“This summer a ship came from Norway to Greenland. Thorfinn Karlsefni steered it. He was the son of Thórd Hesthöfdi (horse-head), son of Snorri, son of Thórd. Thorfinn was very wealthy, and during the winter stayed in Brattahlid (West Greenland) with Leif Eireksson. He soon fell in love with Gudrid (widow of Thorstein Eireksson), and asked her in marriage, but she referred the answer to Leif. Then she was betrothed to him, and their wedding took place that winter. The voyages to Vinland were talked over as they had been before, and both Gudrid and others strongly urged Karlsefni to go. He resolved to go, and manned the ship with sixty men and five women. Karlsefni and his men made an agreement that they would divide equally all goods which they might acquire. They took all kinds of cattle with them, for they intended, if possible, to settle in the land. Karlsefni asked Leif for his houses in Vinland, and Leif answered he would lend him the houses, but not give them. Thereupon they sailed out to sea, arrived safely at Leif’s booths, and carried their skin-bags ashore. They soon found good and plentiful provisions, for a large and fine whale had been driven ashore. They went there and cut up the whale, and there was no lack of food. The cattle walked up on land, and the male cattle soon became wild, and caused a deal of trouble. They had taken with them a bull. Karlsefni had trees felled and cut for his ship, and spread them on a rock to dry them. They used all the produce of the land, grapes, and all kinds of fish and good things. After this first winter the summer came, and they became aware of the presence of the Skrœlingjar. A large host of men came out of the forest, near the place where their cattle were. The bull began to bellow out ... very loudly, and the Skrœlingjar got scared and fled with their burdens, which consisted of grey fur and sable, and all kinds of skins. They went to Karlsefni’s house, and wanted to get in. Karlsefni had the door guarded. Neither understood the other’s speech. The Skrœlingjar took down their burdens and untied them, and offered to exchange them, chiefly for weapons. Karlsefni forbade his men to sell weapons; but tried a new way, and told the women to carry the produce of the cattle out to them. As soon as they saw it they wanted to buy it and nothing else. The end of the bargaining of the Skrœlingjar was that they carried the produce away in their stomachs, and Karlsefni and his companions kept their loads and skins. Then they went away. Karlsefni now had a strong palisade-wall made round his house, and they made themselves comfortable inside. About this time Gudrid, his wife, bore a boy, who was called Snorri. At the beginning of the second winter the Skrœlingjar came to them in much larger numbers than before, and with the same goods. Karlsefni said to the women: ‘Now you shall carry out the same food which was so abundant the last time, and nothing else.’ When the Skrœlingjar saw this, they threw their loads in over the wall. Gudrid sat in the door with the cradle of her son Snorri. A shadow appeared on the wall, and a woman entered in a black kirtle, rather short, with a lace round her head, with light brown hair, and a pale face. Gudrid had never seen such large eyes in a human head. She walked to her seat and said: ‘What is thy name?’ ‘I am called Gudrid, but what is thy name?’ said Gudrid. ‘I am called Gudrid,’ she answered. Gudrid, housewife, stretched out her hand to seat her at her side, but at the same moment she heard a loud crack, and the woman disappeared, and a Skrœlingi was slain by one of Karlsefni’s men, for he wanted to take their weapons. The Skrœlingjar hurried away, leaving their clothes and weapons there. No one except Gudrid had seen this woman. Karlsefni said: ‘Now we must make our plans, for I think they will visit us a third time with war and many men. Now let ten men go out on this ness and show themselves there, and the rest of our men shall go into the forest and make a clearing for our cattle, in order to attack the foe when they come out of the forest. We will also take our bull and let it walk in front of us.’ On one side of this place to which they were going was a lake, and on the other a forest. They followed Karlsefni’s advice. The Skrœlingjar came to the place which Karlsefni intended for battle. A fight ensued, and many of the Skrœlingjar fell. There was a large and fine man in the Skrœlingjar host, and Karlsefni thought him to be their chief. One of the Skrœlingjar took an axe, looked at it for awhile, aimed a blow at one of his own companions, and struck him so that he fell dead at once. The large man took the axe, looked at it for a while, and then threw it into the sea as far as he could. Then each fled into the forest as quickly as he could, and thus the fight ended. Karlsefni stayed there all that winter. In the spring he declared he would not stay there any longer, but wanted to go to Greenland. They made themselves ready, and took with them many good things, vines, grapes, and skins. They set sail, and landed with their ship safe in Eireksfjord, and stayed there during the winter” (Flateyjarbók, i.).
In another account we read:
“At Brattahlid in Greenland (about 1006–1007) there was great talk about going to look for Vinland the good, for it was said that good choice of land was to be had there. It went so far that two Icelanders, Karlsefni and Snorri prepared their vessel to seek for it in the spring. With them went two men before mentioned, Bjarni and Thorhall, in their own ship.... They had altogether one hundred and sixty men when they sailed from Greenland. They sailed southwards for two days and then saw land, put out their boat, and examined the country. They found there large slabs (hella), many of them twenty-four feet wide; there were also a great many foxes. They gave it the name of Helluland (Slab-land). Thence they sailed for two days, and turning from south to south-east, found a wooded country in which there were many animals. To the south-east of it there lay an island, where they killed a bear, and therefore called it Bjarney (Bear Island), and the land itself Markland (Forestland) (Nova Scotia?)” (Thorfinn Karlsefni’s Saga, c. vii.).
“One of the men who went with Thorfinn Karlsefni to Vinland was called Thorhall the Hunter. He had long been with Eirek (the Red, who discovered Greenland), and was his hunter in the summer and his bailiff (= bryti) in the winter” (See Volva. Thorfinn Karlsefni’s Saga, 408; Grönland’s Historiske Mindesmœrker, i.).
The fifth voyage to America, mentioned in the Sagas, is of least interest: Freydis, a sister of Leif, persuaded two brothers, Helgi and Finnbogi, to go over with her; when they reached America a quarrel broke out among them, and after the brothers had been killed by Freydis’ men, she returned to Greenland without having explored the country.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
THE ORKNEYS AND HEBRIDES.
Early expeditions—The Vikings and the Kings of Scotland—The Vikings in Wales.
We gather from the Sagas that, even for a long time before Harald Harfagr, the Orkneys and Hebrides were a great rendezvous for Vikings; and in the Orkneyinga Saga we read:
“Thus it is said that in the days of Harald Harfagr the Orkneys were settled; but ere that time there was a Viking rendezvous.”
Their geographical position, the prevailing winds during a great part of the year in the North Sea, favourable for vessels going westward from Norway or the Baltic, made these islands of special importance. There met many a Viking fleet, unknown to the enemy, previous to a concerted attack on Scotland, Northumberland, England, or Ireland.