{"1": {"fulltext": "NORSE DISCOVERIES\\nIN AMERICA.\\nJUUL DiESERUD, A.M.\\nreprinted from\\nBulletin of the American Geographical Society,\\nFebruary, 1901.", "height": "3729", "width": "2243", "jp2-path": "norsediscoveries00dies_0001.jp2"}, "2": {"fulltext": "V\\nf", "height": "3592", "width": "2192", "jp2-path": "norsediscoveries00dies_0002.jp2"}, "3": {"fulltext": "j~^ cL^ V^zj /L^^\\nNORSE DISCOVERIES IN AMERICA.\\nJUUL DIESERUD, A.M.\\nDiscredited at the start, the Norse claim of the discovery of the\\nAmerican continent five centuries before Columbus has gradually\\ngained a respectful hearing from American scholars, and to-day, nine\\nhundred years after the interesting event, stands finally admitted\\nin the opinion of those best qualified to judge the question.\\nIn preparing a commemorative essay on the subject it is there-\\nfore, fortunately, not necessary to enter into an elaborate defence of\\nthe correctness of the main features of the Icelandic sagas as handed\\ndown to us in several well-authenticated manuscripts from the 14th\\ncentury, corroborated as they are by a number of striking refer-\\nences, dating back to the middle of the nth, to the testimony of\\nthe cautious and entirely disinterested Adam of Bremen.\\nThe question now before the historian and antiquarian is not\\nwhether the hardy Norse sailors of the nth century reached the\\nAmerican continent after having established themselves in its ante-\\nchamber Greenland. The question is how far south they pro-\\nceeded, and whether or not they established a permanent settlement\\nin any of the newly-discovered regions. The first of these points\\ncan only be settled in one of two ways. Either there must be dis-\\ncovered unmistakable archaeological traces of the Norsemen of that\\nremote period or the geographical hints and descriptions given in\\nthe sagas may be followed and a locality fixed upon, chiefly by a pro-\\ncess of exclusion.\\nThe former of these methods has repeatedly been employed, its\\nclimax having been reached in the well-meaning but exceedingly\\ndoubtful conjectures of Prof. E. N. Horsford. All attempts along\\nthis line thus far have, however, been fruitless of results, and the\\nverdict of Prof. John Fiske, in his interesting monograph, The\\nDiscovery of America, to the effect that not a single vestige of", "height": "3684", "width": "2263", "jp2-path": "norsediscoveries00dies_0003.jp2"}, "4": {"fulltext": "2 Norse Discoveries in America.\\nthe Northmen s presence here at all worthy of credence has ever\\nbeen found, can probably safely be subscribed to by friends as well\\nas by enemies of the Norse claim.\\nIt is different with the indications given in the sagas, although\\nnothing like unanimity has as yet been established with regard to\\nthe conclusions drawn from them. The chief difficulty rests in the\\nfact that these sagas give two somewhat conflicting versions of the\\nstory, one of which must be more genuine than the other. Most\\nwriters, like Anderson, De Costa, and Horsford, have failed to\\nacknowledge this, although the last had access to two valuable\\ntreatises on the subject, viz.: Prof. G. Storm s Studies on the\\nVinland Voyages and Mr. A. M. Reeves photographic reproduc-\\ntion of the manuscripts, with a careful English translation.\\nOf the two versions, the more recent the one found in the\\nso-called Flatoe-book, a manuscript compiled from older sources\\nabout 1387 was at first more generally known, and for a long time\\naccepted as the best authority. It has, however, gradually been\\nlosing ground as a consequence of the severe criticism brought to\\nbear upon it by Prof. Storm, and later by Mr. Reeves. According\\nto this version, of which an excellent translation is given in Mr.\\nReeves book, the real discoverer of Wineland was one Bjarni Her-\\njulfson, who, about 987, accidentally drifted upon some unknown\\nregions far to the southwest of Iceland, whence he was trying to\\ncross over to Greenland. Some fifteen years later Leif, a son of\\nErik the Red, the earliest settler in Greenland, went to explore the\\nunknown regions. He struck land to the south in three differ-\\nent places, calling them in succession Helluland (Flat-stone-land),\\nMarkland (Forestland), and Vinland (Wineland), the latitude of\\nthe latter being approximately determined by the observation that\\nthe sun had both eykt-position and breakfast-position on the short-\\nest day of winter. The saga then makes Leif s brother Thorvald\\nundertake a separate expedition and explore the country to the\\nwest and northeast from the place in Wineland where Leif had had\\nhis winter quarters, next gives a curtailed and suspicious account of\\nThorfin Karlsefni s expedition to be considered later and finally\\nmakes Erik s natural daughter Freydis go there, accompanied by\\ntwo brothers, Helgi and Finbogi. On this version Prof. Storm\\npasses a very severe verdict. He points out that no mention what-\\never has been found elsewhere of Bjarni, whereas it is stated in at\\nleast half-a-dozen places that Leif Erikson discovered Wineland on\\na return trip from Norway. The saga places glaciers in Helluland,\\nSol hafdi thar eyktarstad ok dagmalastad um skamdegi.\\nAuthor. T 5U", "height": "3592", "width": "2192", "jp2-path": "norsediscoveries00dies_0004.jp2"}, "5": {"fulltext": "Norse Discoveries in America. 3\\nmakes the grapes of Wineland ripen in winter, and employs a Ger-\\nman with the strange name of Tyrker to discover them. Concern-\\ning the geography of Wineland the Professor says:\\nIt, on the whole, gives one the impression of a coast on the north, extending far\\nto the east and west, and with several firths running in toward the south. One has\\nto indulge in such an arbitrary construction of the sagas as did Prof, kafn in order to\\nmake this description fit the coasts of North America. Weighing all that has been\\nsaid, it will, I certainly think, be safest to treat the account of the Flatoe-book with\\nthe utmost circumspection. Whatever has its only origin there must be rejected, and\\nwhatever is found at variance with early traditions regarded as wanting historical\\nfoundation. The voyage of Bjarni ought, I think, to be dropped entirely to leave\\nroom for that of Leif Erikson.