TERRESTRIAL MAGNETISM, ETC. 233 



lowing statement : " Flocke Vilgerdersen, a re- 

 " nowned viking, the third discoverer of the island, 

 " departed from Rcgaland in Norway to seek 

 " Gadersholm (Iceland), some time in the year 868. 

 "He took with him three ravens to serve as guides ; 

 " and in order to consecrate them to his purpose 

 " he offered up a great sacrifice in Smarsund, 

 " where his ship lay ready to sail ; for in those times 

 " seamen had no loadstone (leidarstein) in the 

 " northern countries. In Icelandic, Leid signifies 

 " region, and on this account the polestar is named 

 " Leidstjerna, consequently Leidarstein signifies 

 "guiding-stone. According to the testimony of 

 " Snarro Sturleson, Are Frode was born in the year 

 " 1068. This account was therefore probably 

 " written about the end of the eleventh century." 



We have thus very strong evidence that the 

 mariner's compass became known in the northern 

 countries of Europe between the years 868 and 

 1 100. We have distinct evidences from several 

 different sources that the mariner's compass came 

 to be pretty generally known through Europe in 

 the thirteenth century. A poem by Guiot 



