hile he was tossed about by the tempest,
until he came upon "lands of which he had previously no knowledge. There
were self-sown wheat-fields and vines growing there. There were also
those trees which are called _masur_ (maples?). And of all these things
they took samples."

The other version to which I have alluded is much more explicit, and
recounts how Leif went to Greenland to visit his father, Eric the Red,
and how there he heard the account of Bjarne Herjulfson's voyage, and of
the unknown lands to the westward which he professed to have seen. The
people, we read, blamed Bjarne for his lack of enterprise in failing to
explore the territories of which he had caught glimpses, "so as to be
able to bring some report of them." Leif, being of an adventurous
spirit, was fired by this talk, and resolved to accomplish what the
incurious Bjarne had left undone. He gathered together a crew of
thirty-five men, and invited his father to command the expedition. Eric
at first declined, saying that he was well stricken in years, and unable
to endure the exposure of such a voyage. Leif insisted, however, that
"he would be most apt to bring good luck," and the old man, yielding to
his son's solicitation, mounted his horse and rode forth at the head of
the ship-crew. But when he was nearing the beach, the horse stumbled and
Eric was thrown and wounded his foot. This was held to be a bad omen,
and as he was trying to rise, he exclaimed:

"It is not destined that I shall discover any more lands than the one in
which we are now living; nor can we now continue longer together."

Leif, knowing persuasion to be vain, pursued his way alone, and embarked
with his thirty-five shipmates.

"When they were ready, they sailed out to sea and found first that land
which Bjarne and his shipmates found last."

It is not stated how long they had been at sea when this land was found.
The account goes on as follows:

"They sailed up to the land and cast anchor, and launched a boat and
went ashore, and saw no grass there. Great ice mountains lay inland,
back from the sea, and it was as a [table land of] flat rocks all the
way from the sea to the ice mountains; and the country seemed to them to
be entirely devoid of good qualities. Then said Leif: 'It has not come
to pass with us in regard to this land as with Bjarne, that we have not
gone upon it. To this country I will now give a name and call it
Helluland' (_i.e._, The Land of Flat Rocks).

"T