On the trail of Erik the Red

Scandinavian Review, Spring/Summer 1997 by Judith Lindbergh

Plying the Waters

Anyone with a passion for Vikings will know of Erik the Red, but the land he settled over 1000 years ago may be less familiar. Greenland, named by Erik himself-not for its lush shrubbery but because, as the saga goes, he thought more people would come if it had an attractive name-brings to mind a cold, desolate setting fit only for such worthy spirits as Vikings bold enough to claim and conquer.

Greenland is still icy, remote and unforgiving, and getting there has never been easy. The Vikings plied the North Atlantic waters in open-air ships barely 75 feet long, facing turbulent seas and icebergs from the East Greenland Current savage enough to sink the Titanic in 1912. Modern travelers have more comforting options. On the ice-class vessel Livonia, specially designed to confront arctic waters, our expedition tour in July 1995 traced the route of the Norse from Iceland to Greenland's spectacular southwestern fjords.

Our first landing was the tiny East Greenland encampment of Ikateq, an Inuit village of 31 people with no ties to the Norse. Identical wooden homes painted bright yellow, red, and blue stuck out oddly in the otherwise ice-choked, bleak fjord, as did the local children's laughter as they played amid dogsleds and racks of drying seal-meat.

In Ammassalik, a town of about 3,000 and the hub of activity in East Greenland, we ducked into the low-ceilinged "winter house," a faithful reconstruction of an Inuit sod dwelling cut into the hillside. Then we hiked to the Valley of Flowers where a glacial stream glittered beside wild blossoms, and lush, low-growing foliage.

From East Greenland to the southern fjords is only a two-day sail, but ice kept even our modern ship from its planned course. Trudging toward Prins Christian Sond at a couple of knots an hour, we leaned over the bow to watch icesheets crash to port and starboard before the ship finally stopped stock-still; we waited for over an hour for wind to blow the icebergs aside. The Norse and the Inuits

Reaching the southwest villages, we began seeing remnants of the ancient Norse. We found five-foot thick, turf-and-stone walls built to keep out the winter's cold at Herjolfsnaes near Frederikshab on Greenland's southwest coast. In the town of Igaliko were the ruins of Gardar, an impressive manor used by Greenland's bishops during the 12th to 15th centuries.

Brattahlid, Erik the Red's homestead, lies on a lush hillside in Qagissiarsuk where modern sheepherders graze their flocks. At Hvalsey, the best preserved of all Norse sites, an abandoned church stands two stories tall between an empty fjord and rocky cliff. Here the last Norse wedding was performed in 1408. The newlyweds departed for Iceland two years later on the last ship known for certain to leave Norse Greenland's shores. For primarily economic reasons, Greenland faded from the European consciousness until the 16th century when the settlements were discovered mysteriously abandoned with no hint of how or where the settlers had gone. Although in 1605, Denmark claimed Greenland as its own, it was not until 1721 that a Danish missionary, Hans Egede, attempted to colonize the island again.

Inuit Greenland long outlasted the Norse. We visited Nanortalik, an island off the southwest coast, where children performed Inuit dances to accordion and drum music, alight in stunning traditional costumes. Girls wore thigh-high sealskin boots, leggings and bright red blouses draped with filigree-beaded collars of every imaginable color, while boys looked solemn in white anoraks and black pants.

Traditional and Modern Ways

Afterward, we roamed the wonderfully preserved 19th century "Old Town" where several museum buildings house Inuit sealskin rowing boats, tools, fishing implements, and a kayak visitors can try on for size. In the tar house, six-foot barrels for processing whale blubber were still slightly sticky to the touch. Finally we came to one building reserved for artifacts from the old Norse days. Most stunning was clothing recreated from fragments preserved in the permafrost-drab specters of a life and people long lost.

From Nanortalik, we sailed slightly north past Sondre Sermilik Fjord to Uunartoq Island, famous for its natural hot springs. While soaking up the warmth in steaming pools, we gazed at icebergs floating in the misty bay. Up the hill we explored Inuit ruins-rock cairns and tent rings flaking with lichen, deserted only since the introduction of modern housing in the last hundred years. Though remote, Greenland supports a modern lifestyle due in part to its patron nation, Denmark, which is responsible for its monetary system, national defense and foreign affairs. Greenlanders control their internal affairs, having won home rule in 1979.

In Qagortoq we toured Greenland's national tannery where seal, sheep and polar bear skins are tanned, processed and sewn into fashions for sale in Greenland and abroad. Many environmental groups oppose seal products' manufacture, but tannery representatives explained that in Greenland, seals are hunted for their meat, bones and byproducts, not exclusively for their skins. Although some tour members grumbled with displeasure as we viewed the endless piles of furs, none could deny the tannery visit shed much light on the true Greenland.