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Class, 
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 COLONIAL AND CONSTITUTIONAL. 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 ALBERT BUSHNELL HART and EDWARD CHANNING, 
 
 OF Harvard University. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 A. LOVELL & CO. 
 
 Published Bi-Moiithly. Annual Subscription, 30 cejits. 
 Entered at the New York Postoffice as second-class matter. 
 
 No. 3. MAY, 1892. Price 5 Cents. 
 
 Copyright 1892, by A. Lovell & Co. 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM THE SAGAS 
 
 DESCRIBING 
 
 THE VOYAGES TO VINLAND. 
 
 The following extracts from the Sagas contain nearly all that is 
 known of the voyages to Vinland of Leif Ericsson, Thorvald Ericsson, 
 Thorfinn Karlsefni, and Biarni Heriulfsson. The translation used is 
 that of Arthur Middleton Reeves in his Finding ofWineland the Good, 
 London, Henry Frowde, 1890. Reeves also gives phototypic facsimiles 
 of the more important manuscripts. The Friis Book was written not 
 earlier than 1260 and is probably the oldest MS. in which any of these 
 voyages is described. Hank's Book was compiled between 1299 and 
 1334 and the Flatey Book was completed nearly a century later. No 
 satisfactory explanation of the words dagr, eyktarstadr, and dagmalas- 
 tadr has yet been given. Many scholars, among others Reeves and 
 Storm, are inclined to accept only such portions of the Flatey Book as 
 are confirmed by the earlier accounts. For further references, see 
 Reeves's IVineland, and Winsor's America, I., 87 and following. 
 
THE FRIIS ' BOOK STORY. 
 
 VINLAND THE GOOD FOUND. 
 
 Leif, a son of Eric the Red, passed this same winter, in 
 good repute, with King Olaf, and accepted Christianity. 
 And that summer, when Gizur went to Iceland, King Olaf 
 sent Leif to Greenland to proclaim Christianity there. 
 He sailed that summer to Greenland. He found men upon 
 a wreck at sea and succoured them. Then likewise he 
 discovered Vinland the Good, and arrived in Greenland in 
 the autumn. 
 
 THE STORY AS GIVEN IN HAUK'S BOOK. 
 
 LEIF THE LUCKY FINDS VINLAND. 
 
 Leif put to sea [from Norway] when his ship was ready 
 for the voyage. For a long time he was tossed about upon 
 the ocean, and came upon lands of which he had previously 
 had no knowledge. There were self-sown wheat-fields and 
 vines growing there. There were also those trees there 
 which are called mausur, and of all these they took speci- 
 mens. Some of the timbers were so large that they were 
 used in building. Leif found men upon a wreck and took 
 them home with him and procured quarters for them all 
 during the winter. 
 
 voyage of thorfinn karlsefni and snorri. 
 
 About this time there began to be much talk at Brattahlid, 
 to the effect that Vinland the Good should be explored, for, 
 it was said, that country must be possessed of many good 
 qualities. And so it came to pass, that Karlsefni and Snorri 
 fitted out their ship for the purpose of going in search of 
 that country, in the spring. Biarni and Thorhall joined 
 the expedition with their ship, and the men who had borne 
 them company. . . . They had in all one hundred and 
 sixty men, when they sailed away to the Western Settlement 
 and thence to Bear Island. Thence they bore away to the 
 southward two doegr. Then they saw land, and launched 
 a boat, and explored the land, and found there large fiat 
 
^ 
 
 /" 
 
