com})lete. At this time Gudrid the wife 
 of Karlsefni bore a man-child, and he was called Snorri. In the 
 beginning of the next winter the Sknwlings came to them again, 
 and were many more than before, and they had the same wares 
 as before. Then Karlsefni said to the women, 'Now bring forth 
 the same food that was most liked before, and no other.' And 
 when they saw it they cast their bundles in over the fence. . . . 
 [But one of them being killed by one of Karlsefni's men, they all 
 lied in haste and left their garments and wares behind] 'Now I 
 think we need a good counsel.' said Karlsefni. 'lor I think they 
 will come for the third time in anger and with many men. Now we 
 must do this, ten men must go out on to that ness and show them- 
 selves there, but another party must go into the wood and hew a 
 ])lacp clear for our neat-cattle, when the foe shall come from the 
 wood. And we must take the bull and let him go before us.' 
 But thus it was with the place where they thought to meet, that a 
 lake was on one side and the wood on the other. Now it w-as 
 done as Karlsefni bad said. Now came the Skra^lings to the place 
 where Karlsefni had thought should be the battle ; and now there 
 v.'as a battle and many of the Skrailings fell. There was one 
 large and handsome man among tlie Sknelings, and Karlsefni 
 thought he might be their leader. Now one of the 8kra;lings had 
 taken up an axe and looked at it awiiile and struck at one of his 
 fellows and hit him, whereupon he fell dead, then the large man 
 took the axe and looked at it awhile and threw it into the sea as 
 far as he could. But after that they fled to the wood each as fast 
 as he could, and thus ended (he strife. Karlsefni and his com- 
 panions were there all that winter, but in the spring Karlsefni 
 said he would stay there no longer, and would fare to Greenland. 
 Now they made ready for the voyage, and bare thence much 
 goods, namely, grape-vines and grapes and skin-wares. Now they 
 sailed into the sea and came whole with their ship to Eireksfirth, 
 and were there that winter." 
 
 The next year Frejdis, a daughter of Eirek the Red, per- 
 suaded two Norwegian voyagers who had lately arrived in 
 Greenland, to undertake an expedition to Vinland Avith her 
 
 * Bi'imjt, lacticinia — iiny thing made of milk. 
 
17 
 
 and her husband. They departed, accordingly, in two ships, 
 (1012,) and reached Leif s booths without difficulty ; but in 
 the course of the winter Freydis, who appears to have been a 
 woman of the most savage temper, stirred up quarrels between 
 the two ships' companies, and finally, having with her party 
 fallen upon the Norwegians by night, tied them hand and foot, 
 and killed them all. 
 
 This horrid deed seems to have caused a repugnance to fur- 
 ther visits to the spot where it was perpetrated. Then, as 
 Dr. Hermes remarks, the adventurous spirit of the Norsemen 
 received a check at the introduction of Christianity, which had 
 now spread throughout Greenland as well as Iceland. Wheth- 
 er Christianity had any thing to do with it or not, certain it is 
 that a change was manifested in the Norse character about this 
 time ; that they seem to have lost some of their old vigor and 
 restless spirit. This is shown, also, in the fact that about this 
 time (1023,) Greenland submitted to St. Olaf of Norway. 
 The way to Vinland seems to have been forgotten, so that 
 when Eirek, the first Bishop of Greenland, went in the year 
 1121 to seek it out, (at leita Vinlands) he seems to have 
 been unsuccessful ; at least, nothing further is said about the 
 voyage. After this there occur in various of the Icelandic A^n. '^■^ 
 annals records of the finding of "new land" (fundu nyja 
 land*} to the westward of Iceland, but no definite mention of S. ;1 >' ^ 
 Vinland until the year 1347, when some sailors arrived in Ice- 
 land from Greenland, who said they had visited Vinland. 
 
 The disturbed state of the Scandinavian kingdoms and the 
 bad policy of their rulers interrupted by degrees all communi- 
 cation with these distant colonies. All trading to Iceland, to 
 Greenland, and the other distant provinces, without a special 
 royal license, was forbidden, and some merchants who were 
 driven to Greenland in a storm, in the year 1389, were prose- 
 cuted on their return for breach of this law.f In the year 
 1406, the last Bishop of Greenland was appointed, and is known' 
 to have officiated there in 1409. | A letter from Pope Nich- 
 olas V. to the Bishops of Skalholt and Holum, in the year 
 
 * The editors of the Antiquitates Americana: suggest that this term nyjafundu 
 land may have been the origin of the name of Newfoundland, discovered by 
 Sebastian Cabot in 1496-7. There was doubtless at this time some commer- 
 cial intercourse between England and Iceland. This conjecture, if well found- 
 ed, would tend to show that Newfoundland was at that time considered as the 
 Vinland of the Norsemen. 
 
 t "Iceland, Greenland, and the Faroe Islands." — Edinb. Cab. Lib., 274. 
 
 t Beamish, p. 152. 
 
