That same winter [A. D. 1006-7.] there was much discussion about the
affairs of Brattahlid; and they set up the game of chess, and sought
amusement in the reciting of history,[185] and in many other things, and
were able to pass life joyfully. And Karlsefne and Snorre resolved to
seek Vinland, but there was much discussion about it. But it turned out
that Karlsefne and Snorre prepared their ships to seek Vinland the
following summer. [A. D. 1007.] And in this enterprise Biarne and
Thorhall joined as comrades with their own ship and crew, who were their
followers. There was a man named Thorvald, a relation[186] of Eric.
Thorhall was called the Hunter; he long had hunted with Eric in summer,
and had the care of many things. Thorhall was of great stature, large
and swarthy face, of a hard nature, taciturn, saying little of affairs,
and nevertheless crafty and malicious, always inclined to evil, and
opposed in his mind to the Christian religion, from its first
introduction into Greenland. Thorhall indulged in trifling, but
nevertheless Eric was used to his familiarity. He went in the ship with
Thorvald, and was well acquainted with uninhabitable places. He used the
ship in which Thorbiorn came; and Karlsefne engaged comrades for the
expedition; and the best part of the sailors of Greenland were with him.
They carried in their ships, forty and a hundred men. Afterwards they
sailed to West bygd and Biarney-isle. They sailed from Biarney-isle with
a north wind, and were on the sea day and night, when they found land,
and sending a boat to the shore, explored the land, where they found
many flat stones of such great size, that they exceeded in length the
size of two men. There were foxes there. And they gave the land a name,
and called it Helluland. After this, they sailed a night and a day with
a north wind. They came to a land in which were great woods and many
animals. Southwest, opposite the land, lay an island. Here they found a
bear, and called the island, Bear island. This land, where there were
woods, they called Markland. After a voyage of a day and a night, they
saw land, and they sailed near the land and saw that it was a cape; they
kept close to the shore with the wind on the starboard side, and left
the land upon the right side of the ship. There were places without
harbors, long shores and sands. When they went to the shore with a boat,
they found the keel of a ship, and they called the place,
Kiarlarness;[187] and they gave the shore a name, and called it
Wonder-strand, because they were so long going by. Then another bay
extended into the land, and they steered into the bay.[188] When Leif
was with King Olaf Tryggvesson, he sent him to establish the Christian
religion in Greenland; then the king gave him two Scots-folk, a man
named Hake, and a woman named Hekia. The king told Leif to take them
with his men, if he would have his commands done quickly, as they were
swifter than beasts. These folk, Leif and Eric gave to Karlsefne, as
followers. When they were come opposite Wonder-strand, they put the
Scots on the shore, and told them to run southward and explore the
country, and return before the end of three days. They were thus
clothed, having a garment called a Biafal;[189] it was made so that a
hat was on top, open at the sides, without arms, buttoned between the
legs, and fastened with a button and strap; and the rest was bare.
They came to anchor and lay by, until the three days passed, when they
returned, one having in his hand a vine, and the other, self-sown wheat.
Karlsefne said that they had found a fruitful land. Afterwards they were
received into the ship, and they went on their way until a bay
intersected the land. They steered the ship into the bay. On the outside
was an island, and there was a great tide around the island. This they
called, Straumey.[190] There was a great number of birds, and it was
scarcely possible to find a place for their feet among the eggs. Then
they steered into a long bay which they called Straumfiord, where they
landed from their ships and began to prepare habitations. They brought
with them all kinds of cattle, and they found sufficient pasturage.
There were mountains, and the prospect was pleasant. But they cared for
nothing, except to explore the land; there was a great abundance of
grass. Here they wintered, and the winter was severe, and they did not
have stores laid up, they began to be in want of food, and failed to
catch fish. So they sailed over to the island,[191] hoping that they
might find means of subsistence, either on what they could catch, or
what was cast ashore. But they found but little better fare, though the
cattle were better off. [A. D. 1008.] Afterwards they prayed to God, to
send them food; which prayer was not answered as soon as desired. Then
Thorhall disappeared, and a search was made, which lasted three days. On
the morning of the fourth day, Karlsefne and Biarne found him lying on
the top of a rock; there he lay stretched out, with open eyes, blowing
through his mouth, and muttering to himself. They asked him why he had
gone there. He replied that it did not concern them and not to wonder,
as he was old enough to take care of himself, without their troubling
themselves with his affairs. They asked him to go home with them; this
he did. After that a whale was cast up, and they ran down to cut it up;
nevertheless they did not know what kind it was. Neither did Karlsefne,
though acquainted with whales, know this one. Then the cooks dressed the
whale, and they all ate of it, and it made them all sick. Then Thorhall
said, "It is clear now that the Red-beard is more prompt to give aid
than your Christ. This food is a reward for a hymn which I made to my
god Thor, who has seldom deserted me." When they heard this, none would
eat any more, and threw what was left from the rock, committing
themselves to God. After this the opportunity was given of going after
fish, and there was no lack of food. They sailed into Straumfiord, and
had abundance of food and hunting on the mainland, with many eggs, and
fish from the sea.
