THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES ARNOLD'S EXPEDITION. DESCENDING THE CHAUDIERE. AMERICAN HISTORY. BOSTON: G. C. RAND WM. J. REYNOLDS & CO. LIGHTS AND SHADOWS AMERICAN HISTORY BY THE AUTHOR OF PETER PARLEY'S TALES, BOSTON: PUBLISHED BY GEO. C. RAND, CORNHILL. TVM. J. REYNOLDS AND COMPANY. 1852. PRESS OF GEORGE C. RAND & CO. CONTENTS I AGE INTRODUCTORY SKETCH, ... 5 GREENLAND, 91 THE NORTHMEN IN AMERICA, .... 34 COLUMBUS, ... 44 EL DOKADO, .... 50 MIRANDA HURTADO, . . 73 THE TYKANT AGUIRRK, , 79 THE BUCCANEERS, 95 DAME GODIN, .... 107 ALEXANDER SELKIRK, ... 117 THE JESUITS IN PARAGDMT, .... 128 BOLIVAR > 143 THE DICTATOR FRANCIA, ... 159 TOUSSAINT L'OUVERTURE, ... Igi A SALLE AND HENNEPIN, ... 193 THE PILGRIMS, 2Q(5 ALEM WITCHCRAFT, ... 218 j GENERAL PUTNAM, IV CONTENTS LEXINGTON AND BUNKER HILL, ARNOLD'S MARCH TO QUEBEC, THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, ARNOLD'S TREASON, 254 270 281 298 HE continent of America stretches from the polar regions of the north, almost to the frozen zone of the southern hemisphere. Its whole length is nearly nine thousand miles, and, bent upon the surface of the globe, em- braces more than one third of its entire circumfer- ence. It occupies about one third of the land upon the earth. Its inhabitants may be estimated at forty-five millions, or one twentieth part of the entire popula- tion of the globe. In comparison with the eastern continent, America is marked with a scale of grandeur in several of its physical features. The great chain of mountains which extends through both portions of the continent, from Cape Horn to the borders of the Arctic ocean, is the longest in the world. Lake Superior has a sur- face exceeding that of all the fresh water lakes of Europe, Asia, and Africa. The river Amazon bears to the ocean as great a volume of water as the united streams of Europe. The mountains of South Amer- 1* 8 LIGHTS AND SHADOWS OF AMERICAN HISTORY. the age, and lifted above himself, with a still smaller force, mastered the great empire of the Incas. Other Spanish leaders, like a flight of eagles and vultures, pounced upon different portions of the carcass, tear- ing it limb from limb ; and thus, Florida, Mexico, the isthmus which joins the two continents, and the entire peninsula of South America, with the exception of Brazil and Guiana, fell into the greedy grasp of Spain. Cuba, the finest island on the face of the globe, and some other of the West India islands, fell also to the .share of that kingdom. While Spain thus reaped the largest part of the harvest, the other European powers seized upon the remainder. The West India islands were distributed among France, England, Denmark, Spain and Hol- land. Brazil, a territory nearly equal to all Europe, and enjoying unrivalled advantages of soil and climate, was appropriated by Portugal. The great valley of the St. Lawrence was taken by France, and our At- lantic borders were settled by the English. Thus, America was partitioned out among the powers of Europe on the principles of a scramble, in which each of the parties seizes upon what he can get without scruple, or inquiry even as to the rights of possession thus assumed. One principle seems to have been adopted in all these measures, and that is, that enlight- ened, civilized and christianized man may usurp the mastery over his savage brother, and compel him to submission even at the point of the sword. Our Eng- lish forefathers seem indeed to have entertained some notions of justice towards the savages, for they pre- tended to recognize their independence, and to pur- INTRODUCTORY SKETCH. 9 chase their lands ; but the result of intercourse between them has been, not the improvement and civilization of the Indians, but their gradual extirpation from the homes of their fathers. Among all the arts which Christianity and civilization brought to these western shores, the art of improving the social condition of the Indian was not to be found. The course of events in the Spanish portions of the continent was marked with atrocities toward the natives, the recital of which fills the mind with horror. A few pious priests devo- ted themselves with energy and success to the instruc- tion of certain Indian tribes ; but with these slight exceptions, the march of Spanish power, upon this continent was everywhere traced by the blood of the native masters of the soil. A retribution as fearful as the crime itself has followed in the lapse of centuries. Spain, four centuries ago a leading power in Europe, after being gorged by the spoils of her transatlantic dominions, sunk into a long nightmare of ignorance and fanaticism, to be at last awakened by the terrific scenes which followed Bonaparte's invasion nearly forty years ago. The echoes of those shrieks which filled the valleys of Mexico, the heights of the Cordil- leras, and the table-lands of Peru, four hundred years before, were now heard in the cities and plains of Spain herself. Her driveling monarch, as weak as Montezuma, bargained away his crown, and while his people were butchered, and his capital plundered, he contented himself with weaving fantastic garments for the image of the Virgin. Since that fearful day, this unhappy country has been the constant scene of civil warfare, and, at the same time, the brightest colonial JO LIGHTS AND SHADOWS OF AMERICAN HISTORY. jewels in the crown, Mexico, Peru, Chili, one by one, had dropped away, till not an inch of land remains upon the American continent in the possession of tha power beneath whose flag the New World was dis- covered. The conquests of Cortez, Pizarro, Almagro, and Valdivia, mighty as they were, have proved as baleful as they were wicked, and at last have van- ished from the grasp of the spoiler. How stupendous is the lesson which Providence has thus afforded, that even in the history of nations, as in that of individuals, violence, fraud, and perfidy are connected with inevi- table retribution. Among the most interesting phenomena of Ameri- can history are those events which relate to our own country. In the year 1776, the thirteen United States of America declared themselves independent; and since that period, we have maintained our stand among the sovereign nations of Christendom. We have since been making a great experiment in politi- cal philosophy, which is to determine the question whether the people of any country are competent to govern themselves. The prevailing theory of former ages has been, that the great body of the people were too ignorant, corrupt and degraded to be entrusted with power, and that the many must therefore be governed by the few. This theory has led to the establishment of monarchical institutions, which pre- vail in almost all countries throughout the globe. But, as the reformers in Europe were protestants against the spiritual dominion of papacy, so were the founders of our political institutions, repudiators of kings and piinces. They denied the divine right of INTRODUCTORY SKETCH. 