ESKIMO AND SKR^LING 



if the latter, after the arrival of the Icelanders in the country, 

 had lived scattered along the southern part of the coast, there 

 may thus have been little contact between them and the 

 Norsemen. 



From the statements cited earlier (Vol. I, pp. 308 f.) about 

 the NorSrsetur expeditions we may conclude that the Green- 

 landers came across Skraelings in those northern districts. 

 It is true that the expression " Skraslingja vistir " has 

 usually been interpreted as Skraeling sites or abandoned 

 dwelling-places; but in this account a distinction is made 

 between " Skraslingja vistir " and " Skraslingja vistir forn- 

 ligar." The latter are old dwelling-places that have been 

 abandoned, while the former must be dwelling-places still in use. 

 In the account of the voyage to the north, about 1267, we read 

 that at the farthest north there were found some old 

 Skrasling dwelling-places ("vistir fornligar"), while farther 

 south, on some islands, were found some " Skraelingja 

 vistir" — that is, inhabited ones. In agreement with this it is 

 also stated of the men who came from the north in 1266 that 



*' they saw no * Skraelingja vistir ' except in [i.e., farther north than in] Kroks- 

 fjarc^arheit?r, and therefore it is thought that they [the Skraelings] must by 

 that way have the shortest distance to travel wherever they come from. 

 From this one can hear [adds Bjorn Jonsson] how carefully the Greenlanders 

 took note of the Skraelings' places of abode at that time." 



It is clear enough that this refers to dwelling-places in 

 use and not to old sites, for this is absolutely proved by the 

 expression that "they have the shortest distance to travel 

 . . ."; and we thus see that the Skraelings were found in 

 and in the neighborhood of Kroksfjord,^ but on the other 

 hand not in the extreme north, where only old sites left by 

 them were found;- and from this the conclusion was drawn 



1 It is striking how accurately this agrees with what we have arrived at in 

 an entirely different way with regard to the places inhabited by the Eskimo 

 in ancient times (see p. 73). 



- From this it cannot, of course, be concluded that they were not living 

 there too at that time; it only shows that the voyagers did not meet with them 



83 



