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A BOOK OF
AMERICAN EXPLORERS
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Illustration: COLUMBUS AT THE MOUTH OF THE ORINOCO.
Young Folks’ Series.
A BOOK OF
AMERICAN EXPLORERS
BY
THOMAS WENTWORTH HIGGINSON
AUTHOR OF “YOUNG FOLKS’ HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES,” ETC.
BOSTON
LEE AND SHEPARD
1877
COPYRIGHT.
THOMAS WENTWORTH HIGGINSON.
1877.
_Electrotyped and Printed by
Rand, Avery, and Company,
117 Franklin Street,
Boston._
_DEDICATION._
TO
GEORGE BARRELL EMERSON,
WITHOUT WHOSE COUNSEL AND WHOSE EFFICIENT KINDNESS THIS
HISTORICAL SERIES WOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN UNDERTAKEN,
THIS VOLUME
IS RESPECTFULLY AND AFFECTIONATELY
INSCRIBED.
PREFACE.
IT has always seemed to me that the narratives of the early discoverers
and explorers of the American coast were as interesting as “Robinson
Crusoe,” and were, indeed, very much like it. This has led me to make a
series of extracts from these narratives, selecting what appeared to me
the most interesting parts, and altering only the spelling. The grammar
is not always correct; but it would be impossible to alter that without
changing the style of writing too much: so it has not been changed at
all. Wherever it has seemed necessary, I have put a word of my own in
brackets [thus]; but all else is the very language of the old writers,
or their translators. Whenever any thing has been omitted, great or
small, the place is marked by dots.... Some of the hardest words have
been explained by footnotes.
One great thing which I have wished my readers to learn is the charm of
an original narrative. We should all rather hear a shipwreck described
by a sailor who was on board the ship than to read the best account of
it afterwards prepared by the most skilful writer. What I most desire
is, that those who have here acquired a taste for these old stories
should turn to the books from which the extracts are taken, and follow
up the study for themselves. Then they can go with renewed interest to
the pages of Bancroft and Parkman, or at least to my own “Young Folks’
History,” for the thread on which these quaint narratives may be strung.
The explorers of various nations are represented in this book.
There are Northmen, Italians, Englishmen, Frenchmen, Spaniards, and
Dutchmen. Where the original narrative was in some foreign language,
that translation has been chosen which gives most of the spirit of the
original; and Mr. Cabot’s versions of the Norse legends were especially
selected for this reason. It seemed proper to begin the book with these;
and it is brought down to the time when the Virginia and Massachusetts
colonies, with that of the New Netherlands, were fairly planted on the
American shore.
Possibly, at some future time, I may recommence with the Massachusetts
colonies, and tell their story, down to the Revolution; either in a
book of extracts, like this, or in my own words.
T. W. H.
NEWPORT, R.I., March 1, 1877.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
I. THE LEGENDS OF THE NORTHMEN (985‒1008)
1. How the Northmen discovered North America
2. The Voyage of Leif the Lucky
3. Leif finds Vines, and goes back to Greenland
4. Thorvald, Leif’s Brother, goes to Vinland
5. Karlsefni’s Adventures
II. COLUMBUS AND HIS COMPANIONS (1492‒1503)
1. The First Letter from Columbus
2. The Second Voyage of Columbus
3. Columbus reaches the Mainland
4. Columbus at the Mouth of the Orinoco
5. Columbus thinks himself near the Earthly Paradise
6. Daring Deed of Diego Mendez
7. How Diego Mendez got Food for Columbus
8. How Diego Mendez saved Columbus
9. Appeal of Columbus in his Old Age
III. CABOT AND VERRAZZANO (1497‒1524)
1. First News of John and Sebastian Cabot
2. Sebastian Cabot’s Voyage
3. Verrazzano’s Letter to the King
IV. THE STRANGE VOYAGE OF CABEZA DE VACA (1528‒1533)
1. The Strange Voyage
2. Cabeza de Vaca saved by Indians
3. Cabeza de Vaca’s Captivity
4. The Indians of the Gulf of Mexico
5. Cabeza de Vaca’s Escape
V. THE FRENCH IN CANADA (1534‒1536)