11 certain individuals to reign over mankind; they asserted that the end of government was the greatest good of the governed, and that the people were at once the only safe depositary and legitimate source of political power. Upon these principles, they proceeded to erect the fabric of government, the foundation of which is laid in our admirable constitution. This went into opera- tion in 17S9 ; and after an experiment of almost sixty years, we may fairly assume, in the face of the world, that this great experiment, upon which Ave entered, has been attended with complete success. There may be, and indeed there doubtless are, other nations which surpass ours in certain refinements ; but if we regard the general happiness of the great mass of the people, our country is without a rival. If we are without the palaces of Europe, so we are without its paupers. If we have no princes of the blood, no titular nobility, and consequently no courtly standard of etiquette, so we have no starving millions perishing for the staff of life. If we have no costly galleries of paintings or statuary, we have the substantial comforts of life in abundance. If we have no architectural monuments which carry us back to remote antiquity, we have present content, and happy prospects for the future. Most of the blessings Avhich government seems com- petent to bestow, have flowed from our political system; and the great question, whether the people of this country are competent to govern themselves, may be regarded as triumphantly determined in the affirma- tive. Our example has not been without its effect upon 12 LIGHTS AND SHADOWS OF AMERICAN HISTORY. Europe, and thus young America has taught lessons of great import to the Old World. Throughout Eu- rope, the high claims of legitimacy have been weak- ened. The rights of man are more extensively recognized, the obligation of the governing power to secure the happiness of the people at large, is gene- rally admitted. But while the republican institutions of these Uni- ted States have resulted in securing the peace and happiness of this nation, it must be admitted that other experiments of the kind on this continent have been attended with less happy results. Within the last thirty years, ten republics have sprung up from the Spanish dominions in America ; yet it is to be remarked that in none of these have the people enjoyed the blessings of good government. All of them have been torn by faction, shaken by revolution, and desolated by civil war. It is evident, therefore, that republican institutions alone are not competent to confer happiness. These are indeed but instruments, and are good or ill, as they are used by wisdom or folly. In the hands of a sagacious and virtuous peo- ple, they bring peace and prosperity ; but entrusted to the ignorant and vicious, they are even worse than despotism. In considering the question why the southern republics of America have thus resulted in failure, we shall easily discover the answer in the fact, that the people at large are ignorant, fanatical, and profligate. In all these countries, a religious system prevails, which enslaves the mind of the mass, keeps them studiously in ignorance, and fits them to be the tools of intriguing and aspiring leaders. It is INTRODUCTORY SKETCH. 13 a fact not to be overlooked, that it is only in countries where the Protestant religion predominates, that the people have been raised, by education and freedom of inquiry, to that pitch of intelligence and virtue, which are indispensable to the success of liberal institutions. It is sometimes said by European critics, that society in these United States is far behind the high- est standard of civilization in the other hemisphere. We have already admitted that in some things we cannot rival the refinements of Europe, but if the whole mass of society be weighed in the balance, we maintain that the people of these United States will show a higher average of all the elements of civiliza- tion of knowledge, art, comfort, virtue, and power, physical, moral and mental, than any other nation on the face of the globe. In comparing our progress with that of the old and luxurious countries of the eastern continent in the refined arts of poetry, painting, sculp- ture, music and architecture, our inferiority must be admitted; but in all that belongs to the substantial business of society, the master spirits of the western world have shown themselves competent to cope with those of the eastern ; and measuring nation by nation, the comparison is incontestably in our favor. We are sometimes spoken of as without a history, and deficient in those elevating emotions which spring from the memories of the mighty past. This may be true, yet we have our compensation in the inspiring hopes presented by the brilliant prospects of the future. In respect to those, who watch our progress with jealous and disparaging hostility, the era of youth is past ; the present institutions of Europe must vii. 2 14 LIGHTS AND SHADOWS OF AMERICAN HISTORY. be regarded as on the wane, and tending to dissolu- tion. The glory of crowns, and thrones, and dynas- ties, must be sought, not in the present or the future, but in the days that are forever gone. With us, the career of improvement and of glory lies in the near and certain prospect before us. Under these circum- stances, we may easily bear the gibe of the scoffer ; and while he, standing in the midst of decay, point? to the splendors of the past, we, in the midst of pres- ent prosperity, shall find ennobling inspiration in the cheering anticipations of a happy future. We are aware that there are persons among us who indulge more desponding views than these. There are individuals in all countries, who are disposed to judge the world only by its clouds and its tempests ; those who never seem to bear in mind that in all lands there is more sunshine than shadow. These maintain that we are sinking rather than rising in the scale of civilization. In their view, vice and crime are on the increase. The people are becoming less intelligent, and the heart of man grows more and more perverse. The obliquity of these views will appear manifest by the consideration of a few obvious facts. Let us look, in the first place, at the provision already made for education. Not only are the higher seminaries increased throughout the country, but in almost every state of the Union a system of common school education has been adopted. Throughout New England, every child has the opportunity of obtaining instruction, free of charge, in the ordinary branches of an English education. In the state of New York, INTRODUCTORY SKETCH. 