{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_40634/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_40634","id":"gutenberg_40634","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/40634","summary":null,"tags":["America -- Discovery and exploration -- Norse","Arctic regions -- Discovery and exploration","Arctic regions -- Discovery and exploration -- Scandinavian","Category: Archaeology & Anthropology","Category: History - Medieval/Middle Ages","Category: History - Other","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Discoveries in geography -- Scandinavian"],"text":"IN NORTHERN MISTS\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n  IN NORTHERN MISTS\n\n  ARCTIC EXPLORATION IN EARLY TIMES\n\n  BY FRIDTJOF NANSEN\n  G.C.V.O., D.Sc., D.C.L., Ph.D.,\n  PROFESSOR OF OCEANOGRAPHY IN THE\n  UNIVERSITY OF CHRISTIANIA, ETC.\n\n\n  TRANSLATED BY ARTHUR G. CHATER\n\n  ILLUSTRATED\n\n  VOLUME TWO\n\n  LONDON: WILLIAM HEINEMANN: MCMXI\n\n\n\n\n  PRINTED BY\n  BALLANTYNE & COMPANY LTD\n  AT THE BALLANTYNE PRESS\n  TAVISTOCK STREET COVENT GARDEN\n  LONDON\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n  CHAP.                                                               PAGE\n\n    IX. [CONTINUED] WINELAND THE GOOD, THE FORTUNATE ISLES, AND\n        THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA                                         1\n\n     X. ESKIMO AND SKR\u00c6LING                                             66\n\n    XI. THE DECLINE OF THE NORSE SETTLEMENTS IN GREENLAND               95\n\n   XII. EXPEDITIONS OF THE NORWEGIANS TO THE WHITE SEA, VOYAGES\n        IN THE POLAR SEA, WHALING AND SEALING                          135\n\n  XIII. THE NORTH IN MAPS AND GEOGRAPHICAL WORKS OF THE MIDDLE\n        AGES                                                           182\n\n   XIV. JOHN CABOT AND THE ENGLISH DISCOVERY OF NORTH AMERICA          291\n\n    XV. THE PORTUGUESE DISCOVERIES IN THE NORTH-WEST                   345\n\n        CONCLUSION                                                     379\n\n        LIST OF THE MORE IMPORTANT WORKS REFERRED TO                   384\n\n        INDEX                                                          397\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration: From an Icelandic MS., fourteenth century]\n\n\nCHAPTER IX\n\n[continued]\n\nWINELAND THE GOOD, THE FORTUNATE ISLES, AND THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA\n\n\n[Sidenote: Wineland == the African islands]\n\nA confirmation of the identity of Wineland and the Insul\u00e6 Fortunat\u00e6, which\nin classical legend lay to the west of Africa, occurs in the Icelandic\ngeography (in MSS. of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries) which may\npartly be the work of Abbot Nikul\u00e1s of Thver\u00e1 (ob. 1159) (although perhaps\nnot the part here quoted), where we read:\n\n    \"South of Greenland is 'Helluland,' next to it is 'Markland,' and then\n    it is not far to 'V\u00ednland hit G\u00f3\u00f0a,' which some think to be connected\n    with Africa (and if this be so, then the outer ocean [i.e., the ocean\n    surrounding the disc of the earth] most fall in between Vinland and\n    Markland).\"[1]\n\nThis idea of the connection with Africa seems to have been general in\nIceland; it may appear surprising, but, as will be seen, it finds its\nnatural explanation in the manner here stated. It also appears in Norway.\nBesides a reference in the \"King's Mirror,\" the following passage in the\n\"Historia Norwegi\u00e6\" relating to Greenland is of particular importance:\n\n    \"This country was discovered and settled by the Telensians [i.e., the\n    Icelanders] and strengthened with the Catholic faith; it forms the end\n    of Europe towards the west, nearly touches the African Islands\n    ('Africanas insulas'), where the returning ocean overflows\" [i.e.,\n    falls in].\n\nIt is clear that \"African\u00e6 Insul\u00e6\" is here used directly as a name instead\nof Wineland, in connection with Markland and Helluland, as in the\nIcelandic geography. But the African Islands (i.e., originally the Canary\nIslands) were in fact the Insul\u00e6 Fortunat\u00e6, in connection with the\nGorgades and the Hesperides; and thus we have here a direct proof that\nthey were looked upon as the same.\n\n[Illustration: The conception of the northern and western lands and\nislands in Norse literature.]\n\n    G. Storm [1890] and A. A. Bj\u00f6rnbo [1909, pp. 229, ff.] have sought to\n    explain the connection of Wineland with Africa as an attempt on the\n    part of the Icelandic geographers to unite new discoveries of western\n    lands with the classical-medi\u00e6val conceptions of the continents as a\n    continuous disc of earth with an outer surrounding ocean. But even if\n    such \"learned\" ideas prevailed in Iceland and Norway (cf. the \"King's\n    Mirror\"), it would nevertheless be unnatural to unite Africa and\n    Wineland, which lay near Hv\u00edtramanna-land, six days' sail _west_ of\n    Ireland, unless there were other grounds for doing so. Although\n    agreeing on the main point, Dr. Bj\u00f6rnbo maintains (in a letter to me)\n    that the Icelanders may have got their continental conception from\n    Isidore himself, who asserted the dogma of the threefold division of\n    the continental circle; and the question whether Wineland was African\n    or not depended upon whether it came south or north of the line\n    running east and west through the Mediterranean. But the same Isidore\n    also described the Insul\u00e6 Fortunat\u00e6 and other countries as islands in\n    the Ocean, and his dogma could not thus have hindered Wineland from\n    being regarded as an island like other islands (cf. Adam of Bremen's\n    islands), but why then precisely African? Besides, the Icelandic\n    geography and the Historia Norwegi\u00e6 represent two different\n    conceptions, one as a continent, the other as islands. It cannot,\n    therefore, have been Isidore's continental dogma that caused them both\n    to assume the country to be _African_. It seems to me that no other\n    explanation is here possible than that given above.\n\n[Sidenote: The vine North America]\n\nIt might be objected to the view that \"V\u00ednland hit G\u00f3\u00f0a\" originally meant\n\"Insul\u00e6 Fortunat\u00e6,\" that several sorts of wild grape are found on the east\ncoast of North America; it might therefore be believed that the\nGreenlanders really went so far and discovered these. Storm, indeed,\nassumed that the wild vine grew on the outer east coast of Nova Scotia;\nbut he is unable to adduce any certain direct evidence of this, although\nhe gives [1887, p. 48] a statement of the Frenchman Nicolas Denys in 1672,\nwhich points to the wild vine having grown in the interior of the\ncountry.[2] He also mentions several statements of recent date that\nwild-growing vines of one kind or another have been observed near\nAnnapolis and in the interior of the country, but none on the south-east\ncoast. Professor N. Wille informs me that in the latest survey of the\nflora of North America Vitis vulpina is specified as occurring in Nova\nScotia; but nothing is said as to locality. The American botanist, M. L.\nFernald [1910, pp. 19, f.], on the other hand, thinks that the wild vine\n(Vitis vulpina) is not certainly known to the east of the valley of the\nSt. John in New Brunswick (see map, vol. i. p. 335), where it is rare and\nonly found in the interior. From this we may conclude that even if it\nshould really be found on the outer south-east coast of Nova Scotia, it\nmust have been very rare there, and could not possibly have been a\nconspicuous feature which might have been especially mentioned along with\nthe wheat. But even if we might assume that the saga was borne out to this\nextent, it would be one of those accidental coincidences which often\noccur. It must, of course, be admitted to be a strange chance that the\nworld of classical legend should have fertile lands or islands far in the\nwestern ocean, and that Isidore should describe the self-grown vine and\nthe unsown cornfields in these Fortunate Isles, and that long afterwards\nfertile lands and islands, where wild vines and various kinds of wild corn\ngrew, should be discovered in the same quarter. Since we have the choice,\nit may be more reasonable to assume that the Icelanders got their wine\nfrom Isidore, or from the same vats that he drew his from, than that they\nfetched it from America. Again, even if the Greenlanders and Icelanders\nhad found some berries on creepers in the woods--is it likely that they\nwould have known them to be grapes? They cannot be expected to have had\nany acquaintance with the latter.[3] The author of the\n\"Gr\u00f6nlendinga-\u00fe\u00e1ttr\" in the Flateyjarb\u00f3k is so entirely ignorant of these\nthings that he makes grapes grow in the winter and spring (like the fruits\nall the year round on the trees in the myth of the fortunate land in the\nwest), and makes Leif's companion Tyrker intoxicate himself by eating\ngrapes (like the Irishmen in the Irish legends), and finally makes Leif\ncut down vine-trees (\"v\u00ednvi\u00f0\") and fell trees to load his ship, and at\nlast fill the long-boat with grapes (as in the Irish legends); in the\nvoyage of Thorvald Ericson they also collect grapes and vine-trees for a\ncargo, and Karlsevne took home with him \"many costly things: vine-trees,\ngrapes and furs.\" It is scarcely likely that seafaring Greenlanders about\n380 years earlier had any better idea of the vine than this saga-writer,\nand we hear nothing in Eric's Saga about Leif or his companions having\never been in southern Europe. No doubt it is for this very reason that the\n\"Gr\u00f6nlendinga-\u00fe\u00e1ttr\" makes a \"southman,\" Tyrker, find the grapes.\n\n[Sidenote: The wild wheat]\n\nWheat is not a wild cereal native to America. It has therefore been\nsupposed that the \"self-sown wheat-fields\" of Wineland might have been the\nAmerican cereal maize. As this proved to be untenable, Professor\nSch\u00fcbeler[4] proposed that it might have been the \"wild rice,\" also called\n\"water oats\" (Zizania aquatica), an aquatic plant that grows by rivers and\nlakes in North America. But apart from the fact that the plant grows in\nthe water and has little resemblance to wheat, although the ripe ear is\nsaid to be like a wheat-ear, there is the difficulty that it is\nessentially an inland plant, which is not known in Nova Scotia. \"Though it\noccurs locally in a few New England rivers, it attains its easternmost\nknown limit in the lower reaches of the St. John in New Brunswick, being\napparently unknown in Nova Scotia\" [Fernald, 1910, p. 26]. For proving\nthat Wineland was Nova Scotia it is therefore of even less use than the\nwine.\n\nIt results in consequence that the attempts made hitherto to bring the\nnatural conditions of the east coast of North America into agreement with\nthe saga's description of Wineland[5] have not been able to afford any\nnatural explanation of the striking juxtaposition of the two leading\nfeatures of the latter, the wild vine and the self-sown wheat, which are\nidentical with the two leading features in the description of the Insul\u00e6\nFortunat\u00e6. If it were permissible to prove in this way that the ancient\nNorsemen reached the east coast of North America, then it might be\nconcluded with almost equal right that the Greeks and Romans of antiquity\nwere there; for they already had the same two features in their\ndescriptions of the fortunate isles in the west. It should be remembered\nthat wheat was not a commonly known cereal in the North, where it was not\ncultivated, and it would hardly be natural for the Icelanders to use that\nparticular name for a wild species of corn. Both wheat and grapes or vines\nwere to them foreign ideas, and the remarkable juxtaposition of these very\ntwo words shows that they came together from southern Europe, where, as\nhas been said, we find them in Isidore, and where wine and wheat were\nimportant commercial products which one often finds mentioned together.\n\n[Sidenote: Encounters with the Skr\u00e6lings in Wineland]\n\nIf we now proceed further in the description of the Wineland voyages in\nthe Saga of Eric the Red, we come to the encounters with the Skr\u00e6lings.\nThese encounters are, of course, three in number: first they come to see,\nthen to trade, and then to fight; this again recalls the fairy-tale. The\nnarrative itself of the battle with the Skr\u00e6lings has borrowed features.\nThe Skr\u00e6lings' catapults make one think of the civilised countries of\nEurope, where catapults (i.e., engines for throwing stones, mangonels)\nand Greek fire (?) were in use.[6]\n\n[Illustration: Icelandic representation of the northern and western lands\nas connected with one another, by Sigurd Stefansson, circa 1590 (Torf\u00e6us,\n1706). Cf. G. Storm, 1887, pp. 28, ff.]\n\n    Catapults, which are also mentioned in the \"King's Mirror,\" had a long\n    beam or lever-arm, at the outer end of which was a bowl or sling,\n    wherein was laid a heavy round stone, or more rarely a barrel of\n    combustible material or the like [cf. O. Blom, 1867, pp. 103, f.]. In\n    the \"King's Mirror\" it is also stated that mineral coal (\"jar\u00f0kol\")\n    and sulphur were thrown; the stones for casting were also made of\n    baked clay with pebbles in it. When these clay balls were slung out\n    and fell, they burst in pieces, so that the enemy had nothing to throw\n    back. The great black ball, which is compared to a sheep's paunch, and\n    which made such an ugly sound (report ?) when it fell that it\n    frightened the Greenlanders, also reminds one strongly on the\n    \"herbrestr\" (war-crash, report) which Laurentius K\u00e1lfsson's saga [cap.\n    8 in \"Biskupa S\u00f6gur,\" i. 1858, p. 798] relates that \u00der\u00e1ndr Fisiler,[7]\n    from Flanders, produced at the court of Eric Magnusson in Bergen, at\n    Christmas 1294. It \"gives such a loud report that few men can bear to\n    hear it; women who are with child and hear the crash are prematurely\n    delivered, and men fall from their seats on to the floor, or have\n    various fits. Thr\u00e1nd told Laurentius to put his fingers in his ears\n    when the crash came.... Thr\u00e1nd showed Laurentius what was necessary to\n    produce the crash, and there are four things: fire, brimstone,\n    parchment and tow.[8] Men often have recourse in battle to such a\n    war-crash, so that those who do not know it may take to flight.\"\n    Laurentius was a priest, afterwards bishop (1323-30) in Iceland; the\n    saga was probably written about 1350 by his friend and confidant, the\n    priest Einar Hafli\u00f0ason. It seems as though we have here precisely the\n    same notions as appear in the description of the fight with the\n    Skr\u00e6lings. It is true that this visit of Thr\u00e1nd to Bergen would be\n    later than the Saga of Eric the Red is generally assumed to have been\n    written; but this may have been about 1300. Besides, there is no\n    reason why the story of the \"herbrestr\" should not have found its way\n    to Iceland earlier.[9] In any case this part of the tale of the\n    Wineland voyages has quite a European air.\n\nFor the rest, this feature too seems to have a connection with the\n\"Navigatio Brandani.\" It is there related that they approach an island of\nsmiths, where the inhabitants are filled with fire and darkness. Brandan\nwas afraid of the island; one of the inhabitants came out of his house \"as\nthough on an errand of necessity\"; the brethren want to sail away and\nescape, but\n\n    \"the said barbarian runs down to the beach bearing a long pair of\n    tongs in his hand with a fiery mass in a skin[10] of immense size and\n    heat; he instantly throws it after the servants of Christ, but it did\n    not injure them, it went over them about a stadium farther off, but\n    when it fell into the sea, the water began to boil as though a\n    fire-spouting mountain were there, and smoke arose from the sea as\n    fire from a baker's oven.\" The other inhabitants then rush out and\n    throw their masses of fire, but Brendan and the brethren escape\n    [Schr\u00f6der, 1871, p. 28].\n\nIn the narrative of Maelduin's voyage a similar story is told of the smith\nwho with a pair of tongs throws a fiery mass over the boat, so that the\nsea boils, but he does not hit them, as they hastily fly out into the open\nsea [cf. Zimmer, 1889, pp. 163, 329]. The resemblances to Karlsevne and\nhis people flying with all speed before the black ball of the Skr\u00e6lings,\nlike a sheep's paunch, which is flung over them from a pole and makes an\nugly noise when it falls, is obvious; but at the same time it looks as\nthough this incident of the Irish myth--which is an echo of the classical\nCyclopes of the \u00c6neid and Odyssey (cf. Polyphemus and the Cyclopes), and\nthe great stones that were thrown at Odysseus--had been \"modernised\" by\nthe saga-writer, who has transferred medi\u00e6val European catapults and\nexplosives to the Indians.\n\nThe curious expression--used when the Skr\u00e6lings come in the spring for the\nsecond time to Karlsevne's settlement--that they came rowing in a\nmultitude of hide canoes, \"as many as though [the sea] had been sown with\ncoal before the H\u00f3p\" [i.e., the bay], seems to find its explanation in\nsome tale like that of the \"Imram Brenaind\" [cf. Zimmer, 1889, p. 138],\nwhere Brandan and his companions come to a small deserted land, and the\nharbour they entered was immediately filled with \"demons in the form of\npygmies and dwarfs, who were as black as coal.\"\n\nThe \"hellustein\" (flat stone) which lay fixed in the skull of the fallen\nThorbrand Snorrason is a curious missile, and reminds one of trolls (cf.\nArab myth, chapter xiii.). Features such as that of the Skr\u00e6lings being\nsupposed to know that white shields meant peace and red ones war have an\naltogether European effect.[11]\n\nAnother purely legendary feature in the description of the fight is that\nof Freydis frightening the Skr\u00e6lings by taking her breasts out of her sark\nand whetting the sword on them (\"ok slettir \u00e1 sverdit\"). As it stands in\nthe saga this incident is not very comprehensible, and appears to have\nbeen borrowed from elsewhere. Possibly, as Moltke Moe thinks, it may be\nconnected in some way with the legend of the wood-nymph with the long\nbreasts who was pursued by the hunter. The mention of Unipeds and\n\"Einf\u00f6tinga-land\" shows that classical myths have also been adopted. The\nidea was, moreover, widely current in the Middle Ages. Thus in the\nso-called Nancy map of Claudius Clavus (of about 1426) we find \"unipedes\nmaritimi\" in the extreme north-east of Greenland. In the \"Heimsl\u00fdsing\" in\nthe Hauksb\u00f3k [F. J\u00f3nsson, 1892, p. 166] and in the \"Rymbegla\" [1780]\n\"Einf\u00f6tingar\" are mentioned with a foot \"so large that they shade\nthemselves from the sun with it while asleep\" (cf. also Adam of Bremen,\nvol. i. p. 189). But in the Saga of Eric the Red the incident of the\nUniped and the pursuit of him are described as realistically as the\nencounters with the Skr\u00e6lings. Einf\u00f6tinga-land is also mentioned in the\nsame manner as Skr\u00e6linga-land in its vicinity.\n\n[Sidenote: The Skr\u00e6lings are originally mythical beings]\n\nIn reading the Icelandic sagas and narratives about Wineland and Greenland\none cannot avoid being struck by the remarkable, semi-mythical way in\nwhich the natives, the Skr\u00e6lings, are always spoken of;[12] even Are\nFrode's mention of them appears strange. Through finding the connection\nbetween Wineland the Good and the Fortunate Isles, and between the latter\nagain and the lands of the departed, the \"huldrelands,\" fairylands, and\nthe lands of the Irish \"s\u00edd,\" I arrived at the kindred idea that perhaps\nSkr\u00e6ling was originally a name for those gnomes or brownies or mythical\nbeings, and that it was these that Are Frode meant by the people who \"were\ninhabiting Wineland\"--and further, that when the Icelanders in Greenland\nfound a strange, small, foreign-looking people, with hide canoes and\nimplements of stone, bone and wood, which also looked strange to them,\nthey naturally regarded them as these same Skr\u00e6lings; and then they may\nafterwards have found similar people (Eskimo, and perhaps Indians) on the\ncoast of America. It agrees with the view of the Skr\u00e6lings as a small\npeople that elves and brownies in Norway were small, often only two or\nthree feet high, and that the underground or huldre-folk in Sk\u00e5ne were\ncalled \"Pysslingar\" (dwarfs). This idea that the Skr\u00e6ling was originally\na brownie was strengthened by the discovery of the above-mentioned\nprobable connection between many features in the description of the\nSkr\u00e6lings' appearance in Wineland and the demons, like pygmies and dwarfs,\nthat Brandan meets with in a land in the sea (see p. 10), and the smiths\n(or Cyclopes) in another island who throw masses of fire at Brandon and\nMaelduin (see p. 9). That Unipeds and Skr\u00e6lings are both mentioned as\nequally real inhabitants of the new countries, and that a Uniped even\nkills Thorvald Ericson near Wineland, and is pursued, points in the same\ndirection.\n\n[Illustration: Eskimos cutting up a whale. Woodcut from Greenland,\nillustrating a fairy-tale; drawn and engraved by a native]\n\nI then asked Professor Alf Torp whether he knew of anything that might\nconfirm such an interpretation of the word Skr\u00e6ling; he at once mentioned\nthe German word \"walt-schreckel\" for a wood-troll, and afterwards wrote to\nme as follows:\n\n    \"The word I spoke about is found in modern German dialects:\n    'schr\u00e4helein' 'ein zauberisches Wesen, Wichtlein'; cf. Middle High\n    German 'walt-schreckel,' which is translated by 'faunus.' This\n    'schr\u00e4helein' (from the Upper Palatinate) agrees entirely both in form\n    and meaning with 'skr\u00e6lingr': the only difference is that one has the\n    diminutive termination '*-il\u00een' (primary form '* skrahil\u00een'), the\n    other the diminutive termination '-iling' (primary form '*\n    skrahiling'). The primary meaning was doubtless 'shrunken figure,\n    dwarf.' From a synonymous verbal root come the synonymous M.H.G. words\n    'schraz' and 'schrate,'[13] 'Waldteufel, Kobold.' This seems greatly\n    to strengthen your interpretation of 'skr\u00e6lingr' as 'brownie' or the\n    like. Now, of course, 'skr\u00e6ling' means 'puny person' or the like, but\n    it is to be remarked that we do not find that meaning in the ancient\n    language.\"\n\nIt seems to me that this communication is of great importance. It is\nstriking that the word Skr\u00e6ling is never used in the whole of Old Norse\nliterature as a term of reproach or to denote a wretched man, and there\nmust have been plenty of opportunity for this if it had been a word of\ncommon application with its present meaning, and not a special designation\nfor brownies. It only occurs there as applied to the Skr\u00e6lings of\nWineland, Markland and Greenland. Again, the Skr\u00e6lings in Greenland are\ncalled \"troll\" or \"trollkonur\" in the Icelandic narratives, and in the\ndescriptions of the Wineland voyages demoniacal properties are attributed\nto them as to the underground folk. In the fight with the Skr\u00e6lings they\nfrightened Karlsevne and his people not only with the great magic\nball,[14] but also by glamour. And in the \"Gr\u00f6nlendinga-\u00feattr\" it is\nrelated that when the Skr\u00e6lings came for the second time to trade with\nKarlsevne,\n\n    \"his wife Gudrid was sitting within the door by the cradle of her son\n    Snorre, and there walked in a woman in a black gown, rather low in\n    stature, and she had a band on her head, and light-brown hair, was\n    pale and big-eyed, so that no one had seen such big eyes in any human\n    head. She went up to where Gudrid sat, and said: What is thy name?\n    says she. My name is Gudrid, and what is thy name? My name is Gudrid,\n    says she. Then Gudrid, the mistress of the house, stretched out her\n    hand to her, and she sat down beside her; but then it happened at the\n    same time that Gudrid heard a great crash ['brest mikinn,' cf. the\n    noise or crash of the great ball in the Saga of Eric the Red] and that\n    the woman disappeared, and at the same moment a Skr\u00e6ling was slain by\n    one of Karlsevne's servants, because he had tried to take their\n    weapons, and they [the Skr\u00e6lings] went away as quickly as possible;\n    but they left their clothes and wares behind them. No one had seen\n    this woman but Gudrid.\"[15]\n\nThis phantasmal Gudrid is obviously a gnome or underground woman; and as\nshe makes both her appearance and disappearance together with the\nSkr\u00e6lings it is reasonable to suppose that they too were of the same kind,\nlike the illusions in the battle with the Skr\u00e6lings. It is further to be\nremarked that she is short, and has extraordinarily large eyes, exactly as\nis said of the Skr\u00e6lings and of huldre- and troll-folk (cf. vol. i. p.\n327), and also of pygmies.\n\n[Illustration: Fight with mythical creatures (From an Icelandic MS.)]\n\nOn account of the identity of name one might perhaps be tempted to think\nthat it was Gudrid's \"fylgja\" (fetch) coming to warn her. But she does\nnothing of the kind in the saga, nor was there any reason for it, as the\nSkr\u00e6lings came to trade with peaceful intentions, and fled as soon as\nthere was disagreement. But the story is obscure and confused, and it is\nprobable that this is a borrowed incident, and that something of the\nmeaning or connection has dropped out in the transfer. Another remarkable\nfeature (which Moltke Moe has pointed out to me) is that while in Eric's\nSaga Karlsevne pays for the Skr\u00e6lings' furs and red cloth, in the\n\"Gr\u00f6nlendinga-\u00fe\u00e1ttr\" he makes \"the women carry out milk-food ('b\u00fanyt') to\nthem\" (it was placed outside the house or even outside the fence), \"and as\nsoon as the Skr\u00e6lings saw milk-food they would buy that and nothing else.\"\nNow the natives of America cannot possibly have known milk-food; but on\nthe other hand it happens to be a characteristic of the underground folk\nthat they are fond of milk and porridge (cream-porridge), which is put out\nfor the mound-elves and the \"nisse.\" Another underground feature comes out\nin the incident of the five Skr\u00e6lings in Markland, three of whom \"escaped\nand sank into the earth\" (\"ok sukku i jor\u00f0 ni\u00f0r\"). Possibly the statement\nthat the people in Markland \"lived in rock-shelters and caves\" may have a\nsimilar connection.\n\nAs the Skr\u00e6lings of Greenland were dark, it was quite natural that they\nshould become trolls, and not elves, which were fair.\n\nIt may also be supposed that the troll-like nature of the Skr\u00e6lings is\nshown in the curious circumstance that Are Frode, speaking of them in\nGreenland, only mentions dwelling-places and remains of boats and stone\nimplements that they had left behind (see vol. i. p. 260), as a sign that\nthey had been both in the east and west of the country, while the people\nthemselves are never mentioned; this is like troll-folk, who leave their\ntraces without being seen themselves. One might suppose that such a mode\nof expression agreed best with the current Icelandic view of them as\ntrolls. In a similar way it might be related of the first discoverer of an\nearlier Norway, inhabited only by supernatural beings, that he found\ntraces both in the east and the west of the land which showed that the\nkind of folk (\"\u00fej\u00f3\u00f0\") had been there that inhabit Risaland, and that the\nNorwegians call giants. In this way possibly this passage in Are may be\nunderstood (but cf. p. 77); it might be objected that this expression: who\n\"inhabited Wineland\" (\"hefer bygt\") does not suggest troll-folk, but real\nhuman beings; if, however, the existence of these troll-folk is supported\nby the actual finding of natives, in any case in Greenland (and doubtless\nalso in Markland), then such an expression cannot appear unreasonable.\nBesides, there would be a general tendency on the part of the\nrationalising Icelanders, with their pronounced sense of realistic\ndescription, to make these trolls or brownies or \"demons\" into living\nhuman beings in Wineland, while the designation of troll still persisted\nfor a long time in Greenland, side by side with Skr\u00e6ling--as a name\napproximately synonymous therewith. The realistic description of the\nUniped affords a parallel to this. One is inclined to think that the\nSkr\u00e6lings of the saga have come about through a combination of the\noriginal mythical creatures (like the s\u00edd-people in the Irish happy lands)\nto whom at first the name belonged with the Eskimo that the Icelanders\nfound in Greenland, and perhaps the Eskimo and Indians that they found on\nthe north-east coast of North America. It is, as in fact Moltke Moe has\nmaintained in his lectures, by the fusing of materials taken from the\nworld of myth and from reality that the human imagination is rendered\nmost fertile and creative in the formation of legend. The points of\ndeparture may often be pure accidents, resemblances of one kind or\nanother, which have a fructifying effect.\n\nThat the Skr\u00e6lings, from being originally living natives, should later\nhave become trolls or brownies, is an idea that Storm among others seems\nto have entertained (cf. note, p. 11); but this would be the reverse of\nwhat usually happens. That the Eskimo should have made a strange and\nsupernatural impression on the superstitious Norsemen when they first met\nthem is natural, and so it is that this impression should have persisted\nso long, until it gradually wore off through more intimate acquaintance\nwith them in Greenland; but the contrary, that the supernatural ideas\nabout them should only have developed gradually, although they were\nconstantly meeting them, is incredible.\n\nIn Scandinavian literature also we find mythical ideas attached to the\nSkr\u00e6lings of Greenland. In the Norwegian \"Historia Norwegi\u00e6\" (thirteenth\ncentury) it is said that when \"they are struck with weapons while alive,\ntheir wounds are white and do not bleed, but when they are dead the blood\nscarcely stops running.\" The Dane Claudius Clavus (fifteenth century)\nrelates that there were pygmies in Greenland two feet high (like our elves\nand brownies), and the same is reported in a letter to Pope Nicholas V.\n(circa 1450), with the addition that they hide themselves in the caves of\nthe country like ants (see next chapter); that is, like underground\nbeings, although this trait may well be derived from knowledge of the\nEskimo. Mythical tales about the Greenland Eskimo also appear in Olaus\nMagnus, and in Jacob Ziegler's Scondia (sixteenth century) [cf. Gr\u00f6nl.\nhist. Mind., iii. pp. 465, 501].\n\n[Sidenote: Borrowed features]\n\nA little touch like that of Thorvald Ericson drawing the Uniped's arrow\nout of his intestines and saying: \"There is fat in the bowels, a good land\nhave we found...\" shows how the saga-writer embroidered his romance:\nThorvald was the son of a chief and naturally required a more honourable\ndeath than other men. The Fosterbrothers' Saga and Snorre have the same\nthing about Thormod Kolbrunarskald at the battle of Stiklestad, when he\ndrew out the arrow and said, \"Well hath the king nourished us, there is\nstill fat about the roots of my heart.\" But of course there had to be a\nslight difference; while Thormod receives the arrow in the roots of his\nheart and has been well treated by the king, Thorvald gets it in his small\nintestines and has been well nourished by the country. Similar features\nare found in other Icelandic sagas.\n\nIt is a characteristic point that both in the \"Navigatio Brandani\" and in\nthe \"Imram Maelduin\" three of the companions perish, or disappear, either\nthrough demons or mythical beings. With this the circumstance that in\nKarlsevne's voyage three of his companions fall, two by the Skr\u00e6lings and\none by a Uniped, seems to correspond. We may also compare the incident in\nthe \"Imram Brenaind\" where Brandan and his companions come to a large,\nlofty and beautiful island, where there are dwarfs (\"luchrup\u00e1n\") like\nmonkeys, who instantly fill the beach and want to swallow them, and devour\none of the men (the \"crosan\") (cf. the circumstance that in the fight with\nthe Skr\u00e6lings two men fell, of whom only one is mentioned by name).\n\nWhen it is related first that Karlsevne found five Skr\u00e6lings asleep near\nWineland, whom they took for exiles (!) and therefore slew, and that in\nthe following year they again found five Skr\u00e6lings, of whom, however, they\nonly took two boys, while the others escaped, we may probably regard these\nas two variants of the same story. This feature also has an air of being\nborrowed in its dubious form, especially in the former passage; but I have\nnot yet discovered from whence it may be derived.\n\n    In the \"Gr\u00f6nlendinga-\u00fe\u00e1ttr\" there is yet another variant. There\n    Thorvald Ericson and his men see three hide-boats on the beach, and\n    three men under each. \"Then they divided their people, and took them\n    all except one who got away with his boat. They killed the eight....\"\n    This is altogether improbable. Since one man could run away with his\n    boat, the hide-boats must be supposed to be kayaks, and the men\n    Eskimo; but in that case only one man would have been lying under\n    each; if they were larger boats (women's boats ?) it would be unlike\n    the Eskimo for three men to lie under each, and in any case one man\n    could not run away with a boat.\n\nThe tale of the kidnapped Skr\u00e6ling children also shows incidents and ideas\nfrom wholly different quarters that have been introduced into this saga.\nThat the grown-up Skr\u00e6ling was bearded (\"skeggja\u00f0r\") agrees, of course,\nneither with Eskimo nor Indians, but it agrees very well with trolls,\nbrownies and pygmies, and also with the hermits of the Irish legends who\nwere heavily clothed with hair. That this man, with the two women who\nescaped, \"sank down into the earth\" has already been mentioned as an\nunderground feature. That the Skr\u00e6lings of Markland had no houses, but\nlived in caves, does not sound any more probable; unless indeed this\nfeature is taken from underground gnomes, it may come from the hermits in\nIrish legends. Thus the holy Paulus [Schr\u00f6der, 1871, p. 32] dwelt in a\ncave and was covered with snow-white hair and beard (cf. the bearded\nSkr\u00e6ling), whom Brandan met on an island a little while before he came to\nthe Terra Repromissionis (cf. the circumstance that Markland lay a little\nto the north of Wineland). The myth of Hv\u00edtramanna-land is derived from\nIreland, and has of course nothing to do with the Skr\u00e6ling boys. Storm, it\nis true, thought they might have told of a great country (Canada or New\nBrunswick) with inhabitants in the west, which later became the Irish\nmythical land; but this too is not very credible. The names they gave are\nobviously not to be relied on: they may be later inventions, from which no\nconclusion at all can be drawn as to the language of the Skr\u00e6lings, as has\nbeen attempted by earlier inquirers.[16] The two kings' names,\n\"Avalldamon\" and \"Avalldidida\" (or \"Valldidida\"), which are attributed to\nthem, may be supposed to be connected with \"\u00cdvaldr\" or \"\u00cdvaldi.\" He was of\nelfin race, was the father of Idun, who guarded the apples of\nrejuvenation, and his sons, \"\u00cdvalda synir,\" were the elves who made the\nhair for Sif, the spear Gungner for Odin, and Ski\u00f0bla\u00f0nir for Frey. In\nBede he is called \"Hewald,\" and in the Anglo-Saxon translation\n\"He\u00e1vold.\"[17] The name \"V\u00e6tilldi\" (nom. \"V\u00e6tilldr\" ?) of the mother of\nthe Skr\u00e6ling boys recalls Norse names; it might be a combination of \"v\u00e6tr\"\nor \"v\u00e6ttr\" (gnome, sprite, cf. modern Norwegian \"v\u00e6tt,\" a female sprite)\nand \"-hildr\" (acc., dat. \"-hildi\"); the word is also written in some MSS.\n\"V\u00e6tthildi,\" \"Vetthildi,\" \"Vethildi,\" \"Veinhildi.\"\n\n[Sidenote: The maggot-sea]\n\nThe last tale of Bjarne Grimolfsson who got into the maggot-sea\n(\"ma\u00f0k-sj\u00e1r\") bears a stamp of travellers' tales as marked as those of the\nLiver-sea. But even this feature seems to have prototypes in the Irish\nlegends; it resembles the incident in the tale of the voyage of the three\nsons of Ua Corra (twelfth century ?), where the sea-monsters gnaw away the\nsecond hide from under the boat (which originally had three hides) [cf.\nZimmer, 1889, pp. 193, 199].\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n[Sidenote: The saga narrative a mosaic]\n\nIt will therefore be seen that the whole narrative of the Wineland\nvoyages is a mosaic of one feature after another gathered from east and\nwest. Is there, then, anything left that may be genuine? To this it may be\nanswered that even if the romance of the voyages be for the most part\ninvented--to some extent perhaps from ancient lays--the chief persons\nthemselves may be more or less historical. It is nevertheless curious that\nit should be reserved to father and son first to discover and settle\nGreenland, and then accidentally to discover Wineland. That to Leif, the\nyoung leader, should further be attributed the introduction of\nChristianity, and that he should thus represent the new faith in\nopposition to his father, the old leader, who represented heathendom, may\nalso seem a remarkable coincidence, but it may find an explanation in the\nprobability of a new faith being introduced by men of influence, and just\nas in Norway it was done by kings, so in Greenland it was naturally the\nwork of the future chief of the free state. Although it is strange that\nsuch a circumstance should not be mentioned when Leif's name occurs in the\noldest authorities (\"Landn\u00e1ma\"), this may thus appear probable. On the\nother hand, no such explanation can be found for the circumstance that he\nof all others should accidentally discover America. It would be somewhat\ndifferent if, as in the \"Gr\u00f6nlendinga-\u00fe\u00e1ttr,\" Leif had of set purpose gone\nout to find new land, like his father. It is also curious that in the saga\nwe hear no more either of Leif or his ship on the new voyages, after his\naccidental discovery, while it is another, Karlsevne, who becomes the\nhero. It looks as though the tale of Leif had been inserted without proper\nconnection. In the \"Gr\u00f6nlendinga-\u00fe\u00e1ttr,\" too, this discovery is attributed\nto another man, Bjarne Herjolfsson, which shows that the tradition about\nLeif was not firmly rooted. It may be supposed that there was a tradition\nin Iceland of the discovery of new land to the south-west of Greenland,\nand this became connected with the legends of the fortunate \"Wineland the\nGood.\" Popular belief then searched for a name with which to connect the\ndiscovery, and as it could not take that of the discoverer of Greenland\nitself, the aged Eric who was established at Brattalid, it occurred to\nmany to take that of his son; whilst others chose another. It is doubtless\nnot impossible that Leif was the man; but what is suggested above, coupled\nwith so much else that is legendary in connection with the voyages of him\nand the others, does not strengthen the probability of it.\n\nBut however this may be, it may in any case be regarded as certain that\nthe Greenlanders discovered the American continent, even though we are\nwithout any means of determining how far south they may have penetrated.\nThe statements as to the length of the shortest day in Wineland, which are\ngiven in the Flateyjarb\u00f3k's \"Gr\u00f6nlendinga-\u00fe\u00e1ttr,\" are scarcely to be more\ndepended upon than other statements in this romantic tale.\n\n[Sidenote: Features that appear genuine]\n\nIncidents such as the bartering for skins with the Wineland Skr\u00e6lings, and\nthe combat with unfortunate results, seem to refer to something that\nactually took place; they cannot easily be explained from the legends of\nthe Fortunate Isles, nor can representations of fighting in which the\nNorsemen were worsted be derived from Greenland. They must rather be due\nto encounters with Indians; for it is incredible that the Greenlanders or\nIcelanders should have described in this way fights with the unwarlike\nEskimo, or at all events with the Greenland Eskimo, who, even if they had\nbeen of a warlike disposition, cannot have had any practice in the art of\nwar. This in itself shows that the Greenlanders must have reached America,\nand come in contact with the natives there.\n\nThe very mention of the countries to the south-west: first the treeless\nand rocky Helluland (Labrador ?), then the wooded Markland (Newfoundland\n?) farther south, and then the fertile Wineland south of that, may also\npoint to local knowledge. It must be admitted that this could be explained\naway as having been put together from the general experience that\ncountries in the north are treeless, but become more fertile as one\nproceeds southward; but the names Helluland and especially Markland have\nin themselves an appearance of genuineness, as also has Kjalarnes. The\ndifferent saga-writers, in the Saga of Eric the Red and in the\nFlateyjarb\u00f3k's \"Gr\u00f6nlendinga-\u00fe\u00e1ttr,\" give different explanations of the\nreason for the name of Kjalarnes, which shows that the name is an old one\nand that the explanations have been invented later (cf. vol. i. p. 324). A\npoint which agrees remarkably well with the trend of the Labrador coast\nand may point to a certain knowledge of it, is that Karlsevne steers well\nto the south-east from Helluland; but this may possibly be connected with\nthe idea mentioned later in the saga, that Wineland became broader towards\nthe south, and the coast turned eastwards, which was evidently due to the\nassumption that it was connected with Africa (cf. vol i. p. 326).\n\n[Illustration: Felling trees. Marginal decoration of the J\u00f3nsb\u00f3k\n(fifteenth century)]\n\nThe oldest and most original part of Eric's Saga, as of most other sagas,\nis probably the lays. Of special interest are the lays attributed to\nThorhall the Hunter; they give an impression of genuineness and do not\nharmonise well with the prose text, which was evidently composed much\nlater. One of the lays, which describes the poet's disappointment at not\ngetting wine to drink in the new country instead of water, shows that a\nnotion was current that wine was abundant there, and this notion must have\ncome from the myth of the Fortunate Land or Wineland; for, if we confine\nourselves to this one saga, the notion cannot have been derived from the\nsingle earlier voyage thither that is there mentioned--namely, Leif's:\nduring his short visit he cannot possibly have had time to make wine, even\nif he had known how to do so. The lay seems therefore to show that men had\nreally reached a country which was taken to be the \"Wineland,\" or\nFortunate Isles, of legend, but which turned out not to answer to the\nideas which had been formed of it. The second lay attributed to Thorhall\n(see vol. i. p. 326) may also point to the country they had arrived at not\nbeing so excessively rich, for they had to cook whales' flesh on\nFur\u00f0ustrandir (and consequently were obliged to support themselves by\nwhaling). This gives us an altogether more sober picture than the prose\nversion of the saga; the latter, moreover, says nothing of whales except\nthe one that made them ill and was thrown out.\n\n[Sidenote: Surest historical evidence]\n\nThe surest historical evidence that voyages were made to America from\nGreenland is the chance statement, referred to later, in the Icelandic\nAnnals: that in 1347 a ship from Greenland bound for Markland was driven\nby storms to Iceland. This reveals the fact that, occasionally at any\nrate, this voyage was made; and if the sagas about the Wineland voyages\nmust be regarded as romances, or as a kind of legendary poetry--which\ntherefore made no attempt whatever to give a historical exposition of the\ncommunication with the countries to the south-west--then many more voyages\nmay have been made thither than the sagas had use for. A prominent feature\nof the different tales is that of the Greenlanders bringing timber from\nthence; this appears already in the story of Leif's discovery of the\ncountry--he found various kinds of trees and \"m\u01ebsurr,\" and brought them\nhome with him--and still more in the tales of the Flateyjarb\u00f3k, where on\neach voyage it is expressly stated that they felled timber to load their\nships, as though that were their chief object. In the Icelandic geography\nmentioned on p. 1, there is an addition, probably of late date:\n\n    \"... It is said that Thorfinn Karlsevne felled wood [in Markland ?]\n    for a 'h\u00fasa-snotra,' and then went on to seek for Wineland the Good,\n    and arrived where this land was thought to be, but was not able to\n    explore it, and did not settle there ...\"[19]\n\nIn the Flateyjarb\u00f3k's \"Gr\u00f6nlendinga-\u00fe\u00e1ttr\" it is stated that Karlsevne, in\nWineland, cut down timber to load his ship, and that he had a\n\"h\u00fasa-snotra\" of \"masur\" from Wineland. Both accounts show how highly\ntimber was prized in Greenland and Iceland. It is likely enough that this\nwas so, since they had no timber in Greenland but driftwood, dwarf birch\nand osiers. But in order to find timber the Greenlanders need have gone no\nfarther south than Markland (Newfoundland ?); and this name (perhaps also\nHelluland) may therefore have the surest historical foundation.\n\n[Sidenote: Are Frode's evidence]\n\nIf Adam of Bremen (circa 1070) mentions no more than Wineland, this is\ndoubtless because he has only heard of that legendary country; the belief\nin its existence may already have been confirmed in his time by the\ndiscovery of new lands. More remarkable is the statement of the sober Are\nFrode (circa 1130) as to the Skr\u00e6lings who \"inhabited Wineland\" (\"V\u00ednland\nhefer bygt\"). This looks as if Wineland was familiar to him; it may be the\nmythical name that has passed into a common designation for the countries\ndiscovered in the south-west (cf. vol. i. pp. 368, 384). But there is also\na possibility that only the mythical country is in question, and that, as\nsuggested above (vol. i. p. 368; vol. ii. p. 16), its inhabitants are\nmerely the Skr\u00e6lings of myths, since this mythical land and its\ninhabitants were the best known and most talked of. If this be so, it does\nnot exclude the possibility of Are's having heard of other, less well\nknown, but actually discovered countries in the south-west, which he does\nnot mention. To make use of a parallel, let us suppose that Utr\u00f6st with\nits fairy people was better known in Nordland than the islands to the\nnorth with their semi-mythical Lapps. If then we had read of a discovery\nof Finmark that traces had been found there of the same kind of folk\n(\"\u00fej\u00f3\u00f0\") who inhabit Utr\u00f6st, then we should no more be able from this to\nconclude that Utr\u00f6st was a real land than that Vester\u00e5len and Senjen, for\ninstance, had not been discovered. It must be remembered that it does not\nappear with certainty from Are's words where he got his Wineland from (cf.\nvol. i. p. 367).\n\nAnother document of a wholly different nature, wherein possibly the name\nof Wineland is mentioned, has been found--namely, the runic stone of\nH\u00f6nen.\n\n[Sidenote: Runic stone from H\u00f6nen]\n\nOn the estate of H\u00f6nen, in Ringerike, there was found at the beginning of\nlast century a runic stone, which was still from to be seen there in 1823,\nwhen the inscription was copied. Afterwards the stone disappeared.[20] The\ndrawing made in 1823 is now only known from a somewhat indistinct copy;\nbut from this Sophus Bugge [1902] has attempted to make out the runic\ninscription, and he reads it thus:\n\n  \"Ut ok v\u00edtt ok \u00feurfa\n  \u00feerru ok \u00e1ts\n  V\u00ednlandi \u00e1 \u00edsa\n  \u00ed \u00fabyg\u00f0 at k\u00f3mu;\n  au\u00f0 m\u00e1 illt vega,\n  [at] d\u00f6yi \u00e1r.\"\n\n[Illustration: The existing drawing of the runic stone from H\u00f6nen,\nRingerike (S. Bugge, 1902)]\n\nIn prose this verse may, according to Bugge, be rendered somewhat as\nfollows:\n\n    \"They came out [into the ocean] and over wide expanses ('v\u00eett'), and\n    needing ('\u00feurfa') cloth to dry themselves on ('\u00feerru') and food\n    ('\u00e1ts'), away towards Wineland, up into the ice in the uninhabited\n    country. Evil can take away luck, so that one dies early.\"\n\nBugge regards this reading of this somewhat difficult inscription as\ndoubtful; but if it is correct, this verse may be part of an inscription\ncut upon one or more stones in memory of a young man (or perhaps several)\nfrom Ringerike, who took part in an expedition by sea. According to his\nexplanation, they were then driven far out into the ocean in the direction\nof Wineland, and were lost, perhaps in the ice on the east coast of\nGreenland (which in the sagas is generally called the uninhabited country,\n\"ubyg\u00f0\"); they abandoned their ship and had to take to the drift-ice. He\n(or they) to whom the inscription refers thereby met his death at an early\nage, while at any rate some one must have made his way back and brought\nthe tale of the voyage. Probably there was a commencement of the\ninscription, now lost, giving the name of the young man, who must\ncertainly have been of good birth; for otherwise, as Bugge points out, a\nmemorial with an inscription in verse would hardly have been raised to\nhim. He or his family belonged to Ringerike, and to the neighbourhood in\nwhich the stone was put up.\n\nThe form of the runes makes it probable, according to Bugge, that the\ninscription dates from the eleventh century, and perhaps from the period\nbetween 1000 and 1050; scarcely before that, though it may be later. The\ninscription would thus acquire a value as possibly the earliest document\nin which Wineland is mentioned. What kind of expedition the inscription\nrecords we cannot tell; there is nothing to show that it was a real\nWineland voyage; the words seem rather to point to their having been\ndriven against their will out to sea in the direction of \"Wineland,\"\nwhether we are to regard this as the Wineland of myth or as a historical\ncountry; it might well be used figuratively in an epitaph to describe more\ngraphically how far they went from the beaten track. It may equally well\nhave been on a voyage to Ireland, the Faroes, Iceland, or merely to the\nnorth of Norway that the disaster occurred, and they were driven by\nstorms to the Greenland ice; but since it cannot be denied that, as the\nverse has been translated, the expressions appear somewhat unnatural, it\nis difficult to form any opinion as to this.[21]\n\nIf this runic inscription from Ringerike has been correctly copied and\ninterpreted--which, as has been said, is uncertain--then this and Adam of\nBremen's information from Denmark would show that Wineland was known and\ndiscussed in various parts of the North in the eleventh century, long\nbefore Icelandic literature began to be put into writing. But strangely\nenough, in the Norwegian thirteenth-century work, \"Historia Norwegi\u00e6,\" no\nmention is made of Wineland, although in other respects the author has\nmade extensive use of Adam of Bremen's work; he merely states that\nGreenland approaches the African Islands, by which, as pointed out above\n(p. 1), he shows clearly enough that Wineland was regarded as belonging to\nthe African Islands, or Insul\u00e6 Fortunat\u00e6. The \"King's Mirror,\"[22] which\ngives a detailed description of Greenland, does not mention Wineland,\nalthough the author evidently held the view that Greenland approached the\nuniversal continent (i.e., Africa) on the south. The knowledge of it must\nsoon have been forgotten in Norway, or it was regarded as a mythical\ncountry, while the tradition persisted longer in Iceland.\n\n[Sidenote: Bishop Eric seeks Wineland]\n\nThe last time we meet with the name of Wineland in connection with a\nvoyage is in the \"Islandske Annaler,\"[23] where it is related in the year\n1121 that \"Eirikr, bishop of Greenland [also called Eirikr Upsi], went out\nto seek (leita) Wineland.\" But we are not told anything more of this\nexpedition. The use of \"leita\" shows that Wineland was not a known\ncountry, it can only apply to lands about which legends or reports are\ncurrent; just in the same way Gardar in the Sturlub\u00f3k \"went to seek ('f\u00f3r\nat leita') Sn\u00e6landz\" on the advice of his mother, who had second sight\n(vol. i. p. 255), or Ravna-Floki \"f\u00f3r at leita Gardarsh\u00f3lms\" (vol. i. p.\n257), and Eric the Red \"\u00e6tla\u00f0i at leita lands \u00feess\" which Gunnbj\u00f6rn had\nseen, etc. (vol. i. p. 267). As soon as the way was known, it was no\nlonger necessary to \"leita\" countries. If the voyage is historical, it may\nhave been to seek for the mythical country, the happy Wineland that Bishop\nEric set out, as St. Brandan in the legend sought for the Promised Land,\nand as, 359 years later, the city of Bristol actually sent men out to look\nfor the happy isle of Brazil; but as the coast of America seems to have\nbeen known, it may apply to a country there, of which reports had come,\nand to which the name of the mythical country had been transferred. As\nEric is called a bishop, it has been thought that this was a missionary\nvoyage, which met with disaster [cf. Y. Nielsen, 1905, p. 8]; but who was\nthere to be converted in an unknown land, for which one had first to\n\"seek\"? It would have to be the unknown Skr\u00e6lings; but is this really\nlikely, when we hear of no mission to the Skr\u00e6lings of Greenland? There\nmust have been enough of the latter to convert for the time being, if it\nhad been thought worth the trouble. Nor do we know much more about this\nEric Upsi.[24] Probably he was the same man who is called in the\nLandn\u00e1mab\u00f3k \"Eirikr Gnupssonr Gr\u00f6nlendinga-byskup.\" It is possible that\nthe see of Greenland was founded as early as 1110,[25] and that Eric was\nthe first bishop of Greenland, and went out there in 1112,[26] but he\ncannot have been solemnly consecrated at Lund, like later bishops after\n1124. It is possible that Eric was lost, for we hear no more of him, and\nin 1122 and 1123 the Greenlanders made efforts to obtain a new bishop, who\nwas consecrated at Lund in 1124; but it is curious that nothing is then\nsaid about any earlier bishop; moreover, the entry in the annals about\nEric dates at the earliest from the thirteenth century.\n\n    Some years ago it was asserted that a stone with a runic inscription\n    had been found in Minnesota, the so-called Kensington stone. On this\n    is narrated a journey of eight Swedes and twenty-two Norwegians from\n    Wineland as far as the country west of the Great Lakes. But by its\n    runes and its linguistic form this inscription betrays itself clearly\n    enough as a modern forgery, which has no interest for us here [cf. H.\n    Gjessing, 1909; K. Hoegh, 1909; H. R. Roland, 1909; O. J. Breda,\n    1910].\n\n[Sidenote: Wineland in medi\u00e6val literature]\n\nThe name of Wineland occurs extremely rarely in medi\u00e6val literature and on\nmaps outside Iceland, and as a rule it is confused with Finland, as\nalready mentioned (vol. i. p. 198), or again with Vindland (Vendland).\nOrdericus Vitalis (1141) gives \"The Orkneys and Finland, together with\nIceland and Greenland\" as islands under the king of Norway.[27] As the\npassage seems to be connected with Adam of Bremen, who also erroneously\nmentions these islands and Wineland as subject to the Norwegians (see vol.\ni. p. 192), this Finland may be Wineland. It was pointed out in vol i. p.\n198, that the Latin \"vinum\" was translated into Irish as \"f\u00edn.\" Ordericus\n(1075-1143), who lived in England until his tenth year, and wrote in an\nabbey in Normandy, may well have had communication with Irishmen. In\nRanulph Higden's \"Polychronicon\" (circa 1350) the following are described\nas islands in the outer ocean (surrounding the disc of the earth): first\nthe \"Insul\u00e6 Fortunat\u00e6\" (see vol i. p. 346), immediately afterwards \"Dacia\"\n(== Denmark), and to the _west_ of this island \"Wyntlandia,\" besides\n\"Islandia,\" which has Norway to the south and the Polar Sea to the north,\n\"Tile\" (Thule) the extreme island on the north-west, and \"Noruegia\"\n(Norway). As this \"Wyntlandia,\" which in the various editions of Higden's\nmap is called Witland, Wintlandia, Wineland, etc., is placed out in the\nocean on the west, it is possibly connected with the old Wineland which\nwas an oceanic island; but as it is mentioned together with Dacia, it may\nalso be confused with Vindland (Vendland),[28] and the circumstance that\nthe inhabitants are supposed to have sold winds to sailors who came to\nthem may have contributed to this. This may be connected with what Mela\n[iii. 6] says about the island of Sena in the British Sea, off Brittany\n(see vol. i. p. 29), where the nine priestesses of the oracle of the\nGaulish deity\n\n    \"set seas and winds in motion through their incantations, change\n    themselves into what animal they please, cure sickness ... know the\n    future and foretell it, but they only assist those sailors who come to\n    ask counsel of them.\"\n\nBut the wind-selling wizards of the Polychronicon have also evidently been\nconfused with the Finns (Lapps) of Finmark, whom Adam of Bremen had\nalready described as particularly skilled in magic. The Polychronicon is a\nfree revision of an earlier English work, the \"Geographia Universalis,\" of\nthe thirteenth century. In this \"Winlandia\" (or \"Wynlandia\") and its\ninhabitants, who sell winds, are described at greater length; it is there\nplaced on the continent on the sea-coast and borders on the mountains of\nNorway on the east.[29] It is therefore Finland, or perhaps rather the\ncountry of the Lapp wizards, Finmark. Thus through similarity of sound\nthree countries may have been confused in the Polychronicon: Wineland,\nVindland, and Finland (Finmark). Evidently the \"Vinland\" to be found on\nthe continent in the map of the world in the \"Rudimentum Novitiorum\" of\nL\u00fcbeck (1475) refers to Finland, and likewise the \"Vinlandia\" mentioned in\na L\u00fcbeck MS. of 1486-1488, which is an extensive island reaching as far as\nLivonia.[30] Whether we regard Wineland as merely a mythical country, or\nas a country actually discovered to which the name of the mythical land\nwas transferred, this limited dissemination of it in literature and on\nmaps is striking. It shows that knowledge of the myth, or of the country\nwith the mythical name, belonged to older times, was not very widely\nspread outside the Scandinavian countries and Ireland, and was afterwards\nforgotten, in spite of the frequent communication that existed between the\nintellectual world of the North and that of the South [cf. Jos. Fischer,\n1902, pp. 106, ff.].\n\n[Sidenote: Wineland in Faroese lays]\n\nWhile probably the name of Hv\u00edtramanna-land is still preserved in the\nfairy-tale of Hvittenland, it is possibly the name of Wineland that has\nbeen preserved in that \"Vinland\" which is mentioned in the Faroese lay of\n\"Finnur hinn Fr\u00ed\u00f0i\";[31] but if so, it is the only known instance of its\noccurrence in popular poetry. The Norwegian jarl's son, Finnur hinn Fr\u00ed\u00f0i\n(Finn the Fair), courts Ingebj\u00f6rg, the daughter of an Irish king; she is\nbeautiful as the sun, and the colour of her maiden cheeks is like blood\ndropped upon snow.[32] She makes answer: \"Hadst thou slain the Wine-kings,\nthen shouldst thou wed me.\" To Wineland is a far voyage, with currents and\nmighty billows. But Finn begs his brother, Halfdan, to go with him over\nthe Wineland sea. They hoist their silken sail, and never lower it till\nthey arrive at Wineland. There they found the three Wine-kings. Thorstein,\nthe first, came on a black horse, but Finn tore him off at the navel; the\nsecond, Ivint, also came on a black horse. But the third transformed\nhimself into a flying dragon; arrows flew from each of his feathers, and\nhe killed many of their men. The worst was that he shot venom from his\nmouth under Finn's coat of mail, who, though he could not be killed by\narms, had to die. He then drew a golden ring from his arm and sent it by\nHalfdan to Ingebj\u00f6rg, bidding her live happily. But Halfdan sprang into\nthe air, seized the third Wine-king, and tore him off at the navel.\nHalfdan sailed back to Ireland, brought Ingebj\u00f6rg these tidings and the\nring, and slept three nights with her, but on the fourth she dies of\ngrief, since she can love no chieftain after Finn. Halfdan had a castle\nbuilt for himself and passed his years in Ireland, but all his days he\nmourned for his brother. Although the whole of this legend seems to have\nno connection with what we know about Wineland, it is most probable that\nit is the same name, but that--like the tale itself of the Irish king's\ndaughter whose cheek was as blood upon snow--it came from Ireland. The\nname may thus be a last echo of the Irish mythical ideas from which the\nWineland of the Icelanders arose.\n\n[Illustration: Map by the Icelander J\u00f3n Gudmundsson, born 1574 (Torf\u00e6us,\n1706)]\n\n[Sidenote: Helluland in legend]\n\nCuriously enough Helluland is the only one of the names of the western\nlands that has been widely adopted in Icelandic fairy-tales and legendary\nsagas. It has to some extent become a complete fairyland, with trolls and\ngiants, and it is located in various places, usually far north, even to\nthe north of Greenland, and sometimes on its north-east coast. In this\nfairyland was the fjord \"Skuggi\" (shadow); it is mentioned in \u00d6rvarodds\nSaga (circa 1300), where the hero departs to seek his enemy, the wizard\n\u01eagmund, in Helluland, and again in B\u00e1r\u00f0arsaga Sn\u00e6fells\u00e1ss (fifteenth\ncentury), in the \"\u00de\u00e1ttr\" of Gunnari Keldugn\u00fapsf\u00edfl, in the H\u00e1lfdanarsaga\nBr\u00f6nuf\u00f3stra, in the Saga of H\u00e1lfdani Eysteinssyni, and in Gest B\u00e1rdsson's\nSaga.[33]\n\nIn the geography which under the name of \"Gripla\" was included in Bj\u00f6rn\nJ\u00f3nsson's \"Gr\u00f6nland's Annaler,\" it is said of the countries opposite\nGreenland:\n\n    \"Fur\u00f0ustrandir is the name of a land, where is severe frost, so that\n    it is not habitable, so far as people know; south of it is Helluland,\n    which is called Skr\u00e6lingja-land; thence it is a short distance to\n    Wineland the Good, which some people think goes out from Africa....\"\n\nWith this may be compared another MS. of the seventeenth century, where we\nread:\n\n    \"West of the great ocean from Spain, which some call Ginnungagap, and\n    which goes between lands, there is first towards the north Wineland\n    the Good, next to it is called Markland farther north, thereafter are\n    the wastes [i.e., the wastes of Helluland] where Skr\u00e6lings live, then\n    there are still more wastes to Greenland.\" [Cf. Gr\u00f6nl. hist. Mind.,\n    iii. pp. 224, 227.]\n\nFrom this it looks as if Helluland was regarded as inhabited by Skr\u00e6lings,\nwhich agrees with the reality, if it is Labrador. But these MSS. belong\nto the seventeenth century, and may be influenced by the geographical\nknowledge of later times. In Gripla there is evident confusion, as\nFur\u00f0ustrandir has been confounded with Helluland, and the latter with\nMarkland[34].\n\n[Sidenote: Voyage to Markland, 1347]\n\nNo record is found of any voyage to Wineland after 1121; but on the other\nhand there is mention more than two hundred years later of the voyage,\nreferred to above, to Markland from Greenland in 1347. Of this we read in\nthe Icelandic Annals (Sk\u00e1lholts-Annals) for that year: \"Then came also\n[i.e., besides ships from Norway already mentioned] a ship from Greenland,\nsmaller in size than the small vessels that trade to Iceland. It came to\nOuter Straumfjord [on the south side of Sn\u00e6fellsnes]; it was without an\nanchor. There were seventeen men on board [in the Flatey-annals there are\neighteen men], and they had sailed to Markland, but afterwards [i.e., on\nthe homeward voyage to Greenland] were driven hither.\"\n\nAs the Sk\u00e1lholts-Annals were written not many years after this (perhaps\nabout 1362), it must be regarded as quite certain that this ship had been\nto Markland; but on the homeward voyage, perhaps while she lay at anchor,\nwas overtaken by a storm, so that the cable had to be cut, and was driven\nout to sea past Cape Farewell right across to the west coast of Iceland.\nIt is not likely that they sailed so far as Markland simply to fish, which\nthey might have done off Greenland; the object was rather to fetch timber\nor wood for fashioning implements, which was valuable in treeless\nGreenland; the driftwood which came on the East Greenland current did not\ngo very far. It is true that they could not carry much timber on their\nsmall vessel; but they had to make the best of the craft they possessed,\nand they could always carry a sufficient supply of the more valuable woods\nfor the manufacture of tools, weapons and appliances. They must for\ninstance have had great difficulty in obtaining wood for making bows;\ndriftwood was of little use for this.\n\nBut if this voyage took place in 1347, and we only hear of it through the\naccident of the vessel getting out of her course and being driven to\nIceland, we may be sure that there were many more like it; only that these\nwere not the expeditions of men of rank, which attracted attention, but\neveryday voyages for the support of life, like the sealing expeditions to\nNordrsetur, and when nothing particular happened to these vessels, such as\nbeing driven to Iceland, we hear nothing about them. We must therefore\nsuppose that, even if they had to give up the idea of forming settlements\nin the west, the Greenlanders occasionally visited Markland (Newfoundland\nor the southernmost part of Labrador ?), perhaps chiefly to obtain wood of\ndifferent kinds.\n\nIn the so-called Greenland Annals, put together from old sources by Bj\u00f6rn\nJ\u00f3nsson of Skards\u00e1 (beginning of the seventeenth century), it is said of\nthe districts on the west coast of Greenland, to the north of the Western\nSettlement, that they \"take up trees and all the drift that comes from the\nbays of Markland\" (cf. vol i. p. 299). This shows that it was customary to\nregard Markland as the region from which wood was to be obtained. The name\nitself (== woodland) may have contributed to this view; but the fact that\nit survived long after all mention of Wineland had ceased may probably be\ndue to communication with the country having been kept up in later times,\nand to this name being the really historical one on the coast of America.\n\nAccording to the Icelandic Annals the voyagers from Markland who came to\nIceland in 1347, proceeded in the following year (1348) to Norway. This\nwas no doubt with the idea of getting back to Greenland, as there was no\nsailing to that country from Iceland, and they would not trust their\nvessel on another ocean voyage. But in Norway, where they arrived at\nBergen, they had a long while to wait. \"Knarren,\" the royal trading ship,\nseems to have been the only vessel that kept up communication with\nGreenland at that time. We know that \"Knarren\" returned to Bergen in 1346,\nand did not sail again until 1355. From a royal letter of 1354, which has\nbeen preserved, it appears that extraordinary preparations were made for\nthe fitting-out and manning of this expedition, to prevent Christianity in\nGreenland from \"falling away.\" Perhaps the presence in Norway of these\nMarkland voyagers from Greenland had something to do with the awakening of\ninterest in that distant country, and perhaps it is not altogether\nimpossible that the intention was not only to secure and strengthen the\npossessions in Greenland, but also to explore the fertile countries\nfarther west. It cannot be remarked, however, that it brought about any\nchange in the fading knowledge of these valuable regions, and we hear no\nmore of them until their rediscovery at the close of the fifteenth\ncentury.\n\n[Sidenote: Norse ball-game in America]\n\nEbbe Hertzberg, Keeper of the Public Records of Norway, has shown [1904,\npp. 210, ff.] that there is a remarkable and interesting similarity\nbetween the game of lacrosse, which is played by the Indians of the\nnorth-east of North America, and the ancient Norse game, \"knattleikr\"\n(i.e., ball-game), so far as we know it from the sagas. It was greatly in\nfavour in Iceland. If Hertzberg is right in his supposition that the\nIndians may have got this game from the Norsemen, this would lend strong\nsupport to the view that the latter had considerable intercourse with\nAmerica and its natives.\n\n    According to Hertzberg's acute interpretation of the accounts of\n    \"knattleikr\" in the various sagas, it was played on a large level\n    piece of ground (\"leikv\u01ebllr,\" i.e., playing-ground), or on the ice,\n    usually by many players. These were divided into two sides, in such a\n    way that those most nearly equal in strength on each side were paired\n    as opponents and stood near to each other, and the two teams were thus\n    spread in pairs over the whole ground. Each player had a club with\n    which he either struck or caught and \"carried\" the ball. The club had\n    a hollow or a net in which the ball could be caught and lie. When the\n    ball was set going, the game was for the one who was nearest to seize\n    or catch it, preferably with his club, and to run off with it and try\n    to \"carry it out,\" i.e., past a goal or mark; but in this his\n    particular opponent tried to hinder him with all his strength and\n    agility. The other players might not interfere directly in the\n    struggle of the two opponents for the ball. If the one who had the\n    ball was so hard pressed by his opponent that he had to give it up, he\n    tried to throw it to one of his own side, who then again had to reckon\n    with his own opponent in his attempt to \"carry it out.\" This game was\n    much played by the Icelanders; it was apt to be rough, and men were\n    often disabled, or even killed, by their opponents.\n\n[Illustration:The game of Lacrosse among the Menomini Indians (after W. J.\nHoffmann, 1896). On the left, a \"crosse,\" about a yard long]\n\n    Hertzberg shows how the Canadian Indians' game of lacrosse, which has\n    become the national game of Canada, completely resembles in all\n    essentials this peculiar Norse ball-game from Iceland. The game of\n    lacrosse is, as Professor Y. Nielsen has pointed out [1905], more\n    widely diffused among the Indian tribes of North America than\n    Hertzberg was aware. Dr. William James Hoffman[35] has described it\n    among the Menomini Indians in Wisconsin, the Ojibwa tribe in northern\n    Minnesota, the Dakota Indians on the upper Missouri, and among the\n    Chactas, Chickasaws and kindred tribes farther south. Hoffmann also\n    mentions that opponents are picked and that the game is played in\n    pairs [1896, i. p. 132]. Among the Ojibwas, he says, the player who is\n    carrying the ball is often placed hors de combat by a blow on the arm\n    or leg; serious injuries only occur when the stakes are high, or when\n    there is enmity between some of the players. Among the more southern\n    tribes, on the other hand, the game is much more violent, the crosse\n    is longer, made of hickory, and it is often sought to disable the\n    runner. This, then, is even more like the Icelandic game.\n\nHoffmann thinks that the game is undoubtedly derived from one of the\neastern Algonkin tribes, possibly in the valley of the St. Lawrence.\nThence it reached the Huron Iroquois, and later it spread farther south to\nthe Cherokees, etc. In a similar way it was carried westwards and adopted\nby many tribes. This then points to its having originated in just those\ndistricts where one would have expected it to come from, if it was brought\nby the Norsemen, as Hertzberg thinks. That the game is so widely diffused\nin America and has become so much a part of the Indians' life, even of\ntheir religious life, shows that it is very ancient there, and this too\nsupports Hertzberg's assumption that it is derived from the Norsemen. It\nis true that Eug. Beauvois[36] has pointed out the possibility of the game\nhaving been introduced into Canada by people from Normandy after the\nsixteenth century; but before such an objection could carry weight, it\nwould have to be made probable that the characteristic Norse game was\nreally played in Normandy; but this is not known. In support of\nHertzberg's view it may also be adduced--a point that he himself has not\nnoticed--that the Icelanders appear to have introduced the same ball-game\nto another American people with whom they came in touch, namely, the\nEskimo of Greenland. Hans Egede [1741, p. 93] says:\n\n    \"Playing ball is their most usual game, especially by moonlight, and\n    they have two ways of playing: When they have divided themselves into\n    two sides, one throws the ball to another who is on his own side.\n    Those of the other side must endeavour to get the ball from them, and\n    thus it goes on alternately among them....\" (The other way of playing\n    mentioned by Egede is more like football.)\n\n[Illustration: Game of ball among the Eskimo of Greenland (Hans Egede,\n1741)]\n\nThis description, together with Egede's drawing, from which it appears,\namongst other things, that the opponents are arranged in pairs, seems to\nshow that the Eskimo game was very like the Icelanders' \"knattleikr\" and\nthe Indians' \"lacrosse\"; but with the difference that according to Egede's\naccount the Eskimo did not use any club or crosse; moreover, from Egede's\ndrawing it looks as if both men and women took part, as with certain\nIndian tribes. That there is a connection here appears natural. The most\nprobable explanation may be that the Eskimo as well as the Indians got\nthis ball-game from the Norsemen. That the Eskimo should have learnt it\nfrom the whalers after the rediscovery of Greenland in the sixteenth\ncentury is unlikely, as also that it should have come to the Indians from\nthe Eskimo round the north of Baffin Bay and through Baffin Land and\nLabrador; nor is it any more likely that the Icelanders should have learnt\nit of the Eskimo in Greenland, who again had it from America.\n\n[Sidenote: Difficulties in the way of colonisation]\n\nIt is in itself a strange thing that the discovery of a country like North\nAmerica, with conditions so much more favourable than Greenland and\nIceland, should not have led to a permanent settlement. But there are\nmany, and in my judgment sufficient, reasons which explain this. We must\nremember that such an outpost of civilisation as Greenland offered poor\nopportunities for the equipment of such settlements; the settlers would\nhave to be prepared for continual conflicts with the Indians, who with\ntheir warlike capacity and their numbers might easily be more than a\nmatch for a handful of Greenlanders, even though the latter had some\nadvantage in their weapons of iron--and of these too the Greenlanders\nnever had a very good supply, as appears from several narratives. There\nwould also be need of ships, which were costly and difficult to procure in\nGreenland; the few that were there certainly had enough to do, and could\nhardly manage more than an occasional trip to Markland for timber.\nMoreover, as the Greenland settlements themselves and their oversea\ncommunications declined after the close of the thirteenth century, so also\nof course did their communication with America decrease, until it finally\nceased altogether.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n[Sidenote: Hv\u00edtramanna-land]\n\nIt would thus appear, from all that has been put forward in this chapter,\nthat Wineland the Good was originally a mythical country, closely\nconnected with the happy lands of Irish myths and legends--which had their\nfirst source in the Greek Elysium and Isles of the Blest, in Oriental\nsailors' myths, and an admixture of Biblical conceptions. The description\nof the country has acquired important features from Isidore's account of\nthe Insul\u00e6 Fortunat\u00e6 and from older classical literature. This mythical\ncountry is to be compared with \"Hv\u00edtramanna-land\" (the white men's land),\n\"which some call Ireland the Great ('Irland hit Mikla').\" Of this the\nLandn\u00e1ma tells us (cf. vol i. p. 353) that it lay near Wineland, in the\nwest of the ocean, six \"d\u0153gr's\" sail west of Ireland (according to the\nEyrbyggja Saga it lay to the south-west); the Icelandic chief Are M\u00e1rsson\nwas driven there by storms, was not allowed to depart, but was baptized\nthere and held in great esteem. Furthermore, the same land is mentioned in\nthe Saga of Eric the Red as lying opposite Markland (cf. vol. i. p. 330).\nFinally, in the Eyrbyggja Saga there is a tale of a voyage (see later)\nwhich evidently had the same country as its object, though it is not\nmentioned by name. Since Thorkel Gellisson is given as the authority for\nthe story in the Landn\u00e1ma, the legend may have reached Iceland about the\nclose of the eleventh century.\n\n[Sidenote: Origin of the name]\n\nThis Irish land may also be derived from an adaptation of the ancients'\nmyth of the western Isles of the Blest,[37] and it evidently corresponds\nto one of the mythical countries of the Christianised Irish legends. It\nbears great resemblance in particular to \"the Island of Strong Men\"\n(\"Insula Virorum Fortium\") in the Navigatio Brandani, which is also called\nthere \"the Isle of Anchorites\" [Schr\u00f6der, 1871, pp. 24, 17]. Three\ngenerations dwelt there: the first generation, the children, had clothes\nwhite as driven snow, the second of the colour of hyacinth, and the third\nof Dalmatian purple. The name itself, which in Old Norse would become\n\"Starkramanna-land,\" shows much similarity of formation; besides which it\nis the Isle of Anchorites that is in question, and one of the three\ngenerations wears white garments; we are thus not far from the formation\nof a name \"Hv\u00edtramanna-land.\" There is yet another point of agreement, in\nthat, just as Are M\u00e1rsson was not allowed to leave Hv\u00edtramanna-land, so\none of Brandan's companions had to stay behind on the Isle of Anchorites.\nIt may also be supposed that the name of the White Men's Land is connected\nwith the White Christ and with the white garments of the baptized; the\ncircumstance of Are M\u00e1rsson being baptized there points in the same\ndirection.[38] But to this it may be added that various myths and legends\nshow it to have been a common idea among the Irish that aged hermits and\nholy men were white. The old man who welcomes Brendan to the promised land\nin the \"Imram Brenaind\" [cf. Zimmer, 1889, p. 139; Schirmer, 1888, p. 34]\nhas no clothes, but his body is covered with dazzling white feathers, like\na dove or a gull, and angelic is the speech of his lips. In the Latin\naccount of Brandan's life (\"Vita sancti Brandani\") the man is called\nPaulus, he is again without clothes, but his body is covered with white\nhair,[39] and in both tales the man came from Ireland [cf. Schirmer, 1888,\np. 40]. The cave-dweller Paulus on an island in the Navigatio Brandani\n[Schr\u00f6der, 1871, p. 32] is without clothes, but wholly covered by the hair\nof his head, his beard and other hair down to the feet, and they were\nwhite as snow on account of his great age. It is evident that the\nwhiteness is often attributed, as in the last instance, to age; but it is\nalso the heavenly colour, and the white clothing of hair (or feathers)\nmay also have some connection with the white lamb in the Revelation. In\nthe tale of Maelduin's voyage, which is older than those of Brandan's,\nMaelduin meets in two places, on a sheep-island and on a rock in the sea,\nwith hermits wholly covered with the white hair of their bodies--they too\nwere both Irish--and on two other islands, the soil of one of which was as\nwhite as a feather, he meets with men whose only clothing was the hair of\ntheir bodies[40] [cf. Zimmer, 1889, pp. 162, 163, 169, 172, 178]. In the\nNavigatio Brandan also meets on the island of Alibius an aged man with\nhair of the colour of snow and with shining countenance. (Cf. Christ\nrevealing himself among the seven candlesticks to John on the isle of\nPatmos: \"His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow;\nand his eyes were as a flame of fire\" [Rev. i. 14].)\n\n    Among the Irish the white colour again forms a conspicuous feature in\n    the description of persons, especially supernatural beings, in ancient\n    non-Christian legends and myths. The name of their national hero Finn\n    means white. To Finn Mac Cumaill there comes in the legend a king's\n    daughter of unearthly size and beauty, \"Bebend\" (the white woman),\n    from the Land of Virgins (\"T\u00edr na-n-Ingen\") in the west of the sea,\n    and she has marvellously beautiful white hair [cf. Zimmer, 1889, p.\n    269]. The corresponding maiden of the sea-people, in the \"Imram\n    Brenaind,\" whom Brandan finds, is also whiter than snow or sea-spray\n    (see vol. i. p. 363). The physician Libra at the court of Manann\u00e1n,\n    king of the Promised Land, has three daughters with white hair. When\n    Midir, the king of the s\u00edd (fairies), is trying to entice away Et\u00e1in,\n    queen of the high-king of Ireland, he says: \"Oh, white woman, wilt\n    thou go with me to the land of marvels?... thy body has the white\n    colour of snow to the very top,\" etc. etc.[41] [cf. Zimmer, 1889, pp.\n    273, 279]. A corresponding idea to that of the Irish s\u00edd-people,\n    especially the women, being white, is perhaps that of the Norse elves\n    being thought light (cf. \"lysalver,\" light-elves), or even white. The\n    elf-maiden in Sweden is slender as a lily and white as snow, and elves\n    in Denmark may also be snow-white (cf. also the fact that elves are\n    described as white nymphs, \"alb\u00e6 nymph\u00e6\").\n\nIt seems natural that these ideas--of whiteness as specially beautiful,\nand mostly applied to the \"s\u00edd\" or elves, to the garments of baptism, and\nto holy men and hermits--led to a name which, in conformity with the\nStrong Men's Island of the Navigatio, would become the White Men's Land,\nfor the mythical western land oversea, where Are M\u00e1rsson was baptized, but\nwhich he could not leave again, and where, according to the Eyrbyggja\nSaga, the language resembled Irish. This, then, is precisely the \"Isle of\nAnchorites.\" The country may have originated through a contact of ideas\nfrom the religious world and the profane, original conceptions from the\nlatter having become Christianised. Doubtless the white garments, which\nwere connected with the other world, and which became the heavenly raiment\nof the Christians, have also played a part. In Plato a white-clad woman\n(i.e., one from the other world) comes to Socrates in a dream and\nannounces to him that in three days he is to depart. During the\ntransfiguration on the mountain Jesus' face \"did shine as the sun, and his\nraiment was white as the light\" [Matt. xvii. 2], or \"his raiment became\nshining, exceeding white as snow\" [Mark ix. 3]. On the basis of this\nChristian conception the image of the world beyond the grave has taken the\nform of a fair, shining land, as in the immense literature of visions; and\nthus too in the Floamanna Saga [Gr\u00f6nl. hist. Mind., ii. p. 103], where\nThorgils's wife Thorey sees in a dream a \"fair country with shining white\nmen\" (\"menn bjarta\"), and Thorgils interprets it to mean \"another world\"\nwhere \"good awaits her\" and \"holy men would help her.\"\n\nThere is further a possibility that some of the conceptions attached to\nHv\u00edtramanna-land may be connected with ancient Celtic tales which in\nantiquity were associated with the Cassiterides (in Celtic Brittany); in\nany case there is a remarkable similarity between the mention in Eric the\nRed's Saga of men who went about in white clothes, carried poles before\nthem, and cried aloud (see vol. i. p. 330), and Strabo's description (see\nvol. i. p. 27) of the men in the Cassiterides in black cloaks with kirtles\nreaching to the feet, who wander about with staves, like the Furies in\ntragedy. That Strabo should see a resemblance to the Eumenides (Furies)\nand therefore make his men black, while the Northern author has the\nChristian ideas and in agreement with the name of Hv\u00edtramanna-land gives\nthem white clothes, need not surprise us. Even if Storm [1887] is correct\nin his supposition that the white men's banners, or \"poles to which strips\nwere attached\" (see vol. i. p. 330), are connected with ecclesiastical\nprocessions, this may be a later popular modification, just as the white\nhermits out in the ocean may be a modification of pre-Christian, or at any\nrate non-religious, conceptions in Ireland.\n\n    Reference has been made (p. 32) to the resemblance between the\n    accounts of the inhabitants of Wyntlandia (== Wineland), who were\n    versed in magic, and of the Celtic priestesses in the island of Sena\n    off Brittany. One might be tempted to think that here again there is\n    some connection or other between these Breton priestesses and, on the\n    one hand the Irishmen in Hv\u00edtramanna-land, on the other the men of the\n    Cassiterides (near Sena) who were like the Furies. Dionysius\n    Periegetes [510; cum Eustath. 1] relates that on this island of Sena\n    women crowned with ivy conducted nocturnal bacchanals, with shrieks\n    and violent noise (cf. the men in white clothes in Hv\u00edtramanna-land,\n    who carried poles and cried aloud). No male person might set foot on\n    the island, but the women went over to the men on the mainland, and\n    returned after having had intercourse with them (cf. vol. i. p. 356).\n    Exactly the same thing is related by Strabo [iv. 198] of the Samnite\n    women on a little island in the sea, not far from the mouth of the\n    Liger (Loire); inspired by Bacchus they honour that god in mysteries\n    and other unusually holy actions. The druids had their sanctuaries on\n    islands, and Mona (Anglesey) was their headquarters. Tacitus [Ann.\n    xiv. 30] tells of their fanatical women who, in white clothes\n    (grave-clothes), with dishevelled hair and flaming torches, conducted\n    themselves altogether like Furies on the arrival of the Romans.\n\nThe circumstance of Hv\u00edtramanna-land being, according to the Eyrbyggja\nSaga, a forbidden land may correspond to that of men being prohibited from\nsetting foot on the priestesses' island, or again to the way to the\nCassiterides being kept secret and to the precautions taken to prevent\npeople from reaching them (cf. vol. i. p. 27). Something similar, it may\nbe added, is told of the rich, fertile island which the Carthaginians\ndiscovered in the west of the ocean, and which, under pain of death, they\nforbade others to visit [Aristotle, Mir. Auscult., c. 85; cf. also\nDiodorus, v. 20]. That in late classical times there was a confusion\nbetween the Cassiterides and the mythical isles in the west appears\nfurther from Pliny's saying [Hist. Nat., iv. 36] that the Cassiterides\nwere also called \"Fortunat\u00e6,\" and from Dionysius Periegetes making tin,\nthe product of the Cassiterides, come from the Hesperides.\n\n[Sidenote: The name Great-Ireland]\n\nIt was mentioned above (vol. i. p. 357) that the name of the promised\nland, \"the Land of Marvels,\" was also called in Irish legend the \"Great\nStrand\" (\"Tr\u00e1g M\u00f3r\"), or the \"Great Land\" (\"T\u00edr M\u00f3r\"); \"two or three times\nas large as Ireland\" (vol. i. p. 355). It does not seem unlikely that the\nIcelanders, hearing from Ireland of this great land, should come to call\nit \"Irland hit Mikla\" (Ireland the Great); and this seems to be a more\nnatural explanation than Storm's [1887, p. 65] interpretation of the name\nas meaning \"the Irish colony,\" like \"Magna Gr\u00e6cia\" (the Greek colony in\nItaly) and \"Sv\u00ed\u00fej\u00f3d it Mikla\" (the Swedish colony in Russia, the name of\nwhich may however have been derived from the name of the latter: \"Scythia\nMagna\"); on the other hand, he gives an obvious parallel in \"Great Han,\"\nthe mythical land in the Great Ocean beyond China (Han).\n\nIn the Eyrbyggja Saga we read of Bj\u00f6rn Asbrandsson, called\nBreidvikinge-kj\u00e6mpe, and his exploits. He bore illicit love to Snorre\nGode's sister, Thurid of Fr\u00f3\u00f0\u00e1, the wife of Thorodd, and had by her an\nillegitimate son, Kjartan. Finally he had to leave Iceland on account of\nthis love; but his ship was not ready till late in the autumn. They put to\nsea with a north-east wind, which held for a long time that autumn.\nAfterwards the ship was not heard of for many a day.\n\n[Sidenote: Gudleif's voyage]\n\n    Gudleif Gudlaugsson was the name of a great sailor and merchant; he\n    owned a large merchant vessel. In the last years of St. Olaf's reign\n    he was on a trading voyage to Dublin; \"when he sailed westward from\n    thence he was making for Iceland. He sailed to the west of Ireland,\n    encountered there a strong north-east wind, and was driven far to the\n    west and south-west in the ocean,\" until they finally came to a great\n    land which was unknown to them. They did not know the people there,\n    \"but thought rather that they spoke Irish.\" Soon many hundred men\n    collected about them, seized and bound them, and drove them up into\n    the country. They were brought to an assembly and sentence was to be\n    pronounced upon them. They understood as much as that some wanted to\n    kill them, while others wanted to make slaves of them. While this was\n    going on, a great band of men came on horseback with a banner, and\n    under it rode a big and stately man of great age, with white hair,\n    whom they guessed to be the chief, for all bowed before him. He sent\n    for them; when they came before him he spoke to them in Norse and\n    asked from what country they came, and when he heard that most of them\n    were Icelanders, and that Gudleif was from Borgarfjord, he asked after\n    nearly all the more important men of Borgarfjord and Breidafjord, and\n    particularly Snorre Gode, and Thurid of Fr\u00f3\u00f0\u00e1, his sister, and most of\n    all after Kjartan, her son, who was now master there. After this big\n    man had discussed the matter at length with the men of the country, he\n    again spoke to the Icelanders and gave them leave to depart, but\n    although the summer was far gone, he advised them to get away as soon\n    as possible, as the people there were not to be relied upon. He would\n    not tell them his name; for he did not wish his kinsmen such a voyage\n    thither as they would have had if he had not helped them; but he was\n    now so old that he might soon be gone, and moreover, said he, there\n    were men of more influence than he in that country, who would show\n    little mercy to foreigners. After this he had the ship fitted out, and\n    was himself present, until there came a favourable wind for them to\n    leave. When they parted, this man took a gold ring from his hand, gave\n    it to Gudleif, and with it a good sword, and said: \"If it be thy lot\n    to reach Iceland, thou shalt bring this sword to Kjartan, master of\n    Fr\u00f3\u00f0\u00e1, and the ring to Thurid, his mother.\" When Gudleif asked him who\n    he was to say was the sender of these costly gifts, he answered: \"Say\n    he sent them who was more a friend of the mistress of Fr\u00f3\u00f0\u00e1 than of\n    the 'gode' of Helgafell, her brother....\" Gudleif and his men put to\n    sea and arrived in Ireland late in the autumn, stayed that winter at\n    Dublin, and sailed next summer to Iceland [cf. Gr\u00f6nl. hist. Mind., i.\n    pp. 769, ff.].\n\nIt is clear that Bj\u00f6rn Breidvikinge-kj\u00e6mpe here is the same as Are M\u00e1rsson\nin the Landn\u00e1ma, who was also driven by storms to Hv\u00edtramanna-land, had to\nstay there all his life, and according to the report of Thorfinn earl of\nOrkney (ob. circa 1064) had been recognised (by travellers like Gudleif\n?), and was much honoured there. This incident of the travellers coming to\nan unknown island and there finding a man who has been absent a long while\nhas parallels in many Irish legends. Thus it may be mentioned that\nBrandan, in the Navigatio, comes to the convent-island of Alibius, with\nthe twenty-four Irish monks of old days, and meets there the old\nwhite-haired man who was prior of the convent and had been there for\neighty years, but who does not tell his name. Brandan asks leave to sail\non, but this is not permitted until they have celebrated Christmas there\n[Schr\u00f6der, 1871, pp. 15, ff].[42]\n\n[Sidenote: Gu\u00f0-Leifr and Leifr hinn Heppni]\n\nThe resemblance between the two names \"Gu\u00f0-Leifr\" (Gudleif == God-Leif)\nand \"Leifr hinn Heppni\" (Leif the Lucky) also deserves notice, as perhaps\nit is not merely accidental. One sails during the last years of St. Olaf\nfrom Ireland to Iceland and is carried south-westwards to\nHv\u00edtramanna-land; the other sails during the last years of Olaf Tryggvason\nfrom Norway to Greenland and is carried south-westwards to Wineland the\nGood.\n\n    It might also be thought to be more than a mere coincidence that,\n    while Leif Ericson is given the surname of \"hinn heppni,\" a closely\n    related surname is mentioned in connection with Gudleif in the\n    Eyrbyggja Saga, where he is called \"Gu\u00f0leifr Gu\u00f0laugsson hins au\u00f0ga\"\n    (i.e., son of Gudlaug the rich). In the one case, of course, it is the\n    man himself, in the other the father, who bears the surname. \"Au\u00f0igr\"\n    means rich, but originally it had the meaning of lucky, and the rich\n    man is he who has luck with him (cf. further \"au\u00f0na\" == luck,\n    \"au\u00f0nu-ma\u00f0r\" == favourite of fortune). Gudleif Gudlaugsson also occurs\n    in the Landn\u00e1mab\u00f3k, but this surname is not mentioned, nor is anything\n    said about this voyage, in exactly the same way as Leif Ericson is\n    named there, but without a surname and without any mention of a voyage\n    or a discovery; in both cases this is an addition that occurs in later\n    sagas. In spite of the difference alluded to, one may suspect that\n    there is here some connection or other. Possibly it might be that, as\n    Gu\u00f0ri\u00f0r is the Christian woman among all the names beginning with\n    Thor- and Frey\u00f0is, so the name of Gu\u00f0leifr, which was placed in\n    association with the Christian Hv\u00edtramanna-land, was used because it\n    had a more religious stamp than \"happ\" and \"heppen,\" which in any case\n    are as nearly allied to popular belief as to religiosity, and which\n    were associated with the non-Christian Wineland.\n\n[Sidenote: Voyage of eight adventurers in Edrisi]\n\nThe following tale in Edrisi, the Arabic geographer, whose work dates from\n1154, bears considerable resemblance to the remarkable story of Gudleif's\nvoyage.[43]\n\n    Eight \"adventurers\" from Lisbon built a merchant ship and set out with\n    the first east wind to explore the farthest limits of the ocean. They\n    sailed for about eleven days [westwards] and came to a sea with stiff\n    (thick) waves [the Liver-sea] and a horrible stench,[44] with many\n    shallows and little light (cf. precisely similar conceptions, vol. i.\n    pp. 38, 68, 181, 182, note 1). Afraid of perishing there, they sailed\n    southward for twelve days and reached the Sheep-island (\"Djaz\u00eerato\n    'l-Ghanam\"), with innumerable flocks of sheep and no human beings (cf.\n    Dicuil's account of the Faroes, and Brandan's Sheep-island, vol. i.\n    pp. 163, 362). They sailed on for twelve days more towards the south\n    and found at last an inhabited and cultivated island. On approaching\n    this they were soon surrounded by boats, taken prisoners, and brought\n    to a town on the coast. They finally took up their abode in a house,\n    where they saw men of tall stature and red complexion, with little\n    hair on their faces, and wearing their hair long (not curled), and\n    women of rare beauty. Here they were kept prisoners for three days. On\n    the fourth day a man came who spoke to them in Arabic and asked them\n    who they were, why they had come, and what country they came from.\n    They related to him their adventures. He gave them good hopes, and\n    told them that he was the king's interpreter. On the following day\n    they were brought before the king, who asked them the same questions\n    through the interpreter. On their replying that they had set out with\n    the object of exploring the wonders of the ocean and finding out its\n    limits, the king began to laugh and told the interpreter to explain\n    that his father had once ordered one of his slaves to set out upon\n    that ocean; this man had traversed its breadth for a month, until the\n    light of heaven failed them and they were obliged to renounce this\n    vain undertaking. The king further caused the interpreter to assure\n    the adventurers of his benevolent intentions. They then returned to\n    prison and remained there until a west wind came. Then they were\n    blindfolded and taken across the sea in a boat for about three days\n    and three nights to a land where they were left on the shore with\n    their hands tied behind their backs. They stayed there till sunrise in\n    a pitiable state, for the cords were very tight and caused them great\n    discomfort. Then they heard voices, and upon their cries of distress\n    the natives, who were Berbers, came and released them. They had\n    arrived on the west coast of Africa, and were told that it was two\n    months' journey to their native land.\n\n[Sidenote: Resemblance between Edrisi's tale and Gudleif's voyage]\n\nAs points of similarity to Gudleif's voyage it may be pointed out that the\nPortuguese sail for thirty-five days altogether, to the west and\nafterwards to the south, and arrive at a country which thus lies\nsouth-south-west. Gudleif is carried before a north-east wind towards the\nsouth-west and reaches land after a long time. Both the Portuguese and the\nIcelanders are taken prisoners shortly after arrival; the former are\nsurrounded by boats, the latter by hundreds of men. The Portuguese saw\nred-complexioned men of tall stature with long hair, the Icelanders saw a\ntall, stately man with white hair coming on horseback. They had to wait\nawhile before they were addressed in a language they could understand; the\nPortuguese being first spoken to by an interpreter in Arabic[45] who gave\nthem good hopes, and afterwards brought them before the king, who assured\nthem of his benevolent intentions; while the Icelanders were sent for by\nthe great chief, who, when they came before him, spoke to them in Norse\nand was friendly towards them, and after long deliberations spoke to them\nagain, and gave them leave to depart. The Portuguese had to wait in prison\nfor a west wind before they could get away; the Icelanders had to wait for\na favourable wind, which was again a west wind. The Portuguese were led\naway blindfold, obviously in order that they should not find their way\nback; when the Icelanders left it was enjoined upon them never to return.\nThe Portuguese came to the west coast of Africa, from whence they\nafterwards had to sail northward to Lisbon; the Icelanders arrived in\nIreland, and sailed thence the next summer northward to Iceland. It seems\nreasonable to suppose that there is some connection between the two tales;\nthe same myth may in part form the foundation of both, and this again may\nbe allied to the myth alluded to above of the Carthaginians' discovery of\na fertile island out in the ocean to the west of Africa. But there are\nalso striking resemblances between Edrisi's tale and the description in\nthe Odyssey of Odysseus's visit to the Ph\u00e6acians in the western isle of\nScheria. On his arrival there Athene warns Odysseus to be careful, as this\npeople is not inclined to tolerate foreigners, and no other men come to\nthem. Odysseus is brought before the king, Alcinous, who receives him in\nfriendly fashion, and tells him that no Ph\u00e6acian shall \"hold him back by\nforce,\" and Odysseus relates his many adventures. Finally the Ph\u00e6acians\nconvey him while asleep across the sea in a boat, carry him ashore at\ndawn, and go away before he awakes [Od. xiii. 79, ff.]; this corresponds\nto the Portuguese being taken blindfold across the sea and left bound on\nthe shore, until they are released at sunrise. The promise of the\nPh\u00e6acians, after Poseidon's revenge for their helping Odysseus, never\nagain to assist any seafarer that might come to them, may bear some\nresemblance to the incident of Bj\u00f6rn Breidvikinge-kj\u00e6mpe trying to prevent\nIcelanders from seeking a land which \"would show little mercy to\nforeigners.\"\n\nMoreover, the tales, both of Gudleif's voyage and of Edrisi's Portuguese\nadventurers, resemble ancient Irish myths.\n\n[Sidenote: Irish myth]\n\n    In the \"Imram Snedgusa acus meic Riagla\" [of the tenth or close of the\n    ninth century, cf. Zimmer, 1889, pp. 213, f., 216], the men of Ross\n    slay King Fiacha Mac Domnaill for his intolerable tyranny. As a\n    punishment, sixty couples of the guilty were sent out to sea, and\n    their judgment and fate left to God. The two monks, Snedgus and Mac\n    Riagail, afterwards set out on a voluntary pilgrimage on the\n    ocean--while the sixty couples went involuntarily--and, after having\n    visited many islands,[46] reached in their boat a land in which there\n    were generations of Irish, and they met women who sang to them and\n    brought them to the king's house (cf. Odysseus's meeting first with\n    the women in the Ph\u00e6acians' land, and their showing him the way to the\n    palace of Alcinous). The king received them well and inquired from\n    whence they came. \"We are Irish,\" they replied, \"and we belong to the\n    companions of Columcille.\" Then he asked: \"How goes it in Ireland, and\n    how many of Domnaill's sons are alive?\" They answered: \"Three Mac\n    Domnaills are alive, and Fiacha Mac Domnaill fell by the men of Ross,\n    and for that deed sixty couples of them were sent out to sea.\" \"That\n    is a true tale of yours; I am he who killed the King of Tara's son\n    [i.e., Fiacha], and we are those who were sent out to sea. This\n    commends itself to us, for we will be here till the Judgment [i.e.,\n    the day of judgment] comes, and we are glad to be here without sin,\n    without evil, without our sinful desires. The island we live on is\n    good, for on it are Elijah and Enoch, and noble is the dwelling of\n    Elijah....\"\n\nThe similarity to the meeting of Gudleif and the Icelanders with the\nlikewise exiled great man and chief, who did not give his name but hinted\nat his identity, is evident. If we suppose that the island Gudleif reached\nwas originally the white men's, or the holy (baptized) men's land, then it\nmay be possible that the great man's words to Gudleif about there being\nmen on the island who were greater (\"r\u00edkari\") than he is connected with\nthe mention of Elijah and Enoch.\n\nThus we see a connection between Gudleif's voyage (and the exiled\nBreidvikinge-kj\u00e6mpe on the unknown island) and Irish myths and legends,\nthe Arabic tale, and finally the Odyssey. What the mutual relationship\nmay be between Edrisi's tale and the Irish legends is to us of minor\nimportance. As the Norse Vikings had much communication with the Spanish\npeninsula[47] it might be supposed that the Norse tale, derived from Irish\nmyths, had reached Portugal; but as the Arabic tale has several\nsimilarities to the voyages of Brandan and Maelduin, and to Dicuil's\naccount of the Faroes (with their sheep and birds), which are not found in\nthe Norse narrative, it is more probable that the incidents in the\nexperiences of the Portuguese adventurers are derived directly from\nIreland, which also had close connection with the Spanish Peninsula,\nchiefly through Norse ships and merchants. We must in any case suppose\nthat the Icelandic tale of Gudleif's voyage came from Ireland; but it may\nhave acquired additional colour from northern legends.\n\n[Sidenote: Northern tales]\n\n    There is a Swedish tale of some sailors from Getinge who were driven\n    by storms over the sea to an unknown island; surrounded by darkness\n    they went ashore and saw a fire, and before it lay an uncommonly tall\n    man, who was blind; another equally big stood beside him and raked in\n    the fire with an iron rod. The old blind man gets up and asks the\n    strangers where they come from. They answer from Halland, from Getinge\n    parish. Whereupon the blind man asks: \"Is the white woman still\n    alive?\" They answered yes, though they did not know what he meant.\n    Again he asks: \"Is my goat-house still standing?\" They again answered\n    yes, though ignorant of what he meant. He then said: \"I could not keep\n    my goat-house in peace because of the church that was built in that\n    place. If you would reach home safely, I give you two conditions.\"\n    They promised to accept these, and the blind old man continued: \"Take\n    this belt of silver, and when you come home, buckle it on the white\n    woman; and place this box on the altar in my goat-house.\" When the\n    sailors were safely come home, the belt was buckled on a birch-tree,\n    which immediately shot up into the air, and the box was placed on a\n    mound, which immediately burst into flame. But from the church being\n    built where the blind man had his goat-house the place was called\n    Getinge [in J. Grimm, ii. 1876, p. 798, after Bexell's \"Halland,\"\n    G\u00f6teborg, 1818, ii. p. 301]. Similar tales are known from other\n    localities in Sweden and Norway. The old blind man is a heathen giant\n    driven out by the Christian church or by the image of Mary (the white\n    woman); sometimes again he is a heathen exile.\n\nHere we have undeniable parallels to the storm-driven Icelanders' meeting\nwith the exiled Breidvikinge-kj\u00e6mpe, who asks after his native place and\nhis woman, Thurid,[48] and who also sends two gifts home, though with very\ndifferent feelings and objects. It may be supposed that the\nSwedish-Norwegian tale is derived from ancient myths, and the Icelandic\nnarrative may have borrowed features, not, of course, from this very tale,\nbut from myths of the same type.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n[Sidenote: Japanese fairy-tale]\n\nRemarkable points of resemblance both to the voyages of the Irish (Bran's\nvoyage) to the Fortunate Isles in the west, and to those of Gudleif and of\nthe eight Portuguese (in Edrisi), are found in a Japanese tale of the\nfortunate isles of \"Horaisan,\" to which Moltke Moe has called my\nattention.[49]\n\n    This happy land lies far away in the sea towards the east; there on\n    the mountain Fusan grows a splendid tree which is sometimes seen in\n    the distance over the horizon; all vegetation is verdant and flowering\n    in eternal spring, which keeps the air mild and the sky blue; the\n    passing of time is unnoticed, and death never finds the way thither,\n    there is no pain, no suffering, only peace and happiness. Once on a\n    time Jofuku, body physician to a cruel emperor of China, put to sea\n    on the pretext of looking for this country and seeking for his master\n    the plant of immortality which grows on Fusan, the highest mountain\n    there. He came first to Japan; but went farther and farther out into\n    the ocean until he really reached Horaisan; there he enjoyed complete\n    happiness, and never thought of returning to prolong his tyrant's\n    life.\n\n    The old Japanese wise man, Vasobiove, who had withdrawn from the world\n    and passed his days in contemplative peace, was one day out fishing by\n    himself (to avoid many trivial visits), when he was driven out to sea\n    by a violent storm; he then rowed about the sea, keeping himself alive\n    by fishing. After three months he came to the \"muddy sea,\" which\n    nearly cost him his life, as there were no fish there. But after a\n    desperate struggle, and finally twelve hours' hard rowing, he reached\n    the shore of Horaisan. There he was met by an old man whom he\n    understood, for he spoke Chinese. This was Jofuku, who received\n    Vasobiove in friendly fashion and told him his story. Vasobiove was\n    overjoyed on hearing where he was. He stayed there for a couple of\n    hundred years, but did not know how long it was; for where all is\n    alike, where there is neither birth nor death, no one heeds the\n    passing of time. With dancing and music, in conversation with wise and\n    brilliant men, in the society of beautiful and amiable ladies, he\n    passed his days.\n\n    But at last Vasobiove grew tired of this sweet existence and longed\n    for death. It was hopeless, for here he could not die, nor could he\n    take his own life, there were no poisons, no lethal weapons; if he\n    threw himself over a precipice or ran his head against a sharp rock,\n    it was like a fall on to soft cushions, and if he threw himself into\n    the sea, it supported him like a cork. Finally he tamed a gigantic\n    stork, and on its back he at last returned to Japan,[50] after the\n    stork had carried him through many strange countries, of which the\n    most remarkable was that of the Giants, who are immensely superior to\n    human beings in everything. Whereas Vasobiove was accustomed to\n    admiration wherever he propounded his philosophical views and systems,\n    he left that country in humiliation; for the Giants said they had no\n    need of all that, and declared Vasobiove's whole philosophy to be the\n    immature cries of distress of the children of men.\n\nA connection between the intellectual world of China and Japan and that of\nEurope in the Middle Ages may well be supposed to have been brought about\nby the Arabs, who penetrated as far as China on their trading voyages, and\nwho, on the other hand, had close communication with Western Europe.\nFurthermore, it must be remembered how many of our mythical conceptions\nand tales are more or less connected with India, just as many of the\nArabian tales evidently had their birthplace there [cf. E. Rohde, 1900,\npp. 191, ff.]; while on the other side there was, of course, a close\nconnection between India and the intellectual world of China and Japan, as\nshown by the spread of Buddhism. A transference of the same myths both\neastward to Japan and westward to Europe is thus highly probable, whether\nthese myths originated in Europe or in India and the East. It is striking,\ntoo, that even a secondary feature such as the curdled, dead sea (cf.\n\"Morimarusa,\" see vol. i. p. 99; the stinking sea in Edrisi, vol. ii. p.\n51) is met with again here as the \"muddy sea\" without fish (cf.\nresemblances to Arab ideas, chapter xiii.).\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n[Sidenote: Retrospect]\n\nIf we now look back upon all the problems it has been sought to solve in\nthis chapter, the impression may be a somewhat heterogeneous and negative\none; the majority will doubtless be struck at the outset by the\nmultiplicity of the paths, and by the intercrossing due to this\nmultiplicity. But if we force our way through the network of by-paths and\nfollow up the essential leading lines, it appears to me that there is\nestablished a firm and powerful series of conclusions, which it will not\nbe easy to shake. The most important steps in this series are:\n\n(1) The oldest authority,[51] Adam of Bremen's work, in which Wineland is\nmentioned, is untrustworthy, and, with the exception of the name and of\nthe fable of wine being produced there, contains nothing beyond what is\nfound in Isidore.\n\n(2) The oldest Icelandic authorities that mention the name of \"Vinland,\"\nor in the Landn\u00e1ma \"Vindland hit G\u00f3\u00f0a,\" say nothing about its discovery or\nabout the wine there; on the other hand, Are Frode mentions the Skr\u00e6lings\n(who must originally have been regarded as a fairy people). The name of\nLeif Ericson is mentioned, unconnected with Wineland or its discovery.\n\n(3) It is not till well on in the thirteenth century that Leif's surname\nof Heppni, his discovery of Wineland (\"Vinland\" or \"Vindland\"), and his\nChristianising of Greenland are mentioned (in the Kristni-saga and\nHeimskringla), but still there is nothing about wine.\n\n(4) It is not till the close of the thirteenth century that any\ninformation occurs as to what and where Wineland was, with statements as\nto the wine and wheat there, and a description of voyages thither (in the\nSaga of Eric the Red). But still the accounts omit to inform us who gave\nthe name and why.\n\n(5) The second and later principal narrative of voyages to Wineland (the\nFlateyjarb\u00f3k's Gr\u00f6nlendinga-\u00fe\u00e1ttr) gives a very different account of the\ndiscovery, by another, and likewise of the later voyages thither.\n\n(6) The first of the two sagas, and the one which is regarded as more to\nbe relied on, contains scarcely a single feature that is not wholly or in\npart mythical or borrowed from elsewhere; both sagas have an air of\nromance.\n\n(7) Even among the Greeks of antiquity we find myths of fortunate isles\nfar in the western ocean, with the two characteristic features of\nWineland, the wine and the wheat.\n\n(8) The most significant features in the description of these Fortunate\nIsles or Isles of the Blest in late classical times and in Isidore are the\nself-grown or wild-growing vine (on the heights) and the wild-growing\n(uncultivated, self-sown or unsown) corn or wheat or even cornfields\n(Isidore). In addition there were lofty trees (Pliny) and mild winters.\nThus a complete correspondence with the saga's description of Wineland.\n\n(9) The various attempts that have been made to bring the natural\nconditions of the North American coast into agreement with the saga's\ndescription of Wineland are more or less artificial, and no natural\nexplanation has been offered of how the two ideas of wine and wheat, both\nforeign to the Northerners, could have become the distinguishing marks of\nthe country.\n\n(10) In Ireland long before the eleventh century there were many myths and\nlegends of happy lands far out in the ocean to the west; and in the\ndescription of these wine and the vine form conspicuous features.\n\n(11) From the eleventh century onward, in Ireland and in the North, we\nmeet with a Grape-island or a Wineland, which it seems most reasonable to\nsuppose the same.\n\n(12) From the Landn\u00e1mab\u00f3k it may be naturally concluded that in the\neleventh century the Icelanders had heard of Wineland, together with\nHv\u00edtramanna-land, in Ireland.\n\n(13) Thorkel Gellisson, from whom this information is derived, probably\nalso furnished Are Frode with his statement in the Islendingab\u00f3k about\nWineland; this is therefore probably the same Irish land.\n\n(14) The Irish happy lands peopled by the s\u00edd correspond to the Norwegian\nhuldrelands out in the sea to the west, and the Icelandic elf-lands.\n\n(15) Since the huldre- and s\u00edd-people and the elves are originally the\ndead, and since the Isles of the Blest or the Fortunate Isles of antiquity\nwere the habitations of the happy dead, these islands also correspond to\nthe Irish s\u00edd-people's happy lands, and to the Norwegian huldrelands and\nthe Icelandic elf-lands.\n\n(16) The additional name of \"hit G\u00f3\u00f0a\" for the happy Wineland and the name\n\"Landit G\u00f3\u00f0a\" for huldrelands in Norway correspond directly to the name of\n\"Insul\u00e6 Fortunat\u00e6,\" which in itself could not very well take any other\nNorse form. And as in addition the huldrelands were imagined as specially\ngood and fertile, and the underground, huldre- and s\u00edd-people or elves are\ncalled the \"good people,\" and are everywhere in different countries\nassociated with the idea of \"good,\" this gives a natural explanation of\nboth the Norse names.\n\n(17) The name \"Vinland hit G\u00f3\u00f0a\" has a foreign effect in Norse\nnomenclature; it must be a hybrid of Norse and foreign nomenclature,\nthrough \"Vinland\" being combined with \"Landit G\u00f3\u00f0a,\" which probably\noriginated in a translation of \"Insul\u00e6 Fortunat\u00e6.\"\n\n(18) The probability of the name of Skr\u00e6lings for the inhabitants of\nWineland having originally meant brownies or trolls--that is, small\nhuldre-folk, elves or pygmies--entirely agrees with the view that Wineland\nwas originally the fairy country, the Fortunate Isles in the west of the\nocean.\n\n(19) The statement of the Icelandic geography, that in the opinion of some\nWineland the Good was connected with Africa, and the fact that the\nNorwegian work, Historia Norwegi\u00e6, calls Wineland (with Markland and\nHelluland) the African Islands, are direct evidence that the Norse\nWineland was the Insul\u00e6 Fortunat\u00e6, which together with the Gorgades and\nthe Hesperides were precisely the African Islands.\n\n(20) Even though the Saga of Eric the Red and the Gr\u00f6nlendinga-\u00fe\u00e1ttr\ncontain nothing which we can regard as certain information as to the\ndiscovery of America by the Greenlanders, we yet find there and elsewhere\nmany features which show that they must have reached the coast of America,\nthe most decisive amongst them being the chance mention of the voyagers\nfrom Markland in 1347. To this may be added Hertzberg's demonstration of\nthe adoption of the Icelandic game of \"knattleikr\" by the Indians. The\nname of the mythical land may then have been transferred to the country\nthat was discovered.\n\n(21) Hv\u00edtramanna-land is a mythical land similar to the wine-island of the\nIrish, modified in accordance with Christian ideas, especially perhaps\nthose of the white garments of the baptized--as in the Navigatio Brandani\nin reference to the Isle of Anchorites or the \"Strong Men's Isle\" (==\nStarkra-manna-land)--and of the white hermits.\n\n(22) Finally, among the most different people on earth, from the ancient\nGreeks to the Icelanders, Chinese and Japanese, we meet with similar myths\nabout countries out in the ocean and voyages to them, which, whether they\nbe connected with one another or not, show the common tendency of humanity\nto adopt ideas and tales of this kind.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nBut even if we are obliged to abandon the Saga of Eric the Red[52] and the\nother descriptions of these voyages as historical documents, this is\ncompensated by the increase in our admiration for the extraordinary powers\nof realistic description in Icelandic literature. In reading Eric's Saga\none cannot help being struck by the way in which many of the events are so\ndescribed, often in a few words, that the whole thing is before one's eyes\nand it is difficult to believe that it has not actually occurred. This is\njust the same quality that characterises our Norwegian fairy-tales: all\nthat is supernatural is made so natural and realistic that it is brought\nstraight before one. The Icelanders created the realistic novel; and at a\ntime when the prose style of Europe was still in its infancy their prose\nnarrative often reaches the summit of clear simplicity. In part this may\ndoubtless be explained by their not being merely authors, but men of\naction; their presentment acquired the stamp of real life and the brevity\nthat belongs to the narrator of things seen. And to this, of course, must\nbe added the fact that as a rule the tales were sifted and abridged by\ngenerations of oral transmission. In later times this style became\ncorrupted by European influence.