days, when again he discovered land. But still this was not Greenland; turning the ship from the land, they continued their course northward for three days. Then land was seen for the third time; but Bjarne refused to go ashore, knowing that it did not answer to the description of Greenland. So they sailed on, and after four days they reached Greenland, landing not far from where the father of the unfortunate navigator had settled. It is supposed that the land Bjarne saw on this involuntary voyage in 986 was, first, the present Nantucket, one degree south of Boston; second, Nova Scotia ; and, third, Newfoundland.

5. Bjarne was censured, by his countrymen of Norway, for not going ashore and exploring the land to which the tempest had driven him. Nevertheless, the imperfect description which he was enabled to give seemed to arouse the mind of Lief Erikson, who determined to make farther investigation. He bought Bjarne's ship, set sail with thirty-five men, and found the lands just as they had been described to him, A.D. 1000. Erikson landed his crew in Hellerland (Newfoundland), and in Markland (Nova Scotia), explored these countries somewhat, named them, and then proceeded to discover the land which had first been seen by Bjarne. After two days they came to land, and sailed into the sound, which was so shallow at ebb tide that their ship grounded. But so much did they desire to reach the land, that they sprang into the water and waded ashore at a place, as the translation has it, "where a river flows out of a lake." This lake is undoubtedly Mount Hope Bay. At flood tide they brought their ship into the bay, and cast anchor. Taking their skin cots ashore they soon raised tents, after which a council was held, at which they resolved to remain through the winter, and build a large house; they obtained an abundance of fine salmon, both in the river and in the bay. From the account of this expedition, preserved by the Norsemen, we learn that they quartered in latitude 41° 24', which places their tents at the mouth of Fall River, Massachusetts. Lief Erikson called the country Vinland.

6. Early in the spring of 1001, Lief Erikson returned to Greenland, where the news of his discovery created great commotion. Thorwald, Lief's brother, desired to explore the land more extensively, and solicited his brother's ship for that purpose, which the generous Lief readily granted. Another expedition was accordingly fitted out in the year 1002, by Thorwald Erikson, who sailed to Vinland, where he remained three years, and where he fell in a battle with the Indians,

pierced by an arrow. He was buried in Vinland, and two crosses were raised above his grave. The exact location of this grave could not now be ascertained, but it is indeed hallowed ground that contains the dust of the first European who died and was buried in America. In 1831 there was discovered, in the vicinity of Fall River, Massachusetts, a skeleton in armor, and many of the circumstances connected with it are such as to leave room for, at least, the conjecture that it was the skeleton of this very Thorwald Erikson. This skeleton was the subject of much learned discussion at the time, and the American poet, Longfellow, wrote a poem on it, years after, beginning with these words,

"Speak! Speak! thou fearful guest."

TOWER AT NEWPORT

The poem makes the skeleton tell the story of his adventures as a viking, sing of the pine forests of Norway, of the voyage across the Atlantic, and of the discovery of America. The tower delineated by the above cut is the famous Newport tower, in Rhode Island, which was undoubtedly built by the Norsemen. When the Norsemen had buried their chief and leader, Thorwald, they returned to their tents at the bay, loaded their ships with the products of the land, and returned to Greenland in

1005.

7. Next we are told by the Sagas, that Thorstein, the youngest son of Erik the Red, resolved to visit Vinland, and procure the body of his brother Thorwald. "He was married," say the Sagas, "to Gudrid, a woman remarkable for her beauty, her dignity, her prudence, and her good discourse. Thorstein fitted out a vessel, manned it with twenty-five men, selected for their strength and stature, besides himself and Gudrid." This party put to sea, and were soon far from Greenland; but, being overtaken by a storm, they were tossed and driven, they knew not whither, for many a day, Finally they reached land,

which

proved to be the western coast of their own Greenland.

Here Thorstein and several of his men died, and Gudrid returned to Eriksfjord.

8.

Thorfinn Karlsefne was the most distinguished explorer

of Vinland. Being a wealthy and influential man, and descended from the most famous families of the North, he was able to command the means necessary to a successful expedition. In the fall of 1006 he emigrated from Norway to Greenland, with two ships, where, at Eriksfjord, he met Lief Erikson, who offered the Norse navigator the hospitalities of Brattahlid during winter. Thorfinn soon began to treat with Lief for the hand of Gudrid, Lief being the person to whom the right of betrothment belonged. In the course of the winter they were married with due ceremony. Gudrid, full of bold resolve, urged her second husband to undertake an expedition to Vinland, in which her first husband had perished. Accordingly, in the spring of 1007, Thorfinn, accompanied by his wife, sailed to Vinland, where he remained three years. The Sagas emphasize the fact that Gudrid was the heart and soul of this expedition, and represent her as addressing her husband in the following language: "I wonder that you, Thorfinn, with good ships and many stout men, and plenty of means, should choose to remain in this barren spot instead of searching out the famous Vinland and making a settlement there. Just think what a splendid country it must be, and what a desirable change for us, thick and leafy woods, like those of old Norway, instead of these rugged cliffs and snow-clad hills; fields of waving grass and rye, instead of moss-covered rocks and sandy soil; trees large enough to build houses and ships, instead of willow-bushes, that are fit for nothing except to save our cattle from starvation when the hay crop runs out; besides, longer sunshine in winter, and more genial warmth all the year round, instead of howling winds and ice and snow. Truly, I think this country has been wofully misnamed when they called it Greenland."