15 the same system prevails, and there are more than ten thousand district schools in active operation there. In other parts of the country, a similar state of things exists, or measures are in progress to ensure this result. Everywhere, the importance of education is appre- ciated, and everywhere education is easily obtained. What a mighty contrast does this view present, when compared with that which this country exhibited at the opening of the present century. New England was then the only portion of the nation which had undertaken to educate the whole mass of the people. In the other states, universal instruction was either regarded with aversion, or as a mere chimera. Nor are these facts the most striking evidence of change and improvement upon this subject. Not only are the means of education extended, but the standard of instruction is far more elevated. Forty years ago, grammar, geography and history, were excluded from most of the common schools of the country. They are now introduced into nearly all. There are at least a dozen popular geographies in use among us, and nearly half a million of these are annually sold for the use of our public seminaries. Beside this, in the larger towns throughout the country, there are numerous schools, accessible to all, where higher branches of instruction, such as rhetoric, natural and moral philosophy, botany and chemistry, are taught. Thus, the sciences, which forty years ago were but as a sealed book, except to a favored few, are now laid open, and within the reach of nearly all. In our public schools, the children are taught more of the wonders of science than were revealed to Sir Isaac 16 LIGHTS AND SHADOWS OF AMERICAN HISTORY. Newton, for they enjoy the results not only of his profound researches, but those of Herschel and La Place. At the opening of the nineteenth century, there were not probahly ten expert chemists in the United States, and there are now many thousands. A botanist, forty, years ago, was a great rarity among us ; but botany is now as familiar as household goods. In short, the mysteries of science are mysteries no longer. The mass of the people have broken into the arcana of nature, and possessed themselves of its wonders. Knowledge is everywhere diffused ; the standard of education is elevated ; a love of learning has pervaded the whole mass ; our very streets are teeming with literature, to be devoured by the quick- ened multitude. The toiling million are rising from their prostrate condition upon the earth, and are becoming reading, thinking, reflecting men. These are incontestable facts ; and how are they to be reconciled with the ideas of retrogradation which have been suggested ? The truth is, society is advanc- ing with the force of an irresistible tide in its intellec- tual career. Already, it has made great progress. Forty years ago, the steamboat was but a dream of the schemer ; it is now familiar to all. Fifteen years since, the railroad was but a chimera ; it is now as common as the highway. The whistle of the loco- motive, once so wild and startling, excites as little emotion now as the rumbling of the wagon-wheel. These mighty improvements are apt illustrations of the progress we have made in science and art. In the year 1800, we travelled on foot or on horseback, at the rate of five miles an hour ; we now glide along INTRODUCTORY SKETCH. 17 in the locomotive's train, almost with the swiftness of 'he eagle. Such is the onward march of society in less than half a century. Nor let it be supposed that we have reached the end of improvement, or that the age of discovery is over. A short time since, the arts and sciences were confined to the few ; they are now in the hands of the many. A hundred thousand ingen- ious heads and strong hands are this day thundering at the gates of knowledge, and demanding entrance into its hidden places. Upon the sea and upon the land, in field and mine and cavern, in alkali and acid, in the fleeting air and subtle gas, in mineral and metal, in light, heat and electricity, in the cloud and the tempest, in the bowels of the earth, and at the extrem- ities of the poles everywhere, human philosophy is at work with its crucible and its blowpipe, its micro- scope and telescope, its hammer and wedge, seeking the discovery of new facts, or the solution of old phenomena. Let it not be supposed that these re- searches can be in vain. The temple of science is of boundless dimensions ; and we have reason to believe that hitherto we have only trod its threshold. Nor do we think that the moral advancement of society is greatly less than its intellectual. The insti- tutions of religion, formerly obtaining a reluctant support by law or the stern guardianship of authority, are now better sustained by the free will of the com- munity. The general standard of morality is higher than in former days. The discipline of the churches is more strict, the requisitions of society are more exalted. Conduct that was tolerated thirty years ago, B 2* IS LIGHTS AND SHADOWS OF AMERICAN HISTORY. especially in public men, would be fatal to their stand- ing now. The cause of temperance has not only wrought a great change in the community by partially removing the chief source of vice and crime, but it is evident that society itself, before it could sustain such a cause, must have been greatly purified and exalted. We do not mean to assert that vice and crime have ceased to exist ; we do not mean to say that dark stains do not continue to rest upon the bosom of humanity; but we affirm that wickedness is becoming more and more rare, and virtue more and more common. Two things are now clearly settled in the community. Vice of every kind is looked upon with general repro- bation, and virtue with open approval. There is no party, no sect, no body of men, who will dare, in the light of the present day, to be the advocates of the former, or the enemies of the latter. The moral vision of society is distinct and clear, and distinguishes truth from error in all important things, as readily as the eye distinguishes between light and darkness. If there are still evils among us ; if prejudices are indulged, and wrongs perpetrated by society, we may entertain the confident hope that they will ere long be obliterated, or at least softened by the united force of that intelligence and virtue which are now diffused among us and constitute the basis of public opinion. In stating our present condition and future pros- pects, we should not neglect to notice the improved state of society in respect to the comforts, conve- niences and luxuries of life. Our country has ever been happily free from the melancholy spectacles of beggary and pauperism, which afflict the heart of the INTRODUCTORY SKETCH. 