The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1893-09-05

l. QUA VII VIZ NA0 NAtlOlEIs III UAC Z
cent geographical congress in Recital hall,
lauded the vikings as the original dis
eoverers of America and said that five
distinct accounts of five different voyages
by the vikings long before Columbus set
sail from Pales show that the Scandina-
VANS discovered this country" He backed
up his opinion with some account of his
own explorations in the land of the vi
kings, where he opened mounds in which
he found Roman coins antedating the
Christian era, fine weapon of Roman
make, Grecian art treasures and other
things which showed that the Norsemen
were seafaring and far sailing people hun
dreds of years before Columbus.
The original of tie Flatey book has be-
longed to the Royal library at Copenhagen
since 1862. 1t gets it's name from the fact
that it was discovered ON the island of
Flatey in the Brede ford. 1t is a priceless
historical document, altogether too pre-
cious to risk sending to the fair, which ac-
counts for the facsimile being furnished
in its place. 1t is q folio manuscript bound
in two volumes. It's pages are divided
into two written columns and illuminated
with those quaint deyicessso dear to the
heart of tho monkish photographer. It is
StPRcSCo " AAtS QOCA WIlbUCn tDOub buG
year 1875.
1t narrates in graphic style how Left the
Lucky, son Of Eric the Red, sailed along
the coast of North America and named
various portions of the continent after
what appeared to him to be their charac-
~teristic features. The place he called Hellu-
land drom bella, a flat stone) is believed to
be Labrador. MARYLAND (meaning forest
lard) is probably what we call Nova Scotia,
while there are good reasons for thinking
that VinelaRd is now known as the state
of Massachusetts, where traces of prehis-
toric settlements have been found which
which seem to bear out the statement of
the saga that Left built huts and wintered
there.
After Leif's return to Greenland his
brother Thorwald made a voyage and
reached the place where Left had built his
huts. He was killed in a combat with the
natives, whom the Norseman called Skrel-
lings, and was buried at d place where he
had expressed a desire to make his home.
His followers returned to Greenland, and
Thorstein, the third son Of Eric the Red,
set out, accompanied by his wife, Gudrid,
to bring his brothers body home. He did
not succeed, for he was driven ashore on
the western coast of Greenland. where he
and many of his men died. Gudrid, how
ever, found her way back to Lief, her broth
er-in-law, who gave her q home, and she
was a prime mover in the next expedition,
which was undertaken with the definite
purpose of settling a colony in Vineland.
Having married a high born Icelander
named Karlsefui, Gudrid urged him to
join the expedition, of which he seems to
have become the leader. They reached
Vineland and located on an island inhab-
tied by so manyeider ducks that their eggs
lay scattered all over the ground. Here
Gudrid gave birth to a son, Snarri, who
afterward became a great man in Iceland.
The settlers appear to have done some
profitable trading with the Skrellings for
awhile, but they finally quarreled, and after
several attacks by the savages Karlsefui
resolved to return to Greenland.
The last expedition to Vineland of which
the saga gave an account was made by
Freydis. the daughter Of Eric the Red. Ac-
companied by q considerable number of
men n women, among whom were Helgi
and Finbagi, two brothers of Icelandic de
scent, she landed near the place where her
brother Left had once built huts. The ac-
count given Of this undertaking is chiefya
record of Ereydis' attempts to incite her
husbands resentment against Helgi and
Finbagi, in which she was so successful
that the brothers and all who. sided with
them were slain, after which she and her
husband, with their followers, returned to
Greenland, pretending to have left the rest
of their companions alive and well in the
foreign country.
From ell Of which it would seem to be es-
tablished that the terrible lurs or war horns
of the vikings had sounded on American
shores long before the days of Columbus,
as they had unauestionably sounded on
those Of England, France, Spain and Italy
when the vikinrs landed there.