Leif bought Biorn's ship from him that winter, and busied himself
stocking her with tools, weapons and spare gear for his voyage. As
soon as the weather was open he was ready, and then it was a question
whether Eric Red would go with him. Eric was in two minds about it,
old as he was, and extremely fat. He had been a great traveller in his
youth, and was averse from exertion in these latter days, but he was
uncomfortable at home, with no wife in the house, and all his sons
holding the new faith. So he wavered until the last minute, and then
said that he would not go at all. Leif was not sorry.
He had a crew of five-and-thirty with him, and sailed his ship as near
to S.S.W. as might be. She ran for six days before a fair wind, and on
the afternoon of the sixth they made land on the starboard bow. There
were mountains with snow upon them, and much fog; but Leif said that he
would land in the morning, whatever kind of country it was. "It shall
never be said against me, as it has been against Biorn, that I travel
six days over the sea and leave the land I reach because it is not
Greenland," he said.
They found a good anchorage, waited the night through, and then rowed
off in their boat and ran her up on to the beach. It was a naked
country of broken rock and shale. No grass was to be seen, and hardly
any trees, except a few stunted silver birch. They walked inland for a
mile or more to where the snow began, and then saw, as it were, one
vast unwrinkled sheet of snow stretching upwards into a bank of cloud.
The ground was all scree of slate and shaly rock. They saw no signs of
habitancy, and few tracks of animals. Then presently they looked at
each other, and Leif laughed. "I think there is something to be said
for Biorn; but although this is a barren land there is no reason why it
should not have a name. I will call it Helloland, for such it is." [1]
Then they returned to their ship, and up-anchor, and away along the
coast, so far as that allowed, but always keeping a straight course.
They came to another land, lying low in the sea, and sailed in towards
it. Here also they landed, but on a shore of fine white sand, very
level towards the sea, but blown into hummocks, whereon grass grew,
towards the land. That was a flat country, and swampy, with trees so
far as they could see, in some places dense and in others more open;
but where the country lay open there were the swamps. "This country
pleases me more than the last," Leif said. "The least it deserves is
to be named. We will name it after its quality, and call it Markland,"
he said.[2]
But nobody wanted to stay there very long, and there seemed nothing
better to do than to get back to the ship again and sail. Leif
considered the timber that he saw of little worth to them. It was
mostly small wood, and soft or of open texture.
They sailed, then, once more, with a fresh north-easterly wind blowing
off the shore, and were two days at sea without sight of land. But
then they made an island in the sea, and south of that saw the
mainland, and a great frith striking up into it. There was no snow
hereabouts, and the air was balmy and scented, blowing from the island.
"Here," said Leif, "is a land worth visiting, I believe. Let us cast
anchor in the lew of the island for the night; and to-morrow we will
row up the frith yonder and see what we shall see." They found good
holding-ground under the island, and then, as the light was good for
several hours yet, launched the boat and rowed to the shore. The place
lay peaceful in the level afternoon light, with trees softly rustling,
and birds calling to each other from thickets. They wandered about,
singing as they went, or calling to each other to see some new thing.
Gradually the sun sank and the light began to draw in. One of them by
chance stooped down and felt the grass. There was dew upon it. He put
his finger into his mouth; and then he said, "This is a holy place.
The dew tastes sweet." They all tried it that were there, and believed
it. This filled them with wonder, and some of them walked about on
tiptoe, as if they had no business to be there.
They slept on board ship, and in the morning very early found that the
tide had gone down and that she lay on her side, high and dry. The
tide went back so far that it was possible to walk from the island to
the mainland. As for the frith, it had shrunk to a dribble of water.
But all this made no matter, so eager were they to savour the country
which was heralded by so fair an island. They jumped off the ship's
side on to the sand, which was firm and white, and ran to shore, and up
the frith, where the going was easy for a mile or two. They found that
it issued from a great lake, many miles in length, and many in width.
It was shallow at the edges, but in the midst looked to be deep enough.
On the shores of this lake were fine trees growing, of such wood as
none of them had ever seen before; flowers, shrubs, birds were alike
new to them. In the pools of the river left by the tide they saw great
fish lying, which Leif thought were salmon.
They wandered about all the forenoon, and when it was time to eat
something and they went back to the shore, the river was filling fast,
and their ship was afloat. They hailed her, and saw one of the hands
row off for them in the boat. Leif then said that they would tow up
the river and cast anchor in the lake, and that was done when they had
made their meal. They found good anchorage there and a snug berth out
of all troubles of wind or water. Next day they took off all their
stores, and pitched tents for themselves in a glade, for it was Leif's
meaning that they should pass a winter there. He was very much in love
with the country, and said that in all his travels he had never been in
a place so little likely to be vexed by cruel weather. "In my belief,"
he said, "we should have no need to store fodder for the stock against
the winter. It seems to me that there should be grazing here the year
through--but we will prove that, if you are willing." Everybody agreed.
In a little time they had established order in their camp, for Leif was
a strong and wise leader, a tall and fine man of wisdom and good
manners, and all obeyed him cheerfully. Duties were assigned to the
men in order; some were to fish, some to hunt--for they found deer as
well as birds in plenty--and some to explore. Leif made a rule that no
more than half his party should be away at one time, and that none
should wander so far as that he could not win back by nightfall, nor
separate himself from hail of the others who were with him. So the
time wore on and the seasons changed. A mellow autumn gave way to a
mild winter in which came no iron frost, and very little snow. If they
had had cattle with them, as Leif had foretold, they could have kept
them out all the winter. They found the light very different from
Iceland or Greenland. On the shortest day they saw the sun between the
afternoon meal and the day-meal. What puzzled Leif very much was this,
that in so fair a country there was no sign of habitancy. They saw no
men, nor any traces of men--and yet it was hardly to be believed that
such a country was empty.
It was late in the autumn when a great discovery was made.
[1] York Powell and Vigfussen translate this as Shale or Slate-land;
and Laing says that it is believed to have been Newfoundland.
[2] That is, Bush or Scrubland. Believed to be Nova Scotia, according
to Laing.