38 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



the Skrrellings so much, that, as the Saga says, "they carried away 

 their winnings in their bellies." Snch is the account that we have of 

 the Skra^llings in the Sagas relating to America. These peoj^le do not 

 appear to be referred to again in connection with the voyages, though a 

 geographical fragment mentions "Helluland," which is called "Skrcel- 

 lings Land," not far from Vinland the Good.* 



The delineation of the people found by the Icelanders in the mild 

 regions of the Atlantic coast is brief, but it is sufficient to fix their 

 character. Rafn, when editing the original Icelandic records, pointed 

 out the fact that these people agree with the Esquimau and Green- 

 lander of to-day. The critic who supposed that the Saga writer should 

 have described a people with the characteristics of the red-man fan- 

 cied that he found an error indicating their unhistorical character. 

 The Indian, however, was a late comer ui^on the extreme eastern 

 border of North America. Indeed, the oldest distribution of the 

 American races does not antedate the tenth century, and therefore the 

 appearance of the Skrcelling in the Sagas, instead of the Indian, is 

 precisely what the truth required. 



It is hardly necessary to restate the points in the description ; for, 

 instead of the tall red-man found by later voyagers on the coast, so 

 gentle, kindly disposed, generous, and hospitable traits wellnigh 

 obliterated by subsequent contact with the Avhites we have men of 

 short stature, bushy hair, rude, fierce, and devoid of every grace. 

 Also, here in a country covered with fine forest-trees, the principal 

 article of value to the Icelander, the people made their boats of skin 

 like the Greenland kyjaclc, instead of the bark or the trunks of trees, 

 as often practiced by the Indians, and described by Champlain.f The 

 men described in the Saga evidently did not know the use of metals, 

 and they despised the axe when it was found that it would not cut 

 stone. In the fight with Karlsefne's men they slew Thorbrand with a 

 flat stone {hellusteinn), perhaps a celt, which they " drove into his 

 head," thus illustrating, possibly, the rude warfare of the glacial 

 man. Nor should it be forgotten that, while even in the dead of 

 "winter the New England Indians wore almost no clothing, these men, 

 encountered by the Icelanders were clad in furs after the spring had 

 set in. 



Another resemblance is found in the fact that both the Skri^ellings 

 and the Greenlanders used slings, the latter being mentioned by Davis, 

 the first European who visited Greenland in modern times. But a still 

 more valuable fact is mentioned by this writer in connection with the 

 voyage of 1585. It has already been stated that, when in Vinland, 

 Karlsefne found that the Skrsellings used to indicate peaceful inten- 

 tions by pointing certain implements toward the sun, while, when 

 turned from the sun, they indicated war. Thus in Greenland the 

 natives, to indicate peaceful intentions, pointed to the sun with their 

 * " Pre-Columbian Discovery," etc., p. 49. f " ffiuvres," tome iii, pp. 59, 60. 



