[243] Few persons will infer much from this; nothing is easier than to find resemblances in language. [244] The language indicates that they were riding horseback, though it is not conclusive. And at the period referred to, there were no horses in America, they having been introduced by the Spaniards, after the discovery by Columbus. At least, such is the common opinion. [245] This is found in _Annales Islandorum Regii_, which gives the history of Iceland from the beginning down to 1307. Also in _Annales Flateyensis_, and in _Annales Reseniini_. Eric was appointed bishop of Greenland, but performed no duties after his consecration, and eventually resigned that see, in order to undertake the mission to Vinland. He is also spoken of in two works, as going to Vinland with the title of Bishop of Greenland, a title which he had several years before his actual consecration. [246] The manuscript is deficient here. [247] The Feather Islands are mentioned in the _Lögmanns Annall_, or, Annals of the Governors of Iceland, and _Annales Skalholtini_, or Annals of the Bishopric of Skalholt, written in the middle of the fourteenth century, long before Columbus went to Iceland. Beamish suggests that these are the Penguin and Bacaloa Islands. [248] "The notices of Nyja land and Duneyjar, would seem to refer to a re-discovery of some parts of the eastern coast of America, which had been previously visited by earlier voyagers. The original appellation of Nyja land, or _Nyjafundu-land_, would have naturally led to the modern English name of Newfoundland, given by Cabot, to whose knowledge the discovery would [might?] have come through the medium of the commercial intercourse between England and Iceland in the fifteenth century."--_Beamish._ [249] See the Decline of Greenland, in Introduction. [250] Markland (Woodland) was Nova Scotia, as we know from the description of Leif and others. These vessels doubtless went to get timber. All these accounts show that the Western ocean was generally navigated in the middle of the fourteenth century. [251] In the face of this and a multitude of similar statements, Mr. Bancroft endeavors to make his readers believe that the locality of Vinland was uncertain. He might, with equal propriety, tell us that the location of Massachusetts itself was uncertain, because, according to the original grant, it extended to the Pacific ocean. [252] See note 1, p. 81. [253] This is a blunder. The writer must have been more of a geographer than historian. See the Saga of Leif, p. 36. [254] The part inclosed in brackets is an interpolation of a recent date, and without any authority. [255] Not to be confounded with, the place of the same name at Cape Cod. [256] This is another passage upon which Bancroft depends, to prove that the locality of Vinland was unknown, when in the Sagas the position is minutely described, the situation being as well known as that of Greenland. INDEX. Adalbrand, 104.