[Entered according to Ac* of Congress.] 
 
 ANCIENT AMERICA, 
 
 19TH EDITION. 
 
 REFERENCES: 
 
 I'^rom the Courier. 
 
 NKW-YORK, MARCH 31, 1847. 
 
 The subscriber having heard with much pleasure the Lectures on the "Antiquities 
 of America," delivered by Professor Davis before the Pupils, Teachers and Professors 
 of our Seminary, cheerfully recommends ihe same to the citizens of this city. 
 
 J. F. SGHROEDER, Rector of St. Ann's Hall. 
 
 We arc also happy in joinin 
 
 in the above recommendation. 
 HON. JOHN DUER, 
 HON. MURRAY HOFFMAN, 
 MAJOR GEN. EDMUND P. GAINES, 
 STEPHEN II. TYNG, D. D. . 
 G. SPRING, D. D. 
 HENRY P. TAPPAN,J7. D. 
 
 Translation of a letter in French, from C. Canda, Esq. 
 
 To PROFESSOR DAVIS. 
 
 DEAR Sin: I cannot resist the desire to express to you the extreme satisfaction 
 which the Lectures you delivered at our Institution. Lafayette Place, has given us 
 on the Antiquities of America in general, and those of Central America in particular 
 These Lectures, delivered with a. persuasive and impressive eloquence, have given our 
 youn r pupils much enjoyment. The judicious observations, and elevated reflections, 
 have excited their interest, and caused them to study more attentively the subject 
 which you rendered so attractive, and which arrested their attention. 
 
 Pray receive our thanks and the assurance of our high respect, 
 
 CHARLES CANDA. 
 Lafayette Place, New-York June 9, 184G. 
 
 nother communication was received from Mr. C., signed, also, by fifty young 
 of Madame Canda's celebrated Boarding School, highly recommending the 
 Lectures. 
 
ANTIQUITIES OF AMERICA, 
 
 E/of 
 
 D3I THE FIRST INHABITANTS 
 
 \ 
 
 OF 
 
 CENTRAL AMERICA 
 
 AND THE 
 
 DISCOVERY OF NEW-ENGLAND, 
 
 BY THE NORTHMEN, 
 FIVE HUNDRED YEARS BEFORE COLUMBUS. 
 
 LECTURES 
 
 Delivered in New-York, \Vashiiig1on, Boston, and oilier cities. The first 
 lias been given eighteen 'times In the most distinguished 
 institutions of New-York and Brook 
 lyn the past year. 
 
 BY A. DAVIS, 
 
 Corresponding Member of the New-York Historical Society, and formerly Chaplain of the 
 Senate of New-York. 
 
 19th EDITION, WITH IMPORTANT ADDITIONS, j . 
 
 N E W-Y R K : 
 
 DANIEL ADEE, PRINTER, 107 FULTON-STREBT. 
 
 1847. 
 

 
 OLD STONE TOWER, AT NEWPORT. R. I. 
 
ANTIQUITIES OF AMEEICA. 
 
 If, in presenting the following facts, derived from various and im 
 portant sources, and gathered by years of study, I should throw one 
 ray of light on the darkness of the past, my feeble efforts will be 
 more beneficial than the most fascinating effulgence thrown over the 
 writings of misguided genius. 
 
 While the beauties of the visible creation fade on the eye, while 
 nature reposes under the mantle of night, it is pleasant to leave the 
 haunts of business, or domestic scenes, and come up to the lecture room 
 to survey the dark scenes of the past under the mild light of history. 
 
 If in the following remarks I should not regale my readers with 
 " apples of gold in pictures of silver," it will not be for want of merit 
 in my subject the Desolations of Time ; for on them nations are 
 gazing. 
 
 If the age of Leo X. was characterised by great attention to the 
 fine arts, so the present is remarkable, not only for its devotion to 
 the embellishments of life, but for progress in historical and anti 
 quarian researches. The most gifted minds of either sex are in 
 terested in these studies. The crowned heads of Europe, instead of 
 imbruing their hands in the blood of their fellows, are spending 
 mints of money in unfolding the early history of the world.* 
 That spirit of inquiry which awoke, perhaps, in the East, folds not 
 its wings in apathy in crossing the Atlantic : for here its develop 
 ments astonish both hemispheres. Knowledge is spreading over the 
 earth, not like the morning beams, which gild only the mountain 
 tops, but like the noon-tide rays, that penetrate the deep valleys.j 
 
 The active mind of man instinctively surveys the dark regions 
 of the past, and would % gladly break the unfathomable silence of the 
 nations of the dead, and raise the veil where their beauty and glory 
 have slept for ages. This strong desire to learn something of those 
 who lived when time was young, leads the antiquary, too often, to 
 adopt groundless theories. But if there are counterfeit antiquities 
 there are those also that are genuine. 
 
 It will be recollected that the avaricious Spaniards discovered and 
 conquered Mexico in the North, and Peru and Chili on the South 
 of Central America, in the first place. But at length the solitude 
 of the latter was broken ; and there was discovered the " El Dora 
 do," about which the whole Spanish nation had so long been dreaming. 
 
 * The King of Prussia has lately established a professorship of Egyptian antiquities. 
 
 fThe following just tribute of praise was given by Mr. Davis, in his lecture, University Chapel, 
 N. Y., to the Historical Society, in speaking of the progress of antiquarian research : 
 
 " And are there not more stars in the Northern than in the Southern hemisphere ? So there are 
 more constellations of intellectual light in the former than in the latter. And one of the most 
 conspicuous is the Historical Society of New-York. The light beams afar, and by its influence 
 prominent men from foreign countries are being enrolled among the names of its distinguished 
 members." 
 
4 A LECTURE ON THE 
 
 The appearance of these ruins shows that a nation once existed 
 there, highly skilled in the mechanic arts, and in a state of civili 
 zation far beyond any thing that we have been led to believe of the 
 aborigines, previous to the time of Columbus. 
 
 The antiquities of America may be divided into three classes, 
 left in succession by nations more or less enlightened ; as the ruins of 
 Central America, of Mexico and Peru, and of regions farther North. 
 
 The first knowledge of the ruins, South, was derived from ac 
 counts given by straggling hunters. 
 
 In 1787, the Spanish government sent out Captain Del Rio to 
 survey the ruins. 
 
 Waldeck, in 18:22, published in London an account of Rio's dis 
 coveries. 
 
 Capt. Dupaix was sent on a mission to Central America in 1805. 
 He supposes the ruins were left before the deluge. Lord Kings - 
 boro' gave an account of Dupaix's researches. His work I saw in 
 the Library of a distinguished historian, Wm. H. Prescott, Esq., 
 Boston. This splendid work, at $400 a volume, cost the author 
 his fortune. 
 
 Waldeck visited Central America in 1832, and spent 4 years in 
 that region. He took many drawings of the ruins, but on his re 
 turn they were seized by the perfidious Mexicans. 
 
 On losing the fruits of his long toil, he must have felt like An 
 tony on being betrayed by Cleopatra : 
 
 "Ail is lost! 
 
 This foul Egyptian has betrayed me; 
 My fleet hath yielded to the foe ; 
 Fortune and Antony part here ; even here 
 Do we shake hands." 
 
 The late Governor Galindo, of Peten, in Central America, has 
 corresponded with the late Lieut. Governor Wiathrop, Boston, rela 
 tive to the antiquities of that region. For the great discoveries 
 made, he has received a premium from one of the literary societies 
 f Europe, 
 
 He, in speaking of one of the cities in the vicinity of Palenque, 
 says that a gigantic Massica, or bread-fruit tree, grows on one of 
 the altars, encircling it with its powerful roots. The most remark 
 able trees growing over the ruins, are the mahogany, cedar, choco 
 late, &c. One of the squares of the city is surrounded with six 
 handsome obelisks, the highest of which is more than six yards high. 
 They all bear, in basso-relievo, gigantic figures. One temple has 
 eighty such figures. 
 
 The temple of Copan was 653 feet by 524 feet in dimensions. 
 It must have been as large as St. Peter's Church in Rome. Let us 
 gaze on this mighty structure for instruction. It stands as a land 
 mark on the broad field of time, it reminds us of the remote ori- 
 
DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. 5 
 
 gin of a great empire. Centuries must have rolled away, dynas 
 ties must have succeeded each other, before orders of architecture 
 were introduced ; and a long time must have elapsed before an em 
 pire would become so luxurious as to erect the stupendous temple 
 of Copan. 
 
 Among the vast pile of ruins is found an architrave of black gran 
 ite, finely cut. Six granite columns are seen, each of a single piece 
 seventeen feet high, and three feet in diameter. 
 
 The Mayon architecture in Yucatan is said to be superior to 
 that of Palenque. It is wrought in stone, and finished with great 
 elegance. 
 
 Gen. Santa Anna says, that the antiquities of Central America are 
 worthy of being placed in parallel with the pyramids of Egypt. 
 
 Palenque, which lies 240 miles from Tobasco, lat. 17 N., is among 
 the most remarkable cities of the South. Palenque is a Castilian 
 word, and means "lists for fighting." 
 
 This city has been emphatically called the Thebes of America. In 
 surveying its ruins, the traveler is led to believe that it was founded 
 at as early a period as the renowned cities of Egypt. 
 
 How immense the city ! It is supposed to have been sixty miles in 
 circumference; and that it contained a population of nearly three 
 millions. 
 
 Palenque, lying about one thousand miles from Mexico, and being 
 elevated five thousand feet above the ocean, enjoyed a climate almost 
 unequaled for its pleasantness. The natural beauty of the scenery 
 was unrivaled, and the soil rich and fertile beyond any other portion 
 of the globe. 
 
 One of the principal structures revealed to the eye of the antiqua 
 rian, is the Teoculi, or temple. Its style of architecture resembles 
 the Gothic. It is rude, massive, and durable. Though resembling 
 the Egyptian edifices, also, yet this and the other buildings are pecu 
 liar, and are diiferent from all others hitherto known. 
 
 The entrance to this temple is on the east side, by a portico more 
 than one hundred feet in length, and nine broad. The rectangular 
 pillars of the portico have their architraves adorned with stucco work 
 of shields and other devices. The temple stands on an elevation of 
 sixty feet. Among the ruins different objects of worship have been 
 found ; and in particular, an idol of pure gold about six inches long. 
 Amid this wilderness of ruins are now to be seen fourteen large stone 
 buildings, with many of their apartments in good condition. 
 
