IN NORTHERN MISTS 



following year (1348) to Norway. This was, no doubt, with 

 the idea of getting back to Greenland, as there was no sailing 

 to that country from Iceland, and they would not trust their 

 vessel on another ocean voyage. But in Norway, where 

 they arrived at Bergen, they had a long while to wait. 

 " Knarren," the royal trading ship, seems to have been the 

 only vessel that kept up communication with Greenland at 

 that time. We know that " Knarren " returned to Bergen 

 in 1346, and did not sail again until 1355. From a royal 

 letter of 1354, which has been preserved, it appears that 

 extraordinary preparations were made for the fitting-out and 

 manning of this expedition, to prevent Christianity in Green- 

 land from " falling away." Perhaps the presence in Norway 

 of these Markland voyagers from Greenland had something to 

 do with the awakening of interest in that distant country, and 

 perhaps it is not altogether impossible that the intention was 

 not only to secure and strengthen the possessions in Greenland, 

 but also to explore the fertile countries farther west. It 

 cannot be remarked, however, that it brought about any change 

 in the fading knowledge of these valuable regions, and we hear 

 no more of them until their rediscovery at the close of the fif- 

 teenth century. 



Ebbe Hertzberg, Keeper of the Public Records of Norway, 

 has shown [1904, pp. 210 f.] that there is a remarkable and in- 

 teresting similarity between the game of lacrosse, which is played 

 by the Indians of the north-east of North America, and the An- 

 cient Norse game, "knattleikr" (i.e., ball-game), so far as we 

 know it from the sagas. It was greatly in favor in Iceland. 

 If Hertzberg is right in his supposition that the Indians may 

 have got this game from the Norsemen, this would lend strong 

 support to the view that the latter had considerable intercourse 

 with America and its natives. 



According to Hertzberg's acute interpretation of the accounts of " knatt- 

 leikr " in the various sagas, it was played on a large level piece of ground 

 (" leikvpUr," i.e., playing-ground), or on the ice, usually by many players. These 

 were divided into two sides, in such a way that those most nearly equal in 

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