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Bjarne resolved to seek and find out his father, wherever he might be, and for this purpose set sail for Greenland (1001), directing himself by the observation of the stars, and by what others had told him of the situation of the land. The three first days he was carried to the west, but afterwards, the wind changing, blew with violence from the north, and drove him southwardly for several days. He at last descried a flat country, covered with wood, the appearance of which was so different from that of Green land, as it had been described to him, that he would not go on shore, but made sail to the northwest. In this course, he saw an island at a distance, but continued his voyage, and arrived safely in Greenland, where he found his father established at the promontory, afterwards called Herjolfs- noes, directly opposite to the southwest point of Iceland. “(1002.) In the following summer, Bjarne made another voyage to Norway, where he was hospitably received by Erik, a distinguished Jarl of that country. The Jarl, to whom he related his adventures, reproached him for not having explored the new land towards which he had been accidentally driven. Bjarne having returned to his father in Greenland, there was much talk among the settlers of pursuing his discovery. The restless, adventurous spirit of Leif, son of Erik the Red, was excited to emulate the fame his father had acquired by the discovery of Greenland. He purchased Bjarne’s ship, and manned it with thirty-five men. Leif then requested his father to become the com mander of the enterprize. Erik at first declined, on ac count of the increasing infirmities of his old age, which rendered him less able to bear the fatigues of a sea-faring life. He was at last persuaded by his son to embark, but as he was going down to the vessel on horseback, his horse stumbled, which Erik received as an evil omen for his un dertaking:—‘I do not believe,’ said he, ‘that it is given to me to discover any more lands, and here will 1 abide.’ Erik