19 traveller in every portion of the Old World. Here, each person, with moderate industry, may enjoy the comforts of life. Nothing is more common than to see whole villages in our country , where almost every individual is the independent proprietor of the roof beneath which he dwells. Such scenes are not to be witnessed in any other part of the globe. Nor is the condition of society in these respects stationary ; year by year, there is improvement old evils are con- stantly being mitigated or removed, and new comforts introduced. The houses are better than they were twenty years since ; the furniture more abundant and tasteful. With the advance of knowledge and the improvement of the arts, a higher estimate is put Upon life, its comforts, enjoyments and duties ; and this results in an onward march toward that standard of perfection, which humanity may reasonably hope to attain. If we may be permitted to look to the future, and consider the probable destiny of our country, in a political aspect, we cannot fail to indulge in the brightest anticipations. Already are these states the asylum to which the oppressed of all lands are flying for deliverance from sorrow, and for the enjoyment of peace and prosperity. The thousands that flock .0 our shores, are so many living witnesses in behalf of our country, and afford an overwhelming refutation of the slanders poured out upon us by the enemies of liberty and human rights. It is vain to deny that we have attained a state of general happiness realized by no other country. Under the genial influence of our institutions, our population is doubled in five-and- 20 LIGHTS AND SHADOWS OF AMERICAN HISTORY. twenty years. Many who are now living will doubt- less see it reach fifty millions ; the wave of emigration has already swept over the Rocky Mountains, and broken upon the shores of the Pacific. Ere thirty years are past, we have reason to believe that the mighty valley of the Mississippi will be teeming with an abundant population that the streams which cen- tre in the Columbia will turn the busy wheels of the factory, and waft the abundant agricultural harvest to a metropolis yet to rise at its moiUh that a contin- uous line of railroad will extend from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and that a journey from one ocean to the other will be a familiar incident with our citizens. The wires of the magnetic telegraph will speedily be extended to the Mississippi ; and before the present gen- eration has passed away, by the magic power of this amazing invention, the inhabitants of Astoria will read at noon an account of the events which have trans- pired in the morning, of the same day, along the shores of the Atlantic. With such anticipations, is it not a privilege to be an American ? and who shall not feel himself bound, by its enjoyment, to such a course of action as may promote the glory and prosperity of his country ? GREENLAND. REENLAND is well known as the most northern tract of land lying between Europe and the continent of America ; but its nearer propinquity to the latter justifies us in regarding it as a part of the western world. Considering its vast extent in comparison with the small portion yet known, it may justly be enu- merated among the unexplored regions of the north. It was long supposed to be connected with the Amer- ican continent ; but the discoveries of Parry, Ross, Back and others have recently proved that the waters of Baffin's Bay and the Arctic Ocean to the north- west are united by a continuous channel, thus sepa- rating Greenland from the continent, and forming it into an island. The name of Greenland, or Greenland, was be- 22 GREENLAND. stowed on the eastern coast of this country by its dis- coverers, the Norwegians and Icelanders, from its uncommonly verdant appearance. This side, now called Ancient, or Lost Greenland, is at present almost entirely unknown to us, having heen inaccessible, on account of the ice, for a long period of time. The tales of Icelandic writers, who describe in glowing colors the fertility of ancient Greenland, and the beauty of its villages and churches, are generally thought to be mere fictions, or exaggerations. It is, notwithstanding, a fact that traces of a superior state of cultivation have been observed along the western coast, and the remains are still to be seen there of dwelling-houses and churches, probably erected by the Norwegians long since. West Greenland is inhabited by people of Euro- pean descent, between the 62d and the 71st degrees of north latitude. The shore is lofty, rugged and barren, rising close to the water's edge into tremen- dous precipices and lofty mountains, crowned with in- accessible cliffs, which may be discerned from the sea at the distance of a hundred miles. All the moun- tains and hills, except where the rocks are smooth and perpendicular, are covered with eternal ice and snow, which accumulate particularly on elevated flats, entirely filling many of the valleys, and proba- bly increasing from year to year. Those rocks on which the snow cannot lie, appear at a distance, of a dusky gray color, and without any sign of vegetation ; but upon a nearer inspection they are found to be streaked with numerous veins of colored stone, with here and there a little earth, which affords a scanty GREENLAND. 23 nourishment to some hardy species of heath. The valleys which contain small brooks and ponds, are overgrown with low brushwood. The whole coast is indented with deep bays or fiords, which penetrate a great distance into the land, and are sprinkled with innumerable islands of the most fantastic shapes. At about the 63d degree of latitude is a remarkable place called the Ice Blink. This is a large and lofty sheet of ice, which casts by its reflection a brightness over the sky, similar to the northern lights, and which may be discerned at a great distance from the land. The mouth of an adjoining bay is blocked up by ice, driven out by the ebb tides, and so wonderfully piled up by the waves, that the space between the islands is com- pletely vaulted over, and the whole presents the sublime spectacle of a stupendous bridge of ice eigh- teen miles long and nearly five in breadth. Under the arches of the bridge, which are from twenty to sixty yards high, boats may enter the bay, though threatened with destruction by the masses impending from above. This coast is often beset with icebergs, or enor- mous islands of ice, which float about in the sea, and exhibit an endless variety of shapes. Some