The navigators of northern Europe were remarkable for their boldness and perseverance. They discovered Iceland in the year 860, and colonized it. In 890 they colonized Greenland, and planted colonies there also. There was traffic, friendly and lucrative, between the colonists of Iceland and Greenland, and the parent Norwegians and Danes, as early as the year 950, and no mariners were so adventurous as these Northmen. In

the year 1002, according to an Icelandic chronicle, a Norwegian vessel, commanded by Captain Lief, sailed from Iceland for Greenland. A gale drove the voyagers to the coast of Labrador. They explored the shores southward to the region of a genial climate where they found noble forests and abundance of grapes. This, it is supposed, was the vicinity of Boston. Other voyages to the new-found land were afterward made by the adventurous Scandinavians, and they appear to have extended their explorations as far as Rhode Island—perhaps as far south as Cape May.

It is further asserted that settlements in that pleasnt climate were attempted, and that the child of a Scaninav un mother was born upon the shore of Mount Hope ay, in Rhode Island.' In the absence of actual charts. and maps, to fix these localities of latitude and longitude, of course they must be subjects of conjecture only, for these explorers left no traces of their presence here, unless it shall be conceded that the round tower at Newport, about the origin of which history and tradition are silent, was built by the Northmen.

NORMAN SHIP.

TOWER AT NEWPORT.

The period of this alleged discovery was that of the dark ages, when ignorance brooded over Europe, like thick night. Information of these voyages seems not to have spread, and no records of intercourse with a western continent later than 1120, have been found. The great discovery, if made, was for gotten, or remembered only in dim traditionary tales of the exploits of the old Sea-Kings" of the North. For centuries afterward, America was an un

1 The old chronicle referred to says that Gudrida, wife of a Scandinavian navigator, gave birth to a child in America, to whom she gave the name of Snorre; and it is further asserted that Bertel Thorwalsden, the great Danish sculptor, was a descendant of this early white American. The records of these voyages were compiled by Bishop Thorlack, of Iceland, who was also a descendant of Snorre.

2 This structure is of unhewn stone, laid in mortar made of the gravel of the soil around, and oyster-shell lime. It is a cylinder resting upon eight ro .nd columns, twenty-three feet in diameter, and twenty-four feet in height It was originally covered with stucco. It seems to have stood there when the white people first visited Rhode Island, and the Narraganset Indians, it is asserted, had no tradition of its origin. There can be little doubt, all things considered, of its having been constructed by those northern navigators, who made attempts at settlement in that vicinity. 3 This name was given to bold adventurers of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, who rebelled against Gorm the Old of Norway, and Harold Fairhair of Denmark, their conquerors, forsook their country, settled upon the islands of the North Sea, and Greenland, and from thence went forth upon piratical expeditions, even as far south as the pleasant coasts of France. They trafficked, as well as plundered; and finally sweeping over Denma and Germany, obtained possession of some

known region. It had no place upon maps, unless as an imaginary island without a name, nor in the most acute geographical theories of the learned. When Columbus conceived the grand idea of reaching Asia by sailing westward, no whisper of those Scandinavian voyages was heard in Europe.

CHAPTER II.

SPANISH VOYAGES AND DISCOVERIES.

THE first half of the fifteenth century was distinguished for great commercial activity. Sluggish Europe was just awaking from its slumber of centuries, and maritime discoveries were prosecuted with untiring zeal by the people. inhabiting the great south-western peninsula covered by Spain, Portugal, and France. The incentives to make these discoveries grew out of the political condition of Europe, and the promises of great commercial advantages. The rich commerce of the East centered in Rome, when that empire overshadowed the known world. When it fell into fragments, the Italian cities con-tinued their monopoly of the rich trade of the Indies. Provinces which had arisen into independent kingdoms, became jealous of these cities, so rapidly outstripping them in power and opulence; and Castile and Portugal, in particular, engaged in efforts to open a direct trade with the East. The ocean was the only highway for such commerce, toward which the rivals could look with a hope of success. The errors of geographical science interposed great obstacles. Popular belief pictured an impassable region of fire beyond Cape Bajador, on the coast of Africa; but bold navigators, under the auspices of Prince Henry of Portugal, soon penetrated that dreaded latitude, crossed the torrid zone, and, going around the southern extremity of Africa, opened a pathway to the East, through the Indian Ocean.

COLUMBUS.

