re we are obliged to say of Vigfusson's observations on the
chronology of the Vinland voyages, that they stand as question-marks
which call for confirmation.

We are surprised, moreover, to find that _Origines Islandicae_ prints the
Flat Island Book story first, apparently on account of the belief that
this story contains the "truer account of the first sighting of the
American continent" by Biarni Herjulfson.[12-2] It is impossible to
believe that this would have been done, if the editors (Vigfusson and
Powell) had known the results of Dr. Storm's work, which is not
mentioned. There is, furthermore, no attempt in the _Origines Islandicae_
to refute or explain away an opinion on AM. 557 expressed by the same
authorities, in 1879,[12-3] to the effect that "it is free from grave
errors of fact which disfigure the latter [the Flat Island Book saga]."
We are almost forced to the conclusion that a hand less cunning than
Vigfusson's has had to do with the unfinished section of the work.

In regard to the extract from Adam of Bremen, which we print, it should
be observed that its only importance lies in the fact that it
corroborates the Icelandic tradition of a land called Vinland, where
there were grapes and "unsown grain," and thus serves to strengthen faith
in the trustworthiness of the saga narrative. The annals and papal
letters that follow need no further discussion, we think, than that
contained in the annotations.

Besides the texts in Icelandic, already described, by Rafn, Reeves,
Vigfusson and Powell, and Storm, it may be mentioned that the Flat Island
text is given in Vol. I. of _Flateyjar-bok_, ed. Vigfusson and Unger,
Christiania, 1860. There are translations of both texts in Beamish,
_Discovery of North America by the Northmen_ (London, 1841), in Slafter,
_Voyages of the Northmen_ (Boston, 1877), and in De Costa, _Pre-Columbian
Discovery of America by the Northmen_ (Albany, 1901). But most of these
are confused in arrangement, and the best is that by the late Mr. Reeves,
which by the kind consent of his representatives we are permitted to use
in this volume.

JULIUS E. OLSON.

FOOTNOTES:

[4-1] _Eiriks Saga Raudha_ (Copenhagen, 1891), p. xv.

[5-1] A translation, with the title "The Story of Thorfinn Carlsemne,"
based on AM. 557, may be found in _Origines Islandicae_, II. 610.

[5-2] _Origines Islandicae_, II. 590.

[6-1] _Den oldnorske og oldislandske Litteraturs Historie_ (Copenhagen,
1901), II. 648.