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and took a look round, but though he could see far and wide, not a human being could he detect. So he named
it Snow-land and sailed home to relate his adventures.
A few years later another Viking, Gardar, bound for the west coast of Scotland, was likewise blown by a
storm on to the coast of Snow-land. He sailed right round and found it to be an island. Considering that it was
unsafe to navigate the icy northern seas in winter, he built himself a hut on the island, lived there till the
spring, and returned home. His account of the island fired the enthusiasm of an old Viking called Floki, who
sailed away, meaning to take possession of the newly discovered country. At the Faroe Islands he let fly three
ravens. The first returned, the second came back to the ship, the third guided the navigator to the island which
he sought. He met a quantity of drift ice about the northern part of the island and called it Ice-land, the name it
has borne ever since. But amid the Arctic ice he spent a desolate winter; the island seemed full of lofty
mountains covered with eternal snow. His companions, however, were delighted with the climate and the soil.
"Milk drops from every plant and butter from every twig," they said; "this was a land where men might live
free from the tyranny of kings." Free, indeed, for the island was totally uninhabited.
[Illustration: A VIKING SHIP. A reconstruction (from Prof. Montelius's book on Scandinavian archaeology)
of an actual Viking ship found, almost complete, at Gokstad, Norway.]
Iceland soon became a refuge for pirates and other lawless characters. Among these was a young Viking
called Erik the Red. He was too lawless even for Iceland, and, being banished for three years, he sailed away
in 985 in search of new lands. At the end of his three years he returned and reported that he had discovered
land with rich meadows, fine woods, and good fishing, which he had named Green-land. So glowing was his
description that soon a party of men and women, with household goods and cattle, started forth in twenty-five
ships to colonise the new land. Still the passion for discovery continued, and Erik's son Lief fitted out a vessel
to carry thirty-five men in quest of land already sighted to the west.
It was in the year 1000 that they reached the coast of North America. It was a barren and rocky shore to which
Lief gave the name of Rock-land. Sailing farther, they found a low coast wooded to its edge, to which they
gave the simple name of Woody-land. Two days later an island appeared, and on the mainland they
CHAPTER XIV 58
discovered a river up which they sailed. On low bushes by the banks of the river they found sweet berries or
wild grapes from which a sort of wine was made, so Lief called the land Vin-land. It is now supposed that
Vinland and Woodyland are really Newfoundland and Labrador on the shores of North America. After this,
shipload followed shipload from Iceland to colonise Vinland. But without success.
So the Viking discoveries in these cold and inhospitable regions were but transitory. The clouds lifted but for
a moment to settle down again over America, till it was rediscovered some five hundred years later.
Before leaving these northern explorers let us remind ourselves of the old saga so graphic in its description of
their ocean lives--
"Down the fiord sweep wind and rain; Our sails and tackle sway and strain; Wet to the skin We're sound
within. Our sea-steed through the foam goes prancing, While shields and spears and helms are glancing From
fiord to sea, Our ships ride free, And down the wind with swelling sail We scud before the gathering gale."
Now, while these fierce old Vikings were navigating unknown seas, Alfred the Great was reigning over
England. Among his many and varied interests he was deeply thrilled in the geography of the world. He was
always ready to listen to those who had been on voyages of discovery, and in his account of the geography of
Europe he tells us of a famous old sea captain called Othere, who had navigated the unknown seas to the north
of Europe.
"Othere told his lord, King Alfred, that he dwelt northmost of all Northmen, on the land by the western sea.
He said that the land is very long thence to the north; but it is all waste save that in a few places here and there
Finns reside. He said that he wished to find out how far the land lay right north, or whether any man dwelt to
the north of the waste. Then he went right north near the land, and he left all the way the waste land on the
right and the wide sea on the left for three days. There was he as far north as the whale-hunters ever go. He
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