colony in aii Q £ Newfoundland, a people with beards, complexion, and every 

 11 left in mark of a different nation from the reft of the inhabitants called 



234 NATURAL HISTORY of NORWAY. 



feflioftj to put up in his houfe as an ornament : But Thorflri 

 Would not unlefs he would pay him its weight in gold: upon 

 thefe conditions he fold it him at laft. It feems the wood was 

 called maufur (makholder baum, or Rufcus meufdom, mufe-toe) 

 and had been brought from Vinland. Hieronymous Tragus, fays, 

 that no rats, mice, or bats, will come near this wood." So far 

 Arngrimus Jona. 



As I have faid before, it is not in the leaft an improbable fup- 

 position, that the defcendants of a Norwegian colony mould ftill 

 be found in the faid country; and I ground my hypothesis upon 

 what that eminent jefuit, Pere Charlevoix, very plainly intimates 

 ANorvegianiri his travels in America; he tells us, that he found on the ifland 



colony in al" 

 probability 

 ftill left ii 

 America. 



Efquimaux (a name, without doubt, which the French have 

 given them) which he reckons is an European colony; his words 

 are thefe, " Les Efquimaux refemblent autant aux Patagons, que 

 le pays qu'ils habitent reffemble aux cotes du detroit de Magellan. 

 C'eft un peuple feroce qui mange la chair toute crue des animaux. 

 Leurs yeux font petits, leurs cheveux blonds, leur peau eft aiTez 

 blanche, et ils ont de la barbe. Toutes ces marques les diftin- 

 guent de tous leurs Voifms, et pourroient faire croire, qu'ils font 

 une colonie d'Europeens, qui ont degenere par la mifere et par le 

 manque d'inftru&ion. Hift. et defcription generale de la Nou- 

 velle France, &c." 



It is a pity, that the good father Charlevoix had not fo much 

 knowlege of the Norvegian language, as to have been able to ex- 

 amine whether his fuppofition were true. I am apt to conclude, 

 that he would have found them to be defcendants of the Norve- 

 gians, who, by length of time, and long abfence from their coun- 

 try, or want of mips, or elfe by their own choice, had remained 

 there, and forgot their native land, yet ftill retaining the ancient 

 Norvegian dialed:, men as the Icelanders now fpeak. 1 It is not 

 probable, that he would have found any figns of chriftianity 

 among them, for their departure happened much about the time 

 that chriftianity was introduced into Norway, which occasioned 

 many colonies leaving the country, exclusive of thofe that did it 

 for reafons of ftate. Others left their native land out of detefta- 



tion 