 The antiquity of this city is manifest, not only from its nameless 
 hieroglyphics and other objects, but from the age of some of the trees 
 growing orer buildings where once the hum of industry and the voice 
 of merriment were heard. The concentric circles of some of these 
 trees were counted, which showed that they were more than 900 years 
 of age. Mr. Brown, who lives in the vicinity of Palenque, has a 
 table, the entire kaf of which was made from a tree growing over 
 these ruins. 
 
6 A LECTURE ON THE 
 
 Similar beautiful and majestic ruins extend 1000 miles. Hurn- 
 boldt visited a splendid building, 800 miles from Mexico, that forty 
 years since was seven stories high. The Spaniards have demolished 
 it mostly to get materials for building dwellings and sugar-houses. 
 Have not the Vandals of the New World made desolation more des 
 olate ? 
 
 Mr. Stephens' new work on " Central America 97 confirms the state 
 ments of other travelers, while it heightens our wonder by the graphic 
 description of the ruins of the desolated cities, especially of those 
 found in Copan and Palenque. There, he says, " architecture, sculp 
 ture, painting, and all the arts that embellish life, had flourished in 
 an overgrown forest." 
 
 Among the specimens of the arts, he found massive obelisks bear 
 ing on their sides sculptured images, and medallion tablets large 
 altars, ornamented with hieroglyphics giving a record of those 
 who reared them splendid temples, adorned with human figures exe 
 cuted in stucco and bass relief walls built of hewn stone. The 
 specimens of sculpture equaled any thing he saw in Egypt. 
 
 In his second work he says, " These ruins are skeletons rising from 
 their graves, wrapt in their shrouds, claiming no affinity with the 
 works of any known people." Long will these works of art stand 
 alone in majesty and beauty, * 
 
 " And gorgeous as the sun at midsummer." 
 
 The late Chevalier Fridrichstchal, attache of the Austrian legation, 
 lately spent nine months at the South. He found, in a place hitherto 
 untrod by modern travelers, a majestic group of pillars. There were 
 ten rows, and in each row there were forty-eight columns. With his 
 Daguerreotype apparatus, he took a great number of excellent im 
 pressions. From these when magnified, he has made drawings, which 
 show the original, by their richness, elegance, and finish, to 1?e the work 
 of a highly cultivated people. 
 
 Mr. Norman has published a valuable work, " Rambles in Yuca 
 tan," lat. 20 North. I have seen some of his remarkable antiqui 
 ties, as Penates, hieroglyphics on lime stone, the material of these 
 buildings. He kindly gave me a piece of Zuporte wood from lintels 
 found amid the ruins. It is hard, fine, heavy, and as lasting as time. 
 Beautiful were the architecture and paintings he saw. The latter 
 was in fresco, and as fresh apparently as if recently executed. The 
 colors were sky blue and light green. Mr. N. thinks the cities of the 
 South are of very remote origin ; that they were antiquities before 
 the Christian era. 
 
 It is natural that we should linger around these inanimate objects. 
 They remind us of splendid cities that, like Troy, once " were." 
 But, above all, they tell us of the illustrious of other days. What 
 are ruins to us, but as they remind us of the enterprise and wisdom 
 of those who reared them. What were Carthage without the recol- 
 
DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. 
 
 lection of the ill-fated Dido, or the daring deeds of Hannibal ? And 
 what will Mount Vernon be, centuries hence, ^to our posterity, but as 
 it will remind them of the valor, patriotism, and virtues of the Father 
 of our Republic. 
 
 The monumental history of Central America tells us that this is 
 not a New World. And we awake with astonishment that there was 
 once the seat of a great empire, before David reigned over the 
 twelve tribes of Israel, or Octavius waved his sceptre over the civil 
 ized world. 
 
 But alas! the foundation of cities as magnificent as those thai 
 adorned the banks of the Nile, have vanished like the generations 
 before the flood. 
 
 " Every house is builded by some man," but who erected the splen 
 did temples of Palenque, none can tell, save " He who made all 
 things." Unnumbered centuries have passed away since the noon-day 
 of Palencian glory. There the wing of endless night broods over all 
 that was once beautiful and grand 
 
 " Where senates once the weal of nations planned 
 Hisseth the gliding snake, through hoary weeds 
 That clasp the mouldering columns." 
 
 I have seen an original representation in stucco of the following 
 Palencian head, possibly a representation of one of their gods, in the 
 possession of the late Professor Dod, Princeton College. Such are 
 found on the palace walls : 
 
 Shade of Spurz- 
 heim, tell if thou 
 canst, what quali 
 ties such a formed 
 head as this im 
 plies ! 
 
 This helmet 
 is said to re 
 semble those 
 described by 
 Homer. 
 
8 A LECTURE ON THE 
 
 Oh ! that some mighty genius, like that of Belzoni, would arise 
 and remove from this city of the world called new, the veil that con 
 ceals its origin. 
 
 It is supposed by Stephens and Norman that the hieroglyphics of 
 the South, will, like those of Egypt, at length be developed. In an 
 ticipation of those developements, well may we exclaim, " visions of 
 glory spare our aching sight." Deep shades rest on the antiquities of 
 America, yet a few feeble rays of light enliven the gloom. 
 
 That spirit of inquiry that animates all classes in our country may 
 yet lead to the reading of the dark characters of the South, as Dr. 
 Lepsius of Prussia, a disciple of Champolion, has deciphered the hiero 
 glyphics of Egypt. Champolion saw on the Rosetta stone three in 
 scriptions the Greek, the Demelic and the Hieroglyphic ; by reading 
 the two former he was enabled to decipher the latter. 
 
 It is supposed that this city was destroyed by some internal convul 
 sion, or, like those of the South of Europe, was overwhelmed by the 
 barbarians of the North. 
 
 Possibly famine or pestilence might have desolated that fair region. 
 It is not singular that it should have been concealed from view for 
 ages, when we recollect that cities of the eastern continent have, in 
 like manner remained in oblivion till of late. We allude to the 
 ruins of Paestum, in Campania, of Italy, and those of Petra of Idu- 
 mea, in Asia. A new forest, hid for centuries the former from the 
 degenerate sons of Rome, while the splendid structures of Petra were 
 known only to Bedouins for over a thousand years. Who does not 
 delight to r,ead about the roses of Paestum ? Yet they still unfold 
 their inimitable petals amid the ruins of palaces, and beside the di 
 lapidated temples. 
 
 Do we admire the boundless forests, the lofty mountains, and the 
 majestic rivers of our hemisphere? The vast wilderness of ruins, 
 once enlivened by intelligent beings, should demand a higher claim 
 to our admiration. 
 
 The antiquities of America stretch from the great lakes of the 
 North and West, to the southern parts of Peru ; from the Allegany 
 mountains on the East, to the Rocky mountains on the West j and 
 even from the Pacific to the Atlantic ocean. 
 
 The Mexicans hold the next place in the scale of civilization to 
 the Central Americans. 
 
 The Toltecs probably came into Anahuac, or the vale of Mexico, 
 at the close of the seventh century. They flourished four centuries, 
 and suddenly disappeared. They were an enlightened and amiable 
 people. Though pagans,, they did not, like the Aztecs, who took pos 
 session of the country in 1325, offer up human sacrifices. 
 
 Although the Aztecs, or Mexicans, excelled in astronomy, archi 
 tecture, the fine arts, agriculture, legislation, jurisprudence, and the 
 display of many of those social virtues that dignify humanity, yet 
 
DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. 
 
 their theology cast a dark^shade over all the attractions their history 
 otherwise displays. 
 
 They believed in one Supreme God, in thirteen subordinate deities, 
 and over two hundred inferior ones. The God who received the most 
 devotion, was Mars their god of war. On his altar human victims 
 bled. To this Moloch of the West, twenty thousand at least were 
 offered annually ! Such is man where he sees not the attributes of 
 God in the " things that are made." Yes, all nature is but the re 
 flection of the true God. The modest violet, fresh from the sleep of 
 winter, tells him there is a God, and that He is great and good. 
 [See Rom., 1. 20.] Nought but the bright beams of the " Sun of 
 Righteousness" can dissipate the darkness with which man has en 
 shrouded his moral nature. 
 
 Remarkable was the progress of the Mexicans in the science of 
 astronomy. Their year was divided into eighteen months of twenty 
 days each ; and five unlucky days. As the year is composed of nearly 
 six hours more than three hundred and sixty-five days, there still re 
 mained an excess, which they provided for by intercalation. At the 
 expiration of fifty-two years, the end of a cycle, they interposed twelve 
 and a* half days, the number which had fallen in arrear. Time was 
 marked on' their calendar stones with as much accuracy as is evinced 
 by the modern improvements of astronomy, into two minutes and nine 
 seconds in the year. I have seen in the Museum of Mexican anti 
 quities belonging to the Philosophical Society, Philadelphia, a beauti 
 ful representation of a large calendar stone to be seen in the city of 
 Mexico. 
 
 If the Carthagenians excelled in navigation, the Mexicans were 
 pre-eminent in a sublime pursuit. Nature impresses on the multitude 
 of minds a various bias. To the Mexicans 
 
 " she taught the fabric of the spheres; 
 
 The changeful moon, the circuit of the stars, 
 The golden zones of heaven." 
 
 How magnificent must have been that temple in Mexico, at whose 
 altars five thousand priests officiated ! But the city of Tezcuco, on. 
 the opposite shore of the lake, was still the seat of a higher advance 
 in civilization, than was displayed in Mexico. It was the capital of 
 a splendid kingdom of that name. It was the Athens of the West 
 ern World. The King erected a magnificient pile of buildings. It 
 extended from East to West 1234 yards, and from North to South 
 978. Innumerable were the attractions that met the eye on wander 
 ing through the courts of this majestic structure. 
 
 As walls incrusted with alabasters and richly-tinted stucco, tapes 
 tries of variegated feather work, gardens with baths, and sparkling 
 fountains overshadowed by groves of Cyprus and cedar. There na 
 ture seemed ever dressed in her bridal robes ; there light and shade 
 combined to perfect the landscape. 
 
10 A LECTURE ON THE 
 
 While America excels the Eastern continent in the magnitude of 
 its rivers and mountains, it can present also the largest pyramid on 
 the globe, that of Cholula, six miles from Puebla, Mexico. It cov 
 ers 44 acres. It is ISO feet high. Its top includes one acre. On 
 this lofty eminence, in days of yore, stood an altar where human vic 
 tims were immolated to appease the wrath of the angry deity, whose 
 image stood near. And 'strange to tell, their bodies were afterwards 
 devoured as a religious rite ! 
 
 Ah ; could those " morning stars" that sang together at the birth of 
 a fair creation, weep, would they not shed tears on witnessing the 
 barbarity of those " who have sought out many inventions.' 1 
 
 In contemplating the Mexicans, we are reminded of the importance 
 of revelation; for though ^lightened, yet, "by wisdom they knew 
 not God." 
 
