American biography

THE GIFT OF

MAY TREAT MORRISON
IN MEMORY OF

ALEXANDER F MORRISON

AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY,

JEREMY BELKNAP, D.D

ADDITIONS AND NOTES

BY F. M. H U B B A RD.

IN THREE VOLUMES.
VOL. I.

NEW YORK:

HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS,
329 & 331 PEARL STREET,

FRANKLIN SQUARE.

1855.

Entered, according to Act of Congress in the year 1841, by

HARPEK & BROTHERS,
In the Clerk's Office of the South*-:* District of New-York

PUBLISHERS' ADVERTISEMENT.

IN continuing their series of AMERICAN BIOGRA-
PHY, the publishers believe that no work is more
worthy of a place in it than the excellent one of
BELKNAP, a new edition of which they now offer.
The very frequent reference to it as an authority by
more recent writers of American history, the uni-
form acknowledgment of its singular accuracy by
those who have had occasion to investigate anew
the lives of those of whom Dr. Belknap has written,
the correctness of his judgment, his candour, and the
elegance of his style, render it unnecessary for them
to say anything farther in commendation of these
volumes. They were originally prepared with great
labour, and with a scrupulous adherence to facts,
and it is believed that the notes and additions to the
present edition have been not less laboriously and
faithfully made.

The publishers have omitted three sketches which
were in the original work, viz., the lives of Cabot,
Smith, and Hudson, for the reason that memoirs of
the same individual^, jsqm.e,wha^ \pore full, have been

VI ADVERTISEMENT.

already published by them in former volumes of
their series.

The additions to the author's text, which has been
exactly followed, are enclosed in brackets, and the
notes of the editor are marked by brackets and the
letter H. H. & B.

EDITOR'S PREFACE.

IN preparing a new edition of a work so highly
esteemed for its exactness and impartiality, the edi-
tor has had a twofold labour. He has re-examined
all the statements of facts made by Dr. Belknap,
and compared them with the authorities he used,
and with others which were not accessible when he
wrote. It has been very seldom that he has found
occasion to differ from Dr. Belknap, and that most
frequently in cases in which documents recently dis-
covered have thrown light upon subjects which the
want of them rendered necessarily obscure. It is
believed that no work has been published of such
magnitude, embracing such a variety of persons and
events, and extending over a period of more than
six hundred years, in which so few, and those so
unimportant, errors are to be found. The manu-
script collections yet remaining, from which the
work was originally written, prove a degree of care,
ful diligence, and a discriminating and impartial
judgment, which have been rarely exercised by the
historical inquirer.

yiil PREFACE.

The second part of the editor's labour has been
to add occasional illustrations and notes. These it
was thought proper to make chiefly biographical.
They have gradually swelled much beyond his ori-
ginal design ; but it would have been more easy to
make them larger than smaller. They have been
prepared with much care, and it is hoped that they
may not prove entirely unworthy of the excellent
work to which they are added. In most cases he
has given a reference to the sources on which he
has relied, not for ostentation, but because some of
his readers may choose to investigate and compare
for themselves, and because his own statement might
not have the weight of an authority.

F. M. H.

Northampton, Mass., May, 1841.

AUTHOR S ADVERTISEMENT.

No apology is necessary for the appearance of this
work, if its utility be admitted.

My first intention was to place the names in alpha-
betical order ; but, on farther consideration, it was
found to be impracticable, unless the whole work
were before me at one view. A chronological ar-
rangement appeared, on the whole, equally proper,
and more in my power. Should any deviation from
the exact order take place, it must be ascribed to a
deficiency of materials ; which, however, it is hoped,
will be supplied at some future time.

Boston, January, 1794.

THE author is so much indebted to HAKLUYT and
PURCHAS, that he thinks it but just to give some
account of them and their writings.

RICHARD HAKLTTYT, prebendary of Westminster,
was born in Herefordshire, 1553. He early turned
his attention to geography, and read lectures in that
science at Oxford, where he was educated, and where
he introduced maps and globes into the public schools.

X ADVERTISEMENT.

In 1582 he published a small collection of voyages and
discoveries ; and going two years after as chaplain to
Sir Edward Stafford, ambassador to France, he there
met with and published a MS. entitled The Notable
History of Florida, ~by Laudonnierre and other Adven-
turers. He returned to England in 1588, when he
applied himself to collect, translate, and digest all the
voyages, journals, and letters that he could procure,
which he published first in one volume, 1589, to which
he afterward added two others, and reprinted the
first in 1599 and 1600. He was a man of indefati-
gable diligence and great integrity ; much in favour
with Queen Elizabeth's ministry, and largely conver-
sant with seamen. He died in 1616, and his man-
uscripts fell into the hands of Mr. Purchas.— Wood
and Northouck.

A complete set of Hakluyt's voyages is in the li-
brary of the Massachusetts Historical Society.

SAMUEL PURCHAS was born at Thackstead, in 'Es-
sex, 1577, and educated at Cambridge. He was first
vicar of Eastwood, in Essex, then rector of St. Mar-
tin's, London. He published a folio volume, entitled
Purchas his Pilgrimage, or Relations of the World
and the Religions observed, in all Ages and Places,
&c. The third edition of it is dated 1617. When
Mr. Hakluyt's papers fell into his hands, he compiled

ADVERTISEMENT. XI

four other volumes, which were printed 1625 ; they
are entitled, Purchas his Pilgrims. Part i., ii., iii., iv.
The whole makes a set of five volumes. They con-
sist of journals, letters, narratives, translations, and
abridgments, comprehending all the travels and dis-
coveries made in all parts of the world, and are, with
Hakluyt's work, the largest and most authentic col-
lection of the kind extant for that time. By the pub-
lishing of this voluminous work Purchas brought him-
self into debt, and it has been said that he died in
prison ; but Northouck says he died in his own house
in London, 1628.

A complete set of Purchas's Pilgrims is in the li-
brary of Harvard College.
I.— B

SKETCH

OK THK

LIFE AND CHARACTER

OF THE LATE

REVEREND DOCTOR BELKNAP.*

JEREMY BELKNAP, D.D., pastor of the church in
Federal-street, was born in this town June 4,
174-4 5 had the rudiments of his education at the
Grammar School under the care of the celebra-
ted Mr. Lord, and entered Harvard College in
1758.

He discovered, at this early period, such marks
of genius and taste, such talents for composi-
tion, such a flow of sentiment in conversation,
as to engage the esteem of the students, and ar-
rest the attention of his instructers. His friends
anticipated a life that would be distinguished,
and soon beheld, with satisfaction, that it would
be eminently useful.

Having received the honours of the Universi-
ty in 1762, he applied his mind to the various
branches of science ; but, feeling very serious
impressions of Divine truth, he turned his atten-
tion to theology ; and, the more he studied, the
more he was captivated with the beauties of re-

* First published in the Columbian Centinel, June 25. 1798.

Xiv LIFE AND CHARACTER

lio-ion. The whole bent of his soul was to the
work of the ministry, and to this he in the most
solemn manner devoted himself. In 1763 he
published a pathetic elegy upon the death of his
minister, the Rev. Alexander Cuming, which dis-
covered how much he was influenced by devo
tional sentiments.

When he became a preacher of the Gospel, he
was invited to take charge of the church at Do-
ver, in New-Hampshire ; there he passed several
years of his valuable life with the esteem and
affection of his flock, in habits of intimacy with
ministers and other gentlemen of the neighbour-
ing places, all of whom regretted his departure.
He received marks of attention and respect from
the first characters of the state, who persuaded
and encouraged him to compile a history, which
does much honour to our country, and has given
the author a name and distinction among the
first literary characters of the age.

Soon after Dr. Belknap had left the church in
Dover, the Presbyterian church in this town be-
came vacant. Having agreed to form their
church upon Congregational principles, and in-
vited him to be their pastor, he accepted the
call, and was installed April 4th, 1787. Nothing
could have been more agreeable to the ministers
and people of the other churches, and to all who
regarded the interests of the University of Cam-
bridge, with which he became officially connect-
ed, being fully confident that he would be a

O F 1) K. B K L K N A P. XV

great instrument in promoting the cause of reli-
gion and learning. As an overseer of the col-
lege, he was attentive to the concerns of the in-
stitution, always taking a lively interest in ev-
erything that respected its welfare.

He was an evangelical preacher, but his ser-
sions were filled with a rich variety of observa-
tions on human life and manners. He never
aimed at a splendid diction, but a vein of piety
ran through his discourses, and his style was
uncommonly elegant and perspicuous, his ar-
rangements clear and luminous, and his lan-
guage adapted to the subject. He was sure to
gratify equally the tastes of the best judges
of composition and the humble inquirers after
truth. He had a great readiness in quoting and
applying texts of Scripture, and had read much
of casuistic, systematic, and polemical divinity ;
bxit he chose to give every sentiment a practical
turn, and to diffuse that wisdom which is profit-
able to direct.

During the eleven years of his ministry in this
place, the society with which he was connected
grew and flourished. The attachment was strong
and mutual. While they admired his diligence
and fidelity, he received from them every testi-
mony of respect which marks the character of a
kind and obliging people.

His attentions to his flock were founded upon
a regard to them and the interests of religion.
He was their sincere and affectionate friend,

XVI LIFE AND CHARACTER

and he experienced peculiar pleasure in giving
religious instruction to young children.* He
was very active in encouraging those publica-
tions which are designed for their use and ben-
efit,

As a husband, parent, brother, or friend, he
was tender, affable, kind, and obliging. He
gave advice with cheerfulness, and with an at-
tention to the concerns of his friends which in-
vited their confidence.

The friends of Dr. Belknap were numerous.
His acquaintance was much increased by his be-
coming a member of so many literary and be-
nevolent societies j and he was active in promo-
ting the good of every association to which he
belonged : wherever he could be of any service,
he freely devoted his time and talents.

The Historical Society have lost their most
laborious and diligent member, and the founder
of their institution. No man ever had collected
a greater number of facts, circumstances, and
anecdotes, or a more valuable compilation of
manuscripts, which might give information and
entertainment to all those who wish to know the
history of their own country. In his pursuits
of this kind he frequently met with disappoint-
ment from the loss of valuable papers ; and he
often mentioned to his friends in New-Hamp-

* In this pleasing office he was engaged in the afternoon
of the day previous to his decease, at a public catechising
of the. children of his society.

OF DR. BELKNAP.

shire and Boston, that it was necessary to pre-
serve them by multiplying copies, and making it
the principal duty and interest of an association
to collect them, and to study their value. The
proposals of Dr. Belknap met •with the approba-
tion and encouragement of several gentlemen in
this town and its environs, and the society was
incorporated in 1794.

As an author, Dr. Belknap appears with great
reputation, whether we consider his fugitive
performances, which often appeared without a
name, or his larger works, which have been cel-
ebrated in America and Europe. He wrote much
in the cause of freedom and his country before
our Revolution ; and his patriotic ardour was as
strong and sincere of late as in former years.
He was attached to the Federal Constitution of
these states, which he thought to be the bulwark
of freedom and good government : he was fully
persuaded that it had been wisely and purely
administered ; and in his conversation, as well
as in several of his public performances, mani-
fested a conviction that a firm and uniform sup-
port of it was essentially necessary to the liberty
and prosperity of our country.

The first volume of the American Biography
excited a strong desire in the minds of the read-
ers to have the work continued. A second vol-
ume is now in the press ; and the tears of genius
ore shed, that a work of so much entertainment
anJ information could not be finished by the same

XV111 LIFE AND CHARACTER

hand. His mind was richly furnished with this
kind of knowledge, and he wrote for the public
benefit. The love of fame was only a secondary
consideration ; his mind seemed to glow with a
desire of being useful.

The frequent returns of ill health to which
this worthy man was subject, gave an anxiety to
his friends, and led him to think that his days
could not be long upon the earth. This stimu-
lated his exertions, that he might do the more
service while the day lasted.

But he was seized suddenly with a paralytic-
disorder at four o'clock, and died before eleven
on Wednesday morning.*

* Dr. Belknap's anticipations and humble indications of
his choice relative to the manner of his death, mny be per-
ceived in the following lines, which were found »viong his
papers after his decease, and which were composM by him
probably at the time noted at the bottom, upon tip eudden
death of one of his acquaintances :

When faith and natience, hope and lov*

Have made us meet for heaven above^

How bless'd the privilege to rise,

Snatch'd in a moment to the skies,

Unconscious to resign our breath.

Nor taste the bitterness of Death.

Such be my lot, Lord, if thou please.

To die in silence and at ease •

When Thou dost know that I'm t»rei)ar«4.

0 seize me quick to my reward.

But if thy wisdom sees it best

To turn thine ear from this request ;

If sickness be the appointed way

To waste this frame of human clay

OF DR. BEL KNAP. XIX

His remains were interred on Friday last, with
every testimony of respect from the inhabitants
of the town. The Rev. Mr. Kirkland preached
an affectionate discourse from John, ix., 4. The
whole assembly expressed their sorrow for the
loss of one so near and dear to them as a broth-
er and friend ; so amiable in the more tender
relations of domestic life, so exemplary as' a
Christian, so useful as a minister, so respectable
in all the public offices he sustained. Who does
not readily acknowledge the worth and excel-
lence of such a character 1

List of Dr. Belknap's Publications.

\ Sermon upon Military Duty, preached at Do-
ver, 1772.

A Serious Address to a Parishioner upon the
neglect of Public Worship.

A Sermon on Jesus Christ, the only Foundation,
preached before an association of ministers in
New-Hampshire.

Election Sermon, preached at Portsmouth, 1784.

If, worn with grief and rack'd with pain,
This earth must turn to earth again,
Then let thine angels round me stand,
Support me by thy powerful hand ;
Let not my faith or patience move,
Nor aught abate my hope or love ;
But brighter may my graces shine,
Till they're absorb'd in light divine.
February 9, 1791.

XX

A Sermon at the ordination of the Rev. Jedediah
Morse, 1789.

A Discourse, delivered at the request of the His-
torical Society, Octoher, 1792 ; being the Com-
pletion of the Third Century from Columbus's
Discovery of America.

Dissertations upon the Character and Resurrec-
tion of Christ, 1 vol. 12mo.

Collections of Psalms and Hymns, 1 vol. 12mo.

Convention Sermon, 1796.

A Sermon on the Day of the National Fast, May
9th, 1798.

Dr. Belknap's Historical Works are,
History of New-Hampshire, 3 vols. 8vo.
The Foresters ; an American Tale : being a « e-

quel to the History of John Bull, the Clothier,

1 vol. 12mo.
American Biography, 2 vols. 8vo.

He published also several Essays upon the
African Trade ; upon Civil and Religious Lib-
erty ; upon the State and Settlement of this
Country, in periodical papers, in the Columbian
Magazine, printed in Philadelphia, in the Boston
Magazine, 1784, in the Historical Collections,
and in newspapers.

Extract from the Rev. Mr. Kirkland'i Sermon of

the interment of the Rev. Dr. Bt *nap
" In an eminent manner did the p rson we la
ment appear to consider himself, with all his en
dowments and opportunities, as placed in tk

OF DR. BELKNAP. XXI

world by the Great Moral Governor, and bound
by the strongest obligations and motives to be
faithful, active, and persevering in the duties of
this station. In few instances have time and
talents been so diligently, conscientiously, and
usefully employed. A genius active and origi-
nal, a judgment distinguished and correct, and a
retentive memory, improved by a learned edu-
cation and habitual and close industry, and uni-
ted to Christian faith and temper, could not fail
to make a character of eminent usefulness and
honour. We have reason to bless the great
Head of the Church that he devoted himself to
the Christian ministry, and entered into the
spirit of his office. With what diligence and
zeal he strove to acquire and communicate a
Christian knowledge, none present can be igno-
rant. Seizing the early hour of the day, supe-
rior to the enticements of indolence, abhorring
idleness, finishing Avhatever study or inquiry he
had begun, and using recreations and visits as
preparations for serious pursuits, his mind be-
came enriched with a large store of theological
and evangelical learning. But his ardent curi-
osity did not confine itself to the mere studies
of his profession. Not by slighting any of the
public or private duties of his office, but by su-
perior economy of time and industry, he re-
deemed leisure to carry his researches into oth-
er fields of literature, suited to gratify his taste
and increase his usefulness. How well he join-

XXII LIFE AND CHARACTER

ed to theology and general literature the knowl-
edge of human nature and the character of men,
was evinced by his discourses, adapted to real
life, and unfolding the secret springs of action ;
and by his conversation and behaviour, suited to
persons, times, and places.

" Such intellectual and moral attainments could
not but render him an important character to the
world, to his country, and to the religious, liter-
ary, and domestic societies with which he was
connected. The world has reaped the fruits of
his labours and researches, not only in his pro-
fessional studies, but in other departments of
literature j in writings which will maintain their
reputation so long as readers of piety and taste
and lovers of historical truth remain. It is a
painful circumstance attending his death, that it
stops the progress of a useful and interesting
work, for which the public voice pronounces
him peculiarly qualified, and which the world of
letters hoped he might extend through the suc-
cessive periods of his country's history.*

"How he magnified the office of the Christian
ministry, you afcd others who enjoyed his minis-
trations, who joined in his prayers, who sat un-
der his preaching, and who saw him in the pri-
vate duties of his station, can better conceive
than I describe. If a judicious and seasonable
choice of subjects, pertinacity in thought, clear-
ness in method, and warmth in application j if
* The American Biography.

OF DR. BELKNAP. XXill

language plain and perspicuous, polished and
nervous ; if striking illustration ; if evangelical
doctrines and motives ; if a seriousness and fer-
vour, evincing that the preacher's own mind
was affected ; if a pronunciation free and natu-
ral, distinct and emphatical, are excellences in
public teaching, you, my brethren of this socie-
ty, have possessed them in your deceased pas-
tor. Your attention was never drawn from the
great practical views of the Gospel by the need-
less introduction of controversial subjects, nor
your minds perplexed, nor your devotional feel-
ings damped by the cold subtleties of metaphys-
ics. His preaching was designed to make you
good and happy, and not to gain your applause.
While the manner, as well as the matter, was
suited to affect the heart, no attempt was made
to overbear your imaginations and excite your
passions by clamorous and affected tones.

"While the Church is deprived of a distin-
guished minister, the republic of letters of an
accomplished scholar and writer, the country
mourns a patriot. Ever a strenuous asserter of
the rights of the colonies in speech and writing,
and a warm friend of the Revolution which ac-
complished the independence of the United
States, he was also a decided advocate and sup-
porter of the government of our own choice
which succeeded, and of the Constitution of the
states in union, which he considered the bulwark
of our national security and welfare. His love

LIFE AND CHARACTER, ECT.

of true liberty was equal to his hatred of licen-
tiousness j his zeal for the equal rights of man
to his zeal for the defeat of faction and anarchy.
Actuated by public spirit, and viewing it the duty
of every citizen to throw his whole weight into
the scale on the side of law and order, he was
earnest in his wishes and prayers for the govern-
ment of his country, and in critical periods took
an open and unequivocal, and, as far as profes-
sional private duties allowed, an active part.

"The academies and societies instituted for
arts and sciences, for promoting historical knowl-
edge and humanity, as well as the University, are
deprived of all that assistance and support which,
as far as health permitted, they derived from one
whose preponderating desire was to do good,
whose solid mind was superior to the vanity of
applause, and valued everything in proportion to
its utility.

"As a son, a husband, a father, a brother, a
friend, and neighbour, what he was their bleed-
ing hearts can tell who were connected with
him in these interesting relations j who knew
his kind and cheerful temper, his sincere and
guileless disposition, his disinterested benevo-
lence, and his activity in every good work."

CONTENTS

OP

THE FIRST VOLUME.

PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION .2"

CHRONOLOGICAL DETAIL ....... 59

BIRON .77

MADOC 129

ZENO 138

CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS ....... 156

JAMES CARTIER ......... 230

FERDIXANDO DE SOTO 258

HUMPHREY GILBERT 272

WALTER RALEIGH AND RICHARD GRENVILLE . . .289

OH THE CIRCUMNAVIGATION OF AFRICA BY THE AN-

CIENTS, AND ITS PROBABLE CONSEQUENCE, THE

POPULATION OF SOME PART OF AMERICA.

THE first navigators of whom we have any
account were the Phoenicians, who were
scattered along the coasts of the Mediterra-
nean and of the Red Sea. As early as the
days of Moses they had extended their nav-
igation beyond the Pillars of Hercules, on the
western coast of Africa towards the south,
and as far northward as the Island of Brit-
ain, whence they imported tin and lead,*
which, according to the universal testimony
of the ancients, were not then found in any
other country.

From the accounts given in ancient history
of the expeditions of Sesostris, king of Egypt,
some have been led to conclude that he
made a discovery of all the coasts of Africa, f
However this might be, there is no doubt that

* See Numbers, ch. xxxi., v. 22.

* Forster's History of Voyages and Discoveries, p. 7.
I.-C

28 "•"•*•' TRELIfcltfAfi Y .•-TWSSERTATION.

he 6ptnj^' pi' •tsnved 3- 'commercial
course* with 'Indid "siftti*. Ethiopia by way of
the Red Sea. It hath also been thought that
the voyages of the Phoenicians and He-
brews to Ophir, in the time of Solomon,
were nothing more nor less than circumnavi-
gations of Africa.*

But, leaving these, for the present, in the
region of conjecture, the earliest regular ac-
count which we have of any voyage round
the Continent of Africa is that performed by
order of Necho, king of Egypt, and recorded
by Herodotus ; the most ancient historian,
except the sacred writers, whose works have
come down to our time. His character as a
historian is " candid in his acknowledgment
of what is uncertain, and absolute when he
speaks of what he knows." The date of
Necho's reign is fixed by Rollin 616 years
before Christ. The da*e of Herodotus's his-
tory is placed by Dufresnoy in the third year
of the 83d Olympiad, answering to 446 years
before Christ : so that he must have penned
his narration of this voyage in less than two
centuries after it was performed. I shall give
his account at large, in a literal translation
from the Geneva edition of his work, in

* Forster's History of Voyages and Discoveries, p. 7.

PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. 29

Greek and Latin, by Stephanus.* In de-
scribing the several great divisions of the
earth, he speaks thus :

" I wonder at those who have divided and
distinguished Libya,! Asia, and Europe, be-
tween which there is not a little difference.
If, indeed, Europe agrees with the others in
length, yet in breadth it does not seem to me
worthy to be compared. For Libya shows
itself to be surrounded by the sea, except
where it joins to Asia. Necos, king of the
Egyptians, being the first of those whom we
know to demonstrate it. After he had desist-
ed from digging a ditch from the Nile to the
Arabian Gulf (in which work above twenty
thousand Egyptians perished), he betook him-
self to raising armies' and building ships, part-
ly in the North Sea,1: and partly in the Ara-
bian Gulf, at the Red Sea, of which they yet
show some remains. § He sent certain Phoe-
nicians in ships, commanding them that,
having passed the Pillars of Hercules, they
should penetrate the North Sea, and so return
to Egypt. The Phoenicians, therefore, loos-

* Lib. iv., chap. 42.

t Libya is the name by which the whole Continent of Africa
was called by the Greeks.

t By the North Sea is meant the Mediterranean, which lie*
north of Egypt. $ Lib. ii., ch. 48.

30 PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION.

ing from the Red Sea, went away into the
Southern Sea, and, directing their ships to
land, made a seed-time at the end of autumn,
that they might expect a harvest, and might
assiduously coast Libya. Then, having gath-
ered the harvest, they sailed.* Thus, two
years being consumed, in the third year,
coming round the Pillars of Hercules, they
returned to Egypt, reporting things which
with me have no credit, but may perhaps with
others, that in sailing round Libya they had
the sun on the right hand.^ In this manner
it was first known.

" In the second place, the Carthaginians
have said that a certain Sataspes, son of Te-
aspis, a man of the Achamenides, did not
sail round Libya when he was sent, but, be-
ing deterred by the length of the naviga-
tion and the solitude of the country, returned
home, having not fulfilled the labour which
his mother enjoined him. For he had viola-
ted a virgin, daughter of Zopyrus, the son
of Megabysus ; and for that cause being
by Xerxes condemned to be crucified, his

* " Into whatever part of Libya seamen came, they waited
for harvest, and when they had reaped they loosed from the
shore." — (Note of Stephanus.)

t I. e., They being in the southern hemisphere, and sailing
westward, saw the meridian sun on the right hand.

PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. 31

mother, who was sister to Darius, liberated
him, because, she said, she would impose on
him a punishment greater than the king's
command. Wherefore it became necessary
for him to sail round all Libya, till he should
come to the Arabian Gulf. Xerxes consent-
ing to this, Sataspes went into Egypt, and,
having there taken a ship and companions,
sailed to the Pillars of Hercules. Having
passed them, and having doubled the prom-
ontory of Libya called Syloes,* he kept a
southern course. Having traversed much of
the sea in many months, and finding much
more time necessary, he turned about and
came back to Egypt. Returning to Xerxes,
he reported that, in visiting the remotest
coasts, he had seen small men, clothed in
Phoenician garments, who, at the approach
of his ship, fled to the mountains and left their
villages, which he entered, and took nothing
from them but cattle. He gave this reason
for not having sailed round Libya, that his
ship could sail no farther, but was stopped.
Xerxes did not believe him, and because he
had not performed his engagement, ordered
him to undergo his destined punishment.''

* Now called Cape Bojador, in the 26th degree of north lati-
tude.

32 PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION.

To the authenticity of this circumnaviga-
tion of the African Continent, the following
objections have been made :

First, it is said that " the vessels which the
ancients employed were so small as not to
afford stowage for provisions sufficient to sub-
sist a crew during a leng voyage."

Secondly, " their construction was such
that they could seldom venture to depart far
from land, and their mode of steering along
the coast was so circuitous and slow, that we
may pronounce a voyage from the Mediterra-
nean to India by the Cape of Good Hope to
have been an undertaking beyond their power
to accomplish, in such a manner as to render
it in any degree subservient to commerce.
To this decision, the account preserved by
Herodotus of a voyage performed by some
Phosnician ships employed by the King of
Egypt can hardly be considered as repug-
nant."*

* Robertson'8 India, p. 175, American edition.

The objections taken from this learned author were not made
directly against the voyage mentioned by Herodotus, but rather
against the possibility of a passage to India by way of the Atlan-
tic Ocean and round the African Continent. However, as he
brings this voyage into view in the same argument, and speaks
of it dubiously, it is conceived that his sentiments are not mis-
represented in the above quotations.

PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. 33

I have chosen to consider both these objec-
tions together, because that each one helps to
destroy the other. For if the vessels were so
small as not to contain provisions for a long
voyage, this was one reason for the naviga-
tors to keep their course near the land, that
they might find water, fruits, game, and cat-
tle on the shore, as well as fish on the shoals
and rocks near the coast, for their subsistence.
And if it was their design to keep near the
land for the sake of discovery, small vessels
were best adapted to the purpose, because
they could pass over shoals, through small
openings, between islands and rocks, which
are generally situate near the coasts of great
continents. Besides, if the vessels were
small, they could carry but small crews, who
would not require very large quantities of pro-
vision.

But Herodotus has helped us to solve the
difficulty respecting provisions in a manner
perfectly agreeable to the practice of anti-
quity, though unknown to modern navigators.
They went on shore and sowed corn, and
when it was ripe gathered the harvest. This
enables us to account for two circumstances
attending the voyage of Necho: the length
of time employed, and the supply of provis-
ion, at least of bread, consumed in it.

34 PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION.

Nor was the sowing and reaping any loss
of time ; for the monsoons in the Indian
Ocean would not permit them to proceed any
faster. A ship sailing from the Red Sea with
the N.E. monsoon in the summer or au-
tumn, would meet with the S.W. monsoon
in the beginning of December, which must
have detained her in some of the harbours on
the eastern coast of Africa till the next April.
During this time, in that warm climate, corn
might be sown and reaped ; and any other
articles, either of provision or merchandise,
might be taken on board. Then the N.E.
monsoon would carry her to the southern
parts of Africa, into the region of variable
winds. This regular course and changing of
the monsoons was familiarly known to the
navigators .of Solomon's ships, and was the
cause of their spending three years in the
voyage to and from Ophir. " In going and
returning they changed the monsoon six
times, which made thirty-six months. They
needed no longer time to complete the voy-
age, and they could not perform it in less."*

It is not pleaded that the voyage of Necho
was undertaken for the sake of commerce ;
or, if the authenticity of it were established,
* Bruce's Travels, b. it, chap. iv.

PRELIMINAnY DISSERTATION. 35

that it would prove the practicability of a voy-
age from the Mediterranean to India round
the Cape of Good Hope, by the vessels then
in use and th'e nautical skill then acquired.
The voyage of which Herodotus speaks might
have been a voyage of discovery ; such a
one as was perfectly agreeable to the genius
of the people by whom it was performed, and
of the prince by whose order and at whose
expense it was undertaken. " The progress
of the Phoenicians and Carthaginians, in their
knowledge of the globe, was not owing en-
tirely to the desire of extending their trade
from one country to another. Commerce was
followed by its usual effects among both those
people. It awakened curiosity, enlarged the
ideas and desires of men, and incited them to
bold enterprises. Voyages Avere undertaken,
the sole object of which was to " discover new
countries and to explore unknown seas"*
The knowledge acquired in these voyages of
discovery might afterward be subservient to
commerce ; and though the Phoenicians might
not think it convenient to circumnavigate Af-
rica more than once, yet that they carried on
a commercial intercourse with different parts
of that country, and particularly with places

* Robertson's America, vol. i., p. 11, 4th edit.

36 PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION.

situate on the eastern coast, in the Indian
Ocean, we have evidence from the sacred
writings. In the reign of Solomon, " the
king's ships, with the servants of Hiram and
the navy of Tharshish, every three years
brought ivory,* apes, and peacocks, besides
silver and the gold of Ophir" which is with
great reason supposed to be the country now
called Sofala, on the eastern coast of Africa,
in the southern hemisphere, as the learned
Bruce, in his late book of travels, has satis-
factorily proved.

The prophet Ezekiel, who was contempo-
rary with Necho, king of Egypt, in the ac-
count which he gives of the merchandise of
Tyre, enumerates several commodities which
it is well known belong to Africa, " horns of
ivory and ebony, and the persons of men."t
We may form some idea of the strength and
materials of the ships of the Tyrians, and of
their skill in navigation, from the following
passages in his apostrophe to Tyrus. " They
have made all thy ship-boards of fir-trees of
Senir ; they have taken cedars of Lebanon to
make masts for thee ; of the oaks of Bashan
have they made thine oars. Thy wise men,

* 2 Chron., viii., 18 ; ix., 21.

t Ezekiel, chap, xxvii., ver. 13, 15.

PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. 37

O Tyrus, were thy pilots. The ancients of
Gebal, the wise men thereof, were thy calkers.
The ships of Tharshish did sing of thee ; thou
wast replenished and made very glorious in the
midst of the seas ; thy rowers have brought
thee into great waters." Though we have
no particular description of the size or model
of their ships, yet they certainly had masts,
sails, and oars ; their pilots and calkers were
wise men, and they were not afraid to sail in
great waters, by which is probably meant the
Ocean, in distinction from the Mediterranean.
Of the form and structure of the Grecian
vessels we have a more particular knowledge.
" They were of inconsiderable burden, and
mostly without decks. They had only one
mast, and were strangers to the use of an-
chors."* But then it must be remembered
that "the Pho3nicians, who instructed the
Greeks in other useful arts, did not communi-
cate to them that extensive knowledge of
navigation which they themselves possess-
ed."! We may hence conclude that the
ships of the Phoanicians were superior to the
Grecian vessels ; and we have no evidence,
from the structure of their vessels or their
mode of sailing, to warrant a doubt of the

* Rr icrtson's America, vol. i., p. 15. t Ibid., p. 14.

38 PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION.

ability of their ships or seamen to perform a
voyage round the Continent of Africa in three
years.

To a European theorist such a voyage may
seem less practicable than to an American.
The Europeans have usually employed none
but ships of great burden in their trade to In-
dia and China ; but, since the Americans
have visited those countries, sloops of fifty or
sixty tons have sailed round the Cape of
Good Hope to China, and round Cape Horn
to the northwest coast of America, and across
the North Pacific Ocean. If any doubt can
yet remain, it may be entirely removed by
the recollection of a voyage performed in
the year 1789 by Lieutenant Bligh, of the
British navy ; who, being turned adrift by his
mutinous crew, traversed the South Pacific
Ocean, above twelve hundred leagues, in a
boat of twenty-three feet long, without a
deck, in much stormy weather, with scanty
provisions ; and, having passed many danger-
ous rocks and shoals, among unknown isl-
ands, arrived in forty-one days at a Dutch
settlement in Timor, one of the Moluccas.*
The objections, then, against the reality of
Necho's voyage, from the size and structure

* See the printed narrative by Lieut. Bligh.

PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. 39

of the Phoenician vessels and the want of pro-
vision, are not so formidable on examination
as at the first appearance.*

A third objection against the credibility of

* Since this dissertation was sent to the press I have met
with the following account of an adventure, which adds to the
credibility of the circumnavigation of Africa in small embar-
cations.

In 1534, when the Portuguese had established a government
in India, Badur, king of Kambaya, being at war with the Great
Mogul, sought assistance from the Portuguese, and offered
them the liberty of building a fort at Diu. As soon as this lib-
erty was granted and the plan of the fort was drawn, James Bo-
tello, a person skilled in the affairs of India, having been in dis-
grace with John, king of Portugal, and being anxious to recov-
er the favour of that prince, resolved to carry the first news of
it to him. Having obtained a copy of the plan, he set out
from India in a bark sixteen feet long, nine broad, and four and
a half deep, with three Portuguese, two others, and his own
slaves. He pretended that he was going to Kambaya, but
when he was out at sea, made known his design to go to Lis-
bon, at which they were all astonished. Being overcome by
fair words, they proceeded on their way, till, finding themselves
reduced to distress, the slaves agreed to kill Botello ; but,
after killing a servant, they were put to death themselves.
With the four who remained Botello held on his course, doub-
led the southern cape of Africa, and at length arrived at Lis-
bon, where the bark was immediately burned, that no man
might see it was possible to perform that voyage in so small a
vessel. The king was greatly pleased wtih the news, and restored
Botello to his favour, without any other reward for so daring an
adventure.

See a collection of Voyages and Travels, in quarto, printed
at London, 1745, by Thomas Astley, vol. i., p. 82.

40 PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION.

this early circumnavigation is, that several
writers of the greatest eminence among the
ancients, and most distinguished for their
knowledge of geography, regarded this ac-
count rather as an amusing tale than the his-
tory of a real transaction, and either enter-
tained doubts concerning the possibility of
sailing round Africa, or absolutely denied
it."* That the Roman geographers and his-
torians did doubt and disbelieve the story is
very evident ; and the causes are not far to
be sought.

The first was the jealousy of the Phoeni-
cians. " Whatever acquaintance with the
remote regions of the earth the Phoenicians or
Carthaginians acquired, was concealed from
the rest of mankind with a mercantile jeal-
ousy. Everything relative to the course of
navigation was a secret of state as well as a
mystery of trade. Extraordinary facts are
recorded concerning their solicitude to pre-
vent other nations from penetrating into what
they wished should remain undivulged."t
One of these extraordinary facts is thus rela-
ted by Strabo. The Romans, being desirous
to discover the places whence the Carthagin-

* Robertson's India, p. 175.

t Robertson's America, vol. i,, p. 13.

PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. 41

ians fetched tin and amber, " sent a vessel,
with orders to sail in the wake of a Phoeni-
cian vessel. This being observed by the
Carthaginian, he purposely ran his vessel
among rocks and sand-banks, so that it was
lost, together with that of the inquisitive Ro-
man. The patriotic commander of the for-
mer was indemnified for his loss by his coun-
try."*

A second reason was the pride of the Ro-
mans. If, as Pope tells us,

" With honest scorn, the first famed Cato viewed
Rome, learning arts from Greece whom she subdued ;".

the same pride would make their wise men
scorn to learn geography or navigation, theo-
retically, from those best able to teach them.
It is acknowledged that the Romans " did not
imbibe that commercial spirit and ardour for
discovery which distinguished their rivals."!
It must also be observed, that there was but
little intercourse between them, and that the
Carthaginians were deficient in those scien-
ces for which the Romans were famous.
Among the Phoenicians and Carthaginians,
the study and knowledge of their youth were
confined to writing, arithmetic, and mercan-

* Forster's History of Voyages and Discoveries, ch. i.
t Robertson's America, vol. i., p. 14.

42 PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION.

tile accounts, while polite literature, history,
and philosophy were in little repute ; and by
a law of Carthage, the study of the Greek
language was prohibited, lest any communi-
cation should be carried on with their ene-
mies.*

A third reason was the opinion which the
wisest men among the Romans had formed,
and to which they obstinately adhered, con-
cerning the five zones, and the impossibility
of passing from one hemisphere to the other,
because of the torrid zone lying between.
This doctrine of the zones is so fully repre-
sented by Dr. Robertson,! that I need only
refer the reader to what he has written on the
subject.

But, notwithstanding the doubts and the
infidelity of the Roman philosophers, and the
great deference paid to them by this learned
and cautious inquirer, there is one circum-
stance which almost convinced him of the
reality of Necho's voyage as related by Her-
odotus. It is this, that the Phoenicians, in
sailing round Africa, " had the sun on their
right hand;" which Herodotus, with his usual
modesty and candour, says, " with me has

* Rollin's Ancient History, book ii., part i., sect. 7.
t Robertson's America, vol. i., note 8.

PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. 43

no credit, though it may with others." On
this the doctor judiciously remarks, " The
science of astronomy was in that early period
so imperfect, that it was by experience only
that the Phrenicians could come at the knowl-
edge of this fact ; they durst not, without
this, have ventured to assert what would have
appeared to be an improbable fiction."* In-
deed, if they had not known it by experience,
there is not the least conceivable reason for
their inventing such a report, nor even for
the entrance of such an idea into their imagi-
nation. The modest doubt of Herodotus is
another argument in favour of the truth and
genuineness of it ; for, as he had no experi-
ence to guide him, and the idea was new, it
was very proper for him to hesitate in admit-
ting it, though he showed his impartiality by
inserting it in his relation.

So much for the voyage performed by the
Phoanicians under the orders of Necho, which
is the first proof produced by Herodotus of
his position that " Lybia is surrounded by
the sea except where it joins Asia."

His second proof is not so conclusive, nor
is the design of his introducing it so obvious.
It is the relation of a voyage undertaken by
_ * Robertson's India, note 54.

44 PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION.

Sataspes, a Persian, whose punishment was
commuted from crucifixion to sailing round
Lybia ; which voyage he began, but returned
by the same route, not having completed it.
The reason which he gave for returning was,
that " his ship was stopped and could sail no
farther," which his sovereign did not believe,
and therefore put him to death, to which he
had before been condemned.

The only evidence which this story can af-
ford is, that the circumnavigation of the Af-
rican Continent was at that time thought
practicable. The mother of Sataspes thought
so, or she would not have proposed it ; and
Xerxes thought so, or he would not have
disbelieved the story of the ship being stop-
ped ; by which expression was meant that
the sea was no farther navigable by reason
of land.

The exact date of this voyage is not ascer-
tained ; but, as Xerxes reigned twelve years,
and died in the year 473 before Christ, it
could not have been much more than thirty
years preceding the time when Herodotus
published his history.

The voyage of Hanno, the Carthaginian, is
thus briefly mentioned by Pliny : " In the
flourishing state of Carthage, Hanno, having

PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. 45

sailed round from Gades [Cadiz] to the bor-
der of Arabia, committed to writing an ac-
count of his voyage ; as did Himilco, who
was, at the same time, sent to discover the
extreme parts of Europe."* The character
of Pliny as a historian is, that "he collected
from all authors, good and bad, who had writ-
ten before him ; and that his work is a mix-
ture of truth and error, which it is difficult
to separate." An instance in confirmation
of this remark occurs in this very chapter,
where he speaks of some merchants sailing
from India, and thrown by a tempest on the
coast of Germany. He also mentions a voy-
age made by Eudoxus from the Arabian
Gulf to Gades, and another of Coelius Anti-
pater from Spain to Ethiopia.

Of these voyages, that of Hanno is best au-
thenticated. He sailed from Carthage with
sixty gaDeys, each carrying fifty oars, having
on board thirty thousand men and women,
with provisions and articles of traffic. The
design of this equipment was to plant colo-
nies along the western shore of Africa, which
the Carthaginians, from priority of discovery,
and from its contiguity to their territory, con-
sidered as their own dominion. Hanno was

" Pliny's Natural History, lib. ii., cap. f>7.

46 PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION.

absent five years on this colonizing expedi-
tion ; but there is no certainty of his having
proceeded any farther southward than the
Bay of Benin, in the eighth degree of north
latitude. A fragment of his journal, which,
at his return, he deposited in the temple of
Saturn at Carthage, is now extant ; and
though it has been treated as fabulous by
several authors, ancient and modern, yet its
authenticity has been vindicated by M. Bou-
gainville, in the 26th volume of the Memoirs
of the Royal Academy of Inscriptions and
Belles Lettres, where a French translation
of it is given from the Greek, into which lan-
guage it was rendered from the original
Punic.

Concerning the voyage of Eudoxus, the
following account is given by Bruce.* He
was sent by Ptolemy Euergetes as an am-
bassador to India, to remove the bad effects
of the king's conduct in the beginning of his
reign, who had extorted contributions from
merchants of that and other trading countries.
Eudoxus returned after the king's death, and
was wrecked on the coast of Ethiopia, where

* Travels, book ii., chap. 5. The voyage of Eudoxus was
originally written by Posidonius, but I have not met with that
author.

PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. 47

he discovered the prow of a ship which had
suffered the same fate. It was the figure of
a horse ; and a sailor, who had been employ-
ed in European voyages, knew this to have
been part of one of those vessels which tra-
ded on the Atlantic Ocean, of which trade
Gades was the principal port. This circum-
stance amounted to a proof that there was a
passage round Africa from the Indian to the
Atlantic Ocean. The discovery was of no
greater importance to any person than to
Eudoxus himself; for, some time afterward,
falling under the displeasure of Ptolemy La-
thyrus, and being in danger of his life, he
fled, and, embarking on the Red Sea, sailed
round Africa and came to Gades.

This voyage of Eudoxus was treated as a
fable by Strabo, the Roman geographer, who
wrote about a century and a half after the
time when it is said to have been performed.
The true cause of the incredulity of him and
of other Roman authors in respect to these
voyages and discoveries was the doctrine
of the zones, to which they inflexibly ad-
hered, and which entirely precluded all con-
viction.

These are all the evidences which I have
had opportunity to examine respecting the

48 PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION.

question of the circumnavigation of Africa,*
and, upon the whole, there appears to be
this peculiarity attending the subject, that it
was believed by those who lived nearest to
the time when the voyage of Necho is said to
have been made ; and that, in proportion to
the distance of time afterward, it was doubt-
ed, disbelieved, and denied, till its credibil-
ity was established beyond all doubt by the
Portuguese adventurers in the fifteenth cen-
tury.

The credibility of the Egyptian or Phoeni-
cian voyages round^the Continent of Africa
being admitted, and the certainty of the Car-
thaginian voyages and colonies on the western
shore of Africa being established, we may ex-
tend our inquiry to the probability of what
has been advanced by some writers, and
doubted or denied by others, the population
of some parts of America from beyond the
Atlantic.

The discovery of the Canary Islands by the
Carthaginians is a fact well attested. Pliny

* Dr. Forster, in his history of voyages and discoveries
(chap, i.), refers to three German authors, Gesner, Schlozer, and
Michaelis, who have written on this subject, and observes, that
" the circumnavigation of Africa by the Phoenicians and Egyp-
tians is proved almost to a demonstration."

PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. 49

speaks of them as then destitute of inhabi-
tants, but containing (vestigia cedificiorum) the
remains of buildings. From this circum-
stance it must appear that they had been in-
habited before the Carthaginian discovery.
In Plutarch's time, the Fortunate Islands
were not only inhabited, but were so cele-
brated for their fertility that they were sup-
posed to be the seat of the blessed.

When Madeira and Porto Santo were dis-
covered by the Normans and Portuguese,
both were uninhabited. A question then
arises, If these islands were sometimes inhab-
ited and at other times deserted, what became
of their inhabitants ? It must have been some
uncommon event which could induce them to
abandon so pleasant and fruitful a country
without leaving a single family behind. If
they perished in the islands, it is still more
extraordinary ; for it is a most singular cir-
cumstance that all the inhabitants of any place
should be destroyed, and yet the place itself
remain. George Glas, who published a his-
tory of these islands in 1764, attempts to
solve the inquiry thus :*

" Almost two thirds of the Canary Islands
are covered with calcined rocks, pumice

* Page 167, 4to.

VOL. I E

60 PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION.

stones, and black ashes, which have been for-
merly thrown out from volcanoes, the re-
mains of which are still seen in every one of
these islands. Many of the natives might
have been destroyed by these violent erup-
tions, and the remainder, being terrified, might
abandon their country and go in quest of new
habitations : but where they went is a ques-
tion not easily solved, though some assert
that they passed over to America." An event
exactly similar is said by the same author to
have happened about thirty years before he
wrote.* " A volcano broke out in the S.W.
part of the island of Lancerotta, near the sea,
but remote from habitation, which threw out
such an immense quantity of ashes and
stones, with so dreadful a noise, that many of
the natives deserted their houses and fled to
Fuertaventura, another island, for the preser-
vation of their lives."

But whether we admit the conj ecture that,
being thus obliged to quit the islands, they
"passed over to America," or not, yet it is
extremely probable that, in some of the an-
cient circumnavigations of Africa, or in pass-
ing to and from these islands, or even in
coasting the continent from the Straits of Gib-

* Page 200.

PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. 51

raltar, some vessels might be drawn by cur-
rents or driven by tempests within the verge
of the trade- wind, " which begins not far to
the southward of the straits, and blows nine
months of the year on the coast of Morocco."
In this case it would be next to impossible for
those who had met with any considerable
damage in their masts, sails, or rigging, to
run in any other direction than before the
wind to the westward, and this course must
bring them to the continent, or islands of
America.

In confirmation of this remark, several facts
have been adduced by way of proof. One is
thus related by Glas:* " A few years ago, a
small bark, laden with corn and passengers,
bound from Lancerotta to Teneriffe, met with
some disaster at sea, by which she was ren-
dered incapable of getting to any of the Ca-
nary Islands, and was obliged to run many
days before the wind, till she came within
two days sail of the coast of Caraccas, in
South America, where she met an English
ship, which supplied the surviving passengers
with water, and directed her to the port of
La Guiara, on that coast." La Guiara is one
of the ports to which the trade from the Ca-

* Introduction, page 5.
I— E

52 PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION.

naries is restricted by the King of Spain, and
the run thither from Teneriffe is generally
performed in less than thirty days with the
trade-wind.*

Another fact is taken from Gumilla,t who
says, " In December, 1731, while I was at
the town of St. Joseph, in the Island of Trin-
idad, a small vessel of Teneriffe, with six
seamen, was driven into that island by stress
of weather. She was laden with wine, and
bound for one other of the Canary Islands ;
she had provision only for a few days, which,
notwithstanding the utmost care, had been
expended, and the crew subsisted wholly on
wine. They were reduced to the last extrem-
ity, and were received with astonishment by
the inhabitants, who ran in crowds to see
them. Their emaciated appearance would
have sufficiently confirmed the truth of their
story, if the papers which they produced had
not put the matter beyond all doubt."

A third fact is related by Herrera, the roy-
al Spanish historian.^ Columbus, in his sec-
ond voyage to America, having discovered

* Introduction, p. 329, 333.

t Cited by Edwards in his History of the W. Indies, vol. i.,
p. 109.
t Decad. i., book ii., chap. vii.

PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. 53

the Island of Guadaloupe, "found a piece of
timber belonging to a ship, which the seamen
call the stern-post, which they much admired,
not knowing which way it should come thith-
er, unless carried by tempestuous weather
from the Canaries, or from the Island of His-
paniola," where the admiral's ship was cast
away in his former voyage. Ferdinand Co-
lumbus, in the life of his father,* does not
distinctly assert this, but speaks of their find-
ing " an iron pan," and endeavours to ac-
count for it by saying, " that the stones there
being, of the colour of iron, a person of an indif-
ferent judgment might mistake the one for the
other." Not content with this solution, he
goes on thus : " though it were of iron, it
was not to be admired, because the Indians
of the Island of Guadaloupe, being Carib-
bees, and making their excursions to rob as
far as Hispaniola, perhaps they had that pan
of the Christians, or of the other Indians of
Hispaniola-; and it is possible they might
carry the body of the ship the admiral lost to
make use of the iron ; and though it were not
the hulk of that ship, it might be the remain-
der of some other wreck, carried thither by
the wind and current from our parts."

* Chapter xlvii., in Churchill's Collections, vol. it

E 2

64 PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION.

The improbability of the Indians having
carried " the body or hulk of the ship which
the admiral lost" from the northern side of
Hispaniola to the eastern side of Guadaloupe,
will appear from the distance, which is not
less than two hundred leagues in a direction
opposite to the constant blowing of the wind.
Nor will Herrera's conjecture, that the stern-
post of the admiral's ship was carried thither
by a tempest, be readily admitted by any
who are acquainted with the navigation of
the West Indies ; for it must have passed
through a multitude of islands and rocks,
and, without a miracle, could scarcely have
come entire from so great a distance in such
foul seas. But the difficulty is farther in-
creased by considering what Don Ferdinand
and Herrera have both asserted, that, when
Columbus had lost his ship, " he built a fort
with the timber, whereof he lost no part, but
made use of it all ;"* and this fort was after-
ward burned by the natives. If, therefore,
there be any truth in the story of the stern-
post found at Guadaloupe, it must have be-
longed to some other vessel, either foundered
at sea or wrecked on the shore.

Under the head of fortuitous visits to the
* Life of Columbus, chap, xxriv. Herrera, book i., chap, xviii.

PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION 55

American Continent may be included a cir-
cumstance mentioned by Peter Martyr,* that,
not far from a place called Quarequa in
the Gulf of Darien, Vasco Nunez met with a
colony of negroes. From the smallness of
their number it was supposed that they had
not been long arrived on that coast. t These
negroes could have come in no other vessels
but canoes ; a circumstance by no means in-
credible to those who have read the accounts
of Cook and other navigators of the tropical
seas.

To these facts may be added the casual
discovery of Brazil by the Portuguese com-
mander Pedro Alvarez Cabral, in his voyage
to India in the year 1500, an account of
which is preserved by Dr. Robertson. t " In
order to avoid the calms near the coast of
Africa, he stood out to sea, and kept so far
west that, to his surprise, he found Jiimself on
the shore of an unknown country, in the tenth
degree of south latitude. He imagined at
first that it was some island in the Atlantic
Ocean ; but, proceeding along its coast for
several days, he was gradually led to believe

* De orbe novo, Decad. iii., chap i.

t Edwards's Hist. West Indies, vol i. p. ] 10.

t Hist. America, vol. i., p. 151.

66 PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION.

that a country so extensive formed a part of
some great continent."

These instances may serve as so many spe-
cimens of the manner in which America
might have proved an asylum to some of the
ancient navigators of the African coasts or
of the Canary Islands ; and being arrived, it
would be impossible for them to return. The
same winds which brought them hither, con-
tinuing to blow from the eastward, would ei-
ther discourage them from making the at-
tempt, or oblige them to put back if they had
made it. No argument, then, can be drawn
from hence in favour of a mutual intercourse
between this and the old continent. Those
who would prove that America was known to
the ancients . must produce better evidence
than they have yet produced, if they contend
for any other knowledge than what was ac-
quired by»casual discoverers who never re-
turned.

The opinion that America was peopled
in part by the Phoenicians was long since
maintained by Hornius ; and, though reject-
ed by many succeeding writers, has been
lately revived by Bryan Edwards,* a well-in-
formed merchant of the Island of Jamaica.
* Hist. W. Indies, vol. i., p. 103, 4to.

PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. 57

He extends the argument no farther than to
the Charaibe nation, who inhabited the Wind-
ward Islands and some part of the Southern
Continent, " whose manners and characteris-
tic features denote a different Ancestry from
the generality of the American nations." In
support of this opinion, he has produced,
perhaps, as much evidence from a similarity
of manners and language as a subject of
such remote antiquity can admit.

To this elegant work I must refer the read-
er, and shall add one only remark, arising
from the preceding observations, that if any
accession of inhabitants was made to Ameri-
ca by the desultory migration of the Phoeni-
cian or Carthaginian navigators, it is most
rational to look for them between the tropics,
the very place where the Charaibes were
found

A CHRONOLOGICAL

DETAIL OF ADVENTURES AND DISCOVERIES MADE BT
THE EUROPEAN NATIONS IN AMERICA BEFORE THE
ESTABLISHMENT OF THE COUNCIL OF PLYMOUTH IN

1620.

Those marked with 55" are more particularly enlarged upon in the Lire*
of the Adventurers.

A.D. BIRON, a Norman, accidentally discovered a
1001. country which was afterward called Winland,
KJ" and is supposed to be a part of the Island of

Newfoundland. * — Crantz. Pontoppidan.
1170. MADOC, prince of Wales, emigrated, and, it
KJ" is thought, discovered a new country in the

West. — Hakluyt, iii., 1.

1358. An island called Estotiland was discovered by
E~p a fisherman of Frisland, as related by ZENO. —

Ibid., 124.

1492. CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, in the ser-
in? vice of Spain, discovered Guanahani, and other

islands called Bahamas and Antilles. — Ferd. Co-
lumbus.

1493. COLUMBUS maa'e a second voyage, and dis-
covered Dominica, and other islands called Car-
ibbees. — Ibid.

1497. JOHN CABOT, with his son SEBASTIAN,
in the service of HENRY VII. of England, dis-
covered the Island of Newfoundland and some
parts of a western Continent, as far northward

* See the Life of Biron, p. 80.

60 EARLY ADVENTURERS.

as lat. 45°, and as far southward as lat. 38°.—
HaUuyt, iii., 4-11.

J498. COLUMBUS made a third voyage, and dis-
covered the Western Continent, in lat 10° N. —
Ferd. Col.

1499. OJEDA,* a private adventurer, and AMER-
IGO VESPUCCI,f followed the track of COLUM

. BUS, and discovered the Western Continent, of
which Amerigo, after his return to Europe,
wrote an account, and published it, from which
the continent obtained the name of AMERICA.
— Robertson.

1500. CABRAL,{ in the service of Portugal, bound

* [Alonzo de Ojeda, a man of singular bravery and prowess, who
had early signalized himself in the Moorish wars. He had ac-
companied Columbus in his second voyage. The merchants of
Seville, by the influence of the Bishop of Badajos, who also pro-
cured for him the journal and charts of Columbus, put four ships
under his command. He made a second, but unsuccessful, voyage
in 1501. He had shown himself to be* man of courage and skill,
and was afterward (1509?) appointed by Ferdinand governor of
that part of the continent which extends from Cape de Vela to
the Gulf of Darien. This government, however, was soon broken
up by the resolute resistance of the natives. — See Irving's Life ot
Columbus, vol. iii. — H.]

t [Vespucci was a gentleman of Florence, born March 9, 1451,
a man of science, and an experienced navigator. He returned to
Spain in June, 1500. His account of his voyage and discoveries
was " drawn up not only with art, but with some elegance." The
next year he made a voyage in the service of the King of Portu-
gal, and touched on the coast of Brazil. Again, in 1503 he sailed
for the East Indies, but returned in June, 1504, having gone no
farther than Brazil. He afterward lived in Spain, in the capacity
of chief pilot, where he died, Feb. 22, 1512.— Irving's Columbus
ii., 246.— H.]

$ [Pedro Alvarez Cabral. After the return of De Gama from
his voyage to the East Indies, round the Cape of Good Hope, the

EARLY ADVENTURERS. 61

to India, discovered by accident the Continent
of America, in lat. 10° south, which was called
Brazil. — Robertson.

J502. COLUMBUS made his fourth and last voyage
to the new continent in quest of a passage
through it to India. — Ferd. Col.

1512. JOHN PONCE,* in the service of Spain, dis-
covered the new continent in the latitude of 30°
N., and called it Florida. — Herrera.

1513. VASCO NUNEZ,f a Spaniard, travelled

King of Portugal fitted out a large fleet to prosecute these discov-
eries, and gave the command of it to Cabral. To avoid the varia-
ble winds and calms which he anticipated on the coast of Africa,
he stood out to sea, and so far that he fell in with an unknown
country, along which he sailed for several days. Concluding it to
be a portion of the continent, he landed and look formal possession
in the name of the king, and sent immediately a ship to Lisbon
with an account of his unexpected discovery. — H.]

* [Juan Ponce de Leon, " an officer eminent for conduct no less
than for courage." He had subdued the Island of Puerto Rico in
1509 and the following years. For the discovery of Florida he
equipped three ships at his own expense, and found daring spirits
enough who were eager to share the dangers and honours of his
enterprise. The name Florida was given to the newly-found re-
gion because he reached it on Palm Sunday (Pascua Florida).
He is said to have undertaken this voyage from a most romantic
motive ; to search for a fountain, which the Indians had reported
of such marvellous virtue, that whoever bathed in it put off at
once the infirmities of age, and was. renewed in the .vigour and
beauty of youth ; a tale which the simple native honestly told, and
which the no less credulous Spaniards fully believed. — H.]

t.[Vasco Nunes de Balboa was of a noble family of Xeres, in
Estremadura, and born in the year 1475. His first voyage to
America was made in 1500, under Bastides. He resided some
time at St. Domingo, where he became involved in debt ; and to
escape, secreted himself on board a ship bound for the continent.
They reached Darien, where his energy gained him favour with

VOL. I F

62 EARLY ADVENTURERS.

across the Isthmus of Darien, and from a mount
ain discovered on, the other side of the conti-
nent an ocean, which, from the direction in
which he saw it, took the name of the South Sea.
— Robertson.

1519. 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. — Ibid.

1520. FERDINAND DE MAGELLANES,f a Por-
tuguese in the service of Spain, passed through

the men, and he was put in command of the colony. From this
point he made many expeditions, and first gained a sight of the
South Sea. He was brought to trial by the jealousy of Pedrarias
Davila, who had been appointed governor of that country, and
beheaded by his orders in the year 1527. — H.]

* [Hernando Cortez was born at Medellin, in Spain, in the year
1485, and was educated at the University of Salamanca. He was
of an adventurous disposition, and the prospect of riches and dis
covery in the New World was just suited to his ardent and rest-
less mind. He sailed for America in 1504, and stayed many years
in St. Domingo, where he was married. He started for Mexico
Feb. 19, 1519. After the conquest of that country, he relumed to
Spain in 1523, and was appointed governor of a province in the
land he had subdued. He returned again to Spain in 1540, and
died there, Dec. 2, 1547. Cruel, perhaps, and unscrupulous, he
was yet daring, sagacious, enthusiastic, heroic, and of a generous
spirit. — H.]

t [Ferdinand de Magalhaens, or Magellan, was a gentleman
of honourable birth, and had served with much distinction as a
soldier in the East Indies. He proposed to Emanuel, then king
of Portugal, to conduct a fleet by a westerly course to the Spice
Islands. His scheme being rejected, he made the same offer to
the court of Spain ; and, having been furnished with five ships,
sailed from Seville Aug. 10, 1519. He was slain April 20, 1520, a
man of great energy, judgment, and resolution.— Robertson.— H.]

EARLY ADVENTURERS. 63

the strait which bears his name, and sailed
across the 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 command of
SEBASTIAN DEL CANO, returned to Spain by way
of the Cape of Good Hope, and thus performed
the first circumnavigation of the globe. — Life of
Magettanes.

1524. JOHN DE VERAZZANI,* a Florentine in the
service of FRANCIS I., king of France, discovered
the new continent in lat. 34° N., sailed north-
ward 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. — Hakluyt, iii., 295-300.

$ [Giovanni Verazzano was born of a distinguished family at
Florence about the year 1475. He was early distinguished by a
passion for adventure, travelled in Syria and Egypt, lived several
years at Cairo, and navigated the Mediterranean and Adriatic Seas.
He was selected by Francis I. to conduct the first expedition fitted
out by France for the purpose of maritime discovery. He sailed
from a rock near the Island of Madeira, Jan. 17, 1524, with a single
ship, the Dolphin, fifty men, and provisions for eight months, and
explored the coast of America from Florida to Newfoundland,
from 34° to 50° north, a space of 700 leagues, entered the Hudson
River and Narraganset Bay, and returned to Dieppe early in July
of the same year. A translation of the report he made to Francis
is given in Hakluyt, as cited in the text ; and a sketch of the
same, with an estimate of the character of Verazzano, may be
consulted in the North American Review, vol. xlv., p. 293-311,
by G. W. Greene, U. S. consul at Rome. He is said to have made
a second voyage of discovery, and, on landing, to have been ta-
ken prisoner by the natives, and devoured in sight of his comrades
-H.]

64 EARLY ADVENTURERS.

1525. STEPHEN GOMEZ, in the service of Spain,
sailed to Florida, and thence to Cape Race, in
lat. 46° N., in search of a N.W. passage to In-
dia.— Herrera.

1526. FRANCIS PI ZARRO* sailed from Panama
to Peru, and began the conquest of that rich
and populous country. — Purchas.

1528. PAMPHILO DE NARVAEZ,f in the service
of Spain, sailed from Cuba with 400 men to con-
quer Florida. His purpose was defeated by a
tempest, in which he was wrecked on the coast.
— Herrera. Purchas.

1534. JAMES CARTIER, in the service of France,
KF discovered and named the Bay de Chaleur and

the Gulf of St. Lawrence. — Hakluyt, iii., 201-
212.

1535. CARTIER made a second voyage, discovered
KP the great river of Canada, and sailed up as far

as Hochelaga, which he named Montreal. He
wintered in a little harbour near the west end
of the Isle of Orleans, which he called Port de

* [Francisco Pizarro was a native of Truxillo, born about the
year 1500. Already trained to fatigue and martial enterprise, he
accompanied Balboa in his expedition across the Isthmus of Da-
rien in 1509. He started from Panama on his expedition to Peru,
Nov. 14, 1524, and was engaged in it three years. He then re-
turned to Spain, and was appointed by the emperor governor and
admiral of the region he had discovered. His progress there was
marked with acts of extreme cruelty and rapine, but the conquest
was completely successful. When his triumph seemed most en-
tire, he was slain, June 26, 1531, by a conspiracy of some of his
followers, who feared and hated him.— H.]

t [De Narvaez, an officer of some courage, and much haughti-
ness and self-confidence, had been sent by Velasquez to Mexico
in April, 1520, to arrest and supersede Cortez, by whom he was
attacked and made prisoner.— H.]

EARLY ADVENTURERS. 65

1536. St. Croix. The next summer he returned to
France, carrying some of the natives. — Hakluyt,
iii., 21-2-232.

1539. FERDINANDO DE SOTO» sailed from Cu-
ID3 ba with 900 men to conquer Florida. He trav-
ersed the country in various directions for three

1542. years, and died on the banks of the Mississippi.

1543. The surviving part of his army returned to Cuba.
— Herrera. Purchas.

1540. CARTIER made a third voyage to Canada,
built a fort and began a settlement, which he

1541 called Charleburg, four leagues above the Port de
or St. Croix. He broke up the settlement and

1542. sailed to Newfoundland. — Hakluyt, iii., 232-240.
ROBERVAL, with three ships and 200 per-
sons, going to recruit the settlement in Canada,
met Cartier at Newfoundland, and would have
obliged him to return ; but he gave him the slip
and sailed for France. ROBERVAL proceeded up
the River St. Lawrence four leagues above the
Island of Orleans, where he found a convenient
harbour and place for a fortification. Here he
built a fort, and remained over the winter. The
next year he returned to France with his colony.
— Ibid., 240-242.

During the succeeding thirty years the passion
for discovery took another direction. Adventu-
rers from Europe were seeking a passage to In-
dia and China by the N.E., but were prevented1

* [See also Hakluyt, vol. v., ed. 1810, and "A Relation of the
Invasion and Conquest of Florida by the Spaniards, under the
command of Ferdinando de Soto, written in Portuguese by a
gentleman of the town of Elvas, now Englished," &c., London,
1680. Solo's army consisted of 600 men. — See p. 258, note. — H.]

F 2

66 EARLY ADVENTURERS.

from accomplishing their views by the cold and
ice of those inhospitable regions. — Forster.

In this interval, the French of Brittany, the
Spaniards of Biscay, and the Portuguese, enjoy-
ed the fishery on the Banks of Newfoundland
without interruption. — Purchas.

1562. Under the patronage of CHATILLON, High-ad-
miral of France, JOHN RIBALT* attempted a
settlement in Florida. He entered a river in lat.
32° on the first of May, which from that circum-
stance he named the River May, and the entrance
he called Port Royal. Here he built a fort,
which, in honour of CHARLES IX. of France, he
called Fort Charles. After his departure the
people mutinied and returned to France. — Hak-
luyt, iii., 308-319, and Purchas.

1564. LAUDONIEREf renewed the settlement and
called the country Carolina, after the reigning
monarch of France. This colony was on good
terms with the natives, but suffered by famine.
They were relieved by SIR JOHN HAWKINS, an
Englishman, who offered to carry them to
France ; but the hope of finding silver induced

* [John Ribault, as the name is commonly spelled, sailed with
two ships, Feb. 18, 1562, reached Florida in March, and returned
to Dieppe July 20th of the same year. Laudoniere commends
him as " a man in truth expert in sea causes." He came again '.<>
Florida, Aug. 28, 1565, with a commission to be governor there,
and remained till he was killed by the Spaniards under Melendes.
-H.]

•f [Rene Laudoniere had accompanied Ribault in his first expe-
dition, and was superseded by him in his second. Meanwhile, he
sniled from France April 22, 1564, under the orders of De Chastil
Ion. He reached Florida June 22d. After the destruction of
their fort, Laudoniere returned through England to France.— H.]

EARLY ADVENTURERS. 67

them to stay, till RIBALT arrived with seven sail
1565. of vessels.— Hakluyt, iii., 319-349.

PEDRO MELENDES,inthe service of Spain,
came with a superior force, killed Ribalt and
most of his company, and took possession of the
country, building three forts. — Ibid., 352-356.
1568. GOURGUES,* from France, with the help of
the natives, who hated the Spaniards, broke up
the Spanish settlements in Florida, and return-
ed to France, leaving the country desert. — Ibid.,
356-360.

1576. All attempts to find a N.E. passage to India
being frustrated, MARTIN FROBISHER, in the
service of ELIZABETH, queen of England, sailed
in search of a N.W. passage.

1577. He made a second voyage.

1578. He made a third voyage.

These voyages were made to Greenland, and
produced no material discovery. He sailed
through a strait which still bears his name, but
is now impassable by reason of fixed ice. — Hak-
luyt and Crantz.

SIR FRANCIS DRAKEf being on a cruise
* [Dominique de Gourgues, " a gentleman and a well tried and
valiant soldier," undertook this expedition chiefly at his own ex.
pense, fitting out three vessels and more than 'two hundred men.
They sailed, Aug. 22d, 1567, from France ; and attacked the first
fort of the Spaniards on Easter day, in April, 1568. They return-
ed to France in June of the same year. Gourgues died in 1582.
-H-]

t [This famous navigator was born in the year 1545, of obscure
parentage. He became a seaman when very young, and was made
captain of a ship at the age of twenty-two. He was engaged in
many important naval enterprises, particularly in the half-piratical
expeditions against the Spaniards. In 1577-1580, with five ships
and one hundred and sixty-four men, he sailed round the globe. —
I.— F

68 EARLY ADVENTURERS.

against the Spaniards in the South Sea, landed
on the Continent of America, northward of Cal-
ifornia, took possession of a harbour, and called
the circumjacent country, between lat. 38° and
42°, New Albion. — Hakluyt.

1579. SIR HUMPHREY GILBERT obtained of
dp QUEEN ELIZABETH a patent for all countries not
possessed by any Christian prince. — Purchas.

1583. GILBERT sailed to Newfoundland ; took for-
mal possession of it and of the Continent of
North America for the crown of England. In
his return his ship foundered and he was lost.
— Ibid.

SIR ADRIAN GILBERT obtained of QUEEN
ELIZABETH a patent for the discovery of a N.W.
passage, to remain in force five years. — Hak-
luyt, ill., 96.

1584. SIR WALTER RALEIGH obtained of QUEEN
ID3 ELIZABETH a patent for lands not possessed by

any Christian prince, by virtue of which he sent
PHILIP AMADAS and ARTHUR BARLOW
to explore the country called by the Spaniards
Florida.— Ibid., 243-251.

1585. Under the authority of GILBERT'S patent,
JOHN DAVIS sailed from England in search
of a*N.W. passage. — Ibid., 98-103.

1586. He made a second voyage. — Ib., 103-111.

1587. He made a third voyage.— J^., 111-121.
DAVIS explored the western coast of Green-

Hakluyt, iii., 730-742. The next year the queen conferred on
him the honour of knighthood, and in 1588 he was appointed vice-
admiral, under Lord Howard of Effingham. He died Jan. 28,
1596, having gained an unequalled reputation for nautical skill and
personal courage.— See Campbell's Lives of the Admirals, vo? ,ii., p.
37-55.— H.]

EARLY ADVENTURERS. 69

land and part of the opposite coast of the Conti-
nent of America ; the strait between them bears
his name. He also discovered another strait,
which he called Cumberland. — Hakluyt.

1585. SIR WALTER RALEIGH sent SIR RICHARD
GRENVILLE to Florida. He landed a colony
of 100 people at Roanoak and returned. — Ibid.,
iii., 251-265.

1586. SIR FRANCIS DRAKE, returning from his
expedition against the Spaniards, took the colo-
ny on board and carried them to England. —
Ibid., 264.

Sir RICHARD GRENVILLE arrived after
their departure and landed another smaller col-
ony.— Ibid., 265.

1587. Sir WALTER RALEIGH sent another company,
under the command of JOHN WHITE, to colo-
nize the country which QUEEN ELIZABETH called
Virginia, in honour of her own virginity. The
second colony were not to be found. One hun-
dred and fifteen persons were landed to make a
third colony, and the governor returned to Eng-
land for supplies. — Purchas.

1590. GEORGE WHITE was sent to Virginia, but,
finding none of the third colony living, returned
to England. — Ibid.

1592. JUAN DE FUCA, a Greek, in the service

IE? of Spain, was sent by the Viceroy of Mexico to
discover a N.W. passage, by exploring the
western side of the American Continent. He
discovered a strait, which bears his name, in
the 48th degree of N. latitude, and supposed
it to be the long-desired passage. — Purchas.

1583. HENRY MAY, an Englishman, returning

70

EARLT ADVENTURERS.

from the East Indies in a French ship, was
wrecked on the Island of Bermuda, where he
found swine, from which circumstance it ap-
peared that some other vessel had been there
before. The company built a boat of cedar,
calked it, and payed the seams with lime mix-
ed with turtles' fat, and sailed to Newfoundland,
whence they got a passage to England. — HaJtluyt.

1593. GEORGE WEYMOUTH sailed from Eng-
or land to discover a N.W. passage. He visited

1594. the coast of Labrador, and sailed 30 miles up an
K? inlet in the latitude of 56°, but made no ma-
terial discovery. — Forster.

1598. DE LA ROCHE obtained from HENRY IV. of
France a commission to conquer Canada, and
other countries not possessed by any Christian
prince. He sailed from France with a colony
of convicts from the prisons ; landed 40 on the
Isle of Sable. After seven years the survivers,
being 12 in number, were taken off and carried
home to France, where HENRY pardoned them,
and gave them 50 crowns each as a recompense
for their sufferings. — Purchas. Forster.

1600. Q. ELIZABETH established by charter a
company of merchants in England, with an ex-
clusive privilege of trading to the East Indies. —
Tablet of Memory.

1602. BARTHOLOMEW GOSNOLD, an English-
ID3 man, discovered a promontory on the American

coast;, in lat. 42°, to which he gave the name of
Cape Cod. He landed on an island which he
called -Elizabeth, and built a small fort ; but the
same summer returned to England. — Purchas.

1603. DE MONTS obtained of HENRY IV. of France

EARLY ADVENTURERS. 71

EJ" a patent for the planting of ISAcadia and Cana-
da, from lat. 40° to 46°.— Purchas.

K? SAMUEL CHAMPLAIN sailed up the great
river of Canada, and returned to France the
same year. — Ibid.

ie^3. DE MONTS sailed from France, taking CHAM-
PLAIN and CHAMPDORE for pilots, and POUTRIN-
COURT who intended a settlement in America.
They discovered and began plantations at Port
Royal, St. John's, and St. Croix, in the Bay of
Fundy.

1610. POUTRINCOURT introduced two Jesuits
into Port Royal ; but some controversy arising,
the Jesuits went to Mount Desert and began a
plantation there. — Ibid.

1605. GEORGE WEYMOUTH sailed on a second
CP voyage to discover a N.W. passage ; but fall-
ing short, made the land in 41° 30' ; thence sail-
ed to 43° 20', and discovered a great river, sup-
posed to be either Kennebec or Penobscot ; took
on board five of the natives, and returned to
England. He put in at Plymouth, and delivered

in? three of them to SIR FERDINANDO GORGES, then
governor of Plymouth. — Gorges.

1606. JAMES I., king of England, by patent divi-
ded Virginia into two districts, called North and
South Virginia. The southern part, situate be-
tween 34° and 41°, he granted to a London
company; the northern part, situate between
38° and 45°, he granted to a Plymouth compa-
ny. Neither of them were to plant within 100
miles of the other. — Purchas.

(607. CHAMPLAIN, by order of DE MONTS, sail-
ed up the river of Canada and fortified Quebec^
the name of a strait in the river. — Ibid.

72 EARLY ADVENTURERS.

HENRY HUDSON, in the service of the

English East India Company, sailed in quest of
a N.W. passage. He attempted to pass to the
E. of Greenland, and discovered Spitzbergen.
He sailed as far N. as 82°, but, finding the sea
obstructed by ice, returned. — Forster.

CHRISTOPHER NEWPORT sailed to
Virginia, and began a colony at Jamestown. ED-
WARD WINGFIELD was president, but JOHN SMITH
was the life and soul of the colony. — Smith.
Purchas.

GEORGE POPHAM* sailed to North Vir-
ginia, and began a plantation at Sagadahock, of
which he was president. In the winter, the
ships* returned to England, leaving 45 persons
1608. behind. Their president dying, the next spring
they broke up the plantation and went back to
England. This winter was remarkably severe
both in America and England. — Purchas.

1608. HUDSON, in the service of the English East
India Company, undertook a second voyage of
discovery, and attempted to pass on both sides
of Nova Zembla ; but the ice being impenetrable,
he returned. — Ibid.

NELSON re-enforced the colony of South
Virginia with 120 people. — Ibid.

1609. CHAMPLAIN returned to France, leaving
Captain PIERRE to command at Quebec. — Ibid.

HUDSON, in the service of the DUTCH, made
a third voyage, and discovered the rwer which
bears his name in lat. 41°.

SIR GEORGE SOMERS, bound to South Vir .

* See the Life of F. Gorges.

EARLY M VENTURERS. 73

ginia, was wrecked on Bermuda, whence those
islands took the name Somer Islands. — Smith.
Purchas.

1610. CHAMPLAIN revisited Quebec and took the
command there. — Purchas.

HUDSON, in the service of ihe English East
India Company, discovered the strait and bay
which bear his name, and passed the winter there,
intending to pursue his discoveries in the ensu-
ing spring ; but his crew mutinied, and turned him
adrift in his boat, with seven others, who were
never more heard of. — Purchas. Campbell.

1610. SIR GEORGE SOMERS, having built a pin-
nace at Bermuda, sailed to South Virginia ; the
colony determined to return to England ; but, in
sailing down James's River, met Lord DELA-
WARE with a re-enforcement, by which they were
encouraged to return and resume the plantation.
— Purchas.

JOHN GUY, with a company of forty persons,
began a colony at the Bay of Conception, in New-
foundland.— Ibid.

1611. SIR THOMAS DALE re-enforced the colony
ID3 of South Virginia with 300 people, and Sir

THOMAS GATES with 300 more, furnishing them
with cattle and swine, and thus that colony was
established. — Ibid.

1612. The colony at Newfoundland was augmented
to sixty persons, but was for many years in a
very precarious state. Mr. GUY returned to
England, and was afterward Mayor of Bristol. —
Purchas. Oldmixon.

The South Virginia Company having sold the
island* *f Bermuda to a part of their own num-

74 EARLY ADVENTURERS.

ber, they obtained a distinct charter, and sent a
colony of ninety persons thither : their first gov-
ernor was RICHARD MOOR. — Purchas.

1613. The colony at Bermuda was enlarged by the
addition of 400 persons. — Ibid.

SIR THOMAS DALE, governor of Virginia,
hearing that the French had settled within thje
limits of the northern patent, sent Sir SAMUEL
ARGALL with a sufficient force to dislodge them,
which he did from Mount Mansel (Desert),
St. Croix, and Port Royal, in the Bay of Fun-
dy. These Frenchmen retired to Quebec and
strengthened the settlement there. — Smith.
Purchas. Keith.

1614. CAPT. JOHN SMITH, having quitted the col-
ony of South Virginia, sailed for North Virginia
on a fishing and whaling voyage ; he ranged the
coast from Penobscot to Cape Cod, and made a
map of the country, which he first called New-
England. — Smith.

1615. ROBERT BYLOT and WILLIAM BAFFIN
•sailed from England in search of a N.W. pas-
sage.

1616. They made another voyage, and discovered
the great northern bay which bears BAFFIN'S
name. — Purchas. Forster.

1617. During this and the two preceding years, war,
famine, and pestilence raged among the natives
of New-England, by which great numbers were
swept off, and the fur trade between them and
the Europeans was interrupted.— Gorges.

1619. THOMAS DERMER* sailed to New-Eng-
land ; found many places, before populous, al-
* See the Life of F. Gorges.

EARLY ADVENTURERS. • 75

most desolate, and the few remaining inhabitants
either sick or but scarcely recovered. In this
voyage he sailed through the whole passage be-
tween the mainland and Long Island, and first
determined its insular situation. — Gorges.
1620. A company of ENGLISH PURITANS,* who
E? had resided twelve years in Holland, began a
colony in New-England, which they called New-
Plymouth . — Mart on.

K7 KING JAMES I.f established at Plymouth, in
Devonshire, a council for the planting, ruling,
and ordering of New-England ; and thus the
business of colonization was formed into a sys-
tem.

* See Life of W. Bradford. f See Life of F. Gorges.

THE SUCCESSION OF SOVEREIGNS OF THE EtTROPEAI*
NATIONS WHO HAVE HAD POSSESSIONS OR CONNEX-
IONS IN AMERICA.

ENGLAND.
A.D.

A.D.

1792. Republic.

1485. Henry VII.

1509. Henry VIII.

1547. Edward VI.

SPAIN.

1553. Mary.

1474. Ferdinand V. and Is

1558. Elizabeth.

abella.

1603. James I.

1504. Philip I.

1625. Charles I.
1648. Commonwealth.

1516. Charles I y ^j*

1653. O. Cromwell.

1556. Philip II.

1658. R. Cromwell.

1598. Philip III.

1660. Charles II.

1621. Philip IV.

1685. James II.

1665. Charles II.

1688. William and Mary.

1700. Philip V.

1694. William III.

1746. Ferdinand VI.

1701. Anne.

1759. Charles III.

1714. George I.

1789. Charles IV.

1727. George II.

1760. George III.

>

PORTUGAL.

FRANCE*

1481. John II.
1495. Emanuel.

'21. John III.

1483. Charles VIII.

557. Sebastian.

1498. Louis XII.

578. Henry.

1515. Francis I.
1547. Henry II.

580. Philip II. ) of Spam
598. Philip III. SandPor-

1559. Francis II.

621. Philip IV. >tugal.

1560. Charles IX.

640. John IV.

1574. Henry II.

656. Alphonso VI.

1589. Henry IV.

667. Peter.

1610. Louis XIII.

704. John V.

1643. Louis XIV.

750. Joseph.

1715. Louis XV.

777. Maria Frances Isa-

1773. Louis XVI.

bella.

AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

I. BIRON.

THE ancient inhabitants of Norway and
Denmark, collectively taken, were distin-
guished by the name of NORMANS. Their sit-
uation near the coast of the sea, and the ad-
vantages which that element presented 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 to encounter the storms and bil-
lows 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 di-
rection. In these arts of building ships and
of navigation they were superior to the peo-
ple bordering on the Mediterranean Sea, who

78 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

depended chiefly on their oars, and used
sails only with a fair wind.

About the end of the eighth and beginning
of the ninth century, the Normans made
themselves famous by their predatory excur-
sions. England, Scotland, Ireland, the Ork-
ney and Shetland Islands, were objects of
their depredations ; and in one of their pi-
ratical expeditions (A.D. 861) they discover-
ed an island, which, from its lofty mountains
covered with ice and snow, obtained the name
of Iceland. In a few years after they plant-
ed a colony there, which was continually
augmented by migrations from the neigh-
bouring countries. Within the space of thir-
ty years (889) a new country, situate on the
west, was discovered, and, from its verdure
during the summer months, received the name
of Greenland. This was deemed so impor-
tant an acquisition, that, under the conduct
of ERIC RAUDE, or REDHEAD, a Danish chief,
it was soon peopled.

The emigrants to these new regions were
still inflamed with the passion for adventure
and discovery. An Icelander of the name
HERIOLF and his son BIRON* made a voyage

* His name is spelled by difierent authors BIRON, BIORN, Bi-
OBRN, and BIAERN.

B I R O N. 79

every year to different countries for the sake
of traffic. About the beginning of the elev-
enth century (1001) their ships were separa-
ted by a storm. When Biron arrived in Nor-
way, he heard that his father was gone to
Greenland, and he resolved to follow him .
but another storm drove him to the southwes^
where he discovered a flat country, free from
rocks, but covered with thick woods, and an
island near the coast.

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 LEIF, the son of Eric, who, like his fa-
ther, had a strong desire to acquire glory by
adventures, equipped a vessel carrying twen-
ty-five men, and, taking Biron for his pilot,
sailed (1002) in search of the new country.

His course was southwest. On the first
land which he saw he found nothing but flat
rocks and ice, without any verdure. He
therefore gave it the name of Helleland, which
signifies rocky. Afterward he came to a lev-
el shore, without any rocks, but overgrown
with woods, and the sand was remarkably
white. This he named Markland, or woody.
Two days after he saw land again, and an

80 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

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.

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 to pass the winter, and
erected huts for their accommodation. One
of their company, a German named Tyr-
ker, having straggled into the woods, found
grapes, from which he told them that in his
country they made wine. From this circum-
stance Leif, the commander of the party,
called the place Winland dot gode, the good
wine country.

An intercourse being thus opened between
Greenland and Winland, several voyages
were made, and the new country was farther
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 appear-
ance. From the diminutive size of these

BIRON. 81

people the Normans denominated them Skrce-
ling-s,* and inhumanly killed them all but
one, who escaped, and collected a larger
number of his countrymen to make an attack
on their invaders. The Normans defended
their ships with so much spirit that the as-
sailants were obliged to retire.

After this, a colony of Normans went and
settled at Winland, carrying on a barter trade
with the SkraBlings for furs ; but a controver-
sy arose in the colony, which induced some
to return to Greenland. The others dispersed
and mixed with the Skraslings.

In the next century (1121) Eric, bishop of
Greenland, went to Winland, with a benevo-
lent design to recover and convert his coun-
trymen, who had degenerated into savages.
This prelate never returned to Greenland, nor
was anything more heard of Winland for sev
eral centuries.

This account of the discovery of Winland
is taken from Pontoppidan's history of Nor-
way, Crantz's history of Greenland, and a
late history of northern voyages by Dr. John
Reinhold Forster. The facts are said to
have been collected from " a great number
of Icelandic manuscripts by Thormond Thor-

* Cut sticks, chips — Dwarfs,

82 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

foeus. Adam von Bremen, Arngrim Jonas,
and many other writers, so that it is hardly
possible to entertain the least doubt concern-
ing the authenticity of the relation."

Pontoppidan says that " they could see the
sun full six hours in the shortest day ;" but
Crantz tells us that " the sun rose on the
shortest day at eight of the clock," and For-
ster that " the sun was eight hours above the
horizon," from which he concludes that Win-
land 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 Newfound-,
land, or some place 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 Normans were, strictly
speaking, the first discoverers of America,
nearly five centuries before Columbus.

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

BIRON. 83

one in the American Atlas, delineated agree-
ably to the actual surveys of the late celebra-
ted navigator Captain James Cook, the fol-
lowing observations occur.

On the N.E. part of Newfoundland, 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 sufficient-
ly answer to the situation described in the ac-
count of Biron's second voyage. Into each
of these bays runs a river, which has its head
in a lake, and both these lakes lie in the 49th
degree of north latitude.

The earliest accounts of Newfoundland af-
ter its discovery and the establishment of a
fishery on its coasts, have respect chiefly to
the lands about Trinity and Conception Bays,
between the parallels of 48° and 49°.* These
lands are represented as producing strawber-
ries, 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 trout.
I.— G

84 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

The natives, who inhabited a bay lying to the
northward of Trinity, and came occasionally
thither in their canoes, are described as broad-
breasted and upright, with black eyes, and
without beards ; the hair on their heads was
of different colours ; 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, un-
less it be grown gray with age.

The climate is represented as more mild in
the winter 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 Labrador, be-
tween the latitudes of 53° and 56°, are many
excellent harbours and islands. The seas
are full of cod, the rivers abound with sal-
mon, and the climate is said to be more mild
than in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

Nothing is said in any of these accounts of
vines or* grapes, excepting that some which
were brought from England had thriven
well. If any evidence can be drawn from a
comparison between the countries of New-
foundland and New-England, it may be ob-
served, that all the above-mentioned fruits

B I R O N. 85

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.

De Monts, in his voyage to Acadia in 1608,
speaks of grapes in several places ; and they
were in such plenty on the Isle of Orleans,
in lat. 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 means to be con-
cluded that there were none. Nor is it im-
probable 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.

The distance between Greenland and New-
foundland is not greater than between Ice-
land and Norway, and there could be no
more difficulty in navigating the western than
the eastern parts of the northwestern ocean
with such vessels as were then in use, and by
such seamen as the Normans are said to have

* It is also said that Mr. Ellis met with the vine about the
English settlements at Hudson's Bay, and compares the fruit

of it to the currants of the Levant. — Morse's Un. Geo., vol. i.,
p. 64.

86 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

been, though they knew nothing of the mag
netic needle.

Upon the whole, though we can come to
no positive conclusion in a question of such
remote antiquity, yet there are many circum-
stances to confirm, and none to disprove, the
relation given of the voyages of Biron.*
But if it be allowed that he is entitled to the
honour of having discovered America before
Columbus, yet this discovery 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 before his
time were forgotten, and would, perhaps, nev-
er have been recollected, if he had not, by
the astonishing exertions of his genius and
his persevering industry, effected a discovery
of this continent in a climate more friendly
to the views of commercial adventurers.

Even Greenland itself, in the fifteenth cen-
tury, was known to the Danes and Normans
only by the name of lost Greenland, and they
did not recover their knowledge of it till af-

* At my request, Governor WENTWORTH, of Nova Scotia,
has employed a proper person to make inquiry into any vestiges
of this ancient colony which may yet be subsisting. I am sorry
that the result could not be had before the publication of this
volume, but when it comes to hand it shall be tommunicatcd.

BIRON. 87

ter the English had ascertained its existence
by their voyages to discover a N.W. passage
to the Pacific Ocean, and the Dutch had
coasted it in pursuit of whales.

[The recent publications of the Society of
Northern Antiquaries at Copenhagen have
thrown new light upon the adventures and
discoveries of Biron and those who followed
him. It has been thought advisable, instead
of illustrating the text by notes, to give entire
the life of Biron by Belknap, which deserves
to be perpetuated for its ingenious statements
and conjectures, and to add the abstract of
information and evidence on the subject
which is contained in the " Antiquitates Ameri-
cana?," and which will give a complete and
connected view of all the knowledge we have
relating to it. — H.]

AN ABSTRACT OF THE HISTORICAL EVIDENCE CON-
TAINED IN THE " ANTIQUITATES AMERICANS,"

BY C. C. RAFN, SECRETARY OF THE ROYAL
SOCIETY OF NORTHERN ANTIQUARIES.

BIARNE HERIULFSON'S VOYAGE IN THE YEAR 986.
ERIC THE RED, in the spring of 986, emi-
grated from Iceland to Greenland, formed a
settlement there, and fixed his residence at

88 AMERICANBIOGRAPHY.

Brattalid in Ericsfiord. Among others who
accompanied him was Heriulf Bardson, who
established himself at Heriulfsnes. BIARNE,
the son of the latter, was at that time absent
on a trading voyage to Norway ; but in the
course of the summer returning to Eyrar, in
Iceland, and finding that his father had taken
his departure, this bold navigator resolved
"•still to spend the following winter, like all
the preceding ones, with his father," although
neither he nor any of his people had ever
navigated the Greenland Sea. They set sail,
but met with northerly winds and fogs, and,
after many days' sailing, knew not whither
they had been carried. At length, when the
weather again cleared up, they saw a land
which was without mountains, overgrown with
wood, and having many gentle elevations.
As this land did not correspond to the de-
scriptions of Greenland, they left it on the
larboard hand, and continued sailing two
days, when they saw another land which was
flat and overgrown with wood. From thence
they stood out to sea, and sailed three days
with a S.W. wind, when they saw a third
land which was high and mountainous, and
covered with icebergs (glaciers] ; they did
not go on shore, as Biarne did not find the

B I R 0 N. 89

country to be inviting. Bearing away from
this island, they stood out to sea with the same
wind, and after four days' sailing with fresh
gales, they reached Heriulfsnes, in Greenland.

DISCOVERIES OP LEIP ERICSON, AND FIRST SET-
TLEMENT OF VINELAND.

Some time after this, probably in the year
994, Biarne paid a visit to Eric, earl of Nor-
way, and told him of his voyage, and of the
unknown lands he had discovered* He was
blamed by many for not having examined
these countries more accurately. On his re-
turn to Greenland there was much talk about
undertaking a voyage of discovery. LEIF, a
son of Eric the Red, bought Biarne's ship,
and equipped it with a crew of thirty-five
men, among whom was a German of the
name of TYRKER, who had long resided with
his father, and who had been very fond of
Leif in his childhood. In the year 1000
they commenced the projected voyage, and
came first to the land which Biarne had seen
last. They cast anchor and went on shore.
No grass was seen ; but everywhere in this
country were vast ice-mountains (glaciers),
and the intermediate space between these
and the shore was, as it were, one uniform

90 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

plain of slate (hello) : the country appearing
to them destitute of good qualities, they
called it HELLU-LAND. They put out to
sea, and came to another land, where they
also went on shore. The country was level
(slett) and covered with woods, and whereso-
ever they went there were cliffs of white
sand (sand-ar-hvitir), and a low coast (6-scB-
bratt) • they called the country MAB.K-
LAND ( Woodland}. From thence they again
stood out to sea with a N.E. wind, and con-
tinued sailing for two days, before they made
land again. They then came to an island
which lay to the eastward of the mainland,
and entered a channel between this island
and a promontory projecting in an easterly
(and northerly) direction from the mainland.
They sailed westward in waters where there
was much ground left dry at ebb-tide. Af-
terward they went on shore at a place where
a river, issuing from a lake, fell into the sea.
They brought their ship into the river, and
from thence into the lake, where they cast
anchor. Here they constructed some tempo-
rary log-huts ; but afterward, when they had
made up their mind to winter there, they built
large houses, afterward called LEIFS-BU-
BIR (Leifsbooths). When the buildings were

BIRON. 91

completed, Leif divided his people into two
companies, who were by turns employed in
keeping watch at the houses, and in making
small excursions for the purpose of exploring
the country in the vicinity : his instructions
to them were, that they should not go to a
greater distance than that they might return
in the course of the same evening, and that
they should not separate from one another.
Leif took his turn also, joining the exploring
party the one day, and remaining at the hous-
es the other. It so happened that one day
the German Tyrker was missing. Leif ac-
cordingly went out with twelve men in search
of him, but they had not gone far from their
houses when they met him coming towards
them. When Lief inquired why he had
been so long absent, he at first answered in
German, but they did not understand what
he said. He then said to them in the Norse
tongue, " I did not go much farther, yet I
have a discovery to acquaint you with : I
have found vines and grapes." He added,
by way of confirmation, that he had been
born in a country where there was plenty of
vines. They had now two occupations, viz.,
to hew timber for loading the ship, and col-
lect grapes ; with these last they filled the
I.—H

92 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

ship's long boat. Leif gave a name to the
country, and called it VINLAND ( Vineland).
In the spring they sailed again from thence,
and returned to Greenland.

THORWALD ERICSON?S EXPEDITION TO MORE
SOUTHERN REGIONS.

Leif's Vineland voyage was now a subject
of frequent conversation in Greenland, and
his brother THORWALD was of opinion that the
country had not been sufficiently explored.
He accordingly borrowed Leif s ship, and,
aided by his brother's counsel and directions,
commenced a voyage in the year 1002. He
arrived at Leifsbooths, in Vineland, where
they spent the winter, he and his crew em-
ploying themselves in fishing. In the spring
of 1003 Thorwald sent a party in the ship's
long boat on a voyage of discovery south-
ward. They found the country beautiful and
well wooded, with but little space between
the woods and the sea ; there were likewise
extensive ranges of white sand, and many
islands and shallows. They found no traces
of men having been there before them, ex-
cepting on an island lying to the westward,
where they found a wooden shed. They did
not return to Leifsbooths until the fall. In

BIRON. 93

the following summer, 1004, Thorwald sailed
eastward with the large ship, and then north-
ward past a remarkable headland enclosing a
bay, and which was opposite to another head-
land. They called it KIAL-AR-NES (Keel
Cape). From thence they sailed along to the
eastern coast of the land, into the nearest
friths, to a promontory which there projected,
and which was everywhere overgrown with
wood. There Thorwald went ashore with all
his companions. He was so pleased with this
place that he exclaimed, " This is beautiful !
and here I should like well to fix my dwell-
ing !" Afterward, when they were preparing
to go on board, they observed on the sandy
beach within the promontory three hillocks,
and repairing thither, they found three canoes,
under each of which were three Skrellings
(Esquimaux) ; they came to blows with the
latter, and killed eight, but the ninth escaped
with his canoe. Afterward a countless num-
ber issued forth against them from the inte-
rior of the bay. They endeavoured to protect
themselves by raising battle-screens on the
ship's side. The Skrellings continued shoot-
ing at them for a while, and then retired.
Thorwald was wounded by an arrow under
the arm, and, finding that the wound was

94 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

mortal, he said, " I now advise you to pre-
pare for your departure as soon as possible,
but me ye shall bring to the promontory
where I thought it good to dwell ; it may be
that it was a prophetic word that fell from
my mouth about my abiding there for a sea-
son ; there shall ye bury me, and plant a
cross at my head and another at my feet, and
call the place KROSS-A-NES (Crossness) in
all time coming." He died, and they did as
he had ordered. Afterward they returned to
their companions at Leifsbooths, and spent
the winter there ; but in the spring of 1005
they sailed again to Greenland, having im-
portant intelligence to communicate to Leif.

UNSUCCESSFUL ATTEMPT OF THORSTEIN ERICSON,

Thorstein, Eric's third son, had resolved
to proceed to Vineland to fetch his brother's
body. He fitted out the same ship, and select-
ed twenty-five strong and able-bodied men for
his crew : his wife Gudrida also went along
with him. They were tossed about the ocean
the whole summer, and knew not whither
they were driven ; but at the close of the first
week of winter they landed at Lysufiord, in
the western settlement of Greenland. There
Thorstein died during the winter; and in

BIRON. 95

the spring Gudrida returned again to Erics-
fiord.

SETTLEMENT EFFECTED IN VINELAND BY THOR-
FINN.

In the following summer, 1006, there ar-
rived in Greenland two ships from Iceland ;
the one was commanded by THORFINN, hav-
ing the very significant surname of KARLSEFNE
(i. e., one who promises or is destined to be
an able or great man), a wealthy and power-
ful man, of illustrious lineage, and sprung
from Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Irish, and
Scottish ancestors, some of whom were kings
or of royal descent. He was accompanied
by SNORRE THORBRANDSON, who was also a
man of distinguished lineage. The other
ship was commanded by BIARNE GRIMOLFSON,
of Breidefiord, and THORHALL GAMLASON, of
Austfiord. They kept the festival of Yule, or
Christmas, at Brattalid. Thorfinn became en-
amoured of Gudrida, and obtained the con-
sent of her brother-in-laAv, Leif; and their
marriage was celebrated in the course of the
winter. On this, as on former occasions, the
voyage to Vineland formed a favourite theme
of conversation, and Thorfinn was urged both
by his wife and others to undertake such a

96 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

voyage. It was accordingly resolved on.
In the 'spring of 1007 Karlsefne and Snorre
fitted out their ship, and Biarne and Thorhall
likewise equipped theirs. A third ship (being
that in which Gudrida's father, Thorbibrn,
had formerly come to Greenland) was com-
manded by THORWARD, who was married to
FREYDISA, a natural daughter of ERIC the
Red ; and on board the ship was also a man
of the name of THORHALL, who had long serv-
ed Eric as huntsman in summer and as
house-steward in winter, and who had much
acquaintance with the uncolonized parts of
Greenland. The whole expedition consisted
of one hundred and sixty men ; and they
took with them all kinds of live-stock, it be-
ing their intention to establish a colony, if
possible. They sailed first to the Wester-
by gd, and afterward to Biarney (Disco).
From thence thBy sailed in a southerly di-
rection to HELLU-LAND, where they found
many foxes ; and again two days in a south-
erly direction to MARK-LAND, a country
overgrown with wood, and plentifully stock-
ed with animals. Leaving this, they contin-
ued in a S.W. direction for a long time,
having the land to starboard, until they at
length came to KIAL-AR-NES, where there

B I R O N. 97

were trackless deserts and long beaches and
sands, called by them FURDU-STRAND-
IR. Passing these, they found the land in-
dented by inlets. They had two Scots with
them, TAKE and TEKIA, whom Leif had for-
merly received from the Norwegian king,
Olaf Tryggvason, and who were very swift of
foot. They put them on shore, recommend-
ing them to proceed in a S.W. direction, and
explore the country. After the lapse of three
days they returned, bringing with them some
grapes and some ears of wheat, which grew
wild in that region. They continued their
course until they came to a place where a
frith penetrated far into the country. Off the
mouth of it was an island, past which there
ran strong currents, which was also the case
farther up the frith. On the island there were
an immense number of eider-ducks, so that it
was scarcely possible to walk without tread-
ing on their eggs. They called the island
STRAUM-EY (Stream Isle), and the frith
SRRAUM-FIORDR (Stream Frith). They
landed on the shore of this frith, and made
preparations for their winter residence. The
country was extremely beautiful. They con-
fined their operations to exploring the country.
Thorhall afterward wished to proceed in a N.

