"In the western bay there stands a large church, known as the church of Steinsnes; this was once a 'chief-church' and the seat of a bishop.1 Now the savages have destroyed the Western Settlement; there still are there horses, goats, cattle, sheep-all wild, for there are no people, Christian or heathen.

"All these things were told by Iffver Bardsen, a Greenlander, who was overseer on the farm of the Bishop of Greenland at Gardum for many years. He had seen all these things and he was one of those nominated by the judge to go to the Western Settlement against the savages to drive them thence. But when they got thither they found no man, Christian or heathen, but some wild cattle and sheep. These they used for food, and took as many of them as the ships could carry. With these they sailed home, and the above mentioned Iffver was with them."

The next paragraph in the tragic history of the Greenlanders is written in the Annals of Iceland under date of 1379. It reads: "(This year) the savages made war on the Greenlanders and killed XVIII of them. They (the savages) captured two boys and carried them away."

Another indication that the Eskimo were by this time spreading themselves over much of the south of Greenland is found in the account of the shipwreck upon an uninhabited part of the coast, of Björn the Pilgrim (Björn Jórsalafari) about the year 1386. He rescued (apparently near Cape Farewell) two savages whom he found on a reef that would have been covered at high tide. They were taken along with the party as servants, and Björn mentions the fact that they used for sewing fibers made from the intestines of "whales." 2

For the year 1448 we have an important papal document in response to an appeal from the churches in Greenland for aid from the Holy See. The letter from Rome recites that, 30 years before, the barbarians (elsewhere in the same document called "the heathen") had made a descent upon the settlement, destroying houses and churches, so that "there are now but 9 parishes where churches are maintained."

1 Probably a farm at which the bishop of Greenland (called in papal documents Episcopos Gardensis") resided when visiting the Western settlement.

2 Various sea animals, ranging in size from the porpoise upward, are in Icelandic collectively known as "whales."

Because the disturbers are sometimes referred to as "heathen," and because the prisoners are said, in the letter, to have been enslaved for a time and then sent home, it is conjectured by some that the English, who about this time concluded a peace with Denmark and exchanged prisoners, are the "heathen" spoken of as raiding Greenland. Whether His Holiness was in the habit of referring to the English of the period as "heathen" the writer of this paper does not know.

In regard to the identity of the raiders the opinion of the learned Icelandic bishop, Hans Finses, is of interest, for he had at his disposal manuscripts which are now lost, many of them through the burning in the last century of the manuscript collection of the University of Copenhagen.

"So far as the identity of the enemy is concerned," says the bishop, "it can be concluded with certainty that they came from the nearby coast of America or from farther up the west coast of Greenland, for the Icelandic manuscripts frequently speak of the 'skrælingar' as a people who came in vast numbers on a fleet of skinboats and armed with spears and bows."

Historically the Bull of 1448 may be considered the last word on the original Icelandic settlements in Greenland, although there is another Bull early in the pontificate of Alexander VI which throws some light on the situation in Europe. It confirms the appointment (ca. 1493) of the Benedictine monk Mathias to the bishopric of Greenland, and goes on to tell that no ships have come from there for 80 years, that the people have mostly fallen away from the true faith, and that this monk will endeavor to bring them back to the church.

But archeological investigations made under the auspices of the Danish government have brought to light several things and have hinted at further discoveries. Remains of huts built on mountaintops have been found, and it seems unlikely that these could have been used otherwise than as lookouts for detecting the approach of an enemy. None of these are mentioned in the literary sources, and none similar were built in Iceland, so far as known. Many of the house ruins excavated show evidences of destruction by fire, and the popular traditions of the Eskimo of the district say that many

of the Original People (Kablunokks) were destroyed by being burned in their houses.

1

In 1880 the Dane G. F. Holm 1 visited and examined carefully many of the old Norse ruins, and in 1894 the archeologist Daniel Bruun 2 completed a more detailed survey. Their descriptions, drawings, and photographs leave no doubt in the mind of anyone familiar with Icelandic archeology that the ruins are Icelandic.

It is to be expected that among the more conspicuous ruins would be those of churches. At the height of the colonies' development there are recorded twelve churches and two monasteries in the Eastern settlement and four churches in the Western. The "Dome-church" at the bishopric, Garthr, has been found, as well as the ruins of five other churches. The total interior length of the church at Garthr was found by Bruun to be 25 meters, and this is considerably the largest ruin. One of the ruins the church at Kakortok near Julianehaab — is so well preserved that the walls and gables stand practically intact. In some cases, as at the bishopric, the stone of the old buildings has been used for the construction of modern Eskimo houses, and nothing of the former now remains but the foundations.