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n[Sidenote: Postscript]\n\nAfter I had given, on October 7, 1910, the outlines of this examination of\nthe sagas of the Wineland voyages before the Scientific Society of\nChristiania, attention was called in Sweden, by Professor F. L\u00e4ffler, to\nthe fact that the Swedish philologist, Professor Sven S\u00f6derberg, whose\nearly death in 1901 is much to be regretted, had announced views about\nWineland similar to those at which I have arrived. The manuscript of a\nlecture that he delivered on the subject at Lund in May 1898, but which\nwas never printed, was then found, and has been published in the\n\"Sydsvenska Dagbladet Sn\u00e4llposten\" for October 30, 1910. As I have thus\nbecome acquainted with this interesting inquiry too late to be able to\ninclude it in my examination, I think it right to mention it here.\n\nProfessor S\u00f6derberg thinks, as I do, that there can be no doubt about the\nNorsemen having discovered a part of North America; but he looks upon the\ntales of the wine and everything connected therewith as later inventions.\nHe maintains that the name of \"Vinland\" originally meant grass-land or\npasture-land (from the old Norse word \"vin\" == pasture), therefore\nsomething similar to the meaning of Greenland, and that it may have been\nthe name of a country discovered in the west. Curiously enough, I took at\nfirst the same view, and thought too that Adam of Bremen might have\nmisunderstood such a word, just as S\u00f6derberg thinks; but I allowed myself\nto be convinced by the linguistic objection that the word \"vin\" (pasture)\nseems to have gone out of use before the eleventh century (cf. vol. i. p.\n367). However, S\u00f6derberg's reasons for supposing that the word was still\nin use appear to have weight; and he also makes it probable that the name\nformed thereby might be Vinland and not Vinjarland. (In support of this\nMr. A. Ki\u00e6r gave me as an example the Norwegian name Vin\u00e5s.) Professor\nS\u00f6derberg then thinks that Adam of Bremen heard this name in Denmark, and,\nmisinterpreting it as a foreigner to mean the land of wine, himself\ninvented the explanation of the country's being so called. S\u00f6derberg gives\nseveral striking examples to show how this kind of \"etymologising\" was\njust in Adam's spirit (e.g., Sconia or Sk\u00e5ne is derived from Old German\n\"sconi\" or \"sch\u00f6n\"; Greenland comes from the inhabitants being\nbluish-green in the face, etc.). An example from a country lying near\nDenmark, which appears to me even more striking than those given by\nS\u00f6derberg, is Adam's explanation of Kv\u00e6nland as the Land of Women (cf.\nvol. i. pp. 186, f., 383), the Wizzi as white people, or Albanians, the\nHuns as dogs, etc. S\u00f6derberg has difficulty in explaining the statement\nabout the unsown corn in Wineland; but if he had noticed Isidore's\ndescription of the Insul\u00e6 Fortunat\u00e6 with the self-grown vine and the\nwild-growing corn, he would have found a perfectly natural explanation of\nthis also. If Adam had misunderstood a \"Vinland\" (== grass-land), and then\nperhaps Finland (Finmark, cf. vol i. p. 382), as meaning the land of wine,\nit would be just in his spirit to transfer thither Isidore's description\nof the Insul\u00e6 Fortunat\u00e6; a parallel case is that in interpreting Kv\u00e6nland\nas Womanland he transfers thither the myth of the Amazons and its fables,\nand this in spite of its being a country on the Baltic about which it must\nhave been comparatively easy for him to obtain information. In the same\nway he transfers to the \"island\" of Halagland, mentioned immediately\nbefore Wineland, an erroneous account of the midnight sun and the winter\nnight taken from older writers (cf. vol. i. p. 194, note 2). But one\nreason for thinking that \"Vinland\" really meant the land of wine as early\nas that time is the circumstance put forward above (vol. i. p. 365), that\nat about the same time there occurs a Grape-island in the Navigatio\nBrandani.\n\nProfessor S\u00f6derberg then goes through the Icelandic accounts of Wineland,\nand points out, in the same way as has been done in this chapter, that the\noldest authorities have nothing remarkable to report about the country,\nand do not mention wine there, and he rightly lays stress on this being\nparticularly significant in the case of Snorre Sturlason,\n\n    \"knowing as we do how prone Snorre is to digress from his proper\n    subject, when he has anything really interesting to communicate. The\n    reason must be that he did not know anything particularly remarkable\n    about Wineland; and without doubt this is due to his not having known\n    Adam of Bremen. It has, in fact, been shown that Snorre has not a\n    single statement from Adam.\"\n\nLater, S\u00f6derberg thinks, Adam of Bremen's fourth book became known in\nIceland, and on the foundation of that the tale of Leif's discovery of the\ncountry with the wine and corn arose, and the later sagas developed,\nespecially that of Thorfinn Karlsevne's voyage, which he thinks in the\nmain \"rests on a truthful foundation,\" though he points out that a\nparticular feature like that of the two Scottish runners must be \"pure\ninvention, or rather ... borrowed from another saga.\" If Professor\nS\u00f6derberg had remarked how most of the incidents in this saga are\nspurious, he would have found even stronger support for his views in this\nfact.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nCHAPTER X\n\nESKIMO AND SKR\u00c6LING\n\n\n[Sidenote: Distribution]\n\nOf all the races of the earth that of the Eskimo is the one that has\nestablished itself farthest north. His world is that of sea-ice and cold,\nfor which nature had not intended human beings. In his slow, stubborn\nfight against the powers of winter he has learnt better than any other how\nto turn these to account, and in these regions, along the ice-bound\nshores, he developed his peculiar culture, with its ingenious appliances,\nlong before the beginning of history. As men of the white race pushed\nnorthward to the \"highest latitudes\" they found traces of this remarkable\npeople, who had already been there in times long past; and it is only in\nthe last few decades that any one has succeeded in penetrating farther\nnorth than the Eskimo, partly by learning from him or enlisting his help.\nIn these regions, which are his own, his culture was superior to that of\nthe white race, and from no other people has the arctic navigator learnt\nso much.\n\n[Illustration: Distribution of the Eskimo (after W. Thalbitzer, 1904)]\n\nThe north coast of America and the islands to the north of it, from Bering\nStrait to the east coast of Greenland, is the territory of the Eskimo.\nThe map (below) shows his present distribution and the districts where\nolder traces of him have been found. Within these limits the Eskimo must\nhave developed into what they now are. In their anthropological\nrace-characteristics, in their sealing- and whaling-culture, and in their\nlanguage they are very different from all other known peoples, both in\nAmerica and Asia, and we must suppose that for long ages, ever since they\nbegan to fit themselves for their life along the frozen shores, they have\nlived apart, separated from others, perhaps for a long time as a small\ntribe. They all belong to the same race; the cerebral formation, for\ninstance, of all real Eskimo from Alaska to Greenland is remarkably\nhomogeneous; but in the far west they may have been mixed with Indians and\nothers, and in Greenland they are now mixed with Europeans. They are\npronouncedly dolichocephalic; but have short, broad faces, and by their\nfeatures and appearance are easily distinguished from other neighbouring\npeoples. Small, slanting eyes; the nose small and flat, narrow between the\neyes and broad below; cheeks broad, prominent and round; the forehead\nnarrowing comparatively above; the lower part of the face broad and\npowerful; black, straight hair. The colour of the skin is a pale brown.\nThe Eskimo are not, as is often supposed, a small people on an average;\nthey are rather of middle height, often powerful, and sometimes quite\ntall, although they are a good deal shorter, and weaker in appearance,\nthan average Scandinavians. In appearance, and perhaps also in language,\nthey come nearest to some of the North American Indian tribes.\n\n[Sidenote: Original home]\n\nFrom whence they originally came, and where they developed into Eskimo, is\nuncertain. The central point of the Eskimo culture is their seal-hunting,\nespecially with the harpoon, sometimes from the kayak in open water and\nsometimes from the ice. We cannot believe that this sealing, especially\nwith the kayak, was first developed in the central part of the regions\nthey now inhabit; there the conditions of life would have been too severe,\nand they would not have been able to support themselves until their\nsealing-culture had attained a certain development. Just as in Europe we\nmet with the \"Finnish\" sea-fishing on a coast that was connected with\nmilder coasts farther south, where seamanship was able first to develop,\nso we must expect that the Eskimo culture began on coasts with similar\nconditions, and these must be looked for either in Labrador or on Bering\nStrait.\n\nAs the coasts of Labrador and Hudson Bay are ice-bound for a great part of\nthe year, it is not likely that traffic by sea began there at any very\nearly time; and consequently no particularly favourable conditions existed\nthere for an early development of seamanship. Nor is this the case to any\ngreat extent on the east coast of North America farther south, which, with\nthe exception of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, has little protection from the\nsea, and offers few facilities for coastal traffic.[53] Nor has it\nproduced any other maritime people or any similar fishing-culture. Again,\nif the Eskimo culture had arisen there, it would be impossible to\nunderstand how they learned to use dogs as draught-animals. It is\notherwise on the northern west coast of North America, which is indented\nby fjords and has many outlying islands, with protected channels between\nthem and the land. Here seamanship might be naturally developed and form\nthe necessary basis for a higher sealing-culture like that of the Eskimo.\nIn addition there is abundance of marine animals which afforded excellent\nconditions for hunting. Here too we have many different peoples with\nmaritime habits: on the one side the Eskimo northwards along the coast of\nAlaska; on the other side the Aleutians on the islands extending out to\nsea, besides Indian tribes along the coast of southern Alaska and British\nColumbia. Until, therefore, research has produced sufficient evidence for\na different view, it must seem most natural that in these favourable\nregions with a rich supply of marine animals of all kinds we must look for\nthe cradle of the culture that was to render the Eskimo capable of\ndistributing themselves over the whole Arctic world of America. To this\nmust be added that in these regions, by intercourse with people on the\nAsiatic side of Bering Strait, the seafaring Eskimo may have learnt the\nuse of the dog as a draught-animal, which is an Asiatic, and not an\nAmerican invention, and which is also of great importance to the whole\nlife and distribution of the Eskimo in the ice-bound regions. We cannot\nhere pursue further the inquiry into the still open question of the origin\nof the Eskimo and the development of their culture.[54]\n\n[Illustration: Kayak-fishers and a women's boat (\"umiak\"). Woodcut from\nGreenland, drawn and engraved by a native]\n\n[Sidenote: Earlier distribution]\n\nOne might get the impression from the map, which shows where older traces\nof the Eskimo have been found, that they were more numerous and more\nwidely distributed in former times. This is probably a mistake. They are\nhunters and fishermen who are entirely dependent on the supply of game,\nand who therefore frequently become nomadic and search for fishing-grounds\nwhere they think the prospects are good. Sometimes they settle in a good\ndistrict for a considerable time, and then they may move again; but\nsometimes, if exceptionally severe winters chance to come, they may\nsuccumb to famine or scurvy. But everywhere they leave behind them their\npeculiar sites of houses and tents and other traces, and thus these must\nalways be found over larger areas than are actually inhabited by the\nEskimo themselves. It might be objected that on the American Arctic\nIslands they no longer live so far north as older traces of them are\nfound; thus Sverdrup found many relics of Eskimo in the new countries\ndiscovered by him, especially along the sound by Axel Heiberg Land. But\nthese people may, for instance, have migrated eastward to Greenland. If we\nsuppose the reverse to be the case, that the most northerly Eskimo tribe\nnow known, on Smith Sound, had moved westward to Sverdrup's new islands or\nto the Parry Islands, then we should have found numerous traces of them in\nthe districts about Smith Sound and Cape York, and might thus have\nconcluded that the Eskimo were formerly more widely distributed towards\nthe north-east.\n\n[Sidenote: Period of immigration into Greenland]\n\nHow early the Eskimo appeared, and came to the most northern regions, we\nhave as yet no means of determining. All we can say is that, as they are\nso distinct in physical structure, language and culture from all other\nknown races of men, with the exception of the Aleutians, we must assume\nthat they have lived for a very long period in the northern regions apart\nfrom other peoples. It would be of special interest here if we could form\nany opinion as to the date of their immigration into Greenland. It has\nbecome almost a historical dogma that this immigration on a larger scale\ndid not take place until long after the Norwegian Icelanders had settled\nin the country, and that it was chiefly the hordes of Eskimo coming from\nthe north that put an end, first to the Western Settlement, and then to\nthe Eastern. But this is in every respect misleading, and conflicts with\nwhat may be concluded with certainty from several facts; moreover, the\nwhole Eskimo way of life and dependence on sealing and fishing forbids\ntheir migration in hordes; they must travel in small scattered groups in\norder to find enough game to support themselves and their families, and\nare obliged to make frequent halts for sealing. They will therefore never\nbe able to undertake any migration on a large scale.\n\nThere can be no doubt that the Eskimo arrived in Greenland ages before the\nNorwegian Icelanders. The rich finds referred to, amongst others, by Dr.\nH. Rink [1857, vol. ii.], of Eskimo whaling and sealing weapons and\nimplements of stone from deep deposits in North Greenland show that the\nEskimo were living there far back in prehistoric times.[55] They must\noriginally have come by the route to the north of Baffin Bay across Smith\nSound, and must have had at the time of their first immigration much the\nsame culture in the main as now, since otherwise they would not have been\nable to support themselves in these northern regions.[56] Their means of\ntransport were the kayak and the women's boat in open water, and the\ndog-sledge on the ice. Their whaling and sealing were conducted in kayaks\nin summer, but with dog-sledges in winter, when they hunted the seal at\nits breathing-holes in the ice, the walrus, narwhale and white whale in\nthe open leads, and pursued the bear with their dogs. In winter they\nusually keep to one place, living in houses of stone, or snow, but in\nsummer they wander about with their boats and tents of hides to the best\nplaces for kayak fishing. In this way they came southward from Smith Sound\nalong the west coast of Greenland to the districts about Umanak-fjord,\nDisco Bay, and south to the present Holstensborg (the tract between 72\u00b0\nand 68\u00b0 N. lat.). Here they found an excellent supply of seal, walrus,\nsmall-whale and fish, there was catching from kayaks in summer and on the\nice in winter; altogether rarely favourable conditions for their\naccustomed life, and it is therefore natural that they settled here in\nlarge numbers.[57] Some went farther south along the coast; but they no\nlonger found there the same conditions of life as before, the ice was for\nthe most part absent, the walrus became rare, seal-hunting became more\ndifficult in the open sea, and winter fishing from the kayak was not very\nsafe. Southern Greenland therefore had no great attraction, so long as\nthere was room enough farther north. When they came round Cape Farewell to\nthe east coast they found the conditions more what they were used to,\nalthough the sealing and whaling were not so good as on the northern west\ncoast.\n\n[Sidenote: Routes of immigration]\n\n    It has been assumed by several inquirers that the Eskimo immigrated to\n    Greenland by two routes. One branch is supposed to have come southward\n    along the west coast from Smith Sound, as suggested above, while the\n    other branch went northward from Smith Sound and Kane Basin along the\n    coast, where relics of Eskimo are found as far north as 82\u00b0 N. lat.\n    They thus gradually worked their way round the north of Greenland and\n    turned southward again along the east coast. The Eskimo who formerly\n    lived on the northern east coast, and whom Clavering found there in\n    1823, are supposed to have come by that route and possibly also the\n    tribe that still lives at Angmagsalik. But in the opinion of some they\n    may have travelled farther south, right round Cape Farewell, and have\n    populated the south-west coast as far north as Ny-Herrnhut by\n    Godthaab. The Dane Schultz-Lorentzen [1904, p. 289][58] thinks that\n    support may be found for this theory of the southern immigration from\n    the east coast in the sharp line of demarcation that exists between\n    the dialect spoken by the Eskimo in Godthaab and northward along the\n    whole west coast, and that spoken to the south and on the east coast;\n    furthermore, there are other points of difference: in the build and\n    fitting together of the kayaks, in the use of partitions between the\n    family compartments on the couches in houses and tents, etc. Although\n    in an earlier work [1891, pp. 8, f.; Engl. ed. pp. 12, ff.] I put\n    forward reasons that are opposed to such an immigration round the\n    north of Greenland, I must admit that there is much in favour of the\n    Eskimo who formerly lived on the northern east coast having come that\n    way; on the other hand, it does not appear to me very likely that this\n    should have been the case with the Eskimo of the southern east coast\n    and of the west coast. The difference alluded to, at Godthaab, may be\n    accounted for by a later immigration from the north to the northern\n    west coast, which did not come any farther south than this. That the\n    boundary-line between the two kinds of Eskimo should be so sharp just\n    between Ny-Herrnhut and Godthaab, which lie close together on the same\n    peninsula, is easily explained by the fact of the former settlement\n    having always belonged to the recently abandoned German Moravian\n    mission, while the latter was the seat of Egede's and the later Danish\n    mission. There is always the essential objection to be made against\n    the Eskimo having migrated to the southern east coast round the north\n    of Greenland, that the conditions of life for Eskimo, who live\n    principally by sealing and whaling, were poor on the north coast of\n    Greenland, where there are no seals worth mentioning and few bears;\n    and they can scarcely have got enough musk-oxen to support themselves.\n    Their diffusion to the east coast could not have gone on rapidly. In\n    the ice-bound regions they may have forgotten the use of the kayak, as\n    the Eskimo of Smith Sound had done until thirty years ago, when they\n    became acquainted with it again through a chance immigration from the\n    west. In any case their practice in building and using kayaks must\n    have greatly fallen off. But when the Eskimo came southward on the\n    east coast they again had use for both the kayak for sealing and the\n    women's boat for travelling, and it is scarcely likely that the craft\n    they produced after such a break in the development should be so near\n    to the women's boats and handsome kayaks of the northern west coast as\n    we now find them; unless, indeed, we are to suppose that they improved\n    them again through contact with the Eskimo of the northern west coast,\n    but in that case the whole theory appears somewhat strained.\n\n[Sidenote: Meeting of Eskimo and Europeans]\n\nWe will now look at what the known historical authorities have to tell us\nabout the Eskimo in Greenland during the early days of the Norse\nsettlement. I have already stated (pp. 12, ff.) that the Norse name\n\"Skr\u00e6ling\" for Eskimo must originally have been used as a designation of\nfairies or mythical creatures. Furthermore, there is much that would imply\nthat when the Icelanders first met with the Eskimo in Greenland they\nlooked upon them as fairies; they therefore called them \"trolls,\" an\nancient common name for various sorts of supernatural beings. This view\npersisted more or less in after times. Every European who has suddenly\nencountered Eskimo in the ice-covered wastes of Greenland, without ever\nhaving seen them before, will easily understand that they must have made\nsuch an impression on people who had the slightest tendency to\nsuperstition. The mighty natural surroundings, with huge glaciers,\nfloating icebergs and drifting ice-floes, all on a vaster scale than\nanything they had seen before, might in themselves furnish additional food\nfor superstition. Such an idea must from the very beginning have\ninfluenced the relations between the Norsemen and the natives, and is\ncapable of explaining much that is curious in the mention of them, or\nrather the lack of mention of them, in the sagas, since they were\nsupernatural beings of whom it was best to say nothing.\n\n[Sidenote: The fairy nature of the Skr\u00e6lings]\n\nIn connection with what has been said earlier (pp. 12, ff.) as to the\nSkr\u00e6lings being regarded as fairies (of whom the name was originally\nused), it may be adduced that, as Storm pointed out, the word was always\ntranslated in Latin by \"Pygm\u00e6i\" in the Middle Ages (cf. above, p. 12). But\nthe Pygmies were precisely \"short, undergrown people of supernatural\naspect\"--that is, like fairies--and the Middle Ages inherited the belief\nin them from the Greeks and Romans, and, as Moltke Moe has pointed out,\nthe northern Pygmies (\u0392\u03cc\u03c1\u03b5\u03b9\u03bf\u03b9 \u03a0\u03c5\u03b3\u03bc\u03b1\u1fd6\u03bf\u03b9) were already spoken of in\nclassical times as inhabiting the regions about Thule. But authors like\nApollodorus and Strabo denied their existence, and consigned them,\ntogether with Dog-headed, One-eyed, One-footed, Mouthless, and other\nsimilar beings, to the ranks of fabulous creatures in which classical\ntradition was so rich. Through St. Augustine the enumeration of these\ncreatures reached Isidore; and from him the knowledge of the Pygmies was\ndisseminated over the whole of medi\u00e6val Europe--partly in the same sense,\nthat of a more or less fabulous people from the uttermost parts of the\nearth; and partly in the sense of a fairy people [cf. the demons in the\nform of Pygmies in the \"Imram Brenaind,\" see above, p. 10]. Supported by\npopular belief in various countries, the latter meaning soon became\ngeneral. Of this Moltke Moe gives a remarkable example from the Welshman\nWalter Mapes (latter half of the twelfth century), who in his curious\ncollection of anecdotes, etc. (called \"De nugis curialium\"), has a tale\nof a prehistoric king of the Britons called Herla.[59]\n\n    To him came a fairy- or elf-king, \"rex pygm\u00e6orum,\" with a huge head,\n    thick hair and big eyes; the pygmy-king foretells to King Herla\n    something that is to happen, and when this is fulfilled King Herla\n    promises as a mark of gratitude to be present at his wedding. The\n    moment the pygmy-king turns his back he vanishes. Herla comes to the\n    wedding of the fairy-king. Entering a vast cave he comes through\n    darkness to the banqueting-hall inside the mountain, lighted by a\n    multitude of lamps, where he is splendidly entertained. When he\n    returns, believing he has been away for three days, he discovers that\n    he has been absent for several hundred years.\n\nThis is a typical elf-myth, with many of the features characteristic of\nelves and fairies: the low stature, the big, hairy head with large eyes,\nthe gift of prophecy, and the power of making themselves invisible in an\ninstant, their dwelling in caves and mountains far from the light of day,\nthe way thither through darkness and mist, the rapid disappearance of time\nin the fairy world, etc. But we recognise most of these, and even more\nfairy features, precisely in the Icelandic descriptions of the Skr\u00e6lings\nin Wineland, Markland and Greenland, as appears from what is said about\nthem on pp. 12, ff.; and when, for instance, ugly hair (\"ilt h\u00e1r\") and big\neyes are expressly attributed to the Skr\u00e6lings, this applies neither to\nIndians nor Eskimo, but it applies exactly to fairies. Further, we may\npoint to the Skr\u00e6lings of Markland being governed by kings (cf. p. 20),\nwhich again does not apply either to Indians or to Eskimo, while the elves\nand huldre-folk have kings. It was mentioned earlier (p. 20) that the name\n\"V\u00e6tilldi\" or \"Vethilldi\" may be V\u00e6tthildr, compounded of the word \"v\u00e6ttr\"\nor \"vettr\" (fairy).\n\nEverything points in the same direction, that the Skr\u00e6lings of Wineland,\nMarkland and Greenland were regarded as a kind of fairy people. Nor can\nthis surprise us when we consider that even the Lapps of Finmark, who\nlived so near to and were so well known by the Norwegians, were regarded\nas a half-supernatural people, and had various magical properties\nattributed to them.\n\n[Sidenote: The oldest authorities on the Skr\u00e6lings]\n\nFrom the statement quoted earlier from Are Frode's \u00cdslendingab\u00f3k (circa\n1130) it appears that the Skr\u00e6lings, or Eskimo, had been in South\nGreenland before Eric the Red and his men, and that the latter found\ndwelling-sites and other traces of them, from which they could tell that\nthe same kind of people had been there who \"inhabited Wineland and whom\nthe Greenlanders call Skr\u00e6lings ('Vinland hefer bygt oc Gr\u00f6nlendingar\ncalla Scr\u00e6linga').\" These words of Are have generally been understood to\nimply that he did not know of any meeting of Norsemen and Skr\u00e6lings in\nGreenland, but only in Wineland, and that consequently it must have been\nafter his time that the Norsemen encountered the Eskimo in Greenland. I am\nunable to read Are's meaning in this way. He uses the present tense:\n\"calla,\" and what one \"calls Skr\u00e6lings\" must presumably be a people one\nknows, and not one that one's ancestors had met with more than a hundred\nyears ago. In that case we should rather expect it to be those ancestors\nwho \"called\" them by this nickname.[60] I have already suggested (p. 16)\nthe possibility of a connection between this statement and the view of the\nSkr\u00e6lings as trolls; but we have besides a remarkable parallel to Are's\nwhole account of the first coming of the Icelanders to Greenland and the\nnatives there in his account of the Norwegians' first settlement of\nIceland, where he says that there were Christian men before they came,\n\"whom the Norwegians call ('calla') Papar\" (i.e., priests). They left\nbehind them traces \"from which it could be seen that they were Irish men.\"\nFrom these words it might be concluded, with as much justification as from\nthe statement about the traces of Skr\u00e6lings, that the newcomers did not\ncome in contact with the earlier people; but in the latter case this is\nincredible, and moreover conflicts with Are's own words in the passages\nimmediately preceding, according to which the Christians left _after_ the\nheathen Norsemen arrived. Three kinds of traces are mentioned in each\ncase: the Papar left Irish books, bells and croziers; the Skr\u00e6lings left\ndwelling-places, fragments of boats, and stone implements. This may have\nsomewhat the look of a turn of style in the sober Are, who thought it of\nmore value to lay stress on visible signs of this kind than to give a\npossibly less trustworthy statement about the people themselves. We must\nalso bear in mind how terse and condensed the form of the \u00cdslendingab\u00f3k\nis. I therefore read Are's words as though he meant to say something like\nthe following: \"As early as Eric's first voyage to Greenland they found at\nonce dwelling-places both in the Eastern and Western Settlements, and\nfragments of boats, and stone implements, so that from this it can be seen\nthat over the whole of that region there had been present the same kind of\npeople who also live in Wineland, and who are the same as those the\nGreenlanders call Skr\u00e6lings.\" Nothing is said about the waste districts of\nGreenland, where the Skr\u00e6lings especially lived, and it is only in passing\nthat Wineland is mentioned in this one passage. Are's \u00cdslendingab\u00f3k cannot\ntherefore be used as evidence that the Norsemen had not yet met with the\nSkr\u00e6lings of Greenland in Are's time. As he expressly says that they found\n\"manna vistir b\u00e6\u00fee austr oc vestr \u00e1 lande\" (human dwelling-places both\neast and west in the land--i.e., both in the Eastern and Western\nSettlements), this, too, shows that the stay of the Eskimo in south\nGreenland cannot have been merely a short and cursory summer visit; but\nthere must have been many of them who stayed there a long time, for\notherwise they would hardly have left remains so conspicuous and\ndistributed over so wide an area as to be mentioned with such emphasis as\nthis.\n\n    That Eskimo were living on the south coast of Greenland when the\n    Icelanders arrived there may also possibly be concluded from the\n    mention, in the list of fjords of the Eastern Settlement in Bj\u00f6rn\n    J\u00f3nsson's \"Vetus chorographia,\" of an \"\u00dctibliks fjord\" [Gr\u00f6nl. hist.\n    Mind., iii. p. 228; F. J\u00f3nsson, 1899, p. 319], which does not sound\n    Norwegian and may recall the Eskimo \"Itiblik,\" a tongue of land. As\n    Finnur J\u00f3nsson [1899, p. 276] points out, the name of the fjord in\n    Arngrim J\u00f3nsson's copy of the same list is \"Makleiksfj\u00f6r\u00f0r,\" and both\n    names may be misreadings of a man's name ending in \"-leikr,\" from\n    which the fjord was called (in the same way as Eiriks-fj\u00f6r\u00f0r, etc.);\n    but as \"\u00dctiblik\" has such a pronounced Eskimo sound, it appears to me\n    more probable that \"Makleik-\" may have arisen through a misreading of\n    this name, which was incomprehensible to Arngrim J\u00f3nsson and may have\n    been indistinctly written, rather than that both names should be\n    corruptions, of what? In that case it would afford strong evidence,\n    not only that there were Eskimo in the Eastern Settlement when the\n    Icelanders established themselves there, but also that they had\n    intercourse with them.\n\nThe \"Historia Norwegi\u00e6\" (thirteenth century) shows that a hundred years\nlater the Skr\u00e6lings of Greenland were known in Norway, and perhaps it is\nbecause they there seemed stranger that the Norwegian author mentions\nthem. He says [Storm, 1880, pp. 76, 205]:\n\n    \"On the other side of the Greenlanders towards the north [i.e., on the\n    northern west coast of Greenland] there have been found by hunters\n    certain small people whom they call Skr\u00e6lings; when these are struck\n    while alive by weapons, their wounds turn white without blood, but\n    when they are dead the blood scarcely stops running. But they have a\n    complete lack of the metal iron; they use the tusks of marine animals\n    ['dentibus cetimes,' here walrus and narwhale tusks] for missiles and\n    sharp stones for knives.\"\n\nThe curiously correct mention of the Skr\u00e6lings' weapons must be derived\nfrom a well-informed source, and the statement established the fact that\nthe Norsemen met with the Eskimo of Greenland at any rate in the\nthirteenth century, while at the same time it may imply that at that time\nthe Skr\u00e6lings were not generally seen in the settlements of Greenland. The\nstatement as to their wounds, although connected with myth, may further\npoint to there having been conflicts between them and the Norse hunters,\nwho in Viking fashion dealt with them with a heavy hand; but at the same\ntime it discloses the view of the Skr\u00e6lings as troll-like beings (see p.\n17).\n\nA valuable piece of evidence of the Norsemen having early had intercourse\nwith the Skr\u00e6lings in Greenland is a little carved walrus, of\nwalrus-ivory, which was found during excavations on the site of a house in\nBergen, and which appears to be of Eskimo workmanship.[61] Unfortunately\nthe age of the find has not been determined, nor has it been recorded at\nwhat depth it lay; but as it was amongst the deepest finds \"right down in\nthe very foundations,\" and so far as can be made out from the description\nmuch deeper than \"a burnt layer, which lay under the remains of the fire\nof 1413,\" this walrus may be of the twelfth, or at the latest of the\nthirteenth, century. It might, no doubt, have been accidentally found by\nGreenlanders in a grave or dwelling-site of Skr\u00e6lings, and afterwards\naccidentally found on the site of this house in Bergen; but this is\nassuming a good many accidents, and it is most natural to suppose that the\nGreenlanders obtained it from the Skr\u00e6lings themselves, and that it is\nthus an evidence of intercourse with the latter at that time.\n\n[Illustration: Carved walrus of Eskimo work, of the twelfth century (?);\nfound on the site of a house in Bergen (after Koren-Wiberg, 1908)]\n\n[Sidenote: Silence about Skr\u00e6lings in Icelandic literature]\n\n[Sidenote: Allusions to Skr\u00e6lings in Icelandic literature]\n\nIt is striking that the Skr\u00e6lings are scarcely ever mentioned in the\ndescriptions of the Norsemen in Greenland in the Icelandic saga\nliterature, and that it is only in one or two places that Greenland\nSkr\u00e6lings are mentioned in passing in Icelandic narratives; but at the\nsame time there are detailed descriptions of both peaceful and warlike\nencounters with the Skr\u00e6lings in Wineland, and also in Markland (see vol.\ni. pp. 327, ff.). This is like what we found in Are Frode. The explanation\nmust be that, while the saga-teller could bring out the distant Skr\u00e6lings\nof Wineland in large bodies and as dangerous opponents, quite worthy of\nmention even for nobles, the harmless and timorous Skr\u00e6lings of Greenland\nwere too well known to be used as interesting material; they were met with\nin small, scattered bands, and could be maltreated without any particular\ndanger. They belonged to the commonplace, and commonplace was what a\nsaga-writer had to avoid above all; it is for the same reason that we\nscarcely hear anything about the Greenlanders' and other Norsemen's\nwhaling and sealing and their expeditions for this purpose (e.g., to\nNordrsetur); only here and there a few words are let fall about these\nthings, which to us would be of so much greater value than all the tales\nof fighting and slaughter. But as regards the Skr\u00e6lings of Greenland there\nwas the additional circumstance that they were heathens; consequently\nintercourse with them was forbidden by the laws of the Church, and it was\ntherefore best to say nothing about it. Besides, they were always regarded\nin Iceland as fairies or trolls, and, as we have said, their name was\ntranslated by \"pygm\u00e6i,\" and it has been the same with them as with\nhuldre-folk and goblins, who as a rule are not mentioned in the sagas\neither in Iceland or Norway, though of course they were believed in, and\nthere can have been no lack of \"authentic\" stories about them. In several\npassages of Icelandic literature the Skr\u00e6lings are alluded to as trolls;\nto kill them was perhaps meritorious, but it was nothing to boast about.\nIn the Floamanna-saga it is related that Thorgils Orrabeinsfostre, on his\nwonderful voyage along the east coast of Greenland, one morning saw a\nlarge sea-monster stranded in a creek, and two troll-hags (in\nskin-kirtles) were tying up big bundles of it; he rushed up, and as one of\nthem was lifting her bundle he cut off her hand so that her burden fell,\nand she ran away. They may be regarded as Eskimo. It is true that this\nsaga is so full of marvels and inventions (cf. vol. i. p. 281) that we\ncannot attribute much historical value to it, but it shows nevertheless\nthe way in which they were looked upon. In another passage of this\ndescription Thorgils saw two \"women,\" which must mean the same. It is\nstated that \"they vanished in an instant\" (\"\u00fe\u00e6r hurfu skj\u00f3tt\"), just like\nthe underground beings. In the description of the voyage of Bj\u00f6rn\nEinarsson Jorsalafarer (given in Bj\u00f6rn J\u00f3nsson's Annals of Greenland) it\nis related that when in 1385 the same Bj\u00f6rn (together with three other\nvessels) on his way to Iceland was driven out of his course to Greenland,\nand had to stay there till 1387, he rescued on a skerry two \"trolls,\" a\nyoung brother and sister, who stayed with him the whole time [Gr\u00f6nl. hist.\nMind., iii. p. 438]. These, then, were Skr\u00e6lings in the Eastern\nSettlement; but the designation troll is here used as a matter of course,\nalthough nothing troll-like is related of them.\n\n    It may further be mentioned that in legendary tales and in many of the\n    fanciful sagas we hear of trolls in Greenland, who may originally have\n    been derived from the Skr\u00e6lings, but who have acquired more of the\n    troll- or giant-nature of fairy-tale. In the tale of the shipwreck of\n    the Icelandic chief Bj\u00f6rn Thorleifsson and his wife on the coast of\n    Greenland,[62] the two were saved by a troll man and a hag who each\n    took one of them in panniers on their shoulders and carried them to\n    the homestead enclosure at Gardar. In the \"\u00de\u00e1ttr af J\u00f6kli B\u00faasyni\"\n    J\u00f6kul is wrecked in the fjord \"\u00d6llum Lengri\" on the east coast of\n    Greenland, which was peopled by trolls and giants, and where a\n    friendly troll woman helps him to slay King Skr\u00e1mr, etc. [Gr\u00f6nl. hist.\n    Mind., iii. p. 521]. It will be seen that here there is nothing left\n    of the Skr\u00e6lings' nature, but the usual Norse ideas of trolls and\n    giants predominate.\n\n    The most important records of Skr\u00e6lings in Greenland in older times,\n    in addition to the works named above and the \u00cdslendingab\u00f3k, are: the\n    \"Icelandic Annals,\" where they are mentioned in one year, 1379,\n    besides the allusion to the voyage from Nordrsetur in 1267 (cf. vol.\n    i. p. 308), Ivar B\u00e1rdsson's description of Greenland [Gr\u00f6nl. hist.\n    Mind., iii. p. 259], and finally Gisle Oddsson's Annals, where they\n    are called \"the people of America\" [Gr\u00f6nl. hist. Mind., iii. p. 459;\n    G. Storm, 1890a, p. 355].\n\nAs the Norsemen, at all events during early days in Greenland, were to a\ngreat extent dependent on keeping cattle, as they had been in Iceland,\nthey must have stayed a good deal at their homesteads within the fjords;\nwhile the Eskimo, being engaged in fishing and sealing, kept to the outer\ncoast. And even if the latter, after the arrival of the Icelanders in the\ncountry, had lived scattered along the southern part of the coast, there\nmay thus have been little contact between them and the Norsemen.\n\nFrom the statements cited earlier (vol. i. pp. 308, f.) about the\nNordrsetur expeditions we may conclude that the Greenlanders came across\nSkr\u00e6lings in those northern districts. It is true that the expression\n\"Skr\u00e6lingja vistir\" has usually been interpreted as Skr\u00e6ling sites or\nabandoned dwelling-places; but in this account a distinction is made\nbetween \"Skr\u00e6lingja vistir\" and \"Skr\u00e6lingja vistir fornligar.\" The latter\nare old dwelling-places that have been abandoned, while the former must be\ndwelling-places still in use. In the account of the voyage to the north,\nabout 1267, we read that at the farthest north there were found some old\nSkr\u00e6ling dwelling-places (\"vistir fornligar\"), while farther south, on\nsome islands, were found some \"Skr\u00e6lingja vistir\"--that is, inhabited\nones. In agreement with this it is also stated of the men who came from\nthe north in 1266 that\n\n    \"they saw no 'Skr\u00e6lingja vistir' except in [i.e., farther north than\n    in] Kroksfjardarheidr, and therefore it is thought that they [the\n    Skr\u00e6lings] must by that way have the shortest distance to travel\n    wherever they come from. From this one can hear [adds Bj\u00f6rn J\u00f3nsson]\n    how carefully the Greenlanders took note of the Skr\u00e6lings' places of\n    abode at that time.\"\n\nIt is clear enough that this refers to dwelling-places in use and not to\nold sites, for this is absolutely proved by the expression that \"they have\nthe shortest distance to travel...\"; and we thus see that the Skr\u00e6lings\nwere found in and in the neighbourhood of Kroksfjord,[63] but on the other\nhand not in the extreme north, where only old sites left by them were\nfound;[64] and from this the conclusion was drawn that they could not\ncome from the north, but by the route through Kroksfjord, wherever their\noriginal home may have been. As they cannot well have come from inland,\nnor from out at sea either, this statement may give one the impression of\nsomething semi-supernatural. It is significant that the Skr\u00e6lings\nthemselves are not spoken of here either; this may be due to the fact that\nthere was nothing remarkable in meeting with them; what, on the other\nhand, was interesting was their distribution in the unknown regions\nfarther north.\n\nIt was remarked in an earlier chapter (vol. i. p. 297) that the runic\nstone, found north of Upernivik, shows that Norsemen were there in the\nmonth of April, perhaps about 1300, and possibly it may also point to\nintercourse with the Eskimo. It was further mentioned (vol. i. p. 308)\nthat the finding in 1266 \"out at sea\" of pieces of driftwood shaped with\n\"small axes\" (stone axes ?) and adzes (i.e., the Eskimo form of axe), and\nwith wedges of bone imbedded in them, shows that there were Eskimo on the\neast coast of Greenland at that time. It is true that nothing is said as\nto what part of the sea the driftwood was found in; but from the context\nit must have been between the west coast of Greenland and Iceland; so that\nin any case it was within the region of the East Greenland current, and it\ncannot very well be supposed that these pieces of driftwood came from\nanywhere but the east coast of Greenland, unless indeed they should have\ncome all the way from Bering Strait or Alaska. The way in which they are\nspoken of shows that they were regarded as something out of the common,\nwhich was not due to Norsemen.\n\n[Sidenote: Allusions to Eskimo in European literature]\n\nThe brevity of Icelandic literature in all that concerns the Skr\u00e6lings is\nagain striking when we compare it with the information about the Eskimo\nthat appears in the maps and literature of Europe in the fifteenth\ncentury. Claudius Clavus in his description of the North (before the\nmiddle of the fifteenth century) speaks of Pygmies (\"Pigmei\") in the\ncountry to the north-east of Greenland; they were one cubit high, and had\nboats of hide, both short and long (i.e., kayaks and women's boats), some\nof which were hanging in the cathedral at Trondhjem (see further on this\nsubject under the mention of Claudius Clavus). He further speaks of \"the\ninfidel Karelians,\" who \"constantly descend upon Greenland in great\narmies.\"[65] The name may be derived, as shown by Bj\u00f6rnbo and Petersen,\nfrom the Karelians to the north-east of Norway on older maps and have been\ntransferred to the west, and it may then perhaps also have been confused\nwith the name of Skr\u00e6ling.\n\n[Illustration: Eskimo playing ball with a stuffed seal. Woodcut from\nGreenland illustrating a fairy-tale, drawn and engraved by a native]\n\n    Michel Beheim, who travelled in Norway in 1450, gives in his poem\n    about the journey [Vangensten, 1908, p. 18] a mythical description of\n    the Skr\u00e6lings (\"schrelinge\"), who are only three \"spans\" high, but are\n    nevertheless dangerous opponents both on sea and land. They live in\n    caves which they dig out in the mountains, make ships of hides, eat\n    raw meat and raw fish, and drink blood with it. This points to his\n    having found in Norway ideas about the Skr\u00e6lings as supernatural\n    beings of a similar kind to those already mentioned.\n\n    In a letter to Pope Nicholas V. (1447-1455) it is related [cf. G.\n    Storm, 1899]: \"And when one travels west [from Norway] towards the\n    mountains of this country [Greenland], there dwell there Pygmies in\n    the shape of little men, only a cubit high. When they see human beings\n    they collect and hide themselves in the caves of the country like a\n    swarm of ants. One cannot conquer them; for they do not wait until\n    they are attacked. They live on raw meat and boiled fish.\" This\n    resembles what is said about the Pygmies in Clavus, but as additional\n    information is given here, it is probable that both Clavus and the\n    author of this letter, and perhaps also Beheim, have derived their\n    statements from older sources, perhaps of the fourteenth century,\n    which either were Norwegian or had obtained information from Norway.\n    The description of the Pygmies and how they fly on the approach of\n    strangers points to knowledge of the Eskimo and their habits. The idea\n    about caves is, perhaps, more likely to be connected with pixies and\n    fairies, who lived in mounds and caves (cf. pp. 15, 76); but reports\n    of the half-underground Eskimo houses may also have had something to\n    do with it. It is possible that the common source may be the lost work\n    of the English author Nicholas of Lynn, who travelled in Norway in the\n    fourteenth century (cf. chapter xii. on Martin Behaim's globe).\n\n    Archbishop Erik Walkendorf (in his description of Finmark of about\n    1520) has a similar allusion to the Eskimo, which may well have the\n    same origin. He transfers them to the north-north-west of Finmark,\n    like the Pygmies on Claudius Clavus' map. He says: \"Finmark has on its\n    north-north-west a people of short and small stature, namely a cubit\n    and a half, who are commonly called 'Skr\u00e6linger'; they are an\n    unwarlike people, for fifteen of them do not dare to approach one\n    Christian or Russian either for combat or parley. They live in\n    underground houses, so that one can neither examine them nor capture\n    them. They worship gods\" [Walkendorf, 1902, p. 12].[66]\n\nWe thus see that while Icelandic literature, subsequent to Are Frode,\naffords scarcely any information about the Greenland Skr\u00e6lings themselves,\nit is a Norwegian author, as early as the thirteenth century, who makes\nthe first statements about them and their culture; and a Danish author of\nthe fifteenth century, whose statements may originally have been derived\nfrom Norway (like those in the letter to the Pope and in Walkendorf),\nmentions no other inhabitants of Greenland but the Eskimo (Pygmies and\nKarelians);[67] but they are still referred to as semi-mythical and\ntroll-like beings.\n\nThe explanation must doubtless be sought in a fundamental difference in\nthe point of view. To the Icelandic authors, brought up as they were in\nsaga-writing (and for the most part priests), the life and struggles of\ntheir ancestors in Greenland were the only important thing, while\nethnographical interest in the primitive people of the country, the\nheathen, troll-like Skr\u00e6lings, was foreign to them. To this must be added\nthe reasons already pointed out (p. 81). In Norway, on the other hand,\nkinship with the Icelandic Norsemen in Greenland was more distant, and\ninterest in the strange, outlandish Skr\u00e6lings was correspondingly greater.\nHere also different intellectual associations, and intercourse with a\nvariety of nationalities, caused on the whole a greater awakening of the\nethnographical sense.\n\n[Sidenote: Silence of the \"King's Mirror\" about the Skr\u00e6lings]\n\nA remarkable exception is the \"King's Mirror\" (circa 1250), which makes no\nmention of the Skr\u00e6lings, although a good deal of space is devoted to\nGreenland and the Greenlanders. But this, as it happens, throws light upon\nthe curious silence on the Skr\u00e6lings in Icelandic literature. From the\n\"Historia Norwegi\u00e6,\" which seems to have been written approximately at the\nsame time as or soon after the \"King's Mirror\" (perhaps between 1260 and\n1264), it appears, as we have said, that the Greenland Skr\u00e6lings were\nknown in Norway at that time; and in that case it is incredible that the\nwell-informed author of the \"King's Mirror,\" who shows such intimate\nknowledge of conditions in Greenland, should not have heard of them. If\nhe, nevertheless, does not allude to them, it appears that this must be\nfor a similar reason to that which caused them to be so little mentioned\nin Icelandic literature. That the Skr\u00e6lings should have been spoken of in\na missing portion of the \"King's Mirror,\" which perhaps was never finished\nby the author, is improbable, as the account of Greenland and its natural\nconditions seems to be concluded.[68]\n\nConcerning the \"King's Mirror\" as a whole one ought to be cautious in\ndrawing conclusions from its silence on various subjects; from its\nmentioning whales in the Iceland sea and seals in Greenland but not in\nNorway one might conclude that neither whale nor seal occurred in Norway;\nand the same is the case with the aurora borealis, which is only mentioned\nin Greenland.\n\n[Sidenote: Summary of the allusions to Skr\u00e6lings in Greenland]\n\nIf we attempt to sum up what we may conclude from the historical sources\nas to the Eskimo or Skr\u00e6lings of Greenland during the first centuries of\nthe Norse settlement there, something like the following is the result:\nWhen Eric the Red arrived in Greenland he found everywhere along the west\ncoast traces left by the Skr\u00e6lings, but whether and to what extent he met\nwith the people themselves we do not hear. The probability is that the\nprimitive people retired from those parts of the coast, the Eastern and\nWestern Settlements, where the warlike and violent Norsemen established\nthemselves; while they continued to live in the \"wastes\" to the north. The\nHistoria Norwegi\u00e6 (besides the accounts of the voyages to the north from\nNordrsetur in 1266 and 1267) shows that the Norsemen met with them there,\nbut at the same time speaks of immediate fighting. The mythical tale of\nThorgils Orrabeinsfostre (p. 81) also points in the latter direction, as\ndoes the myth in Eric the Red's Saga of the Greenlanders in Markland\nstealing Skr\u00e6ling children. We have further the stories in Claudius Clavus\nand Olaus Magnus of hide-boats and Eskimo (Pygmies) that were captured at\nsea. This points to the Norsemen of that early time having looked upon the\nSkr\u00e6lings as legitimate spoil, wherever they met them. Doubtless upon\noccasion the latter may have offered resistance or taken revenge, as may\nbe shown by the statement in the Icelandic Annals of the \"harrying\" in\n1379; but as a rule they certainly fled, as is their usual habit. I have\nmyself seen on the east coast of Greenland how the Eskimo take to their\nheels and leave their dwellings on the unexpected appearance of strangers,\nand this has been the common experience of other travellers in former and\nrecent times. It is not likely that the ancient Norsemen, when they came\nupon a dwelling-place thus suddenly abandoned, had any hesitation about\nappropriating whatever might be useful to them; unless indeed a\nsuperstitious fear of these heathen \"trolls\" restrained them from doing\nso. It is therefore natural that the Skr\u00e6lings avoided that part of\nGreenland where the Norsemen lived in large numbers. But where they came\nin contact we may suppose that friendly relations sometimes arose between\nEskimo and European at that time, as has been the case since; nor can the\nNorsemen of those days have been so inhuman as to make this impossible;\nand gradually as time went by the relations between them probably became\naltogether changed, as will be discussed in the next chapter, particularly\nwhen imports from outside ceased and the Norsemen were reduced to living\nwholly on the products of the country; they then had much to learn from\nthe Eskimo culture, which in these surroundings was superior.\n\nIn course of time the Eskimo of North Greenland grew in numbers, partly by\nnatural increase--which may have been constant there, where their catches\nwere assured for the greater part of the year, and they were free from\nfamine and ravaging diseases--and partly perhaps through a fresh gradual\nimmigration from the north. They therefore slowly spread farther to the\nsouth, and gradually the whole of the southern west coast received a\ndenser Eskimo population, probably after the Norsemen of the Western and\nEastern Settlements had declined in prosperity and numbers, so that they\nno longer appeared so formidable, and at the same time they undoubtedly\nbehaved in a more peaceful and friendly fashion, in proportion as their\ncommunication with Europe fell off, and their imaginary superiority to the\nSkr\u00e6lings proved to be more and more illusory.\n\n[Sidenote: The Skr\u00e6lings of Wineland]\n\nWe have still to speak of the Skr\u00e6lings whom the Greenlanders, according\nto the sagas, are said to have met with in Wineland. G. Storm [1887]\nmaintained that they must have been Indians, which of course seems natural\nif we suppose, with him, that the Greenlanders reached southern Nova\nScotia; but in recent years several authors have endeavoured to show that\nthey were nevertheless Eskimo.[69] From what has been made out above as to\nthe romantic character of these sagas it may seem a waste of time to\ndiscuss a question like this, since we have nothing certain to go by;\nespecially when, as already mentioned, the name of Skr\u00e6ling may originally\nhave been used of the pixies who were thought to dwell in the Irish\nfairyland, the land of the \"s\u00edd,\" which was called Wineland. But even if\nthis origin of the name be correct, it does not prevent later encounters\nwith the natives of America (besides those of Greenland) having\ncontributed to make the Skr\u00e6lings of Wineland more realistic, and given\nthem features belonging to actual experience.\n\n    The description of them in these \"romance-sagas\" may thus be\n    considered of value, in so far as it may represent the common\n    impression of the natives of the western countries, with whom the\n    Greenlanders may have had more intercourse than appears from these\n    tales; but even so we cannot in any case draw any conclusions from it\n    with regard to the distribution of Indians or Eskimo on the east coast\n    of America at that period. If it could really be established, as it\n    cannot, that the Wineland Skr\u00e6lings of the saga were Eskimo, then this\n    alone would lead to the conclusion that the Greenlanders on their\n    voyages had not been so far south as Nova Scotia, but at the farthest\n    had probably reached the north of Newfoundland. If the authors\n    mentioned have thought themselves justified in concluding that the\n    Greenlanders found Eskimo in Nova Scotia, because the natives of\n    Wineland are called Skr\u00e6lings and are consequently assumed to be the\n    same people with the some culture as those in Greenland, they cannot\n    have been fully alive to the difficulty involved in its being\n    impossible for the Skr\u00e6lings of Nova Scotia, with its entirely\n    different natural conditions, to have had the same arctic whaling and\n    sealing culture as the Skr\u00e6lings of Greenland, even if they belonged\n    to the same race. For we should then have to believe that they had\n    reached Nova Scotia from the north with their culture, which was\n    adapted for arctic conditions. They would have to have dislodged the\n    tribes of Indians who inhabited these southern regions before their\n    arrival, although they possessed a culture which under the local\n    conditions was inferior, and were doubtless also inferior in warlike\n    qualities. In addition, these Eskimo with their Eskimo culture in Nova\n    Scotia must have completely disappeared again before the country was\n    rediscovered 500 years later, when it was solely inhabited by Indian\n    tribes. We are asked to accept these various improbabilities chiefly\n    because the word \"Skr\u00e6ling\"--which, it most be remembered, was not\n    originally an ethnographical name, but meant dwarf or pixy--is used of\n    the people both in Wineland and Greenland, because the word\n    \"keiplabrot\" is used by Are Frode (see vol. i. p. 260), and because in\n    two passages of Eric the Red's Saga, written down about 300 years\n    after the \"events,\" the word \"hu\u00f0keipr\" is used of the Skr\u00e6lings'\n    boats in Wineland, while in four passages they are called \"skip\"\n    (i.e., vessel), and in another merely \"keipana.\" It appears to me that\n    this is attributing to the ancient Icelanders an ethnographical\n    interest which Icelandic literature proves to have been just what they\n    lacked (see above, pp. 80, ff.). In any case there is no justification\n    for regarding these tardily recorded traditions as ethnographical\n    essays, every word of which has a scientific meaning; and for that\n    they contain far too many obviously mythical features. It is not\n    apparent that any of the authors mentioned has decided of what kind of\n    hide the Skr\u00e6lings in southern Nova Scotia, or even farther south\n    (\"where no snow fell\"), should have made their hide-boats.\n\n    Opportunities of supporting themselves by sealing cannot have existed\n    on these Southern coasts. The species of seal which form the Eskimo's\n    indispensable condition of life farther north are no longer found. The\n    only species of seal which occurs frequently on the coast of Nova\n    Scotia is, as Professor Robert Collett informs me, the grey seal\n    (Halich\u0153rus grypus), which is also found on the coast of Norway and is\n    caught, amongst other places, on the Fro Islands. But this seal cannot\n    have been present in sufficiently large numbers in southern Nova\n    Scotia or farther south to fulfil the requirements of the ordinary\n    Eskimo sealing culture. They must therefore have adopted hunting on\n    land as their chief means of subsistence, like the Indians; but what\n    then becomes of the similarity in culture between the Skr\u00e6lings of\n    Greenland and Wineland, which is just what should distinguish them\n    from the Indians? The very foundation of the theory thus disappears.\n    Professor Y. Nielsen [1905, pp. 32, f.] maintains that the Skr\u00e6lings\n    of Nova Scotia need only have had \"transport boats\" or \"women's boats\"\n    of hides, and that \"what is there related of them does not even\n    contain a hint that they might have used kayaks.\" This makes the\n    theory even more improbable. If these Skr\u00e6lings were without kayaks,\n    which are and must be the very first condition of Eskimo sealing\n    culture on an open sea-coast, then they cannot have had seal-skins for\n    women's boats or clothes or tents either. They must then have covered\n    these boats with the hides of land animals; but what? True, it is\n    known that certain Indian tribes used to cover their canoes with\n    double buffalo hides, a fact which the authors mentioned cannot have\n    remarked, since they regard hide-boats as decisive evidence of Eskimo\n    culture; moreover, the Irish still cover their coracles with ox-hides;\n    but neither buffaloes nor oxen were to be found in Nova Scotia; are\n    we, then, to suppose that the natives used deer-skin? The whole line\n    of argument than leads us from one improbability to another, as we\n    might expect, seeing it is built up on so flimsy a foundation.\n\n    The Greenlanders may well have called the Indians' birch-bark canoes\n    \"keipr\" or \"keipull\" (a little boat); but it is still more probable\n    that as the details of the tradition became gradually obliterated in\n    course of time, the designation of the Skr\u00e6ling boat came to be that\n    which was used for the only boats known in later times to be peculiar\n    to the Skr\u00e6lings, namely, the hide-boats of Greenland. In addition to\n    this, hide-boats were also known from Ireland, while the making of\n    boats of birch-bark was altogether strange to the Icelanders. Besides,\n    if we are to attach so much importance to a single word, \"hu\u00f0keipr,\"\n    which plays no part in the narrative, what are we to do with the\n    Skr\u00e6lings' catapults (\"valsl\u01ebngur\") and their black balls which made\n    such a hideous noise that they put to flight Karlsevne and his\n    men?--these are really important features of the description, to say\n    nothing of the glamour. If these, like many other incidents of the\n    saga, are taken from altogether different quarters of the world, it is\n    scarcely unreasonable to suppose that a word like \"hu\u00f0keipr\" is\n    borrowed from Greenland and from Irish legend.\n\n    The names which according to the saga were communicated by the two\n    Skr\u00e6ling children captured in Markland, and which are supposed to have\n    lived in oral tradition for over 250 years, have no greater claim to\n    serious consideration. Everything else that these children are said to\n    have related is demonstrably incorrect; the tale of Hv\u00edtramanna-land\n    is a myth from Ireland (cf. pp. 42, ff.); the statement attributed to\n    them that in their country people lived in caves is improbable and\n    obviously derived from elsewhere (cf. p. 19);[70] is it, then, likely\n    that the names attributed to them should be any more genuine? W.\n    Thalbitzer [1905, pp. 190, ff.] explains these names as misunderstood\n    Eskimo sentences, and supposes them to mean: _V\u00e6tilldi_, \"but do wait\n    a moment\"; _V\u00e6gi_, \"wait a moment\"; _Avalldamon_, \"towards the\n    uttermost\"; _Avaldidida_, \"the uttermost, do you mean?\" As we are told\n    that the two Skr\u00e6ling boys learned Icelandic, Thalbitzer must suppose\n    the men to have misinterpreted these sentences as names during the\n    homeward voyage from Markland to Greenland, and then he must make the\n    Skr\u00e6lings die shortly afterwards, before the misunderstanding could be\n    explained. After that these meaningless names must have lived in\n    practically unaltered form in oral tradition for several hundred\n    years, until they were put into writing at the close of the thirteenth\n    century. It appears to me that such explanations of the words as are\n    attempted on p. 20 have a greater show of probability. In addition, as\n    pointed out in the same place, the \"bearded\" Skr\u00e6ling and their\n    \"sinking into the earth\" are mythical features which are associated\n    with these Skr\u00e6lings.\n\n    While the points that have been mentioned are incapable of proving\n    anything about Eskimo, there are other features in the saga's\n    description of the Skr\u00e6lings of Wineland which would rather lead us to\n    think of the Indians: that they should attack so suddenly in large\n    numbers without any cause being mentioned seems altogether unlike the\n    Eskimo, but would apply better to warlike Indians. We are told that\n    the Skr\u00e6lings attacked with loud cries; this is usual in Indian\n    warfare, but seems less like the Eskimo. During the fight with the\n    Skr\u00e6lings Thorbrand Snorrason was found dead with a \"hellustein\" in\n    his head. Whether this means a flat stone or a stone axe (as Storm has\n    translated it [1887, 1899]), it is in any case not a typical Eskimo\n    weapon; while a stone axe used as a missile might be Indian. But, as\n    stated above, there is too much romance and myth about the whole tale\n    of the Wineland voyages to allow of any certain value being attached\n    to such details. I have already (p. 23) maintained that the\n    description of hostilities with the natives, in which the Greenlanders\n    were worsted, cannot be derived from Greenland, but may be due to\n    something actually experienced. In that case this, too, points rather\n    to the Indians.[71]\n\n    William Thalbitzer [1904, pp. 20, f.] has adduced, as a possible\n    evidence of the more southerly extension of the Eskimo in former\n    times, the fact that the name \"Nipisiguit,\" of a little river in New\n    Brunswick (46\u00b0 40' N. lat.), bears a strong resemblance to the Eskimo\n    place-name \"Nepis\u00e4t\" in Greenland, and he also mentions another\n    place-name, \"Tadoussak,\" which has a very Eskimo look. But in order to\n    form any opinion we should have to know the language of the extinct\n    Indian tribes of these parts, as well as the original forms of the\n    names given. They are now only known from certain old maps; but we\n    cannot tell how they got on to those maps.\n\n[Sidenote: Ultimate fate of the Eskimo]\n\nThe Eskimo are one of the few races of hunters on the earth who with their\npeculiar culture have still been able to hold their own fairly well in\nspite of contact with European civilisation; the reason for this is partly\nthat they live so far out of the way that the contact has been more or\nless cursory, partly also, as far as Greenland is concerned, that they\nhave been treated with more or less care, and it has been sought to\nprotect them against harmful European influences. In spite of this it has\nnot been possible to prevent their declining and becoming more and more\nimpoverished. The increase of their population in recent years might\ndoubtless give a contrary impression; but here other factors have to be\nreckoned with. When the Eskimo first came in contact with European\nculture, it was, as will be shown in the next chapter, their own culture\nwhich in these surroundings gained the upper hand as soon as communication\nwith Europe was cut off. This would happen again if European and Eskimo\ncould be left to themselves, entirely cut off from the outer world. But as\nthis is impossible, the Eskimo culture is doomed to succumb slowly to our\ntrivial, all-conquering European civilisation.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nCHAPTER XI\n\nTHE DECLINE OF THE NORSE SETTLEMENTS IN GREENLAND\n\n\n[Sidenote: Decline of the Greenland settlements]\n\nThe Eastern and Western Settlements in Greenland seem, as we have said, to\nhave grown rapidly immediately after the discovery of the country and the\nfirst settlement there. Their flourishing period was in the eleventh,\ntwelfth, and part of the thirteenth centuries; but in the fourteenth they\nseem to have declined rapidly; notices of them become briefer and briefer,\nuntil they cease altogether after 1410, and in the course of the following\nhundred years the Norse population seems to have disappeared entirely. The\ncauses of this decline were many.[72] It has been thought that it was\nchiefly due to an immigration into Greenland on a large scale of Eskimo,\nwho gradually overpowered and exterminated the Norsemen; but, as will be\nshown later, there is no ground for believing this; even if hostile\nencounters took place between them, these cannot have been of great\nimportance.\n\nIn the first place the decline must be attributed to changes in the\nrelations with Norway. From the \"King's Mirror\" (cf. vol. i. p. 277),\namongst other authorities, we see that the Greenlanders doubtless had to\nmanage to some extent without such European wares as flour and bread; they\nlived mainly by sealing and fishing, and also by keeping cattle, which\ngave them milk and cheese. But there were many necessary things, such as\niron for implements and weapons, and to some extent even wood[73] for\nlarger boats and ships, which had to be obtained from Europe, besides the\nencouragement and support which were afforded in many ways by\ncommunication with the outer world. This was not of small moment to people\nwho lived in isolation under such hard conditions, at the extreme limit at\nwhich a European culture was possible; it wanted little to turn the scale.\nIt is therefore easy to understand that as soon as communication with the\nmother country declined, the conditions of life in Greenland became so\nunattractive that those who had the chance removed elsewhere, and\ndoubtless in most cases to Norway.\n\n[Sidenote: Decline in reproduction]\n\nBut at the same time there was certainly a physiological factor involved.\nFor the healthy nourishment of a European cereals (hydro-carbons) are\nnecessary, and there can be no doubt that a prolonged exclusive diet of\nmeat and fat will in the case of most Europeans reduce the vital force,\nand not least the powers of reproduction. This agrees with my own\nexperience and observation under various conditions, as, for instance,\nduring ten consecutive months' exclusive diet of meat and fat. It is also\nconfirmed by physiological experiments on omnivorous animals. The\nGreenlanders were reduced to living by sealing, fishing, and keeping\ncattle; milk, with its sugar of milk, was their chief substitute for the\nhydro-carbons in cereals; besides this, they no doubt collected\ncrowberries, angelica and other vegetables; but even during the short\nsummer this cannot have been sufficient to counterbalance the want of\nflour. It is therefore probable that their powers of reproduction\nunderwent a marked decrease, and they became a people of small fecundity.\nThe Eskimo have had thousands of years for adapting themselves through\nnatural selection to their monotonous flesh-diet, since those among them\nwho were best fitted for it had the better chance of producing offspring;\nthere is certainly a great difference between individuals in this respect;\nsome of us are by nature more vegetarian, while others are more\ncarnivorous. It is therefore natural that the present-day Eskimo should be\nbetter suited for this diet; but it is none the less striking that the\nrate of productiveness among them is also low.\n\nAs, then, the Greenlanders' communications with Norway fell off more and\nmore, their imports of corn and flour finally ceased altogether. Their\ncattle-keeping must then have declined as well, since they would have\nlittle opportunity of renewing their stock or getting other kinds of\nsupplies, when bad years intervened and the greater part of the stock had\nto be slaughtered or died of hunger. Consequently the people became still\nmore dependent on sealing; and thereby the cattle must have been\nneglected. In this way their diet would become even less varied, since\nmilk would be lacking, and their reproduction would be further restricted.\nAdd to this that their average proficiency in sealing, at first in any\ncase, was doubtless not to be compared with that of the Eskimo, and that\nthey were without salt for preserving their catch, which therefore had to\nbe dried or frozen. They were thus not able to lay up a large provision,\nand were always more and more dependent on occasional catches. It is easy\nto understand that their power of resistance was not great, when bad\nseasons for sealing occurred, or when they were ravaged by disease, and it\nis not surprising if the population decreased.\n\n[Sidenote: Cessation of communication with Europe]\n\nThe cessation of the communication of Greenland with Iceland and Norway\ncame about in the following way: between 1247 and 1261, during the reign\nof H\u00e5kon H\u00e5konsson, Greenland voluntarily became subject to the Norwegian\ncrown, whilst before this it had been a free State like Iceland. In 1294,\ntrade with the tributary countries of Norway, Greenland among them, was\ndeclared a sort of royal monopoly or privilege, which the king could farm\nout to Norwegian subjects. The result of this was that only the king's\nships--and of these there was as a rule only one, called \"Knarren,\" for\nthe Greenland traffic--were permitted to sail there for the purposes of\ntrade,[74] and this was the beginning of the end. Even before that time\ncommunication with Greenland was rare. Thus we read in the \"King's Mirror\"\nthat people seldom went there. But now, when the royal trading ship was\npractically the only one that made the voyage, things were to be much\nworse. Frequently several years were occupied on one trip. As some time\nelapsed also between each voyage, it will be understood that, at the best,\nthe communication was not lively. But when it occasionally happened that\n\"Knarren\" was wrecked, things were still worse. That the communication may\nhave been defective as early as the beginning of the fourteenth century is\nseen from a letter from Bishop Arne, of Bergen, to Bishop Tord in\nGreenland, of June 22, 1308, wherein it is taken for granted that the\ndeath of King Eric nine years before, in 1299, was not yet known in\nGreenland. In the middle of the fourteenth century, for instance,\n\"Knarren\" returned to Bergen in 1346 safe and sound and with a very great\nquantity of goods; but perhaps did not sail again until 1355, and we hear\nnothing of her return before 1363 (?). In 1366 we hear that \"Knarren\" was\nagain fitted out; but she was wrecked north of Bergen in the following\nyear, probably on the outward voyage. In the year following a new trading\nship must actually have arrived with the new bishop, Alf; but it is stated\nthat Greenland had then been without a bishop for nineteen years. In 1369\nthe Greenland ship seems again to have been sunk off Norway.[75]\n\nIt looks as if these voyages of \"Knarren\" became rarer and rarer, until at\nthe beginning of the fifteenth century (1410) they presumably ceased\naltogether; in any case, we hear no more of them. Even though the\nGreenland traffic may have paid, it cost money to fit out \"Knarren,\" and\nwhen there was so much doing in other quarters, it was not always easy to\nprocure the necessary funds. Another reason for the decline was the\ngrowing influence and power of the Hanseatic League over trade and\nnavigation in Norway. Together with the Victualien Brethren and the\nadherents of the captive King Albrekt of Sweden, the Leaguers took and\nsacked Bergen in 1393. In 1428 the town was again taken by the Hanseatic\nLeague. It may easily be understood that events of this kind had a\ndisturbing and perhaps entirely paralysing effect on the Greenland\ntraffic, which had its headquarters in this town. Moreover, Norway had\nbefore this been much weakened by the Black Death, which visited the\ncountry in 1349. It raged with special virulence in Bergen; but there is\nno notice of the disease having spread to Greenland; perhaps that country\nwas spared through \"Knarren\" not having sailed there before 1355, and\nprobably no other ship having made the voyage in the interval. In 1392\nthere was again a severe pestilence throughout Norway, and many people\ndied. In that year too a great many ships were wrecked. There were thus a\nnumber of misfortunes at that time, and the people of Norway had enough to\noccupy them in their own affairs. Another circumstance unfavourable to the\ncommunication with Greenland was the union of Norway with Denmark, and for\na time with Sweden. The seat of government was thereby removed to\nCopenhagen, and interest in Norway, and especially in its so-called\ntributary countries, was further greatly diminished by the larger claims\nof Denmark and Sweden.\n\nIt is reasonable to suppose that under such conditions the settlements in\nGreenland, which were almost entirely cut off, must have decayed;\ncomparatively few, perhaps, were able to get a passage, and left the\ncountry by degrees; but the people declined in numbers; they adopted an\nentirely Eskimo mode of living, and mixed with the Eskimo, who perhaps at\nthe same time spread southwards in greater numbers along the west coast of\nGreenland. It was remarked in the last chapter that the Norsemen, when\nthey arrived in the country, evidently looked down upon the stone-age,\ntroll-like Skr\u00e6lings, whom they could hunt and ill-use with impunity; with\ntheir iron weapons, their warlike propensities, and their larger vessels,\nthey may perhaps have been able to maintain this imaginary superiority in\nthe early days, so long as they still had some kind of supplies from\nabroad. But it is obvious that these relations must have been\nfundamentally changed when this communication gradually ceased, and they\nwere reduced, without any support from Europe, to make the best of the\ncountry's resources; then the real superiority of the Eskimo in these\nsurroundings asserted its full rights, and the Greenlanders had to begin\nto look upon them in a very different light. It is therefore perfectly\nnatural that from this very fourteenth century a fundamental change in the\nrelations between Norsemen and Skr\u00e6lings set in. And that such was the\ncase seems to result in many ways from the meagre information we possess.\n\n[Sidenote: Gisle Oddsson's annals on the decline of the Greenlanders]\n\nIn the Annals of Bishop Gisle Oddsson, written in Iceland in Latin before\n1637, we read under the year 1342 [G. Storm, 1890a, pp. 355, f.; Gr\u00f6nl.\nhist. Mind., iii. p. 459]:\n\n    \"The inhabitants of Greenland voluntarily forsook the true faith and\n    the religion of the Christians, and after having abandoned all good\n    morals and true virtues turned to the people of America ('ad Americ\u00e6\n    populos se converterunt'); some also think that Greenland lies very\n    near to the western lands of the world. From this it came about that\n    the Christians began to refrain from the voyage to Greenland.\"\n\nIt is not known from whence Gisle Oddsson took this statement. As the\nexpression \"the people of America\" (\"Americ\u00e6 populi\") is a curious one,\nand as the statements in the bishop's annals following that quoted above\nare entirely myths and inventions taken from Lyschander's \"Gr\u00f6nlands\nChronica\" (but originally derived from Saxo and Adam of Bremen), Storm\nregarded the whole account as spurious and lacking any medi\u00e6val authority.\nInterpreting, curiously enough, \"ad Americ\u00e6 populos se converterunt\" to\nmean that the Greenlanders had emigrated to America, Storm supposes that\nthis may be a hypothesis \"formed to explain the disappearance from\nGreenland of the old Norwegian-Icelandic colony.\" But the meaning of the\npassage can scarcely be interpreted otherwise than as translated above,\nthat the Greenlanders had forsaken Christianity, given up good morals and\nvirtues, and had been converted to the belief and customs of the American\npeople (i.e., the Skr\u00e6lings). The people of America must be a strained\nexpression the bishop has used to denote the heathen Skr\u00e6lings (who\ninhabited Greenland and the American lands) in contradistinction to the\nChristian Europeans. Greenland was frequently regarded in Iceland in those\ntimes as a part of America (cf. the map, p. 7). Hans Egede, for example,\nthought the natives of Greenland were \"Americans.\" In other words, the\nstatement simply means that in 1342 a report came that the Greenlanders\nwere associating amicably with the heathen Skr\u00e6lings (which was forbidden\nby the ecclesiastical law of that time), and had begun to adopt their mode\nof life; which, in fact, is extremely probable.\n\nThe question is, then, from whence Gisle Oddsson may have derived this,\nwhich is not known from any other source. Storm thought it out of the\nquestion that it was taken from Lyschander (from whom the same annals\nhave borrowed so much else); but we cannot be so sure of this. After\nhaving related the volcanic eruption and disasters in Iceland in 1340\n(also recorded by Gisle Oddsson), Lyschander continues:\n\n  \"Norway and Sweden and Greenland also\n  They were hereafter well able to perceive\n  That such things boded ill to them.\n  These kingdoms they came into the hands of the Dane,\n  And Greenland went astray on the strand,\n  Not long after these times.\"\n\nWhatever may be meant by this strained, obscure expression about Greenland\n(is \"strand\" a misprint for \"stand\"--\"went astray in its condition\" ?), it\nmight at any rate be interpreted to mean that its inhabitants had been\nconverted (gone astray) to a heathen religion (the people of America);\n\"not long after these times\" (i.e., after 1340) may thus have been made\ninto 1342. But the mention of a definite date--which, it may be remarked,\nwould suit very well for the time when the Greenlanders passed into Eskimo\nin larger numbers, at any rate in the Western Settlement (cf. Ivar\nB\u00e1rdsson's description, see below, p. 108)--may possibly indicate that\nsome ancient authority or other is really the foundation for the\nstatement, and perhaps also for the lines quoted from Lyschander. Finn\nMagnussen [Gr\u00f6nl. hist. Mind., iii. p. 459] thinks that Gisle Oddsson may\nhave derived much information from the archives and library of Sk\u00e1lholdt\ncathedral, which was burnt in 1630.\n\n[Sidenote: Conversion of the Greenlanders into Eskimo]\n\nWhether genuine or not, this statement may correctly describe the fate of\nthe Greenland settlements. Deserted by the mother country, and left to\ntheir own resources, the Greenlanders were forced to adopt the Eskimo mode\nof life, and became absorbed in them. This took place first in the more\nnortherly and more thinly populated Western Settlement, and later in the\nEastern Settlement as well. The Eskimo with their kayaks and their sealing\nappliances were the superiors of the Greenlanders in sealing (as appears\nfrom the account of Bj\u00f6rn Jorsalafarer), and their mode of life was\nbetter suited to the conditions of Greenland; it is therefore incredible\nthat their culture should not gain the upper hand in an encounter, under\nconditions otherwise equal, with that of Europeans, even though there were\ncertain things that they might learn of the Europeans, especially the use\nof iron.[76] Furthermore, the Greenlanders' stock of cattle, goats and\nsheep had, as we have seen (p. 97), greatly declined owing to the long\nseverance from Europe, and for this reason also they were obliged to adopt\nmore of the Eskimo way of life. But then their places of residence within\nthe fjords, far from the sealing-grounds, were no longer advantageous, and\nby degrees they entirely adopted the Eskimo's more migratory life along\nthe outer coast. Then, again, the Eskimo women were probably no less\nattractive to the Northerners of that time than they are to those of the\npresent day, and thus much mixture of blood gradually resulted. The\nchildren came to speak the Eskimo language, and took at once to a wholly\nEskimo way of life, just as at the present day the children of Danes and\nEskimo in Greenland do. As the Norsemen at that time must also have been\nvery inferior to the Eskimo in numbers, they must by degrees have become\nEskimo both physically and mentally; and when the country was rediscovered\nin the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries there were only Eskimo there,\nwhile all traces of the Norwegian-Greenland culture seemed to have\ndisappeared.\n\n[Illustration: Ruins of church at Kakortok in the Eastern Settlement\n(after Th. Groth)]\n\nLet us suppose that we could repeat the experiment and plant a number of\nEuropean sealers in Baffin Land, for instance, with their women, together\nwith a greater number of Eskimo, and then cut off all communication with\nthe civilised world. Can we have any doubt as to the kind of culture we\nshould find there if we could come back after two hundred years? All the\ninhabitants would be Eskimo, and we should find few traces of European\nculture.\n\n[Illustration: Salmon-fishing in Vazdal by Ketils-fjord in the Eastern\nSettlement (see map, vol. i. p. 265), where the \"birch forest\" is as high\nas 20 ft. From a photograph by Dr. T. N. Krabbe (A. S. Jensen, 1910)]\n\n[Sidenote: Norse traces among the Greenland Eskimo]\n\nIt would doubtless seem reasonable to expect that the descendants of the\nancient Norsemen of Greenland and of the Eskimo with whom they became\nabsorbed should have shown signs in their external appearance of this\ndescent, when discovered in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; but\nunfortunately we have no descriptions of them from that time which allow\nof any conclusions being drawn on the subject. It is true that Hans Egede\nsays [1741, p. 66] that the Eskimo of Greenland \"have broad faces and\nthick lips, are flat-nosed and of a brownish complexion; though some of\nthem are quite handsome and white\"; but nothing definite can be concluded\nfrom this, and in the period after Egede's arrival the natives on the west\ncoast became so mixed that it is now hopeless to look for any of the\noriginal race. It is, however, remarkable that Graah found in 1829-1831\nEskimo on the east coast of Greenland, many of whom struck him as\nresembling Scandinavians in appearance--a fact which he sought to explain\nby European sailors having perhaps been wrecked there.\n\nBut if it is now difficult to prove in this way the partially Norse\ndescent of the natives on the southern west coast of Greenland, it is to\nbe expected that there should be many vestiges in their myths and\nfairy-tales which would give evidence of this. And this is precisely what\nwe find. In an earlier work [1891, pp. 207, ff.; Engl. ed., pp. 248, ff.]\nI think I have pointed out numerous features in their tales that bear a\nresemblance to the Norse mythical world, and that must have been derived\nfrom thence; and many more might be adduced. The similarities are\nsufficiently numerous to bear witness to a quite intimate intellectual\ncontact, and are in full agreement with what we should expect. But it may\nseem strange that their religious ideas did not show more Christian\ninfluence, especially when we see that even so late as 1407 Christianity\nwas powerful enough in the Eastern Settlement for a man to be burnt for\nhaving seduced another's wife by witchcraft. There are, however, many\nfeatures in their conceptions of another world, of which Egede speaks,\nwhich appear to be necessarily of Christian origin; we must suppose, too,\nthat Christian education was at a very low ebb in Greenland at the close\nof the fourteenth century, and soon ceased altogether.\n\n[Sidenote: Norse words in the Eskimo language]\n\nOnly a few words in the language of the Greenland Eskimo on the southern\nwest coast have been shown to be of Norse origin. Hans Egede himself\npointed out the following: \"kona\" (== wife, Old Norse kona), \"sava\" or\n\"savak\" (== sheep, O.N. sau\u00f0r, gen. sau\u00f0a), \"nisa\" or \"nisak\" (==\nporpoise, O.N. hn\u00edsa), \"kuanek\" (== angelica, O.N. hv\u01ebnn, plur. hvannir).\nSome of these words recur in Labrador Eskimo, but may have been introduced\nby the Moravian missionaries from Greenland. We may also mention the name\nthe Eskimo of southern Greenland apply to themselves, \"kar\u0101lek\" or\n\"kal\u0101lek,\" which may come from the word Skr\u00e6ling (which in Eskimo would\nbecome \"sakal\u0101lek\"). This, as the Eskimo told Egede, was the name the\nancient Norsemen had called them by; otherwise the Eskimo call themselves\n\"inuit\" (== human beings); and curiously enough \"kal\u0101lek\" is not used by\nthe Eskimo of northern Greenland; on the other hand, it is known to the\nLabrador Eskimo, but may have been brought by the missionaries, although\nthe latter asserted that it was known when they came. It is perhaps of\nmore importance that, according to H. Rink, a similar word (\"kallaluik,\"\n\"katlalik\" or \"kallaaluch,\" for chief or shaman) occurs in the dialects of\nAlaska.\n\n[Sidenote: Complaints of apostasy in notices of Greenland]\n\nThrough all the notices of Greenland and its condition, especially those\nfrom religious sources, there runs after the fourteenth century a cry of\napostasy, which is ominous of this mixture of the Norsemen with the\nSkr\u00e6lings: we see it in the doubtful statement from 1342 about their\nconversion to \"the people of America\"; a little later, according to Ivar\nB\u00e1rdsson's account (see p. 108), the heathen Skr\u00e6lings were predominant in\nthe Western Settlement; furthermore, the trading ship was fitted out in\n1355 to prevent the \"falling away\" of Christianity [Gr\u00f6nl. hist. Mind.,\niii. p. 122]; Bj\u00f6rn Einarsson's account (see below, p. 112) concludes with\nthe statement that when he was there (1386) \"the bishop of Gardar was\nlately dead, and an old priest ... performed all the episcopal\nordinations\" [Gr\u00f6nl. hist. Mind., iii. p. 438]; after that time no bishop\ncame to Greenland; and finally the papal letter of 1492-93 describes the\nGreenlanders as a people abandoned by bishop and priest, for which reason\nmost of them had fallen from the Christian faith, although they still\npreserved a memory of the Christian church service (see later).[77] This\nmay all point in the same direction: that the Norsemen in Greenland\nbecame more and more absorbed by the Eskimo.\n\n[Sidenote: War of extermination improbable]\n\nOf course there may have been occasional hostile encounters between the\nEskimo and Norsemen in Greenland, especially as the latter, as pointed out\nin the last chapter, must frequently have acted with a heavy hand when\nthey had the power. But that the Eskimo should have carried on a regular\nwar of extermination, which resulted in the complete destruction first of\nthe Western and then of the Eastern Settlement, as has been generally\nassumed until quite recently--this is incredible to any one who knows the\nEskimo and considers what their conditions of life were. Where should they\nhave developed this warlike propensity which was afterwards foreign to\nthem, and where should they have had training in the art of war? This idea\nof the destruction of the settlements by hostilities is the result mainly\nof three statements about Greenland, of which one is very improbable and\non many points impossible, another deals possibly with an actual attack,\nand the third is demonstrably false. We must here examine these notices a\nlittle more closely.\n\n[Sidenote: Ivar B\u00e1rdsson on the Western Settlement]\n\nIn 1341 Bishop H\u00e1kon of Bergen sent a priest, Ivar B\u00e1rdsson, to Greenland.\nHe was for a number of years steward of the bishop's residence at Gardar,\nand is said also to have visited the Western Settlement. We do not know\nfor certain how long he was in Greenland, but in 1364 he again appears in\nNorway [cf. G. Storm, 1887, p. 74]. There exists in Danish a description\nof the fjords, more especially of the Eastern Settlement, which, according\nto its own words, must to a great extent be derived from oral\ncommunications of this Ivar (see below). These must originally have been\ntaken down by another Norwegian, in Norwegian, and were thence translated\ninto Danish [cf. F. J\u00f3nsson, 1899, p. 279]. There is thus a double\npossibility that the third-hand version we possess may contain many errors\nand misconceptions, of which, in fact, it bears evident marks. After\nspeaking of the fjords in the Eastern Settlement, it says of the Western\nSettlement and of the journey thither:[78]\n\n    \"Item from the Eastern Settlement to the Western is a dozen\n    sea-leagues and all is uninhabited, and there in the Western\n    Settlement stands a great church which is called Stensness Church;\n    this church was for a time a cathedral and the see of a bishop.[79]\n    Now the Skr\u00e6lings possess the whole Western Settlement; there are\n    indeed horses, goats, cattle and sheep, all wild, and no people either\n    Christian or heathen.\n\n    \"Item all this that is said above was told us by Iffuer bort [or\n    Bardsen], a Greenlander, who was steward of the bishop's residence at\n    Gardum in Greenland for many years, that he had seen all this and he\n    was one of those who were chosen by the 'lagmand' to go to the Western\n    Settlement against the Skr\u00e6lings to expel the Skr\u00e6lings from the\n    Western Settlement, and when they came there they found no man, either\n    Christian or heathen, but some wild cattle and sheep, and ate of the\n    wild cattle, and took as much as the ships could carry and sailed with\n    it home [i.e., to the Eastern Settlement], and the said Iffuer was\n    among them.\n\n    \"Item there lies in the north, farther than the Western Settlement, a\n    great mountain which is called 'Hemelrachs felld' [or 'Himinra\u00f0z\n    fjall,' cf. vol. i. p. 302], and farther than to this mountain must no\n    man sail, if he would preserve his life from the many whirlpools which\n    there lie round the whole sea.\"\n\n[Illustration: From an Icelandic MS. of the fourteenth century]\n\nStrangely enough no author has expressed a doubt of the credibility of\nthis description, although as usually interpreted it contains an\nimpossibility, which must strike any one on a closer examination. It is\nstill commonly interpreted as though Ivar B\u00e1rdsson had found the whole\nWestern Settlement destroyed by Eskimo.[80] But if this was so, how could\nhe have found there wild cattle, sheep, horses and goats? The whole\nWestern Settlement must then have been destroyed the summer that he was\nthere; for the wild cattle could not possibly have supported themselves\nthrough the winter in Greenland; evidently the author, who was\nunacquainted with the conditions in Greenland, did not think of this.\nBesides, can any one who knows the Eskimo imagine that they slaughtered\nthe men, but not the cattle? This represented food to them, and that is\nwhat they would first have turned their attention to. It is not stated\nwhich fjord of the Western Settlement it was that Ivar visited; but in any\ncase it is hardly to be supposed that it was all the fjords, which thus\nwould all have been destroyed at the same time. The conclusion that Ivar\nfound the whole Western Settlement laid waste is therefore in any case\nunfounded; it can at the most have been one fjord, or perhaps only one\nhomestead (?). If there should really be some historical foundation for\nthe description of Ivar B\u00e1rdsson's voyage, then it may perhaps be\ninterpreted in an altogether different way. The people of the Western\nSettlement, where the conditions for keeping cattle were far less\nfavourable than farther south in the Eastern Settlement, undoubtedly\nbecame earlier absorbed among the Eskimo and went over to their mode of\nliving. This may also be what is alluded to in the perhaps approximately\ncontemporary statement of 1342, already quoted (p. 101), which says that\nthe Greenlanders \"turned to the people of America.\" It is possible that it\nwas just this same state of things that was the cause of Ivar's being sent\nto expel the Skr\u00e6lings from the Western Settlement. When he arrived in the\nsummer at the fjord which he possibly visited, the people may therefore,\nin Eskimo fashion, have been absent on sealing expeditions somewhere out\non the sea-coast and living in tents, while the cattle were turned out at\npasture round the homesteads.[81] This would explain how they came to be\nfound alive. The men of the Eastern Settlement then, with or against their\nbetter conscience, stole and carried off the property of the half-Eskimo\nmen of the Western Settlement during their absence, and when the latter\nreturned they found their homesteads plundered, not by Eskimo but by\nGreenlanders. But it is perhaps very questionable whether the whole\naccount of this voyage is particularly historical. The statement about the\nwhirlpools, for one thing, is mythical, pointing to an idea that this was\nnear the end of the earth, and in the description immediately following\nlike and unlike are mixed together in a way that is calculated to arouse\ndoubt. We read thus:\n\n    \"Item in Greenland there are silver-mines [which are not found there],\n    white bears having red spots on the head [sic!].... Item in Greenland\n    great tempests never come. Item snow falls much in Greenland, it is\n    not so cold there as in Iceland and Norway, there grows on high\n    mountains and down below fruit as large as some apples and good to\n    eat, the best wheat that can be grows there.\"[82]\n\nAs will be seen, one absurdity succeeds another. It may be objected that\nas it is not stated that this last paragraph is due to Ivar the\nGreenlander, it may have been added later; but it contains an admixture of\nstatements that must come from Greenland--e.g., about the white bears,\nwhales' tusks (i.e., of walrus or narwhale), walrus hides, soapstone\n(steatite), of which they make pots, and large vessels; it is also stated\nthat \"there are many reindeer,\" and it seems probable that it is all\nderived from the same untrustworthy source.\n\nTo what has here been said some will object that, even if this description\nascribed to Ivar B\u00e1rdsson bears evident marks of being inexact, it shows\nat any rate that in Norway, when it was taken down, the view prevailed\nthat the Western Settlement had been destroyed by an attack of the\nSkr\u00e6lings. But nothing of the kind is really stated in the account (cf.\nabove, p. 108, note 3); and the possibly contemporary statement (of 1342\n?) which has already been given (p. 100) shows that in Iceland, at any\nrate in the seventeenth century, the contrary view prevailed, unless\nindeed we are to explain this statement as having arisen through a\nmisunderstanding of Lyschander.\n\n[Sidenote: Eskimo attack in 1379]\n\nUnder the year 1379 the so-called \"Gottskalks Ann\u00e1ll\" (of the second half\nof the sixteenth century) has a statement which cannot be regarded as\ncertain, as it is not found in the other Icelandic annals, but which may\nhave been taken from older sources. It reads [G. Storm's edition of\nIslandske Annaler, 1888, p. 364]:\n\n    \"The Skr\u00e6lings harried the Greenlanders and killed of them eighteen\n    men and took two boys and made slaves of them.\"\n\n[Sidenote: Bj\u00f6rn Jorsalafarer's account, 1385-87]\n\nIt is possible that this may have some historical foundation, and in that\ncase it doubtless refers to some collision or attack, perhaps at sea, in\nwhich the Eskimo were superior and the Greenlanders were defeated, which\nlatter circumstance is the reason of our hearing something about it; in\nthe contrary case it would not have been reported. That the Eskimo took\ntwo boys is conceivable if they were quite young, so that they could be\ntrained for sealing; they would thus provide an increase of the capital of\nthe community. It is not unlikely that rumours of some such collisions as\nthis may have contributed to form the ideas prevalent in Norway as to the\nformidable character of the Skr\u00e6lings,[83] while at the same time there\nexisted ideas of their flying from Europeans, which appear in the reports\nof the Pygmies (cf. the letter to the Pope, about 1450, and Walkendorf,\nabove, p. 86). Whether the encounter referred to took place in the Western\nor in the Eastern Settlement (or perhaps in Nordrsetur ?) we do not know.\nIf we are to place any reliance on Ivar B\u00e1rdsson's description, we must\nsuppose that the Western Settlement and its fate were little known at that\ntime. But that friendly relations between the Greenlanders and the Eskimo\nmay have prevailed also in the Eastern Settlement later than this seems to\nresult from the account of the widely travelled Icelander Bj\u00f6rn Einarsson\nJorsalafarer's stay in Greenland from 1385 to 1387. On a voyage to Iceland\nin 1385 he was in distress, and was driven out of his course to the\nEastern Settlement with four ships, which all arrived safe and well in\nIceland in 1387.[84] It seems that there was a difficulty in feeding all\nthese crews, but Bj\u00f6rn is said to have had the district of Eric's fjord\nhanded over to him while he was there (?), and received as a contribution\n130 fore-quarters of sheep (?). There is also related a fable that on his\ncoming there and going down to the sea to look for seals he happened to\nwitness a combat between a polar bear and a walrus, \"who always fight when\nthey meet,[85] and he afterwards killed them both.\"\n\n    \"Then Bj\u00f6rn the franklin found maintenance for his people through one\n    of the largest rorquals being driven ashore, with a marked harpoon\n    belonging to Olaf of Isafjord in Iceland, and finally it was also of\n    importance that he came to the assistance of two trolls [i.e.,\n    Eskimo], a young brother and sister, on a tidal skerry [i.e., one that\n    was under water at high tide]. They swore fidelity to him, and from\n    that time he never was short of food; for they were skilled in all\n    kinds of hunting, whatever he wished or needed. What the troll girl\n    liked best was when Solveig, the mistress of the house, allowed her to\n    carry and play with her boy who had lately been born. She also wanted\n    to have a linen hood like the mistress, but made it for herself of\n    whale's guts. They killed themselves, and threw themselves into the\n    sea from the cliffs after the ships, when they were not allowed to\n    sail with the franklin Bj\u00f6rn, their beloved master, to Iceland.\"\n\nThe description of Bj\u00f6rn Einarsson's voyage is full of extravagances and\nanything but trustworthy; but his stay in Greenland with the four ships is\ncertainly historical; and the description of the two young Eskimo has many\nfeatures so typical of the Eskimo--such as the girl's fondness for\nchildren, her making a hood of whale's guts, and their superior skill in\nsealing--that they show without doubt that at that time there was\nintercourse with the Eskimo in the Eastern Settlement.\n\nFrom an existing royal document of 1389 it appears that, when Bj\u00f6rn and\nhis companions came from Iceland to Bergen in 1388, they were prosecuted\nfor illegal trading with Greenland, which was a royal monopoly; but they\nwere acquitted, since they had been driven there in great distress and\nwere obliged to trade in order to obtain food [Gr\u00f6nl. hist. Mind., iii.\npp. 139, f.].\n\n[Sidenote: Papal letter of 1448 on an Eskimo attack]\n\nA document to which much weight has been attached is a papal letter which\nhas been preserved, from Nicholas V. in 1448 to the two bishops of\nIceland. It is there said of Greenland, amongst other things [Gr\u00f6nl. hist.\nMind., iii. p. 170]:\n\n    \"From the neighbouring coasts of the heathens the barbarians came\n    thirty years ago with a fleet, attacked the people living there [in\n    Greenland] with a cruel assault, and so destroyed the land of their\n    fathers and the sacred edifices with fire and sword that only nine\n    parish churches were left in the whole island [Greenland], and these\n    are said to be the most remote, which they could not reach on account\n    of the steep mountains. They carried the miserable inhabitants of both\n    sexes as prisoners to their own country, especially those whom they\n    regarded as strong and capable of bearing constant burdens of slavery,\n    as was fitting for their tyranny. But since, as the same complaint\n    adds,[86] in the course of time most of them have returned from the\n    said imprisonment to their own homes, and have here and there repaired\n    the ruins of their dwellings, they long to establish and extend divine\n    service again, as far as possible....\" Then follows a lengthy\n    discourse on their religious needs, and what might be done to relieve\n    them, without costing the rich Papacy anything.\n\nAs the barbarians here must undoubtedly mean the Eskimo, it has been\nregarded as a historical fact that the latter about 1418 made a\ndevastating attack on the Eastern Settlement, and this document has thus\nlent weighty support to the general opinion that the Greenland settlements\nperished as the result of an Eskimo war of extermination. But the letter\nitself shows such obvious ignorance of conditions in Greenland, especially\nwith regard to the Eskimo, that there must be some doubt about the\ncomplaint on which it is based. To begin with, it is in itself unlikely\nthat the peaceful and unwarlike Eskimo, who can have had no practice in\nwarfare, since they had previously had no one to fight with, except\nwalruses and bears, should have come with a \"fleet\" and made an organised\nattack in large masses, and destroyed people and houses and churches in\nthe Eastern Settlement. Even if they might have been provoked to\nresistance or even revenge by ill-usage on the part of the Greenlanders,\nor perhaps have coveted their iron implements, it is an impossibility that\nthey should have organised themselves for a campaign. But it is added that\nthey carried off the inhabitants of both sexes to use them as slaves; for\nwhat work?--in sealing they were themselves superior, in preparing skins\nand food their women were superior; and other work they had none. To a\nGreenland Eskimo it would be an utterly absurd idea to feed unnecessary\nslaves, and it betrays itself as of wholly European origin. The statement\nthat after the incursion only nine parish churches were left also betrays\nignorance; as pointed out by Storm, there were never more than twelve,\neven in the flourishing period of the Settlement, and by about 1418 there\nwere certainly not nine in all. Furthermore, the letter is not addressed\nto the two bishops really officiating in Iceland, but to the two\nimpostors, the German Marcellus and his confederate Math\u00e6us, who by means\nof false representations had induced Pope Nicholas V. to consecrate them\nbishops of Iceland [cf. G. Storm, 1892, p. 399]. The probability is that\nthe two impostors themselves composed the complaint from Greenland which\nwas the cause of the papal letter, and which thus did not reach the Pope\nuntil thirty years after the alleged incursion; their object must have\nbeen to obtain further advantages. The papal document of 1448 must\ntherefore be entirely discarded as historical evidence so far as its\nstatements about Greenland are concerned.\n\n[Sidenote: Eskimo legends of fighting with Norsemen]\n\nConsequently the only possibly historical statement left to us, to prove\nthat the Eskimo took the offensive, is that of their \"harrying\" in 1379;\nbut from this we can doubtless only conclude that at the most there was a\ncollision between Eskimo and Greenlanders. It has also been adduced that\nthe Eskimo of Greenland have a few legends of fighting with the ancient\nNorsemen, and one which tells how the last of the Norsemen was slain. It\nmust, however, be remembered that these legends were taken down in the\nlast century, when the Eskimo had again been in contact with Europeans for\nseveral hundred years, and when Norwegians and Danes had been living in\nthe country for over a hundred years. Some of the legends certainly refer\nto recent collisions with Europeans, and it is not easy to say what value\ncan be attached to the others as evidence of an extermination of the last\nNorsemen. It is also to be remarked that the Norsemen, or Long-Beards, are\nnot spoken of with ill-will in these legends, but rather with sympathy,\nwhich is difficult to understand if there had been such hatred as would\naccount for a war of extermination. Add to this that the particular\nencounter which led to the last Long-Beard being pursued and slain arose,\naccording to the tale, quite accidentally, which is difficult to imagine\nif it was the conclusion of a lengthy war of extermination, in which\nhomestead after homestead and district after district had been harried and\nlaid waste. The legends of the Eskimo cannot therefore be cited as\nevidence of the probability of any such war.\n\n[Sidenote: Unwarlike disposition of the Eskimo]\n\nIt has been said that even if such warlike proceedings would be entirely\nincompatible with the present nature, disposition and way of thinking of\nthe Greenland Eskimo, it may formerly have been otherwise. But in any\ncase no long time can have elapsed between the alleged final overthrow of\nthe Eastern Settlement, perhaps about 1500, and the rediscovery of\nGreenland in the sixteenth century. It is not likely that the Eskimo\nshould have so completely changed their nature in the few intervening\nyears; those whom the discoverers then found seem, from the accounts, to\nhave strikingly resembled those we find later. And if one reads Hans\nEgede's description of the Eskimo among whom he lived and worked, it\nappears absolutely impossible that the same people two hundred years\nearlier should have waged a cruel war of extermination against the last of\nthe Norsemen.\n\nThere is, it is true, a possibility, as Dr. Bj\u00f6rnbo has pointed out to me,\nthat the mixture of race which gradually took place between Eskimo and\nNorsemen may for a time have produced a mixed type, which possessed a more\nquarrelsome disposition than the pure Eskimo, and may have inherited the\nnot very peaceful habits of the Norsemen, and that in this way, for\ninstance, a possible attack in 1379 may be explained. But this can only\nhave been the case at the beginning of the period of intermixture, and the\ntype must have changed again in proportion as the Eskimo element in race\nand culture became preponderant.[87]\n\n[Sidenote: No tradition of a war of extermination can be proved]\n\nThe allusion to the Pygmies of Greenland in the letter to Nicholas V.,\nquoted above (p. 86), gives us the Eskimo as we are accustomed to see\nthem; and the description of these small men, a cubit high, who fly in a\nbody at the sight of strangers, gives a surer and truer picture of the\nSkr\u00e6lings than when they are represented as warlike and dangerous\nbarbarians. The statements about the Pygmies in Claudius Clavus also\nenable us to see how the Norsemen sometimes treated the Eskimo, when they\ncaught them\n\n    \"at sea in a hide-boat, which now hangs in the cathedral at Trondhjem;\n    there is also a long boat of hides [i.e., a women's boat] which was\n    also once taken with such Pygmies in it.\"\n\nBut that these little Pygmies, a cubit high, were regarded as formidable\nwarriors, engaged in exterminating the Norsemen, is difficult to\nbelieve,[88] even though Michel Beheim attributes warlike qualities to\nthem (cf. p. 85). Walkendorf, who had so carefully collected all\ntraditions about Greenland, describes (circa 1520) the Skr\u00e6lings as an\n\"unwarlike\" and harmless people (see above, p. 86). It is impossible to\nreconcile this with a tradition of a war of extermination.\n\nThere are therefore good grounds for supposing that Arne Magnussen was\napproximately correct when he said in 1691 [Gr\u00f6nl. hist. Mind., iii. p.\n138]:\n\n    \"It is probable that owing to the daily increase of the ice and its\n    drifting down from the Pole, it thus befell Greenland, and the\n    Christian inhabitants either died of hunger or were constrained to\n    practise the same Vit\u00e6 genus as the savages, and thus degenerated into\n    their nature.\"\n\n[Sidenote: Last known voyage to the Eastern Settlement]\n\nIn the year 1406 the Icelanders Thorstein Helmingsson, Snorre Thorvason\nand Thorgrim Solvason, in one ship, were driven out of their course to\nGreenland. \"They sailed out from Norway, and were making for Iceland. They\nstayed there [in Greenland] four winters\" [cf. Islandske Annaler, ed.\nStorm, 1888, p. 288]. While they were there, in the following year [1407]\n\n    \"a man named Kolgrim was burnt in Greenland for that he lay with\n    Thorgrim Solvason's wife, who was the daughter of a 'lagmand' of high\n    standing in Iceland. This man got her consent by black art; he was\n    therefore burnt according to sentence; nor was the woman ever after\n    in her right mind, and died a little later.\"\n\nIn 1408 one of the Icelanders married in Greenland, which is of interest\nfrom the fact that several documents bearing witness to the marriage are\nextant. In 1410 \"Thorstein Helmingsson and Thorgrim Solvason and Snorre\nThorvason and the rest of their crew sailed to Norway.\" Whether this was\nin their own ship we do not know; but as they sailed to Norway and not to\nIceland it is doubtless most probable that their ship was destroyed and\nthat they had to wait these four years for a passage to Norway. In\n1411[89] a small vessel was wrecked on the coast of Iceland; on board her\ncame Snorre Thorvason from Norway. His wife, Gudrun, had during his\nabsence married another man in 1410. She \"now rode to meet him. He\nreceived her kindly.\" \"Snorre took his wife to him again, but they only\nlived a little while together before he died, and she then married Gisle\n[the other man] again.\"\n\nThis is the last certain information we have of any voyage to the ancient\nsettlements of Greenland. After that time all notices cease. As Holberg\nsays [Danm. Hist., i. 531], after the time of Queen Margaret the\nsucceeding kings had so much to do that they had no time to think of old\nGreenland.[90]\n\n[Sidenote: Trade with Norway's tributary countries]\n\nIn 1431 King Eric of Pomerania complained to the English king, Henry VI.,\nof the illegal trading which the English had carried on for the previous\ntwenty years (that is, since 1411) with \"Norway's Lands and Islands\":\nIceland, Greenland, the Faroes, Shetland, the Orkneys, Helgeland and\nFinmark; and of the acts of violence and piratical incursions, with fire\nand rapine, that they had committed in this period, by which they had\ncarried off many ships laden with fish and other goods, and many people\nhad perished.[91] As early as 1413 King Eric's ambassador to the English\nking, Henry V., had made a strong protest against all foreign and\nunprivileged trade with these countries. On Christmas Eve, 1432, a treaty\nwas signed between the two kings, whereby Henry VI. engaged himself to\nmake good all the damage the English had caused to King Eric's subjects in\nthe said countries, and all the people who during those twenty years had\nbeen violently carried off were, by the direction of the English king,\nwherever they might be found in his dominions, to receive payment for\ntheir services and to return freely to their native places. Further, the\nold prohibition of trading with the Norwegian tributary lands was renewed.\nThe same prohibition was renewed and enforced on the English side by Henry\nVI. in 1444, and by a new treaty between him and Christiern I., concluded\nat Copenhagen, July 17, 1449; but this was only to remain in force till\nMichaelmas 1451. After that time the English merchants, some of whom no\ndoubt were Norwegians established at Bristol, seem to have seized upon\nnearly the whole of the trade with Iceland, and often conducted themselves\nwith violence there. But in 1490 this trade was made free on certain\nconditions.\n\nThese negotiations give us an insight into the state of things in Northern\nwaters at that time. At the same time there were difficulties with the\nHanseatic League, which tried to seize upon all trade.\n\nAmong these so-called Norwegian tributary countries was Greenland, which\nis mentioned with the others in the complaint of 1431; but whether this\nmeans that the English extended their trading voyages, which frequently\nbecame piratical expeditions, so far, we do not know; in any case it is\nnot impossible, although of course the voyage to Iceland with its rich\nfisheries was much more important. We know that this was carried on from\nBristol in particular, where, as has been said, many Norwegians were\nestablished.\n\n[Sidenote: Possibility of voyages to Greenland in the 15th century (?)]\n\nThe statements about Greenland contained in the papal letter of 1448 were,\nas we have seen, false. Perhaps not very much more weight is to be\nattached to the story, in Peyrere's \"Relation du Gro\u00ebnland\" (Paris, 1647),\nof Oluf Worm of Copenhagen having found in an old Danish MS. a statement\nthat about 1484 there were more than forty experienced men living at\nBergen, who were in the habit of sailing to Greenland every year and\nbringing home valuable goods; but as they would not sell their wares to\nthe Hanse merchants, the latter revenged themselves by inviting them to a\nsupper and killing them all at night. This then was said to be the end of\nthe Greenland voyage, which had to cease thenceforward, because no one\nknew the course any more [cf. Gr\u00f6nl hist. Mind., iii. pp. 471, f.]. The\nstory as given here is in many respects improbable; but even if the forty\nor more men and the annual voyage are exaggerations, there are other\nindications that about that time there may have been some sort of\ncommunication with Greenland or the countries to the west of it, as will\nbe mentioned later. The royal monopoly of the Iceland trade was no longer\nin force, and the same may have applied to Greenland. It is then\nconceivable that merchants may have gone there; and if their trading\nprospered they had every reason to keep it as secret as possible, lest\nothers should interfere with their livelihood. This would explain why such\nvoyages are not mentioned by historical authorities. Just then, too, was\nan uneasy time, with a sort of war of privateers between England and\nDenmark-Norway, which was not concluded until the provisional peace of\n1490; there were thus many pirates and privateers in Northern waters, who\nmay well have extended their activity upon occasion to the remote and\nunprotected Greenland, where they could plunder with even greater\nimpunity than in Iceland, and perhaps they increased the ruin of the\nsettlements there.\n\n[Sidenote: Papal letter on Greenland, 1492]\n\nOf great interest is a letter from Pope Alexander VI.[92] of the first\nyear of his papacy, 1492-1493, which was written in consequence of a\nBenedictine monk named Mathias having applied to the Pope to be appointed\nbishop of Greenland, and declared himself willing to go there personally\nas a missionary to convert the apostates. The letter runs:\n\n    \"As we are informed, the church at Gade [i.e., Gardar] lies at the\n    world's end in the land of Greenland, where the people, for want of\n    bread, wine and oil, live on dried fish and milk; and therefore, as\n    well as by reason of the extreme rarity of the voyages that have taken\n    place to the said land, for which the severe freezing of the waters is\n    alleged as the cause, it is believed that for eighty years no ship has\n    landed there; and if such voyages should take place, it is thought\n    that in any case it could only be in the month of August, when the\n    same ice is dissolved; and for this reason it is said that for eighty\n    years or thereabouts no bishop or priest has resided at that church.\n    Therefore, and because there are no Catholic priests, it has befallen\n    that most of the parishioners, who formerly were Catholics, have (oh,\n    how sorrowful!) renounced the holy sacrament of baptism received from\n    them; and that the inhabitants of that land have nothing else to\n    remind them of the Christian religion than a corporale [altar-cloth]\n    which is exhibited once a year, and whereon the body of Christ was\n    consecrated a hundred years ago by the last priest who was there.\" For\n    this reason, \"to provide them with a fitting shepherd,\" Pope\n    Alexander's predecessor, Innocent VIII., had appointed the Benedictine\n    monk Mathias bishop of Gade [Gardar], and he \"with much godly zeal\n    made ready to bring the minds of the infidels and apostates back to\n    the way of eternal salvation and to root out such errors,\" etc. Then\n    follow exhortations to the Curia, the chancellors, and all the\n    religious scriveners under pain of excommunication to let the said\n    Mathias, on account of his poverty, escape all expenses and\n    perquisites connected with the appointment and correspondence, etc.