VOYAGES IN THE POLAR SEA 



The old Norwegians imagined Hafsbotn (or Trollabotn) ^ as 

 the end (" botn ") of the ocean to the north of Norway and 

 north-east of Greenland, as far as one could sail to the north in 

 the Polar Sea. But Svalbard lay, according to the Landnamabok, 

 in the north of Hafsbotn; and if one tries to sail northward 

 in summer time, either from Langanes, the north-east point 

 of Iceland, or from Norway, endeavoring to keep clear of 

 the ice, it will be difficult to avoid making Spitzbergen. If 

 one followed the edge of the ice northward from Iceland in 

 July, it would infallibly bring one there. Such a voyage 

 would correspond to the sailing directions from Snaefellsnes 

 when they steered west to the edge of the ice off Greenland, 

 and then followed it south-westward round Hvarf. On the 

 other hand, it would be impossible to arrive at the northern 

 east coast of Greenland without venturing far into the ice, 

 and it is not likely that the ancient Norsemen would have 

 done this unless they knew that there was land on the inside 

 and consequently hunting-grounds (cf. Vol. I, p. 286). No doubt 

 one might make Jan Mayen; but it is difficult to suppose 

 that this little island should have been given such a name, 

 which is only suited to the coast of a larger country. The 

 conclusion that Svalbard was not the northern east coast of 

 Greenland seems also justified from the latter being mentioned 

 and a "dcEgr's" sail is thus the distance sailed in a day or in a night. One 

 might, perhaps, be tempted to think that here, where it is a question of sailing 

 over the open sea, and where it would therefore be impossible to anchor for 

 the night, as on the coast, a " doegr's " sail might mean the distance covered in 

 the whole twenty-four hours [cf. G. Isachsen, 1907] ; but it appears from a pas- 

 sage in St. Olaf's Saga [in " Heimskringla "], among others, that this was not 

 the usual way of reckoning; for we read there [cap. 125] that Thorarinn 

 Nevjolfsson sailed in eight " dcegr " from More in Norway to Eyrar in south- 

 western Iceland. Thorarinn went straight to the Althing and there said that 

 "he had parted from King Olaf four nights before. . . ." The eight "dcegr" 

 mean, therefore, four days' and four nights' sailing. Precisely the same thing 

 appears from the sailing directions given above (p. 166) from Ivar Bardsson's 

 description, where four " doegrs' " sea is taken as two days' and two nights' sail. 

 1 Sometimes also called Nordbotn (cf. Vol. I, pp. 262, 303), perhaps mostly 

 in fairy-tales. This form of the name is still extant in a fairy-tale from Fyres- 

 dal and Eidsborg about " Riketor Kraemar " [H. Ross in " Dolen," 1869, vii. 

 No. 23]. 



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