The earliest manuscript of the first distinct account of the Norse Markland is included in the compilation known as Hauk’s Book,[200] from Hauk Erlendsson, for whom and partly by whom it was prepared, necessarily before his death in 1334, but probably after he was given a certain title in 1305. Perhaps 1330 may mark the time of its completion. Along with divers other documents, it copies from some unknown original the saga of Eric the Red, sometimes called the saga of Thorfinn Karlsefni, an ancestor of the compiler, whose adventures as an early explorer of northeastern North America constitute a conspicuous feature of the narrative. Some parts of the saga of Eric the Red as thus transcribed, especially toward its ending, cannot be much older than the time of transcription, but verses embedded in other parts have been identified as necessarily of the eleventh century; and the body of the tale is, for the greater part, manifestly archaic. ANOTHER ACCOUNT, IN THE ARNA-MAGNAEAN MANUSCRIPT Beside Hauk’s Book, there is a corroborative, independent, but almost identical manuscript copy of the saga--No. 557 of the Arna-Magnaean collection at Copenhagen. This saga[201] tells us: Thence they sailed away beyond the Bear Islands with northerly winds. They were out two _daegr_ (days); then they discovered land and rowed thither in boats and explored the country and found there many flat stones (_hellur_) so large that two men could well spurn soles upon them [lie at full length upon them, sole to sole]. There were many Arctic foxes there. They gave a name to the land and called it Helluland. Thence they sailed two _daegr_ and bore away from the south toward the southeast and they found a wooded country and on it many animals; an island lay off the land toward the southeast; they killed a bear on this and called it Biarney (Bear Island); but the country they called Markland (Forest Land). When two _daegr_ had elapsed they descried land, and they sailed off this land. There was a cape (_ness_) to which they came. They beat into the wind along this coast, having the land on the starboard (right) side. This was a bleak coast with long and sandy shores. They went ashore in boats and found the keel of a ship, so they called it Kjalarness (Keelness) there; they likewise gave a name to the strands and called them Furdustrandir (Wonder Strands) because they were so long to sail by. Then the country became indented with bays [or “fiord-cut,” as Dr. Olson translates] and they steered their ships into a bay.... The country round about was fair to look upon.... There was tall grass there. A very severe winter, however, drove them far southward to a warmer bay, or _hop_, where they dwelt for nearly a year among the characteristic products of Wineland; but at last withdrew after an onslaught of the Indians.