46 A rctic and A nt arctic Exploration [part i 
the points of the compass at which the sun rose or set. 
The Eyktarstad is clearly defined in an ancient Icelandic 
book called Kristinretter. If the S.W. octant be divided 
into thirds, the S.W. point being in the centre, it is 
Eyktarstad when the sun has traversed two-thirds. This 
gives the amplitude of the sun, when it set on the shortest 
day at Vinland, W. 37 0 30' S. The sun's declination 
in a.d. 1005 was 23 0 34' 30" N. With these data we 
find the latitude of the point of observation on Vinland 
to have been a little south of 49 0 S., which would be in 
Bona Vista Bay, on the east coast of Newfoundland 1 . 
Karlsefni passed three winters in Vinland and here, 
in the year 1007, his wife Gudrid bore him a son who 
was named Snorri. From this American-born child was 
descended the Lagman Hauk, the author of the Hauk 
book, and many Danish families, including that of 
Thorwaldsen, the famous sculptor. After the third 
winter Karlsefni and his followers sailed away from 
Vinland on their return. 
The ship of Bjarni was driven out to sea in a gale, 
and all perished except one boat's crew which is said to 
have reached Dublin. When the ship began to sink it 
was found that the boat would only hold half the crew. 
So they cast lots, and it fell to the lot of Bjarni to go 
in the boat. When the lucky ones were all in the boat, 
an Icelandic 3/outh, who was left in the ship, cried out 
" Dost thou intend, Bjarni, to forsake me ? " "It must 
be even so," answered Bjarni. "Not such was the promise 
thou gavest my father," replied the youth. " So be it, 
it shall not rest thus/' answered Bjarni. " Do thou 
come hither and I will go to the ship, for I can see thou 
art eager for thy life." So he went on board again and 
the youth got into the boat. 
1 Professor Rafn, and those who have followed him, thought Dag- 
malastad and Eyktarstad denoted hours of the day, and that the former 
was 8 a.m. and the latter 4 p.m. This gave nine hours for the duration 
of the shortest day, which would be in latitude 42 0 21' N. But Dagmal 
and Eyht were points of the horizon, not hours of the day. The Norsemen 
had no means of knowing the hours. In 1885 Professor Gustav Storm 
gave the correct interpretation of the passage, and showed that the 
position must have been south of 49 0 N., but not far to the south of that 
latitude. The inhabitants met with by the Norsemen in Markland and 
called by them Skraellings are held by Tholbitzer to have been Eskimos. 
In Vinland the natives appear to have been Algonquin Indians. 
