114 : The Atlantic 



would be dangerous to create a settlement here, even though the 

 land was extremely productive. They sailed back and spent a third 

 winter at the island where there were powerful currents. During this 

 winter there were quarrels, and cliques formed, owing to the presence 

 of the women. After this winter, they returned to Markland and 

 then to Greenland where they spent the winter with Eric the Red. 

 Karlsefni's son, named Snorri, was born during the first winter of 

 the expedition and was three years old when they returned from 

 America. The date was about 1006. 



Where was Hop? Exactly how far south along the American coast 

 did the Norsemen travel? Thousands have asked such questions and 

 literally scores of scholars after careful and prolonged study have at- 

 tempted to provide answers. All agree that the Norsemen spent some 

 season on the northeastern coast of North America but no one quite 

 agrees as to which parts of the coast they sailed past or which har- 

 bors they visited. Locations are proposed and defended all the way 

 from Nova Scotia in the north to North Carolina in the south. 



One thing seems reasonably established, the climates of Iceland, 

 Greenland and the American coast have changed between the year 

 1000 and the year, say, 1900. The winters in all three sectors were 

 milder and there was less fast ice in the winters and drifting ice in 

 the summers to interfere with navigation. Miss Rachel Carson after 

 reporting Pettersson's studies dealing with the influences of ocean 

 tides and currents on climate accepts the idea that in Viking times 

 the water was warmer and the weather milder in the northern North 

 Atlantic than it was before or has been since. 



If this were so the Viking voyagers were affected in two ways. 

 First they would have had a longer cruising season during the sum- 

 mers, and second they would not have had to travel farther south 

 than the southern coast of New England in order to find open win- 

 ters during which the cattle could shift for themselves outdoors; 

 where grapes would ripen in the summers, etc. Here we may note that 

 Means has examined the so-called Old Stone Mill in Newport in great 

 detail and presented a reasonable argument for accepting it as a 

 Norse tower. 



However far south the Vikings may or may not have sailed along 

 the American coast it is now generally admitted that at least one 

 Norse party penetrated the continent as far as Kensington in Minne- 

 sota. 



