ootnote 204: It is extremely difficult for an impostor to
concoct a narrative without making blunders that can easily be
detected by a critical scholar. For example, the Book of
Mormon, in the passage cited (see above, p. 3), in supremely
blissful ignorance introduces oxen, sheep, and silk-worms, as
well as the knowledge of smelting iron, into pre-Columbian
America.]

Let us observe, then, that on coming to Markland they "slew a
bear;"[205] the river and lake (or bay) in Vinland abounded with salmon
bigger than Leif's people had ever seen;[206] on the coast they caught
halibut;[207] they came to an island where there were so many eider
ducks breeding that they could hardly avoid treading on their eggs;[208]
and, as already observed, it was because of the abundance of wild grapes
that Leif named the southernmost country he visited Vinland.

[Footnote 205: "Thar i drapu their einn bjoern," i. e. "in qua
ursum interfecerunt," id. p. 138.]

[Footnote 206: "Hvorki skorti thar lax i anni ne i vatninu, ok
staerra lax enn their hefdhi fyrr sedh," i. e. "ibi neque in
fluvio neque in lacu deerat salmonum copia, et quidem majoris
corporis quam antea vidissent," id. p. 32.]

[Footnote 207: "Helgir fiskar," i. e. "sacri pisces," id. p.
148. The Danish phrase is "helleflyndre," i. e. "holy
flounder." The English _halibut_ is _hali_ = _holy_ + _but_ =
_flounder_. This word _but_ is classed as Middle English, but
may still be heard in the north of England. The fish may have
been so called "from being eaten particularly on holy days"
(_Century Dict._ s.v.); or possibly from a pagan superstition
that water abounding in flat fishes is especially safe for
mariners (Pliny, _Hist. Nat._ ix. 70); or possibly from some
lost folk-tale about St. Peter (Maurer, _Islaendische Volkssagen
der Gegenwart_, Leipsic, 1860, p. 195).]

[Footnote 208: "Sva var moerg aedhr i eynni, at varla matti ganga
fyri eggjum," i. e. "tantus in insula anatum mollissimarum
numerus erat, ut prae ovis transiri fere non posset," id. p.
141. Eider ducks breed on our northeastern coasts as far south
as Portland, and are sometimes in winter seen as far south as
Delaware. They also abound in Greenland and Iceland, an