VOYAGES TO THE UNINHABITED PARTS OF GREENLAND IN THE MIDDLE AGES
THE EAST COAST OF GREENLAND
[Sidenote: Drift-ice]
The sagas give us scanty information about the east coast of
Greenland--commonly called, in Iceland, the uninhabited regions
("ubygder") of Greenland. The drift-ice renders this coast inaccessible by
sea for the greater part of the year, and it was only very rarely that any
one landed there, and then in most cases through an accident. As a rule
sailors tried as far as possible to keep clear of the East Greenland ice,
and did not come inshore until they were well past Hvarf, as appears from
the ancient sailing-directions for this voyage. The "King's Mirror" (circa
1250) also shows us clearly enough that the old Norsemen had a shrewd
understanding of the ice conditions off these uninhabited regions. It
says:
"Now in that same sea [i.e., the Greenland sea] there are yet many
more marvels, even though they cannot be accounted for witchcraft
('skrimslum'). So soon as the greater part of the sea has been
traversed, there is found such a mass of ice as I know not the like of
anywhere else in the world. This ice [i.e., the ice-floes] is some of
it as flat as if it had frozen on the sea itself, four or five cubits
thick, and lies so far from land [i.e., from the east coast of
Greenland] that men may have four or five days' journey across the
ice [to land]. But this ice lies off the land rather to the north-east
('landnorðr') or north than to the south, south-west, or west; and
therefore any one wishing to make the land should sail round it [i.e.,
round Cape Farewell] in a south-westerly and westerly direction, until
he is past the danger of [encountering] all this ice, and then sail
thence to land. But it has constantly happened that men have tried to
make the land too soon, and so have been involved in these ice-floes;
and some have perished in them; but others again have got out, and we
have seen some of these and heard their tales and reports. But one
course was adopted by all who have found themselves involved in this
ice-drift ['ísavök' or 'ísaválkit'], that is, they have taken their
small boats and drawn them up on to the ice with them, and have thus
made for land, but their ship and all their other goods have been left
behind and lost; and some of them have passed four or five days on the
ice before they reached land, and some even longer. These ice-floes
are strange in their nature; sometimes they lie as still as might be
expected, separated by creeks or large fjords; but sometimes they move
with as great rapidity as a ship with a fair wind, and when once they
are under way they travel against the wind as often as with it. There
are indeed some masses of ice in that sea of another shape, which the
Greenlanders call 'falljökla.' Their appearance is that of a high
mountain rising out of the sea, and they do not unite themselves to
other masses of ice, but keep apart."
This striking description of the ice in the polar current shows that
sailors were sometimes wrecked in it, and reached land on the east coast
of Greenland.
The story of Snæbjörn Hólmsteinsson and his companions, who may have
reached East Greenland (?), has been given above (p. 264).
[Sidenote: Thorgils Orrabeinsfostre]
An early voyage,[251] which is said to have been made along this coast, is
described in the "Floamanna-saga." The Icelandic chief, Thorgils
Orrabeinsfostre, is said to have left Iceland about the year 1001, with
his wife, children, friends and thralls--some thirty persons in all--and
his cattle, to join his friend, Eric the Red, who had invited him to
Greenland. During the autumn they were wrecked on the east coast; and it
was not till four years later, during which time they lived by whaling,
sealing and fishing, and after adventures of many kinds, that Thorgils
arrived at the Eastern Settlement. The saga is of late date, perhaps about
1400; it is full of marvels and not very credible. But the description of
the country, with glaciers coming down to the sea, and ice lying off the
shore for the greater part of the year, cannot have been invented without
some knowledge of the east coast of Greenland; for the inhabited west
coast is entirely different. The narrative of Thorgils' expedition may
therefore have a historical kernel [cf. Nansen, 1890, p. 253; Engl. ed. i.
275]; and moreover it gives a graphic description of the difficulties and
dangers that shipwrecked voyagers have to overcome in arctic waters; but
at the same time it is gratuitously full of superstitions and dreams and
the like, besides other improbabilities: such as the incident of the
travellers suffering such extremities of thirst that they were ready to
drink sea-water (with urine) to preserve their lives,[252] while rowing
along a coast with ice and snow on every hand, where there cannot have
been any lack of drinking water. Thorgils, or the man to whom in the first
place the narrative may be due, may have been wrecked in the autumn on the
east coast of Greenland, near Angmagsalik, or a little to the south of it,
and may then have had a hard struggle before he reached Cape Farewell
along the shore, inside the ice; but that it should have taken four years
is improbable; I have myself in the same way rowed in a boat the greater
part of the same distance along this coast in twelve days. It is hardly
possible that the voyagers should have lost their ship much to the north
of Angmagsalik, as the ice lies off the coast there usually the whole year
round; nor is it credible that they should have arrived far north near
Scoresby Sound, north of 70° N. lat., where the approach is easier; for
they had no business to be there, if they were making for the Eastern
Settlement.
In the Icelandic Annals there are frequent mentions of voyagers to
Greenland being shipwrecked, and most of these cases doubtless occurred
off East Greenland. In the sagas there are many narratives of such wrecks,
or of people who have come to grief on this coast.
[Sidenote: "Lik-Lodin"]
In Björn Jónsson's version of the somewhat extravagant saga of Lik-Lodin
we read:[253]
"Formerly most ships were always wrecked in this ice from the Northern
bays, as is related at length in the Tosta þáttr; for 'Lika-Loðinn'
had his nickname from this, that in summer he often ransacked the
northern uninhabited regions and brought to church the corpses of men
that he found in caves, whither they had come from the ice or from
shipwreck; and by them there often lay carved runes about all the
circumstances of their misfortunes and sufferings."
The Northern bays here must mean "Hafsbotn," or the Polar Sea to the north
of Norway and Iceland; the ice will then be that which thence drifts
southward along the east coast of Greenland. According to another ancient
MS. of the Tosta-þáttr,[254] Lik-Lodin had his name (which means
"Corpse-Lodin") "because he had brought the bodies of Finn Fegin and his
crew from Finn's booths, east of the glaciers in Greenland." This also
shows that the east coast is referred to; it is said to have happened a
few years before Harold Hardråda's fall in 1066.
