It now remains to give the reader some general account of the contents
of the narratives which relate more or less to the discovery of the
Western continent. In doing this, the order followed will be that which
is indicated by the table of contents at the beginning of the volume.
The first extracts given are very brief. They are taken from the
_Landanama Book_, and relate to the report in general circulation, which
indicated one Gunnbiorn as the discoverer of Greenland, an event which
has been fixed at the year 876. These fragments also give an account of
a voyage to what was called Gunnbiorn's Rocks, where the adventurers
passed the winter, and found in a hole, or excavation, a sum of money,
which indicated that others had been there before them.
The next narrative relates to the rediscovery of Greenland by the
outlaw, Eric the Red, in 983, who there passed three years in exile, and
afterwards returned to Iceland. About the year 986, he brought out to
Greenland a considerable colony of settlers, who fixed their abode at
Brattahlid, in Ericsfiord.
Then follows two versions of the voyage of Biarne Heriulfson, who, in
the same year, 986, when sailing for Greenland, was driven away during a
storm, and saw a new land at the southward, which he did not visit.
Next is given three accounts of the voyage of Leif, son of Eric the Red,
who in the year 1000 sailed from Brattahlid to find the land which
Biarne saw. Two of these accounts are hardly more than notices of the
voyage, but the third is of considerable length, and details the
successes of Leif, who found and explored this new land, where he spent
the winter, returning to Greenland the following spring.
After this follows the voyage of Thorvald Ericson, brother of Leif, who
sailed to Vinland from Greenland, which was the point of departure in
all these voyages. This expedition was begun in 1002, and it cost him
his life, as an arrow from one of the natives pierced his side, causing
death.
Thorstein, his brother, went to seek Vinland, with the intention of
bringing home his body, but failed in the attempt, and was driven back,
passing the winter in a part of Greenland remote from Brattahlid, where
he died before the spring fully opened.
The most distinguished explorer was Thorfinn Karlsefne, the Hopeful, an
Icelander whose genealogy runs back in the old Northern annals, through
Danish, Swedish, and even Scotch and Irish ancestors, some of whom were
of royal blood. In the year 1006 he went to Greenland, where he met
Gudrid, widow of Thorstein, whom he married. Accompanied by his wife,
who urged him to the undertaking, he sailed to Vinland in the spring of
1007, with three vessels and one hundred and sixty men, where he
remained three years. Here his son Snorre was born. He afterwards became
the founder of a great family in Iceland, which gave the island several
of its first bishops. Thorfinn finally left Vinland because he found it
difficult to sustain himself against the attacks of the natives. They
spent the most of their time in the vicinity of Mount Hope Bay in Rhode
Island. Of this expedition we have three narratives, all of which are
given.
The next to undertake a voyage was a wicked woman named Freydis, a
sister to Leif Ericson, who went to Vinland in 1011, where she lived for
a time with her two ships' crews in the same places occupied by Leif and
Thorfinn. Before she returned, she caused the crew of one ship to be
cruelly murdered, assisting in the butchery with her own hands.
After this we have what are called the Minor Narratives, which are not
essential, yet they are given that the reader may be in the possession
of all that relates to the subject. The first of these refers to a
voyage of Are Marson to a land southwest of Ireland, called
Hvitrammana-land, or Great Ireland. This was prior to Leif's voyage to
Vinland, or New England, taking place in the year 983. Biorn Asbrandson
is supposed to have gone to the same place in 999. The voyage of
Gudleif, who went thither, is assigned to the year 1027. The narrative
of Asbrandson is given for the sake of the allusion at the close.
Finally we have a few scraps of history which speak of a voyage of
Bishop Eric to Vinland in 1121, of the rediscovery of Helluland
(Newfoundland) in 1285, and of a voyage to Markland (Nova Scotia) in
1347, whither the Northmen came to cut timber. With such brief notices
the accounts come to an end.