“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.
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]
Nordrsetur at and south of Disco Bay