 ' 3 
 
 stones, and many of these were twelve ells wide ; there were 
 many Arctic foxes ther-e. They gave a name to the country 
 and called it Helluland [the land of flat stones]. Then they 
 sailed with northerly winds two dcegr, and land then lay be- 
 fore them, and upon it there was a great wood and many 
 wild beasts; and land lay oK the land to the southeast, and 
 there they found a bear, and they called this Blarney [Bear 
 Island]^ while the land where the wood was they called 
 Markland [Forest luiicl]. Thence they sailed southward 
 along the land for a long time, and came to a cape ; the 
 land lay upon the starboard ; there were long strands and 
 sandy banks there. They rowed to the land and found uponi 
 the cape there the keel of a ship, and they called it Kialarnes 
 [Keelness].; they also called the strands Furdustrandir 
 [Wonder-strands] , because they were so long to sail by. 
 Then the country became indented with bays, and they 
 steered their ships into. a bay. It was when Leif was with 
 King Olaf Tryggvason, and he bade him proclaim Chris- 
 tianity to Greenland, that the King gave him two Gaels 
 [Scots] ; the man's name was Haki, and the woman's Haekia. 
 The King advised Leif to have recourse to these people, if 
 he should stand in need of fieetness, for they were swifter 
 than deer. Eric and Leif had tendered Karlsefni the 
 services of this couple. Now when they had sailed past 
 Wonder-strands they put the Scots ashore and directed them 
 to run to the southward, and investigate the nature of the 
 country, and return again before the end of the third half- 
 day. . . . Karlsefni and his companions cast anchor, and 
 lay there during their absence, and when they came again, 
 one of them carried a bunch of grapes, and the other an ear 
 of self-sown wheat. They went on board the ship, where- 
 upon Karlsefni and his followers held on their way, until 
 they came to where the coast was indented with bays. They 
 stood into a bay with their ships. There was an island at 
 the mouth of the bay, about which there were strong cur- 
 rents, wherefore they called it Straumey [Stream Isle]. 
 There were so many birds there, that it was scarcely possible 
 to step between the eggs. They sailed through the firth 
 and called it Straumfiord [Streamfirth], and carried their 
 cargoes ashore from the ships and established themselves 
 there. They had brought with them all kinds of livestock. 
 It was a fine country there. There were mountains there- 
 
abouts. They occupied themselves exclusively with the ex- 
 ploration of the country. They remained there during the 
 winter, and they had taken no thought for this during the 
 summer. The fishing began to fail and they began to fall 
 short of food. . . . 
 
 It is said that Thorhall wished to sail to the northward 
 beyond Wonder-strands, in search of Vinland, while Karl- 
 sefni desired to proceed to the southward, off the coast. 
 Thorhall prepared for his voyage out below the island, hav- 
 ing only nine men in his party. . . . Then they sailed away 
 to the northward past Wonder-strands and Keelness, intend- 
 ing to cruise to the westward around the cape. They en- 
 countered westerly gales, and were driven ashore in Ireland, 
 where they were grievously maltreated and thrown into 
 slavery. There Thorhall lost his life, according to that 
 which traders have related. 
 
 It is now to be told of Karlsefni that he cruised southward 
 off the coast, with Snorri and Biarni and their people. 
 They sailed for a long time, and until they came at last to 
 a river, which flowed down from the land into a lake, and 
 so into the sea. There were great bars at the mouth of the 
 river, so that it could only be entered at the height of the 
 flood-tide. Karlsefni and his men sailed into the mouth of 
 the river, and called it there Hop [a small land-locked bay]. 
 They found self-sown wheat-fields on the land there, 
 wherever there were hollows, and wherever there was hilly 
 ground, there were vines. Every brook there was full of 
 fish. They dug pits, on the shore where the tide rose high- 
 est, and when the tide fell, there were halibut in the pits. 
 There were great numbers of wild animals of all kinds in 
 the woods. They remained there half a month and enjoyed 
 themselves and kept no watch. They had their livestock 
 with them. Now one morning early, when they looked 
 about them, they saw a great number of skin canoes, and 
 staves were brandished from the boats, with a noise like 
 flails, and they were revolved in the same direction in which 
 the sun moves. Then said Karlsefni : " What may this 
 betoken?" Snorri, Thorbrand's son, answers him: "It 
 may be that this is a signal of peace, wherefore let us take 
 a white shield and display it." And thus they did. There- 
 upon the strangers rowed toward them, and went upon the 
 land, marvelling at those whom they saw before them. They 
 
were swarthy men, and ill-looking, and the hair of their 
 heads was ugly. They had great eyes, and were broad of 
 cheek. They tarried there for a time looking curiously at 
 the people they saw before them, and then rowed away, 
 and to the southward around the point. 
 