9. This expedition was on a much larger scale than any that preceded it. It is plain that Lief and Thorwald and Thorstein had not intended to make their permanent abode in Vinland. They brought neither women nor flocks nor herds with them. Karsefne and Gudrid, on the other hand, came forth with all the equipage for colonization. The party consisted of one hundred and fifty-one men and seven women. A number of cattle and sheep were also brought to America with this expedition. They all arrived safe, and remained in Vinland three years, when the hostilities of the Indians compelled them to give up the colony. During his three years' stay in Vinland Thorfinn was not inactive. On the contrary, he

conducted an extensive and profitable trade with the Indians, and began to develop the resources of the country. The year after their arrival a son was born to Thorfinn and Gudrid, who was named Snorre Thorfinnson. He was born within the limits of the present State of Massachusetts, at Buzzard's Bay, in the year 1008, and was the first man of European blood of whose birth in America we have any record. 10. The Sagas give elaborate accounts of other expeditions by the Norsemen to Vinland. There is one by Freydis, 1011, and in the year 1121 the Bishop, Erik Upsi, came as a missionary to the colony. There are also accounts of expeditions by the Norsemen to Great Irland (North and South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida). The last-mentioned was in 1347, but this was in the time of the Black Plague, which raged throughout Europe with unrelenting fury from 1347 to 1351, and also reached Iceland, Greenland, and Vinland, and cut off communication between these countries. This plague reduced the population of Norway alone from two millions to three hundred thousand; and this fact gives us some idea of the terrible ravages of this fearful epidemic, which may be regarded as the immediate cause for the withdrawal of Norse settlements in America.

11. We may now trace the chain of circumstances which connects the discovery of America by the Norsemen with that by Christopher Columbus, which is more recent and better known. In Washington Irving's biography of Columbus we learn from a letter, written by the explorer himself, that while the design of attempting the discovery in the West was maturing in his mind he made a voyage to Iceland. This was inthe spring of 1477. We have the right to assume that in his conversations with the Bishop and other learned men of Iceland, he must have been informed of the discovery of Vinland. It will be remembered that this visit of Columbus to Iceland was only fifteen years before he discovered America, and only one hundred and thirty Fears after the last Norse expedition to Vinland. Another link is furnished in the fact that Gudrid, the wife of Thorfinn, after the death of the latter, made a pilgrimage to Rome, where she was well received, and where she certainly related the story of her transatlantic voyage to Vinland, and her three years' residence there. Rome paid much attention to geographical discoveries, and took pains to collect all new charts that were brought there. They must have heard of Vinland before, but Gudrid brought them personal evidence. Again, that Vinland

was actually known to the Vatican is manifest by the fact that Pope Pascal II., in the year 1112, appointed Erik Upsi, Bishop of Iceland, Greenland, and Vinland, and this same Bishop visited the latter place in 1121. It should, of course, be borne in mind that Columbus lived in an age of discovery; England, France, Portugal, and Spain were vying with each other in their discoveries. Hence it would be astonishing to believe that Columbus, in the midst of these evidences, with his nautical knowledge, did not hear of America years before his ship left Palos. We have also a remarkable record of the early discovery of America by the Norsemen, in the writings of Adam of Brcmen. He visited Denmark, and on his return home he wrote a book "On the Propagation of the Christian Religion in the North of Europe," and, at the end of this book, he added a geographical sketch of the country of the Norsemen. In his treatise he speaks of Vinland at considerable length, closing with the remark, "This we know, not by fabulous conjecture, but from positive statements of the Danes." Adam of Bremen's work was first published in the year 1073, and was read by intelligent men in many parts of Europe. Columbus being an educated man, and so deeply interested in geographical studies, especially when they treated of the Atlantic Ocean, must have read and studied this work. These are facts, and the biography of Columbus will show that he always maintained a firm conviction that there was land in the West, and he honestly adds, that he based this conviction on the authority of the learned writers. He stated, before he left Spain, that he expected to find land soon after sailing about seven hundred leagues; hence he was acquainted with the breadth of the ocean. A day or two before coming in sight of the New World, he agreed with his mutinous crew that if he did not discover land within three days he would return. In fact the whole history of his discovery is fraught with evidence of his previous knowledge of America. Such is an account of the Norse discovery of America, which I have repeated in this volume, in order that it may become as widely known as any other equally well-authenticated historical narrative concerning the discovery and exploration of the shores of America. I have not given the sources of my own information on this subject, deeming it unnecessary, since, to avoid expense, the foot-notes requisite to such a course are not included; but the authority upon which this account is given, as also all other statements in this work, is ample an authentic.