THORFINN KARLSEFNI 13 



hlid, and it was said that the new land had many 

 advantages. Finally Thorfinn Karlsefni and Snorri 

 made preparations to go there in the spring. With 

 them went also Bjarni and Thorhall, who were men- 

 tioned above, in their own ship. There was a man 

 named Thorward. He was married to Freydis, the 

 natural daughter of Eric the Red. He went with 

 them, and also Thorhall who was called the Hunter. 

 He had been with Eric the Red a long time, his hunter 

 in summer, and his steward in winter. He was a big 

 man and strong, swart'hy and giant-like, a man of few 

 words but with a wicked tongue and had a reputation 

 for inciting Eric to evil. He was a poor Christian. 

 His knowledge of the unsettled regions was exten- 

 sive. On the voyage he was on the same ship with 

 Thorward and Thorwald. They used the same ship 

 in which Thorbjorn had come to Greenland. There 

 were in all 160 people who sailed to the Western 

 Settlement in Greenland, thence to Bear Island. From 

 there they sailed to the southward two 'dsegr.'^^ Then 

 they sighted land, launched a boat, and found there 

 large flat stones some of them twelve ells wide. There 

 was also a number of Arctic foxes. They gave a name 

 to the land and called it Helluland (i.e. Flatstone- 

 land). Then they sailed south-southeast two ^dasgr' 



13 «Da;gr^» according to the Norse way of recording time, was 

 usually twelve hours. 



