the land of grapes and wine."

After this discovery there is little of interest to record.
The winter, which proved to be a very mild one, passed away,
and in the spring they set sail again for Greenland, their
ship laden deeply with timber, so useful a treasure in their
treeless northern home, while the long-boat was filled to
the gunwale with the grapes they had gathered and dried.

Such is the story of the first discovery of America, as told
in the sagas of the North. Leif the Lucky was the name given
the discoverer from that time forward. He made no more
visits to Vineland, for during the next winter his father
died, and he became the governing head of the Greenland
settlements.

But the adventurous Northmen were not the men to rest at
ease with an untrodden continent so near at hand. Thorvald,
Leif's brother, one of the boldest of his race, determined
to see for himself the wonders of Vineland. In the spring of
1002 he set sail with thirty companions, in the pioneer ship
of American discovery, the same vessel which Biarni and Leif
had made famous in that service. Unluckily the records fail
to give us the name of this notable ship.

Steering southward, they reached in due time the lake on
whose shores Leif and his crew had passed the winter. The
buildings stood unharmed, and the new crew passed a winter
here, most of their time being spent in catching and drying
the delicious salmon which thronged river and lake. In the