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 THE FIRST VOYAGE TO AMERICA 
 
 OF 
 
 Christopher Columbus 
 
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 THE EARLIEST BIOGRAPHY OF COLUMBUS 
 
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CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 
 
 The CELEBRATED LETTER OF 
 
 "Concerning the islands lately 
 discovered," etc.; addressed to 
 the Treasurer of Spain, but in- 
 tended for the King, and sent 
 from Lisbon, Portugal.which was 
 •the first continental port 
 reached on the return voyage, 
 in March, 1493. Written in Span- 
 ish, BUT IMMEDIATELY PRINTED IN 
 
 Latin (May, 1493) that it might 
 please the pope, to whom a copy 
 was doubtless then sent. sev- 
 ERAL of the Latin copies of May, 
 1493, are in American Libraries. 
 The following is an Englilh 
 translation of one of them: 
 
 A letter addressed to the noble lord, 
 Raphael Sanchez, Treasurer to their 
 Most Invincible Majesties, Ferdinand 
 and Isabella, King and Queen of 
 Spain, by Christopher Columbus, to 
 whom our age is greatly indebted, 
 treating of the islands of India, re- 
 cently discovered beyond the Ganges, 
 to explore ~ which he had been sent 
 eight months before under the auspices 
 and at the expense of their said Ma- 
 jesties. 
 
 Knowing that it will afford you 
 pleasure to learn that I have brought 
 my undertaking to a successful ter- 
 mination, I have decided upon writ- 
 ing you this letter to acquaint you 
 with all the events which have occur- 
 red in my voyage, and the discoveries 
 which have resulted from it. 
 
 Thirty-three days after my depar- 
 ture from the Canary islands I 
 reached the Indian Sea, where I 
 discovered many islands, thickly 
 peopled, of which I took pos- 
 session without resistance in the 
 
 name of our most illustrious Mon- 
 archs and with unfurled banners. 
 
 To the first of these islands, which 
 is called by the Indians Guanahani, 
 I gave the name of the blessed Sav- 
 iour (it is uozv claimed that Waiting's 
 Island, and not the present San Salv- 
 ador, was the first land discovered'), 
 relying upon whose protection I had 
 reached this as well as other islands; 
 to each of these I also gave a name, 
 ordering that one should be called 
 Santa Maria de la Concepcion, an- 
 other Fernandina, the third Isabella 
 (Great Inagua), the fourth Juana 
 (Cuba), and so with all the rest re- 
 spectively. 
 
 As soon as we arrived at that, 
 which, as I have spid, was named 
 Juana (Cuba), I proceeded along its 
 coast a short distance westward, and 
 found it to be so large and apparently 
 without termination, that I could not 
 suppose it to be an island, but the 
 continental province of Cathay 
 (China). Seeing however, no towns 
 or populous places on the seacoast, 
 but only a few detached houses and 
 cottages, with whose inhabitants I 
 was unable to communicate, because 
 they fled as soon as they saw us, I 
 went further on, thinking that in my 
 progress I should certainly find some 
 city or village. At length, after pro- 
 ceeding a great way and finding that 
 nothing new presented itself, and 
 that the line of coast was leading us 
 northwards (which I wished to avoid 
 because it was winter and it was my 
 intention to move southwards; and 
 because, moreover, the winds were 
 contrary), I resolved not to attempt 
 any further progress, but rather to 
 turn back and retrace my course 
 to a certain bay that I had observed, 
 and from which I afterwards dis- 
 patched two of our men to ascertain 
 whether there were a king or any 
 cities in that province. 
 
 These men reconnoitred the coun- 
 try forthreedays and found a most nu- 
 merous population and great num- 
 bers of houses though small, and built 
 without any regard to order; with 
 which information they returned to 
 
THE CELEBRATED LETTER OF 
 
 us. In the meantime I had learned 
 from some Indians whom I had seized 
 that the country was certainly an 
 island, and therefore I sailed towards 
 the east, coasting to the distance of 
 three hundred and twenty-two miles, 
 which brought us to the extremity 
 of it ; from this point I saw lying 
 eastwards another island, fifty-four 
 miles distant from Juana {Cuba), to 
 which I gave the name of Espagnola 
 {Hayli). I went thither, and steered 
 my course eastward as I had done at 
 Juana, even to the distance of five 
 hundred and sixty-four miles along 
 the north coast. This said island of 
 Juana [Cuba) is exceedingly fertile, 
 as indeed are all the others ; it is 
 surrounded with many bays, spa- 
 cious, very secure and surpassing 
 any that I have ever seen ; numer- 
 ous large and beautiful rivers inter- 
 sect it, and it also contains many 
 very lofty mountains. 
 
 All these islands are very beauti- 
 ful, and distinguished by a diversity 
 of scenery; they are filled with a 
 great variety of trees of an immense 
 height, and which I believe to retain 
 their foliage in all seasons ; for when 
 I saw them they were as verdant and 
 luxuriant as they usually are in Spain 
 in the month of May — some of them 
 were blossoming, some bearing fruit, 
 and all flourishing in the great- 
 est perfection, according to their re- 
 spective stages of growth, and the 
 nature and quality of each ; yet the 
 islands are not so thickly wooded as 
 to be impassable. The nightingale 
 and various birds were singing in 
 countless numbers, and that in No- 
 vember, the month in which I arrived 
 there. There are besides in the same 
 island of Juana seven or eight kinds 
 of palm trees, which, like all the 
 other trees, herbs and fruits, consid- 
 erably surpass ours in height and 
 beauty. The pines also are very 
 handsome, and there are very exten- 
 sive fields and meadows, a variety 
 of birds, different kinds of honey 
 and many sorts of metals, but no 
 iron. 
 
 In that island also which I have 
 
 before said we named Espanola.there 
 are mountains of very great size and 
 beauty, vast plains, groves and very 
 fruitful fields, admirably adapted for 
 tillage, pasture and habitation. The 
 convenience and excellence of the 
 harbors in this island and the abund- 
 ance of the rivers, so indispensable to 
 the health of man, surpass anything 
 that would be believed by one who 
 had not seen it. The trees, herbage 
 and fruits or Espanola are very dif- 
 ferent from those of Juana, and more- 
 over it abounds in various kinds of 
 spices, gold and other metals. 
 
 The inhabitants in this island, and 
 in all the others which I have seen or 
 of which I have received informa- 
 tion, go always unclothed, excepting 
 the women. None of them, as I have 
 already said, are possessed of any 
 iron, neither have they weapons, being 
 unacquainted with and indeed incom- 
 petent to use them, not from any de- 
 formity of body (for they are well 
 formed), but because they are timid 
 and full of fear. They carry, how- 
 ever, in lieu of arms, canes dried in 
 the sun, and on the ends of which 
 they fix heads of dried wood shar- 
 pened to a point, and even these they 
 dare no: use habitually, for it has 
 often occurred when I have sent two 
 or three of my men to any of the vil- 
 lages to speak with the natives that 
 they have come out in a disorderly 
 troop and have fled in such haste at 
 the approach of our men that the 
 parents forsook their children and 
 the children their parents. This tim- 
 idity did not arise from any loss or 
 injury that they had received from 
 us, for on the contrary I gave to all 
 I approached whatever articles I had 
 about me, such as cloth and many 
 other things, taking nothing of theirs 
 in return, but they are naturally timid 
 and fearful. As soon, however, as 
 they see that they are safe and have 
 laid aside all fear, they are very sim- 
 ple and honest and exceedingly lib- 
 eral with all they have, none of them 
 refusing anything he may possess 
 when he is asked for it, but on the 
 contrary inviting us to ask them. 
 
CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 
 
 5 
 
 They exhibit great love towards all 
 others in preference to themselves; 
 they also give objects of great value 
 for trifles, and content themselves 
 with very little or nothing in return. 
 I, however, forbade that these trifles 
 and articles of no value (such as 
 pieces of dishes, plates and glass, 
 keys and leather straps) should be 
 given to them, although if they could 
 obtain them, they imagined them- 
 selves to be possessed of the most 
 beautiful trinkets in the world. It 
 even happened that a sailor received 
 for a leather strap as much gold as 
 was worth three golden nobles, and 
 for things of more trifling value of- 
 fered by our men, especially newly 
 coined blancas or any gold coins, 
 the Indians would give whatever the 
 seller required; as, for instance, an 
 ounce and a half or two ounces of 
 gold, or thirty or forty pounds of 
 cotton, with which commodity they 
 were already acquainted. 
 
 Thus they bartered, like idiots, 
 cotton and gold for fragments of 
 bows, glasses, bottles and jars, which 
 I forbade as being unjust, and myself 
 gave them many beautiful and ac- 
 ceptable articles which I had brought 
 with me, taking nothing from them 
 in return; I did this in order that I 
 might the more easily conciliate 
 them, that they might be led to be- 
 come Christians, and be inclined to 
 entertain a regard for the king and 
 queen, our princes and all Spaniards, 
 and that I might induce them to take 
 an interest in seeking out and col- 
 lecting and delivering to us such 
 things as they possessed in abund- 
 ance, but which we ei'eatly needed. 
 
 They practice no kind of idolatry, 
 but have a firm belief that all strength 
 and power, and, indeed, all good 
 things, are in heaven, and that I had 
 descended from thence with these 
 ships and sailors; and under this im- 
 pression was I received after they 
 had thrown aside their fears. Nor 
 are they slow or stupid, but of very 
 clear understanding; and those men 
 who have crossed to the neigh- 
 boring islands give an admirable de- 
 
 scription of everything they ob- 
 served; but they never saw any peo- 
 ple clothed nor any ships like ours. 
 
 On my arrival at that sea, I had 
 taken some Indians by force from 
 the first island that I came to, in or- 
 der that they might learn our lan- 
 guage, and communicate to us what 
 they knew respecting the country; 
 which plan succeeded excellently, 
 and was a great advantage to us, for 
 in a short time, either by gestures 
 and signs or by words, we were en- 
 abled to understand each other. 
 These men are still traveling with me, 
 and although they have been with us 
 now a long time, they continue to 
 entertain the idea that I have de- 
 scended from heaven; and on our ar- 
 rival at any new place the)' published 
 this, crying out immediately with a 
 loud voice to the other Indians, 
 "Come and look upon beings of a 
 celestial race;" upon which, both 
 women and men, children and adults, 
 young men and old, when they get 
 rid of the fear they at first enter- 
 tained, would come out in throngs, 
 crowding the roads to see us, some 
 bringing food, others drink, with 
 astonishing affection and kindness. 
 
 Each of these islands has a great 
 number of canoes, built of solid 
 wood, narrow, and not unlike our 
 double banked boats in length and 
 shape, but swifter in their motion; 
 they steer them only by the oar. 
 These canoes are of various sizes, 
 but the greater number are con- 
 structed with eighteen banks of oars, 
 and with these they cross to the other 
 islands, which are of countless num- 
 ber, to carry on traffic with the peo- 
 ple. I saw some of these canoes 
 that held as many as seventy-eight 
 rowers. 
 
 In all these islands there is do dif- 
 ference of physiognomy, of manners, 
 or of language; but they all clearly 
 understood each other, a circum- 
 stance very propitious for what I con- 
 ceive to be the principal wish of our 
 most serene king, namely, the con- 
 version of these people to the most 
 holy faith of Christ, to which, in- 
 
THE CELEBRATED LETTER OF 
 
 deed, as far as I can judge, they are 
 very favorable and well-disposed. 
 
 I said before that I went three 
 hundred and twenty-two miles in a 
 direct line from west to east along 
 the coast of the island of Juana; 
 judging by which voyage and the 
 length of the passage, I can assert 
 that it is larger than England and 
 Scotland united; for independent of 
 the said three hundred and twenty- 
 two miles, there are in the western 
 part of the island two provinces 
 which I did not visit; one of these is 
 called by the Indians Anam, and its 
 inhabitants are born with tails. These 
 provinces extend to a hundred and- 
 fifty-three miles in length, as I have 
 learned from the Indians whom I 
 have brought with me, and who are 
 well acquainted with the country. 
 
 But the extent of Espanola is 
 greater than all Spain from Catalo- 
 nia to Fontarabia, which is easily 
 proved, because one of its four sides 
 which I myself coasted in a direct 
 line, from west to east, measures five" 
 hundred and forty miles. This is- 
 land is to be regarded with especial 
 interest and not to be slighted; for 
 although as I have said, I took pos- 
 session of all these islands in the 
 name of our invincible king, and the 
 government of them is unreservedly 
 committed to his said majesty, yet 
 there was one large town in Espanola 
 of which I especially took possession, 
 situated in a remarkably favorable 
 spot, and in every way convenient 
 for the purposes of gain and com- 
 merce. 
 
 To this town I gave the name of 
 Navidad del Senor, and ordered a 
 fortress to be built there, which must 
 by this time be completed, in which 
 I left as many men as I thought neces- 
 sary, with all sorts of arms and 
 enough provisions for more than 
 a year. I also left them one 
 caravel, and skillful workmen, both 
 in ship building and other arts, 
 and engaged the favor and friend- 
 ship of the king of the island 
 in their behalf to such a de- 
 gree that would not be believed, 
 
 for these people are so amiable and 
 friendly that even the king took 
 pride in calling me his brother. 
 