In excavating the churchyards, finds of some importance have been made; from that at Ikigait an Icelandic runic stone was recovered, together with a small wooden cross, some fragments of clothing, and other relics.3

At the bishopric, Garthr, a cow stable has been found containing stalls for a hundred head of cattle. This accords well with the Speculum Regale and other early sources, which speak of cattle, sheep, goats, and horses as important in the life of the Greenlanders; butter, cheese, and woolen cloth were among their important articles of trade. Besides remains of barns there have been discovered plots of ground leveled for meadows and surrounded by low earth walls, as is still the case in Iceland.

Meddelelser om Grönland, vi (second printing), Copenhagen, 1894.

Ibid., XVI, Copenhagen, 1896.

Daniel Bruun, Det höje Nord, Copenhagen, 1902.

AM ANTH., N. S., 8-18

Considering the historical and archeological evidences together, it seems probable that the Icelandic colony in Greenland was destroyed by the Eskimo rather than assimilated with them. Apparently there are few, if any, traces of early Scandinavian influence upon the culture of the natives, and the word for sheep is said to be the only Icelandic term that has survived in the language of the Eskimo.' There are Icelandic traditions, probably not well founded, to the effect that the main body of the Eastern colony moved over to Markland (America); this is especially discredited by the almost certain knowledge we have that the Greenlanders of the time were in possession of no seaworthy ships.

When the colony came to an end will probably always remain doubtful. When connection with the outer world ceased their power of resistance may have declined faster than it did before, though it is certain that the period of highest prosperity had already been passed, owing to the oppressive trade monopoly long maintained by Norway through the merchants of Bergen. The colonists possibly survived into the sixteenth century; the Pope appointed bishops of Garthr as late as 1520, but this fact may evidence a desire to bestow an office rather than a genuine belief in the existence of the colony. The Eskimo traditions represent a period of struggle where their enemies held out for a long time even after there was but one farm left to them. This, the same traditions say, the Eskimo at last succeeded in burning. As already stated, several of the ruins show evidences of destruction by fire, and this final conflagration may have taken place while the country's last bishop, Vincentius, held the title "Episcopos Gardensis" in Europe, toward the middle of the sixteenth century.

PEABODY MUSEUM, HARVARD UNIVERSITY,

CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS.

It has been pointed out by the editor of Grænlands Historiske Mindesmærker that the geographic term utiblik, used by the Greenland sagas, cannot be Icelandic and is probably a corruption of the Eskimo word itiblik. If that be so, it would go to show earlier contact with the Eskimo than other sources would lead us to accept.

UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF HAWAII 1

BY NATHANIEL B. EMERSON

1

The hula- the dance, with its songs and ceremonies - stood for very much to the ancient Hawaiian; it was to him in place of our concert-hall and lecture-room, our opera and theater, and thus became one of his chief means of social enjoyment. Besides this it kept the communal imagination in living touch with the nation's legendary past. The hula had songs proper to itself, but it found a mine of inexhaustible wealth in the epics and wonder-myths that celebrated the doings of the volcanic goddess Pele and her compeers. Thus in the cantillations of the old-time hula we find a ready-made anthology that includes every species of composition in the whole range of Hawaiian poetry.

This epic of Pele was chiefly a more or less detached series of poems forming a story addressed not to the closet reader, but to the eye and ear and heart of the assembled chiefs and people; and it was sung. The Hawaiian song, its note of joy par excellence, was the oli; but it must be noted that in every species of Hawaiian poetry - mele — whether epic, or eulogy, or prayer, sounding through them all we shall find the lyric note.

The most telling record of a people's intimate life is the record which it unconsciously makes in its songs. This record which the Hawaiian people have left of themselves is full and specific. When, therefore, we ask what emotions stirred the heart of the old-time Hawaiian as he approached the great themes of life and death, of ambition and jealousy, of sexual love, conjugal love, and parental love; what his attitude toward nature and the dread forces of earthquake and storm, and the mysteries of spirit and the hereafter-we shall find our answer in the songs and prayers and recitations of the hula.

1 Introduction to an unpublished manuscript, The Unwritten Literature of Hawaii. Presented at the meeting of the American Anthropological Association, San Francisco, August, 1905.