In Northern Mists Volume I Part 33

[287] As these pieces of driftwood must have been carried by the East Greenland Polar Current, this seems to show that there were already Eskimo on the east coast of Greenland at that time. As they are spoken of as something remarkable, the pieces, with wedges of tusk and bone, cannot have been due to Nors.e.m.e.n, either in Greenland or Iceland. Their being shaped with "hatchets" or "adzes" (i.e., Eskimo tools) was looked upon as strange.

[288] This pa.s.sage seems obscure, and there may be some error or misunderstanding on the part of the various copyists. But as it now stands, it may be best taken to mean that all known land and all the known glaciers had disappeared beneath the horizon; but that the "jokull" (i.e., snow-field or inland ice) which they saw to landward extended southward along the coast as far as they could see. The expression "to the south of them" is not, of course, to be interpreted as meaning due south of the spot where they were, but rather as southward along the coast, from the part off which they lay; this is confirmed by the addition "as far as they could see," which can only refer to a coast along which they were looking southward.

[289] The text has three "dgr" (and one long day's rowing), that is, three times twelve hours; but in this case it seems most natural to suppose that days are meant, and that they put in to sh.o.r.e at night.

[290] The text says that these islands were to the south of "Snaefell"; but where this was we do not know. In the Saga of Eric the Red we read that in the third summer Eric (see above, p. 267) "went as far north as 'Snaefell'

and into 'Hrafns-fjord.'" Whether this was the same Snaefell is uncertain, but quite possible; while Hrafns-fjord (Ravnsfjord) is most probably to be regarded as the Hrafnsfjord that lay in the Eastern Settlement, near Hvarf.

[291] Cf. "Gronl. hist. Mind.," iii. p. 885.

[292] Finnur Jonsson [1901, ii. p. 648] thinks it was written about 1200.

[293] Gudbrand Vigfusson [1878, i. pp. lix. f.] thinks that Eric the Red's Saga and the Flateyjarbok's "Gronlendinga-attr" are derived, in complete independence of one another, from oral traditions, which were different in the west, at Breidafjord, where the former was written, and in the north, from whence the latter is derived.

[294] We cannot here take any account of Rolf Raudesand's having come to Norway on his return from Greenland (see p. 264); for even if this were historical, which is doubtful, and even if it be referred to a date anterior to Leif's voyage, which is not certain either, he was driven there accidentally instead of to Iceland.

[295] "M surr" (properly "valbirch") was probably a veined tree, like "valbjerk," which was regarded as valuable material. "Valbjerk" is birch grown in a special way so that it becomes twisted and gnarled in structure. It is still much used in Norway, e.g., for knife-handles.

[296] I do not mention here the fourteenth-century tale (in the Flateyjarbok) of Bjarne Herjulfsson's discovery of Wineland as early as 985, since, as G. Storm has shown, this account hardly represents the tradition which in earlier times was most current in Iceland.

[297] Thorbjorn Vivilsson came from Iceland to Greenland in 999, the same summer that Leif sailed to Norway. His daughter was Gudrid, afterwards married to Thorstein Ericson. The exact statement as to which s.h.i.+p was used on this occasion, and as to those which were used later on Thorfinn Karlsevne's expedition, shows how few s.h.i.+ps there were in Greenland (and Iceland), and in what esteem the men were held who owned them. The Saga of Eric the Red seems to a.s.sume that Leif's s.h.i.+p was no longer very fit for sea after his last voyage, as we hear no more about it. This may perhaps be regarded as the reason for his not going again, if indeed there be any other reason than the patchwork character of the saga. In the Flateyjarbok, on the other hand, we are told that it was Leif's s.h.i.+p, and not Thorbjorn Vivilsson's, that was used first by Thorvald and afterwards by Thorstein.

[298] If the "great hundred" is meant, this will be 160 men.

