164 H. P. STEENSBY. 
far to the north for the point in question. But on the other hand one 
could perhaps maintain that one would have to go rather far north on 
the west coast of Greenland before meeting with bears, and thus being 
able to give an island the name of “Bjarney” (“bear island”). But there 
is the possibility, which seems to me to be fully as probable, that with 
this Bjarney, a part of south-easterly Baffin Land is meant. 
“They sailed from there for two days to the south, then they saw a 
country; they put out a boat and examined the land; there they found 
big “hellur” (i. e. flat stones), and many of them were 12 ells broad; 
there were a great number of foxes. They gave the country a name and 
called it Helluland (1. e. the flat stone country).” 
One can hardly draw a conclusion of any importance out of the 
date stated, so much the more so as Finnur Jönsson is of the opinion 
that 2 days is a clerical error for 5 days, which probably originates 
through their having written "i 1” (2) instead of “u” (5)! The following 
statement of a 2 days sail from Helluland to Markland will likewise 
hardly be of any use in the fixing of the locality. Fridtjof Nansen is of 
opinion that it is a sort of embellishment to the picture, adopted from 
the style of fairy-tales?. Finnur Jénsson does not consider this as likely, 
whilst on the other hand he does not think either that one dares depend 
upon the fixed date. 
With regard to Helluland it has been so often pointed out that 
both the course and the description of the country suit Labrador well. 
There can hardly be any doubt of there really being a question of La- 
brador’s north-east coast between 60° N. lat. and the Strait of Belle 
Isle. Here there is a type of fjord-coast which was well known to the 
mariners, both from Norway and Greenland. With regard to vegetation 
the coast was still inferior to Greenland, as the fjords were no doubt 
altogether destitute of the extensive grass territories which are so 
characteristic of the interior regions of the Greenland fjords, especially 
in the parts wheré the eastern and western settlements were laid out. 
Everywhere on this coast of Labrador one meets with the bare gneiss 
and quartzite, to which must be added the erratic blocks. Below a cer- 
tain height, to which the country is raised, the smaller blocks have been 
washed away by the waves, whilst the larger ones have remained standing, 
stranded upon the rock substratum, and therefore so much the more 
conspicuous. Perhaps it is this circumstance which has made an impres- 
sion and given rise to the name “Helluland.”’# 
“Thence they sailed for two days and bore away from the south to 
the south-west, and found a country covered with forests and numbers 
of animals. An island lay to the south-east of the country; they killed 
1 Stated after Dante, Bruun, ]. с. р. 61. 
2 FRIDTJOF NANSEN, 1. с. р. 264—55. 
2 Cf. Hoveaarp р. 194—195. 