 Karlsefni and his follow^ers had built their huts above the 
 lake, some of their dwellings being near the lake, and others 
 farther away. Now they remained there the winter. No 
 snow came there, and all of their livestock lived by grazing. 
 And when spring opened, they discovered, early one morn- 
 ing, a great number of skin-canoes, rowing from the south 
 past the cape, so numerous, that it looked as if coals had 
 been scattered broadcast out before the bay ; and on every 
 boat staves were waved. Thereupon Karlsefni and his peo- 
 ple displayed their shields, and when they came together 
 they began to barter with each other. Especially did the 
 strangers wish to buy red cloth, for which they offered in 
 exchange peltries and quite grey skins. They also desired 
 to buy swords and spears, but Karlsefni and Snorri forbade 
 this. In exchange for perfect unsullied skins, the Skrell- 
 ings would take red stuff a span in length, which they 
 would bind around their heads. So their trade went on for 
 a time, until Karlsefni and his people began to grow short 
 of cloth, when they divided it into such narrow pieces, that 
 it was not more than a finger's breadth wide, but the Skrell- 
 ings continued to give just as much for this as before, or 
 more. 
 
 It so happened that a bull, which belonged to Karlsefni 
 and his people, ran out from the woods, bellowing loudly. 
 This so terrified the Skrellings, that they sped out to their 
 canoes, and then rowed away to the southward along the 
 coast. For three weeks nothing more was seen of them. 
 At the end of that time, however, a great multitude of 
 Skrelling boats was discovered approaching from the south, 
 as if a stream were pouring down, and all their staves were 
 waved in a direction contrary to the course of the sun, and the 
 Skrellings were all uttering loud cries. Thereupon Karlsefni 
 and his" men took red shields and displayed them. The 
 Skrellings sprang from their boats, and they met them, and 
 fought together. . . . 
 
 It now seemed clear to Karlsefni and his people, that 
 although the country thereabouts was attractive, their life 
 
would be one of constant dread and turmoil by reason of the 
 inhabitants of the country, so ihey forthwith prepared to leave 
 and determined to return to their own country. They sailed to 
 the northward off the coast, and found live Skrellings, clad in 
 skin-doublets, lying asleep near the sea. There were vessels 
 beside them, containing animal marrow, mixed with blood. 
 Karlsefni and his company concluded that they must have 
 been banished from their own land. They put them to death. 
 They afterwards found a cape, upon which there was a great 
 number of animals, and this cape looked as if it were one cake 
 of dung, by reason of the animals which lay there at night. 
 They now arrived again at Streamfirth, where they found 
 great abundance of all those things of which they stood in 
 need. Some men say that Biarni and Freydis remained 
 behind there with a hundred men, and went no further ; while 
 Karlsefni and Snorri proceeded to the southward with forty 
 men tarrying at Hop barely two months, and returning again 
 the same summer. Karlsefni then set out with one ship, in 
 search of I'horhall the Huntsman, but the greater part of the 
 company remained behind. They sailed to the northward 
 around Keelness, and then bore to the westward, having land 
 to the larboard. The country there was a wooded wilderness, 
 as far as they could see, with scarcely an open space ; and 
 when they had journeyed a considerable distance, a river 
 flowed down from the east toward the west. They sailed into 
 the mouth of the river, and lay to by the southern bank. . . . 
 Then they sailed away back toward the north, and believed 
 that they had got sight of the land of the Unipeds ; nor were 
 they disposed to risk the lives of their men any longer. They 
 concluded that the mountains of Hop, and those which they 
 had now found, formed one chain, and this appeared to be so 
 because they were about an equal distance removed from 
 Streamfirth, in either direction. They sailed back and passed 
 the third winter at Streamfirth. Then the men began to 
 divide into factions, of which the women were the cause; and 
 those who were without wives endeavored to seize upon the 
 wives of those who were married, whence the greatest trouble 
 arose. Snorri, Karlsefni's son, was born the first autumn, 
 and he w-as three winters old when they took their departure. 
 When they sailed away from Vinland, they had a southerly 
 wind, and so came upon Markland, where they found five 
 Skrellings, of whom one was bearded, two were women, and 
 
two were children. Karlsefni and his people took the boys, 
 but the others escaped, and these Skrellings sank down into 
 the earth. They bore the lads away with them and taught, 
 them to speak, and they were baptized. They said that their 
 mother's name was Vaetildi, and their father's Uvaegi. They 
 said that kings governed the Skrellings, one of whom was 
 called Avalldamon, and the other Valdidida. They stated, 
 that there were no houses there, and that the people lived 
 in caves or holes. They said that there was a land on the 
 other side over against their country, which was inhabited by 
 people who wore white garments, and yelled loudly, and 
 carried poles before them, to which rags were attached ; and 
 people believed that this must have been White-men's-land 
 or Ireland the Great. Now they arrived in Greenland, and 
 remained durino^ the winter with Eric the Red. 
 
