THE
DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA
TO THE YEAR 1525
BY
ARTHUR JAMES WEISE, M.A.
G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS
NEW YORK: 27 & 29 WEST 23D STREET
LONDON: 25 HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN
1884
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1883, by
ARTHUR JAMES WEISE
in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
_Press of
G. P. Putnam’s Sons
New York_
THIS WORK IS DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR TO THE MEMORY OF HIS DECEASED WIFE
CATHARINE V. UPDEGRAFF WEISE
PREFACE.
It is a fact that America in the early ages was one of the inhabited
parts of the earth. The Egyptians, who were among the first of the
peoples of the eastern hemisphere to use letters and to write history,
furnish the earliest known account of the inhabitants of this continent.
It is also a truth that some ancient geographers and philosophers, who
had no personal knowledge of the existence of a primitive people in the
western hemisphere, regarded the information recorded by the Egyptians as
fictitious and incredible. When Columbus proposed to go to this inhabited
realm beyond the western ocean almost all the learned men of Portugal
and Spain opposed the undertaking as visionary, and not a few of them
asserted that the navigator’s opinions were absurd, because, as they
argued, no one of all the seamen who had lived since the creation of the
world had discovered land beyond Hibernia.
The discovery of the continent and the subsequent explorations of the
Spaniards not only confuted the fallacious arguments of the learned men
of the middle ages but confirmed the statements of the Egyptian records
descriptive of the civilization of the Atlantic country. The tradition
of the peopling of the continent by the descendants of Euenor, the good
man begotten in the beginning from the ground, and of the residence of
celestial beings among the inhabitants peculiarly confirms the account in
the Bible of the creation of the first man from the dust of the ground
and of his descendants having communications with angels.
The asserted discovery of America by the Northmen rests more upon
conjecture than evidence. It appears that Columbus was not the discoverer
of the continent, for it was seen in 1497 not only by Giovanni Caboto but
by the commander of the Spanish fleet with whom Amerigo Vespucci first
sailed to the New World.
The land of Francesca, discovered by Verrazzano in 1524, it will be seen,
was early possessed by the French, who built a fort near the Indian
village where now is the city of New York, and called the surrounding
country La Terre d’Anormée Berge; a geographical designation more
significantly expressed in the phraseology, The Land of the Palisades.
The writing of this work required the personal examination of many old
and rare books, manuscripts, and maps, besides the perusal of a large
number of recent papers and publications relating to its subject. The
task further demanded a careful review and comparison of the various
statements of historical writers concerning the voyages of the persons
whom they believed to have been the discoverers of certain parts of the
coast of America, between Baffin’s Bay and Tierra del Fuego.
It seemed to me that some of the information contained in the different
works which I had examined should be presented in the language of the
writers or in faithful translations so that the intended significance of
the information could be perceived by the reader. I therefore have placed
these _excerpta_ before the general reader and the critic in the belief
that the citations will be appreciated. They will at least show my
desire that the judgments of those who examine them should not be biased
by any conclusions of my own.
My researches were for the most part made in the General Library of the
State of New York, in Albany. The generous personal interest taken by
the State’s distinguished librarian, Henry A. Homes, LL.D., in placing
before me the large number of works which I desired to examine, was
so constant and helpful that it is a great pleasure for me to mention
and acknowledge his kind offices. I am also indebted to his assistant,
George Rogers Howell, for many official courtesies. I also owe my thanks
to George H. Moore, LL.D., the erudite superintendent of the Lenox
Library, in the city of New York, to Frederick Saunders, librarian of the
Astor Library, to Jacob B. Moore, librarian of the New York Historical
Society, and to Leopold Lindau, librarian of the American Geographical
Society. The offices of L’Abbé A. N. Ménard, vicar of the parish of St.
Roch, Paris, France; of Pádre Antonio Ceriani, prefect of the Ambrosian
Library, Milan, Italy; of Jules Godeby, professor of French literature in
the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York; and of Dr. Titus
Munson Coan, of New York City, place me under many obligations to these
gentlemen. It is also a great pleasure for me to acknowledge the generous
favors of E. Thompson Gale, of Troy, which permitted me to accomplish
the purposes that I had in view when, eight years ago, I undertook my
long-protracted task. The kind offices of my friend, William H. Young, of
Troy, are also gratefully remembered.
ARTHUR JAMES WEISE.
TROY, N. Y., March 27, 1884.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PAGE.
CHAPTER I.
Antiquity of the red race. An antediluvian people. Vestiges
of an ancient civilization in America. Records of Egypt.
Manuscripts of Solon, the great Greek legislator. Origin
of the aborigines of the western hemisphere. Founders of
an empire. The tradition preserved by the Egyptians. Early
navigation of the Atlantic Ocean. Isolation of the people of
the western continent. The Northmen. Iceland found. Greenland
explored. Saga of Eric the Red. Voyage of Bjarni, Herjulf’s
son. Explorations of Leif, the son of Eric the Red. Tradition
concerning Thorfinn Karlsefne. Discovery of Vinland. Its
geographical situation. The stone tower at Newport. Dighton
rock. Voyages of the Welsh adventurer Madoc. Discoveries of
the Zeni brothers. Story of a Frisland fisherman. Estotiland.
Drogio 1-50
CHAPTER II.
Arrival of three strangely clad travellers in Venice. Their
surprising disclosures. The book of Marco Polo. Marvellous
wealth of Cathay. Gold-covered palaces. Magnificent cities.
Extensive traffic. The empire of the Grand Khan. The travels
of Sir John Mandeville. Commerce of Europe restricted. Use
of the mariner’s compass. An age of superstition. Points of
the compass-card. Geographical enthusiasm of Prince Henry of
Portugal. Explorations along the coast of Africa. The astrolabe
made useful to navigators. The Cape of Good Hope reached 51-69
CHAPTER III.
Christopher Columbus’s conception of finding a short and direct
way to India. His reasonable conclusions. Statements of ancient
geographers. The known parts of the world. Circumference of
the earth. Inferences respecting pieces of wood and dead
bodies cast upon the islands lying off the west coast of
Africa. Island of the Seven Cities. Letter of Paolo Toscanelli.
Distance to Cathay. Columbus’s overtures to the king of
Portugal. Bartolomé Columbus visits England. Christopher
Columbus seeks aid in Spain. The opinion of the learned men
respecting his project. The friendly offices of Friar Juan
Perez. Luis de Santángel’s proposals to Queen Isabella.
Columbus commissioned to undertake a voyage to Cathay 70-93
CHAPTER IV.
The object of Columbus’s voyage. His journal. His intention to
make a map of the lands of the ocean. The vessels of the fleet.
They sail from the port of Palos. The fears of the sailors.
Variations of the needle. The Sea of Sargasso. Incidents of the
voyage. Discovery of land. Island of San Salvador. Columbus’s
description of the people and the islands. He believes that he
had reached the continent of Asia, and that he was near the
dominions of the Grand Khan of Cathay. He sends embassadors to
the sovereign of the Orient. His letter to Rafael Sanchez. The
high latitude to which he sailed. A fort erected at La Navidad,
on the island of Española. The profits of the voyage. Columbus
sets sail for Spain. Anchors in the Tagus. Visits the king
of Portugal. Returns to Spain. Enthusiasm of the people. His
reception at Barcelona 94-144
CHAPTER V.
Territorial privileges of Portugal and Spain. A line of
demarkation designated by Pope Alexander VI. The East and
the West Indies. Columbus’s second voyage. The Caribbees.
The Villa de la Navidad burned. The town of Isabela built.
Further explorations of the coast of Cuba. Depositions taken
that Columbus had reached the dominions of the Grand Khan.
The _cemies_ of the people of Española. The homeward voyage.
Ignorance of pilots respecting latitude and longitude.
Columbus’s compasses. Amerigo Vespucci’s first voyage to the
New World. Lands on the coast of South America. Describes
the natives. The country of Lariab. Columbus’s third voyage.
He surveys the continent. Explores the coast of La Tierra de
Gracia. Amerigo Vespucci’s second voyage. Sails along the
north coast of South America. Traffics for pearls with the
natives. Returns to Cadiz. Columbus’s last voyage. The edifices
of Veragua. The evidences of civilization. Writes that he
reached the province of Mango, contiguous to Cathay. Dies at
Valladolid. His nautical chart. Juan de la Cosa’s great ox-hide
map 145-185
CHAPTER VI.
England sends ships to search for a navigable way to the
Indies. The first voyage of Giovanni Caboto. Pasqualigo’s
account of it. Discovery of the territory of the Grand Khan.
The flag of England and that of St. Mark planted on the coast
of the new country. Prima Tierra Vista. The island of St.
John. Caboto’s second voyage. The dispatches of Pedro de Ayala
to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain. The voyages
of Sebastiano Caboto. His explorations along the coast of
Labrador. La Tierra de los Bacallaos. Sebastiano Caboto’s maps
and manuscripts 186-204
CHAPTER VII.