98 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

direction in quest of Vineiand, Karlsefn©
chose rather to go to the S.W. Thorhall,
and eight men with him, quitted them, and
sailed past Furoustrander and Kialarnes ; but
they were driven by westerly gales to the
coast of Ireland, where, according to the ac-
counts of some traders, they were beaten and
made slaves. Karlsefne, together with Snorre
and Biarne, and the rest of the ships' compa-
nies, in all 131 (CXXXI) men, sailed south-
ward, and arrived at the place where a river
falls into the sea from a lake. Opposite to-
the mouth of the river were large islands.
They steered into the lake, and called the
place HOP (I Hope). On the low grounds
they found fields of wheat growing wild, and
on the rising ground vines. While looking
about one morning, they observed a great
number of canoes. As they exhibited friend-
ly signals, the canoes approached nearer to
them, and the natives looked with astonish-
ment at those they met there. These people
were sallow and ill-looking : had ugly heads
of hair, and broad cheeks. After they had
gazed at them for a while, they rowed away
again to the S.W. past the cape. Karlsefne
and his company had erected their dwelling
houses a little above the bay, and there they

B I R O N. ,99

spent the winter. No snow fell, and the cat-
tle found their food in the open field. One
morning early, in the beginning of 1008, they
descried a number of canoes coming from the
S.W. past the cape. Karlsefne having held
up a white shield as a friendly signal, they
drew nigh, and immediately commenced bar-
tering. These people chose in preference
red cloth, and gave furs and squirrel skins
in exchange. They would fain also have
bought swords and spears, but these Karl-
sefne and Snorre prohibited their people from
selling. In exchange for a skin entirely
gray, the Skrellings took a piece of cloth
of a span in breadth, and bound it round
their heads. Their barter was carried on in
this way for some time. The Northmen
found that their cloth was beginning to grow
scarce, whereupon they cut it up in smaller
pieces, not broader than a finger's breadth ;
yet the Skrellings gave as much for these
smaller pieces as they had formerly given for
the larger ones, or even more. Karlsefne
also caused the women to make and pour out
milk soup, and the Skrellings relishing the
taste of it, they desired to buy it in prefer-
ence to everything else ; so they wound up
their traffic by carrying away their bargains

100 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

in their stomachs. While this trade was go-
ing on, it happened that a bull which Karl-
sefne had brought along with him came out
of the wood and bellowed loudly. At this
the Skrellings became terrified, rushed to
their canoes, and rowed away southward.
About this time Gudrida, Karlsefne's wife,
gave birth to a son, who received the name
of SNORRE. In the beginning of the follow-
ing winter the Skrellings came again in much
greater numbers ; they showed symptoms of
hostility, setting up loud yells. Karlsefne
caused the red shield to be borne against
them, whereupon they advanced against each
other, and a battle commenced. There was
a galling discharge of missiles. The Skrel-
lings had a sort of war-slings ; they elevated
on a pole a tremendously large ball, almost
the size of a sheep's stomach, and of a bluish
colour ; this they swung from the pole upon
land over Karlsefne's people, and it descend-
ed with a fearful crash. This struck terror
into the Northmen, and they fled along the
river. Freydisa came out, and, seeing them
flying, she exclaimed, " How can stout men
like you fly from these miserable caitiffs, whom
I thought you could knock down like cattle !
If I had only a weapon, I ween I could fight

BIRON. 101

better than any of you !" They heeded not
her words. She tried to keep pace with
them, but the advanced rity.t.e of hei pregnan-
cy retarded her • -she, however, followed them
into the wood.' "SSere she tfiteoianTtered a
dead body : it was THORBRAND SNORRASON ;
a flat stone was sticking fast in his head, and
his naked sword lay by his side ; this she
took up, and prepared to defend herself. She
uncovered her bosom, and struck it with the
naked sword. At this sight the Skrellings
became terrified, and ran off to their canoes.
Karlsefne and the rest now came up to her,
and praised her courage. They were now
become aware that, thpugh the country held
out many advantages, still the life that they
would have to lead here would be one of con-
stant alarm, from the hostile attacks of the
natives. They therefore made preparations
for departure, with the resolution of returning
to their own country. Sailing eastward, they
arrived in Streamfirth. Karlsefne then took
one of the ships, and sailed in quest of Thor-
hall, while the rest remained behind. They
proceeded northward round Kialarnes, and
after that were carried to the northwest.
The land lay to the larboard of them ; there
were thick forests in all directions, as far as

102 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

they could see, with scarcely any open space.
They considered the hills at Hope and those
which 'tljey. now 'savfr^s jfotming part of one
continued range. They spe.nt the third win-
ter at\St«€feaqfirt3i;| :K-Ar^efne's son, Snorre,
was now three years of age. When they
sailed from Vineland they had southerly
wind, and came to Markland, where they
met with five Skrellings. They caught two
of them (two boys), whom they carried away
with them, and taught them the Norse lan-
guage, and baptized them. These children
said that their mother was called VETHILLDI,
and their father UVJEGE ; they said that the
Skrellings were ruled by chieftains (kings j,
one of whom was called AVALLDAMON, and
the other VALDIDIDA ; that there were no
houses in the country, but that the people
dwelt in holes and caverns. Biarne Grim-
olfson was driven into the Irish Ocean, and
came into waters that were so infested with
worms that the ship was in consequence re-
duced to a sinking state. Some of the crew,
however, were saved in the boat, as it had
been smeared with seal-oil tar, which is a
preventive against the attack of worms. Karl-
sefne continued his voyage to Greenland, and
arrived at Ericsfiord.

B I R O N. 103

fOYAGE OF FREYDISA, HELGE AND FINNBOGE :
THORFINN SETTLES IN ICELAND.

During the same summer, 1011, there ar-
rived in Greenland a ship from Norway,
commanded by two brothers from Austfiord
in Iceland, HELGE and FINNBOGE, who passed
the following winter in Greenland. FREYDI-
SA went to them, and proposed a voyage to
Vineland, on the condition that they should
share equally with her in all the profits which
the voyage might yield : to this they assent-
ed. Freydisa and these brothers entered
into a mutual agreement that each party
should have thirty able-bodied men on board
their ship besides women ; but Freydisa im-
mediately deviated from the agreement, and
took with her five additional men, whom she
concealed. In 1012 they arrived at Leifs-
booths, where they spent the following win-
ter. The conduct of Freydisa occasioned a
coolness and distance between the parties ;
and by her subtle arts she ultimately prevail-
ed on her husband to massacre the brothers
and their followers. After the perpetration
of this base deed, they, in the spring of 1013,
returned to Greenland, where Thorfmn lay
ready to sail for Norway, and was waiting for

104 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

a fair wind : the ship he commanded was so
richly laden, that it was generally admitted
that a more valuable cargo had never left
Greenland. As soon as the wind became
favourable he sailed to Norway, where he
spent the following winter and sold his goods.
Next year, when he was ready to sail for
Iceland, there came a German from Bremen
who wanted to buy a piece of wood from
him : he gave for it half a marc of gold : it
was the wood of the Mazer-tree, from Vine-
land. Karlsefne went to Iceland, and in the
following year, 1015, he bought the Glaumboe
estate, in Skagefiord, in the northland quar
ter, where he resided during the remaindei
of his life : his son Snorre, who had been
born in America, was his successor on this
estate. When the latter married, his mother
made a pilgrimage to Rome, and afterward
returned to her son's house at Glaumboe,
where he had in the mean time ordered a
church to be built. The mother lived long
as a religious recluse. A numerous and illus-
trious race descended from Karlsefne, among
whom may be mentioned the learned bishop
Thorlak Runolfson, born in 1085, of Snorre's
daughter Halfrida, to whom we are princi-
pally indebted for the oldest ecclesiastical

B I R 0 N. 105

Code of Iceland, published in the year 1123;
it is also probable that the accounts of the
voyages here mentioned were originally com-
piled by him.

A SURVEY OF THE PRECEDINE EVIDENCE.

I. Geography and Hydrography.
It is a fortunate circumstance that these
ancient accounts have preserved not only
geographical, but also nautical and astronom-
ical facts, that may serve in fixing the posi-
tion of the lands and places named. The
nautical facts are of special importance, al-
though hitherto they have not been sufficient-
ly attended to ; these consist in statements
of the course steered and the distance sailed
in a day. From data in the Landnama and
several other ancient Icelandic geographical
works, we may gather that the distance of
a day's sailing was estimated at 27 to 30
geographical miles (German or Danish, of
which fifteen are equal to a degree ; each of
these being, accordingly, equal to four Eng-
lish sea-miles). From the Island of HEL-
LU-LAND, afterward called little Helluland,
Biarne sailed to Heriulfsnes (Iki-geit) in
Greenland, with strong southwesterly gales,
in four days. The distance between thai

106 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

cape and Newfoundland is about one hundred
and fifty miles, which will correspond when
we take into consideration the strong gales.
In modern descriptions it is stated that this
land partly consists of naked rocky flats,
where no tree, nor even a shrub, can grow,
and which are therefore usually called Bar-
rens ; thus answering completely to the hell-
ur of the ancient Northmen, from which they
named the country.

MARKLAND was situate to the south-
west of Helluland, distant about three days'
sail, or from eighty to ninety miles. Here
then we have Nova Scotia, of which the de-
scriptions given by later writers answer to
that given by the ancient Northmen of Mark-
land : " the land is low in general ;" " the
coast to the seaward being level and low,
and the shores marked with white rocks ;"
" the land is low, with white sandy cliffs,
particularly visible at sea," says the new
" North American Pilot," by J. W. Nori.j
and another American sailor : "on the shore
are some cliffs of exceedingly white sand."
Here " level" corresponds completely to the
Icelandic " stilt" " low to the seaward" to
the short expression " 6-sce-bratt" and "white
sandy cliffs" to the " hvit-ir sand-ar" of the

B I R O N. 107

Northmen. Nova Scotia, New-Brunswick,
and Lower Canada, situate more inland,
which probably may be considered as all be-
longing to the Markland of the Northmen,
are almost everywhere covered with immense
forests.

VINLAND was situate at the distance of
two days' sail, consequently from fifty-four
to sixty miles, in a southwesterly direction
from Markland. The distance from Cape
Sable to Cape Cod is stated in nautical works
as being W. by S. about seventy leagues,
that is, about two hundred miles. Biarne's
description of the coast is very accurate, and
in the island situate to the eastward (between
which and the promontory that stretches to
eastward and northward Leif sailed) we rec-
ognise Nantucket. The ancient Northmen
found there many shallows (grunn-s&fui mik-
it) ; modern navigators make mention at the
same place " of numerous reefs and other
shoals," and say " that the whole presents
an aspect of drowned land."

KIALARNES (from kiolr, a keel, and nes,
a cape, most likely on account of its striking
resemblance to the keel of a ship, particular-
ly of one of the long ships of the ancient

Northmen) must consequently be Cape Cod,
I— I

108 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

the NAUSET of the Indians, which modern
geographers have sometimes likened to a
horn, and sometimes to a sickle or scythe.
The ancient Northmen found here trackless
deserts (or-cefi), and long narrow beaches
and sandhills, or sands (strand-ir l(mg-ar ok
sand-ar) of a very peculiar appearance, on
which account they called them FURDU-
STRAND-IR ( Wonder-strands, from furt-a,
res miranda, and strond, strand, beach.)
Compare the description given of this cape
by a modern author, Hitchcock : " The
Dunes or sandhills, which are often nearly
or quite barren of vegetation, and of snowy
whiteness, forcibly attract the attention on ac-
count of their peculiarity. As we approach
the extremity of the cape, the sand and bar-
renness increase ; and in not a few places it
would need only a party of Bedouin Arabs to
cross the traveller's path to make him feel
that he was in the depths of an Arabian or
Libyan desert" A remarkable natural phe-
nomenon which is observed there has also
most probably had a share in giving rise to
that peculiar name. It is thus described by
the same author : " In crossing the sands of
the cape, I noticed a singular mirage or de-
ception. In Orleans, for instance, we seem-

B I R O N. 109

ed to be ascending at an angle of throe or
four degrees ; nor was I convinced that yuch
was not the case, until, turning about, I per-
ceived that a similar ascent appeared in the
road just passed over. I shall not attempt
to explain this optical deception, but merely
remark that it is probably of the same kind
as that observed by Humboldt on the Pam-
pas of Venezuela : "all around us," says he,
11 the plains seemed to ascend towards the
sky." Thus we observe that the appellation
given by the ancient Northmen to the three
strands or tracts of coast, Nauset Beach, Chat-
ham Beach, and Monomoy Beach, is remark-
ably appropriate.

The great Gulf Stream, as it is called,
which issues from the Gulf of Mexico, and
runs between Florida, Cuba, and the Baha-
ma Isles, and so northward in a direction
parallel to the eastern coast of North Amer-
ica, and of which the channel, in ancient
times, is said to have approached still nearer
to the coast, occasions great currents precise-
ly at this place, inasmuch as the peninsula of
Barnstable offers opposition to the stream as it
comes from the southward. The STRAUM-
FIORDR of the ancient Northmen is sup-
posed to be Buzzard's Bay, and STRAUM-

110 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

EY, Martha's Vineyard; although the ac-
counts of the many eggs found there would
seem more precisely to correspond to the isl-
and which lies off the entrance of Vineyard
Sound, and which to this day is called Egg-
Island.

KROSS-A-NES is probably Gurnet Point,
It must have been somewhat to the northward
of this that Karlsefne landed when he saw
the mountain range (the Blue Hills}, which
he considered as forming a part of the same
range that extends to the region where We
recognise the place named Hop (z H6p-e).

The word HOP, in Icelandic, may either
denote a small recess or bay formed by a
river from the interior falling into an inlet
from the sea, or the land bordering on such a
bay. To this Mount Hope's Bay, or MONT
HAUP'S Bay, as the Indians term it, corre-
sponds, through which the Taunton River
flows, and, by means of the very narrow, yet
navigable Pocasset River, meets the approach-
ing water of the ocean at its exit at Seacon-
net. It was at this H6pe that Leifsbooths
were situate; it was above it, and therefore
most probably on the beautiful elevation call-
ed afterward by the Indians MONT HAUP,
that Thorfinn Karlsefne erected his dwelling-
houses.

BIRON. Ill

II. Climate and Soil.

Concerning the climate of the country and
the quality of the soil, and also concerning
some of its productions, the ancient writings
contain sundry illustrative remarks. The
climate was so mild that it appeared the
cattle did not require winter fodder ; for
there came no snow, and the grass was but
slightly withered. Warden uses similar ex-
pressions respecting this region : " La tem-
perature est si douce que la vegetation souffre
rarement du froid ou de la stcheresse. On
1'appelle le paradis de VAmtrique parcequ'elle
lremporte sur les autres lieux par sa situation,
son sol et son climat." "An excursion from
Taunton to Newport, Rhode Island, down
Taunton River and Mount Hope Bay, con-
ducts the traveller among scenery of great
beauty and loveliness," says Hitchcock; and
when he adds "that the beautiful appearance
of the country, and the interesting historical
associations connected with that region, con-
spire to keep the attention alive and to grat-
ify the taste," he will find that this last re-
mark is applicable to times much more re-
mote than he thought of when he gave ex-
pression to the above sentiment.

112 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

A country of such a nature might well de-
serve the appellation of " THE GOOD," which
was the epithet the ancient Northmen be-
stowed on it, especially as it yielded pro-
ductions whereon they set a high value, and
of which their colder native land was for the
most part destitute.

III. Produce and Natural History.

Vines grew there spontaneously ; a circum-
stance which Adam of Bremen, a foreign
writer of the same (that is, of the eleventh)
century, mentions that he had learned, not
from conjecture, but from authentic accounts
furnished by Danes. As his authority on this
occasion, he cites the Danish king Sveyn
Estrithson, a nephew of Canute the Great.
It is well known that vines still grow in that
region in great abundance.

Spontaneously growing wheat (sj&lf sdn-ir
hveiti-akrar.} At the subsequent arrival of
the Europeans, maize, or Indian corn, as it
is called, was found growing here ; this the
natives reaped without having sowed, and
they preserved it in holes in the earth, as it
constituted one of their most valuable arti-
cles of food. Honeydew was found on the
island which lies off it, as is also still the case.

BIRON. 113

Mazer (mausur,} a species of wood of re-
markable beauty, probably a species of the
Acer rubrum or Acer saccharinum, which
grows here, and which is called " bird's eye"
or " curled maple." Wood for building was
also obtained here.

A great number of forest animals of all
kinds. It is understood that the Indians
chose this region- in preference for their
abode, chiefly on account of the excellent
hunting.

At present the forests are for the most
part cut down, and the animals have with-
drawn to the interior and woodland regions.
From the natives the Northmen bought squir-
rel-skins and all kinds of peltries, which are
still to be found in abundance in this district.

Eider-ducks and other birds were found in
great numbers on the adjacent islands, as is
also at present the case, on which account
some of them have the name of Egg Islands.

Every river was full of fish, among which
are mentioned excellent salmon. On the
coast was also caught a great quantity of
fish. The Northmen dug ditches along the
shore, within the high water-mark, and when
the tide receded they found halibuts in the
ditches. On the coast they also caught ivhales,

114 AMERICAN BIOGEAPHY.

and among these the refer (Balsena physa-
lus). In the modern descriptions of this re-
gion it is stated that " all the rivers are full
of fish ;" and of the waters in that neighbour-
hood it is said " il y a une grande abondance
de poissons de presque toutes les especes."
Salmon may be mentioned as one of these.
Not long ago, the whale fishery was, in that
very region, an important branch of industry,
especially for the inhabitants of the adjacent
islands. Very possibly the adjacent Whale
Rock has its name from the same circum-
stances.

IV. Astronomical Evidence.
Besides the nautical and geographical
statements, one of the most ancient writings
has preserved an astronomical notice, where
it was said that here the days were of more
equal length than in Iceland or Greenland ;
that on the shortest day the sun rose at half
past seven o'clock, and set at half past four,
which makes the shortest day nine hours.
This astronomical observation gives for the
place latitude 41° 24' 10". The latitude of
Seaconnet Point, and of the southernmost
promontory of the Island of Conannicut, is
41° 26' north, and that of Point Judith

BIRON. 115

23-. These three headlands form the en-
trance boundaries of the modern Mount Hope
Bay, which the ancients, according to the
analogy of their language, no doubt, called
HOPSVATN. We thus see that this statement
corresponds exactly with the other data, and
indicates precisely the same region.

DISCOVERIES OF MORE SOUTHERN REGIONS.

The party sent by Thorvvald Ericson, in
the year 1003, from Leifsbooths, to explore
the southern coasts, employed from four to
five months in the expedition ; they there-
fore most likely examined the coasts of Con-
necticut and New- York, probably also those
of New- Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland.
The description of this range of coast is ac-
curate

ARE MARSON'S SOJOURN IN GREAT IRELAND.
In those times the Esquimaux inhabited
more southerly regions than they do at pres-
ent. This is both evident from the ancient
accounts, and seems, besides, to gain corrobo-
ration from ancient skeletons which have
been dug up in regions even more southerly
than those in question ; a circumstance which,
however, merits a more accurate examina-

116 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

tion. In the neighbourhood of Vineland,
opposite the country inhabited by the Esqui-
maux, there dwelled, according to their re-
ports, people who wore white dresses, and
had poles borne before them, on which were
fastened lappets, and who shouted with a loud
voice. This country was supposed to be
HVITRA-MANN-A-LAND, as it was call-
ed (the Land of the White Men}, otherwise
called IR-LAND IT MIKLA (Great Ire-
land), being probably that part of the coast
of North America which extends southward
from Chesapeake Bay, including North and
South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. Among
the Shawanese Indians, who some years ago
emigrated from Florida, and are now settled
in Ohio, there is preserved a tradition which
seems of importance here, viz., that Florida
was once inhabited by white people, who
were in possession of iron implements. Judg-
ing from the ancient accounts, this must have
been an Irish Christian people, who, previous
to the year 1000, were settled in this region.
The powerful chieftain ARE MARSON, of Rei-
kianes, in Iceland, was, in the year 903, driv-
en thither by storms, and there received bap-
tism. The first author of this account was
his contemporary Rafa, surnamed the Lim-

BIRON. 117

erick-trader, he having long resided at Lim-
erick, in Ireland. The illustrious Icelandic
•sage Are Frode, the first compiler of the
Landnama, who was himself a descendant in
the fourth degree from Are Marson, states on
this subject, that his uncle, Thorkell Geller-
Bon (whose testimony he on another occasion
declares to be worthy of all credit), had been
informed by Icelanders, who had their infor-
mation from Thorfinn Sigurdson, earl of
Orkney, that Are had been recognised in
Hvitramannaland, and could not get away
from thence, but was there held in high re-
spect. This statement therefore shows that
in those times there was an occasional inter-
course between the western European coun-
tries (the Orkneys and Ireland) and this part
of America.

VOYAGES OF BIERN ASBRANDSON AND GUDLEIF
GUDLAUGSON.

It must have been in this same country that
BIERN AS-BRANDSON, surnamed BREID-VIK-
INGA-KAPPI, spent the latter part of his life.
He had been adopted into the celebrated
band of Jomsburg warriors, under Palnatoke,
and took part with them in the battle of Fyr-
isval, in Sweden. His illicit amatory con-

118 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

nexion with Thurida of Frodo, in Iceland, a
sister of the powerful Snorre Gode, drew
upon him the enmity and persecution of the
latter ; in consequence of which, he found
himself obliged to quit the country forever,
and in the year 999 he set sail from Hraun-
hofn, in Sniofelsnes, with a N.E. wind. GUD-
LEIF GUDLAUQSON, brother of Thorfinn, the
ancestor of the celebrated historian Snorre
Sturluson, had made a trading voyage to
Dublin ; but when he left that place again,
with the intention of sailing round Ireland
and returning to Iceland, he met with long-
continued northeasterly winds, which drove
him far out of his course to the southwest,
and late in the season he, along with his com-
pany, at last made land; the country was
very extensive, but they knew not what coun-
try it was. On their landing, a crowd of the
natives, amounting to several hundreds in
number, came against them, overpowered,
and bound them. They did not know any-
body in the crowd, but it seemed to them
that their language resembled Irish. The
natives now took counsel whether they should
kill the strangers or make slaves of them.
While they were deliberating, a large compa-
ny approached, displaying a banner, close to

BIRON. 119

which rode a man of distinguished appear-
ance, who was far advanced in years, and
had gray hair. The matter under delibera-
tion was referred to his decision. He was
the aforesaid Biorn Asbrandson. He caused
Gudleif to be brought before him, and, ad-
dressing him in the Norse language, he asked
him whence he came. As he replied that he
was an Icelander, Biorn made many inquiries
about his acquaintance in Iceland, particular-
ly about his beloved Thurida of Frodo, and
about her son, and who at that time was the
proprietor of the estate of Frodo. In the
mean time, the natives becoming impatient
and demanding a decision, Biorn selected
twelve of his company as counsellors ; he
took them aside, and some time after he
went towards Gudleif and his companions,
and told them that the natives had left the
matter to his decision. "He thereupon gave
them their liberty, and advised thern^ although
the summer was already far advanced, to de-
part immediately, because the natives we{g
not to be depended on, and were difficult to
deal with ; and, moreover, conceived that an
infringement on their laws had been commit-
ted to their disadvantage. He gave them a
gold ring for Thurida, and a sword for Kiar-

120 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

tan, and told them to charge his friends and
relations not to come over to him, as he was
now become old, and might daily expect that
old age would get the better of him ; that the
country was large, having but few harbours,
and that strangers must everywhere expect a
hostile reception. They accordingly set sail
again, and found their way back to Dublin,
where they spent the winter ; but next sum-
mer they repaired to Iceland and delivered
the presents ; and all were convinced that it
was really Biorn Asbrandson whom they had
met with in that country.

BISHOP ERIC'S VOYAGE TO VINELAND.

It may be considered as certain that the
intercourse between Vinelattd and Greenland
was maintained for a considerable period af-
ter this, although the scanty notices about
Greenland contained in the ancient manu-
scripts do not furnish us with any satisfactory
information on this head. It is, however, re-
corded, that the Greenland bishop ERIC, im
pelled probably by a Christian zeal either of
converting the colonists, or of animating them
to perseverance in the faith, went over to
Vineland in the year 1121. As we have no
information of the result of his voyage, but

BIRON. 121

can merely gather from the above expression
that he reached his destination, we must pre-
sume that he fixed his permanent residence
in Vineland. His voyage, however, goes to
corroborate the supposition of a lengthened
intercourse having been kept up between the
countries.

DISCOVERIES IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS OP
AMERICA.

The next event in chronological order, of
which accounts have been preserved in an-
cient records, is a voyage of discovery in the
Arctic regions of America, performed during
the year 1266, under the auspices of some
clergymen of the bishopric of Gar&ar, in
Greenland. The account of it is taken from
a letter, addressed by a clergyman of the name
of Halldor to another clergyman named Ar-
nold, formerly established in Greenland, but
who had then become chaplain to the Norwe-
gian king, Magnus Lagabaeter. At that time
all men of any consequence in Greenland
possessed large vessels, built for the purpose
of being despatched northward in hunting and
fishing expeditions. The northern regions
which they visited were called Nor&r-set-ur ;
the chief stations were Greipai; and Kr6ks-

122 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

fiar«5-ar-heibi. The first of these stations is
supposed to have been situate immediately to
the southward of Disco ; but that the ancient
Northmen went much farther north on this
coast may be inferred from a very remarkable
runic stone^ found in the year 1824, on the isl-
and of Kin-gik-tor-s6ak, lying in the latitude of
72° 55' N. The latter-mentioned station was
to the north of the former. The object of the
voyage is stated to have been to explore re-
gions lying more to the northward than those
they had hitherto been accustomed to visit,
consequently lying farther north than KROKS-
FIARD-AR-HEIDI, where they had their
summer quarters (set-ur), and which they
were therefore regularly accustomed to visit.
The following particulars are mentioned rela-
ting to this voyage of discovery. They sail-
ed out of Kroks-fiarb-ar-heibi, and after that
encountered southerly winds, accompanied
by thick weather, which obliged them to let
the ship go before the wind. On the weather
clearing up they saw many islands, and all
kinds of prey, both seals and whales, and a
great many bears. They penetrated into the
innermost part of the gulf, and had icebergs
(glaciers) lying also to the southward as far as
the eye could reach. They observed some

BIRO*, 123

vestiges indicating that the Skrellings had in
former times inhabited these regions, but they
could not land on account of the bears. They
then put about and sailed back during three
days ; and now again they found traces of
the Skrellings having been on some islands
lying to the southward of a mountain, by them
called Sniofell. After this (on St. James's
day) they proceeded southward a great day's
rowing. It froze during the night in those
regions, but the sun was above the horizon
both night and day; and when on the merid-
ian in the south, he was not higher than that
when a man lay down across a six-oared
boat, stretched out towards the gunwale, the
shadow formed by the side of the boat near-
est the sun reached his face ; but at midnight
the sun was as high as when it was (highest)
in the northwest in the Greenland colony.
Afterward they sailed back again to their
home at Garbar. Kroks-fiarb-ar-heibi, as we
have observed above, had been for some time
previous regularly visited by the Greenland-
ers. The name shows that the frith was sur-
rounded by barren highlands (heik-i), and the
description of the voyage shows that it was a
frith of considerable extent, in and through
which there was room for several days' sail.
I.— K

124 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

It is stated, for instance, that they sailed out
o/this frith or sound into another sea, and
into the innermost part of a gulf, and that
their returning voyage occupied several days.
As to the two observations mentioned as hav-
ing been taken on St. James's day, the first
of them leads to no certain result, as we have
no sure means of ascertaining the depth of
the boat, or, rather, the relative depth of the
man's position as he lay across the boat, in
reference to the height of the side of the
same, so as to enable us to deduce the angle
formed by the upper edge of the boat's side
and the man's face, which is the angle meas-
uring the sun's altitude at noon on St. James's
day, or the 25th of July. If we assume, as
we may do with probability, that it was some-
what less than 33°, and yet very near that
measure, the place must have been situate
near north latitude 75°. There seems no
probability that it was a larger angle, and,
consequently, that the place lay more to the
southward. The result obtained from the
other observation is, however, more satisfacto-
ry. In the thirteenth century, on the 25th of
July, the sun's declination was + 17° 54';
f inclination of the ecliptic, 23° 32'. If we
now assume that the colony, and particularly

B I R O N. 125

the episcopa. seat of Gar&ar, was situate on
the north side of Igaliko Frith, where the ru-
ins of a large church and of many other
buildings indicate the site of a principal set-
tlement of the ancient colony, consequently
in 60° 55' north latitude, then, at the summer
solstice, the height of the sun there, when in
the northwest, was = 3° 40', equivalent to the
midnight altitude of the sun on St. James's
day in the parallel of 75° 46', which falls a lit-
tle to the north of Barrow's Strait, being in
the latitude of Wellington's' Channel, or close
to the northward of the same. The voyage
of discovery undertaken by the Greenland
clergyman was therefore carried to regions
which in our days have been more accu-
rately explored, and their geographical posi-
tion determined by Sir William Parry, Sir
John Ross, and Captain James Clark Ross,
and other British navigators, in the no less da-
ring and dangerous expeditions conducted by
them.

NEWFOUNDLAND REDISCOVERED FROM ICELAND.

The discovery next recorded was made by
the Iceland clergymen ADALBRAND and THOR-
WALD HELGASON, well known in the history%
of Iceland as having been involved in the

AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

disputes at that time prevailing between the
Norwegian king, Eric Priesthater, and the
clergy, and which in Iceland were chiefly
headed by the governor, Rafa Oddson, and
Arne Thorlakson, bishop of Skalholt. Ac-
counts drawn up by contemporaries contain
merely the brief notice, that in the year 1285
the above-mentioned clergymen discovered a
new land to the westward of Iceland (fundu
nyja land). This land, to which, by com-
mand of King Eric Priesthater, a voyage was
some years afterward 'projected by Landa-
Rolf, is supposed to have been Newfoundland.

A VOYAGE TO MARKLAND IN THE YEAR 1347.

The last piece of information respecting
America which our ancient manuscripts have
preserved, refers to a voyage in the year 1347
from Greenland to MARK- LAND, perform-
ed in a vessel having a crew of seventeen
men, being probably undertaken for the pur-
pose of bringing home building-timber and
other supplies from that country. On the
voyage homeward from Markland, the ship
was driven out of her course by storms, and
arrived with loss of anchors at Straumfiord,
in the west of Iceland. From the accounts,
scanty as they are, of this voyage, written by

B I R O N. 127

a contemporary nine years after the event, it
would appear that the intercourse between
Greenland and America proper had been
kept up to so late a date as the year above
mentioned ; for it is expressly said that the
ship went to Markland, which is thus named
as a country that in those days was still
known and visited.

******
After having perused the authentic docu-
ments themselves, which are now accessible
to all, every one will acknowledge the truth
of the historical fact, that during the tenth
and eleventh centuries, the ancient Northmen
discovered and visited a great extent of the
eastern coasts of North America ; and will,
besides, be led to the conviction that, during
the centuries immediately following, the in-
tercourse never was entirely discontinued.
The main fact is certain and indisputable.
On the other hand, there are in these, as in
all other ancient writings, certain portions of
the narrative which are obscure, and which
subsequent disquisitions and new interpreta-
tions may serve to clear up. On this account
it seems of importance that the original sour-
ces of information should be published in the
incient language, so that every one may have

AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

it in his power to consult them, and to form
his own judgment as to the accuracy of the
interpretations given.

With regard to such traces of the resi-
dence and settlement of the ancient North-
men as, it is presumed, are still to be me1
with in Massachusetts and Rhode Island (the
countries which formed the destination of
their earliest American expeditions), we shall
content ourselves for the present with refer
ring to the hints which are contained in the
" ANTIQUITATES AMERICANS." This mattei
will continue to form a subject for the accu-
rate investigation of the COMMITTEE of the
Hoyal Society of Northern Antiquaries 01*
THE ANTE-COLUMBIAN HISTORY OF AMERICA ;
and the result of this investigation, togethei
with such additional elucidations of the an-
cient manuscripts as we may have it in oui
power to furnish, shall be communicated ir
the ANNALS and MEMOIRS of the Society.]

MADOC. 129

II. MADOC.

THIS person is supposed to have discovered
America, and brought a colony of his coun-
trymen 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 1589, and a second
edition of it in 1600.*

"The voyage of Madoc, the son of Owen
Guyneth, prince of North Wales, to the West
Indies in the year 1170, taken out of the His-
tory of Wales lately published by M. David
Powel, Doctor of Divinitie."

" After the death of Owen Guyneth, his
sons fell at debate who should inherit after
him. For the eldest son born in matrimony,
Edward or lorwerth Drwydion, was coiinted
unmeet to govern, because of the maime upon
his face ; and Howel, that took upon him all
the rule, was a base son begotten of an Irish
woman. Therefore David gathered all the
power he could and came against Howel, and,
fighting with him, slew him, and afterward en-

* [Vol. iii., p. 1, ed. 1600.— H.]

130 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

joyed quietly the whole land of North Wales,
until his brother lorwerth's son came to age.

" MADOC, another of Owen Guyneth his
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.

" This land must needs be some part of
that country of which the Spaniards affirm
themselves to be the first finders since Han-
no's time. [*For by reason and order of
cosmographie, this land to the which Madoc
came must needs be some part of Nova His-
pania or Florida.] Whereupon it is manifest
that that country was by Britains discovered
long before [either] Columbus [or Americus
Vesputius] led any Spaniards thither.

" Of the voyage and return of that Ma-
doc 'there be many fables feigned, as the
common people do use, in distance of place
and length of time, rather to augment than
diminish, but sure it is there he was. And
after he had returned home and declared the
pleasant and fruitful countries that he had

* The words included in crotchets [ ] are omitted in the sec-
ond edition of Hakluyt's Voyages.

MA DOC. 131

seen without inhabitants ; and upon the contra-
ry part, for what barren and wild ground his
brethren and nephews did murther one an-
other, he prepared a number of ships, and got
with him such men and women as were desi-
rous to live in quietness ; and, taking leave of
his friends, took his journey thitherward again.

" Therefore it is to be supposed that he
and his people inhabited part of those coun-
tries ; for it appeareth by Francis Lopez de
Gomara, that in Acuzamil and other places
the people honoured the cross, whereby it
may be gathered that Christians had been
there before the coming of the Spaniards.
But because this people were not many, they
followed the manners of the land they came
unto, and used the language they found there.

" This Madoc arriving in that western
country, unto the which he came in the year
1170, left most of his people there, and, re-
turning back for more of his own nation, ac-
quaintance, 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 think so be these :

* In the second edition the word Mexico is changed for the
West Indies, and the two following paragraphs are omitted.

132 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

" 1. The common report of the inhabitants
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 Mutezuma, king of that coun-
try, in an oration made for quieting of his
people, at his submission to the King of Cas-
tile, Hernando Cortez being then present,
which is laid down in the Spanish chronicles
of the conquest of the West Indies.

" 2. The British words and names of pla-
ces used in that country even to this day do
argue the same ; as, when they talk together,
they use the word gwrando, which is heark-
en or listen. Also th#y have a certain bird
with a white head, which they call penguin,
that is, white head. But the island of Corro-
eso, the river of Guyndor, and the white rock
of Peng-uyn, which be all British or Welsh
words, do manifestly show that it was that
country which Madoc and his people inhab-
ited.]

" Carmina Meredith filii Rhesi mentionem
facientia de Madoco filio Owein Guynedd et
de sua navag-atione in terras incognitas. Vix-
it hie Meredith circiter annum Domini 1477.*

* [i. e., Songs of Meredith, the son of Rhesus (ap. Rees), ma-
king mention of Madoe, Jhe son of Owen Guyned, and of his

M A D O C. 133

" Madoc wyf, mwyedic wedd
lawn genau, Ovvyn Guyned
Ni fynnum dir, fy enaid oedd
Na da mawr, ond y moroedd.

" These verses I received of my learned
friend, Mr. William Camden.

The same in English.

" Madoc I am, the son of Owen Guynedd,
With stature large, and comely grace adorned.
No lauds at home, nor store of wealth me please,
My mind was whole to search the Ocean seas."

In this extract from Hakluyt is contained
all the original information which I have been
able to find respecting the supposed discovery
of America by the Welsh. The account it-
self is confused and contradictory. The coun-
try discovered 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 language, yet the author attempts to
prove the truth of his story by the preserva-
tion of several Welsh words in the American
tongues.* Among these he is unfortunate in

sailing to unknown lands. This Meredith lived about the year
\f our Lord 1477.— H.]

* The argument does not seem liable to much objection in its
nature. For in the blending of nations and of languages, each

134 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

the choice of "penguin, a bird with a white
head" all the birds of that name on the
American shores having black or dark brown
heads ; and the name penguin is said to have
been originally pinguedine, from their excess-
ive fatness.*

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 Indians in North Carolina, and that it is
still used by a nation situate on some of the
western waters of the Mississippi. If that
part of the account preserved 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 this story ; but a question may
here arise : How could any report of the loss
of their language have been transmitted to
Europe at so early a period ?t

An attempt has lately been made to ascer-
tain the truth of this piece of history by Dr.

will probably gain and lose somewhat. The uncertainty of the
facts and the scantiness of the examples are a better and suf-
ficient ground of doubt. — H.]

* See the new Encyclopedia, under the article AMERICA.
t [Without leaving som more distinct trace of the position
of the colony.]

M A D O C. 135

John Williams. I have not seen the book it-
self, 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 cur-
rents would rather have carried him to Nova
Scotia than to the southward."

The mentioning of Nova Scotia reminds
me of some words in the native language of
that country which begin with two syllables
resembling the name of Madoc. t A sachem
of the Penobscot tribe, who lived in the end
of the last and in the beginning of the pres-
ent century, bore the name of Madokawando.
A village on Penobscot River was called Ma-
dawankee. One branch of th«e River St. John,
which runs into the Bay of Fundy, is Medoc-
tack, and another is Medocscenecasis. The
advocates of this opinion may avail them-
selves as far as they can of this coincidence,
but in my apprehension it is too precarious
to be the basis of any just conclusion.

* Critical Review for 1791, p. 357.

t See Gyles'a Memoir? ^f his Captivity in 1689.

136 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

After all that has been or can be said on
the subject, we must observe with the critical
reviewers, that " if Madoc left Wales and dis-
covered any other country, it must always re-
main uncertain where that country is."* Dr.
Robertson thinks, if he made any discovery at
all, it might be Madeira or one of the Azores.!

The book of Hakluyt, in which the origi-
nal 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 con-
tested between the two nations. The remarks
which the same author makes on several oth-
er voyages evidently tend to the establish-
ment of that claim. But if the story of Biron
be true, which (though Hakluyt has said no-
thing of it) is better authenticated than this
of Madoc, the right of the crown of Den-

* [There are no data from which it can be ascertained ; no in-
timation of latitude, climate, or distance ; nothing more than
that from Ireland it was southwest. — H.]
. t Hist. Amer., vol. i., p. 374 [note 17].

M A D O C. 137

mark is, on the principle of prior discovery,
superior to either of them.

Perhaps the whole mystery may be un-
veiled if we advert to this one circumstance,
the time when Hakluyt's book was first pub-
lished. 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.

AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

III. ZENO.

IT is well known that the Venetians were
reckoned among the most expert and adven-
turous of the maritime nations. In that re-
public, the family of ZENO or ZENI is not only
very ancient and of high rank, but celebra-
ted for illustrious achievements. Nicolo Zeno,
having exhibited great valour in a war with
the Genoese, conceived an ardent desire,
agreeably to the genius of his nation, to trav-
el, that he might, by his acquaintance with
foreign nations and languages, render him-
self more illustrious and more useful. With
this view he equipped a vessel at his own ex-
pense, and sailed through the Straits of Gib-
raltar to the northward [A.D. 1380], with an
intention to visit Britain and Flanders ; but
by a storm which lasted many days, he was
cast away on the coast of Frisland.*

The prince of the country Zichmni (or, as
Purchas spells, it Zichmui) finding Zeno an

* [The narrative, gathered from the letters of the brother*
Zeni, is given in an abridged form in Purchas's Pilgrims, iii^
610; and more fully in Hakluyt, iii., 121-128. — H.]

Z E N O. 139

expert seaman, gave him the command of
his fleet, consisting of thirteen vessels, of
which two only were rowed with oars ; one
was a ship, and the rest were small barks.
With this fleet he made conquests and dep-
redations in Ledovo, and Ilofo, and other
small islands, several barks laden with fish
being a past of his capture.

Nicolo wrote to his brother Antonio Zeno
at Venice, inviting him to Frisland, whither
he went, and. being taken into the service of
Zichmni, continued with him fourteen years.
The fleet sailed on an expedition to Estland,
where they committed great ravages ; but,
hearing that the King of Norway was coming
against them with a superior fleet, they de-
parted, and were driven by a storm on shoals,
where part of the fleet was wrecked, and the
rest were saved on Grisland, " a great island,
but not inhabited."

Zichmni then determined to attack Ice-
land, which belonged to the King of Norway ;
but, finding it well fortified and defended,
and his fleet being diminished, he retired
and built a fort in Bress, one of seven small
islands, where he left Nicolo and returned to
Frisland.

In the next spring Zeno, with three small

140 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

barks, sailed to the northward on discovery,
and arrived at Engroenland, where he found
a monastery of friars, and a church dedicated
to St. Thomas, situate near a volcano, and
heated by warm springs flowing from the
mountain.

After the death of Nicolo, which happened
in about four years, Antonio sucpeeded him
in the command of the fleet ; and the Prince
Zichmni, aiming at the sovereignty of the
sea, undertook an expedition westward, be-
cause that some fishermen had discovered
rich and populous islands in that quarter.

The report of the fishermen was, thai
above a thousand miles westward from Fris-
land, to which distance they had been driv-
en by a tempest, there was an island called
Estotiland, which they had discovered twen-
ty-six years before ; that six men in one boat
were driven upon the island, and, being taken
by the inhabitants, were brought into a fair
and populous city ; that the king of the place
sent for many interpreters, but none was
found who could understand the language of
the fishermen, except one who could speak
Latin, and he had formerly been cast ashore
on the island ; that, on his reporting their case
to the king, he detained them five years, in

ZENO. 141

which time they learned the language ; that
one of them visited divers parts -of the island,
and reported that it was a very rich country,
abounding with all the commodities of the
world ; that it was less than Iceland, but far
more fruitful, having in the middle a very
high mountain, from which originated four
rivers.

The inhabitants were described as very in-
genious, having all mechanic arts. They
had a peculiar kind of language and letters ;
in the king's library were preserved Latin
books, which they did not understand. They
had all kinds of metals (but especially gold,
with which they mightily abounded.*) They
held traffic with the people of Engroenland,
from whence they brought furs, pitch, and
brimstone. They had many great forests,
which supplied them with timber for the
building of ships, houses, and fortifications.
The use of the loadstone was not known ; but
these fishermen having the mariner's com-
pass, were held in so high estimation that the
king sent them with twelve barks to a coun-
try at the southward, called Drogio, where

* This passage is in Hakhiyt's translation, and the abridg-
ment by Ortelius ; but Dr. Forstcr could not find it in the Italian
original of Rarausio. — Northern Voyages, p. 189.

142 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

the most of them were killed and devoured
by cannibals ; but one of them saved him-
self by showing the savages a way of taking
fish by nets, in much greater plenty than by
any other mode before known among them.
This fisherman was in so great demand with
the princes of the country, that they frequent-
ly made war on each other for the sake of
gaining him. In this manner he passed from
one to another, till, in the space of thirteen
years, he had lived with twenty-five different
princes, to whom he communicated his " mi-
raculous" art of fishing with nets.

He thus became acquainted with every part
of the country, which he described to be so
extensive as to merit the name of a new world.
The people were rude, and ignorant of the use
of clothing, though their climate was cold,
and afforded beasts for the chase. In their
hunting and wars they used the bow and the
lance, but they knew not the use of metal.

Farther to the southwest the air was said
to be more temperate and the people more
civil. They dwelt in cities, built temples,
and worshipped idols, to whom they offered
human victims ; and they had plenty of gold
and silver.

The fisherman, having become fully ac-

Z E N O. 143

quainted with the country, meditated a return.
Having fled through the woods to Drogio,
after three years some boats arrived from Es-
totiland, in one of which he embarked for
that country ; and having acquired consider-
able property, he fitted out a bark of his own
and returned to Frisland.

Such was the report of the fisherman, upon
hearing of which Zichmni resolved to equip
his fleet and go in search of the new coun
try, Antonio Zeno being the second in com-
mand. But " the preparation for the voy-
age to Estotiland was begun in an evil hour ;
the fisherman, who was to have been the pi-
lot, died three days before their departure."

However, taking certain mariners who had
sailed with the fisherman, Zichrnni began the
intended voyage. When he had sailed a
small distance to the westward, he was over-
taken by a storm which lasted eight days, at
the end of which they discovered land, which
the natives called Icaria. They were nu-
merous and formidable, and would not per-
mit him to come on sh&re. From this place
they sailed six days to the westward with a
fair wind, but a heavy gale from the south-
ward drove them four days before it, when
they discovered land, in which was a volcano.

AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

The air was mild and temperate, it being the
Height of summer. They took a great quan-
tity of fish, of seafowl and their eggs. A
party, who penetrated the country as far as
the foot of the volcano, found a spring, from
which issued " a certain water like pitch,
which ran into the sea." They discovered
some of the inhabitants, who were of small
stature and wild, and who, at the approach
of the strangers, hid themselves in their caves.
Having found a good harbour, Zichmni in-
tended to make a settlement ; but his people
opposing it, he dismissed part of the fleet
under Zeno, who returned to Frisland.

The particulars of this narrative were first
written by Antonio Zeno, in letters to his
brother Carlo at Venice, from some frag-
ments of which a compilation was made by
Francisco Marcolini, and preserved by Ra-
musio. It was translated by Richard Hak~
luyt, and printed in the third volume of the
second edition of his collections, page 121,
&c. From it Ortelius has made an extract
in his Tfieatrum Orbi's.

Dr. Forster has taken much pains to exam-
ine the whole account, both geographically
and historically. The result of his inquiry is,
that Frisland is one of the Orkneys ; that

ZENO. 145

Porland is the cluster of islands called Faro ;
and that Estland is Shetland. '

At first, indeed, he was of opinion that
" the countries described by the Zenos ac-
tually existed at that time, but had since been
swallowed up by the sea in a great earth-
quake."* This opinion he founded on the
probability that all the high islands in the mid-
dle of the sea are of volcanic original, as is evi-
dent with respect to Iceland a*nd the Faro Isl-
ands in the North Sea ; the Azores, Teneriffe,
Madeira, the Cape de Verds, St. Helena, and
Ascension in the Atlantic ; the Society Isl-
ands, Otaheite, Easter, the Marquesas, and
other islands in the Pacific. This opinion he
was induced to relinquish, partly because " so
great a revolution must have left behind it
some historical vestiges or traditions," but
principally because his knowledge of the Ru-
nic language suggested to him a resemblance
between the names mentioned by Zeno and
those which are given to some of the islands
of Orkney, Shetland, Faro, and the Heb-
rides.

However presumptuous it may appear to
call in question the opinion of so learned and
diligent an inquirer, on a subject which hia
* Northern Voyages, Dublin edition, p. 200.

146 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

philological and geographical knowledge must
enable him to examine with the greatest pre-
cision, yet, from the search which I have had
opportunity to make, it appears to me that
his first opinion was right as far as it respects
Frisland, and perhaps Porland. My reasons
are these :

1. Dr. Forster says that Frisland was
" much larger than Iceland ;"* and Hakluyt,
in his account of Zeno's voyage, speaks of it
as " bigger than Ireland."! Neither of these
accounts can agree with the supposition of its
being one of the Orkneys ; for Iceland is 346
miles long and 200 wide. Ireland is 310 in
length and 184 in breadth ; but Pomona, the
mainland of the Orkneys, is but 22 miles long
and 20 wide.

2. Frisland was seen by Martin Frobisher
in each of his three voyages to and from
Greenland in the years 1576, 1577, and
15784 In his first voyage he took his
departure from Foula, the westernmost of
the Shetland Islands, in latitude 60° 30',
and, after sailing W. by N. fourteen days,
he made the land of Frisland, " bearing
W.N.W. distant 16 leagues, in latitude 61°."

* Page 181. Vol. iii., p. 122.

$ Hakluyt, vol. iii., p. 30, &c.

ZENO. 147

In his second voyage he sailed from the Ork-
neys W.N.W. twenty-six days before he came
"within making of Frisland," which he thus
describes :

" July 4th. We made land perfect, and
knew it to be Frisland. Found ourselves in
latitude 60 i°, and were fallen in with the
southernmost part of this land. It is thought
to be in bigness not inferior to England ; and
is called of some authors West Frisland. I
think it lieth more west than any part of Eu-
rope. It extendeth to the north very far, as
seemed to us, and appeareth by a descrip-
tion set out by two brethren, Nicolo and An-
tonio Zeni, who, being driven off from Ireland
about 200 years since, were shipwrecked
there. They have in their sea charts descri-
bed every part, and, for so much of the land as
we have sailed along, comparing their charts
with the coast, we find it very agreeable.
All along this coast the ice lieth as a continu-
al bulwark, and so defendeth the country,
that those who would land there incur great
danger."* In his third voyage he found
means to land on the island. The inhabitants
fled and hid themselves. Their tents were
made of skins, and their boats were like

* Hakluyt, vol. ill., p. 62.
I.— M

148 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

those of Greenland. From these well-au-
thenticated accounts of Frisland, and its sit-
uation so far westward of the Orkneys and
Shetland, it seems impossible that Dr. For-
ster's second opinion can be right.

3. One of the reasons which led the doctor
to give up his first opinion, that these lands
once existed, but had disappeared, was, that
so great a revolution must have left some ves-
tige behind. If no person escaped to tell the
news, what better vestige can there be than
the existence of shoals and rocks in the pla-
ces where these islands once were known to
be ? In a map prefixed to Crantz's History
of Greenland, there is marked a very exten-
sive shoal between the latitudes of 59° and 60°,
called " The sunken land of Buss." Its lon-
gitude is between Iceland and Greenland, and
the author speaks of it in these words : " Some
are of opinion that Frirland was sunk by an
earthquake, and that it was situate in those
parts where the sunken land of Buss is mark-
ed in the maps, which the seamen cautiously
avoid, because of the shallow ground and
turbulent waves."*

Respecting Buss Island I have met with no
other account than what is preserved by Pur-

* Vol. i., p. 273.