look like churches or castles, adorned .with turrets and spires, others like ships under full sail, and so close is often the resemblance that pilots have been deceived, and have rowed off to them in order to guide the imagi- nary ships into port. They are composed of extremely hard ice, perfectly transparent, and generally of a pale green color, though some pieces are found of a sky-blue : when melted, and frozen a second time, the ice is 24 GREENLAND. white. Twenty or thirty of these icebergs may often be seen after a violent storm, chasing each other in and out of Davis's Strait. Some of them frequently ground in the shoal water near the coast, and remain there for years, till at last they break to pieces, or are forced off by the wind and currents. Most of them are finally carried down to the latitude of Newfound- land and Nova Scotia, when they melt under the beams of the summer sun. No trees grow in Greenland, yet the country is plentifully supplied with fuel. The streams of the ocean bring with them immense quantities of wood, and deposit it upon the islands along the shore. Among this drift timber are often found great trees torn up by the roots, which, by driving and dashing many years amidst the ice, have been stripped of their bark and branches, and eaten through by the worms. These trees are chiefly pine and fir. The cold in Greenland is so intense, that in February and March the stones are split, and the sea smokes like an oven. This is called frost-smoke : it raises blisters on the skin, and congeals into minute particles of ice, which are driven before the wind, and cause so sharp a cold that it is scarcely possible to stir out of doors without having the face and hands frozen. At such times the Greenlanders are in danger of starvation. In sum- mer, the heat is often so powerful as to melt the pitch on the decks of the vessels, but this is never of long continuance. Above the 66th degree, the sun does not set for many days before and after midsummer, and in all parts of the country it is so light during the summer nights, that the smallest print may be read, GREENLAND. 25 and the mountain-tops are continually gilded by the sunbeams. During the period in which the sun never sets, he ceases to dazzle a few hours after noon, and is entirely shorn of his powerful beams, appearing only like a full moon, which the eye may dwell upon with impunity. The winter nights, on the contrary, are proportionally long, and at Disko Bay the sun never rises from the 30th of November to the 12th of January. The inhabitants enjoy then only a clear twilight, caused by the reflection of the sun's rays from the cold, dense atmosphere and the icy summits of the mountains. In Greenland, it is never so dark at any season as in more southern regions. The light of the moon and stars, shining through the clear cold air, is so brightly reflected by the snow and ice, that common sized print may be read at all times of the night : and when there is no moon, her loss is more than repaired by the Aurora Borealis, which illuminates the heavens in a most beautiful manner. Sometimes nearly the whole sky appears like one vast dome of burnished gold, which is presently trans- formed, with the rapidity of lightning, into all sorts of fantastic shapes, often presenting the appearance of a glorious amphitheatre splendidly fitted out with daz- zling furniture, and decked in all the colors of the rainbow. This fire-built structure does not last many minutes. All its parts soon acquire a tremulous mo- tion, and the rays cross and intermix with inconceiv- able velocity, dancing sportively through the heavens with a constant interchange of coloring, and in the most wonderful variety of forms, till the approach of the sun closes the magical exhibition. The sudden- vii. 3 26 GREENLAND. ness with which the scenes shift resembles the rapid succession of different forms produced by shaking a kaleidoscope. The aboriginal Greenlanders vaguely term them- selves Innuit, that is, men or natives. The Iceland- ers, who first discovered and colonized the country, bestowed upon them the contemptuous appellation of Skrcsllings, expressive of their dwarfish and imbecile appearance. Their stature rarely exceeds five feet, and their appearance promises little bodily vigor. They have a dark skin, but this is probably not natural to them, as their children are born white. Their un- cleanly habits, their continual use of blubber, their smoky houses, and their total neglect of washing, soon change their complexion. They have universally long, coarse, and coal-black hair, and are so fat that they can bear an extreme degree of cold with slight clothing. They are very nimble-footed and strong. A man who has eaten nothing but seaweed for three days, will manage his kajatc or skiff in the heaviest sea ; and a woman will carry a whole rein- deer eight or ten miles. They consider themselves the only civilized people in the world, and the highest praise they bestow upon a European is to say, " He is almost as well bred as we." A Greenlander in his kajak is an object of wonder. His sable sea-dress, shining with rows of white bone buttons, gives him a striking appearance. He rows with a celerity almost incredible, and when charged with letters from one settlement to another, will go fifty miles in a day. He dreads no storm ; and as long as a ship can carry her topsail, he braves the GEEENLAND. 27 mountain billows, darting over them like a bird, and even when completely buried in the waves, he soon re-appears, skimming along the surface. If a breaker threatens to overset him, he supports himself in an erect position by his oar, or if he is actually upset, he restores himself to his balance by one swing of that instrument. But if he loses the oar, it is certain death. If we use the name of savage to imply a brutal, un- social and cruel disposition, the Greenlanders are not savages. They are not intractable, wild or barbarous, but mild, quiet, and good-natured. They live in a state of natural liberty without formal government, but in social communities of a republican character. These societies, which consist of several families in one house, or of several houses on an island, are not kept together by fixed laws and an organized power to enforce them, but by a certain order mutually under- stood and spontaneously agreed to. They have in this way subsisted for several centuries, with more quietness than any community in Europe. Few materials can be collected for the history of this peo- ple, as they have no oral traditions of any importance, nor are there any records or monuments of antiquity among them. All they know of their ancestors is this, that they expelled the Kablunat, or former colo- nists