 2 
 
18 
 
 1448, speaks of the destruction of the greater part of the in- 
 habitants of Greenland, and of their churches, &c., by "heath- 
 en foreigners from the neighbouring coast," about thirty years 
 before. 
 
 Already, in the year 1349, or according to some, 1379, the 
 western settlement had been entirely laid waste and the inhab- 
 itants killed by the Skrselings. Probably the eastern settle- 
 ment fared the same. Indeed, there is a tradition current to 
 this effect among the Esquimaux of the present day.* In 
 1559, the prohibition against trading to Greenland was re- 
 moved, and ships sent thither, but they were hindered by the 
 ice from approaching the eastern coast, (where the eastern 
 settlement was erroneously supposed to be,) and on the west- 
 ern coast only Esquimaux were found, and they so barbarous 
 and ferocious that all thoughts of intercourse were abandoned 
 until 1721, when the heroic missionary Hans Egede persuad- 
 ed the King of Denmark to establish a colony there, which has 
 been maintained ever since, and now numbers some six thou- 
 sand inhabitants. 
 
 Such is, in brief, the chronicle of the Norse settlements on 
 this side of the Atlantic. But besides these special accounts, 
 incidental notices of the discovery of Vinland occur in many 
 of the historical documents of the North, among others in the 
 Hdmshringla and the Myrhyggia Saga, two of the most au- 
 thentic among them.f All these notices exist in MSS. known 
 to be older (some of them several hundred years older,) than 
 Columbus's discovery. To reject their evidence, therefore, we 
 must suppose a universal and most unaccountable delusion and 
 a fabulous account of imaginary regions, corresponding in all 
 essentials with an existing reality. 
 
 It is true, some of the accounts are mixed with fable, and 
 all of them must be received with cautious criticism. One of 
 them, the Thorfin Karlsefni Saga, Ave have passed over alto- 
 gether, although it has been considered (except by Dr. Her- 
 mes,) as one of the most important documents. But it seems 
 evidently a later amplification of the account of Karlsefni's 
 voyage given in the Gfraenlendinga Thatt, and printed above. 
 
 * Beamish, pp. 151, 153, 156. 
 
 tFor instance, Eyrb. Saga, (Hafn. 1787) Cap. xlviii, sub anno 999: "But 
 Snorri fiired to Vinland the Good with Karlsefni, and there fought with the 
 SkrfBlings," &c. See, also, Heimskringla, Olaf Tryggvason's Saga. And Ad- 
 am of Bremen (1016) mentions the discovery of " Winland," where grapes and 
 corn grew wild. 
 
19 
 
 It has the same outHne, but filled up with various additional 
 incidents, some of them, perhaps, genuine traditions of the voy- 
 age, others evidently fabulous, and others, again, belonging to 
 other voyages. Various incidents simply narrated in the an- 
 cient account are here heightened by fanciful or supernatural 
 features. For example, in the account of the death of Thor- 
 vald at Kiarlarness, (which is imported hither doubtless as an 
 effective incident,) the arrow is shot by a imijyed (^einfoetingr'). 
 And the heroism of his simple announcement of his death- 
 wound is sought to be heightened by the exclamation, on draw- 
 ing out the arrow, ''■ Fat are my entrails, it is a good land we 
 have come to, but little good will come to us of it;" a very 
 clap-trap sort of speech, and moreover taken at second-hand 
 from the dying speech of the poet Thormod Kolbrunor-skalld, 
 at the battle of Stiklestad.* 
 
 Other incidents are disfigured in a similar manner. Thus, 
 the Skrselings when attacked suddenly sink into the earth ; the 
 whale they find on their first arrival being sent in consequence 
 of prayers to Thor, proves poisonous ; an addition evidently 
 belonging to an epoch when Christianity was firmly estab- 
 lished, and not befitting the early times when heathendom was 
 still respectable, although on the decline. So, also, his connec- 
 tion Eirek the Red must be Christianized, and when he falls 
 from his horse attributes it to his having sinfully performed a 
 heathen rite ; whereas we know from the older account that he 
 died a pagan. Then it is often inconsistent with itself. Thus 
 in the commencement it says Eirek the Red had two sons, Leif 
 and Thorstein, but afterwards mentions the third, Thorvald. 
 Many other grounds are brought forward by Hermes in his in- 
 troduction, to show that this Saga is of later origin, and in fact 
 a family chronicle of the descendants of Karlsefni, whose ex- 
 ploits are related and amplified to flatter his posterity, and into 
 which various scattered stories, as that of the death of Thor- 
 vald, are introduced in order to increase the interest. At the 
 end of the Crraenlendinga Tli'att are genealogical registers of 
 the descendants of Karlsefni, ending with " Brand the Bishop," 
 and '' Bjarni the Bishop," who were in power in Iceland in the 
 latter part of the twelfth century, these being probably the 
 latest descendants at the time the Saga was written down. 
 But the Thorjin Karlsefni Saga continues the list to " Hauk 
 
 * Heimskringla, Olat H. Saga, cap. 247. 
 
