526 DISCOVERY OF V IN I, AND. 



out of my mouth, and that I shall live there for a while. You 

 shall bury me there, and put crosses at my head and feet, and 

 henceforward call it Krossanes ' (Cross Cape). Greenland was 

 then Christian, though Eirek, the Red, died before the intro- 

 duction of Christianity. Thorvald died, and they carried out 

 his wish, and then went to their other companions, 1 and told 

 each other the tidings they knew. They lived there that 

 winter, and took grapes and vines on board with them. In 

 the spring they made ready for Greenland, and landed in 

 Eireksfjord, and had great tidings to tell Leif " (Flateyjarbok, 

 i. 541). 



" Thorstein, son of Eirek, the Red, desired to go to Vinland 

 to fetch the body of his brother Thorvald. He made the same 

 ship ready, and took on board picked men as to strength and 

 size, twenty-five men, and his wife, Gudrid. They sailed to 

 sea when ready, and the land disappeared. They were thrown 

 hither and thither all the summer, and knew not where they 

 were. When a week had passed of the winter they landed in 

 Lysufjord, in the western settlement of Greenland. Thorstein 

 searched for houses, and got lodgings for all his men, while he 

 and his wife had no lodgings. They two remained on board 

 for some nights. Christianity was then still young in Green- 

 land." 



Thorstein the Black, a heathen man, offered them lodgings. 



" Early in the winter a disease came among the men of 

 Thorstein, and many of them died. He had coffins made for 

 the corpses, and had them brought on board and prepared, 

 'for I want to take them all to Eireksfjord in the summer,' 

 said he. After a short time the disease came into the house 

 of Thorstein the Black, and first his wife Grimhild fell 

 sick. She was very large and strong, like men, but never- 

 theless the disease laid her up. Soon after Thorstein Eireks- 

 son fell sick, and they were in their beds, and Grimhild 

 died. When she was dead, Thorstein the Black walked 

 out of the room to fetch a board, and lay the body on it. 

 Gudrid said : ' Do not be long away, my good Thorstein.' He 

 answered he would not. Thorstein Eireksson said : ' Strange 

 does our housewife look now, for she rises on her elbow, draws 

 up her feet, and searches for her shoes with her hand.' Then 

 Thorstein came in, Grimhild lay down, and every timber of 

 the room creaked. Thorstein made a coffin for the body, took 

 it away, and prepared it. He was large and strong, but needed 

 it to take it away. Thorstein Eireksson's illness grew worse, 



1 I.e., who had been left at the booths. 