\\nA far more consistent and probable story is the one given in the\\nHauks-book, a manuscript of the very beginning of the 14th cent-\\nury at any rate, not later than 1334\u00e2\u0080\u0094 written by the learned Hauk\\nErlendson, a descendant of the chief explorer, Thorfin Karlsefni.\\nAccording to this version, Wineland was discovered by the above-\\nmentioned Leif Erikson. He had been on a visit to Norway, had\\nmet the famous Olaf Trygvason (who succeeded in converting him\\nto Christianity), and in the summer or fall of the year 1000 was\\nreturning to his home in Greenland. He was, however, driven out\\nof his course and came upon an unknown country. There were\\nself-sown wheatfields and vines growing there, and also some trees\\ncalled mauser, of which he took some specimens with him. On\\nhis arrival in Greenland he reported his accident, and naturally\\nawakened a lively interest in the new regions. Leif set about con-\\nverting his relatives and neighbors to Christianity; but his brother\\nThorstein made an unsuccessful attempt to reach the strange coun-\\ntry. A few years later one Thorfin Thordarson, called Karlsefni,\\nan Icelander, who had recently arrived in Greenland and married\\nThorstein s widow, Gudrid, determined to make an effort to explore\\nthe unknown lands. Accompanied by Thorvald, another of the\\nsons of Erik the Red, one Bjarni Grimolfson, and Thorhall, called\\nthe Huntsman, who was married to Erik s natural daughter Freydis,\\nwho went with her husband, he sailed with four vessels and one\\nhundred and fifty followers to the western settlement and Bear\\nIsland, and thence bore away to the southward for two doegr.\\nThey saw land before them,f and found there large flat stones\\nThe doegr represents a period of twelve hours. A good doegra sail\\nseems, according to the best authorities, to have covered something like one hundred\\nand eight miles.\\nf The quotations are from Mr. Reeves book, but I have frequently compared his\\ntranslation with the reproduction of the original manuscripts.", "height": "3608", "width": "2203", "jp2-path": "norsediscoveries00dies_0005.jp2"}, "6": {"fulltext": "4 Norse Discoveries in America.\\n(hellur), many of them twelve ells wide. There were many Arctic\\nfoxes there. They gave a name to the country and called it Hellu-\\nland. Then they sailed with west-northwesterly (or, as one version\\nhas it, northerly) winds for two doegr and found a wooded coun-\\ntry and many wild beasts. An island lay off the land to the south-\\neast, and there they found a bear, and later called it Bear Island,\\nbut the mainland Markland (Forestland). When two more doegr\\nhad elapsed they again discovered land and approached it; there\\nwas a cape there. The land lay upon the starboard there were\\nlong strands and sandy banks there. They rowed to the land and\\nfound upon the cape the keel of a ship, and called it Kjalarnes\\n(Keelness) they also called the strands Furdustrandir (Wonder-\\nstrands), because they were so long to sail by. Then the country\\nbecame indented with bays, and they steered their ships into a bay.\\nThe saga then relates how they lay by there, while two swift\\nGaels Haki and Hekja of their party were dispatched to the\\nsouth to investigate the nature of the country. They staid away\\nfor three days, and returned with self-sown wheat and a bunch of\\ngrapes. They went to their ships and proceeded on their voyage.\\nThey sailed into a bay. There was an island out at the mouth of\\nthe bay about which there were strong currents, wherefore they\\ncalled it Straumey (Stream Isle). There were so many birds there\\nthat it was scarcely possible to step between the eggs. They\\nsailed through the bay, and called it Straumfjord (Streamfirth),\\ncarried their cargoes ashore from the ships, and established them-\\nselves there. They had brought with them all kinds of live stock.\\nIt was a fine country there; there were mountains thereabouts.\\nAfter having related how they ran short of food in the rather\\nsevere winter there and captured a whale, the saga tells how Thor-\\nhall, dissatisfied with the outlook on the eastern coast, decided to\\nretrace his course and round Kjalarnes in search of Wineland (not\\nto explore it, as wrongly translated by many). He reached\\nthe cape, but was there met by westerly gales, and finally driven\\nashore in Ireland, where he lost his life, according to that which\\ntraders have related. Karlsefni, however, cruised southward with\\nSnorri and Bjarni and their people. They sailed for a long time,\\nand until they came at last to a river which flowed down from the\\nland into a lake and so into the sea. There were great bars at\\nthe mouth of the river, so that it could only be entered at high\\nflood-tide. Karlsefni and his men sailed into the mouth of the\\nriver and called it there Hop (a small land-locked bay). They\\nfound self-sown wheatfields on the land; wherever there were hoi-", "height": "3592", "width": "2192", "jp2-path": "norsediscoveries00dies_0006.jp2"}, "7": {"fulltext": "Norse Discoveries in America. 5\\nlows and wherever there was hilly ground there were vines. Every\\nbrook was full of fish. They dug pits on the shore where the tide\\nrose highest, and when the tide fell there were halibut in the pits.\\nThere were great numbers of wild animals in the woods. They\\nremained there half a month and enjoyed themselves and kept no\\nwatch. They had their live stock with them.\\nThen one morning a great number of men in skin canoes came\\npaddling toward them and went ashore, staring curiously at the\\nstrangers. They were swarthy men and ill-looking, and the hair\\nof their heads was ugly; they had large eyes and broad cheeks.