Z E N O. 149

chas* in his abridgment of the journal of
James Hall's voyages from Denmark to
Greenland. In his first voyage [A.D. 1605]
he remarks thus : " Being in the latitude of
59|°, we looked to have seen Busse Island ;
but I do verily suppose the same to be placed
in a wrong latitude in the marine charts."
In his second voyage [1606] he saw land
which he " supposed to be Busse Island, ly-
ing more to the westward than it is placed in
the marine charts ;" and the next day, viz.,
July 2d, he writes, " we were in a great cur-
rent, setting S.S.W., which I suppose to set
between Busse Island and Frisland over to-
wards America."

In a fourth voyage, made in 1612, by the
same James Hall, from England, for the dis-
covery of a N.W. passage, of which there is
a journal written by John Gatonbe, and pre-
served in Churchill's Collections, t they kept
a good look-out, both in going and returning,
for the island of Frisland, but could not see
it. In a map prefixed to this voyage, Fris-
land is laid down between the latitude of 61°
and 62°, and Buss in the latitude of 57°.
In Gatonbe's journal the distance between
Shetland and Frisland is computed to be 260

* Vol. iv., p. 815, 822. t Vol. vi., p. 260,268.

AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

leagues; the southernmost part of Frisiand
and the northernmost part of Shetland are
said to be in the same latitude. There is
also a particular map of Frisiand preserved
by Purchas,* in which are delineated several
towns and cities ; the two islands of Ilofo
and Ledovo are laid down to the westward
of it, and another called Stromio to the east-
ward.

In a map of the North Seas prefixed to an
anonymous account of Greenland, in Church-
ill's Collection,t we find Frisiand laid down
in the latitude of 62°, between Iceland and
Greenland.

We have, then, no reason to doubt the ex-
istence of these islands as late as the begin-
ing of the last century ; at what time they
disappeared is uncertain, but that their place
has since been occupied by a shoal we have
also credible testimony.

The appearance and disappearance of isl-
ands in the Northern Sea is no uncommon
thing. Besides former events of this kind,
there is one very recent. In the year 1783,
by means of a volcanic eruption, two islands
were produced in the sea near the S.E. coast
of Iceland. One was supposed to be so per-
* Vol. iv., p. 625. t Vol. ii., p. 378.

ZENO. 151

manent, that the King of Denmark sent and
took formal possession of it as part of his do-
minions ; but the ocean, paying no regard to
tlie territorial claim of a mortal sovereign,
has since reabsorbed it in his watery bosom.*

These reasons incline me to believe that
Dr. Forster's first opinion was well founded,
as far as it respects Frisland.

He supposes Porland to be the cluster of
islands called Faro.f But Porland is said to
lie south$ of Frisland, whereas the Faro Isl-
ands lie northwest of Orkney, which he sup-
poses to be Frisland. The learned doctor,
who is in general very accurate, was not
aware of this inconsistency.

In the account which Hakluyt has given
of Martin Frobisher's third voyage, we find
that one of his ships, the Buss of Bridgewa-
ter, in her return fell in with land 50 leagues
S.E. of Frisland, " which (it is said) was nev-
er found before," the southernmost part of
which lay in latitude 57J°. Along the coast
of this land, which they judged to extend 25
leagues, they sailed for three days.$ The
existence of this land Dr. Forster seems to

* See a new Geographical Grammar, by a society in Edin-
burgh, published by Alexandej.Kincaid, vol. i., p. 123.
t Northern Voyages, p. 207. t Ibid., p. 180.

$ Hakluyt, vol. iii., p. 93.

152 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

doubt, but yet allows that, " if it was then
really discovered, it must have sunk afterward
into the sea, as it has never been seen again,
or else these navigators must have been mis-
taken in their reckoning."

If such an island or cluster of islands did
exist in the situation described by Frobisher,
it might be the Porland of Zeno ; for the
southernmost part of Frisland lay in the lati-
tude of 60i° ; the southernmost part of this
land in 57 J°, in a direction S.E. from it. It
was probably called Buss by the English,
from the name of Frobisher's vessel which
discovered it.

The only proof which can now be produced
of this fact must be the actual existence of
rocks and shoals in or near the same place.
Of this, it is happily in my power to produce
the evidence of two experienced shipmasters,
of incontestable veracity, now living.* The
first is Isaac Smith, of Maiden, near Boston,
from whose logbook I have made the fol-
lowing extract : "In a voyage from Peters-
burgh to Boston, in the ship Thomas and Sa-
rah, belonging to Thomas Russell, Esq., of
Boston, merchant, Thursday, August 11,
1785, course W.N.W., wind W.S.W. At 4
A.M. discovered a large rock ahead, which

* 1794.

Z E N O. 153

for some time we took to be a ship under
close-reefed topsail. At 7, being within two
miles, saw breakers under our lee, on which
account wore ship. There are breakers in
two places bearing S.E. ; one a mile, the oth-
er two miles from the rock. It lies in lat. 57°
38' ; longitude west from London, 13° 36 ;
and may be discovered five leagues off. We
sounded, and had 56 fathoms. The rock ap-
pears to be about 100 yards in circumference,
and 50 feet above water. It makes like a
haystack, black below and white on the top."
The other is Nathaniel Goodwin, of Boston,
who, in his homeward passage from Amster-
dam, on the 15th of August, 1793, saw the
same rock. According to his observation
(which, however, on that day was a little du-
bious), it lies in lat 57° 48', and Ion. 13° 46'.
He passed within two miles of it to the south-
ward, and saw breakers to the northward of
it. Its appearance he describes in the same
manner with Smith.

From these authorities I am strongly in-
clined to believe that the shoal denominated
" the sunken land of Buss" is either a part
of the ancient Frisland or of some island in
its neighbourhood ; and that the rock and
ledges seen by Smith and Goodwin belonged

154 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

to the cluster once called Porland. If these
conclusions be admitted, there can be no sus-
picion of fiction in the story of Zeno, as far
it respects Prince Zichmni and his expedi-
tions. Shetland may then well enough agree
with Estland, which is described by Hakluyt
as lying "between Frisland and Norway."*

The only place which in Zeno's relation is
called by the same name by which it is now
known, is Iceland ; though there can be no
doubt that Engroenland, or Engroneland, is
the same with Greenland, where, according
to Crantz, there was once a church dedicated
to St. Thomas, and situate near a volcano
and a hot spring. t

But the question is, Where shall we find
Estotiland ? Dr. Forster is positive that " it
cannot be any other country than Winland
(discovered in 1001), where the Normans
made a settlement." The Latin books seen
there by the fisherman he supposes to have
been the library of Eric, bishop of Green-
land, who went thither in the twelfth century
to convert his countrymen. He is also of
opinion that this fisherman had the use of the

* Vol. iii., p. 122.

t Crantz's History of Greenland, vol. ii., p. 265. Purchas,
vol. iv., p. 651.

Z E N O. 155

magnetic needle, which began to be knoAvn
in Europe about the year 1302, before the
time of the Zenos. He also thinks that the
country called Drogio is the same with Florida.

In some of the old maps, particularly in
Sanson's French Atlas, the name Estotiland
is marked on the country of Labrador ; but
the pompous description of it by the fisher-
man, whether it be Labrador or New-Found-
land, exceeds all the bounds of credibility,
and abuses even the license of a traveller.
The utmost extent of Zichmni's expedition, in
consequence of the fisherman's report, could
not be any farther westward than Greenland,
to which his description well agrees. The
original inhabitants were short of stature, half
wild, and lived in caverns ; and between the
years 1380 and 1384 they had extirpated the
Normans and the monks of St. Thomas.

The discovery of Estotiland must there-
fore rest on the report of the fisherman ;
but the description of it, of Drogio, and the
country S.W. of Drogio, must be ranked in
the fabulous history of America, and would
probably have been long since forgotten if
Christopher Columbus had not made his grand
discovery, from the merit of which his rivals
and the enemies of the Spanish nation have
uniformly endeavoured to detract.

156 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

TV. CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS.*

•.WBi-i ;>•'• ': : - '- f"i ;<.;, ' . -

THE adventures which have been already
spoken of were more the result of accident
than design ; we are now entering on one
founded in science and conducted by judg-
ment ; an adventure which, whether we re-
gard its conception, its execution, or its con-
sequences, will always reflect the highest hon-
our on him who projected it.

[* Since the life of Columbus was written by Dr. Belknap,
the subject has been investigated with much ardour and re-
search, and new documents and sources of evidence have
been brought to light. Many particulars of the history of that
renowned navigator which were then doubtful have been render-
ed certain, many that were obscure have been made plain ; and
though, in some respects, we may still look for farther and more
precise information, we have yet enough to enable us to do
ample justice to his merits, and to furnish us with a satisfacto-
ry conception of his character and achievements.

Of the works which have been written to illustrate his history,
and to which the reader is referred for more minute or extended
information, the History of the Life and Voyages of Christopher
Columbus, by Washington Irving, is deserving of special notice.
It is in two volumes 8vo, with an additional volume relating to
the Companions of Columbus. We are indebted to this work
mainly for the corrections and additions we have made to the
sketch by Dr. Belknap, which we have made more few and
brief, because that work is within the reach of almost every one.
-H.J

*

COLUMBUS. 157

About the middle of the fifteenth century,
when the Portuguese, under the conduct of
Prince Henry, and afterward of King John
II., were pushing their discoveries along the
western shore of Africa, to find a passage by
the south to India, a genius arose, whose
memory has been preserved with veneration
in the pages of history, as the instrument of
enlarging the region of science and commerce
beyond any of his predecessors. CHRIS-
TOPHER COLUMBUS, a native of the
republic of Genoa, was born in the year
1447,* and at the age of fourteen entered on
a seafaring life,t as the proper sphere in which

* [Mr. Irving, with greater probability, places the birth of
Columbus in the year 1435 or 1436. The family name is Co-
lombo, Latinized by the discoverer into Columbus, and in Span-
ish Colon. His father was a wool-comber. Christopher was
the eldest of four children. He was educated as well as the
scanty means of his father would allow, and sent for a while to
the University of Pavia, where he learned the elements of those
sciences which are useful in navigation, to which he early show-
ed a strong inclination. — H.]

t [Probably under Colombo, an experienced sea-captain and a
distant relation. The navigation of the Mediterranean was
then perilous, from the number of piratical cruisers who roved
over it, and the perpetual feuds of the nations on its. banks, and
involved the mariner in constant hardships, while it required and
created in him great vigilance, daring, and address. Columbus
was probably engaged in the various maritime services then
common and accounted lawful among those who sailed in that

.58 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

his vigorous mind was destined to perform ex-
ploits which should astonish mankind.* He
was educated in the sciences of geometry
and astronomy, which form the basis of nav-
igation ; and he was well versed in cosmog-
raphy, history, and philosophy. His active
and enterprising genius, though it enabled
him to comprehend the old systems, yet
would not suffer him to rest in their decisions,
however sanctified by time or by venerable
names ; but, determined to examine them by
actual experiment, he visited the seas within
the polar circle, t and afterward those parts
of Africa which the Portuguese had discover-
ed, as far as the coast of Guinea ; and by the
time that he had attained the age of thirty-
seven, he had, from his own experience, re-
sea; not less in piratical expeditions or attacks upon the infidels,
than in the regular operations of commerce. We have few
clear traces of his conduct in these scenes, but in those few are
manifested the elements of that skill, hardihood, and self-reliance
which were so conspicuous in his later life. — H.]

* Life of Columbus by his son Ferdinand, chap. iv. See
vol. ii. of Churchill's Collection of Voyages. Herrera's Hist.
Amer., vol. i.

t [In a letter, a part of which his son has preserved, he says,
" In the year 1477. in February, I navigated one hundred
leagues beyond Thule, which is seventy-three degrees distant
from the equator." To what extent he followed the track of
the Portuguese discoverers on the coast of Africa I have not
been able to learn. — H.]

COLUMBUS. 159

ceived the fullest conviction, that the opinion
of the ancients respecting the torrid and fri-
gid zones was void of any just foundation.

When an old system is found erroneous in
one point, it is natural to suspect it of far-
ther imperfections ; and when one difficulty
is overcome, others appear less formidable.
•Such was the case with Columbus ; and his
views were accelerated by an incident which
threatened to put an end to his life. During
one of his voyages, the ship in which he sail-
ed took fire in an engagement with a Vene-
tian galley, and the crew were obliged to leap
into the sea to avoid perishing in the flames.
In this extremity, Columbus, by the help of a
floating oar, swam upward of two leagues to
the coast of Portugal near Lisbon, and met
with a welcome reception from many of his
countrymen who were settled there.*

* [There is some doubt (see living's Columbus, i., 11, 17, and
ii., 244, note) respecting the date of the engagement mentioned
in the text, and whether Columbus came to Lisbon thus by a
fortunate accident. Lisbon was then the resort of the adventu-
rous and skilful in navigation, drawn thither by the liberality of
Prince Henry and the earnest projects of King John. Mr. Ir-
ving places his arrival there in 1470. His sketch of the per-
sonal appearance of Columbus at that time is interesting.
" He was tall, well formed, muscular, and of an elevated and
dignified demeanour. His visage was long, and neither full not
meager ; his complexion fair and freckled, and inclined to rud-

160 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

At Lisbon he married the daughter* of
Perestrello, an old seaman who had been
concerned in the discovery of Porto Santo
and Madeira, from whose journals and charts
he received the highest entertainment. Pur-
suing his inquiries in geography, and observ-
ing what slow progress the Portuguese made
in their attempts to find a way round Africa
to India, " he began to reflect that, as the
Portuguese travelled so far southward, it were
no less proper to sail westward," and that it
was reasonable to expect to find the desired
land in that direction.

It must here be remembered that India was
in part known to the ancients, and that its

dy ; his nose aquiline ; his cheek bones were rather high ; his
eyes light gray, and apt to enkindle ; his whole countenance
had an air of authority. His hair in his youthful days was of
alight colour ; but care and trouble soon turned it gray, and at
thirty years of age it was quite white. He was moderate and
simple in diet and apparel, eloquent in discourse, engaging and
affable with strangers, and of an amiableness and suavity in do-
mestic life that strongly attached his household to his person."
-H.]

* [She was styled Dona Felipa Monis de Perestrello. Hei
father was Bartolomeo Monis de Perestrello, " an Italian cava-
lier, who had been one of the most distinguished navigators
nnder Prince Henry, and had colonized and governed the island
of Porto Santo." He was now dead, and seems to have left no
estate beyond his "journals and charts." After his marriage, Co-
lumbus went to Porto Santo to reside. — H.]

COLUMBUS. 161

rich and useful productions had for many cen-
turies been conveyed into Europe, either by
caravans through the deserts of Syria and Ara-
bia, or by the way of the Red Sea, through
Egypt, into the Mediterranean.* This lucra-
tive commerce had been successively engross-
ed by the Phoenicians, the Hebrews, the
Egyptians, the Assyrians, the Palmyrenes,
the Arabians, the Genoese, and the Venetians.
The Portuguese were then seeking it by at-
tempting the circumnavigation of Africa ; and
their expectation of finding it in that direction
was grounded on ancient historical traditions,
that a voyage had been formerly made by the
orders of Necho, king of Egypt, from the
Red Sea, round the southern part of Africa to
the Straits of Hercules ; and that the same
route had been traversed by Hanno the Car-
thaginian, by Eudoxus the Egyptian, and
others. The Portuguese had consumed about
half a century in making various attempts,
and had advanced no farther on the western
coast of Africa than just to cross the equator,
when Columbus conceived his great design of
finding India in the west.

The causes which led him to entertain this
idea are distinguished by his son, the writer

* Robertson's India. Brace's Travels.

162 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

of his life, into these three : " natural reason,
the authority of writers, and the testimony of
sailors."

By the help of " reason" he argued in this
manner : That the earth and sea composed
one globe or sphere. This was known by
observing the shadow of the earth in lunar
eclipses. Hence he concluded that it might
be travelled over from east to west, or from
west to east. It had been explored to the
east by some European travellers as far as
Cipango or Japan, and as far westward as
the Azores or Western Islands. The remain-
ing space, though now known to be more than
half, he supposed to be but one third part of
the circumference of the globe. If this space
were an open sea, he imagined it might be
easily sailed over ; and if there were any land
extending eastwardly beyond the known lim-
its of Asia, he supposed that it must be near-
er to Spain by the west than by the east. For
it was then a received opinion that the conti-
nent and islands of India extended over one
third part of the circumference of the globe ;
that another third part was comprehended
between India and the western shore of
Spain ; therefore it was concluded that the
eastern part of India must be as near to Spain

COLUMBUS. 163

as the western part. This opinion, though
now known to be erroneous, yet being then
admitted as true, made it appear to Columbus
very easy and practicable to discover India in
the west. He hoped, also, that between Spain
and India, in that direction, there might be
found some islands, by the help of which, as
resting-places in his voyage, he might the bet-
ter pursue his main design. The probability
of the existence of land in that ocean he ar-
gued, partly from the opinion of philoso-
phers, that there was more land than sea on
the surface of the globe, and partly from the
necessity of a counterpoise in the west for the
immense quantity of land which was known
to be in the east.

Another source from which he drew his
conclusion was " the authority of learned
men," who had assumed the possibility of
sailing from the western coast of Spain to the
eastern bounds of India. Some of the an-
cient geographers had admitted this for truth,
and one of them* had affirmed that forty
days were sufficient to perform this naviga-
tion. These authorities fell in with the theo-
ry which Columbus had formed ; and having,
as early as 1474, communicated his ideas in

* Pliny.
I.— N

164 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

writing to Paul,* a learned physician of Flor*
ence, he received from him a letter of that
date, confirming his opinion and encoura-
ging his design, accompanied with a chart, in
which Paul had laid down the city of Quisay
(supposed to be the capital of China) but lit-
tle more than two thousand leagues westward
from Lisbon, which, in fact, is but half the
distance. Thus, by arguing from true prin-
ciples, and by indulging conjectures partly
well founded and partly erroneous, Columbus
was led to the execution of a plan, bold in
its conception, and, to his view, easily prac-
ticable ; for great minds overlook interme-
diate obstacles, which men of smaller views
magnify into insuperable difficulties.

The third ground on which he formed his
idea was " the testimony of mariners ;" a class
of men who at that time, and in that imp er-
ect state of science, were too prone to mix
fable with fact, and were often misled by ap-
pearances which they could not solve. In
the sea, between Madeira and the Western
Islands, pieces of carved wood and large

* [Paul or Paolo Toscanelli, an eminent native of Florence,
born in 1397. He was greatly distinguished as an astronomer,
geographer, and physician. He died in Florence, May, 1482.—
Tiraboschi, torn, vi., lib. ii., cap. xxxviii. — H.]

COLUMBUS. 165

joints of cane had been discovered, which
were supposed to be brought by westerly
winds. Branches of pine-trees, a covered
canoe, and two human bodies, of a complex-
ion different from the Europeans and Afri-
cans, had been found on the shores of these
islands. Some navigators had affirmed that
they had seen islands not more than a hun-
dred leagues westward from the Azores.
There was a tradition that, when Spain was
conquered by the Moors in the eighth centu-
ry, seven bishops, who were exiled from their
country, had built seven cities and churches
on an island called Antilla,* which was
supposed to be not more than two hundred
leagues west of the Canaries ; and it was said
that a Portuguese ship had once discovered
this island, but could never find it again.
These stories, partly true and partly fabulous,
had their effect upon the mind of Colum-
bus. He believed that islands were to be
found westward of the Azores and Canaries,
though, according to his theory, they were at
a greater distance than any of his contempo-
raries had imagined. His candour led him to
adopt an opinion from Pliny respecting float-

* [Better known in modern times as the Island of the Seven
Cities.— H.]

166 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

ing islands, by the help of which he account-
ed for the appearances related to him by his
marine brethren. It is not improbable that
the large islands of floating ice driven from
the Polar Seas to the southward, or the Fog
Banks, which form many singular appearan-
ces resembling land and trees, might have
been the true foundation of this opinion and
of these reports.*

* The following account of a curious deception, extracted
from the Gentleman's Magazine, may elucidate the above ob-
servations.

" ' March 4, 1748-9, at two in the afternoon, made land which
bore N.E. seven leagues distant by estimation : at five tacked,
being about three leagues from said island, wind E.S.E., lati-
tude by observation 49° 40', longitude 24° 30' from the Liz-
ard. This island stretches N.W. and S.E., about 5 leagues
long and 9 miles wide. On the south side fine valleys and a
great number of birds.

" ' March 5, said island bore N. three leagues, N.W. a reef of
rocks three miles. This day a ship's mast came alongside.
On the south point of said island is a small marshy island.

" ' A copy of my journal on board the snow St. Paul, of Lon-
don, bound from South Carolina to London.

" ' William Otton, Commander.

" ' P.S. Captain Otton thought he saw a tent on the island,
and would have gone ashore, but had unfortunately stove his
boat some time before.'

" Commodore Rodney is commissioned to go in quest of an
island, which, according to the report of a master of a ship and
some others, on examination before the Lords of the Admiralty,
lies about 50° N. and about 300 leagues west of England.
Capt. Murdock Mackenzie, an excellent mathematician, and au-

COLUMBUS. 167

It is not pretended that Columbus was the
only person of his age who had acquired
these ideas of the form, dimensions, and bal-
ancing of the globe, but he was one of the
few who had begun to think for themselves,
and he had a genius of that kind which
makes use of speculation and reasoning only
as excitements to action. He was not a
closet projector, but an enterprising adventu-
rer ; and, having established his theory on
principles, he was determined to exert him-
self to the utmost to demonstrate its truth
by experiment. But, deeming the enterprise
too great to be undertaken by any but a sov-

thor of the sea charts of the Orkney and Lewis Islands, attends
him in, the Culloden sloop to bring back an account of what dis-
coveries he may make. As this island lies out of the track of
the trade to America, it is supposed to have been missed by
navigators to our colonies, though marked in some Dutch maps.
If the commodore discovers it, he is to take possession of it by
the name of Rodney's Island."

" Friday, April 10, 1752, Commodore Rodney arrived at
Woolwich ; he had been cruising ten days in quest of an island,
and the men at the topmasthead were more than once deceived
with what the sailors call fog-banks. About the 6th or 7th day
the crew observed branches of trees with their leaves on, and
flights of gulls, and pieces of shipwreck, which are generally re-
garded as certain signs of an adjacent shore, but could not dis-
cover any." — Gent. Mag. for 1751, p. 235 ; for 1752, p. 88, 189.

N.B. The island marked in the Dutch maps could not have
been mistaken for this imaginary island, being but a single rock.
It is the same that is described in the life of Zeno, p. 153.

AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

ereign state, he first applied (as it is said) to
the Republic of Genoa, by whom his project
was treated as visionary.* He then proposed
his plan to John II., king of Portugal, who,
though a prince of good understanding and of
an enterprising disposition, yet was so deeply
engaged in prosecuting discoveries on the
African coast, with a view to find a way to
India round that continent, and had been at
so vast an expense without any considerable
success, that he had no inclination ro accept
the terms which Columbus proposed. Influ-

* This is said on the authority of Herrera, the royal Spanish
historian : Ferdinando Columbus, in the life of his father, says
nothing of it, but represents his application to the King of Por-
tugal as the first, and gives this reason for it, " because h'e lived
under him."*

* [The previous application to Genoa, though strongly affirm-
ed, has now, we believe, been generally rejected. The circum-
stances of the case, apart from any conclusive historical evi-
dence, render it probable that his first application was to the
King of Portugal. Columbus was residing in his dominions, and
John was eminently liberal to maritime enterprise. His propo-
sals were more likely to be well received by him than by a repub-
lic then engaged in wars and torn by internal dissensions ; and
we find no traces of so fond an attachment to his native country
as would induce a prudent man to forego the advantages held
out to him in the land of his residence and adoption. The
precise date of this application is not known. It was undoubt-
edly in 1482 or 1483, as John II. ascended the throne in 1481,
and Columbus left Portugal in 1484.— H.]

COLUMBUS. 169

enced, however, by the advice of Calzadilla,*
a favourite courtier, he privately gave orders
to a ship, bound to the islands of Cape de
Verd, to attempt a discovery in the west ; but,
through ignorance and want of enterprise, the
navigators, after wandering for some time in
the ocean and making no discovery, reached
their destined port and turned the project of
Columbus into ridicule.

Disgusted with this base artifice, he quitted
Portugal,! and went to Ferdinand, king of

* [Diego Ortiz, called Calzadilla, from the name of his native
place, a man of learning, then bishop of Ceuta, and confessor
to the king. He was one of a number of scientific men to
whom the proposals of Columbus were referred by the king for
their judgment. — H.]

t [He left Portugal near the close of the year 1484. In the
fall of 1485 he entered Spain. He had left Portugal deeply in
debt and to avoid an arrest. He entered Spain with tis for-
tunes in no way improved, and with feeble hopes. The circum-
stances of his entrance are too singular and romantic to be omit-
ted. One day a stranger, on foot, in humble guise, but of a dis-
tinguished air, accompanied by a small boy, stopped at the gate of
a convent of Franciscan friars, half a league from the little
seaport of Palos, in Andalusia, and asked of the porter a little
bread and water for his child. While receiving this humble re
freshment, the prior of the convent, Juan de Perez Marchena, hap-
pening to pass by, was struck with the appearance of the stran-
ger, and entered into conversation with him. That stranger
was Columbus, attended by his little son Diego. The prior
was a man of learning, especially in geography and nautical
science. He was struck with the lofty views of Columbus, and
detained him as his guest. It was now lato in August, and

170 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

Spain, having previously sent his brother to
England to solicit the patronage of Henry

Columbus passed the winter in this lonely retreat. The prior
was charmed by his conversation and persuaded by his argu-
ments, and continued ever after his zealous and steadfast
friend. When the spring opened and his guest would be gone,
the worthy prior gave him a letter to Fernando de Talavera,
confessor to the queen, a man of great influence in public af-
fairs, urging the scheme of Columbus upon his attention. Re-
freshed with this, hope, the wanderer set forth again, to seek an
audience of the confessor, and, through him, of the queen.

Talavera received him with coolness, and believed him vis-
ionary. Ferdinand and Isabella were in the midst of their
wars with the Moors. The whole court was busied in mil-
itary preparations and action. None had leisure to listen to
the speculations of an obscure adventurer ; and he who could
open a new world to him who would befriend him, was fain
to take his place among lackeys and the humblest servitors,
that he might, perchance, in some happy hour, gain a hearing
for his vast suit. Slowly did he gain here and there a friend
who might at some time be of service to him. After many de-
lays and much uncertainty, the archbishop of Toledo assented
to his views, and brought him to the presence of the king. The
king hesitated and was doubtful, and referred the subject to a
select council of learned men, to hear, examine, and report.

The council met in 1486, in the Dominican convent of St.
Stephen at Salamanca ; the dignitaries of the Church, studious
monks, and learned professors, to decide on the project of an ob-
scure and solitary theorizer. They gave more heed to the fa-
thers than to the deductions of reason, and answered an argu-
ment of science with a quotation from Lactantius. They were
not ignorant, but they had not learned the different provinces of
faith and reason. Some of them were convinced, but a major-
ity could not be persuaded. The simple navigator proved him-
self no mean theologian, and quoted prophecy as an offset to the

COLUMBUS. 171

VII. But, being taken by pirates and de-
tained several years in captivity, Bartholomew
had it not in his power to reveal his project to

fathers ; but he was a stranger, with little academic lore, and
could not' prevail.

The court, meanwhile, was occupied with campaigns, and Co-
lumbus, still sanguine, and yet waiting for a formal decision,
accompanied its movements. Day after day, and year after
year, he waited in vain. Conferences of the learned were pro-
posed and postponed ; his sovereigns were detained from him as
well by victory as by war ; and four years had passed before the
opinion of the council was given, that the scheme was visionary
and impossible. Thus far, led on by hopes, Columbus had
gained a scanty livelihood by drawing maps and charts, or had
been maintained by the bounty of the queen. Leaving the
court, he applied to two powerful nobles, the Dukes of Medina
Sidonia and Medina Celi, with some favour, but with no suc-
cess, and retired once more to the convent at Palos.

On the return of peace he was again recalled from his seclu-
sion ; and, now that his visions of many years had ripened in his
own mind to certainty, and he claimed the honours due to his
discovery as if it had been already made, he endured the mor-
tification of being again rejected, for the very pride and assu-
rance of his conviction. Indignant and chagrined, he resolved
to abandon Spain forever ; and, " having mounted his mule, sal-
lied forth from Santa Fe early in February, 1492." He " had
pursued his lonely way across the Vega, and had reached the
bridge of Pinos, about two leagues from Granada, when he was
overtaken by a courier from the queen, spurring in all speed,
who summoned him to return to Santa Fe." He trusted once
more, and this time to the promise of the queen, and was not
disappointed. She had become convinced by some earnest
friends of Columbus ; the expenses of the voyage had been
pledged ; and he returned to reap the reward of so many years
of solicitation and repulse, of suspense and despondency. — H. |

I.— 0

172 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

Henry till Christopher Columbus had suc-
ceeded in Spain. Before this could be ac-
complished he had various obstacles to sur-
mount ; and it was not till after seven years
of painful solicitation that he obtained his re-
quest.

The objections made to the proposal of
Columbus by the most learned men in Spain,
to whom the consideration of it was referred,
will give us some idea of the state of geo-
graphical science at that time. One objection
was, How should he know more than all the
wise men and skilful sailors who had existed
since the creation ? Another was the author-
ity of Seneca, who had doubted whether it
were possible to navigate the ocean at any
great distance from the shore ; but, admitting
that it were navigable, they imagined that
three years would be required to perform the
voyage which Columbus proposed. A third
was, that if a ship should sail westward on a
round globe, she would necessarily go down
on the opposite side, and then it would be im-
possible to return, because it would be like
climbing up a hill, which no ship could do
with the strongest wind. A fourth objection
was grounded on a book of St. Augustine, in
which he had expressed his doubt of the ex-

COLUMBUS. 173

istence of antipodes and the possibility of go-
ing from one hemisphere to the other. As
the writings of this holy father had received
the sanction of the Church, to contradict him
was deemed heresy.

For such reasons and by such reasoners,
the proposal of Columbus was at first reject-
ed ; but, by the influence of John Perez,* a
Spanish priest, and Lewis Santangel,t an offi-
cer of the king's household, Queen Isabella
was persuaded to listen to his solicitation,
and, after he had been twice repulsed, to re-
call him to court, when she offered to pawn her
jewels to defray the expense of the equipment,
amounting to no more than 2500 crowns ;
which sum was advanced by Santangel, and
the queen's jewels were saved. Thus, to the
generous decision of a female mind we owe
the discovery of America.

The conditions stipulated between Ferdi-
nand and Isabella! on the one part, and Co-

* [Juan Perez de Marchena, already mentioned as the early
and warm friend of Columbus, the worthy and learned prior of
the convent at Palos. — H.]

t [Louis de St. Angel, receiver of the ecclesiastical reve-
nues in Aragon. The queen relied much on his prudence, and
was moved by his earnestness. The low sum at which he put the
cost of the enterprise, two vessels and three thousand crowns,
may have had some weight. — H.]

t [The lives and characters of these joint monarchs of Spain

174

AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

lumbus on the other part, were these : " That
he, his heirs and successors, should hold the
office of admiral in all those islands and con-
tinents which he should discover, that he
should be viceroy and governor of the same,
with power of nominating three associates, of
whom their majesties should appoint one.
That he should have one tenth part of the
nett proceeds of all the gold and silver, pre-
cious stones, spice, and other merchandise
which should be found ; that he, or a deputy
of his own appointing, should decide all con-
troversies respecting the trade ; that he should
be at one eighth part of the expense of equip-

have been fully delineated by Mr. Prescott in his History of
Ferdinand and Isabella, and by Mr. Irving in his History of
Columbus. We give a sketch of their personal appearance
from Irving. " Ferdinand was of the middle stature, well pro-
portioned, and hardy and active from athletic exercise. His
carriage was free, erect, and majestic. He had a clear, serene
forehead, which appeared more lofty from his head being partly
bald. His eyebrows were large and parted, and, like his hair, of
a bright chestnut ; his eyes were clear and animated ; his com-
plexion somewhat ruddy ; his mouth moderate, well formed, and
gracious in its expression ; his teeth white, though small and ir-
regular ; his voice sharp, his speech quick and fluent. Isabella
was well formed and of the middle size. Her complexion was
fair, her hair auburn, inclining to red ; her eyes of a clear blue ;
and there was a singular modesty in her countenance, gracing
as it did a wonderful firmness of purpose and earnestness of
spirit."— H.]

COLUMBUS. 175

ping the first fleet, and should receive one
eighth part of the profits."*

The necessary preparations being made,
and a year's provision laid in, on the 3d of
August, 1492, Columbus sailed from Palos, a
port of Spain, on the Mediterranean,! with
three vessels, one of which was called a car-
rack^ and the other two caravels, § having

* [The conditions were mutually signed April 17, 1492.
The dignity and privileges of viceroy and governor were secu-
red to his descendants, and the title of Don an hereditary prefix
to their name. Having thus reached the height of his ambition,
Columbus returned once more, and in triumph, to the convent at
Palos, where he had passed so many days of weariness, and dis-
appointment, and sadness. — H.]

t [This port, as is now well known, does not lie on the Med-
iterranean, but on the Atlantic, in the western part of Andij-
lusia. It is now a small village of about four hundred inhabi-
tants.— H.]

t [The largest, in which Columbus sailed, was called the
Santa Maria. The others were named the Pinta, commanded by
Martin Alonzo Pinzon, and the Nina, commanded by his broth-
er, Vincente Yanez Pinzon. Without the aid of these brothers
Columbus found it difficult to get any ships for the voyage, so
great was the reluctance of the merchants and navigators to en-
gage in this enterprise, even though urged by a royal order.
The largest was actually impressed into the service by that or-
der.—H.]

$ A carrack was a vessel with a deck ; a caravel had none.*
. a —

* [The distinction mentioned here seems to be true, at least,
of the ships of Columbus, though it has been questioned. We
have the authority of Peter Martyr, a contemporary of Colum-
bus, that, of the three vessels of his fleet, two had no decks

176 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

on board the whole ninety men.* Having
passed through the Straits of Gibraltar, he
arrived at the Canaries on the 12th of the
same month, where he was detained in refit-
ting one of the caravels, and taking in wood
and water, till the 6th of September, when he
sailed westward on his voyage of discovery.
This voyage, which now is considered as an
easy and pleasant run, between the latitudes
of 20 and 30 degrees, with a trade-wind, was
then the boldest attempt which had ever been
made, and filled the minds of the best seamen
with apprehension. They were going direct-
ly from home, and from all hope of relief if
any accident should befall them. No friend-
ly port nor human being was known to be in
that direction. Every bird which flew in the

" Two of them," says Mr. Irving, i., 78, " were light barges,
and called caravels, not superior to river and coasting craft of
modern days. They are delineated (in old prints and paintings)
as open, and without deck in the centre, but built up high at
the prow and stern, with forecastles and cabins for the accom-
modation of the crew." They were thought the best on voya-
ges of discovery, on account of their slight draught. The word
caravel is commonly used to designate a small kind of craft,
and often, I suppose, without reference* to its having a deck or
not. See note to Irving's Columbus, ii., 278. — H.]

* [The crew consisted of ninety persons. The whole num-
ber on board, including several private adventurers, servants,
&c., was one hundred and twenty. — H.]

COLUMBUS. 177

air, every fish which appeared in the sea, and
.every weed which floated on its surface, was
regarded with the most minute attention, as
if the fate of the voyage depended on it. A
phenomenon which had never before been
observed struck them with terror. The mag-
netic needle appeared to vary from the pole.
They began to apprehend that their compass
would prove an unfaithful guide ; and the
trade-wind, which wafted .them along with
its friendly wings, they feared would obstruct
their return.

To be twenty days at sea, without sight of
land, was what the boldest mariner had never
before attempted. At the expiration of that
time the impatient sailors began to talk of
throwing their commander into the ocean
and returning home. Their murmurs reach-
ed his ears ; but his active mind was never at
a loss for expedients, even in the greatest ex-
tremity. By soothing, flattery, and artifice,
by inventing reasons for every uncommon ap-
pt arance, by promising rewards to the obe-
dient, and a gratuity to him who should first
discover land, in addition to what the king
had ordered, and by deceiving them in the
ship's reckoning,* he kept them on their
* [He kept two logbooks ; one correct, for his own use, and

AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

course for sixteen days longer. In the night
of the llth of October he himself saw a light,
which seemed to be on shore, and in the
morning of the 12th they had the joyful
sight of land, which proved to be the island
of Guanahana, one of the cluster called Ba-
hamas, in the 25th degree of north latitude.*

Thus, in the space of thirty-six days,t and
in the 45th year of his agey Columbus com-
pleted a voyage which he had spent twenty
years in projecting and executing ; a voyage
which opened to the Europeans a new world j
which gave a new turn to their thoughts, to
their spirit of enterprise and of commerce ;
which enlarged the empire of Spain, and
stamped with immortality the name of Co-
lumbus.

After spending several months in sailing
from one island to another in that vast archi-
pelago, which, from the mistakes of the age,
received the name .of the West Indies^ Co-

thc other open to his men, in which a number of leagues were
subtracted from the ship's daily distance. — H.]

* [This island was named by Columbus San Salvador, and,
more recently, has been called by the English Cat Island. The
original name was more properly Guanahani. — H.]

t [Reckoning from the Canaries. The age of Columbus,
following the date given by Mr. Irving, must have been fifty-si*
or fifty-seven. — H.]

t fit ought to be added, to the honour of Columbus, that his
/entment of the natives was uniformly humane and

COLUMBUS. 179

lumbus returned to Spain* with the two small-
er vessels (ihe larger having been wrecked on
the island of Hispaniola), leaving behind him
a colony of thirty-nine men, furnished with a
year's provisions, and lodged in a fort which
had been built of the timber saved from the
wreck. During his passage he met with a
violent tempest, which threatened him with
destruction. In this extremity he gave an
admirable proof of his calmness and foresight.
He wrote on parchment an account of his
discoveries, wrapped it in a piece of oiled
cloth, and enclosed it in a cake of wax, which
he put into a tight cask and threw into the
sea. Another parchment, secured in the
same manner, he placed on the stern, that, if
the ship should sink, the cask might float, and
possibly one or the other might be driven on
shore, or taken up at sea by some future nav-
igator. But this precaution proved fruitless.
He arrived safe in Spain, in March,! 1493,
and was received with the honours due to his
merit.

equally politic and Christian, and in fine contrast with the sav-
age and murderous course pursued by later adventurers. — H.]
* [He set sail from La Navidad Jan. 4th, 1493. — H.]
t [He reached the mouth of the Tagus on the fourth of the
month. The brief and scanty outline of this voyage given
in the text may easily be filled out from the ample mate-

180 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

The account which Columbus gave of his
new discoveries,* the specimens of gold and
other valuable productions, and the sight of
the natives which he carried from the West
Indies to Spain, were so pleasing that the
court determined on another expedition.1
But first it was necessary to obtain the sanc-
tion of the pope, who readily granted it ; and
by an imaginary line, drawn from pole to
pole, at the distance of one hundred leagues
westward of the Azores, he divided between
the crowns of Spain and Portugal all the
new' 'countries already discovered or to be
discovered, giving the western part to the
former, and the eastern to the latter. No
provision, however, was made in case that
they should meet, and their claims should in-

rials now before the public. The reader is particularly referred
to Irving's Columbus, i., 79-168, the collections of Navarrette,
and the First Voyage of Columbus, &c. — H.]

* [He still supposed himself to have touched on the east-
ern shore of the Continent of India. His imagination, natural-
ly ardent, was excited by all he saw in the new regions he had
opened to the world, and still more by the vague accounts he
had received from the natives. He fully believed, and honestly
reported, that he had found the region of spices, of gold, and of
pearls. — H.]

t [The journey of Columbus from Seville to Barcelona,
where the court then was, has been likened to a royal progress,
and his entrance into Barcelona to a triumph, so great was the
joy universally felt for his discoveries, and so great the honour
his sovereign and the nobles were now disposed to pay him. The

COLUMBUS. 181

terfere on the opposite side of the globe.
The bull containing this famous but imper-
fect line of demarcation was signed by Alex-
ander VI.* on the second day of May, 1493 ;
and on the 28th of the same month, the king
and queen of Spain, by a written instrument,
explained and confirmed the privileges and
powers which they had before granted to Co-
lumbus, making the office of viceroy and
governor of the Indies hereditary in his fam-
ily. On the 25th of September following he
sailed from Cadiz, with a fleet of seventeen
ships, great and small, well furnished with all
necessaries for the voyage, and having on
board 1500 people, with horses, cattle, and
implements, to establish plantations.t

second voyage was determined on before he left Seville, and the
arrangements for it already begun. To secure regularity in all
affairs touching the Indies, a superintendent was appointed by
the crown, with a treasurer and comptroller ; and, to provide for
the expenses of the new expedition, a large portion of the church
tithes were appropriated, and the property of a multitude of ex-
iled Jews confiscated. — H.]

* [Alexander VI. was by birth a Spaniard. The bull defining
the line between the future possessions of Spain and Portugal
was issued on the third of May : one had already been granted
on the second, giving to the Spaniards the same rights in the
lands discovered by them \\hichhad been previously given to the
Portuguese. — Irving., i., 187. The grant was made on the con-
dition of planting in them the Catholic faith. — H.]

t [There was this time, no lack of adventurers. The covet-

182 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

On Sunday, the third of November, he dis-
covered an island, to which, in honour of the
day, he gave the name of Dominica.* Af-
terward he discovered in succession other
islands, which he called Marigalante, Gua-
daloupe, Montserrat, Redonda, Antigua, St.
Martin's, St. Ursula, and St. John. On the
12th of November he came to Navidad,t on
the north side of Hispaniola, where he had
built his fort and left his colony ; but he had
the mortification to find that the people were
all dead, and that the fort had been destroyed.

The account given by the natives of the
loss of the colony was, that they fell into dis-
cord among themselves on the usual subjects
of controversy, women and gold ; that, hav-
ing provoked a chief, whose name was Ca-
naubo, he came against them with a superior
force, and destroyed them ; that some of the
natives, in attempting to defend them, had
been killed, and others were then ill of their

ous and the heroic, soldiers and priests, gentlemen and nobles,
all were eager to embark in an enterprise in which gain or fame
was to be won. — H.]

* [From having discovered it on Sunday, Dies Dominica,
i. e., the Lord's Day.— H.J

t [Nov. 14 he discovered Santa Cruz ; still later, an island
which he called St. Juan Bautista, now called Porto Rico, and
cast anchor off La Navidad on the 27th.— Irving, i., 217.— H.]

COLUMBUS. 183

wounds, which, on inspection, appeared to
have been made with Indian weapons.

Columbus prudently forbore to make any
critical inquiry into the matter, but hasted to
establish another colony, in a more eligible
situation, to the eastward, which he called
Isabella, after his royal patroness. He had
many difficulties to contend with besides
those which unavoidably attend undertakings
of such novelty and magnitude. Nature, in-
deed, was bountiful : the soil and climate pro-
duced vegetation with a rapidity 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. The
stones of fruit, the slips of vines, and the
joints of sugarcane sprouted in seven days,
and many other seeds in half the time. This
was an encouraging prospect ; but the slow
operations of agriculture did not meet the
views of sanguine adventurers. The numer-
ous followers of Columbus, some of whom
were of the best families in Spain, had con-
ceived hopes of suddenly enriching them-
selves by the precious metals of those, new
regions, and were not disposed to listen to his
recommendations of patience and industry
in cultivating the earth. The natives were

184 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

displeased with the licentiousness of their new
neighbours, who endeavoured to keep them
in awe by a display of force. The explo-
sion of firearms, and the sight of men mount-
ed on horses, were at first objects of terror ;
but use had rendered them less formidable.
Columbus, overburdened with care and fa-
tigue, fell sick, and at his recovery found a
mutiny among his men, which, by a due mix-'
ture of resolution and lenity, he had the ad-
dress to quell. He then endeavoured to es-
tablish discipline among his own people, and
to employ the natives in cutting roads through
the woods. While he was present and able
to attend to business, things went on so pros-
perously that he thought he might safely pro-
ceed on his discoveries.

In his former voyage he had visited Cuba,
but was uncertain whether it were an island
or a part of some continent. He therefore
passed over to its eastern extremity, and
coasted its southern side till he found himself
entangled among a vast number of small isl-
ands, which, for their beauty and fertility, 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

COLUMBUS. 185

island of Jamaica, where he found water and
other refreshments for his men, who were al-
most dead with famine. The hazard, fa-
tigue, and distress of this voyage threw him
into a lethargic disorder, from which he had
just recovered, when he returned to his colo-
ny and found it all in confusion, from the
same causes which had proved destructive to
the first.

In his absence, the licentiousness of the
Spaniards had provoked several of the chiefs,
four of whom had united to destroy them, and
had actually commenced hostilities, in which
twenty Spaniards were killed. Columbus
collected his people, put them into the best
order, and, by a judicious combination of
force and stratagem, gained a decisive victo-
ry, to which the horses and dogs did not a
little contribute.

At his return to Hispaniola he had the
pleasure of meeting his brother Bartholo-
mew,* whom he had not seen for several

* [He was a man of great merit, whose deserts have been
overshadowed by the singular renown of the admiral. He was
a man of hardly inferior science, of great experience as a navi-
gator, prompt, sagacious, and intrepid. Less imaginative, per-
haps, and enthusiastic than his brother, he had more worldly
wisdom, and more skill in ruling the turbulent and factious spir-
its who tortured the more gentle temper of the admiral. Ho

AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

years, and whom he supposed to have been
dead. Bartholomew was a man of equal
knowledge, experience, bravery, and pru-
dence with himself. His patience had en-
dured 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. He was at Paris when he heard
of the success of his brother's first enterprise,
who had gone on the second before Barthol-
omew could get to Spain. On his arrival
there, and being introduced to the court, he
was appointed to the command of three ships,
which were destined to convey supplies to
the colony ; and he arrived while Christopher
was absent on his voyage to Cuba and Ja-
maica. Columbus appointed his brother to
command at Isabella, while he went into the
interior part of the island to perfect his con-
quest, and reduce the natives to subjection
and tribute.

The Indians were so unused to collect
gold-dust in such quantities as their conquer-
ors demanded it, that they offered to plant

was generous and affable, though often abrupt and severe ; tall,
muscular, and vigorous in person, of a grave and stern aspect.
Patient in labour, cheerful in danger, and resolute in command,
he was as a right hand to his brother.— H.]

COLUMBUS. 187

the immense plains of Hispaniola, and pay
an equivalent in corn. Columbus was struck
with the magnanimity of the proposal, and,
in consequence, moderated the tribute. This
did not satisfy the avarice of his fellow-ad-
venturers, who found means to complain of
him to the king's ministers for his negligence
in acquiring the only commodity which they
thought deserved the name of riches. The
Indians then desisted from planting their usu-
al 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 part of its inhabitants
perished.

The complaints against Columbus so
wrought on the jealous mind of King Ferdi-
nand, tha-t 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
matter of accusation, and give out threats

* [A weak, vain man, who had before received great favours
from Columbus. His commission was merely one of inquiry,
but he claimed the right to interfere in and control the affair*
of the colony. — H.]
I.— P

AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

against the admiral. At the same time, the
ships which he commanded being destroyed
by a hurricane, he had no means to return,
till Columbus, knowing that he had enemies
at home, and nothing to support him but his
own merit, resolved to go to Spain with two
caravels ; himself in one, and Aguado in the
other. Having appointed proper persons to
command the several forts — his brother Bar-
tholomew to superintend the whole, and his
brother James* to be next in authority — he
set sail on the tenth of March, 1496, and, af-
ter a perilous and tedious voyage in the trop-
ical latitudes, arrived in Cadiz on the elev-
enth of June.

His presence at court, with the gold and
other valuable articles which he carried home,
removed, in some measure, the prejudices
which had been excited against him. But
his enemies, though silent, were not idle ;
and in a court where phlegm and languor
proved a clog to the spirit of enterprise, they
found it not difficult to obstruct his views,
which, notwithstanding all discouragements,
were still pointed to the discovery of a way
to India by the west.

* [Better known by his Spanish name Diego. He was far
inferior to his brotheri in talents and energy. — H.J

COLUMBUS. 189

He now demanded eight ships to carry
supplies to his colony, and six to go on dis-
covery. These demands were complied with,
and he began his third voyage on the thir-
tieth of May, 1498. He kept a course so far
to the southward, that not only his men, but
his provisions and water, suffered greatly from
excessive heat. The first land he made after
leaving the Isles of Cape de Verd was a large
island which he named Trinidad, from its ap-
pearance in the form of three mountains.
He then passed through a narrow strait and
whirlpool into the Gulf of Paria, where, ob-
serving the tide to be rapid and the water
brackish, he conjectured that the land on the
western and southern sides of the gulf was
part of a continent, and that the fresh water
proceeded from some great rivers.

The people on the coast of Paria were
whiter than those of the islands. They had
about their necks plates of gold and strings
of pearl, which they readily exchanged for
pieces of tin and brass, and little bells ; and
when they were questioned whence they ob-
tained the gold and pearls, they pointed to
the west.

The admiral's provisions not allowing him
to stay long in this place, he passed again

190 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

through that dangerous strait, to which he
gave the name of the Dragon's Mouth ; and
having satisfied himself that the land on his
left was a continent, he steered to the N.W.,
discovering Margarita and several other isl-
ands in his course ; and on the thirtieth of
August arrived at the harbour of St. Domin-
go, in Hispaniola, to which place his brother
had removed the colony in his absence, in
consequence of a plan preconcerted between
them.

Wearied with incessant care and watching
in this dangerous voyage, he hoped now to
enjoy repose ; instead of which, he found his
colony much reduced by deaths, many of the
survivers sick with a disease, the peculiar
consequence of their debauchery, and a large
number of them in actual rebellion. They
had formed themselves into a body ; they had
gained over many of the Indians, under pre-
tence of protecting them ; and they had re-
tired to a distant part of the island, which
proved a resort for the seditious and discon-
tented. Their commander was Francis Rol-
dan,* who had been chief-justice of the colo-

* [Francisco Roldan was one of those vipers, too many of
which crossed the path of Columbus, who stung their benefactor.
Columbus had raised him from poverty and obscurity, and, ob-

COLUMBUS. 191

ny; and their number was so considerable
that Columbus could not command a force
sufficient to subdue them. He therefore en-
tered into a negotiation, by offering a pardon
to those who would submit, and liberty of re-
turning to Spain to those who desired it.
These offers, however impolitic, proved suc-
cessful. Roldan himself accepted them, and
persuaded others to do the same ; then, be-
ing restored to his office, he tried and con-
demned the refractory, some of whom were
put to death.

