2 3 o NATURAL HISTORY oi NORWAY. 



ward, round a point of land into a fmall harbour, and run the 

 fhip into a creek. 



This country appeared to them to be very agreeable and fer- 

 tile, which induced them to winter there. Befides all other kind 

 of fifli which the fea and frefh- waters afforded in great plenty, 

 they found there a very large kind of falmon. The winter was 

 not fevere, nor was there fo much froft and fnow as in Iceland 

 or Greenland, and they could fee the fun full fix hours in the 

 fhorteft day. They likewife found both vines and grapes, which 

 the Greenlanders had never feen before ; but they had a German 

 with them, who was no ftranger to that fort of fruit, and faid 

 he was born in a country where great quantities of vines grew. 

 Leif flayed there all the winter, and returned to Greenland in 

 the fpring, giving this country the name of Viinland * 



Leif found thefe countries, viz. Helleland, Markland, and 

 Vinland, uninhabited at his arrival ; but this is denied by the 

 next adventurers who failed to the fame countries. Thorvald, 

 Leifs brother, was the next that made a voyage to Viinland, with 

 thirty men, and wintered where his brother Leif had been before, 

 and lived in the fame huts that he had built when he wintered 

 there. During the winter Thorval reconnoitred the weftern part 

 of the country, and in the fumnier following he took a furvey of 

 the eaftern part. The third fummer he viewed all the iilands to 

 the weftward, which were uninhabited. His fhip was damaged, 

 by running a-ground on a large promontory, fo that he was 

 obliged to repair it there. He found that the keel had received 

 fome damage, and turned his veffel bottom upwards, at the extre- 

 mity of that promontory, which they therefore called KiaJarn<es, 

 in Danifh Kiolnass. In fearching the eaftern parts, they gave 

 names to many places, rivers, &c. One place they called Krof- 

 fanas, or Kaarfnas, which mail be taken notice of hereafter. 



Not far from thence they difcovered three fmall boats, which 

 they called Hudkeiper ; there were three men in each boat • of 

 thefe every third man was . afleep. Their manner of building 



* That ancient writer, Adamus Bremenfis, takes notice of the voyage to Viinland 

 in the following words, which he heard king Swerid Eftridfens relate by word of mouth: 

 " ? ra£t f rea unam adhuc infulam recitavit, a multis repertam in illo oceano, quar 

 dicitur Winland, eo quod ibi vites fponte nafcuntur, vinum optimum ferentes ; nam' 

 & fruges ibi non feminatas abundare non fabulofa opinione, fed certa Danorum com- 

 perimus narratione." Adam. Bremenf. lib. de fitu Danise, p. 36, edit. Elzevir. 



veffels 



