the way to the West Indies, but
perhaps to the North Pole."[473] From the account of this mention and
its context, which I have already given,[474] it is in the highest
degree improbable that if Columbus had read the passage he could have
understood it as bearing upon his own problem. There is, therefore, no
ground for the assumption that Columbus went to Iceland in order to
make inquiries about Vinland.

[Footnote 473: "Det er derfor sikkert, at Columbus ikke, som
nogle har formodet, kan have kjendt Adam af Bremens Beretning
on Vinland; vi kan gjerne tilfoie, at havde Columbus kjendt
den, vilde den ikke have kunnet vise ham Vei til Vesten
(Indien), men kanske til Nordpolen." _Aarboger for Nordisk
Oldkyndighed_, 1887, ii. 2, p. 301.]

[Footnote 474: See above, p. 210.]

[Sidenote: It is doubtful if Columbus would have stumbled upon the story
in Iceland.]

It may be argued that even if he did not go for such a purpose,
nevertheless when once there he could hardly have failed incidentally to
get the information. This, however, is not at all clear. Observe that
our sole authority for the journey to Iceland is the passage above
quoted at second-hand from Columbus himself; and there is nothing in it
to show whether he staid a few hours or several weeks ashore, or met
with any one likely to be possessed of the knowledge in question. The
absence of any reference to Vinland in the Zeno narrative is an
indication that the memory of it had faded away before 1400, and it was
not distinctly and generally revived until the time of Torfaeus in
1705.[475]

[Footnote 475: In 1689 the Swedish writer, Ole Rudbeck, could
not understand Adam of Bremen's allusion to Vinland. The
passage is instructive. Rudbeck declares that in speaking of a
wine-growing country near to the Arctic ocean, Adam must have
been misled by some poetical or figurative phrase; he was
deceived either by his trust in the Danes, or by his own
credulity, for he manifestly refers to _Finland_, for which the
form _Vinland_ does not once occur in Sturleson, etc.:--"Ne
tamen poetis solis hoc loquendi genus in suis regionum
laudationibus familiare fuisse quis existimet, sacras adeat
literas quae Palaestinae faecunditatem appellatione _fluentorum
lactis & mellis_ designant. Tale aliquid, sine omne dubi