[299] From the context it would seem probable that these islands, or this island (?), lay in the Western Settlement. If they had been near Lysefjord, Karlsevne, as Storm points out, might be supposed to go there first because his wife, Gudrid, had inherited property there from Thorstein, and there might be much to fetch thence. But the name Bjarneyjar itself points rather to some place farther north, since the southern part of the Western Settlement (the G.o.dthaab district) must have been then, as now, that part of the coast where bears were scarcest. In Bjorn Jonsson's "Gronlandiae vetus Chorographia" a "Biarney" (or "-eyiar") is mentioned, to which it was twelve days' rowing from Lysefjord [cf.

above, p. 301], and as they are the only islands (or island ?) of this name mentioned on the west coast of Greenland, there is much in favour of their being the place here alluded to.

[300] "Dgr" was half a twenty-four hours' day [cf. Rymbegla]; but whether twelve hours or twenty-four, the distance, like those given later, is impossible. They cannot have sailed from Greenland to Labrador, or even if it was Baffin Land they made, in two days of twelve hours, and scarcely in two of twenty-four. According to the MS. in the Hauksbok "they sailed thence [i.e., from Bjarneyjar] two half-days [i.e., twenty-four hours in all] to the south. Then they sighted land." It might be supposed that this should be taken to mean that the difference in lat.i.tude between this land and their starting-point was equivalent to two half-days' sail. It is true that we read in the "Rymbegla" [1780, p. 482] there are two dozen sea-leagues, or two degrees of lat.i.tude, in a "'dgr's' sailing," and two "dgr" would therefore be four degrees; but when we see later that from this first land they found to Markland (Newfoundland ?) was also only two half-days' sail, then these distances become altogether impossible [cf. G.

Storm, 1888, pp. 32-34; Reeves, 1895, p. 173]. Reeves proposes that "tvau"

might be an error for "siau" (i.e., seven; but in the MS. of the Hauksbok we have "two" in numerals: II). It is probable that this repet.i.tion of the same distance, two "dgr's" sail, in the case of each of the three new countries, has nothing to do with reality; it reminds us so much of the stereotyped legendary style that we are inclined to believe it to be borrowed from this. Storm thinks that as Iceland was supposed to lie in the same lat.i.tude as the Western Settlement, and Wineland in the same lat.i.tude as Ireland, there would naturally be the same distance between the Western Settlement and Wineland as between Iceland and Ireland, and the latter was put at five (or three ?) "dgr." However, it is not five, but six "dgr" between Bjarneyjar and Furustrandir, according to the Saga of Eric the Red [cf. Storm's ed., 1891, p. 32]. In the copy in the Hauksbok, it is true, the distance is given as two "dgr" between Bjarneyjar and h.e.l.luland, two "dgr" between this and Markland, and "thence they sailed south along the coast a long way and came to a promontory ..."; but this circ.u.mstance, that the distance is not given the third time, again inclines one to think of the fairy-tale, and here again there is no statement that the distance was five "dgr" from the Western Settlement to Kjalarnes.

[301] The arctic fox is common in Labrador, but also in the northern peninsula of Newfoundland.

[302] Polar bears come on the drift-ice to the north and east coasts of Newfoundland, but not farther south.

[303] The name comes from "fura." (warning, marvel, terror); "furu"

(gen. sing.) placed before adjectives and adverbs has the meaning of extremely ("furu gor" == extremely good). As "Furustjarna" (the wonder-star) surpa.s.sed the others in size and brilliance, these strands may be supposed to surpa.s.s others in length, and thus to be endless; but it is doubtless more likely that it means marvel-strands, where there were marvels and wonderful things. In orskog, Sunnmore, Norway, there is a place-name "Furstranda" (with long, closed "u"). K. Rygh [Norske Gaardnavne, xiii., 1908, p. 155] remarks: "The first syllable must be the tree-name "fura" [fir], though the p.r.o.nunciation with a long, closed 'u'

is strange...."

[304] In the Faroes (Kodlafjord in Straumsey) there is a "Kjal(ar)nes,"

the origin of which is attributed to a man's name: "Kjolur a Nesi" [J.

