Note 97 — PRE-COLUMBIAN DISCOVERY.

Superstition was the bane of the Northman's life. He was also a firm believer in Fate. The doctrines of Fate held the finest Northern minds in a vice-like grasp, so that in many cases their lives were continually overshadowed by a great sorrow. One of the saddest illustrations of this belief, may be found in the Saga of Grettir the Strong (given in Baring-Gould's work on Iceland), a Saga in which the doctrine appears with a power that is well nigh appalling.