20 
 
 the Judge," and the Abbesses Crudrun and Hallhera, who 
 lived at the beginning of the fourteenth century. 
 
 This Saga, therefore, is to be received with great caution, 
 though it mentions a number of additional particulars, •which 
 bear the marks of probability, and may very naturally have 
 been handed down by family tradition. 
 
 The Sagas which the editors of the Antiquitates Americance 
 and Mr. Beamish after them think sufficient ground for pre- 
 senting us with maps of the Southern and Middle United 
 States as far as the Mississippi valley, under the name of Ir- 
 land it mikla, or Hvitramannaland^ (Great Ireland, or White 
 Man's Land,) we concur with Dr. Hermes (^Einleitung^ 48,) 
 in thinking fabulous. This " Great Ireland," or " White Man's 
 Land," according to these accounts, was six days' voyage west- 
 ward from Ireland, and was inhabited by persons riding on 
 horses and speaking the Irish language. 
 
 It appears, then, past doubt, that some part of the northeast- 
 ern coast of North America was visited by the Scandinavians 
 long before Columbus. The next question is — what part it 
 was. 
 
 The former opinion, that of Malte Brun and others, was in 
 favor of Labrador or Newfoundland. The editors of the An- 
 tiquitates Americance and their faithful follower, Mr. Beamish, 
 endeavour to show, however, partly from independent evidence 
 and partly from the descriptions given in the accounts them- 
 selves, that it was much further south. According to Mr. 
 Beamish, " the countries discovered by Biarni were Connecti- 
 cut, Long Island, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Nova Scotia, 
 and Newfoundland ;" Hellidand is Newfoundland, Markland 
 Nova Scotia ; Leif 's island is Nantucket, and the place Avhere 
 he built his booths Mount Hope Bay. Cape Cod, Plymouth 
 harbour, and even Point Alderton and Gurnet Point have each 
 assigned to it a Norse name. Even Dr. Hermes, in general 
 skeptical enough, in this case shows unusual easiness of faith. 
 Now, it is no doubt true that the features of the country no- 
 ticed by the Norsemen correspond often very strikingly with 
 points on the New England coast. Yet before any conclu- 
 sions are founded upon such resemblances, it should be shown 
 that the descriptions given will not fit equally well any other 
 region. Thus, for instance, it is very true that grape-vines 
 and grapes occur about Mount Hope Bay, but so they do in 
 
21 
 
 Nova Scotia and Canada.* It is true that halibuts (or floun- 
 ders) and maple trees are common on the coast of Rhode 
 Island, but so they are also on the west coast of Newfound- 
 land. Neither can the frequent occurrence of sand-beaches 
 and flats be said to distinguish the Vineyard Sound from parts 
 of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. In short, there is not one of the 
 supposed indications of this particular locality which, as far as 
 we know, can be said to designate particularly any one region 
 of the coast between Newfoundland and New York, except 
 one or two, which we shall notice as making decidedly against 
 their hypothesis. 
 
 In the first place, the fact being admitted that the Norse- 
 men did actually reach this country, it is most natural, unless 
 the contrary be shown, to suppose that their exploration was 
 confined to the neighbourhood of the point first reached. The 
 coast between Labrador and Long Island Sound is a particu- 
 larly rough and dangerous one, beset with rocks and sand- 
 banks, rendered more perilous by strong currents, and lashed 
 by the full swing of the Atlantic. All the knowledge and skill 
 of the present day are insufficient to prevent frequent ship- 
 wrecks. It is to be remembered, also, that the Norsemen, in 
 exploring an unknown coast, would not steer the shortest course 
 from one point to another, nor launch at random into the ocean, 
 but would follow the windings of the shores, and thus probably 
 double the distance to be passed over. For instance, if they 
 kept outside of Newfoundland, they would not steer across to 
 Nova Scotia, but return to the Straits of Belle-Isle, nearly 
 where they started from. If they passed inside, they would 
 be likely to ascend the St. Lawrence for some distance before 
 finding it was a river. The large bays so numerous on this 
 coast, as the Bay of Fundy, the Bay of Chaleurs, and others, 
 would be all circumnavigated. 
 
