THE GIFT OF MAY TREAT MORRISON IN MEMORY OF ALEXANDER F MORRISON AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY, JEREMY BELKNAP, D.D ADDITIONS AND NOTES BY F. M. H U B B A RD. IN THREE VOLUMES. VOL. I. NEW YORK: HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, 329 & 331 PEARL STREET, FRANKLIN SQUARE. 1855. Entered, according to Act of Congress in the year 1841, by HARPEK & BROTHERS, In the Clerk's Office of the South*-:* District of New-York PUBLISHERS' ADVERTISEMENT. IN continuing their series of AMERICAN BIOGRA- PHY, the publishers believe that no work is more worthy of a place in it than the excellent one of BELKNAP, a new edition of which they now offer. The very frequent reference to it as an authority by more recent writers of American history, the uni- form acknowledgment of its singular accuracy by those who have had occasion to investigate anew the lives of those of whom Dr. Belknap has written, the correctness of his judgment, his candour, and the elegance of his style, render it unnecessary for them to say anything farther in commendation of these volumes. They were originally prepared with great labour, and with a scrupulous adherence to facts, and it is believed that the notes and additions to the present edition have been not less laboriously and faithfully made. The publishers have omitted three sketches which were in the original work, viz., the lives of Cabot, Smith, and Hudson, for the reason that memoirs of the same individual^, jsqm.e,wha^ \pore full, have been VI ADVERTISEMENT. already published by them in former volumes of their series. The additions to the author's text, which has been exactly followed, are enclosed in brackets, and the notes of the editor are marked by brackets and the letter H. H. & B. EDITOR'S PREFACE. IN preparing a new edition of a work so highly esteemed for its exactness and impartiality, the edi- tor has had a twofold labour. He has re-examined all the statements of facts made by Dr. Belknap, and compared them with the authorities he used, and with others which were not accessible when he wrote. It has been very seldom that he has found occasion to differ from Dr. Belknap, and that most frequently in cases in which documents recently dis- covered have thrown light upon subjects which the want of them rendered necessarily obscure. It is believed that no work has been published of such magnitude, embracing such a variety of persons and events, and extending over a period of more than six hundred years, in which so few, and those so unimportant, errors are to be found. The manu- script collections yet remaining, from which the work was originally written, prove a degree of care, ful diligence, and a discriminating and impartial judgment, which have been rarely exercised by the historical inquirer. yiil PREFACE. The second part of the editor's labour has been to add occasional illustrations and notes. These it was thought proper to make chiefly biographical. They have gradually swelled much beyond his ori- ginal design ; but it would have been more easy to make them larger than smaller. They have been prepared with much care, and it is hoped that they may not prove entirely unworthy of the excellent work to which they are added. In most cases he has given a reference to the sources on which he has relied, not for ostentation, but because some of his readers may choose to investigate and compare for themselves, and because his own statement might not have the weight of an authority. F. M. H. Northampton, Mass., May, 1841. AUTHOR S ADVERTISEMENT. No apology is necessary for the appearance of this work, if its utility be admitted. My first intention was to place the names in alpha- betical order ; but, on farther consideration, it was found to be impracticable, unless the whole work were before me at one view. A chronological ar- rangement appeared, on the whole, equally proper, and more in my power. Should any deviation from the exact order take place, it must be ascribed to a deficiency of materials ; which, however, it is hoped, will be supplied at some future time. Boston, January, 1794. THE author is so much indebted to HAKLUYT and PURCHAS, that he thinks it but just to give some account of them and their writings. RICHARD HAKLTTYT, prebendary of Westminster, was born in Herefordshire, 1553. He early turned his attention to geography, and read lectures in that science at Oxford, where he was educated, and where he introduced maps and globes into the public schools. X ADVERTISEMENT. In 1582 he published a small collection of voyages and discoveries ; and going two years after as chaplain to Sir Edward Stafford, ambassador to France, he there met with and published a MS. entitled The Notable History of Florida, ~by Laudonnierre and other Adven- turers. He returned to England in 1588, when he applied himself to collect, translate, and digest all the voyages, journals, and letters that he could procure, which he published first in one volume, 1589, to which he afterward added two others, and reprinted the first in 1599 and 1600. He was a man of indefati- gable diligence and great integrity ; much in favour with Queen Elizabeth's ministry, and largely conver- sant with seamen. He died in 1616, and his man- uscripts fell into the hands of Mr. Purchas. Wood and Northouck. A complete set of Hakluyt's voyages is in the li- brary of the Massachusetts Historical Society. SAMUEL PURCHAS was born at Thackstead, in 'Es- sex, 1577, and educated at Cambridge. He was first vicar of Eastwood, in Essex, then rector of St. Mar- tin's, London. He published a folio volume, entitled Purchas his Pilgrimage, or Relations of the World and the Religions observed, in all Ages and Places, &c. The third edition of it is dated 1617. When Mr. Hakluyt's papers fell into his hands, he compiled ADVERTISEMENT. XI four other volumes, which were printed 1625 ; they are entitled, Purchas his Pilgrims. Part i., ii., iii., iv. The whole makes a set of five volumes. They con- sist of journals, letters, narratives, translations, and abridgments, comprehending all the travels and dis- coveries made in all parts of the world, and are, with Hakluyt's work, the largest and most authentic col- lection of the kind extant for that time. By the pub- lishing of this voluminous work Purchas brought him- self into debt, and it has been said that he died in prison ; but Northouck says he died in his own house in London, 1628. A complete set of Purchas's Pilgrims is in the li- brary of Harvard College. I. B SKETCH OK THK LIFE AND CHARACTER OF THE LATE REVEREND DOCTOR BELKNAP.* JEREMY BELKNAP, D.D., pastor of the church in Federal-street, was born in this town June 4, 174-4 5 had the rudiments of his education at the Grammar School under the care of the celebra- ted Mr. Lord, and entered Harvard College in 1758. He discovered, at this early period, such marks of genius and taste, such talents for composi- tion, such a flow of sentiment in conversation, as to engage the esteem of the students, and ar- rest the attention of his instructers. His friends anticipated a life that would be distinguished, and soon beheld, with satisfaction, that it would be eminently useful. Having received the honours of the Universi- ty in 1762, he applied his mind to the various branches of science ; but, feeling very serious impressions of Divine truth, he turned his atten- tion to theology ; and, the more he studied, the more he was captivated with the beauties of re- * First published in the Columbian Centinel, June 25. 1798. Xiv LIFE AND CHARACTER lio-ion. The whole bent of his soul was to the work of the ministry, and to this he in the most solemn manner devoted himself. In 1763 he published a pathetic elegy upon the death of his minister, the Rev. Alexander Cuming, which dis- covered how much he was influenced by devo tional sentiments. When he became a preacher of the Gospel, he was invited to take charge of the church at Do- ver, in New-Hampshire ; there he passed several years of his valuable life with the esteem and affection of his flock, in habits of intimacy with ministers and other gentlemen of the neighbour- ing places, all of whom regretted his departure. He received marks of attention and respect from the first characters of the state, who persuaded and encouraged him to compile a history, which does much honour to our country, and has given the author a name and distinction among the first literary characters of the age. Soon after Dr. Belknap had left the church in Dover, the Presbyterian church in this town be- came vacant. Having agreed to form their church upon Congregational principles, and in- vited him to be their pastor, he accepted the call, and was installed April 4th, 1787. Nothing could have been more agreeable to the ministers and people of the other churches, and to all who regarded the interests of the University of Cam- bridge, with which he became officially connect- ed, being fully confident that he would be a O F 1) K. B K L K N A P. XV great instrument in promoting the cause of reli- gion and learning. As an overseer of the col- lege, he was attentive to the concerns of the in- stitution, always taking a lively interest in ev- erything that respected its welfare. He was an evangelical preacher, but his ser- sions were filled with a rich variety of observa- tions on human life and manners. He never aimed at a splendid diction, but a vein of piety ran through his discourses, and his style was uncommonly elegant and perspicuous, his ar- rangements clear and luminous, and his lan- guage adapted to the subject. He was sure to gratify equally the tastes of the best judges of composition and the humble inquirers after truth. He had a great readiness in quoting and applying texts of Scripture, and had read much of casuistic, systematic, and polemical divinity ; bxit he chose to give every sentiment a practical turn, and to diffuse that wisdom which is profit- able to direct. During the eleven years of his ministry in this place, the society with which he was connected grew and flourished. The attachment was strong and mutual. While they admired his diligence and fidelity, he received from them every testi- mony of respect which marks the character of a kind and obliging people. His attentions to his flock were founded upon a regard to them and the interests of religion. He was their sincere and affectionate friend, XVI LIFE AND CHARACTER and he experienced peculiar pleasure in giving religious instruction to young children.* He was very active in encouraging those publica- tions which are designed for their use and ben- efit, As a husband, parent, brother, or friend, he was tender, affable, kind, and obliging. He gave advice with cheerfulness, and with an at- tention to the concerns of his friends which in- vited their confidence. The friends of Dr. Belknap were numerous. His acquaintance was much increased by his be- coming a member of so many literary and be- nevolent societies j and he was active in promo- ting the good of every association to which he belonged : wherever he could be of any service, he freely devoted his time and talents. The Historical Society have lost their most laborious and diligent member, and the founder of their institution. No man ever had collected a greater number of facts, circumstances, and anecdotes, or a more valuable compilation of manuscripts, which might give information and entertainment to all those who wish to know the history of their own country. In his pursuits of this kind he frequently met with disappoint- ment from the loss of valuable papers ; and he often mentioned to his friends in New-Hamp- * In this pleasing office he was engaged in the afternoon of the day previous to his decease, at a public catechising of the. children of his society. OF DR. BELKNAP. shire and Boston, that it was necessary to pre- serve them by multiplying copies, and making it the principal duty and interest of an association to collect them, and to study their value. The proposals of Dr. Belknap met with the approba- tion and encouragement of several gentlemen in this town and its environs, and the society was incorporated in 1794. As an author, Dr. Belknap appears with great reputation, whether we consider his fugitive performances, which often appeared without a name, or his larger works, which have been cel- ebrated in America and Europe. He wrote much in the cause of freedom and his country before our Revolution ; and his patriotic ardour was as strong and sincere of late as in former years. He was attached to the Federal Constitution of these states, which he thought to be the bulwark of freedom and good government : he was fully persuaded that it had been wisely and purely administered ; and in his conversation, as well as in several of his public performances, mani- fested a conviction that a firm and uniform sup- port of it was essentially necessary to the liberty and prosperity of our country. The first volume of the American Biography excited a strong desire in the minds of the read- ers to have the work continued. A second vol- ume is now in the press ; and the tears of genius ore shed, that a work of so much entertainment anJ information could not be finished by the same XV111 LIFE AND CHARACTER hand. His mind was richly furnished with this kind of knowledge, and he wrote for the public benefit. The love of fame was only a secondary consideration ; his mind seemed to glow with a desire of being useful. The frequent returns of ill health to which this worthy man was subject, gave an anxiety to his friends, and led him to think that his days could not be long upon the earth. This stimu- lated his exertions, that he might do the more service while the day lasted. But he was seized suddenly with a paralytic- disorder at four o'clock, and died before eleven on Wednesday morning.* * Dr. Belknap's anticipations and humble indications of his choice relative to the manner of his death, mny be per- ceived in the following lines, which were found viong his papers after his decease, and which were composM by him probably at the time noted at the bottom, upon tip eudden death of one of his acquaintances : When faith and natience, hope and lov* Have made us meet for heaven above^ How bless'd the privilege to rise, Snatch'd in a moment to the skies, Unconscious to resign our breath. Nor taste the bitterness of Death. Such be my lot, Lord, if thou please. To die in silence and at ease When Thou dost know that I'm trei)ar4. seize me quick to my reward. But if thy wisdom sees it best To turn thine ear from this request ; If sickness be the appointed way To waste this frame of human clay OF DR. BEL KNAP. XIX His remains were interred on Friday last, with every testimony of respect from the inhabitants of the town. The Rev. Mr. Kirkland preached an affectionate discourse from John, ix., 4. The whole assembly expressed their sorrow for the loss of one so near and dear to them as a broth- er and friend ; so amiable in the more tender relations of domestic life, so exemplary as' a Christian, so useful as a minister, so respectable in all the public offices he sustained. Who does not readily acknowledge the worth and excel- lence of such a character 1 List of Dr. Belknap's Publications. \ Sermon upon Military Duty, preached at Do- ver, 1772. A Serious Address to a Parishioner upon the neglect of Public Worship. A Sermon on Jesus Christ, the only Foundation, preached before an association of ministers in New-Hampshire. Election Sermon, preached at Portsmouth, 1784. If, worn with grief and rack'd with pain, This earth must turn to earth again, Then let thine angels round me stand, Support me by thy powerful hand ; Let not my faith or patience move, Nor aught abate my hope or love ; But brighter may my graces shine, Till they're absorb'd in light divine. February 9, 1791. XX A Sermon at the ordination of the Rev. Jedediah Morse, 1789. A Discourse, delivered at the request of the His- torical Society, Octoher, 1792 ; being the Com- pletion of the Third Century from Columbus's Discovery of America. Dissertations upon the Character and Resurrec- tion of Christ, 1 vol. 12mo. Collections of Psalms and Hymns, 1 vol. 12mo. Convention Sermon, 1796. A Sermon on the Day of the National Fast, May 9th, 1798. Dr. Belknap's Historical Works are, History of New-Hampshire, 3 vols. 8vo. The Foresters ; an American Tale : being a e- quel to the History of John Bull, the Clothier, 1 vol. 12mo. American Biography, 2 vols. 8vo. He published also several Essays upon the African Trade ; upon Civil and Religious Lib- erty ; upon the State and Settlement of this Country, in periodical papers, in the Columbian Magazine, printed in Philadelphia, in the Boston Magazine, 1784, in the Historical Collections, and in newspapers. Extract from the Rev. Mr. Kirkland'i Sermon of the interment of the Rev. Dr. Bt *nap " In an eminent manner did the p rson we la ment appear to consider himself, with all his en dowments and opportunities, as placed in tk OF DR. BELKNAP. XXI world by the Great Moral Governor, and bound by the strongest obligations and motives to be faithful, active, and persevering in the duties of this station. In few instances have time and talents been so diligently, conscientiously, and usefully employed. A genius active and origi- nal, a judgment distinguished and correct, and a retentive memory, improved by a learned edu- cation and habitual and close industry, and uni- ted to Christian faith and temper, could not fail to make a character of eminent usefulness and honour. We have reason to bless the great Head of the Church that he devoted himself to the Christian ministry, and entered into the spirit of his office. With what diligence and zeal he strove to acquire and communicate a Christian knowledge, none present can be igno- rant. Seizing the early hour of the day, supe- rior to the enticements of indolence, abhorring idleness, finishing Avhatever study or inquiry he had begun, and using recreations and visits as preparations for serious pursuits, his mind be- came enriched with a large store of theological and evangelical learning. But his ardent curi- osity did not confine itself to the mere studies of his profession. Not by slighting any of the public or private duties of his office, but by su- perior economy of time and industry, he re- deemed leisure to carry his researches into oth- er fields of literature, suited to gratify his taste and increase his usefulness. How well he join- XXII LIFE AND CHARACTER ed to theology and general literature the knowl- edge of human nature and the character of men, was evinced by his discourses, adapted to real life, and unfolding the secret springs of action ; and by his conversation and behaviour, suited to persons, times, and places. " Such intellectual and moral attainments could not but render him an important character to the world, to his country, and to the religious, liter- ary, and domestic societies with which he was connected. The world has reaped the fruits of his labours and researches, not only in his pro- fessional studies, but in other departments of literature j in writings which will maintain their reputation so long as readers of piety and taste and lovers of historical truth remain. It is a painful circumstance attending his death, that it stops the progress of a useful and interesting work, for which the public voice pronounces him peculiarly qualified, and which the world of letters hoped he might extend through the suc- cessive periods of his country's history.* "How he magnified the office of the Christian ministry, you afcd others who enjoyed his minis- trations, who joined in his prayers, who sat un- der his preaching, and who saw him in the pri- vate duties of his station, can better conceive than I describe. If a judicious and seasonable choice of subjects, pertinacity in thought, clear- ness in method, and warmth in application j if * The American Biography. OF DR. BELKNAP. XXill language plain and perspicuous, polished and nervous ; if striking illustration ; if evangelical doctrines and motives ; if a seriousness and fer- vour, evincing that the preacher's own mind was affected ; if a pronunciation free and natu- ral, distinct and emphatical, are excellences in public teaching, you, my brethren of this socie- ty, have possessed them in your deceased pas- tor. Your attention was never drawn from the great practical views of the Gospel by the need- less introduction of controversial subjects, nor your minds perplexed, nor your devotional feel- ings damped by the cold subtleties of metaphys- ics. His preaching was designed to make you good and happy, and not to gain your applause. While the manner, as well as the matter, was suited to affect the heart, no attempt was made to overbear your imaginations and excite your passions by clamorous and affected tones. "While the Church is deprived of a distin- guished minister, the republic of letters of an accomplished scholar and writer, the country mourns a patriot. Ever a strenuous asserter of the rights of the colonies in speech and writing, and a warm friend of the Revolution which ac- complished the independence of the United States, he was also a decided advocate and sup- porter of the government of our own choice which succeeded, and of the Constitution of the states in union, which he considered the bulwark of our national security and welfare. His love LIFE AND CHARACTER, ECT. of true liberty was equal to his hatred of licen- tiousness j his zeal for the equal rights of man to his zeal for the defeat of faction and anarchy. Actuated by public spirit, and viewing it the duty of every citizen to throw his whole weight into the scale on the side of law and order, he was earnest in his wishes and prayers for the govern- ment of his country, and in critical periods took an open and unequivocal, and, as far as profes- sional private duties allowed, an active part. "The academies and societies instituted for arts and sciences, for promoting historical knowl- edge and humanity, as well as the University, are deprived of all that assistance and support which, as far as health permitted, they derived from one whose preponderating desire was to do good, whose solid mind was superior to the vanity of applause, and valued everything in proportion to its utility. "As a son, a husband, a father, a brother, a friend, and neighbour, what he was their bleed- ing hearts can tell who were connected with him in these interesting relations j who knew his kind and cheerful temper, his sincere and guileless disposition, his disinterested benevo- lence, and his activity in every good work." CONTENTS OP THE FIRST VOLUME. PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION .2" CHRONOLOGICAL DETAIL ....... 59 BIRON .77 MADOC 129 ZENO 138 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS ....... 156 JAMES CARTIER ......... 230 FERDIXANDO DE SOTO 258 HUMPHREY GILBERT 272 WALTER RALEIGH AND RICHARD GRENVILLE . . .289 OH THE CIRCUMNAVIGATION OF AFRICA BY THE AN- CIENTS, AND ITS PROBABLE CONSEQUENCE, THE POPULATION OF SOME PART OF AMERICA. THE first navigators of whom we have any account were the Phoenicians, who were scattered along the coasts of the Mediterra- nean and of the Red Sea. As early as the days of Moses they had extended their nav- igation beyond the Pillars of Hercules, on the western coast of Africa towards the south, and as far northward as the Island of Brit- ain, whence they imported tin and lead,* which, according to the universal testimony of the ancients, were not then found in any other country. From the accounts given in ancient history of the expeditions of Sesostris, king of Egypt, some have been led to conclude that he made a discovery of all the coasts of Africa, f However this might be, there is no doubt that * See Numbers, ch. xxxi., v. 22. * Forster's History of Voyages and Discoveries, p. 7. I.-C 28 ""*' TRELIfcltfAfi Y .-TWSSERTATION. he 6ptnj^' pi' tsnved 3- 'commercial course* with 'Indid "siftti*. Ethiopia by way of the Red Sea. It hath also been thought that the voyages of the Phoenicians and He- brews to Ophir, in the time of Solomon, were nothing more nor less than circumnavi- gations of Africa.* But, leaving these, for the present, in the region of conjecture, the earliest regular ac- count which we have of any voyage round the Continent of Africa is that performed by order of Necho, king of Egypt, and recorded by Herodotus ; the most ancient historian, except the sacred writers, whose works have come down to our time. His character as a historian is " candid in his acknowledgment of what is uncertain, and absolute when he speaks of what he knows." The date of Necho's reign is fixed by Rollin 616 years before Christ. The da*e of Herodotus's his- tory is placed by Dufresnoy in the third year of the 83d Olympiad, answering to 446 years before Christ : so that he must have penned his narration of this voyage in less than two centuries after it was performed. I shall give his account at large, in a literal translation from the Geneva edition of his work, in * Forster's History of Voyages and Discoveries, p. 7. PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. 29 Greek and Latin, by Stephanus.* In de- scribing the several great divisions of the earth, he speaks thus : " I wonder at those who have divided and distinguished Libya,! Asia, and Europe, be- tween which there is not a little difference. If, indeed, Europe agrees with the others in length, yet in breadth it does not seem to me worthy to be compared. For Libya shows itself to be surrounded by the sea, except where it joins to Asia. Necos, king of the Egyptians, being the first of those whom we know to demonstrate it. After he had desist- ed from digging a ditch from the Nile to the Arabian Gulf (in which work above twenty thousand Egyptians perished), he betook him- self to raising armies' and building ships, part- ly in the North Sea,1: and partly in the Ara- bian Gulf, at the Red Sea, of which they yet show some remains. He sent certain Phoe- nicians in ships, commanding them that, having passed the Pillars of Hercules, they should penetrate the North Sea, and so return to Egypt. The Phoenicians, therefore, loos- * Lib. iv., chap. 42. t Libya is the name by which the whole Continent of Africa was called by the Greeks. t By the North Sea is meant the Mediterranean, which lie* north of Egypt. $ Lib. ii., ch. 48. 30 PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. ing from the Red Sea, went away into the Southern Sea, and, directing their ships to land, made a seed-time at the end of autumn, that they might expect a harvest, and might assiduously coast Libya. Then, having gath- ered the harvest, they sailed.* Thus, two years being consumed, in the third year, coming round the Pillars of Hercules, they returned to Egypt, reporting things which with me have no credit, but may perhaps with others, that in sailing round Libya they had the sun on the right hand.^ In this manner it was first known. " In the second place, the Carthaginians have said that a certain Sataspes, son of Te- aspis, a man of the Achamenides, did not sail round Libya when he was sent, but, be- ing deterred by the length of the naviga- tion and the solitude of the country, returned home, having not fulfilled the labour which his mother enjoined him. For he had viola- ted a virgin, daughter of Zopyrus, the son of Megabysus ; and for that cause being by Xerxes condemned to be crucified, his * " Into whatever part of Libya seamen came, they waited for harvest, and when they had reaped they loosed from the shore." (Note of Stephanus.) t I. e., They being in the southern hemisphere, and sailing westward, saw the meridian sun on the right hand. PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. 31 mother, who was sister to Darius, liberated him, because, she said, she would impose on him a punishment greater than the king's command. Wherefore it became necessary for him to sail round all Libya, till he should come to the Arabian Gulf. Xerxes consent- ing to this, Sataspes went into Egypt, and, having there taken a ship and companions, sailed to the Pillars of Hercules. Having passed them, and having doubled the prom- ontory of Libya called Syloes,* he kept a southern course. Having traversed much of the sea in many months, and finding much more time necessary, he turned about and came back to Egypt. Returning to Xerxes, he reported that, in visiting the remotest coasts, he had seen small men, clothed in Phoenician garments, who, at the approach of his ship, fled to the mountains and left their villages, which he entered, and took nothing from them but cattle. He gave this reason for not having sailed round Libya, that his ship could sail no farther, but was stopped. Xerxes did not believe him, and because he had not performed his engagement, ordered him to undergo his destined punishment.'' * Now called Cape Bojador, in the 26th degree of north lati- tude. 32 PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. To the authenticity of this circumnaviga- tion of the African Continent, the following objections have been made : First, it is said that " the vessels which the ancients employed were so small as not to afford stowage for provisions sufficient to sub- sist a crew during a leng voyage." Secondly, " their construction was such that they could seldom venture to depart far from land, and their mode of steering along the coast was so circuitous and slow, that we may pronounce a voyage from the Mediterra- nean to India by the Cape of Good Hope to have been an undertaking beyond their power to accomplish, in such a manner as to render it in any degree subservient to commerce. To this decision, the account preserved by Herodotus of a voyage performed by some Phosnician ships employed by the King of Egypt can hardly be considered as repug- nant."* * Robertson'8 India, p. 175, American edition. The objections taken from this learned author were not made directly against the voyage mentioned by Herodotus, but rather against the possibility of a passage to India by way of the Atlan- tic Ocean and round the African Continent. However, as he brings this voyage into view in the same argument, and speaks of it dubiously, it is conceived that his sentiments are not mis- represented in the above quotations. PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. 33 I have chosen to consider both these objec- tions together, because that each one helps to destroy the other. For if the vessels were so small as not to contain provisions for a long voyage, this was one reason for the naviga- tors to keep their course near the land, that they might find water, fruits, game, and cat- tle on the shore, as well as fish on the shoals and rocks near the coast, for their subsistence. And if it was their design to keep near the land for the sake of discovery, small vessels were best adapted to the purpose, because they could pass over shoals, through small openings, between islands and rocks, which are generally situate near the coasts of great continents. Besides, if the vessels were small, they could carry but small crews, who would not require very large quantities of pro- vision. But Herodotus has helped us to solve the difficulty respecting provisions in a manner perfectly agreeable to the practice of anti- quity, though unknown to modern navigators. They went on shore and sowed corn, and when it was ripe gathered the harvest. This enables us to account for two circumstances attending the voyage of Necho: the length of time employed, and the supply of provis- ion, at least of bread, consumed in it. 34 PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. Nor was the sowing and reaping any loss of time ; for the monsoons in the Indian Ocean would not permit them to proceed any faster. A ship sailing from the Red Sea with the N.E. monsoon in the summer or au- tumn, would meet with the S.W. monsoon in the beginning of December, which must have detained her in some of the harbours on the eastern coast of Africa till the next April. During this time, in that warm climate, corn might be sown and reaped ; and any other articles, either of provision or merchandise, might be taken on board. Then the N.E. monsoon would carry her to the southern parts of Africa, into the region of variable winds. This regular course and changing of the monsoons was familiarly known to the navigators .of Solomon's ships, and was the cause of their spending three years in the voyage to and from Ophir. " In going and returning they changed the monsoon six times, which made thirty-six months. They needed no longer time to complete the voy- age, and they could not perform it in less."* It is not pleaded that the voyage of Necho was undertaken for the sake of commerce ; or, if the authenticity of it were established, * Bruce's Travels, b. it, chap. iv. PRELIMINAnY DISSERTATION. 35 that it would prove the practicability of a voy- age from the Mediterranean to India round the Cape of Good Hope, by the vessels then in use and th'e nautical skill then acquired. The voyage of which Herodotus speaks might have been a voyage of discovery ; such a one as was perfectly agreeable to the genius of the people by whom it was performed, and of the prince by whose order and at whose expense it was undertaken. " The progress of the Phoenicians and Carthaginians, in their knowledge of the globe, was not owing en- tirely to the desire of extending their trade from one country to another. Commerce was followed by its usual effects among both those people. It awakened curiosity, enlarged the ideas and desires of men, and incited them to bold enterprises. Voyages Avere undertaken, the sole object of which was to " discover new countries and to explore unknown seas"* The knowledge acquired in these voyages of discovery might afterward be subservient to commerce ; and though the Phoenicians might not think it convenient to circumnavigate Af- rica more than once, yet that they carried on a commercial intercourse with different parts of that country, and particularly with places * Robertson's America, vol. i., p. 11, 4th edit. 36 PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. situate on the eastern coast, in the Indian Ocean, we have evidence from the sacred writings. In the reign of Solomon, " the king's ships, with the servants of Hiram and the navy of Tharshish, every three years brought ivory,* apes, and peacocks, besides silver and the gold of Ophir" which is with great reason supposed to be the country now called Sofala, on the eastern coast of Africa, in the southern hemisphere, as the learned Bruce, in his late book of travels, has satis- factorily proved. The prophet Ezekiel, who was contempo- rary with Necho, king of Egypt, in the ac- count which he gives of the merchandise of Tyre, enumerates several commodities which it is well known belong to Africa, " horns of ivory and ebony, and the persons of men."t We may form some idea of the strength and materials of the ships of the Tyrians, and of their skill in navigation, from the following passages in his apostrophe to Tyrus. " They have made all thy ship-boards of fir-trees of Senir ; they have taken cedars of Lebanon to make masts for thee ; of the oaks of Bashan have they made thine oars. Thy wise men, * 2 Chron., viii., 18 ; ix., 21. t Ezekiel, chap, xxvii., ver. 13, 15. PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. 37 O Tyrus, were thy pilots. The ancients of Gebal, the wise men thereof, were thy calkers. The ships of Tharshish did sing of thee ; thou wast replenished and made very glorious in the midst of the seas ; thy rowers have brought thee into great waters." Though we have no particular description of the size or model of their ships, yet they certainly had masts, sails, and oars ; their pilots and calkers were wise men, and they were not afraid to sail in great waters, by which is probably meant the Ocean, in distinction from the Mediterranean. Of the form and structure of the Grecian vessels we have a more particular knowledge. " They were of inconsiderable burden, and mostly without decks. They had only one mast, and were strangers to the use of an- chors."* But then it must be remembered that "the Pho3nicians, who instructed the Greeks in other useful arts, did not communi- cate to them that extensive knowledge of navigation which they themselves possess- ed."! We may hence conclude that the ships of the Phoanicians were superior to the Grecian vessels ; and we have no evidence, from the structure of their vessels or their mode of sailing, to warrant a doubt of the * Rr icrtson's America, vol. i., p. 15. t Ibid., p. 14. 38 PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. ability of their ships or seamen to perform a voyage round the Continent of Africa in three years. To a European theorist such a voyage may seem less practicable than to an American. The Europeans have usually employed none but ships of great burden in their trade to In- dia and China ; but, since the Americans have visited those countries, sloops of fifty or sixty tons have sailed round the Cape of Good Hope to China, and round Cape Horn to the northwest coast of America, and across the North Pacific Ocean. If any doubt can yet remain, it may be entirely removed by the recollection of a voyage performed in the year 1789 by Lieutenant Bligh, of the British navy ; who, being turned adrift by his mutinous crew, traversed the South Pacific Ocean, above twelve hundred leagues, in a boat of twenty-three feet long, without a deck, in much stormy weather, with scanty provisions ; and, having passed many danger- ous rocks and shoals, among unknown isl- ands, arrived in forty-one days at a Dutch settlement in Timor, one of the Moluccas.* The objections, then, against the reality of Necho's voyage, from the size and structure * See the printed narrative by Lieut. Bligh. PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. 39 of the Phoenician vessels and the want of pro- vision, are not so formidable on examination as at the first appearance.* A third objection against the credibility of * Since this dissertation was sent to the press I have met with the following account of an adventure, which adds to the credibility of the circumnavigation of Africa in small embar- cations. In 1534, when the Portuguese had established a government in India, Badur, king of Kambaya, being at war with the Great Mogul, sought assistance from the Portuguese, and offered them the liberty of building a fort at Diu. As soon as this lib- erty was granted and the plan of the fort was drawn, James Bo- tello, a person skilled in the affairs of India, having been in dis- grace with John, king of Portugal, and being anxious to recov- er the favour of that prince, resolved to carry the first news of it to him. Having obtained a copy of the plan, he set out from India in a bark sixteen feet long, nine broad, and four and a half deep, with three Portuguese, two others, and his own slaves. He pretended that he was going to Kambaya, but when he was out at sea, made known his design to go to Lis- bon, at which they were all astonished. Being overcome by fair words, they proceeded on their way, till, finding themselves reduced to distress, the slaves agreed to kill Botello ; but, after killing a servant, they were put to death themselves. With the four who remained Botello held on his course, doub- led the southern cape of Africa, and at length arrived at Lis- bon, where the bark was immediately burned, that no man might see it was possible to perform that voyage in so small a vessel. The king was greatly pleased wtih the news, and restored Botello to his favour, without any other reward for so daring an adventure. See a collection of Voyages and Travels, in quarto, printed at London, 1745, by Thomas Astley, vol. i., p. 82. 40 PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. this early circumnavigation is, that several writers of the greatest eminence among the ancients, and most distinguished for their knowledge of geography, regarded this ac- count rather as an amusing tale than the his- tory of a real transaction, and either enter- tained doubts concerning the possibility of sailing round Africa, or absolutely denied it."* That the Roman geographers and his- torians did doubt and disbelieve the story is very evident ; and the causes are not far to be sought. The first was the jealousy of the Phoeni- cians. " Whatever acquaintance with the remote regions of the earth the Phoenicians or Carthaginians acquired, was concealed from the rest of mankind with a mercantile jeal- ousy. Everything relative to the course of navigation was a secret of state as well as a mystery of trade. Extraordinary facts are recorded concerning their solicitude to pre- vent other nations from penetrating into what they wished should remain undivulged."t One of these extraordinary facts is thus rela- ted by Strabo. The Romans, being desirous to discover the places whence the Carthagin- * Robertson's India, p. 175. t Robertson's America, vol. i,, p. 13. PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. 41 ians fetched tin and amber, " sent a vessel, with orders to sail in the wake of a Phoeni- cian vessel. This being observed by the Carthaginian, he purposely ran his vessel among rocks and sand-banks, so that it was lost, together with that of the inquisitive Ro- man. The patriotic commander of the for- mer was indemnified for his loss by his coun- try."* A second reason was the pride of the Ro- mans. If, as Pope tells us, " With honest scorn, the first famed Cato viewed Rome, learning arts from Greece whom she subdued ;". the same pride would make their wise men scorn to learn geography or navigation, theo- retically, from those best able to teach them. It is acknowledged that the Romans " did not imbibe that commercial spirit and ardour for discovery which distinguished their rivals."! It must also be observed, that there was but little intercourse between them, and that the Carthaginians were deficient in those scien- ces for which the Romans were famous. Among the Phoenicians and Carthaginians, the study and knowledge of their youth were confined to writing, arithmetic, and mercan- * Forster's History of Voyages and Discoveries, ch. i. t Robertson's America, vol. i., p. 14. 42 PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. tile accounts, while polite literature, history, and philosophy were in little repute ; and by a law of Carthage, the study of the Greek language was prohibited, lest any communi- cation should be carried on with their ene- mies.* A third reason was the opinion which the wisest men among the Romans had formed, and to which they obstinately adhered, con- cerning the five zones, and the impossibility of passing from one hemisphere to the other, because of the torrid zone lying between. This doctrine of the zones is so fully repre- sented by Dr. Robertson,! that I need only refer the reader to what he has written on the subject. But, notwithstanding the doubts and the infidelity of the Roman philosophers, and the great deference paid to them by this learned and cautious inquirer, there is one circum- stance which almost convinced him of the reality of Necho's voyage as related by Her- odotus. It is this, that the Phoenicians, in sailing round Africa, " had the sun on their right hand;" which Herodotus, with his usual modesty and candour, says, " with me has * Rollin's Ancient History, book ii., part i., sect. 7. t Robertson's America, vol. i., note 8. PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. 43 no credit, though it may with others." On this the doctor judiciously remarks, " The science of astronomy was in that early period so imperfect, that it was by experience only that the Phrenicians could come at the knowl- edge of this fact ; they durst not, without this, have ventured to assert what would have appeared to be an improbable fiction."* In- deed, if they had not known it by experience, there is not the least conceivable reason for their inventing such a report, nor even for the entrance of such an idea into their imagi- nation. The modest doubt of Herodotus is another argument in favour of the truth and genuineness of it ; for, as he had no experi- ence to guide him, and the idea was new, it was very proper for him to hesitate in admit- ting it, though he showed his impartiality by inserting it in his relation. So much for the voyage performed by the Phoanicians under the orders of Necho, which is the first proof produced by Herodotus of his position that " Lybia is surrounded by the sea except where it joins Asia." His second proof is not so conclusive, nor is the design of his introducing it so obvious. It is the relation of a voyage undertaken by _ * Robertson's India, note 54. 44 PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. Sataspes, a Persian, whose punishment was commuted from crucifixion to sailing round Lybia ; which voyage he began, but returned by the same route, not having completed it. The reason which he gave for returning was, that " his ship was stopped and could sail no farther," which his sovereign did not believe, and therefore put him to death, to which he had before been condemned. The only evidence which this story can af- ford is, that the circumnavigation of the Af- rican Continent was at that time thought practicable. The mother of Sataspes thought so, or she would not have proposed it ; and Xerxes thought so, or he would not have disbelieved the story of the ship being stop- ped ; by which expression was meant that the sea was no farther navigable by reason of land. The exact date of this voyage is not ascer- tained ; but, as Xerxes reigned twelve years, and died in the year 473 before Christ, it could not have been much more than thirty years preceding the time when Herodotus published his history. The voyage of Hanno, the Carthaginian, is thus briefly mentioned by Pliny : " In the flourishing state of Carthage, Hanno, having PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. 45 sailed round from Gades [Cadiz] to the bor- der of Arabia, committed to writing an ac- count of his voyage ; as did Himilco, who was, at the same time, sent to discover the extreme parts of Europe."* The character of Pliny as a historian is, that "he collected from all authors, good and bad, who had writ- ten before him ; and that his work is a mix- ture of truth and error, which it is difficult to separate." An instance in confirmation of this remark occurs in this very chapter, where he speaks of some merchants sailing from India, and thrown by a tempest on the coast of Germany. He also mentions a voy- age made by Eudoxus from the Arabian Gulf to Gades, and another of Coelius Anti- pater from Spain to Ethiopia. Of these voyages, that of Hanno is best au- thenticated. He sailed from Carthage with sixty gaDeys, each carrying fifty oars, having on board thirty thousand men and women, with provisions and articles of traffic. The design of this equipment was to plant colo- nies along the western shore of Africa, which the Carthaginians, from priority of discovery, and from its contiguity to their territory, con- sidered as their own dominion. Hanno was " Pliny's Natural History, lib. ii., cap. f>7. 46 PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. absent five years on this colonizing expedi- tion ; but there is no certainty of his having proceeded any farther southward than the Bay of Benin, in the eighth degree of north latitude. A fragment of his journal, which, at his return, he deposited in the temple of Saturn at Carthage, is now extant ; and though it has been treated as fabulous by several authors, ancient and modern, yet its authenticity has been vindicated by M. Bou- gainville, in the 26th volume of the Memoirs of the Royal Academy of Inscriptions and Belles Lettres, where a French translation of it is given from the Greek, into which lan- guage it was rendered from the original Punic. Concerning the voyage of Eudoxus, the following account is given by Bruce.* He was sent by Ptolemy Euergetes as an am- bassador to India, to remove the bad effects of the king's conduct in the beginning of his reign, who had extorted contributions from merchants of that and other trading countries. Eudoxus returned after the king's death, and was wrecked on the coast of Ethiopia, where * Travels, book ii., chap. 5. The voyage of Eudoxus was originally written by Posidonius, but I have not met with that author. PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. 47 he discovered the prow of a ship which had suffered the same fate. It was the figure of a horse ; and a sailor, who had been employ- ed in European voyages, knew this to have been part of one of those vessels which tra- ded on the Atlantic Ocean, of which trade Gades was the principal port. This circum- stance amounted to a proof that there was a passage round Africa from the Indian to the Atlantic Ocean. The discovery was of no greater importance to any person than to Eudoxus himself; for, some time afterward, falling under the displeasure of Ptolemy La- thyrus, and being in danger of his life, he fled, and, embarking on the Red Sea, sailed round Africa and came to Gades. This voyage of Eudoxus was treated as a fable by Strabo, the Roman geographer, who wrote about a century and a half after the time when it is said to have been performed. The true cause of the incredulity of him and of other Roman authors in respect to these voyages and discoveries was the doctrine of the zones, to which they inflexibly ad- hered, and which entirely precluded all con- viction. These are all the evidences which I have had opportunity to examine respecting the 48 PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. question of the circumnavigation of Africa,* and, upon the whole, there appears to be this peculiarity attending the subject, that it was believed by those who lived nearest to the time when the voyage of Necho is said to have been made ; and that, in proportion to the distance of time afterward, it was doubt- ed, disbelieved, and denied, till its credibil- ity was established beyond all doubt by the Portuguese adventurers in the fifteenth cen- tury. The credibility of the Egyptian or Phoeni- cian voyages round^the Continent of Africa being admitted, and the certainty of the Car- thaginian voyages and colonies on the western shore of Africa being established, we may ex- tend our inquiry to the probability of what has been advanced by some writers, and doubted or denied by others, the population of some parts of America from beyond the Atlantic. The discovery of the Canary Islands by the Carthaginians is a fact well attested. Pliny * Dr. Forster, in his history of voyages and discoveries (chap, i.), refers to three German authors, Gesner, Schlozer, and Michaelis, who have written on this subject, and observes, that " the circumnavigation of Africa by the Phoenicians and Egyp- tians is proved almost to a demonstration." PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. 49 speaks of them as then destitute of inhabi- tants, but containing (vestigia cedificiorum) the remains of buildings. From this circum- stance it must appear that they had been in- habited before the Carthaginian discovery. In Plutarch's time, the Fortunate Islands were not only inhabited, but were so cele- brated for their fertility that they were sup- posed to be the seat of the blessed. When Madeira and Porto Santo were dis- covered by the Normans and Portuguese, both were uninhabited. A question then arises, If these islands were sometimes inhab- ited and at other times deserted, what became of their inhabitants ? It must have been some uncommon event which could induce them to abandon so pleasant and fruitful a country without leaving a single family behind. If they perished in the islands, it is still more extraordinary ; for it is a most singular cir- cumstance that all the inhabitants of any place should be destroyed, and yet the place itself remain. George Glas, who published a his- tory of these islands in 1764, attempts to solve the inquiry thus :* " Almost two thirds of the Canary Islands are covered with calcined rocks, pumice * Page 167, 4to. VOL. I E 60 PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. stones, and black ashes, which have been for- merly thrown out from volcanoes, the re- mains of which are still seen in every one of these islands. Many of the natives might have been destroyed by these violent erup- tions, and the remainder, being terrified, might abandon their country and go in quest of new habitations : but where they went is a ques- tion not easily solved, though some assert that they passed over to America." An event exactly similar is said by the same author to have happened about thirty years before he wrote.* " A volcano broke out in the S.W. part of the island of Lancerotta, near the sea, but remote from habitation, which threw out such an immense quantity of ashes and stones, with so dreadful a noise, that many of the natives deserted their houses and fled to Fuertaventura, another island, for the preser- vation of their lives." But whether we admit the conj ecture that, being thus obliged to quit the islands, they "passed over to America," or not, yet it is extremely probable that, in some of the an- cient circumnavigations of Africa, or in pass- ing to and from these islands, or even in coasting the continent from the Straits of Gib- * Page 200. PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. 51 raltar, some vessels might be drawn by cur- rents or driven by tempests within the verge of the trade- wind, " which begins not far to the southward of the straits, and blows nine months of the year on the coast of Morocco." In this case it would be next to impossible for those who had met with any considerable damage in their masts, sails, or rigging, to run in any other direction than before the wind to the westward, and this course must bring them to the continent, or islands of America. In confirmation of this remark, several facts have been adduced by way of proof. One is thus related by Glas:* " A few years ago, a small bark, laden with corn and passengers, bound from Lancerotta to Teneriffe, met with some disaster at sea, by which she was ren- dered incapable of getting to any of the Ca- nary Islands, and was obliged to run many days before the wind, till she came within two days sail of the coast of Caraccas, in South America, where she met an English ship, which supplied the surviving passengers with water, and directed her to the port of La Guiara, on that coast." La Guiara is one of the ports to which the trade from the Ca- * Introduction, page 5. I E 52 PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. naries is restricted by the King of Spain, and the run thither from Teneriffe is generally performed in less than thirty days with the trade-wind.* Another fact is taken from Gumilla,t who says, " In December, 1731, while I was at the town of St. Joseph, in the Island of Trin- idad, a small vessel of Teneriffe, with six seamen, was driven into that island by stress of weather. She was laden with wine, and bound for one other of the Canary Islands ; she had provision only for a few days, which, notwithstanding the utmost care, had been expended, and the crew subsisted wholly on wine. They were reduced to the last extrem- ity, and were received with astonishment by the inhabitants, who ran in crowds to see them. Their emaciated appearance would have sufficiently confirmed the truth of their story, if the papers which they produced had not put the matter beyond all doubt." A third fact is related by Herrera, the roy- al Spanish historian.^ Columbus, in his sec- ond voyage to America, having discovered * Introduction, p. 329, 333. t Cited by Edwards in his History of the W. Indies, vol. i., p. 109. t Decad. i., book ii., chap. vii. PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. 53 the Island of Guadaloupe, "found a piece of timber belonging to a ship, which the seamen call the stern-post, which they much admired, not knowing which way it should come thith- er, unless carried by tempestuous weather from the Canaries, or from the Island of His- paniola," where the admiral's ship was cast away in his former voyage. Ferdinand Co- lumbus, in the life of his father,* does not distinctly assert this, but speaks of their find- ing " an iron pan," and endeavours to ac- count for it by saying, " that the stones there being, of the colour of iron, a person of an indif- ferent judgment might mistake the one for the other." Not content with this solution, he goes on thus : " though it were of iron, it was not to be admired, because the Indians of the Island of Guadaloupe, being Carib- bees, and making their excursions to rob as far as Hispaniola, perhaps they had that pan of the Christians, or of the other Indians of Hispaniola-; and it is possible they might carry the body of the ship the admiral lost to make use of the iron ; and though it were not the hulk of that ship, it might be the remain- der of some other wreck, carried thither by the wind and current from our parts." * Chapter xlvii., in Churchill's Collections, vol. it E 2 64 PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. The improbability of the Indians having carried " the body or hulk of the ship which the admiral lost" from the northern side of Hispaniola to the eastern side of Guadaloupe, will appear from the distance, which is not less than two hundred leagues in a direction opposite to the constant blowing of the wind. Nor will Herrera's conjecture, that the stern- post of the admiral's ship was carried thither by a tempest, be readily admitted by any who are acquainted with the navigation of the West Indies ; for it must have passed through a multitude of islands and rocks, and, without a miracle, could scarcely have come entire from so great a distance in such foul seas. But the difficulty is farther in- creased by considering what Don Ferdinand and Herrera have both asserted, that, when Columbus had lost his ship, " he built a fort with the timber, whereof he lost no part, but made use of it all ;"* and this fort was after- ward burned by the natives. If, therefore, there be any truth in the story of the stern- post found at Guadaloupe, it must have be- longed to some other vessel, either foundered at sea or wrecked on the shore. Under the head of fortuitous visits to the * Life of Columbus, chap, xxriv. Herrera, book i., chap, xviii. PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION 55 American Continent may be included a cir- cumstance mentioned by Peter Martyr,* that, not far from a place called Quarequa in the Gulf of Darien, Vasco Nunez met with a colony of negroes. From the smallness of their number it was supposed that they had not been long arrived on that coast. t These negroes could have come in no other vessels but canoes ; a circumstance by no means in- credible to those who have read the accounts of Cook and other navigators of the tropical seas. To these facts may be added the casual discovery of Brazil by the Portuguese com- mander Pedro Alvarez Cabral, in his voyage to India in the year 1500, an account of which is preserved by Dr. Robertson. t " In order to avoid the calms near the coast of Africa, he stood out to sea, and kept so far west that, to his surprise, he found Jiimself on the shore of an unknown country, in the tenth degree of south latitude. He imagined at first that it was some island in the Atlantic Ocean ; but, proceeding along its coast for several days, he was gradually led to believe * De orbe novo, Decad. iii., chap i. t Edwards's Hist. West Indies, vol i. p. ] 10. t Hist. America, vol. i., p. 151. 