Chapter I: On the Origin of the Americans (6)

[I-133] In a letter by Jomard, quoted by Delafield, we read: 'I have also recognized in your memoir on the division of time among the Mexican nations, compared with those of Asia, some very striking analogies between the Toltec characters and institutions observed on the banks of the Nile. Among these analogies there is one which is worthy of attention. It is the use of the vague year of three hundred and sixty-five days, composed of equal months, and of five complementary days, equally employed at Thebes and Mexico, a distance of three thousand leagues. It is true that the Egyptians had no intercalation, while the Mexicans intercalated thirteen days every fifty-two years. Still farther: intercalation was proscribed in Egypt, to such a point that the kings swore, on their accession, never to permit it to be employed during their reign. Notwithstanding this difference, we find a very striking agreement in the length of the duration of the solar year. In reality, the intercalation of the Mexicans being thirteen days on each cycle of fifty-two years, comes to the same thing as that of the Julian calendar, which is one day in four years; and consequently supposes the duration of the year to be three hundred and sixty-five days, six hours. Now such was the length of the year among the Egyptians, since the sothic period was at once one thousand four hundred and sixty solar years, and one thousand four hundred and sixty-one vague years; which was, in some sort, the intercalation of a whole year of three hundred and seventy-five days every one thousand four hundred and sixty years. The property of the sothic period--that of bringing back the seasons and festivals to the same point of the year, after having made them pass successively through every point--is undoubtedly one of the reasons which caused the intercalation to be proscribed, no less than the repugnance of the Egyptians for foreign institutions. Now it is remarkable that the same solar year of three hundred and sixty-five days, six hours, adopted by nations so different, and perhaps still more remote in their state of civilization than in their geographical distance, relates to a real astronomical period, and belongs peculiarly to the Egyptians.... The fact of the intercalation (by the Mexicans) of thirteen days every cycle, that is, the use of a year of three hundred and sixty-five days and a quarter, is a proof that it was either borrowed from the Egyptians, or that they had a common origin.' _Antiq. Amer._, pp. 52-3. 'On the 26th of February, the Mexican century begins, which was celebrated from the time of Nabonassor, seven hundred and forty-seven years before Christ, because the Egyptian priests conformably to their astronomical observations had fixed the beginning of their month _Toth_ and the commencement of their year at noon on that day; this was verified by the Meridian of Alexandria, which was erected three centuries after that epoch. Hence it has been contended there could exist no doubt of the conformity of the Mexican with the Egyptian calendar, for although the latter assigned twelve months of thirty days each to the year, and added five days besides, in order that the circle of three hundred and sixty-five days should recommence from the same point; yet, notwithstanding the deviation from the Egyptian mode in the division of the months and days, they yet maintained that the Mexican method was conformable thereto, on account of the superadded five days; with this only difference, that upon these the Americans attended to no business, and therefore termed them Nemontemi or useless, whereas the Egyptians celebrated, during that epoch, the festival of the birth of their gods, as attested by Plutarch de Feide, and Osiride. Upon the other hand it is asserted, that though the Mexicans differed from the Egyptians by dividing their year into eighteen months, yet, as they called the month Mextli Moon, they must have formerly adopted the lunar month, agreeable to the Egyptian method of dividing the year into twelve months of thirty days; but to support this assertion no attempt has been made to ascertain the cause why this method was laid aside. The analogy between the Mexican and the Egyptian calendars is thus assumed to be undeniable. Besides what has been here introduced, the same is attempted to be proved in many other works which I pass over to avoid prolixity, and therefore only mention that they may be found in Boturini, in La Idea del Universo, by the abbé don Lorenza de Hervas, published in the Italian language, in Clavigero's dissertations, and in a letter addressed to him by Hervas, which he added to the end of his second volume.' _Cabrera_, _Teatro_, in _Rio's Description_, pp. 103-5. See also: _Humboldt_, _Vues_, tom. i., pp. 344, 348; _Clavigero_, _Storia Ant. del Messico_, tom. iv., p. 20; _Malte-Brun_, _Précis de la Géog._, tom. vi., p. 295.

[I-134] I follow, chiefly, M. Warden's résumé of these accounts, as being the fullest and clearest. _Recherches_, p. 406, et seq.

[I-135] _Hist. du Commerce_, cap. viii.

[I-136] Acosta compares the gold of Ophir with that of Hispaniola. He entertains the opinion that Tarshish and Ophir are distant imaginary places and not distinct countries, but imagines them to be somewhere in the East Indies. 'Cur autem in Orientali potius India quam in hac Occidentali Ophir fuisse existimem, illud caput est, quod ad nostrum Peru non nisi infinito circuitu tota India Orientali & Sinarum regione enauigata Salomonia clasis peruenire poterar.' _De Novi Orbis_, p. 36. Ophir is supposed to be in India or Africa. _Robertson's Hist. Amer._, vol. i., p. 7. Crowe, _Cent. Amer._, p. 65, considers the probability of Ophir and Tarshish being on the west coast of America. The Phœnician '_Ophir_, or _Ofor_, which means, in their ancient language, the _Western country_, was Mexico and Central America, the land of gold.' _Fontaine's How the World was Peopled_, pp. 259-60. On p. 162, he says that the best authorities, Volney, Bochart, Michaelis, and Forster, suppose Ophir to have been situated on the Persian Gulf. The Phœnician Ophir was Hayti, for Columbus thought that he could trace the furnaces in which the gold had been refined. _Carver's Trav._, p. 192. Kingsborough, _Mex. Antiq._, vol. vi., pp. 184-5, considers the position of Ophir, but is undecided as to its position. Ens, _West und Ost Indischer Lustgart_, pp. 5-8, disagreeing with Vatablus and Stephanus, can find no resemblance to Ophir in Hayti or Peru, and comes to the conclusion that Ophir lay somewhere in the Old World, most likely in the East Indies. This seems to be a plagiarism of Acosta. See also _Gottfriedt_, _Newe Welt_, p. 3. Humboldt, _Exam. Crit._, tom. ii., pp. 40-5, discusses the position of Ophir in Veragua. Piñeda, _De Rebus Salomonis_, believes Ophir to have been America. _Warden_, _Recherches_, p. 196. See also _Id._, pp. 106-7.

[I-137] _De Origine Gentium Americanarum_, lib. ii., cap. vi., vii., viii.

