The Icelandic Canadian - 01.12.1971, Qupperneq 31

THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
29
Such a precious article generally was
not loaned to others, as they were
priceless family possessions. Reluctant
to lend them, Eirik found it difficult
to refuse a friend. When his house was
completed, he requested their return.
But Thorgest balked. Unhappy about
such treatment, Eirik unceremoniously
seized the sacred article. Thorgest gave
chase. A 'battle ensued. Thorgest’s two
sons were killed, as well as several
others.
Again Eirik, blameless for instigat-
ing the quarrel or starting the killing,
was made to pay. He was now outlaw-
ed from Iceland for three years. This
was the third time that he was made
an outlaw; it was to be his last.
An outlaw was anybody’s fair game.
Eirik knew he had to go. But where?
The British Isles were occupied, if not
over populated; so also were the Faroe
Islands, the Orkneys and the Hebrides.
He decided to search for a land where
he could live in peace. Nearly a cen-
tury before, Gunnbjorn, son of Ulf,
had sighted land west of Iceland when
he was driven off his course. The
memory of this was still alive among
the Icelandic people.
Eirik was determined to find this
land—and when his ship was ready, he
loaded it with sheep, cattle, horses,
household necessities, slaves and his
family. He took affectionate leave of
his friends. When the weather was
favorable, he told them, if he found
land, he would come back to visit
them and repay their help and friend-
ship, according to his ability. Eirik
was off to a great adventure—4he first
man to explore the Arctic. This was
in 981 or 982 A.D.
“Arctic explorers, both ancient and
modern, have always taken guides
with them when travelling in the Arc-
tic, but Eirik went alone, with nothing
to guide him but a century-old report
and love of exploration,” says Vil-
hjalmur Stefansson, a modern Arctic
explorer.
Eirik sailed west from Snaefellsnes,
Iceland. He sailed into treacherous
seas of Arctic iceflows, fog caused by
the warm Gulfstream meeting the Arc-
tic current, wind and skerries, formid-
able for a heavily laden open boat. He
reached Angmagssalik, near Green-
land’s east coast. Unimpressed, Eirik
sailed south, rounding Cape Farwell,
into a fjord in Julianehaab, which he
proudly named Eiriksfjord. Here he
based, passing the next three years
extensively exploring south and west
Greenland, as far north as the present
district of Godthaab, sailing into num-
erous fjords and explored through
green valleys. He gave names to these
and to mountains and glaciers, care-
fully noting places that seemed suit-
able for farming and habitation.
He met no Eskimos (nor did the
settlers later during the early period
of the colony), but he found ruins of
houses.
After three years, Eirik returned to
Iceland, a free man. He told his friends
about the coutry he discovered and
explored, which he called Greenland.
He knew if he gave it an attractive
name, people from Iceland would
want to settle there. His shrewdness
and knowledge of human nature paid
off. (One wonders what such a man
could do today in America in the
field of promotion.) Eirik’s son, Leif,
some 15 years later, was not to be out-
done by his father, discovering land
in the southwest which he called Vin-
land (Wineland). What could be more
attractive to the thirsty Norsemen
than grapes, ready for brewing? Vil-
hjalmur Stefansson, a man of the same
race, a thousand years later, called
the frozen north “The Friendly Arc-
tic”. It seems to be in the blood. The
Vikings were famous for their under-
statements, but there are exceptions.