1. Cartier’s Visit to Bay of Chaleur
2. Cartier sets up a Cross
3. Cartier ascends the St. Lawrence
4. How the Indians tried to frighten Cartier
5. How Cartier reached Hochelaga, now Montreal
6. The Festivities at Hochelaga
VI. ADVENTURES OF DE SOTO (1538‒1542)
1. How De Soto set sail
2. De Soto attacks the Indians, and finds a Fellow
Countryman
3. The Story of John Ortiz
4. De Soto discovers the Mississippi
5. De Soto’s Vain Attempts to reach the Sea
6. Death and Burial of De Soto
VII. THE FRENCH IN FLORIDA (1562‒1565)
1. Jean Ribaut in Florida
2. Alone in the New World
3. Laudonnière’s Search for the Colonists
4. Capture of Fort Caroline by the Spaniards
VIII. SIR HUMPHREY GILBERT (1583)
IX. THE LOST COLONIES OF VIRGINIA (1584‒1590)
1. The First Voyage to Virginia
2. Visit to an Indian Princess
3. Adventures of the First Virginia Colony
4. The Second English Colony in Virginia
5. Search for the Lost Colony
X. UNSUCCESSFUL NEW ENGLAND SETTLEMENTS (1602‒1607)
1. Gosnold’s Fort at Cuttyhunk
2. Captain Waymouth explores the Penobscot
3. The Popham Colony on the Kennebec
4. Captain Gilbert’s Adventure with Indians
XI. CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH (1606‒1631)
1. The Virginia Colony
2. The Colonists
3. Captain Smith’s Capture by Indians
4. Captain Smith and Pocahontas
5. King Powhatan
6. A Virginia Princess
7. An Indian Dance in Virginia
8. Indian Children
9. “The Planter’s Pleasure and Profit”
10. The Glories of Fishing
11. Visit of Pocahontas to London
12. First Buildings of the Virginia Colonists
13. Captain Smith’s Recollections
XII. CHAMPLAIN ON THE WAR-PATH (1609)
XIII. HENRY HUDSON AND THE NEW NETHERLANDS (1609‒1626)
1. Discovery of the Hudson River
2. Indian Traditions of Hudson’s Arrival
3. Hudson’s Last Voyage, and how he was set adrift in
the Ice
4. Dutch Settlement of the New Netherlands
XIV. THE PILGRIMS AT PLYMOUTH (1620‒1621)
1. Sailing of the Pilgrims
2. Miles Standish at Cape Cod
3. The First Encounter
4. The Landing on Plymouth Rock
5. Plymouth Village founded
6. “Welcome, Englishmen!”
XV. THE MASSACHUSETTS BAY COLONY (1629‒1631)
1. Voyage of the Massachusetts Colonists
2. The Puritans in Salem Harbor
3. The Four Elements in New England
4. A Sea-Adventure of the Puritans
5. Governor Winthrop’s Night out of Doors
6. The Privations of the Puritans
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
DESIGNED AND ENGRAVED UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF
GEORGE T. ANDREW.
1. Columbus at the Mouth of the Orinoco
2. A Norse Ship
3. Esquimau Boat
4. Dutch Man-of-War
5. Reception of Columbus by Ferdinand and Isabella
6. Fleet of Columbus
7. Ship of the Fifteenth Century
8. Portrait of Verrazzano
9. Verrazzano in Newport Harbor
10. Indians making Canoes
11. Cabeza de Vaca building the Boat
12. Portrait of Jacques Cartier
13. Cartier raising a Cross on the St. Charles River
14. Indians trying to frighten Cartier
15. Portrait of De Soto
16. Landing of De Soto
17. Burial of De Soto
18. Indians in Canoe
19. Ribaut’s Pillar decorated by Indians
20. Fort Caroline
21. Portrait of Menendez
22. Indian Village in Virginia
23. Baptism of First Child in Virginia
24. The Explorers looking at the Tree
25. Palisaded Town
26. Gosnold’s Fort
27. Captain Weymouth sailing up the Penobscot
28. Portrait of James I.
29. Old Print of Smith’s Capture
30. Facsimile Illustration of Pocahontas saving the Life of Smith
31. Indian Dance
32. Cod-Fishing
33. Portrait of Pocahontas
34. Portrait of Champlain
35. Champlain on the War-Path
36. Hudson in the Highlands
37. Indians on Board “The Half-Moon”
38. Settlement on the Hudson River
39. Delph’s Haven
40. “The Mayflower” in Provincetown
41. Portrait of Governor Winslow
42. Sword of Standish
43. Sunday on Clark’s Island
44. Landing of Mary Chilton
45. Meeting of Captain Standish and Massasoit
46. Governor Carver’s Chair
47. Portrait of Francis Higginson
48. Governor Endicott
49. First Church in Salem
50. Old Planter’s House at Salem
51. Portrait of Governor Winthrop
52. Famine among the Pilgrims
BOOK I.
