and he got ready a crew of sixty men and five women; and then they made the agreement, Karlsefne and his people, that each of them should have equal share in what they made of gain. They had with them all kinds of cattle, having the intention to settle in the land if they could. Karlsefne asked Leif for his houses in Vinland, and he said he would lend them, but not give them. Then they put to sea with the ship, and came to Leif's houses safe, and carried up their goods. They soon had in hand a great and good prize; for a whale had driven on shore, both large and excellent. They went to it and cut it up, and had no want of food. Their cattle went up into the land; but soon they were unruly, and gave trouble to them. They had one bull with them. Karlsefne let wood be felled and hewed for shipping it, and had it laid on a rock to dry. They had all the good of the products of the land which were there, both grapes, and wood, and other products. After that first winter, and when summer came, they were aware of Skrælings being there; and a great troop of men came out of the woods. The cattle were near to them, and the bull began to bellow and roar very loud, and with that the Skrælings were frightened, and made off with their bundles,-and these were of furs, and sables, and all sorts of skins; and they turned to Karlsefne's habitation, and wanted to go into the houses, but Karlsefne defended the doors. Neither party understood the language of the other. Then the Skrælings took their bundles and opened them, and offered them, and wanted to have weapons in exchange for them; but Karlsefne forbade his men to sell weapons. And then he took this plan with them, that he told the women to bear out milk and dairy products to them; and when they saw these things they would buy them, and nothing else. And now the trade for the Skrælings was such, that they carried away their winnings in their stomachs; and Karlsefne and his comrades got both their bags and skin-goods, and so they went away. And now it is to be told that Karlsefne let a good strong fence be made round the habitation, and strengthened it for defence. At this time Gudrid, Karlsefne's wife, lay in of a male child, and the child was called Snorre. In the beginning of the

next winter came the Skrælings again to them, and in much greater numbers than before, and with the same kind of wares. Then said Karlsefne to the women, "Now ye shall carry out the same kind of food as was best liked the last time, and nothing else." And when they saw that, they threw their bundles in over the fence: and Gudrid sat in the door within, by the cradle of Snorre her son. Then came a shadow to the door, and a woman went in with a black kirtle on, rather short, with a snood around her head; clear yellow hair; pale; with large eyes, so large that no one ever saw such eyes in a human head. She went to where Gudrid was sitting, and said, "What art thou called?" "I am called Gudrid; and what art thou called?" "I am called Gudrid," said she. Then the goodwife Gudrid put out her hand to her, that she might sit down beside her. And at the same time Gudrid heard a great noise, and the woman had vanished; and at the same moment one of the Skrælings was killed by one of Karlsefne's housemen, because he was about to take one of their weapons; and they made off as fast as possible, leaving behind them clothes and goods. No one had seen this woman but Gudrid. "Now," says Karlsefne, "we must be cautious, and take counsel; for I think they will come the third time with hostility and many people. We shall now take the plan, that ten men go out to that ness and show themselves there, and the rest of our men shall go into the woods, and make a clearance for our cattle against the time the enemy comes out of the forest; and we shall take the bull before us, and let him go in front." And it happened so that at the place they were to meet there was a lake on the one side, and the forest on the other. The plan which Karlsefne had laid down was adopted. The Skrælings came to the place where Karlsefne proposed to fight; and there was a battle there, and many of the Skrælings fell. There was one stout and handsome man among the Skrælings' people, and Karlsefne thought that he must be their chief. One of the Skrælings had taken up an axe and looked at it a while, and wielded it against one of his comrades, and cut him down, so that he fell dead instantly. Then the stout man took the axe, looked at it a while, and threw it into the

sea as far as he could. They then fled to the forest as fast as they could, and so closed the battle. Karlsefne remained there with his men the whole winter; but towards spring he made known that he would not stay there longer, and would return to Greenland. Now they prepared for their voyage and they took much goods from thence,-vines, grapes, and skin wares. They put to sea, and their ship came safe to Eiriksfiord, and they were there for the winter.

CHAPTER VII.-Of Freydis, Eirik's Daughter, and her Voyage to Vinland, and her Misdeeds.

