Professor Charles C. Rafn, secretary of the Royal Society of Northern Antiquaries, gives this rendition of the passage: “When the day is shortest the sun there has a place (is above the horizon) from half-past seven before noon till half-past four in the afternoon.”—Antiq. Amer. p. 436. _Vide_ Discovery of America. Beamish. pp. 64, 65. According to Prof. Rafn, the Northmen built their winter-quarters on the shore of Mount Hope bay, Rhode Island; the day, nine hours long, indicating the latitude of 41° 24´ 10´´. [54] The saga of Thorfinn Karlsefne and Snorro Thorbrandson (_Saga Thorfinns Karlsefnis ok Snorra Thorbrandssonar_). This legend is written on vellum, and is one of the valuable Icelandic manuscripts called the Arna-Magnœan collection, which is preserved in the library of the university of Copenhagen. The manuscripts were bequeathed to the university by Arne Magnussen, or, as his name is Latinized, Arnus Magnœus, an Icelandic scholar. The saga of Thorfinn is supposed to have been compiled in the fourteenth century. [55] In the treatise of Ivar Bardsen, it is said that in Greenland “is found the best of wheat, (_beste Hvede_).”—Antiq. Amer. pp. 302-318. The wild wheat (_elymus arenarius_) growing on the sand flats of Iceland is thus described: “This plant, the _melur_ of the natives, is a kind of grass, with a spike or ear four or five inches long, and generally appears in a sandy soil. The sea-shore and tracts of volcanic ashes in the interior are equally favorable to its growth, though it is principally from the latter that the seeds used for bread are obtained; and the natives regard it as a great gift wherewith the wise Creator has blessed those mournful wastes. The harvest is in August, when it becomes white in the ear, but as it is seldom fully ripe, it requires to be dried before grinding. It is cut with a sickle, made up in bundles, and carried home on the backs of horses. It is then separated from the straw, and ground in hand-mills cut out of a block of lava, into fine meal of a grayish color.”—Historical and descriptive account of Iceland, Greenland, and the Faroe islands. pp. 385, 386. [56] From _hópa_ to recede. _Hóp_, a recess, haven, bay, inlet. Certain writers assume this place Hóp to be the country around Mount Hope bay, in Rhode Island. [57] This statement does not agree with the one preceding it,—that “they remained at this place a half-month.” [58] Skraelingar, m. pl. Esquimaux. [59] Antiq. Amer. pp. 136-163. Discovery of America. Beamish. pp. 87-103. [60] “_Præterea unam adhuc insulam recitavit a multis in eo repertam oceano, quæ dicitur Winland, eo quod ibi vites sponte nascantur, vinum optimum ferentes. Nam et fruges ibi non seminatas habundare, non fabulosa opinione, sed certa comperimus relatione Danosum._”—M. Adamigesta Hammenburgensis ecclesiæ pontificum. Edente M. Lappenburg. I. U. D. Reipublicæ Hamburgensis tabulario. Monumenta Germaniæ historica. By George Henry Pertz. Hannoveræ, 1846.