 But supposing their feelings should 
 become changed, and they should 
 wish to injure those who have re- 
 mained in the fortress, they could 
 not do so, for they have no arms, 
 they go naked, and moreover, are 
 too cowardly; so that those who hold 
 the said fortress can easily keep the 
 whole island in check without any 
 pressing danger to themselves, pro- 
 vided they do not transgress the di- 
 rections and regulations which I have 
 given them. 
 
 As far as I have learned, every man 
 throughout these islands is united to 
 but one wife, with the exception of 
 the kings and princes, who are al- 
 lowed to have twenty; the women 
 seem to work more than the men. 
 I could not clearly understand 
 whether the people possess any pri- 
 vate property, for I observed that 
 one man had the charge of distrib- 
 uting various things to the rest, but 
 especially meat and provisions and 
 the like. 
 
 I did not find, as some of us had 
 expected, any cannibals amongst 
 them, but on the contrary men of 
 great deference and kindness. Nei- 
 ther are they black like the Ethio- 
 pians — their hair is smooth and 
 straight — for they do not dwell where 
 the rays of the sun strike most viv- 
 idly, and the sun has intense power 
 there, the distance from the equi- 
 noctial line being, it appears, but six 
 and twenty degrees. On the tops of 
 the mountains the cold is very great, 
 but the effect of this upon the In- 
 dians is lessened by their being ac- 
 customed to the climate, and by 
 their frequently indulging in the use 
 of very hot meats and drinks. 
 
 Thus, as I have already said, I saw 
 no cannibals, nor did I hear of any 
 except in a certain island called 
 Charis, which is the second from Es- 
 panola on the side towards India, 
 where dwell a people who are con- 
 sidered by the neighboring islanders 
 as most ferocious, and these feed 
 
CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 
 
 7 
 
 upon human flesh. The same peo- 
 ple have many kinds of canoes, in 
 which they cross to all the neigh- 
 boring islands and rob and plunder 
 wherever they can. They are not 
 different from the other islanders, 
 except that they wear their hair long 
 like women and make use of the 
 bows and javelins of cane, with shar- 
 pened spear points fixed on the 
 thickest end, which I have before de- 
 scribed, and therefore they are looked 
 upon as ferocious, and regarded by 
 the other Indians with unbounded 
 fear; but I think no more of them 
 than of the rest. These are the allies 
 of certain women dwelling alone in 
 in the island, Mantenin, which lies 
 next to Espanola on the side to- 
 wards India, and employing them- 
 selves in no labour suitable to their 
 own sex, but using bows and javelins 
 as I have alreadv described the men 
 as doing, and for defensive armour 
 having plates of brass, of which 
 metal they possess great abundance. 
 
 They assure me that there is an- 
 other island larger than Espanola, 
 whose inhabitants have no hair, and 
 which abounds in gold more than 
 any of the rest. I bring with me in- 
 dividuals of this island and of the 
 others that I have seen, who are 
 proofs of the facts which I state. 
 
 Finally, to compress into few 
 words the entire summary of my 
 voyage and speedy return, and of 
 the advantages derivable therefrom, 
 I promise that with a little assistance 
 afforded me by our most invincible 
 sovereigns, I will procure them as 
 much gold as they need, 3s great a 
 quantity of spices, of cotton and of 
 mastic (which is only found in Chios) 
 and as many men for the service of 
 the navy as their majesties may re- 
 quire. I promise also rhubarb and 
 other sorts of drugs, which I am per- 
 suaded the men whom I have left 
 in the aforesaid fortress have found 
 already and will continue to find, for 
 I myself have tarried nowhere longer 
 than I was compelled to do by the 
 winds, except in the city of Navi- 
 dad while I provided *or the build- 
 
 ing of the fortress and took the nec- 
 essary precautions for the perfect se- 
 curity of the men I left there. 
 
 Although what I have related may 
 appear to be wonderful and unheard 
 of,yet the results of my voyage would 
 have been more astonishing if I had 
 had at my disposal such ships as I 
 required. But these great and mar- 
 velous results are not to be attributed 
 to any merit of mine, but to the Holy 
 Christian Faith, and to the piety and 
 religion of our sovereigns; for that 
 which the unaided intellect of man 
 could not compass, the Spirit of God 
 has granted to human exertions, for 
 God is wont to hear the prayers of 
 his servants who love his precepts, 
 even to the performance of apparent 
 impossibilities. Thus it has happened 
 to me in the present instance, who 
 have accomplished a task to which 
 the powers of mortal men had never 
 hitherto attained; for if there have 
 been those who have anywhere writ- 
 ten or spoken of these islands, they 
 have done so with doubts and con- 
 jectures, and no one has ever asserted 
 that he has seen them, on which 
 account their writings have been 
 looked upon as little else than fables. 
 
 Therefore let the King and Queen, 
 our princes, and their most happy 
 kingdoms, and all the other provinces 
 of Christendom, render thanks to our 
 Loid and Saviour, Jesus Christ, who 
 has granted us so great a victory and 
 such prosperity. Let processions be 
 made and sacred feasts be held, and 
 the temples be adorned with festive 
 boughs. 
 
 Let Christ rejoice on earth, as he 
 rejoices in heaven in the prospect of 
 the salvation of the souls of so many 
 nations hitherto lost. Let us also 
 rejoice as well on account of the ex- 
 altation of our faith, as on account 
 of the increase of our temporal pros- 
 perity, of which not only Spain, but 
 all Christendom, will be partakers. 
 
 Such are the events which I have 
 briefly described. Farwell. 
 
 Lisbon, the 14th of March. 
 
 Christopher Columbus, 
 Admiral of the Fleet of the Ocean. 
 
COLUMBUS FIRST VOYAGE TO AMERICA. 
 
 COLUMBUS' 
 
 FIRST 
 
 VOYAGE TO AMERICA. 
 
 The spirit of discovery which had 
 long been active in Portugal had 
 been kept under in Spain by the 
 necessity of applying all the re- 
 sources of the kingdom to the re- 
 duction of the Moors; but now the 
 period arrived when Spain took the 
 lead in distant enterprises and con- 
 quests, and her ships made a dis- 
 covery which doubled the extent of 
 the known world, and the conse- 
 quences of which are not yet fully 
 developed. 
 
 Among the foreigners of enter- 
 prise whom the fame of the Portu- 
 guese navigators had attracted to the 
 court of king Joam II was Christo- 
 pher Colon, or Columbus, a Genoese. 
 He settled at Lisbon, and married 
 the daughter of Bartholomew Per- 
 estrello, one of the early navigators 
 employed by Prince Henry of Por- 
 tugal, from whose experience he 
 derived much knowledge, and to 
 whose observations he listened with 
 that attention which Columbus ap- 
 plied co every circumstance, how- 
 ever minute, which could assist him 
 in his favorite studies of geography 
 and navigation. The great object 
 of Portugal at that time was to find 
 a way to India and China by sea. 
 Put the slow progress made between 
 doubling Cape Bogador and reach- 
 ing the southern point of Africa, 
 suggested the idea that by putting 
 boldly out to sea and sailing west- 
 ward a shorter way would inevitably 
 be discovered, since the rotundity 
 of the earth was now scarcely dis- 
 puted. In the year 1474 Columbus 
 having commucicated his ideas on 
 this subject to Paul Toscanelli, a 
 Florentine physician (who encour- 
 aged hirn in his theory, and en- 
 treated him to persevere in endeav- j 
 
 ouring to persuade some of the 
 princes of Europe to undertake the 
 experiment,) applied first to the 
 Senate of Genoa, and afterwards to 
 the king of Portugal: while he sent 
 his brother to Henry VII, of Eng- 
 land. 
 
 In some of the courts to which 
 Columbus applied he was considered 
 as a visionary; in others caution and 
 delay prevented the adoption of his 
 views; and ten years elapsed before 
 he found even the shadow of en- 
 couragement; but at that time, 1484, 
 he resolved to solicit the patronage 
 of Ferdinand and Isabella in person; 
 and from documents preserved in 
 the archives of the council of the 
 Indies it appears probable that they 
 furnished him with money for his 
 traveling expenses in visiting them. 
 Ferdinand was too cold and cau- 
 tious to risk the expense of a fleet 
 for an uncertain gain; Isabella was 
 strongly inclined to patronise the 
 intelligent stranger, but referred the 
 consideration of his plans to such 
 persons as appeared best qualified 
 to judge of them, and the opinion 
 of these persons was so unfavorable 
 that Isabella's patronage, if not ac- 
 tually withdrawn, was indefinitely 
 deferred; and Columbus was told, 
 that nothing could be done until the 
 war with the Moors should be over. 
 
 But during Columbus' attendance 
 at the Castilian Court he had ac- 
 quired some valuable friends, and 
 among them Juan Perez, guardian of 
 the Monastery of Rabida, near Palos, 
 for whom Isabella had a great re- 
 spect, and who failed not to recom- 
 mend Columbus to her in the warm- 
 est manner. He had also secured 
 the friendship of the Duke of Medina 
 Coeli. This nobleman laid his plans 
 before the celebrated Roderick 
 Ximenes, Cardinal of Spain and 
 Archbishop of Toledo, who had 
 succeeded Torquemado as the 
 Queen's confessor; and he commit- 
 ted the care of the business to 
 Alonso de Quintanilla, the Comp- 
 troller of the finances of Castile. 
 
 Twice was Columbus called to the 
 
COLUMBUS' FIRST VOYAGE TO AMERICA. 
 
 Court, which he found the first time 
 in the camp before Malaga, and the 
 next time at the cantonments of 
 Santa Fe before Grenada, and each 
 time to be disappointed; so that he 
 had resolved to leave Spain, and 
 seek in England that assistance 
 without which he could not hope to 
 see his ideas as to the geography of 
 the globe realized. At length, how- 
 ever, at the moment when Ferdinand 
 and Isabella were elated by the con- 
 quest of Grenada, the patrons of Col- 
 umbus, seizing the happy moment 
 of success, ventured to plead his 
 cause anew. The arguments they 
 used in favor of his undertaking, 
 and the representations they made 
 of his character and abilities, dis- 
 sipated the fears that Isabella had 
 entertained. She regretted the low 
 state of her finances, almost ex- 
 hausted by ten years' war against 
 the Moors, and offered to pawn her 
 jewels to raise money for the nec- 
 essary equipments lor the voyage; 
 but Santangel, the receiver of the 
 ecclesiastical revenue in Arragon, 
 to save her from that expedient, im- 
 mediately engaged to advance the 
 requisite sum himself. Thus after 
 eight years of constant solicitation, 
 Columbus attained his object, and, 
 on the 17th of April, 1492, an agree- 
 ment to the following effect was en- 
 tered into by the king and queen, 
 and Christopher Columbus. 
 
 1st: — Columbus and his heirs 
 should forever enjoy the office of 
 High Admiral of Castile, with all its 
 powers and prerogatives. 
 
 2nd : — The king and queen ap- 
 pointed Columbus their viceroy in 
 all the lands he should discover; 
 and if at any time it should be found 
 necessary to establish a separate 
 governor in any province, that offi- 
 cer was to be chosen by the sove- 
 reign out of three persons named by 
 the viceroy, whose dignity was to 
 be hereditary in his family. 
 
 3rd: — A tenth of the clear revenue 
 arising from the new discovery was 
 promised to Columbus and his heirs 
 forever. 
 
 4th: — All disputes to determined 
 by the sole authority of Columbus. 
 
 5th: — Columbus was permitted to 
 advance one eighth of the expense 
 of preparation for the expedition, 
 and was entitled to an eighth of the 
 profit. 
 
 It is remarkable that Ferdinand 
 did not take any part in the expedi- 
 tion, as king of Arragon; and con- 
 sequently the exclusive right to all 
 the benefits that might arise from 
 it was reserved for Isabella's Castil- 
 ian subjects. 
 
 Of three vessels which were now 
 entrusted to Columbus by the queen 
 two were furnished by the town of 
 Palos, a small port of Andalusia, 
 which had incurred the queen's dis- 
 pleasure, and was condemned as a 
 fine to furnish two good vessels, 
 called caravels, for her service. 
 
 The largest ship of the little fleet 
 was the Santa Maria, and was com- 
 manded by Columbus himself; the 
 two smaller ones, called the Pint a 
 and the Nunia, were under the care 
 of the two brothers, Martin Pinzon, 
 and Vincent Yanez Pinzon, while a 
 third Pinzon acted as pilot in 
 Martin's ship. 
 
 About, the twelfth of May 1492 
 the vessels were ready, and Colum- 
 bus went to court to receive the final 
 orders and instructions of the king 
 and queen. Isabella appointed some 
 gentlemen of her court to accom- 
 pany him; and the crews of his three 
 vessels amounted to ninety seamen, 
 and a few adventurers; the squadron 
 was victualled for twelve months, 
 but the whole expense did not ex- 
 ceed four thousand pounds sterling. 
 
 On the second of August, the 
 Admiral having taken leave of the 
 queen and of his family, marched 
 with all the persons under his com- 
 mand in solemn procession, to the 
 monastery of Rabida, which over- 
 looks Palos. After the ceremonies of 
 confession and absolution were over, 
 Columbus' first friend in Spain, Perez, 
 the guardian of the monastery, ad- 
 ministered the holy sacrament to 
 them, and joined them in their pray- 
 ers for success. 
 
