692 W. Thalbitzer 



ТЪе Icelandic-Norwegian sources give somewhat meagre information about 

 the history of the two Greenland colonies of Icelanders^). The two small com- 

 munities of farms and churches lay at a great distance from each other on either 

 side of the mighty Frederikshaab ice-blink^) (at 62°35' N. Lat.). The distance 

 between them was about four degrees of latitude, cut through by fjords like the 

 districts where the colonies were founded, but for some reason or other all this 

 long tract of land has not been made use of or taken into possession by the Ice- 

 landers. On the whole it is remarkable how the Icelanders seem at once to 

 have found the two best places of South Greenland for the establishment of 

 their colonies. One would think that such a correct selection of land, confirmed 

 by their retention of it during the whole history of their existence, would have 

 necessitated a very thorough examination of the whole tract of coast in question 

 between 60° and 65° and all the fjords there, for seen at a distance from the 

 sea it is impossible to judge of the value of the land. But whatever the reason 

 may have been — perhaps it was only the natural feeling of union — the settlers 

 have wanted to live close to each other so that they could be in touch with each 

 other and meet in the churches or à fnngi (in court). They concentrated in the 

 two largest and most fertile fjord-districts where they were able to continue 

 their Icelandic mode of living. But in reality it was only a small area, a mere 

 fraction of the immense Greenland coast they thus took possession of. They 

 kept to the inner part of the fjords and did not build on the outer land or on 

 the broad borders of the islands or the outer rocks. This coastal land has there- 

 fore been all the more open to the immigrating Eskimo when at last they ven- 

 tured down in the direction of the adjacent, good hunting districts. I do not 

 beheve however, that the Eskimo during the first centuries of the Iceland colo- 

 nization have inhabited the considerable parts of the country l5ång between 

 the colonies, or the islands nearest to north and south, for our dated Ice- 

 landic sources know absolutely nothing of the Skrælings in Greenland during 

 this period. Neither the report of 1266 nor Speculum regale, Historia Norwegiae 

 or Ivarr Baröarson mention by a word that the Skrælings lived within the region 

 of the colonies, in spite of the fact that the Icelandic sources otherwise with 

 great care, almost with curiosity, seek for traces of the Skrælings found in the 

 country. 



But, on the other hand, it is quite probable that when for the first time 

 the Icelandic annals inform us of an attack of the Skrælings on the Icelanders 

 in Greenland in the year 1379, the Skrælings may already for some time have 

 hved in the immediate neighbourhood of one of the colonies, and that the rela- 

 tions between the two nations have not from the beginning been hostile; there 

 have been short periods of peaceful intercourse between them. They have per- 

 haps even at some time been of use to each other by exchanging merchandise. 

 Already about the year 1000 the Greenland Icelanders had met with the first 

 Skrælings on the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador (Markland and Hellu- 

 land) and had been trading with them and this connection with the races 

 on the other side of the sea has probably been of greater importance during the 

 following centuries than may be judged from the Scandinavian sagas and annals. 

 This is evident not only from the scattered information of the Icelandic annals 

 about ships that have been in Markland or sought this place (Biskop Eirikr 



^) The history of the Iceland colonies in Greenland has been written b}' F. Jonsson 

 (I89ii) having mostl}' reference to the Icelanders themselves. The relations be- 

 tween these and the Skrælings (the Eskimo) have been specially dealt with by 

 me in the just mentioned paper (1904). 



-) An arm of the inland-ice protruding out into the sea, from which at short 

 intervals icebergs are loosened. 



