Now the usually accepted explanation of the Flatey version is that, being composed in the north of Iceland, in close proximity to the religious establishment associated with Gudrid’s piety, and in the district where Karlsefni’s family were settled, the story is derived from the reports of the Icelandic explorer. And indeed, the final paragraphs, wherein the descendants of the pair are duly recorded, may well be ascribed to a local origin. That some combination of different sources takes place at this point is indicated by the fact that the statement ‘many men are descended from Karlsefni’ occurs twice over in separate places towards the end of the saga. It reads, in fact, exactly as if the final passage beginning ‘and when Karlsefni was dead’ was an addition from local sources. But is it not in the last degree surprising, if the accepted theory be true of the whole story, that here alone we should be imperfectly informed as to the career and descent of the local heroine? Again, if this story is the result of the full report which we are told that Karlsefni left of his adventures, is it not remarkable that in the description of this voyage alone the Flatey Book gives place, in point of circumstance and detail, to the rival account? Not a word is said of the Icelandic co-adventurers, Bjarni Grimolfson and Snorri; nay, we are given to understand that Karlsefni had come from Norway, without stopping on his way in Iceland to join forces with any such companions. And the whole story of the voyage, unlike the other expeditions detailed in the Flatey Book, is, when compared with the alternative account, quite sketchy and meagre. It may well be accurate as far as it goes, for Karlsefni evidently returned to Greenland before proceeding home, and many of his companions were Greenlanders, but it is, as one would expect of a Greenland version of this story, compressed into the briefest summary. If the account of the Wineland voyages to be found in the Flatey Book originated in Greenland, it is evident that it was far less exposed than the Icelandic sagas to literary and other influences derived from communication with other countries. Intercourse between Greenland and the outside world must always have been rare, and the effect of the edict issued by the King of Norway in 1294 creating trade relations with Greenland a crown monopoly led very speedily to the decline and disappearance of the colony, which appears to have been completed about A.D. 1400. In particular, the edict cut off communication from Iceland. Only in one respect should we expect to find a Greenland saga affected by modern developments. And this is just what we actually do find in the present case. _Direct Voyages to Norway._