66 PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. that a country so extensive formed a part of some great continent." These instances may serve as so many spe- cimens of the manner in which America might have proved an asylum to some of the ancient navigators of the African coasts or of the Canary Islands ; and being arrived, it would be impossible for them to return. The same winds which brought them hither, con- tinuing to blow from the eastward, would ei- ther discourage them from making the at- tempt, or oblige them to put back if they had made it. No argument, then, can be drawn from hence in favour of a mutual intercourse between this and the old continent. Those who would prove that America was known to the ancients . must produce better evidence than they have yet produced, if they contend for any other knowledge than what was ac- quired bycasual discoverers who never re- turned. The opinion that America was peopled in part by the Phoenicians was long since maintained by Hornius ; and, though reject- ed by many succeeding writers, has been lately revived by Bryan Edwards,* a well-in- formed merchant of the Island of Jamaica. * Hist. W. Indies, vol. i., p. 103, 4to. PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. 57 He extends the argument no farther than to the Charaibe nation, who inhabited the Wind- ward Islands and some part of the Southern Continent, " whose manners and characteris- tic features denote a different Ancestry from the generality of the American nations." In support of this opinion, he has produced, perhaps, as much evidence from a similarity of manners and language as a subject of such remote antiquity can admit. To this elegant work I must refer the read- er, and shall add one only remark, arising from the preceding observations, that if any accession of inhabitants was made to Ameri- ca by the desultory migration of the Phoeni- cian or Carthaginian navigators, it is most rational to look for them between the tropics, the very place where the Charaibes were found A CHRONOLOGICAL DETAIL OF ADVENTURES AND DISCOVERIES MADE BT THE EUROPEAN NATIONS IN AMERICA BEFORE THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE COUNCIL OF PLYMOUTH IN 1620. Those marked with 55" are more particularly enlarged upon in the Lire* of the Adventurers. A.D. BIRON, a Norman, accidentally discovered a 1001. country which was afterward called Winland, KJ" and is supposed to be a part of the Island of Newfoundland. * Crantz. Pontoppidan. 1170. MADOC, prince of Wales, emigrated, and, it KJ" is thought, discovered a new country in the West. Hakluyt, iii., 1. 1358. An island called Estotiland was discovered by E~p a fisherman of Frisland, as related by ZENO. Ibid., 124. 1492. CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, in the ser- in? vice of Spain, discovered Guanahani, and other islands called Bahamas and Antilles. Ferd. Co- lumbus. 1493. COLUMBUS maa'e a second voyage, and dis- covered Dominica, and other islands called Car- ibbees. Ibid. 1497. JOHN CABOT, with his son SEBASTIAN, in the service of HENRY VII. of England, dis- covered the Island of Newfoundland and some parts of a western Continent, as far northward * See the Life of Biron, p. 80. 60 EARLY ADVENTURERS. as lat. 45, and as far southward as lat. 38. HaUuyt, iii., 4-11. J498. COLUMBUS made a third voyage, and dis- covered the Western Continent, in lat 10 N. Ferd. Col. 1499. OJEDA,* a private adventurer, and AMER- IGO VESPUCCI,f followed the track of COLUM . BUS, and discovered the Western Continent, of which Amerigo, after his return to Europe, wrote an account, and published it, from which the continent obtained the name of AMERICA. Robertson. 1500. CABRAL,{ in the service of Portugal, bound * [Alonzo de Ojeda, a man of singular bravery and prowess, who had early signalized himself in the Moorish wars. He had ac- companied Columbus in his second voyage. The merchants of Seville, by the influence of the Bishop of Badajos, who also pro- cured for him the journal and charts of Columbus, put four ships under his command. He made a second, but unsuccessful, voyage in 1501. He had shown himself to be* man of courage and skill, and was afterward (1509?) appointed by Ferdinand governor of that part of the continent which extends from Cape de Vela to the Gulf of Darien. This government, however, was soon broken up by the resolute resistance of the natives. See Irving's Life ot Columbus, vol. iii. H.] t [Vespucci was a gentleman of Florence, born March 9, 1451, a man of science, and an experienced navigator. He returned to Spain in June, 1500. His account of his voyage and discoveries was " drawn up not only with art, but with some elegance." The next year he made a voyage in the service of the King of Portu- gal, and touched on the coast of Brazil. Again, in 1503 he sailed for the East Indies, but returned in June, 1504, having gone no farther than Brazil. He afterward lived in Spain, in the capacity of chief pilot, where he died, Feb. 22, 1512. Irving's Columbus ii., 246. H.] $ [Pedro Alvarez Cabral. After the return of De Gama from his voyage to the East Indies, round the Cape of Good Hope, the EARLY ADVENTURERS. 61 to India, discovered by accident the Continent of America, in lat. 10 south, which was called Brazil. Robertson. J502. COLUMBUS made his fourth and last voyage to the new continent in quest of a passage through it to India. Ferd. Col. 1512. JOHN PONCE,* in the service of Spain, dis- covered the new continent in the latitude of 30 N., and called it Florida. Herrera. 1513. VASCO NUNEZ,f a Spaniard, travelled King of Portugal fitted out a large fleet to prosecute these discov- eries, and gave the command of it to Cabral. To avoid the varia- ble winds and calms which he anticipated on the coast of Africa, he stood out to sea, and so far that he fell in with an unknown country, along which he sailed for several days. Concluding it to be a portion of the continent, he landed and look formal possession in the name of the king, and sent immediately a ship to Lisbon with an account of his unexpected discovery. H.] * [Juan Ponce de Leon, " an officer eminent for conduct no less than for courage." He had subdued the Island of Puerto Rico in 1509 and the following years. For the discovery of Florida he equipped three ships at his own expense, and found daring spirits enough who were eager to share the dangers and honours of his enterprise. The name Florida was given to the newly-found re- gion because he reached it on Palm Sunday (Pascua Florida). He is said to have undertaken this voyage from a most romantic motive ; to search for a fountain, which the Indians had reported of such marvellous virtue, that whoever bathed in it put off at once the infirmities of age, and was. renewed in the .vigour and beauty of youth ; a tale which the simple native honestly told, and which the no less credulous Spaniards fully believed. H.] t.[Vasco Nunes de Balboa was of a noble family of Xeres, in Estremadura, and born in the year 1475. His first voyage to America was made in 1500, under Bastides. He resided some time at St. Domingo, where he became involved in debt ; and to escape, secreted himself on board a ship bound for the continent. They reached Darien, where his energy gained him favour with VOL. I F 62 EARLY ADVENTURERS. across the Isthmus of Darien, and from a mount ain discovered on, the other side of the conti- nent an ocean, which, from the direction in which he saw it, took the name of the South Sea. Robertson. 1519. HERNANDO CORTEZ,* in the service of Spain, entered the city of Mexico, and, in the space of two years, reduced the whole country under the dominion of the King of Spain. Ibid. 1520. FERDINAND DE MAGELLANES,f a Por- tuguese in the service of Spain, passed through the men, and he was put in command of the colony. From this point he made many expeditions, and first gained a sight of the South Sea. He was brought to trial by the jealousy of Pedrarias Davila, who had been appointed governor of that country, and beheaded by his orders in the year 1527. H.] * [Hernando Cortez was born at Medellin, in Spain, in the year 1485, and was educated at the University of Salamanca. He was of an adventurous disposition, and the prospect of riches and dis covery in the New World was just suited to his ardent and rest- less mind. He sailed for America in 1504, and stayed many years in St. Domingo, where he was married. He started for Mexico Feb. 19, 1519. After the conquest of that country, he relumed to Spain in 1523, and was appointed governor of a province in the land he had subdued. He returned again to Spain in 1540, and died there, Dec. 2, 1547. Cruel, perhaps, and unscrupulous, he was yet daring, sagacious, enthusiastic, heroic, and of a generous spirit. H.] t [Ferdinand de Magalhaens, or Magellan, was a gentleman of honourable birth, and had served with much distinction as a soldier in the East Indies. He proposed to Emanuel, then king of Portugal, to conduct a fleet by a westerly course to the Spice Islands. His scheme being rejected, he made the same offer to the court of Spain ; and, having been furnished with five ships, sailed from Seville Aug. 10, 1519. He was slain April 20, 1520, a man of great energy, judgment, and resolution. Robertson. H.] EARLY ADVENTURERS. 63 the strait which bears his name, and sailed across the South Sea, to which he gave the name of Pacific. He discovered the Philippine Islands, and was there killed in a skirmish with the natives. The ship, under the command of SEBASTIAN DEL CANO, returned to Spain by way of the Cape of Good Hope, and thus performed the first circumnavigation of the globe. Life of Magettanes. 1524. JOHN DE VERAZZANI,* a Florentine in the service of FRANCIS I., king of France, discovered the new continent in lat. 34 N., sailed north- ward to lat. 41, where he entered a harbour, which, by his description, must be that of New- York. Thence he sailed E. and N.E. as far as Newfoundland, and called the whole country New France. Hakluyt, iii., 295-300. $ [Giovanni Verazzano was born of a distinguished family at Florence about the year 1475. He was early distinguished by a passion for adventure, travelled in Syria and Egypt, lived several years at Cairo, and navigated the Mediterranean and Adriatic Seas. He was selected by Francis I. to conduct the first expedition fitted out by France for the purpose of maritime discovery. He sailed from a rock near the Island of Madeira, Jan. 17, 1524, with a single ship, the Dolphin, fifty men, and provisions for eight months, and explored the coast of America from Florida to Newfoundland, from 34 to 50 north, a space of 700 leagues, entered the Hudson River and Narraganset Bay, and returned to Dieppe early in July of the same year. A translation of the report he made to Francis is given in Hakluyt, as cited in the text ; and a sketch of the same, with an estimate of the character of Verazzano, may be consulted in the North American Review, vol. xlv., p. 293-311, by G. W. Greene, U. S. consul at Rome. He is said to have made a second voyage of discovery, and, on landing, to have been ta- ken prisoner by the natives, and devoured in sight of his comrades -H.] 64 EARLY ADVENTURERS. 1525. STEPHEN GOMEZ, in the service of Spain, sailed to Florida, and thence to Cape Race, in lat. 46 N., in search of a N.W. passage to In- dia. Herrera. 1526. FRANCIS PI ZARRO* sailed from Panama to Peru, and began the conquest of that rich and populous country. Purchas. 1528. PAMPHILO DE NARVAEZ,f in the service of Spain, sailed from Cuba with 400 men to con- quer Florida. His purpose was defeated by a tempest, in which he was wrecked on the coast. Herrera. Purchas. 1534. JAMES CARTIER, in the service of France, KF discovered and named the Bay de Chaleur and the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Hakluyt, iii., 201- 212. 1535. CARTIER made a second voyage, discovered KP the great river of Canada, and sailed up as far as Hochelaga, which he named Montreal. He wintered in a little harbour near the west end of the Isle of Orleans, which he called Port de * [Francisco Pizarro was a native of Truxillo, born about the year 1500. Already trained to fatigue and martial enterprise, he accompanied Balboa in his expedition across the Isthmus of Da- rien in 1509. He started from Panama on his expedition to Peru, Nov. 14, 1524, and was engaged in it three years. He then re- turned to Spain, and was appointed by the emperor governor and admiral of the region he had discovered. His progress there was marked with acts of extreme cruelty and rapine, but the conquest was completely successful. When his triumph seemed most en- tire, he was slain, June 26, 1531, by a conspiracy of some of his followers, who feared and hated him. H.] t [De Narvaez, an officer of some courage, and much haughti- ness and self-confidence, had been sent by Velasquez to Mexico in April, 1520, to arrest and supersede Cortez, by whom he was attacked and made prisoner. H.] EARLY ADVENTURERS. 65 1536. St. Croix. The next summer he returned to France, carrying some of the natives. Hakluyt, iii., 21-2-232. 1539. FERDINANDO DE SOTO sailed from Cu- ID 3 ba with 900 men to conquer Florida. He trav- ersed the country in various directions for three 1542. years, and died on the banks of the Mississippi. 1543. The surviving part of his army returned to Cuba. Herrera. Purchas. 1540. CARTIER made a third voyage to Canada, built a fort and began a settlement, which he 1541 called Charleburg, four leagues above the Port de or St. Croix. He broke up the settlement and 1542. sailed to Newfoundland. Hakluyt, iii., 232-240. ROBERVAL, with three ships and 200 per- sons, going to recruit the settlement in Canada, met Cartier at Newfoundland, and would have obliged him to return ; but he gave him the slip and sailed for France. ROBERVAL proceeded up the River St. Lawrence four leagues above the Island of Orleans, where he found a convenient harbour and place for a fortification. Here he built a fort, and remained over the winter. The next year he returned to France with his colony. Ibid., 240-242. During the succeeding thirty years the passion for discovery took another direction. Adventu- rers from Europe were seeking a passage to In- dia and China by the N.E., but were prevented 1 * [See also Hakluyt, vol. v., ed. 1810, and "A Relation of the Invasion and Conquest of Florida by the Spaniards, under the command of Ferdinando de Soto, written in Portuguese by a gentleman of the town of Elvas, now Englished," &c., London, 1680. Solo's army consisted of 600 men. See p. 258, note. H.] F 2 66 EARLY ADVENTURERS. from accomplishing their views by the cold and ice of those inhospitable regions. Forster. In this interval, the French of Brittany, the Spaniards of Biscay, and the Portuguese, enjoy- ed the fishery on the Banks of Newfoundland without interruption. Purchas. 1562. Under the patronage of CHATILLON, High-ad- miral of France, JOHN RIBALT* attempted a settlement in Florida. He entered a river in lat. 32 on the first of May, which from that circum- stance he named the River May, and the entrance he called Port Royal. Here he built a fort, which, in honour of CHARLES IX. of France, he called Fort Charles. After his departure the people mutinied and returned to France. Hak- luyt, iii., 308-319, and Purchas. 1564. LAUDONIEREf renewed the settlement and called the country Carolina, after the reigning monarch of France. This colony was on good terms with the natives, but suffered by famine. They were relieved by SIR JOHN HAWKINS, an Englishman, who offered to carry them to France ; but the hope of finding silver induced * [John Ribault, as the name is commonly spelled, sailed with two ships, Feb. 18, 1562, reached Florida in March, and returned to Dieppe July 20th of the same year. Laudoniere commends him as " a man in truth expert in sea causes." He came again '.<> Florida, Aug. 28, 1565, with a commission to be governor there, and remained till he was killed by the Spaniards under Melendes. -H.] f [Rene Laudoniere had accompanied Ribault in his first expe- dition, and was superseded by him in his second. Meanwhile, he sniled from France April 22, 1564, under the orders of De Chastil Ion. He reached Florida June 22d. After the destruction of their fort, Laudoniere returned through England to France. H.] EARLY ADVENTURERS. 67 them to stay, till RIBALT arrived with seven sail 1565. of vessels. Hakluyt, iii., 319-349. PEDRO MELENDES,inthe service of Spain, came with a superior force, killed Ribalt and most of his company, and took possession of the country, building three forts. Ibid., 352-356. 1568. GOURGUES,* from France, with the help of the natives, who hated the Spaniards, broke up the Spanish settlements in Florida, and return- ed to France, leaving the country desert. Ibid., 356-360. 1576. All attempts to find a N.E. passage to India being frustrated, MARTIN FROBISHER, in the service of ELIZABETH, queen of England, sailed in search of a N.W. passage. 1577. He made a second voyage. 1578. He made a third voyage. These voyages were made to Greenland, and produced no material discovery. He sailed through a strait which still bears his name, but is now impassable by reason of fixed ice. Hak- luyt and Crantz. SIR FRANCIS DRAKEf being on a cruise * [Dominique de Gourgues, " a gentleman and a well tried and valiant soldier," undertook this expedition chiefly at his own ex. pense, fitting out three vessels and more than 'two hundred men. They sailed, Aug. 22d, 1567, from France ; and attacked the first fort of the Spaniards on Easter day, in April, 1568. They return- ed to France in June of the same year. Gourgues died in 1582. -H-] t [This famous navigator was born in the year 1545, of obscure parentage. He became a seaman when very young, and was made captain of a ship at the age of twenty-two. He was engaged in many important naval enterprises, particularly in the half-piratical expeditions against the Spaniards. In 1577-1580, with five ships and one hundred and sixty-four men, he sailed round the globe. I. F 68 EARLY ADVENTURERS. against the Spaniards in the South Sea, landed on the Continent of America, northward of Cal- ifornia, took possession of a harbour, and called the circumjacent country, between lat. 38 and 42, New Albion. Hakluyt. 1579. SIR HUMPHREY GILBERT obtained of dp QUEEN ELIZABETH a patent for all countries not possessed by any Christian prince. Purchas. 1583. GILBERT sailed to Newfoundland ; took for- mal possession of it and of the Continent of North America for the crown of England. In his return his ship foundered and he was lost. Ibid. SIR ADRIAN GILBERT obtained of QUEEN ELIZABETH a patent for the discovery of a N.W. passage, to remain in force five years. Hak- luyt, ill., 96. 1584. SIR WALTER RALEIGH obtained of QUEEN ID 3 ELIZABETH a patent for lands not possessed by any Christian prince, by virtue of which he sent PHILIP AMADAS and ARTHUR BARLOW to explore the country called by the Spaniards Florida. Ibid., 243-251. 1585. Under the authority of GILBERT'S patent, JOHN DAVIS sailed from England in search of a*N.W. passage. Ibid., 98-103. 1586. He made a second voyage. Ib., 103-111. 1587. He made a third voyage. J^., 111-121. DAVIS explored the western coast of Green- Hakluyt, iii., 730-742. The next year the queen conferred on him the honour of knighthood, and in 1588 he was appointed vice- admiral, under Lord Howard of Effingham. He died Jan. 28, 1596, having gained an unequalled reputation for nautical skill and personal courage. See Campbell's Lives of the Admirals, vo? ,ii., p. 37-55. H.] EARLY ADVENTURERS. 69 land and part of the opposite coast of the Conti- nent of America ; the strait between them bears his name. He also discovered another strait, which he called Cumberland. Hakluyt. 1585. SIR WALTER RALEIGH sent SIR RICHARD GRENVILLE to Florida. He landed a colony of 100 people at Roanoak and returned. Ibid., iii., 251-265. 1586. SIR FRANCIS DRAKE, returning from his expedition against the Spaniards, took the colo- ny on board and carried them to England. Ibid., 264. Sir RICHARD GRENVILLE arrived after their departure and landed another smaller col- ony. Ibid., 265. 1587. Sir WALTER RALEIGH sent another company, under the command of JOHN WHITE, to colo- nize the country which QUEEN ELIZABETH called Virginia, in honour of her own virginity. The second colony were not to be found. One hun- dred and fifteen persons were landed to make a third colony, and the governor returned to Eng- land for supplies. Purchas. 1590. GEORGE WHITE was sent to Virginia, but, finding none of the third colony living, returned to England. Ibid. 1592. JUAN DE FUCA, a Greek, in the service IE? of Spain, was sent by the Viceroy of Mexico to discover a N.W. passage, by exploring the western side of the American Continent. He discovered a strait, which bears his name, in the 48th degree of N. latitude, and supposed it to be the long-desired passage. Purchas. 1583. HENRY MAY, an Englishman, returning 70 EARLT ADVENTURERS. from the East Indies in a French ship, was wrecked on the Island of Bermuda, where he found swine, from which circumstance it ap- peared that some other vessel had been there before. The company built a boat of cedar, calked it, and payed the seams with lime mix- ed with turtles' fat, and sailed to Newfoundland, whence they got a passage to England. HaJtluyt. 1593. GEORGE WEYMOUTH sailed from Eng- or land to discover a N.W. passage. He visited 1594. the coast of Labrador, and sailed 30 miles up an K? inlet in the latitude of 56, but made no ma- terial discovery. Forster. 1598. DE LA ROCHE obtained from HENRY IV. of France a commission to conquer Canada, and other countries not possessed by any Christian prince. He sailed from France with a colony of convicts from the prisons ; landed 40 on the Isle of Sable. After seven years the survivers, being 12 in number, were taken off and carried home to France, where HENRY pardoned them, and gave them 50 crowns each as a recompense for their sufferings. Purchas. Forster. 1600. Q. ELIZABETH established by charter a company of merchants in England, with an ex- clusive privilege of trading to the East Indies. Tablet of Memory. 1602. BARTHOLOMEW GOSNOLD, an English- ID 3 man, discovered a promontory on the American coast;, in lat. 42, to which he gave the name of Cape Cod. He landed on an island which he called -Elizabeth, and built a small fort ; but the same summer returned to England. Purchas. 1603. DE MONTS obtained of HENRY IV. of France EARLY ADVENTURERS. 71 EJ" a patent for the planting of ISAcadia and Cana- da, from lat. 40 to 46. Purchas. K? SAMUEL CHAMPLAIN sailed up the great river of Canada, and returned to France the same year. Ibid. ie^3. DE MONTS sailed from France, taking CHAM- PLAIN and CHAMPDORE for pilots, and POUTRIN- COURT who intended a settlement in America. They discovered and began plantations at Port Royal, St. John's, and St. Croix, in the Bay of Fundy. 1610. POUTRINCOURT introduced two Jesuits into Port Royal ; but some controversy arising, the Jesuits went to Mount Desert and began a plantation there. Ibid. 1605. GEORGE WEYMOUTH sailed on a second CP voyage to discover a N.W. passage ; but fall- ing short, made the land in 41 30' ; thence sail- ed to 43 20', and discovered a great river, sup- posed to be either Kennebec or Penobscot ; took on board five of the natives, and returned to England. He put in at Plymouth, and delivered in? three of them to SIR FERDINANDO GORGES, then governor of Plymouth. Gorges. 1606. JAMES I., king of England, by patent divi- ded Virginia into two districts, called North and South Virginia. The southern part, situate be- tween 34 and 41, he granted to a London company; the northern part, situate between 38 and 45, he granted to a Plymouth compa- ny. Neither of them were to plant within 100 miles of the other. Purchas. (607. CHAMPLAIN, by order of DE MONTS, sail- ed up the river of Canada and fortified Quebec^ the name of a strait in the river. Ibid. 72 EARLY ADVENTURERS. HENRY HUDSON, in the service of the English East India Company, sailed in quest of a N.W. passage. He attempted to pass to the E. of Greenland, and discovered Spitzbergen. He sailed as far N. as 82, but, finding the sea obstructed by ice, returned. Forster. CHRISTOPHER NEWPORT sailed to Virginia, and began a colony at Jamestown. ED- WARD WINGFIELD was president, but JOHN SMITH was the life and soul of the colony. Smith. Purchas. GEORGE POPHAM* sailed to North Vir- ginia, and began a plantation at Sagadahock, of which he was president. In the winter, the ships* returned to England, leaving 45 persons 1608. behind. Their president dying, the next spring they broke up the plantation and went back to England. This winter was remarkably severe both in America and England. Purchas. 1608. HUDSON, in the service of the English East India Company, undertook a second voyage of discovery, and attempted to pass on both sides of Nova Zembla ; but the ice being impenetrable, he returned. Ibid. NELSON re-enforced the colony of South Virginia with 120 people. Ibid. 1609. CHAMPLAIN returned to France, leaving Captain PIERRE to command at Quebec. Ibid. HUDSON, in the service of the DUTCH, made a third voyage, and discovered the rwer which bears his name in lat. 41. SIR GEORGE SOMERS, bound to South Vir . * See the Life of F. Gorges. EARLY M VENTURERS. 73 ginia, was wrecked on Bermuda, whence those islands took the name Somer Islands. Smith. Purchas. 1610. CHAMPLAIN revisited Quebec and took the command there. Purchas. HUDSON, in the service of ihe English East India Company, discovered the strait and bay which bear his name, and passed the winter there, intending to pursue his discoveries in the ensu- ing spring ; but his crew mutinied, and turned him adrift in his boat, with seven others, who were never more heard of. Purchas. Campbell. 1610. SIR GEORGE SOMERS, having built a pin- nace at Bermuda, sailed to South Virginia ; the colony determined to return to England ; but, in sailing down James's River, met Lord DELA- WARE with a re-enforcement, by which they were encouraged to return and resume the plantation. Purchas. JOHN GUY, with a company of forty persons, began a colony at the Bay of Conception, in New- foundland. Ibid. 1611. SIR THOMAS DALE re-enforced the colony ID 3 of South Virginia with 300 people, and Sir THOMAS GATES with 300 more, furnishing them with cattle and swine, and thus that colony was established. Ibid. 1612. The colony at Newfoundland was augmented to sixty persons, but was for many years in a very precarious state. Mr. GUY returned to England, and was afterward Mayor of Bristol. Purchas. Oldmixon. The South Virginia Company having sold the island* *f Bermuda to a part of their own num- 74 EARLY ADVENTURERS. ber, they obtained a distinct charter, and sent a colony of ninety persons thither : their first gov- ernor was RICHARD MOOR. Purchas. 1613. The colony at Bermuda was enlarged by the addition of 400 persons. Ibid. SIR THOMAS DALE, governor of Virginia, hearing that the French had settled within thje limits of the northern patent, sent Sir SAMUEL ARGALL with a sufficient force to dislodge them, which he did from Mount Mansel (Desert), St. Croix, and Port Royal, in the Bay of Fun- dy. These Frenchmen retired to Quebec and strengthened the settlement there. Smith. Purchas. Keith. 1614. CAPT. JOHN SMITH, having quitted the col- ony of South Virginia, sailed for North Virginia on a fishing and whaling voyage ; he ranged the coast from Penobscot to Cape Cod, and made a map of the country, which he first called New- England. Smith. 1615. ROBERT BYLOT and WILLIAM BAFFIN sailed from England in search of a N.W. pas- sage. 1616. They made another voyage, and discovered the great northern bay which bears BAFFIN'S name. Purchas. Forster. 1617. During this and the two preceding years, war, famine, and pestilence raged among the natives of New-England, by which great numbers were swept off, and the fur trade between them and the Europeans was interrupted. Gorges. 1619. THOMAS DERMER* sailed to New-Eng- land ; found many places, before populous, al- * See the Life of F. Gorges. EARLY ADVENTURERS. 75 most desolate, and the few remaining inhabitants either sick or but scarcely recovered. In this voyage he sailed through the whole passage be- tween the mainland and Long Island, and first determined its insular situation. Gorges. 1620. A company of ENGLISH PURITANS,* who E? had resided twelve years in Holland, began a colony in New-England, which they called New- Plymouth . Mart on. K7 KING JAMES I.f established at Plymouth, in Devonshire, a council for the planting, ruling, and ordering of New-England ; and thus the business of colonization was formed into a sys- tem. * See Life of W. Bradford. f See Life of F. Gorges. THE SUCCESSION OF SOVEREIGNS OF THE EtTROPEAI* NATIONS WHO HAVE HAD POSSESSIONS OR CONNEX- IONS IN AMERICA. ENGLAND. A.D. A.D. 1792. Republic. 1485. Henry VII. 1509. Henry VIII. 1547. Edward VI. SPAIN. 1553. Mary. 1474. Ferdinand V. and Is 1558. Elizabeth. abella. 1603. James I. 1504. Philip I. 1625. Charles I. 1648. Commonwealth. 1516. Charles I y ^j* 1653. O. Cromwell. 1556. Philip II. 1658. R. Cromwell. 1598. Philip III. 1660. Charles II. 1621. Philip IV. 1685. James II. 1665. Charles II. 1688. William and Mary. 1700. Philip V. 1694. William III. 1746. Ferdinand VI. 1701. Anne. 1759. Charles III. 1714. George I. 1789. Charles IV. 1727. George II. 1760. George III. > PORTUGAL. FRANCE* 1481. John II. 1495. Emanuel. '21. John III. 1483. Charles VIII. 557. Sebastian. 1498. Louis XII. 578. Henry. 1515. Francis I. 1547. Henry II. 580. Philip II. ) of Spam 598. Philip III. SandPor- 1559. Francis II. 621. Philip IV. >tugal. 1560. Charles IX. 640. John IV. 1574. Henry II. 656. Alphonso VI. 1589. Henry IV. 667. Peter. 1610. Louis XIII. 704. John V. 1643. Louis XIV. 750. Joseph. 1715. Louis XV. 777. Maria Frances Isa- 1773. Louis XVI. bella. AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. I. BIRON. THE ancient inhabitants of Norway and Denmark, collectively taken, were distin- guished by the name of NORMANS. Their sit- uation near the coast of the sea, and the ad- vantages which that element presented to them beyond all which they could expect from a rough soil in a cold climate, led them at an early period to the science and practice of navigation. They built their vessels with the best of oak, and constructed them in such a manner as to encounter the storms and bil- lows of the Northern Ocean. They covered them with decks, and furnished them with high forecastles and sterns. . They made use of sails as well as oars, and had learned to trim their sails to the wind in almost any di- rection. In these arts of building ships and of navigation they were superior to the peo- ple bordering on the Mediterranean Sea, who 78 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. depended chiefly on their oars, and used sails only with a fair wind. About the end of the eighth and beginning of the ninth century, the Normans made themselves famous by their predatory excur- sions. England, Scotland, Ireland, the Ork- ney and Shetland Islands, were objects of their depredations ; and in one of their pi- ratical expeditions (A.D. 861) they discover- ed an island, which, from its lofty mountains covered with ice and snow, obtained the name of Iceland. In a few years after they plant- ed a colony there, which was continually augmented by migrations from the neigh- bouring countries. Within the space of thir- ty years (889) a new country, situate on the west, was discovered, and, from its verdure during the summer months, received the name of Greenland. This was deemed so impor- tant an acquisition, that, under the conduct of ERIC RAUDE, or REDHEAD, a Danish chief, it was soon peopled. The emigrants to these new regions were still inflamed with the passion for adventure and discovery. An Icelander of the name HERIOLF and his son BIRON* made a voyage * His name is spelled by difierent authors BIRON, BIORN, Bi- OBRN, and BIAERN. B I R O N. 79 every year to different countries for the sake of traffic. About the beginning of the elev- enth century (1001) their ships were separa- ted by a storm. When Biron arrived in Nor- way, he heard that his father was gone to Greenland, and he resolved to follow him . but another storm drove him to the southwes^ where he discovered a flat country, free from rocks, but covered with thick woods, and an island near the coast. He made no longer stay at either of these places than till the storm abated, when by a northeast course he hasted to Greenland. The discovery was no sooner known there, than LEIF, the son of Eric, who, like his fa- ther, had a strong desire to acquire glory by adventures, equipped a vessel carrying twen- ty-five men, and, taking Biron for his pilot, sailed (1002) in search of the new country. His course was southwest. On the first land which he saw he found nothing but flat rocks and ice, without any verdure. He therefore gave it the name of Helleland, which signifies rocky. Afterward he came to a lev- el shore, without any rocks, but overgrown with woods, and the sand was remarkably white. This he named Markland, or woody. Two days after he saw land again, and an 80 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. island lying before the northern coast of it. Here he first landed ; and thence sailing westward round a point of land, found a creek or river, into which the ship entered. On the banks of this river were bushes bearing sweet berries ; the air was mild, the soil fertile, and the river well stored with fish, among which were very fine salmon. At the head of this river was a lake, on the shore of which they resolved to pass the winter, and erected huts for their accommodation. One of their company, a German named Tyr- ker, having straggled into the woods, found grapes, from which he told them that in his country they made wine. From this circum- stance Leif, the commander of the party, called the place Winland dot gode, the good wine country. An intercourse being thus opened between Greenland and Winland, several voyages were made, and the new country was farther explored. Many islands were found near the coast, but not a human creature was seen till the third summer (1004), when three boats, constructed with ribs of bone, fastened with thongs or twigs, and covered with skins, each boat containing three men, made their appear- ance. From the diminutive size of these BIRON. 81 people the Normans denominated them Skrce- ling-s,* and inhumanly killed them all but one, who escaped, and collected a larger number of his countrymen to make an attack on their invaders. The Normans defended their ships with so much spirit that the as- sailants were obliged to retire. After this, a colony of Normans went and settled at Winland, carrying on a barter trade with the SkraBlings for furs ; but a controver- sy arose in the colony, which induced some to return to Greenland. The others dispersed and mixed with the Skraslings. In the next century (1121) Eric, bishop of Greenland, went to Winland, with a benevo- lent design to recover and convert his coun- trymen, who had degenerated into savages. This prelate never returned to Greenland, nor was anything more heard of Winland for sev eral centuries. This account of the discovery of Winland is taken from Pontoppidan's history of Nor- way, Crantz's history of Greenland, and a late history of northern voyages by Dr. John Reinhold Forster. The facts are said to have been collected from " a great number of Icelandic manuscripts by Thormond Thor- * Cut sticks, chips Dwarfs, 82 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. foeus. Adam von Bremen, Arngrim Jonas, and many other writers, so that it is hardly possible to entertain the least doubt concern- ing the authenticity of the relation." Pontoppidan says that " they could see the sun full six hours in the shortest day ;" but Crantz tells us that " the sun rose on the shortest day at eight of the clock," and For- ster that " the sun was eight hours above the horizon," from which he concludes that Win- land must be found in the 49th degree of northern latitude ; and, from its being in a southwesterly direction from Greenland, he supposes that it is either a part of Newfound-, land, or some place on the northern coast of the Gulf of St. Lawrence ; but whether grapes are found in either of those countries he cannot say. However, he seems so fully persuaded of the facts, that he gives it as his opinion that the Normans were, strictly speaking, the first discoverers of America, nearly five centuries before Columbus. From a careful perusal of the first accounts of Newfoundland, preserved by those painful collectors Hakluyt and Purchas, and of other memoirs respecting that island and the coast of Labrador, and from inspecting the most approved maps of those regions, particularly BIRON. 83 one in the American Atlas, delineated agree- ably to the actual surveys of the late celebra- ted navigator Captain James Cook, the fol- lowing observations occur. On the N.E. part of Newfoundland, which is most directly accessible from Greenland, there is a long range of coast, in which are two bays, the one called Gander Bay, and the other the Bay of Exploits. Before the mouth of the former, among many smaller, there lies one large island called Fogo ; and before the mouth of the latter, another called The New World. Either of these will sufficient- ly answer to the situation described in the ac- count of Biron's second voyage. Into each of these bays runs a river, which has its head in a lake, and both these lakes lie in the 49th degree of north latitude. The earliest accounts of Newfoundland af- ter its discovery and the establishment of a fishery on its coasts, have respect chiefly to the lands about Trinity and Conception Bays, between the parallels of 48 and 49.* These lands are represented as producing strawber- ries, whortleberries, raspberries, gooseberries, pears, wild cherries, and hazel-nuts, in very great plenty. The rivers are said to have been well stored with salmon and trout. I. G 84 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. The natives, who inhabited a bay lying to the northward of Trinity, and came occasionally thither in their canoes, are described as broad- breasted and upright, with black eyes, and without beards ; the hair on their heads was of different colours ; some had black, some brown^ and others yellow. In this variety they differed from the other savages of North America, who have uniformly black hair, un- less it be grown gray with age. The climate is represented as more mild in the winter than that of England ; but much colder in the spring, by reason of the vast islands of ice which are driven into the bays or grounded on the banks. On the northeastern coast of Labrador, be- tween the latitudes of 53 and 56, are many excellent harbours and islands. The seas are full of cod, the rivers abound with sal- mon, and the climate is said to be more mild than in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Nothing is said in any of these accounts of vines or* grapes, excepting that some which were brought from England had thriven well. If any evidence can be drawn from a comparison between the countries of New- foundland and New-England, it may be ob- served, that all the above-mentioned fruits B I R O N. 85 and berries are found in the northern and eastern parts of New-England as far as Nova Scotia, in the latitudes of 44 and 45, and that grapes (vitis vulpina, vitis labrusca) are known to grow wherever these fruits are found. De Monts, in his voyage to Acadia in 1608, speaks of grapes in several places ; and they were in such plenty on the Isle of Orleans, in lat. 47, that it was first called the Island of Bacchus.* Though there is no direct and positive testimony of grapes in the Island of Newfoundland, it is by no means to be con- cluded that there were none. Nor is it im- probable that grapes, though once found there, might have been so scarce as not to merit notice in such general descriptions as were given by the first English adventurers. The distance between Greenland and New- foundland is not greater than between Ice- land and Norway, and there could be no more difficulty in navigating the western than the eastern parts of the northwestern ocean with such vessels as were then in use, and by such seamen as the Normans are said to have * It is also said that Mr. Ellis met with the vine about the English settlements at Hudson's Bay, and compares the fruit of it to the currants of the Levant. Morse's Un. Geo., vol. i., p. 64. 86 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. been, though they knew nothing of the mag netic needle. Upon the whole, though we can come to no positive conclusion in a question of such remote antiquity, yet there are many circum- stances to confirm, and none to disprove, the relation given of the voyages of Biron.* But if it be allowed that he is entitled to the honour of having discovered America before Columbus, yet this discovery cannot in the least detract from the merit of that celebrated navigator. For there is no reason to suppose that Columbus had any knowledge of the Norman discoveries, which long before his time were forgotten, and would, perhaps, nev- er have been recollected, if he had not, by the astonishing exertions of his genius and his persevering industry, effected a discovery of this continent in a climate more friendly to the views of commercial adventurers. Even Greenland itself, in the fifteenth cen- tury, was known to the Danes and Normans only by the name of lost Greenland, and they did not recover their knowledge of it till af- * At my request, Governor WENTWORTH, of Nova Scotia, has employed a proper person to make inquiry into any vestiges of this ancient colony which may yet be subsisting. I am sorry that the result could not be had before the publication of this volume, but when it comes to hand it shall be tommunicatcd. BIRON. 87 ter the English had ascertained its existence by their voyages to discover a N.W. passage to the Pacific Ocean, and the Dutch had coasted it in pursuit of whales. [The recent publications of the Society of Northern Antiquaries at Copenhagen have thrown new light upon the adventures and discoveries of Biron and those who followed him. It has been thought advisable, instead of illustrating the text by notes, to give entire the life of Biron by Belknap, which deserves to be perpetuated for its ingenious statements and conjectures, and to add the abstract of information and evidence on the subject which is contained in the " Antiquitates Ameri- cana?," and which will give a complete and connected view of all the knowledge we have relating to it. H.] AN ABSTRACT OF THE HISTORICAL EVIDENCE CON- TAINED IN THE " ANTIQUITATES AMERICANS," BY C. C. RAFN, SECRETARY OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF NORTHERN ANTIQUARIES. BIARNE HERIULFSON'S VOYAGE IN THE YEAR 986. ERIC THE RED, in the spring of 986, emi- grated from Iceland to Greenland, formed a settlement there, and fixed his residence at 88 AMERICANBIOGRAPHY. Brattalid in Ericsfiord. Among others who accompanied him was Heriulf Bardson, who established himself at Heriulfsnes. BIARNE, the son of the latter, was at that time absent on a trading voyage to Norway ; but in the course of the summer returning to Eyrar, in Iceland, and finding that his father had taken his departure, this bold navigator resolved "still to spend the following winter, like all the preceding ones, with his father," although neither he nor any of his people had ever navigated the Greenland Sea. They set sail, but met with northerly winds and fogs, and, after many days' sailing, knew not whither they had been carried. At length, when the weather again cleared up, they saw a land which was without mountains, overgrown with wood, and having many gentle elevations. As this land did not correspond to the de- scriptions of Greenland, they left it on the larboard hand, and continued sailing two days, when they saw another land which was flat and overgrown with wood. From thence they stood out to sea, and sailed three days with a S.W. wind, when they saw a third land which was high and mountainous, and covered with icebergs (glaciers] ; they did not go on shore, as Biarne did not find the B I R N. 89 country to be inviting. Bearing away from this island, they stood out to sea with the same wind, and after four days' sailing with fresh gales, they reached Heriulfsnes, in Greenland. DISCOVERIES OP LEIP ERICSON, AND FIRST SET- TLEMENT OF VINELAND. Some time after this, probably in the year 994, Biarne paid a visit to Eric, earl of Nor- way, and told him of his voyage, and of the unknown lands he had discovered* He was blamed by many for not having examined these countries more accurately. On his re- turn to Greenland there was much talk about undertaking a voyage of discovery. LEIF, a son of Eric the Red, bought Biarne's ship, and equipped it with a crew of thirty-five men, among whom was a German of the name of TYRKER, who had long resided with his father, and who had been very fond of Leif in his childhood. In the year 1000 they commenced the projected voyage, and came first to the land which Biarne had seen last. They cast anchor and went on shore. No grass was seen ; but everywhere in this country were vast ice-mountains (glaciers), and the intermediate space between these and the shore was, as it were, one uniform 90 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. plain of slate (hello) : the country appearing to them destitute of good qualities, they called it HELLU-LAND. They put out to sea, and came to another land, where they also went on shore. The country was level (slett) and covered with woods, and whereso- ever they went there were cliffs of white sand (sand-ar-hvitir), and a low coast (6-scB- bratt) they called the country MAB.K- LAND ( Woodland}. From thence they again stood out to sea with a N.E. wind, and con- tinued sailing for two days, before they made land again. They then came to an island which lay to the eastward of the mainland, and entered a channel between this island and a promontory projecting in an easterly (and northerly) direction from the mainland. They sailed westward in waters where there was much ground left dry at ebb-tide. Af- terward they went on shore at a place where a river, issuing from a lake, fell into the sea. They brought their ship into the river, and from thence into the lake, where they cast anchor. Here they constructed some tempo- rary log-huts ; but afterward, when they had made up their mind to winter there, they built large houses, afterward called LEIFS-BU- BIR (Leifsbooths). When the buildings were BIRON. 91 completed, Leif divided his people into two companies, who were by turns employed in keeping watch at the houses, and in making small excursions for the purpose of exploring the country in the vicinity : his instructions to them were, that they should not go to a greater distance than that they might return in the course of the same evening, and that they should not separate from one another. Leif took his turn also, joining the exploring party the one day, and remaining at the hous- es the other. It so happened that one day the German Tyrker was missing. Leif ac- cordingly went out with twelve men in search of him, but they had not gone far from their houses when they met him coming towards them. When Lief inquired why he had been so long absent, he at first answered in German, but they did not understand what he said. He then said to them in the Norse tongue, " I did not go much farther, yet I have a discovery to acquaint you with : I have found vines and grapes." He added, by way of confirmation, that he had been born in a country where there was plenty of vines. They had now two occupations, viz., to hew timber for loading the ship, and col- lect grapes ; with these last they filled the I.H 92 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. ship's long boat. Leif gave a name to the country, and called it VINLAND ( Vineland). In the spring they sailed again from thence, and returned to Greenland. THORWALD ERICSON ? S EXPEDITION TO MORE SOUTHERN REGIONS. Leif's Vineland voyage was now a subject of frequent conversation in Greenland, and his brother THORWALD was of opinion that the country had not been sufficiently explored. He accordingly borrowed Leif s ship, and, aided by his brother's counsel and directions, commenced a voyage in the year 1002. He arrived at Leifsbooths, in Vineland, where they spent the winter, he and his crew em- ploying themselves in fishing. In the spring of 1003 Thorwald sent a party in the ship's long boat on a voyage of discovery south- ward. They found the country beautiful and well wooded, with but little space between the woods and the sea ; there were likewise extensive ranges of white sand, and many islands and shallows. They found no traces of men having been there before them, ex- cepting on an island lying to the westward, where they found a wooden shed. They did not return to Leifsbooths until the fall. In BIRON. 93 the following summer, 1004, Thorwald sailed eastward with the large ship, and then north- ward past a remarkable headland enclosing a bay, and which was opposite to another head- land. They called it KIAL-AR-NES (Keel Cape). From thence they sailed along to the eastern coast of the land, into the nearest friths, to a promontory which there projected, and which was everywhere overgrown with wood. There Thorwald went ashore with all his companions. He was so pleased with this place that he exclaimed, " This is beautiful ! and here I should like well to fix my dwell- ing !" Afterward, when they were preparing to go on board, they observed on the sandy beach within the promontory three hillocks, and repairing thither, they found three canoes, under each of which were three Skrellings (Esquimaux) ; they came to blows with the latter, and killed eight, but the ninth escaped with his canoe. Afterward a countless num- ber issued forth against them from the inte- rior of the bay. They endeavoured to protect themselves by raising battle-screens on the ship's side. The Skrellings continued shoot- ing at them for a while, and then retired. Thorwald was wounded by an arrow under the arm, and, finding that the wound was 94 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. mortal, he said, " I now advise you to pre- pare for your departure as soon as possible, but me ye shall bring to the promontory where I thought it good to dwell ; it may be that it was a prophetic word that fell from my mouth about my abiding there for a sea- son ; there shall ye bury me, and plant a cross at my head and another at my feet, and call the place KROSS-A-NES (Crossness) in all time coming." He died, and they did as he had ordered. Afterward they returned to their companions at Leifsbooths, and spent the winter there ; but in the spring of 1005 they sailed again to Greenland, having im- portant intelligence to communicate to Leif. UNSUCCESSFUL ATTEMPT OF THORSTEIN ERICSON, Thorstein, Eric's third son, had resolved to proceed to Vineland to fetch his brother's body. He fitted out the same ship, and select- ed twenty-five strong and able-bodied men for his crew : his wife Gudrida also went along with him. They were tossed about the ocean the whole summer, and knew not whither they were driven ; but at the close of the first week of winter they landed at Lysufiord, in the western settlement of Greenland. There Thorstein died during the winter; and in BIRON. 95 the spring Gudrida returned again to Erics- fiord. SETTLEMENT EFFECTED IN VINELAND BY THOR- FINN. In the following summer, 1006, there ar- rived in Greenland two ships from Iceland ; the one was commanded by THORFINN, hav- ing the very significant surname of KARLSEFNE (i. e., one who promises or is destined to be an able or great man), a wealthy and power- ful man, of illustrious lineage, and sprung from Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Irish, and Scottish ancestors, some of whom were kings or of royal descent. He was accompanied by SNORRE THORBRANDSON, who was also a man of distinguished lineage. The other ship was commanded by BIARNE GRIMOLFSON, of Breidefiord, and THORHALL GAMLASON, of Austfiord. They kept the festival of Yule, or Christmas, at Brattalid. Thorfinn became en- amoured of Gudrida, and obtained the con- sent of her brother-in-laAv, Leif; and their marriage was celebrated in the course of the winter. On this, as on former occasions, the voyage to Vineland formed a favourite theme of conversation, and Thorfinn was urged both by his wife and others to undertake such a 96 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. voyage. It was accordingly resolved on. In the 'spring of 1007 Karlsefne and Snorre fitted out their ship, and Biarne and Thorhall likewise equipped theirs. A third ship (being that in which Gudrida's father, Thorbibrn, had formerly come to Greenland) was com- manded by THORWARD, who was married to FREYDISA, a natural daughter of ERIC the Red ; and on board the ship was also a man of the name of THORHALL, who had long serv- ed Eric as huntsman in summer and as house-steward in winter, and who had much acquaintance with the uncolonized parts of Greenland. The whole expedition consisted of one hundred and sixty men ; and they took with them all kinds of live-stock, it be- ing their intention to establish a colony, if possible. They sailed first to the Wester- by gd, and afterward to Biarney (Disco). From thence thBy sailed in a southerly di- rection to HELLU-LAND, where they found many foxes ; and again two days in a south- erly direction to MARK-LAND, a country overgrown with wood, and plentifully stock- ed with animals. Leaving this, they contin- ued in a S.W. direction for a long time, having the land to starboard, until they at length came to KIAL-AR-NES, where there B I R O N. 97 were trackless deserts and long beaches and sands, called by them FURDU-STRAND- IR. Passing these, they found the land in- dented by inlets. They had two Scots with them, TAKE and TEKIA, whom Leif had for- merly received from the Norwegian king, Olaf Tryggvason, and who were very swift of foot. They put them on shore, recommend- ing them to proceed in a S.W. direction, and explore the country. After the lapse of three days they returned, bringing with them some grapes and some ears of wheat, which grew wild in that region. They continued their course until they came to a place where a frith penetrated far into the country. Off the mouth of it was an island, past which there ran strong currents, which was also the case farther up the frith. On the island there were an immense number of eider-ducks, so that it was scarcely possible to walk without tread- ing on their eggs. They called the island STRAUM-EY (Stream Isle), and the frith SRRAUM-FIORDR (Stream Frith). They landed on the shore of this frith, and made preparations for their winter residence. The country was extremely beautiful. They con- fined their operations to exploring the country. Thorhall afterward wished to proceed in a N. 98 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. direction in quest of Vineiand, Karlsefn chose rather to go to the S.W. Thorhall, and eight men with him, quitted them, and sailed past Furoustrander and Kialarnes ; but they were driven by westerly gales to the coast of Ireland, where, according to the ac- counts of some traders, they were beaten and made slaves. Karlsefne, together with Snorre and Biarne, and the rest of the ships' compa- nies, in all 131 (CXXXI) men, sailed south- ward, and arrived at the place where a river falls into the sea from a lake. Opposite to- the mouth of the river were large islands. They steered into the lake, and called the place HOP (I Hope). On the low grounds they found fields of wheat growing wild, and on the rising ground vines. While looking about one morning, they observed a great number of canoes. As they exhibited friend- ly signals, the canoes approached nearer to them, and the natives looked with astonish- ment at those they met there. These people were sallow and ill-looking : had ugly heads of hair, and broad cheeks. After they had gazed at them for a while, they rowed away again to the S.W. past the cape. Karlsefne and his company had erected their dwelling houses a little above the bay, and there they B I R O N. ,99 spent the winter. No snow fell, and the cat- tle found their food in the open field. One morning early, in the beginning of 1008, they descried a number of canoes coming from the S.W. past the cape. Karlsefne having held up a white shield as a friendly signal, they drew nigh, and immediately commenced bar- tering. These people chose in preference red cloth, and gave furs and squirrel skins in exchange. They would fain also have bought swords and spears, but these Karl- sefne and Snorre prohibited their people from selling. In exchange for a skin entirely gray, the Skrellings took a piece of cloth of a span in breadth, and bound it round their heads. Their barter was carried on in this way for some time. The Northmen found that their cloth was beginning to grow scarce, whereupon they cut it up in smaller pieces, not broader than a finger's breadth ; yet the Skrellings gave as much for these smaller pieces as they had formerly given for the larger ones, or even more. Karlsefne also caused the women to make and pour out milk soup, and the Skrellings relishing the taste of it, they desired to buy it in prefer- ence to everything else ; so they wound up their traffic by carrying away their bargains 100 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. in their stomachs. While this trade was go- ing on, it happened that a bull which Karl- sefne had brought along with him came out of the wood and bellowed loudly. At this the Skrellings became terrified, rushed to their canoes, and rowed away southward. About this time Gudrida, Karlsefne's wife, gave birth to a son, who received the name of SNORRE. In the beginning of the follow- ing winter the Skrellings came again in much greater numbers ; they showed symptoms of hostility, setting up loud yells. Karlsefne caused the red shield to be borne against them, whereupon they advanced against each other, and a battle commenced. There was a galling discharge of missiles. The Skrel- lings had a sort of war-slings ; they elevated on a pole a tremendously large ball, almost the size of a sheep's stomach, and of a bluish colour ; this they swung from the pole upon land over Karlsefne's people, and it descend- ed with a fearful crash. This struck terror into the Northmen, and they fled along the river. Freydisa came out, and, seeing them flying, she exclaimed, " How can stout men like you fly from these miserable caitiffs, whom I thought you could knock down like cattle ! If I had only a weapon, I ween I could fight BIRON. 