 These things are needful to be kept in mind, in order to 
 form a just notion of what is in fact implied by the voyages 
 supposed. We do not intend to go into a minute examination 
 of the topography or of the probable distance, but, roughly 
 estimated, it cannot be less than two thousand miles from the 
 northern coast of Labrador to Narragansett Bay, following 
 the larger indentations of the coast. From a fortnight to three 
 weeks must have been consumed in such a voyage, at the least, 
 and any account of it could not fail to notice the deep wind- 
 
 * McGregor's British America, I., 90. 
 
22 
 
 ings and bays of the coast, or the labyrinth of islands and 
 headlands. Now we maintain that nothing of the kind appears 
 in these narratives. They are evidently plain-sailing trips, of 
 a few days only. It is only by the most violent distortion that 
 the ancient geography can be made to fit the hypothesis. Let 
 us look for a moment at the accounts themselves. 
 
 In the first place, Biarni, sailing for Greenland, struck the 
 American coast at an unknown point, which, however, was 
 overgrown with wood. It might have been Newfoundland or 
 Southern Labrador. Hence he sailed northward two days,* 
 finding the land still woody. Then, turning away from the 
 land, he sailed three days, and came to an icy and mountain- 
 ous island, perhaps one of the islands at the mouth of Hud- 
 son's Strait. Then he bore away from the land again four 
 days, and arrived in Greenland. 
 
 Next Leif, sailing for the new country, reached the spot 
 which Biarni last visited, and named it SeUuland ; thence he 
 proceeded to the wooded coxmtry, which he called 3Iarkland; 
 the number of days not given. f It seems most natural to 
 assume that this was the most northerly part of the coast cov- 
 ered with forest ; namely, the southern part of Labrador or 
 the northwesterly part of Newfoundland, which was formerly 
 covered with a dense forest of large trees. :|: It may have been 
 a more southern point, but the burden of proof is on those who 
 maintain this. Hence he goes in two days to Vinland. In 
 returning, nothing is said about his voyage, which Avould 
 hardly have been the case had he gone to the southward of 
 the Gulf of St. Lawrence. 
 
 Next comes Thorvald, who finds Vinland without difficulty, 
 and after his death his seamen return without their leader, and 
 yet no incidents of the voyage are mentioned. 
 
 * Tvo dcegr : there is an uncertainty as to the meaning of this word. B. 
 Haldorsen in his Lexicon, the Glossary to the Erida Seetmmdar, (II. 58 and 
 606.) and Rafn, in most of his translations in the ./Intiquitates Jlmcrirance, 
 distinjTuish between dagr, a space of twelve hours, and dagr, a space of twenty- 
 four hours. But Rafn afterwards, in a note, (p. 420,) says he has since come 
 to the conclusion that the words are sometimes synonymous, giving an instance 
 from the Landnamnbok, and he thinks such is the case throughout these 
 accounts. For this change of opinion he gives no reasons beyond the single 
 citation above, but to be on the safe side we have translated throughout in 
 accordance with his suggestion. . 
 
 t In the Tharfin Karlsrfni Saga it is said to be two days (2 dagr). 
 
 \ McGregor, p. 145. In Captain Atkins's relation concerning the coast of 
 Labrador, lat. 53 ' 40', he says the woods are full of large pines and other trees 
 suitable for ship-building. In Fitch's Inlet he found good grass-land. — Massa- 
 chusetts Historital Collections, I , p. 233. 
 
In like manner Thorfin Karlsefni and Freydis and her com- 
 panions all sail to Vinland and back, without any remarks 
 made on the navigation of the route. 
 
 One or two voyages are made in which no part of the conti- 
 nent is reached, but we do not hear of any one who had ever 
 reached any part of the continent failing to find Vinland, or 
 experiencing the slightest diflScult3^ 
 
