Le Nord : revue internationale des Pays de Nord - 01.06.1940, Page 140
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LE NORD
of any traces left by the explorers on the American continent.
Yet the difficulty has not deterred men from trying their hand
at finding a solution, but among the many offered, covering the
east coast of America from Labrador to Florida, none has so
far obtained a general acceptance, partly, I believe, because most
of those who put forth those solutions have disregarded certain
fundamental points which must be kept in mind at the outset
of any speculation on the matter. This is especially important
in case of Karlsefni’s voyage which had colonization as its aim,
and the description of that voyage in the Saga is the one which
offers the greatest possibility for a solution. The description of
the other voyages in the Tale are too vague to form a tangible
basis for one.
The old Icelanders were above all farmers who besides lived
of fishing and hunting. They would never settle in a country
which offered only the two last mentioned methods of living.
This is to be kept in mind when we try to identify the places
mentioned in the Saga, and for that matter also in the Tale.
They would only stop at places where there was a chance of
grazing for their livestock and where they could establish them-
selves as farmers.
Another thing to be remembered when attempting to find
the route from Greenland to Yinland is that this route was first
established from south to north, and that the explorers who fol-
lowed in the footsteps of Leif had to retrace his steps in the
opposite direction. Leif lost his way somewhere in the At-
lantic and was carried by winds to a country where he found
wild grapes. He could not have found them farther north than
Passamaquoddy Bay which the botanists tell us is the northermost
limit of the plant on the Atlantic coast. Hence Leif’s landing
place must have been somewhere in New England. We may
assume that he did not tarry there long and that he was anxious
to proceed on his voyage to Greenland, and the direction to fol-
low was naturally the coastline towards northeast. He could do
this until he reached the north coast of Cape Breton Island
where the coast turns south. His only choice then was to go
out to sea northwards. It is very unlikely that he could have
seen Newfoundland from across Cabot Strait, hence he may have
missed that country and got into the Gulf of St. Lawrence. There
he sailed northwards until he struck the south coast of Labrador