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diff --git a/27253.txt b/27253.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9e5b61a --- /dev/null +++ b/27253.txt @@ -0,0 +1,17822 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Discovery of America Vol. 1 (of 2), by John Fiske + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Discovery of America Vol. 1 (of 2) + with some account of Ancient America and the Spanish Conquest + +Author: John Fiske + +Release Date: November 13, 2008 [EBook #27253] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA *** + + + + +Produced by Christine P. Travers and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +[Transcriber's note: Obvious printer's errors have been corrected, all +other inconsistencies are as in the original. The author's spelling has +been maintained. + +Unusual superscripts are shown as ^{xx}, e.g.: w^{ch} for which. + +Description of the characters not found in the Unicode tables: + + [=a] a with macron. + [=e] e with macron. + [=i] i with macron. + [=o] o with macron. + [=u] u with macron. + [)i] i with breve. + [-p] p with stroke. + [~m] m with tilde. + [~p] p with tilde. + [~q] q with tilde. + [=z] ezh. + [ deg.u] u with ring.] + + + + +THE + +DISCOVERY OF AMERICA + +_WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF ANCIENT AMERICA AND THE SPANISH CONQUEST_ + + +BY + +JOHN FISKE + + +_IN TWO VOLUMES_ + +VOL. I. + + + Then I unbar the doors; my paths lead out + The exodus of nations; I disperse + Men to all shores that front the hoary main. + I too have arts and sorceries; + Illusion dwells forever with the wave. + I make some coast alluring, some lone isle + To distant men, who must go there or die. + EMERSON + + +[Illustration: Editor's arm.] + + + BOSTON AND NEW YORK + HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY + The Riverside Press, Cambridge + 1897 + + +Copyright, 1892, By JOHN FISKE. + +_All rights reserved._ + +SIXTEENTH THOUSAND. + + + _The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U. S. A._ + Electrotyped and Printed by H. O. Houghton & Company. + + + + + TO + + EDWARD AUGUSTUS FREEMAN, + + A SCHOLAR WHO INHERITS THE GIFT OF MIDAS, AND + TURNS INTO GOLD WHATEVER SUBJECT HE + TOUCHES, I DEDICATE THIS BOOK, WITH + GRATITUDE FOR ALL THAT HE + HAS TAUGHT ME + + + + +PREFACE. + + +The present work is the outcome of two lines of study pursued, with more +or less interruption from other studies, for about thirty years. It will +be observed that the book has two themes, as different in character as +the themes for voice and piano in Schubert's "Fruehlingsglaube," and yet +so closely related that the one is needful for an adequate comprehension +of the other. In order to view in their true perspective the series of +events comprised in the Discovery of America, one needs to form a mental +picture of that strange world of savagery and barbarism to which +civilized Europeans were for the first time introduced in the course of +the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, in their voyages along the +African coast, into the Indian and Pacific oceans, and across the +Atlantic. Nothing that Europeans discovered during that stirring period +was so remarkable as these antique phases of human society, the mere +existence of which had scarcely been suspected, and the real character +of which it has been left for the present generation to begin to +understand. Nowhere was this ancient society so full of instructive +lessons as in aboriginal America, which had pursued its own course of +development, cut off and isolated from the Old World, for probably more +than fifty thousand years. The imperishable interest of those episodes +in the Discovery of America known as the conquests of Mexico and Peru +consists chiefly in the glimpses they afford us of this primitive world. +It was not an uninhabited continent that the Spaniards found, and in +order to comprehend the course of events it is necessary to know +something about those social features that formed a large part of the +burden of the letters of Columbus and Vespucius, and excited even more +intense and general interest in Europe than the purely geographical +questions suggested by the voyages of those great sailors. The +descriptions of ancient America, therefore, which form a kind of +background to the present work, need no apology. + +It was the study of prehistoric Europe and of early Aryan institutions +that led me by a natural sequence to the study of aboriginal America. In +1869, after sketching the plan of a book on our Aryan forefathers, I was +turned aside for five years by writing "Cosmic Philosophy." During that +interval I also wrote "Myths and Myth-Makers" as a side-work to the +projected book on the Aryans, and as soon as the excursion into the +field of general philosophy was ended, in 1874, the work on that book +was resumed. Fortunately it was not then carried to completion, for it +would have been sadly antiquated by this time. The revolution in theory +concerning the Aryans has been as remarkable as the revolution in +chemical theory which some years ago introduced the New Chemistry. It is +becoming eminently probable that the centre of diffusion of Aryan speech +was much nearer to Lithuania than to any part of Central Asia, and it +has for some time been quite clear that the state of society revealed in +Homer and the Vedas is not at all like primitive society, but very far +from it. By 1876 I had become convinced that there was no use in going +on without widening the field of study. The conclusions of the Aryan +school needed to be supplemented, and often seriously modified, by the +study of the barbaric world, and it soon became manifest that for the +study of barbarism there is no other field that for fruitfulness can be +compared with aboriginal America. + +This is because the progress of society was much slower in the western +hemisphere than in the eastern, and in the days of Columbus and Cortes +it had nowhere "caught up" to the points reached by the Egyptians of the +Old Empire or by the builders of Mycenae and Tiryns. In aboriginal +America we therefore find states of society preserved in stages of +development similar to those of our ancestral societies in the Old World +long ages before Homer and the Vedas. Many of the social phenomena of +ancient Europe are also found in aboriginal America, but always in a +more primitive condition. The clan, phratry, and tribe among the +Iroquois help us in many respects to get back to the original +conceptions of the gens, curia, and tribe among the Romans. We can +better understand the growth of kingship of the Agamemnon type when we +have studied the less developed type in Montezuma. The house-communities +of the southern Slavs are full of interest for the student of the early +phases of social evolution, but the Mandan round-house and the Zuni +pueblo carry us much deeper into the past. Aboriginal American +institutions thus afford one of the richest fields in the world for the +application of the comparative method, and the red Indian, viewed in +this light, becomes one of the most interesting of men; for in studying +him intelligently, one gets down into the stone age of human thought. No +time should be lost in gathering whatever can be learned of his ideas +and institutions, before their character has been wholly lost under the +influence of white men. Under that influence many Indians have been +quite transformed, while others have been as yet but little affected. +Some extremely ancient types of society, still preserved on this +continent in something like purity, are among the most instructive +monuments of the past that can now be found in the world. Such a type +is that of the Moquis of northeastern Arizona. I have heard a rumour, +which it is to be hoped is ill-founded, that there are persons who wish +the United States government to interfere with this peaceful and +self-respecting people, break up their pueblo life, scatter them in +farmsteads, and otherwise compel them, against their own wishes, to +change their habits and customs. If such a cruel and stupid thing were +ever to be done, we might justly be said to have equalled or surpassed +the folly of those Spaniards who used to make bonfires of Mexican +hieroglyphics. It is hoped that the present book, in which of course it +is impossible to do more than sketch the outlines and indicate the +bearings of so vast a subject, will serve to awaken readers to the +interest and importance of American archaeology for the general study of +the evolution of human society. + +So much for the first and subsidiary theme. As for my principal theme, +the Discovery of America, I was first drawn to it through its close +relations with a subject which for some time chiefly occupied my mind, +the history of the contact between the Aryan and Semitic worlds, and +more particularly between Christians and Mussulmans about the shores of +the Mediterranean. It is also interesting as part of the history of +science, and furthermore as connected with the beginnings of one of the +most momentous events in the career of mankind, the colonization of the +barbaric world by Europeans. Moreover, the discovery of America has its +full share of the romantic fascination that belongs to most of the work +of the Renaissance period. I have sought to exhibit these different +aspects of the subject. + +The present book is in all its parts written from the original sources +of information. The work of modern scholars has of course been freely +used, but never without full acknowledgment in text or notes, and seldom +without independent verification from the original sources. +Acknowledgments are chiefly due to Humboldt, Morgan, Bandelier, Major, +Varnhagen, Markham, Helps, and Harrisse. To the last-named scholar I owe +an especial debt of gratitude, in common with all who have studied this +subject since his arduous researches were begun. Some of the most +valuable parts of his work have consisted in the discovery, +reproduction, and collation of documents; and to some extent his pages +are practically equivalent to the original sources inspected by him in +the course of years of search through European archives, public and +private. In the present book I must have expressed dissent from his +conclusions at least as often as agreement with them, but whether one +agrees with him or not, one always finds him helpful and stimulating. +Though he has in some sort made himself a Frenchman in the course of +his labours, it is pleasant to recall the fact that M. Harrisse is by +birth our fellow-countryman; and there are surely few Americans of our +time whom students of history have more reason for holding in honour. + +I have not seen Mr. Winsor's "Christopher Columbus" in time to make any +use of it. Within the last few days, while my final chapter is going to +press, I have received the sheets of it, a few days in advance of +publication. I do not find in it any references to sources of +information which I have not already fully considered, so that our +differences of opinion on sundry points may serve to show what diverse +conclusions may be drawn from the same data. The most conspicuous +difference is that which concerns the personal character of Columbus. +Mr. Winsor writes in a spirit of energetic (not to say violent) reaction +against the absurdities of Roselly de Lorgues and others who have tried +to make a saint of Columbus; and under the influence of this reaction he +offers us a picture of the great navigator that serves to raise a +pertinent question. No one can deny that Las Casas was a keen judge of +men, or that his standard of right and wrong was quite as lofty as any +one has reached in our own time. He had a much more intimate knowledge +of Columbus than any modern historian can ever hope to acquire, and he +always speaks of him with warm admiration and respect. But how could +Las Casas ever have respected the feeble, mean-spirited driveller whose +portrait Mr. Winsor asks us to accept as that of the Discoverer of +America? + +If, however, instead of his biographical estimate of Columbus, we +consider Mr. Winsor's contributions toward a correct statement of the +difficult geographical questions connected with the subject, we +recognize at once the work of an acknowledged master in his chosen +field. It is work, too, of the first order of importance. It would be +hard to mention a subject on which so many reams of direful nonsense +have been written as on the discovery of America; and the prolific +source of so much folly has generally been what Mr. Freeman fitly calls +"bondage to the modern map." In order to understand what the great +mariners of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries were trying to do, and +what people supposed them to have done, one must begin by resolutely +banishing the modern map from one's mind. The ancient map must take its +place, but this must not be the ridiculous "Orbis Veteribus Notus," to +be found in the ordinary classical atlas, _which simply copies the +outlines of countries with modern accuracy from the modern map, and then +scatters ancient names over them!_ Such maps are worse than useless. In +dealing with the discovery of America one must steadily keep before +one's mind the quaint notions of ancient geographers, especially +Ptolemy and Mela, as portrayed upon such maps as are reproduced in the +present volume. It was just these distorted and hazy notions that swayed +the minds and guided the movements of the great discoverers, and went on +reproducing themselves upon newly-made maps for a century or more after +the time of Columbus. Without constant reference to these old maps one +cannot begin to understand the circumstances of the discovery of +America. + +In no way can one get at the heart of the matter more completely than by +threading the labyrinth of causes and effects through which the western +hemisphere came slowly and gradually to be known by the name AMERICA. +The reader will not fail to observe the pains which I have taken to +elucidate this subject, not from any peculiar regard for Americus +Vespucius, but because the quintessence of the whole geographical +problem of the discovery of the New World is in one way or another +involved in the discussion. I can think of no finer instance of the +queer complications that can come to surround and mystify an increase of +knowledge too great and rapid to be comprehended by a single generation +of men. + +In the solution of the problem as to the first Vespucius voyage I follow +the lead of Varnhagen, but always independently and with the documentary +evidence fully in sight. For some years I vainly tried to pursue +Humboldt's clues to some intelligible conclusion, and felt inhospitably +inclined toward Varnhagen's views as altogether too plausible; he seemed +to settle too many difficulties at once. But after becoming convinced of +the spuriousness of the Bandini letter (see below, vol. ii. p. 94); and +observing how the air at once was cleared in some directions, it seemed +that further work in textual criticism would be well bestowed. I made a +careful study of the diction of the letter from Vespucius to Soderini in +its two principal texts:--1. the Latin version of 1507, the original of +which is in the library of Harvard University, appended to +Waldseemueller's "Cosmographiae Introductio"; 2. the Italian text +reproduced severally by Bandini, Canovai, and Varnhagen, from the +excessively rare original, of which only five copies are now known to be +in existence. It is this text that Varnhagen regards as the original +from which the Latin version of 1507 was made, through an intermediate +French version now lost. In this opinion Varnhagen does not stand alone, +as Mr. Winsor seems to think ("Christopher Columbus," p. 540, line 5 +from bottom), for Harrisse and Avezac have expressed themselves plainly +to the same effect (see below, vol. ii. p. 42). A minute study of this +text, with all its quaint interpolations of Spanish and Portuguese +idioms and seafaring phrases into the Italian ground-work of its +diction, long ago convinced me that it never was a _translation_ from +anything in heaven or earth or the waters under the earth. Nobody would +ever have translated a document _into_ such an extremely peculiar and +individual jargon. It is most assuredly an original text, and its author +was either Vespucius or the Old Nick. It was by starting from this text +as primitive that Varnhagen started correctly in his interpretation of +the statements in the letter, and it was for that reason that he was +able to dispose of so many difficulties at one blow. When he showed that +the landfall of Vespucius on his first voyage was near Cape Honduras and +had nothing whatever to do with the Pearl Coast, he began to follow the +right trail, and so the facts which had puzzled everybody began at once +to fall into the right places. This is all made clear in the seventh +chapter of the present work, where the general argument of Varnhagen is +in many points strongly reinforced. The evidence here set forth in +connection with the Cantino map is especially significant. + +It is interesting on many accounts to see the first voyage of Vespucius +thus elucidated, though it had no connection with the application of his +name by Waldseemueller to an entirely different region from any that was +visited upon that voyage. The real significance of the third voyage of +Vespucius, in connection with the naming of America, is now set forth, I +believe, for the first time in the light thrown upon the subject by the +opinions of Ptolemy and Mela. Neither Humboldt nor Major nor Harrisse +nor Varnhagen seems to have had a firm grasp of what was in +Waldseemueller's mind when he wrote the passage photographed below in +vol. ii. p. 136 of this work. It is only when we keep the Greek and +Roman theories in the foreground and unflinchingly bar out that +intrusive modern atlas, that we realize what the Freiburg geographer +meant and why Ferdinand Columbus was not in the least shocked or +surprised. + + * * * * * + +I have at various times given lectures on the discovery of America and +questions connected therewith, more especially at University College, +London, in 1879, at the Philosophical Institution in Edinburgh, in 1880, +at the Lowell Institute in Boston, in 1890, and in the course of my work +as professor in the Washington University at St. Louis; but the present +work is in no sense whatever a reproduction of such lectures. + +Acknowledgments are due to Mr. Winsor for his cordial permission to make +use of a number of reproductions of old maps and facsimiles already used +by him in the "Narrative and Critical History of America;" they are +mentioned in the lists of illustrations. I have also to thank Dr. +Brinton for allowing me to reproduce a page of old Mexican music, and +the Hakluyt Society for permission to use the Zeno and Catalan maps and +the view of Kakortok church. Dr. Fewkes has very kindly favoured me with +a sight of proof-sheets of some recent monographs by Bandelier. And for +courteous assistance at various libraries I have most particularly to +thank Mr. Kiernan of Harvard University, Mr. Appleton Griffin of the +Boston Public Library, and Mr. Uhler of the Peabody Institute in +Baltimore. + + * * * * * + +There is one thing which I feel obliged, though with extreme hesitation +and reluctance, to say to my readers in this place, because the time has +come when something ought to be said, and there seems to be no other +place available for saying it. For many years letters--often in a high +degree interesting and pleasant to receive--have been coming to me from +persons with whom I am not acquainted, and I have always done my best to +answer them. It is a long time since such letters came to form the +larger part of a voluminous mass of correspondence. The physical fact +has assumed dimensions with which it is no longer possible to cope. If I +were to answer all the letters which arrive by every mail, I should +never be able to do another day's work. It is becoming impossible even +to _read_ them all; and there is scarcely time for giving due attention +to one in ten. Kind friends and readers will thus understand that if +their queries seem to be neglected, it is by no means from any want of +good will, but simply from the lamentable fact that the day contains +only four-and-twenty hours. + +CAMBRIDGE, _October 25, 1891._ + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +CHAPTER I. + +ANCIENT AMERICA. + + PAGE + The American aborigines 1 + + Question as to their origin 2, 3 + + Antiquity of man in America 4 + + Shell-mounds, or middens 4, 5 + + The Glacial Period 6, 7 + + Discoveries in the Trenton gravel 8 + + Discoveries in Ohio, Indiana, and Minnesota 9 + + Mr. Cresson's discovery at Claymont, Delaware 10 + + The Calaveras skull 11 + + Pleistocene men and mammals 12, 13 + + Elevation and subsidence 13, 14 + + Waves of migration 15 + + The Cave men of Europe in the Glacial Period 16 + + The Eskimos are probably a remnant of the Cave men 17-19 + + There was probably no connection or intercourse by + water between ancient America and the Old World 20 + + There is one great American red race 21 + + Different senses in which the word "race" is used 21-23 + + No necessary connection between differences in culture + and differences in race 23 + + Mr. Lewis Morgan's classification of grades of culture 24-32 + + Distinction between Savagery and Barbarism 25 + + Origin of pottery 25 + + Lower, middle, and upper status of savagery 26 + + Lower status of barbarism; it ended differently in the + two hemispheres; in ancient America there was no + pastoral stage of development 27 + + Importance of Indian corn 28 + + Tillage with irrigation 29 + + Use of adobe-brick and stone in building 29 + + Middle status of barbarism 29, 30 + + Stone and copper tools 30 + + Working of metals; smelting of iron 30 + + Upper status of barbarism 31 + + The alphabet and the beginnings of civilization 32 + + So-called "civilizations" of Mexico and Peru 33, 34 + + Loose use of the words "savagery" and "civilization" 35 + + Value and importance of the term "barbarism" 35, 36 + + The status of barbarism is most completely exemplified + in ancient America 36, 37 + + Survival of bygone epochs of culture; work of the + Bureau of Ethnology 37, 38 + + Tribal society and multiplicity of languages in aboriginal + America 38, 39 + + Tribes in the upper status of savagery; Athabaskans, + Apaches, Shoshones, etc. 39 + + Tribes in the lower status of barbarism; the Dakota + group or family 40 + + The Minnitarees and Mandans 41 + + The Pawnee and Arickaree group 42 + + The Maskoki group 42 + + The Algonquin group 43 + + The Huron-Iroquois group 44 + + The Five Nations 45-47 + + Distinction between horticulture and field agriculture 48 + + Perpetual intertribal warfare, with torture and + cannibalism 49-51 + + Myths and folk-lore 51 + + Ancient law 52, 53 + + The patriarchal family not primitive 53 + + "Mother-right" 54 + + Primitive marriage 55 + + The system of reckoning kinship through females only 56 + + Original reason for the system 57 + + The primeval human horde 58, 59 + + Earliest family-group; the clan 60 + + "Exogamy" 60 + + Phratry and tribe 61 + + Effect of pastoral life upon property and upon the + family 61-63 + + The exogamous clan in ancient America 64 + + Intimate connection of aboriginal architecture with + social life 65 + + The long houses of the Iroquois 66, 67 + + Summary divorce 68 + + Hospitality 68 + + Structure of the clan 69, 70 + + Origin and structure of the phratry 70, 71 + + Structure of the tribe 72 + + Cross-relationships between clans and tribes; the Iroquois + Confederacy 72-74 + + Structure of the confederacy 75, 76 + + The "Long House" 76 + + Symmetrical development of institutions in ancient + America 77, 78 + + Circular houses of the Mandans 79-81 + + The Indians of the pueblos, in the middle status of + barbarism 82, 83 + + Horticulture with irrigation, and architecture with + adobe 83, 84 + + Possible origin of adobe architecture 84, 85 + + Mr. Cushing's sojourn at Zuni 86 + + Typical structure of the pueblo 86-88 + + Pueblo society 89 + + Wonderful ancient pueblos in the Chaco valley 90-92 + + The Moqui pueblos 93 + + The cliff-dwellings 93 + + Pueblo of Zuni 93, 94 + + Pueblo of Tlascala 94-96 + + The ancient city of Mexico was a great composite + pueblo 97 + + The Spanish discoverers could not be expected to understand + the state of society which they found there 97, 98 + + Contrast between feudalism and gentilism 98 + + Change from gentile society to political society in + Greece and Rome 99, 100 + + First suspicions as to the erroneousness of the Spanish + accounts 101 + + Detection and explanation of the errors, by Lewis + Morgan 102 + + Adolf Bandelier's researches 103 + + The Aztec Confederacy 104, 105 + + Aztec clans 106 + + Clan officers 107 + + Rights and duties of the clan 108 + + Aztec phratries 108 + + The _tlatocan_, or tribal council 109 + + The _cihuacoatl_, or "snake-woman" 110 + + The _tlacatecuhtli_, or "chief-of-men" 111 + + Evolution of kingship in Greece and Rome 112 + + Mediaeval kingship 113 + + Montezuma was a "priest-commander" 114 + + Mode of succession to the office 114, 115 + + Manner of collecting tribute 116 + + Mexican roads 117 + + Aztec and Iroquois confederacies contrasted 118 + + Aztec priesthood; human sacrifices 119, 120 + + Aztec slaves 121, 122 + + The Aztec family 122, 123 + + Aztec property 124 + + Mr. Morgan's rules of criticism 125 + + He sometimes disregarded his own rules 126 + + Amusing illustrations from his remarks on "Montezuma's + Dinner" 126-128 + + The reaction against uncritical and exaggerated statements + was often carried too far by Mr. Morgan 128, 129 + + Great importance of the middle period of barbarism 130 + + The Mexicans compared with the Mayas 131-133 + + Maya hieroglyphic writing 132 + + Ruined cities of Central America 134-138 + + They are probably not older than the twelfth century 136 + + Recent discovery of the Chronicle of Chicxulub 138 + + Maya culture very closely related to Mexican 139 + + The "Mound-Builders" 140-146 + + The notion that they were like the Aztecs 142 + + Or, perhaps, like the Zunis 143 + + These notions are not well sustained 144 + + The mounds were probably built by different peoples + in the lower status of barbarism, by Cherokees, + Shawnees, and other tribes 144, 145 + + It is not likely that there was a "race of Mound Builders" 146 + + Society in America at the time of the Discovery had + reached stages similar to stages reached by eastern + Mediterranean peoples fifty or sixty centuries + earlier 146, 147 + + +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 + + +CHAPTER III. + +EUROPE AND CATHAY. + + Why the voyages of the Northmen were not followed up 256 + + Ignorance of their geographical significance 257 + + Lack of instruments for ocean navigation 257 + + Condition of Europe in the year 1000 258, 259 + + It was not such as to favour colonial enterprise 260 + + The outlook of Europe was toward Asia 261 + + Routes of trade between Europe and Asia 262 + + Claudius Ptolemy and his knowledge of the earth 263 + + Early mention of China 264 + + The monk Cosmas Indicopleustes 265 + + Shape of the earth, according to Cosmas 266, 267 + + His knowledge of Asia 268 + + The Nestorians 268 + + Effects of the Saracen conquests 269 + + Constantinople in the twelfth century 270 + + The Crusades 270-274 + + Barbarizing character of Turkish conquest 271 + + General effects of the Crusades 272 + + The Fourth Crusade 273 + + Rivalry between Venice and Genoa 274 + + Centres and routes of mediaeval trade 275, 276 + + Effects of the Mongol conquests 277 + + Cathay, origin of the name 277 + + Carpini and Rubruquis 278 + + First knowledge of an eastern ocean beyond Cathay 278 + + The data were thus prepared for Columbus; but as yet nobody + reasoned from these data to a practical conclusion 279 + + The Polo brothers 280 + + Kublai Khan's message to the Pope 281 + + Marco Polo and his travels in Asia 281, 282 + + First recorded voyage of Europeans around the Indo-Chinese + peninsula 282 + + Return of the Polos to Venice 283 + + Marco Polo's book, written in prison at Genoa, 1299; + its great contributions to geographical knowledge 284, 285 + + Prester John 285 + + Griffins and Arimaspians 286 + + The Catalan map, 1375 288, 289 + + Other visits to China 287-291 + + Overthrow of the Mongol dynasty, and shutting up of China 291 + + First rumours of the Molucca islands and Japan 292 + + The accustomed routes of Oriental trade were cut off in the + fifteenth century by the Ottoman Turks 293 + + Necessity for finding an "outside route to the Indies" 294 + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE SEARCH FOR THE INDIES. + +_EASTWARD OR PORTUGUESE ROUTE._ + + Question as to whether Asia could be reached by sailing + around Africa 295 + + Views of Eratosthenes 296 + + Opposing theory of Ptolemy 297 + + Story of the Phoenician voyage in the time of Necho 298-300 + + Voyage of Hanno 300, 301 + + Voyages of Sataspes and Eudoxus 302 + + Wild exaggerations 303 + + Views of Pomponius Mela 304, 305 + + Ancient theory of the five zones 306, 307 + + The Inhabited World, or Oecumene, and the Antipodes 308 + + Curious notions about Taprobane (Ceylon) 309 + + Question as to the possibility of crossing the torrid zone 309 + + Notions about sailing "up and down hill" 310, 311 + + Superstitious fancies 311, 312 + + Clumsiness of ships in the fifteenth century 312 + + Dangers from famine and scurvy 313 + + The mariner's compass; an interesting letter from Brunetto + Latini to Guido Cavalcanti 313-315 + + Calculating latitudes and longitudes 315 + + Prince Henry the Navigator 316-326 + + His idea of an ocean route to the Indies, and what it + might bring 318 + + The Sacred Promontory 319 + + The Madeira and Canary islands 320-322 + + Gil Eannes passes Cape Bojador 323 + + Beginning of the modern slave-trade, 1442 323 + + Papal grant of heathen countries to the Portuguese + crown 324, 325 + + Advance to Sierra Leone 326 + + Advance to the Hottentot coast 326, 327 + + Note upon the extent of European acquaintance with + savagery and the lower forms of barbarism previous + to the fifteenth century 327-329 + + Effect of the Portuguese discoveries upon the theories + of Ptolemy and Mela 329, 330 + + News of Prester John; Covilham's journey 331 + + Bartholomew Dias passes the Cape of Good Hope and enters the + Indian ocean 332 + + Some effects of this discovery 333 + + Bartholomew Columbus took part in it 333 + + Connection between these voyages and the work of Christopher + Columbus 334 + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE SEARCH FOR THE INDIES. + +_WESTWARD OR SPANISH ROUTE._ + + Sources of information concerning the life of Columbus; + Las Casas and Ferdinand Columbus 335 + + The Biblioteca Colombina at Seville 336, 337 + + Bernaldez and Peter Martyr 338 + + Letters of Columbus 338 + + Defects in Ferdinand's information 339, 340 + + Researches of Henry Harrisse 341 + + Date of the birth of Columbus; archives of Savona 342 + + Statement of Bernaldez 343 + + Columbus's letter of September, 1501 344 + + The balance of probability is in favour of 1436 345 + + The family of Domenico Colombo, and its changes of + residence 346, 347 + + Columbus tells us that he was born in the city of Genoa 348 + + His early years 349-351 + + Christopher and his brother Bartholomew at Lisbon 351, 352 + + Philippa Moniz de Perestrelo 352 + + Personal appearance of Columbus 353 + + His marriage, and life upon the island of Porto Santo 353, 354 + + The king of Portugal asks advice of the great astronomer + Toscanelli 355 + + Toscanelli's first letter to Columbus 356-361 + + His second letter to Columbus 361, 362 + + Who first suggested the feasibleness of a westward route + to the Indies? Was it Columbus? 363 + + Perhaps it was Toscanelli 363, 364 + + Note on the date of Toscanelli's first letter to + Columbus 365-367 + + The idea, being naturally suggested by the globular form of + the earth, was as old as Aristotle 368, 369 + + Opinions of ancient writers 370 + + Opinions of Christian writers 371 + + The "Imago Mundi" of Petrus Alliacus 372, 373 + + Ancient estimates of the size of the globe and the length of + the Oecumene 374 + + Toscanelli's calculation of the size of the earth, and of + the position of Japan (Cipango) 375, 376 + + Columbus's opinions of the size of the globe, the length of + the Oecumene, and the width of the Atlantic ocean from + Portugal to Japan 377-380 + + There was a fortunate mixture of truth and error in these + opinions of Columbus 381 + + The whole point and purport of Columbus's scheme lay in its + promise of a route to the Indies shorter than that which the + Portuguese were seeking by way of Guinea 381 + + Columbus's speculations on climate; his voyages to Guinea + and into the Arctic ocean 382 + + He may have reached Jan Mayen island, and stopped + at Iceland 383, 384 + + The Scandinavian hypothesis that Columbus "must + have" heard and understood the story of the Vinland + voyages 384, 385 + + It has not a particle of evidence in its favour 385 + + It is not probable that Columbus knew of Adam of + Bremen's allusion to Vinland, or that he would have + understood it if he had read it 386 + + It is doubtful if he would have stumbled upon the + story in Iceland 387 + + If he had heard it, he would probably have classed it + with such tales as that of St. Brandan's isle 388 + + He could not possibly have obtained from such a source his + opinion of the width of the ocean 388, 389 + + If he had known and understood the Vinland story, he had the + strongest motives for proclaiming it and no motive whatever + for concealing it 390-392 + + No trace of a thought of Vinland appears in any of his + voyages 393 + + Why did not Norway or Iceland utter a protest in 1493? 393 + + The idea of Vinland was not associated with the idea of + America until the seventeenth century 394 + + Recapitulation of the genesis of Columbus's scheme 395 + + Martin Behaim's improved astrolabe 395, 396 + + Negotiations of Columbus with John II. of Portugal 396, 397 + + The king is persuaded into a shabby trick 398 + + Columbus leaves Portugal and enters into the service + of Ferdinand and Isabella, 1486 398-400 + + The junto at Salamanca, 1486 401 + + Birth of Ferdinand Columbus, August 15, 1488 401 + + Bartholomew Columbus returns from the Cape of Good Hope, + December, 1487 402, 403 + + Christopher visits Bartholomew at Lisbon, cir. September, + 1488, and sends him to England 404 + + Bartholomew, after mishaps, reaches England cir. February, + 1490, and goes thence to France before 1492 405-407 + + The duke of Medina-Celi proposes to furnish the ships for + Columbus, but the queen withholds her consent 408, 409 + + Columbus makes up his mind to get his family together and go + to France, October, 1491 409, 410 + + A change of fortune; he stops at La Rabida, and meets the + prior Juan Perez, who writes to the queen 411 + + Columbus is summoned back to court 411 + + The junto before Granada, December, 1491 412, 413 + + Surrender of Granada, January 2, 1492 414 + + Columbus negotiates with the queen, who considers his terms + exorbitant 414-416 + + Interposition of Luis de Santangel 416 + + Agreement between Columbus and the sovereigns 417 + + Cost of the voyage 418 + + Dismay at Palos 419 + + The three famous caravels 420 + + Delay at the Canary islands 421 + + Martin Behaim and his globe 422, 423 + + Columbus starts for Japan, September 6, 1492 424 + + Terrors of the voyage:--1. Deflection of the needle 425 + + 2. The Sargasso sea 426, 427 + + 3. The trade wind 428 + + Impatience of the crews 428 + + Change of course from W. to W. S. W 429, 430 + + Discovery of land, October 12, 1492 431 + + Guanahani: which of the Bahama islands was it? 432 + + Groping for Cipango and the route to Quinsay 433, 434 + + Columbus reaches Cuba, and sends envoys to find a + certain Asiatic prince 434, 435 + + He turns eastward and Pinzon deserts him 435 + + Columbus arrives at Hayti and thinks it must be Japan 436 + + His flag-ship is wrecked, and he decides to go back to + Spain 437 + + Building of the blockhouse, La Navidad 438 + + Terrible storm in mid-ocean on the return voyage 439 + + Cold reception at the Azores 440 + + Columbus is driven ashore in Portugal, where the king is + advised to have him assassinated 440 + + But to offend Spain so grossly would be imprudent 441 + + Arrival of Columbus and Pinzon at Palos; death of Pinzon 442 + + Columbus is received by the sovereigns at Barcelona 443, 444 + + General excitement at the news that a way to the Indies had + been found 445 + + This voyage was an event without any parallel in history 446 + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE FINDING OF STRANGE COASTS. + + The Discovery of America was a gradual process 447, 448 + + The letters of Columbus to Santangel and to Sanchez 449 + + Versification of the story by Giuliano Dati 450 + + Earliest references to the discovery 451 + + The earliest reference in English 452 + + The Portuguese claim to the Indies 453 + + Bulls of Pope Alexander VI. 454-458 + + The treaty of Tordesillas 459 + + Juan Rodriguez Fonseca, and his relations with + Columbus 460-462 + + Friar Boyle 462 + + Notable persons who embarked on the second voyage 463 + + Departure from Cadiz 464 + + Cruise among the Cannibal (Caribbee) islands 465 + + Fate of the colony at La Navidad 466 + + Building the town of Isabella 467 + + Exploration of Cibao 467, 468 + + Westward cruise; Cape Alpha and Omega 468-470 + + Discovery of Jamaica 471 + + Coasting the south side of Cuba 472 + + The "people of Mangon" 473 + + Speculations concerning the Golden Chersonese 474-476 + + A solemn expression of opinion 477 + + Vicissitudes of theory 477, 478 + + Arrival of Bartholomew Columbus in Hispaniola 478, 479 + + Mutiny in Hispaniola; desertion of Boyle and Margarite 479, 480 + + The government of Columbus was not tyrannical 481 + + Troubles with the Indians 481, 482 + + Mission of Juan Aguado 482 + + Discovery of gold mines, and speculations about Ophir 483 + + Founding of San Domingo, 1496 484 + + The return voyage to Spain 485 + + Edicts of 1495 and 1497 486, 487 + + Vexatious conduct of Fonseca; Columbus loses his temper 487 + + Departure from San Lucar on the third voyage 488 + + The belt of calms 489-491 + + Trinidad and the Orinoco 491, 492 + + Speculations as to the earth's shape; the mountain of + Paradise 494 + + Relation of the "Eden continent" to "Cochin China" 495 + + Discovery of the Pearl Coast 495 + + Columbus arrives at San Domingo 496 + + Roldan's rebellion and Fonseca's machinations 496, 497 + + Gama's voyage to Hindustan, 1497 498 + + Fonseca's creature, Bobadilla, sent to investigate the + troubles in Hispaniola 499 + + He imprisons Columbus 500 + + And sends him in chains to Spain 501 + + Release of Columbus; his interview with the sovereigns 502 + + How far were the sovereigns responsible for Bobadilla? 503 + + Ovando, another creature of Fonseca, appointed governor + of Hispaniola 503, 504 + + Purpose of Columbus's fourth voyage, to find a passage + from the Caribbee waters into the Indian ocean 504, 506 + + The voyage across the Atlantic 506 + + Columbus not allowed to stop at San Domingo 507 + + His arrival at Cape Honduras 508 + + Cape Gracias a Dios, and the coast of Veragua 509 + + Fruitless search for the strait of Malacca 510 + + Futile attempt to make a settlement in Veragua 511 + + Columbus is shipwrecked on the coast of Jamaica; shameful + conduct of Ovando 512 + + Columbus's last return to Spain 513 + + His death at Valladolid, May 20, 1506 513 + + "Nuevo Mundo;" arms of Ferdinand Columbus 514, 515 + + When Columbus died, the fact that a New World had been + discovered by him had not yet begun to dawn upon his mind, + or upon the mind of any voyager or any writer 515, 516 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS. + + + PAGE + + Portrait of the author _Frontispiece_ + + View and ground-plan of Seneca-Iroquois long house + _reduced from Morgan's Houses and House-Life of the + American Aborigines_ 66 + + View, cross-section, and ground-plan of Mandan round + house, _ditto_ 80 + + Ground-plan of Pueblo Hungo Pavie, _ditto_ 86 + + Restoration of Pueblo Hungo Pavie, _ditto_ 88 + + Restoration of Pueblo Bonito, _ditto_ 90 + + Ground-plan of Pueblo Penasca Blanca, _ditto_ 92 + + Ground-plan of so-called "House of the Nuns" at Uxmal, + _ditto_ 133 + + Map of the East Bygd, or eastern settlement of the Northmen + in Greenland, _reduced from Rafn's Antiquitates + Americanae_ 160, 161 + + Ruins of the church at Kakortok, _from Major's Voyages of + the Zeni, published by the Hakluyt Society_ 222 + + Zeno Map, cir. 1400, _ditto_ 232, 233 + + Map of the World according to Claudius Ptolemy, cir. A. D. + 150, _an abridged sketch after a map in Bunbury's History of + Ancient Geography_ _Facing_ 265 + + Two sheets of the Catalan Map, 1375, _from Yule's Cathay, + published by the Hakluyt Society_ 288, 289 + + Map of the World according to Pomponius Mela, cir. A. D. 50, + _from Winsor's Narrative and Critical History of America_ 304 + + Map illustrating Portuguese voyages on the coast of Africa, + _from a sketch by the author_ 324 + + Toscanelli's Map, 1474, _redrawn and improved from a sketch + in Winsor's America_ _Facing_ 357 + + Annotations by Columbus, _reduced from a photograph in + Harrisse's Notes on Columbus_ 373 + + Sketch of Martin Behaim's Globe, 1492, preserved in the city + hall at Nuremberg, _reduced to Mercator's projection and + sketched by the author_ 422, 423 + + Sketch of Martin Behaim's Atlantic Ocean, with outline of the + American continent superimposed, _from Winsor's America_ 429 + + Map of the discoveries made by Columbus in his first and + second voyages, _sketched by the author_ 469 + + Map of the discoveries made by Columbus in his third and + fourth voyages, _ditto_ 493 + + Arms of Ferdinand Columbus, _from the title-page of + Harrisse's Fernand Colomb_ 515 + + + + +THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +ANCIENT AMERICA. + + +[Sidenote: The American aborigines.] + +When the civilized people of Europe first became acquainted with the +continents of North and South America, they found them inhabited by a +race of men quite unlike any of the races with which they were familiar +in the Old World. Between the various tribes of this aboriginal American +race, except in the sub-arctic region, there is now seen to be a general +physical likeness, such as to constitute an American type of mankind as +clearly recognizable as those types which we call Mongolian and Malay, +though far less pronounced than such types as the Australian or the +negro. The most obvious characteristics possessed in common by the +American aborigines are the copper-coloured or rather the +cinnamon-coloured complexion, along with the high cheek-bones and small +deep-set eyes, the straight black hair and absence or scantiness of +beard. With regard to stature, length of limbs, massiveness of frame, +and shape of skull, considerable divergencies may be noticed among the +various American tribes, as indeed is also the case among the members of +the white race in Europe, and of other races. With regard to culture the +differences have been considerable, although, with two or three apparent +but not real exceptions, there was nothing in pre-Columbian America that +could properly be called civilization; the general condition of the +people ranged all the way from savagery to barbarism of a high type. + +[Sidenote: Question as to their origin.] + +[Sidenote: Antiquity of man in America.] + +Soon after America was proved not to be part of Asia, a puzzling +question arose. Whence came these "Indians," and in what manner did they +find their way to the western hemisphere. Since the beginning of the +present century discoveries in geology have entirely altered our mental +attitude toward this question. It was formerly argued upon the two +assumptions that the geographical relations of land and water had been +always pretty much the same as we now find them, and that all the racial +differences among men have arisen since the date of the "Noachian +Deluge," which was generally placed somewhere between two and three +thousand years before the Christian era. Hence inasmuch as European +tradition knows nothing of any such race as the Indians, it was supposed +that at some time within the historic period they must have moved +eastward from Asia into America; and thus "there was felt to be a sort +of speculative necessity for discovering points of resemblance between +American languages, myths, and social observances and those of the +Oriental world. Now the aborigines of this Continent were made out to +be Kamtchatkans, and now Chinamen, and again they were shown, with +quaint erudition, to be remnants of the ten tribes of Israel. Perhaps +none of these theories have been exactly disproved, but they have all +been superseded and laid on the shelf."[1] The tendency of modern +discovery is indeed toward agreement with the time-honoured tradition +which makes the Old World, and perhaps Asia, the earliest dwelling-place +of mankind. Competition has been far more active in the fauna of the +eastern hemisphere than in that of the western, natural selection has +accordingly resulted in the evolution of higher forms, and it is there +that we find both extinct and surviving species of man's nearest +collateral relatives, those tailless half-human apes, the gorilla, +chimpanzee, orang, and gibbon. It is altogether probable that the people +whom the Spaniards found in America came by migration from the Old +World. But it is by no means probable that their migration occurred +within so short a period as five or six thousand years. A series of +observations and discoveries kept up for the last half-century seem to +show that North America has been continuously inhabited by human beings +since the earliest Pleistocene times, if not earlier. + + [Footnote 1: See my _Excursions of an Evolutionist_, p. 148. A + good succinct account of these various theories, monuments of + wasted ingenuity, is given in Short's _North Americans of + Antiquity_, chap. iii. The most elaborate statement of the + theory of an Israelite colonization of America is to be found + in the ponderous tomes of Lord Kingsborough, _Mexican + Antiquities_, London, 1831-48, 9 vols. elephant-folio. Such a + theory was entertained by the author of that curious piece of + literary imposture, _The Book of Mormon_. In this book we are + told that, when the tongues were confounded at Babel, the Lord + selected a certain Jared, with his family and friends, and + instructed them to build eight ships, in which, after a voyage + of 344 days, they were brought to America, where they "did + build many mighty cities," and "prosper exceedingly." But after + some centuries they perished because of their iniquities. In + the reign of Zedekiah, when calamity was impending over Judah, + two brothers, Nephi and Laman, under divine guidance led a + colony to America. There, says the veracious chronicler, their + descendants became great nations, and worked in _iron_, and had + stuffs of _silk_, besides keeping plenty of _oxen_ and _sheep_. + (_Ether_, ix. 18, 19; x. 23, 24.) Christ appeared and wrought + many wonderful works; people spake with tongues, and the dead + were raised. (3 _Nephi_, xxvi. 14, 15.) But about the close of + the fourth century of our era, a terrible war between Lamanites + and Nephites ended in the destruction of the latter. Some two + million warriors, with their wives and children, having been + slaughtered, the prophet Mormon escaped, with his son Moroni, + to the "hill Cumorah," hard by the "waters of Ripliancum," or + Lake Ontario. (_Ether_, xv. 2, 8, 11.) There they hid the + sacred tablets, which remained concealed until they were + miraculously discovered and translated by Joseph Smith in 1827. + There is, of course, no element of tradition in this story. It + is all pure fiction, and of a very clumsy sort, such as might + easily be devised by an ignorant man accustomed to the language + of the Bible; and of course it was suggested by the old notion + of the Israelitish origin of the red men. The references are to + _The Book of Mormon_, Salt Lake City: Deseret News Co., 1885.] + +[Sidenote: Shell-mounds.] + +The first group of these observations and discoveries relate to +"middens" or shell-heaps. On the banks of the Damariscotta river in +Maine are some of the most remarkable shell-heaps in the world. With an +average thickness of six or seven feet, they rise in places to a height +of twenty-five feet. They consist almost entirely of huge oyster-shells +often ten inches in length and sometimes much longer. The shells belong +to a salt-water species. In some places "there is an appearance of +stratification covered by an alternation of shells and earth, as if the +deposition of shells had been from time to time interrupted, and a +vegetable mould had covered the surface." In these heaps have been found +fragments of pottery and of the bones of such edible animals as the +moose and deer. "At the very foundation of one of the highest heaps," in +a situation which must for long ages have been undisturbed, Mr. Edward +Morse "found the remains of an ancient fire-place, where he exhumed +charcoal, bones, and pottery."[2] The significant circumstance is that +"at the present time oysters are only found in very small numbers, too +small to make it an object to gather them," and so far as memory and +tradition can reach, such seems to have been the case. The great size of +the heap, coupled with the notable change in the distribution of this +mollusk since the heap was abandoned, implies a very considerable lapse +of time since the vestiges of human occupation were first left here. +Similar conclusions have been drawn from the banks or mounds of shells +on the St. John's river in Florida,[3] on the Alabama river, at Grand +Lake on the lower Mississippi, and at San Pablo in the bay of San +Francisco. Thus at various points from Maine to California, and in +connection with one particular kind of memorial, we find records of the +presence of man at a period undoubtedly prehistoric, but not necessarily +many thousands of years old. + + [Footnote 2: _Second Annual Report of the Peabody Museum of + American Archaeology_, etc., p. 18.] + + [Footnote 3: Visited in 1866-74 by Professor Jeffries Wyman, + and described in his _Fresh-Water Shell Mounds of the St. + John's River_, Cambridge, 1875.] + +[Sidenote: The Glacial Period.] + +The second group of discoveries carries us back much farther, even into +the earlier stages of that widespread glaciation which was the most +remarkable feature of the Pleistocene period. At the periods of greatest +cold "the continent of North America was deeply swathed in ice as far +south as the latitude of Philadelphia, while glaciers descended into +North Carolina."[4] The valleys of the Rocky Mountains also supported +enormous glaciers, and a similar state of things existed at the same +time in Europe. These periods of intense cold were alternated with long +interglacial periods during which the climate was warmer than it is +to-day. Concerning the antiquity of the Pleistocene age, which was +characterized by such extraordinary vicissitudes of heat and cold, there +has been, as in all questions relating to geological time, much conflict +of opinion. Twenty years ago geologists often argued as if there were an +unlimited fund of past time upon which to draw; but since Sir William +Thomson and other physicists emphasized the point that in an antiquity +very far from infinite this earth must have been a molten mass, there +has been a reaction. In many instances further study has shown that less +time was needed in order to effect a given change than had formerly been +supposed; and so there has grown up a tendency to shorten the time +assigned to geological periods. Here, as in so many other cases, the +truth is doubtless to be sought within the extremes. If we adopt the +magnificent argument of Dr. Croll, which seems to me still to hold its +ground against all adverse criticism,[5] and regard the Glacial epoch as +coincident with the last period of high eccentricity of the earth's +orbit, we obtain a result that is moderate and probable. That +astronomical period began about 240,000 years ago and came to an end +about 80,000 years ago. During this period the eccentricity was seldom +less than .04, and at one time rose to .0569. At the present time the +eccentricity is .0168, and nearly 800,000 years will pass before it +attains such a point as it reached during the Glacial epoch. For the +last 50,000 years the departure of the earth's orbit from a circular +form has been exceptionally small. + + [Footnote 4: _Excursions of an Evolutionist_, p. 39.] + + [Footnote 5: Croll, _Climate and Time in their Geological + Relations_, New York, 1875; _Discussions on Climate and + Cosmology_, New York, 1886; Archibald Geikie, _Text Book of + Geology_, pp. 23-29, 883-909, London, 1882; James Geikie, _The + Great Ice Age_, pp. 94-136, New York, 1874; _Prehistoric + Europe_, pp. 558-562, London, 1881; Wallace, _Island Life_, pp. + 101-225, New York, 1881. Some objections to Croll's theory may + be found in Wright's _Ice Age in North America_, pp. 405-505, + 585-595, New York, 1889. I have given a brief account of the + theory in my _Excursions of an Evolutionist_, pp. 57-76.] + +Now the traces of the existence of men in North America during the +Glacial epoch have in recent years been discovered in abundance, as for +example, the palaeolithic quartzite implements found in the drift near +the city of St. Paul, which date from toward the close of the Glacial +epoch[6]; the fragment of a human jaw found in the red clay deposited in +Minnesota during an earlier part of that epoch;[7] the noble collection +of palaeoliths found by Dr. C. C. Abbott in the Trenton gravels in New +Jersey; and the more recent discoveries of Dr. Metz and Mr. H. T. +Cresson. + + [Footnote 6: See Miss F. E. Babbitt, "Vestiges of Glacial Man + in Minnesota," in _Proceedings of the American Association_, + vol. xxxii., 1883.] + + [Footnote 7: See N. H. Winchell, _Annual Report of the State + Geologist of Minnesota_, 1877, p. 60.] + +[Sidenote: Discoveries in the Trenton gravel.] + +[Sidenote: Discoveries in Ohio, Indiana, and Minnesota;] + +The year 1873 marks an era in American archaeology as memorable as the +year 1841 in the investigation of the antiquity of man in Europe. With +reference to these problems Dr. Abbott occupies a position similar to +that of Boucher de Perthes in the Old World, and the Trenton valley is +coming to be classic ground, like the valley of the Somme. In April, +1873, Dr. Abbott published his description of three rude implements +which he had found some sixteen feet below the surface of the ground "in +the gravels of a bluff overlooking the Delaware river." The implements +were in place in an undisturbed deposit, and could not have found their +way thither in any recent time; Dr. Abbott assigned them to the age of +the Glacial drift. This was the beginning of a long series of +investigations, in which Dr. Abbott's work was assisted and supplemented +by Messrs. Whitney, Carr, Putnam, Shaler, Lewis, Wright, Haynes, +Dawkins, and other eminent geologists and archaeologists. By 1888 Dr. +Abbott had obtained not less than 60 implements from various recorded +depths in the gravel, while many others were found at depths not +recorded or in the talus of the banks.[8] Three human skulls and other +bones, along with the tusk of a mastodon, have been discovered in the +same gravel. Careful studies have been made of the conditions under +which the gravel-banks were deposited and their probable age; and it is +generally agreed that they date from the later portion of the Glacial +period, or about the time of the final recession of the ice-sheet from +this region. At that time, in its climate and general aspect, New York +harbour must have been much like a Greenland fiord of the present day. +In 1883 Professor Wright of Oberlin, after a careful study of the +Trenton deposits and their relations to the terrace and gravel deposits +to the westward, predicted that similar palaeolithic implements would be +found in Ohio. Two years afterward, the prediction was verified by Dr. +Metz, who found a true palaeolith of black flint at Madisonville, in the +Little Miami valley, eight feet below the surface. Since then further +discoveries have been made in the same neighbourhood by Dr. Metz, and in +Jackson county, Indiana, by Mr. H. T. Cresson; and the existence of man +in that part of America toward the close of the Glacial period may be +regarded as definitely established. The discoveries of Miss Babbitt and +Professor Winchell, in Minnesota, carry the conclusion still farther, +and add to the probability of the existence of a human population all +the way from the Atlantic coast to the upper Mississippi valley at that +remote antiquity. + + [Footnote 8: Wright's _Ice Age in North America_, p. 516.] + +[Sidenote: and in Delaware.] + +A still more remarkable discovery was made by Mr. Cresson in July, 1887, +at Claymont, in the north of Delaware. In a deep cut of the Baltimore +and Ohio Railroad, in a stratum of Philadelphia red gravel and brick +clay, Mr. Cresson obtained an unquestionable palaeolith, and a few months +afterward his diligent search was rewarded with another.[9] This +formation dates from far back in the Glacial period. If we accept Dr. +Croll's method of reckoning, we can hardly assign to it an antiquity +less than 150,000 years. + + [Footnote 9: The chipped implements discovered by Messrs. + Abbott, Metz, and Cresson, and by Miss Babbitt, are all on + exhibition at the Peabody Museum in Cambridge, whither it is + necessary to go if one would get a comprehensive view of the + relics of interglacial man in North America. The collection of + implements made by Dr. Abbott includes much more than the + palaeoliths already referred to. It is one of the most important + collections in the world, and is worth a long journey to see. + Containing more than 20,000 implements, all found within a very + limited area in New Jersey, "as now arranged, the collection + exhibits at one and the same time the sequence of peoples and + phases of development in the valley of the Delaware, from + palaeolithic man, through the intermediate period, to the recent + Indians, and the relative numerical proportion of the many + forms of their implements, each in its time.... It is doubtful + whether any similar collection exists from which a student can + gather so much information at sight as in this, where the + natural pebbles from the gravel begin the series, and the + beautifully chipped points of chert, jasper, and quartz + terminate it in one direction, and the polished celts and + grooved stone axes in the other." There are three principal + groups,--first, the interglacial palaeoliths, secondly, the + argillite points and flakes, and thirdly, the arrow-heads, + knives, mortars and pestles, axes and hoes, ornamental stones, + etc., of Indians of the recent period. Dr. Abbott's _Primitive + Industry_, published in 1881, is a useful manual for studying + this collection; and an account of his discoveries in the + glacial gravels is given in _Reports of the Peabody Museum_, + vol. ii. pp. 30-48, 225-258; see also vol. iii. p. 492. A + succinct and judicious account of the whole subject is given by + H. W. Haynes, "The Prehistoric Archaeology of North America," in + Winsor's _Narrative and Critical History_, vol. i. pp. + 329-368.] + +[Sidenote: The Calaveras skull.] + +But according to Professor Josiah Whitney there is reason for supposing +that man existed in California at a still more remote period. He holds +that the famous skull discovered in 1866, in the gold-bearing gravels of +Calaveras county, belongs to the Pliocene age.[10] If this be so, it +seems to suggest an antiquity not less than twice as great as that just +mentioned. The question as to the antiquity of the Calaveras skull is +still hotly disputed among the foremost palaeontologists, but as one +reads the arguments one cannot help feeling that theoretical +difficulties have put the objectors into a somewhat inhospitable +attitude toward the evidence so ably presented by Professor Whitney. It +has been too hastily assumed that, from the point of view of evolution, +the existence of Pliocene man is improbable. Upon general +considerations, however, we have strong reason for believing that human +beings must have inhabited some portions of the earth throughout the +whole duration of the Pliocene period, and it need not surprise us if +their remains are presently discovered in more places than one.[11] + + [Footnote 10: J. D. Whitney, "The Auriferous Gravels of the + Sierra Nevada", _Memoirs of the Museum of Comparative Zooelogy + at Harvard College_, Cambridge, 1880, vol. vi.] + + [Footnote 11: In an essay published in 1882 on "Europe before + the Arrival of Man" (_Excursions of an Evolutionist_, pp. + 1-40), I argued that if we are to find traces of the "missing + link," or primordial stock of primates from which man has been + derived, we must undoubtedly look for it in the Miocene (p. + 36). I am pleased at finding the same opinion lately expressed + by one of the highest living authorities. The case is thus + stated by Alfred Russel Wallace: "The evidence we now possess + of the exact nature of the resemblance of man to the various + species of anthropoid apes, shows us that he has little special + affinity for any one rather than another species, while he + differs from them all in several important characters in which + they agree with each other. The conclusion to be drawn from + these facts is, that his points of affinity connect him with + the whole group, while his special peculiarities equally + separate him from the whole group, and that he must, therefore, + have diverged from the common ancestral form before the + existing types of anthropoid apes had diverged from each other. + Now this divergence almost certainly took place as early as the + Miocene period, because in the Upper Miocene deposits of + western Europe remains of two species of ape have been found + allied to the gibbons, one of them, dryopithecus, nearly as + large as a man, and believed by M. Lartet to have approached + man in its dentition more than the existing apes. We seem + hardly, therefore, to have reached in the Upper Miocene the + epoch of the common ancestor of man and the anthropoids." + (_Darwinism_, p. 455, London, 1889.) Mr. Wallace goes on to + answer the objection of Professor Boyd Dawkins, "that man did + not probably exist in Pliocene times, because almost all the + known mammalia of that epoch are distinct species from those + now living on the earth, and that the same changes of the + environment which led to the modification of other mammalian + species would also have led to a change in man." This argument, + at first sight apparently formidable, quite overlooks the fact + that in the evolution of man there came a point after which + variations in his intelligence were seized upon more and more + exclusively by natural selection, to the comparative neglect of + physical variations. After that point man changed but little in + physical characteristics, except in size and complexity of + brain. This is the theorem first propounded by Mr. Wallace in + the _Anthropological Review_, May, 1864; restated in his + _Contributions to Natural Selection_, chap. ix., in 1870; and + further extended and developed by me in connection with the + theory of man's origin first suggested in my lectures at + Harvard in 1871, and worked out in _Cosmic Philosophy_, part + ii., chapters xvi., xxi., xxii.] + +[Sidenote: Pleistocene men and mammals.] + +Whatever may be the final outcome of the Calaveras controversy, there +can be no doubt as to the existence of man in North America far back in +early Pleistocene times. The men of the River-drift, who long dwelt in +western Europe during the milder intervals of the Glacial period, but +seem to have become extinct toward the end of it, are well known to +palaeontologists through their bones and their rude tools. +Contemporaneously with these Europeans of the River-drift there +certainly lived some kind of men, of a similar low grade of culture, in +the Mississippi valley and on both the Atlantic and Pacific slopes of +North America. Along with these ancient Americans lived some terrestrial +mammals that still survive, such as the elk, reindeer, prairie wolf, +bison, musk-ox, and beaver; and many that have long been extinct, such +as the mylodon, megatherium, megalonyx, mastodon, Siberian elephant, +mammoth, at least six or seven species of ancestral horse, a huge bear +similar to the cave bear of ancient Europe, a lion similar to the +European cave lion, and a tiger as large as the modern tiger of Bengal. + +[Sidenote: Elevation and subsidence.] + +Now while the general relative positions of those stupendous abysses +that hold the oceans do not appear to have undergone any considerable +change since an extremely remote geological period, their shallow +marginal portions have been repeatedly raised so as to add extensive +territories to the edges of continents, and in some cases to convert +archipelagoes into continents, and to join continents previously +separated. Such elevation is followed in turn by an era of subsidence, +and almost everywhere either the one process or the other is slowly +going on. If you look at a model in relief of the continents and +ocean-floors, such as may be seen at the Museum of Comparative Zooelogy +in Cambridge, showing the results of a vast number of soundings in all +parts of the world, you cannot fail to be struck with the shallowness of +Bering Sea; it looks like a part of the continent rather than of the +ocean, and indeed it is just that,--an area of submerged continent. So +in the northern Atlantic there is a lofty ridge running from France to +Greenland. The British islands, the Orkney, Shetland, and Faeroe groups, +and Iceland are the parts of this ridge high enough to remain out of +water. The remainder of it is shallow sea. Again and again it has been +raised, together with the floor of the German ocean, so as to become dry +land. Both before and since the time when those stone tools were dropped +into the red gravel from which Mr. Cresson took them the other day, the +northwestern part of Europe has been solid continent for more than a +hundred miles to the west of the French and Irish coasts, the Thames and +Humber have been tributaries to the Rhine, which emptied into the Arctic +ocean, and across the Atlantic ridge one might have walked to the New +World dry-shod.[12] In similar wise the northwestern corner of America +has repeatedly been joined to Siberia through the elevation of Bering +Sea. + + [Footnote 12: See, for example, the map of Europe in early + post-glacial times, in James Geikie's _Prehistoric Europe_.] + +There have therefore been abundant opportunities for men to get into +America from the Old World without crossing salt water. Probably this +was the case with the ancient inhabitants of the Delaware and Little +Miami valleys; it is not at all likely that men who used their kind of +tools knew much about going on the sea in boats. + +[Sidenote: Waves of migration.] + +Whether the Indians are descended from this ancient population or not, +is a question with which we have as yet no satisfactory method of +dealing. It is not unlikely that these glacial men may have perished +from off the face of the earth, having been crushed and supplanted by +stronger races. There may have been several successive waves of +migration, of which the Indians were the latest.[13] There is time +enough for a great many things to happen in a thousand centuries. It +will doubtless be long before all the evidence can be brought in and +ransacked, but of one thing we may feel pretty sure; the past is more +full of changes than we are apt to realize. Our first theories are +usually too simple, and have to be enlarged and twisted into all manner +of shapes in order to cover the actual complication of facts.[14] + + [Footnote 13: "There are three human crania in the Museum, + which were found in the gravel at Trenton, one several feet + below the surface, the others near the surface. These skulls, + which are of remarkable uniformity, are of small size and of + oval shape, differing from all other skulls in the Museum. In + fact they are of a distinct type, and hence of the greatest + importance. So far as they go they indicate that palaeolithic + man was exterminated, or has become lost by admixture with + others during the many thousand years which have passed since + he inhabited the Delaware valley." F. W. Putnam, "The Peabody + Museum," _Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society_, + 1889, New Series, vol. vi. p. 189.] + + [Footnote 14: An excellent example of this is the expansion and + modification undergone during the past twenty years by our + theories of the Aryan settlement of Europe. See Benfey's + preface to Fick's _Woerterbuch der Indogermanischen + Grundsprache_, 1868; Geiger, _Zur Entwickelungsgeschichte der + Menschheit_, 1871; Cuno, _Forschungen im Gebiete der alten + Voelkerkunde_, 1871; Schmidt, _Die Verwandtschaftsverhaeltnisse + der Indogermanischen Sprachen_, 1872; Poesche, _Die Arier_, + 1878; Lindenschmit, _Handbuch der deutschen Alterthumskunde_, + 1880; Penka, _Origines Ariacae_, 1883, and _Die Herkunft der + Arier_, 1886; Spiegel, _Die arische Periode und ihre Zustande_, + 1887; Rendal, _Cradle of the Aryans_, 1889; Schrader, + _Sprachvergleichung und Urgeschichte_, 1883, and second edition + translated into English, with the title _Prehistoric + Antiquities of the Aryan Peoples_, 1890. Schrader's is an + epoch-making book. An attempt to defend the older and simpler + views is made by Max Mueller, _Biographies of Words and the Home + of the Aryas_, 1888; see also Van den Gheyn, _L'origine + europeenne des Aryas_, 1889. The whole case is well summed up + by Isaac Taylor, _Origin of the Aryans_, 1889.] + +[Sidenote: The Cave men of Europe in the Glacial Period.] + +[Sidenote: The Eskimos are probably a remnant of the Cave men.] + +In this connection the history of the Eskimos introduces us to some +interesting problems. Mention has been made of the River-drift men who +lived in Europe during the milder intervals of the Glacial period. At +such times they made their way into Germany and Britain, along with +leopards, hyaenas, and African elephants. But as the cold intervals came +on and the edge of the polar ice-sheet crept southward and mountain +glaciers filled up the valleys, these men and beasts retreated into +Africa; and their place was taken by a sub-arctic race of men known as +the Cave men, along with the reindeer and arctic fox and musk-sheep. +More than once with the secular alternations of temperature did the +River-drift men thus advance and retreat and advance again, and as they +advanced the Cave men retreated, both races yielding to an enemy +stronger than either,--to wit, the hostile climate. At length all traces +of the River-drift men vanish, but what of the Cave men? They have left +no representatives among the present populations of Europe, but the +musk-sheep, which always went and came with the Cave men, is to-day +found only in sub-arctic America among the Eskimos, and the fossilized +bones of the musk-sheep lie in a regular trail across the eastern +hemisphere, from the Pyrenees through Germany and Russia and all the +vast length of Siberia. The stone arrow-heads, the sewing-needles, the +necklaces and amulets of cut teeth, and the daggers made from antler, +used by the Eskimos, resemble so minutely the implements of the Cave +men, that if recent Eskimo remains were to be put into the Pleistocene +caves of France and England they would be indistinguishable in +appearance from the remains of the Cave men which are now found +there.[15] There is another striking point of resemblance. The Eskimos +have a talent for artistic sketching of men and beasts, and scenes in +which men and beasts figure, which is absolutely unrivalled among rude +peoples. One need but look at the sketches by common Eskimo fishermen +which illustrate Dr. Henry Rink's fascinating book on Danish Greenland, +to realize that this rude Eskimo art has a character as pronounced and +unmistakable in its way as the much higher art of the Japanese. Now +among the European remains of the Cave men are many sketches of +mammoths, cave bears, and other animals now extinct, and hunting scenes +so artfully and vividly portrayed as to bring distinctly before us many +details of daily life in an antiquity so vast that in comparison with it +the interval between the pyramids of Egypt and the Eiffel tower shrinks +into a point. Such a talent is unique among savage peoples. It exists +only among the living Eskimos and the ancient Cave men; and when +considered in connection with so many other points of agreement, and +with the indisputable fact that the Cave men were a sub-arctic race, it +affords a strong presumption in favour of the opinion of that great +palaeontologist, Professor Boyd Dawkins, that the Eskimos of North +America are to-day the sole survivors of the race that made their homes +in the Pleistocene caves of western Europe.[16] + + [Footnote 15: See Dawkins, _Early Man in Britain_, pp. + 233-245.] + + [Footnote 16: According to Dr. Rink the Eskimos formerly + inhabited the central portions of North America, and have + retreated or been driven northward; he would make the Eskimos + of Siberia an offshoot from those of America, though he freely + admits that there are grounds for entertaining the opposite + view. Dr. Abbott is inclined to attribute an Eskimo origin to + some of the palaeoliths of the Trenton gravel. On the other + hand, Mr. Clements Markham derives the American Eskimos from + those of Siberia. It seems to me that these views may be + comprehended and reconciled in a wider one. I would suggest + that during the Glacial period the ancestral Eskimos may have + gradually become adapted to arctic conditions of life; that in + the mild interglacial intervals they migrated northward along + with the musk-sheep; and that upon the return of the cold they + migrated southward again, keeping always near the edge of the + ice-sheet. Such a southward migration would naturally enough + bring them in one continent down to the Pyrenees, in the other + down to the Alleghanies; and naturally enough the modern + inquirer has his attention first directed to the indications of + their final retreat, _both_ northward in America and + northeastward from Europe through Siberia. This is like what + happened with so many plants and animals. Compare Darwin's + remarks on "Dispersal in the Glacial Period," _Origin of + Species_, chap. xii. + + The best books on the Eskimos are those of Dr. Rink, _Tales and + Traditions of the Eskimo_, Edinburgh, 1875; _Danish Greenland_, + London, 1877; _The Eskimo Tribes, their Distribution and + Characteristics, especially in regard to Language_, Copenhagen, + 1887. See also Franz Boas, "The Central Eskimo," _Sixth Report + of the Bureau of Ethnology_, Washington, 1888, pp. 399-669; W. + H. Dall. _Alaska and its Resources_, 1870; Markham, "Origin and + Migrations of the Greenland Esquimaux," _Journal of the Royal + Geographical Society_, 1865; Cranz, _Historie von Groenland_, + Leipsic, 1765; Petitot, _Traditions indiennes du Canada + nord-ouest_, Paris, 1886; Pilling's _Bibliography of the Eskimo + Language_, Washington, 1887; Wells and Kelly, _English-Eskimo + and Eskimo-English Vocabularies, with Ethnographical Memoranda + concerning the Arctic Eskimos in Alaska and Siberia_, + Washington, 1890; Carstensen's _Two Summers in Greenland_, + London, 1890.] + +If we have always been accustomed to think of races of men only as they +are placed on modern maps, it at first seems strange to think of England +and France as ever having been inhabited by Eskimos. Facts equally +strange may be cited in abundance from zooelogy and botany. The camel is +found to-day only in Arabia and Bactria; yet in all probability the +camel originated in America,[17] and is an intruder into what we are +accustomed to call his native deserts, just as the people of the United +States are European intruders upon the soil of America. So the giant +trees of Mariposa grove are now found only in California, but there was +once a time when they were as common in Europe[18] as maple-trees to-day +in a New England village. + + [Footnote 17: Wallace, _Geographical Distribution of Animals_, + vol. ii. p. 155.] + + [Footnote 18: Asa Gray, "Sequoia and its History," in his + _Darwiniana_, pp. 205-235.] + +[Sidenote: There was probably no connection or intercourse by water +between ancient America and the Old World.] + +Familiarity with innumerable facts of this sort, concerning the +complicated migrations and distribution of plants and animals, has +entirely altered our way of looking at the question as to the origin of +the American Indians. As already observed, we can hardly be said to +possess sufficient data for determining whether they are descended from +the Pleistocene inhabitants of America, or have come in some later wave +of migration from the Old World. Nor can we as yet determine whether +they were earlier or later comers than the Eskimos. But since we have +got rid of that feeling of speculative necessity above referred to, for +bringing the red men from Asia within the historic period, it has become +more and more clear that they have dwelt upon American soil for a very +long time. The aboriginal American, as we know him, with his language +and legends, his physical and mental peculiarities, his social +observances and customs, is most emphatically a native and not an +imported article. He belongs to the American continent as strictly as +its opossums and armadillos, its maize and its golden-rod, or any +members of its aboriginal fauna and flora belong to it. In all +probability he came from the Old World at some ancient period, whether +pre-glacial or post-glacial, when it was possible to come by land; and +here in all probability, until the arrival of white men from Europe, he +remained undisturbed by later comers, unless the Eskimos may have been +such. There is not a particle of evidence to suggest any connection or +intercourse between aboriginal America and Asia within any such period +as the last twenty thousand years, except in so far as there may perhaps +now and then have been slight surges of Eskimo tribes back and forth +across Bering strait. + +[Sidenote: There is one great American "red" race.] + +The Indians must surely be regarded as an entirely different stock from +the Eskimos. On the other hand, the most competent American ethnologists +are now pretty thoroughly agreed that all the aborigines south of the +Eskimo region, all the way from Hudson's Bay to Cape Horn, belong to +one and the same race. It was formerly supposed that the higher culture +of the Aztecs, Mayas, and Peruvians must indicate that they were of +different race from the more barbarous Algonquins and Dakotas; and a +speculative necessity was felt for proving that, whatever may have been +the case with the other American peoples, this higher culture at any +rate must have been introduced within the historic period from the Old +World.[19] This feeling was caused partly by the fact that, owing to +crude and loosely-framed conceptions of the real points of difference +between civilization and barbarism, this Central American culture was +absurdly exaggerated. As the further study of the uncivilized parts of +the world has led to more accurate and precise conceptions, this kind of +speculative necessity has ceased to be felt. There is an increasing +disposition among scholars to agree that the warrior of Anahuac and the +shepherd of the Andes were just simply Indians, and that their culture +was no less indigenous than that of the Cherokees or Mohawks. + + [Footnote 19: Illustrations may be found in plenty in the + learned works of Brasseur de Bourbourg:--_Histoire des nations + civilisees du Mexique et de l'Amerique centrale_, 4 vols., + Paris, 1857-58; _Popol Vuh_, Paris, 1861; _Quatre lettres sur + le Mexique_, Paris, 1868; _Le manuscrit Troano_, Paris, 1870, + etc.] + +[Sidenote: Different senses in which the word "race" is used.] + +To prevent any possible misconception of my meaning, a further word of +explanation may be needed at this point. The word "race" is used in such +widely different senses that there is apt to be more or less vagueness +about it. The difference is mainly in what logicians call extension; +sometimes the word covers very little ground, sometimes a great deal. We +say that the people of England, of the United States, and of New South +Wales belong to one and the same race; and we say that an Englishman, a +Frenchman, and a Greek belong to three different races. There is a sense +in which both these statements are true. But there is also a sense in +which we may say that the Englishman, the Frenchman, and the Greek +belong to one and the same race; and that is when we are contrasting +them as white men with black men or yellow men. Now we may correctly say +that a Shawnee, an Ojibwa, and a Kickapoo belong to one and the same +Algonquin race; that a Mohawk and a Tuscarora belong to one and the same +Iroquois race; but that an Algonquin differs from an Iroquois somewhat +as an Englishman differs from a Frenchman. No doubt we may fairly say +that the Mexicans encountered by Cortes differed in race from the +Iroquois encountered by Champlain, as much as an Englishman differs from +an Albanian or a Montenegrin. But when we are contrasting aboriginal +Americans with white men or yellow men, it is right to say that Mexicans +and Iroquois belong to the same great red race. + +In some parts of the world two strongly contrasted races have become +mingled together, or have existed side by side for centuries without +intermingling. In Europe the big blonde Aryan-speaking race has mixed +with the small brunette Iberian race, producing the endless varieties in +stature and complexion which may be seen in any drawing-room in London +or New York. In Africa south of Sahara, on the other hand, we find, +interspersed among negro tribes but kept perfectly distinct, that +primitive dwarfish race with yellow skin and tufted hair to which belong +the Hottentots and Bushmen, the Wambatti lately discovered by Mr. +Stanley, and other tribes.[20] Now in America south of Hudson's Bay the +case seems to have been quite otherwise, and more as it would have been +in Europe if there had been only Aryans, or in Africa if there had been +only blacks.[21] + + [Footnote 20: See Werner, "The African Pygmies," _Popular + Science Monthly_, September, 1890,--a thoughtful and + interesting article.] + + [Footnote 21: This sort of illustration requires continual + limitation and qualification. The case in ancient America was + not _quite_ as it would have been in Europe if there had been + only Aryans there. The semi-civilized people of the Cordilleras + were relatively brachycephalous as compared with the more + barbarous Indians north and east of New Mexico. It is correct + to call this a distinction of race if we mean thereby a + distinction developed upon American soil, a differentiation + within the limits of the red race, and not an intrusion from + without. In this sense the Caribs also may be regarded as a + distinct sub-race; and, in the same sense, we may call the + Kafirs a distinct sub-race of African blacks. See, as to the + latter, Tylor, _Anthropology_, p. 39.] + +[Sidenote: No necessary connection between differences in culture and +differences in race.] + +The belief that the people of the Cordilleras must be of radically +different race from other Indians was based upon the vague notion that +grades of culture have some necessary connection with likenesses and +differences of race. There is no such necessary connection.[22] Between +the highly civilized Japanese and their barbarous Mandshu cousins the +difference in culture is much greater than the difference between +Mohawks and Mexicans; and the same may be said of the people of Israel +and Judah in contrast with the Arabs of the desert, or of the imperial +Romans in comparison with their Teutonic kinsmen as described by +Tacitus. + + [Footnote 22: As Sir John Lubbock well says, "Different races + in similar stages of development often present more features of + resemblance to one another than the same race does to itself in + different stages of its history." (_Origin of Civilization_, p. + 11.) If every student of history and ethnology would begin by + learning this lesson, the world would be spared a vast amount + of unprofitable theorizing.] + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: Grades of culture.] + +At this point, in order to prepare ourselves the more clearly to +understand sundry facts with which we shall hereafter be obliged to +deal, especially the wonderful experiences of the Spanish conquerors, it +will be well to pause for a moment and do something toward defining the +different grades of culture through which men have passed in attaining +to the grade which can properly be called civilization. Unless we begin +with clear ideas upon this head we cannot go far toward understanding +the ancient America that was first visited and described for us by +Spaniards. The various grades of culture need to be classified, and that +most original and suggestive scholar, the late Lewis Morgan of +Rochester, made a brilliant attempt in this direction, to which the +reader's attention is now invited. + +[Sidenote: Distinction between Savagery and Barbarism.] + +[Sidenote: Origin of pottery.] + +Below _Civilization_ Mr. Morgan[23] distinguishes two principal grades +or stages of culture, namely _Savagery_ and _Barbarism_. There is much +looseness and confusion in the popular use of these terms, and this is +liable to become a fruitful source of misapprehension in the case of any +statement involving either of them. When popular usage discriminates +between them it discriminates in the right direction; there is a vague +but not uncertain feeling that savagery is a lower stage than barbarism. +But ordinarily the discrimination is not made and the two terms are +carelessly employed as if interchangeable. Scientific writers long since +recognized a general difference between savagery and barbarism, but Mr. +Morgan was the first to suggest a really useful criterion for +distinguishing between them. His criterion is the making of pottery; and +his reason for selecting it is that the making of pottery is something +that presupposes village life and more or less progress in the simpler +arts. The earlier methods of boiling food were either putting it into +holes in the ground lined with skins and then using heated stones, or +else putting it into baskets coated with clay to be supported over a +fire. The clay served the double purpose of preventing liquids from +escaping and protecting the basket against the flame. It was probably +observed that the clay was hardened by the fire, and thus in course of +time it was found that the clay would answer the purpose without the +basket.[24] Whoever first made this ingenious discovery led the way from +savagery to barbarism. Throughout the present work we shall apply the +name "savages" only to uncivilized people who do not make pottery. + + [Footnote 23: See his great work on _Ancient Society_, New + York, 1877.] + + [Footnote 24: See the evidence in Tylor, _Researches into the + Early History of Mankind_, pp. 269-272; cf. Lubbock, + _Prehistoric Times_, p. 573; and see Cushing's masterly "Study + of Pueblo Pottery," etc., _Reports of Bureau of Ethnology_, + iv., 473-521.] + +[Sidenote: Lower status of savagery.] + +But within each of these two stages Mr. Morgan distinguishes three +subordinate stages, or Ethnic Periods, which may be called either lower, +middle, and upper status, or older, middle, and later periods. The lower +status of savagery was that wholly prehistoric stage when men lived in +their original restricted habitat and subsisted on fruit and nuts. To +this period must be assigned the beginning of articulate speech. All +existing races of men had passed beyond it at an unknown antiquity. + +[Sidenote: Middle status of savagery.] + +Men began to pass beyond it when they discovered how to catch fish and +how to use fire. They could then begin (following coasts and rivers) to +spread over the earth. The middle status of savagery, thus introduced, +ends with the invention of that compound weapon, the bow and arrow. The +natives of Australia, who do not know this weapon, are still in the +middle status of savagery.[25] + + [Footnote 25: Lumholtz, _Among Cannibals_, London, 1889, gives + a vivid picture of aboriginal life in Australia.] + +[Sidenote: Upper status of savagery.] + +The invention of the bow and arrow, which marks the upper status of +savagery, was not only a great advance in military art, but it also +vastly increased men's supply of food by increasing their power of +killing wild game. The lowest tribes in America, such as those upon the +Columbia river, the Athabaskans of Hudson's Bay, the Fuegians and some +other South American tribes, are in the upper status of savagery. + +[Sidenote: Lower status of barbarism: it ended differently in the two +hemispheres.] + +The transition from this status to the lower status of barbarism was +marked, as before observed, by the invention of pottery. The end of the +lower status of barbarism was marked in the Old World by the +domestication of animals other than the dog, which was probably +domesticated at a much earlier period as an aid to the hunter. The +domestication of horses and asses, oxen and sheep, goats and pigs, marks +of course an immense advance. Along with it goes considerable +development of agriculture, thus enabling a small territory to support +many people. It takes a wide range of country to support hunters. In the +New World, except in Peru, the only domesticated animal was the dog. +Horses, oxen, and the other animals mentioned did not exist in America, +during the historic period, until they were brought over from Europe by +the Spaniards. In ancient American society there was no such thing as a +pastoral stage of development,[26] and the absence of domesticable +animals from the western hemisphere may well be reckoned as very +important among the causes which retarded the progress of mankind in +this part of the world. + + [Footnote 26: The case of Peru, which forms an apparent but not + real exception to this general statement, will be considered + below in chap. ix.] + +[Sidenote: Importance of Indian corn.] + +On the other hand the ancient Americans had a cereal plant peculiar to +the New World, which made comparatively small demands upon the +intelligence and industry of the cultivator. Maize or "Indian corn" has +played a most important part in the history of the New World, as +regards both the red men and the white men. It could be planted without +clearing or ploughing the soil. It was only necessary to girdle the +trees with a stone hatchet, so as to destroy their leaves and let in the +sunshine. A few scratches and digs were made in the ground with a stone +digger, and the seed once dropped in took care of itself. The ears could +hang for weeks after ripening, and could be picked off without meddling +with the stalk; there was no need of threshing and winnowing. None of +the Old World cereals can be cultivated without much more industry and +intelligence. At the same time, when Indian corn is sown in tilled land +it yields with little labour more than twice as much food per acre as +any other kind of grain. This was of incalculable advantage to the +English settlers of New England, who would have found it much harder to +gain a secure foothold upon the soil if they had had to begin by +preparing it for wheat and rye without the aid of the beautiful and +beneficent American plant.[27] The Indians of the Atlantic coast of +North America for the most part lived in stockaded villages, and +cultivated their corn along with beans, pumpkins, squashes, and tobacco; +but their cultivation was of the rudest sort,[28] and population was too +sparse for much progress toward civilization. But Indian corn, when +sown in carefully tilled and irrigated land, had much to do with the +denser population, the increasing organization of labour, and the higher +development in the arts, which characterized the confederacies of Mexico +and Central America and all the pueblo Indians of the southwest. The +potato played a somewhat similar part in Peru. Hence it seems proper to +take the regular employment of tillage with irrigation as marking the +end of the lower period of barbarism in the New World. To this Mr. +Morgan adds the use of adobe-brick and stone in architecture, which also +distinguished the Mexicans and their neighbours from the ruder tribes of +North and South America. All these ruder tribes, except the few already +mentioned as in the upper period of savagery, were somewhere within the +lower period of barbarism. Thus the Algonquins and Iroquois, the Creeks, +the Dakotas, etc., when first seen by white men, were within this +period; but some had made much further progress within it than others. +For example, the Algonquin tribe of Ojibwas had little more than emerged +from savagery, while the Creeks and Cherokees had made considerable +advance toward the middle status of barbarism. + + [Footnote 27: See Shaler, "Physiography of North America," in + Winsor's _Narr. and Crit. Hist._ vol. iv. p. xiii.] + + [Footnote 28: "No manure was used," says Mr. Parkman, speaking + of the Hurons, "but at intervals of from ten to twenty years, + when the soil was exhausted and firewood distant, the village + was abandoned and a new one built." _Jesuits in North America_, + p. xxx.] + +[Sidenote: Middle status of barbarism.] + +Let us now observe some characteristics of this extremely interesting +middle period. It began, we see, in the eastern hemisphere with the +domestication of other animals than the dog, and in the western +hemisphere with cultivation by irrigation and the use of adobe-brick and +stone for building. It also possessed another feature which +distinguished it from earlier periods, in the materials of which its +tools were made. In the periods of savagery hatchets and spear-heads +were made of rudely chipped stones. In the lower period of barbarism the +chipping became more and more skilful until it gave place to polishing. +In the middle period tools were greatly multiplied, improved polishing +gave sharp and accurate points and edges, and at last metals began to be +used as materials preferable to stone. In America the metal used was +copper, and in some spots where it was very accessible there were +instances of its use by tribes not in other respects above the lower +status of barbarism,--as for example, the "mound-builders." In the Old +World the metal used was the alloy of copper and tin familiarly known as +bronze, and in its working it called for a higher degree of intelligence +than copper. + +[Sidenote: Working of metals.] + +Toward the close of the middle period of barbarism the working of metals +became the most important element of progress, and the period may be +regarded as ending with the invention of the process of smelting iron +ore. According to this principle of division, the inhabitants of the +lake villages of ancient Switzerland, who kept horses and oxen, pigs and +sheep, raised wheat and ground it into flour, and spun and wove linen +garments, but knew nothing of iron, were in the middle status of +barbarism. The same was true of the ancient Britons before they learned +the use of iron from their neighbours in Gaul. In the New World the +representatives of the middle status of barbarism were such peoples as +the Zunis, the Aztecs, the Mayas, and the Peruvians. + +[Sidenote: Upper status of barbarism.] + +[Sidenote: Beginning of civilization.] + +The upper status of barbarism, in so far as it implies a knowledge of +smelting iron, was never reached in aboriginal America. In the Old World +it is the stage which had been reached by the Greeks of the Homeric +poems[29] and the Germans in the time of Caesar. The end of this period +and the beginning of true civilization is marked by the invention of a +phonetic alphabet and the production of written records. This brings +within the pale of civilization such people as the ancient Phoenicians, +the Hebrews after the exodus, the ruling classes at Nineveh and Babylon, +the Aryans of Persia and India, and the Japanese. But clearly it will +not do to insist too narrowly upon the phonetic character of the +alphabet. Where people acquainted with iron have enshrined in +hieroglyphics so much matter of historic record and literary interest as +the Chinese and the ancient Egyptians, they too must be classed as +civilized; and this Mr. Morgan by implication admits. + + [Footnote 29: In the interesting architectural remains + unearthed by Dr. Schliemann at Mycenae and Tiryns, there have + been found at the former place a few iron keys and knives, at + the latter one iron lance-head; but the form and workmanship of + these objects mark them as not older than the beginning of the + fifth century B. C., or the time of the Persian wars. With + these exceptions the weapons and tools found in these cities, + as also in Troy, were of bronze and stone. Bronze was in common + use, but obsidian knives and arrow-heads of fine workmanship + abound in the ruins. According to Professor Sayce, these ruins + must date from 2000 to 1700 B. C. The Greeks of that time would + accordingly be placed in the middle status of barbarism. (See + Schliemann's _Mycenae_, pp. 75, 364; _Tiryns_, p. 171.) In the + state of society described in the Homeric poems the smelting of + iron was well known, but the process seems to have been costly, + so that bronze weapons were still commonly used. (Tylor, + _Anthropology_, p. 279.) The Romans of the regal period were + ignorant of iron. (Lanciani, _Ancient Rome in the Light of + Recent Discoveries_, Boston, 1888, pp. 39-48.) The upper period + of barbarism was shortened for Greece and Rome through the + circumstance that they learned the working of iron from Egypt + and the use of the alphabet from Phoenicia. Such copying, of + course, affects the symmetry of such schemes as Mr. Morgan's, + and allowances have to be made for it. It is curious that both + Greeks and Romans seem to have preserved some tradition of the + Bronze Age:-- + + [Greek: tois d' en chalkea men teuchea, chalkeoi de te oikoi, + chalko d' eirgazonto; melas d' ouk eske sideros.] + Hesiod, _Opp. Di._ 134. + + Arma antiqua manus ungues dentesque fuerunt + Et lapides et item silvarum fragmina rami, + Et flamma atque ignes, postquam sunt cognita primum. + Posterius ferri vis est, aerisque reperta. + Et prior aeris erat, quam ferri cognitus usus, etc. + Lucretius, v. 1283. + + Perhaps, as Munro suggests, Lucretius was thinking of Hesiod; + but it does not seem improbable that in both cases there may + have been a genuine tradition that their ancestors used bronze + tools and weapons before iron, since the change was + comparatively recent, and sundry religious observances tended + to perpetuate the memory of it.] + +[Sidenote: "Civilizations" of Mexico and Peru.] + +This brilliant classification of the stages of early culture will be +found very helpful if we only keep in mind the fact that in all wide +generalizations of this sort the case is liable to be somewhat unduly +simplified. The story of human progress is really not quite so easy to +decipher as such descriptions would make it appear, and when we have +laid down rules of this sort we need not be surprised if we now and then +come upon facts that will not exactly fit into them. In such an event +it is best not to try to squeeze or distort the unruly facts, but to +look and see if our rules will not bear some little qualification. The +faculty for generalizing is a good servant but a bad master. If we +observe this caution we shall find Mr. Morgan's work to be of great +value. It will be observed that, with one exception, his restrictions +leave the area of civilization as wide as that which we are accustomed +to assign to it in our ordinary speaking and thinking. That exception is +the case of Mexico, Central America, and Peru. We have so long been +accustomed to gorgeous accounts of the civilization of these countries +at the time of their discovery by the Spaniards that it may at first +shock our preconceived notions to see them set down as in the "middle +status of barbarism," one stage higher than Mohawks, and one stage lower +than the warriors of the Iliad. This does indeed mark a change since Dr. +Draper expressed the opinion that the Mexicans and Peruvians were +morally and intellectually superior to the Europeans of the sixteenth +century.[30] The reaction from the state of opinion in which such an +extravagant remark was even possible has been attended with some +controversy; but on the whole Mr. Morgan's main position has been +steadily and rapidly gaining ground, and it is becoming more and more +clear that if we are to use language correctly when we speak of the +civilizations of Mexico and Peru we really mean civilizations of an +extremely archaic type, considerably more archaic than that of Egypt in +the time of the Pharaohs. A "civilization" like that of the Aztecs, +without domestic animals or iron tools, with trade still in the +primitive stage of barter, with human sacrifices, and with cannibalism, +has certainly some of the most vivid features of barbarism. Along with +these primitive features, however, there seem to have been--after making +all due allowances--some features of luxury and splendour such as we are +wont to associate with civilization. The Aztecs, moreover, though +doubtless a full ethnical period behind the ancient Egyptians in general +advancement, had worked out a system of hieroglyphic writing, and had +begun to put it to some literary use. It would seem that a people may in +certain special points reach a level of attainment higher than the level +which they occupy in other points. The Cave men of the Glacial period +were ignorant of pottery, and thus had not risen above the upper status +of savagery; but their artistic talent, upon which we have remarked, was +not such as we are wont to associate with savagery. Other instances will +occur to us in the proper place. + + [Footnote 30: See his _Intellectual Development of Europe_, New + York, 1863, pp. 448, 464.] + +[Sidenote: Loose use of the words "savagery" and "civilization".] + +The difficulty which people usually find in realizing the true position +of the ancient Mexican culture arises partly from the misconceptions +which have until recently distorted the facts, and partly from the loose +employment of terms above noticed. It is quite correct to speak of the +Australian blackfellows as "savages," but nothing is more common than to +hear the same epithet employed to characterize Shawnees and Mohawks; +and to call those Indians "savages" is quite misleading. So on the other +hand the term "civilization" is often so loosely used as to cover a +large territory belonging to "barbarism." One does not look for +scientific precision in newspapers, but they are apt to reflect popular +habits of thought quite faithfully, and for that reason it is proper +here to quote from one. In a newspaper account of Mr. Cushing's recent +discoveries of buried towns, works of irrigation, etc., in Arizona, we +are first told that these are the remains of a "splendid prehistoric +civilization," and the next moment we are told, in entire +unconsciousness of the contradiction, that the people who constructed +these works had only stone tools. Now to call a people "civilized" who +have only stone tools is utterly misleading. Nothing but confusion of +ideas and darkening of counsel can come from such a misuse of words. +Such a people may be in a high degree interesting and entitled to credit +for what they have achieved, but the grade of culture which they have +reached is not "civilization." + +[Sidenote: Value and importance of the term "barbarism."] + +With "savagery" thus encroaching upon its area of meaning on the one +side, and "civilization" encroaching on the other, the word "barbarism," +as popularly apprehended, is left in a vague and unsatisfactory plight. +If we speak of Montezuma's people as barbarians one stage further +advanced than Mohawks, we are liable to be charged with calling them +"savages." Yet the term "barbarism" is a very useful one; indispensable, +indeed, in the history of human progress. There is no other word which +can serve in its stead as a designation of the enormous interval which +begins with the invention of pottery and ends with the invention of the +alphabet. The popular usage of the word is likely to become more +definite as it comes to be more generally realized how prodigious that +interval has been. When we think what a considerable portion of man's +past existence has been comprised within it, and what a marvellous +transformation in human knowledge and human faculty has been gradually +wrought between its beginning and its end, the period of barbarism +becomes invested with most thrilling interest, and its name ceases to +appear otherwise than respectable. It is Mr. Morgan's chief title to +fame that he has so thoroughly explored this period and described its +features with such masterly skill. + +[Sidenote: The status of barbarism is most completely exemplified in +ancient America.] + +[Sidenote: Survivals of bygone epochs of culture.] + +It is worth while to observe that Mr. Morgan's view of the successive +stages of culture is one which could not well have been marked out in +all its parts except by a student of American archaeology. Aboriginal +America is the richest field in the world for the study of barbarism. +Its people present every gradation in social life during three ethnical +periods--the upper period of savagery and the lower and middle periods +of barbarism--so that the process of development may be most +systematically and instructively studied. Until we have become familiar +with ancient American society, and so long as our view is confined to +the phases of progress in the Old World, the demarcation between +civilized and uncivilized life seems too abrupt and sudden; we do not +get a correct measure of it. The oldest European tradition reaches back +only through the upper period of barbarism.[31] The middle and lower +periods have lapsed into utter oblivion, and it is only modern +archaeological research that is beginning to recover the traces of them. +But among the red men of America the social life of ages more remote +than that of the lake villages of Switzerland is in many particulars +preserved for us to-day, and when we study it we begin to realize as +never before the continuity of human development, its enormous duration, +and the almost infinite accumulation of slow efforts by which progress +has been achieved. Ancient America is further instructive in presenting +the middle status of barbarism in a different form from that which it +assumed in the eastern hemisphere. Its most conspicuous outward +manifestations, instead of tents and herds, were strange and imposing +edifices of stone, so that it was quite natural that observers +interpreting it from a basis of European experience should mistake it +for civilization. Certain aspects of that middle period may be studied +to-day in New Mexico and Arizona, as phases of the older periods may +still be found among the wilder tribes, even after all the contact they +have had with white men. These survivals from antiquity will not +permanently outlive that contact, and it is important that no time +should be lost in gathering and putting on record all that can be +learned of the speech and arts, the customs and beliefs, everything that +goes to constitute the philology and anthropology of the red men. For +the intelligent and vigorous work of this sort now conducted by the +Bureau of Ethnology of the Smithsonian Institution, under the direction +of Major Powell, no praise can be too strong and no encouragement too +hearty. + + [Footnote 31: Now and then, perhaps, but very rarely, it just + touches the close of the middle period, as, e. g., in the lines + from Hesiod and Lucretius above quoted.] + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: Tribal society and multiplicity of languages in aboriginal +America.] + +A brief enumeration of the principal groups of Indians will be helpful +in enabling us to comprehend the social condition of ancient America. +The groups are in great part defined by differences of language, which +are perhaps a better criterion of racial affinity in the New World than +in the Old, because there seems to have been little or nothing of that +peculiar kind of conquest with incorporation resulting in complete +change of speech which we sometimes find in the Old World; as, for +example, when we see the Celto-Iberian population of Spain and the +Belgic, Celtic, and Aquitanian populations of Gaul forgetting their +native tongues, and adopting that of a confederacy of tribes in Latium. +Except in the case of Peru there is no indication that anything of this +sort went on, or that there was anything even superficially analogous to +"empire," in ancient America. What strikes one most forcibly at first is +the vast number of American languages. Adelung, in his "Mithridates," +put the number at 1,264, and Ludewig, in his "Literature of the American +Languages," put it roundly at 1,100. Squier, on the other hand, was +content with 400.