west, of "Vineland the Good," and about the Christian settlements made there by Scandinavians. Nor may I forget to mention that her son, Snorre, born in America at the site of Lief's houses,—and perhaps it may some day be possible to indicate the neighborhood of his birthplace with greater precision,—has been claimed to be the ancestor of Thorwaldsen, the Danish sculptor."
The hardy voyagers going on shore found water rather than wine in Vineland and one of their poets sang these verses.
People told me when I came
Hither all would be so fine,
The good Vineland known to fame;
Rich in fruits and choicest wine;
Now the water-pail they send;
To the fountain I must bend,
Nor from out this land divine
Have I quaffed one drop of wine."
When about to depart and with sails hoisted the poet again sang,
Let our trusty band
Haste to Fatherland,
Let our vessel brave
Plough the angry wave,
While those few who love
Vineland here may rove,
Or with idle toil
Fetid whales may boil,
Here on Furdustrand,
Far from Fatherland."
Of greater interest to the dwellers on Narragansett Bay is the story of the Northmen in New England by Mr. Joshua T. Smith, who interprets the sagas to mean that Thorhall the hunter and Thorfinn the sailor parted company at Martha's Vineyard or Straumiford in 1008, the latter sailing southward, entering Mount Hope Bay through Sekonet River, and wintering at some point on the bay. The narrative reads that "Thorfinn and his companions sailed up as far as the mouth of the river and called the place Hop."
