Iceland soon became celebrated for its learning; the history of the North, as well as its geography, is much indebted to its authors:  nor were its inhabitants, though confined to a cold and sterile land very remote from the rest of Europe, inattentive to commerce; for they carried on a considerable trade in the northern seas,—­their ships visiting Britain, Ireland, France, Germany, &c.; and there is even an instance of their having made a commercial voyage as far as Constantinople.

To them the discovery of Greenland and of America is due.  The first took place about the beginning of the tenth century:  a colony was immediately established, which continued till it was destroyed by a pestilence in the 14th century, and by the accumulation of ice, which prevented all communication between Iceland and Greenland.

The discovery of America took place in the year 1001:  an Icelander, in search of his father who was in Greenland, was carried to the south by a violent wind.  Land was discovered at a distance, flat, low, and woody.  He did not go on shore, but returned.  His account induced a Norwegian nobleman to fit out a ship to explore this new land; after sailing for some time, they descried a flat shore, without verdure; and soon afterwards a low land covered with wood.  Two days’ prosperous sailing brought them to a third shore, on the north of which lay an island:  they entered, and sailed up a river, and landed.  Pleased with the temperature of the climate, the apparent fertility of the soil, and the abundance of fish in the rivers, they resolved to pass the winter in this country; and they gave it the name of Vinland, from the quantity of small grapes which they found growing.  A colony was soon afterwards formed, who traded with the natives; these are represented as of diminutive stature, of the same race as the inhabitants of the west part of Greenland, and as using leathern canoes.  The merchandize they brought consisted chiefly of furs, sables, the skins of white rats, &c.; and they principally and most eagerly requested, in exchange, hatchets and arms.  It appears from the Icelandic Chronicles, that a regular trade was established between this country and Norway, and that dried grapes or raisins were among the exports.  In the year 1121, a bishop went from Greenland for the purpose of converting the colonists of Vinland to the Christian religion:  after this period, there is no information regarding this country.  This inattention to the new colony probably arose from the intercourse between the west of Greenland and Iceland having ceased, as we have already mentioned, and from the northern nations having been, about this period, wasted by a pestilence, and weakened and distracted by feuds.  Of the certainty of the discovery there can be no doubt:  the Icelandic Chronicles are full and minute, not only respecting it, but also respecting the transactions which took place among the colonists, and between them and the