[32] The discrepancy arises from the fact that where +one scholar sees two or three distinct languages another sees two or +three dialects of one language and counts them as one; it is like the +difficulty which naturalists find in agreeing as to what are species and +what are only varieties. The great number of languages and dialects +spoken by a sparse population is one mark of the universal prevalence of +a rude and primitive form of tribal society.[33] + + [Footnote 32: Winsor, "Bibliographical Notes on American + Linguistics," in his _Narr. and Crit. Hist._, vol. i. pp. + 420-428, gives an admirable survey of the subject. See also + Pilling's bibliographical bulletins of Iroquoian, Siouan, and + Muskhogean languages, published by the Bureau of Ethnology.] + + [Footnote 33: _Excursions of an Evolutionist_, pp. 147-174.] + +[Sidenote: Tribes in the upper status of savagery.] + +The lowest tribes in North America were those that are still to be found +in California, in the valley of the Columbia river, and on the shores of +Puget Sound. The Athabaskans of Hudson's Bay were on about the same +level of savagery. They made no pottery, knew nothing of horticulture, +depended for subsistence entirely upon bread-roots, fish, and game, and +thus had no village life. They were mere prowlers in the upper status of +savagery.[34] The Apaches of Arizona, preeminent even among red men for +atrocious cruelty, are an offshoot from the Athabaskan stock. Very +little better are the Shoshones and Bannocks that still wander among +the lonely bare mountains and over the weird sage-brush plains of Idaho. +The region west of the Rocky Mountains and north of New Mexico is thus +the region of savagery. + + [Footnote 34: For a good account of Indians in the upper status + of savagery until modified by contact with civilization, see + Myron Eells, "The Twana, Chemakum, and Klallam Indians of + Washington Territory," _Smithsonian Report_, 1887, pp. + 605-681.] + +[Sidenote: The Dakota family of tribes.] + +Between the Rocky Mountains and the Atlantic coast the aborigines, at +the time of the Discovery, might have been divided into six or seven +groups, of which three were situated mainly to the east of the +Mississippi river, the others mainly to the west of it. All were in the +lower period of barbarism. Of the western groups, by far the most +numerous were the Dakotas, comprising the Sioux, Poncas, Omahas, Iowas, +Kaws, Otoes, and Missouris. From the headwaters of the Mississippi their +territory extended westward on both sides of the Missouri for a thousand +miles. One of their tribes, the Winnebagos, had crossed the Mississippi +and pressed into the region between that river and Lake Michigan. + +[Sidenote: The Minnitarees and Mandans.] + +A second group, very small in numbers but extremely interesting to the +student of ethnology, comprises the Minnitarees and Mandans on the upper +Missouri.[35] The remnants of these tribes now live together in the same +village, and in personal appearance, as well as in intelligence, they +are described as superior to any other red men north of New Mexico. +From their first discovery, by the brothers La Verendrye in 1742, down +to Mr. Catlin's visit nearly a century later, there was no change in +their condition,[36] but shortly afterward, in 1838, the greater part of +them were swept away by small-pox. The excellence of their horticulture, +the framework of their houses, and their peculiar religious ceremonies +early attracted attention. Upon Mr. Catlin they made such an impression +that he fancied there must be an infusion of white blood in them; and +after the fashion of those days he sought to account for it by a +reference to the legend of Madoc, a Welsh prince who was dimly imagined +to have sailed to America about 1170. He thought that Madoc's party +might have sailed to the Mississippi and founded a colony which ascended +that river and the Ohio, built the famous mounds of the Ohio valley, and +finally migrated to the upper Missouri.[37] To this speculation was +appended the inevitable list of words which happen to sound somewhat +alike in Mandan and in Welsh. In the realm of free fancy everything is +easy. That there was a Madoc who went somewhere in 1170 is quite +possible, but as shrewd old John Smith said about it, "where this place +was no history can show."[38] But one part of Mr. Catlin's speculation +may have hit somewhat nearer the truth. It is possible that the +Minnitarees or the Mandans, or both, may be a remnant of some of those +Mound-builders in the Mississippi valley concerning whom something will +presently be said. + + [Footnote 35: An excellent description of them, profusely + illustrated with coloured pictures, may be found in Catlin's + _North American Indians_, vol. i. pp. 66-207, 7th ed., London, + 1848; the author was an accurate and trustworthy observer. Some + writers have placed these tribes in the Dakota group because of + the large number of Dakota words in their language; but these + are probably borrowed words, like the numerous French words in + English.] + + [Footnote 36: See Francis Parkman's paper, "The Discovery of + the Rocky Mountains," _Atlantic Monthly_, June, 1888. I hope + the appearance of this article, two years ago, indicates that + we have not much longer to wait for the next of that + magnificent series of volumes on the history of the French in + North America.] + + [Footnote 37: _North American Indians_, vol. ii., Appendix A.] + + [Footnote 38: Smith's _Generall Historie of Virginia, New + England and the Summer Isles_, p. 1, London, 1626.] + +[Sidenote: Pawnees, etc.] + +The third group in this western region consists of the Pawnees and +Arickarees,[39] of the Platte valley in Nebraska, with a few kindred +tribes farther to the south. + + [Footnote 39: For the history and ethnology of these + interesting tribes, see three learned papers by J. B. Dunbar, + in _Magazine of American History_, vol. iv. pp. 241-281; vol. + v. pp. 321-342; vol. viii. pp. 734-756; also Grinnell's _Pawnee + Hero Stories and Folk-Tales_, New York, 1889.] + +[Sidenote: Maskoki family.] + +Of the three groups eastward of the Mississippi we may first mention the +Maskoki, or Muskhogees, consisting of the Choctaws, Chickasaws, +Seminoles, and others, with the Creek confederacy.[40] These tribes were +intelligent and powerful, with a culture well advanced toward the end of +the lower period of barbarism. + + [Footnote 40: These tribes of the Gulf region were formerly + grouped, along with others not akin to them, as "Mobilians." + The Cherokees were supposed to belong to the Maskoki family, + but they have lately been declared an intrusive offshoot from + the Iroquois stock. The remnants of another alien tribe, the + once famous Natchez, were adopted into the Creek confederacy. + For a full account of these tribes, see Gatschet, _A Migration + Legend of the Creek Indians_, vol. i., Philadelphia, 1884.] + +[Sidenote: Algonquin family of tribes.] + +The Algonquin family, bordering at its southern limits upon the Maskoki, +had a vast range northeasterly along the Atlantic coast until it reached +the confines of Labrador, and northwesterly through the region of the +Great Lakes and as far as the Churchill river[41] to the west of +Hudson's Bay. In other words, the Algonquins were bounded on the south +by the Maskoki,[42] on the west by the Dakotas, on the northwest by the +Athabaskans, on the northeast by Eskimos, and on the east by the ocean. +Between Lake Superior and the Red River of the North the Crees had their +hunting grounds, and closely related to them were the Pottawatomies, +Ojibwas, and Ottawas. One offshoot, including the Blackfeet, Cheyennes, +and Arrapahos, roamed as far west as the Rocky Mountains. The great +triangle between the upper Mississippi and the Ohio was occupied by the +Menomonees and Kickapoos, the Sacs and Foxes, the Miamis and Illinois, +and the Shawnees. Along the coast region the principal Algonquin tribes +were the Powhatans of Virginia, the Lenape or Delawares, the Munsees or +Minisinks of the mountains about the Susquehanna, the Mohegans on the +Hudson, the Adirondacks between that river and the St. Lawrence, the +Narragansetts and their congeners in New England, and finally the +Micmacs and Wabenaki far down East, as the last name implies. There is a +tradition, supported to some extent by linguistic evidence,[43] that the +Mohegans, with their cousins the Pequots, were more closely related to +the Shawnees than to the Delaware or coast group. While all the +Algonquin tribes were in the lower period of barbarism, there was a +noticeable gradation among them, the Crees and Ojibwas of the far North +standing lowest in culture, and the Shawnees, at their southernmost +limits, standing highest. + + [Footnote 41: Howse, _Grammar of the Cree Language_, London, + 1865, p. vii.] + + [Footnote 42: Except in so far as the Cherokees and Tuscaroras, + presently to be mentioned, were interposed.] + + [Footnote 43: Brinton, _The Lenape and their Legends_, p. 30.] + +[Sidenote: Huron-Iroquois family of tribes.] + +We have observed the Dakota tribes pressing eastward against their +neighbours and sending out an offshoot, the Winnebagos, across the +Mississippi river. It has been supposed that the Huron-Iroquois group of +tribes was a more remote offshoot from the Dakotas. This is very +doubtful; but in the thirteenth or fourteenth century the general trend +of the Huron-Iroquois movement seems to have been eastward, either in +successive swarms, or in a single swarm, which became divided and +scattered by segmentation, as was common with all Indian tribes. They +seem early to have proved their superiority over the Algonquins in +bravery and intelligence. Their line of invasion seems to have run +eastward to Niagara, and thereabouts to have bifurcated, one line +following the valley of the St. Lawrence, and the other that of the +Susquehanna. The Hurons established themselves in the peninsula between +the lake that bears their name and Lake Ontario. South of them and along +the northern shore of Lake Erie were settled their kindred, afterward +called the "Neutral Nation."[44] On the southern shore the Eries planted +themselves, while the Susquehannocks pushed on in a direction +sufficiently described by their name. Farthest of all penetrated the +Tuscaroras, even into the pine forests of North Carolina, where they +maintained themselves in isolation from their kindred until 1715. These +invasions resulted in some displacement of Algonquin tribes, and began +to sap the strength of the confederacy or alliance in which the +Delawares had held a foremost place. + + [Footnote 44: Because they refused to take part in the strife + between the Hurons and the Five Nations. Their Indian name was + Attiwandarons. They were unsurpassed for ferocity. See Parkman, + _Jesuits in North America_, p. xliv.] + +[Sidenote: The Five Nations.] + +But by far the most famous and important of the Huron-Iroquois were +those that followed the northern shore of Lake Ontario into the valley +of the St. Lawrence. In that direction their progress was checked by the +Algonquin tribe of Adirondacks, but they succeeded in retaining a +foothold in the country for a long time; for in 1535 Jacques Cartier +found on the site which he named Montreal an Iroquois village which had +vanished before Champlain's arrival seventy years later. Those Iroquois +who were thrust back in the struggle for the St. Lawrence valley, early +in the fifteenth century, made their way across Lake Ontario and +established themselves at the mouth of the Oswego river. They were then +in three small tribes,--the Mohawks, Onondagas, and Senecas,--but as +they grew in numbers and spread eastward to the Hudson and westward to +the Genesee, the intermediate tribes of Oneidas and Cayugas were formed +by segmentation.[45] About 1450 the five tribes--afterwards known as the +Five Nations--were joined in a confederacy in pursuance of the wise +counsel which Hayowentha, or Hiawatha,[46] according to the legend, +whispered into the ears of the Onondaga sachem, Daganoweda. This union +of their resources combined, with their native bravery and cunning, and +their occupation of the most commanding military position in eastern +North America, to render them invincible among red men. They +exterminated their old enemies the Adirondacks, and pushed the Mohegans +over the mountains from the Hudson river to the Connecticut. When they +first encountered white men in 1609 their name had become a terror in +New England, insomuch that as soon as a single Mohawk was caught sight +of by the Indians in that country, they would raise the cry from hill to +hill, "A Mohawk! a Mohawk!" and forthwith would flee like sheep before +wolves, never dreaming of resistance.[47] + + [Footnote 45: Morgan, _Ancient Society_, p. 125.] + + [Footnote 46: Whether there was ever such a person as Hiawatha + is, to say the least, doubtful. As a traditional culture-hero + his attributes are those of Ioskeha, Michabo, Quetzalcoatl, + Viracocha, and all that class of sky-gods to which I shall + again have occasion to refer. See Brinton's _Myths of the New + World_, p. 172. When the Indian speaks of Hiawatha whispering + advice to Daganoweda, his meaning is probably the same as that + of the ancient Greek when he attributed the wisdom of some + mortal hero to whispered advice from Zeus or his messenger + Hermes. Longfellow's famous poem is based upon Schoolcraft's + book entitled _The Hiawatha Legends_, which is really a + misnomer, for the book consists chiefly of Ojibwa stories about + Manabozho, son of the West Wind. There was really no such + legend of Hiawatha as that which the poet has immortalized. See + Hale, _The Iroquois Book of Rites_, pp. 36, 180-183.] + + [Footnote 47: Cadwallader Colden, _History of the Five + Nations_, New York, 1727.] + +After the Five Nations had been supplied with firearms by the Dutch +their power increased with portentous rapidity.[48] At first they sought +to persuade their neighbours of kindred blood and speech, the Eries and +others, to join their confederacy; and failing in this they went to war +and exterminated them.[49] Then they overthrew one Algonquin tribe after +another until in 1690 their career was checked by the French. By that +time they had reduced to a tributary condition most of the Algonquin +tribes, even to the Mississippi river. Some writers have spoken of the +empire of the Iroquois, and it has been surmised that, if they had not +been interfered with by white men, they might have played a part +analogous to that of the Romans in the Old World; but there is no real +similarity between the two cases. The Romans acquired their mighty +strength by incorporating vanquished peoples into their own body +politic.[50] No American aborigines ever had a glimmering of the process +of state-building after the Roman fashion. No incorporation resulted +from the victories of the Iroquois. Where their burnings and massacres +stopped short of extermination, they simply took tribute, which was as +far as state-craft had got in the lower period of barbarism. General +Walker has summed up their military career in a single sentence: "They +were the scourge of God upon the aborigines of the continent."[51] + + [Footnote 48: Morgan, _League of the Iroquois_, p. 12.] + + [Footnote 49: All except the distant Tuscaroras, who in 1715 + migrated from North Carolina to New York, and joining the + Iroquois league made it the Six Nations. All the rest of the + outlying Huron-Iroquois stock was wiped out of existence before + the end of the seventeenth century, except the remnant of + Hurons since known as Wyandots.] + + [Footnote 50: See my _Beginnings of New England_, chap. i.] + + [Footnote 51: F. A. Walker, "The Indian Question," _North + American Review_, April, 1873, p. 370.] + +[Sidenote: Horticulture must be distinguished from field agriculture.] + +[Sidenote: Perpetual warfare.] + +The six groups here enumerated--Dakota, Mandan, Pawnee, Maskoki, +Algonquin, Iroquois--made up the great body of the aborigines of North +America who at the time of the Discovery lived in the lower status of +barbarism. All made pottery of various degrees of rudeness. Their tools +and weapons were of the Neolithic type,--stone either polished or +accurately and artistically chipped. For the most part they lived in +stockaded villages, and cultivated maize, beans, pumpkins, squashes, +sunflowers, and tobacco. They depended for subsistence partly upon such +vegetable products, partly upon hunting and fishing, the women generally +attending to the horticulture, the men to the chase. _Horticulture_ is +an appropriate designation for this stage in which the ground is merely +scratched with stone spades and hoes. It is incipient agriculture, but +should be carefully distinguished from the _field agriculture_ in which +extensive pieces of land are subdued by the plough. The assistance of +domestic animals is needed before such work can be carried far, and it +does not appear that there was an approach to field agriculture in any +part of pre-Columbian America except Peru, where men were harnessed to +the plough, and perhaps occasionally llamas were used in the same +way.[52] Where subsistence depended upon rude horticulture eked out by +game and fish, it required a large territory to support a sparse +population. The great diversity of languages contributed to maintain the +isolation of tribes and prevent extensive confederation. Intertribal +warfare was perpetual, save now and then for truces of brief duration. +Warfare was attended by wholesale massacre. As many prisoners as could +be managed were taken home by their captors; in some cases they were +adopted into the tribe of the latter as a means of increasing its +fighting strength, otherwise they were put to death with lingering +torments.[53] There was nothing which afforded the red men such +exquisite delight as the spectacle of live human flesh lacerated with +stone knives or hissing under the touch of firebrands, and for elaborate +ingenuity in devising tortures they have never been equalled.[54] +Cannibalism was quite commonly practised.[55] The scalps of slain +enemies were always taken, and until they had attained such trophies the +young men were not likely to find favour in the eyes of women. The +Indian's notions of morality were those that belong to that state of +society in which the tribe is the largest well-established political +aggregate. Murder without the tribe was meritorious unless it entailed +risk of war at an obvious disadvantage; murder within the tribe was +either revenged by blood-feud or compounded by a present given to the +victim's kinsmen. Such rudimentary _wergild_ was often reckoned in +wampum, or strings of beads made of a kind of mussel shell, and put to +divers uses, as personal ornament, mnemonic record, and finally money. +Religious thought was in the fetishistic or animistic stage,[56] while +many tribes had risen to a vague conception of tutelar deities embodied +in human or animal forms. Myth-tales abounded, and the folk-lore of the +red men is found to be extremely interesting and instructive.[57] Their +religion consisted mainly in a devout belief in witchcraft. No +well-defined priestly class had been evolved; the so-called "medicine +men" were mere conjurers, though possessed of considerable influence. + + [Footnote 52: See Humboldt, _Ansichten der Natur_, 3d ed., + Stuttgart, 1849, vol. i. p. 203.] + + [Footnote 53: "Women and children joined in these fiendish + atrocities, and when at length the victim yielded up his life, + his heart, if he were brave, was ripped from his body, cut in + pieces, broiled, and given to the young men, under the belief + that it would increase their courage; they drank his blood, + thinking it would make them more wary; and finally his body was + divided limb from limb, roasted or thrown into the seething + pot, and hands and feet, arms and legs, head and trunk, were + all stewed into a horrid mess and eaten amidst yells, songs, + and dances." Jeffries Wyman, in _Seventh Report of Peabody + Museum_, p. 37. For details of the most appalling character, + see Butterfield's _History of the Girtys_, pp. 176-182; Stone's + _Life of Joseph Brant_, vol. ii. pp. 31, 32; Dodge's _Plains of + the Great West_, p. 418, and _Our Wild Indians_, pp. 525-529; + Parkman's _Jesuits in North America_, pp. 387-391; and many + other places in Parkman's writings.] + + [Footnote 54: One often hears it said that the cruelty of the + Indians was not greater than that of mediaeval Europeans, as + exemplified in judicial torture and in the horrors of the + Inquisition. But in such a judgment there is lack of due + discrimination. In the practice of torture by civil and + ecclesiastical tribunals in the Middle Ages, there was a + definite moral purpose which, however lamentably mistaken or + perverted, gave it a very different character from torture + wantonly inflicted for amusement. The atrocities formerly + attendant upon the sack of towns, as e. g. Beziers, Magdeburg, + etc., might more properly be regarded as an illustration of the + survival of a spirit fit only for the lowest barbarism: and the + Spanish conquerors of the New World themselves often exhibited + cruelty such as even Indians seldom surpass. See below, vol. + ii. p. 444. In spite of such cases, however, it must be held + that for artistic skill in inflicting the greatest possible + intensity of excruciating pain upon every nerve in the body, + the Spaniard was a bungler and a novice as compared with the + Indian. See Dodge's _Our Wild Indians_, pp. 536-538. Colonel + Dodge was in familiar contact with Indians for more than thirty + years, and writes with fairness and discrimination. + + In truth the question as to comparative cruelty is not so much + one of race as of occupation, except in so far as race is + moulded by long occupation. The "old Adam," i. e. the + inheritance from our brute ancestors, is very strong in the + human race. Callousness to the suffering of others than self is + part of this brute-inheritance, and under the influence of + certain habits and occupations this germ of callousness may be + developed to almost any height of devilish cruelty. In the + lower stages of culture the lack of political aggregation on a + large scale is attended with incessant warfare in the shape in + which it comes home to everybody's door. This state of things + keeps alive the passion of revenge and stimulates cruelty to + the highest degree. As long as such a state of things endures, + as it did in Europe to a limited extent throughout the Middle + Ages, there is sure to be a dreadful amount of cruelty. The + change in the conditions of modern warfare has been a very + important factor in the rapidly increasing mildness and + humanity of modern times. See my _Beginnings of New England_, + pp. 226-229. Something more will be said hereafter with + reference to the special causes concerned in the cruelty and + brutality of the Spaniards in America. Meanwhile it may be + observed in the present connection, that the Spanish + taskmasters who mutilated and burned their slaves were not + representative types of their own race to anything like the + same extent as the Indians who tortured Brebeuf or Crawford. If + the fiendish Pedrarias was a Spaniard, so too was the saintly + Las Casas. The latter type would be as impossible among + barbarians as an Aristotle or a Beethoven. Indeed, though there + are writers who would like to prove the contrary, it may be + doubted whether that type has ever attained to perfection + except under the influence of Christianity.] + + [Footnote 55: See the evidence collected by Jeffries Wyman, in + _Seventh Report of Peabody Museum_, pp. 27-37; cf. Wake, + _Evolution of Morality_, vol. i. p. 243. Many illustrations are + given by Mr. Parkman. In this connection it may be observed + that the name "Mohawk" means "Cannibal." It is an Algonquin + word, applied to this Iroquois tribe by their enemies in the + Connecticut valley and about the lower Hudson. The name by + which the Mohawks called themselves was "Caniengas," or + "People-at-the-Flint." See Hale, _The Iroquois Book of Rites_, + p. 173.] + + [Footnote 56: For accounts and explanations of animism see + Tylor's _Primitive Culture_, London, 1871, 2 vols.; Caspari, + _Urgeschichte der Menschheit_, Leipsic, 1877, 2 vols.; + Spencer's _Principles of Sociology_, part i.; and my _Myths and + Mythmakers_, chap. vii.] + + [Footnote 57: No time should be lost in gathering and recording + every scrap of this folk-lore that can be found. The American + Folk-Lore Society, founded chiefly through the exertions of my + friend Mr. W. W. Newell, and organized January 4, 1888, is + already doing excellent work and promises to become a valuable + aid, within its field, to the work of the Bureau of Ethnology. + Of the _Journal of American Folk-Lore_, published for the + society by Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., nine numbers have + appeared, and the reader will find them full of valuable + information. One may also profitably consult Knortz's _Maerchen + und Sagen der nordamerikanischen Indianer_, Jena, 1871; + Brinton's _Myths of the New World_, N. Y., 1868, and his + _American Hero-Myths_, Phila., 1882; Leland's _Algonquin + Legends of New England_, Boston, 1884; Mrs. Emerson's _Indian + Myths_, Boston, 1884. Some brief reflections and criticisms of + much value, in relation to aboriginal American folk-lore, may + be found in Curtin's _Myths and Folk-Lore of Ireland_, pp. + 12-27.] + +But none of the characteristics of barbarous society above specified +will carry us so far toward realizing the gulf which divides it from +civilized society as the imperfect development of its domestic +relations. The importance of this subject is such as to call for a few +words of special elucidation. + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: Ancient Law.] + +Thirty years ago, when Sir Henry Maine published that magnificent +treatise on Ancient Law, which, when considered in all its potency of +suggestiveness, has perhaps done more than any other single book of our +century toward placing the study of history upon a scientific basis, he +began by showing that in primitive society the individual is nothing and +the state nothing, while the family-group is everything, and that the +progress of civilization politically has consisted on the one hand in +the aggregation and building up of family-groups through intermediate +tribal organizations into states, and on the other hand in the +disentanglement of individuals from the family thraldom. In other words, +we began by having no political communities larger than clans, and no +bond of political union except blood relationship, and in this state of +things the individual, as to his rights and obligations, was submerged +in the clan. We at length come to have great nations like the English or +the French, in which blood-relationship as a bond of political union is +no longer indispensable or even much thought of, and in which the +individual citizen is the possessor of legal rights and subject to legal +obligations. No one in our time can forget how beautifully Sir Henry +Maine, with his profound knowledge of early Aryan law and custom, from +Ireland to Hindustan, delineated the slow growth of individual ownership +of property and individual responsibility for delict and crime out of an +earlier stage in which ownership and responsibility belonged only to +family-groups or clans. + +[Sidenote: The patriarchal family not primitive.] + +[Sidenote: "Mother-right."] + +[Sidenote: Primitive marriage.] + +[Sidenote: The system of reckoning kinship through females only.] + +In all these brilliant studies Sir Henry Maine started with the +patriarchal family as we find it at the dawn of history among all +peoples of Aryan and Semitic speech,--the patriarchal family of the +ancient Roman and the ancient Jew, the family in which kinship is +reckoned through males, and in which all authority centres in the eldest +male, and descends to his eldest son. Maine treated this patriarchal +family as primitive; but his great book had hardly appeared when other +scholars, more familiar than he with races in savagery or in the lower +status of barbarism, showed that his view was too restricted. We do not +get back to primitive society by studying Greeks, Romans, and Jews, +peoples who had nearly emerged from the later period of barbarism when +we first know them.[58] Their patriarchal family was perfected in shape +during the later period of barbarism, and it was preceded by a much +ruder and less definite form of family-group in which kinship was +reckoned only through the mother, and the headship never descended from +father to son. As so often happens, this discovery was made almost +simultaneously by two investigators, each working in ignorance of what +the other was doing. In 1861, the same year in which "Ancient Law" was +published, Professor Bachofen, of Basel, published his famous book, "Das +Mutterrecht," of which his co-discoverer and rival, after taking +exception to some of his statements, thus cordially writes: "It remains, +however, after all qualifications and deductions, that Bachofen, before +any one else, discovered the fact that a system of kinship through +mothers only, had anciently everywhere prevailed before the tie of blood +between father and child had found a place in systems of relationships. +And the honour of that discovery, the importance of which, as affording +a new starting-point for all history, cannot be overestimated, must +without stint or qualification be assigned to him."[59] Such are the +generous words of the late John Ferguson McLennan, who had no knowledge +of Bachofen's work when his own treatise on "Primitive Marriage" was +published in 1865. Since he was so modest in urging his own claims, it +is due to the Scotch lawyer's memory to say that, while he was inferior +in point of erudition to the Swiss professor, his book is characterized +by greater sagacity, goes more directly to the mark, and is less +encumbered by visionary speculations of doubtful value.[60] Mr. McLennan +proved, from evidence collected chiefly from Australians and South Sea +Islanders, and sundry non-Aryan tribes of Hindustan and Thibet, that +systems of kinship in which the father is ignored exist to-day, and he +furthermore discovered unmistakable and very significant traces of the +former existence of such a state of things among the Mongols, the Greeks +and Phoenicians, and the ancient Hebrews. By those who were inclined to +regard Sir Henry Maine's views as final, it was argued that Mr. +McLennan's facts were of a sporadic and exceptional character. But when +the evidence from this vast archaic world of America began to be +gathered in and interpreted by Mr. Morgan, this argument fell to the +ground, and as to the point chiefly in contention, Mr. McLennan was +proved to be right. Throughout aboriginal America, with one or two +exceptions, kinship was reckoned through females only, and in the +exceptional instances the vestiges of that system were so prominent as +to make it clear that the change had been but recently effected. During +the past fifteen years, evidence has accumulated from various parts of +the world, until it is beginning to appear as if it were the patriarchal +system that is exceptional, having been reached only by the highest +races.[61] Sir Henry Maine's work has lost none of its value, only, +like all human work, it is not final; it needs to be supplemented by the +further study of savagery as best exemplified in Australia and some +parts of Polynesia, and of barbarism as best exemplified in America. The +subject is, moreover, one of great and complicated difficulty, and leads +incidentally to many questions for solving which the data at our command +are still inadequate. It is enough for us now to observe in general that +while there are plenty of instances of change from the system of +reckoning kinship only through females, to the system of reckoning +through males, there do not appear to have been any instances of change +in the reverse direction; and that in ancient America the earlier system +was prevalent. + + [Footnote 58: Until lately our acquaintance with human history + was derived almost exclusively from literary memorials, among + which the Bible, the Homeric poems, and the Vedas, carried us + back about as far as literature could take us. It was natural, + therefore, to suppose that the society of the times of Abraham + or Agamemnon was "primitive," and the wisest scholars reasoned + upon such an assumption. With vision thus restricted to + civilized man and his ideas and works, people felt free to + speculate about uncivilized races (generally grouped together + indiscriminately as "savages") according to any _a priori_ whim + that might happen to captivate their fancy. But the discoveries + of the last half-century have opened such stupendous vistas of + the past that the age of Abraham seems but as yesterday. The + state of society described in the book of Genesis had five + entire ethnical periods, and the greater part of a sixth, + behind it; and its institutions were, comparatively speaking, + modern.] + + [Footnote 59: McLennan's _Studies in Ancient History, + comprising a reprint of Primitive Marriage_, etc. London, 1876, + p. 421.] + + [Footnote 60: There is much that is unsound in it, however, as + is often inevitably the case with books that strike boldly into + a new field of inquiry.] + + [Footnote 61: A general view of the subject may be obtained + from the following works: Bachofen, _Das Mutterrecht_, + Stuttgart, 1871, and _Die Sage von Tanaquil_, Heidelberg, 1870; + McLennan's _Studies in Ancient History_, London, 1876, and _The + Patriarchal Theory_, London, 1884; Morgan's _Systems of + Consanguinity_ (Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, vol. + xvii.), Washington, 1871, and _Ancient Society_, New York, + 1877; Robertson Smith, _Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia_, + Cambridge, Eng., 1885; Lubbock, _Origin of Civilization_, 5th + ed., London, 1889; Giraud-Teulon, _La Mere chez certains + peuples de l'antiquite_, Paris, 1867, and _Les Origines de la + Famille_, Geneva, 1874; Starcke (of Copenhagen), _The Primitive + Family_, London, 1889. Some criticisms upon McLennan and Morgan + may be found in Maine's later works, _Early History of + Institutions_, London, 1875, and _Early Law and Custom_, + London, 1883. By far the ablest critical survey of the whole + field is that in Spencer's _Principles of Sociology_, vol. i. + pp. 621-797.] + +[Sidenote: Original reason for the system.] + +[Sidenote: The primeval human horde.] + +[Sidenote: Earliest family-group: the clan.] + +[Sidenote: "Exogamy."] + +If now we ask the reason for such a system of reckoning kinship and +inheritance, so strange according to all our modern notions, the true +answer doubtless is that which was given by prudent ([Greek: +Pepnymenos]) Telemachus to the goddess Athene when she asked him to tell +her truly if he was the son of Odysseus:--"My mother says I am his son, +for my part, I don't know; one never knows of one's self who one's +father is."[62] Already, no doubt, in Homer's time there was a gleam of +satire about this answer, such as it would show on a modern page; but in +more primitive times it was a very serious affair. From what we know of +the ideas and practices of uncivilized tribes all over the world, it is +evident that the sacredness of the family based upon indissoluble +marriage is a thing of comparatively modern growth. If the sexual +relations of the Australians, as observed to-day,[63] are an improvement +upon an antecedent state of things, that antecedent state must have been +sheer promiscuity. There is ample warrant for supposing, with Mr. +McLennan, that at the beginning of the lower status of savagery, long +since everywhere extinct, the family had not made itself distinctly +visible, but men lived in a horde very much like gregarious brutes.[64] +I have shown that the essential difference between this primeval human +horde and a mere herd of brutes consisted in the fact that the gradual +but very great prolongation of infancy had produced two effects: the +lengthening of the care of children tended to differentiate the horde +into family-groups, and the lengthening of the period of youthful mental +plasticity made it more possible for a new generation to improve upon +the ideas and customs of its predecessors.[65] In these two concomitant +processes--the development of the family and the increase of mental +plasticity, or ability to adopt new methods and strike out into new +paths of thought--lies the whole explanation of the moral and +intellectual superiority of men over dumb animals. But in each case the +change was very gradual.[66] The true savage is only a little less +unteachable than the beasts of the field. The savage family is at first +barely discernible amid the primitive social chaos in which it had its +origin. Along with polyandry and polygyny in various degrees and forms, +instances of exclusive pairing, of at least a temporary character, are +to be found among the lowest existing savages, and there are reasons for +supposing that such may have been the case even in primeval times. But +it was impossible for strict monogamy to flourish in the ruder stages of +social development; and the kind of family-group that was first clearly +and permanently differentiated from the primeval horde was not at all +like what civilized people would recognize as a family. It was the +_gens_ or _clan_, as we find it exemplified in all stages from the +middle period of savagery to the middle period of barbarism. The _gens_ +or _clan_ was simply--to define it by a third synonym--the _kin_; it was +originally a group of males and females who were traditionally aware of +their common descent reckoned in the female line. At this stage of +development there was quite generally though not universally prevalent +the custom of "exogamy," by which a man was forbidden to marry a woman +of his own clan. Among such Australian tribes as have been studied, this +primitive restriction upon promiscuity seems to be about the only one. + + [Footnote 62: [Greek: + All' age moi tode eipe kai atrekeos katalexon, + ei de ex autoio tosos pais eis Odyseos. + ainos gar kephalen te kai ommata kala eoikas + keino, epei thama toion emisgometh' alleloisin, + prin ge ton es Troien anabemenai, entha per alloi + Argeion hoi aristoi eban koiles epi neusin + ek tou d' out' Odysea egon idon out' eme keinos. + + Ten d' au Telemachos pepnymenos antion euda + toigar ego toi, xeine, mal' atrekeos agoreuso. + meter men t' eme phesi tou emmenai, autar egoge + ouk oid'; ou gar po tis heon gonon autos anegno.] + _Odyssey_, i. 206.] + + [Footnote 63: Lumholtz, _Among Cannibals_, p. 213; Lubbock, + _Origin of Civilization_, p. 107; Morgan, _Ancient Society_, + part iii., chap. iii. "After battle it frequently happens among + the native tribes of Australia that the wives of the conquered, + of their own free-will, go over to the victors; reminding us of + the lioness which, quietly watching the fight between two + lions, goes off with the conqueror." Spencer, _Principles of + Sociology_, vol. i. p. 632.] + + [Footnote 64: The notion of the descent of the human race from + a single "pair," or of different races from different "pairs," + is a curious instance of transferring modern institutions into + times primeval. Of course the idea is absurd. When the elder + Agassiz so emphatically declared that "pines have originated in + forests, heaths in heaths, grasses in prairies, bees in hives, + herrings in shoals, buffaloes in herds, men in nations" (_Essay + on Classification_, London, 1859, p. 58), he made, indeed, a + mistake of the same sort, so far as concerns the origin of Man, + for the nation is a still more modern institution than the + family; but in the other items of his statement he was right, + and as regards the human race he was thinking in the right + direction when he placed _multitude_ instead of _duality_ at + the beginning. If instead of that extremely complex and highly + organized multitude called "nation" (in the plural), he had + started with the extremely simple and almost unorganized + multitude called "horde" (in the singular), the statement for + Man would have been correct. Such views were hardly within the + reach of science thirty years ago.] + + [Footnote 65: _Outlines of Cosmic Philosophy_, part ii., chaps. + xvi., xxi., xxii.; _Excursions of an Evolutionist_, pp. + 306-319; _Darwinism, and other Essays_, pp. 40-49; _The Destiny + of Man_, Sec.Sec. iii.-ix.] + + [Footnote 66: The slowness of the development has apparently + been such as befits the transcendent value of the result. + Though the question is confessedly beyond the reach of science, + may we not hold that civilized man, the creature of an infinite + past, is the child of eternity, maturing for an inheritance of + immortal life?] + +[Sidenote: Phratry and tribe.] + +Throughout all the earlier stages of culture, and even into the +civilized period, we find society organized with the clan for its +ultimate unit, although in course of time its character becomes greatly +altered by the substitution of kinship in the paternal, for that in the +maternal line. By long-continued growth and repeated segmentation the +primitive clan was developed into a more complex structure, in which a +group of clans constituted a _phratry_ or brotherhood, and a group of +phratries constituted a _tribe_. This threefold grouping is found so +commonly in all parts of the world as to afford good ground for the +belief that it has been universal. It was long ago familiar to +historians in the case of Greece and Rome, and of our Teutonic +forefathers,[67] but it also existed generally in ancient America, and +many obscure points connected with the history of the Greek and Roman +groups have been elucidated through the study of Iroquois and Algonquin +institutions. Along with the likenesses, however, there are numerous +unlikenesses, due to the change of kinship, among the European groups, +from the female line to the male. + + [Footnote 67: The Teutonic _hundred_ and Roman _curia_ answered + to the Greek _phratry_.] + +[Sidenote: Effect of pastoral life upon property and upon the family.] + +This change, as it occurred among Aryan and Semitic peoples, marked one +of the most momentous revolutions in the history of mankind. It probably +occurred early in the upper period of barbarism, or late in the middle +period, after the long-continued domestication of animals had resulted +in the acquisition of private property (_pecus, peculium, pecunia_) in +large amounts by individuals. In primitive society there was very little +personal property except in weapons, clothing (such as it was), and +trinkets. Real estate was unknown. Land was simply _occupied_ by the +tribe. There was general communism and social equality. In the Old +World the earliest instance of extensive "adverse possession" on the +part of individuals, as against other individuals in the clan-community, +was the possession of flocks and herds. Distinctions in wealth and rank +were thus inaugurated; slavery began to be profitable and personal +retainers and adherents useful in new ways. As in earlier stages the +community in marital relations had been part of the general community in +possessions, so now the exclusive possession of a wife or wives was part +of the system of private property that was coming into vogue. The man of +many cattle, the man who could attach subordinates to him through +motives of self-interest as well as personal deference, the man who +could defend his property against robbers, could also have his separate +household and maintain its sanctity. In this way, it is believed, +indissoluble marriage, in its two forms of monogamy and polygamy, +originated. That it had already existed sporadically is not denied, but +it now acquired such stability and permanence that the older and looser +forms of alliance, hitherto prevalent, fell into disfavour. A natural +result of the growth of private wealth and the permanence of the marital +relation was the change in reckoning kinship from the maternal to the +paternal line. This change was probably favoured by the prevalence of +polygamy among those who were coming to be distinguished as "upper +classes," since a large family of children by different mothers could be +held together only by reckoning the kinship through the father. Thus, we +may suppose, originated the patriarchal family. Even in its rudest form +it was an immense improvement upon what had gone before, and to the +stronger and higher social organization thus acquired we must largely +ascribe the rise of the Aryan and Semitic peoples to the foremost rank +of civilization.[68] + + [Footnote 68: Fenton's _Early Hebrew Life_, London, 1880, is an + interesting study of the upper period of barbarism; see also + Spencer, _Princip. of Sociol._, i. 724-737.] + +It is not intended to imply that there is no other way in which the +change to the male line may have been brought about among other peoples. +The explanation just given applies very well to the Aryan and Semitic +peoples, but it is inapplicable to the state of things which seems to +have existed in Mexico at the time of the Discovery.[69] The subject is +a difficult one, and sometimes confronts us with questions much easier +to ask than to answer. The change has been observed among tribes in a +lower stage than that just described.[70] On the other hand, as old +customs die hard, no doubt inheritance has in many places continued in +the maternal line long after paternity is fully known. Symmetrical +regularity in the development of human institutions has by no means been +the rule, and there is often much difficulty in explaining particular +cases, even when the direction of the general drift can be discerned. + + [Footnote 69: See below, p. 122.] + + [Footnote 70: As among the Hervey Islanders; Gill, _Myths and + Songs of the South Pacific_, p. 36. Sir John Lubbock would + account for the curious and widely spread custom of the + _Couvade_ as a feature of this change. _Origin of + Civilization_, pp. 14-17, 159; cf. Tylor, _Early Hist. of + Mankind_, pp. 288, 297.] + +[Sidenote: The exogamous clan in ancient America.] + +In aboriginal America, as already observed, kinship through females only +was the rule, and exogamy was strictly enforced,--the wife must be taken +from a different clan. Indissoluble marriage, whether monogamous or +polygamous, seems to have been unknown. The marriage relation was +terminable at the will of either party.[71] The abiding unit upon which +the social structure was founded was not the family but the exogamous +clan. + + [Footnote 71: "There is no embarrassment growing out of + problems respecting the woman's future support, the division of + property, or the adjustment of claims for the possession of the + children. The independent self-support of every adult healthy + Indian, male or female, and the gentile relationship, which is + more wide-reaching and authoritative than that of marriage, + have already disposed of these questions, which are usually so + perplexing for the white man. So far as personal maintenance is + concerned, a woman is, as a rule, just as well off without a + husband as with one. What is hers, in the shape of property, + remains her own whether she is married or not. In fact, + marriage among these Indians seems to be but the natural mating + of the sexes, to cease at the option of either of the + interested parties." Clay MacCauley, "The Seminole Indians of + Florida", in _Fifth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology_, + Washington, 1887, p. 497. For a graphic account of the state of + things among the Cheyennes and Arrapahos, see Dodge, _Our Wild + Indians_, pp. 204-220.] + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: Intimate connection of aboriginal architecture with social +life.] + +I have been at some pains to elucidate this point because the house-life +of the American aborigines found visible, and in some instances very +durable, expression in a remarkable style of house-architecture. The +manner in which the Indians built their houses grew directly out of the +requirements of their life. It was an unmistakably characteristic +architecture, and while it exhibits manifold unlikenesses in detail, +due to differences in intelligence as well as to the presence or absence +of sundry materials, there is one underlying principle always manifest. +That underlying principle is adaptation to a certain mode of communal +living such as all American aborigines that have been carefully studied +are known to have practised. Through many gradations, from the sty of +the California savage up to the noble sculptured ruins of Uxmal and +Chichen-Itza, the principle is always present. Taken in connection with +evidence from other sources, it enables us to exhibit a gradation of +stages of culture in aboriginal North America, with the savages of the +Sacramento and Columbia valleys at the bottom, and the Mayas of Yucatan +at the top; and while in going from one end to the other a very long +interval was traversed, we feel that the progress of the aborigines in +crossing that interval was made along similar lines.[72] + + [Footnote 72: See Morgan's _Houses and House-Life of the + American Aborigines_, Washington, 1881, an epoch-making book of + rare and absorbing interest.] + +[Illustration: Seneca-Iroquois long house.] + +[Illustration: Ground-plan of long house.] + +[Sidenote: The long houses of the Iroquois.] + +The principle was first studied and explained by Mr. Morgan in the case +of the famous "long houses" of the Iroquois. "The long house ... was +from fifty to eighty and sometimes one hundred feet long. It consisted +of a strong frame of upright poles set in the ground, which was +strengthened with horizontal poles attached with withes, and surmounted +with a triangular, and in some cases with a round roof. It was covered +over, both sides and roof, with long strips of elm bark tied to the +frame with strings or splints. An external frame of poles for the sides +and of rafters for the roof were then adjusted to hold the bark shingles +between them, the two frames being tied together. The interior of the +house was comparted[73] at intervals of six or eight feet, leaving each +chamber entirely open like a stall upon the passageway which passed +through the centre of the house from end to end. At each end was a +doorway covered with suspended skins. Between each four apartments, two +on a side, was a fire-pit in the centre of the hall, used in common by +their occupants. Thus a house with five fires would contain twenty +apartments and accommodate twenty families, unless some apartments were +reserved for storage. They were warm, roomy, and tidily-kept +habitations. Raised bunks were constructed around the walls of each +apartment for beds. From the roof-poles were suspended their strings of +corn in the ear, braided by the husks, also strings of dried squashes +and pumpkins. Spaces were contrived here and there to store away their +accumulations of provisions. Each house, as a rule, was occupied by +related families, the mothers and their children belonging to the same +gens, while their husbands and the fathers of these children belonged to +other gentes; consequently the gens or clan of the mother largely +predominated in the household. Whatever was taken in the hunt or raised +by cultivation by any member of the household ... was for the common +benefit. Provisions were made a common stock within the household."[74] + + [Footnote 73: This verb of Mr. Morgan's at first struck me as + odd, but though rarely used, it is supported by good authority; + see _Century Dictionary_, s. v.] + + [Footnote 74: The Iroquois ceased to build such houses before + the beginning of the present century. I quote Mr. Morgan's + description at length, because his book is out of print and + hard to obtain. It ought to be republished, and in octavo, like + his _Ancient Society_, of which it is a continuation.] + +"Over every such household a matron presided, whose duty it was to +supervise its domestic economy. After the single daily meal had been +cooked at the different fires within the house, it was her province to +divide the food from the kettle to the several families according to +their respective needs. What remained was placed in the custody of +another person until she again required it."[75] + + [Footnote 75: Lucien Carr, "On the Social and Political + Position of Woman among the Huron-Iroquois Tribes," _Reports of + Peabody Museum_, vol. iii. p. 215.] + +[Sidenote: Summary divorce.] + +Not only the food was common property, but many chattels, including the +children, belonged to the gens or clan. When a young woman got married +she brought her husband home with her. Though thenceforth an inmate of +this household he remained an alien to her clan. "If he proved lazy and +failed to do his share of the providing, woe be to him. No matter how +many children, or whatever goods he might have in the house, he might at +any time be ordered to pick up his blanket and budge; and after such +orders it would not be healthful for him to disobey; the house would be +too hot for him; and unless saved by the intercession of some aunt or +grandmother [of his wife] he must retreat to his own clan, or, as was +often done, go and start a new matrimonial alliance in some other.... +The female portion ruled the house."[76] + + [Footnote 76: This was not incompatible with the subjection of + women to extreme drudgery and ill-treatment. For an instructive + comparison with the case among the tribes of the Far West, see + Dodge, _Our Wild Indians_, chap. xvi.] + +[Sidenote: Hospitality.] + +Though there was but one freshly-cooked meal, taken about the middle of +the day, any member of the household when hungry could be helped from +the common stock. Hospitality was universal. If a person from one of the +other communal households, or a stranger from another tribe (in time of +peace), were to visit the house, the women would immediately offer him +food, and it was a breach of etiquette to decline to eat it. This custom +was strictly observed all over the continent and in the West India +Islands, and was often remarked upon by the early discoverers, in whose +minds it was apt to implant idyllic notions that were afterward rudely +disturbed. The prevalence of hospitality among uncivilized races has +long been noted by travellers, and is probably in most cases, as it +certainly was in ancient America, closely connected with communism in +living. + +[Sidenote: Structure of the clan.] + +The clan, which practised this communism, had its definite organization, +officers, rights, and duties. Its official head was the "sachem," whose +functions were of a civil nature. The sachem was elected by the clan and +must be a member of it, so that a son could not be chosen to succeed his +father, but a sachem could be succeeded by his uterine brother or by his +sister's son, and in this way customary lines of succession could and +often did tend to become established. The clan also elected its +"chiefs," whose functions were military; the number of chiefs was +proportionate to that of the people composing the clan, usually one +chief to every fifty or sixty persons. The clan could depose its sachem +or any of its chiefs. Personal property, such as weapons, or trophies, +or rights of user in the garden-plots, was inheritable in the female +line, and thus stayed within the clan. The members were reciprocally +bound to help, defend, and avenge one another. The clan had the right of +adopting strangers to strengthen itself. It had the right of naming its +members, and these names were always obviously significant, like Little +Turtle, Yellow Wolf, etc.; of names like our Richard or William, with +the meaning lost, or obvious only to scholars, no trace is to be found +in aboriginal America. The clan itself, too, always had a name, which +was usually that of some animal,--as Wolf, Eagle, or Salmon, and a rude +drawing or pictograph of the creature served as a "totem" or primitive +heraldic device. A mythological meaning was attached to this emblem. The +clan had its own common religious rites and common burial place. There +was a clan-council, of which women might be members; there were +instances, indeed, of its being composed entirely of women, whose +position was one of much more dignity and influence than has commonly +been supposed. Instances of squaw sachems were not so very rare.[77] + + [Footnote 77: Among the Wyandots there is in each clan a + council composed of four squaws, and this council elects the + male sachem who is its head. Therefore the tribal council, + which is the aggregate of the clan-councils, consists one fifth + of men and four fifths of women. See Powell, "Wyandot + Government: a Short Study of Tribal Society," in _First Annual + Report of the Bureau of Ethnology_, Washington, 1881, pp. + 59-69; and also Mr. Carr's interesting essay above cited.] + +[Sidenote: Origin and structure of the phratry.] + +The number of clans in a tribe naturally bore some proportion to the +populousness of the tribe, varying from three, in the case of the +Delawares, to twenty or more, as in the case of the Ojibwas and Creeks. +There were usually eight or ten, and these were usually grouped into two +or three phratries. The phratry seems to have originated in the +segmentation of the overgrown clan, for in some cases exogamy was +originally practised as between the phratries and afterward the custom +died out while it was retained as between their constituent clans.[78] +The system of naming often indicates this origin of the phratry, though +seldom quite so forcibly as in the case of the Mohegan tribe, which was +thus composed:[79]-- + +I. WOLF PHRATRY. + +_Clans:_ 1. Wolf, 2. Bear, 3. Dog, 4. Opossum. + +II. TURTLE PHRATRY. + +_Clans:_ 5. Little Turtle, 6. Mud Turtle, 7. Great Turtle, 8. Yellow +Eel. + +III. TURKEY PHRATRY. + +_Clans:_ 9. Turkey, 10. Crane, 11. Chicken. + +Here the senior clan in the phratry tends to keep the original +clan-name, while the junior clans have been guided by a sense of kinship +in choosing their new names. This origin of the phratry is further +indicated by the fact that the phratry does not always occur; sometimes +the clans are organized directly into the tribe. The phratry was not so +much a governmental as a religious and social organization. Its most +important function seems to have been supplementing or reinforcing the +action of the single clan in exacting compensation for murder; and this +point is full of interest because it helps us to understand how among +our Teutonic forefathers the "hundred" (the equivalent of the phratry) +became charged with the duty of prosecuting criminals. The Greek phratry +had a precisely analogous function.[80] + + [Footnote 78: H. H. Bancroft, _Native Races of the Pacific + States_, vol. i. p. 109.] + + [Footnote 79: Morgan, _Houses and House-Life_, p. 16.] + + [Footnote 80: See Freeman, _Comparative Politics_, p. 117; + Stubbs, _Const. Hist._, vol. i. pp. 98-104; Grote, _History of + Greece_, vol. iii. pp. 74, 88. It is interesting to compare + Grote's description with Morgan's (_Anc. Soc._, pp. 71, 94) and + note both the closeness of the general parallelism and the + character of the specific variations.] + +[Sidenote: Structure of the tribe.] + +The Indian tribe was a group of people distinguished by the exclusive +possession of a dialect in common. It possessed a tribal name and +occupied a more or less clearly defined territory; there were also +tribal religious rites. Its supreme government was vested in the council +of its clan-chiefs and sachems; and as these were thus officers of the +tribe as well as of the clan, the tribe exercised the right of investing +them with office, amid appropriate solemnities, after their election by +their respective clans. The tribal-council had also the right to depose +chiefs and sachems. In some instances, not always, there was a head +chief or military commander for the tribes, elected by the tribal +council. Such, was the origin of the office which, in most societies of +the Old World, gradually multiplied its functions and accumulated power +until it developed into true kingship. Nowhere in ancient North America +did it quite reach such a stage. + +[Sidenote: Cross-relationships between clans and tribes: the Iroquois +Confederacy.] + +Among the greater part of the aborigines no higher form of social +structure was attained than the tribe. There were, however, several +instances of permanent confederation, of which the two most interesting +and most highly developed were the League of the Iroquois, mentioned +above, and the Mexican Confederacy, presently to be considered. The +principles upon which the Iroquois league was founded have been +thoroughly and minutely explained by Mr. Morgan.[81] It originated in a +union of five tribes composed of clans in common, and speaking five +dialects of a common language. These tribes had themselves arisen +through the segmentation of a single overgrown tribe, so that portions +of the original clans survived in them all. The Wolf, Bear, and Turtle +clan were common to all the five tribes; three other clans were common +to three of the five. "All the members of the same gens [clan], whether +Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, or Senecas, were brothers and +sisters to each other in virtue of their descent from the same common +[female] ancestor, and they recognized each other as such with the +fullest cordiality. When they met, the first inquiry was the name of +each other's gens, and next the immediate pedigree of each other's +sachems; after which they were able to find, under their peculiar system +of consanguinity, the relationship in which they stood to each other.... +This cross-relationship between persons of the same gens in the +different tribes is still preserved and recognized among them in all its +original force. It explains the tenacity with which the fragments of the +old confederacy still cling together."[82] Acknowledged consanguinity +is to the barbarian a sound reason, and the only one conceivable, for +permanent political union; and the very existence of such a confederacy +as that of the Five Nations was rendered possible only through the +permanence of the clans or communal households which were its ultimate +units. We have here a clue to the policy of these Indians toward the +kindred tribes who refused to join their league. These tribes, too, so +far as is known, would seem to have contained the same clans. After a +separation of at least four hundred years the Wyandots have still five +of their eight clans in common with the Iroquois. When the Eries and +other tribes would not join the league of their kindred, the refusal +smacked of treason to the kin, and we can quite understand the deadly +fury with which the latter turned upon them and butchered every man, +woman, and child except such as they saw fit to adopt into their own +clans. + + [Footnote 81: In his _League of the Iroquois_, Rochester, 1851, + a book now out of print and excessively rare. A brief summary + is given in his _Ancient Society_, chap. v., and in his _Houses + and House-Life_, pp. 23-41. Mr. Morgan was adopted into the + Seneca tribe, and his life work was begun by a profound and + exhaustive study of this interesting people.] + + [Footnote 82: _Houses and House-Life_, p. 33. At the period of + its greatest power, about 1675, the people of the confederacy + were about 25,000 in number. In 1875, according to official + statistics (see table appended to Dodge's _Plains of the Great + West_, pp. 441-448), there were in the state of New York 198 + Oneidas, 203 Onondagas, 165 Cayugas, 3,043 Senecas, and 448 + Tuscaroras,--in all 4,057. Besides these there were 1,279 + Oneidas on a reservation in Wisconsin, and 207 Senecas in the + Indian Territory. The Mohawks are not mentioned in the list. + During the Revolutionary War, and just afterward, the Mohawks + migrated into Upper Canada (Ontario), for an account of which + the reader may consult the second volume of Stone's _Life of + Brant_. Portions of the other tribes also went to Canada. In + New York the Oneidas and Tuscaroras were converted to + Christianity by Samuel Kirkland and withheld from alliance with + the British during the Revolution; the others still retain + their ancient religion. They are for the most part farmers and + are now increasing in numbers. Their treatment by the state of + New York has been honourably distinguished for justice and + humanity.] + +[Sidenote: Structure of the confederacy.] + +Each of the Five Tribes retained its local self-government. The supreme +government of the confederacy was vested in a General Council of fifty +sachems, "equal in rank and authority." The fifty sachemships were +created in perpetuity in certain clans of the several tribes; whenever a +vacancy occurred, it was filled by the clan electing one of its own +members; a sachem once thus elected could be deposed by the clan-council +for good cause; "but the right to invest these sachems with office was +reserved to the General Council." These fifty sachems of the confederacy +were likewise sachems in their respective tribes, "and with the chiefs +of these tribes formed the council of each, which was supreme over all +matters pertaining to the tribe exclusively." The General Council could +not convene itself, but could be convened by any one of the five tribal +councils. The regular meeting was once a year in the autumn, in the +valley of Onondaga, but in stirring times extra sessions were frequent. +The proceedings were opened by an address from one of the sachems, "in +the course of which he thanked the Great Spirit [i. e. Ioskeha, the +sky-god] for sparing their lives and permitting them to meet together;" +after this they were ready for business. It was proper for any orator +from among the people to address the Council with arguments, and the +debates were sometimes very long and elaborate. When it came to voting, +the fifty sachems voted by tribes, each tribe counting as a unit, and +unanimity was as imperative as in an English jury, so that one tribe +could block the proceedings. The confederacy had no head-sachem, or +civil chief-magistrate; but a military commander was indispensable, and, +curiously enough, without being taught by the experience of a Tarquin, +the Iroquois made this a dual office, like the Roman consulship. There +were two permanent chieftainships, one in the Wolf, the other in the +Turtle clan, and both in the Seneca tribe, because the western border +was the most exposed to attack.[83] The chiefs were elected by the clan, +and inducted into office by the General Council; their tenure was during +life or good behaviour. This office never encroached upon the others in +its powers, but an able warrior in this position could wield great +influence. + + [Footnote 83: Somewhat on the same principle that in mediaeval + Europe led an earl or count, commanding an exposed border + district or _march_ to rise in power and importance and become + a "margrave" [_mark_ + _graf_ = march-count] or "marquis." + Compare the increase of sovereignty accorded to the earls of + Chester and bishops of Durham as rulers of the two principal + march counties of England.] + +[Sidenote: The "Long House."] + +Such was the famous confederacy of the Iroquois. They called it the Long +House, and by this name as commonly as any other it is known in history. +The name by which they called themselves was Hodenosaunee, or "People of +the Long House." The name was picturesquely descriptive of the long and +narrow strip of villages with its western outlook toward the Niagara, +and its eastern toward the Hudson, three hundred miles distant. But it +was appropriate also for another and a deeper reason than this. We have +seen that in its social and political structure, from top to bottom and +from end to end, the confederacy was based upon and held together by the +gentes, clans, communal households, or "long houses," which were its +component units. They may be compared to the hypothetical indestructible +atoms of modern physics, whereof all material objects are composed. The +whole institutional fabric was the outgrowth of the group of ideas and +habits that belong to a state of society ignorant of and incapable of +imagining any other form of organization than the clan held together by +the tie of a common maternal ancestry. The house architecture was as +much a constituent part of the fabric as the council of sachems. There +is a transparency about the system that is very different from the +obscurity we continually find in Europe and Asia, where different strata +of ideas and institutions have been superimposed one upon another and +crumpled and distorted with as little apparent significance or purpose +as the porches and gables of a so-called "Queen Anne" house.[84] +Conquest in the Old World has resulted in the commingling and manifold +fusion of peoples in very different stages of development. In the New +World there has been very little of that sort of thing. Conquest in +ancient America was pretty much all of the Iroquois type, entailing in +its milder form the imposition of tribute, in its more desperate form +the extermination of a tribe with the adoption of its remnants into the +similarly-constituted tribe of the conquerors. There was therefore but +little modification of the social structure while the people, gradually +acquiring new arts, were passing through savagery and into a more or +less advanced stage of barbarism. The symmetry of the structure and the +relation of one institution to another is thus distinctly apparent. + + [Footnote 84: For instance, the whole discussion in Gomme's + _Village Community_, London, 1890, an excellent book, abounds + with instances of this crumpling.] + +The communal household and the political structure built upon it, as +above described in the case of the Iroquois, seem to have existed all +over ancient North America, with agreement in fundamental +characteristics and variation in details and degree of development. +There are many corners as yet imperfectly explored, but hitherto, in so +far as research has been rewarded with information, it all points in the +same general direction. Among the tribes above enumerated as either in +savagery or in the lower status of barbarism, so far as they have been +studied, there seems to be a general agreement, as to the looseness of +the marriage tie the clan with descent in the female line, the phratry, +the tribe, the officers and councils, the social equality, the community +in goods (with exceptions already noted), and the wigwam or house +adapted to communal living. + +[Illustration: View, Cross-section, and Ground-plan of Mandan round +house.] + +[Sidenote: Circular houses of the Mandans.] + +The extreme of variation consistent with adherence to the common +principle was to be found in the shape and material of the houses. Those +of the savage tribes were but sorry huts. The long house was used by the +Powhatans and other Algonquin tribes. The other most highly developed +type may be illustrated by the circular frame-houses of the +Mandans.[85] These houses were from forty to sixty feet in diameter. A +dozen or more posts, each about eight inches in diameter, were set in +the ground, "at equal distances in the circumference of a circle, and +rising about six feet above the level of the floor." The tops of the +posts were connected by horizontal stringers; and outside each post a +slanting wooden brace sunk in the ground about four feet distant served +as a firm support to the structure. The spaces between these braces were +filled by tall wooden slabs, set with the same slant and resting against +the stringers. Thus the framework of the outer wall was completed. To +support the roof four posts were set in the ground about ten feet apart +in the form of a square, near the centre of the building. They were from +twelve to fifteen feet in height, and were connected at the top by four +stringers forming a square. The rafters rested upon these stringers and +upon the top of the circular wall below. The rafters were covered with +willow matting, and upon this was spread a layer of prairie grass. Then +both wall and roof, from the ground up to the summit, were covered with +earth, solid and hard, to a thickness of at least two feet. The rafters +projected above the square framework at the summit, so as to leave a +circular opening in the centre about four feet in diameter. This hole +let in a little light, and let out some of the smoke from the fire which +blazed underneath in a fire-pit lined with stone slabs set on edge. +The only other aperture for light was the doorway, which was a kind of +vestibule or passage some ten feet in length. Curtains of buffalo robes +did duty instead of doors. The family compartments were triangles with +base at the outer wall, and apex opening upon the central hearth; and +the partitions were hanging mats or skins, which were tastefully fringed +and ornamented with quill-work and pictographs.[86] In the lower Mandan +village, visited by Catlin, there were about fifty such houses, each +able to accommodate from thirty to forty persons. The village, situated +upon a bold bluff at a bend of the Missouri river, and surrounded by a +palisade of stout timbers more than ten feet in height, was very strong +for defensive purposes. Indeed, it was virtually impregnable to Indian +methods of attack, for the earth-covered houses could not be set on fire +by blazing arrows, and just within the palisade ran a trench in which +the defenders could securely skulk, while through the narrow chinks +between the timbers they could shoot arrows fast enough to keep their +assailants at a distance. This purpose was further secured by rude +bastions, and considering the structure as a whole one cannot help +admiring the ingenuity which it exhibits. It shows a marked superiority +over the conceptions of military defence attained by the Iroquois or any +other Indians north of New Mexico. Besides the communal houses the +village contained its "medicine lodge," or council house, and an open +area for games and ceremonies. In the spaces between the houses were +the scaffolds for drying maize, buffalo meat, etc., ascended by +well-made portable ladders. Outside the village, at a short distance on +the prairie, was a group of such scaffolds upon which the dead were left +to moulder, somewhat after the fashion of the Parsees.[87] + + [Footnote 85: Morgan, _Houses and House-life_, pp. 126-129; + Catlin's _North Amer. Indians_, i. 81 _ff._] + + [Footnote 86: Catlin, i. 83.] + + [Footnote 87: Catlin, i. 90.] + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: The Indians of the pueblos,--in the middle status of +barbarism.] + +We are now prepared to understand some essential points in the life of +the groups of Indians occupying the region of the Cordilleras, both +north and south of the Isthmus of Darien, all the way from Zuni to +Quito. The principal groups are the Moquis and Zunis of Arizona and New +Mexico, the Nahuas or Nahuatlac tribes of Mexico, the Mayas, Quiches, +and kindred peoples of Central America; and beyond the isthmus, the +Chibchas of New Granada, and sundry peoples comprised within the domain +of the Incas. With regard to the ethnic relationships of these various +groups, opinion is still in a state of confusion; but it is not +necessary for our present purpose that we should pause to discuss the +numerous questions thus arising. Our business is to get a clear notion +in outline of the character of the culture to which these peoples had +attained at the time of the Discovery. Here we observe, on the part of +all, a very considerable divergence from the average Indian level which +we have thus far been describing. + +This divergence increases as we go from Zuni toward Cuzco, reaching its +extreme, on the whole, among the Peruvians, though in some respects the +nearest approach to civilization was made by the Mayas. All these +peoples were at least one full ethnical period nearer to true +civilization than the Iroquois,--and a vast amount of change and +improvement is involved in the conception of an entire ethnical period. +According to Mr. Morgan, one more such period would have brought the +average level of these Cordilleran peoples to as high a plane as that of +the Greeks described in the Odyssey. Let us now observe the principal +points involved in the change, bearing in mind that it implies a +considerable lapse of time. While the date 1325, at which the city of +Mexico was founded, is the earliest date in the history of that country +which can be regarded as securely established, it was preceded by a long +series of generations of migration and warfare, the confused and +fragmentary record of which historians have tried--hitherto with scant +success--to unravel. To develop such a culture as that of the Aztecs out +of an antecedent culture similar to that of the Iroquois must of course +have taken a long time. + +[Sidenote: Horticulture with irrigation, and architecture with adobe.] + +It will be remembered that the most conspicuous distinctive marks of the +grade of culture attained by the Cordilleran peoples were two,--the +cultivation of maize in large quantities by irrigation, and the use of +adobe-brick or stone in building. Probably there was at first, to some +extent, a causal connection between the former and the latter. The +region of the Moqui-Zuni culture is a region in which arid plains become +richly fertile when water from neighbouring cliffs or peaks is +directed down upon them. It is mainly an affair of sluices, not of pump +or well, which seem to have been alike beyond the ken of aboriginal +Americans of whatever grade. The change of occupation involved in +raising large crops of corn by the aid of sluices would facilitate an +increase in density of population, and would encourage a preference for +agricultural over predatory life. Such changes would be likely to favour +the development of defensive military art. The Mohawk's surest defence +lay in the terror which his prowess created hundreds of miles away. One +can easily see how the forefathers of our Moquis and Zunis may have come +to prefer the security gained by living more closely together and +building impregnable fortresses. + +[Sidenote: Possible origin of adobe architecture.] + +The earthen wall of the Mandan, supported on a framework of posts and +slabs, seems to me curiously and strikingly suggestive of the incipient +pottery made by surrounding a basket with a coating of clay.[88] When it +was discovered how to make the earthen bowl or dish without the basket, +a new era in progress was begun. So when it was discovered that an +earthen wall could be fashioned to answer the requirements of +house-builders without the need of a permanent wooden framework, another +great step was taken. Again the consequences were great enough to make +it mark the beginning of a new ethnical period. If we suppose the +central portion of our continent, the Mississippi and Missouri valleys, +to have been occupied at some time by tribes familiar with the Mandan +style of building; and if we further suppose a gradual extension or +migration of this population, or some part of it, westward into the +mountain region; that would be a movement into a region in which timber +was scarce, while adobe clay was abundant. Under such circumstances the +useful qualities of that peculiar clay could not fail to be soon +discovered. The simple exposure to sunshine would quickly convert a +Mandan house built with it into an adobe house; the coating of earth +would become a coating of brick. It would not then take long to +ascertain that with such adobe-brick could be built walls at once light +and strong, erect and tall, such as could not be built with common clay. +In some such way as this I think the discovery must have been made by +the ancestors of the Zunis, and others who have built pueblos. After the +pueblo style of architecture, with its erect walls and terraced stories, +had become developed, it was an easy step, when the occasion suggested +it, to substitute for the adobe-brick coarse rubble-stones embedded in +adobe. The final stage was reached in Mexico and Yucatan, when soft +coralline limestone was shaped into blocks with a flint chisel and laid +in courses with adobe-mortar. + + [Footnote 88: See above, p. 25.] + +[Sidenote: Mr. Cushing at Zuni.] + +The pueblos of New Mexico and Arizona are among the most interesting +structures in the world. Several are still inhabited by the descendants +of the people who were living in them at the time of the Spanish +Discovery, and their primitive customs and habits of thought have been +preserved to the present day with but little change. The long sojourn +of Mr. Cushing, of the Bureau of Ethnology, in the Zuni pueblo, has +already thrown a flood of light upon many points in American +archaeology.[89] As in the case of American aborigines generally, the +social life of these people is closely connected with their +architecture, and the pueblos which are still inhabited seem to furnish +us with the key to the interpretation of those that we find deserted or +in ruins, whether in Arizona or in Guatemala. + + [Footnote 89: See his articles in the _Century Magazine_, Dec., + 1882, Feb., 1883, May, 1883; and his papers on "Zuni Fetiches," + _Reports of the Bureau of Ethnology_, ii. 9-45; "A Study of + Pueblo Pottery as Illustrative of Zuni Culture Growth," id. iv. + 473-521; see also Mrs. Stevenson's paper, "Religious Life of a + Zuni Child," id. v. 539-555; Sylvester Baxter, "An Aboriginal + Pilgrimage," _Century Magazine_, Aug., 1882.] + +[Illustration: Pueblo Hungo Pavie. Chaco Canon N. M.] + +[Sidenote: Typical structure of the pueblo.] + +In the architecture of the pueblos one typical form is reproduced with +sundry variations in detail. The typical form is that of a solid block +of buildings making three sides of an extensive rectangular enclosure +or courtyard. On the inside, facing upon the courtyard, the structure +is but one story in height; on the outside, looking out upon the +surrounding country, it rises to three, or perhaps even five or six +stories. From inside to outside the flat roofs rise in a series of +terraces, so that the floor of the second row is continuous with the +roof of the first, the floor of the third row is continuous with the +roof of the second, and so on. The fourth side of the rectangle is +formed by a solid block of one-story apartments, usually with one or two +narrow gateways overlooked by higher structures within the enclosure. +Except these gateways there is no entrance from without; the only +windows are frowning loop-holes, and access to the several apartments is +gained through skylights reached by portable ladders. Such a structure +is what our own forefathers would have naturally called a "burgh," or +fortress; it is in one sense a house, yet in another sense a town;[90] +its divisions are not so much houses as compartments; it is a +joint-tenement affair, like the Iroquois long houses, but in a higher +stage of development. + + [Footnote 90: Cf. [Greek: oikos], "house," with Latin _vicus_, + "street" or "village," Sanskrit _vesa_, "dwelling-place," + English _wick_, "mansion" or "village."] + +[Illustration: Restoration of Pueblo Hungo Pavie.] + +[Sidenote: Pueblo society.] + +So far as they have been studied, the pueblo Indians are found to be +organized in clans, with descent in the female line, as in the case of +the ruder Indians above described. In the event of marriage the young +husband goes to live with his wife, and she may turn him out of doors if +he deserves it.[91] The ideas of property seem still limited to that +of possessory right, with the ultimate title in the clan, except that +portable articles subject to individual ownership have become more +numerous. In government the council of sachems reappears with a +principal sachem, or cacique, called by the Spaniards "gobernador." +There is an organized priesthood, with distinct orders, and a ceremonial +more elaborate than those of the ruder Indians. In every pueblo there is +to be found at least one "estufa," or council-house, for governmental or +religious transactions. Usually there are two or three or more such +estufas. In mythology, in what we may call pictography or rudimentary +hieroglyphics, as well as in ordinary handicrafts, there is a marked +advance beyond the Indians of the lower status of barbarism, after +making due allowances for such things as the people of the pueblos have +learned from white men.[92] + + [Footnote 91: "With the woman rests the security of the + marriage ties; and it must be said, in her high honour, that + she rarely abuses the privilege; that is, never sends her + husband 'to the home of his fathers,' unless he richly deserves + it." But should not Mr. Cushing have said "home of his + mothers," or perhaps, of "his sisters and his cousins and his + aunts?" For a moment afterward he tells us, "To her belong all + the children; and descent, including inheritance, is on her + side." _Century Magazine_, May, 1883, p. 35.] + + [Footnote 92: For example, since the arrival of the Spaniards + some or perhaps all of the pueblos have introduced chimneys + into their apartments; but when they were first visited by + Coronado, he found the people wearing cotton garments, and + Franciscan friars in 1581 remarked upon the superior quality of + their shoes. In spinning and weaving, as well as in the + grinding of meal, a notable advance had been made.] + +[Illustration: Restoration of Pueblo Bonito.] + +[Illustration: Pueblo Penasca Blanca.] + +[Sidenote: Wonderful ancient pueblos in the Chaco valley.] + +[Sidenote: The Moqui pueblos.] + +[Sidenote: The cliff pueblos.] + +From the pueblos still existing, whether inhabited or in ruins, we may +eventually get some sort of clue to the populations of ancient towns +visited by the Spanish discoverers.[93] The pueblo of Zuni seems to have +had at one time a population of 5,000, but it has dwindled to less than +2,000. Of the ruined pueblos, built of stone with adobe mortar, in the +valley of the Rio Chaco, the Pueblo Hungo Pavie contained 73 apartments +in the first story, 53 in the second, and 29 in the third, with an +average size of 18 feet by 13; and would have accommodated about 1,000 +Indians. In the same valley Pueblo Bonito, with four stories, contained +not less than 640 apartments, with room enough for a population of +3,000; within a third of a mile from this huge structure stood Pueblo +Chettro Kettle, with 506 apartments. The most common variation from the +rectangular shape was that in which a terraced semicircle was +substituted for the three terraced sides, as in Pueblo Bonito, or the +whole rectangular design was converted into an ellipse, as in Pueblo +Penasca Blanca. There are indications that these fortresses were not in +all cases built at one time, but that, at least in some cases, they grew +by gradual accretions.[94] The smallness of the distances between those +in the Chaco valley suggests that their inhabitants must have been +united in a confederation; and one can easily see that an actual +juxtaposition or partial coalescence of such communities would have +made a city of very imposing appearance. The pueblos are always found +situated near a river, and their gardens, lying outside, are easily +accessible to sluices from neighbouring cliffs or mesas. But in some +cases, as the Wolpi pueblo of the Moquis, the whole stronghold is built +upon the summit of the cliff; there is a coalescence of communal +structures, each enclosing a courtyard, in which there is a spring for +the water-supply; and the irrigated gardens are built in terrace-form +just below on the bluff, and protected by solid walls. From this curious +pueblo another transition takes us to the extraordinary cliff-houses found +in the Chelly, Mancos, and McElmo canons, and elsewhere,--veritable +human eyries perched in crevices or clefts of the perpendicular rock, +accessible only by dint of a toilsome and perilous climb; places of +refuge, perhaps for fragments of tribes overwhelmed by more barbarous +invaders, yet showing in their dwelling-rooms and estufas marks of +careful building and tasteful adornment.[95] + + [Footnote 93: At least a better one than Mr. Prescott had when + he naively reckoned five persons to a household, _Conquest of + Mexico_, ii. 97.] + + [Footnote 94: Morgan, _Houses and House-Life_, chap. vii.] + + [Footnote 95: For careful descriptions of the ruined pueblos + and cliff-houses, see Nadaillac's _Prehistoric America_, chap. + v., and Short's _North Americans of Antiquity_, chap. vii. The + latter sees in them the melancholy vestiges of a people + gradually "succumbing to their unpropitious surroundings--a + land which is fast becoming a howling wilderness, with its + scourging sands and roaming savage Bedouin--the Apaches."] + +[Sidenote: Pueblo of Zuni.] + +The pueblo of Zuni is a more extensive and complex structure than the +ruined pueblos on the Chaco river. It is not so much an enormous +communal house as a small town formed of a number of such houses crowded +together, with access from one to another along their roof-terraces. +Some of the structures are of adobe brick, others of stone embedded in +adobe mortar and covered with plaster. There are two open plazas or +squares in the town, and several streets, some of which are covered ways +passing beneath the upper stories of houses. The effect, though not +splendid, must be very picturesque, and would doubtless astonish and +bewilder visitors unprepared for such a sight. When Coronado's men +discovered Zuni in 1540, although that style of building was no longer a +novelty to them, they compared the place to Granada. + +[Sidenote: Pueblo of Tlascala.] + +Now it is worthy of note that Cortes made the same comparison in the +case of Tlascala, one of the famous towns at which he stopped on his +march from Vera Cruz to the city of Mexico. In his letter to the emperor +Charles V., he compared Tlascala to Granada, "affirming that it was +larger, stronger, and more populous than the Moorish capital at the time +of the conquest, and quite as well built."[96] Upon this Mr. Prescott +observes, "we shall be slow to believe that its edifices could have +rivalled those monuments of Oriental magnificence, whose light aerial +forms still survive after the lapse of ages, the admiration of every +traveller of sensibility and taste. The truth is that Cortes, like +Columbus, saw objects through the warm medium of his own fond +imagination, giving them a higher tone of colouring and larger +dimensions than were strictly warranted by the fact." Or, as Mr. +Bandelier puts it, when it comes to general statements about numbers +and dimensions, "the descriptions of the conquerors cannot be taken as +facts, only as the expression of feelings, honestly entertained but +uncritical." From details given in various Spanish descriptions, +including those of Cortes himself, it is evident that there could not +have been much difference in size between Tlascala and its neighbour +Cholula. The population of the latter town has often been given as from +150,000 to 200,000; but, from elaborate archaeological investigations +made on the spot in 1881, Mr. Bandelier concludes that it cannot have +greatly exceeded 30,000, and this number really agrees with the +estimates of two very important Spanish authorities, Las Casas and +Torquemada, when correctly understood.[97] We may therefore suppose that +the population of Tlascala was about 30,000. Now the population of the +city of Granada, at the time of its conquest by Ferdinand and Isabella, +is said by the greatest of Spanish historians[98] to have been about +200,000. It would thus appear that Cortes sometimes let his feelings run +away with him; and, all things considered, small blame to him if he did! +In studying the story of the Spanish conquest of America, liberal +allowance must often be made for inaccuracies of statement that were +usually pardonable and sometimes inevitable. + + [Footnote 96: "La qual ciudad ... es muy mayor que Granada, y + muy mas fuerte, y de tan buenos edificios, y de mucha mas + gente, que Granada tenia al tiempo que se gano." Cortes, + _Relacion segunda al Emperador_, ap. Lorenzana, p. 58, cited in + Prescott's _Conquest of Mexico_, vol. i. p. 401 (7th ed., + London, 1855).] + + [Footnote 97: See Bandelier's _Archaeological Tour in Mexico_, + Boston, 1885, pp. 160-164. Torquemada's words, cited by + Bandelier, are "Quando entraron los Espanoles, dicen que tenia + mas de quarenta mil vecinos esta ciudad." _Monarquia Indiana_, + lib. iii. cap. xix. p. 281. A prolific source of error is the + ambiguity in the word _vecinos_, which may mean either + "inhabitants" or "householders." Where Torquemada meant 40,000 + inhabitants, uncritical writers fond of the marvellous have + understood him to mean 40,000 houses, and multiplying this + figure by 5, the average number of persons _in a modern + family_, have obtained the figure 200,000. But 40,000 houses + peopled after the old Mexican fashion, with at least 200 + persons in a house (to put it as low as possible), would make a + city of 8,000,000 inhabitants! Las Casas, in his _Destruycion + de las Indias_, vii., puts the population of Cholula at about + 30,000. I observe that Llorente (in his _Oeuvres de Las Casas_, + tom. i. p. 38) translates the statement correctly. I shall + recur to this point below, vol. ii. p. 264.] + + [Footnote 98: Mariana, _Historia de Espana_, Valencia, 1795, + tom. viii. p. 317.] + +But when Cortes described Tlascala as "quite as well built" as Granada, +it is not at all likely that he was thinking about that exquisite +Moorish architecture which in the mind of Mr. Prescott or any cultivated +modern writer is the first thing to be suggested by the name. The +Spaniards of those days did not admire the artistic work of "infidels;" +they covered up beautiful arabesques with a wash of dirty plaster, and +otherwise behaved very much like the Puritans who smashed the +"idolatrous" statues in English cathedrals. When Cortes looked at +Tlascala, and Coronado looked at Zuni, and both soldiers were reminded +of Granada, they were probably looking at those places with a +professional eye as fortresses hard to capture; and from this point of +view there was doubtless some justice in the comparison. + +[Sidenote: The ancient city of Mexico was a great composite pueblo.] + +In the description of Tlascala by the Spaniards who first saw it, with +its dark and narrow streets, its houses of adobe, or "the better sort" +of stone laid in adobe mortar, and its flat and terraced roofs, one is +irresistibly reminded of such a pueblo as Zuni. Tlascala was a town of +a type probably common in Mexico. In some respects, as will hereafter +appear, the city of Mexico showed striking variations from the common +type. Yet there too were to be seen the huge houses, with terraced +roofs, built around a square courtyard; in one of them 450 Spaniards, +with more than 1,000 Tlascalan allies, were accommodated; in another, +called "Montezuma's palace," one of the conquerors, who came several +times intending to see the whole of it, got so tired with wandering +through the interminable succession of rooms that at length he gave it +up and never saw them all.[99] This might have happened in such a +building as Pueblo Bonito; and a suspicion is raised that Montezuma's +city was really a vast composite pueblo, and that its so-called palaces +were communal buildings in principle like the pueblos of the Chaco +valley. + + [Footnote 99: "Et io entrai piu di quattro volte in una casa + del gran Signor non por altro effetto che per vederla, et ogni + volta vi camminauo tanto che mi stancauo, et mai la fini di + vedere tutta." _Relatione fatta per un gentil' huomo del Signor + Fernando Cortese_, apud Ramusio, _Navigationi et Viaggi_, + Venice, 1556, tom. iii. fol. 309.] + +[Sidenote: Natural mistake of the Spanish discoverers.] + +[Sidenote: Contrast between feudalism and gentilism.] + +[Sidenote: Change from gentile society to political society.] + +Of course the Spanish discoverers could not be expected to understand +the meaning of what they saw. It dazed and bewildered them. They knew +little or nothing of any other kind of society than feudal monarchy, and +if they made such mistakes as to call the head war-chief a "king" (i. e. +feudal king) or "emperor," and the clan-chiefs "lords" or "noblemen," if +they supposed that these huge fortresses were like feudal castles and +palaces in Europe, they were quite excusable. Such misconceptions were +common enough before barbarous societies had been much studied; and many +a dusky warrior, without a tithe of the pomp and splendour about him +that surrounded Montezuma, has figured in the pages of history as a +mighty potentate girt with many of the trappings of feudalism.[100] +Initial misconceptions that were natural enough, indeed unavoidable, +found expression in an absurdly inappropriate nomenclature; and then the +use of wrong names and titles bore fruit in what one cannot properly +call a theory but rather an incoherent medley of notions about barbaric +society. Nothing could be further from _feudalism_, in which the +relation of landlord and tenant is a fundamental element, than the +society of the American aborigines, in which that relation was utterly +unknown and inconceivable. This more primitive form of society is not +improperly called _gentilism_, inasmuch as it is based upon the gens or +clan, with communism in living, and with the conception of individual +ownership of property undeveloped. It was gentilism that everywhere +prevailed throughout the myriads of unrecorded centuries during which +the foremost races of mankind struggled up through savagery and +barbarism into civilization, while weaker and duller races lagged behind +at various stages on the way. The change from "gentile" society to +political society as we know it was in some respects the most important +change that has occurred in human affairs since men became human. It +might be roughly defined as the change from personal to territorial +organization. It was accomplished when the stationary clan became +converted into the township, and the stationary tribe into the small +state;[101] when the conception of individual property in land was fully +acquired; when the tie of physical kinship ceased to be indispensable as +a bond for holding a society together; when the _clansman_ became a +_citizen_. This momentous change was accomplished among the Greeks +during a period beginning shortly before the first Olympiad (B. C. +776), and ending with the reforms of Kleisthenes at Athens (B. C. 509); +among the Romans it was accomplished by the series of legislative +changes beginning with those ascribed to Servius Tullius (about B. C. +550), and perfected by the time of the first Punic War (B. C. 264-241). +In each case about three centuries was required to work the change.[102] +If now the reader, familiar with European history, will reflect upon the +period of more than a thousand years which intervened between the date +last named and the time when feudalism became thoroughly established, if +he will recall to mind the vast and powerful complication of causes +which operated to transform civil society from the aspect which it wore +in the days of Regulus and the second Ptolemy to that which it had +assumed in the times of Henry the Fowler or Fulk of Anjou, he will begin +to realize how much "feudalism" implies, and what a wealth of experience +it involves, above and beyond the change from "gentile" to "civil" +society. It does not appear that any people in ancient America ever +approached very near to this earlier change. None had fairly begun to +emerge from gentilism; none had advanced so far as the Greeks of the +first Olympiad or the Romans under the rule of the Tarquins. + + [Footnote 100: When Pocahontas visited London in 1616 she was + received at court as befitted a "king's daughter," and the old + Virginia historian, William Stith (born in 1689), says it was a + "constant tradition" in his day that James I. "became jealous, + and was highly offended at Mr. Rolfe for marrying a princess." + The notion was that "if Virginia descended to Pocahontas, as it + might do at Powhatan's death, at her own death the kingdom + would be vested in Mr. Rolfe's posterity." Esten Cooke's + _Virginia_, p. 100. Powhatan (i. e. Wahunsunakok, chief of the + Powhatan tribe) was often called "emperor" by the English + settlers. To their intense bewilderment he told one of them + that his office would descend to his [maternal] brothers, even + though he had sons living. It was thought that this could not + be true.] + + [Footnote 101: The small states into which tribes were at first + transformed have in many cases survived to the present time as + portions of great states or nations. The shires or counties of + England, which have been reproduced in the United States, + originated in this way, as I have briefly explained in my + little book on _Civil Government in the United States_, p. 49. + When you look on the map of England, and see the town of + _Icklingham_ in the county of _Suffolk_, it means that this + place was once the "home" of the "Icklings" or "children of + Ickel," a clan which formed part of the tribe of Angles known + as "South folk." So the names of Gaulish tribes survived as + names of French provinces, e. g. _Auvergne_ from the _Arverni_, + _Poitou_ from the _Pictavi_, _Anjou_ from the _Andecavi_, + _Bearn_ from the _Bigerrones_, etc.] + + [Footnote 102: "It was no easy task to accomplish such a + fundamental change, however simple and obvious it may now + seem.... Anterior to experience, a township, as the unit of a + political system, was abstruse enough to tax the Greeks and + Romans to the depths of their capacities before the conception + was formed and set in practical operation." Morgan, _Ancient + Society_, p. 218.] + +[Sidenote: Suspicions as to the erroneousness of the Spanish accounts.] + +[Sidenote: Detection and explanation of the errors, by Lewis Morgan.] + +The first eminent writer to express a serious doubt as to the +correctness of the earlier views of Mexican civilization was that +sagacious Scotchman, William Robertson.[103] The illustrious statesman +and philologist, Albert Gallatin, founder of the American Ethnological +Society, published in the first volume of its "Transactions" an essay +which recognized the danger of trusting the Spanish narratives without +very careful and critical scrutiny.[104] It is to be observed that Mr. +Gallatin approached the subject with somewhat more knowledge of +aboriginal life in America than had been possessed by previous writers. +A similar scepticism was expressed by Lewis Cass, who also knew a great +deal about Indians.[105] Next came Mr. Morgan,[106] the man of +path-breaking ideas, whose minute and profound acquaintance with Indian +life was joined with a power of penetrating the hidden implications of +facts so keen and so sure as to amount to genius. Mr. Morgan saw the +nature of the delusion under which the Spaniards laboured; he saw that +what they mistook for feudal castles owned by great lords, and inhabited +by dependent retainers, were really huge communal houses, owned and +inhabited by clans, or rather by segments of overgrown clans. He saw +this so vividly that it betrayed him now and then into a somewhat +impatient and dogmatic manner of statement; but that was a slight fault, +for what he saw was not the outcome of dreamy speculation but of +scientific insight. His researches, which reduced "Montezuma's empire" +to a confederacy of tribes dwelling in pueblos, governed by a council of +chiefs, and collecting tribute from neighbouring pueblos, have been +fully sustained by subsequent investigation. + + [Footnote 103: Robertson's _History of America_, 9th ed. vol. + iii. pp. 274, 281.] + + [Footnote 104: "Notes on the Semi-civilized Nations of Mexico, + Yucatan, and Central America," _American Ethnological Society's + Transactions_, vol. i., New York, 1852. There is a brief + account of Mr. Gallatin's pioneer work in American philology + and ethnology in Stevens's _Albert Gallatin_, pp. 386-396.] + + [Footnote 105: Cass, "Aboriginal Structures," _North Amer. + Review_, Oct., 1840.] + + [Footnote 106: Mr. R. A. Wilson's _New History of the Conquest + of Mexico_, Philadelphia, 1859, denounced the Spanish + conquerors as wholesale liars, but as his book was ignorant, + uncritical, and full of wild fancies, it produced little + effect. It was demolished, with neatness and despatch, in two + articles in the _Atlantic Monthly_, April and May, 1859, by the + eminent historian John Foster Kirk, whose _History of Charles + the Bold_ is in many respects a worthy companion to the works + of Prescott and Motley. Mr. Kirk had been Mr. Prescott's + secretary.] + +[Sidenote: Adolf Bandelier's researches.] + +The state of society which Cortes saw has, indeed, passed away, and its +monuments and hieroglyphic records have been in great part destroyed. +Nevertheless some monuments and some hieroglyphic records remain, and +the people are still there. Tlascalans and Aztecs, descendants in the +eleventh or twelfth generation from the men whose bitter feuds gave such +a golden opportunity to Cortes, still dwell upon the soil of Mexico, and +speak the language in which Montezuma made his last harangue to the +furious people. There is, moreover, a great mass of literature in +Spanish, besides more or less in Nahuatl, written during the century +following the conquest, and the devoted missionaries and painstaking +administrators, who wrote books about the country in which they were +working, were not engaged in a wholesale conspiracy for deceiving +mankind. From a really critical study of this literature, combined with +archaeological investigation, much may be expected; and a noble beginning +has already been made. A more extensive acquaintance with Mexican +literature would at times have materially modified Mr. Morgan's +conclusions, though without altering their general drift. At this point +the work has been taken up by Mr. Adolf Bandelier, of Highland, +Illinois, to whose rare sagacity and untiring industry as a field +archaeologist is joined such a thorough knowledge of Mexican literature +as few men before him have possessed. Armed with such resources, Mr. +Bandelier is doing for the ancient history of America work as +significant as that which Mommsen has done for Rome, or Baur for the +beginnings of Christianity. When a sufficient mass of facts and +incidents have once been put upon record, it is hard for ignorant +misconception to bury the truth in a pit so deep but that the delving +genius of critical scholarship will sooner or later drag it forth into +the light of day.[107] + + [Footnote 107: A summary of Mr. Bandelier's principal results, + with copious citation and discussion of original Spanish and + Nahuatl sources, is contained in his three papers, "On the art + of war and mode of warfare of the ancient Mexicans,"--"On the + distribution and tenure of land, and the customs with respect + to inheritance, among the ancient Mexicans,"--"On the social + organization and mode of government of the ancient Mexicans," + _Peabody Museum Reports_, vol. ii., 1876-79, pp. 95-161, + 385-448, 557-699.] + +[Sidenote: The Aztec confederacy.] + +At this point in our exposition a very concise summary of Mr. +Bandelier's results will suffice to enable the reader to understand +their import. What has been called the "empire of Montezuma" was in +reality a confederacy of three tribes, the Aztecs, Tezcucans, and +Tlacopans,[108] dwelling in three large composite pueblos situated very +near together in one of the strongest defensive positions ever occupied +by Indians. This Aztec confederacy extended its "sway" over a +considerable portion of the Mexican peninsula, but that "sway" could not +correctly be described as "empire," for it was in no sense a military +occupation of the country. The confederacy did not have garrisons in +subject pueblos or civil officials to administer their affairs for them. +It simply sent some of its chiefs about from one pueblo to another to +collect tribute. This tax consisted in great part of maize and other +food, and each tributary pueblo reserved a certain portion of its tribal +territory to be cultivated for the benefit of the domineering +confederacy. If a pueblo proved delinquent or recalcitrant, Aztec +warriors swooped down upon it in stealthy midnight assault, butchered +its inhabitants and emptied its granaries, and when the paroxysm of rage +had spent itself, went exulting homeward, carrying away women for +concubines, men to be sacrificed, and such miscellaneous booty as could +be conveyed without wagons or beasts to draw them.