The Portuguese reach the Indies. Land of the Holy Cross
discovered by Pedro Alvarez Cabral. Gaspar Cortereal’s voyages.
Letter of Pietro Pasqualigo. Terra Verde. Amerigo Vespucci’s
third and fourth voyages along the east coast of South America.
Johann Ruysch’s map. Martin Waldseemüller’s suggestion. The
name of America. A fountain of vivific water. Juan Ponce de
Leon explores the coast of Florida. Vasco Nuñez de Balboa
beholds the Pacific Ocean. The coast of Yucatan explored by
Francisco Hernando de Cordoba. The discoveries of Juan de
Grijalva. The country of New Spain. The expedition of Hernando
Cortes. The magnificent presents sent him by Montezuma. The
populated provinces of Mexico. Great cities. Large temples.
Decorated idols. Cortes enters the city of Mexico. Its palaces,
markets, and arsenals. The horrible sacrifices of the Mexicans.
The siege of the city 205-274
CHAPTER VIII.
The discoveries of Alonso Alvarez de Pineda. The project of
Francisco de Garay. An unfortunate undertaking. The discovery
of the Mississippi River. The jurisdictions of Juan Ponce
de Leon and Francisco de Garay. Another exploration of a
part of the coast of North America. Chicora. Duharhe. Tall
people. Habits of the natives. Tierra de Ayllon. The voyage of
Fernam de Magalhaens. Discovery of the Strait of the Eleven
Thousand Virgins. The Pacific Ocean. The Moluccas or Spice
Islands reached. Voyage of Juan Sebastian del Cano. The earth
circumnavigated. The congress of Badajos 275-296
CHAPTER IX.
France emulates Portugal, Spain, and England. Discoveries of
the Bretons and the Normans. Exploration of the St. Lawrence
River. Giovanni da Verrazzano put in command of a fleet to
sail to Cathay by Francis I. The king of Portugal attempts
to prevent the sailing of the vessels. Storm in the North
Sea. Departure of the Dauphine. Verrazzano reaches the coast
of North America. Designates his first landing-place Diepa.
Fruitless search for a harbor. Friendly savages. Description
of the country. Palmetto trees. Sails northward. Explorations
of the peninsula of Virginia. The Dauphine’s anchorage at
Sandy Hook. Verrazzano explores the bays of New York. The
Grande River. Block Island. The Dauphine in Narragansett Bay.
Description of the natives. Exploration of the coast of Maine.
Five hundred and two leagues of land inspected. Francesca.
Verrazzano’s geographical explanation of his voyage. Arrival
of the Dauphine at Dieppe 297-334
CHAPTER X.
(_Addenda._)
Circulation of the news of Verrazzano’s remarkable discoveries.
Fernando Carli’s letter to his father. The adverse opinion of
the people concerning Verrazzano’s undertaking. The navigator
regarded as another Amerigo Vespucci, another Magellan. Three
ships equipped to sail to the Indies under the command of
Verrazzano. His third voyage to the New Land. The indomitable
Florentine falls a victim to savage cruelty. His body roasted
and eaten. Ramusio’s worthy tribute. The navigator’s great
parchment map. The Maiollo map. Hieronymus da Verrazzano’s
chart 335-343
CHAPTER XI.
(_Addenda._)
The French again search for a direct water-route to India.
Voyages of Jacques Cartier. The names given to the natives of
the New Land. The peasants of New France. The Hudson explored
in the sixteenth century. The French name for the Palisades.
The country of the Grand Scarp. Manants Island. A small fort
built by the French on the site of New York City. The château
on Castle Island, near the site of Albany. The structure
damaged by a freshet. The Mohawk Indians show the ruins to
the Dutch explorers of the river in the seventeenth century.
The Hollanders call it Fort Nassau. The opinion of the Dutch
inhabitants of Albany respecting the people who built it 344-363
Index 365-380
COPIES OF RARE MAPS.
I.—Delineation of the hyperborean regions by Sigurd Stephanius
in 1570 22
II.—A part of the map of the New World contained in the edition of
Ptolemy’s geography printed in Strasburg in 1513 124
III.—A part of the Cabot-map of 1544, in the Bibliothèque nationale,
Paris 190
IV.—Map of the New World contained in Peter Martyr’s “Legatio
Babylonica,” printed in 1511 220
V.—A tracing representing the limits of the discoveries of Juan
Ponce de Leon and Francisco de Garay. 1521 278
VI.—A part of the map of the fourth part of the world contained
in the Cosmographie Universelle by André Thevet, printed in
Paris in 1575 304
VII.—Map of Terre de la Franciscane in the cosmography of Jean
Alphonse and Raulin Secalart, 1545 354
VIII.—Map of a part of North America made by Giacomo de Gastaldi
in 1553 356
IX.—A part of the map of the world made by Gerard Mercator in
Duisburg in 1569 360
X.—A part of the map of the world made by Juan de la Cosa in
1500 cover-pocket
XI.—A part of the map of the world made by Johann Ruysch,
contained in the edition of Ptolemy’s geography printed in
Rome in 1508 cover-pocket
XII.—A part of the map of the world made by Visconte de Maiollo
in 1527 cover-pocket
DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA.
CHAPTER I.
The oldest scriptures, sacred and profane, attest the antiquity of the
red race.[1] As early as the antediluvian period this division of the
human family had taken possession of the islands and continent of the
western hemisphere, where it founded an empire, the most famous and
formidable of primeval times. Great in political power, its commercial,
agricultural, and other economical interests were commensurably vast and
unparalleled. The skill of its architects and engineers was exhibited in
large and imposing edifices and in extraordinary and extensive public
works. Aggressively belligerent, its armies overran parts of Europe and
Africa, exacting tribute, deposing and substituting rulers.
When the Spaniards, in the sixteenth century, began to explore the
interior of the continent of America for gold, silver, and precious
stones, they found populated provinces, great cities, temples, palaces,
aqueducts, canals, bridges, and causeways. The astonished adventurers
also discovered the vestiges of an aboriginal people, among which
were many massive tablets of stone covered with columns of strange
hieroglyphics and antique images, picturing a past civilization for the
rise and growth of which modern archæologists have not yet satisfactorily
determined dates.
In the early ages of the world the Egyptians recorded whatever they
deemed important and worthy of preservation concerning the principal
inhabitants of the globe. These inquisitive chroniclers of antediluvian
traditions placed in their archives some remarkable information
respecting the original people of the western hemisphere. The historical
value of this information is enhanced by the fact that those parts of it
which seem to be the most improbable are supported by similar statements
in the Bible, while the less astounding are verified by the discovery,
on the continent of the so-called New World, of such remains as those
which are said to have existed in the country west of the entrance to the
Mediterranean Sea.
About five hundred and seventy years before the Christian era, Solon,
the celebrated legislator of Greece, visited Egypt, and while there
became acquainted with some of the erudite priests of the country.[2]
When the latter communicated to him what they had learned from the
records concerning the ancient peoples of the earth, the sage of Greece
was so deeply impressed with the unquestionable value of this strange
information that he committed it to writing, intending to use it in an
historical poem which he had undertaken to compose.[3] On his return to
Athens he was not permitted the leisure that was needed to complete his
agreeable task.[4] After his death, the compilations he had made in Egypt
were, for a long time, preserved by his descendants, and at last became
the property of Plato, the Greek philosopher.[5] The latter, when a boy,
had studiously perused his eminent ancestor’s manuscript, and when he had
reached the last years of his scholarly life he could not disengage his
thoughts from the conviction that it was his personal duty to publish its
rare information.[6] In order, therefore, to give publicity to Solon’s
valuable compilations, Plato, a short time before his own death, wrote
that part of the unfinished dialogue entitled “Critias, or the Atlantic,”
in which appears the earliest known account of the ancient people of the
western hemisphere.[7]
“When Solon interrogated the priests, who were the most distinguished
for their antiquarian knowledge, he became aware that neither he nor
any of the Greeks knew much concerning the history of the first ages of
the world. On one occasion, for the purpose of inducing the priests to
relate some of their ancient traditions he began to narrate the early
history of his own country.... Thereupon one of the eldest priests
exclaimed: ‘Solon, Solon, you Greeks are but children, and an aged Greek
there is none!’ Solon, hearing this, asked, ‘What do you mean?’ The
priest replied: ‘You are all youths in intelligence, for you have no old
beliefs transmitted by tradition, nor any science hoary with age.... From
the olden time we have chronicled whatever has happened in your country
or in ours, or in any other region known to us,—any action, noble or
great or in any other way remarkable,—and these records are preserved in
our temples, whereas you and other nations have but lately been provided
with letters and different things required by states....
“‘Many and great exploits of your state, therefore, are here recorded,
and call forth our admiration; nevertheless, there is one in particular,
which in magnitude and heroism surpasses them all. For these records
relate that your state once checked the advance of a mighty force which
threatened all Europe and Asia, moving upon them from the Atlantic Ocean.