of the country. According to the Icelandic chronicles, Greenland .vas first visited by Europeans in the ninth century, iiric, the son of Thorwald, was obliged to flee from Iceland to avoid the consequences of a murder. He had been informed that a certain Gunbicern had dis- 28 GREENLAND. covered a new country in the west, and he steered in that direction. He first came in sight of the land at Herjolf 's Ness ; then coasting along to the southwest, he wintered in a pleasant island, and named the strait adjacent, Eric's Sound. The following summer he spent in examining the mainland, and returned in the third year to Iceland. The glowing description which he gave of the verdant meadows, the woods and the fisheries of this newly discovered territory, which he called Greenland, allured such multitudes, that twenty- five ships full of colonists followed him thither in the ensuing spring, with a large stock of household goods, and all sorts of cattle. New swarms of settlers fol- lowed in subsequent years from Iceland and Norway, and planted their colonies thickly along the eastern and western coasts. One hundred and ninety villages on the eastern, and a hundred and ten on the western shores of Greenland, are enumerated by contemporary writers. A short time after these events, the Icelanders renounced their Scandinavian creed and embraced Christianity. Greenland was continually receiving new colonists, and ere long, the Christian population became numerous. A bishop was sent thither from Denmark in 1122, and fixed his residence at Gardar. The commerce of the country was now considerable. Cattle, peltry, fish, butter and cheese were exported in large quantities. There appears to be no evidence that Greenland was inhabited when first discovered by the Icelanders. In the fourteenth century, the Skrcellings suddenly made their appearance in West Greenland, where GREENLAND. 29 they killed several of the people and captured others. Ivar Beer, the Greenland justiciary, was sent by the bishop with some ships to expel them from the coast, but on landing, he found all the invaders had fled, and left behind them a large drove of sheep and oxen. Nothing more was heard of this body of Skroellings. All accounts of the state of Greenland draw to a close soon after this date. The eastern coast was shut in by immense masses of ice, which have never since dispersed, and this territory bears the name of ." Lost Greenland." In the west, the Skroellings again appeared, and the settlers fled before their encroach- ments. Presently we lose all sight of the country. Some traces of the colonists were however discovered long afterward. About the year 1530, Bishop Amund, of Skalholt, in Iceland, on his return from Norway to that island, was driven by a storm so near to the coast of Greenland, at Herjolf 's Ness, that he could see the inhabitants driving home their cattle. He did not land, but bore away before a favorable gale which immediately sprung up and carried him on his voyage. A Hamburg seaman was thrice driven among the islands on this coast, where he saw huts like those of Iceland, but could discover no people. Fragments of shattered boats have been frequently stranded on the coast of Iceland, and in 1625, an entire canoe was driven ashore, compacted with sinews and wooden pegs, and smeared over with blubber. An oar was also found, inscribed in Runic characters with the words, " Oft was I tired while I drew thee." The name of Greenland was almost forgotten, when the discovery of America by Columbus and his suc- 3* 30 GREENLAND. cessors revived among the Danes a recollection of this lost colony. Frederic II., in 1578, sent the famous navigator, Magnus Hennington, in search of it. After many perils from storms and ice, he succeeded in gaining sight of the land, but returned home with the marvellous report, that the ship all at once stood still and could not by any means be forced onwards, although it blew a fair and strong breeze, and there was an unfathomable depth of water. He ascribed this mysterious obstruction to a submarine rock of loadstone. Others affirmed that a remora, or sucking- fish, had seized the ship with its teeth. Fear of the ice on the part of the navigator, is a much more proba- ble explanation of the matter. Martin Frobisher, who was sent by Queen Eliza- beth, two years before, to make discoveries in the northern seas, is supposed to have seen Greenland. His description of lands that he discovered, agrees very well with that country. But he also informs us that the natives were a very civilized race, and their king, Cakiunge, was covered with gold and jewels. Such a fiction impairs our belief in his narrative. John Da- vis, in 1585, and the two following years, explored a considerable part of the western coast, and traded with the natives. The Danes were roused to new exertions by these discoveries, and sent three ships to Greenland in 1605, under John Knight, an English seaman of long experience in the Greenland seas, and the Danish Admiral Lindenow. The admiral an- chored on the eastern coast, but distrusting the sav- ages, he remained there only three days, bartering for skins. Seizing two of the natives, he returned to GREENLAND. 31 Denmark. Knight sailed with two other ships to the western coast, where he found inhabitants much more barbarous than those at the east. He also met with rich silver ore. He took five of the Greenlanders prisoners, one of whom he killed in order to terrify the rest into submission. The king of Denmark was so much encouraged by the success of this expedition, that he sent out the admiral in the following year, with three of the Greenlanders as interpreters. They arrived in Davis' Strait in May, 1606. At their first attempt to hold intercourse with the natives, the latter kept aloof. At the second place where they landed, they were received with a show of hostility. At a third place, where the natives absolutely rejected all intercourse, one of the admiral's men ventured on shore in hopes of conciliating them by presents. But no sooner had he set foot on land, than they fell upon him with their wooden knives, and, before he could receive any assist- ance, hewed him in pieces, in revenge of the violence committed by the Danes the preceding year. The commander, losing all hope of opening a communica- tion with the natives, returned home. The fate of the Greenlanders who were carried to Denmark, was most melancholy. Though they received the kindest treatment and were well sup- plied with the dainties of their own country, fish and train oil, they frequently looked with longing eyes and heart-breaking sobs toward the north. At length they escaped to sea in their boats, intending to find their way home across