101 better than any of you !" They heeded not her words. She tried to keep pace with them, but the advanced rity.t.e of hei pregnan- cy retarded her -she, however, followed them into the wood.' "SSere she tfiteoianTtered a dead body : it was THORBRAND SNORRASON ; a flat stone was sticking fast in his head, and his naked sword lay by his side ; this she took up, and prepared to defend herself. She uncovered her bosom, and struck it with the naked sword. At this sight the Skrellings became terrified, and ran off to their canoes. Karlsefne and the rest now came up to her, and praised her courage. They were now become aware that, thpugh the country held out many advantages, still the life that they would have to lead here would be one of con- stant alarm, from the hostile attacks of the natives. They therefore made preparations for departure, with the resolution of returning to their own country. Sailing eastward, they arrived in Streamfirth. Karlsefne then took one of the ships, and sailed in quest of Thor- hall, while the rest remained behind. They proceeded northward round Kialarnes, and after that were carried to the northwest. The land lay to the larboard of them ; there were thick forests in all directions, as far as 102 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. they could see, with scarcely any open space. They considered the hills at Hope and those which 'tljey. now 'savfr^s jfotming part of one continued range. They spe.nt the third win- ter at\Stfeaqfirt3i;| :K-Ar^efne's son, Snorre, was now three years of age. When they sailed from Vineland they had southerly wind, and came to Markland, where they met with five Skrellings. They caught two of them (two boys), whom they carried away with them, and taught them the Norse lan- guage, and baptized them. These children said that their mother was called VETHILLDI, and their father UVJEGE ; they said that the Skrellings were ruled by chieftains (kings j, one of whom was called AVALLDAMON, and the other VALDIDIDA ; that there were no houses in the country, but that the people dwelt in holes and caverns. Biarne Grim- olfson was driven into the Irish Ocean, and came into waters that were so infested with worms that the ship was in consequence re- duced to a sinking state. Some of the crew, however, were saved in the boat, as it had been smeared with seal-oil tar, which is a preventive against the attack of worms. Karl- sefne continued his voyage to Greenland, and arrived at Ericsfiord. B I R O N. 103 fOYAGE OF FREYDISA, HELGE AND FINNBOGE : THORFINN SETTLES IN ICELAND. During the same summer, 1011, there ar- rived in Greenland a ship from Norway, commanded by two brothers from Austfiord in Iceland, HELGE and FINNBOGE, who passed the following winter in Greenland. FREYDI- SA went to them, and proposed a voyage to Vineland, on the condition that they should share equally with her in all the profits which the voyage might yield : to this they assent- ed. Freydisa and these brothers entered into a mutual agreement that each party should have thirty able-bodied men on board their ship besides women ; but Freydisa im- mediately deviated from the agreement, and took with her five additional men, whom she concealed. In 1012 they arrived at Leifs- booths, where they spent the following win- ter. The conduct of Freydisa occasioned a coolness and distance between the parties ; and by her subtle arts she ultimately prevail- ed on her husband to massacre the brothers and their followers. After the perpetration of this base deed, they, in the spring of 1013, returned to Greenland, where Thorfmn lay ready to sail for Norway, and was waiting for 104 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. a fair wind : the ship he commanded was so richly laden, that it was generally admitted that a more valuable cargo had never left Greenland. As soon as the wind became favourable he sailed to Norway, where he spent the following winter and sold his goods. Next year, when he was ready to sail for Iceland, there came a German from Bremen who wanted to buy a piece of wood from him : he gave for it half a marc of gold : it was the wood of the Mazer-tree, from Vine- land. Karlsefne went to Iceland, and in the following year, 1015, he bought the Glaumboe estate, in Skagefiord, in the northland quar ter, where he resided during the remaindei of his life : his son Snorre, who had been born in America, was his successor on this estate. When the latter married, his mother made a pilgrimage to Rome, and afterward returned to her son's house at Glaumboe, where he had in the mean time ordered a church to be built. The mother lived long as a religious recluse. A numerous and illus- trious race descended from Karlsefne, among whom may be mentioned the learned bishop Thorlak Runolfson, born in 1085, of Snorre's daughter Halfrida, to whom we are princi- pally indebted for the oldest ecclesiastical B I R N. 105 Code of Iceland, published in the year 1123; it is also probable that the accounts of the voyages here mentioned were originally com- piled by him. A SURVEY OF THE PRECEDINE EVIDENCE. I. Geography and Hydrography. It is a fortunate circumstance that these ancient accounts have preserved not only geographical, but also nautical and astronom- ical facts, that may serve in fixing the posi- tion of the lands and places named. The nautical facts are of special importance, al- though hitherto they have not been sufficient- ly attended to ; these consist in statements of the course steered and the distance sailed in a day. From data in the Landnama and several other ancient Icelandic geographical works, we may gather that the distance of a day's sailing was estimated at 27 to 30 geographical miles (German or Danish, of which fifteen are equal to a degree ; each of these being, accordingly, equal to four Eng- lish sea-miles). From the Island of HEL- LU-LAND, afterward called little Helluland, Biarne sailed to Heriulfsnes (Iki-geit) in Greenland, with strong southwesterly gales, in four days. The distance between thai 106 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. cape and Newfoundland is about one hundred and fifty miles, which will correspond when we take into consideration the strong gales. In modern descriptions it is stated that this land partly consists of naked rocky flats, where no tree, nor even a shrub, can grow, and which are therefore usually called Bar- rens ; thus answering completely to the hell- ur of the ancient Northmen, from which they named the country. MARKLAND was situate to the south- west of Helluland, distant about three days' sail, or from eighty to ninety miles. Here then we have Nova Scotia, of which the de- scriptions given by later writers answer to that given by the ancient Northmen of Mark- land : " the land is low in general ;" " the coast to the seaward being level and low, and the shores marked with white rocks ;" " the land is low, with white sandy cliffs, particularly visible at sea," says the new " North American Pilot," by J. W. Nori.j and another American sailor : "on the shore are some cliffs of exceedingly white sand." Here " level" corresponds completely to the Icelandic " stilt" " low to the seaward" to the short expression " 6-sce-bratt" and "white sandy cliffs" to the " hvit-ir sand-ar" of the B I R O N. 107 Northmen. Nova Scotia, New-Brunswick, and Lower Canada, situate more inland, which probably may be considered as all be- longing to the Markland of the Northmen, are almost everywhere covered with immense forests. VINLAND was situate at the distance of two days' sail, consequently from fifty-four to sixty miles, in a southwesterly direction from Markland. The distance from Cape Sable to Cape Cod is stated in nautical works as being W. by S. about seventy leagues, that is, about two hundred miles. Biarne's description of the coast is very accurate, and in the island situate to the eastward (between which and the promontory that stretches to eastward and northward Leif sailed) we rec- ognise Nantucket. The ancient Northmen found there many shallows (grunn-s&fui mik- it) ; modern navigators make mention at the same place " of numerous reefs and other shoals," and say " that the whole presents an aspect of drowned land." KIALARNES (from kiolr, a keel, and nes, a cape, most likely on account of its striking resemblance to the keel of a ship, particular- ly of one of the long ships of the ancient Northmen) must consequently be Cape Cod, I I 108 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. the NAUSET of the Indians, which modern geographers have sometimes likened to a horn, and sometimes to a sickle or scythe. The ancient Northmen found here trackless deserts (or-cefi), and long narrow beaches and sandhills, or sands (strand-ir l(mg-ar ok sand-ar) of a very peculiar appearance, on which account they called them FURDU- STRAND-IR ( Wonder-strands, from furt-a, res miranda, and strond, strand, beach.) Compare the description given of this cape by a modern author, Hitchcock : " The Dunes or sandhills, which are often nearly or quite barren of vegetation, and of snowy whiteness, forcibly attract the attention on ac- count of their peculiarity. As we approach the extremity of the cape, the sand and bar- renness increase ; and in not a few places it would need only a party of Bedouin Arabs to cross the traveller's path to make him feel that he was in the depths of an Arabian or Libyan desert" A remarkable natural phe- nomenon which is observed there has also most probably had a share in giving rise to that peculiar name. It is thus described by the same author : " In crossing the sands of the cape, I noticed a singular mirage or de- ception. In Orleans, for instance, we seem- B I R O N. 109 ed to be ascending at an angle of throe or four degrees ; nor was I convinced that yuch was not the case, until, turning about, I per- ceived that a similar ascent appeared in the road just passed over. I shall not attempt to explain this optical deception, but merely remark that it is probably of the same kind as that observed by Humboldt on the Pam- pas of Venezuela : "all around us," says he, 11 the plains seemed to ascend towards the sky." Thus we observe that the appellation given by the ancient Northmen to the three strands or tracts of coast, Nauset Beach, Chat- ham Beach, and Monomoy Beach, is remark- ably appropriate. The great Gulf Stream, as it is called, which issues from the Gulf of Mexico, and runs between Florida, Cuba, and the Baha- ma Isles, and so northward in a direction parallel to the eastern coast of North Amer- ica, and of which the channel, in ancient times, is said to have approached still nearer to the coast, occasions great currents precise- ly at this place, inasmuch as the peninsula of Barnstable offers opposition to the stream as it comes from the southward. The STRAUM- FIORDR of the ancient Northmen is sup- posed to be Buzzard's Bay, and STRAUM- 110 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. EY, Martha's Vineyard; although the ac- counts of the many eggs found there would seem more precisely to correspond to the isl- and which lies off the entrance of Vineyard Sound, and which to this day is called Egg- Island. KROSS-A-NES is probably Gurnet Point, It must have been somewhat to the northward of this that Karlsefne landed when he saw the mountain range (the Blue Hills}, which he considered as forming a part of the same range that extends to the region where We recognise the place named Hop (z H6p-e). The word HOP, in Icelandic, may either denote a small recess or bay formed by a river from the interior falling into an inlet from the sea, or the land bordering on such a bay. To this Mount Hope's Bay, or MONT HAUP'S Bay, as the Indians term it, corre- sponds, through which the Taunton River flows, and, by means of the very narrow, yet navigable Pocasset River, meets the approach- ing water of the ocean at its exit at Seacon- net. It was at this H6pe that Leifsbooths were situate; it was above it, and therefore most probably on the beautiful elevation call- ed afterward by the Indians MONT HAUP, that Thorfinn Karlsefne erected his dwelling- houses. BIRON. Ill II. Climate and Soil. Concerning the climate of the country and the quality of the soil, and also concerning some of its productions, the ancient writings contain sundry illustrative remarks. The climate was so mild that it appeared the cattle did not require winter fodder ; for there came no snow, and the grass was but slightly withered. Warden uses similar ex- pressions respecting this region : " La tem- perature est si douce que la vegetation souffre rarement du froid ou de la stcheresse. On 1'appelle le paradis de VAmtrique parcequ'elle l r emporte sur les autres lieux par sa situation, son sol et son climat." "An excursion from Taunton to Newport, Rhode Island, down Taunton River and Mount Hope Bay, con- ducts the traveller among scenery of great beauty and loveliness," says Hitchcock; and when he adds "that the beautiful appearance of the country, and the interesting historical associations connected with that region, con- spire to keep the attention alive and to grat- ify the taste," he will find that this last re- mark is applicable to times much more re- mote than he thought of when he gave ex- pression to the above sentiment. 112 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. A country of such a nature might well de- serve the appellation of " THE GOOD," which was the epithet the ancient Northmen be- stowed on it, especially as it yielded pro- ductions whereon they set a high value, and of which their colder native land was for the most part destitute. III. Produce and Natural History. Vines grew there spontaneously ; a circum- stance which Adam of Bremen, a foreign writer of the same (that is, of the eleventh) century, mentions that he had learned, not from conjecture, but from authentic accounts furnished by Danes. As his authority on this occasion, he cites the Danish king Sveyn Estrithson, a nephew of Canute the Great. It is well known that vines still grow in that region in great abundance. Spontaneously growing wheat (sj&lf sdn-ir hveiti-akrar.} At the subsequent arrival of the Europeans, maize, or Indian corn, as it is called, was found growing here ; this the natives reaped without having sowed, and they preserved it in holes in the earth, as it constituted one of their most valuable arti- cles of food. Honeydew was found on the island which lies off it, as is also still the case. BIRON. 113 Mazer (mausur,} a species of wood of re- markable beauty, probably a species of the Acer rubrum or Acer saccharinum, which grows here, and which is called " bird's eye" or " curled maple." Wood for building was also obtained here. A great number of forest animals of all kinds. It is understood that the Indians chose this region- in preference for their abode, chiefly on account of the excellent hunting. At present the forests are for the most part cut down, and the animals have with- drawn to the interior and woodland regions. From the natives the Northmen bought squir- rel-skins and all kinds of peltries, which are still to be found in abundance in this district. Eider-ducks and other birds were found in great numbers on the adjacent islands, as is also at present the case, on which account some of them have the name of Egg Islands. Every river was full of fish, among which are mentioned excellent salmon. On the coast was also caught a great quantity of fish. The Northmen dug ditches along the shore, within the high water-mark, and when the tide receded they found halibuts in the ditches. On the coast they also caught ivhales, 114 AMERICAN BIOGEAPHY. and among these the refer (Balsena physa- lus). In the modern descriptions of this re- gion it is stated that " all the rivers are full of fish ;" and of the waters in that neighbour- hood it is said " il y a une grande abondance de poissons de presque toutes les especes." Salmon may be mentioned as one of these. Not long ago, the whale fishery was, in that very region, an important branch of industry, especially for the inhabitants of the adjacent islands. Very possibly the adjacent Whale Rock has its name from the same circum- stances. IV. Astronomical Evidence. Besides the nautical and geographical statements, one of the most ancient writings has preserved an astronomical notice, where it was said that here the days were of more equal length than in Iceland or Greenland ; that on the shortest day the sun rose at half past seven o'clock, and set at half past four, which makes the shortest day nine hours. This astronomical observation gives for the place latitude 41 24' 10". The latitude of Seaconnet Point, and of the southernmost promontory of the Island of Conannicut, is 41 26' north, and that of Point Judith BIRON. 115 23-. These three headlands form the en- trance boundaries of the modern Mount Hope Bay, which the ancients, according to the analogy of their language, no doubt, called HOPSVATN. We thus see that this statement corresponds exactly with the other data, and indicates precisely the same region. DISCOVERIES OF MORE SOUTHERN REGIONS. The party sent by Thorvvald Ericson, in the year 1003, from Leifsbooths, to explore the southern coasts, employed from four to five months in the expedition ; they there- fore most likely examined the coasts of Con- necticut and New- York, probably also those of New- Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland. The description of this range of coast is ac- curate ARE MARSON'S SOJOURN IN GREAT IRELAND. In those times the Esquimaux inhabited more southerly regions than they do at pres- ent. This is both evident from the ancient accounts, and seems, besides, to gain corrobo- ration from ancient skeletons which have been dug up in regions even more southerly than those in question ; a circumstance which, however, merits a more accurate examina- 116 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. tion. In the neighbourhood of Vineland, opposite the country inhabited by the Esqui- maux, there dwelled, according to their re- ports, people who wore white dresses, and had poles borne before them, on which were fastened lappets, and who shouted with a loud voice. This country was supposed to be HVITRA-MANN-A-LAND, as it was call- ed (the Land of the White Men}, otherwise called IR-LAND IT MIKLA (Great Ire- land), being probably that part of the coast of North America which extends southward from Chesapeake Bay, including North and South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. Among the Shawanese Indians, who some years ago emigrated from Florida, and are now settled in Ohio, there is preserved a tradition which seems of importance here, viz., that Florida was once inhabited by white people, who were in possession of iron implements. Judg- ing from the ancient accounts, this must have been an Irish Christian people, who, previous to the year 1000, were settled in this region. The powerful chieftain ARE MARSON, of Rei- kianes, in Iceland, was, in the year 903, driv- en thither by storms, and there received bap- tism. The first author of this account was his contemporary Rafa, surnamed the Lim- BIRON. 117 erick-trader, he having long resided at Lim- erick, in Ireland. The illustrious Icelandic sage Are Frode, the first compiler of the Landnama, who was himself a descendant in the fourth degree from Are Marson, states on this subject, that his uncle, Thorkell Geller- Bon (whose testimony he on another occasion declares to be worthy of all credit), had been informed by Icelanders, who had their infor- mation from Thorfinn Sigurdson, earl of Orkney, that Are had been recognised in Hvitramannaland, and could not get away from thence, but was there held in high re- spect. This statement therefore shows that in those times there was an occasional inter- course between the western European coun- tries (the Orkneys and Ireland) and this part of America. VOYAGES OF BIERN ASBRANDSON AND GUDLEIF GUDLAUGSON. It must have been in this same country that BIERN AS-BRANDSON, surnamed BREID-VIK- INGA-KAPPI, spent the latter part of his life. He had been adopted into the celebrated band of Jomsburg warriors, under Palnatoke, and took part with them in the battle of Fyr- isval, in Sweden. His illicit amatory con- 118 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. nexion with Thurida of Frodo, in Iceland, a sister of the powerful Snorre Gode, drew upon him the enmity and persecution of the latter ; in consequence of which, he found himself obliged to quit the country forever, and in the year 999 he set sail from Hraun- hofn, in Sniofelsnes, with a N.E. wind. GUD- LEIF GUDLAUQSON, brother of Thorfinn, the ancestor of the celebrated historian Snorre Sturluson, had made a trading voyage to Dublin ; but when he left that place again, with the intention of sailing round Ireland and returning to Iceland, he met with long- continued northeasterly winds, which drove him far out of his course to the southwest, and late in the season he, along with his com- pany, at last made land; the country was very extensive, but they knew not what coun- try it was. On their landing, a crowd of the natives, amounting to several hundreds in number, came against them, overpowered, and bound them. They did not know any- body in the crowd, but it seemed to them that their language resembled Irish. The natives now took counsel whether they should kill the strangers or make slaves of them. While they were deliberating, a large compa- ny approached, displaying a banner, close to BIRON. 119 which rode a man of distinguished appear- ance, who was far advanced in years, and had gray hair. The matter under delibera- tion was referred to his decision. He was the aforesaid Biorn Asbrandson. He caused Gudleif to be brought before him, and, ad- dressing him in the Norse language, he asked him whence he came. As he replied that he was an Icelander, Biorn made many inquiries about his acquaintance in Iceland, particular- ly about his beloved Thurida of Frodo, and about her son, and who at that time was the proprietor of the estate of Frodo. In the mean time, the natives becoming impatient and demanding a decision, Biorn selected twelve of his company as counsellors ; he took them aside, and some time after he went towards Gudleif and his companions, and told them that the natives had left the matter to his decision. "He thereupon gave them their liberty, and advised thern^ although the summer was already far advanced, to de- part immediately, because the natives we{g not to be depended on, and were difficult to deal with ; and, moreover, conceived that an infringement on their laws had been commit- ted to their disadvantage. He gave them a gold ring for Thurida, and a sword for Kiar- 120 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. tan, and told them to charge his friends and relations not to come over to him, as he was now become old, and might daily expect that old age would get the better of him ; that the country was large, having but few harbours, and that strangers must everywhere expect a hostile reception. They accordingly set sail again, and found their way back to Dublin, where they spent the winter ; but next sum- mer they repaired to Iceland and delivered the presents ; and all were convinced that it was really Biorn Asbrandson whom they had met with in that country. BISHOP ERIC'S VOYAGE TO VINELAND. It may be considered as certain that the intercourse between Vinelattd and Greenland was maintained for a considerable period af- ter this, although the scanty notices about Greenland contained in the ancient manu- scripts do not furnish us with any satisfactory information on this head. It is, however, re- corded, that the Greenland bishop ERIC, im pelled probably by a Christian zeal either of converting the colonists, or of animating them to perseverance in the faith, went over to Vineland in the year 1121. As we have no information of the result of his voyage, but BIRON. 121 can merely gather from the above expression that he reached his destination, we must pre- sume that he fixed his permanent residence in Vineland. His voyage, however, goes to corroborate the supposition of a lengthened intercourse having been kept up between the countries. DISCOVERIES IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS OP AMERICA. The next event in chronological order, of which accounts have been preserved in an- cient records, is a voyage of discovery in the Arctic regions of America, performed during the year 1266, under the auspices of some clergymen of the bishopric of Gar&ar, in Greenland. The account of it is taken from a letter, addressed by a clergyman of the name of Halldor to another clergyman named Ar- nold, formerly established in Greenland, but who had then become chaplain to the Norwe- gian king, Magnus Lagabaeter. At that time all men of any consequence in Greenland possessed large vessels, built for the purpose of being despatched northward in hunting and fishing expeditions. The northern regions which they visited were called Nor&r-set-ur ; the chief stations were Greipai; and Kr6ks- 122 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. fiar5-ar-heibi. The first of these stations is supposed to have been situate immediately to the southward of Disco ; but that the ancient Northmen went much farther north on this coast may be inferred from a very remarkable runic stone^ found in the year 1824, on the isl- and of Kin-gik-tor-s6ak, lying in the latitude of 72 55' N. The latter-mentioned station was to the north of the former. The object of the voyage is stated to have been to explore re- gions lying more to the northward than those they had hitherto been accustomed to visit, consequently lying farther north than KROKS- FIARD-AR-HEIDI, where they had their summer quarters (set-ur), and which they were therefore regularly accustomed to visit. The following particulars are mentioned rela- ting to this voyage of discovery. They sail- ed out of Kroks-fiarb-ar-heibi, and after that encountered southerly winds, accompanied by thick weather, which obliged them to let the ship go before the wind. On the weather clearing up they saw many islands, and all kinds of prey, both seals and whales, and a great many bears. They penetrated into the innermost part of the gulf, and had icebergs (glaciers) lying also to the southward as far as the eye could reach. They observed some BIRO*, 123 vestiges indicating that the Skrellings had in former times inhabited these regions, but they could not land on account of the bears. They then put about and sailed back during three days ; and now again they found traces of the Skrellings having been on some islands lying to the southward of a mountain, by them called Sniofell. After this (on St. James's day) they proceeded southward a great day's rowing. It froze during the night in those regions, but the sun was above the horizon both night and day; and when on the merid- ian in the south, he was not higher than that when a man lay down across a six-oared boat, stretched out towards the gunwale, the shadow formed by the side of the boat near- est the sun reached his face ; but at midnight the sun was as high as when it was (highest) in the northwest in the Greenland colony. Afterward they sailed back again to their home at Garbar. Kroks-fiarb-ar-heibi, as we have observed above, had been for some time previous regularly visited by the Greenland- ers. The name shows that the frith was sur- rounded by barren highlands (heik-i), and the description of the voyage shows that it was a frith of considerable extent, in and through which there was room for several days' sail. I. K 124 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. It is stated, for instance, that they sailed out o/this frith or sound into another sea, and into the innermost part of a gulf, and that their returning voyage occupied several days. As to the two observations mentioned as hav- ing been taken on St. James's day, the first of them leads to no certain result, as we have no sure means of ascertaining the depth of the boat, or, rather, the relative depth of the man's position as he lay across the boat, in reference to the height of the side of the same, so as to enable us to deduce the angle formed by the upper edge of the boat's side and the man's face, which is the angle meas- uring the sun's altitude at noon on St. James's day, or the 25th of July. If we assume, as we may do with probability, that it was some- what less than 33, and yet very near that measure, the place must have been situate near north latitude 75. There seems no probability that it was a larger angle, and, consequently, that the place lay more to the southward. The result obtained from the other observation is, however, more satisfacto- ry. In the thirteenth century, on the 25th of July, the sun's declination was + 17 54'; f inclination of the ecliptic, 23 32'. If we now assume that the colony, and particularly B I R O N. 125 the episcopa. seat of Gar&ar, was situate on the north side of Igaliko Frith, where the ru- ins of a large church and of many other buildings indicate the site of a principal set- tlement of the ancient colony, consequently in 60 55' north latitude, then, at the summer solstice, the height of the sun there, when in the northwest, was = 3 40', equivalent to the midnight altitude of the sun on St. James's day in the parallel of 75 46', which falls a lit- tle to the north of Barrow's Strait, being in the latitude of Wellington's' Channel, or close to the northward of the same. The voyage of discovery undertaken by the Greenland clergyman was therefore carried to regions which in our days have been more accu- rately explored, and their geographical posi- tion determined by Sir William Parry, Sir John Ross, and Captain James Clark Ross, and other British navigators, in the no less da- ring and dangerous expeditions conducted by them. NEWFOUNDLAND REDISCOVERED FROM ICELAND. The discovery next recorded was made by the Iceland clergymen ADALBRAND and THOR- WALD HELGASON, well known in the history% of Iceland as having been involved in the AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. disputes at that time prevailing between the Norwegian king, Eric Priesthater, and the clergy, and which in Iceland were chiefly headed by the governor, Rafa Oddson, and Arne Thorlakson, bishop of Skalholt. Ac- counts drawn up by contemporaries contain merely the brief notice, that in the year 1285 the above-mentioned clergymen discovered a new land to the westward of Iceland (fundu nyja land). This land, to which, by com- mand of King Eric Priesthater, a voyage was some years afterward 'projected by Landa- Rolf, is supposed to have been Newfoundland. A VOYAGE TO MARKLAND IN THE YEAR 1347. The last piece of information respecting America which our ancient manuscripts have preserved, refers to a voyage in the year 1347 from Greenland to MARK- LAND, perform- ed in a vessel having a crew of seventeen men, being probably undertaken for the pur- pose of bringing home building-timber and other supplies from that country. On the voyage homeward from Markland, the ship was driven out of her course by storms, and arrived with loss of anchors at Straumfiord, in the west of Iceland. From the accounts, scanty as they are, of this voyage, written by B I R O N. 127 a contemporary nine years after the event, it would appear that the intercourse between Greenland and America proper had been kept up to so late a date as the year above mentioned ; for it is expressly said that the ship went to Markland, which is thus named as a country that in those days was still known and visited. ****** After having perused the authentic docu- ments themselves, which are now accessible to all, every one will acknowledge the truth of the historical fact, that during the tenth and eleventh centuries, the ancient Northmen discovered and visited a great extent of the eastern coasts of North America ; and will, besides, be led to the conviction that, during the centuries immediately following, the in- tercourse never was entirely discontinued. The main fact is certain and indisputable. On the other hand, there are in these, as in all other ancient writings, certain portions of the narrative which are obscure, and which subsequent disquisitions and new interpreta- tions may serve to clear up. On this account it seems of importance that the original sour- ces of information should be published in the incient language, so that every one may have AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. it in his power to consult them, and to form his own judgment as to the accuracy of the interpretations given. With regard to such traces of the resi- dence and settlement of the ancient North- men as, it is presumed, are still to be me 1 with in Massachusetts and Rhode Island (the countries which formed the destination of their earliest American expeditions), we shall content ourselves for the present with refer ring to the hints which are contained in the " ANTIQUITATES AMERICANS." This mattei will continue to form a subject for the accu- rate investigation of the COMMITTEE of the Hoyal Society of Northern Antiquaries 01* THE ANTE-COLUMBIAN HISTORY OF AMERICA ; and the result of this investigation, togethei with such additional elucidations of the an- cient manuscripts as we may have it in oui power to furnish, shall be communicated ir the ANNALS and MEMOIRS of the Society.] MADOC. 129 II. MADOC. THIS person is supposed to have discovered America, and brought a colony of his coun- trymen hither, before the discovery made by Columbus. The story of his emigration from Wales is thus related by Hakluyt, whose book was first published in 1589, and a second edition of it in 1600.* "The voyage of Madoc, the son of Owen Guyneth, prince of North Wales, to the West Indies in the year 1170, taken out of the His- tory of Wales lately published by M. David Powel, Doctor of Divinitie." " After the death of Owen Guyneth, his sons fell at debate who should inherit after him. For the eldest son born in matrimony, Edward or lorwerth Drwydion, was coiinted unmeet to govern, because of the maime upon his face ; and Howel, that took upon him all the rule, was a base son begotten of an Irish woman. Therefore David gathered all the power he could and came against Howel, and, fighting with him, slew him, and afterward en- * [Vol. iii., p. 1, ed. 1600. H.] 130 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. joyed quietly the whole land of North Wales, until his brother lorwerth's son came to age. " MADOC, another of Owen Guyneth his sons, left the land in contention between his brethren, and prepared certain ships'with men and munition, and sought adventures by sea, sailing west, and leaving the coast of Ireland so far north that he came to a land unknown, where he saw many strange things. " This land must needs be some part of that country of which the Spaniards affirm themselves to be the first finders since Han- no's time. [*For by reason and order of cosmographie, this land to the which Madoc came must needs be some part of Nova His- pania or Florida.] Whereupon it is manifest that that country was by Britains discovered long before [either] Columbus [or Americus Vesputius] led any Spaniards thither. " Of the voyage and return of that Ma- doc 'there be many fables feigned, as the common people do use, in distance of place and length of time, rather to augment than diminish, but sure it is there he was. And after he had returned home and declared the pleasant and fruitful countries that he had * The words included in crotchets [ ] are omitted in the sec- ond edition of Hakluyt's Voyages. MA DOC. 131 seen without inhabitants ; and upon the contra- ry part, for what barren and wild ground his brethren and nephews did murther one an- other, he prepared a number of ships, and got with him such men and women as were desi- rous to live in quietness ; and, taking leave of his friends, took his journey thitherward again. " Therefore it is to be supposed that he and his people inhabited part of those coun- tries ; for it appeareth by Francis Lopez de Gomara, that in Acuzamil and other places the people honoured the cross, whereby it may be gathered that Christians had been there before the coming of the Spaniards. But because this people were not many, they followed the manners of the land they came unto, and used the language they found there. " This Madoc arriving in that western country, unto the which he came in the year 1170, left most of his people there, and, re- turning back for more of his own nation, ac- quaintance, and friends to inhabit that fair and large country, went thither again with ten sails, as I find noted by Gutyn Owen. I am of opinion that the land whereto he came was some part of [Mexico ;* the causes which 'make me think so be these : * In the second edition the word Mexico is changed for the West Indies, and the two following paragraphs are omitted. 132 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. " 1. The common report of the inhabitants of that country, which affirm that their rulers descended from a strange nation that came thither from a far country ; which thing is confessed by Mutezuma, king of that coun- try, in an oration made for quieting of his people, at his submission to the King of Cas- tile, Hernando Cortez being then present, which is laid down in the Spanish chronicles of the conquest of the West Indies. " 2. The British words and names of pla- ces used in that country even to this day do argue the same ; as, when they talk together, they use the word gwrando, which is heark- en or listen. Also th#y have a certain bird with a white head, which they call penguin, that is, white head. But the island of Corro- eso, the river of Guyndor, and the white rock of Peng-uyn, which be all British or Welsh words, do manifestly show that it was that country which Madoc and his people inhab- ited.] " Carmina Meredith filii Rhesi mentionem facientia de Madoco filio Owein Guynedd et de sua navag-atione in terras incognitas. Vix- it hie Meredith circiter annum Domini 1477.* * [i. e., Songs of Meredith, the son of Rhesus (ap. Rees), ma- king mention of Madoe, Jhe son of Owen Guyned, and of his M A D O C. 133 " Madoc wyf, mwyedic wedd lawn genau, Ovvyn Guyned Ni fynnum dir, fy enaid oedd Na da mawr, ond y moroedd. " These verses I received of my learned friend, Mr. William Camden. The same in English. " Madoc I am, the son of Owen Guynedd, With stature large, and comely grace adorned. No lauds at home, nor store of wealth me please, My mind was whole to search the Ocean seas." In this extract from Hakluyt is contained all the original information which I have been able to find respecting the supposed discovery of America by the Welsh. The account it- self is confused and contradictory. The coun- try discovered by Madoc is said to be " with- out inhabitants ;" and yet the people whom he carried thither " followed the manners of the land, and used the language they found there." Though the Welsh emigrants lost their language, yet the author attempts to prove the truth of his story by the preserva- tion of several Welsh words in the American tongues.* Among these he is unfortunate in sailing to unknown lands. This Meredith lived about the year \f our Lord 1477. H.] * The argument does not seem liable to much objection in its nature. For in the blending of nations and of languages, each 134 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. the choice of "penguin, a bird with a white head" all the birds of that name on the American shores having black or dark brown heads ; and the name penguin is said to have been originally pinguedine, from their excess- ive fatness.* Among the proofs which some late writers have adduced in support of the discovery of America by Madoc is this, that a language resembling the Welsh was spoken by a tribe of Indians in North Carolina, and that it is still used by a nation situate on some of the western waters of the Mississippi. If that part of the account preserved by Hakluyt be true, that the language was lost, it is vain to offer an argument of this kind in support of the truth of this story ; but a question may here arise : How could any report of the loss of their language have been transmitted to Europe at so early a period ?t An attempt has lately been made to ascer- tain the truth of this piece of history by Dr. will probably gain and lose somewhat. The uncertainty of the facts and the scantiness of the examples are a better and suf- ficient ground of doubt. H.] * See the new Encyclopedia, under the article AMERICA. t [Without leaving som more distinct trace of the position of the colony.] M A D O C. 135 John Williams. I have not seen the book it- self, but if the critical reviewers may be cred- ited,* no new facts have been adduced. It is remarked by them, that " if Madoc once reached America, it is difficult to explain how he could return home ; and it would be more improbable that, he should arrive in America a second time, of which there is not the slight- est evidence." They also observe, that " if Madoc sailed westward from Wales, the cur- rents would rather have carried him to Nova Scotia than to the southward." The mentioning of Nova Scotia reminds me of some words in the native language of that country which begin with two syllables resembling the name of Madoc. t A sachem of the Penobscot tribe, who lived in the end of the last and in the beginning of the pres- ent century, bore the name of Madokawando. A village on Penobscot River was called Ma- dawankee. One branch of the River St. John, which runs into the Bay of Fundy, is Medoc- tack, and another is Medocscenecasis. The advocates of this opinion may avail them- selves as far as they can of this coincidence, but in my apprehension it is too precarious to be the basis of any just conclusion. * Critical Review for 1791, p. 357. t See Gyles'a Memoir? ^f his Captivity in 1689. 136 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. After all that has been or can be said on the subject, we must observe with the critical reviewers, that " if Madoc left Wales and dis- covered any other country, it must always re- main uncertain where that country is."* Dr. Robertson thinks, if he made any discovery at all, it might be Madeira or one of the Azores.! The book of Hakluyt, in which the origi- nal story is preserved, was written in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and in the time of her controversy with Spain. The design of his bringing forward the voyage of Madoc appears, from what he says of Columbus, to have been the asserting of a discovery prior to his, and, consequently, the right of the crown of England to the sovereignty of America ; a point at that time warmly con- tested between the two nations. The remarks which the same author makes on several oth- er voyages evidently tend to the establish- ment of that claim. But if the story of Biron be true, which (though Hakluyt has said no- thing of it) is better authenticated than this of Madoc, the right of the crown of Den- * [There are no data from which it can be ascertained ; no in- timation of latitude, climate, or distance ; nothing more than that from Ireland it was southwest. H.] . t Hist. Amer., vol. i., p. 374 [note 17]. M A D O C. 137 mark is, on the principle of prior discovery, superior to either of them. Perhaps the whole mystery may be un- veiled if we advert to this one circumstance, the time when Hakluyt's book was first pub- lished. National prejudice might prevail, even with so honest a writer, to convert a Welsh fable into a political argument to sup- port, against a powerful rival, the claim of his sovereign to the dominion of this continent. AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. III. ZENO. IT is well known that the Venetians were reckoned among the most expert and adven- turous of the maritime nations. In that re- public, the family of ZENO or ZENI is not only very ancient and of high rank, but celebra- ted for illustrious achievements. Nicolo Zeno, having exhibited great valour in a war with the Genoese, conceived an ardent desire, agreeably to the genius of his nation, to trav- el, that he might, by his acquaintance with foreign nations and languages, render him- self more illustrious and more useful. With this view he equipped a vessel at his own ex- pense, and sailed through the Straits of Gib- raltar to the northward [A.D. 1380], with an intention to visit Britain and Flanders ; but by a storm which lasted many days, he was cast away on the coast of Frisland.* The prince of the country Zichmni (or, as Purchas spells, it Zichmui) finding Zeno an * [The narrative, gathered from the letters of the brother* Zeni, is given in an abridged form in Purchas's Pilgrims, iii^ 610; and more fully in Hakluyt, iii., 121-128. H.] Z E N O. 139 expert seaman, gave him the command of his fleet, consisting of thirteen vessels, of which two only were rowed with oars ; one was a ship, and the rest were small barks. With this fleet he made conquests and dep- redations in Ledovo, and Ilofo, and other small islands, several barks laden with fish being a past of his capture. Nicolo wrote to his brother Antonio Zeno at Venice, inviting him to Frisland, whither he went, and. being taken into the service of Zichmni, continued with him fourteen years. The fleet sailed on an expedition to Estland, where they committed great ravages ; but, hearing that the King of Norway was coming against them with a superior fleet, they de- parted, and were driven by a storm on shoals, where part of the fleet was wrecked, and the rest were saved on Grisland, " a great island, but not inhabited." Zichmni then determined to attack Ice- land, which belonged to the King of Norway ; but, finding it well fortified and defended, and his fleet being diminished, he retired and built a fort in Bress, one of seven small islands, where he left Nicolo and returned to Frisland. In the next spring Zeno, with three small 140 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. barks, sailed to the northward on discovery, and arrived at Engroenland, where he found a monastery of friars, and a church dedicated to St. Thomas, situate near a volcano, and heated by warm springs flowing from the mountain. After the death of Nicolo, which happened in about four years, Antonio sucpeeded him in the command of the fleet ; and the Prince Zichmni, aiming at the sovereignty of the sea, undertook an expedition westward, be- cause that some fishermen had discovered rich and populous islands in that quarter. The report of the fishermen was, thai above a thousand miles westward from Fris- land, to which distance they had been driv- en by a tempest, there was an island called Estotiland, which they had discovered twen- ty-six years before ; that six men in one boat were driven upon the island, and, being taken by the inhabitants, were brought into a fair and populous city ; that the king of the place sent for many interpreters, but none was found who could understand the language of the fishermen, except one who could speak Latin, and he had formerly been cast ashore on the island ; that, on his reporting their case to the king, he detained them five years, in ZENO. 141 which time they learned the language ; that one of them visited divers parts -of the island, and reported that it was a very rich country, abounding with all the commodities of the world ; that it was less than Iceland, but far more fruitful, having in the middle a very high mountain, from which originated four rivers. The inhabitants were described as very in- genious, having all mechanic arts. They had a peculiar kind of language and letters ; in the king's library were preserved Latin books, which they did not understand. They had all kinds of metals (but especially gold, with which they mightily abounded.*) They held traffic with the people of Engroenland, from whence they brought furs, pitch, and brimstone. They had many great forests, which supplied them with timber for the building of ships, houses, and fortifications. The use of the loadstone was not known ; but these fishermen having the mariner's com- pass, were held in so high estimation that the king sent them with twelve barks to a coun- try at the southward, called Drogio, where * This passage is in Hakhiyt's translation, and the abridg- ment by Ortelius ; but Dr. Forstcr could not find it in the Italian original of Rarausio. Northern Voyages, p. 189. 142 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. the most of them were killed and devoured by cannibals ; but one of them saved him- self by showing the savages a way of taking fish by nets, in much greater plenty than by any other mode before known among them. This fisherman was in so great demand with the princes of the country, that they frequent- ly made war on each other for the sake of gaining him. In this manner he passed from one to another, till, in the space of thirteen years, he had lived with twenty-five different princes, to whom he communicated his " mi- raculous" art of fishing with nets. He thus became acquainted with every part of the country, which he described to be so extensive as to merit the name of a new world. The people were rude, and ignorant of the use of clothing, though their climate was cold, and afforded beasts for the chase. In their hunting and wars they used the bow and the lance, but they knew not the use of metal. Farther to the southwest the air was said to be more temperate and the people more civil. They dwelt in cities, built temples, and worshipped idols, to whom they offered human victims ; and they had plenty of gold and silver. The fisherman, having become fully ac- Z E N O. 143 quainted with the country, meditated a return. Having fled through the woods to Drogio, after three years some boats arrived from Es- totiland, in one of which he embarked for that country ; and having acquired consider- able property, he fitted out a bark of his own and returned to Frisland. Such was the report of the fisherman, upon hearing of which Zichmni resolved to equip his fleet and go in search of the new coun try, Antonio Zeno being the second in com- mand. But " the preparation for the voy- age to Estotiland was begun in an evil hour ; the fisherman, who was to have been the pi- lot, died three days before their departure." However, taking certain mariners who had sailed with the fisherman, Zichrnni began the intended voyage. When he had sailed a small distance to the westward, he was over- taken by a storm which lasted eight days, at the end of which they discovered land, which the natives called Icaria. They were nu- merous and formidable, and would not per- mit him to come on sh&re. From this place they sailed six days to the westward with a fair wind, but a heavy gale from the south- ward drove them four days before it, when they discovered land, in which was a volcano. AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. The air was mild and temperate, it being the Height of summer. They took a great quan- tity of fish, of seafowl and their eggs. A party, who penetrated the country as far as the foot of the volcano, found a spring, from which issued " a certain water like pitch, which ran into the sea." They discovered some of the inhabitants, who were of small stature and wild, and who, at the approach of the strangers, hid themselves in their caves. Having found a good harbour, Zichmni in- tended to make a settlement ; but his people opposing it, he dismissed part of the fleet under Zeno, who returned to Frisland. The particulars of this narrative were first written by Antonio Zeno, in letters to his brother Carlo at Venice, from some frag- ments of which a compilation was made by Francisco Marcolini, and preserved by Ra- musio. It was translated by Richard Hak~ luyt, and printed in the third volume of the second edition of his collections, page 121, &c. From it Ortelius has made an extract in his Tfieatrum Orbi's. Dr. Forster has taken much pains to exam- ine the whole account, both geographically and historically. The result of his inquiry is, that Frisland is one of the Orkneys ; that ZENO. 145 Porland is the cluster of islands called Faro ; and that Estland is Shetland. ' At first, indeed, he was of opinion that " the countries described by the Zenos ac- tually existed at that time, but had since been swallowed up by the sea in a great earth- quake."* This opinion he founded on the probability that all the high islands in the mid- dle of the sea are of volcanic original, as is evi- dent with respect to Iceland a*nd the Faro Isl- ands in the North Sea ; the Azores, Teneriffe, Madeira, the Cape de Verds, St. Helena, and Ascension in the Atlantic ; the Society Isl- ands, Otaheite, Easter, the Marquesas, and other islands in the Pacific. This opinion he was induced to relinquish, partly because " so great a revolution must have left behind it some historical vestiges or traditions," but principally because his knowledge of the Ru- nic language suggested to him a resemblance between the names mentioned by Zeno and those which are given to some of the islands of Orkney, Shetland, Faro, and the Heb- rides. However presumptuous it may appear to call in question the opinion of so learned and diligent an inquirer, on a subject which hia * Northern Voyages, Dublin edition, p. 200. 146 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. philological and geographical knowledge must enable him to examine with the greatest pre- cision, yet, from the search which I have had opportunity to make, it appears to me that his first opinion was right as far as it respects Frisland, and perhaps Porland. My reasons are these : 1. Dr. Forster says that Frisland was " much larger than Iceland ;"* and Hakluyt, in his account of Zeno's voyage, speaks of it as " bigger than Ireland."! Neither of these accounts can agree with the supposition of its being one of the Orkneys ; for Iceland is 346 miles long and 200 wide. Ireland is 310 in length and 184 in breadth ; but Pomona, the mainland of the Orkneys, is but 22 miles long and 20 wide. 2. Frisland was seen by Martin Frobisher in each of his three voyages to and from Greenland in the years 1576, 1577, and 15784 In his first voyage he took his departure from Foula, the westernmost of the Shetland Islands, in latitude 60 30', and, after sailing W. by N. fourteen days, he made the land of Frisland, " bearing W.N.W. distant 16 leagues, in latitude 61." * Page 181. Vol. iii., p. 122. $ Hakluyt, vol. iii., p. 30, &c. ZENO. 147 In his second voyage he sailed from the Ork- neys W.N.W. twenty-six days before he came "within making of Frisland," which he thus describes : " July 4th. We made land perfect, and knew it to be Frisland. Found ourselves in latitude 60 i, and were fallen in with the southernmost part of this land. It is thought to be in bigness not inferior to England ; and is called of some authors West Frisland. I think it lieth more west than any part of Eu- rope. It extendeth to the north very far, as seemed to us, and appeareth by a descrip- tion set out by two brethren, Nicolo and An- tonio Zeni, who, being driven off from Ireland about 200 years since, were shipwrecked there. They have in their sea charts descri- bed every part, and, for so much of the land as we have sailed along, comparing their charts with the coast, we find it very agreeable. All along this coast the ice lieth as a continu- al bulwark, and so defendeth the country, that those who would land there incur great danger."* In his third voyage he found means to land on the island. The inhabitants fled and hid themselves. Their tents were made of skins, and their boats were like * Hakluyt, vol. ill., p. 62. I. M 148 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. those of Greenland. From these well-au- thenticated accounts of Frisland, and its sit- uation so far westward of the Orkneys and Shetland, it seems impossible that Dr. For- ster's second opinion can be right. 3. One of the reasons which led the doctor to give up his first opinion, that these lands once existed, but had disappeared, was, that so great a revolution must have left some ves- tige behind. If no person escaped to tell the news, what better vestige can there be than the existence of shoals and rocks in the pla- ces where these islands once were known to be ? In a map prefixed to Crantz's History of Greenland, there is marked a very exten- sive shoal between the latitudes of 59 and 60, called " The sunken land of Buss." Its lon- gitude is between Iceland and Greenland, and the author speaks of it in these words : " Some are of opinion that Frirland was sunk by an earthquake, and that it was situate in those parts where the sunken land of Buss is mark- ed in the maps, which the seamen cautiously avoid, because of the shallow ground and turbulent waves."