10 
 
 COLUMBUS FIKST VOYAGE TO AMERICA. 
 
 The next morning, being Friday, 
 the third of August, the fleet got 
 away a little before sunrise, in the 
 presence of crowds of spectators, 
 who poured forth blessings and pray- 
 ers for its success. On the 13th of 
 the same month, Columbus reached 
 the Canary Islands, and there refitted 
 his ships, which were found to be ill 
 appointed and scarcely seaworthy ; 
 but nothing could damp the Ad- 
 miral's ardour; and after giving his 
 ships such repairs as were absolutely 
 requisite, and laying in fresh provis- 
 ions and water, he again set sail on 
 the sixth day of September. 
 
 And now the perils of the voyage 
 began. For thirty -three days Colum- 
 bus sailed across an unknown ocean, 
 and saw stars unseen before by Euro- 
 pean eyes. On the 13th of Septem- 
 ber, he perceived that the magnetic 
 needle, hitherto the unerring guide 
 of the mariner, no longer pointed to 
 the true north. On the 17th this 
 prodigy (for such it then seemed) 
 became known to the sailors, and 
 there was fear and alarm, which rose 
 almost to mutiny, in the ships; but 
 still the Admiral calmed their dis- 
 quiet. When the trade wind blew 
 stronger and stronger, and every day 
 in the same direction, the seamen 
 thought that they must sail on for- 
 ever before that commanding blast, 
 and despaired of being again able to 
 return; so they mutinied again, but 
 were again quieted by their pious 
 commander, whose faith and trust in 
 God enabled him to bear up against 
 the murmurs of his men and the 
 strange perils of the sea, as it had 
 kept him from despair in the long 
 attendance be had paid at the court 
 of Isabella. 
 
 At length, on Thursday, the 11th 
 of October, a man named Roderigo 
 de Triana, shouted "LAND!" from 
 the mast head of the Pinta; but it 
 was too late to be sure that he was 
 not deceived. No one slept that 
 night, and the ships sailed on till 
 two hours past midnight when the 
 shore of the island Guanahani, one 
 of the Bahamas, became visible. The 
 
 hymn of Salve REGiNAwas instantly 
 sung, and the ships lay to until the 
 next morning, when they ran close 
 in to examine the land they had dis- 
 covered, while the Te Deum was 
 sung by the crews of ail the vessels. 
 
 And now those who had mur- 
 mured against the Admiral, 'who had 
 talked of putting him in chains, and 
 forcing him to return to Spain, 
 threw themselves at his feet, and en- 
 treated forgiveness for their distrust, 
 promising confidence and obedience 
 in future; and indeed they were 
 ready now to worship him as one in- 
 spired by Heaven. As soon as the 
 sun rose, a boat from each vessel was 
 manned and armed. The standards 
 of the Green Cross, which distin- 
 guished Columbus' fleet, were dis- 
 played; and the Admiral, dressed in 
 a rich dress, having a naked sword in 
 his hand, was the first European 
 who set his foot in the new world. 
 His men followed, and kneeling 
 down they all kissed the ground 
 they had so long desired to see. A 
 cross, having on its arms the initials 
 of Ferdinand and Isabella, each sur- 
 mounted by a crown, was erected; 
 solemn mass was performed before 
 it; and formal possession was taken 
 of the land in the name of Isabella, 
 queen of Castile and Leon. 
 
 A number of the natives sur- 
 rounded the strangers, and gazed 
 with wonder on ceremonies whose 
 import they could no more guess 
 than they could foresee the cruel 
 consequences to themselves and their 
 countrymen. The color and dress 
 of the Spaniards, the size of their 
 ships, with their sails, and their fire- 
 arms, all impressed the ignorant and 
 gentle native's with an idea that their 
 visitors were beings of a superior or- 
 der; as such they were ready to 
 worship and obey them, until their 
 subsequent conduct gave the poor 
 Indians room to believe that they 
 were demons, not men. But Colum- 
 bus was free of all blame. He was 
 just to their claims, careful for their 
 interests, and too truly pious to wish 
 to injure those who, equally with 
 
C0LUMBCS FIRST VOYAGE TO AMERICA. 
 
 I I 
 
 himself, were the children of his 
 Almighty Father. 
 
 The island of Guanahani, and oth- 
 ers of the same group at which Co- 
 lumbus touched, were all extremely 
 poor, but the natives pointed to the 
 south as the quarter from whence 
 some pieces of gold, found among 
 them, were procured. Thither the 
 Admiral accordingly steered, and 
 discovered first Cuba, and then Hayti, 
 to which he gave the name of His- 
 paniola; there, having obtained the 
 consent of the natives, he built a 
 small fort, which he called Navidad, 
 and left Diego de Arado, of Cordova, 
 to act as its governor until he should 
 return from Spain. 
 
 On the 16th of January, 1493, 
 Columbus, having on board of his 
 ships some of the natives of the new 
 land, a quantity of gold, specimens 
 of all the productions likely to be- 
 come objects of commerce, and a 
 collection of rare animals, plants 
 and other curiosities, set sail on his 
 return to Spain. Just as he had 
 reached the coast of Europe a vio- 
 lent storm arose which forced him 
 into the Tagus, and notwithstanding 
 the jealousy of all discoverers enter- 
 tained by Portugal, the king received 
 him with great respect, and listened 
 with admiration to his account of 
 his voyage. The moment the weather 
 permitted he left Lisbon, and pro- 
 ceeded to Palos, where he arrived on 
 the 1 5th of March, 1493. seven months , 
 and eleven days after his departure. 
 As soon as the ship, was seen ap- 
 proaching, all the inhabitants of the 
 place ran to welcome her. When 
 they saw the strange people, the un- 
 known animals, the singular produc- 
 tions brought from the new coun- 
 tries, their joy was unbounded. The 
 bells were rung, the cannon fired, and 
 all the- people accompanied Colum- 
 bus and his crew to the same church 
 where they had offered up their 
 prayers on departing, to return 
 thanks for the prosperous issue of 
 the voyage. 
 
 Ferdinand and Isabella were at 
 Barcelona when they heard of his 
 
 return and success. He was respect r 
 fully invited to the court, that they 
 might hear from his own mouth the 
 details of his voyage. On his way 
 thither the people from all parts of 
 the country flocked together to see 
 him as he passed, and his entrance 
 to the city was conducted with pomp 
 suitable to the great event which had 
 added another land to their domin- 
 ions. The natives of the new coun- 
 try marched first; then the rude or- 
 naments of gold were borne along, 
 together with the grains and sand of 
 the same precious metal, found in 
 the mountains and rivers; and after 
 these the new and strange animals, 
 and other curious or useful produc- 
 tions of the islands. Columbus 
 himself closed the procession. 
 
 Ferdinand and Isabella received 
 him clad in their royal robes, seated 
 on a throne under a magnificent can- 
 opy. They stood up as the Admiral 
 approached, and when he knelt to 
 kiss their hands, they raised him and 
 commanded him to take his seat on 
 a chair provided for him, and to give 
 them an account of the wonders and 
 dangers of his voyage. When he 
 had finished his narration, the king 
 and queen fell on their knees and of- 
 fered up solemn thanks to God for 
 the discovery. Every mark of honor 
 that gratitude could suggest was 
 paid to Columbus. His family was 
 ennobled, and the whole court, fol- 
 lowing the example of the sover- 
 eigns, paid him the highest respect; 
 but that which gratified him most 
 was the order to equip a squadron of 
 sufficient force to take possession of 
 the new countries, and to prosecute 
 his discoveries. 
 
 The success of Columbus excited 
 a wonderful degree of enterprise 
 throughout Spain. Volunteers of 
 every rank solicited employment in 
 the new expedition, and even Fer- 
 dinand, cautious as he was, now 
 caught the general enthusiasm. A 
 fleet of seventeen sail was speedily 
 fitted out. On board of it were fif- 
 teen hundred persons, many of whom 
 were of noble families. They were 
 
12 
 
 AMERICAN DATES. 
 
 furnished with domestic animals, and 
 with such seeds and plants as were 
 likely to thrive in the climate of the 
 Western Indies, as the new country 
 was called. Utensils and instru- 
 ments of every sort were taken on 
 board, and there were all such artifi- 
 cers as might be useful to a rising 
 colony. In order to secure them- 
 selves from the intrusion of stran- 
 gers, in these new dominions, Ferdi- 
 nand and Isabella now applied to 
 Pope Alexander VI. for a grant of 
 whatever they might explore to the 
 westward as far as one hundred 
 leagues beyond the Azores, while all 
 discoveries to the eastward were con- 
 firmed to the Portugese. 
 
 To be continued in our next. 
 
 AMERICAN DATES: FROM THE DIS- 
 COVERY TO THE REVOLUTION. 
 
 1492 America discovered by Columbus. 
 
 1497 The Cabots discover Newfoundland 
 
 and Labrador. 
 
 1498 Sebastian Cabot explores the coast 
 
 of North America. 
 1500 The Portugese discover Brazil. 
 
 1510 First colony on the continent at the 
 
 Isthmus of Darien. 
 
 1511 The Spaniards conquer Cuba. 
 
 1512 Juan Ponce de Leon discovers Flor- 
 
 ida. 
 
 1513 Vasco Nunez de Balboa discovers 
 
 the Pacific Ocean. 
 1518 New Spain and the Straits of Ma- 
 gellan discovered. 
 
 1520 De Allyon visits the coast of Caro- 
 
 lina. 
 
 1521 Mexico built by the Spaniards. 
 
 1522 A ship of Magellan's squadron the 
 
 first to sail around the world. 
 
 1524 Verrazani explores the coast of 
 North America. 
 
 1528 Narvaez attempts to conquer Flor- 
 ida. 
 
 1534 James Cartier discovers the river 
 St. Lawrence. 
 
 1539 De Soto undertakes the conquest of 
 Florida. 
 
 1541 De Soto discovers the Mississippi 
 River. 
 
 15ti4 A colony of French rrotestants set- 
 tle in Florida. 
 
 1565 St. Augustine, Florida, founded by 
 the Spaniards. 
 
 1583 Gilbert takes possession of New- 
 
 foundland. 
 
 1584 Virginia reached by Sir Walter 
 
 Raleigh's party. 
 
 1602 Gosnold discovers Cape Cod. 
 
 1603 DeMonts receives a grant of Acadia. 
 1605 First permanent French settlement 
 
 in America at Port Royal. 
 1607 The Plymouth Company attempt a 
 settlement at Kennebec. 
 
 1607 First English settlement in Amer- 
 
 ica, Jamestown. 
 
 1608 Quebec founded by Champlain. 
 
 1609 Hudson River discovered by Henry 
 
 Hudson. 
 1614 Captain John Smith explores the 
 
 coast from Penobscot to Cape Cod. 
 1614 New York settled. 
 
 1620 Settlement of Plymouth, Mass. 
 
 1621 Treaty with Massasoit. 
 
 1622 Charter granted to Gorges and Ma- 
 
 son. 
 
 1622 Indian massacre in Virginia. 
 
 1623 New Hampshire settled. 
 
 1624 New Jersey settled. 
 
 1633 Connecticut settled. 
 
 1634 Maryland settled. 
 
 1636 Rhode Island settled. 
 
 1637 Pequot war. 
 
 1638 Delaware settled. - 
 
 1639 First printing press established in 
 
 America. 
 1641 Massachusetts and New Hampshire 
 unite. 
 
 1643 Union of the New England colonies. 
 
 1644 Indian massacre in Virginia. 
 1650 North Carolina settled. 
 
 1655 Dutch conquer the Swedes in Dela- 
 ware. 
 
 1664 New York surrenders to the En- 
 glish. 
 
 1670 South Carolina settled. 
 
 1671 La Salle navigated Lakes Erie, Hu- 
 
 ron and Michigan. 
 
 1673 Mississippi River navigated by 
 
 Marquette. 
 
 1674 Marquette on his second journey to 
 
 Illinois wintered (1664-5) at or 
 near Chicago. 
 
 1675 Commencement of King Philip's 
 
 war. 
 
 1680 New Hampshire becomes a royal 
 
 province. 
 
 1681 Pennsylvania settled. 
 
 1684 La Salle sails down the Mississippi 
 1686 Andros made Governor of all New 
 England. 
 
 1688 New York and New Jersey included 
 
 in the jurisdiction of Andros. 
 
 1689 King William's war commences in 
 
 America. 
 
 1689 Andros imprisoned and sent to 
 
 England. 
 
 1690 Phipps' unsuccessful expedition 
 
 against Canada. 
 
 1702 Queen Anne's war commences in 
 America. 
 
 1704 First newspaper in America, (pub- 
 lished at Boston.) 
 
 1706 MINNESOTA settled by French 
 Traders, near Taylor's Falls on 
 the St. Croix. 
 
AMECICAM DATES. BOOK NOTICES. 
 
 13 
 
 1729 North and South Carolina become 
 distinct provinces. 
 
 1732 GEORGE WASHINGTON born. 
 
 1733 Georgia settled. 
 
 1744 King George's war commences in 
 
 America. 
 
