4 Chapter I. 



them. At a later period they discovered America, and 

 did not shrink from making a straight course over the 

 Atlantic Ocean, from Greenland to Norway. Many and 

 many a bout must they have had with the ice along 

 the coasts of Greenland in their open barks, and many a 

 life must have been lost. 



And that which impelled them to undertake these 

 expeditions was not the mere love of adventure, though 

 that is, indeed, one of the essential traits of our national 

 character. It was rather the necessity of discovering 

 new countries for the many restless beings that could 

 find no room in Norway. Furthermore, they were 

 stimulated by a real interest for knowledge. Othar, who 

 about 890 resided in England at Alfred's Court, set out 

 on an errand of geographical investigation ; or, as he 

 says himself, " he felt an inspiration and a desire to 

 learn, to know, and to demonstrate how far the land 

 stretched towards the north, and it there were any 

 regions inhabited by man northward beyond the desert 

 waste." He lived in the northernmost part of Helge- 

 land, probably at Bjarkoi, and sailed round the North 

 Cape and eastwards, even to the White Sea. 



Adam of Bremen relates of Harald Harclra.de, "'the 

 experienced king of the Northmen," that he undertook a 

 voyage out into the sea towards the north and "explored 

 the expanse of the northern ocean with his ships, but 

 darkness spread over the verge where the world falls 

 away, and he put about barely in time to escape being 



