(596 W. Thalbitzer 



Björn Einarsson Jorsalafari from Vatnsfjord on Iceland bad made many 

 journeys inEurope^); he had just for the third time been in Rome and from 

 there visited Jerusalem, when in 1385 on the return journey he was by a storm 

 driven up to the east coast of Greenland "where he landed on the Gunnbjörn 

 islands lying north-west off the mouth of Isafjord". We do not know the exact 

 position of the said islands or rocks but it is not at all strange that the Icelan- 

 ders in olden as well as more recent times have sometimes been near this coast 

 and have even landed over there. In Björn's report we also read^) that he 

 observed that the islands were populated; and it even looks as if he has sent 

 some of his companions on shore to spy, but he dared not risk leaving the ship 

 himself to gain confirmation of what his companions had seen. When they 

 went in search of food they witnessed a fight between a polar bear and a walrus, 

 which they succeeded in capturing-^). Björn escaped to the Greenland west coast 

 and reached into Eiriksfjord where he was forced by the ice to stay for two years. 

 Here he was well received by his kinsmen being known as one of the richest 

 and most respected peasants in Iceland. The people charged him with the 

 honourable task of judge and revenue officer {syslumaôr) of the district of Eiriks- 

 fjord during the time he stayed there, for which during the first year he received 

 a remuneration of 130 pair of legs of mutton. Further, he had the good luck 

 that a large whale drifted on shore with a "shooting-mark" belonging to Ölafr 

 from Isafjord (on Iceland); his harpoon has probably stuck fast in the whale 

 and according to the custom of the Icelanders has been provided with the mark 

 of the owner. Björn received on behalf of his countryman the hunter's part 

 of the killed whale and thus had provisions for himself and his companions. 

 But in the last year it would undoubtedly have been difficult for him if he had 

 not had the good fortune of saving two Skrælings ("trolls" they are called 

 in Björn's report, as often later, meaning naturally Eskimo)^) a boy and a girl 

 from drowning on a rock washed over by water at flood-tide'). From this time 

 he was never in want of provisions, for the two Skrælings were very clever in 

 catching all kinds of animals for him. Thus we see, that though the Icelandic 

 annals inform us that the Skrælings in the year 1379 had made an attack on 

 the Norsemen and killed a great many (undoubtedly in Eystribygö, for Vestri- 

 bygö had already previously been abandoned by the Norsemen) they had not 

 been driven away but were met with some six or seven years later in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Eiriksfjord. So friendly were the prevailing conditions that the 

 foreign Icelander coming to this place could take them into his service and 

 bind them to him. The Skræhng girl became a nurse to the baby of Björn and 

 his wife Solveig and (how like the Eskimo girl of to-day!) she just wanted to 

 have a head-dress resembling that of her mistress, and sewed one together of 

 the gutskin of whales as she could not get cloth or linen for it. This is probably 

 the first information we have from Greenland about European influence on 

 the Eskimo. 



From Greenland Björn at last in 1387 reached back to Iceland and next 

 year he started for Bergen in Norway where he and his companions were accused 



^J Bjørns book of travels consisting of his own hand-written diary still existed 

 in Iceland towards the middle of the 16th century; further his travels are men- 

 tioned in the annals and diplomas of the middle ages. See Grønl. iiist. Miudesm. 

 vol. I. pp. 112—114. •-') i.e. vol. 1, pp. 110 — 122. 



^) This realistic feature has been doubted b}' Nansen (1911) \^.'^l','>, but also members 

 of the Hansa Expedition witnessed such a fight in tiie ice current on 63°. See 

 Winge (1902) p. 420. •*; Grønl. hist. Mindesmærker III, p. 460. 



'■' ) I.e. I, pp. 485 — 441. I have previously cited tiie whole piece about these "trolls", 

 see (1904, pp. 28-2У. 



