NORTH AMERICA. 



703 



and what was still more unfavourable to the growth 

 of a vernacular literature, they were a dead letter 



to the mass of the people. The Skalds were men 

 of the world; warriors, rovers, chieftains, they 

 mingled in the stir of life; they were trained, not 

 within the cloister, but in the open air of the moun- 

 tains and the vales, and amidst the wild creations 

 of Arctic nature. After the convulsions of conti- 

 nental Scandinavia, Iceland was their favourite 

 seat, the home of stout-hearted refugees, who made 

 this poor frozen rock the abode of traditionary lore 

 and song. Nature, with a kind of caprice, in re- 

 producing in the polar circle an Ausonian age, as- 

 sociated with it the romantic features of a Campa- 

 nian region. Volcanoes flamed up from eternal 

 glaciers ; and fountains of boiling water spouted 

 from snow-clad craters. The conversion of the 

 North to Christianity was contemporary with the 

 period to which the discovery of America is re- 

 ferred ; and with this period commences also the 

 reduction to writing of the mythical and tradition- 

 ary lore of the Skalds. In 1056, Saemund Sigfussen 

 was born. The poetic, or elder Edda, was reduced 

 by him to writing, a collection of the mytholo- 

 gical and historical traditions of the North. Ari 

 the Wise was his friend and fellow-student. He 

 composed several works, of some of which frag- 

 ments are still extant. His accounts extend from 

 the latter part of the ninth century to the begin- 

 ning of the twelfth, and include the most remarka- 

 ble events connected with the first settlement of 

 Iceland, the revolutions in its government, the dis- 

 covery of Greenland, and the introduction of Chris- 

 tianity. A work of this writer, called Landnama- 

 Bok, contains a passage relative to the discovery 

 of Greenland. In the next century, (in the 

 year 1178,) Snorre Sturleson was born, whose 

 great national history, the Heimskfingla, is still 

 preserved. It will appear from this brief sketch, 

 that, at the very period at which the discovery 

 of America is alleged to have been made by 

 the Northmen, they were rapidly becoming a 

 literary people ; and that with the third genera- 

 tion from the discoverers, a series of national wri- 

 ters of reputation commences, whose works are 

 still preserved, and form a satisfactory basis of 

 authentic history. 



. In the spring of the year 986, Eric Rauda, that 

 is, Eric the Red, emigrated from Iceland to Green- 

 land, and formed a settlement there called Bratta- 

 lid, at a place named from himself Ericsfiord. 

 Among those who accompanied him was Heriulf 

 Bardson, who established himself at a place which 

 still bears the name of Heriulfsness. Heriulf had 

 a son named Biarne, Biorne, or (in some modern 

 writers) Biron. Biarne was absent on a trading 

 voyage in Norway, when his father accompanied 

 Eric to Greenland. Returning to Iceland in the 

 course of the summer, and finding his father gone, 

 he sailed in pursuit of him, though wholly ignorant 

 of the navigation between Greenland and Iceland. 

 His vessel was soon enveloped in fogs; and after 

 many days' sailing, he knew not whither he had been 

 carried. When the fog cleared up, they found them- 

 selves sailing with a south-west wind, and saw land 

 to the left. It was without mountains, overgrown 

 with woods, and rose in several gentle elevations. 

 As it did not correspond with the descriptions of 

 Greenland, the country of which they were in 

 search, they left it to larboard, and continued sailing 

 for two days, when they saw another land, which 

 was flat and overgrown with wood. From thence 



; they stood out to sea, and sailed three days with 

 a southwest wind, when they saw a third land, 

 l which was high and mountainous, and covered 

 with glaciers. Coasting along its shore, they dis- 

 covered that it was an island. They bore away 

 j from it without landing, and after four days' sail- 

 j ing with fresh gales, reached Heriulfsness in Green- 

 , land. Such is the tradition of Biarne's voyage in 

 986. If it be considered as authentic, we must 

 suppose, that on sailing from Iceland for Green- 

 land, he was carried by a northeast wind and cur- 

 rents far to the south, till he struck the coast of 

 America; and thence, with an opposite wind, 

 stretched along the shores of Newfoundland and 

 Labrador, till he reached his place of destination 

 in Greenland. Biarne is stated not to have landed 

 on the continent of America. 



Some time after this, probably in 994, Biarne 

 made a visit to Eric, earl of Norway ; and gave 

 him an account of his voyage, and of the unknown 

 land he had seen. He was censured by the earl 

 for not having explored the region. On his 

 return to Greenland, a voyage of exploration was 

 determined upon. Leif, a son of Eric the Red, 

 for this purpose bought Biarne's ship, and put on 

 board a crew of twenty-five men, among whom 

 was a German named Tyrker, who had been long 

 attached to the family of Eric. They sailed in 

 the year 1000, and came first to the land which 

 had been last discovered by Biarne. Here they 

 landed. No grass was visible; the shore was 

 lined with icebergs ; and the intermediate space 

 between them and the water, was one continuous 

 stratum of slate. This substance is called Hello. 

 in the Icelandic tongue, and hence the region was 

 named Helluland. In the Copenhagen publica- 

 tion this is supposed to have been Newfoundland, 

 on the ground of the length of time, four days, 

 passed by Biarne in the first-named voyage, in 

 sailing from this spot to Greenland; but the de- 

 scribed features of the country correspond more 

 nearly with those of Labrador. 



They put out to sea from Helluland, and de- 

 scried another land, where they also went on 

 shore. It was level, covered with wood, and pre- 

 sented a front of white sand bluffs. This they 

 called MarkUmd, or Woodland. This is sup- 

 posed to have been the coast of Nova Scotia. 

 Again, standing out to sea, they sailed for two 

 days, with a northeast wind, before they saw land 

 again. They then came to an island east of the 

 main, and entered a channel between this island 

 and a promontory projecting in an easterly (or 

 northerly) direction from the main land. They 

 sailed westward ; there was much land left dry 

 at ebb-tide. Afterwards they went on shore at a 

 place, where a river, issuing from a lake, fell into 

 the sea. They brought their ship into the river, 

 thence into the lake, and there anchored. 

 Here they first constructed temporary huts; but 

 having determined to pass the winter, they erected 

 more permanent buildings, which they called 

 Leifsbutbir, Leif's booths, or huts. Thus esta- 

 blished, Leif divided his company into two parties, 

 whose business it was, alternately to watch the 

 settlements, and to explore the country. Upon 

 one occasion the German, Tyrker, failed to return 

 at night, with the exploring party to which he 

 was attached. When at length he came back, he 

 reported that, in his wanderings, he had seen 

 abundance of grapes, with which he was well 

 acquainted in his native hind. From this circum- 