\n\nThe statements in the letter agree remarkably well with what we gather\nfrom other historical sources. In 1410--that is, eighty-two years before\nthe date of the letter--the last ship of which we have any notice arrived\nin Norway from Greenland (see above, p. 118). This agrees with the\nstatement in the letter that no ship had been there for eighty years. In\n1377 the last officiating bishop of Gardar died, and six years later the\nnews reached Norway, that is, 109 years before the date of the letter.\nThis agrees with what is said about the altar-cloth being used a hundred\nyears before by the last priest (\"ultimo sacerdote,\" perhaps meaning here\nbishop ?) at the administration of the sacrament. The assertion that it\nwas not until August that Greenland became free of ice and that voyages\ncould be made thither also shows a certain local knowledge; for it was not\ntill late in the summer, usually August, that \"Knarren\" was accustomed to\nsail from Bergen to Greenland.\n\n[Illustration: A portion of Gourmont's map of 1548, with the north-west\ncoast of Iceland and the rocky island of Hvitserk]\n\nWhether news had recently arrived from Greenland at the time the letter\nwas written does not appear from the words of the letter, and cannot, in\nmy opinion, be inferred therefrom, though Storm [1892, p. 401] thought it\ncould. The only thing which might point to this is the story of the\naltar-cloth being exhibited once a year; but this, of course, may be a\ntradition which goes back to the last ship, eighty years before.\n\n[Sidenote: Pining's possible voyages to Greenland]\n\nMeanwhile we meet with obscure information in other quarters about a\npossible communication with Greenland at that time. In a map of Iceland,\nprinted in Paris in 1548 by Hieronymus Gourmont,[93] a rocky island is\nmarked to the north-west of Iceland, with a compass-card and a Latin\ninscription. This, as A. A. Bj\u00f6rnbo has pointed out,[94] is of interest;\nit reads in translation:\n\n    \"The lofty mountain called Witsarc, on the summit of which a sea-mark\n    was set up by the two pirates (piratis), Pinnigt and Pothorst, to warn\n    seamen against Greenland.\"\n\n[Illustration: The rock Hvitserk, and a fight with a Greenland Pygmy\n(Olaus Magnus, 1557)]\n\nThe map is a modified copy of Olaus Magnus's well-known large chart of\n1539, on which the island with the compass-card is found, but not the\ninscription.\n\nIt is possibly a fuller version or adaptation of the substance of this\ninscription, or of the source from which it is taken, that is met with\nagain in Olaus Magnus's work on the Northern peoples, of 1555, where he\nsays of \"the lofty mountain 'Huitsark,' which lies in the middle of the\nsea between Iceland and Greenland\":\n\n    \"Upon it lived about the year of Our Lord 1494 two notorious pirates\n    (pirat\u00e6), Pining and Pothorst, with their accomplices, as though in\n    defiance and contempt of all kingdoms and their forces, since, by the\n    strict orders of the Northern kings, they had been excluded from all\n    human society and declared outlaws for their exceedingly violent\n    robberies and many cruel deeds against all sailors they could lay\n    hands on, whether near or far.\"... \"Upon the top of this very high\n    rock the said Pining and Pothorst have constructed a compass out of a\n    considerable circular space, with rings and lines formed of lead;\n    thereby it was made more convenient for them, when they were bent on\n    piracy, as they thus were informed in what direction they ought to put\n    to sea to seek considerable plunder.\"\n\nIt may be the expression \"pirat\u00e6,\" which might be used both of an ordinary\npirate and of a privateer or freebooter, which misled Olaus Magnus into\nconstructing this wonderful story. The mere fact that, both in his map of\n1539 and in his work of 1555, he makes Hvitserk, which of course was in\nGreenland, into a rocky island out at sea between Greenland and Iceland,\nwhere no island is to be found, is enough to shake one's belief in the\ntrustworthiness of this strange report. His incomprehensible story of the\ncompass constructed there does not make things any better. G. Storm [1886,\np. 395] thought it might have come about in this way: that Olaus Magnus,\nwho was no great sailor or geographer, read on a chart a note about\nPining's voyage to Greenland, and saw in its proximity the name Hvitserk\nand a compass-card in the middle of the sea; and then, without\nunderstanding its real meaning, he made it an island and gave it his own\nexplanation. Bj\u00f6rnbo and Petersen [1909, pp. 250, 251] have, it is true,\npointed out that something of the same sort is told of the North Cape by\nSivert Grubbe, who accompanied Christian IV. on his voyage to Finmark, and\nwho writes in his journal (in Latin) on May 12, 1599: \"We sailed past the\nNorth Cape. On the top of this mountain is a compass cut into the rock.\"\nBut as they \"sailed past,\" Grubbe cannot have been up and seen this\ncompass; it may therefore be supposed that a similar error is at the base\nof this improbable statement; it is difficult to see what value for\nmariners such a compass could have. But notwithstanding Olaus Magnus's\nfantastic story, Pining and Pothorst may really have been in Greenland.\nThe former must be the Norwegian nobleman Didrik Pining, who together with\nPothorst (\"Pytchehorsius\") is said to have distinguished himself during\nthe later years of Christiern I., \"not less as capable seamen than as\nmatchless freebooters\" (pirat\u00e6). He was much employed by Christiern I. and\nKing Hans against the English and sometimes against the Hanseatic League,\nand is mentioned by several historical authorities.[95] He seems also to\nhave extended his activity upon occasion to the Spaniards, Portuguese and\nDutch, for about 1484 he captured, off the English coast or off Brittany\nand in the Spanish Sea, three Spanish or Portuguese ships, and brought\nthem to the king at Copenhagen. In a treaty which was concluded in 1490\nbetween King Hans and the Dutch it is expressly stipulated that Didrik\nPinning and a certain Busch were to be excluded from the peace. Didrik\nPining is spoken of as lord over Iceland, or perhaps over the eastern and\nsouthern part, in 1478; but on the death of Christiern I. in 1481, another\nwas appointed as \"hirdstjore\" (or stadtholder), and it is stated in the\nletter of appointment, issued by the council at Bergen in 1481, that\nPining had \"gone out of Iceland\"; but a few years later he is again\nmentioned as hirdstjore there. When in 1487 King Hans took possession of\nGotland, Pining accompanied him thither, doubtless as commander of the\nDanish-Norwegian squadron; he is called \"Skipper Pining,\" which\ncorresponds to commodore or admiral in our time (cf. Christiern I.'s\n\"Skipper Clemens\"). In July 1489 Didrik Pining was among the Norwegian\nnoblemen who paid homage at Copenhagen to the king's son, Christiern\n(II.) as heir to the kingdom of Norway; and in August and September 1490\nhe took part in the settlement of a suit concerning a large inheritance at\nBergen; but in two Icelandic laws or edicts of that time, 1489 and 1490,\nthe so-called \"Pining's Laws,\" he is described as \"'hirdstjore' over the\nwhole of Iceland,\" and a later chronicler speaks of him as one of the most\nfamous men in Iceland, and he says that \"he was in many ways a serviceable\nman and put many things right that were wrong.\" It must be the same Didrik\nPining who was appointed in 1490 governor of Vard\u00f6hus, and it may be\nsupposed that he was commander-in-chief on sea and land in northern\nwaters.\n\nWe hear of Pining, and his associate Pothorst, in an old (Icelandic ?)\nreport which, together with Ivar B\u00e1rdsson's description of Greenland, was\nfound in an old book of accounts in the Faroes, and which in an English\ntranslation was included in \"Purchas his Pilgrimes\" (London, 1625, vol.\niii.), where we read:\n\n    \"Item, Punnus [corruption of Pinning] and Potharse, have inhabited\n    Island certayne yeeres, and sometimes have gone to Sea, and have had\n    their trade in Groneland. Also Punnus did give the Islanders their\n    Lawes, and caused them to bee written. Which Lawes doe continue to\n    this day in Island, and are called by name Punnus Lawes.\"\n\n[Sidenote: A new document on Pining]\n\nAs this last statement agrees with the two \"Pining's Laws\" mentioned\nabove, there may also be some truth in the voyages to Greenland. An\nunexpected confirmation of this recently came to light in the discovery of\na document by Louis Bob\u00e9 [1909] at Copenhagen; it is a letter, dated March\n3, 1551, from Burgomaster Carsten Grip, of Kiel, to King Christiern III.\nGrip was, as we are told in the letter, the king's commissioner for the\npurchase of books, paintings, and the like. He tells the king that he has\nnot found any valuable books or suitable pictures, but sends him two maps\nof the world,\n\n    \"from which your majesty may see that your majesty's land of\n    Greenland extends on both maps towards the new world and the islands\n    which the Portuguese and Spaniards have discovered, so that these\n    countries may be reached overland from Greenland. Likewise that they\n    may be reached overland from Lampeland [i.e., Lapland], from the\n    castle of Vard\u00f6hus, etc.[96] This year there is also published at\n    Paris in France a map of your majesty's land of Iceland and of the\n    wonders there to be seen and heard of; it is there remarked that\n    Iceland is twice as large as Sicily, and that the two skippers\n    ['sceppere,' i.e., commodores or admirals] Pyningk and Poidthorsth,\n    who were sent out by your majesty's royal grandfather, King Christiern\n    the First, at the request of his majesty of Portugal, with certain\n    ships to explore new countries and islands in the north, have raised\n    on the rock Wydthszerck [Hvitserk], lying off Greenland and towards\n    Sniefeldsiekel in Iceland on the sea, a great sea-mark on account of\n    the Greenland pirates, who with many small ships without keels\n    ('szunder bodem') fall in large numbers upon other ships,\" etc.\n\nIt seems, as Dr. Bj\u00f6rnbo has suggested,[97] that the Paris map here spoken\nof may be Gourmont's of 1548, mentioned above. But Grip's letter contains\ninformation about the despatch of the expedition and about the Eskimo\nkayaks, which cannot be taken from the inscription attached to Hvitserk on\nthat map. The statement about the Eskimo (the Greenland pirates) recalls\nwhat Ziegler says in his work \"Scondia\" (1532) of the inhabitants of\nGreenland, that \"they use light boats of hide, safe in tossing on the sea\nand among rocks; and thus propelling themselves they fall upon other\nships\" [Gr\u00f6nl. hist. Mind., iii. p. 499]. It also has some resemblance to\nwhat Olaus Magnus says in his later work of 1555 of the Greenland\n\"pirates, who employ hide-boats and an unfair mode of seamanship, since\nthey do not attack the upper parts of merchant ships, but seek to destroy\nthem by boring through the hull from outside, down by the keel,\" etc.\nThese statements may be derived from mythical accounts of the Greenland\nEskimo, which have come down by some channel we do not know of. Something\nof the sort may have appeared on some now lost map, from which Grip may\nhave taken it; but his statement as to the two skippers having been sent\nout by Christiern I. shows that in any case there was in his day a\ntradition of the voyage of Pining and Pothorst. We must therefore assume\nthat they were despatched on a voyage of discovery by Christiern I. (some\ntime before 1481, when he died), probably at the request of the well-known\nKing Alfonso V. of Portugal (1438-1481). As Hvitserk must be on the coast\nof Greenland, they seem, in agreement with the other sober statement in\nPurchas, to have really reached Greenland, perhaps more than once, and to\nhave traded by barter with the natives, which may have ended, as it\nfrequently did later, in skirmishes brought about by the encroachments of\nthe Europeans. This last possibility would explain Grip's statement about\nthe Greenland pirates attacking in many small ships without keels, as also\nthe mythical statements of Ziegler and Olaus Magnus. Nor is it impossible\nthat Pining may have set up some sea-mark or other there. All this sounds\nmore probable than Olaus Magnus's wonderful story. But nevertheless it\ndoes not appear to me that the authorities now known justify us in\naltogether rejecting the latter and the date 1494. As there is mention in\n1491 of a new \"hirdstjore\" in Iceland, we must suppose that Pining was\neither dead or had left the island; if we compare with this the fact that\nPining was excluded from the peace that King Hans concluded in 1490 with\nthe Dutch, and thus in a way became an outlaw to the latter, and that in\nthe same year a provisional peace was made with the king of England, by\nwhich, of course, all privateering against English subjects on the part of\nNorwegians and Danes was strictly forbidden, we may possibly perceive a\nconnection. Pining and Pothorst were not able to break themselves of old\nhabits, and thus had both the English king and their own, besides the\nDutchmen, against them, and were compelled to fly the country as outlaws.\nThis would also agree with Olaus Magnus's words, that they were outlawed\nby the strict edict of the northern kings (\"aquilonarium regum severissimo\nedicto\"). It may be supposed that, like the outlawed Eric the Red 500\nyears before, they took refuge in distant Greenland, which they already\nknew. But finally they may have come to grief; for among the many\n\"pirates\" who \"met with a miserable death, being either slain by their\nfriends or hanged on the gallows or drowned in the waves of the sea,\"\nPaulus Eli\u00e6 mentions \"Pyning\" and \"Pwthorss.\"[98]\n\n[Sidenote: Johannes Scolvus's voyage to Greenland]\n\nWe have yet to mention certain obscure statements about another Northern\nsailor of this time, Johannes Scolvus (J\u00f3n Skolv ?).[99] The Spanish\nauthor Francesco Lopez de Gomara, who was a priest in Seville about 1550,\nand published his \"Historia de las Indias\" (i.e., America) in 1553, says\nthere of \"la Tierra de Labrador\":\n\n    \"Hither also came men from Norway with the pilot ['piloto,' i.e.,\n    navigator] Joan Scoluo, and Englishmen with Sebastian Gaboto.\"\n\nAs, according to Storm's showing [1886, p. 392], Gomara met Olaus Magnus\n\"in Bologna and Venice\" (perhaps about 1548), and says himself that the\nlatter had given him much information about Northern waters and the\nsea-route from Norway, the statement about Scolvus may also be due to him.\n\nAn English State document--probably of 1575, and written on the occasion\nof the preparations for Frobisher's first voyage (1576)--gives a brief\nsurvey of earlier attempts to find the North-West Passage,[100] and\nmentions among others Scolvus. This the historians who have written about\nhim have not noticed. After stating that Sebastian [should be John]\nCabotte was sent out by King Henry VII. of England in 1496 [should be\n1497] to find the passage from the North Sea [i.e., the Atlantic Ocean] to\nthe South Sea [i.e., the Pacific], and that \"one Gaspar Cortesreales, a\npilot of Portingale,\" had visited these islands on the north coast of\nNorth America in 1500, the document continues:\n\n    \"But to find oute the passage oute of the North Sea into the Southe we\n    must sayle to the 60 degree, that is, from 66 unto 68. And this\n    passage is called the Narowe Sea or Streicte of the three Brethren\n    [i.e., the three brothers Corte-Real]; in which passage, at no tyme in\n    the yere, is ise wonte to be found. The cause is the swifte ronnyng\n    downe of sea into sea. In the north side of this passage, John Scolus,\n    a pilot of Denmerke, was in anno 1476.\"\n\nThen follows a story of a Spaniard who in 1541 is said to have been on the\nsouth side of this passage with a troop of soldiers, and to have found\nthere some ships that had come thither with goods from Cataya (China).\nComplete impossibilities, like this last story, are thus blended together\nwith statements that have a sure historical foundation, like the voyage of\nGaspar Corte-Real. As the statement about Scolus or Scolvus contains\nthings that are not found in Gomara, it seems to be derived from another\nsource; the date in particular is remarkable. That Scolus is a pilot from\nDenmark, while the pilot Scolvus in Gomara came from Norway, is perhaps\nimmaterial, as of course Norway and Denmark were under a common king, who\nresided in Denmark.\n\nOn an English map of 1582 (after Frobisher's voyages), which is attributed\nto Michael Lok, there is a country to the north-west of Greenland, upon\nwhich is written: \"Jac. Scolvus Groetland.\" As the name is here written\nJac. Scolvus, it is not likely that it can be derived from the document we\nhave quoted of 1575. The corresponding country on Mercator's map of 1569\nis inscribed: \"Groclant, insula cuius incole Suedi sunt origine\" (island\nwhose inhabitants are Swedes by descent). It may seem as if this\ninscription also was connected with Scolvus, and we thus get the third\nScandinavian country as his native land; but this word \"Suedi\" may be\nderived from Olaus Magnus, who happens to have often used it in the sense\nof Scandinavians--i.e., Swedes and Norwegians.\n\nIn 1597 the Dutchman Cornelius Wytfliet in his description of America\n(\"Continens Indica\") states that its northern part was first discovered by\n\"Frislandish\" fishermen [i.e., from the imaginary Frisland of the Zeno\nmap], and subsequently further explored about 1390 during the voyage of\nthe brothers Zeno (which is fictitious).\n\n    \"But [he continues] the honour of its second discovery fell to the\n    Pole Johannes Scoluus (Johannes Scoluus Polonus), who in the year\n    1476--eighty-six years after its first discovery--sailed beyond\n    Norway, Greenland, Frisland, penetrated the Northern Strait, under the\n    very Arctic Circle, and arrived at the country of Labrador and\n    Estotiland.\"\n\nEstotiland is another fictitious country on the notorious Zeno map (a\nfabrication from several earlier maps). Apart from this introduction of\nthe Zeno voyage the statement contains nothing that has not already\nappeared in Gomara and in the English document of 1575, with the exception\nthat Scolvus is called a Pole (Polonus), but this, as pointed out by Storm\n[1886, p. 399], must be due to a misreading of \"Polonus\" for\n\"piloto.\"[101] As Norway is named first among the countries beyond which\nthe voyage extended, it may have started from thence in Wytfliet's\nauthority.[102]\n\nOn the L'Ecuy globe, of the sixteenth century, there is written in Latin\nbetween 70\u00b0 and 80\u00b0 N. lat. and in long. 320\u00b0:[103] \"These are the people\nto whom the Dane Johannes Scovvus penetrated in the year 1476.\" The\ndescription of Scolvus as a Dane may indicate the same source as the\nEnglish mention of him in 1576.[104]\n\nFinally it may be mentioned that Georg Horn in his work \"Ulysses\nperegrinans\" (Louvain, 1671), after speaking of voyages of the Icelanders\n(Thylenses) to \"Frisland or Finmark\" (sic!), to Iceland, Greenland,\nScotland, and Gotland under \"auspiciis Margaret\u00e6 Semiramis Dan., Sued.,\nNorv.,\" and then of the voyages of the Zenos in the year 1390, says:\n\n    \"Joh. Scolnus Polonus discovered under the auspices of Christian I.,\n    King of the Danes, the Anian-strait and the country Laboratoris in the\n    year 1476.\"\n\nThe Anian-strait was the mythical strait between Asia and north-western\nAmerica, which was talked about and which appeared upon maps more than a\nhundred years before Bering Strait was discovered by the Russian Deshenev\nin 1648. But the name may sometimes have been extended to the whole of the\nstrait, called above, p. 130, the Strait of the Three Brethren, which was\nassumed to go north of America to the Pacific. What is new in Horn's\nstatement is that the voyage is said to have been made under the auspices\nof Christiern I.; it may be supposed that he knew enough of the history of\nDenmark to draw this conclusion from the date 1476.\n\nThis is what is known from old sources about this Scolvus and his voyage.\nIt must be remembered that the name of Labrador (in various forms) was\nused on the maps of the sixteenth century both for Greenland and Labrador,\nand was originally the name of the former. It is therefore most probable\nthat the statements about Scolvus's voyage referred in the first instance\nto Greenland, which in the first part of the sixteenth century was known\nas Labrador.\n\n[Sidenote: Pining, Pothorst and Scolvus on the same voyage]\n\nTo sum up what has been said above, we have, on the one hand, statements,\nfrom wholly different sources, of one or more voyages to Greenland under\nthe leadership of Pining and Pothorst, in the time of Christiern I.--i.e.,\nbefore 1481; on the other hand, we have statements, probably from several,\nbut at least from two sources independent of each other, about a voyage,\nalso to Greenland, with the pilot Johannes Scolvus, from Denmark or more\nprobably from Norway, in the time of Christiern I., and this is even\nreferred to a particular year, 1476. One is therefore led to conclude, as\nG. Storm has already done, that we are here concerned with the same voyage\nor voyages to Greenland, which were made under the leadership of the two\n\"skippers\" and freebooters Pining and Pothorst, with Johannes Scolvus (J\u00f3n\nSkolvsson ?) as pilot or navigator. In some authorities of Scandinavian\norigin the voyage was connected with the names of the real leaders, while\nin Southern authorities it was connected with that of the pilot or\nnavigator, in the same way as, for instance, the name of William Barentsz\nwas associated with the voyages in which he took part, instead of those of\nHemkerck and the other leaders. There seem thus to be sufficiently good\nhistorical documents in support of at least one expedition having reached\nGreenland in the latter part of the sixteenth century, possibly sent out\nby Christiern I. in 1476, and perhaps there were more. Possibly it was\nrumours of this new communication with Greenland that awoke a desire in\nthe monk Mathias to go there as bishop.\n\nBut then we hear no more of it. For a while longer bishops continued to be\nappointed to Greenland, a land which was no longer known to any one, and\nto these bishops least of all. Thus ends the history of the old Greenland\nsettlements. Notices of them become rarer and rarer, with long\nintermissions, until after this time they cease altogether, and we know no\nmore of the fate of the old Norsemen there.\n\n  \"The standing-stone on the mound bears no mark,\n        and Saga has forgotten what she knew.\"\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nCHAPTER XII\n\nEXPEDITIONS OF THE NORWEGIANS TO THE WHITE SEA, VOYAGES IN THE POLAR SEA,\nWHALING AND SEALING\n\n\nEXPEDITIONS TO THE WHITE SEA\n\n[Sidenote: Expeditions to the White Sea]\n\nEven if Ottar was perhaps not the first Norwegian to reach the White Sea,\nhis voyage is in any case a remarkable exploring expedition, whereby both\nthe North Cape and the White Sea became known, even in the literature of\nEurope, nearly seven hundred years before Richard Chancellor reached the\nDvina in the ship \"Edward Buonaventura\" in 1553, from which time the\ndiscovery of this sea has usually been reckoned.\n\nIn Ottar's time, or soon after, the Norwegian king asserted his\nsovereignty over all the Lapps as far as the White Sea, and in the\nHistoria Norwegi\u00e6 it is said that H\u00e1logaland reached to Bjarmeland. The\nheadland Vegistafr is mentioned in the Historia Norwegi\u00e6, in the laws, and\nelsewhere, as the boundary of the kingdom of Norway towards the Bjarmas\n(Beormas). This may have been on the south side of the Kola peninsula by\nthe river Varzuga, already mentioned, or by the river Umba (see the map,\nvol. i. p. 170).[105] After Ottar's time the Norwegians more frequently\nundertook expeditions, doubtless for the most part of a military\ncharacter, to the White Sea and Bjarmeland. We hear about several of them\nin the sagas.\n\n[Sidenote: Harold Gr\u00e5feld's expedition to the Dvina]\n\nEric Blood-Axe marched northward, about 920, into Finmark and as far as\nBjarmeland, and there fought a great battle and gained the victory. His\nson, Harold Gr\u00e5feld, went northward to Bjarmeland one summer about 965\nwith his army, and there ravaged the country and had a great fight with\nthe Bjarmas on \"Vinu bakka\" [i.e., the river bank of the Dvina (Vina)], in\nwhich King Harold was victorious and slew many men; and then laid the\ncountry waste far and wide, and took a vast amount of plunder. Of this\nGlumr Geirason speaks:\n\n  \"Eastward the bold-spoken king\n  intrepidly stained his sword red,\n  north of the burning town;\n  there I saw the Bjarmas run.\n  For the master of the body-guard good spear-weather\n  was given on this journey,\n  on Vina's bank; the fame\n  of a young noble travelled far.\"\n\n[Sidenote: Trollebotten]\n\nAt that time, then, the Norwegians must have reached the Dvina and\ndiscovered the east side of the White Sea, which was still unknown to\nOttar. They had thus proved it to be a gulf of the sea. The Bjarmas\nprobably lived along the whole of its south side as far as the Dvina, and\nthe name of \"Bjarmeland\" was now extended to the east side also, and thus\nbecame the designation of the country round the White Sea. As a people of\nstrange race of whom they knew little, the Norwegians regarded the Lapps\nas skilled in magic; but it was natural that the still less known and more\ndistant Bjarmas gradually acquired an even greater reputation for magic,\nand in these regions stories of trolls and giants were located. The Polar\nSea was early called \"Hafsbotn,\" later \"Trollebotten,\" and the White Sea\nwas given the name of \"Gandvik,\" to which a similar meaning is attributed,\nsince it is supposed to be connected with \"gand\" (the magic of the Lapps);\nbut the name evidently originated in a popular-etymological corruption of\na Karelian name, Kan\u00f0anlaksi, as already shown (vol. i. pp. 218, f.,\nnote).\n\n[Sidenote: Thore Hund's expedition to Bjarmeland]\n\nSnorre Sturlason (ob. 1241) included in the Saga of St. Olaf a legend from\nNordland about an expedition to Bjarmeland, supposed to have been\nundertaken in 1026 by Thore Hund, in company with Karle and his brother\nGunnstein from H\u00e1logaland, men of the king's bodyguard. The tale may be an\nindication that at that time more peaceful relations had been established\nbetween the Nordlanders and the Bjarmas. They went in two vessels, Thore\nin a great longship with eighty men, and the brothers in a smaller\nlongship with about five-and-twenty. When they came to Bjarmeland, they\nput in at the market-town;[106] the market began, and all those who had\nwares to exchange received full value. Thore got a great quantity of\nskins, squirrel, beaver and sable. Karle also had many wares with him, for\nwhich he bought large quantities of furs. But when the market was\nconcluded there, they came down the river Vina; and then they declared the\ntruce with the people of the country at an end. When they were out of the\nriver, they held a council of war, and Thore proposed that they should\nplunder a sanctuary of the Bjarmas' god Jomale,[107] with grave mounds,\nwhich he knew to be in a wood in that part of the country.[108] They did\nso by night, found much silver and gold, and when the Bjarmas pursued\nthem, they escaped through Thore's magical arts, which made them\ninvisible. Both ships then sailed back over Gandvik. As the nights were\nstill light they sailed day and night until one evening they lay to off\nsome islands, took their sails down and anchored to wait for the tide to\ngo down, since there was a strong tide-rip (whirlpool) in front of them\n(\"r\u01ebst mikil var fyrir \u00feeir\"). This was probably off \"Sviatoi Nos\" (the\nsacred promontory), where Russian authorities speak of a strong current\nand whirlpool. Here there was a dispute between the brothers and Thore,\nwho demanded the booty as a recompense for their having escaped without\nloss of life owing to his magical arts. But when the tide turned, the\nbrothers hoisted sail and went on, and Thore followed. When they came to\nland at \"Geirsver\" (Gjesv\u00e6r, a fishing station on the north-west side of\nMager\u00f6)--where we are told that there was \"the first quay as one sails\nfrom the north\" (i.e., east from Bjarmeland)--the quarrel began again, and\nThore suddenly ran his spear through Karle, so that he died on the spot;\nGunnstein escaped with difficulty in the smaller and lighter vessel; but\nwas pursued by Thore, and finally had to land and take to flight with all\nhis men at Lenvik, near Malangen fjord, leaving his ship and cargo.\n\n[Sidenote: Expedition to Bjarmeland, 1217]\n\nEven if this expedition is not historical, the description of the voyage\nand the mention of place-names along the route nevertheless show that\nthese regions were well known to Snorre's informants; and journeys between\nNorway and Bjarmeland cannot have been uncommon in Snorre's time or before\nit. Many things show that the communication with Gandvik and Bjarmeland\ncontinued through the whole of the Middle Ages, and was sometimes of a\npeaceful, sometimes of a warlike character; but of the later voyages only\nthree are, in fact, mentioned in Norwegian authorities: one of them was\nundertaken by the king's son H\u00e5kon Magnusson about 1090; of this\nexpedition little is known. In H\u00e5kon H\u00e5konsson's time we have an\naccount[109] of another expedition to Bjarmeland in the year 1217, in\nwhich took part \u01eagmund of Sp\u00e5nheim from Hardanger, Svein Sigurdsson from\nSogn, Andres of Sjom\u00e6ling from Nordm\u00f6r, all on one ship, and Helge\nBograngsson and his men from H\u00e1logaland, on another. Svein and Andres\nwent home with their ship the same autumn; but \u01eagmund proceeded southward\nthrough Russia to the Suzdal kingdom in East Russia, on a tributary of the\nVolga. Helge Bograngsson and his Nordlanders stayed the winter in\nBjarmeland; but he came in conflict with the Bjarmas and was killed. After\nthis \u01eagmund did not venture to return that way, but went on through Russia\nto the sea (i.e., the Black Sea) and thence to the Holy Land. He came\nsafely home to Norway after many years.\n\n[Illustration: Bjarmas and Skridfinns fighting on ski and riding reindeer\n(after Olaus Magnus, 1555)]\n\n[Sidenote: Expedition to Bjarmeland, 1222]\n\nWhen the rumour of what had happened to Helge and his men reached home, a\npunitive expedition was decided on. The king's officers in Nordland,\nAndres Skjaldarbrand and Ivar Utvik, placed themselves at the head of it;\nand they came to Bjarmeland with four ships in the year 1222, and\naccomplished their purpose; \"they wrought great havoc in plunder and\nslaughter and obtained much booty in furs and burnt silver.\" But on the\nhomeward voyage Ivar's ship was lost in the whirlpool at \"Straumneskinn,\"\nand only Ivar and one other escaped. \"Straumneskinn\" is probably Sviatoi\nNos (see p. 138).\n\n[Sidenote: Warlike and peaceful relations with the White Sea in the\ntwelfth century and later]\n\nThis is the last Norwegian expedition to Bjarmeland of which Norwegian\naccounts are known; but that the White Sea traffic continued, though it\nwas never very active, may be concluded from other sources. The name of\nthe Bjarmas themselves disappears after the middle of the thirteenth\ncentury, when it is related that a number of Bjarmas fled before the\n\"Mongols\" and received permission from King H\u00e5kon to live in Malangen\nfjord. After that time in the districts near the Dvina we only hear of\nKarelians and their masters the Russians of Novgorod.\n\nThat there was considerable navigation, probably combined with piratical\nincursions, between the north of Norway and the countries to the east, may\nalso appear from a provision of the older Gulathings Law, where in cap.\n315, in a codex of 1200-1250, we find:\n\n    \"The inhabitants of H\u00e1logaland are to fit out thirteen twenty-seated\n    and one thirty-seated ship in the southern half, but six in the\n    northern half; since they [i.e., the inhabitants of the northern half]\n    have to keep guard on the east.\"\n\nThis keeping guard might, it is true, refer to Kv\u00e6ns in Finmark, but it\nseems rather to point to ships coming from the east. In the negotiations\nof 1251, between the Grand Duke of Novgorod (Alexander Nevsky) and H\u00e5kon\nH\u00e5konsson, there is express mention of disturbances from the east in\nFinmark, and after that time we hear more frequently of hostile incursions\nof Karelians and Russians in Finmark; they may have come by land, but\noccasionally also by sea.\n\n[Illustration: On snow-shoes through the border-lands of Norway (Olaus\nMagnus, 1555)]\n\nA treaty of 1326 between Norway and Novgorod shows that Norwegian\nmerchants traded with the people of Novgorod on the White Sea. The\nerection of the fortress of Vard\u00f6hus, as early as 1307, also shows the\nimportance attached to these eastern communications, and the fortress\ncertainly afforded them a fixed point of support. Thus about 1550 we see\nthat \"Vard\u00f6hus weight\" (mark and pound) had penetrated into northern\nRussia and was generally used in the North Russian fish and oil trade. The\nNorwegians chiefly bought furs in Bjarmeland, but what they exported\nthither is not mentioned in the Norwegian notices; it may even at that\ntime have been to some extent fish, which in later times was the most\nimportant article of export to North Russia from the north of Norway.\n\nAs G. Storm [1894, p. 100] has pointed out, the Russian chronicles tell of\nmany hostile expeditions by sea between Norway and the White Sea in the\nfifteenth century. In 1412 the inhabitants of \"Savolotchie\" (the countries\non the Dvina) made a campaign against the Norwegians. A complaint from\nNorway of 1420 shows that the attack was directed against northern\nH\u00e1logaland, without informing us whether it was made by land or by sea.\nSome years later, in 1419, the Norwegians made a campaign of reprisal and\ncame\n\n    \"with an army of 500 men in trading-vessels and sloops and ravaged the\n    Karelian district about the Varzuga [on the Kola peninsula on the\n    north side of the White Sea] and many parishes in Savolotchie [on the\n    Dvina], amongst others St. Nikolai [at the mouth of the Dvina], Kig\u00f6\n    and Kiar\u00f6 [in the Gulf of Onega], and others. They burned three\n    churches and cut down Christians and monks, but the Savolotchians sank\n    two Norwegian sloops, and the rest fled across the sea.\"[110] \"In 1444\n    the Karelians went with an army against the Norwegians, and fought\n    with them, and in 1445 the Norwegians came with an army to the Dvina,\n    ravaged Nenoksa [in the gulf off the mouth of the Dvina] with fire and\n    sword, killed some and carried off others as prisoners; but the\n    inhabitants on the Dvina hastened after them, cut down their 'voivods'\n    [leaders, chiefs] Ivar and Peter, and captured forty men who were sent\n    to Novgorod.\"[110]\n\nThis will be sufficient to show that the White Sea voyage remained\nfamiliar in Norway. This communication increased about the beginning of\nthe sixteenth century, and this had a decisive influence on the so-called\nrediscovery of the White Sea by the English.\n\n[Sidenote: Early connection of the Bjarmas with southern civilisation]\n\nIn reading Otter's narrative and the earliest Norse accounts of voyages to\nBjarmeland it must strike us that the Bjarmas we hear about seem to have\npossessed a surprisingly high degree of culture. As Professor Olaf Broch\nhas also pointed out to me, this may be an indication that a comparatively\nactive communication had existed long before that time along the Dvina and\nthe Volga between the people of the White Sea and those on the Caspian and\nthe Black Sea (by transport from the Volga to the Don). In those early\ntimes, before the Russians had yet established themselves in the territory\nof the upper Volga, this communication may have passed to the east of the\nSlavs through Finnish-speaking peoples the whole way from the lower Volga\nand the Finnish Bulgarians (cf. the Mordvin tribes of to-day).\n\nIt appears to me that various statements in Arabic literature may indicate\nsuch a connection.[111] The Arabs received information about northern\nregions through their commercial communications with the Mohammedan\nFinnish nation of the Bulgarians, whose capital Bulgar lay on the\nVolga[112] (near to the present town of Kazan), and was a meeting-place\nfor traders coming up the river from the south and coming down the river\nfrom the north. Special interest attaches to the mention of the mysterious\npeople \"W\u00eesu,\" far in the north. This is evidently the same name as the\nRussian Ves[113] for the Finnish people who, according to Nestor[114]\n(beginning of the twelfth century), lived by Lake Byelo-ozero (the white\nlake) in 859 A.D. They are mentioned together with Tchuds, Slavs, Merians\nand Krivitches, and were doubtless the most northerly of them, possibly\nspreading northwards towards the White Sea. They are probably the same\npeople that Adam of Bremen [iv., c. 14, 19] calls \"Wizzi\" (see vol. i. p.\n383; vol. ii. p. 64), and possibly those Jordanes calls\n\"Vasinabronc\u00e6,\"[115] who together with \"Merens\" (Merians ?) and \"Mordens\"\n(Mordvins ?) were subdued by Ermanrik, king of the Goths. But the Arabic\nW\u00eesu seems sometimes to have been a common name for all Finnish (and even\nSamoyed) tribes in North Russia and on the coast of the Polar Sea.\n\nAccording to Jaq\u00fbt,[116] Ahmad Ibn Fadhl\u00e2n (about 922 A.D.)[117] stated in\nhis work that\n\n    \"the King of the Bulgarians had told him that behind his country, at a\n    distance of three months' journey, there lived a people called W\u00eesu,\n    among whom the nights [in summer] were not even one hour long.\" Once\n    the king is said to have written to this people, and in their answer\n    it was stated that the people \"Y\u00e2\u01f5\u00fb\u01f5 and M\u00e2\u01f5\u00fb\u01f5 [on the Ob ?] lived\n    over three months' journey distant from them [i.e., the W\u00eesu] and that\n    they were separated from them by the sea\" (?). The Y\u00e2\u01f5\u00fb\u01f5 and M\u00e2\u01f5\u00fb\u01f5\n    lived on the great fish that were cast ashore. The same is told by\n    Dimashq\u00ee (ob. 1327) about the Y\u00e2\u01f5\u00fb\u01f5 and M\u00e2\u01f5\u00fb\u01f5, and by Qazw\u00een\u00ee\n    (thirteenth century) about the people \"Yura\" on the Pechora.\n\nJaq\u00fbt (ob. 1229) in his geographical lexicon[118] has an article on\n\n    \"'W\u00eesu' situated beyond Bulgar. Between it and Bulgar is three months'\n    journey. The night is there so short that one is not aware of any\n    darkness, and at another time of year, again, it is so long that one\n    sees no daylight.\" In his article on \"Itil\" Jaq\u00fbt says: \"Upon it [the\n    river Itil or Volga] traders travel as far as 'V\u00eesu'[119] and bring\n    [thence] great quantities of furs, such as beaver, sable and\n    squirrel.\"\n\nAl-Qazw\u00een\u00ee (ob. 1283) says:[120]\n\n    \"The beaver is a land- and water-animal, which dwells in the great\n    rivers in the land of 'Isu' [i.e., W\u00eesu, cf. al-B\u00eer\u00fbn\u00ee], and builds a\n    home on the bank of a river.\" He further relates that \"the inhabitants\n    of 'W\u00eesu' never visit the land of the Bulgarians, since when they come\n    thither the air changes and cold sets in--even if it be in the middle\n    of summer--so that all their crops are ruined. The Bulgarians know\n    this, and therefore do not permit them to come to their country.\"\n    Qazw\u00een\u00ee also gives the information that \"W\u00eesu\" is three months'\n    journey beyond Bulgar, and continues: \"The Bulgarians take their wares\n    thither for trade. Each one lays his wares, which he furnishes with a\n    mark, in a certain spot and leaves them there. Then he comes back and\n    finds a commodity, of which he can make use in his own country, laid\n    by the side of them. If he is satisfied with this, he takes what is\n    offered in exchange, and leaves his wares behind; if he is not, he\n    takes his own away again. In this way buyer and seller never see one\n    another. This is also the proceeding, as we have related, in the\n    southern lands, in the land of the blacks.\" The same story of dumb\n    trading with a people in the north is met with again in Abu'lfeda (ob.\n    1321) and Ibn Bat\u00fbta (cf. also Michel Beheim, later, p. 270).\n\nIbn Bat\u00fbta (1302-1377) has no name for this people, any more than\nAbu'lfeda; but he calls their country \"the Land of Darkness,\" and has an\ninteresting description of the journey thither.[121]\n\n    He himself, he says, wished to go there from Bulgar, but gave it up,\n    as little benefit was to be expected of it. \"That land lies 40 days'\n    journey from Bulgar, and the journey is only made in small cars[122]\n    drawn by dogs. For this desert has a frozen surface, upon which\n    neither men nor horses can get foothold, but dogs can, as they have\n    claws. This journey is only undertaken by rich merchants, each taking\n    with him about a hundred carriages [sledges ?], provided with\n    sufficient food, drink and wood; for in that country there is found\n    neither trees, nor stones nor soil. As a guide through this land they\n    have a dog which has already made the journey several times, and it is\n    so highly prized that they pay as much as a thousand dinars [gold\n    pieces] for one. This dog is harnessed with three others by the neck\n    to a car [sledge ?], so that it goes as the leader and the others\n    follow it. When it stops, the others do the same.... When the\n    travellers have accomplished forty days' journey through the desert,\n    they stop in the Land of Darkness, leave their wares there, and\n    withdraw to their quarters. Next morning they go back to the same spot\n    ...\" and then follows a description of the dumb barter, like that in\n    Qazw\u00een\u00ee. They receive sable, squirrel and ermine in exchange for their\n    goods. \"Those who go thither do not know with whom they trade, whether\n    they be spirits or men; they see no one.\"[123]\n\nOf special interest for our subject is the following statement in Ab\u00fb\nH\u00e2mid (1080-1169 or 1170) which may point to the peoples on the shores of\nthe Polar Sea having obtained steel for their harpoons and sealing weapons\nfrom Persia:\n\n    \"The traders travel from Bulg\u00e2r to one of the lands of the infidels\n    which is called \u00ces\u00fb [W\u00eesu], from which the beaver comes. They take\n    swords thither which they buy in \u00c2dherbei\u01f5\u00e2n [Persia], unpolished\n    blades. They pour water often over these, so that when the blades are\n    hung up by a cord and struck, they ring.... And that is as they ought\n    to be. They buy beavers' skins with these blades. The inhabitants of\n    \u00ces\u00fb go with these swords to a land near the darkness and lying on the\n    Dark Sea [the northern Atlantic or the Polar Sea] and sell these\n    swords for sables' skins. They [i.e., the inhabitants of that country]\n    again take some of these blades and cast them into the Dark Sea. Then\n    All\u00e2h lets a fish as big as a mountain come up to them, etc. They cut\n    up its flesh for days and months, and sometimes fill 100,000 houses\n    with it,\" etc. [Cf. Jacob, 1891, p. 76; 1891a, p. 29; Mehren, 1857,\n    pp. 169, f.]\n\nIt is not credible that the swords which rang in this way were harpoons,\nas Jacob thinks. We must rather suppose that they were rough\n(\"unpolished\") steel blades, which were used for making harpoons and\nlances (for walrus-hunting and whaling). The blades having water poured\nover them must doubtless mean the tempering of the steel, through which,\nwhen it was afterwards hung up by a cord, it came to give the true ring.\nAlthough Ab\u00fb H\u00e2mid is no trustworthy writer, it seems that there must be\nsome reality at the base of this statement; and we here have information\nabout some of the wares that the traders carried to W\u00eesu, and that were\nderived from their commercial intercourse with Arabs and Jews. The people\nto whom the inhabitants of W\u00eesu or Vesses took the steel blades must have\nbeen fishermen on the shore of the Polar Sea, who carried on seal- and\nwalrus-hunting, and perhaps also whaling, and this is what is referred to\nby the fish that All\u00e2h sends up. They may have been Samoyeds (on the\nPechora), Karelians, Tver-Finns, and even Norwegians. It might be objected\nthat sables cannot be supposed to have been obtained from the last-named;\nbut this is doubtless not to be taken too literally. Ibn Ruste (circa 912\nA.D.) thus says that the R\u00fbs (Scandinavians, usually Swedes) had no other\noccupation but trading in sables, squirrel and other furs, which they sold\nto any one who would buy them.\n\nIt seems to result from what may be trustworthy in these statements that\nthere was fairly active commercial intercourse from Bulgar with the Vesses\nand with the peoples on the White Sea, and perhaps in districts near the\nPolar Sea. A shortest night of one hour would take us to a little north of\nthe mouth of the Dvina. In the land of the Vesses by Lake Byelo-ozero\nthere was an easy way across from the Volga's tributary Syexna to Lake\nKubenskoye, which has a connection with the Dvina; and there was also\ntransit to the river Onega. There was thus easy communication along the\ngreat rivers; but besides this the traders seem also to have travelled\noverland with dogs; this was probably when going north to Yugria and the\ncountry of the Pechora, in the same way as traders in our time generally\ngo there with reindeer. The trade in furs was then, as in antiquity, the\npowerful incentive; it was that too which chiefly attracted the Norwegians\nto Bjarmeland.\n\nIt is not likely that the Arabs themselves reached North Russia; one would\nsuppose rather that travelling Jews assisted as middlemen in the trade\nwith these regions. But the finding of Arab coins on the Pechora would\npoint to Arab trade having penetrated through intermediaries to the shores\nof the Polar Sea.[124]\n\n\nTHE POLAR EXPEDITION OF THE FRISIAN NOBLES AND KING HAROLD'S VOYAGE TO THE\nWHIRLPOOL\n\n[Sidenote: The Frisian nobles' Polar expedition]\n\nAmong medi\u00e6val voyages to the North there remain yet to be mentioned\nHarold Hardr\u00e5de's expedition[125] and the voyage of the Frisian nobles,\nrelated by Adam of Bremen in the descriptions already given (vol. i. pp.\n195, f.). That the latter voyage must be an invention, and cannot contain\nmuch of historical value, is obvious (cf. vol. i. p. 196). The whole\ndescription of the abyss or maelstrom is taken from Paulus Warnefridi (as\nwill be seen by a comparison of the descriptions on pp. 157 and 195, vol.\ni.); the Cyclopes of marvellous stature, as well as the treasures of gold\nthat they guard, are originally derived from classical literature,\nalthough Adam may have taken them from earlier medi\u00e6val authors, and\nNorthern ideas about the giants in the north in Jotunheim may have helped\nto localise the story.[126] The great darkness, the stiffened sea, chaos\nand the gulf of the abyss at the uttermost end of the world or of the\nocean are all classical conceptions, and the description itself of the\ndangers of the voyage, of the darkness that could scarcely be penetrated\nby the eyes, etc., is just what we find in classical literature, and in\nmany points bears great resemblance to the poem of Albinovanus Pedo, for\nexample (see vol. i. p. 82). It is possible, of course, that there may be\nthus much historical truth in the story, that some Frisian nobles made a\nvoyage to the Orkneys or perhaps to Iceland, but even this is doubtful,\nand the rest is demonstrably invention. In spite of this Master Adam\nasserts that Archbishop Adalbert in person had told him all this, and that\nit happened in the days of his predecessor, Archbishop Alebrand, who had\nthe story from the travellers' own lips; for they returned to Bremen and\nbrought thank-offerings to Christ and to their saint \"Willehad\" for their\nsafety. One might suppose that these nobles themselves had invented the\nstory and told it to the archbishop;[127] but it does not seem likely that\nthey were acquainted with Paulus Warnefridi's description of the\nmaelstrom, and the Cyclopes with their treasures in the north seem also to\nbe learned embroidery; they might have heard oral tales about them, but in\nany case we may doubtless suppose that the story has been much \"improved\"\nby Adam. There is a medi\u00e6val folk-song about the dangers of sailors at sea\nwhich may also be supposed to have contributed to the description.\n\n[Sidenote: King Harold's voyage to the maelstrom]\n\nBe that as it may, this story must weaken our confidence in Adam's\ncredibility, or rather in his critical sense. If his narrative of a voyage\nwhich started from his own adopted town of Bremen not long before his time\nis so untrustworthy, what are we to think of his statement about the\nexperienced Norwegian king Harold's expedition to explore the extent of\nthe ocean? No doubt it may appear as though he had his information about\nthis voyage from the Danish king Svein, who is mentioned as his authority\nfor the statements immediately preceding, and so far this information\nmight have a good source; but it has received precisely the same\ndecoration as the other voyage, with the mist or darkness that shuts out\nthe uttermost end of the world, and the vast gulf of the abyss which was\nnarrowly escaped. This is certainly of older origin, and he has not even\ngiven himself the trouble to make a little alteration in the dangers of\nthe two stories. Another thing that weakens our confidence in his\nstatements is his saying that the Danish king had told him that all the\nsea beyond the island of Winland was filled with intolerable ice and\nimmeasurable darkness. It may doubtless be supposed that classical\nconceptions had even at that time created superstitions of this kind in\nthe North, and thus King Svein may have told him this; but it must be more\nprobable that all these ancient book-learned ideas are due, not to the\nunlearned and travelled monarch, but to the well-read magister, who\nmoreover himself quotes in the same connection Marcianus's words about the\ncongealed sea beyond Thule.\n\nIt would be entirely in Adam's vein if some accidental resemblance or\nassociation had given him an opportunity of making use in this way of\nideas he had from his learned reading, just as the name of Kv\u00e6nland gave\nhim the chance of bringing in the myths of the Amazons, Cynocephali, etc.\n(cf. vol. i. p. 383). It was pointed out earlier (vol. i. pp. 195, 197)\nthat the statements about the sea \"beyond this island\" and about Harold's\nvoyage are possibly a later addition by Adam himself, which has been\ninserted in the wrong place; \"this island\" might then mean Thyle (Iceland)\nand not Winland. Whether we regard the latter as a newly discovered\ncountry in America or as the Insul\u00e6 Fortunat\u00e6, it is difficult to\nunderstand why precisely the sea on the other side of this island should\nbe particularly associated with the ancient conceptions of the dark or\nmisty, and the congealed or ice-filled sea; ice and darkness are nowhere\nconnected in this way with Wineland in later authorities. It is true that\nin Arabian myth there are islands in the west near the Sea of Darkness\n(cf. chapter xiii.) and that the Promised Land in Irish myth is surrounded\nby darkness (== fog) like the Norwegian huldrelands and the Icelandic\nelflands; but if Adam got his ideas in this way, it would only show more\nconclusively how mythical his narrative is. If Adam confused the names of\nVinland and Finland (i.e., Finmark) (cf. vol. i. pp. 198, 382; vol. ii. p.\n31), it would also be natural for him to imagine that beyond it were ice\nand darkness.\n\n[Sidenote: Whirlpool]\n\nThe view has been held that the whirlpool in which King Harold and the\nFrisian nobles were nearly drawn down was of Scandinavian or Germanic\norigin [cf. S. L\u00f6nborg, 1897, pp. 173, f.]. It seems undoubtedly to\ncorrespond to the Norse \"Ginnungagap\" [cf. G. Storm, 1890, pp. 340, ff.];\nbut it is a question how early this idea arose. I have already (vol. i.\npp. 11, 12, 17) pointed out the probable connection between it and the\nGreek Tartaros (and Anostos) or Chaos, and have shown (vol. i. pp. 158,\nf.) that Paulus Warnefridi took his whirlpool from this source, and called\nit Chaos. But now it is evident, as we have seen, that Adam took his\ndescription of the whirlpool from Paulus, and thus we have the full\nconnection. It may also be mentioned as curious that Lucian in his Vera\nHistoria tells of just such an abyss:\n\n    \"We sailed through a crystal-clear, transparent water until we were\n    obliged to stop before a great cleft in the sea.... Our ship was near\n    being drawn down into this abyss, if we had not taken in the sails in\n    time. As we then put our heads out and looked down, we saw a depth of\n    a thousand stadia, before which our minds and senses stood still....\"\n    Finally with great difficulty they rowed across a bridge of water that\n    stretched over the abyss [Wieland, 1789, iv. p. 222].\n\n    With this may be compared that in the Irish legend (Imram Maelduin)\n    Maelduin and his companions came to a sea like green glass, so clear\n    that the sun and the green sand of the sea were visible through it.\n    Thence they came to another sea which was like fog (clouds), and it\n    seemed to them that it could hardly support them or their boat; they\n    saw in the sea beneath them people adorned with jewels and a\n    delightful land, etc.; but when they also saw down below a huge\n    monster which devoured a whole ox, they were seized with fear and\n    trembling, for they thought they would not be able to get across this\n    sea without falling through to the bottom, because it was as thin as\n    cloud; but they came over it with great danger [cf. Zimmer, 1889, p.\n    164].\n\nAlthough, as already mentioned (vol. i. p. 362), Lucian does not seem to\nhave been read in western Europe before the fourteenth century, I cannot\nget away from the impression that in some oral way or other (cf. vol. i.\npp. 362, f.) there must be a connection between the Irish tale (written\ndown long before Adam of Bremen's work) and the above-mentioned fable (as\nwell as many others) which Lucian reproduces, whether the connection be\nwith Lucian himself or with the authors he parodies. But then it will not\nbe rash to conclude further that there may also be a connection between\nthe cleft in the sea or profound abyss of Lucian or of Greek fable, from\nwhich mariners escaped with difficulty, and Adam's whirlpool, which King\nHarold avoided by turning back.\n\n[Sidenote: Maelstrom among the Irish]\n\nBut it is also conceivable that the various currents in northern waters\nmay have furnished food for these constantly recurring ideas about\nmaelstroms and whirlpools. Such maelstroms appear also in Irish legends.\nIn the \"Imram Brenaind\" [cf. Zimmer, 1889, p. 134] it is related that:\n\n    One day the voyagers saw on the ocean deep, dark currents [whirlpools]\n    and their ships seemed to be drawn into them with the force of the\n    storm. In this great danger all eyes were turned upon Brandan. He\n    spoke to the sea, saying that it should be satisfied with drowning him\n    alone, but spare his comrades. Thereupon the sea became calm, and the\n    rushing of the whirlpool ceased immediately; from that time until now\n    it has done no harm to others.\n\n[Sidenote: Maelstrom in Norway; the Moskenstr\u00f6m]\n\nThe Historia Norwegi\u00e6 places \"Charybdis, Scylla, and unavoidable\nwhirlpools\" in the north in \"Hafsbotn\" (cf. later). This must have been a\ngeneral idea in Norway; for about one hundred years later, in 1360, the\nEnglishman, Nicholas of Lynn, who travelled in Norway in the middle of the\nfourteenth century, wrote his lost work, \"Inventio Fortunata,\" on the\nnorthern countries and their whirlpools from 53\u00b0 to the North Pole; but\nunfortunately we do not know its contents.[128] The conceptions of these\nwhirlpools may doubtless be connected with reports of dangerous currents\nin the north. The Moskenstr\u00f6m by the Lofoten Islands may in particular\nhave given rise to much superstition at an early time. In winter with a\nwesterly wind it runs at a rate of as much as six miles an hour, and with\na rising tide it may be altogether impassable. It may set up a high\ntopping sea, which breaks over the whole current so that it can be heard\nthree or four miles off.[129] In later times there are terrifying\ndescriptions of this dangerous current. Thus Olaus Magnus (1555) says that\nbetween Roest and Lofoten\n\n    \"is so great an abyss, or rather Charybdis, that it suddenly swamps\n    and swallows up in an instant those mariners who incautiously\n    approach\" (see the illustration, vol. i. p. 158).... \"Pieces of\n    wreckage are very seldom thrown up again, and if they come to light,\n    the hard material shows such signs of wear and chafing through being\n    dashed against the rocks, that it looks as if it were covered with\n    rough wool.\" And the natural force here manifested exceeds all that is\n    related of Charybdis in Sicily and other wonders.\n\nThe Englishman, Anthony Jenkinson, who made a voyage to the White Sea in\n1557, writes of it:[130]\n\n    \"Note that there is between the said Rost Islands & Lofoot, a whirle\n    poole called Malestrand, which from halfe ebbe untill halfe flood,\n    maketh such a terrible noise, that it shaketh the ringes in the doores\n    of the inhabitants houses of the sayd Islands tenne miles off. Also if\n    there commeth any Whale within the current of the same, they make a\n    pitifull crie. Moreover, if great trees be caried into it by force of\n    streams, and after with the ebbe be cast out againe, the ends and\n    boughs of them have bene so beaten, that they are like the stalkes of\n    hempe that is bruised.\"\n\nSch\u00f6nnerb\u00f6l in 1591 gives a more detailed description of the current, in\nwhich the same things are reported\n\n    of the iron ring \"in the house door ... it is shaken hither and\n    thither by the rushing of the current\"; of the whale, who when \"he\n    cannot go forward on account of the strong stream, gives a great cry,\n    as it were a great ox, and then he is gone...\"; and, finally, of great\n    trees, spruce or fir, which disappear in this current, and when at\n    last they come up again, \"then all the boughs, all the roots and all\n    the bark is torn off, and it is shaped as though it had been cut with\n    a sharp axe.\" He says that \"many people are of the opinion that there\n    is a whirlpool in this current or immediately outside it\"; and \"when\n    the stream is strongest, one can see the sun and the sky through the\n    waves, since they go as high as other high mountains.\"[131]\n\nPeder Clauss\u00f6n Friis gives a similarly exaggerated description of the\ncurrent (circa 1613), sometimes using the same expressions as the authors\nquoted. The resemblance between these various descriptions is so great\nthat it cannot easily be explained merely by their reporting the same oral\ntradition; what they have in common must rather be derived from an older\nwritten source (Nicholas of Lynn ?), which again has adopted ancient\nmythical conceptions. It is strange how few more recent ideas have been\nadded even in Sch\u00f6nneb\u00f6l, who was sheriff of Lofoten and Vester\u00e5len for at\nleast twenty years (from 1570), and must have had plenty of opportunity\nfor gathering information on the spot; but it is the usual experience that\neverything that could be got from old books was preferred. That stories of\nthe Moskenstr\u00f6m may have been known in Adam of Bremen's time is highly\nprobable, perhaps even Paulus Warnefridi had heard of it (cf. vol. i. p.\n158).\n\n[Sidenote: Possible truth in Harold's ocean voyage]\n\nWhen we have shorn Adam's tale of all borrowed features, is there enough\nleft to make it possible that the Norwegian king Harold undertook a voyage\nout into the ocean? It is not easy to form a definite opinion on this, but\nthe probability must be that King Svein or the Danes told some such story,\nwhich was then adorned by Master Adam. As the voyage was supposed to have\ntaken place recently, it must be Harold Hardr\u00e5de who was intended,\notherwise one might be led to think of Harold Gr\u00e5feld's celebrated voyage\nto Bjarmeland.[132] What the object may have been, and what direction the\nvoyage took, we do not know. As Adam says it was to explore \"the breadth\nof the northern ocean\" (\"latitudinem septentrionalis oceani\"), one must\nsuppose that in his opinion it set out from Norway northward or\nnorth-westward over the ocean towards its uttermost limit, since according\nto the maps and ideas of that time he imagined the ocean as surrounding\nthe disc of the earth like a ribbon (see vol. i. p. 199), and he may then\nhave sailed across this to find out its extent.[133] But it is quite\npossible, as P. A. Munch [1852, ii. pp. 269, ff.] suggested, that Master\nAdam may have heard something about a northward voyage undertaken by\nHarold, during which he had been exposed to some danger in the Saltstr\u00f6m\nor the Moskenstr\u00f6m;[134] or if it was a voyage to Bjarmeland (Harold\nGr\u00e5feld's ?) that he heard of, then it might be the current at Sviatoi\nNos or Straumneskinn, often spoken of in the sagas, that Adam has made\ninto the whirlpool.\n\n\nWHALING AND SEALING VOYAGES OF THE NORWEGIANS IN THE POLAR SEA\n\n[Sidenote: The Norwegians as whalers.]\n\nThe skill of the Norwegians as fishermen, whalers and sealers had, of\ncourse, a great deal to do with the development of their seamanship and\nability to travel and support themselves along unknown and uninhabited\nshores. The accurate knowledge of the many species of seals and whales\nshown in the \"King's Mirror,\" to which no parallel is met with earlier in\nthe literature of the world, proves how important the hunting of these\nanimals must have been; for otherwise so much attention would not have\nbeen paid to them.[135] When in speaking of the greater whales a\ndistinction is made between those that are shy and keep away from the\nhunters, and those that are tamer and easier to approach, and when the\nlongest of all (\"rey\u00f0r\") is mentioned as being specially tame and easily\ncaught, we can only regard this as showing that whaling was also carried\non in the open sea; that is, not in a merely accidental fashion, as when\nthe whales entered narrow fjords where they could be intercepted, or when\nthey ran aground.\n\n[Illustration: Cutting up a whale (from an Icelandic MS. of the fourteenth\ncentury of Magnus Lanab\u00f3ter's Icelandic Land Law)]\n\nFrom Ottar's statement to King Alfred (cf. vol. i. p. 172)--that \"in his\nown land [i.e., Norway] there is the best whaling. They are forty-eight\ncubits long, and the largest are fifty cubits long\"--we may conclude that\nthe Norwegians, and perhaps the Lapps also, hunted the great whales as\nearly as the ninth century, and doubtless long before that time, while\nKing Alfred does not seem to have known of any such whaling being\npractised in England.[136] We are not told in what way the whale was\ncaught in those days, but from statements elsewhere it is probable that\nthe Norwegians had several methods of taking whales, as is the case even\nto the present day in Norway: one way was with the harpoon and\nharpoon-line in open waters, that is, without cutting off the whale's\nescape with nets.\n\nThe Arab cosmographer, Qazw\u00een\u00ee (of the thirteenth century), quoting the\nSpanish-Arabic writer Omar al-'Udhr\u00ee[137] (of the eleventh century), says\nthat the Norsemen in Irl\u00e2nda (Ireland).\n\n    \"hunt young whales, and they are very great fish. They hunt their\n    young and eat them.... Of the method of catching them al-'Udhr\u00ee\n    relates that the hunters collect in their ships. They have a great\n    iron hook [i.e., harpoon] with sharp teeth, and on the hook a strong\n    ring, and in the ring a stout rope. When they come to a young one,\n    they clap their hands and make a noise. The young one is amused by the\n    clapping of hands and approaches the ship, delighting therein.\n    Thereupon one of the seamen approaches and scratches its forehead,\n    which the young one likes. Then he lays the hook to the middle of its\n    head, takes a heavy iron hammer and gives three blows with all his\n    force upon the hook. It does not heed the first blow, but with the\n    second and third it makes a great commotion, and sometimes it catches\n    some part of the ship with its tail, and knocks it to pieces, and it\n    continues in violent agitation until it is overcome by exhaustion.\n    Then the crew of the ship draw it to shore with their combined force.\n    Sometimes the mother notices the movements of the young one, and\n    pursues them. Then they have a great quantity of crushed onions in\n    readiness, and throw it into the water. When the whale perceives the\n    smell of the onions it finds it detestable, turns round and retreats.\n    Then they cut the flesh of the young one in pieces and salt it.[138]\n    And its flesh is white as snow, and its skin black as ink.\"[139]\n\nThis is, clearly enough, a layman's naive description of whaling with\nharpoon and harpoon-line in open waters, a method which had therefore\nalready been introduced into Ireland by the Norwegians at that time. It\nmay consequently be regarded as certain that the Norwegians were\nacquainted with harpooning. That this was very usual appears also from the\n\"King's Mirror\" and the ancient Norwegian laws, where whaling and\nwhale-harpoons (\"skutill\") are often mentioned.\n\n[Illustration: Cutting up a whale (from an Icelandic MS.)]\n\nOn the west coast of Norway, in the neighbourhood of Bergen, there is\nstill practised to-day another method of catching whales which must be\nvery ancient. When the great whales enter certain fjords which have a\nnarrow inlet, their escape is cut off by nets, and they are shot with\npoisoned arrows from bows which entirely resemble the crossbows of the\nMiddle Ages. The arrows used are old and rusty, and convey bacteria from\none whale to another. When the whale has been hit by these arrows it is\nrapidly weakened from blood-poisoning, so that it may easily be harpooned\nand then killed by lances, after which it is cut up and divided among the\ninhabitants of the fjord, according to ancient, unwritten rules. In spite\nof the blood-poisoning, the whale's flesh and blubber are eaten, and are\nregarded as very valuable provisions. I have myself often taken part in\nthis kind of whaling. Possibly Peder Clauss\u00f6n Friis [cf. Storm, 1881, p.\n70] refers to a similar method of whaling when he says that\n\n    \"in ancient times many expedients or methods were used for catching\n    whales, which ... on account of men's unskilfulness have fallen out of\n    use.\"\n\nThey had \"a spear with sharp irons, so that it could not be pulled out\nagain.\" This was hurled into the whale, which died in a short time, or\nbecame so weakened that it could be drawn to land;\n\n    \"which whales were then cut up and divided among those who had shot,\n    and him who owned the land, or him who had first found the whale\n    driven in, according to the provisions of the law.\"\n\nWe must suppose that this iron was poisoned with bacteria from former\nwhales, in a similar way to the arrows mentioned above, whereby the\nanimal's wound was infected. However, Peder Clauss\u00f6n's description of the\nhunt is evidently taken in great measure from older literary sources,\nsince similar descriptions are found as early as in Albertus Magnus (ob.\n1280) [De animalibus, xxiv. 651], and in Vincent of Beauvais [Speculum\nuniversalis, i. 1272]. In all three authors the whale dives after being\nstruck, and tosses about on the bottom or rubs itself against it, thereby\ndriving the spear farther in; but in Peder Clauss\u00f6n it does so in order to\n\"get rid of the shot,\" while in Albertus it is on account of salt water\ngetting into the wound, and in Vincentius the salt water penetrates and\nkills the wounded whale. As the descriptions of Albertus and Vincentius\nevidently refer to ordinary harpoon-whaling, it may be doubtful whether\nPeder Clauss\u00f6n's statement really relates to a method of catching\ndifferent from the usual one with harpoon and line, although one is\ndisposed to believe that it does. He also mentions in the same place other\nwhales that they could \"pursue with boats and drive into bays and small\nfjords, and kill them there with hand-shot and bow-shot.\" This may be\nsupposed to refer to a method similar to that mentioned above, with\npoisoned arrows; but, on the other hand, it may relate to a third method\nof taking small whales, which was certainly practised from very early\ntimes in Norway, and which consists in schools of small whales being\ndriven into bays and inlets, where they are intercepted with nets and\ndriven ashore.\n\nThe method of whaling with poisoned arrows or throwing-spears must, as has\nbeen said, be very ancient. Whether it was invented by the Norwegians\nthemselves, or whether they did not rather learn it from the older\nhunter-people of Norway, the \"Finns,\" is difficult to determine. Nor do we\nknow how ancient whaling in general may be in the North; it may date from\nearly times, though Ottar's mention of it is the earliest known in\nliterature.\n\n[Sidenote: Harpoon-fishing in the Mediterranean in antiquity]\n\nIt is evident that a high development of seamanship, skill in hunting, and\nresourcefulness were required before men could venture to encounter the\ngreat whales of the ocean in open fight with free sea-room, where the\nwhale was not crippled by having run aground or into narrow fjords with no\noutlet. This whaling in the open sea demanded the invention of special\nappliances, of which the harpoon with its line was of special importance.\nIt may be possible, though it is not certain, that the Norwegians were the\nfirst Europeans to practise this kind of whaling, and as, from numerous\ndocuments, we may conclude that whaling was actively carried on by the\nNormans in Normandy as early as the tenth and eleventh centuries, one is\ninclined to suppose that it was the Normans who first introduced the\nmethod of harpoon and line there,[140] and then passed it on to the\nBasques. But we ought not to lose sight of the fact that there are other\npossibilities, since the harpoon was probably known to and used on smaller\nmarine animals by the neolithic people of Europe, and the taking of larger\nfish with harpoon and line was known in the Mediterranean in\nantiquity,[141] as appears, for instance, from Polybius's description of\nthe catching of swordfish at Scyll\u00e6um (on the Straits of Messina), which\nis reproduced in Strabo, i. 24:\n\n    \"A common look-out man goes at their head, while they collect in many\n    two-oared boats to lie in wait for the fish; two in each boat. One of\n    them rows, the other stands in the bow with a spear, while the\n    look-out man gives warning of the appearance of the fish; for the\n    animal swims with a third of its body above water. As soon as the boat\n    has reached the fish, the spearman pierces it by hand, and immediately\n    draws the spear out of its body again, with the exception of the\n    point; for this is provided with barbs, and is purposely attached\n    loosely to the shaft, and has a long line fastened to it. This is paid\n    out after the wounded fish, until it is tired by floundering and\n    attempts at flight; then it is drawn to land, or taken into the boat\n    if it is not very large.\" No better description of harpoon-fishing is\n    to be found in the Middle Ages. The dolphin was to the Greeks\n    Poseidon's beast, and they did not take it; but from Oppian's account\n    we see that the barbarian fishermen on the coast of Thrace had no such\n    scruples, but caught dolphins with harpoons to which a long line was\n    attached [cf. No\u00ebl, 1815, p. 42].\n\nIf the Iberian people of the western Mediterranean practised this kind of\nfishing, the Basques may also have been acquainted with it. But if they\nused the harpoon on swordfish and small whales, the further step to using\nit for the Biscay whale was not insuperable to these hardy seamen, and\nthey may thus have themselves developed their methods of whaling without\nhaving learnt from the Normans, even if no evidence is forthcoming of\ntheir having been acquainted with whaling so early as the latter.[142] It\nmay also be supposed that the Norsemen in the beginning, far back in grey\nantiquity, took their harpoon-fishing from the south, just as they\nobtained the form of their craft to some extent from the Mediterranean.\n\nThus, although we cannot regard it as certain that the Norwegians\nintroduced the knowledge of whaling with the harpoon and line in Normandy,\nit is in any case probable that they were particularly active in\npractising and developing this method, and we may conclude that they must\nhave been acquainted with whaling before they came there, since we see\nthat the whalers of Normandy bore the Scandinavian name of\n\"walmanni.\"[143] If they had learnt their whaling in the foreign land, it\ngoes without saying that they would also have taken the name from thence,\nand it is extremely improbable that they should have acquired a\nScandinavian designation for an occupation the knowledge of which they\nhad not brought with them from their native land.\n\nThe Normans also took with them the knowledge of whaling as far as the\nMediterranean. In Guillelmus Appulus's description (of about 1099-1111) of\nthe Norman conquest of southern Italy it is related[144] that when Robert\nGuiscard comes to the town of Regina in Calabria he hears\n\n    \"the rumour that there is a fish not for from the town in the waves of\n    the Adriatic, a great one with an immense body, of an incredible\n    aspect, which the people of Italy had not seen before. The winds of\n    spring, on account of the fresh water, had driven it thither. It was\n    captured by the ingenuity of the leader [i.e., Robert] by means of\n    various arts. It swam into a net made of fine ropes, and when it was\n    completely entangled in the nets with the heavy iron, it dived down to\n    the depths of the sea, but at last it was hit by the seamen in various\n    projecting places, and with much pains dragged ashore. There the\n    people look at it as a strange monster. Then it is out in pieces by\n    order of the leader. Thereof he obtains for himself and his men much\n    food, and also for the people who dwelt on the coasts of Calabria. And\n    the Apulian people also have a share of it.\"\n\n[Illustration: Cutting up a whale (from an Icelandic MS. of the sixteenth\ncentury).]\n\nIt looks as though the author's view was that the whale was caught with\nnets and killed by the throwing of lances, which is not impossible; but it\nmay also be supposed that the poetical description is somewhat misleading,\nand that the \"nets with the heavy iron\" were the harpoon with its line\n(?).\n\nIt may be regarded as doubtful whether the harpooning of great whales in\nopen waters was ever so actively carried on and brought to such perfection\nduring the Middle Ages in Norway, Iceland and Greenland as was evidently\nthe case in Normandy and especially among the Basques, from whom later\nthe English and the Dutch learned it. As in those days there was abundance\nof whales to be caught on the Norwegian coast (the nord-caper was then\nnumerous there), this kind of whaling would not tempt the Norwegians to\nseek better hunting-grounds along other coasts in northern waters. On the\nother hand, it is evident that practice in whaling must have been of great\nimportance to them, wherever they settled in these regions.\n\n[Sidenote: Albertus Magnus on walrus-hunting]\n\nAlbertus Magnus (ob. 1280), who gives a detailed description of the\nharpoon and of whaling (cf. above, p. 158), has also the following\ndescription of walrus-hunting:\n\n    \"Those whales which have bristles, and others, have very long\n    tusks,[145] and by them they hang themselves up on stones and rocks\n    when they sleep. Then the fisherman approaches, and tears away as much\n    as he can of the skin from the blubber by the tail, and makes fast a\n    strong rope to the skin he has loosened, and he binds the ropes fast\n    to rings fixed in the rocks or to very strong posts or trees. Then he\n    throws large stones at the fish and wakes it. When the fish is awake\n    and wants to go back [into the sea], it pulls its skin off from the\n    tail along the back and head, and leaves it behind there. And\n    afterwards it is caught not far from the spot, when it has exhausted\n    its strength, as it floats bloodless upon the sea, or lies half-dead\n    on the shore.\"\n\nHe also tells us that walrus-rope[146] was commonly sold at the fair at\nCologne, which shows that walrus-hunting must have acquired great\nimportance at that time. It can only have been carried on by the\nNorwegians (and Icelanders ?), the Finns or Lapps, the peoples of the\nnorth coast of Russia, and the Greenlanders. It is unlikely that the ropes\nwere brought all the way from Russia by land to Cologne; they must rather\nhave come from Norway. The Norwegians obtained a certain quantity of\nwalrus-rope (\"svar\u00f0reip\") through the trade with Greenland, and perhaps\nwith North Russia, but they probably got most from their own hunting in\nnorthern waters. The quantity of walrus they could kill in Finmark would\nnot be sufficient to satisfy the demand, and, as suggested earlier (vol.\ni. p. 177), they must certainly have sought fresh hunting-grounds, above\nall eastwards in the Polar Sea.\n\n[Sidenote: Hunting expeditions of the Norwegians eastward and northward in\nthe Polar Sea]\n\nNorse-Icelandic literature does not tell us that the Norwegians in their\nvoyages to Bjarmeland went any farther east than \"Gandvik\" (the White Sea)\nand the Dvina. But it is to be noted that the sagas as a rule only mention\nthe expeditions of chiefs, with warlike exploits, fighting and slaughter\nof one kind or another; while peaceful trading voyages, which were\ncertainly numerous, are not spoken of, nor walrus-hunting and hunting\nexpeditions in general, since such occupations were not usually followed\nby chiefs. We cannot therefore expect to find anything in the sagas about\ncountries or waters where there were no people, and where only hunting was\ncarried on.\n\nFrom Ottar, however, who was not a saga-writer, we learn that\nwalrus-hunting was practised, and doubtless very perseveringly, in the\nninth century (vol. i. p. 176), and that even at that time he went in\npursuit of it as far as the White Sea. It is thus extremely improbable\nthat such hardy hunters should have stopped there, and not continued to\nmove eastward, where there was such valuable prey to be secured. We must\nsuppose that at least they reached the west coast of Novaya Zemlya, where\nthere were walrus and seal in abundance. That such was the case is just as\nprobable as the reverse is improbable, and as it is improbable that\nexpeditions of this kind should have found mention in the sagas. That the\nNorwegians knew Novaya Zemlya may perhaps be concluded from the medi\u00e6val\nIcelandic geography (cf. vol. i. p. 313; vol. ii. p. 1), according to\nwhich the land extended northward from Bjarmeland round the north of\nHafsbotn (the Polar Sea) as far as Greenland, making the latter continuous\nwith Europe (cf. the map, p. 2). The knowledge that the west coast of\nNovaya Zemlya extended northwards into the unknown may have given rise to\nsuch an idea. It was general in Scandinavia and Iceland in the latter part\nof the Middle Ages, whilst Adam of Bremen speaks of Greenland as an\nisland, like Iceland and other islands in the northern ocean. The\ndiscovery of \"Svalbard\" (Spitzbergen ?) in 1194 may, as we shall see\ndirectly, have lent support to the belief in this connection by land.\n\n[Sidenote: Saxo's Farther Bjarmeland]\n\nSaxo Grammaticus in his Danish history, of the beginning of the thirteenth\ncentury, also has mythical tales of voyages to Bjarmeland. Amongst others\nthe legendary king Gorm and Thorkel Adelfar on a mythical voyage to the\nnorth and east came first to H\u00e1logaland, then to \"Hither Bjarmeland,\"\nwhich had steep shores and much cattle, and then to a land with continual\ncold and heavy snow, without any warmth of summer, rich in impenetrable\nforests, which was without produce of the fields, full of beasts unknown\nelsewhere, and where many rivers rushed through rocky beds. This land was\n\"Farther Bjarmeland.\"[147] If we except the forests this description suits\nNovaya Zemlya better than the Kola peninsula; but it is extremely doubtful\nwhether any real knowledge of these regions lies at the root of Saxo's\nmythical tales, in which, for instance, the travellers come to the river\nof death and the land of the dead. The designation Farther Bjarmeland may\nnevertheless point to a land having been known beyond the often-mentioned\nBjarmeland.\n\nIn the old legendary sagas there is frequent mention of \"the Farther\nBjarmeland,\" which lay to the north or north-east of the real Bjarmeland\n(Permia), and where there was a people of gigantic size and immense\nriches. This fabulous country may, it is true, be entirely mythical,\nperhaps originally derived from ancient Greek myths; but on the other hand\nit may be the knowledge of Novaya Zemlya that has influenced the formation\nof the myths about it. However this may be, we may be sure that the\nvoyages of the Norwegian hunters in those days extended into the eastern\nPolar Sea far beyond the limits of Ottar's voyage, and much farther than\nthe chance mentions in the sagas of more or less warlike expeditions of\nchiefs to the White Sea would indicate.\n\n[Sidenote: Discovery of Svalbar\u00f0]\n\nA notice that is extant relating to the year 1194 shows better than\nanything else that the Norwegians probably made extensive voyages in the\nPolar Sea, and the mention of it is purely fortuitous. In the \"Islandske\nAnnaler\" (in six different MSS.) it is briefly stated of the year 1194:\n\"Svalbar\u00f0s fundr\" or \"Svalbar\u00f0i fundinn\" (Svalbard was discovered); but\nthat is all we are told; surely no great geographical discovery has ever\nbeen more briefly recorded in literature. Svalbar\u00f0i means the cold edge or\nside, and must here mean the cold coast. In the introduction to the\nLandn\u00e1mab\u00f3k we read about this land:\n\n    \"From Reykjanes on the south side of Iceland it is five [in Hauk's\n    Landn\u00e1ma three] d\u0153gr's sea [i.e., sail] to Jolldulaup in Ireland to\n    the south, but from Langanes on the north side of Iceland it is four\n    d\u0153gr's sea to Svalbard on the north in Hafsbotn,[148] but it is one\n    d\u0153gr's sail to the uninhabited parts of Greenland from Kolbeins-ey in\n    the north.\"\n\nAs will be seen, Svalbard is spoken of, here and in the Annals, as a land\nthat is known. It is also mentioned in Icelandic legendary sagas of the\nlater Middle Ages.\n\n[Illustration: Countries and seas discovered by the Norwegians and\nIcelanders. The shaded coasts were probably all known to them. The scale\ngives \"d\u0153gr\"-sailing, reckoning 2\u00b0 (or 120 geographical miles) to each\n\"d\u0153gr's\" sail]\n\nThe Historia Norwegi\u00e6 says of a country in the north:[149]\n\n    \"But in the north on the other side of Norway towards the east there\n    extend various peoples who are in the toils of heathendom (ah, how\n    sad), namely the Kiriali and Kw\u00e6ni, horned Finns[150] and both\n    Bjarmas. But what people dwell beyond these we do not know for\n    certain, though when some sailors were trying to sail back from\n    Iceland to Norway, and were driven by contrary winds to the northern\n    regions, they landed at last between the Greenlanders and the Bjarmas,\n    where they asserted that they had found people of extraordinary size\n    and the Land of Virgins ('virginum terram'), who are said to conceive\n    when they taste water. But Greenland is separated from these by\n    ice-clad skerries ('scopulis').\"\n\nAnd in a later passage we read:\n\n    \"The fourth part [of Norway] is Halogia, whose inhabitants live in\n    great measure with the Finns [Lapps], and trade with them; this land\n    forms the boundary of Norway on the north as far as the place called\n    Wegestaf, which divides it from Bjarmeland ('Biarmonia'); there is the\n    very deep and northerly gulf which has in it Charybdis, Scylla, and\n    unavoidable whirlpools; there are also ice-covered promontories which\n    plunge into the sea immense masses of ice that have been increased by\n    heaving floods and are frozen together by the winter cold; with these\n    traders often collide against their will, when making for Greenland,\n    and thus they suffer shipwreck and run into danger.\"\n\nIt may seem probable that this description of a country in the north\nreferred to Svalbard; and the naive allusion to glacier-ice plunging from\nthe land is most likely to be derived from voyagers to the Polar Sea; for\nit seems less probable that it should be merely information about\nGreenland transferred to the North. Storm, it is true, dated the Historia\nNorwegi\u00e6 between 1180 and 1190, that is, before the discovery of Svalbard\naccording to the Annals; but later writers place it in the thirteenth\ncentury, even as late as 1260 (see vol. i. p. 255). The ideas of the\npeople of great size and of the Land of Virgins are obviously taken from\nAdam of Bremen, and may be a literary ornament.\n\n[Sidenote: Svalbard probably Spitzbergen]\n\nThere have been different opinions as to what country Svalbard was. Many\nhave thought that it might be the northern east coast of Greenland; Jan\nMayen has also been mentioned; while others, like S. Thorlacius, a hundred\nyears ago (1808), supposed that it was \"the Siberian coasts of the Arctic\nOcean, lying to the east of Permia (Bjarmeland), that the ancient Norsemen\nincluded under the name of Svalbard, i.e., the cold coast.\" Gustav Storm\n[1890, p. 344] maintained that Svalbard in all probability must be\nSpitzbergen,[151] and many reasons point to the correctness of this\nsupposition.\n\nNo certain conclusion can be drawn about Svalbard from the passage quoted\nfrom the Landn\u00e1mab\u00f3k. \"On the north in Hafsbotn\" must mean in some\nnortherly direction; for it is only the chief points of the compass,\nnorth, south and west, that are mentioned, and no intermediate points;\nfor one course alone, from Bergen to Hvarf in Greenland, the direction\n\"due west\" is given, which must be true west.[152] Langanes is said to lie\non the north side of Iceland instead of on the north-east, from Reykjanes\nto Ireland the course was south, instead of south-east, etc. The points of\nthe compass are evidently used in the same way as is still common in\nNorway; \"in the north of the valley\" may be used even if the valley bends\nalmost to the west. The Landn\u00e1ma's statement (Sturlub\u00f3k) that it is four\n\"d\u0153gr's sea\" from Sn\u00e6fellsnes \"west\" to Greenland (i.e., Hvarf) then\nagrees entirely with the common mode of expression that I have found among\nthe arctic sailors of our day in Denmark Strait, where they never talk of\nanything but sailing east or west along the edge of the ice, even though\nit is north-east and south-west; we sail westward from F\u00e6rder to\nChristianssand, or we travel south from Christiania to Christianssand.\nConsequently \"on the north in Hafsbotn\" means the same as when we say\nnorth in Finmark (cf. Ottar's directions, vol. i p. 171), or even north in\nthe White Sea, and speak of sailing north to Jan Mayen. As Langanes in\nparticular, the north-east point of Iceland, is mentioned as the\nstarting-point, we should be inclined to think that Svalbard was supposed\nto lie in a north-easterly direction; it is true that the course to\nIreland is calculated from Reykjanes and not from the south-east point of\nIceland; but this may be because the voyage was mostly made from the west\ncountry.\n\nThe distances given in these sailing directions in the Landn\u00e1mab\u00f3k are\neven less accurate than the points of the compass. From Stad in Norway to\nthe east coast of Iceland is said to be seven \"d\u0153gr's\" sail, while from\nSn\u00e6fellsnes to Hvarf is four \"d\u0153gr,\" from Reykjanes to Ireland three or\nfive \"d\u0153gr,\" from Langanes to Svalbard four \"d\u0153gr,\" and from Kolbeins-ey\nto the uninhabited parts of Greenland one \"d\u0153gr.\" The actual distances\nare, however, approximately: from Norway to Iceland 548 nautical miles,\nfrom Sn\u00e6fellsnes to Hvarf 692, from Reykjanes to Ireland 712, from\nLanganes to Spitzbergen 840 (from Langanes to Jan Mayen 288), and from\nMevenklint to the east coast of Greenland 184 nautical miles. It is\nhopeless to look for any system in this; the distances from Iceland to\nGreenland and from Iceland to Ireland are given as being much less (4/7\nand 3/7 or 5/7) than the distance from Norway to Iceland, whereas in\nreality they are considerably more. In the fourth part of the \"Rymbegla\"\n[1780, p. 482] a \"d\u0153gr's\" sail is given as equal to two degrees of\nlatitude, that is, 120 nautical miles (or twenty-four of the old Norwegian\nsea-leagues), but according to the measurements given there would be 80\nnautical miles in a \"d\u0153gr's\" sail between Norway and Iceland, 172 between\nIceland and Greenland, and 236 (or 144) between Iceland and Ireland. These\nmeasurements of distance are therefore far too uncertain to be of any use\nin finding Svalbard. According to the scale in the \"Rymbegla\" it would be\ntwo and a half \"d\u0153gr\" to Jan Mayen, and seven \"d\u0153gr\" to Spitzbergen from\nLanganes.[153]\n\nThe old Norwegians imagined Hafsbotn [or Trollabotn][154] as the end\n(\"botn\") of the ocean to the north of Norway and north-east of Greenland,\nas far as one could sail to the north in the Polar Sea. But Svalbard lay\naccording to the Landn\u00e1mab\u00f3k in the north of Hafsbotn; and if one tries to\nsail northward in summer-time, either from Langanes, the north-east point\nof Iceland, or from Norway, endeavouring to keep clear of the ice, it will\nbe difficult to avoid making Spitzbergen. If one followed the edge of the\nice northwards from Iceland in July, it would infallibly bring one there.\nSuch a voyage would correspond to the sailing directions from Sn\u00e6fellsnes\nwhen they steered west to the edge of the ice off Greenland, and then\nfollowed it south-westwards round Hvarf. On the other hand, it would be\nimpossible to arrive at the northern east coast of Greenland without\nventuring far into the ice, and it is not likely that the ancient Norsemen\nwould have done this unless they knew that there was land on the inside\nand consequently hunting-grounds (cf. vol. i. p. 286). No doubt one might\nmake Jan Mayen; but it is difficult to suppose that this little island\nshould have been given such a name, which is only suited to the coast of a\nlarger country. The conclusion that Svalbard was not the northern east\ncoast of Greenland seems also justified from the latter being mentioned\nimmediately afterwards in Hauk's Landn\u00e1mab\u00f3k under the name of \"the\nuninhabited parts of Greenland,\" one \"d\u0153gr's\" sail north of Kolbeins-ey\n(see vol i. p. 286; vol. ii. p. 166).\n\nAs has already been said, the Norwegians (cf. Historia Norwegi\u00e6 and the\n\"King's Mirror\") and Icelanders (cf. the medi\u00e6val Icelandic geography)\nthought that \"land extended from Bjarmeland to the uninhabited parts in\nthe north, and as far as the beginning of Greenland,\" that is, round the\nwhole of the north of Hafsbotn. From several legendary sagas of the\nfourteenth and fifteenth centuries we can see that Svalbard was in fact\nreckoned among these uninhabited parts in the north, which were reached by\nsailing past H\u00e1logaland and Finmark, and northward over Dumbshav (see map,\np. 34).\n\nThus, in Samson Fagre's Saga [of about 1350] we read in the thirteenth\nchapter, \"On the situation of the northern lands\":\n\n    \"Risaland lies east and north of the Baltic, and to the north-east of\n    it lies the land that is called Jotunheimar, and there dwell trolls\n    and evil spirits, but from thence until it meets the uninhabited parts\n    of Greenland goes the land that is called Svalbard; there dwell\n    various peoples.\" [Gr\u00f6nl. hist. Mind., iii. p. 524.]\n\nThe outcome of what has been advanced above will be briefly: there can be\nno doubt, from the sober statement in the Icelandic Annals and in the\nLandn\u00e1ma, that the land of Svalbard really was discovered, even though the\ndate need not be accurate; and it may further be regarded as probable that\nthis land was Spitzbergen.\n\nIt may be supposed that it was discovered accidentally by a ship on the\nway between Iceland and Norway, as stated in the Historia Norwegi\u00e6, being\ndriven by storms to the north of Hafsbotn; but the mention of the country\nin the Landn\u00e1mab\u00f3k may indicate that the voyage was made more than once,\nand that knowledge of the country cannot in any case have been limited to\nan accidental discovery of this sort. It is more probable that the\nNorwegians and Icelanders carried on seal- and walrus-hunting northwards\nalong the edge of the ice in the Polar Sea, and in that case it was\nunavoidable that they should arrive at Svalbard or Spitzbergen. And when\nit was once discovered they must often have resorted to it; for the\nvaluable walrus was at that time very plentiful there.\n\n[Sidenote: The Russians' arctic sealing a continuation of the Norwegians']\n\nAs we nowhere find mention of these sealing expeditions of the Norwegians\nin the Polar Sea, except in Ottar's narrative, it may be difficult to show\ncertain evidence of their having taken place; but the Russians'\nseal-hunting in the Polar Sea, of which we hear as early as the sixteenth\ncentury, can in my opinion scarcely be explained in any other way than as\na continuation in the main of the Norwegians' sealing. When the English,\nand later the Dutch, came to the Murman coast and the coasts eastwards as\nfar as the Pechora, Vaigach and Novaya Zemlya, they found fleets of\nRussian smacks engaged in fishing and walrus-hunting; most of them were\nfrom the Murman coast, some from the White Sea, and a few from the\nPechora. Stephen Burrough thus found in June 1556 no less than thirty\nsmacks in the Kola fjord, which had come sailing down the river, on their\nway to fishing- and sealing-grounds to the east. These smacks sailed well\nwith the wind free, could also be rowed with twenty oars, and had each a\ncrew of twenty-four men.\n\nPistorius[155] refers to Andrei Mikhow as saying that the \"Juctri\"\n(Yugrians in the Pechora district) and \"Coreli\" (Karelian) on the coast of\nthe Polar Sea hunted seals and whales, of whose skins they made ropes,\npurses, and ...? (\"redas, bursas et coletas\"), and used the blubber (for\nlighting ?) and sold it. They also hunted walrus (called by Mikhow by its\nNorwegian name \"rosmar\"),[156] the tusks of which they sold to the\nRussians. The latter kept a certain quantity for their own use, and sent\nthe rest to Tartary and Turkey. The hunting was said to proceed in a\ncurious fashion; the walruses, which were very numerous, clambering up on\nto the mountain-ridges and there perishing in great numbers.[157] The\nYugrians and Karelians then collected the tusks on the shore. Is there\nhere some confusion with stories of the collection of mammoth tusks?\n\nWhat was said earlier (p. 145) from an Arabian source about steel blades\nbeing sold to the peoples on the coast of the Polar Sea in North Russia\nseems to point to sea-hunting having been well developed in these regions\nas early as the twelfth century; for otherwise steel for hunting\nappliances could not have been a common article of commerce.\n\nThat Norwegians and Russians often met in northern waters may apparently\nbe concluded from the words already quoted from Erik Walkendorf, about\n1520 (cf. p. 86), that fifteen of the Skr\u00e6lings did not venture to\napproach a Christian or Ruten (i.e., Russian). As he places the land of\nthe Skr\u00e6lings north-north-west of Finmark, this seems to be a legend that\nis brought into connection with the Polar Sea. Of walrus-tusks he says\nthat \"these are costly and greatly prized among the Russians.\" Unless this\nis taken from older literary sources (?), one might suppose that it was\ninformation he himself had obtained in Finmark, and it might then point to\nthe Norwegians having sold walrus-tusks to the Russians.\n\n[Sidenote: Russians and Lapps learned walrus-hunting from the Norwegians]\n\nThe fact that, as mentioned above, a Russian author of the sixteenth\ncentury (Mikhow) uses the Norwegian name \"rosmar\" seems also to point to\nRussian connection with the Norwegians in the arctic fisheries. In\naddition to this, the Russian word \"morsh\" for walrus is evidently the\nsame as the Lappish \"mor\u0161\u0161a\" (Finnish \"mursu\"), and may originally be the\nsame word as \"rosmar\" (\"rosmhvalr\"). For it is striking that the same\nletters are present in \"morsh\" or \"mor\u0161\u0161a\" as in \"rosm(hvalr),\" or in\n\"rosmar\"; there is only a transference of consonants, which is often met\nwith in borrowed words in different languages.\n\n    I asked Professor Konrad Nielsen what he thought about this, and\n    whether he could imagine any Finnish-Ugrian origin of the word, or\n    whether any similar word was known, for instance, in Samoyed. He\n    considers that my assumption may \"be quite well founded.\"[158] He has\n    consulted Professor Set\u00e4l\u00e4 of Helsingfors about it, and the latter\n    thinks that if the word was borrowed from Finnish into Russian, there\n    is nothing to prevent its being connected with the Norse\n    rosm(hvalr)--the latter would then, of course, be the primary form.\n    Similar metatheses are found in other Norse loan-words in Finnish.\n    Konrad Nielsen thinks that \"the Lappish word is pretty certainly\n    borrowed from Finnish, so that the idea of its Norse origin meets with\n    no difficulty from that quarter.\" And as to the possible Russian\n    origin of the word, he has spoken to the Slavic authority, Professor\n    Mikkola, who informs him that in popular language the Russian word is\n    only found in the most northern dialects, and there is no point of\n    connection in other Slavic languages, so that he regards it as\n    probable that it is not originally a Slavic word. No Finnish-Ugrian\n    etymology for the word can, according to Konrad Nielsen, be put\n    forward. \"In Samoyed,\" he says, \"the name for walrus is only known as\n    far as Jura-Samoyed (the most western dialect of Samoyed) is\n    concerned: 't'ewot'e,' 'tiut'ei.' I have compared this with the\n    Lappish name for seal, 'd\u00e6vok'--'davak'--'d\u00e6vkka.' In this I see\n    evidence that the Lapps (contrary to Wiklund's view) were acquainted\n    with the Polar Sea and its animals before they came to Scandinavia.\"\n    He also draws my attention to the fact that \"the Finnish 'norsu' (in\n    the older language also 'nursa'), 'elephant,' seems to be connected\n    with 'mursu,' which is easily explained by the analogous use of\n    walrus-tusks and elephant-tusks.\"\n\n    Professor Olaf Broch also considers my assumption probable, and has\n    submitted the question of the etymology of the Russian \"morsh\" to\n    Professor Berneker, who may doubtless be regarded as the first\n    authority in questions of this kind. He replies that a \"wild\"\n    etymologist might connect the word with a series of words in Slavic\n    languages which express various movements; but the Russian word,\n    being so definitely localised, must doubtless be derived from the\n    North-Finnish linguistic region. Whether the Finnish \"mursu,\" Lappish\n    \"mor\u0161\u0161a,\" \"mor\u0161a,\" can be referred to a metathesis of Old Norse\n    rosmhvalr, Danish rosmer, etc., Professor Berneker is unable to\n    determine. \"But with loan-words all sorts of anomalies take place, and\n    no rules can be laid down.\"\n\nIf we compare these various utterances of such eminent authorities, it\nappears to me that there are paramount reasons for regarding the\nRussian-Finnish name for walrus as of Norse origin. But in that case it\nalso becomes probable that the Norwegians were the pioneers in\nwalrus-hunting along the coasts of the Polar Sea, and that both the\nFinnish peoples and the Russians learned from them.\n\nIt will doubtless be difficult to find a natural explanation of the\npeoples on the northern coasts of Russia having from the first developed\ntheir arctic sea-hunting with large craft, unless we suppose that they\nlearned it from the Norwegians, and that it is thus a continuation of the\nmethods of the latter. It should also be remembered that the Kola\npeninsula as far as the White Sea itself was reckoned a tributary country\nof Norway (cf. p. 135), and that the name of the Murman coast means simply\nthe Norwegians' coast. None of the peoples on the north coast of Russia\ncan have been a seafaring people very far back, as is shown by their boats\nand appliances; and it is difficult to believe that they should have been\nable to develop independently a system of navigation on a coast presenting\nsuch unfavourable conditions; no doubt they could have done so with small\nboats, originally river-boats,[159] but not with larger craft; this they\nmust most probably have learned from their nearest seafaring neighbours,\nthe Norwegians, who were masters at sea.\n\nIt is remarkable that already as early as in Adam of Bremen white bears\n(polar bears) are mentioned as occurring in Norway (cf. vol. i. pp. 191,\nf.). That this might be due to the connection with Iceland and Greenland,\neven at that time, is perhaps possible, but not very probable, as these\ncountries are mentioned separately by Adam. The white bears in Norway may\nrather point to a connection with the Polar Sea and to the Norwegians\nhaving practised sealing there.\n\n[Sidenote: Mention of white bears in Norway]\n\n    It is perhaps due to the same connection of the Norwegians with the\n    Polar Sea that we find on the Italian Dalorto's map of 1325 (see next\n    chapter) and on several later maps the statement that there are white\n    bears in northern Norway. Probably polar bears' skins were brought to\n    the south from Norway as an article of commerce and the Norwegians may\n    have obtained the skins partly by their own hunting in the Polar Sea,\n    partly by the trade with Greenland, and partly, no doubt, by that with\n    the peoples on the north coast of Russia. The Arab Ibn Sa'id\n    (thirteenth century) mentions white bears in the northern islands,\n    amongst them the island of white falcons (i.e., Iceland). \"These\n    bears' skins are soft, and they are brought to the Egyptian lands as\n    gifts.\" In the \"Geographia Universalis\" of the thirteenth century (see\n    next chapter) the white bears in Iceland are described. It was a\n    common idea in southern Europe in the Middle Ages that Greenland, and\n    sometimes also Iceland (cf. Fra Mauro's map), lay to the north of\n    Norway, or they were made continuous with it, and even a part of it.\n\n    The Venetian Querini, who was wrecked on R\u00f6st Island and travelled\n    south through Norway in 1432, says that he saw a perfectly white\n    bear's skin at the foot of the Metropolitan's chair in St. Olaf's\n    Church at Trondhjem.[160] As Greenland was under the jurisdiction of\n    the Archbishop of Trondhjem, this skin may have been a gift from pious\n    Greenlanders, as perhaps were also the Eskimo hide-canoes mentioned by\n    Claudius Clavus (cf. p. 85). In Norse literature polar bears are\n    always connected with Icelanders or Greenlanders, who sometimes\n    brought them alive as gifts to kings.\n\n[Sidenote: Decline of the Norwegians' sea-hunting]\n\nWe may thus conclude from what has been advanced above that the hunting of\nwhales, seals, and particularly walrus was of great importance to the\nNorwegians in ancient times, and for the sake of the last they certainly\nmade extended expeditions in the Arctic Ocean. It may therefore be\ndifficult to understand how it came about that this sea-hunting declined\nto such an extent in more recent times that we hear nothing about the\nNorwegians' hunting in the Polar Sea, while in the sixteenth century\nfleets from the northern coasts of Russia were engaged in fishing and\nwalrus-hunting; and Peder Clauss\u00f6n Friis is able to say of whaling in\nNorway (about 1613):\n\n    \"In old time many expedients or methods were used in these lands\n    [i.e., Norway] for catching whales ... but on account of men's\n    unskilfulness they have fallen out of use, so that they now have no\n    means of hunting the whale unless he drifts ashore to them.\"\n\nThis seems to show that the Norwegians' whaling in open sea had really\ngone out of practice, for otherwise this author must have known of it; on\nthe other hand, whale-hunting in the fjords, which were closed by nets,\nhas continued to our time. Walrus-hunting (as well as sealing) appears to\nhave been still carried on in Finmark in Peder Clauss\u00f6n Friis's time.\n\n    His description of the animal and its hunting is in part accompanied\n    by stories similar to those in Olaus Magnus and Albertus Magnus (see\n    p. 163), and he mentions the great strength of walrus-hide ropes, and\n    their use \"for clappers in hanging bells, item for shore-ropes and\n    other ropes, and for the screws on the quay at Bergen, with which the\n    dried fish is screwed into barrels, and for such other uses as no\n    hawser or cable can so well serve for.\" This shows that these ropes\n    must have been widely employed and that there must have been\n    considerable hunting of walrus. According to an order of Christian\n    IV., dated from Bergenhus Castle, July 6, 1622, fifteen walrus-hides\n    were to be bought yearly for the King's service,[161] and from K.\n    Leem's description it seems that walrus was still hunted in Finmark in\n    his time (1767). He says too [1767, p. 302] that \"even the Sea-Lapps\n    of the Varanger-Fiord formerly practised whaling, using for that\n    purpose appliances invented and made by themselves.\" To this is added\n    in a note by Gunnerus: \"The same thing may also be said in our time of\n    the Lapps in Schjerv-island and of a few peasants in Nordland,\n    especially in Ofoten.\"\n\nBut in none of these accounts is there any hint that the Norwegians\ncarried on their hunting beyond the limits of the country, as Ottar did in\nthe ninth century.\n\nThe decline of this productive hunting may have come about through the\nconcurrence of many circumstances. Hostile relations with the Karelians\nand Russians on the east may have had some influence on it; as the latter\nin increasing numbers took up the same hunting in their smacks, the\neastward waters may have become unsafe for the Norwegians, who, though\nsuperior in seamanship, were inferior in numbers. But a more important\nfactor was the rapid growth of the fisheries on the home coasts in Finmark\nafter the fourteenth century, which may have claimed all available hands,\nleaving none over for fishing in more distant waters. Besides which the\ninfluence of the Hanseatic League no doubt contributed; then, as later,\nthey learned to prefer the valuable trade in dried fish to fitting out\nvessels for the more uncertain and dangerous hunting in the Polar Sea,\nwhich they knew nothing about. Finally came the royal edict of April 1562,\nwhich enforced Bergen's monopoly in the trade with Finmark, whereby the\ndead hand was laid upon this part of the country, as formerly upon\nGreenland. In those days a corresponding displacement of the arctic\nfisheries must have taken place from Norway to north Russia, as in the\nlast century again a displacement took place in the contrary direction,\nwhen the Russian hunting in the Arctic Ocean and Spitzbergen ceased and\nthe Norwegians again became the only hunters in these waters.\n\n[Sidenote: Decline of Norwegian navigation]\n\nIt was a concatenation of unfortunate accidents that produced the gradual\ndecline of the voyages of the Norwegians and of their unrestricted command\nof all northern waters from the White Sea, and probably also Novaya Zemlya\nand Spitzbergen, over all the northern islands, Shetland, the Orkneys (to\nsome extent the Hebrides, Man and Ireland), the Faroes, Iceland, and as\nfar as Greenland, and probably also for a time the north-east coast of\nAmerica. Unfavourable political conditions had a great deal to do with\nthis, not the least of them being the long union with Denmark, with the\nremoval of the seat of government to Copenhagen, which was extremely\nunfavourable to the interests of Norwegian commerce. To this was added the\ngrowing power of the Hanseatic League in Norway, the effect of which was\nas demoralising to all activity in the country as it was paralysing to our\nnavigation. But not the least destructive were the royal monopolies of\ntrade with the so-called tributary countries of the kingdom; like all\nState monopolies, they laid their dead hand upon all private enterprise.\nIn this way the Norwegian command of northern waters received its\ndeath-blow; while the mercantile fleets of other nations, especially the\nEnglish, came to the fore, to a large extent by making use of Norwegian\nseamanship and enterprise; thus the English seaport of Bristol seems to\nhave had many Norwegians among its citizens, who certainly found there\nbetter conditions to work under than at home.\n\nThe mass of knowledge the Norwegians had acquired about the northern\nregions, before their time entirely unknown, was to a great extent\nforgotten again; and at the close of the Middle Ages all that remained was\nthe communication with Iceland and the knowledge of the neighbouring seas,\nbesides the continuance of the connection between the White Sea and\nNorway; while the voyage to Greenland, to say nothing of America, was\nforgotten, at any rate by the mass of the people.\n\nThe development of humanity often proceeds with a strangely lavish waste\nof forces. How many needless plans and unsuccessful voyages, how much toil\nand how many human lives would not a knowledge of the Norwegians'\nextensive discoveries have been able to save in succeeding ages? How very\ndifferent, too, might have been the development of many things, if by the\nchances of an unlucky destiny the decline of Norwegian navigation had not\ncome just at a time when maritime enterprise received such a powerful\nimpetus among more southern nations, especially the Portuguese, then the\nSpaniards, later the French, the English and the Dutch. By their great\ndiscoveries it was these nations who introduced a new era in the history\nof navigation, and also in that of polar voyages. But if Norwegian\nseamanship had still been at its height at that time, then certainly the\nScandinavians of Greenland would once more have sought the already\ndiscovered countries on the west and south-west, and the Greenland\nsettlements might then have formed an important base for new undertakings,\nwhereby a new period of prosperity for Norwegian navigation and Norwegian\nenterprise might have been introduced. This was not to be; it was only\nreserved for the Norwegians to be the people who showed the way to the\nother nations out from the coasts and over the great oceans.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nCHAPTER XIII\n\nTHE NORTH IN MAPS AND GEOGRAPHICAL WORKS OF THE MIDDLE AGES\n\n\nAt the beginning of the Middle Ages and down to the fifteenth century the\ncartography of the Greeks, which had reached its summit in the work of\nPtolemy, was entirely unknown in Europe; while the early Greek conceptions\n(those of the Ionian school) of the disc of the earth or \"\u0153cumene\" as a\ncircle (called by the Romans \"orbis terrarum,\" the circle of the earth)\nround the Mediterranean--and externally surrounded by the universal\nocean--had persisted through the late Latin authors, and probably also\nthrough Roman maps. At the same time Parmenides' doctrine of zones (cf.\nvol. i. pp. 12, 123) remained prevalent owing to its enunciation by\nMacrobius, and maps exhibiting this doctrine were common until the\nsixteenth century. These two conceptions became the foundation of the\nlearned view and representation of the world, and consequently also of the\nNorth, throughout the greater part of the Middle Ages. It was the age of\nspeculation, not of observation. The Scandinavians were the first\ninnovators in geography, by going straight to nature as it is, unfettered\nby dogmas. The Italian and Catalan sailors followed later with their\nportulans (sailing-books) and compass-charts.\n\n[Illustration: Map of the world from Albi in Languedoc, also called the\nMerovingian map (eighth century). The east is at the top, the\nMediterranean in the middle, and the universal ocean outside, with its\nthree bays: the Caspian Sea, the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea]\n\n[Sidenote: Oldest medi\u00e6val maps]\n\n[Sidenote: The wheel-map type]\n\nWe find what is perhaps the oldest known Christian map of the world (cf.\nvol. i. p. 126) in the \"Christian Topography\" of Cosmas\nIndicopleustes.[162] An attempt is made to combine the Roman classical\nview of the world, as lands grouped round the Mediterranean, with Cosmas's\npious conception of it as formed on the same rectangular plan as the Jews'\ntabernacle. A map of the world of somewhat similar form is found in a MS.\n(by Orosius and Julius Honorius) of the eighth century, preserved in the\nlibrary at Albi in Languedoc. But these attempts must be regarded as\naccidental. Typical of that time were the so-called wheel- or T-maps, the\nshape of which was due especially to Isidore Hispaliensis (cf. vol. i. pp.\n151, ff.). The circular Roman maps of the world seem already to have had a\ntendency to a tripartition of the world: Europe, Asia and Africa. Sallust\n(in the \"Bellum Jugurtinum\") indicates something of the sort, and\nOrosius's geographical system seems to be founded upon a map of this\nkind. In St. Augustine we first find the division of the T-map clearly\nexpressed. This dogmatic-schematic form was fixed by Isidore, according to\nwhom the round disc of the earth surrounded by the outer ocean was to be\ncompared to a wheel (or an O), divided into three by a T.[163] Mechanical\nmap-forms after this prescription (cf. vol. i. pp. 125, 150) were common\nduring the whole of the first part of the Middle Ages until the fourteenth\ncentury; indeed they circulated and exercised influence far into the\nsixteenth; but sometimes, in accordance with the four corners of the earth\nin the Bible, the maps were given a square form instead of a round. In\nspite of the fact that most authors, among them Isidore himself, expressly\ndeclare that the earth had the form of a globe, this does not seem to have\nbeen anything more than a purely theoretical doctrine, for in\ncartographical representations, through the whole of the Middle Ages to\nabout the close of the fifteenth century, there is never any hint of\nprojection, or of any difficulty in transferring the spherical surface of\nthe earth to a plane, which had been so clearly present to the minds of\nthe Greeks.\n\n[Illustration: Beatus map, from Osma, 1203. The east is at the top]\n\n[Illustration: Northern Europe on Heinrich of Mainz's map, at Cambridge\n(1110)]\n\n[Sidenote: The Beatus map]\n\n[Sidenote: Sallust-maps]\n\nThe wheel-maps were, as we have said, from the first purely formal; but by\ndegrees an attempt was made to bring into the scheme real geographical\ninformation, although the endeavour to approach reality in the\nrepresentation is scarcely to be traced. To this type of map belongs the\nso-called Beatus map, which the Spanish monk Beatus (ob. 798) added to his\ncommentary on the Apocalypse, and which was reproduced in very varying\nforms, ten of which have been preserved. The original map, which is not\nknown, was probably round, but in the reproductions the circle of the\nearth is sometimes more or less round (as in the illustration, p. 184),\nsometimes oblong (cf. vol. i. p. 199), and sometimes four-sided with\nrounded corners [cf. K. Miller, ii., 1895]. Jerusalem was frequently\nplaced in the centre of the wheel-maps, Paradise (often with Adam and Eve\nat the time of the Fall, or with the four rivers of Paradise) in the\nextreme east of Asia, which is at the top of the map, and the\nMediterranean (Mare magnum), which forms the stem of the T, pointing down\n(cf. vol. i. p. 150). The cross-stroke of the T was formed by the rivers\nTanais (with the Black Sea) and Nile. In the band of ocean surrounding the\ndisc of the earth the oceanic islands were distributed more or less\naccording to taste, and as there happened to be room. Thus in the version\nof the Beatus map here given, from Osma in Spain (of 1203), Scandinavia\nappears as an island (\"Scada insula\") by the North Pole, as in the Ravenna\ngeographer (cf. the map, vol. i. p. 152), and the \"Orcades\" (the Orkneys)\nand \"Gorgades\" (the fabulous islands of the Greeks to the west of Africa)\nare placed on the north-east of Asia. The so-called Sallust-maps, drawn up\nfrom Sallust's description of the world in the Bellum Jugurtinum [cf. K.\nMiller, iii., 1895, pp. 110, ff.], were another type of very formal\nwheel-maps that were still current in the fourteenth century.\n\n[Illustration: Northern Europe on the Hereford map (circa 1280)]\n\n[Illustration: Northern part of the Psalter map (thirteenth century)]\n\n[Sidenote: The North on known wheel-maps of the Middle Ages]\n\nBut by degrees many changes were introduced into the strict scheme. The\nouter coast-line of the continents was in parts indented by bays and\nprolonged into peninsulas, and the islands were given a less formal shape.\nSuch attempts appear, for instance, in Heinrich of Mainz's map, which is\ntaken to have been drawn in 1110 [cf. K. Miller, iii., 1895, p. 22], and\nthe closely related \"Hereford map\" of about 1280 by Richard de Holdingham\n[cf. K. Miller, iv., 1896; Jomard, 1855]. Some resemblance to these maps\nis shown by the \"Psalter\" map in London, of the second half of the\nthirteenth century, and the closely related \"Ebstorf\" map of 1284 [cf. K.\nMiller, iii. pp. 37, ff.; iv. p. 3; v.]; and it is quite possible that\nthey may all be derived from the same original source; there is in\nparticular a great resemblance in their representation of Britain and\nIreland. On the first three of these maps Scandinavia or Norway (\"Noreya\"\nor \"Norwegia\") forms a peninsula with gulfs on the north and south sides.\nOn Heinrich's map there is beyond this an island or peninsula, called\n\"Ganzmir,\" a name which occurs again on the Hereford map (cf. vol. i. p.\n157); Miller explains it as a corruption of Canzia, Scanzia (Scandinavia).\nOn the \"Lambert\" map in the Ghent codex of before 1125 [cf. K. Miller,\niii., 1895, p. 45], \"Scanzia,\" also with the name \"Norwegia,\" is\nrepresented as a peninsula with narrow gulfs running up into the continent\non each side. \"Island\" (or \"Ysland\") appears on Heinrich's and the\nHereford maps as an island near Norway. On the Ebstorf map \"Scandinavia\ninsula\" and \"Norwegia\" are also shown as islands. Many fabulous countries,\nsuch as \"Iperboria\" (the land of the Hyperboreans), \"Arumphei\" (on the\nPsalter map, i.e., the land of the Aremph\u00e6ans, cf. vol. i. p. 88), etc.,\nappear as peninsulas or islands in the northern regions on several of\nthese maps; on the other hand, neither Greenland nor Wineland occurs on\nany of them.