* Respecting Buss Island I have met with no other account than what is preserved by Pur- * Vol. i., p. 273. Z E N O. 149 chas* in his abridgment of the journal of James Hall's voyages from Denmark to Greenland. In his first voyage [A.D. 1605] he remarks thus : " Being in the latitude of 59|, we looked to have seen Busse Island ; but I do verily suppose the same to be placed in a wrong latitude in the marine charts." In his second voyage [1606] he saw land which he " supposed to be Busse Island, ly- ing more to the westward than it is placed in the marine charts ;" and the next day, viz., July 2d, he writes, " we were in a great cur- rent, setting S.S.W., which I suppose to set between Busse Island and Frisland over to- wards America." In a fourth voyage, made in 1612, by the same James Hall, from England, for the dis- covery of a N.W. passage, of which there is a journal written by John Gatonbe, and pre- served in Churchill's Collections, t they kept a good look-out, both in going and returning, for the island of Frisland, but could not see it. In a map prefixed to this voyage, Fris- land is laid down between the latitude of 61 and 62, and Buss in the latitude of 57. In Gatonbe's journal the distance between Shetland and Frisland is computed to be 260 * Vol. iv., p. 815, 822. t Vol. vi., p. 260,268. AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. leagues; the southernmost part of Frisiand and the northernmost part of Shetland are said to be in the same latitude. There is also a particular map of Frisiand preserved by Purchas,* in which are delineated several towns and cities ; the two islands of Ilofo and Ledovo are laid down to the westward of it, and another called Stromio to the east- ward. In a map of the North Seas prefixed to an anonymous account of Greenland, in Church- ill's Collection,t we find Frisiand laid down in the latitude of 62, between Iceland and Greenland. We have, then, no reason to doubt the ex- istence of these islands as late as the begin- ing of the last century ; at what time they disappeared is uncertain, but that their place has since been occupied by a shoal we have also credible testimony. The appearance and disappearance of isl- ands in the Northern Sea is no uncommon thing. Besides former events of this kind, there is one very recent. In the year 1783, by means of a volcanic eruption, two islands were produced in the sea near the S.E. coast of Iceland. One was supposed to be so per- * Vol. iv., p. 625. t Vol. ii., p. 378. ZENO. 151 manent, that the King of Denmark sent and took formal possession of it as part of his do- minions ; but the ocean, paying no regard to tlie territorial claim of a mortal sovereign, has since reabsorbed it in his watery bosom.* These reasons incline me to believe that Dr. Forster's first opinion was well founded, as far as it respects Frisland. He supposes Porland to be the cluster of islands called Faro.f But Porland is said to lie south$ of Frisland, whereas the Faro Isl- ands lie northwest of Orkney, which he sup- poses to be Frisland. The learned doctor, who is in general very accurate, was not aware of this inconsistency. In the account which Hakluyt has given of Martin Frobisher's third voyage, we find that one of his ships, the Buss of Bridgewa- ter, in her return fell in with land 50 leagues S.E. of Frisland, " which (it is said) was nev- er found before," the southernmost part of which lay in latitude 57J. Along the coast of this land, which they judged to extend 25 leagues, they sailed for three days.$ The existence of this land Dr. Forster seems to * See a new Geographical Grammar, by a society in Edin- burgh, published by Alexandej.Kincaid, vol. i., p. 123. t Northern Voyages, p. 207. t Ibid., p. 180. $ Hakluyt, vol. iii., p. 93. 152 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. doubt, but yet allows that, " if it was then really discovered, it must have sunk afterward into the sea, as it has never been seen again, or else these navigators must have been mis- taken in their reckoning." If such an island or cluster of islands did exist in the situation described by Frobisher, it might be the Porland of Zeno ; for the southernmost part of Frisland lay in the lati- tude of 60i ; the southernmost part of this land in 57 J, in a direction S.E. from it. It was probably called Buss by the English, from the name of Frobisher's vessel which discovered it. The only proof which can now be produced of this fact must be the actual existence of rocks and shoals in or near the same place. Of this, it is happily in my power to produce the evidence of two experienced shipmasters, of incontestable veracity, now living.* The first is Isaac Smith, of Maiden, near Boston, from whose logbook I have made the fol- lowing extract : "In a voyage from Peters- burgh to Boston, in the ship Thomas and Sa- rah, belonging to Thomas Russell, Esq., of Boston, merchant, Thursday, August 11, 1785, course W.N.W., wind W.S.W. At 4 A.M. discovered a large rock ahead, which * 1794. Z E N O. 153 for some time we took to be a ship under close-reefed topsail. At 7, being within two miles, saw breakers under our lee, on which account wore ship. There are breakers in two places bearing S.E. ; one a mile, the oth- er two miles from the rock. It lies in lat. 57 38' ; longitude west from London, 13 36 ; and may be discovered five leagues off. We sounded, and had 56 fathoms. The rock ap- pears to be about 100 yards in circumference, and 50 feet above water. It makes like a haystack, black below and white on the top." The other is Nathaniel Goodwin, of Boston, who, in his homeward passage from Amster- dam, on the 15th of August, 1793, saw the same rock. According to his observation (which, however, on that day was a little du- bious), it lies in lat 57 48', and Ion. 13 46'. He passed within two miles of it to the south- ward, and saw breakers to the northward of it. Its appearance he describes in the same manner with Smith. From these authorities I am strongly in- clined to believe that the shoal denominated " the sunken land of Buss" is either a part of the ancient Frisland or of some island in its neighbourhood ; and that the rock and ledges seen by Smith and Goodwin belonged 154 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. to the cluster once called Porland. If these conclusions be admitted, there can be no sus- picion of fiction in the story of Zeno, as far it respects Prince Zichmni and his expedi- tions. Shetland may then well enough agree with Estland, which is described by Hakluyt as lying "between Frisland and Norway."* The only place which in Zeno's relation is called by the same name by which it is now known, is Iceland ; though there can be no doubt that Engroenland, or Engroneland, is the same with Greenland, where, according to Crantz, there was once a church dedicated to St. Thomas, and situate near a volcano and a hot spring. t But the question is, Where shall we find Estotiland ? Dr. Forster is positive that " it cannot be any other country than Winland (discovered in 1001), where the Normans made a settlement." The Latin books seen there by the fisherman he supposes to have been the library of Eric, bishop of Green- land, who went thither in the twelfth century to convert his countrymen. He is also of opinion that this fisherman had the use of the * Vol. iii., p. 122. t Crantz's History of Greenland, vol. ii., p. 265. Purchas, vol. iv., p. 651. Z E N O. 155 magnetic needle, which began to be knoAvn in Europe about the year 1302, before the time of the Zenos. He also thinks that the country called Drogio is the same with Florida. In some of the old maps, particularly in Sanson's French Atlas, the name Estotiland is marked on the country of Labrador ; but the pompous description of it by the fisher- man, whether it be Labrador or New-Found- land, exceeds all the bounds of credibility, and abuses even the license of a traveller. The utmost extent of Zichmni's expedition, in consequence of the fisherman's report, could not be any farther westward than Greenland, to which his description well agrees. The original inhabitants were short of stature, half wild, and lived in caverns ; and between the years 1380 and 1384 they had extirpated the Normans and the monks of St. Thomas. The discovery of Estotiland must there- fore rest on the report of the fisherman ; but the description of it, of Drogio, and the country S.W. of Drogio, must be ranked in the fabulous history of America, and would probably have been long since forgotten if Christopher Columbus had not made his grand discovery, from the merit of which his rivals and the enemies of the Spanish nation have uniformly endeavoured to detract. 156 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. TV. CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS.* .WBi-i ;>' ': : - '- f"i ;<.;, ' . - THE adventures which have been already spoken of were more the result of accident than design ; we are now entering on one founded in science and conducted by judg- ment ; an adventure which, whether we re- gard its conception, its execution, or its con- sequences, will always reflect the highest hon- our on him who projected it. [* Since the life of Columbus was written by Dr. Belknap, the subject has been investigated with much ardour and re- search, and new documents and sources of evidence have been brought to light. Many particulars of the history of that renowned navigator which were then doubtful have been render- ed certain, many that were obscure have been made plain ; and though, in some respects, we may still look for farther and more precise information, we have yet enough to enable us to do ample justice to his merits, and to furnish us with a satisfacto- ry conception of his character and achievements. Of the works which have been written to illustrate his history, and to which the reader is referred for more minute or extended information, the History of the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus, by Washington Irving, is deserving of special notice. It is in two volumes 8vo, with an additional volume relating to the Companions of Columbus. We are indebted to this work mainly for the corrections and additions we have made to the sketch by Dr. Belknap, which we have made more few and brief, because that work is within the reach of almost every one. -H.J * COLUMBUS. 157 About the middle of the fifteenth century, when the Portuguese, under the conduct of Prince Henry, and afterward of King John II., were pushing their discoveries along the western shore of Africa, to find a passage by the south to India, a genius arose, whose memory has been preserved with veneration in the pages of history, as the instrument of enlarging the region of science and commerce beyond any of his predecessors. CHRIS- TOPHER COLUMBUS, a native of the republic of Genoa, was born in the year 1447,* and at the age of fourteen entered on a seafaring life,t as the proper sphere in which * [Mr. Irving, with greater probability, places the birth of Columbus in the year 1435 or 1436. The family name is Co- lombo, Latinized by the discoverer into Columbus, and in Span- ish Colon. His father was a wool-comber. Christopher was the eldest of four children. He was educated as well as the scanty means of his father would allow, and sent for a while to the University of Pavia, where he learned the elements of those sciences which are useful in navigation, to which he early show- ed a strong inclination. H.] t [Probably under Colombo, an experienced sea-captain and a distant relation. The navigation of the Mediterranean was then perilous, from the number of piratical cruisers who roved over it, and the perpetual feuds of the nations on its. banks, and involved the mariner in constant hardships, while it required and created in him great vigilance, daring, and address. Columbus was probably engaged in the various maritime services then common and accounted lawful among those who sailed in that .58 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. his vigorous mind was destined to perform ex- ploits which should astonish mankind.* He was educated in the sciences of geometry and astronomy, which form the basis of nav- igation ; and he was well versed in cosmog- raphy, history, and philosophy. His active and enterprising genius, though it enabled him to comprehend the old systems, yet would not suffer him to rest in their decisions, however sanctified by time or by venerable names ; but, determined to examine them by actual experiment, he visited the seas within the polar circle, t and afterward those parts of Africa which the Portuguese had discover- ed, as far as the coast of Guinea ; and by the time that he had attained the age of thirty- seven, he had, from his own experience, re- sea; not less in piratical expeditions or attacks upon the infidels, than in the regular operations of commerce. We have few clear traces of his conduct in these scenes, but in those few are manifested the elements of that skill, hardihood, and self-reliance which were so conspicuous in his later life. H.] * Life of Columbus by his son Ferdinand, chap. iv. See vol. ii. of Churchill's Collection of Voyages. Herrera's Hist. Amer., vol. i. t [In a letter, a part of which his son has preserved, he says, " In the year 1477. in February, I navigated one hundred leagues beyond Thule, which is seventy-three degrees distant from the equator." To what extent he followed the track of the Portuguese discoverers on the coast of Africa I have not been able to learn. H.] COLUMBUS. 159 ceived the fullest conviction, that the opinion of the ancients respecting the torrid and fri- gid zones was void of any just foundation. When an old system is found erroneous in one point, it is natural to suspect it of far- ther imperfections ; and when one difficulty is overcome, others appear less formidable. Such was the case with Columbus ; and his views were accelerated by an incident which threatened to put an end to his life. During one of his voyages, the ship in which he sail- ed took fire in an engagement with a Vene- tian galley, and the crew were obliged to leap into the sea to avoid perishing in the flames. In this extremity, Columbus, by the help of a floating oar, swam upward of two leagues to the coast of Portugal near Lisbon, and met with a welcome reception from many of his countrymen who were settled there.* * [There is some doubt (see living's Columbus, i., 11, 17, and ii., 244, note) respecting the date of the engagement mentioned in the text, and whether Columbus came to Lisbon thus by a fortunate accident. Lisbon was then the resort of the adventu- rous and skilful in navigation, drawn thither by the liberality of Prince Henry and the earnest projects of King John. Mr. Ir- ving places his arrival there in 1470. His sketch of the per- sonal appearance of Columbus at that time is interesting. " He was tall, well formed, muscular, and of an elevated and dignified demeanour. His visage was long, and neither full not meager ; his complexion fair and freckled, and inclined to rud- 160 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. At Lisbon he married the daughter* of Perestrello, an old seaman who had been concerned in the discovery of Porto Santo and Madeira, from whose journals and charts he received the highest entertainment. Pur- suing his inquiries in geography, and observ- ing what slow progress the Portuguese made in their attempts to find a way round Africa to India, " he began to reflect that, as the Portuguese travelled so far southward, it were no less proper to sail westward," and that it was reasonable to expect to find the desired land in that direction. It must here be remembered that India was in part known to the ancients, and that its dy ; his nose aquiline ; his cheek bones were rather high ; his eyes light gray, and apt to enkindle ; his whole countenance had an air of authority. His hair in his youthful days was of alight colour ; but care and trouble soon turned it gray, and at thirty years of age it was quite white. He was moderate and simple in diet and apparel, eloquent in discourse, engaging and affable with strangers, and of an amiableness and suavity in do- mestic life that strongly attached his household to his person." -H.] * [She was styled Dona Felipa Monis de Perestrello. Hei father was Bartolomeo Monis de Perestrello, " an Italian cava- lier, who had been one of the most distinguished navigators nnder Prince Henry, and had colonized and governed the island of Porto Santo." He was now dead, and seems to have left no estate beyond his "journals and charts." After his marriage, Co- lumbus went to Porto Santo to reside. H.] COLUMBUS. 161 rich and useful productions had for many cen- turies been conveyed into Europe, either by caravans through the deserts of Syria and Ara- bia, or by the way of the Red Sea, through Egypt, into the Mediterranean.* This lucra- tive commerce had been successively engross- ed by the Phoenicians, the Hebrews, the Egyptians, the Assyrians, the Palmyrenes, the Arabians, the Genoese, and the Venetians. The Portuguese were then seeking it by at- tempting the circumnavigation of Africa ; and their expectation of finding it in that direction was grounded on ancient historical traditions, that a voyage had been formerly made by the orders of Necho, king of Egypt, from the Red Sea, round the southern part of Africa to the Straits of Hercules ; and that the same route had been traversed by Hanno the Car- thaginian, by Eudoxus the Egyptian, and others. The Portuguese had consumed about half a century in making various attempts, and had advanced no farther on the western coast of Africa than just to cross the equator, when Columbus conceived his great design of finding India in the west. The causes which led him to entertain this idea are distinguished by his son, the writer * Robertson's India. Brace's Travels. 162 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. of his life, into these three : " natural reason, the authority of writers, and the testimony of sailors." By the help of " reason" he argued in this manner : That the earth and sea composed one globe or sphere. This was known by observing the shadow of the earth in lunar eclipses. Hence he concluded that it might be travelled over from east to west, or from west to east. It had been explored to the east by some European travellers as far as Cipango or Japan, and as far westward as the Azores or Western Islands. The remain- ing space, though now known to be more than half, he supposed to be but one third part of the circumference of the globe. If this space were an open sea, he imagined it might be easily sailed over ; and if there were any land extending eastwardly beyond the known lim- its of Asia, he supposed that it must be near- er to Spain by the west than by the east. For it was then a received opinion that the conti- nent and islands of India extended over one third part of the circumference of the globe ; that another third part was comprehended between India and the western shore of Spain ; therefore it was concluded that the eastern part of India must be as near to Spain COLUMBUS. 163 as the western part. This opinion, though now known to be erroneous, yet being then admitted as true, made it appear to Columbus very easy and practicable to discover India in the west. He hoped, also, that between Spain and India, in that direction, there might be found some islands, by the help of which, as resting-places in his voyage, he might the bet- ter pursue his main design. The probability of the existence of land in that ocean he ar- gued, partly from the opinion of philoso- phers, that there was more land than sea on the surface of the globe, and partly from the necessity of a counterpoise in the west for the immense quantity of land which was known to be in the east. Another source from which he drew his conclusion was " the authority of learned men," who had assumed the possibility of sailing from the western coast of Spain to the eastern bounds of India. Some of the an- cient geographers had admitted this for truth, and one of them* had affirmed that forty days were sufficient to perform this naviga- tion. These authorities fell in with the theo- ry which Columbus had formed ; and having, as early as 1474, communicated his ideas in * Pliny. I. N 164 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. writing to Paul,* a learned physician of Flor* ence, he received from him a letter of that date, confirming his opinion and encoura- ging his design, accompanied with a chart, in which Paul had laid down the city of Quisay (supposed to be the capital of China) but lit- tle more than two thousand leagues westward from Lisbon, which, in fact, is but half the distance. Thus, by arguing from true prin- ciples, and by indulging conjectures partly well founded and partly erroneous, Columbus was led to the execution of a plan, bold in its conception, and, to his view, easily prac- ticable ; for great minds overlook interme- diate obstacles, which men of smaller views magnify into insuperable difficulties. The third ground on which he formed his idea was " the testimony of mariners ;" a class of men who at that time, and in that imp er- ect state of science, were too prone to mix fable with fact, and were often misled by ap- pearances which they could not solve. In the sea, between Madeira and the Western Islands, pieces of carved wood and large * [Paul or Paolo Toscanelli, an eminent native of Florence, born in 1397. He was greatly distinguished as an astronomer, geographer, and physician. He died in Florence, May, 1482. Tiraboschi, torn, vi., lib. ii., cap. xxxviii. H.] COLUMBUS. 165 joints of cane had been discovered, which were supposed to be brought by westerly winds. Branches of pine-trees, a covered canoe, and two human bodies, of a complex- ion different from the Europeans and Afri- cans, had been found on the shores of these islands. Some navigators had affirmed that they had seen islands not more than a hun- dred leagues westward from the Azores. There was a tradition that, when Spain was conquered by the Moors in the eighth centu- ry, seven bishops, who were exiled from their country, had built seven cities and churches on an island called Antilla,* which was supposed to be not more than two hundred leagues west of the Canaries ; and it was said that a Portuguese ship had once discovered this island, but could never find it again. These stories, partly true and partly fabulous, had their effect upon the mind of Colum- bus. He believed that islands were to be found westward of the Azores and Canaries, though, according to his theory, they were at a greater distance than any of his contempo- raries had imagined. His candour led him to adopt an opinion from Pliny respecting float- * [Better known in modern times as the Island of the Seven Cities. H.] 166 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. ing islands, by the help of which he account- ed for the appearances related to him by his marine brethren. It is not improbable that the large islands of floating ice driven from the Polar Seas to the southward, or the Fog Banks, which form many singular appearan- ces resembling land and trees, might have been the true foundation of this opinion and of these reports.* * The following account of a curious deception, extracted from the Gentleman's Magazine, may elucidate the above ob- servations. " ' March 4, 1748-9, at two in the afternoon, made land which bore N.E. seven leagues distant by estimation : at five tacked, being about three leagues from said island, wind E.S.E., lati- tude by observation 49 40', longitude 24 30' from the Liz- ard. This island stretches N.W. and S.E., about 5 leagues long and 9 miles wide. On the south side fine valleys and a great number of birds. " ' March 5, said island bore N. three leagues, N.W. a reef of rocks three miles. This day a ship's mast came alongside. On the south point of said island is a small marshy island. " ' A copy of my journal on board the snow St. Paul, of Lon- don, bound from South Carolina to London. " ' William Otton, Commander. " ' P.S. Captain Otton thought he saw a tent on the island, and would have gone ashore, but had unfortunately stove his boat some time before.' " Commodore Rodney is commissioned to go in quest of an island, which, according to the report of a master of a ship and some others, on examination before the Lords of the Admiralty, lies about 50 N. and about 300 leagues west of England. Capt. Murdock Mackenzie, an excellent mathematician, and au- COLUMBUS. 167 It is not pretended that Columbus was the only person of his age who had acquired these ideas of the form, dimensions, and bal- ancing of the globe, but he was one of the few who had begun to think for themselves, and he had a genius of that kind which makes use of speculation and reasoning only as excitements to action. He was not a closet projector, but an enterprising adventu- rer ; and, having established his theory on principles, he was determined to exert him- self to the utmost to demonstrate its truth by experiment. But, deeming the enterprise too great to be undertaken by any but a sov- thor of the sea charts of the Orkney and Lewis Islands, attends him in, the Culloden sloop to bring back an account of what dis- coveries he may make. As this island lies out of the track of the trade to America, it is supposed to have been missed by navigators to our colonies, though marked in some Dutch maps. If the commodore discovers it, he is to take possession of it by the name of Rodney's Island." " Friday, April 10, 1752, Commodore Rodney arrived at Woolwich ; he had been cruising ten days in quest of an island, and the men at the topmasthead were more than once deceived with what the sailors call fog-banks. About the 6th or 7th day the crew observed branches of trees with their leaves on, and flights of gulls, and pieces of shipwreck, which are generally re- garded as certain signs of an adjacent shore, but could not dis- cover any." Gent. Mag. for 1751, p. 235 ; for 1752, p. 88, 189. N.B. The island marked in the Dutch maps could not have been mistaken for this imaginary island, being but a single rock. It is the same that is described in the life of Zeno, p. 153. AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. ereign state, he first applied (as it is said) to the Republic of Genoa, by whom his project was treated as visionary.* He then proposed his plan to John II., king of Portugal, who, though a prince of good understanding and of an enterprising disposition, yet was so deeply engaged in prosecuting discoveries on the African coast, with a view to find a way to India round that continent, and had been at so vast an expense without any considerable success, that he had no inclination ro accept the terms which Columbus proposed. Influ- * This is said on the authority of Herrera, the royal Spanish historian : Ferdinando Columbus, in the life of his father, says nothing of it, but represents his application to the King of Por- tugal as the first, and gives this reason for it, " because h'e lived under him."* * [The previous application to Genoa, though strongly affirm- ed, has now, we believe, been generally rejected. The circum- stances of the case, apart from any conclusive historical evi- dence, render it probable that his first application was to the King of Portugal. Columbus was residing in his dominions, and John was eminently liberal to maritime enterprise. His propo- sals were more likely to be well received by him than by a repub- lic then engaged in wars and torn by internal dissensions ; and we find no traces of so fond an attachment to his native country as would induce a prudent man to forego the advantages held out to him in the land of his residence and adoption. The precise date of this application is not known. It was undoubt- edly in 1482 or 1483, as John II. ascended the throne in 1481, and Columbus left Portugal in 1484. H.] COLUMBUS. 169 enced, however, by the advice of Calzadilla,* a favourite courtier, he privately gave orders to a ship, bound to the islands of Cape de Verd, to attempt a discovery in the west ; but, through ignorance and want of enterprise, the navigators, after wandering for some time in the ocean and making no discovery, reached their destined port and turned the project of Columbus into ridicule. Disgusted with this base artifice, he quitted Portugal,! and went to Ferdinand, king of * [Diego Ortiz, called Calzadilla, from the name of his native place, a man of learning, then bishop of Ceuta, and confessor to the king. He was one of a number of scientific men to whom the proposals of Columbus were referred by the king for their judgment. H.] t [He left Portugal near the close of the year 1484. In the fall of 1485 he entered Spain. He had left Portugal deeply in debt and to avoid an arrest. He entered Spain with tis for- tunes in no way improved, and with feeble hopes. The circum- stances of his entrance are too singular and romantic to be omit- ted. One day a stranger, on foot, in humble guise, but of a dis- tinguished air, accompanied by a small boy, stopped at the gate of a convent of Franciscan friars, half a league from the little seaport of Palos, in Andalusia, and asked of the porter a little bread and water for his child. While receiving this humble re freshment, the prior of the convent, Juan de Perez Marchena, hap- pening to pass by, was struck with the appearance of the stran- ger, and entered into conversation with him. That stranger was Columbus, attended by his little son Diego. The prior was a man of learning, especially in geography and nautical science. He was struck with the lofty views of Columbus, and detained him as his guest. It was now lato in August, and 170 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. Spain, having previously sent his brother to England to solicit the patronage of Henry Columbus passed the winter in this lonely retreat. The prior was charmed by his conversation and persuaded by his argu- ments, and continued ever after his zealous and steadfast friend. When the spring opened and his guest would be gone, the worthy prior gave him a letter to Fernando de Talavera, confessor to the queen, a man of great influence in public af- fairs, urging the scheme of Columbus upon his attention. Re- freshed with this, hope, the wanderer set forth again, to seek an audience of the confessor, and, through him, of the queen. Talavera received him with coolness, and believed him vis- ionary. Ferdinand and Isabella were in the midst of their wars with the Moors. The whole court was busied in mil- itary preparations and action. None had leisure to listen to the speculations of an obscure adventurer ; and he who could open a new world to him who would befriend him, was fain to take his place among lackeys and the humblest servitors, that he might, perchance, in some happy hour, gain a hearing for his vast suit. Slowly did he gain here and there a friend who might at some time be of service to him. After many de- lays and much uncertainty, the archbishop of Toledo assented to his views, and brought him to the presence of the king. The king hesitated and was doubtful, and referred the subject to a select council of learned men, to hear, examine, and report. The council met in 1486, in the Dominican convent of St. Stephen at Salamanca ; the dignitaries of the Church, studious monks, and learned professors, to decide on the project of an ob- scure and solitary theorizer. They gave more heed to the fa- thers than to the deductions of reason, and answered an argu- ment of science with a quotation from Lactantius. They were not ignorant, but they had not learned the different provinces of faith and reason. Some of them were convinced, but a major- ity could not be persuaded. The simple navigator proved him- self no mean theologian, and quoted prophecy as an offset to the COLUMBUS. 171 VII. But, being taken by pirates and de- tained several years in captivity, Bartholomew had it not in his power to reveal his project to fathers ; but he was a stranger, with little academic lore, and could not' prevail. The court, meanwhile, was occupied with campaigns, and Co- lumbus, still sanguine, and yet waiting for a formal decision, accompanied its movements. Day after day, and year after year, he waited in vain. Conferences of the learned were pro- posed and postponed ; his sovereigns were detained from him as well by victory as by war ; and four years had passed before the opinion of the council was given, that the scheme was visionary and impossible. Thus far, led on by hopes, Columbus had gained a scanty livelihood by drawing maps and charts, or had been maintained by the bounty of the queen. Leaving the court, he applied to two powerful nobles, the Dukes of Medina Sidonia and Medina Celi, with some favour, but with no suc- cess, and retired once more to the convent at Palos. On the return of peace he was again recalled from his seclu- sion ; and, now that his visions of many years had ripened in his own mind to certainty, and he claimed the honours due to his discovery as if it had been already made, he endured the mor- tification of being again rejected, for the very pride and assu- rance of his conviction. Indignant and chagrined, he resolved to abandon Spain forever ; and, " having mounted his mule, sal- lied forth from Santa Fe early in February, 1492." He " had pursued his lonely way across the Vega, and had reached the bridge of Pinos, about two leagues from Granada, when he was overtaken by a courier from the queen, spurring in all speed, who summoned him to return to Santa Fe." He trusted once more, and this time to the promise of the queen, and was not disappointed. She had become convinced by some earnest friends of Columbus ; the expenses of the voyage had been pledged ; and he returned to reap the reward of so many years of solicitation and repulse, of suspense and despondency. H. | I. 172 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. Henry till Christopher Columbus had suc- ceeded in Spain. Before this could be ac- complished he had various obstacles to sur- mount ; and it was not till after seven years of painful solicitation that he obtained his re- quest. The objections made to the proposal of Columbus by the most learned men in Spain, to whom the consideration of it was referred, will give us some idea of the state of geo- graphical science at that time. One objection was, How should he know more than all the wise men and skilful sailors who had existed since the creation ? Another was the author- ity of Seneca, who had doubted whether it were possible to navigate the ocean at any great distance from the shore ; but, admitting that it were navigable, they imagined that three years would be required to perform the voyage which Columbus proposed. A third was, that if a ship should sail westward on a round globe, she would necessarily go down on the opposite side, and then it would be im- possible to return, because it would be like climbing up a hill, which no ship could do with the strongest wind. A fourth objection was grounded on a book of St. Augustine, in which he had expressed his doubt of the ex- COLUMBUS. 173 istence of antipodes and the possibility of go- ing from one hemisphere to the other. As the writings of this holy father had received the sanction of the Church, to contradict him was deemed heresy. For such reasons and by such reasoners, the proposal of Columbus was at first reject- ed ; but, by the influence of John Perez,* a Spanish priest, and Lewis Santangel,t an offi- cer of the king's household, Queen Isabella was persuaded to listen to his solicitation, and, after he had been twice repulsed, to re- call him to court, when she offered to pawn her jewels to defray the expense of the equipment, amounting to no more than 2500 crowns ; which sum was advanced by Santangel, and the queen's jewels were saved. Thus, to the generous decision of a female mind we owe the discovery of America. The conditions stipulated between Ferdi- nand and Isabella! on the one part, and Co- * [Juan Perez de Marchena, already mentioned as the early and warm friend of Columbus, the worthy and learned prior of the convent at Palos. H.] t [Louis de St. Angel, receiver of the ecclesiastical reve- nues in Aragon. The queen relied much on his prudence, and was moved by his earnestness. The low sum at which he put the cost of the enterprise, two vessels and three thousand crowns, may have had some weight. H.] t [The lives and characters of these joint monarchs of Spain 174 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. lumbus on the other part, were these : " That he, his heirs and successors, should hold the office of admiral in all those islands and con- tinents which he should discover, that he should be viceroy and governor of the same, with power of nominating three associates, of whom their majesties should appoint one. That he should have one tenth part of the nett proceeds of all the gold and silver, pre- cious stones, spice, and other merchandise which should be found ; that he, or a deputy of his own appointing, should decide all con- troversies respecting the trade ; that he should be at one eighth part of the expense of equip- have been fully delineated by Mr. Prescott in his History of Ferdinand and Isabella, and by Mr. Irving in his History of Columbus. We give a sketch of their personal appearance from Irving. " Ferdinand was of the middle stature, well pro- portioned, and hardy and active from athletic exercise. His carriage was free, erect, and majestic. He had a clear, serene forehead, which appeared more lofty from his head being partly bald. His eyebrows were large and parted, and, like his hair, of a bright chestnut ; his eyes were clear and animated ; his com- plexion somewhat ruddy ; his mouth moderate, well formed, and gracious in its expression ; his teeth white, though small and ir- regular ; his voice sharp, his speech quick and fluent. Isabella was well formed and of the middle size. Her complexion was fair, her hair auburn, inclining to red ; her eyes of a clear blue ; and there was a singular modesty in her countenance, gracing as it did a wonderful firmness of purpose and earnestness of spirit." H.] COLUMBUS. 175 ping the first fleet, and should receive one eighth part of the profits."* The necessary preparations being made, and a year's provision laid in, on the 3d of August, 1492, Columbus sailed from Palos, a port of Spain, on the Mediterranean,! with three vessels, one of which was called a car- rack^ and the other two caravels, having * [The conditions were mutually signed April 17, 1492. The dignity and privileges of viceroy and governor were secu- red to his descendants, and the title of Don an hereditary prefix to their name. Having thus reached the height of his ambition, Columbus returned once more, and in triumph, to the convent at Palos, where he had passed so many days of weariness, and dis- appointment, and sadness. H.] t [This port, as is now well known, does not lie on the Med- iterranean, but on the Atlantic, in the western part of Andij- lusia. It is now a small village of about four hundred inhabi- tants. H.] t [The largest, in which Columbus sailed, was called the Santa Maria. The others were named the Pinta, commanded by Martin Alonzo Pinzon, and the Nina, commanded by his broth- er, Vincente Yanez Pinzon. Without the aid of these brothers Columbus found it difficult to get any ships for the voyage, so great was the reluctance of the merchants and navigators to en- gage in this enterprise, even though urged by a royal order. The largest was actually impressed into the service by that or- der. H.] $ A carrack was a vessel with a deck ; a caravel had none.* . a * [The distinction mentioned here seems to be true, at least, of the ships of Columbus, though it has been questioned. We have the authority of Peter Martyr, a contemporary of Colum- bus, that, of the three vessels of his fleet, two had no decks 176 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. on board the whole ninety men.* Having passed through the Straits of Gibraltar, he arrived at the Canaries on the 12th of the same month, where he was detained in refit- ting one of the caravels, and taking in wood and water, till the 6th of September, when he sailed westward on his voyage of discovery. This voyage, which now is considered as an easy and pleasant run, between the latitudes of 20 and 30 degrees, with a trade-wind, was then the boldest attempt which had ever been made, and filled the minds of the best seamen with apprehension. They were going direct- ly from home, and from all hope of relief if any accident should befall them. No friend- ly port nor human being was known to be in that direction. Every bird which flew in the " Two of them," says Mr. Irving, i., 78, " were light barges, and called caravels, not superior to river and coasting craft of modern days. They are delineated (in old prints and paintings) as open, and without deck in the centre, but built up high at the prow and stern, with forecastles and cabins for the accom- modation of the crew." They were thought the best on voya- ges of discovery, on account of their slight draught. The word caravel is commonly used to designate a small kind of craft, and often, I suppose, without reference* to its having a deck or not. See note to Irving's Columbus, ii., 278. H.] * [The crew consisted of ninety persons. The whole num- ber on board, including several private adventurers, servants, &c., was one hundred and twenty. H.] COLUMBUS. 177 air, every fish which appeared in the sea, and .every weed which floated on its surface, was regarded with the most minute attention, as if the fate of the voyage depended on it. A phenomenon which had never before been observed struck them with terror. The mag- netic needle appeared to vary from the pole. They began to apprehend that their compass would prove an unfaithful guide ; and the trade-wind, which wafted .them along with its friendly wings, they feared would obstruct their return. To be twenty days at sea, without sight of land, was what the boldest mariner had never before attempted. At the expiration of that time the impatient sailors began to talk of throwing their commander into the ocean and returning home. Their murmurs reach- ed his ears ; but his active mind was never at a loss for expedients, even in the greatest ex- tremity. By soothing, flattery, and artifice, by inventing reasons for every uncommon ap- pt arance, by promising rewards to the obe- dient, and a gratuity to him who should first discover land, in addition to what the king had ordered, and by deceiving them in the ship's reckoning,* he kept them on their * [He kept two logbooks ; one correct, for his own use, and AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. course for sixteen days longer. In the night of the llth of October he himself saw a light, which seemed to be on shore, and in the morning of the 12th they had the joyful sight of land, which proved to be the island of Guanahana, one of the cluster called Ba- hamas, in the 25th degree of north latitude.* Thus, in the space of thirty-six days,t and in the 45th year of his age y Columbus com- pleted a voyage which he had spent twenty years in projecting and executing ; a voyage which opened to the Europeans a new world j which gave a new turn to their thoughts, to their spirit of enterprise and of commerce ; which enlarged the empire of Spain, and stamped with immortality the name of Co- lumbus. After spending several months in sailing from one island to another in that vast archi- pelago, which, from the mistakes of the age, received the name .of the West Indies^ Co- thc other open to his men, in which a number of leagues were subtracted from the ship's daily distance. H.] * [This island was named by Columbus San Salvador, and, more recently, has been called by the English Cat Island. The original name was more properly Guanahani. H.] t [Reckoning from the Canaries. The age of Columbus, following the date given by Mr. Irving, must have been fifty-si* or fifty-seven. H.] t fit ought to be added, to the honour of Columbus, that his /entment of the natives was uniformly humane and COLUMBUS. 179 lumbus returned to Spain* with the two small- er vessels (ihe larger having been wrecked on the island of Hispaniola), leaving behind him a colony of thirty-nine men, furnished with a year's provisions, and lodged in a fort which had been built of the timber saved from the wreck. During his passage he met with a violent tempest, which threatened him with destruction. In this extremity he gave an admirable proof of his calmness and foresight. He wrote on parchment an account of his discoveries, wrapped it in a piece of oiled cloth, and enclosed it in a cake of wax, which he put into a tight cask and threw into the sea. Another parchment, secured in the same manner, he placed on the stern, that, if the ship should sink, the cask might float, and possibly one or the other might be driven on shore, or taken up at sea by some future nav- igator. But this precaution proved fruitless. He arrived safe in Spain, in March,! 1493, and was received with the honours due to his merit. equally politic and Christian, and in fine contrast with the sav- age and murderous course pursued by later adventurers. H.] * [He set sail from La Navidad Jan. 4th, 1493. H.] t [He reached the mouth of the Tagus on the fourth of the month. The brief and scanty outline of this voyage given in the text may easily be filled out from the ample mate- 180 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. The account which Columbus gave of his new discoveries,* the specimens of gold and other valuable productions, and the sight of the natives which he carried from the West Indies to Spain, were so pleasing that the court determined on another expedition.1 But first it was necessary to obtain the sanc- tion of the pope, who readily granted it ; and by an imaginary line, drawn from pole to pole, at the distance of one hundred leagues westward of the Azores, he divided between the crowns of Spain and Portugal all the new' 'countries already discovered or to be discovered, giving the western part to the former, and the eastern to the latter. No provision, however, was made in case that they should meet, and their claims should in- rials now before the public. The reader is particularly referred to Irving's Columbus, i., 79-168, the collections of Navarrette, and the First Voyage of Columbus, &c. H.] * [He still supposed himself to have touched on the east- ern shore of the Continent of India. His imagination, natural- ly ardent, was excited by all he saw in the new regions he had opened to the world, and still more by the vague accounts he had received from the natives. He fully believed, and honestly reported, that he had found the region of spices, of gold, and of pearls. H.] t [The journey of Columbus from Seville to Barcelona, where the court then was, has been likened to a royal progress, and his entrance into Barcelona to a triumph, so great was the joy universally felt for his discoveries, and so great the honour his sovereign and the nobles were now disposed to pay him. The COLUMBUS. 181 terfere on the opposite side of the globe. The bull containing this famous but imper- fect line of demarcation was signed by Alex- ander VI.* on the second day of May, 1493 ; and on the 28th of the same month, the king and queen of Spain, by a written instrument, explained and confirmed the privileges and powers which they had before granted to Co- lumbus, making the office of viceroy and governor of the Indies hereditary in his fam- ily. On the 25th of September following he sailed from Cadiz, with a fleet of seventeen ships, great and small, well furnished with all necessaries for the voyage, and having on board 1500 people, with horses, cattle, and implements, to establish plantations.t second voyage was determined on before he left Seville, and the arrangements for it already begun. To secure regularity in all affairs touching the Indies, a superintendent was appointed by the crown, with a treasurer and comptroller ; and, to provide for the expenses of the new expedition, a large portion of the church tithes were appropriated, and the property of a multitude of ex- iled Jews confiscated. H.] * [Alexander VI. was by birth a Spaniard. The bull defining the line between the future possessions of Spain and Portugal was issued on the third of May : one had already been granted on the second, giving to the Spaniards the same rights in the lands discovered by them \\hichhad been previously given to the Portuguese. Irving., i., 187. The grant was made on the con- dition of planting in them the Catholic faith. H.] t [There was this time, no lack of adventurers. The covet- 182 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. On Sunday, the third of November, he dis- covered an island, to which, in honour of the day, he gave the name of Dominica.* Af- terward he discovered in succession other islands, which he called Marigalante, Gua- daloupe, Montserrat, Redonda, Antigua, St. Martin's, St. Ursula, and St. John. On the 12th of November he came to Navidad,t on the north side of Hispaniola, where he had built his fort and left his colony ; but he had the mortification to find that the people were all dead, and that the fort had been destroyed. The account given by the natives of the loss of the colony was, that they fell into dis- cord among themselves on the usual subjects of controversy, women and gold ; that, hav- ing provoked a chief, whose name was Ca- naubo, he came against them with a superior force, and destroyed them ; that some of the natives, in attempting to defend them, had been killed, and others were then ill of their ous and the heroic, soldiers and priests, gentlemen and nobles, all were eager to embark in an enterprise in which gain or fame was to be won. H.] * [From having discovered it on Sunday, Dies Dominica, i. e., the Lord's Day. H.J t [Nov. 14 he discovered Santa Cruz ; still later, an island which he called St. Juan Bautista, now called Porto Rico, and cast anchor off La Navidad on the 27th. Irving, i., 217. H.] COLUMBUS. 183 wounds, which, on inspection, appeared to have been made with Indian weapons. Columbus prudently forbore to make any critical inquiry into the matter, but hasted to establish another colony, in a more eligible situation, to the eastward, which he called Isabella, after his royal patroness. He had many difficulties to contend with besides those which unavoidably attend undertakings of such novelty and magnitude. Nature, in- deed, was bountiful : the soil and climate pro- duced vegetation with a rapidity to which the Spaniards had not been accustomed. From wheat sown at the end of January, full ears were gathered at the end of March. The stones of fruit, the slips of vines, and the joints of sugarcane sprouted in seven days, and many other seeds in half the time. This was an encouraging prospect ; but the slow operations of agriculture did not meet the views of sanguine adventurers. The numer- ous followers of Columbus, some of whom were of the best families in Spain, had con- ceived hopes of suddenly enriching them- selves by the precious metals of those, new regions, and were not disposed to listen to his recommendations of patience and industry in cultivating the earth. The natives were 184 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. displeased with the licentiousness of their new neighbours, who endeavoured to keep them in awe by a display of force. The explo- sion of firearms, and the sight of men mount- ed on horses, were at first objects of terror ; but use had rendered them less formidable. Columbus, overburdened with care and fa- tigue, fell sick, and at his recovery found a mutiny among his men, which, by a due mix-' ture of resolution and lenity, he had the ad- dress to quell. He then endeavoured to es- tablish discipline among his own people, and to employ the natives in cutting roads through the woods. While he was present and able to attend to business, things went on so pros- perously that he thought he might safely pro- ceed on his discoveries. In his former voyage he had visited Cuba, but was uncertain whether it were an island or a part of some continent. He therefore passed over to its eastern extremity, and coasted its southern side till he found himself entangled among a vast number of small isl- ands, which, for their beauty and fertility, he called the Garden of the Queen ; but the dangerous rocks and shoals which surrounded them obliged him to stretch farther to the southward, by which means he discovered the COLUMBUS. 185 island of Jamaica, where he found water and other refreshments for his men, who were al- most dead with famine. The hazard, fa- tigue, and distress of this voyage threw him into a lethargic disorder, from which he had just recovered, when he returned to his colo- ny and found it all in confusion, from the same causes which had proved destructive to the first. In his absence, the licentiousness of the Spaniards had provoked several of the chiefs, four of whom had united to destroy them, and had actually commenced hostilities, in which twenty Spaniards were killed. Columbus collected his people, put them into the best order, and, by a judicious combination of force and stratagem, gained a decisive victo- ry, to which the horses and dogs did not a little contribute. At his return to Hispaniola he had the pleasure of meeting his brother Bartholo- mew,* whom he had not seen for several * [He was a man of great merit, whose deserts have been overshadowed by the singular renown of the admiral. He was a man of hardly inferior science, of great experience as a navi- gator, prompt, sagacious, and intrepid. Less imaginative, per- haps, and enthusiastic than his brother, he had more worldly wisdom, and more skill in ruling the turbulent and factious spir- its who tortured the more gentle temper of the admiral. Ho AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. years, and whom he supposed to have been dead. Bartholomew was a man of equal knowledge, experience, bravery, and pru- dence with himself. His patience had en- dured a severe trial in their long separation. He had many obstacles to surmount before he could get to England and obtain access to the king. He was at Paris when he heard of the success of his brother's first enterprise, who had gone on the second before Barthol- omew could get to Spain. On his arrival there, and being introduced to the court, he was appointed to the command of three ships, which were destined to convey supplies to the colony ; and he arrived while Christopher was absent on his voyage to Cuba and Ja- maica. Columbus appointed his brother to command at Isabella, while he went into the interior part of the island to perfect his con- quest, and reduce the natives to subjection and tribute. The Indians were so unused to collect gold-dust in such quantities as their conquer- ors demanded it, that they offered to plant was generous and affable, though often abrupt and severe ; tall, muscular, and vigorous in person, of a grave and stern aspect. Patient in labour, cheerful in danger, and resolute in command, he was as a right hand to his brother. H.] COLUMBUS. 187 the immense plains of Hispaniola, and pay an equivalent in corn. Columbus was struck with the magnanimity of the proposal, and, in consequence, moderated the tribute. This did not satisfy the avarice of his fellow-ad- venturers, who found means to complain of him to the king's ministers for his negligence in acquiring the only commodity which they thought deserved the name of riches. The Indians then desisted from planting their usu- al quantity of corn, and attempted to subsist chiefly on animal food. This experiment proved injurious to themselves as well as to their conquerors ; and it was computed that, within four years from the first discovery of the island, one third part of its inhabitants perished. The complaints against Columbus so wrought on the jealous mind of King Ferdi- nand, tha-t John Aguado,* who was sent, in 1495, with supplies to the colony, had orders to act as a spy on his conduct. This man behaved with so little discretion as to seek matter of accusation, and give out threats * [A weak, vain man, who had before received great favours from Columbus. His commission was merely one of inquiry, but he claimed the right to interfere in and control the affair* of the colony. H.] I. P AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. against the admiral. At the same time, the ships which he commanded being destroyed by a hurricane, he had no means to return, till Columbus, knowing that he had enemies at home, and nothing to support him but his own merit, resolved to go to Spain with two caravels ; himself in one, and Aguado in the other. Having appointed proper persons to command the several forts his brother Bar- tholomew to superintend the whole, and his brother James* to be next in authority he set sail on the tenth of March, 1496, and, af- ter a perilous and tedious voyage in the trop- ical latitudes, arrived in Cadiz on the elev- enth of June. His presence at court, with the gold and other valuable articles which he carried home, removed, in some measure, the prejudices which had been excited against him. But his enemies, though silent, were not idle ; and in a court where phlegm and languor proved a clog to the spirit of enterprise, they found it not difficult to obstruct his views, which, notwithstanding all discouragements, were still pointed to the discovery of a way to India by the west. * [Better known by his Spanish name Diego. He was far inferior to his brotheri in talents and energy. H.J COLUMBUS. 189 He now demanded eight ships to carry supplies to his colony, and six to go on dis- covery. These demands were complied with, and he began his third voyage on the thir- tieth of May, 1498. He kept a course so far to the southward, that not only his men, but his provisions and water, suffered greatly from excessive heat. The first land he made after leaving the Isles of Cape de Verd was a large island which he named Trinidad, from its ap- pearance in the form of three mountains. He then passed through a narrow strait and whirlpool into the Gulf of Paria, where, ob- serving the tide to be rapid and the water brackish, he conjectured that the land on the western and southern sides of the gulf was part of a continent, and that the fresh water proceeded from some great rivers. The people on the coast of Paria were whiter than those of the islands. They had about their necks plates of gold and strings of pearl, which they readily exchanged for pieces of tin and brass, and little bells ; and when they were questioned whence they ob- tained the gold and pearls, they pointed to the west. The admiral's provisions not allowing him to stay long in this place, he passed again 190 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. through that dangerous strait, to which he gave the name of the Dragon's Mouth ; and having satisfied himself that the land on his left was a continent, he steered to the N.W., discovering Margarita and several other isl- ands in his course ; and on the thirtieth of August arrived at the harbour of St. Domin- go, in Hispaniola, to which place his brother had removed the colony in his absence, in consequence of a plan preconcerted between them. Wearied with incessant care and watching in this dangerous voyage, he hoped now to enjoy repose ; instead of which, he found his colony much reduced by deaths, many of the survivers sick with a disease, the peculiar consequence of their debauchery, and a large number of them in actual rebellion. They had formed themselves into a body ; they had gained over many of the Indians, under pre- tence of protecting them ; and they had re- tired to a distant part of the island, which proved a resort for the seditious and discon- tented. Their commander was Francis Rol- dan,* who had been chief-justice of the colo- * [Francisco Roldan was one of those vipers, too many of which crossed the path of Columbus, who stung their benefactor. Columbus had raised him from poverty and obscurity, and, ob- COLUMBUS. 