Discovery of Greenland.

17

a Norwegian, whom the Sagas called Eric the Red, and who had been outlawed in Iceland for some lawless deed, resolved to seek a land which, according to a Norse tradition, had been seen by one Gunbiorn, "when he was driven westward out into the ocean." Eric discovered the land, and gave it the name of Greenland, observing that "if the country has a good name, people will be attracted to it." He was followed, as he anticipated, by several of his countrymen, among whom was a man named Herjulf Bardson. Biarne, the son of Herjulf, returning to Iceland from a trading voyage to Norway, and finding that his father had emigrated to Greenland, resolved to follow his example, though he and his crew knew nothing of the navigation. "Nevertheless," says the Saga of Olaf Tryggveson, "they put out to sea, and sailed during three days, until the land was lost sight of under the water; but then the favouring wind fell, and there arose the north wind and fog, and they knew not whither they were sailing; and thus it went on for many days. After that they again saw the sun, and could discern the points of the heavens. They then hoisted sail, and sailed a whole day before they saw land; and then they spoke about the land which they saw, and Biarne said he thought it could not be Greenland."

They sailed in close to the land which they had discovered, and "soon saw that it was without mountains, and was covered with woods and small hills. They left the land on their larboard side, and had their sheet on the land side. One day and a night they sailed before they saw land again. They asked if Biarne thought this was Greenland, but he said he thought as little that this was Greenland as the other," for in Greenland they say "there are large mountains of ice." They soon drew near to this land, and saw that it was a flat country overgrown with wood. Then the wind fell and the crew wished to

land, but Biarne would not consent; he bade them hoist sail and they did so; and they turned the ship's bow from the land, and sailed out into the open sea, with a south-west wind, for two nights and a day.

"Then they saw a third land, and this was high, and covered with mountains and icebergs. They asked Biarne if he would land here, but he would not, for the land did not seem to him inviting. They did not take in their sails, therefore, but kept along the land, and saw that it was an island. They again turned the stern of their vessel towards the land, and sailed out into the open sea with the same wind. The wind increased, and Biarne bade them take in a sail, and not sail faster than the ship and the tackle could bear. They sailed two days and two nights, and then saw a fourth land. They asked Biarne if he thought this was Greenland or not. Biarne answered, 'This looks most like Greenland, according to what has been told me of that country, and here we will land.' They landed in the evening on a promontory, where there was a boat. There dwelt Biarne's father, Herjulf; and after him the promontory was named, and has since been called Herjulf's-ness." This promontory has been identified with Ikigeit on the south coast of Greenland.

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When the Greenland colonists heard of the new lands discovered by Biarne they blamed him for not having explored them; and Eric's son, Leif, sailed soon afterwards for that purpose. They came first," says the Saga, "to the land which Biarne had discovered last. They sailed in, and cast anchor, put out their boat, and went on shore; but they saw no grass. Great mountains there were in the interior, but between the sea and the mountains the land was a stony plain, and the country seemed to them uninviting. Leif said, 'It has not been with us as with Biarne, that we have not set foot on

Discovery of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland.

19

shore; so I will give the country a name, and call it Stoneland.' Then they went on board, sailed out into the sea again, and discovered another country. Again they sailed in, and cast anchor, put out their boat, and went ashore. This country was flat, and covered with wood; and wherever they went there were large tracts of white sand, and the coast was low. Leif said, 'This land shall be named according to its nature, and called Woodland.' Then they hastened to the ship again, and sailed thence in the open sea, with a north-west wind, and were out a day and a night before they again saw land; and they sailed towards it, and came to an island that lay to the north of the land."

This island has been identified by modern research with a small island off Cape Cod, while Woodland is undoubtedly Nova Scotia, and Stoneland as certainly Newfoundland. The authenticity of the narrative, though formerly held to be doubtful, is at the present day undisputed. The hardy Northmen must have crossed the boundary of the Ice King's realm, and sailed into the bay discovered centuries afterwards by Baffin; for three stone pillars inscribed with Runic characters were discovered, in the autumn of 1824, on Women Islands, situated just below the seventy-third parallel of latitude, containing, according to Danish scholars, the date of the year 1135.

The memory of these discoveries had been lost, however, until nearly three hundred years afterwards, when Antonio Zeno, a Venetian navigator, sailed into the icy seas of the North, and carried back strange accounts of the unknown lands he had seen. Nothing more was known of them, however, until the close of the fifteenth century, when Sebastian de Cabota discovered the coast of Labrador, preceding Cristoforo Colombo in the discovery of the mainland of America by

about eighteen months, the great Genoese navigator not having touched it until his third voyage. Few details of Cabota's voyage are known, however, the fullest account being contained in the statement committed to writing by Butrigarias, the Pope's legate in Spain, who heard it from the explorer himself.

"When my father," said Cabota, "departed from Venice many years since to dwell in England, to follow the trade of merchandises, he took me with him to the city of London while I was very young, yet having nevertheless some knowledge of letters, of humanity, and of the sphere. And when my father died, in that time when news were brought that Don Cristoforo Colombo had discovered the coasts of India, whereof was great talk in all the Court of King Henry VIII., who then reigned, insomuch that all men, with great admiration, affirmed it to be a thing more divine than human to sail by the west into the east, where spices grow, by a way that was never known before, by this fame and report there increased in my heart a great flame of desire to attempt some notable thing; and understanding by reason of the sphere, that, if I should sail by way of the north-west, I should by a shorter track come into India; I therefore caused the king to be advertised of my device, who immediately commanded two caravels to be furnished, with all things appertaining to the voyage, which was, as far as I remember, in the year 1496, in the beginning of summer.

"I began, therefore, to sail towards the north-west, not thinking to find any other land than that of Cathay, and from thence to turn towards India; but after certain days I found that the land ran towards the north, which was to me a great displeasure. Nevertheless, sailing along by the coast to see if I could find any gulf that turned, I found the land still continent to the fifty-sixth degree under our pole. And seeing

Sir Hugh Willoughby.

21

that there the coast turned towards the east, despairing to find the passage, I turned back again, and sailed down by the coast of that land towards the equinoctial (ever with intent to find the said passage to India), and came to that part which is now called Florida, where, my victuals failing, I departed and returned to England."

It was thought extremely improbable that the newly discovered continent stretched into the regions of perpetual ice without an opening to the westward; but after the voyages of Verazzano and Cartier from France the idea was abandoned for a time, and the attention of navigators was directed to the practicability of discovering the desired short passage to India through the seas eastward of the North Cape. The Muscovy Company of London Merchants, established for the promotion of commerce with Russia and the countries beyond, organised an expedition for this purpose in 1553, and placed it under the command of Sir Hugh Willoughby. It consisted of three vessels, the largest of which was only of a hundred and sixty tons burden, and sailed from the Thames on the 10th of May. The ships of those days, with their broad bows and lofty poops, were so ill adapted for speed, and the mechanical appliances of navigation were so imperfect, that the Arctic circle was not crossed until nearly the end of July, when the ships were among the Lofoden Isles, off the coast of Norway. Steering thence to the north-eastward, they were separated by a storm about the seventieth parallel of latitude, and never met again.

Richard Chancellor, who was second in command, rode out the storm, and put back to Wardhus, which was to be the rendezvous of the vessels in the event of separation. Neither of the other vessels appearing, after the lapse of several days, he again put to sea, and in the words of Clement Adams, the narrator of the voyage, "sailed so far, that he came at last to a