\n\n[Illustration: Northern Europe on the Lambert map at Ghent (before 1125)]\n\n[Illustration: Ranulph Higden's map of the world, in London (fourteenth\ncentury)]\n\n[Sidenote: Higden's work and the Geographia Universalis]\n\nRanulph Higden's map of the world, which accompanied his already mentioned\nwork, \"Polychronicon\" (of the first part of the fourteenth century), is\nmore fettered by the scheme of the wheel-maps in the form of the outer\ncoast-line and of the islands. He took his vows in 1299, was a monk of St.\nWerburg's Abbey at Chester, and died at a great age in 1363. Various\nreproductions of his map are known, but they display little sense of\nrealistic representation. \"Scandinavia\" is placed in Asia on the Black\nSea, together with the Amazons and Massaget\u00e6, and to the north of it\n\"Gothia\" (Sweden ?). Islands in the ocean off the coast of northern Europe\nare called \"Norwegia,\" \"Islandia,\" \"Witland\" (or \"Wineland,\" etc.), with\n\"gens ydolatra,\" \"Tile\" (Thule) and \"Dacia\" (Denmark) with \"gens\nbellicosa\" somewhere near the North Pole. In spite of this representation\non the map, the Polychronicon (cf. above, p. 31) contains various\nstatements about the North, which may point to a certain communication\nwith it, or may be echoes of Northern writers. Higden to a large extent\ncopied an earlier work, the \"Geographia Universalis,\" a sort of\ngeographical lexicon by an unknown author of the thirteenth century,[164]\nwhich is for the most part based on earlier writers, especially Isidore.\nBoth works are practically untouched by the knowledge of the North that\nhad already appeared in King Alfred and in Adam of Bremen, and show how\nmuch ignorance could still prevail in learned quarters on many points\nconnected with these regions. The \"Geographia\" speaks of \"Gothia,\" or\nlower Scythia, as a province of Europe, but obviously confuses Sweden (the\nland of the G\u00f6tar) and Eastern Germania (the land of the Goths). Norway\n(\"Norwegia\") was very large, far in the north, almost surrounded by the\nocean; it bordered on the land of the Goths (G\u00f6tar), and was separated\nfrom Gothia (Sweden) on the south and east by the river Albia (the G\u00f6ta\nriver). The inhabitants live by fishing and hunting more than by bread;\ncrops are few on account of the severity of the cold. There are many wild\nbeasts, such as white bears, etc. There are springs that turn hides, wood,\netc., into stone; there is midnight sun and corresponding winter darkness.\nCorn, wine and oil are wanting, unless imported. The inhabitants are tall,\npowerful and handsome, and are great pirates. \"Dacia\"[165] was divided\ninto many islands and provinces bordering on Germania. Its inhabitants\nwere descended from the Goths (G\u00f6tar ? cf. Jordanes, vol. i. p. 135), were\nnumerous and finely grown, wild and warlike, etc. \"Svecia\" (the land of\nthe Svear) is also mentioned. That part of it which lay between the\nkingdoms of the Danes and of the Norwegians was called Gothia. Svecia had\nthe Baltic Sea on the east and the British Ocean on the west, the\nmountains and people of Norway on the north, and the Danes on the south.\nThey had rich pastures, metals and silver mines. The people were very\nstrong and warlike, they once ruled over the greater part of Asia and\nEurope.\n\n    \"'Winlandia' is a country along the mountains of Norway on the east,\n    extending on the shore of the ocean; it is not very fertile except in\n    grass and forest; the people are barbarously savage and ugly, and\n    practise magical arts, therefore they offer for sale and sell wind to\n    those who sail along their coasts, or who are becalmed among them.\n    They make balls of thread and tie various knots on them, and tell\n    them to untie three or more knots of the ball, according to the\n    strength of wind that is desired. By making magic with these [the\n    knots] through their heathen practices, they set the demons in motion,\n    and raise a greater or less wind, according as they loosen more or\n    fewer knots in the thread, and sometimes they bring about such a wind\n    that the unfortunate ones who place reliance on such things perish by\n    a righteous judgment.\"\n\nIt is possible that the name \"Winlandia\" itself is a confusion of Finland\n(i.e., the land of the Finns [Lapps], Finmark) with Vinland (cf. above, p.\n31); although the description of the country must refer to the former. It\nmay be supposed that a misunderstanding of the name was the origin of the\nmyth of selling wind being connected with it. The idea persisted, and the\nsame myth is given so late as by Knud Leem [1767, p. 3] from an anonymous\nbook of travels in northern Norway.\n\nOf Iceland the \"Geographia\" says:\n\n    \"'Yselandia' is the uttermost part of Europe beyond Norway on the\n    north.... Its more distant parts are continually under ice by the\n    shore of the ocean on the north, where the sea freezes to ice in the\n    terrible cold. On the east it has Upper Scythia, on the south Norway,\n    on the west the Hibernian Ocean.... It is called Yselandia as the land\n    of ice, because it is said that there the mountains freeze together to\n    the hardness of ice. Crystals are found there. In that region are also\n    found many great and wild white bears, that break the ice in pieces\n    with their claws and make large holes, through which they plunge down\n    into the water and take fish under the ice. They draw them up through\n    the said holes, and carry them to the shore, and live on them. The\n    land is unfertile in crops except in a few places.... Therefore the\n    people live for the most part on fish and hunting and meat. Sheep\n    cannot live there on account of the cold, and therefore the\n    inhabitants protect themselves against the cold and cover their bodies\n    with the skins of the wild beasts they take in hunting.... The people\n    are very stout, powerful, and very white ('alba').\"\n\nIn Higden's Polychronicon Gothia is also spoken of as lower Scythia, but\namong the provinces of Asia, although it is said that it lies in Europe;\nit has on the north Dacia and the Northern Ocean. But the geographical\nconfusion in this work is greater; as already mentioned (p. 31), the\ncountries of the Scandinavians are described together with the Insul\u00e6\nFortunat\u00e6, Wyntlandia, etc., as islands in the outer ocean. The\ndisagreement between Higden's text and his map gives us an insight into\nhow little weight was attached at that time to the relation between maps\nand reality; they are for the most part merely graphic schemes. Probably\nHigden's map was partly copied from an older one, and the desirability of\nbringing it into better agreement with his text did not occur to him.\n\n[Sidenote: The Cottoniana map]\n\nThe so-called \"Anglo-Saxon mappamundi\" or \"Cottoniana\" (reproduced vol. i.\npp. 180, 183), which is in the British Museum, occupies a position of its\nown among early medi\u00e6val maps. Its age is uncertain; it may at the\nearliest date from the close of the tenth century, but possibly it is as\nlate as the twelfth [cf. K. Miller, iii., 1895, p. 31]. It exhibits no\nagreement with the text of Priscian (Latin translation of Dionysius\nPeriegetes, see vol. i. p. 114), to which it is appended. Many of the\nnames might rather be derived from Orosius, there is also great\nresemblance to Mela (cf. vol. i. pp. 85, ff.), and in some ways to the\nmedi\u00e6val maps already mentioned, although the representation of the North\nis different. Probably an older, perhaps Roman (?) map formed the basis of\nit. Name-forms like Island, Norweci[166] (Norwegia), Sleswic, Sclavi, may\nremind us of Adam of Bremen, but they may also be older. This map is\ndoubtless less formal than the pronounced wheel-map type, but it does not\nbear a much greater resemblance to reality, although the form of Britain,\nfor instance, may show an effort in that direction. The peninsula which\nhas been given the name of Norweci (Norway) has most resemblance to\nJutland, and the name seems to have been misplaced. No doubt it ought\nrather to have been attached to the long island lying to the north, which\nhas been given the names Scridefinnas and Island. The representation has\ngreat resemblance to Edrisi's map (cf. p. 203), where Denmark forms a\nsimilar peninsula, and Norway a similar long island, with two smaller\nislands to the east of Denmark, which is also alike. The \"Orcades Insule\"\nare given a wide extension on the Cottoniana map, and Tyle (Thule) lies to\nthe north-west of Britain, as it should do according to Orosius. This map\ndoes not therefore indicate, any more than the others, any particular\nincrease of knowledge of the North, and compared with King Alfred's work\nit is still far behind in the dark ages.\n\n[Sidenote: Macrobius's zone-maps]\n\nThe zone-maps, already alluded to, which are derived from Macrobius (cf.\nvol. i. p. 123), gave a formal representation of the earth of a peculiar\nkind, which was common throughout the whole of the Middle Ages; they may\nbe regarded as mathematical geography more than anything else. The earth\nis divided in purely formal fashion into five zones, two of which are\nhabitable: our temperate zone and the unknown temperate zone of the\nantipodes (in the southern hemisphere); and three uninhabitable: the\ntorrid zone with the equatorial ocean, and the two frigid zones, north and\nsouth. These conceptions also reached the North at an early time, and are\nmentioned in the \"King's Mirror,\" amongst other works, although its author\nthought that the inhabited part of Greenland really lay in the frigid\nzone. A zone-map from Iceland is also known of the thirteenth century.\nAnother of the fourteenth century and a kind of wheel-map of the twelfth\ncentury, but with geographical names only without coast-lines, are also\nfound in Icelandic MSS., besides a small wheel- and T-map.[167] Otherwise\nit is not known that maps were drawn in the North during the Middle Ages.\nA purely formal wheel- and T-map is known from Lund before 1159 [see\nBj\u00f6rnbo, 1909, p. 189]. Another Danish wheel-map of the sixteenth century\nis known [see Bj\u00f6rnbo, 1909, p. 192], and Bj\u00f6rnbo reproduces [1909, pp.\n193, ff.] two wheel-maps of 1486 from L\u00fcbeck, belonging to Professor\nWieser, where the lands and islands of the North are drawn as round discs\n(with names) in the outer universal ocean.\n\n\nTHE ARAB GEOGRAPHERS OF THE MIDDLE AGES\n\n[Sidenote: The Arabs' many connections]\n\nIf we turn now from the intellectual darkness of Christian Western Europe\nin the early Middle Ages to contemporary Arabic literature, it is as\nthough we entered a new world; not least is this shown in geographical\nscience, where the authors follow quite different methods. Through their\ncontact with the intellectual world of Greece in the Orient, the Arabs\nkept alive the Greek tradition; they had translations in their own\nlanguage of Euclid, Archimedes, Aristotle, the now lost work of Marinus of\nTyre, and others, and of special importance to their geographical\nknowledge was their acquaintance with Ptolemy's astronomy and geography,\nwhich had been forgotten in Europe, and which first became known there\nthrough the Arabs (cf. vol. i. p. 116). They were also acquainted with\nGreek cartography. To this education in Greek views and interests was\nadded the fact that they had better opportunities than any other nation of\ncollecting geographical knowledge; through their extensive conquests and\nthrough their trade they reached China on the east--where for a\nconsiderable time their merchants had fixed colonies, first in Canton (in\nthe eighth century), and later, in the ninth century, even in Kh\u00e2nfu (near\nShanghai)[168]--and the western coasts of Europe and Africa on the west,\nthe Sudan and Somaliland (and even Madagascar) on the south, and North\nRussia on the north. In spite of the religious fanaticism which in the\nseventh century made them an irresistible nation of conquerors, they had\ncivilisation enough to remember that \"the ink of science is worth more\nthan the blood of martyrs,\" and there flourished among them a remarkably\ncopious literature, with an endless variety of works, from the ninth\ncentury through the whole of the Middle Ages.\n\n[Sidenote: The Arabs' sense for geography]\n\nAlthough the Arabs never attained the Greeks' capacity for scientific\nthinking, their literature nevertheless reveals an intellectual\nrefinement which, with the dark Middle Ages of Europe as a background, has\nan almost dazzling effect. The Arab geographers have a special gift for\ncollecting concrete information about countries and conditions, about\npeoples' habits and customs, and in this they may serve as models; on the\nother hand sober criticism is not their strong side, and they had a\npronounced taste for the marvellous; if classical writers, and still more\nthe learned men of the European Middle Ages, had blended together\ntrustworthy information and fabulous myth more or less uncritically, the\nArabs did so to an even greater degree, and we often find in them a truly\noriental splendour in the mythical; thus it must not surprise us to hear\nof whales two hundred fathoms long and snakes that swallow elephants in\nthe same author (Ibn Khord\u00e2\u1e0fbah) who says that the earth is round like a\nsphere, and that all bodies are stable on its surface because the air\nattracts their lighter parts [thus we have the buoyancy of the air], while\nthe earth attracts towards its centre their heavy parts in the same way as\nthe magnet influences iron [a perfectly clear description of gravitation].\n\nChiefly on account of the language the new fund of geographical knowledge,\nwhich, together with much that is mythical, is contained in the rich\nliterature of the Arabs, did not attain any great importance in medi\u00e6val\nEurope; on the other hand the Arabs exercised more influence through the\ngeographical myths and tales which they brought orally from the East to\nEurope, and, as we have seen, the world of Irish myth, amongst others, was\ninfluenced thereby.\n\n[Sidenote: The Arabs' connection with the North]\n\nThe ideas of the Arabs about the North are, in most cases, very hazy.\nPutting aside the partly mythical conceptions that they had derived from\nthe Greeks (especially Ptolemy), they obtained their information about it\nchiefly in two ways: (1) by their commercial intercourse in the east with\nRussia--chiefly over the Caspian Sea with the towns of Itil and\nBulgar[169] on the Volga--they received information about the districts\nin the north of Russia, and also about the Scandinavians, commonly called\nR\u00fbs, sometimes also Warank. (2) Through their possessions in the western\nMediterranean, especially in Spain, they came in contact with the northern\npeoples of Western Europe, the Scandinavian Vikings (\"Ma\u01f5\u00fbs\") in\nparticular, and in that way acquired information.\n\n\"Ma\u01f5\u00fbs\"[170] means in the west the same northern people, the\nScandinavians, whom in the east the Arabs called R\u00fbs or Warangs, which\nword they may have got from the Greek \"Varangoi\" (\u0392\u03ac\u03c1\u03b1\u03b3\u03b3\u03bf\u03b9) and the\nRussian \"Varyag.\"\n\nAll that the Arab authors of the _oldest_ period have about the North, and\nthat is not taken from the Greeks, they got through their commercial\nconnections with Russia; but it is not until the ninth century and later\nthat anything worth mentioning appears, and even in the tenth and eleventh\ncenturies their ideas on the subject are very much tinged with myth.\nProfessor Alexander Seippel in his work \"Rerum Normannicarum fontes\nArabici\" [1896], printed in Arabic, has collected the most important\nstatements about the North in medi\u00e6val Arabic literature, and has been\ngood enough to translate parts of these, which I give in the following\npages. I have also made some additions from other sources. In an earlier\nchapter (pp. 143, ff.) several Arabic authors have already been quoted on\nthe connection with Northern Russia.\n\nThe imperfection of Arabic script and its common omission of vowels easily\ngive rise to all kinds of corruptions and misunderstandings; this is\nespecially fatal to the reproduction of foreign words and geographical\nnames, which explains the great uncertainty that prevails in their\ninterpretation.\n\n[Sidenote: Ibn Khord\u00e2\u1e0fbah, A.D. 885]\n\nIn the oldest Arab writers, of the ninth century and later, there is\nlittle or no knowledge of the North. We are only told in some of their\nworks that furs come from there, and that the ocean in the north is\nentirely unknown. Abu'l-Q\u00e2sim Ibn Khord\u00e2\u1e0fbah (ob. 912), a Persian by\ndescent and the Caliph's postmaster in Media, thus relates in his \"book\nof routes and provinces\" (completed about 885):[171]\n\n    \"As concerns the sea that is behind [i.e., to the north of] the Slavs,\n    and whereon the town of Tulia [i.e., Thule] lies, no ship travels upon\n    it, nor any boat, nor does anything come from thence. In like manner\n    none travels upon the sea wherein lie the Fortunate Isles, and from\n    thence nothing comes, and it is also in the west.\" \"The Russians,[172]\n    who belong to the race of the Slavs [i.e., Slavs and Germans], travel\n    from the farthest regions of the land of the Slavs to the shore of the\n    Mediterranean (Sea of Rum), and there sell skins of beaver and fox, as\n    well as swords\" (?).\n\nThe Russian merchants also descended the Volga to the Caspian Sea, and\ntheir goods were sometimes carried on camels to Bagdad.[173]\n\n[Sidenote: Ibn al-Faq\u00eeh, 900 A.D.]\n\n[Sidenote: Ibn al-Bahl\u00fbl, 910 A.D.]\n\n[Sidenote: Qod\u00e2ma]\n\nThere was no great change in knowledge of the North in the succeeding\ncenturies. Ibn al-Faq\u00eeh, about 900 A.D., has nothing to say about the\nNorth. He mentions in the seventh climate women who \"cut off one of their\nbreasts and burn it at an early age so that it may not grow big,\"[174] and\nhe says that Tulia (Thule) is an island in the seventh sea between Rumia\n(Rome) and Kharizm (Khwarizm in Turkestan), \"and there no ship ever puts\nin.\" Ibn al-Bahl\u00fbl, about 910 A.D., gives information after Ptolemy about\nthe latitudes of the northern regions and mentions two islands of Amazons,\none with men and one with women, in the extreme northern ocean [Seippel,\n1896]. Qod\u00e2ma Ibn \u01f4afar (ob. 948 or 949 A.D.) says of the encircling ocean\n(the Oceanus of the Greeks) in which the British Isles lie that\n\n    \"it is impossible to penetrate very far into this ocean, the ships\n    cannot get any farther there; no one knows the real state of this\n    ocean.\" [Cf. De Goeje in Ibn Khord\u00e2dhbeh, 1889, p. 174.]\n\n[Sidenote: Ibn Ruste, 912 A.D.]\n\nAb\u00fb 'Al\u00ee Ahmad Ibn Ruste, about 912 A.D., says of the Russians (\"R\u00fbs,\"\nthat is, Scandinavians, usually Swedes) that they live on an island, which\nis surrounded by a sea, is three days' journey (about seventy-five miles)\nlong, and is covered with forest and bogs; it is unhealthy and saturated\nto such a degree that the soil quakes where one sets foot on it. They come\nin ships to the land of the Slavs and attack them, etc. They have neither\nfixed property, nor towns, nor agriculture; their only means of support is\nthe trade in sable, squirrel and other skins, which they sell to any one\nwho will buy them. They are tall, of handsome appearance, and courageous,\netc.[175] Probably there is here a confusion of various statements; the\nideas about the unhealthy bog-lands are doubtless connected with northern\nRussia, and the trade in sables can scarcely be referred to the Swedes on\nthe Baltic.[176]\n\n[Sidenote: Al-Mas'\u00fbd\u00ee, before 950 A.D.]\n\nThe well-known historian, traveller and geographer, Abu'l Hasan 'Al\u00ee\nal-Mas'\u00fbd\u00ee (ob. 956), in his book (allegorically entitled \"Gold-washings\nand Diamond-mines\") repeats certain Arab astronomers who say\n\n    \"that at the end of the inhabited world in the north there is a great\n    sea, of which part lies under the north pole, and that in the vicinity\n    of it there is a town [or land] which is called Tulia, beyond which no\n    inhabited country is found.\" He mentions two rivers in Siberia: \"the\n    black and the white Irtish; both are considerable, and they surpass in\n    length the Tigris and Euphrates; the distance between their two mouths\n    is about ten days. On their banks the Turkish tribes Kaim\u00e2k and Ghuzz\n    have their camps winter and summer.\"\n\nHe also states that the black fox's skin, which is the most valuable of\nall, comes from the country of the Burt\u00e2sians (a Finnish people in\nRussia, Mordvins ?), and is only found there and in the neighbouring\ndistricts. Skins of red and white foxes are mentioned from the same\nlocality, and he gives an account of the extensive trade in furs, whereby\nthese skins are brought to the land of the Franks and Andalusia [i.e.,\nSpain], and also to North Africa, \"so that many think they come from\nAndalusia and the parts of the land of the Franks and of the Slavs that\nborder upon it.\"[177] He also has a statement to the effect that before\nthe year 300 of the Hegira [i.e., 912 A.D.] ships with thousands of men\nhad landed in Spain and ravaged the country.\n\n    \"The inhabitants asserted that these enemies were heathens, who made\n    an inroad every two hundred years, and penetrated into the\n    Mediterranean by another strait than that whereon the copper\n    lighthouse stands [i.e., the Straits of Gibraltar]. But I believe\n    (though Allah alone knows the truth) that they come by a strait\n    [canal] which is connected with M\u00e6otis [the Sea of Azov] and Pontus\n    [the Black Sea], and that they are Russians [i.e., Scandinavians] ...\n    for these are the only people who sail on these seas which are\n    connected with the ocean.\"[178]\n\nThis is evidently the ancient belief that the Black Sea was connected\nthrough M\u00e6otis with the Baltic.\n\n[Sidenote: Al-B\u00eer\u00fbn\u00ee, 1030 A.D.]\n\nThe celebrated astronomer and mathematician, Abu-r-Raih\u00e2n Muhammad\nal-B\u00eer\u00fbn\u00ee (973-1038, wrote in 1030),[179] a Persian by birth, is of\ninterest to us as the first Arabic author who uses the name \"Warank\"[180]\nfor Scandinavian, and mentions the Varangians' Sea or Baltic.\n\n    In his text-book of the elements of astronomy he says that from \"the\n    Encircling Ocean\" [the Oceanus of the Greeks], out into which one\n    never sails, but only along the coast, \"there proceeds a great bay to\n    the north of the Slavs, extending to the vicinity of the land of the\n    Mohammedan Bulgarians [on the Volga]. It is known by the name of the\n    Varangians' Sea ('Ba\u1e25r Warank'), and they [the Varangians] are a\n    people[181] on its coast. Then it bends to the east in rear of them,\n    and between its shore and the uttermost lands of the Turks [i.e., in\n    East Asia] there are countries and mountains unknown, desert,\n    untrodden.\"\n\nAl-B\u00eer\u00fbn\u00ee also has a very primitive map of the world as a round disc in\nthe ocean, indented by five bays, of which the Varangians' Sea is one [cf.\nSeippel, 1896, Pl. I]. The peoples who are beyond the seventh climate,\nthat is, in the northernmost regions, are few, says he, \"such as the \u00ces\u00fb\n[i.e., W\u00ees\u00fb], and the Warank, and the Yura [Yugrians] and the like.\"\n\n[Sidenote: Al-\u0120az\u00e2l's voyage to the Ma\u01f5\u00fbs]\n\nThe Arabs of the West came in contact with the North through the Norman\nVikings, whom they called Ma\u01f5\u00fbs (cf. p. 55), and who in the ninth century\nand later made several predatory expeditions to the Spanish Peninsula.\nTheir first attack on the Moorish kingdom in Spain seems to have taken\nplace in 844, when, amongst other things, they took and sacked Seville.\nAfter that expedition, an Arab writer tells us, friendly relations were\nestablished between the sultan of Spain, 'Abd ar-Ra\u1e25m\u00e2n II., and \"the king\nof the Ma\u01f5\u00fbs,\" and, according to an account in Abu'l-Kha\u021b\u021b\u00e2b 'Omar Ibn\nDi\u1e25ya[183] (ob. circa 1235), the former is even said to have sent an\nambassador, al-\u0120az\u00e2l, to the latter's country. Ibn Di\u1e25ya says that he took\nthe account from an author named Tamm\u00e2m Ibn 'Alqama (ob. 896), who again\nis said to have had it from al-\u0120az\u00e2l's own mouth. It is obviously\nuntrustworthy, but may possibly have a historical kernel. The king of the\nMa\u01f5\u00fbs had first sent an ambassador to 'Abd ar-Ra\u1e25m\u00e2n to sue for peace (?);\nand al-\u0120az\u00e2l accompanied him home again, in a well-appointed ship of his\nown, to bring the answer and a present. They arrived first at an island on\nthe borders of the land of the Ma\u01f5\u00fbs people.[184] From thence they went to\nthe king, who lived on a great island in the ocean, where there were\nstreams of water and gardens. It was three days' journey or 300 [Arab]\nmiles from the continent.\n\n    \"There was an innumerable multitude of the Ma\u01f5\u00fbs, and in the vicinity\n    were many other islands, great and small, all inhabited by Ma\u01f5\u00fbs, and\n    the part of the continent that lies near them also belongs to them,\n    for a distance of many days' journey. They were then heathens (Ma\u01f5\u00fbs);\n    now they are Christians, for they have abandoned their old religion of\n    fire-worship,[185] only the inhabitants of certain islands have\n    retained it. There the people still marry their mothers or sisters,\n    and other abominations are also committed there [cf. Strabo on the\n    Irish, vol. i. p. 81]. With these the others are in a state of war,\n    and they carry them away into slavery.\"\n\nThis mention of many islands with the same people as those established on\nthe continent may suit the island kingdom of Denmark; but Ireland, with\nthe Isle of Man, the Scottish islands, etc., lies nearer, and moreover\nagrees better with the 300 miles from the continent.\n\nWe are next told of their reception at the court of the king and of their\nstay there, and especially how the handsome and wily Moorish ambassador\npaid court in prose and verse to the queen,[186] who was very compliant.\nWhen Ibn 'Alqama asked al-\u0120az\u00e2l whether she was really so beautiful as he\nhad given her to understand, that prudent diplomatist answered:\n\"Certainly, she was not so bad; but to tell the truth, I had use for\nher....\" When he was afraid his daily visits might attract attention, she\nlaughed and said:\n\n    \"Jealousy is not among our customs. With us the women do not stay with\n    their husbands longer than they like; and when their consorts cease to\n    please them, they leave them.\" With this may be compared the statement\n    for which Qazw\u00een\u00ee gives a\u021b-\u021aart\u00fbshi (tenth century) as authority, that\n    in Sleswick the women separate from their husbands when they please\n    [cf. G. Jacob, 1876, p. 34].\n\nAfter an absence of twenty months, al-\u0120az\u00e2l returned to the capital of the\nsultan 'Abd ar-Ra\u1e25m\u00e2n. In the excellence of its realistic description and\nthe introduction of direct speeches this tale bears a remarkable\nresemblance to the peculiar method of narration of the Icelandic sagas.\n\n[Sidenote: Al-Idr\u00ees\u00ee, 1154 A.D.]\n\nThe best known of the western Arab geographers is Ab\u00fb 'Abdall\u00e2h Mu\u1e25ammad\nal-Idr\u00ees\u00ee (commonly called Edrisi), who gives beyond comparison the most\ninformation about the North. He is said to have been born in Sebta (Ceuta)\nabout 1099 A.D., to have studied in Cordova, and to have made extensive\nvoyages in Spain, to the shores of France, and even of England, to Morocco\nand Asia Minor. It is certain that in the latter part of his life he\nresided for a considerable time at the court of the Norman king of Sicily,\nRoger II., which during the Crusades was a meeting-place of Normans,\nGreeks and Franks. According to Edrisi's account, Roger collected through\ninterpreters geographical information from all travellers, caused a map to\nbe drawn on which every place was marked, and had a silver planisphere\nmade, weighing 450 Roman pounds, upon which were engraved the seven\nclimates of the earth, with their countries, rivers, bays, etc.[187]\nEdrisi wrote for him his description of the earth in Arabic, which was\ncompleted in 1154, and was accompanied by seventy maps and a map of the\nworld. Following the Greek model, the inhabited world, which was situated\nin the northern hemisphere, was divided into seven climates, extending to\n64\u00b0 N. lat.; farther north all was uninhabited on account of the cold and\nsnow. Edrisi describes in his great work the countries of the earth in\nthese climates, which again are divided each into ten sections, so that\nthe book contains in all seventy sections.[188]\n\n[Illustration: Edrisi's representation of Northern Europe, put together,\nand much reduced, from eight of his maps. (Chiefly after Seippel's\nreproduction [1896] and after Lelewel [1851].) Some of the Arabic names\nare numbered on the map and given below according to Seippel's reading\n\n(1) \"Kh\u00e2lia\" (empty); (2) the first part of the 7th climate; (3) \"\u01f5az\u00eerat\nBirl\u00e2nda\" (the island of Birl\u00e2nda, by a common error for Ireland); (4)\n\"khar\u00e2b\" (desert); (5) the island of \"Dans\" or \"Vans\" (Seippel reads\nWales); (6) \"\u01f5az\u00eerat Angilt\u00e2ra\" (the island of England); (7) \"\u01f5az\u00eerat\nSq\u00f4sia\" (the island, or peninsula, of Scotland); (8) \"al-ba\u1e25r al-muslim\nash-sham\u00e2l\u00ee\" (the dark northern ocean); (9) \"\u01f5az\u00eerat Isl\u00e2nda\" (the island\nof Iceland); (10) \"\u01f5az\u00eerat D\u00e2n\u00e2markha\" (the island, or peninsula, of\nDenmark); (11) \"Hrsns\" (Horsens); (12) \"Alsia\" (Als ?); (13) \"Sliaswiq\";\n(14) \"Lund\u00fbnia\" (Lund); (15) \"s\u00e2\u1e25il ar\u1e0d Pol\u00f4nia\" (the coast of Poland);\n(16) \"Derl\u00e2nem\" (Bornholm ?); (17) \"Landsu(d)den\" (in Finland); (18)\n\"Zw\u00e2da\" (Sweden); (19) \"nahr Qutalw\" (the G\u00f6ta river); (20) \"\u01f5az\u00eerat\nNorw\u00e2ga\" (the island of Norway); (21) may be read \"Tr\u00f4n\u00e2\" (Trondheim);\n(22) \"'Osl\u00f4\" (Oslo); (23) \"Siqt\u00fbn\"; (24) \"bil\u00e2d Finmark\" (the district of\nFinmark); (25) \"Qalm\u00e2r\"; (26) \"Ab\u00fbda\" (\u00c5bo ?); (27) \"mabda' nahr\nD(a)n(a)st\" (the beginning of the river Dniestr ?); (28) \"ar\u1e0d Tabast\" (the\nland of Tavast); (29) \"Da\u0121w\u00e2da\" (Dag\u00f6 ?); (30) \"\u01f5az\u00eerat Amaz\u00e2n\u00fbs er-ri\u01f5\u00e2l\nal-ma\u01f5\u00fbs\" (the island of the male heathen Amazons); (31) \"\u01f5az\u00eerat Amaz\u00e2n\u00fbs\nan-nis\u00e2\" (the island of the female Amazons)]\n\nOn the outside of all is the Dark Sea [i.e., Oceanus, the uttermost\nencircling ocean], which thus forms the limit of the world, and no one\nknows what is beyond it. After describing Angilt\u00e2ra [England] with its\ntowns, Edrisi continues:\n\n    \"Between the end of Sq\u00f4sia [Scotland], a desert island [i.e.,\n    peninsula],[189] and the end of the island of Irl\u00e2nda is reckoned two\n    days' sail to the west. Ireland is a very large island. Between its\n    upper [i.e., southern, as the maps of the Arabs had the south at the\n    top] end and Brittany is reckoned three and a half days' sail. From\n    the end of England to the island of Wales (?)[190] one day. From the\n    end of Sq\u00f4sia to the island of Isl\u00e2nda two-thirds of a day's sail in a\n    northern direction. From the end of Isl\u00e2nda to the great island of\n    Irl\u00e2nda one day. From the end of Isl\u00e2nda eastward to the island of\n    Norw\u00e2ga [Norway] twelve miles (?).[191] Iceland extends 400 miles in\n    length and 150 in breadth.\"\n\nD\u00e2n\u00e2markha is described as an island, round in shape and with a sandy\nsoil; on the map it is connected with the continent by a narrow isthmus.\nThere are \"four chief towns, many inhabitants, villages, well protected\nand well populated ports surrounded by walls.\" The following towns are\nnamed: \"Alsia\" [Als ?], \"Tord\u00eera\" or \"Tond\u00eera\" [T\u00f6nder], \"Haun\"\n[Copenhagen], \"Horsnes\" [Horsens], \"Lund\u00fbna\" [Lund], \"Slisb\u00fbl\u00ee\" [Sliaswiq\n?]. From \"Wendilsk\u00e2da,\" written \"Wad\u00ee Lesq\u00e2da\" [Vendelskagen], it is a\nhalf-day's sail to the island of \"Norw\u00e2\u0121a\" [Norway]. An island to the east\nof Denmark and near Lund is called on the map \"Derl\u00e2nem\" [Bornholm ?].\n\nOn the continent to the south of Denmark is the coast of \"Pol\u00f4nia\"\n[Poland], and to the east of it, also on the continent, is \"Zw\u00e2da\"\n[Sweden], and a town \"G\u00fbta\" [G\u00f6taland], also \"Landsu(d)den\" [in Finland].\nWe have further the river \"Qutelw\" [the G\u00f6ta river], on which is the town\nof \"Siqtun.\" There is also \"Q\u00eemia\" [Kemi ?]. Farther east is \"bil\u00e2d\nFinmark\" [the district of Finmark],[192] where we still find the river\nQutelw with the town of \"Ab\u00fbda\" [\u00c5bo ?] inland, and \"Qalm\u00e2r\" on the coast\nnear another outlet of the G\u00f6ta river. These two towns are\n\n    \"large but ill populated, and their inhabitants are sunk in poverty;\n    they scarcely find the necessary means of living. It rains there\n    almost continually.... The King of Finmark has possessions in the\n    island of Norw\u00e2\u0121a.\"\n\nNext on the east comes the land of \"Tabast\" [Tavast] with \"'Da\u0121w\u00e2da' [Dag\u00f6\n?], a large and populous town on the sea.\" In the land of Tabast\n\n    \"are many castles and villages, but few towns. The cold is more severe\n    than in Finmark, and frost and rain scarcely leave them for a moment.\"\n\nFarther east Esthonia and the land of the heathen are also mentioned.\n\n    \"As regards the great island of Norw\u00e2\u0121a [Norway], it is for the most\n    part desert. It is a large country which has two promontories, of\n    which the left-hand one approaches the island of D\u00e2n\u00e2markha, and lies\n    opposite to the harbour that is called Wendilsk\u00e2da, and between them\n    the passage is short, about half a day's sail; the other approaches\n    the great coast of Finmark. On this island [Norw\u00e2\u0121a] are three\n    inhabited towns,[193] of which two are in the part that turns towards\n    Finmark, the third in the part that approaches D\u00e2n\u00e2markha. These towns\n    have all the same appearance, those who visit them are few, and\n    provisions are scarce on account of the frequent rain and continual\n    wet. They sow [corn] but reap it green, whereupon they dry it in\n    houses that are warmed, because the sun so seldom shines with them. On\n    this island there are trees so great of girth as are not often found\n    in other parts. It is said that there are some wild people living in\n    the desert regions, who have their heads set immediately upon their\n    shoulders and no neck at all. They resort to trees, and make their\n    houses in their interiors and dwell in them. They support themselves\n    on acorns and chestnuts. Finally there is found there a large number\n    of the animal called beaver; but it is smaller than the beaver [that\n    comes] from the mouth of Russia\" [i.e., no doubt, from the mouths of\n    the Russian rivers].\n\n    \"In the Dark Sea [i.e., the outer encircling ocean] there are a number\n    of desert islands. There are, however, two which bear the name of the\n    Islands of the Heathen Amazons. The western one is inhabited solely by\n    men; there is no woman on it. The other is inhabited solely by women,\n    and there is no man among them. Every year at the coming of spring the\n    men travel in boats to the other isle, live with the women, pass a\n    month or thereabouts there, and then return to their own island, where\n    they remain until the next year, when each one goes to find his woman\n    again, and thus it is every year. This custom is well known and\n    established. The nearest point opposite to these islands is the town\n    of Anh\u00f4 (?). One can also go thither from Qalm\u00e2r and from Da\u0121w\u00e2da\n    [Dag\u00f6 ?], but the approach is difficult, and it is seldom that any one\n    arrives there, on account of the frequency of fog and the deep\n    darkness that prevails on this sea.\"\n\nEdrisi says that there are many inhabited and uninhabited islands in the\nDark Sea to the west of Africa and Europe; indeed, according to Ptolemy\n\"this ocean contained 27,000 islands.\" He mentions some of them. There is\nan island called \"S\u00e2ra,\" near the Dark Sea.\n\n    \"It is related that \u1e0eu'l-Qarnain (Alexander the Great ?) landed there\n    before the deep darkness had covered the surface of the sea, and spent\n    a night there, and that the inhabitants of the island attacked him and\n    his companions with stones and wounded many of them [cf. the\n    Skr\u00e6lings' attack in Eric the Red's Saga, and the island of smiths in\n    the Navigatio Brandani, vol. i. p. 328; vol. ii. p. 9]. Another island\n    in the same sea is called the Isle of Female Devils ('\u01f5az\u00eerat\n    as-sa'\u00e2l\u00ee'), whose inhabitants resemble women more than men; their\n    eyeteeth protrude, their eyes flash like lightning, their cheeks are\n    like burnt wood; they speak an incomprehensible language and wage war\n    with the monsters of the ocean....\"\n\nHe also mentions the Isle of Illusion (\"\u01f5az\u00eerat khusr\u00e2n\" == \"Villuland,\"\ncf. vol. i. p. 377), of great extent, inhabited by men of brown colour,\nsmall stature, and with long beards reaching to their knees; they have a\nlarge (broad)[194] face and long ears [cf. the ideas of the Pygmies,\ndwarfs, underground people and brownies], they live on plants that the\nearth produces of itself. There was a further large island \"al-\u0120aur,\" with\nabundance of grass and plants of all kinds, where wild asses and oxen with\nunusually long horns lived in the thickets. There was the Isle of\nLamentation (\"\u01f5az\u00eerat al-mustashk\u00een\"), which was inhabited, and had\nmountains, rivers, many trees, fruits and tilled fields; but where there\nwas a terrible dragon, of which Alexander freed the inhabitants. On the\nisland of \"Kalh\u00e2n\" in the same sea the inhabitants have the form of men\nbut animal heads; another island was called the Isle of the Two Heathen\nBrothers, who practised piracy and were changed into two rocks. He also\nnames the Island of Sheep and \"R\u00e2ka,\" which is the Island of Birds (cf.\npp. 51, 55).\n\n    \"To the islands in this sea belongs also the island of 'Sh\u00e2sland'\n    [presumably Shetland, perhaps confused with Iceland], the length of\n    which is fifteen days' journey, and the breadth ten. It had three\n    towns, large and populous; ships put in and stayed there to buy ambra\n    (amber ?) and stones of various colours; but the majority of the\n    inhabitants perished in dissensions and civil war which took place in\n    the country. Many of them removed to the coast of the European\n    continent, where large numbers of this people still live....\"\n\nWhat is here said about this island is approximately the same as Edrisi\nelsewhere states about the island of Scotland, following the \"Book of\nWonders,\" which is attributed to Mas'\u00fbd\u00ee.\n\nIt will be seen that he has a very heterogeneous mixture of islands in\nthis western ocean. Some of them, like the Island of Sheep and that of\nBirds, as already suggested (p. 55), probably came from Ireland, and this\nwhole archipelago is evidently related to the numerous islands of Irish\nlegend, and points to an ancient connection, which may have consisted in\nreciprocal influence; while many of these conceptions travelled from the\neast through the Arabs to western Europe and Ireland, the Arabs again may\nhave received ideas from the Irish and from western Europe and carried\nthem to the east. Thus Edrisi relates that, according to the author\n[Mas'\u00fbd\u00ee] of the \"Book of Wonders,\" the king of France sent a ship (which\nnever returned) to find the island of R\u00e2k\u00e2; we may therefore conclude that\nthe Arabs had this myth from Europe. That many of these islands are\ninhabited by demons and little people, who resemble the northern brownies\nand the Skr\u00e6lings, is interesting, and shows that whether the myths came\nfrom the Irish to the Arabs or vice versa, there were in this mythical\nworld various similar peoples who may have helped to form the epic\nconceptions of the Skr\u00e6lings of Wineland (cf. pp. 12, 75).\n\nEdrisi's map of the world is to a great extent an imitation of Ptolemy's,\nbut shows much deviation, which may resemble the conceptions of Mela, for\ninstance. It might seem possible that Edrisi was acquainted with some\nRoman map or other. In his representation of the west and north coast of\nEurope, for instance, there are also remarkable resemblances to the\nso-called Anglo-Saxon map of the world (cf. vol. i. p. 183; vol. ii. p.\n192); this may point to both being derived from some older source, perhaps\na Roman map (?).[195]\n\n[Sidenote: Ibn Sa'\u00eed, thirteenth century]\n\nAbu'l-Hasan 'Al\u00ee Ibn Sa'\u00eed (1214 or 1218-1274 or 1286) says (in his book:\n\"The extent of the earth in its length and breadth\")[196] of Denmark (the\nname of which he corrupts to \"\u1e24arm\u00fbsa\") that from thence are obtained true\nfalcons (for hunting):\n\n    \"Around it are small islands where the falcons are found. To the west\n    lies the island of white falcons, its length from west to east is\n    about seven days and its breadth about four days, and from it and from\n    the small northern islands are obtained the white falcons, which are\n    brought from here to the Sultan of Egypt, who pays from his treasury\n    1000 dinars for them, and if the falcon arrives dead the reward is 500\n    dinars. And in their country is the white bear, which goes out into\n    the sea and swims and catches fish, and these falcons seize what is\n    left over by it, or what it has let alone. And on this they live,\n    since there are no [other] flying creatures there on account of the\n    severity of the frost. The skin of these bears is soft, and it is\n    brought to the Egyptian lands as a gift.\"\n\nHe speaks of the women's island and the men's island which are separated\nby a strait ten miles across, over which the men row once a year and stay\neach with his woman for one month. If the child is a boy, she brings it up\nuntil it reaches maturity, and then sends it to the men's island; the\ngirls stay on the women's island.\n\n    \"To the east of these two islands is the great Saqlab island [i.e. the\n    Slavs' island, which is Edrisi's Norw\u00e2\u0121a], behind which there is\n    nothing inhabited in the ocean either on the east or north, and its\n    length is about 700 miles, and its width in the middle about 330\n    miles.\" Then he says a good deal about the inhabitants, amongst other\n    things that they are still heathens and worship fire, and on account\n    of the severity of the cold do not regard anything as of greater\n    utility than it. This is evidently the same error as in Ibn Di\u1e25ya, due\n    to the designation of \"Ma\u01f5\u00fbs\" (== Magian) for heathen (cf. p. 201).\n\n[Sidenote: Qazw\u00een\u00ee, thirteenth century]\n\nZakar\u00eey\u00e2 Ibn Mu\u1e25ammad al-Qazw\u00een\u00ee (ob. 1283) has in his cosmography[197]\nseveral statements about the North, some of which have already been\nreferred to (vol. i. pp. 187, 284; vol. ii. p. 144). Of the northern\nwinter he has very exaggerated ideas. Even of the land of \"R\u00fbm\" [the\nRoman, especially the Eastern Roman Empire; in a wider sense the countries\nof Central Europe] he says that winter there has become a proverb, so that\na poet says of it:\n\n    \"Winter in R\u00fbm is an affliction, a punishment and a plague; during it\n    the air becomes condensed and the ground petrified; it makes faces to\n    fade, eyes to weep, noses to run and change colour; it causes the skin\n    to crack and kills many beasts. Its earth is like flashing bottles,\n    its air like stinging wasps; its night rids the dog of his whimpering,\n    the lion of his roar, the birds of their twittering and the water of\n    its murmur, and the biting cold makes people long for the fires of\n    Hell.\"\n\n    He says of the people of R\u00fbm [i.e., the Germanic peoples of Central\n    Europe] that \"their complexion is for the most part fair on account of\n    the cold and the northern situation, and their hair red; they have\n    hardy bodies, and for the most part are given to cheerfulness and\n    jocularity, wherefore the astronomers place them under the influence\n    of the planet Venus.\"\n\nOf the cold in \"Ifran\u01f5a\" [the land of the Franks, Western Europe] he says\nthat it\n\n    \"is quite terrible, and the air there is thick on account of the\n    excessive cold.\"[198]\n\n    \"'Bur\u01f5\u00e2n' [or 'Berg\u00e2n,' as the first vowel is doubtful] is a land\n    which lies far in the north. The day there becomes as short as four\n    hours and the night as long as twenty hours, and vice versa [cf.\n    Ptolemy on Thule, vol. i. p. 117]. The inhabitants are heathens\n    ['Ma\u01f5\u00fbs'] and worshippers of idols. They make war on the Slavs. They\n    resemble in most things the Franks [West Europeans]. They have a good\n    understanding of all kinds of handicraft and ships.\"\n\nProfessor Seippel considers it not impossible that there may here be a\ncorruption of the Arabic Nurm\u00e2n [== Normans] to Bur\u01f5\u00e2n, and to a layman\nthis looks probable. In any case Bur\u01f5\u00e2n cannot here, as elsewhere in Arab\nauthors, be Bulgar [the Bulgarians]; on the other hand it might be the\nNorwegian town of Bergen. In any case the description seems to suit the\nNorwegians best, and the mention of Ptolemy's latitude for Thule (the\nlongest night of twenty hours) also points to this. That they are said to\nbe heathens is due again to the name \"Ma\u01f5\u00fbs\" (cf. pp. 201, 209).\n\nQazw\u00een\u00ee also[199] tells us that\n\n    \"Warank is a district on the border of the northern sea. For from the\n    ocean in the north a bay goes in a southerly direction, and the\n    district which lies on the shore of this bay, and from which the bay\n    has its name, is called Warank. It is the uttermost region on the\n    north. The cold there is excessive, the air thick, and the snow\n    continuous. [This region] is not suited either for plants or animals.\n    Seldom does any one come there, because of the cold and darkness and\n    snow. But All\u00e2h knows best [what is the truth of the matter].\"\n\nAs mentioned above (p. 199), elsewhere in Arab writers the Varangians' Sea\nundoubtedly meant the Baltic; but here, as is also suggested by Professor\nSeippel, one might be tempted to think that it is Varanger or the\nVaranger-fjord in Finmark that is intended.[200] It may also be recalled\nthat Edrisi already knew the name of Finmark. But as Qazw\u00een\u00ee has such\nexaggerated ideas of the cold in R\u00fbm and in Ifran\u01f5a, he may also be\ncredited with such a description of the regions on the Baltic.[201] No\nimportance can be attached to the statement that the bay proceeds from the\nnorthern ocean in a southerly direction, as ideas of that kind were\ngeneral.\n\n[Sidenote: 'Ash-Sh\u00eeraz\u00ee circa 1300]\n\nMahm\u00fbd ibn Mas \u00fbd 'ash-Sh\u00eer\u00e2z\u00ee (ob. 1310) has the following about the\nnorthern regions:[202]\n\n    \"Thus far as regards the islands: you may know that in that part [of\n    the sea] which goes into the north-western quarter [of the earth] and\n    is connected with the western ocean there are three, whereof the\n    largest is the island 'Angl\u00ees\u00ee' [or 'Anglisei' (-island), probably\n    England], and the smallest the island Irl\u00e2nda. The most handsome of\n    hunting-birds--those that are known by the name of 'sunqur'\n    [hunting-falcons]--are only found on it [this island]. The middlemost\n    of them is the island of Orknia.\" Probably Ireland and Iceland are\n    here thrown together under the name of Irl\u00e2nda, as elsewhere falcons\n    are especially attributed to the latter. \"The longest day reaches\n    twenty hours where the latitude is 63\u00b0 [cf. Ptolemy, vol. i. p. 117].\n    There is an island that is called T\u00fbl\u00ea. Of its inhabitants it is\n    related that they live in heated bathrooms [literally, warm baths] on\n    account of the severe cold that prevails there. This is generally\n    considered to be the extreme latitude of inhabited land.\" It appears\n    to be Norway that is here meant by Thule.\n\n    Sh\u00eeraz\u00ee says that \"the sea that among the ancients was called M\u00e6otis\n    is now called the Varangians' Sea, and these are a tall, warlike\n    people on its shore. And after the ocean has gone past the Varangians'\n    country in an easterly direction it extends behind the land of the\n    Turks, past mountains which no one traverses and lands where no one\n    dwells, to the uttermost regions of the land of the Chinese, and\n    because these are also uninhabited, and because it is impossible to\n    sail any farther upon it [the ocean], we know nothing of its\n    connection with the eastern ocean.\"\n\n[Sidenote: Dimashq\u00ee, circa 1300]\n\nShams ad-d\u00een Ab\u00fb 'Abdall\u00e2h Mu\u1e25ammad ad-Dimashq\u00ee (1256-1327) in his\ncosmography has little of interest about the North, and his ideas on the\nsubject are obscure.\n\n    \"The habitable part of the earth extends as far as 66-5/12\u00b0;[203] the\n    regions beyond, up to 90\u00b0, are desert and uninhabited; no known\n    animals are found there on account of the great quantity of snow and\n    the thick darkness, and the too great distance from the sun.... It is\n    the climate of darkness.\" It lies in the middle of the seventh\n    climate, which surrounds it as a circular belt, and \"around it the\n    vault of heaven turns like the stone in a mill.\"\n\n    \"The sea beyond the deserts of the Qipdjaks [southern Russia,\n    Turkestan and western Siberia] in latitude 63\u00b0 has a length of eight\n    days' journey, with a breadth varying to as little as three. In this\n    sea there is a great island [probably Scandinavia], inhabited by\n    people of tall stature, with fair complexions, fair hair and blue\n    eyes, who scarcely understand human speech.[204] It is called the\n    Frozen Sea because in winter it freezes entirely, and because it is\n    surrounded by mountains of ice. These are formed when the wind in\n    winter breaks the waves upon the shore; as they freeze they are cast\n    upon the icy edges, which grow in layers little by little, until they\n    form heights with separate summits, and walls that surround\n    them.\"[205]\n\nHe has besides various strange fables about the northern regions and the\nfabulous creatures there. Of the sea to the north of Britain he says that\nits coasts\n\n    \"turn in a north-westerly direction, and there is the great bay that\n    is called the Varangians' Sea, and the Varangians are an inarticulate\n    people who scarcely understand human speech, and they are the best of\n    the Slavs, and this arm of the sea is the Sea of Darkness in the\n    north.\"\n\nAfterwards the coasts extend farther still to the north and west, and lose\nthemselves in the climate of Darkness, and no one knows what is there.\n\nOf the whales he says that in the Black Sea a kind of whale is often seen\nwhich the ignorant assert to have been carried by angels alive into Hell,\nto be used for various punishments, while others think it keeps at the\nbottom of the sea and lives on fish;\n\n    \"then All\u00e2h sends to it a cloud and angels, who lift it up out of the\n    sea and cast it upon the shore for food for Y\u00e2\u01f5\u00fb\u01f5 and M\u00e2\u01f5\u00fb\u01f5. The\n    whales are very large in the Mediterranean, in the Caspian Sea(!) and\n    in the Varangians' Sea(!), as also off the coasts of Spain in the\n    Atlantic Ocean.\"\n\n[Sidenote: Book of Wonders, tenth century]\n\nThere is preserved an \"abstract of wonders\" (oldest MS. of 1484),[206] by\nan unknown Arab author, which gives a picture of the Arabs' mythical ideas\nin the tenth century. It also tells of islands in the west, which are of\ninterest to us on account of their resemblance to many of the medi\u00e6val\nmythical conceptions of Western Europe.\n\n    \"In the great ocean is an island which is visible at sea at some\n    distance, but if one tries to approach it, it withdraws and\n    disappears. If one returns to the place one started from, it is seen\n    again as before. It is said that upon this island is a tree that\n    sprouts at sunrise, and grows as long as the sun is ascending; after\n    midday it decreases, and disappears at sunset. Sailors assert that in\n    this sea there is a little fish called 'sh\u00e2kil,' and that those who\n    carry it upon them can discover and reach the island without its\n    concealing itself. This is truly a strange and wonderful thing.\"\n\n    This is evidently the same myth as that of the Lost Isle, already\n    referred to (Perdita, cf. vol. i. p. 376), and of the Norwegian\n    huldrelands, etc. It also bears resemblance to legends from China and\n    Japan. The tree is the sun-tree of the Indian legends, which was\n    already introduced into the earliest versions of the Alexander romance\n    (Pseudo-Callisthenes, circa 200 A.D.), and which is met with again in\n    the fairy-tales and mythical conceptions of many peoples.[207]\n    Possibly it is this same tree that grows on the mountain Fusan in the\n    Japanese happy land Horaisan, and which is sometimes seen over the sea\n    horizon (see p. 56).\n\n    \"The island of 'as-Sayy\u00e2ra.' There are sailors who assert that they\n    have often seen it, but they have not stayed there. It is a\n    mountainous and cultivated island, which drifts towards the east when\n    a west wind is blowing, and vice versa. The stone that forms this\n    island is very light.... A man is there able to carry a large mass of\n    rock.\" This floating island resembles those met with in tales from the\n    Faroes and elsewhere (cf. vol. i. pp. 375, f.). Even Pliny [Nat.\n    Hist., ii. c. 95] has statements about floating islands, and Las\n    Casas, in 1552-61 [Historias de las Indias in \"Documentos ineditos,\"\n    lxii. p. 99], says that in the story of St. Brandan many such islands\n    (?) are spoken of in the sea round the Cape Verde Islands and the\n    Azores, and he asserts that \"the same is mentioned in the book of\n    'Inventio fortunata,'\" that is, by Nicholas of Lynn [cf. de Costa,\n    1880, p. 185].\n\n    \"'The Island of Women.' This is an island that lies on the borders of\n    the Chinese Sea. It is related that it is inhabited only by women, who\n    become pregnant by the wind, and who bear only female children; it is\n    also said that they become pregnant by a tree, of which they eat the\n    fruit.[208] They feed on gold, which with them grows in canes like\n    bamboo.\" This myth, as will be seen, resembles Adam of Bremen's tale\n    of the land of women, Kv\u00e6nland (vol. i. p. 186). Myths of women's\n    islands are, moreover, very widespread; they are found in various\n    forms in classical authors (p. 47), in Arab writers (cf. above, pp.\n    197, 206), in Indian legends, among the Irish (vol. i. pp. 354, 357),\n    among the Chinese, etc. It is partly the Amazon idea that appears\n    here, partly the happy land desired by men.\n\n[Sidenote: The Arabs and the compass]\n\nThrough an apparently small thing the Arabs possibly exercised more than\nin anything else a transforming influence upon the navigation, geography\nand cartography of Europe; for it was probably they who first brought to\nEurope the knowledge of the magnetic needle as a guide. We know that the\nChinese were acquainted with it, at any rate in the second century A.D.,\nand used it for a kind of compass for overland journeys. Whether they also\nused it at sea we do not know, but it may readily be supposed that they\ndid. That the Arabs through their direct commercial intercourse with the\nChinese became acquainted with this discovery at an early date seems\nprobable; but curiously enough we hear nothing of it in Arabic literature\nbefore the thirteenth century. As the Arabs and Turks after that date used\nthe Italian word \"bossolo\" for compass (bussol), it has been thought that\nthey may have derived their knowledge of it, not from China, but from\nItaly; but it seems more reasonable to suppose that, while they had their\nfirst knowledge of the magnetic needle from China, they obtained an\nimproved form of the compass from Italy, and with it the Italian word.\n\n\nCOMPASS-CHARTS\n\n[Sidenote: Oldest authorities on the compass in Europe]\n\nWe do not know how early the magnetic needle's property of pointing to the\nnorth became known in Europe and used for finding the way at sea. The\nfirst mention of it is found at the close of the twelfth century in the\nworks of the Englishman Alexander Neckam, professor in Paris about\n1180-1190, and of the troubadour Guyot de Provins from Languedoc. The\nlatter, in a satirical poem of about 1190, wishes the Pope would imitate\nthe immutable trustworthiness of the polar star by showing the steadiness\nof the heavenly guide; for sailors come and go by this star, which they\nare always able to find, even in fog and darkness, by a needle rubbed with\nthe ugly brown lodestone; stuck in a straw and laid upon water, the needle\npoints unfailingly to the north star. As late as in 1258 Dante's teacher,\nBrunetto Latini, saw as a curiosity in the possession of Roger Bacon at\nOxford a large and ugly lodestone, which was able to confer on an iron\nneedle the mysterious power of pointing to the star; but he thinks that it\ncannot be of any use, for ship-masters would not steer by it, nor would\nsailors venture to sea with an instrument which was so like an invention\nof the devil. As always when the progress of humanity is at stake,\northodoxy and religious prejudice raises its head. It is certain that the\nuse of the compass-needle must have been known in the Mediterranean at the\nbeginning of the thirteenth century, and probably even in the twelfth. It\nhas been alleged that the compass was known long before that time, even in\nthe eleventh and tenth centuries; but no proof of this has been found, and\nit does not appear very probable.[209] How early the compass, or\nlodestone, was known in the North is uncertain. We only know that when\nthe Hauksb\u00f3k was written, at the beginning of the fourteenth century, it\nwas at any rate known in Iceland (cf. vol. i. p. 248); but it may of\ncourse have been known before that time, and it does not appear that any\nlong time elapsed between the instrument's being known in the\nMediterranean and its reaching the Scandinavians.\n\n[Sidenote: Oldest sea-charts]\n\nWhen the compass came into general use on Italian ships in the thirteenth\ncentury, it naturally led to the development of an entirely new type of\nmap, the Italian sea-charts or compass-charts, which were to be of\nfundamental importance to all future cartography. The medi\u00e6val maps of the\nworld already mentioned were learned representations which were of no\npractical use to the navigator. The Greeks had drawn land-maps which were\nalso of no great use at sea, and we do not know that they had sea-charts.\nOn the other hand sailing-books (\"peripli\"), which gave directions for\ncoasting voyages, were in use far back in antiquity. In the Middle Ages\nsailing-books, called \"portolani,\" which gave information about harbours,\ndistances, etc., were an important aid to the navigator, especially in the\nMediterranean. It was the Italians before all others who at that period\ndeveloped navigation. When coasting was to some extent replaced by sailing\nin open sea, after the compass came into use, sea-charts became a\nnecessary adjunct to the written sailing-books or portolani. How early\nthey began to be developed is unknown; we only know that charts were in\nuse on Italian ships in the latter half of the thirteenth century;[210]\nand we must suppose that they were employed long before that time.\nWhether, as some have maintained, there was a connection between these\ncharts and the maps of the Greeks is doubtful, though there may indeed\nhave been an indirect connection through the Arabs, among whom Edrisi, for\ninstance, seems perhaps to have exercised some influence. But in any case\nit is certain that the Italians of the Middle Ages were not acquainted\nwith Greek cartography, and this may in a way be regarded as an advantage;\nfor they were thus obliged to invent their own mode of representation. For\nGreek thought the chief thing was to find the best expression for the\nsystem of the world and the \"\u0153cumene,\" to solve problems such as the\nreduction of a spherical to a plane surface by projection, etc.; while the\nsense of accurate detail was less prominent. The Italian sailor and\ncartographer went straight to nature, unhindered by theory, and to him it\nappeared a matter of course to set down on the map coasts and islands as\naccurately as possible according to the course sailed and the distance,\nwithout reflecting that sea and land form a spherical surface.\n\nThe Italian sea-charts seem especially to have been developed in the\nrepublics of northern Italy, Genoa and Pisa, and to some extent Venice.\nLater the Catalans of the Balearic Isles and of Spain (Barcelona and\nValencia) also learned the art, probably from Genoa. The charts have been\njustly admired for their correct and detailed representation of the coasts\nknown to the Italians and the seamen of the Mediterranean; the world had\nnever before produced any parallel to such a representation. It shows that\nthe sailors of that time were masters in the use of their compass,[211]\nand in making up their reckoning. The remarkable thing is that the first\nknown compass-charts, of the beginning of the fourteenth century, were\nalready of so perfect a form that there was little to add to or improve in\nthem in later times. It looks as though this type of chart suddenly sprang\nforth in full perfection, like Athene from the brain of Zeus, without our\nknowing of any forerunner; it held the field with its representation of\nthe coasts of the Black Sea, the Mediterranean, and Western Europe almost\nunaltered through three centuries. There is something puzzling in that. We\nmust suppose in any case that these charts were developed through many\nsmaller special charts throughout the whole of the thirteenth century, but\neven that seems a short period for the development of a representation so\ncomplete as this, which thenceforward became almost stereotyped. It is\nprincipally the coasts that are represented, with many names, while inland\nthere are comparatively few, which of course is natural in sea-charts.\n\n[Sidenote: Extent of the compass-charts]\n\nAs Italian trade did not extend farther north than Flanders and England\n(from whence came wool), it is also characteristic of the compass-charts\nthat their detailed representation of the coast extends to the south of\nEngland and to Sluis in Flanders, and to the mouth of the Scheldt. Farther\nthan this the Italian ships did not sail; beyond this boundary began the\ncommercial domain of the Hanseatic League. The delineation on the\ncompass-charts of the greater part of Ireland, northern England, Scotland,\nthe north coast of Germany, Denmark, the Baltic and Scandinavia has an\nentirely different character from that of the more southern coasts. The\ncoast-lines are there evidently drawn in a formal way, and more or less\nhypothetically; the names (chiefly those of a few ports, bishops' sees and\nislands) are also strikingly few. It is clearly seen that these coasts\ncannot have been drawn from actual compass courses and reckonings; they\nare sketches based on second- or third-hand information. For this reason\ntoo the shape of the northern countries may be subject to considerable\nvariation in the different types of compass-charts.\n\nWe know little of the sources from which they may have obtained their\ndelineation of the North; probably they were many and of different kinds.\nA glance at the maps reproduced (pp. 226, 232) will convince one that\ntheir image of the North differed greatly from that which we find on the\nwheel-maps, and from that which was probably shown on the maps of\nantiquity. It is a decisive step in the direction of reality, although the\nrepresentation is still imperfect. In a whole series of these charts the\nimage of the North shows certain typical features. The coast of Germany\nand Jutland goes due north from Flanders, thus coming much too near\nBritain, and the North Sea becomes nothing but a narrow strait. Even on\nthe earliest charts (Dalorto's chart, p. 226) the shape of Jutland is\nquite good. Norway, the coasts of which are indicated by chains of\nmountains, is placed fairly correctly in relation to Jutland, but is put\ntoo far to the west and too near to England. It is also made too broad.\nThe Skagerak appears more or less correctly, but the Danish islands,\nincluding Sealand, usually as a round island, are placed in the Cattegat\nto the north-east of Jutland. This greatly distorts the picture. Sweden is\nmuch too small, and is given too little extension to the south; the Baltic\nhas a curious form: it extends far to the east and has a remarkable\nnarrowing in the middle, through the German coast making a great bend to\nthe north towards Sweden. Gotland lies in the great widening of its inner\nportion. The Gulf of Bothnia seems to be unknown. The islands to the north\nof Scotland: Shetland (usually called \"scetiland,\" \"sialanda\" or\n\"stillanda\"), the Orkneys, and often Caithness as an island, come to the\nwest of Norway, frequently placed in a somewhat arbitrary fashion, and in\nthe wrong order. \"Tille\" (Thule), the round island off the north-east\ncoast of Scotland, is a characteristic feature on many compass-charts. Its\norigin is uncertain, but possibly it may be connected with the Romans\nhaving thought they had seen Thule to the north of the Orkneys (?) (cf.\nvol. i. p. 107). The names in the North are in the main the same on most\nof the compass-charts,[212] and one cartographer has copied another; by\nthis means also many pal\u00e6ographic errors have been introduced, which are\nafterwards repeated. As an example: the Baltic is originally called \"mar\nallemania,\" this is read by Catalan draughtsmen as \"mar de lamanya,\" also\nwritten \"de lam\u00e3ya,\" and thus we get \"mar de la maya\" (cf. pp. 231, 233).\nAnother example: Bergen is originally called \"bergis\" (cf. p. 221), a\ndraughtsman corrupts this to \"bregis,\" and that becomes the name of the\ntown in later charts (cf. p. 232). Whence these names first came we do not\nknow; partly, no doubt, from sailors, and partly from literary sources.\nThe latter must be true of names in the interior. There are also various\nlegends or inscriptions on these charts, e.g., in Norway, in Sweden, in\nthe Baltic, on the islands in the Northern Ocean, and in Iceland. Many of\nthese legends can be certainly proved to have a literary origin. Some of\nthem (e.g., that attached to Norway) may be derived in part from the\nGeographia Universalis. Others are connected with such authors as Giraldus\nCambrensis, Higden, and others. Certain resemblances to Arabic writers,\nespecially Edrisi, might also be pointed out; but it is uncertain whether\nthese are not due in part to their being derived from a common source.\n\n[Sidenote: Carignano's chart, circa 1300]\n\nThe first known compass-chart, the so-called \"Carte Pisane,\" of about\n1300,[213] goes no farther north than to the coast of Flanders and\nsouthern England. But the compass-chart[214] drawn by the Genoese priest\nGiovanni da Carignano (ob. 1344), evidently a little after 1300, already\ngives a delineation of Great Britain, Ireland, the Orkneys and\nScandinavia, with the Baltic. That these regions are only represented\nhypothetically, and do not belong to the compass-chart proper, is also\nindicated by their partly lying outside the network of compass-lines. It\nis in the main a land map, with many names in the interior of the\ncontinents, but the delineation of the known coasts (to the south of\nFlanders) is evidently taken from the sea-charts. The representation of\nthe British Isles and of the North reminds one a good deal of the\nCottoniana map (cf. vol. i. p. 183), and of Edrisi's representation (cf.\np. 203);[215] as an example: it is difficult to suppose that the western\ninclination of Scotland should have come about independently on each of\nthe three maps. There is also considerable resemblance to Edrisi in the\nnames on other parts of the chart; but Carignano has no hint of Edrisi's\n\"Island,\" nor of the Cottoniana's island of Tylen (Thule). Whether his\nScandinavia is a peninsula, as usually asserted, and not rather a long\nisland, as on the two maps in question, is uncertain, since the\ndelineation has suffered a good deal and is indistinct in the inner part\nof the Baltic. To judge from a photograph of the chart [Ongania, Pl. III.]\nit appears to me most probable that it was an island, which then has\nconsiderable resemblance to the island of Norw\u00e2\u0121a [Norway] in Edrisi.\nNames that are legible on this island or peninsula are: \"noruegia,\"\n\"finonia\" [Finmark or Finland], \"suetia\"; also \"bergis\" [Bergen],\n\"tromberg\" [T\u00f6nsberg], \"uamerlant\" [Vermeland], \"scarsa\" [Skara on Lake\nVener], \"kundgelf\" [Kungelf], \"scania\" [Sk\u00e5ne], \"lendes\" [Lund], \"stocol\"\n[Stockholm], etc. On the two islands in the Baltic there are \"scamor\"\n[i.e., \"scanior\" ? Skan\u00f6r] and \"gothlanda\" [Gotland]. Many of these names\nappear here for the first time in any known authority. Carignano may have\ntaken them from older unknown maps, but he may also in some way or other\nhave received information from the North; possibly, for instance, he may\nhave had the names of ports, etc., from sailors. His representation of the\nwestern part of Scandinavia, with three long peninsulas (cf. Saxo), is\ncurious; of these the eastern, with \"scania,\" might be south Sweden with\nSk\u00e5ne; the central one with \"tromberg\" [T\u00f6nsberg] might be Vestfold and\nGrenmar, and the western with Bergen might be western Norway. The smaller\npeninsula to the north might be Tr\u00f6ndelagen [the district of Trondhjem]\n(cf. also Historia Norwegi\u00e6, below, p. 235).\n\n[Illustration: Northern portion of Carignano's chart (a few years later\nthan 1300)]\n\n[Sidenote: Sanudo's work and Pietro Vesconte's charts, circa 1320]\n\nBetween the years 1318 and 1321 the Venetian Marino Sanudo wrote a work,\n\"Liber secretorum fidelium crucis\" (the Book of Secrets for Believers in\nthe Cross), to rouse enthusiasm for a new crusade, and himself presented a\ncopy of it with a dedication to the Pope at Avignon, which is probably one\nof the two now preserved at the Vatican. The work is accompanied by\nseveral charts which must have been drawn by the well-known cartographer\nPietro Vesconte in 1320, since an atlas bearing his name has been found in\nthe Vatican with charts that completely correspond.[216] Among them is a\ncircular map of the world of the wheel type, but on which the forms of the\ncoasts from the compass-charts are introduced. Scandinavia is there\nrepresented as a peninsula with a mountain chain (Kj\u00f6len ?) along the\nmiddle (see map, p. 223), and the names \"Gotilandia,\" \"Dacia,\" \"Suetia,\"\n\"Noruega\" may be read. On the continent is written \"Guenden [Kv\u00e6nland, or\nelse == \"Suenden\" == Sweden ?] vel Gotia\"; and on the coast to the north\nof the peninsula is \"Liuonia\" and to the south of it \"Frixia\" [Friesland].\nAs Kretschmer has shown, Scandinavia was originally drawn (in both\natlases) as an island, but was afterwards connected with the continent by\na narrow isthmus. This representation of Scandinavia as a peninsula\nresembles that on many of the wheel-maps mentioned above (see pp. 185,\nff.). It also bears a strong resemblance to the view of Saxo (beginning of\nthe thirteenth century), who says:[217]\n\n    \"Moreover the upper arm of the ocean [i.e., the southern arm, the\n    Baltic, as the south is supposed to be at the top of the map], which\n    cuts through and past Dania, washes the south coast of Gothia\n    [G\u00f6taland, i.e., Sweden] with a bay of fair size; but the lower\n    [northern] branch, which goes past the north coast of Gothia and\n    Noruagia, turns towards the east with a considerable widening, and is\n    bounded by a curved coast. This end of the sea was called by our\n    ancient prim\u00e6val inhabitants Gandvicus. Between this bay and the\n    southern sea lies a little piece of continent, which looks out upon\n    the seas washing it on both sides. If nature had not set this space as\n    a limit to the two almost united streams, the arms of the sea would\n    have met one another, and made Suetia and Noruagia into an island.\"\n\n[Illustration: Northern Europe in Vesconte's mappamundi (1320) in the\nVatican (Kretschmer, 1891)]\n\nIt seems not improbable that the delineation on Vesconte's map may have a\nconnection with this description; it has also very nearly the same forms\nof names. The regions far in the north and east on his map are pure fancy,\nand the \"rifei montes\" are still found there.\n\nEight other MSS. (in various libraries) of Sanudo's work are known,\naccompanied by maps, and six of them have the circular mappamundi; but the\nreproductions differ considerably one from another, especially in the\nrepresentation of the northern coast of Europe.[218] The mappamundi in the\nMS. in Queen Christina's collection in the Vatican (Codex Reginensis,\n548), and the exactly similar map in the MS. at Oxford, have a remarkably\ngood delineation of the Scandinavian Peninsula (see map, p. 224), with the\nnames \"Suetia\" [Svealand], \"Gotia\" [G\u00f6taland], and \"Scania\" on the east,\n\"Noruegia\" on the west, \"Finlandia\" and \"Alandia\" [\u00c5land, or perhaps\nHallandia ?] in the extreme north-east. On the continent is written\n\"Kareli infideles,\" \"Estonia,\" \"Liuonia,\" etc. In the Baltic are two\nislands, \"Gotlandia\" in the middle, and \"Ossilia\" [\u00d6sel] farthest in. The\nshape of Jutland [with the names \"Dacia\" and \"Jutia\"], the direction of\nthe coast of northern Europe and the Baltic, with Scandinavia parallel to\nit, remind one a good deal of Edrisi's map, of the Cottoniana and also of\nCarignano's map. Evidently there is here new information which Vesconte\ndid not possess when he drew the map previously mentioned; the correct\nplacing of the names in Sweden and Norway is especially striking. These\nnames, as also \"Jutia,\" occur in Saxo in approximately the same forms (cf.\nalso Historia Norwegi\u00e6). Marino Sanudo, according to his own statement,\nhad himself sailed from Venice to Flanders, and had also travelled in\nHolstein and Slavonia. He was thus able to collect geographical\ninformation, and, as suggested by Bj\u00f6rnbo [1909, pp. 211, f.], may have\nreceived communications from North German priests whose picture of the\nNorth had been formed by the study of Adam of Bremen and Saxo; but there\ndoes not appear to me to be any necessity for such a hypothesis, he may\njust as well have received direct information from people who knew the\nlocalities, while doubtless the names are to a great extent literary. If\nwe suppose that it was Pietro Vesconte who drew all the maps, he may have\nderived his information about the North through Sanudo himself; but in\nthat case it would be strange that he did not use it for his first map.\nWe must therefore suppose that it was after this that their real\ncollaboration began.\n\n[Illustration: Northern Europe in the mappamundi in the MS. of Sanudo's\nwork at Oxford (Bj\u00f6rnbo, 1910, p. 123)]\n\nBut here we come upon another difficulty, and this is the third entirely\ndifferent form of the delineation of the North that is found in the\ncorresponding mappamundi in the MS. of Sanudo at Paris. There the\nScandinavian Peninsula is divided in an unaccountable way into several\nislands, the largest of which bears the name \"scania de regno dacie\" or\n\"sc\u00e3dinaua.\" To the north of it is a long island, \"gotlandia,\" which has\nbeen read by some \"yrlandia\" or \"yslandia,\" and made into Iceland [as in\nThoroddsen, i., 1897, p. 84]. \"Noruegia\" is written outside the border of\nthe map to the north of Jutland [called \"dacia\"], and the name \"prouincia\nnoruicie\" is placed on the west coast of Jutland, which has been given a\nfantastic extension towards the north with many bays. An island in the\nocean to the north of Russia [\"rutenia\"] is marked \"kareli infideles.\" The\nwhole of this representation is in complete disagreement with the other\nSanudo maps, and it is difficult to understand that Vesconte can have also\ndrawn this one, although in other respects it may bear much resemblance to\nthe rest from his hand. One might be inclined to think that some other man\nhad tinkered at this part of the map, introducing ideas which he entirely\nmisunderstood.\n\n[Illustration: Northern Europe in the mappamundi in the Paris MS. of\nSanudo's work (Bj\u00f6rnbo, 1910, p. 123)]\n\n    A remarkable thing about it is that it is, perhaps, the first that has\n    a legend about the North. For on the large island in the Baltic (?) we\n    read: \"In hoc mari est maxima copia aletiorum\" [in this sea is the\n    greatest abundance of herrings ?]. In the opinion of Bj\u00f6rnbo this may\n    allude to the herring fishery in the Sound.[219]\n\n[Illustration: The North on Dalorto's map of 1325. The network of\ncompass-lines is omitted for the sake of clearness. Only a few of the\nnames are given]\n\n[Sidenote: Dalorto's map, 1325]\n\nThe type which is first known from Angellino Dalorto's map of 1325 (or\n1330 ?), and from that of 1339 signed Angellino Dulcert, which is\nundoubtedly by the same man, was of fundamental importance to the\nrepresentation of the North on the Catalan compass-charts. It has been\nthought that he belonged to a well-known Genoese family named Dalorto, and\nthat the first map was drawn in Italy, while the latter was certainly\ndrawn in Majorca, either by a copyist who corrupted the name of Dalorto to\nDulcert, or by himself, who in that case must be supposed to have given\nhis name a more Catalan sound on settling in Majorca. But in any case\nthese maps had Italian models; this appears clearly in the form of the\nnames [cf. Kretschmer, 1909, pp. 118, f.].\n\nThe two maps are much alike. The oldest, of 1325 (1330 ?),[220] gives a\nmore complete representation of the North and of the Baltic than any\nearlier map known (see illustration). In its names it shows a connection\nboth with Carignano's map and with Marino Sanudo, but new names and fresh\ninformation have been added, the delineation of Great Britain and Ireland\nis more correct, and there is also a more reasonable representation of\nScandinavia and of the extent of the Baltic than on Carignano's map.\nAmongst new names in the North may be mentioned \"trunde\" [Trondhjem, cf.\n\"Throndemia\" in the Historia Norwegi\u00e6], and \"alogia\" for a town on the\nwest side of Norway; this is evidently Halogia [H\u00e1logaland], a form of the\nname which was used, for instance, in the Historia Norwegi\u00e6 and by Saxo.\nAnother name in the far north, and again at the south-western extremity of\nNorway, is \"alolandia\" (see illustration, p. 226). One might suppose that\nthe form of the name and its assignment to these two places are due to a\nconfusion of the name H\u00e1logaland with Hallandia (in Saxo) and \"alandia\" on\nthe Sanudo-Vesconte map (see p. 224).\n\nIt will be seen that Norway, which is represented as a pronouncedly\nmountainous country,[221] has on this map been given a great increase of\nbreadth, so that its west coast is brought to the same longitude as the\nwest coast of Great Britain. In the legends attached to Norway we read\nthat from its deserts are brought \"birds called gilfalcos\" (hunting\nfalcons), and in the extreme north is the inscription:\n\n    \"Here the people live by hunting the beasts of the forest, and also on\n    fish, on account of the price of corn which is very dear. Here are\n    white bears and many animals.\"\n\nThe substance of this may be derived in the main from the Geographia\nUniversalis (cf. pp. 189, f.; see also p. 177). Islands in the ocean to\nthe west of Norway are: farthest north, \"Insula ornaya\" [the Orkneys];\nfarther south, \"sialand\" [Shetland, \"Insula scetiland\" on the map of 1339,\nand \"silland\" or \"stillanda\" on later maps]. The resemblance to\n\"sh\u00e2sland,\" the name of an island in Edrisi (cf. above, p. 207), is great,\nbut it cannot be supposed that we have here a corruption of Iceland. At\nthe north-eastern corner of Scotland is the round island, \"Insula tille\"\n(cf. p. 219).\n\n[Sidenote: The Isle of Brazil]\n\nIn the ocean to the west of Ireland we find for the first time on this map\nan island called \"Insula de montonis siue de brazile.\" This island is met\nwith again on later compass-charts under the name of \"brazil\" as late as\nthe sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.[222] It is evidently the Irish\nfortunate isle \"Hy Breasail,\" afterwards called \"O'Brazil,\" that has found\nits way on to this map, or probably on to the unknown older sources from\nwhich it is drawn. On this and the oldest of the later maps the island has\na strikingly round form, often divided by a channel.\n\n    The Irish myth of Hy Breasail, or Bresail,[223] the island out in the\n    Atlantic (cf. vol. i. p. 357), is evidently very ancient; the island\n    is one of the many happy lands like \"T\u00edr Tairngiri\" [the promised\n    land]. In the opinion of Moltke Moe and Alf Torp the name may come\n    from the Irish \"bress\" [good fortune, prosperity], and would thus be\n    absolutely the same as the Insul\u00e6 Fortunat\u00e6. The Italians may easily\n    have become acquainted with this myth through the Irish monasteries in\n    North Italy, unless indeed they had it through their sailors, and in\n    this way the island came upon the map. The form \"brazil\" may have\n    arisen through the cartographer connecting the name with the valuable\n    brazil-wood, used for dyeing. The channel dividing the island of\n    Brazil on the maps may be the river which in the legend of Brandan ran\n    through the island called \"Terra Repromissionis,\" and which Brandan\n    (in the Navigatio) was not able to cross. It is probably the river of\n    death (Styx), and possibly the same that became the river at Hop in\n    the Icelandic saga of Wineland (see vol. i. p. 359). We thus find here\n    again a possible connection, and this strengthens the probability that\n    Brazil was the Promised Land of the Irish, which on the other hand\n    helped to form Wineland.\n\n    On later compass-charts several isles of Brazil came into existence.\n    As early as in the Medici Atlas (1351) an \"Insula de brazi\" appears\n    farther south in the ocean, to the west of Spain, and on the Pizigano\n    map (1367) and the Soleri map (1385) there is to the west of Brittany\n    yet a third \"brazir,\" afterwards commonly called \"de manj,\" or\n    \"maidas,\" etc.[224] The name \"Insula de montonis\" is difficult to\n    understand. If we may believe it to be an error for \"moltonis\" (or\n    perhaps \"moutonis,\" a latinisation of the French \"mouton\" ?), it might\n    mean the sheep island of the Navigatio Brandani, which was originally\n    Dicuil's Faroes (cf. vol. i. p. 362). Thus this name also carries us\n    to Ireland.[225]\n\n    At the same time another Irish mythical conception has found its way\n    on to the map of 1325, and faithfully attends the isle of \"Brazil\" on\n    its progress through all the compass-charts of later times; this is\n    the fortunate lake, \"lacus fortunatus,\" with its islands, \"insulle\n    sc\u0304i lacaris\" [Lough Carra or Lough Corrib ?], which were so numerous\n    that there was said later to be one for every day of the year. On\n    Perrinus Vesconte's map of 1327 the same lake with its many islands is\n    found, and as far as I can read the greatly reduced reproduction in\n    Nordenski\u00f6ld's Periplus (Pl. VII.) the words are: \"gulfo de issolle\n    CCCLVIII.[226] beate et fortunate\" (the gulf of the 358 blessed and\n    happy islands), as also found on some later maps.[227] I have not had\n    an opportunity of examining the map of the British Isles in the same\n    draughtsman's atlas of 1321, to see whether this happy lake and the\n    isle of Brazil are given there; the gulf with the 358 islands is\n    stated to be on Vesconte-Sanudo maps [cf. Harrisse, 1892, pp. 57, f.],\n    which I have also had no opportunity of consulting.\n\n[Sidenote: Dulcert's (Dalorto's) map of 1339]\n\nAngellino Dulcert's (Dalorto's) map of 1339[228] differs somewhat from the\nmap of 1325 (1330 ?) in its delineation of the North, in that Norway is\ngiven a narrower and more rectangular form, with only those four headlands\non the south side which are largest on the map of 1325, while the country\nwith the smaller headlands to the west of these is cut away, whereby the\nnarrower shape is brought about.[229]\n\nDalorto's maps of 1325 and 1339 furnish the prototype for the\nrepresentation of the North in later compass-charts; and this persists\nwithout important alteration until well into the fifteenth century. But\nwhile later Italian charts (cf. Pizigano's of 1367) more closely resemble\nthe Italian Dalorto map of 1325, the Majorca map of 1339 represents the\ntype of the later Catalan charts. In the one preserved at Modena, and\ndating from about 1350,[230] the Catalan compass-chart is combined with\nthe representation of the world of the wheel-maps. We find the picture of\nthe North to be the same in all its main outlines; but here a new feature\nis added, in that Iceland appears as a group of eight islands in the far\nnorth-west, out on the margin of the map, with the note: \"questas illes\nson appellades islandes\" (these islands are called Icelands). The\nsouthernmost island is called \"islanda,\" the others have incomprehensible\nnames (\"donbert,\" \"tranes,\" \"tales,\" \"brons,\" \"bres,\" \"mmau...,\" \"bilanj\"\n[?]); but the name of Greenland is not found. In the ocean to the north of\nNorway there is \"Mare putritum congelatum\" [the putrid, frozen sea]. This\nis evidently the idea of the stinking Liver Sea (as in Arab myths, cf. p.\n51), combined with that of the frozen sea. On the approximately\ncontemporary Catalan compass-chart (see the reproduction, pp. 232-233),\npreserved in the National Library at Florence (called No. 16), we find the\nsame group of islands called \"Island,\" with a long inscription (see p.\n232; cf. also Bj\u00f6rnbo and Petersen, 1908, p. 16), which is partly\nillegible, but wherein it is stated that \"the islands are very large,\"\nthat \"the people are handsome, tall and fair, the country is very cold,\"\netc. The name of Greenland does not occur on this chart either.[231]\n\n[Illustration: North-western Europe on the wheel-shaped compass-chart at\nModena (circa 1350). The network of compass-lines, names and legends\nomitted. Mountains indicated by shading]\n\n[Illustration: North-western Europe on the anonymous Catalan mappamundi of\nthe middle of the fourteenth century, in the National Library at Florence.\nReproduced mainly from a tracing of the original made by Dr. A. A.\nBj\u00f6rnbo. The text of the names and legends has been somewhat enlarged to\nrender it legible in the reduced reproduction. In the legend on the Baltic\nthe erroneous \"gronlandia\" is given, while the original has \"gotlandia\"\n(according to O. Vangensten)]\n\n[Sidenote: Viladeste's chart of 1413]\n\nThe same type of Catalan charts includes Charles V.'s well-known\nmappamundi, or \"Catalan Atlas,\" of 1375, as well as Mecia de\nViladeste's chart of 1413,[232] and many others.[233]\n\n[Sidenote: The Medici Atlas, 1351]\n\nWe find a different representation of the North, especially of the\nScandinavian Peninsula, in the anonymous atlas of 1351, preserved at\nFlorence and commonly called the \"Medicean Marine Atlas,\"[234] which is an\nItalian, probably a Genoese, work. The North is here represented on a map\nof the world and on a map of Europe (reproduced pp. 236, 260). The\nrepresentation to a great extent resembles the Dalorto type. Its division\nof western Scandinavia into three great promontories no doubt recalls the\nCarignano map to such an extent that one may suppose it to have been\ninfluenced by some Italian source of that map; but in the names it shows\nmore resemblance to the Dalorto maps: the delineation of the Baltic and of\nthe peninsula corresponding to Sk\u00e5ne is practically the same, it perhaps\nresembles in particular the Modena map and the anonymous map at Florence\n(cf. pp. 232, 233). Jutland, on the other hand, has been greatly prolonged\nand given a different shape. The three great tongues of land in Norway,\nwith a smaller one on the east near Denmark, may correspond to the four\nheadlands on the south coast of Norway on the Dalorto maps (cf. especially\nthat of 1339). Through these being considerably increased in size, and the\nbays between them being enlarged, the west coast of Norway has been moved\neven farther to the west than on the map of 1325, and has been given a\nsomewhat more westerly longitude than Ireland. On the map of Europe \"C.\ntrobs\" [\"capitolum tronberg\" ? i.e., T\u00f6nsberg] is written on the first bay\n[like \"trunberg\" on the Dalorto map], \"c. bergis\" [\"capitolum bergis,\"\ni.e., the see of Bergen] and \"c. trons\" (?) [the see of Trondhjem] on each\nof the two other bays. Finally, \"alogia,\" which on the Dalorto map is\nmarked as a town on the northern west coast of Norway, to the north of\nNidroxia [Nidaros], has followed the west coast and is placed on the\nwesternmost tongue of land. How the whole of this delineation came about\nis difficult to say. One might be tempted to think that it was through a\nmisunderstanding of a description of Norway, like that we find in the\nHistoria Norwegi\u00e6, where the country is described as divided into four\nparts, the first being the land on the eastern bay near Denmark, the\nsecond \"Gulacia\" [Gulathing], the third \"Throndemia,\" the fourth\n\"Halogia.\"[235] The map of the world in the Medici atlas is drawn in the\nsame way as the compass-charts. It has no names of towns in Scandinavia,\nand the westernmost tongue of land is without a name (see the\nreproduction). On the other hand, the name \"alolanda\" occurs inland in\neastern Norway, and is there obviously a corruption of \"Hallandia\" (cf. p.\n227). This mappamundi is interesting from the fact that it makes the\nland-masses of the continent extend without a limit on the north, whereas\nAfrica is terminated by a peninsula on the south.\n\n[Illustration: The north-western portion of the mappamundi in the Medicean\nMarine Atlas (1351). The degrees are here inserted after the maps of\nPtolemy]\n\n[Sidenote: Pizigano's map, 1367]\n\nThe map of the Venetian Francesco Pizigano, of 1367, resembles Dalorto's\nof 1325 in its delineation of the North; the south side of Norway has\nsomewhat the same rounded form with seven headlands, and \"Alogia\" is a\ntown on the west coast.\n\n[Illustration: From the Bayeux tapestry, eleventh century]\n\n\nVIEWS OF THE NORTH AMONG THE NORTHERN PEOPLES\n\n[Sidenote: Scandinavian view of Greenland as mainland]\n\nIt has been already pointed out that, while the oldest northern authority,\nAdam of Bremen, regarded the countries of the North, outside Scandinavia,\nas islands in the ocean surrounding the earth's disc (in agreement with\nthe learned view and with the wheel-maps), the Scandinavians, unfettered\nby learned ideas, assumed that Greenland was connected with the continent,\nfor the reason, amongst others, that, as the author of the \"King's Mirror\"\nexpresses it, continental animals such as the hare, wolf and reindeer\ncould not otherwise have got there. But, as we have seen, this land\ncommunication could only be supposed to exist on the far side of Gandvik\n(the White Sea) and the Bjarmeland (Northern Russia) that they knew, and\nto go round the north of the sea that lay to the north of Norway. Thus the\nsea came to be called Hafsbotn (i.e., the bay or gulf of the ocean). We\nfind the clearest expression of this view in the Icelandic geography\nalready referred to, which may in part be attributed to Abbot Nikul\u00e1s\nBergsson of Thver\u00e1[236] (cf. vol. i. p. 313; vol. ii. pp. 1, 172), and\nwhere we read:\n\n    \"Nearest Denmark is lesser Sweden [so called to distinguish it from\n    'Svi\u00fej\u00f3\u00f0 it Mikla,' Russia], there is \u00d6land, then Gotland, then\n    Helsingeland, then Vermeland, then two Kv\u00e6nlands, and they are north\n    of Bjarmeland. From Bjarmeland uninhabited country extends northward\n    as far as Greenland. South of Greenland is Helluland,\" etc. [cf. the\n    continuation, above, p. 1]. In a variant of this geography in an older\n    MS. we read: \"North of Saxland is Denmark. Through Denmark the sea\n    goes into 'Austrveg' [the countries on the Baltic]. Sweden lies east\n    of Denmark, but Norway on the north. To the north of Norway is\n    Finmark. From thence the land turns towards the north-east, and then\n    to the east before one comes to Bjarmeland. This is tributary to the\n    Garda-king [the king of Gardarike]. From Bjarmeland the land stretches\n    to the uninhabited parts of the north, until Greenland begins. To the\n    south of Greenland lies Helluland,\" etc.\n\nWe have yet a third, later and more detailed variant in the so-called\n\"Gripla,\" given in vol. i. p. 288.\n\nThe belief in this land connection with Greenland may have originated in,\nor at any rate have been considerably strengthened by, the discovery of\ncountries such as Novaya Zemlya, Svalbard (Spitzbergen ?), and the\nnorthern uninhabited parts of the east coast of Greenland[237] (cf. above,\npp. 165, ff.). In addition to this, those sailing the Polar Sea came\nacross pack-ice wherever they went in a northerly direction, closing in\nthe sea and making it like a gulf, and it must therefore have been natural\nto believe in a continuous coast which connected the countries behind the\nice, and which held this fast. The belief in a land connection seems to\nhave been so ingrained that it can scarcely have rested on nothing but\ntheoretical speculations, but must rather have been supported by tangible\nproofs of this kind.\n\n[Sidenote: Saxo on the far North]\n\nIt was to be expected that the countries on the north of Hafsbotn should\nbecome fairylands in popular belief, Jotunheimr and Risaland, inhabited by\ngiants. Even Saxo (beginning of the thirteenth century) says that to the\nnorth of Norway\n\n    \"lies a land, the name and position of which are unknown, without\n    human civilisation, but rich in people of monstrous strangeness. It is\n    separated from Norway, which lies opposite, by a mighty arm of the\n    sea. As the navigation there is very unsafe, few of those who have\n    ventured thither have had a fortunate return.\"\n\nAs it can hardly be the Christian settlements in Greenland that Saxo\nrefers to as a land without human civilisation, we must doubtless suppose\nthat his land in the north is a confusion of the eastern uninhabited\ntracts of Greenland with Jotunheimr, as in Icelandic ideas. For Adam of\nBremen already had giants (Cyclopes) on an island in the north, and we\nhave seen that there were similar conceptions in the Historia Norwegi\u00e6\n(cf. p. 167).\n\n[Sidenote: The tale of Halli Geit]\n\nA medi\u00e6val Icelandic tale [inserted in Bj\u00f6rn J\u00f3nsson's Greenland Annals]\nsays of Halli Geit that\n\n    \"he alone succeeded in coming by land on foot over mountains and\n    glaciers and all the wastes, and past all the gulfs of the sea to\n    Gandvik and then to Norway. He led with him a goat, and lived on its\n    milk; he often found valleys and narrow openings between the glaciers,\n    so that the goat could feed either on grass or in the woods.\"\n\n[Illustration: From the Bayeux tapestry, eleventh century]\n\n[Sidenote: Land at the North Pole]\n\nIdeas of this kind led to the view held by some that there was land as far\nas the North Pole, which appears in an Icelandic tract, included in the\n\"Rymbegla\" [1780, p. 466]. Of a bad Latin verse, there reproduced, it is\nsaid:\n\n    \"Some will understand this to mean that he [i.e., the poet] says that\n    land lies under 'leidarstjarna' [the pole star], and that the shores\n    there prevent the ring of the ocean from joining [i.e., around the\n    disc of the earth]; with this certain ancient legends agree, which\n    show that one can go, or that men have gone, on foot from Greenland to\n    Norway.\"\n\n[Sidenote: The Outer Ocean]\n\nBut the medi\u00e6val learned idea of the Outer Ocean surrounding the whole\ndisc of earth also asserts itself in the North, and appears in Snorre's\nHeimskringla and in the \"King's Mirror,\" amongst other works. This ocean\nwent outside Greenland, which was connected with Europe, and made the\nformer into a peninsula. In the work already referred to, \"Gripla\" (only\nknown in a late MS. in Bj\u00f6rn J\u00f3nsson of Skards\u00e1, first half of the\nseventeenth century), we read, in continuation of the passage already\nquoted (p. 35): \"Between Wineland and Greenland is Ginnungagap, it\nproceeds from the sea that is called 'Mare oceanum,' which surrounds the\nwhole world.\" Since Wineland [i.e., the Insul\u00e6 Fortunat\u00e6], as already\nstated (pp. 1, ff.), was by some, evidently through a misunderstanding,\nmade continuous with Africa,[238] it is clear that the Outer Ocean must be\nsupposed to go completely round both Greenland and Wineland (cf. the\nillustration, p. 2). Thus it was also natural to suppose that there was an\nopening somewhere between these two countries, through which the Outer\nOcean was connected with the inner, known ocean between Norway, Greenland,\netc.[239]\n\n[Sidenote: Ginnungagap]\n\nAt least as old as the Norsemen's conceptions of countries beyond the\nocean in the North was probably the idea of the great abyss, Ginnungagap,\nwhich there forms the boundary of the ocean and of the world, and which\nmust be derived from the Tartarus and Chaos of the Greeks (cf. p. 150).\nWhen the Polar Sea (Hafsbotn) was closed by the land connection between\nBjarmeland and Greenland, it was natural that those who tried to form a\nconsistent view of the world could no longer find a place for the abyss in\nthat direction; and G. Storm [1890] is certainly right in thinking that it\nwas for this reason that Ginnungagap was located in the passage between\nGreenland and Wineland; since, no doubt, the idea was that this \"gap\" in\nsome way or other was connected with the void Outer Ocean. But this view\nis first found in the very late copy (seventeenth century) of \"Gripla,\"\nand of the somewhat older map of Gudbrand Torlaksson [Torlacius] of 1606\n[Torf\u00e6us, 1706; Pl. I., p. 21], where \"Ginnunga Gap\" is marked as the name\nof the strait between Greenland and America. What Ginnungagap really was\nseems never to have been quite clear, different people having no doubt had\ndifferent ideas about it; but when, as here, it is used as the name of a\nstrait through which the Outer Ocean enters, it cannot any longer be an\nabyss; at the most it may have been a maelstrom or whirlpool, which,\nindeed, is suggested by the whirlpool on J\u00f3n Gudmundsson's map (cf. p.\n34). But even this interpretation of the name became effaced, and in\nanother MS. of the seventeenth century (see p. 35) it is simply used as a\nname for the great ocean to the west of Spain (that is, the Atlantic).\n\n[Illustration: From an Icelandic MS. of 1363]\n\nOn the other hand we have seen (pp. 150, ff.) that ideas of whirlpools in\nthe northern seas appear to have been widely spread in the Middle Ages.\nThere is a possibility, as already hinted (vol. i. p. 303), that when in\nIvar B\u00e1rdsson's description of the northern west coast of Greenland \"the\nmany whirlpools that there lie all over the sea\" are spoken of, it was\nthought that here was the boundary of the ocean and of the world, and that\nit was formed by the many whirlpools, or abysses in the sea. In that case\nthese cannot be regarded merely as maelstroms like the Moskenstr\u00f6m, but\nmore like the true Ginnungagap. But this is extremely uncertain; it may\nagain have been one of those embellishments which were often used in\nspeaking of the most distant regions.\n\n[Sidenote: Saxo]\n\nSaxo Grammaticus (first part of the thirteenth century) in the preface to\nhis Danish history gives geographical information about Scandinavia and\nIceland, to which we have already referred several times. He does not\nmention Greenland. He says himself that he has made use of Icelandic\nliterature to a large extent; but he has also mingled with it a good deal\nof mythical material from elsewhere.\n\n[Sidenote: The King's Mirror, circa 1240 ?]\n\nBeyond comparison the most important geographical writer of the medi\u00e6val\nNorth, and at the same time one of the first in the whole of medi\u00e6val\nEurope, was the unknown author who wrote the \"King's Mirror,\"[240]\nprobably about the middle of the thirteenth century.[241] If one turns\nfrom contemporary or earlier European geographical literature, with all\nits superstition and obscurity, to this masterly work, the difference is\nvery striking. Even at the first appearance of the Scandinavians in\nliterature, in Ottar's straightforward and natural narrative of his voyage\nto King Alfred, the numerous trustworthy statements about previously\nunknown regions are a prominent feature, and give proof of a sober faculty\nof observation, altogether different from what one usually meets with in\nmedi\u00e6val literature. This is the case to an even greater degree in the\n\"King's Mirror,\" and the difference between what is there stated about the\nNorth and what we find less than two hundred years earlier in Adam of\nBremen is obvious. Apart from the fact that the whole method of\npresentation is inspired by superior intelligence, it shows an insight and\na faculty of observation which are uncommon, especially at that period;\nand in many points this remarkable man was evidently centuries before his\ntime. Although well acquainted with much of the earlier medi\u00e6val\nliterature, he has liberated himself to a surprising extent from its\nfabulous conceptions. We hear nothing of the many fabulous peoples, who\nwere still common amongst much later authors, nor about whirlpools, nor\nthe curdled and dark sea, but instead we have fresh and copious\ninformation about the northern regions, and it comes with a clearness like\nthat which already struck us in Ottar. We have a remarkably good\ndescription of the sea-ice, its drift, etc. (cf. vol. i. pp. 279, f.); we\nhave also a description of the animal world of the northern seas to which\nthere is no parallel in the earlier literature of the world (cf. pp. 155,\nff.). No less than twenty-one different whales are referred to fully. If\nwe make allowance for three of them being probably sharks, and for two\nbeing perhaps alternative names for the same whale, the total corresponds\nto the number of species that are known in northern waters. Six seals are\ndescribed, which corresponds to the number of species living on the coasts\nof Norway and Greenland. Besides these the walrus [\"rostung\"] is very well\ndescribed. But even the author of the \"King's Mirror\" could not altogether\navoid the supernatural in treating of the sea. He describes in the seas of\nIceland the enormous monster \"hafgufa,\" which seems more like a piece of\nland than a fish, and he does not think there are more than two of them in\nthe sea. This is the same that the Norwegian fishermen now call the krake,\nand certainly also the same that appears in ancient oriental myths, and\nthat is met with again in the Brandan legend as the great whale that they\ntake for an island and land on (cf. p. 234). In the Greenland seas the\n\"King's Mirror\" has two kinds of trolls, \"hafstrambr\" [a kind of merman],\nwith a body that was like a glacier to look at, and \"margygr\" [a mermaid],\nboth of which are fully described. There is also mention in the Greenland\nseas of the strange and dangerous \"sea-fences,\" which are often spoken of\nin the sagas [and about which there is a lay, the \"hafger\u00f0inga-dr\u00e1pa\"].\nThe author does not quite know what to make of this marvel, for \"it looks\nas if all the storms and waves that there are in that sea gather\nthemselves together in three places, and become three waves. They fence in\nthe whole sea, so that men cannot find a way out, and they are higher than\ngreat mountains and like steep summits,\" etc. It is probable that the\nbelief in these sea-fences is derived from something that really took\nplace, perhaps most likely earthquake-waves, or submarine earthquakes,\nwhich may sometimes have occurred near volcanic Iceland. But it is curious\nthat in the \"King's Mirror\" these waves are connected with Greenland. They\nmight also be supposed to be connected with the waves that are formed when\nicebergs capsize.\n\n[Illustration: Marginal drawing in the Flateyjarb\u00f3k (1387-1394)]\n\nThe principal countries described are Ireland, Iceland and Greenland; but\nit is characteristic of the author that the farther north he goes, away\nfrom regions commonly known, the freer his account becomes from all kinds\nof fabulous additions. In Ireland he is still held fast by the\nsuperstition of the period, and especially by the priests' fables about\nthemselves and their holy men, and by the English author Giraldus\nCambrensis.[242] In Iceland, as a rule, he is free of this troublesome\nballast, and gives valuable information about the glaciers of Iceland,\nglacier-falls, boiling springs, etc. In his opinion the cold climate of\nIceland is due to the vicinity of Greenland, which sends out great cold\nowing to its being above all other lands covered with ice; for this reason\nIceland has so much ice on its mountains. Although he thinks it possible\nthat its volcanoes are due to the fires of Hell, and that it is thus the\nactual place of torment, and that Hell is therefore not in Sicily, as his\nholiness Pope Gregory had supposed, he nevertheless has another and more\nreasonable explanation of the origin of earthquakes and volcanoes. They\nmay be due to hollow passages and cavities in the foundations of the land,\nwhich by the force either of the wind or of the roaring sea may become so\nfull of wind that they cannot stand the pressure, and thus violent\nearthquakes may arise. From the violent conflict which the air produces\nunderground, the great fire may be kindled which breaks out in different\nparts of the country. It must not be thought certain that this is exactly\nhow it takes place, but one ought rather to lay such things together to\nform the explanation that seems more conceivable, for\n\n[Sidenote: Fire derived from force (labour)]\n\n    \"we see that from force ['afli'] all fire comes. When hard stone and\n    hard iron are brought together with a blow, fire comes from the iron\n    and from the force with which they are struck together. You may also\n    rub pieces of wood together until fire comes from the labour that they\n    have. It is also constantly happening that two winds arise from\n    different quarters, one against the other, and if they meet in the air\n    there is a hard shock, and this shock gives off a great fire, which\n    spreads far in the air,\" etc.\n\nThis idea of a connection between labour (friction) and force (motion),\nand this explanation of the possible origin of volcanoes are surprising in\nthe thirteenth century, and seem to bring the author centuries in advance\nof his time; we here have germs of the theory of the conservation of\nenergy.\n\n[Sidenote: The inland ice of Greenland]\n\nHis statements about Greenland are remarkable for their sober\ntrustworthiness. He gives the first description of its inland ice:\n\n    \"But since you asked whether the land is thawed or not, or whether it\n    is covered with ice like the sea, you must know that there are small\n    portions of the land which are thawed, but all the rest is covered\n    with ice, and the people do not know whether the country is large or\n    small, since all the mountains and valleys are covered with ice, so\n    that no one can find his way in. But in reality it must be that there\n    is a way, either in those valleys that lie between the mountains, or\n    along the shores, so that animals can find a way, for otherwise\n    animals cannot come there from other countries, unless they find a way\n    through the ice and find the land thawed. But men have often tried to\n    go up the country, upon the highest mountains in various places, to\n    look around them, to see whether they could find any part that was\n    thawed and habitable, but they have not found any such, except where\n    people are now living, and that is but little along the shore itself.\"\n\n[Illustration: Norwegian MS. of the Gulathings law. Fourteenth century]\n\nThis, as we see, is an extremely happy description of the mighty\nice-sheet. He also describes the climate of the country, both the fine\nweather that often occurs in summer, and its usually inclement character,\nwhich causes so small a proportion of the country to be habitable.\n\n[Sidenote: The glaciers of Greenland a pole of maximum cold]\n\n    \"The land is cold, and the glacier [i.e., the great ice or inland ice]\n    has this nature, that he sends out cold gusts which drive away the\n    showers from his face, and he usually keeps his head bare. But often\n    his near neighbours have to suffer for it, in that all other lands\n    which lie in his neighbourhood get much bad weather from him, and all\n    the cold blasts that he throws off fall upon them.\"\n\nThough in simple and everyday words, this really expresses the idea that\nGreenland and the neighbouring regions are disproportionately cold, and\nthat, in part at any rate, this is due to the glaciers of Greenland, which\nhave a refrigerating effect (as an anticyclonic pole of maximum cold).\nThis is to a certain degree correct. In crossing Greenland in 1888 we\nfound that a pole of cold [anticyclone] lies over the inland ice, which\ngives off cold air. Scientific greatness does not always depend on\nerudition or acute learned combinations; it is just as often the result of\na sound common-sense.\n\nThe allusion in the \"King's Mirror\" to the Norse inhabitants of Greenland\nand their life has already been quoted in part (vol. i. p. 277); curiously\nenough the Skr\u00e6lings are not mentioned. The author gives a graphic\ndescription of the aurora borealis, and attempts to explain its cause. As\nalready noted (p. 155), it is curious that he should speak of it as\nsomething peculiar to Greenland, when he must of course have known it well\nenough in Norway.\n\nThe cosmography of the \"King's Mirror\" is based on older medi\u00e6val writers,\nespecially Isidore. The spherical form of the earth and the course of the\nsun are mentioned, as is Macrobius's doctrine of zones. In the frigid\nzones the cold has attracted to itself such power that the waters throw\noff their nature and are changed to ice, and all the land and sea is\ncovered with ice. They are usually uninhabitable, but nevertheless the\nauthor considers that Greenland lies in the north frigid zone. He thinks\nthat \"it is mainland, and connected with other mainland,\" as already\nmentioned, because it has a number of terrestrial animals that are not\noften found on islands. It\n\n    \"lies on the extreme side of the world on the north, and he does not\n    think there is land outside 'Heimskringla' [the circle of the world,\n    'orbis terrarum'] beyond Greenland, only the great ocean which runs\n    round the world; and it is said by men who are wise that the strait\n    through which the empty ocean flows comes in by Greenland, and into\n    the gap between the lands ('landa-klofi'), and thereafter with fjords\n    and gulfs it divides all countries, where it runs into Heimskringla.\"\n\nThis is, as we see, the same idea as already (p. 240) referred to, that\nthe Outer Ocean runs in through a sound between Greenland and another\ncontinent to the south, evidently Wineland, which is thus here again\nregarded as part of Africa (cf. p. 1).\n\nIt is moreover striking that neither Wineland, Markland, nor Helluland is\nmentioned in the \"King's Mirror,\" and Bjarmeland, Svalbard, etc., are also\nomitted. Thus it does not give any complete description of the northern\nlands, but it must be remembered that what we know of the work is only a\nfragment, and perhaps it was never completed.\n\n[Illustration: The Nancy map. A copy, of 1427, of Claudius Clavus's first\nmap of the North. The lines of latitude and longitude are omitted for the\nsake of clearness]\n\n\nCLAUDIUS CLAVUS\n\n[Sidenote: Claudius Clauss\u00f6n Swart, born 1388]\n\n[Sidenote: Clavus's maps]\n\nThe credit of having introduced the name of Greenland, with the ancient\nNorsemen's geographical ideas about the extreme North, into cartography\nbelongs, so far as is known, to the Dane Claudius Clauss\u00f6n Swart, usually\ncalled in Latin Claudius Clavus (sometimes also Nicolaus Niger). He was\nborn in Funen, travelled about Europe, and, as shown by Storm [1891, pp.\n17, f.], was probably the \"Nicolaus Gothus\" who is mentioned at Rome in\nJanuary 1424, and who is reported to have there given out that he had seen\na copy of Livy in the monastery of Sor\u00f6, near Roskilde (which was probably\na romance on his part). We are told that he was a man of acute\nintelligence, but a rover and unsteady. His subsequent history is unknown.\nAs a supplement to Ptolemy's Geography, which just at that time (1409) was\nbecoming known in Western Europe in a Latin translation, he made, probably\nin Italy, two maps of the North, with accompanying descriptions. The maps\nmust have been drawn either by himself or with his help. They are the\nfirst maps known in Western Europe which are furnished, after the model of\nPtolemy (or Marinus), with lines of latitude and longitude,[243] and they\nthus mark the beginning of a more scientific cartography and geography in\nWestern Europe.[244]\n\nHis first map (the Nancy map) must have been drawn between the years 1413\nand 1427, probably between 1424 and 1427; but it can never have been\nwidely known, as it has exercised no noticeable influence on the\ncartography of the succeeding period. The French cardinal Filastre (ob.\n1428), who was staying in Rome in 1427, became acquainted with it there,\nand made a reduced copy of it, which, together with a copy of the\naccompanying text, he had bound up with his copy of the Latin translation\nof Ptolemy's Geography with maps. This work was not rediscovered at Nancy\nuntil 1835, when it was published; the map is therefore usually called the\nNancy map. Clavus's second map, which seems to have been drawn later than\nthat just mentioned, has on the other hand had considerable influence on\nthe cartographical representation of the northern regions through a period\nof two centuries.\n\nA copy of the later map was first brought to light by Nordenski\u00f6ld at\nWarsaw in 1889 [1889, p. xxx.]; since then several copies have been\nrescued from oblivion, while the text accompanying the map was\naccidentally discovered in 1900 by Dr. A. A. Bj\u00f6rnbo in a medi\u00e6val MS. at\nVienna [Bj\u00f6rnbo and Petersen, 1904]. The original map is lost; but except\nas regards details of no great consequence there can now be no doubt as to\nwhat it was like.\n\nThe reproductions (pp. 248 and 251) will give an idea of the\nrepresentation of the North on the two maps. As far as Ptolemy's map\nextended (cf. vol. i. pp. 118, f.), it will be seen that its coast-lines\nand islands are almost slavishly adhered to on both maps. To this the\nNancy map adds a Scandinavia, with Iceland, the east coast of Greenland,\nand a northern land connection between the latter and Russia. On the later\nmap Scandinavia has been given a somewhat altered form, and Greenland has\na west coast. The Nancy map has few names, many more being mentioned in\nthe text, especially in Denmark. Even as regards Denmark they are\nevidently to a great extent taken from an older itinerary like that of\nBruges [\"Itin\u00e9raire Brugeois,\" cf. Storm, 1891, p. 19]. Some of the names\non the map, like \"bergis,\" \"nidrosia,\" etc., may be taken from older\ncompass-charts; both texts have the northern form \"Bergen.\" Headlands,\nbays and islands (on the coasts of Norway, Iceland and Greenland), for\nwhich he had no names (and which moreover are due to the free\nimagination of the draughtsman), have been designated in the Nancy text\nby Latin numerals (\"Primum,\" \"Secundum,\" etc.), or are simply named after\neach other (in Iceland), a sure sign that Clavus neither knew nor had\nheard anything about these coasts.\n\n[Illustration: Copy, of about 1467, of Claudius Clavus's later map. The\ncopy was executed by Nicolaus Germanus. Owing to the map being transferred\nto the latter's trapezoidal projection, with converging meridians,\nGreenland, for instance, has been given a very oblique appearance]\n\n[Sidenote: Mystification in Clavus's geographical names]\n\nOn his later map Clavus has made up for the want of names in an\nastonishing way. On some of the coasts he has continued to use Latin\nnumerals for bays, etc., but side by side with this on the shores of the\nBaltic and in Sweden he has used Danish numerals, such as, \"F\u00f6rste aa\nfluuii ostia\" (First river, river-mouth), \"Anden aa\" (Second river) ...,\netc. The southerners, who did not understand Danish, of course regarded\nthese as names, and subjected them to all sorts of corruptions. Matters\nbecame worse when in Gotland and Norway he used as the names of headlands\nand rivers the words of a meaningless rigmarole: \"Enarene,\" \"apocane,\"\n\"uithu,\" \"wultu,\" \"segh,\" \"sarlecrogh,\" etc. (evidently corresponding to\nchildren's rigmaroles like \"Anniken, fanniken, fiken, foken,\" etc.)[245]\nIn Iceland he used the names of the runic characters for headlands and\nrivers; but most remarkable of all are his names in Greenland, alternately\nfor headlands and the mouths of rivers(!). If, as shown by Bj\u00f6rnbo and\nPetersen, these are read continuously from the most northern headland on\nthe east coast round the south of the country, the following verse in the\ndialect of Funen is the result:\n\n  \"Th\u00e6r boer eeynh manh secundum [== ij ?][246] eyn Gronelandsz aa,\n      ooc Spieldebedh mundhe hanyd heyde;\n      meer hawer han aff nidefildh,\n      een hanh hawer flesk hinth feyde.\n      Nordh um driuer sandhin naa new new.\"\n\n      (There lives a man (in ?) a Greenland river,\n      and Spieldebedh is his name;\n      he has more vermin (?)\n      than he has fat bacon, etc.)\n\nThe verse, as pointed out by Axel Olrik, is evidently an imitation or\ntravesty of the folk-songs, and, as Karl Aubert has shown,[247] its\nprototype must certainly have been the first verse of the same folk-song\nthat is now known in Sweden by the name of \"Kung Speleman\":\n\n      \"Dher bodde een kjempe vid Helsingborg,\n      Kung Speleman m\u00e5nde han heta,\n      Visst hade han mera boda s\u00f6lf,\n      \u00c4n andra flesket dhet feta.\n  Uren drifver noran, och hafvet sunnan f\u00f6r noran.\"\n\n      (There lived a giant by Helsingborg,\n      King Fiddler was his name.\n      Sure he had greater store of silver\n      Than others of fat bacon, etc.)\n\nThis method of fabricating geographical names adopted by Clavus recalls\nthe designation of the notes in the medi\u00e6val scale, for which the words of\na Latin hymn were used, and it seems likely that this is what he has\nimitated. But his mystification, with all these strange names which no one\nin Southern Europe understood, and which in course of time underwent many\ncorruptions, has caused a good deal of trouble; many intelligent men have\nracked their brains to discover learned etymological interpretations of\ntheir origin, until Bj\u00f6rnbo's lucky find of the later text of Clavus\nsolved the riddle.