191 ny; and their number was so considerable that Columbus could not command a force sufficient to subdue them. He therefore en- tered into a negotiation, by offering a pardon to those who would submit, and liberty of re- turning to Spain to those who desired it. These offers, however impolitic, proved suc- cessful. Roldan himself accepted them, and persuaded others to do the same ; then, be- ing restored to his office, he tried and con- demned the refractory, some of whom were put to death. An account of this mutiny was sent home to Spain by Columbus, and another by Rol- dan. Each had his advocates at court, and the cause was heard by the king and queen. Roldan and his men were accused of adulte- ry, perjury, robbery, murder, and disturbing the peace of the whole island ; while Colum- serving his strong sense, had made him a justice of the peace, and on his own return to Spain appointed him chief-justice of the colony. He had now only to supplant Bartholomew Columbus, left governor in his absence, to become the chief man in the colony ; and such was the meanness of his treacherous ambi- tion, that he scrupled at no means to gratify it. He conspired with the dissolute and mutinous to assassinate the governor, and was prevented from doing it only by an accident ; and having been defeated in this plan, he withdrew, with his party in a formal opposition to the governiueut, till the return of the ad- miral. H.J AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. bus was charged with cruelty to individuals, aiming at independence, and engrossing the tribute. It was insinuated that, not being a native of Spain, he had no proper respect for the noble families who had become adventu- rers, and that the debts due to them could not be recovered. It was suggested that, if some remedy were not speedily applied, there was danger that he would revolt, and join with some other prince ; and that, to compass this design, he had concealed the real wealth of the colony, and prevented the conversion of the Indians to the Catholic faith. These insinuations prevailed on the jeal- ousy of Ferdinand, and even staggered the constancy of Isabella. They resolved to ap- point a judge, who should examine facts on the spot ; and, if he should find the admiral guilty, to supersede him. For this purppse they sent Francis Bovadilla,* a man of noble rank, but whose poverty alone recommended him to the office. Furnished with these pow- ers, he arrived at St. Domingo when Colum- bus was absent ; took lodgings in his house \ * [" Don Francisco de Bobadilla, an officer of the royal house- hold, and a commander of the military and religious order of Calatrava." He is represented as " needy, passionate, and ambitious." Irving, ii., 41. He arrived at San Domingo Aug. 33, 1500. H.] COLUMBUS. 193 invited accusers to appear against him ; seiz- ed on his effects ; and finally sent him and both his brothers to Spain, in three different ships, but all loaded with irons. The master of the ship in which the admi- ral sailed had so much respect for him, that, when he had got to sea, he offered to take off his fetters; but Columbus nobly declared that he would permit that honour to be done him by none but his sovereign. In this hu- miliating confinement he was delivered to Fonseca,* bishop of Bajados, who had been the chief instigator of all these rigorous pro- ceedings, and to whom had been committed the affairs of the Indies. Not content with robbing Columbus of his liberty, this prejudiced ecclesiastic would have deprived him of his well-earned reputation of having first discovered the new continent. With the accusations which Columbus had * [Juan Rodrigues de Fonseca was a man of great abilities, but of a selfish and intriguing spirit. He was appointed super- intendent of Indian affairs in 1493, and afterward became Pa- triarch of the Indies. He was continued in office under the Emperor Charles V. In the use of his power he was treach- erous and malignant ; and having, for some slight cause, con- ceived an enmity to Columbus, persecuted him with unceasing rancour. His whole administration was marked with acts of meanness and perfidy. He died at Burgos in 1524. H.] AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. sent home against Roldan, he had transmitted an account of the discovery of the coast of Paria, which he justly supposed to be part of a continent. Ojeda,* an active officer, who had sailed with Columbus in his second voy- age, was at court when these despatches arri- ved, and saw the draught of the discovery, with the specimens of gold and pearls, which the admiral had sent home. Being a favour- ite of Fonseca, he easily obtained leave to pursue the discovery. Some merchants of Seville were prevailed upon to equip four ships, with which, in 1499, Ojeda followed the track of Columbus, and made land on the coast of Paria. Amerigo Vespucci, a Flor- entine merchant, well skilled in geography and navigation, accompanied Ojeda in this voyage ; and, by publishing the first book and chart describing the new world, obtained the honour of having it called AMERICA. This, however, did not happen till after the death of Columbus. Several other adventurers fol- lowed the same track, and all supposed that the continent which they had seen was part of India. As soon as it was known that Columbus * [For a brief notice of this remarkable man, see the Chron- ological Detail, p. 60. H.] COLUMBUS. 195 was arrived at Cadiz (Nov. 5, 1500) in the dis- graceful situation above mentioned, the king and queen, ashamed of the orders which they had given, commanded him to be released, and invited him to court, where they apolo- gized for the misbehaviour of their new gov- ernor, and not only promised to recall him, but to restore to the admiral all his effects. Columbus could not forget the ignominy. He preserved the fetters, hung them up in his apartment, and ordered them to be buried in his grave. Instead of reinstating him in his govern- ment according to the original contract, the king and queen sent Ovando* to Hispaniola to supersede Bovadilla, and only indulged Columbus in pursuing his darling project, the discovery of India by the west, which he still hoped to accomplish. He sailed again from Cadiz on the fourth of May, 1502, with four vessels, carrying one hundred and forty men and boys, of which number were his broth- er Bartholomew and his 'son Ferdinand, the writer of his life. * [Don Nicholas de Ovando, grand commander of the Order of Alcantara, a man of ability and prudence, yet ambitious. He was cruel to Columbus, and guilty of the vilest treachery and inhumanity in his treatment of the Indians. H.] 196 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. In his passage to the Caribbee Islands he found his largest vessel, of seventy tons, unfit for the service, and therefore went to St. Do- mingo., in hope of exchanging it for a better, and to seek shelter from a storm which he saw approaching. To his infinite surprise and mortification, Ovando would not admit him into the port. A fleet of thirty ships was then ready to sail for Spain, on board of which Roldan and Bovadilla were prisoners. Columbus informed Ovando of the prognos- tics which he had observed, which Ovando disregarded, and the fleet sailed. Columbus then laid three of his vessels under the lee of the shore, and with grett difficulty rode out the tempest. His brother put to sea, and by his great naval skill saved the ship in which he sailed. Of the fleet bound to Spain, eigh- teen ships were lost, and in them perished Roldan and Bovadilla. The enemies of Columbus gave out that he had raised this storm by the art of magic ; and such was the ignorance of the age that the story was believed. What contributed the more to its credit was, that one of the worst ships of the fleet, on board of which were all the effects which had been saved from the ruined fortune of Columbus, was the first which arrived in Spain. The* amount of COLUMBUS. 197 these effects was " four thousand pesos of gold, each of the value of eight shillings." The remark which Ferdinando Columbus makes on this event, so destructive to the ac- cusers of his father, is, " I am satisfied it was the hand of GOD, who was pleased to infat- uate them, that they might not hearken to good advice ; for, had they arrived in Spain, they had never been punished as their crimes deserved, but rather favoured and preferred, as being the bishop's friends."* After this storm, and another which fol- lowed it, Columbus, having collected his lit- tle squadron, sailed on discovery towards the continent ; and, steering to the southwest, came to 'an island called Guanania, twelve leagues from the coast of Honduras, where he met with a large covered canoe, having on board several pieces of cotton clbth of divers colours, which the people said they had brought from the westward. The men were armed with swords of wood, in which sharp flints were strongly fixed. Their provision was maize and roots, and they used the ber- ries of cocoa as money. When the admiral inquired for gold, they pointed to the west ; and when he asked for a strait by which he * Chap. 88. 198 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. might pass through the land, they pointed to the east. From the specimens of coloured cloth, he imagined that they had come from India, and he hoped to pass thither by the strait which they described. Pursuing his course to the east and south, he was led to the Gulf of Darien, and visited several harbours, among which was one which he called Porto Bello ; but he found no passage extending through the land. He then returned to the westward, and landed on the coast of Vera- gua, where the beauty and fertility of the country invited him to begin a plantation, which he called Belem ; but the natives, a fierce and formidable race, deprived him of the honour of first establishing a colony on the continent, by killing some of his people, and obliging him to retire with the others. At sea he met with tempestuous weather of long continuance, in which his ships were so shattered, that, with the utmost difficulty, he kept them above water till he ran them ashore on the island of Jamaica. By his extraordinary address he procured from the natives tw6 of their largest canoes, in which two of his most faithful friends, Mendez and Fiesco, accompanied by some of his sailors and a few Indians, embarked for Hispaniola. After encountering the greatest difficulties in COLUMBUS. 199 their passage, they carried tidings of his mis- fortune to Ovando, and solicited his aid. The merciless wretch detained them eight months without an answer, during which time Columbus suffered the severest hard- ships, from the discontent of his company and the want of provisions. By the hospi- tality of the natives he at first received such supplies as they were able to spare ; but the long continuance of these guests had dimin- ished their store, and the insolence of the mu- tineers gave a check to their friendship. In this extremity, the fertile invention of Colum- bus suggested an expedient which proved successful. He knew that a total eclipse of the moon was at hand, which would be visi- ble in the evening. On the preceding day he sent for the principal Indians, to speak with them on a matter of the utmost importance. Being assembled, he directed his interpreter to tell them that the GOD of Heaven, whom he worshipped, was angry with them for with- holding provision from him, and would pun- ish them with famine and pestilence ; as a to- ken of which, the moon would in the even- ing appear of an angry and bloody colour. Some of them received his speech with ter ror, and others with indifference ; but when the moon rose, and the eclipse increased as AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. she advanced from the horizon, they came in crowds, loaded with provision, and begged the admiral to intercede with his GOD for the re- moval of his anger. Columbus retired to his cabin ; and when the eclipse began to go off, he came out and told them that he had pray- ed to his GOD, and had received this answer : that if they would be good for the future, and bring him provision as he should want, God would forgive them ; and, as a token of it, the moon would put on her usual brightness. They gave him thanks, and promised com- pliance ; and while he remained on the island there was no more want of provision. At the end of eight months Ovando sent a small vessel to Jamaica, with a cask of wine, two flitches of bacon, and a letter of compli- ment and excuse, which the officer deliv- ered, and, without waiting for an answer, weighed his anchor the same evening and sailed back to Hispaniola. The men who adhered to Columbus, and were with him on board the wrecks, wondered at the sudden departure of the vessel by which they ex- pected deliverance. Columbus, never at a loss for an evasion, told them that the caravel was too small to take the whole company, and he would not go without them. This fiction had the desired effect ; those who ad- COLUMBUS. 201 hered to him resumed their patience, but the mutineers became so insolent that it was ne- cessary to subdue them by force. In the con- test ten of them were killed. Porras, their leader, was made prisoner, and the others es- caped. Bartholomew Columbus and two others of the admiral's party were wounded, of whom one died. The fugitives, having lost their leader, thought it best to submit ; and on the next day sent a petition to the admiral, confess- ing their fault, and promising fidelity. This promise they confirmed by an oath, of which the imprecation was singular ; " they renoun- ced, in case of failure, any absolution from priest, bishop, or pope at the time of their death, and all benefit from the sacraments of the Church, consenting to be buried like heathens and infidels in the open field." The admiral received their submission, provi- ded that Porras should continue prisoner, and they would accept a commander of his ap- pointment as long as they should remain on the island. At length a vessel, which Mendez had been permitted to buy, with the admiral's money, at Hispaniola, came to Jamaica and took them off. On their arrival at St. Do- mingo (August 13, 1504) Ovando affected AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. great joy, and treated the admiral with a show of respect; but he liberated Porras, and threatened with punishment the faithful adherents of Columbus. As soon as the ves- sel was refitted, the admiral took leave of his treacherous host, and, with his brother, son, and servants, embarked for Spain. After a long and distressing voyage, in which the ship lost her masts, he arrived at St. Lucar in May, 1505.* His patroness Isabella had been dead about a year, and with her had expired all the fa- vour which he ever enjoyed in the court of Ferdinand. Worn out with sickness and fa- tigue, disgusted with the insincerity of his sovereign and the haughtiness of the court- iers, Columbus lingered out a year in fruit- less solicitation for his violated rights,! till death relieved him from all his vexations. * [His arrival was in November 7th, 1504. Irving, ii., 183 -H.] t [So poor was he, that he wrote, " If I desire to eat or sleep, I have no resort but an inn, and for the most times have not wherewithal to pay my bill." Yet most earnestly of all did he claim the restoration of his honours and titles, and the perpetuation of them in his family. " These things," said he, " affect my honour." He claimed only bare justice, the perform- ance of promises long ago sealed with the royal seal. The warm heart of Isabella had ceased to beat, and Ferdinand could courteously evade what he intended to deny. H.] COLUMBUS. 203 He died at Valladolid on the twentieth of May, 1506, in the 59th year of his age,* and was buried in the Cathedral of Seville,t with this inscription on his tomb : A Castillo, y a Leon, Nuevo Mundo dio Colon. Translated thus : To Castile and Leon Columbus gave a new World. In the life of this remarkable man there is no deficiency of any quality which can constitute a truly great character.^: His ge- nius was penetrating and his judgment solid. He had acquired as much knowledge of the sciences as could be obtained at that day, and he corrected what he had learned by his * [More truly, according to Mr. Irving, " about seventy years of age." H.] t [" His remains, first deposited in the convent of St. Francis at Valladolid, were, six years later, removed to the Carthusian monastery of Las Cuevas at Seville. From this spot his body was transported, in the year 1536, to the island of St. Domingo, the proper theatre of his discoveries ; and, on the cession of that island to the French in 1795, was again removed to Cuba, where his ashes now quietly repose in the cathedral church of its capital." PrescotCs Ferdinand and Isabella, Hi., 241, 242. H.] t Some of these observations are taken from Dr. Campbell's account of European settlements in America, vol. i., chap. viii. [See also Prescott's Ferdinand and Isabella, ii., 115, note. HO IQ 204 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. own observations. His constancy and pa- tience were equal to the most hazardous un- dertakings. His fortitude surmounted many difficulties, and his invention extricated him out of many perplexities. His prudence en- abled him to conceal or subdue his own in- firmities, while he took advantage of the pas- sions of others, adjusting his behaviour to his circumstances ; -temporizing or acting with vigour, as the occasion required.* * [" A peculiar trait in his rich and varied character," says Mr. Irving, " was that ardent and enthusiastic imagination, which threw a magnificence over his whole course of thought. Herrera intimates that he had a talent for poetry, and some slight traces of it are on record, in the book of prophecies which he presented to the Catholic sovereigns. But his poet- ical temperament is discernible throughout all his writings and in all his actions. It spread a golden and glorious world around him, and tinged everything with its own gorgeous col- ours. It betrayed him into visionary speculations. It exalted his office in his eyes, and made him conceive himself an agent sent forth upon a sublime and awful mission, subject to impulses and supernatural intimations from the Deity." Closely con- nected with this quality was one which we might not expect to find in a hardy seaman, and which yet was strong in him, a clear perception and hearty love of the beauties of nature ; a quality which everywhere discloses itself in his simple narrative of the novel beauties of the New World. We cannot omit to speak of his self-reliance. He trusted in the truth of his own convictions, when he trusted in them alone. He frankly and boldly avowed them, when the avowal cost him at once scorn and neglect. He held them fast when the wise men of his day had deliberately scouted them. They were his COLUMBUS. 205 His fidelity to the ungrateful prince whom he served, and whose dominions he enlarged, must render him forever conspicuous as an example of justice ; and his attachment to the queen, by whose influence he was raised and supported, will always be a monument of his gratitude. To his other excellent qualities may be added his piety.* He always entertained, treasure in the deepest poverty, and his hope when princes had despised and friends had forsaken him. They bore him up in every privation and distress, and made the simple mariner elo- quent in the halls of the learned and the courts of kings ; and yet he had no adequate, not even a true apprehension of the val- ue of those great truths to which he clung so steadfastly. Columbus was an ambitious man, yet with an honourable ambition. He sought not so much wealth as honour ; aad that not merely of scientific discovery, but of social rank, and not for himself only, but for his posterity. He would gain a place among the proud nobles of Spain which none of them should despise, and a title which should always point to his own mer- its as the source of his greatness. In his will he ordered that his heir should write for his signature only " The Admiral," what- ever other titles the king might confer on him. That he had faults need not be denied. That he sympathized with many erroneous opinions and practices of his age is not to be wondered at. But there was in him nothing sordid, mean, or revengeful. His faults were rather weaknesses ; too much pa- tience, too much forbearance with his enemies, too high-minded a confidence in the power of innocence and in the honour of princes. He was impetuous, but not rash ; sensitive, but not passionate ; deeply wronged, and forgiving like a Christian.- -H.j * [The oeculiar character of his piety cannot be better de- 206 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. and on proper occasions expressed, a rever- ence for the Deity, and a firm confidence in his care and protection. In his declining days the consolations of religion were his chief support ; and his last words were, " Into thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit." The persecution and injustice which he suffered may be traced up to the contract which he insisted on before he engaged in the plan of discovery. That a foreigner should attain so high a rank as to be viceroy for life, and that the honour of an admiral scribed than it has been by Mr. Irving. " He was devoutly pi- ous ; religion mingled with the whole course of his thoughts and actions, and shone forth in all his most private and unstudied writings. Whenever he made any great discovery, he celebra- ted it by solemn thanks to God. The voice of prayer and the melody of praise rose from his ships when they first beheld the New World, and his first action upon landing was to pros- trate himself upon the earth, and render up thanksgivings. Ev- ery evening the Salve Regina and other vesper hymns were chanted by his crew, and masses celebrated in the beautiful groves that bordered the wild shores of this heathen land. His language was pure and guarded, free from all oaths, impreca- tions, and other irreverent expressions. All his great enterpri- ses were undertaken ' in the name of the Holy Trinity.' He observed the festivals of the Church in the wildest situations. The Sabbath was with him a day of rest, on which he would never set sail from a port unless in a case of extreme necessity. He was a firm believer in the efficacy of vows, and penances, and pilgrimages, and resorted to them in times of difficulty and dan- ger." H.] ^'* COLUMBUS. 207 should be hereditary in his family, to the ex- clusion of all the nobles of Spain, was more than their pride and jealousy could endure ; and they constantly endeavoured to depre- ciate his merit, the only foundation on which his honours were erected. There is a story recorded by Peter Mar- tyr,* a contemporary historian, which exem- plifies their malice, and his ingenuity in rising superior to it. After the death of the queen, t the nobility affected to insinuate that his dis- coveries were more the result of accident and good fortune than of any well-concerted measures. One day, at a public dinner, Co- lumbus having borne much insulting raillery on that head, at length called for an egg, and asked whether any of them could set it up- * [Peter Martyr was born at Anghiera, near Milan, Feb. 2d, 1455. Having become eminent for his learning, he was invited by Isabella to educate the young nobles in her service, and was sent by Ferdinand, in 1501, as his ambassador to Venice and to Egypt. He was afterward appointed a minister of the council of the Indies. He wrote the " Decades of the New World" (De Orbe Novo), an account of the discoveries made there ; a work of peculiar value. He had ample and authentic materials for the purpose, and gained much information from Columbus himself. He died at Valladolid in 1626. H.] 1 [In Mr. Irving's history this anecdote is told as having oc- curred soon after Columbus's first voyage and before the sec- ond, and, of course, some time before the death of the queen, who died Nov. 26., 1504. H.] 208 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. right on its little end. They all confessed it to be impossible. Columbus, striking it gen- tly, flatted the shell till it stood upright on the table. The company, with a disdainful sneer, cried out, " Anybody might have done it." " Yes," said Columbus, " but none of you thought of it ; so I discovered the Indies, and now every pilot can steer the same course. Many things appear easy when once performed, though before they were thought impossible. Remember the scoffs that were thrown at me before I put my design into execution. Then it was a dream, a chimera, a delusion ; now it is what anybody might have done as well as I." When this story was told to Ferdinand, he could not but ad- mire the grandeur of that spirit, which at the same time he was endeavouring to depress. Writers of different countries have treated the character of Columbus according to their prejudices, either national or personal. It is surprising to observe how these prejudices have descended, and that, even at the distance of three centuries, there are some who affect to deny him the virtues for which he was con- spicuous, and the merit of originating a dis- covery which is an honour to human reason. His humanity has been called in question COLUMBUS. 209 because he carried dogs to the West Indies, and employed them in extirpating the natives. The truth is, that in his second expedition he was accompanied by a number of gentlemen of the best families in Spain, and many more would have gone if it had been possible to accommodate them. These gentlemen car- ried with them " horses, asses, and other beasts, which were of great use in a new plantation." The conflict which Columbus }ad with the natives was in consequence of the disorderly conduct of these Spaniards, who, in his absence, had taken their goods, abused their women, and committed other outrages, which the Indians could not endure, and therefore made war upon them. In this war he found his colony engaged when he returned from his voyage to Cuba, and there was no way to end it but by pursuing it with vigour. With two hundred Spaniards, of whom twenty were mounted on " horses, fol- lowed by as many dogs," he encountered a nu- merous body of Indians, estimated at one hun- dred thousand, on a large plain. He divided his men into two parties, and attacked them on two sides ; the noise of the firearms soon dispersed them, and the horses and dogs pre- vented them from rallying ; and thus a com- 210 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. plete victory was obtained. In this instance alone were the dogs used against the natives. They naturally followed- their masters into the field, and the horses to which they were accustomed ; but to suppose that Columbus transported them to the West Indies with a view to destroy the Indians, appears altogeth- er idle when it is considered that the number is reckoned only at twenty. Excepting in this instance, where he was driven by neces- sity, there is no evidence that he made war on the natives of the West Indies ; on the contrary, he endeavoured as far as possible to treat them with justice and gentleness. The same cannot be said of those who succeeded him. Attempts have also been made to detract from his merit as an original discoverer of the New World. The most successful candidate who has been set up as a rival to him is MAR- TIN BEHAIM,* of Nuremberg, in Germany. His claim to a prior discovery has been so * [He was born about 1430, was in early life a merchant, and came to Portugal about 1481. He accompanied Cam, in the voyages mentioned below, as journalist and cosmographer. The date of his death is not certain, though it was later than 1506. He has the credit of first applying the astrolabe to the uses of navigation, an instrument from which, with some modification, has been derived the modern quadrant. H.] COLUMBUS. 211 well contested, ajid the vanity of it so fully exposed by the late Dr. Robertson, that I should not have thought of adding anything to what he has written, had not a memoir ap- peared in the second volume of the Transac- tions of the American Philosophical Society* at Philadelphia, in which the pretensions of Behaim are revived by M. OTTO, who has produced some authorities which he had ob- tained from Nuremberg, an imperial city of Germany, and which appear to him " to establish in the clearest manner a discovery of America anterior to that of Columbus." It is conceded that Behaim was a man of learning and enterprise ; that he was contem- porary with Columbus, and was his friend ; that he pursued the same studies and drew the same conclusions ; that he was employed by King John II. in making discoveries, and that he met with deserved honour for the im- portant services which he rendered to the crown of Portugal. But there are such diffi- culties attending the story of his discovering America as appear to me insuperable. These I shall state, together with some remarks on the authorities produced by M. Otto. The first of his authorities contains several * No. 35, p. 263. 1 R 212 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY assertions which are contradicted by other histories :* 1. That Isabella, daughter of John, king of Portugal, reigned after the death of Philip, duke of Burgundy, surnamed the Good. 2. That to this lady, when re- gent of the duchy of Burgundy and Flan- ders, Behaim paid a visit in 1459. And, 3. That, having informed her of his designs, he procured a vessel, in which he made the dis- covery of the island of Fayal in 1460. It is true that Philip, duke of Burgundy and Flanders, surnamed the Good, married Isabella, the daughter of John L, king of Portugal ; but Philip did not die till 1467, and was immediately succeeded by his son Charles, surnamed the Bold, then thirty-four years of age. There could therefore have been no interregnum nor female regent after the death of Philip ; and, if there had been, the time of Behaim's visit will not correspond with it, that being placed in 1459, eight years before the death of Philip. Such a mistake, in point of fact and of chronology, is suffi- cient to induce a suspicion that the " archives of Nuremberg" are too deficient in accuracy to be depended on as authorities. * Memoirs of Philip de Comines. Mezeray's and Henault'i History of France. Collier's Dictionary. COLUMBUS. 213 With respect to the discovery of Fayal in 1460, M. Otto acknowledges that it is " con- trary to the received opinion ;" and well he might ; for the first of the Azores, St. Maria, was discovered in 1431 ; the second, St. Mi- chael, in 1444; the third, Terceira, in 1445 ; and before 1449, the islands St. George, Gra- ciosa, Fayal, and Pico were known to the Portuguese.* However true it may be that Behaim settled in the island of Fayal, and lived there twenty years, yet his claim to the discovery of it must have a better foundation than the " archives of Nuremberg" before it can be admitted. The genuine account of the settlement of Fayal, and the interest which Behaim had in it, is thus related by Dr. Forster, a German author of much learning and good credit. " After the death of the infant Don Henry [which happened in 1463], the island of Fayal was made a present of by [his sister] Isabella, duchess of Burgundy, to Jobst von Hurter, a native of Nuremberg. Hurter went in 1466, with a colony of more than 200(5 Flemings of both sexes, to his property, the isle of Fayal. The duchess had provided the Flemish emi- * Forster's History of Voyages and Discoveries, p. 256, 257, Dublin edition 214 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. grants with all necessaries for two years, and the colony soon increased. About the year 1486 Martin Behaim married a daughter of the Chevalier Jobst von Hurter, and had a son by her named Martin. Jobst von Hur- ter and Martin Behaim, both natives of Nu- remberg, were lords of Fayal and Pico."* The date of the supposed discovery of America by Behaim is placed by M. Otto in 1484, eight years before the celebrated voy- age of Columbus. In the same year we are toldt that Alonzo Sanchez de Huelva was driven by a storm to the westward for twen- ty-nine days, and saw an island, of which, at his return, he gave information to Columbus. From both these supposed discoveries this conclusion is drawn, " that Columbus would never have thought of this expedition to America had not Behaim gone there before him." Whether it be supposed that Behaim and Sanchez sailed in the same ship, or that they made a discovery of two different parts of America in the same year, it is not easy to understand from the authorities produced ; but what destroys the credibility of this plau- * Forster's History of Voyages and Discoveries, p. 257-259. t Garcilasso de la Vega's Commentaries Preface. Pur- chas, vol. T., p. 1454 COLUMBUS. 215 sible tale is, that Columbus had formed his theory and projected his voyage at least ten years before, as appears by his correspond- ence with Paul, a learned physician of Flor- ence, which bears date in 1474.* It is un- certain at what time Columbus first made his application to the King of Portugal to fit him out for a Western voyage, but it is certain that, after a negotiation with him on the sub- ject, and after he had found out the secret and unsuccessful attempt which had been made to anticipate a discovery, he quitted that kingdom in disgust, and went into Spain in the latter end of the year 1484. The au- thority of these facts is unquestioned ; and from them it fully appears that a prior dis- covery of America by Behaim or Sanchez, made in 1484, could not have been the found- ation of the enterprise of Columbus. M. Otto speaks of letters written by Be- haim in 1486, in the German language, and preserved in the " archives of Nuremberg," which support this claim to a prior discovery. As these letters are not produced, no certain opinion can be formed concerning them ; but, from the date of the letters, and from the voyages which Behaim actually performed in * Life, ch. viii. 216 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY the two preceding years, we may, with great probability, suppose that they related to the discovery of Congo, in Africa, to which Be- haim has an uncontroverted claim. I will now state the facts relative to this event, partly from the authorities cited by M. Otto, and partly from others. Dr. Robertson places the discovery of Con- go and Benin in 1483, and with him Dr. Forster agrees. The authors of the modern Universal History* speak of two voyages to that coast, the first in 1484, the second in 1485, both of which were made by Diego Cam,t who is said to have been one of the most expert sailors, and of an enterprising genius. From the chronicle of Hartman Schedl, as quoted by M. Otto, we are inform- ed that Behaim sailed with Cam in these voy- ages, which are described in the following terms : " These two, by the bounty of Heav- en, coasting along the Southern Ocean, and, having crossed the equator, got into the other hemisphere, where, facing to the eastward, their shadows projected towards the south, * Vol. xvi., p. 133, 135. t Diego is the Spanish name of James, in Latin Jacobus, and in Portuguese Jago. Cam is in Latin Camus or Canus, and in Spanish Cano ; these different names are found in different authors. COLUMBUS. 217 and right hand." No words could be more completely descriptive of a voyage from Por- tugal to Congo, as any person may be satis- fied by inspecting a map of Africa ; but how could M. Otto imagine that the discovery of America was accomplished in such a voyage as this ? " Having finished this cruise," con- tinues Schedl, " in the space of twenty-six months, they returned to Portugal with the loss of many of their seamen by the violence of the climate." This latter circumstance also agrees very well with the climate of the African coast;* but Schedl says not a word of the discovery of America. M. Otto goes on to tell us " that the most positive proof of the great services rendered to the crown of Portugal by Behaim is the recompense bestowed on him by King John II., who, in the most solemn manner, knight- ed him in the presence of all his court." Then follows a particular detail of the cere- mony of installation., as performed on the 18th of February, 1485 ; and M. Otto fairly owns that this was " a reward for the discovery of Congo." Now let us bring the detached parts of the story together. Behaim was knighted on the 18th of Feb- * Sec Brookes's Gazetteer, Benin. AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. ruary, 1485, for the discovery of Congo, in which he had been employed twenty-six months preceding, having within that time made two voyages thither in company with Diego Cam. It will follow, then, that the whole of the preceding years, 1484 and 1483, were taken up in these two voyages. This agrees very well with the accounts of the discovery of Congo in Robertson and Forster, and does not disagree with the modern Uni- versal History, a& far as the year 1484 is con- cerned ; which, unfortunately, is the year as- signed for Benaim's discovery of " that part of America called Brazil, and his sailing even to the Straits of Magellan." The only thing in M. Otto's memoir which bears any resemblance to a solution of this difficulty is this. "We may suppose that Behaim, engaged in an expedition to Congo, was driven by the winds to Fernambuco, and from thence by the currents towards the coast of Guiana." But suppositions without proof will avail little, and suppositions against proof will avail nothing. The two voyages to Con- go are admitted. The course is described, and the time is determined ; and both these are directly opposed to the supposition of his being driven by winds and currents to Amer- COLUMBUS. 219 ica. For, if he had been driven out of his course, and had spent " several years in ex- amining the American islands, and discover- ing the strait which bears the name of Ma- gellan," and if one of those years was the year 1484, then he could not have spent twenty-six months preceding February, 1485, in the discovery of Congo ; but of this we have full and satisfactory evidence ; the dis- covery of America, therefore, must be given up. There is one thing farther in this memoir which deserves a particular remark, and that is the reason assigned by M. Otto, for which the King of Portugal declined the proposal of Columbus to sail to India by the West. " The refusal of John II. is a proof of the knowledge which that politic prince had al- ready procured of the existence of a new Continent, which offered him only barren lands inhabited by unconquerable savages." This knowledge is supposed to have been de- rived from the discoveries made by Behaim. But, not to urge again the chronological dif- ficulty with which this conjecture is embar rassed, I will take notice of two circumstan- ces in the life of Columbus which militate with this idea. The first is, that when Co- 220 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. lumbus had proposed a Western voyage to King John, and he declined it, " The king, by the advice of one Doctor Calzadilla, re- solved to send a caravel privately to attempt that which Columbus had proposed to him ; because, in case those countries were so dis- covered, he thought himself not obliged to bestow any great reward. Having speedily equipped a caravel, which' was to carry sup- plies to the islands of Cabb Verde, he sent it that way which the admiral proposed to go. But those whom he sent wanted the knowl- edge, constancy, and spirit of the admiral. After wandering many days upon the sea, they turned back to the islands of Cabo Verde, laughing at the undertaking, and say- ing it was impossible there should be any land in those seas."* Afterward "the king, being sensible how faulty they were whom he had sent with the caravel, had a mind to restore the admiral to his favour, and desired that he should renew the discourse of his enterprise ; but, not being so diligent to put this in execution as the ad- miral was in getting away, he lost that good opportunity; the admiral, about the end of the year 1484, stole away privately out of * Life of Columbus, ch. xi. COLUMBUS. 221 Portugal for fear of being stopped by the king." This account does not agree with the supposition of a prior discovery. The other circumstance is an interview which Columbus had with the people of Lis- bon and the King of Portugal on his return from his first voyage. For it so happened that Columbus, on his return, was by stress of weather obliged to take shelter in the port of Lisbon ; and, as soon as it was known that he had come from the Indies, " the people thronged to see the natives whom he had brought and hear the news, so that the cara- vel would not contain them : some of them praising God for so great a happiness, oth- ers storming that they had lost the discovery through their king's incredulity." When the king sent for Columbus " he was doubtful what to do ; but, to take off all sus- picion that he came from his conquests, he consented." At the interview " the king of- fered him all that he stood in need of for the service of their Catholic majesties, though he thought that, forasmuch as he had been a cap- tain in Portugal, that conquest belonged to him. To which the admiral answered that he knew of no such agreement, and that he had strictly observed his orders, which were 222 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. not to go to the mines of Portugal [the Gold Coast], nor to Guinea."* Had John II. heard of Behaim's voyage to a Western Continent, would he not have claimed it by priority of discovery rather than by the commission which Columbus had formerly borne in his service ? Had such a prior discovery been made, could it have been concealed from the people of Lisbon ? And would they have been angry that their king had lost it by his incredulity ? These circumstances appear to me to carry sufficient evidence that no discov- ery of America pridr to that of Columbus had come to the knowledge of the King of Portu- gal. In answer to the question, " Why are we searching the archives of an imperial city for the causes of an event which took place in the western extremity of Europe ?" M. Otto gives us to understand that, " from the four- teenth to the sixteenth centuries, the Germans were the best geographers, the best histori- ans, and the most enlightened politicians." Not to detract from the merit of the German literati of those ages, I think we may give equal credit to a learned German author of the present age, Dr. John Reinhold Forster, * Life, ch. xli. COLUMBUS. 223 who appears to have a thorough understand- ing of the claims, not only of his own coun- trymen, but of others. In his indefatigable researches into the discoveries which have been made by all nations, though he has given due credit to the adventures of Behaim in Congo and Fayal, yet he has not said one word of his visiting America, which he cer- tainly would have done if, in his opinion, there had been any foundation for it. LETTERS FROM PAUL, A PHYSICIAN OF FLOR- ENCE, TO CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, CONCERN- ING THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. LETTER I. To Christopher Columbus, Paul the Physician wisheth health. I PERCEIVE your noble and earnest desire to sail to those parts where the spice is produ- ced, and therefore, in answer to a letter of yours, I send you another letter, which some days since I wrote to a friend of mine and servant to the King of Portugal, before the wars of Castile, in answer to another he wrote to me, by his highness's order, upon this same account ; and I send you another sea chart like that I sent him, which will sat- isfy your demands. The copy of the letter is this : 224 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. To Ferdinand, Martinez, Canon of Lisbon, Paul the Physician wisheth health. I am very glad to hear of the familiarity you have with your most serene and magnif- icent king ; and though I have very often discoursed concerning the short way there is from hence to the Indies, where the spice is produced, by sea, which I look upon to be shorter than that you take by the coast of Guinea, yet you now tell me that his high- ness would have me make out and demon- strate it, so as it may be understood and put in practice. Therefore, though I could bet- ter show it him with a globe in my hand, and make him sensible of the figure of the world, yet I have resolved, to render it more easy and intelligible, to show this way upon a chart, such as are used in navigation, and therefore I send one to his majesty, made and drawn with my own hand, wherein is set down the utmost bounds of the west, from Ireland in the north to the farthest part of Guinea, with all the islands that lie in the way. Opposite to which western coast is de- scribed the beginning of the Indies, with the islands and places whither you may go, and how far you may bend from the north pole to- wards the equinoctial, and for how long a COLUMBUS. 225 time ; that is, how many leagues you may sail before you come to those places most fruitful in all sorts of spice, jewels, and pre- cious stones. Do not wonder if I term that country where the spice grows west, that pro- duct being generally ascribed to the east ; because those who shall sail westward will al- ways find those places in the west, and they that travel by land eastward will ever find those places in the east. The straight lines that lie lengthways in the chart show the dis- tance there is from west to east ; the others cross them, show the distance from north to south. I have also marked down in the said chart several places in India where ships might put in upon any storm, or contrary winds, or any other accident unforeseen. Moreover, to give you full information of all those places which you are very desirous to know, you must understand that none but traders live or reside in all those islands, and that there is as great number of ships and seafaring people with merchandise as in any other part of the world, particularly in a most noble port called Zacton, where there are every year a hundred large ships of pep- per loaded and unloaded, besides many other ships that take in other spice. This country is mighty populous, and 226 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. are many provinces and kingdoms, and innu- merable cities under the dominion of a prince called the kham, which name signifies king of kings, who for the most part resides in the Province of Cathay. His predecessors were very desirous to have commerce and be in amity with Christians, and 200 years since sent ambassadors to the pope, desiring him to send them many learned men and doctors to teach them our faith ; but, by reason of some obstacles the ambassadors met with, they returned back without coming to Rome. Besides, there came an ambassador to Pope Eugenius IV., who told him the great friend- ship there was between those princes, their people, and the Christians. I discoursed with him a long while upon the several mat- ters of the grandeur of their royal structures, and of the greatness, length, and breadth of their rivers. He told me many wonderful things of the multitude of towns and cities founded along the banks of the rivers, and that there were 200 cities upon one river only, with marble bridges over it of a great length and breadth, and adorned with abun- dance of pillars. This country deserves as well as any other to be discovered ; and there may not only be great profit made there, and many things of value found, but also gold, COLUMBUS. 227 silver, all sorts of precious stones, and spices in abundance, which are not brought into our parts. And it is certain that many wise men, philosophers, astrologers, and other persons skilled in all arts, and very ingenious, govern that mighty province, and command their ar- mies. From Lisbon directly westward there are in the chart 26 spaces, each of which contains 250 miles, to the most noble and vast city of Quisay, which is 100 miles in compass, that is, 35 leagues ; in it there are ten marble bridges. The name signifies a heavenly city, of which wonderful things are reported as to the ingenuity of the people, the buildings, and the revenues. This space above mentioned is almost the third part of the globe. This city is in the province of Mango, bordering on that of Cathay, where the king for the most part resides. From the island Antilla, which you call the Seven Cities, and of which you have some knowledge, to the most noble island of Cipan- g-0, are ten spaces, which make 2500 miles, or 225 leagues ; which island abounds in gold, pearls, and precious stones ; and you must understand, they cover their temples and pal- aces with plates of pure gold : so that, for want I. S 228 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. of knowing the way, all these things are hid- den and concealed, and yet may be gone to with safety. Much more might be said ; but, having told you what is most material, and you being wise and judicious, I am satisfied there is no- thing of it but what you understand, and therefore I will not be more prolix. Thus much may serve to satisfy your curiosity, it being as much as the shortness of time and my business would permit me to say. So I remain most ready to satisfy and serve his highness to the utmost, in all the commands he shall lay upon me. Florence, June 25, 1474. LETTER II. To Christopher Columbus, Paul the Physician wisheth heattfl. I received your letters with the things you sent me, which I shall take as a great favour, and commend your noble and ardent desire of sailing from east to west, as it is marked out in the chart I sent you, which would de- monstrate itself better in the form of a globe. I am glad it is well understood, and that the voyage laid down is not only possible, but true, certain, honourable, very advantageous, and most glorious among all Christians. Yor COLUMBUS. cannot be perfect in the knowledge of it but by experience and practice, as I have had in great measure, and by the solid and true in- formation of worthy and wise men, who have come from those parts to this court of Rome ; and from merchants who have traded long in those parts, and are persons of good reputa- tion. So that, when the said voyage is per- formed, it will be to powerful kingdoms, and to the most noble cities and provinces, rich and abounding in all things we stand in need of, particularly in all sorts of spice in great quantities, and store of jewels. This will, moreover, be grateful to those kings and princes who are very desirous to converse and trade with Christians of these our countries, whether it be for some of them to become Christians, or else to have commu- nication with the wise and ingenious men of these parts, as well in point of religion as in all sciences, because of the extraordinary ac- count they have of the kingdoms and govern- ment of these parts. For which reasons, and many more that might be alleged, I do not at all admire that you, who have a great heart, and all the Portuguese nation, which has ever had notable men in all undertakings, be ea- gerly bent upon performing this voyage. 230 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. V. JAMES CARTIER. THOUGH the English did not prosecute the discovery made by the Cabots, nor avail themselves of the only advantages which it could have afforded them, yet their neighbours of Brittany,* Normandy, and Biscay wisely pursued the track of those adventurers, and took vast quantities of cod on the banks of Newfoundland. In 1524, John Verazzani,f a Florentine in the service of France, ranged the coast of the new continent from Florida to Newfound- land, and gave it the name of New France. In a subsequent voyage he was cut to pieces and devoured by the savages. It is remarkable that the three great Euro- pean kingdoms, Spain, England, and France, made use of three Italians to conduct their discoveries : Columbus, a Genoese ; Cabot, a Venetian ;$ and Verazzani, a Florentine. * It is supposed that the island of Cape Breton took its name Irom the Bretons, the fishermen of Brittany. t [For a brief notice of Verazanni, see Chronological Detail. -H.] t [Cabot, though of Venetian extraction, was born in Bris- tol, England. H.] C ARTIER. 231 This is a proof that among the Italians there were at that time persons of superior maritime knowledge to the other nations of Europe ; though the penurious spirit of those repub- lics, their mutual jealousy and petty wars, made them overlook the benefits resulting from extensive enterprises, and leave the vast regions of the New World to be occupied by others. The voyages of Verazzani having produced no addition to the revenue of France, all farther attempts to perfect his discoveries were laid aside ; but the fishery being found conducive to the commercial interest, it was at length conceived that a plantation in the neighbourhood of the banks might be advan- tageous. This being represented to King Francis I. by Chabot the admiral, JAMES C ARTIER, *J of St. Malo, was commissioned to explore the country, with a view to find a place for a colony. $ On the 20th of April, 1534, he sailed from St. Malo with two ships of sixty tons and 122 men, and on the 10th of May came in sight of Bonavista, on the island of New- * His name is sometimes written Quartier. t [The French, of course, write the baptismal name Jacques. He was a native of St. Malo, and an able and experienced pilot. -H.] t Forster's Northern Voyages, p. 437. 232 " AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. foundland. But the ice which lay along the shore obliged him to go southward, and he entered a harbour to which he gave the name of St. Catharine,* where he waited for fair weather and fitted his boats. As soon as the season would permit,t he sailed northward, and examined several har- bours and islands on the coast of New- foundland, in one of which he found such a quantity of birds that in half an hour two boats were loaded with them, and, after they had eaten as many as they could, five or six barrels full were salted for each ship. This place was called Bird Island. Having passed Cape de Grat, the northern extremity of the land, he entered the Straits of Bellisle, and visited several harbours on the opposite coast of Labrador, one of which he called Cartier's Sound. The harbour is described as one of the best in the world, but the land is stigmatized as the place to which Cain was banished, no vegetation be- ing produced among the rocks but thorns and moss. Yet, bad as it was, there were inhab- itants in it, who lived by catching seals, and seemed to be a wandering tribe.t * Called in some maps Catalina. t [May 21st. Hakluyt, vol. iii., p. 202. H.J J Hakluyt, vol. iii., p. 201-211 C A.RTIER. 