[Sidenote: Einar Sokkason]
In the Flateyjarbók's narrative of Einar Sokkason, who sailed from
Greenland to Norway in 1123 to bring a bishop to the country, it is
said[255] that he was accompanied on his return from Norway by a certain
Arnbjörn Austman (i.e., man from the east, from Norway) and several
Norwegians on another ship, who wished to settle in Greenland; but they
were lost on the voyage. Some years later, about 1129, they were found
dead on the east coast of Greenland, near the Hvitserk glacier, by a
Greenlander, Sigurd Njálsson. "He often went seal-hunting in the autumn to
the uninhabited regions [i.e., on the east coast]; he was a great seaman;
they were fifteen altogether. In the summer they came to the Hvitserk
glacier." They found there some human fire-places, and farther on, inside
a fjord, they found a great ship, lying on and by the mouth of a stream,
and a hut and a tent, and there were corpses lying in the tent, and some
more lay on the ground outside. It was Arnbjörn and his men, who had
stayed there.
[Sidenote: Ingimund the priest]
In Gudmund Arason's Saga and in the Icelandic Annals [Storm, 1888, pp.
22, 120, 121, 180, 181, 324, 477] it is related that in 1189 the ship
"Stangarfoli," with the priest Ingimund Thorgeirsson and others on
board--on the way from Bergen to Iceland--was driven westwards to the
uninhabited regions of Greenland, and every man perished,
"but it was known by the finding of their ship and seven men in a cave
in the uninhabited regions fourteen winters[256] later; there were
Ingimund the priest, he was whole and uncorrupted, and so were his
clothes; but six skeletons lay there by his side, and wax,[257] and
runes telling how they lost their lives. And men thought this a great
sign of how God approved of Ingimund the priest's conduct that he
should have lain out so long with whole body and unhurt." [Cf. "Grönl.
hist. Mind.," ii. p. 754; Biskupa Sögur, 1858, i. p. 435].
We see that the legend of the Seven Sleepers, perhaps from Paulus
Warnefridi (see above, p. 156), has been borrowed; but here it is only one
of the seven who is holy and unhurt. The shipwreck itself may nevertheless
be historical.[258] The craft was doubtless lost on the southern east
coast of Greenland, near Cape Farewell, which part was commonly
frequented, and where the remains were found.
[Sidenote: Einar Thorgeirsson]
It is also related in Gudmund Arason's Saga that, some time before this,
another ship was lost in the uninhabited regions of Greenland, with the
priest Ingimund's brother, Einar Thorgeirsson, on board; but the crew
quarrelled over the food. Einar escaped with two others and made for the
settlement (i.e., the Eastern Settlement) across the glaciers (i.e., the
inland ice). There they lost their lives, when only a day's journey from
the settlement, and they were found one or two winters [i.e., years ?]
later (Einar's body was then whole and unhurt). The shipwreck may
consequently be supposed to have taken place on the southernmost part of
the east coast.
[Sidenote: New Land]
In the Icelandic Annals it is mentioned (in various MSS.) that a new land
was discovered west of Iceland in 1285. A MS. of annals, of about 1306
(written, that is, about twenty years after the event), says that in 1285:
"fandz land vestr undan Islande" (a land was found to the west of
Iceland). A later MS. (of about 1360) says of the same discovery: "Funduz
Duneyiar" (the Down Islands were found). In another old MS. of annals
there is an addition by a later hand: "fundu Helga synir nyia land
Adalbrandr ok Þorvalldr" (Helge's sons Adalbrand and Thorvald found the
new land). Finally we read in a late copy of an old MS. of annals: "Helga
synir sigldu i Grœnlandz obygðir"[259] (Helge's sons sailed to the
uninhabited regions of Greenland). According to this last statement, this
would refer to the discovery of land on the east coast of Greenland, west
of Iceland.[260] It may have been at Angmagsalik or farther south on the
east coast that Helge's sons--two Icelandic priests--landed.[261] In the
late summer this part is usually free from ice. From other Icelandic
notices it may be concluded that they returned to Iceland the same autumn.
We see that some years later the Norwegian king Eric attempted to get
together an expedition to this new land under the so-called Landa-Rolf,
who was sent to Iceland for the purpose in 1289. In 1290 Rolf went about
Iceland, inviting people to join the Newland expedition; but it is
uncertain whether it ever came to anything, and in 1295 Landa-Rolf died.
All this points to the east coast of Greenland having been little known at
that time, otherwise a landing there could not be spoken of as the
discovery of a new land; and it is not easy to see why the king should
send Rolf to Iceland to get up an expedition to a country which, as they
must have been aware, was closed by ice for the greater part of the year.
As to the situation on this coast of islands to which the name of Down
Islands might be appropriate, I shall not venture to offer an opinion.
[Illustration: The southern glacier (Hvitserk) in 62° 10' N. lat.; seen
from the drift-ice in July 1888]
[Sidenote: The northern east coast]
In the introduction to Hauk's Landnámabók we read: "en dœgr sigling er til
vbygda a Grœnalandi or Kolbeins ey i norðr" (it is a day's sail to the
uninhabited regions of Greenland northward from Kolbein's island).
Kolbein's island is the little Mevenklint, out at sea to the north of
Grim's island and 56 nautical miles (100 kilometres) north of Iceland. The
uninhabited regions here referred to are most probably East Greenland at
about 69° N. lat. (Egede Land), which lies to the north-west (to the north
there is no land, unless the magnetic north is meant). But it is scarcely
credible that the Icelanders ever reached land on this part of the coast,
which is nearly always closed by ice. It may be supposed that they often
sailed along the edge of the ice when seal-hunting, as the bladder-nose is
abundant there in summer; they may then have seen the land inside, and so
knew of it, without having reached it. In this way the statement as to the
distance may have originated, and the day's sail may mean to the edge of
the ice, whence the land is visible.
According to statements in the fourth part of the "Rymbegla" [1780, p.
482], a "dœgr's" sail (dœgr == half a day of twenty-four hours) was
equivalent to a distance of two degrees of latitude. But even if we
accept this large estimate, it will not suffice for the distance
between Mevenklint and the coast of Greenland to the north-west of it,
which is about equal to three degrees of latitude (180 geographical
miles).
It has been assumed that the Icelanders and Norwegians were acquainted
with the east coast of Greenland north of 70° N. lat., and visited it for
hunting seals, etc. But in order to reach it, it is nearly always
necessary to sail through ice, and during the greater part of the summer
one has to go as far north as Jan Mayen, or farther, to find the ice
sufficiently open to allow one to reach the land. It is a somewhat tricky
piece of sailing, which requires an intimate knowledge of the ice
conditions; and it is not to be expected that any one should have acquired
it without having frequently been among the ice with a definite purpose.
That storm-driven vessels should have been accidentally cast ashore on
this coast is unlikely; as a rule they would be stopped by the ice before
they came so far. We may doubtless believe that the Norwegians and
Icelanders sailed over the whole Arctic Ocean, along the edge of the ice,
when hunting seals and the valuable walrus; but that on their sealing
expeditions they should have made a practice of penetrating far into the
ice is not credible, since their clinker-built craft were not adapted to
sailing among ice; nor have we any information that would point to this.
