CHAPTER II.

PRE-COLUMBIAN VOYAGES.

Stories of voyages to America before Columbus; the Chinese 148

The Irish. 149

Blowing and drifting; Cousin, of Dieppe 150

These stories are of small value 150

But the case of the Northmen is quite different 151

The Viking exodus from Norway 151, 152

Founding of a colony in Iceland, A. D. 874 153

Icelandic literature 154

Discovery of Greenland, A. D. 876 155, 156

Eric the Red, and his colony in Greenland, A. D. 986 157-161

Voyage of Bjarni Herjulfsson 162

Conversion of the Northmen to Christianity 163

Leif Ericsson's voyage, A. D. 1000; Helluland and Markland 164

Leif's winter in Vinland 165, 166

Voyages of Thorvald and Thorstein 167

Thorfinn Karlsefni, and his unsuccessful attempt to found a colony in Vinland, A. D. 1007-10 167-169

Freydis, and her evil deeds in Vinland, 1011-12 170, 171

Voyage into Baffin's Bay, 1135 172

Description of a Viking ship discovered at Sandefiord, in Norway 173-175

To what extent the climate of Greenland may have changed within the last thousand years 176, 177

With the Northmen once in Greenland, the discovery of the American continent was inevitable 178

Ear-marks of truth in the Icelandic narratives 179, 180

Northern limit of the vine 181

Length of the winter day 182

Indian corn 182, 183

Winter weather in Vinland 184

Vinland was probably situated somewhere between Cape Breton and Point Judith 185

Further ear-marks of truth; savages and barbarians of the lower status were unknown to mediaeval Europeans 185, 186

The natives of Vinland as described in the Icelandic narratives 187-193

Meaning of the epithet "Skraelings" 188, 189

Personal appearance of the Skraelings 189

The Skraelings of Vinland were Indians,--very likely Algonquins 190

The "balista" or "demon's head" 191, 192

The story of the "uniped" 193

Character of the Icelandic records; misleading associations with the word "saga" 194

The comparison between Leif Ericsson and Agamemnon, made by a committee of the Massachusetts Historical Society, was peculiarly unfortunate and inappropriate 194, 197

The story of the Trojan War, in the shape in which we find it in Greek poetry, is pure folk-lore 195

The Saga of Eric the Red is not folk-lore 196

Mythical and historical sagas 197

The western or Hauks-bok version of Eric the Red's Saga 198

The northern or Flateyar-bok version 199

Presumption against sources not contemporary 200

Hauk Erlendsson and his manuscripts 201

The story is not likely to have been preserved to Hauk's time by oral tradition only 202

Allusions to Vinland in other Icelandic documents 202-207

Eyrbyggja Saga 203

The abbot Nikulas, etc. 204

Ari Frodhi and his works 204

His significant allusion to Vinland 205

Other references 206

Differences between Hauks-bok and Flateyar-bok versions 207

Adam of Bremen 208

Importance of his testimony 209

His misconception of the situation of Vinland 210

Summary of the argument 211-213

Absurd speculations of zealous antiquarians 213-215

The Dighton inscription was made by Algonquins, and has nothing to do with the Northmen 213, 214

Governor Arnold's stone windmill 215

There is no reason for supposing that the Northmen founded a colony in Vinland 216

No archaeological remains of them have been found south of Davis strait 217

If the Northmen had founded a successful colony, they would have introduced domestic cattle into the North American fauna 218

And such animals could not have vanished and left no trace of their existence 219, 220

Further fortunes of the Greenland colony 221

Bishop Eric's voyage in search of Vinland, 1121 222

The ship from Markland, 1347 223

The Greenland colony attacked by Eskimos, 1349 224

Queen Margaret's monopoly, and its baneful effects 225

Story of the Venetian brothers, Nicolo and Antonio Zeno 226

Nicolo Zeno wrecked upon one of the Faeroe islands 227

He enters the service of Henry Sinclair, Earl of the Orkneys and Caithness 228

Nicolo's voyage to Greenland, cir. 1394 229

Voyage of Earl Sinclair and Antonio Zeno 229, 230

Publication of the remains of the documents by the younger Nicolo Zeno, 1558 231

The Zeno map 232, 233

Queer transformations of names 234-236

The name _Faeroislander_ became _Frislanda_ 236

The narrative nowhere makes a claim to the "discovery of America" 237

The "Zichmni" of the narrative means Henry Sinclair 238

Bardsen's "Description of Greenland" 239

The monastery of St. Olaus and its hot spring 240

Volcanoes of the north Atlantic ridge 241

Fate of Gunnbjoern's Skerries, 1456 242

Volcanic phenomena in Greenland 242, 243

Estotiland 244

Drogio 245

Inhabitants of Drogio and the countries beyond 246

The Fisherman's return to Frislanda 247

Was the account of Drogio woven into the narrative by the younger Nicolo? 248

Or does it represent actual experiences in North America? 249

The case of David Ingram, 1568 250

The case of Cabeza de Vaca, 1528-36 251

There may have been unrecorded instances of visits to North America 252

The pre-Columbian voyages made no real contributions to geographical knowledge 253

And were in no true sense a discovery of America 254

Real contact between the eastern and western hemisphere was first established by Columbus 255