\\nAfter a little while they rowed away to the southward around the\\ncape. Karlsefni and his men now built huts above the lake and\\nprepared to stay there that winter. No snow came there and\\nall of their live stock lived by grazing. In the spring the natives\\nagain appeared and began to trade with the foreigners, but finally,\\ndistrusting their intentions, took to the warpath, killing two of\\ntheir number. Although Karlsefni succeeded in beating them back\\nwith heavy loss, he now determined to leave this dangerous neigh-\\nborhood and return to Streamfirth, where the party arrived after\\na couple of unimportant incidents. The narrator here cautiously\\nremarks that some say that Bjarni and Freydis had remained here\\n(all the time) with a hundred men, while only Karlsefni and Snorri\\nhad proceeded to the southward with forty men, tarrying at Hop\\nbarely two months and returning again the same summer.\\nKarlsefni then set out with one ship in search of Thorhall\\nthe Huntsman, but the greater part of the company remained\\nbehind. They sailed to the northward around Keelness, and then*\\nbore to the westward, having land to the larboard. The country\\nthere was a wooded wilderness as far as they could see, with scarcely\\nan open space, and when they had journeyed a considerable dis-\\ntance a river flowed down from the east toward the west. They\\nsailed into the mouth of the river and lay to by the southern bank.\\nAfter having told how one morning they discovered what seemed\\nto be a uniped, and that Thorvald, another son of Erik the Red,\\nwas shot by him, the saga goes on to tell how they sailed away\\nback toward the north [the direction is plainly stated], and believed\\nthey had got sight of the unipeds. They concluded that the mount-\\nains of Hop and those which they had now found were the same,\\nand this appeared to be so, because they were about an equal\\nOk berr tha fyrir vestan fram can also be translated; and then proceeded\\n[southward] on the western coast, this being clearly the opinion of the author, as\\nshown later.", "height": "3608", "width": "2203", "jp2-path": "norsediscoveries00dies_0007.jp2"}, "8": {"fulltext": "6 Norse Discoveries in America.\\ndistance removed from Streamfirth both ways. They sailed back\\nand passed the third winter at Streamfirth. In the spring, how-\\never, they decided to return to Greenland. When they sailed\\nacross from Wineland they had a southerly wind, and so came upon\\nMarkland, where they found five skrellings one man, two women\\nand two children. They captured the boys, but the others escaped\\nand sank into the earth. These boys they took with them\\narrived safely in Greenland (there is no mention here of Hellu-\\nland), and remained during the winter with Erik the Red.\\nThe above is, in the words of Prof. Fiske, a sober, straight-\\nforward and eminently probable story. He points out how it\\nwould hardly occur to European fancy to invent such a thing as\\nself-sown wheat. He is, however, undoubtedly wrong in thinking\\nit was Indian corn, because a plant so strikingly unlike anything\\nwith which these Icelanders were familiar would surely have been\\ndescribed by them in other terms.* He calls attention to the fact\\nthat savages were practically unknown to Europeans before the\\n15th century, that they knew nothing whatever about peoples who\\nwould show surprise at the sight of an iron tool, or terror at the\\nvoice of a bull, or who would eagerly trade off valuable property for\\nworthless trinkets incidents which, for want of space, could not\\nbe quoted in the preceding summary. He thinks that the descrip-\\ntion of the skrellings (inferior people), with their swarthy hue,\\nferocious aspect, ugly hair, big eyes and broad cheeks, will do\\nvery well for Indians, the big eyes probably referring to the\\neye-sockets, as suggested by Prof. Storm. The expression skin-\\nboats, of course, rather points to the kayaks of the Eskimo than\\nto the Indian canoe. This inaccuracy can, however, be accounted\\nfor on the ground that the explorers failed to examine the material\\nof the boats, and simply inferred that, as a matter of course, they\\nmust be made of skin, since they were not wooden keel-boats.\\nThey may, furthermore, have had an opportunity of examining a\\nboat in Markland, where the inhabitants met with, living in caves,\\nprobably were Eskimos. In the flat stone, Prof. Fiske, with\\ngood reason, recognizes the familiar tomahawk, and in the big ball,\\nraised upon the end of a pole, the demon s head according to\\nMr. Schoolcraft, commonly used among the Algonquins in exactly\\nThe first to point out that the self-sown wheat of the sagas in all probability\\nwas wild rice (Zizania aquatica) was, I believe, Prof. Schubeler, of the University of\\nChrisliania. His theory has been accepted by Prof. Storm and Mr. Reeves. In Vol. 9\\nof the American Anthropologist, Mr. G. C. Stickney has an interesting article on tlie\\nIndian use of wild rice, the folles avoines of early French explorers.", "height": "3592", "width": "2192", "jp2-path": "norsediscoveries00dies_0008.jp2"}, "9": {"fulltext": "Norse Discoveries in Arnerica. 7\\nthe manner described in the saga. He concludes by saying:\\nThroughout the account it seems to me perfectly clear that we\\nare dealing with Indians.\\nBefore attempting to reach some opinion with regard to the\\nlocality of Wineland, it will now be necessary to devote a little\\n.additional attention to the relative merits of the two sagas. Person-\\nally I believe, with Prof. Storm, that the older Hauks-book, a manu-\\nscript written by a descendant of Karlsefni, Hauk Erlendson, tells\\nby far the best-authenticated and consistent story. It is a narrative\\nthat was preserved, we may be sure, with great faithfulness and care\\nin the family of Thorfin, the true explorer of the country, among\\nwhose descendants were counted three bishops and many other\\nprominent men. It was inherited from father to son for some three\\ngenerations and probably reduced to writing in the first part of the\\n1 2th century, getting its present shape some 150 years later at the\\nhands of the learned Hauk. Being a family history, it is, of course,\\npossible that these descendants, including the last editor, con-\\nsciously or unconsciously dragged into the story of Thorfin s expe-\\ndition incidents that did not belong there, and more especially laid\\nhold of the expeditions of Thorvald and Freydis in order to make\\ntheir ancestor the first and only explorer of the country. The saga,\\nhowever, does not show any tendency to magnify the personal\\nqualities of Thorfin; he nowhere plays the role of a mythical hero\\nor plumed knight, but the story is in the main plain and probable.