"and I am called Thorstein the Swarthy; but my business here is to bid ye both, thee and thy wife, to come and stop at my house." Thorstein Ericsson said he would talk the matter over with his wife; but she told him to decide, and he accepted the invitation. "Then will I come after thee in the morning with horses, for I am in want of nothing to entertain ye both; yet it is very wearisome in my house, for we are there but two, I and my wife, and I am very morose; moreover, I have a different religion from yours, although I hold far the better that which you have." He came after them in the morning with horses, and they went to lodge with Thorstein the Swarthy, who entertained them with the kindest hospitality.

Early that winter sickness came among Thorstein Ericsson's men, and many of them died. Thorstein had coffins made for the bodies of the dead, and caused them to be taken out to the ship and there laid aside, "for I will," he said, "have all the bodies taken to Eiriksfjord in the summer." The saga continues to tell how the epidemic also entered the house of Thorstein the Swarthy, where first his wife, Grimheld, died, and then Thorstein Ericsson. It also relates (to the greater evidence of its authenticity in the judgment of serious critics) the wonderful temporary revival of these dead persons, the telling of Gudrida's fortune by her deceased husband, and the consolations which Thorstein the Swarthy endeavored to afford the disconsolate widow by promising to go with her to Eiriksfjord, and to convey to the church and church-yard there the body of her husbund and those of his companions.1

The good-hearted host had also, during the rest of the winter, his servants to comfort and amuse Gudrida,

1 See supra, p. 193, n.

and he kept the promises which he had made her; for, in the spring of 1006, he sold his farm and his cattle, betook himself to the ship with her, and sailed for Eiriksfjord. The bodies were buried near the church. Thorstein made himself a dwelling at the firth and resided there as long as he lived, and, the saga adds, was looked upon as a very able man. Gudrida repaired to Brattalidha, to the villa of Leif the Fortunate, her oldest brother-in-law and now the head of Eric the Red's family.1

During the summer of that same year there arrived in Greenland two vessels from Iceland. One of them was commanded by Thorfinn " Karlsefne" or the Future Great Man, a son of Thordun Hesthöfdi, a descendant of kings and princes of the three Scandinavian kingdoms and of Ireland, and a wealthy trader himself. In his company was Snorre Thorbrandson, also a man of a prominent family. The officers of the other ship were Bjarne Grimolfson of Breidafjord and Thorhall Gamlason of Eastfjord. Each craft had a crew of forty

men.

Thorfinn and his companions were hospitably received by Leif Ericsson in Brattalidha, where Gudrida's high qualities now greatly contributed to the social pleasures and soon won the heart of the principal visitor. The solemnity of Christmas, formerly Odin's jól, celebrated with pious rejoicings, was ere long followed by another feast, the wedding of Thorfinn to the fair widow.2

1 Amer. Cath. Quar. Rev., vol. xiv. p. 609, seq.; Saga of Thorfinn Karlsefne, ap. Rafn, Antiq. Amer., p. 120, seq.; Torfæus, Vinland. Ant., p. 15; Moosmüller, S. 91.

2 Rafn, Mémoire, p. 9; Saga of Thorfinn Karlsefne, p. 130, seq.; Particula de Groenlandis, Antiq.

Amer., p. 55, seq.; Gravier, p. 71, seq.; Moosmüller, S. 94, seq.; Torfæus, Vinland. Ant., p. 47, seq. We shall follow these authorities mainly, as also Bancroft, vol. v. p. 108, seq., in the relation of the next voyage to the shores of our continent.

On this occasion, as often before, the discoveries of Vinland the Good formed the main topic of conversation. A new voyage to the great continent was generally recommended as a source of glory and riches, and all agreed that no man was better able than Thorfinn Karlsefne to make the undertaking a success. The noble Icelander was urged and finally persuaded by his friends and bride to take the leadership of the adventurous enterprise. Together with Snorre Thorbrandson he fitted out his ship and manned it with sixty mariners, to whom he promised one-half of the profits. Bjarne Grimolfson and Thorhall Gamlason, his former voyage companions, equipped theirs to follow him on this expedition; and a third vessel, that of Thorbjörn, Gudrida's father, was put in readiness by Thorvard, the husband of Freydisa, a natural daughter of Eric the Red. On board this last vessel was another Thorhall, a man who had for many years served the family of Eric as hunter in summer and wood-chopper in winter; and who, in his ignorant prejudice, was still secretly attached to pagan superstition. The fleet was supplied with provisions, tools, and implements of all sorts, and, as it was Thorfinn's intention to establish a regular settlement on the coast of the beautiful and rich country, several head of cattle and domestic animals of various kinds were taken on board the ships. One hundred and sixty men,2 with Gudrida, Freydisa, and five more