It is nevertheless not entirely impossible that they should have reached
the northern east coast, since it may be comparatively free from ice in
late summer and autumn. There would be plenty of seals, and especially of
walrus, and on land there were reindeer and musk ox, which latter,
however, is nowhere mentioned in Norse literature.
[Sidenote: Glaciers on the east coast]
The old sea-route, the so-called "Eiriks-stefna," from Iceland to
Greenland (i.e., the Greenland Settlements) went westward from Snæfellsnes
until one sighted the glaciers of Greenland, when one steered south-west
along the drift-ice until well past Hvarf, etc. This is the route that
Eric followed, according to the oldest accounts in the Landnáma, when he
sailed to Greenland, and the glacier he first sighted in Greenland is
there called "Miðjǫkull" (see above, p. 267). This name (the middle
glacier) shows that two other glaciers must have been known, one to the
north and one to the south, as indeed is explained in a far later work,
the so-called "Gripla" (date uncertain, copied in the seventeenth century
by Björn Jónsson), where we read:[262]
"From Bjarmeland [i.e., northern Russia] uninhabited regions lie
northward as far as that which is called Greenland. But there are bays
(botnar gánga þar fyrir) and the land turns towards the south-west;
there are glaciers and fjords, and islands lying off the glaciers; as
far as [or rather, beyond] the first glacier they have not explored;
to the second is a journey of half a month, to the third a week's; it
is nearest the settlement; it is called Hvitserk; there the land turns
to the north; but he who would not miss the settlement, let him steer
to the south-west" [that is, to get round and clear of the drift-ice
that lies off Cape Farewell].
[Illustration: The mountains from Tingmiarmiut Fjord northward in 62° 35'
N. lat. Seen from the drift-ice in July 1888]
Not taking the distances into account, a sail of half a month and of a
week, this is an admirable description of East Greenland from about 69° N.
lat. southwards. By "glaciers" is obviously meant parts of the inland ice,
which is the most noticeable feature of this coast, and which could not
easily be omitted in a description of it. When we read that there are
glaciers and fjords, and that islands lie off the glaciers, then every one
who is familiar with this part of Greenland must be reminded of what
catches the eye at the first sight of this coast from the sea: the dark
stretches of land, not covered by snow, and the islands, lying in front of
the vast white sheath of the inland ice, which is indented by bays and
fjords. The three glaciers mentioned cannot, in my opinion, be three
separate mountain summits covered with snow or ice, as has frequently been
supposed. There is such a number of high summits in this country that,
although I have sailed along the greater part of it, I am unable to name
three as specially prominent. If one has seen from the sea the white
snow-sheet of Vatnajökel in Iceland (compare also, on a smaller scale, the
Hardangerjökel and others in Norway), then perhaps it will be easier to
understand what the ancient Icelanders meant by their three glaciers on
the east coast of Greenland, where the mass of glacier has a still
mightier and more striking effect. Now, on that part of it which they and
the Greenlanders knew, or had seen from the sea--and which extends towards
the south-west (as we read) from about 70° N. lat.[263]--there are
precisely three tracts where the inland ice covers the whole country and
reaches to the very shore, so that the glacier surface is visible from the
sea, and forms the one conspicuous feature that must strike every one who
sails along the outer edge of the ice (or drifts in the ice, as I have
twice done). The northernmost tract is to the north of 67° N. lat. (see
map, p. 259); there the inland ice covers the coast down to the sea
itself. This was the "northern glacier," which no one was able to
approach on account of the drift-ice, but which was only seen from a great
distance. It was not until a few years ago that Captain Amdrup succeeded
in travelling along this part of the country in boats, inshore of the ice.
[Illustration: The northern part of the "Miðjǫkull" (to the left) and the
country to the west of Sermilik-fjord, in 65° 40' N. lat. Seen from the
drift-ice in July 1888]
The second tract is the coast by Pikiutdlek and Umivik, south of
Angmagsalik, between Sermilik-fjord (65° 36' N. lat.) and Cape Mösting
(63° 40' N. lat.), where the inland ice covers the whole coast land, and
only a few mountain summits, or "Nunataks," rise up, and bare, scattered
islands and tongues of land lie in front. This was the "Miðjǫkull" (middle
glacier), which was the first land made in sailing west from Snæfellsnes,
and which was a good and unmistakable sea-mark. In some MSS. it is called
"hinn mikla Jǫkull" (the great glacier). There the sea is often
comparatively free of ice in August and September, but we may be sure that
the voyagers to Greenland did not as a rule try to land there; in the
words of Ivar Bárdsson's directions, they were to "take their course from
Snæfellsnes and sail due west for a day and a night, but then to steer to
the south-west, in order to avoid the above-mentioned ice" (cf. above, p.
262).
The third tract is the coast south of Tingmiarmiut and Mogens Heinesen's
Fjord (62° 20' N. lat.), where again the inland ice is predominant, and
the only conspicuous feature that is first seen from the sea. This was the
third or "southern glacier"; it lay nearest to Hvarf and was the sure
sea-mark before rounding the southern end of the country. It appears to me
that in this way we have a natural explanation of what these disputed
glaciers were. Between them lay long stretches of mountainous coast.
Northward from Cape Farewell to the "southern glacier" are high mountains,
so that one does not see the even expanse of the inland ice from the sea.
North of the "southern glacier" is the fjord-indented mountainous country
about Tingmiarmiut, Umanak and Skjoldungen, and so northward as far as
Cape Mösting; there the mighty white line of the inland ice is wholly
concealed behind a wall of lofty peaks. On the north side of the
"Miðjǫkull" again is the mountain country about Angmagsalik, from
Sermilik-fjord north-eastwards, with a high range of mountains, so that
neither is the inland ice seen from the sea there. The most conspicuous
summit of this range is Ingolf's Fjeld.
[Illustration: The mountains near Angmagsalik, east of Sermilik-fjord.