 THE FLATEY BOOK STORY. 
 
 VOYAGE OF BIARNI HERIULFSSON. 
 
 BiARNi arrived with his ship at Eyrar [in Iceland] in the 
 summer of the same year, in the spring of which his father 
 had sailed away [with Eric to Greenland]. These tidings 
 seemed great to Biarni and he would not unload his cargo. 
 His shipmates asked him what he intended to do, and he 
 replied that it was his purpose to keep to his custom and 
 receive from his father winter-quarters. " I will take the ship 
 to Greenland if you will bear me company." They all replied 
 that they would abide by his decision. Then said Biarni : 
 " Our voyage must be regarded as foolhardy, seeing that no 
 one of us has ever been in the Greenland sea." Nevertheless 
 they put out to sea when they were equipped for the voyage 
 and sailed for three days, until the land was hidden by the 
 water, and then the fair wind died out, and north winds arose, 
 and fogs, and they knew not whither they were drifting, and 
 this lasted for many dcegr. Then they saw the sun again and 
 were able to determine the quarters of the heavens. They 
 hoisted sail, and sailed that dosgr through before they saw land. 
 They discussed among themselves what land it could be, and 
 Biarni said that he did not believe it could be Greenland. 
 Thev asked whether he wished to sail to this land or not. 
 
8 
 
 " It IS my counsel to sail close to the land " [he said]. They 
 did so, and soon saw that the land was level, and covered with 
 woods, and that there were small hillocks upon it. They left 
 the land on their larboard, and let the sheet turn toward the 
 land. They sailed for tw^o dagr before they saw another land. 
 They asked whether Biarni thought this was Greenland yet. 
 He replied that he did not think this any more like Greenland 
 than the former, "because in Greenland there are said to be 
 many great ice mountains.' They soon approached the land, 
 and saw that it was a flat and wooded country. The fair wind 
 failed them then, and the crew took counsel together, and con- 
 cluded that it would be wise to land there, but Biarni would 
 not consent to this. They alleged that they were in need of 
 both wood and water. "Ye have no lack of either of these," 
 says Biarni — a course, forsooth, which won him blame among 
 his shipmates. He bade them hoist sail, which they did, and 
 turning the prow from the land they sailed out upon the high 
 seas, with southwesterly gales, for three dcegr, when they saw 
 the third land. This land was high and mountainous with 
 ice mountains upon it. They asked Biarni then whether he 
 would land there, and he replied that he was not disposed to 
 do so, " because this land does not appear to me to offer any 
 attraction." Nor did they lower their sail, but held their 
 course off the land, and soon saw that it was an island. They 
 left this land astern, and held out to sea with the same fair 
 wind. The wind waxed amain, and Biarni directed them to 
 reef, and not sail at a speed unbefitting their ship and rigging. 
 They now sailed for four dcegr, when they saw the fourth land. 
 Again they asked Biarni whether he thought this could be 
 Greenland or not. Biarni answers ; " This is like Greenland 
 according to that which has been reported to me concerning 
 it, and here we will steer to the land." They directed their 
 course thither, and landed in the evening, below a cape upon 
 which there was a boat, and there, upon this cape, dwelt 
 Heriulf, Biarni's father, whence the cape took its name, and 
 was henceforth called Heriulfness. Biarni now went to his 
 father, gave up his voyaging, and remained with his father 
 while Heriulf lived, and continued to live there after his death. 
 
LEIF S VOYAGE TO GREENLAND. 
 
 The same summer he [King Olaf Tryggvason] sent Gizur 
 and Hialti to Iceland, as has already been written. At that 
 time King Olaf sent Leif to Greenland to preach Chrisdan- 
 ity there. The King sent with him a priest and certain 
 other holy men to baptize the folk and teach them the true 
 faith. Leif went to Greenland that summer and took [on 
 board his vessel] a ship-crew of men, who were at the time 
 in great peril upon a wreck. He arrived in Greenland late 
 in the summer, and went home to his father, Eric, at Brattah- 
 lid, the people afterwards called him Leif the Lucky, but 
 his father Eric, said that Leif's having rescued the crew and 
 restored the men to life, might be balanced against the fact 
 that he had brought the im poster to Greenland, so he called 
 the priest. Nevertheless, through Leif's advice and persua- 
 sion Eric was baptized, and all the people of Greenland. 
 
 leif's voyage to vinland. 
 