And now they began to consider where they should settle next. Thorhall
the Hunter wished to go northward around Wonder-strand and Kiarlarness
to explore Vinland, but Karlsefne wished to go southwest, thinking
likely that there would be larger tracts of country the further they
went south. Thorhall made ready at the island, and only nine men went
with him, all the rest of the ship folk went with Karlsefne. One day
Thorhall was carrying water to his ship; he drank it and sang this
verse:
"People promised me when hither I
Came, then the best drink
I should have; but the country
I must denounce to all;
Here you are forced by hand
To bear the pail to the water,
I must bend me down to the spring;
Wine did not come to my lips."
Afterwards they left the land, and Karlsefne went with them to the
island. Before they hoisted sail, Thorhall sang these verses:
"Let us return
Home to our countrymen,
Let the vessel try
The broad path of the sea;
While the persevering
Men, who praise the land
Are building, and boil the whales
Here on Wonder-strand."
Thereupon they sailed northward around Wonder-strand and Kialarness. But
when they wished to cruise westward, a storm came against them, and
drove them to Ireland, where they were beaten and made slaves. There
Thorhall passed his life.[192]
Karlsefne, with Snorre and Biarne and the rest of his comrades, sailed
south. They sailed long until they came to a river, which flowed from
the land through a lake, and passed into the sea. Before the mouth of
the river were great islands, and they were not able to enter the river
except at the highest tide.[193] Karlsefne sailed into the mouth of the
river, and called the land Hop. There they found fields, where the land
was low, with wild corn, and where the land was high, were vines. And
every river was full of fish. They made pits in the sand, where the tide
rose highest, and at low tide, sacred fish were found in these pits, and
in the woods was a great number of all kinds of beasts. Here they stayed
half a month, enjoying themselves, but observing nothing new. Early one
morning, on looking around, they saw nine skin boats, in which were
poles that, vibrating towards the sun, gave out a sound like reeds
shaken by the wind. Then Karlsefne said: "What, think you, does this
mean?" Snorre said: "It is possible that it is a sign of peace; let us
raise up a white shield and hold it towards them:" this they did. Then
they rowed towards them, wondering at them, and came to land. These men
were small of stature and fierce, having a bushy head of hair, and very
great eyes and wide cheeks. They remained some time wondering at them,
and afterwards rowed southward around the cape. They built dwellings
beyond the lake, others made houses near the mainland, and others near
the lake. Here they spent the winter. No snow fell,[194] and all their
cattle fed under the open sky. They decided to explore all the
mountains[195] that were in Hop; which done, they [A. D. 1009.] went and
passed the third winter in Straum bay. At this time they had much
contention among themselves, and the unmarried women vexed the married.
The first autumn, Snorre, Karlsefne's son, was born, and he [was three
years old] when they went away. They had a south wind, and came to
Markland, and found five Skrællings, of whom one was a man, and two
women, and two were boys. Karlsefne took the boys, and the others
escaped and sank down into the earth. They carried the boys away with
them, and taught them the language, and they were baptized. And the name
of their mother was Vatheldi, and their father, Uvæge. They said that
two kings ruled over the Skrællinger's land, one was named Avalldania,
and the other, Valldidia; that they had no houses, but lived in dens and
caves. In another part of the country, there was a region where the
people wore white clothes, and shouted loud, and carried poles with
flags. This they thought to be White-man's land. After this they came
into Greenland, and passed the winter with Leif, son of Eric Red. Biarne
Grimolfson was carried out into the Greenland[196] sea, and came into a
worm sea, which they did not observe, until their ship was full of worm
holes. They considered what should be done. They had a stern boat,
smeared with oil; they say that wood covered with oil, the worms will
not bore. The result of the council was, that as many should go into the
boat as it would hold. It then appeared that the boat would not hold
more than one-half of the men. Then Biarne ordered that the men should
go in the boat by lot, and not according to rank. And as it would not
hold all, they accepted the proposition, and when the lots were drawn,
the men went out of the ship into the boat. And the lot was that Biarne
should go down from the ship to the boat with one-half of the men. Then
those to whom the lot fell, went down from the ship to the boat. And
when they had come into the boat, a young Icelander, who was the
companion of Biarne, said: "Now thus do you intend to leave me, Biarne?"
Biarne replied, "That now seems necessary." He replied with these words:
"Thou art not true to the promise made when I left my father's house in
Iceland." Biarne replied: "In this thing I do not see any other way;"
continuing, "What course can you suggest?" He said, "I see this, that we
change places and thou come up here and I go there." Biarne replied:
"Let it be so, since I see that you are so anxious to live, and are
frightened by the prospect of death." Then they changed places, and he
descended into the boat with the men, and Biarne went up into the ship.
And it is related that Biarne, and the sailors with him in the ship,
perished in the worm sea. Those who went in the boat, went on their
course until they came to land, where they told all these things.
After the next summer, Karlsefne went to Iceland with his son Snorre,
and he went to his own home at Reikianess. The daughter of Snorre, son
of Karlsefne, was Hallfrida, mother to Bishop Thorlak Runolfson. They
had a son named Thorbiorn, whose daughter was named Thoruna, mother of
Bishop Biarne. Thorgeir was the name of the other son of Snorre
Karlsefne's son, father to Ingveld, and mother of the first bishop of
Brand. And this is the end of the history.