62 THE VINLAND VOYAGES 



the expedition to Hop. It is not possible now to deter- 

 mine whether they returned to Greenland after two 

 winters, as the Tale has it, that is in 1005, o^ after 

 three winters, that is in the summer of 1006, as the 

 Saga states. 



The return voyage to Greenland is described as 

 follows : "When they left Vinland the wind blew from 

 the south, and they came to Markland. There they 

 came upon five Skrselings, one bearded man, two 

 women, and two boys. They captured the boys, but 

 the others escaped, disappearing into the ground. 

 They took the boys with them, and these were taught 

 the language of their captors and baptized. They 

 called their mother Vethilldi and their father Uvege. 

 They said that two kings ruled the Skraslings, Avall- 

 damon and Avalldidida. They said there were no 

 houses in their land, the people lived in holes or 

 caves."'' 



It would seem from this account that Thorfinn did 

 not pursue the same route back to Markland j he may 

 have realized that he could follow a straighter course 

 favored by southerly winds, especially if Streamf jord 

 was Shediac Bay. In such a case they probably went 

 east of Anticosti Island. 



^^ There is other information credited to these boys not mentioned 

 here. Gustav Storm has written about all this at length in Aarh0ger for 

 Nord. Oldk. og Hist., 1887, pp. 355ff. 