 Now it is to be observed that the Gulf of St. Lawrence 
 divides the northeastern coast into two quite different regions. 
 Having the Labrador coast under their lee, the Norse naviga- 
 tors might well hit that, somewhere to the northward of the 
 region of forest, that is, somewhere in Helluland, (for this is 
 evidently only a general expression for the northern barren 
 regions). To coast along there until they recognized the 
 landmarks given by their predecessors would also be not very 
 difficult, and corresponds with the accounts. But the moment 
 we get bej^ond the Straits of Belle-Isle, the case is entirely 
 changed. We come then to an intricate and dangerous navi- 
 gation, which we cannot suppose the traditions of a nation of 
 sailors should have passed over in silence. Nor could the 
 requisite distance have been accomplished in the time stated. 
 Even if we assume, according to the entirely unwarranted 
 conclusion of the Antiquitates Americance^ that 3IarMand is 
 Nova Scotia, and suppose the intervening regions whisked by 
 Avithout remark, yet it is to be remembered that from Cape 
 Sable, the southernmost extremity of Nova Scotia, to Cape Cod, 
 in a direct course, is seventy leagues, and if we coast round 
 the Bay of Fundy, and follow the indentations of the shore, 
 (as explorers unacquainted with the navigation would of course 
 have done,) the distance will be nearly doubled. Add to this 
 the distance to Mount Hope Bay, and we shall have not far 
 from two hundred leagues, or six hundred miles, which, ac- 
 cording to the average day's sailing of the Norsemen given 
 by the Antiquitates Amer-icance, (pp. xxxiv and 420,) 
 namely, one hundred and eight to one hundred and twenty 
 miles, wovild have been five or six days' voyage, whereas Leif 
 accomplished it in two, at most. Nor, finally, is it conceivable 
 that one after the other should have found so easily the sought- 
 for haven, or returned with so little apparent difficulty. The 
 direct evidence, therefore, fails entirely. 
 
 Various collateral circumstances, however, touching the 
 appearance and productions of the country, as mentioned in 
 the narratives, have been brought forward in support of the 
 
24 
 
 hypothesis in question. Most of these are already disposed 
 of. Some of them are fabulous, as the discovery of grain- 
 fields, in the Thorfiti Karlsefni Saga. When true they do not 
 prove any thing, since they apply as well to the region about 
 the Gulf of St. Lawrence as to our own coast. Some of them 
 do not apply to either of these regions ; such are the mildness 
 of the winter, without frost or snow, and affording feed to cat- 
 tle throughout the winter. The assertions of some writers, 
 that snow falls indeed in New England, but never remains 
 long on the ground, &c., &c., we need not tell our readers 
 are entirely unfounded ; and there is no reason to suppose that 
 the climate has ever been milder than at present within the 
 historical era. The story is a mere exaggeration, natural 
 enough from the contrast with the winter climate of Iceland 
 and Greenland, but no more probable as to the State of Rhode 
 Island than as to the islands of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. 
 Something has been attempted to be made of the names Nau- 
 set and Mount Hope, which occur on our coast. Nauset, it 
 is supposed, may have come from nesit, a cape or point. But 
 any one at all familiar with the Indian names in this part of 
 the country, will notice the similarity of sound to many well 
 known names of localities, such as Sokonesset, Wamesit, Ne- 
 ponset, Sassanamesit, Okommakamesit, Unset, and a hundred 
 others ; the very name of our state, Massachusetts, is of this 
 kind. As to Mount Hope, which is sought to be connected 
 Avith the name Hop, occurring in the Tliorfin Karlsefni Saga, 
 it was remarked by a critic, some time ago, that the Indian 
 word was not Hope, but Montaup, and the prefix was not 
 made by the whites, but by the Indians. It is probably the 
 same word as Montauk, on Long Island. And there is a 
 Mount Hope or Montaup in Orange county, New York ; an- 
 other in the neighbourhood of Albany ; one in Pennsylvania, 
 one in South Carolina, one in Virginia, and no less than three 
 in Alabama. 
 
 Besides these, however, two pieces of evidence have been 
 adduced as showing the presence of the Norsemen in Narra- 
 gansett Bay. One of these are the inscriptions on the Dighton 
 rock, and others in that neighbourhood; the other, the remark 
 made in the Graenlendinger Thatt, that the sun, on the short- 
 est winter day, was above the horizon nine hours, rising at 
 7 1-2 and setting at 4 1-2. This, the antiquaries have reck- 
 oned, would make the latitude 41° 24' 10", that of Seaconnet 
 Point being 41° 26', and this, they think, all things taken into 
 
25 
 
 consideration, is near enough. In our opinion it is altogether 
 too near, and we would ask what chronometers or other means 
 the Icelanders had, to tell the time of day so exactly ? At 
 home in Iceland, and probably in Greenland, they had their 
 " day-marks," objects in the landscape which they had learned 
 to mark the sun's place by. But here, of course, they had 
 no help of the kind. It was a mere guess, and however 
 accurately they be supposed to have guessed, they may very 
 well have erred half an hour in their estimate. But half an 
 hour, morning and night, will give us a shortest day of eight 
 hours, and this brings us to about the latitude of the Straits 
 of Belle-Isle. 
 
