IN NORTHERN MISTS 



1377 the last officiating bishop of Gardar died, and six 

 years later the news reached Norway, that is, 109 years before 

 the date of the letter. This agrees with what is said about 

 the altar-cloth being used a hundred years before by the last 

 priest (" ultimo sacerdote," perhaps meaning here " bishop " ?) 

 at the administration of the sacrament. The assertion 

 that it was not until August that Greenland became free of ice 

 and that voyages could be made thither also shows a certain 



A portion of Gourmont's map of 1548, with the north-west coast 

 of Iceland and the rocky island of Hvitserk 



local knowledge; for it was not till late in the summer, usually 

 August, that "Knarren" was accustomed to sail from Bergen 

 to Greenland. 



Whether news had recently arrived from Greenland at 

 the time the letter was written does not appear from the 

 words of the letter, and cannot, in my opinion, be inferred 

 therefrom, though Storm [1892, p. 401] thought it could. 

 The only thing which might point to this is the story of the 

 altar-cloth being exhibited once a year; but this, of course, 

 may be a tradition which goes back to the last ship, eighty 

 years before. 

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