rge round boulder, sewed up in a new skin and attached to a
pole. As the skin dried it enwrapped the stone tightly; and then it was
daubed with grotesque devices in various colours. "It was borne by
several warriors who acted as balisteers. Plunged upon a boat or canoe,
it was capable of sinking it. Brought down upon a group of men on a
sudden, it produced consternation and death."[231] This is a most
remarkable feature in the narrative, for it shows us the Icelandic
writer (here manifestly controlled by some authoritative source of
information) describing a very strange mode of fighting, which we know
to have been characteristic of the Algonquins. Karlsefni's men do not
seem to have relished this outlandish style of fighting; they retreated
along the river bank until they came to a favourable situation among
some rocks, where they made a stand and beat off their swarming
assailants. The latter, as soon as they found themselves losing many
warriors without gaining their point, suddenly turned and fled to their
canoes, and paddled away with astonishing celerity. Throughout the
account it seems to me perfectly clear that we are dealing with Indians.

[Footnote 230: "That sa their Karlsefni at Skraelingar faerdhu
upp a stoeng knoett stundar mykinn thvi naer til at jafna sem
saudharvoemb, ok helzt blan at lit, ok fleygdhu af stoenginni upp
a landit yfir lidh theirra Karlsefnis, ok let illilega vidhr,
thar sem nidhr kom. Vidh thetta slo otta myklum a Karlsefni ok
allt lidh hans, sva at tha fysti engis annars enn flyja, ok
halda undan upp medh anni, thviat theim thotti lidh Skraelinga
drifa at ser allum megin, ok letta eigi, fyrr enn their koma
til hamra nokkurra, ok veittu thar vidhrtoeku hardha," i. e.
"Viderunt Karlsefniani quod Skraelingi longurio sustulerunt
globum ingentem, ventri ovillo haud absimilem, colore fere
caeruleo; hune ex longurio in terram super manum Karlsefnianorum
contorserunt, qui ut decidit, dirum sonuit. Hac re terrore
perculsus est Karlsefnius suique omnes, ut nihil aliud cuperent
quam fugere et gradum referre sursum secundum fluvium:
credebant enim se ab Skraelingis undique circumveniri. Hinc non
gradum stitere, priusquam ad rupes quasdam pervenissent, ubi
acriter resistebant." Rafn, p. 153.]

[Footnote 231: Schoolcraft, _Archives o