VOYAGE OF THORWALD.

15

states of Massachusetts and Rhode Island.* The length of the shortest day here, so far as it can be made out from the obscure passage of the narrative in which it is recorded, confirms this opinion.

On his return to Greenland, Leif's discovery was the object of much inquiry; and Thorwald, his brother, borrowing Leif's vessel, undertook another voyage in the same direction, in the year 1002, determined to explore the country further in a southern direction. They reached Vinland before winter, which they passed at Leif's booths, employing themselves in fishing. In the spring of 1003, a party was sent by Thorwald, in the ship's long-boat, to explore the country to the south. They passed the summer in this employment, and found the country beautiful and well wooded, with a narrow belt of sand between the forest and the sea. They also encountered many shallows and islands. They found no traces of men, except a shed upon an island lying to the westward.

In the spring of 1004, Thorwald sailed out to the eastward, in the large ship, and then northward, past a remarkable headland, enclosing a bay and which was opposite to another headland. They called this Cape Kiarlaness or the keel

cape.

Doubling this cape they skirted the shores and crossed the inlets till they came to a projecting promontory covered with wood. This spot charmed Thorwald; he exclaimed, ‘This is a beautiful spot, and here I should like to fix my dwelling.' As they were preparing to go on board they noticed three canoes on the beach, and under each canoe three Skrællings or dwarfs, which is the name given by the Northmen to the Esquimaux. A contest ensued, and eight of the nine Skrællings were killed. The ninth fled into the interior of the bay, from whence he soon returned with a vast number of his countrymen. The party of Thorwald retreated to their vessel and sheltered themselves behind its bulwarks; but Thorwald himself was mortally wounded by an arrow under his arm. Perceiving the wound to be fatal, he said to his com*New York Review. North American Review. Antiquitates Americanæ.

16

VOYAGE OF THORFINN.

panions, "I now advise you to prepare for your departure as soon as possible; but me ye shall bring to the promontory where I thought it good to dwell. It may be that it was a prophetic word which fell from my mouth, about abiding there for a season. There shall ye bury me, and plant a cross at my head and another at my feet, and call the place Krossaness in all coming time."

They obeyed this command. Returning to Leif's booths, they passed the winter there, and the following spring went back to Greenland. The keel-cape, in the opinion of the editor of the Antiquitates Americana, is Cape Cod; and the promontory called Krossaness, from the fate of Thorwald, is either the Gurnet opposite Plymouth, or Point Alderton, in Boston harbour. In the season following these events, Thornstein, the third son of Eric, embarked with his wife Gudrida, in search of the body of Thorwald, which they wished to bring back to Greenland. The voyage was unsuccessful. They were tossed about all summer, and knew not whither they were driven. It was winter before they made the western coast of Greenland, where Thornstein died. In the spring, Gudrida, his wife, returned to the family seat at Ericsfiord.

The following year, 1006, is of importance in the history of these expeditions. In the summer of this year, there arrived in Greenland two ships from Iceland. The one was commanded by Thorfinn, surnamed Karlsefne, that is, the Hopeful, a wealthy and powerful personage, of illustrious lineage, descended from Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Irish, and Scottish ancestors, some of whom were of royal rank. The other ship was commanded by Biarne Grimolfson and Thorhall Gamlason. They kept the festival of Yule (Christmas) at Ericsfiord. Here Thorfinn became enamoured of Gudrida, and espoused her in the course of the winter.

The discoveries in Vinland were the subject of great interest in the family of Eric. Thorfinn was urged by his wife and the other members of the family to undertake a voyage to the newly-discovered country. Accordingly, in the spring of 1007, he and his associates embarked in their two vessels;

DISCOVERY OF MASSACHUSETTS.

17

and a third ship, commanded by Thorwald (who had married Freydisa, a natural daughter of Eric), was joined to the expedition. The party consisted, in the whole, of one hundred and forty men. They took with them all kinds of live stock, intending, if possible, to colonize the country. They touched at Helluland, on their way southward, and found many foxes there. Markland also they found stocked with wild animals.

