Kjalar-nes
Kjalar-nes is a place that is mentioned several times in the Erik saga, Eiríks saga rauða. It seems to have been a landmark of the Northmen on one of their Vinland voyages described in this saga. Kjalar means something like ship's keel. In the translation of the Eiríks saga rauða into English by J. Sephton, this place is translated as Kjalar-ness. Ness can be translated from English as promontory . The name means something like Kiel promontory.
The place gets its name when the northerners find a ship's keel on it, which probably originates from a stranded ship (Chapter 8.4. Paragraph:). There does not seem to be any connection with the castaways rescued by Leif Erikson on his voyage.
Calling a "ship's keel" on a peninsula as an easily recognizable landmark is also a tradition among Greenlandic / Icelandic seafarers. The place and peninsula of Kjalarnes near Reykjavík fulfills the same function from a nautical point of view. A high tuff rock formation running across the Kjalarnes peninsula forms a landmark in Faxaflói. A district of Reykjavík on the left peninsula is also called Kjalarnes. One such landmark in Vinland, i.e. in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence , is the huge limestone headland Rock Percé at the end of the Gaspésie peninsula . This marker, located near the present-day town of Percé, was an important stopover in the last few centuries before sailing into the St. Lawrence River. The "pierced rock" Rock Perce got its name from the famous French explorer Jacques Cartier .
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Such a striking formation, especially as it is centrally located in "Vinland", i.e. the Gulf of St. Lawrence, could hardly have escaped the Greenlandic Vikings as sailing professionals. The bay of Percé with the shallow, sheltered sandy beach offers an optimal harbor with meadow and fresh water for humans and animals. And the bird island Île Bonaventure opposite , with America's largest gannet colony, is ideal as a nutritional supplement . This is also described by the Northmen in the Erik saga.
Kjalar-nes is in front of or between the Furustr beaches .
He is mentioned again in the 9th chapter, 1st paragraph, of the Erik saga:
When summer was at hand they discussed about their journey, and made an arrangement. Thorhall the Sportsman wished to proceed northwards along Furdustrandir, and off Kjalarnes, and so seek Vinland; but Karlsefni desired to proceed southwards along the land and away from the east, because the land appeared to him the better the further south he went, and he thought it also more advisable to explore in both directions. Then did Thorhall make ready for his journey out by the islands, and there volunteered for the expedition with him not more than nine men; but with Karlsefni there went the remainder of the company, (...)
According to this, Thorhall, apparently one of the captains of the group, with his crew or the men pulling with him, wants to sail northwards from Straumsfjordr along the Furdu beaches in order to search from Kjalar-nes in Vinland.
Later in Chapter 13, after the settlement in Hóp was deemed unsuccessful, Karlsefni also travels north from Straumsfjordr to Kjalar-nes in search of Thorhall. From there they drive westwards, whereupon they discover land on their port side, which, however, looks desolate, i.e. desolate. Yet they drive along this land for a long time and find a river that flows from east to west. In what follows the narrative becomes very fabulous; for example, they encounter an oiped, a human-like being with only one foot (see skiapods ).
Since the only larger land masses that could be considered based on the description are Anticosti or Newfoundland , this suggests locating the locations of Kjalar-nes, Furdustrandir and Straumsfjordr on the mainland coast of Canada in the province of Quebec.