An account of this mutiny was sent home
to Spain by Columbus, and another by Rol-
dan. Each had his advocates at court, and
the cause was heard by the king and queen.
Roldan and his men were accused of adulte-
ry, perjury, robbery, murder, and disturbing
the peace of the whole island ; while Colum-

serving his strong sense, had made him a justice of the peace, and
on his own return to Spain appointed him chief-justice of the
colony. He had now only to supplant Bartholomew Columbus,
left governor in his absence, to become the chief man in the
colony ; and such was the meanness of his treacherous ambi-
tion, that he scrupled at no means to gratify it. He conspired
with the dissolute and mutinous to assassinate the governor, and
was prevented from doing it only by an accident ; and having
been defeated in this plan, he withdrew, with his party in a
formal opposition to the governiueut, till the return of the ad-
miral.— H.J

AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

bus was charged with cruelty to individuals,
aiming at independence, and engrossing the
tribute. It was insinuated that, not being a
native of Spain, he had no proper respect for
the noble families who had become adventu-
rers, and that the debts due to them could
not be recovered. It was suggested that, if
some remedy were not speedily applied, there
was danger that he would revolt, and join
with some other prince ; and that, to compass
this design, he had concealed the real wealth
of the colony, and prevented the conversion
of the Indians to the Catholic faith.

These insinuations prevailed on the jeal-
ousy of Ferdinand, and even staggered the
constancy of Isabella. They resolved to ap-
point a judge, who should examine facts on
the spot ; and, if he should find the admiral
guilty, to supersede him. For this purppse
they sent Francis Bovadilla,* a man of noble
rank, but whose poverty alone recommended
him to the office. Furnished with these pow-
ers, he arrived at St. Domingo when Colum-
bus was absent ; took lodgings in his house \

* [" Don Francisco de Bobadilla, an officer of the royal house-
hold, and a commander of the military and religious order of
Calatrava." He is represented as " needy, passionate, and
ambitious." — Irving, ii., 41. He arrived at San Domingo Aug.
33, 1500.— H.]

COLUMBUS. 193

invited accusers to appear against him ; seiz-
ed on his effects ; and finally sent him and
both his brothers to Spain, in three different
ships, but all loaded with irons.

The master of the ship in which the admi-
ral sailed had so much respect for him, that,
when he had got to sea, he offered to take off
his fetters; but Columbus nobly declared
that he would permit that honour to be done
him by none but his sovereign. In this hu-
miliating confinement he was delivered to
Fonseca,* bishop of Bajados, who had been
the chief instigator of all these rigorous pro-
ceedings, and to whom had been committed
the affairs of the Indies.

Not content with robbing Columbus of his
liberty, this prejudiced ecclesiastic would have
deprived him of his well-earned reputation of
having first discovered the new continent.
With the accusations which Columbus had

* [Juan Rodrigues de Fonseca was a man of great abilities,
but of a selfish and intriguing spirit. He was appointed super-
intendent of Indian affairs in 1493, and afterward became Pa-
triarch of the Indies. He was continued in office under the
Emperor Charles V. In the use of his power he was treach-
erous and malignant ; and having, for some slight cause, con-
ceived an enmity to Columbus, persecuted him with unceasing
rancour. His whole administration was marked with acts of
meanness and perfidy. He died at Burgos in 1524. — H.]

AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

sent home against Roldan, he had transmitted
an account of the discovery of the coast of
Paria, which he justly supposed to be part of
a continent. Ojeda,* an active officer, who
had sailed with Columbus in his second voy-
age, was at court when these despatches arri-
ved, and saw the draught of the discovery,
with the specimens of gold and pearls, which
the admiral had sent home. Being a favour-
ite of Fonseca, he easily obtained leave to
pursue the discovery. Some merchants of
Seville were prevailed upon to equip four
ships, with which, in 1499, Ojeda followed
the track of Columbus, and made land on the
coast of Paria. Amerigo Vespucci, a Flor-
entine merchant, well skilled in geography
and navigation, accompanied Ojeda in this
voyage ; and, by publishing the first book and
chart describing the new world, obtained the
honour of having it called AMERICA. This,
however, did not happen till after the death
of Columbus. Several other adventurers fol-
lowed the same track, and all supposed that
the continent which they had seen was part
of India.

As soon as it was known that Columbus

* [For a brief notice of this remarkable man, see the Chron-
ological Detail, p. 60. — H.]

COLUMBUS. 195

was arrived at Cadiz (Nov. 5, 1500) in the dis-
graceful situation above mentioned, the king
and queen, ashamed of the orders which they
had given, commanded him to be released,
and invited him to court, where they apolo-
gized for the misbehaviour of their new gov-
ernor, and not only promised to recall him,
but to restore to the admiral all his effects.
Columbus could not forget the ignominy.
He preserved the fetters, hung them up in his
apartment, and ordered them to be buried in
his grave.

Instead of reinstating him in his govern-
ment according to the original contract, the
king and queen sent Ovando* to Hispaniola
to supersede Bovadilla, and only indulged
Columbus in pursuing his darling project, the
discovery of India by the west, which he still
hoped to accomplish. He sailed again from
Cadiz on the fourth of May, 1502, with four
vessels, carrying one hundred and forty men
and boys, of which number were his broth-
er Bartholomew and his 'son Ferdinand, the
writer of his life.

* [Don Nicholas de Ovando, grand commander of the Order
of Alcantara, a man of ability and prudence, yet ambitious.
He was cruel to Columbus, and guilty of the vilest treachery
and inhumanity in his treatment of the Indians. — H.]

196 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

In his passage to the Caribbee Islands he
found his largest vessel, of seventy tons, unfit
for the service, and therefore went to St. Do-
mingo., in hope of exchanging it for a better,
and to seek shelter from a storm which he
saw approaching. To his infinite surprise
and mortification, Ovando would not admit
him into the port. A fleet of thirty ships was
then ready to sail for Spain, on board of
which Roldan and Bovadilla were prisoners.
Columbus informed Ovando of the prognos-
tics which he had observed, which Ovando
disregarded, and the fleet sailed. Columbus
then laid three of his vessels under the lee of
the shore, and with grett difficulty rode out
the tempest. His brother put to sea, and by
his great naval skill saved the ship in which
he sailed. Of the fleet bound to Spain, eigh-
teen ships were lost, and in them perished
Roldan and Bovadilla.

The enemies of Columbus gave out that he
had raised this storm by the art of magic ;
and such was the ignorance of the age that
the story was believed. What contributed
the more to its credit was, that one of the
worst ships of the fleet, on board of which
were all the effects which had been saved from
the ruined fortune of Columbus, was the first
which arrived in Spain. The* amount of

COLUMBUS. 197

these effects was " four thousand pesos of
gold, each of the value of eight shillings."
The remark which Ferdinando Columbus
makes on this event, so destructive to the ac-
cusers of his father, is, " I am satisfied it was
the hand of GOD, who was pleased to infat-
uate them, that they might not hearken to
good advice ; for, had they arrived in Spain,
they had never been punished as their crimes
deserved, but rather favoured and preferred,
as being the bishop's friends."*

After this storm, and another which fol-
lowed it, Columbus, having collected his lit-
tle squadron, sailed on discovery towards the
continent ; and, steering to the southwest,
came to 'an island called Guanania, twelve
leagues from the coast of Honduras, where
he met with a large covered canoe, having on
board several pieces of cotton clbth of divers
colours, which the people said they had
brought from the westward. The men were
armed with swords of wood, in which sharp
flints were strongly fixed. Their provision
was maize and roots, and they used the ber-
ries of cocoa as money. When the admiral
inquired for gold, they pointed to the west ;
and when he asked for a strait by which he

* Chap. 88.

198 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

might pass through the land, they pointed to
the east. From the specimens of coloured
cloth, he imagined that they had come from
India, and he hoped to pass thither by the
strait which they described. Pursuing his
course to the east and south, he was led to the
Gulf of Darien, and visited several harbours,
among which was one which he called Porto
Bello ; but he found no passage extending
through the land. He then returned to the
westward, and landed on the coast of Vera-
gua, where the beauty and fertility of the
country invited him to begin a plantation,
which he called Belem ; but the natives, a
fierce and formidable race, deprived him of
the honour of first establishing a colony on
the continent, by killing some of his people,
and obliging him to retire with the others.

At sea he met with tempestuous weather
of long continuance, in which his ships were
so shattered, that, with the utmost difficulty,
he kept them above water till he ran them
ashore on the island of Jamaica. By his
extraordinary address he procured from the
natives tw6 of their largest canoes, in which
two of his most faithful friends, Mendez and
Fiesco, accompanied by some of his sailors
and a few Indians, embarked for Hispaniola.
After encountering the greatest difficulties in

COLUMBUS. 199

their passage, they carried tidings of his mis-
fortune to Ovando, and solicited his aid.
The merciless wretch detained them eight
months without an answer, during which
time Columbus suffered the severest hard-
ships, from the discontent of his company
and the want of provisions. By the hospi-
tality of the natives he at first received such
supplies as they were able to spare ; but the
long continuance of these guests had dimin-
ished their store, and the insolence of the mu-
tineers gave a check to their friendship. In
this extremity, the fertile invention of Colum-
bus suggested an expedient which proved
successful. He knew that a total eclipse of
the moon was at hand, which would be visi-
ble in the evening. On the preceding day he
sent for the principal Indians, to speak with
them on a matter of the utmost importance.
Being assembled, he directed his interpreter
to tell them that the GOD of Heaven, whom
he worshipped, was angry with them for with-
holding provision from him, and would pun-
ish them with famine and pestilence ; as a to-
ken of which, the moon would in the even-
ing appear of an angry and bloody colour.
Some of them received his speech with ter
ror, and others with indifference ; but when
the moon rose, and the eclipse increased as

AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

she advanced from the horizon, they came in
crowds, loaded with provision, and begged the
admiral to intercede with his GOD for the re-
moval of his anger. Columbus retired to his
cabin ; and when the eclipse began to go off,
he came out and told them that he had pray-
ed to his GOD, and had received this answer :
that if they would be good for the future, and
bring him provision as he should want, God
would forgive them ; and, as a token of it, the
moon would put on her usual brightness.
They gave him thanks, and promised com-
pliance ; and while he remained on the island
there was no more want of provision.

At the end of eight months Ovando sent a
small vessel to Jamaica, with a cask of wine,
two flitches of bacon, and a letter of compli-
ment and excuse, which the officer deliv-
ered, and, without waiting for an answer,
weighed his anchor the same evening and
sailed back to Hispaniola. The men who
adhered to Columbus, and were with him on
board the wrecks, wondered at the sudden
departure of the vessel by which they ex-
pected deliverance. Columbus, never at a
loss for an evasion, told them that the caravel
was too small to take the whole company,
and he would not go without them. This
fiction had the desired effect ; those who ad-

COLUMBUS. 201

hered to him resumed their patience, but the
mutineers became so insolent that it was ne-
cessary to subdue them by force. In the con-
test ten of them were killed. Porras, their
leader, was made prisoner, and the others es-
caped. Bartholomew Columbus and two
others of the admiral's party were wounded,
of whom one died.

The fugitives, having lost their leader,
thought it best to submit ; and on the next
day sent a petition to the admiral, confess-
ing their fault, and promising fidelity. This
promise they confirmed by an oath, of which
the imprecation was singular ; " they renoun-
ced, in case of failure, any absolution from
priest, bishop, or pope at the time of their
death, and all benefit from the sacraments
of the Church, consenting to be buried like
heathens and infidels in the open field."
The admiral received their submission, provi-
ded that Porras should continue prisoner, and
they would accept a commander of his ap-
pointment as long as they should remain on
the island.

At length a vessel, which Mendez had
been permitted to buy, with the admiral's
money, at Hispaniola, came to Jamaica and
took them off. On their arrival at St. Do-
mingo (August 13, 1504) Ovando affected

AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

great joy, and treated the admiral with a
show of respect; but he liberated Porras,
and threatened with punishment the faithful
adherents of Columbus. As soon as the ves-
sel was refitted, the admiral took leave of his
treacherous host, and, with his brother, son,
and servants, embarked for Spain. After a
long and distressing voyage, in which the
ship lost her masts, he arrived at St. Lucar
in May, 1505.*

His patroness Isabella had been dead about
a year, and with her had expired all the fa-
vour which he ever enjoyed in the court of
Ferdinand. Worn out with sickness and fa-
tigue, disgusted with the insincerity of his
sovereign and the haughtiness of the court-
iers, Columbus lingered out a year in fruit-
less solicitation for his violated rights,! till
death relieved him from all his vexations.

* [His arrival was in November 7th, 1504. — Irving, ii., 183
-H.]

t [So poor was he, that he wrote, " If I desire to eat or
sleep, I have no resort but an inn, and for the most times
have not wherewithal to pay my bill." Yet most earnestly of
all did he claim the restoration of his honours and titles, and the
perpetuation of them in his family. " These things," said he,
" affect my honour." He claimed only bare justice, the perform-
ance of promises long ago sealed with the royal seal. The
warm heart of Isabella had ceased to beat, and Ferdinand
could courteously evade what he intended to deny. — H.]

COLUMBUS. 203

He died at Valladolid on the twentieth of
May, 1506, in the 59th year of his age,* and
was buried in the Cathedral of Seville,t with
this inscription on his tomb :

A Castillo, y a Leon,
Nuevo Mundo dio Colon.

Translated thus :

To Castile and Leon
Columbus gave a new World.

In the life of this remarkable man there
is no deficiency of any quality which can
constitute a truly great character.^: His ge-
nius was penetrating and his judgment solid.
He had acquired as much knowledge of the
sciences as could be obtained at that day,
and he corrected what he had learned by his

* [More truly, according to Mr. Irving, " about seventy
years of age." — H.]

t [" His remains, first deposited in the convent of St. Francis
at Valladolid, were, six years later, removed to the Carthusian
monastery of Las Cuevas at Seville. From this spot his body
was transported, in the year 1536, to the island of St. Domingo,
the proper theatre of his discoveries ; and, on the cession of that
island to the French in 1795, was again removed to Cuba, where
his ashes now quietly repose in the cathedral church of its
capital." — PrescotCs Ferdinand and Isabella, Hi., 241, 242. —
H.]

t Some of these observations are taken from Dr. Campbell's
account of European settlements in America, vol. i., chap. viii.
[See also Prescott's Ferdinand and Isabella, ii., 115, note.—

HO

I—Q

204 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

own observations. His constancy and pa-
tience were equal to the most hazardous un-
dertakings. His fortitude surmounted many
difficulties, and his invention extricated him
out of many perplexities. His prudence en-
abled him to conceal or subdue his own in-
firmities, while he took advantage of the pas-
sions of others, adjusting his behaviour to his
circumstances ; -temporizing or acting with
vigour, as the occasion required.*

* [" A peculiar trait in his rich and varied character," says
Mr. Irving, " was that ardent and enthusiastic imagination,
which threw a magnificence over his whole course of thought.
Herrera intimates that he had a talent for poetry, and some
slight traces of it are on record, in the book of prophecies
which he presented to the Catholic sovereigns. But his poet-
ical temperament is discernible throughout all his writings and
in all his actions. It spread a golden and glorious world
around him, and tinged everything with its own gorgeous col-
ours. It betrayed him into visionary speculations. It exalted
his office in his eyes, and made him conceive himself an agent
sent forth upon a sublime and awful mission, subject to impulses
and supernatural intimations from the Deity." Closely con-
nected with this quality was one which we might not expect to
find in a hardy seaman, and which yet was strong in him, a clear
perception and hearty love of the beauties of nature ; a quality
which everywhere discloses itself in his simple narrative of the
novel beauties of the New World.

We cannot omit to speak of his self-reliance. He trusted in
the truth of his own convictions, when he trusted in them alone.
He frankly and boldly avowed them, when the avowal cost him
at once scorn and neglect. He held them fast when the wise
men of his day had deliberately scouted them. They were his

COLUMBUS. 205

His fidelity to the ungrateful prince whom
he served, and whose dominions he enlarged,
must render him forever conspicuous as an
example of justice ; and his attachment to
the queen, by whose influence he was raised
and supported, will always be a monument
of his gratitude.

To his other excellent qualities may be
added his piety.* He always entertained,

treasure in the deepest poverty, and his hope when princes had
despised and friends had forsaken him. They bore him up in
every privation and distress, and made the simple mariner elo-
quent in the halls of the learned and the courts of kings ; and
yet he had no adequate, not even a true apprehension of the val-
ue of those great truths to which he clung so steadfastly.

Columbus was an ambitious man, yet with an honourable
ambition. He sought not so much wealth as honour ; aad that
not merely of scientific discovery, but of social rank, and not
for himself only, but for his posterity. He would gain a place
among the proud nobles of Spain which none of them should
despise, and a title which should always point to his own mer-
its as the source of his greatness. In his will he ordered that
his heir should write for his signature only " The Admiral," what-
ever other titles the king might confer on him.

That he had faults need not be denied. That he sympathized
with many erroneous opinions and practices of his age is not to
be wondered at. But there was in him nothing sordid, mean, or
revengeful. His faults were rather weaknesses ; too much pa-
tience, too much forbearance with his enemies, too high-minded
a confidence in the power of innocence and in the honour of
princes. He was impetuous, but not rash ; sensitive, but not
passionate ; deeply wronged, and forgiving like a Christian.- -H.j

* [The oeculiar character of his piety cannot be better de-

206 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

and on proper occasions expressed, a rever-
ence for the Deity, and a firm confidence in
his care and protection. In his declining
days the consolations of religion were his
chief support ; and his last words were, " Into
thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit."

The persecution and injustice which he
suffered may be traced up to the contract
which he insisted on before he engaged in
the plan of discovery. That a foreigner
should attain so high a rank as to be viceroy
for life, and that the honour of an admiral

scribed than it has been by Mr. Irving. " He was devoutly pi-
ous ; religion mingled with the whole course of his thoughts
and actions, and shone forth in all his most private and unstudied
writings. Whenever he made any great discovery, he celebra-
ted it by solemn thanks to God. The voice of prayer and
the melody of praise rose from his ships when they first beheld
the New World, and his first action upon landing was to pros-
trate himself upon the earth, and render up thanksgivings. Ev-
ery evening the Salve Regina and other vesper hymns were
chanted by his crew, and masses celebrated in the beautiful
groves that bordered the wild shores of this heathen land. His
language was pure and guarded, free from all oaths, impreca-
tions, and other irreverent expressions. All his great enterpri-
ses were undertaken ' in the name of the Holy Trinity.' He
observed the festivals of the Church in the wildest situations.
The Sabbath was with him a day of rest, on which he would
never set sail from a port unless in a case of extreme necessity.
He was a firm believer in the efficacy of vows, and penances, and
pilgrimages, and resorted to them in times of difficulty and dan-
ger."—H.] ^'*

COLUMBUS. 207

should be hereditary in his family, to the ex-
clusion of all the nobles of Spain, was more
than their pride and jealousy could endure ;
and they constantly endeavoured to depre-
ciate his merit, the only foundation on which
his honours were erected.

There is a story recorded by Peter Mar-
tyr,* a contemporary historian, which exem-
plifies their malice, and his ingenuity in rising
superior to it. After the death of the queen, t
the nobility affected to insinuate that his dis-
coveries were more the result of accident
and good fortune than of any well-concerted
measures. One day, at a public dinner, Co-
lumbus having borne much insulting raillery
on that head, at length called for an egg, and
asked whether any of them could set it up-

* [Peter Martyr was born at Anghiera, near Milan, Feb. 2d,
1455. Having become eminent for his learning, he was invited
by Isabella to educate the young nobles in her service, and was
sent by Ferdinand, in 1501, as his ambassador to Venice and to
Egypt. He was afterward appointed a minister of the council
of the Indies. He wrote the " Decades of the New World" (De
Orbe Novo), an account of the discoveries made there ; a work
of peculiar value. He had ample and authentic materials for the
purpose, and gained much information from Columbus himself.
He died at Valladolid in 1626.— H.]

1 [In Mr. Irving's history this anecdote is told as having oc-
curred soon after Columbus's first voyage and before the sec-
ond, and, of course, some time before the death of the queen,
who died Nov. 26., 1504.— H.]

208 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

right on its little end. They all confessed it
to be impossible. Columbus, striking it gen-
tly, flatted the shell till it stood upright on
the table. The company, with a disdainful
sneer, cried out, " Anybody might have done
it." " Yes," said Columbus, " but none of
you thought of it ; so I discovered the Indies,
and now every pilot can steer the same
course. Many things appear easy when once
performed, though before they were thought
impossible. Remember the scoffs that were
thrown at me before I put my design into
execution. Then it was a dream, a chimera,
a delusion ; now it is what anybody might
have done as well as I." When this story
was told to Ferdinand, he could not but ad-
mire the grandeur of that spirit, which at the
same time he was endeavouring to depress.

Writers of different countries have treated
the character of Columbus according to their
prejudices, either national or personal. It is
surprising to observe how these prejudices
have descended, and that, even at the distance
of three centuries, there are some who affect
to deny him the virtues for which he was con-
spicuous, and the merit of originating a dis-
covery which is an honour to human reason.
His humanity has been called in question

COLUMBUS. 209

because he carried dogs to the West Indies,
and employed them in extirpating the natives.
The truth is, that in his second expedition he
was accompanied by a number of gentlemen
of the best families in Spain, and many more
would have gone if it had been possible to
accommodate them. These gentlemen car-
ried with them " horses, asses, and other
beasts, which were of great use in a new
plantation." The conflict which Columbus
}ad with the natives was in consequence of
the disorderly conduct of these Spaniards,
who, in his absence, had taken their goods,
abused their women, and committed other
outrages, which the Indians could not endure,
and therefore made war upon them. In this
war he found his colony engaged when he
returned from his voyage to Cuba, and there
was no way to end it but by pursuing it with
vigour. With two hundred Spaniards, of
whom twenty were mounted on " horses, fol-
lowed by as many dogs," he encountered a nu-
merous body of Indians, estimated at one hun-
dred thousand, on a large plain. He divided
his men into two parties, and attacked them
on two sides ; the noise of the firearms soon
dispersed them, and the horses and dogs pre-
vented them from rallying ; and thus a com-

210 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

plete victory was obtained. In this instance
alone were the dogs used against the natives.
They naturally followed- their masters into
the field, and the horses to which they were
accustomed ; but to suppose that Columbus
transported them to the West Indies with a
view to destroy the Indians, appears altogeth-
er idle when it is considered that the number
is reckoned only at twenty. Excepting in
this instance, where he was driven by neces-
sity, there is no evidence that he made war
on the natives of the West Indies ; on the
contrary, he endeavoured as far as possible to
treat them with justice and gentleness. The
same cannot be said of those who succeeded
him.

Attempts have also been made to detract
from his merit as an original discoverer of the
New World. The most successful candidate
who has been set up as a rival to him is MAR-
TIN BEHAIM,* of Nuremberg, in Germany.
His claim to a prior discovery has been so

* [He was born about 1430, was in early life a merchant, and
came to Portugal about 1481. He accompanied Cam, in the
voyages mentioned below, as journalist and cosmographer. The
date of his death is not certain, though it was later than 1506.
He has the credit of first applying the astrolabe to the uses of
navigation, an instrument from which, with some modification,
has been derived the modern quadrant.— H.]

COLUMBUS. 211

well contested, ajid the vanity of it so fully
exposed by the late Dr. Robertson, that I
should not have thought of adding anything
to what he has written, had not a memoir ap-
peared in the second volume of the Transac-
tions of the American Philosophical Society*
at Philadelphia, in which the pretensions of
Behaim are revived by M. OTTO, who has
produced some authorities which he had ob-
tained from Nuremberg, an imperial city of
Germany, and which appear to him " to
establish in the clearest manner a discovery
of America anterior to that of Columbus."

It is conceded that Behaim was a man of
learning and enterprise ; that he was contem-
porary with Columbus, and was his friend ;
that he pursued the same studies and drew
the same conclusions ; that he was employed
by King John II. in making discoveries, and
that he met with deserved honour for the im-
portant services which he rendered to the
crown of Portugal. But there are such diffi-
culties attending the story of his discovering
America as appear to me insuperable. These
I shall state, together with some remarks on
the authorities produced by M. Otto.

The first of his authorities contains several

* No. 35, p. 263.
1— R

212 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY

assertions which are contradicted by other
histories :* 1. That Isabella, daughter of
John, king of Portugal, reigned after the
death of Philip, duke of Burgundy, surnamed
the Good. 2. That to this lady, when re-
gent of the duchy of Burgundy and Flan-
ders, Behaim paid a visit in 1459. And, 3.
That, having informed her of his designs, he
procured a vessel, in which he made the dis-
covery of the island of Fayal in 1460.

It is true that Philip, duke of Burgundy
and Flanders, surnamed the Good, married
Isabella, the daughter of John L, king of
Portugal ; but Philip did not die till 1467,
and was immediately succeeded by his son
Charles, surnamed the Bold, then thirty-four
years of age. There could therefore have
been no interregnum nor female regent after
the death of Philip ; and, if there had been,
the time of Behaim's visit will not correspond
with it, that being placed in 1459, eight years
before the death of Philip. Such a mistake,
in point of fact and of chronology, is suffi-
cient to induce a suspicion that the " archives
of Nuremberg" are too deficient in accuracy
to be depended on as authorities.

* Memoirs of Philip de Comines. Mezeray's and Henault'i
History of France. Collier's Dictionary.

COLUMBUS. 213

With respect to the discovery of Fayal in
1460, M. Otto acknowledges that it is " con-
trary to the received opinion ;" and well he
might ; for the first of the Azores, St. Maria,
was discovered in 1431 ; the second, St. Mi-
chael, in 1444; the third, Terceira, in 1445 ;
and before 1449, the islands St. George, Gra-
ciosa, Fayal, and Pico were known to the
Portuguese.* However true it may be that
Behaim settled in the island of Fayal, and
lived there twenty years, yet his claim to the
discovery of it must have a better foundation
than the " archives of Nuremberg" before it
can be admitted.

The genuine account of the settlement of
Fayal, and the interest which Behaim had in
it, is thus related by Dr. Forster, a German
author of much learning and good credit.

" After the death of the infant Don Henry
[which happened in 1463], the island of Fayal
was made a present of by [his sister] Isabella,
duchess of Burgundy, to Jobst von Hurter, a
native of Nuremberg. Hurter went in 1466,
with a colony of more than 200(5 Flemings of
both sexes, to his property, the isle of Fayal.
The duchess had provided the Flemish emi-

* Forster's History of Voyages and Discoveries, p. 256, 257,
Dublin edition

214 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

grants with all necessaries for two years, and
the colony soon increased. About the year
1486 Martin Behaim married a daughter of
the Chevalier Jobst von Hurter, and had a
son by her named Martin. Jobst von Hur-
ter and Martin Behaim, both natives of Nu-
remberg, were lords of Fayal and Pico."*

The date of the supposed discovery of
America by Behaim is placed by M. Otto in
1484, eight years before the celebrated voy-
age of Columbus. In the same year we are
toldt that Alonzo Sanchez de Huelva was
driven by a storm to the westward for twen-
ty-nine days, and saw an island, of which, at
his return, he gave information to Columbus.
From both these supposed discoveries this
conclusion is drawn, " that Columbus would
never have thought of this expedition to
America had not Behaim gone there before
him." Whether it be supposed that Behaim
and Sanchez sailed in the same ship, or that
they made a discovery of two different parts
of America in the same year, it is not easy
to understand from the authorities produced ;
but what destroys the credibility of this plau-

* Forster's History of Voyages and Discoveries, p. 257-259.
t Garcilasso de la Vega's Commentaries — Preface. Pur-
chas, vol. T., p. 1454

COLUMBUS. 215

sible tale is, that Columbus had formed his
theory and projected his voyage at least ten
years before, as appears by his correspond-
ence with Paul, a learned physician of Flor-
ence, which bears date in 1474.* It is un-
certain at what time Columbus first made his
application to the King of Portugal to fit him
out for a Western voyage, but it is certain
that, after a negotiation with him on the sub-
ject, and after he had found out the secret
and unsuccessful attempt which had been
made to anticipate a discovery, he quitted
that kingdom in disgust, and went into Spain
in the latter end of the year 1484. The au-
thority of these facts is unquestioned ; and
from them it fully appears that a prior dis-
covery of America by Behaim or Sanchez,
made in 1484, could not have been the found-
ation of the enterprise of Columbus.

M. Otto speaks of letters written by Be-
haim in 1486, in the German language, and
preserved in the " archives of Nuremberg,"
which support this claim to a prior discovery.
As these letters are not produced, no certain
opinion can be formed concerning them ; but,
from the date of the letters, and from the
voyages which Behaim actually performed in
* Life, ch. viii.

216 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY

the two preceding years, we may, with great
probability, suppose that they related to the
discovery of Congo, in Africa, to which Be-
haim has an uncontroverted claim.

I will now state the facts relative to this
event, partly from the authorities cited by M.
Otto, and partly from others.

Dr. Robertson places the discovery of Con-
go and Benin in 1483, and with him Dr.
Forster agrees. The authors of the modern
Universal History* speak of two voyages to
that coast, the first in 1484, the second in
1485, both of which were made by Diego
Cam,t who is said to have been one of the
most expert sailors, and of an enterprising
genius. From the chronicle of Hartman
Schedl, as quoted by M. Otto, we are inform-
ed that Behaim sailed with Cam in these voy-
ages, which are described in the following
terms : " These two, by the bounty of Heav-
en, coasting along the Southern Ocean, and,
having crossed the equator, got into the other
hemisphere, where, facing to the eastward,
their shadows projected towards the south,

* Vol. xvi., p. 133, 135.

t Diego is the Spanish name of James, in Latin Jacobus, and
in Portuguese Jago. Cam is in Latin Camus or Canus, and
in Spanish Cano ; these different names are found in different
authors.

COLUMBUS. 217

and right hand." No words could be more
completely descriptive of a voyage from Por-
tugal to Congo, as any person may be satis-
fied by inspecting a map of Africa ; but how
could M. Otto imagine that the discovery of
America was accomplished in such a voyage
as this ? " Having finished this cruise," con-
tinues Schedl, " in the space of twenty-six
months, they returned to Portugal with the
loss of many of their seamen by the violence
of the climate." This latter circumstance
also agrees very well with the climate of the
African coast;* but Schedl says not a word
of the discovery of America.

M. Otto goes on to tell us " that the most
positive proof of the great services rendered
to the crown of Portugal by Behaim is the
recompense bestowed on him by King John
II., who, in the most solemn manner, knight-
ed him in the presence of all his court."
Then follows a particular detail of the cere-
mony of installation., as performed on the 18th
of February, 1485 ; and M. Otto fairly owns
that this was " a reward for the discovery of
Congo." Now let us bring the detached
parts of the story together.

Behaim was knighted on the 18th of Feb-
* Sec Brookes's Gazetteer, Benin.

AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

ruary, 1485, for the discovery of Congo, in
which he had been employed twenty-six
months preceding, having within that time
made two voyages thither in company with
Diego Cam. It will follow, then, that the
whole of the preceding years, 1484 and 1483,
were taken up in these two voyages. This
agrees very well with the accounts of the
discovery of Congo in Robertson and Forster,
and does not disagree with the modern Uni-
versal History, a& far as the year 1484 is con-
cerned ; which, unfortunately, is the year as-
signed for Benaim's discovery of " that part
of America called Brazil, and his sailing even
to the Straits of Magellan."

The only thing in M. Otto's memoir which
bears any resemblance to a solution of this
difficulty is this. "We may suppose that
Behaim, engaged in an expedition to Congo,
was driven by the winds to Fernambuco, and
from thence by the currents towards the coast
of Guiana." But suppositions without proof
will avail little, and suppositions against proof
will avail nothing. The two voyages to Con-
go are admitted. The course is described,
and the time is determined ; and both these
are directly opposed to the supposition of his
being driven by winds and currents to Amer-

COLUMBUS. 219

ica. For, if he had been driven out of his
course, and had spent " several years in ex-
amining the American islands, and discover-
ing the strait which bears the name of Ma-
gellan," and if one of those years was the
year 1484, then he could not have spent
twenty-six months preceding February, 1485,
in the discovery of Congo ; but of this we
have full and satisfactory evidence ; the dis-
covery of America, therefore, must be given
up.

There is one thing farther in this memoir
which deserves a particular remark, and that
is the reason assigned by M. Otto, for which
the King of Portugal declined the proposal
of Columbus to sail to India by the West.
" The refusal of John II. is a proof of the
knowledge which that politic prince had al-
ready procured of the existence of a new
Continent, which offered him only barren
lands inhabited by unconquerable savages."
This knowledge is supposed to have been de-
rived from the discoveries made by Behaim.
But, not to urge again the chronological dif-
ficulty with which this conjecture is embar
rassed, I will take notice of two circumstan-
ces in the life of Columbus which militate
with this idea. The first is, that when Co-

220

AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

lumbus had proposed a Western voyage to
King John, and he declined it, " The king,
by the advice of one Doctor Calzadilla, re-
solved to send a caravel privately to attempt
that which Columbus had proposed to him ;
because, in case those countries were so dis-
covered, he thought himself not obliged to
bestow any great reward. Having speedily
equipped a caravel, which' was to carry sup-
plies to the islands of Cabb Verde, he sent it
that way which the admiral proposed to go.
But those whom he sent wanted the knowl-
edge, constancy, and spirit of the admiral.
After wandering many days upon the sea,
they turned back to the islands of Cabo
Verde, laughing at the undertaking, and say-
ing it was impossible there should be any land
in those seas."*

Afterward "the king, being sensible how
faulty they were whom he had sent with the
caravel, had a mind to restore the admiral to
his favour, and desired that he should renew
the discourse of his enterprise ; but, not being
so diligent to put this in execution as the ad-
miral was in getting away, he lost that good
opportunity; the admiral, about the end of
the year 1484, stole away privately out of

* Life of Columbus, ch. xi.

COLUMBUS. 221

Portugal for fear of being stopped by the
king." This account does not agree with
the supposition of a prior discovery.

The other circumstance is an interview
which Columbus had with the people of Lis-
bon and the King of Portugal on his return
from his first voyage. For it so happened
that Columbus, on his return, was by stress
of weather obliged to take shelter in the port
of Lisbon ; and, as soon as it was known that
he had come from the Indies, " the people
thronged to see the natives whom he had
brought and hear the news, so that the cara-
vel would not contain them : some of them
praising God for so great a happiness, oth-
ers storming that they had lost the discovery
through their king's incredulity."

When the king sent for Columbus " he was
doubtful what to do ; but, to take off all sus-
picion that he came from his conquests, he
consented." At the interview " the king of-
fered him all that he stood in need of for the
service of their Catholic majesties, though he
thought that, forasmuch as he had been a cap-
tain in Portugal, that conquest belonged to
him. To which the admiral answered that
he knew of no such agreement, and that he
had strictly observed his orders, which were

222 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

not to go to the mines of Portugal [the Gold
Coast], nor to Guinea."* Had John II. heard
of Behaim's voyage to a Western Continent,
would he not have claimed it by priority of
discovery rather than by the commission
which Columbus had formerly borne in his
service ? Had such a prior discovery been
made, could it have been concealed from the
people of Lisbon ? And would they have
been angry that their king had lost it by his
incredulity ? These circumstances appear to
me to carry sufficient evidence that no discov-
ery of America pridr to that of Columbus had
come to the knowledge of the King of Portu-
gal.

In answer to the question, " Why are we
searching the archives of an imperial city for
the causes of an event which took place in
the western extremity of Europe ?" M. Otto
gives us to understand that, " from the four-
teenth to the sixteenth centuries, the Germans
were the best geographers, the best histori-
ans, and the most enlightened politicians."
Not to detract from the merit of the German
literati of those ages, I think we may give
equal credit to a learned German author of
the present age, Dr. John Reinhold Forster,

* Life, ch. xli.

COLUMBUS. 223

who appears to have a thorough understand-
ing of the claims, not only of his own coun-
trymen, but of others. In his indefatigable
researches into the discoveries which have
been made by all nations, though he has given
due credit to the adventures of Behaim in
Congo and Fayal, yet he has not said one
word of his visiting America, which he cer-
tainly would have done if, in his opinion, there
had been any foundation for it.

LETTERS FROM PAUL, A PHYSICIAN OF FLOR-
ENCE, TO CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, CONCERN-
ING THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA.

LETTER I.

To Christopher Columbus, Paul the Physician wisheth health.

I PERCEIVE your noble and earnest desire to
sail to those parts where the spice is produ-
ced, and therefore, in answer to a letter of
yours, I send you another letter, which some
days since I wrote to a friend of mine and
servant to the King of Portugal, before the
wars of Castile, in answer to another he
wrote to me, by his highness's order, upon
this same account ; and I send you another
sea chart like that I sent him, which will sat-
isfy your demands. The copy of the letter is
this :

224 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

To Ferdinand, Martinez, Canon of Lisbon, Paul the Physician

wisheth health.

I am very glad to hear of the familiarity
you have with your most serene and magnif-
icent king ; and though I have very often
discoursed concerning the short way there is
from hence to the Indies, where the spice is
produced, by sea, which I look upon to be
shorter than that you take by the coast of
Guinea, yet you now tell me that his high-
ness would have me make out and demon-
strate it, so as it may be understood and put
in practice. Therefore, though I could bet-
ter show it him with a globe in my hand, and
make him sensible of the figure of the world,
yet I have resolved, to render it more easy
and intelligible, to show this way upon a
chart, such as are used in navigation, and
therefore I send one to his majesty, made
and drawn with my own hand, wherein is set
down the utmost bounds of the west, from
Ireland in the north to the farthest part of
Guinea, with all the islands that lie in the
way. Opposite to which western coast is de-
scribed the beginning of the Indies, with the
islands and places whither you may go, and
how far you may bend from the north pole to-
wards the equinoctial, and for how long a

COLUMBUS. 225

time ; that is, how many leagues you may
sail before you come to those places most
fruitful in all sorts of spice, jewels, and pre-
cious stones. Do not wonder if I term that
country where the spice grows west, that pro-
duct being generally ascribed to the east ;
because those who shall sail westward will al-
ways find those places in the west, and they
that travel by land eastward will ever find
those places in the east. The straight lines
that lie lengthways in the chart show the dis-
tance there is from west to east ; the others
cross them, show the distance from north to
south. I have also marked down in the said
chart several places in India where ships
might put in upon any storm, or contrary
winds, or any other accident unforeseen.

Moreover, to give you full information of
all those places which you are very desirous
to know, you must understand that none but
traders live or reside in all those islands, and
that there is as great number of ships and
seafaring people with merchandise as in any
other part of the world, particularly in a
most noble port called Zacton, where there
are every year a hundred large ships of pep-
per loaded and unloaded, besides many other
ships that take in other spice.

This country is mighty populous, and

226 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

are many provinces and kingdoms, and innu-
merable cities under the dominion of a prince
called the kham, which name signifies king
of kings, who for the most part resides in the
Province of Cathay. His predecessors were
very desirous to have commerce and be in
amity with Christians, and 200 years since
sent ambassadors to the pope, desiring him
to send them many learned men and doctors
to teach them our faith ; but, by reason of
some obstacles the ambassadors met with,
they returned back without coming to Rome.
Besides, there came an ambassador to Pope
Eugenius IV., who told him the great friend-
ship there was between those princes, their
people, and the Christians. I discoursed
with him a long while upon the several mat-
ters of the grandeur of their royal structures,
and of the greatness, length, and breadth of
their rivers. He told me many wonderful
things of the multitude of towns and cities
founded along the banks of the rivers, and
that there were 200 cities upon one river
only, with marble bridges over it of a great
length and breadth, and adorned with abun-
dance of pillars. This country deserves as
well as any other to be discovered ; and there
may not only be great profit made there, and
many things of value found, but also gold,

COLUMBUS. 227

silver, all sorts of precious stones, and spices
in abundance, which are not brought into our
parts. And it is certain that many wise men,
philosophers, astrologers, and other persons
skilled in all arts, and very ingenious, govern
that mighty province, and command their ar-
mies.

From Lisbon directly westward there are
in the chart 26 spaces, each of which contains
250 miles, to the most noble and vast city of
Quisay, which is 100 miles in compass, that
is, 35 leagues ; in it there are ten marble
bridges. The name signifies a heavenly city,
of which wonderful things are reported as to
the ingenuity of the people, the buildings, and
the revenues. This space above mentioned
is almost the third part of the globe. This
city is in the province of Mango, bordering
on that of Cathay, where the king for the
most part resides.

From the island Antilla, which you call
the Seven Cities, and of which you have some
knowledge, to the most noble island of Cipan-
g-0, are ten spaces, which make 2500 miles, or
225 leagues ; which island abounds in gold,
pearls, and precious stones ; and you must
understand, they cover their temples and pal-
aces with plates of pure gold : so that, for want

I.— S

228 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

of knowing the way, all these things are hid-
den and concealed, and yet may be gone to
with safety.

Much more might be said ; but, having told
you what is most material, and you being
wise and judicious, I am satisfied there is no-
thing of it but what you understand, and
therefore I will not be more prolix. Thus
much may serve to satisfy your curiosity, it
being as much as the shortness of time and
my business would permit me to say. So I
remain most ready to satisfy and serve his
highness to the utmost, in all the commands
he shall lay upon me.

Florence, June 25, 1474.

LETTER II.

To Christopher Columbus, Paul the Physician wisheth heattfl.

I received your letters with the things you
sent me, which I shall take as a great favour,
and commend your noble and ardent desire
of sailing from east to west, as it is marked
out in the chart I sent you, which would de-
monstrate itself better in the form of a globe.

I am glad it is well understood, and that
the voyage laid down is not only possible, but
true, certain, honourable, very advantageous,
and most glorious among all Christians. Yor

• COLUMBUS.

cannot be perfect in the knowledge of it but
by experience and practice, as I have had in
great measure, and by the solid and true in-
formation of worthy and wise men, who have
come from those parts to this court of Rome ;
and from merchants who have traded long in
those parts, and are persons of good reputa-
tion. So that, when the said voyage is per-
formed, it will be to powerful kingdoms, and
to the most noble cities and provinces, rich
and abounding in all things we stand in need
of, particularly in all sorts of spice in great
quantities, and store of jewels.

This will, moreover, be grateful to those
kings and princes who are very desirous to
converse and trade with Christians of these
our countries, whether it be for some of them
to become Christians, or else to have commu-
nication with the wise and ingenious men of
these parts, as well in point of religion as in
all sciences, because of the extraordinary ac-
count they have of the kingdoms and govern-
ment of these parts. For which reasons, and
many more that might be alleged, I do not at
all admire that you, who have a great heart,
and all the Portuguese nation, which has ever
had notable men in all undertakings, be ea-
gerly bent upon performing this voyage.

230 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

V. JAMES CARTIER.

THOUGH the English did not prosecute the
discovery made by the Cabots, nor avail
themselves of the only advantages which it
could have afforded them, yet their neighbours
of Brittany,* Normandy, and Biscay wisely
pursued the track of those adventurers, and
took vast quantities of cod on the banks of
Newfoundland.

In 1524, John Verazzani,f a Florentine in
the service of France, ranged the coast of the
new continent from Florida to Newfound-
land, and gave it the name of New France.
In a subsequent voyage he was cut to pieces
and devoured by the savages.

It is remarkable that the three great Euro-
pean kingdoms, Spain, England, and France,
made use of three Italians to conduct their
discoveries : Columbus, a Genoese ; Cabot,
a Venetian ;$ and Verazzani, a Florentine.

* It is supposed that the island of Cape Breton took its name
Irom the Bretons, the fishermen of Brittany.

t [For a brief notice of Verazanni, see Chronological Detail.
-H.]

t [Cabot, though of Venetian extraction, was born in Bris-
tol, England.— H.]

C ARTIER. 231

This is a proof that among the Italians there
were at that time persons of superior maritime
knowledge to the other nations of Europe ;
though the penurious spirit of those repub-
lics, their mutual jealousy and petty wars,
made them overlook the benefits resulting
from extensive enterprises, and leave the vast
regions of the New World to be occupied by
others.

The voyages of Verazzani having produced
no addition to the revenue of France, all
farther attempts to perfect his discoveries
were laid aside ; but the fishery being found
conducive to the commercial interest, it was
at length conceived that a plantation in the
neighbourhood of the banks might be advan-
tageous. This being represented to King
Francis I. by Chabot the admiral, JAMES
C ARTIER, *J of St. Malo, was commissioned to
explore the country, with a view to find a
place for a colony. $

On the 20th of April, 1534, he sailed from
St. Malo with two ships of sixty tons and
122 men, and on the 10th of May came in
sight of Bonavista, on the island of New-

* His name is sometimes written Quartier.

t [The French, of course, write the baptismal name Jacques.
He was a native of St. Malo, and an able and experienced pilot.
-H.]

t Forster's Northern Voyages, p. 437.

232 " AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

foundland. But the ice which lay along the
shore obliged him to go southward, and he
entered a harbour to which he gave the name
of St. Catharine,* where he waited for fair
weather and fitted his boats.

As soon as the season would permit,t he
sailed northward, and examined several har-
bours and islands on the coast of New-
foundland, in one of which he found such a
quantity of birds that in half an hour two
boats were loaded with them, and, after they
had eaten as many as they could, five or six
barrels full were salted for each ship. This
place was called Bird Island.

Having passed Cape de Grat, the northern
extremity of the land, he entered the Straits
of Bellisle, and visited several harbours on
the opposite coast of Labrador, one of which
he called Cartier's Sound. The harbour is
described as one of the best in the world,
but the land is stigmatized as the place to
which Cain was banished, no vegetation be-
ing produced among the rocks but thorns and
moss. Yet, bad as it was, there were inhab-
itants in it, who lived by catching seals, and
seemed to be a wandering tribe.t

* Called in some maps Catalina.

t [May 21st.— Hakluyt, vol. iii., p. 202. — H.J

J Hakluyt, vol. iii., p. 201-211

C A.RTIER. » 233

In circumnavigating the great island of
Newfoundland, they found the weather in
general cold ; but when they had crossed the
gulf in a southwesterly direction to the conti-
nent, they came into a deep bay, where the
climate was so warm that they named it Baye
de Chaleur, or the Bay of Heat. Here were
several kinds of wild berries, roses, and
meadows of grass. In the fresh waters they
caught salmon in great plenty.

Having searched in vain for a passage
through the bay, they quitted it, and sailed
along the coast eastward, till they came to
the smaller bay of Gaspe, where they sought
shelter from a tempest, and were detained
twelve days in the month of July. In this
place Cartier performed the ceremony of taJ»
king possession for the King of France. A
cross of thirty feet high was erected on a
point of land. On this cross was suspended
a shield, with the arms of France and the
words Vive le Roy de France. Before it the
people kneeled uncovered, with their hands
extended and their eyes lifted towards heav-
en. The natives who were present beheld
the ceremony at first with silent admiration,
but after a while, an old man, clad in a
bear's skin, made signs to them that the land

234 ' AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

was his, and that they should not have it
without his leave. They then informed him
by signs that the cross was intended only as
a mark of direction, by which they might
again find the port, and they promised to re-
turn the next year, and to bring iron and oth-
er commodities.

They thought it proper, however, to con-
ciliate the old man's good-will by entertain-
ing him on board the ship and making him
several presents, by which means they so
prevailed on him that he permitted Cartier to
carry two of his sons, young men, to France,
on the security of a promise that he would
bring them back at his return the next spring.

From Gaspe he sailed so far into the Great
River, afterward called St. Lawrence, as to
discover land on the opposite side ; but the
weather being boisterous, and the current
setting against him, he thought it best to re-
turn to Newfoundland, and then to France,
where he arrived safe in the harbour of St.
Malo on the fifth of September.

The discoveries made in this voyage exci-
ted farther curiosity ; and the Vice-admiral
Melleraye* represented Cartier's merits to

* [Hakluyt, Hi., 201, calls him " Sir Charles do Mouy, knight,,
lorde of Melleraye," &c. — H.]

C A R T I E K. ' 235

the king so favourably as to procure for him
a more ample equipment. Three ships, one
of 120, one of 60, and one of 40 tons, were
destined to perform another voyage in the en-
suing spring ; and several young men of dis»
tinction entered as volunteers, to seek adven-
tures in the New World. When they were
ready to sail, the whole company, after the
example of Columbus, went in procession to
church on Whitsunday, where the Bishop of
St. Malo pronounced his blessing on them.
They sailed on the 19th of May, 1535. Meet-
ing with tempestuous weather, the ships were
separated, and did not join again till Cartier,
in the largest ship, arrived at Bird Island,*
where he again filled his boats with fowls,
and on the 26th of July was joined by the
other vessels.

From Bird Island they pursued the same
course as in the preceding summer ; and hav-
ing cojne into the gulf on the western side of
Newfoundland, gave it the name of St. Law-
rence. Here they saw abundance of whales.
Passing between the island of Assumption
(since called Anticostif) and the northern

* [July 7th.— H.]

t [Called by the natives Natiscotie, whence the presen*
name.— Forster, 439. — H.]

AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

shore, they sailed up the great river till they
came to a branch on the northern side, which
the young natives who were on board called
Saguenay ; the main river, they told him,
would carry him to Hochelaga, the capital of
the whole country.

After spending some time in exploring the
northern coast to find an opening to the
northward, in the beginning of September
he sailed up the river, and discovered several
islands, one of which, from the multitude of
filberts, he called Coudres ; and another, from
the vast quantity of grapes, he named Bac-
chus (now Orleans). This island was full of
inhabitants, who subsisted by fishing.

