land and Vinland the Good, close to which and somewhat beyond is situated Albania [that is, Hvítramannaland or land of the White men], to which at one time there was sailing from Ireland. There it was that men from Ireland and from Iceland recognized Ari, son of Mar and of Katla from Reykjanes, of whom there had been received no tidings for a long time, and who had then been made a chief by the people of that land.”1

3

The French Cooley 2 interprets these reports as signifying the discovery of a great western country by the Northmen during the ninth century, adding that almost every critic considers them as fabulous traditions. The English Cooley, on the contrary, remarks that the accounts of the Scandinavian sagas have so little poetic decoration in their circumstances, and are so perfectly free in their general design from any admixture of the monstrous or absurd, that it is much easier to believe the reality of the achievements than the invention of the story.

That Ari Marson was no myth sufficiently appears from the list of his ancestors, who obtained a liberal share of Iceland's territory, and from those of his descendants, who played a noble part in the history of the island. One of his progeny was Ari Gellison, surnamed Frode or the Learned, whose memory and veracity are highly praised by the great historian Snorre Sturluson, and who recorded the facts just

5

1 Parchment Codex 770 of the Royal Library of Copenhagen, ap. C. Rafn, Antiquitates, p. 214; Moosmüller, S. 147; O'Donoghue, p. 316; alii. See Document XXXIV., a.

2 Histoire Générale, t. i. p. 211. 3 The History of Maritime and Inland Discovery.

⚫ Islendingabók, cap. xii.; Landnámabók, pt. ii. pp. 14, 18, 22; pt. iii. p. 12, etc., ap. Rafn, Antiquitates, p. 210, Append.; Moosmüller, S. 237-239.

5 Heimskringla, Kap. 189, ap. Beauvois, Découverte, p. 3.

related, shortly after they took place, and upon the best of information. Rafn, the Limerick sailor, lived but one generation after Ari Marson, and, while sojourning in the metropolis of Munster, at that time the capital of a small Northman kingdom,' he could easily gather from the Irish mariners all the news of Hvítramannaland. Intelligence similar to that from Rafn had been received by the author of the "Landnámabók” from the lips of his uncle Thorkel Gellison, whose testimony originated with a contemporary relative of Ari Marson, Thorfinn II., earl of the Orkney Islands, who had been informed himself by eye-witnesses from among the Irish papas that had re-entered his dominion, or by his own men that were roaming on the wide ocean.2

Neither the date of Ari Marson's departure from Iceland nor the time of his sojourn in Great Ireland are given by the ancient chroniclers, but we know from the "Kristni Saga" or history of the introduction of Christianity that Ari was still one of the principal settlers of western Iceland at the time of Bishop Frederic's and Thorwald Kodranson's preaching, which took place in the year 981, according to some authors, or in the winter of 983-984, according to others. We know also that, in the year 997, his son Gudleif was one of the most zealous co-operators of the priest Thangbrand in the conversion of his native country,* and that in the year 1000 Christianity was declared and established by the Althing or national convention as the public and official religion of the island, although the few remaining pagans preserved their religious free

3

Beauvois, La Découverte, p. 7, ref. to Kristni Saga, Kap. i.; Groenl. Hist. Mindesm, t. i. p. 151; Munch, parte i. t. ii. pp. 280, 344-354.

4

Beauvois, La Découverte, p. 8.

dom.1 Since, therefore, Ari Marson was baptised in Great Ireland and not in Iceland, as the vast majority of his countrymen and his own children, it is highly probable that his arrival in America took place before the end of the tenth century. It is generally admitted that the year 982 is the date of his voyage.'

Shortly after,-in A.D. 999,3-another Icelander sailed to a part of our continent, which, judging from the particulars of the ancient narrative, is doubtless the same Ireland the Great where Ari Marson was detained.

