Discovery of America by the Northmen: Skraelings and Karlsefne

The people preferred red cloth, and for this they gave skins and all kinds of furs. They also wanted to purchase swords and spears, but Karlsefne and Snorro would not sell them any weapons. For a whole skin the Skraelings took a piece of red cloth a span long, and bound it around their heads. In this way they bartered for a time. Then the cloth began to diminish, and Karlsefne and his men cut it into small strips not wider than one's finger, and still the Skraelings gave as much for these as they had for the larger pieces, and often more. It happened that a bull, which Karlsefne had with him, ran out from the wood and bellowed loudly. This frightened the Skraelings so much that they rushed to their boats and rowed away to the southward around the coast.

Three weeks afterwards a large number of Skraelings returned in their boats, uttering loud cries.

Karlsefne's men took a red shield and held it towards them. The Skraelings leaped from their boats and attacked them. Many missiles fell among them, for the Skraelings used slings. Karlsefne's men saw that they had raised on a pole something resembling an air-filled bag of a blue color. They hurled this at Karlsefne's party, and when it fell to the ground it exploded with a loud noise. This frightened Karlsefne and his men so much that they ran and fell back to the river, for it seemed to them that the Skraelings were enclosing them on all sides. They did not stop till they reached a rocky place, where they stoutly resisted their assailants.

The Skraelings were finally frightened off by the valiant behavior of Freydis, the wife of Thorvard.

Karlsefne and his men now perceived that, notwithstanding the country was fruitful, they would be exposed to many dangerous incursions of its inhabitants if they should remain in it. They therefore determined to depart and return to their own land.

Many subsequent visits were made by the Northmen to Vinland, these continuing as late as the fourteenth century. But they seem to have made no effort to colonize this region as they had done in the cases of Iceland and Greenland. Just where Vinland was situated is one of those geographical problems that will probably never be settled. Some writers place it as far south as the coast of Rhode Island. Others conceive it to be no farther south than Labrador, or possibly south Greenland. The description of the Skraelings is considered to apply more closely to the Esquimaux than to the North American Indians. Whether the so-called wine-berries were actually grapes is questionable. In fact, no positive proof exists that the Northmen discovered the continent of America. The balance of probabilities is that they did so, though how far south their excursions extended can never be definitely decided.