Now the conversation began again to turn upon a Vinland voyage, as the expedition was both gainful and honourable. The same summer that Karlsefne returned from Vinland, a ship arrived in Greenland from Norway. Two brothers commanded the ship, Helge and Finboge; and they remained that winter in Greenland. The brothers were of Icelandic descent, from Eastfiord. It is now to be told that Freydis, Eirik's daughter, came home from Gardar, and went to the abode of Helge and Finboge, and proposed to them that they should go to Vinland with their vessel, and have half with her of all the goods they could get there. They agreed to this. Then she went to the abode of her brother Leif, and asked him to give her the houses he had built in Vinland; and he answered as before, that he would lend, but not give the houses. It was agreed upon between the brothers and Freydis that each should have thirty fighting men, besides women. But Freydis broke this, and had five men more, and concealed them; and the brothers knew nothing of this until they arrived in Vinland. They went to sea, and had agreed beforehand that they should sail in company, if they could do so: and the difference was but little, although the brothers came a little earlier, and had carried up their baggage to Leif's houses. And when Freydis came to the land, her people cleared the ship, and carried her baggage also up to the house. Then said Freydis, "Why are ye carrying your things in here?" Because we thought," said they, "that the whole of the agreement with us should be held." She said, "Leif lent the

house to me, not to you." Then said Helge, "In evil we brothers cannot strive with thee;" and bore out their luggage, and made a shed, and built it farther from the sea on the borders of a lake, and set all about it in good order. Freydis let trees be cut down for her ship's cargo. Now winter set in, and the brothers proposed to have some games for amusement, and to pass the time. So it was done for a time till discord came among them, and the games were given up, and none went from the one house to the other; and things went on so during a great part of the winter. It happened one morning that Freydis got out of her berth, and put on her clothes, but not her shoes; and the weather was such that much dew had fallen. She took the cloak of her husband over her, and went out, and went to the house of the brothers, and to the door. A man had gone out a little before, and left the door behind him half shut. She opened the door, and stood in the doorway a little, and was silent. Finboge lay the farthest inside in the hut, and was awake. He said, "What wilt thou have here, Freydis?" She said, "I want thee to get up and go out with me, for I would speak with thee." He did so. They went to a tree that was lying under the eaves of the hut, and sat down. "How dost thou like this place?" said she. He said, "The country, methinks, is good; but I do not like this quarrel that is come among us, for I think there is no cause for it." "Thou art right," says she, " and I think so too; and it is my errand to thy dwelling that I want to buy the ship of you brothers, as your ship is larger than mine, and I would break up from hence." "I will let it be so," said he, "if that will please thee." Now they parted so, and she went home, and Finboge to his bed. She went up into her berth, and with her cold feet wakened Thorvald, who asked why she was so cold and wet. She answered with great warmth, "I went to these brothers," says she, "to treat about their ship, for I want a larger ship; and they took it so ill that they struck and abused me. And thou, useless man! wilt neither avenge my affront nor thy own; and now must I feel that I am away from Greenland, but I will separate from thee if thou dost not avenge this." And now he could not bear her reproaches, and told his men to rise as fast as possible

and take their weapons. They did so, and went to the tents of the brothers, and went in as they all lay asleep and seized them all and bound them, and led them out bound, one after the other; and Freydis had each of them put to death as he came out. Now all the men were killed; but the women were left, and nobody would kill them. Then said Freydis, "Give me an axe in my hand." This was done, and she turned on those five women, and did not give over till they were all dead. Now they returned to their own huts after this evil deed; and people could only observe that Freydis thought she had done exceedingly well; and she said to her comrades, "If it be our lot to return to Greenland, I shall take the life of the man who speaks of this affair; and we shall say that we left them here when we went away." Now they got ready the ship early in spring which had belonged to the brothers, with all the goods they could get, or that the ship could carry, sailed out to sea, and had a good voyage; and the ship came early in summer to Eiriksfiord. Karlsefne was there still, and had his ship ready for sea, but waited a wind; and it was a common saying, that never had a richer ship sailed from Greenland than that which he steered. Freydis went home now to her house, which had stood without damage in the meantime. She bestowed many gifts on her followers that they might conceal her wickedness; and she remained now on her farm. All were not so silent about their misdeed and wickedness, that something did not come up about it. This came at last to the ears of Leif her brother, and he thought this report was very bad. Leif took three men of Freydis's followers, and tortured them to speak, and they acknowledged the whole affair, and their tales agreed together. "I do not care," says Leif, "to treat my sister Freydis as she deserves; but this I will foretell of them, that their posterity will never thrive." And it went so that nobody thought anything of them but evil from that time.

CHAPTER VIII.-Of Thorfin Karlsefne and his Descendants.

Now we have to say that Karlsefne got ready his ship and sailed out to sea. He came on well, and reached Norway