Xxii INTRODUCTION. 
“ tory of Greenland,” is, in the main, derived 
from an Iceland Chronicle by Snorro Sturlcscn, 
who was Justiciary of this island about the year 
1215. This chronicle was the principal source 
on which Thormoder Tor ficus, a native of Ice¬ 
land, founded his Grccnlandia Antiqua, a work 
which Crantz intimates he principally followed. 
In consequence of the total want of success in 
all the researches that have been made for the 
recovery of the eastern colonies, some persons 
imagine that the site of the colonics was only on 
the western side of Cape Farewell. For sup¬ 
porting this opinion, a treatise on the real situa¬ 
tion of Osterbygd, in Greenland, by M. Peter 
von Eggers, recently appeared in Denmark. 
But there is one unfortunate fact mentioned by 
the author, respecting the course and time of 
sailing from Iceland to the colonies, the truth of 
which he does not question, that appears to me 
to overthrow the whole of the ingenious reason¬ 
ing brought forward in the treatise. One author, 
Eggers observes, recommends navigators to steer 
south-west from Iceland, instead of the usual 
direct course, to avoid the ice, and then north- 
