Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 1.djvu/471

Rh AMERICA 419 AMERICA more important in legend and song, in which its situa- tion clianges at will. The Helluland of history lav to the south of western Greenland, but the poetic llel- luland was located in north-eastern (ireenlanil. To reconcile both views, Bj6rn of Skard/a ilevised his theory of two llellulands, the greater in north-eastern Greenland aiul the smaller to the south-west of Green- land. Uafn arbitrarily located greater Helluland in Labrador and the lesser island in Xewfoundlaml. His authority caused this arbitraiy decision to lind a wide acceptance, and in this way the site of 'inland was laid unduly far to the stjuth. I'or the api)roxiniate determination of the geograph- ic;il position of Helluland, Markland, and Vinland, we find many clues in the original historical sources. "To the soutn of Greenland lies Helluland; then comes Markland, from which the distance is not great to Vinland the Gootl which .some believe to be an exten- sion of -Vfrica. If this be true, then an arm of the sea must separate Vinland and Markland ". If we except the rash conjecture as to Vinland's connection with .frica, this view of the old twelfth-cent urj' Icelandic geographer corresponds to the details of the histor- ical sagas concerning the situation of these lands with respect to Greenland and one another. The sagas, however, contain other clues. A detail in the Olaf .saga with rcgartl to the po.sition of the sun at the time of the winter solstice formerly led many to believe that the position of N'inland could be definitely de- termined. .s a matter of fact the statement that " on the shortest day of winter the sun was up between <7/W<ir.v/aLlr and (la'iimilnsln'iSr" is too vague to permit an exact determination of the position. Only this may be deduced witlx certainty, that Vinland lay south of 49° north lat., a po.sition that might easily he identified with the situation of central Newfound- land or the corresp<mding .section of Canada. To determine with accuracy the |iosition of Vinland, it must be recalled that the members of Thorfinn's great expetlition were looking for the region where Leif hail found the vine growing wild. With this puqiose in

ew, they sailed along the coast of America, and dis- cos'ered first a land which impressed them on account of its long flat stones. They called it Helluland. Taking into consideration the starting point of the voyage, its length and direction, one may well agree with Storm that the present Labrador is the Helluland of the saga, without, however, absolutely <lenying the claims of the northern peninsula of Newfoundland. Setting out from Helluland, after two runs of twelve hours each, the daring mariners came to a land re- markable for its wealth of timber, which they reached "with the help of the north wind". The direction and length of the voyage, as well as the name Mark- land (Woodland), point to Newfoundland, which is distinguished by its dense forests. The third land encountered after siiiling for a long time in a south- erly direction did not reveal at first the desired grape clusters. Hut further exploration of the land ly- ing towards the south had on the second or third day the wished-for result. Vinland the Good should therefore be located in the northern part of the ine belt, or almost 4i>° north lat. Nova Scotia (inclusive of Cape Breton Island) seems to satisfy best the re- quirements of the saga. Wild grapes anil Indian nee {:izanin aquatica). which is probablv meant by the wild wheat of the Northmen, all growing in a nat- ural state, are repeatedly mentioned by eyevitne.«.ses as characteristic of Nova Scotia and the region about the May of St. Lawrence, e. g. by Jacnues Carticr (153-1) ami Nicholas Denys (c. 1650). Tliorfinn was prevented from settling Vinland by the onslaught of the Skni'lings. The sagjis give a vivid picture of the first encounter with these wild dark-skinned men, re- markable for their uncomely hair, large eyes, ami higli cheek bones. Opinions differ widely as "to the ethno- graphic classification of these Skra?lings, some main- 1.-27 taining that they were Eskimo, while others un- hesitatingly class them as Indians. The express mention of skin boats, coupletl with the circumstance that the Markland Skrajlings were most probably Kskiino, seems to support the theory that there were lOskimo in 'inland (Nova Scotia) at that period. They may have allied themselves with neighbouring Indians against the Norse invaders. A definitive determination of the po.sition of Vinland, Markland, and Helluland depends on the discovery of Norse ruin.s, runic stones, or other ancient remains from the time of the Vikings. Unfortunately, in spite of the efforts of Horsford and other champions of the North- men, such remains have not yet been found, and it is not unreasonable that those who tleny a permanent Norse colonization should lay stress on this absence of Norse remains to prove that Northmen did not succeed in establishing a permanent colony on the American mainland. The case is quite different with Greenlaiiil, where for some centuries there ex- isted flourishing Norse colonies. Numerous ruins of churches, monasteries, and farm-buildings, together with miscellaneous remains, enable us to recognize clearly, even to-tlay, the position and character of the colonies of Greenlanil. First as to the location of the colonies, ancient documents are unanimous in speaking of an eastern and a western colony, of which the first was by far the more important. The "east settlement", as the name seeens to suggest, was formerly sought on the east coast of Greenland. Even after the re- .searclics of Graah (182S-:51) and Holm (1880-85), Nordenskiold held fast to this view. It is true that even he during his most successful journey of investi- gation (ISKJ) did not find the ruins he expected on the eastern coast of Greenland, but this in no way shook his conviction. He simply declared that the old Norse settlements had disappeared, leaving no traces. As to the ruins, so plentiful on the western coast, which lie himself had visited, he held that they did not date back to the ancient Northmen, but were of later origin. This dogmatic assertion shook the foundation of the view just then gaining ground, namely, that both eastern and western settlements were situated on the west coast of Greenland. What proof was there that the many ruins of Greenland, so various in construction, owed their origin to the ancient Northmen? Was it right to ascribe the re- markably well preserved stone buildings to the i- king period, or did only the confused heaps of ruins belong to that time? The preliminary data for solving this question are furnished by Gudmundsson in his careful researches into the "Private Dwellings in Iceland during the Saga Period". With the help of the original authorities, the Danish scholar Bruun and his learned collaborators were enabled to pro- duce proof (189-J) that the numerous ruins of Green- land in the neighbourhood of Julianehaab really dated from Norse times, and that in consequence the ea-st- em settlement of the .saga was in reality located on the western coast of Gre'cnland. Starting fmm these investigations, as thorough as they were interesting. Finnur Jonsson, a Dane, with the aid of the original sources, was able conclusively to reconstruct in all cs.sential particulars the ancient topography of Green- land and represent it by means of a map. This chart of Jonsson's shows in the -icinity of Julianehaab the ruins of 117 churches and manors, large and small. The most remarkable are the episcopal See of Gardar and the manor of Erie the Red, renowned in the saga as the Brattahlid. The western settlement was situated within the limits of the present Godthaab, and is. as a matter of fact, much farther west. God- thaab lies in 51° 30' west of Greenwich, while Julian- ehaab is approximately 46°. The less numerous ruins of the western district have not been thorouglily explored as yet but almost all their fjords have been