Anyhow, Bjarni came to the conclusion that this ‘third land’ was an island. There is nothing conventional in the statement; it is not suggested of the other lands, and the fact that the island comes into the story in its proper place is a strong confirmation of its accuracy. Having satisfied himself and his crew that this was not Greenland, Bjarni could fall back with renewed confidence on his own reckoning, and so reach his destination. That he did so with speed and precision might give cause for surprise, were there not many well-authenticated instances in Icelandic literature of men who, after drifting about, the sport of adverse winds and fogs for a long time, retained to the last sufficient knowledge of their position to enable them to return home. It was a creditable feat of seamanship, and we may leave Bjarni with a greater feeling of respect than his contemporaries seem to have felt for him, whatever his shortcomings as an explorer may have been. One point alone in Bjarni’s voyage may at first sight be regarded with suspicion. This is the exact correspondence between the number of days sailed and the number of the land reached. They sail two days to the second land, three to the third, and four to the fourth. As has been shown, however, in working out the voyage, this is not an impossible coincidence. I think it is not without importance to note that what is called ‘the fourth land’ is not a land _ejusdem generis_ with the others, but is Bjarni’s original objective, Greenland, which would naturally be so called. This looks to me rather as if the coincidence above referred to was noted, and used as a _memoria technica_ for the time occupied on the voyage. _Leif._ Leif’s voyage may be dealt with shortly. The description of Helluland is open to the suspicion that it has been coloured by the imagination of the saga-writer. Snowy hills in Labrador may account for the ‘great glaciers’, but it looks like a feature borrowed from Greenland to emphasize the forbidding character of the landscape. The reason given for the name, Helluland, may easily be founded upon the name itself. However, as stated in the preceding chapter, it does not much matter whether the landfall in Helluland was Labrador or Newfoundland, as, before the discovery of the Strait of Belle Isle, both would presumably be regarded as one country by an explorer coasting south. Leif’s Markland, as already suggested (p. 232), sounds much more like Nova Scotia than Newfoundland.