 Next to this is now to be told how Biarni Heriulfsson came 
 out from Greenland on a visit to Earl Eric, by whom he was 
 well received. Biarni gave an account of his travels when 
 he saw the lands, and the people thought him lacking in enter- 
 prise, since he had no report to give concerning these coun- 
 tries, and the fact brought him reproach. Biarni was ap- 
 pointed one of the Earl's men, and went out to Greenland 
 the following summer. There was now much talk about voy- 
 ages of discovery. Leif, the son of Eric the Red of Brattah- 
 lid, visited Biarni Heriulfsson and bought a ship of him, and 
 collected a crew, until they formed altogether a company of 
 
 thirty-five men One of the company was a Southern 
 
 man named Tyrker. They put the ship in order, and when 
 they were ready, they sailed out to sea, and found first that 
 land which Biarni and his shipmates had found last. They 
 sailed up to the land and cast anchor, and launched a boat 
 and went ashore, and saw no grass there ; great ice-moun- 
 tains lay inland back from the sea, and it was a flat rock all 
 the way from the sea to the ice-mountains, and the country 
 seemed to them to be entirely devoid of good qualities.. 
 Then said Leif: "It has not come to pass with us in regard 
 to this land as with Biarni, that we have not gone upon it.. 
 
To this country I will now give a name and call it Helluland." 
 "They returned to the ship, put out to sea, and found a second 
 land. They sailed again to the land, and came to anchor, 
 launched a boat, and went ashore. This was a level wooded 
 land, and there were broad stretches of white sand, where 
 they went, and the land was level by the sea. Then said 
 Leif : " This land shall have a name after its nature, and we 
 will call it Markland." They returned to the ship forthwith, 
 and sailed away upon the main with northeast winds, and 
 were out two doegr before they sighted land. They sailed to 
 this land, and came to an island which lay to the northward 
 off the land. There they went ashore and looked about 
 them, the weather being fine, and they observed that there 
 was dew upon the grass, and it so happened that they touched 
 the dew with their hands, and touched their hands to their 
 mouths, and it seemed to them that they had never before 
 tasted anything so sweet as this. They went aboard their 
 ship again and sailed into a certain sound, which lay between 
 the island and a cape, which jutted out from the land on 
 the north, and they stood in westering past the cape. At 
 ebb-tide there were broad reaches of shallow water there, 
 and they ran their ship aground there, and it was a long dis- 
 tance from their ship to the ocean ; yet were they so anxious 
 to go ashore that they could not wait till the tide should 
 rise beneath their ship, but hastened to the land, where a 
 certain river flows out from a lake. As soon as the tide 
 rose beneath their ships, however, they took the boat and 
 rowed to the ship, which they conveyed up the river, and so 
 into the lake, where they cast anchor and carried their ham- 
 mocks ashore from the ship, and built themselves huts there. 
 They afterwards determined to establish themselves there 
 for the winter, and they accordingly built a large house. 
 There was no lack of salmon there, either in the river or in 
 the lake, and larger salmon than they had ever seen before. 
 The country thereabouts seemed to be possessed of such 
 good qualities that cattle would need no fodder there dur- 
 ing the winter. There was no frost there in the winters and 
 the grass withered but little. The days and nights there 
 ^vere of more equal length than in Greenland or Iceland. 
 On the shortest day of winter the sun was up between eyk- 
 tarstad and daginalastad. When they had completed 
 their house Leif said to his companions : " I propose now to 
 
II 
 
 divide our company into two groups, and set about an explor- 
 ation of the country ; one-half of our party shall remain at 
 home at the house, while the other half shall investigate the 
 land, and they must not go beyond a point from which they 
 can return home the same evening, and they are not to 
 separate [from each other]. Thus they did for a time, Leif 
 himself, by turns, joined the exploring party or remained 
 behind at the house. Leif was a large and powerful man, 
 and of most imposing bearing, a man of sagacity, and a very 
 just man in all things. 
 
