"Through the whole length of the hall shone forth the table of oak wood, Brighter than steel, and polished; the pillars twain of the high seats Stood on each side thereof; two gods deep carved out of elm wood: Odin with glance of a king, and Frey with the sun on his forhead."
[24] Ari Hinn Frode, or the Wise. The chief compiler of the famous _Landnama Book_, which contains a full account of all the early settlers in Iceland. It is of the same character, though vastly superior to the English _Doomsday Book_, and is probably the most complete record of the kind ever made by any nation.
It contains the names of 3000 persons, and 1,400 places. It gives a correct account of the genealogies of the families, and brief notices of personal achievements. It was begun by Frode (born 1067, died 1148), and was continued by Kalstegg, Styrmer and Thordsen, and completed by Hauk Erlandson, Lagman, or Governor of Iceland, who died in the year 1334.
[25] "Thus saith the holy priest Bede.... Therefore learned men think that it is Iceland which is called Thule.... But the holy priest Bede died DCCXXXV. years after the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, more than a hundred years before Iceland was inhabited by the Northmen."--_Antiquitates Americanæ_, p. 202. This extract is followed by the statement of Ari Frode, and shows that the Irish Christians retired to Iceland at a very early day. The Irish monk Dicuil also refers to this solitary island, which, about the year 795, was visited by some monks with whom he had conversed.
[26] All the information which we possess relating to the discovery by Gunnbiorn is given in the body of this work, in extracts from _Landanamabok_.
[27] Claudius Christophessen, the author of some Danish verses relating to the history of Greenland, supposes that Greenland was discovered in the year 770, though he gave no real reason for his belief. _M. Peyrere_ also tells us of a Papal Bull, issued in 835, by Gregory IV, which refers to the conversion of the Icelanders and Greenlanders. Yet this is beyond question fraud. Gunnbiorn was undoubtedly the first to gain a glimpse of Greenland.
[30] The statement, found in several places, that he discovered Vinland while on his way to Greenland, is incorrect. The full account of his voyages shows that his Vinland voyage was an entirely separate thing.