[109] If the sudden +assault, with scaling ladders, happened to fail, the assailants were +likely to be baffled, for there was no artillery, and so little food +could be carried that a siege meant starvation for the besiegers. + + [Footnote 108: In the Iroquois confederacy the Mohawks enjoyed + a certain precedence or seniority, the Onondagas had the + central council-fire, and the Senecas, who had the two head + war-chiefs, were much the most numerous. In the Mexican + confederacy the various points of superiority seem to have been + more concentrated in the Aztecs; but spoils and tribute were + divided into five portions, of which Mexico and Tezcuco each + took two, and Tlacopan one.] + + [Footnote 109: The wretched prisoners were ordinarily compelled + to carry the booty.] + +The tributary pueblos were also liable to be summoned to furnish a +contingent of warriors to the war-parties of the confederacy, under the +same penalties for delinquency as in the case of refusal of tribute. In +such cases it was quite common for the confederacy to issue a peremptory +summons, followed by a declaration of war. When a pueblo was captured, +the only way in which the vanquished people could stop the massacre was +by holding out signals of submission; a parley then sometimes adjusted +the affair, and the payment of a year's tribute in advance induced the +conquerors to depart, but captives once taken could seldom if ever be +ransomed. If the parties could not agree upon terms, the slaughter was +renewed, and sometimes went on until the departing victors left nought +behind them but ruined houses belching from loop-hole and doorway lurid +clouds of smoke and flame upon narrow silent streets heaped up with +mangled corpses. + +The sway of the Aztec confederacy over the Mexican peninsula was thus +essentially similar to the sway of the Iroquois confederacy over a great +part of the tribes between the Connecticut river and the Mississippi. +It was simply the levying of tribute,--a system of plunder enforced by +terror. The so-called empire was "only a partnership formed for the +purpose of carrying on the business of warfare, and that intended, not +for the extension of territorial ownership, but only for an increase of +the means of subsistence."[110] There was none of that coalescence and +incorporation of peoples which occurs after the change from gentilism to +civil society has been effected. Among the Mexicans, as elsewhere +throughout North America, the tribe remained intact as the highest +completed political integer. + + [Footnote 110: Bandelier, _op. cit._ p. 563.] + +[Sidenote: Aztec clans.] + +The Aztec tribe was organized in clans and phratries, and the number of +clans would indicate that the tribe was a very large one.[111] There +were twenty clans, called in the Nahuatl language "calpullis." We may +fairly suppose that the average size of a clan was larger than the +average tribe of Algonquins or Iroquois; but owing to the compact "city" +life, this increase of numbers did not result in segmentation and +scattering, as among Indians in the lower status. Each Aztec clan seems +to have occupied a number of adjacent communal houses, forming a kind of +precinct, with its special house or houses for official purposes, +corresponding to the _estufas_ in the New Mexican pueblos. The houses +were the common property of the clan, and so was the land which its +members cultivated; and such houses and land could not be sold or +bartered away by the clan, or in anywise alienated. The idea of "real +estate" had not been developed; the clan simply exercised a right of +occupancy, and--as among some ruder Indians--its individual members +exercised certain limited rights of user in particular garden-plots. + + [Footnote 111: The notion of an immense population groaning + under the lash of taskmasters, and building huge palaces for + idle despots must be dismissed. The statements which refer to + such a vast population are apt to be accompanied by + incompatible statements. Mr. Morgan is right in throwing the + burden of proof upon those who maintain that a people without + domestic animals or field agriculture could have been so + numerous (_Anc. Soc._, p. 195). On the other hand, I believe + Mr. Morgan makes a grave mistake in the opposite direction, in + underestimating the numbers that could be supported upon Indian + corn even under a system of horticulture without the use of the + plough. Some pertinent remarks on the extraordinary + reproductive power of maize in Mexico may be found in Humboldt, + _Essai politique sur la Nouvelle Espagne_, Paris, 1811, tom. + iii. pp. 51-60; the great naturalist is of course speaking of + the yield of maize in ploughed lands, but, after making due + allowances, the yield under the ancient system must have been + well-nigh unexampled in barbaric agriculture.] + +[Sidenote: Clan officers.] + +The clan was governed by a clan council, consisting of chiefs +(_tecuhtli_) elected by the clan, and inducted into office after a cruel +religious ordeal, in which the candidate was bruised, tortured, and half +starved. An executive department was more clearly differentiated from +the council than among the Indians of the lower status. The clan +(_calpulli_) had an official head, or sachem, called the _calpullec_; +and also a military commander called the _ahcacautin_, or "elder +brother." The _ahcacautin_ was also a kind of peace officer, or +constable, for the precinct occupied by the clan, and carried about with +him a staff of office; a tuft of white feathers attached to this staff +betokened that his errand was one of death. The clan elected its +_calpullec_ and _ahcacautin_, and could depose them for cause.[112] + + [Footnote 112: Compare this description with that of the + institutions of Indians in the lower status, above, p. 69.] + +[Sidenote: Rights and duties of the clan.] + +The members of the clan were reciprocally bound to aid, defend, and +avenge one another; but wergild was no longer accepted, and the penalty +for murder was death. The clan exercised the right of naming its +members. Such names were invariably significant (as _Nezahualcoyotl_, +"Hungry Coyote," _Axayacatl_, "Face-in-the-Water," etc.), and more or +less "medicine," or superstitious association, was attached to the name. +The clans also had their significant names and totems. Each clan had its +peculiar religious rites, its priests or medicine-men who were members +of the clan council, and its temple or medicine-house. Instead of +burying their dead the Mexican tribes practised cremation; there was, +therefore, no common cemetery, but the funeral ceremonies were conducted +by the clan. + +[Sidenote: Aztec phratries.] + +The clans of the Aztecs, like those of many other Mexican tribes, were +organized into four phratries; and this divided the city of Mexico, as +the Spaniards at once remarked, into four quarters. The phratry had +acquired more functions than it possessed in the lower status. Besides +certain religious and social duties, and besides its connection with the +punishment of criminals, the Mexican phratry was an organization for +military purposes.[113] The four phratries were four divisions of the +tribal host, each with its captain. In each of the quarters was an +arsenal, or "dart-house," where weapons were stored, and from which they +were handed out to war-parties about to start on an expedition. + + [Footnote 113: In this respect it seems to have had some + resemblance to the Roman _centuria_ and Teutonic _hundred_. So + in prehistoric Greece we may perhaps infer from Nestor's advice + to Agamemnon that a similar organization existed:-- + + [Greek: krin' andras kata phyla, kata phretras, Agamemnon, + hos phretre phretrephin arege, phyla de phylois.] + _Iliad_, ii. 362. + + But the phratry seems never to have reached so high a + development among the Greeks as among the Romans and the early + English.] + +[Sidenote: The tribal council.] + +The supreme government of the Aztecs was vested in the tribal council +composed of twenty members, one for each clan. The member, representing +a clan, was not its _calpullec_, or "sachem;" he was one of the +_tecuhtli_, or clan-chiefs, and was significantly called the "speaker" +(_tlatoani_). The tribal council, thus composed of twenty speakers, was +called the _tlatocan_, or "place of speech."[114] At least as often as +once in ten days the council assembled at the _tecpan_, or official +house of the tribe, but it could be convened whenever occasion required, +and in cases of emergency was continually in session. Its powers and +duties were similar to those of an ancient English shiremote, in so far +as they were partly directive and partly judicial. A large part of its +business was settling disputes between the clans. It superintended the +ceremonies of investiture with which the chiefs and other officers of +the clans were sworn into office. At intervals of eighty days there was +an "extra session" of the _tlatocan_, attended also by the twenty "elder +brothers," the four phratry-captains, the two executive chiefs of the +tribe, and the leading priests, and at such times a reconsideration of +an unpopular decision might be urged; but the authority of the +_tlatocan_ was supreme, and from its final decision there could be no +appeal.[115] + + [Footnote 114: Compare _parliament_ from _parler_. These twenty + were the "grandees," "counsellors," and "captains" mentioned by + Bernal Diaz as always in Montezuma's company; "y siempre a la + contina estaban en su compania veinte grandes senores y + consejeros y capitanes," etc. _Historia verdadera_, ii. 95. See + Bandelier, _op. cit._ p. 646.] + + [Footnote 115: Mr. Bandelier's note on this point gives an + especially apt illustration of the confusion of ideas and + inconsistencies of statement amid which the early Spanish + writers struggled to understand and describe this strange + society: _op. cit._ p. 651.] + +[Sidenote: The "snake-woman."] + +The executive chiefs of the tribe were two in number, as was commonly +the case in ancient America. The tribal sachem, or civil executive, bore +the grotesque title of _cihuacoatl_, or "snake-woman."[116] His relation +to the tribe was in general like that of the _calpullec_ to the clan. He +executed the decrees of the tribal council, of which he was _ex officio_ +a member, and was responsible for the housing of tribute and its proper +distribution among the clans. He was also chief judge, and he was +lieutenant to the head war-chief in command of the tribal host.[117] +He was elected for life by the tribal council, which could depose him +for misconduct. + + [Footnote 116: In Aztec mythology Cihuacoatl was wife of the + supreme night deity, Tezcatlipoca. Squier, _Serpent Symbol in + America_, pp. 159-166, 174-183. On the connection between + serpent worship and human sacrifices, see Fergusson's _Tree and + Serpent Worship_, pp. 3-5, 38-41. Much evidence as to American + serpent worship is collected in J. G. Mueller's _Geschichte der + amerikanischen Urreligionen_, Basel, 1855. The hieroglyphic + emblem of the Aztec tribal sachem was a female head surmounted + by a snake.] + + [Footnote 117: Other tribes besides the Aztec had the + "snake-woman." In the city of Mexico the Spaniards mistook him + for a "second-king," or "royal lieutenant." In other towns they + regarded him, somewhat more correctly, as "governor," and + called him _gobernador_,--a title still applied to the tribal + sachem of the pueblo Indians, as e. g. in Zuni heretofore + mentioned; see above p. 89.] + +[Sidenote: The "chief-of men."] + +[Sidenote: Evolution of kingship in Greece and Rome.] + +The office of head war-chief was an instance of primitive royalty in a +very interesting stage of development. The title of this officer was +_tlacatecuhtli_, or "chief-of-men."[118] He was primarily head war-chief +of the Aztec tribe, but about 1430 became supreme military commander of +the three confederate tribes, so that his office was one of peculiar +dignity and importance. When the Spaniards arrived upon the scene +Montezuma was _tlacatecuhtli_, and they naturally called him "king." To +understand precisely how far such an epithet could correctly be applied +to him, and how far it was misleading, we must recall the manner in +which early kingship arose in Europe. The Roman _rex_ was an officer +elected for life; the typical Greek _basileus_ was a somewhat more fully +developed king, inasmuch as his office was becoming practically +hereditary; otherwise _rex_ was about equivalent to _basileus_. Alike in +Rome and in Greece the king had at least three great functions, and +possibly four.[119] He was, primarily, chief commander, secondly, chief +priest, thirdly, chief judge; whether he had reached the fourth stage +and added the functions of chief civil executive, is matter of dispute. +Kingship in Rome and in most Greek cities was overthrown at so early a +date that some questions of this sort are difficult to settle. But in +all probability the office grew up through the successive acquisition of +ritual, judicial, and civil functions by the military commander. The +paramount necessity of consulting the tutelar deities before fighting +resulted in making the general a priest competent to perform sacrifices +and interpret omens;[120] he thus naturally became the most important +among priests; an increased sanctity invested his person and office; and +by and by he acquired control over the dispensation of justice, and +finally over the whole civil administration. One step more was needed to +develop the _basileus_ into a despot, like the king of Persia, and that +was to let him get into his hands the law-making power, involving +complete control over taxation. When the Greeks and Romans became +dissatisfied with the increasing powers of their kings, they destroyed +the office. The Romans did not materially diminish its functions, but +put them into commission, by entrusting them to two consuls of equal +authority elected annually. The Greeks, on the other hand, divided the +royal functions among different officers, as e. g. at Athens among the +nine archons.[121] + + [Footnote 118: This title seems precisely equivalent to [Greek: + anax andron], commonly applied to Agamemnon, and sometimes to + other chieftains, in the Iliad.] + + [Footnote 119: Ramsay's _Roman Antiquities_, p. 64; Hermann's + _Political Antiquities of Greece_, p. 105; Morgan, _Anc. Soc._, + p. 248.] + + [Footnote 120: Such would naturally result from the + desirableness of securing unity of command. If Demosthenes had + been in sole command of the Athenian armament in the harbour of + Syracuse, and had been a _basileus_, with priestly authority, + who can doubt that some such theory of the eclipse as that + suggested by Philochorus would have been adopted, and thus one + of the world's great tragedies averted? See Grote, _Hist. + Greece_, vol. vii. chap. lx. M. Fustel de Coulanges, in his + admirable book _La Cite antique_, pp. 205-210, makes the + priestly function of the king primitive, and the military + function secondary; which is entirely inconsistent with what we + know of barbarous races.] + + [Footnote 121: It is worthy of note that the archon who + retained the priestly function was called _basileus_, showing + perhaps that at that time this had come to be most prominent + among the royal functions, or more likely that it was the one + with which reformers had some religious scruples about + interfering. The Romans, too, retained part of the king's + priestly function in an officer called _rex sacrorum_, whose + duty was at times to offer a sacrifice in the forum, and then + run away as fast as legs could carry him,--[Greek: hen thysas + ho basileus, kata tachos apeisi pheugon ex agoras] (!) + Plutarch, _Quaest. Rom._ 63.] + +[Sidenote: Mediaeval kingship.] + +The typical kingship in mediaeval Europe, after the full development of +the feudal system, was very different indeed from the kingship in early +Greece and Rome. In the Middle Ages all priestly functions had passed +into the hands of the Church.[122] A king like Charles VII. of France, +or Edward III. of England, was military commander, civil magistrate, +chief judge, and _supreme landlord_; the people were his tenants. That +was the kind of king with which the Spanish discoverers of Mexico were +familiar. + + [Footnote 122: Something of the priestly quality of "sanctity," + however, surrounded the king's person; and the ceremony of + anointing the king at his coronation was a survival of the + ancient rite which invested the head war-chief with priestly + attributes.] + +[Sidenote: Montezuma was a "priest-commander."] + +Now the Mexican _tlacatecuhtli_, or "chief-of-men," was much more like +Agamemnon in point of kingship than like Edward III. He was not supreme +landlord, for landlordship did not exist in Mexico. He was not chief +judge or civil magistrate; those functions belonged to the +"snake-woman." Mr. Bandelier regards the "chief-of-men" as simply a +military commander; but for reasons which I shall state hereafter,[123] +it seems quite clear that he exercised certain very important priestly +functions, although beside him there was a kind of high-priest or +medicine-chief. If I am right in holding that Montezuma was a +"priest-commander," then incipient royalty in Mexico had advanced at +least one stage beyond the head war-chief of the Iroquois, and remained +one stage behind the _basileus_ of the Homeric Greeks. + + [Footnote 123: They can be most conveniently stated in + connection with the story of the conquest of Mexico; see below, + vol. ii. p. 278. When Mr. Bandelier completes his long-promised + paper on the ancient Mexican religion, perhaps it will appear + that he has taken these facts into the account.] + +[Sidenote: Mode of succession to the office.] + +The _tlacatecuhtli_, or "chief-of-men," was elected by an assembly +consisting of the tribal council, the "elder brothers" of the several +clans, and certain leading priests. Though the office was thus elective, +the choice seems to have been practically limited to a particular clan, +and in the eleven chiefs who were chosen from 1375 to 1520 a certain +principle or custom of succession seems to be plainly indicated.[124] +There was a further limit to the order of succession. Allusion has been +made to the four phratry-captains commanding the quarters of the city. +Their cheerful titles were "man of the house of darts," "cutter of men," +"bloodshedder," and "chief of the eagle and cactus." These captains were +military chiefs of the phratries, and also magistrates charged with the +duty of maintaining order and enforcing the decrees of the council in +their respective quarters. The "chief of the eagle and cactus" was chief +executioner,--Jack Ketch. He was not eligible for the office of +"chief-of-men;" the three other phratry-captains were eligible. Then +there was a member of the priesthood entitled "man of the dark house." +This person, with the three eligible captains, made a quartette, and one +of this privileged four _must_ succeed to the office of "chief-of-men." + + [Footnote 124: I cannot follow Mr. Bandelier in discrediting + Clavigero's statement that the office of _tlacatecuhtli_ + "should always remain in the house of Acamapitzin," inasmuch as + the eleven who were actually elected were all closely akin to + one another. In point of fact it _did_ remain "in the house of + Acamapitzin."] + +The eligibility of the "man of the dark house" may be cited here as +positive proof that sometimes the "chief-of-men" could be a +"priest-commander." That in all cases he acquired priestly functions +after election, even when he did not possess them before, is indicated +by the fact that at the ceremony of his induction into office he +ascended to the summit of the pyramid sacred to the war-god +Huitzilopochtli, where he was anointed by the high-priest with a black +ointment, and sprinkled with sanctified water; having thus become +consecrated he took a censer of live coals and a bag of copal, and as +his first official act offered incense to the war-god.[125] + + [Footnote 125: H. H. Bancroft, _Native Races of the Pacific + States_, vol. ii. p. 145. Hence the accounts of the reverent + demeanour of the people toward Montezuma, though perhaps + overcoloured, are not so absurd as Mr. Morgan deemed them. Mr. + Morgan was sometimes too anxious to reduce Montezuma to the + level of an Iroquois war-chief.] + +[Sidenote: Manner of collecting tribute.] + +As the "chief-of-men" was elected, so too he could be deposed for +misbehaviour. He was _ex officio_ a member of the tribal council, and he +had his official residence in the _tecpan_, or tribal house, where the +meetings of the council were held, and where the hospitalities of the +tribe were extended to strangers. As an administrative officer, the +"chief-of-men" had little to do within the limits of the tribe; that, as +already observed, was the business of the "snake-woman." But outside of +the confederacy the "chief-of-men" exercised administrative functions. +He superintended the collection of tribute. Each of the three +confederate tribes appointed, through its tribal council, agents to +visit the subjected pueblos and gather in the tribute. These agents were +expressively termed _calpixqui_, "crop-gatherers." As these men were +obliged to spend considerable time in the vanquished pueblos in the +double character of tax-collectors and spies, we can imagine how hateful +their position was. Their security from injury depended upon the +reputation of their tribes for ruthless ferocity.[126] The tiger-like +confederacy was only too ready to take offence; in the lack of a decent +pretext it often went to war without one, simply in order to get human +victims for sacrifice. + + [Footnote 126: As I have elsewhere observed in a similar + case:--"Each summer there came two Mohawk elders, secure in the + dread that Iroquois prowess had everywhere inspired; and up and + down the Connecticut valley they seized the tribute of weapons + and wampum, and proclaimed the last harsh edict issued from the + savage council at Onondaga." _Beginnings of New England_, p. + 121.] + +Once appointed, the tax-gatherers were directed by the "chief-of-men." +The tribute was chiefly maize, but might be anything the conquerors +chose to demand,--weapons, fine pottery or featherwork, gold ornaments, +or female slaves. Sometimes the tributary pueblo, instead of sacrificing +all its prisoners of war upon its own altars, sent some of them up to +Mexico as part of its tribute. The ravening maw of the horrible deities +was thus appeased, not by the pueblo that paid the blackmail, but by the +power that extorted it, and thus the latter obtained a larger share of +divine favour. Generally the unhappy prisoners were forced to carry the +corn and other articles. They were convoyed by couriers who saw that +everything was properly delivered at the _tecpan_, and also brought +information by word of mouth and by picture-writing from the _calpixqui_ +to the "chief-of-men." When the newly-arrived Spaniards saw these +couriers coming and going they fancied that they were "ambassadors." +This system of tribute-taking made it necessary to build roads, and this +in turn facilitated, not only military operations, but trade, which had +already made some progress albeit of a simple sort. These "roads" might +perhaps more properly be called Indian trails,[127] but they served +their purpose. + + [Footnote 127: See Salmeron's letter of August 13, 1531, to the + Council of the Indies, cited in Bandelier, _op. cit._ p. 696. + The letter recommends that to increase the security of the + Spanish hold upon the country the roads should be made + practicable for beasts and wagons. They were narrow paths + running straight ahead up hill and down dale, sometimes + crossing narrow ravines upon heavy stone culverts.] + +[Sidenote: Aztec and Iroquois confederacies contrasted.] + +The general similarity of the Aztec confederacy to that of the +Iroquois, in point of social structure, is thus clearly manifest. Along +with this general similarity we have observed some points of higher +development, such as one might expect to find in traversing the entire +length of an ethnical period. Instead of stockaded villages, with houses +of bark or of clay supported upon a wooden framework, we have pueblos of +adobe-brick or stone, in various stages of evolution, the most advanced +of which present the appearance of castellated cities. Along with the +systematic irrigation and increased dependence upon horticulture, we +find evidences of greater density of population; and we see in the +victorious confederacy a more highly developed organization for adding +to its stock of food and other desirable possessions by the systematic +plunder of neighbouring weaker communities. Naturally such increase in +numbers and organization entails some increase in the number of officers +and some differentiation of their functions, as illustrated in the +representation of the clans (_calpulli_) in the tribal council +(_tlatocan_), by speakers (_tlatoani_) chosen for the purpose, and not +by the official heads (_calpullec_) of the clan. Likewise in the +military commander-in-chief (_tlacatecuhtli_) we observe a marked +increase in dignity, and--as I have already suggested and hope to +maintain--we find that his office has been clothed with sacerdotal +powers, and has thus taken a decided step toward kingship of the ancient +type, as depicted in the Homeric poems. + +[Sidenote: Aztec priesthood: human sacrifices.] + +No feature of the advance is more noteworthy than the development of +the medicine-men into an organized priesthood.[128] The presence of this +priesthood and its ritual was proclaimed to the eyes of the traveller in +ancient Mexico by the numerous tall truncated pyramids (_teocallis_), on +the flat summits of which men, women, and children were sacrificed to +the gods. This custom of human sacrifice seems to have been a +characteristic of the middle period of barbarism, and to have survived, +with diminishing frequency, into the upper period. There are abundant +traces of its existence throughout the early Aryan world, from Britain +to Hindustan, as well as among the ancient Hebrews and their +kindred.[129] But among all these peoples, at the earliest times at +which we can study them with trustworthy records, we find the custom of +human sacrifice in an advanced stage of decline, and generally no longer +accompanied by the custom of cannibalism in which it probably +originated.[130] Among the Mexicans, however, when they were first +visited by the Spaniards, cannibalism flourished as nowhere else in the +world except perhaps in Fiji, and human sacrifices were conducted on +such a scale as could not have been witnessed in Europe without going +back more than forty centuries. + + [Footnote 128: The priesthood was not hereditary, nor did it + form a caste. There was no hereditary nobility in ancient + Mexico, nor were there any hereditary vocations, as "artisans," + "merchants," etc. See Bandelier, _op. cit._ p. 599.] + + [Footnote 129: See the copious references in Tylor's _Primitive + Culture_, ii. 340-371; Mackay, _Religious Development of the + Greeks and Hebrews_, ii. 406-434; Oort and Hooykaas, _The Bible + for Young People_, i. 30, 189-193; ii. 102, 220; iii. 21, 170, + 316, 393, 395; iv. 85, 226. Ghillany, _Die Menschenopfer der + alten Hebraeer_, Nuremberg, 1842, treats the subject with much + learning.] + + [Footnote 130: Spencer, _Princip. Sociol._, i. 287; Tylor, _op. + cit._ ii. 345.] + +The custom of sacrificing captives to the gods was a marked advance upon +the practice in the lower period of barbarism, when the prisoner, unless +saved by adoption into the tribe of his captors, was put to death with +lingering torments. There were occasions on which the Aztecs tortured +their prisoners before sending them to the altar,[131] but in general +the prisoner was well-treated and highly fed,--fatted, in short, for the +final banquet in which the worshippers participated with their savage +deity.[132] In a more advanced stage of development than that which the +Aztecs had reached, in the stage when agriculture became extensive +enough to create a steady demand for servile labour, the practice of +enslaving prisoners became general; and as slaves became more and more +valuable, men gradually succeeded in compounding with their deities for +easier terms,--a ram, or a kid, or a bullock, instead of the human +victim.[133] + + [Footnote 131: Mr. Prescott, to avoid shocking the reader with + details, refers him to the twenty-first canto of Dante's + Inferno, _Conquest of Mexico_, vol. i. p. 64.] + + [Footnote 132: See below, vol. ii. p. 283.] + + [Footnote 133: The victim, by the offer of which the wrath of + the god was appeased or his favour solicited, must always be + some valued possession of the sacrificer. Hence, e. g., among + the Hebrews "wild animals, as not being property, were + generally considered unfit for sacrifice." (Mackay, _op. cit._ + ii. 398.) Among the Aztecs (Prescott, _loc. cit._) on certain + occasions of peculiar solemnity the clan offered some of its + own members, usually children. In the lack of prisoners such + offerings would more often be necessary, hence one powerful + incentive to war. The use of prisoners to buy the god's favour + was to some extent a substitute for the use of the clan's own + members, and at a later stage the use of domestic animals was a + further substitution. The legend of Abraham and Isaac + (_Genesis_, xxii. 1-14) preserves the tradition of this latter + substitution among the ancient Hebrews. Compare the Boeotian + legend of the temple of Dionysos Aigobolos:--[Greek: thyontes + gar to theo proechthesan pote hypo methes es hybrin, hoste kai + tou Dionysou ton hierea apokteinousin; apokteinantas de autika + epelabe nosos loimodes; kai sphisin aphiketo hama ek Delphon, + to Dionyso thyein paida horaion; etesi de ou pollois hysteron + ton theon phasin aiga hiereion hypallaxai sphisin anti tou + paidos.] + +Pausanias, ix. 8. A further stage of progress was the substitution of a +mere inanimate symbol for a living victim, whether human or brute, as +shown in the old Roman custom of appeasing "Father Tiber" once a year by +the ceremony of drowning a lot of dolls in that river. Of this +significant rite Mommsen aptly observes, "Die Ideen goettlicher Gnade und +Versoehnbarkeit sind hier ununterscheidbar gemischt mit der frommen +Schlauigkeit, welche es versucht den gefaehrlichen Herrn durch +scheinhafte Befriedigung zu beruecken und abzufinden." _Roemische +Geschichte_, 4e Aufl., 1865, Bd. i. p. 176. After reading such a remark +it may seem odd to find the writer, in a footnote, refusing to accept +the true explanation of the custom; but that was a quarter of a century +ago, when much less was known about ancient society than now.] + +[Sidenote: Aztec slaves.] + +The ancient Mexicans had not arrived at this stage, which in the Old +World characterized the upper period of barbarism. Slavery had, however, +made a beginning among the Aztecs. The nucleus of the small +slave-population of Mexico consisted of _outcasts_, persons expelled +from the clan for some misdemeanour. The simplest case was that in which +a member of a clan failed for two years to cultivate his +garden-plot.[134] The delinquent member was deprived, not only of his +right of user, but of all his rights as a clansman, and the only way to +escape starvation was to work upon some other lot, either in his own or +in some other clan, and be paid in such pittance from its produce as the +occupant might choose to give him. This was slavery in embryo. The +occupant did not own this outcast labourer, any more than he owned his +lot; he only possessed a limited right of user in both labourer and lot. +To a certain extent it was "adverse" or exclusive possession. If the +slave ran away or was obstinately lazy, he could be made to wear a +wooden collar and sold without his consent; if it proved too troublesome +to keep him, the collared slave could be handed over to the priests for +sacrifice.[135] In this class of outcasts and their masters we have an +interesting illustration of a rudimentary phase of slavery and of +private property. + + [Footnote 134: Bandelier, _op. cit._ p. 611.] + + [Footnote 135: There was, however, in this extreme case, a + right of sanctuary. If the doomed slave could flee and hide + himself in the _tecpan_ before the master or one of his sons + could catch him, he became free and recovered his clan-rights; + and no third person was allowed to interfere in aid of the + pursuer. Torquemada, _Monarquia indiana_, ii. 564-566.] + +[Sidenote: The Aztec family.] + +At this point it is worthy of note that in the development of the family +the Aztecs had advanced considerably beyond the point attained by +Shawnees and Mohawks, and a little way toward the point attained in the +patriarchal family of the ancient Romans and Hebrews. In the Aztec clan +(which was exogamous[136]) the change to descent in the male line seems +to have been accomplished before the time of the Discovery. Apparently +it had been recently accomplished. Names for designating family +relationships remained in that primitive stage in which no distinction +is made between father and uncle, grandchildren and cousins. The family +was still too feebly established to count for much in the structure of +society, which still rested firmly upon the clan.[137] Nevertheless the +marriage bonds were drawn much tighter than among Indians of the lower +status, and penalties for incontinence were more severe. The wife became +her husband's property and was entitled to the protection of his clan. +All matrimonial arrangements were controlled by the clan, and no member +of it, male or female, was allowed to remain unmarried, except for +certain religious reasons. The penalty for contumacy was expulsion from +the clan, and the same penalty was inflicted for such sexual +irregularities as public opinion, still in what we should call quite a +primitive stage, condemned. Men and women thus expelled went to swell +the numbers of that small class of outcasts already noted. With men the +result, as we have seen, was a kind of slavery; with women it was +prostitution; and it is curious to see that the same penalty, entailing +such a result, was visited alike upon unseemly frailty and upon refusal +to marry. In either case the sin consisted in rebellion against the +clan's standards of proper or permissible behaviour. + + [Footnote 136: Bancroft, _Native Races of the Pacific States_, + vol. ii. p. 251.] + + [Footnote 137: Bandelier, _op. cit._ pp. 429, 570, 620.] + +[Sidenote: Aztec property.] + +The inheritance in the male line, the beginnings of individual property +in slaves, the tightening of the marriage bond, accompanied by the +condemnation of sundry irregularities heretofore tolerated, are +phenomena which we might expect to find associated together. They are +germs of the upper status of barbarism, as well as of the earliest +status of civilization more remotely to follow. The common cause, of +which they are the manifestations, is an increasing sense of the value +and importance of personal property. In the Old World this sense grew up +during a pastoral stage of society such as the New World never knew, and +by the ages of Abraham and Agamemnon[138] it had produced results such +as had not been reached in Mexico at the time of the Discovery. Still +the tendency in the latter country was in a similar direction. Though +there was no notion of real estate, and the house was still +clan-property, yet the number and value of articles of personal +ownership had no doubt greatly increased during the long interval which +must have elapsed since the ancestral Mexicans entered upon the middle +status. The mere existence of large and busy market-places with regular +and frequent fairs, even though trade had scarcely begun to emerge from +the stage of barter, is sufficient proof of this. Such fairs and markets +do not belong to the Mohawk chapter in human progress. They imply a +considerable number and diversity of artificial products, valued as +articles of personal property. A legitimate inference from them is the +existence of a certain degree of luxury, though doubtless luxury of a +barbaric type. + + [Footnote 138: I here use these world-famous names without any + implication as to their historical character, or their precise + date, which are in themselves interesting subjects for + discussion. I use them as best symbolizing the state of society + which existed about the northern and eastern shores of the + eastern Mediterranean, several centuries before the + Olympiads.] + +[Sidenote: Mr. Morgan's rules.] + +It is at this point, I think, that a judicious critic will begin to part +company with Mr. Morgan. As regards the outward aspect of the society +which the Spaniards found in Mexico, that eminent scholar more than once +used arguments that were inconsistent with principles of criticism laid +down by himself. At the beginning of his chapter on the Aztec +confederacy Mr. Morgan proposed the following rules:-- + +"The histories of Spanish America may be trusted in whatever relates to +the acts of the Spaniards, and to the acts and personal characteristics +of the Indians; in whatever relates to their weapons, implements and +utensils, fabrics, food and raiment, and things of a similar character. + +"But in whatever relates to Indian society and government, their social +relations and plan of life, they are nearly worthless, because they +learned nothing and knew nothing of either. We are at full liberty to +reject them in these respects and commence anew; using any facts they +may contain which harmonize with what is known of Indian society."[139] + + [Footnote 139: Morgan, _Ancient Society_, p. 186, note.] + +Perhaps it would have been better if the second of these rules had been +somewhat differently worded; for even with regard to the strange society +and government, the Spanish writers have recorded an immense number of +valuable facts, without which Mr. Bandelier's work would have been +impossible. It is not so much the _facts_ as the _interpretations_ of +the Spanish historians that are "nearly worthless," and even their +misinterpretations are interesting and instructive when once we rightly +understand them. Sometimes they really help us toward the truth. + +[Sidenote: Mr. Morgan sometimes disregarded his own rules: "Montezuma's +Dinner."] + +The broad distinction, however, as stated in Mr. Morgan's pair of rules, +is well taken. In regard to such a strange form of society the Spanish +discoverers of Mexico could not help making mistakes, but in regard to +utensils and dress their senses were not likely to deceive them, and +their statements, according to Mr. Morgan, may be trusted. Very good. +But as soon as Mr. Morgan had occasion to write about the social life of +the Aztecs, he forgot his own rules and paid as little respect to the +senses of eye-witnesses as to their judgment. This was amusingly +illustrated in his famous essay on "Montezuma's Dinner."[140] When +Bernal Diaz describes Montezuma as sitting on a low chair at a table +covered with a white cloth, Mr. Morgan declares that it could not have +been so,--there were no chairs or tables! On second thought he will +admit that there may have been a wooden block hollowed out for a stool, +but in the matter of a table he is relentless. So when Cortes, in his +despatch to the emperor, speaks of the "wine-cellar" and of the presence +of "secretaries" at dinner, Mr. Morgan observes, "Since cursive writing +was unknown among the Aztecs, the presence of these secretaries is an +amusing feature in the account. The wine-cellar also is remarkable for +two reasons: firstly, because the level of the streets and courts was +but four feet above the level of the water, which made cellars +impossible; and, secondly, because the Aztecs had no knowledge of wine. +An acid beer (_pulque_), made by fermenting the juice of the maguey, was +a common beverage of the Aztecs; but it is hardly supposable that even +this was used at dinner."[141] + + [Footnote 140: _North Amer. Review_, April, 1876. The substance + of it was reproduced in his _Houses and House-Life_, chap. x.] + + [Footnote 141: _Houses and House-Life_, p. 241.] + +To this I would reply that the fibre of that same useful plant from +which the Aztecs made their "beer" supplied them also with paper, upon +which they were in the habit of writing, not indeed in cursive +characters, but in hieroglyphics. This kind of writing, as well as any +other, accounts for the presence of secretaries, which seems to me, by +the way, a very probable and characteristic feature in the narrative. +From the moment the mysterious strangers landed, every movement of +theirs had been recorded in hieroglyphics, and there is no reason why +notes of what they said and did should not have been taken at dinner. As +for the place where the _pulque_ was kept, it was a venial slip of the +pen to call it a "wine-cellar," even if it was not below the ground. The +language of Cortes does not imply that he visited the "cellar;" he saw a +crowd of Indians drinking the beverage, and supposing the great house he +was in to be Montezuma's, he expressed his sense of that person's +hospitality by saying that "his wine-cellar was open to all." And +really, is it not rather a captious criticism which in one breath chides +Cortes for calling the beverage "wine," and in the next breath goes on +to call it "beer"? The _pulque_ was neither the one nor the other; for +want of any other name a German might have called it beer, a Spaniard +would be more likely to call it wine. And why is it "hardly supposable" +that _pulque_ was used at dinner? Why should Mr. Morgan, who never dined +with Montezuma, know so much more about _such things_ than Cortes and +Bernal Diaz, who did?[142] + + [Footnote 142: Mr. Andrew Lang asks some similar questions in + his _Myth, Ritual, and Religion_, vol. ii. p. 349, but in a + tone of impatient contempt which, as applied to a man of Mr. + Morgan's calibre, is hardly becoming.] + +[Sidenote: The reaction against uncritical and exaggerated statements.] + +The Spanish statements of facts are, of course, not to be accepted +uncritically. When we are told of cut slabs of porphyry inlaid in the +walls of a room, we have a right to inquire how so hard a stone could be +cut with flint or copper chisels,[143] and are ready to entertain the +suggestion that some other stone might easily have been mistaken for +porphyry. Such a critical inquiry is eminently profitable, and none the +less so when it brings us to the conclusion that the Aztecs did succeed +in cutting porphyry. Again, when we read about Indian armies of 200,000 +men, pertinent questions arise as to the commissariat, and we are led to +reflect that there is nothing about which old soldiers spin such +unconscionable yarns as about the size of the armies they have +thrashed. In a fairy tale, of course, such suggestions are impertinent; +things can go on anyhow. In real life it is different. The trouble with +most historians of the conquest of Mexico has been that they have made +it like a fairy tale, and the trouble with Mr. Morgan was that, in a +wholesome and much-needed spirit of reaction, he was too much inclined +to dismiss the whole story as such. He forgot the first of his pair of +rules, and applied the second to everything alike. He felt "at full +liberty to reject" the testimony of the discoverers as to what they saw +and tasted, and to "commence anew," reasoning from "what is known of +Indian society." And here Mr. Morgan's mind was so full of the kind of +Indian society which he knew more minutely and profoundly than any other +man, that he was apt to forget that there could be any other kind. He +overlooked his own distinction between the lower and middle periods of +barbarism in his attempt to ignore or minimize the points of difference +between Aztecs and Iroquois.[144] In this way he did injustice to his +own brilliant and useful classification of stages of culture, and in +particular to the middle period of barbarism, the significance of which +he was the first to detect, but failed to realize fully because his +attention had been so intensely concentrated upon the lower period. + + [Footnote 143: For an excellent account of ancient Mexican + knives and chisels, see Dr. Valentini's paper on "Semi-Lunar + and Crescent-Shaped Tools," in _Proceedings of Amer. Antiq. + Soc._, New Series, vol. iii. pp. 449-474. Compare the very + interesting Spanish observations on copper hatchets and flint + chisels in Clavigero, _Historia antigua_, tom. i. p. 242; + Mendieta, _Historia ecclesiastica indiana_, tom. iv. cap. xii.] + + [Footnote 144: It often happens that the followers of a great + man are more likely to run to extremes than their master, as, + for example, when we see the queen of pueblos rashly described + as "a collection of mud huts, such as Cortes found and + dignified with the name of a city." _Smithsonian Report_, 1887, + part i. p. 691. This is quite inadmissible.] + +[Sidenote: Importance of the middle period of barbarism.] + +In truth, the middle period of barbarism was one of the most important +periods in the career of the human race, and full of fascination to the +student, as the unfading interest in ancient Mexico and the huge mass of +literature devoted to it show. It spanned the interval between such +society as that of Hiawatha and such as that of the Odyssey. One more +such interval (and, I suspect, a briefer one, because the use of iron +and the development of inheritable wealth would accelerate progress) led +to the age that could _write_ the Odyssey, one of the most beautiful +productions of the human mind. If Mr. Morgan had always borne in mind +that, on his own classification, Montezuma must have been at least as +near to Agamemnon as to Powhatan, his attitude toward the Spanish +historians would have been less hostile. A Moqui pueblo stands near the +lower end of the middle period of barbarism; ancient Troy stood next the +upper end. Mr. Morgan found apt illustrations in the former; perhaps if +he had lived long enough to profit by the work of Schliemann and +Bandelier, he might have found equally apt ones in the latter. Mr. +Bandelier's researches certainly show that the ancient city of Mexico, +in point of social development, stood somewhere between the two. + +How that city looked may best be described when we come to tell what its +first Spanish visitors saw. Let it suffice here to say that, upon a +reasonable estimate of their testimony, pleasure-gardens, menageries and +aviaries, fountains and baths, tessellated marble floors, finely wrought +pottery, exquisite featherwork, brilliant mats and tapestries, silver +goblets, dainty spices burning in golden censers, varieties of highly +seasoned dishes, dramatic performances, jugglers and acrobats, ballad +singers and dancing girls,--such things were to be seen in this city of +snake-worshipping cannibals. It simulated civilization as a tree-fern +simulates a tree. + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: Ground-plan of so-called "House of the Nuns" at Uxmal.] + +[Sidenote: Mexicans and Mayas.] + +In its general outlines the account here given of Aztec society and +government at the time of the Discovery will probably hold true of all +the semi-civilized communities of the Mexican peninsula and Central +America. The pueblos of Mexico were doubtless of various grades of size, +strength, and comfort, ranging from such structures as Zuni up to the +city of Mexico. The cities of Chiapas, Yucatan, and Guatemala, whose +ruins, in those tropical forests, are so impressive, probably belong to +the same class. The Maya-Quiche tribes, who dwelt and still dwell in +this region, were different in stock-language from their neighbours of +Mexico; but there are strong reasons for believing that the two great +groups, Mexicans and Mayas, arose from the expansion and segmentation of +one common stock, and there is no doubt as to the very close similarity +between the two in government, religion, and social advancement. In some +points the Mayas were superior. They possessed a considerable +literature, written in highly developed hieroglyphic characters upon +maguey paper and upon deerskin parchment, so that from this point of +view they stood upon the threshold of civilization as strictly +defined.[145] But, like the Mexicans, they were ignorant of iron, their +society was organized upon the principle of gentilism, they were +cannibals and sacrificed men and women to idols, some of which were +identical with those of Mexico. The Mayas had no conception of property +in land; their buildings were great communal houses, like pueblos; in +some cases these so-called palaces, at first supposed to be scanty +remnants of vast cities, were themselves the entire "cities;" in other +cases there were doubtless large composite pueblos fit to be called +cities. + + [Footnote 145: This writing was at once recognized by learned + Spaniards, like Las Casas, as entirely different from anything + found elsewhere in America. He found in Yucatan "letreros de + ciertos caracteres que en otra ninguna parte," Las Casas, + _Historia apologetica_, cap. cxxiii. For an account of the + hieroglyphics, see the learned essays of Dr. Cyrus Thomas, _A + Study of the Manuscript Troano_, Washington, 1882; "Notes on + certain Maya and Mexican MSS.," _Third Report of the Bureau of + Ethnology_, pp. 7-153; "Aids to the Study of the Maya Codices," + _Sixth Report_, pp. 259-371. (The paper last mentioned ends + with the weighty words, "The more I study these characters the + stronger becomes the conviction that they have grown out of a + pictographic system similar to that common among the Indians of + North America." Exactly so; and this is typical of every aspect + and every detail of ancient American culture. It is becoming + daily more evident that the old notion of an influence from + Asia has not a leg to stand on.) See also a suggestive paper by + the astronomer, E. S. Holden, "Studies in Central American + Picture-Writing," _First Report of the Bureau of Ethnology_, + pp. 205-245; Brinton, _Ancient Phonetic Alphabet of Yucatan_, + New York, 1870; _Essays of an Americanist_, Philadelphia, 1890, + pp. 193-304; Leon de Rosny, _Les ecritures figuratives_, Paris, + 1870; _L'interpretation des anciens textes Mayas_, Paris, 1875; + _Essai sur le dechiffrement de l'ecriture hieratique de + l'Amerique Centrale_, Paris, 1876; Foerstemann, _Erlaeuterungen + der Maya Handschrift_, Dresden, 1886. The decipherment is as + yet but partially accomplished. The Mexican system of writing + is clearly developed from the ordinary Indian pictographs; it + could not have arisen from the Maya system, but the latter + might well have been a further development of the Mexican + system; the Maya system had probably developed some characters + with a phonetic value, i. e. was groping toward the + alphabetical stage; but how far this groping had gone must + remain very doubtful until the decipherment has proceeded + further. Dr. Isaac Taylor is too hasty in saying that "the + Mayas employed twenty-seven characters which must be admitted + to be alphabetic" (Taylor, _The Alphabet_, vol. i. p. 24); this + statement is followed by the conclusion that the Maya system of + writing was "superior in simplicity and convenience to that + employed ... by the great Assyrian nation at the epoch of its + greatest power and glory." Dr. Taylor has been misled by Diego + de Landa, whose work (_Relation des choses de l'Yucatan_, ed. + Brasseur, Paris, 1864) has in it some pitfalls for the unwary.] + +[Sidenote: Ruined cities of Central America.] + +These noble ruins have excited great and increasing interest since the +publication of Mr. Stephens's charming book just fifty years ago.[146] +An air of profound mystery surrounded them, and many wild theories were +propounded to account for their existence. They were at first accredited +with a fabulous antiquity, and in at least one instance this notion was +responsible for what must be called misrepresentation, if not +humbug.[147] Having been placed by popular fancy at such a remote age, +they were naturally supposed to have been built, not by the Mayas,--who +still inhabit Yucatan and do not absolutely dazzle us with their exalted +civilization,--but by some wonderful people long since vanished. Now as +to this point the sculptured slabs of Uxmal and Chichen-Itza tell their +own story. They are covered with hieroglyphic inscriptions, and these +hieroglyphs are the same as those in which the Dresden Codex and other +Maya manuscripts still preserved are written; though their decipherment +is not yet complete, there is no sort of doubt as to their being written +in the Maya characters. Careful inspection, moreover, shows that the +buildings in which these inscriptions occur are not so very ancient. Mr. +Stephens, who was one of their earliest as well as sanest explorers, +believed them to be the work of the Mayas at a comparatively recent +period.[148] The notion of their antiquity was perhaps suggested by the +belief that certain colossal mahogany trees growing between and over +the ruins at Palenque must be nearly 2,000 years old. But when M. de +Charnay visited Palenque in 1859 he had the eastern side of the "palace" +cleared of its dense vegetation in order to get a good photograph; and +when he revisited the spot in 1881 he found a sturdy growth of young +mahogany the age of which he knew did not exceed twenty-two years. +Instead of making a ring once a year, as in our sluggish and temperate +zone, these trees had made rings at the rate of about one in a month; +their trunks were already more than two feet in diameter; judging from +this rate of growth the biggest giant on the place need not have been +more than 200 years old, if as much.[149] + + [Footnote 146: Stephens, _Incidents of Travel in Central + America, Chiapas, and Yucatan_, 2 vols., New York, 1841.] + + [Footnote 147: It occurred in the drawings of the artist + Frederic de Waldeck, who visited Palenque before Stephens, but + whose researches were published later. "His drawings," says Mr. + Winsor, "are exquisite; but he was not free from a tendency to + improve and restore, where the conditions gave a hint, and so + as we have them in the final publication they have not been + accepted as wholly trustworthy." _Narr. and Crit. Hist._, i. + 194. M. de Charnay puts it more strongly. Upon his drawing of a + certain panel at Palenque, M. de Waldeck "has seen fit to place + three or four elephants. What end did he propose to himself in + giving this fictitious representation? Presumably to give a + prehistoric origin to these ruins, since it is an ascertained + fact that elephants in a fossil state only have been found on + the American continent. It is needless to add that neither + Catherwood, who drew these inscriptions most minutely, nor + myself who brought impressions of them away, nor living man, + ever saw these elephants and their fine trunks. But such is the + mischief engendered by preconceived opinions. With some writers + it would seem that to give a recent date to these monuments + would deprive them of all interest. It would have been + fortunate had explorers been imbued with fewer prejudices and + gifted with a little more common sense, for then we should have + known the truth with regard to these ruins long since." + Charnay, _The Ancient Cities of the New World_, London, 1887, + p. 248. The gallant explorer's indignation is certainly quite + pardonable.] + + [Footnote 148: Some of his remarks are worth quoting in detail, + especially in view of the time when they were written: "I + repeat my opinion that we are not warranted in going back to + any ancient nation of the Old World for the builders of these + cities; that they are not the work of people who have passed + away and whose history is lost, but that there are strong + reasons to believe them the creations of the same races who + inhabited the country at the time of the Spanish conquest, or + some not very distant progenitors. And I would remark that we + began our exploration without any theory to support.... Some + are beyond doubt older than others; some are known to have been + inhabited at the time of the Spanish conquest, and others, + perhaps, were really in ruins before; ... but in regard to + Uxmal, at least, we believe that it was an existing and + inhabited city at the time of the arrival of the Spaniards." + Stephens, _Central America_, etc., vol. ii. p. 455.] + + [Footnote 149: Charnay, _The Ancient Cities of the New World_, + p. 260.] + +[Sidenote: They are probably not older than the twelfth century.] + +These edifices are not so durably constructed as those which in Europe +have stood for more than a thousand years. They do not indicate a high +civilization on the part of their builders. They do not, as Mr. Andrew +Lang says, "throw Mycenae into the shade, and rival the remains of +Cambodia."[150] In pictures they may seem to do so, but M. de Charnay, +after close and repeated examination of these buildings, assures us that +as structures they "cannot be compared with those at Cambodia, which +belong to nearly the same period, the twelfth century, and which, +notwithstanding their greater and more resisting proportions, are found +in the same dilapidated condition."[151] It seems to me that if Mr. +Lang had spoken of the Yucatan ruins as rivalling the remains of Mycenae, +instead of "throwing them into the shade," he would have come nearer the +mark. The builders of Uxmal, like those of Mycenae, did not understand +the principle of the arch, but were feeling their way toward it.[152] +And here again we are brought back, as seems to happen whatever road we +follow, to the middle status of barbarism. The Yucatan architecture +shows the marks of its origin in the adobe and rubble-stone work of the +New Mexico pueblos. The inside of the wall "is a rude mixture of friable +mortar and small irregular stones," and under the pelting tropical rains +the dislocation of the outer facing is presently effected. The large +blocks, cut with flint chisels, are of a soft stone that is soon damaged +by weather; and the cornices and lintels are beams of a very hard wood, +yet not so hard but that insects bore into it. From such considerations +it is justly inferred that the highest probable antiquity for most of +the ruins in Yucatan or Central America is the twelfth or thirteenth +century of our era.[153] Some, perhaps, may be no older than the ancient +city of Mexico, built A. D. 1325. + + [Footnote 150: Lang, _Myth, Ritual, and Religion_, vol. ii. p. + 348.] + + [Footnote 151: Charnay, _op. cit._ p. 209. "I may remark that + [the] virgin forests [here] have no very old trees, being + destroyed by insects, moisture, lianas, etc.; and old monteros + tell me that mahogany and cedar trees, which are most durable, + do not live above 200 years," id. p. 447.] + + [Footnote 152: The reader will find it suggestive to compare + portions of Schliemann's _Mycenae_ and M. de Charnay's book, + just cited, with Morgan's _Houses and House-Life_, chap. xi.] + + [Footnote 153: Charnay, _op. cit._ p. 411. Copan and Palenque + may be two or three centuries older, and had probably fallen + into ruins before the arrival of the Spaniards.] + +[Sidenote: Chronicle of Chicxulub.] + +But we are no longer restricted to purely archaeological evidence. One of +the most impressive of all these ruined cities is Chichen-Itza, which is +regarded as older than Uxmal, but not so old as Izamal. Now in recent +times sundry old Maya documents have been discovered in Yucatan, and +among them is a brief history of the Spanish conquest of that country, +written in the Roman character by a native chief, Nakuk Pech, about +1562. It has been edited, with an English translation, by that zealous +and indefatigable scholar, to whom American philology owes such a debt +of gratitude,--Dr. Daniel Brinton. This chronicle tells us several +things that we did not know before, and, among others, it refers most +explicitly to Chichen-Itza and Izamal as inhabited towns during the time +that the Spaniards were coming, from 1519 to 1542. If there could have +been any lingering doubt as to the correctness of the views of Stephens, +Morgan, and Charnay, this contemporaneous documentary testimony dispels +it once for all.[154] + + [Footnote 154: Brinton, _The Maya Chronicles_, Philadelphia, + 1882, "Chronicle of Chicxulub," pp. 187-259. This book is of + great importance, and for the ancient history of Guatemala + Brinton's _Annals of the Cakchiquels_, Philadelphia, 1885, is + of like value and interest. + + Half a century ago Mr. Stephens wrote in truly prophetic vein, + "the convents are rich in manuscripts and documents written by + the early fathers, caciques, and Indians, who very soon + acquired the knowledge of Spanish and the art of writing. These + have never been examined with the slightest reference to this + subject; _and I cannot help thinking that some precious + memorial is now mouldering in the library of a neighbouring + convent, which would determine the history of some one of these + ruined cities_." Vol. ii. p. 456. The italicizing, of course, + is mine.] + +[Sidenote: Maya culture very closely related to Mexican.] + +The Mexicans and Mayas believed themselves to be akin to each other, +they had several deities and a large stock of traditional lore in +common, and there was an essential similarity in their modes of life; so +that, since we are now assured that such cities as Izamal and +Chichen-Itza were contemporary with the city of Mexico, we shall +probably not go very far astray if we assume that the elaborately carved +and bedizened ruins of the former may give us some hint as to how things +might have looked in the latter. Indeed this complicated and grotesque +carving on walls, door-posts, and lintels was one of the first things to +attract the attention of the Spaniards in Mexico. They regarded it with +mingled indignation and awe, for serpents, coiled or uncoiled, with +gaping mouths, were most conspicuous among the objects represented. The +visitors soon learned that all this had a symbolic and religious +meaning, and with some show of reason they concluded that this strange +people worshipped the Devil. + + * * * * * + +We have now passed in review the various peoples of North America, from +the Arctic circle to the neighbourhood of the isthmus of Darien, and can +form some sort of a mental picture of the continent at the time of its +discovery by Europeans in the fifteenth century. Much more might have +been said without going beyond the requirements of an outline sketch, +but quite as much has been said as is consistent with the general plan +of this book. I have not undertaken at present to go beyond the isthmus +of Darien, because this preliminary chapter is already disproportionately +long, and after this protracted discussion the reader's attention may be +somewhat relieved by an entire change of scene. Enough has been set +forth to explain the narrative that follows, and to justify us +henceforth in taking certain things for granted. The outline description +of Mexico will be completed when we come to the story of its conquest by +Spaniards, and then we shall be ready to describe some principal +features of Peruvian society and to understand how the Spaniards +conquered that country. + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: The "Mound-Builders."] + +[Sidenote: The notion that they were like the Aztecs;] + +[Sidenote: or like the Zunis.] + +There is, however, one conspicuous feature of North American antiquity +which has not yet received our attention, and which calls for a few +words before we close this chapter. I refer to the mounds that are +scattered over so large a part of the soil of the United States, and +more particularly to those between the Mississippi river and the +Alleghany mountains, which have been the subject of so much theorizing, +and in late years of so much careful study.[155] Vague and wild were +the speculations once rife about the "Mound-Builders" and their +wonderful civilization. They were supposed to have been a race quite +different from the red men, with a culture perhaps superior to our own, +and more or less eloquence was wasted over the vanished "empire" of the +mound-builders. There is no reason, however, for supposing that there +ever was an empire of any sort in ancient North America, and no relic of +the past has ever been seen at any spot on our planet which indicates +the former existence of a vanished civilization even remotely +approaching our own. The sooner the student of history gets his head +cleared of all such rubbish, the better. As for the mounds, which are +scattered in such profusion over the country west of the Alleghanies, +there are some which have been built by Indians since the arrival of +white men in America, and which contain knives and trinkets of European +manufacture. There are many others which are much older, and in which +the genuine remains sometimes indicate a culture like that of Shawnees +or Senecas, and sometimes suggest something perhaps a little higher. +With the progress of research the vast and vague notion of a distinct +race of "Mound-Builders" became narrowed and defined. It began to seem +probable that the builders of the more remarkable mounds were tribes of +Indians who had advanced beyond the average level in horticulture, and +consequently in density of population, and perhaps in political and +priestly organization. Such a conclusion seemed to be supported by the +size of some of the "ancient garden-beds," often covering more than a +hundred acres, filled with the low parallel ridges in which corn was +planted. The mound people were thus supposed to be semi-civilized red +men, like the Aztecs, and some of their elevated earthworks were +explained as places for human sacrifice, like the pyramids of Mexico and +Central America. It was thought that the "civilization" of the +Cordilleran peoples might formerly have extended northward and eastward +into the Mississippi valley, and might after a while have been pushed +back by powerful hordes of more barbarous invaders. A further +modification and reduction of this theory likened the mound-builders to +the pueblo Indians of New Mexico. Such was the opinion of Mr. Morgan, +who offered a very ingenious explanation of the extensive earthworks at +High Bank, in Ross county, Ohio, as the fortified site of a pueblo.[156] +Although there is no reason for supposing that the mound-builders +practised irrigation (which would not be required in the Mississippi +valley) or used adobe-brick, yet Mr. Morgan was inclined to admit them +into his middle status of barbarism because of the copper hatchets and +chisels found in some of the mounds, and because of the apparent +superiority in horticulture and the increased reliance upon it. He +suggested that a people somewhat like the Zunis might have migrated +eastward and modified their building habits to suit the altered +conditions of the Mississippi valley, where they dwelt for several +centuries, until at last, for some unknown reason, they retired to the +Rocky Mountain region. It seems to me that an opinion just the reverse +of Mr. Morgan's would be more easily defensible,--namely, that the +ancestors of the pueblo Indians were a people of building habits +somewhat similar to the Mandans, and that their habits became modified +in adaptation to a country which demanded careful irrigation and +supplied adobe-clay in abundance. If ever they built any of the mounds +in the Mississippi valley, I should be disposed to place their +mound-building period before their pueblo period. + + [Footnote 155: For original researches in the mounds one cannot + do better than consult the following papers in the _Reports of + the Bureau of Ethnology_:--1. by W. H. Holmes, "Art in Shell of + the Ancient Americans," ii. 181-305; "The Ancient Pottery of + the Mississippi Valley," iv. 365-436; "Prehistoric Textile + Fabrics of the United States," iii. 397-431; followed by an + illustrated catalogue of objects collected chiefly from mounds, + iii. 433-515;--2. H. W. Henshaw, "Animal Carvings from the + Mounds of the Mississippi Valley," ii. 121-166;--3. Cyrus + Thomas, "Burial Mounds of the Northern Section of the United + States," v. 7-119; also three of the Bureau's "Bulletins" by + Dr. Thomas, "The Problem of the Ohio Mounds," "The Circular, + Square, and Octagonal Earthworks of Ohio," and "Work in Mound + Exploration of the Bureau of Ethnology;" also two articles by + Dr. Thomas in the _Magazine of American History_:--"The Houses + of the Mound-Builders," xi. 110-115; "Indian Tribes in + Prehistoric Times," xx. 193-201. See also Horatio Hale, "Indian + Migrations," in _American Antiquarian_, v. 18-28, 108-124; M. + F. Force, _To What Race did the Mound-Builders belong?_ + Cincinnati, 1875; Lucien Carr, _Mounds of the Mississippi + Valley historically considered_, 1883; Nadaillac's _Prehistoric + America_, ed. W. H. Dall, chaps. iii., iv. The earliest work of + fundamental importance on the subject was Squier's _Ancient + Monuments of the Mississippi Valley_, Philadelphia, 1848, being + the first volume of the Smithsonian Contributions to + Knowledge.--For statements of the theory which presumes either + a race connection or a similarity in culture between the + mound-builders and the pueblo Indians, see Dawson, _Fossil + Men_, p. 55; Foster, _Prehistoric Races of the United States_, + Chicago, 1873, chaps. iii., v.-x.; Sir Daniel Wilson, + _Prehistoric Man_, chap. x. The annual _Smithsonian Reports_ + for thirty years past illustrate the growth of knowledge and + progressive changes of opinion on the subject. The + bibliographical account in Winsor's _Narr. and Crit. Hist._, i. + 397-412, is full of minute information.] + + [Footnote 156: _Houses and House-Life_, chap. ix.] + +[Sidenote: The mounds were probably built by different peoples in the +lower status of barbarism;] + +[Sidenote: by Cherokees;] + +[Sidenote: and by Shawnees, and other tribes.] + +Recent researches, however, make it more and more improbable that the +mound-builders were nearly akin to such people as the Zunis or similar +to them in grade of culture. Of late years the exploration of the +mounds has been carried on with increasing diligence. More than 2,000 +mounds have been opened, and at least 38,000 ancient relics have been +gathered from them: such as quartzite arrow-heads and spades, greenstone +axes and hammers, mortars and pestles, tools for spinning and weaving, +and cloth, made of spun thread and woven with warp and woof, somewhat +like a coarse sail-cloth. The water-jugs, kettles, pipes, and sepulchral +urns have been elaborately studied. The net results of all this +investigation, up to the present time, have been concisely summed up by +Dr. Cyrus Thomas.[157] The mounds were not all built by one people, but +by different tribes as clearly distinguishable from one another as +Algonquins are distinguishable from Iroquois. These mound-building +tribes were not superior in culture to the Iroquois and many of the +Algonquins as first seen by white men. They are not to be classified +with Zunis, still less with Mexicans or Mayas, in point of culture, but +with Shawnees and Cherokees. Nay more,--some of them _were_ Shawnees and +Cherokees. The missionary Johann Heckewelder long ago published the +Lenape tradition of the Tallegwi or Allighewi people, who have left +their name upon the Alleghany river and mountains.[158] The Tallegwi +have been identified with the Cherokees, who are now reckoned among the +most intelligent and progressive of Indian peoples.[159] The Cherokees +were formerly classed in the Muskoki group, along with the Creeks and +Choctaws, but a closer study of their language seems to show that they +were a somewhat remote offshoot of the Huron-Iroquois stock. For a long +time they occupied the country between the Ohio river and the Great +Lakes, and probably built the mounds that are still to be seen there. +Somewhere about the thirteenth or fourteenth century they were gradually +pushed southward into the Muskoki region by repeated attacks from the +Lenape and Hurons. The Cherokees were probably also the builders of the +mounds of eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina. They retained +their mound-building habits some time after the white men came upon the +scene. On the other hand the mounds and box-shaped stone graves of +Kentucky, Tennessee, and northern Georgia were probably the work of +Shawnees, and the stone graves in the Delaware valley are to be ascribed +to the Lenape. There are many reasons for believing that the mounds of +northern Mississippi were constructed by Chickasaws, and the burial +tumuli and "effigy mounds" of Wisconsin by Winnebagos. The Minnitarees +and Mandans were also very likely at one time a mound-building people. + + [Footnote 157: _Work in Mound Exploration of the Bureau of + Ethnology_, Washington, 1887. For a sight of the thousands of + objects gathered from the mounds, one should visit the Peabody + Museum at Cambridge and the Smithsonian Institution at + Washington.] + + [Footnote 158: Heckewelder, _History of the Indian Nations of + Pennsylvania_, etc., Philadelphia, 1818; cf. Squier, + _Historical and Mythological Traditions of the Algonquins_, a + paper read before the New York Historical Society in June, + 1848; also Brinton, _The Lenape and their Legends_, + Philadelphia, 1885.] + + [Footnote 159: For a detailed account of their later history, + see C. C. Royce, "The Cherokee Nation," _Reports of Bureau of + Ethnology_, v. 121-378.] + +If this view, which is steadily gaining ground, be correct, our +imaginary race of "Mound-Builders" is broken up and vanishes, and +henceforth we may content ourselves with speaking of the authors of the +ancient earthworks as "Indians." There were times in the career of +sundry Indian tribes when circumstances induced them to erect mounds as +sites for communal houses or council houses, medicine-lodges or +burial-places; somewhat as there was a period in the history of our own +forefathers in England when circumstances led them to build moated +castles, with drawbridge and portcullis; and there is no more occasion +for assuming a mysterious race of "Mound-Builders" in America than for +assuming a mysterious race of "Castle-Builders" in England. + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: Society in America at the time of the Discovery had reached +stages similar to stages reached by eastern Mediterranean peoples fifty +or sixty centuries earlier.] + +Thus, at whatever point we touch the subject of ancient America, we +find scientific opinion tending more and more steadily toward the +conclusion that its people and their culture were indigenous. One of the +most important lessons impressed upon us by a long study of comparative +mythology is that human minds in different parts of the world, but under +the influence of similar circumstances, develop similar ideas and clothe +them in similar forms of expression. It is just the same with political +institutions, with the development of the arts, with social customs, +with culture generally. To repeat the remark already quoted from Sir +John Lubbock,--and it is well worth repeating,--"Different races in +similar stages of development often present more features of resemblance +to one another than the same race does to itself in different stages of +its history." When the zealous Abbe Brasseur found things in the history +of Mexico that reminded him of ancient Egypt, he hastened to the +conclusion that Mexican culture was somehow "derived" from that of +Egypt. It was natural enough for him to do so, but such methods of +explanation are now completely antiquated. Mexican culture was no more +Egyptian culture than a prickly-pear is a lotus. It was an outgrowth of +peculiar American conditions acting upon the aboriginal American mind, +and such of its features as remind us of ancient Egypt or prehistoric +Greece show simply that it was approaching, though it had not reached, +the standard attained in those Old World countries. From this point of +view the resemblances become invested with surpassing interest. Ancient +America, as we have seen, was a much more archaic world than the world +of Europe and Asia, and presented in the time of Columbus forms of +society that on the shores of the Mediterranean had been outgrown before +the city of Rome was built. Hence the intense and peculiar fascination +of American archaeology, and its profound importance to the student of +general history. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +PRE-COLUMBIAN VOYAGES. + + +There is something solemn and impressive in the spectacle of human life +thus going on for countless ages in the Eastern and Western halves of +our planet, each all unknown to the other and uninfluenced by it. The +contact between the two worlds practically begins in 1492. + +[Sidenote: The Chinese.] + +[Sidenote: The Irish.] + +[Sidenote: Cousin, of Dieppe.] + +By this statement it is not meant to deny that occasional visitors may +have come and did come before that famous date from the Old World to the +New. On the contrary I am inclined to suspect that there may have been +more such occasional visits than we have been wont to suppose. For the +most part, however, the subject is shrouded in the mists of obscure +narrative and fantastic conjecture. When it is argued that in the fifth +century of the Christian era certain Buddhist missionary priests came +from China by way of Kamtchatka and the Aleutian islands, and kept on +till they got to a country which they called Fusang, and which was +really Mexico, one cannot reply that such a thing was necessarily and +absolutely impossible; but when other critics assure us that, after all, +Fusang was really Japan, perhaps one feels a slight sense of +relief.[160] So of the dim whispers of voyages to America undertaken by +the Irish, in the days when the cloisters of sweet Innisfallen were a +centre of piety and culture for northwestern Europe,[161] we may say +that this sort of thing has not much to do with history, or history with +it. Irish anchorites certainly went to Iceland in the seventh +century,[162] and in the course of this book we shall have frequent +occasion to observe that first and last there has been on all seas a +good deal of blowing and drifting done. It is credibly reported that +Japanese junks have been driven ashore on the coasts of Oregon and +California;[163] and there is a story that in 1488 a certain Jean +Cousin, of Dieppe, while sailing down the west coast of Africa, was +caught in a storm and blown across to Brazil.[164] This was certainly +quite possible, for it was not so very unlike what happened in 1500 to +Pedro Alvarez de Cabral, as we shall hereafter see;[165] nevertheless, +the evidence adduced in support of the story will hardly bear a critical +examination.[166] + + [Footnote 160: This notion of the Chinese visiting Mexico was + set forth by the celebrated Deguignes in 1761, in the _Memoires + de l'Academie des Inscriptions_, tom. xxviii. pp. 506-525. Its + absurdity was shown by Klaproth, "Recherches sur le pays de Fou + Sang," _Nouvelles annales des voyages_, Paris, 1831, 2e serie, + tom. xxi. pp. 58-68; see also Klaproth's introduction to + _Annales des empereurs du Japon_, Paris, 1834, pp. iv.-ix.; + Humboldt, _Examen critique de l'histoire de la geographie du + nouveau continent_, Paris, 1837, tom. ii. pp. 62-84. The fancy + was revived by C. G. Leland ("Hans Breitmann"), in his + _Fusang_, London, 1875, and was again demolished by the + missionary, S. W. Williams, in the _Journal of the American + Oriental Society_, vol. xi., New Haven, 1881.] + + [Footnote 161: On the noble work of the Irish church and its + missionaries in the sixth and seventh centuries, see + Montalembert, _Les moines d'Occident_, tom. ii. pp. 465-661; + tom. iii. pp. 79-332; Burton's _History of Scotland_, vol. i. + pp. 234-277; and the instructive map in Miss Sophie Bryant's + _Celtic Ireland_, London, 1889, p. 60. The notice of the + subject in Milman's _Latin Christianity_, vol. ii. pp. 236-247, + is entirely inadequate.] + + [Footnote 162: The passion for solitude led some of the + disciples of St. Columba to make their way from Iona to the + Hebrides, and thence to the Orkneys, Shetlands, Faeroes, and + Iceland, where a colony of them remained until the arrival of + the Northmen in 874. See Dicuil, _Liber de mensura Orbis Terrae_ + (A. D. 825), Paris, 1807; Innes, _Scotland in the Middle Ages_, + p. 101; Lanigan, _Ecclesiastical History of Ireland_, chap. + iii.; Maurer, _Beitraege zur Rechtsgeschichte des Germanischen + Nordens_, i. 35. For the legend of St. Brandan, see Gaffarel, + _Les voyages de St. Brandan_, Paris, 1881.] + + [Footnote 163: C. W. Brooks, of San Francisco, cited in + Higginson, _Larger History of the United States_, p. 24.] + + [Footnote 164: Desmarquets, _Memoires chronologiques pour + servir a l'histoire de Dieppe_, Paris, 1785, tom. i. pp. 91-98; + Estancelin, _Recherches sur les voyages et decouvertes des + navigateurs normands_, etc., Paris, 1832, pp. 332-361.] + + [Footnote 165: See below, vol. ii. p. 96.] + + [Footnote 166: As Harrisse says, concerning the alleged voyages + of Cousin and others, "Quant aux voyages du Dieppois Jean + Cousin en 1488, de Joao Ramalho en 1490, et de Joao Vaz + Cortereal en 1464 ou 1474, le lecteur nous pardonnera de les + passer sous silence." _Christophe Colomb_, Paris, 1884, tom. i. + p. 307.] + +[Sidenote: Those stories are of little value;] + +It is not my purpose to weary the reader with a general discussion of +these and some other legends or rumours of pre-Columbian visitors to +America. We may admit, at once, that "there is no good reason why any +one of them may not have done" what is claimed, but at the same time the +proof that any one of them _did_ do it is very far from +satisfactory.[167] Moreover the questions raised are often of small +importance, and belong not so much to the serious workshop of history as +to its limbo prepared for learned trifles, whither we will hereby +relegate them.[168] + + [Footnote 167: Winsor, _Narr. and Crit. Hist._, i. 59.] + + [Footnote 168: Sufficiently full references may be found in + Watson's _Bibliography of the Pre-Columbian Discoveries of + America_, appended to Anderson's _America not discovered by + Columbus_, 3d ed., Chicago, 1883, pp. 121-164; and see the + learned chapters by W. H. Tillinghast on "The Geographical + Knowledge of the Ancients considered in relation to the + Discovery of America," and by Justin Winsor on "Pre-Columbian + Explorations," in _Narr. and Crit. Hist._, vol. i.] + +[Sidenote: but the case of the Northmen is entirely different.] + +[Sidenote: The Viking exodus from Norway.] + +[Sidenote: Founding of Iceland, A. D. 874.] + +But when we come to the voyages of the Northmen in the tenth and +eleventh centuries, it is quite a different affair. Not only is this a +subject of much historic interest, but in dealing with it we stand for a +great part of the time upon firm historic ground. The narratives which +tell us of Vinland and of Leif Ericsson are closely intertwined with the +authentic history of Norway and Iceland. In the ninth century of our era +there was a process of political consolidation going on in Norway, +somewhat as in England under Egbert and his successors. After a war of +twelve years, King Harold Fairhair overthrew the combined forces of the +Jarls, or small independent princes, in the decisive naval battle of +Hafursfiord in the year 872. This resulted in making Harold the feudal +landlord of Norway. Allodial tenures were abolished, and the Jarls were +required to become his vassals. This consolidation of the kingdom was +probably beneficial in its main consequences, but to many a proud spirit +and crafty brain it made life in Norway unendurable. These bold Jarls +and their Viking[169] followers, to whom, as to the ancient Greeks, the +sea was not a barrier, but a highway,[170] had no mind to stay at home +and submit to unwonted thraldom. So they manned their dragon-prowed +keels, invoked the blessing of Wodan, god of storms, upon their +enterprise, and sailed away. Some went to reinforce their kinsmen who +were making it so hot for Alfred in England[171] and for Charles the +Bald in Gaul; some had already visited Ireland and were establishing +themselves at Dublin and Limerick; others now followed and found homes +for themselves in the Hebrides and all over Scotland north of glorious +Loch Linnhe and the Murray frith; some made their way through the blue +Mediterranean to "Micklegard," the Great City of the Byzantine Emperor, +and in his service wielded their stout axes against Magyar and +Saracen;[172] some found their amphibious natures better satisfied upon +the islands of the Atlantic ridge,--the Orkneys, Shetlands, and +Faeroes, and especially noble Iceland. There an aristocratic republic +soon grew up, owning slight and indefinite allegiance to the kings of +Norway.[173] The settlement of Iceland was such a wholesale colonization +of communities of picked men as had not been seen since ancient Greek +times, and was not to be seen again until Winthrop sailed into +Massachusetts Bay. It was not long before the population of Iceland +exceeded 50,000 souls. Their sheep and cattle flourished, hay crops were +heavy, a lively trade--with fish, oil, butter, skins, and wool, in +exchange for meal and malt--was kept up with Norway, Denmark, and the +British islands, political freedom was unimpaired,[174] justice was (for +the Middle Ages) fairly well administered, naval superiority kept all +foes at a distance; and under such conditions the growth of the new +community in wealth[175] and culture was surprisingly rapid. In the +twelfth century, before literature had begun to blossom in the modern +speech of France or Spain or Italy, there was a flourishing literature +in prose and verse in Iceland. Especial attention was paid to history, +and the "Landnama-bok," or statistical and genealogical account of the +early settlers, was the most complete and careful work of the kind which +had ever been undertaken by any people down to quite recent times. Few +persons in our day adequately realize the extent of the early Icelandic +literature or its richness. The poems, legends, and histories earlier +than the date when Dante walked and mused in the streets of Florence +survive for us now in some hundreds of works, for the most part of rare +and absorbing interest. The "Heimskringla," or chronicle of Snorro +Sturleson, written about 1215, is one of the greatest history books in +the world.[176] + + [Footnote 169: The proper division of this Old Norse word is + not into _v[=i]-king_, but into _v[)i]k-ing_. The first + syllable means a "bay" or "fiord," the second is a patronymic + termination, so that "vikings" are "sons of the fiord,"--an + eminently appropriate and descriptive name.] + + [Footnote 170: Curtius (_Griechische Etymologie_, p. 237) + connects [Greek: pontos] with [Greek: patos]; compare the + Homeric expressions [Greek: hygra keleutha, ichthyoenta + keleutha], etc.] + + [Footnote 171: The descendants of these Northmen formed a very + large proportion of the population of the East Anglian + counties, and consequently of the men who founded New England. + The East Anglian counties have been conspicuous for resistance + to tyranny and for freedom of thought. See my _Beginnings of + New England_, p. 62.] + + [Footnote 172: They were the Varangian guard at Constantinople, + described by Sir Walter Scott in _Count Robert of Paris_. About + this same time their kinsmen, the Russ, moving eastward from + Sweden, were subjecting Slavic tribes as far as Novgorod and + Kief, and laying the foundations of the power that has since, + through many and strange vicissitudes, developed into Russia. + See Thomsen, _The Relations between Ancient Russia and + Scandinavia_, Oxford, 1877.] + + [Footnote 173: Fealty to Norway was not formally declared until + 1262.] + + [Footnote 174: The settlement of Iceland is celebrated by + Robert Lowe in verses which show that, whatever his opinion may + have been in later years as to the use of a classical + education, his own early studies must always have been a source + of comfort to him:-- + + [Greek: Chaire kai en nephelaisi kai en niphadessi bareiais + Kai pyri kai seismois nese saleuomene + Enthade gar basileos hyperbion hybrin alyxas + Demos Hyperboreon, kosmou ep' eschatie, + Autarke bioton theion t' erethismata Mouson + Kai thesmous hagnes heuren eleutherias.] + + These verses are thus rendered by Sir Edmund Head (_Viga Glums + Saga_, p. v.):-- + + "Hail, Isle! with mist and snowstorms girt around, + Where fire and earthquake rend the shattered ground,-- + Here once o'er furthest ocean's icy path + The Northmen fled a tyrant monarch's wrath: + Here, cheered by song and story, dwelt they free, + And held unscathed their laws and liberty." + + Laing (_Heimskringla_, vol. i. p. 57) couples Iceland and New + England as the two modern colonies most distinctly "founded on + principle and peopled at first from higher motives than want or + gain."] + + [Footnote 175: Just what was then considered wealth, for an + individual, may best be understood by a concrete instance. The + historian Snorro Sturleson, born in 1178, was called a rich + man. "In one year, in which fodder was scarce, he lost 120 head + of oxen without being seriously affected by it." The fortune + which he got with his first wife Herdisa, in 1199, was + equivalent nominally to $4,000, or, according to the standard + of to-day, about $80,000. Laing, _Heimskringla_, vol. i. pp. + 191, 193.] + + [Footnote 176: Laing's excellent English translation of it was + published in London in 1844. The preliminary dissertation, in + five chapters, is of great value. A new edition, revised by + Prof. Rasmus Anderson, was published in London in 1889. Another + charming book is Sir George Dasent's _Story of Burnt Njal_, + Edinburgh, 1861, 2 vols., translated from the _Njals Saga_. + Both the saga itself and the translator's learned introduction + give an admirable description of life in Iceland at the end of + the tenth century, the time when the voyages to America were + made. It is a very instructive chapter in history. + + The Icelanders of the present day retain the Old Norse + language, while on the Continent it has been modified into + Swedish and Norwegian-Danish. They are a well-educated people, + and, in proportion to their numbers, publish many books.] + +[Sidenote: Discovery of Greenland, 876.] + +[Sidenote: Eric's Colony in Greenland, 986.] + +Now from various Icelandic chronicles[177] we learn that in 876, only +two years after the island commonwealth was founded, one of the +settlers named Gunnbjoern was driven by foul weather to some point on the +coast of Greenland, where he and his crew contrived to pass the winter, +their ship being locked in ice; when the spring set them free, they +returned to Iceland. In the year 983 Eric the Red, a settler upon Oexney +(Ox-island) near the mouth of Breidafiord, was outlawed for killing a +man in a brawl. Eric then determined to search for the western land +which Gunnbjoern had discovered. He set out with a few followers, and in +the next three years these bold sailors explored the coasts of Greenland +pretty thoroughly for a considerable distance on each side of Cape +Farewell. At length they found a suitable place for a home, at the head +of Igaliko fiord, not far from the site of the modern Julianeshaab.[178] +It was fit work for Vikings to penetrate so deep a fiord and find out +such a spot, hidden as it is by miles upon miles of craggy and +ice-covered headlands. They proved their sagacity by pitching upon one +of the pleasantest spots on the gaunt Greenland coast; and there upon a +smooth grassy plain may still be seen the ruins of seventeen houses +built of rough blocks of sandstone, their chinks caulked up with clay +and gravel. In contrast with most of its bleak surroundings the place +might well be called Greenland, and so Eric named it, for, said he, it +is well to have a pleasant name if we would induce people to come +hither. The name thus given by Eric to this chosen spot has been +extended in modern usage to the whole of the vast continental region +north of Davis strait, for the greater part of which it is a flagrant +misnomer.[179] In 986 Eric ventured back to Iceland, and was so +successful in enlisting settlers for Greenland that on his return voyage +he started with five and twenty ships. The loss from foul weather and +icebergs was cruel. Eleven vessels were lost; the remaining fourteen, +carrying probably from four to five hundred souls, arrived safely at the +head of Igaliko fiord, and began building their houses at the place +called Brattahlid. Their settlement presently extended over the head of +Tunnudliorbik fiord, the next deep inlet to the northwest; they called +it Ericsfiord. After a while it extended westward as far as Immartinek, +and eastward as far as the site of Friedrichsthal; and another distinct +settlement of less extent was also made about four hundred miles to the +northwest, near the present site of Godthaab. The older settlement, +which began at Igaliko fiord, was known as the East Bygd;[180] the +younger settlement, near Godthaab, was called the West Bygd. + + [Footnote 177: A full collection of these chronicles is given + in Rafn's _Antiquitates Americanae_, Copenhagen, 1837, in the + original Icelandic, with Danish and Latin translations. This + book is of great value for its full and careful reproduction of + original texts; although the rash speculations and the want of + critical discernment shown in the editor's efforts to determine + the precise situation of Vinland have done much to discredit + the whole subject in the eyes of many scholars. That is, + however, very apt to be the case with first attempts, like + Rafn's, and the obvious defects of his work should not be + allowed to blind us to its merits. In the footnotes to the + present chapter I shall cite it simply as "Rafn;" as the exact + phraseology is often important, I shall usually cite the + original Icelandic, and (for the benefit of readers unfamiliar + with that language) shall also give the Latin version, which + has been well made, and quite happily reflects the fresh and + pithy vigour of the original. An English translation of all the + essential parts may be found in De Costa, _Pre-Columbian + Discovery of America by the Northmen_, 2d ed., Albany, 1890; + see also Slafter, _Voyages of the Northmen to America_, Boston, + 1877 (Prince Society). An Icelandic version, interpolated in + Peringskiold's edition of the _Heimskringla_, 1697, is + translated in Laing, vol. iii. pp. 344-361. + + The first modern writer to call attention to the Icelandic + voyages to Greenland and Vinland was Arngrim Jonsson, in his + _Crymogoea_, Hamburg, 1610, and more explicitly in his + _Specimen Islandiae historicum_, Amsterdam, 1643. The voyages + are also mentioned by Campanius, in his _Kort beskrifning om + provincien Nya Swerige uti America_, Stockholm, 1702. The + first, however, to bring the subject prominently before + European readers was that judicious scholar Thormodus Torfaeus, + in his two books _Historia Vinlandiae antiquae_, and _Historia + Gronlandiae antiquae_, Copenhagen, 1705 and 1706. Later writers + have until very recently added but little that is important to + the work of Torfaeus. In the voluminous literature of the + subject the discussions chiefly worthy of mention are Forster's + _Geschichte der Entdeckungen und Schiffahrten im Norden_, + Frankfort, 1784, pp. 44-88; and Humboldt, _Examen critique_, + etc., Paris, 1837, tom. i. pp. 84-104; see, also, Major, + _Select Letters of Columbus_, London, 1847 (Hakluyt Soc.) pp. + xii.-xxi. The fifth chapter of Samuel Laing's preliminary + dissertation to the _Heimskringla_, which is devoted to this + subject, is full of good sense; for the most part the shrewd + Orkneyman gets at the core of the thing, though now and then a + little closer knowledge of America would have been useful to + him. The latest critical discussion of the sources, marking a + very decided advance since Rafn's time, is the paper by Gustav + Storm, professor of history in the University of Christiania, + "Studier over Vinlandsreiserne," in _Aarboger for Nordisk + Oldkyndighed og Historie_, Copenhagen, 1887, pp. 293-372. + + Since this chapter was written I have seen an English + translation of the valuable paper just mentioned, "Studies on + the Vineland Voyages," in _Memoires de la societe royale des + antiquaires du Nord_, Copenhagen, 1888, pp. 307-370. I have + therefore in most cases altered my footnote references below, + making the page-numbers refer to the English version (in which, + by the way, some parts of the Norwegian original are, for no + very obvious reason, omitted). By an odd coincidence there + comes to me at the same time a book fresh from the press, whose + rare beauty of mechanical workmanship is fully equalled by its + intrinsic merit, _The Finding of Wineland the Good--the History + of the Icelandic Discovery of America_, edited and translated + from the earliest records by Arthur Middleton Reeves, London, + 1890. This beautiful quarto contains phototype plates of the + original Icelandic vellums in the _Hauks-bok_, the MS. AM. 557, + and the _Flateyar-bok_, together with the texts carefully + edited, an admirable English translation, and several chapters + of critical discussion decidedly better than anything that has + gone before it. On reading it carefully through, it seems to me + the best book we have on the subject in English, or perhaps in + any language. + + Since the above was written, the news has come of the sudden + and dreadful death of Mr. Reeves, in the railroad disaster at + Hagerstown, Indiana, February 25, 1891. Mr. Reeves was an + American scholar of most brilliant promise, only in his + thirty-fifth year.] + + [Footnote 178: Rink, _Danish Greenland_, p. 6.] + + [Footnote 179: We thus see the treacherousness of one of the + arguments cited by the illustrious Arago to prove that the + Greenland coast must be colder now than in the tenth century. + The Icelanders, he thinks, called it "a green land" because of + its verdure, and therefore it must have been warmer than at + present. But the land which Eric called green was evidently + nothing more than the region about Julianeshaab, which still + has plenty of verdure; and so the argument falls to the ground. + See Arago, _Sur l'etat thermometrique du globe terrestre_, in + his _Oeuvres_, tom. v. p. 243. There are reasons, however, for + believing that Greenland was warmer in the tenth century than + at present. See below, p. 176.] + + [Footnote 180: The map is reduced from Rafn's _Antiquitates + Americanae_, tab. xv. The ruins dotted here and there upon it + have been known ever since the last rediscovery of Greenland in + 1721, but until after 1831 they were generally supposed to be + the ruins of the West Bygd. After the fifteenth century, when + the old colony had perished, and its existence had become a + mere literary tradition, there grew up a notion that the names + East Bygd and West Bygd indicated that the two settlements must + have been respectively eastward and westward of Cape Farewell; + and after 1721 much time was wasted in looking for vestiges of + human habitations on the barren and ice-bound eastern coast. At + length, in 1828-31, the exploring expedition sent out by the + Danish government, under the very able and intelligent Captain + Graah, demonstrated that both settlements were west of Cape + Farewell, and that the ruins here indicated upon the map are + the ruins of the East Bygd. It now became apparent that a + certain description of Greenland by Ivar Bardsen--written in + Greenland in the fourteenth century, and generally accessible + to European scholars since the end of the sixteenth, but not + held in much esteem before Captain Graah's expedition--was + quite accurate and extremely valuable. From Bardsen's + description, about which we shall have more to say hereafter, + we can point out upon the map the ancient sites with much + confidence. Of those mentioned in the present work, the + bishop's church, or "cathedral" (a view of which is given + below, p. 222), was at Kakortok. The village of Gardar, which + gave its name to the bishopric, was at Kaksiarsuk, at the + northeastern extremity of Igaliko fiord. Opposite Kaksiarsuk, + on the western fork of the fiord, the reader will observe a + ruined church; that marks the site of Brattahlid. The fiord of + Igaliko was called by the Northmen Einarsfiord; and that of + Tunnudliorbik was their Ericsfiord. The monastery of St. Olaus, + visited by Nicolo Zeno (see below, p. 240), is supposed by Mr. + Major to have been situated near the Iisblink at the bottom of + Tessermiut fiord, between the east shore of the fiord and the + small lake indicated on the map.] + +[Illustration: The East Bygd, or Eastern Settlement of the Northmen in +Greenland.] + +This colonization of Greenland by the Northmen in the tenth century is +as well established as any event that occurred in the Middle Ages. For +four hundred years the fortunes of the Greenland colony formed a part, +albeit a very humble part, of European history. Geographically speaking, +Greenland is reckoned as a part of America, of the western +hemisphere, and not of the eastern. The Northmen who settled in +Greenland had, therefore, in this sense found their way to America. +Nevertheless one rightly feels that in the history of geographical +discovery an arrival of Europeans in Greenland is equivalent merely to +reaching the vestibule or ante-chamber of the western hemisphere. It is +an affair begun and ended outside of the great world of the red men. + +But the story does not end here. Into the world of the red men the +voyagers from Iceland did assuredly come, as indeed, after once getting +a foothold upon Greenland, they could hardly fail to do. Let us pursue +the remainder of the story as we find it in our Icelandic sources of +information, and afterwards it will be proper to inquire into the +credibility of these sources. + +[Sidenote: Voyage of Bjarni Herjulfson, 986.] + +One of the men who accompanied Eric to Greenland was named Herjulf, +whose son Bjarni, after roving the seas for some years, came home to +Iceland in 986 to drink the Yuletide ale with his father. Finding him +gone, he weighed anchor and started after him to Greenland, but +encountered foggy weather, and sailed on for many days by guess-work +without seeing sun or stars. When at length he sighted land it was a +shore without mountains, showing only small heights covered with dense +woods. It was evidently not the land of fiords and glaciers for which +Bjarni was looking. So without stopping to make explorations he turned +his prow to the north and kept on. The sky was now fair, and after +scudding nine or ten days with a brisk breeze astern, Bjarni saw the +icy crags of Greenland looming up before him, and after some further +searching found his way to his father's new home.[181] On the route he +more than once sighted land on the larboard. + + [Footnote 181: In Herjulfsfiord, at the entrance to which the + modern Friedrichsthal is situated. Across the fiord from + Friedrichsthal a ruined church stands upon the cape formerly + known as Herjulfsness. See map.] + +[Sidenote: Conversion of the Northmen to Christianity.] + +This adventure of Bjarni's seems not to have excited general curiosity +or to have awakened speculation. Indeed, in the dense geographical +ignorance of those times there is no reason why it should have done so. +About 994 Bjarni was in Norway, and one or two people expressed some +surprise that he did not take more pains to learn something about the +country he had seen; but nothing came of such talk till it reached the +ears of Leif, the famous son of Eric the Red. This wise and stately +man[182] spent a year or two in Norway about 998. Roman missionary +priests were then preaching up and down the land, and had converted the +king, Olaf Tryggvesson, great-grandson of Harold Fairhair. Leif became a +Christian and was baptised, and when he returned to Greenland he took +priests with him who converted many people, though old Eric, it is said, +preferred to go in the way of his fathers, and deemed boisterous +Valhalla, with its cups of wassail, a place of better cheer than the New +Jerusalem, with its streets of gold. + + [Footnote 182: "Leifr var mikill madhr ok sterkr, manna + skoeruligastr at sja, vitr madhr ok godhr hofsmadhr um alla + hluti," i. e. "Leif was a large man and strong, of noble + aspect, prudent and moderate in all things." Rafn, p. 33.] + +[Sidenote: Leif Ericsson's voyage, 1000.] + +[Sidenote: Helluland.] + +[Sidenote: Markland.] + +[Sidenote: Vinland.] + +Leif's zeal for the conversion of his friends in Greenland did not so +far occupy his mind as to prevent him from undertaking a voyage of +discovery. His curiosity had been stimulated by what he had heard about +Bjarni's experiences, and he made up his mind to go and see what the +coasts to the south of Greenland were like. He sailed from +Brattahlid--probably in the summer or early autumn of the year +1000[183]--with a crew of five and thirty men. Some distance to the +southward they came upon a barren country covered with big flat stones, +so that they called it Helluland, or "slate-land." There is little room +for doubt that this was the coast opposite Greenland, either west or +east of the strait of Belle Isle; in other words, it was either Labrador +or the northern coast of Newfoundland. Thence, keeping generally to the +southward, our explorers came after some days to a thickly wooded coast, +where they landed and inspected the country. What chiefly impressed them +was the extent of the forest, so that they called the place Markland, or +"wood-land." Some critics have supposed that this spot was somewhere +upon the eastern or southern coast of Newfoundland, but the more general +opinion places it somewhere upon the coast of Cape Breton island or +Nova Scotia. From this Markland our voyagers stood out to sea, and +running briskly before a stiff northeaster it was more than two days +before they came in sight of land. Then, after following the coast for a +while, they went ashore at a place where a river, issuing from a lake, +fell into the sea. They brought their ship up into the lake and cast +anchor. The water abounded in excellent fish, and the country seemed so +pleasant that Leif decided to pass the winter there, and accordingly his +men put up some comfortable wooden huts or booths. One day one of the +party, a "south country" man, whose name was Tyrker,[184] came in from a +ramble in the neighbourhood making grimaces and talking to himself in +his own language (probably German), which his comrades did not +understand. On being interrogated as to the cause of his excitement, +he replied that he had discovered vines loaded with grapes, and was much +pleased at the sight inasmuch as he had been brought up in a vine +country. Wild grapes, indeed, abounded in this autumn season, and Leif +accordingly called the country Vinland. The winter seems to have passed +off very comfortably. Even the weather seemed mild to these visitors +from high latitudes, and they did not fail to comment on the unusual +length of the winter day. Their language on this point has been so +construed as to make the length of the shortest winter day exactly nine +hours, which would place their Vinland in about the latitude of Boston. +But their expressions do not admit of any such precise construction; and +when we remember that they had no accurate instruments for measuring +time, and that a difference of about fourteen minutes between sunrise +and sunset on the shortest winter day would make all the difference +between Boston and Halifax, we see how idle it is to look for the +requisite precision in narratives of this sort, and to treat them as one +would treat the reports of a modern scientific exploring expedition. + + [Footnote 183: The year seems to have been that in which + Christianity was definitely established by law in Iceland, + viz., A. D. 1000. The chronicle _Thattr Eireks Raudha_ is + careful about verifying its dates by checking one against + another. See Rafn, p. 15. The most masterly work on the + conversion of the Scandinavian people is Maurer's _Die + Bekehrung des Norwegischen Stammes zum Christenthume_, Munich, + 1855; for an account of the missionary work in Iceland and + Greenland, see vol. i. pp. 191-242, 443-452.] + + [Footnote 184: The name means "Turk," and has served as a + touchstone for the dullness of commentators. To the Northmen a + "Southman" would naturally be a German, and why should a German + be called a Turk? or how should these Northmen happen to have + had a Turk in their company? Mr. Laing suggests that he may + have been a Magyar. Yes; or he may have visited the Eastern + Empire and taken part in a fight _against_ Turks, and so have + got a soubriquet, just as Thorhall Gamlason, after returning + from Vinland to Iceland, was ever afterward known as "the + Vinlander." That did not mean that he was an American redskin. + See below, p. 203. From Tyrker's grimaces one commentator + sagely infers that he had been eating grapes and got drunk; and + another (even Mr. Laing!) thinks it necessary to remind us that + all the grape-juice in Vinland would not fuddle a man unless it + had been fermented,--and then goes on to ascribe the absurdity + to our innocent chronicle, instead of the stupid annotator. See + _Heimskringla_, vol. i. p. 168.] + +[Sidenote: Voyages of Thorvald and Thorstein, 1002-05.] + +In the spring of 1001 Leif returned to Greenland with a cargo of +timber.