\n\n[Sidenote: Different views of Clavus's maps and their origin]\n\nBj\u00f6rnbo and Petersen, who by their valuable work on Claudius Clavus with a\nreproduction of this text have the credit of throwing light on the\nrelation between his first and second maps, have put forward the view that\nClavus must have made his first map (the Nancy map) with its Latin text in\nItaly; but curiously enough they think he entirely rejected the Italian\ncompass-charts as unsuitable for the representation of the North, and\nconstructed his delineation of the northern regions independently of them,\nas an addition to Ptolemy's coast-lines, simply from information he had\nderived from northern sources. After this we are to suppose that, in order\nto extend his geographical knowledge, he went back to Denmark; and since\nthe authors place reliance on Clavus's assertion (in his later text) that\nhe had seen the places himself, they even credit him with having made a\nvoyage of geographical exploration, first to Norway (Trondhjem) and then\nto Greenland. And then he is supposed to have drawn his later map, and\nwritten the text for it (in Latin), in the North.\n\nI have come to an entirely different conclusion. His older map must be\nbased, in my opinion, not only on Ptolemy, but to a great extent on\nItalian maps. His later map and text, I consider, show beyond doubt that\nhe cannot have been either in Norway or Greenland, and I cannot find a\nsingle statement in the Vienna text, or any coast-line in his later map,\nwhich shows that he was outside Italy in the period between the two works.\nDoubtless the delineation of Denmark, especially Sealand, is more detailed\nin the second map; but the additions do not disclose any more local\nknowledge than might be attributed to Clavus as a native of Funen before\nhis first map was drawn, even though he had not then ventured to change\nthe form of Ptolemy's Scandia, which to him, of course, became Sealand.\nAfter this first attempt, however, he may have gained courage to launch\nout further with his knowledge. He may also have discovered a few fresh\npieces of information, in the papal archives, for instance. Besides this,\nhe may, of course, have received oral communications from people from the\nnorthern countries; but even of this I am unable to find sure signs. In\nconsideration of the imaginative tendencies shown by Clavus in his\ndistribution of names, and to some extent in the coast-lines on his map,\nwhich perhaps may also have asserted themselves in his statement that he\nhad seen a complete MS. of Livy in Sor\u00f6 monastery,[248] we shall scarcely\nbe insulting him if we believe his statements (in two passages of the\nVienna text) that he himself had seen Pygmies from a land in the North,\nand Karelians in Greenland, to be rhetorical phrases, calculated to\nstrengthen the reader's confidence, and to mean at the outside that he had\nseen something about these people in older authorities.\n\nAfter having heard my reasons, Bj\u00f6rnbo and Petersen have in all essentials\ncome round to my views. In particular they agree with me that Clavus\ncannot have been in Greenland, but that the delineation of that country on\nhis later map is based on the Medicean map of the world, which will be\nmentioned later. I therefore consider it superfluous to combat any further\nhere the reasons given in their work for their former view.\n\nClaudius Clavus's task must have been to supplement the newly discovered\natlas of Ptolemy by what he knew of the North; and to this end his maps\nwere drawn, either by himself or by a professional draughtsman in Italy\nfrom his instructions. The text was prepared after each of the maps, as a\ndescription of it; and the latitudes and longitudes are taken from the map\n[cf. Bj\u00f6rnbo and Petersen, 1904, p. 130]. With the superstitious respect\nof the period for older learned authorities in general, and for Ptolemy in\nparticular, he did not venture to alter the latter's coast-lines or\nlatitudes as far as they extended; even in the Danish islands he has done\nso with hesitation, thus Sealand in his first sketch [the Nancy map] has\nstill the same form as Scandia in Ptolemy, etc. He then added to the\nlatter's coast-lines what he knew or could get together from other\nquarters.\n\n[Sidenote: Sources and genesis of the Nancy map]\n\nHis first map [the Nancy map] may presuppose the following sources,\nbesides Ptolemy's various maps of Northern Europe; Pietro Vesconte's\nmappamundi (circa 1320) in Marino Sanudo's work,[249] and the anonymous\nmappamundi, now preserved in the so-called Medicean Marine Atlas, of\n1351, at Florence.[250] In addition to these, either the Bruges itinerary\nitself [Itin\u00e9raire Brugeois, cf. Storm, 1891, p. 19], or one of its\nearlier sources. Possibly he also had, in part at all events, a tract [in\nIcelandic ?] that is included in the fourth part of the \"Rymbegla\" [1780];\nthat he also knew of the Icelandic sailing directions, as assumed by\nBj\u00f6rnbo and Petersen, I regard as less certain, although not impossible;\nperhaps it would be safer to suppose that he may have seen some statements\nfrom Ivan B\u00e1rdsson's description of Greenland, in an itinerary, for\ninstance. I have not been able to find any certain indication of his\nhaving been acquainted with the Icelandic geography mentioned on p. 237;\nperhaps he may rather have known of the land connection between Greenland\nand Russia from some tale or other, or from a legendary saga;[251] from\nthe same source (or from Ivar B\u00e1rdsson's description ?) may also be\nderived the name Nordbotn (cf. p. 171, note 1), which is not known in the\nIcelandic geography, but which seems most probably to be a legendary form.\nCertain names, such as those of the bishops' sees in Norway and Iceland,\nClavus may easily have found in the papal archives in Rome.\n\nIn the first place, exactly following Ptolemy, the draughtsman has marked\nIreland with the islands around it and six Hebrides to the north-east,\nScotland with the island of Dumna and the archipelago \"Orcadia\" to the\nnorth (the island of Ocitis a little farther east), and the south coast of\nThule farther north; next Jutland with its small islands round about, and\nwith the large island of Scandia, which, of course, became Sealand (he has\nadded Funen and a number of other islands); finally the coast of Germany\nand Sarmatia eastwards to 63\u00b0 N. lat., and with the same number of\nriver-mouths as in Ptolemy. As this coast does not extend nearly so far to\nthe east as does the Baltic on the compass-charts, it resulted that\nClavus's Baltic became much shorter than that of the charts, and its shape\nhad to be altered to suit Ptolemy's coast-line. Then, at its northern end,\nthe draughtsman has placed possibly Pietro Vesconte's Scandinavian\npeninsula, going out towards the west (see the two maps, pp. 223, 224);\nbut as he saw Norway on the compass-charts extending west as far as to the\nnorth of Scotland, where on Ptolemy's map he found Thule, it was natural\nthat he should take the latter to be the southern point of Norway, and he\nwas obliged to move Vesconte's peninsula farther to the west. Its south\ncoast may have been drawn with the Medici map, or a similar one, as model.\nAs the southern coast of the Baltic was moved far to the south, after\nPtolemy, and Jutland was given a different and smaller form than on the\nMedici map, besides a marked inclination to the east, and as Sk\u00e5ne had to\nbe near Sealand (Scandia), the draughtsman was obliged to move the\npeninsula corresponding to Sk\u00e5ne about five degrees to the south. The\nsouth coast of the peninsula on the north of Scotland on the Medici map\n(see pp. 236, 260) corresponded very nearly to the south coast of Thule\n(with an east-south-easterly direction) on Ptolemy's map; it lay in an\nalmost corresponding latitude, but on account of the puzzling prolongation\nof Scotland to the east on Ptolemy's map, it had to be moved a good\nfifteen degrees of longitude to the east. Thule was thus united to\nNorway[252] and its south coast was given exactly the same shape as the\nsouth coast of the peninsula in question, with three arched bays (the\nbroadest on the east) and a projecting point towards the south-east. The\ncoast between this promontory and Sk\u00e5ne may then have been drawn with the\nsame number of four large bays as on the Medici map: a deeper one farthest\nwest, then a broad peninsula, next two wide, open bays, with a narrow\npeninsula between them, and finally a smaller bay opposite Sealand. The\n\"Halandi\" of the Nancy map is thus brought to the corresponding place with\nthe \"Alolanda\" of the Medici map (p. 236).[253]\n\nThus far it may be fairly easy to compare the maps; but then Norway\naccording to most of the compass-charts ought not to have any considerable\nfarther extension to the west, while on the other hand Northern ideas\ndemanded a Greenland in the far west, as well as a land in the north\nbetween that and Russia. With the latter the westernmost tongue of land in\nNorway on the Medicean mappamundi[254] agrees remarkably well. The\nsouthern point of Clavus's Greenland has also the same length in\nproportion to the west coast of Ireland, and about the same breadth, as on\nthis map. There was also an extensive mass of land in the north. According\nto various representations, such as those of Vesconte's mappamundi, Saxo's\ndescription (cf. p. 223), and others, there should be a gulf on the north\nside of the Scandinavian Peninsula. According to representations like that\nof the Lambert map at Ghent (cf. p. 188), this arm of the sea had the same\nform as that on the south side of Scandinavia, and there should only be a\nnarrow isthmus between these two arms of the sea, connecting the peninsula\nwith the mainland (cf. Saxo). On the Nancy map, too, the north coast of\nScandinavia is drawn almost exactly like the south coast, with the same\nnumber of promontories and bays, which correspond very nearly even in\ntheir shape. In this way Clavus's \"Nordhindh Bondh\" [Nor\u00f0rbotn], also\ncalled \"Tenebrosum mare\" [i.e., the dark sea] or \"Quietum mare\" [the\nmotionless sea], may have originated. This remarkable bay is connected on\nhis map with the Baltic by a canal (which is also mentioned in the Vienna\ntext). By this means Scandinavia really becomes an island. Clavus cannot\nhave acquired such an idea from any known source, although, as already\nmentioned, Saxo says that it is nearly an island (p. 223); but similar\nconceptions seem to have arisen in Italy (cf. above on Pietro Vesconte's\nmappamundi, p. 223).\n\n[Illustration: Scandinavia on the map of Europe in the Medici Atlas (of\n1351). The scales of latitude and longitude are here added from Ptolemy's\nmaps. The network of compass-lines is omitted]\n\nThe south coast of Norway [with \"Stauanger\"] and the southern point of\nGreenland retained on Clavus's map the same relation of latitude, a\ndifference of 1-1/2\u00b0, as the corresponding localities on the Medici map,\nwith very nearly the same degrees of latitude as on the latter, if we\nthere employ a scale of latitude calculated upon this map's representation\nof Spain (the Straits of Gibraltar) and France (Brittany), and use\nPtolemy's latitudes for these countries. This has been done in the\nreproduction of the Medicean mappamundi on p. 236.[255] The scale of\nlongitude is calculated in the same proportion to the latitude as in\nPtolemy. In some tract like that included in the fourth part of the\n\"Rymbegla\" [1780, p. 466] Clavus may have found that Bergen lay in\nlatitude 60\u00b0 and so placed the town on the west coast of Norway in this\nlatitude according to his own scale (on the right-hand side of the Nancy\nmap, see p. 474). In relation to the south coast of Norway Bergen was thus\nbrought 3/4\u00b0 farther south than \"c. bergis\" on the Medici map (above).\nCalculated according to Ptolemy's scale of latitude (on the left-hand side\nof the Nancy map), Bergen was consequently placed in Clavus's text in 64\u00b0,\nwhile the southern point of Greenland is placed in 63\u00b0 15',[256] a\ndifference in latitude of 45' (in the Vienna text the difference is 35'),\nwhile in reality it is 38'; a remarkable accidental agreement. According\nto Clavus's own scale of latitude on the right-hand side of the Nancy map,\nwe get the following latitudes: Bergen 60\u00b0, the southern point of\nGreenland 59\u00b0 15', Stavanger 58\u00b0 30'. In reality the latitudes of these\nplaces are: 60\u00b0 24', 59\u00b0 46', and 58\u00b0 58'. This agreement is remarkable,\nas a displacement of the scale of latitude half a degree to the north on\nthe Nancy map would give very nearly correct latitudes.[257] The mutual\nrelation between the latitudes of the three places may, as we have seen,\nbe explained from the Medici map, but hardly from a possible acquaintance\nwith the Icelandic sailing directions; for according to these Bergen and\nthe southern point of Greenland would be placed in the same latitude,\nsince we are told that from Bergen the course was \"due west to Hvarf in\nGreenland.\"[258] The Medici map may also give a natural explanation of\nplaces like Bergen and the southern point of Greenland having been given\nby Clavus a latitude so much too northerly (even in the Nancy map), and of\nthe southern point of Greenland having only half a degree more westerly\nlongitude than the west coast of Ireland.[259]\n\nIceland lay, according to the Bruges itinerary, midway between Norway and\nGreenland, precisely as on the Nancy map. Between Norway and Iceland,\naccording to the same itinerary, lay \"Fare\u00f6\" [F\u00e6r\u00f6], and the fabulous\nisland \"Fem\u00f6e,\" \"where only women are born and never men.\"\n\nAfter speaking of the \"third headland\" in 71\u00b0 on the east coast of\nGreenland, the Nancy text goes on:\n\n    \"But from this headland an immense country extends eastward as far as\n    Russia. And in its [i.e., the country's] northern parts dwell the\n    infidel Karelians ('Careli infideles'), whose territory ('regio')\n    extends to the north pole ('sub polo septentrionalis') towards the\n    Seres[260] of the east, wherefore the pole ['polus' == the arctic\n    circle ?], which to us is in the north, is to them in the south in\n    66\u00b0.\"\n\nIt is probable, as suggested by Bj\u00f6rnbo and Petersen, that these \"Careli\ninfideles\" are identical with those who are found almost in the same\nplace, in the ocean to the north of Norway, on one of the maps in Marino\nSanudo's work (in the Paris MS., see above, p. 225), and who on other maps\nbelonging to that work are placed on the mainland to the north-east of\nScandinavia. As pointed out by Storm, \"Kareli\" are also mentioned\ntogether with Greenland and \"Mare Gronlandicum\" in the Bruges itinerary.\n\nBj\u00f6rnbo and Petersen maintain that Claudius Clavus has here consciously\nput forward a new and revolutionary view which was a complete break with\nthe cosmogony of the whole of the Middle Ages, since according to the\nlatter the disc of the earth was entirely surrounded by sea to the south\nof the North Pole, as represented on the wheel-maps. I think this is\nattributing to Clavus rather too much original thought, of which his maps\nand text do not otherwise give evidence. It is, of course, correct that\nthe idea of land, and inhabited land, too, at the North Pole, or to the\nnorth of the Arctic Circle, did not agree with the general learned\nconception of the Middle Ages; but the same idea had already been clearly\nenough expressed in Norwegian-Icelandic literature. Even the Historia\nNorwegi\u00e6 has inhabited land beyond the sea in the north, and the Icelandic\nlegendary sagas and Saxo have it too. In addition to these, the tract\nincluded in the \"Rymbegla\" says distinctly (see above, p. 239) that this\nland in the opinion of some lies under the pole-star (cf. Clavus's\nexpression: \"sub polo septentrionalis\"). The fact that the continent on\nthe Medicean map of the world extended boundlessly on the north into the\nunknown (whereas Africa ended in a peninsula on the south) must have\nconfirmed Clavus in the view that the land reached to the pole. To this\nwas added, what perhaps weighed most with him, the fact that such a view\ndid not conflict with Ptolemy, whose continent also had no limit on the\nnorth.\n\nOn the connecting land in the north is written, on the Nancy map:\n\"Unipedes maritimi,\" \"Pigmei maritimi,\" \"Griffonii regio vastissima,\" and\n\"Wildhlappelandi.\" As these names are not mentioned in Clavus's text, it\nis uncertain whether the fabulous creatures may not be to some extent\nadditions for which he is not responsible.\n\nAfter the map was drawn, with its bays and headlands, and the coast of\nScandinavia provided with a suitable number of islands, Claudius Clavus\nset himself to describe it; where he had no names from earlier sources, he\nnumbered the headlands, bays and islands, \"Primum,\" \"Secundum,\" etc.\n\nA remarkable thing about the Nancy map is that it has two divisions of\nlatitude: one according to Ptolemy on the left-hand side of the map, and\nanother according to Clavus himself, on a scale four degrees lower, on the\nright-hand side. According to the latter, Roskilde would have a longest\nday of seventeen hours (through a transposition the Nancy map gives\nseventeen hours thirty minutes), which, as pointed out by Bj\u00f6rnbo [1910,\np. 96], exactly agrees with what Clavus may have learnt from a Roskilde\ncalendar (\"Liber daticus Roskildensis\") of 1274. Bj\u00f6rnbo has also remarked\nthat Bergen is given a remarkably correct latitude, 60\u00b0 (the correct one\nis 60\u00b0 24'), and thinks it possible that there may have been a Bergen\ncalendar which Clavus has used. But a more likely source, unnoticed by\nBj\u00f6rnbo, is to be found, as mentioned on p. 260, in the \"Rymbegla\" tract,\nwhere the latitude of Bergen is given as 60\u00b0. It is true that the same\ntract gives the latitude of Trondhjem (Nidaros) as 64\u00b0, which does not\nagree with the Nancy map, where there is a difference of only 2\u00b0 between\nBergis and Nidrosia. Even though it is probable that Clavus was acquainted\nwith some such tract, with which his statement as to land at the North\nPole also agrees, it may have been a somewhat different version from that\nwhich found its way into the \"Rymbegla,\" and perhaps the latitude of\nTrondhjem was not mentioned there. On the other hand, he may have found,\nthere or elsewhere, the latitude of Stavanger given, 1-1/2\u00b0 farther south\nthan Bergen (?).\n\nIf we assume that Clavus, even in the construction of his first map, made\nuse of the Medicean map of the world, and that his Greenland is the most\nwesterly peninsula of the latter's Norway, it will seem strange that he\ndid not also draw the west coast of that peninsula, which would naturally\nbecome the west coast of Greenland. It is true that the Nancy map is only\na copy, but as the west coast of Greenland is not mentioned in the copy\nof Clavus's text either, we are bound to believe that he did not include\nit. The margin on the western side of Clavus's first map was evidently\ndetermined by that of Ptolemy's map of the British Isles, and follows\nprecisely the same meridian. Thus there was no room for the Medici map's\npeninsula corresponding to Clavus's Greenland. As already stated, it is\ndifficult to get away from the belief that the Medici map was used for the\neast coast of Greenland, the south coast of Norway, etc.; the resemblances\nare too great, and otherwise inexplicable (cf. p. 261, note 3).\n\n[Sidenote: Clavus's later map and text, and their genesis]\n\nAfter the first map was drawn, Clavus may have made further cartographical\nstudies in Italy, and may thus have become acquainted with other\ncompass-charts, especially those of the Dalorto type. At the same time he\nmay have obtained a new and more accurate determination of the latitude of\nTrondhjem, probably by the length of its longest day. As Trondhjem was an\narchbishopric, it is not unlikely that he found such a piece of\ninformation in the papal archives at Rome. He may then naturally have\nwished to bring his map more into agreement with his new knowledge, and\nthis may have led to his later map, which is now known to us through\nseveral somewhat varying copies. To this he then wrote a new text (the\nVienna text), which in all important points resembles the former, but has\nvarious additions and alterations. The later map has not the double scale\nof latitude on any of the copies known, but curiously enough only\nPtolemy's degrees. Besides a more accurate delineation of Jutland and the\nDanish islands, especially Sealand, Bornholm and Gotland are drawn in\ncloser resemblance to the Medici map; the south coast of Scandinavia has\nbeen altered to agree more with compass-charts of the Catalan type. In\nparticular the south coast of Norway has been given the four\ncharacteristic promontories (as on the Dalorto map of 1339, and on the\nModena map, etc.; cf. the reproductions, pp. 226, 231), and Bergen\n(\"Bergis\") has been placed at the head of the westernmost of the three\nbays thus formed, which is also a peculiarity of the maps of this type\n(the Catalan chart of 1375 has five promontories with four bays, cf.\nNordenski\u00f6ld, 1896, Pl. XI.). The other two diocesan towns, Stavanger and\nHamar, are placed at the heads of the other two bays to the east, and\nStavanger has thus lost the remarkably correct position in relation to\nBergen and the south point of Greenland which it had on the older map.\nTrondhjem has been placed at the extremity of the westernmost promontory,\npossibly because there had been found a more correct determination of the\nlatitude of the town, which was to be fitted into Ptolemy's graduation;\nthereby the shape of Norway has become still narrower and farther removed\nfrom reality.\n\nFrom the \"lac scarsa\" (Lake Skara, i.e., Vener) with its river is derived\nthe great lake \"Vona\" (Vener) in the centre of Scandinavia on all the\ncopies of Clavus's later map, from which the river \"Vona\" (also mentioned\nin the Vienna text) runs into the deep bay by \"Aslo\" (Oslo) and the island\nof \"Tunsberg.\" A connection, especially with Dalorto's map of 1339, seems\nagain to be implied by Clavus's statement in the Vienna text that on\nLister Ness \"white falcons are caught\" (\"Liste promontorium, ubi capiuntur\nfalcones albi\"). On Dalorto's map there is a picture of a white falcon on\nthe headland to the west of that which Clavus has made into Lister, and\nthe words \"hic sunt girfalcos\" (here are hunting falcons). That Clavus has\nmoved the hawks to a headland farther east is of small importance. Either\nhe may have taken his hawks from Dalorto's or a similar map, or else they\nare derived from an older common source.\n\nThrough the alteration of the south coast of Norway, it became necessary\nto separate it from Thule, which again became an island as originally in\nPtolemy; but on the copies of the map it has in addition the name\n\"Bellandiar,\" which may be a corruption of Hetlandia (Shetland). The\nnorth-west coast of Norway has also been given a form which agrees better\nwith the compass-charts, although it has a much more east-north-easterly\ndirection than even on the Modena map; but this was, of course, necessary\nto make room for the sea \"Nordhenbodnen\" (Nordbotn). That the\ncompass-charts might lead to something resembling Clavus's last form of\nScandinavia, and especially of the south coast of Norway, is shown by the\nmap of Europe in Andrea Bianco's atlas of 1436, which must have been drawn\nwithout knowledge of Clavus's work. If on this map we move the coast of\nthe Baltic farther south and Sk\u00e5ne also, which would be necessitated by a\nbetter knowledge of Denmark (and by the alteration of the map following\nPtolemy), and draw the coast-line of Norway towards the east-north-east\nfrom the south-western promontory (instead of making it go in a northerly\ndirection), we shall get a Scandinavia of very similar type to that in\nClavus's later map.\n\n[Illustration: The north-western portion of the map of Europe in Andrea\nBianco's atlas of 1436. The compass-lines are omitted]\n\nBj\u00f6rnbo and Petersen have maintained in their monograph that Clavus must\nhave been in Norway before he drew this map, and that amongst other things\nhis remarkably correct latitude for Trondhjem must be due to his own\nobservation of the length of the day at the summer solstice. Storm [1889,\np. 140] seems also to have supposed that Clavus may really have been in\nNorway. To me it appears that his map and text are conclusive evidence\nagainst his ever having been there; for a man who had sailed to Trondhjem\nalong the coast of Norway could not possibly have produced a\ncartographical representation of the country so entirely at variance with\nreality as Clavus has done, however ignorant we may suppose him. The fact\nin itself that \"Trunthheim\" (Trondhjem) or \"Nedrosia\" is placed at the\nextremity of the south side of the south-western promontory of the\ncountry is extraordinary. If he had come there asleep he could not have\ngot any such idea; and for a man who had sailed in through the long\nchannel of the Trondhjem fjord up to the town it is incredible. It is\nequally incredible that a man who had sailed along the coast from\nStavanger and Bergen to Trondhjem could place the latter town in a\nlatitude 10' to the south of Bergen, and only 10' to the north of\nStavanger. We are not justified in attributing to Clavus such an entire\nlack of power of observation, especially if we are to suppose him capable\nof determining with remarkable accuracy the length of the longest day at\nTrondhjem. That Trondhjem is placed to the west of Bergen and Stavanger,\nthat the Dovrefjeld is called a high promontory, while on the Nancy map it\nwas inland, that Hamar (\"Amerensis\") is put on the sea-coast, etc., all\nshows the same want of knowledge of the country and its configuration. The\nnames he may have taken from an itinerary or other sources, and, as\nalready suggested, it is not unlikely that he may have found in the papal\narchives a fairly correct statement of the latitude (or length of the\nlongest day) of Trondhjem, which was an archbishop's see. That the towns\nhe gives are just those that are the heads of dioceses is perhaps an\nindication of a connection with the Vatican.\n\nClavus tells us further that\n\n    \"Norway has eighteen islands, which in winter are always connected\n    with the mainland, and are seldom separated from it, unless the summer\n    is very warm,\" and that \"'Tyle' [Thule] is a part of Norway and is not\n    reckoned as an island, although it is separated from the land by a\n    channel or strait, for the ice connects it with the land for eight or\n    nine months, and therefore it is reckoned as mainland. The same\n    applies to the sea 'Nordhinbodnen' [Nordbotn], which separates\n    'Wildlappenland' from 'Vermenlandh'[261] and 'Findland' by a long\n    strait, since the countries are united by almost eternal ice.\"\n\nThis discloses an extraordinary lack of knowledge of Northern conditions.\nSuch a connection of the islands with the mainland by ice occurs, of\ncourse, nowhere on the whole outer coast of Norway from F\u00e6rder to the\nMurman Coast. On the other hand, the Gulf of Bothnia and the \u00c5land\narchipelago are frozen over for a long time in winter, and it might be\nsupposed that Clavus had heard reports of this. But I have not been able\nto discover any source from which he may have derived these fables. Most\nprobably they are embellishments of the same kind as the eighteen islands\nof Norway, that form an arbitrary decoration of the coast-line of his map,\na circumstance which does not hinder him from describing them as real.\nClavus has used the ice as a transition between the representation of his\nolder map, where Thule was part of the mainland, and that of the later\none, where it was made into an island.\n\nAt the northernmost limit of Norway, between two places called \"Ynesegh\"\nand \"Mestebrodh,\" Clavus connected the Polar Sea (\"Nordhinbodhn\") by a\nnarrow channel with the Gotland Sea [the Baltic], and a little farther\nnorth, in 67\u00b0, he says that\n\n    \"the uttermost limit is marked with a crucifix, so that Christians\n    shall not venture without the king's permission to penetrate farther,\n    even with a great company.\" \"And from this place westwards over a very\n    great extent of land dwell first Wildlappmanni [Wild Lapps, i.e.,\n    Mountain Lapps, Reindeer Lapps ? cf. vol. i. p. 227], people leading a\n    perfectly savage life and covered with hair, as they are depicted; and\n    they pay yearly tribute to the king. And after them, farther to the\n    west, are the little Pygmies, a cubit high, whom I have seen after\n    they were taken at sea in a little hide-boat, which is now hanging in\n    the cathedral at Nidaros; there is likewise a long vessel of hides,\n    which was also once taken with such Pygmies in it.\"\n\nTwo things are to be remarked about this assertion that he himself had\nseen these Pygmies (one might suppose in Norway): (1) if he had really\nseen a captive Eskimo brought to Norway (by whom ?), he could hardly have\nbeen ignorant that this remarkable native was from Greenland, and not from\na fabulous northern land. And (2), how could he then give their height as\nno more than a cubit, like the Pygmies of myth? It appears to me that in\none's zeal to defend Clavus, one would thus have to attribute to him two\nserious falsehoods, instead of a more innocent rhetorical phrase about\nhaving seen this, that, and the other.\n\nClavus's statement about the Pygmies' small hide-boats, and the long\nhide-boat, that hung in Trondhjem cathedral, is, however, of great\ninterest from the fact that this is the first mention in literature of the\ntwo forms of Eskimo boat: the kayak and the women's boat (\"umiak\").\nPerhaps he got this from the same unknown source (in the Vatican ?) in\nwhich he found the statement of the latitude of Trondhjem (?). In the fact\nthat the Wild Lapps are mentioned first, and after them the Pygmies,\nClavus's text again bears a great resemblance to the anonymous letter to\nPope Nicholas V. (of about 1450). In the northernmost regions (to the\nnorth-west of Norway) this letter mentions [cf. Storm, 1899, p. 9]\n\n    \"the forests of Gronolonde, where there are monsters of human aspect\n    who have hairy limbs, and who are called wild men.\"... \"And as one\n    goes west towards the mountains of these countries, there dwell\n    Pygmies,\" etc. (cf. above, p. 86).\n\nMichael Beheim also mentions \"Wild lapen,\" who live in the forests to the\nnorth of Norway, and who carry on a dumb barter of furs with the\nmerchants, like that described by the Arab authors as taking place in the\ncountry north of W\u00eesu (cf. p. 144), and he goes on to speak of the\nSkr\u00e6lings, three spans high, etc. (cf. above, p. 85). Beheim's statement\ndiffers from Clavus's text, and this again from the letter to Nicholas V.,\nso that one cannot be derived from the other. It is therefore most\nprobable, as suggested already (p. 86), that they have all drawn from some\nolder source, and it may be supposed that this was Nicholas of Lynn. We\nhave seen that there are other points in Clavus that lead one's thoughts\nin the same direction.\n\nClavus proceeds:\n\n    \"The peninsula of the island of Greenland stretches down from land on\n    the north which is inaccessible or unknown on account of ice.\n    Nevertheless, as I have seen, the infidel Karelians daily come to\n    Greenland in great armies (bands of warriors, 'cum copioso exercitu'),\n    and that without doubt from the other side of the North Pole.\n    Therefore the ocean does not wash the limit of the continent under the\n    Pole [Arctic Circle ?] itself, as all ancient authors have asserted;\n    and therefore the noble English knight, John Mandevil, did not lie\n    when he said that he had sailed from the Indian Seres [i.e., China ?]\n    to an island in Norway.\"\n\nIf we compare this with the \"Rymbegla\" tract already mentioned [1780, p.\n466], we see that these are much the same ideas as there expressed. We\nread there\n\n    \"that it is the report of the same men that the sea is full of eternal\n    ice to the north of us and under the pole star, where the arms of the\n    Outer Ocean meet....\"\n\nWhen it is there stated that\n\n    \"those shores [under the pole star] hinder the ring of the ocean from\n    coming together [i.e., round the earth]\" ... and \"that one can go on\n    foot ... from Greenland to Norway\" [cf. above, p. 239],\n\nthis is evidently something similar to what Clavus says; but the latter's\nwords as to the voyage which he attributes to Mandeville from the Indian\nSeres to Norway being more probable because there is land at the North\nPole are somewhat incomprehensible.\n\n    John Mandeville's book about a voyage through many lands to the far\n    east and China dates from between 1357 and 1371, and is put together\n    from various accounts of voyages, with the addition of all kinds of\n    fables. Mandeville does not himself claim to have made any such voyage\n    from China to Norway; on the other hand, he has much to say, in\n    chapter xvii., about the possibility of sailing round the world, which\n    he declares to be practicable, and if ships were sent out to explore\n    the world, one could sail round the world, both above and below. He\n    says that when he was young he heard of a man who set out from England\n    to explore the world, and who went past India and the islands beyond\n    it where there are more than five thousand islands, and so far did he\n    travel over sea and land that he finally came to an island where he\n    heard them calling to the ox at the plough in his own language, as\n    they did in his own country. This island afterwards proved to be in\n    Norway.[262]\n\nClavus's assertion that he himself saw (\"ut uidi\") Karelians in Greenland\nis impossible. As it is expressly stated that there was land at the North\nPole, and as it is not mentioned that these Karelians had hide-boats like\nthe Pygmies, the meaning must be that their armies came marching by the\nland route, which, of course, is an impossibility, which, if he had been\nin Greenland, would make him a worse romancer than if we suppose his \"ut\nuidi\" to mean that he had seen something of the sort stated in a\nnarrative; but even this may be doubtful. In the Bruges itinerary [cf.\nStorm, 1891, p. 20] or some similar older authority, which we know he may\nhave used, he may have seen \"Kareli\" beyond Greenland spoken of as \"in\ntruth a populus monstrosus.\" We have already said that on the maps\naccompanying Marino Sanudo's work he may have seen \"Kareli infideles\"\nmarked on the mainland to the north-east of Norway, or even on an island\nout in the northern sea, and he would then naturally have connected the\nKarelians of the itinerary with these Karelians north of Norway. If we add\nto this that on the Medicean map of the world he saw the mass of the\ncontinent extending from Scandinavia and the peninsula corresponding to\nGreenland, northwards into the unknown, and that in the \"Rymbegla\" tract\nhe saw mention of land at the North Pole--then, indeed, his whole\nstatement seems to admit of a perfectly natural explanation.\n\nHis lack of knowledge of the conditions in Greenland appears again in his\nspeaking of Pygmies and Karelians as two different peoples, one apparently\non the sea, and the other marching in armies on land; and in his\nmentioning hide-boats as something peculiar to the former in the fabulous\nnorthern country, while he does not say that the Karelians in Greenland\nhad boats or went to sea. If he had only spoken to people who had been in\nGreenland, he could hardly have avoided hearing of the Skr\u00e6lings who come\nto meet every traveller in their hide-boats.\n\n[Illustration: Map constructed by Dr. Bj\u00f6rnbo after Clavus's later\ndescription (the Vienna text). (Bj\u00f6rnbo and Petersen, 1904, Pl. II.)]\n\n[Sidenote: Clavus's west coast of Greenland taken directly from the Medici\nmap]\n\nIt is an important difference between Clavus's first and second maps (and\nalso between his first and second texts) that on the latter Greenland is\ngiven a west coast. Its form bears an altogether striking resemblance to\nthe west coast of the corresponding peninsula on the Medicean mappamundi,\nso that there can be no doubt that this coast is copied from it.[263]\nThis is notably the case if we confine ourselves to Bj\u00f6rnbo and Petersen's\nreconstruction of the coast after the text of Clavus, from which it\nappears plainly enough that there are the same number of bays as on the\nMedici map; they are closest together near the southern point of the\ncountry; then come two larger bays to the north, then a very broad bay,\nlonger than the two others together, and then a straighter coast-line to\nthe north of that (cf. p. 236). The east coast of Greenland has in part\nbeen provided with corresponding bays, although this coast is almost\nstraight on the Medici map; but this answers to the north coast of\nScandinavia on the Nancy map having very nearly the same indentations as\nthe south coast. In taking the Medici map as the foundation of Clavus's\nGreenland coast we also have a natural explanation of the relation between\nhis distribution of names on the east coast and the west. In his later\ntext it is striking that his description of the east coast of Greenland\ndoes not reach farther than to his \"Th\u00e6r promontorium\" in 65\u00b0 35', while\nthe description of the west coast goes as far north as 72\u00b0. This might\nseem to be connected with real local knowledge, since the latitude 65\u00b0 35'\non the east coast agrees in a remarkable way with the latitude of Cape\nDan, 65\u00b0 32', where the coast turns in a more northerly direction. To the\nnorth of this the coast is usually blocked with ice, and this place has\ntherefore frequently been given as the northern limit of the known east\ncoast, and probably it was there that the Icelanders first arrived off the\nland on their voyage westward to the Greenland settlements. But this is\none of those accidental coincidences that sometimes occur, and that warn\nus to be careful not to draw too many conclusions from evidence of this\nnature.[264] We find the explanation in the Medici map (p. 236), where the\neast coast of the peninsula corresponding to Greenland does not go farther\nnorth than to about the same latitude as the promontory on the south side\nof the broad bay already referred to on the west coast, which promontory\nClavus calls \"Hynth\" [\"Hyrch\"]; it lies in 65\u00b0 40'. As Clavus's coast from\nthis point of the east coast northward had no map to depend on, he did not\nventure to go farther in his description this time, though in the Nancy\ntext he goes to 71\u00b0 with his northernmost cape.\n\nThe Medicean map of the world gives us at the same time a simple\nexplanation of Clavus's designations for the two most northerly points on\nthe west coast of Greenland. If we confine ourselves to the scale of\nlatitude for the Medici map, which, as stated above (p. 259), we have\nfound by using Ptolemy's latitudes for more southern places on the map\n(Gibraltar and Brittany), and which is inserted in the left-hand margin of\nthe reproduction, p. 236, we shall find the following: just at the spot of\nwhich Clavus declares: \"New, the uttermost limit of the land which we know\non this side, lies in 70\u00b0 10',\"[265] the heavy colouring of the land on\nthe Medici map comes to an end (judging from the photograph in Ongania,\nPl. V.). Farther to the north extends the coast of the lightly coloured\nmass of land; but just at this point, in 72\u00b0, where Clavus has his\n\"ultimus locus uisibilis\" [last point visible][266] this coast-line\ndisappears into the oblique frame which cuts off the upper left-hand\ncorner of the map. The agreement is here so exact and so complete that it\nwould be difficult to find any way out of it.\n\n[Sidenote: The position of Iceland]\n\nBj\u00f6rnbo and Petersen have asserted that Iceland, on the later map and in\nthe Vienna text, has been given a position more in agreement with the\nsailing directions than on the Nancy map. I cannot see the necessity for\nthis supposition, as it has almost exactly the same position in relation\nto the southern point of Greenland and to Norway in both works; the chief\ndifference is merely that the longitude of all three countries is made 3\u00b0\nfarther east in the later work (and the latitude of the southern points of\nIceland and Greenland is put somewhat farther south), and that the east\ncoast of Greenland has a more oblique north-eastward direction than the\ncorresponding north-east coast on the Medici map, with the direction of\nwhich the Nancy map agrees fairly well. In this way it is brought nearer\nto Iceland; but that this should be due to a knowledge of the sailing\ndirections seems very uncertain, and is not disclosed, so far as I can\nsee, elsewhere in the later work. The only things I have found which might\npossibly point to northern authorities having been consulted since the\nproduction of the Nancy work, are the accurate latitude of Trondhjem,\nalready referred to, and the island of \"By\u00f6rn\u00f6\" between Iceland and\nGreenland. The latter might be the Gunnbj\u00f6rnskerries (or Gunnbjarnar-eyar)\nmentioned, amongst other places, in Ivar B\u00e1rdsson's description of\nGreenland; but the abbreviation of the name is curious. Perhaps the island\nmay be due to some oral communication, or an erroneous recollection of\nsomething the author may have heard of in Denmark in his youth.\n\n[Sidenote: Clavus's merits]\n\nOn the whole we shall be compelled after all to detract considerably from\nClaudius Clavus's reputation as a Northern traveller and cartographer. His\njourney did not extend farther north than the Danish islands, and perhaps\nSk\u00e5ne. On the other hand, he was in Italy, where he drew his maps or had\nthem drawn, and where he also found his most important authorities. His\nchief merit as a cartographer is that he is the first we know of to have\nadopted Ptolemy's methods, and that he gave the name of Greenland to the\nwesternmost tongue of land in Norway on the Medicean mappamundi, and\naltered this a good deal with the help of other compass-charts and\nVesconte's mappamundi, to make it agree better with the ideas of the North\nwhich he may have acquired to some extent in his youth through legendary\ntales, and later through Saxo and other writers.\n\n[Illustration: North-western portion of Nicolaus Germanus's first revision\nof Ptolemy's map of the world (after 1466). (J. Fischer, 1902, Pl. I.)]\n\n[Sidenote: Clavus's influence on later cartography]\n\n[Sidenote: Nicolaus Germanus, circa 1460-1470]\n\nClaudius Clavus's later map of the North exercised for a long period a\ndecisive influence on the representation of Scandinavia and to some extent\nof Greenland. This was chiefly due to the two well-known cartographers,\nNicolaus Germanus and Henricus Martellus.[267] The former must have become\nacquainted with Clavus's map soon after 1460, and included copies of it in\nthe splendid MSS. of Ptolemy's Geography which proceeded from his workshop\nat Florence. In these copies, of which several are known (cf. p. 251), he\nhas redrawn Clavus's map in the trapezoidal projection invented by\nhimself, whereby his Greenland has been given a more oblique position than\nthe Greenland of the original map and the corresponding peninsula on the\nMedici map. He also introduced this Greenland into his map of the world\n[cf. J. Fischer, 1902, Pl. I., III.; Bj\u00f6rnbo, 1910, p. 136]; but, in order\nto make it agree better with the learned medi\u00e6val view of the earth's disc\nsurrounded by ocean, he surrounded it by sea on the north, so that it came\nto form a long and narrow tongue of land projecting from northern Russia,\ninstead of the northern mass of land extending to the North Pole according\nto Clavus. But this long peninsula does not seem to have entirely\nsatisfied this priest's erudite ideas of the continent, and on later maps\n(which were printed after his death in the Ulm editions of Ptolemy of 1482\nand 1486) he shortened it so much that it became a rounded peninsula to\nthe north of Norway, with the name \"Engronelant,\"[268] and at the same\ntime he moved Iceland out into the ocean to the north-west. This\napparently quite arbitrary alteration may perhaps be due to a desire to\nbring the map as far as possible into agreement with the learned dogma of\nthe continent [cf. Bj\u00f6rnbo, 1910, pp. 141, ff.]; but older conceptions of\nGreenland may also have contributed towards it [cf. J. Fischer, 1902, pp.\n87, ff.]. We have already seen that Adam of Bremen regarded Greenland as\nan island \"farther out in the ocean opposite the mountains of Suedia\" (see\nvol i. p. 194), and in his additions to the copy of Ptolemy, Cardinal\nFilastre (before 1427) states that Greenland lay to the north of Norway;\nwe find the same view in the letter of 1448 from Pope Nicholas V. (see\nabove, p. 113).[269] It is also somewhat remarkable that on the Genoese\nmappamundi of 1447 (or 1457) there occurs a peninsula north of Scandinavia\njust at the place where Clavus's Greenland should begin (see p. 287).[270]\nOn Fra Mauro's mappamundi (1457-59) there are several peninsulas to the\nnorth of Scandinavia, some of which proceed from Russia (see p. 285).\n\n[Illustration: Map of the North by Nicolaus Germanus (before 1482), after\nClaudius Clavus, but with Greenland transferred to the north of Norway]\n\n[Sidenote: Henricus Martellus, circa 1490]\n\nThe cartographer Henricus Martellus, who succeeded Nicolaus Germanus,\nagain adopted Clavus's form of Greenland, wholly or in part, on his maps\ndating from about 1490.\n\nIn this way there arose on the maps of the close of the Middle Ages two\ntypes of the North: one with Greenland in a comparatively correct position\nto the west of Iceland, though far too near Europe and connected\ntherewith, and another type with \"Engronelant\" as a peninsula to the north\nof Norway. The latter remained for a long time the usual one in all\neditions of Ptolemy, in other cartographical works and on many globes.\nAfter the rediscovery of Greenland we even get sometimes two delineations\nof this country on the same map, one to the north of Norway and the other\nin its right place in the west.\n\n[Sidenote: Illa verde]\n\nGreenland seems to have been given a wholly different form on a Catalan\ncompass-chart from Majorca, of the close of the fifteenth century, where\nin the Atlantic to the west of Ireland and south-west of Iceland\n[\"Fixlanda\"] there is an island called \"Illa verde\" [the green isle]. It\nseems, as assumed by Storm [1893, p. 81], that the name must be a\ntranslation of Greenland, which is called in the Historia Norwegi\u00e6\n\"Viridis terra.\" The representation of Iceland [\"Fixlanda\"] on this map is\nincomparably better than on all earlier maps, and gives proof of new\ninformation having come from thence. As the place-names point to an\nEnglish source, it is possible that the cartographer may have received\ninformation from Bristol, which city was engaged in the Iceland trade and\nfisheries, and his island, \"Illa verde,\" may be due to an echo of reports\nabout the forgotten Greenland in the west. It is worth remarking that the\nisland is connected with the Irish mythical \"Illa de brazil,\" which lay to\nthe west of Ireland and which appears in this map twice over in its\ntypical round form (cf. above, p. 228).[271] If we remember that this\nhappy isle is in reality the Insul\u00e6 Fortunat\u00e6, and that in the Historia\nNorwegi\u00e6 (see above, p. 1) it is said that Greenland [\"Viridis terra\"]\nnearly touches the African Islands (i.e., Insul\u00e6 Fortunat\u00e6), then we\npossibly have an explanation of this juxtaposition. But as it is said in\nthe same passage that Greenland forms the western end of Europe, we cannot\nsuppose that the cartographer was acquainted with this work. The\nprobability is, no doubt, that Greenland [Illa verde] together with Brazil\nor the Insul\u00e6 Fortunat\u00e6 had become transformed into mythical islands out\nin the ocean.\n\n[Illustration: Part of a Catalan compass-chart of the fifteenth century,\npreserved at Milan. (Nordenski\u00f6ld, 1892, Pl. 5)]\n\nOn another compass-chart, bound up in a Paris MS. of Ptolemy of the latter\npart of the fifteenth century, a similar island (or peninsula ?), with the\nsame round island to the south of it, is seen to project southwards from\nthe northern border of the chart out into the Atlantic, and a little\nfarther east than the Insul\u00e6 Fortunat\u00e6. On the island is written: \"Insula\nuiridis, de qua fit mentio in geographia\" [the green island, of which\nmention is made in the geography].[272] We do not know what geographical\nwork may here be meant; Bj\u00f6rnbo suggests that it might be the lost work of\nNicholas of Lynn, who again may have used the Historia Norwegi\u00e6. It is\nstriking that the island, besides being connected with a round island like\nBrazil, but without a name, is placed on this map near the Insul\u00e6\nFortunat\u00e6.\n\nThis \"green island,\" which thus is probably a remnant of old Greenland,\noccurs again in various forms and in various places on many\nsixteenth-century maps.\n\n[Sidenote: Lascaris's journey to Norway and Iceland, fifteenth century]\n\nIt is not surprising that information about the northern lands made its\nappearance also on the maps of this time, as we know that the North was\nvisited more frequently, and sometimes by eminent southerners, from the\nyear 1248, when the well-known Matthew Paris, who, amongst other things,\ndrew a map of England remarkable for his time, visited Norway. Rather is\nit strange that the direct knowledge thus obtained did not leave more\ndefinite traces. Early in the fifteenth century (some year between 1397\nand 1448) a Byzantine, Cananos Lascaris, travelled in the North and wrote\nabout it (in Greek). He mentions amongst other things that in Bergen, the\ncapital of Norway (\"Bergen Vagen\"), money was not used in trading [this\nmust have been due to scarcity of coin]; but in Stockolmo, the capital of\nSweden, they had money of alloyed silver. Bergen had a month of daylight\nfrom June 24 to July 25. He also says that he himself went to the land of\nthe Ichthyophagi (fish-eaters), \"Islanta,\" from \"Inglenia,\" and stayed\nthere for twenty-four days. The people were strong and powerfully built,\nthey lived only on fish, and they had a summer day of six months [cf.\nLampros, 1881].\n\n[Sidenote: Fifteenth-century maps of the world]\n\nIt would take us too far here to attempt a mention of all the\nfifteenth-century maps which have a different representation of the North;\nbut perhaps some of the mappemundi in wheel-form, which were still current\nat this time, ought to be referred to. We saw that on Vesconte's map of\nthe world accompanying Marino Sanudo's work the coast-lines of the\ncompass-charts in the Mediterranean, etc., had already been introduced. On\nthe Modena map (p. 231) this has also been carried out as regards the\nNorth. In the fifteenth century we have various wheel-maps, of which some\nseem to be more antiquated. Lo Bianco's round mappamundi, in his atlas of\n1436, is connected with the compass-charts of that time. Johannes\nLeardus's round mappamundi, in many editions of 1448 and earlier,[273]\nlikewise shows a strong affinity to the compass-charts, although there is\nlittle detail in the delineation of the North. The same is the case with\nthe anonymous round mappamundi in a codex in the Library of St. Mark at\nVenice [cf. Kretschmer, 1892, atlas, Pl. III., No. 13], but this map has\nalso points of similarity to Vesconte's mappamundi in Sanudo's work, and,\namongst other things, it has the same mountain-chain along the north coast\nof the continent, and the same form of the Baltic.\n\n[Illustration: Europe on the mappamundi in the Geneva MS. of Sallust of\nabout 1450. (The south should be at the top)]\n\nThe round mappamundi in a MS. of Mela of 1417 at Rheims[274] is, on the\nwhole, of a very antiquated type, but its image of the North seems more\nmodern, and it has the same mountain-chain along the north coast of the\ncontinent as Vesconte's map. The \"Sallust\" map at Geneva, of about 1450,\nis also antiquated, but its Baltic resembles the compass-charts, and the\ntwo mountain ridges, one along the north coast of the continent, the other\nparallel with it in the interior, strongly recall Vesconte's map of the\nworld. On the other hand, the connection by water between the Baltic and\nM\u00e6otis (the Sea of Azov) is evidently derived from an earlier age (cf. p.\n199). Out in the ocean to the north-west and west of Norway lie four\nislands. Bj\u00f6rnbo supposes [1910, p. 75] that the two more northerly of\nthese may correspond to Adam of Bremen's Greenland and Wineland, but this\nmust be very uncertain.[275]\n\n[Illustration: North-western portion of Andreas Walsperger's mappamundi\n(of 1448). Most of the names are omitted. (The south should be at the\ntop)]\n\n[Sidenote: Walsperger's map of 1448]\n\nA curious delineation of the North is found on the round mappamundi which\nwas drawn at Constance in 1448 by the Benedictine monk Andreas Walsperger\nof Salzburg [cf. Kretschmer, 1891a]. The map is in most respects imperfect\nand antiquated, but shows also more recent, particularly German,\ninfluence.\n\n    The Mediterranean and the Baltic are disproportionately large, and the\n    mass of land between them has been contracted. There are many medi\u00e6val\n    mythical conceptions, and items showing possible influence by Adam of\n    Bremen [cf. Miller, iii. 1895, p. 147]. Thus in northern Asia we have\n    \"Cenocephali\" and Cannibals [\"Andropophagi\"], bearded women, Gog,\n    Magog, etc. In Norway we read: \"Here demons often show themselves in\n    human shape and render service to men, and they are called trolls.\"\n    Claudius Clavus also speaks of trolls in Norway. In the northern ocean\n    to the north-west of Norway is written: \"In this great sea there is no\n    sailing on account of magnets.\" This is evidently the widely\n    distributed medi\u00e6val myth of the magnet-rock, which attracted all\n    ships with iron in them; in Germany it occurs in the legend of Duke\n    Ernst's wanderings in the Liver Sea, and it is doubtless derived from\n    the Arabian Nights. On the mainland to the north-east of Norway we\n    read that \"here under the North Pole the land is uninhabitable on\n    account of the excessive cold which produces a condition of continual\n    frost....\" In the extreme north of the ocean, near the Pole, is\n    written: \"Hell is in the heart or belly of the earth according to the\n    opinion of the learned.\"\n\n    \"Palus meotidis\" [the Sea of Azov] is marked as a lake due east of the\n    Baltic. Along the north coast of Europe (and Norway) is indicated a\n    ridge of mountains, somewhat similar to that in the Sanudo-Vesconte\n    maps of the world. The delineation of Denmark (\"dacia,\" with\n    \"koppenhan\" and \"londoma,\" i.e., Lund), the straight south coast of\n    the Baltic, and a long-shaped island called \"Suecia\" (with \"Stocholm\"\n    and \"ipsala\") on the north, remind us a good deal of Edrisi's map (p.\n    203), and also somewhat of the Cottoniana (vol. i. p. 183). To the\n    north of the island of Suecia \"the very great kingdom of Norway\n    ['Norwegie']\" projects to the west as a long peninsula bounding the\n    Baltic, with \"brondolch\" [Bornholm ?] and \"nydrosia metropolis\" [the\n    capital Nidaros] as towns on its south coast, and with the land of\n    \"Yslandia\" [Iceland] and the town of \"Pergen\" [Bergen] on its extreme\n    promontory.\n\n[Sidenote: The Borgia map, after 1410]\n\nAnother peculiar type of the round mappamundi is the so-called Borgia map\nof the fifteenth century (after 1410). Its representation of Europe, with\nthe Mediterranean on the southern side of the earth's disc, is very\nimperfect and far removed from reality. The same is the case with its\ndelineation of the North, but curiously enough its Scandinavia, which is\ndifferent from that of the compass-charts, and in which Sk\u00e5ne forms a\npeninsula on the south, to the east of Denmark, has a greater resemblance\nto reality than that of other maps of this time. This map, too, has a\nchain of mountains along the north coast of the continent, as in the\nVesconte maps [see Nordenski\u00f6ld, 1897, Pl. XXXIX.].\n\n[Illustration: North-western portion of Fra Mauro's mappamundi (of\n1457-59), preserved at Venice. The legends and most of the names are\nomitted. (The south should be at the top)]\n\n[Sidenote: Fra Mauro's map, 1458]\n\nThe best known fifteenth-century map of the world is that of Fra Mauro\n(1457-59), which is also drawn in wheel-form and is preserved at Venice.\nThe coast-lines are taken to a great extent from the compass-charts, but a\ngreat deal of new matter has been added. As regards Norway, this consists\nof information from Querini's voyage in 1432, as well as from other\nsources which are unknown to us; this is indicated by, amongst other\nthings, an inscription on the sea to the north of Russia [\"Permia\"], which\nrelates that a short time before two Catalan ships had sailed thither [cf.\nVangensten, 1910]. On this map the Scandinavian Peninsula has been given a\nmore reasonable extension to the north; but the west coast is very\nimaginatively supplied with peninsulas and islands, while the ocean\noutside is full of fabulous islands and contains many legends.\n\n    Denmark [\"Datia\"] has been made into an island (which is also called\n    \"Isola islandia\"), and the Baltic [\"Sinus germanicus\"] has been\n    widened into an inland sea with islands. In its northern part is a\n    note that on this sea the use of the compass is unknown [cf.\n    Vangensten, 1910]. Could this inscription be due to a misunderstanding\n    like that on the Walsperger map in the ocean to the north-west of\n    Norway, that it could not be navigated on account of magnets (cf. p.\n    283)? There is no hint of the name of Greenland on this map; on the\n    other hand, Iceland appears in three or four different places: besides\n    Denmark, as mentioned above, there is in northern Norway or Finland a\n    peninsula named \"Islant,\" \"where wicked people dwell, who are not\n    Christians\"; also a large island, \"Ixilandia,\" north-west of Ireland,\n    and finally an intricate peninsula in the middle of Norway called\n    \"Isola di giaza\" [i.e., the island of ice]. On the north of Norway or\n    Finland a peninsula projects into the Polar Sea with the name of\n    \"Scandinabia.\" The map does not contribute anything new of importance\n    about the North, but points to a few fresh pieces of information about\n    Norway, which are not to be traced in the older compass-charts; thus\n    Bergen comes nearly in its right place on the west coast, and\n    Marstrand appears to the east of Christiania fjord.\n\n[Sidenote: Genoese mappamundi, 1447]\n\nA picture of the North of a wholly different type is given on the\nelliptical Genoese mappamundi [of 1447 or 1457], which is still more\nfantastic than any of those hitherto mentioned. The Scandinavian Peninsula\nhas a very long extension to the west, and ends in a promontory projecting\nnorthwards. To the north of this Scandinavia there is another fantastic\npeninsula where Lelewel thinks he can read the name \"Grinland,\" which is\nprobably due to a misunderstanding, since, as pointed out by Bj\u00f6rnbo\n[1910, p. 80], the name cannot be seen on the much-damaged original, or on\nOngania's photographic reproduction [Fischer-Ongania, Pl. X.]. Many\nimaginary islands are scattered about in the sea round these peninsulas.\n\n[Illustration: Northern Europe on the Genoese mappamundi of 1447 or 1457]\n\n[Sidenote: Globes of the fifteenth century]\n\n[Sidenote: Behaim's globe, 1492]\n\nTowards the close of the fifteenth century the discovery was made of\nrepresenting the surface of the earth, with land and sea, on globes. It\nwas evidently the efforts of Toscanelli that led to the general adoption\nof this mode of representation, which had been used by the Greeks at an\nearly time (cf. vol. i. p. 78); in 1474 he announced that his idea of the\nwestern route to India could best be shown on a sphere. Columbus seems to\nhave taken a globe with him on his voyage of 1492, according to his own\nwords in the ship's log. The oldest known terrestrial globe that is\npreserved was made in 1492 by the German Martin Behaim (born at Nuremberg\nin 1459).[276] He spent much time in Portugal, and also in the Azores,\nafter making a distinguished marriage with a native of those islands, a\nsister-in-law of Gaspar Corte-Real's sister. But it was during a visit to\nhis native town (1490-93) that he constructed his globe. The sources of\nBehaim's representation of the North were principally Nicolaus Germanus's\nmappamundi in the Ulm editions of Ptolemy, of 1482 and 1486, where\nGreenland is placed to the north of Norway, and Marco Polo's travels,\nwhich speak of the northern regions of Asia. Besides these a name like\n\"tlant Venmarck\" (the land of Finmark), for instance, points to a use of\nthe same older authority as in the anonymous letter to Pope Nicholas V.,\nof about 1450, where in the existing French translation there is mention\nof \"lieux champestres de Venmarche\" [the plains of Finmark].[277] Thus we\nare here again led to the lost work of Nicholas of Lynn, \"Inventio\nfortunata\" (1360), as the possible source. That it really was this work\nthat was used seems also to result from the fact that the countries about\nthe North Pole on Behaim's globe bear a remarkable resemblance to Ruysch's\nmap of 1508, where this note is given at the North Pole:\n\n    \"In the book 'De Inventione fortunata' it may be read that there is\n    high mountain of magnetic stone, 33 German miles in circumference.\n    This is surrounded by the flowing 'mare sugenum,' which pours out\n    water like a vessel through openings below. Around it are four\n    islands, of which two are inhabited. Extensive desolate mountains\n    surround these islands for 24 days' journey, where there is no human\n    habitation.\"\n\n[Illustration: Northernmost Europe and the north polar regions on Behaim's\nglobe, 1492]\n\nWhat is new in Behaim's picture of the North is chiefly this circle of\nland and islands around the North Pole, which he evidently took from\nNicholas of Lynn, and which is not represented on any older map known to\nus. It consists of a continuous mass of land proceeding from his\nGreenland-Lapland to the north of Scandinavia, and extending eastward\nnearly to the opposite side of the Pole, where the Arctic Ocean (\"das\ngefroren mer septentrional\") to the north of the continent becomes an\nenclosed sea. On the other side of the Pole are two large islands and a\nnumber of smaller ones. On one of the large islands is a picture of an\narcher in a long dress attacking a polar bear (which may be connected with\nmyths about Amazons ?), and on the other side is written: \"Hie fecht man\nweisen valken\" [here they catch white falcons]. It might be supposed that\nthis was derived from statements about Scandinavia or Iceland (cf. e.g.,\nthe legends of the compass-charts); but, as assumed by Ravenstein [1908,\np. 92] and Bj\u00f6rnbo [1910, p. 156], it is more likely to come from Marco\nPolo's travels, where the Arctic coast of Siberia is spoken of. The many\ncorrect names, in a German form, in Martin Behaim's Scandinavian North\npoint to the possibility of his also having received oral information,\nthough they may equally well be derived from older German maps.\n\n[Illustration: A portion of the Laon globe of 1493. (After d'Avezac.)]\n\n[Sidenote: Laon globe, 1493]\n\nAlmost contemporary with Behaim's globe is the so-called Laon globe of\n1493, which was accidentally discovered in a curiosity shop at Laon some\nyears ago. It gives a wholly different representation of the North, more\nin agreement with the usual maps of the world of the Nicolaus Germanus\ntype, with sea at the pole round the north of the continent, which\nterminates approximately at the Arctic Circle. The Scandinavian Peninsula\n(called \"Norvegia\") has a form somewhat resembling this type; but to the\nnorth of it \"Gronlandia\" appears as an island, with a land called Livonia\nprojecting northward on the east, and two islands, Yslandia and Tile, on\nthe west. Nothing is known of the origin of the Laon globe, or of the\nsources of its representation of the North.\n\nSuch were the geographical ideas of the North at the close of the Middle\nAges, when the period of the great discoveries was at hand; they were\nvague and obscure, and the mists had settled once more over large regions\nwhich had been formerly known; but out in the mists lay mythical islands\nand countries in the north and west.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nCHAPTER XIV\n\nJOHN CABOT AND THE ENGLISH DISCOVERY OF NORTH AMERICA\n\n\n[Sidenote: Awakening of geographical research]\n\nOver the cloud-bridge of illusion lies the path of human progress. The\ngreatest achievements in history have been brought about more by the aid\nof ideas than of truth. Religious illusions have ennobled the rude masses\nand raised them to higher forms of society; in the domain of science\nintuition and hypothesis have led to fresh victories, as also in\ngeographical exploration; there too illusions, like a fata Morgana, have\nimpelled men forward to great discoveries.\n\nIt is true that Columbus's plan was based on the correct idea that the\nworld was round; but if he had known the real distance of India--if he had\nnot been fettered by the ancient dogmas of the Greeks about the great\nextension of the continent to the east, and their low estimate of the\nearth's circumference, which made India appear so enticingly near--if he\nhad not believed in myths of lands in the west--he certainly would never\nhave been the discoverer of a new world.\n\nThe people of the Middle Ages lived, as we have seen, to a great extent\non remnants of the geographical knowledge and conceptions of the Greeks.\nIt was the age of superstition and speculation; with the exception of the\nNorsemen and the Arabs, and in some degree also the Irish monks, there was\nduring the earlier part of this period no enterprise that broke through\nthe bounds of the known, except in the mythical world of fancy. It was not\nuntil the Crusades that the horizon began to be widened. The eastern trade\nof the Italian republics and the development of capable Italian seamen\nwere of great significance. At an early date they made discoveries along\nthe west coast of Africa. Of even greater importance was it that the\nPortuguese learned seamanship from them, and no doubt from the Arabs as\nwell, and displayed great enterprise on the ocean along the shores of\nAfrica, finding groups of islands in the west, and finally the Azores in\n1427; but these must have been discovered earlier, since similar islands\noccur on Italian maps of the fourteenth century (cf. the Catalan Atlas of\n1375).\n\nWhen Ptolemy's work, and through it the geography of the Greeks, became\nknown in Western Europe at the beginning of the fifteenth century, it\ncreated a greater stir in the learned world than even the discovery of\nAmerica did later; the circle of geographical ideas was greatly changed,\nand the world was regarded with new eyes as a sphere. The doctrine of the\npossibility of circumnavigating the earth was especially framed and\nscientifically established by the celebrated astronomer Toscanelli of\nFlorence. But this was not a new doctrine; for the Greeks, Eratosthenes\nand Posidonius, for example (cf. vol. i. pp. 77, 79), had already\nannounced it clearly enough, and even in the Middle Ages it was not\nforgotten. We saw that Mandeville, the writer of fabulous narratives,\nfully understood the possibility of sailing round the globe, and related\nancient tales about such a voyage (cf. p. 271). But at the close of the\nfifteenth century the idea was seriously taken up by two men of action,\nboth Genoese. One of them was Columbus, the other Cabot. Whether the\nlatter had already conceived the idea before the first voyage of Columbus\nwe do not know for certain, but it is not improbable; the thought was\nlatent in the age, and many must have come near it. Another force\nimpelling men to the western voyage, and perhaps as powerful a one as\nthese scientific speculations, was the belief in the mythical world of\nenticing islands that lay out in the ocean to the west of Europe and\nAfrica; the Isles of the Blest of the Greeks and the Atlantis of Plato,\nconceptions, originally derived from the East, which were still alive,\nthough in other forms. There lay Antillia, the Isle of the Seven Cities,\nmythical islands of the Arabs, and the Irish legendary world, Brandan's\nisles and many others; some of them had had a part in creating the Norse\nidea of Wineland and the White Men's Land; now they were given a fresh\nlease of life, and power over the imagination of Western Europe. Possibly\nin connection with echoes of tales of the Norsemen's discoveries--coming\nfrom Iceland to Bristol, and thence to the continent--these mythical\nislands helped to form a widespread belief in countries in the far west\nacross the ocean. The fact that the Portuguese, as has been said, really\nfound islands, the Azores, out in the Atlantic in 1427, also contributed\nto establish this belief. From these islands many expeditions set out in\nthe course of the fifteenth century to search for new lands farther\nwest.[278]\n\n[Sidenote: Connection of Bristol with Iceland]\n\nFrom the beginning of the fifteenth century Bristol was in frequent\ncommunication with Iceland, both for the fishery and for trade. As already\npointed out, this was certainly due in no small degree to the number of\nNorwegians who had settled in the town. Sailors and merchants returning\nfrom voyages to Iceland doubtless brought thence many tales of marvels and\nof unknown islands and countries out in the ocean; legends of the\nIcelanders' voyages to Greenland and Wineland may have served to entertain\nthe winter evenings in Bristol.[279] It was therefore surely not an\naccident that attempts to find land in the west should originate\nprecisely in this enterprising sea-port.\n\n[Sidenote: The Isle of Brazil]\n\nOn the maps of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries there lay out in the\nocean to the west of Ireland the Isle of Brazil (cf. p. 228). It was the\nIrish fortunate isle Hy Breasail, of which it is sung:\n\n  \"On the ocean that hollows the rocks where ye dwell,\n  A shadowy land has appeared, as they tell;\n  Men thought it a region of sunshine and rest,\n  And they called it O'Brazil--the isle of the blest.\n\n  From year unto year, on the ocean's blue rim,\n  The beautiful spectre showed lovely and dim;\n  The golden clouds curtained the deep where it lay,\n  And it looked like an Eden, away, far away.\"\n                                    [Gerald Griffin.]\n\n[Sidenote: Expedition to find Brazil, 1480]\n\nWe have seen that on certain maps this round fabled isle was brought into\nconnection with an \"Insula verde,\" probably Greenland, and this conception\nof the latter probably came from Iceland by way of England. We do not know\nwhat myths were associated with Brazil at that time; but the belief in it\nwas so much alive that ships were sent out from Bristol to search for the\nisland. A contemporary account of such an attempt made in 1480 has come\ndown to us:[280]\n\n    \"On the 15th of July [25th of July N.S.] ships ... [belonging to ?]\n    ... and John Jay junior, of 80 tons burthen, sailed out of the port of\n    Bristol [to navigate] as far as the island of Brazil [\"insulam de\n    Brasylle\"] on the west side of Ireland, ploughing the seas by ... and\n    ... Thlyde [Thomas Lyde or Lloyd ?] is the most expert seaman in the\n    whole of England, and on the 18th of September [27th of September\n    N.S.] the news reached Bristol that after having sailed the seas for\n    about 9 months they had not discovered the island, but on account of\n    storms had returned to the port ... in Ireland to allow the ships and\n    men to rest.\"\n\nParts of the MS. being illegible, it does not appear whether John Jay,\njunior, was one of the leaders of the expedition or (as Harrisse thinks)\none of the owners of the ships, but in any case we must suppose that the\nThomas Lyde mentioned above was the actual leader or navigator. The \"nine\nmonths\" (\"9 menses\") must either be a clerical error for two months or for\nnine weeks, either of which would fit the dates given, while nine months\nis meaningless. This must at any rate have been a serious attempt to find\nlands in the west, twelve years before Columbus's discovery of the West\nIndies; and this was not the last attempt made from Bristol to find this\nhappy land, for in 1497 Ayala, the Spanish Minister in London, writes:\n\n    \"For the last seven years the Bristol people have equipped every year\n    two, three, or four caravels to go in search of the islands of Brazil\n    and of the Seven Cities,[281] following the imagination of this\n    Genoese.\"\n\n[Sidenote: Giovanni Caboto]\n\n\"This Genoese\" is Giovanni Caboto, or John Cabot, as he was called in\nEngland. We find only a few casual statements about this man, who was to\ngive England the right of discovery to a new continent, and who, together\nwith his fellow townsman, Columbus, forms the great turning-point in the\nhistory of discovery; for the most part an impenetrable obscurity rests\nupon his life and activity.[282] As he is often called, e.g., in letters\nfrom the contemporary Spanish Ambassadors in London, \"this Genoese,\" or \"a\nGenoese like Columbus,\" we must suppose that he was born in Genoa; but\nfrom existing State documents of the republic of Venice it appears that\nJoanni Caboto obtained his freedom in Venice on March 28, 1476, after\nhaving lived there fifteen years, which was the legal period necessary to\nenable a foreigner to become a citizen of the republic.[283] From the\nstatements of contemporaries we must conclude that John Cabot was a\ncapable seaman and navigator, with a good knowledge of charts and\ncartography; he also constructed a globe to illustrate his voyages. This\nis no more than was to be expected of a Genoese, trained in the Venetian\nschool, which at that time was the foremost in seamanship. It may,\ntherefore, be regarded as probable that John Cabot was familiar with the\nleading ideas of the geographical world of his time. Thus, while still\nliving at Venice, he may have heard of the idea of reaching Eastern Asia\nby sailing to the west, which was put forward, notably by Toscanelli, as\nearly as 1474, and in this way it is possible that, independently of\nColumbus, he may have thought of accomplishing this voyage to the fabulous\nriches of the East by a shorter route than that which the Portuguese\nsought to the south of Africa. In support of this it may be mentioned that\nin 1497 he himself told the Minister of Milan in London, Raimondo di\nSoncino, that\n\n    \"he had once been at Mecca, whither spices were brought by caravans\n    from distant lands, and that those who brought them, when asked where\n    the said spices grew, answered that they did not know, but that other\n    caravans came to their home with this merchandise from more distant\n    lands, and these [other caravans] again say that it is brought to them\n    from other regions situated far away.\" Soncino adds that \"Cabot\n    reasons thus--that if the eastern people tell those in the south that\n    these things come from places far distant from them, and so on from\n    hand to hand, then, granting the earth to be round, the last people\n    must obtain them in the north-west; and he says it in such a way that,\n    as it does not cost me more than it costs, I too believe it....\"[284]\n\nIt is not improbable that Cabot may have thought that as, on account of\nthe spherical form of the earth, the circumference of the lines of\nlatitude decreases towards the north, the shortest way over the western\nocean to the east coast of Asia must lie along the northern latitudes (cf.\nPosidonius, vol. i. p. 79). But we cannot lose sight of the fact that\nCabot did not advance this until long after the first voyage of Columbus,\nand it is, therefore, uncertain whether the idea occurred to him before or\nafter that time. When this journey to Mecca took place we do not know.\n\nPedro de Ayala, the Spanish Minister in London, says in a letter to\nFerdinand and Isabella of Spain, in 1498, that Cabot is \"another Genoese\nlike Columbus, who has been in Seville and Lisbon, endeavouring to obtain\nhelp for this discovery\" [i.e., of land in the west]. The question is\nwhether this \"who\" refers to Columbus or Cabot. The latter appears more\nlikely, as it seems superfluous for the Minister to inform Ferdinand and\nIsabella that Columbus had been in Seville. But here again we do not learn\nwhen Cabot may have made this journey to Spain and Portugal, whether\nbefore or after Columbus's voyage in 1492. In any case it may point to his\nhaving been occupied for a long time with plans of this sort.\n\n[Sidenote: John Cabot arrives in England, circa 1490 ?]\n\nNor do we know when John Cabot came to England; but perhaps it was about\n1490 that he settled in Bristol. If he really came there with ideas of\nmaking for Asia across the western ocean, he certainly found a favourable\nsoil for such plans in the port which had already sent out ships in 1480\nto look for the island of Brazil. But it is also very possible that these\nplans occurred to him after he had heard of this expedition, and had\nbecome familiar at first hand with the ideas of western lands which\ndominated the minds of the sailors of Western Europe (Englishmen and\nPortuguese) of that time. With the many fresh arguments he brought with\nhim from Italy and the Mediterranean countries, it cannot have been\ndifficult for him to induce the merchants of Bristol to make fresh\nattempts to find these countries in the west or north-west; and, to judge\nfrom Ayala's letter of 1497 about the expeditions sent out annually for\nthe previous seven years, he seems to have been persistent.\n\nWe do not know whether Cabot himself took part in the attempts made after\n1490. None of them seems to have met with any success before 1497, for\notherwise it would have been mentioned. But it was while the people of\nBristol were occupied with such enterprises that Cabot's great\nfellow-countryman, Columbus, made his remarkable voyage across the ocean\nfarther to the south, in 1492, and found a new world, which he took to be\nIndia. With that came the awakening with which the time was pregnant. The\nnews of the achievement, which fired all the adventurers of Europe, must\nsoon have reached Bristol, and put new life and a wider purpose into the\nold plans.[285] That Cabot now became the soul of these plans is clear\nenough from all the facts, and we see from existing public documents that\nat the beginning of 1496 he was making special efforts to get an important\nexpedition sent out, and was applying to the King of England for\nprotection and letters patent to assure to himself and his three sons,\nLewis, Sebastian and Sancto, the profit of the discoveries he expected to\nmake on this expedition, which was to consist of five ships.\n\n[Sidenote: Cabot's letters patent, 1496]\n\nThe letters patent were accorded on March 5 (14th N.S.), 1496,[286] and\ngive Cabot and his sons the right under the English flag\n\n    \"to sail in all parts, regions and bays of the sea, in the east, west\n    and north, with five ships or vessels of whatever burthen or kind, and\n    with as many men as they wished to take with them, at their own\n    expense, and to find, discover and investigate whatever islands,\n    countries, regions or provinces belonging to heathens or infidels, in\n    whatsoever part of the world they might be, which before that time\n    were unknown to all Christians.\" They also had the right as vassals or\n    governors of the King of England, to take possession of whatsoever\n    towns, camps or islands they might discover and be in a position to\n    capture and occupy. They were to give the king a fifth part of all\n    merchandise, profits, etc., of this voyage or of each voyage, as often\n    as they came to Bristol, to which port alone they were bound to\n    return. They were exempted from all duty on goods they might bring\n    from newly discovered lands, and were given a monopoly of all trade\n    and traffic with them. Furthermore, all English subjects, both by land\n    and sea, were ordered to afford the said John, his sons, heirs and\n    assigns, good assistance, \"both in fitting-out their ships or vessels,\n    and in supplying them with provisions which were paid for with their\n    own money.\"\n\nAs the south is not mentioned among the regions which might be explored,\nand as the new countries might not be known to Christians, it is clear\nthat Cabot is here enjoined not to frequent those waters where the\nSpaniards and Portuguese had just made their most important discoveries,\nand thus run the risk of bringing England into conflict with the Spanish\nor Portuguese Crown.\n\n[Sidenote: Cabot's preparations and plans]\n\nAs the letters patent bear the same date (March 5) and are to some extent\ncouched in the same terms as Cabot's petition, they must have been granted\nas the result of previous negotiation and agreement between Cabot and the\nKing, and must therefore contain Cabot's plans for the new voyage, which\nwere thus already formed in March 1496, when he had doubtless made at all\nevents some preparations for the expedition.\n\nThat Cabot's plans had been spoken of at the English Court as early as\nJanuary of that year appears from an existing letter from Ferdinand and\nIsabella of Spain to the Spanish Ambassador in England, Dr. Ruy Gonzales\nde Puebla. The letter is dated March 28 (April 6, N.S.), 1496, and is an\nanswer to a letter, now lost, of January 21 (30, N.S.) from the\nAmbassador. The answer is as follows:\n\n    \"You write that one like Columbus has come to propose to the King of\n    England another enterprise like that of the Indies, without prejudice\n    to Spain or Portugal. He has full liberty. But we believe that this\n    enterprise was put in the way of the King of England by the King of\n    France in order to divert him from other business. Take care that the\n    King of England be not deceived in this or any other matter. The\n    French will try as much as they can to lead him into such enterprises;\n    but they are very uncertain undertakings, and are not to be commenced\n    for the moment. Moreover they cannot be put into execution without\n    prejudice to us and to the King of Portugal.\"[287]\n\nIt will be understood from this that Cabot's plans had attracted attention\nin London, and that great importance was attached to them; consequently\nthey must have been discussed for some time before the granting of letters\npatent. For this reason also, we must suppose that Cabot was prepared for\nhis expedition in March 1496. It seems therefore unlikely that this was\nthe expedition which did not leave until the year following that in which\nhe applied for the letters patent, all the more so as the expedition of\n1497 consisted of only one ship.[288] If we may interpret Ayala's words\nof 1498 literally, that Bristol had sent out ships yearly for the seven\nprevious years to search for the island of Brazil, etc., then we must\nsuppose that Cabot actually set out in 1496 with the projected expedition\nof five ships, but for some reason or other turned back without having\naccomplished his object. After having been unfortunate in so large an\nundertaking, Cabot may have found it less easy to enlist support for a\nfresh attempt in 1497, and was thus obliged to content himself with one\nsmall ship and a scanty crew (eighteen men).[289] It may also be supposed\nthat as the earlier expeditions consisting of several ships had failed to\nfind the land they were looking for, Cabot as a practical seaman wished to\nmake a pioneer expedition with a small swift-sailing craft and a picked\ncrew, before again embarking on a large and costly undertaking. He was\nmore independent, and could sail farther and more rapidly to the west,\nthan when he was tied by having to keep a fleet of several ships together.\n\n[Sidenote: Sebastian Cabot's participation in 1497 doubtful]\n\nCabot's sons, who are mentioned in the letters patent, may have taken part\nin the voyage of 1496; on the other hand, it is less probable that they\nwere among the eighteen men in 1497.[290] It is true that his son\nSebastian claimed to have been present as one of the leaders of the\nexpedition, but he also claimed to have made the voyage alone, so that no\nweight can be attached to his words. In any case, he must have been very\nyoung at that time, and he cannot have played any important part. Nor is\na word said about him in a single one of the letters from contemporary\nforeign ambassadors in London, and in Pasqualigo's letter of August 23,\n1497, we are told of John Cabot after his return that \"in the meantime\n[i.e., until his next voyage] he is staying with his Venetian wife and his\nsons in Bristol.\" This does not seem to show that any of the sons had been\nwith him; and the protest of the Wardens of the Drapers' Company of London\n(see later) against Sebastian as a navigator points in the same direction.\n\nNot a line have we from Cabot's own hand either about this important\nvoyage of 1497 or any other. We hear that he made maps of his discoveries;\nbut these too have been lost, like so many other maps that must have been\ndrawn during this period before 1500.[291] We can, therefore, only draw\nour conclusions from the statements of others, some contemporary and some\nlater.\n\nThe most important documents giving trustworthy information about John\nCabot's voyage in 1497 are the following:\n\n[Sidenote: Most important authorities for the voyage of 1497]\n\n(1) The three letters from his two compatriots in London: one from the\nVenetian, Lorenzo Pasqualigo, to his two brothers in Venice, dated August\n23 (September 1, N.S.), 1497; and two letters from the Milanese Minister,\nRaimondo di Soncino, to the Duke of Milan, dated August 24 (September 2,\nN.S.) and December 18 (27), 1497.\n\n(2) An entry in the accounts of the King of England's privy purse, from\nwhich we see that Cabot was back in London by August 10 (19, N.S.), 1497.\n\n(3) The map of the world, drawn in 1500, by the well-known Spanish pilot,\nJuan de la Cosa.\n\n(4) A Bristol chronicle by Maurice Toby, written in 1565, but from older\nsources.\n\nBesides these may be mentioned a legend on the map of the world of 1544\nwhich, according to what is written on it, was the work of Sebastian\nCabot. But even if this be correct, the legend is of no great value, as he\ncannot be regarded as a trustworthy authority.[292]\n\n[Sidenote: Pasqualigo's letter of Aug. 23, 1497]\n\nLorenzo Pasqualigo writes on August 23 (September 1, N.S.), 1497, to his\ntwo brothers in Venice, amongst other things:\n\n    \"Our Venetian, who set out with a little ship from Bristol to find new\n    islands, has returned, and says that he has discovered 700 leagues\n    [Italian nautical leagues] away the mainland of the kingdom of the\n    Great Khan ('Gran Cam') [China], and that he sailed 300 leagues along\n    its coast and landed, but saw no people; but he brought here to the\n    King some snares that were set up to catch game, and a needle for\n    making nets, and he found some trees with cuts in them, from which he\n    concluded that there were inhabitants. Being in doubt he returned to\n    the ship,[293] and was three months on the voyage, and this is\n    certain; and on the way back he saw two islands on the right hand, but\n    would not land so as not to lose time, as he was short of provisions.\n    He says that the tides are sluggish and do not run as here [i.e., in\n    England]. The King has promised him next time ten ships fitted out\n    according to his desires, and has given him as many prisoners to take\n    with him as he has asked, except those who are in prison for high\n    treason; and he has given him money to enjoy himself with in the\n    meantime, and now he is with his Venetian wife and his sons at\n    Bristol. His name is Zuam Talbot [sic, for Cabot], and he is called\n    the Grand Admiral and great honour is shown him, and he goes dressed\n    in silk and the Englishmen run after him like madmen, but he will have\n    nothing to do with any of them, and so [do] many of our vagabonds. The\n    discoverer of these things has planted on the soil he has found the\n    banner of England and that of St. Mark, as he is a Venetian; so that\n    our flag has been hoisted far away\" [cf. Harrisse, 1882, p. 322].\n\n[Sidenote: Soncino's letter of Aug. 24, 1497]\n\nThe Minister, Raimondo di Soncino, writes on August 24 (September 2,\nN.S.), 1497, to the Duke of Milan, amongst other things:\n\n    \"Some months ago ('sono mesi passate') his majesty the King [of\n    England] sent out a Venetian who is a good sailor, and has much\n    ability in finding islands, and he has returned safely and has\n    discovered two very large and fertile islands, and found as it seems\n    the seven cities[294] 400 leagues to the west of the island of\n    England. His majesty the King here will on the first opportunity send\n    him with fifteen or twenty ships...\" [cf. Harrisse, 1882, p. 323].\n\n[Sidenote: Soncino's letter of Dec. 18, 1497]\n\nOn December 18 (27), 1497, Soncino again writes to the Duke more fully\nabout Cabot's voyage:\n\n    \"Perhaps amongst Your Excellency's many occupations it may not be\n    unwelcome to hear how this Majesty has acquired a part of Asia without\n    drawing his sword. In this kingdom is a Venetian called Messer Zoanne\n    Caboto, of gentle bearing, very skilful in navigation, who, seeing\n    that the most serene Kings, first of Portugal and then of Spain, had\n    taken possession of unknown islands, proposed to himself to make a\n    similar acquisition for the said Majesty. After having obtained the\n    royal privilege, which assured to him the use of the dominions he\n    might discover, while the Crown retained the sovereignty over them, he\n    gave himself into the hands of fortune with a small ship and eighteen\n    men, and sailed from Bristol, a port on the west of this kingdom; and\n    after passing Ireland farther west, and then steering to the north, he\n    began to sail towards the eastern regions [i.e., westwards to the\n    lands of the Orient, thus making for the east coast of Asia], leaving\n    (after some days) the pole-star on his right hand; and after a good\n    deal of wandering ('havendo assai errato') he finally came to the land\n    ('terra ferma'), where he raised the royal banner and took possession\n    of the country for this Highness, and after having taken some tokens\n    [of his discovery] he returned. As the said Messer Zoanne [John] is a\n    foreigner and poor, he would not be believed, if his crew, who are\n    nearly all English and belong to Bristol, had not confirmed the truth\n    of what he said. This Messer Zoanne has the description of the world\n    on a chart, and also on a solid sphere which he has made, showing on\n    it where he has been; and in travelling towards the East he went as\n    far as to the land of the Tanais [i.e., Asia], and they say that the\n    country there is excellent and temperate, and expect that brazil-wood\n    (il brasilio) and silk[295] grow there, and they declare that this sea\n    is full of fish which can be caught not only with the seine, but also\n    with a dip-net [or bow-net ?], to which is fastened a stone to sink it\n    in the water, and this I have heard related by the said Messer Zoanne.\n    And the said Englishmen, his companions, say that they took so many\n    fish that this kingdom will no longer have any need of Iceland, from\n    which country there is a very great trade in the fish they call\n    stockfish. But Messer Zoanne has set his mind on higher things, and\n    thinks of sailing from the place he has occupied, keeping along the\n    coast farther to the east, until he arrives opposite to an island\n    called Cipango [i.e., Japan], lying in the equinoctial region, where\n    he thinks that all the spices of the world, as well as jewels, are to\n    be found.\" Then follows the reference to his visit to Mecca, already\n    cited (p. 296). The letter continues: \"And what is more, this Majesty,\n    who is prudent and not prodigal, has such confidence in him on account\n    of what he has accomplished, that he gives him a very good subsidy, as\n    Messer Zoanne himself tells me. And it is said that his Majesty will\n    shortly fit out some ships for him, and will give him all the\n    criminals to go out to this land and form a colony, so that they hope\n    to establish in London an even greater emporium of spices than that at\n    Alexandria. The principals in this enterprise belong to Bristol; they\n    are great sailors, and now that they know where to go, they say that\n    the voyage thither will not take more than fifteen days, if they have\n    a favourable wind on leaving Ireland. I have also spoken with a\n    Burgundian of Messer Zoanne's company, who confirms all this, and who\n    wishes to return thither, because the Admiral (for this is the title\n    they give Messer Zoanne) has given him an island; and he has given\n    another to his barber [surgeon ?] from Castione,[296] a Genoese, and\n    both consider themselves counts, nor do they reckon Monsignor the\n    Admiral for less than a prince. I believe some poor Italian monks who\n    have been promised bishoprics will also go on this voyage. And if I\n    had made friends with the Admiral when he was about to sail, I should\n    at least have got an archbishopric; but I thought the benefits that\n    Your Excellency has reserved for me were more certain...\" [cf.\n    Harrisse, 1882, pp. 324, ff.].\n\nAs confirming and to some extent supplementing what is said in these\nletters, we have various statements in the letters of the two Spanish\nAmbassadors about the voyage in the following year (see later); they both\nsay that the newly discovered country lay not more than four hundred\nSpanish leagues distant.\n\n[Sidenote: Toby's chronicle]\n\nIn Maurice Toby's Bristol chronicle of 1565, we read of the year 1497:\n\n    \"This year, on St. John the Baptist's day, the land of America was\n    found by the merchants of Bristowe in a shippe of Bristowe called the\n    'Mathew,' the which said shippe departed from the port of Bristowe the\n    second day of May, and came home again the 6th of August next\n    following.\"[297]\n\nOf course this chronicle was written long after the voyage took place; but\nit is extremely probable that it was taken from older sources; for it\nagrees in every way (both as to the length of the voyage and the time of\nthe return) with the contemporary statements of the Italian Ministers,\nwith whose letters the author of the chronicle cannot possibly have been\nacquainted. I can, therefore, see no reason why this statement should not\nbe correct. But the most important authorities are the letters referred\nto.\n\n[Sidenote: Cabot's western course in 1497]\n\nIf we compare all this we shall get a fairly complete idea of the voyage\nof 1497. After sailing round the south of Ireland, probably in the middle\nof May according to our calendar, Cabot would at first have held a\nsomewhat northerly course. If this is correct, he may have done so for\nseveral reasons: unfavourable winds, which in May are prevalent from the\nsouth-west; the idea that great-circle sailing would prove the shortest\nway;[298] fear of encroaching on the waters of the Spaniards and\nPortuguese to the south; finally, perhaps, an idea that the course to Asia\nwas shorter in northern latitudes (?). But we cannot tell what reasons\ndecided him, nor whether he steered very far to the north at all; for it\nmust be remembered that in speaking to a foreign Minister he may have had\ngood reason for making his course appear somewhat northerly, lest it might\nbe said that the lands he had arrived at were those discovered by the\nSpaniards. In any case, it was not long before he made for the west as\nrapidly as possible towards his goal, and we cannot, therefore, suppose\nthat he went very far north. And it is expressly stated in Soncino's first\nletter that the lands lay to the west of England, and in the letters of\nthe Spanish Ambassadors in the following year we read that, after having\nseen the direction taken by Cabot, they thought that the land he had found\nwas that belonging to Spain, or was \"at the end of that land.\" This again\ndoes not point to any northerly course.\n\nMany writers have thought that from Soncino's statements about the courses\na conclusion might be drawn as to where on the American coast Cabot made\nthe land; but this is impossible. In the first place Soncino's words are\nanything but definite; besides which, of course, Cabot could not steer in\na straight line across the Atlantic, but with the frequent contrary winds\nof May and June was obliged to shape many courses, and often had to beat;\nin fact, we are told as much in Soncino's words, \"havendo assai errato.\"\nEvery one who has had experience of the navigation of sailing ships knows\nhow difficult it is under such conditions to make way in the precise\ndirection one wishes, however good one's reckoning may be; currents and\nlee-way set one far out of the reckoned course, and on a voyage so long as\nacross the Atlantic the lee-way may be considerable. Whether Cabot was\nable to correct his reckoning by the aid of astronomical observations\n(with a Jacob's staff or an astrolabe) we do not know, but we hear nothing\nof latitudes, so that it is not very probable (cf. also Columbus's gross\nerror in latitude). Especially during the first part of the voyage\ncurrents and prevailing winds may have set Cabot to the north-east; but he\nmay also have encountered, particularly during the latter part of the\nvoyage in June, heavy north-westerly gales which set him still farther to\nthe south, and he may thus have had a southerly lee-way. In addition, as\nDawson has so strongly insisted, the error of the compass must have set\nhim to the south. Whether Cabot was aware of the error, and remarked its\nvariation during the westward voyage, we do not know; it is possible,\nsince we know that Columbus remarked this variation during his first\nvoyage; but in any case, Cabot doubtless paid as little attention to it as\nColumbus in his navigation. Unfortunately we do not know the amount of the\nerror at that time, but by examining the relation between the true\ndirection of the coast-lines and those we find on the most trustworthy\ncompass-charts (especially the Cantino chart) of a little later than 1500\n(which are drawn in ignorance of the error), I have attempted to\nreconstruct the distribution of the error in the Atlantic Ocean at that\ntime (cf. chart below); of course, this is purely hypothetical. According\nto this, during Cabot's voyage westwards the error would have varied from\nabout 6\u00b0 east at Bristol to about 30\u00b0 west off the coast of America. If we\nsuppose that he was able to follow a magnetic western course the whole way\nfrom the south coast of Ireland, then he must have passed quite to the\nsouth of Cape Race in Newfoundland. But we are told that he first held\nsomewhat to the north, though we do not know how much, and, on the other\nhand, his lee-way may have set him at least as far to the south. The\nassertion that the course mentioned by Soncino must have brought Cabot to\nland in Labrador or Newfoundland is thus untenable. Nor does it agree with\nSoncino's allusion to the country as excellent and temperate, and one\nwhere dye-wood and silk might be expected to grow. If this be explained\naway as due to the usual propensity of discoverers at that time to exhibit\nthe newly found countries in the most favourable light, which is very\npossible, it is not so easy to explain why we do not hear a word about\ntheir having encountered ice on the voyage. If on his western voyage Cabot\ncame to Labrador or the north-east coast of Newfoundland some time in\nJune, it is improbable that he should not have seen icebergs, and it is\nequally unlikely that the Italian Ministers should not have mentioned\nthis, which to them would be a great curiosity, if they had heard of it;\nwe see, too, that later, in descriptions of Sebastian Cabot's alleged\nvoyage, the ice is mentioned above all else. Even if John Cabot might\nhave kept quiet about the ice, lest it should cool the hopes raised by\nhis narrative, it is not likely that his crew would have done so, if they\nhad met with it. But although other statements of the crew are reported,\nwe do not hear a single word about ice, nor even of icebergs, which are\ncommon enough on the Newfoundland Banks at that time of the year, and\nwould be an entirely new experience even to Bristol sailors who were\naccustomed to the voyage to Iceland. From this we must suppose that in the\ncourse of his beating to the west Cabot was set so far to the south of the\nNewfoundland Banks that he did not encounter icebergs, and that he first\nmade land somewhere farther west.[299]\n\n[Illustration: Hypothetical chart of the variation of the compass in the\nAtlantic, circa 1500]\n\n[Sidenote: Cabot sighted America June 24, 1497]\n\nAccording to the Bristol chronicle already quoted (Toby, 1565), and\naccording to a legend on the map of 1544, which is ascribed to the\ncollaboration of Sebastian Cabot, it was on St. John's Day (July 3, N.S.)\nthat the first land was discovered. In spite of Harrisse's objections[300]\nit does not appear to me unlikely that this may be correct. If he sailed\non May 2 (11), he was fifty-three days at sea. Supposing that he landed at\nCape Breton, the distance in a straight line on the course indicated is\nabout 2200 nautical miles. Consequently he would have made an average of\nforty-two miles a day in the desired direction. This is doubtless not very\nfast sailing, but agrees with just what we should expect, since he often\nhad to beat, and \"wandered a good deal,\" in the words of Soncino.\n\n[Sidenote: La Cosa's map represents Cabot's discoveries in 1497]\n\nFor determining the question, what part of North America it was that Cabot\ndiscovered, it appears to me there is no trustworthy document but La\nCosa's map of the world of 1500.[301] The Basque cartographer, Juan de la\nCosa, who owned and navigated Columbus's ship in 1492, and who was\nafterwards entrusted with many public undertakings, enjoyed a reputation\nin Spain as a map-maker and sailor. He was commissioned by the Spanish\nCrown to produce a map of the world, and we must suppose that for this\nwork he was provided with all the maps and geographical information that\nwere available in Spain. From a letter of July 25, 1498, to Ferdinand and\nIsabella of Spain, from Ayala, the Spanish Minister in London, we know\nthat the latter had obtained a copy of \"the chart or mapa mundi\" that John\nCabot had made in order to set forth his discoveries of 1497; and there\ncan be no doubt that a copy of this was also sent to Spain, as Ayala says\nhe believes their Majesties already had the map. It may, therefore, be\nregarded as a matter of course that La Cosa was in possession of this map\nwhen, less than two years later, he was about to make his own, and that it\nis from this source and no other that he derived his information about the\nEnglish discoveries. We do not know of any other map being sent from\nEngland to Spain during these two years, and there is no ground whatever\nfor assuming that La Cosa's information may be derived from Cabot's voyage\nof 1498, which in any case must have been a failure.\n\n[Illustration: North-western portion of Juan de la Cosa's map of 1500.\nOnly a few of the names are given; the network of compass-lines is\nomitted]\n\nFor the understanding of La Cosa's map it must be remarked first of all\nthat it is a compass-chart, and that it takes no notice of the magnetic\nvariation on the American coast. This explains the fact that, for\ninstance, lines of coast which in reality run from west to south-west, are\nmade to appear on the chart as running from west to east. Furthermore, the\nlatitude of the coast of North America is made too northerly, through\ncoasts which, for instance, lie magnetic west of Ireland, being placed on\nthe chart true west of it. In this way Cape Breton (or Cape Race in\nNewfoundland ?) can be brought to about the same latitude as the south of\nIreland, whereas in reality it lies nearly 5\u00b0 farther south.\n\nThe coast marked with five English flags is, of course, the land\ndiscovered by Cabot. That La Cosa had a map of this district is further\nshown by the details, which distinguish it from his delineation of the\nremainder of the North American coast, but which give it a resemblance to\nthat part of South America which is marked with Spanish flags and of which\nhe had a map. Curiously enough only part of the English district has\nnames; we must suppose that this is the coast that Cabot is said to have\nsailed along. La Cosa's representation of the rest of the North American\ncoast is doubtless guesswork, although it has features which bear a\nremarkable resemblance to reality; but it is not altogether impossible\nthat he may have had oral or written reports of later voyages (?), which\nare unknown to us.\n\nLa Cosa's map is in complete agreement with the statements in the letters\nof Pasqualigo, Soncino, and the two Spanish Ambassadors. Soncino says that\nthe country lies four hundred Italian leagues to the west of England,\nwhile both Puebla and Ayala say that they believe the distance to be no\nmore than four hundred Spanish leagues. On the other hand, according to\nPasqualigo, Cabot said that at a distance of seven hundred Italian leagues\nhe had discovered the mainland of the kingdom of the Great Khan, and that\nhe had sailed [i.e., after having sailed ?] three hundred leagues along\nthe coast. It has been thought that there is here a disagreement between\nthe four hundred leagues of the three first-named and the seven hundred of\nPasqualigo, but if we interpret it, in what must be the most reasonable\nway, as meaning that the distance of seven hundred leagues does not refer\nto the nearest land, but to the most distant, where Cabot thought that he\nhad at last come within the boundaries of the kingdom of the Great Khan\n(China) and did not venture to go farther, then we have complete\nagreement, since the three hundred leagues he must first have sailed along\nthe coast must be deducted in order to get the distance from England to\nthe nearest land. The length of a Venetian \"lega,\" or a Spanish \"legua,\"\ncannot be precisely determined. If we assume [cf. Kretschmer, 1909, pp.\n63, ff.] that between 20 and 17-1/2 went to a degree of latitude, each\nleague would correspond to between 3 and 3.43 geographical miles\n(minutes), or between 5.6 and 6.3 kilometres. According to the former\nestimate (three miles), four hundred leagues will be about equal to 1200\nmiles, and seven hundred leagues to about 2100 miles.[302] The first\ndistance is, at any rate, a good deal too small, while the second is too\ngreat. This may easily be explained by Cabot, or his crew, having\nnaturally wished to make the voyage to the newly discovered country appear\nas little deterrent as possible, and, therefore, having underestimated the\ndistance, while, desiring to make the country itself as large as possible,\nthey greatly over-estimated the length of their sail along the coast. That\nthe voyagers really supposed the distance to the newly discovered land to\nbe four hundred leagues from Ireland agrees also with Soncino's statement\nthat the Bristol sailors thought the voyage would not occupy more than\nfifteen days from Ireland.\n\nLa Cosa's map is drawn as an equidistant compass-chart, and we can\ntherefore make ourselves a scale of miles by using the distance between\nthe Equator and the Tropic. In this way we find that the easternmost\nheadland, \"Cauo de Ynglaterra\" (Cape England), on the coast discovered by\nCabot lies four hundred leagues from Ireland, while the distance from it\nto the most western headland with a name, \"Cauo descubierto\" (the\ndiscovered cape), is about three hundred leagues.[303] Furthermore this\ncoast lies on the map due west of Bristol and southern England, as it\nshould according to Soncino's first letter.\n\n[Sidenote: Cabot's discovery, according to La Cosa's map, is probably Nova\nScotia]\n\nThere is thus full agreement between this map and all the contemporary\ninformation we have of the voyage, and there is no room for doubt that its\nnames represent John Cabot's discoveries of 1497, which thus extended from\nCauo de Ynglaterra on the east (with two islands, Y. verde and S. Grigor,\nto the east of it) to Cauo descubierto on the west. But it seems to me\nthat this tract must be either the south coast of Newfoundland or the\nsouth-east coast of Nova Scotia, and Cauo de Ynglaterra must be either\nCape Race or Cape Breton; the latter is more probable;[304] this also\nagrees best with all the documents we possess and involves fewest\ndifficulties. It might then seem probable that Cabot first arrived off the\nland at Cauo de Ynglaterra or Cape Breton,[305] and that he sailed\nwestward (magnetic) from there to explore the newly discovered country.\nThe main direction of the coast of Nova Scotia is about W.S.W., and if we\nsuppose that the compass error at Cape Breton was then about 28\u00b0 W., which\nI have found in another way[306] (cf. above, p. 308; it is now 25\u00b0 W.),\nthis will mean that the coast extended a little to the north of west by\ncompass, which exactly agrees with La Cosa's map. On account of contrary\nwinds, and of the care necessary in sailing along an unknown coast, the\nvoyage may have proceeded slowly, and Cabot greatly over-estimated his\ndistances, which is not an uncommon thing with explorers in unknown\nwaters, ever since the days of Pytheas. Finally, about three hundred miles\non, Cabot came to the south-western point of Nova Scotia, which at first\nhe must have taken for the end of the land. But as he certainly would be\nbent upon deciding this, he may have continued to sail across the mouth of\nthe Bay of Fundy until he again sighted land, the fertile coast of smiling\nMaine, stretching westward as far as the eye could reach, and he would\nthen have thought that he had surely arrived at the coast of the mainland\nof the vast kingdom of the Great Khan. Here it must have been that he\nlanded, as related by Pasqualigo and Soncino,[307] and saw signs of\ninhabitants, but met with none. He may, of course, have landed earlier at\nCape Breton or in Nova Scotia without finding trace of inhabitants, and\nsaid nothing about it; for he was not looking for an uninhabited country,\nbut the wealthy Eastern Asia. It may also very well be the spot where he\nfirst found signs of men that is called Cauo descubierto; for it is\nstriking that on La Cosa's map this name is not placed on any projecting\nheadland of the coast, but in front of a comparatively deep gulf, which in\nthat case might be the mouth of the Bay of Fundy. And it is in the sea to\nthe west of this bay, across which Cabot sailed, that La Cosa has placed\nhis \"mar descubierta por jnglese\" (sea discovered by the English). La\nCosa's \"mar\" will then be probably the whole gulf between Cape Sable and\nCape Cod.[308]\n\n[Sidenote: Cabot's homeward voyage, 1497]\n\nCabot now thought he had found what he so eagerly sought. He was not\nprovisioned for any long stay, and with his small crew he could not expose\nhimself to possible attacks of the inhabitants of the country.\nConsequently he had good reason for turning back. To provide himself with\nthe necessary water, and perhaps wood, for the homeward voyage would not\ntake long. Food was a greater difficulty, and we are told that he was so\nshort of it that on the way back he would not stop at new islands; it is\ntrue that we hear of abundance of fish, but this cannot have been\nsufficient. He then returned to Cauo de Ynglaterra, and thence homewards\nas quickly as possible.[309] The distance from Cape Breton past the\nsouthern point of Nova Scotia to the coast of Maine is 420 geographical\nmiles. There and back, with a cruise in the open sea towards Cape Cod, it\nmight be 1200 miles. If we suppose Cabot to have taken twenty days to do\nit, including the time occupied in going ashore, this will be sixty miles\na day, which may seem a good deal; but if on the way back he had a\nfavourable wind and was able to sail a somewhat straight course, it is\npossible; and, in that case, he may have been back at Cape Breton or Cauo\nde Ynglaterra about July 14 (23), and then have laid his course for home\neast by compass out to sea. This course took him off Newfoundland, and he\nhad the island of Grand Miquelon, with Burin Peninsula to the east of it\n[\"S. Grigor\" on La Cosa's map ?], in sight on his starboard bow, or on his\nright hand, as Pasqualigo says. As he was afraid of more land in that\ndirection, which would be awkward to come near, especially when sailing at\nnight, he bore off to the south-east, where he knew from the outward\nvoyage that there was open water. After a time, thinking himself safe, he\nagain set his course east by compass, but then had fresh land, Avalon\nPeninsula, ahead or on his starboard bow, and again had to bear off. He\ntook this for another large island [\"Y. verde\"], but would not land, both\non account of shortness of provisions, and because he wanted to be home as\nsoon as possible with the news of his discovery, and to prepare a larger\nexpedition to take possession of the new country.[310] To be quite sure of\nencountering no more land, Cabot may then have borne off well to the\nsouth-east, thus reaching the Newfoundland Banks on the south, and keeping\nquite clear of the icebergs which are found farther north. For his eastern\nvoyage he was well served by the wind, since nearly all the winds in this\npart of the Atlantic are between south and west or north-west in July and\nthe beginning of August. He was further helped by the current to some\nextent, and may, therefore, very easily have made the homeward voyage in\ntwenty-three days, and sailed back into the port of Bristol about the 6th\n(15th) of August, 1497. That Cabot cannot have taken much more than twenty\ndays on the return voyage also appears from the statement already quoted\nof the Bristol sailors, that they could make the voyage in fifteen\ndays.[311]\n\n[Sidenote: Legend on the map of 1544]\n\nThe view of John Cabot's voyage of 1497 set forth above agrees also with\nthe map of the world of 1544, which is attributed to the collaboration of\nSebastian Cabot, but which the latter in any case cannot have seen or\ncorrected after it was engraved, probably in the Netherlands, and by an\nengraver who did not understand Spanish, the language of the map [cf.\nHarrisse, 1892, 1896; Dawson, 1894]. Its delineation of the northern east\ncoast of North America is for the most part borrowed from the\nrepresentation on French maps of Cartier's discoveries in the Gulf of St.\nLawrence (cf. Deslien's map of 1541). Cape Breton is called \"Prima tierra\nvista,\" and in the inscription referring to the northern part of the\nAmerican coast,[312] the import of which must apparently be derived from\nSebastian Cabot, we read:\n\n    \"This land was discovered by Joan Caboto Veneciano and Sebastian\n    Caboto his son in the year 1494 [sic] after the birth of our saviour\n    Jesus Christ, the 24th of June in the morning; to which they gave the\n    name 'Prima Tierra Vista,' and to a large island which is near the\n    said land they gave the name of St. John, because it was discovered\n    the same day\" [i.e., St. John's Day].[313]\n\nThe remainder of this legend--that the natives wear the skins of animals,\nthat the country is unfertile, that there are many white bears, vast\nquantities of fish, mostly called bacallaos, etc. etc.--cannot refer, as\nHarrisse appears to think, to this land (Cape Breton) which was first\ndiscovered, but to the northern regions of the new continent as a whole.\nIt is characteristic of this map, as of the earlier French ones, that\nNewfoundland is cut up into a number of small islands. If the view is\ncorrect that Y. Verde and S. Grigor on La Cosa's map are also parts of\nNewfoundland, it may explain the fact of Sebastian Cabot having no\ndifficulty in bringing this map, or his father's, into agreement with the\nFrench ones, since he must have thought that a number of \"islands,\"\ndiscovered later, had been added.\n\n[Illustration: Northern portion of the map of the world of 1544,\nattributed to Sebastian Cabot]\n\n[Sidenote: The island of St. John]\n\nNo island of St. John is to be found on La Cosa's map, but there is a Cauo\nS. Johan not far from Cauo de Ynglaterra and close to the island that is\ncalled Illa de la trinidat. That the name is attached to a cape instead of\nto an island may be due to a transposition in the course of repeated\ncopyings. On the Portuguese map of Pedro Reinel, of the beginning of the\nsixteenth century (that is, only a few years after 1497), Cape Breton is\nmarked without a name, but an island lies off it, called \"Sam Joh\u00e3\" [St.\nJohn]; on Maggiolo's map of 1527 there is \"C. de bertonz,\" with an island,\n\"Ja de S. Ioan,\" in the same place; and on Michael Lok's map, in Hakluyt's\n\"Divers Voyages,\" 1582, we have \"C. Breton\" with the island of \"S. Johan,\"\nlying off it, and on Cape Breton Island (or Nova Scotia), called\nNorombega, is written \"J. Cabot, 1497\" (see p. 323). There seems thus to\nhave been a definite tradition that it was here that John Cabot made the\nland, and St. John may then be the little Scatari Island which lies on the\noutside of Cape Breton Island [cf. Dawson, 1897, pp. 210, ff.]. That the\n\"I. de S. Juan\" on the map of 1544 lies on the inside of \"Prima tierra\nvista\" and answers to the Magdalen Islands is of minor importance; we do\nnot even know whether Sebastian Cabot can be made responsible for it, as\nit may be due to a confusion on the part of the draughtsman. More\nimportance must be attached on this point to the agreement between the\nearlier maps of 1500, 1527, and that of Reinel (compared with Lok's map in\nHakluyt), than to the map of 1544.[314]\n\n[Illustration: Portion of Pedro Reinel's map, beginning of the sixteenth\ncentury]\n\n[Sidenote: Cabot's return]\n\nJohn Cabot returned to Bristol at the beginning of August, probably about\nthe 6th (15th, N.S.). He naturally hastened to London to tell the King of\nhis discovery, and we know that he must have been there on the 10th (20th)\nAugust, for there is an entry in the accounts of the King's privy purse:\n\n    \"10 August, 1497. To hym that found the new isle, \u00a310.\"\n\nThis cannot be called an exaggerated regal payment for discovering a new\ncontinent, even though \u00a310 in the money of that time corresponds to about\n\u00a3120 now. Later in the same autumn Cabot was granted a pension from the\nKing of \u00a320 a year.\n\nMeanwhile, as the letters already quoted show, his discovery attracted\nmuch attention in England, and gave rise to great expectations.\n\n[Illustration: Portion of Michael Lok's map, London, 1582]\n\nWhat Cabot accomplished by his voyage of 1497 was in the first place to\nprove the existence of a great country beyond the ocean to the west of\nIreland, which country he himself assumed to belong to Asia and to be part\nof China. Besides this he discovered great quantities of fish off the\nnewly discovered coast; a discovery which was soon to create a great\nfishery, carried on by several nations, off Newfoundland, and one which\nsurpassed the Iceland fishery, hitherto the most important. But John Cabot\nevidently had little idea of the importance of this last discovery. He\nhad, as Soncino says, \"set his mind on higher things,\" for he thought that\nby following the coast of the mainland farther to the west he would be\nable to reach the wealthy Cipango (Japan) and the Spice Islands in the\nequatorial regions.