we learn that in 876, only
two years after the island commonwealth was founded, one of the
settlers named Gunnbjoern was driven by foul weather to some point on the
coast of Greenland, where he and his crew contrived to pass the winter,
their ship being locked in ice; when the spring set them free, they
returned to Iceland. In the year 983 Eric the Red, a settler upon Oexney
(Ox-island) near the mouth of Breidafiord, was outlawed for killing a
man in a brawl. Eric then determined to search for the western land
which Gunnbjoern had discovered. He set out with a few followers, and in
the next three years these bold sailors explored the coasts of Greenland
pretty thoroughly for a considerable distance on each side of Cape
Farewell. At length they found a suitable place for a home, at the head
of Igaliko fiord, not far from the site of the modern Julianeshaab.[178]
It was fit work for Vikings to penetrate so deep a fiord and find out
such a spot, hidden as it is by miles upon miles of craggy and
ice-covered headlands. They proved their sagacity by pitching upon one
of the pleasantest spots on the gaunt Greenland coast; and there upon a
smooth grassy plain may still be seen the ruins of seventeen houses
built of rough blocks of sandstone, their chinks caulked up with clay
and gravel. In contrast with most of its bleak surroundings the place
might well be called Greenland, and so Eric named it, for, said he, it
is well to have a pleasant name if we would induce people to come
hither. The name thus given by Eric to this chosen spot has been
extended in modern usage to the whole of the vast continental region
north of Davis strait, for the greater part of which it is a flagrant
misnomer.[179] In 986 Eric ventured back to Iceland, and was so
successful in enlisting settlers for Greenland that on his return voyage
he started with five and twenty ships. The loss from foul weather and
icebergs was cruel. Eleven vessels were lost; the remaining fourteen,
carrying probably from four to five hundred souls, arrived safely at the
head of Igaliko fiord, and began building their houses at the place
called Brattahlid. Their settlement presently extended over the head of
Tunnudliorbik fiord, the next deep inlet to the northwest; they called
it Ericsfiord. After a while it extended westward as far as Immartinek,
and eastward as far as the site of Friedrichsthal; and another distinct
settlement of less extent was also made about four hundred mi