Lögberg-Heimskringla - 05.12.1980, Síða 5

WINNIPEG, FÖSTUDAGUR 5. DESEMBER 1980-5
Eskimo or Indian
Reports have not yet been received
from a recent conference held at the
Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y.
One thing is certain, however, i.e.
the conference must have considered
quite carefully the archaeological
evidence of an early Scandinavian site
or settlement first uncovered in 1964
by Dr. Helge Ingstad and his team of
archaeologists at L'Anse aux Meadows
in Newfoundland. Dr. Ingstad's
famous discovery attracted an im-
mediate and continuing interest. In the
fall of 1965, to give an example,
SR/Research Science & Humanity
reported that three American archaeo-
logical authorities had investigated the
L'Anse aux Meadows site. On this oc-
casion one of them, Dr. Henry B. Col-
lins of the Smithsonian Institute in
Washington, gave the following report
on the "ethnological evidence" sup-
porting the theory of a northerly lying
Vinland:
"In one respect, the Icelandic Sagas
are consistent and explicit: namely, in
the description of the Skraelings, the
native inhabitants of Vinland and
Markland. Whenever the Skraelings
are mentioned . . . their physical ap-
pearance, boats, clothing, houses,
weapons, food . . . the description is
Iceland Review
gefur út
bók á ensku.
Haraldur J. Hamar ritstjóri Iceland
Review mun á næstunni gefa út vand-
aða og mikið rit á ensku um fiskveiðar
og fiskiðnað á íslandi. í bókinni verður
greinargerð um íslenskar fiskveiðar
árið 1980 og vandlega skýrt frá
aðferðum við verkun og hreinsun, út-
flutningi og markaðsmálum tæknilegri
þróun og ýmsu öðru.
Þess má geta að Iceland Review
hefur nú stýrt umfangsmikilli bókaút-
gáfu á erlendum málum í tvo áratugi.
Þriðja heftið af Iceland Review á
þessu ári er nýkomið út og flytur að
vanda ýmiss konar girnilegan fróðleik.
íslendingar búsettir í
Kanada og Bandaríkjunum
mótmæla flugvallargjaldi
Síðustu mánuði hefur Þorsteinn Þor-
steinsson sem búsettur er í Boston
U.S.A. staðið fyrir undirskriftasöfnun
til þess að mótamæla óheyrilega háu
flugvallargjaldi á íslandi.
Þann 17. nóvember s.l. afhendi Þor-
steinn Halldóri Asgrímssyni, formanni
fjárhags - og viðskiptanefndar neðri
deildar Alþingis mótmælaundirskriftir
507 manna í Norður-Ameríku vegna
skattsins.
Morgunblaðið greinir svo frá þann
19. nóvember s.L:
— Þegar þessi skattur eða brott-
farargjald frá íslandi var lagt á nam það
5000 krónum eða 20 dollurum. Um
gjaldið gilda þær reglur, að farþegar,
sem koma gagngert til íslands þurfa að
greiða það en hins vegar ekki svo-
nefndir "stop over" farþegar, það er
fólk, sem hefur hér viðdvöl í einn
sólarhring eða svo, til dæmis á leið
sinni frá New York til Luxemborgar.
Þetta hefur verið hæsta brottfarargjald
hjá öllum vestrænum þjóðum. Starfs-
mönnum flugfélaga hafa verið gefin
um það fyrirmæli af ríkisvaldinu að
innheimta gjaldið. Þeir fá ekki að fara
úr landi, sem greiða það ekki, sagði
Þorsteinsson.
— Gjaldið bætist þannig ofan á
farseðil erlendra ferðamanna og ís-
lendinga búsettra erlendis. Reynslan í
flugmálum undanfarið sýnir afleiðing-
ar þess, ef ferðamenn hætta að koma
hingað. Allir hljóta að vera sammála
um að Islendingum erlendis sé ekki
gert óeðlilega erfitt og kostnaðarsamt
að heimsækja fjölskyldur sínar hér á
landi, sagði Þorsteinn og bætti því við,
að barnmargar fjölskyldur yrðu að
sjálfsögðu einna verst fyrir barðinu á
þessari skattheimtu. Hann minnti á, að
Þorsteinn Þorsteinsson.
