The Pre-Columbian Discovery of America by the Northmen Part 10

[99] Snowy mountains, _Joklar miklir_, such as Chappell mentions having been seen on the coast, June 14, 1818.

[100] h.e.l.luland, from _h.e.l.la_, a flat stone, an abundance of which may be found in Labrador and the region round about.

[101] This agrees with the general features of the country. The _North American Pilot_ describes the land around Halifax, as "low in general, and not visible twenty miles off; except from the quarter-deck of a seventy-four. Apostogon hills have a long, level appearance, between Cape Le Have and Port Medway, the coast to the seaward being level and low, and the sh.o.r.es with white rocks and low, barren points; from thence to Shelburne and Port Roseway, are woods. Near Port Haldiman are several barren places, and thence to Cape Sable, which makes the southwest point into Barrington Bay, a low and woody island."--_Antiquitates Americanae_, p. 423.

[102] Markland is supposed, with great reason, to be Nova Scotia, so well described, both in the Saga, and in the _Coast Pilot_. Markland means woodland. Two days sail thence, brought them in view of Cape Cod, though very likely the sailing time is not correct.

[103] This island has given the interpreters considerable trouble, from the fact that it is said to lie to the northward of the land. And Professor Rafn, in order to identify this island with Nantucket, shows that the north point of the Icelandic compa.s.s lay towards the east. But this does not fairly meet the case. There would, perhaps, have been no difficulty in the interpretation, if the Northern Antiquarians had been acquainted with the fact, that in early times an island existed northward from Nantucket, on the opposite coast of Cape Cod. This island, together with a large point of land which now has also disappeared, existed in the times of Gosnold, who sailed around Cape Cod, in 1602. The position of this island, together with the point of land, is delineated in the map given in the Appendix. At one time, some doubt existed in regard to the truthfulness of the accounts, for the reason that those portions of land described, no longer existed. Yet their positions were laid down with scientific accuracy; the outer portion of the island being called Point Care, while the other point was called Point Gilbert. Neither Archer nor Brereton in their accounts of Gosnold's voyage, give the name of the island; but Captain John Smith, in 1614, calls it "Isle Nawset." Smith's _History of Virginia_, vol. II, p. 183. This island was of the drift formation, and as late as half a century ago, a portion of it still remained, being called s.l.u.t Bush. The subject has been very carefully gone into by Mr. Otis, in his pamphlet on the _Discovery of an Ancient s.h.i.+p on Cape Cod_. Professor Aga.s.siz, writing December 17, 1863, says: "Surprising and perhaps incredible as the statements of Mr. Amos Otis may _appear_, they are nevertheless the direct and natural inference of the observations which may be easily made along the eastern coast of Cape Cod. Having of late felt a special interest in the geological structure of that remarkable region, I have repeatedly visited it during the past summer, and, in company with Mr.

Otis, examined, on one occasion, with the most minute care, the evidence of the former existence of Isle Nauset and Point Gilbert. I found it as satisfactory as any geological evidence can be. Besides its scientific interest," he adds, "this result has some historical importance. At all events it fully vindicates Archer's account of the aspect of Cape Cod, at the time of its discovery in 1602, and shows him to have been a truthful and accurate observer." But possibly the vindication may extend back even to the Northmen, whom the learned professor and his colaborers did not have in mind; especially as this discovery will help very materially to explain their descriptions. Now, in the first account of Thorfinn Karlsefne's pa.s.sage around this part of the Vinland, it is said that they called the sh.o.r.e _Wonder-strand_, "because they were so long going by," Yet any one in sailing past the coast to-day will not be struck with its length. But by glancing at the reconstructed map of Cape Cod (see Appendix), the reader will find that the coast line is greatly increased, so that in order to pa.s.s around the cape, the navigator must sail a long distance; and, comparing this distance travelled with the distance actually gained, the Northmen might well grow weary, and call it Wonder-strand. This quite relieves the difficulty that was felt by Professor Rafn, who labored to show that the island in question was Nantucket, notwithstanding the fact that it lay too far east. For a fuller knowledge of Isle Nauset, see _New England Historic and Genealogical Register_, vol. XVIII, p. 37; and _Ma.s.sachusetts Historical Collections_, vol. VIII, series III, pp. 72-93.

[104] In speaking of the immediate vicinity of _Wonder-strand_, the second account of Thorfinn's expedition says, "There were places without harbors," which has always been the case, this coast being dangerous; yet it is said above that "they landed to wait for good weather." This would be impracticable _now_, except at Chatham; yet at that day, notwithstanding the absence of harbors, they would find accommodation for their small vessel somewhere between the island and the mainland.