 It was discovered one evening that one of their company 
 was missing, and this proved to be Tyrker, the Southern 
 man. Leif was sorely troubled by this, for Tyrker had lived 
 with Leif and his father a very long time, and had been 
 devoted to Leif, when he was a child. Leif severely repri- 
 manded his companions, and prepared to go in search for him 
 taking twelve men with him. They had proceeded but a 
 short distance from the house when they were met by Tyrker, 
 whom they received most cordially. Leif observed at once 
 that his foster-father was in lively spirits. Tyrker had a 
 prominent forehead, restless eyes, small in the face, diminu- 
 tive in stature, and rather a sorry-looking individual withal, 
 but was nevertheless, a most capable handicraftsman. Leif 
 addressed him and asked : " Wherefore art thou so belated, 
 foster-father mine, and astray from the others ? " In the be- 
 ginning Tyrker spoke for some time in German, rolling his 
 eyes, and grinning, and they could not understand him. 
 But after a time he addressed them in the Northern tongue : 
 " I did not go much further, and yet I have something of 
 novelty to relate. I have found vines and grapes." " Is 
 this indeed true, foster-father ? " said Leif. "Of a certainty 
 it is true," quoth he, " for I was born where there is no lack of 
 either grapes or vines." They slept the night through, and on 
 the morrow Leif said to his shipmates : " We will now carry 
 on two occupations, and each day will either gather grapes, 
 or cut vines, or fell trees, so as to obtain a cargo of these 
 for my ship." They acted upon the advice, and it is said, 
 that their after-boat was filled with grapes. A cargo sufficient 
 for the ship was cut, and when the spring came, they made 
 their ship ready, and sailed away ; and from its products Leif 
 gave the land a name, and called it Vinland. They sailed 
 out to sea and had fair winds until they sighted Greenland. 
 
T2 
 
 VOYAGE OF THORVALD ERICSSON. 
 
 Now Thorvald, with the advice of his brother Leif, pre- 
 pared to make this voyage with thirty men. They put their 
 ship in order, and sailed out to sea; and there is no account 
 of their voyage before their arrival at Leif's huts in Vinland. 
 They laid up their ship there, and remained there quietly dur- 
 ing the winter, supplying themselves with food by fishing. 
 In the spring, however, Thorvald said they should put their 
 ship in order, and that a few men should take the after-boat 
 and proceed along the western coast, and explore there- 
 abouts during the summer. They found it a fair, well-wooded 
 country ; it was but a short distance from the w^oods to the 
 sea, and [there were] white sands, as well as great numbers 
 of islands and shallows. They found neither dwellings of 
 man nor lair of beasts ; but in one of the westerly islands, 
 they found a w^ooden building for the shelter of grain.. 
 They found no other trace of human handiwork, and they 
 turned back, and arrived at Leif's huts in the autumn. The 
 following summer Thorvald set out toward the east with the 
 ship, and along the northern coast. They were met by a 
 high wind off a certain promontory, and were driven ashore 
 there, and damaged the keel of their ship, and were com- 
 pelled to remain there a long time and repair the injury to 
 their vessel. Then said Thorvald to his companions: " I 
 propose that we raise the keel upon this cape, and call it 
 Keelness," and so they did. Then they sailed away, to the 
 eastward off the land, and into the mouth of the adjoining 
 firth, and to a headland, which projected into the sea there^ 
 and which was entirely covered with woods. They found an 
 anchorage for their ship, and put out the gangway to the 
 land, and Thorvald and all of his companions went ashore. 
 " It is a fair region here," said he, " and here I should like 
 to make my home." They then returned to the ship, and 
 discovered on the sands in beyond the headland, three 
 mounds; they went up to these, and saw that they were 
 three skin-canoes, with three men under each. They, there- 
 upon, divided their party, and succeeded in seizing all the 
 men but one, who escaped with his canoe. They killed the 
 eight men, and then ascended the headland again, and 
 looked about them, and discovered within the firth certain 
 hillocks, which they concluded must be habitations. They 
 
