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Page 7
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 of
islands and shallows. They found neither dwelling of man nor lair
of beast; but in one of the westerly islands they found a wooden
building for the shelter of grain. They found no other trace of human
handiwork; and they turned back, and arrived at Liefs-booths in the
autumn.
The following summer Thorvald set out toward the east with the ship,
and along the northern coast. They were met by a high wind off a
certain promontory, and were driven ashore there, and damaged the keel
of their ship, and were compelled to remain there for a long time and
repair the injury to their vessel. Then said Thorvald to his
companions, "I propose that we raise the keel upon this cape, and call
it Keelness"; and so they did. Then they sailed away to the eastward
off the land and into the mouth of the adjoining firth and to a
headland, which projected into the sea there, and which was entirely
covered with woods. They found an anchorage for their ship, and put
out the gangway to the land; and Thorvald and all of his companions
went ashore. "It is a fair region here," said he; "and here I should
like to make my home."
They then returned to the ship, and discovered on the sands, in beyond
the headland, three mounds: they went up to these, and saw that they
were three skin canoes with three men under each. They thereupon
divided their party, and succeeded in seizing all the men but one, who
escaped with his canoe. They killed the eight men, and then ascended
the headland again, and looked about them, and discovered within the
firth certain hillocks, which they concluded must be habitations. They
were then so overpowered with sleep that they could not keep awake,
and all fell into a [heavy] slumber from which they were awakened by
the sound of a cry uttered above them; and the words of the cry were
these: "Awake, Thorvald, thou and all thy company, if thou wouldst
save thy life; and board thy ship with all thy men, and sail with all
speed from the land!" A countless number of skin canoes then advanced
toward them from the inner part of the firth, whereupon Thorvald
ex-claimed, "We must put out the war-boards on both sides of the ship,
and defend ourselves to the best of our ability, but offer little
attack." This they did; and the Skrellings, after they had shot at
them for a time, fled precipitately, each as best he could. Thorvald
then inquired of his men whether any of them had been wounded, and
they informed him that no one of them had received a wound. "I have
been wounded in my arm-pit," says he. "An arrow flew in between the
gunwale and the shield, below my arm. Here is the shaft, and it will
bring me to my end. I counsel you now to retrace your way with the
utmost speed. But me ye shall convey to that headland which seemed to
me to offer so pleasant a dwelling-place: thus it may be fulfilled
that the truth sprang to my lips when I exprest the wish to abide
there for a time. Ye shall bury me there, and place a cross at my
head, and another at my feet, and call it Crossness forever after." At
that time Christianity had obtained in Greenland: Eric the Red died,
however, before [the introduction of] Christianity.
Thorvald died; and, when they had carried out his injunctions, they
took their departure, and rejoined their companions, and they told
each other of the experiences which had befallen them. They remained
there during the winter, and gathered grapes and wood with which to
freight the ship. In the following spring they returned to Greenland,
and arrived with their ship in Ericsfirth, where they were able to
recount great tidings to Lief....
There was now much talk anew about a Wineland voyage, for this was
reckoned both a profitable and an honorable enterprise. The same
summer that Karlsefni arrived from Wineland a ship from Norway arrived
in Greenland. This ship was commanded by two brothers, Helgi and
Finnbogi, who passed the winter in Greenland. They were descended from
an Icelandic family of the East-firths. It is now to be added that
Freydis, Eric's daughter, set out from her home at Gardar, and waited
upon the brothers, Helgi and Finnbogi, and invited them to sail with
their vessel to Wineland, and to share with her equally all of the
good things which they might succeed in obtaining there. To this they
agreed, and she departed thence to visit her brother Lief, and ask him
to give her the house which he had caused to be erected in Wineland;
but he made her the same answer [as that which he had given
Karlsefni], saying that he would lend the house, but not give it. It
was stipulated between Karlsefni and Freydis that each should have on
shipboard thirty able-bodied men, besides the women; but Freydis
immediately violated this compact by concealing five men more [than
this number], and this the brothers did not discover before they
arrived in Wineland. They now put out to sea, having agreed beforehand
that they would sail in company, if possible, and, altho they were not
far apart from each other, the brothers arrived somewhat in advance,
and carried their belongings up to Lief's house.
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