374 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 195 3 



would have been welcome to the hungry men) , all warn us against 

 a northern localization. Renter suggests, and it may be likely 

 enough, that "Keel Ness" was at Cape Hatteras (between Virginia 

 and North Carolina), and "Stream Fjord" at Cape Fear, some dis- 

 tance farther to the south. 



But then, it is from this "Stream Fjord" that Karlsefni "fares long" 

 to the south, till he reaches the land of "Hop." Here we are given 

 various informative indications— in the depressions self-sown wheat 

 (maize), on the hills vines, in the sea halibut; no winter snow, the 

 cattle are left out ; trading and fighting with natives who are ignorant 

 of milk and who battle with large slingstones dispatched from tall 

 poles (and on the whole armed with stone weapons). 



The saga describes these natives in "Hop" as small and hideous, 

 with ugly hair styles, large eyes, and wide jawbones. The big eyes 

 show that they must have been Indians, not Eskimos. The term 

 "Scraeling" given by the Norsemen to the natives both there and 

 farther north, according to Finnur Jonsson was usually derogatory, 

 meaning something wretched; William Thalbitzer believes it to be 

 of Eskimo origin. I think it necessary to assume that the Scraelings 

 whom Karlsefni encountered in "Hop" (as well as those who killed 

 Thorvald east of Vinland) were Indians, whereas the two boys picked 

 up by Karlsefni's men as far north as in "Markland" were Eskimos. 

 Trying to identify the "Hop" Indians with any present-day tribe 

 (for example, the skin-wrapped slingstones have been traced to the 

 Algonquin Indians in New England) is futile, I think, when we con- 

 sider the long wanderings of the North American Indians during the 

 past thousand years. The "Hop" natives had never seen milk, which 

 suggests that their territory was south of the range of the reindeer. 

 i\jid it may be remarked that in the days of the Spanish conquests 

 the buffalo was unknown in Florida and, on the whole, east of the 

 Mississippi. The fact that one of Karlsefni's ships becomes so worm- 

 eaten that it founders is a feature pointing southward. 



Judging from all the evidence, we must look for "Hop" a good way 

 south of Vinland. I imagine we shall reach Georgia (about 32° N.) 

 or possibly, as Renter thinks, right down to Florida. 



I do not think it possible to indicate loitk any precision from the 

 saga sources the whereabouts of "Vinland," "Stream Fjord," "Hop," 

 and the other localities. A study of the modern literature rising 

 around the topic will show tliat various scholars have reached results, 

 but no two of these results coincide fully. As a matter of fact, almost 

 all possible North x4.merican coastal regions have been suggested, the 

 localizations oscillating between Labrador in the north and Florida 

 in the south, between Newfoundland in the east and the Hudson Bay 

 coast in the west (Chesterfield Inlet and the mouth of Nelson River). 



