12 THE VINLAND VOYAGES 



cern themselves with Thorfinn. Chapter i may also be 

 said to deal with Thorfinn inasmuch as it gives a 

 genealogy of his ancestors taken from the Icelandic 

 Book of Settlement {Landndmabok) , The author, 

 curiously, has failed to connect the subject matter of 

 Chapters i and 7. 



In the spring of 1003 Thorfinn and Snorri, Bjarni 

 and Thorhall set out in their ships on a voyage of 

 discovery directed towards Vinland, and on Thor- 

 bjorn's ship went many people of Greenland. In the 

 beginning of the narrative dealing with this voyage 

 the new land is for the first time called Vinland (the 

 Good) and the expedition a Vinland voyage. No- 

 where previously, neither in the narrative of Leif's 

 discovery nor in that of the search of Thorstein and 

 Eric for the country, is the land characterized as 

 Vinland. It would appear from the Eric Saga that 

 Leif did not name the country, but that it received 

 its name afterwards in Greenland, where it was much 

 discussed. Whether it was called "the Good" from 

 the beginning or whether that epithet was applied 

 later is uncertain. 



It is now in order to quote the various portions of 

 the narrative about this voyage from Hauk's Book 

 and analyze each in turn. The beginning is as follows: 



"Vinland the Good and the desirability of going 

 there became a popular topic of discussion at Bratta- 



