Norsemen’s route from Greenland to Wineland, 169 
so poor in grass, when seen from an ancient Norseman’s point of view, 
was strikingly characterized in the saga, both by the name Furdu- 
strands and by what is said of the nature of the coast and of the length 
of time it took to sail along it. I do not hesitate to maintain that it would 
be impossible to find a stretch of coast on America’s north-east coast 
which better suits the accounts of the saga than does Labrador’s south 
coast, especially the stretch to the west of Cape Whittle. 
Added to this is, that by the above mentioned observations we were 
led to assume that the Norsemen from the Strait of Belle Isle continued 
their coasting towards the south-west along Labrador’s south coast. 
Before we try to find Kjalarnes, and the place where the coast became 
“fjord-indented,” another problem presents itself, namely the reason 
why the Norsemen did not see — in any case mention — Anticosti. The 
reason is that in all probability they did not see the island across the 
35 km or more broad strait. Add to this, that they most likely passed 
the narrowest part of the strait inside the belt of skerries, which here is 
formed by the Mingan Islandst. 
We now come to apparently the most difficult part of the problem. 
The question of Kjalarnes, and especially the question of what place it 
was of which it was said that “the country was indented by fjords.” 
We willtake the last question first, as it is on this that all depends. Here- 
in lies, in reality, the crux of the whole Wineland problem. 
Let us for a moment put ourselves in the place of the Norsemen. 
These daring and persevering navigators come sailing along Furdustrands, 
that is to say along the south coast of Labrador and past Cape Whittle. 
They pass the long and homogeneous coast, which only in one place — 
near Point de Monts — makes a considerable though fairly even bend. 
Nothing entices them to stop and establish themselves on this coast, 
and the course they have taken leads them constantly to regions further 
south, so they continue. It must be plain to them that the conditions 
of settlement would possibly be better further south, and that this 
uninviting type of coast could not go on for ever. Every persevering 
navigator — whether he be called Leif or Karlsefni— must of necessity, 
by coasting along Labrador, at last be led into the mouth of the St. Law- 
rence River. 
That by that means they came into something that we with our 
maps and knowledge of maps immediately recognize as a mighty funnel- 
shaped bay, they could not know, as the opposite coast lay too far away 
to be seen from the Norsemen’s low vessels, which into the bargain were 
1 А Dane, A. Рост, district manager in the Hudson Bay Co., who knows the 
conditions along Labradors’ coast from practical experience and to whom I 
am indebted for various information, told me, on enquiry, that one could just 
faintly see Anticosti to the south when one sailed by steamer along the north 
side of the strait (Canadian Channel), but that the air was often hazy and 
foggy so that one could pass a thousand times without seeing land. 
12* 
