NO. 19 NORSE VISITS TO NORTH AMERICA BABCOCK 95 



and vines and excellent wine, since it confines us to northern regions 

 which they cannot reach. If it means Zea mays, our ordinary " corn," 

 as believed by Rafn and Fiske, it can add nothing, for the maize 

 limits and fox grape limits were nearly identical on the northeast, and 

 both extended southward far beyond any probable voyage of Leif . If, 

 as appears most likely, wild rice (Zizania aquatica) be intended, our 

 case for local identification is only a little better. This rice grows 

 plentifully all the way from Texas to the coast mountains of Maine ; 

 it is so plentiful in Maryland as to be the dominant feature of river 

 landscape in the tidewater region ; it thrives near Boston and Provi- 

 dence. Indeed, Cartier's attention in 1535 was attracted to it (as ble 

 sauvage) on the southern shore of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. As 

 already stated he says it is like rye, and plainly distinguishes between 

 it and maize, which he first saw soon afterward. Leif might have 

 found wild rice at intervals anywhere below the Kennebec. 



The statement that some of the timbers were large enough to be 

 used for building may seem to imply a lightly timbered region, but 

 Leif merely took " specimens," and the word " some " doubtless 

 relates to this little miscellaneous collection and not to the general 

 forestry of Wineland or Markland. The use referred to would prob- 

 ably be at Brattahlid, or at least under the direction of Eric, 1 whose 

 ideas on such subjects were massive, as we gather from the hundred- 

 cubic-feet dimensions of his house-wall stones. Growing trees of any 

 reasonable bulk and height might readily have been found within the 

 limits of the present Maritime Provinces ; and Newfoundland must 

 have been mainly a forest, as were most of the seaboard regions below. 



There has been much discussion over the puzzling " mausur wood." 

 Rafn thought it especially indicated " bird's-eye maple," found on 

 Marthas Vineyard and elsewhere. This is probably our most beauti- 

 ful native wood, having a delicate wavy and dotted grain. Prof. 

 Fernald in his Rhodora article identifies mausur positively with 

 " canoe birch." In Scandinavia some kind of birch must have been 

 most often the source of this ornamental carving wood, for birches 

 are the most plentiful hardwood trees of northern countries. Yet 

 on Grand Manan, where the white birch is everywhere in evidence, 

 the comparatively few maples would more readily yield a large 

 specimen ; and knotty parts are to be found in either. That " a 

 veined wood," irrespective of species, is the real meaning appears from 

 the following words of said article : " Similar growths have sometimes 

 been found on the maple, horse-chestnut, cherry and aspen, and have 



1 H. J. Rink : Danish Greenland. Stated as 6 feet by 4 and "of like thickness." 



