Vineland to the country. This gives
us room to conjefture that he advanced
pretty far towards the fouth o f Amh-
rica. They afterwards carried on a
trade with the natives o f the country,
whom they called Skralingar, for a
long time ; this, however, ceafed at
laft, and the country, and even its
name, are now totally forgotten.
Poetry formerly flouriflied very much
in Iceland, Egil Skallagrimfon, Kor-
mak Ogmundfon, Glum Geirfon, Thor-
leif Jarlaa, Skald, and Finarhelgefon,
Sighvatr, Thordfon, Gunlaug Orm-
ftunga, and Skad Rafn, are celebrated
as great poets. The art o f writing was
not, however, much in ufe till after the
year 1000. It is true the Runic cha-
raklers were known in the country before
that period, and moft probably
brought thither from Norway. Tho’
we have no reafon to believe they were
cut upon ftones, as was prailifed among
us (for no Runic ftones have been
found there, whole age reaches to the
times of Paganifm) ; they ufed, however,
to fcratch them on bucklers, and
fometimes on their clelings and walls:
and
and the Laxdaela Saga makes mention
of one Olof o f Hiardarhult, who had
a large houfe built, on the beams
and rafters o f which remarkable ftories
are faid to have been marked, in
the fame manner as Thorkil Hake cut
an account o f his own deeds on his
bedftead and chair. That Runic cha-
raders were made life o f before the
introduflion o f the Chriftian religion,
may be proved by Olof Tryggwaf-
fon’s Saga, where he makes mention
of a man, whofe name was Oddni,
who, being dumb, made known, by
means o f Runic charatlers, that he
had been infulted by Ivar, his father’s
gueft.
After the reception o f the Chrif-
fian religion in the year 1000, the,
fciences took another form. The
Latin chara6lers were immediately
adopted, as the Runic alphabet, which
only confifts o f 16 letters, was found
infufficient. The firft Icelandic biihop,
Ifleif, founded a fchool a Skallholt;
and foon after they founded four other
fchools, in which the youth were in-
, flruded in the Latin tongue, divinity,
and
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