From Bradford's _History_, p. 217, we learn that in 1626-7, there was at this place "a small blind harbore" that "lyes aboute y^e middle of Manamoyake Bay," which to-day is filled up by recently formed sandy wastes and salt meadows. This "blind harbore," had at its mouth a treacherous bar of sand. If this harbor had existed in the days of the Northmen, they would not of necessity discover it; and hence while Leif might have landed here and found protection, Thorfinn, in his much larger s.h.i.+p, might have found it needful to anchor, as he appears to have done, in the grounds between Isle Nauset and Point Gilbert, while explorations were being made on the land.

[105] "Honey dew," says Dr. Webb, "occurs in this neighborhood."--_Antiquitates Americanae_, p. 443.

[106] This sound may have been the water between Point Gilbert and Isle Nauset.

[107] Archer says in his account of Gosnold's voyage: "Twelve leagues from [the end of] Cape Cod, we descried a point [Point Gilbert] with some beach, a good distance off." It is said that the ness, or cape, went out _northward_ but we must remember that _eastward_ is meant.

[108] This is precisely the course they would steer after doubling that ness or cape which existed in Gosnold's day, and which he named Point Gilbert. The author does not agree with Professor Rafn, in making this point to be at the eastern entrance to Buzzard's bay. If he had known of the existence of the Isle Nauset, he would not have looked for the ness in that neighborhood. At that time Cape Malabar probably did not exist, as we know how rapidly land is formed in that vicinity; yet it would not have attracted notice in comparison with the great broad point mentioned by Archer.

[109] After pa.s.sing Point Gilbert, shoal water may almost anywhere be found, which appears to have been the case anciently.

[110] The river was evidently Seaconnet pa.s.sage and Poca.s.set river.

[111] This lake is Mount Hope Bay. The writer of the Saga pa.s.ses over that part of the voyage immediately following doubling of the ness. The tourist in travelling that way by rail will at first take Mount Hope Bay for a lake.

[112] Salmon were formerly so plentiful in this vicinity, that it is said a rule was made, providing that masters should not oblige their apprentices to eat this fish more than twice a week.

[113] It is well known that cattle in that vicinity can pa.s.s the winter with little or no shelter, and the sheep on Nantucket, can, when necessary, take care of themselves.

[114] This is an exaggeration, or, possibly, the writer, who was not with the expedition, meant to convey the idea that there was no frost, compared with what was experienced in Greenland and Iceland. The early narrator of the voyage unquestionably tried to make a good impression as regards the climate. In so doing, he has been followed by nearly all who have come after him. Eric the Red told some almost fabulous stories about the climate of Greenland; and yet, because his accounts do not agree with facts, who is so foolish as to deny that he ever saw Greenland? And with as much reason we might deny that Leif came to Vinland. With equal reason, too, we might deny that Morton played the rioter at Merry Mount; for he tells us in his _New English Canaan_, that coughs and colds are unknown in New England. Lieutenant Governor Dudley of Ma.s.sachusetts complained of these false representations in his day.

[115] This pa.s.sage was misunderstood by Torfaeus, the earliest writer who inquired into these questions, and he was followed by Peringskiold, Malte-Brun and others, who, by their reckoning, made the lat.i.tude of Vinland somewhere near Nova Scotia. Yet the recent studies of Rafn and Finn Magnussen, have elucidated the point: "The Northmen divided the heavens or horizons, into eight princ.i.p.al divisions, and the times of the day according to the sun's apparent motion through these divisions, the pa.s.sage through each of which they supposed to occupy a period of three hours. The day was therefore divided into portions of time corresponding with these eight divisions, each of which was called an _eykt_, signifying an eighth part. This _eykt_ was again divided, like each of the grand divisions of the heavens, into two smaller and equal portions, called _stund_ or _mal_. In order to determine these divisions of time, the inhabitant of each place carefully observed the diurnal course of the sun, and noted the terrestrial objects over which it seemed to stand. Such an object, whether artificial or natural, was called by the Icelanders, _dagsmark_ (daymark). They were also led to make these daymarks by a division of the horizon according to the princ.i.p.al winds, as well as by the wants of their domestic economy. The shepherd's rising time, for instance, was called _Hirdis rismal_, which corresponds with half-past four o'clock A. M., and this was the beginning of the natural day of twenty-four hours. Reckoning from _Hirdis rismal_ the eight _stund_ or eighth half _eykt_ ended at just half-past four P. M.; and therefore this particular period was called [Greek: kat' exochen], EYKT. This _eykt_, strictly speaking, commenced at three o'clock P. M., and ended at half-past four P. M., when it was said to be in _eyktarstadr_ or the termination of the _eykt_. The precise moment that the sun appeared in this place indicated the termination of the artificial day (_dagr_), and half the natural day (_dagr_), and was therefore held especially deserving of notice: the hours of labor, also, are supposed to have ended at this time. Six o'clock A. M. was called _midr morgun_; half-past seven A. M., _Dagmal_; nine A. M., _Dagverdarmal_. Winter was considered to commence in Iceland about the seventeenth of October, and Bishop Thorlacius, the calculator of the astronomical calendar, fixes sun-rise in the south of Iceland, on the seventeenth of October, at half past seven A. M. At this hour, according to the Saga, it rose in Vinland on the shortest day, and set at half-past four P. M., which data fix the lat.i.tude of the place at 41 43' 10", being nearly that of Mount Hope Bay." See _Mem. Antiq. du Nord_, 1836-7, p. 165. Rafn's calculation makes the position 41 24'

10". It is based on the view that the observation was made in Vinland when only the upper portion of the disc had appeared above the horizon.