THE LEGENDS OF THE NORTHMEN.
(A.D. 985‒1008.)
THESE extracts are taken from two Icelandic works called _Tháttr
Eireks Rauda_ (the piece about Eirek the Red) and _Graenlendinga
Thátt_ (the piece about the Greenlanders). These passages were
translated by J. Elliot Cabot, Esq., and were published in “The
Massachusetts Quarterly Review” for March, 1849.
It is now the general belief of historians, that these legends
are mainly correct; and that the region described as Vinland
was a part of the North-American Continent. Beyond this we do
not know. The poet Whittier has written thus of these early
explorers, in his poem called “The Norsemen:”――
“What sea-worn barks are those which throw
The light spray from each rushing prow?
Have they not in the North Sea’s blast
Bowed to the waves the straining mast?
Their frozen sails the low, pale sun
Of Thule’s night has shone upon;
Flapped by the sea-wind’s gusty sweep,
Round icy drift and headland steep.
Wild Jutland’s wives and Lochlin’s daughters
Have watched them fading o’er the waters,
Lessening through driving mist and spray,
Like white-winged sea-birds on their way.
Onward they glide; and now I view
Their iron-armed and stalwart crew:
Joy glistens in each wild blue eye
Turned to green earth and summer sky:
Each broad, seamed breast has cast aside
Its cumbering vest of shaggy hide:
Bared to the sun, and soft warm air,
Streams back the Norseman’s yellow hair.
I see the gleam of axe and spear;
The sound of smitten shields I hear,
Keeping a harsh and fitting time
To Saga’s chant and Runic rhyme.”
THE LEGENDS OF THE NORTHMEN.
I.――HOW THE NORTHMEN DISCOVERED NORTH AMERICA.
[About the year 860, a Danish sailor named Gardar was driven
upon the shores of Iceland, after which that island was settled
by a colony from Norway. About a hundred years later, Greenland
was settled from Iceland; Eirek the Red being the first to make
the voyage. With him went one Heriulf, whose son Biarni had been
in the habit of passing every other winter with his father, and
then sailing on distant voyages. Then happened what follows.]
THAT same summer (985 or 986) came Biarni with his ship to Eyrar
(Iceland), in the spring of which his father had sailed from the island.
These tidings seemed to Biarni weighty, and he would not unload his
ship. Then asked his sailors[1] what he meant to do. He answered, that
he meant to hold to his wont,[2] and winter with his father; “and I
will bear for Greenland, if you will follow me thither.” All said they
would do as he wished. Then said Biarni, “Imprudent they will think our
voyage, since none of us has been in the Greenland Sea.”
Illustration: A NORSE SHIP.
Yet they bore out to sea as soon as they were bound,[3] and sailed
three days, till the land was sunk.[4] Then the fair wind fell off, and
there arose north winds and fogs, and they knew not whither they fared;
and so it went for many days. After that, they saw the sun, and could
then get their bearings. Then they hoisted sail, and sailed that day
before they saw land; and they counselled with themselves what land
that might be. But Biarni said he thought it could not be Greenland.
They asked him whether he would sail to the land, or not. “This is my
counsel, to sail nigh to the land,” said he. And so they did, and soon
saw that the land was without fells,[5] and wooded, and small heights
on the land; and they left the land to larboard, and let the foot of
the sail look towards land.[6] After that, they sailed two days before
they saw another land. They asked if Biarni thought this was Greenland.
