OLD MURRAY BAY 



south and east into the unknown. Though 

 the writer seems to be alone in his opinion 

 and Nansen's ponderous treatise leaves the 

 question wholly at large, while the scores 

 of earlier commentators follow each his own 

 course to differing landfalls, the assertion 

 is a very moderate one that the St. Law- 

 rence theory cannot be thrown lightly aside. 

 Fix the Norsemen's Hop where you will, 

 you come in clash with one part of the 

 story or another — must select and reject in 

 accordance with some individual concep- 

 tion of the probabilities, and the narratives 

 are strained no more than they have to be 

 in any other case by the interpretation 

 which brings the adventurers of 900 years 

 ago within hail of Murray Bay. 



There are passages in the Sagas which 

 Steensby and Nansen alike disregard as cor- 

 rupt and meaningless. Rushing in, may-be 

 with the swift-footedness which distin- 

 guishes fools from angels, I suggest that 

 they are of high significance, yielding a 

 singular proof that the tale is not born of the 

 imagination but is an artless record of 

 dimly-remembered fact. It is related that 

 the Skraelings (savages) descended upon 

 the Norse encampment from the south in 

 their 'skin boats' (more probably Indians in 

 17 

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