The difference, of course, is not important. Thus we know the position of the Icelandic settlement in New England. See _Antiquitates Americanae_, p. 436.

[116] In those turbulent times children were not brought up at home, but were sent to be trained up in the families of trusty friends. This was done to preserve the family line. Often, in some b.l.o.o.d.y feud, a whole household would be destroyed; yet the children being out at foster, would be preserved, and in due time come to represent the family. In Leif's day, heathenism and lawlessness were on the decline. We have a true picture given us by Dasent, of the way in which children were treated in the heathen age.

He says: "With us, an old house can stand upon a crooked, as well as upon a straight support. But in Iceland, in the tenth century, as in all the branches of that great family, it was only healthy children that were allowed to live. The deformed, as a burden to themselves, their friends, and to society, were consigned to destruction by exposure to the violence of the elements. This was the father's stern right, and, though the mothers of that age were generally blessed with robust offspring, still the right was often exercised. As soon as it was born, the infant was laid upon the bare ground, and, until the father came and looked at it, heard and saw that it was strong in lung and limb, took it up in his arms, and handed it over to the nurse; its fate hung in the balance, and life or death depended upon the sentence of its sire. That danger over, it was duly washed, signed with the Thunderer's [Thor's]

holy hammer--the symbol of all manliness and strength--and solemnly received into the family as the faithful champion of the ancient G.o.ds.

When it came to be named, there was what we should call the christening ale. There was saddling, mounting and riding among kith and kin. Cousins came in bands from all points of the compa.s.s: dependents, freedmen and thralls all mustered strong. The ale is broached, the board is set, and the benches are thronged with guests; the mirth and revelry are at the highest, when in strides into the hall, a being of awful power, in whom that simple age set full faith. This was the Norne, the wandering prophetess, sybil, fortune teller, a woman to whom it was given to know the weirds of men, and who had come to do honor to the child, and tell his fortune.... After the child was named, he was often put out to foster with some neighbor, his father's inferior in power, and there he grew up with the children of the house, and contracted those friends.h.i.+ps and affections which were reckoned better and more binding than the ties of blood."--_Antiquaires du Nord_, 1859, pp. 8-9.

[117] There is nothing in this to indicate that Tyrker was intoxicated, as some have absurdly supposed. In this far off land he found grapes, which powerfully reminded him of his native country, and the a.s.sociation of ideas is so strong, that when he first meets Leif, he breaks out in the language of his childhood, and, like ordinary epicures, expresses his joy, which is all the more marked on account of his grotesque appearance. Is not this a stroke of genuine nature, something that a writer, framing the account of a fict.i.tious voyage, would not dream of?

[118] Grapes grow wild almost everywhere on this coast. They may be found on Cape Cod ripening among the scrub oaks, even within the reach of the ocean spray, where the author has often gathered them.

[119] In Peringskiold's _Heimskringla_, which Laing has followed in translating Leif's voyage for his appendix, this statement of the cutting of wood is supplemented by the following statement: "There was also self-sown wheat in the fields, and a tree which is called ma.s.sur.

Of all these they took samples; and some of the trees were so large that they were used in houses." It is thought that the ma.s.sur wood was a species of maple. Others have declared that it must have been mahogany, and that therefore the account of Leif's discovery is false. They forget that even George Popham, in writing home to his patron from Sagadahoc, in 1607, says that among the productions of the country are "nutmegs and cinnamon." Yet shall we infer from this that Popham never saw New England?

[120] See Adam of Bremen's testimony in the Introduction.

[121] It will be noticed that they were close upon the Greenland coast.

[122] They were evidently Norwegian traders who were s.h.i.+pwrecked while approaching the coast and sailing for the Greenland ports.

[123] Gissur, called the White, was one of the greatest lawyers of Iceland. We read that "there was a man named Gissur White, he was Teit's son, Kettlebiarne the Old's son, of Mossfell [Iceland]. Bishop Isleif was Gissur's son. Gissur the White kept house at Mossfell, and was a great Chief."--_Saga of Burnt Nial_, vol. I, p. 146.

