In Northern Mists Volume I Part 21

[Sidenote: The oldest authorities on Wineland]

Icelandic literature contains many remarkable statements about countries to the south-west or south of the Greenland settlements. They are called: "h.e.l.luland" (i.e., slate- or stone-land), "Markland" (i.e., wood-land), "Furustrandir" (i.e., marvel-strands), and "Vinland" (also written "Vindland" or "Vinland"). Yet another, which lay to the west of Ireland, was called "Hvitramanna-land" (i.e., the white men's land). Even if certain of these countries are legendary, as will presently be shown, it must be regarded as a fact that in any case the Greenlanders and Icelanders reached some of them, which lay on the north-eastern coast of America; and they thus discovered the continent of North America, besides Greenland, about five hundred years before Cabot (and Columbus).

While h.e.l.luland, Markland and Furustrandir are first mentioned in authorities of the thirteenth century, "Vinland" occurs already in Adam of Bremen, about 1070 (see above, pp. 195 ff.). Afterwards the name occurs in Icelandic literature: first in Are Frode's "Islendingabok," about 1130, where we are only told that in Greenland traces were found of the same kind of people as "inhabited Wineland" ("Vinland hefer bygt"; see above, p. 260); it is next mentioned together with Hvitramanna-land in the "Landnamabok," where it may have been taken from Are Frode, as the latter's uncle, Thorkel Gellisson, is given as the authority. It has been thought that the original statement was contained in a lost work of Are's; in any case it must belong to the period before his death in 1148. We are only told that Hvitramanna-land lay to the west in the ocean near Vin(d)land; but the pa.s.sage is important, because, as will be discussed later, it clearly shows that the statements about Wineland in the oldest Icelandic authorities were derived from Ireland. The next mention of Wineland is in "Kristni-saga" (before 1245) and "Heimskringla," where it is only said that Leif the Lucky found Wineland the Good. It should be remarked that while thus in the oldest authorities Wineland is only mentioned casually and in pa.s.sing, it is not until we come to the Saga of Eric the Red, of the thirteenth century, and the Flateyjarbok's "Gronlendinga-attr," of the fourteenth, that we find any description of the country, and of voyages to it and to h.e.l.luland and Markland. But two verses, reproduced in the first of these sagas, are certainly considerably older than the saga itself; and they speak of the country where there was wine to drink instead of water, and of Furustrandir where they boil whales' flesh.

It may be added that in the "Eyrbyggja-saga" (of about 1250) it is said that "Snorre went with Karlsevne to Wineland the Good, and when they fought with the Skraelings there in Wineland, Snorre's son Thorbrand fell in the fight." In the "Grettis-saga" (about 1290), Thorhall Gamlason, one of those who took part in this expedition, is called "Vindlendingr" or "Vilendingr" (which should doubtless be "Vinlendingr" in each case). If we add to this that in the Icelandic geography which is known from various MSS. of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, but which is attributed in part (although hardly the section about Greenland, Wineland, etc.) to Abbot Nikulas Bergsson of Thvera (ob. 1159), h.e.l.luland, Markland and Vinland are mentioned as lying to the south of Greenland (see later), then we shall have given all the certain ancient authorities in which Wineland occurs [cf. G.

Storm, 1887, pp. 10 ff.]; but possibly the runic stone from Ringerike is to be added (see later).

[Sidenote: The formation of the saga]

Before I recapitulate the most important features of these voyages, as they are described more particularly in the Saga of Eric the Red, I must premise that I look upon the narratives somewhat in the light of historical romances, founded upon legend and more or less uncertain traditions. Gustav Storm in his critical review of the Wineland voyages [1887] has separated the older authorities, which he regarded as altogether trustworthy, from the later narratives in the Flateyjarbok's "Gronlendinga-attr," which he thought were to be rejected. The last-named was written about 1387, while Eric the Red's Saga, which we are to regard as trustworthy, must according to Storm have been written between 1270 and 1300.[292] The accounts of the discovery of Wineland and of the voyages thither are very conflicting in these two authorities; while the latter has only two voyages (after the discovery), the former has divided them into five; while one mentions Leif Ericson as the discoverer of the country, the other gives Bjarne Herjulfsson, and so on. We are led to ask whether it is reasonable to suppose that the traditions should have been handed down by word of mouth in such a remarkably unaltered and uncorrupted state during the first 250 or 300 years, when they have been transformed and confused to such an extent scarcely a hundred years later.