\\nTurning to the version of the Flatoe-book, it presents, as pointed\\nout by Prof. Storm and Mr. Reeves, a great number of weak points.\\nIt is evidently founded on narratives preserved in the family of\\nErik the Red a somewhat problematical character and the brag-\\nging tone and many fanciful incidents related stand in a marked\\ncontrast to the sober tale of Hauk. The final compiler or some\\npredecessor did not, it seems, like the inconspicuous role played by\\nLeif and his family in the exploration of the country, or perhaps\\nhad somehow really got the mistaken idea that Leif went to Wine-\\nland from Greenland. He, therefore, borrowed incidents and de-\\nscriptions from the story of Thorfin, constructed Tyrker in analogy\\nwith Haki and Hekja, and made Leif erect his booths near a lake\\nfrom which a river went out into the sea. It then became necessary\\nto make somebody else discover the country explored by Leif.\\nThe saga of Thorfin mentioned one Bjarni Grimolfson and another\\nman, Herjulf, probably was among Erik s early followers. This\\nmay have given the clue to the story of Bjarni Herjulfson, mentioned\\nabsolutely nowhere else. Thinking that Leif s brother, Thorhall,", "height": "3608", "width": "2203", "jp2-path": "norsediscoveries00dies_0009.jp2"}, "10": {"fulltext": "8 Norse Discoveries in America.\\nplayed too small a part in the story, by only accompanying\\nThorfin, he next made him undertake a separate expedition and\\nsupply the keel for Kjalarnes. It then became necessary to reduce\\nThorfin s followers from 150 to 60 and to curtail his story in various\\nways. Finally, an incident related of the stalwart Freydis and the\\nshort mention of some quarrels caused by the women during the\\nlast winter in Straumfjord sets somebody s imagination working\\ntill we get a gruesome tale of her separate expedition to Wineland\\nin company with the brothers Helgi and Finbogi. This may seem\\nto be a hazardous conjecture, but it is substantially the view adopted\\nby Prof. Storm and Mr. Reeves, and the only way out of it is to\\nregard the saga of Thorfin as the result of a similar process.\\nBut even the saga of Thorfin cannot evidently be treated as a\\nmodern description of travel. No extensive report of the expedition\\ncould have been committed to writing before the beginning of the\\n12th century.*\\nAri Frodi, the Father of Icelandic historiography, lived then, and\\nin his abridged Islendinga-book makes a short but significant\\nreference to Wineland and the Skrellings, claiming the authority of\\nhis uncle, Thorkel Gellison, who in his turn said he had it from a\\nfollower of Erik the Red. A larger Book of the Icelanders,\\nby Ari, is known to have existed, and may have given a somewhat\\nextended account of the discovery; but even this is conjecture.\\nBearing this clearly in mind, we are bound to admit that certain\\ndetails were in the nature of things more liable to be corrupted than\\nothers during those more than a hundred years of oral tradition;\\nthough the memory of those early Norse saga-narrators surely was\\nwonderful. Among such details, naturally, are the number of doegr\\nconsumed in sailing between the different regions visited. This num-\\nber is in Hauks-book uniformly placed at two, which is in itself sus-\\npicious. Mr. Reeves points out the similarity between p(-thvau, two)\\nvau and siau (seven), and suggests that the latter had been given\\nin an earlier manuscript in the first of the places where two occurs.\\nProf. Storm calls attention to the fact that the saga-narrator evi-\\ndently placed Kjalarnes in the latitude of Ireland, where we find it\\non the map of Stephanius (1570). And as it took six doegr to\\nsail from Iceland to Ireland, he probably wrongly concluded that\\nthe voyage from Bjarney to Kjalarnes was accomplished in the same\\nlength of time. It is also significant in this connection that the\\nFlatoe-book gives two, three and four doegr for the different dis-\\nThere are very insufficient grounds indeed for the statement of Fiske that it\\nmay have been committed to writing already in the middle of the nth century.", "height": "3592", "width": "2192", "jp2-path": "norsediscoveries00dies_0010.jp2"}, "11": {"fulltext": "Norse Discoveries in America.\\ntances traversed by Bjarni Herjulfson. Somewhat less liable to be\\nmisrepresented would be the shape of the country and the approximate\\ndirection of the winds used in reaching it, while the nature of\\nthe climate, the products of the country, and the descriptions of the\\npeoples met with would naturally cling more tenaciously to the\\nmemory, although unusual traits were apt to be somewhat exagger-\\nated. The self-sown grain and the vine, mentioned by Adam of\\nBremen, the vine being furthermore incorporated in the name of\\nthe New Country, as referred to by Ari Frodi, must be the main\\npivot on which our research turns, and would alone seem sufficient\\nto refute any theory placing Wineland somewhere on the Labrador\\ncoast or in Newfoundland, not to speak of the impossible theory\\nof Mr. J. P. McLean and others, who even suggest the Northwestern\\nregions of Greenland.\\nAnother observation that would easily cling to the memory is\\nthe one referring to the length of day in Wineland, and although not\\nrecorded in the earliest manuscript, it certainly makes a genuine\\nimpression. This is not the place to enter into an elaborate dis-\\ncussion of the true significance of the term eyktarstadr. I can\\nonly say that I subscribe entirely to Mr. Reeves opinion that\\nthe question has been finally solved by Prof. Storm. I am familiar\\nwith the use of the word eykt (mod. Okt.) in three widely-sepa-\\nrated regions of Norway. It signifies everywhere at the present\\ndate the interval of time between the meals (an addition, from\\nauka, to add), and in some places, as also evidently in Iceland in\\nthose early days, developed the secondary meaning of the end of\\nthe particular eykt, terminating in most places at four o clock, in\\nsome localities as early as 3 or 3. 