For at that time this ocean was navigable; and beyond the strait [that of
Gibraltar], which you in your language call the Pillars of Hercules, was
an island larger than Libya [Africa] and Asia put together.[8] At that
time sea-faring men could pass from it to the other islands, and from
them to the opposite continent, which extended along the real ocean.
For the sea [the Mediterranean] inside the strait, which we have already
mentioned, is like a bay with a narrow entrance, but the other sea is
rightly called an ocean, and the land, which entirely surrounds it, may
truly and correctly be called a continent. In this large Atlantic island
a mighty and wonderful confederacy of kings was formed, which subdued the
whole island and many other islands and parts of the continent. Besides
this it extended its rule, on our side, over Libya as far as Egypt, and
over Europe as far as Tyrrhenia.[9] At that time the united forces of
this power undertook to crush at one blow both your country and ours, and
all the other countries lying within the strait.’”[10]
“‘In the beginning the gods divided the whole earth, here and there, into
large and small portions, that they might obtain temples and sacrifices.
In this way Poseidon received as his portion the Atlantic island, and
begat children by a mortal woman (ἐκ θνητῆς γυναικὸς), and placed them on
a part of the island which we are about to describe.’”[11]
Incredible as this information concerning the residence of a person
possessing a divine nature on the earth and his matrimonial relationship
with a woman seems to be, there are some remarkable statements in the
traditions of the ancients respecting celestial beings dwelling among
men, and, by marriage with their daughters, being the progenitors of an
illustrious offspring. The Hebrew patriarchs, it is said, had personal
communications with angels, at different times and places. It is related
that three, in human form, partook of food given them by Abraham, under
a tree, in the plain of Mamre.[12] Herodotus was told, by certain
Egyptians, that “gods had been the rulers of Egypt and had dwelt among
men; and that one of them always had the supreme power.”[13] Moses, “who
was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians,” describing the people
of the antediluvian world, writes:
“It happened, as men began to multiply on the face of the earth and
daughters were born to them, the sons of the Elohim (בני האלהים)
[literally, the sons of the eminent or mighty ones] saw the daughters of
man (בנות האדם) that they were fair; then they took for wives among
them all whom they loved.... There were giants (נפלים) on the earth
in those days, and also after that the sons of the Elohim went in unto
the daughters of man and they bare children to them, the same became
heroes (גברים) who were of old, men of name (אנשי שם).”[14]
“‘Toward the sea, in the middle of the island, was a plain,’ the priest
continued, ‘which was very attractive and fertile. About fifty stadia
from the centre of the plain was a mountain with sloping sides.[15] On
this dwelt one of those men begotten from the ground in the beginning
(κατὰ ἀρχὰς ἐκ γῆς ἀνδρῶν γεγονότων), Euenor by name.[16] He lived there,
with his wife, Leucippe. They had an only daughter named Cleito. When
this girl reached womanhood, her father and mother being dead, Poseidon
fell in love with her and made her his wife. He encircled the hill on
which she lived with alternate girdles of land and water, greater and
less, making two of land and three of water, each uniformly distant from
the centre of the island, in order to render her habitation inaccessible
to men, for at that time ships and sea-faring were unknown. Also by his
divine power he beautifully adorned the centre of the island, causing two
fountains to shoot upward from beneath the earth, one of cold and the
other of hot water, and making all kinds of food to grow abundantly on
the earth. He begat and raised ten male children, twins, and divided the
Atlantic island into ten parts. He gave to the first-born of the eldest
twins, his mother’s habitation and the land surrounding it, this being
the largest and the best. He appointed him king over the other children,
making the latter princes, and giving to each the control of many people
and extensive domains. He likewise gave names to all of his offspring;
to the eldest, the king, the name of Atlas, in honor of whom both the
island and the ocean were called Atlantic.[17] To the twin born after
him (who received for his portion the extreme part of the island toward
the Pillars of Hercules as far as the region now called in that country
Gadeirica), he gave the appellation, which we Greeks call Eumelus, but
the people of that country Gadeira.[18] He called the first of the
second-born twins, Ampheres, the second Eudæmon; of the third pair, he
called the first-born Mnesis, and the second, Autochthon; of the fourth
pair, the first Elasippus, and the younger Mestor; and of the fifth pair,
to the first was given the name of Azaës, and to the last, Diaprepes.
“‘For many generations these and their descendants were the rulers and
the inhabitants of the islands in the ocean, and, as it has been said,
they extended their authority over all the country as far as Egypt
and Tyrrhenia. By far the most distinguished was the race of Atlas;
and the eldest king belonging to it always handed down in succession
the government to his eldest son. All these kings in turn possessed
immense wealth, such as was never known to belong to royalty or will be
likely hereafter. They were provided with all things which, in a city
or elsewhere, are worth having. Large revenues were received by them
from foreign countries under their rule, but the greatest resources
came from the island. First were such ores as are dug in mines in
a crude condition, or need to be smelted, particularly the metal
_orichalcum_,[19] which is now known only by name, but formerly was of
great value. This was dug from the earth in many parts of the island,
being prized above all the metals then known, except gold. The island
also produced an abundance of wood for building purposes, and furnished
food for wild and tame animals. Vast numbers of elephants were on the
island, for there was abundant subsistence for all animals which feed in
marshes and along lakes, on mountains and plains, and likewise for this
animal, which by nature is the largest and most voracious of all.[20]
And whatever fragrant plants the earth produces, whether roots, or
grasses, or woods, or exuding gums, or flowers, or fruits, grew there and
were developed to perfection. The island besides produced such cultivated
fruits and dry edible fruits as we use for food and call vegetables;
also the fruits which trees bear and are used for drinks, meats, and
ointments; and those also which have a hard shell, used in sport and
pleasure, that are collected with trouble, together with dainty fruits
for dessert, which provoke the appetite or please the sick;—all these
that once-existing and tropic island, sacred and delightful, produced in
surprising and infinite quantities. Obtaining all these from the soil,
the inhabitants employed themselves in building temples, royal palaces,
harbors, and wharves in all parts of the country, constructing them as
follows:
“‘First of all, the people residing in and about that ancient metropolis
bridged over those girdles of water, making a causeway to and from the
royal palace. In this place, which had been the residence of the gods
and their ancestors, they, at the beginning, erected the palace; and
each [king] in turn, receiving it from his predecessor, and further
embellishing the ornamental parts, continually surpassed the one before
him, until they made the building very attractive to the sight, on
account of its size and the beauty of its elaborations. They dug a canal,
beginning at the sea, three plethra[21] broad, a hundred feet deep, and
fifty stadia in length, to the outermost girdle, and thus made a channel
to it from the sea as into a harbor, by enlarging its mouth sufficiently
to admit the largest vessels. Besides this, they separated by aqueducts
the girdles of land which separated those of water, so that a trireme[22]
could be taken from one girdle of water to another, arching the girdles
of land to allow a water-way beneath them; for the banks of the girdles
of land rose to a height considerably above the water. And the greatest
of these girdles into which the sea flowed was three stadia in width, and
the girdle of land next to it was of the same width. The second girdle
of water was two stadia in width and the second girdle of land the same.
The last girdle of water, environing the centre of the island, was only
one stadium wide, and the island, on which the king’s palace stood, had a
diameter of five stadia. This island, as well as the girdles of land, and
the bridge (which was a plethron in width), they inclosed on the sides
with stone walls, erecting towers and gates at intervals on the aqueducts
where the water passed through [the girdles of land]. The stone for the
walls they quarried within the limits of the island, both in the centre,
and inside and outside the girdles; one kind of it was white, a second
black, a third red; and by thus quarrying they made at the same time
openings which served for two docks, having likewise a covering of rock.
Of the buildings, some were of plain structure, while others they built
of a composite style of architecture, using the different kinds of stone
as pleased them most, thus realizing a pleasure becoming their natures.
And they covered the whole circuit of the wall round the extreme outer
girdle with bronze, applying it as they would plaster. The next wall
inside of it they covered with melted tin, and the wall round the citadel
with _orichalcum_ that has a fiery resplendence.
“‘Further, the royal palace within the citadel was constructed in the
following manner: In the centre of it a temple was erected, difficult
of access, sacred to Cleito and Poseidon, surrounded by an inclosure of
gold; for on this spot they begat and raised the race of the ten kings,
and where also their descendants, making annual collections from all the
ten allotments, offered seasonable sacrifices to each one.
“‘The temple of Poseidon was a stadium in length, three plethra in
breadth, and of a proportionate height, having a somewhat barbaric
appearance. All the outside of the temple, except the pinnacles, they
lined with silver, but the pinnacles they covered with gold. Respecting
the interior, the ceiling was wholly of ivory, variegated with gold
and _orichalcum_, and all the other parts, the walls, the pillars, and
the pavements, they covered with _orichalcum_. They also placed in the
temple golden statues. The one of the god stood in a chariot driving with
reins six-winged horses. It was of such size that the head of the god
touched the ceiling, and surrounding the statue were a hundred nereids
on dolphins; for the people of that day thought that this was their
number. The temple also contained many other statues dedicated to private
persons. On the outside of the temple golden images were also placed of
all the men and women that were descended from the ten kings, and many
other large statues, both of kings and of private people, both from
the metropolis and from the foreign countries over which the kings had
dominion. There was also an altar, in size and elaboration corresponding
to these ornaments; and there were palaces also whose grandeur was in
keeping with the greatness of the empire and also with the splendor of
the temple.
