same ship, and selected a crew of
twenty-five men of good size and strength, and taking with him his wife,
Gudrid, when all was in readiness, they sailed out into the open ocean,
and out of sight of land. They were driven hither and thither over the
sea all that summer, and lost all reckoning, and at the end of the first
week of winter they made the land at Lysufirth in Greenland, in the
Western Settlement. Thorstein set out in search of quarters for his crew,
and succeeded in procuring homes for all of his shipmates; but he and his
wife were unprovided for, and remained together upon the ship for two or
more days. At this time Christianity was still in its infancy in
Greenland. It befell early one morning, that men came to their tent, and
the leader inquired who the people were within the tent. Thorstein
replies: "We are twain," says he; "but who is it who asks?" "My name is
Thorstein, and I am known as Thorstein the Swarthy, and my errand hither
is to offer you two, husband and wife, a home with me." Thorstein
replied, that he would consult with his wife, and she bidding him decide,
he accepted the invitation. "I will come after you on the morrow with a
sumpter-horse, for I am not lacking in means wherewith to provide for you
both, although it will be lonely living with me, since there are but two
of us, my wife and myself, for I, forsooth, am a very hard man to get on
with; moreover, my faith is not the same as yours, albeit methinks that
is the better to which you hold." He returned for them on the morrow,
with the beast, and they took up their home with Thorstein the Swarthy,
and were well treated by him. Gudrid was a woman of fine presence, and a
clever woman, and very happy in adapting herself to strangers.

Early in the winter Thorstein Ericsson's party was visited by sickness,
and many of his companions died. He caused coffins to be made for the
bodies of the dead, and had them conveyed to the ship, and bestowed
there; "for it is my purpose to have all the bodies taken to Ericsfirth
in the summer." It was not long before illness appeared in Thorstein's
home, and his wife, whose name was Grimhild, was first taken sick. She
was a very vigorous woman, and as strong as a man, but the sickness
mastered her; and soon thereafter Thorstein Ericsson was seized with the
illness, and they both lay ill at the same time, and Grimhild, Thorstein
the Swarthy's wife, died, and when she was dead Thorstein went out of the
room to