233 In circumnavigating the great island of Newfoundland, they found the weather in general cold ; but when they had crossed the gulf in a southwesterly direction to the conti- nent, they came into a deep bay, where the climate was so warm that they named it Baye de Chaleur, or the Bay of Heat. Here were several kinds of wild berries, roses, and meadows of grass. In the fresh waters they caught salmon in great plenty. Having searched in vain for a passage through the bay, they quitted it, and sailed along the coast eastward, till they came to the smaller bay of Gaspe, where they sought shelter from a tempest, and were detained twelve days in the month of July. In this place Cartier performed the ceremony of taJ king possession for the King of France. A cross of thirty feet high was erected on a point of land. On this cross was suspended a shield, with the arms of France and the words Vive le Roy de France. Before it the people kneeled uncovered, with their hands extended and their eyes lifted towards heav- en. The natives who were present beheld the ceremony at first with silent admiration, but after a while, an old man, clad in a bear's skin, made signs to them that the land 234 ' AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. was his, and that they should not have it without his leave. They then informed him by signs that the cross was intended only as a mark of direction, by which they might again find the port, and they promised to re- turn the next year, and to bring iron and oth- er commodities. They thought it proper, however, to con- ciliate the old man's good-will by entertain- ing him on board the ship and making him several presents, by which means they so prevailed on him that he permitted Cartier to carry two of his sons, young men, to France, on the security of a promise that he would bring them back at his return the next spring. From Gaspe he sailed so far into the Great River, afterward called St. Lawrence, as to discover land on the opposite side ; but the weather being boisterous, and the current setting against him, he thought it best to re- turn to Newfoundland, and then to France, where he arrived safe in the harbour of St. Malo on the fifth of September. The discoveries made in this voyage exci- ted farther curiosity ; and the Vice-admiral Melleraye* represented Cartier's merits to * [Hakluyt, Hi., 201, calls him " Sir Charles do Mouy, knight,, lorde of Melleraye," &c. H.] C A R T I E K. ' 235 the king so favourably as to procure for him a more ample equipment. Three ships, one of 120, one of 60, and one of 40 tons, were destined to perform another voyage in the en- suing spring ; and several young men of dis tinction entered as volunteers, to seek adven- tures in the New World. When they were ready to sail, the whole company, after the example of Columbus, went in procession to church on Whitsunday, where the Bishop of St. Malo pronounced his blessing on them. They sailed on the 19th of May, 1535. Meet- ing with tempestuous weather, the ships were separated, and did not join again till Cartier, in the largest ship, arrived at Bird Island,* where he again filled his boats with fowls, and on the 26th of July was joined by the other vessels. From Bird Island they pursued the same course as in the preceding summer ; and hav- ing cojne into the gulf on the western side of Newfoundland, gave it the name of St. Law- rence. Here they saw abundance of whales. Passing between the island of Assumption (since called Anticostif) and the northern * [July 7th. H.] t [Called by the natives Natiscotie, whence the presen* name. Forster, 439. H.] AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. shore, they sailed up the great river till they came to a branch on the northern side, which the young natives who were on board called Saguenay ; the main river, they told him, would carry him to Hochelaga, the capital of the whole country. After spending some time in exploring the northern coast to find an opening to the northward, in the beginning of September he sailed up the river, and discovered several islands, one of which, from the multitude of filberts, he called Coudres ; and another, from the vast quantity of grapes, he named Bac- chus (now Orleans). This island was full of inhabitants, who subsisted by fishing. When the ships had come to anchor be- tween the N.W. side of the island and the main, Cartier went on shore with his two young savages. The people of the country were at first afraid of them ; but, hearing the youths speak to them in their own language, they became sociable, and brought eels and other fish, with a quantity of Indian corn in ears, for the refreshment of their new guests, in return for which they were presented with such European baubles as were pleasing to them. The next day, Donacona, the prince of the C A R T I E R. 237 place, came to visit them, attended by twelve boats ; but, keeping ten of them at a distance, he approached with two only, containing six- teen men. In the true spirit of hospitality, he made a speech, accompanied with signifi- cant gestures, welcoming the French to his country, and offering his service to them. The young savages Taignoagni and Doma- gaia answered him, reporting all which they had seen in France, at which he appeared to be pleased. Then approaching the cap- tain, who held out his hand, he kissed it, and laid it round his own neck, in token of friend- ship. Cartier, on his part, entertained Dona- cona with bread and wine, and they parted mutually pleased. The next day Cartier went up in his boat to find a harbour for his ships, the season being so far advanced that it became neces- sary to secure them. At the west end of the Isle of Bacchus he found " a goodly and pleasant sound, where is a little river and haven, about three fathoms deep at high wa- ter." To this he gave the name of St. Croix, and determined there to lay up his ships. Near this place was a village called Stada- cona, of which Donacona was the lord. It was environed with forest-trees, some of which 238 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. bore fruit ; and under the trees was a growth of wild hemp. As Cartier was returning to his ships, he had another specimen of the hospitable manners of the natives. A com- pany of people, of both sexes, met him on the shore of the little river, singing and dan- cing up to their knees in water. In return for their courtesy, he gave them knives and beads, and they continued their music till he was beyond hearing it. When Cartier had brought his ships to the harbour and secured them, he intimated his intention to pass in his boats up the river to Hochelaga. Donacona was loth to part with him, and invented several artifices to prevent his going thither. Among others, he contri- ved to dress three of his men in black and white skins, with horns on their heads, and their faces besmeared with coal, to make them resemble infernal spirits. They were put into a canoe and passed by the ships, brandishing their horns and making an unintelligible ha- rangue. Donacona, with his people, pursued and took them, on which they fell down as if dead. They were carried ashore into the woods, and all the savages followed them. A long discourse ensued, and the conclusion of the farce was, that these demons had C A R T I E R. 239 brought news from the god of Hochelaga, that his country was so full of snow and ice that whoever should adventure thither would perish with the cold. The artifice afforded diversion to the French, but was too thin to deceive them. Cartier determined to pro- ceed ; and on the 19th of September, with his pinnace and two boats, began his voyage up the river to Hochelaga. Among the woods on the margin of the river were many vines loaded with ripe grapes, than which nothing could be a more welcome sight to Frenchmen, though the fruit was not so delicious as they had been used to taste in their own country. Along the banks were many huts of the natives, who made signs of joy as they passed, pre- sented them with fish, piloted them through narrow channels, carried them ashore on their backs, and helped them to get off their boats when aground. Some presented their chil- dren to them, and such as were of proper age were accepted. The water at that time of the year being low, their passage was rendered difficult ; but, by the friendly assistance of the natives, they surmounted the obstructions. On the 28th of September they passed the rapids 240 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. between the islands in the upper part of the Lake Arigouleme (now called St. Peters), and on the second of October they arrived at the Island of Hochelaga, where they had been expected, and preparations were made to give them a welcome reception. About a thou- sand persons came to meet them, singing and dancing, the men on one side, the women on the other, and the children in a distinct body. Presents offish and other victuals were brought, and in return were given knives, beads, and other trinkets. The Frenchmen lodged the first night in their boats, and the natives watch- ed on the shore, dancing round their fires du- ring the whole night. The next morning Cartier, with twenty-five of his company, went to visit the town, and were met on the way by a person of distinc- tion, who bade them welcome. To him they gave two hatchets and two knives, and hung over his neck a cross, which they taught him to kiss. As they proceeded they passed through groves of oak, from which the acorns were fallen and lay thick on the ground. Aftei this they came to fields of ripe corn, some of which was gathered. In the midst of these fields was situate the town of Hochelaga. It was of a round form, encompassed with CAR TIER. 241 three lines of palisades, through which was one entrance, well secured with stakes and bars. On the inside was a rampart of timber, to which were ascents by ladders, and heaps of stones were laid in proper places for de- fence. In the town were about fifty long huts, built with stakes and covered with bark. In the middle of each hut was a fire, round which were lodging-places, floored with bark and covered with skins. In the upper part was a scaffold, on which they dried and pre- served their corn. To prepare it for eating, they pounded it in wooden mortars, and, having mixed it with water, baked it on hot stones. Besides corn they had beans, squash- es, and pumpkins.* They dried their fish and preserved them in troughs. These peo- ple lived chiefly by tillage and fishing, and seldom went far from home. Those on the lower parts of the river were more given to hunting, and considered the Lord of Hoche- laga as their sovereign, to whom they paid tribute. When the new guests were conducted to an open square in the centre of the town, the females came to them, rubbing their hands * [Or, as the narrative in Hakluyt, iii., 220, has it, "musk*- millions and very great cowcumbers " H.J 242 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. and faces, weeping with joy at their arrival, and bringing their children to be touched by the strangers. They spread mats for them on the ground, while the men seated them- selves in a large circle on the outside. The king was then brought in a litter, on the shoulders of ten men, and placed on a mat next to the French captain. He was about fifty years old, and had no mark of distinc- tion but a coronet made of porcupine's quills dyed red, which he took off and gave to the captain, requesting him to rub his arms and legs, which were trembling with a palsy. Several persons, blind, lame, and withered with age, were also brought to be touched, as if they supposed that their new guests were messengers from Heaven invested with a power of healing diseases. Cartier grati- fied them as well as he could, by laying his hands on them and repeating some devotion- al passages from a service-book which he had in his pocket, accompanying his ejaculations with significant gestures, and lifting up his eyes to heaven. The natives attentively ob- served and imitated all his motions. Having performed this ceremony, he desi- red all the men, women, and children to ar- range themselves in separate bodies. To the C A R T I E R. 243 men he gave hatchets, to the women beads, and to the children rings. He then ordered his drums and trumpets to sound, which highly pleased the company and set them to dancing. Being desirous of ascending the hill, under which the town was built, the natives con- ducted them to the summit, where they were entertained with a most extensive and beau- tiful prospect of mountains, woods, islands, and waters. They observed the course of the river above, and some falls of water in it ; and the natives informed them that they might sail on it for three months ; that it ran through two or three great lakes, beyond which was a sea of fresh water, to which they knew of no bounds, and that on the other side of the mountains there was another river which ran in a contrary direction to the southwest, through a country full of delicious fruits, and free from snow and ice ; that there was found such metal as the captain's silver whistle and the haft of a dagger belonging to one of the company, which was gilt with gold. Being shown some copper, they pointed to the north- ward, and said it came from Saguenay. To this hill Cartier gave the name of Montreal^ which it has ever since retained. I. T 244 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. The visit being finished, the natives accom- panied the French to their boats, carrying such as were weary on their shoulders. They were loth to part with their guests, and fol- lowed them along the shore of the river to a considerable distance. On the fourth of October Cartier and his company departed from Hochelaga. In pass- ing down the river they erected a cross on the point of an island which, with three oth- ers, lay in the mouth of a shallow river, on the north side, called Fouetz. On the elev- enth they arrived at the Port de St. Croix, and found that their companions had enclosed the ships with a palisade and rampart, on which they had mounted cannon. The next day Donacona invited them to his residence, where they were entertained with the usual festivity and made the custom- ary presents. They observed that these peo- ple used the leaves of an herb [tobacco], which they preserved in pouches made of skins and smoked in stone pipes. It was very offensive to the French,* but the natives valued it as * [The use of this weed was a matter of great astonishment, as well as disgust, to the French. The writer of Cartier's voy- age says, " they sucke so long that they fill their bodies full of smoke, till that it commeth out of their mouth and nostrils, even as out of the tunnel of a chimney." H.] C A R T I R. 245 contributing much to the preservation of their health. Their houses appeared to be well supplied with provisions. Among other things which were new to the French, they observ- ed the scalps of five men spread and dried like parchment. These were taken from their enemies the Toudamani, who came from the south, and were continually at war with them. Being determined to spend the winter among these friendly people, they traded with them for the provisions which they could spare, and the river supplied them with fish till it was hard frozen. In December the scurvy began to make its appearance among the natives, and Cartier prohibited all intercourse Avith them ; but it was not long before his own men were taken with it. It raged with uncontrolled violence for above two months, and by the middle of February, out of one hundred and ten per- sons, fifty were sick at once, and eight or ten had died. In this extremity Cartier appointed a day of solemn humiliation and prayer. A cruci- fix was placed on a tree, and as many as were able to walk went in procession, through the ice and snow, singing the seven penitential Psalms, and performing other devotional ex- 246 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. ercises. At the close of the solemnity Cartier made a vow that, " if it would please God to permit him to return to France, he would go in pilgrimage to our Lady of E/oquemado." But it was necessary to watch as well as pray. To prevent the natives from knowing their weak and defenceless state, he obliged all who were able to make as much noise as possible with axes and hammers ; and told the natives that his men were all busily em- ployed, and that he would not suifer any of them to go from the ships till their work was done. The ships were fast frozen up from the middle of November to the middle of March ; the snow was four feet deep, and higher than the sides of the ships above the ice. The severity of the winter exceeded all which they had ever experienced ; the scurvy still raged ; twenty-five men had fallen vic- tims to it, and the others were so weak and low in spirits that they despaired of ever see- ing their native country. In the depth of this distress and desponden- cy, Cartier, who had escaped the disease, in walking one day on the ice met some of the natives, among whom was Domagaia, one of the young men who had been with him to France, and who then resided with his coun- C A R T I E R. 247 trymen at Stadacona. He had been sick with the scurvy his sinews had been shrunk and his knees swollen, his teeth loose, and his gums rotten ; but he was then recovered, and told Carlier of a certain tree, the leaves and bark of which he had used as a remedy. Cartier expressed his wish to see the tree, telling him that one of his people had been affected with the same disorder. Two wom- en were immediately despatched, who brought ten or twelve branches, and showed him how to prepare the decoction, which was thus : " to boil the bark and the leaves ; to drink of the liquor every other day ; and to put the dregs on the legs of the sick."* * This tree was called by the natives Ameda or Haneda. Mr. Hakluyt supposes it to have been the sassafras ; but, as the leaves were used with the bark in the winter, it must have been an evergreen. The dregs of the bark were also applied to the sore legs of the patient. From these circumstances I am in- clined to think that it was the spruce pine (pinus Canadensis), which is used in the same manner by the Indians, and such as have learned of them. Spruce beer is well known to be a pow- erful antiscorbutic ; and the bark of this and of the white pine serves as a cataplasm for wounds and sores.* * [We may add, that, for the use of Cartier's men, " a tree, as big as any oake in France, was spoyled and stripped bare." The narrator of the second voyage speaks of " a kind of tree which they call Hanneda, above three fathom about." We be- lieve the sassafras hardly attains so great size. That it was used for such purposes appears, however, from the following 248 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. This remedy presently came into use on board the ships ; and its good effects were so surprising, that within one week they were completely healed of the scurvy ; and some who had venereal complaints of long stand- ing were also cured by the same means. The severity of winter having continued four months without intermission, at the re- turn of the sun the season became milder, and in April the ice began to break up. On the third day of May Cartier took possession of the country by erecting a cross thirty-five feet high, on which was hung a shield, bear- ing the arms of France, with this inscription : FRANCISCUS primus, Dei gratid, FRANCORUM Rex, regnal. The same day, being a day of festivity,* the two young savages Taignoagni and Dom- agaia, with Donacona, the chief of the place, came on board the ships, and were partly passage from Josselyn's " Account of Two Voyages to New- England" (3d Mass. Hist. Coll., iii., 257) : " The sassafras is no great tree ; I have met with some as big as my middle. A decoction of the roots and bark thereof is good for the scurvie, taken some time together, and laying upon the legs the leaves of white hellebore." This corresponds to Cartier's narrative ex- cept in the particular of size. H.] * [Being Holy Rood day, i. e., the day of the holy cross. Hakluyt, iii., 329. H.] C ARTIER. 249 prevailed on and partly constrained to ac- company Cartier to France. A handsome present was made to the family of Donacona, but it was with great reluctance that his friends parted with him, though Cartier prom- ised to bring him again at the end of twelve months. On the sixth of May they sail- ed from the port of St. Croix, and, having touched at St. Peter's in Newfoundland, they arrived at St. Malo, in France, the sixth of July, 1536. Whether Cartier performed his vow to God the history does not tell us ; certain it is, however, that he did not perform his prom- ise to his passengers. The zeal for adven- tures of this kind began to abate. Neither gold nor silver were carried home. The ad- vantages of the fur-trade were not fully un- derstood, and the prospect of benefit from cultivation in the short summer of that cold climate was greatly overbalanced by the length and severity of a Canadian winter. The natives had been so often told of the ne- cessity of baptism in order to salvation, that, on their arrival in France, they were, at their own request, baptized ; but neither of them lived to see their native land again. The report which Cartier brought home of 250 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. the fine country beyond the lakes* had, however, made such an impression on the minds of some, that, at the end of four years, another expedition was projected. Franci? de la Roche, lord of Roberval,t was com* missioned by the king as his lieutenant-gov- ernor in Canadat and Hochelaga. and Cartier * [It is worth our while to notice with what partial and erro- neous information, and, of course, unreasonable expectations, the expeditions of those days were undertaken. Gold and silver be- ing the chief objects of desire, Cartier greedily received from the natives accounts of rich mines, and doubtless reported them with no diminution. They told him of a people in Saguenay " very honest, with many inhabited towns, and great store of gold." Hakluyt, iii., 225. Donacona had informed him of "infinite rubies, gold, and other riches" there, and "white men who clothe themselves with woollen cloth, as we doe in France." Ib., 228. They reported, too, a country distant a month's sail, perhaps down the Mississippi, of " oranges, almonds, cinnamon, and cloves." Ib., 225, 232. The Indians who went with Car- tier to France told similar stories to the king. Whether he or the natives were most deluded in these representations we do not know. Probably, early aware of the cupidity of the French, they had framed their stories to satisfy it. H.J t [Hakluyt, iii., 232, calls him John Francis, &c. He was a nobleman of Picardy, of great weight in his own province, and on that account Francis I. used to call him " the little King of Vimieu." Forster, 441. H.] t [The name Canada, some say, was derived from a saying of Velasco, who, when he saw the barrenness of the country, no signs of gold or silver there, cried out " aca nada" (or aqui na- da), " Nothing here." Some of the old maps have the name Ca- da-nada, or Cape Nothing. Others, say more probably, that the C ARTIER. 251 was appointed his pilot,* with the command of five ships. When they were ready to sail, Roberval had not finished his preparations, and was therefore detained. The king's or- ders to Cartier being positive, he sailed from St. Malo on the 23d of May, 1540. The winds were adverse and the voyage tedious. The ships were scattered, and did not arrive at the place of their destination till the 23d of August, when they came to the port of St. Croix in the River of Canada. The first inquiry made by the natives was for their countrymen who had been carried away. The answer was that Donacona was dead, and that the others had become great lords, were married in France, and refused to return. Neither sorrow nor resentment was shown on this occasion ; but a secret jealousy, which had long been working, re- ceived strength from an answer so liable to suspicion. The history of this voyage being imperfect, \t is not possible to say in what particular name given by the natives to a town or village was Canada, which the French understood to be the name of the country. Forster, 438, note, and Hakluyt, iii., 232. H.] * [" Captain-general and leader of the shippes." The voyage jvas made at the joint expense of Roberval and of the king, Brands I. H.] I. U AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. manner this j ealousy operated. Cartier made another excursion up the river, and pitched on a place about four leagues above St. Croix to lay up three of his vessels for the winter. The other two he sent back to France to inform the king of what they had done, and that Roberval had not arrived. At the new harbour which he had chosen for his ships was a small river, running in a serpentine course to the south. On the east- ern side of its entrance was a high and steep cliff, on the top of which they built a fort, and called it Charleburg. Below, the ships were drawn up and fortified, as they had been in the former winter which he spent here. Not far from the fort were some rocks containing crystals, which they denomina- ted diamonds ; and on the shore were picked up certain specks of a yellow substance, which their imaginations refined into gold. Iron ore was found in abundan'ce, and a kind of black slate, with veins of an apparent me- tallic substance. In what manner they passed the winter, the defective accounts which we have do not in- form us. In the spring of the following year, Cartier and his company, having heard no- thing of Roberval, and concluding that they CABTIER. 253 were abandoned by their friends, and exposed to perish in a climate the most severe, and among people whose conduct towards them was totally changed, determined to return to France. Accordingly, having set sail at the breaking up of the ice, they arrived in the harbour of St. John in Newfoundland some time in June, where they met Roberval, who, with three ships and two hundred persons, male and female, had sailed from Rochelle in April,* and were on their way to establish a colony ki Canada. Cartier went on board Roberval's ship, and showed him the dia- monds and gold which he had found, but told him that the hostile disposition of the na- tives had obliged him to quit the country, which, however, he represented to him as ca- pable of profitable cultivation. Roberval or- dered him to return to Canada ; but Cartier privately sailed out of the harbour in the night, and pursued his voyage to France. Mortified and disappointed, Roberval con- tinued some time longer at St. John's before he proceeded, and about the end of July ar- * [Roberval sailed April 16, 1542. Hakluyt, iii., 240. The same author says that Cartier had gone " the year before." Cartier must have been there nearly two years when Roberval arrived. H.] 254 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. rived at the place which Cartier had quitted. There he erected a fort on a commanding eminence, and another at its foot, in which were deposited all the provision, ammunition, artillery, implements of husbandry, and oth- er materials for the intended colony.* In September, two vessels were sent back to France, to carry specimens of crystal and fetch provisions for the next year, the stores which they had brought being much reduced. By the help of the fish which they took in the river, and the game which they procured from the savages, and by well husbanding their provisions, they lingered out a tedious winter, having suffered much from the scurvy, of which about fifty of them died. In addi- tion to this distress, Roberval exercised such * [Near the present site of Quebec. The fortifications oi what is now the Gibraltar of America are thus described in the narrative of Roberval : " The saide general!, at his first arrival^ built a fayre fort, which is very beautiful to behold and of great force, . . situated upon an high mountain, wherein were two -courtes of buyldings, a great tower, and another of fortie or fif- tie foot long : wherein there were divers chambers, an hall, a kitchen, houses of office, sellers, high and lowe, and neere unto it were an oven and milles, and a stove to warm men in, and a well before the house. There was also at the foote of the mountaine another lodging, part whereof was a great tower of two stories high, two courtes of good buyldings." Such was it in 1542. H.] C A R T I E R. 255 severity in his government, that one man was hanged, several were laid in irons, and some of both sexes underwent the discipline of the whip. In April the ice began to break up, and on the fifth of June he proceeded up the riv- er, leaving De Royeze, his lieutenant, to com- mand in his absence, with orders to embark for France if he should not return by the middle of July. As the account of the expedition ends here, we can only remark that the colony was bro- ken up, and no farther attempt was made by the French to establish themselves in Cana- da till after the expiration of half a century. The last account of Roberval is that, in 1549, he sailed with his brother on some voyage of discovery, and never returned.* In this first visit which the natives of Can- ada received from the Europeans, we have a striking instance of their primitive manners. Suspecting no danger, and influenced by no fear, they embraced the stranger with unaf- fected joy. Their huts were open to receive him, their fires and furs to give warmth and rest to his weary limbs ; their food was sha- red with him, or given in exchange for his tri- * [Bosman, History of Maryland, p. 41, says to the St Lawrence. H.] 256 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. fles ; they were ready with their simple med- icines to heal his diseases and his wounds ; they would wade through rivers, and climb rocks and mountains to guide him in his way, and they would remember and requite his kindness more than it deserved. Unhappily for them, they set too high a value on their new guest. Imagining him to be of a heavenly origin, they were extrava- gant and unguarded in their first attachment, and, from some specimens of his superiority, obvious to their senses, they expected more than ought ever to be expected from beings of the same species. But when the mistake was discovered, and the stranger whom they had adored proved to be no more than hu- man, having the same inferior desires and passions with themselves especially when they found their confidence misplaced and their generous friendship ill requited then the rage of jealousy extinguished the virtue of benevolence, and they struggled to rid them- selves of him as an enemy whom they had received into their bosom as a friend. On the other hand, it was too common for the European adventurer to regard the man of nature as an inferior being ; and, while he availed himself of his strength and experience, C A R T I E K. 257 to abuse his confidence, and repay his kind- ness with insult and injury, to stigmatize him as a heathen and a savage, and to bestow on him the epithets of deceitful, treacherous, and cruel, though he himself had first set the ex- ample of these detestable vices. AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. VI. FERDINANDO DE SOTO.* THE travels and transactions of this adven- turer are of so little importance in the history of America, that I should not have thought them worthy of much notice had it not been that some gentlemen of ingenuity and learn- ing have had recourse to the expedition of this Spaniard as a means of solving the question respecting the mounds and fortifications of a regular construction which, within a few years past, have been discovered in the thickest shades of the American forest. f Though the opinion seems to have been candidly given up by one of the writers who attempted to defend it, yet, as what was published on the subject may have impressed some persons with an idea that these works were of Euro- * [A minute and circumstantial narrative of De Solo's expe- dition was written by a "Portugese gentleman of Elvas," who accompanied him. It was translated about 1562, and is cited in these notes as the Relation. H.] t If the reader wishes to see a particular investigation of this hypothesis, he may consult the American Magazine, printed at New- York, for December, 1787, January and February, 1780, and some subsequent numbers, compared with the Columbian Magazine, printed at Philadelphia, for September and Novem- ber, 1788. s o T o. 259 pean fabric, I shall briefly relate the history of Soto's march, and the difficulties which attend the supposition that he was the builder of any of these fortifications. After the conquest of Mexico and Peru in the beginning of the sixteenth century, the inextinguishable thirst for gold which had seized the Spanish adventurers prompted them to search for that bewitching metal wherever there could be any prospect of find- ing it. Three unsuccessful attempts had been made in Florida by Ponce, Gomez, and Nar- vaez ;* but, because these adventurers did not penetrate the interior parts of the Con- tinent, FERDINANDO DE Soxo,t governor of * [See Chronological Detail, &c. H.] t [De Soto was born at Xeres de Bajados (but, according to Garcilaso, at Villa Nuova de Barcarota, in Estrcmadura : see also Biog. Univ.), of a respectable family, but not distinguished for rank or wealth. By virtue of his natural energy and enthusi- asm he became interested in the then popular adventures in America, where he served under Pedrarias Davila, governor ot Darien, having "no more estate than a sword and buckler." With Pizarro in the conquest of Peru he commanded a troop ol horse, and gained much reputation as well as wealth. His share of the spoils in that expedition is said to have been 180,000 crowns of gold. On his return to Spain he appeared at court with a magnificent retinue and equipage, " resolved to make himself be taken notice of by a sumptuous expense, though oth- erwise he had no inclination to liberality." Here he married the daughter of Pedrarias, and received the favourable notice of the emperor, who now made him governor of Cuba, and added 260 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. Cuba, who had been a companion of the Pi- zarros in their Peruvian expedition, and had there amassed much wealth, projected a march into Florida, of which country he had the title of adelantado, or president. He sailed from the port of Havanna May 18, 1539, with nine vessels, six hundred men,* two hundred and thirteen horses, and a herd of swine, and arrived on the 30th of the same month in the Bay of Espiritu Santo, on the western coast of the peninsula of Florida. Being a soldier of fortune and determined on conquest, he immediately pitched his camp and secured it. A foraging party met with a few Indians, who resisted them ; two were killed ; the others escaped, and reported to the title of "marquis of the lands which he might conquer." His inclination to invade Florida was strengthened, if not origi- nated, by the narrative of Cabeqa de Vaca, one of the survivors of the unfortunate expedition of Narvaez, who represented it as one of the richest countries in the world. Soto quickly assem- bled a company for this purpose, among whom were many cav- aliers of quality from Spain and Portugal. He equipped seven ships, and sailed from St. Lucar in the month of April, 1538. In the year which elapsed before he left Cuba for Florida, he sent two expeditions to explore the coast and select a suitable place for landing. The fleet with which he sailed from Havan- na consisted of five ships, two caravels, and two brigantines, with six hundred men. H.] * lu Prince's Chronology it is said that oto had 900 men , but he quotes Purchas for his authority, in whose book the num- ber is " sir hundred." SOTO. 261 their countrymen that the warriors of fire had invaded their territories, upon which the smaller towns were deserted, and the natives hid in the woods.* Having met with a Spaniard of the party of Narvaez,t who had been wrecked dn the coast, and had been twelve years a captive with the Indians, Soto made use of him as a messenger to them to inquire for gold and silver ; and, wherever he could receive any * [The treatment of the Indians by De Soto and his party was marked by every circumstance of ferocious and brutal cruelty. They were hunted by bloodhounds, loaded with chains, forced to be baggage-carriers and guides, attacked on the slightest cause, and slaughtered like beasts. Take an example : " The general sent out two captains several ways to take Indians, who brought in a hundred, as well women as men, that were all divi- ded in this manner : The captain who took the prize set one or two apart for the governor, the rest were divided between the captain and soldiers. They were chained by the neck, and serv- ed to carry the baggage, pound the maize, and in other employ- ments wherein the chain incommoded them not too much." If any attempted to escape, " they paid dear for it." Relation, p. 44. " Nor, indeed, did any of those who were put in chains ever return again" with the consent of their captors. Ib., 81. And again, " the Indians that served us, going naked and in irons during the bitter cold of winter, were almost all starved to death." Ib., 50. The historian of Elvas adds, that De Soto " could not endure that any Indian should be so bold as to fall foul upon a Christian, right or wrong/' Ib., 77. Once he or- dered an Indian to be burned alive merely to gain information of his route. Ib , 62. H.] t [John Ortiz. He died at Autiamque in 1542. H.J 262 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. information respecting these precious metals, thither he directed his march. His manner of marching was this : The horsemen carried bags of corn and other pro- visions, the footmen marched by the side of the horses, and the swine were driven before them.* When they first landed they had thirteen female swine, which in two years in- creased to several hundreds ; the warmth of the climate being favourable to their propa- gation, and the forests yielding them a plenty of food. The first summer and winter were spent in the Peninsula of Florida, not far from the Bay of Apalache ; and in the beginning of the following spring, having sent back his vessels to Cuba for supplies, and left a part of his men at the port, where he expected the * [The fatigues and sufferings of the company were exces- sive. The footmen were obliged to carry their provision on their backs, and often reduced to extremities and death from the want of suitable food. Their journeys were over deserts and difficult mountains, or through tracts inhabited by those only of whom their own cruelty had made them suspicious, and who more than once proved themselves no contemptible foe. They swam riv- ers, waded deep marshes, cut through canebrakes, hungered, thirsted, scorched under a hot sun, and wasted away from fear, anxiety, and doubt. The golden region fled before them, sem- per ccdentia retro, and their high hopes of conquest and wealth gradually gave way to uncertainty and despair, till they aban- doned every wish but to escape with life. H. j SOTO. 263 ships to return, he marched towards the north and east in search of a place called Yupaha, where he had been informed there was. gold.* In this march he crossed the River Alta- maha, and probably the Ogechee, and came, as he was informed, within two days' journey of the Bay of St. Helena, where the Spaniards had been several years before. In all this march he stayed not more than a week in any one place.! * [He was induced to march for Yupaha by the representa- tions of a young Indian, who told him that the queen of that country received tribute in gold ; and, to confirm his statements, described the process of digging, melting, and refining it, "as if he had seen it done a hundred times." Relation, 49. On reaching it they were disappointed in their expectations of gold ; but, having searched the tombs of the town, they found " four- teen bushels of pearls," which they lost in the burning at Mo- bile. Ib., 65, 95. H.] t [It is impossible to ascertain exactly the points which De Soto reached in his various excursions. We have the time and distance of the marches in general terms, the latter of which, at least, must be received with some caution. For their marches were often circuitous, and even retrograde, and their own com- putation of days' marches probably carelessly made. As we have not the precise length of their days' marches, which were very various, so we have not the precise number of days which they were actually marching. We cannot arrive at any certainty, though we may make, as in the text, a plausible conjecture. The party left Palache the third of March, 1540, and left Cuti- fachiqui, in the region of Yupaha, the third of May ; and the distance is given at " four hundred and thirty leagues, from southwest to northeast." Relation, &c., 50, 68, 87. H.] 264 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. He then set his face northward, and, hav- ing passed a hilly country, came to a district called Chalaque, which is supposed to be the country now called Cherokee, on the upper branches of the River Savannah.* Thence he turned westward in search of a place call- ed Chiaha, and in -this route he crossed the Alleghany Ridge and came to Chiaha, where his horses and men, being excessively fa- tigued, rested thirty days. The horses fed in a meadow, and the people lay under the trees, the weather being very hot, and the natives in peace, This was in the months of May and June. During their abode there they heard of a country called Chisca, where was copper and another metal of the same colour. This country lay northward, and a party was sent with Indian guides to view it. Their report was that the mountains were impassa- ble, and Soto did not attempt to proceed any farther in that direction. From a careful inspection of the maps in the American Atlas, I am inclined to think * [To Chalaque was seven days' march, and to Xualla, in the same direction, to the north, five days. The distance is given as two hundred and fifty leagues. If we take from this one hundred leagues, which they went in the country of Yupaha, they must have travelled about thirty-eight miles a day, through a difficult and mountainous country. Relation, 69, 70. H.] s o T o. 265 that the place where Soto crossed the mount- ains was within the thirty-fifth degree of lati- 'ude. In Delisle's map a village called Can- asaga is laid down on the N.W. side of the A.lleghany, or, as it is sometimes called, the Apalachian ridge of mountains, in that lati- tude ; and Chiaha is said in Soto's journal to be five days westward from Canasagua. To ascertain the situation of Chiaha we must observe that it is said to be subject to the Lord of Cosa, which is situate on an east- ern branch of the Mobille ; and Soto's sick men came down the river from Chiaha in boats. This river could be none but a branch of the Mobille; and his course was then turned towards the south. In this march he passed through Alibama, Talise, Tascalusa,* names which are still known and marked on the maps, till he came to the town of Mavil- la, which the French pronounced Mouville and Mobille. It was then a walled town, but the walls were of wood. The inhabi- tants had conceived a disgust to the Spaniards, which was augmented by an outrage com- " [The modern names are Alabama, Tallahassee probably, and Tuscaloosa. Talise is briefly described as " a great town, and situated neere unto a main river." The position of Tasca- lusa is not very exactly defined. H.] 266 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. mitted on one of their chiefs, and finally broke out in a severe conflict, in which two thousand of the innocent natives were slain, and many of the Spaniards killed and wound- ed, and the town was burned. This was in the latter end of October. It is probable that Soto intended to pass the winter in the neighbourhood of that vil- lage if he could have kept on friendly terms with the Indians, for there he could have had a communication with Cuba. There he heard that the vessels which he had sent to Cuba for supplies were arrived at Ochus [Pensaco- la], where he had agreed to meet them ; but he kept this information secret, because he had not yet made any discoveries which his Spanish friends would think worthy of regard. The country about him was populous and hostile, and, being void of gold or silver, was not an object for him to possess at the risk of losing his army, of which above a hundred had already perished. He therefore, after staying twenty-eight days for the recovery of his wounded, determined on a retreat. In this retreat it has been supposed that he penetrated northward beyond the Ohio. The truth is, that he began his march from Mavil- la, a village near the mouth of the Mobille, on SOTO. 267 the 18th of November, and on the 17th of December arrived at Chica^a, an Indian vil- lage of twenty houses, where they remained till the next April. The distance, the time, the nature of the country, the course and manner of the march, and the name of the village, all concur to de- termine this winter-station of Soto to be a village of the Chickasaiv Indians, situate on the upper part of the Yasou, a branch of the Mississippi, about eighty leagues northwest- ward from Mobille, and not less than one hun- dred and forty leagues southwestward from the Muskingum, where the great fortifications which gave rise to this inquiry are found. From Chicaga, in the spring, he went west- ward, and crossed a river within the thirty- fourth degree of latitude, which he called Rio Grande, and which is now known to be the Mississippi.* On the western side of the Mississippi, af- ter rambling all summer, he spent the next * [At the place where they crossed " the river was half a ' league over, so that a man could not be distinguished from one side to the other." The description of the river fully corre- sponds with the peculiarities of the Mississippi. It is worthy of notice that in this route they heard of a tradition among the natives that " a white people should come and conquer theif country." Relation, &c., 109, 112. H.] I X 268 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. winter, at a place called Autiamque, where he enclosed his camp with a wall of timber, the work of three days only. Within this enclosure he lodged safely during three months ;* and, in the succeeding spring, the extreme fatigue and anxiety which he had suffered threw him into a fever, of which he died, May 21, 1542, at Guacoya.f To pre- vent his death from being known to the In- dians, his body was sunk in the middle of a river. His lieutenant, Louis de Moscosco,1: con- tinued to ramble on the western side of the Mississippi till the next summer, when, worn with fatigue, disappointment, and loss of men, he built seven boats, called brigantines, on the Mississippi, in which the shattered remnants, consisting of three hundred and * [He left Autiamque the 6th of March, having hardly more than three hundred soldiers remaining, and about forty horses. H.] t [His death is reported to have been peaceful and religious, though his life was cruel and bloody. His character was one not rare in that day, haughty, obstinate, perfidious, and selfish, yet daring, energetic, and enthusiastic. H.] t [Louis de Moscosco had been Soto's lieutenant, or, as he is called, " camp-master-general," through the whole expedition. He was a fellow-townsman of Soto, and was named by him on his deathbed to succeed to the command of the army. Before sailing down the Mississippi, he led them westward towards Mexico between four and five hundred miles. H.] s o T o. 269 eleven, returned to Cuba in September, 1543.*t The place where Soto died is said to have been on the bank of the Red River, a west- ern branch of the Mississippi, in lat. 31. The place where the remnant of his army built their vessels and embarked for Cuba is called in the journal Minoya. They were seventeen days in sailing down the river, and they com- puted the distance to be two hundred and fifty leagues. $ From this account, faithfully abridged from Purchas, and compared with the best maps, I am fully persuaded that the whole country through which Soto travelled on the eastern side of the Mississippi is comprehended with- in Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina, and that he never went farther northward than the 35th degree of latitude, which is distant two degrees southward from any part of the Ohio. The conclusion then is, that he could * Purchas, vol. v., p. 1532-1556. f [The Relation, &c., p. 211, says they sailed 52 days from the Mississippi along the coast of the gulf to the River Panico. in Mexico, where they arrived September 10, 1543, and that most of them, after remaining there a few weeks, visited the city of Mexico. H.] $ Mr. Prince, in his Chronology, says 400 in figures ; but Purchas, from whom he quotes, says " two hundred and fifty." AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. not have been the builder of those fortifica- tions still remaining in that part of the conti- nent which lies N.W. of the Ohio. Nor, in- deed, can any works which he erected for the security of his camp be subsisting at this time ; for the best of them were made of wood, and were intended to cover his men and protect his horses and swine only during one winter. The works which have so much excited curiosity and conjecture are far more numer- ous, extensive, and durable. They are found in various and distant places in the interior part of the continent, on both sides of the Mississippi, on the Ohio and its branches, on James and Potomac Rivers in Virginia, in the country of the Six Nations, and on the shores of Lake Erie, where they are exceedingly numerous. The most obvious mode of solving the question respecting them is by inquiry of the present natives. But the structures are too ancient for their tradition ; the oldest and wisest men know nothing of their original. The form and materials of these works indi- cate the existence of a race of men superior to the present race in improvement, in de- SOTO. 271 sign, and in that patience which must have accompanied the labour of erecting them. Trees which have been found growing on them have been cut down, and, from indubi- table marks, are known to have been upward of three hundred years old ; nor were these the first growth upon them. The mounds and ramparts are constructed of earth, and have acquired a firmness and solidity which render it probable that they are the work of some remote age and some other people", who had different ideas of con- venience, and were better acquainted with the arts of defence, and, in fact, were much more numerous than the ancestry of those natives of whom we or our fathers have had any knowledge. It is to be hoped that the persons who now occupy and are cultivating th.e lands where these singular buildings are found, will pre- serve, as far as they are able, some, at least, of these monuments of unknown ages, that, as they have long resisted the ravages of time, and may possibly baffle the researches of the present generation, they may subsist unimpaired as subjects of speculation to our posterity. 272 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. VII. HUMPHREY GILBERT. AFTER the discovery of Newfoundland by the Cabots, the passion for adventure among the English met with many severe checks. But while one adventurer after another was returning home from an unsuccessful voyage, foreigners were reaping the benefit of their partial discoveries. Within the first forty years we have no ac- count of any attempt made by the English to prosecute the discovery of the new continent, except that in 1536 two vessels, containing one hundred and twenty persons, of whom thirty were gentlemen of education and char- acter, under the conduct of " Master Hore, of London,"* made a voyage to Newfound- land ;t but they were so ill provided, and knew so little of the nature of the country, that they suffered the extremity of famine. For, notwithstanding the immense quantities of fish and fowl to be found on those coasts, * [Master Hore is described as " a man of goodly staturt and of great courage, and given to the study of cosmography.* Hakluyt, iii., 129. H.] t Hakluyt, vol. iii., p. 130. GILBERT. 273 they were reduced so low as to watch the nests of birds of prey, and rob them of the fish which they brought to feed their young. To collect this scanty supply, with a mixture of roots and herbs, the men dispersed them- selves in the woods until several of them were missing. It was at first thought that they were devoured by wild beasts ; but it was found that they met with a more tragical fate, the stronger having killed the weaker, and feasted on their flesh. In the midst of this distress, a French ship arriving with a supply of provisions, they took her by force, and re- turned to England, leaving to the Frenchmen their own smaller vessels, and dividing the provision between them. Complaint of this act of piracy was made to King HENRY VIII., who, knowing the miseries of the unfortunate crew, instead of punishing them, paid the damage out of his own coffers. Within the succeeding forty years the Eng- lish had begun to make some advantage by the fishery, and in 1578 the state of it is thus described:* " There are about one hundred sail of Spaniards who come to take cod, who make it all wet, and dry it when they come * Letter of Anthony Parkhurst to Richard Hakluyt, vol. iii., p. 138. 274 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. home, besides twenty or thirty more who come from Biscay to kill whales for train. These be better appointed for shipping and furniture of munition than any other nation save the English, who commonly are lords of the harbours. As touching their tonnage, I think it may be near five or six thousand. Of Portugals there are not above fifty sail, whose tonnage may amount to three thou- sand, and they make all wet. Of the French nation there are about one hundred and fifty sail ; the most of their shipping is very small, not past forty tons ; among which some are great and reasonably well appointed, better than the Portugals, and not so well as the Spaniards ; the burden of them may be about seven thousand. The English vessels have increased in four years from thirty to fifty sail. The trade which our nation hath to Iceland maketh that the English are not there in such numbers as other nations." The next year [1579] Queen Elizabeth granted to Sir HUMPHREY GILBERT a patent for the discovering, occupying, and peopling of " such remote, heathen, and barbarous countries as -were not actually possessed by any Christian people."* * Hakluyt, Hi., 135. Forster, 292. GILBERT. 275 [Sir Humphrey Gilbert was descended from an ancient family in Devonshire. His father was Otho Gilbert, Esq., of Greenway, and his mother Catharine, daughter of Sir Philip Champernon, of Modbury. Hum- phrey, born at Compton, in Devonshire, 1539, was the second son, yet inherited a considerable estate. He received his early education at Eton, whence he was removed to Oxford. While yet a boy he was intro- duced by his aunt, Mrs. Ashley, to Queen Elizabeth, who is said to have been much pleased with his studious temper and court- ly behaviour, and recommended him to the especial favour of Sir Henry Sidney, after- ward lord-deputy of Ireland. The turn of his mind and studies was towards the art of war, navigation, and the like, and, as he diligently applied himself to these, he soon distinguished himself for courage, learning, knowledge, and practical skill. Opportunities were not wanting in those days for the employment and display of qualities such as young Gilbert possessed, and, being ambitious of distinction, he did not hesitate to use them. The first expedi- tion in which he gained peculiar notice was that to New-Haven, in which his coolness, 276 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. prudence, and daring raised high hopes of his future eminence. He was soon appointed colonel in Munster,* a post of great difficulty and danger, " where he performed great things with a handful of men, and became more dreaded by the Irish than any English- man employed in that service. By his in- dustry and address he composed the stirs raised by the MacCarthies, and by his valour and activity drove the Butlers out of his prov- ince when they swerved from their duty, and forced James Fitz Maurice, the greatest cap- tain among the Irish, to abandon his country and seek safety abroad."* In the Parliament of April 2d, 1571, 13tK Eliz., he was a member of the Lower House from Compton, his native place. It is remarkable that, while Sir Humphrey Gilbert evidently gave much *.mie and atten- tion to the subjects of cosmography and mari- time discovery, we have no record of early ad- ventures by sea. His "Discourse to prove a passage by the Northwest to Cathaia and the East Indies" was first published in 15764 It * [Fuller, in his Worthies of Devon, says in 1569. H.] t [Campbell's Lives of the Admirals, vol. ii. See also Hol- linshed, vi., 366-7. H.J t [Campbell, ii., 17. The discourse is preserved in Hakluyt, vol. ii., p. 11-24. H.I GILBERT. 277 is a methodical treatise, in which he affirms that America is an island, bounded on the north side by " the sea that severeth it from Groneland, thorow which Northern Seas the passage lyeth." This he attempts to prove " by authoritie, by reason, by experience of sundry men's travailes, by circumstance," &c., &c. The arguments are not all very conclu- sive. In his chapter of authorities he refers to Plato, Philo, and Aristotle. Yet the work evinces much learning and ability, as well as enthusiasm and credulity ; and he at least de- serves credit for his confident anticipation of what it has been reserved for the enterprise of our own day to demonstrate. He had also written another " Simple Discourse of Navigation," on which he had "not a little travelled," which is now lost. He concludes the discourse we have described with this sentiment, " That he is not worthy to live at all that for feare or danger of death shunneth his countrie's service and his owne honour, seeing death is inevitable, and the fame of vertue immortall." The queen, who seldom failed to distin- guish merit, bestowed on him, from time to time, the most encouraging notices. She knighted him, gave him one of her maids of 278 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. honour in marriage, and, upon his preparing for his voyage, sent him a golden anchor with a large pearl at the peak, which he ever after wore at his breast as a singular honour. Raleigh accompanied this present, which was sent through his hands, with this letter : " I have sent you a token from her majesty, an anchor guided by a lady, as you see ; and, farther, her highness willed me to send you word that she wished you as great hap and safety to your ship as if herself were there in person, desiring you to have care of yourself as of that which she tendereth. Farther, she commandeth that you leave your picture with me," &c.* Sir Humphrey is represented as a gentleman of winning and courteous manners, commanding esteem and respect at first sight ; " his stature beyond the ordinary size, his complexion sanguine, and his constitution ro- bust."! Hollinshed, or, rather, Hooker, in the supplement to Hollinshed, vi.,J367, says he was " a man of higher stature than the common sort ; of a complexion cholerike ; from his childhood of a verie pregnant wit and good disposition." * [Southey's Lives of British Admirals, vol. iv., 218. Cay- ley's Life of Raleigh, i., 31. H.] t [Haliburton's Nova Scotia, i., 7, note. H.] GILBERT. 279 The patent given by Elizabeth to Sir Humphrey Gilbert was dated June 11, 1578, and not, as stated by Dr. Belknap, 1579.* The provisions of the charter thus granted deserve notice, as it was one of the first in the long series of colony charters granted by the crown of England, and as it shows what notions of colonization prevailed in those days. After the general license to discover any countries not possessed by any Christian prince or people, it bestows the " soil of the same, with the royalties and jurisdiction, upon him, and his heirs, and assigns forever, with power to dispose of them, or any part of them, in fee simple ; to transport any persons thith- er, unless specially restrained by the crown ; authority to expel by force all persons who should attempt to inhabit within the space of two hundred leagues ; to capture all who should trade there without his license ; to punish at his discretion in all causes, civil, criminal, and capital ; and to make laws agreeable to the policy of England and the * [Chalmers, p. 4, says it was given in March ; Foster, 1. c. , dates it in 1578. Hazard, State Papers, vol. i., p. 24, and Hak- luyt, vol. iii., p. 137, who are better authority, and who give the patent at length, concur with Dr. Robertson in dating it June llth, 1578. H.] 280 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. Christian faith professed in the Church of England."] In consequence of this grant, many of his friends joined him, and preparations were made for an expedition, which promised to be highly advantageous. But, before the fleet was ready, some declined and retracted their engagements. Gilbert, with a few com- panions, sailed ;* but a violent storm, in which one of the ships foundered, caused him to re- turn. This misfortune involved him in debt, and he had no way to satisfy the demands of his creditors but by grants of land in Amer- ica. By such means the country was not likely to be peopled, nor the conditions of his patent fulfilled. He was obliged, therefore, to sell his estate before he could make another attempt ; and y after long solicitation, being assisted by some friends, he set sail from Plymouth with five ships, t carrying two hun- * [Sir Walter Raleigh was one of these companions. Cay- ley, i., 17. This voyage is supposed to have been made early in the summer of 1579. Few particulars of it have remained to us. One of the ships was lost in " a smart action with the Spaniards." Cayley, ubi supra. H.] t [The fleet would hardly now be deemed adequate to such an enterprise. It consisted of the Delight, 120 tons, the bark Raleigh, 200 tons, the Golden Hind, 40 tons, the Swallow, 40 tons, and the Squirrel, 10 tons. Some of the crude notions of the adventurers are exhibited in one specimen of the cargo GILBERT. 