“‘They had fountains from cold and hot springs of which there were many,
the water being suited in every way to their use on account of its
sweetness and purity. Around these springs they made their residences
and well-watered plantations, together with their reservoirs, some open
to the heavens, but the others, for use in winter, roofed over for warm
baths. The kings’ bathing-houses and those of private persons were
separated, as well as those of the women. There were others for horses
and other draught cattle, each provided with the requisite means of
cleanliness. The stream flowing from these they conducted to the grove
of Poseidon, where there were all kinds of trees reaching a wonderful
height on account of the fertility of the soil, and then led it away by
aqueducts to the outer girdles of water. There they also erected a large
number of temples, dedicated to many different gods, and many gardens
and gymnasia, one for men, and others separately for horses, on the two
girdles of land. To test the speed of the horses there was a race-course
in the middle of the largest girdle of land, a stadium in width, that
extended around its entire circumference. Around it on all sides were
barracks for the household troops, corresponding to their number. To
the more faithful of these troops quarters were assigned on the smaller
girdle of land closer to the citadel, while those who excelled all the
others in loyalty had quarters given them within the citadel, near the
residences of the kings. The docks were filled with triremes and the
equipments for triremes; and the triremes were all adequately provided
with them. These were the arrangements for the protection of the palace
of the kings. On crossing the three outer harbors one found a wall which
extended entirely around the island, beginning at the sea, everywhere
fifty stadia distant from the greatest girdle and harbor, and inclosed
the entrance to the canal and the entrance to the sea. The whole of
this part of the girdle of land was covered with many and densely-built
dwellings. The canal and the largest harbor were filled with vessels and
traders, coming from all parts, and these, on account of their number,
made a babel of voices, a commotion, and a din all through the day and
the night.
“‘We have now related from memory a description of the city and its
ancient habitations; now we must attempt to describe the nature of the
other parts of the country and the employment of the people. First,
then, the whole region was said to be exceedingly high and precipitous
toward the sea, and the plain, encircling the city, surrounded by
mountains sloping down to the sea, being level and smooth, extended in
one direction three thousand stadia, and the central part, from the sea,
more than two thousand stadia. And this part of the island extended
toward the south, in an opposite direction from the north. The mountains
around it were, at that time, also celebrated, exceeding in number, size,
and attractiveness all those of the present day; having on them many
hamlets together with villages, as well as rivers, lakes, and marshes,
furnishing ample supplies of food for all cattle, both tame and wild;
with timber of different kinds and in great quantity for every special
purpose. The plain, by nature, being as described, was improved in the
following way by many kings through a long course of time: It was almost
square in extent, generally straight and oblong, and where it terminated
they bounded it by digging a canal around it. Concerning the depth,
breadth, and length of which for a public work, besides other concomitant
undertakings, we can scarcely believe what was said, still we must tell
what we learned. The canal was excavated to the depth of a plethrum, and
the breadth was a stadium in every part, the entire excavation round the
plain being ten thousand stadia in length. This canal, receiving the
water of the streams coming from the mountains, conducted it all around
the plain and near to the city, and finally to the sea. From above,
likewise, straight canals were cut about a hundred feet broad along the
plain, back into the canal near the sea; distant from one another about
one hundred stadia; and it was by these canals that timber from the
mountains was brought to the city, and on which the rest of the shipping
trade was done; transverse canals of communication being cut into the
others and toward the city. Their harvest they gathered twice in a year;
in winter availing themselves of the rains, and in summer irrigating the
land from the canals.
“‘It was ordered for the men on the plain fit for military service that
each individual leader should have an allotment of land; each allotment
amounting in extent to a hundred stadia; the whole number of allotments
being sixty thousand. It is said that many men from the mountains and
other parts of the country were assigned, according to their dwellings
and villages, certain tracts by their respective leaders. Each leader
was required to furnish for war the sixth part of a war-chariot (to make
the number of ten thousand), two riding horses, and a two-horse chariot
without a driver’s seat, having a mounted charioteer to guide the horses,
with another rider to dismount and fight at the side of them; also two
heavy-armed men, two archers, two slingers, three light-armed soldiers,
the same number of stone-shooters and javelin-men, besides four seamen
to make up the crews of one thousand two hundred vessels. Thus were the
military affairs of this city arranged. Respecting those of the nine
other allotments, there were different regulations, which it would be too
tedious to narrate.
“‘The following were the systems of official services and honors: Each
of the ten kings ruled supreme over the people and the laws in his own
allotment and over his own city, constraining and punishing whom he
pleased.[23] As the law was handed down to them, the government and
commonwealth in each allotment were regulated by the injunctions of
Poseidon. Inscriptions [of this law] were made by the first [kings] on a
column of _orichalcum_ which was placed in the centre of the island, in
the temple of Poseidon, where the kings consulted together every fifth
year, (which they afterward changed to every sixth year,) each king
representing at these meetings the entire kingdom and its subdivisions.
The kings, when they were assembled, deliberated on matters respecting
the common weal, and inquired what transgressions each had committed,
and each respectively rendered his decision. Before they sat in judgment
they gave one another pledges, according to the following custom: The
ten, when they were assembled in the temple, after invoking the god to
receive their sacrifice propitiously, went swordless, with staves and
nooses, among the bulls grazing within the temple inclosure, and the bull
they took they brought to the column and slaughtered it, the head of
the bull being under the inscriptions. Besides the laws on the column,
there was a malediction written containing denunciations of evil on
the disobedient. When, therefore, in compliance with their laws, they
sacrificed and burned all the limbs of the bull, they filled a goblet
with the blood of the animal, and threw the remainder into the fire,
in order to purify the column. Afterward dipping from the goblet with
golden cups, they poured libations of blood on the fire, and swore to do
justice according to the laws on the column, to punish any one who had
previously transgressed them, besides swearing that they themselves would
never afterward willingly transgress the inscribed laws, or rule or obey
any ruler governing otherwise than according to his father’s laws. Then
after invoking these denunciations on themselves and their descendants,
and after drinking from the cup and depositing it in the temple of the
god, and sitting the necessary time at supper, they, as soon as it was
dark and the fire of the sacrifice had ceased to burn, dressed themselves
in beautiful dark-blue robes, and sat down on the ground, near the embers
of the sacrifice, over which they had sworn. All the fire in the temple
having been extinguished for the night, they then mutually judged one
another respecting any accusation of transgressing the laws. After their
acts of judgment were ended, and daylight had come, they inscribed their
decisions on a golden tablet and deposited it and their dresses in the
temple as memorials. There were also many other special laws respecting
the privileges of the kings. The principal ones were that they should
never wage war upon one another, that all should lend their aid when
any attempt was made in their cities to destroy the royal race, that
they should consult together as their ancestors had done respecting the
right course to be pursued in war and in other matters, and that they
should allot the government of the empire to the Atlantic race. They
did not allow the king, however, any authority to put to death any of
his kinsmen, unless the execution was approved by more than five of the
ten.’”[24]
The priest also related that it was “about nine thousand years ago that
war was proclaimed between those dwelling outside the Pillars of Hercules
and all those within them.”[25] Athens “was the leader of the latter
people and directed the operations of the war, and the kings of the
Atlantic island were the commanders of the forces of the former.”[26]
“‘But in a later age,’ said the priest, ‘by extraordinary earthquakes and
deluges, bringing destruction in a single day and night, the whole of
your formidable race was at once sunk under the earth, and the Atlantic
island in like manner plunged beneath the sea and concealed from view;
therefore that sea is, at present, neither passable nor to be traced
out, being blocked up with a great depth of mud made by the sunken
island.’”[27]
The history of the Atlantic people as it was known to the ancient
Egyptians ends with this catastrophe. The inference of the priest that
the mud of the submerged island made the Atlantic impassable is seemingly
an assertion without any basis of fact. Had he said that the submergence
of some of the islands west of the Pillars of Hercules obliterated the
marked sea-path between the continents of the two hemispheres, this
statement would have strictly accorded with what he had said before, that
“sea-faring men, at that time, could pass from it [the Atlantic island]
to the other islands, and from them to the opposite continent.”[28] The
disappearance of the islands, in sight of which seamen had steered their
galleys, at once isolated the peoples of the two hemispheres. Thus it
happened, in the course of centuries, that the aborigines of America
passed out of the recollection of the inhabitants of the so-called Old
World as an early-known people.