The Portuguese court at Lisbon soon became a point of great attraction to the learned and adventurous. Among others came Christopher Columbus, the son of a wool-carder of Genoa, a mariner of great experience and considerable repute, and then in the prime of life. In person he was tall and commanding, and, in manners, exceedingly winning and graceful, for one unaccustomed to the polish of courts, or the higher orders in society. The rudiments of geometry, which he had learned in the

of the best portions of Gaul. They finally invaded the British Islands, and placed Canute upon the throne of Alfred. It was among these people that chivalry, as an institution, originated; and back to those "Sea-Kings" we may look for the hardiest elements of progress among the people

of the United States.

university of Pavia, had been for years working out a magnificent theory in his mind, and he came to Lisbon to seek an opportunity to test its truth.

Fortune appeared to smile beneficently upon Columbus, during his early residence in Lisbon. He soon loved and married the daughter of Palestrello, a deceased navigator of eminence, and he became possessed of nautical papers of great value. They poured new light upon his mind. His convictions respecting the rotundity of the earth, and the necessity of a continent in the Atlantic Ocean, to balance the land in the eastern hemisphere; or at least a nearer approach of eastern Asia to the shores of western Europe, than geographical science had yet revealed, assumed the character of demonstrated realities. He was disposed to credit the narratives of Plato and other ancient writers, respecting the existence of a continent beyond the glorious, but longlost, island of Atlantis, in the waste of waters westward of Europe. He was convinced that Asia could be reached much sooner by sailing westward, than by going around the Cape of Good Hope.' He based his whole theory upon the fundamental belief that the earth was a terraqueous globe, which might be traveled round from east to west, and that men stood foot to foot at opposite points. This, it should be remembered, was seventy years before Copernicus announced his theory of the form and motion of the planets [1543], and one hundred and sixty years [1633] before Galileo was compelled, before the court of the Inquisition at Rome, to renounce his belief in the diurnal revolution of the earth.

2

A deep religious sentiment imbued the whole being of Columbus, and he became strongly impressed with the idea that there were people beyond the waste of waters westward, unto whom he was commissioned by heaven to carry the Gospel. With the lofty aspirations which his theory and his faith gave him, he prosecuted his plans with great ardor. He made a voyage to Iceland, and sailed a hundred leagues beyond, to the ice-fields of the polar circle. He probably heard, there, vague traditions of early voyages to a western continent,3 which gave strength to his own convictions; and on his return, he laid his plans first before his countrymen, the Genoese (who rejected them), and then before the monarchs of England* and Portugal.

The Portuguese monarch appeared to comprehend the grand idea of Columbus, but it was too lofty for the conceptions of his council and the pedantic wise men of Lisbon. For a long time Columbus was annoyed by delays on the part of those to whose judgment the king deferred; and attempts were meanly and clandestinely made to get from Columbus the information which he possessed. While awaiting a decision, his wife died. The last link that bound him to Portugal was broken, and, taking his little son Diego by the hand, he

1 This point was first discovered by Diaz, a Portuguese navigator, who named it Stormy Cape. But King John, believing it to be that remote extremity of Africa so long sought, named it Cape of Good Hope. Vasco de Gama passed it in 1497, and made his way to the East Indies beyond.

2 His name was suggestive of a mission. Christo or Christ, and Colombo, a pigeon-carrierpigeon. By this combination of significant words in his name, he believed himself to be a Christ, or Gospel-bearer, to the heathen, and he often signed his name Christo-ferens, or Christ-bearer.

3 Page 34.

4 Page 46.

departed on foot to lay his proposition before Ferdinand and Isabella,' the monarchs of Spain-occupants of the united thrones of Arragon and Castile.

Very poor, and greatly dispirited, Columbus arrived at the gate of the monastery of Rabida, near the little port from whence he afterward sailed, and begged food and shelter for himself and child. The good Father Marchena received him kindly, entered warmly into his plans, and was of essential service to him afterward. Through him Columbus obtained access to the court; but the war with the Moors, then raging, delayed an opportunity for an audience with the monarchs for a long time. Yet he was not idle. He employed himself in the alternate pursuits of science, and engagements in some of the military campaigns. He was continually treated with great deference by the court and nobility, and at length his importunities were heeded. A council of the learned men of the nation was convened at Salamanca, to consider his plans and propositions. The majority pronounced his scheme vain and impracticable, and unworthy of the support of the government. But a minority of the council, wiser than the rest, did not acquiesce in this decision, and, with Cardinal Mendoza and other officers of government, they encouraged the navigator by promises of their continual support. But he became disgusted by procrastination, and abandoning the hope of royal aid, he applied to two wealthy dukes for assistance. They refused, and he left with a determination to lay his plans before the King of France.