[I-138] 'Sur le cap Mollabat, au pied duquel on bâti ensuite le vieux Tanger.' _Gosselin_, cited by Warden, _Recherches_, p. 107, note 8.

[I-139] 'Le cap Spartel, qui forme l'extrémité occidentale du détroit.' _Id._, note 9.

[I-140] The Greek text of the _Periplus_ is printed in _Hudson's Geographiæ veteris Scriptores Græci Minores_. It was also published by Falconer, with an English translation and many notes--8vo., Lond. 1797. Many remarks upon Hanno's voyage are made by Compomanes, _Antigüedad Marítima de la República de Cartago_, Madrid 1756; Bougainville, _Mémoires de l'Académie des Inscriptions_, tom. xxvi., xxviii.; Gosselin, _Recherches sur la Géographie des Anciens_; Rennell, _Geography of Herodotus_, vol. ii., pp. 409-43, 8vo.; and Heeren, _Researches on the Ancient Nations of Africa_, vol. i., pp. 492-501.

[I-141] Or _Tiphysque_.

[I-142] 'Which is expressed by repeating four times from Valum-Votan to Valum-Chivim, from Valum-Chivim to Valum-Votan.' _Cabrera_, _Teatro_, in _Rio's Description_, p. 34. 'Valum-Votan, ou Terre de Votan, serait suivant Ordoñez l'île de Cuba. Mais dans mon dernier voyage, en contournant les montagnes qui environnent le plateau élévé où est situé _Ciudad-Real_ de Chiapas, j'ai visité de grandes ruines qui portent le nom de _Valum-Votan_, à deux lieues environ du village de _Teopixca_, situé à 7 l. de Cuidad-Real, et où Nuñez de la Vega dit avoir encore trouvé, en 1696, les familles du nom de Votan.' _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Popol Vuh_, p. lxxxviii.

[I-143] Brasseur's account, which is, he says, taken from certain preserved fragments of Ordoñez' _Hist. del Cielo_, differs at this point; it reads: 'il alla à Valum-Chivim, d'où il passa à la grande ville, où il vit la maison de Dieu, que l'on était occupé à bâtir.' This 'house of God,' he remarks in a note, was, 'suivant Ordoñez et Nuñez de la Vega, le temple que Salomon était occupé à bâtir à Jérusalem.' After this, he goes on, Votan went 'à la cité antique, où il vit, de ces propres yeux, les ruines d'un grand édifice que les hommes avaient érigé par le commandement de leur aïeul commun, afin de pouvoir par là arriver au ciel.' In another note he remarks, 'Ordoñez commentant ce passage y trouve tout naturellement la tour de Babel: mais il s'indigne contre les Babyloniens, de ce qu'ils avaient eu la mauvaise foi de dire à Votan que la tour avait été bâtie par ordre de leur aïeul commun (Noé): "Il faut remarquer ici, dit-il, que les Babyloniens n'ont fait que tromper Votan, en lui assurant que la tour avait été construite par ordre de leur aïeul Noé, afin d'en faire un chemin pour arriver au ciel: jamais certainement le saint patriarche n'eut la moindre part dans la folie arrogante de Nemrod" (_Mémoire MS. sur Palenqué_.) Nuñez de la Vega rapporte la même tradition sur Votan et ses voyages (_Constitut. Diœces_, in Præamb., n. 34).' _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Popol Vuh_, p. lxxxviii.

[I-144] _Cabrera_, _Teatro_, in _Rio's Description_, p. 34. I have followed Cabrera's account because, unfortunately, Ordoñez' work is not to be had. Brasseur gives a fuller account of Votan's adventures than Cabrera, but he professes to draw his information from fragments of Ordoñez' writings, and it is impossible to tell whether his extra information is the result of his own imagination or of that of his equally enthusiastic original. The learned Abbé relates that the men with whom Votan conversed concerning the tower of Babel, assured him 'que cet édifice était le lieu où Dieu avait donné à chaque famille un langage particulier. Il affirme qu'à son retour de la ville du temple de Dieu, il retourna une première et une seconde fois à examiner tous les souterrains par où il avait déjà passé, et les signes qui s'y trouvaient. Il dit qu'on le fit passer par un chemin souterrain qui traversait la terre et se terminait à la racine du ciel. A l'égard de cette circonstance, il ajoute que ce chemin n'était autre qu'un trou de serpent où il entra parce qu'il était un serpent.' _Popol Vuh_, p. lxxxix. See farther, concerning Votan: _Carbajal Espinosa_, _Hist. Mex._, tom. i., p. 165; _Juarros_, _Hist. Guat._, p. 208; _Clavigero_, _Storia Ant. del Messico_, tom. i., pp. 150-1; _Boturini_, _Idea_, p. 115; _Levy_, _Nicaragua_, p. 4; _Tschudi's Peruvian Antiq._, pp. 11-15; _Priest's Amer. Antiq._, pp. 248-9; _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. i., pp. 43-5, 68-76; _Domenech's Deserts_, vol. i., pp. 10-7. This last is merely a literal copy of Tschudi, to whom, however, no credit is given.

[I-145] 'Ordoñez tire un argument du mot _chivim_, qu'il écrit aussi _hivim_, pour rappeler le _chivim_ du pays des Hévéens de la Palestine, d'où il fait sortir les ancêtres de Votan. Dans la langue tzendale, qui était celle du livre attribué à Votan, la racine du mot _chivin_ pourrait être _chib_ ou _chiib_, qui signifie _patrie_, ou _ghib_ qui veut dire armadille.' _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Popol Vuh_, p. lxxxviii., note.

[I-146] _Cabrera_, _Teatro_, in _Rio's Description_, pp. 47-53. It seems that the supposed Phœnician descent of the Americans has served as an excuse for the tyranny their conquerors exercised over them. 'Cursed be Canaan!' said Noah, 'A servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.' Montanus says that it is a mistake to term the Phœnicians descendants of Canaan, for they are a Semitic people. _Nieuwe Weereld_, p. 25.

