re came a wooden house, and men of
another country in it, swimming up the Assoonet, as this (Taunton) river
was then called, who fought the Indians with mighty success."

There was now a settlement in Vinland, at Hop Bay, and voyages to that
region became frequent. The old Norse narrative says: "Expeditions to
Vinland now became very frequent matters of consideration, for these
expeditions were considered both lucrative and honorable." The following
appears in Wheaton's History of the Northmen: "A part of Thorfinn's
company remained in Vinland, and were afterward joined by two Icelandic
chieftains. * * In the year 1059, it is said, an Irish or Saxon priest
named Jon or John, who had spent some time in Iceland, went to preach to
the colonists in Vinland, where he was murdered by the heathen." The
following is from the Introduction to Henderson's Iceland: "In the year
1121, Eirek, bishop of Greenland, made a voyage to Vinland."

Thus it appears to be an authenticated fact that the Northmen had a
settlement or settlements in New England six hundred years previous to
the arrival of English settlers. It is probable that their Vinland
settlements consisted chiefly of trading and lumbering establishments.
The first explorers "loaded their vessels with timber" when ready to
return to Greenland, where the lack of timber was so great that the
settlers found it necessary to use stone for building material. The
Vinland timber-trade became naturally an important business, but neither
Greenland nor Iceland could furnish emigrants to occupy the country.
Traces of the old Norse settlements in Greenland are still visible in
the ruins of stone buildings. Near the Bay of Igalito, in Greenland, are
remains of a stone church. Vinland was covered with great forests, and
there it was much easier and cheaper to build houses of wood.

The Norse records speak also of a region south of Vinland to which
voyages were made. It is called Huitramannaland. Indeed, two great
regions farther south are mentioned. There is a romantic story of one
Biorn Asbrandson, a noble Icelander, who, being crossed in his
matrimonial desires, went away toward Vinland; but his vessel was driven
much farther south by a storm. Nothing was heard of him until part of
the crew of a Norse vessel, on a voyage to Huitramannaland, were
captured by the natives, among whom Biorn was living as a chief. He
discovered an old acquaintance among the prisoners whom he found means
to re