[185] The voyage made much talk. Leif's brother Thorvald caught +the inspiration,[186] and, borrowing Leif's ship, sailed in 1002, and +succeeded in finding Vinland and Leif's huts, where his men spent two +winters. In the intervening summer they went on an exploring expedition +along the coast, fell in with some savages in canoes, and got into a +fight in which Thorvald was killed by an arrow. In the spring of 1004 +the ship returned to Brattahlid. Next year the third brother, Thorstein +Ericsson, set out in the same ship, with his wife Gudrid and a crew of +thirty-five men; but they were sore bestead with foul weather, got +nowhere, and accomplished nothing. Thorstein died on the voyage, and his +widow returned to Greenland. + + [Footnote 185: On the homeward voyage he rescued some + shipwrecked sailors near the coast of Greenland, and was + thenceforward called Leif the Lucky (et postea cognominatus est + Leivus Fortunatus). The pleasant reports from the newly found + country gave it the name of "Vinland the Good." In the course + of the winter following Leif's return his father died.] + + [Footnote 186: "Jam crebri de Leivi in Vinlandiam profectione + sermones serebantur, Thorvaldus vero, frater ejus, nimis pauca + terrae loca explorata fuisse judicavit." Rafn, p. 39.] + +[Sidenote: Thorfinn Karlsefni, and his unsuccessful attempt to found a +colony in Vinland, 1007-10.] + +In the course of the next summer, 1006, there came to Brattahlid from +Iceland a notable personage, a man of craft and resource, wealthy withal +and well born, with the blood of many kinglets or jarls flowing in his +veins. This man, Thorfinn Karlsefni, straightway fell in love with the +young and beautiful widow Gudrid, and in the course of the winter there +was a merry wedding at Brattahlid. Persuaded by his adventurous bride, +whose spirit had been roused by the reports from Vinland and by her +former unsuccessful attempt to find it, Thorfinn now undertook to visit +that country in force sufficient for founding a colony there. +Accordingly in the spring of 1007 he started with three or four +ships,[187] carrying one hundred and sixty men, several women, and quite +a cargo of cattle. In the course of that year his son Snorro was born in +Vinland,[188] and our chronicle tells us that this child was three years +old before the disappointed company turned their backs upon that land of +promise and were fain to make their way homeward to the fiords of +Greenland. It was the hostility of the natives that compelled Thorfinn +to abandon his enterprise. At first they traded with him, bartering +valuable furs for little strips of scarlet cloth which they sought most +eagerly; and they were as terribly frightened by his cattle as the +Aztecs were in later days by the Spanish horses.[189] The chance +bellowing of a bull sent them squalling to the woods, and they did not +show themselves again for three weeks. After a while quarrels arose, the +natives attacked in great numbers, many Northmen were killed, and in +1010 the survivors returned to Greenland with a cargo of timber and +peltries. On the way thither the ships seem to have separated, and one +of them, commanded by Bjarni Grimolfsson, found itself bored by worms +(the _teredo_) and sank, with its commander and half the crew.[190] + + [Footnote 187: Three is the number usually given, but at least + four of their ships would be needed for so large a company; and + besides Thorfinn himself, three other captains are + mentioned,--Snorro Thorbrandsson, Bjarni Grimolfsson, and + Thorhall Gamlason. The narrative gives a picturesque account of + this Thorhall, who was a pagan and fond of deriding his + comrades for their belief in the new-fangled Christian notions. + He seems to have left his comrades and returned to Europe + before they had abandoned their enterprise. A further reference + to him will be made below, p. 203.] + + [Footnote 188: To this boy Snorro many eminent men have traced + their ancestry,--bishops, university professors, governors of + Iceland, and ministers of state in Norway and Denmark. The + learned antiquarian Finn Magnusson and the celebrated sculptor + Thorwaldsen regarded themselves as thus descended from Thorfinn + Karlsefni.] + + [Footnote 189: Compare the alarm of the Wampanoag Indians in + 1603 at the sight of Martin Pring's mastiff. Winsor, _Narr. and + Crit. Hist._, iii. 174.] + + [Footnote 190: The fate of Bjarni was pathetic and noble. It + was decided that as many as possible should save themselves in + the stern boat. "Then Bjarni ordered that the men should go in + the boat by lot, and not according to rank. As it would not + hold all, they accepted the saying, and when the lots were + drawn, the men went out of the ship into the boat. The lot was + that Bjarni should go down from the ship to the boat with one + half of the men. Then those to whom the lot fell went down from + the ship to the boat. When they had come into the boat, a young + Icelander, who was the companion of Bjarni, said: 'Now thus do + you intend to leave me, Bjarni?' Bjarni replied, 'That now + seems necessary.' He replied with these words: 'Thou art not + true to the promise made when I left my father's house in + Iceland.' Bjarni replied: 'In this thing I do not see any other + way'; continuing, 'What course can you suggest?' He said: 'I + see this, that we change places and thou come up here and I go + down there.' Bjarni replied: 'Let it be so, since I see that + you are so anxious to live, and are frightened by the prospect + of death.' Then they changed places, and he descended into the + boat with the men, and Bjarni went up into the ship. It is + related that Bjarni and the sailors with him in the ship + perished in the worm sea. Those who went in the boat went on + their course until they came to land, where they told all these + things." De Costa's version from _Saga Thorfinns Karlsefnis_, + Rafn, pp. 184-186.] + +[Sidenote: Freydis, and her evil deeds in Vinland, 1011-12.] + +Among Karlsefni's companions on this memorable expedition was one +Thorvard, with his wife Freydis, a natural daughter of Eric the Red. +About the time of their return to Greenland in the summer of 1010, a +ship arrived from Norway, commanded by two brothers, Helgi and Finnbogi. +During the winter a new expedition was planned, and in the summer of +1011 two ships set sail for Vinland, one with Freydis, Thorvard, and a +crew of 30 men, the other with Helgi and Finnbogi, and a crew of 35 men. +There were also a number of women. The purpose was not to found a colony +but to cut timber. The brothers arrived first at Leif's huts and had +begun carrying in their provisions and tools, when Freydis, arriving +soon afterward, ordered them off the premises. They had no right, she +said, to occupy her brother's houses. So they went out and built other +huts for their party a little farther from the shore. Before their +business was accomplished "winter set in, and the brothers proposed to +have some games for amusement to pass the time. So it was done for a +time, till discord came among them, and the games were given up, and +none went from one house to the other; and things went on so during a +great part of the winter." At length came the catastrophe. Freydis one +night complained to her husband that the brothers had given her evil +words and struck her, and insisted that he should forthwith avenge the +affront. Presently Thorvard, unable to bear her taunts, was aroused to a +deed of blood. With his followers he made a night attack upon the huts +of Helgi and Finnbogi, seized and bound all the occupants, and killed +the men one after another in cold blood. Five women were left whom +Thorvard would have spared; as none of his men would raise a hand +against them, Freydis herself took an axe and brained them one and all. +In the spring of 1012 the party sailed for Brattahlid in the ship of +the murdered brothers, which was the larger and better of the two. +Freydis pretended that they had exchanged ships and left the other party +in Vinland. With gifts to her men, and dire threats for any who should +dare tell what had been done, she hoped to keep them silent. Words were +let drop, however, which came to Leif's ears, and led him to arrest +three of the men and put them to the torture until they told the whole +story. "'I have not the heart,' said Leif, 'to treat my wicked sister as +she deserves; but this I will foretell them [Freydis and Thorvard] that +their posterity will never thrive.' So it went that nobody thought +anything of them save evil from that time." + +[Sidenote: The whole story is eminently probable.] + +With this grewsome tale ends all account of Norse attempts at exploring +or colonizing Vinland, though references to Vinland by no means end +here.[191] Taking the narrative as a whole, it seems to me a sober, +straightforward, and eminently probable story. We may not be able to say +with confidence exactly where such places as Markland and Vinland were, +but it is clear that the coasts visited on these southerly and +southwesterly voyages from Brattahlid must have been parts of the coast +of North America, unless the whole story is to be dismissed as a figment +of somebody's imagination. But for a figment of the imagination, and of +European imagination withal, it has far too many points of +verisimilitude, as I shall presently show. + + [Footnote 191: The stories of Gudleif Gudlaugsson and Ari + Marsson, with the fanciful speculations about "Hvitramannaland" + and "Irland it Mikla," do not seem worthy of notice in this + connection. They may be found in De Costa, _op. cit._ pp. + 159-177; and see Reeves, _The Finding of Wineland the Good_, + chap. v.] + +[Sidenote: Voyage into Baffin's Bay, 1135.] + +In the first place, it is an extremely probable story from the time that +Eric once gets settled in Brattahlid. The founding of the Greenland +colony is the only strange or improbable part of the narrative, but that +is corroborated in so many other ways that we know it to be true; as +already observed, no fact in mediaeval history is better established. +When I speak of the settlement of Greenland as strange, I do not mean +that there is anything strange in the Northmen's accomplishing the +voyage thither from Iceland. That island is nearer to Greenland than to +Norway, and we know, moreover, that Norse sailors achieved more +difficult things than penetrating the fiords of southern Greenland. Upon +the island of Kingitorsook in Baffin's Bay (72 deg. 55' N., 56 deg. 5' W.) near +Upernavik, in a region supposed to have been unvisited by man before the +modern age of Arctic exploration, there were found in 1824 some small +artificial mounds with an inscription upon stone:--"Erling Sighvatson +and Bjarni Thordharson and Eindrid Oddson raised these marks and cleared +ground on Saturday before Ascension Week, 1135." That is to say, they +took symbolic possession of the land.[192] + + [Footnote 192: Laing, _Heimskringla_, i. 152.] + +[Sidenote: A Viking ship discovered at Sandefiord, in Norway.] + +In order to appreciate how such daring voyages were practicable, we must +bear in mind that the Viking "ships" were probably stronger and more +seaworthy, and certainly much swifter, than the Spanish vessels of the +time of Columbus. One was unearthed a few years ago at Sandefiord in +Norway, and may be seen at the museum in Christiania. Its pagan owner +had been buried in it, and his bones were found amidships, along with +the bones of a dog and a peacock, a few iron fish-hooks and other +articles. Bones of horses and dogs, probably sacrificed at the funeral +according to the ancient Norse custom, lay scattered about. This craft +has been so well described by Colonel Higginson,[193] that I may as well +quote the passage in full:-- + + [Footnote 193: See his _Larger History of the United States_, + pp. 32-34.] + +[Sidenote: Description of the ship.] + +She "was seventy-seven feet eleven inches at the greatest length, and +sixteen feet eleven inches at the greatest width, and from the top of +the keel to the gunwale amidships she was five feet nine inches deep. +She had twenty ribs, and would draw less than four feet of water. She +was clinker-built; that is, had plates slightly overlapped, like the +shingles on the side of a house. The planks and timbers of the frame +were fastened together with withes made of roots, but the oaken boards +of the side were united by iron rivets firmly clinched. The bow and +stern were similar in shape, and must have risen high out of water, but +were so broken that it was impossible to tell how they originally ended. +The keel was deep and made of thick oak beams, and there was no trace of +any metallic sheathing; but an iron anchor was found almost rusted to +pieces. There was no deck and the seats for rowers had been taken out. +The oars were twenty feet long, and the oar-holes, sixteen on each side, +had slits sloping towards the stern to allow the blades of the oars to +be put through from inside. The most peculiar thing about the ship was +the rudder, which was on the starboard or right side, this side being +originally called 'steerboard' from this circumstance. The rudder was +like a large oar, with long blade and short handle, and was attached, +not to the side of the boat, but to the end of a conical piece of wood +which projected almost a foot from the side of the vessel, and almost +two feet from the stern. This piece of wood was bored down its length, +and no doubt a rope passing through it secured the rudder to the ship's +side. It was steered by a tiller attached to the handle, and perhaps +also by a rope fastened to the blade. As a whole, this disinterred +vessel proved to be anything but the rude and primitive craft which +might have been expected; it was neatly built and well preserved, +constructed on what a sailor would call beautiful lines, and eminently +fitted for sea service. Many such vessels may be found depicted on the +celebrated Bayeux tapestry; and the peculiar position of the rudder +explains the treaty mentioned in the Heimskringla, giving to Norway all +lands lying west of Scotland between which and the mainland a vessel +could pass with her rudder shipped.... This was not one of the very +largest ships, for some of them had thirty oars on each side, and +vessels carrying from twenty to twenty-five were not uncommon. The +largest of these were called Dragons, and other sizes were known as +Serpents or Cranes. The ship itself was often so built as to represent +the name it bore: the dragon, for instance, was a long low vessel, with +the gilded head of a dragon at the bow, and the gilded tail at the +stern; the moving oars at the side might represent the legs of the +imaginary creature, the row of shining red and white shields that were +hung over the gunwale looked like the monster's scales, and the sails +striped with red and blue might suggest his wings. The ship preserved at +Christiania is described as having had but a single mast, set into a +block of wood so large that it is said no such block could now be cut in +Norway. Probably the sail was much like those still carried by large +open boats in that country,--a single square on a mast forty feet +long.[194] These masts have no standing rigging, and are taken down when +not in use; and this was probably the practice of the Vikings." + + [Footnote 194: Perhaps it may have been a square-headed lug, + like those of the Deal galley-punts; see Leslie's _Old Sea + Wings, Ways, and Words, in the Days of Oak and Hemp_, London, + 1890, p. 21.] + +[Sidenote: The climate of Greenland.] + +In such vessels, well stocked with food and weapons, the Northmen were +accustomed to spend many weeks together on the sea, now and then +touching land. In such vessels they made their way to Algiers and +Constantinople, to the White Sea, to Baffin's Bay. It is not, therefore, +their voyage to Greenland that seems strange, but it is their success in +founding a colony which could last for more than four centuries in that +inhospitable climate. The question is sometimes asked whether the +climate of Greenland may not have undergone some change within the last +thousand years.[195] If there has been any change, it must have been +very slight; such as, perhaps, a small variation in the flow of ocean +currents might occasion. I am inclined to believe that there may have +been such a change, from the testimony of Ivar Bardsen, steward of the +Gardar bishopric in the latter half of the fourteenth century, or about +halfway between the time of Eric the Red and our own time. According to +Bardsen there had long been a downward drifting of ice from the north +and a consequent accumulation of bergs and floes upon the eastern coast +of Greenland, insomuch that the customary route formerly followed by +ships coming from Iceland was no longer safe, and a more southerly route +had been generally adopted.[196] This slow southward extension of the +polar ice-sheet upon the east of Greenland seems still to be going on at +the present day.[197] It is therefore not at all improbable, but on the +contrary quite probable, that a thousand years ago the mean annual +temperature of the tip end of Greenland, at Cape Farewell, was a few +degrees higher than now.[198] But a slight difference of this sort +might have an important bearing upon the fortunes of a colony planted +there. For example, it would directly affect the extent of the hay crop. +Grass grows very well now in the neighbourhood of Julianeshaab. In +summer it is still a "green land," with good pasturage for cattle, but +there is difficulty in getting hay enough to last through the nine +months of winter. In 1855 "there were in Greenland 30 to 40 head of +horned cattle, about 100 goats, and 20 sheep;" but in the ancient +colony, with a population not exceeding 6,000 persons, "herds of cattle +were kept which even yielded produce for exportation to Europe."[199] So +strong a contrast seems to indicate a much more plentiful grass crop +than to-day, although some hay might perhaps have been imported from +Iceland in exchange for Greenland exports, which were chiefly whale oil, +eider-down, and skins of seals, foxes, and white bears. + + [Footnote 195: Some people must have queer notions about the + lapse of past time. I have more than once had this question put + to me in such a way as to show that what the querist really had + in mind was some vague impression of the time when oaks and + chestnuts, vines and magnolias, grew luxuriantly over a great + part of Greenland! But that was in the Miocene period, probably + not less than a million years ago, and has no obvious bearing + upon the deeds of Eric the Red.] + + [Footnote 196: Bardsen, _Descriptio Groenlandiae_, appended to + Major's _Voyages of the Venetian Brothers_, etc., pp. 40, 41; + and see below, p. 242.] + + [Footnote 197: Zahrtmann, _Journal of Royal Geographical + Society_, London, 1836, vol. v. p. 102. On this general subject + see J. D. Whitney, "The Climate Changes of Later Geological + Times," in _Memoirs of the Museum of Comparative Zooelogy at + Harvard College_, Cambridge, 1882, vol. vii. According to + Professor Whitney there has also been a deterioration in the + climate of Iceland.] + + [Footnote 198: One must not too hastily infer that the mean + temperature of points on the American coast south of Davis + strait would be affected in the same way. The relation between + the phenomena is not quite so simple. For example, a warm early + spring on the coast of Greenland increases the discharge of + icebergs from its fiords to wander down the Atlantic ocean; and + this increase of floating ice tends to chill and dampen the + summers at least as far South as Long Island, if not farther.] + + [Footnote 199: Rink's _Danish Greenland_, pp. 27, 96, 97.] + +[Sidenote: With the Northmen once in Greenland, the discovery of the +American continent was almost inevitable.] + +[Sidenote: Voyages for timber.] + +When once the Northmen had found their way to Cape Farewell, it would +have been marvellous if such active sailors could long have avoided +stumbling upon the continent of North America. Without compass or +astrolabe these daring men were accustomed to traverse long stretches of +open sea, trusting to the stars; and it needed only a stiff +northeasterly breeze, with persistent clouds and fog, to land a westward +bound "dragon" anywhere from Cape Race to Cape Cod. This is what appears +to have happened to Bjarni Herjulfsson in 986, and something quite like +it happened to Henry Hudson in 1609.[200] Curiosity is a motive quite +sufficient to explain Leif's making the easy summer voyage to find out +what sort of country Bjarni had seen. He found it thickly wooded, and as +there was a dearth of good timber both in Greenland and in Iceland, it +would naturally occur to Leif's friends that voyages for timber, to be +used at home and also to be exported to Iceland, might turn out to be +profitable.[201] As Laing says, "to go in quest of the wooded countries +to the southwest, from whence driftwood came to their shores, was a +reasonable, intelligible motive for making a voyage in search of the +lands from whence it came, and where this valuable material could be got +for nothing."[202] + + [Footnote 200: See Read's _Historical Inquiry concerning Henry + Hudson_, Albany, 1866, p. 160.] + + [Footnote 201: "Nu tekst umraedha at nyju um Vinlandsferdh, + thviat su ferdh thikir baedhi godh til fjar ok virdhingar," i. + e. "Now they began to talk again about a voyage to Vinland, for + the voyage thither was both gainful and honourable." Rafn, p. + 65.] + + [Footnote 202: _Heimskringla_, i, 168.] + +[Sidenote: Ear-marks of truth in the narrative.] + +If now we look at the details of the story we shall find many ear-marks +of truth in it. We must not look for absolute accuracy in a narrative +which--as we have it--is not the work of Leif or Thorfinn or any of +their comrades, but of compilers or copyists, honest and careful as it +seems to me, but liable to misplace details and to call by wrong names +things which they had never seen. Starting with these modest +expectations we shall find the points of verisimilitude numerous. To +begin with the least significant, somewhere on our northeastern coast +the voyagers found many foxes.[203] These animals, to be sure, are found +in a great many countries, but the point for us is that in a southerly +and southwesterly course from Cape Farewell these sailors are said to +have found them. If our narrators had been drawing upon their +imaginations or dealing with semi-mythical materials, they would as +likely as not have lugged into the story elephants from Africa or +hippogriffs from Dreamland; mediaeval writers were blissfully ignorant of +all canons of probability in such matters.[204] But our narrators simply +mention an animal which has for ages abounded on our northeastern +coasts. One such instance is enough to suggest that they were following +reports or documents which emanated ultimately from eye-witnesses and +told the plain truth. A dozen such instances, if not neutralized by +counter-instances, are enough to make this view extremely probable; and +then one or two instances which could not have originated in the +imagination of a European writer will suffice to prove it. + + [Footnote 203: "Fjoeldi var thar melrakka," i. e. "ibi vulpium + magnus numerus erat," Rafn, p. 138.] + + [Footnote 204: It is extremely difficult for an impostor to + concoct a narrative without making blunders that can easily be + detected by a critical scholar. For example, the Book of + Mormon, in the passage cited (see above, p. 3), in supremely + blissful ignorance introduces oxen, sheep, and silk-worms, as + well as the knowledge of smelting iron, into pre-Columbian + America.] + +Let us observe, then, that on coming to Markland they "slew a +bear;"[205] the river and lake (or bay) in Vinland abounded with salmon +bigger than Leif's people had ever seen;[206] on the coast they caught +halibut;[207] they came to an island where there were so many eider +ducks breeding that they could hardly avoid treading on their eggs;[208] +and, as already observed, it was because of the abundance of wild grapes +that Leif named the southernmost country he visited Vinland. + + [Footnote 205: "Thar i drapu their einn bjoern," i. e. "in qua + ursum interfecerunt," id. p. 138.] + + [Footnote 206: "Hvorki skorti thar lax i anni ne i vatninu, ok + staerra lax enn their hefdhi fyrr sedh," i. e. "ibi neque in + fluvio neque in lacu deerat salmonum copia, et quidem majoris + corporis quam antea vidissent," id. p. 32.] + + [Footnote 207: "Helgir fiskar," i. e. "sacri pisces," id. p. + 148. The Danish phrase is "helleflyndre," i. e. "holy + flounder." The English _halibut_ is _hali_ = _holy_ + _but_ = + _flounder_. This word _but_ is classed as Middle English, but + may still be heard in the north of England. The fish may have + been so called "from being eaten particularly on holy days" + (_Century Dict._ s.v.); or possibly from a pagan superstition + that water abounding in flat fishes is especially safe for + mariners (Pliny, _Hist. Nat._ ix. 70); or possibly from some + lost folk-tale about St. Peter (Maurer, _Islaendische Volkssagen + der Gegenwart_, Leipsic, 1860, p. 195).] + + [Footnote 208: "Sva var moerg aedhr i eynni, at varla matti ganga + fyri eggjum," i. e. "tantus in insula anatum mollissimarum + numerus erat, ut prae ovis transiri fere non posset," id. p. + 141. Eider ducks breed on our northeastern coasts as far south + as Portland, and are sometimes in winter seen as far south as + Delaware. They also abound in Greenland and Iceland, and, as + Wilson observes, "their nests are crowded so close together + that a person can scarcely walk without treading on them.... + The Icelanders have for ages known the value of eider down, and + have done an extensive business in it." See Wilson's _American + Ornithology_, vol. iii. p. 50.] + +[Sidenote: Northern limit of the vine.] + +From the profusion of grapes--such that the ship's stern boat is said on +one occasion to have been filled with them[209]--we get a clue, though +less decisive than could be wished, to the location of Vinland. The +extreme northern limit of the vine in Canada is 47 deg., the parallel which +cuts across the tops of Prince Edward and Cape Breton islands on the +map.[210] Near this northern limit, however, wild grapes are by no means +plenty; so that the coast upon which Leif wintered must apparently have +been south of Cape Breton. Dr. Storm, who holds that Vinland was on the +southern coast of Nova Scotia, has collected some interesting testimony +as to the growth of wild grapes in that region, but on the whole the +abundance of this fruit seems rather to point to the shores of +Massachusetts Bay.[211] + + [Footnote 209: + {"Sva er sagt at eptirbatr theirra var fylldr + af vinberjurn."} + { So it-is-said that afterboat their was filled + of vine-berries.} + Rafn, p. 36.] + + [Footnote 210: Storm, "Studies on the Vinland Voyages," + _Memoires de la societe royale des antiquaires du Nord_, + Copenhagen, 1888, p. 351. The limit of the vine at this + latitude is some distance inland; near the shore the limit is a + little farther south, and in Newfoundland it does not grow at + all. Id. p. 308.] + + [Footnote 211: The attempt of Dr. Kohl (_Maine Hist. Soc._, New + Series, vol. i.) to connect the voyage of Thorfinn with the + coast of Maine seems to be successfully refuted by De Costa, + _Northmen in Maine_, etc., Albany, 1870.] + +[Sidenote: Length of the winter day.] + +We may now observe that, while it is idle to attempt to determine +accurately the length of the winter day, as given in our chronicles, +nevertheless since that length attracted the attention of the voyagers, +as something remarkable, it may fairly be supposed to indicate a +latitude lower than they were accustomed to reach in their trading +voyages in Europe. Such a latitude as that of Dublin, which lies +opposite Labrador, would have presented no novelty to them, for voyages +of Icelanders to their kinsmen in Dublin, and in Rouen as well, were +common enough. Halifax lies about opposite Bordeaux, and Boston a little +south of opposite Cape Finisterre, in Spain, so that either of these +latitudes would satisfy the conditions of the case; either would show a +longer winter day than Rouen, which was about the southern limit of +ordinary trading voyages from Iceland. At all events, the length of day +indicates for Vinland a latitude south of Cape Breton. + +[Sidenote: Indian corn.] + +The next point to be observed is the mention of "self-sown +wheat-fields."[212] This is not only an important ear-mark of truth in +the narrative, but it helps us somewhat further in determining the +position of Vinland. The "self-sown" cereal, which these Icelanders +called "wheat," was in all probability what the English settlers six +hundred years afterward called "corn," in each case applying to a new +and nameless thing the most serviceable name at hand. In England "corn" +means either wheat, barley, rye, and oats collectively, or more +specifically wheat; in Scotland it generally means oats; in America it +means maize, the "Indian corn," the cereal peculiar to the western +hemisphere. The beautiful waving plant, with its exquisitely tasselled +ears, which was one of the first things to attract Champlain's +attention, could not have escaped the notice of such keen observers as +we are beginning to find Leif and Thorfinn to have been. A cereal like +this, requiring so little cultivation that without much latitude of +speech it might be described as growing wild, would be interesting to +Europeans visiting the American coast; but it would hardly occur to +European fancy to invent such a thing. The mention of it is therefore a +very significant ear-mark of the truth of the narrative. As regards the +position of Vinland, the presence of maize seems to indicate a somewhat +lower latitude than Nova Scotia. Maize requires intensely hot summers, +and even under the most careful European cultivation does not flourish +north of the Alps. In the sixteenth century its northern-most limit on +the American coast seems to have been at the mouth of the Kennebec +(44 deg.), though farther inland it was found by Cartier at Hochelaga, on +the site of Montreal (45 deg. 30'). A presumption is thus raised in favour +of the opinion that Vinland was not farther north than Massachusetts +Bay.[213] + + [Footnote 212: + {"Sjalfsana hveitiakra" } + { } Rafn, p. 147. + { Self-sown wheat-acres }] + + [Footnote 213: Dr. Storm makes perhaps too much of this + presumption. He treats it as decisive against his own opinion + that Vinland was the southern coast of Nova Scotia, and + accordingly he tries to prove that the self-sown corn was not + maize, but "wild rice" (_Zizania aquatica_). _Memoires_, etc., + p. 356. But his argument is weakened by excess of ingenuity.] + +[Sidenote: Winter weather in Vinland.] + +This presumption is supported by what is said about the climate of +Vinland, though it must be borne in mind that general statements about +climate are apt to be very loose and misleading. We are told that it +seemed to Leif's people that cattle would be able to pass the winter out +of doors there, for there was no frost and the grass was not much +withered.[214] On the other hand, Thorfinn's people found the winter +severe, and suffered from cold and hunger.[215] Taken in connection with +each other, these two statements would apply very well to-day to our +variable winters on the coast southward from Cape Ann. The winter of +1889-90 in Cambridge, for example, might very naturally have been +described by visitors from higher latitudes as a winter without frost +and with grass scarcely withered. Indeed, we might have described it so +ourselves. On Narragansett and Buzzard's bays such soft winter weather +is still more common; north of Cape Ann it is much less common. The +severe winter (_magna hiems_) is of course familiar enough anywhere +along the northeastern coast of America. + + [Footnote 214: "Thar var sva godhr landskostr at thvi er theim + syndist, at thar mundi eingi fenadhr fodhr thurfa a vetrum; + thar kvomu eingi frost a vetrum, ok litt renudhu thar groes," i. + e. "tanta autem erat terrae bonitas, ut inde intelligere esset, + pecora hieme pabulo non indigere posse, nullis incidentibus + algoribus hiemalibus, et graminibus parum flaccescentibus." + Rafn, p. 32.] + + [Footnote 215: "Thar voru their um vetrinn; ok gjoerdhist vetr + mikill, en ekki fyri unnit ok gjoerdhist illt til matarins, ok + tokust af veidhirnar," i. e. "hic hiemarunt; cum vero magna + incideret hiems, nullumque provisum esset alimentum, cibus + coepit deficere capturaque cessabat," Id. p. 174.] + +[Sidenote: Probable situation of Vinland.] + +On the whole, we may say with some confidence that the place described +by our chroniclers as Vinland was situated somewhere between Point +Judith and Cape Breton; possibly we may narrow our limits and say that +it was somewhere between Cape Cod and Cape Ann. But the latter +conclusion is much less secure than the former. In such a case as this, +the more we narrow our limits the greater our liability to error.[216] +While by such narrowing, moreover, the question may acquire more +interest as a bone of contention among local antiquarians, its value for +the general historian is not increased. + + [Footnote 216: A favourite method of determining the exact + spots visited by the Northmen has been to compare their + statements regarding the shape and trend of the coasts, their + bays, headlands, etc., with various well-known points on the + New England coast. It is a tempting method, but unfortunately + treacherous, because the same general description will often + apply well enough to several different places. It is like + summer boarders in the country struggling to tell one another + where they have been to drive,--past a school-house, down a + steep hill, through some woods, and by a saw-mill, etc.] + +[Sidenote: "Savages" unknown to mediaeval Europeans.] + +[Sidenote: The natives of Vinland.] + +But we have not yet done with the points of verisimilitude in our story. +We have now to cite two or three details that are far more striking than +any as yet mentioned,--details that could never have been conjured up by +the fancy of any mediaeval European. We must bear in mind that "savages," +whether true savages or people in the lower status of barbarism, were +practically unknown to Europeans before the fifteenth century. There +were no such people in Europe or in any part of Asia or Africa visited +by Europeans before the great voyages of the Portuguese. Mediaeval +Europeans knew nothing whatever about people who would show surprise at +the sight of an iron tool[217] or frantic terror at the voice of a +bull, or who would eagerly trade off valuable property for worthless +trinkets. Their imagination might be up to inventing hobgoblins and +people with heads under their shoulders,[218] but it was not up to +inventing such simple touches of nature as these. Bearing this in mind, +let us observe that Thorfinn found the natives of Vinland eager to give +valuable furs[219] in exchange for little strips of scarlet cloth to +bind about their heads. When the Northmen found the cloth growing scarce +they cut it into extremely narrow strips, but the desire of the natives +was so great that they would still give a whole skin for the smallest +strip. They wanted also to buy weapons, but Thorfinn forbade his men to +sell them. One of the natives picked up an iron hatchet and cut wood +with it; one after another tried and admired it; at length one tried it +on a stone and broke its edge, and then they scornfully threw it +down.[220] One day while they were trading, Thorfinn's bull ran out +before them and bellowed, whereupon the whole company was instantly +scattered in headlong flight. After this, when threatened with an attack +by the natives, Thorfinn drew up his men for a fight and put the bull in +front, very much as Pyrrhus used elephants--at first with success--to +frighten the Romans and their horses.[221] + + [Footnote 217: It is not meant that stone implements did not + continue to be used in some parts of Europe far into the Middle + Ages. But this was not because iron was not perfectly well + known, but because in many backward regions it was difficult to + obtain or to work, so that stone continued in use. As my + friend, Mr. T. S. Perry, reminds me, Helbig says that + stone-pointed spears were used by some of the English at the + battle of Hastings, and stone battle-axes by some of the Scots + under William Wallace at the end of the thirteenth century. + _Die Italiker in der Poebene_, Leipsic, 1879, p. 42. Helbig's + statement as to Hastings is confirmed by Freeman, _Norman + Conquest of England_, vol. iii. p. 473.] + + [Footnote 218: My use of the word "inventing" is, in this + connection, a slip of the pen. Of course the tales of "men + whose heads do grow beneath their shoulders," the Sciopedae, + etc., as told by Sir John Mandeville, were not invented by the + mediaeval imagination, but copied from ancient authors. They may + be found in Pliny, _Hist. Nat._, lib. vii., and were mentioned + before his time by Ktesias, as well as by Hecataeus, according + to Stephanus of Byzantium. Cf. Aristophanes, _Aves_, 1553; + Julius Solinus, _Polyhistor_, ed. Salmasius, cap. 240. Just as + these sheets are going to press there comes to me Mr. Perry's + acute and learned _History of Greek Literature_, New York, + 1890, in which this subject is mentioned in connection with the + mendacious and medical Ktesias:--These stories have probably + acquired a literary currency "by exercise of the habit, not + unknown even to students of science, of indiscriminate copying + from one's predecessors, so that in reading Mandeville we have + the ghosts of the lies of Ktesias, almost sanctified by the + authority of Pliny, who quoted them and thereby made them a + part of mediaeval folk-lore--and from folk-lore, probably, they + took their remote start" (p. 522).] + + [Footnote 219: "En that var gravara ok safvali ok allskonar + skinnavara" (Rafn, p. 59),--i. e. gray fur and sable and all + sorts of skinwares; in another account, "skinnavoeru ok algra + skinn," which in the Danish version is "skindvarer og aegte + graaskind" (id. p. 150),--i. e. skinwares and genuine gray + furs. Cartier in Canada and the Puritans in Massachusetts were + not long in finding that the natives had good furs to sell.] + + [Footnote 220: Rafn, p. 156.] + + [Footnote 221: Much curious information respecting the use of + elephants in war may be found in the learned work of the + Chevalier Armandi, _Histoire militaire des elephants_, Paris, + 1843. As regards Thorfinn's bull, Mr. Laing makes the kind of + blunder that our British cousins are sometimes known to make + when they get the Rocky Mountains within sight of Bunker Hill + monument. "A continental people in that part of America," says + Mr. Laing, "could not be strangers to the much more formidable + bison." _Heimskringla_, p. 169. Bisons on the Atlantic coast, + Mr. Laing?! And then his comparison quite misses the point; a + bison, if the natives had been familiar with him, would not + have been at all formidable as compared to the bull which they + had never before seen. A horse is much less formidable than a + cougar, but Aztec warriors who did not mind a cougar were + paralyzed with terror at the sight of men on horseback. It is + the unknown that frightens in such cases. Thorfinn's natives + were probably familiar with such large animals as moose and + deer, but a deer isn't a bull.] + +[Sidenote: Meaning of the epithet "Skraelings."] + +These incidents are of surpassing interest, for they were attendant upon +the first meeting (in all probability) that ever took place between +civilized Europeans and any people below the upper status of +barbarism.[222] Who were these natives encountered by Thorfinn? The +Northmen called them "Skraelings," a name which one is at first sight +strongly tempted to derive from the Icelandic verb _skraekja_, identical +with the English _screech_. A crowd of excited Indians might most +appropriately be termed Screechers.[223] This derivation, however, is +not correct. The word _skraeling_ survives in modern Norwegian, and means +a feeble or puny or _insignificant_ person. Dr. Storm's suggestion is in +all probability correct, that the name "Skraelings," as applied to the +natives of America, had no ethnological significance, but simply meant +"inferior people;" it gave concise expression to the white man's opinion +that they were "a bad lot." In Icelandic literature the name is usually +applied to the Eskimos, and hence it has been rashly inferred that +Thorfinn found Eskimos in Vinland. Such was Rafn's opinion, and since +his time the commentators have gone off upon a wrong trail and much +ingenuity has been wasted.[224] It would be well to remember, however, +that the Europeans of the eleventh century were not ethnologists; in +meeting these inferior peoples for the first time they were more likely +to be impressed with the broad fact of their inferiority than to be nice +in making distinctions. When we call both Australians and Fuegians +"savages," we do not assert identity or relationship between them; and +so when the Northmen called Eskimos and Indians by the same disparaging +epithet, they doubtless simply meant to call them savages. + + [Footnote 222: The Phoenicians, however (who in this connection + may be classed with Europeans), must have met with some such + people in the course of their voyages upon the coasts of + Africa. I shall treat of this more fully below, p. 327.] + + [Footnote 223: As for Indians, says Cieza de Leon, they are all + noisy (alharaquientos). _Segunda Parte de la Cronica del Peru_, + cap. xxiii.] + + [Footnote 224: For example, Dr. De Costa refers to Dr. Abbott's + discoveries as indicating "that the Indian was preceded by a + people like the Eskimos, whose stone implements are found in + the Trenton gravel." _Pre-Columbian Discovery_, p. 132. Quite + so; but that was in the Glacial Period (!!), and when the edge + of the ice-sheet slowly retreated northward, the Eskimo, who is + emphatically an Arctic creature, doubtless retreated with it, + just as he retreated from Europe. See above, p. 18. There is + not the slightest reason for supposing that there were any + Eskimos south of Labrador so lately as nine hundred years ago.] + +[Sidenote: Personal appearance of the Skraelings.] + +Our chronicle describes the Skraelings of Vinland as swarthy in hue, +ferocious in aspect, with ugly hair, big eyes, and broad cheeks.[225] +This will do very well for Indians, except as to the eyes. We are +accustomed to think of Indian eyes as small; but in this connection it +is worthy of note that a very keen observer, Marc Lescarbot, in his +minute and elaborate description of the physical appearance of the +Micmacs of Acadia, speaks with some emphasis of their large eyes.[226] +Dr. Storm quite reasonably suggests that the Norse expression may refer +to the size not of the eye-ball, but of the eye-socket, which in the +Indian face is apt to be large; and very likely this is what the +Frenchman also had in mind. + + [Footnote 225: "Their voru svartir menn ok illiligir, ok havdhu + illt har a hoefdhi. Their voru mjoek eygdhir ok breidhir i + kinnum," i. e. "Hi homines erant nigri, truculenti specie, + foedam in capite comam habentes, oculis magnis et genis latis." + Rafn, p. 149. The Icelandic _svartr_ is more precisely rendered + by the identical English _swarthy_ than by the Latin _niger_.] + + [Footnote 226: "Mais quat a noz Sauvages, pour ce qui regarde + les ieux ilz ne les ont ni bleuz, ni verds, mais noirs pour la + pluspart, ainsi que les cheveux; & neantmoins ne sont petits, + come ceux des anciens Scythes, mais d'une grandeur bien + agreable." Lescarbot, _Histoire de la Nouvelle France_, Paris, + 1612, tom. ii. p. 714.] + +[Sidenote: The Skraelings of Vinland were Indians,--very likely +Algonquins.] + +These Skraelings were clad in skins, and their weapons were bows and +arrows, slings, and stone hatchets. In the latter we may now, I think, +be allowed to recognize the familiar tomahawk; and when we read that, in +a sharp fight with the natives, Thorbrand, son of the commander Snorro, +was slain, and the woman Freydis afterward found his corpse in the +woods, with a flat stone sticking in the head, and his naked sword lying +on the ground beside him, we seem to see how it all happened.[227] We +seem to see the stealthy Indian suddenly dealing the death-blow, and +then obliged for his own safety to dart away among the trees without +recovering his tomahawk or seizing the sword. The Skraelings came up the +river or lake in a swarm of canoes, all yelling at the top of their +voices (_et illi omnes valde acutum ululabant_), and, leaping ashore, +began a formidable attack with slings and arrows. The narrative calls +these canoes "skin-boats" (_hudhkeipar_), whence it has been inferred +that the writer had in mind the _kayaks_ and _umiaks_ of the +Eskimos.[228] I suspect that the writer did have such boats in mind, and +accordingly used a word not strictly accurate. Very likely his +authorities failed to specify a distinction between bark-boats and +skin-boats, and simply used the handiest word for designating canoes as +contrasted with their own keeled boats.[229] + + [Footnote 227: "Hun fann fyrir ser mann daudhan, thar var + Thorbrandr Snorrason, ok stodh hellusteinn i hoefdhi honum; + sverdhit la bert i hja honum," i. e. "Illa incidit in mortuum + hominem, Thorbrandum Snorrii filium, cujus capiti lapis planus + impactus stetit; nudus juxta eum gladius jacuit." Rafn, p. + 154.] + + [Footnote 228: These Eskimo skin-boats are described in Rink's + _Danish Greenland_, pp. 113, 179.] + + [Footnote 229: Cf. Storm, _op. cit._ pp. 366, 367.] + +One other point which must be noticed here in connection with the +Skraelings is a singular manoeuvre which they are said to have practised +in the course of the fight. They raised upon the end of a pole a big +ball, not unlike a sheep's paunch, and of a bluish colour; this ball +they swung from the pole over the heads of the white men, and it fell to +the ground with a horrid noise.[230] Now, according to Mr. Schoolcraft, +this was a mode of fighting formerly common among the Algonquins, in New +England and elsewhere. This big ball was what Mr. Schoolcraft calls the +"balista," or what the Indians themselves call the "demon's head." It +was a large round boulder, sewed up in a new skin and attached to a +pole. As the skin dried it enwrapped the stone tightly; and then it was +daubed with grotesque devices in various colours. "It was borne by +several warriors who acted as balisteers. Plunged upon a boat or canoe, +it was capable of sinking it. Brought down upon a group of men on a +sudden, it produced consternation and death."[231] This is a most +remarkable feature in the narrative, for it shows us the Icelandic +writer (here manifestly controlled by some authoritative source of +information) describing a very strange mode of fighting, which we know +to have been characteristic of the Algonquins. Karlsefni's men do not +seem to have relished this outlandish style of fighting; they retreated +along the river bank until they came to a favourable situation among +some rocks, where they made a stand and beat off their swarming +assailants. The latter, as soon as they found themselves losing many +warriors without gaining their point, suddenly turned and fled to their +canoes, and paddled away with astonishing celerity. Throughout the +account it seems to me perfectly clear that we are dealing with Indians. + + [Footnote 230: "That sa their Karlsefni at Skraelingar faerdhu + upp a stoeng knoett stundar mykinn thvi naer til at jafna sem + saudharvoemb, ok helzt blan at lit, ok fleygdhu af stoenginni upp + a landit yfir lidh theirra Karlsefnis, ok let illilega vidhr, + thar sem nidhr kom. Vidh thetta slo otta myklum a Karlsefni ok + allt lidh hans, sva at tha fysti engis annars enn flyja, ok + halda undan upp medh anni, thviat theim thotti lidh Skraelinga + drifa at ser allum megin, ok letta eigi, fyrr enn their koma + til hamra nokkurra, ok veittu thar vidhrtoeku hardha," i. e. + "Viderunt Karlsefniani quod Skraelingi longurio sustulerunt + globum ingentem, ventri ovillo haud absimilem, colore fere + caeruleo; hune ex longurio in terram super manum Karlsefnianorum + contorserunt, qui ut decidit, dirum sonuit. Hac re terrore + perculsus est Karlsefnius suique omnes, ut nihil aliud cuperent + quam fugere et gradum referre sursum secundum fluvium: + credebant enim se ab Skraelingis undique circumveniri. Hinc non + gradum stitere, priusquam ad rupes quasdam pervenissent, ubi + acriter resistebant." Rafn, p. 153.] + + [Footnote 231: Schoolcraft, _Archives of Aboriginal Knowledge_, + Philadelphia, 1860, 6 vols. 4to, vol. i. p. 89; a figure of + this weapon is given in the same volume, plate xv. fig. 2, from + a careful description by Chingwauk, an Algonquin chief.] + +[Sidenote: The uniped.] + +The coexistence of so many unmistakable marks of truth in our narratives +may fairly be said to amount to a demonstration that they must be +derived, through some eminently trustworthy channel, from the statements +of intelligent eye-witnesses who took part in the events related. Here +and there, no doubt, we come upon some improbable incident or a touch of +superstition, such as we need not go back to the eleventh century to +find very common among seamen's narratives; but the remarkable thing in +the present case is that there are so few such features. One fabulous +creature is mentioned. Thorfinn and his men saw from their vessel a +glittering speck upon the shore at an opening in the woods. They hailed +it, whereupon the creature proceeded to perform the quite human act of +shooting an arrow, which killed the man at the helm. The narrator calls +it a "uniped," or some sort of one-footed goblin,[232] but that is +hardly reasonable, for after the shooting it went on to perform the +further quite human and eminently Indian-like act of running away.[233] +Evidently this discreet "uniped" was impressed with the desirableness of +living to fight another day. In a narrative otherwise characterized by +sobriety, such an instance of fancy, even supposing it to have come down +from the original sources, counts for as much or as little as Henry +Hudson's description of a mermaid.[234] + + [Footnote 232: Rafn, p. 160; De Costa, p. 134; Storm, p. 330.] + + [Footnote 233: Here the narrator seems determined to give us a + genuine smack of the marvellous, for when the fleeing uniped + comes to a place where his retreat seems cut off by an arm of + the sea, he runs (glides, or hops?) across the water without + sinking. In Vigfusson's version, however, the marvellous is + eliminated, and the creature simply runs over the stubble and + disappears. The incident is evidently an instance where the + narrative has been "embellished" by introducing a feature from + ancient classical writers. The "Monocoli," or one-legged + people, are mentioned by Pliny, _Hist. Nat._, vii. 2: "Item + hominum genus qui Monocoli vocarentur, singulis cruribus, mirae + pernicitatis ad saltum." Cf. Aulus Gellius, _Noctes Atticae_, + viii. 4.] + + [Footnote 234: Between Spitzbergen and Nova Zembla, June 15, + 1608. For the description, with its droll details, see _Purchas + his Pilgrimes_, iii. 575.] + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: Misleading associations with the word "saga."] + +[Sidenote: Unfortunate comparison between Leif Ericsson and Agamemnon.] + +[Sidenote: The story of the Trojan War, as we have it, is pure +folk-lore.] + +It is now time for a few words upon the character of the records upon +which our story is based. And first, let us remark upon a possible +source of misapprehension due to the associations with which a certain +Norse word has been clothed. The old Norse narrative-writings are called +"sagas," a word which we are in the habit of using in English as +equivalent to legendary or semi-mythical narratives. To cite a "saga" as +authority for a statement seems, therefore, to some people as +inadmissible as to cite a fairy-tale; and I cannot help suspecting that +to some such misleading association of ideas is due the particular form +of the opinion expressed some time ago by a committee of the +Massachusetts Historical Society,--"that there is the same sort of +reason for believing in the existence of Leif Ericsson that there is for +believing in the existence of Agamemnon. They are both traditions +accepted by later writers, and there is no more reason for regarding as +true the details related about the discoveries of the former than there +is for accepting as historic truth the narrative contained in the +Homeric poems." The report goes on to observe that "it is antecedently +probable that the Northmen discovered America in the early part of the +eleventh century; and this discovery is confirmed by the same sort of +historical tradition, not strong enough to be called evidence, upon +which our belief in many of the accepted facts of history rests."[235] +The second of these statements is characterized by critical moderation, +and expresses the inevitable and wholesome reaction against the rash +enthusiasm of Professor Rafn half a century ago, and the vagaries of +many an uninstructed or uncritical writer since his time. But the first +statement is singularly unfortunate. It would be difficult to find a +comparison more inappropriate than that between Agamemnon and Leif, +between the Iliad and the Saga of Eric the Red. The story of the Trojan +War and its heroes, as we have it in Homer and the Athenian dramatists, +is pure folk-lore as regards form, and chiefly folk-lore as regards +contents. It is in a high degree probable that this mass of folk-lore +surrounds a kernel of plain fact, that in times long before the first +Olympiad an actual "king of men" at Mycenae conducted an expedition +against the great city by the Simois, that the Agamemnon of the poet +stands in some such relation toward this chieftain as that in which the +Charlemagne of mediaeval romance stands toward the mighty Emperor of the +West.[236] Nevertheless the story, as we have it, is simply folk-lore. +If the Iliad and Odyssey contain faint reminiscences of actual events, +these events are so inextricably wrapped up with mythical phraseology +that by no cunning of the scholar can they be construed into history. +The motives and capabilities of the actors and the conditions under +which they accomplish their destinies are such as exist only in +fairy-tales. Their world is as remote from that in which we live as the +world of Sindbad and Camaralzaman; and this is not essentially altered +by the fact that Homer introduces us to definite localities and familiar +customs as often as the Irish legends of Finn M'Cumhail.[237] + + [Footnote 235: _Proceedings Mass. Hist. Soc._, December, 1887.] + + [Footnote 236: I used this argument twenty years ago in + qualification of the over-zealous solarizing views of Sir G. W. + Cox and others. See my _Myths and Mythmakers_, pp. 191-202; and + cf. Freeman on "The Mythical and Romantic Elements in Early + English History," in his _Historical Essays_, i. 1-39.] + + [Footnote 237: Curtin, _Myths and Folk-Lore of Ireland_, pp. + 12, 204, 303; Kennedy, _Legendary Fictions of the Irish Celts_, + pp. 203-311.] + +[Sidenote: The Saga of Eric the Red is not folk-lore.] + +It would be hard to find anything more unlike such writings than the +class of Icelandic sagas to which that of Eric the Red belongs. Here we +have quiet and sober narrative, not in the least like a fairy-tale, but +often much like a ship's log. Whatever such narrative may be, it is not +folk-lore. In act and motive, in its conditions and laws, its world is +the every-day world in which we live. If now and then a "uniped" happens +to stray into it, the incongruity is as conspicuous as in the case of +Hudson's mermaid, or a ghost in a modern country inn; whereas in the +Homeric fabric the supernatural is warp and woof. To assert a likeness +between two kinds of literature so utterly different is to go very far +astray. + +[Sidenote: Mythical and historical sagas.] + +As already observed, I suspect that misleading associations with the +word "saga" may have exerted an unconscious influence in producing this +particular kind of blunder,--for it is nothing less than a blunder. +Resemblance is tacitly assumed between the Iliad and an Icelandic saga. +Well, between the Iliad and _some_ Icelandic sagas there is a real and +strong resemblance. In truth these sagas are divisible into two well +marked and sharply contrasted classes. In the one class belong the Eddic +Lays, and the _mythical sagas_, such as the Volsunga, the stories of +Ragnar, Frithiof, and others; and along with these, though totally +different in source, we may for our present purpose group the _romantic +sagas_, such as Parceval, Remund, Karlamagnus, and others brought from +southern Europe. These are alike in being composed of legendary and +mythical materials; they belong essentially to the literature of +folk-lore. In the other class come the _historical sagas_, such as those +of Njal and Egil, the Sturlunga, and many others, with the numerous +biographies and annals.[238] These writings give us history, and often +very good history indeed. "Saga" meant simply any kind of literature in +narrative form; the good people of Iceland did not happen to have such a +handy word as "history," which they could keep entire when they meant it +in sober earnest and chop down into "story" when they meant it +otherwise. It is very much as if we were to apply the same word to the +Arthur legends and to William of Malmesbury's judicious and accurate +chronicles, and call them alike "stories." + + [Footnote 238: Nowhere can you find a more masterly critical + account of Icelandic literature than in Vigfusson's + "Prolegomena" to his edition of _Sturlunga Saga_, Oxford, 1878, + vol. i. pp. ix.-ccxiv. There is a good but very brief account + in Horn's _History of the Literature of the Scandinavian + North_, transl. by R. B. Anderson, Chicago, 1884, pp. 50-70.] + +[Sidenote: The western or Hauks-bok version of Eric the Red's Saga.] + +The narrative upon which our account of the Vinland voyages is chiefly +based belongs to the class of historical sagas. It is the Saga of Eric +the Red, and it exists in two different versions, of which one seems to +have been made in the north, the other in the west, of Iceland. The +western version is the earlier and in some respects the better. It is +found in two vellums, that of the great collection known as _Hauks-bok_ +(AM. 544), and that which is simply known as AM. 557 from its catalogue +number in Arni Magnusson's collection. Of these the former, which is the +best preserved, was written in a beautiful hand by Hauk Erlendsson, +between 1305 and 1334, the year of his death. This western version is +the one which has generally been printed under the title, "Saga of +Thorfinn Karlsefni." It is the one to which I have most frequently +referred in the present chapter.[239] + + [Footnote 239: It is printed in Rafn, pp. 84-187, and in + _Groenlands historiske Mindesmaerker_, i. 352-443. The most + essential part of it may now be found, under its own name, in + Vigfusson's _Icelandic Prose Reader_, pp. 123-140.] + +[Sidenote: The northern or Flateyar-bok version.] + +The northern version is that which was made about the year 1387 by the +priest Jon Thordharson, and contained in the famous compilation known as +the _Flateyar-bok_, or "Flat Island Book."[240] This priest was editing +the saga of King Olaf Tryggvesson, which is contained in that +compilation, and inasmuch as Leif Ericsson's presence at King Olaf's +court was connected both with the introduction of Christianity into +Greenland and with the discovery of Vinland, Jon paused, after the +manner of mediaeval chroniclers, and inserted then and there what he knew +about Eric and Leif and Thorfinn. In doing this, he used parts of the +original saga of Eric the Red (as we find it reproduced in the western +version), and added thereunto a considerable amount of material +concerning the Vinland voyages derived from other sources. Jon's version +thus made has generally been printed under the title, "Saga of Eric the +Red."[241] + + [Footnote 240: It belonged to a man who lived on Flat Island, + in one of the Iceland fiords.] + + [Footnote 241: It is printed in Rafn, pp. 1-76, under the title + "Thaettir af Eireki Rauda ok Graenlendingum." For a critical + account of these versions, see Storm, _op. cit._ pp. 319-325; I + do not, in all respects, follow him in his depreciation of the + Flateyar-bok version.] + +[Sidenote: Presumption against sources not contemporary.] + +Now the older version, written at the beginning of the fourteenth +century, gives an account of things which happened three centuries +before it was written. A cautious scholar will, as a rule, be slow to +consider any historical narrative as quite satisfactory authority, even +when it contains no improbable statements, unless it is nearly +contemporary with the events which it records. Such was the rule laid +down by the late Sir George Cornewall Lewis, and it is a very good rule; +the proper application of it has disencumbered history of much rubbish. +At the same time, like all rules, it should be used with judicious +caution and not allowed to run away with us. As applied by Lewis to +Roman history it would have swept away in one great cataclysm not only +kings and decemvirs, but Brennus and his Gauls to boot, and left us with +nothing to swear by until the invasion of Pyrrhus.[242] Subsequent +research has shown that this was going altogether too far. The mere fact +of distance in time between a document and the events which it records +is only negative testimony against its value, for it may be a faithful +transcript of some earlier document or documents since lost. It is so +difficult to prove a negative that the mere lapse of time simply raises +a presumption the weight of which should be estimated by a careful +survey of all the probabilities in the case. Among the many Icelandic +vellums that are known to have perished[243] there may well have been +earlier copies of Eric the Red's Saga. + + [Footnote 242: Lewis's _Inquiry into the Credibility of the + Early Roman History_, 2 vols., London, 1855.] + + [Footnote 243: And notably in that terrible fire of October, + 1728, which consumed the University Library at Copenhagen, and + broke the heart of the noble collector of manuscripts, Arni + Magnusson. The great eruption of Hecla in 1390 overwhelmed two + famous homesteads in the immediate neighbourhood. From the + local history of these homesteads and their inmates, Vigfusson + thinks it not unlikely that some records may still be there + "awaiting the spade and pickaxe of a new Schliemann." + _Sturlunga Saga_, p. cliv.] + +[Sidenote: Hauk Erlendsson and his manuscripts.] + +Hauk Erlendsson reckoned himself a direct descendant, in the eighth +generation, from Snorro, son of Thorfinn and Gudrid, born in Vinland. He +was an important personage in Iceland, a man of erudition, author of a +brief book of contemporary annals and a treatise on arithmetic in which +he introduced the Arabic numerals into Iceland. In those days the lover +of books, if he would add them to his library, might now and then obtain +an original manuscript, but usually he had to copy them or have them +copied by hand. The Hauks-bok, with its 200 skins, one of the most +extensive Icelandic vellums now in existence, is really Hauk's private +library, or what there is left of it, and it shows that he was a man who +knew how to make a good choice of books. He did a good deal of his +copying himself, and also employed two clerks in the same kind of +work.[244] + + [Footnote 244: An excellent facsimile of Hauk's handwriting is + given in Rafn, tab. iii., lower part; tab. iv. and the upper + part of tab. iii. are in the hands of his two amanuenses. See + Vigfusson, _op. cit._ p. clxi.] + +[Sidenote: The story is not likely to have been preserved to Hauk's time +by oral tradition only.] + +Now I do not suppose it will occur to any rational being to suggest that +Hauk may have written down his version of Eric the Red's Saga from an +oral tradition nearly three centuries old. The narrative could not have +been so long preserved in its integrity, with so little extravagance of +statement and so many marks of truthfulness in details foreign to +ordinary Icelandic experience, if it had been entrusted to oral +tradition alone. One might as well try to imagine Drake's "World +Encompassed" handed down by oral tradition from the days of Queen +Elizabeth to the days of Queen Victoria. Such transmission is possible +enough with heroic poems and folk-tales, which deal with a few dramatic +situations and a stock of mythical conceptions familiar at every +fireside; but in a simple matter-of-fact record of sailors' observations +and experiences on a strange coast, oral tradition would not be long in +distorting and jumbling the details into a result quite undecipherable. +The story of the Zeno brothers, presently to be cited, shows what +strange perversions occur, even in written tradition, when the copyist, +instead of faithfully copying records of unfamiliar events, tries to +edit and amend them. One cannot reasonably doubt that Hauk's vellum of +Eric the Red's Saga, with its many ear-marks of truth above mentioned, +was copied by him--and quite carefully and faithfully withal--from some +older vellum not now forthcoming. + +[Sidenote: Allusions to Vinland in other documents.] + +As we have no clue, however, beyond the internal evidence, to the age or +character of the sources from which Hauk copied, there is nothing left +for us to do but to look into other Icelandic documents, to see if +anywhere they betray a knowledge of Vinland and the voyages thither. +Incidental references to Vinland, in narratives concerned with other +matters, are of great significance in this connection; for they imply on +the part of the narrator a presumption that his readers understand such +references, and that it is not necessary to interrupt his story in order +to explain them. Such incidental references imply the existence, during +the interval between the Vinland voyages and Hauk's manuscript, of many +intermediate links of sound testimony that have since dropped out of +sight; and therefore they go far toward removing whatever presumption +may be alleged against Hauk's manuscript because of its distance from +the events. + +[Sidenote: Eyrbyggja Saga.] + +Now the Eyrbyggja Saga, written between 1230 and 1260, is largely +devoted to the settlement of Iceland, and is full of valuable notices of +the heathen institutions and customs of the tenth century. The +Eyrbyggja, having occasion to speak of Thorbrand Snorrason, observes +incidentally that he went from Greenland to Vinland with Karlsefni and +was killed in a battle with the Skraelings.[245] We have already +mentioned the death of this Thorbrand, and how Freydis found his body in +the woods. + + [Footnote 245: Vigfusson, _Eyrbyggja Saga_, pp. 91, 92. Another + of Karlsefni's comrades, Thorhall Gamlason, is mentioned in + _Grettis Saga_, Copenhagen, 1859, pp. 22, 70; he went back to + Iceland, settled on a farm there, and was known for the rest of + his life as "the Vinlander." See above, pp. 165, 168.] + +[Sidenote: The abbot Nikulas, etc.] + +Three Icelandic tracts on geography, between the twelfth and fourteenth +centuries, mention Helluland and Vinland, and in two of these accounts +Markland is interposed between Helluland and Vinland.[246] One of these +tracts mentions the voyages of Leif and Thorfinn. It forms part of an +essay called "Guide to the Holy Land," by Nikulas Saemundsson, abbot of +Thvera, in the north of Iceland, who died 1159. This Nikulas was curious +in matters of geography, and had travelled extensively. + + [Footnote 246: Werlauf, _Symbolae ad Geogr. Medii AEvi_, + Copenhagen, 1820.] + +[Sidenote: Ari Frodhi.] + +With the celebrated Ari Thorgilsson, usually known as Frodhi, "the +learned," we come to testimony nearly contemporaneous in time and +extremely valuable in character. This erudite priest, born in 1067, was +the founder of historical writing in Iceland. He was the principal +author of the "Landnama-bok," already mentioned as a work of thorough +and painstaking research unequalled in mediaeval literature. His other +principal works were the "Konunga-bok," or chronicle of the kings of +Norway, and the "Islendinga-bok," or description of Iceland.[247] Ari's +books, written not in monkish Latin, but in a good vigorous vernacular, +were a mine of information from which all subsequent Icelandic +historians were accustomed to draw such treasures as they needed. To his +diligence and acumen they were all, from Snorro Sturlason down, very +much indebted. He may be said to have given the tone to history-writing +in Iceland, and it was a high tone. + + [Footnote 247: For a critical estimate of Ari's literary + activity and the extent of his work, the reader is referred to + Moebius, _Are's Islaenderbuch_, Leipsic, 1869; Maurer, "Ueber Ari + Thorgilsson und sein Islaenderbuch," in _Germania_, xv.; Olsen, + _Ari Thorgilsson hinn Frodhi_, Reykjavik, 1889, pp. 214-240.] + +[Sidenote: Ari's significant allusion to Vinland.] + +Unfortunately Ari's Islendinga-bok has perished. One cannot help +suspecting that it may have contained the contemporary materials from +which Eric the Red's Saga in the Hauks-bok was ultimately drawn. For +Ari made an abridgment or epitome of his great book, and this epitome, +commonly known as "Libellus Islandorum," still survives. In it Ari makes +brief mention of Greenland, and refers to his paternal uncle, Thorkell +Gellison, as authority for his statements. This Thorkell Gellison, of +Helgafell, a man of high consideration who flourished about the middle +of the eleventh century, had visited Greenland and talked with one of +the men who accompanied Eric when he went to settle in Brattahlid in +986. From this source Ari gives us the interesting information that +Eric's party found in Greenland "traces of human habitations, fragments +of boats, and stone implements; so from this one might conclude that +people of the kind who inhabited Vinland and were known by the (Norse) +Greenlanders as Skraelings must have roamed about there."[248] Observe +the force of this allusion. The settlers in Greenland did not at first +(nor for a long time) meet with barbarous or savage natives there, but +only with the vestiges of their former presence. But when Ari wrote the +above passage, the memory of Vinland and its fierce Skraelings was still +fresh, and Ari very properly inferred from the archaeological remains in +Greenland that a people similar (in point of barbarism) to the +Skraelings must have been there. Unless Ari and his readers had a +distinct recollection of the accounts of Vinland, such a reference would +have been only an attempt to explain the less obscure by the more +obscure. It is to be regretted that we have in this book no more +allusions to Vinland; but if Ari could only leave us one such allusion, +he surely could not have made that one more pointed. + + [Footnote 248: Their "fundo thar manna vister baethi austr ok + vestr a landi ok kaeiplabrot ok steinsmithi, that es af thvi ma + scilja, at thar hafdhi thessconar thjoth farith es Vinland + hefer bygt, ok Graenlendinger calla Skrelinga," i. e. + "invenerunt ibi, tam in orientali quam occidentali terrae parte, + humanae habitationis vestigia, navicularum fragmenta et opera + fabrilia ex lapide, ex quo intelligi potest, ibi versatum esse + nationem quae Vinlandiam incoluit quamque Graenlandi Skraelingos + appellant." Rafn, p. 207.] + +[Sidenote: Other references.] + +But this is not quite the only reference that Ari makes to Vinland. +There are three others that must in all probability be assigned to him. +Two occur in the Landnama-bok, the first in a passage where mention is +made of Ari Marsson's voyage to a place in the western ocean near +Vinland;[249] the only point in this allusion which need here concern us +is that Vinland is tacitly assumed to be a known geographical situation +to which others may be referred. The second reference occurs in one of +those elaborate and minutely specific genealogies in the Landnama-bok: +"Their son was Thordhr Hest-hoefdhi, father of Karlsefni, who found +Vinland the Good, Snorri's father," etc.[250] The third reference occurs +in the Kristni Saga, a kind of supplement to the Landnama-bok, giving an +account of the introduction of Christianity into Iceland; here it is +related how Leif Ericsson came to be called "Leif the Lucky," 1. from +having rescued a shipwrecked crew off the coast of Greenland, 2. from +having discovered "Vinland the Good."[251] From these brief allusions, +and from the general relation in which Ari Frodhi stood to later +writers, I suspect that if the greater Islendinga-bok had survived to +our time we should have found in it more about Vinland and its +discoverers. At any rate, as to the existence of a definite and +continuous tradition all the way from Ari down to Hauk Erlendsson, there +can be no question whatever.[252] + + [Footnote 249: _Landnama-bok_, part ii. chap. xxii.] + + [Footnote 250: Id. part iii. chap. x.] + + [Footnote 251: _Kristni Saga_, apud _Biskupa Soegur_, + Copenhagen, 1858, vol. i. p. 20.] + + [Footnote 252: Indeed, the parallel existence of the + Flateyar-bok version of Eric the Red's Saga, alongside of the + Hauks-bok version, is pretty good proof of the existence of a + written account older than Hauk's time. The discrepancies + between the two versions are such as to show that Jon + Thordharson did not copy from Hauk, but followed some other + version not now forthcoming. Jon mentions six voyages in + connection with Vinland: 1. Bjarni Herjulfsson; 2. Leif; 3. + Thorvald; 4. Thorstein and Gudrid; 5. Thorfinn Karlsefni; 6. + Freydis. Hauk, on the other hand, mentions only the two + principal voyages, those of Leif and Thorfinn; ignoring Bjarni, + he accredits his adventures to Leif on his return voyage from + Norway in 999, and he makes Thorvald a comrade of Thorfinn, and + mixes his adventures with the events of Thorfinn's voyage. Dr. + Storm considers Hauk's account intrinsically the more probable, + and thinks that in the Flateyar-bok we have a later + amplification of the tradition. But while I agree with Dr. + Storm as to the general superiority of the Hauk version, I am + not convinced by his arguments on this point. It seems to me + likely that the Flateyar-bok here preserves more faithfully the + details of an older tradition too summarily epitomized in the + Hauks-bok. As the point in no way affects the general + conclusions of the present chapter, it is hardly worth arguing + here. The main thing for us is that the divergencies between + the two versions, when coupled with their agreement in the most + important features, indicate that both writers were working + upon the basis of an antecedent written tradition, like the + authors of the first and third synoptic gospels. Only here, of + course, there are in the divergencies no symptoms of what the + Tuebingen school would call "_tendenz_," impairing and obscuring + to an indeterminate extent the general trustworthiness of the + narratives. On the whole, it is pretty clear that Hauks-bok and + Flateyar-bok were independent of each other, and collated, each + in its own way, earlier documents that have probably since + perished.] + +[Sidenote: Adam of Bremen.] + +The testimony of Adam of Bremen brings us yet one generation nearer to +the Vinland voyages, and is very significant. Adam was much interested +in the missionary work in the north of Europe, and in 1073, the same +year that Hildebrand was elected to the papacy, he published his famous +"Historia Ecclesiastica" in which he gave an account of the conversion +of the northern nations from the time of Leo III. to that of +Hildebrand's predecessor. In prosecuting his studies, Adam made a visit +to the court of Swend Estridhsen, king of Denmark, nephew of Cnut the +Great, king of Denmark and England. Swend's reign began in 1047, so that +Adam's visit must have occurred between that date and 1073. The voyage +of Leif and Thorfinn would at that time have been within the memory of +living men, and would be likely to be known in Denmark, because the +intercourse between the several parts of the Scandinavian world was +incessant; there was continual coming and going. Adam learned what he +could of Scandinavian geography, and when he published his history, he +did just what a modern writer would do under similar circumstances; he +appended to his book some notes on the geography of those remote +countries, then so little known to his readers in central and southern +Europe. After giving some account of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, he +describes the colony in Iceland, and then the further colony in +Greenland, and concludes by saying that out in that ocean there is +another country, or island, which has been visited by many persons, and +is called Vinland because of wild grapes that grow there, out of which a +very good wine can be made. Either rumour had exaggerated the virtues of +fox-grape juice, or the Northmen were not such good judges of wine as of +ale. Adam goes on to say that corn, likewise, grows in Vinland without +cultivation; and as such a statement to European readers must needs have +a smack of falsehood, he adds that it is based not upon fable and +guess-work, but upon "trustworthy reports (_certa relatione_) of the +Danes." + +[Sidenote: Adam's misconception of the situation.] + +Scanty as it is, this single item of strictly contemporary testimony is +very important, because quite incidentally it gives to the later +accounts such confirmation as to show that they rest upon a solid basis +of continuous tradition and not upon mere unintelligent hearsay.[253] +The unvarying character of the tradition, in its essential details, +indicates that it must have been committed to writing at a very early +period, probably not later than the time of Ari's uncle Thorkell, who +was contemporary with Adam of Bremen. If, however, we read the whole +passage in which Adam's mention of Vinland occurs, it is clear from the +context that his own information was not derived from an inspection of +Icelandic documents. He got it, as he tells us, by talking with King +Swend; and all that he got, or all that he thought worth telling, was +this curious fact about vines and self-sown corn growing so near to +Greenland; for Adam quite misconceived the situation of Vinland, and +imagined it far up in the frozen North. After his mention of Vinland, +the continental character of which he evidently did not suspect, he goes +on immediately to say, "After this island nothing inhabitable is to be +found in that ocean, all being covered with unendurable ice and +boundless darkness." That most accomplished king, Harold Hardrada, says +Adam, tried not long since to ascertain how far the northern ocean +extended, and plunged along through this darkness until he actually +reached the end of the world, and came near tumbling off![254] Thus the +worthy Adam, while telling the truth about fox-grapes and maize as well +as he knew how, spoiled the effect of his story by putting Vinland in +the Arctic regions. The juxtaposition of icebergs and vines was a little +too close even for the mediaeval mind so hospitable to strange yarns. +Adam's readers generally disbelieved the "trustworthy reports of the +Danes," and when they thought of Vinland at all, doubtless thought of it +as somewhere near the North Pole.[255] We shall do well to bear this in +mind when we come to consider the possibility of Columbus having +obtained from Adam of Bremen any hint in the least likely to be of use +in his own enterprise.[256] + + [Footnote 253: It is further interesting as the only undoubted + reference to Vinland in a mediaeval book written beyond the + limits of the Scandinavian world. There is also, however, a + passage in Ordericus Vitalis (_Historia Ecclesiastica_, iv. + 29), in which _Finland_ and the Orkneys, along with Greenland + and Iceland, are loosely described as forming part of the + dominions of the kings of Norway. This Finland does not appear + to refer to the country of the Finns, east of the Baltic, and + it has been supposed that it may have been meant for Vinland. + The book of Ordericus was written about 1140.] + + [Footnote 254: The passage from Adam of Bremen deserves to be + quoted in full: "Praeterea unam adhuc insulam [regionam] + recitavit [i. e. Svendus rex] a multis in eo repertam oceano, + quae dicitur Vinland, eo quod ibi vites sponte nascantur, vinum + bonum gerentes [ferentes]; nam et fruges ibi non seminatas + abundare, non fabulosa opinione, sed certa comperimus relatione + Danorum. Post quam insulam terra nulla invenitur habitabilis in + illo oceano, sed omnia quae ultra sunt glacie intolerabili ac + caligine immensa plena sunt; cujus rei Marcianus ita meminit: + ultra Thyle, inquiens, navigare unius diei mare concretum est. + Tentavit hoc nuper experientissimus Nordmannorum princeps + Haroldus, qui latitudinem septentrionalis oceani perscrutatus + navibus, tandem caligantibus ante ora deficientis mundi + finibus, immane abyssi baratrum, retroactis vestigiis, vix + salvus evasit." _Descriptio insularum aquilonis_, cap. 38, apud + _Hist. Ecclesiastica_, iv. ed. Lindenbrog, Leyden, 1595. No + such voyage is known to have been undertaken by Harold of + Norway, nor is it likely. Adam was probably thinking of an + Arctic voyage undertaken by one Thorir under the auspices of + King Harold; one of the company brought back a polar bear and + gave it to King Swend, who was much pleased with it. See Rafn, + 339. "Regionam" and "ferentes" in the above extract are variant + readings found in some editions.] + + [Footnote 255: "Det har imidlertid ikke forhindret de senere + forfattere, der benyttede Adam, fra at blive mistaenksomme, og + saalaenge Adams beretning stod alene, har man i regelen vaegret + sig for at tro den. Endog den norske forfatter, der skrev + 'Historia Norvegiae' og som foruden Adam vel ogsaa bar kjendt de + hjemlige sagn om Vinland, maa have anseet beretningen for + fabelagtig og derfor forbigaaet den; han kjendte altfor godt + Gronland som et nordligt isfyldt Polarland til at ville tro + paa, at i naerheden fandtes et Vinland." Storm, in _Aarboger for + Nordisk Oldkyndighed_, etc., Copenhagen, 1887, p. 300.] + + [Footnote 256: See below, p. 386.] + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: Summary of the argument.] + +To sum up the argument:--we have in Eric the Red's Saga, as copied by +Hauk Erlendsson, a document for the existence of which we are required +to account. That document contains unmistakable knowledge of some +things which mediaeval Europeans could by no human possibility have +learned, except through a visit to some part of the coast of North +America further south than Labrador or Newfoundland. It tells an +eminently probable story in a simple, straightforward way, agreeing in +its details with what we know of the North American coast between Point +Judith and Cape Breton. Its general accuracy in the statement and +grouping of so many remote details is proof that its statements were +controlled by an exceedingly strong and steady tradition,--altogether +too strong and steady, in my opinion, to have been maintained simply by +word of mouth. These Icelanders were people so much given to writing +that their historic records during the Middle Ages were, as the late Sir +Richard Burton truly observed, more complete than those of any other +country in Europe.[257] It is probable that the facts mentioned in +Hauk's document rested upon some kind of a written basis as early as the +eleventh century; and it seems quite clear that the constant tradition, +by which all the allusions to Vinland and the Skraelings are controlled, +had become established by that time. The data are more scanty than we +could wish, but they all point in the same direction as surely as straws +blown by a steady wind, and their cumulative force is so great as to +fall but little short of demonstration. For these reasons it seems to me +that the Saga of Eric the Red should be accepted as history; and there +is another reason which might not have counted for much at the +beginning of this discussion, but at the end seems quite solid and +worthy of respect. The narrative begins with the colonization of +Greenland and goes on with the visits to Vinland. It is unquestionably +sound history for the first part; why should it be anything else for the +second part? What shall be said of a style of criticism which, in +dealing with one and the same document, arbitrarily cuts it in two in +the middle and calls the first half history and the last half legend? +which accepts its statements as serious so long as they keep to the +north of the sixtieth parallel, and dismisses them as idle as soon as +they pass to the south of it? Quite contrary to common sense, I should +say. + + [Footnote 257: Burton, _Ultima Thule_, London, 1875, i. 237.] + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: Absurd speculations of zealous antiquarians.] + +[Sidenote: There is no reason for supposing that the Northmen founded a +colony in Vinland.] + +[Sidenote: No archaeological remains of the Northmen have been found +south of Davis strait.] + +The only discredit which has been thrown upon the story of the Vinland +voyages, in the eyes either of scholars or of the general public, has +arisen from the eager credulity with which ingenious antiquarians have +now and then tried to prove more than facts will warrant. It is +peculiarly a case in which the judicious historian has had frequent +occasion to exclaim, Save me from my friends! The only fit criticism +upon the wonderful argument from the Dighton inscription is a reference +to the equally wonderful discovery made by Mr. Pickwick at Cobham;[258] +and when it was attempted, some sixty years ago, to prove that Governor +Arnold's old stone windmill at Newport[259] was a tower built by the +Northmen, no wonder if the exposure of this rather laughable notion +should have led many people to suppose that the story of Leif and +Thorfinn had thereby been deprived of some part of its support. But the +story never rested upon any such evidence, and does not call for +evidence of such sort. There is nothing in the story to indicate that +the Northmen ever founded a colony in Vinland, or built durable +buildings there. The distinction implicitly drawn by Adam of Bremen, who +narrates the colonization of Iceland and Greenland, and then goes on to +speak of Vinland, not as colonized, but simply as discovered, is a +distinction amply borne out by our chronicles. Nowhere is there the +slightest hint of a colony or settlement established in Vinland. On the +contrary, our plain, business-like narrative tells us that Thorfinn +Karlsefni tried to found a colony and failed; and it tells us why he +failed. The Indians were too many for him. The Northmen of the eleventh +century, without firearms, were in much less favourable condition for +withstanding the Indians than the Englishmen of the seventeenth; and at +the former period there existed no cause for emigration from Norway and +Iceland at all comparable to the economic, political, and religious +circumstances which, in a later age, sent thousands of Englishmen to +Virginia and New England. The founding of colonies in America in the +sixteenth and seventeenth centuries was no pastime; it was a tale of +drudgery, starvation, and bloodshed, that curdles one's blood to read; +more attempts failed than succeeded. Assuredly Thorfinn gave proof of +the good sense ascribed to him when he turned his back upon Vinland. But +if he or any other Northman had ever succeeded in establishing a colony +there, can anybody explain why it should not have stamped the fact of +its existence either upon the soil, or upon history, or both, as +unmistakably as the colony of Greenland? Archaeological remains of the +Northmen abound in Greenland, all the way from Immartinek to near Cape +Farewell; the existence of one such relic on the North American +continent has never yet been proved. Not a single vestige of the +Northmen's presence here, at all worthy of credence, has ever been +found. The writers who have, from time to time, mistaken other things +for such vestiges, have been led astray because they have failed to +distinguish between the different conditions of proof in Greenland and +in Vinland. As Mr. Laing forcibly put the case, nearly half a century +ago, "Greenland was a colony with communications, trade, civil and +ecclesiastical establishments, and a considerable population," for more +than four centuries. "Vinland was only visited by flying parties of +woodcutters, remaining at the utmost two or three winters, but never +settling there permanently.... To expect here, as in Greenland, material +proofs to corroborate the documentary proofs, is weakening the latter by +linking them to a sort of evidence which, from the very nature of the +case,--the temporary visits of a ship's crew,--cannot exist in Vinland, +and, as in the case of Greenland, come in to support them."[260] + + [Footnote 258: See _Pickwick Papers_, chap. xi. I am indebted + to Mr. Tillinghast, of Harvard University Library, for calling + my attention to a letter from Rev. John Lathrop, of Boston, to + Hon. John Davis, August 10, 1809, containing George + Washington's opinion of the Dighton inscription. When President + Washington visited Cambridge in the fall of 1789, he was shown + about the college buildings by the president and fellows of the + university. While in the museum he was observed to "fix his + eye" upon a full-size copy of the Dighton inscription made by + the librarian, James Winthrop. Dr. Lathrop, who happened to be + standing near Washington, "ventured to give the opinion which + several learned men had entertained with respect to the origin + of the inscription." Inasmuch as some of the characters were + thought to resemble "oriental" characters, and inasmuch as the + ancient Phoenicians had sailed outside of the Pillars of + Hercules, it was "conjectured" that some Phoenician vessels had + sailed into Narragansett bay and up the Taunton river. "While + detained by winds, or other causes now unknown, the people, it + has been conjectured, made the inscription, now to be seen on + the face of the rock, and which we may suppose to be a record + of their fortunes or of their fate." + + "After I had given the above account, the President smiled and + said he believed the learned gentlemen whom I had mentioned + were mistaken; and added that in the younger part of his life + his business called him to be very much in the wilderness of + Virginia, which gave him an opportunity to become acquainted + with many of the customs and practices of the Indians. The + Indians, he said, had a way of writing and recording their + transactions, either in war or hunting. When they wished to + make any such record, or leave an account of their exploits to + any who might come after them, they scraped off the outer bark + of a tree, and with a vegetable ink, or a little paint which + they carried with them, on the smooth surface they wrote in a + way that was generally understood by the people of their + respective tribes. As he had so often examined the rude way of + writing practised by the Indians of Virginia, and observed many + of the characters on the inscription then before him so nearly + resembled the characters used by the Indians, he had no doubt + the inscription was made long ago by some natives of America." + _Proceedings of Massachusetts Historical Society_, vol. x. p. + 115. This pleasant anecdote shows in a new light Washington's + accuracy of observation and unfailing common-sense. Such + inscriptions have been found by the thousand, scattered over + all parts of the United States; for a learned study of them see + Garrick Mallery, "Pictographs of the North American Indians," + _Reports of Bureau of Ethnology_, iv. 13-256. "The voluminous + discussion upon the Dighton rock inscription," says Colonel + Mallery, "renders it impossible wholly to neglect it.... It is + merely a type of Algonquin rock-carving, not so interesting as + many others.... It is of purely Indian origin, and is executed + in the peculiar symbolic character of the Kekeewin," p. 20. The + characters observed by Washington in the Virginia forests would + very probably have been of the same type. Judge Davis, to whom + Dr. Lathrop's letter was addressed, published in 1809 a paper + maintaining the Indian origin of the Dighton inscription. + + A popular error, once started on its career, is as hard to kill + as a cat. Otherwise it would be surprising to find, in so + meritorious a book as Oscar Peschel's _Geschichte des + Zeitalters der Entdeckungen_, Stuttgart, 1877, p. 82, an + unsuspecting reliance upon Rafn's ridiculous interpretation of + this Algonquin pictograph. In an American writer as well + equipped as Peschel, this particular kind of blunder would of + course be impossible; and one is reminded of Humboldt's remark, + "Il est des recherches qui ne peuvent s'executer que pres des + sources memes." _Examen critique_, etc., tom. ii. p. 102. + + In old times, I may add, such vagaries were usually saddled + upon the Phoenicians, until since Rafn's time the Northmen have + taken their place as the pack-horses for all sorts of + antiquarian "conjecture."] + + [Footnote 259: See Palfrey's _History of New England_, vol. i. + pp. 57-59; Mason's _Reminiscences of Newport_, pp. 392-407. + Laing (_Heimskringla_, pp. 182-185) thinks the Yankees must + have intended to fool Professor Rafn and the Royal Society of + Antiquaries at Copenhagen; "Those sly rogues of Americans," + says he, "dearly love a quiet hoax;" and he can almost hear + them chuckling over their joke in their club-room at Newport. I + am afraid these Yankees were less rogues and more fools than + Mr. Laing makes out.] + + [Footnote 260: Laing, _Heimskringla_, vol. i. p. 181.] + +[Sidenote: If the Northmen had founded a successful colony, they would +have introduced domestic cattle into the North American fauna;] + +[Sidenote: and such animals could not have vanished and left no trace of +their existence.] + +The most convincing proof that the Northmen never founded a colony in +America, south of Davis strait, is furnished by the total absence of +horses, cattle, and other domestic animals from the soil of North +America until they were brought hither by the Spanish, French, and +English settlers in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. If the +Northmen had ever settled in Vinland, they would have brought cattle +with them, and if their colony had been successful, it would have +introduced such cattle permanently into the fauna of the country. +Indeed, our narrative tells us that Karlsefni's people "had with them +all kinds of cattle, having the intention to settle in the land if they +could."[261] Naturally the two things are coupled in the narrator's +mind. So the Portuguese carried livestock in their earliest expeditions +to the Atlantic islands;[262] Columbus brought horses and cows, with +vines and all kinds of grain, on his second voyage to the West +Indies;[263] when the French, under Baron Lery, made a disastrous +attempt to found a colony on or about Cape Breton in 1518, they left +behind them, upon Sable island, a goodly stock of cows and pigs, which +throve and multiplied long after their owners had gone;[264] the +Pilgrims at Plymouth had cattle, goats, and swine as early as 1623.[265] +In fact, it would be difficult to imagine a community of Europeans +subsisting anywhere for any length of time without domestic animals. We +have seen that the Northmen took pains to raise cattle in Greenland, and +were quick to comment upon the climate of Vinland as favourable for +pasturage. To suppose that these men ever founded a colony in North +America, but did not bring domestic animals thither, would be absurd. +But it would be scarcely less absurd to suppose that such animals, +having been once fairly introduced into the fauna of North America, +would afterward have vanished without leaving a vestige of their +presence. As for the few cattle for which Thorfinn could find room in +his three or four dragon-ships, we may easily believe that his people +ate them up before leaving the country, especially since we are told +they were threatened with famine. But that domestic cattle, after being +supported on American soil during the length of time involved in the +establishment of a successful colony (say, for fifty or a hundred +years), should have disappeared without leaving abundant traces of +themselves, is simply incredible. Horses and kine are not dependent upon +man for their existence; when left to themselves, in almost any part of +the world, they run wild and flourish in what naturalists call a "feral" +state. Thus we find feral horned cattle in the Falkland and in the +Ladrone islands, as well as in the ancient Chillingham Park, in +Northumberland; we find feral pigs in Jamaica; feral European dogs in La +Plata; feral horses in Turkestan, and also in Mexico, descended from +Spanish horses.[266] If the Northmen had ever founded a colony in +Vinland, how did it happen that the English and French in the +seventeenth century, and from that day to this, have never set eyes upon +a wild horse, or wild cattle, pigs, or hounds, or any such indication +whatever of the former presence of civilized Europeans? I do not +recollect ever seeing this argument used before, but it seems to me +conclusive. It raises against the hypothesis of a Norse colonization in +Vinland a presumption extremely difficult if not impossible to +overcome.[267] + + [Footnote 261: "Their hoefdhu medh ser allskonar fenadh, thviat + their aetloedhu at byggja landit, ef their maetti that," i. e., + "illi omne pecudum genus secum habuerunt, nam terram, si + liceret, coloniis frequentare cogitarunt." Rafn, p. 57.] + + [Footnote 262: Major, _Prince Henry the Navigator_, p. 241.] + + [Footnote 263: Irving's _Life of Columbus_, New York, 1828, + vol. i. p. 293.] + + [Footnote 264: _Histoire chronologique de la Nouvelle France_, + pp. 40, 58; this work, written in 1689 by the Recollet friar + Sixte le Tac, has at length been published (Paris, 1888) with + notes and other original documents by Eugene Reveillaud. See, + also, Laet, _Novus Orbis_, 39.] + + [Footnote 265: John Smith, _Generall Historie_, 247.] + + [Footnote 266: Darwin, _Animals and Plants under + Domestication_, London, 1868, vol. i pp. 27, 77, 84.] + + [Footnote 267: The views of Professor Horsford as to the + geographical situation of Vinland and its supposed colonization + by Northmen are set forth in his four monographs, _Discovery of + America by Northmen--address at the unveiling of the statue of + Leif Eriksen_, etc., Boston, 1888; _The Problem of the + Northmen_, Cambridge, 1889; _The Discovery of the Ancient City + of Norumbega_, Boston, 1890; _The Defences of Norumbega_, + Boston, 1891. Among Professor Horsford's conclusions the two + principal are: 1. that the "river flowing through a lake into + the sea" (Rafn, p. 147) is Charles river, and that Leif's + booths were erected near the site of the present Cambridge + hospital; 2. that "Norumbega"--a word loosely applied by some + early explorers to some region or regions somewhere between the + New Jersey coast and the Bay of Fundy--was the Indian utterance + of "Norbega" or "Norway;" and that certain stone walls and dams + at and near Watertown are vestiges of an ancient "city of + Norumbega," which was founded and peopled by Northmen and + carried on a more or less extensive trade with Europe for more + than three centuries. + + With regard to the first of these conclusions, it is perhaps as + likely that Leif's booths were within the present limits of + Cambridge as in any of the numerous places which different + writers have confidently assigned for them, all the way from + Point Judith to Cape Breton. A judicious scholar will object + not so much to the conclusion as to the character of the + arguments by which it is reached. Too much weight is attached + to hypothetical etymologies. + + With regard to the Norse colony alleged to have flourished for + three centuries, it is pertinent to ask, what became of its + cattle and horses? Why do we find no vestiges of the + burial-places of these Europeans? or of iron tools and weapons + of mediaeval workmanship? Why is there no documentary mention, + in Scandinavia or elsewhere in Europe, of this transatlantic + trade? etc., etc. Until such points as these are disposed of, + any further consideration of the hypothesis may properly be + postponed.] + +[Illustration: Ruins of the church at Kakortok.] + +[Sidenote: Further fortunes of the Greenland colony.] + +[Sidenote: Bishop Eric's voyage in search of Vinland, 1121.] + +[Sidenote: The ship from Markland, 1347.] + +As for the colony in Greenland, while its population seems never to have +exceeded 5,000 or 6,000 souls, it maintained its existence and its +intercourse with Europe uninterruptedly from its settlement in 986, by +Eric the Red, for more than four hundred years. Early in the fourteenth +century the West Bygd, or western settlement, near Godthaab, seems to +have contained ninety farmsteads and four churches; while the East Bygd, +or eastern settlement, near Julianeshaab, contained one hundred and +ninety farmsteads, with one cathedral and eleven smaller churches, two +villages, and three or four monasteries.[268] Between Tunnudliorbik and +Igaliko fiords, and about thirty miles from the ruined stone houses of +Brattahlid, there now stands, imposing in its decay, the simple but +massive structure of Kakortok church, once the "cathedral" church of the +Gardar bishopric, where the Credo was intoned and censers swung, while +not less than ten generations lived and died. About the beginning of the +twelfth century there was a movement at Rome for establishing new +dioceses in "the islands of the ocean;" in 1106 a bishop's see was +erected in the north of Iceland, and one at about the same time in the +Faeroes. In 1112, Eric Gnupsson,[269] having been appointed by Pope +Paschal II. "bishop of Greenland and Vinland _in partibus infidelium_," +went from Iceland to organize his new diocese in Greenland. It is +mentioned in at least six different vellums that in 1121 Bishop Eric +"went in search of Vinland."[270] It is nowhere mentioned that he found +it, and Dr. Storm thinks it probable that he perished in the enterprise, +for, within the next year or next but one, the Greenlanders asked for a +new bishop, and Eric's successor, Bishop Arnold, was consecrated in +1124.[271] After Eric there was a regular succession of bishops +appointed by the papal court, down at least to 1409, and seventeen of +these bishops are mentioned by name. We do not learn that any of them +ever repeated Eric's experiment of searching for Vinland. So far as +existing Icelandic vellums know, there was no voyage to Vinland after +1121. Very likely, however, there may have been occasional voyages for +timber from Greenland to the coast of the American continent, which did +not attract attention or call for comment in Iceland. This is rendered +somewhat probable from an entry in the "Elder Skalholt Annals," a vellum +written about 1362. This informs us that in 1347 "there came a ship from +Greenland, less in size than small Icelandic trading-vessels. It was +without an anchor. There were seventeen men on board, and they had +sailed to Markland, but had afterwards been driven hither by storms at +sea."[272] This is the latest mention of any voyage to or from the +countries beyond Greenland. + + [Footnote 268: Laing, _Heimskringla_, i. 141. A description of + the ruins may be found in two papers in _Meddelelser om + Gronland_, Copenhagen, 1883 and 1889.] + + [Footnote 269: Sometimes called Eric Uppsi; he is mentioned in + the Landnama-bok as a native of Iceland.] + + [Footnote 270: Storm, _Islandske Annaler_, Christiania, 1888; + Reeves, _The Finding of Wineland the Good_, London, 1890, pp. + 79-81.] + + [Footnote 271: Storm, in _Aarboger for Nordisk Oldkyndighed_, + 1887, p. 319.] + + [Footnote 272: Reeves, _op. cit._ p. 83. In another vellum it + is mentioned that in 1347 "a ship came from Greenland, which + had sailed to Markland, and there were eighteen men on board." + As Mr. Reeves well observes: "The nature of the information + indicates that the knowledge of the discovery had not + altogether faded from the memories of the Icelanders settled in + Greenland. It seems further to lend a measure of plausibility + to a theory that people from the Greenland colony may from time + to time have visited the coast to the southwest of their home + for supplies of wood, or for some kindred purpose. The visitors + in this case had evidently intended to return directly from + Markland to Greenland, and had they not been driven out of + their course to Iceland, the probability is that this voyage + would never have found mention in Icelandic chronicles, and all + knowledge of it must have vanished as completely as did the + colony to which the Markland visitors belonged."] + +[Sidenote: The Greenland colony attacked by Eskimos.] + +If the reader is inclined to wonder why a colony could be maintained in +southern Greenland more easily than on the coasts of Nova Scotia or +Massachusetts, or even why the Northmen did not at once abandon their +fiords at Brattahlid and come in a flock to these pleasanter places, he +must call to mind two important circumstances. First, the settlers in +southern Greenland did not meet with barbarous natives, but only with +vestiges of their former presence. It was not until the twelfth century +that, in roaming the icy deserts of the far north in quest of seals and +bearskins, the Norse hunters encountered tribes of Eskimo using stone +knives and whalebone arrow-heads;[273] and it was not until the +fourteenth century that we hear of their getting into a war with these +people. In 1349 the West Bygd was attacked and destroyed by Eskimos; in +1379 they invaded the East Bygd and wrought sad havoc; and it is +generally believed that some time after 1409 they completed the +destruction of the colony. + + [Footnote 273: Storm, _Monumenta historica Norvegiae_, p. 77.] + +[Sidenote: Queen Margaret's monopoly, and its baneful effects.] + +Secondly, the relative proximity of Greenland to the mother country, +Iceland, made it much easier to sustain a colony there than in the more +distant Vinland. In colonizing, as in campaigning, distance from one's +base is sometimes the supreme circumstance. This is illustrated by the +fact that the very existence of the Greenland colony itself depended +upon perpetual and untrammelled exchange of commodities with Iceland; +and when once the source of supply was cut off, the colony soon +languished. In 1380 and 1387 the crowns of Norway and Denmark descended +upon Queen Margaret, and soon she made her precious contribution to the +innumerable swarm of instances that show with how little wisdom the +world is ruled. She made the trade to Greenland, Iceland, and the Faeroe +isles "a royal monopoly which could only be carried on in ships +belonging to, or licensed by, the sovereign.... Under the monopoly of +trade the Icelanders could have no vessels, and no object for sailing to +Greenland; and the vessels fitted out by government, or its lessees, +would only be ready to leave Denmark or Bergen for Iceland at the season +they ought to have been ready to leave Iceland to go to Greenland. The +colony gradually fell into oblivion."[274] When this prohibitory +management was abandoned after 1534 by Christian III., it was altogether +too late. Starved by the miserable policy of governmental interference +with freedom of trade, the little Greenland colony soon became too weak +to sustain itself against the natives whose hostility had, for half a +century, been growing more and more dangerous. Precisely when or how it +perished we do not know. The latest notice we have of the colony is of a +marriage ceremony performed (probably in the Kakortok church), in 1409, +by Endrede Andreasson, the last bishop.