Y
iif
to affirm, with the greateil certainty,
that this Engliili colony fettled there
in the beginning o f the fifth century;
but I look upon it as the fafefl way
not to enter at all upon an affair wrapped
up in fuch obfcurity. There is
notwithilanding reafon to fuppofe that
the Englifli and Irifli were acquainted
with this country under another name
zation, written by various authors, the firft of whom
was Are Forde, born 1068; and he exprefsly fays,
in the firft chapter o f the book, that Iceland was
fettled by the Norwegians in the time of Alfred king
o f England, and o f Edward his fon. The fame
preface mentions, that Beda fpeaks of Iceland under
the name o f Thyle, more than a hundred years before
the arrival o f the Norwegians in Iceland ; and
that the Norwegians found there Iriih books, bells,
and crofiers, which proved that thefe people came from
the weft. And it is added, that the Engliih books mention
an intercourfe of navigation between thefe lands
about thofe times. King Alfred certainly mentions in
his tranflation o f Orofius, the utmoft land to the N.W.
o f Iceland, called Thila ; and that it is known to few-
on account of its great diftance. See Alfred’s Orofius,
p. 31. The Landnama Bok was publiflied at Copenhagen,
1774, in4to. T he circumflance o f the Iriih
books left in Iceland is likewife mentioned by the fame
Are Forde, in Ara Multifcii Schedis de Iflandia,
OxoniiE, 1716, 8 VO, cap. ii. page 10, who fays,
they chofe not to live with the heathens, and for that
reaion went away, leaving behind Irifli books, bells,
and croficrs.
long
(tlH . . . .
long before tlie arrival o f the Norwegians
; for the celebrated Beda in
his time pretty accurately defcribes it.
But i will not dwell upon thefe antient
inhabitants of Iceland, but proceed to
examine how the Norwegians came to
fettle there. Of this we have feveral
accounts in the Icelandic Sagas *. I
ffiall particularly follow Landnama
Bok, that treats of the arrival of thefe
new colonifts.
Naddoddr, a famous pirate, was
driven by the winds on the coaft of
Iceland, on his return from Norway
to the Ferro Gales, in 861, and named
the country Snio-land. (Snowdand) on.
account o f the great quantity of fnow
with which he faw the mountains covered.
He did not remain there long;
but however extolled the country fo
much after his return, that one Gardar
Suafarflbn, an enterprizing Swede,
was encouraged by his account to
* The word Saga fignifies the antient hiftoricai
monuments in Iceland ; fome o f them are the hiftoricai
relations, others are fabulous ftories in the ityle o f
the Arabian Nights. T h e diftin£lion between them
requires a nice critical judgment. As the word occurs
pften, we once for all ex|)lain it here,
f