The human transport of animals across the Northern Atlantic 155 



land in the year 1000 A.D. reached the coast of North America and even erected 

 a settlement in "Vinland", though this lasted some few years only. By several 

 earlier authors Vinland was identified either with Newfoundland or, more likely, 

 with Nova Scotia or New England {vide Gathorne-Hardy, 1921, p. 224 a.f.) but, 

 though Newfoundland was no doubt visited by the Vikings, modern authors have 

 felt inclined to place Vinland farther south— according to Naess (1954), who based 

 his opinion on the astronomic observations from the journeys mentioned in the 

 Icelandic "Sagas", not north of Chesapeake Bay. The method of Naess seems, in 

 spite of its somewhat unexpected result, to be more reliable than that of Lowe 

 (195 1), who, according to the plants mentioned in the old travel account, located 

 Vinland somewhere between Maine and Long Island. 



It has been suggested by Iversen (1938) that plants such as Sisyrinchium mon- 

 ianum Greene (angustifolium auctt., nee Mill.) were brought back to Greenland 

 from North America by the Norsemen and that other species may have been carried 

 in the opposite direction. Even if this possibility is admitted^ there seems to exist 

 no case of animal distribution requiring a similar explanation. 



The definite incorporation of Newfoundland in the European trade was started 

 by John Cabot's rediscovery of the island in 1497, only five years after the famous 

 first voyage of Columbus. Cabot was sent out from Bristol and for more than three 

 centuries Newfoundland's closest naval connection was with southwestern Eng- 

 land. Though Cabot had discovered a new land, it was the surrounding sea that 

 was exploited, not only by English, but in the earlier part of the i6th century 

 mainly by French and Iberian fishermen. The island itself was used as nothing 

 but an immense fishing-depot, with ports actively frequented in the summer 

 months but left practically uninhabited during the winter. From the very beginning 

 the Avalon Peninsula in the southeast was the predominant centre of this trade. 



No wonder that the colonization of Newfoundland went on very slowly. Only 

 occasionally a few crews may have been left behind over winter for preparatory 

 work in the ports. The first known serious attempt to establish a settlement was 

 made by John Guy from Bristol, who in 1610, with his "Company", chose Cupids 

 on the Conception Bay of Avalon as a perrnanent residence. This small colony 

 lasted only a few years. A more successful settlement was established at Ferryland 

 on the eastcoast of Avalon in 1621; this was inhabited, with interruptions, for 

 more than 50 years. 



However, any attempt to colonize the island was met with heavy opposition from 

 the fishermen and their customers (merchants and shipowners) in the ports of 

 southwestern England. "From the very beginning of the sixteenth century they 



^ This opinion has been opposed by Bocher (1948, p. 19-24). Cf. also p. 250. 