2

ISABELLA.

3

Columbus had been encouraged by Father Marchena (who had been Isabella's confessor), and through his intercession, the navigator was recalled before he had entered France. He sought and obtained a personal interview with the queen. To her he revealed all his plans; told her of the immense treasures that lay hidden in that far distant India* which might be easily reached by a shorter way, and pleaded eloquently for aid in his pious design of carrying the Gospel to the heathen of unknown lands. The last appeal aroused the religious zeal of Isabella, and with the spirit of the Crusaders, she dismissed Columbus with the assurance

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1 Isabella was a sister of the profligate Henry the Fourth of Castile and Leon. She was a pious, virtuous, and high-minded woman, then almost a phenomenon in courts. She was of middle size, and well formed, with a fair complexion, auburn hair, and clear, blue eyes.

2 See the picture at the head of this chapter. The Council was composed of the professors of the university, various dignitaries of the Church, and learned friars. They were nearly all prejudiced against the poor navigator, and he soon discovered that ignorance and bigotry would defeat his purposes.

3 All Roman Catholics are obliged to confess their sins to a priest. Rich and titled persons often had a priest confessor for themselves and their families exclusively.

4 Marco Polo and other travelers had related wonderful stories of the beauty and wealth of a country beyond the limits of geographical knowledge, and had thus inflamed the avarice and ambition of the rich and powerful. The country was called Zipangi, and also Cathay. It included China and adjacent islands.

5 About 700 years ago, the Christian powers of Europe fitted out expeditions to conquer Palestine, with the avowed object of rescuing the sepulcher of Jesus, at Jerusalem, from the hands of the Turks. These were called crusades-holy wars. The lives of two millions of people were lost in them.

that he should have her aid in fitting out an exploring expedition, even if it should require the pawning of her crown jewels to obtain the money. And Isabella was faithful to her promise. She fitted out two caravels (light coasting ships), and With this little Columbus, by the aid of friends, equipped a third and larger one. fleet, bearing one hundred and twenty persons, he left Palos, on the Tinto River, in Andalusia, on Friday, the 3d of August, 1492, to explore the stormy Atlantic. Columbus started on that perilous voyage without a reliable chart for his guidance, and no director in his course but the sun and stars, and the imperfect mariner's compass, then used only by a few in navigating the pleasant seas of the Old World. After various delays at the Canary Islands, they left them in the dim distance behind, on Sunday, the 9th of September. The broad Atlantic, mysterious and unknown, was before them. A voyage of great trial for the navigator was now fairly entered upon. His theory taught him to believe that he would reach Asia in the course of a few days. But weeks wore away: the needle2 became unfaithful; alarm and discontent prevailed, and several times his followers were on the point of compelling him to turn back. One pleasant evening (the 11th of October), the perfumes of flowers came upon the night breeze, as tokens of approach to land. The vesper hymn to the Virgin was sung, and Columbus, after recounting the blessings of God thus far manifested in the voyage, assured the crews that he confidently expected to see land in the morning. Yet they hesitated to believe, for twice before they had been mocked by other indications of land

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being near. On the high poop of his vessel the great navigator sat watching until midnight, when he saw the glimmer of moving lights upon the verge of the horizon. He called others to confirm his vision, for he was fearful of mistake. They, too, perceived blazing torches, and at dawn the next morning their delighted eyes saw green forests stretching along the horizon; and as

they approached, they were greeted by the songs of birds and the murmur of human voices.

1 Columbus was appointed high-admiral of all seas which he might discover, with the attendant honors. Also viceroy of all lands discovered. He was to have one-tenth of all profits of the first voyage, and by contributing an eighth of the expense of future voyages, was to have an eighth of all the profits. Although Isabella paid the whole expense, the contract was signed, also, by her husband.

2 Needle, or pointer, of the mariner's compass. This instrument was first known in Europe, at Amalfi, about 1302. The Chinese claim to have possessed a knowledge of it more than 1100 years before the birth of Christ. The needle was supposed to point toward the north star at all times. There is a continual variation from this line, now easily calculated, but unknown until discovered by Columbus. It perplexed, but did not dismay him.

3 They had seen birds, but they proved to be the petrel, an ocean fowl. Bits of wood and seaweeds had also been seen. These had undoubtedly been seen on the outer verge of the Gulf Stream, north-east of the Bahamas, where, according to Lieutenant Maury [Physical Geography of the Sea], there may always be found a drift of sea-weed, and sometimes objects that have floated from the land.