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  NORTHMEN IN AMERICA.

  985-1015.




  THE

  DISCOVERY OF AMERICA

  BY THE

  NORTHMEN.

  985-1015.


  A DISCOURSE DELIVERED BEFORE THE NEW
  HAMPSHIRE HISTORICAL SOCIETY,
  APRIL 24, 1888.

  BY THE REV. EDMUND F. SLAFTER, D. D.,

  A CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE SOCIETY, HONORARY MEMBER OF THE
  ROYAL HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF GREAT BRITAIN, ETC., ETC.

  CONCORD, N. H.:

  PRIVATELY PRINTED.

  1891.

  REPRINTED FROM THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE NEW HAMPSHIRE HISTORICAL
  SOCIETY.




DISCOURSE.


On the 29th day of October, 1887, a statue erected to the memory of
Leif, the son of Erik, the discoverer of America, was unveiled in the
city of Boston, in the presence of a large assembly of citizens. The
statue is of bronze, a little larger than life-size, and represents the
explorer standing upon the prow of his ship, shading his eyes with his
hand, and gazing towards the west. This monument[1] suggests the subject
to which I wish to call your attention, viz., the story of the discovery
of this continent by the Scandinavians nearly nine hundred years ago.

I must here ask your indulgence for the statement of a few preliminary
historical facts in order that we may have a clear understanding of this
discovery.

About the middle of the ninth century, Harald Haarfager, or the
fair-haired, came to the throne of Norway. He was a young and handsome
prince, endowed with great energy of will and many personal attractions.
It is related that he fell in love with a beautiful princess. His
addresses were, however, coolly rejected with the declaration that when
he became king of Norway in reality, and not merely in name, she would
give him both her heart and her hand. This admonition was not
disregarded by the young king. The thirty-one principalities into which
Norway was at that time divided were in a few years subjugated, and the
petty chieftains or princes who ruled over them became obedient to the
royal authority. The despotic rule, however, of the king was so
irritating and oppressive that many of them sought homes of greater
freedom in the inhospitable islands of the northern seas. Among the
rest, Iceland, having been discovered a short time before, was colonized
by them. This event occurred about the year 874. Notwithstanding the
severity of the climate and the sterility of the soil, the colony
rapidly increased in numbers and wealth, and an active commerce sprung
up with the mother country, and was successfully maintained. At the end
of a century, they had pushed their explorations still farther, and
Greenland was discovered, and a colony was planted there, which
continued to flourish for a long period.

About the year 985, a young, enterprising, and prosperous navigator, who
had been accustomed to carry on a trade between Iceland and Norway, on
returning from the latter in the summer of the year, found that his
father had left Iceland some time before his arrival, to join a new
colony which had been then recently planted in Greenland. This young
merchant, who bore the name of Bjarni, disappointed at not finding his
father in Iceland, determined to proceed on and pass the coming winter
with him at the new colony in Greenland. Having obtained what
information he could as to the geographical position of Greenland, this
intrepid navigator accordingly set sail in his little barque, with a
small number of men, in an unknown and untried sea, guided in his course
only by the sun, moon, and other heavenly bodies.[2] After sailing three
days they entirely lost sight of land. A north wind sprung up,
accompanied with a dense fog, which utterly shrouded the heavens from
their view, and left them at the mercy of the winds and the waves. Thus
helpless, they were borne along for many days in an open and trackless
ocean, they knew not whither. At length the fog cleared away, the blue
sky appeared, and soon after they came in sight of land. On approaching
near to it, they observed that it had a low, undulating surface, was
without mountains, and was thickly covered with wood. It was obviously
not the Greenland for which they were searching. Bearing away and
leaving the land on the west, after sailing two days, they again came in
sight of land. This was likewise flat and well wooded, but could not be
Greenland, as that had been described to them as having very high
snow-capped hills. Turning their prow from the land and launching out
into the open sea, after a sail of three days, they came in sight of
another country having a flat, rocky foreground, and mountains beyond
with ice-clad summits. This was unlike Greenland as it had been
described to them. They did not even lower their sails. They, however,
subsequently found it to be an island. Continuing on their course, after
sailing four days they came to Greenland, where Bjarni found his father,
with whom he made his permanent abode.

This accidental discovery of lands hitherto unknown, and farther west
than Greenland, and differing in important features from any countries
with which they were familiar, awakened a very deep interest wherever
the story was rehearsed. Bjarni was criticised, and blamed for not
having made a thorough exploration and for bringing back such a meagre
account of what he had seen. But while these discoveries were the
frequent subject of conversation, both in Norway and in the colonies of
Iceland and Greenland, it was not until fifteen years had elapsed that
any serious attempt was made to verify the statement of Bjarni, or to
secure any advantages from what he had discovered.

About the year 1000, Leif, the son of Erik, an early colonist of
Greenland, determined to conduct an expedition in search of the new
lands which had been seen on the accidental voyage of Bjarni. He
accordingly fitted out a ship, and manned it with thirty-five men.
Shaping their course by the direction and advice of Bjarni, their first
discovery was the country which Bjarni had seen last. On going ashore
they saw no grass, but what appeared to be a plain of flat stones
stretching back to icy mountains in the distance. They named it
flat-stone land, or Helluland.

Again proceeding on their voyage, they came to another land which was
flat, covered with wood, with low, white, sandy shores, answering to the
second country seen by Bjarni. Having landed and made a personal
inspection, they named the place woodland, or Markland.