 As to the Dighton rock,* the strong resemblance of the 
 whole, and more especially of the square-shouldered figure on 
 the right, to the paintings on buffalo-robes, &c., long ago 
 excited the suspicions of those acquainted with the handiwork 
 of our Indian tribes ; and since the publication of Messrs. 
 Squier & Davis' " Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi 
 Valley," f the probabilities, to say the least of it, are decid- 
 edly in favor of the Indian origin of these inscriptions. These 
 gentlemen (pp. 293-300) give representations and descrip- 
 tions of six sculptured rocks occurring on the Guyandotte 
 river in Virginia, and notices of various others in other parts 
 of the country, all bearing a strong general resemblance to 
 the Dighton rock. The objects represented are men, animals 
 of various kinds, and their tracks, and, moreover, lines, trian- 
 gles, circles, &c., such as we see in the Dighton rock. 
 
 In one instance, in particular, (fig. 206,) two figures rep- 
 resented on the left-hand lower corner of the stone instantly 
 remind one of the figures occupying a similar position in the 
 supposed Norse inscription. On another occurs a very distinct 
 capital P, (fig, 200,) which would make quite as good a 
 Runic Th (^Pj as that which in the other case has been so 
 interpreted. These rocks have been partly covered with 
 earth, and are thus less defaced than the Dighton rocks, but 
 they need only to have some of the connecting lines erased, 
 to make letters and numerals out of the figures of men and 
 animals. And it may be remarked, that the horizontal dispo- 
 sition of the marks on the Dighton rock, which might seem to 
 
 * For dra^vings of this rock see the Aniiquitates AmericancB, or the works of 
 Mr. Beamish or Dr. Hermes. Also, the Memoirs of the American Academy, 
 Vol. III. There is a fac-simile cast in the geological collection at Cambridge. 
 
 t Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, Vol. I. 
 
26 
 
 give it a more inscription-like character, was, no doubt, deter- 
 mined by the horizontally stratified, slaty structure of that 
 rock. It has been argued that the hard graywacke of the 
 Dighton rock could not have been cut without iron instruments. 
 But in the Avork above cited, we have numerous instances of 
 elaborate sculpture of porphyry, quartz, greenstone, and jas- 
 per, in implements found in the mounds of the Western coun- 
 
 We think, therefore, that there is thus far no sufficient 
 evidence in support of the Mount Hope hypothesis. On 
 the other hand, some of the circumstances mentioned in the 
 account of Vinland seem to us strongly in favor of a more 
 northern locality. In the first place, it is universally admitted 
 that the Skrcelings were Esquimaux. This is the name by 
 which the undoubted Esquimaux of Greenland were after- 
 wards known. And it could not have been borrowed from 
 thence and transferred to other tribes, since the Esquimaux 
 did not make their appearance at the Norse settlements in 
 Greenland until long afterwards. Their skin-boats agree with 
 what we know of the Esquimaux canoes, but not with those of 
 any of our Indians. In the TJiorfin Karlsefni Saga they are 
 said to have used slings, an implement unknown, we believe, 
 among the more southern races, but in use (at least, some 
 similar contrivance for casting darts,) among the Esquimaux. 
 
 Now it is very certain that no traces of the Esquimaux 
 have ever been seen to the southward of Labrador. The sug- 
 gestion of Hermes, (p. 101,) that they may formerly have 
 inhabited New England, and have been since driven northward 
 by the Indians, is, we believe, without the shghtest foundation. 
 The Esquimaux are evidently a northern race, representing the 
 Kamschatkans and other northern tribes of Asia, and, doubt- 
 less, from the first confined to similar latitudes. It is no 
 more likely that the Esquimaux ever inhabited this part of the 
 
 * It is also remarked, that these scxilptures seem to have been performed 
 with a gouge-shaped instrument. This was noticed as to the Dighton rock, in 
 some of the earliest accounts. See Mem. Am. Acad., III., 175 et seq. And 
 Messrs. Squier & Davis (p. 298) notice that the figures on the rocks described 
 by them were evidently joscfcerf into the stone, and not regularly chiselled. The 
 lihode Island Society's committee say of the Dighton inscriptions, that the 
 characters are " pecked in upon the rock and not chiselled or smoothly cut 
 out." — Antiquitates Americance, p. 3.58. It may be remarked here, that the 
 resemblance is still stronger in the case of the Portsmouth and Tiverton rocks, 
 (see figures in Antiquitates Americance.) in which the figures are yet more at 
 random. 
 
27 
 
 continent, than that polar bears or Arctic foxes were found 
 here. 
 
