IN A FISHING COUNTRY 



bark canoes than Esquimaux in kayaks or 

 oomiaks). Some bore staves which they 

 waved with the sun. Karlsefni's men 

 deemed this a bid for peace, and raised a 

 white shield in token of understanding and 

 amity. Whereupon the visitors came 

 ashore and engaged in friendly barter. 

 Some three weeks later the savages are back 

 again, but this time the staves circle con- 

 trariwise. Once more the Norsemen spell 

 out the meaning and now display a red 

 shield, discerning hostile intent and accept- 

 ing the profifer of battle. Forthwith the 

 savages land and the forces close in bloody 

 strife. 



Where each word is pondered and 

 weighed to sift the true from the fabulous, 

 any rejection weakens and discredits, every 

 acceptance fortifies the whole. Should this 

 be in truth a vivid and dramatic account of 

 the first interchange between the inhabitants 

 of two continents through motions familiar 

 to both as benign and sinister, how much of 

 verisimilitude it adds to every point of the 

 narration! 



I confess that the surmise invites a foot 

 all too prone to stray — provokes an incor- 

 rigibly gadding mind to divagate! Every- 

 one should know that there is but one proper 

 18 



