Excerpt from An Attempt to Solve the Problem of the First Landing Place of Columbus in the New World A well-preserved specimen, supposed to have been made about the tenth century, was dug out of a tumulus at Gogstad, Norway, in the Spring of It is 72 feet long, 17 wide, and it probably drew 5 feet of water. There are twenty benches for rowers. Near the middle is a wooden step for a mast, and indications that this might have been lowered at will. The vessels of the Northmen were obviously good sea-boats and from their light draft and the alternative of oars, they must have been very handy in the neighborhood of land, but under canvas they could make no headway unless by sailing large. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.