Norsemen’s route from Greenland to Wineland. 163 
out on the expedition. Possibly a personal reason, namely that his wife 
Gudrid’s farm lay in the western settlement, had been a contributory 
reason for this, to which attention has been drawn. In the meantime 
a geographical consideration of the circumstances shows that the Vestri- 
byggù was a much better starting place for the voyage than the Eystri- 
byggô. I not only think of the coast of the Eystribyggd being blocked 
by drifting ice in the early summer months, so that it is impossible to 
get through the pack-ice itself, even though, as a rule, it is possible to 
use an open canal immediately along the coast. This circumstance 
alone could possibly necessitate Karlsefni’s going far northwards, pos- 
sibly as far as the western settlement, before he could get out into 
open sea. There are, however, two other geographical conditions which 
are already clearly estimated by W. Hovgaard!. 
Currant and wind are of such a nature in the waters between South 
Greenland and Labrador that a skipper who should sail straight out 
from the eastern settlement towards Labrador would run great risk of 
bemg carried far towards the south and east, and thereafter out into 
the open Atlantic Ocean. If, on the other hand, he should go further 
north and more to the west before starting, a glance at the map of the 
prevailing summer-winds shows that he, “obtained thereby a good 
height before steering across Davis Strait with its northerly and north- 
westerly winds, which prevail there at that season.” Something similar 
is to be remarked as regards the current-circumstances; the farther 
north a ship got into the prevailing tides of these waters, which are 
nearly circulatory, and the westerly side of which is the south-gomg 
Labrador current, the greater chance there was of its being carried 
to the coast of Labrador. 
Finally there is the geographical circumstance to which Storm and 
Hovgaard have already called our attention, that the western settle- 
ment is nearer the narrowest part of Davis Strait, a circumstance which 
possibly had been known from former voyages, and in that case must 
for such coasting mariners have influenced the expedition. 
In other words — as it is expressed by Hovgaard — “the naviga- 
tion followed by Karlsefni was precisely that which would be followed 
under the circumstances by navigators who were acquainted with the 
condition of wind and ice, and with the geography of Davis Strait, and 
who were bound for Baffin Land or Northern Labrador.” 
One has sought this Bjarney, which Karlsefni came to after leaving 
the western settlement, first on the coast of Greenland and then in Baf- 
fin Land. Some have stood out for Disko, as it appears from other sour- 
ces that the Norsemen named this island thus. From a geographical 
point of view one would, however, assume that Disko lay rather too 
11 с. р. 229. — Cf. V.. GARDE: The state of the ice in the Arctic Seas, 1902. 
(A yearly report is found in (Danish) Nautical Meteorological Annual (Copen- 
hagen)). 
