Le Nord : revue internationale des Pays de Nord - 01.06.1940, Page 142

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LE NORD
eastcoast of Gaspé the voyagers must soon have reached the mouth
of Chaleur Bay, and it could hardly have failed to attract their
attention. In its late summer glory the land around the bay must
have presented a beautiful sight to the weary voyagers. Here
were mountains, forests, pasture lands, fishing and birds of all
kinds. Nothing is more likely than that they decided to winter
here. They were, however, beguiled by the warmth and plenty
of the summer and did not provide for the winter which proved
extremely severe and they nearly starved to death. In my opinion,
it is most probable that in this bay Straumfjord is to be sought.
Anyway Chaleur Bay hos this in common with it, that it is
beautiful and plentiful in summer, cold and desolate in winter.
Nor are wild grapes to be found there of whose absence Thorhall
Huntsman complained bitterly in two ditties which have been
preserved and which to all appearances are genuine. The dis-
appointment with regard to this and other features of the place
caused this poet and staunch heathen to leave the expedition
and return home, while Karlsefni, also dissatisfied with the place,
decided to go farther south in search of Vinland. He reached
finally a place which he called Hóp, meaning a landlocked lake
of a peculiar type, where in the surrounding country he found
wild grapes, pastures and woods. He spent the winter there, but
after hostile encounters with the natives finally decided to ab-
andon the idea of colonization and returned home. Where Hóp
was is impossible to say except that the presence of grapes makes
it probable that it was on the coast of New England. I do not
see any reason why it should be sought farther south. It is wise
to be conservative when estimating the length of voyages in those
early times. The passage in the Tale about the length of the day
in Vinland has been calculated by astronomers to refer to a
northern latitude of some 49 °. This observation must have been
made by the explorers the first winter they spent in Straumfjord,
and it agrees with the position of Chaleur Bay. The Saga, be
it noted, does not say that Karlsefni reached Vinland, thus in-
dicating the vague notion people had about that country, in fact
conveying to us the impression that nobody really knew where
it was. And by placing it north of Greenland Adam of Bremen
gives a further evidence of the uncertainty as to its location. The
easiness with which the various expeditions in the Tale reached
it makes us suspicious of the reliability of that source.