Seen from the drift-ice in July 1888]
[Sidenote: Bláserkr]
Thus, according to my view, the statements as to the glaciers on the east
coast of Greenland are easily explained. It is a different matter when we
come to the two names "Bláserkr" and "Hvítserkr," which, in later times
especially, were those most frequently used. They have often been confused
and interchanged, and while "Bláserkr" is found in the oldest authorities,
the name "Hvítserkr" becomes more and more common in later writers. More
recent authors have frequently regarded them as standing in a certain
opposition to each other, one meaning a dark glacier or summit, and the
other a white one, which may indeed seem natural. But it is striking that,
while "Bláserkr" alone is mentioned in the oldest authorities, such as the
Landnáma (and the Saga of Eric the Red, in the Hauksbók), it soon
disappears almost entirely from literature, and is replaced by
"Hvítserkr," which is first mentioned in MSS. of the fourteenth century
and later; and in the fifteenth century MS. (A.M. 557, qv.) of the Saga of
Eric the Red (as in other late extracts from the same saga) we find
"Hvítserkr" instead of "Bláserkr."[264] I have not found the two names
used contemporaneously in any Icelandic MS.; it is either one or the
other, and nowhere are both names found as designating two separate places
on the coast of Greenland. It may therefore be somewhat rash to assume, as
has been done hitherto, that they were two "mountains," one of them lying
a certain distance to the north on the east coast of Greenland, and the
other near Cape Farewell. The view that they were mountains is not a new
one. In Ivar Bárdsson's description Hvítserk is called "a high mountain"
near Hvarf; while Björn Jónsson of Skardsá says that it is a "fuglabiarg i
landnordurhafi" (i.e., a fowling cliff in the Polar Sea).
[Illustration: The inland ice at "Miðjǫkull." In the centre the mountain
Kiatak, 64° 20' N. lat. Seen from the drift-ice in July 1888]
From the meaning of the names--the dark ("blá") sark and the white
sark--we should be inclined to think that they were applied to
snow-fields, or glaciers, like, for instance, such names as Snehætta and
Lodalskåpa in Norway. But another possibility is that it was the _form_ of
the sark that was thought of, and that the names were applied to mountain
summits; in a similar way "stakk" (stack, or gown) is used for peaks in
Norway (cf. Lövstakken near Bergen); and in Shetland corresponding names
are known for high cliffs on the sea: Blostakk (== Blástakkr), Grostakk
(== Grástakkr), Kwitastakk (== Hvíti stakkr), Gronastakk and Gronistakk
(== Grœni stakkr, cliffs with grass-grown tops), etc. [cf. J. Jakobsen,
1901, p. 151].
[Illustration: The mountains about Ingolf's Fjeld, seen from a distance in
June 1888]
In the Landnámabók (both Hauksbók and Sturlubók) we read: "Eirekr sigldi
vndan Snæfells nese. En hann kom utan at Midiokli þar sem Bláserkr
heitir." (Eric sailed from Snæfellsnes, and made the Mid-Glacier at a
place called Blue-Sark.) In Eric the Red's Saga this has been altered to
"hann kom utan at jǫkli þeím er Bláserkr heitir." (He made the glacier
that is called Blue-Sark.) It is obvious that the Landnáma text is the
more original, and thus two explanations are possible: either Bláserkr is
a part of the glacier, or it is a dark mountain seen on this part of the
coast. I cannot remember any place where the inland ice of this district,
seen at a distance from the drift-ice, had a perceptibly darker colour;
its effect is everywhere a brilliant white. On approaching an ice-glacier,
as, for instance, the Colberger Heide (64° N. lat., cf. Nansen, 1890, p.
370; Engl. ed., i. 423), it may appear somewhat darker and of a bluish
tinge; but this can never have been a recognisable landmark at any
distance. One is therefore tempted to believe that Bláserkr was a black,
bare mountain-peak. But the peaks that show up along the edge of the
"Miðjǫkull" (between Sermilik and Cape Mösting) are all comparatively low;
the mountain-summit Kiatak, near Umivik [see Nansen, 1890, pp. 370, 374,
444; Engl. ed., i. 423, 429, ii. 13], answers best as regards shape, and
is conspicuous enough, but it is only 2450 feet high. It is possible that
Bláserkr did not lie in Miðjǫkull itself, but was the lofty Ingolf's
Fjeld (7300 feet high), which is the first mountain one sees far out at
sea, on approaching East Greenland from Iceland; and it is seen to the
north in sailing past Cape Dan and in towards Miðjǫkull. It may then have
been confused with the latter in later times. But this supposition is
doubtful. The most natural way for the Icelanders when making for
Greenland must in any case have been first to make the edge of the ice,
west-north-west from Snæfellsnes, when they sighted Ingolf's Fjeld (or
Bláserkr ?); then they followed the ice west or west-south-west, and came
straight in to Miðjǫkull, at about 65° N. lat., or the same latitude as
Snæfellsnes. Here the edge of the ice turns southward, following the land,
and the course has to be altered in order to sail past the southern
glacier and round Hvarf. This agrees well with most descriptions of the
voyage, and among them the most trustworthy. But the names have often been
confused; Hvítserk and Bláserk especially have been interchanged;[265] and
this is not surprising, since the men who wrote in Iceland in the
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries were themselves unacquainted with these
waters.
[Sidenote: Hvítserkr]
The name "Hvítserkr" would appear most appropriate to a glacier, and in
reviewing the various contexts in which it is mentioned in the narratives,
my impression is rather that in later times it was often used as a name
for the inland ice itself on the east and south coasts of Greenland; and
as, on the voyage to the Eastern Settlement, the inland ice was most seen
on the southern part of the east coast, which was also resorted to for
seal-hunting, the name Hvítserk became especially applied to the southern
glacier, as in the tale of Einar Sokkason (see above, p. 283); but it
might also be the mid-glacier. This view is supported by, for instance,
the so-called Walkendorff addition to Ivar Bárdsson's description, where
the following passage occurs about the voyage from Iceland to Greenland
["Grönl. hist. Mind.," iii. p. 491]:
"Item when one is south of Breedefjord in Iceland, then he must steer
westward until he sees Hvidserch in Greenland, and then steer
south-west, until the above mentioned Hvidserch is to the north of
him; thus may one with God's help freely seek Greenland, without much
danger from ice, and with God's help find Eric's fjord."
It is clearly enough the inland ice itself, the most prominent feature on
the east coast, that is here called Hvidserch. It is first seen at
Miðjǫkull, in coming westwards from Iceland; and one has the inland ice
(ice-blink) on the north when about to round Cape Farewell. No single
mountain can possibly fit this description; but this does not exclude the
possibility of others having erroneously connected the name with such a
mountain, in the same way as Danish sailors of recent times have applied
it to a lofty island, "Dadloodit," in the southernmost part of Greenland
["Grönl. hist. Mind.," i. p. 453]. The fact that Hvítserk in Ivar
Bárdsson's description is called "a high mountain," which is seen one day
before reaching Hvarf, must be due to a similar misunderstanding. As
Bláserk, although originally it may have been a mountain, was confounded
with the Mid-Glacier, it is comprehensible that the name Bláserk should be
gradually superseded by Hvítserk.