This must rather prove that there was no fixed tradition, but that the tales became split up into more and more varying forms. Perhaps it will be answered that the Saga of Eric the Red was composed in the golden age of saga-writing, whereas the Flateyjarbok belongs to the period of decline.[293] But it cannot be psychologically probable that human nature in Iceland should suddenly have undergone so great a change, that while the saga-tellers of the fourteenth century were disposed to invent romances, they should not have had any tendency thereto throughout the three preceding centuries. It is particularly natural that many alterations and additions should be made when, as here, the narratives are concerned with distant waters which lay so far out of the ordinary course of voyages, and which for a long time had ceased to be known in Iceland when the sagas were put into writing. Features belonging to the description of other quarters of the globe were also inserted. Tales which in this way live in oral tradition and gradually develop into sagas, without any written word to support them, and to some extent even without any known localities to which they can be attached, are to be regarded as living organisms dependent on accidental influence, which absorb into themselves any suitable material as they may find it; a resemblance of name between persons may thus contribute, or a similarity of situations, or events which bear the same foreign stamp. The narratives of the Wineland voyages exhibit, as we shall see, sure traces of influences of this kind.

[Sidenote: Leif Ericson]

In the year 999, according to the saga, Leif, the son of Eric the Red, sailed from Greenland to Norway. This is the first time we hear of so long a sea-voyage being attempted,[294] and it shows in any case that this long pa.s.sage was not unknown to the Icelanders and Norwegians. Formerly the pa.s.sage to Greenland had been by way of Iceland, thence to the east coast of Greenland, southwards along the coast, and round Hvarf. But capable seamen like the intrepid Leif thought they could avoid so many changes of course and arrive in Norway by sailing due east from the southern point of Greenland. Thereby Leif Ericson becomes the personification of the first ocean-voyager in history, who deliberately and with a settled plan steered straight across the open Atlantic, without seeking to avail himself of harbours on the way. It also appears clearly enough from the sailing directions for navigation of northern waters, which have come down to us, that voyages were made across the ocean direct from Norway to Greenland.

It must be remembered that the compa.s.s was unknown, and that all the s.h.i.+ps of that time were without fixed decks. This was an exploit equal to the greatest in history; it is the beginning of ocean voyages.

[Ill.u.s.tration: From an Icelandic MS. (Jonsbok), sixteenth century]

Leif's plan of reaching Norway direct was not wholly successful according to the saga; he was driven out of his course to the Hebrides. They stayed there till late in the summer, waiting for a fair wind. Leif there fell in love with a woman of high lineage, Thorgunna. When he sailed she begged to be allowed to go with him; but Leif answered that he would not carry off a woman of her lineage in a strange country, when he had so few men with him. It was of no avail that she told him she was with child, and the child was his. He gave her a gold ring, a Greenland mantle of frieze, and a belt of walrus ivory, and sailed away from the Hebrides with his men and arrived in Norway in the autumn (999). Leif became Olaf Tryggvason's man, and spent the winter at Nidaros. He adopted Christianity and promised the king to try to introduce the faith into Greenland. For this purpose he was given a priest when he sailed. In the spring, as soon as he was ready, he set out again to sail straight across the Atlantic to Greenland. It has undoubtedly been thought that he chose the course between the Faroes (61 50' N. lat.) and Shetland (60 50' N. lat.) to reach Cape Farewell, and afterwards this became the usual course for the voyage from Norway to Greenland. But he was driven out of his course, and

"for a long time drifted about in the sea, and came upon countries of which before he had no suspicion. There were self-sown wheat-fields, and vines grew there; there were also the trees that are called 'masur' ('mosurr'),[295] and of all these they had some specimens (some trees so large that they were laid in houses" [i.e., used as house-beams]).

This land was "Vinland hit Goa." As it was a.s.sumed that the wild vine (Vitis vulpina) grew in America as far north as 45 N. lat. and along the east coast, the historians have thought to find in this a proof that Leif Ericson must have been on the coast of America south of this lat.i.tude; but, as we shall see later, these features--the self-sown wheat-fields, the vines and the lofty trees--are probably borrowed from elsewhere.

