The Sumter banner. [volume] (Sumterville, S.C.) 1846-1855, 1852-09-28

the pastures, and young bull throve
so prodigiously that his strength and
ferocity surpassed everything the
Norsemen had ever seen. In the
spring came the Skroslingues with
precious skins and furs to traffic, but
fled away dismayed at the frightful
roar Of the bull. They came back,
however, encouraged, and Thorfin
prudently commanded that no weap-
ons whatever be sold them. Gudrida
and her woman offered cheese and
sweet milk, and in return received
from the delighted Skroelingues the
most valued commodities. Quarrels,
however, could not be avoided. The
savages were forced to retire, and
the Norsemen had to guard their.
cabins with stockades.
Three happy years were passed. in
tranquility. The visits of the Skre.
lingues became peaceful; and in the
summer Of the fourth year, leaving
the colony prosperous, Thor6n and
Gudrida, with the little Snorro,f
their Vinland-b born son, returned to.
Iceland. A splendid cargo was sold.
Crowds Of volunteers offered to go
back With them, and many success
ful and prosperous voyages were
made. Finally Thorfn gave the di-
rections of Yinland affairs to other
chiefs, and spent his later days in
Iceland, where he lived in ali anti.
que hall like a lagman of Norway
lie died in a green old age, and
Gudrida, after a pilgrimage to Rome,
returned to a cloister and church
which her son Snorro had built on n
the lands Of his father, and piously
devoted the remainder Of her DAYS to
God.
Thus and thus runs the tale Of an.
cient mariners of Norway; and thus
and thus the old chronicles >>read
nightly aloud 20 the family -Islc. dc,
light the lcnc win,er aSr.y,i>. ?. ,--s III a.
SiltE@SSA ~ ota " 80 l'sslT ~ = u - -
give The narratives .swith marvellous
uniformity; but they appear moro
minutely than elsewhere in the So
called Manuscript Of Flatey'--writ.
ten, its author asserts, from the
words Of Thor6n himself. Iceland
historians of later date speak abund-
antly Of Vinland, but, as the cxpedi
tons after that of Thurfn varied lit.
tie from his, the chroniclers content
cd themselves with describing more
minutely those only which are re.
markable. One, whom the critics
have considered among the most au.
thcntic, relates the story Of Saxon
priest, Johan, who went to Vinland
a missionary, and was there condemn.
ed to death. In 1121, a Greenland
bishop named Eric, undertook the
same errand, but his fate appears
never to have been known, and, in.
deed, from this period Vinland was
gradually forgotten. The colony of
Thorfin does not appear to have been
much reinforced after his DEATH
His successors explored more south.
erly coasts, and landed in New.York
and New.Jersey. War broke out in
Narragansett with the Sk:1lingucs,
and notwithstanding the superior
arms an! dctences Of tho colonists,
the little band gradually wasted
away, but not before they had built
such monuments on the Rhode Ia.
land coasts as will puzzle antiquaries
in centuries to come.
The expeditions Of the Mortimer
were not confined to southern lati.
tudcs. In 1866, led on by their
priests, they penetrated Barrow's
S:raits and Lancaster Sound, not
perhaps in search of northwest pas.
sage, but to pick up drift wood, as
they thought from Siberia, and to
kill she bears and whales. At
length Greenland was swept by the
plague; few struggling survivors
were murdered by the natives; and,
although Pope Nicholas V. appoint.
cd a bishop to Greenland in 1448,
the chronicle Of tho north were
dumb a hundred years before. Ice
land had fallen from her high estate;
she was tributary, dependent upon
foreign kings, and all that her enter
prise and the indom;table courage Of
her Northmen heroes had found on
the western ocean, sunk deep below
the horizon of human knowledge, un.
til again brought up by an immortal
hero from the south, like drowned
honor by the locks
The general truth and fidelity of
the Iceland chronicles are thought
well attestcd, and modern students
seek in vain through the antique pa
ges for a statement improbable 9gai
overstrained. Iarluony to q