CLAUDIUS CLAVUS 



it.^ This is notably the case i£ we confine ourselves to Bjornbo 

 and Petersen's reconstruction of the coast after the text of 

 Clavus, from which it appears plainly enough that there are the 

 same number of bays as on the Medici map; they are closest 

 together near the southern point of the country; then come 

 two larger bays to the north, then a very broad bay, longer 

 than the two others together, and then a straight coast-line 



Map constructed by Dr. Bjornbo after Clavus's later descrip- 

 tion (the Vienna text). [Bjornbo and Petersen, 1904, pi. 11.] 

 to the north of that (cf. p. 236). The east coast of Greenland 

 has in part been provided with corresponding bays, although 

 this coast is almost straight on the Medici map; but this 

 answers to the north coast of Scandinavia on the Nancy map, 

 having very nearly the same indentations as the south coast. 

 In taking the Medici map as the foundation of Clavus's Green- 

 land coast, we also have a natural explanation of the relation 

 between his distribution of names on the east coast and the 



1 That the delineation of this coast is not based upon personal examination, 

 either by Clavus himself or by any possible informant, is also shown by the 

 fact that the coast has not a single real name. Even if we suppose that Cla- 

 vus, or his possible informant, during the voyage along this coast, had been so 

 unfortunate as not to meet with a single one of the Norse inhabitants who 

 might have communicated names, we cannot very well assume that the crew 

 of the ship on which the voyage was made were totally unacquainted with 

 Greenland; they must certainly have had plenty of names and sea-marks. 



273 



