appears to have been neither fiery nor explosive, and altogether it is difficult to see that the incidents cited have more in common than the presence of a large and in some cases noisy missile. Bearing this in mind, let us see whether a resemblance far more striking is not to be found in a passage which Dr. Nansen passes by with a half-contemptuous footnote. The passage in question, which is to be found in Schoolcraft’s _Indian Tribes of the United States_, vol. i, p. 85, appears to me of sufficient importance to be quoted in full. ‘Algonquin tradition affirms that in ancient times, during the fierce wars which the Indians carried on, they constructed a very formidable instrument of attack, by sewing up a large boulder in a new skin. To this a long handle was tied. When the skin dried it became very tight round the stone, and after being painted with devices assumed the appearance and character of a solid globe upon a pole. This formidable instrument, to which the name of ‘balista’ may be applied, is figured (Plate 15, fig. 2) from the description of an Algonquin chief. It was borne by several warriors who acted as balisteers. Plunged upon a boat or canoe it was capable of sinking it. Brought down among a group of men on a sudden it produced consternation and death.’ With all deference to Dr. Nansen, who regards the resemblance as ‘distant’, it seems to me that here we have the very thing described. We have first of all a weapon which Schoolcraft thinks of as a ‘balista’, and one which therefore could easily give rise to the statement that the Skrælings had ‘valslöngur’, i.e. war-slings or catapults. We have the pole on which it was raised, we have several men to sling it, we have in particular the resemblance to a sheep’s paunch accounted for by the fact that it was covered with a stretched skin. In fact, to reject an explanation of this passage, which fits every single fact recorded, in favour of a suggested resemblance to an explosive because it made a noise when falling, or to fiery masses hurled at a ship because these, too, are large missiles, seems to me to border on perversity. But the reader will judge for himself whether it is necessary to impute to the saga writer here any borrowing from mythical sources, or whether the description of this weapon is not in itself a very strong instance of the substantial historical accuracy of the story.