Erik resolved to found a Greenland colony; he therefore returned to Iceland and wintered under the protection of a powerful friend named Ingulf the Strong, at Holmslatr, on the south side of Hoamms-fjord. In the spring he began to organise his expedition to form a settlement in the new land. Many friends and adherents accepted the invitation, and in 985 A.D. a fleet of ships arrived in the fjords of Greenland with horses, cattle, sheep, goats, and building materials. Red Erik made his home with his wife and sons at Brattahlid. His friends occupied the shores of the other fjords, which were called by their names. Herjulf and his son Bjarni were in the fjord nearest to Cape Farewell, called Herjulf’s fjord. Ketil was in Ketil’s fjord, the next to the north, Rafn occupied the Rafn’s fjord, Helgi Thorbrandsen was in Alpte fjord, and so on with Einar, Hafgrim, Arnlang, and other bold Vikings. Erik and his followers still held the ancient faith, and for twenty more years Odin and Thor presided over the fortunes of Greenland. But it was a time of transition; news of the “white Christ” had reached Iceland, and the masterful Kings of Norway, Olaf the Saint and Olaf Tryggvason, were introducing the new creed by force. The first important event in the new colony was the voyage of Leif, the son of Erik, to Norway in 999. He was driven out of his course to the Hebrides, where he passed the summer and became enamoured of a girl of rare intelligence named Thorgunna. She had a son, Thorgils, by him, and eventually brought him to Greenland to take his place as the son of Leif. But Thorgunna remained at her own home when Leif left the Hebrides and sailed away to the court of the King of Norway at Nidaros (Trondhjem). He was well received by Olaf Tryggvason, who ordered him to become a Christian, and to return to Greenland and proclaim Christianity to the settlers. Leif took leave of the King, and again put to sea. He encountered bad weather, and was tossed about for many days and driven out of his course. At length he came to a new land where there were currants and self-sown corn, and also trees called _mausar_[12]. He had reached the eastern coast of Newfoundland. Leif wintered at this land, which he called Vinland. In the spring he shaped a course for Greenland, and saved some people off a wreck in mid-ocean on his way. One of the shipwrecked men may have been Bjarni the son of Herjulf, which perhaps accounts for the confused story in the Flatey book, about Bjarni being the discoverer. Leif arrived safely in his father’s homestead and introduced Christianity[13]. Old Erik was unwilling to forsake the faith of his father. But his wife did so, and built a church near the homestead, called Thorhilda’s Church, where those who embraced Christianity could come to offer their prayers. Settlers began to arrive in Greenland who were nominally Christians, though imbued with the deeply-rooted ideas of the old faiths. The change was gradual.