In one or two passages of the old narratives it is related that when one
was half-way between Iceland and Greenland one could see at the same time,
in clear weather, Snæfells glacier in Iceland and Bláserk (or
Hvítserk)[266] in Greenland. According to my experience this is not
possible, even if we call in the aid of a powerful refraction, or even
mirage; but, on the other hand, one can see the reflections of the land or
the ice on the sky, and when sailing (along the edge of the ice) eastwards
or westwards, one can very well see the top of the Snæfells glacier and
the top of Ingolf's Fjeld on the same day.
[Sidenote: Place-names on the east coast]
The Icelandic accounts mention several places in East Greenland, such as
"Kross-eyjar," "Finnsbuðir," "Berufjord" ("bera" == she-bear), and the
fjord "Öllum-Lengri." Frequent expeditions for seal-hunting were made to
these places from the Eastern Settlement, and they must have lain near it,
just north of Cape Farewell.
VOYAGES TO THE NORTHERN WEST COAST OF GREENLAND, NORÐRSETUR, AND BAFFIN'S
BAY IN THE MIDDLE AGES
[Sidenote: Runic stone from 72° 55' N. lat.]
To the north of the northernmost inhabited fjords of the Western
Settlement lay the uninhabited regions. Thither the Greenlanders resorted
every summer for seal-hunting; there lay what they called the "Norðrsetur"
("seta" == place of residence; the northern stations or fishing-places),
and it is doubtless partly to these districts that reference is made in
Eric the Red's Saga, where it is said of Thorhall the Hunter that "he had
long been with Eric hunting in summer," and that "he had a wide
acquaintance with the uninhabited regions." We have no information as to
how far north the longest expeditions of the Greenlanders extended, but we
know that they reached the neighbourhood of the modern Upernivik; for,
twenty-eight miles to the north-west of it--on a little island called
Kingigtorsuak, in 72° 55' N. lat.--three cairns are said to have been
found early in the nineteenth century (before 1824); and in one of them a
small runic stone, with the inscription: "Erling Sigvathsson, Bjarne
Thordarson, and Endride Oddson on the Sunday before 'gagndag' [i.e., April
25] erected these cairns and cleared ..."[267] Then follow six secret
runes, which it was formerly sought to interpret, erroneously, as a date,
1135. Professor L. F. Läffler has explained them as meaning ice;[268] it
would then read "and cleared away ice." Judging from the language, the
inscription would be of the fourteenth century;[269] Professor Magnus
Olsen (in a letter to me) thinks it might date from about 1300, or perhaps
a little later. Why the cairns were built seems mysterious. It is possible
that they were sea-marks for fishing-grounds; but it is not likely that
the Greenlanders were in the habit of going so far north. One would be
more inclined to think they were set up as a monument of a remarkable
expedition, which had penetrated to regions previously unknown; but why
build more than one cairn? Was there one for each man? The most remarkable
thing is that the cairns are stated to have been set up in April, when the
sea in that locality is covered with ice. The three men must either have
wintered there in the north, which seems the more probable alternative;
they may then have been starving, and the object of the cairns was to call
the attention of possible future travellers to their bodies--or they may
have come the same spring over the ice from the south, and in that case
they most probably travelled with Eskimo dog-sledges, and were on a
hunting expedition, perhaps for bears. But they cannot have travelled
northwards from the Eastern or Western Settlement the same spring. In any
case they may have been in company with Eskimo, whom we know to have lived
on Disco Bay, and probably also farther south at that time. From them the
Norsemen may have learnt to hunt on the ice, by which they were able to
support themselves in the north during the winter.
[Illustration: Runic stone from Kingigtorsuak (after A. A. Björnbo)]
The earliest mention of hunting expeditions to the northern west coast of
Greenland is found in the "Historia Norwegiæ" (thirteenth century), where
it is said that hunters "to the north" (of the Greenlanders) come across
"certain small people whom they call Skrælings" (see later, chapter x.).
[Sidenote: Norðrsetur]
There are few references to the "Norðrsetur" in the literature that has
been preserved. A lay on the subject, "Norðrsetudrápa," was known in the
Middle Ages, written by an otherwise unknown skald, Sveinn. Only a few
short fragments of it are known from "Skálda," Snorra-Edda [cf. "Grönl.
hist. Mind.," iii. pp. 235 ff.]. It is wild and gloomy, and speaks of the
ugly sons of Fornjót [the storms] who were the first to drift [i.e., with
snow], and of Ægi's storm-loving daughters [the waves], who wove and drew
tight the hard sea-spray, fed by the frost from the mountains.
Reference is also made to these hunting expeditions to the north in
"Skáld-Helga Rimur," where we read ["Grönl. hist. Mind.," ii. p. 492]:
"Gumnar fóru i Greipar norðr
Grönlands var þar bygðar sporðr.
virðar áttu viða hvar
veiðiskapar at leita þar.
Skeggi enn prúði skip sitt bjó,
skútunni rendi norðr um sjó,
höldum ekki hafit vannst,
hvarf i burtu, en aldri fannst."[270]
Men went north to Greipar,
There was the end of Greenland's habitations.
Men might there far and wide
Seek for hunting.
Skegge the Stately fitted out his ship,
With his vessel he sailed north in the sea,
By the men the sea was not conquered,
They were lost, and never found.
It appears from Håkon Håkonsson's Saga that the Norðrsetur were a
well-known part of Greenland; for we read of the submission of the
Greenlanders to the Norwegian Crown that they promised
"to pay the king fines for all manslaughter, whether of Norsemen or
Greenlanders, and whether they were killed in the settlements or in
Norðrsetur, and in all the district to the north under the star [i.e.,
the pole-star] the king should have his weregild" ["Grönl. hist.
Mind.," ii. p. 779].
In Björn Jónsson's "Grönlands Annaler" (cf. above, p. 263) these
expeditions to the Norðrsetur are mentioned in more detail, as well as a
remarkable voyage to the north in 1267 ["Grönl. hist. Mind.," iii. pp. 238
ff.]. We there read:
"All the great franklins of Greenland had large ships and vessels
built to send to the 'Norðrsetur' for seal-hunting, with all kinds of
sealing gear ('veiðiskap') and cut-up wood ('telgðum viðum'); and
sometimes they themselves accompanied the expeditions--as is related
at length in the tales, both in the Skáld-Helga saga and in that of
Thordis; there most of what they took was seal-oil, for all
seal-hunting was better there than at home in the settlements; melted
seal-fat was poured into sacks of hide [literally boats of hide], and
hung up against the wind on boards, till it thickened, then it was
prepared as it should be. The Norðrsetu-men had their booths or houses
('skála') both in Greipar and in Króksfjarðarheiðr
[Kroksfjords-heath]. Driftwood is found there, but no growing trees.