[I-147] 'The strong Galleys, with sails and oars, and always before the constant East-Wind and onward wave-current, would accomplish ten miles an hour by day, and during the night, without the Rowers, six miles an hour, and, equally dividing the twenty-four hours, would make a run of 192 miles per day. Nautical proofs will show that in the above calculation the power of the Trade-Winds [_i. e._ the East-Winds] are _underrated_. The distance from Teneriffe to Florida is about 3300 miles, which by the foregone data they would traverse in seventeen and a quarter days. The Voyage may therefore with safety be said to have been accomplished during an entire month, and that, consequently the first landing of a branch of the human family in Ancient America would be in the last month of Autumn, three hundred and thirty-two years before the Christian Æra.'

[I-148] It would be impossible to give here the entire evidence with which Mr Jones supports his theory. Suffice it to say that the analogies he adduces are far-fetched in the extreme, and that his premises are to a great extent grounded upon certain vague utterances of Isaiah the prophet. His unbounded dogmatism, were it less strongly marked, would render his work offensive and unreadable to those who disagree with his opinions; as it is, it is simply ludicrous. I cannot better express my opinion of the book than by using the words of the distinguished _Américaniste_ Dr Müller: 'Ganz ohne Werth soll die in London 1843 erschienene Schrift eines Engländers, George Jonas, über die Urgeschichte des alten America sein.' _Amerikanische Urreligionen_, p. 3.

[I-149] _Jones' Hist. Anc. Amer._, pp. 168-72.

[I-150] According to Mr Jones, Solomon's temple was built by Tyrian workmen.

[I-151] Gebelin affirms enthusiastically: '"que cette inscription vient d'arriver tout exprès du nouveau monde, pour confirmer ses idées sur l'origine des peuples, et que l'on y voit, _d'une manière évidente_, un monument phénicien, un tableau qui, sur le devant, désigne une alliance entre les peuples américains et la nation étrangère, arrivant, par des _vents du nord_, d'un pays riche et industrieux."' Humboldt, however, commenting upon this, writes: 'J'ai examiné avec soin les quatre dessins de la fameuse pierre de Taunton River.... Loin d'y reconnoître un arrangement symétrique de lettres simples ou de caractères syllabiques, je n'y vois qu'un dessin à peine ébauché, et analogue à ceux que l'on a trouvés sur les rochers de la Norwège.' _Vues_, tom. i., pp. 181-2. 'The history of this inscription is scarcely surpassed, in the interest it has excited, or the novel phases it has exhibited at successive epochs of theoretical speculation, by any Perusinian, Eugubine, or Nilotic riddle. When the taste of American antiquaries inclined towards Phœnician relics, the Dighton inscription conformed to their opinions; and with changing tastes it has proved equally compliant. In 1783 the Rev. Ezra Stiles, D.D., President of Yale College, when preaching before the Governor and State of Connecticut, appealed to the Dighton Rock, graven, as he believed, in the old Punic or Phœnician character and language: in proof that the Indians were of the accursed seed of Canaan, and were to be displaced and rooted out by the European descendants of Japhet!... So early as 1680 Dr. Danforth executed what he characterized as "a faithful and accurate representation of the inscription" on Dighton Rock. In 1712 the celebrated Dr. Cotton Mather procured drawings of the same, and transmitted them to the Secretary of the Royal Society of London, with a description, printed in the _Philosophical Transactions_ for 1741, referring to it as "an inscription in which are seven or eight lines, about seven or eight feet long, and about a foot wide, each of them engraven with unaccountable characters, _not like any known character_." In 1730, Dr. Isaac Greenwood, Hollisian Professor at Cambridge, New England, communicated to the Society of Antiquaries of London a drawing of the same inscription, accompanied with a description which proves the great care with which his copy was executed. In 1768, Mr. Stephen Sewall, Professor of Oriental Languages at Cambridge, New England, took a careful copy, the size of the original, and deposited it in the Museum of Harvard University; and a transcript of this was forwarded to the Royal Society of London, six years later, by Mr. James Winthrop, Hollisian Professor of Mathematics. In 1786 the Rev. Michael Lort, D.D., one of the Vice-Presidents of the Society of Antiquaries of London, again brought the subject, with all its accumulated illustrations, before that learned society; and Colonel Vallency undertook to prove that the inscription was neither Phœnician nor Punic, but Siberian. Subsequently, Judge Winthrops executed a drawing in 1788; and again we have others by Judge Baylies and Mr. Joseph Gooding in 1790, by Mr. Job Gardner in 1812; and finally, in 1830, by a Commission appointed by the Rhode Island Historical Society, and communicated to the Antiquaries of Copenhagen with elaborate descriptions: which duly appear in their _Antiquitates Americanæ_, in proof of novel and very remarkable deductions.' _Wilson's Prehist. Man_, pp. 403-5. See also _Pidgeon's Trad._, p. 20.

[I-152] 'Il est assez remarquable que, sur sept caractères, aucun ne s'y trouve répété plusieurs fois.' _Vues_, tom. i., pp. 183-4, with cut of part of inscription.

[I-153] See _Schoolcraft_, in _Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact._, vol. i., pp. 386-97, for full account of this stone, with cuts. See also _Wilson's Prehist. Man_, pp. 408, et seq.

[I-154] For this statement I have only newspaper authority, however. 'Die "Amerika," ein in Bogota, Neu Granada, erschienenes Journal, kündigt eine Entdeckung an, die so seltsam ist, dass sie der Bestätigung bedarf, ehe man ihr Glauben schenken kann. Don Joaquim de Costa soll danach auf einem seiner Güter ein steinernes Monument entdeckt haben, das von einer kleinen Colonie Phönizier aus Sidonia im Jahre 9 oder 10 der Regierung Hiranus, eines Zeitgenossen Salomons, ungefähr zehn Jahrhunderte vor der christlichen Aera errichtet wurde. Der Block hat eine Inschrift von acht Linien, die in schönen Buchstaben, aber ohne Trennung der Worte oder Punctation geschrieben sind. In der Uebersetzung soll die Inschrift besagen, dass jene Männer des Landes Canarien sich im Hafen Apiongaber (Bay-Akubal) einschifften und nach zwölfmonatiger Fahrt von dem Lande Egypten (Afrika) durch Strömungen fortgeführt, in Guayaquil in Peru landeten. Der Stein soll, wie es heisst, die Namen der Reisenden tragen.' _Hamburg Reform_, Oct. 24, 1873. See farther, concerning inscriptions: _Torquemada_, _Monarq. Ind._, tom. i., p. 29; _Stratton's Mound-Builders_, MS., p. 13; _Priest's Amer. Antiq._, p. 121.

