true site of this ancient court. [Cf. Finn Magnusen, Grönlands historiske Mindesmærker, vol. i. pp. 520 et seq.; Thorlacius, Um Örnefni í Þórnes þíngi., l. c. pp. 294–5.] Vigfusson says of Magnusen's supposed discovery, that it had in it more of 'poetry than truth' ['ist mehr Dichtung als Wahrheit'], and this opinion seems to be entirely confirmed by Dr. Kålund. [Cf. Vigfusson, Eyrbyggja Saga, Vorrede, p. xix; Kålund, Bidr. til en hist.-top. Beskr. af Island, vol. i. p. 443.] It was at this court that Eric the Red, despite the assistance which he received from his friends, was condemned to outlawry.
(22) Dímunarvágr [Dimun-inlet] was, probably, in that group of small islets called Dímun, situated north-east of Brokey at the mouth of Hvamms-firth.
(23) Very little information has been preserved concerning Gunnbiorn, or his discovery. His brother, Grimkell, was one of the early Icelandic colonists, and settled on the western coast of Snowfells-ness, his home being at Saxahóll. [Landnáma, pt. ii. ch. viii.] Gunnbiorn's sons, Gunnstein and Halldor, settled in the North-west peninsula, on arms of the outer Ice-firth [Ísafjarðardjúp] [Landnáma, pt. ii. ch. xxix]. It is not known whether Gunnbiorn ever lived in Iceland, but it would seem to be probable that it was upon a voyage to western Iceland, that he was driven westward across the sea between Iceland and Greenland, and discovered the islands, which received his name, and likewise saw the Greenland coast. Eric sailed westward from Snowfells-ness, the same cape upon which Gunnbiorn's brother had established himself, and it is, perhaps, not unlikely, that it was from somewhere in the region of Grimkell's 'claim' that Gunnbiorn was driven westward, and that the knowledge of this may have guided Eric in laying his course.
(24) Blacksark [Bláserkr] and Whitesark [Hvítserkr] may have been either on the eastern or south-eastern coast of Greenland. It is not possible to determine from the description here given, whether Blacksark was directly west of Snæfellsjökull, nor is it clear whether Blacksark and Whitesark are the same mountain, or whether there has been a clerical error in one or the other of the manuscripts.
(25) An effort was made by the editors of 'Grönlands historiske Mindesmærker,' to determine the actual site of the different firths, islands and mountains here named. In the light of subsequent explorations, it may be said, this effort was crowned with rather dubious success. So much seems to be tolerably certain, from Captain Gustav Holm's explorations of the eastern coast of Greenland, accomplished in 1883–5, that there were no Icelandic settlements upon that coast; wherefore both the Eastern and Western Settlement must be sought upon the western coast of Greenland, that is, to the westward of Cape Farewell, and between that cape on the south and Disco Island on the north; for, according to Steenstrup, the only ruin in northern Greenland, not of Eskimo origin, of which we have any knowledge, is the so-called 'Bear-trap' on Nugsuak Cape[1], on the mainland, a short distance north of Disco Island. [Steenstrup, 'Undersøgelsesrejserne i nord-Grønland i Aarene 1878–80,' in Meddelelser om Grønland, Copenh. 1883, p. 51.] The principal Norse remains [i.e. remains from the Icelandic colony in Greenland] have been found in two considerable groups; one of these is in the vicinity of the modern Godthaab, and the other in the region about the modern Julianehaab [the famous Kakortok church ruin being in
- ↑ It is Captain Holm's opinion that this 'Bear-Trap' is not of Icelandic but of Eskimo origin.
