[238] In Iceland the women are accustomed to bring travelers dry clothes.
[239] All of these verses are extremely obscure and elliptical, though far more intelligible to the modern mind than the compositions which belonged to a still older period. All the chief men of Iceland practiced the composition of verse. Chaucer makes his Parson apologize for his inability to imitate the practice.
[240] See the Saga of Burnt Nial.
[241] These sledges were used in drawing hay, as the roads were then, as now, too poor for carts.
[242] This is the only paragraph which applies directly to the subject in hand. The following narrative will bring Biörn to notice again.
[243] Few persons will infer much from this; nothing is easier than to find resemblances in language.
[244] The language indicates that they were riding horseback, though it is not conclusive. And at the period referred to, there were no horses in America, they having been introduced by the Spaniards, after the discovery by Columbus. At least, such is the common opinion.
[245] This is found in Annales Islandorum Regii, which gives the history of Iceland from the beginning down to 1307. Also in Annales Flateyensis, and in Annales Reseniini. Eric was appointed bishop of Greenland, but performed no duties after his consecration, and eventually resigned that see, in order to undertake the mission to Vinland. He is also spoken of in two works, as going to Vinland with the title of Bishop of Greenland, a title which he had several years before his actual consecration.
[246] The manuscript is deficient here.
[247] The Feather Islands are mentioned in the Lögmanns Annall, or, Annals of the Governors of Iceland, and Annales Skalholtini, or Annals of the Bishopric of Skalholt, written in the middle of the fourteenth century, long before Columbus went to Iceland. Beamish suggests that these are the Penguin and Bacaloa Islands.