The writer of the first book of the Bible relates that when “Yahveh saw
the wickedness of man was great upon the earth and every imagination of
the thoughts of his heart only evil continually, ... it repented him
of having made man on the earth, and he was grieved in his heart. And
Yahveh said, ‘I will exterminate man whom I have created from the surface
of the ground.’”[29] The information contained in these words of the
learned Hebrew so closely correspond to that imparted to Solon by the
Egyptian priest concerning the subsequent degeneracy of the primitive
people of the earth, that it would seem as if it had been derived from
the same source. “‘For many generations,’ said the priest, ‘so long as
the god-nature continued in them, they remained obedient to the laws and
were happily influenced by it. But when the divine nature became extinct
by the dominance and constant ascendency of the human, and the habits
of men overpowered them, ... they deported themselves in an unbecoming
way.... Therefore, Zeus, the god of gods, who rules justly and searches
out such things, perceiving an illustrious people miserably depraved, and
intending to inflict punishment on them that they might become better
fitted to command their appetites and passions, collected all the gods
into their own most holy habitation, which, being in the centre of the
universe, commands a view of all things having a part in generation; and
having assembled them, he said....’”[30]
An inscription on the interior walls of the tomb of Seti I. of Egypt
contains a statement concerning a council of the gods held to consider
what punishment should be visited upon the depraved descendants of the
god Râ, which is similar to the declaration of the last clause of Plato’s
unfinished dialogue.[31] Lenormant, commenting upon the information
contained in the inscription, remarks:
“The Egyptians admitted a destruction of the primitive men by the gods on
account of their rebellion and sins. This event was recorded in a chapter
of the sacred books of Tahout,—certain hermetic books of the Egyptian
priesthood,—that had been graven on the walls of one of the most isolated
rooms of the burial crypts of King Seti I., at Thebes. The text of it has
been published and translated by Edward Naville.[32]
“The scene is placed at the end of the reign of the god Râ.... Incensed
by the wickedness and the crimes of the men whom he had begotten, the god
summons the other gods to consult with them in the utmost secrecy, ‘in
order that mankind might not know it, and that their hearts might not be
dismayed.’
“Said Râ to Noun: ‘Thou, the eldest of the gods, of whom I am sprung,
and you, ancient gods, behold the men who have been begotten by me. They
speak words against me. Tell me what you would do in this crisis. Behold,
I have waited, and I have not destroyed them before having heard your
counsel.’”[33]
Singular as the fact may seem, the state, polity, and genius of the
people of the western hemisphere described in the records of Egypt
reappear in the strange features of the civilization of Mexico, and
in the vestiges of its aborigines, which amazed the Spaniards who
accompanied Hernando Cortes into the interior of the country, in the
early part of the sixteenth century. The remarkable accounts given by
Bernal Diaz and other contemporary writers respecting the people, the
kings, the cities, the palaces, the temples, and the public works seen
by the Spanish invaders, verify, in many ways, the declarations of the
Egyptian priests concerning the Atlantic race.[34]
For centuries after the disappearance of the islands lying in the ocean
west of the Pillars of Hercules, the wide expanse of water, dashing its
foaming surges on the shores of the continents of the two hemispheres,
was not only unexplored but was deemed impassable. Superstition filled
its misty distances with frightful chimeras and geographical absurdities.
About the beginning of the Middle Ages the vikings of Northern Europe
were venturing across the North Sea in their single-masted, many-oared
galleys. Until this time the superstitious seamen of Scandinavia had
not attempted to sail beyond the sight of land to any great distance.
Their first lessons in navigating the narrow expanse of the North Sea
were taken when their boats were unexpectedly carried away from the
rugged coast of Norway by tempestuous winds to the Hetland[35] and
Fer öe[36] (Far islands). Whatever fears of permanent exile on these
unexplored islands may at first have alarmed the deported Northmen,
these were dispelled by the cheering suggestion that when the wind blew
from the west they could return to their own country. As soon as the
wind blew eastwardly they put to sea. Using their sails and oars they
safely reached the western shore of Scandinavia. Frequent experiences of
this kind in time emboldened the Norwegian seamen to undertake voyages
to the westward islands in search of booty. Having no compass to guide
their galleys thither, they carried with them hawks or ravens, and when
uncertain respecting the course of their vessels, they let loose a cast
of these birds, which instinctively flew to the nearest land. Thitherward
they steered, and finding that it was their destination or not, they
secured whatever plunder they could and departed. Not unfrequently the
vessels of the Norse sea-kings were lost in storms on the wild waters of
the Atlantic, or wrecked on the inhospitable shores of remote islands.
It is said that Naddoddr, a Norwegian pirate, was drifted in his ship
by an adverse wind, in 860, to Iceland, which he called Sneeland
(Snowland).[37] It is also related that when the famous viking, Floki,
was lost in his vessel in stormy weather, between the islands of Faroe
and Sneeland, in 865, he let fly three ravens, one of which flew back to
the Faroe islands, the second returned to the ship, and the third winged
its way toward the more northerly island which the perplexed Northman
was seeking. This sturdy seaman described the new country as volcanic
and sterile, glacial and cold, and appropriately called it Island
(Iceland). His companions, however, reported that they had found it to
have a delightful climate and a fertile soil. One, wishing to describe
its general fruitfulness in a more attractive way, averred that “milk
dropped from every plant and butter from every twig.”[38] In a short time
a course to Iceland was marked out by the early rovers of the North Sea,
who, before the close of the ninth century, planted a colony on the bleak
coast of this icy island, the most westerly land hitherto discovered by
the fearless seamen of Scandinavia.[39]
[Illustration: SIGURDI STEPHANII TERRARUM HYPERBOREARUM DELINEATIO, ANNO
1570.
Delineation of the Hyperborean Regions, by Sigurd Stephanus in the year
1570. (Size of the original, 6¾ inches square.)]
But Iceland did not long remain the most remote part of the western world
known to the people of Europe. Gunnbjörn, a Norwegian, driven westward
in his ship beyond Iceland, in a storm, in 876, descried land looming
up along the western horizon. In the latter part of the tenth century,
Eric the Red, whom the public assembly of Iceland had declared an outlaw,
determined to go in search of the land seen by Gunnbjörn. He sailed from
Iceland about the year 981, and came in sight of the coast of Greenland,
at a place called Midjökul.[40] He then steered southward to see whether
the country were habitable. He passed the first winter near the middle of
the site of the eastern settlement (_eystri bygd_).[41] In the following
summer he reached the western uninhabited region (_vestri ubygd_),[42]
and gave names to many places. As soon as the ice disappeared, at the
close of the second winter, and the sea was again navigable, he returned
to Iceland, and called the country which he had explored Graenland
(Greenland), “because” he said, “people will be influenced to immigrate
to it, if the land bears an attractive name.” Among those whom Eric
induced to return with him as colonists to Greenland was a Norwegian,
named Herjulf. Thirty-five ships (_skipa_) filled with emigrants set
sail from Iceland for the newly explored country, but only fourteen of
the vessels reached the places where the colonists were to dwell. Eric
the Red settled at Brattahlid, and Herjulf erected his house on a cape
called Herjulfsnes (Herjulf’s nose, or promontory).[43] “This was fifteen
winters before Christianity was established by law in Iceland.”[44]
Among the traditions preserved of the voyages of the Northmen in
the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth centuries, there are several that
have caused considerable controversy respecting the historical and
geographical value of the information contained in them; for a number
of eminent writers have made use of this information to show that the
Northmen were the first discoverers of America and the explorers of a
large part of the eastern coast of the continent.[45] Although these
sagas or legends of Iceland were unrecorded for several centuries, the
manuscripts which now contain them are assumed to have been written in
a manner so precise that translations of their text are presented to
prove that the Norse vikings not only made frequent voyages to America,
but that they have left definite and reliable information respecting
the parts of the coast visited by them. Other distinguished writers
consider these traditions as too mythical and vague to be deemed
valuable, either historically or geographically, and argue that what is
thought to describe the physical features and productions of parts of the
present territory of the eastern coast of the United States describes
the topography and fruits of Greenland. A brief narration of the most
important particulars of the voyages of several of the Northmen who
have been regarded, as the first discoverers of parts of the continent
of America, will suffice to show the grounds upon which rest many of
the arguments that have been advanced to support the opinion that these
persons had landed upon its shores and explored a great extent of its
Atlantic coast.
It is said in the saga of Eric the Red and of the Greenlanders,[46] that
when Herjulf sailed, in the spring of 985, from Iceland to Greenland,
his son Bjarni was in Norway. When the latter, in the following summer
returned to Iceland, and learned that his father had emigrated to the
country recently explored by Eric the Red, he determined to sail to it
and pass the winter with his father, as had been his custom for many
years. He evidently had some misgivings respecting the success of the
contemplated voyage, for he said to his companions: “Our going there
will be devoid of common-sense, since not one of us has traversed the
Greenland Sea.” “Nevertheless,” as the tradition runs, “as soon as they
had fitted for the voyage, they intrusted themselves to the ocean, and
made sail three days, until the land passed out of their sight from the
water. But then the bearing winds ceased to blow, and northern breezes
and a fog succeeded. Then they were drifted about for many days and
nights, not knowing whither they tended. After this the light of the sun
was seen, and they were able to survey the regions of the sky. Now they
carried sail, and steered this day before they beheld land.” They sailed
near to it, and “soon saw that the country was not mountainous, but
covered with trees and diversified with little hills. They left the land
on their larboard side, and let the stern turn from the shore. Then they
sailed two days before they saw another land [or region].... They then
approached it, and saw that it was level and covered with trees. Then,
the favorable wind having ceased blowing, the sailors said that it seemed
to them that it would be well to land there, but Bjarni was unwilling to
do so.... He bade them make sail, which was done. They turned the prow
from the land, and sailed out into the open sea, where for three days
they had a favorable south-southwest wind. They saw a third land [or
region], but it was high and mountainous and covered with glaciers....