 1745 Louisburg and Cape Breton taken 
 
 by British troops. 
 1748 Treaty of Aix la Chapelle. 
 1753 Troubles commence with the Ohio 
 
 Company and the French traders. 
 
 1753 Washington sent with a letter to 
 
 St. Pierre. 
 
 1754 Washington delivers the letter to 
 
 St. Pierre. 
 
 1754 Washington capitulates at Fort 
 
 Necessity. 
 
 1755 English destroy French settlements 
 
 in Nova Scotia. 
 1755 Defeat of General Brarldock. 
 
 1755 The French under Dieskau defeated 
 
 at Lake George. 
 
 1756 War declared between Great Britian 
 
 and France. 
 
 1757 Massacre at Fort William Henry. 
 
 1758 Louisberg, Cape Breton and Fort 
 
 Frontenac taken by the English. 
 1758 Abercrombie repulsed by Montcalm 
 atTiconderoga. 
 
 1759. Gen. Wolfe takes Quebec, Sept. 17. 
 
 1760. Canada in possession of the En- 
 
 glish. 
 1763 Peace between Great Britain and 
 
 France. 
 1765 Stamp Act passed. 
 
 1765 First Colonial Congress met in New 
 
 York. 
 
 1766 Stamp act repealed. 
 
 1767 Duties on tea, paper, etc. 
 
 1770 Duties repealed except those on tea. 
 
 1773. Tea thrown overboard at Boston. 
 
 1774. Second Colonial Congress, (Phila- 
 
 delphia. 
 
 COCHECO HOUSE 
 
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 E. A. FREDEEN, Proprietor. 
 
 The vicinity of Taylor's Falls and 
 the picturesque Dalles of the St. 
 Croix is one of the oldest settled, as 
 well as one of the most interesting 
 localities in the Northwest. 
 
 Now Ready: 
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHIC, BIOGRAPHIC. HISTORIC. 
 
 EARLY BIBLES 
 
 OF AMERICA. 
 
 BY 
 
 KEV. JOHN WRIGBT, D. D., 
 
 Rector of Si. Paul's Church, St. Paul Minn. 
 
 One vol. pp 171, with fac-similes of 
 title pages. Cloth $1.50. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY 
 
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 2 Bible House, N. Y. City. 
 
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 POLYGLOT BIBLES. 
 
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 with list of libraries, Public and Private, 
 in which each may be found; together 
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l6 THE CELEBRATED LETTER OF COLUMBUS. 
 
 Harrisse's Great Work. THE Work of the Century. 
 
 The following choice and magnificent work may be ordered through this office, 
 
 Price $35.00. 
 
 AMERICA: Harrisse's Discovery of North America; a Critical, Docu- 
 mentary and Historic Investigation, with an Essay on the Early Car- 
 tography of the New World, including Descriptions of Two Hundred 
 and Fifty Maps or Globes, existing or lost, constructed before the year 
 1536; to which are added a Chronology of One Hundred Voyages West- 
 ward, Projected, Attempted, or Accomplished between 1431 and 1504; 
 Biographical Accounts of the Three Hundred Pilots who first Crossed the 
 Atlantic; and a Copious List of the Original Names of American Re- 
 gions, Caciqueships, Mountains, Islands, Capes, Gulfs, Rivers, Towns, 
 and Harbours, by Henry Harrisse, complete in one stout volume, 4to. 
 800 pages, with 23 plates and many illustrations in the text. — London, 1892. 
 
 CONTENTS : 
 
 The new work, by the Author of the "Bibliotheca Americana Vetustissima," 
 is divided into flve parts, viz. 
 
 Part 1.— The First Voyage of John Cabot, 1497— The Claims of Sebastian Cabot 
 —The Second Voyage of John Cabot, 1498-1499 (?)— Other British Expeditions, 1501- 
 1525— The Portuguese in the Fifteenth Century— The First Voyage of Caspar Corte- 
 Real, 1500— The Second Voyage or Gaspar Corte-Real, 1501— Rescuing Expedition of 
 Miguel Corte-Real, 1502— The North-East Coast— Opinion of the Early Geographers— 
 The Insularity of Cuba— America believed to be distinct from Asia— Proofs derived 
 from Ancient Maps— The Belief shared by the Spanish Government— Summing-up of 
 the Discussion— Clandestine Expeditions— First Official Knowledge of Florida— First 
 Voyage of Ponce de Leon, 1513— Minor Expeditions to Florida, 1517-1518— Exploration 
 of the Gulf of Mexico for Francisco de Garay: Discovery of the Mississippi, 1519— Ex- 
 peditions to Newfoundland: English, Portuguese, and French— Voyage of Fagundes— 
 Colonisation of Nova Scotia. 1521— Alaminosand the Gulf Stream, 1519-Ayllon's First 
 Voyage to Chicora, 1521— Giovanni da Verrazano, 1523-1524— Estevam Gomez, 1524- 
 1525— Recapitulation of Facts and Proofs. 
 
 Part II.— The Early Cartography of the New World— School of Hydrography— Con- 
 struction of Maps at Seville— The Puclron-Real, or Model Map— The Early Spanish Maps 
 now existing— The Portuguese Charts— The St Diey Cartography— America blended 
 with Asia for the first time, 1523— Cartographical Re-action: Mercator, 1538 -The 
 Lusitano-Germanic Cartography— The Five Types— The Lusitano-Germanic Nomen- 
 clature—Evolution of the Lusitano-Germanic Nomenclature— The Southern Regions 
 —The Vespuccian Data— The North-East Coast again. 
 
 Part III.— Cartographia Americana Vetustissima. Introduction, Years 1461-1493- 
 1536— Fifteenth Century, Years 1461-1500— Sixteenth Century, Years 1500-1536— Alleged 
 Maps of the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries. 
 
 Part IV.— Chronology of Voyages before the Discovery of America, from 1431 to 
 1492— Chronology of Voyages since the Discovery of America, from 1492 to 1504. 
 
 Part V.— Biographies of Pilots and Cartographers, 1492-1550. 
 
 Appendix.— Wardens' Accounts of the Drapers' Company of London, March- 
 April. 1521, concerning Sebastian Cabot— Geographical Index— Index of Names. 
 
 "This work, I have an absolute conviction, will mark an epoch in the history o1 
 geographical and historical sciences. It is in reality a cyclopaedia of all that is posi- 
 tively known of the history of transatlantic discoveries, together with an abundance 
 of documentary proofs, critical analyses, and information drawn from divers authen tic- 
 sources which the savants of all countries cannot fail to appreciate. As to its method 
 and principles, it is tolerably certain that this book will one day serve as a model for 
 the critical and documentary histories of other countries which remain yet to be 
 written. The whole labour involved in its production is worthy of the place of 
 honour which the book is certain to occupy in the literature of the Centenary." 
 
TH E 
 
 ©iecotferg of (America (Jtta^ine 
 
 Vol. 1, No. 2. OCTOBER, 1892. Price 10 Cents. 
 
 Published Monthly by H. P. Hoppin, 32 Germania Bank Pmilding, St. Paul, Minnesota, 
 for'the convenience of Teachers, Librarians and others who may wish to disseminate approved 
 selections of Historical Literature. FIFTY CENTS PER YEAR. 
 
 EARLY VOYAGES, TRAVELS, 
 AND DISCOVERIES 
 
 Jn (America. 
 
 
 This number contains accounts of 
 
 BIAREN and LIEF ERIKSON, 
 
 MADOC, PRINCE OF WALES, 
 COLUMBUS'S SECOND VOYAGE, 
 
 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH, of Virginia, 
 
 (First installment of his life, which we publish as a Serial.) 
 
 JUAN DeFUCA, Discoverer of Puget Sound. 
 
 See next page for contents of our next number. 
 
 Subscribe noiv, before our rates are advanced. 
 
iS 
 
 
 THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA MAGAZINE. 
 
 A Short List of Adventures and Discoveries 
 made in North America by the 
 European Nations, etc. 
 
 A. D. 
 
 981. 
 
 1513. 
 
 BIRON, or BJARNE HERJULFSON, a 
 Norseman, accidentally discovered "a 
 country supposed to be the American 
 continent, but did not land. The land 
 he saw first was Nantucket; then 
 Nova Scotia, or Markland; then New- 
 foundland, or Helluland. (Anderson) 
 
 1000. LIEF ERIKSOIM, son of Erik the Red, 
 landed at Helluland, Markland, and 
 Vinland. (Ibid.) 
 
 1002. THORWALD ERIKSON, another son of 
 Erik the Red, visited Vinland. He was 
 killed there by the natives, and his 
 skeleton, clad in armour, was dug up 
 near Fall River, Mass., in 1831, and 
 forms the subject of Longfellow's cele- 
 brated poem "The Skeleton in Armour." 
 (Ibid.) 
 
 1005. THORSTEIN, youngest son of Eric the 
 Red, perished by shipwreck on the 
 western coast of Greenland, in an at- 
 tempt to reaeh Vinland. (Ibid.) 
 
 1007. THORFIN KARLSEFNE'S expedition to 
 Vinland which is commemorated by 
 the inscription on Dighton Rock. "His 
 son, Snorre Thorfinson, was born in 
 1008 at Vinland, being the first man 
 of European blood of whose birth in 
 America there is a record. He was the 
 direct ancestor of the famous sculptor, 
 Albert Thorwaldsen." (Ibid.) 
 
 1170. MADOC, Prince of Wales, emigrated; 
 and, it is thought, discovered a new 
 country in the West. 
 
 1358. An island called " ESTOTILAND " was 
 discovered by a fisherman of Frisland ; 
 as related by Zeno. 
 
 1492. COLUMBUS, in the service of Spain, 
 
 discovered Guanahani, Cuba, Hayti 
 and other islands, called Bahamas and 
 Antilles. Returned March, 1493. 
 
 1493. COLUMBUS made a second voyage and 
 
 discovered Dominica and other islands 
 called Caribbees. Returned June, 1496. 
 
 1497. JOHN CABOT, with his son SEBAS- 
 
 TIAN, in the service of Henry VII. of 
 England, discovered the island of New- 
 foundland and some parts of a west- 
 ern Continent; as far northward as 
 lat. 45° and as far southward as lat. 
 38°. Returned July, 1497. 
 
 1498. COLUMBUS made a third voyage, and 
 
 discovered the western continent in lat. 
 10°, N. Returned Nov, 1500. 
 
 1499. OJEDA, a private adventurer, and 
 
 AMERIGO VESPUCCI followed the 
 track of Columbus, and discovered the 
 western continent; of which Amerigo, 
 after his return to Europe, wrote and 
 published an account, and from him 
 the continent obtained the name of 
 America. 
 
 1500. CABRAL, in the service of Portugal, 
 
 bound to India, discovered, by accident, 
 the continent of America in lat. 10° 
 South; which was called Brasil. 
 
 1502. COLUMBUS made his fourth and last 
 voyage to the new continent, in quest 
 of a passage through it to India. 
 Returned Nov, 1504. 
 
 JOHN PONCE DE LEON, in the service 
 of Spain, discovered the new continent, 
 in the latitude of 30° N. and called it 
 Florida. 
 
 VASCO NUNEZ DE BALBOA, a Spani- 
 ard, travelled across the isthmus of 
 Darien, and, from a mountain, dis- 
 covered on the other side of the conti- 
 nent an ocean, which, from the direc- 
 tion in which he saw it. took the name 
 of "The South Sea." 
 
 HERNANDO CORTEZ, in the service of 
 Spain, entered the City of Mexico ; and 
 in the space of two years reduced the 
 whole country under the dominion of 
 the King of Spain. 
 
 FERDINAND DE MAGELLANES, a Por- 
 tugese, in the service of Spain, passed 
 through the strait which bears his 
 name, and sailed across tne South Sea, 
 to which he gave the name of" Pacific." 
 He discovered the Philippine Islands 
 and was there killed in a skirmish with 
 the natives. The ship, under the com- 
 mand of Sebastian del Cano, returned 
 to Spain by way of the Cape of Good 
 Hope, and thus performed the first cir- 
 cumnavigation of the Globe. 
 
 JOHN DE VERRAZANI, a Florentine, in 
 the service of Francis I. King of France, 
 discovered the new continent in lat. 34 
 N., and sailed Northward to lat. 41, 
 where he entered a harbour which, by 
 his description must be that of New 
 York. Thence he sailed E. and N. E. 
 as far as Newfoundland, and called 
 the whole country "New France." 
 
 STEPHEN GOMEZ, in the service of 
 Spain, sailed to Florida, and thence to 
 Cape Race in lat. 46° North, in search 
 of a Northwest passage to India. 
 
 FRANCIS PIZARRO sailed from Pana- 
 ma to Peru, and began the conquest of 
 that rich and populous country. 
 
 ( To be continued. ) 
 
 IMPORTANT NOTICE. 
 
 TO some one person (one only) — instruc- 
 tor or pupil in 
 EVERY SCHOOL in the LAND 
 
 we will send fifty copies of this number 
 of our Magazine for One Dollar. 
 
 Some enterprising boy or girl should buy 
 them to sell others at 3, 4 or 5 cents each. 
 
 The contents of our next numbers will in- 
 clude articles on — 
 
 Mysterious Discovery told by Zeno. 
 
