ch. vi] The Norsemen in Greenland 4 1 
had resolved to go in search of land which Gunnbjorn, 
son of Ulf the Crow, reported that he had seen. Erik, 
with his family and people, sailed out to sea from Sneefells 
Jokul, and the famous voyage began, in the year 983. 
Sailing westward, the adventurers rounded Hoitserkr, as 
they called Cape Farewell, and the south-west coast of 
Greenland was discovered, known afterwards as the 
East Bygd. 
The wanderers found that they had reached a land 
with a climate like that of Iceland. The great ice current, 
flowing down the east coast of Greenland and diverted 
by the Gulf Stream, sweeps round Cape Farewell and is 
closely packed along this shore until late in the season. 
Almost the whole coast, with numerous islands and 
entrances to the deep fjords, may be taken in at a glance 
from Cape Farewell, or at least from Cape Christian to 
Cape Desolation. It comprises the whole of the ancient 
colony of the East Bygd. Great precipices face the sea, 
with black mountains, 3000 to 4000 ft. high, rising above 
them. Here and there, between them, a glimpse is 
caught of the glistening inland ice. Between the rocks 
and precipices the openings to the six deep fjords can be 
made out, which penetrate from 30 to 40 miles inland. 
The fjords, when frozen over in the winter, are colder 
than the sea coast, but they are warmer in summer, and 
there is then a rich vegetation. Groves of willows 
8 feet high and of birch trees 14 feet high, rising out of 
thick beds of juniper, angelica, alchemilla, and several 
berries well known to the Norsemen, give beauty to 
the shores of the inner creeks. Nor is suitable pasture 
wanting for cattle and sheep. It might well receive the 
name of Greenland, as Erik saw it and named it, in the 
height of summer. 
Erik wintered on an island called by his name, and 
devoted the next summer season to exploration. Thus 
they passed three winters, with the intervening exploring 
seasons. Finally he selected a place far up the Einars- 
fjord (Igalliko) for his homestead. It was named 
Brattahlid because it was under a steep hill side. 
Erik resolved to found a Greenland colony ; he therefore 
returned to Iceland and wintered under the protection 
of a powerful friend named Ingulf the Strong, at Holm- 
