The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1882-09-07

| AMERICAN DISCOVERY NY NogrHNrN. =.
There are scarcely two interpreters who
agree as TO the places visited by the North.
men and those who are the surcst are us.
ually those who live farthesi from 1.-THE
points described. Professor Rain found
viuland along the coast Of New England:
Professor Rask, his contemporary. found
II in Labrador, Nova Scotia or Newfound.
land. The latter urged, with much rca.
sou, that II was far easier 10 find wild
grapes in Nova Scotia than Eskimo in what
is now Rhode Island. and that the whole
story Of the terror Of the Skraelings before
the bull indicates an island people like
these Of Newfoundland or Prince Edward
Island, and certainly not the New England
Indians who were familiar with tho moose
and might have seen the buffalo. lie
might also have added what Was first point
ed out by Mr.. J. Elliott Cabot, that the re.
psated voyages from Newfoundland 10 Vim
land and the perfect facility with which
successive explorers found the, new found
region indicates spot much nearer Green.
land than Mount Hope Bay, which would
have required six hundred milos Of intri-
crte and dangerous coast navigation, with
out chart or compass in order 10 reach il.
Again, Rain finds il easy to place the site
Of Leifs booths at Bristol, Rhode Island;
and NJ. Gravier. Frenchman, writing no
late as 1874, has not . doubt upon the sub
ject. But sail from Fall River TO New
port, or even study OF the map will show
any dispassionate man that the description
given by the sagas has hardly anything in
common with the Rhode Island locality.
The sagas describe an inland lake commu.
nicating with the sea by shallow river
only accessible at high tide, whereas
Mount Hope Bay is broad expanse Of
salt water opening into the still wider gulf
OF Narragansett Bay and connecting with
the sea by apassage wide and deep enough
for the navies Of the world 10 enter. Ev-
on supposing the Mortimer to have found
their way in through what is called the
Seaconnet passage, the description does
not apply much better to that; and il it
did, these hardy sailors must have recog.
nized at once. the moment they reached
The bay ITSELF that they had come in at the
oh mt ha It. Ia.
access TO the ocean must have instantly re-
vealed itself 1t sufliees TO say that the
whole Interpretation, which seems 30 easy
10 transatlantic writer's, is utterly rejected
by Professor Diman, who was born and |
bred in Bristol and has lived within easy |
reach of it all his life. Having lived four
zen years myself in that region, may
venture modestly TO endorse his opinion.
And his conclusions have the weightier on.
lorsement OF Prof. Henry Mitchell OF the
coast surAey, In manuscript report which
les before me. And the same vagueness
.ud indefniteness marks all the descrip-
ions Of the Northmen. Nothing is more
liflcult than TO depict in words with any
accuracy in an unscientific age the features
II low, monot0nous seashore; and this,
With the changes undergone by the south
I'm New England coast during tho last
line hundred years, think, renders the
Identification Of any spot visited by the
lorthmen practically impossible. IT w.
Hgginsom in Harpers' Magazine for S.ptea..
,ey