[275] When, after three +centuries, the great missionary, Hans Egede, visited Greenland, in 1721, +he found the ruins of farmsteads and villages, the population of which +had vanished. + + [Footnote 274: Laing, _Heimskringla_, i. 147. It has been + supposed that the Black Death, by which all Europe was ravaged + in the middle part of the fourteenth century, may have crossed + to Greenland, and fatally weakened the colony there; but + Vigfusson says that the Black Death never touched Iceland + (_Sturlunga Saga_, vol. i. p. cxxix.), so that it is not so + likely to have reached Greenland.] + + [Footnote 275: Laing, _op. cit._ i. 142.] + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: The story of the Venetian brothers.] + +Our account of pre-Columbian voyages to America would be very incomplete +without some mention of the latest voyage said to have been made by +European vessels to the ancient settlement of the East Bygd. I refer to +the famous narrative of the Zeno brothers, which has furnished so many +subjects of contention for geographers that a hundred years ago John +Pinkerton called it "one of the most puzzling in the whole circle of +literature."[276] Nevertheless a great deal has been done, chiefly +through the acute researches of Mr. Richard Henry Major and Baron +Nordenskjoeld, toward clearing up this mystery, so that certain points in +the Zeno narrative may now be regarded as established;[277] and from +these essential points we may form an opinion as to the character of +sundry questionable details. + + [Footnote 276: Yet this learned historian was quite correct in + his own interpretation of Zeno's story, for in the same place + he says, "If real, his Frisland is the Ferro islands, and his + Zichmni is Sinclair." Pinkerton's _History of Scotland_, + London, 1797, vol. i. p. 261.] + + [Footnote 277: Major, _The Voyages of the Venetian Brothers, + Nicolo and Antonio Zeno, to the Northern Seas in the XIVth + Century_, London, 1873 (Hakluyt Society); cf. Nordenskjoeld, _Om + broederna Zenos resor och de aeldsta kartor oefner Norden_, + Stockholm, 1883.] + +[Sidenote: The Zeno family.] + +[Sidenote: Nicolo Zeno wrecked upon one of the Faeroe islands, 1390.] + +[Sidenote: Nicolo's voyage to Greenland, cir. 1394.] + +[Sidenote: Voyage of Earl Sinclair and Antonio Zeno.] + +The Zeno family was one of the oldest and most distinguished in Venice. +Among its members in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries we find a +doge, several senators and members of the Council of Ten, and military +commanders of high repute. Of these, Pietro Dracone Zeno, about 1350, +was captain-general of the Christian league for withstanding the Turks; +and his son Carlo achieved such success in the war against Genoa that he +was called the Lion of St. Mark, and his services to Venice were +compared with those of Camillus to Rome. Now this Carlo had two +brothers,--Nicolo, known as "the Chevalier," and Antonio. After the +close of the Genoese war the Chevalier Nicolo was seized with a desire +to see the world,[278] and more particularly England and Flanders. So +about 1390 he fitted up a ship at his own expense, and, passing out from +the strait of Gibraltar, sailed northward upon the Atlantic. After some +days of fair weather, he was caught in a storm and blown along for many +days more, until at length the ship was cast ashore on one of the Faeroe +islands and wrecked, though most of the crew and goods were rescued. +According to the barbarous custom of the Middle Ages, some of the +natives of the island (Scandinavians) came swarming about the +unfortunate strangers to kill and rob them, but a great chieftain, with +a force of knights and men-at-arms, arrived upon the spot in time to +prevent such an outrage. This chief was Henry Sinclair of Roslyn, who in +1379 had been invested by King Hacon VI., of Norway, with the earldom of +the Orkneys and Caithness. On learning Zeno's rank and importance, +Sinclair treated him with much courtesy, and presently a friendship +sprang up between the two. Sinclair was then engaged with a fleet of +thirteen vessels in conquering and annexing to his earldom the Faeroe +islands, and on several occasions profited by the military and nautical +skill of the Venetian captain. Nicolo seems to have enjoyed this +stirring life, for he presently sent to his brother Antonio in Venice an +account of it, which induced the latter to come and join him in the +Faeroe islands. Antonio arrived in the course of 1391, and remained in +the service of Sinclair fourteen years, returning to Venice in time to +die there in 1406. After Antonio's arrival, his brother Nicolo was +appointed to the chief command of Sinclair's little fleet, and assisted +him in taking possession of the Shetland islands, which were properly +comprised within his earldom. In the course of these adventures, Nicolo +seems to have had his interest aroused in reports about Greenland. It +was not more than four or five years since Queen Margaret had undertaken +to make a royal monopoly of the Greenland trade in furs and whale oil, +and this would be a natural topic of conversation in the Faeroes. In +July, 1393, or 1394, Nicolo Zeno sailed to Greenland with three ships, +and visited the East Bygd. After spending some time there, not being +accustomed to such a climate, he caught cold, and died soon after his +return to the Faeroes, probably in 1395. His brother Antonio succeeded to +his office and such emoluments as pertained to it; and after a while, at +Earl Sinclair's instigation, he undertook a voyage of discovery in the +Atlantic ocean, in order to verify some fishermen's reports of the +existence of land a thousand miles or more to the west. One of these +fishermen was to serve as guide to the expedition, but unfortunately he +died three days before the ships were ready to sail. Nevertheless, the +expedition started, with Sinclair himself on board, and encountered +vicissitudes of weather and fortune. In fog and storm they lost all +reckoning of position, and found themselves at length on the western +coast of a country which, in the Italian narrative, is called "Icaria," +but which has been supposed, with some probability, to have been Kerry, +in Ireland. Here, as they went ashore for fresh water, they were +attacked by the natives and several of their number were slain. From +this point they sailed out into the broad Atlantic again, and reached a +place supposed to be Greenland, but which is so vaguely described that +the identification is very difficult.[279] Our narrative here ends +somewhat confusedly. We are told that Sinclair remained in this place, +"and explored the whole of the country with great diligence, as well as +the coasts on both sides of Greenland." Antonio Zeno, on the other hand, +returned with part of the fleet to the Faeroe islands, where he arrived +after sailing eastward for about a month, during five and twenty days of +which he saw no land. After relating these things and paying a word of +affectionate tribute to the virtues of Earl Sinclair, "a prince as +worthy of immortal memory as any that ever lived for his great bravery +and remarkable goodness," Antonio closes his letter abruptly: "But of +this I will say no more in this letter, and hope to be with you very +shortly, and to satisfy your curiosity on other subjects by word of +mouth."[280] + + [Footnote 278: "Or M. Nicolo il Caualiere ... entro in + grandissimo desiderio di ueder il mondo, e peregrinare, e farsi + capace di varij costumi e di lingue de gli huomini, accio che + con le occasioni poi potesse meglio far seruigio alla sua + patria ed a se acquistar fama e onore." The narrative gives + 1380 as the date of the voyage, but Mr. Major has shown that it + must have been a mistake for 1390 (_op. cit._ xlii.-xlviii.).] + + [Footnote 279: It appears on the Zeno map as "Trin + p[-p]montor," about the site of Cape Farewell; but how could + six days' sail W. from Kerry, followed by four days' sail N. + E., reach any such point? and how does this short outward sail + consist with the return voyage, twenty days E. and eight days + S. E., to the Faeroes? The place is also said to have had "a + fertile soil" and "good rivers," a description in nowise + answering to Greenland.] + + [Footnote 280: "Pero non ni diro altro in questa lettera, + sperando tosto di essere con uoi, e di sodisfarui di molte + altre cose con la uiua uoce." Major, p. 34.] + +[Sidenote: Publication of the remains of the documents by the younger +Nicolo Zeno.] + +The person thus addressed by Antonio was his brother, the illustrious +Carlo Zeno. Soon after reaching home, after this long and eventful +absence, Antonio died. Besides his letters he had written a more +detailed account of the affairs in the northern seas. These papers +remained for more than a century in the palace of the family at Venice, +until one of the children, in his mischievous play, got hold of them and +tore them up. This child was Antonio's great-great-great-grandson, +Nicolo, born in 1515. When this young Nicolo had come to middle age, and +was a member of the Council of Ten, he happened to come across some +remnants of these documents, and then all at once he remembered with +grief how he had, in his boyhood, pulled them to pieces.[281] In the +light of the rapid progress in geographical discovery since 1492, this +story of distant voyages had now for Nicolo an interest such as it could +not have had for his immediate ancestors. Searching the palace he found +a few grimy old letters and a map or sailing chart, rotten with age, +which had been made or at any rate brought home by his ancestor Antonio. +Nicolo drew a fresh copy of this map, and pieced together the letters as +best he could, with more or less explanatory text of his own, and the +result was the little book which he published in 1558.[282] + + [Footnote 281: "All these letters were written by Messire + Antonio to Messire Carlo, his brother; and I am grieved that + the book and many other writings on these subjects have, I + don't know how, come sadly to ruin; for, being but a child when + they fell into my hands, I, not knowing what they were, tore + them in pieces, as children will do, and sent them all to ruin: + a circumstance which I cannot now recall without the greatest + sorrow. Nevertheless, in order that such an important memorial + should not be lost, I have put the whole in order, as well as I + could, in the above narrative." Major, p. 35.] + + [Footnote 282: Nicolo Zeno, _Dello scoprimento dell' isole + Frislanda, Eslanda, Engronelanda, Estotilanda, & Icaria, fatto + per due fratelli Zeni, M. Nicolo it Caualiere, & M. Antonio. + Libro Vno, col disegno di dette Isole._ Venice, 1558. Mr. + Major's book contains the entire text, with an English + translation.] + +[Illustration: Zeno Map, cir. 1400--western half.] + +[Illustration: Zeno Map, cir. 1400--eastern half.] + +[Sidenote: Queer transformations of names.] + +[Sidenote: "Frislanda."] + +Unfortunately young Nicolo, with the laudable purpose of making it all +as clear as he could, thought it necessary not simply to reproduce +the old weather-beaten map, but to amend it by putting on here and there +such places and names as his diligent perusal of the manuscript led him +to deem wanting to its completeness.[283] Under the most favourable +circumstances that is a very difficult sort of thing to do, but in this +case the circumstances were far from favourable. Of course Nicolo got +these names and places into absurd positions, thus perplexing the map +and damaging its reputation. With regard to names, there was obscurity +enough, to begin with. In the first place, they were Icelandic names +falling upon the Italian ears of old Nicolo and Antonio, and spelled by +them according to their own notions; in the second place, these +outlandish names, blurred and defaced withal in the weather-stained +manuscript, were a puzzle to the eye of young Nicolo, who could but +decipher them according to _his_ notions. The havoc that can be wrought +upon winged words, subjected to such processes, is sometimes +marvellous.[284] Perhaps the slightest sufferer, in this case, was the +name of the group of islands upon one of which the shipwrecked Nicolo +was rescued by Sinclair. The name _Faeroislander_ sounded to Italian +ears as _Frislanda_, and was uniformly so written.[285] Then the +pronunciation of _Shetland_ was helped by prefixing a vowel sound, as is +common in Italian, and so it came to be _Estland_ and _Esland_. This led +young Nicolo's eye in two or three places to confound it with _Islanda_, +or _Iceland_, and probably in one place with _Irlanda_, or _Ireland_. +Where old Nicolo meant to say that the island upon which he was living +with Earl Sinclair was somewhat larger than Shetland, young Nicolo +understood him as saying that it was somewhat larger than Ireland; and +so upon the amended map "Frislanda" appears as one great island +surrounded by tiny islands.[286] After the publication of this map, in +1558, sundry details were copied from it by the new maps of that day, so +that even far down into the seventeenth century it was common to depict +a big "Frislanda" somewhere in mid-ocean. When at length it was proved +that no such island exists, the reputation of the Zeno narrative was +seriously damaged. The nadir of reaction against it was reached when it +was declared to be a tissue of lies invented by the younger Nicolo,[287] +apparently for the purpose of setting up a Venetian claim to the +discovery of America. + + [Footnote 283: The map is taken from Winsor's _Narr. and Crit. + Hist._, i. 127, where it is reduced from Nordenskjoeld's + _Studien ok Forskningar_. A better because larger copy may be + found in Major's _Voyages of the Venetian Brothers_. The + original map measures 12 x 15-1/2 inches. In the legend at the + top the date is given as M CCC LXXX. but evidently one X has + been omitted, for it should be 1390, and is correctly so given + by Marco Barbaro, in his _Genealogie dei nobili Veneti_; of + Antonio Zeno he says, "Scrisse con il fratello Nicolo Kav. li + viaggi dell' Isole sotto il polo artico, e di quei scoprimente + del 1390, e che per ordine di Zieno, re di Frislanda, si porto + nel continente d'Estotilanda nell' America settentrionale e che + si fermo 14 anni in Frislanda, cioe 4 con suo fratello Nicolo e + 10 solo." (This valuable work has never been published. The + original MS., in Barbaro's own handwriting, is preserved in the + Biblioteca di San Marco at Venice. There is a seventeenth + century copy of it among the Egerton MSS. in the British + Museum.)--Nicolo did not leave Italy until after December 14, + 1388 (Muratori, _Rerum Italicarum Scriptores_, tom. xxii. p. + 779). The map can hardly have been made before Antonio's + voyage, about 1400. The places on the map are wildly out of + position, as was common enough in old maps. Greenland is + attached to Norway according to the general belief in the + Middle Ages. In his confusion between the names "Estland" and + "Islanda," young Nicolo has tried to reproduce the Shetland + group, or something like it, and attach it to Iceland. + "Icaria," probably Kerry, in Ireland, has been made into an + island and carried far out into the Atlantic. The queerest of + young Nicolo's mistakes was in placing the monastery of St. + Olaus ("St. Thomas"). He should have placed it on the southwest + coast of Greenland, near his "Af [-p]montor;" but he has got it + on the extreme northeast, just about where Greenland is joined + to Europe.] + + [Footnote 284: "Combien de coquilles typographiques ou de + lectures defectueuses ont cree de noms boiteux, qu'il est + ensuite bien difficile, quelquefois impossible de redresser! + L'histoire et la geographie en sont pleines." Avezac, _Martin + Waltzemueller_, p. 9. + + It is interesting to see how thoroughly words can be disguised + by an unfamiliar phonetic spelling. I have seen people + hopelessly puzzled by the following bill, supposed to have been + made out by an illiterate stable-keeper somewhere in England:-- + + Osafada 7s 6d + Takinonimome 4d + ------ + 7s 10d + + Some years ago Professor Huxley told me of a letter from France + which came to the London post-office thus addressed:-- + + Sromfredevi, + Pique du lait, + Londres, + Angleterre. + + This letter, after exciting at first helpless bewilderment and + then busy speculation, was at length delivered to the right + person, _Sir Humphry Davy_, in his rooms at the Royal + Institution on Albemarle street, just off from _Piccadilly_!] + + [Footnote 285: Columbus, on his journey to Iceland in 1477, + also heard the name _Faeroislander_ as _Frislanda_, and so wrote + it in the letter preserved for us in his biography by his son + Ferdinand, hereafter to be especially noticed. See Major's + remarks on this, _op. cit._ p. xix.] + + [Footnote 286: Perhaps in the old worn-out map the archipelago + may have been blurred so as to be mistaken for one island. This + would aid in misleading young Nicolo.] + + [Footnote 287: See the elaborate paper by Admiral Zahrtmann, in + _Nordisk Tidsskrift for Oldkyndighed_, Copenhagen, 1834, vol. + i., and the English translation of it in _Journal of Royal + Geographical Society_, London, 1836, vol. v. All that human + ingenuity is ever likely to devise against the honesty of + Zeno's narrative is presented in this erudite essay, which has + been so completely demolished under Mr. Major's heavy strokes + that there is not enough of it left to pick up. As to this part + of the question, we may now safely cry, "finis, laus Deo!"] + +[Sidenote: The narrative nowhere makes a claim to the "discovery of +America."] + +The narrative, however, not only sets up no such claim, but nowhere +betrays a consciousness that its incidents entitle it to make such a +claim. It had evidently not occurred to young Nicolo to institute any +comparison between his ancestors' voyages to Greenland and the voyages +of Columbus to the western hemisphere, of which _we now know_ Greenland +to be a part. The knowledge of the North American coast, and of the +bearing of one fact upon another fact in relation to it, was still, in +1558, in an extremely vague and rudimentary condition. In the mind of +the Zeno brothers, as the map shows, Greenland was a European peninsula; +such was the idea common among mediaeval Northmen, as is nowhere better +illustrated than in this map. Neither in his references to Greenland, +nor to Estotiland and Drogio, presently to be considered, does young +Nicolo appear in the light of a man urging or suggesting a "claim." He +appears simply as a modest and conscientious editor, interested in the +deeds of his ancestors and impressed with the fact that he has got hold +of important documents, but intent only upon giving his material as +correctly as possible, and refraining from all sort of comment except +such as now and then seems needful to explain the text as he himself +understands it. + +[Sidenote: Earl Sinclair.] + +[Sidenote: Bardsen's "Description of Greenland."] + +The identification of "Frislanda" with the Faeroe islands was put beyond +doubt by the discovery that the "Zichmni" of the narrative means Henry +Sinclair; and, in order to make this discovery, it was only necessary to +know something about the history of the Orkneys; hence old Pinkerton, as +above remarked, got it right. The name "Zichmni" is, no doubt, a fearful +and wonderful bejugglement; but Henry Sinclair is a personage well known +to history in that corner of the world, and the deeds of "Zichmni," as +recounted in the narrative, are neither more nor less than the deeds of +Sinclair. Doubtless Antonio spelled the name in some queer way of his +own, and then young Nicolo, unable to read his ancestor's pot-hooks +where--as in the case of proper names--there was no clue to guide him, +contrived to make it still queerer. Here we have strong proof of the +genuineness of the narrative. If Nicolo had been concocting a story in +which Earl Sinclair was made to figure, he would have obtained his +knowledge from literary sources, and thus would have got his names +right; the earl might have appeared as Enrico de Santo Claro, but not as +"Zichmni." It is not at all likely, however, that any literary knowledge +of Sinclair and his doings was obtainable in Italy in the sixteenth +century. The Zeno narrative, moreover, in its references to Greenland in +connection with the Chevalier Nicolo's visit to the East Bygd, shows a +topographical knowledge that was otherwise quite inaccessible to the +younger Nicolo. Late in the fourteenth century Ivar Bardsen, steward to +the Gardar bishopric, wrote a description of Greenland, with sailing +directions for reaching it, which modern research has proved to have +been accurate in every particular. Bardsen's details and those of the +Zeno narrative mutually corroborate each other. But Bardsen's book did +not make its way down into Europe until the very end of the sixteenth +century,[288] and then amid the dense ignorance prevalent concerning +Greenland its details were not understood until actual exploration +within the last seventy years has at length revealed their meaning. The +genuineness of the Zeno narrative is thus conclusively proved by its +knowledge of Arctic geography, such as could have been obtained only by +a visit to the far North at a time before the Greenland colony had +finally lost touch with its mother country. + + [Footnote 288: It was translated into Dutch by the famous + Arctic explorer, William Barentz, whose voyages are so + graphically described in Motley's _United Netherlands_, vol. + iii. pp. 552-576. An English translation was made for Henry + Hudson. A very old Danish version may be found in Rafn's + _Antiquitates Americanae_, pp. 300-318; Danish, Latin, and + English versions in Major's _Voyages of the Venetian Brothers_, + etc., pp. 39-54; and an English version in De Costa's _Sailing + Directions of Henry Hudson_, Albany, 1869, pp. 61-96.] + +[Sidenote: The monastery of St. Olaus and its hot spring.] + +The visit of the Chevalier Nicolo, therefore, about 1394, has a peculiar +interest as the last distinct glimpse afforded us of the colony founded +by Eric the Red before its melancholy disappearance from history. +Already the West Bygd had ceased to exist. Five and forty years before +that time it had been laid waste and its people massacred by Eskimos, +and trusty Ivar Bardsen, tardily sent with a small force to the rescue, +found nothing left alive but a few cattle and sheep running wild.[289] +Nicolo Zeno, arriving in the East Bygd, found there a monastery +dedicated to St. Olaus, a name which in the narrative has become St. +Thomas. To this monastery came friars from Norway and other countries, +but for the most part from Iceland.[290] It stood "hard by a hill which +vomited fire like Vesuvius and Etna." There was also in the +neighbourhood a spring of hot water which the ingenious friars conducted +in pipes into their monastery and church, thereby keeping themselves +comfortable in the coldest weather. This water, as it came into the +kitchen, was hot enough to boil meats and vegetables. The monks even +made use of it in warming covered gardens or hot-beds in which they +raised sundry fruits and herbs that in milder climates grow out of +doors.[291] "Hither in summertime come many vessels from ... the Cape +above Norway, and from Trondheim, and bring the friars all sorts of +comforts, taking in exchange fish ... and skins of different kinds of +animals.... There are continually in the harbour a number of vessels +detained by the sea being frozen, and waiting for the next season to +melt the ice."[292] + + [Footnote 289: So he tells us himself: "Quo cum venissent, + nullum hominem, neque christianum neque paganum, invenerunt, + tantummodo fera pecora et oves deprehenderunt, ex quibus + quantum naves ferre poterant in has deportato domum redierunt." + _Descriptio Groenlandiae_, apud Major, p. 53. The glacial men + had done their work of slaughter and vanished.] + + [Footnote 290: "Ma la maggior parte sono delle Islande." Mr. + Major is clearly wrong in translating it "from the Shetland + Isles." The younger Nicolo was puzzled by the similarity of the + names Islanda and Eslanda, and sometimes confounded Iceland + with the Shetland group. But in this place Iceland is evidently + meant.] + + [Footnote 291: This application of the hot water to purposes of + gardening reminds us of the similar covered gardens or hot-beds + constructed by Albertus Magnus in the Dominican monastery at + Cologne in the thirteenth century. See Humboldt's _Kosmos_, ii. + 130.] + + [Footnote 292: Major, _op. cit._ p. 16. The narrative goes on + to give a description of the skin-boats of the Eskimo + fishermen.] + +[Sidenote: Volcanoes of the north Atlantic ridge.] + +[Sidenote: Fate of Gunnbjoern's Skerries, 1456.] + +[Sidenote: Volcanic phenomena in Greenland.] + +This mention of the volcano and the hot spring is very interesting. In +the Miocene period the Atlantic ridge was one of the principal seats of +volcanic activity upon the globe; the line of volcanoes extended all the +way from Greenland down into central France. But for several hundred +thousand years this activity has been diminishing. In France, in the +western parts of Great Britain and the Hebrides, the craters have long +since become extinct. In the far North, however, volcanic action has +been slower in dying out. Iceland, with no less than twenty active +volcanoes, is still the most considerable centre of such operations in +Europe. The huge volcano on Jan Mayen island, between Greenland and +Spitzbergen, is still in action. Among the submerged peaks in the +northern seas explosions still now and then occur, as in 1783, when a +small island was thrown up near Cape Reykianes, on the southern coast of +Iceland, and sank again after a year.[293] Midway between Iceland and +Greenland there appears to have stood, in the Middle Ages, a small +volcanic island discovered by that Gunnbjoern who first went to +Greenland. It was known as Gunnbjoern's Skerries, and was described by +Ivar Bardsen.[294] This island is no longer above the surface, and its +fate is recorded upon Ruysch's map of the world in the 1508 edition of +Ptolemy: "Insula haec anno Domini 1456 fuit totaliter combusta,"--this +island was entirely burnt (i. e. blown up in an eruption) in 1456; and +in later maps Mr. Major has found the corrupted name "Gombar Scheer" +applied to the dangerous reefs and shoals left behind by this +explosion.[295] Where volcanic action is declining geysers and boiling +springs are apt to abound, as in Iceland; where it has become extinct at +a period geologically recent, as in Auvergne and the Rhine country, its +latest vestiges are left in the hundreds of thermal and mineral springs +whither fashionable invalids congregate to drink or to bathe.[296] Now +in Greenland, at the present day, hot springs are found, of which the +most noted are those on the island of Ounartok, at the entrance to the +fiord of that name. These springs seem to be the same that were +described five hundred years ago by Ivar Bardsen. As to volcanoes, it +has been generally assumed that those of Greenland are all extinct; but +in a country as yet so imperfectly studied this only means that +eruptions have not been recorded.[297] On the whole, it seems to me that +the mention, in our Venetian narrative, of a boiling spring and an +active volcano in Greenland is an instance of the peculiar sort--too +strange to have been invented, but altogether probable in itself--that +adds to the credit of the narrative. + + [Footnote 293: Daubeny, _Description of Active and Extinct + Volcanoes_, London, 1848, pp. 307; cf. Judd, _Volcanoes_, + London, 1881, p. 234.] + + [Footnote 294: "Ab Snefelsneso Islandiae, qua brevissimus in + Gronlandiam trajectus est, duorum dierum et duarum noctium + spatio navigandum est recto cursu versus occidentem; ibique + Gunnbjoernis scopulos invenies, inter Gronlandiam et Islandiam + medio situ interjacentes. Hic cursus antiquitus frequentabatur, + nunc vero glacies ex recessu oceani euroaquilonari delata + scopulos ante memoratos tam prope attigit, ut nemo sine vitae + discrimine antiquum cursum tenere possit, quemadmodum infra + dicetur." _Descriptio Groenlandiae_, apud Major, _op. cit._ p. + 40.] + + [Footnote 295: _Op. cit._ p. lxxvi. See below, vol. ii. p. 115, + note B.] + + [Footnote 296: Judd, _op. cit._ pp. 217-220.] + + [Footnote 297: My friend, Professor Shaler, tells me that "a + volcano during eruption might shed its ice mantle and afterward + don it again in such a manner as to hide its true character + even on a near view;" and, on the other hand, "a voyager not + familiar with volcanoes might easily mistake the cloud-bonnet + of a peak for the smoke of a volcano." This, however, will not + account for Zeno's "hill that vomited fire," for he goes on to + describe the use which the monks made of the pumice and + calcareous tufa for building purposes.] + +Thus far, in dealing with the places actually visited by Nicolo or +Antonio, or by both brothers, we have found the story consistent and +intelligible. But in what relates to countries beyond Greenland, +countries which were not visited by either of the brothers, but about +which Antonio heard reports, it is quite a different thing. We are +introduced to a jumble very unlike the clear, business-like account of +Vinland voyages in the Hauks-bok. Yet in this medley there are some +statements curiously suggestive of things in North America. It will be +remembered that Antonio's voyage with Sinclair (somewhere about 1400) +was undertaken in order to verify certain reports of the existence of +land more than a thousand miles west of the Faeroe islands. + +[Sidenote: Estotiland.] + +About six and twenty years ago, said Antonio in a letter to Carlo, four +small fishing craft, venturing very far out upon the Atlantic, had been +blown upon a strange coast, where their crews were well received by the +people. The land proved to be an island rather smaller than Iceland (or +Shetland?), with a high mountain whence flowed four rivers. The +inhabitants were intelligent people, possessed of all the arts, but did +not understand the language of these Norse fishermen.[298] There +happened, however, to be one European among them, who had himself been +cast ashore in that country and had learned its language; he could speak +Latin, and found some one among the shipwrecked men who could understand +him. There was a populous city with walls, and the king had Latin books +in his library which nobody could read.[299] All kinds of metals +abounded, and especially gold.[300] The woods were of immense extent. +The people traded with Greenland, importing thence pitch(?), brimstone, +and furs. They sowed grain and made "beer." They made small boats, but +were ignorant of the loadstone and the compass. For this reason, they +held the newcomers in high estimation.[301] The name of the country was +Estotiland. + + [Footnote 298: They were, therefore, not Northmen.] + + [Footnote 299: Pruning this sentence of its magniloquence, + might it perhaps mean that there was a large palisaded village, + and that the chief had some books in Roman characters, a relic + of some castaway, which he kept as a fetish?] + + [Footnote 300: With all possible latitude of interpretation, + this could not be made to apply to any part of America north of + Mexico.] + + [Footnote 301: The magnetic needle had been used by the + mariners of western and northern Europe since the end of the + thirteenth century.] + +There is nothing so far in this vague description to show that +Estotiland was an American country, except its western direction and +perhaps its trading with Greenland. The points of unlikeness are at +least as numerous as the points of likeness. But in what follows there +is a much stronger suggestion of North America. + +[Sidenote: Drogio.] + +For some reason not specified an expedition was undertaken by people +from Estotiland to a country to the southward named Drogio, and these +Norse mariners, or some of them, because they understood the compass, +were put in charge of it.[302] But the people of Drogio were cannibals, +and the people from Estotiland on their arrival were taken prisoners and +devoured,--all save the few Northmen, who were saved because of their +marvellous skill in catching fish with nets. The barbarians seemed to +have set much store by these white men, and perhaps to have regarded +them as objects of "medicine." One of the fishermen in particular became +so famous that a neighbouring tribe made war upon the tribe which kept +him, and winning the victory took him over into its own custody. This +sort of thing happened several times. Various tribes fought to secure +the person and services of this Fisherman, so that he was passed about +among more than twenty chiefs, and "wandering up and down the country +without any fixed abode, ... he became acquainted with all those parts." + + [Footnote 302: "Fanno nauigli e nauigano, ma non hanno la + calamita ne intendeno col bossolo la tramontana. Per ilche + questi pescatori furono in gran pregio, si che il re li spedi + con dodici nauigli uerso ostro nel paese che essi chiamano + Drogio." Major, _op. cit._ p. 21.] + +[Sidenote: Inhabitants of Drogio and the countries beyond.] + +And now comes quite an interesting passage. The Fisherman "says that it +is a very great country, and, as it were, a new world; the people are +very rude and uncultivated, for they all go naked, and suffer cruelly +from the cold, nor have they the sense to clothe themselves with the +skins of the animals which they take in hunting [a gross exaggeration]. +They have no kind of metal. They live by hunting, and carry lances of +wood, sharpened at the point. They have bows, the strings of which are +made of beasts' skins. They are very fierce, and have deadly fights +amongst each other, and eat one another's flesh. They have chieftains +and certain laws among themselves, but differing in the different +tribes. The farther you go southwestwards, however, the more refinement +you meet with, because the climate is more temperate, and accordingly +there they have cities and temples dedicated to their idols, in which +they sacrifice men and afterwards eat them. In those parts they have +some knowledge and use of gold and silver. Now this Fisherman, having +dwelt so many years in these parts, made up his mind, if possible, to +return home to his own country; but his companions, despairing of ever +seeing it again, gave him God's speed, and remained themselves where +they were. Accordingly, he bade them farewell, and made his escape +through the woods in the direction of Drogio, where he was welcomed and +very kindly received by the chief of the place, who knew him, and was a +great enemy of the neighbouring chieftain; and so passing from one chief +to another, being the same with whom he had been before, after a long +time and with much toil, he at length reached Drogio, where he spent +three years. Here, by good luck, he heard from the natives that some +boats had arrived off the coast; and full of hope of being able to carry +out his intention, he went down to the seaside, and to his great delight +found that they had come from Estotiland. He forthwith requested that +they would take him with them, which they did very willingly, and as he +knew the language of the country, which none of them could speak, they +employed him as their interpreter."[303] + + [Footnote 303: Major, _op. cit._ pp. 20-22.] + +[Sidenote: The Fisherman's return to "Frislanda."] + +Whither the Fisherman was first carried in these boats or vessels, +Antonio's letter does not inform us. We are only told that he engaged in +some prosperous voyages, and at length returned to the Faeroes after +these six and twenty years of strange adventures. It was apparently the +Fisherman's description of Estotiland as a very rich country (_paese +ricchissimo_) that led Sinclair to fit out an expedition to visit it, +with Antonio as his chief captain. As we have already seen, the +Fisherman died just before the ships were ready to start, and to +whatever land they succeeded in reaching after they sailed without him, +the narrative leaves us with the impression that it was not the +mysterious Estotiland. + +To attempt to identify that country from the description of it, which +reads like a parcel of ill-digested sailors' yarns, would be idle. The +most common conjecture has identified it with Newfoundland, from its +relations to other points mentioned in the Zeno narrative, as indicated, +with fair probability, on the Zeno map. To identify it with Newfoundland +is to brand the description as a "fish story," but from such a +conclusion there seems anyway to be no escape. + +[Sidenote: Was the account of Drogio woven into the narrative by the +younger Nicolo?] + +With Drogio, however, it is otherwise. The description of Drogio and the +vast country stretching beyond it, which was like a "new world," is the +merest sketch, but it seems to contain enough characteristic details to +stamp it as a description of North America, and of no other country +accessible by an Atlantic voyage. It is a sketch which apparently must +have had its ultimate source in somebody's personal experience of +aboriginal North America. Here we are reminded that when the younger +Nicolo published this narrative, in 1558, some dim knowledge of the +North American tribes was beginning to make its way into the minds of +people in Europe. The work of Soto and Cartier, to say nothing of other +explorers, had already been done. May we suppose that Nicolo had thus +obtained some idea of North America, and wove it into his reproduction +of his ancestors' letters, for the sake of completeness and point, in +somewhat the same uncritical mood as that in which the most worthy +ancient historians did not scruple to invent speeches to put into the +mouths of their heroes? It may have been so, and in such case the +description of Drogio loses its point for us as a feature in the +pre-Columbian voyages to America. In such case we may dismiss it at +once, and pretty much all the latter part of the Zeno narrative, +relating to what Antonio heard and did, becomes valueless; though the +earlier part, relating to the elder Nicolo, still remains valid and +trustworthy. + +[Sidenote: Or does it represent actual experiences in North America?] + +But suppose we take the other alternative. As in the earlier part of the +story we feel sure that young Nicolo must have reproduced the ancestral +documents faithfully, because it shows knowledge that he could not have +got in any other way; let us now suppose that in the latter part also he +added nothing of himself, but was simply a faithful editor. It will then +follow that the Fisherman's account of Drogio, reduced to writing by +Antonio Zeno about 1400, must probably represent personal experiences in +North America; for no such happy combination of details characteristic +only of North America is likely at that date to have been invented by +any European. Our simplest course will be to suppose that the Fisherman +really had the experiences which are narrated, that he was bandied about +from tribe to tribe in North America, all the way, perhaps, from Nova +Scotia to Mexico, and yet returned to the Faeroe islands to tell the +tale! Could such a thing be possible? Was anything of the sort ever done +before or since? + +[Sidenote: The case of David Ingram, 1568.] + +Yes: something of the sort appears to have been done about ten years +after the Zeno narrative was published. In October, 1568, that great +sailor, Sir John Hawkins, by reason of scarcity of food, was compelled +to set about a hundred men ashore near the Rio de Minas, on the Mexican +coast, and leave them to their fate. The continent was a network of rude +paths or trails, as it had doubtless been for ages, and as central +Africa is to-day. Most of these Englishmen probably perished in the +wilderness. Some who took southwestern trails found their way to the +city of Mexico, where, as "vile Lutheran dogges," they were treated with +anything but kindness. Others took northeasterly trails, and one of +these men, David Ingram, made his way from Texas to Maine, and beyond to +the St. John's river, where he was picked up by a friendly French ship +and carried to France, and so got home to England. The journey across +North America took him about eleven months, but one of his comrades, Job +Hortop, had no end of adventures, and was more than twenty years in +getting back to England. Ingram told such blessed yarns about houses of +crystal and silver, and other wonderful things, that many disbelieved +his whole story, but he was subjected to a searching examination before +Sir Francis Walsingham, and as to the main fact of his journey through +the wilderness there seems to be no doubt.[304] + + [Footnote 304: Ingram's narrative was first published in + Hakluyt's folio of 1589, pp. 557-562, but in his larger work, + _Principal Navigations_, etc., London, 1600, it is omitted. As + Purchas quaintly says, "As for David Ingram's perambulation to + the north parts, Master Hakluyt in his first edition published + the same; but it seemeth some incredibilities of his reports + caused him to leaue him out in the next impression, the reward + of lying being not to be beleeued in truths." _Purchas his + Pilgrimes_, London, 1625, vol. iv. p. 1179. The examination + before Walsingham had reference to the projected voyage of Sir + Humphrey Gilbert, which was made in 1583. Ingram's relation, + "w^{ch} he reported vnto S^{r} Frauncys Walsingh[~m], Knight, + and diuers others of good judgment and creditt, in August and + Septembar, A^{o} Dni, 1582," is in the British Museum, Sloane + MS. No. 1447, fol. 1-18; it was copied and privately printed in + Plowden Weston's _Documents connected with the History of South + Carolina_, London, 1856. There is a MS. copy in the Sparks + collection in the Harvard University library. See the late Mr. + Charles Deane's note in his edition of Hakluyt's _Discourse + concerning Westerne Planting_, Cambridge, 1877, p. 229 + (_Collections of Maine Hist. Soc._, 2d series, vol. ii.); see, + also, Winsor, _Narr. and Crit. Hist._, iii. 186.] + +[Sidenote: The case of Cabeza de Vaca, 1528-36.] + +Far more important, historically, and in many ways more instructive than +the wanderings of David Ingram, was the journey of Cabeza de Vaca and +his ingenious comrades, in 1528-36, from the Mississippi river to their +friends in Mexico. This remarkable journey will receive further +consideration in another place.[305] In the course of it Cabeza de Vaca +was for eight years held captive by sundry Indian tribes, and at last +his escape involved ten months of arduous travel. On one occasion he and +his friends treated some sick Indians, among other things breathing upon +them and making the sign of the cross. As the Indians happened to get +well, these Spaniards at once became objects of reverence, and different +tribes vied with one another for access to them, in order to benefit by +their supernatural gifts. In those early days, before the red men had +become used to seeing Europeans, a white captive was not so likely to be +put to death as to be cherished as a helper of vast and undetermined +value.[306] The Indians set so much store by Cabeza de Vaca that he +found it hard to tear himself away; but at length he used his influence +over them in such wise as to facilitate his moving in a direction by +which he ultimately succeeded in escaping to his friends. There seems to +be a real analogy between his strange experiences and those of the +Fisherman in Drogio, who became an object of reverence because he could +do things that the natives could not do, yet the value of which they +were able to appreciate. + + [Footnote 305: See below, vol. ii. p. 501.] + + [Footnote 306: In the first reception of the Spaniards in Peru, + we shall see a similar idea at work, vol. ii. pp. 398, 407.] + +Now if the younger Nicolo had been in the mood for adorning his +ancestors' narrative by inserting a few picturesque incidents out of his +own hearsay knowledge of North America, it does not seem likely that he +would have known enough to hit so deftly upon one of the peculiarities +of the barbaric mind. Here, again, we seem to have come upon one of +those incidents, inherently probable, but too strange to have been +invented, that tend to confirm the story. Without hazarding anything +like a positive opinion, it seems to me likely enough that this voyage +of Scandinavian fishermen to the coast of North America in the +fourteenth century may have happened. + +[Sidenote: There may have been unrecorded instances of visits to North +America.] + +It was this and other unrecorded but possible instances that I had in +mind at the beginning of this chapter, in saying that occasional visits +of Europeans to America in pre-Columbian times may have occurred oftener +than we are wont to suppose. Observe that our scanty records--naturally +somewhat perplexed and dim, as treating of remote and unknown +places--refer us to that northern Atlantic region where the ocean is +comparatively narrow, and to that northern people who, from the time of +their first appearance in history, have been as much at home upon sea as +upon land. For a thousand years past these hyperborean waters have been +furrowed in many directions by stout Scandinavian keels, and if, in +aiming at Greenland, the gallant mariners may now and then have hit upon +Labrador or Newfoundland, and have made flying visits to coasts still +farther southward, there is nothing in it all which need surprise +us.[307] + + [Footnote 307: The latest pre-Columbian voyage mentioned as + having occurred in the northern seas was that of the Polish + pilot John Szkolny, who, in the service of King Christian I. of + Denmark, is said to have sailed to Greenland in 1476, and to + have touched upon the coast of Labrador. See Gomara, _Historia + de las Indias_, Saragossa, 1553, cap. xxxvii.; Wytfliet, + _Descriptionis Ptolemaicae Augmentum_, Douay, 1603, p. 102; + Pontanus, _Rerum Danicarum Historia_, Amsterdam, 1631, p. 763. + The wise Humboldt mentions the report without expressing an + opinion, _Examen critique_, tom. ii. p. 153.] + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: The pre-Columbian voyages made no real contributions to +geographical knowledge;] + +[Sidenote: and were in no true sense a Discovery of America.] + +Nothing can be clearer, however, from a survey of the whole subject, +than that these pre-Columbian voyages were quite barren of results of +historic importance. In point of colonization they produced the two +ill-fated settlements on the Greenland coast, and nothing more. +Otherwise they made no real addition to the stock of geographical +knowledge, they wrought no effect whatever upon the European mind +outside of Scandinavia, and even in Iceland itself the mention of +coasts beyond Greenland awakened no definite ideas, and, except for a +brief season, excited no interest. The Zeno narrative indicates that the +Vinland voyages had practically lapsed from memory before the end of the +fourteenth century.[308] Scholars familiar with saga literature of +course knew the story; it was just at this time that Jon Thordharson +wrote out the version of it which is preserved in the Flateyar-bok. But +by the general public it must have been forgotten, or else the +Fisherman's tale of Estotiland and Drogio would surely have awakened +reminiscences of Markland and Vinland, and some traces of this would +have appeared in Antonio's narrative or upon his map. The principal +naval officer of the Faeroes, and personal friend of the sovereign, after +dwelling several years among these Northmen, whose intercourse with +their brethren in Iceland was frequent, apparently knew nothing of Leif +or Thorfinn, or the mere names of the coasts which they had visited. +Nothing had been accomplished by those voyages which could properly be +called a contribution to geographical knowledge. To speak of them as +constituting, in any legitimate sense of the phrase, a Discovery of +America is simply absurd. Except for Greenland, which was supposed to be +a part of the European world, America remained as much undiscovered +after the eleventh century as before. In the midsummer of 1492 it +needed to be discovered as much as if Leif Ericsson or the whole race of +Northmen had never existed. + + [Footnote 308: Practically, but not entirely, for we have seen + Markland mentioned in the "Elder Skalholt Annals," about 1362. + See above, p. 223.] + +As these pre-Columbian voyages produced no effect in the eastern +hemisphere, except to leave in Icelandic literature a scanty but +interesting record, so in the western hemisphere they seem to have +produced no effect beyond cutting down a few trees and killing a few +Indians. In the outlying world of Greenland it is not improbable that +the blood of the Eskimos may have received some slight Scandinavian +infusion. But upon the aboriginal world of the red men, from Davis +strait to Cape Horn, it is not likely that any impression of any sort +was ever made. It is in the highest degree probable that Leif Ericsson +and his friends made a few voyages to _what we now know to have been_ +the coast of America; but it is an abuse of language to say that they +"discovered" America. In no sense was any real contact established +between the eastern and the western halves of our planet until the great +voyage of Columbus in 1492. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +EUROPE AND CATHAY. + + +[Sidenote: Why the voyages of the Northmen were not followed up.] + +The question has sometimes been asked, Why did the knowledge of the +voyages to Vinland so long remain confined to the Scandinavian people or +a portion of them, and then lapse into oblivion, insomuch that it did +not become a matter of notoriety in Europe until after the publication +of the celebrated book of Thormodus Torfaeus in 1705? Why did not the +news of the voyages of Leif and Thorfinn spread rapidly over Europe, +like the news of the voyage of Columbus? and why was it not presently +followed, like the latter, by a rush of conquerors and colonizers across +the Atlantic? + +Such questions arise from a failure to see historical events in their +true perspective, and to make the proper allowances for the manifold +differences in knowledge and in social and economic conditions which +characterize different periods of history. In the present case, the +answer is to be found, first, in the geographical ignorance which +prevented the Northmen from realizing in the smallest degree what such +voyages really signified or were going to signify to posterity; and, +secondly, in the political and commercial condition of Europe at the +close of the tenth century. + +[Sidenote: Ignorance of geography.] + +In the first place the route which the Norse voyagers pursued, from +Iceland to Greenland and thence to Vinland, was not such as to give +them, in their ignorance of the shape of the earth, and with their +imperfect knowledge of latitude and longitude, any adequate gauge +wherewith to measure their achievement. The modern reader, who has in +his mind a general picture of the shape of the northern Atlantic ocean +with its coasts, must carefully expel that picture before he can begin +to realize how things must have seemed to the Northmen. None of the +Icelandic references to Markland and Vinland betray a consciousness that +these countries belong to a geographical world outside of Europe. There +was not enough organized geographical knowledge for that. They were +simply conceived as remote places beyond Greenland, inhabited by +inferior but dangerous people. The accidental finding of such places +served neither to solve any great commercial problem nor to gratify and +provoke scientific curiosity. It was, therefore, not at all strange that +it bore no fruit. + +[Sidenote: Lack of instruments for ocean navigation.] + +Secondly, even if it had been realized, and could have been duly +proclaimed throughout Europe, that across the broad Atlantic a new world +lay open for colonization, Europe could not have taken advantage of the +fact. Now and then a ship might make its way, or be blown, across the +waste of waters without compass or astrolabe; but until these +instruments were at hand anything like systematic ocean navigation was +out of the question; and from a colonization which could only begin by +creeping up into the Arctic seas and taking Greenland on the way, not +much was to be expected, after all. + +[Sidenote: Europe in the year 1000.] + +But even if the compass and other facilities for oceanic navigation had +been at hand, the state of Europe in the days of Eric the Red was not +such as to afford surplus energy for distant enterprise of this sort. +Let us for a moment recall what was going on in Europe in the year of +grace 1000, just enough to get a suggestive picture of the time. In +England the Danish invader, fork-bearded Swend, father of the great +Cnut, was wresting the kingship from the feeble grasp of Ethelred the +Redeless. In Gaul the little duchy of France, between the Somme and the +Loire, had lately become the kingdom of France, and its sovereign, Hugh +Capet, had succeeded to feudal rights of lordship over the great dukes +and counts whose territories surrounded him on every side; and now +Hugh's son, Robert the Debonair, better hymn-writer than warrior, was +waging a doubtful struggle with these unruly vassals. It was not yet in +any wise apparent what the kingdoms of England and France were going to +be. In Germany the youthful Otto III., the "wonder of the world," had +just made his weird visit to the tomb of his mighty predecessor at +Aachen, before starting on that last journey to Rome which was so soon +to cost him his life. Otto's teacher, Gerbert, most erudite of +popes,--too learned not to have had dealings with the Devil,--was +beginning to raise the papacy out of the abyss of infamy into which the +preceding age had seen it sink, and so to prepare the way for the +far-reaching reforms of Hildebrand. The boundaries of Christendom were +as yet narrow and insecure. With the overthrow of Olaf Tryggvesson in +this year 1000, and the temporary partition of Norway between Swedes and +Danes, the work of Christianizing the North seemed, for the moment, to +languish. Upon the eastern frontier the wild Hungarians had scarcely +ceased to be a terror to Europe, and in this year Stephen, their first +Christian king, began to reign. At the same time the power of heretical +Bulgaria, which had threatened to overwhelm the Eastern Empire, was +broken down by the sturdy blows of the Macedonian emperor Basil. In this +year the Christians of Spain met woful defeat at the hands of Almansor, +and there seemed no reason why the Mussulman rule over the greater part +of that peninsula should not endure forever. + +Thus, from end to end, Europe was a scene of direst confusion, and +though, as we now look back upon it, the time seems by no means devoid +of promise, there was no such cheering outlook then. Nowhere were the +outlines of kingdoms or the ownership of crowns definitely settled. +Private war was both incessant and universal; the Truce of God had not +yet been proclaimed.[309] As for the common people, their hardships +were well-nigh incredible. Amid all this anarchy and misery, at the +close of the thousandth year from the birth of Christ, the belief was +quite common throughout Europe that the Day of Judgment was at hand for +a world grown old in wickedness and ripe for its doom. + + [Footnote 309: The "Truce of God" (_Treuga Dei_) was introduced + by the clergy in Guienne about 1032; it was adopted in Spain + before 1050, and in England by 1080. See Datt, _De pace imperii + publica_, lib. i. cap. ii. A cessation of all violent quarrels + was enjoined, under ecclesiastical penalties, during church + festivals, and from every Wednesday evening until the following + Monday morning. This left only about eighty days in the year + available for shooting and stabbing one's neighbours. The truce + seems to have accomplished much good, though it was very + imperfectly observed.] + +[Sidenote: The condition of things was not such as to favour colonial +enterprise.] + +It hardly need be argued that a period like this, in which all the vital +energy in Europe was consumed in the adjustment of affairs at home, was +not fitted for colonial enterprises. Before a people can send forth +colonies it must have solved the problem of political life so far as to +ensure stability of trade. It is the mercantile spirit that has +supported modern colonization, aided by the spirit of intellectual +curiosity and the thirst for romantic adventure. In the eleventh century +there was no intellectual curiosity outside the monastery walls, nor had +such a feeling become enlisted in the service of commerce. Of trade +there was indeed, even in western Europe, a considerable amount, but the +commercial marine was in its infancy, and on land the trader suffered +sorely at the hands of the robber baron. In those days the fashionable +method of compounding with your creditors was, not to offer them fifty +cents on the dollar, but to inveigle them into your castle and broil +them over a slow fire. + +[Sidenote: The outlook of Europe was toward Asia.] + +In so far as the attention of people in Europe was called to any +quarter of the globe outside of the seething turbulence in which they +dwelt, it was directed toward Asia. Until after 1492, Europe stood with +her back toward the Atlantic. What there might be out beyond that "Sea +of Darkness" (_Mare Tenebrosum_), as it used commonly to be called, was +a question of little interest and seems to have excited no speculation. +In the view of mediaeval Europe the inhabited world was cut off on the +west by this mysterious ocean, and on the south by the burning sands of +Sahara; but eastward it stretched out no one knew how far, and in that +direction dwelt tribes and nations which Europe, from time immemorial, +had reason to fear. As early as the time of Herodotus, the secular +antagonism between Europe and Asia had become a topic of reflection +among the Greeks, and was wrought with dramatic effect by that great +writer into the structure of his history, culminating in the grand and +stirring scenes of the Persian war. A century and a half later the +conquests of Alexander the Great added a still more impressive climax to +the story. The struggle was afterward long maintained between Roman and +Parthian, but from the fifth century after Christ onward through the +Middle Ages, it seemed as if the Oriental world would never rest until +it had inflicted the extremities of retaliation upon Europe. Whether it +was the heathen of the steppes who were in question, from Attila in the +fifth century to Batu Khan in the thirteenth, or the followers of the +Prophet, who tore away from Christendom the southern shores of the +Mediterranean, and held Spain in their iron grasp, while from age to age +they exhausted their strength in vain against the Eastern Empire, the +threatening danger was always coming with the morning sun; whatever +might be the shock that took the attention of Europe away from herself, +it directed it upon Asia. This is a fact of cardinal importance for us, +inasmuch as it was directly through the interest, more and more +absorbing, which Europe felt in Asia that the discovery of the western +hemisphere was at last effected. + +[Sidenote: Routes of trade between Europe and Asia.] + +[Sidenote: Claudius Ptolemy.] + +[Sidenote: Early mention of China.] + +It was not only in war, but in commerce, that the fortunes of Europe +were dependent upon her relations with Asia. Since prehistoric times +there has always been some commercial intercourse between the eastern +shores of the Mediterranean and the peninsula of Hindustan. Tyre and +Sidon carried on such trade by way of the Red Sea.[310] After Alexander +had led his army to Samarcand and to the river Hyphasis, the +acquaintance of the Greeks with Asia was very considerably increased, +and important routes of trade were established. One was practically the +old Phoenician route, with its western terminus moved from Tyre to +Alexandria. Another was by way of the Caspian sea, up the river Oxus, +and thence with camels to the banks of the Indus.[311] An intermediate +route was through Syria and by way of the Euphrates and the Persian +gulf; the route which at one time made the greatness of Palmyra. After +the extension of Roman sway to the Nile, the Euphrates, and the Euxine, +these same routes continued to be used. The European commodities carried +to India were light woollen cloths, linens, coral, black lead, various +kinds of glass vessels, and wine. In exchange for these the traders +brought back to Europe divers aromatic spices, black pepper, ivory, +cotton fabrics, diamonds, sapphires, and pearls, silk thread and silk +stuffs.[312] Detailed accounts of these commercial transactions, and of +the wealth of personal experiences that must have been connected with +them, are excessively scant. Of the Europeans who, during all the +centuries between Alexander and Justinian, made their way to Hindustan +or beyond, we know very few by name. The amount of geographical +information that was gathered during the first half of this period is +shown in the map representing Claudius Ptolemy's knowledge of the earth, +about the middle of the second century after Christ. Except for the +Scandinavian world, and some very important additions made to the +knowledge of Asia by Marco Polo, this map fairly represents the maximum +of acquaintance with the earth's surface possessed by Europeans previous +to the great voyages of the fifteenth century. It shows a dim knowledge +of the mouths of the Ganges, of the island of Ceylon, and of what we +sometimes call Farther India. A very dim knowledge, indeed; for the huge +peninsula of Hindustan is shrunk into insignificance, while Taprobane, +or Ceylon, unduly magnified, usurps the place belonging to the Deccan. +At the same time we see that some hearsay knowledge of China had made +its way into the Roman world before the days of Ptolemy. The two names +by which China was first known to Europeans were "Seres" or "Serica," +and "Sinae" or "Thin." These two differing names are the records of two +different methods of approach to different parts of a vast country, very +much as the Northmen called their part of eastern North America +"Vinland," while the Spaniards called their part "Florida." The name +"Seres" was given to northwestern China by traders who approached it +through the highlands of central Asia from Samarcand, while "Sinae" was +the name given to southeastern China by traders who approached it by way +of the Indian ocean, and heard of it in India, but never reached it. +Apparently no European ships ever reached China before the Portuguese, +in 1517.[313] The name "Sinae" or "Thin" seems to mean the country of the +"Tchin" dynasty, which ruled over the whole of China in the second +century before Christ, and over a portion of it for a much longer time. +The name "Seres," on the other hand, was always associated with the +trade in silks, and was known to the Romans in the time of the Emperor +Claudius,[314] and somewhat earlier. The Romans in Virgil's time set a +high value upon silk, and every scrap of it they had came from China. +They knew nothing about the silk-worm, and supposed that the fibres or +threads of this beautiful stuff grew upon trees. Of actual intercourse +between the Roman and Chinese empires there was no more than is implied +in this current of trade, passing through many hands. But that each +knew, in a vague way, of the existence of the other, there is no +doubt.[315] + + [Footnote 310: Diodorus Siculus, i. 70.] + + [Footnote 311: Strabo, xi. 7, Sec. 3.] + + [Footnote 312: Robertson, _Historical Disquisition concerning + the Knowledge which the Ancients had of India_, Dublin, 1791, + p. 55. I never have occasion to consult Dr. Robertson without + being impressed anew with his scientific habit of thought and + the solidity of his scholarship; and in none of his works are + these qualities better illustrated than in this noble essay.] + + [Footnote 313: The Polos sailed back from China to the Persian + gulf in 1292-94; see below, p. 282.] + + [Footnote 314: The name "Seres" appears on the map of Pomponius + Mela (cir. A. D. 50), while "Sinae" does not. See below, p. 304. + + Jam Tartessiaco quos solverat aequore Titan + In noctem diffusus equos, jungebat Eois + Littoribus, primique novo Phaethonte retecti + Seres lanigeris repetebant vellera lucis. + Silius Italicus, lib. vi. _ad init._] + + [Footnote 315: For this whole subject see Colonel Sir Henry + Yule's _Cathay and the Way Thither_, London, 1866, 2 vols.,--a + work of profound learning and more delightful than a novel.] + +[Sidenote: Cosmas Indicopleustes.] + +[Sidenote: Shape of the earth, according to Cosmas.] + +In the course of the reign of Justinian, we get references at first hand +to India, and coupled withal to a general theory of cosmography. This +curious information we have in the book of the monk Cosmas +Indicopleustes, written somewhere between A. D. 530 and 550. A pleasant +book it is, after its kind. In his younger days Cosmas had been a +merchant, and in divers voyages had become familiar with the coasts of +Ethiopia and the Persian gulf, and had visited India and Ceylon. After +becoming a monk at Alexandria, Cosmas wrote his book of Christian +geography,[316] maintaining, in opposition to Ptolemy, that the earth +is not a sphere, but a rectangular plane forming the floor of the +universe; the heavens rise on all four sides about this rectangle, like +the four walls of a room, and, at an indefinite height above the floor, +these blue walls support a vaulted roof or firmament, in which God +dwells with the angels. In the centre of the floor are the inhabited +lands of the earth, surrounded on all sides by a great ocean, beyond +which, somewhere out in a corner, is the Paradise from which Adam and +Eve were expelled. In its general shape, therefore, the universe +somewhat resembles the Tabernacle in the Wilderness, or a modern +"Saratoga trunk." On the northern part of the floor, under the +firmament, is a lofty conical mountain, around which the sun, moon, and +planets perform their daily revolutions. In the summer the sun takes a +turn around the apex of the cone, and is, therefore, hidden only for a +short night; but in the winter he travels around the base, which takes +longer, and, accordingly, the nights are long. Such is the doctrine +drawn from Holy Scripture, says Cosmas, and as for the vain blasphemers +who pretend that the earth is a round ball, the Lord hath stultified +them for their sins until they impudently prate of Antipodes, where +trees grow downward and rain falls upward. As for such nonsense, the +worthy Cosmas cannot abide it. + + [Footnote 316: Its title is [Greek: Christianon biblos, + hermeneia eis ten Oktateuchon], i. e. against Ptolemy's + Geography in eight books. The name Cosmas Indicopleustes seems + merely to mean "the cosmographer who has sailed to India." He + begins his book in a tone of extreme and somewhat unsavory + humility: [Greek: Anoigo ta mogilala kai bradyglossa cheile ho + hamartolos kai talas ego]--"I, the sinner and wretch, open my + stammering, stuttering lips," etc.--The book has been the + occasion of some injudicious excitement within the last half + century. Cosmas gave a description of some comparatively recent + inscriptions on the peninsula of Sinai, and because he could + not find anybody able to read them, he inferred that they must + be records of the Israelites on their passage through the + desert. (Compare the Dighton rock, above, p. 214.) Whether in + the sixth century of grace or in the nineteenth, your + unregenerate and unchastened antiquary snaps at conclusions as + a drowsy dog does at flies. Some years ago an English + clergyman, Charles Forster, started up the nonsense again, and + argued that these inscriptions might afford a clue to man's + primeval speech! Cf. Bunsen, _Christianity and Mankind_, vol. + iii. p. 231; Mueller and Donaldson, _History of Greek + Literature_, vol. iii. p. 353; Bury, _History of the Later + Roman Empire from Arcadius to Irene_, vol. ii. p. 177.] + +I cite these views of Cosmas because there can be no doubt that they +represent beliefs current among the general public until after the time +of Columbus,[317] in spite of the deference paid to Ptolemy's views by +the learned. Along with these cosmographical speculations, Cosmas shows +a wider geographical knowledge of Asia than any earlier writer. He gives +a good deal of interesting information about India and Ceylon, and has a +fairly correct idea of the position of China, which he calls Tzinista or +Chinistan. This land of silk is the remotest of all the Indies, and +beyond it "there is neither navigation nor inhabited country.... And the +Indian philosophers, called Brachmans, tell you that if you were to +stretch a straight cord from Tzinista through Persia to the Roman +territory, you would just divide the world in halves. And mayhap they +are right."[318] + + [Footnote 317: Such views have their advocates even now. There + still lives, I believe, in England, a certain John Hampden, who + with dauntless breast maintains that the earth is a circular + plane with centre at the north pole and a circumference of + nearly 30,000 miles where poor misguided astronomers suppose + the south pole to be. The sun moves across the sky at a + distance of about 800 miles. From the boundless abyss beyond + the southern circumference, with its barrier of icy mountains, + came the waters which drowned the antediluvian world; for, as + this author quite reasonably observes, "on a globular earth + such a deluge would have been physically Impossible." Hampden's + title is somewhat like that of Cosmas,--_The New Manual of + Biblical Cosmography_, London, 1877; and he began in 1876 to + publish a periodical called _The Truth-Seeker's Oracle and + Scriptural Science Review_. Similar views have been set forth + by one Samuel Rowbotham, under the pseudonym of "Parallax," + _Zetetic Astronomy. Earth not a Globe. An experimental inquiry + into the true figure of the earth, proving it a plane without + orbital or axial motion_, etc., London, 1873; and by a William + Carpenter, _One Hundred Proofs that the Earth is not a Globe_, + Baltimore, 1885. There is a very considerable quantity of such + literature afloat, the product of a kind of mental aberration + that thrives upon paradox. When I was superintendent of the + catalogue of Harvard University library, I made the class + "Eccentric Literature" under which to group such books,--the + lucubrations of circle-squarers, angle-trisectors, inventors of + perpetual motion, devisers of recipes for living forever + without dying, crazy interpreters of Daniel and the Apocalypse, + upsetters of the undulatory theory of light, the + Bacon-Shakespeare lunatics, etc.; a dismal procession of + long-eared bipeds, with very raucous bray. The late Professor + De Morgan devoted a bulky and instructive volume to an account + of such people and their crotchets. See his _Budget of + Paradoxes_, London, 1872.] + + [Footnote 318: Cosmas, ii. 138. Further mention of China was + made early in the seventh century by Theophylactus Samocatta, + vii. 7. See Yule's _Cathay_, vol. i. pp. xlix., clxviii.] + +[Sidenote: The Nestorians.] + +In the fourth and following centuries, Nestorian missionaries were very +active in Asia, and not only made multitudes of converts and established +metropolitan sees in such places as Kashgar and Herat, but even found +their way into China. Their work forms an interesting though melancholy +chapter in history, but it does not seem to have done much toward making +Asia better known to Europe. As declared heretics, the Nestorians were +themselves almost entirely cut off from intercourse with European +Christians. + +[Sidenote: Effects of the Saracen conquests.] + +[Sidenote: Constantinople in the twelfth century.] + +The immediate effect of the sudden rise of the vast Saracen empire, in +the seventh and eighth centuries, was to interpose a barrier to the +extension of intercourse between Europe and the Far East. Trade between +the eastern and western extremities of Asia went on more briskly than +ever, but it was for a long time exclusively in Mussulman hands. The +mediaeval Arabs were bold sailors, and not only visited Sumatra and Java, +but made their way to Canton. Upon the southern and middle routes the +Arab cities of Cairo and Bagdad became thriving centres of trade; but as +Spain and the whole of northern Africa were now Arab countries, most of +the trade between east and west was conducted within Mussulman +boundaries. Saracen cruisers prowled in the Mediterranean and sorely +harassed the Christian coasts. During the eighth, ninth, and tenth +centuries, Europe was more shut in upon herself than ever before or +since. In many respects these were especially the dark ages of +Europe,--the period of least comfort and least enlightenment since the +days of pre-Roman barbarism. But from this general statement +Constantinople should be in great measure excepted. The current of +mediaeval trade through the noble highway of the Dardanelles and the +Bosphorus was subject to fluctuations, but it was always great. The +city of the Byzantine emperors was before all things a commercial city, +like Venice in later days. Until the time of the Crusades Constantinople +was the centre of the Levant trade. The great northern route from Asia +remained available for commercial intercourse in this direction. Persian +and Armenian merchants sent their goods to Batoum, whence they were +shipped to Constantinople; and silk was brought from northwestern China +by caravan to the Oxus, and forwarded thence by the Caspian sea, the +rivers Cyrus and Phasis, and the Euxine sea.[319] When it was visited by +Benjamin of Tudela in the twelfth century, Constantinople was +undoubtedly the richest and most magnificent city, and the seat of the +highest civilization, to be found anywhere upon the globe. + + [Footnote 319: Robertson, _Historical Disquisition_, p. 93; + Pears, _The Fall of Constantinople_, p. 177,--a book of great + merit.] + +[Sidenote: The Crusades.] + +[Sidenote: Barbarizing character of Turkish conquest.] + +[Sidenote: General effects of the Crusades.] + +In the days of its strength the Eastern Empire was the staunch bulwark +of Christendom against the dangerous assaults of Persian, Saracen, and +Turk; alike in prosperity and in calamity, it proved to be the teacher +and civilizer of the western world. The events which, at the close of +the eleventh century, brought thousands upon thousands of adventurous, +keen-witted people from western Europe into this home of wealth and +refinement, were the occasion of the most remarkable intellectual +awakening that the world had ever witnessed up to that time. The +Crusades, in their beginning, were a symptom of the growing energy of +western Europe under the ecclesiastical reformation effected by the +mighty Hildebrand. They were the military response of Europe to the most +threatening, and, as time has proved, the most deadly of all the blows +that have ever been aimed at her from Asia. Down to this time the +Mahometanism with which Christendom had so long been in conflict was a +Mahometanism of civilized peoples. The Arabs and Moors were industrious +merchants, agriculturists, and craftsmen; in their society one might +meet with learned scholars, refined poets, and profound philosophers. +But at the end of the tenth century, Islam happened to make converts of +the Turks, a nomad race in the upper status of barbarism, with flocks +and herds and patriarchal families. Inspired with the sudden zeal for +conquest which has always characterized new converts to Islam, the Turks +began to pour down from the plains of central Asia like a deluge upon +the Eastern Empire. In 1016 they overwhelmed Armenia, and presently +advanced into Asia Minor. Their mode of conquest was peculiarly baleful, +for at first they deliberately annihilated the works of civilization in +order to prepare the country for their nomadic life; they pulled down +cities to put up tents. Though they long ago ceased to be nomads, they +have to this day never learned to comprehend civilized life, and they +have been simply a blight upon every part of the earth's surface which +they have touched. At the beginning of the eleventh century, Asia Minor +was one of the most prosperous and highly civilized parts of the +world;[320] and the tale of its devastation by the terrible Alp Arslan +and the robber chiefs that came after him is one of the most mournful +chapters in history. At the end of that century, when the Turks were +holding Nicaea and actually had their outposts on the Marmora, it was +high time for Christendom to rise _en masse_ in self-defence. The idea +was worthy of the greatest of popes. Imperfectly and spasmodically as it +was carried out, it undoubtedly did more than anything that had ever +gone before toward strengthening the wholesome sentiment of a common +Christendom among the peoples of western Europe. The Crusades increased +the power of the Church, which was equivalent to putting a curb upon the +propensities of the robber baron and making labour and traffic more +secure. In another way they aided this good work by carrying off the +robber baron in large numbers to Egypt and Syria, and killing him there. +In this way they did much toward ridding European society of its most +turbulent elements; while at the same time they gave fresh development +to the spirit of romantic adventure, and connected it with something +better than vagrant freebooting.[321] By renewing the long-suspended +intercourse between the minds of western Europe and the Greek culture +of Constantinople, they served as a mighty stimulus to intellectual +curiosity, and had a large share in bringing about that great thirteenth +century renaissance which is forever associated with the names of Giotto +and Dante and Roger Bacon. + + [Footnote 320: "It is difficult for the modern traveller who + ventures into the heart of Asia Minor, and finds nothing but + rude Kurds and Turkish peasants living among mountains and wild + pastures, not connected even by ordinary roads, to imagine the + splendour and rich cultivation of this vast country, with its + brilliant cities and its teeming population." Mahaffy, _The + Greek World under Roman Sway_, London, 1890, p. 229.] + + [Footnote 321: The general effects of the Crusades are + discussed, with much learning and sagacity, by + Choiseul-Daillecourt, _De l'Influence des Croisades sur l'etat + des peuples de l'Europe_, Paris, 1809.] + +[Sidenote: The Fourth Crusade.] + +There can be no doubt that in these ways the Crusades were for our +forefathers in Europe the most bracing and stimulating events that +occurred in the whole millennium between the complicated disorders of +the fifth century and the outburst of maritime discovery in the +fifteenth. How far they justified themselves from the military point of +view, it is not so easy to say. On the one hand, they had much to do +with retarding the progress of the enemy for two hundred years; they +overwhelmed the Seljukian Turks so effectually that their successors, +the Ottomans, did not become formidable until about 1300, after the last +crusading wave had spent its force. On the other hand, the Fourth +Crusade, with better opportunities than any of the others for striking a +crushing blow at the Moslem, played false to Christendom, and in 1204 +captured and despoiled Constantinople in order to gratify Venice's +hatred of her commercial rival and superior. It was a sorry piece of +business, and one cannot look with unmixed pleasure at the four superb +horses that now adorn the front of the church of St. Mark as a trophy of +this unhallowed exploit.[322] One cannot help feeling that but for this +colossal treachery, the great city of Constantine, to which our own +civilization owes more than can ever be adequately told, might, perhaps, +have retained enough strength to withstand the barbarian in 1453, and +thus have averted one of the most lamentable catastrophes in the history +of mankind. + + [Footnote 322: They were taken from Chios in the fourth century + by the emperor Theodosius, and placed in the hippodrome at + Constantinople, whence they were taken by the Venetians in + 1204. The opinion that "the results of the Fourth Crusade upon + European civilization were altogether disastrous" is ably set + forth by Mr. Pears, _The Fall of Constantinople_, London, 1885, + and would be difficult to refute. Voltaire might well say in + this case, "Ainsi le seul fruit des chretiens dans leurs + barbares croisades fut d'exterminer d'autres chretiens. Ces + croises, qui ruinaient l'empire auraient pu, bien plus aisement + que tous leurs predecesseurs, chasser les Turcs de l'Asie." + _Essai sur les Moeurs_, tom. ii. p. 158. Voltaire's general + view of the Crusades is, however, very superficial.] + +[Sidenote: Rivalry between Venice and Genoa.] + +The general effect of the Crusades upon Oriental commerce was to +increase the amount of traffic through Egypt and Syria. Of this +lucrative trade Venice got the lion's share, and while she helped +support the short-lived Latin dynasty upon the throne at Constantinople, +she monopolized a great part of the business of the Black Sea also. But +in 1261 Venice's rival, Genoa, allied herself with the Greek emperor, +Michael Palaeologus, at Nicaea, placed him upon the Byzantine throne, and +again cut off Venice from the trade that came through the Bosphorus. +From this time forth the mutual hatred between Venice and Genoa "waxed +fiercer than ever; no merchant fleet of either state could go to sea +without convoy, and wherever their ships met they fought. It was +something like the state of things between Spain and England in the +days of Drake."[323] In the one case as in the other, it was a strife +for the mastery of the sea and its commerce. Genoa obtained full control +of the Euxine, took possession of the Crimea, and thus acquired a +monopoly of the trade from central Asia along the northern route. With +the fall of Acre in 1291, and the consequent expulsion of Christians +from Syria, Venice lost her hold upon the middle route. But with the +pope's leave[324] she succeeded in making a series of advantageous +commercial treaties with the new Mameluke sovereigns of Egypt, and the +dealings between the Red Sea and the Adriatic soon came to be +prodigious. The Venetians gained control of part of the Peloponnesus, +with many islands of the AEgean and eastern Mediterranean. During the +fourteenth and fifteenth centuries their city was the most splendid and +luxurious in all Christendom. + + [Footnote 323: Yule's _Marco Polo_, vol. i. p. lxxi.] + + [Footnote 324: A papal dispensation was necessary before a + commercial treaty could be made with Mahometans. See Leibnitz, + _Codex Jur. Gent. Diplomat._, i. 489.] + +[Sidenote: Centres and routes of mediaeval trade.] + +Such a development of wealth in Venice and Genoa implies a large +producing and consuming area behind them, able to take and pay for the +costly products of India and China. Before the end of the thirteenth +century the volume of European trade had swelled to great proportions. +How full of historic and literary interest are the very names of the +centres and leading routes of this trade as it was established in those +days, with its outlook upon the Mediterranean and the distant East! Far +up in the North we see Wisby, on the little isle of Gothland in the +Baltic, giving its name to new rules of international law; and the +merchants of the famous Hansa towns extending their operations as far as +Novgorod in one direction, and in another to the Steelyard in London, +where the pound of these honest "Easterlings" was adopted as the +"sterling" unit of sound money. Fats and tallows, furs and wax from +Russia, iron and copper from Sweden, strong hides and unrivalled wools +from England, salt cod and herring (much needed on meagre church +fast-days) from the North and Baltic seas, appropriately followed by +generous casks of beer from Hamburg, were sent southward in exchange for +fine cloths and tapestries, the products of the loom in Ghent and +Bruges, in Ulm and Augsburg, with delicious vintages of the Rhine, +supple chain armour from Milan, Austrian yew-wood for English long-bows, +ivory and spices, pearls and silks from Italy and the Orient. Along the +routes from Venice and Florence to Antwerp and Rotterdam we see the +progress in wealth and refinement, in artistic and literary +productiveness. We see the early schools of music and painting in Italy +meet with prompt response in Flanders; in the many-gabled streets of +Nuremberg we hear the voice of the Meistersinger, and under the low +oaken roof of a Canterbury inn we listen to joyous if sometimes naughty +tales erst told in pleasant groves outside of fever-stricken Florence. + +[Sidenote: Effects of the Mongol conquests.] + +[Sidenote: Cathay.] + +[Sidenote: Carpini and Rubruquis.] + +[Sidenote: First knowledge of an eastern ocean beyond Cathay.] + +With this increase of wealth and culture in central Europe there came a +considerable extension of knowledge and a powerful stimulus to +curiosity concerning the remote parts of Asia. The conquering career of +Jenghis Khan (1206-1227) had shaken the world to its foundations. In the +middle of that century, to adopt Colonel Yule's lively expression, +"throughout Asia and eastern Europe, scarcely a dog might bark without +Mongol leave, from the borders of Poland and the coast of Cilicia to the +Amur and the Yellow Sea." About these portentous Mongols, who had thus +in a twinkling overwhelmed China and Russia, and destroyed the Caliphate +of Bagdad, there was a refreshing touch of open-minded heathenism. They +were barbarians willing to learn. From end to end of Asia the barriers +were thrown down. It was a time when Alan chiefs from the Volga served +as police in Tunking, and Chinese physicians could be consulted at +Tabriz. For about a hundred years China was more accessible than at any +period before or since,--more even than to-day; and that country now for +the first time became really known to a few Europeans. In the northern +provinces of China, shortly before the Mongol deluge, there had reigned +a dynasty known as the _Khitai_, and hence China was (and still is) +commonly spoken of in central Asia as the country of the Khitai. When +this name reached European ears it became _Cathay_, the name by which +China was best known in Europe during the next four centuries.[325] In +1245, Friar John of Plano Carpini, a friend and disciple of St. Francis, +was sent by Pope Innocent IV. on a missionary errand to the Great Khan, +and visited him in his camp at Karakorum in the very depths of Mongolia. +In 1253 the king of France, St. Louis, sent another Franciscan monk, +Willem de Rubruquis, to Karakorum, on a mission of which the purpose is +now not clearly understood. Both these Franciscans were men of shrewd +and cultivated minds, especially Rubruquis, whose narrative, "in its +rich detail, its vivid pictures, its acuteness of observation and strong +good sense ... has few superiors in the whole library of travel."[326] +Neither Rubruquis nor Friar John visited China, but they fell in with +Chinese folk at Karakorum, and obtained information concerning the +geography of eastern Asia far more definite than had ever before been +possessed by Europeans. They both describe Cathay as bordering upon an +eastern ocean, and this piece of information constituted the first +important leap of geographical knowledge to the eastward since the days +of Ptolemy, who supposed that beyond the "Seres and Sinae" lay an unknown +land of vast extent, "full of reedy and impenetrable swamps."[327] The +information gathered by Rubruquis and Friar John indicated that there +was an end to the continent of Asia; that, not as a matter of vague +speculation, but of positive knowledge, Asia was bounded on the east, +just as Europe was bounded on the west, by an ocean. + + [Footnote 325: Yule's _Cathay_, vol. i. p. cxvi.; _Marco Polo_, + vol. i. p. xlii.] + + [Footnote 326: Yule's _Marco Polo_, vol. i. p. cxxx.; cf. + Humboldt, _Examen critique_, tom. i. p. 71. The complete + original texts of the reports of both monks, with learned + notes, may be found in the _Recueil de Voyages et de Memoires, + publie par la Societe de Geographie_, Paris, 1839, tom. iv., + viz.: _Johannis de Plano Carpini Historia Mongolorum quos nos + Tartaros appellamus_, ed. M. d'Avezac; _Itinerarium Willelmi de + Rubruk_, ed. F. Michel et T. Wright.] + + [Footnote 327: Yule's _Cathay_, vol. i. p. xxxix.; Ptolemy, i. + 17. Cf. Bunbury's _History of Ancient Geography_, London, 1883, + vol. ii. p. 606.] + +[Sidenote: The data were thus prepared for Columbus;] + +[Sidenote: but as yet nobody reasoned from these data to a practical +conclusion.] + +Here we arrive at a notable landmark in the history of the Discovery of +America. Here from the camp of bustling heathen at Karakorum there is +brought to Europe the first announcement of a geographical fact from +which the poetic mind of Christopher Columbus will hereafter reap a +wonderful harvest. This is one among many instances of the way in which, +throughout all departments of human thought and action, the glorious +thirteenth century was beginning to give shape to the problems of which +the happy solution has since made the modern world so different from the +ancient.[328] Since there is an ocean east of Cathay and an ocean west +of Spain, how natural the inference--and albeit quite wrong, how +amazingly fruitful--that these oceans are one and the same, so that by +sailing westward from Spain one might go straight to Cathay! The data +for such an inference were now all at hand, but it does not appear that +any one as yet reasoned from the data to the conclusion, although we +find Roger Bacon, in 1267, citing the opinions of Aristotle and other +ancient writers to the effect that the distance by sea from the western +shores of Spain to the eastern shores of Asia cannot be so very +great.[329] In those days it took a long time for such ideas to get from +the heads of philosophers into the heads of men of action; and in the +thirteenth century, when Cathay was more accessible by land than at any +time before or since, there was no practical necessity felt for a water +route thither. Europe still turned her back upon the Atlantic and gazed +more intently than ever upon Asia. Stronger and more general grew the +interest in Cathay. + + [Footnote 328: See my _Beginnings of New England_, chap. i. How + richly suggestive to an American is the contemporaneity of + Rubruquis and Earl Simon of Leicester!] + + [Footnote 329: Roger Bacon, _Opus Majus_, ed. Jebb, London, + 1733, p. 183.] + +[Sidenote: The Polo brothers.] + +[Sidenote: Kublai Khan's message to the Pope.] + +In the middle of the thirteenth century, some members of the Polo +family, one of the aristocratic families of Venice, had a commercial +house at Constantinople. Thence, in 1260, the brothers Nicolo and Maffeo +Polo started on a trading journey to the Crimea, whence one opportunity +after another for making money and gratifying their curiosity with new +sights led them northward and eastward to the Volga, thence into +Bokhara, and so on until they reached the court of the Great Khan, in +one of the northwestern provinces of Cathay. The reigning sovereign was +the famous Kublai Khan, grandson of the all-conquering Jenghis. Kublai +was an able and benevolent despot, earnest in the wish to improve the +condition of his Mongol kinsmen. He had never before met European +gentlemen, and was charmed with the cultivated and polished Venetians. +He seemed quite ready to enlist the Roman Church in aid of his +civilizing schemes, and entrusted the Polos with a message to the Pope, +asking him for a hundred missionary teachers. The brothers reached +Venice in 1269, and found that Pope Clement IV. was dead and there was +an interregnum. After two years Gregory X. was elected and received the +Khan's message, but could furnish only a couple of Dominican friars, and +these men were seized with the dread not uncommonly felt for +"Tartareans," and at the last moment refused to go. Nicolo and his +brother then set out in the autumn of 1271 to return to China, taking +with them Nicolo's son Marco, a lad of seventeen years. From Acre they +went by way of Bagdad to Hormuz, at the mouth of the Persian gulf, +apparently with the intention of proceeding thence by sea, but for some +reason changed their course, and travelled through Kerman, Khorassan, +and Balkh, to Kashgar, and thence by way of Yarkand and Khotan, and +across the desert of Gobi into northwestern China, where they arrived in +the summer of 1275, and found the Khan at Kaipingfu, not far from the +northern end of the Great Wall. + +[Sidenote: Marco Polo and his travels in Asia.] + +[Sidenote: First recorded voyage of Europeans around the Indo-Chinese +peninsula, 1292-94.] + +[Sidenote: Return of the Polos to Venice.] + +It has been said that the failure of Kublai's mission to the Pope led +him to apply to the Grand Lama, at Thibet, who responded more +efficiently and successfully than Gregory X., so that Buddhism seized +the chance which Catholicism failed to grasp. The Venetians, however, +lost nothing in the good Khan's esteem. Young Marco began to make +himself proficient in speaking and writing several Asiatic languages, +and was presently taken into the Khan's service. His name is mentioned +in the Chinese Annals of 1277 as a newly-appointed commissioner of the +privy council.[330] He remained in Kublai's service until 1292, while +his father and uncle were gathering wealth in various ways. Marco made +many official journeys up and down the Khan's vast dominions, not only +in civilized China, but in regions of the heart of Asia seldom visited +by Europeans to this day,--"a vast ethnological garden," says Colonel +Yule, "of tribes of various race and in every stage of uncivilization." +In 1292 a royal bride for the Khan of Persia was to be sent all the way +from Peking to Tabriz, and as war that year made some parts of the +overland route very unsafe, it was decided to send her by sea. The three +Polos had for some time been looking for an opportunity to return to +Venice, but Kublai was unwilling to have them go. Now, however, as every +Venetian of that day was deemed to be from his very cradle a seasoned +seadog, and as the kindly old Mongol sovereign had an inveterate +land-lubber's misgivings about ocean voyages, he consented to part with +his dear friends, so that he might entrust the precious princess to +their care. They sailed from the port of Zaiton (Chinchow) early in +1292, and after long delays on the coasts of Sumatra and Hindustan, in +order to avoid unfavourable monsoons, they reached the Persian gulf in +1294. They found that the royal bridegroom, somewhat advanced in years, +had died before they started from China; so the young princess became +the bride of his son. After tarrying awhile in Tabriz, the Polos +returned, by way of Trebizond and the Bosphorus, to Venice, arriving in +1295. When they got there, says Ramusio, after their absence of four and +twenty years, "the same fate befel them as befel Ulysses, who, when he +returned to his native Ithaca, was recognized by nobody." Their kinsfolk +had long since given them up for dead; and when the three wayworn +travellers arrived at the door of their own palace, the middle-aged men +now wrinkled graybeards, the stripling now a portly man, all three +attired in rather shabby clothes of Tartar cut, and "with a certain +indescribable smack of the Tartar about them, both in air and accent," +some words of explanation were needed to prove their identity. After a +few days they invited a party of old friends to dinner, and bringing +forth three shabby coats, ripped open the seams and welts, and began +pulling out and tumbling upon the table such treasures of diamonds and +emeralds, rubies and sapphires, as could never have been imagined, +"which had all been stitched up in those dresses in so artful a fashion +that nobody could have suspected the fact." In such wise had they +brought home from Cathay their ample earnings; and when it became known +about Venice that the three long-lost citizens had come back, +"straightway the whole city, gentle and simple, flocked to the house to +embrace them, and to make much of them, with every conceivable +demonstration of affection and respect."[331] + + [Footnote 330: Pauthier's _Marco Polo_, p. 361; Yule's _Marco + Polo_, p. li.] + + [Footnote 331: Ramusio, _apud_ Yule's _Marco Polo_, vol. i. p. + xxxvii.] + +[Sidenote: Marco Polo's book written in prison at Genoa, 1299.] + +Three years afterward, in 1298, Marco commanded a galley in the great +naval battle with the Genoese near Curzola. The Venetians were totally +defeated, and Marco was one of the 7,000 prisoners taken to Genoa, where +he was kept in durance for about a year. One of his companions in +captivity was a certain Rusticiano, of Pisa, who was glad to listen to +his descriptions of Asia, and to act as his amanuensis. French was then, +at the close of the Crusades, a language as generally understood +throughout Europe as later, in the age of Louis XIV.; and Marco's +narrative was duly taken down by the worthy Rusticiano in rather lame +and shaky French. In the summer of 1299 Marco was set free and returned +to Venice, where he seems to have led a quiet life until his death in +1324. + +[Sidenote: Its great contributions to geographical knowledge.] + +"The Book of Ser Marco Polo concerning the Kingdoms and Marvels of the +East" is one of the most famous and important books of the Middle Ages. +It contributed more new facts toward a knowledge of the earth's surface +than any book that had ever been written before. Its author was "the +first traveller to trace a route across the whole longitude of Asia;" +the first to describe China in its vastness, with its immense cities, +its manufactures and wealth, and to tell, whether from personal +experience or direct hearsay, of Thibet and Burmah, of Siam and Cochin +China, of the Indian archipelago, with its islands of spices, of Java +and Sumatra, and of the savages of Andaman. He knew of Japan and the +woful defeat of the Mongols there, when they tried to invade the island +kingdom in 1281. He gave a description of Hindustan far more complete +and characteristic than had ever before been published. From Arab +sailors, accustomed to the Indian ocean, he learned something about +Zanzibar and Madagascar and the semi-Christian kingdom of Abyssinia. To +the northward from Persia he described the country of the Golden Horde, +whose khans were then holding Russia in subjection; and he had gathered +some accurate information concerning Siberia as far as the country of +the Samoyeds, with their dog-sledges and polar bears.[332] + + [Footnote 332: Yule's _Marco Polo_, vol. i. p. cxxxi.] + +[Sidenote: Prester John.] + +[Sidenote: The "Arimaspians."] + +Here was altogether too much geographical knowledge for European +ignorance in those days to digest. While Marco's book attracted much +attention, its influence upon the progress of geography was slighter +than it would have been if addressed to a more enlightened public. Many +of its sober statements of fact were received with incredulity. Many of +the places described were indistinguishable, in European imagination, +from the general multitude of fictitious countries mentioned in +fairy-tales or in romances of chivalry. Perhaps no part of Marco's story +was so likely to interest his readers as his references to Prester John. +In the course of the twelfth century the notion had somehow gained +possession of the European mind that somewhere out in the dim vastness +of the Orient there dwelt a mighty Christian potentate, known as John +the Presbyter or "Prester."[333] At different times he was identified +with various known Asiatic sovereigns. Marco Polo identified him with +one Togrul Wang, who was overcome and slain by the mighty Jenghis; but +he would not stay dead, any more than the grewsome warlock in Russian +nursery lore. The notion of Prester John and his wealthy kingdom could +no more be expelled from the European mind in the fourteenth and +fifteenth centuries than the kindred notion of El Dorado in the +sixteenth. The position of this kingdom was shifted about here and +there, as far as from Chinese Tartary to Abyssinia and back again, but +somewhere or other in people's vague mental picture of the East it was +sure to occur. Other remote regions in Asia were peopled with elves and +griffins and "one-eyed Arimaspians,"[334] and we may be sure that to +Marco's readers these beings were quite as real as the polished +citizens of Cambaluc (Peking) or the cannibals of the Andaman islands. +From such a chaos of ideas sound geographical knowledge must needs be a +slow evolution, and Marco Polo's acquisitions were altogether too far in +advance of his age to be readily assimilated. + + [Footnote 333: + "But for to speake of riches and of stones, + And men and horse, I trow the large wones + Of Prestir John, ne all his tresorie, + Might not unneth have boght the tenth partie." + Chaucer, _The Flower and the Leaf_, 200. + + The fabulous kingdom of Prester John is ably treated in Yule's + _Cathay_, vol. i. pp. 174-182; _Marco Polo_, vol. i. p. + 204-216. Colonel Yule suspects that its prototype may have been + the semi-Christian kingdom of Abyssinia. This is very likely. + As for its range, shifted hither and thither as it was, all the + way from the upper Nile to the Thian-Shan mountains, we can + easily understand this if we remember how an ignorant mind + conceives all points distant from its own position as near to + one another; i. e. if you are about to start from New York for + Arizona, your housemaid will perhaps ask you to deliver a + message to her brother in Manitoba. Nowhere more than in the + history of geography do we need to keep before us, at every + step, the limitations of the untutored mind and its feebleness + in grasping the space-relations of remote regions.] + + [Footnote 334: These Arimaspians afford an interesting example + of the uncritical statements of travellers at an early time, as + well as of their tenacious vitality. The first mention of these + mythical people seems to have been made by Greek travellers in + Scythia as early as the seventh century before Christ; and they + furnished Aristeas of Proconnesus, somewhat later, with the + theme of his poem "Arimaspeia," which has perished, all except + six verses quoted by Longinus. See Mure's _Literature of + Antient Greece_, vol. iv. p. 68. Thence the notion of the + Arimaspians seems to have passed to Herodotus (iii. 116; iv. + 27) and to AEschylus:-- + + [Greek: oxystomous gar Zenos akrageis kynas + grypas phylaxai, ton te mounopa straton + Arimaspon hippobamon', hoi chrysorrhyton + oikousin amphi nama Ploutonos porou; + toutois sy me pelaze.] + _Prometheus_, 802. + + Thence it passed on to Pausanias, i. 24; Pomponius Mela, ii. 1; + Pliny, _Hist. Nat._, vii. 2; Lucan, _Pharsalia_, iii. 280; and + so on to Milton:-- + + "As when a gryphon through the wilderness, + With winged course o'er hill or moory dale, + Pursues the Arimaspian who by stealth + Had from his wakeful custody purloined + The guarded gold." + _Paradise Lost_, ii. 944.] + +[Illustration: Two sheets of the Catalan Map, 1375.] + +[Sidenote: Other visits to China.] + +[Sidenote: Overthrow of the Mongol dynasty, and shutting up of China.] + +Nevertheless, in the Catalan map, made in 1375, and now to be seen in +the National Library at Paris, there is a thorough-going and not +unsuccessful attempt to embody the results of Polo's travels. In the +interval of three quarters of a century since the publication of Marco's +narrative, several adventurous travellers had found their way to Cathay. +There was Friar Odoric, of Pordenone, who, during the years 1316-30 +visited Hindustan, Sumatra, Java, Cochin China, the Chinese Empire, and +Thibet.[335] It was from this worthy monk that the arrant old impostor, +"Sir John Mandeville," stole his descriptions of India and Cathay, +seasoning them with yarns from Pliny and Ktesias, and grotesque conceits +of his own.[336] Several other missionary friars visited China between +1302 and 1330, and about ten years after the latter date the Florentine +merchant, Francesco Pegolotti, wrote a very useful handbook for +commercial travellers on the overland route to that country.[337] +Between 1338 and 1353 Giovanni Marignolli spent some years at Peking, as +papal legate from Benedict XI. to the Great Khan, and also travelled in +Ceylon and Hindustan.[338] That seems to have been the last of these +journeys to the Far East. In 1368, the people of China rose against the +Mongol dynasty and overthrew it. The first emperor of the native Ming +dynasty was placed upon the throne, and the Chinese retorted upon their +late conquerors by overrunning vast Mongolia and making it Chinese +Tartary. The barriers thrown down by the liberal policy of the Mongol +sovereigns were now put up again, and no more foreigners were allowed to +set foot upon the sacred soil of the Flowery Kingdom. + + [Footnote 335: Odoric mentions Juggernaut processions and the + burning of widows; in Sumatra he observed cannibalism and + community of wives; he found the kingdom of Prester John in + Chinese Tartary; "but as regards him," says wise Odoric, "not + one hundredth part is true of what is told of him as if it were + undeniable." Yule's _Cathay_, vol. i. pp. 79, 85, 146.] + + [Footnote 336: Colonel Yule gives a list of fourteen important + passages taken bodily from Odoric by Mandeville. _Op. cit._ i. + 28. It is very doubtful if that famous book, "Sir John + Mandeville's Travels," was written by a Mandeville, or by a + knight, or even by an Englishman. It seems to have been + originally written in French by Jean de Bourgogne, a physician + who lived for some years at Liege, and died there somewhere + about 1370. He may possibly have been an Englishman named John + Burgoyne, who was obliged some years before that date to flee + his country for homicide or for some political offence. He had + travelled as far as Egypt and Palestine, but no farther. His + book is almost entirely cribbed from others, among which may be + mentioned the works of Jacques de Vitry, Plano Carpini, Hayton + the Armenian, Boldensele's Itinerary, Albert of Aix's chronicle + of the first crusade, Brunetto Latini's _Tresor_, Petrus + Comestor's _Historia scholastica_, the _Speculum_ of Vincent de + Beauvais, etc., etc. It is one of the most wholesale and + successful instances of plagiarism and imposture on record. See + _The Buke of John Mandevill, from the unique copy (Egerton MS. + 1982) in the British Museum. Edited by G. F. Warner._ + Westminster, 1889. (Roxburghe Club.)] + + [Footnote 337: One piece of Pegolotti's advice is still useful + for travellers in the nineteenth century who visit benighted + heathen countries afflicted with robber tariffs: "And don't + forget that if you treat the custom-house officers with + respect, and make them something of a present in goods or + money, they will behave with great civility and always be ready + to appraise your wares below their real value." _Op. cit._ ii. + 307.] + + [Footnote 338: The works of all the writers mentioned in this + paragraph, or copious extracts from them, may be found in + Yule's _Cathay_, which comprises also the book of the + celebrated Ibn Batuta, of Tangier, whose travels, between 1325 + and 1355, covered pretty much the whole of Asia except Siberia, + besides a journey across Sahara to the river Niger. His book + does not seem to have attracted attention in Europe until early + in the present century.] + +[Sidenote: First rumours of the Molucca islands and Japan.] + +Thus, for just a century,--from Carpini and Rubruquis to +Marignolli,--while China was open to strangers as never before or since, +a few Europeans had availed themselves of the opportunity in such wise +as to mark the beginning of a new era in the history of geographical +knowledge. Though the discoveries of Marco Polo were as yet but +imperfectly appreciated, one point, and that the most significant of +all, was thoroughly established. It was shown that the continent of Asia +did not extend indefinitely eastward, nor was it bounded and barricaded +on that side, as Ptolemy had imagined, by vast impenetrable swamps. On +the contrary, its eastern shores were perfectly accessible through an +open sea, and half a dozen Europeans in Chinese ships had now actually +made the voyage between the coast of China and the Persian gulf. +Moreover, some hearsay knowledge--enough to provoke curiosity and +greed--had been gained of the existence of numerous islands in that +far-off eastern ocean, rich in the spices which from time immemorial had +formed such an important element in Mediterranean commerce. News, also, +had been brought to Europe of the wonderful island kingdom of Japan +(Cipango or Zipangu) lying out in that ocean some hundreds of miles +beyond the coast of Cathay. These were rich countries, abounding in +objects of lucrative traffic. Under the liberal Mongol rule the Oriental +trade had increased enough for Europe to feel in many ways its +beneficial effects. Now this trade began to be suddenly and severely +checked, and while access to the interior of Asia was cut off, European +merchants might begin to reflect upon the value of what they were +losing, and to consider if there were any feasible method of recovering +it. + +[Sidenote: The accustomed routes of Oriental trade cut off by the +Ottoman Turks.] + +[Sidenote: Necessity for finding an "outside route to the Indies."] + +It was not merely the shutting up of China by the first Ming emperor, +in 1368, that checked the intercourse between Europe and Asia. A still +more baleful obstacle to all such intercourse had lately come upon the +scene. In Asia Minor the beastly Turk, whose career had been for two +centuries arrested by the Crusades, now reared his head again. The +Seljukian had been only scotched, not killed; and now he sprang to life +as the Ottoman, with sharper fangs than before. In 1365 the Turks +established themselves in the Balkan peninsula, with Adrianople as their +capital, and began tightening their coils about the doomed city of +Constantine. Each point that they gained meant the strangling of just so +much Oriental trade; for, as we have seen, the alliance of +Constantinople with Genoa since 1261 had secured to the latter city, and +to western Europe, the advantages of the overland routes from Asia, +whether through the Volga country or across Armenia. When at length, in +1453, the Turks took Constantinople, the splendid commercial career of +Genoa was cut with the shears of Atropos. At the same time, as their +power was rapidly extending over Syria and down toward Egypt, +threatening the overthrow of the liberal Mameluke dynasty there, the +commercial prosperity of Venice also was seriously imperilled. Moreover, +as Turkish corsairs began to swarm in the eastern waters of the +Mediterranean, the voyage became more and more unsafe for Christian +vessels. It was thus, while the volume of trade with Asia was, in the +natural course of things, swelling year by year, that its accustomed +routes were being ruthlessly cut off. It was fast becoming necessary to +consider whether there might not be other practicable routes to "the +Indies" than those which had from time immemorial been followed. Could +there be such a thing as an "outside route" to that land of promise? A +more startling question has seldom been propounded; for it involved a +radical departure from the grooves in which the human mind had been +running ever since the days of Solomon. Two generations of men lived and +died while this question was taking shape, and all that time Cathay and +India and the islands of Spices were objects of increasing desire, +clothed by eager fancy with all manner of charms and riches. The more +effectually the eastern Mediterranean was closed, the stronger grew the +impulse to venture upon unknown paths in order to realize the vague but +glorious hopes that began to cluster about these remote countries. Such +an era of romantic enterprise as was thus ushered in, the world has +never seen before or since. It was equally remarkable as an era of +discipline in scientific thinking. In the maritime ventures of +unparalleled boldness now to be described, the human mind was groping +toward the era of enormous extensions of knowledge in space and time +represented by the names of Newton and Darwin. It was learning the right +way of putting its trust in the Unseen. