58 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 59 



could be no alternation between maize and wild rice, for they require 

 different conditions of moisture. So the latter had become only an 

 occasional variation of diet in Virginia, as Strachey seems to say, 

 perhaps not being used at all farther northward ; and the maize fields 

 flourished. The French and English explorers gave prompt heed to 

 them, and the first settlers who followed were kept alive by their 

 yield. At an earlier time, the wild rice-patches would have been their 

 only reliance an effectual one if the crop were rightly watched and 

 harvested. 



But this would be a more impressive gift of nature to Icelanders ; 

 who brought no grain with them, raised none at home, and rarely 

 before had enjoyed the prospect of bread for their tables ; yet who 

 knew both wheat and grapes well enough from their trading voyages 

 to Ireland, England, and France, and from other experiences abroad. 

 It is incredible that Leif or Thorfinn should need any explanation of 

 the ordinary kinds of grain or of wine. 



Adam names no Wineland explorers ; perhaps he did not hear of 

 them nor care for them. To him they would be only obscure citizens 

 of a rude northern republic ; and his chief informant, King Sweyn, 

 may not have felt any greater concern in the matter, though it 

 would appear that some of his own subjects were thought to have 

 visited the new region. 



With Ari Frode (the Wise), next in order, the case was radically 

 different. Names and historic items, exactly given, were of prime 

 importance to this every way remarkable man. He had set himself 

 to tell in detail the story of the beginnings of Iceland, omitting 

 nothing important which concerned any notable family of any 

 neighborhood; a great national service never before undertaken 

 anywhere ; and he carried it through admirably. It is hardly 

 exaggeration to call him the father of conscientious modern history. 

 At least he began about noo the glorious prose literature of Iceland 

 by a succession of investigations and records which the world has 

 found invaluable. Born in 1067 and dying in 1148, he filled a long 

 life with this excellent work. 



It was his habit to learn, when he could, from the very men who 

 had taken part in the events related, or, this being impossible, from 

 those who had heard the story in that way, or to use the next best 

 authority that was attainable. Thorkel Gellisson, his uncle, is thus 

 quoted by him as having contributed certain Greenland items, 

 derived at first hand from one of the companions of Eric the Red. 

 Other informants were the foster son of Hall of the Side 1 and the 



1 G. Vigfusson : Prolegomena of_Sturlunga Saga, p. 28. 



