Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1892-01-22
WAS AMERICA DISCOVERED BY
THE NORTHMENo


historical evidence. lie admitted, indeed,
that there is nothing intrinsically i'm
probable in the notion that the cooniz-
ers of Greenland may have explored the
coasts south of it. But the assertion that
they actually did so rests, he said, on
narratives Psychological in form and OBJ
scure in meaning, which, moreover, were
not contemporary with the events de-
scribed. Mr.. Justin Winsor also i'm his
lately published book about Columbus
seems unwilling to admit the trustwor-
thiness of the epical accounts of the voy-
ages of the Mortimer to the so-called
Vineland. He inclines to regard as de-
cisive negative evidence the absence of
any authentic runic inscriptions on the
continent outside of Greenland. and he
disputes the credibility of the Sagas on
the ground that at the date when the ira
dtional oral chronicles were reduced to
writing romancing spirit had been i'm
ported from the more southern countries.
Since Mr.. Winsor's book was published.
however, the Scottish Review. awaiting
itself of the researches of Mr.. Arthur
Middleton Reeves, has come forward to
maintain the reality of the discovery as
cribed to the Mortimer, and has set forth
an imposing array of evidence and argu-
ment in support of its belief.
The objection on the score of the non
existence of runic inscriptions is first and
easily disposed of. The Mortimer never
contended that they had colonized Vine
land; they simply rccounted their discov-
cry of the country and their unsuccess-
full attempts to colonize it. Runic in
sciiptions, therefore, and other archpo-
logical remains are not to be expected in
a region where no permanent settle
mehts lwere made. Besides, as Mr..
Reeves points out, the vigorous applica-
ton of the test upon which Mr.. Winsor
insists would make the discovery of lee
land itself disputable.
AS regards the credibiity of the rec
ords, Mr.. Reeves shows that the docu
neutrality-suspicious. is not, as Mr.. Bancroft
and Mr.;a Winsor have assumed, derived
from the Sagas alone. He has, indeed
reproduced the tests of the three Sagas
which bear on the question of discovery,
and has applied to their Interpretation
all the resources of modern scholarship.
but he has also gathered together the
preceding references to the Vineland vow
ages. which are scattered through the
early history of Iceland. From these
aforementioned data it is demonstrable
that the discovery of the American MAN.
land, which took place about A. d. 1000,
was well known in Greenland and Ice
land long before any of the three Sagas
dealing with the theme were penned, for
there is documentary proof reaching as
far back as about the year ITO.
The first mention of Vineland or Wine.
land the Good in Iceandic literature was
made by lAri the Learned, otherwise
known as Ari the Historian. who was
born in Iceland in 1867 and died at the
age of 81. He was the father of Iceland
ic historiography. Snorri, the author of
Heimskringla, says of him ale was the
first of men here in Iceland to write an
Gent and modern lore in the northern
tongue Snorri tells how Ari was edu-
Gated and whence he got much of his
information. At the age of seven Ari
came to Haukadale to Hal Thorarinson.
with whom he remained fourteen years.
| Thorn ri N Ia, IL
age of 81 and is described as man of
great knowledge and excellent memory.
Another of Arts teachers was Teit Is
leifson, the first bishop of Iceland, and a
third informant was Thurid, who
could well remember her father Snorri,
although he was 30 years old when
Christianity was introduced into Iceland.
1t follows that while Ari was not born
until siXty-seven years after the discoy-
cry of Vineland, he was acquainted with
those who were alive when the event
happened.
His references to the event are, indeed,
brief and cursory, but that is what
would be expected from one dealing
with familiar fact. In his Landnama-
box, which, according to DR.. Vigfusson,
was written about ITO, Ari the Learn
ed says, when treating of the adventure
of Ari Marsson "He was driven out of
his course at sea to Whitemen's Land.
which is called by some persons Ireland
the Great; it lies westward in the sea
near Wineland the Good, and is said to
be six 'doegra' sail west of Ireland
There is another mention of Vineland
by Ari the Learned in the same work,
where he says that the son of Snorri
Head-Thordsson and of Thorhild Ptar-
migan was "Thord Horsehead, father of
Karlsefni, who found Wineland the
Good" In the Kristi Saga, moreover,
which is regarded as a supplement of
the Iandnamlbok, occurs this state
ment: THAT summer King Olaf sent
Left Ericsson to Greenland to proclaim