were then so overiDowered wiih sleep ihat they could not keep 
 awake, and all fell into a slumber, from which they were 
 awakened by the sound of a cry uttered above them ; and 
 the words of the cry were these : " Awake, Thorvald, thou 
 and all thy company, if thou wouldst save thy life; and 
 board thy ship with all thy men, and sail with all speed from 
 the land ! " A countless number of skin-canoes then ad- 
 vanced toward them from the inner part of the firth, where- 
 upon Thorvald exclaimed : " We must put out the war-boards 
 on both sides of the ship, and defend ourselves to the best 
 of our ability, but offer little attack." This they did, and 
 the Skrellings, after they had shot at them for a time, fled 
 precipitately, each as best he could. Thorvald then inquired 
 of his men, whether any of them had been wounded, and 
 they informed him that no one of them had received a wound. 
 ^' I have been wounded under the arm," says he, " an arrow 
 flew in between the gunwale and the shield, below my arm. 
 Here is the shaft, and it will bring me to my end ! I coun- 
 sel you now to retrace your way with the utmost speed. 
 But me ye shall convey to that headland which seemed to 
 me to offer so pleasant a dwelling-place ; thus it may be ful- 
 filled, that the truth sprang to my lips, when I expressed the 
 wish to abide there for a time. Ye shall bury me there, and 
 place a cross at my head, and another at my feet, and call it 
 Crossness forever after." At that time Christianity had 
 obtained in Greenland ; Eric the Red died, however, before 
 [the introduction of] Christianity. 
 
 Thorvald died, and when they had carried out his orders, 
 they took their departure, and rejoined their companions, 
 and they each told the other of the experiences which had 
 befallen them. They remained there during the winter, and 
 gathered grapes and wood with which to freight the ship. 
 In the following spring they returned to Greenland, and ar- 
 rived with their ship in Ericsfirth, where they were able to 
 recount great tidings to Leif. 
 
 VOYAGE OF THORFINN KARLSEFNI. 
 
 That same summer a ship came from Norway to Greenland. 
 
 The skipper's name was Thorfinn Karlsefni 
 
 A renewed discussion arose concerning a Vinland voyage, 
 ^nd the folk urged Karlsefni to make the venture, and Gud- 
 
Wi 39 ^^'' 
 
 14 
 
 rid joined with the others. He determined to undertake ihe 
 voyage, and assembled a company of sixty men and five 
 women, and entered into an agreement with his shipmates 
 that they should each share equally in all the spoils of the 
 enterprise. They took with them all kinds of cattle as it was 
 their intention to settle the country^ they could. Karlsefni 
 asked Leif for the house in Vinland, and he replied, that he 
 would lend it but not give it. They sailed out to sea with 
 the ship, and arrived safe and sound at Leif's huts, and car- 
 ried their hammocks ashore there. They were soon provided 
 with an abundant and goodly supply of food, for a whale of 
 good size and quality was driven ashore there, and they se- 
 cured it, and fiensed it, and had then no lack of provisions. 
 The cattle were turned out upon the land, and the males 
 soon became very restless and vicious ; and they had brought, 
 a bull with them. Karlsefni caused trees to be felled, and 
 to be hewed into timbers, wherewith to load his ship, and the 
 wood was placed upon a cliff to dry. They gathered some- 
 what of all the valuable products of the land, grapes, and all 
 kinds of game and fish, and other good things. 
 
 In the summer succeeding the first winter, Skrellings were 
 discovered. A great troop of men came forth from out the 
 woods. The cattle were hard by, and the bull began ta 
 bellow and roar with a great noise, whereat the Skrellings 
 were frightened, and ran away with their packs wherein were 
 grey furs, sables, and all kinds of peltries. They fled towards 
 Karlsefni's dwelling, and sought to effect an entrance into^ 
 the house, but Karlsefni caused the doors to be defended 
 [against them]. Neither could understand the other's lan- 
 guage. The Skrellings put down their bundles then,. and 
 loosed them, and offered their wares, and were especially 
 anxious to exchange these for weapons, but Karlsefni forbade 
 his men to sell their weapons, and taking counsel with him- 
 self, he bade the women carry out milk to the Skrellings,which 
 they no sooner saw than they wanted to buy it, and nothing- 
 else. Now the outcome of the Skrellings' trading was, that 
 they carried their wares away in their stomachs, while they 
 left their packs and peltries behind with Karlsefni and his 
 companions, and having accomplished this they went away. 
 Now it is to be told, that Karlsefni caused a strong wooden 
 palisade to be constructed and set up around the house. It 
 was at this time, that Gudrid, Karlsefni's wife, gave birth to 
 
