﻿NO. 19 NORSE VISITS TO NORTH AMERICA BABCOCK 1 39 



As against Mount Hope Bay, it must be said that the saga rather 

 leaves the impression of an eastward-facing, nearly land-locked 

 expanse, reached by natives who came up along the coast from the 

 south ; and that there is no reference to any course but a southern 

 one in reaching it from Straumey, nor any but a northern one in 

 returning. It is true that the narrative might have omitted, as not 

 very important, the westward and eastward turns in rounding the 

 corner of New England ; but a spot on the eastern front of the latter 

 has the advantage of requiring no such explanation. On the other 

 hand, sites along this coast lack noticeable hills. Just what weight 

 should be attached to each of these conflicting considerations is hard 

 to say, but thus far no other Hop has been suggested which seems 

 more plausible than Mount Hope Bay, Rhode Island. 



16.— CONCERNING THE NATIVES 



In The Discovery of America, Dr. Fiske x has laid stress on the 

 ignorance of eleventh century Europeans as to people so unsophis- 

 ticated that they would not understand the qualities of a steel imple- 

 ment or the relative value of red rags and costly furs and who could 

 be thrown into panic by the bellowing of a bull. Possibly the argu- 

 ment is pressed overmuch, for the civilized peoples of antiquity had, 

 and transmitted, some knowledge of interior Africa and other outlying 

 rudimentary regions ; but, however qualified, it adds a little cumulative 

 testimony to the genuine character of the saga. Also, these Skrellings 

 have been found interesting by many writers and overhauled in every 

 way, to see what they can tell us, for one thing, about the location of 

 Hop. 



In particular, controversy has busied itself with the question, were 

 they Indian or Eskimo? The case for the latter rests mainly on the 

 name Skrelling or Skraeling, which is known to have been applied to 

 them centuries afterward, the " skin-boats," the slings, and certain 

 physical characteristics. Its weakness lies chiefly in the absence 

 of clothing at Hop, of dogs and sleds, of winter traveling, of distinc- 

 tively Eskimo appliances such as the kayak and harpoon, and of any 

 indication of skill in carving ; also in the fact that everything said of 

 the Skrellings would apply to some Indians, who might have been 

 there. 



We have touched lightly before on the question of boundaries, 

 yet may still add a word. We know the Eskimo only as an Arctic 

 littoral people, ill content with a milder habitat and not thriving 



Vol. 1, pp. 180-185. 



