Now as Harald was to be presented to the rich Karlsefne, he thought hemust be gorgeously arrayed. So he wore a helmet on his head, a red shieldrichly inlaid with gold and iron, and a sharp sword with an ivory handlewound with golden thread. He had also a short spear, and wore over hiscoat a red silk short cloak on which was embroidered, both before andbehind, a yellow lion. We may well believe that the sixty men and fivewomen who composed the expedition were ready to look on him withadmiration, especially as one of the women was his own sister, Freydis,now left to his peculiar care, since Erik the Red had died. The sturdy oldhero had died still a heathen, and it was only just after his death thatChristianity was introduced into Greenland, and those numerous churcheswere built there whose ruins yet remain, even in regions from which allpopulation has gone.So the party of colonists sailed for Vinland, and Freydis, with the fourolder women, came in Harald's boat, and Freydis took easily the lead amongthem for strength, though not always, it must be admitted, for amiability.The boats of the expedition having left Greenland soon after the year1000, coasted the shore as far as they could, rarely venturing into opensea. At last, amidst fog and chilly weather, they made land at a pointwhere a river ran through a lake into the sea, and they could not enterfrom the sea except at high tide.
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