his wife Freydis, who was a daughter of Eric
the Red, made a voyage to Vineland. This expedition ended in tragedy.
One night the Norsemen quarrelled in their winter quarters, there was a
tumult and a massacre. Freydis herself killed five women with an axe,
and the little colony was drenched in blood. The survivors returned to
Greenland, but were shunned by all from that hour.

After this story we have no detailed accounts of voyages to Vineland.
There are, however, references to it in Icelandic literature. There
does not seem any ground to believe that the Norsemen succeeded in
planting a lasting colony in Vineland. Some people have tried to claim
that certain ancient ruins on the New England coast--an old stone mill
at Newport, and so on--are evidences of such a settlement. But the
claim has no sufficient proof behind it.

On the whole, however, there seems every ground to conclude that again
and again the Norsemen landed on the Atlantic coast of America. We do
not know where they made their winter quarters, nor does this matter.
Very likely there were temporary settlements in both 'Markland,' with
its thick woods bordering on the sea, and in other less promising
regions. It should be added that some writers of authority refuse even
to admit that the Norsemen reached America. Others, like Nansen, the
famous Arctic explorer, while admitting the probability of the voyages,
believe that the sagas are merely a sort of folklore, such as may be
found in the primitive literature of all nations. On the other hand,
John Fiske, the American historian, who devoted much patient study to
the question, was convinced that what is now the Canadian coast, with,
probably, part of New England too, was discovered, visited, and
thoroughly well known by the Norse inhabitants of Greenland. For
several centuries they appear to have made summer voyages to and from
this 'Vineland the Good' as they called it, and to have brought back
timber and supplies not found in their own inhospitable country. It is
quite possible that further investigation may throw new light on the
Norse discoveries, and even that undeniable traces of the buildings or
implements of the settlers in Vineland may be found. Meanwhile the
subject, interesting though it is, remains shrouded in mystery.

CHAPTER V

THE BRISTOL VOYAGES

The discoveries of the Norsemen did not lead to the opening of America
to the nations of Europe. For this the time was not yet ripe. As y