WINELAND THE GOOD 



continent, the other as islands. It cannot, therefore, have been Isidore's con- 

 tinental dogma that caused them both to assume the country to be African. It 

 seems to me that no other explanation is here possible than that given above. 



It might be objected to the view that " Vinland hit 

 GoSa " originally meant " Insulae Fortunatae," that several 

 sorts of wild grape are found on the east coast of North 

 America; it might therefore be believed that the Green- 

 landers really went so far and discovered these. Storm, 

 indeed, assumed that the wild vine grew on the outer east 

 coast of Nova Scotia; but he is unable to adduce any certain 

 direct evidence of this, although he gives [1887, p. 48] a 

 statement of the Frenchman Nicolas Denys in 1672, which 

 points to the wild vine having grown in the interior of the 

 country.^ He also mentions several statements of recent 

 date that v/ild-growing vines of one kind or another have 

 been observed near Annapolis and in the interior of the 

 country, but none on the south-east coast. Prof. N. Wille 

 informs me that in the latest survey of the flora of North 

 America " Vitis vulpina '* is specified as occurring in Nova 

 Scotia; but nothing is said as to locality. The American 

 botanist, M. L. Fernald [19 10, pp. 19 f.], on the other hand, 

 thinks that the wild vine, " Vitis vulpina," is not certainly 

 known to the east of the valley of the St. John in New Bruns- 

 wick (see map, Vol. I, p. 335), where it is rare and only found in 

 the interior. From this we may conclude that even if it should 

 really be found on the outer south-east coast of Nova Scotia, 

 it must have been very rare there, and could not possibly 

 have been a conspicuous feature which might have been 

 especially mentioned along with the wheat. But even if we 

 might assume that the saga was borne out to this extent, it 

 would be one of those accidental coincidences which often occur. 

 It must, of course, be admitted to be a strange chance that 

 the world of classical legend should have fertile lands or 

 islands far in the western ocean, and that Isidore should 



1 Storm thinks that Sir William Alexander's " red wineberries " from the 

 south-east coast of Nova Scotia (in 1624) would be grapes, but this is uncertain. 



3 