"On his homeward voyage Leif found some men on a wreck, and took them home with him and gave them all shelter for the winter. He showed so much n.o.bility and goodness, he introduced Christianity into the country, and he rescued the men; he was then called 'Leifr hinn Heppni' [the Lucky]. Leif came to land in Eric's fjord, and went home to Brattalid; there they received him well." This was the same autumn [1000].

So concise is the narrative of the voyage by which the first discovery of America by Europeans is said to have been made.[296]

[Sidenote: Thorstein Ericson]

Curiously enough, the saga tells us nothing more of Leif as a sailor. He appears after this to have lived in peace in Greenland, and he took over Brattalid after his father's death. On the other hand, we hear that his brother Thorstein made an attempt to find Wineland, which Leif had discovered. After Leif's return home "there was much talk that they ought to seek the land that Leif had found. The leader was Thorstein Ericson, a good man, and wise, and friendly." We hear earlier in the saga, where Leif's voyage to Norway is related, that both of Eric's sons "were capable men; Thorstein was at home with his father, and there was not a man in Greenland who was thought to be so manly as he." We hear nothing about Leif's taking part in the new voyage; it looks as if it had been Thorstein's turn to go abroad. But

"Eric was asked, and they trusted in his good fortune and foresight being greatest. He was against it, but did not say no, as his friends exhorted him so to it. They therefore fitted out the s.h.i.+p which Thorbjorn [Vivilsson] had brought out to Greenland;[297] and twenty men were chosen for it; they took little goods with them, but more arms and provisions. The morning that Eric left home, he took a little chest, and therein was gold and silver; he hid this property and then went on his way; but when he had gone a little distance he fell from his horse, broke his ribs and hurt his shoulder, and said, 'Ah yes!'

After this accident he sent word to his wife that she should take up the property that he had hidden; he had now, said he, been punished for hiding it. Then they sailed out of Eric's fjord with gladness, and thought well of their prospects. They drifted about the sea for a long time and did not arrive where they desired. They came in sight of Iceland, and they had also birds from Ireland; their s.h.i.+p was carried eastwards over the ocean. They came back in the autumn and were then weary and very worn. And they came in the late autumn to Eric's fjord.

Then said Eric: 'In the summer we sailed from the fjords more light-hearted than we now are, and yet we now have good reason to be so.' Thorstein said: 'It would be a worthy deed to take charge of the men who are homeless, and to provide them with lodging.' Eric answered: 'Thy words shall be followed.' All those who had no other place of abode were now allowed to accompany Eric and Thorstein.

Afterwards they took land and went home."

In the autumn (1001) Thorstein celebrated his marriage with Thorbjorm Vivilsson's daughter Gudrid, at Brattalid, and it "went off well." They afterwards went home to Thorstein's property on the Lysefjord, which was the southernmost fjord in the Western Settlement; probably that which is now called Fiskerfjord (near Fiskernes) in about 63 N. lat. There Thorstein died during the winter of an illness (scurvy ?) which put an end to many on the property, and Gudrid next summer returned to Eric, who received her well. Her father died also, and she inherited all his property.

[Sidenote: Karlsevne in Greenland]

That autumn (1002) Thorfinn Karlsevne came from Iceland to Eric's fjord in Greenland, with one s.h.i.+p and forty men. He was on a trading voyage, and was looked upon as a skilful sailor and merchant, was of good family and rich in goods. Together with him was Snorre Thorbrandsson. Another s.h.i.+p, with Bjarne Grimolfsson and Thorhall Gamlason and a crew likewise of forty men, had accompanied them from Iceland.

"Eric rode to the s.h.i.+ps, and others of the men of the country, and there was a friendly agreement between them. The captains bade Eric take what he wished of the cargo. But Eric in return showed great generosity, in that he invited both these crews home to spend the winter at Brattalid. This the merchants accepted and went with Eric."

"The merchants were well content in Eric's house that winter, but when Yule was drawing nigh, Eric began to be less cheerful than was his wont." When Karlsevne asked: "Is there anything that oppresses thee, Eric?" and tried to find out the reason of his being so dispirited, it came out that it was because he had nothing for the Yule-brew; and it would be said that his guests had never had a worse Yule than with him. Karlsevne thought there was no difficulty about that; they had malt, and meal, and corn in the s.h.i.+ps, and thereof, said he, "thou shalt have all thou desirest, and make such a feast as thy generosity demands." Eric accepted this. "The Yule banquet was prepared, and it was so magnificent that men thought they had scarcely ever seen so fine a feast."