30, but very rarely as late as 4.30.\\nThe second part of the compound, however, points to a kind of sun-\\ndial and octant, well known among the ancient Norwegians, and to\\nthe position of the sun in the horizon. Eykt in this sense is\\nclearly defined in a paragraph in the ancient law-code Gargas,\\nand the expression used in the account of Leif would place the\\nlatitude recordednot farther north than 49^-50 For it merely\\nstated that the sun had or reached this point of the octant,\\nwhereby it is not denied that it may have passed somewhat farther.\\nProf. Horsford s explanation of this sentence is on a par with the\\nrest of his exceedingly unscientific treatment of the subject.\\nThe description of Wineland as given in the Flatoe-book version\\ndid not give us any clue to its location. Let us now try with the one in\\nHauks-book. A prominent ness (Keelness) jutting out towards\\nthe north; a long sandy beach, a firth, one of the many, with an", "height": "3608", "width": "2203", "jp2-path": "norsediscoveries00dies_0011.jp2"}, "12": {"fulltext": "10 Norse Discoveries in America.\\nisland outside of it and marked tides running in and out (Straum-\\nfjord) a considerable distance farther south a river flowing out of\\na lake in a rather mountainous country (Hop); and retracing our\\nsteps to the southwest of Keelness, about as far from Straumfjord\\nas was Hop on the eastern side, a river flowing from the east to-\\nward the west from mountains which were judged to be identical\\nwith those in Hop on that very account. Where on the American\\ncoast can anything like it be found It is only too plain that the\\nregion around Boston does not fit the description at all. In order\\nto make it at all probable that the Boston region was meant Prof.\\nHorsford had to chop up the saga of Thorfin* in a most uncalled-\\nfor and pitiless manner; and the worst of the matter is that he\\ncould not even then make his case good. While it is evident from\\nthe context of the saga that Thorfin, on his return from Hop, when\\nsearching for Thorhal, sailed to the southwest after having rounded\\nKjalarnes, proceeding till he came to a river that flowed from the\\neast toward the west, at the mouth of which he lay by, Prof. Hors-\\nford succeeds in making himself believe that this applies wonder-\\nfully well to the Charles River, which flows in that direction for a\\nlittle distance between Cambridge cemetery and Warren bridge\\n(p. 79). This is assuredly giving us stones for bread. The same\\nwonderful brand of logic makes Thorvald (p. 68) explore the same\\nriver, when it is stated in the saga that they proceeded along the\\nwestern coast from Leif s booths. It is only eclipsed by the ease\\nwith which he makes him return to Gurnet from Cape Cod (his\\nKeelness), when the saga expressly states that they sailed away\\nthence to the eastward.\\nThe case stands somewhat better with those that follow the sug-\\ngestion of Prof. Rafn, and place Wineland, and more especially Hop^\\nsomewhere in Rhode Island. Cape Cod being the only place in New\\nEngland that to some extent answers the requirements of Kjalarnes,\\nHop must, as a matter of course, lie farther to the south and as far\\nas this goes any river on the New England coast flowing out from\\na lake near by would help us out. If we only had to consider the\\nlocation, Monomy (Horsford) would do fairly well for Straumey,\\nand for several reasons better than one of the islands outside of\\nBuzzard s Bay (Rafn and others). There is, however, not the\\nslightest indication that the explorers sailed straight west from\\nStraumey, the saga on the contrary using the terms southward\\nand on returning northward. And how explain the fact that\\nIn The Landfall of Leif Erikson. It is difficult to believe that this vandal-\\nism can have been committed in good faith.", "height": "3592", "width": "2192", "jp2-path": "norsediscoveries00dies_0012.jp2"}, "13": {"fulltext": "Norse Discoveries in America. 11\\nThorfin, after rounding Keelness, proceeded westward and south-\\nward till he came to a river that flowed from the east towards the\\nwest There is no such river on the Cape Cod peninsula. Again,\\nwhat of the mountains which they found there and judged to be\\nidentical with those in Hop, because they had now proceeded\\nabout as far on the western side of an island or peninsula as they\\npreviously had on the eastern?\\nMr. L. G. Power, in Vol. 8 of the New England Magazine,\\nsticking tenaciously to the small number of doegr consumed in\\nsailing from Bjarney, which he wrongly identifies with Disco, to\\nthe Kjalarnes of Wineland, tries to show that the latter point may\\nbe identical with Cape Chudley, the George River emptying into\\nthe Ungava Bay being the river mentioned, flowing from the east\\ntowards the west. This would look quite plausible as far as the\\nshape of the coast is concerned, although the correct interpretation\\nof the language of the saga, as given in the best manuscript, requires\\nthe same mountains for both regions east and west and not merely\\nwidely different parts of the same chain. And what of the vine,\\nthe self-sown grain, and the mild winters, not to speak of the state-\\nment regarding the more southern latitude The whole theory\\nbreaks down at the slightest touch of criticism. It can easily be\\nproved that this Bjarney could not have been Disco, any more\\nthan one of the islands on the Cumberland coast, suggested by Mr.\\nJ. T. Smith.\\nIn the Proceedings, Royal Society of Canada, 1898, Bishop M. F.\\nHowley advocates a new theory, placing Helluland near Point Riche,\\nNewfoundland, where are found some remarkable flat stones, Mark-\\nland in one of the Magdalen islands, and Wineland around Miramichi\\nBay. This is again a case of sacrificing the whole for the part. It is\\ncompletely at variance with the text of the sagas to look for Hellu-\\nland at the western coast of an island. Markland is, according to\\nthe best version, situated to the southeast. And, finally, the descrip-\\ntion of Kjalarnes, Wonderstrands, Straumey, and the distant Hop\\nfar to the south is entirely misleading if we select the coast of New\\nBrunswick.