When the ships had come to anchor be-
tween the N.W. side of the island and the
main, Cartier went on shore with his two
young savages. The people of the country
were at first afraid of them ; but, hearing the
youths speak to them in their own language,
they became sociable, and brought eels and
other fish, with a quantity of Indian corn in
ears, for the refreshment of their new guests,
in return for which they were presented with
such European baubles as were pleasing to
them.

The next day, Donacona, the prince of the

C A R T I E R. 237

place, came to visit them, attended by twelve
boats ; but, keeping ten of them at a distance,
he approached with two only, containing six-
teen men. In the true spirit of hospitality,
he made a speech, accompanied with signifi-
cant gestures, welcoming the French to his
country, and offering his service to them.
The young savages Taignoagni and Doma-
gaia answered him, reporting all which they
had seen in France, at which he appeared
to be pleased. Then approaching the cap-
tain, who held out his hand, he kissed it, and
laid it round his own neck, in token of friend-
ship. Cartier, on his part, entertained Dona-
cona with bread and wine, and they parted
mutually pleased.

The next day Cartier went up in his boat
to find a harbour for his ships, the season
being so far advanced that it became neces-
sary to secure them. At the west end of the
Isle of Bacchus he found " a goodly and
pleasant sound, where is a little river and
haven, about three fathoms deep at high wa-
ter." To this he gave the name of St. Croix,
and determined there to lay up his ships.

Near this place was a village called Stada-
cona, of which Donacona was the lord. It
was environed with forest-trees, some of which

238 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

bore fruit ; and under the trees was a growth
of wild hemp. As Cartier was returning to
his ships, he had another specimen of the
hospitable manners of the natives. A com-
pany of people, of both sexes, met him on
the shore of the little river, singing and dan-
cing up to their knees in water. In return
for their courtesy, he gave them knives and
beads, and they continued their music till he
was beyond hearing it.

When Cartier had brought his ships to the
harbour and secured them, he intimated his
intention to pass in his boats up the river to
Hochelaga. Donacona was loth to part with
him, and invented several artifices to prevent
his going thither. Among others, he contri-
ved to dress three of his men in black and
white skins, with horns on their heads, and
their faces besmeared with coal, to make them
resemble infernal spirits. They were put into
a canoe and passed by the ships, brandishing
their horns and making an unintelligible ha-
rangue. Donacona, with his people, pursued
and took them, on which they fell down as
if dead. They were carried ashore into the
woods, and all the savages followed them.
A long discourse ensued, and the conclusion
of the farce was, that these demons had

C A R T I E R. 239

brought news from the god of Hochelaga,
that his country was so full of snow and ice
that whoever should adventure thither would
perish with the cold. The artifice afforded
diversion to the French, but was too thin to
deceive them. Cartier determined to pro-
ceed ; and on the 19th of September, with
his pinnace and two boats, began his voyage
up the river to Hochelaga.

Among the woods on the margin of the
river were many vines loaded with ripe
grapes, than which nothing could be a more
welcome sight to Frenchmen, though the
fruit was not so delicious as they had been
used to taste in their own country. Along
the banks were many huts of the natives,
who made signs of joy as they passed, pre-
sented them with fish, piloted them through
narrow channels, carried them ashore on their
backs, and helped them to get off their boats
when aground. Some presented their chil-
dren to them, and such as were of proper age
were accepted.

The water at that time of the year being
low, their passage was rendered difficult ;
but, by the friendly assistance of the natives,
they surmounted the obstructions. On the
28th of September they passed the rapids

240 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

between the islands in the upper part of the
Lake Arigouleme (now called St. Peters), and
on the second of October they arrived at the
Island of Hochelaga, where they had been
expected, and preparations were made to give
them a welcome reception. About a thou-
sand persons came to meet them, singing and
dancing, the men on one side, the women on
the other, and the children in a distinct body.
Presents offish and other victuals were brought,
and in return were given knives, beads, and
other trinkets. The Frenchmen lodged the
first night in their boats, and the natives watch-
ed on the shore, dancing round their fires du-
ring the whole night.

The next morning Cartier, with twenty-five
of his company, went to visit the town, and
were met on the way by a person of distinc-
tion, who bade them welcome. To him they
gave two hatchets and two knives, and hung
over his neck a cross, which they taught him to
kiss. As they proceeded they passed through
groves of oak, from which the acorns were
fallen and lay thick on the ground. Aftei
this they came to fields of ripe corn, some of
which was gathered. In the midst of these
fields was situate the town of Hochelaga.

It was of a round form, encompassed with

CAR TIER. 241

three lines of palisades, through which was
one entrance, well secured with stakes and
bars. On the inside was a rampart of timber,
to which were ascents by ladders, and heaps
of stones were laid in proper places for de-
fence. In the town were about fifty long
huts, built with stakes and covered with bark.
In the middle of each hut was a fire, round
which were lodging-places, floored with bark
and covered with skins. In the upper part
was a scaffold, on which they dried and pre-
served their corn. To prepare it for eating,
they pounded it in wooden mortars, and,
having mixed it with water, baked it on hot
stones. Besides corn they had beans, squash-
es, and pumpkins.* They dried their fish
and preserved them in troughs. These peo-
ple lived chiefly by tillage and fishing, and
seldom went far from home. Those on the
lower parts of the river were more given to
hunting, and considered the Lord of Hoche-
laga as their sovereign, to whom they paid
tribute.

When the new guests were conducted to
an open square in the centre of the town, the
females came to them, rubbing their hands

* [Or, as the narrative in Hakluyt, iii., 220, has it, "musk*-
millions and very great cowcumbers " — H.J

242 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

and faces, weeping with joy at their arrival,
and bringing their children to be touched by
the strangers. They spread mats for them
on the ground, while the men seated them-
selves in a large circle on the outside. The
king was then brought in a litter, on the
shoulders of ten men, and placed on a mat
next to the French captain. He was about
fifty years old, and had no mark of distinc-
tion but a coronet made of porcupine's quills
dyed red, which he took off and gave to the
captain, requesting him to rub his arms and
legs, which were trembling with a palsy.
Several persons, blind, lame, and withered
with age, were also brought to be touched,
as if they supposed that their new guests
were messengers from Heaven invested with
a power of healing diseases. Cartier grati-
fied them as well as he could, by laying his
hands on them and repeating some devotion-
al passages from a service-book which he had
in his pocket, accompanying his ejaculations
with significant gestures, and lifting up his
eyes to heaven. The natives attentively ob-
served and imitated all his motions.

Having performed this ceremony, he desi-
red all the men, women, and children to ar-
range themselves in separate bodies. To the

C A R T I E R. 243

men he gave hatchets, to the women beads,
and to the children rings. He then ordered
his drums and trumpets to sound, which
highly pleased the company and set them to
dancing.

Being desirous of ascending the hill, under
which the town was built, the natives con-
ducted them to the summit, where they were
entertained with a most extensive and beau-
tiful prospect of mountains, woods, islands,
and waters. They observed the course of
the river above, and some falls of water in it ;
and the natives informed them that they might
sail on it for three months ; that it ran through
two or three great lakes, beyond which was
a sea of fresh water, to which they knew of
no bounds, and that on the other side of the
mountains there was another river which ran
in a contrary direction to the southwest,
through a country full of delicious fruits, and
free from snow and ice ; that there was found
such metal as the captain's silver whistle and
the haft of a dagger belonging to one of the
company, which was gilt with gold. Being
shown some copper, they pointed to the north-
ward, and said it came from Saguenay. To
this hill Cartier gave the name of Montreal^

which it has ever since retained.
I.— T

244 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

The visit being finished, the natives accom-
panied the French to their boats, carrying
such as were weary on their shoulders. They
were loth to part with their guests, and fol-
lowed them along the shore of the river to a
considerable distance.

On the fourth of October Cartier and his
company departed from Hochelaga. In pass-
ing down the river they erected a cross on
the point of an island which, with three oth-
ers, lay in the mouth of a shallow river, on
the north side, called Fouetz. On the elev-
enth they arrived at the Port de St. Croix,
and found that their companions had enclosed
the ships with a palisade and rampart, on
which they had mounted cannon.

The next day Donacona invited them to
his residence, where they were entertained
with the usual festivity and made the custom-
ary presents. They observed that these peo-
ple used the leaves of an herb [tobacco], which
they preserved in pouches made of skins and
smoked in stone pipes. It was very offensive
to the French,* but the natives valued it as

* [The use of this weed was a matter of great astonishment,
as well as disgust, to the French. The writer of Cartier's voy-
age says, " they sucke so long that they fill their bodies full of
smoke, till that it commeth out of their mouth and nostrils, even
as out of the tunnel of a chimney." — H.]

C A R T I £ R. 245

contributing much to the preservation of their
health. Their houses appeared to be well
supplied with provisions. Among other things
which were new to the French, they observ-
ed the scalps of five men spread and dried
like parchment. These were taken from their
enemies the Toudamani, who came from the
south, and were continually at war with them.

Being determined to spend the winter
among these friendly people, they traded with
them for the provisions which they could
spare, and the river supplied them with fish
till it was hard frozen.

In December the scurvy began to make its
appearance among the natives, and Cartier
prohibited all intercourse Avith them ; but it
was not long before his own men were taken
with it. It raged with uncontrolled violence
for above two months, and by the middle of
February, out of one hundred and ten per-
sons, fifty were sick at once, and eight or ten
had died.

In this extremity Cartier appointed a day
of solemn humiliation and prayer. A cruci-
fix was placed on a tree, and as many as were
able to walk went in procession, through the
ice and snow, singing the seven penitential
Psalms, and performing other devotional ex-

246 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

ercises. At the close of the solemnity Cartier
made a vow that, " if it would please God to
permit him to return to France, he would go
in pilgrimage to our Lady of E/oquemado."
But it was necessary to watch as well as pray.
To prevent the natives from knowing their
weak and defenceless state, he obliged all
who were able to make as much noise as
possible with axes and hammers ; and told
the natives that his men were all busily em-
ployed, and that he would not suifer any of
them to go from the ships till their work was
done. The ships were fast frozen up from
the middle of November to the middle of
March ; the snow was four feet deep, and
higher than the sides of the ships above the
ice. The severity of the winter exceeded all
which they had ever experienced ; the scurvy
still raged ; twenty-five men had fallen vic-
tims to it, and the others were so weak and
low in spirits that they despaired of ever see-
ing their native country.

In the depth of this distress and desponden-
cy, Cartier, who had escaped the disease, in
walking one day on the ice met some of the
natives, among whom was Domagaia, one of
the young men who had been with him to
France, and who then resided with his coun-

C A R T I E R. 247

trymen at Stadacona. He had been sick
with the scurvy his sinews had been shrunk
and his knees swollen, his teeth loose, and his
gums rotten ; but he was then recovered, and
told Carlier of a certain tree, the leaves and
bark of which he had used as a remedy.
Cartier expressed his wish to see the tree,
telling him that one of his people had been
affected with the same disorder. Two wom-
en were immediately despatched, who brought
ten or twelve branches, and showed him how
to prepare the decoction, which was thus :
" to boil the bark and the leaves ; to drink
of the liquor every other day ; and to put the
dregs on the legs of the sick."*

* This tree was called by the natives Ameda or Haneda.
Mr. Hakluyt supposes it to have been the sassafras ; but, as the
leaves were used with the bark in the winter, it must have been
an evergreen. The dregs of the bark were also applied to the
sore legs of the patient. From these circumstances I am in-
clined to think that it was the spruce pine (pinus Canadensis),
which is used in the same manner by the Indians, and such as
have learned of them. Spruce beer is well known to be a pow-
erful antiscorbutic ; and the bark of this and of the white pine
serves as a cataplasm for wounds and sores.*

* [We may add, that, for the use of Cartier's men, " a tree,
as big as any oake in France, was spoyled and stripped bare."
The narrator of the second voyage speaks of " a kind of tree
which they call Hanneda, above three fathom about." We be-
lieve the sassafras hardly attains so great size. That it was
used for such purposes appears, however, from the following

248 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

This remedy presently came into use on
board the ships ; and its good effects were so
surprising, that within one week they were
completely healed of the scurvy ; and some
who had venereal complaints of long stand-
ing were also cured by the same means.

The severity of winter having continued
four months without intermission, at the re-
turn of the sun the season became milder, and
in April the ice began to break up. On the
third day of May Cartier took possession of
the country by erecting a cross thirty-five
feet high, on which was hung a shield, bear-
ing the arms of France, with this inscription :
FRANCISCUS primus, Dei gratid, FRANCORUM
Rex, regnal.

The same day, being a day of festivity,*
the two young savages Taignoagni and Dom-
agaia, with Donacona, the chief of the place,
came on board the ships, and were partly

passage from Josselyn's " Account of Two Voyages to New-
England" (3d Mass. Hist. Coll., iii., 257) : " The sassafras is
no great tree ; I have met with some as big as my middle. A
decoction of the roots and bark thereof is good for the scurvie,
taken some time together, and laying upon the legs the leaves of
white hellebore." This corresponds to Cartier's narrative ex-
cept in the particular of size. — H.]

* [Being Holy Rood day, i. e., the day of the holy cross.
— Hakluyt, iii., 329.— H.]

C ARTIER. 249

prevailed on and partly constrained to ac-
company Cartier to France. A handsome
present was made to the family of Donacona,
but it was with great reluctance that his
friends parted with him, though Cartier prom-
ised to bring him again at the end of twelve
months. On the sixth of May they sail-
ed from the port of St. Croix, and, having
touched at St. Peter's in Newfoundland, they
arrived at St. Malo, in France, the sixth of
July, 1536.

Whether Cartier performed his vow to
God the history does not tell us ; certain it
is, however, that he did not perform his prom-
ise to his passengers. The zeal for adven-
tures of this kind began to abate. Neither
gold nor silver were carried home. The ad-
vantages of the fur-trade were not fully un-
derstood, and the prospect of benefit from
cultivation in the short summer of that cold
climate was greatly overbalanced by the
length and severity of a Canadian winter.
The natives had been so often told of the ne-
cessity of baptism in order to salvation, that,
on their arrival in France, they were, at their
own request, baptized ; but neither of them
lived to see their native land again.

The report which Cartier brought home of

250 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

the fine country beyond the lakes* had,
however, made such an impression on the
minds of some, that, at the end of four years,
another expedition was projected. Franci?
de la Roche, lord of Roberval,t was com*
missioned by the king as his lieutenant-gov-
ernor in Canadat and Hochelaga. and Cartier

* [It is worth our while to notice with what partial and erro-
neous information, and, of course, unreasonable expectations, the
expeditions of those days were undertaken. Gold and silver be-
ing the chief objects of desire, Cartier greedily received from the
natives accounts of rich mines, and doubtless reported them with
no diminution. They told him of a people in Saguenay " very
honest, with many inhabited towns, and great store of gold." —
Hakluyt, iii., 225. Donacona had informed him of "infinite
rubies, gold, and other riches" there, and "white men who
clothe themselves with woollen cloth, as we doe in France." —
Ib., 228. They reported, too, a country distant a month's sail,
perhaps down the Mississippi, of " oranges, almonds, cinnamon,
and cloves." — Ib., 225, 232. The Indians who went with Car-
tier to France told similar stories to the king. Whether he or
the natives were most deluded in these representations we do
not know. Probably, early aware of the cupidity of the
French, they had framed their stories to satisfy it. — H.J

t [Hakluyt, iii., 232, calls him John Francis, &c. He was
a nobleman of Picardy, of great weight in his own province, and
on that account Francis I. used to call him " the little King of
Vimieu." — Forster, 441. — H.]

t [The name Canada, some say, was derived from a saying
of Velasco, who, when he saw the barrenness of the country, no
signs of gold or silver there, cried out " aca nada" (or aqui na-
da), " Nothing here." Some of the old maps have the name Ca-
da-nada, or Cape Nothing. Others, say more probably, that the

C ARTIER. 251

was appointed his pilot,* with the command
of five ships. When they were ready to sail,
Roberval had not finished his preparations,
and was therefore detained. The king's or-
ders to Cartier being positive, he sailed from
St. Malo on the 23d of May, 1540.

The winds were adverse and the voyage
tedious. The ships were scattered, and did
not arrive at the place of their destination till
the 23d of August, when they came to the
port of St. Croix in the River of Canada.

The first inquiry made by the natives was
for their countrymen who had been carried
away. The answer was that Donacona was
dead, and that the others had become great
lords, were married in France, and refused
to return. Neither sorrow nor resentment
was shown on this occasion ; but a secret
jealousy, which had long been working, re-
ceived strength from an answer so liable to
suspicion.

The history of this voyage being imperfect,
\t is not possible to say in what particular

name given by the natives to a town or village was Canada,
which the French understood to be the name of the country.
— Forster, 438, note, and Hakluyt, iii., 232. — H.]

* [" Captain-general and leader of the shippes." The voyage
jvas made at the joint expense of Roberval and of the king,
Brands I. — H.]
I.— U

AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

manner this j ealousy operated. Cartier made
another excursion up the river, and pitched
on a place about four leagues above St.
Croix to lay up three of his vessels for the
winter. The other two he sent back to
France to inform the king of what they had
done, and that Roberval had not arrived.

At the new harbour which he had chosen
for his ships was a small river, running in a
serpentine course to the south. On the east-
ern side of its entrance was a high and steep
cliff, on the top of which they built a fort,
and called it Charleburg. Below, the ships
were drawn up and fortified, as they had
been in the former winter which he spent
here. Not far from the fort were some rocks
containing crystals, which they denomina-
ted diamonds ; and on the shore were picked
up certain specks of a yellow substance,
which their imaginations refined into gold.
Iron ore was found in abundan'ce, and a kind
of black slate, with veins of an apparent me-
tallic substance.

In what manner they passed the winter, the
defective accounts which we have do not in-
form us. In the spring of the following year,
Cartier and his company, having heard no-
thing of Roberval, and concluding that they

CABTIER. 253

were abandoned by their friends, and exposed
to perish in a climate the most severe, and
among people whose conduct towards them
was totally changed, determined to return to
France. Accordingly, having set sail at the
breaking up of the ice, they arrived in the
harbour of St. John in Newfoundland some
time in June, where they met Roberval, who,
with three ships and two hundred persons,
male and female, had sailed from Rochelle in
April,* and were on their way to establish a
colony ki Canada. Cartier went on board
Roberval's ship, and showed him the dia-
monds and gold which he had found, but
told him that the hostile disposition of the na-
tives had obliged him to quit the country,
which, however, he represented to him as ca-
pable of profitable cultivation. Roberval or-
dered him to return to Canada ; but Cartier
privately sailed out of the harbour in the
night, and pursued his voyage to France.

Mortified and disappointed, Roberval con-
tinued some time longer at St. John's before
he proceeded, and about the end of July ar-

* [Roberval sailed April 16, 1542.— Hakluyt, iii., 240. The
same author says that Cartier had gone " the year before."
Cartier must have been there nearly two years when Roberval
arrived. — H.]

254 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

rived at the place which Cartier had quitted.
There he erected a fort on a commanding
eminence, and another at its foot, in which
were deposited all the provision, ammunition,
artillery, implements of husbandry, and oth-
er materials for the intended colony.*

In September, two vessels were sent back
to France, to carry specimens of crystal and
fetch provisions for the next year, the stores
which they had brought being much reduced.
By the help of the fish which they took in the
river, and the game which they procured
from the savages, and by well husbanding
their provisions, they lingered out a tedious
winter, having suffered much from the scurvy,
of which about fifty of them died. In addi-
tion to this distress, Roberval exercised such

* [Near the present site of Quebec. The fortifications oi
what is now the Gibraltar of America are thus described in the
narrative of Roberval : " The saide general!, at his first arrival^
built a fayre fort, which is very beautiful to behold and of great
force, . . situated upon an high mountain, wherein were two
-courtes of buyldings, a great tower, and another of fortie or fif-
tie foot long : wherein there were divers chambers, an hall, a
kitchen, houses of office, sellers, high and lowe, and neere unto
it were an oven and milles, and a stove to warm men in, and a
well before the house. There was also at the foote of the
mountaine another lodging, part whereof was a great tower of
two stories high, two courtes of good buyldings." Such was it
in 1542.— H.]

C A R T I E R. 255

severity in his government, that one man was
hanged, several were laid in irons, and some
of both sexes underwent the discipline of the
whip.

In April the ice began to break up, and
on the fifth of June he proceeded up the riv-
er, leaving De Royeze, his lieutenant, to com-
mand in his absence, with orders to embark
for France if he should not return by the
middle of July.

As the account of the expedition ends here,
we can only remark that the colony was bro-
ken up, and no farther attempt was made by
the French to establish themselves in Cana-
da till after the expiration of half a century.
The last account of Roberval is that, in 1549,
he sailed with his brother on some voyage of
discovery, and never returned.*

In this first visit which the natives of Can-
ada received from the Europeans, we have a
striking instance of their primitive manners.
Suspecting no danger, and influenced by no
fear, they embraced the stranger with unaf-
fected joy. Their huts were open to receive
him, their fires and furs to give warmth and
rest to his weary limbs ; their food was sha-
red with him, or given in exchange for his tri-

* [Bosman, History of Maryland, p. 41, says to the St
Lawrence. — H.]

256 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

fles ; they were ready with their simple med-
icines to heal his diseases and his wounds ;
they would wade through rivers, and climb
rocks and mountains to guide him in his
way, and they would remember and requite
his kindness more than it deserved.

Unhappily for them, they set too high a
value on their new guest. Imagining him to
be of a heavenly origin, they were extrava-
gant and unguarded in their first attachment,
and, from some specimens of his superiority,
obvious to their senses, they expected more
than ought ever to be expected from beings
of the same species. But when the mistake
was discovered, and the stranger whom they
had adored proved to be no more than hu-
man, having the same inferior desires and
passions with themselves — especially when
they found their confidence misplaced and
their generous friendship ill requited — then the
rage of jealousy extinguished the virtue of
benevolence, and they struggled to rid them-
selves of him as an enemy whom they had
received into their bosom as a friend.

On the other hand, it was too common for
the European adventurer to regard the man
of nature as an inferior being ; and, while he
availed himself of his strength and experience,

C A R T I E K. 257

to abuse his confidence, and repay his kind-
ness with insult and injury, to stigmatize him
as a heathen and a savage, and to bestow on
him the epithets of deceitful, treacherous, and
cruel, though he himself had first set the ex-
ample of these detestable vices.

AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

VI. FERDINANDO DE SOTO.*

THE travels and transactions of this adven-
turer are of so little importance in the history
of America, that I should not have thought
them worthy of much notice had it not been
that some gentlemen of ingenuity and learn-
ing have had recourse to the expedition of this
Spaniard as a means of solving the question
respecting the mounds and fortifications of a
regular construction which, within a few years
past, have been discovered in the thickest
shades of the American forest. f Though the
opinion seems to have been candidly given
up by one of the writers who attempted to
defend it, yet, as what was published on the
subject may have impressed some persons
with an idea that these works were of Euro-

* [A minute and circumstantial narrative of De Solo's expe-
dition was written by a "Portugese gentleman of Elvas," who
accompanied him. It was translated about 1562, and is cited
in these notes as the Relation. — H.]

t If the reader wishes to see a particular investigation of this
hypothesis, he may consult the American Magazine, printed at
New- York, for December, 1787, January and February, 1780,
and some subsequent numbers, compared with the Columbian
Magazine, printed at Philadelphia, for September and Novem-
ber, 1788.

s o T o. 259

pean fabric, I shall briefly relate the history
of Soto's march, and the difficulties which
attend the supposition that he was the builder
of any of these fortifications.

After the conquest of Mexico and Peru in
the beginning of the sixteenth century, the
inextinguishable thirst for gold which had
seized the Spanish adventurers prompted
them to search for that bewitching metal
wherever there could be any prospect of find-
ing it. Three unsuccessful attempts had been
made in Florida by Ponce, Gomez, and Nar-
vaez ;* but, because these adventurers did
not penetrate the interior parts of the Con-
tinent, FERDINANDO DE Soxo,t governor of

* [See Chronological Detail, &c.— H.]

t [De Soto was born at Xeres de Bajados (but, according to
Garcilaso, at Villa Nuova de Barcarota, in Estrcmadura : see also
Biog. Univ.), of a respectable family, but not distinguished for
rank or wealth. By virtue of his natural energy and enthusi-
asm he became interested in the then popular adventures in
America, where he served under Pedrarias Davila, governor ot
Darien, having "no more estate than a sword and buckler."
With Pizarro in the conquest of Peru he commanded a troop ol
horse, and gained much reputation as well as wealth. His share
of the spoils in that expedition is said to have been 180,000
crowns of gold. On his return to Spain he appeared at court
with a magnificent retinue and equipage, " resolved to make
himself be taken notice of by a sumptuous expense, though oth-
erwise he had no inclination to liberality." Here he married
the daughter of Pedrarias, and received the favourable notice of
the emperor, who now made him governor of Cuba, and added

260 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

Cuba, who had been a companion of the Pi-
zarros in their Peruvian expedition, and had
there amassed much wealth, projected a
march into Florida, of which country he had
the title of adelantado, or president. He
sailed from the port of Havanna May 18,
1539, with nine vessels, six hundred men,*
two hundred and thirteen horses, and a herd
of swine, and arrived on the 30th of the same
month in the Bay of Espiritu Santo, on the
western coast of the peninsula of Florida.

Being a soldier of fortune and determined
on conquest, he immediately pitched his camp
and secured it. A foraging party met with
a few Indians, who resisted them ; two were
killed ; the others escaped, and reported to

the title of "marquis of the lands which he might conquer."
His inclination to invade Florida was strengthened, if not origi-
nated, by the narrative of Cabeqa de Vaca, one of the survivors
of the unfortunate expedition of Narvaez, who represented it as
one of the richest countries in the world. Soto quickly assem-
bled a company for this purpose, among whom were many cav-
aliers of quality from Spain and Portugal. He equipped seven
ships, and sailed from St. Lucar in the month of April, 1538.
In the year which elapsed before he left Cuba for Florida, he
sent two expeditions to explore the coast and select a suitable
place for landing. The fleet with which he sailed from Havan-
na consisted of five ships, two caravels, and two brigantines,
with six hundred men. — H.]

* lu Prince's Chronology it is said that §oto had 900 men ,
but he quotes Purchas for his authority, in whose book the num-
ber is " sir hundred."

SOTO. 261

their countrymen that the warriors of fire
had invaded their territories, upon which the
smaller towns were deserted, and the natives
hid in the woods.*

Having met with a Spaniard of the party
of Narvaez,t who had been wrecked dn the
coast, and had been twelve years a captive
with the Indians, Soto made use of him as a
messenger to them to inquire for gold and
silver ; and, wherever he could receive any

* [The treatment of the Indians by De Soto and his party was
marked by every circumstance of ferocious and brutal cruelty.
They were hunted by bloodhounds, loaded with chains, forced
to be baggage-carriers and guides, attacked on the slightest
cause, and slaughtered like beasts. Take an example : " The
general sent out two captains several ways to take Indians, who
brought in a hundred, as well women as men, that were all divi-
ded in this manner : The captain who took the prize set one or
two apart for the governor, the rest were divided between the
captain and soldiers. They were chained by the neck, and serv-
ed to carry the baggage, pound the maize, and in other employ-
ments wherein the chain incommoded them not too much." If
any attempted to escape, " they paid dear for it." — Relation, p.
44. " Nor, indeed, did any of those who were put in chains
ever return again" with the consent of their captors. — Ib., 81.
And again, " the Indians that served us, going naked and in
irons during the bitter cold of winter, were almost all starved to
death."— Ib., 50. The historian of Elvas adds, that De Soto
" could not endure that any Indian should be so bold as to fall
foul upon a Christian, right or wrong/' — Ib., 77. Once he or-
dered an Indian to be burned alive merely to gain information
of his route. — Ib , 62. — H.]

t [John Ortiz. He died at Autiamque in 1542. — H.J

262 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

information respecting these precious metals,
thither he directed his march.

His manner of marching was this : The
horsemen carried bags of corn and other pro-
visions, the footmen marched by the side of
the horses, and the swine were driven before
them.* When they first landed they had
thirteen female swine, which in two years in-
creased to several hundreds ; the warmth of
the climate being favourable to their propa-
gation, and the forests yielding them a plenty
of food.

The first summer and winter were spent
in the Peninsula of Florida, not far from the
Bay of Apalache ; and in the beginning of
the following spring, having sent back his
vessels to Cuba for supplies, and left a part
of his men at the port, where he expected the

* [The fatigues and sufferings of the company were exces-
sive. The footmen were obliged to carry their provision on their
backs, and often reduced to extremities and death from the want
of suitable food. Their journeys were over deserts and difficult
mountains, or through tracts inhabited by those only of whom
their own cruelty had made them suspicious, and who more than
once proved themselves no contemptible foe. They swam riv-
ers, waded deep marshes, cut through canebrakes, hungered,
thirsted, scorched under a hot sun, and wasted away from fear,
anxiety, and doubt. The golden region fled before them, sem-
per ccdentia retro, and their high hopes of conquest and wealth
gradually gave way to uncertainty and despair, till they aban-
doned every wish but to escape with life. — H. j

SOTO. 263

ships to return, he marched towards the north
and east in search of a place called Yupaha,
where he had been informed there was. gold.*
In this march he crossed the River Alta-
maha, and probably the Ogechee, and came,
as he was informed, within two days' journey
of the Bay of St. Helena, where the Spaniards
had been several years before. In all this
march he stayed not more than a week in any
one place.!

* [He was induced to march for Yupaha by the representa-
tions of a young Indian, who told him that the queen of that
country received tribute in gold ; and, to confirm his statements,
described the process of digging, melting, and refining it, "as if
he had seen it done a hundred times." — Relation, 49. On
reaching it they were disappointed in their expectations of gold ;
but, having searched the tombs of the town, they found " four-
teen bushels of pearls," which they lost in the burning at Mo-
bile.—Ib., 65, 95.— H.]

t [It is impossible to ascertain exactly the points which De
Soto reached in his various excursions. We have the time and
distance of the marches in general terms, the latter of which, at
least, must be received with some caution. For their marches
were often circuitous, and even retrograde, and their own com-
putation of days' marches probably carelessly made. As we have
not the precise length of their days' marches, which were very
various, so we have not the precise number of days which they
were actually marching. We cannot arrive at any certainty,
though we may make, as in the text, a plausible conjecture.
The party left Palache the third of March, 1540, and left Cuti-
fachiqui, in the region of Yupaha, the third of May ; and the
distance is given at " four hundred and thirty leagues, from
southwest to northeast."— Relation, &c., 50, 68, 87.— H.]

264 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

He then set his face northward, and, hav-
ing passed a hilly country, came to a district
called Chalaque, which is supposed to be the
country now called Cherokee, on the upper
branches of the River Savannah.* Thence
he turned westward in search of a place call-
ed Chiaha, and in -this route he crossed the
Alleghany Ridge and came to Chiaha, where
his horses and men, being excessively fa-
tigued, rested thirty days. The horses fed in
a meadow, and the people lay under the trees,
the weather being very hot, and the natives
in peace, This was in the months of May
and June. During their abode there they
heard of a country called Chisca, where was
copper and another metal of the same colour.
This country lay northward, and a party was
sent with Indian guides to view it. Their
report was that the mountains were impassa-
ble, and Soto did not attempt to proceed any
farther in that direction.

From a careful inspection of the maps in
the American Atlas, I am inclined to think

* [To Chalaque was seven days' march, and to Xualla, in the
same direction, to the north, five days. The distance is given
as two hundred and fifty leagues. If we take from this one
hundred leagues, which they went in the country of Yupaha,
they must have travelled about thirty-eight miles a day, through
a difficult and mountainous country. — Relation, 69, 70. — H.]

s o T o. 265

that the place where Soto crossed the mount-
ains was within the thirty-fifth degree of lati-
'ude. In Delisle's map a village called Can-
asaga is laid down on the N.W. side of the
A.lleghany, or, as it is sometimes called, the
Apalachian ridge of mountains, in that lati-
tude ; and Chiaha is said in Soto's journal to
be five days westward from Canasagua.

To ascertain the situation of Chiaha we
must observe that it is said to be subject to
the Lord of Cosa, which is situate on an east-
ern branch of the Mobille ; and Soto's sick
men came down the river from Chiaha in
boats. This river could be none but a branch
of the Mobille; and his course was then
turned towards the south. In this march he
passed through Alibama, Talise, Tascalusa,*
names which are still known and marked on
the maps, till he came to the town of Mavil-
la, which the French pronounced Mouville
and Mobille. It was then a walled town,
but the walls were of wood. The inhabi-
tants had conceived a disgust to the Spaniards,
which was augmented by an outrage com-

"• [The modern names are Alabama, Tallahassee probably,
and Tuscaloosa. Talise is briefly described as " a great town,
and situated neere unto a main river." The position of Tasca-
lusa is not very exactly defined. — H.]

266 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

mitted on one of their chiefs, and finally
broke out in a severe conflict, in which two
thousand of the innocent natives were slain,
and many of the Spaniards killed and wound-
ed, and the town was burned. This was in
the latter end of October.

It is probable that Soto intended to pass
the winter in the neighbourhood of that vil-
lage if he could have kept on friendly terms
with the Indians, for there he could have had
a communication with Cuba. There he heard
that the vessels which he had sent to Cuba
for supplies were arrived at Ochus [Pensaco-
la], where he had agreed to meet them ; but
he kept this information secret, because he
had not yet made any discoveries which his
Spanish friends would think worthy of regard.
The country about him was populous and
hostile, and, being void of gold or silver, was
not an object for him to possess at the risk
of losing his army, of which above a hundred
had already perished. He therefore, after
staying twenty-eight days for the recovery of
his wounded, determined on a retreat.

In this retreat it has been supposed that he
penetrated northward beyond the Ohio. The
truth is, that he began his march from Mavil-
la, a village near the mouth of the Mobille, on

SOTO. 267

the 18th of November, and on the 17th of
December arrived at Chica^a, an Indian vil-
lage of twenty houses, where they remained
till the next April.

The distance, the time, the nature of the
country, the course and manner of the march,
and the name of the village, all concur to de-
termine this winter-station of Soto to be a
village of the Chickasaiv Indians, situate on
the upper part of the Yasou, a branch of the
Mississippi, about eighty leagues northwest-
ward from Mobille, and not less than one hun-
dred and forty leagues southwestward from
the Muskingum, where the great fortifications
which gave rise to this inquiry are found.
From Chicaga, in the spring, he went west-
ward, and crossed a river within the thirty-
fourth degree of latitude, which he called Rio
Grande, and which is now known to be the
Mississippi.*

On the western side of the Mississippi, af-
ter rambling all summer, he spent the next

* [At the place where they crossed " the river was half a '
league over, so that a man could not be distinguished from one
side to the other." The description of the river fully corre-
sponds with the peculiarities of the Mississippi. It is worthy
of notice that in this route they heard of a tradition among the
natives that " a white people should come and conquer theif
country." — Relation, &c., 109, 112.— H.]

I— X

268 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

winter, at a place called Autiamque, where
he enclosed his camp with a wall of timber,
the work of three days only. Within this
enclosure he lodged safely during three
months ;* and, in the succeeding spring, the
extreme fatigue and anxiety which he had
suffered threw him into a fever, of which he
died, May 21, 1542, at Guacoya.f To pre-
vent his death from being known to the In-
dians, his body was sunk in the middle of a
river.

His lieutenant, Louis de Moscosco,1: con-
tinued to ramble on the western side of the
Mississippi till the next summer, when, worn
with fatigue, disappointment, and loss of
men, he built seven boats, called brigantines,
on the Mississippi, in which the shattered
remnants, consisting of three hundred and

* [He left Autiamque the 6th of March, having hardly more than
three hundred soldiers remaining, and about forty horses. — H.]

t [His death is reported to have been peaceful and religious,
though his life was cruel and bloody. His character was one
not rare in that day, haughty, obstinate, perfidious, and selfish,
yet daring, energetic, and enthusiastic. — H.]

t [Louis de Moscosco had been Soto's lieutenant, or, as he is
called, " camp-master-general," through the whole expedition.
He was a fellow-townsman of Soto, and was named by him on
his deathbed to succeed to the command of the army. Before
sailing down the Mississippi, he led them westward towards
Mexico between four and five hundred miles. — H.]

s o T o. 269

eleven, returned to Cuba in September,
1543.*t

The place where Soto died is said to have
been on the bank of the Red River, a west-
ern branch of the Mississippi, in lat. 31°. The
place where the remnant of his army built
their vessels and embarked for Cuba is called
in the journal Minoya. They were seventeen
days in sailing down the river, and they com-
puted the distance to be two hundred and
fifty leagues. $

From this account, faithfully abridged from
Purchas, and compared with the best maps, I
am fully persuaded that the whole country
through which Soto travelled on the eastern
side of the Mississippi is comprehended with-
in Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina, and
that he never went farther northward than
the 35th degree of latitude, which is distant
two degrees southward from any part of the
Ohio. The conclusion then is, that he could

* Purchas, vol. v., p. 1532-1556.

f [The Relation, &c., p. 211, says they sailed 52 days from
the Mississippi along the coast of the gulf to the River Panico.
in Mexico, where they arrived September 10, 1543, and that
most of them, after remaining there a few weeks, visited the
city of Mexico. — H.]

$ Mr. Prince, in his Chronology, says 400 in figures ; but
Purchas, from whom he quotes, says " two hundred and fifty."

AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

not have been the builder of those fortifica-
tions still remaining in that part of the conti-
nent which lies N.W. of the Ohio. Nor, in-
deed, can any works which he erected for
the security of his camp be subsisting at this
time ; for the best of them were made of
wood, and were intended to cover his men
and protect his horses and swine only during
one winter.

The works which have so much excited
curiosity and conjecture are far more numer-
ous, extensive, and durable. They are found
in various and distant places in the interior
part of the continent, on both sides of the
Mississippi, on the Ohio and its branches, on
James and Potomac Rivers in Virginia, in the
country of the Six Nations, and on the shores
of Lake Erie, where they are exceedingly
numerous.

The most obvious mode of solving the
question respecting them is by inquiry of the
present natives. But the structures are too
ancient for their tradition ; the oldest and
wisest men know nothing of their original.
The form and materials of these works indi-
cate the existence of a race of men superior
to the present race in improvement, in de-

SOTO. 271

sign, and in that patience which must have
accompanied the labour of erecting them.

Trees which have been found growing on
them have been cut down, and, from indubi-
table marks, are known to have been upward
of three hundred years old ; nor were these
the first growth upon them.

The mounds and ramparts are constructed
of earth, and have acquired a firmness and
solidity which render it probable that they
are the work of some remote age and some
other people", who had different ideas of con-
venience, and were better acquainted with the
arts of defence, and, in fact, were much more
numerous than the ancestry of those natives
of whom we or our fathers have had any
knowledge.

It is to be hoped that the persons who now
occupy and are cultivating th.e lands where
these singular buildings are found, will pre-
serve, as far as they are able, some, at least,
of these monuments of unknown ages, that,
as they have long resisted the ravages of
time, and may possibly baffle the researches
of the present generation, they may subsist
unimpaired as subjects of speculation to our
posterity.

272 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

VII. HUMPHREY GILBERT.

AFTER the discovery of Newfoundland by
the Cabots, the passion for adventure among
the English met with many severe checks.
But while one adventurer after another was
returning home from an unsuccessful voyage,
foreigners were reaping the benefit of their
partial discoveries.

Within the first forty years we have no ac-
count of any attempt made by the English to
prosecute the discovery of the new continent,
except that in 1536 two vessels, containing
one hundred and twenty persons, of whom
thirty were gentlemen of education and char-
acter, under the conduct of " Master Hore,
of London,"* made a voyage to Newfound-
land ;t but they were so ill provided, and
knew so little of the nature of the country,
that they suffered the extremity of famine.
For, notwithstanding the immense quantities
of fish and fowl to be found on those coasts,

* [Master Hore is described as " a man of goodly staturt
and of great courage, and given to the study of cosmography.*
— Hakluyt, iii., 129.— H.]

t Hakluyt, vol. iii., p. 130.

GILBERT. 273

they were reduced so low as to watch the
nests of birds of prey, and rob them of the
fish which they brought to feed their young.
To collect this scanty supply, with a mixture
of roots and herbs, the men dispersed them-
selves in the woods until several of them
were missing. It was at first thought that
they were devoured by wild beasts ; but it was
found that they met with a more tragical fate,
the stronger having killed the weaker, and
feasted on their flesh. In the midst of this
distress, a French ship arriving with a supply
of provisions, they took her by force, and re-
turned to England, leaving to the Frenchmen
their own smaller vessels, and dividing the
provision between them. Complaint of this
act of piracy was made to King HENRY VIII.,
who, knowing the miseries of the unfortunate
crew, instead of punishing them, paid the
damage out of his own coffers.

Within the succeeding forty years the Eng-
lish had begun to make some advantage by
the fishery, and in 1578 the state of it is thus
described:* " There are about one hundred
sail of Spaniards who come to take cod, who
make it all wet, and dry it when they come

* Letter of Anthony Parkhurst to Richard Hakluyt, vol. iii.,
p. 138.

274 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

home, besides twenty or thirty more who
come from Biscay to kill whales for train.
These be better appointed for shipping and
furniture of munition than any other nation
save the English, who commonly are lords
of the harbours. As touching their tonnage,
I think it may be near five or six thousand.
Of Portugals there are not above fifty sail,
whose tonnage may amount to three thou-
sand, and they make all wet. Of the French
nation there are about one hundred and fifty
sail ; the most of their shipping is very small,
not past forty tons ; among which some are
great and reasonably well appointed, better
than the Portugals, and not so well as the
Spaniards ; the burden of them may be about
seven thousand. The English vessels have
increased in four years from thirty to fifty
sail. The trade which our nation hath to
Iceland maketh that the English are not there
in such numbers as other nations."

The next year [1579] Queen Elizabeth
granted to Sir HUMPHREY GILBERT a patent
for the discovering, occupying, and peopling
of " such remote, heathen, and barbarous
countries as -were not actually possessed by
any Christian people."*

* Hakluyt, Hi., 135. Forster, 292.

GILBERT. 275

[Sir Humphrey Gilbert was descended
from an ancient family in Devonshire. His
father was Otho Gilbert, Esq., of Greenway,
and his mother Catharine, daughter of Sir
Philip Champernon, of Modbury. Hum-
phrey, born at Compton, in Devonshire,
1539, was the second son, yet inherited a
considerable estate. He received his early
education at Eton, whence he was removed
to Oxford. While yet a boy he was intro-
duced by his aunt, Mrs. Ashley, to Queen
Elizabeth, who is said to have been much
pleased with his studious temper and court-
ly behaviour, and recommended him to the
especial favour of Sir Henry Sidney, after-
ward lord-deputy of Ireland. The turn of
his mind and studies was towards the art
of war, navigation, and the like, and, as he
diligently applied himself to these, he soon
distinguished himself for courage, learning,
knowledge, and practical skill.

Opportunities were not wanting in those
days for the employment and display of
qualities such as young Gilbert possessed,
and, being ambitious of distinction, he did
not hesitate to use them. The first expedi-
tion in which he gained peculiar notice was
that to New-Haven, in which his coolness,

276 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

prudence, and daring raised high hopes of
his future eminence. He was soon appointed
colonel in Munster,* a post of great difficulty
and danger, " where he performed great
things with a handful of men, and became
more dreaded by the Irish than any English-
man employed in that service. By his in-
dustry and address he composed the stirs
raised by the MacCarthies, and by his valour
and activity drove the Butlers out of his prov-
ince when they swerved from their duty, and
forced James Fitz Maurice, the greatest cap-
tain among the Irish, to abandon his country
and seek safety abroad."*

In the Parliament of April 2d, 1571, 13tK
Eliz., he was a member of the Lower House
from Compton, his native place.

It is remarkable that, while Sir Humphrey
Gilbert evidently gave much *.mie and atten-
tion to the subjects of cosmography and mari-
time discovery, we have no record of early ad-
ventures by sea. His "Discourse to prove a
passage by the Northwest to Cathaia and the
East Indies" was first published in 15764 It

* [Fuller, in his Worthies of Devon, says in 1569. — H.]
t [Campbell's Lives of the Admirals, vol. ii. See also Hol-

linshed, vi., 366-7. — H.J

t [Campbell, ii., 17. The discourse is preserved in Hakluyt,

vol. ii., p. 11-24.— H.I

GILBERT. 277

is a methodical treatise, in which he affirms
that America is an island, bounded on the
north side by " the sea that severeth it from
Groneland, thorow which Northern Seas the
passage lyeth." This he attempts to prove
" by authoritie, by reason, by experience of
sundry men's travailes, by circumstance," &c.,
&c. The arguments are not all very conclu-
sive. In his chapter of authorities he refers to
Plato, Philo, and Aristotle. Yet the work
evinces much learning and ability, as well as
enthusiasm and credulity ; and he at least de-
serves credit for his confident anticipation of
what it has been reserved for the enterprise
of our own day to demonstrate. He had
also written another " Simple Discourse of
Navigation," on which he had "not a little
travelled," which is now lost. He concludes
the discourse we have described with this
sentiment, " That he is not worthy to live at
all that for feare or danger of death shunneth
his countrie's service and his owne honour,
seeing death is inevitable, and the fame of
vertue immortall."

The queen, who seldom failed to distin-
guish merit, bestowed on him, from time to
time, the most encouraging notices. She
knighted him, gave him one of her maids of

278 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

honour in marriage, and, upon his preparing
for his voyage, sent him a golden anchor
with a large pearl at the peak, which he ever
after wore at his breast as a singular honour.
Raleigh accompanied this present, which was
sent through his hands, with this letter : " I
have sent you a token from her majesty, an
anchor guided by a lady, as you see ; and,
farther, her highness willed me to send you
word that she wished you as great hap and
safety to your ship as if herself were there in
person, desiring you to have care of yourself
as of that which she tendereth. Farther, she
commandeth that you leave your picture with
me," &c.* Sir Humphrey is represented as a
gentleman of winning and courteous manners,
commanding esteem and respect at first sight ;
" his stature beyond the ordinary size, his
complexion sanguine, and his constitution ro-
bust."! Hollinshed, or, rather, Hooker, in
the supplement to Hollinshed, vi.,J367, says
he was " a man of higher stature than the
common sort ; of a complexion cholerike ;
from his childhood of a verie pregnant wit
and good disposition."

* [Southey's Lives of British Admirals, vol. iv., 218. Cay-
ley's Life of Raleigh, i., 31.— H.]

t [Haliburton's Nova Scotia, i., 7, note. — H.]

GILBERT. 279

The patent given by Elizabeth to Sir
Humphrey Gilbert was dated June 11, 1578,
and not, as stated by Dr. Belknap, 1579.*
The provisions of the charter thus granted
deserve notice, as it was one of the first in
the long series of colony charters granted by
the crown of England, and as it shows what
notions of colonization prevailed in those
days. After the general license to discover
any countries not possessed by any Christian
prince or people, it bestows the " soil of the
same, with the royalties and jurisdiction, upon
him, and his heirs, and assigns forever, with
power to dispose of them, or any part of them,
in fee simple ; to transport any persons thith-
er, unless specially restrained by the crown ;
authority to expel by force all persons who
should attempt to inhabit within the space of
two hundred leagues ; to capture all who
should trade there without his license ; to
punish at his discretion in all causes, civil,
criminal, and capital ; and to make laws
agreeable to the policy of England and the

* [Chalmers, p. 4, says it was given in March ; Foster, 1. c. ,
dates it in 1578. Hazard, State Papers, vol. i., p. 24, and Hak-
luyt, vol. iii., p. 137, who are better authority, and who give the
patent at length, concur with Dr. Robertson in dating it June
llth, 1578.— H.]

280 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

Christian faith professed in the Church of
England."]

In consequence of this grant, many of his
friends joined him, and preparations were
made for an expedition, which promised to
be highly advantageous. But, before the
fleet was ready, some declined and retracted
their engagements. Gilbert, with a few com-
panions, sailed ;* but a violent storm, in which
one of the ships foundered, caused him to re-
turn. This misfortune involved him in debt,
and he had no way to satisfy the demands of
his creditors but by grants of land in Amer-
ica. By such means the country was not
likely to be peopled, nor the conditions of his
patent fulfilled. He was obliged, therefore, to
sell his estate before he could make another
attempt ; andy after long solicitation, being
assisted by some friends, he set sail from
Plymouth with five ships, t carrying two hun-

* [Sir Walter Raleigh was one of these companions. — Cay-
ley, i., 17. This voyage is supposed to have been made early
in the summer of 1579. Few particulars of it have remained
to us. One of the ships was lost in " a smart action with the
Spaniards." — Cayley, ubi supra. — H.]

t [The fleet would hardly now be deemed adequate to such
an enterprise. It consisted of the Delight, 120 tons, the bark
Raleigh, 200 tons, the Golden Hind, 40 tons, the Swallow, 40
tons, and the Squirrel, 10 tons. Some of the crude notions of
the adventurers are exhibited in one specimen of the cargo

GILBERT. 281

dred and sixty men, on the eleventh of June,
1583, and on the eleventh of July* arrived
off the bay of St. John, on the eastern coast
of Newfoundland.

Thirty-six fishing vessels were then in the
harbour, who refused him admittance. He
prepared to enter by force of arms ; but
previously sent in his boat with his com-
mission from Queen Elizabeth, on sight of

" Besides," says Edward Hayes, the captain of the Golden
Hind, and author of the narration in Hakluyt, and who writes
himself " gentleman and principal actour in the same voyage,"
"for solace of our people and allurement of the savages, we
were provided of rausike in good varietie, not omitting the least
toyes, as morris-dancers, hobby-horses, and May-like conceits,
to delight the savage people, whom we intended to win by all
fair means possible. And to that end we were indifferentlie fur-
nished of all petty haberdasherie wares to barter with those sim-
ple people." The bark Raleigh abandoned the expedition soon
after it sailed, an infectious disease having broken out among
the crew. — H.]