\n\n[Sidenote: Cabot's voyage of 1498]\n\nHere we have in brief the plan of his next voyage. Cabot himself had\ngreat expectations and saw a brilliant future before him, when he would\nrule as a prince over newly conquered kingdoms which he would make subject\nto the English Crown. And, as we have seen, he was liberal in distributing\nislands to his barber, to a Burgundian, etc.\n\nAt the beginning of 1498 Cabot obtained new letters patent, dated February\n3, in the thirteenth year of Henry VII.'s reign.[315] These letters are in\nJohn Cabot's name alone (his sons are not mentioned this time).\n\n    They give him the right of taking at his pleasure six English ships in\n    any English port, of 200 tons or under, with their necessary\n    equipment, \"and theym convey and lede to the Londe and Iles of late\n    founde by the seid John in oure name and by oure commaundemente, payng\n    for theym and every of theym as and if we should in or for our owen\n    cause paye and noon otherwise.\" And the said John might further \"take\n    and receyve into the seid shippes and every of theym all suche\n    maisters maryners pages and our subjects, as of their owen free wille\n    woll goo and passe with hym in the same shippes to the seid Londe or\n    Iles,\" etc. etc.\n\nIt thus seems as if this not very prodigal king had on second thoughts\nconsiderably reduced his first plan of sending a fleet of ten, fifteen or\ntwenty ships with all the prisoners of the realm.\n\n[Sidenote: Authorities for the voyage of 1498]\n\nThe most important documents on this voyage are:\n\n(1) Two contemporary letters, written before the return of the expedition,\nby the older Spanish Ambassador in London, Ruy Gonzales de Puebla, and the\nyounger contemporary Spanish Minister in London, Pedro de Ayala, to\nFerdinand and Isabella of Spain. The latter's is dated July 23 (August 3,\nN.S.), 1498; the former's is undated, but of about the same time.\n\n(2) A narrative in the so-called \"Cottonian Chronicle\"[316] (the contents\nof which are the same as in Robert Fabyan's Chronicle) undoubtedly refers\nto this voyage of 1498 and not, as many have assumed, to the voyage of\n1497. It appears to be a contemporary notice of 1498, written before the\nreturn of the expedition.\n\nThese documents contain all that we know with certainty about John Cabot's\nvoyage of 1498.\n\n[Sidenote: Puebla's letter of July 1498]\n\nThe Spanish Ambassador, Ruy Gonzales de Puebla, writes in 1498 to\nFerdinand and Isabella of Spain (probably in July):\n\n    \"The King of England sent five armed ships with another Genoese like\n    Columbus to search for the island of Brasil and others near it,[317]\n    and they were provisioned for a year. It is said that they will return\n    in September. Seeing the route they take to reach it, it is what Your\n    Highnesses possess. The King has spoken to me at various times about\n    it, he hopes to derive great advantage from it. I believe that it is\n    not more than 400 leagues distant from here\" [cf. Harrisse, 1882, p.\n    328].\n\n[Sidenote: Ayala's letter of July 25, 1498]\n\nPedro de Ayala writes, July 25, 1498:\n\n    \"I believe Your Highnesses have heard how the King of England has\n    fitted out a fleet to discover certain islands and mainland that\n    certain persons, who sailed out of Bristol last year, have assured him\n    they have found. I have seen the chart that the discoverer has drawn,\n    who is another Genoese like Columbus, who has been in Seville and\n    Lisbon to try to find some one to help him in this enterprise. The\n    people of Bristol have sent out yearly for the last seven years a\n    fleet of two, three or four caravels to search for the island of\n    Brasil and the Seven Cities, following the fancy of this Genoese. The\n    King has determined to send out an expedition because he is certain\n    that they found land last year. One of the ships, on which a certain\n    Fray Buil sailed, recently came into port in Ireland with great\n    difficulty, the ship being wrecked.\n\n    \"The Genoese continued his voyage. After having seen the course he has\n    taken and the length of the route, I find that the land they have\n    found or are looking for is that which Your Highnesses possess,\n    because it is at the end of that which belongs to Your Highnesses\n    according to the convention with Portugal. It is hoped that they will\n    return in September. I will let Your Highnesses know of it. The King\n    of England has spoken to me at various times about it; he hopes[318]\n    to derive great advantage from it. I believe the distance is not more\n    than 400 leagues. I told him I believed the lands that had been found\n    belonged to Your Highnesses, and I have given him a reason for it, but\n    he would not hear of it. As I believe Your Highnesses are now\n    acquainted with everything, as well as with the chart or mapa mundi\n    that he [i.e., this Genoese] has drawn, I do not send it yet, though\n    I have it here, and it seems to me very false to give out that it is\n    not the islands in question.\"\n\n[Sidenote: Cottonian Chronicle]\n\nAccording to the Cottonian Chronicle, the King\n\n    \"at the besy request and supplicacion of a Straunger venisian [i.e.,\n    John Cabot], ... caused to manne a ship ... for to seche an Iland\n    wheryn the said Straunger surmysed to be grete commodities,\"[319] and\n    it was accompanied by three or four other ships of Bristol, \"the said\n    Straunger\" [i.e., Cabot] being leader of this \"Flete, wheryn dyuers\n    merchauntes as well of London as Bristowe aventured goodes and sleight\n    merchaundises, which departed from the West Cuntrey in the begynnyng\n    of Somer, but to this present moneth came nevir Knowlege of their\n    exployt.\"[320]\n\n[Sidenote: Fabyan's account]\n\nHakluyt, in \"Divers Voyages\" (1582) [cf. Hakluyt, 1850, p. 23], has a\nrather fuller version of this account, quoted from Robert Fabyan, where we\nread that the ships from Bristol were\n\n    \"fraught with sleight and grosse merchandizes as course cloth, Caps,\n    laces, points, and other trifles, and so departed from Bristowe in the\n    beginning of May: of whom in this Maior's time returned no\n    tidings.\"[321]\n\n\"This Mayor\" would be William Purchas, who was Lord Mayor of London until\nOctober 28 (November 6, N.S.), 1498. Thus, if this is correct, the\nexpedition had not yet returned in the late autumn.\n\n[Sidenote: John Cabot probably never returned from the voyage of 1498]\n\nThe information contained in Ayala's letter, that one of Cabot's ships had\nput in to Ireland, is the last certain intelligence we have of this\nexpedition, which was looked forward to with such great hopes. John Cabot\nnow disappears completely and unaccountably from history, and his\ndiscovery, which the year before had attracted so much attention, seems to\nhave been more or less forgotten in the succeeding years, and is never\nreferred to in the later letters of the Spanish Ambassadors in London. It\nmay, therefore, seem reasonable to suppose that the expedition disappeared\nwithout leaving a trace. The probability of this is confirmed by the fact\nthat two years and a half later, in March 1501, Henry VII. again granted\nletters patent, for the discovery of lands, to three merchants of Bristol\nand three Portuguese, without mentioning Cabot; it is merely stated that\nall former privileges of a similar kind were cancelled. But according to\nsome old account books from Bristol, found at Westminster Abbey, John\nCabot's royal pension of \u00a320 a year was paid as late as the administrative\nyear beginning September 29, 1498. This, as Harrisse and others think,\nshows that Cabot returned from the voyage and was still alive in that\nyear. But this seems to be uncertain evidence. The money need not have\nbeen paid to him personally; it may have been paid to his wife or his sons\nor other representatives during his absence on the voyage, and we cannot\nconclude anything certain from it. As the pension is not entered in the\nfollowing years, it seems rather to show that Cabot was really lost, and\nthe money was only paid during the first year of his absence.\n\nIt has been supposed that the following is another proof of the\nparticipators in the voyage of 1498 having returned: the accounts of Henry\nVII.'s privy purse for 1498 show that on March 22 and April 1 the King\nadvanced money (sums of \u00a320, \u00a33, and 40s. 5d., in all about \u00a3650 in the\nmoney of the present day) to Launcelot Thirkill (who seems to have had a\nship of his own), Thomas Bradley and John Carter, who were all going to\n\"the new Isle.\" Probably these men may have fitted out their own ships to\naccompany Cabot's expedition; but we do not know whether they sailed. This\nis probably the same Launcelot Thirkill who, according to an old\ndocument, was in London on June 6, 1501, when he and three others whose\nnames are given (perhaps his sureties) were \"bounden in ij obligations to\npay\" \u00a320 to the King before next Whitsuntide. Possibly it was this loan\nreceived from the King for the voyage, which he then had to repay. If he\nreally started, it may be supposed that his ship was the one that put back\nto Ireland; and this document is therefore no certain proof of any of the\nother four ships having ever returned. For that matter they may all have\nbeen lost in the same gale. But in the year 1501 the ship that returned\nfrom Gaspar Corte-Real's expedition is reported to have brought back to\nLisbon a broken gilt sword of Italian workmanship from the east coast of\nNorth America; and it is also stated that two Venetian silver rings had\nbeen seen on a native boy from that country. It has been assumed that\nthese objects may have belonged to some of the participators in John\nCabot's expedition of 1498, which in that case must have reached America,\nand there met with some disaster.\n\nIt is difficult to say more of this voyage. That John Cabot should have\nreturned after having reached America, and after having sailed a greater\nor less distance along the coast without finding the riches he was in\nsearch of, appears to me unlikely. Such an assumption would provide no\nexplanation of the complete silence about him. As the foreign Ministers\nhad followed this expedition with so much attention, we might surely\nexpect them to say something about its having disappointed the great\nexpectations that were formed of it; and in any case it was unlikely that\nthe whole should be buried in complete silence, which, on the other hand,\nis easily comprehensible if nothing more was heard of the expedition,\nsince it may all have been forgotten for other things which claimed\nattention. Thus the story of Giovanni Caboto, the discoverer of the North\nAmerican continent, ends, as it began, in obscurity. He was too early with\nhis discovery. England had not yet developed her trade and navigation\nsufficiently to be able to follow it up and avail herself of it; this was\nnot to come until about eighty years later.\n\n[Sidenote: Sebastian Cabot's voyages doubtful]\n\nBut John Cabot's discovery was not altogether unheeded in the years that\nfollowed; it was considered of sufficient importance for his son,\nSebastian Cabot, by appropriating the honour of it, to acquire much fame\nand reputation in his day as a great discoverer and geographer. But\nwhether he ever made discoveries on the east coast of North America is\nvery doubtful; indeed, it is not even certain that he ever undertook a\nvoyage to these regions. There can be no doubt that he himself asserted he\nhad done so repeatedly and to different men, though his various\nutterances, so far as we know them, agree imperfectly. We see, too, that\nas early as 1512 he had the reputation of being acquainted with\nnorth-western waters, since he obtained an appointment in the service of\nKing Ferdinand of Aragon on account of the remarkable knowledge he claimed\nto possess of \"la navigacion \u00e1 los Bacallaos\" (the voyage to Newfoundland)\n[cf. Harrisse, 1892, p. 20]. But Sebastian Cabot seems, on the whole, to\nhave been one of those men who are more efficient in words than deeds. It\nwas the habit of the time to be not too scrupulous about the truth, if one\nhad any advantage to gain from the contrary, and Sebastian was evidently\nno better than his age. If his utterances are correctly reported, he\nendeavoured, when his father had long been dead and forgotten, to claim\nfor himself the honour of his voyages, in which he succeeded so well that\nfor many centuries he, and not his father, was regarded as the discoverer\nof the continent of America. In the legend on the map of the world of\n1544, it is true, he was modest enough to share the honour with his\nfather, and this legend is at the same time the only evidence which might\npoint to Sebastian as having been present on that occasion; but, as we\nhave already seen, no great importance can be attached to it, and it is\nnot confirmed by contemporary statements about the voyage. His assertion\nthat he had been in north-western waters is in direct conflict with\nstatements in the protest made on March 11, 1521, by the Wardens of the\nDrapers' Company of London against King Henry VIII.'s attempt to obtain\ncontributions towards an expedition to \"the newe found Iland\" (the coast\nof North America) in 1521 under the command of Sebastian Cabot. The\nprotest says:\n\n    \"... And we thynk it were to sore avent\u02b3 to joperd V shipps w\u1d57 men and\n    goods vnto the said Iland vppon the singuler trust of one man callyd\n    as we vnderstond Sebastyan, whiche Sebastyan as we here say was neu\u02b3\n    in that land hym self, all if he maks reports of many things as he\n    hath hard his Father and other men speke in tymes past,\" etc.\n\nThis statement is clear enough, and, coming as it does from men who were\nacquainted with his father's services, it cannot be disregarded. It is\nalso confirmed by a remarkable statement in Peter Martyr's narrative (in\n1515) of an alleged voyage of Sebastian Cabot (see later), which\nconcludes:\n\n    \"Some of the Spaniards deny that Cabot [i.e., Sebastian] was the first\n    discoverer of the land of Bacallaos, and assert that he had not sailed\n    so far to the west.\"\n\nThis might point to his really having made a voyage, but, in the opinion\nof the Spaniards, never having reached the coast of North America.\n\n[Sidenote: Beginning of the Newfoundland fishery]\n\nThe immediate consequence of John Cabot's discovery of the continent of\nNorth America was probably that the practical merchants of Bristol, who\nwere accustomed to fishing ventures in Iceland, at once sent out vessels\nto take advantage of the great abundance of fish that John Cabot had found\nin 1497 and that had evidently made so deep an impression on his crew that\nthey told every one about it. But the English fishermen were soon\nfollowed, and, indeed, outstripped, by Portuguese, Basque and French\n(chiefly Breton) fishermen, and thus arose the famous Newfoundland\nfisheries. The cause of the fishermen of Portugal and other countries\nhaving followed so soon was doubtless the discovery of Newfoundland by the\nPortuguese Corte-Real on his voyages of 1500 and 1501 (see next chapter).\n\nBut of the development of this fishery we hear little or nothing in\nliterature; just as in the Icelandic literature of earlier times these\nfishing expeditions of ordinary seamen are passed over; in the first\nplace, they were not \"notable\" travellers, and in the second, men of that\nclass in all ages have preferred to avoid advertising their discoveries\nfor fear of competition.\n\n[Sidenote: Expeditions from Bristol in 1501 and following years]\n\nFrom various documents and statements we may conclude that fresh\nexpeditions were sent out from Bristol in 1501 and the following years;\nbut these were Anglo-Portuguese undertakings and may have been occasioned,\nat any rate in part, by the discoveries of the Portuguese, although, of\ncourse, the knowledge of Cabot's voyage may have had some\nsignificance.[322]\n\nOn March 19 (28), 1501, Henry VII. issued letters patent to Richard Warde,\nThomas Ashehurst and John Thomas, merchants of Bristol, who were in\npartnership in the enterprise with three Portuguese from the Azores, John\nand Francis Fernandus [i.e., Jo\u00e3o and Francisco Fernandez] and John\nGunsolus [Jo\u00e3o Gonzales ?].[323] They were given the right for ten years\n\"to explore all Islands, Countries, Regions, and Provinces whatever, in\nthe Eastern, Western, Southern, and Northern Seas, heretofore unknown to\nChristians,\" and all former privileges of this kind, granted to \"any\nforeigner or foreigners,\" were expressly cancelled. This last provision\nmust refer to the letters patent granted to Cabot in 1496 and 1498.\n\n[Sidenote: Expedition in 1502]\n\nThat this new expedition from Bristol really took place and returned\nbefore January 1502, seems to result from the accounts of Henry VII.'s\nprivy purse, where on January 7, 1502, there is an entry: \"To men of\nBristoll that found Thisle \u00a35.\"[324] In 1502 there was possibly a new\nexpedition, as in the same accounts there is an entry of September [24],\n1502: \"To the merchants of Bristoll that have bene in the Newfounde Lande,\n\u00a320.\"[324] According to a document of December 6, 1503, Henry VII. further\ngranted on September 26, 1502, to the two Portuguese, ffranceys ffernandus\n[Francisco Fernandez] and John Guidisalvus [Gonzales ?] a yearly pension\nof ten pounds each, for the service they had done to the King's \"singler\npleasur as capitaignes unto the new founde lande.\"\n\nHakluyt states (1582) in \"Divers Voyages\" [1850, p. 23], after Robert\nFabyan's Chronicle, that in the seventeenth year of the reign of Henry\nVII. [i.e., August 22, 1501, to August 21, 1502][325]\n\n    \"were brought unto the king three men, taken in the new founde Iland,\n    that before I [i.e., Fabyan ?] spake of in William Purchas time, being\n    Maior.[326] These were clothed in beastes skinnes, and ate rawe\n    fleshe, and spake such speech that no man coulde understand them, and\n    in their demeanour like to bruite beastes, whom the king kept a time\n    after. Of the which vpon two yeeres past after I [i.e., Fabyan] saw\n    two apparelled after the maner of Englishmen, in Westminster pallace,\n    which at that time I coulde not discerne from Englishemen, till I was\n    learned what they were. But as for speech, I heard none of them vtter\n    one worde.\"[327]\n\nThese natives must have been brought back from the expedition of 1501 or\nfrom that of 1502 (if the latter returned before August 21 ?). They were\nmost likely Eskimo, since Indians with their darker skin could scarcely\nhave looked like Englishmen. It might even be supposed that they came from\nGreenland, and were descendants of the Norsemen there, in which case their\nresemblance to Englishmen is most naturally explained.\n\n[Illustration: North-western portion of Robert Thorne's map, of 1527 (copy\nof a Spanish map of the world)]\n\n[Sidenote: English voyage in 1503]\n\nOn December 9 (18), 1502, Henry VII. again granted letters patent to\nThomas Ashehurst, Joam Gonzales, Francisco Fernandes and Hugh Elliott for\na voyage of discovery to parts not hitherto found by English subjects.\nThat this projected expedition took place in 1503 is possibly shown by an\nentry in the accounts of the King's privy purse: \"1503, Nov. 17. To one\nthat brought hawkes from the Newfounded Island. 1.L.\" [cf. Harrisse, 1882,\np. 270].\n\nIt seems that it must be the same voyage to the north-west that is\nmentioned by Robert Thorne of Bristol in his letter of 1527 to Henry\nVIII.'s Ambassador in Spain. Thorne was then living in Seville, and was\ninterested in Indian enterprises. He tries to induce Henry VIII. to send\nan expedition to the Indies by way of the Polar Sea, and sends with his\nproject a rough copy he has had made of a Spanish mappamundi. He says that\nhe has inherited the \"inclination or desire of this discoverie\" from his\n\n    \"father, which with another marchant of Bristow named Hugh Eliot, were\n    the discoverers of the New found lands, of the which there is no\n    doubt, (as nowe plainely appeareth) if the mariners would then have\n    bene ruled, and followed their Pilots minde, the lands of the West\n    Indies (from whence all the gold commeth) had bene ours. For all is\n    one coast, as by the Carde appeareth, and is aforesayd.\"\n\nOn the map the northern east coast of America extends uninterruptedly to\nthe north (see the reproduction), and upon it is written: \"the new land\ncalled laboratorum,\" and along the coast there is: \"the land that was\nfirst discovered by the English.\" It might appear as though it was really\nthe present Labrador that was then discovered; but this is hardly the\ncase; what we see on the map is probably Greenland,[328] which is here\nmoved over to America as on other Spanish maps, and the east coast of\nwhich is given a northerly direction as on Ruysch's map of 1508.\n\nIt is possible that another expedition set out in 1504; for in the\naccounts of the King's privy purse we find an entry on April 8, 1504, of\n\u00a32 \"to a preste that goeth to the new Islande.\" We see thus that there is\na probability of many expeditions having left England for the west and\nnorth-west at this time, and that thus Greenland, Newfoundland, and\ndoubtless also Labrador had been reached by the English; and this would\nexplain their being recorded on Spanish maps as discoverers of the\nnorthern part of the east coast of America. But we have no further\ninformation about these voyages.\n\nJust as we have seen that the note on Robert Thorne's map of 1527 (that\nthe English had discovered the northern part of the east coast of America)\nmust probably refer to the expedition of 1501 or to one in the following\nyear, so it is doubtless discoveries of the same voyages that are alluded\nto on Maggiolo's compass-chart of 1511 (see reproduction, p. 359), where a\npeninsula to the north of Labrador is marked as \"Terra de los Ingres\" [the\nland of the English]. On later maps, such as Verrazano's of 1529, Ribero's\nof 1529 (see reproduction, p. 357), the Wolfenb\u00fcttel map of 1530, and\nothers, Labrador is marked as having been discovered by the English,\nsometimes, indeed, with the addition that they came from Bristol. As\nalready mentioned, no hint is to be found in trustworthy documents of\nSebastian Cabot's having taken part in these expeditions or having been in\nany way connected with them, and there is therefore no ground for assuming\nthis. And the remarkable thing is that even his father's name is not\nmentioned in connection with them, though it was so few years since he had\nsailed from the same port.\n\n[Sidenote: Accounts of a voyage of Sebastian Cabot in 1508-1509]\n\nWe find, however, in various works of the sixteenth century records of\nvoyages to northern or north-western waters, supposed to have been made by\nSebastian Cabot; which may be due, directly or indirectly, to himself.\nFormerly there was a tendency to connect these statements with John\nCabot's voyages of 1497 and 1498 [cf. Harrisse], but this assumption seems\nto have little probability. G. P. Winship [1899, pp. 204, ff.], on the\nother hand, has pointed out with good reason that according to Sebastian\nCabot's own words the voyage was undertaken by himself in the years\n1508-9; but even this appears to me uncertain; in any case I doubt that he\nreached America.\n\nWe hear of a voyage to the north-west said to have been undertaken by\nSebastian Cabot from Peter Martyr (in his Decades, 1516), from the\nVenetian Minister to Spain, Contarini, especially in a report to the\nVenetian Senate in 1536, from Ramusio (1550-1554 and 1556), from Gomara\n(1553), and from Antonio Galvano (1563).[329]\n\nWe may expect the most trustworthy of these authorities to be Peter\nMartyr, who was the oldest, and who knew Sebastian Cabot personally; but\ncertain main features of the voyage are to some extent common to all the\naccounts. If we compare these, the voyage is said to have taken place\nsomewhat in the following manner: the expedition, consisting of two ships\nwith three hundred men,[330] was according to Peter Martyr fitted out at\nSebastian's own cost, but according to Ramusio it was sent out by the\nKing. They sailed so far to the north (according to Gomara, even in the\ndirection of Iceland) that in the month of July they found enormous masses\nof ice floating on the sea; daylight was almost continuous, and the land\nwas in places free of ice which had melted away. According to the various\naccounts Cabot is said to have reached 55\u00b0, 56\u00b0, 58\u00b0, or 60\u00b0.[331]\n\n    According to Galvano they first \"sighted land in 45\u00b0 N. lat. and then\n    sailed straight to the north until they came to 60\u00b0 N. lat., where the\n    day is eighteen hours long [sic], and the night is very clear and\n    light. There they found the air cold and great islands of ice\n    [icebergs ?] but no bottom with soundings of seventy, eighty, or one\n    hundred fathoms,[332] but they found much ice which terrified them.\"\n\nWhen, according to Peter Martyr, their hopes of making their way to the\nwest in these northern latitudes were thus annihilated by the ice, they\nsailed back to the south and south-west along the North American coast, as\nfar as the latitude of Gibraltar, 36\u00b0 (according to Peter Martyr), or to\n38\u00b0 (according to Gomara and Galvano), while according to Ramusio's\nanonymous informant they sailed as far as Florida.[333] From thence the\nexpedition returned to England.\n\nWith regard to the date of this voyage, we are told in the continuation of\nPeter Martyr's Decades [Dec. vii], written in 1524 (published 1530), that\n\"Bacchalaos [i.e., Newfoundland, or the northern east coast of America]\nwas discovered from England by Cabot sixteen years ago.\" According to\nthis the voyage took place in 1508. In Contarini's report of 1536 [cf.\nWinship, 1900, p. 36] it is said of Sebastian Cabot's voyage that on his\nreturn he \"found the King dead, and his son cared little for such an\nenterprise.\" As Henry VII. died on April 21, 1509, it would be during the\nautumn of that year that Cabot returned; but then he must have sailed\nbefore April, which is unlikely, at any rate if it is a question of a\nvoyage up into the ice to the north or north-west, such as is described.\nThat he should have sailed in the previous year and not returned until\nafter the King's death is still more improbable.\n\nThese accounts contain so many improbabilities, and to some extent\nimpossibilities, that it is on the whole extremely doubtful whether\nSebastian Cabot ever made such a voyage to the north-west. That he did so\nis contradicted in the first place by the already quoted protest against\nSebastian of the Wardens of the Drapers' Company, which was issued in the\nname of the various Livery Companies of London, and which is of great\nsignificance, as it was written so soon after the events are supposed to\nhave taken place that they must have been in the memory of most people;\nand it must have been easy for the King to inquire into the justification\nof the protest (cf. above, p. 330).\n\nThe map of 1544, which is attributed to the collaboration of Sebastian\nCabot, may also point to his having never sailed along the northern part\nof the coast of America, since, according to the custom of that time, the\ncoast of Labrador is made to run to the east and north-east. This agrees\nwith the statement of Ramusio's anonymous informant, that Sebastian had to\nturn back because in 56\u00b0 N. lat. he found the land turning eastward\n(Galvano says the same). This is evidently derived from the study of maps.\nAs such a delineation of the coast had not yet occurred on maps of Peter\nMartyr's time, it is natural that this reason for turning back is also\nabsent from his account.\n\nIn addition to all this, there are in the various accounts several\nstatements which we must suppose to be really derived from Sebastian\nCabot, but which are evidently untruthful. Thus Ramusio's anonymous guest\nattributes to Sebastian the words that his father was dead when the news\nof the discovery of Columbus reached England, and that it was then\nSebastian conceived the plan of his voyage which he submitted to the King.\nThat, as stated by Peter Martyr, he should have fitted out two ships with\ncrews of three hundred men at his own expense, is extremely improbable. He\nis also reported to have told Peter Martyr that he\n\n    \"called these countries Baccallaos, because in the seas about there he\n    found such great quantities of certain large fish--which might be\n    compared to tunny [in size], and were thus called by the\n    inhabitants--that sometimes they stopped his ships.\"\n\nThese are nothing but impossibilities. In the first place, _he_ never gave\nthe name of Bacallaos; in the second, the inhabitants cannot have called\nthe fish so, if by inhabitants is meant the native savages. These\nstatements are, therefore, of the same kind as that of the masses of fish\nstopping the ships. Peter Martyr further relates that he said of these\nregions that\n\n    \"he also found people in these parts, clad in skins of animals, yet\n    not without the use of reason.\" He says also that \"there are a great\n    number of bears in these parts, which are in the habit of eating fish;\n    for, plunging into the water where they see quantities of these fish,\n    they fasten their claws into their scales, and thus draw them to land\n    and eat them, so that (as he says) the bears are not troublesome to\n    men, when they have eaten their fill of fish. He declares also that in\n    many places of these regions he saw great quantities of copper among\n    the inhabitants.\"\n\nThe statement about the bears may come from older literary sources, and\nresembles a similar statement in the Geographia Universalis (see above, p.\n191). That the inhabitants have copper and are clad in skins may be\nderived from reports of the various voyages.\n\nFrom what we have been able to conclude as to Sebastian Cabot's character,\nit seems reasonable to suppose that, in consequence of his position as\nPilot Major in Spain, he was acquainted with the various maps and\naccounts of voyages in western and north-western waters, and that from\nthis knowledge he constructed the whole story of his alleged voyage; he\nwas then incautious enough to magnify his exploits to such an extent that\nhe made the whole story improbable; for his claim was nothing less than\nthat he had first discovered land as far north as between 55\u00b0 and 60\u00b0,\nthat is to say, to about Hudson Strait, and then sailed along and\ndiscovered the whole coast of North America to about 36\u00b0 N. lat., that is,\nto Cape Hatteras or Florida; in other words, a voyage of discovery to\nwhich we have no parallel in history, and it is truly remarkable that we\nshould have had no certain information about it, while we have so much\nabout other expeditions which step by step discovered the various parts of\nthis same extent of coast.\n\n[Sidenote: Another doubtful voyage of Sebastian Cabot in 1516 or 1517 ?]\n\nSebastian Cabot seems to have laid claim to having made yet another voyage\nin north-western waters, unless, indeed, it is the same one again with\nvariations. In the third volume of his \"Navigationi et Viaggi,\" etc.,\npublished at Venice 1556, Ramusio says (writing in Venice, June 1553) that\n\n    \"Sebastian Gabotto, our Venetian, a man of great experience, etc.,\n    wrote to me many years ago.\" Sebastian is said to have sailed \"along\n    and beyond the land of New France, at the charges of Henry VII., King\n    of England. He told me that after having sailed a long time west by\n    north [ponente e quarta di Maestro] beyond these islands, lying along\n    the said land, as far as to sixty-seven and a half degrees under our\n    pole [i.e., the North Pole], and on June 11th [20th] finding the sea\n    still open and without any kind of impediment, he thought surely by\n    that way to be able to sail at once to Cataio Orientale [China], if\n    the mutiny [malignit\u00e0] of the master and mariners had not compelled\n    him to return.\"[334]\n\nAs will be seen, this statement is altogether different from those\npreviously mentioned; but such assertions as that Cabot had got so far to\nthe north-west by June 11, and found the sea free of ice in 67-1/2\u00b0 N.\nlat., are not of a kind to strengthen our confidence. It might seem to be\nthe same voyage that is referred to in a statement of Richard Eden, which\nhe may have had from Sebastian Cabot himself. In the dedication (written\nin June 1553) of Eden's translation of the fifth part of Sebastian\nMunster's \"Cosmographia\" we read that\n\n    \"Kinge Henry the viij. about the same yere [i.e., the eighth year] of\n    his raygne, furnished and sent forth certen shippes vnder the\n    gouernaunce of Sebastian Cabot yet liuing, and one Syr Thomas Perte,\n    whose faynt heart was the cause that that viage toke none effect; yf\n    (I say) such manly courage whereof we haue spoken, had not at that\n    tyme bene wanting, it myghte happelye haue comen to passe, that that\n    riche treasurye called Perularia, (which is now in Spayne in the citie\n    of Ciuile, and so named, for that in it is kepte the infinite ryches\n    brought thither from the newe found land of Peru) myght longe since\n    haue bene in the town of London.\"[335]\n\nAs Peru is mentioned, it might doubtless appear as though a voyage to\nSouth America were in question; but we often see that the western\ncountries beyond the sea were spoken of as a continuous possession (cf.\nRobert Thorne's letter, above, p. 334), and it may therefore refer to the\nsame alleged expedition as is spoken of by Ramusio; for both Ramusio and\nEden have evidently the same statements from Sebastian Cabot, and the\nlatter can hardly have spoken of two expeditions which were both\nunsuccessful merely because his companions failed him.\n\nIf this is correct, the voyage took place in the eighth year of Henry\nVIII.'s reign, i.e., April 16, 1516, to April 15, 1517[336]; but, as\nHarrisse contends, it is very doubtful whether the voyage was made at all.\nIt is true that a poem of Henry VIII.'s time also speaks of an English\nexpedition which may have taken place at this time, and which failed on\naccount of the cowardice of the crew. Robert Thorne, too, as we have seen\n(p. 335), tells of a voyage made by his father and Hugh Eliot, on which\nthe sailors would not \"follow their pilot's mind.\" It may, indeed, have\noccurred on several voyages that the crews refused to proceed farther, and\nfor that matter these statements need not refer to the same voyage; but at\nthe same time it is by no means incredible that Sebastian Cabot may have\nheard of such an expedition, and, when it was more appropriate than the\nice, used it as an explanation of his not having discovered the north-west\npassage to China. We know that Sebastian Cabot was in the service of Spain\n(and appointed \"Pilot Major\") in 1515, and that he was occupied with plans\nof a voyage to the north-west for the King of Spain; for Peter Martyr\nwrites of him in that year that he was impatiently looking forward to\nMarch 1516, when he had been promised a fleet with which to complete his\ndiscoveries [cf. Winship, 1900, p. 71]. As Ferdinand of Aragon died on\nJanuary 23, 1516, nothing came of this voyage, and as we hear nothing of\nSebastian Cabot before February 5, 1518, when he was appointed Pilot Major\nby Charles V., it is not impossible that in the meantime he may have been\nin England, and have taken part in an English expedition; but no record of\nhis having come to England is extant, and it would hardly agree with the\nprotest against him of the Drapers' Company a few years later.\n\n[Sidenote: Henry VIII.'s attempted expedition in 1521]\n\nThere may yet be mentioned the attempts made by Henry VIII. in 1521 to\nprepare an expedition to north-western waters under the command of\nSebastian Cabot, chiefly at the expense of the merchants of London, which,\nhowever, evoked a powerful protest against Sebastian on the part of these\nmerchants (see above, p. 330). It is true that, upon pressure from the\nKing, they afterwards declared themselves willing to give a smaller sum,\nbut the expedition never came to anything. Sebastian Cabot was at that\ntime, as he had been since 1512, in the service of Spain, and he remained\nso until in 1547 he again took up his abode in England and entered the\nservice of the English King. In December 1522 Sebastian Cabot informed the\nVenetian Minister in Spain, Contarini, that he had been in England three\nyears before [i.e., in 1519], and that the Cardinal there [i.e., Wolsey,\nwho was trying on behalf of Henry VIII. to get together the expedition of\n1521] had endeavoured to persuade him to undertake the command of a fleet\nwhich was almost ready [sic!], for the discovery of new lands; but he had\nreplied that, as he was in the service of Spain, he must first obtain the\npermission of the Emperor; and that he had then written to the Emperor,\nrequesting him not to grant such permission, but to recall him. This\nSebastian asserted that he had done on account of his desire of serving\nhis own city of Venice; for in 1522 and later he was carrying on\ntreacherous intrigues with Contarini to enter the Venetian service,\npresumably with the hope of a high salary. Thus, wherever we are able to\ncheck Sebastian Cabot's utterances, they prove to be extremely\nuntrustworthy.\n\n[Sidenote: Cabot's discovery before its time]\n\nEven, if, therefore, there was no lack of attempts after 1500 to follow up\nJohn Cabot's great and important discoveries in the west, it is\nnevertheless surprising how little persistence seems to have been shown.\nThe love of discovery and adventure which had been so prominent a feature\nof the Northern Viking nature had not yet awakened in earnest among the\nEnglish people. England's mercantile marine was at that time still\ncomparatively unimportant, it had not the strength for such great\nenterprises or for colonisation. The earliest voyages were mainly the work\nof a foreigner, an Italian, and the later ones were in part undertaken by\nPortuguese; they did not grow naturally from the English people\nthemselves. Cabot's plan was like an exotic flower springing up in\nimmature soil, and more than half a century before its time. Another\nfactor was doubtless the disappointment of the King and of the merchants;\nthey had ventured their money in fitting out ships in the hope of\nimmediate profit. What they were looking for was the way to the rich East\nof Asia, where mountains of spices lay ready to hand, and gold and\nprecious stones in heaps, only waiting to be picked up. What they found\nwas nothing but new, unknown countries on the ocean, inhabited by\nwandering tribes of hunters, countries the opening up of which demanded\nmuch time and labour. All this had scarcely more than a geographical\ninterest for the time being, and for that they cared little.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nCHAPTER XV\n\nTHE PORTUGUESE DISCOVERIES IN THE NORTH-WEST\n\n\nVOYAGES OF THE BROTHERS CORTE-REAL\n\n[Sidenote: Early attempts of the Portuguese to find new lands]\n\nThe Portuguese, who in the fifteenth century were the most enterprising of\nseafaring peoples as regards discoveries, had, as already stated, made\nvarious attempts to find new countries out in the ocean to the west of the\nAzores, from which islands the majority of the expeditions proceeded. It\nwas therefore to be expected that the important discoveries of Columbus\nshould encourage them to fresh attempts of this kind; it was also natural\nthat such enterprises should originate especially in the Azores. From what\nhas been stated above (p. 128), it appears that the King of Portugal\n(Alfonso V.) induced Christiern I. to send out expeditions (Pining and\nPothorst) to search for new islands and lands in the North. It seems\nprobable that the King of Portugal was informed of the results of these\nexpeditions, and that in this way the Portuguese may have known of the\nexistence of Greenland or of countries in the north-west. In the same way,\nas we have seen (p. 132, note 2), the fact that the earliest literary\nallusions to Scolvus seem to be derived from Portugal may be explained.\n\n[Sidenote: Boundary between the Portuguese and Spanish spheres]\n\nPossible Portuguese enterprises in the western regions were barred by the\nclaim of the Spanish Crown to the dominion over all lands to the west of a\ncertain boundary, and in the final treaty of Tordecillas, June 7, 1404,\nbetween Portugal and Spain, this boundary was fixed by the Pope at 370\nleagues (about 1200 geographical miles) to the west of the Cape Verde\nIslands, and it was to follow the meridian from pole to pole. All that lay\nto the west of this meridian was to belong to Spain, while Portugal had\nthe right to take advantage of all lands to the east. Thereby the\nPortuguese were debarred from the search for India and China to the west.\nThese enterprising seafarers must therefore have had every reason to find\nout whether there were any countries on their side of the boundary-line,\nand it may be supposed that their attention would naturally be drawn in\nthe direction of the north-western lands (Greenland) of which they had\nalready heard.\n\nAnd, in fact, such voyages were undertaken from Portugal (and the Azores\n?) about 1500; but the accounts of them are meagre and casual, and have\nbeen interpreted in very different ways.\n\nIn order to enable one to form as unbiased a view as possible of these\nvoyages, it will be necessary to begin by reviewing the most important\ncontemporary documents which may contain statements of value; and\nafterwards to summarise what may be concluded from these documents.\n\n[Sidenote: Letters patent to Jo\u00e3o Fernandez, 1499]\n\nOn October 28, 1499, King Manuel of Portugal issued at Lisbon to Jo\u00e3o\nFernandez letters patent (preserved in the Portuguese State archives,\nTorre do Tombo) for discoveries, evidently in the north-west, in which it\nis said:\n\n    \"We [the King] make known to all who may see this our letter, that\n    Joham Fernamdez [now written Jo\u00e3o Fernandez] domiciled in our island\n    of Terceira [Azores] has told us that he, in God's and our service,\n    will work and travel and try to discover certain islands of [for ?]\n    our conquest at his own cost, and we, seeing his good will and\n    purpose, promise him and hereby give him de facto--in addition to\n    taking him into our service--the mark of our favour and the privilege\n    of Governor over every island or islands, both inhabited and\n    uninhabited, that he may discover and find for the first time, and\n    this with such revenues [taxes], dignities, profits and interests as\n    we have given to the Governors of the islands of Madeira and others,\n    and for this observance and our remembrance we command that this\n    letter be given him, signed by us and sealed with our attached\n    seal.\"[337]\n\n[Sidenote: Letters patent to Gaspar Corte-Real, 1500]\n\nOn May 12, 1500, King Manuel granted to Gaspar Corte-Real letters patent,\nas follows:\n\n    \"We [i.e., the King] make known to all who may see this deed of gift,\n    that forasmuch as Caspar Cortereall, a nobleman of our household, has\n    in times past made great endeavours at his own charges for ships and\n    men, employing his own fortune and at his personal danger, to search\n    for and discover and find certain islands and mainland, and in future\n    will still continue to carry this into effect, and in this way will do\n    all that he can to find the said islands and lands, and bearing in\n    mind how much he deserves honour and favour and promotion in our\n    service, to our honour, and to the extension of our realms and\n    dominions through such islands and lands being discovered and found by\n    our natives [i.e., Portuguese], and through the said Gaspar\n    Corte-Reall thus performing so much labour, and exposing himself to so\n    great danger; we are therefore pleased to decree that, if he discovers\n    and finds any island, or islands, or mainland, he be granted by our\n    own consent and royal and absolute power, the concession and gift,\n    with the privilege of Governor and its attendant rights, etc. ... over\n    whatsoever islands or mainland he may thus find and discover, etc. ...\n    and we decree that he and his heirs in our name and in the name of our\n    successors shall hold and govern those lands or islands, which are\n    thus found, freely and without any restriction, as has been said....\n    The said Caspar Cortereall and his heirs shall have one quarter free\n    of all that they can thus obtain [i.e., realise] in the said islands\n    and lands at what time soever...\" [Cf. Harrisse, 1883, pp. 196, f.].\n\nAn order is preserved dated April 15, 1501, from King Manuel to the master\nof the bake-house at the city gate of La Cruz to deliver biscuits to\nGaspar Corte-Real, and further, a receipt of April 21, 1501, for the\nbiscuits, signed by Gaspar Corte-Real himself, proving that the latter was\nin Portugal on that date.[338]\n\n[Sidenote: Pasqualigo's letter to the Council at Venice, Oct. 1501]\n\nPietro Pasqualigo, the Venetian Minister at Lisbon, wrote as follows to\nthe Council at Venice on October 18, 1501:\n\n    \"On the 9th of this month there arrived here one of the two caravels\n    which the said King's majesty sent last year to discover lands in the\n    direction of the northern regions (verso le parte de tramontana), and\n    they have brought seven men, women, and children from the country\n    discovered, which is in the north-west and west, 1800 miglia distant\n    from here. These men resemble gypsies in appearance, build, and\n    stature. They have their faces marked in different places, some with\n    more, others with fewer figures. They are clad in the skins of various\n    animals, but chiefly of otter; their speech is entirely different from\n    any other that has ever been heard in this kingdom, and no one\n    understands it. Their limbs are very shapely, and they have very\n    gentle faces, but their manners and gestures are bestial, and like\n    those of savage men. The crew of the caravel believe that the land\n    alluded to is mainland, and that it is joined to the other land which\n    was discovered last year in the north by the other caravels belonging\n    to this majesty, but they were unable to reach it, for the sea was\n    frozen over with the great masses of snow, so that it rose up like\n    land. They also thought that it was connected with the Andilii\n    [Antilles], which were discovered by the sovereign of Spain, and with\n    the land of Papaga [Brazil], newly found by a ship belonging to this\n    king, on her way to Calcutta. The grounds for this belief are, in the\n    first place, that after having sailed along the coast of the said land\n    for a distance of six hundred miglia and more, they found no end to\n    it; and further because they say they found many very great rivers\n    which there fell into the sea. The second caravel, that of the\n    commander (caravella capitania), is expected from day to day, and from\n    it the nature and condition of the aforesaid land will be clearly\n    understood, since it went farther along the coast in order to discover\n    as much of it as possible. This royal majesty has been much rejoiced\n    by this news, for he thinks that this land will be very profitable for\n    his affairs in many respects, but especially because it is so near to\n    this kingdom that it will be easy to obtain in a short time a very\n    great quantity of timber for making ships' masts and yards of, and to\n    get a sufficient supply of male slaves for all kinds of labour, for\n    they say that that country has many inhabitants, and is full of\n    pine-trees and other excellent wood. The news in question has rejoiced\n    his majesty so much that he has given orders that the ships are to\n    sail to the said place, and for the increase of his Indian fleet, in\n    order to conquer it more quickly, as soon as it is discovered; for it\n    seems that God is with his majesty in his undertakings, and brings all\n    his plans to accomplishment.\" [Cf. Harrisse, 1883, pp. 209, ff.].\n\n[Sidenote: Pasqualigo's letter to his brothers, Oct. 1501]\n\nOn October 19, 1501, Pietro Pasqualigo writes to his brothers at Venice:\n\n    \"On the 8th of this month there arrived here one of the two caravels\n    which this most serene majesty sent last year to discover lands in the\n    north under Captain Gaspar Corterat [sic]; and they state that they\n    found land two thousand miglia from here between north-west and west,\n    which before was not known to any one; along the coast of this land\n    they sailed perhaps six hundred or seven hundred miglia without\n    finding an end to it; therefore they believe that it is a continent\n    which is continuous with another land that was discovered last year in\n    the north [by some other caravels], which caravels could not reach the\n    end of it, because the sea was frozen and there was an infinite\n    quantity of snow. They believed it also on account of the great number\n    of rivers that they found there, and that certainly would not be so\n    numerous or so large on an island. They say that this land has many\n    inhabitants, and that their houses are made of great wooden poles,\n    which are covered on the outside with skins of fish [i.e., seals ?].\n    They have brought seven men, women, and children from thence and fifty\n    more are coming in another caravel, which is hourly expected. These\n    are of similar colour, build, stature, and appearance to gypsies, clad\n    in skins of various animals, but mostly otter; in the summer they turn\n    the skin in, in winter the reverse. And these skins are not sewed\n    together in any way, and not prepared, but they are thrown over the\n    shoulders and arms just as they are taken off the animals. The loins\n    are fastened together with strings made of very strong fish sinews.\n    Although they seem to be savages, they are modest and gentle, but\n    their arms, legs, and shoulders are indescribably well shaped; they\n    have the face marked [tattooed] in the Indian fashion, some with six,\n    some with eight, and some with no figures [lines ?]. They speak, but\n    are understood by no one; I believe they have been addressed in every\n    possible language. In their country they have no iron, but make knives\n    of certain stones, and spearheads in the same way. They have brought\n    from thence a fragment of a broken gilt sword, which was certainly\n    made in Italy. A boy among them wore in his ears two silver rings,\n    which seem without doubt to have been made in Venice. This induced me\n    to believe that it is a continent, for it is not a place to which\n    ships can ever have gone without anything having been heard of\n    them.[339] They have a very great quantity of salmon, herring, cod,\n    and similar fish. They have also great abundance of trees, and above\n    all of pine-trees for making ships' masts and yards of. For this\n    reason it is that this most serene King thinks he will derive the\n    greatest profit from the said land, not only on account of the trees\n    for shipbuilding, of which there is much need, but also on account of\n    the men, who are excellent labourers, and the best slaves that have\n    hitherto been obtained; this seems to me to be a thing worth giving\n    information about, and if I hear anything more when the commander's\n    caravel (caravella capitania) arrives, I will also communicate it.\"\n    [Cf. Harrisse, 1883, pp. 211, f.].\n\n[Sidenote: Cantino's letter, Oct. 1501]\n\nAlberto Cantino, Minister at Lisbon of Duke Ercule d'Este of Ferrara,\nwrote to the Duke as follows, on October 17, 1501:\n\n    \"It is already nine months since this most serene King sent two\n    well-equipped ships to the northern regions (alle parte de tramontana)\n    with the object of finding out whether it was possible to discover\n    lands and islands in those parts; and now on the 11th of this month\n    one of these ships has safely returned with a cargo, and brought\n    people and news, which I have thought it my duty to communicate to\n    Your Excellency, and thus I write here below accurately and clearly\n    all that the captain [of the ship] reported to the King in my\n    presence. First he stated that after leaving the port of Lisbon they\n    sailed for four months at a stretch always with the same wind, and\n    towards the same pole, and in all that time they never saw anything.\n    When they had entered the fifth month and still wished to proceed,\n    they say that they encountered immense masses of snow frozen together,\n    floating on the sea and moving under the influence of the waves. On\n    the top of these [ice-masses] clear fresh water was formed by the\n    power of the sun, and ran down through little channels hollowed out by\n    itself, wearing away the foot [of the ice] where it fell. As the ships\n    were already in want of water they approached in boats, and took as\n    much as they required; and for fear of staying in that place on\n    account of the danger, they were about to turn back, but impelled by\n    hope they consulted as to what they could best do, and determined to\n    proceed for a few days yet, and they resumed their voyage. On the\n    second day they found the sea frozen, and being obliged to abandon\n    their purpose, they began to steer to the north-west and west, and\n    they continued on this course for three months, always with fair\n    weather. And on the first day of the fourth month they sighted between\n    these two points of the compass a very great land, which they\n    approached with the greatest joy; and many great rivers of fresh water\n    ran through this region into the sea, and on one of them they\n    travelled for a legha [== about three geographical miles] inland; and\n    when they went ashore they found a quantity of beautiful and varied\n    fruits, and trees, and pines of remarkable height and size, that\n    would be too large for the masts of the largest ship that sails the\n    sea. Here is no corn of any kind, but the people of the country live,\n    they say, on nothing but fishing and hunting animals, of which the\n    country has abundance. There are very large stags [i.e., caribou,\n    Canadian reindeer] with long hair, whose skin they use for clothes and\n    for making houses and boats; there are also wolves, foxes, tigers\n    [lynxes ?], and sables. They declare, what seems strange to me, that\n    there are as many pelerine falcons as there are sparrows in our\n    country; and I have seen them, and they are very handsome. Of the men\n    and women of that place they took about fifty by force, and have\n    brought them to the King; I have seen, touched, and examined them. To\n    begin with their size, I may say that they are a little bigger than\n    our countrymen, with well-proportioned and shapely limbs, while their\n    hair is long according to our custom, and hangs in curly ringlets, and\n    they have their faces marked with large figures like those of the\n    Indians. Their eyes have a shade of green, and, when they look at you,\n    give the whole face a very wild aspect. Their speech is not to be\n    understood, but it is without harshness, rather is it human. Their\n    conduct and manners are very gentle, they laugh a good deal, and show\n    much cheerfulness; and this is enough about the men. The women have\n    small breasts and a very beautiful figure, and have a very attractive\n    face; their colour may more nearly be described as white than\n    anything else, but that of the males is a good deal darker.\n    Altogether, if it were not for the wild look of the men, it seems to\n    me that they are quite like us in everything else. All parts of the\n    body are naked, with the exception of the loins, which are kept\n    covered with the skin of the aforesaid stag. They have no weapons, nor\n    iron, but all the work they produce is done with a very hard and sharp\n    stone, and there is nothing so hard that they cannot cut it with this.\n    This ship came thence in one month, and they say that it is 2800\n    miglia [miles] distant; the other consort has decided to sail along\n    this coast far enough to determine whether it is an island or\n    mainland, and thus the King is awaiting the arrival of this [the\n    consort] and the others [i.e., his companions] with much impatience,\n    and when they have come, if they communicate anything worthy of Your\n    Excellency's attention, I shall immediately inform you of it...\" [cf.\n    Harrisse, 1883, pp. 204, ff.].\n\n[Illustration: Portion of the \"Cantino\" map of 1502, preserved at Modena.\nThe network of compass-lines omitted]\n\n[Sidenote: The Cantino map, 1502]\n\nAt the request of the Duke of Ferrara Cantino had a map made at Lisbon,\nchiefly for the purpose of representing the Portuguese discoveries, and\nsent it to the Duke in 1502. In a letter to the Duke, dated November 19,\n1502, he mentions having already sent it. This map, commonly called the\nCantino map, and now preserved at Modena, gives a remarkably good\nrepresentation of southern Greenland, which is called \"A ponta de [asia]\"\n[i.e., a point of Asia]. On its east coast are two Portuguese flags to\nshow that it is a Portuguese discovery, one flag somewhat to the north of\nthe Arctic Circle, the other a little to the west of the southern point,\nand this coast bears the following legend:\n\n    \"This country, which was discovered by the command of the most highly\n    renowned prince Dom Manuel, King of Portugal, is a point of Asia (esta\n    a ponta d'asia). Those who made the discovery did not land but saw the\n    land, and could see nothing but precipitous mountains. Therefore it is\n    assumed, according to the opinion of the cosmographers, to be a point\n    of Asia.\"\n\nTo the west of Greenland on the same map a country is marked, called\n\"Terra del Rey de portuguall\" (the Land of the King of Portugal); it\nanswers approximately to Newfoundland, possibly with the southern part of\nLabrador (?). The north and south ends are marked with two Portuguese\nflags, and the country bears the following legend:\n\n    \"This land was discovered by command of the most exalted and most\n    renowned royal prince Dom Manuel, King of Portugal; Gaspar de\n    Corte-Real, a nobleman of the said King's household, discovered it,\n    and when he had discovered it, he sent [to Portugal] a ship with men\n    and women taken in the said land, and he stayed behind with the other\n    ship, and never returned, and it is believed that he perished, and\n    there are many masts [i.e., trees for masts].\"\n\n[Sidenote: Letters patent to Miguel Corte-Real, 1502 or 1503 (?)]\n\nOn January 15, 1502,[340] King Manuel gave Gaspar's brother, Miguel\nCorte-Real, fresh letters patent as follows:\n\n    \"We make known to all who may see this letter that Miguell Cortereall,\n    a nobleman of our household and our head doorkeeper [chamberlain ?],\n    now tells us that, seeing how Gaspar Cortereall, his brother, long ago\n    sailed from this city with three ships to discover new land, of which\n    he had already found a part, and seeing that after a lapse of time two\n    of the said ships returned to the said city [Lisbon], and five months\n    have elapsed without his coming,[341] he wishes to go in search of\n    him, and that he, the said miguell corte-reall, had many outlays and\n    expenses of his own in the said voyage of discovery, as well as in the\n    said ships, which his said brother fitted out the first time for that\n    purpose [i.e., for the first voyage], when he found the said land, and\n    likewise for the second [i.e., the second voyage], wherefore the said\n    gaspar cortereall in consideration of this promised to share with him\n    the said land which he thus discovered and ... which we had granted\n    and given to him by our deed of gift, for which the said gaspar\n    cortereall asked us before his departure, etc.\" Therefore Miguel\n    claimed his share of the lands discovered by his brother, which he\n    obtained from the King by these letters patent, as well as the right\n    to all new islands and lands he might discover that year (1502),\n    besides that which his brother had found.[342]\n\n[Sidenote: Portuguese chart of about 1520]\n\nTwo legends on the anonymous Portuguese chart of about 1520 are also of\ninterest.[343] On the land \"Do Lavrador\" [i.e., Greenland] is written:\n\n    \"This land the Portuguese saw, but did not enter.\"\n\nOn Newfoundland, called \"Bacalnaos,\" is written:\n\n    \"To this land came first Gaspar Corte Regalis, a Portuguese, and he\n    carried away from thence wild men and white bears. There is great\n    abundance of animals, birds, and fish. In the following year he\n    suffered shipwreck there, and did not return, and his brother,\n    Micaele, met with the same fate in the next year.\"\n\n[Illustration: Portion of an anonymous Portuguese chart of about 1520,\npreserved at Munich. The network of compass-lines omitted]\n\nIn addition to this may also be mentioned the various maps of Portuguese\norigin of 1502 or soon after, especially the Italian mappamundi, the\nso-called King map of about 1502 (p. 373), which must be a copy of a\nPortuguese map, where Newfoundland is called Terra Corte Real.\n\n[Sidenote: Later notices]\n\nBesides these documents contemporary with the voyages, or of the years\nimmediately succeeding, there are also several much later notices of them\nin Gomara (1552), Ramusio (1556), Antonio Galvano (1563) and Damiam de\nGoes (1566), but as these were written so long after, we will leave them\non one side for the present.\n\n[Sidenote: Gaspar Corte-Real not the discoverer of Greenland (Labrador)]\n\nWhen we endeavour to form an opinion as to the Portuguese voyages of\nthese years on the basis of the oldest documents, the first thing that\nmust strike us is that there are indications of several voyages, and of\nthe discovery of two wholly different countries, which must undoubtedly be\nGreenland and Newfoundland. As it is expressly stated on the Cantino map,\non the Portuguese chart of about 1520, and in many other places, that\nNewfoundland was discovered by Gaspar Corte-Real, while his name is not\nmentioned in a single place in these documents in connection with\nGreenland (or Labrador), and as Pasqualigo's letter to the Council of\nVenice expressly says that that land was seen the previous year (1500) by\n\"the other caravels [l'altre caravelle] belonging to this majesty,\"[344]\nthe logical conclusion must be that it was not Gaspar Corte-Real who saw\nGreenland in the year 1500, but some other Portuguese. It may be in\nagreement with this that on the King map (of about 1502) Newfoundland is\ncalled Terra Cortereal (see p. 373), while the island which clearly\nanswers to Greenland is called Terra Laboratoris. One might be tempted to\nsuppose that both lands were named after their discoverers, one, that is,\nafter Corte-Real, the other after a man who is described as \"laborator.\"\nThe generally accepted view that it was Gaspar Corte-Real who saw\nGreenland on his voyage of 1500 is thus unsupported by the above-mentioned\ndocuments.\n\n[Sidenote: Jo\u00e3o Fernandez sighted Greenland, 1500 ?]\n\nOn the other hand, we seem to be able to conclude from the royal letters\npatent to Miguel Corte-Real that Gaspar made two voyages, one in 1500, and\nanother in 1501, and that it was the same country (i.e., Newfoundland)\nthat he visited on both occasions. This is also confirmed by the legend on\nthe Portuguese chart of about 1520. If it was not he who on the first\nvoyage, in 1500, saw Greenland without being able to approach it, we must\nconclude that yet another expedition, on which Greenland was sighted, left\nPortugal in the year 1500. One is then inclined to suppose that this was\ncommanded by the same Jo\u00e3o Fernandez, to whom the King gave letters patent\nas early as October 1499. This supposition becomes still more probable\nwhen we take it in conjunction with what has already been said as to the\npossible origin of the name of Labrador (see p. 331). We must suppose that\nthis is the same man from the Azores who, under the name of John\nFernandus, took part in the Bristol enterprise of 1501, and who is further\nmentioned in documents of as early as 1492, together with another man from\nthe Azores, Pero de Barcellos, and is described as a \"llavorador.\" These\nmen would already at that time have been engaged in making discoveries at\nsea.\n\nIf we compare the legend attached to Labrador (Greenland) on Diego\nRibero's Spanish map of 1529 with the corresponding legend on the\nanonymous Portuguese chart of about 1520 this will also confirm our\nsupposition. While on the latter we read that \"the Portuguese saw the\nland, but did not enter it,\" Ribero's map has: \"this land was discovered\nby the English, but there is nothing in it that is worth having.\" As this\npart of Ribero's map is evidently a copy of the Portuguese maps, we may\nconclude Ribero's alteration of the legend to mean that doubtless the land\nwas first sighted by the Portuguese, but that it was the English who first\nsucceeded in landing there, and in this way were its real discoverers. If\nwe add to this the statement on the sixteenth-century Portuguese chart\npreserved at Wolfenb\u00fcttel, that the land was discovered by Englishmen from\nBristol, and that the man who first gave news of it was a \"labrador\" from\nthe Azores, then everything seems to be in agreement.\n\nWe may hence suppose the connection to be somewhat as follows: having\nobtained his letters patent in October 1499, Jo\u00e3o Fernandez fitted out\nhis expedition, and sailed in the spring of 1500; he arrived off the east\ncoast of Greenland and sailed along it, but the ice prevented him from\nlanding. We have no information at all as to where else he may have been\non this voyage. But having returned to Portugal, perhaps after a\ncomparatively unsuccessful expedition, and finding furthermore that the\nKing had issued letters patent to Gaspar Corte-Real, whose voyage had been\nmore successful, Fernandez may have despaired of finding support for fresh\nenterprises in Portugal, and have turned at once to Bristol, where he took\npart in getting together an Anglo-Portuguese undertaking, and was thus the\n\"llavorador\" who first brought news of Greenland.\n\n[Illustration: Portion of Diego Ribero's map of 1529. (Nordenski\u00f6ld,\n1897)]\n\nIt must, of course, be admitted that the hypothesis here put forward of\nthe voyage and discovery of Jo\u00e3o Fernandez is no more than a guess; but it\nseems more consistent than any of the explanations hitherto offered, and,\nas far as I can see, it does not conflict on any point with what\ncontemporary documents have to tell us. It may be supposed that here, as\nso frequently has happened, the name of the discoverer, Jo\u00e3o Fernandez,\nhas been more or less forgotten. His memory has perhaps only been\npreserved in the name Labrador itself--originally applied to Greenland,\nbut afterwards transferred to the American continent[345]--whilst all the\nPortuguese discoveries in the north have been associated in later history\nwith the other seafarer, Gaspar Corte-Real, who was of noble family and\nbelonged to the King's household, and who came from the same island of the\nAzores, Terceira.\n\n[Illustration: Portion of Maggiolo's map of 1527 (Harrisse, 1892).\nCompass-lines omitted]\n\n[Sidenote: Gaspar Corte-Real]\n\nGaspar Corte-Real belonged to a noble Portuguese family from Algarve and\nwas born about 1450. He was the third and youngest son of Jo\u00e3o Vaz\nCorte-Real, who for twenty-two years, since 1474, had had a \"capitanerie\"\nas Governor of the Azores--first at Angra in the island of Terceira, later\nin S\u00e3o Jorge--and died in 1496.[346] Gaspar probably spent a part of his\nyouth in the Azores, which were altogether \"a hot-house of all kinds of\nideas of maritime discovery\"; he certainly became familiar at an early age\nwith narratives of the numerous earlier attempts, and with the many plans\nof new ocean voyages which were discussed by the adventurous sailors of\nthose islands. As already mentioned, the German, Martin Behaim, was also\nliving in the Azores (cf. p. 287).\n\n[Illustration: The newly discovered north-western lands made continuous\nwith Asia, on Maggiolo's map of 1511. (Harrisse, 1900)]\n\n[Sidenote: Corte-Real's voyage of 1500]\n\nFrom the letters patent of May 1500, we see that Gaspar Corte-Real had at\nhis own expense been trying even before that time to discover countries in\nthe ocean, but as no more is said about it, the attempt was doubtless\nunsuccessful. It was pointed out above that from the King's letters\npatent to his brother Miguel it looks as though Gaspar had made two\nvoyages to the land he had discovered, which is also confirmed by the\nlegend referred to on the anonymous Portuguese chart of about 1520. On the\nother hand, nothing is said about this voyage in the letters of the two\nItalian Ministers, nor on the Cantino map. It may seem natural to conclude\nthat Gaspar, after having obtained his letters patent in May 1500, set out\non an expedition, the expenses of which were defrayed by himself and his\nbrother Miguel in partnership (cf. the letters patent to the latter).\n\nOn his first voyage of 1500 Gaspar had already discovered a part of\nNewfoundland; but we know nothing of what else he may have accomplished on\nthis expedition. He must have returned to Lisbon by the same autumn.\n\n[Sidenote: Corte-Real's voyage of 1501]\n\nEncouraged by his success he then set out again with a larger expedition\nin 1501, after April 21, at which date he was still in Lisbon. This time\nthe expenses were again borne by himself and his brother Miguel in\npartnership. According to the King's letters patent of January 1502, he\nhad three ships on this voyage, of which two returned. This does not agree\nwith the letters of the two Italian Ministers, which distinctly say that\nhe left with two ships. But these letters, it is true, do not mutually\nagree in their statements as to the ship that had returned: Pasqualigo\nsays that the ship arrived at Lisbon on October 9 in one of his letters,\non the 8th in the other, and that it brought seven natives; while Cantino\nsays that the ship arrived on October 11 and brought fifty natives to the\nKing. As Pasqualigo says that the other ship was expected daily with fifty\nnatives, it has been thought (cf. Harrisse) that this was the ship\nreferred to by Cantino; but in that case it is puzzling that two Ministers\nin the same city should have heard of two different ships, and that they\nshould both be ignorant of more than one ship having arrived, although\nthere was an interval of no more than two or three days between each\nship's arrival, and they are both writing a week after that time. Besides,\nboth mention that the second ship, and only one, is expected, and\nPasqualigo calls it the commander's caravel (caravella capitania). We may\nreadily suppose that it is the arrival of the same ship that is alluded to\nby the two Ministers (no importance need be attached to the discrepancy of\ndates, since we see that Pasqualigo alters the date of his ship's arrival\nfrom one letter to the other). They may both have heard of fifty natives\nhaving been captured, of which they had seen some (seven, for instance);\nbut while Cantino understood that the whole fifty had arrived, Pasqualigo\nthought that only the seven he had seen had come, while the other fifty\nwere expected on the next ship. Considerable weight must be attached to\nthe fact that in the legend on the Cantino map, which must evidently have\nbeen drawn from Portuguese documents, only one ship is mentioned as having\nreturned. The chief difficulty is that this is in direct conflict with the\nKing's later letters patent to Miguel. We should then have to suppose that\nthe statement in this document as to three ships having sailed and two\nreturned is due to a clerical error or a lapse of memory, which may seem\nsurprising. But the question is, after all, of minor importance. The main\npoint is that Gaspar Corte-Real's ship never returned.\n\nIn estimating the degree of trustworthiness or accuracy to be attributed\nto Pasqualigo's and Cantino's statements about the voyage, it must be\nremembered that they are both only repeating what they have heard said on\nthe subject in a language not their own, and that when the letters were\nwritten they had probably seen no chart of the voyage or of the new\ndiscoveries. Cantino says that he was present when the captain of the ship\ngave his account to the King, and that he is writing down everything that\nwas then said; so that perhaps he had only heard the narrative once, and\nwithout a chart, which easily explains his obvious errors; it is no\ndifficult matter to fall into gross errors and misunderstandings in\nreproducing the account of a voyage which one hears in this way told even\nin one's own language. Pasqualigo does not tell us how he had heard about\nthe voyage, but it may have been on the same occasion. The letters of the\ntwo Italians reproducing the Portuguese narrative cannot therefore be\ntreated as exact historical documents, every detail of which is correct.\n\nCantino says in his letter (of October 1501) that Gaspar Corte-Real had\nsailed nine months before, that is, in January 1501. Pasqualigo says that\nhe left in the previous year, which agrees with Cantino, since the civil\nyear at that time began on March 25. But the existing receipt of April 21,\n1501, from Gaspar Corte-Real proves with certainty that the two Italians\nwere mistaken on this point. It may be supposed that they regarded the\nexpeditions of the two consecutive years as a connected voyage (?), but\neven this will not agree with Cantino's nine months. According to\nCantino's letter, Corte-Real on leaving Portugal held a northerly course\n(\"towards the pole\" are the words), and Pasqualigo says something of the\nsame kind; but this is scarcely to be taken literally, for otherwise we\nshould have to suppose that from Portugal he sailed northward towards\nIceland; besides which, Pasqualigo says in both his letters that the land\ndiscovered was between north-west and west. Cantino's statement about the\nice might give us firm ground for determining Corte-Real's route; if it\nwere not unfortunately the case that there are here two possibilities, and\nthat Cantino's words do not agree well with either of them. The\ndescription of the ice points most probably to Corte-Real's having first\nmet with icebergs; he may have come upon these in the sea off the southern\nend of Greenland, and as in continuing his course he found the \"sea\nfrozen,\" he may have reached the edge of the ice-floes. As nothing is said\nabout land, we must suppose that he did not sight Greenland. It is a more\ndifficult matter when, by changing his course to the north-west and west,\nhe finally in this direction sighted land, which according to the\ndescription, and the Cantino map, must have been Newfoundland. To arrive\nthere from the Greenland ice he would have had to steer about\nwest-south-west by compass, and in fact Newfoundland (Terra del Rey de\nportuguall) lies approximately in this direction in relation to the\nsouthern point of Greenland on the Cantino map. But it may be, of course,\nthat Cantino's statement of the direction is due to a\nmisunderstanding;[347] he may have heard that the newly found land lay to\nthe north-west and west from Lisbon, as Pasqualigo says.\n\nAnother possibility is that it was on the Newfoundland Banks that\nCorte-Real met with icebergs; but in that case he must have held a very\nwesterly course, almost west-north-west, all the way from Lisbon, and\nthere would then be little meaning in the statement that he altered his\ncourse to north-west and west to avoid the ice, even if we take into\naccount the possibility of the variation of the compass having been 20\u00b0\ngreater on the Newfoundland Banks than at Lisbon. Another difficulty is\nthat on the Newfoundland Banks he would hardly have found \"the sea\nfrozen,\" if by this ice-floes are meant; for that he would have had to be\n(in June ?) farther to the north-west in the Labrador Current. In neither\ncase would he have been very far from land, so that the times mentioned,\nthree months with a favourable wind from the ice to land, and four months\nfrom Lisbon, are out of proportion.[348]\n\nThus Cantino's words cannot be brought into agreement with facts; but at\nthe same time many things point to its having been the Greenland ice that\nCorte-Real first met with in 1501. Doubtless it might be objected that he\nis said in the previous year to have already found part of Newfoundland,\nand in that case he would be likely to make straight for it again; but\nPasqualigo's letter gives one the impression that Gaspar Corte-Real may\nhave been interested in finding out whether the land he had found was\nmainland and continuous with the country (Greenland) which in the previous\nyear (1500) had been seen by the other caravels (Jo\u00e3o Fernandez ?), and\nthus it may have been natural that he should first steer in that\ndirection, but he was then forced by the ice westward towards the land he\nhimself had discovered.\n\n[Illustration:\n\n  Modern      Cantino      Reinel's      King\n   map          map          map          map\n\nThe eastern coast-line of Newfoundland, with possibly the southern part of\nLabrador]\n\nThat it was really Newfoundland, and not the coast of Labrador farther\nnorth, that Corte-Real arrived at, appears plainly enough from the maps\n(the Cantino map, the King map, etc.), and may also be concluded from the\ndescriptions in the letters of Pasqualigo and Cantino. We read, amongst\nother things, that many great rivers ran through that country into the\nsea. The east coast of Labrador has no rivers of importance, with the\nexception of Hamilton River; but the entrance to this is by a long\nestuary, Hamilton Inlet and Lake Melville, up which they would hardly have\nsailed. On the other hand, there are in Newfoundland several considerable\nrivers falling into the sea on the east coast, up the mouths of which\nGaspar Corte-Real might have sailed. The allusion to the country as\nfertile, with trees and forests of pines of remarkable height and size,\nand to there being abundance of timber for masts, etc., also agrees best\nwith Newfoundland. In addition, the coast-line of the country, both on the\nCantino map and on later Portuguese maps, agrees remarkably well with the\ncoast-line along the east and north-east sides of Newfoundland.\n\nThe statement in Pasqualigo's letter of October 18, that they sailed\n\"along the coast of the said land for a distance of six hundred miglia and\nmore,\" which agrees with the extent of the coast on the Cantino map, must\nbe an exaggeration. It is a common error to exaggerate the distance during\na voyage along a coast so indented as that of Newfoundland, where\nCorte-Real may perhaps have sailed in and out of bays and inlets.\n\n[Sidenote: Late authorities of the sixteenth century]\n\n[Sidenote: Galvano on G. Corte-Real]\n\nAs already stated, Gaspar Corte-Real's voyages are mentioned in several\nworks of the sixteenth century, but as these were written so long after\nthe events took place, no particular importance can be attached to them in\ncases where they conflict with the earlier documents. The allusions to\nGaspar Corte-Real in the Spanish author Gomara and the Italian Ramusio\nseem for the most part to be derived from Pietro Pasqualigo's letter of\nOctober 19, 1501, to his brothers at Venice, which was published for the\nfirst time as early as 1507. The Portuguese Antonio Galvano says in his\n\"Tratado\" (1563) that Gaspar Corte-Real sailed in 1500\n\n    \"from the island of Terceira with two ships, fitted out at his own\n    expense, and travelled to the region that is in the fiftieth degree of\n    latitude, a land which is now called by his name. He returned safely\n    to Lisbon; but when he again set out, his ship was lost, and the other\n    ship returned to Portugal.\"\n\nThis, it will be seen, agrees remarkably well with the conclusions we\narrived at above; but as Galvano spent the greater part of his life in the\nEast Indies, and only came home to end his days in a hospital at Lisbon,\nno great importance can be attached to his statements [cf. Harrisse, 1900,\np. 35], except in so far as they reproduce a Portuguese tradition.\n\n[Sidenote: De Goes on G. Corte-Real]\n\nDamiam de Goes, in his \"Chronica do Felicissimo Rei dom Emanuel\" (Lisbon,\n1566), has a more detailed account of Gaspar Corte-Real's voyage of 1500,\nand of the land he visited. He says:\n\n    \"He sailed from the port of Lisbon at the beginning of summer, 1500.\n    On this voyage he discovered in a northerly direction a land which was\n    very cold, and with great forests, as all those [countries] are that\n    lie in that quarter. He gave it the name of Terra verde [i.e., green\n    land]. The people are very barbaric and wild, almost like those of\n    Sancta Cruz [i.e., Brazil], except that they are at first white, but\n    become so weather-beaten from the cold that they lose their whiteness\n    with age and become almost dark brown. They are of middle height, very\n    active, and great archers, using sticks hardened in the fire for\n    throwing-spears, with which they make as good casts as though they had\n    points of good steel. They clothe themselves in the skins of beasts,\n    of which there is abundance in that country. They live in caves, and\n    in huts, and they have no laws. They have great belief in omens; they\n    have marriage, and are very jealous of their wives, in which they\n    resemble the Lapps, who also live in the north from 70\u00b0 to 85\u00b0....\n    After he [Gaspar Corte-Real] had discovered this land, and sailed\n    along a great part of its coast, he returned to this kingdom. As he\n    greatly desired to discover more of this province, and to become\n    better acquainted with its advantages, he set out again immediately in\n    the year 1501 on May 15 from Lisbon; but it is not known what happened\n    to him on this voyage, for he was never seen again, nor did there come\n    any news of him\" [Cf. Harrisse, 1883, p. 233].\n\nThe last statement, that Corte-Real disappeared without any more being\nheard of him, shows that De Goes was not well informed, in spite of his\nbeing chief custodian (Guarda m'or) of the Torre do Tombo, where the State\narchives were kept at Lisbon. His whole account may therefore be of\ndoubtful value as a historical document. His description of the newly\ndiscovered land and of the inhabitants may be derived from other\nstatements, or from literary sources, and is of the same kind as we often\nmeet with in accounts of natives in the authorities of that time. It\nappears that the cold country, Terra verde, with great forests and wild,\nbarbaric people, must be the Greenland (Gronolondes) that is referred to\nin the anonymous letter of about 1450 to Pope Nicholas V.[349] Most of\nwhat is said about these natives would apparently suit the Eskimo quite as\nwell as the Indians, but as we do not know from whence the whole is\nderived, it is not easy to form an opinion as to which people is really\nreferred to in the description. The remarkable statement that the natives\nare at first white, but turn brown through the cold, will hardly suit the\nIndians, but might apply to the Eskimo, who at an early age have a very\nfair skin, perhaps quite as light as the Portuguese.\n\n[Sidenote: Mention of the natives in Pasqualigo and Cantino]\n\nWhat is said of the natives in the letters of Pasqualigo and Cantino seems\non the whole to suit the Eskimo better than the Indians; typical Eskimo\nfeatures are: that they had boats covered with hides (it is true that\nCantino says stags' hides, i.e., reindeer hides, but this must be a\nmisunderstanding);[350] also houses (i.e., tents) of long poles covered\nwith fish skin (i.e., sealskin); that the colour of their skin was rather\nwhite than anything else, that they laughed a good deal and showed much\ncheerfulness. It may seem somewhat surprising that the Eskimo should be \"a\nlittle bigger than our countrymen\" (i.e., the Italians), but, in the first\nplace, it may have been particularly good specimens of the race that were\nexhibited, and in the next place the Eskimo are a race of medium stature,\nand, perhaps, on an average, quite as tall as Italians and Portuguese.\nThat they were naked with the exception of a piece of skin round the loins\nanswers to the indoor custom of the Eskimo. Pasqualigo's description: that\nthey were clothed in the skins of various animals, mostly otter, and that\nthe skins were unprepared and not sewed together, but thrown over the\nshoulders and arms as they were taken from the animals, conflicts with the\nwords of Cantino, and is, no doubt, due to a misunderstanding; it does not\nsound probable. If it is correct, Pasqualigo and Cantino must have seen\ndifferent natives.\n\nIt is probable that there were Eskimo in the north-east of Newfoundland at\nthat time, and that the natives may have been brought from thence or from\nsouthern Labrador.\n\n[Sidenote: Evidence of the Cantino map as to the Portuguese discoveries]\n\nOf all known maps the Cantino map undoubtedly gives the most complete and\ntrustworthy representation of the Portuguese discoveries of 1500 and 1501\nin the north-west; we know, too, that it was executed with an eye to\nthese, at Lisbon, and immediately after the return thither of those who\nhad taken part in the later voyage. We may consequently suppose that the\ncartographer availed himself of the sources then at his disposal. He may\neither himself have had access to log-books, with courses and distances,\nand to the original sketch-charts of the voyages, or he may have used\ncharts that were drawn from these sources. But he used in addition maps\nand authorities of a more learned kind, as appears, for instance, in the\nlegend attached to Greenland, where he speaks of the opinion of\ncosmographers, and says that this country is a point of Asia. It is clear,\nas pointed out by Bj\u00f6rnbo [1910, p. 167], that Greenland was connected on\nthe map with Scandinavia, which is called \"Parte de assia,\" but the upper\nedge of the map has been cut off, so that this land connection is\nlost,[351] as is the last part (asia) of the inscription on Greenland. The\nbasis of this idea of a land connection must have been a map of Clavus's\nlater type; while the delineation of Greenland itself is evidently new. In\nfact, it is here placed for the first time very nearly at a correct\ndistance from Europe, and with Iceland in a relatively correct position;\nand in addition to this it has been given a remarkably good form. If we\nassume that the variation of the compass was unknown, and that the coasts\nwere laid down according to the courses sailed by compass as though they\nwere true, then the southern point of Greenland comes just where it\nshould, if the variation during the voyage from Lisbon averaged 11\u00b0 west.\nThe Portuguese flags on the coast indicate that the Portuguese sailed\nalong the east coast of Greenland from north of the Arctic Circle of the\nmap to past Cape Farewell (without landing, according to what the legend\nsays), and its direction on the map is explained by a variation of about\n14\u00b0 west. The remarkably good representation of Greenland with the\ncharacteristic form of the west coast cannot possibly be derived from the\nClavus maps, where Greenland is a narrow tongue of land with its east and\nwest coasts running very nearly parallel. The west coast has been given a\nform approximately as though it were laid down from courses sailed with a\nvariation increasing towards the north-west from 20\u00b0 to nearly 30\u00b0 (cf. p.\n371). It is also characteristic that while the east coast is without\nislands, a belt of skerries is shown on the north along the west coast. It\nmay seem a bold assumption to attribute this to pure chance and the\ncaprice of the draughtsman, even though it may be pointed out that he has\ngiven the west coast of Norway a similar curved form with a belt of\nskerries outside (as on the Oliveriana map, p. 375). If the cartographer\nwas acquainted with the representation of Greenland on the Clavus maps,\nthe probability becomes still greater that he had definite authority for\nhis west coast, since it differs from that of the Clavus maps. It is true\nthat the Portuguese flags on the map and the statement in the legend that\nthe Portuguese did not land on the coast do not seem to point to their\nhaving sailed any considerable distance to the north along the west coast,\nfor otherwise there would doubtless be mention of this; but there may have\nbeen lost authorities for the Cantino map, which were based upon voyages\nunknown to us, as well as to the cartographer.[352]\n\nIf we may suppose that the lighter tone of the sea off the east coast of\nGreenland and over to Norway (on the original map) represents ice-floes,\nthen this again gives evidence of a knowledge of these northern waters\nwhich we cannot assume to have been derived merely from Portuguese voyages\non which the east coast of Greenland was sighted; it must have had other\nsources, unknown to us.\n\n[Sidenote: Construction of the Cantino map.]\n\nThere can be no doubt that the \"Terra del Rey de portuguall\" of the\nCantino map is the east coast of Newfoundland, which, through the\nvariation of the compass being disregarded, is given a northerly\ndirection. If we draw the east coast of Newfoundland from Cape Race to\nCape Bauld on approximately the same scale as that of the Cantino map, and\nturn the meridian to the west as far as the variation may have been at\nthat time (about 20\u00b0 at Cape Race, and 4\u00b0 or 5\u00b0 more at Belle Isle\nStrait), we shall have a map (see p. 364) the coast-line of which bears so\ngreat a resemblance to that of the Cantino map that it is almost too good\nto believe it not to be in part accidental (the Newfoundland coast on\nReinel's map is also very nearly the same as that of the Cantino map). The\nresemblance is so thorough that we might even think it possible to\nrecognise the various bays and headlands; but perhaps a part of the\nsouthern coast of Labrador has been included in the Cantino map. According\nto the scale attached to the map, in which each division represents fifty\nmiglia, the distance between the south-eastern point of the country and\nthe northern Portuguese flag is seven hundred miglia, which thus\ncorresponds to the six hundred or seven hundred miglia that Pasqualigo\nsays the Portuguese sailed along the coast. If we divide the map into\ndegrees according to the distance between the tropic and the Arctic\nCircle, the extent of the country will be about eleven degrees of\nlatitude. On Reinel's map the length of Newfoundland from north to south\nis between ten and eleven degrees of latitude. The distance from Cape Race\nto Belle Isle Strait corresponds in reality to about 5-1/2\u00b0, that is,\nfairly near the half.\n\n[Illustration: Reconstruction of an equidistant chart on which the coasts\nare laid down from magnetic courses without regard to the variation]\n\nBoth Greenland and Newfoundland lie too far north on the Cantino map. The\nsouthern point of Greenland lies in about 62\u00b0 20' N. lat., instead of 59\u00b0\n46', while Cape Race, the south-eastern point of Newfoundland, lies in\nabout 50\u00b0 N. lat., instead of 46\u00b0 40'. It is unnecessary to assume that\nthe too northerly latitude of Greenland is derived from the Clavus map,\nwhere its southern point lies in 62\u00b0 40' N. lat., since a natural\nexplanation of the position both of this point and of Cape Race is\nprovided by the way in which the Cantino map is drawn. It is, in fact, an\nequidistant compass-chart, which takes no account of the surface of the\nearth being spherical and not a plane, and on which the courses sailed\nhave been laid down according to the points of the compass, presumably in\nignorance of the variation of the needle. If we try to draw a map of the\nsame coasts in the same fashion, using the correct distances, and taking\nthe courses as starting from Lisbon, and the variation to be distributed\napproximately as given on p. 308,[353] we shall then get a map in its\nmain outlines as here represented. The southern point of Greenland comes\nin about 62\u00b0 20', or the same as on the Cantino map, and Cape Race comes\nstill farther to the north than on it. The distance from Lisbon to\nGreenland is almost exactly the same on both maps, and this seems to point\nto remarkable capabilities of sailing by log and compass, while, on the\nother hand, astronomical observations were probably not used. The distance\nbetween Lisbon and Newfoundland (Terra del Rey de portuguall) is on the\nCantino map a little longer than reality,[354] and the southern end of the\nlatter is brought so far to the south that it would correspond to an\naverage variation of about 4\u00b0 west, instead of 10\u00b0, during the voyage from\nLisbon. Newfoundland accordingly comes farther west in relation to\nGreenland, and its southern end farther south than it should do on a map\nconstructed like this one. But we do not know whether the course from\nwhich the position of Newfoundland is laid down was taken as going\ndirectly to that country from Lisbon; perhaps, for instance, it went first\nup into the ice off Greenland, and in that case a greater error is\nnatural. If we lay down the West Indian islands (and Florida) on our\nsketch-map according to the same method, we shall get them in a similar\nposition to that of the Cantino map, except that there they have a far too\nnortherly latitude, and the distance from Lisbon is much too great; but\nthis is due to the Spanish maps which served as authorities; for we know\nthat even Columbus was guilty of gross errors in his determination of\nlatitude,[355] and on La Cosa's map they lie for the most part to the\nnorth of the tropic.\n\n[Sidenote: Variation in the Portuguese representation of Greenland]\n\nThe representation of the Portuguese discoveries in the north-west\nevidently varied a good deal even on early maps, and sometimes diverged\nconsiderably from the Cantino map; Greenland especially was given various\nforms, while Newfoundland was more uniform in the different types of map.\nThis, again, strengthens the supposition that these countries were\ndiscovered on various voyages, and not by the same man.\n\n[Illustration: North-western portion of the \"King\" map, an anonymous\nItalian mappamundi of about 1502. Scandinavia, with Greenland\n(\"Evglovelant\") to the north of it, is of the type of Nicolaus Germanus's\nmaps; Newfoundland and the Greenland (\"Terra Laboratoris\") discovered by\nthe Portuguese and shown as an island, are taken from a Portuguese source.\nCompass-lines omitted]\n\n[Sidenote: The King map, circa 1502]\n\nThus, on the so-called King map--an Italian mappamundi of about 1502,\nwhich was probably taken from Portuguese sources--Newfoundland, called\nTerra Cortereal, lies in about the same place and has the same form as on\nthe Cantino map (its southern point is called capo raso), while Greenland,\ncalled Terra Laboratoris, lies farther south than on the Cantino map and\nhas become a long island, the south-east coast of which should doubtless\ncorrespond to the east coast of Greenland on the Cantino map, but has a\nvery different direction and form, and has in addition many islands to the\nsouth of it. A similar, but still more varied, representation is found on\nanother Italian mappamundi, the so-called \"Kunstmann, No. 2.\" If Greenland\nand Newfoundland were both discovered by Gaspar Corte-Real and on the same\nvoyage, and if these discoveries formed the basis both of the Cantino map\nand of the prototype of the King map, then it would be incomprehensible\nhow the representation of one of these countries should vary so much, and\nnot that of the other.[356]\n\n[Sidenote: The Oliveriana map, after 1503]\n\nThe so-called Oliveriana map, an anonymous Italian compass-chart of a\nlittle later than 1503, shows more resemblance to the representation of\nGreenland on the Cantino map; but here that of Newfoundland is very\ndifferent from what we find on the other maps, as its east coast is\nremarkably short and the south coast extends a long way to the west, in\nthe same direction as the coast discovered by the English on La Cosa's map\nof 1500;[357] but the names have no resemblance to those of that map,\nunless the island \"Groga Y\" should be La Cosa's \"S. Grigor\" (?), which\nhowever lies farther east, while the island corresponding to \"Groga\" is\ncalled by La Cosa \"I. de la trinidat.\" \"Cauo del marco\" might also remind\nus of the Venetian Cabot. Dr. Bj\u00f6rnbo thinks, as mentioned above (p. 369),\nthat the prototype of the Greenland on the Oliveriana map was Gaspar\nCorte-Real's own admiral's chart of his voyage of 1500. It seems to me\npossible that Bj\u00f6rnbo may be right, in so far as the representation may be\nderived from the Portuguese expedition which sighted Greenland in 1500;\nbut, from what has been advanced above, this was not commanded by\nCorte-Real, but more probably by Jo\u00e3o Fernandez. As the Newfoundland of\nthe map has so little resemblance to reality and to the usual Portuguese\nrepresentations [cf. also Bj\u00f6rnbo, 1910, p. 315], it is improbable that\nthe prototype of the map was due to Gaspar Corte-Real. Moreover one cannot\nimagine that mythical islands such as \"Insula de labrador,\" \"Insula\nstille,\" etc., were drawn by him; in such a case they would have to be\nexplained as later additions from another source.\n\n[Illustration: Northern portion of an anonymous Italian chart, a little\nlater than 1503. In the Oliveriana Library at Pesaro. Compass-lines\nomitted]\n\nWe saw from the letters of the two Italian Ministers that King Manuel was\nvery well satisfied with the discoveries of Gaspar Corte-Real, and\nexpected great advantages therefrom, both on account of the trees for\nmasts and of the slaves, etc.; he therefore awaited his return with\nimpatience. But he waited in vain. Gaspar Corte-Real never returned.\nWhether he fell fighting with the natives on an unknown coast, or whether\nhe plunged into the mists and ice of the unknown north, there to find a\ncold grave, or was lost in a storm on the homeward voyage across the\nAtlantic, will never be revealed.\n\n[Sidenote: Miguel Corte-Real's voyage, 1503]\n\nAs he did not return, his brother, Miguel Corte-Real, fitted out a new\nexpedition in the hope, on the one hand of going to help his brother, and\non the other of making fresh discoveries. On January (?) 15, 1502 (or 1503\n?), he obtained letters patent from King Manuel (see p. 353). On May 10,\naccording to Damiam de Goes, he sailed from Lisbon with two ships, and\nnothing more was heard of him. Antonio Galvano, on the other hand, says\nthat he had three ships, and that these arrived in Newfoundland (Terra de\nCorte-Real), but there separated and went into different inlets\n\n    \"with the arrangement that they should all meet again on August 20th.\n    The two other ships did so, and when they saw that Miguel Corte-Real's\n    ship did not come at the appointed time, nor for some time after that,\n    they returned to Portugal, and never since was any more news heard of\n    him, nor did any other memory of him remain; but the country is called\n    to this day the Land of the Corte-Reals.\"[358]\n\n[Sidenote: The King despatches ships]\n\n    \"The King felt deeply the loss of the two brothers, and, moved by his\n    royal and compassionate feeling, he caused in the year 1503[359] two\n    ships to be fitted out to go and search for them. But it could never\n    be discovered how either the one or the other (of the brothers) was\n    lost.\"\n\nIf this account of Galvano's is correct, then the last relief expedition\nreturned without having accomplished its purpose. As to what discoveries\nit may have made, we hear nothing, nor do we see any trace of them on the\nmaps, unless, indeed, the hint of an extension of Newfoundland to the\nnorth on the so-called Pilestrina map of about 1511 (see p. 377) may be\ndue to this expedition or to the ship that returned from Miguel\nCorte-Real's voyage of 1502. On Pedro Reinel's map (p. 321) there is\nmarked a land answering to Cape Breton, with a coast extending westward\nfrom it. It is possible that this may be derived from these expeditions,\nand in the same way all the Portuguese names along Newfoundland, the\ncoast-line of which must be taken from the same source as the Cantino map.\nIt is, however, more probable that the names are due to Portuguese\nfishermen; though there is also a possibility that Reinel's additions may\nbe referred to the Anglo-Portuguese expeditions from Bristol in 1501 and\nthe following years. His island, Sam Joha [St. John], points, as has been\nsaid (p. 321), to a possible connection with John Cabot's discoveries.\n\n[Illustration: Northern portion of an Italian map, possibly drawn by\nPilestrina, 1511. Only a few of the names are given. (Bj\u00f6rnbo and\nPetersen, 1908)]\n\n[Sidenote: Vasqueanes Corte-Real refused leave to sail]\n\nWhen neither of the brothers returned, the eldest brother, Vasqueanes\nCorte-Real--who held very high positions both at the King's Court and as\nGovernor of the islands of S\u00e3o Jorge and Terceira in the Azores--wished\n\"to fit out ships at his own expense in order to go out and search for\nthem. But when he asked the King to excuse his absence, his Majesty could\nnot consent to his going further in the matter, and insisted that it was\nuseless, and that all had been done that could be done\" (De Goes). Thus\nthe spirit of the capable and enterprising Portuguese for further\nexploration in these difficult northern waters seems to have become\ncooled, and we do not hear much more of official expeditions despatched\nfrom Portugal to find other new countries in that quarter. Meanwhile\nNewfoundland (Terra de Corte-Real) continued through the whole of the\nsixteenth century to be regarded as a province under the Portuguese Crown,\nand the post of its Governor, with special privileges, was hereditary in\nthe family of Corte-Real, until Manuel Corte-Real II., the last of the\nmale line, fell fighting by the side of King Sebastian, in the fatal\nbattle of Kas-rel-Kebir in 1578.[360]\n\nThe Portuguese seem for a long time to have kept up the connection with\nNewfoundland, more especially in order to avail themselves of the rich\nfisheries that had been discovered there. But of this it is only by the\nmerest accident that history has anything to relate. It appears as though\nthis fishery became active immediately after Corte-Real's discovery; for\nwe see that as early as 1506 King Manuel gave orders that the fishermen on\ntheir return from Newfoundland to Portugal were to pay one-tenth of the\nproceeds in duties [cf. Kunstmann, 1859, p. 69].\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nCONCLUSION\n\n\nIf we would discover how a watercourse is formed, from the very first\nbog-streams up in the mountain, we must follow a multitude of tiny rills,\nreceiving one fresh stream after another from every side, running together\ninto burns, which grow and grow and form little rivers, till we come to\nthe end of the wooded hillside and are suddenly face to face with the\ngreat river in the valley below.\n\nA similar task confronts him who endeavours to explore the first trickling\nrivulets of human knowledge; he must trace all the minute, uncertain,\noften elusive beginnings, follow the diversity of tributaries from all\nparts of the earth, and show how the mass of knowledge increases\nconstantly from age to age, sometimes reposing in long stretches of dead\nwater, half choked with peat and rushes, at other times plunging onward in\nfoaming rapids. And then he too is rewarded; the stream grows broader and\nbroader, until he stands beside the navigable river.\n\nBut a simile never covers the whole case. The latter task is rendered not\nonly wider, but incomparably more difficult, by the fact that the brooks\nand rivers whose course is to be followed are even more intricate and\nscarcely ever flow in an open stream. True knowledge is so seldom\nundiluted; as a rule it is suffused with myths and dogmatic conceptions,\noften to such a degree that it becomes entirely lost, and something new\nseems to have arisen in its place.\n\nFor one thing, man's power of grasping reality varies greatly; in\nprimitive man it is clouded to a degree which we modern human beings can\nhardly understand. He is as yet incapable of distinguishing between idea\nand reality, between belief and knowledge, between what he has seen and\nexperienced and the explanation he has provided for his experience.\n\nBut even with those who have long outgrown the primitive point of view\nimagination steps in, supplying detail and explanation wherever our\ninformation fails us and our knowledge falls short; it spreads its haze\nover the first uncertain outlines of perception, and the distant contours\nare sometimes wholly lost in the mists of legend.\n\nThis is a universal experience in the history of intellectual life. In the\ndomain to which this work is devoted, it makes itself felt with perhaps\nmore than its usual force.\n\nThe inquiry embraces long periods. In all times and countries we have seen\nthe known world lose itself in the fogs of cloudland--never uniformly, it\nis true, but in constantly changing proportions. Here and there we have a\nglimpse, now and again a vision over wider regions; and then the driving\nmists once more shut out our view. Therefore all that human courage and\ndesire of knowledge have wrested in the course of long ages from this\ncloudland remains vague, uncertain, full of riddles. But for this very\nreason it is all the more alluring.\n\nWe saw that to the eyes of the oldest civilisation in history and down\nthrough the whole of antiquity, the North lay for the most part concealed\nin the twilight of legend and myth; here and there genuine information\nfinds its way into literature, but is again effaced. At the beginning of\nthe Middle Ages the dark curtain thickens.\n\nAgain there is a glimmer of light, first from the intermingling of nations\nat the time of the migrations, then from new trading voyages and\nintercourse, until the great change is brought about by the Norsemen, who\nwith their remarkable power of expansion overran western and southern\nEurope and penetrated the vast unknown solitudes in the North, found\ntheir way to the White Sea, discovered the wide Polar Sea and its shores,\ncolonised the Faroes, Iceland and Greenland, and were the first\ndiscoverers of the Atlantic Ocean and of North America.\n\nAs early as in the writings of King Alfred and Adam of Bremen the\nNorsemen's initiatory knowledge of this new northern world made its way\ninto European literature.\n\nNo doubt the mists closed again, much of the knowledge gained was\nforgotten even by the Norsemen themselves, and in the latter part of the\nMiddle Ages it is mostly mythical echoes of this knowledge that are to be\ntraced in the literature of Europe and that have left their mark on its\nmaps. None the less were the discoveries of the Norsemen the great\ndividing line. For the first time explorers had set out with conscious\npurpose from the known world, over the surrounding seas, and had found\nlands on the other side. By their voyages they taught the sailors of\nEurope the possibility of traversing the ocean. When this first step had\nbeen taken the further development came about of itself.\n\nIt was in the Norsemen's school that the sailors of England had their\nearliest training, especially through the traffic with Iceland; and even\nthe distant Portuguese, the great discoverers of the age of transition,\nreceived impulses from them.\n\nThrough all that is uncertain, and often apparently fortuitous and\nchequered, we can discern a line, leading towards the new age, that of the\ngreat discoveries, when we emerge from the dusk of the Middle Ages into\nfuller daylight. Of the new voyages we have, as a rule, accounts at first\nhand, less and less shrouded in medi\u00e6valism and mist. From this time the\nreal history of polar exploration begins.\n\nCabot had then rediscovered the mainland of North America, Corte-Real had\nreached Newfoundland, the Portuguese and the English were pushing\nnorthward to Greenland and the ice. And this brings in the great\ntransformation of ideas about the Northern World.\n\nIt is true that as yet we have not passed the northern limits of our\nforefathers' voyages; and that views of the arctic regions are still\nobscure and vague. While some imagine a continent at the pole, others are\nfor a wreath of islands around it with dangerous currents between them,\nand others again reckon upon an open polar sea. There is obscurity enough.\nBut new problems are beginning to shape themselves.\n\nWhen it became apparent to the seamen of Europe that the new countries of\nthe West were not Asia, but part of a new continent, the idea suggested\nitself of seeking a way round the north--as also round the south--of this\ncontinent, in order to reach the coveted sources of wealth, India and\nChina: the problem of the North-West Passage was presented--a continuation\non a grand scale of the routes opened up by the Norsemen towards the\nnorth-west.\n\nBut equally present was the thought that perhaps there was another and\nshorter way round the north of the old world; and the problem of the\nNorth-East Passage arose. The working out of this problem was simply a\ncontinuation of the north-eastern voyages of the Norwegians to the White\nSea.\n\nIn this way were born the two great illusions, which for centuries held\nthe minds of explorers spellbound. They could never be of value as\ntrade-routes, these difficult passages through the ice. They were to be no\nmore than visions, but visions of greater worth than real knowledge; they\nlured discoverers farther and farther into the unknown world of ice; foot\nby foot, step by step, it was explored; man's comprehension of the earth\nbecame extended and corrected; and the sea-power and imperial dominion of\nEngland drew its vigour from these dreams.\n\nWhat a vast amount of labour lies sunk in man's knowledge of the earth,\nespecially in those remote ages when development proceeded at such an\nimmeasurably slower pace, and when man's resources were so infinitely\npoorer. By the most manifold and various ways the will and intelligence of\nman achieve their object. The attraction of long voyages must often\nenough have been the hope of finding riches and favoured lands, but deeper\nstill lay the imperious desire of getting to know our own earth. To riches\nmen have seldom attained, to the Fortunate Isles never; but through all we\nhave won knowledge.\n\nThe great Alexander, the conquering king, held sway over the greater part\nof the world of his day; the bright young lord of the world remained the\nideal for a thousand years, the hero above all others. But human thought,\nrestless and knowing no bounds, found even his limits too narrow. He grew\nand grew to superhuman dimensions, became the son of a god, the child of\nfortune, who in popular belief held sway from the Pillars of Hercules, the\nearth's western boundary, to the trees of the sun and moon at the world's\nend in the east; to whom nothing seemed impossible; who descended to the\nbottom of the sea in a glass bell to explore the secrets of the ocean;\nwho, borne by tamed eagles, tried to reach heaven, and who was fabled by\nMohammedans and Christians to have even attempted to scale the walls of\nParadise itself--there to be checked for the first time: \"Thus far and no\nfarther.\" No man that is born of woman may attain to the land of heart's\ndesire.\n\nThe myth of Alexander is an image of the human spirit itself, seeking\nwithout intermission, never confined by any bounds, eternally striving\ntowards height after height, deep after deep, ever onward, onward,\nonward....\n\nThe world of the spirit knows neither space nor time.\n\n\nFINIS\n\n\n\n\nLIST OF THE MORE IMPORTANT WORKS REFERRED TO\n\n\n1876 ADAM of Bremen: Adami Gesta Hamburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum ex\nrecensione Lappenbergii. Editio altera. \"Scriptores Rerum Germanicarum.\"\nHannoverae, 1876.\n\n1862 ADAM of Bremen: Om Menigheden i Norden o. s. v. Overs. af P. W.\nChristensen. Copenhagen, 1862.\n\n1893 ADAMS von Bremen Hamburgische Kirchengeschichte. \u00dcbers. von J. C. W.\nLaurent. 2. Aufl. Leipzig, 1893.\n\n1839 AELIANUS (Claudius): Varia. \"Vermischte Nachrichten,\" Werke, Bd. I,\n\u00fcbers. von Ephorus Dr. Wunderlich. \"Griech. Prosaiker in neuen Uebers.,\"\nhgb. v. Tafel, Osiander, und Schwab, Bd. 182. Stuttgart, 1839.\n\n1894 AHLENIUS (Karl): Pytheas' Thuleresa, \"Spr\u00e5kvetenskapliga S\u00e4llsk. i\nUpsala F\u00f6rhandl.,\" I, 1882-94, pp. 101-124, in \"Upsala Universitets\n\u00c5rsskrift,\" 1894.\n\n1900 AHLENIUS (K.): Die \u00e4lteste geographische Kenntnis von Skandinavien.\n\"Eranos,\" III, 1898-1899. Upsala, 1900.\n\n1859 ALFRED, King: Anglo-Saxon Version of Orosius. Ed. by JOSEPH BOSWORTH,\nLondon, 1859. As to Ottar, see also HENRY SWEET: An Anglo-Saxon Reader,\nOxford, 1884; R. RASK in \"Skandinaviske Litteraturselskabs Skrifter,\" XI,\nCopenhagen, 1815, with Danish transl. and notes; G. PORTHAN: \"Kgl.\nVitterh. Hist. o. Antique Acad. Handl.\" VI, Stockholm, 1800, with Swedish\ntransl. and notes.\n\n1845 d'AVEZAC (M. P.): Les Iles fantastiques de l'oc\u00e9an occidental au\nmoyen-\u00e2ge. Paris, 1845.\n\n1887 AVIENUS (Rufus Festus): Rufi Festi Avieni Carmina. Ed. Alfred Holder,\nInnsbruck, 1887.\n\nBAT\u00dbTA (Ibn): Voyages d'Ibn Batoutah, Texte arabe et traduction par\nDEFR\u00c9MERY et SANGUINETTI.\n\n1902 BAUMGARTNER (A.): Island und die F\u00e4r\u00f6er. 3 Aufl. Freiburg, 1902.\n\n1876 BAUMSTARK (Anton), See TACITUS.\n\n1880 BAUMSTARK (A.): Ausf\u00fchrliche Erl\u00e4uterung des besondern\nv\u00f6lkerschaftlichen Theiles der Germania des Tacitus. Leipzig, 1880.\n\n1904 1905 BEAUVOIS (Eug.): \"Journal de la Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 des Am\u00e9ricanistes de\nParis,\" 1904, No. 2; 1905, No. 2.\n\n1897 1906 BEAZLEY (C. Raymond): The Dawn of Modern Geography, I, 1897; II,\n1901; III, 1906, London.\n\n1898 BEAZLEY (C. R.): John and Sebastian Cabot. London, 1898.\n\n1902 B\u00c9RARD (Victor): Les Ph\u00e9niciens et l'Odyss\u00e9e. I, 1902; II, 1903.\nParis.\n\n1880 BERGER (Hugo): Die geographischen Fragmente des Eratosthenes.\nLeipzig, 1880.\n\n1887-93 BERGER (H.): Geschichte der wissenschaftlichen Erdkunde der\nGriechen. I, 1887; II, 1889; III, 1891; IV, 1893. Leipzig.\n\n1904 BERGER (H.): Mythische Kosmographie der Griechen. Appendix to\nRoscher's \"Mythol. Lexikon.\" Leipzig, 1904.\n\n1878 BETHMANN (L.) and WAITZ(G.), see PAULUS WARNEFRIDI.\n\n1909 BJ\u00d6RNBO (Axel Anthon): Adam af Bremens Nordensopfattelse. \"Aarb. f.\nnord. Oldk o. Hist.\" Copenhagen, 1909.\n\n1910 BJ\u00d6RNBO (A. A.) Cartographia Groenlandica. Indledning og Perioden til\nAar 1576. Medd. om Gr\u00f6nland, XLVIII, 1. Copenhagen, 1911.\n\n1910a BJ\u00d6RNBO (A. A.): Die echte Corte-Real-Karte. \"Peterm. Geogr. Mitt.\"\n1910, II.\n\n1904 BJ\u00d6RNBO (A. A.) and PETERSEN (Carl S.): Fyenboen Claudius Clauss\u00f6n\nSwart o.s.v. \"Kgl. Danske. Vid. Selsk. Skr.\" 6. R., hist. filos. Afd. VI.\n2. Copenhagen, 1904.\n\n1908 BJ\u00d6RNBO (A. A.) and PETERSEN (C. S.): Anecdota Cartographica\nSeptentrionalia. Havnia, 1908.\n\n1909 BJ\u00d6RNBO (A. A.) and PETERSEN (C. S.): Der D\u00e4ne Claudius Clauss\u00f6n\nSwart. Innsbruck, 1909.\n\n1867 BLOM (O.): Om Kongespeilets Affattelsestid. \"Aarb. f. nord. Oldk. o.\nHist.\" Copenhagen, 1867.\n\n1901 BOAS (Franz): Eskimo of Baffin Land and Hudson Bay. \"Bull. Amer. Mus.\nNat. Hist.\" XV, 1901.\n\n1909 BOB\u00c9 (Louis): Aktstykker til Oplysning om Gr\u00f6nlands Besejling.\n\"Danske Magazin,\" 5. R., VI. Copenhagen, 1909.\n\n1859 BOSWORTH (J.), see King ALFRED.\n\n1910 BREDA (O. J.): Rundt Kensington-stenen. \"Symra,\" VI. Decorah 1910.\n\n1877 BRENNER (Oskar): Nord- und Mitteleuropa in den Schriften der Alten.\nZuang. Diss. M\u00fcnchen, 1877.\n\n1909 BR\u00d6GGER (A. W.): Den Arktiske Stenalder i Norge. \"Vid. Selsk. Skr.\"\nII Hist. filos. Kl., 1909. No. 1. Christiania.\n\n1896 BRUUN (Daniel): Ark\u00e6ologiske Unders\u00f6gelser i Julianehaabs Distrikt,\n1895. \"Medd. om Gr\u00f6nland,\" XVI. Copenhagen, 1896.\n\n1902 BRUUN (D.): Det h\u00f6ie Nord. Copenhagen, 1902.\n\n1899 BUGGE (Alexander): Vore forf\u00e6dres opdagelsesreiser i Polaregnene.\n\"Kringsj\u00e5,\" XI. Christiania, 1899.\n\n1900 BUGGE (A.): Contributions to the History of the Norsemen in Ireland,\nIII. \"Vid.-Selsk Skr.,\" II Hist. filos. Kl. 1900. Christiania, 1901.\n\n1904-06 BUGGE (A.): Vikingerne. Billeder fra vore forf\u00e6dres liv. I, 1904;\nII, 1906. Christiania.\n\n1905 BUGGE (A.): Vesterlandenes Indflydelse p\u00e5 Nordboernes og s\u00e6rlig\nNordm\u00e6ndenes ydre Kultur o. s. v. i Vikingetiden. \"Vid.-Selsk. Skr.\" II\nHist. filos. Kl. 1904, No. 1. Christiania, 1905.\n\n1908 BUGGE (A.): Nordlands skiftende Skj\u00e6bne. \"Hist. Tidsskrift.\" 4. R.,\nV. Christiania, 1908.\n\n1890 BUGGE (Sophus): Bidrag til Nordiske Navnes Historie. \"Arkiv f\u00f6r\nNordisk Filologi,\" VI. Lund, 1890.\n\n1896 BUGGE (S.): Germanische Etymologien, Beitr\u00e4ge 3. \"Gesch. d. Deutschen\nSprache in Literatur,\" XXI. Halle, 1896.\n\n1902 BUGGE (S.): Norges Indskrifter med de yngre Runer. H\u00f6nen-Runerne fra\nRingerike. Christiania, 1902.\n\n1904 BUGGE (S.): Foranskudts, is\u00e6r i Navne. \"Arkiv. f\u00f6r Nordisk Filologi,\"\nXXI. Lund, 1904.\n\n1907 BUGGE (S.): Om nordiske folkenavne hos Jordanes. \"Fornv\u00e4nnen.\"\nStockholm, 1907.\n\n1910 BUGGE (S.): Der Runenstein von R\u00f6k in Osterg\u00f6tland, Schweden. Hgb.\ndurch Magnus Olsen. Stockholm, 1910.\n\n1883 BUNBURY (E. H.): A History of Ancient Geography. London, 1883.\n\n1904 CALLEGARI (G. V.): Pitea di Massilia. \"Rivista di Storia Antica,\"\nVII, 4; VIII, 2; IX, 2. Padova, 1904.\n\n1866 CHRIST (Wilhelm): Avien und die \u00e4ltesten Nachrichten \u00fcber Iberien und\ndie Westk\u00fcste Europa's. \"Abhandl. d. Philos.-Philol. Classe d. K.\nBayerischen Akad. d. Wiss.,\" XI. M\u00fcnchen, 1866.\n\n1867 COLLINSON (Richard): The three Voyages of Martin Frobisher, 1576-8.\nLondon, 1867.\n\n1880 COSTA (B. F. de): Arctic Exploration. \"Journ. of the American Geogr.\nSoc. of New York,\" XII. 1880.\n\n1828 CROKER (T. Crofton): Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of\nIreland. London, 1828.\n\n1890 CRUSIUS (O.): Hyperboreer in \"Roscher's Mythol. Lexikon,\" I, 2.\nLeipzig, 1890.\n\n1871 CUNO (J. G.): Forschungen im Gebiete der Alten V\u00f6lkerkunde. Berlin,\n1871.\n\n1882 DAAE (Ludvig): Didrik Pining. \"Hist. Tidsskrift\" 2. R. III.\nChristiania, 1882.\n\n1888 DAAE (L.): Italieneren Francesco Negris Reise i Norge 1664-1665.\n\"Hist. Tidsskrift\" 2. R. VI. Christiania, 1888.\n\n1894 DAWSON (Samuel Edward): The Voyages of the Cabots in 1497 and 1498;\nwith an attempt to determine their landfall and to identify their island\nof St. John. \"Proc. and Trans. of the R. Soc. of Canada 1894,\" XII.\nOttawa, 1895.\n\n1896 DAWSON (S. E.): The Voyages of the Cabots in 1497 and 1498. A sequel\netc. \"Proc. and Trans. of the R. Soc. of Canada.\" 2 Ser. II, 1896.\n\n1897 DAWSON (S. E.): The Voyages of the Cabots. Latest Phases of the\nControversy. \"Proc. and Trans. of the R. Soc. of Canada.\" 2 Ser. III,\n1897.\n\n1673 DEBES (Lucas Jacobs\u00f6n): F\u00e6roe et F\u00e6roa Reserata. Det er: F\u00e6r\u00f6ernis oc\nF\u00e6r\u00f6eske Indbyggeris Beskrivelse o. s. v. Copenhagen, 1673.\n\n1849 DELISLE (L.): Des Revenus Publics en Normandie au Douzi\u00e8me Si\u00e8cle.