5. _Iceland_ (861, &c.) was probably known to the Irish missionaries before it was discovered by the Norwegians. At least some articles were found there which missionaries only could have left; and these must have come from Iona or Ireland. “Before Iceland was discovered by the Norwegians,” says the Landnamabok, “men were there whom we call Papas, who professed the Christian religion, and who were believed to have come from the west.” The same authority also speaks of the books in the Irish and the Anglo-Saxon languages; of the bells, staves, and other articles left by preceding visitors. But if any colony had ever settled upon it, it had long been uninhabited when it was accidentally discovered by Naddod, in 861. That sea-rover left the Faroe Islands with the intention of steering directly for the west of Norway; but a storm arising, drove him far to the north-west, until he reached that largest of the European isles. But he knew not it was an island: he saw that it was covered with snow, and from that circumstance he denominated it _Snoeland_. Though he ascended several high mountains, he could discern no trace of human beings. On his return he acquainted his countrymen with the discovery. The following year it was again accidentally visited by a Swede, Gardar Swafarson, who sailed round it, and ascertaining it to be an island, gave it the name of Gardarsholm. The season was too advanced for him to return; and he passed the whole winter on the coast, living chiefly on the fish which he caught in abundance. The third person that visited it was the Norwegian Floki, surnamed _Rafna_, or the Raven, from the manner in which, according to legend, he found the island. Sailing from the Faroes, he proceeded towards the north-west; but as he was uncertain of the exact direction in which Snoeland lay, he let fly three ravens, which he had previously dedicated to the gods. One of these flew back to the islands which he had left; another returned to the ship; the third proceeded in a right line, and was followed by Floki, until he reached the country which Naddod had discovered. Its name he changed from Snoeland to Iceland. He admired its boiling fountains and its burning lava; but the country was too barren for his subsistence: he was troubled at the mysterious quaking of the earth; and he soon bade adieu to a region which he had evidently designed to colonize, but which the gods had doomed to everlasting desolation. His companions, however, did not give so disheartening an account of the island. They praised its fish, its climate, its soil; and above all, they praised it because “it was a place where men might live in freedom, far away from kings and jarls.” [Sidenote: 874.]