* [The date in the text must, I think, be an error. Forster,
indeed, p. 293, says, " on the llth of July they saw land ;"
but he could hardly have been detained three weeks (July 1 1th
to Aug. 3d) " off the bay" by fishing vessels. And Hayes, whose
account is the original, Hakluyt, iii., 149, says, " Tuesday, the
30th of July" (seven weeks after sailing), "we got sight of land."
See also a letter of Stephen Parmenius from St. John's to Hak-
luyt.— Ib., 162. They then sailed south along the coast by
Bacalaos, &,c., some twenty leagues, ib., 150, and reached the
harbour of St. John's Aug. 3d. — Hakluyt, iii., 165, and Gilbert's
letter to Sir George Peckham. — H.]

282 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

which they submitted, and he sailed into the
port.*

The intention of this voyage was to take
formal possession of the island, and of the
fishery on its banks, for the crown of Eng-
land. This was done in the following man-
ner :f

On Monday, the fifth of August, Admiral
Gilbert had his tent pitched on shore, in sight
of all the shipping; and, being attended by
his own people, summoned the merchants and
masters of vessels, both Englishmen and oth-
ers, to be present at the ceremony. When
they were all assembled, his commission was
read, and interpreted to the foreigners. Then
a turf and a twig were delivered to him,
which he received with a hazel wand. Im-
mediately proclamation was made, that by
virtue of his commission from the queen, he
took possession, for the crown of England,
of the harbour of St. John, and two hundred
leagues every way round it.

He then published three laws for the gov-
ernment of the territory. By the first, public
worship was established according to the
mode of the Church of England. By the

* Stith's History of Virginia, p. 6.

t Hakluyt, iii., 151, 165, .

G I L B E E T. 283

second, the attempting of anything prejudi-
,cial to her majesty's title was declared trea-
son, according to the laws of England. By
the third, the uttering of words to the dishon-
our of her majesty was to be punished with the
loss of ears and the confiscation of property.

The proclamation being finished, assent
and obedience were signified by loud accla-
mations. A pillar was erected, bearing a
plate of lead, on which the queen's arms were
engraven ; and several of the merchants took
grants of land, in fee farm, on which they
might cure their fish, as they had done before.

A tax of provision, by her majesty's author-
ity, was levied on all the ships. This tax
was readily paid ; besides which, the admiral
received presents of wine, fruits, and other
refreshments, chiefly from the Portuguese.

This formal possession, taken by Sir Hum-
phrey Gilbert in consequence of the discov-
ery of the Cabots, is the foundation of the
right and title of the crown of England to the
territory of Newfoundland and to the fishery
on its banks.

As far as the time would permit, a survey
was made of the country, one principal ob-
ject of which was the discovery of mines and

minerals. The mineralogist was a Saxoii,
I.— Y

284 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

who is characterized as " honest and reli-
gious." This man brought to the admiral
first a specimen of iron, then a kind of ore,
which, on the peril of his life, he protested to
be silver. The admiral enjoined secrecy, and
sent it on board, intending to have it assayed
when they should get to sea.

The company being dispersed abroad, some
were taken sick and died ; some hid them-
selves in the woods, with an intention to go
home by the first opportunity ; and others cut
one of the vessels out of the harbour and car-
ried her off.

On the twentieth of August, the admiral,
having collected as many of his men as could
be found, and ordered one of his vessels to
stay and take off the sick, set sail with three
ships, the Delight, the Hind, and the Squir-
rel. He coasted along the southern part of
the island, with a view to make Cape Breton
and the Isle of Sable, on which last he had
heard that cattle and swine had been landed
by the Portuguese thirty years before.

Being entangled among shoals and in-
volved in fogs, the Delight struck on a sand-
bank and was lost.* Fourteen men only

* [There is somewhat of sad romance in the narrative of thir
event. '^The evening was faire and pleasant, yet not withouf

GILBERT.

sa\ed themselves in a boat ; the loss of the
Saxon refiner was particularly noted,* and
nothing farther was heard of the silver ore.
This misfortune determined the admiral to re-
turn to England without attempting to make
any farther discoveries, or to take possession
of any other part of America. On his pas-
sage he met with bad weather. The Squirrel
frigate, in which Sir Humphrey sailed, was
overloaded on her deck ; but he persisted in
taking his passage in her, notwithstanding the
remonstrances of his friends in the Hind, who
would have persuaded him to sail with them.t

token of storme to ensue, and most part of this, Wednesday, night,
like the svvanne that singeth before her death, they in the Ad-
miral, or Delight, continued in sounding of trumpets, with
drummes and fifes ; also winding the cornets, haughtboyes ;
and in the end of their jolitie, left with the battel and ringing of
dolefull knels." " Thursday, the 29th of August," they perish-
ed.—Hakluyt, iii., 156.— H.]

* [A greater loss was that of Stephen Parmenius, a native of
Buda, in Hungary, "who, of pietie and zeale to good attempts,
adventured in this action, minding to record in the Latine
tongue the gests and things worthy of remembrance happening
in this discoverie to the honour of our nation, the same being
adorned with the eloquent stile of this orator and rare poet of
our time." — Hakluyt, iii., 156. He addressed to Gilbert a
poem on this voyage, in Latin hexameters, which is preserved
— Ib., 138-143.— H.]

t [The Squirrel was of only ten tons burden, and Sir Hum-
phrey had taken passage in her as " being most convenient to
discover upon the coast, and to search in every harbour or

AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

From the circumstance of his returning from
his first voyage without accomplishing its ob-
ject, it had been reported that he was afraid
of the sea ; had he yielded to the solicitation
of his friends, the stigma might have been in-
delible.

When the wind abated and the vessels
were near enough, the admiral was seen con-
stantly sitting in the stern with a book in his
hand. On the ninth of September he was
seen for the last time, and was heard by the
people in the Hind to say, " We are as near
heaven by sea as by land."* In the follow-
ing night the lights of his ship suddenly dis-
appeared.! The people in the other vessel
kept a good look-out for him during the re-
mainder of the voyage. On the twenty-sec-
ond of September they arrived, through much
tempest and peril, at Falmouth. But nothing
more was seen or heard of the admiral. $

creeke, which a great ship could not doe." — Hakluyt, iii., 154.
-H-]

* [A speech, says Captain Hayes, " well becoming a soldiei
resolute in Jesus Christ, as I can testify he was." — H.]

t [" About the same time was swallowed up by the ocean Sit
Humphrey Gilbert, knight, a quick and lively-spirited man, fa-
mous for his knowledge in matters relating both to war and
peace."— Camden,Eliz., 287.— H.]

t [Sir Humphrey Gilbert had two brothers, John and Adrian,
both knighted, and both connected with schemes of maritime

GILBERT. 287

While his zeal for the interest of the crown
and the settlements of its American domin-
ions has been largely commended, he has
been blamed for his temerity in lavishing his
own and other men's fortunes in the prosecu-
tion of his designs. This is not the only in-
stance of a waste of property in consequence
of sanguine expectations, which, though ru-
inous to the first adventurers, has produced
solid advantages to their successors.

Dr. Forster has a remark on one of the in-
cidents of this voyage which is worthy of rep-
etition and remembrance. " It is very clear,"
says he, " in the instance of the Portuguese
having stocked the Isle of Sable with domes-
tic animals, that the discoverers of the New
World were men of humanity, desirous of
providing for such unfortunate people as

discovery and foreign plantation. Of Sir John some account is
given by Belknap in the Life of Gorges. Adrian obtained a
patent from Queen Elizabeth, dated February 6, 1583, granting
him privileges in respect to a discovery of a passage to China
by the north, northwest, or northeast. In this instrument he is
described as " Adrian Gylbert, of Sandridge, in the county of
Devon, gentleman," and the company associated with him (Ra-
leigh and Sanderson) were styled " the colleagues of the fellow-
ship for the discovery of the Northwest Passage." Voyages
were made by Davis and others unc'er the patronage of this
company. Sir Walter Raleigh, in a letter to his wife in 1603,
mentions Sir Adrian as owing him £600. — H.J

288 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

might happen to be cast away on those
coasts. The false policy of modern times is
callous and tyrannical, exporting dogs to de-
vour them. Are these the happy consequen-
ces of the so-much-boasted enlightened state
of the present age and refinement of manners
peculiar to our time ? Father of mercies,
when will philanthropy again take up her
abode in the breasts of men, of Christians
and the rulers of this earth '"

RALEIGH. 289

VIII. WALTER RALEIGH AND RICH-
ARD GRENVILLE.

THE distinguished figure which the life of
Sir Walter Raleigh makes in the history of
England renders unnecessary any other ac-
count of him here than what respects his ad-
ventures in America, and particularly in Vir-
ginia, of which colony he is acknowledged to
have been the unfortunate founder.

[The account of Sir Walter Raleigh given
by Dr. Belknap is almost confined to his
proceedings in the early settlement of Virgin-
ia. The readers of these volumes may nat-
urally expect some farther notice of " that
rare, renowned knight, whose fame," says
one of his contemporaries,* "shall contend in
longevity with this island itself, yea, with that
great world which he historizeth so gallant-
ly." He was a courtier of singular gallantry
and grace, a scholar of varied learning and
accomplishments, a soldier of chivalrous tem-
per and unstained honour, a statesman of large
views, an adventurer of great hardihood and

* [James Howel. in a letter to Carew Raleigh — H.]

290 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

enthusiasm. His long imprisonment, his pa-
tient suffering, and the hard measure of his
death, have given a tender and touching in-
terest to a history otherwise full of attractive
incident. He lived, as the attorney-general
told him in his last sentence, like a star, and
like a star which troubleth the firmament he
fell*

Sir Walter Raleigh, or, as he wrote the
name, Ralegh, was the fourth son of Walter
Raleigh, Esq., of Fardel, near Plymouth.
His mother was Catharine, daughter of Sir
Philip Champernon, and widow of Otho Gil-
bert, of Compton, Devonshire. He was thus
half-brother of Sir Humphrey Gilbert. At
the time of his birth, 1552, his father was re-
siding at a farm called Hayes, in the parish
of Budley, Devonshire, near the mouth of the
Otter. Of his childhood we have no memo-

* [The principal memoirs of Sir Walter Raleigh are those by
Oldys, prefixed to his edition of Raleigh's History of the World ;
by Birch, in an edition of his Miscellaneous Writings ; by Cayley,
2 vols. 4to, London, 1805 ; by Southey, in his Lives of English
Admirals, vol. iv. ; by P. F. Tytler, in the Edinburgh Cabinet Li-
brary ; and by Mrs. Thompson ; all of which, unless it be Mrs.
Thompson's, which we had not seen till this article was in press,
are to be read with caution, as they show more or less clearly
some bias in the writer. Southey, for example, we think, under
values Sir Walter's character in respect of honesty and truth

-HO

RALEIGH. 291

rial. He became a commoner of Oriel Col-
lege, Oxford, about 1568, " and his natural
parts being strangely advanced by academi-
cal learning under the care of an excellent
tutor, he became the ornament of the juniors,
and was worthily esteemed a proficient in
oratory and philosophy."* Lord Bacon has
preserved an anecdote of him while here,
which illustrates both his temper and his wit.
A cowardly fellow, who was an excellent
archer, asked him how he should revenge
himself on one who had grossly insulted him.
" Challenge him to a match of shooting," was
the reply. It is uncertain how long he re-
mained at the University, and still more un-
certain whether, as some have asserted, he
became a student of the Middle Temple.
His active temper led him to mingle early in
the business of life, and his ambition could
hardly be satisfied with mere scholastic hon-
ours.

The state of public affairs, both in England
and on the Continent, might well arouse a
spirit less ardent and adventurous than that
of Raleigh.

Sympathizing with the persecuted Protest-
ants, the queen made a loan of money to the

* [Wood's Athens Oxonienses. — H.]
1—7

292 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

Queen of Navarre, and permitted a company
of one hundred selected volunteers, all gen-
tlemen, under Henry Champernon, to go to
France to her assistance. The motto on
their banner was, FINEM DET MIHI VIRTUS :
*• Let valour decide" In this troop was young
Raleigh, then but seventeen years of age.
They arrived at the French camp in Octo-
ber, 1569, and were received by the queen
and princes with great distinction. We can-
not doubt, though no traces of it remain, that
this body, animated alike by martial enthusi-
asm and religious zeal, did such gallant ser-
vice as became gentlemen and soldiers. Ra-
leigh remained in France till 1575, more than
five years. We find here and there, in the
writings of his late years, allusions to his resi-
dence there, which show that he studied with
deep interest the stirring and troubled events
of those sadly-agitated Drears. The whole pe-
riod was crowded with marches and battles,
sieges, negotiations, stratagems, treacheries,
and massacres ; all that could captivate and
instruct the youthful soldier and the future
politician. He was present in the flight on
the Plains of Montcontour, and witnessed, in
the security of the British embassage, the fear-
ful slaughter on St. Bartholomew's Day. An

RALEIGH. 293

attendant on the brilliant warfare of Coligny,
he could not but learn the skilful use of arms ;
and the daily companion of the noble and
chivalrous warriors who so ably sustained the
cause of the dreaded Huguenots, he added
personal graces and the accomplishments of
manner to his unsuspected courage. It was
a school of valour and of discipline, and Ra-
leigh was no negligent observer of its les-
sons.

On his return to England we find him a
short time in the Middle Temple, whether as
a student or mere resident is not clear, though
probably the latter. He seems to have de-
voted his brief leisure to the Muses, and to
have indulged in that kind of pastoral ama-
tory poetry which was then so much in vogue.
Some of his specimens which we have are of
far more than ordinary merit. Yet an ad-
venture in arms had more attractions for him,
and in 1578 he accompanied Sir John Norris,
with a body of English troops, to the Nether-
lands. A war was then raging there between
Don John of Austria and the States, who ha-
ted him for his cruelty and feared him for his
treachery. The queen assisted the States
with men and money. Of Raleigh's service
here we have no information. He was prob-

294 AMERICAN BIOGEAPHY.

ably in the famous battle of Rimenant, in
which the English, " being more sensible of
a little heat of the sun than any cold fears of
death," threw off their armour and clothes,
and gained a victory in their shirts. He soon
returned to England, and in 1579 joined the
first and unsuccessful voyage of Sir Humphrey
Gilbert. This was the first in that long se-
ries of maritime adventures in which he after-
ward became so justly renowned.

Raleigh was now twenty-seven years of age.
He had seen much and varied service, and
had diligently profited by his experience and
observation. Only five of the twenty-four
hours, we are told, were devoted to sleep,
four were regularly employed in study, and
in his Jand and sea. expeditions he voluntarily
shared the labours, hardships, and hazards of
the common soldier and sailor.* Abilities
like his, thus trained, could not long remain
in obscurity or unemployed.

Ireland was now ripe for insurrection. The
Catholic population were oppressed, their
chiefs excluded from office for their religion ;
the pope had claimed it as belonging to the
Holy See, and scattered his emissaries all
over it to excite the faithful to revolt ; and
* [Cayley's Life of Raleigh, i., 17.— H.]

RALEIGH. 295

Philip of Spain stood ready with men and
money to encourage the discontented and
aid the insurgent. Lord Grey was sent over,
August, 1580, as deputy, with orders to make
quick and thorough work, and Raleigh served
under him as captain of a troop of horse.
The chronicles of the times make honourable
mention of his services. His duties were dif-
ficult, often painful, and eminently perilous ;
to capture a rebellious or suspected chieftain,
to hunt outlaws, to disperse the hourly gath-
erings of half-naked but exasperated peas-
ants, to burn, to pillage, to kill. He was in
the country of an enemy who knew every
pass', beset every road, and would have shot
him down as they would a deer. Every day
called for caution, skill, and desperate cour-
age. His escapes were often marvellous, and
his success not less so. When Smerwick was
taken, the garrison were all put to the sword
in cold blood, and Raleigh, as one of the cap-
tains having the ward of that day, was obliged
to superintend the butchery. In the spring
of 1581 he was temporarily in the commis-
sion for the government of Munster, and
about the same time became a friend of Ed-
mund Spenser, then residing at Kilcolman.
But even this sympathy of poetic genius could

296 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

not relieve the weariness of a service which
had become odious to him. " I have spent
some time here," he wrote to the Earl of Lei
cester in August, 1581, " under the deputy,
in such poor place and charge as, were it not
for that I knew him to be as if yours, I would
disdain it as much as to keep sheep." Not
long after, probably, he was allowed to return
from what he calls " this commonwealth, or,
rather, common -wo."

The letter which we have quoted above
proves some passages of regard between Ra-
leigh and the noble Earl of Leicester. The
favour of that powerful nobleman may have
aided his early reception at court, though* the
report of his late services was enough to
commend him to the notice of Elizabeth.
His own abilities were more to him than any
patronage. He is said to have owed his in-
troduction to a singular and romantic incident.
Fuller* relates that " this Captain Raleigh,
coming out of Ireland to the English court in
good habit (his clothes being then a consid-
erable part of his estate), found the queen
walking, till, meeting with a plashy place, she
seemed to scruple going thereon. Presently
Raleigh cast and spread his new plush cloak

* [Fuller's Worthies of England, Devon., i. 419.— H.]

K A L E I G H. 297

on the ground, whereon the queen trod gen-
tly, rewarding him afterward with many suits
for his so free and seasonable a tender of so
fair a footcloth." This story is gravely told,
and is in keeping with the temper and char-
acter of the parties. Certainly she soon ad-
mitted him to her court, and employed him
in several honorary offices. He was one of
the gentlemen appointed to attend Simier. the
agent of the Duke of Anjou, to France ; and
when the negotiations for the queen's mar-
riage with Anjou were broken off in 1582, he
was selected, with Leicester, Sidney, and oth-
ers, to form the duke's escort to Antwerp.
He there enjoyed the honour of a personal
acquaintance with the Prince of Orange, and
brought a special message from him to the
queen on his return. These affairs required no
great ability or skill, yet a graceful habit
and a pleasing address might make much of
them. He received clearer tokens of royal
favour in consequence of the trial before
the Privy Council of a disagreement between
him and Lord Grey, the late deputy of Ire-
and, of which Sir Robert Naunton* gives
this account : "I am somewhat confident
that among the second causes of his growth

* [Fragmenta Regalia, 109.— H.]

298 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

was the variance between him and my Lord-
general Grey, which drew them both over to
the council-table, there to plead their own
causes ; where what advantage he had in the
case in controversy I know noty but he had
much the better in the manner of telling his
tale, insomuch as the queen and the lords
took no slight mark of the man and his
parts, for from thence he came to be known,
and to have access to the lords ; . . . whether
or not my Lord of Leicester had then cast in
a good word for him to the queen, I do not
determine ; but true it is, he had gotten the
queen's ear in a trice, and she began to be ta-
ken with his elocution, and loved to hear his
reasons to her demands. And the truth is,,
she took him for a kind of oracle." The
queen was doubtless pleased with his ready
wit, and perhaps wished to abate the hopes
of some other aspirants for her favour. Naun-
ton adds, " Those that he relied on began to
be sensible of their own supplantation, and to
project his."]

He was half-brother, by the mother's side,
to Sir Humphrey Gilbert, and was at the ex-
pense of fitting out one of the ships of his
squadron. Notwithstanding the unhappy fate
of his brother, he persisted in his design of

RALEIGH. 299

making a settlement in America. Being a
favourite in the court of Queen Elizabeth, he
obtained a patent, bearing date the 25th of
March, 1584, for the discovering and plant-
ing of any lands and countries which were
not possessed by any Christian prince or
nation.*

About the same time the queen granted him
another patent, to license the vending of wine
throughout the kingdom, that by the profits
thence arising he might be able to bear the
expense of his intended plan of colonization.
Farther to strengthen his interest, he engaged
the assistance of two wealthy kinsmen, Sir
Richard Grenville and William Sanderson. ft
They provided two barks, and, having well
furnished them with men and provisions, put
them under the command of Philip Amadas

* [This patent was but a renewal of the one granted to Sir
Humphrey Gilbert, there being no material variation in the pro-
visions.— Hazard, i., 33. Hakluyt, 135 and 243. — H.]

t [Sir William Sanderson was an eminent merchant of Lon-
don, and had married a niece of Sir Walter. He was a princi-
pal member of the company which in 1585, 6, 7 sent Captain
John Davis to discover a northwest passage to China. In that
enterprise he took a deep interest, and adventured largely with
his purse, and the chief direction and management of it was
committed to him. Smith (Gen. Hist., p. 2) calls him "a great
friend to all such noble and worthy actions." — H.]

J Stith's History of Virginia, p. 7, 8.

300 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

and Arthur Barlow,* who sailed from the
west of England April 27, 1584.

They took the usual route by the way of
the Canaries and the West Indies, the reason
of which is thus expressed in the account of
this voyage written by Barlow,t " because
we doubted that the current of the Bay of
Mexico between the Cape of Florida and Ha-
vanna had been of greater force than we af-
terward found it to be."

Taking advantage of the Gulf Stream,
they approached the coast of Florida, and
on the second of July came into shoal water,
where the odoriferous smell of flowers indica-
ted the land to be near, though not within
sight. On the fourth they saw land, along
which they sailed forty leagues before they
found an entrance. At the first opening they
cast anchor (July 13), and, having devoutly
given thanks to GOD for their safe arrival on
the coast, they went ashore in their boats, and
took possession in the name of Queen Eliza-
beth.

The place where they landed was a sandy
island, called Wococon,1: about sixteen miles

* [Barlow had served under Raleigh in Ireland. — Cayley, i.,
24.— H.]

t Hakluyt, iii., 246.

t This island is generally supposed to be one of those which

RALEIGH. 301

in length and six in breadth, full of cedars,
pines, cypress, sassafras, and other trees,
among which were many vines loaded with
grapes. In the woods they found deer and
hares, and in the waters and marshes various
kinds of fowl ; but no human creature was
seen till the third day, when a canoe, with
three men, came along by the shore. One
of them landed, and, without any fear or pre-
caution, met the Europeans, and addressed
them in a friendly manner in his own lan-
guage. They carried him on board one of
their vessels, gave- him a shirt and some other
trifles, .and regaled him with meat and wine.

lie at the mouth of Albemarle Sound, on the coast of North
Carolina. Barlow, in his letter to Sir W. Raleigh, preserved bj
Hakluyt, says that he, with seven others, went in a boat " twen-
ty miles into the River Occam, and the evening- following
came to an island called Roanoke, distant from the harbour l>j
which we entered seven leagues ; at the north end thereof was a
village." Mr. Stith, who wrote the History of Virginia, and who
acknowledges that he had, not seen this letter in English, but in a
Latin translation, supposes that the Island Wococon must he
between Cape Hatteras and Cape Fear, and that the distance
might be 30 leagues. But it appears from Barlow's letter that
the boat went in onr. day, and came in the evening to the north
end of Roanoke : the distance is twice mentioned, once in miles
and once in leagues. I sec no reason, therefore, to admit Stith's
conjecture in opposition to Barlow. Stith, however, appears to
have been a very close and accurate inquirer, as far as his ma-
terials and opportunity permitted.

302 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

He then returned to his canoe, and, with his
companions, went a fishing. When the ca-
noe was filled, they brought the fish on shore
and divided them into two heaps, making
signs that each of the vessels should take one.
The next day several canoes came, in
which were forty or fifty people, and among
them was Granganimeo, brother of Wingina,
king of the country, who was confined at
home by the wounds which he had received
in battle with a neighbouring prince. The
manner of his approach was fearless and re-
spectful. He left his boats at a distance, and
came along the shore, accompanied by all his
people, till he was abreast of the ship. Then
advancing with four men only, who spread a
mat on the ground, he sat down on one end,
and the four men on the other. When the
English went on shore armed, he beckoned
to them to come and sit by him, which they
did ; and he made signs of joy and friendship,
striking with his hand on his head and breast,
and then on theirs, to show that they were all
one. None of his people spoke a word ; and
when the English offered them presents, he
took them all into his own possession, making
signs that they were his servants, and that all
which they had belonged to him.

After this interview the natives came in

RALEIGH. 303

great numbers, and brought skins, coral, and
materials for dyes ; but when Granganimeo
was present, none were permitted to trade
but himself and those who had a piece of
copper on their heads. Nothing pleased him
so much as a tin plate, in which he made a
hole and hung it over his breast, as a piece
of defensive armour. He supplied them ev-
ery day with venison, fish, and fruits, and
invited them to visit him at his village, on the
north end of an island called Roanoke.

This village consisted of nine houses, built
of cedar, and fortified with sharp palisades.
When the English arrived there in their boat,
Granganimeo was absent ; but his wife en-
tertained them with the kindest hospitality,
washed their feet and their clothes, ordered
their boat to be drawn ashore and their oars
to be secured, and then feasted them with
venison, fish, fruits, and hommony.* While
they were at supper, some of her men came
in from hunting, with their bows and arrows
in their hands, on which her guests began to
mistrust danger ; but she ordered their bows
to be taken from them, and their arrows to be

* Hommony is made of Indian corn beaten in a mortar and
separated from the bran ; then boiled either by itself or in the
broth of meat.

304 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

broken, and then turned them out at the gate.
The English, however, thought it most pru-
dent to pass the night in their boat, which
they launched and laid at anchor. At this
she was much grieved ; but, finding all her
solicitations ineffectual, she ordered the vic-
tuals in the pots to be put on board, with
mats to cover the people from the rain, and
appointed several persons of both sexes to
keep guard on the beach during the whole
night. Could there be a more engaging spe-
cimen of generous hospitality ?

These people were characterized as " gen-
tle, loving, and faithful ; void of guile and
treachery ; living after the manner of the
golden age ; caring only to feed themselves
with such food as the soil affordeth, and to
defend themselves from the cold in their short
winter."

No farther discovery was made of the
country by these adventurers. From the na-
tives they obtained some uncertain account
of its geography, and of a ship which had
been wrecked on the coast between twenty
and thirty years before. They carried away
two of the natives, Wanchese and Manteo,
and arrived in the west of England about the
middle of September.

RALEIGH. 305

The account of this discovery was so wel-
come to Queen Elizabeth, that she named
the country Virginia, either in memory of her
own virginity, or because it retained its virgin
purity, and the people their primitive simpli-
city.

About this time Raleigh was elected knight
of the shire for his native county of Devon ;
and in the Parliament which was held in the
succeeding winter, he caused a bill to be
brought into the House of Commons to con-
firm his patent for the discovery of foreign
countries. After much debate, the bill was
carried through both houses, and received the
royal assent. In addition to which, the queen
conferred on him the order of knighthood.*!

* Stith, p. 11.

t [The date of this honour is not precisely fixed. It was con-
ferred probably in January, or early in February, 1585. — Cay ley,
i., 46, 47. The same year he received a different kind of honour.
Captain John Davis sailed this summer for the discovery of the
Northwest Passage, under the patronage of a company of which
Adrian Gilbert was a chief member, and Sir Walter one of the
associates. Davis anchored in 66° 40', under a mountain, "the
cliffs whereof were as orient as gold," which he named Mount
Raleigh.

The rebellion in Ireland having been suppressed, the queen
attempted to carry into effect a favourite scheme of peopling
Munster with an English colony. About 600,000 acres of land
in that province had accrued to the crown by recent forfeitures,
the larger part of which was divided into seignories, and distrib-

306 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

A second expedition being resolved on, Sir
Richard Grenville himself took the command,
and with seven vessels,* large and small,
sailed from Plymouth on the ninth of April,
1585. t They went in the usual course by
the Canaries and the West Indies, where
they took two Spanish prizes ; and, after nar-
rowly escaping shipwreck on Cape Fear, ar-
rived at Wococon the 26th of June.J

The natives came, as before, to bid them
welcome and to trade with them. Manteo,
whom they had brought back, proved a faith-
ful guide, and piloted them about from place
to place. In an excursion of eight days with
their boats, they visited several Indian villa-
ges on the islands and on the main, adjoining
to Albema*rle Sound. At one place, called
Aquascogok, an Indian stole from them a
silver cup. Inquiry being made, the offender

uted among those especially who had been active in quelling the
insurrection. Twelve thousand acres, in the counties of Cork
and Waterford, were granted to Sir Walter Raleigh. This he
planted at his own expense, and about 1602 sold it to Rich...-.!
Boyle, afterward Earl of Cork. — H.]

* [These vessels were the Tiger and the Roebuck, each of
170 tons, the Lion of 100, the Elizabeth of 50, the Dorothie, a
small bark, and two small pinnaces. — H.]

t Hakluyt, iii., 251.

J Mr. Siith mistakes in saying May 26, and Sir William
Keith, who copies from him, adopts the same mistake.

RALEIGH. 307

was detected, and promised to restore it ; but
the promise being not speedily performed, a
hasty and severe revenge was taken by the
orders of Grenville ; the town was burned,
and the corn destroyed in the fields (July 16),
while the affrighted people fled to the woods
for safety. From this ill-judged act of vio-
lence may be dated the misfortunes and fail-
ure of this colony.

Leaving one hundred and eight persons to
attempt a settlement, Grenville proceeded
with his fleet to the Island of Hatteras,* where
he received a visit from Granganimeo, and
then sailed for England. On the 18th of
September he arrived at Plymouth, with a
rich Spanish prize which he had taken on the
passage.

Of the colony left in Virginia,! Ralph Lane
was appointed governor. He was a military
man of considerable reputation in the sea-ser-
vice. Philip Amadas, who had commanded
in the first voyage, was admiral. They chose
the island of Roanoke, in the mouth of Albe-
marle Sound, as the place of their residence,
and their chief employment was to explore

* [Written in the journal Hatorask. — Hakluyt, iii., 253.— H.]
t [This colony remained in Virginia nearly a year, having ar-
rived June 26, 1585, and sailed with Drake June 19, 1586.— H.]
I— A A

308 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

and survey the country, and describe the per-
sons and manners of its inhabitants. For
these purposes Sir Walter Raleigh had sent
John Withe, an ingenious painter, and Thom-
as Heriot, a skilful mathematician and a man
of curious observation, both of whom per-
formed their parts with fidelity and success.*
The farthest discovery which they made to
the southward of Roanoke was Secotan, an
Indian town between the rivers of Pamplico
and Neus, distant eighty leagues. t To the
northward they went about forty leagues, to
a nation called Chesepeags, on a small river
now called Elizabeth, which falls into Chese-

* The drawings which Mr. Withe made were engraven and
printed at Frankfort (1590) by Theodore De Bry. They repre-
sent the persons and habits of the natives, their employments,
diversions, and superstitions. From these the prints in Bever
ley's History of Virginia are copied.

Mr. Heriot wrote a topographical description of the country
and its natural history, which is preserved in Hakluyt's Collec-
tion, vol. iii., 266. It was translated into Latin, and published
by De Bry in his collection of voyages. It has been supposed
that Raleigh himself came to Virginia with this colony. This is
a mistake, grounded on a mistranslation of a passage in Heriot's
narrative. It is thus expressed in English : " The actions of
those who have been by Sir Walter Raleigh therein employed."
Which is thus rendered in the Latin translation, " qui generosum
D. Walterum Ralegh, in earn regianem comitati sunt." — Stith,
p. 22.

t [Governor Lane's narrative, in Hakluyt, iii., 255, says "by
estimation, fourscore miles." — H.]

RALEIGH. 309

peag* Bay below Norfolk. To the westward
they went up Albemarle Sound and Chowan
River about forty leagues, to a nation called
Chowanogs, whose king, Menatonona,t amu-
sed them with a story of a copper mine and
a pearl fishery ; in search of which they spent
much time, and so exhausted their provisions
that they were glad to eat their dogs! before
they returned to Roanoke.

During this excursion their friend Gran-
ganimeo died, and his brother Wingina$ dis-
covered his hostile disposition towards the
colony. The return of Mr. Lane and his
party from their excursion gave a check to his
malice for a while ; but he secretly laid a
plot for their destruction, which being betray-
ed to the English, they seized all the boats on

* [The word Chesepeak is said to signify in the Indian
tongue "Mother of Waters." — Bosnian's Maryland, 77, note. —

H.]

t [Lane calls him Menatonon, and says that he was, " for a
savage, a very grave and wise man, and of a very singular good
discourse in matters concerning the state." He writes the name
of the province Chawanook, and adds that the town itself, in ad-
dition to the forces of the province, was able to send 700 fight-
ing men into the field. — H.]

t [Lane calls it " Dogge's Porredge." After they had finish-
ed that dish, they had for one or two days "nothing in the
world to eat but pottage of sassafras leaves." — H.]

§ [Wingina had now changed his name to Pemisapan, and the
conspiracy is comjr >nly spoken of as Pemisapan's. — H.]

310

AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

the island. This brought on a skirmish, in
which five or six Indians were killed, and the
rest fled to the woods. After much jealousy
and dissimulation on both sides, Wingina was
drawn into a snare, and, with eight of his
men, fell a sacrifice to the resentment of the
English.*

In a few days after Wingina' s death, Sir
Francis Drake, who had been cruising against
the Spaniards in the West Indies, and had
received orders from the queen to visit this
colony, arrived with his fleet on the coast,
and, by the unanimous desire of the people,
took them all off and carried them to Eng-
land, where they arrived in July, 1586. t

Within a fortnight after the departure of
this unfortunate colony, Sir Richard Gren-

* [This was on the first of June, 1586.— H.]
t [Hakluyt, iii., 265, mentions a voyage made in 1586, by a
ship fitted out by Sir Walter at his own charge, for the relief
of his colony in Virginia, which arrived at Cape Hatteras be-
tween the departure of Drake and the arrival of Grenville, and
which, after an unsuccessful search, returned to England.

He was now rapidly growing in favour with the queen, and
about this time was appointed by her seneschal of the duchies
of Cornwall and Exeter, and lord-warden of the stannaries in
Devonshire and Cornwall. He was also a partner in a voyage
undertaken by the Duke of Cumberland to the South Sea, and
sent two pinnaces to the Azores, which took several prizes.—
Hakluyt, ii., 120.— H.J

RALEIGH. 311

ville arrived with three ships for their relief.
Finding their habitation abandoned, and be-
ing unable to gain any intelligence of them,
he landed fifty* men on the Island of Roan-
oke, plentifully supplied with provisions for
two years, and then returned to England.

The next year (1587t) three shipst were
sent, under the command of John White, $
who was appointed governor of the colony,
with twelve counsellors. To them Raleigh
gave a charter of incorporation for the city
of Raleigh, which he ordered them -to build
on the River Chesepeag, the northern extent
of the discovery. After narrowly escaping
shipwreck on Cape Fear, they arrived at Hat-
teras on the 22d of July, and sent a party to
Roanoke to look for the second colony of

* [Hakluyt says fifteen men, iii., 265, and again 282, 3, 4
Smith, p. 13, says " fiftie." — H.]

t [This year Sir Walter was made captain of the guard to
her majesty, and lieutenant-general of the county of Cornwall.
He was also a member of the Parliament which met March 23d,
1587, and received from the queen a grant of the lands of An-
thony Babington, which had been forfeited on account of his
connexion with the conspiracy in farour of Mary Queen of Scots.
-H.]

t [They carried one hundred and fifty colonists. — Hakluyt,
iii., 280, 281.— H.]

$ [White sailed from Plymouth May 8th. His fleet con-
sisted of '• the Admiral, a shippe of 120 tuniies, a file-boat, and
a pinnesae."— Hakluyt, iii., 280, 281.— H.]

312 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

fifty men. They found no. person living, and
the bones of but one dead. The huts were
standing, but were overgrown with bushes
and weeds. In conversation with some of
the natives, they were informed that the col-
ony had been destroyed by Wingina's people
in revenge of his death.

Mr. White endeavoured to renew a friend-
ly intercourse with those natives, but their
jealousy rendered them implacable. He
therefore went across the water to the main
with a party of twenty-five men, and came
suddenly on a company of friendly Indians,
who were seated round a fire, one of whom
they killed before they discovered the mis-
take.

Two remarkable events are mentioned as
happening at this time : one was the baptism
of Manteo, the faithful Indian guide ; the
other was the birth of a female child, daugh-
ter of Ananias Dare,* one of the council,
which, being the first child born in the colo-
ny, was named Virginia.

By this time (August 21) the ships had
unloaded their stores, and were preparing to
return to England. It was evident -that a

* [Dare had married Eleanor, daughter of Governor White.
The birth took place Aug. 18th.— H.]

RALEIGH. 313

farther supply was necessary, and that some
person must go home to solicit it. A dispute
arose in the council on this point, and, after
much altercation, it was determined that the
governor was the most proper person to be
sent on this errand. The whole colony join-
ed in requesting him to proceed, promising to
take care of his interest in his absence. With
much reluctance he consented, on their sub-
scribing a testimonial of his unwillingness to
quit the plantation. He accordingly sailed
on the 27th of August, and arrived in Eng-
land the following November. The nation
was in a state of alarm and apprehension on
account of the war with Spain, and of the in-
vincible armada, which had threatened it with
an invasion. Sir Walter Raleigh was one of
the queen's council of war,* as were also Sir
Richard Grenville and Mr. Lane. Their
time was wholly taken up with public consul-
tations, and Governor White was obliged to
wait till the plan of operations against the en-
emy could be adjusted and carried into exe-
cution.

* [Raleigh was at this time one of the gentlemen of her majes-
ty's privy chamber, and his wine-patent seems to have been en-
larged. This was continued to him till the close of Elizabeth'^
reign. — H.]

314 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

The next spring Raleigh and Grenville,
who had the command of the militia in Corn-
wall, and were training them for the defence
of the kingdom, being strongly solicited by
White, provided two small barks, which sail-
ed from Biddeford on the 22d of April, 1588.
These vessels had commissions as ships of
war, and, being more intent on gain to them-
selves than relief to the colony, went in chase
of prizes, and were both driven back by ships
of superior force, to the great mortification of
their patron and the ruin of his colony.

These disappointments were a source of
vexation to Raleigh. He had expended forty
thousand. pounds, of his own and other men's
money, in pursuit of his favourite object, and
his gains were yet to come. He therefore
made an assignment of his patent (March 7,
1589) to Thomas Smith, and other merchants
and adventurers, among whom was Governor
White, with a donation of one hundred pounds
for the propagation of the Christian religion
in Virginia. Being thus disengaged from the
business of colonization, he had full scope for
his martial genius in the war with Spain.

His assignees were not so zealous in the
prosecution of their business. It was not till
the spring of 1590 that Governor White coultf

RALEIGH. 315

return to his colony.* Then, with three ships,
he sailed from Plymouth, and, passing through
the West Indies in quest of Spanish prizes, he
arrived at Hatteras on the 15th of August.
From this place they observed a smoke ari-
sing on the Island of Roanoke, which gave
them some hope that the colony was there
subsisting ; on their coming to the place, they
found old trees and grass burning, but no hu-
man being. On a post of one of the housest
they saw the word Croatan, which gave them
some hope that at the island of that name
they should find their friends. They sailed
for that island, which lay southward of Hat-
teras ; but a violent storm arising, in which
they lost their anchors, they were obliged to

* [Governor White's account of this voyage is preserved in
Hakluyt, iii., 287-295. The three ships were furnished " at the
special charges of Mr. John Wattes, of London, marchaat."
They were the Hopewell, the John Evangelist, and the Little
John, accompanied with two small shallops. They sailed from
Plymouth March 20th, remained on the coast of Virginia but a
few days, and reached home October 24th. Mr. White says this
was his fifth voyage to Virginia, and complains bitterly, in his
letter to Hakluyt, that " governors, masters, and sailors regarded
very smally the good of their countrymen in Virginia, but wholly
disposed themselves to seeke after purchase and spoiles." — H.J

t [They found that the houses had been taken down, and the
place on which they had been enclosed with a strong palisade,
and the word Croatan " in fay re capitall letters graven on one
of the chief trees or posts at the entrance."— White's Narrative,
in Hakluyt, iii., 293.— H.]

316 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

quit the inhospitable coast and return home ;
nor was anything afterward heard of the un-
fortunate colony.

The next year (1591) Sir Richard Gren-
ville was mortally wounded in an engage-
ment with a Spanish fleet, and died on board
the admiral's ship, where he was prisoner.*

* [The heroism of his death deserves a particular narration.
The following account of it is taken from Miss Aikin's Memoirs
of the Court of Queen Elizabeth, ii., 264 : "A squadron, under
Lord Thomas Howard, which had been waiting six months at
the Azores to intercept the homeward-bound ships from Spanish
America, was there surprised by a vastly more numerous fleet
of the enemy, which had been sent out for their convoy. The
English admiral got to sea in all haste, and made good his re-
treat, followed by his whole squadron excepting the Revenge,
which was entangled in a narrow channel between the port and
an island. Sir Richard Grenville, her commander, after a vain
attempt to break through the Spanish line, determined, with a
kind of heroic desperation, to sustain alone the conflict with a
whole fleet of fifty-seven sail rather than strike his colours.
From three o'clock in the afternoon till daybreak he resisted, by
almost incredible efforts of valour, all the force which could be
brought to bear against him, and fifteen times beat back the
boarding-parties from his deck. At length, when all his bravest
had fallen, and he himself was disabled by many wounds, his
powder also being exhausted, his small arms lost or broken,
and his ship a perfect wreck, he proposed to his gallant crew to
sink her, that no trophy might remain to the enemy. But this
proposal, though applauded by several, was overruled by the ma-
jority : the Revenge struck to the Spaniards, and two days after
her brave commander died on board their admiral's ship of his
glorious wounds, ' with a joyful and quiet mind,' as he express-
ed himself, and admired by all his enemies themselves for his
high spirit and invincible resolution." — H.]

RALEIGH. 317

Raleigh, though disengaged from the busi-
ness of colonizing Virginia, sent five times at
his own expense to seek for and relieve his
friends ; but the persons whom he employed,
having more profitable business in the West
Indies, either went not to the place, or were
forced from it by stress of weather, it being a
tempestuous region, and without any safe har-
bour. The last attempt which he made was
in 1602, the year before his imprisonment ;
an event which gratified the malice of his
enemies, and prepared the way for his death,
which was much less ignominious to him than
to his sovereign, King James I., the British
Solomon, successor to Elizabeth, the British
Deborah.*

This unfortunate attempt to settle a colony
in Virginia was productive of one thing which
will always render it memorable, the intro-
duction of tobacco into England. Cartier, in

* As a specimen of the language of that time, let the reader
take the following extract from Purchas :

" He [i. e., King James] is beyond comparison a meer trans-
cendent, beyond all his predecessors, princes of this realm ; be-
yond the neighbouring princes of his own time ; beyond the
conceit of subjects dazzled with so much brightness ; beyond
our victorious Deborah, not in sex alone, but as peace is more
excellent than war, and Solomon than David ; in this also that
he is, and we enjoy his present sunshine."

318 AMEEICAN BIOGRAPHY.

his visit to Canada fifty years before, had
observed that the natives used this weed in
fumigation, but it was an object of disgust to
Frenchmen. Ralph Lane, at his return in
1586, brought it first into Europe ; and Ra-
leigh, who was a man of gayety and fashion,
not only learned the use of it himself, but in-
troduced it into the polite circles, and even
the queen herself gave encouragement to u
Some humorous stories respecting it are still
remembered. Raleigh laid a wager with the
queen that he would determine exactly the
weight of smoke which issued from his pipe.
This he did by first weighing the tobacco and
then the ashes. When the queen paid the
wager, she pleasantly observed that many la-
bourers had turned their gold into smoke, but
that he was the first who had converted smoke
into gold.

It is also related that a servant of Sir Wal-
ter, bringing a tankard of ale into his study
as he was smoking his pipe and reading, was
so alarmed at the appearance of smoke issu-
ing out of his mouth, that he threw the ale
into his face, and ran down to alarm the fam-
ily, crying out that his master was on fire.

King James had so refined a taste, that he
not only held this Indian weed in great ab-
horrence himself, but endeavoured, by proc-

RALEIGH. 319

lamations and otherwise, to prevent the use
of it among his subjects. But all his zeal and
authority could not suppress it. Since his
time it has become an important article of
commerce, by which individuals in Europe
and America, as well as colonies and nations,
have risen to great opulence.

[We have thus far followed Raleigh in a
course of nearly uniform prosperity, if not of
constant success. He had become distin-
guished among his countrymen, and was high
in the favour of the queen. Yet his career at
court was not without its perplexities, and
he sorely felt, from time to time, how easily
his repose may be disturbed " who hangs on
princes' favours." He found a rival there in
the youthful and accomplished Earl of Essex,
son-in-law of the late powerful Leicester. He
had fallen under the suspicion of insincerity
in his professed attachment to that noble-
man, as appears from a letter written by him
in vindication of himself as early as 1586.
Whether a-jealousy on this point was inherit-
ed by Essex, or whether a degree of personal
dislike arose from their competition for the
royal favour, we cannot determine. The
unfriendliness certainly existed, and Raleigh
was a sufferer by it. He had been engaged

320 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

in the unfortunate expedition, in the summer
of 1589, to place Don Antonio on the throne
of Portugal, and for his -good conduct in it
had received from the queen the honour of a
golden chain. Yet in August of the same
year he suddenly withdrew to Ireland, evi-
dently suffering under the royal displeasure.
We have no knowledge of the cause of this
change, except this imperfect notice in a let-
ter of that date from Francis Allen to An-
thony Bacon : '• My Lord of Essex hath
chased Mr. Raleigh from the court, and con-
fined him into Ireland : conjecture you the
rest of that matter."

Here he renewed his friendship with Spen-
ser, a beautiful episode in a life of restless
activity. Spenser was then residing at Kil-
colman, on the banks of the Mulla, where he
had devoted his leisure to the composition of
" the Faery Queen." Raleigh's banishment
was not of long duration, and on his return
he brought Spenser to England, and proved
an able and discerning patron. B 3 feelings
during this brief exile are described in Spen-
ser's " Colin Clout's come Home again,"
which was dedicated to him ten years later.
In that poem Raleigh is introduced as " the
Shepherd of the Ocean," and the poet says ;

RALEIGH. 321

* His song was all a lamentable lay,

Of great unkindness and of usage hard,
Of Cynthia, the lady of the sea,

Which from her presence, faultless, him debarr'd."

The first three books of the Faery Queen
were now published with his encouragement,
and the "argument" is addressed "to the
right noble and valorous Sir "Walter Raleigh."

This noble sonnet, addressed to Spenser on
his great work, will give the reader no unfa-
vourable idea of Raleigh's poetic powers

" Methought I saw the grave where Laura lay

Within that temple, where the vestall flame
Was wont to burne, and passing by that way

To see that buried dust of living fame,
Whose tumbe fair Love and fairer Vertue kept,

All suddenly I saw the Faery Queene :
At whose approche the Lord of Petrarke wept,

And from henceforth those graces were not seene :
For they this queene attended, in whose steed

Oblivion laid him down on Laura's herse ;
Hereat the hardest stones were seen to bleed,

And grones of buried ghosts the heavens did perse ;
When Homer's spright did tremble all for grief,
And curst th' accesse of that celestiall thiefe."

In 1591 Sir Walter was busily engaged in
preparing for an expedition to capture the
Spanish fleet, which every year came richly
laden with merchandise from their American
possessions. So earnest were his endeav-
ours, and so plausible his scheme of opera-
tions, that thirteen ships were equipped for

322 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

the enterprise by private adventurers, and two
ships-of-war were added by the queen. She
appointed Sir Walter general of the fleet,
which sailed May 6, 1592. The next day,
by a special messenger, he received letters
from the queen containing his recall. He
did not return till he began to despair of suc-
cess, and left the expedition in charge of Sir
John Burgh and Sir Martin Frobisher.
Among other prizes they took the Madre de
Dios, " of 1600 tons burthen, whereof 900
were merchandise."

Soon after his return he was arrested, hav-
ing very probably been recalled for the pur-
pose, and imprisoned in the Tower, for having
carried on a criminal intrigue with one of the
queen's maids of honour. The lady was im-
prisoned at the same time. She was Eliza-
beth, daughter of the statesman and ambas-
sador, Sir Nicholas Throckmorton, and much
celebrated for her beauty. After their release
they were married, and his letters, with her
efforts for him in his misfortunes, prove a rare
degree of mutual affection and lasting happi-
ness. During this confinement Sir Walter
wrote a letter to Sir Robert Cecil,* which is
too curious to be entirely omitted. It was
written just as the queen was about to leave
* [Burghley State Papers by Murden, ii., 657. — H.]

RALEIGH. 323

London on a royal progress, and was clearly
intended for her majesty's eye. It shows
servility in the writer hardly more than the
peculiar temper of Elizabeth, which could be
touched by so»gross flattery. " My heart was
never broken till this day, that I hear the
queen goes away so far off, whom I have fol-
lowed so many years with so great love and
desire in so many journeys, and am now left
behind her in a dark prison, all alone. While
she was yet near at hand, that I might hear
of her once in two or three days, my sorrows
were the less, but even now my heart is cast
into the depth of all misery. I that was wont
to behold her riding like Alexander, hunting
like Diana, walking like Venus, the gentle
wind blowing her fair hair about her pure
cheeks like a nymph, sometime sitting in the
shade like a goddess, sometime singing like
an angel, sometime playing like Orpheus ;
behold the sorrow of this world ! once amiss
hath bereaved me of all ! .... All those times
past, the loves, the sighs, the sorrows, the de-
sires, can they not weigh down one frail mis-
fortune ?....! am more weary of life than
they are desirous I should perish, which, if
it had been for her as it is by her, I had been
too happily born." By virtue of such regrets,

)r for some better reason, Sir Walter was rc-
1.— u K

324 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

leasedfjjn the latter part of September, though
he seems not to have been completely resto-
red to the queen's favour for several years.
He is described in letters of this time as
" hovering between fear and hope," and so
late as September, 1594, as " in good hope
to return into grace." Yet in 1593 he ob-
tained of the queen a grant of the manor of
Sherborne, in Dorsetshire, where he for some
time resided.

Sir Walter was a member of the Parlia-
ment which met in the spring of 1593, was
an active member of several committees, and
became distinguished for his eloquence and
enlarged views of public policy and of nation-
al honour.

To reinstate himself in the favour of his
royal mistressv and more rapidly advance his
private fortunes, Sir Walter, with full faith in
the reported infinite riches of El Dorado,
prepared for an expedition into the unknown
regions of Guiana. Dejection led him to med-
itate on new schemes of wealth, and the soli-
tariness of the Tower had given an impulse to
his imagination, and substance to his dreams.

