CHAPTER IV.

THE

THE COMING OF THE NORTHMEN.

Mill.

HERE is in the city of Newport, R.I., a pictu- Old Stone resque old building, the precise history of which is not known. It is commonly called the "Round Tower," or the "Old Stone Mill." It is built of stone, and consists of a low, circular tower, supported on eight arches. Within the memory of living men, there still remained a floor above these arches, making a second story to the building. There are two windows and a fireplace, but nothing to show for what use the building was originally employed. Yet it is not exactly a ruin, since the cement in which the stones are embedded is as strong as ever, and the whole structure seems complete, except that it is roofless. The first mention of this building is by Gov. Benedict Arnold in his will, dated 1677; and he calls it "my stone-built windmill.” But it is so unlike any other windmill in America, that it was for a long time doubted whether it could have been built for that purpose.

the North

Some thirty-five years ago, Professor Rafn, of the Book about Royal Society of Northern Antiquaries at Copenhagen, men. published a book showing that the Northmen, or Scandinavians, undoubtedly visited the shores of North

America about A. D. 1000, and that they probably

Dighton
Rock.

armor

entered Narragansett Bay. It then occurred to some American antiquarians that this old building at Newport might have been erected by those early voyagers. Examination was also made at about the same time of an inscription on a rock near Dighton, Mass., called the "Dighton Rock;" and it was thought that some words of this were in the Norse language. Then it Skeleton in was remembered that a skeleton in a brass breastplate had been dug up at Fall River, Mass., a town lying between Dighton and Newport; and it was thought that this might be the remains of a Norse viking, or rover. The poet Longfellow has written a ballad about this "Skeleton in Armor." The skeleton was unfortunately destroyed not long after; so that we do not know much about it; but it is now known that the Norsemen did not use brass armor, while the American Indians sometimes used for breastplates pieces of brass kettles, which they got from the English colonists. The inscription at Dighton Rock is now supposed to have been made by the Indians, as it resembles many sculptured rocks in the interior of the continent; and the skeleton may have been that of an Indian warrior. And as for the "Old Stone Mill," it is found to be very much like some still standing in that very county in England from which Governor Arnold came. So it is not at all likely that any of these memorials could date back as far as the time of the Northmen; and yet it is altogether probable that the Northmen visited America at a very early time.

Conclu

gions cor cerning these

antiquities.

We must remember that the Northmen were great sailors, like their descendants, the Danes, Norwegians, and Swedes. It is rare to find a large crew of sailors

without a man in it who belongs to one of these nations; and their ancestors had the same love of the sea. Now, when we look on the map, we see that it does not look very far from Norway to Iceland, nor from Greenland to Labrador. When once arrived at Labrador, any bold sailor would be tempted to follow down the coast of North America. But the Northmen

ments of

men.

certainly settled Iceland a thousand years ago: and it settleis known from the annals of Iceland that a colony was the Northsent thence to Greenland, and there remained for a long time; and some of these emigrants may easily have sailed on to Labrador; or some vessel bound for Greenland may have been driven too far west, and so reached the mainland without intending it. At any

Story of
Leif the

Lucky.

Story of
Thorwald.

rate, it is recorded in the Norse traditions that the Northmen, in sailing west, actually arrived, about A. D. 1000, at some country beyond Greenland.

This is the way the story is told in the Norse books. A prince, named Leif the Lucky, son of Erik the Red, sailed west from Greenland with thirty-five men, one of whom was a German. After they had landed on a strange land, this German, named Tyrker, strayed off one day and was thought to be lost. When he came back, he talked German and rolled his eyes around and seemed out of his senses. But at last he said in the Norse language, "I have not been far; but I have found something to tell of: I have found vines and grapes."

"But is it true, my foster-brother?" asked Leif.

66

Surely it is," he answered; "for I came from the land of grapes and vines."

“Then they slept for the night," the Norse narrative says; "but in the morning Lief said to his sailors, 'Now we shall have two jobs. Each day we will either gather grapes, or hew grape-vines, or fell trees, so there will be a cargo for my ship;' and that was the counsel taken. It is said that their long-boat was filled with grapes. Now was hewn a cargo for the ship, and when spring came they got ready and sailed off; and Lief gave a name to the land, after its sort, and called it 'Vinland.' They sailed then afterwards into the sea, and had a fair wind until they saw Greenland."

A year or two afterwards Leif's brother, Thorwald, wished to visit Vinland; for he thought that the land. had been too little examined. They came to the place where Leif had built huts. There they spent the win

ter, and in the spring went exploring along the shore "to the westward." At last they saw three boats made of skin, with three men in each. These the Northmen attacked, and killed all but one. They were apparently Indians, called in the Norse legends "Skraelings." Then came from within the firth innumerable skin-boats, and made toward them. Thorwald said then, "We will set up our battle-shields, and guard ourselves the best we can, but fight little against them." So they did; and the Skraelings shot at them for a while, but then fled as fast as they could. But they had wounded Thorwald by an arrow, so that he died; and this party of Norsemen also became discouraged and went back to Greenland the next spring.

other

But Vinland was now well known; and still larger visits of parties of Northmen came afterwards. They sent home Northmen. very enthusiastic accounts of their new dwelling-place ; praising the grapes and the salmon and the soil, and saying that the day and night were more nearly equal than in Greenland or Iceland. The Indians, or Skraelings, soon came in skin-boats to trade with them. In one case the Skraelings were all busy selling furs for red cloth, when a bull that belonged to the strangers came bellowing out of the wood; and the Skraelings jumped into their canoe and rowed away. The next time the Skraelings came it was as warriors; and they attacked the Northmen with their arrows and could not be easily beaten off. So the strangers did not have an easy time. But they stayed there several winters; and a woman named Gudrid had a son named Snorri, who was perhaps the first white child born on this continent.