Jakobsen, 1898, p. 147]; but it is more probable that the name of the ness is the original one, and that the legend of Kjolur is later. As to place-names ending in "-nes," O. Rygh [Norske Gaardnavne, Forord og Indledning, 1898, p. 68] says: "Frequently the first part of the name is a word signifying natural conditions on or about the promontory.... Very often the first part has reference to the form of the promontory, its outline, greater or less height, length, etc.... Personal names are not usual in these combinations." In Norway names beginning with "Kjol-"

("-nes," "-berg," "-stad," "-set," etc.) are very common; they may either come from the man's name "jolfr" (which now often has the sound of "Kjolv," "Kjol," or "Kjole"), or from the Old Norse poetical word "kjoll,"

m., "s.h.i.+p," or from "kjolr" (gen. "kjalar"), "keel of a vessel, and hence, mountain-ridge" [cf. O. Rygh, Norske Gaardnavne, i., 1897, p. 269; iv. 2, ed. A. Kjaer, 1902, p. 57; vi. ed. A. Kjaer, p. 237; xiii. ed. K. Rygh, 1908, p. 344]. Our Kjalarnes above must undoubtedly be derived from the last. In Tanen, east of Berlevg, there is a "Kjolnes"; in Iceland, just north of Reykjavik, outside Faxafjord, there is a "Kjalarnes."

[305] This idea, that the land became broader towards the south, and the coast there turned eastward, must be the same that we meet with again in Icelandic geographies of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, where Wineland is thought to be connected with Africa (see later).

[306] "Svart" (i.e., black-haired and black-eyed) is the reading of Hauksbok, but the other MS. has "small."

[307] The word "Skraelingar" here occurs for the first time in this saga, and seems to be used as a familiar designation for the natives, which did not require further explanation; of this more later.

[308] Blue (bla) perhaps means rather dark or black in colour (cf.

"Blue-men" for negroes), and is often used of something uncanny or troll-like.

[309] Nothing of the kind is related in the "Gronlendinga-attr"; where, however, we are told of the first winter of Karlsevne's voyage that the cattle pastured upon the land, "but the males ('grafe') soon became difficult to manage and troublesome."

[310] Ed. by P. Munch and C. R. Unger, Christiania, 1853, p. 75.

[311] E. H. Lind: Norsk-Islandska dopnamn, p. 283. I owe it to Moltke Moe that my attention was drawn to this feature of the numerous heathen names.

[312] His wife is called "Sigrir," which is thus an exception; but in the Gronlendinga-attr she is called "Grimhildr," so that her name is uncertain. There is also mentioned a thrall "Gari," but being a thrall perhaps he could not have the name of a G.o.d.

[313] It is very curious that in the chapter-heading in the Hauksbok she is called "urir," but in the text "Gurir" [cf. Storm, 1891, p. 23; "Gronl. hist. Mind.," i. p. 392].

[314] It is perhaps more than a coincidence that in the cla.s.sical legends there were three groups of islands, the Gorgades, the Hesperides and the Insulae Fortunatae, to the west of Africa. Marcia.n.u.s Capella says that it was two days' sail to the Gorgades, then came the Hesperides, and besides the Insulae Fortunatae. Pliny also has two days to the Gorgades; beyond them there were two Hesperides; he mentions also that it was two days' sail to the Hesperian aethiopians, etc. In the Flateyjarbok's description of Bjarne Herjolfsson's voyage, which is still more purely fairy-tale, he sails for two days from the first land he found (== Wineland) to the second (== Markland), then three days to the third (== h.e.l.luland) and finally four days to Greenland.

[315] If we a.s.sume that a "dgr's" sailing is equal to two degrees of lat.i.tude or 120 nautical miles (twenty-four ancient sea-leagues), then, as shown on the map above, it will be about _four_ dgr's sail from Greenland to the nearest part of Labrador (not _two_). From Bjarneyjar to Markland should be _four_ dgr according to the saga; but the map shows that it is between _eight_ and _ten_ dgr from the Western Settlement along the coast of Labrador to Newfoundland. On the other hand, between Newfoundland and Cape Breton _two_ dgr's sail will suit better.