This northern end of Greenland is most liable to take up all the wood
and other drift that comes from the bays of Markland...."
In an extract which follows: "On the voyage northward to the uninhabited
regions" (probably from a different and later source) we read:
"The Greenlanders are constantly obliged to make voyages to the
uninhabited regions in the northern land's end or point, both for the
sake of wood [i.e., driftwood] and sealing; it is called Greipar and
Króksfjarðarheiðr; it is a great and long sea voyage thither;[271] as
the Skáld-Helga saga clearly bears witness, where it is said of it:
"'Garpar kvomu i Greypar norðr. The men came to Greipar in the north,
Grönlands er þar bryggju sporðr.'[272] There is the bridge-spur (end)
of Greenland.
"Sometimes this sealing season ('vertið') of theirs in Greipar or
Króksfjardarheidr is called Norðrseta."
[Sidenote: Greipar and Króksfjardarheidr. Their situation]
According to this description we must look for Nordrsetur, with Greipar
and Króksfjardarheidr, to the north of the northern extremity of the
Western Settlement, which from other descriptions must have been at
Straumsfjord, about 66-1/2° N. lat. (see map, p. 266). There in the north,
then, there was said to be driftwood, and plenty of seals. The latter
circumstance is especially suited to the districts about Holstensborg and
northward to Egedes Minde (i.e., between 66° and 68-1/2° N. lat.), and
further to Disco Bay and Vaigat (see map, p. 259). Besides abundance of
seals there was also good walrus-hunting, and this was valuable on account
of the tusks and hide, which were Greenland's chief articles of export
[cf. for instance, "The King's Mirror," above, p. 277]. There was also
narwhale, the tusk or spear of which was even more valuable than walrus
tusks. "Greipar"[273] may have been near Holstensborg, about 67° N. lat.
"Króksfjarðarheiðr" may have been at Disco Bay or Vaigat.[274] It also
agrees with this that the northern point of Greenland ("þessi norðskagi
Grœnlands") was in Norðrsetur, and that "Greipar" was at the land's end
("bygðar sporðr") of Greenland. For what the Greenlanders generally
understood by Greenland was the Eastern and Western Settlements, and the
broad extent of coast lying to the north of them, which was not covered by
the inland ice, and which reached to Disco Bay. It was the part where
human habitation was possible, and where there was no inland ice; it was
therefore natural for them to call Greipar the northern end of the
country.
In an old chorography, copied by Björn Jónsson under the name of
"Gronlandiæ vetus chorographia"[275] (in his "Grönlands Annaler"),
there is mention of the Western Settlement and of the districts to the
north of it. After naming the fjords in the Eastern Settlement it
proceeds: "Then it is six days' rowing, six men in a six-oared boat,
to the Western Settlement (then the fjords are enumerated),[276] then
from this Western Settlement to Lysefjord it is six days' rowing,
thence six days' rowing to Karlsbuða [Karl's booths], then three days'
rowing to Biarneyiar [Bear-islands or island], twelve days' rowing
around ... ey,[277] Eisunes, Ædanes in the north. Thus it is reckoned
that there are 190 dwellings [estates] in the Eastern Settlement, and
90 in the Western." This description is obscure on many points. From
other ancient authorities it appears that Lysefjord was the
southernmost fjord in the Western Settlement [now Fiskerfjord, cf. G.
Storm, 1887, p. 35; F. Jónsson, 1899, p. 315], but how in that case
there could be six days' rowing from this Western Settlement to
Lysefjord seems incomprehensible. It might be supposed that it is the
distance from the southern extremity of the Western Settlement that is
intended, and thus the passage has been translated in "Grönl. hist.
Mind.," iii. p. 229; but then it is strange that in the original MS.
the fjords of the settlement should have been enumerated before the
distance to the first fjord was given. If this, however, be correct,
it would then have been twelve days' rowing from the northernmost
fjord in the Eastern Settlement to Lysefjord in the Western. This
might perhaps agree with Ivar Bárdsson's description of Greenland,
where it is stated that "from the Eastern Settlement to the Western
Settlement is twelve sea-leagues, and all uninhabited." These twelve
sea-leagues may be the above-mentioned twelve days' rowing, repeated
in this form. It was a good two hundred nautical miles (forty ancient
sea-leagues) from the northernmost fjord of the Eastern Settlement to
the interior of Lysefjord. With twelve days' rowing, this would be at
the rate of eighteen miles a day; but if we allow for their keeping
the winding course inside the islands, it will be considerably longer.
If we put a day's rowing from Lysefjord northward at, say, twenty
nautical miles, then "Karlsbuðir" would lie in about 65°, and
"Biarneyiar" in about 66°; but there is then a difficulty about this
island, together with Eisunes and Ædanes, which it is said to have
taken twelve days to row round. On the other hand, it is a good two
hundred miles round Disco Island, so that this might correspond to
twelve days' rowing at eighteen miles a day. And if this island is
intended, then either the number of days' rowing northward along the
coast must be increased, or the starting-point was not the Lysefjord
(Fiskerfjord) that lay on the extreme south of the Western Settlement.
But the description is altogether too uncertain to admit of any
definite conclusion. It is not mentioned whether the northern
localities, Karlsbuðir and farther north, were included in Nordrsetur,
but it seems probable that they were.
In this connection the statement in Ivar Bárdsson's description must also
be borne in mind:
[Sidenote: Himinrað and Hunenrioth]
"Item there lies in the north, farther from the Western Settlement, a
great mountain that is called Himinraðzfjall,[278] and farther than to
this mountain must no man sail, if he would preserve his life from the
many whirlpools which there lie round all the ocean."
It is true that Ivar's description as a whole does not seem to be very
trustworthy as regards details, nor do the whirlpools here spoken of tend
to inspire confidence, suggesting as they do that it was near the earth's
limit, where the ocean ends in one or more vast abysses; but it is
nevertheless possible that the mountain in question may have been an
actual landmark in the extreme north, on that part of the west coast of
Greenland to which voyages were habitually made, and in that case it must
have been situated in "Nordrsetur."
Mention may also be made of a puzzling scholium to Adam of Bremen's
work [cf. Lappenberg, 1838, pp. 851 f.]; it was added at a late
period, ostensibly from "Danish fragments," but the form of the names
betrays a Norse origin, and we must suppose that it is derived from
ancient Norwegian or Icelandic sources. The following is a translation
of the Latin text:
"From Norway to Iceland is fourteen dozen leagues ('duodene leucarum')
across the sea (or XIII. dozen sea-leagues, that is, 168
leagues).[279] From Iceland as far as the green land ('terram
viridem') Gronlandt is about fourteen dozen ('duodenæ'). There is a
promontory and it is called 'Huerff' [i.e., Hvarf], and there snow
lies continually and it is called 'Hwideserck.' From 'Hwideserck' as
far as 'Sunderbondt' is ten dozen leagues ('duodenæ leucarum'); from
'Sunderbondt' as far as 'Norderbondt' is eleven dozen leagues (d. l.).
