The Icelandic Canadian - 01.03.1981, Síða 12

10
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
SPRING, 1981
where a river flowed out of a lake. As soon
as the tide had refloated the ship they took a
boat and rowed out to it and brought it up the
river into the lake, where they anchored it.
They carried their hammocks ashore and put
up booths.1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Then they decided to winter
there, and built some large houses.
There was no lack of salmon in the river
or the lake, bigger salmon than they had
ever seen.8 The country seemed to them so
kind that no winter fodder would be needed
for livestock: there was never any frost all
winter and the grass hardly withered at all.
In this country, night and day were of
more even length than in either Greenland or
Iceland: on the shortest day of the year, the
sun was already up by 9 a.m., and did not set
until after 3 p.m.9
When they had finished building their
houses, Leif said to his companions, “Now
I want to divide our company into two
parties and have the country explored; half
of the company are to remain here at the
houses while the other half go exploring —
but they must not go so far that they cannot
return the same evening, and they are not to
become separated. ”
They carried out these instructions for a
time. Leif himself took turns at going out
with the exploring party and staying behind
at the base.
Leif was tall and strong and very impres-
sive in appearance. He was a shrewd man
and always moderate in his behaviour.
1. Earl Eirik Hakonarson ruled over Norway from
1000 to 1014.
2. “Luck” had a greater significance in pagan Iceland
than the word implies now. Good luck or ill luck
were innate qualities, part of the complex pattern of
Fate. Leif inherited the good luck associated with
his father.
3. A fall from a horse was considered a very bad omen
for a journey. Such a fall clinched Gunnar of
Hlidarend’s decision not ot leave Iceland when he
was outlawed (Njal’s Saga, Chapter 75).
4. Southerner refers to someone from central or
southern Europe; Tyrkir appears to have been a
German.
5. Literally, “Slab-land”; probably Baffin Island.
6. Literally, “Forest-land”; probably Labrador.
7. Booths were stone-and-turf enclosures which could
be temporarily roofed with awnings for occupation.
8. On the east coast of the North American continent,
salmon are not usually found any farther south than
the Hudson River.
9. This statement indicates that the location of Vinland
must have been south of latitude fifty and north of
latitude forty — anywhere between the Gulf of St.
Lawrence and New Jersey.