1!S 



©LAFSEN AND POVELSeVs 



till three years afterwards; because in that Interval Erie returned 

 to Iceland,, and boasted much of the country he had visited. The 

 narrative of Eric produced such an effect on the inhabitants of 

 ^ estfiord and Borgaraord, that in the year 986 they embarked 

 in twenty-five vessels for Greenland : but being unfortunately over-* 

 taken by a storm, only fourteen of the ships reached their desti- 

 nation; the others were partly lost, though some put back to 

 Iceland. The new settlers increased rapidly, so that in a short 

 period there were two hundred and eighty farms in the western 

 and eastern parts of Greenland. On comparing this population 

 however with that of ancient Iceland, it is found not to equal 

 one-third of the smallest canton in the latter country, according to 

 the survey of bishop Gitzur. 



NORTHERN QUARTER: 



Our travellers;, on entering the districts of Hunevand, He- 

 grencessvadle, and Thingoe, inform their readers, that as the 

 system of investigation they pursue renders repetition so frequent 

 as to become tedious, in consequence of the same objects re- 

 curring in every quarter of the country, they intend in future 

 to be very brief in their descriptions of the remainder of their 

 journey, and to mention only such circumstances as are peculiar 

 to each district. 



It appears that on their first arrival in Iceland they began their 

 journey from the southward, quitting the chain of mountains that 

 extends across the isle from east to west, and intended to go by the 

 road which leads to Skagefiorden, about twenty Danish leagues 

 in length # : but when they reached the midst of the mountains, a 

 violent storm of wind and rain came on; which continued with such 

 fury that they lost their way, and wandered for three days about 

 the mountains,' exposed to the inclemency of the atmosphere, 

 without food either for themselves or their horses. They were 

 obliged, at the risk of their lives, to cross several large rivers that 

 proceed from the glaciers ; and through which they were forced 

 to wade and lead their horses, which had lost their shoes, and , 

 thus wounded their feet. At last, after encountering inex- 

 pressible difficulties, they had the good fortune to fall in with a 

 road that led them to the canton called Oetiord; whence, after 

 remaining a few days,- they resumed their journey across the 

 district of Thingoe, northwards to Tiorness, and the volcanic 

 and sulphureous mountains in the vicinity of lake Myvatn. Some 

 time afterwards they undertook another tour to the north of 

 Iceland : by going first through the district of Dale, as far as the 

 gulf of Rntefiord, which separates the divisions, and the north. 



Hftsen of these leagues make one degree of the equator. -Edit. 



