The Discoveries of America to the Year 1525Weise, Arthur James
History
The Discoveries of America to the Year 1525
Weise, Arthur James
America -- Discovery and exploration
[35] Now called the Shetland islands, but the name is printed on the
early maps Hetland; from Swedish _het_, hot, and _land_, land. The group
lies about 180 miles from Norway, between 59° 50´ and 60° 50´ north
latitude.
[36] The Fer öe or Far islands lie about 170 miles northwest of the
Shetland group, and are between 61° 20´ and 62° 25´ north latitude. The
name is derived from _fer_, far, (Swedish,) and _öe_, islands.
[37] Iceland lies between latitude 63° 24´ and 66° 33´ N. and longitude
13° 31´ and 24° 17´ W. It is one hundred and sixty miles east of
Greenland, six hundred west of Norway, and two hundred and fifty
northwest of the Fer öe, or Far islands.
[38] History of the Northmen, by Henry Wheaton. London, 1831. pp. 17, 18.
Iceland, or the journal of a residence in that island, during the years
1814 and 1815, by Ebenezer Henderson, vol. i. Intro. pp. xv. and 308.
[39] “Men of experience say, who have been born in Greenland, and
have recently come from Greenland, that from Stadt, in the north part
of Norway, to Horns, on the east coast of Iceland, is seven days’
sailing directly westward.”—Antiqvitates Americanæ, sive scriptores
septentrionales rerum Ante-Columbianarum in America. Edidit Societas
Regia Antiqvariorum Septentrionalium. Hafniæ, 1837. Ivar Bardsen’s
treatise. p. 302.
[40] “He who sails from Iceland [to Greenland] must steer his course
from Snefelsnes, which is twelve nautical miles (_tholldt soes_) farther
to the west than the mentioned Reychenes, and for a day and a night he
will sail due west, but then he must steer to the southwest to avoid the
ice that adheres to Gunnbjörn’s rocks. Then he must hold his course one
day and one night to the northwest, which will bring him straight to
that high land of Greenland called Hvarf, under which lie the mentioned
Herjulfsnes and Sand-haffn.”
“They who wish to sail direct from Bergen [in Norway] to Greenland
without touching Iceland, must sail due west until they find themselves
twelve nautical miles (_xii uger soes_) south of Reychenes, a promontory
on the south coast of Iceland, and by holding this course toward the west
they will come to the high land of Greenland called Hvarf.”—Antiq. Amer.
Ivar Bardsen’s treatise. pp. 304, 305; 303, 304.
[41] _Bygd_, inhabited land, a place of residence, an abode.
[42] _Ubygd_, an unpeopled tract, desert.
[43] “A day before you descry the said Hvarf you ought to see another
high mountain called Hvidserk. Under these two mountains—Hvard and
Hvidserk—is a promontory (_nes_) called Herjulfsnes, near which is a
harbor called Sand-haffn.... The inhabited part of Greenland lying
eastwardly, next to Herjulfsnes, is called Skagefjörd.”—Antiq. Amer. Ivar
Bardsen’s treatise. pp. 304, 305.
[44] Christianity, it is said, was introduced in Iceland in the year
1000.—Antiq. Amer. pp. 10, 11, 14, and note _b_. The discovery of America
by the Northmen. By North Ludlow Beamish. London, 1841. pp. 47, 48.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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