 Columbus's Third Voyage. 
 
 Americus Vespucius, 
 
 The Norse Discovery, "Great Ireland." 
 
 Hernando Cortez, and Mexico. 
 
 Vasco Nunez de Balboa. 
 
 Captain John Smith. (Continued.) 
 
 Artic Discoveries. (Commenced.) 
 
 Progress of Geographical Discovery. 
 (Second Paper.) 
 
 And other very interesting matter. 
 
THE TRUE 4OOTH ANNIVERSARY. 19 
 
 THE TRUE DATE OF THE GREAT ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 An American Scholar* has explained that the Papal adjustmentof the calen- 
 dar which civilized nations now use, to that which preceded it, involves an error 
 of two days. The different European nations adopted and made such adjust- 
 ment at different times between October 15th, 1582 and September 3d, 17=52, 
 and the result in each case is equally incorrect ; but after one reads the follow- 
 ing extracts from the writings of the distinguished chronologians, TenBroeck 
 and Jar vis, it will be readily understood upon what day in October, 1892, falls 
 the 400th anniversary of October 12th, 1492. 
 
 It appears that the error in the Julian calendar, amounting to one day in 130 
 years, would, in A. D. 1492, require a correction of eleven days and a fraction, 
 but for the fact that four days of the eleven were already allowed for by the 
 Nicene calendar, which had, long before, been adopted by the Roman Church 
 as an amended form of the Julian, and which the Gregorian supplanted. 
 
 Therefore if we add seven days to the date upon which Columbus says that 
 he landed at Guanahani, we have October 19th, 1S92, as the true 400th anni- 
 versary. 
 
 * The Rev. Dr. Ten Broeck. The Extracts will be found on page 32. 
 
 THE PROGRESS OF GEOGRAPHICAL DISCOVERY. 
 
 When Noah came forth from the ark on the mountains of Ararat, the face 
 of the earth was desolate, the world was all before him where to choose, and 
 Geographical Science had to begin her course. 
 
 The Book of Genesis gives the names of Noah's descendants, but none of 
 them, except such as refer to the Hebrews and their immediate neighbors, can 
 be satisfactorily identified with nations and countries now known. 
 
 The geography of the Israelites in the days of Moses comprised only Syria, 
 Palestine, Egypt and parts of Arabia. 
 
 Hebrew Geography in the times of the Kings and Prophets was limited to 
 Assyria, Media, Persia and Ethiopia. Solomon, indeed, sent Pheni- ian navi- 
 gators to Tarshish and Ophir, but this commerce was of brief duration. 
 
 But the great geographers of the early ages were these same Phenicians. 
 Even before the time of Homer they were the general carriers of the Mediter- 
 ranean, and the Book of Kings informs us that their trade extended to regions 
 of the east or south so remote that three years were spent in each voyage. For 
 convenience of this trade they established factories and built cities ( Carthage 
 was one of them) along the Mediterranean; and even at Cadiz and other places 
 beyond the straits of Gibraltar. They explored the west coast of Africa ; ob- 
 tained tin from the British Islands and were familiar with the Sacred Isle of 
 the West, the modern Ireland. They even reached America, 
 for certainly there are passages of the Greek and Roman writers that will hardly 
 admit of any other interpretation. 
 
 It is not foreign to our subject to say that the Phenicians also traded overland, 
 especially with Babylon; and that Tad/nor or Palmyra, of which the splendid 
 ruins yet remain, was one of their stations. If the records of these nations had 
 not been destroyed the science of geography would not have been still in its in- 
 fancy two thousand years after the fall of Babylon. 
 
 (To be Continued.) 
 
20 
 
 THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA MAGAZINE. 
 
 THE SECOND VOYAGE OF 
 COLUMBUS. 
 
 [Continued from our first number.'} 
 
 The Papal Bull containing this 
 famous but imperfect line of demarca- 
 tion was signed by Alexander VI., 
 May 2d, 1493, but contained no pro- 
 vision for the contingency of the rival 
 nations meeting, and their claims inter- 
 fering, on the other side of the globe. 
 
 DOMINICA. 
 
 September 25th following, Colum- 
 bus sailed from Cadiz upon his second 
 voyage. On Sunday, November 3d, 
 he discovered an island to which, in 
 honor of the day, he gave the name of 
 Dominica. Afterwards he discovered 
 in succession other islands, which 
 he called Marigalante, Guadaloupe, 
 Montserrat, Redonda, Antigua, St. 
 Martin's, St. Ursula and St. yo/in. 
 November 12th he came to Navidad, 
 on the north side of Hispaniola, where 
 he had built his fort and left his colony ; 
 but he had the mortification to find the 
 people killed and the fort destroyed, on 
 account of the insolence and rapacity 
 of the garrison, by a chief named 
 Canaubo. 
 
 THE FIRST TOWN. 
 
 Columbus prudently forbore to 
 make any critical inquiry into the mat- 
 ter, but hastened to establish another 
 colony, in a healthier and more eligi- 
 ble situation to the eastward. This 
 town, the first built by Europeans in 
 the new world, Columbus called 
 Isabella, after his royal patroness. 
 But there were many difficulties to 
 contend with, besides those which un- 
 avoidably attend undertakings of such 
 novelty and magnitude. Nature in- 
 deed was bountiful, the soil and cli- 
 mate produced vegetation with a rapid- 
 ity to which the Spaniards had not 
 been accustomed. From wheat sown 
 at the end of January, full ears were 
 gathered at the end of March. 
 
 DISCONTENTED SPANIARDS. 
 
 The stones of fruit, the slips of 
 vnies, and the joints of sugar-cane 
 
 sprouted in seven days, and many 
 other seeds in half that time. This 
 was an encouraging prospect, but the 
 slow operations of agriculture did not 
 meet the views of sanguine adventur- 
 ers. The numerous followers of Col- 
 umbus, some of whom were of the 
 best families in .Spain, had conceived 
 hopes of suddenly enriching them- 
 selves by the precious metals of those 
 new regions. They were not disposed 
 to listen to recommendations of patience 
 and industry in cultivating the earth, 
 and they blamed Columbus as luke- 
 warm to the interests of the king and 
 queen because he would not revenge 
 the destruction of Navidad by a decid- 
 ed attack upon the Indians, and so en- 
 able themselves to grasp at once the 
 possession of the country. 
 
 THE NATIVES RESTLESS. 
 
 The natives were displeased with 
 the licentiousness of their new neigh- 
 bors, who endeavored to keep them in 
 awe by a display of force. The dis- 
 play of fire arms, and the sight of men 
 mounted on horses, were at first ob- 
 jects of terror; but familiarity had ren- 
 dered them less formidable. 
 
 CARE AND TROUBLE. 
 
 Dissensions among the colonists 
 obliged Columbus to send some of the 
 malcontents home to Spain where they 
 improved their opportunity to create a 
 prejudice against him. He, overbur- 
 dened with care and fatigue, fell sick. 
 After his recovery he endeavoured to 
 establish discipline among his own 
 people, and to employ the natives in 
 cutting roads through the woods. 
 Whilst he was present, and able to at- 
 tend to business things went on so 
 prosperously that he thought he might 
 safely proceed on his discoveries. 
 
 THE GARDEN OF THE QUEEN. 
 
 In his former voyage he had visited 
 Cuba; but was uncertain whether it 
 were an island or a part of some con- 
 tinent. He therefore passed over to 
 its eastern extremitv ; and coasted its 
 southern side till he found himself en- 
 tangled among: a vast number of small 
 
THE SECOND VOYAGE OF COLUMBUS. 
 
 islands which, for their beauty and fer- 
 tility he called The Garden of the" 
 Queen; but the dangerous rocks and 
 shoals which surrounded them obliged 
 him to stretch farther to the southward ; 
 by which means he discovered the island 
 of 
 
 JAMAICA, 
 
 where he found water and other re- 
 freshments for his men who were 
 almost dead with famine. The haz- 
 ard, fatigue and distress of this voyage 
 threw him into a lethargic disorder, 
 from which he had just recovered 
 when he returned to his colony at His- 
 paniola and found it all in confusion 
 from the same causes which had 
 proved destructive to the first. 
 
 HOSTILITIES AT HAYTI. 
 
 In his absence the insolence of the 
 colonists had so provoked the natives 
 that four chiefs had united to destroy 
 them and had actually commenced 
 hostilities in which twenty of the 
 .Spaniards were killed. Columbus 
 collected his people, put them into the 
 best order, and by a judicious combina- 
 tion of force and stratagem gained a 
 decisive victory, to which horses and 
 dogs contributed not a little. 
 
 BARTHOLOMEW COLUMBUS. 
 
 At his return to Hispaniola Colum- 
 bus had the pleasure of meeting his 
 brother Bartholomew whom he had 
 not seen for several years and whom 
 he supposed dead. Bartholomew was 
 a man of equal knowledge, experience, 
 bravery and prudence with himself. 
 His patience had endured a severe 
 trial in their long separation. He had 
 many obstacles to surmount before he 
 could get to England and obtain access 
 to the king, and he was at Paris when 
 he heard of the success of his brother's 
 first enterprise. Columbus had started 
 on his second voyage before Bartholo- 
 mew could reach Spain. On his ar- 
 rival there, he was introduced at court, 
 and was appointed to command three 
 ships which were destined to convey 
 supplies to the colony. He arrived 
 
 there while the admiral was on his 
 voyage to Cuba and Jamaica. Colum- 
 bus appointed his brother to command 
 at Isabella, whilst he went into the in- 
 terior part of the island to perfect his 
 conquest and reduce the natives to 
 subjection and tribute. 
 
 oppressing the natives. 
 
 The tribute required was as much 
 gold dust as would fill a hawk's bell, 
 four times a year from every Indian 
 above the age of fourteen, but the In- 
 dians were so unused to collect gold in 
 such quantities that they offered to 
 plant the immense plains of Hispaniola 
 and pay an equivalent in corn. Col- 
 umbus looked favorably upon this pro- 
 posal and moderated the tribute. This 
 did not satisfy the averice of his fel- 
 low adventurers, who found means to 
 complain of him to the king's ministers 
 for neglecting to acquire the only com- 
 modity which they thought deserved 
 the name of riches. 
 
 resistance. 
 
 The Indians then desisted from 
 planting their usual quantity of corn 
 and attempted to subsist chiefly on 
 animal food. This experiment proved 
 injurious to themselves as well as to 
 their conquerors; and it was computed 
 that within four years from the first 
 discovery of the island one third of its 
 inhabitants perished. 
 
 enemies at home. 
 
 The complaints against Columbus 
 so wrought upon the jealous mind of 
 King Ferdinand that John Aguado, 
 who was sent in 1495 with supplies to 
 the colony, had orders to act as a spy 
 on his conduct. This man behaved 
 with so little discretion as to seek mat- 
 ter of accusation and give out threats 
 against the Admiral. But before long 
 the ships which he commanded, were 
 destroyed by a hurricane, and he had 
 no means left of returning to Spain; 
 till Columbus, feeling the influence of 
 the enemies at home, and with nothing 
 to support him but his own merit, re- 
 solved to go thither with two cara- 
 
THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA MAGAZINE. 
 
 vels; himself in one and Aguado in 
 the other. 
 
 RETURNS TO SPAIN. 
 
 Having" appointed proper persons 
 to command the several forts, with 
 his brother Bartholomew to superin- 
 tend the whole, and his brother James 
 to be next in authority, he sailed for 
 home March 10, 1496, and after a 
 perilous and tedious voyage in the 
 tropical latitudes arrived at Cadiz on 
 the eleventh of June. 
 
 [Selected.] 
 
 LIEF ERIKSON, 
 
 AND THE NORSE DISCOVERIES. 
 the vikings. 
 
 THE ancient inhabitants of Nor- 
 way and Denmark, collectively 
 taken, were distinguished by 
 the name of Normans. Their situa- 
 tion near the coast of the sea, and the 
 advantages which that element pre- 
 sented to them beyond all which they 
 could expect from a rough soil in a 
 cold climate, led them at an early 
 period to the science and practice of 
 navigation. They built their vessels 
 with the best of oak, and constructed 
 them in such a manner as best to 
 encounter the storms and billows of 
 the northern ocean. They covered 
 them with decks and furnished them 
 with high forecastles and sterns. They 
 made use of sails as well as oars, and 
 had learned to trim their sails to the 
 wind in almost any direction. In these 
 arts, of building ships and of naviga- 
 tion, they were superior to the people 
 bordering on the Mediterranean sea, 
 who depended chiefly on their oars, 
 and used sails only with a fair wind. 
 
 ICELAND. 
 
 About the end of the eighth and 
 beginning of the ninth century, the 
 Normans made themselves famous by 
 their predator}' excursions. England, 
 Scotland, Ireland, and the Orkney and 
 Shetland islands, were objects of their 
 depredations; and in one of their pi- 
 
 ratical expeditions, (A. D. S61 ) they 
 discovered an island, which from its 
 lofty mountains, covered with ice and 
 snow, obtained the name of Iceland. 
 
 GREENLAND. 
 