Björn Asbrandson of Kamb entertained unholy relations with a married woman of Frodha, named Thuride, the sister of Snorre, godha or prefect of Helgafell. At the request of her husband and through the co-operation of Snorre, the villain was brought before the court of Thorsness and condemned to three years' banishment from the country. Shortly after Thuride bore a son named Kjartan, whose legitimacy was strongly doubted. Björn left Iceland for Denmark about the year 986, and soon went farther on to the dreaded pirates' nest of Jomsburg, on the Pomeranian island Usedom, where, under the leadership of the famous Palnatoke, then of Stirbjörn, chief of Sweden, and afterwards of Palnatoke once more, he earned, by his daring deeds, the title of "Breidhavikingakappe" or champion of Breidhavik. He re-entered his native country about A.D. 996, but his passion blinded him still and soon involved him in new difficulties, in consequence of which he promised Snorre to expatriate himself again."

1 Hin forna, pt. i. p. xxi; Maurer, Island., S. 81, 82.

2

Rafn, Antiquitates, p. 208; von Humboldt, Kosmos, Bd. ii. S. 273; O'Donoghue, p. 316; Beauvois, La Découverte, p. 8, n. 4.

4

verte, p. 28; Beauvois, La Découverte, p. 8.

* Herbermann, Torfason's Ancient Vinland, p. 64; Rafn, Antiq. Amer., p. 227, seq.

5

Gravier, p. 125, seq.; Rafn, 3 Rafn, Mémoire sur la Décou- Mémoire, p. 27; Beauvois, La

Découverte, p. 9.

"One day after, Björn went south to Raunhaven and made himself ready there to sail away at once. Under full canvas they were taken out by a northeast wind which blew almost constantly till the fall. Of the ship nothing was traced since a long time."1

Björn's voyage took place in the year 999;2 and not until the end of St. Olaf's reign, or, as it is generally admitted, until the year 1027,3 were any tidings received of him. These were brought by the Icelander Gudleif, whom adverse winds had carried from Ireland to Great Ireland, as we read in the "Eyrbyggja Saga:"4

66

The man was called Gudleif. He was son of Gudlaugh the Rich, of Straumfiord, and brother of Thorfinn, from whom the Sturlings are descended. Gudleif was a great seaman. He had a great tradingvessel; but Thorolf, son of Eyralopt, had one too. It was they that fought with Gyrth, son of the Earl Sigwald, and Gyrth lost an eye. It was about the days of King Olaf the Saint, when Gudleif had sailed on a mercantile voyage to Dublin. But he sailed westward to navigate home to Iceland. He moved along the West of Ireland, and a strong northeast wind arose, and drove him a long time westward into the high seas and towards the Southwest, so that they knew not in what direction to find land. And then was the summer much advanced, and they made many vows, so that they should be carried out of the ocean; and it came to pass, that they were finally in sight of land. It was a great land, but they knew not what land it Gudleif took the resolution that they should

was.

1 See Document XXXII., a.

2 Rafn, Mémoire, p. 28; Beauvois, La Découverte, p. 8; Gravier, p. 131.

3

Gravier, p. 131; Beauvois, La Découverte, p. 17; Rafn, Mémoire,

p. 28; Moosmüller, S. 153.

4

* Kap. lxiv.

make for the land, because they could bear no longer the fatigues of the sea. They found there a good haven, and after they had been on the land a little while men came to meet them. They knew not a man there, but somehow they thought that they spoke Irish. Suddenly came to them such great numbers that they made several hundreds. These men attacked them sharply, and captured all hands and led them in bonds. and dragged them farther up into the country. There they were led before a council, that tried them. But they disagreed, for some willed that they should be killed at once, and some willed that they should be transported into the country and be slaves. And before this was settled they saw a large troop ride down, and there was a standard borne in the midst of the crowd. They thought, therefore, that there must be chiefs among the band. But before that crowd had now come to them they saw that under the standard was riding a man, tall and dignified, and who was much advanced in age, and his hair was white. All the men who were present bowed to that man and gratified him all they could. They found out that it was he that now managed the whole trial and the decision of their case. Then the elderly man sent after Gudleif's crew, and when they came before that man he spoke to them in the Norse tongue, and asked of what countries they were. They said to him that they were mainly Icelanders. The man asked who they were that were Icelanders. Gudleif said that he was an Icelander, and then saluted this old man, who, therefore, received him well, and asked from what part of Iceland he was. And Gudleif said that he was from the dominion which is called Borgarfiord. Then he asked from what place of Borgarfiord he was, and Gudleif said what place it was.