CHAPTER XI. THE SCANDINAVIANS ON OUR CONTINENT. 2 ACCORDING to a relation of the "Flateyarbók," the first of the Northmen who had a sight of American countries south of Greenland was Bjarne Herjulfson, in the year 986.1 Payne tells us that Bjarne then saw the coasts of New England, and Gaffarel, with more enterprise, that the son of Herjulf was the leader of the first Norwegian expedition to the American continent.3 4 We have noticed already that Herjulf Bardson accompanied Eric the Red to Greenland in the year 986, and settled on the headland of Herjulfsnes. At the time of his emigration from Iceland his son Bjarne was absent on a mercantile voyage to Norway, and learned of his father's departure only in the summer of the following year, when he returned with the intention of passing the winter, as he used to do, at his father's home. Perplexed but not discouraged, he resolved to follow his father's track and spend the next winter with him still. He gathered all possible information regarding the new country and the route to it, but he would not hide from his crew the dangers of the undertaking. "Our next voyage seems to be foolhardy," he said, "for none of us has ever navigated the Greenland sea." The sailors had confidence in their captain and they spread the canvas. 1 Ch. C. Rafn, in Mémoires des Antiquaires, 1845-49, p. 130; North American Review, New Series, vol. xlvi. p. 171. 4 2 P. 77. 3 T. i. p. 303 or 304. Supra, p. 146. The favorable breeze under which they set sail was not sufficient to take them up against the polar currents. Northern winds soon carried along dense fogs, and, after a few days, they knew not where they were. When the mist cleared away and they found again the means to orient themselves, after many days' sailing there appeared at the horizon the outlines of land, hilly, but not mountainous, and covered with woods. Bjarne, knowing that it could not be Greenland, ordered the sails reset and left the land to larboard or to the left. After two more days they descried another land, level and woody. "This cannot be Greenland," Bjarne said, "for it is told to have high mountains covered with snow." He therefore steered northward into the open sea, sailing for three days under a southwest breeze. A third time they saw land, this time a mountainous land covered with glaciers. They made for it and coasted along the shores, but soon discovered that it was but an island without any of the charms reported as belonging to Greenland. They therefore, bore away northward again with the same wind, now grown into a gale; and, after two more days and nights,' successfully landed on the coast of Herjulfsnes, near the home of Bjarne's father." Greater precision of time and place might be desired in the foregoing account, but some writers conclude from it that Bjarne Herjulfson, with the aid of adverse weather, was the first Northman to approach the American continent. Yet the most prominent among the learned are of the opinion that he saw only some of her islands. The rhumb of the winds, the particulars of the voyage, the well-known direction of the ocean cur 1 Rasmus Anderson, p. 69, says, "Four days." Geschichte des Zeitalters, S. 80; 2 Rafn, Mémoire, p. 4; Peschel, p. 42, seq. rents, the presumable distance between discovery and discovery; everything, in fact, allows us to conclude that the three American lands sighted by Bjarne Herjulfson were none other than Nantucket, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland islands.1 Should the narrative of the Flateyarbók tell the truth, the learned would have occasion still to discuss the relative merits of Bjarne Herjulfson, of Leif Ericsson, and, they say, of Thorfinn Karlsefne, not to speak of Cabot and Vespucci, in first discovering the terra firma of our western hemisphere. The account of Bjarne's voyage continues to relate how he was afterwards blamed by his friend Eric, an earl of Norway, for not having explored more carefully the new lands which he had sighted; while many schemes were set forth in Greenland to start an expedition in search of the countries descried. It is further added that when Bjarne settled down on his deceased father's estate on Herjulfsnes, Leif, the son of Eric the Red, bought his ship and set out on his voyage to the American coast in the year 1000. 2 Such is the report of the Flatey codex admitted by Rafn and a few more writers, but discarded by historians generally. Peschel' places Bjarne's voyage in the year 1000, Maltebrun,* in 1001; and, according to the Saga of Eric the Red, Bjarne sailed to Greenland no sooner than 1002,5 when Leif Ericsson had first discovered and then already explored the American coast. Rafn gives us the text of the Saga of Thorfinn Karlsefne, stating that Leif accidentally found new lands in the direction of the American continent, and took with 1 Reusch, vol. ii. p. 294; Peschel, Geschichte des Zeitalters, S. 81, n. 2; Alex. von Humboldt, Kosmos, S. 457, n. 22; Gravier, p. 43. 2 Gravier, p. 49, n. 1. 3 Geschichte des Zeitalters, S. 80. ✦ T. i. p. 362. 5 Reeves, p. 40. him specimens of their native products when sailing from Norway to Brattalidha in the year 1000.1 All the other Icelandic chronicles agree on this point.2 The Saga of Olaf Tryggvason and an ancient geographical fragment are no less explicit: "In the spring" of the year 1000, the former says, "King Olaf sent Gizur and Hjalti to Iceland. Then also he sent Leif Ericsson to Greenland, to publish there the Christian religion. . . .. Leif returned to Greenland that summer. He took up the crew of a vessel who were powerless, abandoned on the broad ocean and drifting on the timbers of their wreck. On this same voyage he also found Vinland the Good." The latter document states that "Leif, surnamed the Fortunate, was the first to discover Vinland, and that on his voyage he found some merchants in danger of perishing in the ocean, and succeeded, through the mercy of God, in saving their lives." Finally, the Kristni Saga of Ari hinn Frode is equally plain when saying, "Hjalte and Gizurr sailed to Iceland that spring, and the following summer King Olaf sent Leif Ericsson to Greenland to announce the truth there. Then did Leif discover Vinland the Good. He also found men on a wreck in the ocean; wherefore he was called Leif the Fortunate." 4 If the Flateyarbók be an exception, Torfæus tells us that it does not agree with its own self, "Nec sibi ipsi consentit," while Reeves sets forth some more of its inaccuracies. Among the ancient Icelandic manuscripts that are the most explicit in asserting 1 Antiq. Amer., p. 118. 'Reeves, pp. 55-58. 3 Rafn, Antiq. Amer., pp. 193, 291; see Document XXXIV., d. * Rafn, Antiq. Amer., p. 293; see Document XXXIV., d. 5 Historia Rerum Norvegicarum, t. ii. lib. ix. cap. xxxvii. p. 434; Gronlandia Antiqua, cap. xvii. p. 128. not only Leif's first exploration but also his discovery of our continent may be mentioned the Saga of Olaf Tryggvason1 in Snorre Sturluson's Heimskringla. We noticed before the few particulars relating to Leif's discovery. It is sufficient to know the enterprising spirit of the Scandinavian mariners to be convinced that the American coast could not long remain unexplored after a sight had been gotten of it. Leif the Fortunate, having returned to Greenland in the fall of the year 1000, had faithfully and successfully discharged the pious duties accepted from the king, Olaf Tryggvason, and converted to the Christian faith during the following winter most of the people of Eiriksfjord. As soon as the weather allowed him, the next year, he rigged his ship for an exploring expedition. Rafn and Moosmüller place this latter event in the year 1000,5 in consequence of information from the Flatey manuscript, but this date would interfere with the well-established time of Leif's return from Norway." 4 It is said, but hardly seems likely, that Bjarne Herjulfson was one of the sailors on this voyage.' Leif, anxious to avail himself of his father's long experience, requested him to take command of the expedition. Eric, alleging his advanced age, at first declined the invitation, but finally accepted, at the repeated instances of his son. The crew was composed of thirty |