is that they sailed wound the headland », meaning Gape Farewell. 

 This translation is quite unwarranted. The sound may as well have 

 been the neighbouring Ikek or Allumlengri as any of the more distant 

 ones west of Cape Farewell. The Saga tells further how, having 

 anchored, they saw a ship putting into the fjord from the sea which 

 kept the same course. It was Thorsten Hvide, the foster-father and 

 stepfather of Thorgils, who had sailed from Norway and Iceland in 

 search of Thorgils. Together they then went to Eric Rode. 



3) That 150 years later in the time of Ivar Bardsson, or at the 

 end of the 14th century, the old sailing-route was abandoned and 

 the ships took a southwestern course to avoid the ice. 



These authentic statements from various times show the gradual 

 deterioration in the ice-conditions of Greenland which went on for 

 centuries till at last in 1300 and 1400 the Polar current had 

 surrounded Iceland and Greenland with its ice and even blocked 

 up the westcoast of the latter in summer. 



Since then the east-coast of Greenland has remained inaccessible 

 and all expeditions sent to rediscover the »Osterbygd» have failed. 



With regard to Eric Rode's journey after »he came to land at 

 the middle-jokul and the place called Blaserk» and took up his 

 winterquarters on Eric's Island, the manuscript before cited only says 

 that he went south along the coast. It is not mentioned whether he 

 went round Gape Farewell or by any of the sounds north of Eggerts 

 Island. If we assume these sounds to have been navigable then, it is 

 probable that he went by them for it is said that »Eric went to 

 see if the land was habitable there ». 



There are many versions of Eric Rode's Saga. The interpreta- 

 tion here followed is from Gr. Hist. Mindesm. II. pag. 686. which omits 

 the addendum contained in later versions: »han siglde vestr um 

 Hvarf ». The oldest manuscripts do not say that Eric sailed round 

 Hvarf. The significance of this omission becomes evident when stu- 

 dying the »Eriksstefna» (Eric's sailing-route) in Bjorn Jonsson's 

 annals taken from an ancient manuscript, the »Groenlandiae vetus 

 chorographia a afgomlu kveri», Gr. Hist. Mindesm. Ill pag. 226. 

 This is probably the oldest sailing-direction in existence for the 

 course to Greenland. From an addendum by Bjorn Jonsson Uhere 

 unto came Erik the Red when farthest » it is evident that this old sailing 

 direction concerns the Erikstefna. This manuscript also has se- 

 veral interpretations contained in the glossary to this chapter in 

 Gr. Hist. Mindesm. They are so important to the rest of this paper 

 that I have obtained permission from the Librarian, Dr. Kaalund, 

 to print a facsimile-photogram of the original, i. e. of Bjorn Jons- 

 sons copy of the ancient record. 



The critical passage in this manuscript are the words: 



»har er stjarna, er Hafhverf heitir». 

 There are three ways of reading these words. 



1) The canonic version in Gr. Hist. Mindesm. is founded on the 

 assumption that the word »stjarna» is wrongly copied and that the 

 original had »straumr » (stream) instead. This current should have 

 borne the name Hafhverf. That name undoubtedly fits the neigh- 

 bourhood of Cape Farewell. The south part of Greenland consists 

 of an archipelago of big islands, Eggerts Island, with Cape Farewell, 

 being the outermost 1 . This island is surrounded by strong currents 

 and vortices on its south and still more on its north side facing the 

 Ikek and Tunua sounds. In these straits the tidal currents are so 

 violent that the ice-blocks are whirled along in such a way that 

 the Danish explorer, Captain Holm, characterises these currents 

 as maelstreams. 



Holm started from Ilua by boat the 1 st. of July 1881 and 

 passed through the sound Ikerasak 2 (danish) miles in length. 

 The ice whirled through the sound with great velocity. The manner 

 of advancing was to keep to the leeward of a foreland waiting for a 

 rift to open in the ice; »for as quickly as it opened it closed again ». 

 »At high water the current set southwest, at low water northwards. 