\\nBut there is such a peninsula as the one described in the saga\\non the eastern coast of North America. Supposing that Thorfin\\nand his men sailed from an island near Fiskerfjord, in the Western\\nSettlement, as thinks Prof. Storm, they would then most probably\\nfirst strike some part of Labrador. Finding it extremely uninvit-\\ning, they again made for the open sea, with a west-northwesterly\\nwind, and next struck either the northeastern coast of Labrador,\\nl.ofC.", "height": "3608", "width": "2203", "jp2-path": "norsediscoveries00dies_0013.jp2"}, "14": {"fulltext": "12 Norse Discoveries in America.\\nopposite Newfoundland which latter, or more probably Belle\\nIsle, then would be the island mentioned or some part of New-\\nfoundland farther east. They then proceeded along the coast of\\nLabrador, and finally set straight south, or along the coast of New-\\nfoundland, rounding Cape Race and steering west-southwest, keep-\\ning the southern shore in sight for a long time.* In either case they\\ncould very easily strike Capes North, Egmont, or Breton. Prof.\\nStorm suggests Cape Breton; but if we stick to the description of\\nthe sagas, I venture to think that Cape North or Cape Egmont\\nmeets the requirements of the case better, although less easily\\nstumbled over from Newfoundland. If we select Cape North,\\nWonderstrands would be the long, comparatively unindented,\\npartly sandy coast-line between that cape and St. Ann s Bay. The\\nFirth, into which they stood, need not have been the very first met\\nwith. It might have been Mira Bay, outside of which is Scatari\\nIsland, that to all appearances could do very well for Straumey.\\nNot finding the climate or natural conditions of the country up to\\ntheir expectations, it is now conceivable that Thorhal wished to\\nsail northward again and look for Wineland, on the western shore,\\nof which they had evidently caught a glimpse in approaching Capes\\nNorth and Egmont.\\nKarlsefni, however, proceeded southward for a long time, finally\\nlying by at the mouth of a river that flowed out of a lake and could\\nnot be entered with their craft, drawing some seven feet of water,\\nexcept at flood-tide. There are many small rivers in Nova Scotia\\nbetween the Gut of Canso, which the explorers naturally regarded\\nas a firth, and the southern extremity of the peninsula, that will\\nmeet the requirements but if I am correct in placing Streamfirth as\\nfar north as Mira Bay, Hop (the true Wineland) could not very well\\nhave been farther south than Halifax.\\nRetracing his course, Karlsefni and his men then rounded Cape\\nNorth in search of ^I horhall, proceeding along the western shore\\nfor a considerable distance, finally stopping at one of the rivers\\nflowing there from the east towards the west, coming from mount-\\nains which they judged to be identical with those seen in Hop. If\\nthey were approximately correct in this surmise, they must have\\npassed the St. George s Bay, and stopped at one of the small rivers\\nflowing out in the Northumberland Strait, east of Merigomish Har-\\nbour, the divide of Guysborough and Halifax being the mountains\\nmentioned. Directly opposite Merigomish Harbour is St. Mary s\\nBay; but being much nearer to Mira Bay (Streamfirth), we are no\\nThe exact direction of the wind is not mentioned in this case.", "height": "3592", "width": "2192", "jp2-path": "norsediscoveries00dies_0014.jp2"}, "15": {"fulltext": "Norse Discoveries in America. 13\\ndoubt justified in placing Hop farther south. On leaving the coun-\\ntry for good they again struck Labrador or Newfoundland, and\\nthen seem to have set sail directly for the Eastern Settlement.\\nTurning now to the other features of Nova Scotia, its latitude is-\\nsufficiently different from that of Greenland to arrest the attention\\nof the explorers. There is little difficulty about the wild rice and\\nvine, especially the latter, which was found there in abundance some\\nfive hundred years later by Jacques Cartier and others, and still is\\nhere and there met with, if not in a sufficient quantity, to justify the\\nstatements of the Hauks-book. It is true that the winter in Hop is\\ndescribed as snowless. But taken literally, this would point to a\\nmore southern latitude than anybody has yet ventured to claim for\\nWineland, and we may be well justified in regarding this as a slight\\nexaggeration, reasonably accounted for by their comparing the\\nclimate with that of Greenland and Iceland.\\nThe only weak point in the theory of Prof. Storm, and less so-\\nin the one here advocated by myself, is, in my opinion, the rather\\nunfrequent occurrence of sandy shores between Cape North and the\\nGut of Canso. As a matter of fact, however, there is in the In-\\ngonish Bay, which is wide and open, a sandy beach of considerable\\nlength at least one mile. For this I have the very best authority\\nviz., a letter from the Director of the Geological Survey of Canada\\nand this would, according to my view, be the identical place where\\nthe explorers lay by while waiting for the return of the Scotch mes-\\nsengers an incident that has given the advocates of the barren\\nCape Cod peninsula any amount of trouble. It is, therefore, ex-\\ntremely probable that the explorers expressly mentioned this sandy\\nbeach when relating their story in Greenland and Iceland, and the\\nfirst historian that committed the account to writing was not far off\\nthe mark when he wrote that there were long shores and stretches\\nof sandy beach there.\\nWe must, furthermore, remember that the name given to this\\nshore is our most reliable clue to its whereabouts, and that Furdu-\\nstrandir has nothing whatever to do with sand. It is true that\\nfurtha in Icelandic meant a wonder, but as a qualifying term\\nfurthu generally must be rendered by wonderfully big or\\nextensive, and the most correct translation of the name in ques-\\ntion is the wonderfully extensive strands. That this is the true\\nexplanation is also evident from the statement of the saga itself,\\nthat these shores received that name because they were so long\\nto sail by. And in this respect the 60 miles long, almost entirely", "height": "3608", "width": "2203", "jp2-path": "norsediscoveries00dies_0015.jp2"}, "16": {"fulltext": "14 Norse Discoveries in A in erica.