ESKIMO AND SKR^LING 



it, then, likely that the names attributed to them should be any more genuine? 

 W. Thalbitzer [1905, pp. 190 f.] explains these names as misunderstood Es- 

 kimo sentences, and supposes them to mean: " Vaetilldi," "but do wait a mo- 

 ment"; " Vaegi," "wait a moment"; " Avalldamon," "towards the uttermost"; 

 " Avaldidida " " the uttermost, do you mean? " As we are told that the two Skrae- 

 ling boys learned Icelandic, Thalbitzer must suppose the men to have mis- 

 interpreted these sentences as names during the homeward voyage from Mark- 

 land to Greenland, and then he must make the Skraelings die shortly after- 

 wards, before the misunderstanding could be explained. After that these 

 meaningless names must have lived in practically unaltered form in oral tradi- 

 tion for several hundred years, until they were put into writing at the close of 

 the thirteenth century. It appears to me that such explanations of the words 

 as are attempted on p. 20 have a greater show of probability. In addition, as 

 pointed out in the same place, the " bearded " Skrseling and their " sinking into 

 the earth " are mythical features which are associated with these Skraelings. 



While the points that have been mentioned are incapable of proving any- 

 thing about Eskimo, there are other features in the saga's description of the 

 Skraelings of Wineland which would rather lead us to think of the Indians: 

 that they should attack so suddenly in large numbers without any cause being 

 mentioned seems altogether unlike the Eskimo, but would apply better to 

 warlike Indians. We are told that the Skraelings attacked with loud cries; this 

 is usual in Indian warfare, but seems less like the Eskimo. During the fight 

 with the Skraelings Thorbrand Snorrason was found dead with a " hellustein " 

 in his head. Whether this means a fiat stone or a stone ax (as Storm has 

 translated it [1887, 1899]), it is in any case not a typical Eskimo weapon; while 

 a stone ax used as a missile might be Indian. But as stated above, there is 

 too much romance and myth about the whole tale of the Wineland voyages to 

 allow of any certain value being attached to such details. I have already (p. 

 23) maintained that the description of hostilities with the natives, in which the 

 Greenlanders were worsted, cannot be derived from Greenland, but may be 

 due to something actually experienced. In that case this, too, points rather 

 to the Indians.! 



William Thalbitzer [1904, pp. 20 f.] has adduced, as a possible evidence of 

 the more southerly extension of the Eskimo in former times, the fact that the 



and those in Greenland, it is strange that no notice has been taken of points of 

 difference such as this, that the Skraelings in Markland are said to dwell in 

 caves, while the Greenlanders must have known, at any rate from the dwelling- 

 sites they had found, that the Skraelings in Greenland lived in houses and tents. 

 1 If we might suppose (which is not probable) that the missile mentioned on 

 p. 7 note, from a myth of the Algonkin Indians has any connection with the 

 Skraelings' black ball which frightened Karlsevne's people, this would be an- 

 other feature pointing to knowledge of the Indians. Hertzberg's demonstra- 

 tion that the Indian game of lacrosse is probable the Norse " knattleikr " (pp. 

 38 f.) may point in the same direction; for it seems less probable that the 

 transmission, if it occurred, should have been brought about by the Eskimo. 



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