11C) THE SEA. 



apparently in the earliest ages to the Chinese, was entirely unknown to the Scandinavians; 

 and Flokko had provided himself with a raven, or, as some accounts say, four ravens, 

 which, Noah-like, he let loose, and which guided him to the land of which he was in 

 quest. He passed a winter there, and from the large quantity of drift-ice which 

 encumbered the northern bays and coasts, changed its name to that which it at present 

 bears Iceland. In the year 874, Ingolf and other Norwegians, sick of the tyranny of 

 their king, Harold, determined to settle in the new-found island. On approaching the 

 coast, the leader, determining to be guided by chance in his selection of a locality, threw 

 overboard a wooden door, which floated into a fiord on the southern side of the island, 

 and the emigrants landed there. Others soon joined the little colony, bringing with 

 them their cattle, implements, and household goods. From very early Icelandic records 

 it is interesting to learn that these Norwegians found indications that others had preceded 

 them, as on the shore were discovered crosses, bells, and books, and other relics of the 

 Christian worship of those days. It is very generally believed that these were of Irish 

 origin. While the new colony was yet young, one Gunbiorn, a fisherman, was drifted in 

 his boat far to the westward, and he may perhaps be regarded as the real discoverer of 

 Greenland, but, although he sighted the land, he did not attempt to explore it. About 

 the year 982, Eric Rauda, or Eric the Red Head, a man who had been convicted of 

 manslaughter in Iceland, was banished from the island for a term of years. Sailing with 

 some companions to the westward, he reached Greenland, and spent three years in its 

 examination, returning at the end of that time to Iceland, where he spread a somewhat 

 high-flown account of " its green and pleasant meadows " and of its extensive fisheries. 

 No less than twenty-five vessels were despatched from Iceland for the newly-discovered 

 land, a significant proof of the early progress of the former colony. One-half of these 

 were lost; the others reached Greenland in safety. 



By accident or design these Scandinavians were the great explorers of their day, and 

 the colonisation of Greenland virtually led to the first European intercourse with North 

 America. An Icelandic settler, one Bjarni, on a voyage by which he hoped to reach 

 Greenland, encountered severe weather, and was driven on a part of the American coast, 

 now believed to have been that of Nantucket Island, south of the State of Massachusetts. 

 The account he gave on his return inflamed the ambition of Heif, or Heifr, the son of 

 that Eric who had founded the colony on Greenland. He equipped a vessel, and set sail 

 for the New World. On approaching the coast they observed a barren and rocky island, 

 which they named llelleland, and to a low sandy shore beyond it, which was covered 

 with wood, they gave the name Markland. "Two days after this they fell in with 

 a new coast of land, to the northward of which they observed a large island. They 

 ascended a river, the banks of which were covered with shrubs, bearing fruits of a most 

 agreeable and delicious flavour. The temperature of the air felt soft and mild to the 

 Greenland adventurers, the soil appeared to be fertile, and the river abounded with fish, 

 and particularly with excellent salmon.'" * To the island they gave the name Vinlantf, 

 because wild grapes, or berries resembling grapes, were found there. They had reached 



* Sir John Barrow: "Chronological History of Voyages into the Arctic Regions." 



