Note 1621 — Chapter XII · REGIONAL GEOGRAPHY (continued 3)

On Norse settlements and voyages on the coasts of Greenland, see Nansen, op. cit., vol. i, pp. 258–311. The Landnámabók, I (transl. in Vigfusson and York Powell, Orig. Island., vol. i, 1905, pp. 14–15) gives the distances in days’ sailing from points on the coast of Iceland to points on the coasts of Norway, Greenland, Ireland, and to “Svalbard” (possibly Spitsbergen; see above, p. 349). It was said to have been a journey of seven doegr from Cape Stat in Norway to Cape Horn on the east coast of Iceland, of three (according to one version of the Landnámabók) or of five (according to another version) from Reykyanes to the Mare’s Leap in Ireland, of four doegr from the northeasternmost cape of Iceland to Svalbard, and of one across to Greenland at what was probably the narrowest passage. These figures are difficult to interpret. The relative times given in no way correspond to the actual relative distances, and we are not absolutely certain what is meant by doegr. In fact Nansen writes that it is hopeless to look for any system in these data (op. cit., vol. ii, p. 170). If we take doegr to be a journey of twelve hours (as would seem to be indicated by the Heimskringla, Morris and Magnússon’s transl., vol. ii, p. 242; interpreted by Nansen, op. cit., pp. 170, 171, and note) the passage from Norway to Iceland would require sailing at a rate of 155 sea miles in twenty-four hours, not altogether excessive under favorable conditions. On the other hand, the passage from Iceland to Ireland and to Greenland would necessitate a speed of either 475 or 385 sea miles in twenty-four hours respectively, which would be excellent speed for a modern liner. See Nansen, loc. cit., and E. Magnússon’s note on the sailing directions of the Landnámabók in: Transactions of the Cambridge Philological Society, vol. i, for 1872–1880, London, 1881, pp. 316–318.