 In a few years after, they planted a 
 colony there, which was continually 
 augmented by migrations from the 
 neighboring countries. Within the 
 space of thirty years (8S9) a new 
 country, situate on the west, was dis- 
 covered, which from its verdure during 
 the summer months received the name 
 of Greenland. 
 
 eric the red. 
 
 This was deemed so important an 
 acquisition, that under the conduct of 
 Eric Raude, or Red-head, a Danish 
 chief, it was soon peopled. 
 
 BIRON.— NANTUCKET. 
 
 The emigrants to these new regions 
 were still inflamed with the passion 
 for adventure and discovery. An Ice- 
 lander of the name Heriolf and his 
 son Birox (otherwise spelled Biorn, 
 Bioern, or Biaren) made a voyage 
 every year to different countries for 
 the sake of traffic. About the begin- 
 ning of the eleventh centurv (1001) 
 their ships were separated by a storm. 
 When Biron arrived in Norway he 
 heard that his father was gone to 
 Greenland, and he resolved to follow 
 him; but another storm drove him to 
 the southwest, where he discovered a 
 flat country, free from rocks, but 
 covered with thick Avoods; and an is- 
 land near the coast. 
 
 LIEF ERIKSON. 
 
 He made no longer stay at either of 
 these places than till the storm abated; 
 when by a northeast course he hasted 
 to Greenland. The discovery was no 
 sooner known there, than Lief the 
 son of Eric, who, like his father, had 
 a strong desire to acquire glory by 
 adventure, equipped a vessel carrying 
 twenty-five men; and taking Biron 
 for his pilot, sailed (1002) in search 
 of the new country. 
 
LIEF ERIKSON. 
 
 23 
 
 HELLULAND. 
 
 His course was southwest. On the 
 first land which he saw lie found 
 nothing but flat rocks and ice, without 
 any verdure. He therefore gave it the 
 name of Helluland, which signifies 
 rocky. Afterwards he came to a level 
 shore without any rocks, but over- 
 grown with woods, and the sand was 
 remarkably white. This he named 
 Markland, or woody. Two days after 
 he saw land again, and an island lying 
 before the northern coast of it. Here 
 he first landed, and thence sailing 
 westward, round a point of land found 
 a creek or river into which the ship 
 entered. 
 
 WINLAND THE GOOD. 
 
 On the banks of this river were 
 bushes bearing sweet berries; the air 
 was mild, the soil fertile and the river 
 well stored with fish, among which 
 were very fine salmon. At the head of 
 this river was a lake, on the shore of 
 which they resolved 10 pass the winter, 
 and erected huts for their accommoda- 
 tion. One of their companv, a Ger- 
 man named Tyrker, having straggled 
 into the woods, found grapes; from 
 which he told them that in his country 
 they made -wine. From this circum- 
 stance Lief, the commander of the 
 party, called the place Winland dat 
 gode, the good wine country. 
 
 THE SKRAELINGS. 
 
 An intercourse being thus opened 
 between Greenland and Winland, 
 several voyages were made, and the 
 new country was further explored. 
 Many islands were found near the 
 coast, but not a human creature was 
 seen till the third summer ( 1004) 
 when three boats, constructed with 
 ribs of bone, fastened with thongs or 
 twigs and covered with skins, each 
 boat containing three men, made their 
 appearance. From the diminutive size 
 of these people the Normans denomi- 
 nated them Skraelings* and in- 
 humanly killed them all but one, who 
 
 * Dwarfs. 
 
 escaped and collected a larger number 
 of his countrymen, to make an attack 
 on their invaders. The Normans de- 
 fended their ships with so much spirit 
 that the assailants were obliged to 
 retire. 
 
 THE FUR TRADE. 
 
 After this a colony of Normans 
 went and settled at Winland, carrying 
 on a barter trade with the Skraelings 
 for furs; but a controversy arose in the 
 colony, which induced some to return 
 to Greenland. The others dispersed 
 and mixed with the Skraelings. 
 
 ERIC THE BISHOP. 
 
 In the next century (1121) Eric, 
 Bishop of Greenland, with a benev- 
 olent design to recover and convert 
 his countrymen, who had degenerated 
 into savages, went to Winland. This 
 prelate never returned to Greenland, 
 nor was anything more heard of Win- 
 land, for several centuries. 
 
 HISTORIANS. 
 
 This account of the discovery of 
 Winland is taken from Pontoppidan's 
 history of Norway, Crantz's history of 
 Greenland, and a history of northern 
 voyages by Dr. John Reinhold For- 
 ster. The facts are said to have been 
 collected from "a great number of 
 Icelandic manuscripts, by Thormund 
 Thorfoeus, Adam Von Bremen, Arn- 
 grim Jonas, and many other writers, 
 so that it is hardly possible to entertain 
 the least doubt concerning the authen- 
 ticity of this relation." 
 
 WINLAND AGAIN. 
 
 Pontoppidan says that "they could 
 see the sun full six hours in the short- 
 est day," but Crantz tells us that "the 
 sun rose on the shortest day at eight 
 of the clock," and Forster that "the 
 sun was eight hours above the horizon," 
 from which he concludes that Winland 
 must be found in the 49th degree of 
 northern latitude; and from its being 
 in a southwesterly direction from 
 Greenland he supposes that it is either 
 a part of Newfoundland or some place 
 
^4 
 
 THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA MAGAZINE. 
 
 on the northern coast of the gulf of 
 St. Lawrence; but whether grapes 
 are found in either of those countries 
 he cannot say. However, he seems so 
 fully persuaded of the facts, that he 
 gives it as his opinion that the Nor- 
 mans were, strictly speaking, the first 
 discoverers of America, nearly five 
 centuries before Columbus. 
 
 ITS LOCATION. 
 
 From a careful perusal of the first 
 accounts of Newfoundland, preserved 
 by those painful collectors, Hakluyt 
 and Purchas, and of other memoirs 
 respecting that island and the coast of 
 Labrador; and from inspecting the 
 most approved maps of those regions, 
 particularly one in the American Atlas, 
 delineated agreeably to the actual sur- 
 veys of the late celebrated navigator 
 Capt. James Cook, the following ob- 
 servations occur. 
 
 NEW FO UNDLAND. 
 
 On the northeast part of Newfound- 
 land, which is most directly accessible 
 from Greenland, there is a long range 
 of coast in which are two bays, the one 
 called Gander Bay, and the other the 
 Bay of Exploits. Before the mouth 
 of the former, among many smaller, 
 there lies one large island called Fogo; 
 and before the mouth of the latter, 
 another called the New World. Either 
 of these will sufficiently answer to the 
 situation described in the , ount of 
 Biron's second voyage. Ir each of 
 these bays runs a river wh has its 
 head in a lake, and both these lakes 
 lie in the 49th degree of north latitude. 
 
 THE NATIVES. 
 
 The earliest accounts of Newfound- 
 land after its discovery and the es- 
 tablishment of a fishery on its coasts, 
 have respect chiefly to the lands about 
 Trinity and Conception bays, between 
 the parallels of 48 and 49 degrees. 
 These lands are represented as pro- 
 ducing straw lurries, whortleberries, 
 raspberries, gooseberries, pears, wild 
 cherries and hazel nuts, in very great 
 plenty. The rivers are said to have 
 
 been well stored with salmon and 
 trouts. The natives who inhabited a 
 bay to the northward of Trinity, and 
 came occasionally thither in their 
 canoes, are described as broad breasted 
 and upright, with black eyes and with- 
 out beards; the hair on their heads was 
 of different colors; some had black, 
 some brown, and others yellow. In 
 this variety they differed from the 
 other savages of North America, who 
 have uniformly black hair unless it be 
 grown grey with age. 
 
 THE CLIMATE. 
 
 The climate is represented as more 
 mild than that of England; but much 
 colder in the spring, by reason of the 
 vast islands of ice which are driven into 
 the bays or grounded on the banks. 
 
 On the northeastern coast of Labra- 
 dor, between the latitudes of 53 and 56^, 
 are many excellent harbors and islands. 
 The seas are full of cod, the rivers 
 abound with salmon ; and the climate 
 is said to be more mild than in the gulf 
 of St. Lawrence. 
 
 GRAPES. 
 
 Nothing is said in any of these ac- 
 counts of vines or grapes, excepting 
 that some which were brought from 
 England had thriven well. If any 
 evidence can be drawn from a compari- 
 son between the countries of New- 
 foundland and New England it may be 
 observed that all the above mentioned 
 fruits and berries are found in the 
 northern and eastern parts of New 
 England as far as Nova Scotia, in the 
 latitudes of 44° and 45°, and that grapes 
 ( vitis vulpina, vitis labrusca,) are 
 known to grow wherever these fruits 
 are found. 
 
 ISLE OF BACCHUS. 
 
 DuMonts, in his voyage to Acadia, 
 in 1 60S, speaks of grapes in several 
 places; and they were in such plenty 
 on the isle of Orleans, in latitude 47^ 
 that it was first called the island of 
 Bacchus. Though, there is no direct 
 and positive testimony of grapes in the 
 island of Newfoundland it is by no 
 
MA DOC. 
 
 2 5 
 
 means to be concluded that there were 
 none. Nor is it improbable that grapes 
 though once found there might have 
 been so scarce as not to merit notice in 
 such general descriptions as were given 
 by the first English adventurers. 
 
 OVER SEA. 
 
 The distance between Greenland and 
 Newfoundland is not greater than be- 
 tween Iceland and Norway; and there 
 could be no more difficulty in navigat- 
 ing the western than the eastern parts 
 of the northern ocean, with such ves- 
 sels as were then in use, and by such 
 seamen astheNormans are said to have 
 been; though they knew nothing of 
 the magnetic needle. 
 
 THE NORSEMEN FIRST. 
 
 Upon the whole, though we can 
 come to no positive conclusion in a 
 question of such remote antiquity, vet 
 there are many circumstances to con- 
 firm, and none to disprove the relation 
 given of the voyages of Biron. But 
 if it be allowed that he is entitled to 
 the honor of having discovered Amer- 
 ica before Columbus, yet this discov- 
 ery cannot in the least detract from 
 the merit of that celebrated navigator. 
 For there is no reason to suppose that 
 Columbus had any knowledge of the 
 Norman discoveries, which, long be- 
 fore his time, were forgotten, and 
 would, perhaps, never have been recol- 
 lected if he had not, by the astonishing 
 exertions of his genius and his perse- 
 vering industry effected a discovery 
 of this continent in a climate more 
 friendly to the views of commercial 
 adventurers. 
 
 "LOST" GREENLAND. 
 
 Even Greenland itself, in the fifteenth 
 century was known to the Danes and 
 Normans only by the name of lost 
 Greenland; and they did not recover 
 their knowledge of it till after the 
 English had ascertained its existence 
 by their voyages to discover a north- 
 west passage to the Pacific ocean, and 
 the Dutch had coasted it in the pur- 
 suit of whales. 
 
 POPULAR READING LIST 
 
 Of Books Relating to the Discovery by the 
 
 NORSEMEN. 
 
 Anderson, R.B. — America not discovered by 
 
 Columbus. 
 Ballantvne, R. M. — Norsemen in the West. 
 
 (A story for boys.) 
 DeCosta, B. F. — Pre-Columbian Discoverj- 
 
 of America by the Northmen. 
 DuChaillu, P. B— The Viking Age. (Vol. 2, 
 
 p. 519-530.) 
 Higginson, T. W.— Book of American Ex- 
 plorers, (p. 1-15.) 
 " Larger History of the 
 
 U.S. (p. 27-51.) 
 Horsford, E. N. — Discovery of America by 
 the Northmen. 
 " Problem of theNorthmen. 
 
 Kingsley, C. — Lectures Delivered in America 
 
 (p. 65-197.) 
 Kneeland, S. — An American in Iceland. 
 
 (p. 217-231.) 
 Longfellow, H. W.— The Skeleton in Ar- 
 mour. 
 Mallet, P. H — Northern Antiquities, (p. 
 
 244-276.) 
 North American Review: vol. 46, 1838. p. 
 
 161-203. 
 vol. 109, 1869. 
 
 p. 265-272. 
 vol. 119, 1874. 
 p. 166-182. 
 Reeves, A. M. — The Finding of Vinland the 
 
 Good. 
 Shipley, J. B. and M. A. B — English Re- 
 discovery and Colonization of America. 
 Shipley, Mrs. M. A. B. — Icelandic Discov- 
 erers of America. 
 Snorre Sturleson. — Heimskringla ; from 
 the Icelandic, by S. Laing. Vol. I,p.l76- 
 233. 
 
 {Selected.} 
 
 MADOC. 
 
 This ,'rson is supposed to have 
 discov ed America, and to have 
 brought' a colony of his country- 
 men hither before the discovery 
 made by Columbus. The story of 
 his emigration from wales is 
 thus related by hakluyt, whose 
 book was first published in i5s9: 
 and a second edition of it in 160o. 
 
 hakluyt's account. 
 
 "The voyage of Ma doc, the son of 
 Owen Gzvynneth, Prince of North 
 
 Wales, to the West Indies in the year 
 1 1 70; taken out of the history of 
 
 Wales lately published by M. David 
 Powel, Doctor of Divinity. 
 
26 
 
 THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA MAGAZINE. 
 
 DEATH OF OWEN GWYNNETH. 
 