From 'Nordbundt' to 'Hunenrioth' is seventeen dozen leagues, and here
men resort in order to kill white bears and 'Tauwallen'" ["tandhvaler"
(?)--"tusk-whales"--i.e., walrus and narwhale (?)].[280]
This passage is difficult to understand. "Sunderbondt" and
"Norderbondt" are probably to be regarded as translations of the
Norwegian "Syd-botten" and "Nord-botten." The latter might be the
Polar Sea, or "Hafsbotn," north of Iceland and Norway; on Claudius
Clavus's map this is called "Nordhindh Bondh" (Nancy map) and
"Nordenbodhn" (Vienna text).[281] But in that case we should have to
suppose that the distances referred to a voyage from Norway to
Iceland, from thence to Hvarf and Hvitserk, and then back again
northward along the east coast of Greenland. It seems more probable
that the direction of the voyage was supposed to be continued round
Hvarf and up along the west coast; but where "Sunderbondt" and
"Norderbondt" are to be looked for on that coast is difficult to say;
the names would most naturally apply to two fjords or bays, and in
some way or other these might be connected with the Eastern and
Western Settlements; "Norderbondt" might, for instance, have come to
mean the largest fjord, Godthaabs-fjord, in the Western Settlement.
Since "hún" in Old Norse means a bear-cub or young bear, one might be
inclined to connect "Hunenrioth" with Bjarn-eyar, where perhaps bears
were hunted; but in that case "-rioth" must be taken to be the Old
Norse "hrjotr" (growl, roar), which would be an unlikely name for
islands or lands. It is more reasonable to suppose that it means the
same as the above-mentioned mountain "Himinrað," from Ivar Bárdsson's
description. It might then be probable that this was called "Himinroð"
(i.e., flushing of the sky, sun-gold, from the root-form "rioða") a
natural name for a high mountain;[282] by an error in writing or
reading this might easily become "Hunenrioth," as it might also become
"Himinrað." Thus it is possibly a mountain in Nordrsetur (see above).
But in any case the distances are impossible as they stand, and until
more light has been thrown upon this scholium, we cannot attach much
importance to it.
[Sidenote: Nordrsetur not beyond Baffin's Bay]
For many reasons it is unreasonable to look for "Greipar" and
"Króksfjardarheidr" so far north as Smith Sound or Jones Sound (or
Lancaster Sound), as, amongst others in recent times, Professor A. Bugge
[1898] and Captain G. Isachsen [1907] have done:[283]
(1) In the first place this would assume that the Greenlanders on their
Nordrsetu expeditions sailed right across the ice-blocked and difficult
Baffin's Bay and Melville Bay every summer, and back again in the autumn,
in their small clinker-built vessels, which were not suited for sailing
among the ice. We are told indeed (see above, p. 299) that the franklins
had large ships and vessels for this voyage; but this was written in
Iceland by men who were not themselves acquainted with the conditions in
Greenland, and the statement doubtless means no more than that these
vessels, or rather boats, were large in comparison to the small boats
(perhaps for the most part boats of hides) which they usually employed in
their home fisheries. Timber for shipbuilding was not easy to obtain in
Greenland. Drift-wood would not go very far in building boats, to say
nothing of larger vessels, and they must have depended on an occasional
cargo of timber from Norway, or perhaps what they could themselves fetch
from Markland. They could hardly have got the material for building
vessels suited for sailing through the ice of Baffin's Bay in this way.
Moreover, we know from several sources that there was great scarcity of
rivets and iron nails in Greenland; so that vessels were largely built
with wooden nails. In 1189 a Greenlander, Asmund Kastanrasti, came with
twelve others from Kross-eyjar in Greenland to Iceland "in a ship that was
fastened together with wooden nails alone, save that it was also bound
with thongs.... He had also been in Finnsbuðir." He did not sail from
Iceland till the following year, and was then shipwrecked.[284] This ship
must have been one of the largest and best they had in Greenland. It is
therefore impossible that they should have been able to keep up any
constant communication with the countries on the north side of Baffin's
Bay.
(2) Then comes the question: what reason would they have had for exposing
themselves to the many dangers involved in the long northward voyage
through the ice? Their purpose may have been chiefly to kill seals and
collect driftwood. But where there is much ice for the greater part of the
year, the driftwood is prevented from being thrown up on shore; and it is
the fact that in Baffin's Bay there is unusually little of it, so that the
Eskimo of Cape York and Smith Sound are barely able to get enough wood for
making weapons and implements. In addition to the ice the reason for this
is that no current of importance bearing driftwood reaches the north of
Baffin's Bay. Consequently, this again is conclusive proof that the
Nordrsetur of the descriptions is not to be looked for there, nor was
sealing particularly good; they had better sealing-grounds in the
districts about Holstensborg, Egedes Minde and Disco Bay.[285]
[Sidenote: Nordrsetur at and south of Disco Bay]
Everything points to the Nordrsetur having been situated in the districts
either in or to the south of Disco Bay,[286] which must have been a
natural hunting-ground for the Greenlanders, just as the Norwegians sail
long distances to Lofoten for fishing. Moreover, one of the objects of the
voyages to Nordrsetur was to collect driftwood; now the driftwood comes
with the Polar Current round Cape Farewell and is thrown up on shore along
the whole of the west coast northward as far as this current washes the
land--that is to say, about as far north as Disco Bay. In the south of
Greenland, the ancient Eastern Settlement, there is drift-ice for part of
the year, and not so much driftwood comes ashore as farther north, in the
ancient Western Settlement (especially the Godthaab district) and to the
north of it. Besides, in the settlements there were many to find it and
utilise it, while in the uninhabited regions there were only the Eskimo,
of whom perhaps there were as yet few south of 68° N. lat. On their way to
and from the Nordrsetur, therefore, the Greenlanders travelled along the
shore and collected driftwood wherever they found it. In Iceland this was
misunderstood in the sense that driftwood was supposed to be washed ashore
chiefly in Nordrsetur; and they believed it to come from Markland, perhaps
because the Greenlanders sometimes went there for timber, and it was thus
regarded by them as a country rich in trees. It is, however, also possible
that the name Markland, i.e., woodland, itself may have created this
conception. In reality most of the driftwood comes from Siberia, which was
unknown to them, and it is brought with the drift-ice over the Polar Sea
and southward along the east coast of Greenland.