He said he thought it no more Greenland than the first; “for the
glaciers are very huge, as they say, in Greenland.” They soon neared
the land, and saw that it was flat land, and overgrown with wood.[7]
Then the fair wind fell. Then the sailors said that it seemed prudent
to them to land there; but Biarni would not. They thought they needed
both wood and water. “Of neither are you in want,” said Biarni; but he
got some hard speeches for that from his sailors. He bade them hoist
sail, and so they did; and they turned the bows from the land, and
sailed out to sea with a west-south wind three days, and saw a third
land; but that land was high, mountainous, and covered with glaciers.[8]
They asked then if Biarni would put ashore there; but he said he would
not, “for this land seems to me not very promising.” They did not lower
their sails, but held on along this land, and saw that it was an island;
but they turned the stern to the land, and sailed seawards with the
same fair wind. But the wind rose; and Biarni bade them shorten sail,
and not to carry more than their ship and tackle would bear. They
sailed now four days, then saw they land the fourth. Then they asked
Biarni whether he thought that was Greenland, or not. Biarni answered,
“That is likest to what is said to me of Greenland; and we will put
ashore.” So they did, and landed under a certain ness[9] at evening
of the day. And there was a boat at the ness, and there lived Heriulf,
the father of Biarni, on this ness; and from him has the ness taken
its name, and is since called Heriulfsness. Now fared[10] Biarni to
his father, and gave up sailing, and was with his father whilst Heriulf
lived, and afterwards lived there after his father.
II.――THE VOYAGE OF LEIF THE LUCKY.
[After Biarni had reached the Greenland settlement, and told
his story, he was blamed for not having explored these unknown
lands more carefully; and Leif the Lucky bought Biarni’s vessel,
and set sail with thirty-five companions, to see what he could
discover.]
(A.D. 999.) First they found the land which Biarni had found last.
Then sailed they to the land, and cast anchor, and put off a boat, and
went ashore, and saw there no grass. Mickle[11] glaciers were over all
the higher parts; but it was like a plain of rock from the glaciers
to the sea, and it seemed to them that the land was good for nothing.
Then said Leif, “We have not done about this land like Biarni, not to
go upon it: now I will give a name to the land, and call it Helluland
(flat-stone land).”[12] Then they went to their ship. After that they
sailed into the sea, and found another land, sailed up to it, and cast
anchor; then put off a boat, and went ashore. This land was flat, and
covered with wood and broad white sands wherever they went, and the
shore was low. Then said Leif, “From its make[13] shall a name be given
to this land; and it shall be called Markland (Woodland).”[14] Then
they went quickly down to the vessel. Now they sailed thence into the
sea with a north-east wind, and were out two days before they saw land;
and they sailed to land, and came to an island that lay north of the
land; and they went on to it, and looked about them in good weather,
and found that dew lay upon the grass;[15] and that happened that they
put their hands in the dew, and brought it to their mouths, and they
thought they had never known any thing so sweet as that was. Then they
went to their ship, and sailed into that sound that lay between the
island and a ness[16] which went northward from the land, and then
steered westward past the ness. There were great shoals at ebb-tide;
and their vessel stood up;[17] and it was far to see from the ship to
the sea. But they were so curious to fare to the land, that they could
not bear to bide till the sea came under their ship, and ran ashore
where a river flows out from a lake. But, when the sea came under their
ship, then took they the boat, and rowed to the ship, and took it up
into the river, and then into the lake, and there cast anchor, and bore
from the ship their skin-cots,[18] and made their booths.
Afterwards they took counsel to stay there that winter, and made there
great houses. There was no scarcity of salmon in the rivers and lakes,
and larger salmon than they had before seen. There was the land so
good, as it seemed to them, that no cattle would want fodder for the
winter. There came no frost in the winter, and little did the grass
fall off there. Day and night were more equal there than in Greenland
or Iceland.... But when they had ended their house-building, then said
Leif to his companions, “Now let our company be divided into two parts,
and the land kenned;[19] and one half of the people shall be at the
house at home, but the other half shall ken the land, and fare not
further than that they may come home at evening, and they shall not
separate.” Now so they did one time. Leif changed about, so that he
went with them (one day) and (the next) was at home at the house. Leif
was a mickle[20] man and stout, most noble to see, a wise man, and
moderate in all things.
III.――LEIF FINDS VINES, AND GOES BACK TO GREENLAND.
