212 THE FLETCHER STONE — WEBSTER. 



have been mentioned to be one as Cape Breton. From here the 

 Northmen put to sea again, and sailed two days with a north- 

 east wind, till they came to an island ; i. e., according to Mr. 

 Brown's interpretation, they sailed away from P. E. I., to the 

 eastward of Cape Breton — almost a northeasterly course, and 

 one not apt to be taken in a northeasterly wind by Viking 

 ships. From the eastward of Cape Breton, the Northmen are 

 said to have reached Yarmouth, via the Strait of Canso — to say 

 the least, an extremely improbable route. We must admit the 

 inadequacy of this attempt to identify Yarmouth or its neigh- 

 bourhood as Liefs Vinland. 



The accounts of the voyage of Thorfinn Karlsefne (c. 1007) tell 

 us that he sailed past Helluland and Markland ; and yet south- 

 west a long time with the land to starboard, till he came to a 

 place where a frith or fiord penetrated far into the land. There 

 was an island at the mouth of the frith, and strong currents ran 

 around it ; this was also the case further up the frith. This 

 place Mr. Phillips and Mr. Brown identify with Yarmouth Harbour, 

 on very insufficient grounds. To begin wdth, Yarmouth Harbour 

 is very small — about two miles long ; and nothing but a narrow, 

 •crooked channel when the tide is out. This would hardly seem 

 to the Norsemen, used to the grand fiords of Norway and Ice- 

 land, as penetrating /ar inland. That it once extended several 

 miles further, to the present Chegoggin River, as Mr. Brown 

 assumes, is the merest supposition ; and it would not even then 

 make a respectable fiord. The island around which currents 

 swept is supposed to be Bunker's Island, at the mouth of the 

 harbour. Now Bunker's Island, as a glance at the map will show, 

 is more peninsula than island, and the only place about it where 

 there is any current is at the west end, where the tide waters 

 flow in and out of the harbor. Even here, it is trifling — no 

 more than a fisherman can row his dory against ; and compared 

 to that in many Nova Scotian harbours, and to the whirling 

 ■eddies of the Tusket Islands, a few miles distant, and through 

 which the Northmen would probably pass to reach Yarmouth, it 

 is nothing. The current mentioned as existing further up in the 

 frith is taken to be that at the mouth of the stream which flows 



