NO. 12 THE WINELAND VOYAGES — SWANTON 57 



much out of line. An exact identification of this cape I shall not 

 attempt, merely placing it somewhere between Netagamiu River and 

 Natashkwan Point. It is true that the later references to Keelness 

 would lead us to suppose that navigators could turn directly west 

 after rounding it, but we do not have to interpret such statements 

 too literally. If we could be sure that Thorhall was genuinely bent 

 on sailing westward after passing Keelness, the fact that he was 

 driven to Ireland shows, on the Labrador theory, that he passed 

 through the Strait of Belle Isle in pursuit of his object, for we can- 

 not believe that he was driven through that strait against his will. 

 This, it may be observed, applies still more forcibly to the theories 

 of Steensby, Hermannsson, and Thordarson, since, if we accept them, 

 we have to assume that Thorhall was driven across the entire expanse 

 of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and through the Strait of Belle Isle or 

 Cabot Strait, and across the Atlantic on top of that. Our only escape 

 from this would be to suppose that Thorhall did not intend to turn 

 westward but made for the open ocean. 



Our documentary sources give no warrant for the assumption that 

 Keelness was separated from the Wonder-strands by an inlet. If 

 Keelness was at or near Cape Whittle, we must look for the river 

 or inlet into which Karlsefni sailed in search of Thorhall somewhere 

 east of it, and unless we can identify it with the estuary of some 

 river like the St. Augustin, we shall have to suppose that they reached 

 Sandwich Bay or Hamilton Inlet. Probably one would not think 

 of this as a region to excite the admiration Thorvald is said to have 

 expressed, but it differs from the surrounding parts of Labrador 

 in harboring a dense forest, and in spite of the length of the voyage 

 required to reach it, it is not to be excluded as a possibility in locating 

 the land of the Unipeds. It suffers in our eyes in comparison with 

 the St. Lawrence estuary or Nova Scotia but may have made a 

 different impression on the mind of a Greenlander. 



As opposed to the attempted placement of Keelness by Steensby, 

 Hermannsson, and Thordarson, the Nova Scotia theorizers can point 

 to a very satisfactory Keelness at the northern end of Cape Breton 

 Island, and in addition to that to a very satisfactory Streamfirth in the 

 Bay of Fundy (Babcock, 1913, p. no), but unless they can resurrect 

 out of the geological past a coast line on the seaward side of Nova 

 Scotia much more in keeping with what we are told of Wonder- 

 strands than anything found there today, the theory is fatally 

 defective. 



Indeed, the southern coast of Labrador seems to be the only one in 



