DANISH VESSEL OF THE TENTH CENTURY: FROM AN INSCRIPTION. 



CHAPTER IX. 



THE SCANDINAVIAN SAILORS THEIR PIRACIES AND COMMERCE THE ANGLO- 

 SAXONS ALFRED THE GREAT A SHIP-BUILDER THE VOYAGE OF BEOWULF — 



DISCOVERY OF ICELAND BY THE DANES DISCOVERY OF GREENLAND THE 



VOYAGE OF BJARNI AND LEIF TO THE AMERICAN CONTINENT THEIR DISCOVERY 



OF NEWFOUNDLAND, NOVA SCOTIA, NANTUCKET, AND MASSACHUSETTS AD- 

 VENTURES OF THORWALD AND THORFINN COMPARISON OF THE DISCOVERIES 



OF THE NORTHMEN WITH THOSE OF COLUMBUS. 



The nations inhabiting the borders of the Baltic and the 

 coasts of Norway, as well as those dwelling on the shores of the 

 German Ocean, were situated quite as favorably for maritime 

 enterprise as those upon the banks of the Mediterranean. 

 Though their earliest expeditions by sea were not stimulated by 

 the same cause, — the desire for commercial intercourse, — 

 they arose from causes equally active. While the Mediter- 

 ranean countries possessed a fruitful soil and a balmy climate, 



those of the North, under a sky comparatively ungenial, afforded 

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