Proceeding southward, the voyagers made Kiarlaness (Cape Cod), and passed trackless deserts and long tracts of sandy beach, which they called FURDUSTRANDIR. They continued their course until they came to a place, where a frith penetrated far into the country. Off the mouth of it, was an island, past which there ran strong currents, which was also the case farther up the frith. On the island there were an immense number of eyder-ducks, so that it was scarcely possible to walk without treading upon their eggs. They called the island STRAUMEY or Stream Isle (Martha's Vineyard), and the frith, Sraum Fiords or Stream Frith (Buzzard's Bay);* and on its shores they landed and made preparations for a winter's residence. They found the country extremely beautiful, and set themselves to explore it in all directions.

Thorhall, with a party of eight men, took a course northward, in search of the settlements of Leif, at Vinland; but they were driven by westerly gales to the coast of Ireland, and there made slaves. Thorfinn, with the rest of the company, in all one hundred and thirty-one men, sailed southward, and arrived at a place where a river falls into the sea from a lake. Opposite to the mouth of the river were large islands. They steered into the lake and called the place Hop (Mount Hope Bay). On the low grounds they found fields covered with wheat growing wild, and on the rising grounds, vines. Here they were visited by great numbers of the natives in canoes. These people are described as sallow-coloured, illlooking, with unsightly heads of hair, large eyes, and broad cheeks. Thorfinn and his company erected their houses a Antiquitates Americanæ.

VOL. I. 3

18

BIRTH OF SNORRE.

little above the bay and passed the winter there.. No snow fell, and the cattle found their food in the open field.

In the following spring, 1008, the natives began to assemble in numbers, and open a trade with the strangers. The articles exchanged were furs on the one side, and strips of cloth on the other. In the course of the season, Gudrida, the wife of Thorfinn, gave birth to a son, who was called Snorre, and who was the first child, of European descent, born in America, and the ancestor of many distinguished personages at the present day, whose descent is lineally traced to Thorfinn and Gudrida, in the Icelandic genealogical tables. Among these are Professor Finn Magnussen, a native Icelander, now resident at Copenhagen, one of the most distinguished Icelandic scholars of the day, and Thorwaldsen, the great sculptor.

After other adventures and contests with the natives, Thorfinn returned to Greenland, leaving a part of his company established in the new country. After a few years spent in Greenland, Thorfinn purchased an estate in Iceland, in 1015, where he passed the rest of his life, as did Snorre, his American After the death of Thorfinn, and the marriage of her

VOYAGE OF HELGE AND FINNBOGE.

19

son, Gudrida made a pilgrimage to Rome. The family remained distinguished for wealth, influence, and intelligence. Thorlak, the grandson of Snorre, was raised to the episcopal rank, and was of great repute for his learning. He compiled a code of the ecclesiastical law of Iceland, which is still extant; and he is very likely to have been the person who committed to writing the Sagas, or traditions of the voyages and adventures of which the foregoing narrative is an abstract.*

In the year 1011, the colony in Vinland left by Thorfinn, was joined by Helge and Finnboge, two brothers from Iceland, who were accompanied in their voyage by Thorwald, and his wife Freydisa, a daughter of Eric the Red. This woman excited a quarrel, which proved fatal to about thirty of the colonists. Detested for her vices, she was constrained to return to Greenland, where she lived despised and died unlamented.†

Towards the end of the reign of Olaf the Saint (1026), an Icelander, named Gudleif, embarked for Dublin. The vessel being driven by boisterous winds far from its direct course, towards the south-west, approached an unknown shore. He and the crew were soon seized by the natives, and carried into the interior. Here, however, to their great surprise, they were accosted by a venerable chief in their own language, who inquired after some individuals in Iceland. He refused to tell his name; but as he sent a present of a gold ring to Thurida, the sister of Snorre Gode, and a sword for her son, no doubt was entertained that he was the Scald (Bard) Biorn, who had been her lover, and who had left Iceland nearly thirty years before that time (998). The natives were described as of a red colour and cruel to strangers; indeed, it required all the influence of the friendly chief to rescue Gudleif and his companions from destruction.‡

From this period, we hear no more of the northern colony in America till the year 1059, when an Irish or Saxon priest, named Jon or John, who had preached some time as a mis

* North American Review. †Dunham's Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. Wheaton's Northmen.