They did not lower sail, but holding their course along the shore, they
found it to be an island. Again they turned the stern against the land,
and made sail for the high sea, having the same wind, which gradually
increasing, Bjarni ordered the sails to be shortened, forbidding the use
of more canvas than the ship and her outfit could conveniently bear. Thus
they sailed for four days, when they saw a fourth land” [or region],
which was Greenland, where Bjarni found his father.[47]
Bjarni’s discoveries, it is said, were often the subject of conversation
among the Northmen. It is further related that Leif, the son of Eric the
Red, purchased Bjarni’s ship and set sail in it with thirty-five men
from Brattahlid about the year 1000 to seek new lands. Nothing is told in
the tradition concerning the direction in which these Northmen sailed,
only that “they first came to the land [or region] last seen by Bjarni.
They steered toward the shore, cast anchor, put out the boat, and went on
land, where they saw no herbage. The whole country was filled with high
icy mountains, and from the sea all the way to the icy mountains was a
plain of flat stones.” Leif called the region Helluland.[48]
When Leif and his companions departed from Helluland, it is related that
they “put out to sea and found another land [or region]. This was a level
country and covered with trees.” Leif named it Markland.[49]
[Illustration: FIELD OF VOYAGES TO AMERICA.
ON MERCATOR’S PROJECTION.]
As related in the saga, when they departed from Markland, “they sailed on
the high sea, having a northeast wind, and were two days at sea before
they saw land. They steered toward it and touched the island lying before
the north part of the land. When they went on land they surveyed it, for
by good fortune the weather was serene. They found the grass sprinkled
with dew, and it happened by chance that they touched the dew with their
hands and carried them to their mouths and perceived that it had a sweet
taste which they had not before noticed. Then they returned to the ship
and sailed through a bay lying between the island and a tongue of land
running toward the north. Steering a course to the west shore, they
passed the tongue of land. Here when the tide ebbed there were very
narrow shoals. When the ship got aground there were shallows of great
extent between the vessel and the receded sea. So great was the desire
of the men to go on land that they were unwilling to stay on board until
the returning tide floated the ship. They went ashore at a place where a
river flowed out from a lake. When the tide floated the ship, they took
the boat and rowed to the vessel and brought her into the river and then
into the lake. Here they anchored, carried the luggage from the ship,
and built dwellings. Afterward they held a consultation and resolved
to remain at this place during the winter. Then they erected large
buildings. There were not only many salmon in the river but also in the
lake and of a larger size than they had before seen. So great was the
fertility of the soil that they were led to believe that cattle would not
be in want of food during winter, or that wintry coldness would prevail,
or the grass wither much.”
While the Northmen were passing the winter on the shore of the unnamed
lake, it happened one evening that a Southern man, named Tyrker, did
not return with those who had been out exploring the country. Those who
went to search for the absent man met him returning to the quarters.
They were surprised when he told them that he had found wine-wood and
wine-berries (_vinvid ok vinber_). “Is this true, my teacher?” asked
Leif. “It is really true,” Tyrker replied, “for where I was brought up
there was not wanting either wine-wood or wine-berries.” They passed this
night in sleep, but on the following morning Leif said to the men: “Two
things are now to be done on alternate days, gathering wine-berries or
hewing wine-wood and felling trees, (_lesa vinber, edr höggva vinvid ok
fella mörkina_,) with which my ships should be loaded.” Having loaded the
ship and the spring approaching they prepared to depart. To designate
the productions of the region, Leif called it Vinland (Wine-land). They
then put to sea and had a favorable wind until they came in sight of
Greenland.[50]
As a number of writers have assumed that the region of Vinland, where
Leif and his companions wintered, was the country adjacent Mount Hope
Bay, in Rhode Island, the following description of a part of the east
coast of Greenland, given by Captain W. A. Graah, who was sent there,
in 1828, by the Danish government to obtain information respecting the
site of the eastern settlement (_eystri bygd_), will likely afford
grounds for a more plausible conjecture that Vinland was a region in
Greenland: “August 30 [1829].—The place we now were at was the Ekallumiut
[between the sixty-third and sixty-fourth parallel of north latitude],
so often mentioned. The cove, the length of which is between one and two
cable-lengths, has on both sides of it, but particularly on the eastern,
fields of considerable extent, covered with dwarf-willows, juniper-berry,
black crake-berry, and whortleberry heath, the first-named growing to
the height of two feet, and the whole interspersed with a good many
patches of a fine species of grass, which, however, was very much burnt
by the heat of the sun, except in the immediate vicinity of the brooks
and rivulets that, in great number, ran down the sides of the hills, and
intersected the level land in every direction. At the the bottom of the
cove stretches an extensive valley, through which runs a stream abounding
in char, [a species of salmon,] and having its source in the glaciers,
of which several gigantic arms reach down into the valley from the height
in the background. On the banks of this brook the grass grew luxuriantly;
but it was far from being, at many places, of a height fit for mowing,
so that even this spot, where grass was more abundant than anywhere else
perhaps along the whole coast, does not seem calculated to furnish winter
fodder for any considerable number of cattle. Various flowers, among
which the sweet-smelling lychnis, everywhere adorned the fields.... At
this really beautiful spot, the natives of the country round assemble for
a few days during their brief summer, to feast upon the char that are to
be got here in great plenty and of a great size, the black crake-berry
and angelica, and to lay in a stock of them for winter use, and give
themselves up to mirth and merry-making.”[51]
It is further related, in the saga, concerning Vinland, that “the days
are more equal there than in Greenland or Iceland; there the sun sets
at eykt time (_eyktar-stad_, 3:30 P.M.), and rises at day-meal time
(_dagmála-stad_, breakfast-time), on the shortest day.”[52]
As there is no reliable information to indicate that the Northmen of
the tenth century had any instruments by which they could accurately
measure the changing spaces of day and night, or that their observations
of the sun gave them the knowledge of astronomical time, an attempt
to elucidate the exact duration of the shortest day in Vinland from
the vague signification of the words _eyktar-stad_ and _dágmála-stad_
would consequently be futile and unsatisfactory. Nevertheless a number
of scholars have attempted to determine the length of the shortest day
at the place where the Northmen built their winter-quarters. Some have
given the day a measurement of six hours, others seven, eight, and nine
hours.[53] These different lengths of the day involve the inference that
Vinland was somewhere between the forty-first and sixty-first parallels
of north latitude.
It is related in another saga or legend that Vinland was visited in
the eleventh century by other Northmen.[54] Among the number were
Thorfinn Karlsefne, Snorro Thorbrandson, Bjarni Grimolfson, and Thorhall
Gamlason. It is said that the three ships which departed from the western
settlement, in the spring of 1007, had on board one hundred and forty men
(_40 manna ok hundrad_). After sailing two days southward from Bjanneyjar
they reached Helluland. “Thence they sailed two days, and turned from the
south to the southeast,” and came to Markland.
When the Northmen departed from Markland, it is said in the saga that
“they then sailed far to the southward along the coast and came to a
promontory. The land lay on the right and had a long sandy beach. They
rowed to it and found on a tongue of land the keel of a ship. They called
this point of land Kjalarnes (Keel cape), and the beach Furdustrandir
(Long Strand), for it took a long time to sail by it. Then the coast
became sinuous. They then steered the ship into an inlet. King Olaf
Tryggvason had given Leif two Scotch people, a man named Haki and a woman
named Hekja. They were swifter than animals. These persons were in the
ship with Karlsefne. When they had sailed past Furdustrandir they put
these Scots ashore and ordered them to run to the south of the country
and explore it, and return within three days.... They were absent the
designated time. When they returned, one brought a bunch of wine-berries
(_vinberja köngul_), the other an ear of wheat (_hveitiax nysaid_).[55]
When they were taken on board, the ship sailed farther. They came into a
bay, where there was an island around which flowed rapid currents that
suggested the name which they gave it, Straumey (Stream island). There
were so many eider ducks on the island that one could hardly walk about
without stepping on their eggs. They called this place Straumfjörd
(Stream inlet). They took the cargo from the ship and made preparations
to remain there. They had with them different kinds of cattle. They
undertook nothing but the exploration of the land. Without having
provided food beforehand they sustained themselves there during the
winter. In the summer the fishing was not good and they were in want of
provisions. Thorhall the hunter disappeared. They had previously prayed
to God to give them food, but they were not supplied as quickly as they
thought their hunger demanded. They searched for Thorhall for three days.