Even if the tale is unhistorical, it gives a glimpse of the life and the hard conditions in Greenland; they only had grain occasionally when a s.h.i.+p arrived; for the most part they lived on what they caught, and when that failed, as we are told was the case in 999, there was famine. But to be without the Yule-brew was a misfortune to an Icelander; nevertheless we learn from the Foster-brothers' Saga that "Yule-drink was rare in Greenland," and that a man might become famous by holding a feast, as did Thorkel, the grandson of Eric the Red, in 1026.

After Yule, Karlsevne was married to Eric's daughter-in-law, Gudrid.

"The feast was then prolonged, and the marriage was celebrated. There was great merry-making at Brattalid that winter; there was much playing at draughts, and making mirth with tales and much else to divert the company."

[Ill.u.s.tration: From an Icelandic MS. (Jonsbok), fifteenth century]

[Sidenote: Karlsevne's voyage to Wineland]

There was a good deal of talk about going to look for Wineland the Good, and it was said that it might be a fertile country. The result was that Karlsevne and Snorre got their s.h.i.+p ready to search for Wineland in the summer. Bjarne and Thorhall also joined the expedition with their s.h.i.+p and the crew that had accompanied them. Besides these, there came on a third s.h.i.+p a man named Thorvard--married to Eric the Red's illegitimate daughter Freydis, who also went--and Thorhall, nicknamed Veidemand (the Hunter).

"He had been on hunting expeditions with Eric for many summers and was a man of many crafts. Thorhall was a big man, dark and troll-like; he was well on in years, obstinate, silent and reserved in everyday life, but crafty and slanderous, ever rejoicing in evil. He had had little to do with the faith since it came to Greenland. Thorhall had little friends.h.i.+p for his fellow men, yet Eric had long a.s.sociated with him.

He was in the same s.h.i.+p with Thorvald and Thorvard, because he had wide knowledge of the uninhabited regions. They had the s.h.i.+p that Thorbjorn [Vivilsson] had brought out to Greenland [and that Thorstein Ericson had used for his unlucky voyage two years before]. Most of those on board that s.h.i.+p were Greenlanders. On their s.h.i.+ps there were altogether forty men over a hundred."[298]

Eric the Red and Leif were doubtless supposed to have a.s.sisted both actively and with advice during the fitting-out, even though they would not take part in the voyage. It is mentioned later that they gave Karlsevne two Scottish runners that Leif had received from King Olaf Tryggvason.

The three s.h.i.+ps sailed first "to the Western Settlement and thence to Bjarneyjar" (the Bear Islands).[299] The most natural explanation of the saga making them begin their expedition by sailing in this direction (to the north-west and north)--whereas the land they were in search of lay to the south-west or south--may be that the Icelandic saga-writer (of the thirteenth century), ignorant of the geography of Greenland, a.s.sumed that the Western Settlement must lie due west of the Eastern; and as the voyagers were to look for countries in the south-west, he has made them begin by proceeding to the farthest point he had heard of on this coast, Bjarneyjar, so that they might have a prospect of better luck than Thorstein, who had sailed out from Eric's fjord. When it is said that Thorhall the Hunter accompanied Eric's son and son-in-law because of his wide knowledge of the uninhabited regions, it must be the regions beyond the Western Settlement that are meant, and the saga-writer must have thought that these extended westward or in the direction of the new countries. It must also be remembered that in the spring and early summer there is frequently drift-ice off the Eastern Settlement, from Cape Farewell for a good way north-westward along the coast. The course would then naturally lie to the north-west of this ice--that is, towards the Western Settlement. But it may also be supposed that they had to begin by going northward to get seals and provision themselves with food and oil (fuel), which might be necessary for a long and unknown voyage. This explanation is, however, less probable.

From Bjarneyjar they put to sea with a north wind. They were at sea, according to the saga, for two "dgr."[300]

"There they found land, and rowed along it in boats, and examined the country, and found there [on the sh.o.r.e] many flat stones so large that two men might easily lie stretched upon them sole to sole. There were many white foxes there.[301] They gave the land a name and called it 'h.e.l.luland.'"