[I-155] See particularly _Melgar_, in _Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin_, 2da época, tom. iii., p. 112, et seq.; and _Jones' Hist. Anc. Amer._, p. 154, et seq.; _Baldwin's Anc. Amer._, pp. 185-6.

[I-156] See vol. iv. of this work, p. 118.

[I-157] _Melgar_, in _Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin_, 2da época, tom. iii., pp. 110-11.

[I-158] See farther, concerning Phœnician and Carthaginian theories: _Torquemada_, _Monarq. Ind._, tom. i., pp. 28-9, 255; _Hill's Antiq. Amer._; _Melgar_, in _Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin_, 2da época, tom. iii., p. 111; _Lescarbot_, _Hist. Nouv. France_; _Dally_, _Races Indig._, pp. 5, 8; _Religious Cer. and Cust._, vol. iii., pp. 3-4; _Domenech's Deserts_, vol. i., pp. 9-21; _Vigne's Travels_, vol. ii., pp. 41-56; _Sheldon_, in _Am. Antiq. Soc., Transact._, vol. i., pp. 366-8; _Lizana_, _Devocionario_, in _Landa_, _Relacion_, p. 354; _Levy_, _Nicaragua_, pp. 10, 208; _Kennedy's Probable Origin_; _Baldwin's Anc. Amer._, pp. 171-4, 200, 207; _Du Pratz_, _Hist. Louisiane_, tom. iii., pp. 75-86; _Chateaubriand_, _Lettre aux Auteurs_, p. 87; _Stratton's Mound-Builders_, M.S.; _Carver's Trav._, pp. 188, 191-2; _Montanus_, _Nieuwe Weereld_, pp. 16-22, 27-8; _De Costa_, _Pre-Columbian Disc. Amer._, p. xiv.; _Ritos Antiguos_, in _Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq._, vol. ix., p. 10; _Revue Amér._, tom. i., p. 3; _Farcy_, _Discours_, in _Antiq. Mex._, tom. i., div. i., pp. 43-4: _West und Ost Indischer Lustgart_, p. 4; _Drake's Aborig. Races_, pp. 20-2; _García_, _Orígen de los Ind._, pp. 41-77, 192-239; _Priest's Amer. Antiq._, pp. 250-1, 333-4; _Adair's Amer. Ind._, p. 16; _Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq._, vol. viii., p. 84; _Fontaine's How the World was Peopled_, pp. 254-61.

[I-159] _Orígen de los Ind._, pp. 79-128.

[I-160] 'Yo hice grande diligencia en averiguar esta verdad, y puedo afirmar, que he trabajado mas en ello, que en lo que escrivo en toda la Obra; i asi de lo que acerca de esta he hallado, pondre tales fundamentos al edificio, i maquina de esta sentencia, i opinion, que puedan mui bien sufrir su peso.' _Id._, p. 79.

[I-161] Anian was the name given to the strait which was supposed to lie between Asia and America, and which, after its actual discovery, was named Bering Strait. The unknown northern regions of America were also called Anian.

[I-162] The worthy Father's geographical knowledge was somewhat vague; thus in the next section he writes: 'Tambien pudieron ir las diez Tribus desde la Tierra, que dice Esdras, à la China.... De la China pudieron ir por Mar à la Tierra de Nueva-España, para donde no es mui larga la navegacion, viniendo por el Estrecho, ò Canal, que està, entre la China, i el Reino de Annian, i de Quivira.' _Origen de los Ind._, p. 81.

[I-163] Among several instances given by García to show the cowardice of the Jews, is this: 'dice la Sagrada Escritura, por grande incarecimiento, que no les quiso llevar Moises por la Tierra de Philistim, conociendo su pusilanimidad, i cobardia, porque no temiesen, viendo los Enemigos, que venian en su seguimiento, i de cobardes se bolviesen à Egipto.' With regard to the cowardice of the Americans, he writes: 'Cuenta la Historia, que entrò Cortès, en la Conquista de Nueva-España con 550 Españoles, i de estos eran los 50 Marineros: i en Mexico tuvo, quando lo ganò, 900 Españoles, 200,000 Indios, 80 Caballos: murieron de los Nuestros 50, i de los Caballos 6. Entrò Piçarro en el Perù con pocos mas de 200 Españoles, con los quales, i con 60 Caballos tuvo Victoria contra el Rei Atanualpa.' Not only at the time of the Conquest, he adds, did the Americans scatter and run on the discharge of a musket, but even at the present day, when they are familiar with firearms, they do the same. _Orígen de los Ind._, pp. 85-6.

[I-164] Immediately afterwards he says that the Jews and Americans were alike, because they both bathed frequently.

[I-165] This scarcely seems to be a parallelism, and certainly would not be, had the worthy Father written, as he well might: 'freedom and _the hardships of the desert_,' instead of 'manna and the promised land'.

[I-166] To show García's style and logic, which are, indeed, but little different from the style and reasoning of all these ancient writers, I translate literally, and without embellishment of any kind, his attempts to prove that whatever differences exist at the present day between the Jew and the American, are due to the special act of God. 'It was divinely ordained that men should be scattered throughout all countries, and be so different from one another in disposition and temperament, in order that by their variety men should become possessed of a different and distinct genius; of a difference in the color of the face and in the form of the body; just as animals are various, and various the things produced by the earth, various the trees, various the plants and grasses, various the birds; and finally, various the fish of the sea and of rivers: in order that men should see in this how great is the wisdom of Him that created them. And although the variety and specific difference existing in these irrational and senseless beings causes in them a specific distinction, and that in men is only individual, or accidental and common; the Most High desired that this variety and common difference should exist in the human species, as there could be none specific and essential, so that there should be a resemblance in this between man and the other created beings: of which the Creator himself wished that the natural cause should be the arrangement of the earth, the region of the air, influence of the sky, waters, and edibles. By which the reader will not fail to be convinced that it was possible for the Indians to obtain and acquire a difference of mental faculties, and of color of face and of features, such as the Jews had not.' _Orígen de los Ind._, p. 105.

[I-167] 'Y finalmente, si nos dixeren, que solos aquellos siete generos de Gentes, que he nombrado, que son Colcos, Egypcios, Etiopes, Fenices, Syros de Palestina, i Syros de los Rios Termodon, i Pantenio, i sus vecinos los Macrones fueron los que vsaron en el Mundo la circuncision.... A Herodoto, i à los que alegaren lo referido, se responde, que sin duda los Hebreos fueron los primeros que la vsaron, por mandado de Dios.' _Orígen de los Ind._, p. 110.