At last they found him lying on the top of a rock, looking up at the sky,
gasping and muttering. They asked him why he was there. He said that his
presence there should not trouble them. They prevailed on him to return
home with them. A whale was stranded there, and they found it and cut it
up. No one knew what kind of a whale it was, and when the cook prepared
a part of it for them, they ate it and all were made sick. Then Thorhall
said: ‘The red-bearded [Thor, the god of thunder,] was more helpful than
your Christ; this [the whale meat] I have received for my hymns which I
sing of Thor, my protector; seldom has he deserted me.’ When they heard
this assertion, they cast the remainder of the whale into the sea and
resigned themselves to the care of God. Then the weather favored them so
that they were able to row out to fish, and thereafter they were not in
want of food, for wild game was caught on land and fish in the sea, and
eggs were collected on the island....
“It is said that Thorhall resolved to go northward along Furdustrandir to
explore Vinland, but Karlsefne determined to sail southward along the
coast. Thorhall fitted out his vessel under the island, having not more
than nine men to join him, for all the others went with Karlsefne. Now
when Thorhall carried water to his ship, he sang these verses:
‘People told me when I came
Hither, all would be so fine;
The good Vinland, known to fame,
Rich in fruits and choicest wine;
Now the water-pail they send;
To the fountain I must bend,
Nor from out this land divine
Have I quaffed one drop of wine.’
“When they were about to depart and had hoisted sail, Thorhall again sang:
‘Let our trusty band
Haste to Fatherland;
Let our vessel brave
Plough the angry wave,
While those few who love
Vinland, here may rove,
Or, with idle toil,
Fetid whales may boil,
Here on Furdustrand,
Far from Fatherland.’ ...
“It is now to be told of Karlsefne that he with Snorro and Bjarni and
their people sailed southward along the coast. They sailed a long time
until they came to a river, which ran out from the land and through a
lake into the sea. The river was quite shallow, and no ship could enter
it without high water. Karlsefne sailed with his people into its mouth
and called the place Hóp (_ok kölludu i Hópi_).[56] They found fields
of wild wheat (_sjálfsana hveitiakra_) where the ground was low, and
wine-wood where it was higher.... There was a great number of all kinds
of wild animals in the woods. They remained at this place a half-month
and enjoyed themselves, but did not find any thing novel. They had their
cattle with them. Early one morning, when they were viewing the country,
they saw a great number of skin boats on the sea.... The people in them
rowed nearer and with curiosity gazed at them.... These people were swart
(_svartir_) and ugly, and had coarse hair, large eyes, and broad cheeks.
They remained a short time and watched Karlsefne’s people. They then
rowed away to the southward beyond the cape.
“Karlsefne and his people had erected their dwellings above the lake.
Some of the houses were near the water and others were farther away. They
remained here during the winter.[57] There was no snow, and their cattle
subsisted on the grass.”
It is further related that when spring drew near the natives again
visited the Northmen and trafficked with them. “The people preferred red
cloth, and for this they gave skins and all kinds of furs. They also
wanted to purchase swords and spears, but Karlsefne and Snorro would not
sell them any weapons. For a whole skin the Skraelings (_Skraelingar_)
took a piece of red cloth a span long, and bound it around their
heads.”[58] In this way they bartered for a time. Then the cloth began to
diminish, and Karlsefne and his men cut it into small strips not wider
than one’s finger, and still the Skraelings gave as much for these as
they had for the larger pieces, and often more. “It happened that a bull,
which Karlsefne had with him, ran out from the wood and bellowed loudly.
This frightened the Skraelings so much that they rushed to their boats
and rowed away to the southward around the coast.”
Three weeks afterward a large number of Skraelings returned in their
boats uttering loud cries. “Karlsefne’s men took a red shield and held
it toward them. The Skraelings leaped from their boats and attacked
them. Many missiles fell among them, for the Skraelings used slings
(_valslöngur_). Karlsefne’s men saw that they had raised on a pole
something resembling an air-filled bag of a blue color. They hurled this
at Karlsefne’s party, and when it fell to the ground it exploded with a
loud noise. This frightened Karlsefne and his men so much that they ran
and fell back to the river, for it seemed to them that the Skraelings
were inclosing them on all sides. They did not stop until they reached a
rocky place where they stoutly resisted their assailants. Freydis [the
wife of Thorvard] came out, and seeing Karlsefne’s people retreating,
cried out: ‘Why do you run, stout men as you are, before these miserable
wretches, whom I thought you could knock down as you do cattle! If I had
weapons I know that I could fight better than you!’ They did not heed her
words. Freydis then attempted to keep up with them but could not. She
followed them to the woods. The Skraelings pursued her. She found a dead
man in the way. It was Thorbrand Snorrason. A flat stone was sticking
in his head. His sword was by his side. She grasped it and prepared to
defend herself. The Skraelings came toward her. She exposed her bosom
and struck her breast with the sword. The Skraelings were frightened
and ran to their boats and rowed away. Karlsefne and his men then came
and praised her courage. Karlsefne lost two men but the Skraelings many
more....
“Karlsefne and his men now perceived that notwithstanding the country
was fruitful they would be exposed to many dangerous incursions of its
inhabitants if they should remain in it. They therefore determined
to depart and return to their own land. They sailed northward along
the coast and found five Skraelings clothed in skins sleeping on the
sea-shore. They had with them vessels containing marrow mixed with blood.
Karlsefne’s men believed that they had been banished from the country
and they killed them. After that they came to a cape and there were many
wild animals on it.... Then they reached Straum fjörd, where there was
an abundance of every thing which they desired. It is said by some that
Bjarni and Gudrid remained behind with one hundred men, and did not go
farther, but that Karlsefne and Snorro went southward and forty men with
them, and that they were not longer in Hóp than two months, and that they
returned from there the same summer.... They inspected the mountains
at Hóp, which they thought belonged to a range which extended in two
directions to the same distance from Straum fjörd. The third winter they
were in Straum fjörd.... Snorro, the son of Karlsefne, was born here
the first autumn, and he was three years old when they went away from
Vinland. When they sailed from Vinland they had a south wind and came to
Markland.”[59]
The Northmen it seems continued their visits to Vinland as late as
the fourteenth century. In the geographical treatise of Adam of
Bremen, written in 1073, the author says that it was told him by Sveyn
Estrithson, King of Denmark, that Vinland was an island: “Moreover he
said that an island had been discovered by many in that ocean, which
is called Vinland, because vines grow spontaneously there, producing
excellent wine. For that fruits abound there not having been sown, we
are assured not by any vague rumor but by the trustworthy report of the
Danes.”[60]
The island of Vinland is described in an old geographical document as
lying on the opposite side of a channel, between it and Greenland: “Now
is to be told what lies opposite Greenland, out from the bay already
mentioned. Furdustrandir is the name of a land. There are such hard
frosts there that it is not habitable as far as is known. South of it
is Helluland, which is called Skraeling’s land. From there it is not
far to Vinland the good, which some think goes out from Africa. Between
Vinland and Greenland is Ginnungagap which flows from the sea called Mare
Oceanum that encompasses the whole earth.”[61] On a map made by Sigurd
Stephanius, an Icelander, in 1570, Helluland, Markland, Skraeling’s land,
and the promontory of Vinland are represented as parts of the country now
called Greenland.[62]
No geographical information contained in the sagas of Iceland and
Greenland verifies the statement that the Northmen discovered America
and explored the coast of a part of the present territory of the
United States. What tradition relates respecting the Northmen finding
wine-berries in Vinland does not make it indubitably evident that they
were the fruit now called grapes.[63] The wine-wood that was cut and
carried on board of Leif’s ship indicates that there was no large timber
in Vinland, and that the trees that were felled were of a stunted growth
as those that are now found on the coast of Greenland. The statements
respecting the great number of eider ducks, the natives who were
frightened by the bellowing of a bull, the skin-boats used by them,
the want of food by the Northmen, their eating the flesh of a stranded
whale to escape starvation, and the sarcastic language of the song sung
by Thorhall concerning Vinland being a land of wine, clearly establish
the fact that this country or region was very near the Arctic circle.
Further, all the early maps of Greenland show Helluland, Markland, and
Vinland to be regions of that country.