281 dred and sixty men, on the eleventh of June, 1583, and on the eleventh of July* arrived off the bay of St. John, on the eastern coast of Newfoundland. Thirty-six fishing vessels were then in the harbour, who refused him admittance. He prepared to enter by force of arms ; but previously sent in his boat with his com- mission from Queen Elizabeth, on sight of " Besides," says Edward Hayes, the captain of the Golden Hind, and author of the narration in Hakluyt, and who writes himself " gentleman and principal actour in the same voyage," "for solace of our people and allurement of the savages, we were provided of rausike in good varietie, not omitting the least toyes, as morris-dancers, hobby-horses, and May-like conceits, to delight the savage people, whom we intended to win by all fair means possible. And to that end we were indifferentlie fur- nished of all petty haberdasherie wares to barter with those sim- ple people." The bark Raleigh abandoned the expedition soon after it sailed, an infectious disease having broken out among the crew. H.] * [The date in the text must, I think, be an error. Forster, indeed, p. 293, says, " on the llth of July they saw land ;" but he could hardly have been detained three weeks (July 1 1th to Aug. 3d) " off the bay" by fishing vessels. And Hayes, whose account is the original, Hakluyt, iii., 149, says, " Tuesday, the 30th of July" (seven weeks after sailing), "we got sight of land." See also a letter of Stephen Parmenius from St. John's to Hak- luyt. Ib., 162. They then sailed south along the coast by Bacalaos, &,c., some twenty leagues, ib., 150, and reached the harbour of St. John's Aug. 3d. Hakluyt, iii., 165, and Gilbert's letter to Sir George Peckham. H.] 282 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. which they submitted, and he sailed into the port.* The intention of this voyage was to take formal possession of the island, and of the fishery on its banks, for the crown of Eng- land. This was done in the following man- ner :f On Monday, the fifth of August, Admiral Gilbert had his tent pitched on shore, in sight of all the shipping; and, being attended by his own people, summoned the merchants and masters of vessels, both Englishmen and oth- ers, to be present at the ceremony. When they were all assembled, his commission was read, and interpreted to the foreigners. Then a turf and a twig were delivered to him, which he received with a hazel wand. Im- mediately proclamation was made, that by virtue of his commission from the queen, he took possession, for the crown of England, of the harbour of St. John, and two hundred leagues every way round it. He then published three laws for the gov- ernment of the territory. By the first, public worship was established according to the mode of the Church of England. By the * Stith's History of Virginia, p. 6. t Hakluyt, iii., 151, 165, . G I L B E E T. 283 second, the attempting of anything prejudi- ,cial to her majesty's title was declared trea- son, according to the laws of England. By the third, the uttering of words to the dishon- our of her majesty was to be punished with the loss of ears and the confiscation of property. The proclamation being finished, assent and obedience were signified by loud accla- mations. A pillar was erected, bearing a plate of lead, on which the queen's arms were engraven ; and several of the merchants took grants of land, in fee farm, on which they might cure their fish, as they had done before. A tax of provision, by her majesty's author- ity, was levied on all the ships. This tax was readily paid ; besides which, the admiral received presents of wine, fruits, and other refreshments, chiefly from the Portuguese. This formal possession, taken by Sir Hum- phrey Gilbert in consequence of the discov- ery of the Cabots, is the foundation of the right and title of the crown of England to the territory of Newfoundland and to the fishery on its banks. As far as the time would permit, a survey was made of the country, one principal ob- ject of which was the discovery of mines and minerals. The mineralogist was a Saxoii, I. Y 284 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. who is characterized as " honest and reli- gious." This man brought to the admiral first a specimen of iron, then a kind of ore, which, on the peril of his life, he protested to be silver. The admiral enjoined secrecy, and sent it on board, intending to have it assayed when they should get to sea. The company being dispersed abroad, some were taken sick and died ; some hid them- selves in the woods, with an intention to go home by the first opportunity ; and others cut one of the vessels out of the harbour and car- ried her off. On the twentieth of August, the admiral, having collected as many of his men as could be found, and ordered one of his vessels to stay and take off the sick, set sail with three ships, the Delight, the Hind, and the Squir- rel. He coasted along the southern part of the island, with a view to make Cape Breton and the Isle of Sable, on which last he had heard that cattle and swine had been landed by the Portuguese thirty years before. Being entangled among shoals and in- volved in fogs, the Delight struck on a sand- bank and was lost.* Fourteen men only * [There is somewhat of sad romance in the narrative of thir event. '^The evening was faire and pleasant, yet not withouf GILBERT. sa\ed themselves in a boat ; the loss of the Saxon refiner was particularly noted,* and nothing farther was heard of the silver ore. This misfortune determined the admiral to re- turn to England without attempting to make any farther discoveries, or to take possession of any other part of America. On his pas- sage he met with bad weather. The Squirrel frigate, in which Sir Humphrey sailed, was overloaded on her deck ; but he persisted in taking his passage in her, notwithstanding the remonstrances of his friends in the Hind, who would have persuaded him to sail with them.t token of storme to ensue, and most part of this, Wednesday, night, like the svvanne that singeth before her death, they in the Ad- miral, or Delight, continued in sounding of trumpets, with drummes and fifes ; also winding the cornets, haughtboyes ; and in the end of their jolitie, left with the battel and ringing of dolefull knels." " Thursday, the 29th of August," they perish- ed. Hakluyt, iii., 156. H.] * [A greater loss was that of Stephen Parmenius, a native of Buda, in Hungary, "who, of pietie and zeale to good attempts, adventured in this action, minding to record in the Latine tongue the gests and things worthy of remembrance happening in this discoverie to the honour of our nation, the same being adorned with the eloquent stile of this orator and rare poet of our time." Hakluyt, iii., 156. He addressed to Gilbert a poem on this voyage, in Latin hexameters, which is preserved Ib., 138-143. H.] t [The Squirrel was of only ten tons burden, and Sir Hum- phrey had taken passage in her as " being most convenient to discover upon the coast, and to search in every harbour or AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. From the circumstance of his returning from his first voyage without accomplishing its ob- ject, it had been reported that he was afraid of the sea ; had he yielded to the solicitation of his friends, the stigma might have been in- delible. When the wind abated and the vessels were near enough, the admiral was seen con- stantly sitting in the stern with a book in his hand. On the ninth of September he was seen for the last time, and was heard by the people in the Hind to say, " We are as near heaven by sea as by land."* In the follow- ing night the lights of his ship suddenly dis- appeared.! The people in the other vessel kept a good look-out for him during the re- mainder of the voyage. On the twenty-sec- ond of September they arrived, through much tempest and peril, at Falmouth. But nothing more was seen or heard of the admiral. $ creeke, which a great ship could not doe." Hakluyt, iii., 154. -H-] * [A speech, says Captain Hayes, " well becoming a soldiei resolute in Jesus Christ, as I can testify he was." H.] t [" About the same time was swallowed up by the ocean Sit Humphrey Gilbert, knight, a quick and lively-spirited man, fa- mous for his knowledge in matters relating both to war and peace." Camden,Eliz., 287. H.] t [Sir Humphrey Gilbert had two brothers, John and Adrian, both knighted, and both connected with schemes of maritime GILBERT. 287 While his zeal for the interest of the crown and the settlements of its American domin- ions has been largely commended, he has been blamed for his temerity in lavishing his own and other men's fortunes in the prosecu- tion of his designs. This is not the only in- stance of a waste of property in consequence of sanguine expectations, which, though ru- inous to the first adventurers, has produced solid advantages to their successors. Dr. Forster has a remark on one of the in- cidents of this voyage which is worthy of rep- etition and remembrance. " It is very clear," says he, " in the instance of the Portuguese having stocked the Isle of Sable with domes- tic animals, that the discoverers of the New World were men of humanity, desirous of providing for such unfortunate people as discovery and foreign plantation. Of Sir John some account is given by Belknap in the Life of Gorges. Adrian obtained a patent from Queen Elizabeth, dated February 6, 1583, granting him privileges in respect to a discovery of a passage to China by the north, northwest, or northeast. In this instrument he is described as " Adrian Gylbert, of Sandridge, in the county of Devon, gentleman," and the company associated with him (Ra- leigh and Sanderson) were styled " the colleagues of the fellow- ship for the discovery of the Northwest Passage." Voyages were made by Davis and others unc'er the patronage of this company. Sir Walter Raleigh, in a letter to his wife in 1603, mentions Sir Adrian as owing him 600. H.J 288 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. might happen to be cast away on those coasts. The false policy of modern times is callous and tyrannical, exporting dogs to de- vour them. Are these the happy consequen- ces of the so-much-boasted enlightened state of the present age and refinement of manners peculiar to our time ? Father of mercies, when will philanthropy again take up her abode in the breasts of men, of Christians and the rulers of this earth '" RALEIGH. 289 VIII. WALTER RALEIGH AND RICH- ARD GRENVILLE. THE distinguished figure which the life of Sir Walter Raleigh makes in the history of England renders unnecessary any other ac- count of him here than what respects his ad- ventures in America, and particularly in Vir- ginia, of which colony he is acknowledged to have been the unfortunate founder. [The account of Sir Walter Raleigh given by Dr. Belknap is almost confined to his proceedings in the early settlement of Virgin- ia. The readers of these volumes may nat- urally expect some farther notice of " that rare, renowned knight, whose fame," says one of his contemporaries,* "shall contend in longevity with this island itself, yea, with that great world which he historizeth so gallant- ly." He was a courtier of singular gallantry and grace, a scholar of varied learning and accomplishments, a soldier of chivalrous tem- per and unstained honour, a statesman of large views, an adventurer of great hardihood and * [James Howel. in a letter to Carew Raleigh H.] 290 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. enthusiasm. His long imprisonment, his pa- tient suffering, and the hard measure of his death, have given a tender and touching in- terest to a history otherwise full of attractive incident. He lived, as the attorney-general told him in his last sentence, like a star, and like a star which troubleth the firmament he fell* Sir Walter Raleigh, or, as he wrote the name, Ralegh, was the fourth son of Walter Raleigh, Esq., of Fardel, near Plymouth. His mother was Catharine, daughter of Sir Philip Champernon, and widow of Otho Gil- bert, of Compton, Devonshire. He was thus half-brother of Sir Humphrey Gilbert. At the time of his birth, 1552, his father was re- siding at a farm called Hayes, in the parish of Budley, Devonshire, near the mouth of the Otter. Of his childhood we have no memo- * [The principal memoirs of Sir Walter Raleigh are those by Oldys, prefixed to his edition of Raleigh's History of the World ; by Birch, in an edition of his Miscellaneous Writings ; by Cayley, 2 vols. 4to, London, 1805 ; by Southey, in his Lives of English Admirals, vol. iv. ; by P. F. Tytler, in the Edinburgh Cabinet Li- brary ; and by Mrs. Thompson ; all of which, unless it be Mrs. Thompson's, which we had not seen till this article was in press, are to be read with caution, as they show more or less clearly some bias in the writer. Southey, for example, we think, under values Sir Walter's character in respect of honesty and truth -HO RALEIGH. 291 rial. He became a commoner of Oriel Col- lege, Oxford, about 1568, " and his natural parts being strangely advanced by academi- cal learning under the care of an excellent tutor, he became the ornament of the juniors, and was worthily esteemed a proficient in oratory and philosophy."* Lord Bacon has preserved an anecdote of him while here, which illustrates both his temper and his wit. A cowardly fellow, who was an excellent archer, asked him how he should revenge himself on one who had grossly insulted him. " Challenge him to a match of shooting," was the reply. It is uncertain how long he re- mained at the University, and still more un- certain whether, as some have asserted, he became a student of the Middle Temple. His active temper led him to mingle early in the business of life, and his ambition could hardly be satisfied with mere scholastic hon- ours. The state of public affairs, both in England and on the Continent, might well arouse a spirit less ardent and adventurous than that of Raleigh. Sympathizing with the persecuted Protest- ants, the queen made a loan of money to the * [Wood's Athens Oxonienses. H.] 17 292 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. Queen of Navarre, and permitted a company of one hundred selected volunteers, all gen- tlemen, under Henry Champernon, to go to France to her assistance. The motto on their banner was, FINEM DET MIHI VIRTUS : * Let valour decide" In this troop was young Raleigh, then but seventeen years of age. They arrived at the French camp in Octo- ber, 1569, and were received by the queen and princes with great distinction. We can- not doubt, though no traces of it remain, that this body, animated alike by martial enthusi- asm and religious zeal, did such gallant ser- vice as became gentlemen and soldiers. Ra- leigh remained in France till 1575, more than five years. We find here and there, in the writings of his late years, allusions to his resi- dence there, which show that he studied with deep interest the stirring and troubled events of those sadly-agitated Drears. The whole pe- riod was crowded with marches and battles, sieges, negotiations, stratagems, treacheries, and massacres ; all that could captivate and instruct the youthful soldier and the future politician. He was present in the flight on the Plains of Montcontour, and witnessed, in the security of the British embassage, the fear- ful slaughter on St. Bartholomew's Day. An RALEIGH. 293 attendant on the brilliant warfare of Coligny, he could not but learn the skilful use of arms ; and the daily companion of the noble and chivalrous warriors who so ably sustained the cause of the dreaded Huguenots, he added personal graces and the accomplishments of manner to his unsuspected courage. It was a school of valour and of discipline, and Ra- leigh was no negligent observer of its les- sons. On his return to England we find him a short time in the Middle Temple, whether as a student or mere resident is not clear, though probably the latter. He seems to have de- voted his brief leisure to the Muses, and to have indulged in that kind of pastoral ama- tory poetry which was then so much in vogue. Some of his specimens which we have are of far more than ordinary merit. Yet an ad- venture in arms had more attractions for him, and in 1578 he accompanied Sir John Norris, with a body of English troops, to the Nether- lands. A war was then raging there between Don John of Austria and the States, who ha- ted him for his cruelty and feared him for his treachery. The queen assisted the States with men and money. Of Raleigh's service here we have no information. He was prob- 294 AMERICAN BIOGEAPHY. ably in the famous battle of Rimenant, in which the English, " being more sensible of a little heat of the sun than any cold fears of death," threw off their armour and clothes, and gained a victory in their shirts. He soon returned to England, and in 1579 joined the first and unsuccessful voyage of Sir Humphrey Gilbert. This was the first in that long se- ries of maritime adventures in which he after- ward became so justly renowned. Raleigh was now twenty-seven years of age. He had seen much and varied service, and had diligently profited by his experience and observation. Only five of the twenty-four hours, we are told, were devoted to sleep, four were regularly employed in study, and in his Jand and sea. expeditions he voluntarily shared the labours, hardships, and hazards of the common soldier and sailor.* Abilities like his, thus trained, could not long remain in obscurity or unemployed. Ireland was now ripe for insurrection. The Catholic population were oppressed, their chiefs excluded from office for their religion ; the pope had claimed it as belonging to the Holy See, and scattered his emissaries all over it to excite the faithful to revolt ; and * [Cayley's Life of Raleigh, i., 17. H.] RALEIGH. 295 Philip of Spain stood ready with men and money to encourage the discontented and aid the insurgent. Lord Grey was sent over, August, 1580, as deputy, with orders to make quick and thorough work, and Raleigh served under him as captain of a troop of horse. The chronicles of the times make honourable mention of his services. His duties were dif- ficult, often painful, and eminently perilous ; to capture a rebellious or suspected chieftain, to hunt outlaws, to disperse the hourly gath- erings of half-naked but exasperated peas- ants, to burn, to pillage, to kill. He was in the country of an enemy who knew every pass', beset every road, and would have shot him down as they would a deer. Every day called for caution, skill, and desperate cour- age. His escapes were often marvellous, and his success not less so. When Smerwick was taken, the garrison were all put to the sword in cold blood, and Raleigh, as one of the cap- tains having the ward of that day, was obliged to superintend the butchery. In the spring of 1581 he was temporarily in the commis- sion for the government of Munster, and about the same time became a friend of Ed- mund Spenser, then residing at Kilcolman. But even this sympathy of poetic genius could 296 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. not relieve the weariness of a service which had become odious to him. " I have spent some time here," he wrote to the Earl of Lei cester in August, 1581, " under the deputy, in such poor place and charge as, were it not for that I knew him to be as if yours, I would disdain it as much as to keep sheep." Not long after, probably, he was allowed to return from what he calls " this commonwealth, or, rather, common -wo." The letter which we have quoted above proves some passages of regard between Ra- leigh and the noble Earl of Leicester. The favour of that powerful nobleman may have aided his early reception at court, though* the report of his late services was enough to commend him to the notice of Elizabeth. His own abilities were more to him than any patronage. He is said to have owed his in- troduction to a singular and romantic incident. Fuller* relates that " this Captain Raleigh, coming out of Ireland to the English court in good habit (his clothes being then a consid- erable part of his estate), found the queen walking, till, meeting with a plashy place, she seemed to scruple going thereon. Presently Raleigh cast and spread his new plush cloak * [Fuller's Worthies of England, Devon., i. 419. H.] K A L E I G H. 297 on the ground, whereon the queen trod gen- tly, rewarding him afterward with many suits for his so free and seasonable a tender of so fair a footcloth." This story is gravely told, and is in keeping with the temper and char- acter of the parties. Certainly she soon ad- mitted him to her court, and employed him in several honorary offices. He was one of the gentlemen appointed to attend Simier. the agent of the Duke of Anjou, to France ; and when the negotiations for the queen's mar- riage with Anjou were broken off in 1582, he was selected, with Leicester, Sidney, and oth- ers, to form the duke's escort to Antwerp. He there enjoyed the honour of a personal acquaintance with the Prince of Orange, and brought a special message from him to the queen on his return. These affairs required no great ability or skill, yet a graceful habit and a pleasing address might make much of them. He received clearer tokens of royal favour in consequence of the trial before the Privy Council of a disagreement between him and Lord Grey, the late deputy of Ire- and, of which Sir Robert Naunton* gives this account : "I am somewhat confident that among the second causes of his growth * [Fragmenta Regalia, 109. H.] 298 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. was the variance between him and my Lord- general Grey, which drew them both over to the council-table, there to plead their own causes ; where what advantage he had in the case in controversy I know not y but he had much the better in the manner of telling his tale, insomuch as the queen and the lords took no slight mark of the man and his parts, for from thence he came to be known, and to have access to the lords ; . . . whether or not my Lord of Leicester had then cast in a good word for him to the queen, I do not determine ; but true it is, he had gotten the queen's ear in a trice, and she began to be ta- ken with his elocution, and loved to hear his reasons to her demands. And the truth is,, she took him for a kind of oracle." The queen was doubtless pleased with his ready wit, and perhaps wished to abate the hopes of some other aspirants for her favour. Naun- ton adds, " Those that he relied on began to be sensible of their own supplantation, and to project his."] He was half-brother, by the mother's side, to Sir Humphrey Gilbert, and was at the ex- pense of fitting out one of the ships of his squadron. Notwithstanding the unhappy fate of his brother, he persisted in his design of RALEIGH. 299 making a settlement in America. Being a favourite in the court of Queen Elizabeth, he obtained a patent, bearing date the 25th of March, 1584, for the discovering and plant- ing of any lands and countries which were not possessed by any Christian prince or nation.* About the same time the queen granted him another patent, to license the vending of wine throughout the kingdom, that by the profits thence arising he might be able to bear the expense of his intended plan of colonization. Farther to strengthen his interest, he engaged the assistance of two wealthy kinsmen, Sir Richard Grenville and William Sanderson. ft They provided two barks, and, having well furnished them with men and provisions, put them under the command of Philip Amadas * [This patent was but a renewal of the one granted to Sir Humphrey Gilbert, there being no material variation in the pro- visions. Hazard, i., 33. Hakluyt, 135 and 243. H.] t [Sir William Sanderson was an eminent merchant of Lon- don, and had married a niece of Sir Walter. He was a princi- pal member of the company which in 1585, 6, 7 sent Captain John Davis to discover a northwest passage to China. In that enterprise he took a deep interest, and adventured largely with his purse, and the chief direction and management of it was committed to him. Smith (Gen. Hist., p. 2) calls him "a great friend to all such noble and worthy actions." H.] J Stith's History of Virginia, p. 7, 8. 300 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. and Arthur Barlow,* who sailed from the west of England April 27, 1584. They took the usual route by the way of the Canaries and the West Indies, the reason of which is thus expressed in the account of this voyage written by Barlow,t " because we doubted that the current of the Bay of Mexico between the Cape of Florida and Ha- vanna had been of greater force than we af- terward found it to be." Taking advantage of the Gulf Stream, they approached the coast of Florida, and on the second of July came into shoal water, where the odoriferous smell of flowers indica- ted the land to be near, though not within sight. On the fourth they saw land, along which they sailed forty leagues before they found an entrance. At the first opening they cast anchor (July 13), and, having devoutly given thanks to GOD for their safe arrival on the coast, they went ashore in their boats, and took possession in the name of Queen Eliza- beth. The place where they landed was a sandy island, called Wococon,1: about sixteen miles * [Barlow had served under Raleigh in Ireland. Cayley, i., 24. H.] t Hakluyt, iii., 246. t This island is generally supposed to be one of those which RALEIGH. 301 in length and six in breadth, full of cedars, pines, cypress, sassafras, and other trees, among which were many vines loaded with grapes. In the woods they found deer and hares, and in the waters and marshes various kinds of fowl ; but no human creature was seen till the third day, when a canoe, with three men, came along by the shore. One of them landed, and, without any fear or pre- caution, met the Europeans, and addressed them in a friendly manner in his own lan- guage. They carried him on board one of their vessels, gave- him a shirt and some other trifles, .and regaled him with meat and wine. lie at the mouth of Albemarle Sound, on the coast of North Carolina. Barlow, in his letter to Sir W. Raleigh, preserved bj Hakluyt, says that he, with seven others, went in a boat " twen- ty miles into the River Occam, and the evening- following came to an island called Roanoke, distant from the harbour l>j which we entered seven leagues ; at the north end thereof was a village." Mr. Stith, who wrote the History of Virginia, and who acknowledges that he had, not seen this letter in English, but in a Latin translation, supposes that the Island Wococon must he between Cape Hatteras and Cape Fear, and that the distance might be 30 leagues. But it appears from Barlow's letter that the boat went in onr. day, and came in the evening to the north end of Roanoke : the distance is twice mentioned, once in miles and once in leagues. I sec no reason, therefore, to admit Stith's conjecture in opposition to Barlow. Stith, however, appears to have been a very close and accurate inquirer, as far as his ma- terials and opportunity permitted. 302 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. He then returned to his canoe, and, with his companions, went a fishing. When the ca- noe was filled, they brought the fish on shore and divided them into two heaps, making signs that each of the vessels should take one. The next day several canoes came, in which were forty or fifty people, and among them was Granganimeo, brother of Wingina, king of the country, who was confined at home by the wounds which he had received in battle with a neighbouring prince. The manner of his approach was fearless and re- spectful. He left his boats at a distance, and came along the shore, accompanied by all his people, till he was abreast of the ship. Then advancing with four men only, who spread a mat on the ground, he sat down on one end, and the four men on the other. When the English went on shore armed, he beckoned to them to come and sit by him, which they did ; and he made signs of joy and friendship, striking with his hand on his head and breast, and then on theirs, to show that they were all one. None of his people spoke a word ; and when the English offered them presents, he took them all into his own possession, making signs that they were his servants, and that all which they had belonged to him. After this interview the natives came in RALEIGH. 303 great numbers, and brought skins, coral, and materials for dyes ; but when Granganimeo was present, none were permitted to trade but himself and those who had a piece of copper on their heads. Nothing pleased him so much as a tin plate, in which he made a hole and hung it over his breast, as a piece of defensive armour. He supplied them ev- ery day with venison, fish, and fruits, and invited them to visit him at his village, on the north end of an island called Roanoke. This village consisted of nine houses, built of cedar, and fortified with sharp palisades. When the English arrived there in their boat, Granganimeo was absent ; but his wife en- tertained them with the kindest hospitality, washed their feet and their clothes, ordered their boat to be drawn ashore and their oars to be secured, and then feasted them with venison, fish, fruits, and hommony.* While they were at supper, some of her men came in from hunting, with their bows and arrows in their hands, on which her guests began to mistrust danger ; but she ordered their bows to be taken from them, and their arrows to be * Hommony is made of Indian corn beaten in a mortar and separated from the bran ; then boiled either by itself or in the broth of meat. 304 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. broken, and then turned them out at the gate. The English, however, thought it most pru- dent to pass the night in their boat, which they launched and laid at anchor. At this she was much grieved ; but, finding all her solicitations ineffectual, she ordered the vic- tuals in the pots to be put on board, with mats to cover the people from the rain, and appointed several persons of both sexes to keep guard on the beach during the whole night. Could there be a more engaging spe- cimen of generous hospitality ? These people were characterized as " gen- tle, loving, and faithful ; void of guile and treachery ; living after the manner of the golden age ; caring only to feed themselves with such food as the soil affordeth, and to defend themselves from the cold in their short winter." No farther discovery was made of the country by these adventurers. From the na- tives they obtained some uncertain account of its geography, and of a ship which had been wrecked on the coast between twenty and thirty years before. They carried away two of the natives, Wanchese and Manteo, and arrived in the west of England about the middle of September. RALEIGH. 305 The account of this discovery was so wel- come to Queen Elizabeth, that she named the country Virginia, either in memory of her own virginity, or because it retained its virgin purity, and the people their primitive simpli- city. About this time Raleigh was elected knight of the shire for his native county of Devon ; and in the Parliament which was held in the succeeding winter, he caused a bill to be brought into the House of Commons to con- firm his patent for the discovery of foreign countries. After much debate, the bill was carried through both houses, and received the royal assent. In addition to which, the queen conferred on him the order of knighthood.*! * Stith, p. 11. t [The date of this honour is not precisely fixed. It was con- ferred probably in January, or early in February, 1585. Cay ley, i., 46, 47. The same year he received a different kind of honour. Captain John Davis sailed this summer for the discovery of the Northwest Passage, under the patronage of a company of which Adrian Gilbert was a chief member, and Sir Walter one of the associates. Davis anchored in 66 40', under a mountain, "the cliffs whereof were as orient as gold," which he named Mount Raleigh. The rebellion in Ireland having been suppressed, the queen attempted to carry into effect a favourite scheme of peopling Munster with an English colony. About 600,000 acres of land in that province had accrued to the crown by recent forfeitures, the larger part of which was divided into seignories, and distrib- 306 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. A second expedition being resolved on, Sir Richard Grenville himself took the command, and with seven vessels,* large and small, sailed from Plymouth on the ninth of April, 1585. t They went in the usual course by the Canaries and the West Indies, where they took two Spanish prizes ; and, after nar- rowly escaping shipwreck on Cape Fear, ar- rived at Wococon the 26th of June.J The natives came, as before, to bid them welcome and to trade with them. Manteo, whom they had brought back, proved a faith- ful guide, and piloted them about from place to place. In an excursion of eight days with their boats, they visited several Indian villa- ges on the islands and on the main, adjoining to Albema*rle Sound. At one place, called Aquascogok, an Indian stole from them a silver cup. Inquiry being made, the offender uted among those especially who had been active in quelling the insurrection. Twelve thousand acres, in the counties of Cork and Waterford, were granted to Sir Walter Raleigh. This he planted at his own expense, and about 1602 sold it to Rich...-.! Boyle, afterward Earl of Cork. H.] * [These vessels were the Tiger and the Roebuck, each of 170 tons, the Lion of 100, the Elizabeth of 50, the Dorothie, a small bark, and two small pinnaces. H.] t Hakluyt, iii., 251. J Mr. Siith mistakes in saying May 26, and Sir William Keith, who copies from him, adopts the same mistake. RALEIGH. 307 was detected, and promised to restore it ; but the promise being not speedily performed, a hasty and severe revenge was taken by the orders of Grenville ; the town was burned, and the corn destroyed in the fields (July 16), while the affrighted people fled to the woods for safety. From this ill-judged act of vio- lence may be dated the misfortunes and fail- ure of this colony. Leaving one hundred and eight persons to attempt a settlement, Grenville proceeded with his fleet to the Island of Hatteras,* where he received a visit from Granganimeo, and then sailed for England. On the 18th of September he arrived at Plymouth, with a rich Spanish prize which he had taken on the passage. Of the colony left in Virginia,! Ralph Lane was appointed governor. He was a military man of considerable reputation in the sea-ser- vice. Philip Amadas, who had commanded in the first voyage, was admiral. They chose the island of Roanoke, in the mouth of Albe- marle Sound, as the place of their residence, and their chief employment was to explore * [Written in the journal Hatorask. Hakluyt, iii., 253. H.] t [This colony remained in Virginia nearly a year, having ar- rived June 26, 1585, and sailed with Drake June 19, 1586. H.] I A A 308 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. and survey the country, and describe the per- sons and manners of its inhabitants. For these purposes Sir Walter Raleigh had sent John Withe, an ingenious painter, and Thom- as Heriot, a skilful mathematician and a man of curious observation, both of whom per- formed their parts with fidelity and success.* The farthest discovery which they made to the southward of Roanoke was Secotan, an Indian town between the rivers of Pamplico and Neus, distant eighty leagues. t To the northward they went about forty leagues, to a nation called Chesepeags, on a small river now called Elizabeth, which falls into Chese- * The drawings which Mr. Withe made were engraven and printed at Frankfort (1590) by Theodore De Bry. They repre- sent the persons and habits of the natives, their employments, diversions, and superstitions. From these the prints in Bever ley's History of Virginia are copied. Mr. Heriot wrote a topographical description of the country and its natural history, which is preserved in Hakluyt's Collec- tion, vol. iii., 266. It was translated into Latin, and published by De Bry in his collection of voyages. It has been supposed that Raleigh himself came to Virginia with this colony. This is a mistake, grounded on a mistranslation of a passage in Heriot's narrative. It is thus expressed in English : " The actions of those who have been by Sir Walter Raleigh therein employed." Which is thus rendered in the Latin translation, " qui generosum D. Walterum Ralegh, in earn regianem comitati sunt." Stith, p. 22. t [Governor Lane's narrative, in Hakluyt, iii., 255, says "by estimation, fourscore miles." H.] RALEIGH. 309 peag* Bay below Norfolk. To the westward they went up Albemarle Sound and Chowan River about forty leagues, to a nation called Chowanogs, whose king, Menatonona,t amu- sed them with a story of a copper mine and a pearl fishery ; in search of which they spent much time, and so exhausted their provisions that they were glad to eat their dogs! before they returned to Roanoke. During this excursion their friend Gran- ganimeo died, and his brother Wingina$ dis- covered his hostile disposition towards the colony. The return of Mr. Lane and his party from their excursion gave a check to his malice for a while ; but he secretly laid a plot for their destruction, which being betray- ed to the English, they seized all the boats on * [The word Chesepeak is said to signify in the Indian tongue "Mother of Waters." Bosnian's Maryland, 77, note. H.] t [Lane calls him Menatonon, and says that he was, " for a savage, a very grave and wise man, and of a very singular good discourse in matters concerning the state." He writes the name of the province Chawanook, and adds that the town itself, in ad- dition to the forces of the province, was able to send 700 fight- ing men into the field. H.] t [Lane calls it " Dogge's Porredge." After they had finish- ed that dish, they had for one or two days "nothing in the world to eat but pottage of sassafras leaves." H.] [Wingina had now changed his name to Pemisapan, and the conspiracy is comjr >nly spoken of as Pemisapan's. H.] 310 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. the island. This brought on a skirmish, in which five or six Indians were killed, and the rest fled to the woods. After much jealousy and dissimulation on both sides, Wingina was drawn into a snare, and, with eight of his men, fell a sacrifice to the resentment of the English.* In a few days after Wingina' s death, Sir Francis Drake, who had been cruising against the Spaniards in the West Indies, and had received orders from the queen to visit this colony, arrived with his fleet on the coast, and, by the unanimous desire of the people, took them all off and carried them to Eng- land, where they arrived in July, 1586. t Within a fortnight after the departure of this unfortunate colony, Sir Richard Gren- * [This was on the first of June, 1586. H.] t [Hakluyt, iii., 265, mentions a voyage made in 1586, by a ship fitted out by Sir Walter at his own charge, for the relief of his colony in Virginia, which arrived at Cape Hatteras be- tween the departure of Drake and the arrival of Grenville, and which, after an unsuccessful search, returned to England. He was now rapidly growing in favour with the queen, and about this time was appointed by her seneschal of the duchies of Cornwall and Exeter, and lord-warden of the stannaries in Devonshire and Cornwall. He was also a partner in a voyage undertaken by the Duke of Cumberland to the South Sea, and sent two pinnaces to the Azores, which took several prizes. Hakluyt, ii., 120. H.J RALEIGH. 311 ville arrived with three ships for their relief. Finding their habitation abandoned, and be- ing unable to gain any intelligence of them, he landed fifty* men on the Island of Roan- oke, plentifully supplied with provisions for two years, and then returned to England. The next year (1587t) three shipst were sent, under the command of John White, $ who was appointed governor of the colony, with twelve counsellors. To them Raleigh gave a charter of incorporation for the city of Raleigh, which he ordered them -to build on the River Chesepeag, the northern extent of the discovery. After narrowly escaping shipwreck on Cape Fear, they arrived at Hat- teras on the 22d of July, and sent a party to Roanoke to look for the second colony of * [Hakluyt says fifteen men, iii., 265, and again 282, 3, 4 Smith, p. 13, says " fiftie." H.] t [This year Sir Walter was made captain of the guard to her majesty, and lieutenant-general of the county of Cornwall. He was also a member of the Parliament which met March 23d, 1587, and received from the queen a grant of the lands of An- thony Babington, which had been forfeited on account of his connexion with the conspiracy in farour of Mary Queen of Scots. -H.] t [They carried one hundred and fifty colonists. Hakluyt, iii., 280, 281. H.] $ [White sailed from Plymouth May 8th. His fleet con- sisted of ' the Admiral, a shippe of 120 tuniies, a file-boat, and a pinnesae." Hakluyt, iii., 280, 281. H.] 312 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. fifty men. They found no. person living, and the bones of but one dead. The huts were standing, but were overgrown with bushes and weeds. In conversation with some of the natives, they were informed that the col- ony had been destroyed by Wingina's people in revenge of his death. Mr. White endeavoured to renew a friend- ly intercourse with those natives, but their jealousy rendered them implacable. He therefore went across the water to the main with a party of twenty-five men, and came suddenly on a company of friendly Indians, who were seated round a fire, one of whom they killed before they discovered the mis- take. Two remarkable events are mentioned as happening at this time : one was the baptism of Manteo, the faithful Indian guide ; the other was the birth of a female child, daugh- ter of Ananias Dare,* one of the council, which, being the first child born in the colo- ny, was named Virginia. By this time (August 21) the ships had unloaded their stores, and were preparing to return to England. It was evident -that a * [Dare had married Eleanor, daughter of Governor White. The birth took place Aug. 18th. H.] RALEIGH. 313 farther supply was necessary, and that some person must go home to solicit it. A dispute arose in the council on this point, and, after much altercation, it was determined that the governor was the most proper person to be sent on this errand. The whole colony join- ed in requesting him to proceed, promising to take care of his interest in his absence. With much reluctance he consented, on their sub- scribing a testimonial of his unwillingness to quit the plantation. He accordingly sailed on the 27th of August, and arrived in Eng- land the following November. The nation was in a state of alarm and apprehension on account of the war with Spain, and of the in- vincible armada, which had threatened it with an invasion. Sir Walter Raleigh was one of the queen's council of war,* as were also Sir Richard Grenville and Mr. Lane. Their time was wholly taken up with public consul- tations, and Governor White was obliged to wait till the plan of operations against the en- emy could be adjusted and carried into exe- cution. * [Raleigh was at this time one of the gentlemen of her majes- ty's privy chamber, and his wine-patent seems to have been en- larged. This was continued to him till the close of Elizabeth'^ reign. H.] 314 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. The next spring Raleigh and Grenville, who had the command of the militia in Corn- wall, and were training them for the defence of the kingdom, being strongly solicited by White, provided two small barks, which sail- ed from Biddeford on the 22d of April, 1588. These vessels had commissions as ships of war, and, being more intent on gain to them- selves than relief to the colony, went in chase of prizes, and were both driven back by ships of superior force, to the great mortification of their patron and the ruin of his colony. These disappointments were a source of vexation to Raleigh. He had expended forty thousand. pounds, of his own and other men's money, in pursuit of his favourite object, and his gains were yet to come. He therefore made an assignment of his patent (March 7, 1589) to Thomas Smith, and other merchants and adventurers, among whom was Governor White, with a donation of one hundred pounds for the propagation of the Christian religion in Virginia. Being thus disengaged from the business of colonization, he had full scope for his martial genius in the war with Spain. His assignees were not so zealous in the prosecution of their business. It was not till the spring of 1590 that Governor White coultf RALEIGH. 315 return to his colony.* Then, with three ships, he sailed from Plymouth, and, passing through the West Indies in quest of Spanish prizes, he arrived at Hatteras on the 15th of August. From this place they observed a smoke ari- sing on the Island of Roanoke, which gave them some hope that the colony was there subsisting ; on their coming to the place, they found old trees and grass burning, but no hu- man being. On a post of one of the housest they saw the word Croatan, which gave them some hope that at the island of that name they should find their friends. They sailed for that island, which lay southward of Hat- teras ; but a violent storm arising, in which they lost their anchors, they were obliged to * [Governor White's account of this voyage is preserved in Hakluyt, iii., 287-295. The three ships were furnished " at the special charges of Mr. John Wattes, of London, marchaat." They were the Hopewell, the John Evangelist, and the Little John, accompanied with two small shallops. They sailed from Plymouth March 20th, remained on the coast of Virginia but a few days, and reached home October 24th. Mr. White says this was his fifth voyage to Virginia, and complains bitterly, in his letter to Hakluyt, that " governors, masters, and sailors regarded very smally the good of their countrymen in Virginia, but wholly disposed themselves to seeke after purchase and spoiles." H.J t [They found that the houses had been taken down, and the place on which they had been enclosed with a strong palisade, and the word Croatan " in fay re capitall letters graven on one of the chief trees or posts at the entrance." White's Narrative, in Hakluyt, iii., 293. H.] 316 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. quit the inhospitable coast and return home ; nor was anything afterward heard of the un- fortunate colony. The next year (1591) Sir Richard Gren- ville was mortally wounded in an engage- ment with a Spanish fleet, and died on board the admiral's ship, where he was prisoner.* * [The heroism of his death deserves a particular narration. The following account of it is taken from Miss Aikin's Memoirs of the Court of Queen Elizabeth, ii., 264 : "A squadron, under Lord Thomas Howard, which had been waiting six months at the Azores to intercept the homeward-bound ships from Spanish America, was there surprised by a vastly more numerous fleet of the enemy, which had been sent out for their convoy. The English admiral got to sea in all haste, and made good his re- treat, followed by his whole squadron excepting the Revenge, which was entangled in a narrow channel between the port and an island. Sir Richard Grenville, her commander, after a vain attempt to break through the Spanish line, determined, with a kind of heroic desperation, to sustain alone the conflict with a whole fleet of fifty-seven sail rather than strike his colours. From three o'clock in the afternoon till daybreak he resisted, by almost incredible efforts of valour, all the force which could be brought to bear against him, and fifteen times beat back the boarding-parties from his deck. At length, when all his bravest had fallen, and he himself was disabled by many wounds, his powder also being exhausted, his small arms lost or broken, and his ship a perfect wreck, he proposed to his gallant crew to sink her, that no trophy might remain to the enemy. But this proposal, though applauded by several, was overruled by the ma- jority : the Revenge struck to the Spaniards, and two days after her brave commander died on board their admiral's ship of his glorious wounds, ' with a joyful and quiet mind,' as he express- ed himself, and admired by all his enemies themselves for his high spirit and invincible resolution." H.] RALEIGH. 317 Raleigh, though disengaged from the busi- ness of colonizing Virginia, sent five times at his own expense to seek for and relieve his friends ; but the persons whom he employed, having more profitable business in the West Indies, either went not to the place, or were forced from it by stress of weather, it being a tempestuous region, and without any safe har- bour. The last attempt which he made was in 1602, the year before his imprisonment ; an event which gratified the malice of his enemies, and prepared the way for his death, which was much less ignominious to him than to his sovereign, King James I., the British Solomon, successor to Elizabeth, the British Deborah.* This unfortunate attempt to settle a colony in Virginia was productive of one thing which will always render it memorable, the intro- duction of tobacco into England. Cartier, in * As a specimen of the language of that time, let the reader take the following extract from Purchas : " He [i. e., King James] is beyond comparison a meer trans- cendent, beyond all his predecessors, princes of this realm ; be- yond the neighbouring princes of his own time ; beyond the conceit of subjects dazzled with so much brightness ; beyond our victorious Deborah, not in sex alone, but as peace is more excellent than war, and Solomon than David ; in this also that he is, and we enjoy his present sunshine." 318 AMEEICAN BIOGRAPHY. his visit to Canada fifty years before, had observed that the natives used this weed in fumigation, but it was an object of disgust to Frenchmen. Ralph Lane, at his return in 1586, brought it first into Europe ; and Ra- leigh, who was a man of gayety and fashion, not only learned the use of it himself, but in- troduced it into the polite circles, and even the queen herself gave encouragement to u Some humorous stories respecting it are still remembered. Raleigh laid a wager with the queen that he would determine exactly the weight of smoke which issued from his pipe. This he did by first weighing the tobacco and then the ashes. When the queen paid the wager, she pleasantly observed that many la- bourers had turned their gold into smoke, but that he was the first who had converted smoke into gold. It is also related that a servant of Sir Wal- ter, bringing a tankard of ale into his study as he was smoking his pipe and reading, was so alarmed at the appearance of smoke issu- ing out of his mouth, that he threw the ale into his face, and ran down to alarm the fam- ily, crying out that his master was on fire. King James had so refined a taste, that he not only held this Indian weed in great ab- horrence himself, but endeavoured, by proc- RALEIGH. 319 lamations and otherwise, to prevent the use of it among his subjects. But all his zeal and authority could not suppress it. Since his time it has become an important article of commerce, by which individuals in Europe and America, as well as colonies and nations, have risen to great opulence. [We have thus far followed Raleigh in a course of nearly uniform prosperity, if not of constant success. He had become distin- guished among his countrymen, and was high in the favour of the queen. Yet his career at court was not without its perplexities, and he sorely felt, from time to time, how easily his repose may be disturbed " who hangs on princes' favours." He found a rival there in the youthful and accomplished Earl of Essex, son-in-law of the late powerful Leicester. He had fallen under the suspicion of insincerity in his professed attachment to that noble- man, as appears from a letter written by him in vindication of himself as early as 1586. Whether a-jealousy on this point was inherit- ed by Essex, or whether a degree of personal dislike arose from their competition for the royal favour, we cannot determine. The unfriendliness certainly existed, and Raleigh was a sufferer by it. He had been engaged 320 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. in the unfortunate expedition, in the summer of 1589, to place Don Antonio on the throne of Portugal, and for his -good conduct in it had received from the queen the honour of a golden chain. Yet in August of the same year he suddenly withdrew to Ireland, evi- dently suffering under the royal displeasure. We have no knowledge of the cause of this change, except this imperfect notice in a let- ter of that date from Francis Allen to An- thony Bacon : ' My Lord of Essex hath chased Mr. Raleigh from the court, and con- fined him into Ireland : conjecture you the rest of that matter." Here he renewed his friendship with Spen- ser, a beautiful episode in a life of restless activity. Spenser was then residing at Kil- colman, on the banks of the Mulla, where he had devoted his leisure to the composition of " the Faery Queen." Raleigh's banishment was not of long duration, and on his return he brought Spenser to England, and proved an able and discerning patron. B 3 feelings during this brief exile are described in Spen- ser's " Colin Clout's come Home again," which was dedicated to him ten years later. In that poem Raleigh is introduced as " the Shepherd of the Ocean," and the poet says ; RALEIGH. 321 * His song was all a lamentable lay, Of great unkindness and of usage hard, Of Cynthia, the lady of the sea, Which from her presence, faultless, him debarr'd." The first three books of the Faery Queen were now published with his encouragement, and the "argument" is addressed "to the right noble and valorous Sir "Walter Raleigh." This noble sonnet, addressed to Spenser on his great work, will give the reader no unfa- vourable idea of Raleigh's poetic powers " Methought I saw the grave where Laura lay Within that temple, where the vestall flame Was wont to burne, and passing by that way To see that buried dust of living fame, Whose tumbe fair Love and fairer Vertue kept, All suddenly I saw the Faery Queene : At whose approche the Lord of Petrarke wept, And from henceforth those graces were not seene : For they this queene attended, in whose steed Oblivion laid him down on Laura's herse ; Hereat the hardest stones were seen to bleed, And grones of buried ghosts the heavens did perse ; When Homer's spright did tremble all for grief, And curst th' accesse of that celestiall thiefe." In 1591 Sir Walter was busily engaged in preparing for an expedition to capture the Spanish fleet, which every year came richly laden with merchandise from their American possessions. So earnest were his endeav- ours, and so plausible his scheme of opera- tions, that thirteen ships were equipped for 322 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. the enterprise by private adventurers, and two ships-of-war were added by the queen. She appointed Sir Walter general of the fleet, which sailed May 6, 1592. The next day, by a special messenger, he received letters from the queen containing his recall. He did not return till he began to despair of suc- cess, and left the expedition in charge of Sir John Burgh and Sir Martin Frobisher. Among other prizes they took the Madre de Dios, " of 1600 tons burthen, whereof 900 were merchandise." Soon after his return he was arrested, hav- ing very probably been recalled for the pur- pose, and imprisoned in the Tower, for having carried on a criminal intrigue with one of the queen's maids of honour. The lady was im- prisoned at the same time. She was Eliza- beth, daughter of the statesman and ambas- sador, Sir Nicholas Throckmorton, and much celebrated for her beauty. After their release they were married, and his letters, with her efforts for him in his misfortunes, prove a rare degree of mutual affection and lasting happi- ness. During this confinement Sir Walter wrote a letter to Sir Robert Cecil,* which is too curious to be entirely omitted. It was written just as the queen was about to leave * [Burghley State Papers by Murden, ii., 657. H.] RALEIGH. 323 London on a royal progress, and was clearly intended for her majesty's eye. It shows servility in the writer hardly more than the peculiar temper of Elizabeth, which could be touched by sogross flattery. " My heart was never broken till this day, that I hear the queen goes away so far off, whom I have fol- lowed so many years with so great love and desire in so many journeys, and am now left behind her in a dark prison, all alone. While she was yet near at hand, that I might hear of her once in two or three days, my sorrows were the less, but even now my heart is cast into the depth of all misery. I that was wont to behold her riding like Alexander, hunting like Diana, walking like Venus, the gentle wind blowing her fair hair about her pure cheeks like a nymph, sometime sitting in the shade like a goddess, sometime singing like an angel, sometime playing like Orpheus ; behold the sorrow of this world ! once amiss hath bereaved me of all ! .... All those times past, the loves, the sighs, the sorrows, the de- sires, can they not weigh down one frail mis- fortune ?....! am more weary of life than they are desirous I should perish, which, if it had been for her as it is by her, I had been too happily born." By virtue of such regrets, )r for some better reason, Sir Walter was rc- 1. u K 324 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. leasedfjjn the latter part of September, though he seems not to have been completely resto- red to the queen's favour for several years. He is described in letters of this time as " hovering between fear and hope," and so late as September, 1594, as " in good hope to return into grace." Yet in 1593 he ob- tained of the queen a grant of the manor of Sherborne, in Dorsetshire, where he for some time resided. Sir Walter was a member of the Parlia- ment which met in the spring of 1593, was an active member of several committees, and became distinguished for his eloquence and enlarged views of public policy and of nation- al honour. To reinstate himself in the favour of his royal mistress v and more rapidly advance his private fortunes, Sir Walter, with full faith in the reported infinite riches of El Dorado, prepared for an expedition into the unknown regions of Guiana. Dejection led him to med- itate on new schemes of wealth, and the soli- tariness of the Tower had given an impulse to his imagination, and substance to his dreams. The fleet for Guiana set sail Feb. 6th, 1595,* and arrived at Trinidad the 22d of * [Sir Walter's narrative may be found in Hakluyt, iii., 631-666, and in Cayley's Life of Ralegh. H.] RALEIGH. 