[I-168] See _Orígen de los Ind._, pp. 119-23, for examples of linguistic resemblances.

[I-169] _Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq._, vol. viii., pp. 19-20, vol. vi., p. 536.

[I-170] _Id._, vol. viii., p. 21.

[I-171] _Id._, pp. 25-7, 30-1.

[I-172] _Id._, p. 39.

[I-173] _Id._, p. 58.

[I-174] _Id._, pp. 67, 218-19, 240.

[I-175] _Id._, p. 135.

[I-176] _Id._, p. 154.

[I-177] 'Y el Ynga Yupangue entraba solo, y él mismo por su mano sacrificaba las ovejas y corderos.' _Betanzos_, _Historia de los Ingas_, lib. i., cap. xi., quoted in _Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq._, vol. viii., p. 156.

[I-178] _Id._, pp. 157, 236, 389, vol. vi., pp. 273-5.

[I-179] _Id._, vol. viii., p. 160.

[I-180] _Id._, p. 174.

[I-181] _Id._, p. 176.

[I-182] _Id._, pp. 174-82. He presents a most elaborate discussion of this point. See also vol. vi., pp. 512, 523.

[I-183] _Id._, vol. viii., p. 238.

[I-184] _Id._, p. 248.

[I-185] _Id._, p. 257.

[I-186] _Id._, p. 258, vol. vi., p. 236.

[I-187] _Id._, pp. 164-6.

[I-188] _Id._, p. 208. 'Representations of the lifting up of serpents frequently occur in Mexican paintings: and the plagues which Moses called down upon the Egyptians by lifting up his rod, which became a serpent, are evidently referred to in the eleventh and twelfth pages of the _Borgian Manuscript_. An allusion to the passage of the Red Sea ... seems also to be contained in the seventy-first page of the _Lesser Vatican MS._; and the destruction of Pharaoh and his host, and the thanksgiving of Moses, may perhaps be signified by the figure on the left, in the same page, of a man falling into a pit or gulf, and by the hand on the right stretched out to receive an offering.'

[I-189] _Id._, p. 222.

[I-190] _Id._, p. 232, et seq. Kingsborough reasons at some length on this point.

[I-191] _Id._, p. 361.

[I-192] _Id._, p. 406.

[I-193] _Id._, pp. 272-3, 333-5, 392-3; vol. viii., pp. 121-2, 142-3, 391.

[I-194] _Id._, vol. vi., pp. 300-1; vol. viii., p. 137.

[I-195] _Id._, vol. vi., p. 504, vol. viii., p. 18.

[I-196] _Id._, vol. vi., p. 125.

[I-197] _Id._, p. 45.

[I-198] _Id._, p. 142.

[I-199] _Id._, p. 246. Duran sustains the theory that the Indians are the descendants of the lost ten tribes of Israel. After giving several reasons founded on the Scriptures, he refers to the traditions obtained by him from the old people of the country. They related that their ancestors, whilst suffering many hardships and persecutions, were prevailed upon by a great man, who became their chief, to flee from that land into another, where they might have rest; they arrived at the sea-shore, and the chief struck the waters with a rod he had in his hands; the sea opened, and the chief and his followers marched on, but were soon pursued by their enemies; they crossed over in safety, and their enemies were swallowed up by the sea; at any rate, their ancestors never had any further account of their persecutors. Another tradition transmitted from generation to generation, and recorded in pictures, is, that while their first ancestors were on their journey to the promised land, they tarried in the vicinity of certain high hills; here a terrible earthquake occurred, and some wicked people who were with them were swallowed up by the earth opening under their feet. The same picture that Father Duran saw, showed that the ancestors of the Mexican people transmitted a tradition, relating that during their journey a kind of sand (or hail) rained upon them. Father Duran further gives an account furnished him by an old Indian of Cholula (some 100 years old) concerning the creation of the world: The first men were giants who, desirous of seeing the home of the sun, divided themselves into two parties, one of which journeyed to the west, and the other to the east, until they were stopped by the sea; they then concluded to return to the place they started from, called _Vztacculemjueminian_; finding no way to reach the sun, whose light and beauty they highly admired, they determined to build a tower that should reach the heavens. They built a tower; but the Lord became angry at their presumption, and the dwellers of heaven descended like thunderbolts and destroyed the edifice; the giants on seeing their work destroyed, were much frightened, and scattered themselves throughout the earth. _Duran_, _Hist. Indias_, MS., tom. i., cap. i.

[I-200] _Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq._, vol. vi., p. 246.

[I-201] _Id._, p. 248.

[I-202] _Id._, p. 253.

[I-203] _Id._, p. 254.

[I-204] _Id._, p. 312.

[I-205] _Id._, p. 361.

[I-206] _Id._, p. 382.

[I-207] _Id._, p. 401.

