Page:The Finding of Wineland the Good.djvu/251

 Eccl. Isl. 153 et seq. [i.e. isj-s6 note], it was next approved by Schöning in a note to Heimskringla [Heiinskriiigla, Copenli. /777, vol. i. p. joc)], and in his history of Norway _Norgcs Rigcs Historic, Copaih. lySi, vol. Hi. 4ig], and in this century was more elaborately developed by Rafn and Finn Magnusen. The new point of departure in this theory is Snorri's expression in Edda concerning the seasons of the year, " Frá jafndœgri er haust til þess er sol sezt Í eykðar stað" ["Autumn lasts from the equinox tmtil the sun sets in ' eyktarstaSr,' " Edda Snorra Sturlusonar, Copenh. 1848, vol. i. p. 510]; since it was assumed that the beginning of winter, according to Snorri, coincided, as a matter of course, with the beginning of winter according to the Icelandic calendar [the week from the nth to the 17th of October], it was found that the sun set at Reykholt [Snorri's home] on the 17th of October at four o'clock; to conform with this, " Eyktarstaðr " was interpreted to mean the end of " Eykt," and " Eykt " became the period of tvme from 3.30 to 4.30. Now if the sun was above the horizon in Wineland on the shortest day from Dagmál to Eyktarstaðr, a day nine hours in length was obtained, which Prof. Thomas Bugge computed gave a latitude of 4o'"22', or, according to Rafn and Finn Magnusen, more exactly, 4i'^24'io". Rafn believed that it followed of a certainty that Wineland was identical with the southern coast of Rhode Island- and Connecticut, directly to the westward of Cape Cod. But very serious objections to this theory suggest themselves. When Leif Ericsson—according to the Flatey Book—approached Wineland, he saw at first an island to the northward of the land; he then sailed to the westward into a sound between the island and the land's most northerly cape, and still farther west, they arrived at a river and lake, where they established themselves; the composer of the saga accordingly had in mind a country facing toward the north, and upon whose northern shore Leif and his people established themselves in " Leifsbúðir." Nevertheless Rafn renders this thus [Annaler for Nord. Oldkyndigh. Copenh. 1840-41, pp. 6 and 16]: "They came to an island, which lay to the east off the land, and sailed into a sound between this island and a cape, which projected toward the east [and north] from the land." ' [Gustav Storm, Om Betydningen af ' Eyktarstaðr' i Flatpbogens Beretning om Vinlandsreiserne, foredraget i Christiania Videnskabsselskab 2den Nov. 1883, pp. 1-4. The article has since been published in Arkiv for Nordisk Filologi, November, 1885.]

Professor Storm, in this same treatise, points out the inaccuracy of Rafn's astronomical calculation, which corrected, would change the latitude to 42° 21', the vicinity of Boston, which region does not, however, correspond to the descriptions of the saga. He further shows the error in the interpretation of the passage in Snorri's Edda, upon which this theory is based. The cause of the confusion in these different theories is satisfactorily explained by the following paragraph in Professor Storm's article, the contribution of the astronomer, Mr. Geelmuyden, to whom Professor Storm had submitted the astronomical data for solution:

' For the correct understanding of the passages in the old sagas, wherein these daymarks [i. e. the eyktamörk of Rimbcgla] are mentioned, it is of the utmost importance to bear in mind that they were in practical use; nor should it be forgotten that the sun's position above a certain day-mark only gives a certain horizontal projection, and especially it will not do to transfer the stroke of the clock corresponding to a certain day-mark— whether that corresponding to a certain season of the year be taken, or the mean for the entire year— to the similar day-mark at other places on the earth.

'When, therefore, the Greenlanders found, according to the statement in the Flatey