522 



DISCOVERY OF V INLAND. 



of interest as he had nothing to tell about them, and he was 

 somewhat blamed for it. He became the Jarl's hirdman, and 

 went to Greenland the following summer. Now there was 

 much talk about land discoveries. Leif, son of Eirek the Red, 

 of Brattahlid, went to Bjarni Herjulfssou and bought his ship, 

 and gathered together thirty-five sailors. He asked his father 

 Eirek to lead the expedition as before. Eirek declined it, saying 

 he was too old, and was less able to bear hardship than 

 formerly. Leif answered that even were this so he would still 

 have with him more luck than the rest of his kinsmen. Eirek 

 yielded, and when ready they rode from home. Not far from 

 the ship Eirek's horse stumbled, 1 and he fell and hurt his foot. 

 Then he said : ' It cannot be my fate to be the discoverer of 

 any other lands than the one on which we now live. I will 

 follow you no further.' Eirek went home to Brattahlid and 

 Leif with his thirty-five companions went 011 board. There 

 was a man from the south with them called Tyrker. When 

 they had made their ship ready they set out to sea. The first 

 land they found was that which Bjarni had found last. They 

 sailed towards it, cast anchor, put out a boat and went ashore, 

 but saw 110 grass. The whole interior consisted of glaciers, 

 and the land between them and the sea was like a plain of ice, 

 and this seemed to them barren of good things. Leif said : 

 ' Now we have not acted with this land like Bjarni, who did 

 not come ashore. I will give a name to the land and call it 

 Helluland. 2 Then they went on board and sailed out to sea, 

 and found another land. They approached it, cast anchor, 

 pushed off a boat, and went ashore. This land was flat and 

 forest-clad, and the beach was low, and covered with white sand 

 in many places. Leif said : ' This land shall be named after 

 its properties, and be called Markland (Woodland). They then 

 went on board again as quickly as they could. They sailed 

 thence out to sea with a north-east wind for two days before 

 they saw land. They sailed towards it, and came to an island 

 lying north of it, and went ashore in fine weather and looked 

 round. They found dew on the grass, and touched it with 

 their hands, and put it into their mouths, and it seemed to 

 them they had never tasted anything so sweet as this dew. 

 Then they went on board and sailed into the channel, which 

 was between the island and the cape, which ran north from the 

 main-land. They passed the cape sailing in a westerly 

 direction. There the w r ater was very shallow, and their ship 

 went aground, and at ebb-tide the sea was far out from the 

 ship. But they were so anxious to get ashore that they could 



1 Cf. Harald Hardradi at Stamford- 

 bridge. 



Hella = a plain of ice, a cover of 



ice. 



