THE EARLY EXPLORERS 



He also appears to have gone as far North as the Orkneys and to have 

 aroused the first interest in the sea in the minds of his countrymen. 

 Most of the long Irish voyages were religious, for the national character 

 has always produced anchorites, and they probably built their homes in 

 the Faroes and certainly in Iceland. From Iceland it is only a short 

 passage to Greenland and it is by no means impossible that the Irish 

 claim to have discovered North America long before the Norsemen is 

 true, although there is now no means of proving it. 



The Sons of Ua Corra. 



Among the more mythical accounts of Irish voyages which may 

 have some slight foundation in fact is that of the three sons of Ua Corra 

 who collected five companions and sailed West for forty days and forty 

 nights. Finally they contrived to get back to Spain after marvellous 

 adventures. The story of these adventures as it is preserved is purely 

 mythical but it may well be founded on the fact that the Irish reached 

 America in the year 540. 



Iceland. 



The Irish priests who settled in Iceland had no desire to mix with 

 other people or to encourage visitors, so that their doings there are not 

 recorded. It was somewhere about the beginning of the ninth century 

 that Naddod was proceeding home from Norway to the Faroes when 

 he was overtaken by a gale and, as was the usual practice of seamen in 

 those days, ran before it. On the tenth day he sighted an active 

 volcano which, on top of their miseries, naturally terrified his men. 

 However, they determined to explore and came upon a good landing 

 place where, although there were no signs of human habitation, there 

 were, in the words of the old Saga, " woods without end and fair 

 pastures dripping butter." They saw that it was good and remained 

 there for the whole summer, leaving on the approach of winter and 

 christening it Snowland. The story attracted other adventurers and 

 Goddar Svarvarson sailed round the island and called it Goddarsholm, 

 settling there for the winter. Many others followed and eventually 

 brought home stories of white-robed priests and choristers they had 

 found singing on the shore and had wantonly slain. These were prob- 

 ably early Irish settlers. Eventually a large colony was made, although 

 it is not likely to have been composed of the best of Norway. Probably 

 outlaws and ne'er-do-wells formed a considerable proportion of the 

 population, but it was certainly courageous and enterprising. 



Erik the Red. 



One of the most noteworthy of these settlers in Iceland was Erik 

 the Red, who appears to have been a mighty warrior of ungovernable 

 temper. Being refused repayment of a debt he slew the debtor and for 

 this was outlawed. Therefore he vowed that he would find the fabled 

 islands of the West, and gathering a party he coasted round Iceland 

 and then struck out into the open sea. In due course he came to a 

 land of snow and ice, as unpromising a home as one could imagine, but 



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