ONE evening it chanced that a man was wanting of their people; and this
was Tyrker, the Southerner.[21] Leif took this very ill; for Tyrker had
been long with his parents, and loved Leif much in his childhood. Leif
now chid his people sharply, and made ready to fare forth to seek him,
and twelve men with him. But when they had gone a little way, there
came Tyrker to meet them, and was joyfully received. Leif found at once
that his old friend was somewhat out of his mind: he was bustling and
unsteady-eyed, freckled in face, little and wizened in growth, but a
man of skill in all arts. Then said Leif to him, “Why wert thou so late,
my fosterer,[22] and separated from the party?” He talked at first a
long while in German, and rolled many ways his eyes, and twisted his
face; but they skilled not what he said. He said then in Norse, after a
time, “I went not very far; but I have great news to tell. I have found
grape-vines and grapes.”――“Can that be true, my fosterer?” quoth Leif.
“Surely it is true,” quoth he; “for I was brought up where there is no
want of grape-vines or grapes.” Then they slept for the night; but in
the morning Leif said to his sailors, “Now we shall have two jobs: each
day we will either gather grapes, or hew grape-vines, and fell trees,
so there will be a cargo for my ship;” and that was the counsel taken.
It is said that their long boat was filled with grapes. Now was hewn a
cargo for the ship; And when spring came they got ready, and sailed off;
and Leif gave a name to the land after its sort, and called it Vinland
(Wine-Land). They sailed then afterwards into the sea, and had a fair
wind until they saw Greenland, and the fells[23] under the glaciers....
After that he was called Leif the Lucky. Leif was now both well to do
and honored....
Now there was a great talk about Leif’s Vinland voyage; and Thorvald,
his brother, thought the land had been too little explored. Then said
Leif to Thorvald, “Thou shalt go with my ship, brother, if thou wilt,
to Vinland.”[24]
IV.――THORVALD, LEIF’S BROTHER, GOES TO VINLAND.
NOW Thorvald made ready for this voyage with thirty men, with the
counsel thereon of Leif, his brother. Then they fitted out their ship,
and bore out to sea (A.D. 1002): and there is nothing told of their
voyage before they came to Vinland, to Leif’s booths; and they laid up
their ship, and dwelt in peace there that winter, and caught fish for
their meat. But in the spring, Thorvald said they would get ready their
ship, and send their long-boat, and some men with it, along to the
westward of the land, and explore it during the summer. The land seemed
to them fair and woody, and narrow between the woods and the sea, and
of white sand. There were many islands and great shoals. They found
neither man’s abode nor beast’s; but, on an island to the westward,
they found a corn-shed of wood. More works of men they found not; and
they went back, and came to Leif’s booths in the fall. But the next
summer fared Thorvald eastward with the merchant-ship, and coasted to
the northward. Here a heavy storm arose as they were passing one of two
capes, and drove them up there, and broke the keel under the ship; and
they dwelt there long, and mended their ship. Then said Thorvald to his
companions, “Now will I that we raise up here the keel on the ness,[25]
and call it Keelness;”[26] and so they did.
After that, they sailed thence, and coasted to the eastward, and
into the mouths of the firths[27] that were nearest to them, and to a
headland that stretched out. This was all covered with wood: here they
brought the ship into harbor, and shoved a bridge on to the land, and
Thorvald went ashore with all his company. He said then, “Here it is
fair, and here would I like to raise my dwelling.” They went then to
the ship, and saw upon the sands within the headland three heights;
and they went thither, and saw there three skin-boats, and three men
under each. Then they divided their people, and laid hands on them all,
except one that got off with his boat. They killed these eight, and
went then back to the headland, and looked about them there, and saw
in the firth some heights, and thought they were dwellings. After that
there came a heaviness on them so great that they could not keep awake;
and all slumbered. Then came a call above them, so that they all awoke.
Thus said the call, “Awake, Thorvald, and all thy company, if thou
wilt keep thy life; and fare thou to thy ship, and all thy men, and
fare from the land of the quickest.”[28] Then came from the firth
innumerable skin-boats, and made toward them.
Thorvald said then, “We will set up our battle-shields, and guard
ourselves the best we can, but fight little against them.” So they did,
and the Skraelings[29] shot at them for a while, but then fled, each as
fast as he could. Then Thorvald asked his men if any of them was hurt:
they said they were not hurt. “I have got a hurt under the arm,” said
he; “for an arrow flew between the bulwarks and the shield under my arm;
and here is the arrow, and that will be my death. Now I counsel that ye
make ready as quickly as may be to return; but ye shall bear me to the
headland which I thought the likeliest place to build. It may be it
was a true word I spoke, that I should dwell there for a time. There
ye shall bury me, and set crosses at my head and feet, and call it
Krossanes[30] henceforth.” Greenland was then Christianized; but Eirek
the Red had died before Christianity came thither.
