94 FOLLOW THE WHALE 



It is a strange fact that this great continent, once it had been dis- 

 covered by such a vigorous and expansionist race as the Norse, 

 should not have been conquered and colonized, but instead lay fal- 

 low for another five centuries before it was even "discovered" by 

 the European world. How drastically, and perhaps for the better, 

 the history of the world might have been changed if this land had 

 become a great Norse empire, and had been called Erica after the 

 sturdy old whaler rather than America after a rather paltry late- 

 comer from the Mediterranean who either only sailed up the Mis- 

 sissippi or never reached the northern continent at all. From our 

 point of view, however, there is a fitting epitaph to the efforts of the 

 Norsemen in the New World which is to be found in the Flatey 

 Book — one of the most important early Icelandic documents known 

 — for it concerns the whale, in pursuit of which Eric the Red first 

 came to this continent. 



It appears that when Thorfinn Karlsefni's group reached Leif 

 Ericson's camp they were very short of provisions. To their joy a 

 large stranded whale was discovered nearby and they immediately 

 set about cutting into this and trying out the blubber. According to 

 the Flatey Book version, they also ate the meat, but all became 

 violently sick. Now, there was an inveterate old reprobate on this 

 expedition, a confirmed pagan named Thorhall, who had given as his 

 principal reason for coming along in the first place the fact that he 

 wanted above all to find wine, which was sorely lacking in Iceland 

 and Greenland. Finding that there was no wine in the new land and 

 that it was even the wrong season for the much-vaunted "grapes" 

 of America, he decided to go home. He left in a small auxiliary ship, 

 taking nine others with him, and got lost. He was finally wrecked on 

 the shores of Ireland, where he is said to have composed a poem, one 

 stanza of which is recorded as follows: 



Those who will may bide in quiet 

 Let them praise their chosen land, 

 Feasting on a whale steak diet. 

 In their home by Wonder Strand. 



