The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1921-11-11
CAPE COD EXPL ORED MIN { CENTURIES AGO;
RICHMOND MAN COLL ECTS ICELANDlC SAGAS

Editors Note-The late Arthur VI.
Reeves. former resident of this
city, was an authority on Icelandic
lore and sagas. His book was ac-
eepted distinct contribution
TO the understanding of this litera-
ture. The Boston Herald recently
printed the following: ,
In this tercentenary year Cape Cod
looms large in the thoughts of all the
people The interest in early New En-
gland is widespread and many desire
TO see the beauty of the coast and feel
IL they may find the lure that has
drawn men here. The lure is nothing
new for the early explorers who We're
drawn to Cape Cod as by magnet,
and 900 years ago this summer in far
off Iceland men were saying it would
be well TO visit the strange land that
Lief the Lucky had found and named
Wineland the Good, even as a resi-
dent of the far west is planning for
the present summer a visit to the
home of the Pilgrims.
For 300 years the world at large
has known that there were Icelandic
sagas which gave an account of voy-
ages to Wineland the Good. In 1887
Carl Christian Rain published a book
in which he gave these sagas. His
zeal in promulgating the discovery
led him to tumble the facts in such
a way as to throw doubt upon their
historical accuracy. 1t remain for an
American Arthur Middleton Reeves,
10 bring order out of chaos and give
the sagas in such way as to estab-
lish their historical value. He visited
Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Ice
land and has access to all the known
copies of the sagas. His book was
published by the Oxford University
Press and in it he gives the first pre-
sentation of the Icelandic sagas of
Wineland the Good.
Lief Comes to Wineland
Briefly, the historical facts contain
ed in these sagas are that Lief Thor
valdsson, son of Eric the Red, while
on a voyage from Norway to Iceland,
in the year 99S or 999, was driven out
Of his course and was blown about a
good part of the summer. He landed
in strange country and he was SO
favorably impressed with it that he
named it Wineland the Good because
of the abundance of grapes he found
growing there. In the fall he made his
way back to Iceland and on the voy-
age he picked up two priests whom
he found in an open boat. These prists
were the first to visit Iceland, and ma
turally they were not favorably re-
ceived by all the believers in the pa
gan religion. The next, summer Liefs
son organized an expedition to visit
the land his father had discovered,
but they met with one mishap after
another and, after drifting around all
summer, they gave up the attempt.
Wineland the Good was still very
much in the minds of the people, and
they all agreed that some attempt
should be made to use Lief's discov-
cry. While they were still talking
about the wonderful land Thorfinn
Thordasson, called Karlsefni Ga man
who gives promise of amounting to
something) came from Norway to
Iceland. He spent the winter with
Lief and was very much smitten with
Gudrid. the young widow of Lief's
son Thorstein, and they were married
One can imagine that the young and
enthusiastic adventurer listened with
eager interest to the description oi
the wonderful land that Lief haC
found.
First Attempt to CoIonize
The talk of Lief through the long
Icelandic night had the same effect
such talk always has when youth anC
adventure meet and they laid theiI
plans so that when the spring came
they should go in search of Wineland
the Good. Karlsefni fitted out hi:
ship. He took his young wife, sucf
household goods as they needed, thei
cattle, and thirty men altogether witt
provisions for man and beast. Barn
and Thorhall with their ship joined
the expedition with their men.
Thus was begun the first and per
haps the only serious attempt by tn,
Icelandic people to colonize WinelanC
the Good. Their ships were small
called a Knoor, a kind of trading
ship. 1T was model, doubtless
somewhat similar to the modern Moro
lands aegter. the typical sailing Graf
of northern Norway. 1t was, probably
a clinker-built ship, pointed at boil
ends. half-decked, lore and aft. ant
these half decks were in the large
vessels connected by gangway alon
The gunwale. The open space betweel
Il g.. IL.