Great Epochs in American History, Vol. I | Page 6

regard to this land as with Biarni, that we have not
gone upon it. To this country I will now give a name, and call it
Helluland," They returned to the ship, put out to sea, and found a
second land.
They sailed again to the land, and came to anchor, and launched the
boat, and went ashore. This was a level wooded land; and there were
broad stretches of white sand where they went, and the land was level
by the sea. Then said Lief, "This land shall have a name after its nature;
and we will call it Markland." They returned to the ship forthwith, and
sailed away upon the main with northeast winds, and were out two

"doegr" before they sighted land. They sailed toward this land, and
came to an island which lay to the northward off the land. There they
went ashore and looked about them, the weather being fine, and they
observed that there was dew upon the grass, and it so happened that
they touched the dew with their hands, and touched their hands to their
mouths, and it seemed to them that they had never before tasted
anything so sweet as this....
A cargo sufficient for the ship was cut, and when the spring came they
made their ship ready, and sailed away; and from its products Lief gave
the land a name, and called it Wineland. They sailed out to sea, and had
fair winds until they sighted Greenland and the fells below the glaciers.
Then one of the men spoke up and said, "Why do you steer the ship so
much into the wind?" Lief answers: "I have my mind upon my steering,
but on other matters as well. Do ye not see anything out of the
common?" They replied that they saw nothing strange. "I do not
know," says Lief, "whether it is a ship or a skerry that I see." Now they
saw it, and said that it must be a skerry; but he was so much keener of
sight than they that he was able to discern men upon the skerry. "I think
it best to tack," says Lief, "so that we may draw near to them, that we
may be able to render them assistance if they should stand in need of it;
and, if they should not be peaceable disposed, we shall still have better
command of the situation than they."
They approached the skerry, and, lowering their sail, cast anchor, and
launched a second small boat, which they had brought with them.
Tyrker inquired who was the leader of the party. He replied that his
name was Thori, and that he was a Norseman; "but what is thy name?"
Lief gave his name. "Art thou a son of Eric the Red of Brattahlid?" says
he. Lief responded that he was. "It is now my wish," says Lief, "to take
you all into my ship, and likewise so much of your possessions as the
ship will hold." This offer was accepted, and [with their ship] thus
laden they held away to Ericsfirth, and sailed until they arrived at
Brattahlid. Having discharged the cargo, Lief invited Thori, with his
wife, Gudrid, and three others, to make their home with him, and
procured quarters for the other members of the crew, both for his own
and Thori's men. Lief rescued fifteen persons from the skerry. He was

afterward called Lief the Lucky. Lief had now a goodly store both of
property and honor. There was serious illness that winter in Thori's
party, and Thori and a great number of his people died. Eric the Red
also died that winter. There was now much talk about Lief's Wineland
journey; and his brother, Thorvald, held that the country had not been
sufficiently explored. Thereupon Lief said to Thorvald, "If it be thy will,
brother, thou mayest go to Wineland with my ship; but I wish the ship
first to fetch the wood which Thori had upon the skerry." And so it was
done.
Now Thorvald, with the advice of his brother, Lief, prepared to make
this voyage with thirty men. They put their ship in order, and sailed out
to sea; and there is no account of their voyage before their arrival at
Liefs-booths in Wineland. They laid up their ship there, and remained
there quietly during the winter, supplying themselves with food by
fishing. In the spring, however, Thorvald said that they should put their
ship in order, and that a few men should take the after-boat, and
proceed along the western coast, and explore [the region] thereabouts
during the summer. They found it a fair, well-wooded country. It was
but a short distance from the woods to the sea, and [there were] white
sands, as well as great numbers