\\nunindented, coast-line from Cape North to St, Mary s Bay can well\\nstand comparison with the much shorter Cape Cod peninsula.\\nAnd then we have another piece of evidence that more than\\ncounterbalances the sandy shores of Cape Cod. According to\\nDe Costa, wild grapes are even to-day growing there among the\\nshrubs, within the very reach of the ocean spray. But if that is\\nthe case, why did Thorfin dispatch two messengers to the south to\\nsearch for an article which must have been there in abundance,\\nright under his eyes? And why did they not even discover any\\ngrapes in Straumey, as plainly shown in the saga, if this was iden-\\ntical with Monomy or Martha s Vineyard? This extremely impor-\\ntant fact has, singularly enough, been overlooked by everybody and\\nyet it is worth more than all the bushels of sand that have blinded\\nthe eyes of Prof. Horsford and other uncritical defenders of an un-\\ntenable theory. It is self-evident that Thorhal the Huntsman need\\nnot have despaired of finding Wineland on the eastern coast if he\\nhad already reached Martha s Vineyard. But we may forgive him if\\nhe spoke contemptuously of the lack of wine and the other unprom-\\nising features of Scatari Island.\\nAs regards Markland, it seems clear to me that there is no\\nserious objection to placing it in the southern part of Labrador.\\nWe must remember in this connection that the explorers came from\\nalmost entirely treeless regions, and were apt to be satisfied and\\neven surprised at the first sight of a comparatively insignificant\\npatch of real forest land. And, as a matter of fact, the Labrador\\ncoast is by no means everywhere the barren, sterile affair that most\\npeople imagine.\\nIn the third edition of the Newfoundland and Labrador Pilot,\\n1897, we read that St. Lewis Inlet, situated only a short distance\\nnorth of Belle Isle the very region where, in my opinion, the ex-\\nplorers may have landed the second time can boast of a fine forest\\nvegetation at the very mouth of the bay. An island inside, even,\\nhas the significant name Wood Island, and in the bottom of the\\ninlet the trees are large enough to be used by the Newfoundlanders\\nfor their schooners and boats. This region, then, decidedly de-\\nserved to be christened Markland. As for the sand, our troublesome\\nfriend from Wineland, there is no such thing attributed to Mark-\\nland in the best manuscript. And, if it should come to a pinch, the\\nexplorers need only have followed the coast to Pinware Bay, where,\\naccording to the Pilot, a fine sandy beach w ould have greeted their\\neyes. That something like this was the case seems more than\\nprobable, when we remember that nothing in the saga speaks", "height": "3592", "width": "2192", "jp2-path": "norsediscoveries00dies_0016.jp2"}, "17": {"fulltext": "Norse Discoveries in America. 15\\nagainst it, and that tlieir errand was to explore countries that had\\nalready been, to some extent, located.\\nWith regard to Helluland only a few remarks need be added.\\nEvery person familiar with Old Norse, as well as modern Norwegian\\nand Icelandic, will know that the name must refer to loose, flat\\nstones, as stated in the Hauks-book, and not to a single fiat rock,\\nas wrongly given in the Flatoe-book. And he will only pity Prof.\\nHorsford, who naively reproduces a picture from the east coast of\\nNewfoundland, in which the ruffled rocks depicted have no more\\nresemblance with hellur than with the man in the moon. But\\npity will be mingled with astonishment when he reads that the ice-\\nbergs floating in the distance are the inland glaciers described in\\nthe last-named saga as forming the border of the rock. Surely this\\nkind of historical research needs a strong money-backing to get into\\nprint. That some real good-sized hellur are to be found some-\\nwhere on the vast Labrador coast must, with our present knowledge\\nof the country, seem altogether too probable. Both the Arctic\\nfoxes of the only reliable saga and the glaciers of the Flatoe-book\\ndecidedly point to a high latitude, not to speak of the fact that the\\nregion presumably was entirely treeless.\\nI must, therefore, maintain that the Nova Scotia theory, on the\\nwhole, offers by far the fewest difficulties, and I am unable to see\\nany good reason why we should rather select Cape Cod. The only\\njustification for doing so must certainly be positive archaeological\\nevidence. This has, as already mentioned, failed to appear,\\nin spite of the praiseworthy efforts of those who have so earnestly\\nsought it. If I am not mistaken, very few competent archaeologists\\nor historians take Prof. Horsford s extremely uncritical philo-\\nlogical deductions or his Norse ruins seriously. His etymological\\nspeculations on Norumbega, Cape Carenas, and America are more\\nthan sufficient to put any person possessing a philological training\\non his guard. The first mentioned of these names, employed on\\nsome of the earliest maps to designate a region south of the St.\\nLawrence, may with the utmost confidence be said to have as little\\nto do with Norway (mod. Norwegian Norge about year i,ooo,\\nand later Noregr. as with Watertown on the Charles.\\nI am, however, inclined to think that Mr. Weise was equally\\nwrong in connecting it with the Palisades of the Hudson, explain-\\ning the word as a corruption of Anormee Berge, the great\\nscarp. Space forbids my taking up this difficult subject here; but\\nin my opinion the earliest form of the word Noranbega stands\\nfor Normanbega, the latter part of the compound being, as already", "height": "3608", "width": "2203", "jp2-path": "norsediscoveries00dies_0017.jp2"}, "18": {"fulltext": "16 Norse Discoveries in Arnerica.