44 A rctic and A ntarctic Exploration [part i 
the most southern of the Greenland settlements, where 
Thorbjorn and his daughter were hospitably received by 
a settler named Thorkel, and passed a winter in his 
house. 
When the summer arrived Thorbjorn got his ship 
ready, and sailed away with Gudrid until they came to 
Brattahlid. They were received with open arms by Red 
Erik and his family, and Erik gave Thorbjorn land on 
Stokkaness, where a good farmstead was established. 
Gudrid was married to Thorstein, the eldest son of Erik 
the Red, and they went to live at a farm called Lysefjord. 
But Thorstein died, and was soon followed by Thorbjorn. 
So Gudrid became a great heiress, and Erik took her 
to his home at Brattahlid, and treated her as his own 
daughter. 
It was the union of the young widow with Thorfin 
Karlsefni, a young Icelandic chief of noble lineage, 
descended from the renowned Ragnar Lodbrog, which 
led to the discovery of America. One summer Karlsefni 
fitted out his ship in Iceland, taking with him a follower 
named Snorri Thorbrandsson and a crew of 40 men. At 
the same time two men named Bjarni and Thorhall fitted 
out another ship. The two ships put to sea together, 
with the intention of sailing to Greenland. They arrived 
at Brattahlid in the autumn and began to do a goodly- 
trade with Red Erik. Thorfin Karlsefni and his com- 
rades were invited to pass the winter there, and before 
the winter was over he and Gudrid were united in 
marriage. 
Then there was mooted the project that Vinland, dis- 
covered some years before by Leif, should be explored 
and settled. Thorfin Karlsefni and his friend Snorri 
fitted out their ship for the adventurous voyage and Bjarni 
Grimolfson and Thorhall also joined with their ship. 
Thorhall had long served Red Erik as his huntsman. 
He was a man of great strength and gigantic stature. 
Erik's third son Thorwald accompanied him. There was 
a third ship, the one in which Thorbjorn and Gudrid had 
arrived in Greenland. Freidis, the natural daughter of 
Erik, a proud and cruel woman, embarked in it with her 
husband Thorward. Gudrid accompanied her husband. 
This fleet of three knorrs — vessels such as the one 