26. mars sl. hefði birst um það frétt hér
í blaðinu, að flugvallargjald hefði verið
hækkað um 60% og ráðgert væri, að
framvegis fylgdi það verðbólgunni.
Þorsteinn Þorsteinsson sagðist hafa
beitt sér fyrir söfnun mótmælanna í
Norður-Ameríku og hefðu undirtektir
verið góðar. Áður en til söfnunarinnar
kom hefði árangurslaust verið vakið
máls á því erlendis við íslenska
embættismenn, að gjald þetta yrði fellt
niður. Sagðist hann ætla að halda
áfram að safna nöfnum og senda þau til
Alþingis, til þess að þingmönnum yrði
ljóst, að stór kjarni Islendinga vestan
hafs teldi nauðsynlegt að fella gjaldið
niður. Vitnaði hann meðal annars til
orða Þóris Gröndals, sem búsettur er í
Flórída, í bréfi til sín, þar sem Þórir
hefði talið, að þessi skattheimta spillti
rekstri íslenskra flugfélaga vegna
áhrifanna á flugfargjaldið og unnt yrði
að auka ferðir útlendinga til Islands."
of Eskimos. For example:
Every reference in the Sagas to the
boats of the Skraelings says that the
boats were of skin.The Skraelings
came "in skin-canoes, and staves were
brandished from the boats, with a
noise like flails, and they were revol-
ved in the same direction in which the
sun moves ..." These "staves" were
the double-bladed paddles used by
Eskimos in kayaks. The Norseman had
found "three skin-canoes, with three
men under each." These canoes would
be umiaks, the skin-covered open boat
the Eskimos used when travelling and
under which they slept at night.
Having killed eight of the nine
Skraelings sleeping under the boats,
the Norsemen "discovered within the
firth certain hillocks, which they con-
cluded must be habitations." A "hil-
lock" would be an accurate descrip-
tion of the Eskimo turf-covered under-
ground house.
In another account the Norsemen
"found five Skraelings, clad in skin-
doublets, lying asleep near the sea.
There were ves'sels beside them, con-
taining animal marrow, mixed with
blood." A "skin-doublet" would be an
apt description of the short skin coat
worn by the eastern Eskimos, and
animal marrow mixed with blood is a
favorite Eskimo food.
The Skraelings are described in the
Sagas as "swarthy men, and ill-
looking, and the hair of their heads
was ugly.They had great eyes, and
were broad of cheek." This descrip-
tion, though not too explicit, suggest
Eskimo rather than Indian, as does the
further statement that one of the
Skraelings was bearded, for the In-
dians wore no beards.
The Skraelings are said to have had
"war slings," with which they hurled
missiles . . . clearly a reference to the
Eskimo throwing-board or spear-
thrower.
If I am correct in interpreting the
ethnological evidence in the Sagas as
indicating that the Skraelings were
Eskimos, then the southern-most loca-
tion for Vinland is Newfoundland."
Even though one hesitates either to
accept or to reject Dr. Collin's report,
the fact remains that the earliest refer-
ence in Icelandic maintains that early
explorers believed that both
Greenland and Vinland were in-
habited by people whom the Green-
landers (the founders of the Icelandic
settlements in Greenland) called
Skraelings. This reference is contained
in the following paragraph in Ari the
Learned's Book of the Icelanders (from
about 1122):
The country which is called Green-
land was discovered and settled from
Iceland. Erik the Red was the name of
a man from Breidafjord who went
from here thither and took possession
of land at the place which since has
been called Eriksfjord.He gave a name
to the country and called it Greenland,
and said that people would desire to go
thither, if the country had a good
name. Both east and west in the coun-
try they found human habitations,
fragments of skin boats and stone im-
plements from which it was evident
that the same people had been there as
inhabited Vinland and whom the
Greenlanders called Skrælings. He be-
gan colonizing the country fourteen or
fifteen winters before Christianity
came to Iceland (985 or 986) according
to what a man who himself had gone
thither with Erik the Red told Thorkel
Gellisson in Greenland.
H.B.
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