NO. 12 THE WINELAND VOYAGES — SWANTON 1 7 



posure to the elements, and exhausted by their labors, and arrived at 

 Ericsfirth at the very beginning of winter." All those not otherwise 

 provided for were cared for at Brattahlid during that winter. 



The Flat Island Book describes this attempted visit to Wineland in 

 much the same language but with certain important changes. The 

 effort to have Eric as a companion is placed not at the beginning 

 of this trip but before that of Leif already mentioned. As in the 

 other narrative, Eric finally consents and rides to the boat and, as in 

 that, he is thrown from his horse. However, it is his foot which is 

 hurt, nothing is said of any concealed treasure, and he gives up and 

 returns home. Thorstein's object in making the voyage, according 

 to the same document, was to bring home the body of his brother 

 Thorvald. This desire loses some of the "strangeness" which has been 

 charged against it when we remember how insistent Thorstein him- 

 self was, after his own death, that his body and the bodies of his 

 companions with one exception be removed from Lysufirth for burial 

 in consecrated ground. It comes out prominently in both sagas. 

 According to the Flat Island Book, Thorstein marries Gudrid before 

 putting to sea and takes her with him, whereas, according to the 

 Saga, he did not marry her until after his return. Again, instead of 

 returning to Ericsfirth and moving afterward to Lysufirth for the 

 winter, the Flat Island Book takes him directly to Lysufirth. In 

 these particulars it is probable that the Saga is more nearly correct. 



In reporting the attempt to take Eric along, on the other hand, the 

 narrative given in the Flat Island Book seems more probable and I 

 therefore follow it and assume that it belongs to the expedition of 

 Leif. The Saga reports that on the morning of his departure Eric 

 concealed his gold and silver, and the reason for this is not apparent 

 since his wife remained at home and his house was presumably 

 occupied by responsible persons during his absence. It may have been 

 because his wife had offended him, but I do not understand that gold 

 and silver figured much in Greenland trade at that period. What the 

 farmers did not raise themselves they got by barter. Nor is it likely 

 that Eric's wife would abscond from the best farm in Greenland, 

 there being no place to abscond to within any reasonable distance and 

 no ready means of transportation. But the incredible part of the story 

 is the assertion that, after being thrown from his horse and having 

 some ribs broken and a shoulder dislocated, Eric was not deterred 

 from venturing out upon the boisterous waves of the North Atlantic. 

 If so, he was a remarkably tough specimen. No doubt the Norse had 

 a rough and ready method of treating dislocated shoulders, but one 