15 
 
 a male child, and the boy was called Snorri. In the earljr 
 part of the second winter the Skrellings came to them again, 
 and these were now much more numerous than before, and 
 brought with them the same wares as at first. Then said 
 Karlsefni to the woman : " Do ye carry out now the same 
 food, which proved so profitable before and nought else.'* 
 When they saw this they cast their packs in over the pal- 
 isade. Gudrid was sitting within, in the doorwa}^, beside 
 the cradle of her infant son, Snorri, when a shadow fell upon 
 the door, and a woman in a black namkirtle entered. She 
 was short in stature, and wore a fillet about her head ; her 
 hair was of a light chestnut color, and she was pale of hue, 
 and so big-eyed, that never before had eyes so large been 
 seen in a human skull. She went up to where Gudrid was 
 seated, and said, " What is thy name ? " " My name is Gud- 
 rid, but what is thy name .? " " My name is Gudrid," 
 says she. The house-wife, Gudrid, motioned her with her 
 hand to a seat beside her, but it so happened, that at that 
 very instant Gudrid heard a great crash, whereupon the. 
 woman vanished and at the same moment one of the Skrell- 
 ings, who had tried to seize their weapons, was killed by 
 one of Karlsefni's followers. At this the Skrellings fled pre- 
 cipitately, leaving their garments and wares behind them ; 
 and not a soul, save Gudrid alone, beheld this woman. 
 " Now we must needs take counsel together," says Karlsefni, 
 "for that I believe they will visit us a third time, in great 
 numbers, and attack us. Let us now adopt this plan : ten of 
 our number shall go out upon the cape, and show themselves 
 there, while the remainder of our company shall go into the' 
 woods and hew a clearing for the cattle, when the troop 
 approaches from the forest. We will also take our bull and 
 let him go in advance of us." The lie of the land was such 
 that the proposed meeting-place had the lake upon the one 
 side, and the forest upon the other. Karlsefni's advice was 
 now carried into execution. The Skrellings advanced to the 
 spot which Karlsefni had selected for the encounter, and a 
 battle was fought there in which great numbers of the band 
 of the Skrellings were slain. There was one man among the 
 Skrellings, of large size and fine bearing, who Karlsefni con- 
 cluded must be their chief. One of the Skrellings picked up. 
 an axe, and having looked at it for a time, he brandished it. 
 about one of his companions, and hewed at him, and on the; 
 
i6 
 
 /A^/ 
 
 instant the man fell dead. Thereupon the big man seized 
 the axe, and after examining it for a moment, he hurled it as 
 far as he could out into the sea. Then they fled helter-skel- 
 ter into the woods, and thus their intercourse came to an 
 end. Karlsefni and his party remained there throughout the 
 winter, but in the spring Karlsefni announces that he is not 
 minded to remain there longer, but will return to Greenland. 
 They now made ready for the voyage, and carried away with 
 them much booty in vines, and grapes, and peltries. They 
 sailed out upon the high seas, and brought their ship safely 
 to Ericsfirth, where they remained during the winter. 
 
 AMERICAN HISTORY LEAFLETS. 
 
 Colonial and Constitutional. 
 
 Edited by 
 
 ALBERT BUSHNELL HART and EDWARD CHANNING, 
 
 of harvard university. 
 
 The titles selected for the first year's issue ewe as follows: 
 I — The Letter of Columbus to Santangel Announcing his Discovery. 
 3— The Ostend Manifesto. 1854. 3— Extracts from the Sagas describ- 
 ing the Voyages of Biarni, Leif Ericsson, Thorvald Ericsson, Thorfinn 
 Karlsefni. 4 — Extracts from Official Declarations of the United States 
 embodying the Monroe Doctrine. 1789-1891. 5— The King's Procla- 
 raation and other Documents relating to the Treaty of 1763. 6 — 
 Extracts from papers relating to the Bering Sea Controversy. 1S24- 
 1891 (double number). 
 
 Published bi-monthly in the months of January, March, May, July, 
 September and November. 
 
 .Single numbers — price, 5 cents per copy ; per hundred, $3.50. Double 
 numbers— price 10 cents per copy; per hundred, $7.00. Subscription 
 price per annum, including one double number, 30 cents. 
 
 A. LOVELL & CO., Publishers, 
 
 3 East 14th Street, Wew York. 
 
W-J-^. 
 
 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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