There are in all these narratives many details beyond this outline,
and those who have sought to identify localities have made the most
they could of the mention of a rock here or a bluff there, of an
island where they killed a bear, of others where they found eggs, of a
headland where they buried a leader who had been killed, of a cape
shaped like a keel, of broadfaced natives who offered furs for red
cloths, of beaches where they hauled up their ships, and of tides that
were strong; but the more these details are scanned in the different
sagas, the more they confuse the investigator, and the more successive
relators try to enlighten us the more our doubts are strengthened,
till we end with the conviction that all attempts at consistent
unravelment leave nothing but a vague sense of something somewhere
done.

[1] From an article by Mr. Winsor in "The Narrative and Critical
History of America," of which he was editor. By arrangement with
the publishers, Houghton, Mifflin Co., Copyright 1889. For a long
period Mr. Winsor was librarian of Harvard University. He wrote
"From Cartier to Frontenac," "Christopher Columbus," "The Mississippi
Basin," and made other important contributions to American history.




II

HOW THE NORWEGIANS CAME TO VINLAND[1]

(1000 A.D.)