\\nsuggested by De Costa, the Spanish vega, meaning a plain at\\nthe mouth of a river. The name seems, as every historian knows,\\nto date from Verrazano, whose expedition started from Normandy,\\nin France. It is first found in a map ascribed to his brother, and\\nthere evidently corresponds to the Normanvilla, given on the\\nfive years older Majollo map, also founded on Verrazano s ex-\\npedition. My explanation is that the said brother, knowing that\\nno town had been found on the entire coast, changed villa to\\nvega a term then current on Spanish maps. The first letters of\\nthe word as given by him are in fact illegible, and the r in\\nranbega, commonly read out of it, may be part of an m.\\nLater this letter was dropped for reasons that need not here be\\nstated, and the other forms, like Nuremberg and Norvega,\\nare easily explained as the product of ignorance and a false inter-\\npretation. The theory propounded by Beauvois and others, plac-\\ning a permanent Norse settlement somewhere in Nova Scotia or\\nNew Brunswick, not to speak of New England, is only supported by\\nthe slenderest thread of evidence, while the entire Old-Icelandic\\nliterature, as a matter of fact, goes directly against it. And even\\nif such a settlement was effectuated, the chances are a hundred to\\none that it would not have received the name of Noreg or\\nNordanviga.\\nStill more fanciful is the derivation of Cape Carenas, which\\nprobably did not even designate Cape Cod on an early map. It\\ntries the patience of a philologist sorely to find Carenas on Lok s\\nmap through Coaranes or Merriam s traced back to Kjolrnes,\\nKjalarnes, probably learned from natives, the offspring of mixed\\nparentage (p. 12). We have, of course, to do with the Italian\\nor Spanish Carenas (Lat. CarincB^ French Carlnes), which means\\nKeels, and evidently refers to the shape of the cape.\\nThis does not refute the theory that the Norsemen struck the\\nidentical cape and gave it the name of Kjalarnes for the same\\nreason. But it is certainly enough to prove that no connection\\nwas at all necessary between those two events.\\nOf the derivation of America from Erik the Red through the in-\\ntermediate forms of Ereka, Emereka, Mr. McLean pointedly says;\\nThis method of treating philology is enough to cause the bones\\nof Sir William Jones to turn in their grave.\\nThe few specimens of the testimony to be derived from names\\nof places as introduced by Prof. Horsford will probably suffice for\\nmost readers. After considering them, one does not feel surprised\\nat all in noticing the ease with which he pointed out a Norwegian", "height": "3592", "width": "2192", "jp2-path": "norsediscoveries00dies_0018.jp2"}, "19": {"fulltext": "Norse Discoveries in America. 17\\nfish-pit here and a building site there, not to speak of shoals, islands,\\ncapes, and landing-places. But we cannot help feeling that the\\ncorroborative evidence of an eye-witness less apt to be carried away\\nby his enthusiasm would be very desirable. I understand that\\nMiss Cornelia Horsford is still working on the same lines, and hope\\nthat after all some valuable piece of evidence may be forthcoming.*\\nIt is now the only means by which thoughtful students of the sagas\\ncan be brought to change their conviction that the Norse explorers\\nmost probably never passed the southern extremity of Nova Scotia.\\nAs pointed out by many, the chances are, however, very small\\nthat anything will be found, for the simple reason that the Norse-\\nmen, as already mentioned, evidently failed to effect a settlement of\\nthe country. The sagas do not contain a single statement from\\nwhich to draw the opposite conclusion, and Prof. Fiske justly lays\\nstress on the fact that no descendants of European domestic animals\\nwere ever met with in North America 500 years later. The only\\nstructures erected by the explorers, probably, were the dwellings of\\nThorfin, possibly wooden frame houses (budir, booths) resting on\\ncorner-stones or wooden blocks, for which it would be vain to look\\nat this late date. The fish-pits dug in the sand would not, under\\nfavorable circumstances, last for fifty years, and the palisades would\\nrot down long before the advent of the 19th century. An axe or\\nsword-blade might be found, it is true; but until some such relic is\\nproduced we shall be justified in expecting it to turn up in Nova\\nScotia rather than in New England, however fervently our patriotism\\nmay desire the latter alternative.\\nSpace forbids my consideration of the historic importance of\\nthis early discovery of the New World and its relation to that of\\nColumbus. Even most Norwegians have of late little patience with\\nthe childish exaggerations of Miss Mary Brown, now Mrs, Shipley,\\nand the efforts to belittle the deed of the Genoese explorer; and\\nthey look upon the feat of the Norsemen as one of those interesting\\npremature exertions of which history records so many. The Leif\\nErikson Monument Society of Chicago, which has been striving\\nhard to erect a monument for Leif in 1900, did not succeed in rais-\\ning the necessary funds in time. The excellent Norwegian sculptor,\\nMr. Sigvald Asbjornsen, is, however, at present hard at work with\\nHer article in the December number, 1899, of the Popular Science Monthly,\\ndid not, so far as I can see, add anything of interest to the solution of the question.\\nShe most uncritically accepts her father s view of the sagas, and the sober statements\\nof Mr. Erlingsson and Dr. Gudmundsson, appended to her article, seem completely\\nto dispose of the alleged Norse ruins discovered.", "height": "3608", "width": "2203", "jp2-path": "norsediscoveries00dies_0019.jp2"}, "20": {"fulltext": "18 Norse Discoveries in America.\\nthe elaboration of a splendid model which has received the unani-\\nmous approval of an art committee. The statue is to be unveiled\\nnext spring. It is sure to be a fitting celebration of the final ad-\\nmittance into the text-books of this country of a much-abused\\nhistorical fact.\\nLlliKAKY OF C(JNGRESS.", "height": "3592", "width": "2192", "jp2-path": "norsediscoveries00dies_0020.jp2"}, "21": {"fulltext": "", "height": "3608", "width": "2203", "jp2-path": "norsediscoveries00dies_0021.jp2"}, "22": {"fulltext": "", "height": "3653", "width": "2192", "jp2-path": "norsediscoveries00dies_0022.jp2"}}