INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER, 
5 
from, Arctic research; and lastly, to make a few 
remarks on the routes by which the Polar area is 
accessible. 
The Phoenician mariners were probably the first 
recorded persons to enter the Arctic circle, the Ultima 
Thule of the ancients being apparently Iceland. The 
Irish may have again visited it in the sixth century. 
It was again discovered by a Norwegian named 
Naddodr in 860, and shortly after colonized by Norse¬ 
men. In 890 Ohther made a voyage round the 
northern part of Norway, and along a portion of the 
north coast of Eussia. Soon after this an Icelandic 
fisherman, Gembiorn, got caught in a gale which 
drove him a long way to the west. The first land he 
sighted was Cape Farewell, or, as he called it, Hoid- 
saerk (white shirt), from its being clad in white snow. 
The land was called GembionTs Land. In or about 
982 Erek the Red was banished from Iceland, upon 
which he resolved to explore GembionTs Land. He 
soon reached the east coast of Greenland, which he 
followed in a southerly direction, and doubled Cape 
Farewell. The west coast was then explored for about 
a day’s journey beyond, or as far as Hvarf, which is 
probably the modern Cape Egede. . He returned to 
Iceland, and induced many of his countrymen to 
colonize the west coast of Greenland. These colonists 
