[35] Now called the Shetland islands, but the name is printed on the early maps Hetland; from Swedish het, hot, and land, land. The group lies about 180 miles from Norway, between 59° 50´ and 60° 50´ north latitude.
[36] The Fer öe or Far islands lie about 170 miles northwest of the Shetland group, and are between 61° 20´ and 62° 25´ north latitude. The name is derived from fer, far, (Swedish,) and öe, islands.
[37] Iceland lies between latitude 63° 24´ and 66° 33´ N. and longitude 13° 31´ and 24° 17´ W. It is one hundred and sixty miles east of Greenland, six hundred west of Norway, and two hundred and fifty northwest of the Fer öe, or Far islands.
[38] History of the Northmen, by Henry Wheaton. London, 1831. pp. 17, 18.
Iceland, or the journal of a residence in that island, during the years 1814 and 1815, by Ebenezer Henderson, vol. i. Intro. pp. xv. and 308.
[39] “Men of experience say, who have been born in Greenland, and have recently come from Greenland, that from Stadt, in the north part of Norway, to Horns, on the east coast of Iceland, is seven days’ sailing directly westward.”—Antiqvitates Americanæ, sive scriptores septentrionales rerum Ante-Columbianarum in America. Edidit Societas Regia Antiqvariorum Septentrionalium. Hafniæ, 1837. Ivar Bardsen’s treatise. p. 302.
[40] “He who sails from Iceland [to Greenland] must steer his course from Snefelsnes, which is twelve nautical miles (tholldt soes) farther to the west than the mentioned Reychenes, and for a day and a night he will sail due west, but then he must steer to the southwest to avoid the ice that adheres to Gunnbjörn’s rocks. Then he must hold his course one day and one night to the northwest, which will bring him straight to that high land of Greenland called Hvarf, under which lie the mentioned Herjulfsnes and Sand-haffn.”
“They who wish to sail direct from Bergen [in Norway] to Greenland without touching Iceland, must sail due west until they find themselves twelve nautical miles (xii uger soes) south of Reychenes, a promontory on the south coast of Iceland, and by holding this course toward the west they will come to the high land of Greenland called Hvarf.”—Antiq. Amer. Ivar Bardsen’s treatise. pp. 304, 305; 303, 304.
[41] Bygd, inhabited land, a place of residence, an abode.
[42] Ubygd, an unpeopled tract, desert.