[I-208] To enter into details on all these subjects would require volumes as large, and I may add, as unreadable, as those of Lord Kingsborough. The reader who wishes to investigate more closely, will find all the points to which I have referred in volumes vi. and viii. of the noble writer's work, _Mexican Antiquities_. Mr James Adair, 'a trader with the Indians, and resident in their country for forty years,' very warmly advocates the Hebrew theory. As his intercourse with the Americans was confined to the wild tribes, the genuine 'red men' inhabiting the south-eastern states of North America, his argument and analogies differ in many points from those of Kingsborough and García, who treated chiefly of the civilized nations of Mexico and Central America. Here are some of his comparisons: 'The Israelites were divided into Tribes and had chiefs over them, so the Indians divide themselves: each tribe forming a little community within the nation--And as the nation hath its particular symbol, so hath each tribe the badge from which it is denominated.' If we go from nation to nation among them we shall not find one individual who doth not distinguish himself by his family name. Every town has a state house or synedrion, the same as the Jewish sanhedrim, where almost every night the headmen meet to discuss public business. The Hebrew nation were ordered to worship Jehovah the true and living God, who by the Indians is styled _Yohewah_. The ancient heathens, it is well known, worshiped a plurality of Gods: but these American Indians pay their religious devoir to Loak Ishtohoollo Aba, The Great Beneficent Supreme Holy Spirit of Fire. They do not pay the least perceptible adoration to images. Their ceremonies in their religious worship accord more nearly with the Mosaic institutions, which could not be if they were of heathen descent. The American Indians affirm, that there is a certain fixed time and place, when and where every one must die, without the possibility of averting it; such was the belief also of the ancient Greeks and Romans, who were much addicted to copying the rites and customs of the Jews. Their opinion that God chose them out of all the rest of mankind as his peculiar and beloved people, fills both the white Jew and the red American, with that steady hatred against all the world, which renders them hated and despised by all. We have abundant evidence of the Jews believing in the ministration of angels, during the Old Testament dispensation, their frequent appearances and their services on earth, are recorded in the oracles, which the Jews themselves receive as given by divine inspiration, and St Paul in his epistle addressed to the Hebrews speaks of it as their general opinion that "angels are ministering spirits to the good and righteous on earth." The Indian sentiments and traditions are the same. They believe the higher regions to be inhabited by good spirits, relations to the Great Holy One, and that these spirits attend and favor the virtuous. The Indian language and dialects appear to have the very idiom and genius of the Hebrew. Their words and sentences are expressive, concise, emphatical, sonorous, and bold, and often both in letters and signification synonymous with the Hebrew language. They count time after the manner of the Hebrews, reckoning years by lunar months like the Israelites who counted by moons. The religious ceremonies of the Indian Americans are in conformity with those of the Jews, they having their Prophets, High Priests, and others of religious order. As the Jews had a sanctum sanctorum or most holy place, so have all the Indian nations. The dress also of their High Priests is similar in character to that of the Hebrews. The festivals, feasts, and religious rites of the Indian Americans have also a great resemblance to that of the Hebrews. The Indian imitates the Israelite in his religious offerings. The Hebrews had various ablutions and anointings according to the Mosaic ritual--and all the Indian nations constantly observe similar customs from religious motives. Their frequent bathing, or dipping themselves and their children in rivers, even in the severest weather, seems to be as truly Jewish as the other rites and ceremonies which have been mentioned. The Indian laws of uncleanness and purification, and also the abstaining from things deemed unclean are the same as those of the Hebrews. The Indian marriages, divorces and punishments of adultery, still retain a strong likeness to the Jewish laws and customs on these points. Many of the Indian punishments resemble those of the Jews. Whoever attentively views the features of the Indian, and his eye, and reflects on his fickle, obstinate, and cruel disposition will naturally think of the Jews. The ceremonies performed by the Indians before going to war, such as purification and fasting, are similar to those of the Hebrew nation. The Israelites were fond of wearing beads and other ornaments, even as early as the patriarchal age, and in resemblance to these customs the Indian females continually wear the same, believing it to be a preventive against many evils. The Indian manner of curing the sick is very similar to that of the Jews. Like the Hebrews, they firmly believe that diseases and wounds are occasioned by divine anger, in proportion to some violation of the old beloved speech. The Hebrews carefully buried their dead, so on any accident they gathered their bones, and laid them in the tombs of their forefathers: thus, all the numerous nations of Indians perform the like friendly office to every deceased person of their respective tribe. The Jewish records tell us that the women mourned for the loss of their deceased husbands, and were reckoned vile by the civil law if they married in the space of at least ten months after their death. In the same manner all the Indian widows, by an established strict penal law, mourn for the loss of their deceased husbands; and among some tribes for the space of three or four years. The surviving brother by the Mosaic law, was to raise seed to a deceased brother, who left a widow childless to perpetuate his name and family. The American law enforces the same rule. When the Israelites gave names to their children or others they chose such appellatives as suited best their circumstances and the times. This custom is a standing rule with the Indians. _Amer. Ind._

[I-209] _Amer. Antiq._, pp. 68-70.

[I-210] 'See Deut., chap. vi., from 4th to 9th verse, inclusive; also, chap. xi., verse 13 to 21, inclusive; and Exodus, chap. xiii., 11 to 16, inclusive, to which the reader can refer, if he has the curiosity to read this most interesting discovery.... It is said by Calmet, that the above texts are the very passages of Scripture which the Jews used to write on the leaves of their phylacteries. These phylacteries were little rolls of parchment, whereon were written certain words of the law. These they wore upon their forehead, and upon the wrist of the left arm.' _Id._

[I-211] _Antiquities of Licking County, Ohio_, MS.

