42 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



sequence of them, and of his constant broils and feuds with his neigh- 

 bors, was banished and outlawed. As the world Avas too small for 

 him, he was tempted to try to discover and explore the new land in 

 the West, of the existence of which there were rumors. He therefore 

 sailed west, and discovered an ice-bound country, which he called 

 " Greenland," because, quoth he, " people will be attracted to it if the 

 land has a good name." 



This intended fraud upon emigrants was an example that was fol- 

 lowed in his own day, as well as in later times, for an imaginative 

 chronicler subsequently asserted that " there is the best of wheat in 

 Greenland." 



In a. d. 994 Eric and his son Leif, having heard of new lands far- 

 ther west having been sighted by Bjarne, made up their minds to ex- 

 plore them, and for that purpose bought and fitted out Bjarne's ves- 

 sel. But Eric while on his way to the port was thrown by his horse, 

 and took his fall as an omen that he was not destined to give any 

 more Greenlands to the world, and he therefore allowed Leif to sail 

 without him., But, from what we know of his proclivities, we may be 

 quite sure that he had a wonderful name already coined for that neAV 

 land Vinland the Good. Could words picture a more attractive bait 

 for emigrants '? 



How much of the story of the subsequent exploration of Vinland 

 by his son Leif is purely imaginary it is difficult to say. All that re- 

 lates to ship-loads of grapes, self-sown fields of wheat, and the genial 

 semi-tropical winter climate of that favored land, we may dismiss as 

 myths or exaggerations. Where, then, was Vinland situated ? 



We have one test, viz., the length of the shortest day there. Pro- 

 fessor Thorfaeus, who wrote at the beginning of the last century, found 

 that it indicated 49 north, i. e., the latitude of Newfoundland, Avhich 

 was probably very near the mark, for, though Rafn contends for the 

 latitude of Rhode Island, 41 24' 10" north, the latest authority, the 

 Icelandic-English Dictionary by Gudbrand Vigfasson (Oxford, 1874), 

 makes the hours of sunrise and sunset 8.30 a. m. and 3.30 p. m. (instead 

 of 7.30 a. m. and 4.30 p. m., as Rafn contends), and therefore carries 

 back Vinland to Greenland. 



There is no part of the coast from Greenland to Rhode Island 

 which has not been pounced upon by some writer as the site of Vin- 

 land. 



We can not depend on the sailing directions of the Sagas, and Cap- 

 tain Graah has shown that, preserved for a long time only by oral 

 traditions, they have been changed to suit the fancy of the different 

 persons to whom we are indebted for their preservation. We have, 

 however, besides the length of the shortest day, another guide, viz., that 

 the natives met at Vinland were Eskimos, or a race resembling them in 

 their boats, etc. such as the Naskapi, or " Mountaineers," who are 

 found occasionally in Newfoundland. The advocates of the Rhode 



