IN NORTHERN MISTS 



the letter to the Pope, about 1450, and Walkendorf, above, 

 p. 86). Whether the encounter referred to took place in 

 the Western or in the Eastern Settlement (or perhaps in 

 NorSrsetur?) we do not know. If we are to place any 

 reliance on Ivar Bardsson's description, we must suppose 

 that the Western Settlement and its fate were little known at 

 that time. But that friendly relations between the Green- 

 landers and the Eskimo may have prevailed also in the 

 Eastern Settlement later than this seems to result from the 

 account of the widely traveled Icelander Bjorn Einarsson 

 Jorsalafarer's stay in Greenland from 1385 to 1387. On a 

 voyage to Iceland in 1385 he was in distress, and was driven 

 out of his course to the Eastern Settlement with four ships, 

 which all arrived safe and well in Iceland in 1387.^ It seems 

 that there was a difficulty in feeding all these crews, but 

 Bjorn is said to have had the district of Ericsfjord handed 

 over to him while he was there (?), and received as a 

 contribution 130 fore-quarters of sheep (?). There is also 

 related a fable that on his coming there and going down 

 to the sea to look for seals he happened to witness a combat 

 between a polar bear and a walrus, "who always fight when 

 they meet,- and he afterwards killed them both." 



" Then Bjorn, the franklin, found maintenance for his people through one of 

 the largest rorquals being driven ashore, with a marked harpoon belonging to 

 Olaf of Isafjord in Iceland, and finally it was also of importance that he came 

 to the assistance of two trolls [i.e., Eskimo], a young brother and sister, on a 

 tidal skerry [i.e., one that was under water at high tide]. They swore fidelity 

 to him, and from that time he never was short of food; for they were skilled 

 in all kinds of hunting, whatever he wished or needed. What the troll girl 

 liked best was when Solveig, the mistress of the house, allowed her to carry and 

 play with her boy who had lately been born. She also wanted to have a linen 

 hood like the mistress, but made it for herself of whale's guts. They killed 

 themselves, and threw themselves into the sea from the cliffs after the ships, 

 when they were not allowed to sail with the franklin Bjorn, their beloved mas- 

 ter, to Iceland." 



1 Cf. Islandske Annaler, ed. by Storm [1888], pp. 365 f. 414 f. Gronl. hist. 

 Mind., iii. pp. 135 f., 436 f. 



2 According to my experience the bear avoids the walrus, and I have never 

 seen a sign of their fighting on land or on the ice. 



112 



