NORTH AND SOUTH AMERICA.

THE NORTHMEN IN AMERICA.

CHAPTER I.

ANCIENT NORTHERN CHRONICLES-EARLY SCANDINAVIAN VOYAGERSDISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT OF ICELAND-DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT OF GREENLAND BY EIREK THE RED-ACCIDENTAL DISCOVERY OF NORTH AMERICA BY BIARNI HERIULFSON.

[THE principal authority for the following narration is found in two ancient Icelandic Manuscripts, entitled "An account of Eirek the Red, and of Greenland," and an "Account of Thorfinn Karlsefni" (the Achiever). The authenticity of these documents is indisputable, and their contents, in addition to strong internal evidence of truth, are corroborated by many allusions, in other and contemporaneous works, to the localities, the persons, and the adventures which they commemorate. The whole subject has been recently laid before the world in that admirable work, the "Antiquitates Americanæ," published by the learned "Society of the Northern Antiquarians of Copenhagen;" and its claims have been fortified by Mr. J. T. Smith and other American writers with much ingenious argument and illustration. "That America was visited early in the tenth century," says Mr. Schoolcraft, perhaps the least romantic and most fastidious of American antiquaries, "by the adventurous Northmen from Greenland, and that its geography and people continued to be known to them so late as the twelfth century, is admitted by all who have examined with attention, the various documents which have been published, during the last twelve years, by the Royal Society," &c.

The restricted intercourse of Iceland with Europe, for many centuries, prevented these interesting facts from becoming generally known; though by the intelligent nations of that island they were always considered, as now by the historical world, to be proved by unquestionable evidence. The most skeptical mind could hardly fail, on examination, of being convinced of the main truths of these narrations, by the abundance of "that internal testimony, consisting in undesigned coincidences, existing between different parts of the same

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narrative, and the like coincidences existing between parts of distinct narratives, originating in different individuals, without one having knowledge of or reference to the existence of the other."]

THE stormy and inhospitable coasts of Scandinavia were, in the tenth century, the nurseries of a race of mariners, the most daring and adventurous which the world has ever seen. Without compass or quadrant, or any of the aids which modern science has lent to navigation, they explored the northern seas, founded colonies, and pushed their researches far into the terrors of the Arctic zone. Their roving excursions, in which commerce, piracy, and discovery were strangely interwoven, contributed greatly to the geographical knowledge of their day. In the year 861, the wandering bark of one of these adventurers, Naddodd by name, had lighted on the shores of Iceland, till then unknown or lost to western Europe. Fourteen years afterwards, that island was colonized by Ingolf, a Norwegian, who, with his followers, removed to this yet more desolate and uninviting region, and founded a prosperous settlement.

A century later, one Thorvald and his son, the famous Eirek the Red, flying from Norway to escape the consequences of a homicide, took refuge in Iceland. Here Thorvald died, and Eirek, having killed another man in a quarrel, found it neces sary once more to betake himself to the ocean. He fitted out a vessel, and with his adherents set sail in quest of some islands in the western sea, called, from their discoverer, the Rocks of Gunnbionn. (These islands, from the gradual obstruction of those seas by ice, have now for several centuries been lost to Geography.) Sailing westward, he soon fell upon the shores of Greenland, (982,) and coasting to its southern extremity, fixed his residence at a harbor called, from its discoverer, Eireksfiord -(Erik's creek). To the whole region which he had discovered he gave the name of Greenland, trusting by such an inviting title to allure settlers to his new colony. He returned to Iceland, and, with twenty-five ships and a large number of colonists, in 985 set sail for his residence. Of these vessels, only eleven reached their destination, the remainder being lost or

driven back to Iceland. The bold and enterprising genius of these hardy mariners may be conjectured from the fact that, within two centuries after their establishment, they had made extensive discoveries and surveys in the icy recesses of the Polar Seas. Their monuments and inscriptions have been found as far north as latitude 73o, and it is related that they explored Baffin's Bay, and even Wellington Channel.

With Eirek went one Heriulf, a man of authority, who had a son named Biarni, a youth of great courage and enterprise. This son was absent in Norway at the time of their departure, and on his return to Iceland found that his father had sailed for the newly-discovered land. He was troubled in his mind, and refused to disembark, alleging that he was determined to spend the winter with his father, as he had done heretofore. Accordingly, with his mariners, he again set sail, on the bold and hazardous enterprise of finding the little Icelandic settlement on the vast, desolate, and unexplored coasts of Greenland. Hardly was the land out of sight, when a strong north-easterly wind arose, accompanied by thick fogs, and for many days the vessel was compelled to scud before it, unable to bear up for the desired coast. At last the fog cleared off, and after sailing another day, land appeared to the westward. It was not mountainous, but woody, with some rising ground.*

The ship was now put about, and, leaving the land on the left hand, they steered northerly for two days, with a favorable wind. They then came upon a land low and level, and overgrown with woods. The sailors asked Biarni Heriulfson if this was the expected country. He answered "no, for they told me that there are great mountains of ice in Greenland." Refusing to land here, despite the complaints of the mariners, he sailed on for three days longer with a south-west wind, and found a great island, high, mountainous, and covered with ice.t The aspect of the place was too forbidding to invite a landing, and, for four days, with a furious wind from the south-west, the * Probably Long Island, Nantucket, or Cape Cod. + Probably Cape Sable, Nova Scotia.

Probably Newfoundland.

adventurous keel sped northerly. At the end of this time, by a rare piece of good fortune, Biarni came upon the very promontory, (Heriulfness) in Greenland, where his father had fixed his residence (985).

Besides the corroboration received from subsequent expedi tions, it appears almost certain, from internal evidence, that the various headlands successively seen in this remarkable voyage, were those of north-eastern America. A ship driven by a long continued north-easterly gale, yet endeavoring to head to the westward, might well. bring up on the coast as far south as the great promontory formed by the southern New-England States and Long Island. The wooded and hilly shores first seen, were probably those of Nantucket and Cape Cod. From the latter to Cape Sable on Nova Scotia the distance is but little. over two hundred miles, which, with a favorable wind, might easily be accomplished in two days. From this point, accurately described as level, and covered with forests, three days, with a south-west wind, such as they had, would readily take the vessel to Newfoundland, whose icy mountains and precipices, overlooking the sea, are particularly mentioned. The six hundred miles intervening between that island and the southern extremity of Greenland, might certainly be passed in four days by a vessel running directly before a favorable gale. It would be difficult to point out any other tract of coast in the vicinity of Greenland, to which the particulars of the narrative would so accurately apply. America then, in all probability, was first made known to the European world, by the accidental voyage of Biarni Heriulfson, in the year 985.