VINLAMt. 



men go out on this ness and show themselves there, and Pu- 

 rest of our men shall go into the forest and make a clearing 

 for our cattle, in order to attack the foe when they come out 

 of the forest. We will also take our bull and let it walk in 

 front of us.' On one side of this place to which they NMT.- 

 going was a lake, and on the other a forest. They followed 

 Karlsefni's advice. The Skroelingjar came to the place which 

 Karlsefni intended for battle. A fight ensued, and many of 

 the Skroelingjar fell. There was a large and fine man in tin- 

 Skroelingjar host, and Karlsefni thought him to be their chief. 

 One of the Skroelingjar took an axe, looked at it for awhile, 

 aimed a blow at one of his own companions, and struck him so 

 that he fell dead at once. The large man took the axe, looked 

 at it for a while, and then threw it into the sea as far as he 

 could. Then each fled into the forest as quickly as he could, 

 and thus the fight ended. Karlsefni stayed there all that 

 winter. In the spring he declared he would not stay there any 

 longer, but wanted to go to Greenland. They made them- 

 selves ready, and took with them many good things, vines, 

 grapes, and skins. They set sail, and landed with their ship 

 safe in Eireksfjord, and stayed there during the winter" 

 (Flateyjarbok, i.). 



In another account we read : 



" At Brattahlid in Greenland (about 1006-1007) there was 

 great talk about going to look for Vinland the good, for it 

 was said that good choice of land was to be had there. It 

 went so far that two Icelanders, Karlsefni and Snorri pre- 

 pared their vessel to seek for it in the spring. With them 

 went two men before mentioned, Bjarni and Thorhall, in 

 their own ship. . . . They had altogether one hundred and 

 sixty men when they sailed from Greenland. They sailed 

 southwards for two days and then saw land, put out their 

 boat, and examined the country. They found there large 

 slabs (hella), many of them twenty-four feet wide ; there 

 were also a great many foxes. They gave it the name of 

 Helluland (Slab-land). Thence they sailed for two days, and 

 turning from south to south-east, found a wooded country 

 in which there were many animals. To the south-east of it 

 there lay an island, where they killed a bear, and therefore 

 called it Bjarney (Bear Island), and the land itself Marklaud 

 (Forestland) (Nova Scotia?)" (Thorfinn Karlsefni's Saga, 

 c. vii.). 



" One of the men who went with Thorfinn Karlsefni to 

 Vinland was called Thorhall the Hunter. He had long been 



VOL. II. 2 M 