\n\"Biblioth\u00e8que de l'\u00c9cole des Chartes.\" IIIe S\u00e9rie, I. Paris, 1849.\n\n1881 DESIMONI (Cornelio): Intorno a Giovanni Caboto Genovese etc. \"Atti\ndella Societ\u00e0 Ligure di Storia Patria.\" Genova, 1881.\n\n1897 DETLEFSEN (D.): Zur Kenntniss der Alten von der Nordsee. \"Hermes,\"\nXXXII. Berlin, 1897.\n\n1904 DETLEFSEN (D.): Die Entdeckung des germanischen Nordens im Altertum.\n\"Quellen u. Forsch. z. alten Gesch. u. Geographie.\" Hgb. v. W. Sieglin. H.\n8. Berlin, 1904.\n\nDICUIL, see LETRONNE.\n\n1870 DICUIL: De mensura orbis terr\u00e6, ed. Parthey. Berlin, 1870.\n\n1890 DIODORUS SICULUS: Bibliotheca Historica. Ed. F. VOGEL. Leipzig, 1890.\n\n1881 DOZY (R.): Recherches sur l'Histoire et Litt\u00e9rature de l'Espagne. 3.\n\u00e9d. Paris, Leyde, 1881.\n\n1836 EDRISI: G\u00e9ographie d'Edrisi. Trad. par P. A. JAUBERT. \"Recueil de\nVoyages et de M\u00e9mories publ. p. l. Soc. de G\u00e9ographie.\" V. Paris, 1836.\n\n1866 EDRISI: Description de l'Afrique et de l'Espagne par Edrisi. Publ.\navec trad. par R. Dozy et M. J. de Goeje. Leyden, 1866.\n\n1741 EGEDE (Hans): De gamle Gr\u00f6nlands nye Perlustration eller\nNaturel-Historie. Ki\u00f6benhafn, 1741.\n\n1794 EGGERS (H. P.): Om Gr\u00f6nlands \u00d6sterbygds sande Beliggenhed. \"Det kgl.\ndanske Landhusholdnings Selskabs Skrifter.\" IV. Copenhagen, 1794.\n\n1845 EINHARDI: Vita Caroli magni, ed. B. H. PERTZ. Hannover, 1845.\n\n1891 EIRIKS Saga Rauda, og Flat\u00f6bogens Groenlendinga\u00fe\u00e1ttr o. s. v. ved\nGustav Storm. \"Samfund til Utg. af gammel nordisk Literatur,\" XXI.\nCopenhagen, 1891.\n\nERATOSTHENES, see BERGER.\n\n1897 FABRICIUS (A.): Nordmannertogene til den Spanske Halv\u00f6. \"Aarb. f.\nNord. Oldk. og Hist.\" 2. R. XII. Copenhagen, 1897.\n\n1865 FAQ\u00ceH (Ibn al-): Kit\u00e2b al-buld\u00e2n. Ed. M. J. de Goeje.\nLugduni-Batavorum, 1865.\n\n1910 FERNALD (M. L.): Notes on the Plants of Wineland the Good. \"Rhodora,\"\nJournal of the New England Botanical Club. XII. Boston, 1910.\n\n1872 FISCHER (M. P.): Documents pour servir \u00e0 l'Histoire de la Baleine des\nBasques. \"Ann. d. Sciences Nat. Zoologie.\" XV. Paris, 1872.\n\n1886 FISCHER (Theobald): Beitr\u00e4ge zur Geschichte der Erdkunde und der\nKartographie in Italien im Mittelalter. Samml. Mittelalterl. Welt- und\nSeekarten italienischen Ursprungs. F. Ongania. Venice, 1886.\n\n1842-48 FORBIGER (Alb.): Handbuch der alten Geographie. I, 1842; II, 1844;\nIII, 1848. Leipzig.\n\n1823 FR\u00c4HN (C. M.): Ibn-Foszlan's und anderer Araber Berichte \u00fcber die\nRussen \u00e4lterer Zeit. St. Petersburg, 1823.\n\n1881 FRIIS (Peder Clauss\u00f6n): Samlede Skrifter, utg. av Gustav Storm.\nChristiania, 1881.\n\n1883 GEELMUYDEN (H.): De gamle Kalendere, s\u00e6rlig Isl\u00e6ndernes. \"Naturen,\"\nVII. Christiania, 1883.\n\n1883a GEELMUYDEN (H.): Den f\u00f6rste Polarexpedition. \"Naturen,\" VII.\nChristiania, 1883.\n\n1825 GEIJER (E. G.): Svea Rikes H\u00e4fder. I. Upsala, 1825.\n\n1898 GEMINI Elementa Astronomiae. Ed. C. Manitius. Leipzig, 1898. (Greek,\nwith German transl.)\n\n1895 GERLAND (G.): Zu Pytheas Nordlandsfahrt. \"Beitr\u00e4ge zur Geophysik,\"\nII. Stuttgart, 1895.\n\n1909 GJESSING (Helge): Runestenen fra Kensington. \"Symra,\" V. Decorah,\n1909.\n\n1891 GOEJE (M. J. de): La l\u00e9gende de Saint Brandan. \"Actes du Huiti\u00e8me\nCongr\u00e8s internat. des Orientalistes, 1889.\" Leiden, 1891.\n\n1901-04 v. GRIENBERGER: Die nordischen V\u00f6lker bei Jordanes. \"Zeitschrift\nf\u00fcr Deutschen Altertum.\" XLV, 1901, XLVII, 1904. Berlin.\n\n1854 GRIMM (Jacob): Deutsche Rechtsalterth\u00fcmer. 2. Ausg. G\u00f6ttingen, 1854.\n\n1875-78 GRIMM (J.): Deutsche Mythologie. 4. Ausg. I, 1875; II, 1876; III,\n1878. Berlin.\n\n1880 GRIMM (J): Geschichte der Deutschen Sprache. I. 4. Ausg. Leipzig,\n1880.\n\n1863 GR\u00d6NDAL (B.): Folketro i Norden, \"Ann. f. Nord. Oldk. o. Hist.\"\nCopenhagen, 1863.\n\n1838-45 \"Gr\u00f6nlands Historiske Mindesm\u00e6rker.\" Utg. af d. Kgl. Nordiske\nOldskrift-Selskab. Copenhagen, 1838-1845.\n\n1889 GUDMUNDSSON (Valt\u00fdr): Privatboligen paa Island i Sagatiden; samt\ndelvis det \u00f6vrige Norden. Copenhagen, 1889.\n\n1884 GUICHOT Y SIERRA (Alejandro): Supersticiones populares, recojidas en\nAndalucia y comparados con las Portuguesas. \"Biblioteca de las tradiciones\npopulares Espa\u00f1olas.\" Madrid, 1884.\n\n1889 GULDBERG (Gustav A.): En kort historisk Udsigt over Hvalfangsten i\n\u00e6ldre Tider. \"Folkevennen.\" N. R. XIII. Christiania, 1889.\n\n1890 GULDBERG (G. A.): Om Skandinavernes hvalfangst. \"Nord. Tidsskrift.\"\nStockholm, 1890.\n\n1894 G\u00dcNTHER (S.): Adam von Bremen, der erste deutsche Geograph.\n\"Sitzungsberichte der K\u00f6niglich b\u00f6hmischen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften\nPhil. histor. Kl.\" 1894.\n\n1850 HAKLUYT (Richard): Divers Voyages touching the Discovery of America\nand its Islands Adjacent. Hakluyt Society. London, 1850.\n\n1903 HAKLUYT (R.): The Principal Navigations, etc. Hakluyt Society.\nGlasgow, 1903.\n\n1907 HAMBERG (Axel): Om eskimaernes h\u00e4rkomst och Amerikas befolkande.\n\"Ymer,\" XXVII. Stockholm, 1907.\n\n1855 HAMMERSHAIMB (V. U.): F\u00e6r\u00f6iske Kv\u00e6der. 2. hefte. Copenhagen, 1855.\n\n1891 HAMMERSHAIMB (V. U.): F\u00e6r\u00f6isk Anthologi, I. Copenhagen, 1891.\n\n1907 HANSEN (Andr. M.): Oldtidens Nordm\u00e6nd Ophav og Bes\u00e6tning. \"Gammel\nNorsk Kultur i Tekst og Billeder,\" Norsk Folkemuseum. Christiania, 1901.\n\n1908 HANSEN (A. M.): Om Helleristningerne. Foren. t. norske\nFortidsmindesm\u00e6rkers Bevaring, Aarsbog. 1908.\n\n1909 HANSEN (A. M.): Peder Clauss\u00f6n om Sj\u00f6finnernes Sprog. \"Maal og\nMinne.\" Christiania, 1909.\n\n1882 HARRISSE (Henry): Jean et Sebastian Cabot, leur origine et leurs\nvoyages, etc. \"Recueil de voyages et de documents,\" etc. I. Paris, 1882.\n\n1883 HARRISSE (H.): Les Corte-Real et leurs voyages au Nouveau-Monde.\n\"Rec. de voy. et de doc.,\" etc. III. Paris, 1883.\n\n1892 HARRISSE (H.): The Discovery of North America. London, 1892.\n\n1896 HARRISSE (H.): John Cabot the Discoverer of North America and\nSebastian his Son. London, 1896.\n\n1900 HARRISSE (H.): D\u00e9couverte et \u00e9volution cartographique de Terre-Neuve\net des Pays Circonvoisins, 1497-1501-1769. London, Paris, 1900.\n\n1892-96 \"Hauks b\u00f4k,\" utg. af det kgl. Nordiske Oldskrift-Selskab (ved\nFinnur J\u00f3nsson). Copenhagen, 1892-96.\n\n1904 HEFFERMEHL (A. V.): Presten Ivar Bodde o. s. v. Hist. Skrifter\ntilegn. Prof. Ludvig Daae o. s. v. af Venner og Diciple. Christiania,\n1904.\n\n1878 HEIBERG (Jacob): Lappische Gr\u00e4ber-sch\u00e4del. \"Archiv for Math. og\nNaturvid.,\" III. Christiania, 1878.\n\n1905 HELLAND (Amund): Finmarkens Amt. \"Norges Land og Folk,\" XX.\nChristiania, 1905.\n\n1908 HELLAND (A.): Nordlands Amt. \"Norges Land og Folk,\" XVIII.\nChristiania, 1908.\n\n1893 HERGT (Gustav): Die Nordlandfahrt des Pytheas. Inaug.-Diss. Halle,\n1893.\n\n1901 HERRMANN (Paul): Erl\u00e4uterungen zu den ersten neun B\u00fcchern der\nD\u00e4nischen Geschichte des \"Saxo Grammaticus,\" I. Leipzig, 1901.\n\n1904 HERTZBERG (Ebbe): Nordboernes gamle Boldspil. Hist. Skrifter tilegn.\nProf. Ludwig Daae o. s. v. af Venner og Diciple. Christiania, 1904.\n\n1880 \"Historia Norwegi\u00e6,\" see STORM, 1880.\n\n1909 HOEGH (Knut): Om Kensington og Elbow Lake-stenene. \"Symra,\" V.\nDecorah, 1909.\n\n1865 HOFMANN (Conrad): Ueber das Lebermeer. \"Sitzungsber. d. k\u00f6nigl.\nbayer. Akad. d. Wissenschaften,\" II, 1. M\u00fcnchen, 1865.\n\n1909 HOLAND (R. Hjalmar): Kensington-stenens sprog og runer. \"Symra,\" V.\nDecorah, 1909.\n\n1883 HOLM (G. F.): Beskrivelse af Ruiner i Julianehaabs Distrikt, der er\nunders\u00f6gte i Aaret 1880. \"Medd. om Gr\u00f6nland,\" VI. Copenhagen, 1883.\n\n1894 HOLZ (Georg): Beitr\u00e4ge zur deutschen Altertumskunde. H. 1. \u00dcber die\nGermanische V\u00f6lkertafel des Ptolemaeus. Halle, 1894.\n\n1870 HOMEYER (C. G.): Die Haus- und Hofmarken. Berlin, 1870.\n\n1904 IRGENS (O.): Et Sp\u00f6rsmaal, vedkommende de gamle Nordm\u00e6nds \u00f6vers\u00f6iske\nfart. \"Skrifter utg. av Bergens hist. Forening,\" Nr. 10. Bergen, 1904.\n\n1888 \"Islandske Annaler\" indtil 1578. Udg. f. d. \"Norske hist.\nKildeskriftfond\" ved Gustav Storm. Christiania, 1888.\n\n1891 JACOB (Georg): Welche Handelsartikel bezogen die Araber des\nMittelalters aus den nordisch-baltischen L\u00e4ndern? 2. Ausg. Berlin, 1891.\n\n1891a JACOB (G.): Die Waaren beim arabisch-nordischen Verkehr im\nMittelalter. Berlin, 1891.\n\n1892 JACOB (G.): Studien in arabischen Geographen. IV. Berlin, 1892.\n\n1896 JACOB (G.): Ein arabischer Berichterstatter aus dem 10. Jahrhundert\netc. Artikel aus Qazw\u00een\u00ees Ath\u00e2r al-bil\u00e2d. 3. verm. u. verb. Aufl. Berlin,\n1896.\n\n1866 JACUT'S Geographisches W\u00f6rterbuch. Hgb. v. F. W\u00fcstenfeld. Leipzig,\n1866.\n\n1898 1902 JAKOBSEN (Jakob): F\u00e6r\u00f6iske Folkesagn og \u00c6ventyr. Copenhagen,\n1898-1902.\n\n1901 JAKOBSEN (J.): Shetlands\u00f6ernes stednavne. \"Aarb. f. nord. Oldk. o. s.\nv.\" 1901.\n\n1900 JANTZEN (Hermann): Saxo Grammaticus. Die ersten neun B\u00fccher der\nd\u00e4nischen Geschichte, uebersetzt und erl\u00e4utert. Berlin, 1900.\n\n1892-96 J\u00d3NSSON (Finnur), see \"Hauks b\u00f4k.\"\n\n1893 J\u00d3NSSON (F.): En kort Udsigt over den Islandsk-Gr\u00f6nlandske Kolonis\nHistorie. \"Nord. Tidsskrift.\" Stockholm, 1893.\n\n1894 J\u00d3NSSON (F.): Den oldnorske og oldislandske Litteraturs Historie. I,\n1894; II 1. 1898; II 2, 1901. Copenhagen. 1901\n\n1897 J\u00d3NSSON (F.): Sigurdarkvida en Skamma. \"Aarb. f. Nord. Oldk.\" o. s.\nv. 2 R., XII. Copenhagen, 1897.\n\n1899 J\u00d3NSSON (F.): Gr\u00f6nlands gamle Topografi efter Kilderne. \"Medd. om\nGr\u00f6nland,\" XX. Copenhagen, 1899.\n\n1900 J\u00d3NSSON (F.): Landn\u00e1mab\u00f3k. Copenhagen, 1900.\n\n1882 JORDANIS Romana et Getica, rec. Th. Mommsen, \"Monumenta Germaniae\nHistorica.\" Berolini, 1882.\n\n1884 JORDANES Gothengeschichte. \u00dcbers. v. Wilhelm Martens. I. W.\nWattenbach: \"Die Geschichtschreiber der deutschen Vorzeit. 6. Jahr.\" I.\nLeipzig, 1884.\n\n1879 JOYCE (P. W.): Old Celtic Romances. London, 1879.\n\n1903 K\u00c4HLER (Friedrich): Forschungen zu Pytheas' Nordlandsreisen.\nStadtgymnasium zu Halle a. S. Festschrift z. Begr\u00fcss. d. 47 Vers.\nDeutscher Philologen u. Schulm\u00e4nner im Halle. 1903.\n\n1839 1868 KEYSER (R.): Om Nordm\u00e6ndenes Herkomst og Folkesl\u00e6gtskab,\n\"Samlinger til det norske Folks Sprog og Historie,\" VI, 1839. Reprinted in\n\"Samlede Afhandlinger.\" Christiania, 1868.\n\n1865 KHORD\u00c2DHBEH (Ibn): Le Livre des Routes et des Provinces. Trad. par C.\nBARBIER DE MEYNARD. Paris, 1865.\n\n1889 KHORD\u00c2DHBEH (Ibn): Kit\u00e2b al-Mas\u00e2lik wa'l-mam\u00e2lik, auctore Abn'l-K\u00e2sim\n... Ibn Khord\u00e2dhbeh, etc. \"Bibliotheca Geographorum Arabicorum,\" ed. M. J.\nde Goeje, VI. Lugduni-Batavorum, 1889.\n\n1883 KOCH (John): Die Siebenschl\u00e4ferlegende, ihr Ursprung und ihre\nVerbreitung. Leipzig, 1883.\n\n1869 KOHL (J. G.): Die erste Deutsche Entdeckungsfahrt zum Nordpol.\n\"Peterm. geogr. Mitt.,\" 1869.\n\n1880 KOHL (J. G.): Documentary History of the Discovery of the State of\nMaine. \"Maine Historical Soc. Collections.\" Portland, 1880.\n\n1908 KOHLMANN (Phipp Wilhelm): Adam von Bremen. \"Leipzigs Historische\nAbhandlungen.\" X. Leipzig, 1908.\n\n1908 KOHT (Halvdan): Om Haalogaland og Haal\u00f6yg-\u00c6tten. \"Hist. Tidsskrift,\"\n4. R. VI. Christiania, 1908.\n\n1909 KOHT (H.): Sagnet om Hv\u00edtramannaland. \"Hist. Tidsskrift,\" 4. R. VI.\nChristiania, 1909.\n\n1909 KRABBO (Hermann): Nordeuropa in der Vorstellung Adams von Bremen.\n\"Hansische Geschichtsbl\u00e4tter.\" Heft. 1. Leipzig, 1909.\n\n1891 KRETSCHMER (Konrad): Marino Sanudo der \u00c4ltere und die Karten des\nPetrus Vesconte. \"Zeitschr. d. Gesellsch. f. Erdkunde z. Berlin.\" XXVI.\n1891.\n\n1891a KRETSCHMER (K.): Eine neue mittelalterliche Weltkarte der\nvatikanischen Bibliothek. \"Zeitschr. d. Gesellsc. f. Erdkunde z. Berlin,\"\nXXVI. 1891.\n\n1892 KRETSCHMER (K.): Die Entdeckung Amerika's in ihre Bedeutung f\u00fcr die\nGeschichte des Weltbildes. \"Festschr. d. Gesellsch. f. Erdkunde z.\nBerlin.\" 1892.\n\n1897 KRETSCHMER (K.): Die Katalanische Weltkarte der Biblioteca Estense zu\nModena. \"Zeitschr. d. Gesellsch. f. Erdkunde z. Berlin,\" XXXII. 1897.\n\n1909 KRETSCHMER (K.): Die italienischen Portolane des Mittelalters.\nVer\u00f6ff. d. Instituts f. Meereskunde u. d. geogr. Instituts a. d.\nUniversit\u00e4t Berlin, XIII. 1909.\n\n1859 KUNSTMANN (Fr.): Die Entdeckung Amerikas nach den \u00e4ltesten Quellen\ngeschichtlich dargestellt. \"Monum. saec. Kgl. Bayerischen Akad. d.\nWissensch.\" M\u00fcnchen, 1859.\n\n1894 LAFFLER (L. Fr.): Om de \u00d6stskandinaviska Folknamnen hos Jordanes.\n\"Bidrag till K\u00e4nnedom om de Svenska Landsm\u00e5len ock Svensk Folklif,\" XIII,\nNo. 9. Stockholm, 1894.\n\n1907 L\u00c4FFLER (L. Fr.): Anm\u00e4rkningar till professor Sophus Bugges uppsats\n\"Om nordiske Folkenavne hos Jordanes.\" \"Fornv\u00e4nnen,\" 1907. Stockholm.\n\n1870 \"LAGENIENSIS\": Irish Folk Lore. Glasgow, 1870.\n\n1881 LAMPROS (S. P.): Cananos Lascaris and Basileios Batatzes, two Greek\ntravellers of the 14th and 15th centuries. \"Parnassos,\" V. Athens, 1881.\n(In Greek.)\n\n1888 LANCARBANENSI (Caradoco): Vita Gildae, in \"Monumenta Germaniae\nHistorica,\" 4to. \"Auctores antiguissimi,\" XIII, III: Chronica Minora, S\u00e6c.\nIV, V, VI, VII, ed. Th. Mommsen. Berolini, 1888.\n\n1900 \"Landn\u00e1mab\u00f3k\" utg. av det kgl. nordiske Oldskrift-Selskab, ved Finnur\nJ\u00f3nsson. Copenhagen, 1900.\n\n1838 LAPPENBERG (I. M.): Von den Quellen, Handschriften und Bearbeitungen\ndes Adam von Bremen. \"Archiv. der Gesellsch. f. \u00e4ltere deutsche\nGeschichtskunde.\" VI. Hannover, 1838.\n\n1876 LAPPENBERG, see Adam of Bremen.\n\n1767 LEEM (Knud): Beskrivelse over Finmarkens Lapper. Copenhagen, 1767.\n\n1852 LELEWEL (Joachim): G\u00e9ographie du Moyen \u00c2ge. Breslau, 1852. Atlas,\n1851.\n\n1814 LETRONNE (A.): Recherches G\u00e9ographiques et Critiques sur le livre de\nMensura Orbis Terr\u00e6, etc. par Dicuil. Paris, 1814.\n\n1872 LIEBRECHT (Felix): Sanct Brandan. Ein lateinischer und drei deutsche\nTexte. Herausg. von Schr\u00f6der. \"The Academy,\" III, 1872.\n\n1689 LILLIENSKIOLD (Hans Hansen): Speculum boreale, 1689. MS. (No.\n948-949) in the Thott Collection in the Royal Library at Copenhagen. Copy\nin the collections of the Norwegian Historical MSS. Commission.\n\n1897 L\u00d6NBORG (Sven Erik): Adam af Bremen och hans skildring af Nordeuropas\nL\u00e4nder och Folk. Akad. Afh. Upsala, 1897.\n\n1861 MA\u00c7OUDI: Les Prairies d'or. Par C. Barbier de Meynard et Pavet de\nCourteille. \"Coll d'ouvr. orient. Soc. Asiatique.\" Paris, 1861.\n\n1896 MA\u00c7OUDI: Le livre de l'avertissement et de la revision. Par Carra de\nVaux. \"Coll. d'ouvr. orient. Soc. Asiatique.\" Paris, 1896.\n\n1883 MANDEVILLE (John): The Voiage and Travaile of Sir John Maundevile.\nEd. by J. O. Halliwell. London, 1883.\n\n1893 MARKHAM (Clements R.): Pytheas, the Discoverer of Britain. \"Geogr.\nJournal,\" I. London, 1893.\n\n1893 MARKHAM (C. R.): The Journal of Christopher Columbus and Documents\nrelating to the Voyages of John Cabot and Gaspar Corte Real. The Hakluyt\nSociety, LXXXVI. London, 1893.\n\n1897 MARKHAM (C. R.): Fourth Centenary of the Voyage of John Cabot 1497.\n\"Geogr. Journal,\" IX. London, 1897.\n\n1895 MARX (Friedrich): Aviens ora Maritima. \"Rheinisches Museum f\u00fcr\nPhilologie,\" N. F. L. Frankfurt, 1895.\n\n1901 1902 MATTHIAS (Franz): \u00dcber Pytheas von Massilia und die \u00e4ltesten\nNachrichten von den Germanen. Wissensch. Beilage z. \"Jahresbericht des\nK\u00f6nigl. Luisengymnasiums zu Berlin.\" Programm No. 62, 1901: Programm No.\n64, 1902. Berlin.\n\n1855 MAURER (Konrad): Die Bekehrung des Norwegischen Stammes zum\nChristenthume. M\u00fcnchen, 1855.\n\n1874 MAURER (K.): I. Gr\u00f6nland im Mittelalter. II. Gr\u00f6nlands\nWiederentdeckung. \"Die zweite Deutsche Nordpolarfahrt,\" 1869-1870. I.\nLeipzig, 1874.\n\n1874a MAURER (K.): Island von seiner ersten Entdeckung etc. M\u00fcnchen, 1874.\n\n1857 MEHREN (A. F.): Fremstilling af de Islamitiske Folks almindelige\ngeographiske Kundskaber, o. s. v. \"Ann. f. nord. Oldk. o. Hist.\"\nCopenhagen, 1857.\n\n1874 MEHREN (A. F.): Manuel de la Cosmographie du Moyen \u00c2ge. Copenhague,\n1874.\n\n1902 MEISSNER (R.): Die Strengleikar. Halle a. S., 1902.\n\n1822 MELA (Pomponius): Jordbeskrivelse. Ovs. a. J. H. Bredsdorff.\nCopenhagen, 1822.\n\n1895 METELKA (J.): O nezn\u00e1m\u00eam dosud vyd\u00e1ni mapy Islandu Olaa Magna zr.\n1548. \"Sitzungsber. d. kgl. b\u00f6hmischen Gesellsch. d. Wissensch., Cl. f.\nPhilos., Gesch. u. Philol.\" Jahrg. 1895. Prag, 1896.\n\n1895-97 MEYER (Kuno) and NUTT (Alfred): The Voyage of Bran son of Febal to\nthe Land of the Living. I, 1895; II, 1897. London.\n\n1853 MICHELSEN (A. L. J.): Die Hausmarke. Jena, 1853.\n\n1895-98 MILLER (Konrad): Mappe mundi. Die \u00e4ltesten Weltkarten, I-III,\n1895; IV-V, 1896; VI, 1898. Stuttgart.\n\n1892 MOGK (E.): Die Entdeckung Amerikas durch die Nordgermanen. \"Mitt. d.\nVereins f. Erdkunde z. Leipzig.\" 1892.\n\n1882 MOMMSEN (Th.), see JORDANES\n\n1895 MOMMSEN (Th.), see SOLINUS.\n\n1893 MUCH (Rudolf): Goten und Ingvaeonen. \"Beitr. z. Gesch. d. Deutschen\nSpr. u Lit.\" XVII. Halle, 1893.\n\n1895 MUCH (R.): Germanische V\u00f6lkernamen. \"Zeitsch. f. Deutsches Altertum,\"\nXXXIX. Berlin, 1895.\n\n1895a MUCH (R.): \"Alokiai Beitr. z. Gesch. d. Deutschen Spr. u. Lit.,\" XX.\nHalle, 1895.\n\n1905 MUCH (R.): Deutsche Stammeskunde. \"Sammlung G\u00f6schen.\" Leipzig, 1905.\n\n1870-1900 M\u00dcLLENHOFF (Karl): Deutsche Altertumskunde. I, 1870; II, 1887;\nIII, 1892; IV, 1900. Berlin.\n\n1889 M\u00dcLLENHOFF (K.): Beovulf. Berlin, 1889.\n\n1892 M\u00dcLLENHOFF (K.): and SCHERER (W.): Denkm\u00e4ler Deutscher Poesie und\nProsa. 3. Ausg. Berlin, 1892.\n\n1909 M\u00dcLLER (Sophus): De forhistoriske Tider i Europa. \"Verdens Kulturen\"\nved Aage Friis, II. Copenhagen, 1909.\n\n1851 MUNCH (P. A.): Det norske Folks Historie. Christiania, 1851.\n\n1852 MUNCH (P. A.): Geographiske Oplysninger om de i Sagaerne forekommende\nskotske og irske Stedsnavne. \"Ann. f. Nord. Oldk. o. Hist.\" Copenhagen\n1852.\n\n1860 MUNCH (P. A.): Chronica Regum Manni\u00e6 ed. Christiania, 1860.\n\n1895 MURRAY (John): A Summary of the Scientific Results, etc. Historical\nIntroduction. \"Challenger's Report,\" Summary, I. London, 1895.\n\n1890 NANSEN (Fridtjof): P\u00e5 ski over Gr\u00f6nland, Christiania, 1890. (Engl.\ntransl.) \"The First Crossing of Greenland,\" London, 1890.\n\n1891 NANSEN (F.): Eskimoliv. Christiania, 1891. (Engl. transl., \"Eskimo\nLife,\" London, 1893.)\n\n1905 NIELSEN (Yngvar): Nordm\u00e6nd og Skr\u00e6linger i Vinland. \"Hist.\nTidsskrift,\" 4. R. III: and in \"Norsk geogr. Selsk. \u00c5rbog.\" 1905.\n\n1892 NIESE (B.): Entwickelung der Homerischen Poesie. Berlin, 1882.\n\n1837 NILSSON (Sven): N\u00e5gra Commentarier till Pytheas' fragmenter om Thule.\n\"Physiographiska S\u00e4llskapets Tidsskrift,\" I, 1837. Lund, 1837-1838.\n\n1838 NILSSON (S.): Einige Bemerkungen zu Pytheas Nachrichten \u00fcber Thule\n(from Swedish). \"Zeitschr. Alterthumwiss.\" 1838.\n\n1862 1865 NILSSON (S.): Skandinaviske Nordens Ur-Inv\u00e5nare. Brons\u00e5lderen.\n2. utg. Stockholm, 1862. Till\u00e4gg, 1865. In German translation: \"Die\nUreinwohner des scandinavischen Nordens.\" Das Bronzealter. 2. Ausg.\nHamburg, 1866.\n\n1815 NOEL (S. B. J.): Histoire Generale des P\u00eaches Anciennes et Modernes.\nParis, 1815.\n\n1889 NORDENSKI\u00d6LD (A. E.): Facsimile Atlas. Stockholm, 1889.\n\n1892 NORDENSKI\u00d6LD (A. E.): Bidrag til Nordens \u00e4ldsta Kartografi. Utg. af\n\"Svenska S\u00e4llsk. f. Antr. o. Geogr.\" Stockholm, 1892.\n\n1897 NORDENSKI\u00d6LD (A. E.): Periplus. Stockholm, 1897.\n\n1899 NYSTR\u00d6M (J. F.): Geografiens och de Geografiska Uppt\u00e4ckternas\nHistoria, till B\u00f6rjan af 1800-Talet. Stockholm, 1899.\n\n1905 OLSEN (Magnus): Det gamle norske \u00f6navn Njar\u00f0arlog. \"Forh. i Vid.\nSelsk.\" Christiania, 1905.\n\n1909 OLSEN (M.): Peder Clauss\u00f6n om Sj\u00f6finnernes Sprog. \"Maal og Minne.\"\nChristiania, 1909.\n\nONGANIA, see TH. FISCHER.\n\n1878 PAULUS WARNEFRIDI: Historia Langobardorum. Ed. L. Bethmann et G.\nWaitz. Script. Rer. Langob. et Italic. Saec. VI-IX. \"Monumenta Germaniae\nHistorica.\" Hannover, 1878.\n\n1878 PESCHEL (Johannes): Das M\u00e4rchen vom Schlaraffenlande. \"Beitr. z.\nGesch. d. Deutschen Spr. u. Lit.,\" V. Halle, 1878.\n\n1866 PLINII (C.) Secundi: Naturalis Historia. Rec. D. Detlefsen. Berolini,\n1866.\n\n1881 PLINIUS: Die Naturgeschichte des Cajus Plinius Secundus. \u00dcbs. v. G.\nC. Wittstein. Leipzig, 1881.\n\n1893 PLUTARCH: Moralia, ed. BERNARDABIS. V. Leipzig, 1893.\n\n1753 PONTOPPIDAN (Erich): Det f\u00f6rste Fors\u00f6g paa Norges Naturlige Historie.\nCopenhagen, 1753.\n\n1800 PORTHAN (H. G.), see King ALFRED.\n\n1829 PROCOPIUS: Des Prokopius von C\u00e4sarea Geschichte seiner Zeit; III og\nIV, Gothische Denkw\u00fcrdigkeiten. Ubers. von P. F. Kanngiesser. Greifswald,\n1829 og 1831.\n\n1905 PROCOPIUS: Procopii Caesariensis opera omnia. Recognovit Jacobus\nHaury, Leipzig, 1905.\n\n1838 PTOLEMAEUS (Claudius): Claudii Ptolem\u00e6i Geographi\u00e6 libri octo. Ed. F.\nG. Wilberg. Essendi\u00e6, 1838.\n\n1907 PULL\u00c8 (F. L.) and LONGHENA (M.): Illustrazione del Mappamondo\nCatalano della Biblioteca Estense di Modena. \"VI Congresso Geografico\nItaniano, Venezia, 1907.\" Venezia, 1908.\n\n1848 QAZW\u00ceN\u00ce: Zakarija b. Muhammed b. Mahmud el-Caswini's Kosmographie.\nHgb. von F. W\u00fcstenfeld. G\u00f6ttingen, 1848.\n\n1893 QVIGSTAD (J. K.): Nordische Lehnw\u00f6rter in Lappischen. \"Forhandl. i\nVid. Selsk.\" Christiania, 1893.\n\n1909 QVIGSTAD (J. K.): Peder Clauss\u00f6n om Sj\u00f6finnernes Sprog. \"Maal og\nMinne.\" Christiania, 1909.\n\n1837 RAFN (C. Chr.): Antiquitates Americanae. Copenhagen, 1837.\n\n1900 RANISCH (Wilhelm): Die Gautreksaga. \"Palaestra,\" XI. Berlin, 1900.\n\n1815 RASK (R.), see King ALFRED.\n\n1860 RAVENNA GEOGRAPHER: Ravennatis Anonymi Cosmographia et Guidonis\nGeographican. Ed. M. Pinder et G. Parthey. Berolini, 1860.\n\n1908 RAVENSTEIN (E. G.): Martin Behaim, his Life and his Globe. London,\n1908.\n\n1895 REEVES (Arthur Middleton): The Finding of Wineland the Good. London,\n1895.\n\n1892 REINACH (Salomon): L'\u00e9tain celtique. \"L'Anthropologie,\" III. Paris,\n1892.\n\n1852-57 RINK (H.): Gr\u00f6nland, geografisk og statistisk beskrevet.\nCopenhagen, 1852-57.\n\n1866 RINK (H.): Eskimoiske Eventyr og Sagn. Copenhagen, 1866.\n\n1871 RINK (H.): Om Eskimoernes Herkomst. \"Aarb. f. nord. Oldk. o. Hist.\"\nCopenhagen, 1871.\n\n1885 RINK (H.): Om de eskimoiske Dialekter som Bidrag til Bed\u00f6mmelsen af\nSp\u00f6rgamaalet om Eskimoernes Herkomst og Vandringer. \"Aarb. f. nord. Oldk.\no. Hist.\" Copenhagen, 1885.\n\nRINK (H.): The Eskimo Dialects as serving to determine the Relationship\nbetween the Eskimo Tribes. Anthrop. Inst. of Great Britain and Ireland,\nXV.\n\n1887 1891 RINK (H.): The Eskimo Tribes. \"Medd. om Gr\u00f6nland,\" XI.\nCopenhagen, 1887; and \"Supplement\" to XI. 1891.\n\n1900 ROHDE (Erwin): Der Griechische Roman und seine Vorl\u00e4ufer. 2. Aufl.\nLeipzig, 1900.\n\n1892 RUGE (Sophus): Die Entdeckungs-Geschichte der Neuen Welt.\n\"Festschrift der Hamburgischen Amerika-Feier,\" I. Hamburg, 1892.\n\n1892 RUGE (S.): Die Entwickelung der Kartographie von Amerika bis 1570.\n\"Peterm. geogr. Mitt.\" Erg. heft No. 106. Gotha, 1892.\n\n1886 1790 RYDBERG (Viktor): Unders\u00f6kningar i Germanisk Mythologi.\nStockholm, 1886. \"Rymbegla\" sive rudimentum compasti ecclesiatici veterum\nislandorum. Ed. Stephanus Bi\u00f6rnonis. Havni\u00e6, 1780.\n\n1853 SAN-MARTHE: Die Sagen von Merlin. Halle, 1853.\n\n1877 SARS (J. Ernst): Udsigt over den norske Historie. Christiania, I-IV,\n1877 (2. utg.)--1891.\n\nSAXO GRAMMATICUS, see HERRMANN and JANTZEN.\n\n1873 SCHIERN (Frederik): Om Oprindelsen til Sagnet om de guldgravende\nMyrer. Ovs. over det Kgl. Danske Vid.-Selsk. Forh. Copenhagen, 1873.\n\n1888 SCHIRMER (Gustav): Zur Brendanus-Legende. Habilitationsschrift.\nLeipzig, 1888.\n\n1881 SCHLIEMANN (H.): Ilion. Leipzig, 1881.\n\n1851 SCHOOLCRAFT (Henry R.): Historical and Statistical Information\nrespecting the History, Condition and Prospects of the Indian Tribes of\nthe United States. Philadelphia, 1851.\n\n1901 SCHRADER (O.): Reallexikon der Indogermanischen Altertumskunde.\nStrassburg, 1901.\n\n1871 SCHR\u00d6DER (Carl): Sanct Brandan. Erlangen, 1871.\n\n1890 SCHUCHHARDT: Schliemanns Ausgrabungen im Lichte der heutigen\nWissenschaft. Leipzig, 1890.\n\n1904 SCHULTZ-LORENTZEN: Eskimoernes Indvandring i Gr\u00f6nland. \"Medd. om\nGr\u00f6nland,\" XXVI. Copenhagen, 1904.\n\n1898 SCHWEIGER-LERCHENFELD (A. v.): Der Bernstein als Handelsartikel bei\nden Alten. \"Oesterr. Monatschrift f\u00fcr den Orient.\" Wien, 1898, No. 12,\nAnhang.\n\n1884 SCHWERIN (H. H. von): Herodots framst\u00e4llning af Europas Geografi.\nLund, 1884.\n\n1905 SCHWERIN (H. H. von): De Geografiska Uppt\u00e4ckternas Historia.\nForntiden och Medeltiden. Stockholm, 1905.\n\n1908 SCISCO (L. D.): The Tradition of Hvittramanna-land. \"American\nHistorical Magazine,\" III. 1908.\n\n1896 SEIPPEL (Alexander): Rerum Normannicarum fontes Arabici. Fasc. I.\nChristiania, 1896. (In Arabic.)\n\n1886 SERBILLOT (Paul): L\u00e9gendes, croyances et superstitions de la Mer.\nParis, 1886.\n\n1908-09 SIRET (Louis): Les Cassit\u00e9rides et l'empire Colonial des\nPh\u00e9niciens. \"L'Anthropologie,\" XIX, 1908; XX, no. 2-4. Paris, 1909.\n\n1899 SNORRE STURLASON: Kongesagaer oversat av G. Storm. Christiania, 1899.\n\n1909 1910 SOLBERG (O.): Die Wohnpl\u00e4tze auf der Kjelminsel in S\u00fcd-Waranger.\n\"Vid. Selsk. Skr.,\" II, 1909, No. 7. Christiania, 1910.\n\n1907 SOLBERG (O.): Beitr\u00e4ge zur Vorgeschichte der Ost-Eskimo. \"Vid. Selsk.\nSkr.,\" II, No. 2. Christiania, 1907.\n\n1895 SOLINI (C. Julii): Collectanea rerum memorabilium, ed. Th. Mommsen.\nBerolini, 1895.\n\n1905 STEENSBY (H. P.): Om Eskimokulturens Oprindelse. Copenhagen, 1905.\n\n1889 STEENSTRUP (Japetus): Nogle Bemerkninger om Ottar's Beretning til\nKong Alfred om Hvalros- og Hvalfangst i Nordhavet p\u00e5 hans Tid. \"Hist.\nTidsskr.,\" 6. R. II. Copenhagen, 1889.\n\n1876 STEENSTRUP (Johannes C. H. R.): Normannerne, I. Copenhagen, 1876.\n\n1899 STEENSTRUP (K. I. V.): Om \u00d6sterbygden. \"Medd. om Gr\u00f6nland,\" IX.\nCopenhagen, 1899.\n\n1880 STORM (Gustav): \"Monumenta Historica Norvegi\u00e6.\" Latinske\nKildeskrifter til Norges Historie i Middelalderen, udgivne ved G. Storm.\nChristiania, 1880.\n\n1881 STORM (G.): see Peder Clauss\u00f6n FRIIS.\n\n1886 STORM (G.): Om Betydningen av \"Eyktarstadr\" i Flat\u00f6bogens Beretning\nom Vinlandsreiserne. \"Arkiv. f. Nord. Filologi,\" III. Christiania, 1886.\n\n1887 STORM (G.): Studier over Vinlandsreiserne, Vinlands Geografi og\nEthnografi. Reprinted from \"Aarb. for Nord. Oldk. o. Hist.\" 1887.\nCopenhagen, 1888.\n\n1888 1889 STORM (G.): Studies on the Vineland Voyages. Extracts from \"M\u00e9m.\nd. l. Soc. Royale d. Antiquaires du Nord,\" 1888. Copenhagen, 1889.\n\n1888 STORM (G.): see \"Islandske Annaler.\"\n\n1888 STORM (G.): Om Kilderne til Lyschanders \"Gr\u00f6ndlandske Cronica.\"\n\"Aarb. for Nord. Oldk. o. Hist.\" Copenhagen, 1888.\n\n1888a STORM (G.): Om det i 1285 fra Island fundne \"Nye Land.\" \"Hist.\nTidsskr.\" 2. R. VI. Christiania, 1888.\n\n1889 1891 STORM (G.): Den danske Geograf Claudius Clavus eller Nicolaus\nNiger. \"Ymer.\" Stockholm, 1889, 1891.\n\n1890 STORM (G.): Ginnungagap. \"Arkiv f. Nord. Filologi,\" VI. (N. F. II).\nLund, 1890.\n\n1890a STORM (G.): Om Biskop Gisle Odds\u00f6ns Annaler. \"Arkiv f. Nord.\nFilologi,\" VI. (N. F. II). Lund. 1890.\n\n1891 STORM (G.): see Eiriks Saga Rau\u00f0a.\n\n1892 STORM (G.): Nye Efterretninger om det gamle Gr\u00f6land. \"Hist.\nTidsskr.,\" 3. R. II. Christiania, 1892.\n\n1893 STORM (G.): Columbus p\u00e5 Island og vore Forf\u00e6dres Opdagelser i det\nnordvestlige Atlanterhav. \"Norske geogr. Selsk. Aarbog,\" IV. Christiania,\n1893.\n\n1894 STORM (G.): Om opdagelsen av \"Nordkap\" og veien til \"det Hvite Hav.\"\n\"Norske geogr. Selsk. Aarbog.\" V. Christiania, 1893-94.\n\n1895 STORM (G.): Utg. av Historisk-topografiske Skrifter om Norges og\nnorske Landsdele forfattede i Norge i det 16de Aarhundrede. Christiania,\n1895.\n\n1899 STORM (G.): Et brev til pave Nicolaus den 5te om Norges beliggenhet\nog undre. \"Norske geogr. Selsk. Aarbog,\" X. Christiania, 1899.\n\n1899a STORM (G.): Erik den R\u00f6des Saga eller Sagaen om Vinland, oversat.\nChristiania, 1899.\n\n1899 STORM (G.): see SNORRE STURLASON.\n\n1856 STRABO'S Erdbeschreibung, \u00fcbs. v. A. Forbiger. Stuttgart, 1856-58.\n\n1877 STRABONIS Geographica. Recogn. Aug. Meineke. Leipzig, 1877.\n\n1776 STR\u00d6M (G.): Beskrivelse over S\u00f6ndm\u00f6r. Sor\u00f6e, 1776.\n\n1910 SYDOW (C. W. von): Tors F\u00e4rd till Utg\u00e5rd. \"Danske Studier,\" 1910.\n\n1870 TACITI (C. Cornelii): Agricola. Ovs. a. H. W. Ottesen. Christiania,\n1870\n\n1881 TACITI (Cornelii): Germania. Erb. v. A. Baumstark. Leipzig, 1881.\n\n1873 TACITUS (Cornelius): Germania Antiqva, etc. Ed. Karolus\nMuellenhoffivs. Berolini, 1873.\n\n1873 TACITUS (C.): Die Germania des Tacitus. \u00dcbs. v. Anton Baumstark.\nFreiburg in Br., 1876.\n\n1892 TARDUCCI (Francesco): Di Giovanni e Sebastiano Caboto. \"R.\nDeputazione Veneta di Storia Patria.\" Venezia, 1892.\n\n1894 TARDUCCI (F.): H. Harrisse e la Fama di Sebastiano Caboto. \"Revista\nStorica Italiana,\" XI. fasc. IV. Torino, 1894.\n\n1904 THALBITZER (William): A phonetical study of the Eskimo Language.\n\"Medd. om Gr\u00f6nland,\" XXXI. Copenhagen, 1904.\n\n1905 THALBITZER (W.): Skr\u00e6lingerne i Markland og Gr\u00f6nland, deres Sprog og\nNationalitet. \"Overs. over Kgl. Danske Vid. Selsk. Forh.,\" No. 2.\nCopenhagen, 1905.\n\n1908-10 THALBITZER (W.): Bidrag til Eskimoernes Fortidshistorie. \"Geogr.\nTidsskrift,\" XIX, 1908; XX, 1909-1910. Copenhagen.\n\n1822 THEOPHRASTUS: Historia Plantarum. German transl. Naturgeschichte der\nGew\u00e4chse, ed. R. Sprengel. Altona, 1822.\n\n1882 THOMSEN (Vilhelm): Ryska Rikets Grundl\u00e4ggning genom Skandinaverna.\nOfvers. ved Sven S\u00f6derberg. \"Ur V\u00e5r Tids Forskning,\" XXX. Stockholm, 1882.\n\n1897 THORODDSEN (Th.): Geschichte der Isl\u00e4ndischen Geographie, I, 1897;\nII, 1898. Leipzig.\n\n1889 TOMASCHEK (Wilhelm): Kritik der \u00e4ltesten Nachrichten \u00fcber den\nskythischen Norden. \"Sitzungsber. d. Philos.-Hist. Cl. d. R. Akad. d.\nWiss.\" Wien, CLXX, 1889.\n\n1843 THUE (H. J.): Om Pytheas fra Marseille og hans Reiser til det\nnordlige Europa. \"Nor,\" II. Christiania, 1843.\n\n1908 VANGENSTEN (Ove C. L.): Michel Beheims Reise til Danmark og Norge i\n1450. \"Vid.-Selsk. Skr.,\" 1908, II, No. 2. Christiania.\n\n1910 VANGENSTEN (Ove C. L.): Middelalderens Norges-Karter. \"Norske Geogr.\nSelsk. Aarb.,\" 1910. Christiania.\n\n1898 VAUX (Carra de): L'Abr\u00e9g\u00e9 des Merveilles, traduit de l'Arabe. Paris,\n1898.\n\n1856 VIGF\u00daSSON (Gudbrand): Safn til s\u01ebgn Islands og Islenzkra B\u00f3kmenta a\u00f0\nfornu og n\u00fdju. Copenhagen, 1856.\n\n1878 VIGF\u00daSSON (G.): Sturlunga saga. Oxford, 1878.\n\n1844 WACKERNAGEL (Wilh.): Geographie des Mittelalters. \"Zeitschr. f.\nDeutsches Alterthum,\" IV. Leipzig, 1844.\n\n1902 WALKENDORF (Erik): Finmarkens Beskrivelse. Utg. av K. H. Karlsson og\nGustav Storm. \"Norske Geogr. Selsk. Aarb.,\" XII, 1900-1901. Christiania,\n1902.\n\n1833 WELCHER (F.G.): Die Homerischen Ph\u00e4aken und die Inseln der Seligen.\n\"Rhenisches Museum f\u00fcr Philologie,\" I. Bonn, 1833.\n\n1789 WIELAND (C. M.): Lucians von Samosata S\u00e4mtliche Werke, IV, Wahre\nGeschichte. Leipzig, 1789.\n\n1895 WIKLUND (K. B.): Om kv\u00e4nerna och deras nationalitet. \"Arkiv f. nord.\nFilologi,\" XII. Lund, 1895.\n\n1854 WUTTKE (H.): Cosmographia Aethici Istrici. Leipzig, 1854.\n\n1837 ZEUSS (Kaspar): Die Deutschen und die Nachbarst\u00e4mme. M\u00fcnchen, 1837.\n\n1889 ZIMMER (Heinrich): Keltische Beitr\u00e4ge. \"Zeitschr. f. Deutsches\nAlterthum,\" XXXIII. Berlin, 1889.\n\n1891 ZIMMER (H.): \u00dcber die fr\u00fchesten Ber\u00fchrung der Iren mit den\nNordgermanen. \"Sitz\u00fcngsber. der Berliner Akademie,\" 1891.\n\n1893 ZIMMER (H.): Nennius Vindicatus. \u00dcber Entstehung, Geschichte und\nQuellen der Historia Brittonum. Berlin, 1893.\n\n1909 ZIMMER (H.): \u00dcber direkte Handelsverbindungen Westgalliens mit Irland\nim Altertum und fr\u00fchen Mittelalter. \"Sitz\u00fcngsber. d. Kgl. Preussischen\nAkad. d. Wissenschaften.\" Berlin, 1909.\n\n\n\n\nINDEX\n\n\n  Aasen, I., i. 352; ii. 9\n\n  Abalus, Island of, i. 70, 71, 72, 73, 118, 365\n\n  Ablabius, i. 129, 142, 144, 155\n\n  Ab\u00fb H\u00e2mid, ii. 145, 146\n\n  Abyss, at the edge of the world, i. 12, 84, 157-9, 195, 199; ii. 150,\n        154, 240\n\n  Adam of Bremen, i. 21, 59, 84, 112, 135, 159, 179, 182, 183, 184-202,\n        204, 206, 229, 252, 258, 303, 312, 353, 362, 363, 365, 367, 382-4;\n        ii. 2, 11, 26, 29, 31, 32, 58, 63, 64, 65, 101, 143, 147-54, 165,\n        168, 177, 192, 214, 224, 237, 238, 240, 243, 278, 284\n\n  \"Adogit,\" Northern people, i. 131-3, 143, 194\n\n  \u00c6\u00e6a, Isle of, i. 13\n\n  \u00c6lian, i. 12, 16, 17\n\n  \u00c6ningia, i. 101, 104\n\n  \u00c6stii (_see_ Esthonians)\n\n  \u00c6thicus Istricus, i. 154-5, 187, 188\n\n  \"\u00c6tternis stapi\" (the tribal cliff), i. 18-9\n\n  Africa, Supposed connection with Wineland, i. 326; ii. 1-2, 29, 61, 240,\n        248, 280\n\n  Agathemerus, i. 44\n\n  Agricola, i. 107-8, 117\n\n  Agrippa, i. 97, 106\n\n  Ahlenius, K., i. 43, 93, 104, 112, 131\n\n  Aithanarit, i. 144, 153, 154\n\n  Alani, i. 188, 383\n\n  Albertus Magnus, ii. 158, 163, 178, 234\n\n  Albi, mappamundi at, ii. 183\n\n  Albion (_see_ Britain), i. 38, 39, 117\n\n  Aleutians, ii. 69, 71\n\n  Alexander the Great, i. 19, 182, 363; ii. 57, 206, 207, 213\n\n  Alexander VI., Pope, Letter from, on Greenland (1492-3), ii. 106, 121-2\n\n  Alexander, Sir William, ii. 3\n\n  Alfred, King, i. 104, 160, 169-81, 204, 252; ii. 156, 243\n\n  Al-Gaz\u00e2l, voyage to the land of the Mag\u01f5\u00fbs, ii. 200-2\n\n  Algonkin tradition, ii. 7-8, 93;\n    lacrosse among, ii. 40\n\n  Aloci\u00e6, i. 118, 119, 132\n\n  Amalcium (northern sea), i. 98-9, 105\n\n  Amazons, i. 20, 87, 88, 112, 114, 150, 154, 159, 160, 186, 187, 189,\n        198, 356, 383; ii. 64, 188, 197, 206, 209, 214\n\n  Amber, i. 14, 19, 22, 23, 27, 31-4, 70, 71, 72, 96, 101, 106, 109-10;\n        ii. 207\n\n  Amdrup, Captain, i. 290\n\n  America, discovered by the Norsemen, i. 234, 248, 312; ii. 22, 61, 63\n\n  Ammianus Marcellinus, i. 44, 123\n\n  Anaxagoras, i. 12\n\n  Anaximander of Miletus, i. 11\n\n  Anaximenes, i. 11, 128\n\n  Angles, i. 180\n\n  Anglo-Portuguese expeditions of 1501, ii. 331-2, 357;\n    of 1502, ii. 332-4;\n    of 1503, ii. 334-5;\n    of 1504, ii. 335\n\n  Angmagsalik, Greenland, i. 261, 263, 282, 290, 291; ii. 73\n\n  \"Anostos,\" The gulf, i. 17, 158; ii. 150, 240\n\n  Ants, fabulous, i. 154, 336; ii. 197\n\n  Apollo, worshipped among the Hyperboreans, i. 16, 18, 19\n\n  Apollonius of Rhodes, i. 19, 44\n\n  Appulus, Guillelmus, ii. 162\n\n  Arabs, i. 362, 366; ii. 57;\n    their trade with North Russia, ii. 143-7, 194;\n    their culture, ii. 194-5;\n    possible exchange of ideas with the Irish, ii. 207;\n    Arab geographers, ii. 194-214\n\n  Arab myths, i. 382; ii. 10, 51, 197, 206-8, 213-4;\n    affinity to Irish, ii. 207\n\n  Arctic, origin of the word, i. 8;\n    Arctic Circle, i. 53, 55-7, 62, 76, 117\n\n  Arctic Ocean, Voyages in, i. 287; ii. 177 (_see also_ Polar Sea)\n\n  Are Frode (_Islendingab\u00f3k_), i. 165-6, 201, 253-4, 257, 258-60, 312,\n        313, 331, 332, 353, 354, 366, 367, 368; ii. 11, 16, 26, 58, 60,\n        77-8, 82, 86, 91\n\n  Are M\u00e1rsson, voyage to Hv\u00edtramannaland, i. 331-2, 353-4, 377; ii. 42,\n        43, 46, 50\n\n  Argipp\u00e6ans, i. 23, 88, 114, 155\n\n  Arimaspians, i. 16, 19, 98\n\n  Arimph\u00e6i, i. 88; ii. 188\n\n  Aristarchus of Samos, i. 47, 77\n\n  Aristeas of Proconnesus, i. 19\n\n  Aristotle, i. 28, 40, 41, 44, 76, 182; ii. 48, 194\n\n  Arnbj\u00f6rn Austman, lost in Greenland, i. 283\n\n  Arngrim J\u00f3nsson, i. 263; ii. 79\n\n  \"Arochi\" (or \"Arothi\"; _see_ Harudes), i. 136, 148\n\n  Asbj\u00f6rnsen, i. 381\n\n  Askeladden, Tale of, i. 341\n\n  Assaf Hebr\u00e6us, ii. 200\n\n  Assyria, supposed communication with the North, i. 35, 36\n\n  \"Astingi,\" or \"Hazdingi\" (Haddingjar, Hallinger), i. 104\n\n  Athen\u00e6us, i. 46, 351\n\n  _Atlam\u00e1l en gr\u0153nlenzku_, i. 273\n\n  Atlantic Ocean, i. 10, 39, 40, 77, 78, 252, 315, 316, 346; ii. 154, 293,\n        307, 308\n\n  Atlantis, i. 376; ii. 293\n\n  Aubert, Karl, ii. 253\n\n  \"Augandzi,\" i. 136\n\n  Austlid, Andreas, i. 340\n\n  Avallon, Isle of, i. 72, 365-6, 379; ii. 20\n\n  d'Avezac, M. P., i. 362; ii. 216, 290\n\n  Avienus, Rufus Festus, i. 37-42, 68, 83, 123, 128, 130\n\n  Aviones, i. 95, 118\n\n  Ayala, Pedro de, adjunct to the Spanish Ambassador in London, ii. 295,\n        297, 298, 299, 301, 310, 311, 324, 325-6\n\n  Azores, discovered, ii. 292;\n    expeditions from, ii. 293, 345, 346, 347\n\n\n  \"Bacallaos,\" name for Newfoundland, ii. 329, 337, 339\n\n  Bacon, Roger, ii. 215, 249\n\n  Baffin Land, i. 322, 323; ii. 41\n\n  Baffin's Bay, i. 248, 250, 304, 305, 308, 309; ii. 41, 72\n\n  Bahl\u00fbl, Ibn al-, ii. 197\n\n  Balcia, Island of, i. 71, 72, 99, 100, 101, 185\n\n  Balder, i. 372\n\n  Baltic, amber from, i. 14, 22, 32, 34, 35, 96;\n    ancient names for, and ideas of, i. 93, 99, 100, 105, 109, 121, 131,\n        167, 169, 185; ii. 210, 211, 219;\n    representation of in medi\u00e6val cartography, ii. 219, 224, 227, 257,\n        269, 284, 286;\n    overland communication with the Black Sea, i. 244; ii. 199\n\n  Basilia, island, i. 70, 71, 99\n\n  Basques, as whalers, ii. 159-62\n\n  Bastarni (Bastarn\u00e6), i. 111, 112, 113, 114\n\n  Bat\u00fbta, Ibn, ii. 144, 145\n\n  Baumgartner, A., i. 193\n\n  Baumstark, A., i. 113\n\n  Baunonia, Island of, i. 70, 98\n\n  Bavarian geographer, The, i. 167\n\n  Bayeux tapestry, i. 239, 248, 249; ii. 237, 239\n\n  Bears, Polar, i. 191, 192, 323; ii. 72, 112, 177, 191\n\n  Beatus map, i. 198, 199; ii. 184, 185-6\n\n  Beauvois, E., ii. 40, 90\n\n  Beazley, C. R., ii. 215, 295\n\n  Bede, i. 151, 184, 193, 194, 199; ii. 20, 156\n\n  Behaim, Martin, ii. 86, 287-9, 359, 372\n\n  Beheim, Michel, i. 226; ii. 85, 86, 111, 117, 144, 270\n\n  Belc\u00e6, or \"Belg\u00e6,\" i. 89, 92\n\n  Benedikson, E., i. 59\n\n  Beormas, i. 171, 173-5, 214, 218, 219, 222; ii. 135 (_see also_ Bjarmas)\n\n  _Beowulf_, i. 234, 372\n\n  B\u00e9rard, V., i. 348, 371, 379\n\n  Bergen, ii. 80, 120, 122, 125, 157, 169, 178, 210, 220, 221, 222, 260,\n        261, 264, 265, 266, 281, 286\n\n  Berger, H., i. 11, 12, 43, 75\n\n  \"Bergos,\" island, i. 106, 107\n\n  Bering Strait, i. 212, 223; ii. 68, 69, 84\n\n  Berneker, Prof., ii. 175-6\n\n  \"Berricen\" (or \"Nerigon\"), i. 53, 57-8, 106, 107\n\n  Bethmann and Waitz, i. 139\n\n  Bexell, ii. 56\n\n  Bianco, Andrea, map of Europe (1436), ii. 267, 282\n\n  Bible, The, i. 125, 126, 153, 184, 338, 358, 363; ii. 45, 46, 184, 185\n\n  Birds, used to find position at sea, i. 250-1, 257, 318\n\n  B\u00eer\u00fbn\u00ee, ii. 199, 200\n\n  Bishops of Greenland, i. 273, 283; ii. 29, 30-1, 98-9, 106, 108, 113-4,\n        121, 122, 134\n\n  _Biskupa S\u00f6gur_, i. 284; ii. 8\n\n  Bjarmas (_see also_ Beormas), ii. 135-40, 167\n\n  Bjarmeland (Northern Russia), i. 173-5, 288; ii. 135-42, 154, 164, 165,\n        166, 168, 172, 237, 268;\n    \"Farther Bjarmeland,\" ii. 165-6\n\n  Bjarne Grimolfsson, Wineland voyager, i. 319, 320, 326, 329, 330; ii. 20\n\n  Bjarne Herjulfsson, traditional discoverer of Wineland, i. 314, 317,\n        334; ii. 21\n\n  Bjarneyjar (Bear-islands), Greenland, i. 301, 302, 304, 321, 322, 323,\n        335, 336\n\n  Bj\u00f6rn Breidvikingekj\u00e6mpe, i. 360; ii. 49-50, 53, 54, 56\n\n  Bj\u00f6rn Einarsson Jorsalafarer, ii. 82, 106, 112, 113\n\n  Bj\u00f6rn J\u00f3nsson of Skards\u00e1 (Annals of Greenland), i. 263, 282-3, 288, 292,\n        295, 299, 301, 308, 309, 321, 377; ii. 35, 37, 82, 83, 239\n\n  Bj\u00f6rn Thorleifsson, shipwrecked in Greenland, ii. 82\n\n  Bj\u00f6rnbo, Dr. A. A., i. 200, 201, 202, 297; ii. 2, 31, 32, 116, 123, 127,\n        132, 147, 154, 193, 220, 221, 223, 224, 225, 226, 233, 234, 240,\n        249, 250, 253, 261, 262, 264, 273, 277, 278, 281, 283, 284, 287,\n        289, 332, 353, 368, 369, 370, 374, 375\n\n  Bj\u00f6rnbo and Petersen, i. 226; ii. 85, 123, 124, 127, 219, 231, 234, 249,\n        250, 252, 253, 254, 255, 256, 258, 262, 263, 267, 273, 275, 277,\n        377\n\n  Bl\u00e1serkr (Greenland), i. 267, 291-6\n\n  Blom, O., ii. 8\n\n  Boas, F., ii. 69, 70\n\n  Boats of hides (coracles, &c.), in the \u0152strymnides, i. 38, 39;\n    Scythians, Saxons, &c., i. 154, 242;\n    Greenlanders', i. 305;\n    Irish, ii. 92;\n    Skr\u00e6lings', in Wineland, i. 327; ii. 10, 19;\n    in Trondhjem cathedral, ii. 85, 89, 117, 269, 270;\n    in Irish tales, i. 336; ii. 20;\n    in Newfoundland (?), ii. 367;\n    Eskimo, _see_ Kayaks _and_ Women's Boats\n\n  Bob\u00e9, Louis, ii. 126\n\n  Borderie, A. de la, i. 234\n\n  Borgia mappamundi, ii. 284-5\n\n  Bornholm, i. 169, 180; ii. 204, 265\n\n  Bothnia, Gulf of, i. 169, 187; ii. 269;\n    in medi\u00e6val cartography, ii. 219\n\n  \"Boti,\" i. 87\n\n  Bran, Voyage of, i. 198, 354, 356, 365, 370; ii. 56\n\n  Brandan, Legend of, i. 281-2, 334, 337, 344, 345, 358-364, 366, 376; ii.\n        9, 10, 13, 18, 19, 43-5, 50, 51, 61, 64, 75, 151, 206, 214, 228-9,\n        234\n\n  Brattalid, in Greenland, i. 268, 270, 271, 275, 317, 319, 320, 331\n\n  Brauns, D., i. 377; ii. 56\n\n  \"Brazil,\" Isle of (Hy Breasail, O'Brazil, &c.), i. 3, 357, 379; ii. 30,\n        228-30, 279, 294-5, 318;\n    expeditions to find, ii. 294-5, 301, 325\n\n  Breda, O. J., ii. 31\n\n  Brenner, O., i. 58\n\n  Brinck (_Descriptio Loufodi\u00e6_), i. 378\n\n  Bristol, trade with Iceland, ii. 119, 279, 293;\n    Norwegians living at, ii. 119, 180;\n    expeditions sent out from, ii. 294-5, 298, 301, 304, 325, 326, 327,\n        330, 331\n\n  Britain, i. 193, 234, 240, 241;\n    visited by Pytheas, i. 49, 50-3;\n    C\u00e6sar on, i. 79-80;\n    Mela on, i. 97;\n    Pliny on, ii. 106;\n    Ptolemy on, i. 117;\n    in medi\u00e6val cartography, ii. 220, 227\n\n  Brittany, cromlechs in, i. 22;\n    tin in, i. 23, 26, 27, 29-31, 38-42\n\n  Broch, Prof. Olaf, ii. 142, 175, 176\n\n  Br\u00f6gger, A. W., i. 14\n\n  Br\u00f6nlund, J\u00f6rgen, i. 2-3\n\n  Bruun, D., i. 164, 270, 271, 274, 275\n\n  Bugge, Prof. A., i. 136, 137, 138, 146, 163, 164, 166, 170, 173, 234,\n        245, 246, 258, 297, 304; ii. 7, 55, 80, 168, 201\n\n  Bugge, Sophus, i. 93, 94, 103, 132, 134, 135, 136, 138, 146, 148, 207,\n        273; ii. 27, 28, 175\n\n  Bulgarians of the Volga, ii. 142-5, 195, 200, 210\n\n  Bunbury, E. H., i. 30, 107\n\n  \"Burgundians\" (== Bornholmers ?), i. 169, 180\n\n  Burrough, Stephen, ii. 173\n\n\n  Cabot, John, i. 3, 115, 312; ii. 130, 295-330, 333, 343, 374, 377;\n    settles at Bristol, ii. 297;\n    voyage of 1496, ii. 299-301;\n    voyage of 1497, ii. 301-23;\n    voyage of 1498, ii. 311, 324-8, 349;\n    his discovery premature, ii. 343\n\n  Cabot, Sebastian, ii. 129, 130, 295-6, 299, 301-2, 308, 319, 326, 329,\n        330, 332, 333, 336-43;\n    reported voyage of 1508-9, ii. 336-40;\n    doubtful voyage of 1516 or 1517, ii. 340-2;\n    his credibility, ii. 296, 298, 303, 329, 338-40;\n    map of 1544, attributed to, ii. 303, 309, 310, 314-5, 319-20\n\n  C\u00e6sar, C. Julius, i. 39, 40, 79-80, 92, 242\n\n  Callegari, G. V., i. 43, 58, 59\n\n  Callimachus, i. 375\n\n  Callisthenes (Pseudo-), ii. 213, 234\n\n  Calypso, i. 347, 355, 370; ii. 43\n\n  \"Cananei,\" i. 154-5\n\n  Canary Isles, i. 117, 348-50, 362, 376; ii. 2\n\n  Canerio map (1502-07), ii. 368\n\n  Cannibalism, among the Irish, Scythians, Celts, Iberians, i. 81;\n    Issedonians, i. 81;\n    Massaget\u00e6, i. 81, 148;\n    in Scandinavia, i. 149\n\n  Cantino, Alberto, his map of 1502, ii. 316, 350-1, 355, 361, 362, 364,\n        365, 368-74;\n    his letter of Oct. 1501, ii. 349-52, 360, 361, 362, 363, 367, 372\n\n  Canto, Ernesto do, ii. 331\n\n  Cape Breton, i. 324, 329, 335; ii. 309, 312, 314, 315, 316, 317, 319,\n        321, 322;\n    John Cabot's probable landfall in 1497, ii. 314-15\n\n  Capella, Marcianus, i. 123, 126, 184, 188, 195, 197, 334\n\n  Carignano, Giovanni da, compass-chart by, ii. 220-2, 227, 235\n\n  \"Carte Pisane,\" ii. 220\n\n  Carthage, Sea-power of, i. 45, 75\n\n  Caspian Sea, i. 10, 74, 76, 122; ii. 142, 183, 195, 197, 213\n\n  Cassiodorus, i. 120, 128-30, 132, 137, 138, 142, 154, 155, 203\n\n  Cassiterides, i. 23, 24, 25, 27-9, 89; ii. 47, 48\n\n  Catalan Atlas, mappamundi of 1375, ii. 233, 266, 292\n\n  Catalan compass-chart at Florence, ii. 231, 232-3, 235\n\n  Catalan compass-chart (15th century) at Milan, ii. 279, 280\n\n  Catalan sailors and cartographers (_see_ Compass-charts), ii. 217\n\n  Catapult, used by the Skr\u00e6lings, i. 327; ii. 6-8, 92\n\n  Cattegat, The, i. 93, 100, 101, 102, 105, 169, 180\n\n  \"Cauo de Ynglaterra\" on La Cosa's map, ii. 314-5, 317, 321-2;\n    probably Cape Breton, ii. 314;\n    or Cape Race (?), ii. 321-2\n\n  Celts, i. 19, 41, 42, 68, 81, 208;\n    early Celtic settlement of the Faroes, i. 162-4;\n    of Iceland, i. 167, 258;\n    possible Celtic population in Scandinavia, i. 210;\n    mythology of the, i. 379\n\n  Chaldeans, i. 8, 47\n\n  Chancellor, Richard, ii. 135\n\n  Chinese myths of fortunate isles, i. 377; ii. 213\n\n  Christ, The White, ii. 44, 45, 46\n\n  Christ, Wilhelm, i. 14, 37\n\n  Christianity introduced in Iceland, i. 260, 332;\n    introduced in Greenland, i. 270, 272, 357, 332, 380;\n    decline of, in Greenland, ii. 38, 100-2, 106, 113, 121\n\n  Christian IV. of Denmark, ii. 124, 178\n\n  Christiern I. of Denmark, ii. 119, 125, 127, 128, 132, 133, 134, 345\n\n  Chukches, i. 212\n\n  Church, ii. 301\n\n  Cimbri, i. 14, 21, 82, 85, 91, 94, 99, 100, 101, 118, 145\n\n  Cimmerians, i. 13, 14, 21, 79, 145\n\n  Circumnavigation, Idea of, i. 77, 79; ii. 271, 291-3, 296-7\n\n  Clavering, ii. 73\n\n  Clavus, Claudius, i. 226, 303; ii. 11, 17, 85, 86, 89, 117, 248-76, 284;\n    his Nancy map and text, ii. 249, 250, 253, 255-69;\n    his later map and Vienna text, ii. 250, 251, 252-3, 254, 265-76;\n    his methods, ii. 252-3, 259-61;\n    his influence on cartography, ii. 276-9, 335, 368, 369, 370, 371\n\n  Cleomedes, i. 44, 52, 53, 55, 57, 134\n\n  Codanovia, island, i. 91, 93-4, 103\n\n  Codanus, bay, i. 90-5, 101, 102, 103, 105, 118\n\n  Collett, Prof. R., i. 345; ii. 91\n\n  Collinson, R., ii. 129\n\n  Columbus, i. 3, 77, 79, 115, 116, 312, 376; ii. 291, 292, 293, 294, 295,\n        296, 297, 300, 307, 310, 325\n\n  Compass, Introduction of, i. 248; ii. 169, 214, 215-6;\n    variation of, ii. 217, 307-8, 370-1\n\n  Compass-charts, ii. 215-36, 265, 279, 280, 282, 308, 313;\n    development of, ii. 215-8;\n    limits of, ii. 218\n\n  Congealed or curdled sea, beyond Thule, i. 65-9, 70, 100, 106, 121, 165,\n        181, 195, 363, 376; ii. 149, 200, 231\n\n  Connla the Fair, Tale of, i. 371\n\n  Contarini, G., ii. 303, 336, 337, 338, 342, 343\n\n  Converse, Harriet Maxwell, i. 377\n\n  Cornwall, Tin in, i. 23, 29, 31\n\n  Corte-Real, Gaspar, ii. 130, 328, 330, 331, 332, 347-53, 354, 357,\n        358-66, 373;\n    letters patent to (1500), ii. 347;\n    voyage of 1500, ii. 360;\n    voyage of 1501, ii. 347-53, 360-75;\n    his fate, ii. 353, 375;\n    his discoveries, ii. 354-5, 362, 364\n\n  Corte-Real, Jo\u00e3o Vaz, unhistorical expedition attributed to, ii. 359\n\n  Corte-Real, Miguel, ii. 353, 360, 361;\n    letters patent to, ii. 353, 355, 376;\n    voyage of 1502 or 1503, ii. 353, 376;\n    probably reached Newfoundland, ii. 376;\n    his fate, ii. 376\n\n  Corte-Real, Vasqueanes, refused leave to search for his brothers, ii. 377\n\n  Corte-Real, Vasqueanes IV., reported expedition of, in 1574, ii. 378\n\n  Cosa, Juan de la, map by, ii. 302, 309-18, 321, 374;\n    represents Cabot's discoveries of 1497, ii. 311-2\n\n  Cosmas Indicopleustes, i. 126, 127, 128; ii. 183\n\n  Costa, B. T. de, ii. 129, 214\n\n  \"Cottoniana\" mappamundi, i. 180, 182, 183; ii. 192-3, 208, 220, 284\n\n  Cottonian Chronicle, ii. 303, 324, 326\n\n  Crassus, Publius, visits the Cassiterides, i. 27\n\n  Crates of Mallus, i. 44, 78-9\n\n  Croker, T. Crofton, i. 379\n\n  Cromlechs, Distribution of, i. 22, 239\n\n  Cronium, Mare, i. 65, 100, 106, 121, 182, 363, 376\n\n  Crops, in Thule, i. 63;\n    in Britain, i. 63;\n    in Greenland, i. 277\n\n  Cuno, J. G., i. 59\n\n  Cw\u00ean-s\u00e6\u0302, i. 169\n\n  Cyclopes, i. 189, 196; ii. 10, 147, 148, 238\n\n  Cylipenus, i. 101, 104, 105\n\n  Cynocephali, i. 154-5, 159, 187, 189, 198, 383\n\n  _Cystophora cristata_ (bladder-nose seal), i. 276, 286\n\n\n  Daae, L., i. 226; ii. 125, 129\n\n  Dalorto (or Dulcert), Angellino, ii. 226-30;\n    his map of 1325, ii. 177, 219, 226, 229, 235, 236;\n    his map of 1339 (Dulcert), ii. 229, 230, 235, 265, 266\n\n  Damastes of Sigeum, i. 16\n\n  Danes, i. 94, 121, 136, 139, 142, 143, 145, 146, 153, 167, 169, 180,\n        188, 245; ii. 115, 161\n\n  Darkness, Sea of, i. 40-1, 192, 195, 199, 363, 382; ii. 149, 204, 206,\n        212\n\n  Dauciones, i. 120, 121\n\n  Davis Strait, i. 269\n\n  Dawson, S. E., ii. 295, 307, 319, 321\n\n  Debes, Lucas, i. 375\n\n  Delisle, L., ii. 161\n\n  Delos, i. 375\n\n  Delphi, i. 18, 19\n\n  Democritus, i. 127\n\n  Denmark, i. 82, 94, 180, 185, 234; ii. 179, 201, 204, 205, 208, 237;\n    called \"Dacia\" on medi\u00e6val maps, ii. 188, 190, 222, 225;\n    representation of, in medi\u00e6val cartography, ii. 219, 225, 235, 250, 286\n\n  Denys, Nicolas, ii. 3\n\n  Desimoni, C., ii. 325\n\n  Deslien's map of 1541, ii. 322\n\n  Detlefsen, D., i. 43, 70, 71, 72, 83, 84, 85, 93, 97, 99, 102, 119\n\n  Dic\u00e6archus, i. 44, 73\n\n  Dicuil, i. 58, 160, 162-7, 252, 362; ii. 43, 51, 229\n\n  Dihya, Ibn, ii. 200-1, 209\n\n  Dimashq\u00ee, ii. 212-3\n\n  Diodorus Siculus, i. 23, 29-30, 44, 50, 51, 52, 58, 63, 71, 80, 87, 90,\n        346; ii. 48\n\n  Dionysius Periegetes, i. 114-5, 123, 356; ii. 47, 48, 192\n\n  Dipylon vases, i. 236-7\n\n  Disappearing (fairy) islands, i. 370, 378-9; ii. 213\n\n  Disc, Doctrine of the earth as a, i. 8, 12, 126, 127, 153, 198; ii. 182\n\n  Disco Bay, Greenland, i. 298, 300, 301, 302, 306, 307; ii. 72\n\n  \"D\u0153gr\" (== half a 24 hours' day), used as a measure of distance, i. 287,\n        310, 322, 335; ii. 166, 169, 170, 171\n\n  Dogs as draught-animals, ii. 69, 72, 145, 146\n\n  Down Islands (Duneyiar), i. 285, 286\n\n  Dozy, R., ii. 55, 200, 201\n\n  Dozy and de Goeje, ii. 51, 204\n\n  Drapers' Company, Protest of, against Sebastian Cabot, ii. 302, 330,\n        338, 342\n\n  _Draumkv\u00e6de_, i. 367, 381\n\n  Driftwood, in Greenland, i. 299, 305, 307, 308; ii. 37, 96\n\n  Drusus (The elder Germanicus), i. 83\n\n  \"Dumna,\" island, i. 106, 117; ii. 257\n\n  Dumont d'Urville, i. 376\n\n  Dvina, river, i. 173, 174, 222; ii. 135, 136, 137, 142, 146, 164, 176\n\n  Eastern Settlement of Greenland, i. 263, 265, 267, 271, 272, 274, 275,\n        276, 296, 301, 302, 307, 310, 311, 321; ii. 71, 82, 90, 107, 108,\n        112, 116;\n    decline of, ii. 95-100, 102\n\n  Ebstorf map, i. 102, 191; ii. 187\n\n  Edda, The older (poetic), i. 273\n\n  Edda, the younger (_Snorra-Edda_), i. 273, 298, 304, 342, 364\n\n  Eden, Richard, ii. 341\n\n  Edrisi, i. 182, 382; ii. 51-53, 202-8, 209, 210, 216;\n    his map, ii. 192, 203, 208, 220, 284\n\n  Egede, Hans, ii. 40, 41, 74, 101, 104, 105, 106\n\n  Egil Skallagrimsson's Saga, i. 175, 218\n\n  Egyptian myths, i. 347\n\n  Einar Sokkason, i. 283, 294\n\n  Einar Thorgeirsson, lost in Greenland, i. 284\n\n  Einhard, i. 167, 179, 180, 185\n\n  Elk (_achlis_), i. 105, 191\n\n  _Elymus arenarius_ (lyme-grass), ii. 5\n\n  Elysian Fields, i. 347, 349, 351\n\n  Empedocles, i. 12, 127\n\n  England (_see_ Britain), Arab geographers on, ii. 204, 211;\n    maritime enterprise of, ii. 180, 294-5, 343;\n    in medi\u00e6val cartography, ii. 218\n\n  English State document (1575) on North-West Passage, ii. 129-30, 132\n\n  \"Engronelant,\" ii. 277, 279, 373\n\n  d'Enjoy, Paul, i. 377\n\n  Eratosthenes of Cyrene, i. 20, 29, 44, 47, 52, 55, 61, 73, 75-7, 78, 82,\n        115; ii. 292\n\n  Eric Blood-Axe, ii. 136\n\n  Eric of Pomerania, ii. 118, 119\n\n  Eric the Red, i. 252, 256, 259, 262, 280, 288, 293, 318-21, 324, 330,\n        337, 344, 368; ii. 22, 77, 88;\n    discovers Greenland, i. 260, 263, 266-70\n\n  Eric the Red, Saga of, i. 260, 266, 273, 291, 292, 293, 296, 310, 313,\n        314, 318, 322, 331, 332-5, 337, 338, 342, 343, 367, 382; ii. 4, 6,\n        8, 10, 11, 14, 15, 22, 23, 24, 42, 43, 50, 59, 61, 89, 91, 206;\n    its value as a historical document, ii. 62\n\n  Eric's fjord (Greenland), i. 267, 268, 271, 275, 317, 318, 319, 321; ii.\n        112\n\n  Eric Upsi, bishop of Greenland, ii. 29-31\n\n  Eridanus, river, i. 31, 32, 34, 42\n\n  Eruli, i. 21, 94, 136, 137-8, 139-49, 153, 235, 245\n\n  Erythea, i. 9\n\n  Erythr\u00e6an Sea, i. 10\n\n  Eskimo, i. 19, 51, 150, 212, 215, 216, 223, 231-2, 260, 298, 306, 307,\n        308, 309, 310, 368; ii. 10, 12, 16, 17, 19, 66-94, 102-6, 107,\n        111-2, 113-6, 333, 366-7;\n    fairy-tales and legends of, ii. 8, 105, 115;\n    ball-game among, ii. 40-1;\n    distribution of, ii. 66-74;\n    racial characteristics of, ii. 67-8;\n    their culture, ii. 68-9, 91-2;\n    Norse settlers absorbed by, ii. 100, 102-105, 106, 107-11, 117;\n    unwarlike nature of, ii. 114, 115-6\n\n  Esthonians (\u00c6stii, Osti), Esthonia, i. 69, 72, 104, 109, 131, 167, 169,\n        170, 181, 186; ii. 205\n\n  \"Estotiland,\" fictitious northern country, ii. 131\n\n  Eudoxus, i. 46\n\n  _Eyrbyggja-saga_, i. 313, 376; ii. 42, 46, 48, 50\n\n\n  Fabricius, A., ii. 55\n\n  Fabyan, Robert, Chronicle (quoted by Hakluyt), ii. 303, 324, 326, 333\n\n  Fadhl\u00e2n, Ibn, ii. 143\n\n  Fairies, Names for, i. 372-3\n\n  Fairylands, Irish, i. 357, 370-1, 379; ii. 60;\n    Norwegian, i. 369-70, 378; ii. 60, 213;\n    laudatory names for, i. 374;\n    characteristics of, i. 375-9; ii. 213-4\n\n  Faq\u00eeh, Ibn al-, ii. 197\n\n  Farewell, Cape, i. 261, 267, 280, 282, 284, 288, 291, 295, 307, 316; ii.\n        73\n\n  Faroes, The, i. 254, 255, 257, 316, 324, 362; ii. 51, 229, 262;\n    discovered by the Irish, i. 162-4, 233;\n    Irish monks expelled from, i. 252, 253;\n    early Celtic population in, i. 164, 253\n\n  Felix, The monk, in medi\u00e6val legend, i. 381\n\n  Fenni (Finns), i. 109, 112, 113, 114, 120, 149, 203\n\n  Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, letter from, ii. 300\n\n  Fernald, M. L., ii. 3, 5-6\n\n  Fernandez, Jo\u00e3o (called \"Lavorador\"), ii. 331-2, 356;\n    letters patent to (1499), ii. 346, 356;\n    probably sighted Greenland (1500), ii. 356, 357, 375;\n    took part in Bristol expedition (1501), ii. 331, 356, 357;\n    Greenland (Labrador) named after him, ii. 358\n\n  Filastre, Cardinal, ii. 249-50, 278\n\n  Finland (_see_ Kv\u00e6nland), i. 206, 209, 210, 214;\n    the name confused with Vinland, i. 198, 382; ii. 31, 191;\n    and with Finmark, i. 382; ii. 191, 205;\n    in medi\u00e6val cartography, ii. 224\n\n  Finmark, i. 61, 173, 175, 177, 191, 198, 204, 210, 213, 220, 222, 225;\n        ii. 86, 141, 163, 164, 172, 178, 179, 205, 211, 237;\n    the name confused with Finland, i. 382; ii. 32, 191, 205;\n    in medi\u00e6val cartography, ii. 221\n\n  \"Finn,\" The name, i. 198, 205-7, 210\n\n  \"Finnaith\u00e6\" (Finn\u00e9di, Finvedi) (_see_ Finns), i. 135, 137, 189, 198,\n        203, 204, 206, 382\n\n  Finn mac Cumhaill, i. 363; ii. 45\n\n  Finns, i. 109, 112, 113, 114, 120, 135, 136, 137, 149, 171, 173-8, 189,\n        198, 203-32, 382; ii. 68, 143;\n    Horned Finns, ii. 167\n\n  \"Finns,\" in southern Scandinavia, i. 103, 203, 205, 206-11; ii. 159\n\n  Finn's booths (_Finnsbu\u00f0ir_), in Greenland, i. 283, 296, 305\n\n  \"Finnur hinn Fri\u00f0i,\" Faroese lay of, ii. 33-4\n\n  Fisher, J., ii. 33, 121, 229, 249, 276, 277, 278, 279, 281\n\n  Fischer, M. P., ii. 161\n\n  Fischer, Theobald, ii. 216, 220, 230, 234\n\n  Fishing Lapps, i. 204, 205, 207, 218, 221, 223-32\n\n  _Flateyjarb\u00f3k_, i. 254, 283, 313, 304, 317, 318, 324, 329, 331, 334,\n        338, 340, 343, 344, 359, 360; ii. 4, 14, 15, 18, 21, 22, 23, 25,\n        59, 61\n\n  Fletcher, Giles, i. 226\n\n  _Floamanna-Saga_, i. 280, 281; ii. 46, 81\n\n  Floating islands, Legends of, i. 375-7; ii. 213-4\n\n  Floki Vilgerdarson, sails to Iceland, i. 255, 257, 269\n\n  Florus, L. Ann\u00e6us, i. 350\n\n  Forbiger, A., i. 58, 102\n\n  Forster, i. 179\n\n  Fortunate Isles (_Insul\u00e6 Fortunat\u00e6_), i. 117, 198, 334, 345-53, 367,\n        370, 372, 373, 382-4; ii. 1-6, 24, 31, 42, 55, 59-61, 64, 191,\n        228, 280, 304\n\n  Fortunate Lake, Irish myth of, ii. 229-30\n\n  _Foster-Brothers' Saga_, i. 276, 320; ii. 9, 18\n\n  Fr\u00e4hn, C. M., ii. 143, 145\n\n  Franks Casket, The, i. 176\n\n  Freydis, daughter of Eric the Red, i. 320, 328, 332, 333; ii. 11, 51\n\n  Friesland, Frisians, i. 95, 153, 205\n\n  Friis, J. A., i. 372\n\n  Friis, Peder Clauss\u00f6n, i. 224, 227-9, 232, 369; ii. 153, 158, 178, 268\n\n  Frisian noblemen's polar expedition, i. 195-6, 200, 383; ii. 147-8\n\n  Frisius, Gemma, ii. 129, 132\n\n  Frisland, fabulous island south of Iceland, i. 377; ii. 131\n\n  Fritzner, ii. 9\n\n  Fur\u00f0ustrandir, i. 273, 312, 313, 322, 323, 324, 325, 326, 334, 336, 337,\n        339, 357; ii. 24, 36\n\n  Fyldeholm (island of drinking), i. 352\n\n\n  Gadir (Gadeira, Gades, Cadiz), i. 24, 27, 28, 30, 36, 37, 66, 79\n\n  Galvano, Antonio, ii. 336, 337, 338, 354, 364, 376\n\n  Gandvik (the White Sea), i. 218-9, 228; ii. 136-8, 164, 223, 237, 239\n\n  Gardar, discoverer of Iceland, i. 255-7, 263\n\n  Gar\u00f0ar, Greenland, i. 272, 273, 275, 311; ii. 106, 107, 108, 121, 122\n\n  \"Gautigoth\" (_see_ Goths), i. 135\n\n  _Gautrek's Saga_, i. 18-9\n\n  Geelmuyden, Prof. H., i. 52, 54, 311; ii. 23\n\n  Geijer, E. G., i. 60, 102, 111, 131, 205, 207\n\n  Gellir Thorkelsson, i. 366\n\n  Genoese mappamundi (1447 or 1457), ii. 278, 286, 287\n\n  Geminus of Rhodes, i. 43, 44, 53, 54, 57, 63, 64\n\n  _Geographia Universalis_, i. 382; ii. 32, 177, 188-91, 220, 227, 339\n\n  Gepid\u00e6, i. 139, 142, 153\n\n  Gerfalcons, Island or land of, ii. 208, 227, 266, 289\n\n  Germania, i. 69, 71, 73, 87, 90, 95, 101, 108-14, 154, 169;\n    Roman campaigns in, i. 81, 83, 85, 97\n\n  Germanicus, The younger, i. 83\n\n  Germanus, Nicolaus, ii. 251, 276-9, 288, 290, 373\n\n  Germany, coast of, in medi\u00e6val cartography, ii. 219, 257\n\n  _Gesta Francorum_, i. 234\n\n  Gilbert, Sir Humphrey, ii. 340\n\n  Gildas, i. 234, 364\n\n  Ginnungagap, i. 12, 84, 158; ii. 35, 150, 154, 239-41\n\n  Giraldus Cambrensis, i. 379; ii. 151, 220, 245\n\n  Gisle Oddsson's Annals, ii. 82, 100-2, 109\n\n  Gissur Einarsson, Bishop, i. 285\n\n  Gjessing, H., ii. 31\n\n  Gl\u00e6saria, island, i. 101, 106\n\n  Glastonbury, Legend of sow at, i. 378-9\n\n  \"Gli,\" mythical island, i. 364\n\n  Globes, used by the Greeks, i. 78;\n    introduced by Toscanelli, ii. 287;\n    Behaim's, ii. 287-9;\n    Laon globe, ii. 290;\n    used by Columbus, ii. 287;\n    and Cabot, ii. 304, 306\n\n  Gnomon, The, i. 11, 45-6\n\n  Godthaab, Greenland, i. 271, 304, 307, 321; ii. 73, 74\n\n  Goe, month of, i. 264, 265\n\n  Goeje, M. de, i. 344, 362; ii. 51, 194, 197, 198\n\n  Goes, Damiam de, ii. 354, 366, 376, 377\n\n  Gokstad ship, i. 246\n\n  Gomara, Francesco Lopez de, ii. 129, 130, 131, 336, 337, 354, 364\n\n  _Gongu-R\u00f3lv's kv\u00e6\u00f0i_, i. 356\n\n  G\u00f6ta river, i. 131; ii. 190, 205\n\n  G\u00f6ter (Gauter), i. 120, 135, 141, 144, 147; ii. 190\n\n  Goths (Gytoni, Gythones, Get\u00e6), i. 14, 21, 71, 120, 129, 130, 135, 137,\n        139, 145, 147, 153; ii. 143, 190\n\n  Gotland, i. 121, 180, 378; ii. 125, 237;\n    in medi\u00e6val cartography, ii. 219, 221, 224, 233, 265\n\n  Gourmont, Hieronymus, map of Iceland, ii. 122-3, 127\n\n  Graah, Captain, i. 297; ii. 104\n\n  Grail, Legends of the, i. 382\n\n  Grampus, i. 50-1\n\n  Granii, i. 136\n\n  Grape Island (_Insula Uvarum_), i. 358, 361, 363, 365, 366\n\n  Greenland, i. 184, 192, 194, 197, 199, 200, 201, 215, 223, 252, 315-21,\n        322; ii. 1, 5, 12, 25, 36, 38, 40-2, 66-94, 95-134, 167, 169, 177,\n        244, 345, 366;\n    Eskimo of, ii. 71-5;\n    discovered and settled by Norwegians, i. 258-78;\n    estimated population of settlements, i. 272;\n    conditions of life in i. 274-8, 319; ii. 96-7;\n    voyages along the coasts of, i. 279-311;\n    glaciers (inland ice) of, i. 288-95, 301, 308; ii. 246-7;\n    decline of Norse settlements in, ii. 90, 95-100;\n    last voyage to (from Norway), ii. 117;\n    last ship from, ii. 118;\n    geographical ideas of, ii. 237-40, 246-8, 254-5, 259-62, 270-6, 278,\n        279, 280;\n    east coast of, i. 271-2, 279-96, 308; ii. 168, 170, 171, 238;\n    uninhabited parts (_ubygder_) of, i. 279-311, 320, 321; ii. 28, 166,\n        172;\n    sixteenth-century discovery of, ii. 315, 332, 335, 352, 363, 364, 375;\n    called Labrador, ii. 129, 132, 133, 315, 335, 353;\n    in sixteenth-century maps, ii. 368-75\n\n  Gregory of Tours i. 234\n\n  \"Greipar,\" in Greenland, i. 298, 299, 300-1, 304\n\n  _Grettis-saga_, i. 313, 367\n\n  Griffins, i. 19, 254; ii. 263\n\n  Grim Kamban, i. 253\n\n  Grimm, J., i. 18, 94, 95, 355, 372; ii. 45, 56\n\n  Grimm, W., i. 373\n\n  Grip, Carsten, letter to Christiern III., ii. 126-8\n\n  _Gripla_, i. 288; ii. 35-6, 237, 239, 241\n\n  Gr\u00f6ndal, B., i. 371, 375\n\n  _Gr\u00f6nlands historiske Mindesm\u00e6rker_, i. 262, 263, 271, 281, 282, 283,\n        284, 285, 288, 292, 294, 295, 296, 297, 298, 299, 300, 301, 302,\n        304, 305, 311, 333, 359, 377; ii. 1, 9, 14, 17, 22, 25, 31, 35,\n        46, 79, 82, 86, 100, 102, 106, 108, 112, 113, 117, 119, 120, 125,\n        127, 172, 237, 278\n\n  _Gr\u00f6nlendinga-\u00fe\u00e1ttr_ (_see_ Flateyjarb\u00f3k)\n\n  Groth, Th., ii. 103\n\n  _Grottasongr_, i. 159\n\n  Gudleif' Gudlaugsson, story of his voyage, ii. 49-50, 53-4;\n    compared with Leif Ericson, ii. 50-1\n\n  Gudmund Arason's Saga, i. 284\n\n  Gudmundsson, J\u00f3n, map by, ii. 34, 241\n\n  Gudmundsson, V., ii. 25\n\n  Gudrid, wife of Karlsevne, i. 318, 319, 320, 321, 329, 330, 333; ii.\n        14-5, 51\n\n  Guichot y Sierra, A., i. 376\n\n  Gulathings Law, ii. 140\n\n  Gulf Stream, i. 251; ii. 54\n\n  Gunnbj\u00f6rnskerries, i. 256, 261-4, 267, 280; ii. 276\n\n  Gunnbj\u00f6rn Ulfsson, i. 256, 261-4, 267, 280, 296\n\n  Gustafson, Prof. G., i. 237, 240\n\n  Gut\u00e6, i. 120\n\n  _Guta-saga_, i. 378\n\n  Gutones (_see_ Goths), i. 70, 71, 72, 72, 93\n\n  Gytoni (_see_ Goths), i. 71\n\n\n  H\u00e6gstad, Prof. M., ii. 242\n\n  H\u00e6gstad and Torp (_Gamal-norsk Ordbog_), ii. 9\n\n  H\u00e6mod\u00e6 (\"Acmod\u00e6,\" \"H\u00e6cmod\u00e6\"), i. 90, 106\n\n  \"Hafsbotn\" (the Polar Sea), i. 283, 303; ii. 137, 151, 165, 166, 167,\n        168, 171, 172, 237, 240\n\n  Hakluyt. R., i. 226; ii. 129, 132, 152, 261, 319, 321, 326, 333\n\n  H\u00e5kon H\u00e5konsson's Saga, i. 299; ii. 139, 141\n\n  _Halichoerus grypus_ (grey seal), i. 217; ii. 91, 155\n\n  Halli Geit, Tale of, ii. 239\n\n  Hallinger, i. 104, 247\n\n  Hallstatt, i. 24, 36\n\n  H\u00e2logaland (H\u00e5logaland, H\u00e2logi, Halgoland, Halagland, Halogia,\n        Helgeland), i. 61, 62, 64, 132, 135, 138, 175, 179, 194, 197, 200,\n        231, 247, 264, 381, 383; ii. 64, 137, 139, 140, 142, 165, 168,\n        172;\n    in medi\u00e6val cartography, ii. 227, 236\n\n  Halsingia, or Alsingia, i. 104\n\n  Hamberg, Axel, ii. 69\n\n  Hammershaimb, V. U., i. 356, 375; ii. 33\n\n  Hamy, ii. 220, 223, 229, 230, 234\n\n  Hanno, i. 37, 88, 350; ii. 45\n\n  Hans (John), king of Denmark, ii. 125, 128\n\n  Hanseatic League, ii. 99, 119, 125, 179, 218\n\n  Hansen, Dr. A. M., i. 149, 192, 206, 207, 208, 218, 221, 222, 228, 229,\n        230, 236-7, 239\n\n  Harold Fairhair, i. 253-4, 255, 258\n\n  Harold Gr\u00e5feld, ii. 136, 153, 154\n\n  Harold Hardr\u00e5de, i. 185, 195, 201, 283, 383; ii. 147, 199;\n    his voyage in the Polar Sea, i. 195; ii. 148-54\n\n  Harpoons, i. 214-7, 277; ii. 145-6, 156-63\n\n  Harrisse, Henry, ii. 132, 230, 293, 294, 295, 296, 297, 300, 302, 303,\n        304, 305, 309, 314, 315, 319, 320, 326, 327, 329, 331, 332, 333,\n        334, 336, 341, 347, 348, 349, 353, 358, 359, 360, 365, 374\n\n  Harudes (Charydes, Charudes, Horder), i. 85, 118, 136, 143, 148, 246\n\n  _Hauksb\u00f3k_, i. 188, 251, 256, 257, 261, 262, 264, 268, 286, 291, 293,\n        308, 309, 322, 327, 331, 333, 353, 367, 369; ii. 10, 11, 166, 169,\n        172, 216, 261\n\n  Hebrides (Ebudes, Hebudes), i. 57, 90, 106, 117, 123, 158, 159, 160,\n        161, 234, 273, 316; ii. 151, 200\n\n  Hecat\u00e6us of Abdera, i. 8, 9, 10, 15, 16, 98\n\n  Heffermehl, A. V., ii. 242\n\n  Heiberg, Prof. J., i. 219, 220\n\n  _Heimskringla_, i. 270, 313, 331; ii. 59, 137, 171, 239\n\n  Heiner, i. 138\n\n  Heinrich of Mainz, map by, ii. 185, 187\n\n  Helge Bograngsson, killed in Bjarmeland, ii. 139-40\n\n  Heligoland, i. 197\n\n  Helland, A., i. 226, 231, 369, 372, 373, 378, 381; ii. 46, 152, 177, 228\n\n  Helluland, i. 312, 313, 322, 323, 334, 336, 357; ii. 1, 23, 35-6, 61, 237\n\n  Helm, O., i. 14\n\n  Helsingland, Helsingers, i. 189; ii. 237\n\n  Henry V. of England, ii. 119\n\n  Henry VI. of England, ii. 119\n\n  Henry VII. of England, ii. 130, 298, 299, 302, 303, 322, 324, 326, 327,\n        331, 332, 333, 334, 337, 338, 340\n\n  Henry VIII. of England, ii. 319, 330, 334, 338, 341, 342, 343\n\n  Heraclitus, i. 12\n\n  \"Herbrestr\" (war-crash), ii. 8-9\n\n  Hereford map, i. 91, 92, 102, 154, 157, 190; ii. 186, 187\n\n  Hergt, G., i. 43, 51, 60, 65, 66, 67, 71, 72\n\n  Herla, mythical king of Britain, ii. 76\n\n  Hermiones, i. 91, 104\n\n  Hermits, in Irish legends, ii. 19, 43-6, 50\n\n  Herodotus, i. 9, 12, 20, 23, 24, 27, 31-2, 46, 76, 78, 81, 88, 114, 148,\n        155, 156, 161, 187\n\n  Hertzberg, Ebbe, ii. 38, 39, 40, 61, 93\n\n  Hesiod, i. 9, 11, 18, 42, 84, 348\n\n  Hesperides, i. 9, 161, 334, 345, 376; ii. 2, 61\n\n  Heyman, i. 342; ii. 8\n\n  Hielmqvist, Th., i. 381\n\n  Hieronymus, i. 151, 154\n\n  Higden, Ranulph (_Polychronicon_), i. 346, 382; ii. 31-2, 288-92, 220;\n    his mappamundi, ii. 188, 189, 192\n\n  Hilleviones, i. 101, 104, 121\n\n  Himilco's voyage, i. 29, 36-41, 68, 83\n\n  Himinra\u00f0 (Hunenrioth, &c.), mountain in Greenland, i. 302-4; ii. 108\n\n  Hipparchus, i. 44, 47, 52, 56, 57, 73, 77-8, 87, 116; ii. 197\n\n  Hippocrates, i. 13, 88\n\n  Hippopods, i. 91\n\n  Hirri, i. 101\n\n  _Historia Norwegi\u00e6_, i. 204, 229, 252, 255, 256, 257, 298; ii. 1, 2, 17,\n        29, 61, 79, 87, 88, 135, 151, 167, 168, 172, 222, 227, 235, 239,\n        240, 280\n\n  Hjorleif, settles in Iceland with Ingolf, i. 166, 252, 254, 255\n\n  Hoegh, K., ii. 31\n\n  Hoffmann, W. J., ii. 39, 40\n\n  Hofmann, C., i. 59\n\n  Holand, H. R., ii. 31\n\n  Holberg, Ludvig, ii. 118\n\n  Holm, G. F., i. 271, 274\n\n  Holz, G., i. 85, 102\n\n  Homer, i. 8, 10-11, 13, 14, 25, 33, 77, 78, 196, 347, 348, 371; ii. 53,\n        54, 160\n\n  Homeyer, C. G., i. 214\n\n  H\u00f6nen, Ringerike, Runic stone from, ii. 27-9, 58\n\n  Honorius Augustodunensis, i. 375\n\n  Honorius, Julius, i. 123; ii. 183\n\n  Horace, i. 349, 350-1\n\n  Horaisan, Japanese fortunate isle, ii. 56-7, 213\n\n  Horder (_see_ Harudes), i. 85, 118, 136, 138, 143, 147, 209, 246\n\n  Horn, Georg, (_Ulysses peregrinans_), ii. 132, 133\n\n  Horses, Swedish, i. 135;\n    in Greenland, i. 276\n\n  Hrabanus Maurus, i. 159, 167, 184\n\n  \"Huldrefolk\" (Norwegian fairies), i. 355, 356, 370-3, 381; ii. 12, 60\n\n  \"Huldrelands\" (_see_ Fairylands)\n\n  Humboldt, i. 363\n\n  Huns, i. 188\n\n  Hvarf point, in Greenland, i. 263, 267, 269, 279, 288, 290, 292, 294,\n        295, 303, 310, 315; ii. 169, 171, 261\n\n  Hvergelmer, i. 158, 159\n\n  Hv\u00edtramanna-land (the White Men's Land), i. 312, 313, 330, 353, 366,\n        368, 376; ii. 2, 19, 42-56, 60, 61, 92;\n    called Great Ireland, i. 330, 353, 366; ii. 42, 48;\n    Are M\u00e1rsson's voyage to, i. 331-2, 353-4; ii. 42, 46, 50\n\n  Hvitserk glacier, in Greenland, i. 283, 286, 288, 291, 292, 294-5, 303;\n        ii. 122, 123, 124, 127, 128\n\n  Hyperboreans, i. 13, 15-21, 79, 81, 88, 89, 98, 128, 187, 188, 348; ii.\n        188\n\n\n  Iberians, in British Isles, i. 26;\n    in Brittany, i. 30;\n    cannibalism among, i. 81\n\n  Ibr\u00e2h\u00eem ibn Ja'q\u00fbb, i. 187\n\n  Iceland, i. 181-4, 192, 193-4, 197, 201, 248, 251, 262, 263, 267, 278,\n        285, 286, 289, 295, 305, 308, 324, 337, 353, 362, 374; ii. 43, 49,\n        102, 112, 169, 170, 191, 211, 242, 244, 245, 281;\n    discovered by Irish monks, i. 59, 164-7, 233, 258;\n    identified with Thule, i. 59-60, 164, 193;\n    fables of ice in, i. 181, 183-4, 193; ii. 191;\n    Norwegian settlement of, i. 252-8;\n    called \"Gardarsholm,\" i. 255;\n    called \"Snowland,\" i. 255;\n    in medi\u00e6val cartography, ii. 225, 230, 231, 250, 262, 275, 279, 284,\n        286\n\n  Icelandic Annals (_Islandske Annaler_), i. 282, 284, 285, 305; ii. 25,\n        29, 36, 37, 82, 88, 99, 111, 112, 117, 118, 166, 172\n\n  Ictis, i. 29\n\n  \"Illa verde,\" on fifteenth and sixteenth century maps, ii. 279-81, 294,\n        318\n\n  Indian myths, i. 19, 92, 351, 356, 363; ii. 57, 213, 214\n\n  Indiana, North American, i. 327, 377; ii. 7, 12, 16, 23, 25, 68, 69, 90,\n        92, 93, 334, 367;\n    lacrosse among, ii. 39-41, 93\n\n  Ing\u00e6vones, i. 101\n\n  Ingimund Thorgeirsson, lost in Greenland, i. 284\n\n  Ingolf Arnarson, first Norse settler in Iceland, i. 252, 253, 254, 255,\n        257, 267\n\n  Ingolf's Fjeld, Greenland, i. 291, 293, 294, 296\n\n  Ingram, Dr., i. 179\n\n  Ireland (Hierne, Hibernia, Juverna, Ivernia, Ibernia), i. 38, 57, 80,\n        81, 90, 117, 179, 192, 234, 253, 326; ii. 201, 211, 244, 245;\n    connection with Iceland, i. 167, 258, 353;\n    whaling in, ii. 156\n\n  Irgens, O., i. 248, 250\n\n  Irish monks, i, 162-7, 362; ii. 43;\n    (\"Papar\") in Iceland, i. 254, 258; ii. 77, 78\n\n  Irish myths, i. 281-2, 334, 336-9, 353-64, 370, 371; ii. 18, 19, 20,\n        43-5, 50, 53-4, 56, 60-1, 206, 207, 228-9, 234\n\n  Iroquois myth of floating island, i. 377\n\n  Isachsen, G., i. 300, 304, 306; ii. 168, 171\n\n  Isidorus Hispalensis, i. 44, 102, 151, 159, 160, 167, 184, 187, 345,\n        346, 347, 352, 353, 367, 382-4; ii. 2, 3-4, 58, 59, 64, 75, 183,\n        184, 185, 189, 247\n\n  Isles of the Blest, The, i. 9, 84, 348, 349, 351, 363, 370; ii. 59\n\n  Issedonians, i. 16, 19, 81\n\n  Italian sailors and cartographers (_see_ Compass-charts), ii. 217\n\n  _Itin\u00e9raire Brugeois_, ii. 250, 256, 262, 263, 272\n\n  Itineraries, Roman, i. 116, 123, 153\n\n  Ivar B\u00e1rdsson's description of Greenland, i. 262-3, 290, 292, 295, 302,\n        304; ii. 82, 87, 88, 102, 106, 107-11, 126, 166, 171, 241, 256,\n        261, 276\n\n  Ivar Bodde, probable author of the _King's Mirror_, ii. 242\n\n\n  Jacob, G., i. 187, 284; ii. 145, 157, 202\n\n  Jakobsen, Dr. J., i. 163, 293, 374\n\n  Jan Mayen, i. 287; ii. 168, 169, 171\n\n  Japanese myth, ii. 56-8, 213\n\n  Jaq\u00fbt, ii. 143, 144\n\n  Jaubert, P. A., ii. 204\n\n  Jenkinson, Anthony, ii. 152\n\n  Jensen, A. S., ii. 104\n\n  Jomard, ii. 220, 229\n\n  Jones Sound, i. 304, 306\n\n  _J\u00f3nsb\u00f3k_, Icelandic MS., i. 316, 320, 329; ii. 24\n\n  J\u00f3nsson, Finnur, i. 166, 198, 256, 258, 260, 262, 265, 266, 273, 301,\n        305, 314, 331, 367; ii. 79, 107, 108, 167, 237\n\n  Jordanes, i. 104, 120, 129-38, 142, 143, 144, 145, 147, 148, 149, 153,\n        154, 155, 194, 203, 206; ii. 211\n\n  J\u00f6rgensen, N. P., i. 272, 274-5\n\n  Jotunheim, i. 303; ii. 147, 172, 238\n\n  Jovius, Paulus, ii. 111\n\n  Joyce, P. W., i. 360, 379\n\n  Julianehaab, Greenland, i. 267, 271, 274\n\n  Jutland, i. 69, 71, 72, 82, 85, 93, 94, 101, 102, 105, 117, 139, 144,\n        143, 147, 169, 180, 185, 246; ii. 192;\n    in medi\u00e6val cartography, ii. 219, 224, 225, 235, 257, 265\n\n\n  K\u00e4hler, F., i. 43, 68\n\n  Kandalaks, river and gulf, i. 174, 218-9, 222\n\n  Kara Sea, i. 212\n\n  Karelians (Kirjals), Karelia, i. 175, 218, 219, 220, 222, 223; ii. 85,\n        137, 140, 146, 167, 173, 174;\n    \"Kareli infideles,\" ii. 85, 117, 224, 225, 255, 262, 270, 271, 272\n\n  Karlsevne, Thorfinn, i. 260, 313, 318, 319, 331, 333, 336, 346, 354; ii.\n        14, 15, 18, 23, 25, 65;\n    voyage to Wineland, i. 320-30, 334-45;\n    battle with the Skr\u00e6lings, i. 328; ii. 6-11\n\n  \"Kassiteros,\" Derivation of, i. 25-6\n\n  Kayaks, Eskimo, ii. 10, 68, 70, 72, 74, 85, 91, 92, 127, 270\n\n  Kemble, John M., i. 364\n\n  Kensington stone, Minnesota, ii. 31\n\n  Keyser, R., i. 58, 59, 60, 65, 93, 99, 104, 105, 107\n\n  Khord\u00e2\u1e0fbah, Ibn, ii. 195, 196-7\n\n  Ki\u00e6r, A., ii. 63\n\n  Kingigtorsuak, Runic stone from, i. 297; ii. 84\n\n  King map (_circa_ 1502), ii. 331, 354, 355, 358, 364, 373, 374\n\n  _Kings Mirror_, The, (_Konungs-Skuggsj\u00e1_), i. 3, 272-3, 277, 279-80,\n        300, 352; ii. 1, 2, 29, 87, 88, 95, 96, 98, 155, 157, 172, 193,\n        234, 242-8;\n    authorship of, ii. 242\n\n  Kj\u00e6r, A., i. 324\n\n  Kjalarnes, i. 322, 323, 324, 325, 326, 329; ii. 23\n\n  Kjelm\u00f6, arch\u00e6ological find from, i. 212-9, 224\n\n  Kj\u00f6len range, i. 102, 224; ii. 222\n\n  Kleiven, Ivar, i. 340\n\n  \"Knarren,\" Royal trading ship to Greenland, ii. 38, 98-9, 106, 122\n\n  Knattleikr, Norse ball-game, ii. 38-9, 61, 93;\n    similar to lacrosse, ii. 39\n\n  \"Kobandoi\" (Cobandi), i. 93-4, 118\n\n  Koch, J., i. 156\n\n  Kohl, J. G., ii. 148, 340, 353\n\n  Kohlmann, P. W., i. 194\n\n  Koht, H., i. 247; ii. 43\n\n  Kola peninsula, i. 173, 174, 217, 223; ii. 135, 142, 165, 176\n\n  Koren-Wiberg, Christian, ii. 80\n\n  Krabbo, Hermann, i. 202\n\n  Krag, H. P. S., i. 340\n\n  Kraken, sea monster, i. 375; ii. 234, 244\n\n  Kretschmer, K., i. 10, 12, 14, 74, 78; ii. 215, 222, 223, 226, 228, 229,\n        230, 282, 284, 294, 313, 353\n\n  Kristensen, W. Brede, i. 347\n\n  _Kristni-saga_, i. 313, 331, 367; ii. 59\n\n  Kr\u00f6ksfjar\u00f0arhei\u00f0r (Greenland), i. 267, 299, 300-1, 304, 306, 308, 309,\n        310; ii. 72, 83, 88\n\n  Kulhwch and Olwen, Tale of, i. 342; ii. 8\n\n  Kunstmann, F., ii. 229, 378\n\n  \"Kunstmann, No. 2,\" Italian mappamundi, ii. 374\n\n  Kv\u00e6nland (Cvenland, Cw\u00eanland; Finland), i. 155, 170, 175, 178, 198;\n    the name mistaken for \"Land of Women,\" i. 112, 186-7, 383; ii. 64,\n        214, 237\n\n  Kv\u00e6ns (_see_ Finns), Cw\u00eanas, i. 178, 191, 206, 207, 220, 223; ii. 137,\n        141, 167;\n    their name confused with \"cyon\" (dog), i. 155, 188\n\n\n  Labrador, i. 322, 323, 334, 335; ii. 5, 23, 41, 68, 105, 106, 131, 133,\n        308, 314, 335, 338, 352, 358, 364, 370;\n    == Greenland, ii. 129, 132, 133, 315, 331, 335;\n    the name of, ii. 331-2, 357-8\n\n  Lacrosse, ii. 38-41;\n    perhaps derived from Norsemen, ii. 40\n\n  Lactantius, i. 127\n\n  L\u00e6strygons, i. 13, 78\n\n  L\u00e4ffler, Prof. L. F., i. 132, 134, 136, 297; ii. 63\n\n  \"Lageniensis,\" i. 357, 379; ii. 228\n\n  Lagnus, bay, i. 101, 105\n\n  Lambert map, ii. 188, 259\n\n  Lampros, S. P., ii. 281\n\n  Landa-Rolf, i. 285-6\n\n  Landegode (_Landit G\u00f3\u00f0a_), island off Bod\u014d, Norway, i. 369-70, 372, 373,\n        374; ii. 60\n\n  _Landn\u00e1mab\u00f3k_, i. 166, 251, 255, 256, 258, 260, 261, 266, 273, 288, 291,\n        293, 313, 324, 330, 332, 353, 366, 367, 368, 369, 377; ii. 21, 42,\n        58, 60, 62, 166, 168, 169, 170, 172\n\n  Langebek, i. 179\n\n  Langobards, i. 138, 139, 155, 156, 159\n\n  Laon globe, ii. 290\n\n  Lappenberg, I. M., i. 193, 195, 303\n\n  Lapps, i. 61, 113, 150, 171, 173, 177, 190, 191, 203-8, 218, 220,\n        224-32, 372; ii. 76, 135, 164, 168, 175, 178;\n    their magic, i. 191, 204, 219, 227, 229; ii. 32, 77, 136, 137;\n    their archery, i. 227-30;\n    their languages, i. 228-9\n\n  Lascaris, Cananos, travels in the North, ii. 281\n\n  Las Casas, ii. 214\n\n  Latitude, calculation of, i. 46-8, 64, 76, 78, 116-7; ii. 22, 260, 307;\n    scale of, on Ptolemy's and other maps, ii. 259, 260-1, 264, 274-5\n\n  Latris, island, i. 101, 105\n\n  Laurentius K\u00e1lfsson's saga, ii. 8\n\n  Leardus, Johannes, mappamundi by, ii. 282\n\n  L'Ecuy globe (or Rouen globe), ii. 129, 131-2\n\n  Leem, K., ii. 178, 191\n\n  Leif Ericson, i. 270, 313, 314, 315-8, 321, 331, 332, 338, 339, 343,\n        346, 359, 380, 384; ii. 4, 21, 22, 25, 50, 51, 59, 65;\n    called \"the Lucky,\" i. 270, 313, 317, 331;\n    meaning of the name, i. 380-2;\n    discovers Wineland the Good, i. 313, 317, 332;\n    rescues the shipwrecked crew, i. 317;\n    introduces Christianity, i. 317, 332, 380\n\n  Lelewel, J., ii. 131, 203, 278, 282, 284, 286\n\n  Leucippus, i. 12, 127\n\n  Liebrecht, F., ii. 228\n\n  Ligurians, i. 41, 42, 114\n\n  Lik-Lodin, i. 282-3\n\n  Lillienskiold, Hans Hansen, i. 177\n\n  Lind, E. H., i. 332\n\n  \"Liver Sea\" (_Lebermeer_), i. 69, 181, 363; ii. 20, 51, 231\n\n  Lok, Michael, Map of 1582, ii. 130, 321, 323\n\n  L\u00f6nborg, S. E., i. 102, 112, 131, 135, 156, 174, 180, 193, 197; ii. 150\n\n  Longest day, calculation of, ii. 52, 54\n\n  Lot, F., i. 357, 379\n\n  Loth, J., i. 342\n\n  Lucian, i. 352, 355, 356, 360, 361, 363, 366, 376; ii. 54, 150\n\n  Lugii (Vandal tribe), i. 247\n\n  \"Lycko-P\u0101r\" (\"Lykke-Per\"), i. 381\n\n  \"Lykk-Anders,\" Tale of, i. 381\n\n  Lyschander (_Gr\u00f6nlands Chronica_), ii. 101, 102, 111\n\n  Lytton, Lord, i. 350\n\n\n  Machutus, St., Voyage of, i. 334, 354, 363\n\n  Macrobius, i. 123, 126, 184; ii. 182, 193, 247\n\n  Maelduin, Voyage of, i. 336-7, 338, 355, 356, 358, 360, 361, 362, 363,\n        364, 366; ii. 9, 18, 45, 150\n\n  Maelstrom, Legends of the, i. 157-9; ii. 138, 150-3, 241\n\n  M\u00e6otides, i. 88\n\n  M\u00e6otis Palus (Sea of Azov), i. 89; ii. 199, 211, 283, 284\n\n  Maggiolo, map by (1527), ii. 321, 335, 358, 359\n\n  \"Mag Mell\" (the happy plain), i. 355, 357, 365, 370\n\n  Magnaghi, A., ii. 227, 230\n\n  Magnus Barfot's Saga, i. 197\n\n  Magnussen, Finn, ii. 102\n\n  Ma\u01f5\u00fbs, Arab name for Northern Vikings, ii. 55, 196, 200, 201, 209, 210\n\n  Maine, coast of, ii. 316, 317\n\n  Mair, G., i. 35, 36, 37, 43, 47, 59\n\n  Manann\u00e1n mac Lir, i. 363, 370; ii. 45\n\n  Mandeville, Sir John, ii. 271, 292\n\n  Manna, i. 338\n\n  Mannhardt, W., i. 365\n\n  Manuel, King of Portugal, ii. 346, 347, 352, 353, 375, 376, 377, 378\n\n  Mapes, Walter, ii. 75-6\n\n  Maps (_see also_ Compass-charts), earliest Greek, i. 11, 76, 77, 78; ii.\n        182;\n    Ptolemy's, i. 116-22;\n    wheel-maps, i. 151; ii. 183-8, 193, 218, 222;\n    T- and OT-maps, i. 151; ii. 183-4, 193;\n    Arab maps, ii. 203;\n    15th century mappemundi, ii. 281-7\n\n  Marcianus of Heraclea, i. 123\n\n  Margaret, Queen of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, ii. 118, 132\n\n  Marinus of Tyre, i. 115, 116, 121, 122; ii. 194, 249\n\n  Markham, Sir C. R., i. 43, 58, 64; ii. 295, 336, 373\n\n  Markland, i. 299, 305, 307, 312, 313, 322, 323, 324, 329, 334, 335, 336,\n        338; ii. 1, 19, 22, 23, 36, 37, 42, 61, 92-93, 96, 229, 279;\n    ship from M. reaches Iceland, ii. 22, 25, 36-8, 61, 229\n\n  Martellus, Henricus, ii. 276, 279\n\n  Martyr, Peter, ii. 303, 330, 336, 337, 338, 339, 342\n\n  Marx, F., i. 37\n\n  Massaget\u00e6, i. 81, 148; ii. 188\n\n  Massalia, i. 31, 42, 43, 45, 46, 47, 48, 67, 70\n\n  Mas'\u00fbd\u00ee, ii. 198-9, 207\n\n  Matthew Paris, ii. 281\n\n  Matthias, Franz, i. 36, 43\n\n  Maurenbrecher, B., i. 349\n\n  Maurer, K., i. 265; ii. 9\n\n  Mauro, Fra, map by, ii. 177, 278, 285, 286\n\n  Medici Atlas (1351), i. 362; ii. 229, 234-6, 236, 240, 255, 256, 257,\n        258, 259, 260, 261, 262, 263, 264, 265, 272-6\n\n  Mehren, A. F., ii. 143, 145, 212\n\n  Meissner, R., i. 255\n\n  Mela, Pomponius, i. 15, 19, 28, 38, 44, 55, 63, 72, 75, 85-96, 97, 101,\n        103, 114, 118, 131, 144, 155; ii. 32, 192, 208\n\n  Melville Bay, i. 305, 310\n\n  Mercator, Gerard, ii. 261;\n    his map of 1569, ii. 130\n\n  _Meregarto_, i. 69, 181-4, 193, 252; ii. 51\n\n  Mevenklint (Kolbeins-ey), i. 264, 286, 287; ii. 166, 169, 170, 172\n\n  Meyer, Kuno, i. 198, 354\n\n  Michelsen, A. L. J., i. 214\n\n  Midgards-worm, i. 364; ii. 234\n\n  Mid-glacier (_Mi\u00f0j\u01ebkull_), Greenland, i. 267, 288, 290, 293, 294, 295\n\n  Midnight sun (long summer day and winter night in the North), i. 14, 45,\n        53-4, 62, 79, 92, 98, 106, 131, 133-4, 140, 157, 165, 193, 194,\n        309-11; ii. 144, 190, 212, 281\n\n  Mikhow, Andrei, ii. 163, 173, 174\n\n  Mikkola, Prof., ii. 175\n\n  Miller, K., i. 77, 87, 90, 109, 115, 123, 150, 152, 180, 182; ii. 185,\n        186, 187, 192, 193, 223, 226, 282, 284\n\n  Modena compass-chart, ii. 230-1, 235, 266, 282\n\n  Moe, Prof. Moltke, i. 69, 247, 304, 332, 341, 342, 352, 358, 364, 366,\n        370, 372, 373, 374, 378, 379, 381; ii. 8, 11, 15, 16, 20, 33, 44,\n        45, 46, 51, 56, 75, 147, 213, 228, 242, 245\n\n  Mommsen, T., i. 57, 123, 129, 136, 137, 193; ii. 143\n\n  Monopoly of trade with Greenland, ii. 98, 118-9, 179-80;\n    with Finmark, ii. 179\n\n  Montelius, O., i. 239, 241\n\n  \"Moorbr\u00fccken,\" i. 36\n\n  Mordvins, ii. 142, 143, 199\n\n  Morimarusa, i. 99, 100, 105; ii. 58\n\n  Moskenstr\u00f6m (Lofoten), i. 158; ii. 152-3, 154, 241\n\n  \"M\u01ebsurr\" (masur), wood from Wineland, i. 317; ii. 5, 25\n\n  Much, R., i. 93, 94, 95, 99, 110, 112, 119, 120, 246, 247\n\n  M\u00fcllenhoff, K., i. 37, 38, 41, 42, 43, 56, 57, 59, 60, 61, 65, 83, 85,\n        92, 93, 102, 103, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 120, 128, 132, 134,\n        136, 137, 145, 206, 207, 234, 235, 246, 247\n\n  M\u00fcllenhoff and Scherer, i. 181\n\n  M\u00fcller, I., i. 83\n\n  M\u00fcller, S., i. 22\n\n  Munch, P.A., i. 50, 132, 134, 136, 146, 179, 180, 205, 246, 247, 258,\n        331; ii. 154\n\n  Muratori, ii. 162\n\n  Murman coast, i. 212; ii. 173, 176, 269\n\n  Mylius-Erichsen, i. 2, 3\n\n\n  Naddodd Viking, i. 255-7\n\n  Nansen, F., _First Crossing of Greenland_, i. 281, 293\n\n  Nansen, F., _Eskimo Life_, ii. 72, 73, 105\n\n  Narwhale, i. 300, 303\n\n  Natives of North America, brought to England in 1501 or 1502, ii. 333;\n    probably Eskimo, ii. 334;\n    brought to Lisbon by Corte-Real's expedition, ii. 348, 349, 351-2,\n        366-7;\n    perhaps Eskimo, ii. 367\n\n  Negri, Francesco, i. 226\n\n  Nepos, Cornelius, i. 87\n\n  Nestor's Russian Chronicle, ii. 143\n\n  Newfoundland, i. 248, 322, 323, 324, 334, 335; ii. 23, 91, 308, 309,\n        312, 313, 314, 315, 317, 318, 321, 322, 329, 335, 337, 355, 362,\n        363, 364, 376;\n    discovery of, by Corte-Real, ii. 330, 354, 355, 362;\n    on 16th century maps, ii. 370-5;\n    fisheries of, ii. 330-1, 378;\n    called Terra de Corte-Real, ii. 354, 355, 376, 378\n\n  Newfoundland Banks, ii. 154, 309, 318, 363\n\n  New Land (_Nyaland_), i. 285-6\n\n  Nicholas V., Pope, Letter to, on Greenland, ii. 17, 86, 112, 116, 256,\n        270, 288, 366;\n    Letter from, on Greenland (1448), ii. 113-5, 278\n\n  Nicholas of Lynn, ii. 86, 151, 153, 214, 249, 256, 261, 270, 289\n\n  Nicolayssen, O., i. 375\n\n  Nielsen, Prof. Konrad, i. 219, 223; ii. 175\n\n  Nielsen, Prof. Yngvar, i. 369; ii. 29, 39, 90, 92, 154\n\n  Niese, B., i. 14\n\n  Nikul\u00e1s Bergsson, Abbot, of Thver\u00e2, (Icelandic geographical work), i.\n        198, 313; ii. 1, 2, 237, 256\n\n  Nilsson, Sven, i. 35, 60, 205\n\n  \"Nisse,\" Scandinavian fairy, i. 373, 381; ii. 15\n\n  Nj\u00e1l's Saga, i. 372\n\n  Noel, S. B. J., ii. 160, 173\n\n  \"Nordbotn,\" (Norderbondt, Nordhindh Bondh, Nordenbodhn), the Polar Sea,\n        i. 303, 304; ii. 171, 256, 259, 267, 268, 269\n\n  Nordenski\u00f6ld, A. E., i. 226; ii. 32, 220, 223, 229, 230, 234, 249, 250,\n        266, 282, 285, 357\n\n  Nor\u00f0rsetur (Greenland), i. 267, 296, 298-307, 308, 309, 300; ii. 83, 88\n\n  _Nor\u00f0rsetudr\u00e1pa_, i. 273, 298\n\n  Normans, i. 145, 146, 153, 188, 234; ii. 159-62, 200-2\n\n  North Cape, i. 171, 172, 174; ii. 124\n\n  North Pole, whirlpool at, i. 159;\n    land at, ii. 239, 263, 272\n\n  North Sea, amber from, i. 14, 32, 34, 35\n\n  North-West Passage, i. 115; ii. 129, 130, 378\n\n  Norway, i. 58, 60-5, 147, 253, 292, 316, 324, 353; ii. 98-100, 169, 170,\n        204, 237;\n    the name of, i. 107, 179;\n    Jordanes on, i. 136-8;\n    Solinus MSS. on, i. 161;\n    Ottar on, i. 170-1, 175-80;\n    Adam of Bremen on, i. 188, 190-2, 194, 200;\n    anthropological characteristics in, i. 209-10;\n    fairylands in, i. 369-70;\n    whaling in, ii. 155-9;\n    Edrisi on, ii. 205;\n    Sh\u00eeraz\u00ee on, ii. 211;\n    in medi\u00e6val cartography, ii. 219, 221, 225, 227, 230, 235-6, 257,\n        258-61, 265-9, 286\n\n  Norwegian seafaring, i. 62, 221, 223, 224, 233-5, 246-52, 287; ii. 135,\n        140;\n    decline of, ii. 179-81\n\n  Nova Scotia, i. 329, 335, 345; ii. 3, 5, 90, 91, 309, 314-6, 321;\n    probably discovered by John Cabot, ii. 314-6\n\n  Novaya Zemlya, i. 212, 248; ii. 165, 166, 173, 238\n\n  Novilara, Carvings on grave-stone at, i. 238, 239\n\n  Novgorod, ii. 140, 142\n\n  Nydam, Boat from, i. 110, 238, 241, 244, 246\n\n\n  Oceanus, i. 8, 9, 10, 11, 16, 79, 192, 198, 199, 200, 201; ii. 1, 154,\n        182, 198, 200, 204, 239, 248\n\n  Ochon, King of the Eruli, i. 141, 148\n\n  Odysseus, i. 13, 78; ii. 53, 54\n\n  \"\u0152cumene\" (the habitable world), i. 8, 10, 12, 45, 55, 76, 78, 79, 81,\n        82, 115, 121, 198; ii. 182, 217\n\n  \u0152ne\u00e6, or \u0152on\u00e6 (egg-eaters), i. 91, 92, 95, 131, 155\n\n  \u0152strymnides, i. 28, 37-41;\n    == Cassiterides, i. 39\n\n  Ogygia, i. 182, 347, 355, 363; ii. 43\n\n  Olaf the Saint, i. 331; ii. 49, 50, 171\n\n  Olaf Tryggvason, i. 270, 316, 321, 339; ii. 50\n\n  Olaus Magnus, i. 205, 211, 228; ii. 17, 89, 111, 123, 124, 125, 127,\n        128, 129, 131, 139, 141, 152, 163, 173, 178\n\n  Oliveriana map (_circa_ 1503), ii. 358, 369, 370, 374-5\n\n  Olrik, Axel, ii. 252, 253\n\n  Olsen, Gunnar, i. 377\n\n  Olsen, Prof. Magnus, i. 228, 219, 246, 297\n\n  Omar al 'Udhri, i. 284; ii. 156\n\n  Ongania (reproductions of maps), ii. 221, 234, 278, 282, 287\n\n  Oppert, J., i. 35\n\n  Orcades, i. 57, 90, 106, 107, 117, 123, 130, 160, 161, 192, 199, 200;\n        ii. 186, 192, 200\n\n  Ordericus Vitalis, i. 382; ii. 31\n\n  \"Orkan\" (or \"Orkas\"), i. 50-3, 58, 90\n\n  Orkneys, i. 52-3, 90, 107, 113, 117, 192, 195, 258; ii. 55, 148;\n    in medi\u00e6val cartography, ii. 219, 228\n\n  Orosius, Paulus, i. 38, 44, 123, 151, 169, 184; ii. 183, 192, 193\n\n  Oseberg ship, i. 246, 247\n\n  Osti\u00e6i, i. 69, 72\n\n  Ostiimans (Ostimnians), i. 38, 69, 72\n\n  Ost-s\u00e6\u0302, i. 169\n\n  Ostyaks, i. 207; ii. 147\n\n  Ottar (Ohthere), i. 170-80, 204, 211, 213, 214, 218, 220, 225, 230, 231,\n        247; ii. 135-6, 142, 156, 159, 164, 173, 243\n\n\n  Panoti (long-eared), i. 92\n\n  Paris, Gaston, i. 359\n\n  Parmenides of Elea, i. 12, 123; ii. 182\n\n  Pasqualigo, Lorenzo, ii. 301, 302, 303, 312, 314, 316, 317\n\n  Pasqualigo, Pietro, Venetian Minister at Lisbon, ii. 347-9, 355, 360,\n        361, 362, 363, 365, 367, 372\n\n  Paulus Warnefridi, i. 136, 139, 155-60, 184, 187, 196, 203, 284; ii.\n        147, 148, 150, 153\n\n  Pechora, river, ii. 144, 146, 147, 173\n\n  Pedo, Albinovanus, i. 82-4; ii. 148\n\n  \"Perdita\" (the Lost Isle), i. 376; ii. 213\n\n  Permians, i. 174\n\n  Peschel, Johannes, i. 352; ii. 147\n\n  Peucini, i. 111, 112, 113, 114\n\n  Peyrere (_Relation du Gro\u00ebnland_), ii. 120\n\n  Ph\u00e6acians, i. 347, 371, 378; ii. 53, 54\n\n  Philemon, i. 99, 100\n\n  _Phoca f\u0153tida_, i. 177\n\n  _Phoca gr\u0153nlandica_ (saddleback seal), i. 217, 276\n\n  _Phoca vitulina_, i. 217\n\n  Ph\u0153nicians, i. 24, 25, 27, 30, 33, 34-6, 40, 41, 99, 233, 249, 346, 349,\n        362, 376\n\n  Pilestrina, map of 1511, attributed to, ii. 374, 376, 377\n\n  Pindar, i. 18, 348\n\n  Pining, Didrik, ii. 123-9, 133, 345\n\n  Pistorius, ii. 173\n\n  Pizigano map (1367), ii. 229, 230, 236\n\n  Plato, ii. 46, 293\n\n  Pliny, i. 15, 19, 20, 26, 28, 30, 33, 37, 38, 44, 52, 53, 55, 57, 58,\n        65, 70, 71, 72, 75, 84, 85, 87, 93, 96-107, 118, 121, 123, 126,\n        134, 155, 162, 185, 334, 348, 349, 362, 376; ii. 48, 55, 59, 214\n\n  Plutarch, i. 156, 182, 187, 349, 363, 376; ii. 43\n\n  Polar Sea, i. 169, 172, 195-6, 213, 283, 303; ii. 145, 164, 165, 166,\n        171, 173, 174, 176, 177, 238\n\n  Polo, Marco, ii. 288, 289\n\n  Polus (equinoctial dial), i. 46, 48\n\n  Polybius, i. 43, 44, 45, 52, 56, 66, 67, 73, 74, 78, 80; ii. 160\n\n  Pontoppidan, Erich, i. 375\n\n  Porthan, H. G., i. 179\n\n  _Portolani_, ii. 216\n\n  Portuguese adventurers, Arab tale of, ii. 51-5\n\n  Portuguese chart of about 1520, at Munich, ii. 353, 354, 355, 356\n\n  Portuguese, maritime enterprise of, ii. 292-3, 345, 377\n\n  Posidonius, i. 14, 23, 27, 52, 79, 115; ii. 292, 297\n\n  Pothorst, associate of Pining, ii. 123-9, 133, 345\n\n  Priscianus C\u00e6sariensis, i. 123\n\n  Procopius, i. 60, 94, 132, 134, 138, 139-50, 154, 194, 203, 372\n\n  Promised Land (_see_ T\u00edr Tairngiri _and_ Terra Repromissionis)\n\n  Provisioning of Viking ships, i. 268-9\n\n  Psalter map, ii. 187, 188\n\n  Ptolemy, i. 26, 38, 44, 72, 75, 76, 79, 93, 99, 102, 111, 112, 115-22,\n        128, 130, 131, 132, 142, 143, 144, 246, 349; ii. 182, 194, 195,\n        197, 206, 208, 210, 211, 212, 220, 236, 249, 250, 254, 255, 256,\n        257, 258, 259, 260, 261, 262, 263, 264, 265, 266, 267, 275, 277,\n        278, 279, 280, 292\n\n  Puebla, Ruy Gonzales de, Spanish Ambassador to Henry VII., ii. 300, 324,\n        325\n\n  Pull\u00e8 and Longhena, ii. 230\n\n  _Purchas his Pilgrimes_, ii. 126\n\n  Pygmies, ii. 17, 75, 76, 85, 86, 111, 117, 206, 255, 263, 269, 270\n\n  Pythagoras, i. 11, 12\n\n  Pytheas, i. 2, 29, 38, 41, 43-73, 74, 75, 77, 78, 80, 81, 82, 90, 92,\n        97, 100, 106, 116, 165, 172, 193, 234, 246;\n    date of his voyage, i. 44;\n    his astronomical measurements, i. 45;\n    his ship, i. 48;\n    in Britain, i. 50;\n    in Thule, i. 53;\n    on the sea beyond Thule, i. 65;\n    voyage along the coast of Germania, i. 69\n\n\n  Qazw\u00een\u00ee, i. 187, 284; ii. 57, 144, 156, 202, 209-11, 234\n\n  Qod\u00e2ma, ii. 198\n\n  Querini's travels in Norway (1432), ii. 177, 286\n\n  Qvigstad, J. K., i. 173, 220, 221, 226, 228, 229, 372; ii. 210\n\n\n  Rafn, C., i. 304, 340; ii. 31, 33, 193\n\n  Ragnaricii (_see_ Ranrike), i. 136\n\n  R\u00e2k\u00e2, island in Arab myth, ii. 207-8\n\n  Ramusio, G. B., ii. 298, 303, 337, 338, 339, 340, 341, 354, 364\n\n  Ranii, i. 136, 137\n\n  Ranisch, W., i. 18\n\n  Ranrike, i. 136\n\n  Rask, R., i. 179\n\n  Raumarici (_see_ Romerike), i. 136\n\n  Ravenna geographer, The, i. 144, 152-4, 203\n\n  Ravenstein, E. G., ii. 287, 289\n\n  Ravn Hlymreks-farer, i. 354, 366\n\n  Reeves, A. M., i. 267, 322; ii. 30\n\n  Reinach, S., i. 26, 27\n\n  Reindeer, i. 175, 176, 191, 204, 212, 217, 226, 227, 230, 276, 277\n\n  Reindeer-Lapps, i. 61, 190, 204, 205, 207, 218, 220-32; ii. 269\n\n  Reinel, Pedro, map by, ii. 321, 322, 358, 364, 370, 371, 374, 376, 377\n\n  Rheims mappamundi in MS. of Mela, ii. 282-3\n\n  Rhip\u00e6an, or Riph\u00e6an, Mountains, i. 13, 16, 79, 81, 88, 89, 98, 101, 128,\n        189, 190, 191, 194, 200; ii. 223\n\n  Riant, Paul, ii. 55\n\n  Ribero, Diego, map of 1529, ii. 315, 335, 356, 357, 359\n\n  Rietz, i. 373\n\n  Rimbertus, i. 167\n\n  Rink, H., ii. 8, 69, 70, 71, 106\n\n  Rock-carvings, Scandinavian, i. 236-41, 245\n\n  Rodulf, Norwegian king, i. 129, 132, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 143, 147\n\n  Roger II., Norman king of Sicily, ii. 202, 203\n\n  Rohde, E., ii. 57, 58, 234\n\n  R\u00f6k-stone, The, i. 138, 148\n\n  Rolf of Raudesand, i. 264, 315\n\n  Romerike, i. 136\n\n  Romsdal, i. 136, 137, 147\n\n  R\u00f6rdan, Holger (_Monumenta Histori\u00e6 Danic\u00e6_), ii. 129\n\n  Ross, H., i. 341, 352; ii. 13, 171\n\n  _Rudimentum Novitiorum_, Map in, ii. 32;\n    geography in, ii. 189\n\n  R\u00fbm (Eastern and Central Europe), ii. 197, 209, 211\n\n  R\u00fbs (Scandinavians in Russia), ii. 196, 197, 198, 199\n\n  Rusbeas, or Rubeas, promontory, i. 99-100, 102\n\n  Russia (_see also_ Bjarmeland), i. 185, 187, 188, 191, 214, 383; ii.\n        141, 143, 164, 174, 195, 196, 197, 206\n\n  Ruste, Ibn, ii. 146, 198\n\n  Ruysch's map (1508), i. 262; ii, 289\n\n  Rydberg, Viktor, i. 156, 158\n\n  Ryger (Ruger, Rugii), i. 136, 138, 147, 179, 209, 246\n\n  Rygh, K., i. 173, 304, 323, 324, 369\n\n  Rygh, O., i. 304, 324, 374; ii. 211\n\n  _Rymbegla_, i. 188, 249, 287, 322, 335; ii. 11, 167, 170, 239, 240, 256,\n        260, 263, 264, 271, 272\n\n\n  Sabalingii, i. 72, 118\n\n  S\u00e6vo, Mons, (_or_ Suevus), i. 85, 101, 102\n\n  Sa'id, Ibn, ii. 177, 208-9\n\n  Sailing-directions, Icelandic, i. 262, 285, 288, 290; ii. 166, 168-71,\n        261\n\n  St. John, Island of, on sixteenth-century maps, ii. 320-1, 377\n\n  St. John, Valley of, New Brunswick, i. 335; ii. 3, 5\n\n  St. Lawrence, Gulf of, ii. 68\n\n  Sallust, i. 349; ii. 183, 186;\n    \"Sallust map\" at Geneva, ii. 282, 283\n\n  Samoyeds, i. 212, 223; ii. 143, 146, 175\n\n  Samson Fagre's Saga, ii. 172\n\n  Sanali (long-eared), i. 91, 92\n\n  San-Marte, i. 365\n\n  Santa Cruz, Alonso de, ii. 332\n\n  Sanudo, Marino, ii. 222-5, 227, 262, 272, 282\n\n  Sargasso Sea, i. 40\n\n  Sarmatia, Sarmatians (Slavs), i. 87, 91, 95, 97, 101, 109, 113, 120, 170\n\n  Sars, J. E., i. 234, 258\n\n  S\u00e4ve, P. A., i. 374\n\n  Savolotchie (the country on the Dvina), ii. 141-2\n\n  Saxo Grammaticus, i. 193, 206, 355, 364; ii. 101, 147, 165-6, 221,\n        222-3, 224, 227, 238, 242, 258, 259, 263\n\n  Saxons, i. 145, 153, 154, 180, 235, 242, 245\n\n  \"Scadinavia,\" or \"Scatinavia,\" i. 93, 101, 102-4, 105, 155, 156\n\n  \"Scandia\" (\"Scandza\"), i. 102-4, 106, 107, 119, 120, 130-1, 136, 142-4,\n        153, 155; ii. 254, 257\n\n  Scandinavia, regarded as a peninsula, i. 185; ii. 222;\n    as an island, ii. 186, 188, 225;\n    representation of, in medi\u00e6val cartography, ii. 221-5, 227, 234-6,\n        250, 258-69, 285, 286;\n    geography of, in Northern writers, ii. 237-9\n\n  Schafarik, i. 185\n\n  Schanz, M., i. 83\n\n  Schiern, F., i. 191\n\n  Schirmer, G., ii. 44\n\n  Schlaraffenland, i. 352\n\n  Schliemann, H., i. 24\n\n  Sch\u00f6nnerb\u00f6l, ii. 152, 153\n\n  Schoolcraft, H. R., ii. 7\n\n  Schrader, O., i. 24, 34, 36\n\n  Schr\u00f6der, C., i. 360; ii. 9, 19, 43, 44, 50\n\n  Sch\u00fcbeler, Prof., ii. 5\n\n  Schuchhardt, C., i. 14\n\n  Schultz-Lorentzen, ii. 73\n\n  Sciringesheal (Skiringssal), i. 179, 247\n\n  Scirri (Skirer), i. 101, 179, 247\n\n  Scisco, Dr. L. D., ii. 43\n\n  Scolvus, Johannes, ii. 129-33\n\n  Scotland, i. 161; ii. 204;\n    Pytheas in, i. 53-6;\n    in medi\u00e6val cartography, ii. 221, 257\n\n  Scottish runners, Karlsevne's, i. 321, 324-5, 337, 339-43; ii. 65\n\n  Scythia, Scythians, i. 13, 16, 19, 20, 23, 69, 70, 71, 81, 85, 87, 88,\n        89, 95, 97, 98, 99, 101, 114, 153, 154, 185, 187\n\n  Sealand, i. 93, 94, 103, 105, 138;\n    in medi\u00e6val cartography, ii. 219, 254, 255, 257, 265\n\n  Seals, Sealing, i. 177, 216-9, 224, 276-8, 286-7, 299, 300; ii. 72, 91,\n        97, 155, 156, 165, 173, 243\n\n  \"Sea-lung,\" i. 66-7\n\n  S\u00e9billot, P., i. 377\n\n  Seippel, Prof. Alexander, ii. 143, 196, 197, 198, 199, 200, 202, 203,\n        204, 205, 208, 210, 211\n\n  Seleucus, i. 77\n\n  Semnones, i. 85\n\n  Sena, island off Brittany, i. 29, 356; ii. 32, 47\n\n  Seneca, i. 82, 84\n\n  Seres, Serica (China), ii. 262, 271\n\n  \"Sermende\" (== Sarmatians ?), i. 170\n\n  Sertorius, i. 349-50\n\n  Set\u00e4l\u00e4, Prof. E., i. 219; ii. 175\n\n  Seven Cities, Isle of the, ii. 293, 295, 304, 325\n\n  Seven Sleepers, Legend of the, i. 20, 156, 284\n\n  Severianus, i. 127\n\n  Shetland Isles, i. 52-3, 57, 58, 67, 90, 106, 107, 117, 161, 163, 179,\n        192, 234, 257, 292, 374; ii. 207;\n    in medi\u00e6val cartography, ii. 219, 228, 266\n\n  Ship-burials, i. 239, 241\n\n  Ships, Egyptian, i. 7, 23, 235, 237, 242, 243;\n    Greek, i. 48-9, 235, 237, 242, 243, 245;\n    Ph\u0153nician, i. 35, 237, 243, 245;\n    early Scandinavian, i. 110, 236-44;\n    Viking, i. 236, 238, 241, 242, 243, 246-7;\n    in Greenland, i. 305\n\n  Sh\u00eeraz\u00ee, ii. 211-2\n\n  \"S\u00edd\" (Irish fairies), i. 356, 371; ii. 16, 20, 45-6, 60\n\n  Sigurd Stefansson's map of the North, ii. 7\n\n  Simonss\u00f6n, J\u00f3n, i. 227\n\n  Sinclair, Legends of, in Norway, i. 339-41\n\n  Sindbad, i. 159; ii. 57, 234\n\n  Siret, L., i. 22, 24, 29\n\n  Sitones, i. 111-2\n\n  Ska\u00f0i, Norse goddess, i. 103, 207\n\n  _Sk\u00e1ld-Helga Rimur_, i. 298-9, 300\n\n  Sk\u00e5ne, i. 72, 103, 104, 180;\n    in medi\u00e6val cartography, ii. 221, 222, 235, 257, 258, 267, 285\n\n  Skaw, The, i. 85, 100, 105, 186; ii. 204\n\n  Ski-running, i. 149, 157, 158, 203, 223; ii. 139\n\n  Skolte-Lapps, i. 214, 220, 231\n\n  Skr\u00e6lings, in Greenland, i. 260, 298, 308, 312, 327; ii. 17, 77-90, 101,\n        108, 111, 117;\n    in Wineland, i. 260, 312, 313, 327-30, 368; ii. 6-11, 26, 60, 90-3,\n        206, 208;\n    in Markland, i. 329; ii. 15, 19, 20, 92-3;\n    in Helluland, ii. 35;\n    originally mythical beings, ii. 11-20, 26, 60, 75-6;\n    meaning of the word, ii. 13;\n    called Pygm\u00e6i, ii. 12, 17, 75, 270\n\n  Skridfinns (Screrefenn\u00e6, Scrithifini, Rerefeni, Scritobini,\n        Scride-Finnas, Scritefini), i. 131-2, 140, 143, 144, 149-50,\n        153-4, 156-7, 170, 189, 191, 194, 198, 203-8, 210, 221, 222,\n        223, 382; ii. 139, 192\n\n  Skull-measurements, of Scandinavians, i. 209, 211;\n    of Lapps, i. 219-20;\n    of Eskimo, ii. 67\n\n  Slavs (_see also_ Sarmatians), i. 167, 188, 208, 209, 210; ii. 142, 143,\n        197, 198\n\n  Sleswick, i. 70, 72, 101, 119, 179, 180; ii. 202, 204\n\n  Sluggish sea, outside the Pillars of Hercules, and in the North, i. 38,\n        40-1, 68, 83, 100, 108, 112-3, 130, 165\n\n  Smith Sound, i. 304, 306; ii. 71, 72, 73, 74\n\n  \"Sm\u00f6rland\" as a name for fairyland, i. 374\n\n  Sn\u00e6bj\u00f6rn, Galti, i. 264, 280\n\n  Sn\u00e6fell (Greenland), i. 267, 308, 310\n\n  Sn\u00e6fellsnes (Iceland), i. 257, 262, 267, 288, 290, 293, 294, 295\n\n  Snedgus and Mac Riagail, Voyage of, ii. 53-4\n\n  Snorre Sturlason, i. 270, 273; ii. 18, 64, 137, 239\n\n  Snorre Thorbrandsson, Wineland voyager, i. 313, 319, 320, 326, 327, 333\n\n  S\u00f6derberg, Prof. Sven, on Wineland, ii. 63-5\n\n  Solberg, Dr. O., i. 213, 214, 217, 219, 230, 306; ii. 72, 73, 103\n\n  Soleri map (1385), ii. 229\n\n  Solinus, C. Julius, i. 52, 55, 57, 64, 66, 99, 123, 126, 151, 160, 184,\n        189, 193, 348\n\n  Soncino, Raimondo di, Milanese Minister in London, ii. 296-7, 298, 301,\n        302, 303-5, 306, 307, 308, 309, 312, 314, 316, 323\n\n  S\u00f6rensen, S. A., i. 179\n\n  Spain, tin in, i. 23, 31;\n    suggested origin of the name of, i. 380;\n    Viking raids in, ii. 199, 200\n\n  Spherical form of the earth, Doctrine of, i. 11, 97, 126, 127, 151, 194,\n        199; ii. 185, 247\n\n  Spies, in land of Canaan, i. 339\n\n  Spitzbergen, i. 248; ii. 165, 168, 170, 172, 173, 179, 238\n\n  Steensby, H. P., ii. 69, 70\n\n  Steenstrup, Japetus, i. 172\n\n  Steenstrup, Johannes, ii. 161, 162\n\n  Stenkyrka (Gotland), Stone from, i. 239, 243\n\n  _Stj\u00f3rn_ (Norwegian version of Old Testament), i. 338; ii. 4\n\n  Stokes, Whitley, i. 357\n\n  Storm, Gustav, i. 132, 174, 196, 218, 228, 254, 255, 260, 284, 285, 292,\n        301, 305, 313, 314, 317, 321, 322, 324, 329, 333, 369; ii. 1, 2,\n        3, 7, 11, 14, 17, 19, 22, 23, 25, 27, 29, 30, 35, 36, 43, 47, 48,\n        75, 79, 82, 86, 90, 93, 99, 100, 101, 107, 111, 112, 114, 117,\n        118, 121, 122, 124, 129, 131, 136, 137, 141, 147, 150, 153, 158,\n        167, 168, 229, 235, 237, 240, 242, 249, 250, 256, 257, 258, 262,\n        267, 268, 270, 272, 279, 289, 294\n\n  Stow, John, Chronicle, ii. 333\n\n  Strabo, i. 14, 15, 20, 23, 24, 27, 28, 38, 42, 43, 44, 45, 50, 52, 53,\n        55, 56, 57, 61, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 69, 70, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76,\n        77, 80-2, 87, 111, 112, 161, 187, 349; ii. 47, 75, 160, 201\n\n  Straumsfjord (Wineland), i. 325, 326, 329, 330, 337, 343, 345\n\n  Str\u00f6m, Han (_Description of S\u00f6ndm\u00f6r_), i. 370, 375\n\n  Strong Men, Island of, ii. 43, 46, 50, 61\n\n  _Sturlub\u00f3k_, i. 255, 256, 257, 261, 262, 293, 331, 354, 367, 368; ii.\n        169, 261\n\n  Styx, i. 359, 372\n\n  \"Suehans\" (_see_ Svear), i. 135, 137\n\n  Sueones (_see_ Svear), i. 188-9\n\n  \"Suetidi,\" i. 136, 137\n\n  Suevi (Suebi), i. 87, 108-9\n\n  Suhm (_Historie af Danmark_), ii. 154\n\n  Suiones (_see_ Svear), i. 110-2, 236, 238, 244, 245\n\n  Sun-dial, i. 46-7\n\n  Sun's altitude, measurement of, i. 249, 250, 309-11; ii. 307\n\n  Svalbard (Spitzbergen ?), ii. 165, 166-73, 238\n\n  Svear (Swedes, Suiones, Suehans, Sveones, Sueones), i. 110-2, 135, 137,\n        167, 170, 188-9; ii. 190\n\n  Svein Estridsson, King of Denmark, i. 184, 188, 189, 195, 201, 383; ii.\n        148\n\n  Sverdrup, Otto, i. 306; ii. 70, 71\n\n  Sviatoi Nos, promontory, i. 171, 174; ii. 136, 138, 140, 155\n\n  Svin\u00f6i, name of island off Sunnm\u00f6r, i. 369-70, 378;\n    island off Nordland, i. 378;\n    island in the Faroes, i. 375, 378;\n    probable origin of the name, i. 378\n\n  Sweden, i. 71, 101, 112, 134-5, 178, 187, 188-9, 210, 381, 383; ii. 190,\n        205, 237;\n    in medi\u00e6val cartography, ii. 219, 221, 222, 223\n\n  Swedes (_see_ Svear _and_ G\u00f6ter)\n\n  Swedish legends and fairy-tales, ii. 55-6\n\n  Sydow, C. W. von, i. 342, 364\n\n\n  Tacitus, i. 69, 71, 83, 95, 104, 107-14, 131, 144, 149, 150, 203, 236,\n        238, 244, 245; ii. 47\n\n  Tanais (the Don), i. 66, 70, 78, 88, 151; ii. 186\n\n  Tarducci, F., ii. 295, 304, 319\n\n  Tarsis (Tarshish, Tartessos), i. 24, 28, 31, 38\n\n  Tartarus, i. 11, 68, 158; ii. 150, 240\n\n  Tart\u00fbshi, at-, i. 187; ii. 202\n\n  Tastris, promontory, i. 101, 105\n\n  Terfinnas, i. 171, 173-5, 204, 213, 218; ii. 146\n\n  \"Terra del Rey de portuguall\" on Cantino map, ii. 352, 363, 372;\n    == Newfoundland, ii. 363, 370\n\n  \"Terra Repromissionis Sanctorum,\" i. 357, 358, 359, 363, 364; ii. 19, 228\n\n  Teutones, i. 70, 72, 91, 93, 94\n\n  Thalbitzer, W., ii. 19, 67, 70, 73, 88, 90, 93\n\n  Thales of Miletus, i. 12, 33, 34, 47\n\n  Theodoric, King of the Goths, i. 128, 129, 136, 137, 138, 147\n\n  Theopompus, i. 12, 16, 17, 355\n\n  Thietmar of Merseburg, i. 229\n\n  Thomsen, V., ii. 175, 198, 199\n\n  Thor, i. 325, 333, 341, 343, 364;\n    \"Thor-\" names, i. 332-3; ii. 51\n\n  Thorbj\u00f6rn Vivilsson, i. 318, 319, 320, 332\n\n  Thorbrand Snorrason, killed in Wineland, i. 313, 328, 333; ii. 10\n\n  Thore Hund's expedition to Bjarmeland, ii. 137-8\n\n  Thorfinn, Earl of Orkney, i. 354; ii. 50\n\n  Thorgils Orrabeinsfostre, sails to Greenland, i. 280-2; ii. 81, 89\n\n  Thorgunna, Leif's mistress, i. 316, 333\n\n  Thorhall Gamlason, Wineland voyager, i. 313, 319, 320, 333, 367\n\n  Thorhall the Hunter, i. 296, 320, 321, 325-6, 329, 333, 338, 343-4; ii.\n        24\n\n  Thorkel Gellisson, i. 253, 258, 260, 313, 354, 366, 367, 368; ii. 42\n\n  Thormod Kolbrunarskald, i. 276; ii. 18\n\n  Thorne, Robert, ii. 324, 341;\n    map by, 334, 335\n\n  Thoroddssen, Th., i. 262; ii. 225\n\n  Thorolf Kveldulfsson, i. 175, 231\n\n  Thorolf Sm\u00f6r, i. 257, 374\n\n  _Thorsdr\u00e1pa_, i. 219\n\n  Thorstein Ericson, i. 249, 317-9, 320, 321, 331, 333;\n    attempts to find Wineland, i. 318\n\n  Thorvald Ericson, i. 318, 320, 329, 332; ii. 4, 13, 17-8\n\n  Thorvard, Wineland voyager, i. 320, 332\n\n  Three Brethren, Strait of the, ii. 130, 133\n\n  Thue, H. J., i. 60\n\n  Thule (Tyle, Thyle, Ultima Tile, &c.), i. 123, 134, 147; ii. 75, 149,\n        188, 192, 197, 198, 200;\n    visited by Pytheas, i. 53-64;\n    derivation of, i. 58-9;\n    == Norway, i. 60;\n    Mela on, i. 92;\n    Pliny on, i. 106;\n    Tacitus, i. 108;\n    Ptolemy, i. 117, 120, 121;\n    Jordanes, i. 130;\n    Procopius, i. 140-4;\n    Solinus MSS., i. 160-1;\n    Adam of Bremen, i. 193-4;\n    Dicuil on (== Iceland), i. 164-7;\n    Tjodrik Monk (== Iceland), i. 254;\n    Historia Norwegi\u00e6 (== Iceland), i. 255;\n    in medi\u00e6val cartography, ii. 219, 228, 257, 266, 268, 269\n\n  Thyssaget\u00e6, i. 88\n\n  Tides, on W. coast of France, i. 40;\n    observed by Pytheas, i. 50;\n    on coast of N. America, ii. 316\n\n  Tim\u00e6us, i. 44, 51, 70, 71\n\n  Tin in ancient times, i. 23-31;\n    derivation of Greek, Celtic and Latin words for, i. 25-7;\n    tin-trade in southern Britain, i. 68\n\n  \"T\u00edr fo-Thuin\" (Land under Wave), i. 358, 370, 373\n\n  \"T\u00edr Mor\" (The Great Land), i. 357, 367; ii. 48\n\n  \"T\u00edr na Fer Finn\" (the White Men's Land), ii. 44\n\n  \"T\u00edr na m-Ban\" (Land of Women), i. 354, 355\n\n  \"T\u00edr na m-Beo\" (Land of the Living), i. 357, 371\n\n  \"T\u00edr na n-Ingen\" (Land of Virgins), i. 355, 356, 363; ii. 45\n\n  \"T\u00edr na n-Og\" (Land of Youth), i. 357\n\n  \"T\u00edr Tairngiri\" (Promised Land), i. 357; ii. 228\n\n  Tjodhild, wife of Eric the Red, i. 267, 270, 318, 331\n\n  Tjodrik Monk, i. 166, 254, 255, 256, 257\n\n  Toby, Maurice, Bristol chronicle, ii. 302, 305-6\n\n  Torf\u00e6us, Tormodus, ii. 7, 32, 34, 154, 241\n\n  Torlacius (Gudbrand Torlaksson), ii. 241\n\n  Torp, Prof. Alf, i. 25, 26, 27, 58, 59, 94, 107, 148, 181, 183, 210,\n        304, 361, 371; ii. 13, 14, 228\n\n  Toscanelli, ii. 287, 292, 296, 372\n\n  Trade-routes to the North in ancient times, i. 14, 21-2, 28, 31, 36, 75,\n        96\n\n  \"Tr\u00e1g M\u00f3r\" (the Great Strand), i. 339, 357, 371; ii. 48\n\n  Triads, in legend, i. 337-8; ii. 6\n\n  Triquetrum (regula Ptolemaica), i. 47\n\n  Trolls, attributes of, i. 327, 344; ii. 10, 14-6, 19, 76\n\n  Trondhjem, i. 192; ii. 85, 117, 177, 205, 227, 235, 264, 265, 266, 267,\n        268, 269, 270\n\n  Troy, Bronze in, i. 24, 25\n\n  Turc\u00e6, i. 88\n\n  Tylor, E. B., i. 380\n\n  Tyrker (in Wineland story), i. 341, 343-4, 360; ii. 4\n\n\n  Ua Corra, Navigation of the Sons of, i. 338-9, 355, 361; ii. 20\n\n  Unger, C. R., i. 331, 338, 360\n\n  Unipeds (Einf\u00f6tingar, Ymantopodes), i. 189, 329; ii. 11, 13, 17, 263\n\n  _Urus_ (aurochs), i. 191\n\n  \"Uttara Kuru,\" i. 19, 351\n\n\n  Vandals, i. 247\n\n  Vangensten, O., i. 226; ii. 85, 111, 233, 268, 286\n\n  Van Linschoten, i. 376\n\n  Varanger Fjord, i. 213, 214, 217, 219, 220; ii. 178, 210-11\n\n  Varangians' Sea (_see_ Warank), ii. 210, 211, 212, 213\n\n  Vard\u00f6hus fortress, ii. 126, 127, 141\n\n  Varzuga, river, i. 174; ii. 135\n\n  Vaux, C. de, ii. 213\n\n  Velleius, i. 85\n\n  Venedi (Wends), i. 101, 113\n\n  Vener, Lake, i. 131; ii. 266\n\n  Veneti, i. 39, 40, 242\n\n  Venusberg myth, i. 355, 371\n\n  Verrazano's map of 1529, ii. 335\n\n  Vesconte, Perrinus, map of 1327, ii. 229;\n    atlas of 1321, ii. 230\n\n  Vesconte, Pietro, ii. 222-5, 230, 255, 257, 258, 259, 276, 282, 283,\n        284, 285\n\n  Vigf\u00fasson, Gudbrand, i. 258, 314\n\n  Viking expeditions, the earliest, i. 234-5;\n    in Spain, ii. 200\n\n  Vikings, origin of the name, i. 244, 245\n\n  Viladeste, Mecia de, compass-chart of 1413, ii. 234\n\n  \"Villuland\" (Norse land of glamour), i. 377; ii. 206\n\n  Vincent of Beauvais, ii. 158\n\n  Vine, Wild, (_Vitus vulpina_), in N. America, i. 317; ii. 3-4\n\n  \"Vinili,\" i. 136\n\n  \"Vinoviloth,\" i. 136, 203\n\n  Virgil, i. 130, 157, 159, 363\n\n  Vistula, i. 71, 75, 95, 96, 101, 104, 119, 120, 121, 130, 131, 181\n\n  Vogel, i. 235\n\n  Volga, ii. 142, 143, 144, 146, 197\n\n  Voyage of 1267, to the north of Baffin's Bay, i. 250, 307-11; ii. 82,\n        83, 88\n\n\n  Wackernagel, W., ii. 32, 189\n\n  Walkendorf, Archbishop Eric, ii. 86, 112, 117, 163, 174\n\n  Walrus, ii. 112, 155, 163, 165, 243;\n    hunting, i. 172, 176-8, 212, 216, 221, 276-8, 287, 300; ii. 72,\n        163-4, 173-8;\n    tusks, i. 172, 176, 192, 212, 217, 277, 300, 303; ii. 163, 174;\n    hide for ropes, i. 172, 176, 212, 277, 303; ii. 164, 178\n\n  Walsperger, Andreas, mappamundi by, ii. 283, 284, 286\n\n  Warank, Varyag, Varangi (Arab, Russian and Greek name for\n        Scandinavians), ii. 196, 199, 200, 210-1\n\n  Wattenzone, Die, i. 68\n\n  Welcher, F. G., i. 371\n\n  Wends, i. 101, 113, 169, 180\n\n  Western Settlement of Greenland, i. 266, 271, 272, 300, 301, 302, 307,\n        311, 321, 322, 334; ii. 71, 90;\n    decline of, ii. 95-100, 102, 106, 107-111;\n    visit of Ivar B\u00e1rdsson to, ii. 108\n\n  West-s\u00e6\u0302, i. 169, 170\n\n  Whales, Whaling, i. 251; ii. 145, 173;\n    in Bay of Biscay, i. 39; ii. 159, 161;\n    in Normandy, ii. 159, 161;\n    Norwegian, i. 172; ii. 155-9, 178, 243;\n    in Greenland, i. 276, 277; ii. 72;\n    in Ireland, ii. 156;\n    in the Mediterranean, ii. 162;\n    in legend, i. 325-6, 344, 363, 364; ii. 213, 234\n\n  Whirlpools (_see_ Maelstrom)\n\n  White Men's Land, The (_see_ Hv\u00edtra-manna-land, _and_ T\u00edr na Fer Finn)\n\n  White Sea, i. 169, 171, 172, 174, 175, 218-9, 222; ii. 135-42, 164, 173,\n        179, 237\n\n  Wichmann, Prof., i. 219\n\n  _W\u00eeds\u00ee\u00f0_, i. 234\n\n  Wieland, C. M., i. 352, 362; ii. 54, 150\n\n  Wieser, von, ii. 249\n\n  Wiklund, K. B., i. 112; ii. 175\n\n  \"Wildlappenland,\" i. 226; ii. 256, 263, 268;\n    \"Wildlappmanni,\" ii. 269, 270\n\n  Wilhelmi, ii. 366\n\n  Wille, Prof. N., ii. 3\n\n  William of Malmesbury, i. 378\n\n  Wilse, J. N., i. 352\n\n  Wineland (V\u00ednland, Vinland, Vindland, Winland, Wyntlandia, etc.), i.\n        184, 195, 196-8, 201, 249, 260, 273, 312-84; ii. 1-65, 90-3, 110,\n        154, 188, 190-1, 228, 239, 240, 293, 294, 304;\n    called \"the Good,\" i. 313, 353, 369, 373; ii. 60;\n    vines and wheat in, i. 195, 197-8, 317, 325, 326-7, 345-53, 382-3; ii.\n        3-6, 59;\n    == the Fortunate Isles, i. 345-53, 382-4; ii. 1-2, 61;\n    authorities for the Wineland voyages, i. 312-3;\n    discovered by Leif Ericson, i. 317;\n    Karlsevne's voyage, i. 320-30;\n    Irish origin of ideas of, i. 167, 258, 353-69; ii. 60;\n    the name of, i. 353, 367; ii. 61;\n    summary of conclusions on, ii. 58-62\n\n  Winge, Herluf, i. 275\n\n  Winship, G. P., ii. 295, 305, 319, 320, 324, 326, 333, 336, 340, 341,\n        342\n\n  \"W\u00eesu\" (or \"Is\u00fb\"), Arabic name for a people in North Russia, ii. 143-6,\n        200, 270\n\n  Wizzi, i. 188, 383; ii. 64, 143\n\n  Wolf, Jens Lauritz\u00f6n, i. 364\n\n  Wolfenb\u00fcttel, Portuguese 16th century map at, ii. 331, 332, 335, 356\n\n  Women, Land of (_Terra Feminarum_), on the Baltic, i. 186-7, 383; ii.\n        214\n\n  Women's boats (umiaks), Eskimo, ii. 19, 70, 72, 74, 85, 92, 269, 270\n\n  _Wonders, Book of_ (Arabic), ii. 207, 213-4\n\n  Worcester, Willemus de, ii. 294\n\n  Wulfstan, i. 104, 180\n\n  Wuttke, H., i. 154\n\n  Wytfliet, Cornelius, ii. 131\n\n\n  Xamati, i. 88\n\n  Xenophon of Lampsacus, i. 71, 99, 100\n\n\n  Y\u00e2\u01f5\u00fb\u01f5 and M\u00e2\u01f5\u00fb\u01f5, ii. 144, 212, 213\n\n  _Ynglinga Saga_, i. 135\n\n  York, Cape, i. 306; ii. 71\n\n  Yugrians, ii. 173, 174, 200\n\n\n  Zarncke, ii. 242\n\n  Zeno map, ii. 131, 132\n\n  Zeuss, K., i. 112, 120, 145, 234, 235\n\n  Ziegler, Jacob, i. 294; ii. 17, 86, 106, 111, 127, 128\n\n  Zimmer, H., i. 234, 281, 334, 336, 339, 354, 355, 356, 357, 358, 360,\n        361, 363, 364, 371; ii. 9, 10, 20, 44, 45, 53, 54, 150, 151\n\n  _Zizania aquatica_ (wild rice), in N. America, ii. 5\n\n  Zones, Doctrine of, i. 12, 76, 86, 123; ii. 182, 193, 247\n\n\n  PRINTED BY\n  BALLANTYNE & COMPANY LTD\n  TAVISTOCK ST. COVENT GARDEN\n  LONDON\n\n\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[1] Cf. Gr\u00f6nl. hist. Mind., iii. pp. 216, 220; G. Storm, 1888, p. 12. The\nlatter part (in parenthesis) does not occur in the oldest MS.\n\n[2] Storm thinks that Sir William Alexander's \"red wineberries\" from the\nsouth-east coast of Nova Scotia (in 1624) would be grapes, but this is\nuncertain.\n\n[3] \"V\u00ednber\" (grapes) are mentioned in the whole of Old Norse literature\nonly in the translation of the Bible called \"Stj\u00f3rn,\" in the\n\"Gr\u00f6nlendinga-\u00fe\u00e1ttr,\" and in a letter (Dipl. Norv.) where they are\nmentioned as raisins or dried grapes. In addition, \"v\u00ednberjak\u01ebngull\" (a\nbunch of grapes) occurs in the Saga of Eric the Red.\n\n[4] Sch\u00fcbeler, Christiania Videnskabs-Selskabs Forhandlinger for 1858, pp.\n21, ff.; Viridarium Norvegium, i. pp. 253, f.\n\n[5] It should be mentioned that the American botanist, M. L. Fernald, has\nrecently [1910] made an attempt to locate the Icelanders' Wineland the\nGood in southern Labrador, explaining the \"v\u00ednber\" of the Icelandic sagas\nas a sort of currant or as whortleberry, the self-sown wheat as the\nIcelanders' lyme-grass (Elymus arenarius), and the \"m\u00e1surr\" as \"valbirch.\"\nBy assuming \"vinber\" to be whortleberries he even thinks he can explain\nhow it was that Leif in the \"Gr\u00f6nlendinga-\u00de\u00e1ttr\" was able to fill the ship\nwith \"grapes\" in the spring (and what of the vine-trees that he cut down\nto load his ship, were they whortleberry-bushes?). Apart from the\nsurprising circumstance of the Icelanders having called a country Wineland\nthe Good because whortleberries grew there, the explanation is\ninadmissible on the ground that whortleberries were never called \"vinber\"\n(wineberries) in Old Norse or Icelandic. Currants have in more recent\ntimes been called \"vinb\u00e6r\" in Norway and Iceland, but were not known there\nbefore the close of the Middle Ages. In ancient times the Norse people did\nnot know how to make wine from any berry but the black crowberry; but\nthere are plenty of these in Greenland, and it was not necessary to travel\nto Labrador to collect them. Fernald does not seem to have remarked that\nthe sagas most frequently use the expression \"v\u00ednvi\u00f0r,\" or else \"v\u00ednvi\u00f0r\"\nand \"v\u00ednber\" together, and this can only mean vines and grapes. His\nexplanation of the self-sown wheat-fields does not seem any happier. That\nthe Icelanders should have reported these as something so remarkable in\nWineland is not likely, if it was nothing but the lyme-grass with which\nthey were familiar in Iceland. On the other hand, it is possible that the\n\"m\u00e1surr\" of the sagas only meant valbirch. But apart from this, how can\nthe sagas' description of Wineland--where no snow fell, where there was\nhardly any frost, the grass scarcely withered, and the cattle were out the\nwhole winter--be applied to Labrador? Or where are Markland or Helluland\nto be looked for, or Fur\u00f0ustrandir and Kjalarnes? Nor do we gain any more\nconnection in the voyage as a whole. It will therefore be seen that, even\nif Professor Fernald had been right in his interpretation of the three\nwords above mentioned, this would not help us much; and when we find that\nthese very features of the vine and the wheat are derived from classical\nmyths, such attempts at explanation become of minor interest.\n\n[6] Professor Alexander Bugge has pointed out to me that Schoolcraft\n[1851, i. p. 85, pl. 15] mentions a tradition among the Algonkin Indians\nthat they had used as a weapon of war in ancient times a great round\nstone, which was sewed into a piece of raw hide and fastened thereby to\nthe end of a long wooden shaft. The resemblance between such a weapon with\na shaft for throwing and the Skr\u00e6lings' black ball is distant; but it is\nnot impossible that ancient reports of something of the sort may have\nformed the nucleus upon which the \"modernised\" description of the saga has\ncrystallised; although the whole thing is uncertain. This Algonkin\ntradition has a certain similarity with some Greenland Eskimo fairy-tales\n[cf. Rink, 1866, p. 139].\n\n[7] As arquebuses or guns had not yet been invented at that time, this\nstrange name may, as proposed by Moltke Moe, come from \"fusillus\" or\n\"fugillus\" (an implement for striking fire) and mean \"he who makes fire,\"\n\"the fire-striker.\"\n\n[8] Evidently saltpetre has been forgotten here, and so we have gunpowder,\nwhich thus must have been already employed in war at that time, and\nperhaps long before.\n\n[9] Moltke Moe has found a curious resemblance to the description of the\n\"herbrestr\" given above in the Welsh tale of Kulhwch and Olwen [Heyman:\nMabinogion, p. 78], where there is a description of a war-cry so loud that\n\"all women who are with child fall into sickness, and the others are\nsmitten with disease, so that the milk dries up in their breasts.\" But\nthis \"herbrestr\" may also be compared with the \"v\u00e1brestr\" spoken of in the\nFosterbrothers' Saga [Gr\u00f6nl. hist. Mind., ii. pp. 334, 412], which M.\nH\u00e6gstad and A. Torp [Gamalnorsk Ordbog] translate by \"crash announcing\ndisaster or great news\" [cf. I. Aasen, \"vederbrest\"]. Fritzner translates\nit by \"sudden crash causing surprise and terror,\" and K. Maurer by\n\"Schadenknall.\" It would therefore seem to be something supernatural that\ncauses fear [cf. Gr\u00f6nl. hist. Mind., ii. p. 198]. The \"Gr\u00f6nlandske\nhistoriske Mindesm\u00e6rker\" mention in the same connection \"isbrestr\" or\n\"j\u00f6kulbrestr\" in Iceland. I have myself had good opportunities of studying\nthat kind of report in glaciers, and my opinion is that it comes from a\nstarting of the glacier, or through the latter skrinking from changes of\ntemperature; similar reports, but less loud, are heard in the ice on lakes\nand fjords. Burgomaster H. Berner tells me that the small boys of\nKr\u00f6dsherred make what they call \"kolabrest,\" by heating charcoal on a flat\nstone and throwing water upon it while simultaneously striking the embers\nwith the back of an axe, which produces a sharp report.\n\n[10] Scorium (slag) is also used in medi\u00e6val Latin for \"corium,\" animal's\nskin, hide.\n\n[11] The poles that are swung the way of the sun or against it seem\nincomprehensible, and something of the meaning must have been lost in the\ntransference of this incident from the tale from which it was borrowed. It\nmay be derived from the kayak paddles of the Greenland Eskimo, which at a\ndistance look like poles being swung, with or against the sun according to\nthe side they are seen from. It may be mentioned that in the oldest MS. of\nEric the Red's Saga, in the Hauksb\u00f3k, the reading is not \"trj\u00e1num\" as in\nthe later MS., but \"triom\" and \"trionum.\" Now \"tri\u00f3num\" or \"trj\u00f3num\" might\nmean either poles or snouts, and one would then be led to think of the\nIndians' animal masks, or again, of the trolls' long snouts or animal\ntrunks, which we find again in fossil forms in the fairy-tales, and even\nin games that are still preserved in Gudbrandsdal, under the name of\n\"trono\" (the regular Gudbrandsdal phonetic development of Old Norse\n\"trj\u00f3na\"), where people cover their heads with an animal's skin and put on\na long troll's snout with two wooden jaws. But that snouts were waved with\nor against the sun does not give any better meaning; there may be some\nconfusion here.\n\n[12] It is worth remarking that Gustav Storm, although he did not doubt\nthat the Skr\u00e6lings of Wineland were really the natives, seems nevertheless\nto have been on the track of the same idea as is here put forward, when he\nsays in his valuable work on the Wineland voyages [1887, p. 57, note 1]:\n\"It should be remarked, however, that this inquiry [into 'the nationality\nof the American Skr\u00e6lings'] is rendered difficult by the fact that in the\nold narratives the Skr\u00e6lings are everywhere enveloped, wholly or in part,\nby a mythical tinge; thus even here [in the Saga of Eric the Red] they are\non the way to becoming trolls, which they really become in the later\nsagas. No doubt it is learned myths of the outskirts of the inhabited\nworld that have here been at work.\" In a later work [1890a, p. 357] he\nsays that it is \"certain enough that in the Middle Ages the Scandinavians\nknew no other people in Greenland and the American countries lying to the\nsouth of it than 'Skr\u00e6lings,' who were not accounted real human beings and\nwhose name was always translated into Latin as 'Pygm\u00e6i.'\" If Storm had\nremarked the connection between the classical and Irish legends and the\nideas about Wineland, the further step of regarding the Skr\u00e6lings as\noriginally mythical beings would have been natural.\n\n[13] This is the same word as the Old Norse \"skratti\" or \"skrati\" for\ntroll (poet.) or wizard. \"Skr\u00e6a,\" \"sickly shrunken and bony person,\" in\nmodern Norwegian, from north-west Telemarken [H. Ross], is evidently the\nsame word as Skr\u00e6ling; cf. also \"skr\u00e6aleg\" and \"skr\u00e6leg\"; further,\n\"Skreda\" (Skreeaa), \"sickly, feeble person, poor wretch,\" from outer\nNordm\u00f6r [H. Ross].