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE SEARCH FOR THE INDIES. + +_EASTWARD OR PORTUGUESE ROUTE._ + + +[Sidenote: Question as to whether Asia could be reached by sailing +around Africa.] + +As it dawned upon men's minds that to find some oceanic route from +Europe to the remote shores of Asia was eminently desirable, the first +attempt would naturally be to see what could be done by sailing down the +western coast of Africa, and ascertaining whether that continent could +be circumnavigated. It was also quite in the natural order of things +that this first attempt should be made by the Portuguese. + +In the general history of the Middle Ages the Spanish peninsula had been +to some extent cut off from the main currents of thought and feeling +which actuated the rest of Europe. Its people had never joined the other +Christian nations in the Crusades, for the good reason that they always +had quite enough to occupy them in their own domestic struggle with the +Moors. From the throes of this prolonged warfare Portugal emerged +somewhat sooner than the Spanish kingdoms, and thus had somewhat earlier +a surplus of energy released for work of another sort. It was not +strange that the Portuguese should be the first people since the old +Northmen to engage in distant maritime adventure upon a grand scale. +Nor was it strange that Portuguese seamanship should at first have +thriven upon naval warfare with Mussulmans. It was in attempting to +suppress the intolerable nuisance of Moorish piracy that Portuguese +ships became accustomed to sail a little way down the west coast of +Africa; and such voyages, begun for military purposes, were kept up in +the interests of commerce, and presently served as a mighty stimulus to +geographical curiosity. We have now to consider at some length how grave +was the problem that came up for immediate solution. + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: Views of Eratosthenes, B. C. 276-196.] + +[Sidenote: Opposing theory of Ptolemy, cir. A. D. 150.] + +With regard to the circumnavigability of Africa two opposite opinions +were maintained by the ancient Greek and Latin writers whose authority +the men of the Middle Ages were wont to quote as decisive of every vexed +question. The old Homeric notion of an ocean encompassing the +terrestrial world, although mentioned with doubt by Herodotus,[339] +continued to survive after the globular form of the earth had come to be +generally maintained by ancient geographers. The greatest of these +geographers, Eratosthenes, correctly assumed that the Indian ocean was +continuous with the Atlantic,[340] and that Africa could be +circumnavigated, just as he incorrectly assumed that the Caspian sea +was a huge gulf communicating with a northern ocean, by which it would +be possible to sail around the continent of Asia as he imagined it.[341] +A similar opinion as to Africa was held by Posidonius and by +Strabo.[342] It was called in question, however, by Polybius,[343] and +was flatly denied by the great astronomer Hipparchus, who thought that +certain observations on the tides, reported by Seleucus of Babylon, +proved that there could be no connection between the Atlantic and Indian +oceans.[344] Claudius Ptolemy, writing in the second century after +Christ, followed the opinion of Hipparchus, and carried to an extreme +the reaction against Eratosthenes. By Ptolemy's time the Caspian had +been proved to be an inland sea, and it was evident that Asia extended +much farther to the north and east than had once been supposed. This +seems to have discredited in his mind the whole conception of outside +oceans, and he not only gave an indefinite northward and eastward +extension to Asia and an indefinite southern extension to Africa, but +brought these two continents together far to the southeast, thus making +the Indian ocean a land-locked sea.[345] + + [Footnote 339: [Greek: Ton de Okeanon logo men legousi ap' + heliou anatoleon arxamenon gen peri pasan rheein, ergo de ouk + apodeiknysi.] Herodotus, iv. 8.] + + [Footnote 340: [Greek: Kai gar kat' auton Eratosthene ten ektos + thalattan hapasan syrroun einai, hoste kai ten Hesperion kai + ten Erythran thalattan mian einai.] Strabo, i. 3, Sec. 13.] + + [Footnote 341: Bunbury, _History of Ancient Geography_, vol. i. + p. 644.] + + [Footnote 342: Strabo, ii. 3, Sec. 4; xvii. 3, Sec. 1.] + + [Footnote 343: [Greek: Kathaper de kai tes Asias kai tes + Libyes, katho synaptousin allelais peri ten Aithiopian, oudeis + echei legein atrekos heos ton kath' hemas kairon, poteron + epeiros esti kata to syneches ta pros ten mesembrian, e + thalatte periechetai.] Polybius, iii. 38.] + + [Footnote 344: Bunbury, _op. cit._ vol. ii. p. 15.] + + [Footnote 345: See the map of Ptolemy's world, above, p. 264.] + +[Sidenote: Story of the Phoenician voyage, in the time of Necho.] + +These views of Hipparchus and Ptolemy took no heed of the story told to +Herodotus of the circumnavigation of Africa by a Phoenician squadron at +some time during the reign of Necho in Egypt (610-595 B. C.).[346] The +Phoenician ships were said to have sailed from the Red Sea and to have +returned through the Mediterranean in the third year after starting. In +each of the two autumn seasons they stopped and sowed grain and waited +for it to ripen, which in southern Africa would require ten or twelve +weeks.[347] On their return to Egypt they declared ("I for my part do +not believe them," says Herodotus, "but perhaps others may") that in +thus sailing from east to west around Africa they had the sun upon their +right hand. About this alleged voyage there has been a good deal of +controversy.[348] No other expedition in any wise comparable to it for +length and difficulty can be cited from ancient history, and a critical +scholar is inclined to look with suspicion upon all such accounts of +unique and isolated events. As we have not the details of the story, it +is impossible to give it a satisfactory critical examination. The +circumstance most likely to convince us of its truth is precisely that +which dear old Herodotus deemed incredible. The position of the sun, to +the north of the mariners, is something that could hardly have been +imagined by people familiar only with the northern hemisphere. It is +therefore almost certain that Necho's expedition sailed beyond the +equator.[349] But that is as far as inference can properly carry us; for +our experience of the uncritical temper of ancient narrators is enough +to suggest that such an achievement might easily be magnified by rumour +into the story told, more than a century after the event, to Herodotus. +The data are too slight to justify us in any dogmatic opinion. One +thing, however, is clear. Even if the circumnavigation was +effected,--which, on the whole, seems improbable,--it remained quite +barren of results. It produced no abiding impression upon men's +minds[350] and added nothing to geographical knowledge. The veil of +mystery was not lifted from southern Africa. The story was doubted by +Strabo and Posidonius, and passed unheeded, as we have seen, by +Hipparchus and Ptolemy. + + [Footnote 346: Ptolemy expressly declares that the equatorial + regions had never been visited by people from the northern + hemisphere: [Greek: Tines de eisin hai oikeseis ouk an echoimen + pepeismenos eipein. Atriptoi gar eisi mechri tou deuro tois apo + tes kath' hemas oikoumenes, kai eikasian mallon an tis e + historian hegesaito ta legomena peri auton.] _Syntaxis_, ii. + 6.] + + [Footnote 347: Rawlinson's _Herodotus_, vol. iii. p. 29, note + 8.] + + [Footnote 348: The story is discredited by Mannert, _Geographie + der Griechen und Roemer_, bd. i. pp. 19-26; Gossellin, + _Recherches sur la geographie des Anciens_, tom. i. p. 149; + Lewis, _Astronomy of the Ancients_, pp. 508-515; Vincent, + _Commerce and Navigation of the Ancients in the Indian Ocean_, + vol. i. pp. 303-311, vol. ii. pp. 13-15; Leake, _Disputed + Questions of Ancient Geography_, pp. 1-8. It is defended by + Heeren, _Ideen ueber die Politik, den Verkehr_, etc., 3e aufl., + Goettingen, 1815, bd. i. abth. ii. pp. 87-93; Rennell, + _Geography of Herodotus_, pp. 672-714; Grote, _History of + Greece_, vol. iii. pp. 377-385. The case is ably presented in + Bunbury's _History of Ancient Geography_, vol. i. pp. 289-296, + where it is concluded that the story "cannot be disproved or + pronounced to be absolutely impossible; but the difficulties + and improbabilities attending it are so great that they cannot + reasonably be set aside without better evidence than the mere + statement of Herodotus, upon the authority of unknown + informants." Mr. Bunbury (vol. i. p. 317) says that he has + reasons for believing that Mr. Grote afterwards changed his + opinion and came to agree with Sir George Lewis.] + + [Footnote 349: In reading the learned works of Sir George + Cornewall Lewis, one is often reminded of what Sainte-Beuve + somewhere says of the great scholar Letronne, when he had spent + the hour of his lecture in demolishing some pretty or popular + belief: "Il se frotta les mains et s'en alla bien content." + When it came to ancient history, Sir George was undeniably fond + of "the everlasting No." In the present case his skepticism + seems on the whole well-judged, but some of his arguments + savour of undue haste toward a negative conclusion. He thus + strangely forgets that what we call autumn is springtime in the + southern hemisphere (_Astronomy of the Ancients_, p. 511). His + argument that the time alleged was insufficient for the voyage + is fully met by Major Rennell, who has shown that the time was + amply sufficient, and that the direction of winds and ocean + currents would make the voyage around southern Africa from east + to west much easier than from west to east.] + + [Footnote 350: "No trace of it could be found in the + Alexandrian library, either by Eratosthenes in the third, or by + Marinus of Tyre in the second, century before Christ, although + both of them were diligent examiners of ancient records." + Major, _Prince Henry the Navigator_, p. 90.] + +[Sidenote: Voyage of Hanno.] + +Of Phoenician and other voyages along the Atlantic coast of Africa we +have much more detailed and trustworthy information. As early as the +twelfth century before Christ traders from Tyre had founded Cadiz +(Gades),[351] and at a later date the same hardy people seem to have +made the beginnings of Lisbon (Olisipo). From such advanced stations +Tyrian and Carthaginian ships sometimes found their way northward as far +as Cornwall, and in the opposite direction fishing voyages were made +along the African coast. The most remarkable undertaking in this quarter +was the famous voyage of the Carthaginian commander Hanno, whose own +brief but interesting account of it has been preserved.[352] This +expedition consisted of sixty penteconters (fifty-oared ships), and its +chief purpose was colonization. Upon the Mauritanian coast seven small +trading stations were founded, one of which--Kerne, at the mouth of the +Rio d' Ouro[353]--existed for a long time. From this point Hanno made +two voyages of exploration, the second of which carried him as far as +Sierra Leone and the neighbouring Sherboro island, where he found "wild +men and women covered with hair," called by the interpreters +"gorillas."[354] At that point the ships turned back, apparently for +want of provisions. + + [Footnote 351: Rawlinson's _History of Phoenicia_, pp. 105, + 418; Pseudo-Aristotle, _Mirab. Auscult._, 146; Velleius + Paterculus, i. 2, Sec. 6.] + + [Footnote 352: Hanno, _Periplus_, in Mueller, _Geographi Graeci + Minores_, tom. i. pp. 1-14. Of two or three commanders named + Hanno it is uncertain which was the one who led this + expedition, and thus its date has been variously assigned from + 570 to 470 B. C.] + + [Footnote 353: For the determination of these localities see + Bunbury, _op. cit._ vol. i. pp. 318-335. There is an + interesting Spanish description of Hanno's expedition in + Mariana, _Historia de Espana_, Madrid, 1783, tom. i. pp. + 89-93.] + + [Footnote 354: The sailors pursued them, but did not capture + any of the males, who scrambled up the cliffs out of their + reach. They captured three females, who bit and scratched so + fiercely that it was useless to try to take them away. So they + killed them and took their skins home to Carthage. _Periplus_, + xviii. According to Pliny (_Hist. Nat._, vi. 36) these skins + were hung up as a votive offering in the temple of Juno (i. e. + Astarte or Ashtoreth: see Apuleius, _Metamorph._, xi. 257; + Gesenius, _Monumenta Phoenic._, p. 168), where they might have + been seen at any time before the Romans destroyed the city.] + +[Sidenote: Voyages of Sataspes and Eudoxus.] + +No other expedition in ancient times is known to have proceeded so far +south as Sierra Leone. Two other voyages upon this Atlantic coast are +mentioned, but without definite details. The one was that of Sataspes +(about 470 B. C.), narrated by Herodotus, who merely tells us that a +coast was reached where undersized men, clad in palm-leaf garments, fled +to the hills at sight of the strange visitors.[355] The other was that +of Eudoxus (about 85 B. C.), related by Posidonius, the friend and +teacher of Cicero. The story is that this Eudoxus, in a voyage upon the +east coast of Africa, having a philological turn of mind, wrote down the +words of some of the natives whom he met here and there along the shore. +He also picked up a ship's prow in the form of a horse's head, and upon +his return to Alexandria some merchants professed to recognize it as +belonging to a ship of Cadiz. Eudoxus thereupon concluded that Africa +was circumnavigable, and presently sailed through the Mediterranean and +out upon the Atlantic. Somewhere upon the coast of Mauritania he found +natives who used some words of similar sound to those which he had +written down when visiting the eastern coast, whence he concluded that +they were people of the same race. At this point he turned back, and the +sequel of the story was unknown to Posidonius.[356] + + [Footnote 355: Herodotus, iv. 43.] + + [Footnote 356: The story is preserved by Strabo, ii. 3, Sec.Sec. 4, + 5, who rejects it with a vehemence for which no adequate reason + is assigned.] + +[Sidenote: Wild exaggerations.] + +It is worthy of note that both Pliny and Pomponius Mela, quoting +Cornelius Nepos as their authority, speak of Eudoxus as having +circumnavigated Africa from the Red Sea to Cadiz; and Pliny, moreover, +tells us that Hanno sailed around that continent as far as +Arabia,[357]--a statement which is clearly false. These examples show +how stories grow when carelessly and uncritically repeated, and they +strongly tend to confirm the doubt with which one is inclined to regard +the tale of Necho's sailors above mentioned. In truth, the island of +Gorillas, discovered by Hanno, was doubtless the most southerly point on +that coast reached by navigators in ancient times. Of the islands in the +western ocean the Carthaginians certainly knew the Canaries (where they +have left undoubted inscriptions), probably also the Madeiras, and +possibly the Cape Verde group.[358] + + [Footnote 357: Pliny, _Hist. Nat._, ii. 67; Mela, _De Situ + Orbis_, iii. 9.] + + [Footnote 358: After the civil war of Sertorius (B. C. 80-72), + the Romans became acquainted with the Canaries, which, because + of their luxuriant vegetation and soft climate, were identified + with the Elysium described by Homer, and were commonly known as + the Fortunate islands. "Contra Fortunatae Insulae abundant sua + sponte genitis, et subinde aliis super aliis innascentibus + nihil sollicitos alunt, beatius quam aliae urbes excultae." Mela, + iii. 10. + + [Greek: Alla s' es Elysion pedion kai peirata gaies + athanatoi pempsousin, hothi xanthos Rhadamanthys, + teper rheiste biote pelei anthropoisin; + ou niphetos, out' ar cheimon polys oute pot' ombros, + all' aiei Zephyroio ligy pneiontas aetas + Okeanos aniesin anapsychein anthropous.] + _Odyssey_, iv. 563. + + Since Horace's time (_Epod._ vi. 41-66) the Canary islands have + been a favourite theme for poets. It was here that Tasso placed + the loves of Rinaldo and Armida, in the delicious garden where + + Vezzosi augelli infra le verde fronde + Temprano a prova lascivette note. + Mormora l' aura, e fa le foglie e l' onde + Garrir, che variamente ella percote. + _Gerusalemme Liberata_, xvi. 12.] + +[Illustration: Pomponius Mela's World, cir. A. D. 50.] + +[Sidenote: Views of Pomponius Mela, cir. A. D. 50.] + +The extent of the knowledge which the ancients thus had of western +Africa is well illustrated in the map representing the geographical +theories of Pomponius Mela, whose book was written about A. D. 50. Of +the eastern coast and the interior Mela knew less than Ptolemy a +century later, but of the Atlantic coast he knew more than Ptolemy. The +fact that the former geographer was a native of Spain and the latter a +native of Egypt no doubt had something to do with this. Mela had +profited by the Carthaginian discoveries. His general conception of the +earth was substantially that of Eratosthenes. It was what has been +styled the "oceanic" theory, in contrast with the "continental" theory +of Ptolemy. In the unvisited regions on all sides of the known world +Eratosthenes imagined vast oceans, Ptolemy imagined vast deserts or +impenetrable swamps. The former doctrine was of course much more +favourable to maritime enterprise than the latter. The works of Ptolemy +exercised over the mediaeval mind an almost despotic sway, which, in +spite of their many merits, was in some respects a hindrance to +progress; so that, inasmuch as the splendid work of Strabo, the most +eminent follower of Eratosthenes, was unknown to mediaeval Europe until +about 1450, it was fortunate that the Latin treatise of Mela was +generally read and highly esteemed. People in those days were such +uncritical readers that very likely the antagonism between Ptolemy and +Mela may have failed to excite comment,[359] especially in view of the +lack of suitable maps such as emphasize that antagonism to our modern +minds. But in the fifteenth century, when men were getting their first +inklings of critical scholarship, and when the practical question of an +ocean voyage to Asia was pressing for solution, such a point could no +longer fail to attract attention; and it happened fortunately that the +wet theory, no less than the dry theory, had a popular advocate among +those classical authors to whose authority so much deference was paid. + + [Footnote 359: Just as our grandfathers used to read the Bible + without noticing such points as the divergences between the + books of Kings and Chronicles, the contradictions between the + genealogies of Jesus in Matthew and Luke, the radically + different theories of Christ's personality and career in the + Fourth Gospel as compared with the three Synoptics, etc.] + +[Sidenote: Ancient theory of the five zones.] + +[Sidenote: The Inhabited World and the Antipodes.] + +If the Portuguese mariners of the generation before Columbus had +acquiesced in Ptolemy's views as final, they surely would not have +devoted their energies to the task of circumnavigating Africa. But there +were yet other theoretical or fanciful obstacles in the way. When you +look at a modern map of the world, the "five zones" may seem like a mere +graphic device for marking conveniently the relations of different +regions to the solar source of heat; but before the great Portuguese +voyages and the epoch-making third voyage of Vespucius, to be described +hereafter, a discouraging doctrine was entertained with regard to these +zones. Ancient travellers in Scythia and voyagers to "Thule"--which in +Ptolemy's scheme perhaps meant the Shetland isles[360]--had learned +something of Arctic phenomena. The long winter nights,[361] the snow and +ice, and the bitter winds, made a deep impression upon visitors from the +Mediterranean;[362] and when such facts were contrasted with the +scorching blasts that came from Sahara, the resulting theory was +undeniably plausible. In the extreme north the ocean must be frozen and +the country uninhabitable by reason of the cold; contrariwise, in the +far south the ocean must be boiling hot and the country inhabitable only +by gnomes and salamanders. Applying these ideas to the conception of the +earth as a sphere, Pomponius Mela tells us that the surface of the +sphere is divided into five zones, of which only two are fit to support +human life. About each pole stretches a dead and frozen zone; the +southern and northern hemispheres have each a temperate zone, with the +same changes of seasons, but not occurring at the same (but opposite) +times; the north temperate zone is the seat of the Oecumene ([Greek: +oikoumene]), or Inhabited World; the south temperate zone is also +inhabited by the Antichthones or Antipodes, but about these people we +know nothing, because between us and them there intervenes the burning +zone, which it is impossible to cross.[363] + + [Footnote 360: Bunbury, _op. cit._ vol. ii. pp. 492, 527. The + name is used in different geographical senses by various + ancient writers, as is well shown in Lewis's _Astronomy of the + Ancients_, pp. 467-481.] + + [Footnote 361: The Romans, at least by the first century A. D., + knew also of the shortness of northern nights in summer. + + Arma quidem ultra + Littora Invernae promovimus, et modo captas + Orcadas, ac minima contentos nocte Britannos. + Juvenal, ii. 159. + + See also Pliny, _Hist. Nat._, iv. 30; Martianus Capella, vi. + 595; Achilles Tatius, XXXV.] + + [Footnote 362: The reader will remember Virgil's magnificent + description of a Scythian winter (_Georg._, iii. 352):-- + + Illic clausa tenent stabulis armenta; neque ullae + Aut herbae campo apparent, aut arbore frondes: + Sed jacet aggeribus niveis informis, et alto + Terra gelu late, septemque assurgit in ulnas; + Semper hiems, semper spirantes frigora Cauri. + Tum Sol pallentes haud unquam discutit umbras; + Nec cum invectus equis altum petit aethera, nec cum + Praecipitem Oceani rubro lavit aequore currum. + Concrescunt subitae currenti in flumine crustae; + Undaque jam tergo ferratos sustinet orbes, + Puppibus illa prius patulis, nunc hospita plaustris, + AEraque dissiliunt vulgo, vestesque rigescunt + Indutae, caeduntque securibus humida vina + Et totae solidam in glaciem vertere lacunae, + Stiriaque impexis induruit horrida barbis. + Interea toto non secius aere ningit; + Intereunt pecudes; stant circumfusa pruinis + Corpora magna boum; confertoque agmine cervi + Torpent mole nova, et summis vix cornibus exstant. + ................................................. + Ipsi in defossis specubus, secura sub alta + Otia agunt terra, congestaque robora, totasque + Advolvere focis ulmos, ignique dedere. + Hic noctem ludo ducunt, et pocula laeti + Fermento atque acidis imitantur vitea sorbis. + Talis Hyperboreo Septem subjecta trioni + Gens effraena virum Rhipaeo tunditur Euro, + Et pecudum fulvis velantur corpora saetis. + + The Roman conception of the situation of these "Hyperboreans" + and of the Rhipaean mountains may be seen in the map of Mela's + world.] + + [Footnote 363: "Huic medio terra sublimis cingitur undique + mari: eodemque in duo latera, quae hemisphaeria nominantur, ab + oriente divisa ad occasum, zonis quinque distinguitur. Mediam + aestus infestat, frigus ultimas: reliquae habitabiles paria agunt + anni tempora, verum non pariter. Antichthones alteram, nos + alteram incolimus. Illius situ ab ardorem intercedentis plagae + incognito, hujus dicendus est," etc. _De Situ Orbis_, i. 1. A + similar theory is set forth by Ovid (_Metamorph._, i. 45), and + by Virgil (_Georg._, i. 233):-- + + Quinque tenent coelum zonae; quarum una corusco + Semper Sole rubens, et torrida semper ab igni; + Quam circum extremae dextra laevaque trahuntur, + Caerulea glacie concretae atque imbribus atris. + Has inter mediamque, duae mortalibus aegris + Munere concessae Divum; et via secta per ambas, + Obliquus qua se signorum verteret ordo.] + +[Sidenote: Curious notions about Ceylon.] + +This notion of an antipodal world in the southern hemisphere will have +especial interest for us when we come to deal with the voyages of +Vespucius. The idea seems to have originated in a guess of Hipparchus +that Taprobane--the island of Ceylon, about which the most absurd +reports were brought to Europe--might be the beginning of another world. +This is very probable, says Mela, with delightful _naivete_, because +Taprobane is inhabited, and still we do not know of anybody who has ever +made the tour of it.[364] Mela's contemporary, the elder Pliny, +declares that Taprobane "has long been regarded" as part of another +world, the name of which is Antichthon, or Opposite-Earth;[365] at the +same time Pliny vouchsafes three closely-printed pages of information +about this mysterious country. Throughout the Middle Ages the conception +of some sort of an antipodal inhabited world was vaguely entertained by +writers here and there, but many of the clergy condemned it as implying +the existence of people cut off from the knowledge of the gospel and not +included in the plan of salvation. + + [Footnote 364: "Taprobane aut grandis admodum insula aut prima + pars orbis alterius Hipparcho dicitur; sed quia habitata, nec + quisquam circummeasse traditur, prope verum est." _De Situ + Orbis_, iii. 7.] + + [Footnote 365: "Taprobanen alterum orbem terrarum esse, diu + existimatum est, Antichthonum appellatione." _Hist. Nat._, vi. + 24.] + +[Sidenote: The fiery zone.] + +As to the possibility of crossing the torrid zone, opinion was not +unanimous. Greek explorers from Alexandria (cir. B. C. 100) seem to have +gone far up the Nile toward the equator, and the astronomer Geminus +quotes their testimony in proof of his opinion that the torrid zone is +inhabitable.[366] Panaetius, the friend of the younger Scipio Africanus, +had already expressed a similar opinion. But the flaming theory +prevailed. Macrobius, writing about six hundred years later, maintained +that the southernmost limit of the habitable earth was 850 miles south +of Syene, which lies just under the tropic of Cancer.[367] Beyond this +point no man could go without danger from the fiery atmosphere. Beyond +some such latitude on the ocean no ship could venture without risk of +being engulfed in some steaming whirlpool.[368] Such was the common +belief before the great voyages of the Portuguese. + + [Footnote 366: Geminus, _Isagoge_, cap. 13.] + + [Footnote 367: Macrobius, _Somnium Scipionis_, ii. 8. Strabo + (ii. 5, Sec.Sec. 7, 8) sets the southern boundary of the Inhabited + World 800 miles south of Syene, and the northern boundary at + the north of Ireland.] + + [Footnote 368: Another notion, less easily explicable and less + commonly entertained, but interesting for its literary + associations, was the notion of a mountain of loadstone in the + Indian ocean, which prevented access to the torrid zone by + drawing the nails from ships and thus wrecking them. This + imaginary mountain, with some variations in the description, is + made to carry a serious geographical argument by the astrologer + Pietro d' Abano, in his book _Conciliator Differentiarum_, + written about 1312. (See Major, _Prince Henry the Navigator_, + p. 100.) It plays an important part in one of the finest tales + in the _Arabian Nights_,--the story of the "Third Royal + Mendicant."] + +[Sidenote: Going downhill.] + +Besides this dread of the burning zone, another fanciful obstacle beset +the mariner who proposed to undertake a long voyage upon the outer +ocean. It had been observed that a ship which disappears in the offing +seems to be going downhill; and many people feared that if they should +happen thus to descend too far away from the land they could never get +back again. Men accustomed to inland sea travel did not feel this dread +within the regions of which they had experience, but it assailed them +whenever they thought of braving the mighty waters outside.[369] Thus +the master mariner, in the Middle Ages, might contemplate the possible +chance of being drawn by force of gravity into the fiery gulf, should he +rashly approach too near; and in such misgivings he would be confirmed +by Virgil, who was as much read then as he is to-day and esteemed an +authority, withal, on scientific questions; for according to Virgil the +Inhabited World descends toward the equator and has its apex in the +extreme north.[370] + + [Footnote 369: Ferdinand Columbus tells us that this objection + was urged against the Portuguese captains and afterwards + against his father: "E altri di cio quasi cosi disputavano, + come gia i Portoghesi intorno al navigare in Guinea; dicendo + che, se si allargasse alcuno a far cammino diritto al + occidente, come l' Ammiraglio diceva, non potrebbe poi tornare + in Ispagna per la rotondita della sfera; tenendo per + certissime, che qualunque uscisse del emisperio conosciuto da + Tolomeo, anderebbe in giu, e poi gli sarebbe impossibile dar la + volta; e affermando che cio sarebbe quasi uno ascendere all' + insu di un monte. Il che non potrebbono fare i navigli con + grandissimo vento." _Vita deli' Ammiraglio_, Venice, 1571, cap. + xii. The same thing is told, in almost the same words, by Las + Casas, since both writers followed the same original documents: + "Anidian mas, que quien navegase por via derecha la vuelta del + poniente, como el Cristobal Colon proferia, no podria despues + volver, suponiendo que el mundo era redondo y yendo hacia el + occidente iban cuesta abajo, y saliendo del hemisferio que + Ptolomeo escribio, a la vuelta erales necesario subir cuesta + arriba, lo que los navios era imposible hacer." The gentle but + keen sarcasm that follows is very characteristic of Las Casas: + "Esta era gentil y profunda razon, y senal de haber bien el + negocio entendido!" _Historia de las Indias_, tom. i. p. 230.] + + [Footnote 370: + Mundus, ut ad Scythiam Rhipaeasque arduus arces + Consurgit, premitur Libyae devexus in austros. + Hic vertex nobis semper sublimis; at illum + Sub pedibus Styx atra videt Manesque profundi. + _Georg._, i. 240. + + For an account of the deference paid to Virgil in the Middle + Ages, as well as the grotesque fancies about him, see Tunison's + _Master Virgil_, 2d ed., Cincinnati, 1890.] + +[Sidenote: Superstitious fancies.] + +To such notions as these, which were supposed to have some sort of +scientific basis, we must add the wild superstitious fancies that +clustered about all remote and unvisited corners of the world. In maps +made in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, in such places as we +should label "Unexplored Region," there were commonly depicted uncouth +shapes of "Gorgons and Hydras and Chimaeras dire," furnishing eloquent +testimony to the feelings with which the unknown was regarded. The +barren wastes of the Sea of Darkness awakened a shuddering dread like +that with which children shrink from the gloom of a cellar. When we +remember all these things, and consider how the intelligent purpose +which urged the commanders onward was scarcely within the comprehension +of their ignorant and refractory crews, we can begin to form some idea +of the difficulties that confronted the brave mariners who first sought +an ocean route to the far-off shores of Cathay. + +[Sidenote: Clumsiness of the caravels.] + +[Sidenote: Famine and scurvy.] + +Less formidable than these obstacles based on fallacious reasoning or +superstitious whim were those that were furnished by the clumsiness of +the ships and the crudeness of the appliances for navigation. As already +observed, the Spanish and Portuguese caravels of the fifteenth century +were less swift and manageable craft than the Norwegian "dragons" of the +tenth. Mere yachts in size we should call them, but far from yachtlike +in shape or nimbleness. With their length seldom more than thrice their +width of beam, with narrow tower-like poops, with broad-shouldered bows +and bowsprit weighed down with spritsail yards, and with no canvas +higher than a topsail, these clumsy caravels could make but little +progress against head-winds, and the amount of tacking and beating to +and fro was sometimes enough to quadruple the length of the voyage. For +want of metallic sheathing below the waterline the ship was liable to be +sunk by the terrible worm which, in Hakluyt's phrase, "many times +pearceth and eateth through the strongest oake." For want of vegetable +food in the larder, or anything save the driest of bread and beef +stiffened with brine, the sailors were sure to be attacked by scurvy, +and in a very long voyage the crew was deemed fortunate that did not +lose half its number from that foul disease. Often in traversing unknown +seas the sturdy men who survived all other perils were brought face to +face with starvation when they had ventured too far without turning +back.[371] We need not wonder that the first steps in oceanic discovery +were slow and painful. + + [Footnote 371: Or simply because a wrong course happened to be + taken, through ignorance of atmospheric conditions, as in the + second homeward and third outward voyages of Columbus. See + below, pp. 485, 490.] + +[Sidenote: The mariner's compass.] + +First among the instruments without which systematic ocean navigation +would have been impossible, the magnetic compass had been introduced +into southern Europe and was used by Biscayan and Catalan sailors before +the end of the twelfth century.[372] Parties of Crusaders had learned +the virtues of the suspended needle from the Arabs, who are said to have +got their knowledge indirectly from China in the course of their eastern +voyages.[373] It seems to have been at Amalfi that the needle was first +enclosed in a box and connected with a graduated compass-card. +Apparently it had not come into general use in the middle of the +thirteenth century, for in 1258 the famous Brunetto Latini, afterwards +tutor of Dante, made a visit to Roger Bacon, of which he gives a +description in a letter to his friend the poet Guido Cavalcanti: "The +Parliament being summoned to assemble at Oxford, I did not fail to see +Friar Bacon as soon as I arrived, and (among other things) he showed me +a black ugly stone called a magnet, which has the surprising property of +drawing iron to it; and upon which, if a needle be rubbed, and +afterwards fastened to a straw so that it shall swim upon water, the +needle will instantly turn toward the Pole-star: therefore, be the night +ever so dark, so that neither moon nor star be visible, yet shall the +mariner be able, by the help of this needle, to steer his vessel aright. +This discovery, which appears useful in so great a degree to all who +travel by sea, must remain concealed until other times; because no +master mariner dares to use it lest he should fall under the imputation +of being a magician; nor would the sailors venture themselves out to sea +under his command, if he took with him an instrument which carries so +great an appearance of being constructed under the influence of some +infernal spirit.[374] A time may arrive when these prejudices, which +are of such great hindrance to researches into the secrets of nature, +will be overcome; and it will be then that mankind shall reap the +benefit of the labours of such learned men as Friar Bacon, and do +justice to that industry and intelligence for which he and they now meet +with no other return than obloquy and reproach."[375] + + [Footnote 372: Navarrete, _Discurso historico sobre los + progresos del arte de navegar en Espana_, p. 28; see also + Raymond Lully's treatise, _Libro felix, o Maravillas del mundo_ + (A. D. 1286).] + + [Footnote 373: See Humboldt's _Kosmos_, bd. i. p. 294; + Klaproth, _Lettre a M. de Humboldt sur l'invention de la + boussole_, pp. 41, 45, 50, 66, 79, 90. But some of Klaproth's + conclusions have been doubted: "Pour la boussole, rien ne + prouve que les Chinois l'aient employee pour la navigation, + tandis que nous la trouvons des le xi^{e} siecle chez les + Arabes qui s'en servent non seulement dans leurs traversees + maritimes, mais dans les voyages de caravanes au milieu des + deserts," etc. Sedillot, _Histoire des Arabes_, tom. ii. p. + 130.] + + [Footnote 374: Is it not a curious instance of human perversity + that while customary usage from time immemorial has + characterized as "acts of God" such horrible events as famines, + pestilences, and earthquakes, on the other hand when some + purely beneficent invention has appeared, such as the mariner's + compass or the printing press, it has commonly been accredited + to the Devil? The case of Dr. Faustus is the most familiar + example.] + + [Footnote 375: This version is cited from Major's _Prince Henry + the Navigator_, p. 58.] + +[Sidenote: Latitude and longitude.] + +That time was after all not so long in arriving, for by the end of the +thirteenth century the compass had come to be quite generally used,[376] +and the direction of a ship's course could be watched continuously in +foul and fair weather alike. For taking the sun's altitude rude +astrolabes and jack-staffs were in use, very crazy affairs as compared +with the modern quadrant, but sufficiently accurate to enable a +well-trained observer, in calculating his latitude, to get somewhere +within two or three degrees of the truth. In calculating longitude the +error was apt to be much greater, for in the absence of chronometers +there were no accurate means for marking differences in time. It was +necessary to depend upon the dead-reckoning, and the custom was first to +sail due north or south to the parallel of the place of destination and +then to turn at right angles and sail due east or west. Errors of eight +or even ten degrees were not uncommon. Thus at the end of a long outward +voyage the ship might find itself a hundred miles or more to the north +or south, and six or seven hundred miles to the east or west, of the +point at which it had been aimed. Under all these difficulties, the +approximations made to correct sailing by the most skilful mariners were +sometimes wonderful. Doubtless this very poverty of resources served to +sharpen their watchful sagacity.[377] To sail the seas was in those days +a task requiring high mental equipment; it was no work for your +commonplace skipper. Human faculty was taxed to its utmost, and human +courage has never been more grandly displayed than by the glorious +sailors of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. + + [Footnote 376: Huellmann, _Staedtewesen des Mittelalters_, bd. i. + pp. 125-137.] + + [Footnote 377: Compare the remarks of Mr. Clark Russell on the + mariners of the seventeenth century, in his _William Dampier_, + p. 12.] + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: Prince Henry the Navigator, 1394-1463.] + +[Sidenote: His idea of an ocean route to the Indies, and what it might +bring.] + +We are now prepared to appreciate the character of the work that was +done in the course of the first attempts to find an oceanic route from +Europe to Asia. Then, as in other great epochs of history, men of genius +arose to meet the occasion. In 1394 was born Prince Henry of Portugal, +since known as Henry the Navigator.[378] He was fourth son of King John +I., the valiant and prudent king under whom began the golden age of +Portugal, which lasted until the conquest of that country in 1580 by +Philip II. of Spain. Henry's mother was Philippa, daughter of John of +Gaunt. He was therefore cousin to our own Henry V. of England, whom he +quite equalled in genius, while the laurels that he won were more +glorious than those of Agincourt. In 1415, being then in his +twenty-first year, Prince Henry played a distinguished part in the +expedition which captured Ceuta from the Moors. While in Morocco he +gathered such information as he could concerning the interior of the +continent; he learned something about the oases of Sahara, the distant +river Gambia, and the caravan trade between Tunis and Timbuctoo, whereby +gold was carried from the Guinea coast to Mussulman ports on the +Mediterranean. If this coast could be reached by sea, its gold might be +brought to Lisbon as well. To divert such treasure from the infidel and +secure it for a Christian nation was an enterprise fitted to kindle a +prince's enthusiasm. While Henry felt the full force of these +considerations, his thoughts took a wider range. The views of Pomponius +Mela had always been held in high esteem by scholars of the Spanish +peninsula,[379] and down past that Gold Coast Prince Henry saw the +ocean route to the Indies, the road whereby a vast empire might be won +for Portugal and millions of wandering heathen souls might be gathered +into the fold of Christ. To doubt the sincerity of the latter motive, or +to belittle its influence, would be to do injustice to Prince +Henry,--such cynical injustice as our hard-headed age is only too apt to +mete out to that romantic time and the fresh enthusiasm which inspired +its heroic performances. Prince Henry was earnest, conscientious, +large-minded, and in the best sense devout; and there can be no question +that in his mind, as in that of Columbus, and (with somewhat more alloy) +in the minds of Cortes and others, the desire of converting the heathen +and strengthening the Church served as a most powerful incentive to the +actions which in the course of little more than a century quite changed +the face of the world. + + [Footnote 378: My chief authorities for the achievements of + Prince Henry and his successors are the Portuguese historians, + Barros and Azurara. The best edition of the former is a modern + one, Barros y Couto, _Decadas da Asia, nova edicao con Indice + geral_, Lisbon, 1778-88, 24 vols. 12mo. I also refer sometimes + to the Lisbon, 1752, edition of the _Decada primeira_, in + folio. The priceless contemporary work of Azurara, written in + 1453 under Prince Henry's direction, was not printed until the + present century; Azurara, _Chronica do Descobrimento e + Conquista de Guine_, Paris, 1841, a superb edition in royal + quarto, edited by the Viscount da Carreira, with introduction + and notes by the Viscount de Santarem.] + + [Footnote 379: Partly, perhaps, because Mela was himself a + Spaniard, and partly because his opinions had been shared and + supported by St. Isidore, of Seville (A. D. 570-636), whose + learned works exercised immense authority throughout the Middle + Ages. It is in one of St. Isidore's books (_Etymologiarum_, + xiii. 16, apud Migne, _Patrologia_, tom. lxxxii. col. 484) that + we first find the word "Mediterranean" used as a proper name + for that great land-locked sea.] + +[Sidenote: The Sacred Promontory.] + +Filled with such lofty and generous thoughts, Prince Henry, on his +return from Morocco, in 1418, chose for himself a secluded place of +abode where he could devote himself to his purposes undisturbed by the +court life at Lisbon or by political solicitations of whatever sort. In +the Morocco campaign he had won such military renown that he was now +invited by Pope Martin V. to take chief command of the papal army; and +presently he received similar flattering offers from his own cousin, +Henry V. of England, from John II. of Castile, and from the Emperor +Sigismund, who, for shamefully violating his imperial word and +permitting the burning of John Huss, was now sorely pressed by the +enraged and rebellious Bohemians. Such invitations had no charm for +Henry. Refusing them one and all, he retired to the promontory of +Sagres, in the southernmost province of Portugal, the ancient kingdom of +Algarve, of which his father now appointed him governor. That lonely and +barren rock, protruding into the ocean, had long ago impressed the +imagination of Greek and Roman writers; they called it the Sacred +Promontory, and supposed it to be the westernmost limit of the habitable +earth.[380] There the young prince proceeded to build an astronomical +observatory, the first that his country had ever seen, and to gather +about him a school of men competent to teach and men eager to learn the +mysteries of map-making and the art of navigation. There he spent the +greater part of his life; thence he sent forth his captains to plough +the southern seas; and as year after year the weather-beaten ships +returned from their venturesome pilgrimage, the first glimpse of home +that greeted them was likely to be the beacon-light in the tower where +the master sat poring over problems of Archimedes or watching the stars. +For Henry, whose motto was "Talent de bien faire," or (in the old French +usage) "Desire[381] to do well," was wont to throw himself +whole-hearted into whatever he undertook, and the study of astronomy and +mathematics he pursued so zealously as to reach a foremost place among +the experts of his time. With such tastes and such ambition, he was +singularly fortunate in wielding ample pecuniary resources; if such a +combination could be more often realized, the welfare of mankind would +be notably enhanced. Prince Henry was Grand Master of the Order of +Christ, an organization half military, half religious, and out of its +abundant revenues he made the appropriations needful for the worthy +purpose of advancing the interests of science, converting the heathen, +and winning a commercial empire for Portugal. At first he had to +encounter the usual opposition to lavish expenditure for a distant +object without hope of immediate returns; but after a while his dogged +perseverance began to be rewarded with such successes as to silence all +adverse comment. + + [Footnote 380: [Greek: Homoios de kai peri tes exo stelon + legetai; dysmikotaton men gar semeion tes oikoumenes, to ton + Iberon akroterion, ho kalousin Ieron.] Strabo, ii. 5, Sec. 14; cf. + Dionysius Periegetes, v. 161. In reality it lies not quite so + far west as the country around Lisbon.] + + [Footnote 381: See Littre, _Dictionnaire_, s. v. "Talent;" Du + Cange, _Glossarium_, "talentum, animi decretum, voluntas, + desiderium, cupiditas," etc.; cf. Raynouard, _Glossaire + Provencale_, tom. v. p. 296. French was then fashionable at + court, in Lisbon as well as in London.] + +[Sidenote: The Madeira and Canary islands.] + +The first work in hand was the rediscovery of coasts and islands that +had ceased to be visited even before the breaking up of the Roman +Empire. For more than a thousand years the Madeiras and Canaries had +been well-nigh forgotten, and upon the coast of the African continent no +ship ventured beyond Cape Non, the headland so named because it said +"No!" to the wistful mariner.[382] There had been some re-awakening of +maritime activity in the course of the fourteenth century, chiefly due, +no doubt, to the use of the compass. Between 1317 and 1351 certain +Portuguese ships, with Genoese pilots, had visited not only the Madeiras +and Canaries, but even the Azores, a thousand miles out in the Atlantic; +and these groups of islands are duly laid down upon the so-called Medici +map of 1351, preserved in the Laurentian library at Florence.[383] The +voyage to the Azores was probably the greatest feat of ocean navigation +that had been performed down to that time, but it was not followed by +colonization. Again, somewhere about 1377 Madeira seems to have been +visited by Robert Machin, an Englishman, whose adventures make a most +romantic story; and in 1402 the Norman knight, Jean de Bethencourt, had +begun to found a colony in the Canaries, for which, in return for aid +and supplies, he did homage to the King of Castile.[384] As for the +African coast, Cape Non had also been passed at some time during the +fourteenth century, for Cape Bojador is laid down on the Catalan map of +1375; but beyond that point no one had dared take the risks of the +unknown sea. + + [Footnote 382: The Portuguese proverb was "Quem passar o Cabo + de Nao ou voltara ou _nao_," i. e. "Whoever passes Cape _Non_ + will return or _not_." See Las Casas, _Hist. de las Indias_, + tom. i. p. 173; Mariana, _Hist. de Espana_, tom. i. p. 91; + Barros, tom. i. p. 36.] + + [Footnote 383: An engraved copy of this map may be found in + Major's _Prince Henry the Navigator_, London, 1868, facing p. + 107. I need hardly say that in all that relates to the + Portuguese voyages I am under great obligation to Mr. Major's + profoundly learned and critical researches. He has fairly + conquered this subject and made it his own, and whoever touches + it after him, however lightly, must always owe him a tribute of + acknowledgment.] + + [Footnote 384: See Bontier and Le Verrier, _The Canarian, or, + Book of the Conquest and Conversion of the Canaries_, + translated and edited by R. H. Major, London, 1872 (Hakluyt + Soc). In 1414, Bethencourt's nephew, left in charge of these + islands, sold them to Prince Henry, but Castile persisted in + claiming them, and at length in 1479 her claim was recognized + by treaty with Portugal. Of all the African islands, therefore, + the Canaries alone came to belong, and still belong, to Spain.] + +[Sidenote: Gil Eannes passes Cape Bojador.] + +The first achievement under Prince Henry's guidance was the final +rediscovery and colonization of Porto Santo and Madeira in 1418-25 by +Gonsalvez Zarco, Tristam Vaz, and Bartholomew Perestrelo.[385] This work +occupied the prince's attention for some years, and then came up the +problem of Cape Bojador. The difficulty was twofold; the waves about +that headland were apt to be boisterous, and wild sailor's fancies were +apt to enkindle a mutinous spirit in the crews. It was not until 1433-35 +that Gil Eannes, a commander of unusually clear head and steady nerves, +made three attempts and fairly passed the dreaded spot. In the first +attempt he failed, as his predecessors had done, to double the cape; in +the second attempt he doubled it; in the third he sailed nearly two +hundred miles beyond. + + [Footnote 385: Perestrelo had with him a female rabbit which + littered on the voyage, and being landed, with her young, at + Porto Santo, forthwith illustrated the fearful rate of + multiplication of which organisms are capable in the absence of + enemies or other adverse circumstances to check it. (Darwin, + _Origin of Species_, chap. iii.) These rabbits swarmed all over + the island and devoured every green and succulent thing, + insomuch that they came near converting it into a desert. + Prince Henry's enemies, who were vexed at the expenditure of + money in such colonizing enterprises, were thus furnished with + a wonderful argument. They maintained that God had evidently + created those islands for beasts alone, not for men! "En este + tiempo habia en todo Portugal grandisimas murmuraciones del + Infante, viendolo tan cudicioso y poner tanta diligencia en el + descubrir de la tierra y costa de Africa, diciendo que destruia + el reino en los gastos que hacia, y consumia los vecinos del en + poner en tanto peligro y dano la gente portoguesa, donde muchos + morian, enviandolos en demanda de tierras que nunca los reyes + de Espana pasados se atrevieron a emprender, donde habia de + hacer muchas viudas y huerfanos con esta su porfia. Tomaban por + argumento, que Dios no habia criado aquellas tierras sino para + bestias, pues en tan poco tiempo en aquella isla tantos conejos + habia multiplicado, que no dejaban cosa que para sustentacion + de los hombres fuese menester." Las Casas, _Hist. de las + Indias_, tom. i. p. 180. See also Azurara, _Chronica do + descobrimento e conquista de Guine_, cap. lxxxiii.] + +[Illustration: Portuguese voyages on the coast of Africa.] + +[Sidenote: Beginning of the modern slave-trade, 1442.] + +[Sidenote: Papal grant of heathen countries to the Portuguese crown.] + +[Sidenote: Advance to Sierra Leone.] + +This achievement of Gil Eannes (_anglice_, plain Giles Jones) marks an +era. It was the beginning of great things. When we think of the +hesitation with which this step was taken, and the vociferous applause +that greeted the successful captain, it is strange to reflect that babes +were already born in 1435 who were to live to hear of the prodigious +voyages of Columbus and Gama, Vespucius and Magellan. After seven years +a further step was taken in advance; in 1442 Antonio Goncalves brought +gold and negro slaves from the Rio d' Ouro, or Rio del Oro, four hundred +miles beyond Cape Bojador. Of this beginning of the modern slave-trade I +shall treat in a future chapter.[386] Let it suffice here to observe +that Prince Henry did not discourage but sanctioned it. The first aspect +which this baleful traffic assumed in his mind was that of a means for +converting the heathen, by bringing black men and women to Portugal to +be taught the true faith and the ways of civilized people, that they +might in due season be sent back to their native land to instruct their +heathen brethren. The kings of Portugal should have a Christian empire +in Africa, and in course of time the good work might be extended to the +Indies. Accordingly a special message was sent to Pope Eugenius IV., +informing him of the discovery of the country of these barbarous people +beyond the limits of the Mussulman world, and asking for a grant in +perpetuity to Portugal of all heathen lands that might be discovered in +further voyages beyond Cape Bojador, even so far as to include the +Indies.[387] The request found favour in the eyes of Eugenius, and the +grant was solemnly confirmed by succeeding popes. To these proceedings +we shall again have occasion to refer. We have here to observe that the +discovery of gold and the profits of the slave-trade--though it was as +yet conducted upon a very small scale--served to increase the interest +of the Portuguese people in Prince Henry's work and to diminish the +obstacles in his way. A succession of gallant captains, whose names make +a glorious roll of honour, carried on the work of exploration, reaching +the farthest point that had been attained by the ancients. In 1445 Dinis +Fernandez passed Cape Verde, and two years later Lancarote found the +mouth of the Gambia. In 1456 Luigi Cadamosto--a Venetian captain in the +service of Portugal--went as far as the Rio Grande; in 1460 Diego Gomez +discovered the Cape Verde islands; and in 1462 Piedro de Cintra reached +Sierra Leone.[388] At the same time, in various expeditions between 1431 +and 1466, the Azores (i. e. "Hawk" islands) were rediscovered and +colonized, and voyages out into the Sea of Darkness began to lose +something of their manifold terrors. + + [Footnote 386: See below, vol. ii. pp. 429-431.] + + [Footnote 387: "En el ano de 1442, viendo el Infante que se + habia pasado el cabo del Boxador y que la tierra iba muy + adelante, y que todos los navios que inviaba traian muchos + esclavos moros, con que pagaba los gastos que hacia y que cada + dia crecia mas el provecho y se prosperaba su amada + negociacion, determino de inviar a suplicar al Papa Martino V., + ... que hiciese gracia a la Corona real de Portogal de los + reinos y senorios que habia y hobiese desde el cabo del Boxador + adelante, hacia el Oriente y la India inclusive; y ansi se las + concedio, ... con todas las tierras, puertos, islas, tratos, + rescates, pesquerias y cosas a esto pertenecientes, poniendo + censuras y penas a todos los reyes cristianos, principes, y + senores y comunidades que a esto le perturbasen; despues, + dicen, que los sumos pontifices, sucesores de Martino, como + Eugenio IV. y Nicolas V. y Calixto IV. lo confirmaron." Las + Casas, _Hist. de las Indias_, tom. i. p. 185. The name of + Martin V. is a slip of the memory on the part of Las Casas. + That pope had died of apoplexy eleven years before. It was + Eugenius IV. who made this memorable grant to the crown of + Portugal. The error is repeated in Irving's _Columbus_, vol. i. + p. 339.] + + [Footnote 388: The first published account of the voyages of + Cadamosto and Cintra was in the _Paesi nouamente retrouati_, + Vicenza, 1507, a small quarto which can now sometimes be bought + for from twelve to fifteen hundred dollars. See also Grynaeus, + _Novus Orbis_, Basel, 1532.] + +[Sidenote: Advance to the Hottentot coast.] + +Prince Henry did not live to see Africa circumnavigated. At the time of +his death, in 1468, his ships had not gone farther than the spot where +Hanno found his gorillas two thousand years before. But the work of this +excellent prince did not end with his death. His adventurous spirit +lived on in the school of accomplished navigators he had trained. Many +voyages were made after 1462, of which we need mention only those that +marked new stages of discovery. In 1471 two knights of the royal +household, Joao de Santarem and Pedro de Escobar, sailed down the Gold +Coast and crossed the equator; three years later the line was again +crossed by Fernando Po, discoverer of the island that bears his name. In +1484 Diego Cam went on as far as the mouth of the Congo, and entered +into very friendly relations with the negroes there. In a second voyage +in 1485 this enterprising captain pushed on a thousand miles farther, +and set up a cross in 22 deg. south latitude on the coast of the Hottentot +country. Brisk trading went on along the Gold Coast, and missionaries +were sent to the Congo.[389] + + [Footnote 389: It was in the course of these voyages upon the + African coast that civilized Europeans first became familiar + with people below the upper status of barbarism. Savagery and + barbarism of the lower types were practically unknown in the + Middle Ages, and almost, though probably not quite unknown, to + the civilized peoples of the Mediterranean in ancient times. + The history of the two words is interesting. The Greek word + [Greek: barbaros], whence Eng. _barbarian_ (=Sanskrit + _barbara_, Latin _balbus_), means "a stammerer," or one who + talks gibberish, i. e. in a language we do not understand. + Aristophanes (_Aves_, 199) very prettily applies the epithet to + the inarticulate singing of birds. The names _Welsh_, + _Walloon_, _Wallachian_, and _Belooch_, given to these peoples + by their neighbours, have precisely the same meaning (Kuhn's + _Zeitschrift_, ii. 252); and in like manner the Russians call + the Germans _Nyemetch_, or people who cannot talk (Schafarik, + _Slawische Alterthumer_, i. 443; Pott, _Etym. Forsch._, ii. + 521). The Greeks called all men but themselves barbarians, + including such civilized people as the Persians. The Romans + applied the name to all tribes and nations outside the limits + of the Empire, and the Italians of the later Middle Ages + bestowed it upon all nations outside of Italy. Upon its lax use + in recent times I have already commented (above, pp. 25-35). + The tendency to apply the epithet to savages is modern. The + word _savage_, on the other hand, which came to us as the Old + French _sauvage_ or _salvage_ (Ital. _selvaggio_, _salvatico_), + is the Latin _silvaticus_, _sylvaticus_, _salvaticus_, that + which pertains to a forest and is sylvan or wild. In its + earliest usage it had reference to plants and beasts rather + than to men. Wild apples, pears, or laurels are characterized + by the epithet _sylvaticus_ in Varro, _De re rustica_, i. 40; + and either this adjective, or its equivalent _silvestris_, was + used of wild animals as contrasted with domesticated beasts, as + wild sheep and wild fowl, in Columella, vii. 2; viii. 12, or + wolves, in Propertius, iii. 7, or mice, in Pliny, xxx. 22. + (Occasionally it is used of men, as in Pliny, viii. 79.) The + meaning was the same in mediaeval Latin (Du Cange, _Glossarium_, + Niort, 1886, tom. vii. p. 686) and in Old French, as "La douce + voiz du loussignol sauvage" (Michel, _Chansons de chatelain de + Coucy_, xix.). In the romance of _Robert le Diable_, in the + verses + + Sire, se vos fustes Sauvages + Viers moi, je n'i pris mie garde, etc., + + the reference is plainly to degenerate civilized men + frequenting the forests, such as bandits or outlaws, not to + what we call savages. + + Mediaeval writers certainly had some idea of savages, but it was + not based upon any actual acquaintance with such people, but + upon imperfectly apprehended statements of ancient writers. At + the famous ball at the Hotel de Saint Pol in Paris, in 1393, + King Charles VI. and five noblemen were dressed in + close-fitting suits of linen, thickly covered from head to foot + with tow or flax, the colour of hair, so as to look like + "savages." In this attire nobody recognized them, and the Duke + of Orleans, in his eagerness to make out who they were, brought + a torch too near, so that the flax took fire, and four of the + noblemen were burned to death. See Froissart's _Chronicles_, + tr. Johnes, London, 1806, vol. xi. pp. 69-76. The point of the + story is that savages were supposed to be men covered with + hair, like beasts, and Froissart, in relating it, evidently + knew no better. Whence came this notion of hairy men? Probably + from Hanno's gorillas (see above, p. 301), through Pliny, whose + huge farrago of facts and fancies was a sort of household Peter + Parley in mediaeval monasteries. Pliny speaks repeatedly of men + covered with hair from head to foot, and scatters them about + according to his fancy, in Carmania and other distant places + (_Hist. Nat._, vi. 28, 36, vii. 2). + + Greek and Roman writers seem to have had some slight knowledge + of savagery and the lower status of barbarism as prevailing in + remote places ("Ptolomee dit que es extremites de la terre + habitable sont gens sauvages," Oresme, _Les Ethiques + d'Aristote_, Paris, 1488), but their remarks are usually vague. + Seldom do we get such a clean-cut statement as that of Tacitus + about the Finns, that they have neither horses nor houses, + sleep on the ground, are clothed in skins, live by the chase, + and for want of iron use bone-tipped arrows (_Germania_, cap. + 46). More often we have unconscionable yarns about men without + noses, or with only one eye, tailed men, solid-hoofed men, + Amazons, and parthenogenesis. The Troglodytes, or + Cave-dwellers, on the Nubian coast of the Red Sea seem to have + been in the middle status of barbarism (Diodorus, iii. 32; + Agatharchides, 61-63), and the Ichthyophagi, or Fish-eaters, + whom Nearchus found on the shores of Gedrosia (Arrian, + _Indica_, cap. 29), were probably in a lower stage, perhaps + true savages. It is exceedingly curious that Mela puts a race + of pygmies at the headwaters of the Nile (see map above, p. + 304). Is this only an echo from _Iliad_, iii. 6, or can any + ancient traveller have penetrated far enough inland toward the + equator to have heard reports of the dwarfish race lately + visited by Stanley (_In Darkest Africa_, vol. ii. pp. 100-104, + 164)? Strabo had no real knowledge of savagery in Africa (cf. + Bunbury, _Hist. Ancient Geog._, ii. 331). Sataspes may have + seen barbarians of low type, possibly on one of the Canary + isles (see description of Canarians in Major's _Prince Henry_, + p. 212). Ptolemy had heard of an island of cannibals in the + Indian ocean, perhaps one of the Andaman group, visited A. D. + 1293 by Marco Polo. The people of these islands rank among the + lowest savages on the earth, and Marco was disgusted and + horrified; their beastly faces, with huge prognathous jaws and + projecting canine teeth, he tried to describe by calling them a + dog-headed people. Sir Henry Yule suggests that the mention of + Cynocephali, or Dog-heads, in ancient writers may have had an + analogous origin (_Marco Polo_, vol. ii. p. 252). This visit of + the Venetian traveller to Andaman was one of very few real + glimpses of savagery vouchsafed to Europeans before the + fifteenth century; and a general review of the subject brings + out in a strong light the truthfulness and authenticity of the + description of American Indians in Eric the Red's Saga, as + shown above, pp. 185-192.] + +[Sidenote: Effect of these discoveries upon the theories of Ptolemy and +Mela.] + +These voyages into the southern hemisphere dealt a damaging blow to the +theory of an impassable fiery zone; but as to the circumnavigability of +the African continent, the long stretch of coast beyond the equator +seemed more in harmony with Ptolemy's views than with those of Mela. The +eastward trend of the Guinea coast was at first in favour of the latter +geographer, but when Santarem and Escobar found it turning southward to +the equator the facts began to refute him. According to Mela they +should have found it possible at once to sail eastward to the gulf of +Aden. What if it should turn out after all that there was no connection +between the Atlantic and Indian oceans? Every added league of voyaging +toward the tropic of Capricorn must have been fraught with added +discouragement, for it went to prove that, even if Ptolemy's theory was +wrong, at any rate the ocean route to Asia was indefinitely longer than +had been supposed. But was it possible to imagine any other route that +should be more direct? To a trained mariner of original and imaginative +mind, sojourning in Portugal and keenly watching the progress of African +discovery, the years just following the voyage of Santarem and Escobar +would be a period eminently fit for suggesting such a question. Let us +not forget this date of 1471 while we follow Prince Henry's work to its +first grand climax. + +[Sidenote: News of Prester John.] + +About the time that Diego Cam was visiting the tribes on the Congo, the +negro king of Benin, a country by the mouth of the Niger, sent an +embassy to John II. of Portugal (Prince Henry's nephew), with a request +that missionary priests might be sent to Benin. It has been thought that +the woolly-haired chieftain was really courting an alliance with the +Portuguese, or perhaps he thought their "medicine men" might have the +knack of confounding his foes. The negro envoy told King John that a +thousand miles or so east of Benin there was an august sovereign who +ruled over many subject peoples, and at whose court there was an order +of chivalry whose badge or emblem was a brazen cross. Such, at least, +was the king's interpretation of the negro's words, and forthwith he +jumped to the conclusion that this African potentate must be Prester +John, whose name was redolent of all the marvels of the mysterious East. +To find Prester John would be a long step toward golden Cathay and the +isles of spice. So the king of Portugal rose to the occasion, and +attacked the problem on both flanks at once. He sent Pedro de Covilham +by way of Egypt to Aden, and he sent Bartholomew Dias, with three +fifty-ton caravels, to make one more attempt to find an end to the +Atlantic coast of Africa. + +[Sidenote: Covilham's journey.] + +Covilham's journey was full of interesting experiences. He sailed from +Aden to Hindustan, and on his return visited Abyssinia, where the +semi-Christian king took such a liking to him that he would never let +him go. So Covilham spent the rest of his life, more than thirty years, +in Abyssinia, whence he was able now and then to send to Portugal items +of information concerning eastern Africa that were afterwards quite +serviceable in voyages upon the Indian ocean.[390] + + [Footnote 390: See Major's _India in the Fifteenth Century_, + pp. lxxxv.-xc.] + +[Sidenote: Bartholomew Dias passes the Cape of Good Hope and enters the +Indian ocean.] + +The daring captain, Bartholomew Dias, started in August, 1486, and after +passing nearly four hundred miles beyond the tropic of Capricorn, was +driven due south before heavy winds for thirteen days without seeing +land. At the end of this stress of weather he turned his prows eastward, +expecting soon to reach the coast. But as he had passed the southernmost +point of Africa and no land appeared before him, after a while he +steered northward and landed near the mouth of Gauritz river, more than +two hundred miles east of the Cape of Good Hope. Thence he pushed on +about four hundred miles farther eastward as far as the Great Fish river +(about 33 deg. 30' S., 27 deg. 10' E.), where the coast begins to have a steady +trend to the northeast. Dias was now fairly in the Indian ocean, and +could look out with wistful triumph upon that waste of waters, but his +worn-out crews refused to go any farther and he was compelled +reluctantly to turn back. On the way homeward the ships passed in full +sight of the famous headland which Dias called the Stormy Cape; but +after arriving at Lisbon, in December, 1487, when the report of this +noble voyage was laid before King John II., his majesty said, Nay, let +it rather be called the Cape of Good Hope, since there was now much +reason to believe that they had found the long-sought ocean route to the +Indies.[391] Though this opinion turned out to be correct, it is well +for us to remember that the proof was not yet complete. No one could +yet say with certainty that the African coast, if followed a few miles +east of Great Fish river, would not again trend southward and run all +the way to the pole. The completed proof was not obtained until Vasco da +Gama crossed the Indian ocean ten years later. + + [Footnote 391: The greatest of Portuguese poets represents the + Genius of the Cape as appearing to the storm-tossed mariners in + cloud-like shape, like the Jinni that the fisherman of the + Arabian tale released from a casket. He expresses indignation + at their audacity in discovering his secret, hitherto hidden + from mankind:-- + + Eu sou aquelle occulto e grande Cabo, + A quem chamais vos outros Tormentorio, + Que nunca a Ptolomeo, Pomponio, Estrabo, + Plinio, e quantos passaram, fui notorio: + Aqui toda a Africana costa acabo + Neste meu nunca vista promontorio, + Que para o polo Antarctico se estende, + A quem vossa ousadia tanto offende. + Camoens, _Os Lusiadas_, v. 50.] + +[Sidenote: Some effects of the discovery.] + +[Sidenote: Bartholomew Columbus.] + +This voyage of Bartholomew Dias was longer and in many respects more +remarkable than any that is known to have been made before that time. +From Lisbon back to Lisbon, reckoning the sinuosities of the coast, but +making no allowance for tacking, the distance run by those tiny craft +was not less than thirteen thousand miles. This voyage completed the +overthrow of the fiery-zone doctrine, so far as Africa was concerned; it +penetrated far into the southern temperate zone where Mela had placed +his antipodal world; it dealt a staggering blow to the continental +theory of Ptolemy; and its success made men's minds readier for yet more +daring enterprises. Among the shipmates of Dias on this ever memorable +voyage was a well-trained and enthusiastic Italian mariner, none other +than Bartholomew, the younger brother of Christopher Columbus. There was +true dramatic propriety in the presence of that man at just this time; +for not only did all these later African voyages stand in a direct +causal relation to the discovery of America, but as an immediate +consequence of the doubling of the Cape of Good Hope we shall presently +find Bartholomew Columbus in the very next year on his way to England, +to enlist the aid of King Henry VII. in behalf of a scheme of +unprecedented boldness for which his elder brother had for some years +been seeking to obtain the needful funds. Not long after that +disappointing voyage of Santarem and Escobar in 1471, this original and +imaginative sailor, Christopher Columbus, had conceived (or adopted and +made his own) a new method of solving the problem of an ocean route to +Cathay. We have now to sketch the early career of this epoch-making man, +and to see how he came to be brought into close relations with the work +of the Portuguese explorers. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE SEARCH FOR THE INDIES. + +_WESTWARD OR SPANISH ROUTE._ + + +[Sidenote: Sources of information concerning the life of Columbus: Las +Casas and Ferdinand Columbus.] + +[Sidenote: The Biblioteca Colombina at Seville.] + +Our information concerning the life of Columbus before 1492 is far from +being as satisfactory as one could wish. Unquestionably he is to be +deemed fortunate in having had for his biographers two such men as his +friend Las Casas, one of the noblest characters and most faithful +historians of that or any age, and his own son Ferdinand Columbus, a +most accomplished scholar and bibliographer. The later years of +Ferdinand's life were devoted, with loving care, to the preparation of a +biography of his father; and his book--which unfortunately survives only +in the Italian translation of Alfonso Ulloa,[392] published in Venice in +1571--is of priceless value. As Washington Irving long ago wrote, it is +"an invaluable document, entitled to great faith, and is the cornerstone +of the history of the American continent."[393] After Ferdinand's +death, in 1539, his papers seem to have passed into the hands of Las +Casas, who, from 1552 to 1561, in the seclusion of the college of San +Gregorio at Valladolid, was engaged in writing his great "History of the +Indies."[394] Ferdinand's superb library, one of the finest in Europe, +was bequeathed to the cathedral at Seville.[395] It contained some +twenty thousand volumes in print and manuscript, four fifths of which, +through shameful neglect or vandalism, have perished or been scattered. +Four thousand volumes, however, are still preserved, and this library +(known as the "Biblioteca Colombina") is full of interest for the +historian. Book-buying was to Ferdinand Columbus one of the most +important occupations in life. His books were not only carefully +numbered, but on the last leaf of each one he wrote a memorandum of the +time and place of its purchase and the sum of money paid for it.[396] +This habit of Ferdinand's has furnished us with clues to the solution +of some interesting questions. Besides this, he was much given to making +marginal notes and comments, which are sometimes of immense value, and, +more than all, there are still to be seen in this library a few books +that belonged to Christopher Columbus himself, with very important notes +in his own handwriting and in that of his brother Bartholomew. Las Casas +was familiar with this grand collection in the days of its completeness, +he was well acquainted with all the members of the Columbus family, and +he had evidently read the manuscript sources of Ferdinand's book; for a +comparison with Ulloa's version shows that considerable portions of the +original Spanish text--or of the documents upon which it rested--are +preserved in the work of Las Casas.[397] The citation and adoption of +Ferdinand's statements by the latter writer, who was able independently +to verify them, is therefore in most cases equivalent to corroboration, +and the two writers together form an authority of the weightiest kind, +and not lightly to be questioned or set aside. + + [Footnote 392: _Historie del S. D. Fernando Colombo; Nelle + quali s' ha particolare, & vera relatione della vita, & de' + fatti dell' Ammiraglio D. Christoforo Colombo, suo padre: Et + dello scoprimento, ch' egli fece dell' Indie Occidentali, dette + Monde-Nuovo, hora possedute dal Sereniss. Re Catolico: + Nuouamente di lingua Spagnuola tradotte nell' Italiana dal S. + Alfonso Vlloa. Con. privilegio._ IN VENETIA, M D LXXI. + _Appresso Francesco de' Franceschi Sanese._ The principal + reprints are those of Milan, 1614; Venice, 1676 and 1678; + London, 1867. I always cite it as _Vita dell' Ammiraglio_.] + + [Footnote 393: Irving's _Life of Columbus_, New York, 1868, + vol. iii. p. 375. My references, unless otherwise specified, + are to this, the "Geoffrey Crayon," edition.] + + [Footnote 394: Las Casas, _Historia de las Indias, ahora por + primera vez dada a luz por el Marques de la Fuensanta del Valle + y D. Jose Sancho Rayon_, Madrid, 1875, 5 vols. 8vo.] + + [Footnote 395: "Fu questo D. Ernando di non minor valore del + padre, ma di molte piu lettere et scienze dotato che quelle non + fu; et il quale lascio alla Chiesa maggiore di Siviglia, dove + hoggi si vede honorevolmente sepolto, una, non sola + numerosissima, ma richissima libraria, et piena di molti libri + in ogni facolta et scienza rarissimi: laquale da coloro che l' + han veduta, vien stimata delle piu rare cose di tutta Europa." + Moleto's prefatory letter to _Vita dell' Ammiraglio_, April 25, + 1571.] + + [Footnote 396: For example, "_Manuel de la Sancta Fe catolica_, + Sevilla, 1495, in-4. Costo en Toledo 34 maravedis, ano 1511, 9 + de Octubre, No. 3004." "_Tragicomedia de Calisto y Melibea_, + Sevilla, 1502, in-4. Muchas figuras. Costo en Roma 25 + cuatrines, por Junio de 1515. No. 2417," etc. See Harrisse, + _Fernand Colomb_, Paris, 1872, p. 13.] + + [Footnote 397: "L' autorita di Las Casas e d' una suprema e + vitale importanza tanto nella storia di Cristoforo Colombo, + come nell' esame delle _Historie_ di Fernando suo figlio.... E + dal confronto tra questi due scrittori emergera una omogeneita + si perfetta, che si potrebbe coi termini del frate domenicano + ritrovare o rifare per due terzi il testo originale spagnuolo + delle _Historie_ di Fernando Colombo." Peragallo, _L' + autenticita delle Historie di Fernando Colombo_, Genoa, 1884, + p. 23.] + +[Sidenote: Bernaldez and Peter Martyr.] + +[Sidenote: Letters of Columbus.] + +Besides these books of most fundamental importance, we have valuable +accounts of some parts of the life of Columbus by his friend Andres +Bernaldez, the curate of Los Palacios near Seville.[398] Peter Martyr, +of Anghiera, by Lago Maggiore, was an intimate friend of Columbus, and +gives a good account of his voyages, besides mentioning him in sundry +epistles.[399] Columbus himself, moreover, was such a voluminous writer +that his contemporaries laughed about it. "God grant," says Zuniga in a +letter to the Marquis de Pescara, "God grant that Gutierrez may never +come short for paper, for he writes more than Ptolemy, more than +Columbus, the man who discovered the Indies."[400] These writings are in +great part lost, though doubtless a good many things will yet be brought +to light in Spain by persistent rummaging. We have, however, from sixty +to seventy letters and reports by Columbus, of which twenty-three at +least are in his own handwriting; and all these have been +published.[401] + + [Footnote 398: _Historia de los Reyes Catolicos D. Fernando y + D^a Isabel. Cronica inedita del siglo XV, escrita por el + Bachiller Andres Bernaldez, cura que fue de Los Palacios_, + Granada, 1856, 2 vols. small 4to. It is a book of very high + authority.] + + [Footnote 399: _De orbe novo Decades_, Alcala, 1516; _Opus + epistolarum_, Compluti (Alcala), 1530; Harrisse, _Bibliotheca + Americana Vetustissima_, Nos. 88, 160.] + + [Footnote 400: "A Gutierrez vuestro solicitador, ruego a Dios + que nunca le falte papel, porque escribe mas que Tolomeo y que + Colon, el que hallo las Indias." Rivadeneyra, _Curiosidades + bibliograficas_, p. 59, apud Harrisse, _Christophe Colomb_, + tom. i. p. 1.] + + [Footnote 401: Harrisse, _loc. cit._, in 1884, gives the number + at sixty-four.] + +[Sidenote: Defects in Ferdinand's information.] + +Nevertheless, while these contemporary materials give us abundant +information concerning the great discoverer, from the year 1492 until +his death, it is quite otherwise with his earlier years, especially +before his arrival in Spain in 1484. His own allusions to these earlier +years are sometimes hard to interpret;[402] and as for his son +Ferdinand, that writer confesses, with characteristic and winning +frankness, that his information is imperfect, inasmuch as filial respect +had deterred him from closely interrogating his father on such points, +or, to tell the plain truth, being still very young when his father +died, he had not then come to recognize their importance.[403] This does +not seem strange when we reflect that Ferdinand must have seen very +little of his father until in 1502, at the age of fourteen, he +accompanied him on that last difficult and disastrous voyage, in which +the sick and harassed old man could have had but little time or strength +for aught but the work in hand. It is not strange that when, a quarter +of a century later, the son set about his literary task, he should now +and then have got a date wrong, or have narrated some incidents in a +confused manner, or have admitted some gossiping stories, the falsehood +of which can now plainly be detected. Such blemishes, which occur +chiefly in the earlier part of Ferdinand's book, do not essentially +detract from its high authority.[404] The limits which bounded the son's +accurate knowledge seem also to have bounded that of such friends as +Bernaldez, who did not become acquainted with Columbus until after his +arrival in Spain. + + [Footnote 402: Sometimes from a slip of memory or carelessness + of phrasing, on Columbus's part, sometimes from our lacking the + clue, sometimes from an error in numerals, common enough at all + times.] + + [Footnote 403: "Ora, l' Ammiraglio avendo cognizione delle + dette scienze, comincio ad attendere al mare, e a fare alcuni + viaggi in levante e in ponente; de' quali, e di molte altre + cose di quei primi di io non ho piena notizia; perciocche egli + venne a morte a tempo che io non aveva tanto ardire, o pratica, + per la riverenza filiale, che io ardissi di richiederlo di + cotali cose; o, per parlare piu veramente, allora mi ritrovava + io, come giovane, molto lontano da cotal pensiero." _Vita dell' + Ammiraglio_, cap. iv.] + + [Footnote 404: Twenty years ago M. Harrisse published in + Spanish and French a critical essay maintaining that the _Vita + dell' Ammiraglio_ was not written by Ferdinand Columbus, but + probably by the famous scholar Perez de Oliva, professor in the + university of Salamanca, who died in 1530 (_D. Fernando Colon, + historiador de su padre_, Seville, 1871; _Fernand Colomb: sa + vie, ses oeuvres_, Paris, 1872). The Spanish manuscript of the + book had quite a career. As already observed, it is clear that + Las Casas used it, probably between 1552 and 1561. From + Ferdinand's nephew, Luis Columbus, it seems to have passed in + 1568 into the hands of Baliano di Fornari, a prominent citizen + of Genoa, who sent it to Venice with the intention of having it + edited and published with Latin and Italian versions. All that + ever appeared, however, was the Italian version made by Ulloa + and published in 1571. Harrisse supposes that the Spanish + manuscript, written by Oliva, was taken to Genoa by some + adventurer and palmed off upon Baliano di Fornari as the work + of Ferdinand Columbus. But inasmuch as Harrisse also supposes + that Oliva probably wrote the book (about 1525) at Seville, + under Ferdinand's eyes and with documents furnished by him, it + becomes a question, in such case, how far was Oliva anything + more than an amanuensis to Ferdinand? and there seems really to + be precious little wool after so much loud crying. If the + manuscript was actually written "sous les yeux de Fernand et + avec documents fournis par lui," most of the arguments alleged + to prove that it could not have emanated from the son of + Columbus fall to the ground. It becomes simply a question + whether Ulloa may have here and there tampered with the text, + or made additions of his own. To some extent he seems to have + done so, but wherever the Italian version is corroborated by + the Spanish extracts in Las Casas, we are on solid ground, for + Las Casas died five years before the Italian version was + published. M. Harrisse does not seem as yet to have convinced + many scholars. His arguments have been justly, if somewhat + severely, characterized by my old friend, the lamented Henry + Stevens (_Historical Collections_, London, 1881, vol. i. No. + 1379), and have been elaborately refuted by M. d'Avezac, _Le + livre de Ferdinand Colomb: revue critique des allegations + proposees contre son authenticite_, Paris, 1873; and by + Prospero Peragallo, _L' autenticita delle Historie di Fernando + Colombo_, Genoa, 1884. See also Fabie, _Vida de Fray Bartolome + de Las Casas_, Madrid, 1869, tom. i. pp. 360-372.] + +[Sidenote: Researches of Henry Harrisse.] + +In recent years elaborate researches have been made, by Henry Harrisse +and others, in the archives of Genoa, Savona, Seville, and other places +with which Columbus was connected, in the hope of supplementing this +imperfect information concerning his earlier years.[405] A number of +data have thus been obtained, which, while clearing up the subject most +remarkably in some directions, have been made to mystify and embroil it +in others. There is scarcely a date or a fact relating to Columbus +before 1492 but has been made the subject of hot dispute; and some +pretty wholesale reconstructions of his biography have been +attempted.[406] The general impression, however, which the discussions +of the past twenty years have left upon my mind, is that the more +violent hypotheses are not likely to be sustained, and that the +newly-ascertained facts do not call for any very radical interference +with the traditional lines upon which the life of Columbus has +heretofore been written.[407] At any rate there seems to be no +likelihood of such interference as to modify our views of the causal +sequence of events that led to the westward search for the Indies; and +it is this relation of cause and effect that chiefly concerns us in a +history of the Discovery of America. + + [Footnote 405: See Harrisse, _Christophe Colomb_, Paris, 1884, + 2 vols., a work of immense research, absolutely indispensable + to every student of the subject, though here and there somewhat + over-ingenious and hypercritical, and in general unduly biased + by the author's private crotchet about the work of Ferdinand.] + + [Footnote 406: One of the most radical of these reconstructions + may be found in the essay by M. d'Avezac, "Canevas + chronologique de la vie de Christophe Colomb," in _Bulletin de + la Societe de Geographie_, Paris, 1872, 6e serie, tom. iv. pp. + 5-59.] + + [Footnote 407: Washington Irving's _Life of Columbus_, says + Harrisse, "is a history written with judgment and impartiality, + which leaves far behind it all descriptions of the discovery of + the New World published before or since." _Christophe Colomb_, + tom. i. p. 136. Irving was the first to make use of the superb + work of Navarrete, _Coleccion de los viages y descubrimientos + que hicieron por mar los Espanoles desde fines del siglo XV._, + Madrid, 1825-37, 5 vols. 4to. Next followed Alexander von + Humboldt, with his _Examen critique de l'histoire de la + geographie de Nouveau Continent_, Paris, 1836-39, 5 vols. 8vo. + This monument of gigantic erudition (which, unfortunately, was + never completed) will always remain indispensable to the + historian.] + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: Date of the birth of Columbus: archives of Savona.] + +[Sidenote: Statement of Bernaldez.] + +[Sidenote: Columbus's letter of September, 1501.] + +[Sidenote: The balance of probability is in favour of 1436.] + +The date of the birth of Columbus is easy to determine approximately, +but hard to determine with precision. In the voluminous discussion upon +this subject the extreme limits assigned have been 1430 and 1456, but +neither of these extremes is admissible, and our choice really lies +somewhere between 1436 and 1446. Among the town archives of Savona is a +deed of sale executed August 7, 1473, by the father of Christopher +Columbus, and ratified by Christopher and his next brother +Giovanni.[408] Both brothers must then have attained their majority, +which in the republic of Genoa was fixed at the age of twenty-five. +Christopher, therefore, can hardly have been less than seven and twenty, +so that the latest probable date for his birth is 1446, and this is the +date accepted by Munoz, Major, Harrisse, and Avezac. There is no +documentary proof, however, to prevent our taking an earlier date; and +the curate of Los Palacios--strong authority on such a point--says +expressly that at the time of his death, in 1506, Columbus was "in a +good old age, seventy years a little more or less."[409] Upon this +statement Navarrete and Humboldt have accepted 1436 as the probable date +of birth.[410] The most plausible objection to this is a statement made +by Columbus himself in a letter to Ferdinand and Isabella, written in +1501. In this letter, as first given in the biography by his son, +Columbus says that he was of "very tender age" when he began to sail the +seas, an occupation which he has kept up until the present moment; and +in the next sentence but one he adds that "now for forty years I have +been in this business and have gone to every place where there is any +navigation up to the present time."[411] The expression "very tender +age" agrees with Ferdinand's statement that his father was fourteen +years old when he first took to the sea.[412] Since 1446 + 14-40 = 1500, +it is argued that Columbus was probably born about 1446; some sticklers +for extreme precision say 1447. But now there were eight years spent by +Columbus in Spain, from 1484 to 1492, without any voyages at all; they +were years, as he forcibly says, "dragged out in disputations."[413] Did +he mean to include those eight years in his forty spent upon the sea? +Navarrete thinks he did not. When he wrote under excitement, as in this +letter, his language was apt to be loose, and it is fair to construe it +according to the general probabilities of the case. This addition of +eight years brings his statement substantially into harmony with that of +Bernaldez, which it really will not do to set aside lightly. Moreover, +in the original text of the letter, since published by Navarrete, +Columbus appears to say, "now for _more than_ forty years," so that the +agreement with Bernaldez becomes practically complete.[414] The good +curate spoke from direct personal acquaintance, and his phrases +"seventy years" and "a good old age" are borne out by the royal decree +of February 23, 1505, permitting Columbus to ride on a mule, instead of +a horse, by reason of his old age (_ancianidad_) and infirmities.[415] +Such a phrase applies much better to a man of sixty-nine than to a man +of fifty-nine. On the whole, I think that Washington Irving showed good +sense in accepting the statement of the curate of Los Palacios as +decisive, dating as it does the birth of Columbus at 1436, "a little +more or less." + + [Footnote 408: Harrisse, _op. cit._ tom. i. p. 196.] + + [Footnote 409: "In _senectute bona_, de edad de setenta anos + poco mas o menos." Bernaldez, _Reyes Catolicos_, tom. i. p. + 334.] + + [Footnote 410: M. d'Avezac (_Canevas chronologique_, etc.) + objects to this date that we have positive documentary evidence + of the birth of Christopher's youngest brother Giacomo + (afterwards spanished into Diego) in 1468, which makes an + interval of 32 years; so that if the mother were (say) 18 in + 1436 she must have borne a child at the age of 50. That would + be unusual, but not unprecedented. But M. Harrisse (tom. ii. p. + 214), from a more thorough sifting of this documentary + evidence, seems to have proved that while Giacomo cannot have + been born later than 1468 he may have been born as early as + 1460; so that whatever is left of M. d'Avezac's objection falls + to the ground.] + + [Footnote 411: "Serenissimi principi, di eta molto tenera io + entrai in mare navigando, et vi ho continovato fin' hoggi: ... + et hoggimai passano quaranta anni che io uso per tutte quelle + parti che fin hoggi si navigano." _Vita dell' Ammiraglio_, cap. + iv.] + + [Footnote 412: _Op. cit._ cap. iv. _ad fin_.] + + [Footnote 413: "Traido en disputas," Navarrete, _Coleccion_, + tom. ii. p. 254.] + + [Footnote 414: "Muy altos Reyes, de muy pequena edad entre en + la mar navegando, e lo he continuado fasta hoy.... Ya pasan de + cuarenta anos que yo voy en este uso: todo lo que hoy se + navega, todo lo he andado." Navarrete, _Coleccion_, tom. ii. p. + 262. Observe the lame phrase "pasan de cuarenta;" what business + has that "de" in such a place without "mas" before it? "Pasan + mas de cuarenta," i. e. "more than forty;" writing in haste and + excitement, Columbus left out a little word; or shall we blame + the proof-reader? Avezac himself translates it "il y a plus de + quarante ans," and so does Eugene Mueller, in his French version + of Ferdinand's book, _Histoire de la vie de Christophe Colomb_, + Paris, 1879, p. 15.] + + [Footnote 415: That was the golden age of sumptuary laws. + Because Alfonso XI. of Castile (1312-1350), when he tried to + impress horses for the army, found it hard to get as many as he + wanted, he took it into his head that his subjects were raising + too many mules and not enough horses. So he tried to remedy the + evil by a wholesale decree prohibiting all Castilians from + riding upon mules! In practice this precious decree, like other + villainous prohibitory laws that try to prevent honest people + from doing what they have a perfect right to do, proved so + vexatious and ineffective withal that it had to be perpetually + fussed with and tinkered. One year you could ride a mule and + the next year you couldn't. In 1492, as we shall see, Columbus + immortalized one of these patient beasts by riding it a few + miles from Granada. But in 1494 Ferdinand and Isabella decreed + that nobody except women, children, and clergymen could ride on + mules,--"dont la marche est beaucoup plus douce que celle des + chevaux" (Humboldt, _Examen critique_, tom. iii. p. 338). This + edict remained in force in 1505, so that the Discoverer of the + New World, the inaugurator of the greatest historic event since + the birth of Christ, could not choose an easygoing animal for + the comfort of his weary old weather-shaken bones without the + bother of getting a special edict to fit his case. _Eheu, quam + parva sapientia regitur mundus!_] + +[Sidenote: The family of Domenico Colombo, and its changes of +residence.] + +With regard to the place where the great discoverer was born there ought +to be no dispute, since we have his own most explicit and unmistakable +word for it, as I shall presently show. Nevertheless there has been no +end of dispute. He has been claimed by as many places as Homer,[416] but +the only real question is whether he was born in the city of Genoa or in +some neighbouring village within the boundaries of the Genoese republic. +It is easy to understand how doubt has arisen on this point, if we trace +the changes of residence of his family. The grandfather of Columbus +seems to have been Giovanni Colombo, of Terrarossa, an inland hamlet +some twenty miles east by north from Genoa. Giovanni's son, Domenico +Colombo, was probably born at Terrarossa, and moved thence with his +father, somewhere between 1430 and 1445, to Quinto al Mare, four miles +east of Genoa on the coast. All the family seem to have been weavers. +Before 1445, but how many years before is not known, Domenico married +Susanna Fontanarossa, who belonged to a family of weavers, probably of +Quezzi, four miles northeast of Genoa. Between 1448 and 1451 Domenico, +with his wife and three children, moved into the city of Genoa, where he +became the owner of a house and was duly qualified as a citizen. In 1471 +Domenico moved to Savona, thirty miles west on the Corniche road, where +he set up a weaving establishment and also kept a tavern. He had then +five children, Cristoforo, Giovanni, Bartolommeo, Giacomo, and a +daughter. Domenico lived in Savona till 1484. At that time his wife and +his son Giovanni were dead, Giacomo was an apprentice, learning the +weaver's trade, Christopher and Bartholomew had long been domiciled in +Portugal, the daughter had married a cheese merchant in Genoa, and to +that city Domenico returned in the autumn of 1484, and lived there until +his death, at a great age, in 1499 or 1500. He was always in pecuniary +difficulties, and died poor and in debt, though his sons seem to have +sent him from Portugal and Spain such money as they could spare.[417] + + [Footnote 416: "Nous avons demontre l'inanite des theories qui + le font naitre a Pradello, a Cuccaro, a Cogoleto, a Savona, a + Nervi, a Albissola, a Bogliasco, a Cosseria, a Finale, a + Oneglia, voire meme en Angleterre ou dans l'isle de Corse." + Harrisse, tom. i. p. 217. In Cogoleto, about sixteen miles west + of Genoa on the Corniche road, the visitor is shown a house + where Columbus is said first to have seen the light. Upon its + front is a quaint inscription in which the discoverer is + compared to the dove (_Colomba_) which, when sent by Noah from + the ark, discovered dry land amid the waters:-- + + Con generoso ardir dall' Arca all' onde + Ubbidiente il vol Colomba prende, + Corre, s' aggira, terren scopre, e fronde + D' olivo in segno, al gran Noe ne rende. + L' imita in cio Colombo, ne' s' asconde, + E da sua patria il mar solcando fende; + Terreno al fin scoprendo diede fondo, + Offerendo all' Ispano un Nuovo Mondo. + + This house is or has been mentioned in Baedeker's _Northern + Italy_ as the probable birthplace, along with Peschel's absurd + date 1456. It is pretty certain that Columbus was _not_ born in + that house or in Cogoleto. See Harrisse, tom. i. pp. 148-155.] + + [Footnote 417: Harrisse, tom. i. pp. 166-216.] + +[Sidenote: Christopher tells us that he was born in the city of Genoa.] + +The reader will observe that Christopher and his two next brothers were +born before the family went to live in the city of Genoa. It has hence +been plausibly inferred that they were born either in Quinto or in +Terrarossa; more likely the latter, since both Christopher and +Bartholomew, as well as their father, were called, and sometimes signed +themselves, Columbus of Terrarossa.[418] In this opinion the most +indefatigable modern investigator, Harrisse, agrees with Las Casas.[419] +Nevertheless, in a solemn legal instrument executed February 22, 1498, +establishing a _mayorazgo_, or right of succession to his estates and +emoluments in the Indies, Columbus expressly declares that he was born +in the city of Genoa: "I enjoin it upon my son, the said Don Diego, or +whoever may inherit the said _mayorazgo_, always to keep and maintain in +the City of Genoa one person of our lineage, because from thence I came +and in it I was born."[420] I do not see how such a definite and +positive statement, occurring in such a document, can be doubted or +explained away. It seems clear that the son was born while the parents +were dwelling either at Terrarossa or at Quinto, but what is to hinder +our supposing that the event might have happened when the mother was in +the city on some errand or visit? The fact that Christopher and his +brother were often styled "of Terrarossa" does not prove that they were +born in that hamlet. A family moving thence to Quinto and to Genoa would +stand in much need of some such distinctive epithet, because the name +Colombo was extremely common in that part of Italy; insomuch that the +modern historian, who prowls among the archives of those towns, must +have a care lest he get hold of the wrong person, and thus open a fresh +and prolific source of confusion. This has happened more than once. + + [Footnote 418: Harrisse, tom. i. p. 188; _Vita dell' + Ammiraglio_, cap. xi.] + + [Footnote 419: "Fue este varon escogido de nacion genoves, de + algun lugar de la provincia de Genova; cual fuese, donde nacio + o que nombre tuvo el tal lugar, no consta la verdad dello mas + de que se solia llamar antes que llegase al estado que llego, + Cristobal Colombo de Terra-rubia y lo mismo su hermano + Bartolome Colon." Las Casas, _Historia de las Indias_, tom. i. + p. 42; cf. Harrisse, tom. i. pp. 217-222.] + + [Footnote 420: "Mando al dicho D. Diego, mi hijo, o a la + persona que heredare el dicho mayorazgo, que tenga y sostenga + siempre en la _Ciudad de Genova_ una persona de nuestro linage + ... pues que della sali _y en ella naci_" [italics mine]. + Navarrete, _Coleccion_, tom. ii. p. 232.] + +[Sidenote: Christopher's early years.] + +[Sidenote: Christopher and Bartholomew at Lisbon.] + +On the whole, then, it seems most probable that the Discoverer of +America was born in the city of Genoa in 1436, or not much later. Of his +childhood we know next to nothing. Las Casas tells us that he studied at +the University of Pavia and acquired a good knowledge of Latin.[421] +This has been doubted, as incompatible with the statement of Columbus +that he began a seafaring life at the age of fourteen. It is clear, +however, that the earlier years of Columbus, before his departure for +Portugal, were not all spent in seafaring. Somewhere, if not at Pavia, +he not only learned Latin, but found time to study geography, with a +little astronomy and mathematics, and to become an expert draughtsman. +He seems to have gone to and fro upon the Mediterranean in merchant +voyages, now and then taking a hand in sharp scrimmages with Mussulman +pirates.[422] In the intervals of this adventurous life he was probably +to be found in Genoa, earning his bread by making maps and charts, for +which there was a great and growing demand. About 1470, having become +noted for his skill in such work, he followed his younger brother +Bartholomew to Lisbon,[423] whither Prince Henry's undertakings had +attracted able navigators and learned geographers until that city had +come to be the chief centre of nautical science in Europe. Las Casas +assures us that Bartholomew was quite equal to Christopher as a sailor, +and surpassed him in the art of making maps and globes, as well as in +the beauty of his handwriting.[424] In Portugal, as before in Italy, the +work of the brothers Columbus was an alternation of map-making on land +and adventure on the sea. We have Christopher's own word for it that he +sailed with more than one of those Portuguese expeditions down the +African coast;[425] and I think it not altogether unlikely that he may +have been with Santarem and Escobar in their famous voyage of 1471. + + [Footnote 421: Las Casas, _Historia_, tom. i. p. 46.] + + [Footnote 422: The reader must beware, however, of some of the + stories of adventure attaching to this part of his life, even + where they are confirmed by Las Casas. They evidently rest upon + hearsay, and the incidents are so confused that it is almost + impossible to extract the kernel of truth.] + + [Footnote 423: The date 1470 rests upon a letter of Columbus to + King Ferdinand of Aragon in May, 1505. He says that God must + have directed him into the service of Spain by a kind of + miracle, since he had already been in Portugal, whose king was + more interested than any other sovereign in making discoveries, + and yet God closed his eyes, his ears, and all his senses to + such a degree that _in fourteen years_ Columbus could not + prevail upon him to lend aid to his scheme. "Dije + milagrosamente porque fui a aportar a Portugal, adonde el Rey + de alli entendia en el descubrir mas que otro: el le atajo la + vista, oido y todos los sentidos, que en catorce anos no le + pude hacer entender lo que yo dije." Las Casas, _op. cit._ tom. + iii. p. 187; Navarrete, tom. iii. p. 528. Now it is known that + Columbus finally left Portugal late in 1484, or very early in + 1485, so that fourteen years would carry us back to before 1471 + for the first arrival of Columbus in that country. M. Harrisse + (_op. cit._ tom. i. p. 263) is unnecessarily troubled by the + fact that the same person was not king of Portugal during the + whole of that period. Alfonso V. (brother of Henry the + Navigator) died in 1481, and was succeeded by his son John II.; + but during a considerable part of the time between 1475 and + 1481 the royal authority was exercised by the latter. Both + kings were more interested in making discoveries than any other + European sovereigns. Which king did Columbus mean? Obviously + his words were used loosely; he was too much preoccupied to be + careful about trifles; he probably had John in his mind, and + did not bother himself about Alfonso; King Ferdinand, to whom + he was writing, did not need to have such points minutely + specified, and could understand an elliptical statement; and + the fact stated by Columbus was simply that during a residence + of fourteen years in Portugal he had not been able to enlist + even that enterprising government in behalf of his novel + scheme. + + In the town archives of Savona we find Christopher Columbus + witnessing a document March 20, 1472, endorsing a kind of + promissory note for his father August 26, 1472, and joining + with his mother and his next brother Giovanni, August 7, 1473, + in relinquishing all claims to the house in Genoa sold by his + father Domenico by deed of that date. It will be remembered + that Domenico had moved from Genoa to Savona in 1471. From + these documents (which are all printed in his _Christophe + Colomb_, tom. ii. pp. 419, 420, 424-426) M. Harrisse concludes + that Christopher cannot have gone to Portugal until after + August 7, 1473. Probably not, so far as to be domiciled there; + but inasmuch as he had long been a sailor, why should he not + have been in Portugal, or upon the African coast in a + Portuguese ship, in 1470 and 1471, and nevertheless have been + with his parents in Savona in 1472 and part of 1473? His own + statement "fourteen years" is not to be set aside on such + slight grounds as this. Furthermore, from the fact that + Bartholomew's name is not signed to the deed of August 7, 1473, + M. Harrisse infers that he was then a minor; i. e. under five + and twenty. But it seems to me more likely that Bartholomew was + already domiciled at Lisbon, since we are expressly told by two + good contemporary authorities--both of them Genoese writers + withal--that he moved to Lisbon and began making maps there at + an earlier date than Christopher. See Antonio Gallo, _De + navigatione Columbi per inaccessum antea Oceanum + Commentariolus_, apud Muratori, tom. xxiii. col. 301-304; + Giustiniani, _Psalterium_, Milan, 1516 (annotation to Psalm + xix.); Harrisse, _Bibliotheca Americana Vetustissima_, No. 88. + To these statements M. Harrisse objects that he finds (in + Belloro, _Notizie_, p. 8) mention of a document dated Savona, + June 16, 1480, in which Domenico Colombo gives a power of + attorney to his son Bartholomew to act for him in some matter. + The document itself, however, is not forthcoming, and the + notice cited by M. Harrisse really affords no ground for the + assumption that Bartholomew was in 1480 domiciled at Savona or + at Genoa.] + + [Footnote 424: Las Casas, _op. cit._ tom. i. p. 224; tom. ii. + p. 80. He possessed many maps and documents by both the + brothers.] + + [Footnote 425: "Spesse volte navigando da Lisbona a Guinea," + etc. _Vita dell' Ammiraglio_, cap. iv. The original authority + is Columbus's marginal note in his copy of the _Imago Mundi_ of + Alliacus, now preserved in the Colombina at Seville: "Nota quod + sepius navigando ex Ulixbona ad austrum in Guineam, notavi cum + diligentia viam, etc." Compare the allusions to Guinea in his + letters, Navarrete, _Coleccion_, tom. i. pp. 55, 71, 101.] + +[Sidenote: Philippa Moniz de Perestrelo.] + +[Sidenote: Personal appearance of Columbus.] + +He had not been long in Portugal before he found a wife. We have already +met the able Italian navigator, Bartholomew Perestrelo, who was sent by +Prince Henry to the island of Porto Santo with Zarco and Vaz, about +1425. In recognition of eminent services Prince Henry afterwards, in +1446, appointed him governor of Porto Santo. Perestrelo died in 1457, +leaving a widow (his second wife, Isabella Moniz) and a charming +daughter Philippa,[426] whom Columbus is said to have first met at a +religious service in the chapel of the convent of All Saints at Lisbon. +From the accounts of his personal appearance, given by Las Casas and +others who knew him, we can well understand how Columbus should have won +the heart of this lady, so far above him at that time in social +position. He was a man of noble and commanding presence, tall and +powerfully built, with fair ruddy complexion and keen blue-gray eyes +that easily kindled; while his waving white hair must have been quite +picturesque. His manner was at once courteous and cordial and his +conversation charming, so that strangers were quickly won, and in +friends who knew him well he inspired strong affection and respect.