Society in America at the time of the Discovery had reached stages similar to stages reached by eastern Mediterranean peoples fifty or sixty centuries earlier 146, 147 CHAPTER II. PRE-COLUMBIAN VOYAGES. Stories of voyages to America before Columbus; the Chinese 148 The Irish. 149 Blowing and drifting; Cousin, of Dieppe 150 These stories are of small value 150 But the case of the Northmen is quite different 151 The Viking exodus from Norway 151, 152 Founding of a colony in Iceland, A. D. 874 153 Icelandic literature 154 Discovery of Greenland, A. D. 876 155, 156 Eric the Red, and his colony in Greenland, A. D. 986 157-161 Voyage of Bjarni Herjulfsson 162 Conversion of the Northmen to Christianity 163 Leif Ericsson's voyage, A. D. 1000; Helluland and Markland 164 Leif's winter in Vinland 165, 166 Voyages of Thorvald and Thorstein 167 Thorfinn Karlsefni, and his unsuccessful attempt to found a colony in Vinland, A. D. 1007-10 167-169 Freydis, and her evil deeds in Vinland, 1011-12 170, 171 Voyage into Baffin's Bay, 1135 172 Description of a Viking ship discovered at Sandefiord, in Norway 173-175 To what extent the climate of Greenland may have changed within the last thousand years 176, 177 With the Northmen once in Greenland, the discovery of the American continent was inevitable 178 Ear-marks of truth in the Icelandic narratives 179, 180 Northern limit of the vine 181 Length of the winter day 182 Indian corn 182, 183 Winter weather in Vinland 184 Vinland was probably situated somewhere between Cape Breton and Point Judith 185 Further ear-marks of truth; savages and barbarians of the lower status were unknown to mediaeval Europeans 185, 186 The natives of Vinland as described in the Icelandic narratives 187-193 Meaning of the epithet "Skraelings" 188, 189