[124] Hialte was doubtless the same person who entered the swimming match with King Olaf. See Saga of Olaf Tryggvesson.

[125] This is an error, unless the writer means that the voyage to Vinland, afterwards undertaken, was a part of the same general expedition. Leif went to Greenland first, as we have already seen.

[126] These pagans did not always yield even so readily as Eric. Some in Norway became martyrs to the faith of Odin. See _Saga of Olaf Tryggvesson_ (_pa.s.sim_), in vol. I _of Heimskringla_.

[127] See note to foregoing account.

[128] These appear to have been married men or secular clergy.

[129] This clearly indicates a voyage around Cape Cod.

[130] This cape was evidently, not Point Gilbert, but the terminus of Cape Cod, known as Race Point, a dangerous place for navigation. It would seem that this was the place referred to, for the reason that the next place mentioned is the east sh.o.r.e, meaning the sh.o.r.e near Plymouth, which is readily seen from the end of Cape Cod in a clear day. It was undoubtedly the vicinity of Race Point that they called Kialarness, or Keel Cape.

[131] Here the version in _Antiquitates Americanae_, p. 42, is followed, instead of Peringskiold, whose version does not mention the point of land. This place is regarded as Point Alderton, below Boston Harbor.

Thorvald evidently sailed along the sh.o.r.e to this point, which is the most remarkable on the east coast.

[132] These screens were made of planks which could be quickly arranged above the bulwarks, thus affording additional protection against arrows and stones.

[133] These people are sometimes called Smaellingar, or small men. Others deduce their name from _skraela_, to dry, alluding to their shriveled aspect; and others from _skraekia_ to _shout_. It is evident from the accounts of Egede and Crantz, that they formerly inhabited this part of the country, but were gradually obliged to go northward. It is well known that in other parts of America, these migrations were common. And these people were more likely to take a refuge in Greenland than the Northmen themselves.

[134] The conduct of Thorvald indicates magnanimity of character, thinking first of his men, and afterwards of himself.

[135] Christianity was introduced by Leif, Thorvald's brother, in 1001-2.

[136] This is evidently an error, for Christianity was introduced by Leif, _before_ he sailed on his voyage to Vinland. Errors like this abound in all early annals, and why should the Icelandic chronicles be free from them? Every such case will be impartially pointed out. The treatment of this pa.s.sage by Smith, in his _Dialogues on the Northmen_, p. 127, is far from being candid. He translates the pa.s.sage thus: "But Eric the Red had died without professing Christianity," and refers the English reader to the Saga of Thorfinn Karlsefne, _Antiquitates Americanae_, pp. 119-20, as if he would there find a reason for his rendering of the text, which is unequivocal, and is translated literally above. On turning to the authority in question, we find nothing more said than that "Eric was slow to give up his [pagan] religion," and that the affair caused a separation between him and his wife. That he was _slow_ to give up his pagan belief, would seem to indicate that he _did_ give it up eventually. Moreover, we have the direct statement that he was baptized. Second Narrative of Leif, p. 38.

[137] Norway lay east of Iceland, and hence the people of that country were sometimes called Eastmen.

[138] Winter began October 17. See p. 32, note 6.

[139] They probably had diminutive horses in Greenland, like this of Iceland to-day.

[140] Thorstein Black was a pagan, who nevertheless saw the superior value of the new faith.

[141] We must here remember the simplicity of manners, which then (as now) prevailed among the Icelanders. The tourist in Iceland is always surprised by the absence of all prudery.

[142] Whoever inclines to dismiss this whole narrative as an idle fiction, must remember that all history is more or less pervaded by similar stories. The Rev. Cotton, Mather, in his _Magnalia of New England_, gives the account of a great number of supernatural events of no better character than this related in the Saga. Some are ludicrous in the extreme, and others are horrible, both in their inception and end.

Among other stories, is that of Mr. Philip Smith, deacon of the church at Hadley, Ma.s.s., and a member of the General Court, who appears to have been bewitched. He was finally obliged to keep his bed. Then it is said that the people "beheld fire sometimes on the bed; and when the beholders began to discourse of it, it vanished away. Divers people actually felt something often stir in the bed, at a considerable distance from the man; it seemed as big as a cat, but they could never grasp it. Several trying to lean on the bed's head, tho' the sick man lay wholly still, the bed would shake so as to knock their heads uncomfortably. A very strong man could not lift the sick man, to make him lie more easily, tho' he apply'd his utmost strength unto it; and yet he could go presently and lift the bedstead and a bed, and a man lying on it, without any strain to himself at all. Mr. Smith dies....

After the _opinion_ of all had _p.r.o.nounc'd_ him dead, his countenance continued as lively as though he had been alive.... Divers noises were heard in the room where the corpse lay; as the clattering of chairs and stools, whereof no account could be given."--_Magnalia_, ed. 1853, vol.