176 H. P. STEENSBY. 
stretch of coast in the north-east of North America that suits the des- 
cription in the saga, notwithstanding the great conciseness of this des- 
cription. 
But naturally we also must try to get into agreement with the 
ensuing account of the saga, which likewise contains essential geogra- 
phical points, and I really think to be able to point out the geographical 
circumstances which are here in question. With regard to the descrip- 
tion of some of the mentioned localities in the saga, striking and surpris- 
ing congruities can be pointed out. Also the principal features in the 
expedition’s further progress can be followed, even if the terms of the 
saga are somewhat vague and naturally without any — if I may say so — 
cartographic certainty and clearness. 
Meanwhile it appears to me that — provided we have inter- 
preted the previous descriptions of the saga correctly so far as Straumey 
— the following necessarily must give occasion for greater uncertainty 
in the account. Up to now the saga has only had to describe the 
following up of a direct coast-line from Helluland to Straumfjord. 
Now, on the contrary, a far more intricate geographical situation oc- 
curs, which we, in our days, easily comprehend, as we have maps to 
aid us, but which the ancient navigators must have had greater 
difficulty in interpreting, — not only on the place itself, but also in their 
accounts. It also appears in the saga that a dispute arose within the 
expedition as to which route should be taken for the further investigation 
of Wineland. 
How much more difficult must it then have been for later saga re- 
corders, who had no first-hand knowledge and no cartographie aid, to 
conceive clearly the progress of the coast which they now stood in the 
presence of, and which will be spoken of in the following. 
Karlsefni and his expedition remained the following winter on 
Straumey, and it appears from the saga that they made good use of 
their time to reconnoitre the surrounding regions. They found the 
country beautiful, which can only signify that they found it suitable 
for colonization, and with such conditions as mentioned above. One 
must also remember what background they had in the Greenland and 
Icelandic regions for their judgment. 
There arose a dispute, during the next summer, between Karlsefni 
and Thorhal, the hunter, as to the way in which Leif’s Wineland ought 
to be sought. There is good ground for such doubt and disagreement in 
the geographical conditions of this place, a little way within the mouth 
of the St. Lawrence, where we presume the expedition has arrived, 
Let us again remember that the Norsemen came along the Furdu- 
strands, and that they must comprehend the conditions thus: that the 
Furdustrands continues on the other side of the outlet of Straumfjord, 
that is to say just opposite the mouth of the Saguenay. That the coast 
— the Furdustrands — here makes a deviation from the south-westerly 