1 Cf. Rafn, Antiq. Amer., p. 57. 'Moosmüller, S. 95, after Magnussen, says "one hundred and forty," forgetting that the Northmen had also a "stort hundrad," composed of ten dozen. On p. 137 of Rafn's Antiquitates Americanæ we read: "Omnino centum et sexaginta homines erant, cum ad Vestbygdam navigarunt, et inde ad

1

Bjarneyam;" in the Saga of Thorfinn Karlsefne, ibid., p. 169: “Navibus eorum vehebantur centum et sexaginta viri." True, it is said, ibid., p. 157, that Gudrida and Bjarne remained at Streamfirth with one hundred men, while Thorfinn went out on an exploring excursion with another forty men. But we must remember that this

women, were ready to sail in the spring of A.D. 1007.1 They sailed first to the Vestrebygd, and afterwards to "Biarney," the present island Disco. So it is stated by most authors; but we think that there is some confusion here with an island near Markland, upon which they afterwards killed a bear and, for this reason, named it "Biarney" or Bear Island. It is simply incredible that Greenlanders should have navigated as far or farther north than it was their object to reach in the South. After crossing Davis' Strait, they sailed in a southerly direction to Helluland, where they found many foxes. From thence they continued southward two days, and recognized Markland, a country overgrown with wood and plentifully stocked with animals. Leaving this, they sailed in a southwesterly course, having the land to starboard, until they came to Kialarnes, where they saw trackless deserts and long narrow beaches and sandhills of a peculiar appearance, to which they gave the name of "Furdustrandir" or Wonderful Shores.

The learned generally identify Furdustrandir with the eastern portion of Barnstable peninsula: Nauset Beach, Chatam Beach, and Monomoy Beach. Hitchcock, in his "Report on the Geology of Massachusetts," makes some remarks on these districts, which are a fitting illustration of the Scandinavian name. "The dunes or sandy hillocks," he says, "that are almost or altogether devoid of vegetation, forcibly attract the at

happenend three years after their departure from Greenland, six months famine, and a bloody combat with the natives; long after Thorhall, the hunter, had left the expedition with eight more men. (Gravier, p. 94, n. 1.)

1

1 Peschel, Geschichte der Erdkunde, ed. Sophus Ruge, S. 86,

corrects the mistake he made in his Geschichte des Zeitalters, S. 82 and n. 1, ibid., by giving the date of 1003; Rafn, Antiq. Amer., p. 55; Rasmus Anderson, p. 81.

Gravier, p. 74, ref. to Torfæus, Vinland. Ant., p. 50, and Beauvois, La Découverte, p. 56, n. 2.

tention on account of their peculiarity. Passing through the deserts of that country, I have noticed a singular effect or mirage. Near Orleans, for example, it seemed to me that we ascended at an angle of three or four degrees, and I was undeceived only when, turning around, I observed that the ground over which we had just passed appeared to rise in the opposite direction.' Was Thorfinn perhaps the victim of the same optical illusion, and did he, therefore, impose the name of Furdustrandir? 1

When the voyagers had passed the wonderful shores of Barnstable peninsula, they saw that the land was indented by bays; as, indeed, it is all around Nantucket Sound until this day.

They had two Scots with them, Haki and Hekia, whom Leif had formerly received from the Norwegian king, Olaf Tryggvason, and who were very swift of foot. They put them on shore, recommending to them to proceed in a southwesterly direction and explore the country. After a lapse of three days they returned, bringing with them some grapes and some ears of wheat, that grew wild in this region.

From thence the fleet continued its course to a place where a firth penetrated far into the country. Off the mouth of it lay an island about which strong currents ran; and such was also the case farther up the firth. On the island they saw an immense number of eider-ducks, and it was scarcely possible to walk without treading on their eggs. They called the island "Straumey," Stream Isle, and the firth "Straumfiordhr" or Streamfirth.

This Streamfirth is probably our present Buzzards Bay, and Stream Isle, Martha's Vineyard; although the

1 Rafn, Mémoire, p. 18.