 If the Central Americans came from the plains of Shinar, it is 
 supposed the Mexicans emigrated from the North- West. Baron Von 
 Humboldt says the Mexicans had many traditions of the fall of man, 
 and of the flood, and he thinks they came originally from Aztland, 
 lat. 42 north. 
 
 John Delafield, Jr., Esq., has published an interesting work on the 
 antiquities of Mexico. He thinks the Mexicans " emigrated from 
 the North, and on their way constructed the various tumuli, embank 
 ments, fossa, &c., found in Western North America." An " Aztec 
 map," some 14 feet in length, accompanies the volume, and explains 
 the travels of this race through America. 
 
 Much has been learned in relation to Mexican history, but much 
 must remain forever concealed, as the first Archbishop of Mexico 
 caused a mountainous pile to be made of the first MSS. of that coun 
 try, and ordered them to be burnt in the market place. Such was the 
 loss effected by the Omar of the West. 
 
 We know less of the antiquities of Peru than of those farther 
 North. The Peruvians may be ranked with the Mexicans in point 
 of civilization. [See Appendix.] 
 
 ! The antiquities of North America consist of fortifications, mounds, 
 pottery, metallic instruments, &c. They must have been left by 
 intelligent nations at an early period. This is evident from the re 
 mark of the late President Harrison. He observes that it would 
 ta^e the trees growing where a forest was cut down fifty years since, 
 five hundred years to equal in height the surrounding woods, and that 
 a forest of the largest trees at the mouth of the Great Miami, con 
 sisting of fifteen acres, covers the ruins left by former races. 
 
 There are the remains of a fortification, 60 miles west of Milwau- 
 kie, including an area of many acres of land. Large trees are grow- 
 
DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. 11 
 
 ing on the walls. I have a piece of the burnt brick of which they are 
 built. This place is called Aztland. 
 
 I have also a piece of a pillar found fifteen feet below the surface 
 of the earth in Chautauque county, N. Y. Nameless are similar 
 antiquities the curious and intelligent are bringing to light from va 
 rious parts. 
 
 The people of Ohio, living in a land of monuments, are much in 
 terested in the study of antiquities. 
 
 Mr. Squier, of Chilicothe, has found some remarkable antiquities 
 in mounds of that vicinity. He has penetrated a large number of 
 the ancient tumuli. He divides" them mainly into "three classes. 
 The first was erected for sacrificial altars, such being found under 
 the different strata. The second were built as burial places, and the 
 third for places of look-out. 
 
 First Inhabitants of America. We will not say, as the Athe 
 nians said of their nation, that the first inhabitants of America were 
 created when the sun was first lit up in the sky ; but we must presume 
 they early reached this continent from the old world. 
 
 The learned Dr. Clarke says that the continents were once united, 
 but that, by the force of winds and waves, the isthmuses were broken 
 up and formed into islands along the coasts. Easy, however, is the 
 transition from the East to the West, by the way of Bhering's straits, 
 when we consider that they are only thirteen leagues wide. 
 
 Adverse winds, also, might have driven the frail vessels of the an 
 cients to the region lying on the gulf of Mexico, and elsewhere. 
 
 But, as tropical animals found in America could not have crossed 
 over by Bhering's straits when frozen, they must have come by land 
 that once extended from Asia, or Africa to America in the torrid zone. 
 Should it be asked why certain animals, as the horse and the cow, not 
 found originally on this continent, did not cross by this continuous 
 range of lands, we answer, because the original continent was divided 
 as possibly in the days of Peleg, (Gen. 10, 25,) before such animals 
 had an opportunity to migrate. 
 
 ^ I am inclined to believe that the land that united the now two con 
 tinents, was the Atlantis, spoken of by Plato, Homer and Hesoid. 
 Plato saw an account of this land which disappeared, in the hiero 
 glyphics of Egypt. I saw in the Jesuits' College, Georgetown, an im 
 portant article on this subject. It was stated that there were the re 
 mains of a sunken tract of land once lying between Brazil and Afri 
 ca that such are seen also in the islands of Cape Verd and Ascension, 
 and others, and in the numerous sandbanks observed by Bauche in 
 particular, who sounded that part of the Atlantic with great accuracy. 
 
 Extract of a letter from Rev. Mr. Heyer to Rev. Dr. Van Vrankin, 
 New-Brunswick. " Mr. Davis advocates the theory that I met with 
 more than twenty years ago, in ' Calcott on the Deluge/ that America 
 was peopled by land soon after the flood ; that at that time America 
 was united to the eastern continent, and that in the days of Peleg the 
 
12 A LECTURE ON THE 
 
 earth was divided. *The Hebrew word NEPELEGEH, divided as by the 
 coming in of the sea ; from the Greek word Pelagos, and the Latin 
 word Pelagus, being derived. 
 
 I think from the plains of Shinar, men and animals diverged in all 
 directions. As it is said in Gen. 11, 8, ' So the Lord scattered them 
 from thence upon the face of all the earth.' JJ 
 
 As the Europeans on coming here found none or few animals pecu 
 liar to the eastern continent, I think only a part of the various spe 
 cies preserved by Noah, migrated west. Those left behind ever re 
 mained different from those found in the New World by the Span 
 iards. If this idea is new to others, I hope it may be considered more 
 reasonable than the infidel opinion, that men and animals were dis 
 tinct creations here from those of Asia. 
 
 I found this idea corroborated by Buffon. as quoted by Clavigero in 
 his work on Mexico. 
 
 ^Think you they would have transported venomous serpents from 
 the old to the new world ? 
 
 Ogilby, cosmographer to the English sovereign, 1671, thinks that 
 men and animals came, immediately after the flood, from Armenia to 
 Tartary ; and from the latter place to this continent, by a continuous 
 range of land extending from Asia to America by Bhering's straits. 
 
 I think with Georgii Hornii, who published his views, 1629, in a 
 Latin book, that the migration to this continent took place immedi 
 ately after the confusion of tongues at Babel. 
 
 By this primitive people, the cities of the South rose probably sim 
 ultaneously with those that adorned the banks of the Nile.* 
 
 After a brief survey of American antiquities, well may we, like 
 the old patriot of Rome, ascend some lofty eminence and look over 
 the wide space of desolation ! Where once nations met in the noon 
 day of their glory, now wild beasts roam and venomous serpents wend 
 their way. To gaze upon the past, we must cross the melancholy 
 flood 
 
 " Unto the kingdom of pei-petual night." 
 
 So pass away the glories of the world, with man its lord ! There 
 is nothing permanent, save in the Spirit's land, and if there be 
 any change there, it is Eternity's rich drama of bloom and perfec 
 tion. 
 ^ The eyes of mankind, from the time of Pythagoras, have been 
 
 II The traces of an extinct race of men about nine feet in length, are to be found in various parts, 
 as in Ohio, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and New York. 
 
 And is it strange it should have been said in the sacred volume, " and there were giants in those 
 lays ?" 
 
 The lights of science and revelation commingle, Ibiming one broad stream of light that is not lost 
 but amid the radiance that encircles the throne of the Eternal. 
 
 As to the red men, clouds of obscurity conceal their origin. Mr. Schoolcraft, late Indian Agent, 
 thinks they are of Asiatic origin. Many suppose they are the descendants of the Israelites. Vague 
 are their own traditions as to their origin. Some Indians say they come from the East, some Irom, 
 the West ; some from the North, and some from the South. 'Some think they came from beneath the 
 earth : other suppose they came from the skies. 
 
DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. 13 
 
 turned to the West, in anticipation that here new discoveries were to 
 be made ; and hither were the adventurers at length led. 
 
 Seneca, Diodorus Siculus, Aristotle, as well as others, speak of 
 regions west of the Atlantic. 
 
 It is thought Virgil alludes, in the following lines, to places West. 
 
 In speaking of Augustus, he says that 
 
 '' He shall his power to India extend, 
 Beyond the annual circle, and beyond 
 The sun's long progress, where great Atlas bears. 
 Laden with golden stars, the glittering spheres." * 
 
 First known Discoveries of America. The discovery of America 
 by the Northmen excites a vast deal of curiosity. And is it not a 
 laudable curiosity that leads one to ascertain what white men first 
 trod regions in which the modest wild flower wasted its sweetness on 
 the desert air ? 
 
 As geography is one of the eyes of History, it would be well at this 
 time to direct the attention to the map of North America, and to those 
 of Massachusetts and Rhode Island in particular. 
 
 The Royal Society of Northern Antiquarians, in Copenhagen, have 
 lately published an important work. While the contents of this 
 massive work are invaluable, its mechanical execution reflects great 
 honor on the society that published it. 
 
 This work is called, as translated from Latin, "American An 
 tiquities, or Northern Writings of Things in America, before the time 
 of Columbus." 
 
 The determination was formed some years since by the Royal So 
 ciety of Antiquarians in Copenhagen, to publish the authorities on 
 which these accounts rest, in the original documents, accompanied 
 with full commentaries and illustrations. The text is in the Icelandic 
 'tongue. 
 
 The inquiry is often made, " Who are the Northmen ?" They 
 were the descendants of the Scandinavians, who, it is thought, sprang 
 from the Thracians mentioned by Homer a nation now extinct. 
 The Danes, the Swedes, the Norwegians, and the Icelanders, all come 
 under the name of the Northmen or Norsemen. Their literature has 
 been compared, in extent, to the literary remains of Greece, and 
 Latinum. This opens a new fountain of research where the scholar 
 may often 
 
 " Return and linger, linger and return." \ 
 
 This great work contains two Icelandic documents, now for the 
 first time published accurately, in a complete form, purporting to be 
 histories written by or for persons who discovered and visited the 
 North American coast early in the eleventh century, confirmed and 
 illustrated by extracts from no less than fifteen other original manu- 
 
 *In a paper read lately before the N. Y. Historical Society, it seems that the inscription on a stone 
 found in Western Va., is like that discovered on a monument ofThugga, at Libya. This circum 
 stance corroborates the truth of the report of the Carthagenians, that their people, in early times, 
 traded with nations west of the Atlantic. 
 
14 A LECTURE ON THE 
 
 scripts, in which the facts set forth in these histories are either men 
 tioned or alluded to. The Royal Society has already collected two 
 thousand Sagas, or works of Scandinavian or Icelandic history. *#<&* 
 In this work, in particular, is found Adam of Bremen's account of 
 the discovery of America, communicated to him in the eleventh cen 
 tury, by Sweyn Estrythson, King of Denmark. 
 