It may be the coast of Labrador that is here intended, and not Baffin Land, since the statement that they sailed thither with a north wind must doubtless imply that the coast lay more or less in a southerly and not in a westerly direction from Bjarneyjar. From h.e.l.luland

"they sailed for two 'dgr' towards the south-east and south, and then a land lay before them, and upon it were great forests and many beasts. An island lay to the south-east off the land, and there they found a polar bear,[302] and they called the island 'Bjarney'; but the country they called 'Markland' [i.e., Wood-land] on account of the forest."

The name Markland suits Newfoundland best; it had forests down to the sea-sh.o.r.e when it was rediscovered about 1500, and even later.

When they had once more sailed for

"two 'dgr' they sighted land and sailed under the land. There was a promontory where they first came. They cruised along the sh.o.r.e, which they kept to starboard [i.e., to the west]. It was without harbours and there were long strands and stretches of sand. They went ash.o.r.e in boats, and found there on the promontory a s.h.i.+p's keel, and called it 'Kjalarnes' [i.e., Keel-ness]; they also gave the strands a name and called them 'Furustrandir' [i.e., the marvel-strands or the wonderful, strange strands], because it took a long time to sail past them."[303]

This may apply, as Storm points out, to the eastern side of Cape Breton Island; but in that case they must have steered west-south-west from the south-eastern promontory of Markland (Newfoundland). Kjalarnes must then be Cape Breton itself. That they should have found a s.h.i.+p's keel there sounds strange; if this is not an invention we must suppose that it was driven ash.o.r.e from a wreck; no doubt it happened often enough that vessels were lost on the voyage to Greenland. When Eric, according to the Landnamabok, sailed with twenty-five s.h.i.+ps, many of them were lost.

Wreckage would be carried by the currents from Greenland into the Labrador current, and by this southward past Markland. But it is more probable that the origin of the name was entirely different; that, for example, the promontory had the shape of a s.h.i.+p's keel, and that the account of the keel found has been developed much later.[304] This is confirmed by the fact that the "Gronlendinga-attr" gives a wholly different explanation of the name from that in Eric's Saga.

South of Furustrandir "the land was indented by bays ('vagskorit'), and they steered the s.h.i.+ps into a bay." Here they landed the two Scots (the man "Haki" and the woman "Hekja") whom Karlsevne had received from Leif and Eric, and who ran faster than deer. They "bade them run southward and examine the condition of the country, and return before three 'dgr' were past. They had such garments as they called 'kiafal'

[or 'biafal']; it was made so that there was a hood above, and it [i.e., 'the kiafal'] was open at the sides, and without sleeves, and caught up between the legs, fastened there with a b.u.t.ton and a loop; otherwise they were bare. They cast anchor and lay there a while; and when three days were past they came running down from the land, and one of them had grapes in his hand, the other self-sown wheat.

Karlsevne said that they seemed to have found a fertile country."

They then sailed on until they came to a fjord, into which they steered the s.h.i.+ps.

"There was an island outside, and round the island strong currents.

They called it 'Straumsey.' There were so many birds there that one could hardly put one's foot between the eggs. They held on up the fjord, and called it 'Straumsfjord,' and unloaded the s.h.i.+ps and established themselves there. They had with them all kinds of cattle, and sought to make use of the land. There were mountains there, and fair was the prospect. They did nothing else but search out the land.

There was much gra.s.s. They stayed there the winter, and it was very long; but they had not taken thought of anything, and were short of food, and their catch decreased. Then they went out to the island, expecting that there they might find some fis.h.i.+ng or something might drift up [i.e., a whale be driven ash.o.r.e ?]. There was, however, little to be caught for food, but their cattle throve there. Then they made vows to G.o.d that He might send them something to eat; but no answer came so quickly as they had hoped." The heathen Thorhall the Hunter then disappeared for three "dgr," and doubtless held secret conjurations with the red-bearded One (i.e., Thor). A little later a whale was driven ash.o.r.e, and they ate of it, but were all sick. When they found out how things were with Thorhall and Thor, "they cast it out over the cliff and prayed to G.o.d for mercy. They then made a catch of fish, and there was no lack of food. In the spring [1004] they entered Straumsfjord and had catches from both lands [i.e., both sides of the fjord], hunting on the mainland, eggs on the island, and fish in the sea."

This description gives a good insight both into the Nors.e.m.e.n's manner of equipping themselves for voyages to unknown countries, and into their superst.i.tion.

It looks as if a dissension now arose between the wayward Thorhall the Hunter and the rest, since he wanted to look for Wineland to the north of Furustrandir, beyond Kjalarnes.