the ocean ; but being driven back by a violent wind ';o the coast of Schonen, two 32 GREENLAND. of them died of grief. Two of the survivors again attempted to escape, and only one of them was re- covered. This forlorn being was observed to weep most bitterly whenever he saw a child hanging on its mother's neck, whence it was supposed, for no one understood his language, that he had a wife and children in his native country. The remaining two lived ten or eleven years in Denmark, and were em- ployed in the pearl fishery ; but were so rigorously tasked, even in winter, that the one died, and the other fled to the sea in his boat ; but, being recaptured above a hundred miles from land, he likewise pined away and died of home-sickness. The Danes continued their attempts to explore Greenland. Some of their ships could not approach the land on account of the ice, and others failed in the enterprise from various causes. In 1636, a company of Copenhagen merchants fitted out two vessels, which reached Davis' Strait, and traded With the natives. One of the sailors discovered on the beach a glittering kind of sand, which was of a golden color and extremely heavy. The crew believed they had discovered another Ophir or Peru, and loaded both ships with it. On their return to Copenhagen, it was examined, and pronounced to be of no value. The whole was therefore thrown into the sea; but not long afterward, a foreign artist succeeded in extract- ing grains of gold from a sand found in Norway, precisely similar. The captain of the Greenland expedition now died of vexation, and no other person was able to find the place where the glittering sand had been obtained. GREENLAND. 33 The Danes seem to have given up Greenland in despair, when, about the year 1715, Hans Egede, a clergyman of Vogen, in the north part of Norway, had his sympathies strongly excited on reading in the Danish histories that Christian inhabitants formerly lived in Greenland, all knowledge of whom was lost, and who had probably sunk into paganism. It ap- peared to him to be the duty of every philanthropic Norwegian to search out his lost countrymen, and reclaim them to Christianity and civilization. Being of an enthusiastic and persevering temper, he suc- ceeded in engaging several other persons in the enter- prise, which at length received the sanction of the king; and in May, 1721, he sailed from Copenhagen, with a company of forty settlers, for Greenland. They encountered great perils from the ice on the western coast ; but at length, on the 3d day of July, they landed at Baal's river, in the sixty-fourth degree of latitude, and immediately began to build houses. This was the first settlement in Greenland, which has continued to the present day. By judicious exertions in conciliating the natives, they were brought into friendly relations with the settlers, and new establish- ments were formed along the western coast, which are still in a flourishing condition. More than a thou- sand of the Greenlanders are now, nominally at least, of the Christian religion. THE NORTHMEN IN AMERICA, Dighton Sock. THE remarkable fact that in the tenth century, the continent of America was visited by Europeans, who founded settlements on the shores of New England, seems to be fully substantiated by the Icelandic his- tories which have been brought to light within a few years. According to these documents, the authenticity of which seems indisputable, the Northmen, who settled Iceland and Greenland, pushed their discoveries south as far as the coast of Massachusetts and Rhode Island; to which countries they gave the name of Vinland, from the wild grapes which they found growing there. The first discoverer was Biarne, a young Icelander, who, on returning home from a voyage at the end of THE NORTHMEN IN AMERICA. 35 the summer of 986, found that his father had gone to Greenland. He sailed in pursuit of him, although he had never voyaged in that quarter, and was unac- quainted with the route. For three days his voyage was prosperous ; but then the sky became overcast, a strong wind blew from the north, and he was tossed about for several days, driving he knew not whither. At length, the sky grew clear, and after a day's sail, they descried an unknown land covered with woods and hills. Biarne sailed for several days along the coast, after which the wind shifted to the south, and he made his way north to Greenland. This adventure was no sooner reported to Leif, the son of Eric the Red, a bold and enterprising young chief, than he determined upon an expedition to this newly-discovered region. He set sail, with thirty- five men, and, following the direction pointed out by Biarne, arrived in view of the unknown land. It was rude and rocky, with mountains covered with snow and ice. He named it Helhdand, or the land of rocks. He next came to a flat region covered with forests, which he called MarJdand, or the woody land. Sailing still farther onward, and favored by a north wind, he reached a delightful island near the continent. The soil was fertile, the ground was cov- ered with bushes which bore sweet berries, and there were a river and lake, amply stored with salmon and other fish. The grass was covered with dew, sweet as honey. A German, named Tyrker, penetrated into the country, and came back in great exulta- tion, announcing that he had discovered grapes. He showed them the fruit and they gathered large quan- 36 THE NORTHMEN IN AMERICA. titles ; with which, and the timber they felled, they loaded their vessel, and returned home, naming the country Vinland. The next adventurer was Thorwald Ericson, who sailed for Vinland in 1002. He arrived at a spot where Leif had built some huts, and to which he had given the name of Leifsbooths, spent the winter there, and caught fish. The next spring, he sent a party in his longboat to make discoveries to the south- ward. They found the country beautiful and well- wooded, the trees growing nearly down to the water's edge. There were also extensive ranges of white sand. In 1004, Thorwald sailed eastward and then northward, passing a remarkable headland enclosing a bay ; opposite to which was another headland. He called it Kialarnes, or Keel Cape. He then proceeded along the eastern coast to a promontory overgrown with trees, where he landed with all his crew. He was so well pleased with this place that he exclaimed, " This is beautiful ; here I should like well to fix my dwelling." On the beach they found three canoes, and a number of Indians, whom the Northmen call Skrcdlings. They came to blows with them, and killed all but one, who escaped in his canoe. After- wards a countless multitude came out of the interior , ! of the bay against them. They endeavored to pro- tect themselves by raising battle-screens on the ship's side. The Skroellings continued shooting arrows at them for a while, and then retreated. Thorwald was mortally wounded, and gave orders that they should bury him on the promontory, and plant crosses at his head and feet. From this circumstance the place was THE NORTHMEN IN AMERICA. 