 "After the death of Owen Gwyn- 
 neth, his sons fell at debate who 
 should inherit after him. For the eld- 
 est son born in matrimony, Edward 
 or Iorweth, Drwydion was counted 
 unmeet to govern because of themaime 
 upon his face; and Hovvel, that took 
 upon him all the rule, was a base son. 
 Therefore David gathered all the 
 power he could and came against 
 Howel, and, fighting with him, slew 
 him and afterward enjoyed quietly the 
 whole land of North Wales, until his 
 brother Iorweth's son came to age. 
 
 MADOC A ROVER. 
 
 "Madoc, another of Owen Gwyn- 
 neth's sons left the land in contention 
 between his brethren and prepared 
 certain ships with men and munition, 
 and sought adventures by sea, sailing 
 west, and leaving the coast of Ireland 
 so far north that he came to a land 
 unknown, where he saw many strange 
 things." 
 
 DISCOVERS "FLORIDA" 
 
 "This land must needs be some part 
 of that country of which the Spaniards 
 affirm themselves to be the first finders 
 since Hanno's time. For, by reason, 
 and order of cosmographie, this land 
 to which Madoc came must needs be 
 some part of Nova Hispci7iia or 
 Florida. Whereupon it is manifest 
 that that country was long before by 
 Britons discovered, afore either Col- 
 umbus or Americus Vesputius led any 
 Spaniards thither." 
 
 PLANTS A COLONY. 
 
 "Of the voyage and return of that 
 Madoc there be many fables feigned, 
 as the common people do use, in dis- 
 tance, of place and length of time 
 rather to augment than diminish; but 
 sure it is that there he zvas. And 
 after he had returned home and de- 
 clared the pleasant and fruitful coun- 
 tries that he had seen without inhabi- 
 tants ; and upon the contrary part for 
 what wild and barren ground his 
 brethren and nephews did murder one 
 another, lie prepared a number <>f 
 
 ships and got with him such men and 
 women as were desirous to live in 
 quietness; and taking leave of his 
 friends, took his journey thitherwaids 
 again. 
 
 IDENTITY LOST. 
 
 "Therefore it is to be presupposed, 
 that he and his people inhabited part 
 of those countries; for it appeareth by 
 Francis Lopez de Gomara, that in 
 Acuzamil, and other places, the people 
 honored the cross. Whereby it may 
 be gathered that Christians had been 
 there before the coming of the Span- 
 iards. But, because this people were 
 not many, they followed the manners 
 of the land they came to, and used the 
 language they found there. 
 
 THE LAND OF MEXICO. 
 
 "This Madoc arriving in that west- 
 ern country, unto the which he came, 
 in the year 1170, left most of his peo- 
 ple there, and returning back for more 
 of his own nation, acquaintance and 
 friends, to inhabit that fair and large 
 country, went thither again with ten 
 sails, as I find noted by Gutyn Owen. 
 I am of opinion that the land whereto 
 he came was some part of Mexico: 
 the causes which make me to think so 
 be these three : 
 
 1. MONTEZUMA'S EVIDENCE. 
 
 " The common report of the in- 
 habitants of that country, which affirm 
 that their rulers descended from a 
 strange nation, that came thither from 
 a far country; which thing is confessed 
 by Montezuma, King of that country, 
 in an oration made for quieting of his 
 people at his submission to the king of 
 Castile. 
 
 2. WELSH NAMES. 
 
 "The British words and names 
 of places used in that country, even to 
 this day do argue the same; as, when 
 they talk together they use the word 
 Gwrando, which is, hearken, or listen. 
 Also, they have a certain bird with a 
 white head, which they call fenguin h 
 that is white head. But the island of 
 Corroeso, the river of Guyndor, and 
 the white rock of Penguin, which be 
 
MA DOC. 
 
 27 
 
 all British or Welsh words, do mani- 
 festly show that it was that country 
 which Madocand his people inhabited. 
 
 3. the poem of meredith. 
 "'Carmina Meredith filiiRhesi 
 
 MENTIONEM FACIENTIA DE MaDOCO 
 FILIO OwENI GwVNNEDD ET DE SUA 
 NAVIGATIONS IN TERRAS INCOGNI- 
 TAS. Vixit hic Meredith circi- 
 ter Annum Domini 1477. 
 
 Madoc wyf, mwyedie wedd 
 lawn geneu, Owen Guynned 
 Ni fynniim dir, fy enaid oedd 
 Na da mawr, ond y moroedd.' 
 
 These verses I received of my 
 learned friend, M. William Camden. 
 
 THE SAME IN ENGLISH. 
 
 Madoc 1 am, the son of Owen Gwyn- 
 
 nedd, 
 With stature large and comely grace 
 
 adorned, 
 No lands at home nor store of wealth 
 
 me please, 
 My mind was whole to search the 
 
 Ocean Seas." 
 
 IMPROBABILITIES. 
 
 In this extract from Hakluyt is con- 
 tained all the information which I 
 have been able to find respecting the 
 supposed discovery of America by the 
 Welsh. The account itself is confused 
 and contradictory. The country dis- 
 covered by Madoc is said to be "with- 
 out inhabitants," and yet the people 
 whom he carried thither "followed the 
 manners of the land, and used the 
 language they found there." Though 
 the Welsh emigrants lost their lan- 
 guage, yet the author attempts to 
 prove the truth of his story by the 
 preservation of several Welsh words 
 in the American tongues. Among 
 these he is unfortunate in the choice 
 of " penguin^ bird with a white head." 
 All the birds of that name on the 
 American shores have black or dark 
 brown heads, and the name penguin 
 is said to have been originally pin- 
 guedine from the excessive fatness. 
 
 NORTH CAROLINA. 
 
 Among the proofs which some late 
 writers have adduced in support of 
 the discovery of America by Madoc, 
 is this, that a language resembling the 
 Welsh was spoken by a tribe of In- 
 dians in North Carolina, and that it is 
 still used by a nation situate on some 
 of the western waters of the Missis- 
 sippi. If that part of the account pre- 
 served by Hakluyt be true, that the 
 language was lost, it is vain to offer 
 an argument of this kind in support of 
 the truth of the story; but a question 
 may here arise, "How could any re- 
 port of the loss of their language have 
 been transmitted to England at so 
 early a period ?" 
 
 nova SCOTIA. 
 
 An attempt has lately been made 
 to ascertain the truth of this piece of 
 history by Dr. John Williams. I 
 have not seen the book itself, but if 
 the Critical Reviewers may be cred- 
 ited, no new facts have been adduced. 
 It is remarked by them that, "if Madoc 
 once reached America it is difficult to 
 explain how he could return home; 
 and it would be more improbable that 
 he should arrive in America a second 
 time; of which there is not the slight- 
 est evidence." They also observe that 
 "if Madoc sailed westward from 
 Wales, the currents would rather have 
 carried him to Nova Scotia than to 
 the southward." 
 
 PENOBSCOT INDIANS. 
 
 The mentioning of Nova Scotia re- 
 mids me of some words in the native 
 language of that country which begin 
 with two syllables, resembling the 
 name of Madoc. A sachem of the 
 Penobscot tribe, who lived in the end 
 of the last and in the beginning of the 
 present century bore the name of 
 Madokawando. A village on the 
 Penobscot river was called Medoc- 
 scenecasis. The advocates of this 
 opinion may avail themselves as far 
 as they can of this coincidence, but in 
 my apprehension it is too precarious 
 to be the basis of any just conclusion. 
 
28 
 
 THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA MAGAZINE. 
 
 THE AZORES. 
 
 After all that has been said on the 
 subject, we must observe with the 
 Critical Reviewers, that, "if Madoc 
 left Wales and discovered any other 
 country it must always remain uncer- 
 tain where that country is." Dr. 
 Robertson thinks if he, made any dis- 
 covery at all it might be Madeira or 
 one of the Azores. 
 
 BIRON BEFORE MADOC. 
 
 The book of Hakluyt, in which the 
 original story is preserved, was written 
 in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and 
 in the time of her controversy with 
 Spain. The design of his bringing 
 forward the voyage of Madoc appears, 
 from what he says of Columbus, to 
 have been the asserting of a discovery 
 prior to his, and consequently the 
 right of the Crown of England to the 
 sovereignty of America; a point at 
 that time warmly contested between 
 the two nations. The remarks which 
 the same author makes on several 
 other voyages evidently tend to the 
 establishment of that claim. But if 
 the story of Biron be true, which, 
 (though Hakluyt has said nothing of 
 it ) is better authenticated than this of 
 Madoc, the right of the Crown of 
 Denmark is, on the principle of prior 
 discovery, superior to either of them. 
 
 HAKLUYT'S BIAS. 
 
 Perhaps the whole mystery may be 
 unveiled, if we advert to this one cir- 
 cumstance, the time when Hakluyt's 
 book was first published. National 
 prejudice might prevail even with so 
 honest a writer, to convert a Welsh 
 fable into a political argument to sup- 
 port against a powerful rival, the 
 claim of his sovereign to the dominion 
 of this continent. 
 
 [Selected.] 
 
 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH, 
 OF VIRGINIA. 
 
 Though the early part of the life of 
 this extraordinary man was spent in 
 
 foreign travels and adventures which 
 have no reference to America, yet the 
 incidents of that period so strongly 
 mark his character and give such a 
 tincture to his subsecpient actions, and 
 are, withal, so singular in themselves, 
 that no reader, it is presumed, will 
 censure the introduction of them here. 
 
 BIRTH AND BOYHOOD. 
 
 He was born at Willoughbv in 
 Lincolnshire in the year 1579. From 
 the first dawn of reason he discovered 
 a roving and romantic genius, and 
 delighted in extravagant and daring 
 actions among his school fellows. 
 When about thirteen years of age he 
 sold his books and satchel and his 
 puerile trinkets, to raise money with a 
 view to convey himself privately to 
 sea; but the death of his father put a 
 stop for the present to this attempt 
 and threw him into the hands of 
 guardians who endeavoured to check 
 the ardour of his genius by confining 
 him to a counting house. 
 
 A ROLLING STONE. 
 
 Being put apprentice to a merchant 
 at Lynn at the age of fifteen, he first 
 conceived hopes that his master would 
 send him to sea in his service; but 
 this hope failing, he quitted his master, 
 and with only ten shillings in his 
 pocket, entered into the train of a 
 young nobleman who was traveling to 
 France. At Orleans be was dis- 
 charged from his attendance on Lord 
 Bertie, and had money given him to 
 return to England. With this money 
 he visited Paris, and proceeded to the 
 low countries where he enlisted as a 
 soldier and learned the rudiments of 
 war, a science peculiarly agreeable to 
 his ardent and active genius. 
 
 A YOUNG QUIXOTE. 
 
 Meeting with a Scotch gentleman 
 abroad he was persuaded to pass into 
 Scotland, with the promise of being 
 strongly recommended to King James; 
 but, being baffled in this expectation, 
 he returned to his native town, and 
 finding no company there which suited 
 
CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 
 
 2 9 
 
 his taste he built a booth in a wood, 
 and betook himself to the study of 
 military history and tactics, diverting 
 himself at intervals with his horse and 
 lance; in which exercise he at length 
 found a companion, an Italian gentle- 
 man, rider to the Earl of L'incoln, who 
 drew him from his sylvan retirement 
 to Tattersall. 
 
 SEEING THE WORLD. 
 
 Having recovered a part of the es- 
 tate which his father had left him he 
 put himself into a better condition 
 than before, and set off again on his 
 travels in the winter of the year 1596, 
 being then only seventeen years of 
 age. 
 
 "DONE" BY CONFIDENCE MEN. 
 
 His first stage was Flanders, where, 
 he met a Frenchman who pretended 
 to be heir to a noble family, and who 
 prevailed upon him to accompany 
 himself and his three attendants to 
 France. In a dark night they arrived 
 at St. Valery in Picardy, and by the 
 connivance of the ship master the 
 Frenchmen were carried ashore with 
 the trunks of our young traveler, 
 whilst he was left on board till the 
 return of the boat. In the mean time 
 they had conveyed the baggage out of 
 his reach and were not to be found. 
 A sailor on board, who knew the 
 villains, generously undertook to con- 
 duct him to Mortaine where they 
 lived, and supplied his wants till their 
 arrival at the place. Here he found 
 their friends from whom he could 
 gain no recompence; but the report of 
 his sufferings induced several persons 
 of distinction to invite him to their 
 houses. 
 
 SQUARES THE ACCOUNT. 
 
 Eager to pursue his travels, and not 
 caring to receive favours which he was 
 unable to requite, he left his new 
 friends and went from port to port in 
 search of a ship of war. In one of 
 these rambles, near Dinan, it was his 
 chance to meet one of the villains who 
 had robbed him. Without speaking a 
 word, they both drew; and Smith, 
 
 having wounded and disarmed his an- 
 tagonist, obliged him to confess his 
 guilt before a number of persons who 
 had assembled on the occasion. Satis- 
 fied with his victory he retired to the 
 seat of an acquaintance, the earl of 
 Ployer, who had been brought up in 
 England, and, having received supplies 
 from him, he travelled along the French 
 coast to Bayonne, and from thence 
 crossed over to Marseillles ; visiting 
 and observing everything in his way 
 which had any reference to naval or 
 militarv architecture. 
 