[427] +There was an indefinable air of authority about him, as befitted a man +of great heart and lofty thoughts.[428] Out of those kindling eyes +looked a grand and poetic soul, touched with that divine spark of +religious enthusiasm which makes true genius. + + [Footnote 426: There are some vexed questions concerning this + lady and the connections between the Moniz and Perestrelo + families, for which see Harrisse, tom. i. pp. 267-292.] + + [Footnote 427: Las Casas, _Historia_, tom. i. p. 43. He + describes Bartholomew as not unlike his brother, but not so + tall, less affable in manner, and more stern in disposition, + _id._ tom. ii. p. 80.] + + [Footnote 428: "Christoval Colon ... persona de gran corazon y + altos pensamientos." Mariana, _Historia de Espana_, tom. viii. + p. 341.] + +[Sidenote: His marriage, and life upon the island of Porto Santo.] + +The acquaintance between Columbus and Philippa Moniz de Perestrelo was +not long in ripening into affection, for they were married in 1473. As +there was a small estate at Porto Santo, Columbus went home thither with +his bride to live for a while in quiet and seclusion. Such repose we may +believe to have been favourable to meditation, and on that little +island, three hundred miles out on the mysterious ocean, we are told +that the great scheme of sailing westward to the Indies first took shape +in the mind of Columbus.[429] His father-in-law Perestrelo had left a +quantity of sailing charts and nautical notes, and these Columbus +diligently studied, while ships on their way to and from Guinea every +now and then stopped at the island, and one can easily imagine the eager +discussions that must have been held over the great commercial problem +of the age,--how far south that African coast extended and whether there +was any likelihood of ever finding an end to it. + + [Footnote 429: Upon that island his eldest son Diego was born. + This whole story of the life upon Porto Santo and its relation + to the genesis of Columbus's scheme is told very explicitly by + Las Casas, who says that it was told to him by Diego Columbus + at Barcelona in 1519, when they were waiting upon Charles V., + just elected Emperor and about to start for Aachen to be + crowned. And yet there are modern critics who are disposed to + deny the whole story. (See Harrisse, tom. i. p. 298.) The + grounds for doubt are, however, extremely trivial when + confronted with Las Casas, _Historia_, tom. i. p. 54.] + +[Sidenote: Alfonso V. asks advice of the great astronomer Toscanelli.] + +How long Columbus lived upon Porto Santo is not known, but he seems to +have gone from time to time back to Lisbon, and at length to have made +his home--or in the case of such a rover we might better say his +headquarters--in that city. We come now to a document of supreme +importance for our narrative. Paolo del Pozzo dei Toscanelli, born at +Florence in 1397, was one of the most famous astronomers and +cosmographers of his time, a man to whom it was natural that questions +involving the size and shape of the earth should be referred. To him +Alfonso V. of Portugal made application, through a gentleman of the +royal household, Fernando Martinez, who happened to be an old friend of +Toscanelli. What Alfonso wanted to know was whether there could be a +shorter oceanic route to the Indies than that which his captains were +seeking by following the African coast; if so, he begged that Toscanelli +would explain the nature and direction of such a route. The Florentine +astronomer replied with the letter presently to be quoted in full, dated +June 25, 1474; and along with the letter he sent to the king a sailing +chart, exhibiting his conception of the Atlantic ocean, with Europe on +the east and Cathay on the west. The date of this letter is eloquent. It +was early in 1472 that Santarem and Escobar brought back to Lisbon the +news that beyond the Gold Coast the African shore turned southwards and +stretched away in that direction beyond the equator. As I have already +observed, this was the moment when the question as to the possibility of +a shorter route was likely to arise;[430] and this is precisely the +question we find the king of Portugal putting to Toscanelli some time +before the middle of 1474. Now about this same time, or not long +afterwards, we find Columbus himself appealing to Toscanelli. An aged +Florentine merchant, Lorenzo Giraldi, then settled in Lisbon, was going +back to his native city for a visit, and to him Columbus entrusted a +letter for the eminent astronomer. He received the following answer: + +[Sidenote: Toscanelli's first letter to Columbus.] + +"Paul, the physicist, to Christopher Columbus greeting.[431] I perceive +your great and noble desire to go to the place where the spices grow; +wherefore in reply to a letter of yours, I send you a copy of another +letter, which I wrote a few days ago [or some time ago] to a friend of +mine, a gentleman of the household of the most gracious king of Portugal +before the wars of Castile,[432] in reply to another, which by command +of His Highness he wrote me concerning that matter: and I send you +another sailing chart, similar to the one I sent him, by which your +demands will be satisfied. The copy of that letter of mine is as +follows:-- + +[Sidenote: Toscanelli's copy of his former letter to Martinez--enclosed +in his first letter to Columbus.] + +"'Paul, the physicist, to Fernando Martinez, canon, at Lisbon, +greeting.[433] I was glad to hear of your intimacy and favour with your +most noble and illustrious king. I have formerly spoken with you about a +shorter route to the places of Spices by ocean navigation than that +which you are pursuing by Guinea. The most gracious king now desires +from me some statement, or rather an exhibition to the eye, so that even +slightly educated persons can grasp and comprehend that route. Although +I am well aware that this can be proved from the spherical shape of the +earth, nevertheless, in order to make the point clearer and to +facilitate the enterprise, I have decided to exhibit that route by means +of a sailing chart. I therefore send to his majesty a chart made by my +own hands,[434] upon which are laid down your coasts, and the islands +from which you must begin to shape your course steadily westward, and +the places at which you are bound to arrive, and how far from the pole +or from the equator you ought to keep away, and through how much space +or through how many miles you are to arrive at places most fertile in +all sorts of spices and gems; and do not wonder at my calling _west_ the +parts where the spices are, whereas they are commonly called _east_, +because to persons sailing persistently westward those parts will be +found by courses on the under side of the earth. For if [you go] by land +and by routes on this upper side, they will always be found in the east. +The straight lines drawn lengthwise upon the map indicate distance from +east to west, while the transverse lines show distances from south to +north. I have drawn upon the map various places upon which you may come, +for the better information of the navigators in case of their arriving, +whether through accident of wind or what not, at some different place +from what they had expected; but partly in order that they may show the +inhabitants that they have some knowledge of their country, which is +sure to be a pleasant thing. It is said that none but merchants dwell in +the islands.[435] For so great there is the number of navigators with +their merchandise that in all the rest of the world there are not so +many as in one very splendid port called Zaiton.[436] For they say that +a hundred great ships of pepper unload in that port every year, besides +other ships bringing other spices. That country is very populous and +very rich, with a multitude of provinces and kingdoms and cities without +number, under one sovereign who is called the Great Khan, which name +signifies King of Kings, whose residence is for the most part in the +province of Cathay. His predecessors two hundred years ago desired an +alliance with Christendom; they sent to the pope and asked for a number +of persons learned in the faith, that they might be enlightened; but +those who were sent, having encountered obstacles on the way, +returned.[437] Even in the time of Eugenius[438] there came one to +Eugenius and made a declaration concerning their great goodwill toward +Christians, and I had a long talk with him about many things, about the +great size of their royal palaces and the remarkable length and breadth +of their rivers, and the multitude of cities on the banks of the rivers, +such that on one river there are about two hundred cities, with marble +bridges very long and wide and everywhere adorned with columns. This +country is worth seeking by the Latins, not only because great treasures +may be obtained from it,--gold, silver, and all sorts of jewels and +spices,--but on account of its learned men, philosophers, and skilled +astrologers, and [in order that we may see] with what arts and devices +so powerful and splendid a province is governed, and also [how] they +conduct their wars. This for some sort of answer to his request, so far +as haste and my occupations have allowed, ready in future to make +further response to his royal majesty as much as he may wish. Given at +Florence 25th June, 1474.' + + [Footnote 430: See above, p. 330.] + + [Footnote 431: I translate this prologue from the Italian text + of the _Vita dell' Ammiraglio_, cap. viii. The original Latin + has nowhere been found. A Spanish version of the whole may be + found in Las Casas, _Historia_, tom. i. pp. 92-96. Las Casas, + by a mere slip of the pen, calls "Paul, the physicist," _Marco + Paulo_, and fifty years later Mariana calls him _Marco Polo, + physician_: "por aviso que le dio un cierto Marco Polo medico + Florentin," etc. _Historia de Espana_, tom. viii. p. 343. Thus + step by step doth error grow.] + + [Footnote 432: He means that his friend Martinez has been a + member of King Alfonso's household ever since the time before + the civil wars that began with the attempted deposition of + Henry IV. in 1465 and can hardly be said to have come to an end + before the death of that prince in December, 1474. See + Humboldt, _Examen critique_, tom. i. p. 225.] + + [Footnote 433: I translate this enclosed letter from the + original Latin text, as found, a few years ago, in the + handwriting of Columbus upon the fly-leaves of his copy of the + _Historia rerum ubique gestarum_ of AEneas Sylvius Piccolomini + (Pope Pius II.), published at Venice in 1477, in folio, and now + preserved in the Colombina at Seville. This Latin text is given + by Harrisse, in his _Fernand Colomb_, pp. 178-180, and also + (with more strict regard to the abbreviations of the original) + in his _Bibliotheca Americana Vetustissima--Additions_, Paris, + 1872, pp. xvi.-xviii. Very likely Columbus had occasion to let + the original MS. go out of his hands, and so preserved a copy + of it upon the fly-leaves of one of his books. These same + fly-leaves contain extracts from Josephus and Saint Augustine. + The reader will rightly infer from my translation that the + astronomer's Latin was somewhat rugged and lacking in literary + grace. Apparently he was anxious to jot down quickly what he + had to say, and get back to his work.] + + [Footnote 434: A sketch of this most memorable of maps is given + opposite. Columbus carried it with him upon his first voyage, + and shaped his course in accordance with it. Las Casas + afterwards had it in his possession (_Hist. de las Indias_, + tom. i. pp. 96, 279). It has since been lost, that is to say, + it may still be in existence, but nobody knows where. But it + has been so well described that the work of restoring its + general outlines is not difficult and has several times been + done. The sketch here given is taken from Winsor (_Narr. and + Crit. Hist._, ii. 103), who takes it from _Das Ausland_, 1867, + p. 5. Another restoration may be found in St. Martin's _Atlas_, + pl. ix. This map was the source of the western part of Martin + Behaim's globe, as given below, p. 422.] + + [Footnote 435: All the description that follows is taken by + Toscanelli from the book of Marco Polo.] + + [Footnote 436: On modern maps usually called Chang-chow, about + 100 miles S. W. from Fou-chow.] + + [Footnote 437: I have given an account of this mission, above, + p. 281.] + + [Footnote 438: Eugenius IV., pope from 1431 to 1447.] + +[Sidenote: Conclusion of Toscanelli's first letter to Columbus.] + +"From[439] the city of Lisbon due west there are 26 spaces marked on the +map, each of which contains 250 miles, as far as the very great and +splendid city of Quinsay.[440] For it is a hundred miles in +circumference and has ten bridges, and its name means City of Heaven, +and many wonderful things are told about it and about the multitude of +its arts and revenues. This space is almost a third part of the whole +sphere. That city is in the province of Mangi, or near the province of +Cathay in which land is the royal residence. But from the island of +Antilia, which you know, to the very splendid island of Cipango[441] +there are ten spaces. For that island abounds in gold, pearls, and +precious stones, and they cover the temples and palaces with solid gold. +So through the unknown parts of the route the stretches of sea to be +traversed are not great. Many things might perhaps have been stated more +clearly, but one who duly considers what I have said will be able to +work out the rest for himself. Farewell, most esteemed one." + + [Footnote 439: This paragraph is evidently the conclusion of + the letter to Columbus, and not a part of the letter to + Martinez, which has just ended with the date. In _Vita dell' + Ammiraglio_ the two letters are mixed together.] + + [Footnote 440: On modern maps Hang-chow. After 1127 that city + was for some time the capital of China, and Marco Polo's name + _Quinsay_ represents the Chinese word _King-sse_ or "capital," + now generally applied to Peking. Marco Polo calls it the finest + and noblest city in the world. It appears that he does not + overstate the circumference of its walls at 100 Chinese miles + or _li_, equivalent to about 30 English miles. It has greatly + diminished since Polo's time, while other cities have grown. + Toscanelli was perhaps afraid to repeat Polo's figure as to the + number of stone bridges; Polo says there were 12,000 of them, + high enough for ships to pass under! We thus see how his + Venetian fellow-citizens came to nickname him "Messer Marco + Milione." As Colonel Yule says, "I believe we must not bring + Marco to book for the literal accuracy of his statements as to + the bridges; but all travellers have noticed the number and + elegance of the bridges of cut stone in this part of China." + _Marco Polo_, vol. ii, p. 144.] + + [Footnote 441: For Cipango, or Japan, see Yule's _Marco Polo_, + vol. ii. pp. 195-207. The venerable astronomer's style of + composition is amusing. He sets out to demonstrate to Columbus + that the part of the voyage to be accomplished through new and + unfamiliar stretches of the Atlantic is not great; but he is so + full of the glories of Cathay and Cipango that he keeps + reverting to that subject, to the manifest detriment of his + exposition. His argument, however, is perfectly clear.] + +Some time after the receipt of this letter Columbus wrote again to +Toscanelli, apparently sending him either some charts of his own, or +some notes, or something bearing upon the subject in hand. No such +letter is preserved, but Toscanelli replied as follows:-- + +[Sidenote: Toscanelli's second letter to Columbus.] + +"Paul, the physicist, to Christopher Columbus greeting.[442] I have +received your letters, with the things which you sent me, for which I +thank you very much. I regard as noble and grand your project of sailing +from east to west according to the indications furnished by the map +which I sent you, and which would appear still more plainly upon a +sphere. I am much pleased to see that I have been well understood, and +that the voyage has become not only possible but certain,[443] fraught +with honour as it must be, and inestimable gain, and most lofty fame +among all Christian people. You cannot take in all that it means except +by actual experience, or without such copious and accurate information +as I have had from eminent and learned men who have come from those +places to the Roman court, and from merchants who have traded a long +time in those parts, persons whose word is to be believed (_persone di +grande autorita_). When that voyage shall be accomplished, it will be a +voyage to powerful kingdoms, and to cities and provinces most wealthy +and noble, abounding in all sorts of things most desired by us; I mean, +with all kinds of spices and jewels in great abundance. It will also be +advantageous for those kings and princes who are eager to have dealings +and make alliances with the Christians of our countries, and to learn +from the erudite men of these parts,[444] as well in religion as in all +other branches of knowledge. For these reasons, and many others that +might be mentioned, I do not wonder that you, who are of great courage, +and the whole Portuguese nation, which has always had men distinguished +in all such enterprises, are now inflamed with desire[445] to execute +the said voyage." + + [Footnote 442: The original of this letter is not forthcoming. + I translate from _Vita dell' Ammiraglio_, cap. viii.] + + [Footnote 443: Yet poor old Toscanelli did not live to see it + accomplished; he died in 1482, before Columbus left Portugal.] + + [Footnote 444: That is, of Europe, and especially of Italy. + Toscanelli again refers to Kublai Khan's message to the pope + which--more or less mixed up with the vague notions about + Prester John--had evidently left a deep impression upon the + European mind. In translating the above sentence I have + somewhat retrenched its excessive verbiage without affecting + the meaning.] + + [Footnote 445: In including the "whole Portuguese nation" as + feeling this desire, the good astronomer's enthusiasm again + runs away with him.] + +[Sidenote: Who first suggested the feasibleness of a westward route? Was +it Columbus?] + +These letters are intensely interesting, especially the one to Martinez, +which reveals the fact that as early as 1474 the notion that a westward +route to the Indies would be shorter than the southward route had +somehow been suggested to Alfonso V.; and had, moreover, sufficiently +arrested his attention to lead him to make inquiries of the most eminent +astronomer within reach. Who could have suggested this notion to the +king of Portugal? Was it Columbus, the trained mariner and map-maker, +who might lately have been pondering the theories of Ptolemy and Mela as +affected by the voyage of Santarem and Escobar, and whose connection +with the Moniz and Perestrelo families would now doubtless facilitate +his access to the court? On some accounts this may seem probable, +especially if we bear in mind Columbus's own statement implying that his +appeals to the crown dated almost from the beginning of his fourteen +years in Portugal. + +[Sidenote: Perhaps it was Toscanelli.] + +All the circumstances, however, seem to be equally consistent with the +hypothesis that the first suggestion of the westward route may have come +from Toscanelli himself, through the medium of the canon Martinez, who +had for so many years been a member of King Alfonso's household. The +words at the beginning of the letter lend some probability to this view: +"I have formerly spoken with you about a shorter route to the places of +Spices by ocean navigation than that which you are pursuing by Guinea." +It was accordingly earlier than 1474--how much earlier does not +appear--that such discussions between Toscanelli and Martinez must +probably have come to the ears of King Alfonso; and now, very likely +owing to the voyage of Santarem and Escobar, that monarch began to think +it worth while to seek for further information, "an exhibition to the +eye," so that mariners not learned in astronomy like Toscanelli might +"grasp and comprehend" the shorter route suggested. It is altogether +probable that the Florentine astronomer, who was seventy-seven years old +when he wrote this letter, had already for a long time entertained the +idea of a westward route; and a man in whom the subject aroused so much +enthusiasm could hardly have been reticent about it. It is not likely +that Martinez was the only person to whom he descanted[446] upon the +glory and riches to be found by sailing "straight to Cathay," and there +were many channels through which Columbus might have got some inkling of +his views, even before going to Portugal. + + [Footnote 446: Luigi Pulci, in his famous romantic poem + published in 1481, has a couple of striking stanzas in which + Astarotte says to Rinaldo that the time is at hand when + Hercules shall blush to see how far beyond his Pillars the + ships shall soon go forth to find another hemisphere, for + although the earth is as round as a wheel, yet the water at any + given point is a plane, and inasmuch as all things tend to a + common centre so that by a divine mystery the earth is + suspended in equilibrium among the stars, just so there is an + antipodal world with cities and castles unknown to men of olden + time, and the sun in hastening westwards descends to shine upon + those peoples who are awaiting him below the horizon:-- + + Sappi che questa opinione e vana + Perche piu oltre navicar si puote, + Pero che l' acqua in ogni parte e piana, + Benche la terra abbi forma di ruote; + Era piu grossa allor la gente umana, + Tal che potrebbe arrossirne le gote + Ercule ancor, d' aver posti que' segni, + Perche piu oltre passeranno i legni. + E puossi andar giu nell' altro emisperio, + Pero che al centro ogni cosa reprime: + Sicche la terra per divin misterio + Sospesa sta fra le stelle sublime, + E laggiu son citta, castella, e imperio; + Ma nol cognobbon quelle gente prime. + Vedi che il sol di camminar s' affretta, + Dove io dico che laggiu s' aspetta. + Pulci, _Morgante Maggiore_, xxv. 229, 230. + + This prophecy of western discovery combines with the + astronomical knowledge here shown, to remind us that the + Florentine Pulci was a fellow-townsman and most likely an + acquaintance of Toscanelli.] + +[Sidenote: The idea was suggested by the globular form of the earth;] + +[Sidenote: and was as old as Aristotle.] + +[Sidenote: Opinions of ancient writers.] + +However this may have been, the letter clearly proves that at that most +interesting period, in or about 1474, Columbus was already meditating +upon the westward route.[447] Whether he owed the idea to Toscanelli, +or not, is a question of no great importance so far as concerns his own +originality; for the idea was already in the air. The originality of +Columbus did not consist in his conceiving the possibility of reaching +the shores of Cathay by sailing west, but in his conceiving it in such +distinct and practical shape as to be ready to make the adventure in +his own person. As a matter of theory the possibility of such a voyage +could not fail to be suggested by the globular form of the earth; and +ever since the days of Aristotle that had been generally admitted by men +learned in physical science. Aristotle proved, from the different +altitudes of the pole-star in different places, that the earth must +necessarily be a globe. Moreover, says Aristotle, "some stars are seen +in Egypt or at Cyprus, but are not seen in the countries to the north of +these; and the stars that in the north are visible while they make a +complete circuit, there undergo a setting. So that from this it is +manifest, not only that the form of the earth is round, but also that it +is part of not a very large sphere; for otherwise the difference would +not be so obvious to persons making so small a change of place. +Wherefore we may judge that _those persons who connect the region in the +neighbourhood of the Pillars of Hercules with that towards India, and +who assert that in this way the sea is_ ONE, do not assert things very +improbable."[448] It thus appears that more than eighteen centuries +before Columbus took counsel of Toscanelli, "those persons" to whom +Aristotle alludes were discussing, as a matter of theory, this same +subject. Eratosthenes held that it would be easy enough to sail from +Spain to India on the same parallel were it not for the vast extent of +the Atlantic ocean.[449] On the other hand, Seneca maintained that the +distance was probably not so very great, and that with favouring winds a +ship might make the voyage in a few days.[450] In one of his tragedies +Seneca has a striking passage[451] which has been repeatedly quoted as +referring to the discovery of America, and is certainly one of the most +notable instances of prophecy on record. There will come a time, he +says, in the later years, when Ocean shall loosen the bonds by which we +have been confined, when an immense land shall lie revealed, and Tethys +shall disclose new worlds, and Thule will no longer be the most remote +of countries. In Strabo there is a passage, less commonly noticed, which +hits the truth--as we know it to-day--even more closely. Having argued +that the total length of the Inhabited World is only about a third part +of the circumference of the earth in the temperate zone, he suggests it +as possible, or even probable, that within this space there may be +another Inhabited World, or even more than one; but such places would be +inhabited by different races of men, with whom the geographer, whose +task it is to describe the _known_ world, has no concern.[452] Nothing +could better illustrate the philosophical character of Strabo's mind. In +such speculations, so far as his means of verification went, he was +situated somewhat as we are to-day with regard to the probable +inhabitants of Venus or Mars. + + [Footnote 447: It was formerly assumed, without hesitation, + that the letter from Toscanelli to Columbus was written and + sent in 1474. The reader will observe, however, that while the + enclosed letter to Martinez is dated June 25, 1474, the letter + to Columbus, in which it was enclosed, has no date. But + according to the text as given in _Vita dell' Ammiraglio_, cap. + viii., this would make no difference, for the letter to + Columbus was sent only a few days later than the original + letter to Martinez: "I send you a copy of another letter, which + I wrote a few days ago (_alquanti giorni fa_) to a friend of + mine, a gentleman of the household of the king of Portugal + before the wars of Castile, in reply to another," etc. This + friend, Martinez, had evidently been a gentleman of the + household of Alfonso V. since before the civil wars of Castile, + which in 1474 had been going on intermittently for nine years + under the feeble Henry IV., who did not die until December 12, + 1474. Toscanelli apparently means to say "a friend of mine who + has for ten years or more been a gentleman of the royal + household," etc.; only instead of mentioning the number of + years, he alludes less precisely (as most people, and perhaps + especially old people, are apt to do) to the most notable, + mentionable, and glaring fact in the history of the Peninsula + for that decade,--namely, the civil wars of Castile. As if an + American writer in 1864 had said, "a friend of mine, who has + been secretary to A. B. since before the war," instead of + saying "for four years or more." This is the only reasonable + interpretation of the phrase as it stands above, and it was + long ago suggested by Humboldt (_Examen critique_, tom. i. p. + 225). Italian and Spanish writers of that day, however, were + lavish with their commas and sprinkled them in pretty much at + haphazard. In this case Ferdinand's translator, Ulloa, + sprinkled in one comma too many, and it fell just in front of + the clause "before the wars of Castile;" so that Toscanelli's + sentence was made to read as follows: "I send you a copy of + another letter, which I wrote a few days ago to a friend of + mine, a gentleman of the household of the king of Portugal, + before the wars of Castile, in reply to another," etc. Now this + unhappy comma, coming after the word "Portugal," has caused + ream after ream of good paper to be inked up in discussion, for + it has led some critics to understand the sentence as follows: + "I send you a copy of another letter, which I wrote a few days + ago, before the wars of Castile, to a friend of mine," etc. + This reading brought things to a pretty pass. Evidently a + letter dated June 25, 1474, could not have been written before + the civil wars of Castile, which began in 1465. It was + therefore assumed that the phrase must refer to the "War of + Succession" between Castile and Portugal (in some ways an + outgrowth from the civil wars of Castile) which began in May, + 1475, and ended in September, 1479. M. d'Avezac thinks that the + letter to Columbus must have been written after the latter + date, or more than five years later than the enclosed letter. + M. Harrisse is somewhat less exacting, and is willing to admit + that it may have been written at any time after this war had + fairly begun,--say in the summer of 1475, not more than a year + or so later than the enclosed letter. Still he is disposed on + some accounts to put the date as late as 1482. The phrase + _alquanti giorni fa_ will not allow either of these + interpretations. It means "a few days ago," and cannot possibly + mean a year ago, still less five years ago. The Spanish + retranslator from Ulloa renders it exactly _algunos dias ha_ + (Navarrete, _Coleccion_, tom. ii. p. 7), and Humboldt (_loc. + cit._) has it _il y a quelques jours_. If we could be sure that + the expression is a correct rendering of the lost Latin + original, we might feel sure that the letter to Columbus must + have been written as early as the beginning of August, 1474. + But now the great work of Las Casas, after lying in manuscript + for 314 years, has at length been published in 1875. Las Casas + gives a Spanish version of the Toscanelli letters (_Historia de + las Indias_, tom. i. pp. 92-97), which is unquestionably older + than Ulloa's Italian version, though perhaps not necessarily + more accurate. The phrase in Las Casas is not _algunos dias + ha_, but _ha dias_, i. e. not "a few days ago," but "some time + ago." Just which expression Toscanelli used cannot be + determined unless somebody is fortunate enough to discover the + lost Latin original. The phrase in Las Casas admits much more + latitude of meaning than the other. I should suppose that _ha + dias_ might refer to an event a year or two old, which would + admit of the interpretation considered admissible by M. + Harrisse. I should hardly suppose that it could refer to an + event five or six years old; if Toscanelli had been referring + in 1479 or 1480 to a letter written in 1474, his phrase would + probably have appeared in Spanish as _algunos anos ha_, i. e. + "a few years ago," not as _ha dias_. M. d'Avezac's hypothesis + seems to me not only inconsistent with the phrase _ha dias_, + but otherwise improbable. The frightful anarchy in Castile, + which began in 1465 with the attempt to depose Henry IV. and + alter the succession, was in great measure a series of ravaging + campaigns and raids, now more general, now more local, and can + hardly be said to have come to an end before Henry's death in + 1474. The war which began with the invasion of Castile by + Alfonso V. of Portugal, in May, 1475, was simply a later phase + of the same series of conflicts, growing out of disputed claims + to the crown and rivalries among great barons, in many respects + similar to the contemporary anarchy in England called the Wars + of the Roses. It is not likely that Toscanelli, writing at any + time between 1475 and 1480, and speaking of the "wars of + Castile" in the plural, could have had 1474 in his mind as a + date previous to those wars; to his mind it would have rightly + appeared as a date in the midst of them. In any case, + therefore, his reference must be to a time before 1465, and + Humboldt's interpretation is in all probability correct. The + letter from Toscanelli to Columbus was probably written within + a year or two after June 25, 1474. + + On account of the vast importance of the Toscanelli letters, + and because the early texts are found in books which the reader + is not likely to have at hand, I have given them entire in the + Appendix at the end of this work.] + + [Footnote 448: [Greek: Hoste ta hyper tes kephales astra + megalen echein ten metabolen, kai me tauta phainesthai pros + arkton te kai mesembrian metabainousin; enioi gar en Aigypto + men asteres horontai, kai peri Kypron; en tois pros arkton de + chorious ouch horontai kai ta dia pantos en tois pros arkton + phainomena ton astron, en ekeinois tois topois poieitai dysin. + Host' ou monon ek touton delon peripheres on to schema tes ges, + alla kai sphairas ou megales. Ou gar an houto tachy epidelon + epoiei methistemenois houto brachy. Dio tous hypolambanontas + synaptein ton peri tas Herakleious stelas topon to peri ten + Indiken, kai touton ton tropon einai ten Thalattan mian, me + lian hypolambanein apista dokein.] Aristotle, _De Coelo_, ii. + 14. He goes on to say that "those persons" allege the existence + of elephants alike in Mauretania and in India in proof of their + theory.] + + [Footnote 449: [Greek: Host' ei me to megethos tou Atlantikou + pelagous ekolye, kan plein hemas ek tes Iberias eis ten Indiken + dia tou autou parallelou.] Strabo, i. 4, Sec. 6.] + + [Footnote 450: "Quantum enim est, quod ab ultimis litoribus + Hispaniae usque ad Indos jacet? Paucissimorum dierum spatium, si + navem suus ventus implevit." Seneca, _Nat. Quaest._, i. praef. Sec. + 11.] + + [Footnote 451: + + Venient annis saecula seris, + Quibus Oceanus vincula rerum + Laxet, et ingens pateat tellus, + Tethysque novos detegat orbes, + Nec sit terris ultima Thule. + Seneca, _Medea_, 376. + + In the copy of Seneca's tragedies, published at Venice in + 1510, bought at Valladolid by Ferdinand Columbus in March, + 1518, for 4 reals (plus 2 reals for binding), and now to be + seen at the Biblioteca Colombina, there is a marginal note + attached to these verses: "haec prophetia expleta [=e] per + patr[=e] meuz[=z] cristofor[=u] col[=o] almir[=a]t[=e] anno + 1492."] + + [Footnote 452: [Greek: Kaloumen gar oikoumenen hen oikoumen kai + gnorizomen; endeketai de kai en te aute eukrato zone kai dyo + oikoumenas einai e kai pleious.] Strabo, i. 4, Sec. 6; [Greek: kai + gar ei houtos echei, ouch hypo touton ge oikeitai ton par' + hemin; all' ekeinen allen oikoumenen theteon. hoper esti + pithanon. Hemin de ta en aute tauta lekteon.] Id. ii. 5, Sec. 13. + This has always seemed to me one of the most remarkable + anticipations of modern truth in all ancient literature. Mr. + Bunbury thinks it may have suggested the famous verses of + Seneca just quoted. _History of Ancient Geography_, vol. ii. p. + 224.] + +[Sidenote: Opinions of Christian writers.] + +[Sidenote: Roger Bacon.] + +[Sidenote: The "Imago Mundi" of Petrus Alliacus.] + +Early in the Christian era we are told by an eminent Greek astronomer +that the doctrine of the earth's sphericity was accepted by all +competent persons except the Epicureans.[453] Among the Fathers of the +Church there was some difference of opinion; while in general they +denied the existence of human beings beyond the limits of their +Oecumene, or Inhabited World, this denial did not necessarily involve +disbelief in the globular figure of the earth.[454] The views of the +great mass of people, and of the more ignorant of the clergy, down to +the time of Columbus, were probably well represented in the book of +Cosmas Indicopleustes already cited.[455] Nevertheless among the more +enlightened clergy the views of the ancient astronomers were never quite +forgotten, and in the great revival of intellectual life in the +thirteenth century the doctrine of the earth's sphericity was again +brought prominently into the foreground. We find Dante basing upon it +the cosmical theory elaborated in his immortal poem.[456] In 1267 Roger +Bacon--stimulated, no doubt, by the reports of the ocean east of +Cathay--collected passages from ancient writers to prove that the +distance from Spain to the eastern shores of Asia could not be very +great. Bacon's argument and citations were copied in an extremely +curious book, the "Imago Mundi," published in 1410 by the Cardinal +Pierre d'Ailly, Bishop of Cambrai, better known by the Latinized form of +his name as Petrus Alliacus. This treatise, which throughout the +fifteenth century enjoyed a great reputation, was a favourite book with +Columbus, and his copy of it, covered with marginal annotations in his +own handwriting, is still preserved among the priceless treasures of the +Biblioteca Colombina.[457] He found in it strong confirmation of his +views, and it is not impossible that the reading of it may have first +put such ideas into his head. Such a point, however, can hardly be +determined. As I have already observed, these ideas were in the air. +What Columbus did was not to originate them, but to incarnate them in +facts and breathe into them the breath of life. It was one thing to +suggest, as a theoretical possibility, that Cathay might be reached by +sailing westward; and it was quite another thing to prove that the +enterprise was feasible with the ships and instruments then at command. + + [Footnote 453: [Greek: Hoi de hemeteroi] [i. e. the Stoics] + [Greek: kai apo mathematon pantes, kai hoi pleious ton apo tou + Sokratikou didaskaleiou sphairikon einai to schema tes ges + diebebaiosanto.] Cleomedes, i. 8; cf. Lucretius, _De Rerum + Nat._, i. 1052-1082; Stobaeus, _Eclog._ i. 19; Plutarch, _De + facie in Orbe Luna_, cap. vii.] + + [Footnote 454: See Augustine, _De civitate Dei_, xvi. 9; + Lactantius, _Inst. Div._, iii. 23; Jerome, _Comm. in Ezechiel_, + i. 6; Whewell's _History of the Inductive Sciences_, vol i. p. + 196.] + + [Footnote 455: See above, p. 266.] + + [Footnote 456: For an account of the cosmography of the Divine + Comedy, illustrated with interesting diagrams, see Artaud de + Montor, _Histoire de Dante Alighieri_, Paris, 1841.] + + [Footnote 457: It was first printed without indication of place + or date, but probably the place was Paris and the date + somewhere from 1483 to 1490. Manuscript copies were very + common, and Columbus probably knew the book long before that + time. There is a good account of it in Humboldt's _Examen + critique_, tom. i. pp. 61-76, 96-108. Humboldt thinks that such + knowledge as Columbus had of the opinions of ancient writers + was chiefly if not wholly obtained from Alliacus. It is + doubtful if Columbus had any direct acquaintance with the works + of Roger Bacon, but he knew the _Liber Cosmographicus_ of + Albertus Magnus and the _Speculum Naturale_ of Vincent de + Beauvais (both about 1250), and drew encouragement from them. + He also knew the book of Mandeville, first printed in French at + Lyons in 1480, and a Latin translation of Marco Polo, published + in 1485, a copy of which, with marginal MS. notes, is now in + the Colombina.] + +[Illustration: Annotations by Columbus.] + +[Sidenote: Ancient estimates of the size of the globe and the length of +the Oecumene.] + +The principal consideration, of course, was the distance to be +traversed; and here Columbus was helped by an error which he shared with +many geographers of his day. He somewhat underestimated the size of the +earth, and at the same time greatly overestimated the length of Asia. +The first astronomer to calculate, by scientific methods, the +circumference of our planet at the equator was Eratosthenes (B. C. +276-196), and he came--all things considered--fairly near the truth; he +made it 25,200 geographical miles (of ten stadia), or about one seventh +too great. The true figure is 21,600 geographical miles, equivalent to +24,899 English statute miles.[458] Curiously enough, Posidonius, in +revising this calculation a century later, reduced the figure to 18,000 +miles, or about one seventh too small. The circumference in the latitude +of Gibraltar he estimated at 14,000 miles; the length of the Oecumene, +or Inhabited World, he called 7,000; the distance across the Atlantic +from the Spanish strand to the eastern shores of Asia was the other +7,000. The error of Posidonius was partially rectified by Ptolemy, who +made the equatorial circumference 20,400 geographical miles, and the +length of a degree 56.6 miles.[459] This estimate, in which the error +was less than one sixteenth, prevailed until modern times. Ptolemy also +supposed the Inhabited World to extend over about half the circumference +of the temperate zone, but the other half he imagined as consisting +largely of bad lands, quagmires, and land-locked seas, instead of a vast +and open ocean.[460] + + [Footnote 458: See Herschel's _Outlines of Astronomy_, p. 140. + For an account of the method employed by Eratosthenes, see + Delambre, _Histoire de l'astronomie ancienne_, tom. i. pp. + 86-91; Lewis, _Astronomy of the Ancients_, p. 198.] + + [Footnote 459: See Bunbury's _History of Ancient Geography_, + vol. ii. pp. 95-97, 546-579; Mueller and Donaldson, _History of + Greek Literature_, vol. iii. p. 268.] + + [Footnote 460: Strabo, in arguing against this theory of bad + lands, etc., as obstacles to ocean navigation--a theory which + seems to be at least as old as Hipparchus--has a passage which + finely expresses the loneliness of the sea:--[Greek: Hoite gar + periplein epicheiresantes, eita anastrepsantes, ouch hypo + epeirou tinos antipiptouses kai kolyouses, ton epekeina ploun + anakrousthenai phasin, alla hypo aporias kai eremias, ouden + hetton tes thalattes echouses ton poron] (lib. i. cap. i. Sec. 8). + When one thinks of this [Greek: aporia] and [Greek: eremia], + one fancies oneself far out on the Atlantic, alone in an open + boat on a cloudy night, bewildered and hopeless.] + +[Sidenote: Toscanelli's calculation of the size of the earth,] + +[Sidenote: and of the position of Cipango.] + +Ptolemy's opinion as to the length of the Inhabited World was +considerably modified in the minds of those writers who toward the end +of the Middle Ages had been strongly impressed by the book of Marco +Polo. Among these persons was Toscanelli. This excellent astronomer +calculated the earth's equatorial circumference at almost exactly the +true figure; his error was less than 124 English miles in excess. The +circumference in the latitude of Lisbon he made 26 x 250 x 3 = 19,500 +miles.[461] Two thirds of this figure, or 13,000 miles, he allowed for +the length of the Oecumene, from Lisbon eastward to Quinsay (i. e. +Hang-chow), leaving 6,500 for the westward voyage from Lisbon to +Quinsay. Thus Toscanelli elongated Asia by nearly the whole width of the +Pacific ocean. His Quinsay would come about 130 deg. W., a few hundred miles +west of the mouth of the Columbia river. Zaiton (i. e. Chang-chow), the +easternmost city in Toscanelli's China, would come not far from the tip +end of Lower California. Thus the eastern coast of Cipango, about a +thousand miles east from Zaiton, would fall in the Gulf of Mexico +somewhere near the ninety-third meridian, and that island, being over a +thousand miles in length north and south, would fill up the space +between the parallel of New Orleans and that of the city of Guatemala. +The westward voyage from the Canaries to Cipango, according to +Toscanelli, would be rather more than 3,250 miles, but at a third of the +distance out he placed the imaginary island of "Antilia," with which he +seems to have supposed Portuguese sailors to be familiar.[462] "So +through the unknown parts of the route," said the venerable astronomer, +"the stretches of sea to be traversed are not great,"--not much more +than 2,000 English miles, not so long as the voyage from Lisbon to the +Guinea coast. + +[Sidenote: Columbus's opinion of the size of the globe, the length of +the Oecumene, and the width of the Atlantic ocean.] + +[Sidenote: The fourth book of Esdras.] + +While Columbus attached great importance to these calculations and +carried Toscanelli's map with him upon his first voyage, he improved +somewhat upon the estimates of distance, and thus made his case still +more hopeful. Columbus was not enough of an astronomer to adopt +Toscanelli's improved measurement of the size of the earth. He accepted +Ptolemy's figure of 20,400 geographical miles for the equatorial +girth,[463] which would make the circumference in the latitude of the +Canaries about 18,000; and Columbus, on the strength of sundry passages +from ancient authors which he found in Alliacus (cribbed from Roger +Bacon), concluded that six sevenths of this circumference must be +occupied by the Oecumene, including Cipango, so that in order to reach +that wonderful island he would only have to sail over one seventh, or +not much more than 2,500 miles from the Canaries.[464] An authority upon +which he placed great reliance in this connection was the fourth book +of Esdras, which although not a canonical part of the Bible was approved +by holy men, and which expressly asserted that six parts of the earth +(i. e. of the length of the Oecumene, or north temperate zone) are +inhabited and only the seventh part covered with water. From the general +habit of Columbus's mind it may be inferred that it was chiefly upon +this scriptural authority that he based his confident expectation of +finding land soon after accomplishing seven hundred leagues from the +Canaries. Was it not as good as written in the Bible that land was to be +found there? + + [Footnote 461: See above, p. 360. Toscanelli's mile was nearly + equivalent to the English statute mile. See the very important + note in Winsor, _Narr. and Crit. Hist._, vol. i. p. 51.] + + [Footnote 462: The reader will also notice upon Toscanelli's + map the islands of Brazil and St. Brandan. For an account of + all these fabulous islands see Winsor, _Narr. and Crit. Hist._, + vol. i. pp. 46-51. The name of "Antilia" survives in the name + "Antilles," applied since about 1502 to the West India islands. + All the islands west of Toscanelli's ninetieth meridian belong + in the Pacific. He drew them from his understanding of the + descriptions of Marco Polo, Friar Odoric, and other travellers. + These were the islands supposed, rightly, though vaguely, to + abound in spices.] + + [Footnote 463: Columbus was confirmed in this opinion by the + book of the Arabian astronomer Alfragan, written about A. D. + 950, a Latin translation of which appeared in 1447. There is a + concise summary of it in Delambre, _Histoire de l'astronomie du + Moyen Age_, pp. 63-73. Columbus proceeded throughout on the + assumption that the length of a degree at the equator is 56.6 + geographical miles, instead of the correct figure 60. This + would oblige him to reduce all Toscanelli's figures by about + six per cent., to begin with. Upon this point we have the + highest authority, that of Columbus himself, in an autograph + marginal note in his copy of the _Imago Mundi_, where he + expresses himself most explicitly: "Nota quod sepius navigando + ex Ulixbona ad Austrum in Guineam, notavi cum diligentia viam, + ut solitum naucleris et malineriis, et preteria accepi + altitudinem solis cum quadrante et aliis instrumentis plures + vices, et inveni concordare cum Alfragano, videlicet respondere + quemlibet gradum milliariis 56-2/3. Quare ad hanc mensuram + fidem adhibendam. Tunc igitur possumus dicere quod circuitus + Terrae sub arae equinoctiali est 20,400 milliariorum. Similiter + que id invenit magister Josephus phisicus et astrologus et alii + plures missi specialiter ad hoc per serenissimum regem + Portugaliae," etc.; _anglice_, "Observe that in sailing often + from Lisbon southward to Guinea, I carefully marked the course, + according to the custom of skippers and mariners, and moreover + I took the sun's altitude several times with a quadrant and + other instruments, and in agreement with Alfragan I found that + each degree [i. e. of longitude, measured on a great circle] + answers to 56-2/3 miles. So that one may rely upon this + measure. We may therefore say that the equatorial circumference + of the earth is 20,400 miles. A similar result was obtained by + Master Joseph, the physicist [or, perhaps, physician] and + astronomer, and several others sent for this special purpose by + the most gracious king of Portugal."--Master Joseph was + physician to John II. of Portugal, and was associated with + Martin Behaim in the invention of an improved astrolabe which + greatly facilitated ocean navigation.--The exact agreement with + Ptolemy's figures shows that by a mile Columbus meant a + geographical mile, equivalent to ten Greek stadia.] + + [Footnote 464: One seventh of 18,000 is 2,571 geographical + miles, equivalent to 2,963 English miles. The actual length of + Columbus's first voyage, from last sight of land in the + Canaries to first sight of land in the Bahamas, was according + to his own dead reckoning about 3,230 geographical miles. See + his journal in Navarrete, _Coleccion_, tom. i. pp. 6-20. + + I give here in parallel columns the passage from Bacon and the + one from Alliacus upon which Columbus placed so much reliance. + In the Middle Ages there was a generous tolerance of much that + we have since learned to stigmatize as plagiarism. + + From Roger Bacon, _Opus From Petrus Alliacus, _De + Majus_ (A. D. 1267), London, imagine Mundi_ (A. D. 1410), + 1733, ed. Jebb, p. 183:--"Sed Paris, cir. 1490, cap. viii. fol. + Aristoteles vult in fine secundi 13 b:--"Summus Aristoteles + Coeli et Mundi quod plus [terrae] dicit quod mare parvum est inter + habitetur quam quarta pars. Et finem Hispaniae a parte occidentis + Averroes hoc confirmat. Dicit et inter principium Indiae + Aristoteles quod mare parvum a parte orientis, et vult quod + est inter finem Hispaniae a parte plus habitetur quam quarta + occidentis et inter principium pars, et Averroes hoc confirmat. + Indiae a parte orientis. Et Seneca, Insuper Seneca libro + libro quinto Naturalium, quinto Naturalium, dicit quod + dicit quod mare hoc est navigabile mare est navigabile in paucis + in paucissimis diebus si diebus si ventus sit conveniens. + ventus sit conveniens. Et Plinius Et Plinius docet in Naturalibus, + docet in Naturalibus quod libro secundo, quod navigatum + navigatum est a sinu Arabico est a sinu Arabico usque ad + usque ad Gades: unde refert Gades Herculis non multum + quendam fugisse a rego suo magno tempore, + prae timore et intravit sinum + Maris Rubri ... qui circiter + spatium navigationis annualis + distat a Mari Indico: ... ex + quo patet principium Indiae in + oriente multum a nobis distare + et ab Hispania, postquam tantum + distat a principio Arabiae + versus Indiam. A fine Hispaniae unde concludunt + sub terra tam parvum mare est aliqui, quod mare non est + quod non potest cooperire tres tantum quod possit cooperire + quartas terrae. Et hoc per tres quartas terrae. Accedit ad + auctoritatem alterius considerationis hoc auctoritas Esdrae libro suo + probatur. Nam Esdras quarto, dicentis quod sex partes + dicit quarto libro, quod sex + partes terrae sunt habitatae et terrae sunt habitatae et septima + septima est cooperta aquis. Et est cooperta aquis, + ne aliquis impediat hanc auctoritatem, + dicens quod liber ille + est apocryphus et ignotae auctoritatis, + dicendum est quod cujus libri auctoritatem sancti + sancti habuerunt illum librum habuerunt in reverentia." + in usu et confirmant veritates + sacras per illum librum." + + Columbus must either have carried the book of Alliacus with him + on his voyages, or else have read his favourite passages until + he knew them by heart, as may be seen from the following + passage of a letter, written from Hispaniola in 1498 to + Ferdinand and Isabella (Navarrete, tom i. p. 261):--"El + Aristotel dice que este mundo es pequeno y es el agua muy poca, + y que facilmente se puede pasar de Espana a las Indias, y esto + confirma el Avenryz [Averroes], y le alega el cardenal Pedro de + Aliaco, autorizando este decir y aquel de Seneca, el qual + conforma con estos.... A esto trac una autoridad de Esdras del + tercero libro suyo, adonde dice que de siete partes del mundo + las seis son descubiertas y la una es cubierta de agua, la cual + autoridad es aprobada por Santos, los cuales dan autoridad al + 3^o e 4^o libro de Esdras, ansi come es S. Agustin e S. + Ambrosio en su _exameron_," etc.--"Singular period," exclaims + Humboldt, "when a mixture of testimonies from Aristotle and + Averroes, Esdras and Seneca, on the small extent of the ocean + compared with the magnitude of continental land, afforded to + monarchs guarantees for the safety and expediency of costly + enterprises!" _Cosmos_, tr. Sabine, vol. ii. p. 250. The + passages cited in this note may be found in Humboldt, _Examen + critique_, tom. i. pp. 65-69. Another interesting passage from + _Imago Mundi_, cap. xv., is quoted on p. 78 of the same work.] + +[Sidenote: Fortunate mixture of truth and error.] + +[Sidenote: The whole point and purport of Columbus's scheme.] + +Thus did Columbus arrive at his decisive conclusion, estimating the +distance across the Sea of Darkness to Japan at something less than the +figure which actually expresses the distance to the West Indies. Many a +hopeful enterprise has been ruined by errors in figuring, but this wrong +calculation was certainly a great help to Columbus. When we consider +how difficult he found it to obtain men and ships for a voyage supposed +to be not more than 2,500 miles in this new and untried direction, we +must admit that his chances would have been poor indeed if he had +proposed to sail westward on the Sea of Darkness for nearly 12,000 +miles, the real distance from the Canaries to Japan. It was a case where +the littleness of the knowledge was not a dangerous but a helpful thing. +If instead of the somewhat faulty astronomy of Ptolemy and the very hazy +notions prevalent about "the Indies," the correct astronomy of +Toscanelli had prevailed and had been joined to an accurate knowledge of +eastern Asia, Columbus would surely never have conceived his great +scheme, and the discovery of America would probably have waited to be +made by accident.[465] The whole point of his scheme lay in its promise +of a shorter route to the Indies than that which the Portuguese were +seeking by way of Guinea. Unless it was probable that it could furnish +such a shorter route, there was no reason for such an extraordinary +enterprise. + + [Footnote 465: See below, vol. ii. p. 96.] + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: Columbus's speculations on climate.] + +[Sidenote: His voyage to Guinea.] + +[Sidenote: His voyage into the Arctic ocean, 1477.] + +The years between 1474 and 1480 were not favourable for new maritime +ventures on the part of the Portuguese government. The war with Castile +absorbed the energies of Alfonso V. as well as his money, and he was +badly beaten into the bargain. About this time Columbus was writing a +treatise on "the five habitable zones," intended to refute the old +notions about regions so fiery or so frozen as to be inaccessible to +man. As this book is lost we know little or nothing of its views and +speculations, but it appears that in writing it Columbus utilized sundry +observations made by himself in long voyages into the torrid and arctic +zones. He spent some time at the fortress of San Jorge de la Mina, on +the Gold Coast, and made a study of that equinoctial climate.[466] This +could not have been earlier than 1482, the year in which the fortress +was built. Five years before this he seems to have gone far in the +opposite direction. In a fragment of a letter or diary, preserved by his +son and by Las Casas, he says:--"In the month of February, 1477, I +sailed a hundred leagues beyond the island of Thule, [to?] an island of +which the south part is in latitude 73 deg., not 63 deg., as some say; and it +[i. e. Thule] does not lie within Ptolemy's western boundary, but much +farther west. And to this island, which is as big as England, the +English go with their wares, especially from Bristol. When I was there +the sea was not frozen. In some places the tide rose and fell twenty-six +fathoms. It is true that the Thule mentioned by Ptolemy lies where he +says it does, and this by the moderns is called Frislanda."[467] + + [Footnote 466: _Vita dell' Ammiraglio_, cap. iv.; Las Casas, + _Historia_, tom. i. p. 49.] + + [Footnote 467: "Io navigai l' anno M CCCC LXXVII nel mese di + Febraio oltra Tile isola cento leghe, la cui parte Australe e + lontana dall' Equinottiale settantatre gradi, e non + sessantatre, come alcuni vogliono; ne giace dentro della linea, + che include l' Occidente di Tolomeo, ma e molto piu + Occidentale. Et a questa isola, che e tanto grande, come + l'Inghilterra, vanno gl' Inglesi con le loro mercatantie, + specialmente quelli di Bristol. Et al tempo che io vi andai, + non era congelato il mare, quantunque vi fossero si grosse + maree, che in alcuni luoghi ascendeva ventisei braccia, e + discendeva altretanti in altezza. E bene il vero, che Tile, + quella, di cui Tolomeo fa mentione, giace dove egli dice; & + questa da' moderni e chiamata Frislanda." _Vita dell' + Ammiraglio_, cap. iv. In the original edition of 1571, there + are no quotation-marks; and in some modern editions, where + these are supplied, the quotation is wrongly made to end just + before the last sentence, so as to make it appear like a gloss + of Ferdinand's. This is, however, impossible. Ferdinand died in + 1539, and the Zeno narrative of Frislanda was not published + till 1558, so that the only source from which that name could + have come into his book was his father's document. The + genuineness of the passage is proved by its recurrence, almost + word for word, in Las Casas, _Historia_, tom. i. p. 48.] + +[Sidenote: He may have reached Jan Mayen island,] + +[Sidenote: and stopped at Iceland.] + +Taken as it stands this passage is so bewildering that we can hardly +suppose it to have come in just this shape from the pen of Columbus. It +looks as if it had been abridged from some diary of his by some person +unfamiliar with the Arctic seas; and I have ventured to insert in +brackets a little preposition which may perhaps help to straighten out +the meaning. By Thule Columbus doubtless means Iceland, which lies +between latitudes 64 deg. and 67 deg., and it looks as if he meant to say that +he ran beyond it as far as the little island, just a hundred leagues +from Iceland and in latitude 71 deg., since discovered by Jan Mayen in 1611. +The rest of the paragraph is more intelligible. It is true that Iceland +lies thirty degrees farther west than Ptolemy placed Thule; and that for +a century before the discovery of the Newfoundland fisheries the English +did much fishing in the waters about Iceland, and carried wares +thither, especially from Bristol.[468] There can be no doubt that by +Frislanda Columbus means the Faeroe islands,[469] which do lie in the +latitude though not in the longitude mentioned by Ptolemy. As for the +voyage into the Jan Mayen waters in February, it would be dangerous but +by no means impossible.[470] In another letter Columbus mentions +visiting England, apparently in connection with this voyage,[471] and it +is highly probable that he went in an English ship from Bristol. + + [Footnote 468: See Thorold Rogers, _The Economic Interpretation + of History_, London, 1888, pp. 103, 319.] + + [Footnote 469: See above, p. 236.] + + [Footnote 470: See the graphic description of a voyage in these + waters in March, 1882, in Nansen's _The First Crossing of + Greenland_, London, 1890, vol. i. pp. 149-152.] + + [Footnote 471: "E vidi tutto il Levante, e tutto il Ponente, + che si dice per andare verso il Settentrione, cioe + l'Inghilterra, e ho camminato per la Guinea." _Vita dell' + Ammiraglio_, cap. iv.] + +[Sidenote: The hypothesis that Columbus "must have" heard and understood +the story of the Vinland voyages.] + +The object of Columbus in making these long voyages to the equator and +into the polar circle was, as he tells us, to gather observations upon +climate. From the circumstance of his having made a stop at some point +in Iceland, it was conjectured by Finn Magnusson that Columbus might +have learned something about Vinland which served to guide him to his +own enterprise or to encourage him in it. Starting from this suggestion, +it has been argued[472] that Columbus must have read the geographical +appendix to Adam of Bremen's "Ecclesiastical History;" that he must +have understood, as we now do, the reference therein made to Vinland; +that he made his voyage to Iceland in order to obtain further +information; that he there not only heard about Vinland and other +localities mentioned in the sagas, but also mentally placed them about +where they were placed in 1837 by Professor Rafn; that, among other +things, he thus obtained a correct knowledge of the width of the +Atlantic ocean in latitude 28 deg. N.; and that during fifteen subsequent +years of weary endeavour to obtain ships and men for his westward +voyage, he sedulously refrained from using the most convincing argument +at his command,--namely that land of continental dimensions had actually +been found (though by a very different route) in the direction which he +indicated. + + [Footnote 472: See Anderson's _America not discovered by + Columbus_, Chicago, 1874; 3d ed. enlarged, Chicago, 1883.] + +[Sidenote: That hypothesis has no evidence in its favour.] + +I have already given an explanation of the process by which Columbus +arrived at the firm belief that by sailing not more than about 2,500 +geographical miles due west from the Canaries he should reach the coast +of Japan. Every step of that explanation is sustained by documentary +evidence, and as his belief is thus completely accounted for, the +hypothesis that he may have based it upon information obtained in +Iceland is, to say the least, superfluous. We do not need it in order to +explain his actions, and accordingly his actions do not afford a +presumption in favour of it. There is otherwise no reason, of course, +for refusing to admit that he might have obtained information in +Iceland, were there any evidence that he did. But not a scrap of such +evidence has ever been produced. Every step in the Scandinavian +hypothesis is a pure assumption. + +[Sidenote: It is not probable that Columbus knew of Adam of Bremen's +allusion to Vinland,] + +[Sidenote: or that he would have understood it if he had read it.] + +First it is assumed that Columbus _must_ have read the appendix to Adam +of Bremen's history. But really, while it is not impossible that he +should have read that document, it is, on the whole, improbable. The +appendix was first printed in Lindenbrog's edition, published at Leyden, +in 1595. The eminent Norwegian historian, Gustav Storm, finds that in +the sixteenth century just six MSS. of Adam's works can now be traced. +Of these, two were preserved in Denmark, two in Hamburg, one had +_perhaps_ already wandered southward to Leyden, and one as far as +Vienna. Dr. Storm, therefore, feels sure that Columbus never saw Adam's +mention of Vinland, and pithily adds that "had Columbus known it, it +would not have been able to show him the way to the West Indies, but +perhaps to the North Pole."[473] From the account of this mention and +its context, which I have already given,[474] it is in the highest +degree improbable that if Columbus had read the passage he could have +understood it as bearing upon his own problem. There is, therefore, no +ground for the assumption that Columbus went to Iceland in order to +make inquiries about Vinland. + + [Footnote 473: "Det er derfor sikkert, at Columbus ikke, som + nogle har formodet, kan have kjendt Adam af Bremens Beretning + on Vinland; vi kan gjerne tilfoie, at havde Columbus kjendt + den, vilde den ikke have kunnet vise ham Vei til Vesten + (Indien), men kanske til Nordpolen." _Aarboger for Nordisk + Oldkyndighed_, 1887, ii. 2, p. 301.] + + [Footnote 474: See above, p. 210.] + +[Sidenote: It is doubtful if Columbus would have stumbled upon the story +in Iceland.] + +It may be argued that even if he did not go for such a purpose, +nevertheless when once there he could hardly have failed incidentally to +get the information. This, however, is not at all clear. Observe that +our sole authority for the journey to Iceland is the passage above +quoted at second-hand from Columbus himself; and there is nothing in it +to show whether he staid a few hours or several weeks ashore, or met +with any one likely to be possessed of the knowledge in question. The +absence of any reference to Vinland in the Zeno narrative is an +indication that the memory of it had faded away before 1400, and it was +not distinctly and generally revived until the time of Torfaeus in +1705.[475] + + [Footnote 475: In 1689 the Swedish writer, Ole Rudbeck, could + not understand Adam of Bremen's allusion to Vinland. The + passage is instructive. Rudbeck declares that in speaking of a + wine-growing country near to the Arctic ocean, Adam must have + been misled by some poetical or figurative phrase; he was + deceived either by his trust in the Danes, or by his own + credulity, for he manifestly refers to _Finland_, for which the + form _Vinland_ does not once occur in Sturleson, etc.:--"Ne + tamen poetis solis hoc loquendi genus in suis regionum + laudationibus familiare fuisse quis existimet, sacras adeat + literas quae Palaestinae faecunditatem appellatione _fluentorum + lactis & mellis_ designant. Tale aliquid, sine omne dubio, + Adamo Bremensi quondam persuaserat insulam esse in ultimo + septentrione sitam, mari glaciali vicinam, vini feracem, & ea + propter fide tamen Danorum, _Vinlandiam_ dictam prout ipse ... + fateri non dubitat. Sed deceptum eum hae sive Danorum fide, + sive credulitate sua planum facit affine isti vocabulum + _Finlandiae_ provinciae ad Regnum nostrum pertinentis, pro quo + apud Snorronem & in Hist. Regum non semel occurrit _Vinlandiae_ + nomen, cujus promontorium ad ultimum septentrionem & usque ad + mare glaciale sese extendit." Rudbeck, _Atland eller Manheim_, + Upsala, cir. 1689, p. 291.] + +[Sidenote: If he had heard it, he would probably have classed it with +such tales as that of St. Brandan's isle.] + +But to hear about Vinland was one thing, to be guided by it to Japan was +quite another affair. It was not the mention of timber and peltries and +Skraelings that would fire the imagination of Columbus; his dreams were +of stately cities with busy wharves where ships were laden with silks +and jewels, and of Oriental magnates decked out with "barbaric pearl and +gold," dwelling in pavilions of marble and jasper amid flowery gardens +in "a summer fanned with spice." The mention of Vinland was no more +likely to excite Columbus's attention than that of St. Brandan's isle or +other places supposed to lie in the western ocean. He was after higher +game. + +[Sidenote: He could not have obtained from such a source his opinion of +the width of the ocean.] + +To suppose that Columbus, even had he got hold of the Saga of Eric the +Red and conned it from beginning to end, with a learned interpreter at +his elbow, could have gained from it a knowledge of the width of the +Atlantic ocean, is simply preposterous. It would be impossible to +extract any such knowledge from that document to-day without the aid of +our modern maps. The most diligent critical study of all the Icelandic +sources of information, with all the resources of modern scholarship, +enables us with some confidence to place Vinland somewhere between Cape +Breton and Point Judith, that is to say, somewhere between two points +distant from each other more than four degrees in latitude and more than +eleven degrees in longitude! When we have got thus far, knowing as we do +that the coast in question belongs to the same continental system as +the West Indies, we can look at our map and pick up our pair of +compasses and measure the width of the ocean at the twenty-eighth +parallel. But it is not the mediaeval document, but our modern map that +guides us to this knowledge. And yet it is innocently assumed that +Columbus, without any knowledge or suspicion of the existence of +America, and from such vague data concerning voyages made five hundred +years before his time, by men who had no means of reckoning latitude and +longitude, could have obtained his figure of 2,500 miles for the voyage +from the Canaries to Japan![476] The fallacy here is that which +underlies the whole Scandinavian hypothesis and many other fanciful +geographical speculations. It is the fallacy of projecting our present +knowledge into the past. + + [Footnote 476: The source of such a confusion of ideas is + probably the ridiculous map in Rafn's _Antiquitates Americanae_, + upon which North America is represented in all the accuracy of + outline attainable by modern maps, and then the Icelandic names + are put on where Rafn thought they ought to go, i. e. Markland + upon Nova Scotia, Vinland upon New England, etc. Any person + using such a map is liable to forget that it cannot possibly + represent the crude notions of locality to which the reports of + the Norse voyages must have given rise in an ignorant age. (The + reader will find the map reproduced in Winsor, _Narr. and Crit. + Hist._, i. 95.) Rafn's fault was, however, no greater than that + committed by the modern makers of so-called "ancient + atlases"--still current and in use in schools--when, for + example, they take a correct modern map of Europe, with parts + of Africa and Asia, and upon countries so dimly known to the + ancients as Scandinavia and Hindustan, but now drawn with + perfect accuracy, they simply print the ancient names!! Nothing + but confusion can come from using such wretched maps. The only + safe way to study the history of geography is to reproduce the + ancient maps themselves, as I have done in the present work. + Many of the maps given below in the second volume will + illustrate the slow and painful growth of the knowledge of the + North American coast during the two centuries after Columbus.] + +[Sidenote: If he had known and understood the Vinland story, he had the +strongest motives for proclaiming it and no motive for concealing it.] + +We have next to inquire, if Columbus had heard of Vinland and +comprehended its relation to his own theory about land at the west, why +in the world should he have concealed this valuable knowledge? The +notion seems to be that he must have kept it secret through an unworthy +desire to claim a priority in discovery to which he knew that he was not +entitled.[477] This is projecting our present knowledge into the past +with a vengeance. Columbus never professed to have discovered America; +he died in the belief that what he had done was to reach the eastern +shores of Asia by a shorter route than the Portuguese. If he had reason +to suppose that the Northmen had once come down from the Arctic seas to +some unknown part of the Asiatic coast, he had no motive for concealing +such a fact, but the strongest of motives for proclaiming it, inasmuch +as it would have given him the kind of inductive argument which he +sorely needed. The chief obstacle for Columbus was that for want of +tangible evidence he was obliged to appeal to men's reason with +scientific arguments. When you show things to young children they are +not content with looking; they crave a more intimate acquaintance than +the eyes alone can give, and so they reach out and handle the things. +So when ideas are presented to grown-up men, they are apt to be +unwilling to trust to the eye of reason until it has been supplemented +by the eye of sense; and indeed in most affairs of life such caution is +wholesome. The difference between Columbus and many of the "practical" +men whom he sought to convince was that he could see with his mind's eye +solid land beyond the Sea of Darkness while they could not. To them the +ocean, like the sky, had nothing beyond, unless it might be the +supernatural world.[478] For while the argument from the earth's +rotundity was intelligible enough, there were few to whom, as to +Toscanelli, it was a living truth. Even of those who admitted, in +theory, that Cathay lay to the west of Europe, most deemed the distance +untraversable. Inductive proof of the existence of accessible land to +the west was thus what Columbus chiefly needed, and what he sought every +opportunity to find and produce; but it was not easy to find anything +more substantial than sailors' vague mention of driftwood of foreign +aspect or other outlandish jetsam washed up on the Portuguese +strand.[479] What a godsend it would have been for Columbus if he could +have had the Vinland business to hurl at the heads of his adversaries! +If he could have said, "Five hundred years ago some Icelanders coasted +westward in the polar regions, and then coasted southward until they +reached a country beyond the ocean and about opposite to France or +Portugal; therefore that country must be Asia, and I can reach it by +striking boldly across the ocean, which will obviously be shorter than +going down by Guinea,"--if he could have said this, he would have had +precisely the unanswerable argument for lack of which his case was +waiting and suffering. In persuading men to furnish hard cash, for his +commercial enterprise, as Colonel Higginson so neatly says, "an ounce of +Vinland would have been worth a pound of cosmography."[480] We may be +sure that the silence of Columbus about the Norse voyages proves that he +knew nothing about them or quite failed to see their bearings upon his +own undertaking. It seems to me absolutely decisive. + + [Footnote 477: "The fault that we find with Columbus is, that + he was not honest and frank enough to tell where and how he had + obtained his previous information about the lands which he + pretended to discover." Anderson, _America not discovered by + Columbus_, p. 90.] + + [Footnote 478: See below, p. 398, note.] + + [Footnote 479: For example, the pilot Martin Vicenti told + Columbus that 1,200 miles west of Cape St. Vincent he had + picked up from the sea a piece of carved wood evidently not + carved with iron tools. Pedro Correa, who had married + Columbus's wife's sister, had seen upon Porto Santo a similar + piece of carving that had drifted from the west. Huge reeds + sometimes floated ashore upon those islands, and had not + Ptolemy mentioned enormous reeds as growing in eastern Asia? + Pine-trees of strange species were driven by west winds upon + the coast of Fayal, and two corpses of men of an unknown race + had been washed ashore upon the neighbouring island of Flores. + Certain sailors, on a voyage from the Azores to Ireland, had + caught glimpses of land on the west, and believed it to be the + coast of "Tartary;" etc., etc. See _Vita dell' Ammiraglio_, + cap. ix. Since he cited these sailors, why did he not cite the + Northmen also, if he knew what they had done?] + + [Footnote 480: _Larger History of the United States_, p. 54.] + +[Sidenote: No trace of a thought of Vinland appears in the voyages of +Columbus.] + +Furthermore, this silence is in harmony with the fact that in none of +his four voyages across the Atlantic did Columbus betray any +consciousness that there was anything for him to gain by steering toward +the northwest. If he could correctly have conceived the position of +Vinland he surely would not have conceived it as south of the fortieth +parallel. On his first voyage he steered due west in latitude 28 deg. +because Toscanelli placed Japan opposite the Canaries. When at length +some doubts began to arise and he altered his course, as we shall +hereafter see, the change was toward the southwest. His first two +voyages did not reveal to him the golden cities for which he was +looking, and when on his third and fourth voyages he tried a different +course it was farther toward the equator, not farther away from it, that +he turned his prows. Not the slightest trace of a thought of Vinland +appears in anything that he did. + +[Sidenote: Why did not Norway or Iceland utter a protest in 1493?] + +Finally it may be asked, if the memory of Vinland was such a living +thing in Iceland in 1477 that a visitor would be likely to be told about +it, why was it not sufficiently alive in 1493 to call forth a protest +from the North? When the pope, as we shall presently see, was +proclaiming to the world that the Spanish crown was entitled to all +heathen lands and islands already discovered or to be discovered in the +ocean west of the Azores, why did not some zealous Scandinavian at once +jump up and cry out, "Look here, old Columbus, _we_ discovered that +western route, you know! Stop thief!" Why was it necessary to wait more +than a hundred years longer before the affair of Vinland was mentioned +in this connection? + +[Sidenote: The idea of Vinland was not associated with the idea of +America until the seventeenth century.] + +Simply because it was not until the seventeenth century that the +knowledge of North American geography had reached such a stage of +completeness as to suggest to anybody the true significance of the old +voyages from Greenland. That significance could not have been understood +by Leif and Thorfinn themselves, or by the compilers of Hauks-bok and +Flateyar-bok, or by any human being, until about the time of Henry +Hudson. Not earlier than that time should we expect to find it +mentioned, and it is just then, in 1610, that we do find it mentioned by +Arngrim Jonsson, who calls Vinland "an island of _America_, in the +region of Greenland, perhaps the modern Estotilandia."[481] This is the +earliest glimmering of an association of the idea of Vinland with that +of America. + + [Footnote 481: "Terram vero Landa Rolfoni quaesitam existimarem + esse Vinlandiam olim Islandis sic dictam; de qua alibi insulam + nempe Americae e regione Gronlandiae, quae forte hodie + Estotilandia," etc. _Crymogoea_, Hamburg, 1610, p. 120. + + Abraham Ortelius in 1606 speaks of the Northmen coming to + America, but bases his opinion upon the Zeno narrative + (published in 1558) and upon the sound of the name _Norumbega_, + and apparently knows nothing of Vinland:--"Iosephus Acosta in + his book _De Natura noui orbis_ indeuors by many reasons to + proue, that this part of _America_ was originally inhabited by + certaine Indians, forced thither by tempestuous weather ouer + the South sea which now they call Mare del Zur. But to me it + seemes more probable, out of the historie of the two Zeni, + gentlemen of Venice, ... that this New World many ages past was + entred upon by some islanders of _Europe_, as namely of + _Groenland_, Island, and Frisland; being much neerer thereunto + than the Indians, nor disioyned thence ... by an Ocean so huge, + and to the Indians so vnnauigable. Also, what else may we + coniecture to be signified by this _Norumbega_ [the name of a + North region of _America_] but that from _Norway_, signifying a + North land, some Colonie in times past hath hither beene + transplanted?" _Theatre of the Whole World_, London, 1606, p. + 5. These passages are quoted and discussed by Reeves, _The + Finding of Wineland the Good_, pp. 95, 96. The supposed + connection of _Norumbega_ with _Norway_ is very doubtful. + Possibly Stephanius, in his map of 1570 (Torfaeus, _Gronlandia + antiqua_, 1706), may have had reference to Labrador or the + north of Newfoundland.] + +[Sidenote: Resume of the genesis of Columbus's scheme.] + +[Sidenote: Martin Behaim's improved astrolabe.] + +[Sidenote: Negotiations of Columbus with John II. of Portugal.] + +[Sidenote: A shabby trick.] + +[Sidenote: Columbus leaves Portugal,] + +[Sidenote: and enters the service of the Spanish sovereigns, 1486.] + +[Sidenote: The junto at Salamanca.] + +The genesis of the grand scheme of Columbus has now been set forth, I +believe, with sufficient fulness. The cardinal facts are 1, that the +need for some such scheme was suggested in 1471, by the discovery that +the Guinea coast extended south of the equator; 2, that by 1474 advice +had been sought from Toscanelli by the king of Portugal, and not very +long after 1474 by Columbus; 3, that upon Toscanelli's letters and map, +amended by the Ptolemaic estimate of the earth's size and by the +authority of passages quoted in the book of Alliacus (one of which was a +verse from the Apocrypha), Columbus based his firm conviction of the +feasibleness of the western route. How or by whom the suggestion of that +route was first made--whether by Columbus himself or by Toscanelli or by +Fernando Martinez or, as Antonio Gallo declares, by Bartholomew +Columbus,[482] or by some person in Portugal whose name we know not--it +would be difficult to decide. Neither can we fix the date when Columbus +first sought aid for his scheme from the Portuguese government. There +seems to be no good reason why he should not have been talking about it +before 1474; but the affair did not come to any kind of a climax until +after his return from Guinea, some time after 1482 and certainly not +later than 1484. It was on some accounts a favourable time. The war with +Castile was out of the way, and Martin Behaim had just invented an +improved astrolabe which made it ever so much easier to find and keep +one's latitude at sea. It was in 1484 that Portuguese discoveries took a +fresh start after a ten years' lull, and Diego Cam, with the learned +Behaim and his bran-new astrolabe on board, was about to sail a thousand +miles farther south than white men had ever gone before. About this time +the scheme of Columbus was formally referred by King John II. to the +junto of learned cosmographers from whom the crown had been wont to seek +advice. The project was condemned as "visionary,"[483] as indeed it +was,--the outcome of vision that saw farther than those men could see. +But the king, who had some of his uncle Prince Henry's love for bold +enterprises, was more hospitably inclined toward the ideas of Columbus, +and he summoned a council of the most learned men in the kingdom to +discuss the question.[484] In this council the new scheme found some +defenders, while others correctly urged that Columbus must be wrong in +supposing Asia to extend so far to the east, and it must be a much +longer voyage than he supposed to Cipango and Cathay,[485] Others +argued that the late war had impoverished the country, and that the +enterprises on the African coast were all that the treasury could +afford. Here the demands of Columbus were of themselves an obstacle to +his success. He never at any time held himself cheap,[486] and the +rewards and honours for which he insisted on stipulating were greater +than the king of Portugal felt inclined to bestow upon a plain Genoese +mariner. It was felt that if the enterprise should prove a failure, as +very likely it would, the less heartily the government should have +committed itself to it beforehand, the less it would expose itself to +ridicule. King John was not in general disposed toward unfair and +dishonest dealings, but on this occasion, after much parley, he was +persuaded to sanction a proceeding quite unworthy of him. Having +obtained Columbus's sailing plans, he sent out a ship secretly, to carry +some goods to the Cape Verde islands, and then to try the experiment of +the westward voyage. If there should turn out to be anything profitable +in the scheme, this would be safer and more frugal than to meet the +exorbitant demands of this ambitious foreigner. So it was done; but the +pilots, having no grand idea to urge them forward, lost heart before the +stupendous expanse of waters that confronted them, and beat an +ignominious retreat to Lisbon; whereupon Columbus, having been informed +of the trick,[487] departed in high dudgeon, to lay his proposals before +the crown of Castile. He seems to have gone rather suddenly, leaving +his wife, who died shortly after, and one or two children who must also +have died, for he tells us that he never saw them again. But his son +Diego, aged perhaps four or five years, he took with him as far as the +town of Huelva, near the little port of Palos in Andalusia, where he +left him with one of his wife's sisters, who had married a man of that +town named Muliar.[488] This arrival in Spain was probably late in the +autumn of 1484, and Columbus seems to have entered into the service of +Ferdinand and Isabella January 20, 1486. What he was doing in the +interval of rather more than a year is not known. There is a very +doubtful tradition that he tried to interest the republic of Genoa in +his enterprise,[489] and a still more doubtful rumour that he afterwards +made proposals to the Venetian senate.[490] If these things ever +happened, there was time enough for them in this year, and they can +hardly be assigned to any later period. In 1486 we find Columbus at +Cordova, where the sovereigns were holding court. He was unable to +effect anything until he had gained the ear of Isabella's finance +minister Alonso de Quintanilla, who had a mind hospitable to large +ideas. The two sovereigns had scarcely time to attend to such things, +for there was a third king in Spain, the Moor at Granada, whom there now +seemed a fair prospect of driving to Africa, and thus ending the +struggle that had lasted with few intermissions for nearly eight +centuries. The final war with Granada had been going on since the end of +1481, and considering how it weighed upon the minds of Ferdinand and +Isabella it is rather remarkable that cosmography got any hearing at +all. The affair was referred to the queen's confessor Fernando de +Talavera, whose first impression was that if what Columbus said was +true, it was very strange that other geographers should have failed to +know all about it long ago. Ideas of evolution had not yet begun to +exist in those days, and it was thought that what the ancients did not +know was not worth knowing. Toward the end of 1486 the Spanish +sovereigns were at Salamanca, and Talavera referred the question to a +junto of learned men, including professors of the famous +university.[491] There was no lack of taunt and ridicule, and a whole +arsenal of texts from Scripture and the Fathers were discharged at +Columbus, but it is noticeable that quite a number were inclined to +think that his scheme might be worth trying, and that some of his most +firmly convinced supporters were priests. No decision had been reached +when the sovereigns started on the Malaga campaign in the spring of +1487. + + [Footnote 482: Gallo, _De navigatione Columbi_, apud Muratori, + _Rerum Italicarum Scriptores_, tom. xxiii. col. 302.] + + [Footnote 483: Lafuente, _Historia de Espana_, tom. ix, p. + 428.] + + [Footnote 484: Vasconcellos, _Vida del rey Don Juan II._, lib. + iv.; La Clede, _Histoire de Portugal_, lib. xiii.] + + [Footnote 485: The Portuguese have never been able to forgive + Columbus for discovering a new world for Spain, and their + chagrin sometimes vents itself in amusing ways. After all, says + Cordeiro, Columbus was no such great man as some people think, + for he did not discover what he promised to discover; and, + moreover, the Portuguese geographers were right in condemning + his scheme, because it really is not so far by sea from Lisbon + around Africa to Hindustan as from Lisbon by any practicable + route westward to Japan! See Luciano Cordeiro, _De la part + prise par les Portugais dans la decouverte d'Amerique_, Lisbon, + 1876, pp. 23, 24, 29, 30. Well, I don't know that there is any + answer to be made to this argument. Logic is logic, says the + wise Autocrat:-- + + "End of the wonderful one-hoss shay, + Logic is logic, that's all I say." + + Cordeiro's book is elaborately criticised in the learned work + of Prospero Peragallo, _Cristoforo Colombo in Portogallo: studi + critici_, Genoa, 1882.] + + [Footnote 486: "Perciocche essendo l' Ammiraglio di generosi ed + alti pensieri, volle capitolare con suo grande onore e + vantaggio, per lasciar la memoria sua, e la grandezza della sua + casa, conforme alla grandezza delle sue opere e de' suoi + meriti." _Vita dell' Ammiraglio_, cap. xi. The jealous + Portuguese historian speaks in a somewhat different tone from + the affectionate son:--"Veo requerer a el rey Dom Joao que le + desse algums navios pera ir a descobrir a ilha de Gypango + [_sic_] per esta mar occidental.... El rey, porque via ser este + Christovao Colom homem falador e glorioso em mostrar suas + habilidades, e mas fantastico et de imaginacao com sua ilha de + Cypango, que certo no que dezia: davalhe pouco credito." + Barros, _Decada primeira da Asia_, Lisbon, 1752, liv. iii. cap. + xi. fol. 56.] + + [Footnote 487: It has been urged in the king's defence that + "such a proceeding was not an instance of bad faith or perfidy + (!) but rather of the policy customary at that time, which + consisted in distrusting everything that was foreign, and in + promoting by whatever means the national glory." Yes, indeed, + whether the means were fair or foul. Of course it was a common + enough policy, but it was lying and cheating all the same. "Nao + foi sem duvida por ma fe ou perfidia que tacitamente se mandon + armar hum navio a cujo capitao se confiou o plano que Colombo + havia proposto, e cuja execucao se lhe encarregou; mas sim por + seguir a politica naquelle tempo usada, que toda consistia em + olhar com desconfianca para tudo o que era estrangeiro, e en + promover por todos os modos a gloria nacional. O capitao + nomeado para a empreza, como nao tivesse nem o espirito, nem a + conviccao de Colombo, depois de huma curta viagem nos mares do + Oeste, fez-se na volta da terra: e arribou a Lisboa descontente + e desanimado." Campe, _Historia do descobrimento da America_, + Paris, 1836, tom. i. p. 13. The frightened sailors protested + that YOU MIGHT AS WELL EXPECT TO FIND LAND IN THE SKY AS IN + THAT WASTE OF WATERS! See Las Casas, _Hist. de las Indias_, + tom. i. p. 221. Las Casas calls the king's conduct by its right + name, _dobladura_, "trickery."] + + [Footnote 488: It has generally been supposed, on the authority + of _Vita dell' Ammiraglio_, cap. xi., that his wife had lately + died; but an autograph letter of Columbus, in the possession of + his lineal descendant and representative the present Duke of + Veraguas, proves that this is a mistake. In this letter + Columbus says expressly that when he left Portugal he left wife + and children, and never saw them again. (Navarrete, + _Coleccion_, tom. ii. doc. cxxxvii. p. 255.) As Las Casas, who + knew Diego so well, also supposed his mother to have died + before his father left Portugal, it is most likely that she + died soon afterwards. Ferdinand Columbus says that Diego was + left in charge of some friars at the convent of La Rabida near + Palos (_loc. cit._); Las Casas is not quite so sure; he thinks + Diego was left with some friend of his father at Palos, or + perhaps (_por ventura_) at La Rabida. (_Historia_, tom. i. p. + 227.) These mistakes were easy to make, for both La Rabida and + Huelva were close by Palos, and we know that Diego's aunt + Muliar was living at Huelva. (Las Casas, _op. cit._ tom. i. p. + 241; Harrisse, tom. i. pp. 279, 356, 391; tom. ii. p. 229.) It + is pretty clear that Columbus never visited La Rabida before + the autumn of 1491 (see below, p. 412). My own notion is that + Columbus may have left his wife with an infant and perhaps one + older child, relieving her of the care of Diego by taking him + to his aunt, and intending as soon as practicable to reunite + the family. He clearly did not know at the outset whether he + should stay in Spain or not.] + + [Footnote 489: It rests upon an improbable statement of + Ramusio, who places the event as early as 1470. The first + Genoese writer to allude to it is Casoni, _Annali della + Republica di Genova_, Genoa, 1708, pp. 26-31. Such testimony is + of small value.] + + [Footnote 490: First mentioned in 1800 by Marin, _Storia del + commercio de Veneziani_, Venice, 1798-1808, tom. vii. p. 236.] + + [Footnote 491: The description usually given of this conference + rests upon the authority of Remesal, _Historia de la prouincia + de Chyapa_, Madrid, 1619, lib. ii. cap. vii. p. 52. Las Casas + merely says that the question was referred to certain persons + at the court, _Hist. de las Indias_, tom. i. p. 228. It is + probably not true that the project of Columbus was officially + condemned by the university of Salamanca as a corporate body. + See Camara, _Religion y Ciencia_, Valladolid, 1880, p. 261.] + +[Sidenote: Birth of Ferdinand Columbus, Aug. 15, 1488.] + +[Sidenote: Bartholomew Columbus returns from the Cape of Good Hope, Dec, +1487.] + +[Sidenote: Christopher visits Bartholomew at Lisbon, cir. Sept., 1488;] + +[Sidenote: and sends him to England.] + +[Sidenote: Bartholomew, after mishaps, reaches England cir. Feb., 1490;] + +[Sidenote: and goes thence to France before 1492.] + +After the surrender of Malaga in August, 1487, Columbus visited the +court in that city. For a year or more after that time silken chains +seem to have bound him to Cordova. He had formed a connection with a +lady of noble family, Beatriz Enriquez de Arana, who gave birth to his +son Ferdinand on the 15th of August, 1488.[492] Shortly after this +event, Columbus made a visit to Lisbon, in all probability for the +purpose of meeting his brother Bartholomew, who had returned in the last +week of December, 1487, in the Dias expedition, with the proud news of +the discovery of the Cape of Good Hope,[493] which was rightly +believed to be the extremity of Africa; and we can well understand how +Christopher, on seeing the success of Prince Henry's method of reaching +the Indies so nearly vindicated, must have become more impatient than +ever to prove the superiority of his own method. It was probably not +long after Bartholomew's return that Christopher determined to go and +see him, for he applied to King John II. for a kind of safe-conduct, +which was duly granted March 20, 1488. This document[494] guarantees +Christopher against arrest or arraignment or detention on any charge +civil or criminal whatever, during his stay in Portugal, and commands +all magistrates in that kingdom to respect it. From this it would seem +probable that in the eagerness of his geographical speculations he had +neglected his business affairs and left debts behind him in Portugal for +which he was liable to be arrested. The king's readiness to grant the +desired privilege seems to indicate that he may have cherished a hope of +regaining the services of this accomplished chart-maker and mariner. +Christopher did not avail himself of the privilege until late in the +summer,[495] and it is only fair to suppose that he waited for the birth +of his child and some assurance of its mother's safety. On meeting +Bartholomew he evidently set him to work forthwith in making overtures +to the courts of England and France. It was natural enough that +Bartholomew should first set out for Bristol, where old shipmates and +acquaintances were sure to be found. It appears that on the way he was +captured by pirates, and thus some delay was occasioned before he +arrived in London and showed the king a map, probably similar to +Toscanelli's and embellished with quaint Latin verses. An entry on this +map informs us that it was made by Bartholomew Columbus in London, +February 10, 1488, which I think should be read 1489 or even 1490, so we +may suppose it to have been about that time or perhaps later that he +approached the throne.[496] Henry VII. was intelligent enough to see +the bearings of Bartholomew's arguments, and at the same time, as a good +man of business, he was likely to be cautious about investing money in +remote or doubtful enterprises. What arguments were used we do not know, +but the spring of 1492 had arrived before any decisive answer had been +given. Meanwhile Bartholomew had made his way to France, and found a +powerful protector in a certain Madame de Bourbon,[497] while he made +maps for people at the court and waited to see if there were any +chances of getting help from Charles VIII. + + [Footnote 492: Some historians, unwilling to admit any + blemishes in the character of Columbus, have supposed that this + union was sanctioned by marriage, but this is not probable. He + seems to have been tenderly attached to Beatriz, who survived + him many years. See Harrisse, tom. ii. pp. 353-357.] + + [Footnote 493: The authority for Bartholomew Columbus having + sailed to the Cape of Good Hope with Dias is a manuscript note + of his own in Christopher's copy of the _Imago Mundi_: "Nota + quod hoc anno de 88 [it should be 87] in mense decembri appulit + in Ulixbona Bartholomeus Didacus capitaneus trium carabelarum + quem miserat serenissimus rex Portugalie in Guineam ad + tentandum terrain. Et renunciavit ipse serenissimo regi prout + navigaverat ultra jam navigata leuchas 600, videlicet 450 ad + austrum et 150 ad aquilonem usque montem per ipsum nominatum + _Cabo de boa esperanca_ quem in Agesimba estimamus. Qui quidem + in eo loco invenit se distare per astrolabium ultra lineam + equinoctialem gradus 35. Quem viagium pictavit et scripsit de + leucha in leucham in una carta navigationis ut oculi visum + ostenderet ipso serenissimo regi. In quibus omnibus interfui." + M. Varnhagen has examined this note and thinks it is in the + handwriting of Christopher Columbus (_Bulletin de Geographie_, + janvier, 1858, tom. xv. p. 71); and M. d'Avezac (_Canevas + chronologique_, p. 58), accepting this opinion, thinks that the + words _in quibus omnibus interfui_, "in all of which I took + part," only mean that Christopher was present in Lisbon when + the expedition returned, and heard the whole story! With all + possible respect for such great scholars as MM. d'Avezac and + Varnhagen, I submit that the opinion of Las Casas, who first + called attention to this note, must be much better than theirs + on such a point as the handwriting of the two brothers. When + Las Casas found the note he wondered whether it was meant for + Bartholomew or Christopher, i. e. wondered which of the two was + meant to be described as having "taken part;" but at all + events, says Las Casas, the handwriting is + Bartholomew's:--"Estas son palabras escritas de la mano de + Bartolome Colon, no se si las escribio de si o de su letra por + su hermano Cristobal Colon." Under these circumstances it seems + idle to suppose that Las Casas could have been mistaken about + the handwriting; he evidently put his mind on that point, and + in the next breath he goes on to say, "la letra yo conozco ser + de Bartolome Colon, porque tuve muchas suyas," i. e. "I know it + is Bartholomew's writing, for I have had many letters of his;" + and again "estas palabras ... de la misma letra y mano de + Bartolome Colon, la cual muy bien conoci y agora tengo hartas + cartas y letras suyas, tratando deste viaje," i. e. "these + words ... from the very writing and hand of Bartholomew + Columbus, which I knew very well, and I have to-day many charts + and letters of his, treating of this voyage." (_Hist. de las + Indias_, tom. i. pp. 213, 214.) This last sentence makes Las + Casas an independent witness to Bartholomew's presence in the + expedition, a matter about which he was not likely to be + mistaken. What puzzled him was the question, not whether + Bartholomew went, but whether Christopher could have gone also, + "pudo ser tambien que se hallase Cristobal Colon." Now + Christopher certainly did not go on that voyage. The expedition + started in August, 1486, and returned to Lisbon in December, + 1487, after an absence of sixteen months and seventeen days, + "anendo dezaseis meses et dezasete dias que erao partidos + delle." (Barros, _Decada primeira da Asia_, Lisbon, 1752, tom. + i. fol. 42, 44.) The account-book of the treasury of Castile + shows that sums of money were paid to Christopher at Seville, + May 5, July 3, August 27, and October 15, 1487; so that he + could not have gone with Dias (see Harrisse, tom. ii. p. 191). + Neither could Christopher have been in Lisbon in December, + 1487, when the little fleet returned, for his safe-conduct from + King John is dated March 20, 1488. It was not until the autumn + of 1488 that Columbus made this visit to Portugal, and M. + d'Avezac has got the return of the fleet a year too late. + Bartholomew's note followed a custom which made 1488 begin at + Christmas, 1487. + + In reading a later chapter of Las Casas for another purpose + (tom. i. p. 227), I come again upon this point. He rightly + concludes that Christopher could not have gone with Dias, and + again declares most positively that the handwriting of the note + was Bartholomew's and not Christopher's. + + This footnote affords a good illustration of the kind of + difficulties that surround such a subject as the life of + Columbus, and the ease with which an excess of ingenuity may + discover mare's nests.] + + [Footnote 494: It may be found in Navarrete, _Coleccion de + viages_, tom. ii. pp. 5, 6.] + + [Footnote 495: The account-book of the treasury shows that on + June 16 he was still in Spain. See Harrisse, tom. i. p. 355.] + + [Footnote 496: The entry, as given by Las Casas, is "Pro + authore, seu pictore, || Gennua cui patria est, nomen cui + Bartolomeus || Columbus de terra rubea, opus edidit istud || + Londonije: anno domini millesimo quatercentessimo octiesque uno + || Atque insuper anno octavo: decimaque die mensis Februarii. + || Laudes Christo cantentur abunde." _Historia_, tom. i. p. + 225. Now since Bartholomew Columbus was a fairly educated man, + writing this note in England on a map made for the eyes of the + king of England, I suppose he used the old English style which + made the year begin at the vernal equinox instead of Christmas, + so that his February, 1488, means the next month but one after + December, 1488, i. e. what in our new style becomes February, + 1489. Bartholomew returned to Lisbon from Africa in the last + week of December, 1487, and it is not likely that his plans + could have been matured and himself settled down in London in + less than seven weeks. The logical relation of the events, too, + shows plainly that Christopher's visit to Lisbon was for the + purpose of consulting his brother and getting first-hand + information about the greatest voyage the world had ever seen. + In the early weeks of 1488 Christopher sends his request for a + safe-conduct, gets it March 20, waits till his child is born, + August 15, and then presently goes. Bartholomew may have sailed + by the first of October for England, where (according to this + reading of his date) we actually find him four months later. + What happened to him in this interval? Here we come to the + story of the pirates. M. Harrisse, who never loses an + opportunity for throwing discredit upon the _Vita dell' + Ammiraglio_, has failed to make the correction of date which I + have here suggested. He puts Bartholomew in London in February, + 1488, and is thus unable to assign any reason for Christopher's + visit to Lisbon. He also finds that in the forty-six days + between Christmas, 1487, and February, 10, 1488, there is + hardly room enough for any delay due to so grave a cause as + capture by pirates. (_Christophe Colomb_, vol. ii. p. 192.) He + therefore concludes that the statement in the _Vita dell' + Ammiraglio_, cap. xi., is unworthy of credit, and it is upon an + accumulation of small difficulties like this that he bases his + opinion that Ferdinand Columbus cannot have written that book. + But Las Casas also gives the story of the pirates, and adds the + information that they were "Easterlings," though he cannot say + of what nation, i. e. whether Dutch, German, or perhaps Danes. + He says that Bartholomew was stripped of his money and fell + sick, and after his recovery was obliged to earn money by + map-making before he could get to England. (_Historia_, tom. i. + p. 225.) Could all this have happened within the four months + which I have allowed between October, 1488, and February, 1489? + Voyages before the invention of steamboats were of very + uncertain duration. John Adams in 1784 was fifty-four days in + getting from London to Amsterdam (see my _Critical Period of + American History_, p. 156). But with favourable weather a + Portuguese caravel in 1488 ought to have run from Lisbon to + Bristol in fourteen days or less, so that in four months there + would be time enough for quite a chapter of accidents. Las + Casas, however, says it was _a long time_ before Bartholomew + was able to reach England:--"Esto fue causa que enfermase y + viniese a mucha pobreza, y estuviese mucho tempo sin poder + llegar a Inglaterra, hasta tanto que quiso Dies sanarle; y + reformado algo, por su industria y trabajos de sus manos, + haciendo cartas de marear, llego a Inglaterra, y, pasados un + dia y otros, hobo de alcanzar que le oyese Enrique VII." It is + impossible, I think, to read this passage without feeling that + at least a year must have been consumed; and I do not think we + are entitled to disregard the words of Las Casas in such a + matter. But how shall we get the time? + + Is it possible that Las Casas made a slight mistake in + deciphering the date on Bartholomew's map? Either that mariner + did not give the map to Henry VII., or the king gave it back, + or more likely it was made in duplicate. At any rate Las Casas + had it, along with his many other Columbus documents, and for + aught we know it may still be tumbling about somewhere in the + Spanish archives. It was so badly written (_de muy mala e + corrupta letra_), apparently in abbreviations (_sin + ortografia_), that Las Casas says he found extreme difficulty + in making it out. Now let us observe that date, which is given + in fantastic style, apparently because the inscription is in a + rude doggerel, and the writer seems to have wished to keep his + "verses" tolerably even. (They don't scan much better than Walt + Whitman's.) As it stands, the date reads _anno domini millesimo + quatercentessimo octiesque uno atque insuper anno octavo_, i. + e. "in the year of our Lord the thousandth, four hundredth, AND + EIGHT-TIMES-ONE, and thereafter the eighth year." What business + has this cardinal number _octiesque uno_ in a row of ordinals? + If it were translatable, which it is not, it would give us + 1,000 + 400 + 8 + 8 = 1416, an absurd date. The most obvious + way to make the passage readable is to insert the ordinal + _octogesimo primo_ instead of the incongruous _octiesque uno_; + then it will read "in the year of our Lord the + one-thousand-four-hundred-and-eighty-first, and thereafter the + eighth year," that is to say 1489. Now translate old style into + new style, and February, 1489, becomes February, 1490, which I + believe to be the correct date. This allows sixteen months for + Bartholomew's mishaps; it justifies the statement in which Las + Casas confirms Ferdinand Columbus; and it harmonizes with the + statement of Lord Bacon: "For Christopherus Columbus, refused + by the king of Portugal (who would not embrace at once both + east and west), employed his brother Bartholomew Columbus unto + King Henry to negotiate for his discovery. And it so fortuned + that he was taken by pirates at sea; by which accidental + impediment he was long ere he came to the king; so long that + before he had obtained a capitulation with the king for his + brother the enterprise was achieved, and so the West Indies by + Providence were then reserved for the crown of Castilia." + _Historie of the Raygne of K. Henry the Seventh_, Bacon's + _Works_, Boston, 1860, vol. xi. p. 296. Lord Bacon may have + taken the statement from Ferdinand's biography; but it probably + agreed with English traditions, and ought not to be slighted in + this connection.] + + [Footnote 497: One of the sisters of Charles VIII. See + Harrisse, tom. ii. p. 194.] + +[Sidenote: The Duke of Medina-Celi proposes to furnish the ships for +Columbus,] + +[Sidenote: but Isabella withholds her consent.] + +[Sidenote: Columbus makes up his mind to get his family together and go +to France, Oct., 1491.] + +As for Christopher Columbus, we find him back in Spain again, in May, +1489, attending court at Cordova. In the following autumn there was much +suffering in Spain from floods and famine,[498] and the sovereigns were +too busy with the Moorish war to give ear to Columbus. It was no time +for new undertakings, and the weary suitor began to think seriously of +going in person to the French court. First, however, he thought it worth +while to make an attempt to get private capital enlisted in his +enterprise, and in the Spain of that day such private capital meant a +largess from some wealthy grandee. Accordingly about Christmas of 1489, +after the Beza campaign in which Columbus is said to have fought with +distinguished valour,[499] he seems to have applied to the most powerful +nobleman in Spain, the Duke of Medina-Sidonia, but without success. But +at the hands of Luis de la Cerda, Duke of Medina-Celi, he met with more +encouragement than he had as yet found in any quarter. That nobleman +entertained Columbus most hospitably at his castle at Puerto de Santa +Maria for nearly two years, until the autumn of 1491. He became +convinced that the scheme of Columbus was feasible, and decided to fit +up two or three caravels at his own expense, if necessary, but first he +thought it proper to ask the queen's consent, and to offer her another +chance to take part in the enterprise.