TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: Obvious errors in spelling and punctuation
have been silently closed.
[Illustration: A MAP OF CAPE COD AS IT APPEARED AT
THE BEGINNING OF THE 17TH CENTURY. See page 30.]
THE
PRE-COLUMBIAN
DISCOVERY OF AMERICA
BY
THE NORTHMEN,
ILLUSTRATED BY
Translations from Icelandic Sagas,
EDITED WITH
NOTES AND A GENERAL INTRODUCTION,
BY
B. F. DE COSTA.
[Illustration]
_ALBANY_:
JOEL MUNSELL.
1868.
PREFACE.
The aim of the present work is to place within the reach of the English
reading historical student every portion of the Icelandic Sagas
essentially relating to the Pre-Columbian Discovery of America by the
Northmen. These Sagas are left, in the main, to tell their own story;
though, with the necessary introductions, notes have been added, either
to remove misconceptions, to give information in regard to persons and
places, or to show the identity of localities described.
So long ago as the year 1838, a distinguished writer in the _North
American Review_, in closing a valuable and appreciative article on the
Sagas relating to America, said: "We trust that some zealous student of
these subjects will be immediately found, who will put the Icelandic
authorities into an English dress, and prepare them, with proper
literary apparatus, for the perusal of the general reader."
Nevertheless, no one in this country has really undertaken the task
until now; for the dialogues of Joshua Toulmin Smith, however valuable
they may have proved at the date of their publication, can by no means
be regarded as constituting the strict historical work contemplated. The
English treatise by Beamish was conceived in the right spirit; but,
while encumbered with much irrelevant matter, it did not complete the
subject, and, together with Smith's work, long since went out of print.
Several of the brief Narratives are also given by Laing, buried in the
appendix of his valuable translation of the _Heimskringla_; but the
labors of these authors are not now available, and, if combined, would
not meet the present want. The author has therefore improved a favorable
occasion to present what may, perhaps, be regarded as an exposition of
the whole question. In doing so he has freely made use of such material
from the above mentioned writers as he considered valuable for the
purpose. The brief translations of Laing, being well done, have been
given entire, with the exception that particular expressions have been
improved upon; but such portions of the unsatisfactory and not
altogether ingenuous work of Smith as have been used have been somewhat
thoroughly recast. A better use could have been made of Beamish's work,
if the author had succeeded in obtaining a copy before he was on the
point of closing up his work.
No critical knowledge of the Icelandic tongue is claimed by the author,
yet he hopes that the text of the Sagas has not here been
misinterpreted, or left obscure, especially as the Sagas relating to the
Pre-Columbian voyages are given in Professors Rafn's work on the
antiquities of America, accompanied by versions in Latin and Danish. In
everything relating to the latter tongue, the author has had the
invaluable assistance and advice of one who has spoken it from
childhood.
The grammatical structure of the Icelandic is simple, and the aim has
been throughout to maintain this simplicity in the translations, so far
as the genius of our own tongue would permit. This work being strictly
historical, both in spirit and design, the poetical extracts which occur
here and there are translated as literally as possible, without any
attempt to garnish them with metre and rhyme. Nevertheless versions in
rhyme, by other hands, are sometimes given in the notes.
It will be seen that the author differs on some points from Professor
Rafn; yet it is believed that if he could have gone over the subject
again, studying it on the ground, and amid the scenes in which so many
of the exploits of the Northmen were performed, he would have modified
his views on some points.
On the other hand, the author has sought to strengthen several of the
conclusions of that noble and laborious investigator, and particularly
by bringing out more fully the truthfulness of the Icelandic
descriptions of the coast of Cape Cod, which centuries ago presented an
aspect that it does not now possess.
And let us remember that in vindicating the Northmen we honor those who
not only give us the first knowledge possessed of the American
continent, but to whom we are indebted for much beside that we esteem
valuable. For we fable in a great measure when we speak of our "Saxon
inheritance." It is rather from the Northmen that we have derived our
vital energy, our freedom of thought, and, in a measure, that we do not
yet suspect, our strength of speech. Yet, happily, the people are fast
becoming conscious of their indebtedness; so that it is to be hoped that
the time is not far distant when the Northmen may be recognized in their
right, social, political and literary characters, and at the same time,
as navigators, assume their true position in the Pre-Columbian Discovery
of America.
STUYVESANT PARK,
NEW YORK, 1868.