16 



Nr. li. C. H. OsTENFEi.n: 



couiitries, which did most ol" tlie tranic with the Greenland 

 oolonies, Ihus also supplying llu- hav and plaiil seeds 

 as well. 



liiil tlu> rallle and slicej) laUen on board al llu- begin- 

 ning ol llu' onlward voyage were nol inlended only to serve 

 as fond on thi' voyage; thcy were also kept on shorc in 

 Greenland. Thi' breeding of caltle (cows and sheej)) was, 

 as shown in detail l)y Finnhh Jonsson (189M), an iin- 

 porlant nieans of livelihood for the Norsenien in Green- 

 land. "Kongespejlel" [The King's Mirror] also states that 

 "nuich butter and cheese is made". The ruins found also 

 show that the garths, or homesteads, were surrounded by 

 fenced yards (lun) as in Iceland. 



Altogether then, there are many indirect proot's thai Ihere 

 was abundant opportunity of plant seeds being inlroduced 

 from Europe (especially Iceland and Norway) into Green- 

 land, and there are in Ihe present flora several species 

 (e. g. Vicia cracca) which have kept strictly to the neigh- 

 bourhood of the old homesteads, especially al Igaliko, the 

 old Bishop's Hall of Gardar. It has often been pointed out 

 that these few piants owe their presence in the country to the 

 ancient colonisation, and of Ihis there can be no doubl. 

 11 is more diflicull to dccide in Ihe case of species which 

 found themselves more at home in Greenland, and have, 

 in the intervening centuries, been able lo spread and fuse 

 with the original vegetation; in such inslances, we can only 

 form more or less warranled suppositions. 



The possible "old Norse planls" should preferably show 

 a range of distribution answering to the areas of the old 

 colonies, which are now, as above noted, \\i'll delined 

 (Danikl Bhui'n). Furthermore, they must bc species living 

 in Iceland or Norway, and linally, shoidd preferably occur 