Brasseur de Bourbourg, although he rejects Kingsborough's theory, thinks that some Jews may have reached America; he recognizes a Jewish type on certain ruins, and calls attention to the perfectly Jewish dress of the women at Palin and on the shores of Lake Amatitlan. _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. i., p. 17. Customs and relics seem to show that the Americans are of Hebrew descent, and that they came by way of the Californias. _Giordan_, _Tehuantepec_, p. 57. The theory of descent from the ten tribes is not to be despised. On the north-west there are many beliefs and rites which resemble the Jewish; circumcision obtains in Central America, and women wear Jewish costumes. Father Ricci has seen Israelites in China living according to Moses' laws, and Father Adam Schall knew Israelites who had kept the Old Testament laws, and who knew nothing of the death of the Savior. This shows that the ten tribes took this direction, and as an emigration from Asia to America is perfectly admissible, it is likely that the Jews were among the number who crossed, probably by the Aleutian islands. _Rossi_, _Souvenirs_, pp. 276-7. Jones, as might be expected, 'will not yield to any man in the firm belief that the Aborigines of North America (_but North America only_) and the ancient Israelites are identical, unless controverted by the stern authority of superior historical deductions.' _Hist. Anc. Amer._, pp. 2, 11-26, 188-90. Parker does not accept the Jewish theory, chiefly because of the great variety of distinct languages in America, but he points out several resemblances between north-west tribes and Jews. _Explor. Tour_, pp. 194-8. Meyer finds many reasons for regarding the wild tribes of the north as Jews; such as physical peculiarities; numerous customs; the number of languages pointing to a Babylonian confusion of tongues. Most Indians have high-priests' temples, altars, and a sacred ark which they carry with them on their wanderings. They count by four seasons, celebrate new-moon and arbor festivals, and offer first fruits. In September, when the sun enters the sign of the scales, they hold their feast of atonement. The name Iowa he thinks is derived from Jehova. They work with one hand and carry their weapons in the other. The pillars of cloud and pillars of fire which guided the Israelites, may be volcanoes on the east coast of Asia, by whose aid the ten tribes reached America. _Nach dem Sacramento_, pp. 241-5. If the Toltecs were Jews, they must have visited the Old World in the year 753 of the Roman era, to obtain the Christian dogmas apparent in their cult. _Waldeck_, _Voy. Pitt._, p. 45. The Navajo tradition that they came out of the water a long way to the north; their peaceful, pastoral manner of life; their aversion to hogs' flesh; their belief that they will return to the water whence they came, instead of going to hunting-grounds like other tribes; their prophets who prophesy and receive revelation; their strict fast-days, and keenness in trade; their comparatively good treatment of women--are Jewish similarities, stronger than any tribes can present. 'Scalping appears to have been a Hebrew custom.... The most striking custom of apparently Hebraic origin, is the periodical separation of females, and the strong and universal idea of uncleanness connected therewith.' _Schoolcraft's Arch._, vol. iii., pp. 60, 62. The Tartars are probably descended from the ten tribes; they boast of being Jews, are divided into tribes, and practice circumcision. The separation of women at certain times, and the expression Hallelujah Yohewah, are proofs of Jewish descent; scalping is mentioned in Bible (68th Psalm, ver. 21). _Crawford's Essay._ According to various manuscripts the Toltecs are of Jewish descent. Having crossed the Red Sea, they abandoned themselves to idolatry, and fearing Moses' reprimand, they separated from the rest and crossed the ocean to the Seven Caves, and there founded Tula. _Juarros_, _Hist. Guat._, tom. ii., pp. 7-8. Juarez, _Municipalidad de Leon_, p. 10, states that Leon de Cordova is of the same opinion. Em. de Moraez, a Portuguese, in his History of Brazil, thinks nothing but circumcision wanting to form a perfect resemblance between the Jews and Brazilians. He thinks that America was wholly peopled by Jews and Carthaginians. _Carver's Trav._, pp. 188-9. Catlin thinks the North Americans are a mixed race, who have Jewish blood in them. The mixture is shown by their skulls, while many customs are decidedly Jewish. Probably part of tribes scattered by Christians have come over and intermarried. He gives analogies in monotheism, sanctuaries, tribeship, chosen people belief, marriage by gifts, war, burial, ablutions, feasts, sacrifices, and other customs. Any philological similarity is unnecessary and superfluous. The Jew element was too feeble to influence language. _Catlin's N. Amer. Ind._, vol. ii., pp. 231-5. Melgar gives a list of the Chiapanec calendar names, and finds fourteen agree with suitable Hebrew words. He concludes, therefore, that ancient intercourse with the Old World is proven. _Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin_, 2da época, tom. iii., p. 108. Jarvis, _Religion Ind. N. Amer._, pp. 71-87, compares words in Hebrew and American languages. Ethan Smith, _Views of the Hebrews_, presents eleven arguments in favor of the Jewish theory. Beatty, _Journal of Two Months' Tour in America_, gives a number of reasons why the Hebrew theory should be correct. See further, for general review of this theory: _Crowe's Cent. Amer._, pp. 64-8; _Domenech's Deserts_, vol. i., pp. 46-9; _Simon's Ten Tribes_, which is, however, merely a cheap abridgement of Kingsborough; _Dally_, _Races Indig._, pp. 5-6; _Thorowgood's Jewes in America_; _Worsley's Amer. Ind._, pp. 1-185; _L'Estrange_, _Americans no Jewes_; _Spizelius_, _Elevatio Relationis_, a criticism on _Menasse Ben Israel's Hope of Israel_; _Tschudi's Peruvian Antiq._, pp. 8-11.

In opposition to the Hebrew theory we read that Wolff, the Jew traveler, found no Jewish traces among the tribes of North America. _Fontaine's How the World was Peopled_, p. 157. 'The strong trait in Hebrew compound words, of inserting the syllable el or a single letter in the names of children, derived from either the primary or secondary names of the deity, does not prevail in any Indian tribes known to me. Neither are circumstances attending their birth or parentage, which were so often used in the Hebrew children's names, ever mentioned in these compounds. Indian children are generally named from some atmospheric phenomenon. There are no traces of the rites of circumcision, anointing, sprinkling, or washing, considered as consecrated symbols. Circumcision was reported as existing among the Sitkas, on the Missouri; but a strict examination proved it to be a mistake.' _Schoolcraft's Arch._, vol. iii., p. 61. The Rev. T. Thorowgood in 1650, published a work entitled _Jewes in America, or Probabilities that the Americans are of that Race_. This was answered in 1651, by Sir Hamon L'Estrange, in a book entitled, _Americans no Jewes_. L'Estrange believes that America was peopled long before the dispersion of the Jews, which took place 1500 years after the flood. A strong mixture of Jewish blood would have produced distinct customs, etc., which are not to be found. The native traditions as to origin are to be regarded as dreams rather than as true stories. The analogous customs and rites adduced by Thorowgood, L'Estrange goes on, are amply refuted by Acosta and other writers. The occasional cannibalism of the Jews was caused by famine, but that of the Americans was a regular institution. The argument that the Americans are Jews because they have not the gospel, is worthy only of ridicule, seeing that millions of other pagans are in the same condition. Of the Hebrew theory Baldwin, who devotes nearly two pages to it, writes: 'this wild notion, called a theory, scarcely deserves so much attention. It is a lunatic fancy, possible only to men of a certain class, which in our time does not multiply.' _Anc. Amer._, p. 167. Tschudi regards the arguments in favor of the Jewish theory as unsound. _Peruvian Antiq._, p. 11. Acosta thinks that the Jews would have preserved their language, customs, and records, in America as well as in other places. _Hist. de las Ynd._, pp. 79-80. Macgregor argues that the Americans could not have been Jews, for the latter people were acquainted with the use of iron as far back as the time of Tubal Cain; they also used milk and wheaten bread, which the Americans could and would have used if they had once known of them. _Progress of Amer._, vol. i., p. 24. Montanus believes that America was peopled long before the time of the dispersion of the Jewish tribes, and raises objections to nearly every point that has been adduced in favor of a Hebrew origin. _Nieuwe Weereld_, p. 26, et seq. Torquemada gives Las Casas' reasons for believing that the Americans are of Jewish descent, and refutes them. _Monarq. Ind._, tom. i., pp. 22-7. The difference of physical organization is alone sufficient to set aside the question of Jewish origin. That so conservative a people as the Jews should have lost all the traditions, customs, etc., of their race, is absurd. _Democratic Review_, vol. xi., p. 617. Rafinesque advances, as objections to Jew theory, that the ten tribes are to be found scattered over Asia; that the Sabbath would never have fallen into disuse if they had once introduced it into America; that the Hebrew knew the use of iron, had plows, and employed writing; that circumcision is practiced only in one or two localities in America; that the sharp, striking Jewish features are not found in Americans; that the Americans eat hogs and other animals forbidden to the Jews; that the American war customs, such as scalping, torturing, cannibalism, painting bodies and going naked, are not Jewish in the least; that the American languages are not like Hebrew. _Priest's Amer. Antiq._, pp. 76-9.