37 jylmed Krossanes, or Cross Cape. The following yeai ms men returned to Greenland. Thorfinn, the brother of Leif and Thorwald, not discouraged by the fate of his kinsmen, fitted out another expedition in 1007. It consisted of three ves- sels, and one hundred and sixty men. They took with them various kinds of live stock, being determined to form a settlement if possible. In Helluland and Markland, they found much wild game. Sailing a great distance southwesterly, they arrived at Kia- larnes, where they found long beaches and hills of sand, called by them Furthurslrandir. The land now began to be indented by inlets, and they found grapes and wild grain. They continued their course till they came to .a bay penetrating far up into the coun- try. At the mouth of it was an island, where the current ran very swiftly. Here the eider-ducks were so numerous, that it was scarcely possible to walk without treading on their eggs. They called the island Straumey, or Stream Island, and the bay Straum- Jiord, or Stream Firth. They landed on the shore of this bay, and made preparations for their winter residence. The company afterwards separated, and one party sailed further south to a place where a river falls into the sea from a lake. Opposite the mouth of the river, were large islands. They steered into the lake, and called the place Hop, (Hope.) Grapes and wild grain were growing on the low grounds. Here they erected houses and spent the winter. No snow fell, and the cattle pastured in the open fields. One morning in the beginning of 1008, a number of canoes were seen approaching. One of the North- vii. 4 38 THE NORTHMEN IN AMERICA. men held up a white shield as a token of peace, and the savages joined them and commenced trading. They were very fond of red cloth, and gave furs in exchange. They would have bought swords and spears, but these the Northmen would not sell. While the traffic was going on, a bull, which had been brought from Iceland, came out of the wood and bellowed loudly; which so frightened the savages, that they all ran to their canoes and paddled off. Towards winter, they came again in great numbers : the North- men caused the red shield to be borne against them, and they joined battle. The savages had a sort of war slings, and there was a furious discharge of mis- siles on both sides. The Indians then hoisted a huge ball upon a pole, and swung it from their canoes over the heads of the Northmen, upon whom it fell with a terrible crash. This struck them with a panic, and 'hey fled, till they were rallied by a female named Freydisa, who displayed the most intrepid courage, and caused the savages to fly in their turn. The hostilities of the natives caused them to abandon this place, and they sailed for Kialarnes, from whence they steered northwesterly. The land was covered with thick forests as far as they could see, and some high hills were discerned in the interior, which they considered to be part of a range connected with the heights of Hop. They spent the next winter at Straumfiord, and afterwards returned to Iceland. These voyages, and many others which the North- men made to Vinland, and of which the narratives are so minute and authentic as to place their truth beyond a doubt, render it an indisputable fact, that a THE NORTHMEN IN AMERICA. 39 considerable part of the coast of America was known to these navigators. By a diligent examination of the routes pursued by them, and a comparison of the same with the coasts of Nova Scotia and New Eng- land, it appears that their excursions extended as far as Rhode Island. The bearings, distances and gen- eral description of the territories seen by the North- men, correspond remarkably with the actual situation of the country. Hellerland is Newfoundland ; Mark- land is Nova Scotia ; Kialarnes is Cape Cod, and Furtkurstrandir is the long sandy beach of that penin- sula ; Straumfiord is Buzzard's Bay ; Straumey is Martha's Vineyard, and Hop is Mount Hope Bay, in Rhode Island ; Krossanes is either Point Alderton at the entrance of Boston harbor, or the Gurnet at Ply- mouth. The heights seen in the interior are Milton Hills. In Rhode Island and the neighborhood, there are still extant some remarkable relics of antiquity, which many persons regard as belonging to the age of the Northmen.* At Dighton, on Taunton river, * The Royal Society of Northern Antiquities, at Copenha- gen, have bestowed great care in the investigation of the Rhode Island antiquities, the result of which may be seen in their great work entitled Antiquitates Americana. The Newport Tower is supposed to have been an ancient baptistry ; the figures on the Dighton Rock, which correspond in form to those used by the Northmen during the middle age's, they conceive to mean in substance as follows : Thorfain, with a hundred and thirty men, took possession of this spot. This seems to coincide with the account found in the Ice- landic Skin Books, which states that in A. D. 1007, Thorfinn, 40 THE NORTHMEN IN AMERICA. which falls into Mount Hope Bay, is the famous " writing rock," covered with sculptured characters, which have afforded much scope for the ingenuity of antiquarians. At Newport there is yet to be seen the most remarkable architectural ruin in the United with several ships and a hundred and sixty men, sailed for Vin- land, for the purpose of establishing a colony there. He also took with him cattle, and all such articles as would be needed in an infant settlement. They reached their place of destina- tion, and made a settlement at Hop, supposed to be Mount Hope ; but in consequence of frequent annoyances from the Indians, they returned to their native country, A. D. 1009. Beside the inscriptions upon the Dighton Rock above trans- lated, there are other sculptures, among which are two human figures, representing, as some conjecture, Gudrida, the wife of Thorfinn, in a sitting posture, and Snorre, their son the first person of European parentage born in this country, to whom the genealogy of the great sculptor, Thorwaldsen, is traced THE NORTHMEN IN AMERICA. 41 States. It consists of the lower portion of a circular tower, built of rubble stone, and resting on arches and pillars. No structure of the kind has ever been known in any other part of the country, nor is there any account, either in writing or tradition, of the date 3f its erection. It is evidently, of high antiquity and