[316] One must, of course, be cautious of seeing myth in all such trilogies. As warning examples may be mentioned, that the Norwegians settled in Hjaltland (Shetland), Orkney, and the Suderoer (Hebrides); they discover the Faroes, thence Iceland, and then Greenland, in the same way as they are said from the last-named to have discovered h.e.l.luland, Markland and Wineland. On the east coast of Greenland there were three glaciers, etc. But in Eric's Saga the triads are so numerous and sometimes so peculiar, and the saga proves to be made up to such an extent of loans, that one is disposed to regard the number three as derived from mythical poetry.

[317] Cf. Unger's edition, Christiania, 1862, p. 292.

[318] Cf. also Joshua's two spies, who by the advice of Rahab the harlot concealed themselves in the mountains for three days, after which they descended and came to Joshua.

[319] Cf. Andreas Austlid: "Sinklar-soga," p. 21 (Oslo, 1899). H. P. S.

Krag: "Sagn samlede i Gudbrandsdalen on slaget ved Kringlen den 26de august 1612," p. 19 (Kristiania, 1838).

[320] Ivar Kleiven: "I gamle Daagaa, Forteljingo og Bygda-Minne fraa Vaagaa," p. 63 (Kristiania, 1907).

[321] We are told that he talked in "rsku." Similarity of sound may here raise the question whether he was not originally supposed to be a Turk (cf. the Wild Turks above), to which the name itself would point.

[322] It is noteworthy that we are told of this Tyrker that he was "brattleitr" (i.e. with a flat, abrupt face); this is the only pa.s.sage in Old Norse literature where this rare expression is used. The only context in which Moltke Moe has found it used in our time is in connection with the tale of the youngest son (Askeladden) in Saetersdal [cf. also H. Ross], where it is said that "Oskefis was also bra.s.slaitte" (Ross thinks it means here "stiff in his bearing, full of self-esteem, self-sufficient"). Can it be merely a coincidence that this rare word is used of none other than the fairy-tale hero who is favoured by fortune, and of the lucky finder of the wild grapes, by eating which he intoxicates himself?

[323] Professor Moltke Moe has called my attention to resemblances to these runners in the Welsh tale of "Kulhwch and Olwen." In this there occur two swift-footed knights, and Queen Gwenhwyvar's two servants (Yskyrdav and Yscudydd) "as swift as thought," and finally Arthur's wonderfully swift hound "Cavall" (in older MSS. "Cabal") [cf. Heyman, "Mabinogion," 1906, pp. 80, 82, 101, 103; J. Loth, "Les Mabinogion," i.

and ii.]. Of Tjalve it is related in the Snorra-Edda that he was "fothvatastr" (the swiftest), and in Utgard he ran a race with thought (Hugi). This trait is Irish, as will be shown by Von Sydow [1910]. It resembles the two servants ("swift as thought") in the Welsh legend. The runners in the Saga of Eric the Red are also Celtic, and this in itself points to a connection.

[324] In the "Gronlendinga-attr" the whale they found was both large and good; they cut it in pieces, and "they had no lack of food."

[325] According to information given by Professor R. Collett, the Larus argentatus is the only species of gull that occurs in Nova Scotia in sufficiently large numbers to make it seem probable that it might breed extensively on an island. Can it be possible that these close-lying eggs are derived from the white and red "scaltae" (?) which covered the Anchorites' Isle in the Navigatio Brandani (see below, p. 360)?

[326] Cf. Karlsevne's people, who on arrival rested for half a month and amused themselves.

[327] W. Brede Kristensen: "Een of twe boomen in het Paradijsverhaal."

Theologisch Tijdschrift, 1908, p. 218.

[328] Of less importance in this connection is the question how far these names of islands in the Odyssey were originally connected with islands in the Mediterranean [cf. V. Berard, 1902, i.]; in the description in the poem they have in any case become wholly mythical.

[329] C. Sall.u.s.ti Crispi Historiarum Reliquiae. Ed. Bertoldus Maurenbrecher, Lipsiae, 1891, pp. 43 f.