 1. Are these documents genuine ? 
 
 2. If so, why have they not been heard of before ? 
 
 The work itself contains evidences of the antiquity and authenticity 
 of the manuscripts, from which the publication has been made, sufficient 
 to raise them above any just suspicion. 
 
 These documents, as Professor Rafn says, have been known to 
 Icelandic scholars ; but these have been so few comparatively, and 
 the means of those few so limited, that they have not been able to 
 give them a suitable examination, much less to be at the expense of 
 publishing them. 
 
 How long did the ancient classics, for instance, lay concealed in the 
 monasteries of Europe, for the want of some one to exhibit them to 
 the public view ? These Icelandic documents may have been hid in 
 like manner, in the libraries of priests. And we may say that the 
 society of antiquarians, in Copenhagen, in bringing these documents 
 to light, resembles the conduct of the poet laureat, Petrarch, in the 
 fourteenth century, who, at his own expense, had the valuable manu 
 scripts of antiquity dragged from the dust of the cloisters, transcribed 
 and exhibited to the world. 
 
 Who does not admire the lovely scenery, where the beautiful and 
 sublime are blended, displayed in the succession of falls at Trenton, 
 N. Y. ? Yet these were concealed for ages, till a master spirit re 
 vealed them to an admiring world. And does not the raven wing of 
 night hide the works of art, also, till disclosed in a similar way ? 
 The learned of Iceland, though like the generality of poets, poor : yet 
 they were not disposed, like Milton, to sell their manuscripts for a 
 paltry sum. 
 
 It is well known the Norwegians have long claimed the honor of 
 discovering and colonizing America before the time of Columbus. 
 
 Instead of this discovery being a new-fangled theory, as some say, 
 there have been several works published in Europe upwards of a cen 
 tury, which speak of these facts. Wormius speaks of this discovery 
 in a Latin translation, published in the University of Oxford, in or 
 about 1716. In Adam of Bremen's account, published 1629, he uses 
 the following striking language : " Non fabulosa opinione sed certa, 
 relatione Danorum ;" that is, in a free translation, " This is not a fab 
 ulous opinion, but a true narrative given by the Danes themselves." 
 Dr. Franklin, in a letter to a distinguished antiquary formerly of 
 Switzerland, says positively, that the Danes came into New England 
 before the time of Columbus. Dr. Mather published an account, also, 
 of the discovery in 1772. 
 
DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. 15 
 
 The celebrated Dr. Henderson, who traveled in Iceland, says that 
 the fact of this early discovery was well known to the Icelanders 
 that it was authenticated by Northern historians. It is a remarkable 
 fact, that Iceland, where these documents relating to the early dis 
 covery were preserved, was the Athens of the North, during the Dark 
 Ages. 
 
 During the Middle Ages, the Icelanders were the most intelligent 
 people in the North. Even now, as Henderson says, youth can repeat 
 passages from Latin and Greek authors, who have never been but a 
 few miles from the place of their birth. Truly, the hardy Icelanders 
 were our librarians and historians. 
 
 Iceland appears to have been a medium of communication between 
 Norway and Greenland a stepping stone, as it were, from one conti 
 nent to another. 
 
 Iceland, thought by some to be the " Ultima Thule" of Virgil, was 
 discovered by the Norwegians in 861. The oppression of King Har 
 old Harfaga drove them there for an asylum. 
 
 But the restless spirit of the Northmen would not allow them to be 
 idle. They made incursions in every direction, and discovered Green 
 land in 984. 
 
 In 986, a colony was begun by Eric the Red. This was at length 
 destroyed. By the exertions of the Danish Society, the ruins of this 
 settlement have been discovered. It was located on the West, near 
 Cape Farwell. It is seen in the remains of churches and buildings. 
 
 Lief, the son of Eric, commenced a voyage of discovery in the year 
 1000. His crew consisted of thirty-five men. Lief was the first to 
 introduce missionaries into Greenland. 
 
 After sailing some time southwest, they marie land. They anchored 
 and went ashore. This place was destitute of grass, and was covered 
 with a slaty rock, which they called Helluland. This is supposed to 
 be Labrador. Fishermen and travelers of the present day give a like 
 description of that barren region. 
 
 From thence they sailed southwardly ; and after holding on for 
 some time, they again made land and went ashore. This country 
 was level, had a low coast, presenting, here and there, bluffs of white 
 sand, and was thickly covered with wood. This they named Mark- 
 land, or Woodland. This is thought to be Nova Scotia. 
 
 Leaving Markland, they sailed south-westerly, with a fair wind, 
 two days before seeing land again, when they passed down a promon 
 tory, probably the east side of Cape Cod, stretching east and north ; 
 and then turning west between an island (Martha's Vineyard) and 
 the main land, they entered a bay (Narragansett Bay) through which 
 a river (Taunton River) flowed, when they came to anchor and went 
 ashore. Resolving to spend the winter here they called the place 
 Leifsbuthir, or place of booths. Here, finding grapes plenty, they 
 called the place Vinland or Wineland the good. This land, to those 
 
16 A'LECTURE ON THE 
 
 coming from the remote North, appeared as nature in the " world's 
 first spring." 
 
 Early in the season they returned to Greenland. Leif s return be 
 came the principal suhject of conversation. 
 
 The next adventurer was Thorwald, his brother. And you will 
 observe that he and the other navigators gave the same account of 
 places they visited. Were not this the case, who could believe any of 
 their reports ? 
 
 Thorwold, thinking the country had not been sufficiently explored, 
 set sail in 1002, and proceeded to Leifsbuthir, where he lived till 
 1004 
 
 In the spring of 1004, he sailed from Leifsbuthir. After passing 
 along the shore of the promontory. East and North, they sailed round 
 a sharp point of land, called Kjarlanes. This must have been Cape 
 Cod. Kjarlanes implies Keel-cape. For Cape Cod at the extremity, 
 is in the shape of the keel of ancient vessels, which curved inward. 
 
 These Northmen were peaceable men. They were not like Phaeton, 
 who would gladly have seized the reins of the chariot of the sun to 
 set the world on fire. It must not be denied, however, that the second 
 great navigator, Thorwold, assailed the natives without a cause ; but 
 in using the sword he perished by the sword. On receiving a mortal 
 wound, he requested that after his death, crosses might be placed at 
 either end of his grave. 
 
 The Catholic ministers in giving an account of their first mission 
 ary labors in this country, speak of the custom of the natives in wear 
 ing crosses. Such must have been introduced by the Northmen 
 Christians. 
 
 I mentioned this circumstance lately to the librarian of the Amer 
 ican Antiquarian Society, Worcester ; and he said that a cross had 
 been sent to that institution by a gentleman of Ohio. I saw this 
 emblem of the Christian faith. It must have been hid from the light 
 of heaven for centuries. This silver cross is about two and a half 
 inches long. It was found on the breast of a female skeleton, one of 
 which was dug from a mound at Columbus, over which a forest of 
 trees had grown. On this cross the capital letters I. S. are perfectly 
 visible. And what can these letters imply, but the initials of the sa 
 cred name, IESUS SALVATOR ? 
 
 Who can doubt, then, that the " Sun of Righteousness" cast his 
 bright beams on the land west of the dread Atlantic, long before the 
 time of Columbus. 
 
 In 1006, Thorfins, or Thorfin commanded one of the three ships 
 that came from Iceland to Greenland. He was of royal lineage. 
 
 In the spring of 1007, Thorfin, with three ships and one hundred 
 and sixty men, besides cattle and all necessary materials for establish 
 ing a colony, set sail for Vinland. 
 
 They sailed to Helluland or Labrador; from thence to Markland 
 or Nova Scotia : and from thence to Kjarlanes, or Cape Cod. Sail-^ 
 
DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. 17 
 
 ing soutn by the east side of the promontory which terminated at 
 Kjarlanes, they passed along beaches or trackless deserts of sand.~ 
 How descriptive of this bleak and sterile coast ! 
 
 Those who have sailed from Boston to Narragansett Bay, are ready 
 to say that I am not drawing an ideal picture. 
 
 Continuing their course they arrived at an island. They called it 
 Shaumey. This is supposed to be Martha's Vineyard. Nine men 
 went away in one of the ships and never returned. It is said they 
 jrere driven on the coast of Ireland, where they were seized as slaves. 
 In the spring Thorfin and one hundred and fifty others went to the 
 main land. They called the place Hop, the residence afterwards of 
 King Philip. Here they found large numbers of skrellings or na 
 tives. Thorfin carried on a traffic with them, by exchanging bits of 
 colored cloth for furs. In consequence of their frequent attacks, in 
 1 009 they returned to Greenland. Then, it will be recollected, the 
 Northmen had not the use of fire-arms with which io defend them 
 selves against the assaults of the savages. These lords of the wilds 
 had a rude kind of engine, -by which they hurled large stones against 
 their foes ; and it is possible that the white man would never have 
 driven the red man from the Atlantic to the Rocky mountains, but 
 for the invention of gunpowder. 
 
 I cannot forbear to speak of the valor of one of this crew of the 
 Northmen, a female. When all the rest were disposed to flee before 
 the savage foe, she exclaimed : " If I only had a weapon, I ween I 
 could fight better than any of you.' 7 " Ah ! when we consider the pa 
 triotism of the females at the seige of Carthage, who cut their locks 
 to make ropes for engines of war : and when we recollect the courage 
 of Isabella of Castile, who, at the conquest of Grenada, though in ill 
 health, led on her veterans to conquest and glory, have we not reason 
 to suppose that this Scandinavian was sincere in her declaration ? 
 Truly valor and benevolence are but parallel streams in the female 
 heart. We would not applaud courage, however, unless under the 
 control of a high and holy principle. 
 
 ^ Thorfin married Cudrida, the widow of Thorstein, third son of 
 Erric. She accompanied her husband to Vinland. Snorre, their son, 
 was the n>st white child born in America. From him descended the 
 distinguished associate of Professor Rafn, Finn Magnusen. The 
 late great sculptor, Thorwalsden of Denmark, was of this family. 
 Bishop Thulock Rudolfson, was a descendant of ThornVs, and it is 
 supposed that he wrote or compiled these documents. 
 
 Thorfin. the most distinguished of these, returned to Iceland, where 
 he ended his days, living in great splendor. 
 
 The editor of the American Antiquities, Professor Rafn, and his 
 associate, Professor Finn Magnusen, think that Vinland was situated 
 in the east part of Rhode Island, and in the south part of Massachu 
 setts, on or about Narragansett Bay and Taunton River. 
 
