LEIF ERICSON:
THE FIRST EUROPEAN TO EXPLORE, AND
SETTLE IN, AMERICA.
“From Greenland’s icy mountains; from Iceland’s rocky shore,
We sailed the ship which forged ahead and ruddy oarsmen bore;
We found the wild grape growing; we scoured the river’s bed,
And chased the moose whose horns were broad, whose blood was rich and red.
Our axes felled the wild-wood, our spears the Skraelings slew,
We sank their round skin-barges as the cutting North Winds blew,