Now Thorvald died; but they did every thing according as he had said,
and then went and found their companions, and told each other the news
they had to tell, and lived there that winter, and gathered grapes and
vines for loading the ship. Then in the spring they made ready to sail
for Greenland, and came with their ship to Eireksfirth, and had great
tidings to tell to Leif.
V.――KARLSEFNI’S ADVENTURES.
[Karlsefni, a rich Norwegian, came to Greenland, staid at
Leif’s house, married a wife, and was finally persuaded to bring
a colony of sixty men and five women to Vinland.]
THIS agreement made Karlsefni and his seamen, that they should have
even handed[31] all that they should get in the way of goods. They had
with them all sorts of cattle, as they thought to settle there if they
might. Karlsefni begged Leif for his house in Vinland; but he said
he would lend him the house, but not give it. Then they bore out to
the sea with the ship, and came to Leif’s booths, hale and whole, and
landed there their cattle. There soon came into their hands a great and
good prize; for a whale was driven ashore, both great and good; then
they went to cut up the whale, and had no scarcity of food. The cattle
went up into the country; and it soon happened that the male cattle
became wild and unruly. They had with them a bull. Karlsefni had wood
felled, and brought to the ship, and had the wood piled on the cliff to
dry. They had all the good things of the country, both of grapes, and
of all sorts of game and other things.
Illustration: ESQUIMAU BOAT.
After the first winter came the summer; then they saw appear the
Skraelings, and there came from out the wood a great number of men.
Near by were their neat-cattle; and the bull took to bellowing, and
roared loudly, whereat the Skraelings were frightened, and ran off
with their bundles. These were furs and sable-skins, and skin-wares
of all kinds. And they turned toward Karlsefni’s booths, and wanted to
get into the house; but Karlsefni had the doors guarded. Neither party
understood the other’s language. Then the Skraelings took down their
bags, and opened them, and offered them for sale, and wanted, above all,
to have weapons for them. But Karlsefni forbade them to sell weapons.
He took this plan: he bade the women bring out their dairy-stuff[32]
for them; and, so soon as they saw this, they would have that, and
nothing more. Now this was the way the Skraelings traded: they bore
off their wares in their stomachs. But Karlsefni and his companions had
their bags and skin-wares, and so they parted. Now hereof is this to
say, that Karlsefni had posts driven strongly round about his booths,
and made all complete. At this time Gudrid, the wife of Karlsefni,
bore a man-child, and he was called Snorri. In the beginning of the
next winter the Skraelings came to them again, and were many more than
before; and they had the same wares as before. Then Karlsefni said to
the women, “Now bring forth the same food that was most liked before,
and no other.” And, when they saw it, they cast their bundles in over
the fence.... [But one of them being killed by one of Karlsefni’s men,
they all fled in haste, and left their garments and wares behind.]
“Now I think we need a good counsel,” said Karlsefni; “for I think
they will come for the third time in anger, and with many men. Now we
must do this: ten men must go out on that ness,[33] and show themselves
there; but another party must go into the wood, and hew a place for our
neat-cattle when the foe shall come from the wood; and we must take the
bull, and let him go before us.” But thus it was with the place where
they thought to meet, that a lake was on one side, and the wood on the
other. Now it was done as Karlsefni had said. Now came the Skraelings
to the place where Karlsefni had thought should be the battle; and now
there was a battle, and many of the Skraelings fell.
There was one large and handsome man among the Skraelings; and
Karlsefni thought he might be their leader. Now one of the Skraelings
had taken up an axe, and looked at it a while, and struck at one of his
fellows, and hit him, whereupon he fell dead; then the large man took
the axe, and looked at it a while, and threw it into the sea as far
as he could. But after that they fled to the wood, each as fast as he
could; and thus ended the strife. Karlsefni and his companions were
there all that winter; but in the spring Karlsefni said he would stay
there no longer, and would fare to Greenland. Now they made ready for
the voyage, and bare thence much goods, namely, grape-vines and grapes
and skin-wares. Now they sailed into the sea, and came whole with their
ships to Eireksfirth, and were there that winter.
Illustration: DUTCH MAN-OF-WAR.