 The points in the Icelandic documents alluding to the locality of 
 
IS A LKUTURK ON THE 
 
 Viulaiul may be reckoned the Geography, Natural History, Astrono 
 mical Phenomena, and vestiges of the Residence of Northmen in that 
 place. All these, in the opinion of the editor of the American antiqui 
 ties, point to the head of Narragansett Bay, or Mt. Hope Bay, as the 
 locality of Hop, the central part of Vinland. 
 
 As the Royal Society have held correspondence with several learned 
 societies in this country for some years, they are well qualified to form 
 a judgment on this subject. Dr. Webb, now of Boston, formerly Sec 
 retary of the Rhode Island Historical Society, and J. R. Bartlett. 
 Es-.j., of New- York, have been very efficient agents in aiding the Royal 
 Society in presenting this great work to the world. 
 
 The following letter from the late General Holstein, Professor in 
 the " Albany Female Academy,'' will show the care taken to acquire 
 information relative to American Antiquities: 
 
 " In proof of the great exertions made by the Northern Antiquarian 
 Society, in Copenhagen, to acquire a knowledge of Scandinavian An 
 tiquities in America, I hereby state that, several years since a letter 
 of inquiry, sealed with the seal of the Society, was sent to a profes 
 sional gentleman of Geneva, in this State, a translation of which 1 
 made from the Danish tongue." 
 
 T/ia Geography of Vinland. Concerning the situation of Hel- 
 lulancl there can be no doubt, as it was the iirst land southwest of 
 Greenland : where else could this have been, unless the coast of La 
 brador ? 
 
 Markland was situated southwest from Helluland, three days' sail, 
 or three hundred and sixty English miles. This is supposed to be 
 Nova Scotia, 
 
 The distance of Nova Scotia- and New Brunswick agrees with the 
 account the Icelanders gave of Markland. 
 
 Vinland was situated two days' sail, or about two hundred and forty 
 Bnglish miles to the southwest of Markland : and if Markland has 
 been properly located, must be sought in or near the south part of 
 Massachusetts. 
 
 In the Icelandic documents, it is said that Hop. the residence of 
 Thortin. was situated on an elevation of land, near a river which 
 flowed south, through a bay into the ocean. From this the land 
 stretched east ; and turning north, formed a promontory, which ter 
 minated in a point or cape, which they called Kjarlanes. The 
 east side of ih? promontory was found by long, narrow beaches, 
 (r sand hills. To those who, like myself, have often viewed the 
 Atlantic from these sand hills, this account appears peculiarly 
 striking. 
 
 Natural History of Vhtlaiid. Vinland was remarkable for its 
 beautiful vines, maple trees, maize, and a great variety of wild animals. 
 
DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. 19 
 
 The waters abounded with fish and were occasionally visited by 
 whales. Birds were numerous. The eider duck was seen about the 
 islands in large numbers. 
 
 As to vines, they are said to be numerous even now ; and this is 
 more particularly true of the country around Narragansett Bay. And 
 was not an island called Martha's Vineyard, on account of the multi 
 plicity of vines growing there? 
 
 The celebrated Bishop Berkeley, who attempted to establish a the 
 ological seminary in Rhode Island, says, in his letter to his friends in 
 Europe, that vines were as plenty on the island as in Italy. Gosnald, 
 who visited the Elizabeth Isles in 1602, says, that vines were in great 
 profusion there. 
 
 In the documents it is said that, in that region, are the red, sugar 
 and bird's-eye maple. The Northmen cut down the trees; and, after 
 they were dry, they loaded their ships with the timber. It is supposed 
 that the bird's-eye variety was made an article of commerce. 
 
 As to Indian corn or maize, it seems our pilgrim fathers found some 
 in what is now called Truro, near the end of the Cape. It was buried 
 in the earth to preserve it. Indian corn has never been found north 
 of 45 north latitude. 
 
 It is needless to remind the reader of the multiplicity of fish that 
 still abound in the waters of this region. The sportsman may, at this 
 day, tell his friends, in the language of Capt. Smith, of Jamestown, 
 who described this quarter, " of the pleasures to be derived from angling 
 and crossing the sweet air, from isle to isle, over the silent streams of 
 a calm sea.'' 
 
 As to whales, I have occasionally seen them spouting around the 
 sandy shores of the Cape. 
 
 In regard to the eider duck, in the Latin translation it is called 
 " anas mollissima," a duck with the finest feathers. The real eider 
 duck of Iceland is, at this day, frequently seen around Martha's Vine- 
 yard. Wild fowl must have been numerous there, as an island is still 
 called Egg Island, from the quantity of eggs they deposited.* 
 
 Thorfiii describes the Soil and Climate. The winters of Vinland 
 are said to be remarkably mild, but little snow falling, and cattle sub 
 sisting out of doors through the winter. 
 
 This account does not agree with the description of New England 
 winters at this time. Still, however, it has been the practice of the 
 farmers on Nan tucket and Martha's Vineyard, to let their sheep and 
 cattle lie out during the winter. But the cold winters of New Eng 
 land, compared with those of Greenland, are as the mildness of spring. 
 They speak, however, of a snowy winter. 
 
 But there have been great changes in the face of the earth and 
 in the climate in different ages. Change is the law of nature. Has 
 
 *Mr. Audubon says he has seen, in Labrador, twenty-seven nests of the eider duck within a very 
 small compass 
 
20 A LECTURE ON THE 
 
 not one of the bright clusters been blotted out from the map of heav 
 en ? Such changes also take place in the face of the earth. 
 
 The Dead Sea was, in early times, sixty miles long. It is now only 
 thirty. And even old Ontario and Erie have receded from their for 
 mer bounds, leaving to the present generation a rich tract of land sev 
 eral miles wide, and a beautiful ridge-road. Who does not admire the 
 everlasting rocks, rising in stern grandeur on either side the Mohawk, 
 at the Little Falls, N. Y. ? Yet, the lovely vale above must once 
 have been the bed of a vast lake. This is manifest from the fact, that 
 there are " pot holes " found at an elevation of sixty feet above the 
 river, at these falls. 
 
 These circular excavations were made ages since, by the circumvo* 
 lution of stones, driven by the rapid descent of the waters. You can 
 see a demonstration of this fact, by looking at the high falls of Black 
 River, or Trenton. 
 
 And what a mighty labor was that for the waters of this lake to 
 have found their way, gradually, through the high and continuous 
 wall of granite where now the Mohawk murmurs as it rolls along its 
 new channel ! 
 
 Geological facts prove that it was much warmer, formerly, in the 
 North, than it is now. 
 
 Large forests once flourished in Lapland. 
 
 It is not to be disputed that, in former ages, Iceland produced tim 
 ber in abundance. Large trees are occasionally found there in the 
 marshes and valleys, to a considerable depth in the ground. Seg 
 ments of fossil- trees have lately been exported, in proof of the alleged 
 fact. 
 
 It is asserted in the ancient Icelandic records, that when Ingulf, the 
 Norwegian, first landed in Iceland, 879, he found so thick a cluster of 
 birch trees, that he penetrated them with difficulty. 
 
 Henderson, in his travels in Iceland, says that the climate has de 
 teriorated there, from the fact that it was once shaded with forests. 
 
 When the first Norwegian colony settled in Greenland, about 1000 
 years ago, they found no difficulty from ice in approaching the coast, 
 and a regular correspondence was supported by their people for many 
 years. 
 
 Astronomical Phenomena. The learned editor and his associate 
 deduce from the astronomical data, lat. 41 24' 16", which is the 
 latitude of Narragansett Bay, and Mount Hope. There, at the win 
 ter solstice, December 22, the day is nine hours. 
 
 That the Northmen were capable of taking latitudes, is evident from 
 the circumstance, that at that period they speak of eclipses, which 
 have lately been calculated by Sir David Brewster, and the distin 
 guished Norgewian astronomer, Hanstein, and found correct. 
 * I have a fine diagram, in a work just sent me by Professor Rafn, 
 Denmark, by which it is seen that the Northmen calculated time ac- 
 
DISCOVERY OF AMERICA 21 
 
 curately. They reached the latitude where, at the winter solstice, the 
 sun rose at half past seven, and set at half past four. 
 
 Little can be said of the Vestiges of the Residence of the North 
 men in this country. There is a large rock at the junction of Smith's 
 Creek with Taunton River, with a singular inscription on it. It was 
 evidently made with an iron instrument. Passing over the particular 
 remarks of the editor on these letters, I would give his supposition as 
 to their meaning. 
 
 rxxxi 
 
 fORFINX 
 
 The first figure, first line, is 120 ; the last figure, on first line, is 
 nam. and means " took possession of ;" the first figure on the second 
 line is wanting, and it is supposed it was made as abowe for TH. So the 
 whole reads : Thorfins, with 151 men, took possession of this country. 
 While Mr. Schoolcraft believes in the discovery of the Northmen, he 
 thinks this inscription was left by the Indians. But Professor Rafn 
 has deciphered an inscription on the Paradisic rock of Iceland, which 
 he says, proves beyond a doubt the European origin of the inscription 
 in Massachusetts. 
 
 There are similar inscriptions on rocks in the vicinity of Mount 
 Hope Bay. 
 
 The people of the North of Europe were fond of making inscrip 
 tions on rocks on the borders of lakes and rivers ; for such are found 
 in Norway, Sweden, and Scotland. 
 
 One of these inscriptions, found on a rock in Sweden, has been de 
 ciphered by Professor Finn Magnusen. The inscription relates to a 
 battle fought about A. D. 680, between the kings of Norway and Swe 
 den. Accounts of this battle were given by authentic historians. In 
 a work just issued in Denmark, it is proved that there are several 
 other inscriptions found in the neighborhood of Taunton like the one 
 above. Also, that the old stone building at Newport, R. I., was erected 
 by the Northmen ; for it is exactly like the stone houses of Norway. 
 built as baptisteries. The oldest people of Rhode Island know noth 
 ing of the origin of that curiously built edifice. 
 
 Ex-Gov. Gibbs, of R. I., owns it, and believes it was erected by the 
 Northmen. Rev. Mr. Kip, of Albany, tells me he saw at the residence 
 of the Duke of Tuscany, a Swedish count, who spake of this building 
 as the work of the Northmen. He was perfectly familiar with the 
 discoveries of those whom he proudly called his people. It will be 
 seen, in viewing a representation of this tower, page 2, that it is of 
 the ante-Gothic or Norman architecture, which was adopted in Europe 
 from the time of Charlemagne to the 12th century. Mr. K. also 
 
22 A LECTURE ON THE 
 
 saw in Italy the famous painting of Leutze, representing the landing 
 of the Northmen in America. This large painting has been brought 
 to New- York, where I saw it lately among other grand specimens of 
 living masters. 
 