 Other northern features in the Scandinavian narrative are 
 the abundance of salmon and the skins of sables, both animals 
 being at this day remarkably abundant about the St. Lawrence 
 region. Salmon are found as far south as the Merrimack river 
 in this state, and they formerly ascended the Connecticut ; but 
 we are not aware that they were ever found in Taunton river, 
 nor is it likely they ever frequented so sluggish a stream. We 
 never heard of the so-called sable (^Mustela Maries') in Mas- 
 sachusetts or Rhode Island. That they formerly may have 
 occurred there is possible ; but, at all events, both salmon and 
 sable certainly indicate a more northern region.* 
 
 The remarkable rise and fall of the tide, which seems to 
 have struck the ancient navigators, is much more in accord- 
 ance with the more easterly position of Newfoundland and the 
 adjacent regions, where, from the absence of obstruction, the 
 tides rise to a much greater height than on the New England 
 coast.f 
 
 We have dwelt thus disproportionately long on this compar- 
 atively unimportant point, because no one, to our knowledge, 
 has taken the trouble before to state the obvious considerations 
 that arise on reading these ancient accounts in the region of 
 which they are supposed to treat. 
 
 Our attention was called to the subject at this time by the 
 receipt of Dr. Hermes' very interesting pamphlet. But we 
 have left ourselves no room for any thing more than a recom- 
 mendation of his critical and thorough performance to all 
 interested in the matter. As for the other works on our list, 
 the Antiquitates Americance have probably been heard of by 
 most of our readers. An account of it may be found in the 
 North American Review for January, 1838. 
 
 [Since writing the above, we have had an opportunity, 
 through the kindness of Dr. Webb, of reading an account of 
 the "skeleton in armour" dug up at Fall River, in the year 
 
 * The same may be said of the eider-ducks' nests, which are mentioned in 
 the Thorftn Karlsefni Saga as occurring in great numbers on tlic islands. 
 These birds pass and repass our coast in their annual mipjrations, but that they 
 ever built here is highly improbable, since it is a decidedly arctic species, and 
 would find the weather much too warm in the breeding season. On the other 
 hand, they are known to breed in great numbers on the coast of Labrador. 
 
 t In the harbour of Mingan, on the Labrador coast, north of Anticosti, the 
 tide rises from ten to twelve feet. — Blunt' s Coast Pilot, p. 103. 
 
28 
 
 1831, and -which, it has been thought, might be the remains 
 of one of the Norse colonists. This account was sent by Dr. 
 Webb to the Society of Northern Antiquaries in Copenhagen, 
 and published by them in the " Memoires de la Societe Royale 
 des Antiquaires du Nord," Copenhagen, 1843. From it we 
 extract the following particulars. The skeleton was found in 
 a sand-bank, at a short distance inland from the mouth of 
 Taunton river. 
 
 " The individual was buried in a sitting posture, with the legs 
 flexed upon the thighs and the thighs bent towards the abdomen ; 
 the hands were inclined to, if not, indeed, resting against, the 
 clavicular portion of the thorax. The body had evidently been 
 carefully enveloped in several coverings of woven or braided 
 bark-cloth of different textures, the finest being innermost ; and 
 exterior to the whole was a casement of cedar-bark. On the chest 
 was found a breast-plate of brass or other metallic composition, 
 measuring about fourteen inches in length and five and one fourth 
 inches in breadth at one end, and six inches at the other. . . . 
 The impression of the skin is very strongly exhibited in some 
 parts. What were the original length and form of this plate it is 
 impossible for me to say, as it was broken or destroyed at both 
 ends when found. Over the breastplate, at its lower extremity, 
 and completely encircling the body, was a belt, consisting of me- 
 tallic tubes arranged in close contact with each other, so as to 
 make a continuous cincture. These tubes are in length four and 
 a half inches, and in diameter one fourth inch. . . . These 
 were formed around pieces of hollow reed, the edges being brought 
 so nicely in contact as to give them the appearance of unbroken 
 cylinders. Through the inclosed reeds sinews, or narrow strips of 
 animal hide, were passed, and the ends braided together, so that 
 another string, similar in kind, might run transversely at top and 
 bottom, and thus complete the belt. Two armlets or bracelets 
 were found near the remains ; these, when closely examined, 
 appear (o have been made not of manufactured or dressed leather, 
 but of I'aw hide, (having the hair still upon them). . . . The 
 oidy other articles found were half a dozen arrow-heads, made of 
 the same material that the breastplate and sash or cincture were." 
 
 These were triangular, two inches long by one and a third 
 wide, and perforated at base. Pieces of the shafts, a few 
 inches long, were still connected with the heads. The metal 
 being afterwards examined by Berzelius, proved to be brass, 
 of about the ordinary composition. 
 
 "Wherever the breastplate or cincture came in contact with 
 or near propinquity to the body, there the flesh, underneath and 
 
29 
 
 for a few inches above and below, was in such a perfect state of 
 preservation, that the muscles could be readily separated or dis- 
 sected from one another. The flesh and integuments on the trunk, 
 from the top of the shoulders down to the short ribs, likewise on 
 the hands and arms, with the exception of the elbows, and on the 
 inner side of the right leg or knee, were well preserved. The 
 bark coverings were much decayed, except when they came in 
 contact with the metallic trappings." 
 
