at
Eric lost, were never heard of again. But in other cases survivors must
have returned to Greenland or Iceland to tell of what they had seen.

This is exactly what happened to a bold sailor called Bjarne, the son
of Herjulf, a few years after the Greenland colony was founded. In 986
he put out from Iceland to join his father, who was in Greenland, the
purpose being that, after the good old Norse custom, they might drink
their Christmas ale together. Neither Bjarne nor his men had ever
sailed the Greenland sea before, but, like bold mariners, they relied
upon their seafaring instinct to guide them to its coast. As Bjarne's
ship was driven westward, great mists fell upon the face of the waters.
There was neither sun nor stars, but day after day only the thick wet
fog that clung to the cold surface of the heaving sea. To-day
travellers even on a palatial steamship, who spend a few hours
shuddering in the chill grey fog of the North Atlantic, chafing at
delay, may form some idea of voyages such as that of Bjarne Herjulf and
his men. These Vikings went on undaunted towards the west. At last,
after many days, they saw land, but when they drew near they saw that
it was not a rugged treeless region, such as they knew Greenland to be,
but a country covered with forests, a country of low coasts rising
inland to small hills, and with no mountains in sight. Accordingly,
Bjarne said that this was not Greenland, and he would not stop, but
turned the vessel to the north. After two days they sighted land again,
still on the left side, and again it was flat and thick with trees. The
sea had fallen calm, and Bjarne's men desired to land and see this new
country, and take wood and water into the ship. But Bjarne would not.
So they held on their course, and presently a wind from the south-west
carried them onward for three days and three nights. Then again they
saw land, but this time it was high and mountainous, with great shining
caps of snow. And again Bjarne said, 'This is not the land I seek.'
They did not go ashore, but sailing close to the coast they presently
found that the land was an island. When they stood out to sea again,
the south wind rose to a gale that swept them towards the north, with
sail reefed down and with their ship leaping through the foaming
surges. Three days and nights they ran before the gale. On the fourth
day land rose before them, and this time it was Greenland. There Bjarne
found his father, and there, wh