 The late Noah Webster, Esq., told me he examined the subject 
 forty years since, and came to the above conclusion. 
 
 W. H. Prescott, L. L. D., advances the same opinion in his late 
 splendid work on Mexico. 
 
 Bishop Hawks has written a valuable little work on " Lost Green 
 land," in which he speaks of 17 bishops, who successively presided in 
 that country. The colony suddenly disappeared in or near 1614. 
 The present colony was established in 17^1. The son of a Danish 
 bishop told me he lately saw the Governor of Greenland, an old school 
 mate of his, who showed him a book published in Greenland, giving 
 an account of these discoveries. It had a rude map of Cape Cod and 
 Boston Harbor. 
 
 Were the Northmen capable of making discoveries, and of recording 
 them ? The rude children of our forests could not perform a work 
 so mighty. 
 
 The Roman historian, Tacitus, spake of the invasion of the North 
 men before the Christian era. He says of theCimbri, that they were 
 not a small tribe, but mighty in fame : that the vestiges of their ancient 
 glory still remained in their fortifications ; that no other nation had 
 so often given them cause to dread their arms not the Carthageni- 
 ans, or Spaniards, or Gauls. 
 
 In later times the Northmen made incursions upon Germany, 
 France, England, the Orkney, Parroe and Shetland Isles. 
 
 The French were in such fear of the Northmen, that they inserted 
 in their Liturgy, " A furore Normanorum, libera nos, O Domine."* 
 
 In the ninth and tenth centuries, the Danes or Northmen invaded 
 England, and seated one of their favorite princes, Canute, on the 
 throne of Alfred. 
 
 They were a daring people the sea was their home the mount 
 ain wave was the scene of their sport far and wide did they wander 
 without compass to guide. 
 
 Their vessels were built of timber that is now eagerly sought by 
 the first maritime nations of the earth. 
 
 A people, some of whose leaders boasted of never having slept by a 
 cottage fire, became the dread of Christendom. They ruled the waters 
 from the Arctic ocean to the Azores they passed between the pillars 
 of Hercules they ravaged the coasts of Spain and France sacked 
 the cities of Tuscany drove the Saracens from Sicily. They desola 
 ted the classic fields of Greece penetrated the walls of Constantinople. 
 Yes, in rescuing the Holy Sepulchre, they led the van of the chivalry 
 
 * From the rage of the Northmen good Loid deliver us. 
 
DISCOVEKY OF AMERICA. 23 
 
 of Europe. Mark their valor and their success ; for 100 Northmen 
 knights, with one aid or squire each, drove ten thousand Saracens from 
 Sicily. Scott gives a beautiful description of this remarkable people, 
 in speaking of the Western Isles; 
 
 " Thither came in times afar 
 Stern Lochlin's sous of roving war ; 
 The Northmen, trained to spoil and blood. 
 Skilled to prepare the raven's fond ; 
 Kings of the main, their leaders brave, 
 Their barks the dragons of the wave." 
 
 In describing king Harold's it is said : 
 
 " And dragon's heads adorn the prow of gold." 
 
 Seest thou the tiny fleet of some school-boy, launched on an isola 
 ted sheet of water. And such were the greatest armaments of the 
 famous nations of antiquity, compared with those of the Northmen. 
 
 The present illustrious Q,ueen of England, is a direct descendant 
 of the Northmen. It will be recollected that Rollo, the Norman, 
 invaded France in 912, and enthroned himself in the North. In 
 1066, William of Normandy conquered England. These sovereigns 
 were Northmen, and from their family the pride and glory of Great 
 Britain descended. 
 
 At the beginning of the eleventh century, the Danes and Nor 
 wegians were converted to Christianity, and thereby received a 
 new impulse, that led them to extend the blessings of the Gospel. 
 And who but this people could ever have established missions in 
 Greenland. 
 
 What shall we say of the ability of the Northmen to record inci 
 dents of their voyages ? 
 
 In the year 1000, on their conversion to Christianity, they adopted 
 the Roman alphabet. This was their Augustan age. The thirst of 
 the Icelanders for learning, is seen in the conduct of Ulfijot, their 
 supreme legislator, who, in 925, undertook a voyage to Norway, in 
 his sixtieth year, to acquire a more perfect knowledge of the legal 
 customs and institutions of the parent country. 
 
 In Iceland the learned were called Skalds and Sagamen. 
 
 The former were poets and historians. Skalds denote " smoothers 
 and polishers of language." 
 
 The Sagamen recited in prose, with greater detail, what the Skalds 
 had recited iii verse. 
 
 By the recitations of the Skalds the real and traditionary history 
 of the country was transmitted from generation to generation. 
 
 Memory is, perhaps, the most improvable faculty of our nature. 
 Deprived of books, it depends upon'its own resources. Its strength 
 is seen in- the following instance : An Icelandic Skald sang sixty dif- 
 
24 A LECTURE ON THE 
 
 ferent lays in oue evening, before King Harold Sigurdson : and being 
 asked if he knew any more, declared that these were only the half he 
 could sing. 
 
 Their traditionary histories were written down and preserved. 
 
 As poetry is among the antiquities of all nations, the events it 
 records have ever been preserved by the recitations of Skalds, Min 
 strels or Bards. 
 
 And whom does the conqueror of Wales cut off from the land ? 
 Does not Edward the First of England destroy the minstrels of 
 Wales, lest they should, by their recitations, awaken that spirit of 
 liberty in the breasts of the vanquished, which would lead them to 
 throw off the yoke of the British monarch ? 
 
 These Skalds were distinguished men the companions of kings. 
 They sometimes were kings, as in the instance of Regnar Lodbrok. 
 
 The Sagamen made their recitations in public and private, at con 
 venient opportunities. 
 
 If Augustus delighted to have Yirgil and Horace on either hand, 
 so the Scandinavian monarchs rejoiced to have Skalds and Sagamen 
 in their presence. 
 
 At solemn feasts, the services of these men were required. 
 
 Sasmund. in 1056, collected the different poems relating to the my 
 thology and history of the North. The collection was called the 
 " Poetic Edda." He was a man of learning, having been educated at 
 the Universities of Germany and France. 
 
 He performed for the ancient poems the same office which is said 
 to have been done by the ancient Greek rhapsodist who first collected 
 and arranged the songs of his predecessors, and reduced them to one 
 continuous poem, called Homer's Iliad. 
 
 Snorre Sturlson, judge of Iceland, was the most distinguished 
 scholar of his day. His principal work was the Prosiac Edda ? It 
 treats in particular of Scandinavian mythology. He lived in 1178. 
 His bath still attracts the attention of the traveler. The aqueduct 
 of it is live hundred feet long, and is composed of hewn stone, finely 
 united by cement. The reservoir is similarly constructed, and will 
 contain thirty persons. The water was supplied from one of their 
 warm springs. 
 
 The general characteristics of the Icelandic tongue are copiousness, 
 energy and flexibility to an extent that rivals every modern language 
 and which enables it to enter into successful competition with the 
 Greek and Latin. 
 
 ^ Were not the Icelanders then capable of recording the events in 
 cident to a voyage of discovery. 
 
 The internal evidences found in these documents are in favor of 
 their authenticity. 
 
 Besides there are in existence a series of works from the time 
 when these voyages purport to have been made, down to the present 
 
DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. 
 
 25 
 
 time, whicji nave been preserved, and which make mention of these 
 discoveries. 
 
 Distinguished men who have had superior opportunities of ascer 
 taining the merits of this question, have come to the conclusion that 
 the descendants of the Scandinavians were the discoverers of Amer 
 ica, prior to the time of Columbus. Among these are Dr. Forster, 
 Mr. Wheaton, our late Minister at the Court of Berlin, and Baron 
 Von Humboldt, also of the above city.* 
 
 Besides Adam of Bremen's account of the discovery of America, this 
 great work speaks of Bishop Eric's voyage to Vinland, in 1121. Al 
 though Thorfin's men were driven away at first by the natives, yet it 
 is reasonable to suppose, that the*y at length returned and formed col 
 onies in this quarter, together with others who visited America, as 
 named in the Icelandic MSS. 
 
 If voyages were made, from time to time, to different parts of 
 America, by the Northmen, is it not reasonable to suppose that some 
 parts of our country were inhabited by them for a long time, and that 
 Bishop Eric visited Vinland to perform Episcopal duties, and that the 
 Northmen left evidences of their arts, in the antiquities I will briefly 
 
 nam e ? Bencrpf t Lit>rarj| 
 
 How fond is man to linger around mouldering ruins to fix the 
 -eye on the mutilated column overgrown with ivy ! But are there 
 not antiquities as worthy as those of art ? I mean those of our own 
 species. 
 
 I shall make a remark on a human skeleton I saw, not long since. 
 at Pall River, in the vicinity of Narragansett Bay. 
 
 I had an extensive view of the region around Mount Hope, lying 
 on the west of Mount Hope Bay. How accurately is the scenery 
 portrayed in the Icelandic documents ! 
 
 A skeleton was dug up a few years since in that place. It had a 
 breast-plate or medal hanging down its neck, thirteen inches long, and 
 six in width at the top, and five at the bottom. It had also an or 
 nament of fillet work around its body, four and a half inches wide. 
 These ornaments are made of brass, or, as Dr. Webb says, of bronze. 
 A knowledge of the use of this artificial metal implies a considerable 
 advance in the arts. 
 
 I witnessed lately an object of interest in the state of New- York. 
 
 Not long since, a large oak tree, cut down at Lyons, was taken to 
 Newark : and on sawing it, there were found near the centre the marks 
 of an axe. On counting the concentric circles, it was discovered that 
 four hundred and sixty had been formed since the cutting was made. 
 
 Mna work sent from Denmark ar the following important remarks : Alexander Von Hum 
 boldt, who of all modern travelers has thrown the greatest light on the physical cirrumstances, first 
 discover^' and early history of America, has admitted that tho Scandinavian Northmen were the trur 
 original discoverers of the New \Vor'd. He has also remarked, that the information which the public 
 as yet possesses of that remarkable epoch in the Middle Ages, is extremely scanty ; and he lias 
 expressed a wish that the Northern Literati would collect and publish all the accounts relating to 
 that subject.'' 
 
 The Society of Northern Antiquarians has complied with his request, in publishing the great xvor 
 f. before mentioned. 
 