 The following osteological measurements are given in the 
 same article by Dr. Hooper of Fall River : Os femoris, 18 3-4 
 inches ; Tibia, 14 1-2. Lower jaw : Avidth at angles, 4 1-16 ; 
 ditto at top of coronoid process, 3 15-16 ; from symphysis 
 to angle, 3 3-4. Cranium : Circumference at division line 
 between sincipital and basilar regions, (as laid down by phre- 
 nologists,) 20 1-2 ; from root of nose to junction of coronal 
 and sagittal sutures, 5 1-2 : from ditto to external occipital 
 protuberance, 13 3-4 ; between the meatus auditorii over 
 Firmness, 13 1-4 ; ditto over Causality, 11 3-4 ; over Cau- 
 tiousness, 13 5-8 ; parietal diameter half an inch above mea- 
 tus, 5 1-4 ; ditto through " superior edges of ossa temporum," 
 5 1-2 ; ditto through Cautiousness, 5 3-8. " The skull indi- 
 cates a deficiency of Philoprogenitiveness, luliicli is not char- 
 acteristic of the Indian J^ No article of European manufac- 
 ture could be found. No Indian burial-ground is known to 
 have existed on this spot, but there is a very ancient one 
 three fourths of a mile north, and another about the same dis- 
 tance northwest of it. Nothing of the character of the articles 
 above described has been found in these. The land was occu- 
 pied and improved by the whites as early as 1681. 
 
 These highly interesting remains, with the exception of the 
 specimens of bark-fabric and the brass tubes, sent to Den- 
 mark, were destroyed by fire a few years since. Neverthe- 
 less, we think enough appears from the above account to show 
 that they belonged to the aborigines of the country, and not 
 to any European colonist. The metal of which the ornaments 
 were composed was undoubtedly of European origin, but the 
 forms into which it had been wrought are almost identical with 
 those of the copper ornaments found in the mounds of the 
 West, (see Squier & Davis' " Monuments, &c.," pp. 205, 
 207,) and leave a suspicion, as a learned friend of ours re- 
 marks, that they may trace their origin to some of the brass 
 kettles of those Frenchmen, who, in Captain John Smith's 
 time, had so overstocked the New England market, that the 
 
30 
 
 worthy captain thought it not worth his while to enter Mas- 
 sachusetts Bay. Some of these kettles, Dr. Webb says, are 
 found in neighbouring Indian graves. At all events, the 
 metal, although European, does not give the slightest pre- 
 sumption of a Norse origin, for even if we extend the " age of 
 bronze " as far as that period, these ornaments are not of 
 bronze, but of brass, which, we believe, was not in use 
 among the Norsemen. The sitting position of the body, it is 
 well known, is usual among Indian remains. The braided 
 cedar-bark is decidedly an Indian manufacture, and is still 
 extensively used for cords among the Ojibwas and probably 
 other tribes. Then the state of preservation of the body 
 and of the arrow-shafts militates strongly against any great 
 antiquity. It is true, the salts of copper exercise a strong an- 
 tiseptic influence, but here the elBFect would be rather too ex- 
 tensive. For we must bear in mind that a sand-bank is, per- 
 haps, the most unfavorable position for the preservation of 
 organic remains, owing to its permeability to water and the 
 facility with which it condenses and absorbs moisture from the 
 atmosphere. A careful examination of the skeleton might set- 
 tle the question, but this, unfortunately, is no longer possible. 
 Pei'haps some of our anatomical readers ipay satisfy them- 
 selves from the few notes made by Dr. Hooper. On this point 
 we may notice the unusual proportions of the leg-bones, the 
 femur being longer and the tibia shorter than the average in 
 the European type. Then the proportions of the skull seem 
 to approach more nearly to those of the American races. 
 Krause gives as the average parietal diameter between the 
 tulera parietalia, (which we take to be the bump of Cautious- 
 ness,) 6.128 inches in the male European cranium, and 6.039 
 in the female. Dr. Hooper's measurement of the same part 
 will be seen to be less, in which it agrees with Dr. Morton's 
 measurements of aboriginal American skulls, in which the av- 
 erage of this diameter is 5.5 to 5.6. Then the greater parietal 
 diameter at the highest point of the squamous suture (Secre- 
 tiveness ?) agrees with the pyramidal form noticed by Dr. 
 Morton. Above all, the " deficiency of Philoprogenitiveness," 
 namely, the flat occiput, is, perhaps, the most unequivocal 
 characteristic of the American type ;y ot discovered. See Mor- 
 ton's Crania Americana, p. 65.] 
 
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