Il6 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL, 59 



parts of the American Atlantic coast. In the absence of any indica- 

 tion of counteracting forces, it would be unreasonable to arbitrarily 

 assume them. What has happened and is happening" between Nor- 

 folk and Boston implies a corresponding reverse movement in the 

 coast between Labrador and the middle of Maine, or wherever 

 the neutral point may be. This reach of shore almost certainly in- 

 cludes Nova Scotia ; the sea-front of which has the air of an emerg- 

 ing shore, as different as possible from a descending one, where old 

 river valleys become broadened estuaries, bordered by marshes, low 

 islands and broad sand banks, as in the region of the Chesapeake and 

 Delaware. 



Dr. Nansen, discarding the explanation of the saga and apparently 

 forgetting the natural transformation of a coast-line in a formerly 

 glaciated region, supposes that the Wonderstrands were originally 

 named for the wonders which they exhibited. He does not suggest 

 what these may have been beyond a hesitating note concerning won- 

 derfully beautiful islands of myth and fancy. But there is surely only 

 a faint verbal link between the wonder of supreme beauty and the 

 wonder of impressive desolation. Also it is most incredible that the 

 saga should have omitted all mention of prodigies which conferred 

 one of its most important local names. And what marvels could 

 they own, surpassing the almost appalling interminable succession of 

 strands and dunes, constituting now as then the dominant typical 

 American coast-line ? 



Whatever else may be doubted there is no denying that some Ice- 

 lander, before 1334 when Hauk died, who copied for us the passage 

 in question, had become acquainted with the American Atlantic coast 

 as we see it now with slight breaks in its upper part from the tip of 

 Florida to the tip of Cape Cod. Did Hauk come here or the saga- 

 man ? There is no record of any visits before that time except those 

 of the saga and even the Flateybook version avers that " of all men 

 Karlsefni has given the most exact accounts of all these voyages." 

 Leif must already have seen that strange coast and prepared him for 

 it. There is no great reason to doubt that Thorfinn saw it also. 



The Wonderstrands (if Nova Scotia) were not remarkable for high 

 tides and strong currents. On the contrary, these were (and are) 

 rather feeble. Cabot found but 2^4 to 4 feet of rise and fall, and 

 Harrisse, 1 reporting him, says : " This diminutiveness is peculiar to 



1 H. Harrisse: The Discovery of North America, p. 8. 



