Chapter I: Preface

It is a fact that America in the early ages was one of the inhabited parts of the earth. The Egyptians, who were among the first of the peoples of the eastern hemisphere to use letters and to write history, furnish the earliest known account of the inhabitants of this continent. It is also a truth that some ancient geographers and philosophers, who had no personal knowledge of the existence of a primitive people in the western hemisphere, regarded the information recorded by the Egyptians as fictitious and incredible. When Columbus proposed to go to this inhabited realm beyond the western ocean almost all the learned men of Portugal and Spain opposed the undertaking as visionary, and not a few of them asserted that the navigator’s opinions were absurd, because, as they argued, no one of all the seamen who had lived since the creation of the world had discovered land beyond Hibernia.

The discovery of the continent and the subsequent explorations of the Spaniards not only confuted the fallacious arguments of the learned men of the middle ages but confirmed the statements of the Egyptian records descriptive of the civilization of the Atlantic country. The tradition of the peopling of the continent by the descendants of Euenor, the good man begotten in the beginning from the ground, and of the residence of celestial beings among the inhabitants peculiarly confirms the account in the Bible of the creation of the first man from the dust of the ground and of his descendants having communications with angels.

The asserted discovery of America by the Northmen rests more upon conjecture than evidence. It appears that Columbus was not the discoverer of the continent, for it was seen in 1497 not only by Giovanni Caboto but by the commander of the Spanish fleet with whom Amerigo Vespucci first sailed to the New World.

The land of Francesca, discovered by Verrazzano in 1524, it will be seen, was early possessed by the French, who built a fort near the Indian village where now is the city of New York, and called the surrounding country La Terre d’Anormée Berge; a geographical designation more significantly expressed in the phraseology, The Land of the Palisades.

The writing of this work required the personal examination of many old and rare books, manuscripts, and maps, besides the perusal of a large number of recent papers and publications relating to its subject. The task further demanded a careful review and comparison of the various statements of historical writers concerning the voyages of the persons whom they believed to have been the discoverers of certain parts of the coast of America, between Baffin’s Bay and Tierra del Fuego.

It seemed to me that some of the information contained in the different works which I had examined should be presented in the language of the writers or in faithful translations so that the intended significance of the information could be perceived by the reader. I therefore have placed these _excerpta_ before the general reader and the critic in the belief that the citations will be appreciated. They will at least show my desire that the judgments of those who examine them should not be biased by any conclusions of my own.

My researches were for the most part made in the General Library of the State of New York, in Albany. The generous personal interest taken by the State’s distinguished librarian, Henry A. Homes, LL.D., in placing before me the large number of works which I desired to examine, was so constant and helpful that it is a great pleasure for me to mention and acknowledge his kind offices. I am also indebted to his assistant, George Rogers Howell, for many official courtesies. I also owe my thanks to George H. Moore, LL.D., the erudite superintendent of the Lenox Library, in the city of New York, to Frederick Saunders, librarian of the Astor Library, to Jacob B. Moore, librarian of the New York Historical Society, and to Leopold Lindau, librarian of the American Geographical Society. The offices of L’Abbé A. N. Ménard, vicar of the parish of St. Roch, Paris, France; of Pádre Antonio Ceriani, prefect of the Ambrosian Library, Milan, Italy; of Jules Godeby, professor of French literature in the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York; and of Dr. Titus Munson Coan, of New York City, place me under many obligations to these gentlemen. It is also a great pleasure for me to acknowledge the generous favors of E. Thompson Gale, of Troy, which permitted me to accomplish the purposes that I had in view when, eight years ago, I undertook my long-protracted task. The kind offices of my friend, William H. Young, of Troy, are also gratefully remembered.

ARTHUR JAMES WEISE.

TROY, N. Y., March 27, 1884.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE.

CHAPTER I.

Antiquity of the red race. An antediluvian people. Vestiges
of an ancient civilization in America. Records of Egypt.
Manuscripts of Solon, the great Greek legislator. Origin
of the aborigines of the western hemisphere. Founders of
an empire. The tradition preserved by the Egyptians. Early
navigation of the Atlantic Ocean. Isolation of the people of
the western continent. The Northmen. Iceland found. Greenland
explored. Saga of Eric the Red. Voyage of Bjarni, Herjulf’s
son. Explorations of Leif, the son of Eric the Red. Tradition
concerning Thorfinn Karlsefne. Discovery of Vinland. Its
geographical situation. The stone tower at Newport. Dighton
rock. Voyages of the Welsh adventurer Madoc. Discoveries of
the Zeni brothers. Story of a Frisland fisherman. Estotiland.
Drogio 1-50

CHAPTER II.

Arrival of three strangely clad travellers in Venice. Their
surprising disclosures. The book of Marco Polo. Marvellous
wealth of Cathay. Gold-covered palaces. Magnificent cities.
Extensive traffic. The empire of the Grand Khan. The travels
of Sir John Mandeville. Commerce of Europe restricted. Use
of the mariner’s compass. An age of superstition. Points of
the compass-card. Geographical enthusiasm of Prince Henry of
Portugal. Explorations along the coast of Africa. The astrolabe
made useful to navigators. The Cape of Good Hope reached 51-69

CHAPTER III.

Christopher Columbus’s conception of finding a short and direct
way to India. His reasonable conclusions. Statements of ancient
geographers. The known parts of the world. Circumference of
the earth. Inferences respecting pieces of wood and dead
bodies cast upon the islands lying off the west coast of
Africa. Island of the Seven Cities. Letter of Paolo Toscanelli.
Distance to Cathay. Columbus’s overtures to the king of
Portugal. Bartolomé Columbus visits England. Christopher
Columbus seeks aid in Spain. The opinion of the learned men
respecting his project. The friendly offices of Friar Juan
Perez. Luis de Santángel’s proposals to Queen Isabella.
Columbus commissioned to undertake a voyage to Cathay 70-93

CHAPTER IV.

The object of Columbus’s voyage. His journal. His intention to
make a map of the lands of the ocean. The vessels of the fleet.
They sail from the port of Palos. The fears of the sailors.
Variations of the needle. The Sea of Sargasso. Incidents of the
voyage. Discovery of land. Island of San Salvador. Columbus’s
description of the people and the islands. He believes that he
had reached the continent of Asia, and that he was near the
dominions of the Grand Khan of Cathay. He sends embassadors to
the sovereign of the Orient. His letter to Rafael Sanchez. The
high latitude to which he sailed. A fort erected at La Navidad,
on the island of Española. The profits of the voyage. Columbus
sets sail for Spain. Anchors in the Tagus. Visits the king
of Portugal. Returns to Spain. Enthusiasm of the people. His
reception at Barcelona 94-144