The weekly Placer herald., 1852-10-02

l,ISGDNERER SCONBREsD,

Our able represensentatiye at the SYe-
aishrcourt is FraAcis, Shroaders sof Rhode
island, and he has avaiied hiniselBofithe
|opportunity afforded by his, residence il IL
Sweden to make resea rches. 10 lcelandHicc
and other scandinavian, literature, he
has s.dscbyered in 1celandic chroniclesseyr
efal narratives, agreeing with one; another
in all material points, Of Expeditions to
the American continent, centuries before
Columbus was born y He is engaged in
writing a Scandinavian history, in which
the substance of these narratives will be
given, and their authenticity established
Meanwhile, he has written lefternt9
frinds here, giving an outline Of the story.
Of this letter printed in the Washington
RepnbIc, the following narrative is is the fe
most important part; r9iaw naudab. has
Once upona tiine!there' wasa n,an--a
Norwegianlwhose name was hHeriolf,
and who, with his son Biarp, sailed about
in ships, and etraficked ABOUT, from land to
land. 4 He was descended from Earl In
golf, who, more than a hundred years be-
fore, had founded the colony il Iceland,
and ike the Vikings of, his native, Nor
way, Heriof and his sou were ,dnost at
home upon the stormy sea. By some
strange accident, they were, once and for
the first time separated Thepious Barn
in search, like Northern Eelemachus,
wandered about in vain fronport TO port
and 1t length turned his restless Prov to
far away, Greenland. Steering by. the
stars, and groping about the wide waste
Of ocean with such experie ence as men in
those Old days could have, (it was exactly
eight hundred and fifty aone years ago.
the bold Barn AT first sailed with ,pros7
porous gales; but fiercer storm succeed
ing, drove him miles and miles away to
the south and west, and nearly wrecked
him on wide, ffat and woody coast,
which the ro, Ell knew could moi be Green
land. vast summer looking cape lay
inv itiugly on his islarboard bow, but the
long prayed for southwest wind had risen
like another Mentor, and Biarp, shutting
out temptation, bore away for Green
lands icy mountains. Reward followed
close. upon his self-dedial, and he was
locked in his fathers armsaAi Meantime
our friend Biarn had seen, and was the
first of Europeans to see, AMERrcA; but
Heriolf and his son, thrifty traders both,
had ever found the oceans and the shores
- >. ;HHUwu, quite vast
enough for them, and were therefore well
content to ship a cargo for a homeward
voyage. Lief, however, an Iceland mo-
Bile, and son to- the red Eric resolved to
pursue the adventure. His father, Earl
Eric, twenty years before, had been driv-
en- from the peaceful colony in Iceland
because Of his bloody land. Collecting
his sons and his iesefnen, teNsailed bold
" away to the west, eight h1!slred. miles
and more, and entered at last q aeeP bay
which he called. Eric's ,fiord, and manned
the land around him Greeland Finding
the new region as good as iceland, he
sent his son Lief to Norway. with MESA
ges to, King Olaf, describing the magnifi-
cence of Greenland The King who was
already a Christian, having received from
Lief the promise ofhis fathers and of his
own conversion, sent them forthwith AS
sistancer~mep,. lProyisions, missionaries,
and finally a bishop, SO thatschurches and
converts we're built in Greenland, Ia a
werd, the, Greenland colony was quite
able to,take,up the unfinished adventures
of Barn, and Lief was the champion
his aged father himself would have head
ed the enterprise, but his horse stumbled
as he rode to the ship, and the Northman
eight hundred years ago WAS warned by
thesomenav Lief however, 'bestrbdet a
surer footed steed, and embarked all unl
dannted. His ship manned with a crew
of thirty-fve fearless rovers, sailed away
through the maiden waves of the west,
and fBiarh's land ofopromise rose to the
sight. IL was Newfopudianti, but the
Northmen called it HelIeland, and pnsat-
isfed with its. flat aspect, turned, sodth-
ward to find pleasanter coasts, aud landed