Sailing once more into the open sea with a north-east wind, at the end
of two days they came to a third country, answering to that which Bjarni
had first seen. They landed upon an island situated at the mouth of a
river. They left their ship in a sound between the island and the river.
The water was shallow, and the receding tide soon left their ship on the
beach. As soon, however, as their ship was lifted by the rising tide,
they floated it into the river, and from thence into a lake, or an
expansion of the river above its mouth. Here they landed and constructed
temporary dwellings, but having decided to pass the winter, they
proceeded to erect buildings for their more ample accommodation. They
found abundance of fish in the waters, the climate mild, and the nature
of the country such that they thought cattle would not even require
feeding or shelter in winter. They observed that day and night were more
equal than in Greenland or Iceland. The sun was above the horizon on
the shortest day, if we may accept the interpretation of learned
Icelandic scholars[3], from half past seven in the morning till half
past four in the afternoon. Having completed their house-building, they
devoted the rest of the season to a careful and systematic exploration
of the country about them, not venturing, however, so far that they
could not return to their homes in the evening.

In this general survey they discovered grapes growing in great
abundance, and timber of an excellent quality and highly valued in the
almost woodless region from whence they came. With these two commodities
they loaded their ship, and in the spring returned to Greenland. Leif
gave to the country, which he had thus discovered and explored, a name,
as he said, after its "qualities," and called it Vineland.

The next voyage was made by Thorvald, a brother of Leif, probably in the
year 1002. The same ship was employed, and was manned with thirty men.
They repaired at once to the booths or temporary houses constructed by
Leif, where they passed three winters, subsisting chiefly upon fish,
which they took in the waters near them. In the summers they explored
the country in various directions to a considerable distance. They
discovered no indications of human occupation except on an island, where
they found a corn-shed constructed of wood. The second year they
discovered native inhabitants in great numbers, armed with missiles, and
having a vast flotilla of boats made of the skins of animals. With these
natives they came into hostile conflict, in which Thorvald received a
wound of which he subsequently died. He was buried at a spot selected by
himself, and crosses were set up at his head and at his feet. After
another winter, having loaded their ship with grapes and vines, the
explorers returned to Greenland.

The death of Thorvald was a source of deep sorrow to his family, and his
brother Thorstein resolved to visit Vineland and bring home his body. He
accordingly embarked in the same ship, with twenty-five chosen men, and
his wife Gudrid. The voyage proved unsuccessful. Having spent the whole
summer in a vain attempt to find Vineland, they returned to Greenland,
and during the winter Thorstein died, and the next year his widow Gudrid
was married to Thorfinn Karlsefni, a wealthy Icelandic merchant.

In the year 1007, three ships sailed for Vineland, one commanded by
Thorfinn Karlsefni, one by Bjarni Grimolfson, and the third by Thorvard,
the husband of Freydis, the half-sister of Leif, the son of Erik. There
were altogether in the three ships, one hundred and sixty men, and
cattle of various kinds taken with them perhaps for food, or possibly to
be useful in case they should decide to make a permanent settlement.
They attempted, however, nothing beyond a careful exploration of the
country, which they found beautiful and productive, its forests
abounding in wild game, its rivers well stocked with fish, and the soil
producing a spontaneous growth of native grains. They bartered trifles
with the natives for their furs, but they were able to hold little
intercourse with them. The natives were so exceedingly hostile that the
lives of the explorers were in constant peril, and they consequently,
after some bloody skirmishes, abandoned all expectation of making a
permanent settlement. At the end of three years, Karlsefni and his
voyagers returned to Greenland.

In the year 1011 Freydis, the half-sister of Leif, inspired by the hope
of a profitable voyage, entered into a partnership with two merchants,
and passed a winter in Vineland. She was a bold, masculine woman, of
unscrupulous character, and destitute of every womanly quality. She
fomented discord, contrived the assassination of her partners in the
voyage, and early the next spring, having loaded all the ships with
timber and other commodities, she returned with rich and valuable
cargoes for the Greenland market.

Such is the story of the discovery of America in the last years of the
tenth and the early years of the eleventh centuries.

These four expeditions of which I have given a very brief outline,
passing over many interesting but unimportant details, constitute all of
which there remains any distinct and well defined narrative. Other
voyages may have been made during the same or a later period. Allusions
are found in early Scandinavian writings, which may confirm the
narratives which we have given, but add to them nothing really essential
or important.

The natural and pertinent question which the historical student has a
right to ask is this: On what evidence does this story rest? What reason
have we to believe that these voyages were ever made?

I will endeavor to make the answer to these inquiries as plain and clear
as possible.

There are two kinds of evidence by which remote historical events may be
established, viz., ancient writings, which can be relied upon as
containing truthful statements of the alleged events, and, secondly,
historical monuments and remains illustrating and confirming the written
narratives. Such events may be established by one of these classes of
evidence alone, or by both in concurrence.

Our attention shall be directed in the first place to certain ancient
writings in which the story of this discovery of America is found. What
are these ancient writings? and to what extent do they challenge our
belief?

At the time that the alleged voyages to this continent in the year 1000,
and a few years subsequent, were made, the old Danish or Icelandic
tongue, then spoken in Iceland and Greenland, the vernacular of the
explorers, had not been reduced to a written language, and of course the
narrative of these voyages could not at that time be written out. But
there was in that language an oral literature of a peculiar and
interesting character. It had its poetry, its romance, its personal
memoirs, and its history. It was nevertheless unwritten. It was carried
in the memory, and handed down from one generation to another. In
distinguished and opulent families men were employed to memorize and
rehearse on festivals and other great occasions, as a part of the
entertainment, the narratives, which had been skilfully put together and
polished for public recital, relating to the exploits and achievements
of their ancestors. These narratives were called sagas, and those who
memorized