26 A LECTURE ON THE 
 
 It is well known that a circle is the growth of a year. But the most 
 striking circumstance is, that this large cavity, now visible, was made 
 by an edged tool. The rude stone axes of the present race of Indians 
 could never have made clefts so smooth as those I saw in the block at 
 the hotel of Gen. Barney, at Newark. I have a report of a Historical 
 Society in Ohio, describing a similar cutting made with a metallic axe 
 about three hundred and fifty years ago. 
 
 On further examination, I presume this skeleton, whose head is dif 
 ferent from that of the natives, was a Northman ; and that the cut 
 tings in this tree were made by axes wielded by the descendants of the 
 Northmen. For I find that the Icelandic MSS. speak of breast-plates 
 worn by the Northmen : and as to their axes, it is stated that the na 
 tives tried them on wood, and afterwards on stone ; but the instruments 
 used by the former to cut down maple trees, could not withstand the 
 use made of them by the latter, upon stone. If it be asked, what has 
 become of the Northmen, and where are their descendants ? we an 
 swer : Like the mighty master-builders of the splendid cities of Cen 
 tral America, and of the fortifications, mounds, &c., of the United 
 States, they have passed into oblivion. Nations seem to vanish in a 
 day : like the 300,000 inhabitants of Moscow, who left the city in 
 stantly on the approach of the mad Corsican. 
 
 There have been discovered beyond latitude 60, in Greenland, 
 upwards of 500 people, resembling those in the north of Europe, prob 
 ably descendants of the Northmen. 
 
 An important inquiry arises : Was Columbus aware of the discov 
 ery of the Northmen ? From a letter preserved by his son, it appears 
 he visited Iceland in 1477. It is thought by the Danes that he there 
 obtained a knowledge of the discovery of Vinland. Allowing this to 
 be the case, it is singular he should never have given any intimation, 
 of such knowledge. 
 
 Instead of walking through Spain, leading his son by the hand, 
 would he not at once have rushed into the presence of the sovereigns, 
 and acquired patronage, wealth, and honor, by telling them that the 
 obscure Icelanders had discovered the region he wished to unfold ? 
 
 His greatest enemies never accused him of having reached the New 
 World by information received from Iceland. 
 
 But as Columbus was rather artful, he might, from particular 
 motives, have concealed this knowledge from the observation of man 
 kind. 
 
 After all, let not the circumstance of this prior discovery, cause, in 
 our view, the laurels given to Columbus to wither on his brow. Let 
 us ever honor him for his perseverance' and his virtues. 
 
 Let not Leif and his associate Northmen deprive him of what the 
 voice of nations has awarded, the merit of having given, not to Fer 
 dinand and Isabella only, but to successive generations, a New World. 
 
DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. 27 
 
 Iceland, though but a speck on the bosom of the Northern OceaD,. 
 is not unworthy our notice. Though dark to the superficial obser 
 ver, yet it shines with a lustre brighter than the flame rising from its 
 volcano. It is the light of knowledge. That obscure island is re 
 markable for the attention paid to learning. Even many among the 
 common class pursue the higher branches of study. Their long 
 nights are enlivened by the custom of every member of the family 
 gathering around the bright lamp, while one reads for the amusenent 
 and instruction of all. 
 
 The sources of happiness are not, like those of mighty rivers, hid 
 from the view of most people. They are accessible to all. The Ice 
 landers, living in a remote island, and cut off from the privileges that 
 milder climates present, arc naturally led to look for happiness in the 
 pursuit of knowledge. 
 
 If the celebrated Pliny could say his books were sovereign consol 
 ers of sorrow, cannot the Icelander also declare that when mountain 
 waves lash the shores, he can find pleasure in the pursuit of those stu 
 dies that mend the heart and enlighten the mind ? Ah ! yes, fondness 
 for books will create an artificial summer in the depths of the most 
 gloomy season. 
 
 The sunny Italy may boast of the beauteous tints that flush her 
 skies ; but after all, her effeminate inhabitants may be destitute of 
 that happiness enjoyed by those who live where winter reigns uncon 
 trolled most of the year. 
 
 The benevolence of Deity is seen in the contentedness felt by those 
 who live in the higher latitudes, where, as a writer said of countries 
 north of the Alps, Nature seems to have acted the part of step 
 mother. 
 
 What a contrast between the condition of the Icelanders and that 
 of their forefathers ! They were the worshippers of the god Wodin. 
 And what were his attributes ! He was styled the Father of Carnage ! 
 His greatest favorites were such as destroyed most of their fellow- 
 creatures in the field of battle. 
 
 But the Prince of Peace has broken the sceptre of the Father of 
 Carnage. The benign influence of his Gospel is seen in all the de 
 partments of Government. Observe its effects as seen in the differ 
 ence between the feelings of Lodbrok, a Northman King and Skald, 
 and those evinced by Peace Makers in Europe and America ! Those 
 who, when storms are rising in the political horizon, instead of " let 
 ting slip the dogs of war," do all in their power to avert the threat 
 ened dangers. Lodbrok in his death-song says : " Eight Earls graced 
 my Dwina's mouths. The crimson sweat of death poured on the sul 
 len sea." Yes, he exults in seeing his laurels dyed in the blood of 
 his fellow creatures. But the lovers of peace gaze in rapture on those 
 of the Great Pacificators of both continents while verdant under a 
 clear sky. 
 
"SS A LECTURE ON THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA 
 
 Who would not award to such, heroes rather than to Augustus 
 Caesar, a place among the stars ? (See Georgica, B. I. 34.) 
 
 This, as Cicero said of Rome, is the glory of all lands. 
 
 " Wisdom and knowledge are the stability of our times. All classes 
 bcome sensible that knowledge is the guardian of property. In every 
 place they eagerly seek after that wisdom which, as Isocrates says, is 
 the only imperishable treasure. Who can stay the progress of knowl 
 edge ? You might as well think of l binding the sweet influences of 
 Pleiades, or of loosing the bands of Orion,' "* as to attempt to oppose 
 the march of mind. To swell the tide of improvement, it is pleasing 
 to reflect that men of the first talents are engaged ; and that, through 
 the medium of those lectures, which, if they are not the fountains of 
 knowledge, are important guides to them. 
 
 A word in praise of the Scandinavians. Like the patriarch, they 
 went in search of a region, they knew not where. We praise them 
 for their courage, we applaud them for their zeal, we respect them for 
 their motives ; for they were anxious to enlarge the boundaries of 
 knowledge. They reached the wished-for land, 
 
 " Where no\r the western sun 
 O'er fields and Hoods, o'er every living soul, 
 Diffuseth glad repose." 
 
 The Scandinavians have opened to view a broad region, where smi 
 ling Hope invites successive generations from the Old World. 
 
 Such men as Caesar or a Tamerlane, conquer but to devastate 
 countries. Discoveries add new regions of fertility and beauty to 
 those already known. And are not the -hardy adventurers, ploughing 
 the briny wave, more attractive than the troops of Alexander march 
 ing to conquer the world, with plumes waving in the gentle breeze, 
 with arms glittering in the sunbeams? Who can tell the benefits 
 the former confer on mankind? 
 
 A throat of brass and adamantine lungs." 
 
 * As Pleiades appear in Spring, and Orion in Winter ; Fatrickgives the following exposition to the 
 above passage, from Job, 33, ch. 31, v. 
 
 " Canst thou forbid the sweet flowers to come forth, when the seven stars rise in the Spring, or 
 open the earth for the htjsbandjhftc's later when the winter season at the Orion, tie?, up his hands " 
 
APPENDIX. 29>' 
 
 A P P E I 1) I X. 
 
 Since the above was written, the following important facts have 
 been obtained. 
 
 Mr.Schoolcraft thinks, as stated in his address before the Historical 
 Society. N. Y., that the pyramids and 'mounds of America compose a 
 form of architecture equally ancient ; which can be traced back to the 
 period of the original dispersion of mankind. He asks, who shall 
 touch the scattered bones of aboriginal history with the spear of truth 
 and cause the skeleton of this ancient society to arise and live ? 
 There is no evidence not a particle that the tribes came to the 
 continent after the Christian Era, He observes also that there are 
 evidences of civilized people who lived in Michigan and Indiana 
 before the growth of the forests that cover these states. 
 7 Dr. Dickeson, of Mississippi, has been penetrating a, large number 
 of mounds in the south-western states. In these he found interesting 
 relics, such as mica mirrors, silver and copper ornaments, beads of 
 jasper, agate, &c. ; similar to those found in Mexico. Several pearls 
 of great beauty and lustre, an inch in diameter, have been found. By 
 an examination of skulls, Dr. D. has disL^vered that dentistry had 
 been extensively practised by this ancient people, as plugging the 
 teeth, and inserting artificial ones, was common. 
 
 The following are the dimensions of one of the largest buildings in 
 Palenque : 
 
 Base 310 by 260 feet 40 feet high. Building 280 by 180 feet 
 25 feet high. The piers have stuccos, finely painted. The paintings 
 are like the frescoes in Italy. 
 
 In addition to the valuable essay I heard Mr. Squier read in New 
 York, I lately saw the following remarks on his discoveries, in Ohio, 
 from the New- York Courier. 
 
 "His specimens surprised the [Ethnological] Society, as they fur 
 nish evidence of a skill and taste in sculpture, far surpassing anything 
 exhibited by the existing Indian tribes. He found the figures of 
 about 100 animals, of different species in all the departments of Zool 
 ogy, formed with such accuracy, as to be readily distinguishable, and 
 many of them shaped with almost perfect accuracy, and finished in 
 detail, as if by superior workmen, showing a liveliness of expression, 
 which would lead to the conclusion that they were the portraits of 
 birds, beasts, fish and reptiles." 
 
 Mr. S. is inclined to think the people who left these remains of an 
 tiquity, emigrated to Mexico. 
 
SO APPENDIX. 
 
 
 
 In regard to the Northman discovery, the following from the Dublin 
 Evening Post, speaks the opinion of distinguished writers relative to 
 the Danish work. 
 
 This is a very noble, a very curious, and in point of historical in 
 terest a most important volume. _ This publication has put the mat 
 ter beyond a doubt : 
 
 I saw in the State Library, at Albany, the History of New York, 
 by Moulton and Yatcs. in which it is fully acknowledged, 
 
 In the Museum of Copenhagen, Denmark, is to be seen a large piece 
 of a church bell, found in Greenland. It was among the antiquities 
 left by the Northmen who lived -there before the days of Columbus. 
 
 A distinguished Geologist from Denmark has lately found the re 
 mains of an Icelandic city in Brazil. He discovered Punic tnscrip- 
 tions on flagstones. Above all. he found a statue of the Northman 
 god of thunder, Thor, with all his attributes, the magic girdle and 
 hammer. 
 
