64 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. IO7 



Grapes were soon discovered by the German Tyrker, and they 

 returned to Greenland with a cargo of grapes, vines, and timber. 



During Thorvald's supposed visit to Wineland a few men took 

 the afterboat and explored the western coast the first summer. 



They found it a fair, well-wooded country; it was but a short distance from 

 the woods to the sea, and [there were] white sands, as well as great numbers 

 of islands and shallows. They found neither dwelling of man nor lair of beast ; 

 but in one of the westerly isles, they found a wooden building for the shelter 

 of grain. They found no other trace of human handiwork. 



Thorvald also returned to Greenland with grapes and wood. 



Karlsefni caused trees to be felled, and to be hewed into timbers, wherewith 

 to load his ship, and the wood was placed upon a cliff to dry. They gathered 

 somewhat of all of the valuable products of the land, grapes, and all kinds of 

 game and fish, and other good things. 



The Skrellings come through the woods, and the scene of battle was 

 arranged by Karlsefni so as to have "the lake upon one side, and 

 the forest upon the other." In preparation for this struggle lo men 

 were to show themselves upon "the cape." Karlsefni, like Leif and 

 Thorvald, carries "vines and grapes" back to Greenland, but also 

 peltries. Freydis carries "all the products of the land" back with her, 

 but these are not enumerated. 



In brief, at Hop was a lake with a river running through it or a lake- 

 like expansion in a river, but it was so near the ocean that we do 

 not know whether the water in it was salt or fresh. At the mouth of 

 the river there were bars upon which the Norse vessels grounded at 

 low tide, but at high tide they were able to pass over them into the 

 lake. As we are told of the grounding only when our explorers first 

 arrived, it is possible that there may have been a deeper channel 

 which they missed. The region was thoroughly wooded. If the 

 shelters erected there were not actually in the forest, the forest 

 was close by, and some distance farther up the river, apparently not 

 very far, was higher land described in the relations as "crags." From 

 a later entry in the Saga it seems that there were mountains in sight. 



If the account of that expedition "along the western coast" by 

 Thorvald's men is to be relied upon, a similar coast, characterized 

 by bars and sand islands, extended beyond Hop. To many writers 

 this has suggested the southeastern shores of Massachusetts, and un- 

 doubtedly the southeastern coast of New England is one of those on 

 which the narratives would lead us to look for Hop in spite of our 

 rejection of Rafn's theory. 



An inspection of the coast survey charts between Portland, Me,, 