\n\n[14] It is, perhaps, of importance, as Professor Torp has mentioned to me,\nthat the word \"bl\u00e1\" is more often used than \"svart\" (black), when speaking\nof trolls and magic, as an uncanny colour. This may have been a common\nGermanic trait; cf. Rolf Blue-beard.\n\n[15] Gr\u00f6nl. hist. Mind., i. p. 242; G. Storm, 1891, p. 68.\n\n[16] W. Thalbitzer's attempt [1905, pp. 190, ff.] to explain the words,\nnot as originally names, but as accidental, misunderstood Eskimo\nsentences, which are supposed to have survived orally for over 250 years,\ndoes not appear probable (see next chapter).\n\n[17] Moltke Moe has called my attention to the possibility of a connection\nbetween \"Avalldamon\" and the Welsh myth of the isle of \"Avallon\" (the isle\nof apple-trees; cf. vol. i. pp. 365, 379), to which Morgan le Fay carried\nKing Arthur. It is also possible that it may be connected with \"d\u00e6mon\" and\n\"vald\" (== power, might). The possibility suggested above seems, however,\nto be nearer the mark.\n\nThe Skr\u00e6lings of Markland having kings agrees, of course, neither with\nIndians nor Eskimo, who no more had kings than the Greenlanders and\nIcelanders themselves. On the other hand, it exactly fits elves and\ngnomes. The Ekeberg king and other mountain kings are well known in\nNorway. The elves of Iceland had a king who was subject to the superior\nelf-king in Norway. The s\u00edd-people in Ireland, the pygmies and gnomes in\nother lands (such as Wales) also have kings. This feature again points,\ntherefore, in the direction of the fairy-nature of the Skr\u00e6lings, like the\nname \"V\u00e6tthildr.\"\n\n[18] It might be objected that when it is so distinctly stated that \"it\nwas there more equinoctial [i.e., the day and night were more nearly equal\nin length] than in Greenland or Iceland, the sun there had 'eykt' position\nand 'dagm\u00e5l' position [i.e., was visible between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m.] on the\nshortest day\" [cf. Gr. h. Mind., i. p. 218; G. Storm, 1891, p. 58; 1887,\npp. 1, ff.], this shows that the Greenlanders were actually there and made\nthis observation. In support of this view it might also be urged that it\nwas not so very long (about forty years) before the Flateyjarb\u00f3k was\nwritten that the ship from Markland (see later) arrived at Iceland in\n1347, and through the men on board her the Icelanders might have got such\ninformation as to the length of days. This can hardly be altogether\ndenied; but it would have been about Markland rather than Wineland that\nthey would have heard, and Markland is only once mentioned in passing in\nthe \"Gr\u00f6nlendinga-\u00fe\u00e1ttr.\" Moreover, it was common in ancient times to\ndenote the latitude by the length of the longest or shortest day (cf. vol.\ni. pp. 52, 64), and the latter in particular must have been natural to\nNortherners (cf. vol. i. p. 133). The passage quoted above would thus be a\ngeneral indication that Wineland lay in a latitude so much to the south of\nGreenland as its shortest day was longer; they had no other means of\nexpressing this in a saga, nor had they perhaps any other means of\ndescribing the length of the day than that here used. It appears from the\nSaga of Eric the Red that Kjalarnes was reckoned to be in the same\nlatitude as Ireland (see vol. i. p. 326); as a consequence of this we\nmight expect that Wineland would lie in a more southern latitude than the\nsouth of Ireland, the latitude of which (i.e., the length of the shortest\nday) was certainly well known in Iceland. If, therefore, in a tale of the\nfourteenth century, the position of Wineland is to be described, it is\nnatural that its shortest day should be given a length which according to\nProfessor H. Geelmuyden [see G. Storm, 1886, p. 128; 1887, p. 6] would\ncorrespond to 49\u00b0 55' N. lat. or south of it; in other words, the latitude\nof France, and that was precisely the land that the Icelanders knew as the\nhome of wine, and that they would therefore naturally use in the\nindication of a Wineland.\n\n[19] Cf. Gr\u00f6nl. hist. Mind., iii. p. 220; Storm, 1887, p. 12.\n\"H\u00fasa-snotra\" is explained as a vane or similar decoration on the gable of\na house or a ship's stern [cf. V. Gu\u00f0mundsson, 1889, pp. 158, ff.]. The\nstatement given above shows that a \"h\u00fasa-snotra\" was something to which\ngreat importance was attached, otherwise attention would not have been\ncalled to it in this way. And in the \"Gr\u00f6nlendinga-\u00de\u00e1ttr\" [Gr. hist.\nMind., i. p. 254] we read that Karlsevne, when he was in Norway, would not\nsell his \"h\u00fasa-snotra\" (made of \"mausurr\" from Wineland) to the German\nfrom Bremen, until the latter offered him half a mark of gold for it. One\nmight suppose that this ornament (vane-staff) on the prow of a ship or the\ngable of a house was connected with religious or superstitious ideas of\nsome kind, like the posts of the high seat within the house, or the\ntotem-poles of the North American Indians, which stood before the house.\n\n[20] On the initiative of Professors Sophus Bugge and Gustav Storm, a\nthorough examination of the spot was made in 1901, the first-named being\nhimself present; but the stone was not to be found.\n\n[21] I cannot accept the conjectures that Professor Yngvar Nielsen thinks\nmay be based upon this inscription [1905].\n\n[22] It is true that only a portion of this work has been preserved, and\nthat Wineland may have been mentioned in the part that has not come down\nto us (if indeed the work was ever finished); but this is not likely.\n\n[23] Cf. Storm's edition, 1888, pp. 19, 59, 112, 252, 320, 473.\n\n[24] \"Upsi\" (or \"ufsi\") would mean \"big coalfish\" or \"coalfish.\"\n\n[25] It has been generally considered that it was not until 1124, when\nBishop Arnaldr was consecrated at Lund. In any case this is the first\nordination of which we have any information.\n\n[26] Cf. G. Storm, 1887, p. 26; Reeves, 1895, p. 82.\n\n[27] Cf. Ordericus Vitalis, Hist. Eccles., iii. 1, x. c. 5; Gr\u00f6nl. hist.\nMind., iii. p. 428; Rafn, 1837, pp. 337, 460, ff.; A. A. Bj\u00f6rnbo, 1909, p.\n206.\n\n[28] In a similar fashion Torf\u00e6us [1705] confused Vinland and Vindland.\n\n[29] Cf. Polychronicon Ranulphi Higden, etc. Rerum Britanicarum Medii \u00c6vi\nScriptores, London, 1865, i. p. 322; Eulogium Historiarum, etc. Rer. Brit.\nScript., 1860, ii. pp. 78, f.; W. Wackernagel, 1844, pp. 494, f.\n\n[30] Cf. Nordenski\u00f6ld, 1889, p. 3; A. A. Bj\u00f6rnbo, 1909, pp. 197, 205, 240.\n\n[31] Cf. Hammershaimb, 1855, pp. 105, ff.; Rafn, Antiqu. Americ., pp. 330,\nff.\n\n[32] This image of blood upon snow is taken from Irish medi\u00e6val texts, as\nMoltke Moe informs me.\n\n[33] Cf. Gr\u00f6nl. hist. Mind., iii. pp. 516, ff.; Storm, 1887, pp. 37, ff.\n\n[34] G. Storm [1890, P. 347] thinks that something is omitted in Gripla\nand that it should read: \"su\u00f0r fr\u00e1 er Helluland, \u00fe\u00e1 er Markland, \u00feat er\nkallat Skr\u00e6lingaland\" (to the South is Helluland, then there is Markland,\nwhich is called Skr\u00e6lingaland). But this seems doubtful; it would not in\nany case explain why Fur\u00f0ustrandir is placed to the north of Helluland.\nWhen Storm alleges as a reason that Helluland is never mentioned as a\nplace of human habitation, but only for trolls (in the later legendary\nsagas), he forgets that the Skr\u00e6lings were trolls, or, as he himself puts\nit elsewhere [1890a, p. 357], that the Skr\u00e6lings were not accounted \"true\nhuman beings.\"\n\n[35] The Menomini Indians, Fourteenth Ann. Rep. of the Bureau of\nEthnology, 1892-1893. Washington, 1896, vol. i. pp. 127, ff.; cf. also\n\"American Anthropologist,\" vol. iii. pp. 134, f., Washington, 1890.\n\n[36] \"Journal de la Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 des Am\u00e9ricanistes de Paris,\" 1905, No. 2, p.\n319.\n\n[37] Storm's explanation [1887, pp. 68, ff.]: that it was Dicuil's account\nof the discovery of Iceland by Irish monks (see vol. i. p. 164) which\nformed the basis of the myth of Hv\u00edtramanna-land, may appear very\nattractive and simple; but Storm does not seem to have noticed the\nconnection that exists between the Irish mythical islands in the west and\nthose of classical literature. When he points out the similarity between\nthe six days' voyage west of Ireland and Dicuil's statement of six days'\nvoyage to Iceland (Thule) northward from Britain, it must be remembered\nthat in Dicuil this is merely a quotation from Pliny, and, further, that\nthe six days' voyage has Britain and not Ireland for its starting-point.\nIn the Saga of Eric the Red Wineland lies six \"d\u0153gr's\" sail from\nGreenland. Cf. that in Plutarch [\"De facie in orbe Lun\u00e6,\" 941] Ogygia lies\nfive days' voyage west of Britain, and to the north-west of it are three\nislands, to which the voyage might thus be one of six days. Let us\nsuppose, merely as an experiment, that Ogygia, the fertile vine-growing\nisland of the \"hulder\" Calypso, was Wineland, then the other three islands\nto the north-west might be Hv\u00edtramanna-land, Markland and Helluland, which\nwould fit in. The northernmost would then have to be the island on which\nthe sleeping Cronos is imprisoned, with \"many spirits about him as his\ncompanions and servants\" (cf. vol. i. pp. 156, 182). Dr. Scisco [1908, pp.\n379, ff., 515, ff.] and Professor H. Koht [1909, pp. 133, ff.] think that\nAre M\u00e1rsson may have been baptized in Ireland and have been chief of a\nChristian tribe on its west coast, where Hv\u00edtramanna-land may have been a\ndistrict inhabited by fair Norsemen.\n\n[38] Since the above was printed in the Norwegian edition of this book,\nProfessor Moltke Moe has found a \"T\u00edr na Fer Finn,\" or the White Men's\nLand, mentioned in Irish sagas of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.\nThe white men (fer finn) are evidently the same as the \"Albati\" (i.e., the\nbaptized dressed in white). T\u00edr na Fer Finn and Hv\u00edtramanna-land are\nconsequently direct renderings of the \"Terra Albatorum\" (i.e., the land of\nthe baptized dressed in white), which is mentioned in earlier Irish\nliterature. The origin of the Icelandic legend about Hv\u00edtramanna-land\nseems thus to be quite clear.\n\n[39] Hermits like this, covered with white hair, also occur outside\nIreland. Three monks from Mesopotamia wished to journey to the place where\nheaven and earth meet, and after many adventures, which often resemble\nthose of the Brandan legend, they came to a cave, where dwelt a holy man,\nMacarius, who was completely covered with snow-white hair, but the skin of\nhis face was like that of a tortoise [cf. Schirmer, 1888, p. 42]. The last\nfeature might recall an ape.\n\n[40] The resemblance to the hairy women (great apes ?) that Hanno found on\nan island to the west of Africa and whose skin he brought to Carthage (cf.\nvol. i. p. 88) is doubtless only accidental. The hair-covered hermits may\nbe connected with stories of hermits and the hairy wild man, \"wilder\nMann,\" \"Silvanus,\" who, in the opinion of Moltke Moe, is the same that\nreappears in the Norwegian tale of \"Villemand og Magnhild\" (== der wilde\nMann and Magdelin).\n\n[41] White and snow-white women and maidens are, moreover, of common\noccurrence also in Germanic legends [cf. J. Grimm, 1876, ii. pp. 803,\nff.]. Expressions like white or snow-white to depict the dazzling beauty\nof the female body also occur in Icelandic literature, just as the\nlily-white arms are already found in Homer. Cf. further such names as\nSnj\u00f3fri\u00f0r, Snelaug, Schneewitchen (Snow-white), etc. [Cf. Moltke Moe's\ncommunications in A. Helland, 1905, ii. pp. 641, f.]\n\n[42] Before the convent on this island Brandan and his companions were met\nby the monks \"with cross, and cloaks [white clothes ?], and hymns\"; cf.\nthe men in white clothes who cried aloud and carried poles in Eric the\nRed's Saga. On the \"Strong Men's Island\" they also sang psalms, and one\ngeneration wore white clothes.\n\n[43] Cf. Dozy and de Goeje, 1866, p. 223, ff.; de Goeje, 1891, pp. 56, 59.\nMoltke Moe has called my attention to this resemblance.\n\n[44] The stench may be connected with ideas like those in the \"Meregarto,\"\nthe sailors stuck fast and rotted in the Liver-sea, see vol. i. p. 181.\n\n[45] As Portugal was at that time under the Moors, Arabic must be regarded\nas these men's mother-tongue.\n\n[46] They first drifted to the north-west in the outer ocean, and after\nthree days suffered intolerable thirst; but Christ took pity on them and\nbrought them to a current which tasted like tepid milk. Zimmer's\nexplanation [1889, p. 216] of this current as the Gulf Stream to the west\nof the Hebrides is due to modern maps, and is an example of how even the\nmost acute of book-learned inquirers may be led astray by formal\nrepresentations. That the Irish should have possessed such comprehensive\noceanographical knowledge as to regard this ocean-drift as a definitely\nlimited current is not likely, and still less that they should have\nregarded it as so much warmer than the water inshore as to be compared to\ntepid milk. The difference in temperature on the surface is in summer\n(August) approximately nil, and in spring and autumn perhaps three or four\ndegrees; and of course the Irish had no thermometers. Last summer I\ninvestigated this very part of the ocean without finding any conspicuous\ndifference. The feature may be derived from Lucian's Vera Historia, where\nthe travellers come to a sea of milk [Wieland, 1789, iv. p. 188].\n\n[47] It is doubtless due to this communication that an unknown Arabic\nauthor (of the twelfth century) relates that the \"Fortunate Isles\" lie to\nthe north of Cadiz, and that thence come the northern Vikings (\"Ma\u01f5\u00fbs\"),\nwho are Christians. \"The first of these islands is Britain, which lies in\nthe midst of the ocean, at a great distance to the north of Spain. Neither\nmountains nor rivers are found there; its inhabitants are compelled to\nresort to rain-water both for drinking and for watering the ground\"\n[Fabricius, 1897, p. 157]. It is clear that there is here a confusion of\nrumours of islands in the north--of which Britain was the best known,\nwhence the Vikings were supposed to come--with Pliny's Fortunate Isles:\n\"Planaria\" (without mountains) and \"Pluvialia\" (where the inhabitants had\nonly rain-water). That the Orkneys in particular should have been\nintended, as suggested by R. Dozy [Recherches sur l'Espagne, ii. pp. 317,\nff.] and Paul Riant [Exp\u00e9ditions et P\u00e8lerinages des Scandinaves en Terre\nSainte, Paris, 1865, p. 236] is not very probable. We might equally well\nsuppose it to be Ireland, which through Norse sailors (\"Ostmen\") and\nmerchants had communication with the Spaniards from the ninth till as late\nas the fourteenth century [cf. A. Bugge, 1900, pp. 1, f.]. The Arabic name\n\"Ma\u01f5\u00fbs\" for the Norman Vikings comes from the Greek \u03bc\u03ac\u03b3\u03bf\u03c2; (Magian,\nfire-worshipper), and originally meant heathens in general.\n\n[48] In one of his lays Bj\u00f6rn Breidvikinge-kj\u00e6mpe also, as it happens,\nspeaks of Thurid as the snow-white (\"fannhv\u00edt\") woman.\n\n[49] See D. Brauns: Japanische M\u00e4rchen und Sagan. Leipzig, 1885, p. 146,\nff.\n\n[50] Cf. the resemblance to the second voyage of Sindbad, to the tales in\nAb\u00fb H\u00e2mid, Qasw\u00een\u00ee, Pseudo-Callisthenes' romance of Alexander, Indian\ntales, etc. [cf. E. Rohde, 1900, p. 192].\n\n[51] The Ringerike runic stone is not given here, as its mention of\nWineland is uncertain.\n\n[52] It should be remarked that the beginning of this saga, dealing with\nthe discovery of Greenland by Eric the Red, is taken straight out of the\nLandn\u00e1mab\u00f3k, and is thus much older.\n\n[53] It would be otherwise on the west coast of Greenland, with its\nexcellent belt of skerries; but as the Eskimo could not reach this coast\nwithout having developed, at least in part, their peculiar maritime\nculture, it is, of course, out of the question that this can have been\ntheir cradle.\n\n[54] Cf. on this subject H. Rink [1871, 1887, 1891]; F. Boas [1901]; cf.\nalso H. P. Steensby [1905], Axel Hamberg [1907] and others. These authors\nhold various views as to the origin of the Eskimo, which, however, are all\ndifferent from that set forth here. While Rink thought the Eskimo came\nfrom Alaska and first developed their sea-fishing on the rivers of Alaska,\nBoas thinks they come from the west coast of Hudson Bay, and Steensby that\nthey developed on the central north coasts of Canada. Since the above was\nwritten W. Thalbitzer has also dealt with the question [1908-1910].\n\n[55] This has been definitely and finally proved by the researches of Dr.\nO. Solberg [1907], referred to in vol. i. (p. 306). It results from these\nthat the oldest stone implements of the Eskimo from the districts round\nDisco Bay must be of very great age--far older, indeed, than I was\nformerly [1891, pp. 6, f.; Engl. ed., pp. 8, ff.] inclined to suppose. It\nresults also from Solberg's researches that, while the Eskimo occupied the\ndistricts from Umanak-fjord southward to Egedesminde and Holstensborg\n(from 71\u00b0 to 68\u00b0 N. lat.) during long prehistoric periods, they do not\nappear to have settled in the more southern part of Greenland until much\nlater. As will be pointed out later (p. 83), it was especially in the\ndistricts around Kroksfjar\u00f0arheidr that according to the historical\nauthorities the Skr\u00e6lings were to be found. Since we may assume, as shown\nin vol. i. p. 301, that this was Disco Bay, the conclusion from historical\nsources agrees remarkably well with the arch\u00e6ological finds.\n\n[56] Solberg, however, in the researches referred to, has been able to\nshow some development in Eskimo sealing appliances in the course of the\nperiod since their first arrival in Greenland, but perhaps chiefly after\nthey had come in contact with the Norsemen and learnt the use of iron.\n\n[57] As will be seen (cf. p. 72), this agrees surprisingly well with the\nconclusions which Dr. Solberg has reached in another way in the work\nalready mentioned [1907], which was published since the above was written.\n\n[58] Cf. also William Thalbitzer's valuable work on the Eskimo language\n[1904].\n\n[59] Cf. Gualteri Mapes, De nugis curialium. Ed. by Thomas Wright, 1850,\npp. 14, ff.\n\n[60] If it was the tradition of Karlsevne's encounter with the Skr\u00e6lings\nthat was referred to, then of course neither he nor the greater part of\nhis men were Greenlanders, but Icelanders, so that it might equally well\nhave been said that the Icelanders called them Skr\u00e6lings.\n\n[61] Cf. Christian Koren-Wiberg: \"Bidrag til Bergens Kulturhistorie,\"\nBergen, 1908, pp. 151, f. I owe it to Professor A. Bugge that my attention\nwas drawn to this interesting find.\n\n[62] J\u00f3n Egilsson's continuation of H\u00fangurvaka, Gr\u00f6nl. hist. Mind., iii.\np. 469.\n\n[63] It is striking how accurately this agrees with what we have arrived\nat in an entirely different way with regard to the places inhabited by the\nEskimo in ancient times (see p. 73).\n\n[64] From this it cannot, of course, be concluded that they were not\nliving there too at that time; it only shows that the voyagers did not\nmeet with them in the most northerly regions, although they saw empty\nsites. As the Eskimo leave their winter houses in the spring and lead a\nwandering life in tents, this need not surprise us.\n\n[65] Cf. Bj\u00f6rnbo and Petersen, 1904, pp. 179, 236.\n\n[66] Jacob Ziegler (circa 1532), who probably made use of statements from\nWalkendorf, confuses the Norsemen and Eskimo in Greenland together into\none people, who breed cattle, have two episcopal churches, etc.; but \"on\naccount of the distance and the difficulty of the voyage the people have\nalmost reverted to heathendom, and are ... especially addicted to the arts\nof magic, like the Lapps....\" They use light boats of hides, with which\nthey attack other ships [cf. Gr\u00f6nl. hist. Mind., iii. p. 499].\n\n[67] In the account attributed to Ivar B\u00e1rdsson, first written down in\nNorway, the Skr\u00e6lings also receive a good deal of attention.\n\n[68] William Thalbitzer, the authority on the Eskimo, has lately [1909, p.\n14] adduced the silence of the \"King's Mirror\" and of the Icelandic Annals\non the subject of the Skr\u00e6lings of Greenland as evidence that the Norsemen\nhad not met with them on their northern expeditions to Nordrsetur; but\nwhat has been brought forward above shows that nothing of the kind can be\nconcluded from the silence of the \"King's Mirror\" (which, moreover, says\nnothing about the Nordrsetur expeditions); and why in particular the\nIcelandic Annals should allude to the Skr\u00e6lings in Greenland seems\ndifficult to understand. This is no evidence, especially as we see that\nthe Skr\u00e6lings are mentioned in other contemporary authorities, such as the\nHistoria Norwegi\u00e6, Ivar B\u00e1rdsson's description, the account of the voyages\nin 1266 and 1267, etc. Besides, in the last authority it is expressly\nstated that there were Skr\u00e6lings in Nordrsetur (Kroksfjardarheidr, cf. p.\n83).\n\n[69] E. Beauvois, 1904, 1905; Y. Nielsen, 1904, 1905; W. Thalbitzer, 1904,\n1905.\n\n[70] As so much weight has been attached to single words in order to prove\nthe similarity of culture between the Skr\u00e6lings in Wineland and Markland\nand those in Greenland, it is strange that no notice has been taken of\npoints of difference such as this, that the Skr\u00e6lings in Markland are said\nto dwell in caves, while the Greenlanders must have known, at any rate\nfrom the dwelling-sites they had found, that the Skr\u00e6lings in Greenland\nlived in houses and tents.\n\n[71] If we might suppose (which is not probable) that the missile\nmentioned on p. 7, note, from a myth of the Algonkin Indians has any\nconnection with the Skr\u00e6lings' black ball which frightened Karlsevne's\npeople, this would be another feature pointing to knowledge of the\nIndians. Hertzberg's demonstration that the Indian game of lacrosse is\nprobably the Norse \"knattleikr\" (pp. 38, ff.) may point in the same\ndirection; for it seems less probable that the transmission, if it\noccurred, should have been brought about by the Eskimo.\n\n[72] That it was due to changes in the climate, as some have thought, is\nnot the case. The ancient descriptions of the voyage thither and of the\ndrift-ice (cf. for instance, the \"King's Mirror,\" vol. i. p. 279) show\nexactly the same conditions as now.\n\n[73] The driftwood that was washed ashore along the coasts could not\npossibly suffice for shipbuilding; but they doubtless obtained timber also\nfrom Markland (cf. pp. 25, 37).\n\n[74] Existing royal documents show that the prohibition of trade with\nthese tributary countries was again strictly enforced by Magnus Smek in\n1348, and by Eric of Pomerania in 1425.\n\n[75] Cf. Islandske Annaler, ed. by Storm, 1888, p. 228.\n\n[76] It is shown by Solberg's [1907] researches that they did so.\n\n[77] As stated on p. 86, Jacob Ziegler (circa 1532) also says that the\npeople of Greenland \"have almost lapsed to heathendom,\" etc. Although\nmythical, this shows a similar tradition.\n\n[78] Cf. Gr\u00f6nl. hist. Mind., iii. p. 258; F. J\u00f3nsson, 1899, p. 328.\n\n[79] This seems very doubtful, as it is not known that a bishop ever\nresided in the Western Settlement.\n\n[80] It is true that this is not stated in the narrative; it is only said\nthat the Skr\u00e6lings possessed the whole Western Settlement, and that Ivar\nand his companions found no people there, either Christian or heathen, but\nonly wild cattle; and it may, of course, be doubtful whether the meaning\nwas that the whole settlement had been destroyed by a predatory incursion.\n\n[81] This explanation offers, of course, the difficulty that it would not\nbe applicable to dairy cattle; but in this way of life the settlers may\nhave had to give up milking.\n\n[82] These last ideas may well be supposed to have originated in a\nconfusion with the tales about Wineland.\n\n[83] We find conceptions of the Skr\u00e6lings as dangerous opponents or\nassailants in Michel Beheim in 1450 [Vangensten, 1908, p. 18], Paulus\nJovius in 1534, Jacob Ziegler in 1532, Olaus Magnus in 1555, and others.\nBut it is evident that these conceptions are to a great extent due to myth\nand superstition.\n\n[84] Cf. Islandske Annaler, ed. by Storm [1888], pp. 365, f., 414, f.\nGr\u00f6nl. hist. Mind., iii. pp. 135, ff., 436, ff.\n\n[85] According to my experience the bear avoids the walrus, and I have\nnever seen a sign of their fighting on land or on the ice.\n\n[86] A complaint previously sent to the Pope, which, however, was false,\nas will be shown later.\n\n[87] Mention should be made of two other factors, which Dr. Bj\u00f6rnbo has\nsuggested to me. It is possible that while the majority of the Norsemen\nwere compelled more and more to adopt the Eskimo mode of life in order to\nsupport themselves, some more strong-minded individuals among them, and a\nfew zealous priests, may have resisted stubbornly, and this may have led\nto fighting such as is spoken of in the legends. Nor must it be forgotten\nthat the relentlessness of the Eskimo is usually accentuated when dealing\nwith individuals who are only a burden to the community without benefiting\nit; and no doubt some among the Norsemen may have been reduced to such a\nposition after the cessation of imports from abroad, since they were\ninferior to the Eskimo in skill as fishermen and sealers.\n\n[88] It is true that Clavus mentions the warrior hosts of the infidel\nKarelians in Greenland; but this is evidently myth or invention (cf.\nchapter xiii.).\n\n[89] According to another authority it was not till 1413. In any case it\nlooks as if travelling took a good time in those days.\n\n[90] As evidence of the state of things it may be mentioned that we read\nin the Icelandic Annals [Storm, 1888, p. 290] under 1412: \"No tidings came\nfrom Norway to Iceland. The queen, Lady Margaret, died....\" When\ncommunication even with Iceland had fallen off to this extent, we can\nunderstand its having ceased altogether with Greenland.\n\n[91] Gr\u00f6nl. hist. Mind., iii. pp. 160, ff.\n\n[92] See G. Storm, 1892, pp. 399-401. The letter was discovered some years\nago in the papal archives by a priest from Dalmatia, Dr. Jeli\u010d. Cf. also\nJos. Fischer, 1902, p. 49.\n\n[93] Published by J. Metelka [1895].\n\n[94] A. A. Bj\u00f6rnbo, Berlingske Tidende, 1909; Bj\u00f6rnbo and Petersen, 1909,\np. 249.\n\n[95] Cf. L. Daae, 1882. Besides the authorities mentioned by Daae, See\n\"Scriptores rerum Danicarum,\" ii. 563, where \"Puthorse\" is mentioned as\n\"pirata Danicus\" together with \"Pynning.\" Cf. also Gr\u00f6nl. hist. Mind.,\niii. pp. 473, ff.\n\n[96] This was the usual representation at that time; cf. Ziegler's map of\n1532.\n\n[97] A. A. Bj\u00f6rnbo, Berlingske Tidende, Copenhagen, July 17, 1909; Bj\u00f6rnbo\nand Petersen, 1909, p. 249.\n\n[98] Monumenta Histori\u00e6 Danic\u00e6, ed. Holger R\u00f6rdam, i. Copenhagen, 1873, p.\n28; L. Daae, 1882.\n\n[99] Cf. G. Storm [1886]. B. T. de Costa [1880, p. 170] points out that\nHakluyt says that the voyage of this navigator is mentioned by Gemma\nFrisius and Girava. Gemma Frisius published amongst other works a revised\nedition of Petrus Apianus's \"Cosmographicus Liber\" in 1529. Girava\npublished in 1553 \"Dos Libros de Cosmographia,\" Milan, 1556. I have not\nhad an opportunity of referring to these authorities; the former, if this\nbe correct, may have given information about Scolvus earlier than Gomara.\nDe Costa also says that on the Rouen globe [i.e., the L'Ecuy globe, see p.\n131] in Paris, of about 1540, there is an inscription near the north-west\ncoast of Greenland stating that Skolnus [Scolvus] reached that point in\n1476.\n\n[100] Cf. R. Collinson, 1867, pp. 3, f.\n\n[101] Lelewel's conjecture [1852, iv. p. 106, note 50, 52] that Scolvus's\nname was Scolnus and that he came from a little Polish inland town near\nthe frontier of East Prussia, is, as shown by Storm [1886, p. 400],\nimprobable.\n\n[102] Storm [1886, p. 399] thought that Wytfliet might have borrowed from\nGomara, and himself invented and added the date 1476, in order to\ndisparage the Spaniards and Portuguese as discoverers; but Storm was not\naware that this date, as we have seen, is mentioned in an earlier English\nsource.\n\n[103] Cf. Harrisse, 1892, pp. 286, ff., 658. The inscription reads: \"Quii\npopuli ad quos Johannes Scovvus danus pervenit. Ann. 1476.\"\n\n[104] Just as the above is at press, I have received a sheet of Dr.\nBj\u00f6rnbo's new work [1910, pp. 256, ff.], from which it appears that the\ninscription mentioned above is already found on Gemma Frisius's globe\nengraved by Gerard Mercator, probably 1536-1537 (found at Zerbst, and\nreproduced for the first time in Bj\u00f6rnbo's work). The inscription is\nplaced on the polar continent, to the north-west of Greenland, and reads:\n\"Quij populi ad quos J\u014d\u0113s Scoluss danus peruenit circa annum 1476.\"\nBj\u00f6rnbo translates it: \"Quij, the people to whom the Dane Johannes\nScolvuss (Scolwssen ?) penetrated about the year 1476.\" (The\ninterpretation of the word \"Quij\" as the name of a people may be probable,\nespecially as the same word occurs, as pointed out by Bj\u00f6rnbo, as the name\nof a people on Vopell's map of the world of 1445.) This is therefore the\noldest notice of Scolvus's voyage at present known, and it may seem\npossible, though not very probable, that he reached a land to the west of\nGreenland. The L'Ecuy or Rouen globe (of copper) is evidently a copy of\nthe Frisius-Mercator globe, and has the same inscriptions. It may be to\nthe same source (or to a contemporary work of Gemma Frisius) that Hakluyt\nreferred (cf. above, p. 129, note 2), and several statements in the\nEnglish document of about 1575 (p. 129) seem also to be derived from it.\nAs Gomara calls Joan Scolvo \"piloto,\" which is not on the globe (but on\nthe other hand is found in the English document!), and as, further, he has\nnot the dates, he may possibly have had a somewhat different authority. It\nis interesting to note, as shown by Bj\u00f6rnbo, that the Frisius-Mercator\nglobe seems to betray Portuguese associations, and thus its information\nabout Scolvus may also have come from Portugal.\n\n[105] G. Storm [Mon. hist. Norw., 1880, p. 78] thought that \"Vegistafr\"\nmight be \"Sviatoi Nos\" at the entrance to Gandvik (the White Sea).\n\n[106] This was the market-place on the bank of the Dvina, presumably the\nsame that the Russians afterwards called Kholmogori, and that lay a little\nhigher up the river than Archangel (founded in 1572).\n\n[107] This is Karelian for heaven or the sky-god; the Kv\u00e6ns (Finlanders)\ncalled their god \"Jumala,\" and the Finns (Lapps) theirs \"Ibmel,\" which is\nthe same word. [Cf. G. Storm's translation of Heimskringla, 1899, p. 322.]\n\n[108] From the account it would look as though Thore Hund was already well\nacquainted with the country. Even if the tale as a whole is not\nhistorical, a feature like this may point to the Norwegians having been in\nthe habit of visiting Bjarmeland, and therefore looking upon it as natural\nthat a man like Thore knew the country.\n\n[109] H\u00e5kon H\u00e5konsson's Saga in Fornmanna-s\u00f6gur, ix. p. 319.\n\n[110] The Russian chronicles in translation, \"Suomi\" for 1848.\n\n[111] Professor Alexander Seippel has given me valuable help in the\ntranslation of the Arabic authors.\n\n[112] The Volga was often called Itil after the town of that name, but was\nlater named after Bulgar (Bolgar == Volga).\n\n[113] Cf. Fr\u00e4hn, 1823, p. 218.\n\n[114] Chronica Nestoris, ed. Fr. Miklosisch, Vindobon\u00e6, 1860, pp. 9, f.;\nNestors russiske Kr\u00f6nike, overs, og forkl. af C. W. Smith, Copenhagen,\n1869, p. 29.\n\n[115] Cf. T. Mommsen, 1882, pp. 88, 166.\n\n[116] Jaqut, 1866, i. p. 113; cf. also Mehren, 1857, p. 171.\n\n[117] Ibn Fadhl\u00e2n's mission as ambassador from the Caliph al-Muktadir\nbill\u00e2h of Bagdad to Bulgar took place, according to his own statements,\nreproduced by Jaq\u00fbt (ob. 1229), in the years 921 and 922 A.D. Ibn Fadhl\u00e2n,\nlike Jaq\u00fbt, was a Greek by birth.\n\n[118] Jaqut, 1866, iv. p. 944; i. p. 113.\n\n[119] This agrees with reality. Along the Volga one can reach the land of\nthe Vesses on Lake Byelo-ozero.\n\n[120] Al-Qazw\u00een\u00ee, 1848, ii. p. 416.\n\n[121] Ibn Bat\u00fbta, Voyages, etc., par Defr\u00e9mery et Sanguinetti, ii. pp.\n399, ff.\n\n[122] This is doubtless an expression for a conveyance of some kind, which\nmust here have been a sledge.\n\n[123] Cf. Fr\u00e4hn, 1823, pp. 230, ff.\n\n[124] Cf. Peschel, 2nd ed., 1877, p. 107. There has also been found a\nmetal mirror with an Arabic inscription of the tenth or eleventh century\nat Samarovo in the land of the Ostyaks, where the Irtysh and the Ob join.\n\n[125] Cf. on this subject G. Storm, 1890, pp. 340, ff.; A. A. Bj\u00f6rnbo,\n1909, pp. 234, ff.\n\n[126] Saxo also has conceptions of half-awake or half-dead (\"semineces\")\ngiants in the underworld in the north as guardians of treasures (cf.\nGorm's and Thorkel's voyage). Moltke Moe thinks they may be derived from\nancient notions of the giants as the evil dead, who guard treasures.\n\n[127] Kohl [1869, pp. 11, ff.] supposes that they may have carried on\npiracy, and invented their story to explain to the bishop how they had\ncome by the booty they brought home and how they had lost their\ncompanions, who may have been killed in fighting.\n\n[128] Giraldus Cambrensis also mentions the dangerous whirlpool north of\nthe Hebrides.\n\n[129] Cf. Amund Helland, Lofoten og Vesteraalen. Norges geologiske\nUnders\u00f6gelse. No. 23. Christiania, 1897, p. 106.\n\n[130] Hakluyt: Principal Navigations, Glasgow, 1903, ii. p. 415.\n\n[131] Cf. Storm, 1895, pp. 190, f.\n\n[132] It is not impossible that it was of this Norwegian king Harold's\nvoyage that Adam heard from the Danes; in that case he may readily be\nsupposed to have made a mistake and connected it with the King Harold who\nwas then living, to whom he also attributes a voyage in the Baltic; it is\na common experience that many similar incidents in which different persons\nwere engaged collect about one of them. The circumstance that Harold is\nhere mentioned without any term of abuse, with which Adam is elsewhere in\nthe habit of accompanying any mention of him, is perhaps, as already said\n(vol. i. p. 195, note), of no particular significance. Harold Gr\u00e5feld was\nmuch in Denmark, and reports of his expedition to Bjarmeland may well have\nlived there, as in Iceland. If it is this to which Adam's words refer,\nthis would also explain the curious silence of the Icelandic authorities\nabout Harold Hardr\u00e5de's alleged voyage in the Arctic Ocean.\n\n[133] Professor Yngvar Nielsen [1904, 1905] thinks that Adam's description\ncannot be explained otherwise than as referring to a voyage to the west,\nand probably a Wineland voyage. The Icelandic historian Tormodus Torf\u00e6us\nregarded it in the same way two hundred years ago. Professor Nielsen even\nthinks he can point to the Newfoundland Banks with their \"surf caused by\nthe current\" (?) as a probable place where King Harold turned back to\navoid the gulf of the abyss. I will not here dwell on the improbability of\nso daring a man as Harold, whom we are to suppose to have sailed across\nthe Atlantic in search of Wineland, being frightened by a tide-race (of\nwhich he knew worse at home) on the Newfoundland Banks, so as to believe\nthat he was near the abyss (\"Ginnungagap\"), and therefore making the long\nvoyage home again without having accomplished his purpose, without having\nreached land, and without having renewed his supplies--of fresh water, for\ninstance. I can only see that all this is pure guesswork without any solid\nfoundation and far beyond the limits of all reasonable possibility. But in\naddition, as Dr. A. A. Bj\u00f6rnbo [1909, pp. 121, 234, ff.] has clearly\nshown, the whole of this view becomes untenable if we pay attention to the\nuniversal cartographical representation of that time, by which Adam of\nBremen was obviously also bound, and in particular it is impossible to\nconclude from his words that Harold's voyage should have been made to the\n_west_.\n\n[134] Suhm (Historie af Danmark, 1790) was the first to think that the\ngulf of the abyss was the maelstrom by Mosken.\n\n[135] A peculiarity of the account in the \"King's Mirror\" is that whales,\nseals and walruses are mentioned only in the seas of Iceland and\nGreenland, and not off Norway, although the Norwegian author most\nundoubtedly have heard of most of them in his native land. In the same way\nthe northern lights are only spoken of as something peculiar to Greenland.\nOf the six species of seal that are mentioned, one (\"\u00f6rknselr\") must be\nthe grey seal or \"erkn\" (Halichoerus grypus), which is common on the coast\nof the northern half of Norway, but is not found in Greenland.\n\n[136] One might receive a different impression from Bede's Statement that\nin Britain \"seals are frequently taken ('capiuntur'), and dolphins, as\nalso whales ('balen\u00e6')\" [Eccles. hist. gent. Angl. i. c. 1]. But it is\nuncertain whether this refers to regular hunting of great whales with\nharpoons in the open sea, or whether it does not rather refer to stranded\nwhales, which must have been of frequent occurrence in those days, to\njudge from the Norman and later English regulations regarding them.\n\n[137] He belonged to the South Arabian tribe 'Udhra, \"die da sterben, wann\nsie lieben.\"\n\n[138] This is exactly what is still done with the whale on the west coast\nof Norway.\n\n[139] Cf. G. Jacob, 1896, pp. 23, ff.\n\n[140] Louis the Gentle confirms a division of the property of the abbey of\nSt. Dionysius, which the abbot Hilduien had made in 832 [cf. Bouquet,\nHistoriens de France, vi. p. 580]. He says in this document that \"we give\nthem this property ... on the other side of Sequana the chapel of St.\nAudoenus for repairing and clearing fishing nets ... in Campiniago two\nhouses for fish ... the water and fish in Tellis ... and Gabaregium in\nBagasinum with all the manorial rights and lands attached, of which part\nlies in the parish of Constantinus [Coutances] for taking large fish\n('crassus piscis').\" It is probable that \"crassus piscis\" means Biscayan\nwhale (Bal\u0153na Biscayensis or glacialis), which at that time was common on\nthese shores. In that case the people of C\u00f4tantin would have carried on\nwhaling as early as the beginning of the ninth century, but of their\nmethods we can form no conclusions.\n\n[141] It is possible that the peoples on the shores of the Indian Ocean\n(and Red Sea) even in early antiquity caught whales and ate whales' flesh\n[cf. Noel, 1815, p. 23]. Strabo [xv. 725, f.; xvi. 767, 773] tells of the\ngreat numbers of whales, 23 fathoms long, that Nearchus is said to have\nseen in this ocean, and says that the Ichthyophagi (fish-eaters) used\nwhales' bones for beams and rafters in their huts. Strabo thinks [i. 24]\nthat the mention of the monster Scylla (who catches dolphins, seals, etc.)\nin the Odyssey [xii. 95, ff.] would point to large marine animals having\nbeen taken in ancient times; but all this may be very doubtful.\n\n[142] Cf. M. P. Fischer, 1872, pp. 3, ff. In 1202 the merchants of Bayonne\nbound themselves to pay King John Lackland ten pounds sterling a year for\npermission to catch whales between St. Michael's Mount (in Normandy) and a\nplace called Dortemue [cf. Delisle, 1849, p. 131]. This may point to a\nconnection in the whale-fishery between the south of France and Normandy.\n\n[143] Cf. Johannes Steenstrup, 1876, vol. i. p. 188. Professor Steenstrup\nputs forward the view that it was the Danes who developed this whaling in\nNormandy. This is scarcely possible. There cannot be much doubt that it\nwas the comparatively valuable Biscay whale or nord-caper that was the\nchief object of the active whaling on the coast of Normandy, and that was\nspecially called \"crassus piscis\"; for it was precisely this species of\nwhale which then at certain times of the year appeared in great numbers\nalong the whole French coast, and which the Basques also pursued so\nactively along the shores of the Bay of Biscay, Brittany and Normandy. The\nname \"crassus piscis\" (i.e., the thick or fat fish) would also exactly\ndescribe this species, which is remarkable beyond all other whales that\noccur on the coasts of France for its striking breadth and bulk in\nproportion to its length, which is about fifty feet. This whale was more\nvaluable than the other great whales that occurred along these coasts, and\nwas in addition much easier to catch. But this species certainly never\nregularly frequented the shallow Danish waters, any more than other great\nwhales that might be an object of hunting. There is, therefore, scarcely a\npossibility that Danish Vikings should have brought with them from their\nnative land any experience in hunting great whales. If we may assume that\nthe Normans were already acquainted with the hunting of great whales\nbefore they came to Normandy, then it may have been Norwegians who\npossessed this experience, which, in fact, agrees with the statement of\nQazw\u00een\u00ee (see above).\n\n[144] Muratori: Script. rer. Ital., v. p. 265. Cf. also Joh. Steenstrup,\n1876, i. p. 188.\n\n[145] The text has \"culmi\" (literally, straw), which gives no sense. We\nmust suppose that something has been omitted in the MS. of Albertus that\nwas used in the printed edition; or else he has taken the description from\nan older source, which had it correctly, and from which later authors have\ntaken the same expression; for otherwise it is difficult to understand\ntheir using it in a reasonable way. Erik Walkendorf (circa 1520) says of\nthe walrus in Finmark: \"They have a stiff and bristly beard as long as the\npalm of a hand, as thick as a straw ('crassitudine magni culmi'), they\nhave rough bristly ('hirsuta') skin, two fingers thick, which has an\nincredible strength and firmness\"; but he says nothing about the method of\ncatching them [Walkendorf, 1902, p. 12]. Olaus Magnus [I, xxi. c. 25] says\nthat walruses (\"morsi\" or \"rosmari\") appear on the northern coast of\nNorway. \"They have a head like an ox, have rough (bristly, 'hirsutam')\nskin, and hair as thick as straw ('culmos') or the stalks of corn\n('calamos frumenti') which stands in all directions. They heave themselves\nup by their tusks to the tops of rocks as with ladders, in order to eat\nthe grass bedewed with fresh water, and roll themselves back into the sea,\nunless in the meantime they are overcome by very deep sleep and remain\nhanging.\" Then follows the same story of catching them as in Albertus\nMagnus. This is done, he says, chiefly for the sake of the tusks, \"which\nwere highly prized by the Scythians, Rutens and Tartars,\" etc. \"This is\nwitnessed also by Miechouita.\" This description of Olaus is evidently put\ntogether from older statements which we find in Albertus Magnus, in\nWalkendorf, and in Russian sources, of which he himself quotes Mikhow (who\nis also mentioned in Pistorius; see below).\n\n[146] This was very valuable on account of its strength, and was much used\nfor ships' cables, mooring-hawsers, and many other purposes.\n\n[147] Saxo, viii. 287, f.; ed. by H. Jantzen, 1900, pp. 447, ff.; ed. by\nP. Herrmann, 1901, pp. 385, ff.\n\n[148] In the description of Greenland attributed to Ivar B\u00e1rdsson we read:\n\"Item from Langanes, which lies uppermost (or northernmost) in Iceland by\nthe aforesaid Hornns it is two days' and two nights' sail to Sualberde in\nhaffsbaane (or haffsbotnen).\" [F. J\u00f3nsson, 1899, p. 323.]\n\n[149] Monumenta hist. Norv., ed. G. Storm, 1880, pp. 74. f., 79.\n\n[150] In the \"Rymbegla\" [1780, p. 350] is mentioned, together with other\nfabulous beings in this part of the world, \"the people called\n'Hornfinnar,' they have in their foreheads a horn bent downwards, and they\nare cannibals.\"\n\n[151] Cf. also A. Bugge, 1898, p. 499; G. Isachsen, 1907.\n\n[152] True north of Langanes there is no land: Jan Mayen lies nearest,\nN.N.E., and Greenland W.N.W. As the \"leidar-stein\" (compass) was known in\nIceland when Hauk's Landn\u00e1mab\u00f3k was written (cf. vol. i. p. 248), magnetic\ndirections might be meant here, and the variation of the compass may at\nthat time have been great enough to make Greenland lie north (magnetic) of\nLanganes. In that case it is perhaps strange that Langanes should be\nmentioned as the starting-point, and not some place that lay nearer; but\nit might be supposed that this was because one had first to sail far to\nthe east to avoid the ice, when making for the northern east coast of\nGreenland. A large eastern variation would also agree with Jolldulaup in\nIreland lying south of Reykjanes, the uninhabited parts of Greenland lying\nnorth of Kolbeins-ey (Mevenklint, see vol. i. p. 286), and the statement\nin the Sturlub\u00f3k that from Sn\u00e6fellsnes it was \"four 'd\u0153gr's' sea west to\nGreenland\" [i.e., Hvarf]. But it does not agree with this that from Bergen\n(or Henn\u00f6) the course was \"due west\" to Hvarf in Greenland; and still less\ndoes it agree with its being, according to the Sturlub\u00f3k, \"seven 'd\u0153gr's'\nsail west from Stad in Norway to Horn in East Iceland.\" If these are\ncourses by compass, we must then suppose a large _eastern_ variation\nbetween Norway and Iceland, which indeed is not impossible, but which will\nnot accord with a large _western_ variation between Reykjanes and Ireland.\nThe probability is, therefore, that magnetic courses are not intended.\n\n[153] As already mentioned, a \"d\u0153gr\" was half a day of twenty-four hours,\nand a \"d\u0153gr's\" sail is thus the distance sailed in a day or in a night.\nOne might, perhaps, be tempted to think that here, where it is a question\nof sailing over the open sea, and where it would therefore be impossible\nto anchor for the night, as on the coast, a \"d\u0153gr's\" sail might mean the\ndistance covered in the whole twenty-four hours [cf. G. Isachsen, 1907];\nbut it appears from a passage in St. Olaf's Saga (in \"Heimskringla\"),\namongst others, that this was not the usual way of reckoning; for we read\nthere (cap. 125) that Thorarinn Nevjolfsson sailed in eight \"d\u0153gr\" from\nM\u00f6re in Norway to Eyrar in south-western Iceland. Thorarinn went straight\nto the Althing and there said that \"he had parted from King Olaf four\nnights before....\" The eight \"d\u0153gr\" mean, therefore, four days' and four\nnights' sailing. Precisely the same thing appears from the sailing\ndirections given above (p. 166) from Ivor B\u00e1rdsson's description, where\nfour \"d\u0153gr's\" sea is taken as two days' and two nights' sail.\n\n[154] Sometimes also called Nordbotn (cf. vol. i, pp. 262, 303), perhaps\nmostly in fairy-tales. This form of the name is still extant in a\nfairy-tale from Fyresdal and Eidsborg about \"Riketor Kr\u00e6mar\" [H. Ross in\n\"D\u00f6len,\" 1869, vii. No. 23].\n\n[155] Pistorius, Polonic\u00e6 histori\u00e6 corpus, 1582, i. 150. I have not had an\nopportunity of consulting this work. We saw above (p. 163, note) that\nOlaus Magnus also quotes Mikhow.\n\n[156] Cf. No\u00ebl, 1815, p. 215.\n\n[157] The idea may have arisen through a misunderstanding of stories that\nthe walruses often lie in great herds, close together, on the tops of\nskerries and small islands, and are there speared in great numbers by the\nhunters.\n\n[158] He calls my attention to two papers by Professor Sophus Bugge [in\n\"Romania,\" iii. 1874, p. 157, and iv. 1875, p. 363], in which the\netymology of the French word \"morse\" is discussed. Bugge first seeks to\nexplain the word (precisely as above) as a metathesis for \"rosme,\" from\nthe Danish \"rosmer\" == Old Norwegian \"rosm\u00e1ll,\" \"rosmhvalr.\" In the second\npaper he withdraws this explanation, and says that V. Thomsen has pointed\nout to him the identity of \"morse\" with the Russian \"morsh,\" Polish\n\"mors,\" Czeckish \"mr\u017e,\" Finnish \"mursu,\" Lappish \"mor\u0161.\" The word would\n\"according to V. Thomsen be rather of Slavic (cf. 'more,' sea ?) than of\nFinnish origin.\" After what has been advanced above, this last conclusion\nmay be somewhat improbable. Professor Nielsen also refers to Matzenauer,\nCizi slova, p. 257, which I have not had an opportunity of consulting.\n\n[159] Professor Olaf Broch has described to me the peculiar river-boat\nthat is used far and wide in North Russia, and that is evidently a very\nold type of boat. Broch saw it on the S\u00fakhona, a tributary of the Dvina.\nThe bottom of the boat is a dug-out tree-trunk of considerable size, which\ncan only be found farther up the country. By heating the wood the sides\nare given the desired shape, and to the dug-out foundation is fastened a\nboard on each side; Broch did not remember whether it was sewed or nailed\non. The boat is thus a transitional form between the dug-out canoe and the\nclinker-built boat. This type of boat may also have reached the shore of\nthe Polar Sea; but there cannot have been timber for building it there.\n\n[160] Cf. A. Helland, Nordlands Amt, 1908, ii. p. 888.\n\n[161] Cf. K. Leem, 1767, p. 216.\n\n[162] The Florentine MS. of it dates from the ninth century.\n\n[163] For this reason they were also called OT-maps, which corresponded to\nthe initial letters of \"orbis terrarum.\"\n\n[164] The work is preserved in the British Museum in a MS. of the\nfourteenth century, which unfortunately has not been published. The\ngeographical descriptions in the Eulogium Historiarum of about 1360 (vol.\nii. Rerum Britann. Medii \u00c6vi Script., London, 1860, cf. the introduction\nby F. S. Hayden) may be taken from this work. It is evidently a MS. of the\nsame \"Geographia\" that W. Wackernagel found in the library at Berne, and\nof which he published extracts relating to the North [1844]. It is\nprobably the same \"Geographia Universalis,\" again, that is published in\nBartholom\u00e6us Anglicus: De proprietatibus rerum, and in Rudimenta\nNovitiorum, L\u00fcbeck, circa 1475.\n\n[165] The name of \"Dacia\" for Denmark, which frequently occurs on maps of\nthe Middle Ages, arose through a confusion of the name of the Roman\nprovince on the Danube with \"Dania.\"\n\n[166] \"Nero,\" which appears before this word on the map (see vol. i. p.\n183), is crossed out, and was evidently an error.\n\n[167] Cf. Rafn, Antiquit\u00e9s Russes, ii. pp. 390, ff., Pl. IV.; K. Miller,\niii., 1895, p. 125.\n\n[168] Cf. M. de Goeje in the \"Livre des Merveilles de l'Inde,\" ed. by v.\nd. Lith and Devic, Leiden, 1883-86, p. 295.\n\n[169] Bulgar was the capital of the country of the Mohammedan Bulgarians.\nThese were a Finnish people. From Bulgar or Bolgar comes the name Volga.\n\n[170] For the origin of the name, see p. 55, note.\n\n[171] Cf. Ibn Khord\u00e2dhbeh, 1889, pp. xx., 67, 88, 115; 1865, pp. 214, 235,\n264.\n\n[172] \"R\u00fbs\" was the name of the Scandinavians (mostly Swedes) in Russia\nwho founded the Russian empire (\"Gardarike\" or \"Svi\u00fejo\u00f0 hit mikla\").\n\n[173] Among the four wonders of the world Ibn Khord\u00e2\u1e0fbah mentions \"a\nbronze horseman in Spain [cf. the Pillars of Hercules], who with\noutstretched arm seems to say: Behind me there is no longer any beaten\ntrack, he who ventures farther is swallowed up by ants.\" So De Goeje\ntranslates it. It might seem to be connected with the swarms of ants that\ncame down to the shore and wanted to eat the men and their boat on the\nfirst larger island out in the ocean that Maelduin arrived at in the Irish\nlegend (cf. vol. i. p. 336); but Professor Seippel thinks it possible that\nthe original reading was \"is swallowed up in sand\" (and not by ants).\n\n[174] This comes very near to Hippocrates' words about the Amazons, that\nthe mothers burn away the right breast of their girl children, \"thereby\nthe breast ceases to grow and all the strength and fullness goes over to\nthe right shoulder and arm\" (cf. also vol. i. p. 87).\n\n[175] Cf. V. Thomsen, 1882, p. 34.\n\n[176] As to the trade in furs, etc., see above, pp. 144, f.\n\n[177] Seippel, 1896; cf. Ma\u00e7oudi, 1861, p. 275; 1896, pp. 92, f.; 1861, p.\n213.\n\n[178] Ma\u00e7oudi, 1861, pp. 364, f.\n\n[179] Seippel, 1896, pp. 42, 43.\n\n[180] In the Russian chronicles the word is \"Varyag\" (plur. \"Varyazi\"),\nand the Baltic is called \"Varya\u017e'skoye More\" (the Var\u00e6gian Sea). It is the\nsame word as Var\u00e6ger, Varanger, or V\u00e6ringer (in Greek Varangoi) for the\noriginally Scandinavian life-guards in Constantinople. The Greek princess\nAnna Comnena (circa 1100), celebrated for her learning, speaks of the\n\"Varangians from Thule\" as the \"axe-bearing barbarians.\" In a Greek work\nof the eleventh century, by an unknown author, it is said of Harold\nHardr\u00e5de that \"he was the son of the king of 'Varangia' (\u0392\u03b1\u03c1\u03b1\u03b3\u03b3\u03af\u03b1).\" The\nword is evidently from a Scandinavian root; but its etymology can hardly\nbe regarded as certain. It was probably used originally by the Russians in\nGardarike of their kindred Scandinavians, especially the Swedes on the\nBaltic [cf. Vilhelm Thomsen, 1882, pp. 93, ff.].\n\n[181] The Persian version and as-Sh\u00eer\u00e2z\u00ee add \"tall, warlike.\"\n\n[182] The Christian Jew Assaf Hebr\u00e6us's cosmography, of the eleventh\ncentury, was probably written in Arabic, but is only known in a Latin and\na Hebrew translation [cf. Ad. Neubauer, in \"Orient und Occident,\" ed. Th.\nBenfey, ii., G\u00f6ttingen, 1864, pp. 657, ff.]. He mentions beyond \"Scochia\"\n[Scotland] the land of \"Norbe\" [Norway] with an archbishopric and ten\nbishoprics. In these northern lands, and particularly in Ireland, there\nare no snakes. Many other countries and islands are beyond Britain and the\nland of \"Norve\" [Norway], but the island of \"Tille\" [Thule] is the most\ndistant, far away in the northern seas, and has the longest day, etc.\nThere is the stiffened, viscous sea. Next the Hebrides (\"Budis\") are\nmentioned, where the inhabitants have no corn, but live on fish and milk\n(cf. vol. i. p. 160), and the Orcades, where there dwell naked people\n(\"gens nuda,\" instead of \"vacant homines,\" see vol. i. p. 161).\n\n[183] Cf. R. Dozy, 1881, pp. 267, ff.\n\n[184] This island may have been Noirmoutier, in the country of the Normans\nof the Loire (according to A. Bugge).\n\n[185] It is the name \"Ma\u01f5\u00fbs,\" from the Greek \u039c\u03ac\u03b3\u03bf\u03c2 (Magian,\nfire-worshipper, cf. p. 55), that led the author into this error. Ma\u01f5\u00fbs\nwas used collectively of heathens in general, but especially of the Norse\nVikings [cf. Dozy, 1881, ii. p. 271].\n\n[186] Her name may be read \"Bud\" (Bodhild ?), or--according to Seippel's\nshowing--with a trifling correction, \"Aud.\"\n\n[187] Probably this was made from Edrisi's design and corresponded to the\nmap of the world in his work. Khal\u00eel a\u1e63-\u1e62afad\u00ee (born circa 1296) also\nrelates that Roger and Edrisi sent out trustworthy men with draughtsmen to\nthe east, west, south and north, to draw from nature and describe\neverything remarkable; and their information was then included in Edrisi's\nwork. If this is true (which is probably doubtful), these would be real\ngeographical expeditions that were sent out.\n\n[188] Cf. Jaubert's translation [Edrisi, 1836], where, however, the\ngeographical names must be used with caution. See also Dozy and De Goeje\n[Edrisi, 1866].\n\n[189] The Arabs have the same word for island and peninsula.\n\n[190] Professor Seippel considers this the probable interpretation of the\nname, and not \"the island of the Danes,\" as in Jaubert.\n\n[191] Edrisi reckoned a degree at the equator as 100 Arabic miles,\naccording to which his mile would be fully a kilometre. According to other\nArab geographers the degree at the equator has been reckoned as 66-2/3\nArabic miles, in which case the mile would be about 1.7 km., or nearly a\nstatute mile.\n\n[192] This name is doubtless a confusion of Finmark and Finland.\n\n[193] Of the names of these towns given on the map there can, according to\nSeippel's interpretation, be read with certainty \"Osl\u00f4\" and probably\n\"Tr\u00f4n\u00e2\" [Trondheim]. The third name is difficult to determine.\n\n[194] This may be the same idea that we meet with again in the description\nof the Skr\u00e6lings in Eric the Red's Saga, where we are told that they were\n\"brei\u00f0ir i kinnum.\"\n\n[195] As, amongst others, the name \"Norveci\" is misplaced (in Jutland) in\nthe Cottoniana map (cf. p. 192), one might almost be tempted to suppose\nthat the cartographer had made use of Edrisi's map without understanding\nthe Arabic names; but this would assume so late a date for the Cottoniana\nmap that it is scarcely probable.\n\n[196] Cf. Seippel, 1896, pp. 138, ff.\n\n[197] Al-Qazw\u00een\u00ee, 1848, ii. pp. 356, 334, 412.\n\n[198] Jacob, 1896, pp. 11, f.\n\n[199] Seippel, 1896, p. 44.\n\n[200] It might seem tempting to suppose that the some \"Varanger\" is\nconnected with \"Warank\"; but this can hardly be the case. Mr. J. Qvigstad\ninforms me that in his view the name of the fjord must be Norwegian, \"and\nwas originally '*Verjangr' (from '*Varianger'); thence arose '*Verangr,'\nand by progressive assimilation 'Varangr,' cf. the fjord-names Salangen\n(from Selangr), Gratangen (from Grytangr), Lavangen (from Lovangr) in the\ndistrict of Troms\u00f6. In old Danish assessment rolls of the period before\nthe Kalmar war we find 'Waranger.'\" The first syllable must then be the\nOld Norse \"ver\" (gen. pl. \"verja\") for \"v\u00e6r,\" fishing-station, and the\nname would mean \"the fjord of fishing-stations\" (\"angr\" == fjord). In\nLappish the Varanger fjord is called \"Varjagvu\u00f6dna\" (\"vu\u00f6dna\" == fjord),\nwhich \"presupposes a Norwegian form '*Varjang' ('*Verjang'). The Lappish\nforms 'Varje-' and 'Varja-' are abbreviated from 'Varjag.' The district of\nVaranger is called in Lappish 'Varja' (gen. 'Varjag,' root 'Varjag').\nNorwegian fjord-names in '-angr' are transferred to Lappish with the\ntermination '-ag'; only in more recent loan-words do we find the\ntermination '-a\u03b7gga' or '-a\u03b7ggo,' as in 'Pors-a\u03b7gga.'\" O. Rygh thought\nthat the first syllable in \"Varanger\" might be the same as in \"Vard\u00f6,\" Old\nNorse \"Vargey\"; but this may be more doubtful.\n\n[201] Cf. also Jordanes' description of the great cold in the Baltic (vol.\ni. p. 131).\n\n[202] Seippel, 1896, pp. 142, 45.\n\n[203] In another passage [c. i. 3] he says that \"the habitable part\nextends ... towards the north as far as 63\u00b0 or 66-1/6\u00b0, where at the\nsummer solstice the day attains a length of twenty hours\" [cf. Ptolemy,\nvol. i. p. 117]. But he nevertheless thinks (like the Greeks) that at the\nnorth pole the day was six months and the night equally long.\n\n[204] An expression from the Koran, which is used of barbarous peoples\n(Gog and Magog) who do not understand the speech of civilised men.\n\n[205] Cf. A. F. Mehren, 1874, pp. 19, 158, f., 21, 193.\n\n[206] C. de Vaux, 1898, pp. 69, f.\n\n[207] Cf. Moltke Moe, \"Maal og Minne,\" Christiania, 1909, pp. 9, ff.\n\n[208] The same ideas also occur in European fairy-tales and generally in\nthe world of medi\u00e6val conceptions.\n\n[209] Cf. K. Kretschmer, 1909, pp. 67, ff.; Beazley, iii. 1906, p. 511. It\nhas been asserted that the compass was discovered at Amalfi. This is not\nvery probable, but it seems that an important improvement of the compass\nmay have been made there about the year 1300.\n\n[210] Cf. D'Avezac: Coup d'\u0153il historique sur la projection des cartes\ng\u00e9ographiques. Paris, 1863, p. 37; Th. Fischer, 1886, pp. 78, f.\n\n[211] How early the error of the compass became known is uncertain. Even\nif it was known, it seems that at any rate no attention was paid to it at\nfirst; and thus the coast-lines were laid down on the charts according to\nthe magnetic courses and not the true ones. Later on a constant error was\nassumed and the compass was corrected in agreement therewith; but the\ncorrection differed somewhat in the various towns where compasses were\nmade.\n\n[212] Bj\u00f6rnbo and Petersen [1908, tab. 1, pp. 14, ff.] give a comparison\nof these names from the most important compass-charts.\n\n[213] Reproduced by Jomard, 1879; Nordenski\u00f6ld, 1897, p. 25.\n\n[214] Reproduced by Th. Fischer-Ongania, 1887, Pl. III. [cf. pp. 117,\nff.]; Nordenski\u00f6ld, 1897, Pl. V. Cf. Bj\u00f6rnbo, 1909, pp. 212, f.; Hamy,\n1889, pp. 350, f.\n\n[215] That, on the other hand, it should be directly connected with\nPtolemy's representation, as alleged by Hamy [1889, p. 350], is difficult\nto understand [cf. Bj\u00f6rnbo, 1909, p. 213]; but an indirect influence,\ne.g., through Edrisi's map, is possible.\n\n[216] Cf. K. Kretschmer, 1891, pp. 352, ff. Vesconte was a Genoese, but\nresided for a long time at Venice.\n\n[217] Cf. Saxo, ed. H. Jnsen, 1900, pp. 13, ff.; ed. P. Hermann, 1901, p.\n12.\n\n[218] On Marino Sanudo and Pietro Vesconte's maps cf. Hamy, 1889, pp. 349,\nf., and Pl. VII.; Nordenski\u00f6ld, 1889, p. 51; 1897, pp. 17, 56, ff.;\nKretschmer, 1909, pp. 113, ff.; Bj\u00f6rnbo, 1909, pp. 210, f.; Bj\u00f6rnbo, 1910,\npp. 120, 122, f.; K. Miller, iii. 1895, pp. 132, ff.\n\n[219] K. Miller [iii., 1895, p. 134] reads \"alcuorum\" instead of\n\"aletiorum,\" which would make it \"the greatest abundance of flying\ncreatures\" [i.e., birds, which would also be appropriate to the North].\nBut Miller's reading is evidently wrong, from what Bj\u00f6rnbo has seen on the\noriginal.\n\n[220] Cf. A. Magnaghi, 1898. The date is somewhat indistinct on the map,\nand it is uncertain whether it is MCCCXXV. or MCCCXXX.\n\n[221] The dark shading along the coast and across the country represents\nmountain chains.\n\n[222] As late as in Jeffery's atlas, 1776, it is pointed out that this\nisland is very doubtful, but, according to Kretschmer [1892, p. 221], a\nrock 6 degrees west of the southern point of Ireland still bears the name\nBrazil Rock on the charts of the British Admiralty (?).\n\n[223] Cf. \"Lageniensis,\" 1870, pp. 114, ff.; Liebrecht, 1872, p. 201;\nMoltke Moe in A. Helland, 1908, ii. p. 516.\n\n[224] Kunstmann [1859, pp. 7, ff.] thought that the names of the more\nsoutherly islands might be derived from that of the red dye-wood \"brasile\"\nor \"bresil,\" which afterwards gave its name to Brazil. He [1859, pp. 35,\nf., 41], and after him G. Storm [1887], were therefore misled into the\nbelief that the island to the west of Ireland had also got its name from\nthe same dye-wood; neither of them can have known of the Irish myth about\nthis island. Both connect the appearance of the island on the Pizigano map\n(1367) with the arrival of the Greenland sailors from Markland in Norway\nin 1348, not being aware that the island is found on earlier maps. Storm\nwent so far as to suppose that the word \"brazil\" might have become a term\nfor a wooded island in general, and might thus be an echo of the Norse\nname Markland (wood-land). J. Fischer [1902, p. 110] has again fallen into\nthe same error, but has remarked that the name was already found on\nDalorto's map of 1339. Kretschmer [1892, pp. 214, ff.] has devoted a\nchapter to the island of \"Brazil,\" but abandons the attempt to find the\norigin of the name and of the island, regarding the derivation from the\nname of the dye-wood as improbable. Hamy [1889, p. 361], however, noticed\nthe connection of the island with the Irish myth of \"O'Brazil.\"\n\n[225] Buache read the inscription on the northernmost isle of Brazil on\nthe Pizigano map as \"ysola de Mayotas seu de Bracir,\" while Jomard makes\nit \"n\u030a cotus sur de Bracir.\" Kretschmer [1892, p. 219] has examined the\nmap, but can read neither one nor the other, as the text is indistinct. On\nthe other hand, he points out that on Graciosus Benincasa's map of 1482\nthe same island has a clearly legible \"montorio\" (on a map of 1574 \"mons\norius\" is found), which he is equally unable to explain. It may be added\nthat on an anonymous compass-chart of 1384 [Nordenski\u00f6ld, 1897, Pl. XV.] a\ncorresponding island is marked \"monte orius,\" on Benincasa's map of 1457\n\"montorius,\" and on Calapoda's map of 1552 \"montoriu\" [Nordenski\u00f6ld, 1897,\nPl. XXXIII., XXVI.]. This is evidently our \"montonis\" on Dalorto's map of\n1325 appearing again.\n\n[226] The number with the preceding words is also evidently given in the\nline below.\n\n[227] Cf. Th. Fischer, 1886, pp. 42; Hamy, 1889, p. 366; Magnaghi, 1899,\np. 2. I have not been able to find this legend on Dalorto's map of 1339\n(in the reproduction in Nordenski\u00f6ld's Periplus, Pl. VIII.), where\nMagnaghi asserts that it is to be found.\n\n[228] Cf. Hamy, 1888, 1903; Nordenski\u00f6ld, 1897, Pl. VIII.; Kretschmer,\n1909, p. 188.\n\n[229] This is the same form as on the later maps, pp. 231, 232, 233.\n\n[230] For a description and reproduction of the Modena chart, see\nKretschmer, 1897; Pull\u00e8 and Longhena, 1907.\n\n[231] In the reproduction, pp. 232-233, \"gronlandia\" is given in the\ninscription in the Baltic, taken from the reading of Bj\u00f6rnbo and Petersen\n[1908, p. 16]. Mr. O. Vangensten has examined the original at Florence and\nfound that this is a misreading, the correct one being \"gotlandia.\"\n\n[232] On this chart there is a picture in the Northern Ocean to the west\nof Norway of a ship with her anchor out by the side of a whale, with the\nfollowing explanation [cf. Bj\u00f6rnbo, 1910, p. 121]: \"This sea is called\n'mar bocceano,' and therein are found great fish, which sailors take to be\nsmall islands and take up their quarters on these fish, and the sailors\nland on these islands and make fires, and cause such heat that the fish\nfeels it and sets itself in motion, and they have no time to get on board\nand are lost; and those who know this, land on the said fish, and there\nmake thongs of its back and make fast the head of the ship's anchor, and\nin this way they flay the skin off it, whereof they make saraianes [ropes\n?] for their ships, and of this skin are made good coverings for\nhaystacks.\"\n\nWe have here a combination of two mythical features. One is the great fish\nof the Navigatio Brandani, on which they land and make a fire to cook\nlamb's flesh, when the fish begins to move, and the brethren rush to the\nship, into which they are taken by Brandan, while the island disappears\nand they can still see the fire they have made two leagues away. Brandan\ntold them that this was the largest of all the fish in the sea; it always\ntries to reach its tail with its head [like the Midgards-worm, cf. vol. i.\np. 364] and its name is Iasconicus. The same myth is referred to in an\nAnglo-Saxon poem [Codex Exoniensis, ed. Benj. Thorpe, London, 1842, pp.\n360, ff.] on the great whale Fastitocalon, where ships cast anchor and the\nsailors go ashore and make fires, upon which the whale dives down with\nship and crew. The idea of such a fish resembling an island is also found\nin the northern myth of the havguva (cf. the \"King's Mirror\"), or krake,\nand is doubtless derived from the East. Tales of landing on an apparent\nisland which suddenly turns out to be a fish are found in Sindbad's first\nvoyage, in Qazw\u00een\u00ee (where the fish is an enormous turtle), and even in\nPseudo-Callisthenes in the second century [iii. 17, cf. E. Rohde, 1900, p.\n192].\n\nThe second feature of flaying the skin is evidently the same as already\nfound in Albertus Magnus (ob. 1280), and must be referred to fabulous\nideas about the hunting of walrus, which was also called whale (see above,\np. 163). That walrus-hide was used for ships' ropes is, of course, well\nknown, but that it should be also used for coverings of haystacks is not\nlikely, as it was certainly far too valuable for that.\n\n[233] Cf. also the anonymous Catalan chart in the Biblioteca Nazionale at\nNaples, reproduced in Bj\u00f6rnbo and Petersen, 1908, Pl. I.\n\n[234] Cf. Nordenski\u00f6ld, 1897, pp. 21, 58, Pl. X.; Hamy, 1889, pp. 414, f.;\nFischer-Ongania, Pl. V.\n\n[235] Cf. Mon. Hist. Norv., ed. Storm, 1880, p. 77. The circumstance that\non one of the Sanudo maps (p. 224) Norway is divided into four peninsulas\nmay be connected with a similar conception.\n\n[236] Cf. Finnur J\u00f3nsson [1901, ii. p. 948], who thinks that the part\ndealing with the northern regions is not due to Nikul\u00e1s. The hypothesis\nput forward by Storm, in Gr\u00f6nl. hist. Mind., iii. 219, that it was Abbot\nNikolas of Thingeyre, appears less probable.\n\n[237] If the old fishermen of the Polar Sea landed on any of these\ncountries (Novaya Zemlya, Spitzbergen), they would there have found\nreindeer, which would again have strengthened their belief in the\nconnection by land.\n\n[238] The reason for this might be supposed to be the very name of\nWineland, formed in a similar way to Greenland and Iceland, instead of\nVin-ey (Wine island). A \"land,\" if one knew no better, would be more\nlikely to be connected with the continent; whereas, if it had been called\n\"ey,\" it would have continued to be an island, as indeed it is in the\nHistoria Norwegi\u00e6 (cf. p. 1).\n\n[239] Storm [1890; 1892, pp. 78, ff.] and Bj\u00f6rnbo [1909, pp. 229, ff.;\n1910, pp. 82, ff.] have put forward views about these ideas of the\nScandinavians which differ somewhat from those here given (cf. above, p.\n2), but in the main we are in agreement. I do not think Dr. Bj\u00f6rnbo can be\naltogether right in supposing that the Icelanders and Norwegians connected\nGreenland with Bjarmeland, and Wineland with Africa, because the learned\nviews of the Middle Ages made this necessary; for this view of the world\nalso acknowledged islands in the ocean (cf. Adam of Bremen), perhaps\nindeed more readily than it acknowledged peninsulas (cf. the wheel-maps).\nBut perhaps, after Greenland and Wineland had been connected with the\ncontinents on other grounds, the prevailing learned view of the world\ndemanded that the Outer Ocean should be placed outside these countries, so\nthat they became peninsulas. But we have seen that side by side with this,\nother views were also held (cf., for instance, the Rymbegla and the\nMedicean mappamundi, pp. 236, 239).\n\n[240] The name of the work (\"Konungs-Skuggsj\u00e1\" or \"Speculum Regale\") had\nits prototype in the names of those books which were written in India for\nthe education of princes, and which were called Princes' Mirrors. In\nimitation of these, \"mirror\" (speculum) was used as the title of works of\nvarious kinds in medi\u00e6val Europe.\n\n[241] Various guesses have been made as to who the author may have been\nand when the work was written. It appears to me that there is much to be\nsaid for the opinion put forward by A. V. Heffermehl [1904], that the\nauthor may have been the priest Ivor Bodde, H\u00e5kon H\u00e5konsson's\nfoster-father. In that case the work must have been written somewhat\nearlier than commonly supposed [Storm put it between 1250 and 1260], and\nit appears that Heffermehl has given good reasons for assuming that it may\nhave been written several years before 1250. Considerable weight as\nregards the determination of its date must be attached to the circumstance\nthat, in the opinion of Professor Marius H\u00e6gstad, a vellum sheet preserved\nat Copenhagen (new royal collection, No. 235g) has linguistic forms which\nmust place it certainly before 1250, and the vellum must have belonged to\na copy of an older MS. On the other hand, Professor Moltke Moe has pointed\nout in his lectures that the quotations in the \"King's Mirror\" from the\nbook of the Marvels of India, from Prester John's letter, are derived from\na version of the latter which, as shown by Zarncke, is not known before\nabout 1300. Moltke Moe therefore supposes that the \"King's Mirror,\" in the\nform we know it, may be a later and incomplete adaptation of the original\nwork. The latter may have been written by Ivar Bodde in his old age\nbetween 1230 and 1240.\n\n[242] If Professor Moltke Moe's view is correct, that the \"King's Mirror,\"\nin the form which we know, is a later adaptation (cf. p. 242, note 2), it\nmay be supposed that the section on Ireland was inserted by the adapter.\nPresumably a thorough examination of the linguistic forms would determine\nwhether this is probable.\n\n[243] The famous Roger Bacon is said to have already made an attempt,\nbefore Ptolemy's Geography was known, to draw a map according to\nmathematical determinations of locality; but the map is lost [Roger Bacon,\nOpus majus, fol. 186-189]. The title of Nicholas of Lynn's book is said to\nhave been: \"Inventio fortunate qui liber incipet a gradu 54, usque ad\npolum\" (i.e., which book begins [in its description] at 54\u00b0 [and goes] as\nfar as the pole) [cf. Hakluyt, Princ. Nav., 1903, p. 303]. This may show\nthat degrees were already in use at that time (1360) for geographical\ndescription.\n\n[244] On Claudius Clavus see in particular Storm's work of fundamental\nimportance [1880-1891], and the valuable monograph by Bj\u00f6rnbo and Petersen\n[1904, 1909], also A. A. Bj\u00f6rnbo [1910]. Cf. further Nordenski\u00f6ld [1897,\npp. 86, ff.], v. Wieser [Peterm. Mitteilungen, xlv. 1899, pp. 119, ff.],\nJos. Fischer [1902, cap. 5], and others.\n\n[245] Cf. Axel Olrik, \"Danske Studier,\" 1904, p. 215.\n\n[246] This \"secundum\" in the MS. must doubtless have been inserted by a\ncopyist. Bj\u00f6rnbo and Petersen think the original had \"ij,\" which the\ncopyist took for a Roman numeral and replaced by \"secundum.\" As it might\nseem strange that the man lived \"'in' a river of Greenland,\" Axel Olrik\nthought that the word might have been \"wit\" (by, or near); but then it\nbecomes more difficult to understand how and why the word should have been\nreplaced by \"secundum,\" unless the copyist had some knowledge of Danish.\n\n[247] \"Danske Studier,\" 1907, p. 228.\n\n[248] Many vain searches were afterwards made (in 1451 and 1461) in the\nmonastery of Sor\u00f6 for this MS. of Livy, and there may therefore be grounds\nfor doubting the statement to be true [cf. Bj\u00f6rnbo and Petersen, 1909, pp.\n197, f.].\n\n[249] Cf. the maps on pp. 223, 224. As we certainly do not know nearly all\nthe maps that were in use at that time, I regard it as probable that\nClaudius or his draughtsman had older maps, now lost, of this or a similar\ntype, which resemble the Nancy map even more closely than these two known\nmaps. But of course it is wiser to confine ourselves as far as possible to\nthose we know.\n\n[250] Storm [1891, p. 16] was the first to hold that Clavus made use of\nItalian compass-charts as his model for the delineation of the south coast\nof Scandinavia, and that he also took names from them. Bj\u00f6rnbo and\nPetersen have rejected this view, as the names in Clavus's text are\nprincipally taken from other sources, and the Baltic has been given quite\na different shape. But the necessity of this change seems to have escaped\nthem, as it was caused by Clavus retaining Ptolemy's outline for the South\ncoast of the Baltic.\n\n[251] If we assume that the names \"Wildhlappelandi,\" \"Pigmei,\" etc., on\nthe Nancy map are due to Clavus himself, he may have had some authority\nlike that of the anonymous letter to Pope Nicholas V. (of about 1450),\nwhich Michel Beheim may also have used (see later). From this source he\nmay have obtained the information about the land connection between the\nland to the north-east of Norway and Greenland. As will be mentioned later\n(p. 270), it is possible that this source was Nicholas of Lynn.\n\n[252] Storm [1891, p. 15] also maintains that on the Nancy map Thule has\nbeen incorporated with Norway, but Bj\u00f6rnbo and Petersen [1904, p. 194;\n1909, p. 158] think that this must be regarded as \"one of the unfortunate\nresults of his desire to reduce all Clavus's contributions to a single\none\"; why, we are not told. According to my view there can be no doubt\nthat Storm is right. Clavus has made the south coast of Thule into the\nsouthernmost coast of Norway, with its south-eastern point due north of\nthe island of Ocitis, and its south-western point north of the west side\nof Orcadia, exactly as on Ptolemy's map. In addition, this coast has the\nsame latitude and longitude as the South coast of Ptolemy's Thule.\n\n[253] Of course there is always the possibility that Clavus may have had\nmaps of the Medici type which resembled the Nancy map even more closely\nthan that with which we are acquainted.\n\n[254] On this map the tongue of land in question is nameless, while on the\nmap of Europe in the Medicean Atlas it is given the name of \"alogia,\"\nwhich shows it to have been regarded as a part of Norway (see the\nreproduction, p. 260).\n\n[255] As there is considerable difference between the coast-lines of\nEurope on Ptolemy's maps and those on the Medici maps, one's scale of\nlatitude will vary according to the points one may choose for determining\nit. The points here given were the first I tried, and as the resulting\nscale seems to agree remarkably well with Clavus's later map I have kept\nto it, although of course Clavus may have proceeded in a somewhat\ndifferent way in determining the scale on his map; in particular he seems\non the older map to have arranged it so that the parallel for 63\u00b0 passed\nthrough the southernmost part of Norway, corresponding to Ptolemy's Thule.\nIn order better to agree with this (cf. the left-hand scale of latitude of\nthe Nancy map) the degrees of latitude on the map above ought therefore to\nbe increased half a degree, and on the map, p. 236, nearly a degree.\n\n[256] On the Nancy map the southern point of Greenland lies in 63\u00b0 30';\nbut as we do not know how accurately this copy reproduces Clavus's\noriginal map, it is safer to confine ourselves to Clavus's text.\n\n[257] Gerard Mercator writes that according to a tradition an English monk\nand mathematician from Oxford [i.e., Nicholas of Lynn] had been in Norway\nand in the islands of the north, and had described all these places and\ndetermined their latitude by the astrolabe [cf. Hakluyt, Principal\nNavigations, 1903, p. 301]. It is therefore possible that Clavus may have\nobtained the latitudes of some places, such as Stavanger and Bergen, from\nhis work; but in any case he cannot have got the latitude of the southern\npoint of Greenland from it. Moreover, if he had had such accurate\ninformation to depend on, it would be difficult to understand why he\nretained the incorrect latitudes which he obtained by introducing those of\nPtolemy on the Medici map; in his later map, indeed, he has used nothing\nelse.\n\n[258] Cf. Sturlub\u00f3k and Ivan B\u00e1rdsson's description of Greenland. In\nHauk's Landn\u00e1ma we read that it was from Hernum (that is, north of Bergen)\nthat they sailed west to Hvarf. According to this, then, the southern\npoint of Greenland would be brought even farther north than Bergen.\n\n[259] Although Dr. Bj\u00f6rnbo now admits that the Medici map must have been\nused for Clavus's later map, he is still in doubt as to this being the\ncase with the older one (the original of the Nancy map); he is inclined to\nthink that this map may have been constructed from Northern sources,\nsailing directions, etc. But there appear to me to be too many striking\nagreements between the Medici map and the Nancy map for such an assumption\nto be probable; and the following may be given as instances: the number of\nbays between Sk\u00e5ne and the south coast of Norway, with the deepest bay on\nthe west; the resemblance between the south coast of Norway with its three\nbays on the Nancy map and the south coast of the corresponding peninsula\nto the north of Scotland on the Medici map; the high latitude of this\nsouth coast on both maps; the agreement in latitude between the southern\npoint of Greenland and that of \"alogia\" in the Medici map; the remarkable\nsimilarity in the relation between the longitudes of these two southern\npoints and the west coast of Ireland on both maps; the mutual relation in\nlatitude between the southern point of Greenland and the south coast of\nNorway (with Stavanger); the far too northerly latitude of all these\nplaces; the east coast of Greenland having the same main direction as the\neast coast of the corresponding peninsula on the Medici map, etc. To these\nmay be added the similarity in the way the coast-lines are drawn, with\nround bays. Each of these points of agreement may no doubt be explained,\nas Bj\u00f6rnbo suggests, as a coincidence and as having arisen in another way;\nbut when there are so many of them it must be admitted that a connection\nis more natural.\n\n[260] \"Serica\" on Ptolemy's map of the world lies in the extreme\nnorth-east of Asia, and is most likely China.\n\n[261] It seems possible, as Mr. O. Vangensten has suggested to me, that\nthis name may here be due to a confusion of Vermeland with Bjarmeland.\nPeder Clauss\u00f6n Friis [Storm, 1881, p. 219] says that Greenland extends\nround the north of the \"Norwegian Sea\" \"eastward to Biarmeland or\nBermeland.\"\n\n[262] Cf. Mandeville, 1883, pp. 180, 182, 183, f. Mandeville also says\nthat in the opinion of the old wise astronomers the circumference of the\nworld was 20,425 English miles; but he himself maintains that it is 31,500\nmiles.\n\n[263] That the delineation of this coast is not based upon personal\nexamination, either by Clavus himself or by any possible informant, is\nalso shown by the fact that the coast has not a single real name. Even if\nwe suppose that Clavus, or his possible informant, during the voyage along\nthis coast, had been so unfortunate as not to meet with a single one of\nthe Norse inhabitants who might have communicated names, we cannot very\nwell assume that the crew of the ship on which the voyage was made were\ntotally unacquainted with Greenland; they must certainly have had plenty\nof names and sea-marks.\n\n[264] It must be remembered that Clavus's latitudes are throughout too\nhigh; his south point of Greenland lies about three degrees too far north,\nin 62\u00b0 40' instead of 59\u00b0 46'. If we carry this reduction to the most\nnortherly point he describes on the east coast, this will lie in about 62\u00b0\n30' instead of 65\u00b0 35', and thus the coincidence with Cape Dan disappears.\nHis description of the east coast of Greenland in the Nancy map is quite\ndifferent.\n\n[265] Such an inscription as this is quite in the style of Clavus's great\nprototype, Ptolemy, in whom we often find: \"this is the end of the coast\nof the known land.\"\n\n[266] It is worth remarking that Clavus puts his last point visible no\nless than 1\u00b0 50' (that is, 110 nautical miles) to the north of the limit\nof the known land. If a statement like this was calculated to be taken as\nderived from local knowledge, it would not in any case disclose much\nnautical experience.\n\n[267] On the influence of these men on the cartographical representation\nof the North, see in particular J. Fischer, 1902.\n\n[268] As shown by Bj\u00f6rnbo and Petersen, this is evidently Clavus's name\n\"Eyn Gronelandz aa\" for a river on the east coast of Greenland, which was\nmisunderstood on Clavus's map and made the name of the country, assisted\nperhaps by the resemblance in sound with the name Engromelandi (for\n\u00c5ngermanland), which Clavus has on the north side of Scandinavia (p. 248).\nThis resemblance of sound may also have had something to do with the\nremoval of Greenland to the north of Norway.\n\n[269] Cf. Gr\u00f6nl. hist. Mind., iii. p. 168. Bj\u00f6rnbo [1910, p. 79] by a slip\nquotes the letter to Pope Nicholas V. of about the same date, instead of\nthat given above.\n\n[270] According to Lelewel [Epilogue, Pl. 6] this peninsula bears the name\nof \"Grinland,\" but this cannot be seen on the somewhat indistinct original\n[cf. Bj\u00f6rnbo, 1910, p. 80; Ongania, Pl. X.].\n\n[271] Storm [1893], and following him J. Fischer [1902, pp. 99, ff.],\nerroneously regard this island of Brazil as Markland (see above, p. 229).\n\n[272] See J. Fischer, 1902, p. 99. Cf. also Bj\u00f6rnbo, 1910, pp. 125, ff.,\nwho gives a drawing of the map.\n\n[273] Two editions are reproduced in Nordenski\u00f6ld [1897, p. 61] and\nOngania [Pl. XIV.].\n\n[274] Reproduced by Nordenski\u00f6ld [1897, p. 5] and Lelewel [1851, Pl.\nXXXIII.]; Miller, 1895, iii. p. 138.\n\n[275] Bj\u00f6rnbo, by the way, only speaks of two islands, whereas in\nLelewel's reproduction there are four islands, which is no doubt correct.\nIt seems, too, as though all four could be faintly distinguished in\nBj\u00f6rnbo's photographic reproduction [1910, p. 74].\n\n[276] As to Behaim, see in particular Ravenstein, 1908.\n\n[277] Cf. Storm, 1899, p. 5.\n\n[278] Cf. Harrisse, 1892, pp. 655, ff.\n\n[279] As is well known, the possibility has been suggested that during his\nvisit to Iceland in 1477 Columbus may have heard of the Norsemen's voyages\nto Greenland, Markland and Wineland, and that this may have given him the\nidea of his plan. Storm has pointed out, convincingly it seems to me, the\nuntenability of the latter supposition. But it appears to me that he has\noverlooked the possibility of Columbus having heard tales of these voyages\nin Bristol, or, still more probably, on a Bristol vessel. As, of course,\nhe must have been able to make himself understood among the other sailors\non board, it would be unlikely that he should not have heard such tales,\nif they were known to his ship-mates.\n\n[280] Willelmus Botoner, alias de Worcester (1415-1484). MS. in Corpus\nChristi College, Cambridge, No. 210; printed in \"Itineraria Symonis\nSimeonis et Willelmi de Worcestre,\" ed. J. Nasmyth, Cambridge, 1778, pp.\n223, 267. Cf. H. Harrisse, 1892, p. 659; Kretschmer, 1892, p. 219.\n\n[281] The Island of the Seven Cities was a fabulous island out in the\nAtlantic which is frequently alluded to in the latter part of the Middle\nAges.\n\n[282] As to John Cabot and his voyages, see in particular Henry Harrisse\n[1882, 1892, 1896, 1900], F. Tarducci [1892, 1894], Sir Clements R.\nMarkham [1893, 1897], Samuel Edward Dawson [1894, 1896, 1897], C. R.\nBeazley [1898], G. Parker Winship [1899, 1900]. Harrisse amongst recent\nauthors has the special merit of having collected and arranged all the\nauthorities on John and Sebastian Cabot. Unfortunately I am unable to\nfollow him in his conclusions from these authorities as to the voyages of\nJohn and Sebastian. It seems to me that, like most other writers, he pays\ntoo much attention to later statements, derived directly or indirectly\nfrom Sebastian Cabot, while he places too little reliance on what, in my\nopinion, may be concluded with tolerable certainty from contemporary\nsources. Sebastian Cabot's statements on various occasions, so far as we\nknow them, prove to be mutually conflicting, and it looks as if this wily\nman seldom expressed himself without some arri\u00e8re-pens\u00e9e or other, which\nwas more to his own advantage than to that of the truth. My views of John\nCabot's voyage of 1497 on several points agree more nearly with those of\nS. E. Dawson, and for later voyages with those of G. Parker Winship.\n\n[283] Cf. Harrisse, 1896, pp. 1, ff.\n\n[284] Cf. Harrisse, 1882, p. 325.\n\n[285] The Minister Raimondo di Soncino says in his letter of December 18,\n1497, to the Duke of Milan, that Cabot, \"after having seen that the Kings\nof Spain and Portugal had acquired unknown islands, had proposed to obtain\na similar acquisition for the King of England.\" It cannot be concluded\nfrom this that it was not till then that Cabot formed his plans, though\nprobably it was at that time that he first entered into negotiations with\nthe King of England. It is in the same letter that Soncino tells of\nCabot's speculations on seeing caravans arriving at Mecca from the far\neast with spices, etc. His son, Sebastian Cabot, who evidently on several\noccasions made it appear as though he himself and not his father had\ndiscovered the American continent, is reported (according to the statement\nof the anonymous guest in Ramusio, see below) to have said that he [i.e.,\nSebastian] got the idea of his expedition after having heard of the\ndiscovery of Columbus, which was a common subject of conversation at the\ncourt of Henry VII. But even if Sebastian's words are correctly reported,\nwhich is doubtful, he must demonstrably have been lying, and therefore no\nweight can be attached to his statement; if he could sacrifice his father\nto his personal advantage, then no doubt, if he profited by it, he could\nalso sacrifice his birthright in the plan to the advantage of Spain, in\nthe service of which country he then was. Furthermore, Ayala's letter,\nquoted above, points to John Cabot having got expeditions sent out from\nBristol as early as 1491 to look for land in the west, and besides this we\nknow of such an expedition in 1480.\n\n[286] They are dated March 5, in the eleventh year of the reign of Henry\nVII. The eleventh year of Henry VII. was from August 22, 1495, to August\n21, 1496.\n\n[287] Cf. Harrisse, 1882, p. 315.\n\n[288] It has been suggested that Cabot set out in 1496 and did not return\ntill August 1497 [cf. Church, 1897], but this cannot be reconciled with\nthe statements in the letters of Soncino and Pasqualigo that the\nexpedition had only lasted a few months.\n\n[289] According to Soncino's letter of December 18, 1497, Cabot was a poor\nman. In addition to this he was a foreigner, and as such was scarcely\nlooked upon with favour; but on the other hand, the reputation of Italian\nsailors was great at that time, and he may therefore have been respected\nfor his knowledge of seamanship and cartography, which was not possessed\nby the sailors of Bristol.\n\n[290] The only ones of these named in the authorities (Soncino's letter,\nDecember 18, 1497) are Cabot's Italian barber (surgeon ?) from Castione,\nand a man from Burgundy.\n\n[291] Between 1493 and 1500 at least thirty expeditions went in search of\nthe coast of America. These were all certainly provided with charts, and\nsome of them also produced maps of their discoveries, but not one of these\nhas been preserved. [Cf. Harrisse, 1900, p. 14.]\n\n[292] No importance can be attached in this connection to any of the\nstatements derived at second or third hand from Sebastian Cabot and\ncommunicated by Contarini, Peter Martyr, Ramusio, and others. So far as\nthey are worthy of credence, they must refer to one or more later voyages.\nThe statement in the Cottonian Chronicle and in the Fabyan Chronicle\nrefers to the voyage of 1498.\n\n[293] Harrisse's reproduction of the letter [1882, p. 322] reads: \"Vene in\nnave per dubito ...\"; while Tarducci [1892, p. 350] gives: \"Vene in mare\nper dubito ...\", where \"mare\" is perhaps a misprint for \"nave\" (?) In any\ncase the meaning must be that Cabot turned back and would not go farther\ninto the country for fear of being attacked by the inhabitants, which\nmight easily have been dangerous for him with his small crew.\n\n[294] That is, the mystical \"Island of the Seven Cities\" out in the\nAtlantic.\n\n[295] It is interesting that here we find attributed to the newly\ndiscovered country the two features, dye-wood and silk, which were the\nmost costly treasures characteristic of the land that was sought, exactly\nin the same way as the Norsemen attributed to their Wineland the Good the\ntwo features, wine and cornfields (wheat), which were characteristic of\nthe Fortunate Isles. Thus history repeats itself.\n\n[296] Probably Castiglione, near Chivari, by Genoa.\n\n[297] Cf. Encyclop\u00e6dia Britannica, 9th ed., Edinburgh, 1875, iv. p. 350;\nand G. P. Winship, 1900, p. 99.\n\n[298] It is by no means improbable that Cabot, who was an expert\nnavigator, knew that great-circle sailing gave the shorter course. For\ninstance, he might easily have seen this from a globe, and we are told\nthat he himself made a globe to illustrate his voyage (cf. p. 304).\n\n[299] It must also be remembered that on the Newfoundland Banks and off\nthe coast of Newfoundland and Nova Scotia fogs are extremely prevalent (in\nplaces over 50 per cent. of the days) at the time of year here in\nquestion, so that their first sight of land might be accidental.\n\n[300] Harrisse [1896, pp. 63, ff.] does not seem to have remarked that\nCabot must necessarily have been longer on the westward voyage, when he\nhad the prevailing winds against him, than on the homeward voyage, when\nthe wind conditions were favourable.\n\n[301] No particular weight, it is true, can be attached to the map of 1544\nwhich is attributed to Sebastian Cabot, or which was at any rate\ninfluenced by him, as the statements of this man can never be depended\nupon. At the same time, the information given on this map to the effect\nthat Cabot first reached land at Cape Breton agrees in a remarkable way\nwith La Cosa's map, as we shall see directly.\n\n[302] The distance from Ireland to Newfoundland is fully 1600 geographical\nmiles, and to Cape Breton about 1900; but reckoned from Bristol it will be\nabout 280 miles more.\n\n[303] To be perfectly accurate, the distance on La Cosa's map between\nIreland and Cauo de Ynglaterra is 1290 geographical miles; between Bristol\nand the same cape 1620 miles; while the distance between Cauo de\nYnglaterra and the name of Cauo descubierto is 1080 miles. If we reckon\n17-1/2 leagues to a degree, these distances correspond respectively to\n376, 472 and 315 leagues; while 20 leagues to a degree give 430, 540 and\n360 leagues. As the name of Cauo descubierto stands out in the sea to the\nwest of the cape it belongs to, the distance will be less, very nearly 300\nleagues. Along the upper margin of the map a scale is provided, each\ndivision of which, according to the usual practice, corresponds to 50\nmiglia. This gives us the distance from Ireland to Cauo de Ynglaterra as\n1425 miglia, and from the latter to the name of Cauo descubierto 1200.\nReckoning 4 miglia to a legua, these distances will be 356 and 300\nleagues.\n\n[304] I here disregard altogether the common assertions that Cabot arrived\non the east coast of Newfoundland (at Cape Bonavista, or to the north of\nit), or even on the coast of Labrador. This cannot possibly be reconciled\nwith La Cosa's map, nor does it agree with the accounts of Pasqualigo and\nSoncino, nor, again, with the information on the map of 1544 (by Sebastian\nCabot ?), if we are to attach any weight to this. Other trustworthy\ndocuments are unknown. No importance can be attributed to the evidence of\nCabot's having arrived in Labrador in 1497 which Harrisse (1896, pp. 78,\nff.) thinks may be seen in the circumstance that the English discoveries\nare placed in the northernmost part of the east coast of North America\n(between 56\u00b0 and 60\u00b0) on the official Spanish maps of the first half of\nthe sixteenth century; this does not by any means counterbalance La Cosa's\nmap, which speaks plainly enough. Even if Sebastian Cabot had the\nsuperintendence of these later maps, this proves little or nothing. If it\nwas to his interest not to offend the Spaniards by emphasising his\nfather's discoveries, he would scarcely have hesitated to omit them, or\nallow them to be moved to the north. For on these very maps (e.g.,\nRibero's of 1529) it is claimed that the whole coast to the south-west of\nNewfoundland (\"Tiera nova de Cortereal\") was discovered by Spaniards\n(Gomez and Ayllon). But in addition to this, in so far as any importance\ncan be attributed to the inscriptions attached to \"Labrador\" on the\nSpanish maps, they evidently, like others of the statements attributed to\nSebastian Cabot, do not refer to Cabot's discoveries of 1497, which are\nfound on La Cosa's map, but to discoveries made on later English voyages\nfrom Bristol, on which ice was met with. If the map of 1544 can be\nattributed to the collaboration of Sebastian Cabot, it further shows\nclearly enough that he had no knowledge of the northern part of the east\ncoast of America, since he makes it extend to the east and north-east,\nwhich is due to Greenland (Labrador) being included in it. The map is a\nplagiarism of an earlier French one. Harrisse's view results in complete\nembarrassment in the interpretation of La Cosa's map [cf. 1900, p. 21],\nand he is obliged to abandon the attempt to make anything of it, since, of\ncourse, it contradicts all he thinks may be concluded from the much later\nSpanish maps. Moreover, since Harrisse insists so strongly on the\nimportance of the northerly latitudes of the English discoveries on these\nmaps (and on La Cosa's) as a proof of their being on the coast of\nLabrador, it should be pointed out that the latitudes of Newfoundland, for\ninstance, and Greenland, to say nothing of the West Indian islands, vary\non the maps; this shows that no weight can be attached to evidence of this\nkind.\n\n[305] It has been maintained that \"Cauo descubierto\" must denote the land\nhe first sighted; but the name only means \"discovered cape,\" and says\nnothing as to its being discovered first or last. There may indeed have\nbeen more about it on Cabot's original map, and it happens that on La\nCosa's map there is a hole in the parchment just after this name. That it\nshould be the same cape that on \"Sebastian Cabot's\" map of 1544 is called\n\"Prima tierra vista\" is not likely, as this lies at the extreme east of\nthe promontory of Cape Breton.\n\n[306] For determining this I have to some extent relied on later maps,\nchiefly the Cantino map, where the direction of the north-eastern coast of\nNewfoundland gives a magnetic error of between 31\u00b0 and 38\u00b0, and the\ndirection between Cape Farewell and Cape Race gives an error of 28\u00b0, which\nis certainly somewhat too high.\n\n[307] To this it might be objected that he says \"the tides are sluggish,\nand do not run\" as in England (\"le aque e stanche e non han corso come\nqui\"). The tide is considerable inside the Bay of Fundy, but on the coast\nof Maine and in the outer waters of Nova Scotia it is slight in comparison\nwith the tide Cabot was acquainted with in the Bristol Channel.\n\n[308] It must always be remembered that La Cosa did not have Cabot's\noriginal chart, on which the coast and the Bay of Fundy may have been\nrepresented more in accordance with reality.\n\n[309] La Cosa's map may point to his having made a cruise in the open sea\nwestward from Cauo descubierto before turning, and having seen the coast\nextending on, until in the far west it turned southward towards a\nheadland, perhaps Cape Cod, where La Cosa put his westernmost flag. But\nthis seems doubtful, and is only guessing.\n\n[310] That the distance between these islands and Cauo de Ynglaterra is\nless than half what it ought to be on La Cosa's map cannot be considered\nof decisive importance, since, as we have seen, the distances on this map\nare in general not to be relied on. The name \"S. Grigor\" must certainly be\ndue to the Englishmen, while \"Y. verde\" may be due to Cabot or to La Cosa,\nand may be the same name as is found on compass-charts of the fifteenth\ncentury (cf. above, p. 279). La Cosa or Cabot may have taken these two\nislands to be the same as \"Illa verde\" and \"Illa brazil\" on these older\ncharts, and while one of the islands has been given a new name perhaps\nbecause there were other islands with the name of Brazil (?), or because\nthis island was nameless on some of the compass-charts; see above, p. 281,\nthe other has been allowed to retain the old name, which was originally a\ntranslation of Greenland. This old land of the Norsemen is here brought\nfar to the south, and reduced to a very modest size, being confused with\npeninsulas of Newfoundland.\n\n[311] As evidence that a homeward voyage of twenty-three days would not be\nunusually fast sailing for that time, it may be mentioned for comparison\nthat Cartier, in June and July 1536, took nineteen days from Cape Race to\nSt. Malo. Champlain made the same voyage in 1603 in eighteen days, and in\n1607 he took twenty-seven days from Canso, near Cape Breton, to St. Malo.\n\n[312] Cf. Dawson, 1897, pp. 209, ff.\n\n[313] Hakluyt [Principal Navigations, London, 1589] gives a corresponding\ninscription from the copy of this map which at that time was in the\nqueen's private gallery at Westminster; it was engraved in London in 1549\nby the well-known Clement Adams. As in 1549 Sebastian Cabot held a high\nposition with the King of England as adviser on all maritime matters, and\nespecially as cartographer, we must suppose that he was consulted in the\npublication of so important a map, especially as it was attributed to\nhimself. We may therefore assume that the inscription was revised by\nSebastian Cabot. Hakluyt mentions this legend on Clement Adams's map for\nthe first time in 1584 [cf. Winship, 1900, p. 56] and then says, as in the\nfirst edition of Principal Navigations, that the date of the discovery was\n1494; but in the 1600 edition of Principal Navigations he corrected it to\n1497, for what reason is uncertain [cf. Taducci, 1892, p. 47; Harrisse,\n1892, 1896; Winship, 1900, pp. 20, f.]. How the certainly erroneous date\n1494 got on to the map of 1544 is unknown; it may be supposed that\nMCCCCXCIIII is an error of reading or writing for MCCCCXCVII, the two\nstrokes of V being taken to be divided: II [cf. Harrisse, 1896, p. 61].\n\n[314] Another possible explanation is that Cauo de Ynglaterra, Cabot's\nmost eastern point of the country, was Cape Race in Newfoundland, in spite\nof Sebastian Cabot's having placed it at Cape Breton. As has been said, it\nis very doubtful whether Sebastian Cabot was with his father in 1497,\nthough on the other hand he probably knew his father's map, and in 1544\nhad a copy of it, or at any rate of La Cosa's. Then he saw the French maps\nrepresenting Cartier's discoveries, e.g., Deslien's map of 1541; and it\nwas a question of identifying his father's discoveries with this map. It\nwould then be perfectly natural to assume that C. de Ynglaterra answered\nto Cape Breton, which looked like the easternmost point of the mainland in\nthat region, while farther east there was a group of islands which might\nwell answer to S. Grigor and Y. Verde on La Cosa's map. Perhaps he also\nhad a note to the effect that it was on St. John's day that the first land\nwas sighted. On his father's map he found an island of St. John off this\npromontory, or he knew it from the tradition of Reinel's and later maps,\nand so placed his \"Prima tierra vista\" at Cape Breton. If the view that C.\nde Ynglaterra is Cape Race be regarded as correct, it might be assumed\nthat Cauo descubierto was really the place where Cabot first made the\nland, perhaps in the neighbourhood of Cape Breton, and that from thence he\nsailed eastward, the supposed 300 leagues, along the south coast of\nNewfoundland. The two islands he discovered to starboard might then be\nGrand Miquelon and St. Pierre, though this is not very probable, and he\nwould then have sailed between them and the land. But in that case we have\na difficulty with the two islands, S. Grigor and Y. Verde, which must then\nlie east of Cape Race, where no islands exist. That they were icebergs\ntaken for islands is not very likely. It is more probable that, as already\nsuggested, they are the ghosts of the \"Illa Verde\" and \"Illa de Brasil\" of\nearlier compass-charts (of the fifteenth century; see above, pp. 279,\n318). But the whole of this explanation seems rather artificial, and the\neven coast of La Cosa's map is difficult to reconcile with the extremely\nuneven coast-line we should get between Cape Breton Island and Cape Race.\nThere is the further difficulty, if La Cosa's coast was the south coast of\nNewfoundland, that we should have to assume that John Cabot was aware of\nthe variation of the compass, and allowed for it on his chart.\n\n[315] This would be, according to the reckoning of that time, February 3,\n1497, since the civil year began on March 25; in New Style it will\ntherefore be February 12, 1498.\n\n[316] The MS. is preserved in the British Museum. Cf. G. P. Winship, 1900,\np. 47.\n\n[317] The text has \"vicinidades,\" but Desimoni [1881, Pref. p. 15]\nsupposes it to be a misreading for \"septe citades,\" i.e., \"the Seven\nCities.\"\n\n[318] \"Spero\" is obviously a slip of the pen for \"spera.\"\n\n[319] Harrisse's contention [1896, pp. 129, ff.], that this expression,\n\"surmysed to be grete commodities,\" points to the chronicler here having\nintroduced statements about the first voyage, in 1497, is hardly well\nfounded. For Cabot discovered, according to the statements, no commodities\n(except fish) in 1497; on the other hand, he supposed that by penetrating\nfarther to the west along the coast he would reach these treasures.\n\n[320] Cf. G. P. Winship, 1900, p. 47. In the Cottonian Chronicle this\naccount is given under the thirteenth year of Henry VII.'s reign, which\nlasted from August 22, 1497, to August 21, 1498. This has led some to\nthink it referred to the voyage of 1497, but that is impossible, as, of\ncourse, Cabot had returned before the thirteenth year of Henry's reign\nbegan.\n\n[321] In the note preceding this statement taken from Fabyan, Hakluyt has\nmade Sebastian Cabot leader of the expedition; but there is nothing to\nthis effect in the text.\n\n[322] It was suggested above that the Burgundian who took part in Cabot's\nvoyage in 1497 may have been from the Azores. It might be supposed that he\nalso accompanied Jo\u00e3o Fernandez or Corte-Real in 1500, and now took part\nwith Fernandez in the English undertaking, and in this way we should get a\nconnection; but all this is mere guessing.\n\n[323] Possibly the first-named Portuguese was the origin of the name of\n\"Labrador.\" On a Portuguese map of the sixteenth century, preserved at\nWolfenb\u00fcttel, it is stated that the country of Labrador was \"discovered by\nEnglishmen from the town of Bristol, and as he who first gave the\ninformation was a 'labrador' [i.e., labourer] from the Azores, they gave\nit that name\" [cf. Harrisse, 1892, p. 580; 1900, p. 40]. Ernesto do Canto\n[Archivo dos A\u00e7ores, xii. 1894] points out that in documents of as early\nas 1492 there is mention of a Jo\u00e3o Fernandez who is described as\n\"llavorador,\" and who was engaged with another (Pero de Barcellos) in\nmaking discoveries at sea. \"Llavorador\" did not mean merely a common\nlabourer, but one who tilled the ground, an agriculturist, landowner. We\nare then tempted to suppose that, as Do Canto assumes, this Jo\u00e3o Fernandez\nllavorador is John Fernandus, who is mentioned in the letters patent of\n1501. The name of Labrador first appears on Portuguese maps (cf. the King\nmap of about 1502), and is there used of Greenland. It may there be due to\nthis Jo\u00e3o Fernandez (llavorador), who, perhaps, returned to Portugal in\n1502, as he is no longer mentioned in the letters patent of December 1502\n[cf. Harrisse, 1900, p. 40, ff.; Bj\u00f6rnbo, 1910, p. 174]. Possibly he may\nhave accompanied Corte-Real in 1500, or himself made a voyage in that year\n(see next chapter), before he came to Bristol; of that we know nothing,\nbut in that case the name refers to some such Portuguese voyage, on which\nwe know that Greenland was sighted in 1500, though the voyagers were\nunable to reach the coast (see next chapter). It may then be supposed that\nthe English expedition from Bristol in 1501, in which Jo\u00e3o Fernandez took\npart, did reach the coast of Greenland, and therefore on later maps the\ndiscovery was attributed to the English, who not only saw the coast, but\nalso landed on it. The Spanish cosmographer Alonso de Santa Cruz (born\n1506) says: \"It was called the land of Labrador because it was mentioned\nand indicated by a 'labrador' from the Azores to the King of England, when\nhe sent on a voyage of discovery Antonio [sic] Gabot, the English pilot\nand father of Sebastian Gabot, who is now Pilot Major (piloto mayor) to\nYour Majesty\" [cf. Harrisse, 1896, p. 80]. As this was written so long\nafter, and in Spain, it is not surprising that Cabot's voyage of 1497 has\nbeen confused with the voyage of 1501, especially as it was not to the\ninterest of Sebastian, who was still in Spain at that time, to correct\nthis. The statement agrees, moreover, with the legend on the Portuguese\nmap at Wolfenb\u00fcttel.\n\n[324] Cf. Harrisse, 1896, p. 147.\n\n[325] In the repetition of the same statement (from Fabyan) in Stow's\nChronicle the eighteenth year is given as the date, i.e., August 22, 1502,\nto August 21, 1503; but it is doubtful which is correct; it appears to me\nthat the text itself must be more original in Hakluyt; but the date occurs\nin the heading added by himself.\n\n[326] The most natural explanation of this seems to me to be that Fabyan,\nwhom Hakluyt quotes, thought that these savages were taken on the same\nisland [i.e., North America] that John Cabot had discovered [in 1497]; of\nwhose expedition in 1498 he had said that it had not returned during the\nmayoralty of William Purchas, see above, p. 326. That Hakluyt also\ninterpreted Fabyan's words thus seems to result from the fact that in his\nlater repetition of this, in \"Principal Navigations,\" in 1589 and\n1599-1600, he has altered the heading, making it the fourteenth (instead\nof the seventeenth) year of Henry VII. [i.e., August 22, 1498-August 21,\n1499] when the three savages were brought to him. Hakluyt must then have\nmisunderstood it to mean that they were taken on the voyage of 1498.\n\n[327] In Hakluyt's heading to this statement we are told that it was\nSebastian Cabot who brought these savages; but his name is not mentioned\nin the text itself, which appears to be more genuine than the heading, and\nthere is no ground for supposing that Sebastian took part in either of\nthese expeditions of 1501 or 1502; in any case he was not the leader. In\nStow's version [Winship, 1900, p. 95] Sebastian Gabato is introduced into\nthe text as he who had taken the three men; but, as suggested above,\nStow's text seems less original than Hakluyt's. It is probable that both\nStow and Hakluyt may have started from the assumption that it was\nSebastian Cabot who made the voyage, and, therefore, that they\nthoughtlessly introduced his name [cf. Harrisse, 1896, pp. 142, ff.]; on\nthe other hand it appears to me doubtful that his name should already have\noccurred in Fabyan in this connection.\n\n[328] Greenland is represented on the map conformably to the type that was\nintroduced on some mappemundi after Clavus's map (cf. p. 278).\n\n[329] As to the works of these authors, see Winship [1900]. Markham [1893]\nreproduces them (except Contarini's report of 1536) in translations,\nwhich, however, must be used with some caution.\n\n[330] These two ships and the three hundred men occur in Peter Martyr and\nContarini, as well as in Gomara and Galvano; while Ramusio only has two\nships and says nothing about the crews.\n\n[331] In Peter Martyr's original account no latitude is given.\n\n[332] The meaning must be that these islands of ice were aground, but that\nnevertheless a line of one hundred fathoms did not reach the bottom. The\nice must consequently have been over one hundred fathoms thick, which, of\ncourse, was a remarkable discovery at that time.\n\n[333] This was the name at that time (1550) for the whole south-eastern\npart of the present United States.\n\n[334] Cf. Winship, 1900, p. 89. Sir Humphrey Gilbert in 1576 repeats the\nsame statement almost word for word, saying that he has taken it from\nmaps, on which Sebastian Cabot had described \"from personal experience\"\nthe north-west passage to China [cf. Winship, 1900, pp. 17, 52; Kohl,\n1869, p. 217].\n\n[335] Cf. Harrisse, 1896, pp. 159, ff.; Winship, 1900, p. 44.\n\n[336] We must then suppose that \"Henry VII.\" in Ramusio is an error for\n\"Henry VIII.\"\n\n[337] Cf. Harrisse, 1883, p. 44.\n\n[338] Cf. Harrisse, 1883, Supplement post scriptum, pp. 6, ff.\n\n[339] As remarked above (p. 328), it is possible that these objects\nbelonged to John Cabot's unfortunate expedition of 1498.\n\n[340] The document, as reproduced, has 1502. As the civil year at that\ntime began on March 25, the date given would correspond to January 24,\n1503, according to our calendar. But, according to the tradition given in\nlater accounts, Miguel Corte-Real sailed in 1502, the year after his\nbrother (cf. the legend on the Portuguese chart of about 1520, p. 354).\nEither we must suppose that the year or month in the document is an error,\nor the tradition is incorrect.\n\n[341] These five months are a little difficult to understand. Either they\nmust be reckoned from his departure--if we put that in May 1501, five\nmonths will take us to October 1501, but then the other ship had returned\n(see pp. 347, ff.)--or they must be reckoned from the return of the \"two\nships\" (in October), but that takes us to March 1502. Thus neither gives\ngood sense. Most likely, as in the case of the three ships instead of two,\nit is an error in the document.\n\n[342] Cf. Harrisse, 1883, p. 214.\n\n[343] Cf. Kohl, 1869, p. 179, Pl. X.; Kretschmer, 1892, Pl. XII.; Bj\u00f6rnbo,\n1910, p. 212.\n\n[344] It might be objected that Gaspar Corte-Real's name is not mentioned\nin the whole letter, and that he might thus have also been in command of\nthese \"other caravels\"; but in Pasqualigo's letter to his brothers\nGaspar's name is mentioned, and there too the meaning does not seem to be\nthat he was connected with the discovery in the previous year of the\ncountry which could not be approached because of ice; but nothing definite\ncan be concluded on this point from the two letters.\n\n[345] The connection with the latter is evidently brought about by the\nsouth coast of the insular Greenland (Terra Laboratoris)--which we meet\nwith first on the King map (p. 373), and which was given a broad form like\nthat of the Greenland coast on the Oliveriana map (p. 375), but even\nbroader--being transferred westward towards America, to the north of the\ncoast of Corte-Real or Newfoundland, as we find it on the anonymous\nPortuguese chart of about 1520 (p. 354) and on Reinel's map (p. 321).\nMaggiolo's map (see above) forms a transitional type between these maps\nand the Oliveriana. Greenland (Labrador) was later made continuous with\nNewfoundland (cf. Ribero's map of 1529, p. 357), and remained so on maps\nfor a long time (see the map of 1544, p. 320).\n\n[346] The expedition attributed to Jo\u00e3o Vaz Corte-Real, on which he is\nsaid to have discovered Newfoundland as early as 1464 or 1474, is\nunhistorical, and is a comparatively late invention which is first found\nin the Portuguese author, Dr. Gaspar Fructuoso, in his \"Saudades da Terra\"\n[vi. c. 9], written about 1590 [cf. Harrisse, 1883, pp. 26, ff.]. Father\nAntonio Cordeyro (Historia Insulana, Lisbon, 1717) says that the discovery\nwas made in company with Alvaro Martins Homen.\n\n[347] It may also be supposed that from the ice off the south-west of\nGreenland Corte-Real steered north-west and west, and met with the ice in\nthe Labrador Current, and was then obliged to turn southwards along the\nedge of the ice until he sighted land.\n\n[348] These times given by Cantino for the voyage are, of course,\nimprobable; if we might suppose that he meant weeks instead of months, it\nwould agree with the time naturally occupied on such a voyage. If we add\nhis one month for the homeward voyage to the seven months given above, and\nif another month be reckoned for the stay in the country, we shall have\nhis nine months for the whole voyage.\n\n[349] That the Eskimo lived in caves in the mountains or underground was a\nnot uncommon idea even in later times; see, for instance, Wilhelmi:\nIsland, Hvitramannaland, Gr\u00f6nland und Finland, 1842, p. 172.\n\n[350] We do not know that the Indians of Newfoundland had hide-boats; but\nit is not impossible.\n\n[351] This land connection is found on the Canerio map of 1502-1507, which\nis of the same type as the Cantino map and is an Italian copy, either of\nthe Cantino map itself or of a similar Portuguese map of 1501 or 1502 [cf.\nBj\u00f6rnbo, 1910, p. 167].\n\n[352] Since I contended, in a preliminary sketch of this chapter, which\nDr. A. A. Bj\u00f6rnbo read, that the representation of Greenland on the\nCantino map was most probably based on a voyage along the west coast as\nwell as the east, Dr. Bj\u00f6rnbo [1910a, pp. 313, ff.; 1910, pp. 176, ff.]\nhas examined the delineation of Greenland on the Oliveriana map, and found\nthat it represents discoveries made during a cruise, not only along the\neast coast, but also along a part of the south-west coast, and he sees in\nthis a partial confirmation of my contention. He thinks it was during\nCorte-Real's voyage of 1500 that this cruise was made, and even supposes\nthat the prototype of the Oliveriana map was Corte-Real's admiral's chart\nitself; but this I regard as very doubtful, as will appear from what I\nhave said above regarding the discoveries of 1500. Bj\u00f6rnbo thinks that an\noriginal map like the Oliveriana map is sufficient to explain the form of\nthe west coast of Greenland on the Cantino map, while the more northern\nportion has been given a direction in accordance with the Clavus maps. I\nhave admitted to Bj\u00f6rnbo the possibility of such an explanation. But the\nmore I look at it, the more doubtful it seems; for the form of the west\ncoast on the Cantino map has, in fact, not the least resemblance to that\nof the Clavus maps; indeed, the very direction is different, more\nnortherly and more like the real direction, when allowance is made for the\nprobable variation. It appears to me, therefore, that we cannot assume\noffhand that the Clavus maps could lead to a representation like that of\nthe Cantino map.\n\n[353] Owing to the compass error varying in the course of the voyage, the\ncourses sailed will be more nearly parts of a great circle.\n\n[354] According to the scale of the Cantino map this distance is about\n2250 miglia, but according to Pasqualigo's letters it should be 1800 or\n2000, and according to Cantino's letter 2800 miglia.\n\n[355] This is not the place to discuss what is represented by the coast of\nthe mainland to the west of Cuba on the Cantino map, whether the east\ncoast of Asia, taken from Toscanelli's mappamundi (or a source like\nBehaim's globe), or real discoveries on the coast of North America made by\nunknown expeditions (?). In any case this coast has nothing to do with\nGaspar Corte-Real, and Sir Clements Markham [1893, pp. xlix, ff.] is\nevidently wrong in thinking that this discoverer on his last voyage (in\n1501) may have sailed along this coast.\n\n[356] Yet a third type of representation of Greenland may be said to be\nfound on the so-called Pilestrina map (p. 377), perhaps of 1511 [cf.\nBj\u00f6rnbo, 1910, p. 210], where Greenland forms a peninsula (from a mass of\nland on the north) as on the Cantino map, but much broader still. On the\nsouth-eastern promontory of Greenland is here written: \"C[auo] de mirame\net lexame\" (i.e., Cape \"look at me but don't touch me\"), which may be\nconnected with the Portuguese voyage of 1500, when the explorers saw the\ncoast but could not approach it on account of ice. Finally, I may mention\nthe type of the Reinel map (see p. 321), where Greenland in the form of a\nbroad land has been transferred to the coast of America. On all these maps\nwith their changing representation of Greenland, Newfoundland has\napproximately the same form and position.\n\n[357] Cf. Harrisse, 1900, pp. 54, f.\n\n[358] That Miguel Corte-Real really reached Newfoundland seems also to\nresult from the legend quoted above from the chart of about 1520, since he\nwould hardly be named on this coast unless there were grounds for\nsupposing that he arrived there; but this again must point to some of the\nexpedition having returned.\n\n[359] If Miguel Corte-Real set out in 1503, and not in 1502 (cf. p. 353,\nnote 1), it must have been in 1504 that the King despatched these fresh\nships.\n\n[360] It is reported that in 1574 Vasqueanes Corte-Real IV., father of\nthis Manuel, undertook an expedition to Labrador to find the North-West\nPassage.\n\n\n\n\nTranscriber's Notes:\n\nPassages in italics are indicated by _italics_.\n\nFootnote 18 appears on page 22 of the text, but there is no corresponding\nmarker on the page.\n\nFootnote 182 appears on page 200 of the text, but there is no\ncorresponding marker on the page.","title":"In Northern Mists: Arctic Exploration in Early Times (Volume 2 of 2)","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":158412}