reports of the Danes." John Fiske thought Vinland lay somewhere
between Point Judith and Cape Breton.




III

THE FIRST CHILD OF EUROPEAN RACE BORN IN AMERICA[1]

(About 1000 A.D.)


One summer a ship came from Norway to Greenland. The skipper's name
was Thorfinn Karlsefni, and he was the son of Thord, called
"Horsehead," and a grandson of Snorri. Thorfinn Karlsefni, who was a
very wealthy man, passed the winter there in Greenland, with Lief
Ericsson. He very soon set his heart upon a maiden called Gudrid, and
sought her hand in marriage.

That same winter a new discussion arose concerning a Wineland voyage.
The people urged Rarlsefni to make the bold venture, so he determined
to undertake the voyage, and gathered a company of sixty men and five
women. He entered into an agreement with his shipmates that they
should each share equally in all the spoils. They took with them all
kinds of cattle, as they intended to settle the country if they could.
Karlsefni asked Lief for his house in Wineland. Lief replied that he
would lend it but not give it.

They sailed out to sea with the ship, and arrived safe and sound at