 The following is from the beautiful ballad of Professor Longfellow 
 on the "Skeleton in Armor," found at Fall River: 
 
 "Speak! speak! tbou fearful guest. 
 Who, with thy hollow breast. 
 Still in rudo armor drest, 
 
 Comest to daunt me ! 
 Wrapped not in Eastern balms, 
 But with thy fie.shless palms 
 Stretched as if asking alms. 
 
 Why dost thou haunt me ?*' 
 
 How true it is, that wherever the sunlight falls, there appear the 
 temple, the priest and the altar. If in Greece and Rome we see a 
 Venus smiling in marble, or a Pluto fro*vning, for such were their 
 Deities, so in Central America we see, apparently, a representation 
 of different Gods, as at Copan, Palenque, and Chi Chen. In Copan 
 are obelisks bearing on four sides beautiful hieroglyphics and images 
 of gods in basso relievo, while before such are altars 6 feet square and 
 4 feet high, having on their upper surface, like characters with those 
 on the stone obelisks. On these altars it is supposed human victims 
 were offered. 
 
 In Palenque different gods were probably worshiped. Represent 
 ations of such are found on the walls of splendid buildings. See 
 page 7. 
 
 In Chi Chen they must have worshiped " gods many," as is evident 
 from the appearance of the idols brought from those ruins by Mr. 
 Norman, and presented by him to the New- York Historical Society. 
 They are now to be seen in the Museum of that Society, at the New- 
 York University. 
 
 In attending one of the meetings, lately, of this distinguished In 
 stitution, I heard an interesting letter read, from a gentleman who has 
 been traveling in Yucatan. He said much about the beauty and 
 
APPENDIX . 31 
 
 splendor of the ruins, and thinks many antiquities remain unfolded. 
 Buildings have lately been discovered that were buried by the na 
 tives, in which were rooms made of hewn stone, and whose walls were 
 adorned with beautiful figures, and paintings as fresh as though late 
 ly executed. 
 
 Ah ! had we power to read the Monumental History of Central 
 America, we might learn where once were forums in which a Demos 
 thenes or a Cicero declaimed against the wiles and treachery of a 
 Philip or a Cat aline ; where were groves as beautiful as that in which 
 Plato taught, and where principles were promulgated, superior only 
 but by those advanced by Him who spake as never man spake. As 
 it is, we can only behold the fragments of a former world. 
 
 Although the explorations of Peru have not been as extensive as 
 those of Central America, yet enough has been discovered to convince 
 us that its early inhabitants were highly civilized. 
 
 The late travels of Dr. J. J. Von Tshudi develop some interesting 
 facts on this subject. 
 
 Magnificent was the temple of Pacchacamac. The meaning of 
 this name of the principal Deity is, He who made the world out of 
 nothing. He was the God of the Yuncas. In the temple were 
 images worshiped by the people. These were destroyed by the 
 Incas, who dedicated the temple to the worship of the Sun. Vir 
 gins of royal birth were appointed to minister within its sacred 
 walls. In 1534, Pizarro took possession of the temple and murdered 
 the virgins. 
 
 Alas ! while there Nature unbosomed her every grace to win man 
 to deeds of mercy, the invaders, in the name of Christianity, commit 
 ted acts at which humanity shudders, and from which modesty veils 
 her face. 
 
 This temple stood on a hill upward of 500 feet high. It was sur 
 rounded with a lofty wall that rose in the form of an amphitheatre. 
 The hill is now covered with brick. 
 
 The road leading from Cusco to Quito, and through r the empire, 
 was the finest in America : it was 25 or 30 feet wide, and paved with 
 large flat stones. 
 
 Amid the ruins were colossal palaces, fortresses, and temples. The 
 walls of these buildings were made of square stones, so finely cut that 
 when united, a piece of paper could not be put between them edge 
 wise. How stones could be wrought so beautifully, in Peru as well 
 as farther North, without the aid of iron, is a mystery. Possibly the 
 inhabitants had the art, as well as the Egyptians, of tempering copper 
 so as to cut through solid granite. 
 
 Judge Sackett, of Chautauque Co., New- York, gave me the follow 
 ing important facts. They fully corroborate my previous statements 
 in regard to an early civilization. 
 
 " In 183:2, a white oak tree, near 4 feet in diameter, was cut on the 
 Cattaraugus Indian Reservation. Eric Co., New- York; it was sawed 
 
32 APPENDIX. 
 
 in a mill I own. On sawing it, an axe was found near the heart and 
 about 12 feet from the ground. It was overgrown with about 300 
 circles. Among the ruins of a neighboring fortification were found 
 the remains of human skeletons of 8 or 9 feet in length. The jaw 
 bone of one was so large that it would set over the face of a common 
 sized person, and had 36 teeth. 7 ' 
 
 Among the important works lately sent me by the politeness of 
 Professor Rafn, Denmark, is a memoir of Einar Sockeson. He was 
 son of a distinguished ruler, who lived at the residence of Eric the 
 Red, the discoverer of Greenland. At the father's request, in 1123, 
 Einar went to Norway to procure a Bishop. He obtained Arnold, the 
 first Bishop of Greenland. 
 
 Among the specimens of antiquity sent me from Denmark is the 
 representation of a church, built by the Northmen in Greenland be 
 fore the time of Columbus. It is built with stone walls, between 4 
 and 5 feet thick. It has also an arched window, similar to those in 
 the Old Tower of Newport, R. I. A particular account of this 
 church was given by Captain G. W. Grach, R. N. The Danes have 
 found with certainty the remains of 5 out of 12 churches, left by the 
 Northmen in the Eastern settlement of Greenland. 
 
 Ah ! could Columbus rise from the sleep of centuries, and behold, 
 not the Eastern part of China, which, to the day of his death, he sup 
 posed he had discovered, how great would be his astonishment in see 
 ing a new Continent, once inhabited by enlightened nations. Would 
 he not exclaim, Here was the primal land where once Eden displayed 
 her lovely groves, enlivened by birds of every plumage, where crystal 
 fountains gushed amid shrubs of the deepest verdure, and where flow 
 ers of all hues emitted their sweet perfumes. 
 
 It will be recollected that Columbus believed that the Garden of 
 Eden was in Para, South America, the only part of the Continent he 
 discovered, and where Hesperian fruits, if found, were found there 
 only. 
 

 if 
 
 TiSR 
 
 mi 
 
 in 
 
 Q)laS, / O 
 
 rV< "lM3 
 
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 m 
 
 mt 
 
 From Mnjor Gen. Jesitp. 
 I have attended the Lectures of the Rev. Mr. Davis, on the Discovery of America, by 
 the Northmen, with much pleasure and profit; and I respectfully recommend him to the 
 patronage of teachers, and the public generally. 
 Y, March 23j 1843, 
 
 THOMAS JESUP. 
 
 From the President and Professors of Columbia College) D. C. 
 The undersigned cordially join in the recommendation above given. 
 
 COLLEGE HILL, D. C., Marcli 25, 1840. vr H 4?T&tr.i 
 
 WM. -HU (jiiLifco, 
 J. C. B. CHAPLIN. 
 
 Philadelphia, Dec. 7, 1839. 
 
 SIR. I attended, a few days since, your Lecture in this, city, "On the Discoveries by 
 the Northmen," and derived very great pleasure from the same. 
 
 IViii" by birth a Northman, and having for some years studied many of the old Ice 
 landic documents concerning this interesting subject, I hesitate not to say that your Lec 
 ture is compiled with much care and labor, and cannot but be interesting and instructive 
 to all persons. Your obedient servant, 
 
 C. D. ARFWEDSON, U. S. Consul at SiocUn>lm. 
 
 From Mrs. WillorJ, of Troy. 
 
 Mr. Davis has delivered an interesting and instructive Lecture Dialing to the history 
 ">ers of the Troy Female Seminary. 
 
 . 
 of our country, to the members of the Troy 
 
 From the Boston Daily Advertiser, Oct. 18. 
 
 The Lectures now being delivered in this city by the Rev. A. Davis, on The Discov- 
 ery of the. American Continent by the Northmen," and on the Ruins of Central Ameri 
 ca," are exceedingly interesting. I had the pleasure last evening of being an auditor of 
 the first Lecture, and was, in common with many others, highly gratified. 1 trust that 
 Mr Davis may meet with that success which he deserves. He has evidently bestowed 
 great labor and investigation upon this interesting subject, of which he has made himselt 
 perfectly master. Those who attend Mr. Davis' Lectures will find themselves well repaid 
 for the time they may spend, by the instruction and pleasure which they cannot tail to 
 
 receive. 
 
 From Professor Dean. 
 
 1 have rend with much pleasure the Rev. Mr.-Davis' printed Lecture on the subject o 
 the Ruins and the Discovery of the Northmen of this Continent. The subject iiselt is 
 ->d of much interest, and in the Lecture much research is evidenced, nixUhe 
 whole treated in a very attractive manner. AMOS DEAN. 
 
 ALBANY, March 31, 1842. 
 
 From the Distinguished Ornithologist, 
 
 BUFFALO, N Y., Aug. I. 
 
 I have read the "Antiquities of Central America, and the discovery of New-Englaud 
 by the Northmen five hundred years before Columbus," by A. Davis, Esq., with extreme 
 pleasure and satisfaction; and I feel much indebted to that learned gentleman for all 
 that he has said on this most interesting subject, in his memorable lecture above men 
 tioned, and I trust that it will be as highly appreciated by all who may peruse it us by 
 myself. I take this opportunity to offer to Mr. Davis my sincere thanks for his goodness 
 to mo and have great pleasure in subscribing myself his friend and respectful humble ser 
 vant. JOHN J. AUDUBON. 
 
 To A. DAVIS, formerly Chaplain of the Senate, &c., N.Y. 
 
 From J. J\rCaul, D.D., L.L.D. 
 
 KINGS COLLEGE, TORONTO, May 30, 18-13. 
 
 :\;y Dear Sir, I have read with great interest your brief condensation of the proofs 
 which may be advanced of the discovery of America before the voyages of Columbus 
 and the evidence afforded by the ruins, recently discovered in the Southern part of this 
 continent, of the existence of a powerful and civilized nation, previous to the arrival of 
 the Spaniards. 
 
 The subject is not one merely calculated to excite the attention and reward the re 
 searches of antiquarians, but is also capable (as per testimonials fully demontrated) of 
 being rendered highly attractive in a popular lecture. 
 
 Belisve me, yoirrs faithfully, 
 Rfv. A. DAVIS. JOHN M'CAUL. 
 
Gaylord Bros. 
 
 Make'* 
 
 Syracuse, N Y. 
 PAT. JAN. 21,1908