The questionable interpretation of the characters on the rock, lying
in the water, on the east side of the Taunton River, opposite Dighton,
Massachusetts, by a number of foreign antiquaries, is a notable
exemplification of the fictitious nature of the so-called evidence that
the Northmen discovered America and explored a part of the eastern
coast of the present territory of the United States.[64] The remarkable
statement that the round, stone-tower, at Newport, Rhode Island,
mentioned by Governor Benedict Arnold in his will, made in 1677, as “my
stone-built windmill,” was erected by the Northmen, is also an instance
of the infatuation of the learned men who believed it to be a Norse
monument.[65]
The supposition that the Welsh adventurer, Madoc Guyneth, planted a
colony on the Atlantic coast of North America, in the twelfth century,
rests on some traditionary information in a history of Wales, published
in 1584.[66] In this rare work it is related that the sons of Owen
Guyneth, King of North Wales, on the death of their father, had many
contentions respecting the heirship to his estates and who should rule
after him. This strife mortified Madoc. In order to separate himself from
his quarrelling brothers he fitted out a number of ships and sailed west,
“leaving the coast of Ireland so far north, that he came to an unknown
land, where he saw many strange things.” He then returned home and gave
an account of the attractive and fertile countries “he had seen without
inhabitants.” He induced a number of men and women, who desired to live
peaceably, to emigrate to the western land. The second voyage was safely
made to the colony in the “fair and large country.” He returned again
to Wales for more colonists. Ten ships filled with emigrants shortly
afterward set sail for the new settlement. It is further related that
many fictions were current thereafter respecting Madoc’s discoveries in
the unnamed country.[67] Meredith ap Rhees, a Welsh bard, who died in
1477, has rehearsed in a number of verses a part of the unsatisfactory
tradition concerning Madoc’s voyage.[68] As said by Baron von Humboldt:
“The deepest obscurity still shrouds every thing connected with the
voyage of the Gaelic chief, Madoc.”[69]
The story of a Frisland fisherman, in the history of the discoveries of
the Zeni brothers, published in 1558, is thought by some writers to be
a true narrative of this man’s adventures on a part of the continent of
America, in the fourteenth century.[70] It is related that Nicolò Zeno, a
wealthy man, had a ship built, equipped, and manned at his own expense,
and sailed in it from Venice, “with the intention of visiting England
and Flanders.” But in a storm his vessel was cast upon an island called
Frisland.[71] “The crew were saved together with most of the ship’s
cargo. This occurred in the year 1380. The inhabitants of the island,
having collected in considerable numbers, attacked the chevalier and
his men, who, being exhausted by the hardships they had endured, and
not knowing in what part of the world they had been thrown, were unable
to resist them, much less to defend themselves with the spirit that the
emergency demanded. They would have been treated, without doubt, in a
most barbarous manner, had it not fortunately happened that a powerful
chieftain, with an armed force, was in their neighborhood, who, learning
that a large ship had been cast upon the island, and hearing the noise
and shouts of the inhabitants as they rushed upon our poor mariners,
hastened forward, and putting the islanders to flight, inquired of the
Venetians, in Latin, of what nation they were, and whence they had come.
When informed that they were from Italy, and natives of that country, he
was filled with joy and amazement.... He was a great lord and possessed
certain islands called Porland, about a half-day’s sail from Frisland,
the richest and most populous of all the islands of those parts. This
chieftain’s name was Zichmni.”
Nicolò Zeno then entered the service of this distinguished man. Some time
afterward he wrote to his brother Antonio, and related these incidents.
The latter visited Frisland, where he lived fourteen years. On the death
of Nicolò, which occurred four years after Antonio’s arrival, he was
appointed to take command of Zichmni’s fleet. From letters written by
Antonio to his brother Carlo, the remarkable particulars of the following
narrative are said to have been compiled:
“Six and twenty years ago four fishing-boats put out to sea from
Frisland, and being overtaken by a storm were drifted about for many days
in a helpless condition. When, at last, the tempest abated, they descried
an island called Estotiland,[72] lying more than a thousand miles
westward from Frisland. One of the boats was cast upon its coast, and
the six men in it were taken by the inhabitants and conducted to a fair
and populous city, where the king sent for many interpreters, but none
could be found who understood the language of the fishermen except one
man who spoke Latin, and who likewise had been cast by accident upon the
same island. Ordered by the king, he asked them who they were, and where
they came from, and when he reported their answer, the king desired that
they should remain in that country. Accordingly, as they could not do
otherwise, they obeyed his order, and remained five years on the island,
and learned the language. One of them in particular visited different
parts of the island, and reports that it is a very rich country,
abounding in all good things. It is a little smaller than Iceland but
more fertile. In the middle of it is a very high mountain, in which rise
four rivers which water the whole country.
“The inhabitants are a very intelligent people and possess all the arts
as we do; and it is believed that in time past they have had intercourse
with our people, for he said that he saw Latin books in the king’s
library, which they at the present time do not understand. They have
their own language and letters. They have all kinds of metals, especially
gold. Their foreign intercourse is with Greenland, where they import
furs, brimstone, and pitch. He says that toward the south there is a
great and populous country, very rich in gold. They sow corn and make
beer, which is a kind of drink which northern people take as we do wine.
They have woods of vast extent. They construct their buildings with
walls, and there are many towns and villages. They make small boats and
sail them, but they have not the loadstone, nor do they know the north by
the compass. For this reason these fishermen were held in great esteem,
insomuch that the king sent them with twelve boats to the southward to a
country which they call Drogio; but in their voyage they had such stormy
weather that they were in fear for themselves. Although they escaped a
miserable death they afterward met a more painful one, for they were
taken into the country and the greater number of them were eaten by the
savages, who are cannibals and consider human flesh very savory meat. But
as this fisherman and his remaining companions were able to show them the
way to catch fish with nets, their lives were spared. Every day he would
go fishing in the sea and in the fresh waters, and take a great number
of fish, which he gave to the chiefs, and thereby ingratiated himself so
much into their favor that he was greatly liked and held in high esteem
by all.
“As this man’s fame spread among the different tribes, there was a
neighboring chief who was very anxious to have him with him and to see
how he practised his wonderful art of catching fish. With this object
in view he made war on the other chief with whom the fisherman was, and
being more powerful and a better warrior, he, at last, overcame him, and
so the fisherman was sent to him with the rest of his companions. During
the space of thirteen years that he dwelt in those parts, he says, he
was sent in this manner to more than five-and-twenty chiefs, for they
were continually fighting among themselves, this chief with that one,
and solely for the purpose of having the fisherman to dwell with them,
so that wandering up and down the country without any fixed abode, he
became acquainted with almost all those regions. He says that it is a
very great country, and, as it were, a new world. The people are very
rude and uncultivated, for they all go naked, and suffer bitterly from
the cold, nor have they the sense to clothe themselves with skins of the
animals which they take in hunting. They have no kind of metal. They
live by hunting, and carry lances of wood, sharpened at the point. They
have bows, the strings of which are made of beasts’ skins. They are very
fierce, and have deadly wars with one another, and eat the flesh of their
captives. They have chiefs and certain laws, but differing in different
tribes. The farther you go southwestward, however, the more refinement
you meet with, because the climate is more temperate, but there they have
cities and temples dedicated to their idols, in which they sacrifice men
and afterward eat them. In those parts they have some knowledge and use
of gold and silver.
“This fisherman after dwelling so many years in those parts resolved
to return home if possible to his own country, but his companions,
despairing of ever seeing it again, gave him Godspeed, and remained where
they were. Accordingly he bade them farewell and made his escape through
the woods in the direction of Drogio, where he was welcomed and kindly
received by the chief of the place, who knew him and was a great enemy
of the neighboring chief. Thus passing from one chief to another, being
the same with whom he had been before, he, at last, reached, after a long
time and many hardships, Drogio, where he remained three years. Here by
good fortune he learned from the natives that some boats had appeared off
the coast, and hopeful of being able to carry out his intention, he went
to the beach, and found to his great delight that the men on board the
boats had come from Estotiland. He immediately begged them to take him
back with them, which they willingly consented to do. He understood the
language of the country which none of them could speak, and they employed
him as an interpreter. Afterward he traded in company with them to such
good purpose that he became very rich, and having fitted out a vessel of
his own he returned to Frisland.”[73]
When Zichmni heard the story of the returned fisherman, it is said
that he prepared a fleet to go to the countries described by him. The
fisherman dying about the time that the vessels were ready to sail, some
of the seamen who had come from Estotiland in his ship were taken to
pilot them. An island called Icaria was discovered, but no exploration
of it could be made on account of the hostility of its inhabitants. The
fleet afterward proceeded to the coast of Greenland, from which it sailed
to Frisland.
The compiler of the history of the discoveries of the Zeni brothers
says: “This discovery [made by the Frisland fisherman] Messere Antonio,
in a letter to his brother Messere Carlo, related, ... saying that we
have changed some old words and the antiquated style, but have left the
substance entire.... Of these northern places, I [the compiler] have
thought it good to draw a copy of the sailing chart, which I find I have
among our family heirlooms, and, although it is rotten with age, I have
succeeded with it tolerably well; and to those who take pleasure in such
things, it will serve to throw light on the comprehension of that which
without it could not be understood so easily.”
Inasmuch as it is difficult to disprove that the names Frislanda,
Engronelanda, and Estotilanda were not early designations for Iceland,
Greenland, and Scotland, the supposition that the unnamed Frisland
fisherman passed thirteen years of his life on the continent of America
solely rests upon the particulars of the story of his famous adventures
as a maker of fishing-nets.