[Illustration: Driftwood. From an Icelandic MS., fifteenth century]
[Sidenote: Voyage to Baffin's Bay in 1267]
The following is the account of the voyage of about 1267, given by Björn
Jónsson (taken, according to his statement, from the Hauksbók, where it is
no longer to be found):
"That summer [i.e., 1266] when Arnold the priest went from Greenland,
and they were stranded in Iceland at Hitarnes, pieces of wood were
found out at sea, which had been cut with hatchets and adzes
('þexlum'), and among them one in which wedges of tusk and bone were
imbedded.[287] The same summer men came from Nordrsetur, who had gone
farther north than had been heard of before. They saw no
dwelling-places of Skrælings, except in Króksfjardarheidr, and
therefore it is thought that they [i.e., the Skrælings] must there
have the shortest way to travel, wherever they come from.... After
this [the following year ?] the priests sent a ship northward to find
out what the country was like to the north of the farthest point they
had previously reached; and they sailed out from Króksfjardarheidr,
until the land sank below the horizon ('lægði'). After this they met
with a southerly gale and thick weather ('myrkri'), and they had to
stand off [i.e., to the north]. But when the storm passed over ('i
rauf') and it cleared ('lysti'), they saw many islands and all kinds
of game, both seals and whales [i.e., walrus ?], and a great number of
bears. They came right into the gulf [i.e., Baffin's Bay] and all the
land [i.e., all the land not covered by ice] then sank below the
horizon, the land on the south and the glaciers ('jökla'); but there
was also glacier ('jökull') to the south of them as far as they could
see;[288] they found there some ancient dwelling-places of Skrælings
('Skrælingja vistir fornligar'), but they could not land on account of
the bears. Then they went back for three 'dœgr,' and they found there
some dwelling-places of Skrælings ('nökkra Skrælingja vistir') when
they landed on some islands south of Snæfell. Then they went south to
Króksfjardarheidr, one long day's rowing, on St. James's day [July
25]; it was then freezing there at night, but the sun shone both
night and day, and, when it was in the south, was only so high that if
a man lay athwartships in a six-oared boat, the shadow of the gunwale
nearest the sun fell upon his face; but at midnight it was as high as
it is at home in the settlement when it is in the north-west. Then
they returned home to Gardar" [in the Eastern Settlement].
Björn Jónsson says that this account of the voyage was written by Halldor,
a priest of Greenland (who did not himself take part in the expedition,
but had only heard of it), to Arnold, the priest of Greenland who was
stranded in Iceland in 1266. It was then rewritten in Iceland (or Norway
?), perhaps by one of the copyists of the Hauksbók, who was unacquainted
with the conditions in Greenland; and afterwards it was again copied, and
perhaps "improved," at least once (by Björn Jónsson himself).
Unfortunately, the leaves of the Hauksbók which must have contained this
narrative have been lost. There is therefore a possibility that errors and
misunderstandings may have crept in, and such an absurdity as that "they
could not land on account of the bears" (though they nevertheless saw
ancient Eskimo dwellings!) shows clearly enough that the narrative is not
to be regarded as trustworthy in its details; but there is no reason to
doubt that the voyage was really made, and it must have extended far north
in Baffin's Bay. It cannot have taken place in the same year (1266) in
which the men spoken of came from Norðrsetur, but at the earliest in the
following year (1267).
We may probably regard as one of the objects of the expedition the
investigation of the northward extension of the Eskimo. The voyagers
sailed out through Vaigat (Króksfjord), in about 70-1/2° N. lat.; they met
with a southerly gale and thick weather, and were obliged to keep along
the coast; the south wind, which follows the line of the coast, also swept
the ice northwards, and in open sea they came far north in the Polar Sea;
but, if the statements are exact, they cannot have gone farther than a
point from which they were able to return to Króksfjardarheidr in four
days' sailing and rowing.[289] If we allow at the outside that in the
three days they sailed on an average one degree, or sixty nautical miles,
a day, which is a good deal along a coast, and if we put a good day's
rowing at forty miles, we shall get a total of 220 miles; or, if they
started from the northern end of Vaigat in 70-1/2°, they may have been as
far north as 74° N. lat., or about Melville Bay. In any case there can be
no question of their having been much farther north. Here the land is low,
and the inland ice ("jökull") comes right down to the sea, with bare
islands outside (see map, p. 259). Here they found old traces of Eskimo.
Then they returned south to Vaigat, but on the way thither they found
Eskimo dwellings (that is, in this case tents) on some islands at which
they put in.[290] It may be objected to this explanation that it does not
agree with the statement as to the sun's altitude. But here there must be
a misunderstanding or obscurity in the transmission of the text.
Króksfjardarheidr is always mentioned elsewhere as a particularly
well-known place in Nordrsetur, to which the Greenlanders resorted every
summer for seal-hunting, and it is far from likely that the statements as
to the midnight sun being visible, as to the frosts at night, and the
detailed information as to the sun's altitude (in a description otherwise
so concise), referred to so generally familiar a part of the country. It
is obvious that it must refer to the unknown regions, where they were
farthest north; but we thus lose the information as to the date on which
the sun's altitude was observed; it must in any case have been four days
before St. James's day, and it may have been more. Moreover, the
information given is of no use for working out the latitude. The
measurement of the shadow on a man lying athwartships does not help us
much, as the height of the gunwale above the man's position is not given.
The statement as to the sun's altitude at midnight might be of more value;
but whether "at home in the settlement" means the Western Settlement, or
whether it does not rather mean Gardar (in the Eastern Settlement) to
which they "returned home," we do not now know for certain, nor do we know
on what day it was that the sun was at an equal altitude in the
north-west. If St. James's day (July 25) is meant, then it is unfortunate
that the sun would not be visible above the horizon at Gardar when it was
in the north-west. According to the Julian Calendar, which was then in
use, July 25 fell seven or eight days later than now. If Midsummer Day is
intended, of which, however, there is no mention in the text, then the sun
would be about 3° 41' above the horizon in the north-west at Gardar. If it
is meant that on July 20 the sun was at this altitude, then the latitude
would be 74° 34' N. [cf. H. Geelmuyden, 1883a, p. 178]. But all this is
uncertain. We only know that the travellers saw the sun above the horizon
at midnight. If we suppose that at least the whole of the sun's disc was
above the horizon, and that it was St. James's day, then they must at any
rate have been north of 71° 48' N. lat. (as the sun's declination was
about 17° 54' on July 25 in the thirteenth century).[291] If the date was
earlier, then they may have been farther south.
[Illustration: From an Icelandic MS., fourteenth century]