The fleet for Guiana set sail Feb. 6th,
1595,* and arrived at Trinidad the 22d of

* [Sir Walter's narrative may be found in Hakluyt, iii.,
631-666, and in Cayley's Life of Ralegh. — H.]

RALEIGH. 326

March. They found a company of Span-
iards at Puerto de los Espanoles, from whom,
and from an Indian cacique who visited him,
Sir Walter learned much of the resources
and topography of the country. Suspecting
the jealousy of the Spaniards, and unwilling
to leave an enemy in his rear, he surprised
and burned their city of St. Joseph, and de-
tained the governor, Don Antonio de Berreo,
a prisoner. He was farther induced to this
course by a desire to punish the treachery of
Berreo, who had, in violation of his promise,
taken prisoners eight of Captain Whidden's
men there in 1594. Whidden had been sent
by Raleigh on a voyage of discovery. Ber-
reo is described as " a gentleman well de-
scended, who had long served the Spanish
king in Milan, Naples, and the Low Coun-
tries, very valiant and liberal, of a great as-
suredness, and of a good heart." Though a
captive, Raleigh treated him with the courte-
sies due to a soldier.

Here Sir Walter spent about a month, and
learned that the region he was in search of
was six hundred miles farther than he had
supposed. He, however, concealed this from
his company, and, leaving his ships at Curi-
apan, on the Island of Trinidad, he embarked

326 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

one hundred persons, with provisions for one
month, in a small galley, a barge', two wher-
ries, and a ship's boat, and set out in this poor
plight for the empire of Guiana. The voyage
was wearisome beyond description, " being al
driven to lie in the raine, and weather in the
open aire, in the burning sunne, and upon the
hard bords, and to dresse our meatq, and to
carry all maner of furniture in them (the
open boats), wherewith they were so pestered
and unsavoury . . . that I will undertake there
was never any prison in England that could
be found more unsavoury and lothsome, es-
pecially to myself, who had for many years
before been dieted and cared for in a sort far
more differing."

The troubles which they began thus to feel
at the outset would have dissuaded any ordi-
nary man from pursuing so difficult a scheme.
Berreo, too, when informed of Sir Walter's
purpose to penetrate into the interior of Gui-
ana, " was stricken into a great melancholy
and sadnesse," and represented to him the
rivers as of difficult and perilous naviga-
tion by reason of shoals and flats, the way
long, the current rapid, and the natives at
once timid and hostile, and resolved to have
no intercourse with Christians. But difficul-
ties seemed only to animate his resolution,

RALEIGH. 327

and the prospect of dangers awakened his he-
roism.

After reaching the mouths of the river,
they entered, May 22d, a branch, which, as
true knights, they named, from a fancied re-
semblance, the River of the Red Crosse. In
the labyrinth of waters made by the number-
less courses of the great river near its mouth,
interlacing in every direction, and seeming-
ly flowing every way, they were confused,
and might have wandered without end, so
Hke were the islands, and so doubtful which
was the main stream. The number of out-
lets is sixteen, the outermost three hundred
miles apart. Near the mouth of the Red
Crosse River accident put in their power an
old man of the Ciawani, a tribe which lived
on the bank. He was familiar with the
course of the stream, and served them as pi-
lot. They now " passed up the river with
the flood, and anchored during the ebb, and
m this sort went onward." For four days
the tide aided them, " till they fell into a
goodly river, the great Amana." After this
they were forced to row with main strength
against a violent current, " every gentleman
and others taking their turnes to spell one an-
other at the hour's end." They thus labour-
ed on many days, " in despair and discomfort,

AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

wearied, scorched, and doubtful withal, the
air breeding great faintness, the current every
day stronger, and ourselves growing weaker
and weaker, our bread at the last, and no
drinke at all." They were ready every hour
to turn back, and kept up the spirits of the
men only by Bordering the pilots to promise
an end the next day, and used this so long
that they were driven to assure them from
four reaches of the river to three, and so to
the next reach."

In this distress and famine they halted ';
and, at the instance of their guide, Sir Wai-
ter, with a small party, rowed up a branch of
the Amana, more than forty miles, to an In-
dian village, in search of bread. They toiled,
" heart-broken and tired, and ready to give
up the ghost," from morning " till one o'clock
past midnight," when they " saw a light and
heard dogs bark at the village." They were
kindly received by the few natives then at
home, and got " good store of bread, fish,
hennes. and Indian drincke." This stream
opened to them a new view of the country.
Their course hitherto had been up a river
thickly bordered with overhanging woods,
and beset with prickles, bushes, and thorns.
Here they looked out upon " plaines of twen-
ty miles in length, the grasse short and

RALEIGH. 329

greene, and in divers parts groves of trees by
themselves, as if they had been by all the
art and labour in the world so made of pur-
pose, and still as they rowed the deere came
downe feeding by the water's side, as if they
had beene used to a keeper's call. But, be-
side strange fishes and of marvellous bignes,
for lagartos (alligators) it exceeded, for there
were thousands of those ugly serpents."

On their return " they went on their way
up the great river, and again, when they were
even at the last call for want of victuals,"
they came upon four canoes filled with na-
tives, and three Spaniards, which they took,
and " found in them divers baskets of roots,
and great store of excellent bread, than which
nothing on the earth could have been more
welcome to them next unto gold." The
Spaniards had been mining, and their instru-
ments for the trial of metals, and such dust
as they had refined, were taken. This re-
newed their hopes that the golden region
was not far off. Sir Walter here took a new
pilot from those who had guided the Span-
iards, and " on the fifteenth day they discov-
ered afarre off the mountains of Guiana, to
their great joy;" and "a northerly wind,
which blew very strong, brought them in

330 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

sight of the great River Oronoco, out of which
the Amana descended," and " they ankered at
the parting of the three goodly rivers." Here
they went ashore on the invitation of Topa-
rimaca, " the lord of that border," " where
some of the captains caroused of his wine
till they were reasonable pleasant," and vis-
ited his town Arowocai, which " was very
pleasant, with goodly gardens a mile com-
passe round about it."

The next day they sailed on with an east
wind, and found the river of varying breadth,
from four to twenty miles, " with wonderfull
eddies, divers shoals, rock, and many great
islands," and wrought into huge billows by the
wind. Passing by wide and rich plains, and
sending out now and then parties to explore
the banks, on the fifth day from their first
sight of the mountains they arrived at the port
of Morequito, three hundred miles from the
sea. Here and in the neighbourhood they
passed four days. From this place parties
were sent abroad to search for the precious
metals, and to reach, if possible, the mount-
ains on the frontier of the great empire.
Sir Walter accompanied, one, to view " the
strange over-falls of the River of Caroli," the
noise of which they heard twenty miles off,

RALEIGH. 331

at Morequito. There appeared some ten or
twelve falls, " every one as high over the oth-
er as a church tower." Hear him describe
the tract they traversed : "I never saw a
more beautifull countrey nor more lively pros-
pects ; hils so raised here and there over the
valleys, the river winding into divers branch-
es, the plains adjoyning without bush or
stubble, all faire greene grasse, the ground of
hard sand, easie to march on either for horse
or foote, the deere crossing in every path,
the birdes towards the evening singing on ev-
ery tree with a thousand severall tunes, cranes
and herons, of white, crimson, and carnation,
pearching in the river's side, the aire fresh
easterly winde, and every stone that wee
stouped to take up promised either gold or
silver by his complexion." They were hos-
pitably entertained by the natives ; learned
somewhat of the geography of the country ;
heard and believed stories of a tribe of men
" whose heads appeare not above their shoul-
ders ;" were told of a rich silver mine, which,
from the rise of the river, they could not
reach ; dugout with their daggers and fingers
from the hard white spar a few specimens of
minerals, " marcasite, and mother-of-gold,
and stones like sapphires," and then turned

their faces again to the eastward.
I,— C c

332 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

" The great city of Manoa" had eluded
their grasp. Their farther progress was hin-
dered, and their departure hastened by the
summer rains. The smaller rivers " were
raised with such speed, as, if they waded
them over the shoes in the morning outward,
they were covered to the shoulders homeward
the very same day ;" and the Oronoco " be-
gan to rage, and overflowe very fearfully."
Besides, "the menne began to crie out for
want of shift," having no change of clothes,
and their single suits "throughly washt on
their bodies for the most part tenne times
in one day." They passed down the river
rapidly and without labour, and had several
interviews with the chiefs who dwelt on its
banks. Their hopes of much gold in some
future enterprise were highly excited by the
reports they heard and the few specimens
they saw ; but their small number, their past
labours and fatigue, all persuaded them to
undertake nothing farther for the present.
They encountered a violent storm at the
mouth of the river, where they passed through
imminent peril, " one faintly cheering anoth-
er to showe courage," and at length safely re-
gained their vessels at Trinidad.

Such is a brief outline of a narrative which

RALEIGH. 333

Hume* says is " full of the grossest and most
palpable lies that were ever attempted to be
imposed on the credulity of mankind." That
historian's bias against the brave and unfortu-
nate Raleigh is manifest to every reader of
his history. Yet his sketch of Raleigh's nar-
rative, compared with the narrative itself,
shows that he had read the latter very care-
lessly, or would make him responsible for the
truth of every rumour he reported, while
Raleigh himself carefully distinguishes what
he saw from what he heard. The attentive
reader of Sir Walter's narrative will be struck
with his extreme credulity, and make many
allowances for an earnest enthusiasm and a
poetic fancy, but will hardly find traces of a
wilful purpose to deceive.

The evidence on which the expedition was
projected shows a large faith and a visionary
imagination, though the value of its indica-
tions is seen in the success of Cortez and Pi-
zarro. The minds of men in general in that
day, and of individuals two hundred years la-
ter, habitually entertained the notion of the El
Dorado, a region rich beyond all human ex-

* [Chap. 41. In another place, Appendix B. to vol. vii., p.
384, 12mo ed., he boldly charges Raleigh with " impudent im-
posture " — H.]

334 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

perience in gold and gems, in the heart of
South America. Though they doubted of
particulars, they had full faith in the main.
The Spaniards believed the way to this re-
gion was through the Oronoco, and had sent
many expeditions to search it out : Antonio
Sedenno, with five hundred men, in 1536 ;
Jala alone in 1560 ; De Orsua, with four hun-
dred, the same year ; Orellana in 1542.*
These expeditions were so far only success-
ful as to encourage others. Berreo was now
waiting for a re-enforcement from Spain to
enable him to renew this enterprise. An ear-
lier authority, and the source of them all,
was the story of one Martinez, who, in the
capacity of " master of the munition," had
accompanied Diego Ordas, a knight of the
order of St. Jago, in a voyage to this region
in 1531. Ordas, with six hundred men and
thirty horse, was said to have penetrated as
far as Morequito, and was killed in a mutiny
of his men. Martinez, for some negligence,
was sentenced by Ordas to be executed, but,
instead, was put afloat on the river alone in
a canoe, taken up by the natives, carried
through the country many days blindfolded,
and at last to their capital, " the golden city

* [Hakluyt, iii., 690.— H.]

RALEIGH. 335

of Manoa." He reported that he was car-
ried in blindfold, and travelled in it a day and
a half before he reached the palace of the
inca ; that he remained there seven months,
and saw there golden statues and shields,
plates and armour of gold which they used
in war, and many other tokens of vast wealth.
He therefore named the country El Dorado,
i. e., the golden. He told this on his return,
and reaffirmed it on his deathbed to his con-
fessor. This story was reported by Berreo,
who was engaged in the same enterprise, and
was doubtless believed by Sir Walter. Cre-
dulity was the fault of the age, and was more
reasonable then than now, as every day
brought new rumours of rich countries to be
won by adventurous conquest, and grave his-
torians coolly affirmed the most prodigious
marvels.*

The reports that came to England with the
company were received with much distrust.
Little ore was brought to satisfy the public
expectation, though of that which was brought,
a part, at least, proved good on assay. Sir
Walter was accused of false dealing, even of
having lain hid in Cornwall all the time of the

* [See the passages from Gomara cited by Sir Walter.—
Hackluyt, 634, &c.— H.]

336 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

voyage. From these suspicions he clears
himself, with sad earnestness, in his letter to
Howard and Cecil,* affirming that he had re-
turned " a beggar and withered," and publish-
ing his confidence in the merits and final suc-
cess of the scheme, with arguments which,
though they may have somewhat fanciful in
them, prove the patriot and the hero. " The
common souldier," says he, in his eloquent
vindication, " shall fight for gold, and pay
himself, insteede of pence, with plates of
halfe a foote broade, whereas he breaketh his
bones in other warres for provant and penury.
Those commanders and chieftains that shoot
at honour and abundance, shall finde them
more riche and beautifull cities, more temples
adorned with golden images, more sepulchres
filled with treasure, than either Cortez found in
Mexico, or Pizarro in Peru ; and the shining
glorie of this conquest will eclipse all those so
farr : extended beams of the Spanish nation."
Men who could offer, and be touched by such
inducements, would engage, with ready heart
and resolute hope, in schemes which the com-
mercial prudence of later times would scout
as visionary, and turn away from as imprac-
ticable. The spirit of heroic adventure had
* [Prefixed to his narrative of his voyage to Guiana. — H.J

RALEIGH. 337

not yet given way to the more palpable bene-
fits of a system of colonization, and the diffi-
culty, danger, and vastness of an enterprise
was still to many a charm of no less power
than gold or precious stones.

But Sir Walter had large views of public
policy. " The West Indies," he continues,
" were first offered her majesty's grandfather
by Columbus, a stranger in whom there might
be doubt of deceipt, and besides, it was then
thought incredible that there were such and
so many lands and regions never written of
before. This empire is made knowen to hei
majestic by her owne vassell, and by him
that oweth to her more dutie than an ordina-
rie subject, so that it shall ill sort with the
many graces and benefites which I have re-
vived to abuse her highnesse either with fa-
bles or imaginations. The countrey is alrea-
die discovered, manie nations wonne to her
majestie's love and obedience, and those
Spaniards who have latest and longest la-
boured about the conquest, beaten out, dis-
couraged, and disgraced, which among those
nations were thought invincible .... What-
soever prince shall possesse it shall be great-
est, and if the King of Spaine enjoy it, he will
become irresistible. Her majestic shall here-

338 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

by confirrne and strengthen the opinions of all
nations as touching her great and princely
actions .... The charge will only be in the
first setting out, in victualling and arming ;
for, after the first or second yere, I doubt not
hjat to see in London a contractation-house of
more receipt for Guiana than there is now in
Sivill for the West Indies."

The voyage to Guiana was undertaken
partly, perhaps, with a view to restore him-
self to favour at court by a noble and con-
spicuous achievement, and partly " by absence
to expel the passion of his enemies, and to
teach envy a' new way of forgetfulness."*
His success either, way was but indifferent.
The public expectation was greatly disap-
pointed j his enemies had time and free room
to perfect their schemes against him; and he
was not, certainly not at once, received at
court on his return, though " there were great
means made" for it. But Raleigh's enthusi-
asm for his favourite project was not without
effect.

Immediately on his return he began to
make preparations for a second expedition.
The lord-treasurer adventured in it £500, and
Sir Robert Cecil " a new ship, bravely fur*

* [Sir Robert Naunton.— H.]

RALEIGH. 339

nished." Two ships, the Darling and the
Discoverer, were put under the charge of
Laurence Keymis, who had gone with Ra-
leigh in the former voyage. He sailed Jan-
uary 26, 1596, and returned in June of the
same year. His narrative of the voyage is
preserved in Hakluyt, hi., 672—687. He
gained considerable knowledge of the coast
and rivers, and made diligent inquiry for the
position of Manoa. He sailed up the Rale-
ana, as he named the Oronoco, as far as the
mouth of the Caroli, where he found a com-
pany of Spaniards, with a village of some
twenty houses, and a fort on a rocky island
in the river. He went within, as he suppo-
sed, about fifteen miles of the gold mine, but
was prevented from reaching it by fear of the
Spaniards (who had left their town to plant
an ambush on the passage leading to it), and
returned after two days in the belief that they
might easily have intercepted his company on
their way down the river. He learned that
the Spaniards were universally hated by the
Indians ; and, though he brought home none
of the precious metals, he reported " that the
Ampagotos have images of gold of incredi-
ble bigness." He reaffirmed the story of the
headless men, and adds, " What I have heard

340 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

of a sort of people more monstrous, I omit to
mention, because it is no matter of difficulty
to get one of them, and the report otherwise
will appear fabulous." He appears to have
been a shrewd and honest observer, and to
have returned with a thorough conviction
that success must yet crown the adventure.
"Myself," he says, " and the remains of my
few years I have bequeathed wholly to Rale-
ana, and all my thoughts live only in that
action."

In 1596 Sir Walter was engaged in the
famous expedition to Cadiz. The queen had
been led to fear that Philip was seriously and
earnestly preparing for war with England, if
not for another attempted invasion. She re-
solved to prevent the latter contingency at
least, by attacking him in his own ports. For
this purpose a fleet of seventeen ships-of-war
and about one hundred and thirty smaller
vessels was fitted out, and seven thousand
soldiers and about the same number of sea-
men were embarked. The Earl of Essex
commanded the land forces, and Lord Charles
Howard, of Effingham, the fleet. Sir Walter
Raleigh had the command of one of the four
squadrons into which the fleet was divided,
and was a member of the council of war. He

RALEIGH. 341

did not reach Plymouth, from which they
were to sail, till some days after the other
commanders. The cause of his delay is not
known, though it occasioned some distrust
and dissatisfaction at the time ; being sus
pected to be, as Anthony Bacon wrote to his
brother Sir Francis, "upon pregnant design,
which will be brought forth very shortly."
Some dissensions between him and his broth-
er-officers, which were ascribed to his hostili-
ty to Essex, happened by the way, which
were soon, in appearance, reconciled.

The fleet sailed on the first of June, and
came to anchor near Cadiz on the twentieth.
Sir Walter has left a " relation of the Cadiz
action,"* which we follow. The command-
ers, in Sir Walter's absence, had determined
first to attack the town. At his suggestion,
however, they concluded first to attempt the
ships and fort which occupied and defended
the harbour. At his own request, he was di-
rected to board the "great galleons of Spain,"
in fly-boats to be sent up for that purpose.
The Spanish men-of-war were arranged in
several lines, with " seventeen galleys to in-

* [Published in the " genuine remains" of Sir Walter Ra-
\eigh, App. No. ii., p. 19-25 to the abridgment of his History of
the World, by his grandson, Philip Raleigh. — H.]

342 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.-

terlace them, as occasion should be offered,"
in such manner as to cover the entrance " as
a bridge." The English fleet, in entering,
met a " fort called the Philip, which beat
and commanded the harbour. There were
also ordnance, which lay all along the curtain
upon the wall towards the sea, and divers
pieces of culverin, which scoured the chan-
nel," and then the galleys. Sir "Walter's ships
entered foremost, and answered the fire of
the fort and the galleys, " to each piece a
blurr with a trumpet, esteeming them as but
wasps," and aiming at "the St. Philip, the
great and famous admiral of Spain."

The other ships came up in order, but Ra-
leigh " held single in the head of all." The
fight continued about three hours, when, the
fly-boats having not come up, he " laid out a
warp by the side of the Philip to shake hands
with her," when the Spaniards, perceiving it,
slipped their cables and ran their ships ashore.
Eight only of the English ships were enga-
ged, and of the Spaniards fifty-five. The
soldiers were then landed, and the town ta-
ken " Avith a sudden fury and with little loss."
In this action Sir Walter received a grievous-
wound in the leg, which prevented him from
taking a part in the sacking of the town. The

RALEIGH. 343

conclusion of his " relation" curiously shows
how wars were carried on in those days.
" The town of Gales was very rich in mer-
chandise, in plate, and money : many rich
prisoners given to the land commanders ; so
as that sort are very rich. Some had prison-
ers for 16,000 ducats, some for 20,000, some
for 10,000 ; and, besides, great houses of mer-
chandise. What the generals have gotten, I
know least : they protest it is little. For mine
own part, I have gotten a lame leg and a de-
formed. For the rest, either I spake too late,
or it was otherwise resolved. I have not
wanted good words, and exceeding kind and
regardful usance ; but I have possession of
naught but poverty and pain. If God had
spared me that blow, I had possest myself
of some house." The contemporary testi-
monies to the valour and skilful conduct of
Sir Walter in this action are abundant. The.
army re-embarked July 5, and reached Ply-
mouth August 10.

On his return from the expedition to Cadiz,
Sir Walter prepared for a third voyage to
Guiana. He fitted out for this purpose a
stout pinnace, the Wat, and placed it under
the command of Captain Leonard Birnie. A
relation of the voyage by Thomas Masliam, a

344 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

gentleman of the company, is preserved in
Hakluyt, iii. , 692-697. They left Weymouth
December 27, 1596, and returned to Plymouth
June 28, 1597, having explored a large ex-
tent of the coast of Guiana, and entered many
of the rivers. They brought back, however,
little information, except the geography of the
coast, and the report of the natives that those
who dwelt in the interior had " great store of
gold :" enough to excite curiosity and stimu-
late to farther enterprise, but nothing to grati-
fy them.

It was not till his return from the expedi-
tion to Cadiz that he was completely restored
to the queen's favour. He was powerful in
the politic friendship of Sir Robert Cecil, now
secretary of state. The influence of Essex,
his enemy, was declining. He was employed
to effect a reconciliation between these two
noblemen. They were all rivals, though seem-
ingly on the most intimate terms. A contem-
porary letter-writer, under date of June 2d,
1597, says : " Yesterday Sir Walter Raleigh
was brought to the queen by Sir Robert Cecil,
who used him very graciously, and gave him
full authority to execute his place as captain
of the guard, which immediately he under-
took. In the evening he rode abroad with the

RALEIGH. 345

queen, and had private conference with her ;
and now he comes boldly to the privy-cham-
ber as he was wont." Though the displeas-
ure under which he had long laboured was
removed, Sir Walter made little progress in
Jhe preferments he desired. He was anxious
to be made a baron, to be chosen vice-cham-
berlain, to be called to the privy-council. In
all these points his wishes were steadily eva-
ded or declined. The only post he gained,
from a mistress who bestowed honours with
cautious jealousy even on her favourites, was
the government of Jersey, with a grant of a
manor in the same island. His commission
was dated August 26, 1600.

Meanwhile, in 1597, a great fleet was equip-
ped for what was called the Island Voyage.
It consisted of 120 ships, and was designed
to intercept the Plate-fleet near the Azores.
Essex was commander-in-chief, and Raleigh
rear-admiral. They sailed from Plymouth
August 17. Being disappointed of the fleet,
it was determined, in a council of war, that
Essex and Raleigh should jointly attack Fay-
al. Departing from Flores, the place of their
first rendezvous, the two squadrons were ac-
cidentally separated, and Raleigh arrived first.
Having waited two days for Essex, and find-

346 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

ing that the enemy were busily completing
their preparations for defence, he held a coun-
cil of his officers, in which it was decided that,
if Essex did not arrive the next day, it would
become Sir Walter's duty to make the attack
alone, and without farther delay. On the
fourth day, the earl having not yet come, Sir
Walter followed the decision of the council,
and, landing with a small portion of his force,
took possession of the town, with slight loss.
The next day Essex arrived, and was much
exasperated that Raleigh had dared to make
the attempt without him. He had long been
jealous of Sir Walter, and naturally conceiv-
ed himself injured, and deprived of an occa-
sion of honour by the forwardness of one
whom he hated. Several of the officers who
had been concerned in the enterprise were ca-
shiered and confined ; and it was only on con-
cessions and submissions made by Raleigh, at
the instance of Lord Howard, that the earl's
indignation was for the time appeased. The
earl's proceedings were, however, " much
mistaken in England, and Sir Walter gained
large additions to his reputation for military
skill and experience at sea."

The career of the brave and popular, but
impetuous and hasty Earl of Essex was now

RALEIGH. 347

drawing to its close. He had provoked the
queen's displeasure by various rash sayings
and actions ; and, on his untimely return from
his government of Ireland, he was arrested
by her order, and treated with unexpected
severity.

Despairing of a restoration to her majesty's
favour, he formed the wild scheme of raising
an insurrection in the city of London, of seiz-
ing the queen's person, and expelling by force
his enemies from the court. The plan was
communicated by Sir Ferdinando Gorges, a
partisan of Essex, to Sir Walter Raleigh, and
by him, it is supposed, to the queen. The
attempted rising proved a failure, and Essex
was imprisoned, and subjected to the power of
his enemies. In this number he counted Ra-
leigh ; and, as one of the pretexts of his rebell-
ion, had caused a rumour to be circulated that
Cobham and Raleigh were plotting against
his life. This charge was amply refuted by
Blount, a creature of Essex's, who testified
on his trial that this rumour was only " a word
cast out to colour other matters."

While, however, the fate of Essex was in
suspense, Sir Walter wrote a letter to Sir
Robert Cecil,* which has been used in later

* [Burghley State Papers, i., 811.— H.]
I.— Do

348 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

times to prove his malice against Essex, and
an indecent anxiety for his death. Raleigh
was doubtless his enemy, and would have
been glad to have him out of the way ; but
the letter bears, and I think -requires, a less
harsh construction, and recommends a last-
ing imprisonment or degradation perhaps,
but not an execution. " The less you make
him," he says, " the less he shall be able to
harm you and yours ; and if her majesty's
favour fail him, he will again decline to a
common person .... Look to the present, and
do you wisely .... Lose not your advantage ;
if you do, I read your destiny. Let the queen
hold Bothwell while she hath him; he will
ever be the canker of her estate and safety
I have seen the last of her good days, and all
ours, after his liberty." The advice here
given is clearly to crush the earl, and it may
have been cautiously worded, so as to urge
Cecil -to accomplish his death. Raleigh was
present as captain of the guard at the trial
and execution of Essex, and a report was
then spread that he attended the execution
to gratify his hatred by the sight of his ene-
my's suffering. Certainly his supposed con-
nexion with the death of Essex added to his
former unpopularity. It was a misfortune to

RALEIGH. 349

him in another way. The power of Cecil
had hitherto been checked by the power of
Essex. Now Cecil became absolute, and
could exert, without division, his influence
and intrigues against his only remaining and
less powerful rival.

Such was Raleigh's own view of it in his
later years. In his speech on the morning of
his execution, he said, referring to the death
of Essex, " After his fall I got the hatred of
those who wished me well before ; and those
who set me against him, set themselves after-
ward against me, and were my greatest ene-
mies."

Sir Walter sat in Elizabeth's last Parlia-
ment, which met October 27, 1601, as one of
the knights of the shire for the county of Corn-
wall, and was distinguished by his abilities
as a debater. Of several speeches which have
been briefly reported, the one in opposition
to the act for sowing hemp shows more lib-
eral views than then prevailed touching the
protective policy of government. " For my
part," said he, " I do not like this constrain-
ing of men to manure or use their grounds at
our wills, but rather let every man use his
ground to that which it is most fit for, and
therein use his own discretion."

350 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

The queen died in March, 1603, and with
her the honours and hopes, but not the fame,
of Sir Walter. Her successor, James I., as-
cended the throne with strong prejudices
against him, which had been originated by
the hatred of Essex, and fomented by the
crafty insinuations of Cecil. It must be add-
ed that Raleigh was generally very unpopu-
lar. We may suppose him to have been lit-
tle less haughty to his equals and inferiors
than he was submissive and subservient to
the queen. His ambition, which was never
concealed, was commonly believed to be
grasping and unscrupulous, and his credit for
veracity and truth seems not to have been of
the highest order. Sir Robert Naunton says,
" We are not to doubt how such a man would
comply to progression ;" and his preface to
the account of his first, and his apology for
his last voyage to Guiana fully show the dis-
trust with which his representations were re-
ceived. How far this prevailing unpopulari-
ty of Sir Walter may have influenced the
conduct of James, we do not know. An es-
sential difference of character and views be-
tween that monarch and Raleigh may have
contributed to perfect a dislike which was
early expressed and hardly ever concealed.

RALEIGH. 351

James was timid and pacific, Raleigh brave
and adventurous, "addicted to foreign affairs
and great actions."* The favourite policy
of James was to conciliate the court of Spain ;
Raleigh had fought against and spoiled the
Spaniards, and cordially disliked them for
their power at sea. Raleigh was a scholar
and a poet, James was a theologian and a
pedant. James could hardly appreciate the
character of Raleigh, and Raleigh could not
sympathize with the character of James.

The poison began speedily to work. Ra-
leigh at first received such favourable notice
from the king as to encourage his hopes of
royal favour ; but, one after another, his of-
fices and privileges were taken away, and in
less than three months after the king entered
England he was arrested on a charge of high
treason. He was charged with a design to
take away the king's life and bring the Lady
Arabella Stuart to the throne ; with having
negotiated with the Spanish ambassador for
the means of carrying on the plot, and having
received a pension for his aid and services.
The whole pretended plot is at war with the
known habits, feelings, and opinions of Ra*

* [A brief Delation of Sir Walter Raleigh's Troubles. — Har
teian Miscellany, vol. iv., p. 58, 4to, 1745.— H.]

352 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

leigh, and sustained by evidence too feeble
and slight not only to prove legal, but even
moral guiltiness. The only fact established
was an offer from Count Aremberg of a pen-
sion, or the sum of 8000 crowns, for what pur-
pose does not appear, and which was not ac-
cepted. The only witness, Lord Cobham, a
vain, weak man, who was never confronted
even with the prisoner, made his accusation
in a fit of passion, and retracted it again and
again, pronouncing Raleigh utterly and en-
tirely innocent. The whole case was too
weak to have convicted any one of the pet-
tiest larceny. Yet Raleigh was found guilty
by the verdict of the jury, and, it would seem,
with the full consent of the court,* which

*»[ An analysis of the evidence on which this most extraordi-
nary conviction was grounded, such as would satisfy the read-
er, would be too long, and require too much detail to be
inserted here. It may be found very fully given in Cayley's
Life of Raleigh, in Jardine's Criminal Trials, vol. i., the State
Trials, vol. i. and ii., and in Tytler's Life of Raleigh. The
kst-named writer attempts (Appendix F.) very plausibly to
prove that the whole plot was a device of Sir Robert Cecil and
Sir Henry Howard by which to get rid of Raleigh. The whole
case shows that there was a determination in some powerful
quarter that he should be put out of the way.

Cobham was examined ten times touching the conspiracy, and
varied his story almost as many times, and yet in the most of them
he exculpated Raleigh. No one who knows the feeble, cow-
ardly character of this nobleman, can doubt that his confession

RALEIGH. 353

was made up of cold friends and secret ene-
mies.

The demeanour of Raleigh on his trial was
such as became him. With the firmness of
innocence and with manly spirit he bore the
coarse and brutal invective of Coke, and the
hardly less rude taunts of Popham, and the
studied insincerity of Cecil ; • claiming his
rights with Saxon boldness, yet patiently sub-
missive to the authority which tried him.
Sir Dudley Carleton, who was an eyewit-
ness of the trial, in a letter* to John Cham-
berlain, dated Nov. 27th, 1603, describing it,
testifies that " he answered with that temper,
wit, learning, courage, and judgment, that,
save it went with the hazard of his life, it was
the happiest day that he ever spent. And so
well he shifted all advantages that were ta-
ken against him, that, were not an ill name

on the scaffold was made under the promise that his life should
be spared, and was the meanest part in this solemn farce.

It has always seemed to me a curious feature of this pretend-
ed plot, that none but Raleigh and Cobham were imagined to be
privy to it. Their own means and influence were certainly in-
adequate, and yet there was no suspicion that any other person
had any connexion with it. — H.]

* [Preserved in the Hardwicke Papers, vol. i., p. 378, seqq.
Compare the account of the conspiracy by Sir Robert Cecil, in
a letter of December 1st, 1603, to Sir Thomas Parry. — Cavley,
ii., 59.— H.]

354 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

half hanged, in the opinion of all men he had
been acquitted." He adds that a Scotsman
who witnessed the proceedings "said that
whereas, when he saw him first, he was so led
with the common hatred that he would have
gone a hundred miles to have seen hkn hang-
ed, he would, ere he parted, have gone a thou-
sand to have Saved his life."*

But ability, eloquence, even innocence, so
powerful over disinterested spectators, had no
effect on a hostile court and a pliant jury ;
and still less when they believed, from too
sure indications, that the surest way to raise
themselves was to destroy their victim. The
trial took place at Winchester, Nov. 17th,
1603, and the sentence was duly pronounced,
condemning him to the horrible penalties of
treason. " Lost" was he, as he said in a let-
ter to the king, " for hearing a vain man ;
for hearing only, and never believing or ap-
proving." He was for some time detained
at Winchester, where he waited in daily ex-

* [This was not the impression of a single person. Carle-
ton adds, " Never was a man so hated and so popular in so short
a time." Among other testimonies that it was not singular, we
have this in a letter of Sir Walter, written at the close of his im-
prisonment to Sir Ralph Winwood, that the Prince Henry, the
queen, and the King of Denmark had petitioned in his favour.
" The wife, the brother, and the son of a king do not use to sue
for men suspect." — H.]

RALEIGH. 355

pectation of death, the king having, with a
refinement of cruelty, taken care that he
should be informed that the warrant for his
execution had been prepared.

During this interval of suspense he wrote
a touching farewell letter to his wife :

" You shall now receive, my dear wife, my
last words in these my last lines. My love I
send you, that you may keep it when I am
dead ; and my counsel, that you may remem-
ber it when I am no more. I would not, by
my will, present you with sorrows, dear Bess ;
let them go into the grave with me, and be
buried in the dust. And, seeing it is not the
will of God that ever I shall see you more in
this life, bear it patiently, and with a heart
like thyself. ... I beseech you, for the love
you bear me living, do not hide yourself
many days after my death ; but by your
travail seek to help your miserable fortunes
and the right of your poor child.* Thy
mournings cannot avail me ; I am but dust.
. . If you can live free from want, care for
no more ; the rest is but vanity. Love God,
and begin betimes to repose yourself on him ;

* [Walter, whom he lost at Guiana. Carcw was born af-
terward, in the Tower. — H.]

AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

and therein shall you find true and Lasting
riches and endless comfort. For the rest,
when you have travailed and wearied your
thoughts over all sorts of worldly cogitations,
you shall but sit down by sorrow in the end.
. . . When I am gone, no doubt you shall be
sought to by many, for the world thinks that
I was very rich. But take heed of the pre-
tences of men and their affections. ... I
speak not this, God knows, to dissuade from
marriage ; for it will be best for you, both
in respect of the world and of God. As for
me, I am no more yours, nor you mine.
Death has cut us asunder, and God hath di-
vided me from the world, and you from me.
Remember your poor child for his father's
sake, who chose you and loved you in his
happiest time. Get those letters, if it be
possible, which I writ to the lords, wherein I
sued for my life. God is my witness it was
for you and yours that I desired life. But it
is true that I disdain myself for begging it :
for know it, dear wife, that your son is the
son of a true man, and one who, in his own
respect, despiseth death in all his misshapen
and ugly forms. . . . Written with the dying
hand of some time thy husband, but now,
alas ! overthrown — yours that was, but now
not my own, WALTER RALEGH."

RALEIGH.

But the axe, by which he expected speed-
ily to suffer, was to be suspended over him
for years. To complete this miserable farce,
Cobham and Grey were reprieved at the
block, and Raleigh was remanded to the
Tower to await the king's pleasure.

We have followed the career of Raleigh as
a soldier, a courtier, a discoverer, a politi-
cian. We are now to look upon him in a
scene more trying th»n were they all. Few
men can bear gracefully the weariness of a
long imprisonment ; fewer still whose habits
have been as active, and whose temper so ad-
venturous as his. He was shut out from al-
most all that had been the delight of his for-
mer life ; there were no more campaigns or
voyages, masques or intrigues of court. Yet
his versatile powers sustained him patiently
and cheerfully through. His faithful wife
and son were not excluded. A few attend-
ants were allowed him. Thomas Heriot re-
mained near his person, and the few friends
whom his merits and misfortunes made might
sometimes solace him by their visits. He
turned again for relief to his books, which he
had always loved, and which had been his
companions in his busiest hours. Poetry,
philosophy, history, politics, chymistry, by

358 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

turns occupied his attention. He converted
a small house in the garden belonging to the
Tower into a laboratory, and "spent all the
day in distillations." Among other proofs
of his ingenuity and success was a famous
cordial, for which he made the recipe, and
which has since gone by the name of Sir
Walter's cordial. Here he wrote, too, most
of those works which have gained him a rep-
utation, hardly surpassed by his fame as a
soldier and discoverer.* Foremost among
which, in the judgment of posterity, is his
History of the World. Whether we consid-
er the vastness of the scheme, and the scanty
resources which his imprisonment allowed
him for its execution, the abundant Jearning
everywhere displayed in it, the nervous and
elegant style, the exuberant fancy, and the
sad yet patient morality which characterize it,
we cannot but judge it one of the most re-
markable literary productions the world has
ever seen.

* [The miscellaneous literary productions of Sir Walter are
very numerous, and, until a critical examination shall have final-
ly decided on their authenticity, we may safely, perhaps, follow
Cayley, who gives a list of them, amounting in number to thir-
ty-two.— Life of Raleigh, ii., 186. More recently, a collection
of his works, designed to comprise them all, has been publish-
ed at Oxford, 8 vols. 8vo. — H.]

RALEIGH. 359

The walls of the Tower, though they may
keep out friends, cannot shut out misfortune.
During the seventh year of Sir Walter's so-
journ there, his estate at Sherborne, which
he had, before his evil days had come, settled
on his son, was " lost in the law for want of
a word." James wanted it for his new fa-
vourite, Carr ; the instrument of conveyance
was examined, and, some words having been
omitted by the inadvertence of the copyist, it
was declared void, and the estates passed to
a worthless minion.*

A severer blow to Raleigh was the death
of Prince Henry, the king's eldest son, who
loved him for his virtues and pitied him for
his sufferings. He used to say " that no king
but his father would keep such a bird in a
cage." A strong affection had grown up be-
tween them, and Raleigh wrote several works
a' his instance and for his use.t So long as

* [As a recompense the king gave him jESOOO, a sum not
much greater than the annual rent of the estate. His son Ca-
rew endeavoured to gain a restoration of this estate, but King
James said " he appeared to him like the ghost of his father,"
and the remark drove him from the court. King Charles had
promised that the present possessors should not be disturbed,
and would not consent to his restoration in blood without his
formally renouncing all title to Sherborne. — Sir Walter Ra-
leigh's Troubles.— H.]

t [Birch's Life of Prince Henry, 235, 236, and 392. See
also Lord Somers's Tracts, i., 412. — H.]

360 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

this noble young prince lived, he had good
hopes of liberation. His early death was
a double loss to Sir Walter, in his present
enjoyment and in his expectations of the fu-
ture. He speaks of it* as " the loss of that
brave prince, of which, like an eclipse of the
sun, we shall find the effects hereafter."

Yet death did not select his friends only.
Sir Robert Cecil, his bitterest enemy, had
also passed away from earth, less regretted
than the man whom he had forsaken and
persecuted. The influence of Carr was giv-
ing way before the rising favour of Villiers.
Sir Ralph Winwood, not a great, but an hon-
est man, was now secretary of state.

Raleigh had- long entertained the wish to
be allowed to prosecute his discoveries in
Guiana. From time to time he had sent
thither for information, and some of the na-
tives of that country had been brought 1 o
conference with him in the Tower. He haa
received what he asserted to be satisfactory
evidence of the existence of a gold mine there,
which, if at liberty, he would work. Cecil
had rejected his applications to this effect,
but Winwood listened to him. Nothing was
needed but a whim to secure the king's con-
* [In his History of the World.— H.]

RALEIGH. 361

sent. This was supplied by the influence of
Villiers, and that influence was purchased
by the payment of £1500 to his two uncles ;
and finally, after twelve years' delay, James
granted to the simple asking of a favourite
what he had so long refused to humanity and
justice. Sir Walter was released March 17,
1616.

He now devoted himself, with an ardour
augmented by his long restraint, to his cher-
ished scheme of a golden expedition to Gui-
ana. He appropriated to this purpose the
£8000 he had received for his estate at Sher-
borne ; and, to further the same, his wife sold
her estate for £2500. He thus staked his
fortune, as well as his reputation, on this issue.
He built at his own expense a ship, the Des-
tiny, which mounted thirty-six guns and car-
ried two hundred men. Encouraged by his
zeal, many merchants and private adventur-
ers flocked to join the enterprise. After some
opposition from Count Gondomar, the Span-
ish ambassador, whose objections to it as a
piratical scheme against the Spanish settle-
ments in the West Indies seem to have been
easily removed, Raleigh received a commis-
sion, dated Aug. 26th, 1616, under the privy
seal, apoointing him commander of the fleet

362 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

and governor of the new country. The fleet,
consisting of fourteen sail, was ready in the
spring of 1617, and on the 28th of March
dropped down the Thames, and, having been
long detained by storms, reached Guiana on
the 12th of November.

Here Raleigh was taken severely ill, and,
being unable to lead the expedition up the
river in person, gave the command of five
ships and some three hundred men for that
purpose to Captain Keymis, who had explo-
red the country under his directions in 1596.
His orders to Keymis were to penetrate to
the mine, and bring away at least a few bas-
kets of the ore, to satisfy the king that the
mine was not a mere dream ; and, in case he
should be attacked, to repel force by force.
The five vessels sailed December 10th, and
soon reached Santa Thome, a garrisoned
town of 240 houses, built by the Spaniards
on the right bank of the river. Keymis land-
ed in the night, and took his position between
the town and the mine. During the night
they were attacked by the Spaniards, whom
they repulsed and pursued to Saint Thomas,
which they entered. The governor of the
town, Palameque, was slain, and the English,
galled by shots from the houses, set it on fire

RALEIGH. 363

and consumed it. Keymis set out immedi-
ately with a small party for the mine, and
on the route was attacked by a body of the
fugitive Spaniards and forced to retreat, with
some loss. By this disaster he was so much
discouraged that he abandoned the town and
hastily sailed back to join his general. Soon
after his return, mortified by his failure, and
stung by the indignant reproaches of Raleigh,
Keymis committed suicide.

The enterprise had thus been frustrated,
and Raleigh thought it not prudent, or was
not in a condition to resume it. Disappoint-
ed and sad, he turned away from a region
where so many bright hopes had faded, set
sail for Newfoundland, and, after a brief stay
there, bent his course for England. The
news of his defeat and of the burning of Santa
Thome had arrived there before him ; the re-
sentment of the Spanish ambassador had been
strongly expressed ; and James at once pub-
lished a proclamation, inviting all who had
any knowledge of his doings to testify before
the privy-council, and wrote to the King of
Spain, submitting it to his discretion whether
Raleigh should receive his punishment in
England or in Spain. His fate was decreed
without trial or reply, and this indecent haste

was allowed to gratify the court of Spain.
r T?»

364 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

The connexion of Gondomar and the Span-
iards with the death of Raleigh was too im-
portant to be passed without some notice.
Many circumstances concur to show a long-
cherished purpose, on their part, to bring him
to the block. He had long been their avow-
ed enemy, and their most formidable one in
England. He had fought and conquered
them, spoken against them in Parliament,
and written against them with profound wis-
dom and bitter hatred. With his dislike was
mingled somewhat of contempt. " It were,"
he had said,* " a horrible dishonour to be
overreached by any of those .dry and subtle-
headed Spaniards." The dislike and suspi-
cion seem to have been mutual. From the
moment of his entering upon the plan of his
last voyage to Guiana, every particular of his
movements was carefully communicated to
the Spanish court. These particulars were
at once sent to the Spanish governors in
America. In the plunder taken at Santa
Thome were letters from the King of Spain
referring to his expedition, with a minute ac-
count of his course and armament, and dated
before his departure from the Thames. t So

* [In his Discourse on the Marriage of the Prince of Wales.
-H.]

t [See the Hardwicke State Papers, i., 398.— H.]

RALEIGH. 365

completely was James, whose heart was now
set on the Spanish match, under the influence
of Gondomar, and Raleigh an object of watch-
ful jealousy.

James seems to have felt that the recent
acts of Sir "Walter would hardly justify his
execution. He had ample proof of his sin-
cere belief in the existence of the gold mine :
he must have known that in the affair of San-
ta Thome the Spaniards were the aggressors,
and he was obliged to resort to conjectures,
assertions, and remote circumstances to make
out anything like a case of intended depre-
dation and plunder. Accordingly, from the
day of his arrest till his final sentence, he was
surrounded with spies, and beset with every
snare that might entrap him into an unwary
confession, or some act that might be con-
strued into guilt. He was arrested when on
his way to London by his false kinsman Sir
Lewis Stukely, who proposed and thwarted
several plans for his escape. Manourie, a
Frenchman, was also employed to aid in this
perfidious business. After he was confined
in the Tower, Sir Thomas Wilson was ap-
pointed his keeper, and secretly commission-
ed as a spy. Learned but mean, and refined
but cruel, he played his part well, and daily

366 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

reported to the king the petty items of infor-
mation he had succeeded in extracting from
his illustrious prisoner. His letters to his wife
were intercepted to furnish matter of accusa-
tion, and read by the king. Yet there was
on his part no confession or intimation of
guilt. The only act which could be thought
to look that way was his attempt to escape —
half formed and speedily repented of — an act
springing, as he said in his letter to the king,
" from a life-saving natural impulsion, with
out an ill intent."

But the marriage of Prince Charles with
the Infanta must be effected ; the Spanish
court were urgent ; and delay, which was
found ineffectual for the purpose of crimina-
tion, was now useless. The only question
remaining was under what form of law Sir
Walter might most properly, to save the ap-
pearance of justice, be brought to the scaf-
fold. Several devices were proposed and
rejected. The new charge against him must
not be made the ground of his sentence, for
that charge would not bear examination.
The king, in the plenitude of his wisdom,
was at fault. It was finally decided that the
former sentence should be revived, and that
he should be brought, on a writ of Habeas

RALEIGH. 367

Corpus, before the judges of the King's
Bench, to give answer why that decree, which
had slumbered now fifteen years, should not
be executed. " He was condemned," says
his son Carew, " for being a friend to the
Spaniards, and lost his life for being their bit-
ter enemy." He was brought up Oct. 24th,
1618, and interrupted in his defence with the
information that no plea could be admitted
except special words of pardon :" whereupon
he threw himself upon the king's mercy.
There was no mercy for him, and on the 28th
he was again brought to the bar to receive
final sentence. On his return to prison, he
was told he must prepare to die the follow-
ing morning. The sentence was received
with calmness, and on his way back to the
prison he said cheerfully to the friends who
were with him, that the world was but a lar-
ger prison, from which some are every day
selected for execution. Hasty as the sum-
mons was, neither did his wonted fortitude
forsake him, nor did the consolations of reli-
gion fail him.

The evening before the day that was to end
his life was passed by him in a careful prep-
aration for the life to come. The few items
of business which yet remained to him were

368 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

arranged. About midnight his wife, whose
love was as tender as it had been faithful,
took the last farewell. When she told him
that his remains had been placed at her dis-
posal, " It is well, Bess," said he, with a
smile, " that thou mayst dispose of that dead
thou hadst not always the disposing of when
alive." Before composing himself to sleep,
he wrote a few memoranda touching the
false reports and charges against him, and,
turning to his devotions, wrote on a blank
leaf of his Bible these lines :

Even such is Time, that takes on trust
Our youth, our joys, our all we have,

And pays us with but age and dust ;
Who in the dark and silent grave,

When we have wandered all our ways,
Shuts up the story of our days !

But from this earth, this grave, this dust,

The Lord shall raise me up, I trust.

Early the next morning he received the
holy communion from the hands of the DeaK
of "Westminster, expressing a firm assurance
of the love and favour of God, and a free
forgiveness of all his enemies, and by name
of those who had betrayed him. He showed
no fear of death, and yet made no parade of
courage, but rather manifested a truly Chris-
tian resignation and cheerfulness. After

RALEIGH. 369

these religious services he partook heartily
of the breakfast prepared for him, smoked a
pipe of tobacco, as his custom was, and drank
a cup of sack. Being asked if he liked it,
he replied, " Ay, 'tis good drink, if a man
might tarry by it." He then withdrew to
arrange his dress, which was a plain but rich
mourning suit of black satin and velvet.

As the hour of nine drew near, he was led
to the place of execution in the Old Palace
Yard. A large crowd had assembled to wit-
ness the heroism of his death, and among
them many nobles and knights who were his
friends. As he ascended the scaffold he sa-
luted them gracefully, and proclamation for
silence being made, he addressed them in a
short speech, vindicating the various passages
of his life, and especially that touching the
death of the Earl of Essex, and expressing his
Christian hope in the article of death.* He

* [See an account of the last hours of Sir Walter Raleigh, in
a letter from Thomas Lakin to Sir Thomas Puckering. The
letter is dated Nov. 3d, 1618, and may be found in Cayley, Ap-
pendix xvii. He says, " His end was, by the general report of
all that were present, very Christianlike, and so full of resolu-
tion as moved all men to pity and wonder." His last address
is termed " a most grave, Christian, and elegant discourse."
He adds, " he seemed as free from all manner of apprehension
as if he had been come thither rather to be a spectator than a
sufferer ; nay, the beholders seemed much more sensible than
did he."— H.]

370 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.

then embraced his friends and took leave of
them. Having put off his gown and doublet,
he asked to see the axe, and, having taken
it, he passed his finger lightly along the edge,
saying, " 'Tis a sharp remedy, but a sound
cure for all diseases." Then, having finish-
ed his devotions, he laid his head upon the
block, and being told to place himself so that
his face might look towards the east, he said,
" No matter how the head lie so the heart be
right." After a brief interval, in which the
motion of his lips showed him to be engaged
in prayer, he gave the signal. The execu-
tioner hesitating, he slightly raised his head,
and said, " What dost thou fear ? Strike,
man !" At two blows the head was severed
from the body, " which never shrunk or al-
tered its position." His relics were given to
his now desolate widow. Thus passed away
one of earth's bright spirits ; sometimes fit-
ful, always brilliant, and at the last serene.]

END OF VOL. I.

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