[I-212] I translate freely from Bertrand, _Mémoires_, p. 32, et seq., for this account.

[I-213] In the State of New York.

[I-214] The discovery was in this wise: 'Près du village de Manchester, dans le comté d'Ontario, État de New York, se trouve une éminence plus considérable que celle des environs, et qui est devenue célèbre dans les fastes de la nouvelle Église sous le nom de Cumorah. Sur le flanc occidental de cette colline, non loin de son sommet, et sous une pierre d'une grande dimension, des lames d'or se trouvaient déposées dans un coffre de pierre. Le couvercle en était aminci vers ses bords, et relevé au milieu en forme de boule. Après avoir dégagé la terre, Joseph (Smith) souleva le couvercle à l'aide d'un levier, et trouva les plaques, l'Urim-Thummim, et le pectoral. Le coffre était formé de pierres reliées entre elles aux angles par du ciment. Au fond se trouvaient deux pierres plates placées en croix, et sur ces pierres les lames d'or et les autres objets. Joseph voulait les enlever, mais il en fut empêché par l'envoyé divin, qui l'informe que le temps n'était pas encore venu, et qu'il fallait attendre quatre ans à partir de cette époque. D'après ses instructions, Joseph se rendit tous les ans le même jour au lieu du dépôt, pour recevoir de la bouche du messager céleste, des instructions sur la manière dont le royaume de Dieu devait être fondé et gouverné dans les derniers jours.... Le 22 septembre 1827, le messager des cieux lui laissa prendre les plaques, l'Urim-Thummim et le pectoral, à condition qu'il serait responsable, et en l'avertissant qu'il serait _retranché_, s'il venait à perdre ces objets par sa négligence, mais qu'il serait protégé s'il faisait tous ses efforts pour les conserver.' _Bertrand_, _Mémoires_, pp. 23-5.

[I-215] Though the question of the Scandinavian discoveries would seem to merit considerable attention from one who wrote a 'colonial history' of America, yet Mr George Bancroft disposes of the entire subject in a single page: 'The story of the colonization of America by Northmen,' he writes, 'rests on narratives, mythological in form, and obscure in meaning; ancient, yet not contemporary. The chief document is an interpolation in the history of Sturleson, whose zealous curiosity could hardly have neglected the discovery of a continent. The geographical details are too vague to sustain a conjecture; the accounts of the mild winter and fertile soil are, on any modern hypothesis, fictitious or exaggerated; the description of the natives applies only to the Esquimaux, inhabitants of hyperborean regions, the remark which should define the length of the shortest winter's day, has received interpretations adapted to every latitude from New York to Cape Farewell; and Vinland has been sought in all directions, from Greenland and the St. Lawrence to Africa.' _Bancroft's History_, vol. i., pp. 5-6. Irving says that as far as he 'has had experience in tracing these stories of early discoveries of portions of the New World, he has generally found them very confident deductions drawn from very vague and questionable facts. Learned men are too prone to give substance to mere shadows, when they assist some preconceived theory. Most of these accounts, when divested of the erudite comments of their editors, have proved little better than the traditionary fables, noticed in another part of this work, respecting the imaginary islands of St. Borondon, and of the Seven Cities.' _Columbus_, vol. iii., p. 434. All of which would certainly be true enough of most theories, but that it was erroneous as far as the Northmen's visits are concerned, has, I think, been conclusively shown in later years.

[I-216] 'It might also be argued, if it were at all necessary, that, if these Sagas were post-Columbian compositions drawn up by Icelanders who were jealous of the fame of the Genoese navigator, we should certainly be able to point out something either in their structure, bearing, or style, by which it would be indicated. Yet such is not the case. These writings reveal no anxiety to show the connection of the Northmen with the great land lying at the west. The authors do not see anything at all remarkable or meritorious in the explorations, which were conducted simply for the purpose of gain. Those marks which would certainly have been impressed by a more modern writer forging a historical composition designed to show an occupation of the country before the time of Columbus, are wholly wanting. There is no special pleading or rivalry, and no desire to show prior and superior knowledge of the country to which the navigators had from time to time sailed. We only discover a straightforward, honest endeavor to tell the story of certain men's lives. This is done in a simple, artless way, and with every indication of a desire to mete out even handed justice to all. And candid readers who come to the subject with minds free from prejudice, will be powerfully impressed with the belief that they are reading authentic histories written by honest men.' _Pre-Columbian Disc. Amer._, pp. xli.-xlii.

[I-217] Vol. viii., p. 114, et seq.

[I-218] The exact dates in these relations I cannot vouch for; but the several authors who have written on the subject differ by only a year or two.

[I-219] 'Helluland, from _Hella_, a flat stone, an abundance of which may be found in Labrador and the region round about.' _De Costa's Pre-Columbian Disc. Amer._, p. 28. '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 from twenty-seven to thirty geographical miles (German or Danish, of which fifteen are equal to a degree; each of these accordingly equal to _four_ English sea-miles). From the island of Helluland, afterwards called Little Helluland, Biarne sailed to Heriulfsnes (Ikigeit) in Greenland, with strong south-westerly gales, in four days. The distance between that cape and _Newfoundland_ is about 150 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, not even a shrub, can grow, and which are therefore usually called _Barrens_; thus answering completely to the _hellur_ of the ancient Northmen, from which they named the country.' _Abstract of Hist. Evid._, in _Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol. viii., p. 123.

[I-220] 'Markland was situate to the south-west of Helluland, distant about three days' sail, or about from eighty to ninety miles. It is therefore _Nova Scotia_, of which the descriptions given by later writers answer to that given by the ancient Northmen of Markland.' _Id._