 THROWN OVERBOARD LIKE JONAH. 
 
 At Marseilles he embarked for Italy 
 in company with a rabble of Pilgrims. 
 The ship was forced by a tempest into 
 the harbour of Toulon, and afterwards 
 was obliged by a contrary wind to 
 anchor under the little island of St. 
 Mary, off Nice, in Savoy. The bigotry 
 of the pilgrims made them ascribe their 
 ill fortune to the presence of a heretic 
 on board. They devoutly cursed Smith 
 and his Queen Elizabeth, and in a fit of 
 pious rage threw him into the sea. He 
 swam to the island, and the next day 
 was taken on board a ship of .St. Malo, 
 which had also put in there for shelter. 
 
 A NAVAL BATTLE. 
 
 The master of the ship, who was 
 well known to his noble friend, the earl 
 of Ployer, entertained him kindly and 
 carried him to Alexandria in Egypt ; 
 from thence he coasted the Levant ; 
 and on his return had the satisfaction 
 of a naval engagement with a Venetian 
 ship, which they took and rifled of her 
 rich cargo. 
 
 PRIZE MONEY. 
 
 Smith was set on shore at Antibes 
 with a box of a thousand chequins 
 (about 2000 dollars,) by the help of 
 which he made the tour of Italy, crossed 
 the Adriatic, and travelled into Styria 
 to the seat of Ferdinand, Archduke of 
 Austria. 
 
 A SOLDIER OF FORTUNE. 
 
 Here he met with an English and an 
 Irish Jesuit who introduced him to lord 
 
3° 
 
 THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA MAGAZINE. 
 
 Eberspaught, baron Kizel and other 
 officers of distinction, and here he found 
 full scope for his genius ; for the em- 
 peror being at war with the Turks, he 
 entered into his army as a volunteer. 
 
 (Continued in our* next ivitli the interesting account 
 of tl/is hero's wonderful prowess and adventures with the 
 
 Turks.) " 
 
 [Selected.] 
 
 LIFE OF JUAN De FUCA, 
 
 DISCOVERER OF PUGET SOUND. 
 
 When the existence of the Western 
 Continent was known to the maritime 
 nations of Europe, one great object of 
 their inquiry was to find through some 
 openings which appeared in it, a pas- 
 sage to India and China. For this 
 purpose several expensive and unsuc- 
 cessful voyages were made; and every 
 hint which could throw any light on 
 the subject was eagerly sought and 
 attended to by those who considered 
 its importance. 
 
 Juan De Fuca was a Greek, born 
 in the island of Cephalonia in the 
 Adriatic gulf. He had been employed 
 in the service of Spain in the West 
 Indies as a mariner and pilot above 
 forty years. Having lost his fortune 
 amounting (as he said,) to sixty 
 thousand ducats, when the Acapitlco 
 ship was taken by Captain Cavendish, 
 an Englishman ; and being disappointed 
 in the recompense which he had ex- 
 pected from the court of Spain; he 
 returned in disgust to his native coun- 
 try, by the way of Italy, that he might 
 spend the evening of his life in peace 
 and poverty among his friends. At 
 Florence he met with John Douglas, 
 an Englishman, and went with him 
 to Venice. There Douglas introduced 
 him to Michael Lock, who had been 
 Consul of the Turkey Company at 
 Aleppo, and who was then occasionally 
 resident at Venice. (A. D. 1596.) In 
 conversation with Mr. Lock, De Fuca 
 gave the following account of his 
 adventures. 
 
 small vessels to discover the straits of 
 Anian on the western coast of Amer- 
 ica, through which it was conjectured 
 that a passage might be found into 
 some of the deep bays on the eastern 
 side of the continent. This voyage 
 was frustrated by the misconduct of 
 the commander and the mutiny of the 
 seamen. 
 
 "In 1592 the Viceroy sent him again 
 with the command of a caravel and a 
 pinnance, on the same enterprise. 
 Between the latitudes of 47 degrees 
 and 48 degrees north, he discovered an 
 inlet into which he entered and sailed 
 more than twenty days. At the en- 
 rance was a great headland with an 
 exceeding high pinnacle, or spired 
 rock, like a pillar. Within the strait 
 the land stretched northwest and 
 northeast, and also east and southeast. 
 It was much wilder within than at the 
 entrance, and contained many islands. 
 The inhabitants were clad in the skins 
 of beasts. The land appeared to be 
 fertile like that of New Spain, and 
 was rich in gold and silver. Suppos- 
 ing that he had accomplished the in- 
 tention of the vovage and penetrated 
 into the North Sea, but not being 
 strong enough to resist the force of 
 the numerous savages who appeared 
 on the shores, he returned to Acapulco 
 before the expiration of the year." 
 
 "That he had been sent by the 
 Vicerov of Mexico as pilot of three 
 
 Such was the account given by 
 DeFuca; and Mr. Lock was so im- 
 pressed by the sincerity of the relation 
 and by the advantages which his 
 countrymen might derive from a 
 knowlenge of this strait that he earn- 
 estly urged him to enter the service of 
 Queen Elizabeth and perfect the 
 discovery. He succeeded so far as to 
 obtain a promise from the Greek, 
 though sixtv years old, that if the 
 Queen would furnish him with one 
 ship of forty tons and a pinnace he 
 would undertake the voyage. He was 
 the more easilv persuaded to this by a 
 hope that the Queen would make him 
 some recompense for the loss of his 
 fortune by Capt. Cavendish. 
 
LIFE OF JUAN DE FUCA. 
 
 3 1 
 
 Mr. Lock wrote to the Lord Treas- 
 urer Cecil, to Sir Walter Raleigh and 
 to Mr. Hakluyt, requesting that they 
 would forward the scheme, and that 
 one hundred pounds might be ad- 
 vanced to bring De Fuca to England. 
 The scheme was approved but the 
 money was not advanced. Lock was 
 so much engaged in it that he would 
 have sent him to England at his own 
 expense but he was then endeavouring 
 to recover at law his demands from 
 the Turkey Company and could not 
 disburse the money. The pilot there- 
 fore returned to Cephalonia, and Lock 
 kept up a correspondence with him 
 until 1602 when he heard of his death. 
 
 Through this account, preserved by 
 Purchas, bears sufficient marks of au- 
 thenticity, vet it has been rejected as 
 fabulous for nearly two centuries, and 
 is so treated even by the very candid 
 Dr. Forster. Recent voyages, how- 
 ever, have established the existence of 
 the strait, and DeFuca is no longer to 
 be considered an imposter, though the 
 gold and silver in his account were 
 but conjectural. 
 
 The strait which now bears De- 
 Fuca's name is formed by land which 
 is supposed to be the continent of 
 America on one side and by a very ex- 
 tensive cluster of islands on the other. 
 Its southern entrance lies in latitude 48° 
 20' north and long. 120° west from 
 Greenwich, and is about seven leagues 
 wide. On the larboard side, which is 
 composed of islands the land is very 
 mountainous, rising abruptly in high 
 and sharp peaks. On the starboard 
 side is a point of land terminating in a 
 remarkably tall rock, called the pillar. 
 Within the entrance the passage grows 
 wider, extending to the southeast, 
 north and northwest, and is full of 
 islands. On the east and northeast at 
 a great distance are seen the tops of 
 mountains, supposed to be on the con- 
 tinent, but the ships trading for furs 
 have not penetrated far to the east- 
 ward, the sea otters being their princi- 
 pal object, and the land furs of small 
 
 consideration. For this reason the 
 eastern boundary of the inland sea is 
 not yet fully explored. The strait 
 turns to the north and northwest, en- 
 compassing a large cluster of islands 
 among which is situated Nootka 
 Sound, and comes into the Pacific 
 Ocean again in latitude 51° 15' ; longi- 
 tude 12S Q 40'. This extremity of the 
 strait is called its northern entrance, 
 and is wider than the southern. 
 
 Another strait has lately been seen 
 which is supposed to be that of De 
 Fonte, a Spanish Admiral, discovered 
 in 1640, the existence of which has 
 also been treated as fabulous. The 
 cluster of islands called by the British 
 seamen Queen Charlotte's and by the 
 Americans Washington Islands are in 
 the very spot where De Fonte placed 
 the Archipelago of St. Lazarus. The 
 entrance, only, of this strait has been 
 visited by the fur ships. It lies in 
 latitude 54 35', and in longitude 131 s -' 
 west. 
 
 These recent and well established 
 facts may induce us to treat the rela- 
 tions of former voyages with decent 
 respect. The circumnavigation of 
 Africa by the ancient Phoenicians was 
 for several ages deemed fabulous by 
 the learned Greeks and Romans. But 
 its credibility was fully established by 
 the Portugese discoveries in the fif- 
 teenth century. In like manner the 
 discoveries of DeFuca and De Fonte, 
 which have long been stigmatized by 
 geographers as pretended, and marked 
 in their maps as imaginary, are now 
 known to have been founded in truth, 
 though from the imperfection of in- 
 struments or the inaccuracy of his- 
 torians, the degrees and minutes of 
 latitude and longitude were not pre- 
 cisely marked, and though some cir- 
 cumstances in their accounts are but 
 conjectural. Future discoveries may 
 throw new light on the subject and 
 though perhaps a northwest passage 
 by sea, from the Atlantic into the 
 Pacific may not exist, yet bays, rivers 
 and lakes are so frequent in those 
 
3 3 
 
 THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA MAGAZINE. 
 
 northern regions of our continent that 
 an inland navigation may be prac- 
 ticable. 
 
 It has been suggested that the com- 
 pany of English merchants who enjoy 
 an exclusive trade to Hudson's Bay, 
 have from interested motives concealed 
 
 $ 
 
 ^/ 
 
 their knowledge of its western extrem- 
 ities. Whether there be any just 
 foundation for this censure, I do not 
 pretend to determine; but a survey is 
 said to be now making from which it 
 is hoped that this long contested ques- 
 tion of a northwest passage will re- 
 ceive a full solution. 
 
 T/'ie following are the 
 
 CHRONOLOGICAL EXTRACTS 
 
 to which the article on page j refers. 
 
 "The modern calendar, called the Gregor- 
 ian, came into existence and use in this wise. 
 It was the result of a most laudable desire 
 to eliminate an error occasioned by the 
 Julian calendar, and to remedy its defects. 
 In the way of remedy it is absolutely perfect; 
 in the way of elimination it has, with an 
 inquisitorial zeal, got rid of the mistake of 
 its predecessor, and added a blunder of its 
 own. It found the calendar of Caesar over- 
 loaded with twelve days too man}', and it 
 has left itself with two days too few. 
 
 "Caesar's calendar had fixed the vernal 
 equinox at March 25, but in the sixth cen- 
 tury a calendar was drawn up for ecclesias- 
 tical use called the Nicene calendar winch 
 changed the equinox to March 21st., its cor- 
 rect date at that time. The Reformers of 
 the calendar, in setting the house of time in 
 order, concluded to keep this so called Nicene 
 equinox, and in this way the}' disposed of 
 four davs of the excess. Then they procured 
 a Papal edict making Oct. 5th A. D. 1582, 
 to be Oct. 15th., and in this way they got 
 rid of ten days more. In all they made a 
 difference of 14 days between the Julian cal- 
 endar and their own, whereas the Julian 
 calendar was only twelve days in error. 
 Thus did they drop out two days and mis- 
 call every date by just so much." 
 
 — Ten Broeck. 
 
 "In Spain and Portugal and a part of 
 Italy, the retrenchment took place the same 
 day as at Rome. In France the tenth of the 
 
 following December was counted as the 
 20th. In Brabant, Flanders, Artois, Hain- 
 ault and Holland, the 15th of December was 
 counted as the 25th. In German}- the pro- 
 vinces in communion with the pope received 
 the new calendar in 1584. Poland in 1587. 
 The Protestants in general continued to re- 
 tain their old calendar until A. D. 1700 
 when they adopted a new calendar of their 
 own : but this being found inconvenient, the 
 diet of Ratisbon in 1774, at the instance of 
 the king of Prussia, determined that Easter 
 should be celebrated in 1778 according to 
 the Gregorian calendar. 
 
 "In England the year had been reckoned 
 as commencing on the 25th of March, ( the 
 vernal equinox of the Julian calendar, ) until 
 parliament enacted in 1751, that the year 
 1752 and all following years should begin 
 on thefirst ofjanuary ofthejulian calendar, 
 and that the third" of September, 1752, 
 should be counted as the 14th of the same 
 month. 
 
 "The Church of England, however, did 
 not adopt the Gregorian calendar but con- 
 tinued to use that of the ancient Church. 
 The only difference made was to adjust that 
 calendar to the modern retrenchment. 
 Hence the golden number XIV, which in the 
 Nicene calendar stands opposite to the 30th 
 of March, was shifted so as to stand oppo- 
 site to the 21st of that month. This will 
 be seen by comparing the calendar in the 
 prayer books published before the Act of 
 Parliament of 1751, with those published 
 subsequently. In the latter the golden num- 
 ber is omitted in the other months, and one 
 cycle only is inserted from March 21st, as 
 being the only one necessary for the calcula- 
 tion of Easter."— Jarvis. 
 
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