ughed too, out of friendliness, and was very
sociable.

"When my father went away the king promised to pay him a visit on board
of his ship next day, which he did, sure enough; and my father took care
to let it be known that he was coming, so there was no lack of the
principal people thereabouts. They had all come down together, by the
merest chance, to the place where the ship lay, just to enjoy the fresh
air--being fresher there that day than at most other places on the
fiord, no doubt!

"King Harald came with a fully-manned boat, and a number of followers.
He was very condescending and full of fun, as he had been the night
before. When he was going away he looked at the skins, and said to my
father, `Wilt thou give me a present of one of these wolf-skins?'

"`Willingly,' says my father, `and as many more as you please.'

"On this, the king wrapped himself up in a wolf-skin and went back to
his boat and rowed away. Immediately after, all the boats in his suite
came alongside and looked at the wolf-skins with great admiration, and
every man bought just such another wolf-skin as the king had got. In a
few days so many people came to buy skins, that not half of them could
be served with what they wanted, and the upshot was that my father's
vessel was cleared out down to the keel, and thereafter the king went,
as you know, by the name of Harald Greyskin.

"But here we are, comrades," continued Krake, rising, "drawing near to
the land,--I'll have a look at it."

The country off which they soon cast anchor was flat and overgrown with
wood; and the strand far around consisted of white sand, and was very
low towards the sea. Biarne said that it was the country to which Leif
had given the name of Markland, because it was well-wooded; they
therefore went ashore in the small boat, but finding nothing in
particular to attract their interest, they soon returned on board and
again put to sea with an onshore wind from the north-east. [Some
antiquaries appear to be of opinion that Helloland must have been
Newfoundland, and Markland some part of Nova Scotia.]

For two days they continued their voyage with the same wind, and then
made land for the third time and found it to be an island. It was
blowing hard at the time, and Biarne advised that they should take
shelter there and wait for good weather. This they did, and, as before,
a few of them landed to explore the country, but there was not much to
take note of. Litt