326 March. They found a company of Span- iards at Puerto de los Espanoles, from whom, and from an Indian cacique who visited him, Sir Walter learned much of the resources and topography of the country. Suspecting the jealousy of the Spaniards, and unwilling to leave an enemy in his rear, he surprised and burned their city of St. Joseph, and de- tained the governor, Don Antonio de Berreo, a prisoner. He was farther induced to this course by a desire to punish the treachery of Berreo, who had, in violation of his promise, taken prisoners eight of Captain Whidden's men there in 1594. Whidden had been sent by Raleigh on a voyage of discovery. Ber- reo is described as " a gentleman well de- scended, who had long served the Spanish king in Milan, Naples, and the Low Coun- tries, very valiant and liberal, of a great as- suredness, and of a good heart." Though a captive, Raleigh treated him with the courte- sies due to a soldier. Here Sir Walter spent about a month, and learned that the region he was in search of was six hundred miles farther than he had supposed. He, however, concealed this from his company, and, leaving his ships at Curi- apan, on the Island of Trinidad, he embarked 326 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. one hundred persons, with provisions for one month, in a small galley, a barge', two wher- ries, and a ship's boat, and set out in this poor plight for the empire of Guiana. The voyage was wearisome beyond description, " being al driven to lie in the raine, and weather in the open aire, in the burning sunne, and upon the hard bords, and to dresse our meatq, and to carry all maner of furniture in them (the open boats), wherewith they were so pestered and unsavoury . . . that I will undertake there was never any prison in England that could be found more unsavoury and lothsome, es- pecially to myself, who had for many years before been dieted and cared for in a sort far more differing." The troubles which they began thus to feel at the outset would have dissuaded any ordi- nary man from pursuing so difficult a scheme. Berreo, too, when informed of Sir Walter's purpose to penetrate into the interior of Gui- ana, " was stricken into a great melancholy and sadnesse," and represented to him the rivers as of difficult and perilous naviga- tion by reason of shoals and flats, the way long, the current rapid, and the natives at once timid and hostile, and resolved to have no intercourse with Christians. But difficul- ties seemed only to animate his resolution, RALEIGH. 327 and the prospect of dangers awakened his he- roism. After reaching the mouths of the river, they entered, May 22d, a branch, which, as true knights, they named, from a fancied re- semblance, the River of the Red Crosse. In the labyrinth of waters made by the number- less courses of the great river near its mouth, interlacing in every direction, and seeming- ly flowing every way, they were confused, and might have wandered without end, so Hke were the islands, and so doubtful which was the main stream. The number of out- lets is sixteen, the outermost three hundred miles apart. Near the mouth of the Red Crosse River accident put in their power an old man of the Ciawani, a tribe which lived on the bank. He was familiar with the course of the stream, and served them as pi- lot. They now " passed up the river with the flood, and anchored during the ebb, and m this sort went onward." For four days the tide aided them, " till they fell into a goodly river, the great Amana." After this they were forced to row with main strength against a violent current, " every gentleman and others taking their turnes to spell one an- other at the hour's end." They thus labour- ed on many days, " in despair and discomfort, AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. wearied, scorched, and doubtful withal, the air breeding great faintness, the current every day stronger, and ourselves growing weaker and weaker, our bread at the last, and no drinke at all." They were ready every hour to turn back, and kept up the spirits of the men only by Bordering the pilots to promise an end the next day, and used this so long that they were driven to assure them from four reaches of the river to three, and so to the next reach." In this distress and famine they halted '; and, at the instance of their guide, Sir Wai- ter, with a small party, rowed up a branch of the Amana, more than forty miles, to an In- dian village, in search of bread. They toiled, " heart-broken and tired, and ready to give up the ghost," from morning " till one o'clock past midnight," when they " saw a light and heard dogs bark at the village." They were kindly received by the few natives then at home, and got " good store of bread, fish, hennes. and Indian drincke." This stream opened to them a new view of the country. Their course hitherto had been up a river thickly bordered with overhanging woods, and beset with prickles, bushes, and thorns. Here they looked out upon " plaines of twen- ty miles in length, the grasse short and RALEIGH. 329 greene, and in divers parts groves of trees by themselves, as if they had been by all the art and labour in the world so made of pur- pose, and still as they rowed the deere came downe feeding by the water's side, as if they had beene used to a keeper's call. But, be- side strange fishes and of marvellous bignes, for lagartos (alligators) it exceeded, for there were thousands of those ugly serpents." On their return " they went on their way up the great river, and again, when they were even at the last call for want of victuals," they came upon four canoes filled with na- tives, and three Spaniards, which they took, and " found in them divers baskets of roots, and great store of excellent bread, than which nothing on the earth could have been more welcome to them next unto gold." The Spaniards had been mining, and their instru- ments for the trial of metals, and such dust as they had refined, were taken. This re- newed their hopes that the golden region was not far off. Sir Walter here took a new pilot from those who had guided the Span- iards, and " on the fifteenth day they discov- ered afarre off the mountains of Guiana, to their great joy;" and "a northerly wind, which blew very strong, brought them in 330 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. sight of the great River Oronoco, out of which the Amana descended," and " they ankered at the parting of the three goodly rivers." Here they went ashore on the invitation of Topa- rimaca, " the lord of that border," " where some of the captains caroused of his wine till they were reasonable pleasant," and vis- ited his town Arowocai, which " was very pleasant, with goodly gardens a mile com- passe round about it." The next day they sailed on with an east wind, and found the river of varying breadth, from four to twenty miles, " with wonderfull eddies, divers shoals, rock, and many great islands," and wrought into huge billows by the wind. Passing by wide and rich plains, and sending out now and then parties to explore the banks, on the fifth day from their first sight of the mountains they arrived at the port of Morequito, three hundred miles from the sea. Here and in the neighbourhood they passed four days. From this place parties were sent abroad to search for the precious metals, and to reach, if possible, the mount- ains on the frontier of the great empire. Sir Walter accompanied, one, to view " the strange over-falls of the River of Caroli," the noise of which they heard twenty miles off, RALEIGH. 331 at Morequito. There appeared some ten or twelve falls, " every one as high over the oth- er as a church tower." Hear him describe the tract they traversed : "I never saw a more beautifull countrey nor more lively pros- pects ; hils so raised here and there over the valleys, the river winding into divers branch- es, the plains adjoyning without bush or stubble, all faire greene grasse, the ground of hard sand, easie to march on either for horse or foote, the deere crossing in every path, the birdes towards the evening singing on ev- ery tree with a thousand severall tunes, cranes and herons, of white, crimson, and carnation, pearching in the river's side, the aire fresh easterly winde, and every stone that wee stouped to take up promised either gold or silver by his complexion." They were hos- pitably entertained by the natives ; learned somewhat of the geography of the country ; heard and believed stories of a tribe of men " whose heads appeare not above their shoul- ders ;" were told of a rich silver mine, which, from the rise of the river, they could not reach ; dugout with their daggers and fingers from the hard white spar a few specimens of minerals, " marcasite, and mother-of-gold, and stones like sapphires," and then turned their faces again to the eastward. I, C c 332 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. " The great city of Manoa" had eluded their grasp. Their farther progress was hin- dered, and their departure hastened by the summer rains. The smaller rivers " were raised with such speed, as, if they waded them over the shoes in the morning outward, they were covered to the shoulders homeward the very same day ;" and the Oronoco " be- gan to rage, and overflowe very fearfully." Besides, "the menne began to crie out for want of shift," having no change of clothes, and their single suits "throughly washt on their bodies for the most part tenne times in one day." They passed down the river rapidly and without labour, and had several interviews with the chiefs who dwelt on its banks. Their hopes of much gold in some future enterprise were highly excited by the reports they heard and the few specimens they saw ; but their small number, their past labours and fatigue, all persuaded them to undertake nothing farther for the present. They encountered a violent storm at the mouth of the river, where they passed through imminent peril, " one faintly cheering anoth- er to showe courage," and at length safely re- gained their vessels at Trinidad. Such is a brief outline of a narrative which RALEIGH. 333 Hume* says is " full of the grossest and most palpable lies that were ever attempted to be imposed on the credulity of mankind." That historian's bias against the brave and unfortu- nate Raleigh is manifest to every reader of his history. Yet his sketch of Raleigh's nar- rative, compared with the narrative itself, shows that he had read the latter very care- lessly, or would make him responsible for the truth of every rumour he reported, while Raleigh himself carefully distinguishes what he saw from what he heard. The attentive reader of Sir Walter's narrative will be struck with his extreme credulity, and make many allowances for an earnest enthusiasm and a poetic fancy, but will hardly find traces of a wilful purpose to deceive. The evidence on which the expedition was projected shows a large faith and a visionary imagination, though the value of its indica- tions is seen in the success of Cortez and Pi- zarro. The minds of men in general in that day, and of individuals two hundred years la- ter, habitually entertained the notion of the El Dorado, a region rich beyond all human ex- * [Chap. 41. In another place, Appendix B. to vol. vii., p. 384, 12mo ed., he boldly charges Raleigh with " impudent im- posture " H.] 334 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. perience in gold and gems, in the heart of South America. Though they doubted of particulars, they had full faith in the main. The Spaniards believed the way to this re- gion was through the Oronoco, and had sent many expeditions to search it out : Antonio Sedenno, with five hundred men, in 1536 ; Jala alone in 1560 ; De Orsua, with four hun- dred, the same year ; Orellana in 1542.* These expeditions were so far only success- ful as to encourage others. Berreo was now waiting for a re-enforcement from Spain to enable him to renew this enterprise. An ear- lier authority, and the source of them all, was the story of one Martinez, who, in the capacity of " master of the munition," had accompanied Diego Ordas, a knight of the order of St. Jago, in a voyage to this region in 1531. Ordas, with six hundred men and thirty horse, was said to have penetrated as far as Morequito, and was killed in a mutiny of his men. Martinez, for some negligence, was sentenced by Ordas to be executed, but, instead, was put afloat on the river alone in a canoe, taken up by the natives, carried through the country many days blindfolded, and at last to their capital, " the golden city * [Hakluyt, iii., 690. H.] RALEIGH. 335 of Manoa." He reported that he was car- ried in blindfold, and travelled in it a day and a half before he reached the palace of the inca ; that he remained there seven months, and saw there golden statues and shields, plates and armour of gold which they used in war, and many other tokens of vast wealth. He therefore named the country El Dorado, i. e., the golden. He told this on his return, and reaffirmed it on his deathbed to his con- fessor. This story was reported by Berreo, who was engaged in the same enterprise, and was doubtless believed by Sir Walter. Cre- dulity was the fault of the age, and was more reasonable then than now, as every day brought new rumours of rich countries to be won by adventurous conquest, and grave his- torians coolly affirmed the most prodigious marvels.* The reports that came to England with the company were received with much distrust. Little ore was brought to satisfy the public expectation, though of that which was brought, a part, at least, proved good on assay. Sir Walter was accused of false dealing, even of having lain hid in Cornwall all the time of the * [See the passages from Gomara cited by Sir Walter. Hackluyt, 634, &c. H.] 336 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. voyage. From these suspicions he clears himself, with sad earnestness, in his letter to Howard and Cecil,* affirming that he had re- turned " a beggar and withered," and publish- ing his confidence in the merits and final suc- cess of the scheme, with arguments which, though they may have somewhat fanciful in them, prove the patriot and the hero. " The common souldier," says he, in his eloquent vindication, " shall fight for gold, and pay himself, insteede of pence, with plates of halfe a foote broade, whereas he breaketh his bones in other warres for provant and penury. Those commanders and chieftains that shoot at honour and abundance, shall finde them more riche and beautifull cities, more temples adorned with golden images, more sepulchres filled with treasure, than either Cortez found in Mexico, or Pizarro in Peru ; and the shining glorie of this conquest will eclipse all those so farr : extended beams of the Spanish nation." Men who could offer, and be touched by such inducements, would engage, with ready heart and resolute hope, in schemes which the com- mercial prudence of later times would scout as visionary, and turn away from as imprac- ticable. The spirit of heroic adventure had * [Prefixed to his narrative of his voyage to Guiana. H.J RALEIGH. 337 not yet given way to the more palpable bene- fits of a system of colonization, and the diffi- culty, danger, and vastness of an enterprise was still to many a charm of no less power than gold or precious stones. But Sir Walter had large views of public policy. " The West Indies," he continues, " were first offered her majesty's grandfather by Columbus, a stranger in whom there might be doubt of deceipt, and besides, it was then thought incredible that there were such and so many lands and regions never written of before. This empire is made knowen to hei majestic by her owne vassell, and by him that oweth to her more dutie than an ordina- rie subject, so that it shall ill sort with the many graces and benefites which I have re- vived to abuse her highnesse either with fa- bles or imaginations. The countrey is alrea- die discovered, manie nations wonne to her majestie's love and obedience, and those Spaniards who have latest and longest la- boured about the conquest, beaten out, dis- couraged, and disgraced, which among those nations were thought invincible .... What- soever prince shall possesse it shall be great- est, and if the King of Spaine enjoy it, he will become irresistible. Her majestic shall here- 338 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. by confirrne and strengthen the opinions of all nations as touching her great and princely actions .... The charge will only be in the first setting out, in victualling and arming ; for, after the first or second yere, I doubt not hjat to see in London a contractation-house of more receipt for Guiana than there is now in Sivill for the West Indies." The voyage to Guiana was undertaken partly, perhaps, with a view to restore him- self to favour at court by a noble and con- spicuous achievement, and partly " by absence to expel the passion of his enemies, and to teach envy a' new way of forgetfulness."* His success either, way was but indifferent. The public expectation was greatly disap- pointed j his enemies had time and free room to perfect their schemes against him; and he was not, certainly not at once, received at court on his return, though " there were great means made" for it. But Raleigh's enthusi- asm for his favourite project was not without effect. Immediately on his return he began to make preparations for a second expedition. The lord-treasurer adventured in it 500, and Sir Robert Cecil " a new ship, bravely fur* * [Sir Robert Naunton. H.] RALEIGH. 339 nished." Two ships, the Darling and the Discoverer, were put under the charge of Laurence Keymis, who had gone with Ra- leigh in the former voyage. He sailed Jan- uary 26, 1596, and returned in June of the same year. His narrative of the voyage is preserved in Hakluyt, hi., 672687. He gained considerable knowledge of the coast and rivers, and made diligent inquiry for the position of Manoa. He sailed up the Rale- ana, as he named the Oronoco, as far as the mouth of the Caroli, where he found a com- pany of Spaniards, with a village of some twenty houses, and a fort on a rocky island in the river. He went within, as he suppo- sed, about fifteen miles of the gold mine, but was prevented from reaching it by fear of the Spaniards (who had left their town to plant an ambush on the passage leading to it), and returned after two days in the belief that they might easily have intercepted his company on their way down the river. He learned that the Spaniards were universally hated by the Indians ; and, though he brought home none of the precious metals, he reported " that the Ampagotos have images of gold of incredi- ble bigness." He reaffirmed the story of the headless men, and adds, " What I have heard 340 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. of a sort of people more monstrous, I omit to mention, because it is no matter of difficulty to get one of them, and the report otherwise will appear fabulous." He appears to have been a shrewd and honest observer, and to have returned with a thorough conviction that success must yet crown the adventure. "Myself," he says, " and the remains of my few years I have bequeathed wholly to Rale- ana, and all my thoughts live only in that action." In 1596 Sir Walter was engaged in the famous expedition to Cadiz. The queen had been led to fear that Philip was seriously and earnestly preparing for war with England, if not for another attempted invasion. She re- solved to prevent the latter contingency at least, by attacking him in his own ports. For this purpose a fleet of seventeen ships-of-war and about one hundred and thirty smaller vessels was fitted out, and seven thousand soldiers and about the same number of sea- men were embarked. The Earl of Essex commanded the land forces, and Lord Charles Howard, of Effingham, the fleet. Sir Walter Raleigh had the command of one of the four squadrons into which the fleet was divided, and was a member of the council of war. He RALEIGH. 341 did not reach Plymouth, from which they were to sail, till some days after the other commanders. The cause of his delay is not known, though it occasioned some distrust and dissatisfaction at the time ; being sus pected to be, as Anthony Bacon wrote to his brother Sir Francis, "upon pregnant design, which will be brought forth very shortly." Some dissensions between him and his broth- er-officers, which were ascribed to his hostili- ty to Essex, happened by the way, which were soon, in appearance, reconciled. The fleet sailed on the first of June, and came to anchor near Cadiz on the twentieth. Sir Walter has left a " relation of the Cadiz action,"* which we follow. The command- ers, in Sir Walter's absence, had determined first to attack the town. At his suggestion, however, they concluded first to attempt the ships and fort which occupied and defended the harbour. At his own request, he was di- rected to board the "great galleons of Spain," in fly-boats to be sent up for that purpose. The Spanish men-of-war were arranged in several lines, with " seventeen galleys to in- * [Published in the " genuine remains" of Sir Walter Ra- \eigh, App. No. ii., p. 19-25 to the abridgment of his History of the World, by his grandson, Philip Raleigh. H.] 342 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.- terlace them, as occasion should be offered," in such manner as to cover the entrance " as a bridge." The English fleet, in entering, met a " fort called the Philip, which beat and commanded the harbour. There were also ordnance, which lay all along the curtain upon the wall towards the sea, and divers pieces of culverin, which scoured the chan- nel," and then the galleys. Sir "Walter's ships entered foremost, and answered the fire of the fort and the galleys, " to each piece a blurr with a trumpet, esteeming them as but wasps," and aiming at "the St. Philip, the great and famous admiral of Spain." The other ships came up in order, but Ra- leigh " held single in the head of all." The fight continued about three hours, when, the fly-boats having not come up, he " laid out a warp by the side of the Philip to shake hands with her," when the Spaniards, perceiving it, slipped their cables and ran their ships ashore. Eight only of the English ships were enga- ged, and of the Spaniards fifty-five. The soldiers were then landed, and the town ta- ken " Avith a sudden fury and with little loss." In this action Sir Walter received a grievous- wound in the leg, which prevented him from taking a part in the sacking of the town. The RALEIGH. 343 conclusion of his " relation" curiously shows how wars were carried on in those days. " The town of Gales was very rich in mer- chandise, in plate, and money : many rich prisoners given to the land commanders ; so as that sort are very rich. Some had prison- ers for 16,000 ducats, some for 20,000, some for 10,000 ; and, besides, great houses of mer- chandise. What the generals have gotten, I know least : they protest it is little. For mine own part, I have gotten a lame leg and a de- formed. For the rest, either I spake too late, or it was otherwise resolved. I have not wanted good words, and exceeding kind and regardful usance ; but I have possession of naught but poverty and pain. If God had spared me that blow, I had possest myself of some house." The contemporary testi- monies to the valour and skilful conduct of Sir Walter in this action are abundant. The. army re-embarked July 5, and reached Ply- mouth August 10. On his return from the expedition to Cadiz, Sir Walter prepared for a third voyage to Guiana. He fitted out for this purpose a stout pinnace, the Wat, and placed it under the command of Captain Leonard Birnie. A relation of the voyage by Thomas Masliam, a 344 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. gentleman of the company, is preserved in Hakluyt, iii. , 692-697. They left Weymouth December 27, 1596, and returned to Plymouth June 28, 1597, having explored a large ex- tent of the coast of Guiana, and entered many of the rivers. They brought back, however, little information, except the geography of the coast, and the report of the natives that those who dwelt in the interior had " great store of gold :" enough to excite curiosity and stimu- late to farther enterprise, but nothing to grati- fy them. It was not till his return from the expedi- tion to Cadiz that he was completely restored to the queen's favour. He was powerful in the politic friendship of Sir Robert Cecil, now secretary of state. The influence of Essex, his enemy, was declining. He was employed to effect a reconciliation between these two noblemen. They were all rivals, though seem- ingly on the most intimate terms. A contem- porary letter-writer, under date of June 2d, 1597, says : " Yesterday Sir Walter Raleigh was brought to the queen by Sir Robert Cecil, who used him very graciously, and gave him full authority to execute his place as captain of the guard, which immediately he under- took. In the evening he rode abroad with the RALEIGH. 345 queen, and had private conference with her ; and now he comes boldly to the privy-cham- ber as he was wont." Though the displeas- ure under which he had long laboured was removed, Sir Walter made little progress in Jhe preferments he desired. He was anxious to be made a baron, to be chosen vice-cham- berlain, to be called to the privy-council. In all these points his wishes were steadily eva- ded or declined. The only post he gained, from a mistress who bestowed honours with cautious jealousy even on her favourites, was the government of Jersey, with a grant of a manor in the same island. His commission was dated August 26, 1600. Meanwhile, in 1597, a great fleet was equip- ped for what was called the Island Voyage. It consisted of 120 ships, and was designed to intercept the Plate-fleet near the Azores. Essex was commander-in-chief, and Raleigh rear-admiral. They sailed from Plymouth August 17. Being disappointed of the fleet, it was determined, in a council of war, that Essex and Raleigh should jointly attack Fay- al. Departing from Flores, the place of their first rendezvous, the two squadrons were ac- cidentally separated, and Raleigh arrived first. Having waited two days for Essex, and find- 346 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. ing that the enemy were busily completing their preparations for defence, he held a coun- cil of his officers, in which it was decided that, if Essex did not arrive the next day, it would become Sir Walter's duty to make the attack alone, and without farther delay. On the fourth day, the earl having not yet come, Sir Walter followed the decision of the council, and, landing with a small portion of his force, took possession of the town, with slight loss. The next day Essex arrived, and was much exasperated that Raleigh had dared to make the attempt without him. He had long been jealous of Sir Walter, and naturally conceiv- ed himself injured, and deprived of an occa- sion of honour by the forwardness of one whom he hated. Several of the officers who had been concerned in the enterprise were ca- shiered and confined ; and it was only on con- cessions and submissions made by Raleigh, at the instance of Lord Howard, that the earl's indignation was for the time appeased. The earl's proceedings were, however, " much mistaken in England, and Sir Walter gained large additions to his reputation for military skill and experience at sea." The career of the brave and popular, but impetuous and hasty Earl of Essex was now RALEIGH. 347 drawing to its close. He had provoked the queen's displeasure by various rash sayings and actions ; and, on his untimely return from his government of Ireland, he was arrested by her order, and treated with unexpected severity. Despairing of a restoration to her majesty's favour, he formed the wild scheme of raising an insurrection in the city of London, of seiz- ing the queen's person, and expelling by force his enemies from the court. The plan was communicated by Sir Ferdinando Gorges, a partisan of Essex, to Sir Walter Raleigh, and by him, it is supposed, to the queen. The attempted rising proved a failure, and Essex was imprisoned, and subjected to the power of his enemies. In this number he counted Ra- leigh ; and, as one of the pretexts of his rebell- ion, had caused a rumour to be circulated that Cobham and Raleigh were plotting against his life. This charge was amply refuted by Blount, a creature of Essex's, who testified on his trial that this rumour was only " a word cast out to colour other matters." While, however, the fate of Essex was in suspense, Sir Walter wrote a letter to Sir Robert Cecil,* which has been used in later * [Burghley State Papers, i., 811. H.] I. Do 348 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. times to prove his malice against Essex, and an indecent anxiety for his death. Raleigh was doubtless his enemy, and would have been glad to have him out of the way ; but the letter bears, and I think -requires, a less harsh construction, and recommends a last- ing imprisonment or degradation perhaps, but not an execution. " The less you make him," he says, " the less he shall be able to harm you and yours ; and if her majesty's favour fail him, he will again decline to a common person .... Look to the present, and do you wisely .... Lose not your advantage ; if you do, I read your destiny. Let the queen hold Bothwell while she hath him; he will ever be the canker of her estate and safety I have seen the last of her good days, and all ours, after his liberty." The advice here given is clearly to crush the earl, and it may have been cautiously worded, so as to urge Cecil -to accomplish his death. Raleigh was present as captain of the guard at the trial and execution of Essex, and a report was then spread that he attended the execution to gratify his hatred by the sight of his ene- my's suffering. Certainly his supposed con- nexion with the death of Essex added to his former unpopularity. It was a misfortune to RALEIGH. 349 him in another way. The power of Cecil had hitherto been checked by the power of Essex. Now Cecil became absolute, and could exert, without division, his influence and intrigues against his only remaining and less powerful rival. Such was Raleigh's own view of it in his later years. In his speech on the morning of his execution, he said, referring to the death of Essex, " After his fall I got the hatred of those who wished me well before ; and those who set me against him, set themselves after- ward against me, and were my greatest ene- mies." Sir Walter sat in Elizabeth's last Parlia- ment, which met October 27, 1601, as one of the knights of the shire for the county of Corn- wall, and was distinguished by his abilities as a debater. Of several speeches which have been briefly reported, the one in opposition to the act for sowing hemp shows more lib- eral views than then prevailed touching the protective policy of government. " For my part," said he, " I do not like this constrain- ing of men to manure or use their grounds at our wills, but rather let every man use his ground to that which it is most fit for, and therein use his own discretion." 350 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. The queen died in March, 1603, and with her the honours and hopes, but not the fame, of Sir Walter. Her successor, James I., as- cended the throne with strong prejudices against him, which had been originated by the hatred of Essex, and fomented by the crafty insinuations of Cecil. It must be add- ed that Raleigh was generally very unpopu- lar. We may suppose him to have been lit- tle less haughty to his equals and inferiors than he was submissive and subservient to the queen. His ambition, which was never concealed, was commonly believed to be grasping and unscrupulous, and his credit for veracity and truth seems not to have been of the highest order. Sir Robert Naunton says, " We are not to doubt how such a man would comply to progression ;" and his preface to the account of his first, and his apology for his last voyage to Guiana fully show the dis- trust with which his representations were re- ceived. How far this prevailing unpopulari- ty of Sir Walter may have influenced the conduct of James, we do not know. An es- sential difference of character and views be- tween that monarch and Raleigh may have contributed to perfect a dislike which was early expressed and hardly ever concealed. RALEIGH. 351 James was timid and pacific, Raleigh brave and adventurous, "addicted to foreign affairs and great actions."* The favourite policy of James was to conciliate the court of Spain ; Raleigh had fought against and spoiled the Spaniards, and cordially disliked them for their power at sea. Raleigh was a scholar and a poet, James was a theologian and a pedant. James could hardly appreciate the character of Raleigh, and Raleigh could not sympathize with the character of James. The poison began speedily to work. Ra- leigh at first received such favourable notice from the king as to encourage his hopes of royal favour ; but, one after another, his of- fices and privileges were taken away, and in less than three months after the king entered England he was arrested on a charge of high treason. He was charged with a design to take away the king's life and bring the Lady Arabella Stuart to the throne ; with having negotiated with the Spanish ambassador for the means of carrying on the plot, and having received a pension for his aid and services. The whole pretended plot is at war with the known habits, feelings, and opinions of Ra* * [A brief Delation of Sir Walter Raleigh's Troubles. Har teian Miscellany, vol. iv., p. 58, 4to, 1745. H.] 352 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. leigh, and sustained by evidence too feeble and slight not only to prove legal, but even moral guiltiness. The only fact established was an offer from Count Aremberg of a pen- sion, or the sum of 8000 crowns, for what pur- pose does not appear, and which was not ac- cepted. The only witness, Lord Cobham, a vain, weak man, who was never confronted even with the prisoner, made his accusation in a fit of passion, and retracted it again and again, pronouncing Raleigh utterly and en- tirely innocent. The whole case was too weak to have convicted any one of the pet- tiest larceny. Yet Raleigh was found guilty by the verdict of the jury, and, it would seem, with the full consent of the court,* which *[ An analysis of the evidence on which this most extraordi- nary conviction was grounded, such as would satisfy the read- er, would be too long, and require too much detail to be inserted here. It may be found very fully given in Cayley's Life of Raleigh, in Jardine's Criminal Trials, vol. i., the State Trials, vol. i. and ii., and in Tytler's Life of Raleigh. The kst-named writer attempts (Appendix F.) very plausibly to prove that the whole plot was a device of Sir Robert Cecil and Sir Henry Howard by which to get rid of Raleigh. The whole case shows that there was a determination in some powerful quarter that he should be put out of the way. Cobham was examined ten times touching the conspiracy, and varied his story almost as many times, and yet in the most of them he exculpated Raleigh. No one who knows the feeble, cow- ardly character of this nobleman, can doubt that his confession RALEIGH. 353 was made up of cold friends and secret ene- mies. The demeanour of Raleigh on his trial was such as became him. With the firmness of innocence and with manly spirit he bore the coarse and brutal invective of Coke, and the hardly less rude taunts of Popham, and the studied insincerity of Cecil ; claiming his rights with Saxon boldness, yet patiently sub- missive to the authority which tried him. Sir Dudley Carleton, who was an eyewit- ness of the trial, in a letter* to John Cham- berlain, dated Nov. 27th, 1603, describing it, testifies that " he answered with that temper, wit, learning, courage, and judgment, that, save it went with the hazard of his life, it was the happiest day that he ever spent. And so well he shifted all advantages that were ta- ken against him, that, were not an ill name on the scaffold was made under the promise that his life should be spared, and was the meanest part in this solemn farce. It has always seemed to me a curious feature of this pretend- ed plot, that none but Raleigh and Cobham were imagined to be privy to it. Their own means and influence were certainly in- adequate, and yet there was no suspicion that any other person had any connexion with it. H.] * [Preserved in the Hardwicke Papers, vol. i., p. 378, seqq. Compare the account of the conspiracy by Sir Robert Cecil, in a letter of December 1st, 1603, to Sir Thomas Parry. Cavley, ii., 59. H.] 354 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. half hanged, in the opinion of all men he had been acquitted." He adds that a Scotsman who witnessed the proceedings "said that whereas, when he saw him first, he was so led with the common hatred that he would have gone a hundred miles to have seen hkn hang- ed, he would, ere he parted, have gone a thou- sand to have Saved his life."* But ability, eloquence, even innocence, so powerful over disinterested spectators, had no effect on a hostile court and a pliant jury ; and still less when they believed, from too sure indications, that the surest way to raise themselves was to destroy their victim. The trial took place at Winchester, Nov. 17th, 1603, and the sentence was duly pronounced, condemning him to the horrible penalties of treason. " Lost" was he, as he said in a let- ter to the king, " for hearing a vain man ; for hearing only, and never believing or ap- proving." He was for some time detained at Winchester, where he waited in daily ex- * [This was not the impression of a single person. Carle- ton adds, " Never was a man so hated and so popular in so short a time." Among other testimonies that it was not singular, we have this in a letter of Sir Walter, written at the close of his im- prisonment to Sir Ralph Winwood, that the Prince Henry, the queen, and the King of Denmark had petitioned in his favour. " The wife, the brother, and the son of a king do not use to sue for men suspect." H.] RALEIGH. 355 pectation of death, the king having, with a refinement of cruelty, taken care that he should be informed that the warrant for his execution had been prepared. During this interval of suspense he wrote a touching farewell letter to his wife : " You shall now receive, my dear wife, my last words in these my last lines. My love I send you, that you may keep it when I am dead ; and my counsel, that you may remem- ber it when I am no more. I would not, by my will, present you with sorrows, dear Bess ; let them go into the grave with me, and be buried in the dust. And, seeing it is not the will of God that ever I shall see you more in this life, bear it patiently, and with a heart like thyself. ... I beseech you, for the love you bear me living, do not hide yourself many days after my death ; but by your travail seek to help your miserable fortunes and the right of your poor child.* Thy mournings cannot avail me ; I am but dust. . . If you can live free from want, care for no more ; the rest is but vanity. Love God, and begin betimes to repose yourself on him ; * [Walter, whom he lost at Guiana. Carcw was born af- terward, in the Tower. H.] AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. and therein shall you find true and Lasting riches and endless comfort. For the rest, when you have travailed and wearied your thoughts over all sorts of worldly cogitations, you shall but sit down by sorrow in the end. . . . When I am gone, no doubt you shall be sought to by many, for the world thinks that I was very rich. But take heed of the pre- tences of men and their affections. ... I speak not this, God knows, to dissuade from marriage ; for it will be best for you, both in respect of the world and of God. As for me, I am no more yours, nor you mine. Death has cut us asunder, and God hath di- vided me from the world, and you from me. Remember your poor child for his father's sake, who chose you and loved you in his happiest time. Get those letters, if it be possible, which I writ to the lords, wherein I sued for my life. God is my witness it was for you and yours that I desired life. But it is true that I disdain myself for begging it : for know it, dear wife, that your son is the son of a true man, and one who, in his own respect, despiseth death in all his misshapen and ugly forms. . . . Written with the dying hand of some time thy husband, but now, alas ! overthrown yours that was, but now not my own, WALTER RALEGH." RALEIGH. But the axe, by which he expected speed- ily to suffer, was to be suspended over him for years. To complete this miserable farce, Cobham and Grey were reprieved at the block, and Raleigh was remanded to the Tower to await the king's pleasure. We have followed the career of Raleigh as a soldier, a courtier, a discoverer, a politi- cian. We are now to look upon him in a scene more trying thn were they all. Few men can bear gracefully the weariness of a long imprisonment ; fewer still whose habits have been as active, and whose temper so ad- venturous as his. He was shut out from al- most all that had been the delight of his for- mer life ; there were no more campaigns or voyages, masques or intrigues of court. Yet his versatile powers sustained him patiently and cheerfully through. His faithful wife and son were not excluded. A few attend- ants were allowed him. Thomas Heriot re- mained near his person, and the few friends whom his merits and misfortunes made might sometimes solace him by their visits. He turned again for relief to his books, which he had always loved, and which had been his companions in his busiest hours. Poetry, philosophy, history, politics, chymistry, by 358 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. turns occupied his attention. He converted a small house in the garden belonging to the Tower into a laboratory, and "spent all the day in distillations." Among other proofs of his ingenuity and success was a famous cordial, for which he made the recipe, and which has since gone by the name of Sir Walter's cordial. Here he wrote, too, most of those works which have gained him a rep- utation, hardly surpassed by his fame as a soldier and discoverer.* Foremost among which, in the judgment of posterity, is his History of the World. Whether we consid- er the vastness of the scheme, and the scanty resources which his imprisonment allowed him for its execution, the abundant Jearning everywhere displayed in it, the nervous and elegant style, the exuberant fancy, and the sad yet patient morality which characterize it, we cannot but judge it one of the most re- markable literary productions the world has ever seen. * [The miscellaneous literary productions of Sir Walter are very numerous, and, until a critical examination shall have final- ly decided on their authenticity, we may safely, perhaps, follow Cayley, who gives a list of them, amounting in number to thir- ty-two. Life of Raleigh, ii., 186. More recently, a collection of his works, designed to comprise them all, has been publish- ed at Oxford, 8 vols. 8vo. H.] RALEIGH. 359 The walls of the Tower, though they may keep out friends, cannot shut out misfortune. During the seventh year of Sir Walter's so- journ there, his estate at Sherborne, which he had, before his evil days had come, settled on his son, was " lost in the law for want of a word." James wanted it for his new fa- vourite, Carr ; the instrument of conveyance was examined, and, some words having been omitted by the inadvertence of the copyist, it was declared void, and the estates passed to a worthless minion.* A severer blow to Raleigh was the death of Prince Henry, the king's eldest son, who loved him for his virtues and pitied him for his sufferings. He used to say " that no king but his father would keep such a bird in a cage." A strong affection had grown up be- tween them, and Raleigh wrote several works a' his instance and for his use.t So long as * [As a recompense the king gave him jESOOO, a sum not much greater than the annual rent of the estate. His son Ca- rew endeavoured to gain a restoration of this estate, but King James said " he appeared to him like the ghost of his father," and the remark drove him from the court. King Charles had promised that the present possessors should not be disturbed, and would not consent to his restoration in blood without his formally renouncing all title to Sherborne. Sir Walter Ra- leigh's Troubles. H.] t [Birch's Life of Prince Henry, 235, 236, and 392. See also Lord Somers's Tracts, i., 412. H.] 360 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. this noble young prince lived, he had good hopes of liberation. His early death was a double loss to Sir Walter, in his present enjoyment and in his expectations of the fu- ture. He speaks of it* as " the loss of that brave prince, of which, like an eclipse of the sun, we shall find the effects hereafter." Yet death did not select his friends only. Sir Robert Cecil, his bitterest enemy, had also passed away from earth, less regretted than the man whom he had forsaken and persecuted. The influence of Carr was giv- ing way before the rising favour of Villiers. Sir Ralph Winwood, not a great, but an hon- est man, was now secretary of state. Raleigh had- long entertained the wish to be allowed to prosecute his discoveries in Guiana. From time to time he had sent thither for information, and some of the na- tives of that country had been brought 1 o conference with him in the Tower. He haa received what he asserted to be satisfactory evidence of the existence of a gold mine there, which, if at liberty, he would work. Cecil had rejected his applications to this effect, but Winwood listened to him. Nothing was needed but a whim to secure the king's con- * [In his History of the World. H.] RALEIGH. 361 sent. This was supplied by the influence of Villiers, and that influence was purchased by the payment of 1500 to his two uncles ; and finally, after twelve years' delay, James granted to the simple asking of a favourite what he had so long refused to humanity and justice. Sir Walter was released March 17, 1616. He now devoted himself, with an ardour augmented by his long restraint, to his cher- ished scheme of a golden expedition to Gui- ana. He appropriated to this purpose the 8000 he had received for his estate at Sher- borne ; and, to further the same, his wife sold her estate for 2500. He thus staked his fortune, as well as his reputation, on this issue. He built at his own expense a ship, the Des- tiny, which mounted thirty-six guns and car- ried two hundred men. Encouraged by his zeal, many merchants and private adventur- ers flocked to join the enterprise. After some opposition from Count Gondomar, the Span- ish ambassador, whose objections to it as a piratical scheme against the Spanish settle- ments in the West Indies seem to have been easily removed, Raleigh received a commis- sion, dated Aug. 26th, 1616, under the privy seal, apoointing him commander of the fleet 362 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. and governor of the new country. The fleet, consisting of fourteen sail, was ready in the spring of 1617, and on the 28th of March dropped down the Thames, and, having been long detained by storms, reached Guiana on the 12th of November. Here Raleigh was taken severely ill, and, being unable to lead the expedition up the river in person, gave the command of five ships and some three hundred men for that purpose to Captain Keymis, who had explo- red the country under his directions in 1596. His orders to Keymis were to penetrate to the mine, and bring away at least a few bas- kets of the ore, to satisfy the king that the mine was not a mere dream ; and, in case he should be attacked, to repel force by force. The five vessels sailed December 10th, and soon reached Santa Thome, a garrisoned town of 240 houses, built by the Spaniards on the right bank of the river. Keymis land- ed in the night, and took his position between the town and the mine. During the night they were attacked by the Spaniards, whom they repulsed and pursued to Saint Thomas, which they entered. The governor of the town, Palameque, was slain, and the English, galled by shots from the houses, set it on fire RALEIGH. 363 and consumed it. Keymis set out immedi- ately with a small party for the mine, and on the route was attacked by a body of the fugitive Spaniards and forced to retreat, with some loss. By this disaster he was so much discouraged that he abandoned the town and hastily sailed back to join his general. Soon after his return, mortified by his failure, and stung by the indignant reproaches of Raleigh, Keymis committed suicide. The enterprise had thus been frustrated, and Raleigh thought it not prudent, or was not in a condition to resume it. Disappoint- ed and sad, he turned away from a region where so many bright hopes had faded, set sail for Newfoundland, and, after a brief stay there, bent his course for England. The news of his defeat and of the burning of Santa Thome had arrived there before him ; the re- sentment of the Spanish ambassador had been strongly expressed ; and James at once pub- lished a proclamation, inviting all who had any knowledge of his doings to testify before the privy-council, and wrote to the King of Spain, submitting it to his discretion whether Raleigh should receive his punishment in England or in Spain. His fate was decreed without trial or reply, and this indecent haste was allowed to gratify the court of Spain. r T? 364 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. The connexion of Gondomar and the Span- iards with the death of Raleigh was too im- portant to be passed without some notice. Many circumstances concur to show a long- cherished purpose, on their part, to bring him to the block. He had long been their avow- ed enemy, and their most formidable one in England. He had fought and conquered them, spoken against them in Parliament, and written against them with profound wis- dom and bitter hatred. With his dislike was mingled somewhat of contempt. " It were," he had said,* " a horrible dishonour to be overreached by any of those .dry and subtle- headed Spaniards." The dislike and suspi- cion seem to have been mutual. From the moment of his entering upon the plan of his last voyage to Guiana, every particular of his movements was carefully communicated to the Spanish court. These particulars were at once sent to the Spanish governors in America. In the plunder taken at Santa Thome were letters from the King of Spain referring to his expedition, with a minute ac- count of his course and armament, and dated before his departure from the Thames. t So * [In his Discourse on the Marriage of the Prince of Wales. -H.] t [See the Hardwicke State Papers, i., 398. H.] RALEIGH. 365 completely was James, whose heart was now set on the Spanish match, under the influence of Gondomar, and Raleigh an object of watch- ful jealousy. James seems to have felt that the recent acts of Sir "Walter would hardly justify his execution. He had ample proof of his sin- cere belief in the existence of the gold mine : he must have known that in the affair of San- ta Thome the Spaniards were the aggressors, and he was obliged to resort to conjectures, assertions, and remote circumstances to make out anything like a case of intended depre- dation and plunder. Accordingly, from the day of his arrest till his final sentence, he was surrounded with spies, and beset with every snare that might entrap him into an unwary confession, or some act that might be con- strued into guilt. He was arrested when on his way to London by his false kinsman Sir Lewis Stukely, who proposed and thwarted several plans for his escape. Manourie, a Frenchman, was also employed to aid in this perfidious business. After he was confined in the Tower, Sir Thomas Wilson was ap- pointed his keeper, and secretly commission- ed as a spy. Learned but mean, and refined but cruel, he played his part well, and daily 366 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. reported to the king the petty items of infor- mation he had succeeded in extracting from his illustrious prisoner. His letters to his wife were intercepted to furnish matter of accusa- tion, and read by the king. Yet there was on his part no confession or intimation of guilt. The only act which could be thought to look that way was his attempt to escape half formed and speedily repented of an act springing, as he said in his letter to the king, " from a life-saving natural impulsion, with out an ill intent." But the marriage of Prince Charles with the Infanta must be effected ; the Spanish court were urgent ; and delay, which was found ineffectual for the purpose of crimina- tion, was now useless. The only question remaining was under what form of law Sir Walter might most properly, to save the ap- pearance of justice, be brought to the scaf- fold. Several devices were proposed and rejected. The new charge against him must not be made the ground of his sentence, for that charge would not bear examination. The king, in the plenitude of his wisdom, was at fault. It was finally decided that the former sentence should be revived, and that he should be brought, on a writ of Habeas RALEIGH. 367 Corpus, before the judges of the King's Bench, to give answer why that decree, which had slumbered now fifteen years, should not be executed. " He was condemned," says his son Carew, " for being a friend to the Spaniards, and lost his life for being their bit- ter enemy." He was brought up Oct. 24th, 1618, and interrupted in his defence with the information that no plea could be admitted except special words of pardon :" whereupon he threw himself upon the king's mercy. There was no mercy for him, and on the 28th he was again brought to the bar to receive final sentence. On his return to prison, he was told he must prepare to die the follow- ing morning. The sentence was received with calmness, and on his way back to the prison he said cheerfully to the friends who were with him, that the world was but a lar- ger prison, from which some are every day selected for execution. Hasty as the sum- mons was, neither did his wonted fortitude forsake him, nor did the consolations of reli- gion fail him. The evening before the day that was to end his life was passed by him in a careful prep- aration for the life to come. The few items of business which yet remained to him were 368 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. arranged. About midnight his wife, whose love was as tender as it had been faithful, took the last farewell. When she told him that his remains had been placed at her dis- posal, " It is well, Bess," said he, with a smile, " that thou mayst dispose of that dead thou hadst not always the disposing of when alive." Before composing himself to sleep, he wrote a few memoranda touching the false reports and charges against him, and, turning to his devotions, wrote on a blank leaf of his Bible these lines : Even such is Time, that takes on trust Our youth, our joys, our all we have, And pays us with but age and dust ; Who in the dark and silent grave, When we have wandered all our ways, Shuts up the story of our days ! But from this earth, this grave, this dust, The Lord shall raise me up, I trust. Early the next morning he received the holy communion from the hands of the DeaK of "Westminster, expressing a firm assurance of the love and favour of God, and a free forgiveness of all his enemies, and by name of those who had betrayed him. He showed no fear of death, and yet made no parade of courage, but rather manifested a truly Chris- tian resignation and cheerfulness. After RALEIGH. 369 these religious services he partook heartily of the breakfast prepared for him, smoked a pipe of tobacco, as his custom was, and drank a cup of sack. Being asked if he liked it, he replied, " Ay, 'tis good drink, if a man might tarry by it." He then withdrew to arrange his dress, which was a plain but rich mourning suit of black satin and velvet. As the hour of nine drew near, he was led to the place of execution in the Old Palace Yard. A large crowd had assembled to wit- ness the heroism of his death, and among them many nobles and knights who were his friends. As he ascended the scaffold he sa- luted them gracefully, and proclamation for silence being made, he addressed them in a short speech, vindicating the various passages of his life, and especially that touching the death of the Earl of Essex, and expressing his Christian hope in the article of death.* He * [See an account of the last hours of Sir Walter Raleigh, in a letter from Thomas Lakin to Sir Thomas Puckering. The letter is dated Nov. 3d, 1618, and may be found in Cayley, Ap- pendix xvii. He says, " His end was, by the general report of all that were present, very Christianlike, and so full of resolu- tion as moved all men to pity and wonder." His last address is termed " a most grave, Christian, and elegant discourse." He adds, " he seemed as free from all manner of apprehension as if he had been come thither rather to be a spectator than a sufferer ; nay, the beholders seemed much more sensible than did he." H.] 370 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. then embraced his friends and took leave of them. Having put off his gown and doublet, he asked to see the axe, and, having taken it, he passed his finger lightly along the edge, saying, " 'Tis a sharp remedy, but a sound cure for all diseases." Then, having finish- ed his devotions, he laid his head upon the block, and being told to place himself so that his face might look towards the east, he said, " No matter how the head lie so the heart be right." After a brief interval, in which the motion of his lips showed him to be engaged in prayer, he gave the signal. The execu- tioner hesitating, he slightly raised his head, and said, " What dost thou fear ? Strike, man !" At two blows the head was severed from the body, " which never shrunk or al- tered its position." His relics were given to his now desolate widow. Thus passed away one of earth's bright spirits ; sometimes fit- ful, always brilliant, and at the last serene.] END OF VOL. I. 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