234 NATURALHISTORYof NORWAY, 



feffion, to put tip in his houfe as an ornament : But Thorfln 

 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 Rufous nieufdom, mufe-trse) 

 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- 

 pofition, that the defendants of a Norwegian colony mould ftill 

 be found in the laid country; and I ground my hypothecs upon 

 what that eminent jefuit, Pere Charlevoix, very plainly intimates 

 ANorvegian m n i s travels in America; he tells us, that he found on the ifland 

 lfobIbmty &U of Newfoundland, a people with beards, complexion, and every 

 Ameiica. m mark of a different nation from the reft of the inhabitants called 

 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 affez 

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

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

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

 manque d'inftrudtion. 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 fuppoiition 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, fuch as the Icelanders now fpeak. 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 occafioned 

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

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



tion 



