64 THE VINLAND VOYAGES 



something else in these or similar words. The first 

 word means "stop now a moment" j the second, "stop 

 a moment now" 3 the third, "out to the outermost 

 (land)"j the fourth, "you mean the outermost?" It 

 is not likely that the Icelanders and these boys from 

 Markland understood each other very well. It is 

 probable also that the words ascribed to the boys were 

 not repeated and preserved on record without some 

 change. 



Thalbitzer brings out many arguments to support 

 the contention that the name of the natives, "Skrasl- 

 ings," had its origin among the people themselves, 

 as a number of others also have believed. A group of 

 Eskimos in Labrador (Helluland) called another 

 tribe north of them "Karaleq," about 1760; and by 

 that name the Skrselings who were in the old settle- 

 ments in Greenland called themselves. One must 

 remember that the Icelanders could not have pro- 

 nounced the name "Karaleq" the same way as the 

 Eskimos,^^ nor would it have been spelt phonetically 

 correct in Icelandic. Very likely it was connected with 

 similarly sounding words in Icelandic which have been 

 mentioned above. 



The narrative about Thorfinn's voyage to Vinland 

 has now come to an end, so far as it is related in the 



^^ The word Eskimos came Into French, borrowed from the Indians 

 north of the Gulf of St. Lawrence (Wonderstrands) ; they called thus 

 those who lived north of them. It signifies "eaters of raw meat." 