 There was never for a moment still water ». Holm then rowed 

 through the broad Ikek and through Tunua of which he writes 

 »big maelstroms in Tunnua». Going back he passed outside of 

 Eggerts Island in calm weather and west of Cape Farewell outside 

 the fjord Kangia again met with strong »maelstroms» in the sea. 



2) The second version contained in the Glossary to Chorographia 

 vetus etc. in Gr. Hist. Mindesm. is also based on the assumption 

 that the word »stjarna» is wrong and ought to be »Stj6rn a» ( = 

 steering on). The passage then reads. 



•^Greenland -faces southwest. Farthest south is Herjulfsnds .... etc. 

 You shall steer on (the place) which is called Hafhverf on the eastside 

 of the country. Then Spalsund, then Drango, then (comes) Solvadal 

 which is the settlement farthest east. ...» a. s. o. 



3) The third version is to take the passage literally without 

 improvements. Then it would read: 



^Greenland faces southwest. Farthest south is Herjulfsnds, but 

 Hvarfsgnipa next west to it. (Thereunto came Eric Rode farthest 

 and then said that he had come outside of the innermost of the Erics 

 fjord). There is a star (beacon) in the place which is called Hafhverf 

 on the east side of the country, then Spalsund, then Drango, then 

 (comes) S olvadal, which is the settlement farther east, then Tof afford, then 

 Melrakkands, then Herjolfsnds abbey a. s. o. 



Should Bjorn Jonssons copy of the ancient manuscript be in- 

 correct (which I do not believe), conjecture n:o 2, stjorn a, instead 

 of stjarna would be the simplest and most plausible. 



If accepted it evidently contains the key to the mystery of the 

 Eriksstefna. The course most likely to be taken by Eric who came 

 from the north and went south to see if the country was habitable, 

 was just to stear on Hafhverf on the east side of the country ( »er 

 Hafhverf heitir a austanverdu landi»), then take the first sound 

 that opened up to the interior, Spalsund, past Drango to Solvadal 

 a. s. o. This last excursion into the Iluafjord, where later the large 

 settlements of Skage and Solvadal arose, is certainly no shortcut 

 to Herjulfsnas, the shortest road to which would be by the sound 

 at Pamiagdluk (the road taken by Nordenskjold in 1883). But to 

 Eric who was exploring the country, it was only natural to penetrate 

 through a sound which opened upon the big Iluafjord. This con- 

 jecture »stjorn a» would perhaps be most in favour of the hypo- 

 tesis I wish to indicate. But in the two years I have spent in 

 reading up the old literature of Iceland, Greenland and America 

 I have been so much impressed by the authenticity of the Sagas 

 that I have decided to take their text literally. We should attempt 

 to understand their meaning not to alter their text. 



What kind of beacon is meant by »stjarna» must of course be 

 a matter for conjecture. The simplest would be to assume that in 

 the prime of the colonies when busy intercourse was kept up with 

 other countries, Norway, Iceland, Ireland, some kind of sea-mark with 

 the contours of a star was put up on an island at the entrance to the 

 Ikek sound to guide sailors into this sound, the biggest inlet from the east 

 to the Eystrabyggd. According to my hypothesis the sounds north of 

 Eggerts Island (Cape Farewell) were free from ice and open to navi- 

 gation in the 10th century. It is safe to assume that Ikek is the 

 Spalsund of old to which you came having made the sea-mark (stjar- 

 na) at Hafhverf. It is probable that there was a kind of sea-mark 

 in the time of the colonies, for as a fact another was put up after their 

 downfall on the high mountain Hvidserk by the governor of Ice- 

 land, Didrik Pining (in 1478). This was to warn sailors of the Green- 

 land coast because of the piracy of the escimoes. The historic re- 



i In all (modem) text books Caps Farewell Is mentioned as the south point of Greenland because the sounds north of the islands are now closed. In the text of the 

 old parchment it is otherwise: »H&rjuljmiBH is southliest» which is true. 



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