[500] Isabella was probably +unwilling to have the duke come in for a large share of the profits in +case the venture should prove successful. She refused the royal license, +saying that she had not quite made up her mind whether to take up the +affair or not, but if she should decide to do so she would be glad to +have the duke take part in it.[501] Meanwhile she referred the question +to Alonso de Quintanilla, comptroller of the treasury of Castile. This +was in the spring of 1491, when the whole country was in a buzz of +excitement with the preparations for the siege of Granada. The baffled +Columbus visited the sovereigns in camp, but could not get them to +attend to him, and early in the autumn, thoroughly disgusted and sick at +heart, he made up his mind to shake the dust of Castile from his feet +and see what could be done in France. In October or November he went to +Huelva, apparently to get his son Diego, who had been left there, in +charge of his aunt. It was probably his intention to take all the family +he had--Beatriz and her infant son Ferdinand, of whom he was extremely +fond, as well as Diego--and find a new home in either France or England, +besides ascertaining what had become of his brother Bartholomew, from +whom he had not heard a word since the latter left Portugal for +England.[502] + + [Footnote 498: Bernaldez, _Reyes Catolicos_, cap. xci.] + + [Footnote 499: Zuniga, _Anales de Sevilla_, lib. xii. p. 404.] + + [Footnote 500: See the letter of March 19, 1493, from the Duke + of Medina-Celi to the Grand Cardinal of Spain (from the + archives of Simancas) in Navarrete _Coleccion de viages_, tom. + ii. p. 20.] + + [Footnote 501: This promise was never fulfilled. When Columbus + returned in triumph, arriving March 6, 1493, at Lisbon, and + March 15 at Palos, the Duke of Medina-Celi wrote the letter + just cited, recalling the queen's promise and asking to be + allowed to send to the Indies once each year an expedition on + his own account; for, he says, if he had not kept Columbus with + him in 1490 and 1491 he would have gone to France, and Castile + would have lost the prize. There was some force in this, but + Isabella does not appear to have heeded the request.] + + [Footnote 502: This theory of the situation is fully sustained + by Las Casas, tom. i. p. 241.] + +[Sidenote: He stops at La Rabida, and meets the prior Juan Perez.] + +[Sidenote: Perez writes to the queen,] + +[Sidenote: and Columbus is summoned back to court.] + +But now at length events took a favourable turn. Fate had grown tired of +fighting against such indomitable perseverance. For some years now the +stately figure of Columbus had been a familiar sight in the streets of +Seville and Cordova, and as he passed along, with his white hair +streaming in the breeze, and countenance aglow with intensity of purpose +or haggard with disappointment at some fresh rebuff, the ragged urchins +of the pavement tapped their foreheads and smiled with mingled wonder +and amusement at this madman. Seventeen years had elapsed since the +letter from Toscanelli to Martinez, and all that was mortal of the +Florentine astronomer had long since been laid in the grave. For +Columbus himself old age was not far away, yet he seemed no nearer the +fulfilment of his grand purpose than when he had first set it forth to +the king of Portugal. We can well imagine that when he started from +Huelva, with his little son Diego, now some eleven or twelve years old, +again to begin renewing his suit in a strange country, his thoughts must +have been sombre enough. For some reason or other--tradition says to ask +for some bread and water for his boy--he stopped at the Franciscan +monastery of La Rabida, about half a league from Palos. The prior, Juan +Perez, who had never seen Columbus before, became greatly interested in +him and listened with earnest attention to his story. This worthy monk, +who before 1478 had been Isabella's father-confessor, had a mind +hospitable to new ideas. He sent for Garcia Fernandez, a physician of +Palos, who was somewhat versed in cosmography, and for Martin Alonso +Pinzon, a well-to-do ship-owner and trained mariner of that town, and in +the quiet of the monastery a conference was held in which Columbus +carried conviction to the minds of these new friends. Pinzon declared +himself ready to embark in the enterprise in person. The venerable prior +forthwith sent a letter to the queen, and received a very prompt reply +summoning him to attend her in the camp before Granada. The result of +the interview was that within a few days Perez returned to the convent +with a purse of 20,000 maravedis (equivalent to about 1,180 dollars of +the present day), out of which Columbus bought a new suit of clothes and +a mule; and about the first of December he set out for the camp in +company with Juan Perez, leaving the boy Diego in charge of the priest +Martin Sanchez and a certain Rodriguez Cabejudo, upon whose sworn +testimony, together with that of the physician Garcia Fernandez, some +years afterward, several of these facts are related.[503] + + [Footnote 503: My account of these proceedings at La Rabida + differs in some particulars from any heretofore given, and I + think gets the events into an order of sequence that is at once + more logical and more in harmony with the sources of + information than any other. The error of Ferdinand Columbus--a + very easy one to commit, and not in the least damaging to his + general character as biographer--lay in confusing his father's + two real visits (in 1484 and 1491) to Huelva with two visits + (one imaginary in 1484 and one real in 1491) to La Rabida, + which was close by, between Huelva and Palos. The visits were + all the more likely to get mixed up in recollection because in + each case their object was little Diego and in each case he was + left in charge of somebody in that neighbourhood. The confusion + has been helped by another for which Ferdinand is not + responsible, viz.: the friar Juan Perez has been confounded + with another friar Antonio de Marchena, who Columbus says was + the only person who from the time of his first arrival in Spain + had always befriended him and never mocked at him. These worthy + friars twain have been made into one (e. g. "the prior of the + convent, Juan Perez de Marchena," Irving's _Columbus_, vol. i. + p. 128), and it has often been supposed that Marchena's + acquaintance began with Columbus at La Rabida in 1484, and that + Diego was left at the convent at that time. But some modern + sources of information have served at first to bemuddle, and + then when more carefully sifted, to clear up the story. In 1508 + Diego Columbus brought suit against the Spanish crown to + vindicate his claim to certain territories discovered by his + father, and there was a long investigation in which many + witnesses were summoned and past events were busily raked over + the coals. Among these witnesses were Rodriguez Cabejudo and + the physician Garcia Fernandez, who gave from personal + recollection a very lucid account of the affairs at La Rabida. + These proceedings are printed in Navarrete, _Coleccion de + viages_, tom. iii. pp. 238-591. More recently the publication + of the great book of Las Casas has furnished some very + significant clues, and the elaborate researches of M. Harrisse + have furnished others. (See Las Casas, lib. i. cap. xxix., + xxxi.; Harrisse, tom. i. pp. 341-372; tom. ii. pp. 237-231; cf. + Peragallo, _L' autenticita_, etc., pp. 117-134.)--It now seems + clear that Marchena, whom Columbus knew from his first arrival + in Spain, was not associated with La Rabida. At that time + Columbus left Diego, a mere infant, with his wife's sister at + Huelva. Seven years later, intending to leave Spain forever, he + went to Huelva and took Diego, then a small boy. On his way + from Huelva to the Seville road, and thence to Cordova (where + he would have been joined by Beatriz and Ferdinand), he + happened to pass by La Rabida, where up to that time he was + evidently unknown, and to attract the attention of the prior + Juan Perez, and the wheel of fortune suddenly and unexpectedly + turned. As Columbus's next start was not for France, but for + Granada, his boy was left in charge of two trustworthy persons. + On May 8, 1492, the little Diego was appointed page to Don + John, heir-apparent to the thrones of Castile and Aragon, with + a stipend of 9,400 maravedis. On February 19, 1498, after the + death of that young prince, Diego became page to Queen + Isabella.] + +[Sidenote: The junto before Granada, Dec, 1491.] + +At once upon the arrival of Columbus in the camp before Granada, his +case was argued then and there before an assembly of learned men and +was received more hospitably than formerly, at Salamanca. Several +eminent prelates had come to think favourably of his project or to deem +it at least worth a trial. Among these were the royal confessors, Deza +and Talavera, the latter having changed his mind, and especially +Mendoza, archbishop of Toledo, who now threw his vast influence +decisively in favour of Columbus.[504] The treasurers of the two +kingdoms, moreover, Quintanilla for Castile and Luis de Santangel for +Aragon, were among his most enthusiastic supporters; and the result of +the conference was the queen's promise to take up the matter in earnest +as soon as the Moor should have surrendered Granada. + + [Footnote 504: In popular allusions to Columbus it is quite + common to assume or imply that he encountered nothing but + opposition from the clergy. For example the account in Draper's + _Conflict between Science and Religion_, p. 161, can hardly be + otherwise understood by the reader. But observe that Marchena + who never mocked at Columbus, Juan Perez who gave the + favourable turn to his affairs, the great prelates Deza and + Mendoza, and the two treasurers Santangel and Quintanilla, were + every one of them priests! Without cordial support from the + clergy no such enterprise as that of Columbus could have been + undertaken, in Spain at least. It is quite right that we should + be free-thinkers; and it is also desirable that we should have + some respect for facts.] + +[Sidenote: Surrender of Granada, Jan. 2, 1492.] + +[Sidenote: Columbus negotiates with the queen.] + +[Sidenote: His terms are considered exorbitant.] + +Columbus had not long to wait for that great event, which came on the 2d +of January, 1492, and was hailed with rejoicings throughout Europe as in +some sort a compensation for the loss of Constantinople. It must have +been with a manifold sense of triumph that Columbus saw the banner of +Spain unfurled to the breeze from the highest tower of the Alhambra. But +at this critical moment in his fortunes the same obstacle was +encountered that long before had broken off his negotiations with the +king of Portugal. With pride and self-confidence not an inch abated by +all these years of trial, he demanded such honours and substantial +rewards as seemed extravagant to the queen, and Talavera advised her not +to grant them. Columbus insisted upon being appointed admiral of the +ocean and viceroy of such heathen countries as he might discover, +besides having for his own use and behoof one eighth part of such +revenues and profits as might accrue from the expedition. In principle +this sort of remuneration did not differ from that which the crown of +Portugal had been wont to award to its eminent discoverers;[505] but in +amount it was liable to prove indefinitely great, enough perhaps to +raise to princely power and rank this foreign adventurer. Could he not +be satisfied with something less? But Columbus was as inexorable as the +Sibyl with her books, and would hear of no abatement in his price. For +this "great constancy and loftiness of soul,"[506] Las Casas warmly +commends his friend Columbus. A querulous critic might call it +unreasonable obstinacy. But in truth the good man seems to have +entertained another grand scheme of his own, to which he wished to make +his maritime venture contribute. It was natural that his feelings toward +Turks should have been no more amiable than those of Hannibal toward the +Romans. It was the Turks who had ruined the commerce of his native +Genoa, in his youth he had more than once crossed swords with their +corsairs, and now he looked forward to the time when he might play the +part of a second Godfrey de Bouillon and deliver Jerusalem from the +miscreant followers of Mahound.[507] Vast resources would be needed for +such work, and from Cipango with its gold-roofed temples, and the +nameless and numberless isles of spices that crowded the Cathayan seas, +he hoped to obtain them. Long brooding over his cherished projects, in +which chimeras were thus mixed with anticipations of scientific truth, +had imparted to his character a tinge of religious fanaticism. He had +come to regard himself as a man with a mission to fulfil, as God's +chosen instrument for enlarging the bounds of Christendom and achieving +triumphs of untold magnificence for its banners. In this mood he was apt +to address kings with an air of equality that ill comported with his +humble origin and slender means; and on the present occasion, if +Talavera felt his old doubts and suspicions reviving, and was more than +half inclined to set Columbus down as a mere vendor of crotchets, one +can hardly wonder. + + [Footnote 505: Our Scandinavian friends are fond of pointing to + this demand of Columbus as an indication that he secretly + expected to "discover America," and not merely to find the way + to Asia. But how about Ferdinand and Isabella, who finally + granted what was demanded, and their ministers who drew up the + agreement, to say nothing of the clerks who engrossed it? What + did they all understand by "discovering islands and continents + in the ocean"? Were they all in this precious Vinland secret? + If so, it was pretty well kept. But in truth there was nothing + singular in these stipulations. Portugal paid for discovery in + just this way by granting governorships over islands like the + Azores, or long stretches of continent like Guinea, along with + a share of the revenues yielded by such places. See for example + the cases of Gonzalo Cabral, Fernando Gomez, and others in + Major, _Prince Henry the Navigator_, pp. 238, 321, and + elsewhere. In their search for the Indies the Portuguese were + continually finding new lands, and it was likely to be the same + with the western route, which was supposed (see Catalan, + Toscanelli, and Behaim maps) to lead among spice islands + innumerable, and to Asiatic kingdoms whose heathen people had + no rights of sovereignty that Christian monarchs felt bound to + respect.] + + [Footnote 506: Las Casas, _op. cit._ tom i. p. 243.] + + [Footnote 507: See his letter of February, 1502, to Pope + Alexander VI. in Navarrete, tom. ii. p. 280; and cf. Helps, + _Spanish Conquest in America_, vol. i. p. 96; Roselly de + Lorgues, _Christophe Colomb_, p. 394.] + +[Sidenote: Interposition of Luis de Santangel.] + +The negotiations were broken off, and the indomitable enthusiast once +more prepared to go to France. He had actually started on his mule one +fine winter day, when Luis de Santangel rushed into the queen's room and +spoke to her with all the passionate and somewhat reproachful energy of +one who felt that a golden opportunity was slipping away forever. His +arguments were warmly seconded by Quintanilla, who had followed him into +the room, as well as by the queen's bosom friend Beatriz de Bobadilla, +Marchioness of Moya, who happened to be sitting on the sofa and was a +devoted admirer of Columbus. An impulse seized Isabella. A courier was +sent on a fleet horse, and overtook Columbus as he was jogging quietly +over the bridge of Pinos, about six miles out from Granada. The matter +was reconsidered and an arrangement was soon made. It was agreed:-- + +[Sidenote: Agreement between Columbus and the sovereigns.] + +"1. That Columbus should have, for himself, during his life, and for his +heirs and successors forever, the office of admiral in all the islands +and continents which he might discover or acquire in the ocean, with +similar honours and prerogatives to those enjoyed by the high admiral of +Castile in his district. + +"2. That he should be viceroy and governor-general over all the said +lands and continents; with the privilege of nominating three candidates +for the government of each island or province, one of whom should be +selected by the sovereigns. + +"3. That he should be entitled to reserve for himself one tenth of all +pearls, precious stones, gold, silver, spices, and all other articles +and merchandises, in whatever manner found, bought, bartered, or gained +within his admiralty, the costs being first deducted. + +"4. That he, or his lieutenant, should be the sole judge in all causes +and disputes arising out of traffic between those countries and Spain, +provided the high admiral of Castile had similar jurisdiction in his +district. + +"5. That he might then, and at all after times, contribute an eighth +part of the expense in fitting out vessels to sail on this enterprise, +and receive an eighth part of the profits."[508] + + [Footnote 508: I cite this version from Irving's _Columbus_, + vol. i. p. 142, making a slight amendment in the rendering; the + original text is in Navarrete, tom. ii. p. 7. A few days later + the title of "Don" was granted to Columbus and made hereditary + in his family along with the offices of viceroy and + governor-general.] + +Columbus was not long in finding friends to advance or promise on his +account an eighth part of the sum immediately required. A considerable +amount was assessed upon the town of Palos in punishment for certain +misdeeds or delinquencies on the part of its people or some of them. +Castile assumed the rest of the burden, though Santangel may have +advanced a million maravedis out of the treasury of Aragon, or out of +the funds of the _Hermandad_,[509] or perhaps more likely on his own +account.[510] In any case it was a loan to the treasury of Castile +simply. It was always distinctly understood that Ferdinand as king of +Aragon had no share in the enterprise, and that the Spanish Indies were +an appurtenance to the crown of Castile. The agreement was signed April +17, 1492, and with tears of joy Columbus vowed to devote every maravedi +that should come to him to the rescue of the Holy Sepulchre. + + [Footnote 509: A police organization formed in 1476 for + suppressing highway robbery.] + + [Footnote 510: It is not easy to give an accurate account of + the cost of this most epoch-making voyage in all history. + Conflicting statements by different authorities combine with + the fluctuating values of different kinds of money to puzzle + and mislead us. According to M. Harrisse 1,000,000 maravedis + would be equivalent to 295,175 francs, or about 59,000 gold + dollars of United States money at present values. Las Casas + (tom. i. p. 256) says that the eighth part, raised by Columbus, + was 500,000 maravedis (29,500 dollars). Account-books preserved + in the archives of Simancas show that the sums paid from the + treasury of Castile amounted to 1,140,000 maravedis (67,500 + dollars). Assuming the statement of Las Casas to be correct, + the amounts contributed would perhaps have been as follows:-- + + Queen Isabella, from Castile treasury $67,500 + " loan from Santangel 59,000 + Columbus 29,500 + Other sources, including contribution levied + upon the town of Palos 80,000 + -------- + Total $236,000 + + This total seems to me altogether too large for probability, + and so does the last item, which is simply put at the figure + necessary to make the total eight times 29,500. I am inclined + to suspect that Las Casas (with whom arithmetic was not always + a strong point) may have got his figures wrong. The amount of + Santangel's loan also depends upon the statement of Las Casas, + and we do not know whether he took it from a document or from + hearsay. Nor do we know whether it should be added to, or + included in, the first item. More likely, I think, the latter. + The only item that we know with documentary certainty is the + first, so that our statement becomes modified as follows:-- + + Queen Isabella, from Castile treasury $67,500 + " loan from Santangel ? + Columbus ? + { rent of two fully + Town of Palos { equipped caravels + { for two months, etc. + ---------------------- + Total ? + + (Cf. Harrisse, tom. i. pp. 391-404.) Unsatisfactory, but + certain as far as it goes. Alas, how often historical + statements are thus reduced to meagreness, after the + hypothetical or ill-supported part has been sifted out! The + story that the Pinzon brothers advanced to Columbus his portion + is told by Las Casas, but he very shrewdly doubts it. The + famous story that Isabella pledged her crown jewels (_Vita + dell' Ammiraglio_, cap. xiv.) has also been doubted, but + perhaps on insufficient grounds, by M. Harrisse. It is + confirmed by Las Casas (tom. i. p. 249). According to one + account she pledged them to Santangel in security for his + loan,--which seems not altogether improbable. See Pizarro y + Orellana, _Varones ilustres del Nuevo Mundo_, Madrid, 1639, p. + 16.] + +[Sidenote: Dismay at Palos.] + +[Sidenote: The three famous caravels; the Santa Maria.] + +[Sidenote: The Pinta.] + +[Sidenote: The Nina.] + +When he reached Palos in May, with royal orders for ships and men, there +had like to have been a riot. Terrible dismay was felt at the prospect +of launching out for such a voyage upon the Sea of Darkness. Groans and +curses greeted the announcement of the forced contribution. But Martin +Pinzon and his brothers were active in supporting the crown officials, +and the work went on. To induce men to enlist, debts were forgiven and +civil actions suspended. Criminals were released from jail on condition +of serving. Three caravels were impressed into the service of the crown +for a time unlimited; and the rent and maintenance of two of these +vessels for two months was to be paid by the town. The largest caravel, +called the Santa Maria or Capitana, belonged to Juan de La Cosa, a +Biscayan mariner whose name was soon to become famous.[511] He now +commanded her, with another consummate sailor, Sancho Ruiz, for his +pilot. This single-decked craft, about ninety feet in length by twenty +feet breadth of beam, was the Admiral's flag-ship. The second caravel, +called the Pinta, a much swifter vessel, was commanded by Martin Pinzon. +She belonged to two citizens of Palos, Gomez Rascon and Cristobal +Quintero, who were now in her crew, sulky and ready for mischief. The +third and smallest caravel, the Nina ("Baby"), had for her commander +Vicente Yanez Pinzon, the youngest of the brothers, now about thirty +years of age. Neither the Pinta nor the Nina were decked amidships. On +board the three caravels were just ninety persons.[512] And so they set +sail from Palos on Friday, August 3, 1492, half an hour before sunrise, +and by sunset had run due south five and forty geographical miles, when +they shifted their course a couple of points to starboard and stood for +the Canaries. + + [Footnote 511: Navarrete, _Biblioteca maritima_, tom. ii. pp. + 208, 209.] + + [Footnote 512: The accounts of the armament are well summed up + and discussed in Harrisse, tom. i. pp. 405-408. Eighty-seven + names, out of the ninety, have been recovered, and the list is + given below, Appendix C.] + +[Sidenote: They go to the Canaries and are delayed there.] + +No thought of Vinland is betrayed in these proceedings. Columbus was +aiming at the northern end of Cipango (Japan). Upon Toscanelli's map, +which he carried with him, the great island of Cipango extends from 5 deg. +to about 28 deg. north latitude. He evidently aimed at the northern end of +Cipango as being directly on the route to Zaiton (Chang-chow) and other +Chinese cities mentioned by Marco Polo. Accordingly he began by running +down to the Canaries, in order that he might sail thence due west on the +28th parallel without shifting his course by a single point until he +should see the coast of Japan looming up before him.[513] On this +preliminary run signs of mischief began already to show themselves. The +Pinta's rudder was broken and unshipped, and Columbus suspected her two +angry and chafing owners of having done it on purpose, in order that +they and their vessel might be left behind. The Canaries at this +juncture merited the name of Fortunate Islands; fortunately they, alone +among African islands, were Spanish, so that Columbus could stop there +and make repairs. While this was going on the sailors were scared out +of their wits by an eruption of Teneriffe, which they deemed an omen of +evil, and it was also reported that some Portuguese caravels were +hovering in those waters, with intent to capture Columbus and carry him +off to Lisbon. + + [Footnote 513: "Para de alli tomar mi derrota, y navegar tanto + que yo llegase a las Indias," he says in his journal, + Navarrete, _Coleccion de viages_, tom. i.p. 3.] + +[Illustration: Martin Behaim's Globe, 1492,] + +[Illustration: reduced to Mercator's projection.][514] + + [Footnote 514: Martin Behaim was born at Nuremberg in 1436, and + is said to have been a pupil of the celebrated astronomer, + Regiomontanus, author of the first almanac published in Europe, + and of Ephemerides, of priceless value to navigators. He + visited Portugal about 1480, invented a new kind of astrolabe, + and sailed with it in 1484 as cosmographer in Diego Cam's + voyage to the Congo. On his return to Lisbon he was knighted, + and presently went to live on the island of Fayal, of which his + wife's father was governor. He was a friend of Columbus. Toward + 1492 he visited Nuremberg, to look after some family affairs, + and while there "he gratified some of his townspeople by + embodying in a globe the geographical views which prevailed in + the maritime countries; and the globe was finished before + Columbus had yet accomplished his voyage. The next year (1493) + Behaim returned to Portugal; and after having been sent to the + Low Countries on a diplomatic mission, he was captured by + English cruisers and carried to England. Escaping finally, and + reaching the Continent, he passes from our view in 1494, and is + scarcely heard of again." (Winsor, _Narr. and Crit. Hist._, ii. + 104.) He died in May, 1506. A ridiculous story that he + anticipated Columbus in the discovery of America originated in + the misunderstanding of an interpolated passage in the Latin + text of Schedel's _Registrum_, Nuremberg, 1498, p. 290 (the + so-called _Nuremberg Chronicle_). See Winsor, _op. cit._ ii. + 34; Major's _Prince Henry_, p. 326; Humboldt, _Examen + critique_, tom. i.p. 256; Murr, _Diplomatische Geschichte des + Ritters Behaim_, Nuremberg, 1778; Cladera, _Investigaciones + historicas_, Madrid, 1794; Harrisse, _Bibliotheca Americana + Vetustissima_, pp. 37-43.--The globe made by Behaim may now be + seen in the city hall at Nuremberg. It "is made of + _papier-mache_, covered with gypsum, and over this a parchment + surface received the drawing; it is twenty inches in diameter." + (Winsor, _op. cit._ ii. 105.) The portion west of the 330th + meridian is evidently copied from Toscanelli's map. I give + below (p. 429) a sketch (from Winsor, after Ruge's _Geschichte + des Zeitalters der Entdeckungen_, p. 230) of Behaim's ocean, + with the outline of the American continent superimposed in the + proper place.] + +[Sidenote: Columbus starts for Japan, Sept. 6, 1492.] + +At length, on the 6th of September, they set sail from Gomera, but were +becalmed and had made only thirty miles by the night of the 8th. The +breeze then freshened, and when next day the shores of Ferro, the last +of the Canaries, sank from sight on the eastern horizon, many of the +sailors loudly lamented their unseemly fate, and cried and sobbed like +children. Columbus well understood the difficulty of dealing with these +men. He provided against one chief source of discontent by keeping two +different reckonings, a true one for himself and a false one for his +officers and crews. He was shrewd enough not to overdo it and awaken +distrust. Thus after a twenty-four hours' run of 180 miles on September +10, he reported it as 144 miles; next day the run was 120 miles and he +announced it as 108, and so on. But for this prudent if somewhat +questionable device, it is not unlikely that the first week of October +would have witnessed a mutiny in which Columbus would have been either +thrown overboard or forced to turn back. + +[Sidenote: Deflection of the needle.] + +The weather was delicious, and but for the bug-a-boos that worried those +poor sailors it would have been a most pleasant voyage. Chief among the +imaginary terrors were three which deserve especial mention. At +nightfall on September 13 the ships had crossed the magnetic line of no +variation, and Columbus was astonished to see that the compass-needle, +instead of pointing a little to the right of the pole-star, began to +sway toward the left, and next day this deviation increased. It was +impossible to hide such a fact from the sharp eyes of the pilots, and +all were seized with alarm at the suspicion that this witch instrument +was beginning to play them some foul trick in punishment of their +temerity; but Columbus was ready with an ingenious astronomical +explanation, and their faith in the profundity of his knowledge +prevailed over their terrors. + +[Sidenote: The Sargasso Sea.] + +The second alarm came on September 16, when they struck into vast +meadows of floating seaweeds and grasses, abounding in tunny fish and +crabs. They had now come more than 800 miles from Ferro and were +entering the wonderful Sargasso Sea, that region of the Atlantic six +times as large as France, where vast tangles of vegetation grow upon the +surface of water that is more than 2,000 fathoms deep, and furnish +sustenance for an untold wealth of fishy life.[515] To the eye of the +mariner the Sargasso Sea presents somewhat the appearance of an endless +green prairie, but modern ships plough through it with ease and so did +the caravels of Columbus at first. After two or three days, however, the +wind being light, their progress was somewhat impeded. It was not +strange that the crews were frightened at such a sight. It seemed +uncanny and weird, and revived ancient fancies about mysterious +impassable seas and overbold mariners whose ships had been stuck fast in +them. The more practical spirits were afraid of running aground upon +submerged shoals, but all were somewhat reassured on this point when it +was found that their longest plummet-lines failed to find bottom. + + [Footnote 515: The situation of this Sargasso region in + mid-ocean seems to be determined by its character as a quiet + neutral ground between the great ocean-currents that flow past + it on every side. Sargasso plants are found elsewhere upon the + surface of the waves, but nowhere else do they congregate as + here. There are reasons for supposing that in ancient times + this region extended nearer to the African coast. Skylax + (_Periplus_, cap. 109) says that beyond Kerne, at the mouth of + Rio d' Ouro the sea cannot be navigated on account of the mud + and seaweed. Sataspes, on his return to Persia, B. C. 470, told + King Xerxes that his voyage failed because his ship stopped or + was stuck fast. (Herodotus, iv. 43.) Festus Avienus mentions + vast quantities of seaweed in the ocean west of the Pillars of + Hercules:-- + + Exsuperat autem gurgitem fucus frequens + Atque impeditur aestus ex uligine.... + Sic nulla late flabra propellunt ratem, + Sic segnis humor aequoris pigri stupet. + Adjicit et illud, plurimum inter gurgites + Exstare fucum, et saepe virgulti vice + Retinere puppim, etc. + Avienus, _Ora Maritima_, 108, 117. + + See also Aristotle, _Meteorol._, ii. 1, 14; Pseudo-Aristotle, + _De Mirab. Auscult._, p. 106; Theophrastus, _Historia + plantarum_, iv. 7 Jornandes, _De rebus Geticis_, apud Muratori, + tom. i.p. 191; according to Strabo (iii. 2, Sec. 7) tunny fish + were caught in abundance in the ocean west of Spain, and were + highly valued for the table on account of their fatness which + was due to submarine vegetables on which they fed. Possibly the + reports of these Sargasso meadows may have had some share in + suggesting to Plato his notion of a huge submerged island + Atlantis (_Timaeus_, 25; _Kritias_, 108; cf. the notion of a + viscous sea in Plutarch, _De facie in Orbe Luna_, 26), Plato's + fancy has furnished a theme for much wild speculation. See, for + example, Bailly, _Lettres sur l'Atlantide de Platon_, Paris, + 1779. The belief that there can ever have been such an island + in that part of the Atlantic is disposed of by the fact that + the ocean there is nowhere less than two miles in depth. See + the beautiful map of the Atlantic sea-bottom in Alexander + Agassiz's _Three Cruises of the Blake_, Boston, 1888, vol. i.p. + 108, and compare chap. vi. of that noble work, on "The + Permanence of Continents and of Oceanic Basins;" see also + Wallace's _Island Life_, chap. vi. It was formerly supposed + that the Sargasso plants grow on the sea-bottom, and becoming + detached rise to the surface (Peter Martyr, _De rebus + oceanicis_, dec. iii. lib. v. p. 53; Humboldt, _Personal + Narrative_, book i. chap, i.); but it is now known that they + are simply rooted in the surface water itself. "L'accumulation + de ces plantes marines est l'exemple le plus frappant de + plantes congeneres reunies sur le meme point. Ni les forets + colossales de l'Himalaya, ni les graminees qui s'etendent a + perte de vue dans les savanes americaines ou les steppes + siberiens ne rivalisent avec ces prairies oceaniques. Jamais + sur un espace aussi etendu, ne se rencontrent de telles masses + de plantes semblables. Quand on a vu la mer des Sargasses, on + n'oublie point un pareil spectacle." Paul Gaffarel, "La Mer des + Sargasses," _Bulletin de Geographie_, Paris, 1872, 6e serie, + tom. iv. p. 622.] + +[Sidenote: The trade wind.] + +On September 22 the journal reports "no more grass." They were in clear +water again, and more than 1,400 geographical miles from the Canaries. +A third source of alarm had already begun to disturb the sailors. They +were discovering much more than they had bargained for. They were in the +belt of the trade winds, and as the gentle but unfailing breeze wafted +them steadily westward, doubts began to arise as to whether it would +ever be possible to return. Fortunately soon after this question began +to be discussed, the wind, jealous of its character for capriciousness +even there, veered into the southwest. + +[Sidenote: Impatience of the crews.] + +By September 25 the Admiral's chief difficulty had come to be the +impatience of his crews at not finding land. On that day there was a +mirage, or some such illusion, which Columbus and all hands supposed to +be a coast in front of them, and hymns of praise were sung, but at dawn +next day they were cruelly undeceived. Flights of strange birds and +other signs of land kept raising hopes which were presently dashed +again, and the men passed through alternately hot and cold fits of +exultation and dejection. Such mockery seemed to show that they were +entering a realm of enchantment. Somebody, perhaps one of the released +jail-birds, hinted that if a stealthy thrust should happen some night to +push the Admiral overboard, it could be plausibly said that he had +slipped and fallen while star-gazing. His situation grew daily more +perilous, and the fact that he was an Italian commanding Spaniards did +not help him. Perhaps what saved him was their vague belief in his +superior knowledge; they may have felt that they should need him in +going back. + +[Illustration: Martin Behaim's Atlantic Ocean (with outline of American +continent superimposed).] + +[Sidenote: Change of course from W. to W. S. W.] + +[Sidenote: Land ahead! Oct. 12 (N. S. 21), 1492.] + +By October 4 there were ominous symptoms of mutiny, and the anxiety of +Columbus was evinced in the extent of his bold understatement of that +day's run,--138 miles instead of the true figure 189. For some days his +pilots had been begging him to change his course; perhaps they had +passed between islands. Anything for a change! On the 7th at sunrise, +they had come 2,724 geographical miles from the Canaries, which was +farther than the Admiral's estimate of the distance to Cipango; but +according to his false statement of the runs, it appeared that they had +come scarcely 2,200 miles. This leads one to suspect that in stating the +length of the voyage, as he had so often done, at 700 leagues, he may +have purposely made it out somewhat shorter than he really believed it +to be. But now after coming more than 2,500 miles he began to fear that +he might be sailing past Cipango on the north, and so he shifted his +course two points to larboard, or west-southwest. If a secret knowledge +of Vinland had been his guiding-star he surely would not have turned his +helm that way; but a glance at the Toscanelli map shows what was in his +mind. Numerous flights of small birds confirmed his belief that land at +the southwest was not far off. The change of direction was probably +fortunate. If he had persisted in keeping on the parallel, 720 miles +would have brought him to the coast of Florida, a little south of Cape +Malabar. After the change he had but 505 miles of water before him, and +the temper of the sailors was growing more dangerous with every +mile,[516]--until October 11, when the signs of land became +unmistakable, and the wildest excitement prevailed. A reward of 10,000 +maravedis had been promised to the person who should first discover +land, and ninety pair of eyes were strained that night with looking. +About ten o'clock the Admiral, standing on the tower-like poop of his +vessel, saw a distant light moving as if somebody were running along +the shore with a torch. This interpretation was doubted, but a few +hours later a sailor on the Pinta saw land distinctly, and soon it was +visible to all, a long low coast about five miles distant. This was at +two in the morning of Friday, October 12,[517]--just ten weeks since +they had sailed from Palos, just thirty-three days since they had lost +sight of the coast of Ferro. The sails were now taken in, and the ships +lay to, awaiting the dawn. + + [Footnote 516: The often-repeated story that a day or two + before the end of the voyage Columbus capitulated with his + crew, promising to turn back if land were not seen within three + days, rests upon the single and relatively inferior authority + of Oviedo. It is not mentioned by Las Casas or Bernaldez or + Peter Martyr or Ferdinand Columbus, and it is discredited by + the tone of the Admiral's journal, which shows as unconquerable + determination on the last day of the voyage as on any previous + day. Cf. Irving, vol. i. p. 187.] + + [Footnote 517: Applying the Gregorian Calendar, or "new style," + it becomes the 21st. The four hundredth anniversary will + properly fall on October 21, 1892.] + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: The crews go ashore.] + +At daybreak the boats were lowered and Columbus, with a large part of +his company, went ashore. Upon every side were trees of unknown kinds, +and the landscape seemed exceedingly beautiful. Confident that they must +have attained the object for which they had set sail, the crews were +wild with exultation. Their heads were dazed with fancies of princely +fortunes close at hand. The officers embraced Columbus or kissed his +hands, while the sailors threw themselves at his feet, craving pardon +and favour. + +[Sidenote: The astonished natives.] + +[Sidenote: Guanahani: where was it?] + +These proceedings were watched with unutterable amazement and awe by a +multitude of men, women, and children of cinnamon hue, different from +any kind of people the Spaniards had ever seen. All were stark naked and +most of them were more or less greased and painted. They thought that +the ships were sea-monsters and the white men supernatural creatures +descended from the sky.[518] At first they fled in terror as these +formidable beings came ashore, but presently, as they found themselves +unmolested, curiosity began to overcome fear, and they slowly approached +the Spaniards, stopping at every few paces to prostrate themselves in +adoration. After a time, as the Spaniards received them with encouraging +nods and smiles, they waxed bold enough to come close to the visitors +and pass their hands over them, doubtless to make sure that all this +marvel was a reality and not a mere vision. Experiences in Africa had +revealed the eagerness of barbarians to trade off their possessions for +trinkets, and now the Spaniards began exchanging glass beads and hawks' +bells for cotton yarn, tame parrots, and small gold ornaments. Some sort +of conversation in dumb show went on, and Columbus naturally interpreted +everything in such wise as to fit his theories. Whether the natives +understood him or not when he asked them where they got their gold, at +any rate they pointed to the south, and thus confirmed Columbus in his +suspicion that he had come to some island a little to the north of the +opulent Cipango. He soon found that it was a small island, and he +understood the name of it to be Guanahani. He took formal possession of +it for Castile, just as the discoverers of the Cape Verde islands and +the Guinea coasts had taken possession of those places for Portugal; +and he gave it a Christian name, San Salvador. That name has since the +seventeenth century been given to Cat island, but perhaps in pursuance +of a false theory of map-makers; it is not proved that Cat island is the +Guanahani of Columbus. All that can positively be asserted of Guanahani +is that it was one of the Bahamas: there has been endless discussion as +to which one, and the question is not easy to settle. Perhaps the theory +of Captain Gustavus Fox, of the United States navy, is on the whole best +supported. Captain Fox maintains that the true Guanahani was the little +island now known as Samana or Atwood's Cay.[519] The problem well +illustrates the difficulty in identifying any route from even a good +description of landmarks, without the help of persistent proper names, +especially after the lapse of time has somewhat altered the landmarks. +From this point of view it is a very interesting problem and has its +lessons for us; otherwise it is of no importance. + + [Footnote 518: This is a common notion among barbarians. "The + Polynesians imagine that the sky descends at the horizon and + encloses the earth. Hence they call foreigners _papalangi_, or + 'heaven-bursters,' as having broken in from another world + outside." Max Mueller, _Chips from a German Workshop_, vol. ii. + p. 268.] + + [Footnote 519: "An Attempt to solve the Problem of the First + Landing Place of Columbus in the New World," in _United States + Coast and Geodetic Survey--Report for 1880--Appendix 18_, + Washington, 1882.] + +[Sidenote: Groping for Cipango and the route to Quinsay.] + +A cruise of ten days among the Bahamas, with visits to four of the +islands, satisfied Columbus that he was in the ocean just east of +Cathay, for Marco Polo had described it as studded with thousands of +spice-bearing islands, and the Catalan map shows that some of these were +supposed to be inhabited by naked savages. To be sure, he could not find +any spices or valuable drugs, but the air was full of fragrance and the +trees and herbs were strange in aspect and might mean anything; so for a +while he was ready to take the spices on trust. Upon inquiries about +gold the natives always pointed to the south, apparently meaning +Cipango; and in that direction Columbus steered on the 25th of October, +intending to stay in that wealthy island long enough to obtain all +needful information concerning its arts and commerce. Thence a sail of +less than ten days would bring him to the Chinese coast, along which he +might comfortably cruise northwesterly as far as Quinsay and deliver to +the Great Khan a friendly letter with which Ferdinand and Isabella had +provided him. Alas, poor Columbus--unconscious prince of +discoverers--groping here in Cuban waters for the way to a city on the +other side of the globe and to a sovereign whose race had more than a +century since been driven from the throne and expelled from the very +soil of Cathay! Could anything be more pathetic, or better illustrate +the profound irony with which our universe seems to be governed? + +[Sidenote: Columbus reaches Cuba, and sends envoys to find a certain +Asiatic prince.] + +On reaching Cuba the Admiral was charmed with the marvellous beauty of +the landscape,--a point in which he seems to have been unusually +sensitive. He found pearl oysters along the shore, and although no +splendid cities as yet appeared, he did not doubt that he had reached +Cipango. But his attempts at talking with the amazed natives only served +to darken counsel. He understood them to say that Cuba was part of the +Asiatic continent, and that there was a king in the neighbourhood who +was at war with the Great Khan! So he sent two messengers to seek this +refractory potentate,--one of them a converted Jew acquainted with +Arabic, a language sometimes heard far eastward in Asia, as Columbus +must have known. These envoys found pleasant villages, with large +houses, surrounded with fields of such unknown vegetables as maize, +potatoes, and tobacco; they saw men and women smoking cigars,[520] and +little dreamed that in that fragrant and soothing herb there was a +richer source of revenue than the spices of the East. They passed acres +of growing cotton and saw in the houses piles of yarn waiting to be +woven into rude cloth or twisted into nets for hammocks. But they found +neither cities nor kings, neither gold nor spices, and after a tedious +quest returned, somewhat disappointed, to the coast. + + [Footnote 520: The first recorded mention of tobacco is in + Columbus's diary for November 20, 1492:--"Hallaron los dos + cristianos por el camino mucha gente que atravesaba a sus + pueblos, mugeres y hombres con un tizon en la mano, yerbas para + tomar sus sahumerios que acostumbraban," i. e. "the two + Christians met on the road a great many people going to their + villages, men and women with brands in their hands, made of + herbs for taking their customary smoke." Navarrete, tom. i. p. + 51.] + +[Sidenote: Columbus turns eastward; Pinzon deserts him.] + +Columbus seems now to have become perplexed, and to have vacillated +somewhat in his purposes. If this was the continent of Asia it was +nearer than he had supposed, and how far mistaken he had been in his +calculations no one could tell. But where was Cipango? He gathered from +the natives that there was a great island to the southeast, abounding +in gold, and so he turned his prows in that direction. On the 20th of +November he was deserted by Martin Pinzon, whose ship could always +outsail the others. It seems to have been Pinzon's design to get home in +advance with such a story as would enable him to claim for himself an +undue share of credit for the discovery of the Indies. This was the +earliest instance of a kind of treachery such as too often marred the +story of Spanish exploration and conquest in the New World. + +[Sidenote: Columbus arrives at Hayti and thinks it must be Japan.] + +[Sidenote: Wreck of the Santa Maria, Dec. 25, 1492.] + +For a fortnight after Pinzon's desertion Columbus crept slowly eastward +along the coast of Cuba, now and then landing to examine the country and +its products; and it seemed to him that besides pearls and mastic and +aloes he found in the rivers indications of gold. When he reached the +cape at the end of the island he named it Alpha and Omega, as being the +extremity of Asia,--Omega from the Portuguese point of view, Alpha from +his own. On the 6th of December he landed upon the northwestern coast of +the island of Hayti, which he called Espanola, Hispaniola, or "Spanish +land."[521] Here, as the natives seemed to tell him of a region to the +southward and quite inland which abounded in gold, and which they called +Cibao, the Admiral at once caught upon the apparent similarity of sounds +and fancied that Cibao must be Cipango, and that at length he had +arrived upon that island of marvels. It was much nearer the Asiatic +mainland (i. e. Cuba) than he had supposed, but then, it was beginning +to appear that in any case somebody's geography must be wrong. Columbus +was enchanted with the scenery. "The land is elevated," he says, "with +many mountains and peaks ... most beautiful, of a thousand varied forms, +accessible, and full of trees of endless varieties, so tall that they +seem to touch the sky; and I have been told that they never lose their +foliage. The nightingale [i. e. some kind of thrush] and other small +birds of a thousand kinds were singing in the month of November +[December] when I was there."[522] Before he had done much toward +exploring this paradise, a sudden and grave mishap quite altered his +plans. On Christmas morning, between midnight and dawn, owing to +careless disobedience of orders on the part of the helmsman, the +flag-ship struck upon a sand-bank near the present site of Port au Paix. +All attempts to get her afloat were unavailing, and the waves soon beat +her to pieces. + + [Footnote 521: Not "Little Spain," as the form of the word, so + much like a diminutive, might seem to indicate. It is simply + the feminine of _Espanol_, "Spanish," sc. _tierra_ or _isla_. + Columbus believed that the island was larger than Spain. See + his letter to Gabriel Sanchez, in Harrisse, tom. i. p. 428.] + + [Footnote 522: Columbus to Santangel, February 15, 1493 + (Navarrete, tom. i. p. 168).] + +[Sidenote: Columbus decides to go back to Spain.] + +This catastrophe brought home, with startling force, to the mind of +Columbus, the fact that the news of his discovery of land was not yet +known in Europe. As for the Pinta and her insubordinate commander, none +could say whether they would ever be seen again or whether their speedy +arrival in Spain might not portend more harm than good to Columbus. His +armament was now reduced to the little undecked Nina alone, such a craft +as we should deem about fit for a summer excursion on Long Island Sound. +What if his party should all perish, or be stranded helpless on these +strange coasts, before any news of their success should reach the ears +of friends in Europe! Then the name of Columbus would serve as a by-word +for foolhardiness, and his mysterious fate would simply deter other +expeditions from following in the same course. Obviously the first +necessity of the situation was to return to Spain immediately and report +what had already been done. Then it would be easy enough to get ships +and men for a second voyage. + +[Sidenote: Building of the blockhouse, La Navidad.] + +[Sidenote: Meeting with Pinzon.] + +This decision led to the founding of an embryo colony upon Hispaniola. +There was not room enough for all the party to go in the Nina, and quite +a number begged to be left behind, because they found life upon the +island lazy and the natives, especially the women, seemed well-disposed +toward them. So a blockhouse was built out of the wrecked ship's timbers +and armed with her guns, and in commemoration of that eventful Christmas +it was called Fort Nativity (_La Navidad_). Here forty men were left +behind, with provisions enough for a whole year, and on January 4, 1493, +the rest of the party went on board the Nina and set sail for Spain. Two +days later in following the northern coast of Hispaniola they +encountered the Pinta, whose commander had been delayed by trading with +the natives and by finding some gold. Pinzon tried to explain his sudden +disappearance by alleging that stress of weather had parted him from +his comrades, but his excuses were felt to be lame and improbable. +However it may have been with his excuses, there was no doubt as to the +lameness of his foremast; it had been too badly sprung to carry much +sail, so that the Pinta could not again run away from her consort. + +[Sidenote: Terrible storm in mid-ocean, Feb., 1493.] + +On this return voyage the Admiral, finding the trade winds dead against +him, took a northeasterly course until he had passed the thirty-seventh +parallel and then headed straight toward Spain. On the 12th of February +a storm was brewing, and during the next four days it raged with such +terrific violence that it is a wonder how those two frail caravels ever +came out of it. They were separated this time not to meet again upon the +sea. Expecting in all likelihood to be engulfed in the waves with his +tiny craft, Columbus sealed and directed to Ferdinand and Isabella two +brief reports of his discovery, written upon parchment. Each of these he +wrapped in a cloth and inclosed in the middle of a large cake of wax, +which was then securely shut up in a barrel. One of the barrels was +flung into the sea, the other remained standing on the little +quarter-deck to await the fate of the caravel. The anxiety was not +lessened by the sight of land on the 15th, for it was impossible to +approach it so as to go ashore, and there was much danger of being +dashed to pieces. + +[Sidenote: Cold reception at the Azores.] + +At length on the 18th, the storm having abated, the ship's boat went +ashore and found that it was the island of St. Mary, one of the Azores. +It is worthy of note that such skilful sailors as the Nina's captain, +Vicente Yanez Pinzon, and the pilot Ruiz were so confused in their +reckoning as to suppose themselves near the Madeiras, whereas Columbus +had correctly maintained that they were approaching the Azores,--a good +instance of his consummate judgment in nautical questions.[523] From the +Portuguese governor of the island this Spanish company met with a very +ungracious reception. A party of sailors whom Columbus sent ashore to a +small chapel of the Virgin, to give thanks for their deliverance from +shipwreck, were seized and held as prisoners for five days. It +afterwards appeared that this was done in pursuance of general +instructions from the king of Portugal to the governors of his various +islands. If Columbus had gone ashore he would probably have been +arrested himself. As it was, he took such a high tone and threatened to +such good purpose that the governor of St. Mary was fain to give up his +prisoners for fear of bringing on another war between Portugal and +Castile. + + [Footnote 523: Las Casas, tom. i. pp. 443, 449.] + +[Sidenote: Columbus is driven ashore in Portugal, where the king is +advised to have him assassinated;] + +[Sidenote: but to offend Spain so grossly would be dangerous.] + +Having at length got away from this unfriendly island, as the Nina was +making her way toward Cape St. Vincent and within 400 miles of it, she +was seized by another fierce tempest and driven upon the coast of +Portugal, where Columbus and his crew were glad of a chance to run into +the river Tagus for shelter. The news of his voyage and his discoveries +aroused intense excitement in Lisbon. Astonishment was mingled with +chagrin at the thought that the opportunity for all this glory and +profit had first been offered to Portugal and foolishly lost. The king +even now tried to persuade himself that Columbus had somehow or other +been trespassing upon the vast and vague undiscovered dominions granted +to the Crown of Portugal by Pope Eugenius IV. Some of the king's +counsellors are said to have urged him to have Columbus assassinated; it +would be easy enough to provoke such a high-spirited man into a quarrel +and then run him through the body.[524] To clearer heads, however, the +imprudence of such a course was manifest. It was already impossible to +keep the news of the discovery from reaching Spain, and Portugal could +not afford to go to war with her stronger neighbour. In fact even had +John II. been base enough to resort to assassination, which seems quite +incompatible with the general character of Lope de Vega's "perfect +prince," Columbus was now too important a personage to be safely +interfered with. So he was invited to court and made much of. On the +13th of March he set sail again and arrived in the harbour of Palos at +noon of the 15th. His little caravel was promptly recognized by the +people, and as her story flew from mouth to mouth all the business of +the town was at an end for that day.[525] + + [Footnote 524: This story rests upon the explicit statement of + a contemporary Portuguese historian of high authority, Garcia + de Resende, _Chronica del Rey Dom Joao II._, Lisbon, 1622, cap. + clxiv. (written about 1516); see also Vasconcellos, _Vida del + Rey Don Juan II._, Madrid, 1639, lib. vi.] + + [Footnote 525: "When they learnt that she returned in triumph + from the discovery of a world, the whole community broke forth + into transports of joy." Irving's _Columbus_, vol. i. p. 318. + This is projecting our present knowledge into the past. We now + know that Columbus had discovered a new world. He did not so + much as suspect that he had done anything of the sort; neither + did the people of Palos.] + +[Sidenote: Columbus and Pinzon at Palos; death of Pinzon.] + +Towards evening, while the bells were ringing and the streets brilliant +with torches, another vessel entered the harbour and dropped anchor. She +was none other than the Pinta! The storm had driven her to Bayonne, +whence Martin Pinzon instantly despatched a message to Ferdinand and +Isabella, making great claims for himself and asking permission to wait +upon them with a full account of the discovery. As soon as practicable +he made his way to Palos, but when on arriving he saw the Nina already +anchored in the harbour his guilty heart failed him. He took advantage +of the general hub-bub to slink ashore as quickly and quietly as +possible, and did not dare to show himself until after the Admiral had +left for Seville. The news from Columbus reached the sovereigns before +they had time to reply to the message of Pinzon; so when their answer +came to him it was cold and stern and forbade him to appear in their +presence. Pinzon was worn out with the hardships of the homeward voyage, +and this crushing reproof was more than he could bear. His sudden death, +a few days afterward, was generally attributed to chagrin.[526] + +[Sidenote: Columbus is received by the sovereigns at Barcelona, April, +1493.] + +[Sidenote: General excitement at the news that a way to the Indies had +been found.] + +From Seville the Admiral was summoned to attend court at Barcelona, +where he was received with triumphal honours. He was directed to seat +himself in the presence of the sovereigns, a courtesy usually reserved +for royal personages.[527] Intense interest was felt in his specimens of +stuffed birds and small mammals, his live parrots, his collection of +herbs which he supposed to have medicinal virtues, his few pearls and +trinkets of gold, and especially his six painted and bedizened +barbarians, the survivors of ten with whom he had started from +Hispaniola. Since in the vague terminology of that time the remote and +scarcely known parts of Asia were called the Indies, and since the +islands and coasts just discovered were Indies, of course these red men +must be Indians. So Columbus had already named them in his first letter +written from the Nina, off the Azores, sent by special messenger from +Palos, and now in April, 1493, printed at Barcelona, containing the +particulars of his discovery,--a letter appropriately addressed to the +worthy Santangel but for whose timely intervention he might have ridden +many a weary league on that mule of his to no good purpose.[528] It was +generally assumed without question that the Admiral's theory of his +discovery must be correct, that the coast of Cuba must be the eastern +extremity of China, that the coast of Hispaniola must be the northern +extremity of Cipango, and that a direct route--much shorter than that +which Portugal had so long been seeking--had now been found to those +lands of illimitable wealth described by Marco Polo.[529] To be sure +Columbus had not as yet seen the evidences of this Oriental splendour, +and had been puzzled at not finding them, but he felt confident that he +had come very near them and would come full upon them in a second +voyage. There was nobody who knew enough to refute these opinions,[530] +and really why should not this great geographer, who had accomplished so +much already which people had scouted as impossible,--why should he not +know what he was about? It was easy enough now to get men and money for +the second voyage. When the Admiral sailed from Cadiz on September 25, +1493, it was with seventeen ships carrying 1,500 men. Their dreams were +of the marble palaces of Quinsay, of isles of spices, and the treasures +of Prester John. The sovereigns wept for joy as they thought that such +untold riches were vouchsafed them by the special decree of Heaven, as a +reward for having overcome the Moor at Granada and banished the Jews +from Spain.[531] Columbus shared these views and regarded himself as a +special instrument for executing the divine decrees. He renewed his vow +to rescue the Holy Sepulchre, promising within the next seven years to +equip at his own expense a crusading army of 50,000 foot and 4,000 +horse; within five years thereafter he would follow this with a second +army of like dimensions. + + [Footnote 526: Charlevoix, _Histoire de l'isle Espagnole, ou de + St. Domingue_, Paris, 1730, liv. ii.; Munoz, _Historia de las + Indias o Nuevo Mundo_, Madrid, 1793, lib. iv. Sec. 14.] + + [Footnote 527: He was also allowed to quarter the royal arms + with his own, "which consisted of a group of golden islands + amid azure billows. To these were afterwards added five + anchors, with the celebrated motto, well known as being carved + on his sepulchre." Prescott's _Ferdinand and Isabella_, pt. i. + chap. vii. This statement about the motto is erroneous. See + below, p. 514. Considering the splendour of the reception given + to Columbus, and the great interest felt in his achievement, + Mr. Prescott is surprised at finding no mention of this + occasion in the local annals of Barcelona, or in the royal + archives of Aragon. He conjectures, with some probability, that + the cause of the omission may have been what an American would + call "sectional" jealousy. This Cathay and Cipango business was + an affair of Castile's, and, as such, quite beneath the notice + of patriotic Aragonese archivists! That is the way history has + too often been treated. With most people it is only a kind of + ancestor worship.] + + [Footnote 528: The unique copy of this first edition of this + Spanish letter is a small folio of two leaves, or four pages. + It was announced for sale in Quaritch's Catalogue, April 16, + 1891, No. 111, p. 47, for L1,750. Evidently most book-lovers + will have to content themselves with the facsimile published in + London, 1891, price two guineas. A unique copy of a Spanish + reprint in small quarto, made in 1493, is preserved in the + Ambrosian library at Milan. In 1889 Messrs. Ellis & Elvey, of + London, published a facsimile _alleged_ to have been made from + an edition of about the same date as the Ambrosian quarto; but + there are good reasons for believing that these highly + respectable publishers have been imposed upon. It is a time + just now when fictitious literary discoveries of this sort may + command a high price, and the dealer in early Americana must + keep his eyes open. See Quaritch's note, _op. cit._ p. 49; and + Justin Winsor's letter in _The Nation_, April 9, 1891, vol. + lii. p. 298.] + + [Footnote 529: "The lands, therefore, which Columbus had + visited were called the West Indies; and as he seemed to have + entered upon a vast region of unexplored countries, existing in + a state of nature, the whole received the comprehensive + appellation of the New World." Irving's _Columbus_, vol. i. p. + 333. These are very grave errors, again involving the + projection of our modern knowledge into the past. The lands + which Columbus had visited were called simply the Indies; it + was not until long after his death, and after the crossing of + the Pacific ocean, that they were distinguished from the East + Indies. The _New World_ was not at first a "comprehensive + appellation" for the countries discovered by Columbus; it was + at first applied to one particular region never visited by him, + viz. to that portion of the southeastern coast of South America + first explored by Vespucius. See vol. ii. pp. 129, 130.] + + [Footnote 530: Peter Martyr, however, seems to have entertained + some vague doubts, inasmuch as this assumed nearness of the + China coast on the west implied a greater eastward extension of + the Asiatic continent than seemed to him probable:--"Insulas + reperit plures; has esse, de quibus fit apud cosmographos + mentio extra oceanum orientalem, adjacentes Indiae arbitrantur. + Nec inficior ego penitus, _quamvis sphaerae magnitudo aliter + sentire videatur_; neque enim desunt qui parvo tractu a finibus + Hispaniae distare littus Indicum putent." _Opus Epist._, No. + 135. The italicizing is mine.] + + [Footnote 531: This abominable piece of wickedness, driving + 200,000 of Spain's best citizens from their homes and their + native land, was accomplished in pursuance of an edict signed + March 30, 1492. There is a brief account of it in Prescott's + _Ferdinand and Isabella_, pt. i. chap. vi.] + +[Sidenote: This voyage was an event without any parallel in history.] + +Thus nobody had the faintest suspicion of what had been done. In the +famous letter to Santangel there is of course not a word about a New +World. The grandeur of the achievement was quite beyond the ken of the +generation that witnessed it. For we have since come to learn that in +1492 the contact between the eastern and the western halves of our +planet was first really begun, and the two streams of human life which +had flowed on for countless ages apart were thenceforth to mingle +together. The first voyage of Columbus is thus a unique event in the +history of mankind. Nothing like it was ever done before, and nothing +like it can ever be done again. No worlds are left for a future Columbus +to conquer. The era of which this great Italian mariner was the most +illustrious representative has closed forever. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE FINDING OF STRANGE COASTS. + + +[Sidenote: The Discovery of America was a gradual process.] + +But that era did not close with Columbus, nor did he live long enough to +complete the Discovery of America. Our practice of affixing specific +dates to great events is on many accounts indispensable, but it is +sometimes misleading. Such an event as the discovery of a pair of vast +continents does not take place within a single year. When we speak of +America as discovered in 1492, we do not mean that the moment Columbus +landed on two or three islands of the West Indies, a full outline map of +the western hemisphere from Labrador and Alaska to Cape Horn suddenly +sprang into existence--like Pallas from the forehead of Zeus--in the +minds of European men. Yet people are perpetually using arguments which +have neither force nor meaning save upon the tacit assumption that +somehow or other some such sort of thing must have happened. This +grotesque fallacy lies at the bottom of the tradition which has caused +so many foolish things to be said about that gallant mariner, Americus +Vespucius. In geographical discussions the tendency to overlook the fact +that Columbus and his immediate successors did not sail with the latest +edition of Black's General Atlas in their cabins is almost inveterate; +it keeps revealing itself in all sorts of queer statements, and probably +there is no cure for it except in familiarity with the long series of +perplexed and struggling maps made in the sixteenth century. Properly +regarded, the Discovery of America was not a single event, but a very +gradual process. It was not like a case of special creation, for it was +a case of evolution, and the voyage of 1492 was simply the most decisive +and epoch-marking incident in that evolution. Columbus himself, after +all his four eventful voyages across the Sea of Darkness, died in the +belief that he had simply discovered the best and straightest route to +the eastern shores of Asia. Yet from his first experiences in Cuba down +to his latest voyage upon the coasts of Honduras and Veragua, he was +more or less puzzled at finding things so different from what he had +anticipated. If he had really known anything with accuracy about the +eastern coast of Asia, he would doubtless soon have detected his +fundamental error, but no European in his day had any such knowledge. In +his four voyages Columbus was finding what he supposed to be parts of +Asia, what we now know to have been parts of America, but what were +really to him and his contemporaries neither more nor less than Strange +Coasts. We have now to consider briefly his further experiences upon +these strange coasts. + + * * * * * + +The second voyage of Columbus was begun in a very different mood and +under very different auspices from either his former or his two +subsequent voyages. On his first departure from Palos, in 1492, all +save a few devoted friends regarded him as a madman rushing upon his +doom; and outside the Spanish peninsula the expedition seems to have +attracted no notice. But on the second start, in 1493, all hands +supposed that they were going straight to golden Cathay and to boundless +riches. It was not now with groans but with paeans that they flocked on +board the ships; and the occasion was observed, with more or less +interest, by some people in other countries of Europe,--as in Italy, and +for the moment in France and England. + +[Sidenote: The letter to Sanchez.] + +At the same time with his letter to Santangel, the Admiral had +despatched another account, substantially the same,[532] to Gabriel +Sanchez,[533] another officer of the royal treasury. Several copies of a +Latin translation of this letter were published at Rome, at Paris, and +elsewhere, in the course of the year 1493.[534] The story which it +contained was at once paraphrased in Italian verse by Giuliano Dati, one +of the most popular poets of the age, and perhaps in the autumn of 1493 +the amazing news that the Indies had been found by sailing west[535] was +sung by street urchins in Florence. We are also informed, in an +ill-vouched but not improbable clause in Ramusio, that not far from that +same time the news was heard with admiration in London, where it was +pronounced "a thing more divine than human to sail by the West unto the +East, where spices grow, by a way that was never known before;"[536] and +it seems altogether likely that it was this news that prompted the +expedition of John Cabot hereafter to be mentioned.[537] + + [Footnote 532: "Un duplicata de cette relation," Harrisse, + _Christophe Colomb_, tom i. p. 419.] + + [Footnote 533: Often called Raphael Sanchez.] + + [Footnote 534: The following epigram was added to the first + Latin edition of the latter by Corbaria, Bishop of + Monte-Peloso:-- + + _Ad Invictissimum Regem Hispaniarum_: + + Iam nulla Hispanis tellus addenda triumphis, + Atque parum tantis viribus orbis erat. + Nunc longe eois regio deprensa sub undis, + Auctura est titulos Betice magne tuos. + Unde repertori inerita referenda Columbo + Gratia, sed summo est maior habenda deo, + Qui vincenda parat noua regna tibique sibique + Teque simul fortem prestat et esse pium. + + These lines are thus paraphrased by M. Harrisse:-- + + _To the Invincible King of the Spains_: + + Less wide the world than the renown of Spain, + To swell her triumphs no new lands remain. + Rejoice, Iberia! see thy fame increased! + Another world Columbus from the East + And the mid-ocean summons to thy sway! + Give thanks to him--but loftier homage pay + To God Supreme, who gives its realms to thee! + Greatest of monarchs, first of servants be! + _Bibliotheca Americana Vetustissima_, p. 13. + + The following is a literal version:--"Already there is no land + to be added to the triumphs of Spain, and the earth was too + small for such great deeds. Now a far country under the eastern + waves has been discovered, and will be an addition to thy + titles, O great Baetica! wherefore thanks are due to the + illustrious discover Columbus; but greater thanks to the + supreme God, who is making ready new realms to be conquered for + thee and for Himself, and vouchsafes to thee to be at once + strong and pious." It will be observed that nothing is said + about "another world." + + An elaborate account of these earliest and excessively rare + editions is given by M. Harrisse, _loc. cit._] + + [Footnote 535: Or, as Mr. Major carelessly puts it, "the + astounding news of the discovery of a new world." (_Select + Letters of Columbus_, p. vi.) Mr. Major knows very well that no + such "news" was possible for many a year after 1493; his remark + is, of course, a mere slip of the pen, but if we are ever going + to straighten out the tangle of misconceptions with which this + subject is commonly surrounded, we must be careful in our + choice of words.--As a fair specimen, of the chap-book style of + Dati's stanzas, we may cite the fourteenth:-- + + Hor vo tornar almio primo tractato + dellisole trovate incognite a te + in [~q]sto anno presente [~q]sto e stato + nel millequatrocento nov[=a]tatre, + uno che x[~p]ofan col[=o]bo chiamato, + che e stato in corte der prefecto Re + ha molte volte questa stimolato, + el Re ch'cerchi acrescere il suo stato. + + M. Harrisse gives the following version:-- + + Back to my theme, O Listener, turn with me + And hear of islands all unknown to thee! + Islands whereof the grand discovery + Chanced in this year of fourteen ninety-three. + One Christopher Colombo, whose resort + Was ever in the King Fernando's court, + Bent himself still to rouse and stimulate + The King to swell the borders of his State. + _Bibliotheca Americana Vetustissima_, p. 29. + + The entire poem of sixty-eight stanzas is given in Major, _op. + cit._ pp. lxxiii.-xc. It was published at Florence, Oct. 26, + 1493, and was called "the story of the discovery [not of a new + world, but] of the new Indian islands of Canary!" (_Storia + della inventione delle nuove isole dicanaria indiane._)] + + [Footnote 536: _Raccolta di Navigazioni_, etc., Venice, 1550, + tom. i. fol. 414.] + + [Footnote 537: See below, vol. ii. pp. 2-15.] + +[Sidenote: Earliest references to the discovery.] + +[Sidenote: Earliest reference in English.] + +The references to the discovery are very scanty, however, until after +the year 1500, and extremely vague withal. For example, Bernardino de +Carvajal, the Spanish ambassador at the papal court, delivered an +oration in Rome on June 19, 1493, in which he said: "And Christ placed +under their [Ferdinand and Isabella's] rule the Fortunate [Canary] +islands, the fertility of which has been ascertained to be wonderful. +And he has lately disclosed some other unknown ones towards the Indies +which may be considered among the most precious things on earth; and it +is believed that they will be gained over to Christ by the emissaries +of the king."[538] Outside of the Romance countries we find one German +version of the first letter of Columbus, published at Strasburg, in +1497,[539] and a brief allusion to the discovery in Sebastian Brandt's +famous allegorical poem, "Das Narrenschiff," the first edition of which +appeared in 1494.[540] The earliest distinct reference to Columbus in +the English language is to be found in a translation of this poem, "The +Shyppe of Fooles," by Henry Watson, published in London by Wynkyn de +Worde in 1509. The purpose of Brandt's allegory was to satirize the +follies committed by all sorts and conditions of men. In the chapter, +"Of hym that wyll wryte and enquere of all regyons," it is said: "There +was one that knewe that in y^{e} ysles of Spayne was enhabitantes. +Wherefore he asked men of Kynge Ferdynandus & wente & founde them, the +whiche lyved as beestes."[541] Until after the middle of the sixteenth +century no English chronicler mentions either Columbus or the Cabots, +nor is there anywhere an indication that the significance of the +discoveries in the western ocean was at all understood.[542] + + [Footnote 538: Harrisse, _Bibliotheca Americana Vetustissima_, + p. 35.] + + [Footnote 539: Id. p. 50.] + + [Footnote 540: + Auch hat man sydt in Portigall + Und in Hyspanyen uberall + Golt-inseln funden, und nacket l[ deg.u]t + Von den man vor wust sagen n[ deg.u]t. + Harrisse, _Bibl. Amer. Vet._; _Additions_, p. 4. + + Or, in more modern German:-- + + Wie man auch juengst von Portugal + Und Hispanien aus schier ueberall + Goldinseln fand und nakte Leute, + Von denen man erst weiss seit heute. + _Das Narrenschiff_, ed. Simrock, Berlin, 1872, p. 161. + + In the Latin version of 1497, now in the National Library at + Paris, it goes somewhat differently:-- + + Antea que fuerat priscis incognita tellus: + Exposita est oculis & manifesta patet. + Hesperie occidue rex Ferdinandus: in alto + Aequore nunc gentes repperit innumeras. + Harrisse, _op. cit._; _Additions_, p. 7. + + It will be observed that these foreign references are so + ungallant, and so incorrect, as to give all the credit to + Ferdinand, while poor Isabella is not mentioned!] + + [Footnote 541: Harrisse, _op. cit._; _Additions_, p. 45.] + + [Footnote 542: Harrisse, _Jean et Sebastien Cabot_, Paris, + 1882, p. 15.] + +[Sidenote: Portuguese claim to the Indies.] + +North of the Alps and Pyrenees the interest in what was going on at the +Spanish court in 1493 was probably confined to very few people. As for +Venice and Genoa we have no adequate means of knowing how they felt +about the matter,--a fact which in itself is significant. The interest +was centred in Spain and Portugal. There it was intense and awakened +fierce heart-burnings. Though John II. had not given his consent to the +proposal for murdering Columbus, he appears to have seriously +entertained the thought of sending a small fleet across the Atlantic as +soon as possible, to take possession of some point in Cathay or Cipango +and then dispute the claims of the Spaniards.[543] Such a summary +proceeding might perhaps be defended on the ground that the grant from +Pope Eugenius V. to the crown of Portugal expressly included "the +Indies." In the treaty of 1479, moreover, Spain had promised not to +interfere with the discoveries and possessions of the Portuguese. + + [Footnote 543: Vasconcellos, _Vida del Rey Don Juan II._, + Madrid, 1639, lib. vi.] + +[Sidenote: Bulls of Pope Alexander VI.] + +But whatever King John may have intended, Ferdinand and Isabella were +too quick for him. No sooner had Columbus arrived at Barcelona than an +embassy was despatched to Rome, asking for a grant of the Indies just +discovered by that navigator in the service of Castile. The notorious +Rodrigo Borgia, who had lately been placed in the apostolic chair as +Alexander VI., was a native of Valencia in the kingdom of Aragon, and +would not be likely to refuse such a request through any excess of +regard for Portugal. As between the two rival powers the pontiff's +arrangement was made in a spirit of even-handed justice. On the 3d of +May, 1493, he issued a bull conferring upon the Spanish sovereigns all +lands already discovered or thereafter to be discovered in the western +ocean, with jurisdiction and privileges in all respects similar to those +formerly bestowed upon the crown of Portugal. This grant was made by the +pope "out of our pure liberality, certain knowledge, and plenitude of +apostolic power," and by virtue of "the authority of omnipotent God +granted to us in St. Peter, and of the Vicarship of Jesus Christ which +we administer upon the earth."[544] It was a substantial reward for the +monarchs who had completed the overthrow of Mahometan rule in Spain, and +it afforded them opportunities for further good work in converting the +heathen inhabitants of the islands and mainland of Asia.[545] + + [Footnote 544: "De nostra mera liberalitate, et ex certa + scientia, ac de apostolicae potestatis plenitudine." ... + "auctoritate omnipotentis Dei nobis in beato Petro concessa, ac + vicariatus Jesu Christi qua fungimur in terris." The same + language is used in the second bull. Mr. Prescott (_Ferdinand + and Isabella_, part i. chap, vii.) translates _certa scientia_ + "infallible knowledge," but in order to avoid any complications + with modern theories concerning papal infallibility, I prefer + to use a less technical word.] + + [Footnote 545: A year or two later the sovereigns were further + rewarded with the decorative title of "Most Catholic." See + Zurita, _Historia del Rey Hernando_, Saragossa, 1580, lib. ii. + cap. xl.; Peter Martyr, _Epist._ clvii.] + +[Sidenote: Treaty of Tordesillas.] + +On the following day Alexander issued a second bull in order to prevent +any occasion for quarrel between Spain and Portugal.[546] He decreed +that all lands discovered or to be discovered to the west of a meridian +one hundred leagues west of the Azores and Cape Verde islands should +belong to the Spaniards. Inasmuch as between the westernmost of the +Azores and the easternmost of the Cape Verde group the difference in +longitude is not far from ten degrees, this description must be allowed +to be somewhat vague, especially in a document emanating from "certain +knowledge;"[547] and it left open a source of future disputes which one +would suppose the "plenitude of apostolic power" might have been +worthily employed in closing. The meridian 25 deg. W., however, would have +satisfied the conditions, and the equitable intent of the arrangement is +manifest. The Portuguese were left free to pursue their course of +discovery and conquest along the routes which they had always preferred. +King John, however, was not satisfied. He entertained vague hopes of +finding spice islands, or something worth having, in the western waters; +and he wished to have the Line of Demarcation carried farther to the +west. After a year of diplomatic wrangling a treaty was signed at +Tordesillas, June 7, 1494, in which Spain consented to the moving of the +line to a distance of 370 leagues west from the Cape Verde islands.[548] +It would thus on a modern map fall somewhere between the 41st and 44th +meridians west of Greenwich. This amendment had important and curious +consequences. It presently gave the Brazilian coast to the Portuguese, +and thereupon played a leading part in the singular and complicated +series of events that ended in giving the name of Americus Vespucius to +that region, whence it was afterwards gradually extended to the whole +western hemisphere.[549] + + [Footnote 546: The complete text of this bull, with Richard + Eden's translation, is given at the end of this work; see + below, Appendix B. The official text is in _Magnum Bullarium + Romanum_, ed. Cherubini, Lyons, 1655, tom. i. p. 466. The + original document received by Ferdinand and Isabella is + preserved in the Archives of the Indies at Seville; it is + printed entire in Navarrete, _Coleccion de viages_, tom. ii. + No. 18. Another copy, less complete, may be found in Raynaldus, + _Annales ecclesiastici_, Lucca, 1754, tom. xi. p. 214, No. + 19-22; and another in Leibnitz, _Codex Diplomaticus_, tom. i. + pt. i. p. 471. It is often called the Bull "Inter Cetera," from + its opening words. + + The origin of the pope's claim to apostolic authority for + giving away kingdoms is closely connected with the fictitious + "Donation of Constantine," an edict probably fabricated in Rome + about the middle of the eighth century. The title of the old + Latin text is _Edictum domini Constantini Imp._, apud + Pseudo-Isidorus, _Decretalia_. Constantine's transfer of the + seat of empire from the Tiber to the Bosphorus tended greatly + to increase the dignity and power of the papacy, and I presume + that the fabrication of this edict, four centuries afterward, + was the expression of a sincere belief that the first Christian + emperor _meant_ to leave the temporal supremacy over Italy in + the hands of the Roman see. The edict purported to be such a + donation from Constantine to Pope Sylvester I., but the extent + and character of the donation was stated with such vagueness as + to allow a wide latitude of interpretation. Its genuineness was + repeatedly called in question, but belief in it seems to have + grown in strength until after the thirteenth century. Leo IX., + who was a strong believer in its genuineness, granted in 1054 + to the Normans their conquests in Sicily and Calabria, to be + held as a fief of the Roman see. (Muratori, _Annali d' Italia_, + tom. vi. pt. ii. p. 245.) It was next used to sustain the papal + claim to suzerainty over the island of Corsica. A century later + John of Salisbury maintained the right of the pope to dispose + "of all _islands_ on which Christ, the Sun of righteousness, + hath shined," and in conformity with this opinion Pope Adrian + IV. (Nicholas Breakspeare, an Englishman) authorized in 1164 + King Henry II. of England to invade and conquer Ireland. (See + Adrian IV., _Epist._ 76, apud Migne, _Patrologia_, tom. + clxxxviii.) Dr. Lanigan, in treating of this matter, is more an + Irishman than a papist, and derides "this nonsense of the + pope's being the head-owner of all Christian islands." + (_Ecclesiastical History of Ireland_, vol. iv. p. + 159.)--Gregory VII., in working up to the doctrine that all + Christian kingdoms should be held as fiefs under St. Peter + (Baronius, _Annales_, tom. xvii. p. 430; cf. Villemain, + _Histoire de Gregoire VII._, Paris, 1873, tom. ii. pp. 59-61), + does not seem to have appealed to the Donation. Perhaps he was + shrewd enough to foresee the kind of objection afterwards + raised by the Albigensians, who pithily declared that if the + suzerainty of the popes was derived from the Donation, then + they were successors of Constantine and not of St. Peter. + (Moneta Cremonensis, _Adversus Catharos et Waldenses_, ed. + Ricchini, Rome, 1743, v. 2.) But Innocent IV. summarily + disposed of this argument at the Council of Lyons in 1245, when + he deposed the Emperor Frederick II. and King Sancho II. of + Portugal,--saying that Christ himself had bestowed temporal as + well as spiritual headship upon St. Peter and his successors, + so that Constantine only gave up to the Church what belonged to + it already. The opposite or Ghibelline theory was eloquently + set forth by Dante, in his treatise _De Monarchia_; he held + that inasmuch as the Empire existed before the Church, it could + not be derived from it. Dante elsewhere expressed his + abhorrence of the Donation:-- + + Ahi Constantin, di quanto mal fu matre, + Non la tua conversion, ma quella dote + Che da te prese il primo ricco patre! + _Inferno_, xix. 115. + + Similar sentiments were expressed by many of the most popular + poets from the twelfth century to the sixteenth. Walther von + der Vogelweide was sure that if the first Christian emperor + could have foreseen the evils destined to flow from his + Donation, he would have withheld it:-- + + Solte ich den pfaffen raten an den triuwen min, + So spraeche ir haut den armen zuo: se, daz ist din, + Ir zunge suenge, unde lieze mengem man daz sin, + Gedaehten daz ouch si dur Got waeren almuosenaere. + Do gab ir erste teil der Kuenik Konstantin, + Het er gewest, daz da von uebel kuenftik waere, + So het er wol underkomen des riches swaere, + Wan daz si do waren kiusche, und uebermuete laere. + Hagen, _Minnesinger-Sammlung_, Leipsic, 1838, + bd. i. p. 270. + + Ariosto, in a passage rollicking with satire, makes his + itinerant paladin find the "stinking" Donation in the course of + his journey upon the moon:-- + + Di varii fiori ad un gran monte passa, + Ch' ebber gia buono odore, or puzzan forte, + Questo era il dono, se pero dir lece, + Che Constantino al buon Silvestro fece. + _Orlando Furioso_, xxxiv. 80. + + The Donation was finally proved to be a forgery by Laurentius + Valla in 1440, in his _De falso credita et ementita Constantini + donatione declamatio_ (afterward spread far and wide by Ulrich + von Hutten), and independently by the noble Reginald Pecock, + bishop of Chichester, in his _Repressor_, written about + 1447.--During the preceding century the theory of Gregory VII. + and Innocent IV. had been carried to its uttermost extreme by + the Franciscan monk Alvaro Pelayo, in his _De Planctu + Ecclesiae_, written at Avignon during the "Babylonish + Captivity," about 1350 (printed at Venice in 1560), and by + Agostino Trionfi, in his _Summa de potestate ecclesiastica_, + Augsburg, 1473, an excessively rare book, of which there is a + copy in the British Museum. These writers maintained that the + popes were suzerains of the whole earth and had absolute power + to dispose not only of all Christian kingdoms, but also of all + heathen lands and powers. It was upon this theory that Eugenius + IV. seems to have acted with reference to Portugal and + Alexander VI. with reference to Spain. Of course there was + never a time when such claims for the papacy were not denied by + a large party within the Church. The Spanish sovereigns in + appealing to Alexander VI. took care to hint that some of their + advisers regarded them as already entitled to enjoy the fruits + of their discoveries, even before obtaining the papal + permission, but they did not choose to act upon that opinion + (Herrera, decad. i. lib. ii. cap. 4). The kings of Portugal + were less reserved in their submission. In _Valasci Ferdinandi + ad Innocentium octauum de obedientia oratio_, a small quarto + printed at Rome about 1488, John II. did homage to the pope for + the countries just discovered by Bartholomew Dias. His + successor Emanuel did the same after the voyages of Gama and + Vespucius. In a small quarto, _Obedientia potentissimi + Emanuelis Lusitaniae regis &c. per clarissimum juris consultum + Dieghum Pacett[=u] oratorem ad Iuli[=u] Pont. Max._, Rome, + 1505, all the newly found lands are laid at the feet of Julius + II. in a passage that ends with words worth noting: "Accipe + tandem orbem ipsum terrarum, Deus enim noster es," i. e. + "Accept in fine the earth itself, for thou art our God." + Similar homage was rendered to Leo X. in 1513, on account of + Albuquerque's conquests in Asia.--We may suspect that if the + papacy had retained, at the end of the fifteenth century, + anything like the overshadowing power which it possessed at the + end of the twelfth, the kings of Portugal would not have been + quite so unstinted in their homage. As it came to be less of a + reality and more of a flourish of words, it cost less to offer + it. Among some modern Catholics I have observed a disposition + to imagine that in the famous bull of partition Alexander VI. + acted not as supreme pontiff but merely as an arbiter, in the + modern sense, between the crowns of Spain and Portugal; but + such an interpretation is hardly compatible with Alexander's + own words. An arbiter, as such, does not make awards by virtue + of "the authority of Omnipotent God granted to us in St. Peter, + and of the Vicarship of Jesus Christ which we administer upon + the earth." + + Since writing this note my attention has been called to Dr. + Ignaz von Doellinger's _Fables respecting the Popes of the + Middle Ages_, London, 1871; and I find in it a chapter on the + Donation of Constantine, in which the subject is treated with a + wealth of learning. Some of my brief references are there + discussed at considerable length. To the references to Dante + there is added a still more striking passage, where Constantine + is admitted into Heaven _in spite of_ his Donation (_Paradiso_, + xx. 55).] + + [Footnote 547: The language of the bull is even more vague than + my version in the text. His Holiness describes the lands to be + given to the Spaniards as lying "to the west and south" (versus + occidentem et meridiem) of his dividing meridian. Land to the + south of a meridian would be in a queer position! Probably it + was meant to say that the Spaniards, once west of the papal + meridian, might go south as well as north. For the king of + Portugal had suggested that they ought to confine themselves to + northern waters.] + + [Footnote 548: For the original Spanish text of the treaty of + Tordesillas, see Navarrete, tom. ii. pp. 116-130.] + + [Footnote 549: See below, vol. ii. pp. 98-154.] + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: Juan Rodriguez de Fonseca.] + +Already in April, 1493, without waiting for the papal sanction, +Ferdinand and Isabella bent all their energies to the work of fitting +out an expedition for taking possession of "the Indies." First, a +department of Indian affairs was created, and at its head was placed +Juan Rodriguez de Fonseca, archdeacon of Seville: in Spain a man in high +office was apt to be a clergyman. This Fonseca was all-powerful in +Indian affairs for the next thirty years. He won and retained the +confidence of the sovereigns by virtue of his executive ability. He was +a man of coarse fibre, ambitious and domineering, cold-hearted and +perfidious, with a cynical contempt--such as low-minded people are apt +to call "smart"--for the higher human feelings. He was one of those ugly +customers who crush, without a twinge of compunction, whatever comes in +their way. The slightest opposition made him furious, and his +vindictiveness was insatiable. This dexterous and pushing Fonseca held +one after another the bishoprics of Badajoz, Cordova, Palencia, and +Conde, the archbishopric of Rosano in Italy, together with the bishopric +of Burgos, and he was also principal chaplain to Isabella and afterwards +to Ferdinand. As Sir Arthur Helps observes, "the student of early +American history will have a bad opinion of many Spanish bishops, if he +does not discover that it is Bishop Fonseca who reappears under +various designations."[550] Sir Arthur fitly calls him "the ungodly +bishop." + + [Footnote 550: _History of the Spanish Conquest_, vol. i. p. + 487.] + +[Sidenote: Friar Boyle.] + +The headquarters of Fonseca and of the Indian department were +established at Seville, and a special Indian custom-house was set up at +Cadiz. There was to be another custom-house upon the island of +Hispaniola (supposed to be Japan), and a minute registry was to be kept +of all ships and their crews and cargoes, going out or coming in. Nobody +was to be allowed to go to the Indies for any purpose whatever without a +license formally obtained. Careful regulations were made for hampering +trade and making everything as vexatious as possible for traders, +according to the ordinary wisdom of governments in such matters. All +expenses were to be borne and all profits received by the crown of +Castile, saving the rights formerly guaranteed to Columbus. The cost of +the present expedition was partly defrayed with stolen money, the +plunder wrung from the worthy and industrious Jews who had been driven +from their homes by the infernal edict of the year before. Extensive +"requisitions" were also made; in other words, when the sovereigns +wanted a ship or a barrel of gunpowder they seized it, and impressed it +into the good work of converting the heathen. To superintend this +missionary work, a Franciscan monk[551] was selected who had lately +distinguished himself as a diplomatist in the dispute with France over +the border province of Rousillon. This person was a native of Catalonia, +and his name was Bernardo Boyle, which strongly suggests an Irish +origin. Alexander VI. appointed him his apostolic vicar for the +Indies,[552] and he seems to have been the first clergyman to perform +mass on the western shores of the Atlantic. To assist the vicar, the six +Indians brought over by Columbus were baptized at Barcelona, with the +king and queen for their godfather and godmother. It was hoped that they +would prove useful as missionaries, and when one of them presently died +he was said to be the first Indian ever admitted to heaven.[553] + + [Footnote 551: Irving calls him a Benedictine, but he is + addressed as "fratri ordinis Minorum" in the bull clothing him + with apostolic authority in the Indies, June 25, 1493. See + Raynaldus, _Annales ecclesiastici_, tom. xi. p. 216. I cannot + imagine what M. Harrisse means by calling him "religieux de + Saint-Vincent de Paule" (_Christophe Colomb_, tom. ii. p. 55). + Vincent de Paul was not born till 1576.] + + [Footnote 552: Not for "the New World," as Irving carelessly + has it in his _Columbus_, vol. i. p. 346. No such phrase had + been thought of in 1493, or until long afterward.] + + [Footnote 553: Herrera, _Hist. de las Indias_, decad. i. lib. + ii. cap. 5.] + +The three summer months were occupied in fitting out the little fleet. +There were fourteen caravels, and three larger store-ships known as +carracks. Horses, mules, and other cattle were put on board,[554] as +well as vines and sugar-canes, and the seeds of several European +cereals, for it was intended to establish a permanent colony upon +Hispaniola. In the course of this work some slight matters of +disagreement came up between Columbus and Fonseca, and the question +having been referred to the sovereigns, Fonseca was mildly snubbed and +told that he must in all respects be guided by the Admiral's wishes. +From that time forth this ungodly prelate nourished a deadly hatred +toward Columbus, and never lost an opportunity for whispering evil +things about him. The worst of the grievous afflictions that afterward +beset the great discoverer must be ascribed to the secret machinations +of this wretch. + + [Footnote 554: _Vita dell' Ammiraglio_, cap. xliv.] + +[Sidenote: Notable persons who embarked on the second voyage.] + +At last the armament was ready. People were so eager to embark that it +was felt necessary to restrain them. It was not intended to have more +than 1,200, but about 1,500 in all contrived to go, so that some of the +caravels must have been overcrowded. The character of the company was +very different from that of the year before. Those who went in the first +voyage were chiefly common sailors. Now there were many aristocratic +young men, hot-blooded and feather-headed hidalgos whom the surrender of +Granada had left without an occupation. Most distinguished among these +was Alonso de Ojeda, a dare-devil of unrivalled muscular strength, full +of energy and fanfaronade, and not without generous qualities, but with +very little soundness of judgment or character. Other notable personages +in this expedition were Columbus's youngest brother Giacomo (henceforth +called Diego), who had come from Genoa at the first news of the +Admiral's triumphant return; the monk Antonio de Marchena,[555] whom +historians have so long confounded with the prior Juan Perez; an +Aragonese gentleman named Pedro Margarite, a favourite of the king and +destined to work sad mischief; Juan Ponce de Leon, who afterwards gave +its name to Florida; Francisco de Las Casas, father of the great apostle +and historian of the Indies; and, last but not least, the pilot Juan de +La Cosa, now charged with the work of chart-making, in which he was an +acknowledged master.[556] + + [Footnote 555: He went as astronomer, from which we may perhaps + suppose that scientific considerations had made him one of the + earliest and most steadfast upholders of Columbus's views.] + + [Footnote 556: See Harrisse, _Christophe Colomb_, tom. ii. pp. + 55, 56; Las Casas, _Hist. de las Indias_, tom. i. p. 498; + Fabie, _Vida de Las Casas_, Madrid, 1879, tom. i. p. 11; + Oviedo, _Hist. de las Indias_, tom. i. p. 467; Navarrete, + _Coleccion de viages_, tom. ii. pp. 143-149.] + +[Sidenote: Cruise among the cannibal islands.] + +The pomp and bustle of the departure from Cadiz, September 25, 1493, at +which the Admiral's two sons, Diego and Ferdinand, were present, must +have been one of the earliest recollections of the younger boy, then +just five years of age.[557] Again Columbus stopped at the Canary +islands, this time to take on board goats and sheep, pigs and fowls, for +he had been struck by the absence of all such animals on the coasts +which he had visited.[558] Seeds of melons, oranges, and lemons were +also taken. On the 7th of October the ships weighed anchor, heading a +trifle to the south of west, and after a pleasant and uneventful voyage +they sighted land on the 3d of November.[559] It turned out to be a +small mountainous island, and as it was discovered on Sunday they called +it Dominica. In a fortnight's cruise in these Caribbean waters they +discovered and named several islands, such as Marigalante, Guadaloupe, +Antigua, and others, and at length reached Porto Rico. The inhabitants +of these islands were ferocious cannibals, very different from the +natives encountered on the former voyage. There were skirmishes in which +a few Spaniards were killed with poisoned arrows. On Guadaloupe the +natives lived in square houses made of saplings intertwined with reeds, +and on the rude porticoes attached to these houses some of the wooden +pieces were carved so as to look like serpents. In some of these houses +human limbs were hanging from the roof, cured with smoke, like ham; and +fresh pieces of human flesh were found stewing in earthen kettles, along +with the flesh of parrots. Now at length, said Peter Martyr, was proved +the truth of the stories of Polyphemus and the Laestrygonians, and the +reader must look out lest his hair stand on end.[560] These western +Laestrygonians were known as Caribbees, Caribales, or Canibales, and have +thus furnished an epithet which we have since learned to apply to +man-eaters the world over. + + [Footnote 557: "E con questo preparamento il mercolede ai 25 + del mese di settembre dell' anno 1493 un' ora avanti il levar + del sole, essendovi io e mio fratel presenti, l' Ammiraglio + levo le ancore," etc. _Vita dell' Ammiraglio_, cap. xliv.] + + [Footnote 558: Eight sows were bought for 70 maravedis apiece, + and "destas ocho puercas se han multiplicado todos los puercos + que, hasta hoy, ha habido y hay en todas estas Indias," etc. + Las Casas, _Historia_, tom. ii. p. 3.] + + [Footnote 559: The relation of this second voyage by Dr. Chanca + may be found in Navarrete, tom. i. pp. 198-241; an interesting + relation in Italian by Simone Verde, a Florentine merchant then + living in Valladolid, is published in Harrisse, _Christophe + Colomb_, tom. ii. pp. 68-78. The narrative of the curate of Los + Palacios is of especial value for this voyage.] + + [Footnote 560: Martyr, _Epist._ cxlvii. _ad Pomponium Laetum_; + cf. _Odyssey_, x. 119; Thucyd. vi. 2.--Irving (vol. i. p. 385) + finds it hard to believe these stories, but the prevalence of + cannibalism, not only in these islands, but throughout a very + large part of aboriginal America, has been superabundantly + proved.] + +[Sidenote: Fate of the colony at La Navidad.] + +It was late at night on the 27th of November that Columbus arrived in +the harbour of La Navidad and fired a salute to arouse the attention of +the party that had been left there the year before. There was no reply +and the silence seemed fraught with evil omen. On going ashore next +morning and exploring the neighbourhood, the Spaniards came upon sights +of dismal significance. The fortress was pulled to pieces and partly +burnt, the chests of provisions were broken open and emptied, tools and +fragments of European clothing were found in the houses of the natives, +and finally eleven corpses, identifiable as those of white men, were +found buried near the fort. Not one of the forty men who had been left +behind in that place ever turned up to tell the tale. The little colony +of La Navidad had been wiped out of existence. From the Indians, +however, Columbus gathered bits of information that made a sufficiently +probable story. It was a typical instance of the beginnings of +colonization in wild countries. In such instances human nature has shown +considerable uniformity. Insubordination and deadly feuds among +themselves had combined with reckless outrages upon the natives to +imperil the existence of this little party of rough sailors. The cause +to which Horace ascribes so many direful wars, both before and since the +days of fairest Helen, seems to have been the principal cause on this +occasion. At length a fierce chieftain named Caonabo, from the region of +Xaragua, had attacked the Spaniards in overwhelming force, knocked their +blockhouse about their heads, and butchered all that were left of them. + +[Sidenote: Building of Isabella.] + +[Sidenote: Exploration of Cibao.] + +This was a gloomy welcome to the land of promise. There was nothing to +be done but to build new fortifications and found a town. The site +chosen for this new settlement, which was named Isabella, was at a good +harbour about thirty miles east of Monte Christi. It was chosen because +Columbus understood from the natives that it was not far from there to +the gold-bearing mountains of Cibao, a name which still seemed to +signify Cipango. Quite a neat little town was presently built, with +church, marketplace, public granary, and dwelling-houses, the whole +encompassed with a stone wall. An exploring party led by Ojeda into the +mountains of Cibao found gold dust and pieces of gold ore in the beds of +the brooks, and returned elated with this discovery. Twelve of the ships +were now sent back to Spain for further supplies and reinforcements, and +specimens of the gold were sent as an earnest of what was likely to be +found. At length, in March, 1494, Columbus set forth, with 400 armed +men, to explore the Cibao country. The march was full of interest. It is +upon this occasion that we first find mention of the frantic terror +manifested by Indians at the sight of horses. At first they supposed the +horse and his rider to be a kind of centaur, and when the rider +dismounted this separation of one creature into two overwhelmed them +with supernatural terror. Even when they had begun to get over this +notion they were in dread of being eaten by the horses.[561] These +natives lived in houses grouped into villages, and had carved wooden +idols and rude estufas for their tutelar divinities. It was ascertained +that different tribes tried to steal each other's idols and even fought +for the possession of valuable objects of "medicine."[562] Columbus +observed and reported the customs of these people with some minuteness. +There was nothing that agreed with Marco Polo's descriptions of Cipango, +but so far as concerned the discovery of gold mines, the indications +were such as to leave little doubt of the success of this +reconnaissance. The Admiral now arranged his forces so as to hold the +inland regions just visited and gave the general command to Margarite, +who was to continue the work of exploration. He left his brother, Diego +Columbus, in charge of the colony, and taking three caravels set sail +from Isabella on the 24th of April, on a cruise of discovery in these +Asiatic waters. + + [Footnote 561: For an instance of 400 hostile Indians fleeing + before a single armed horseman, see _Vita dell' Ammiraglio_, + cap. lii.; Las Casas, _Hist._ tom. ii. p. 46.] + + [Footnote 562: Compare the Fisherman's story of Drogio, above, + pp. 246, 252.] + +[Illustration: Discoveries made by Columbus in his first and second +voyages.] + +[Sidenote: Cape Alpha and Omega.] + +A brief westward sail brought the little squadron into the Windward +Passage and in sight of Cape Mayzi, which Columbus on his first voyage +had named Cape Alpha and Omega as being the easternmost point on the +Chinese coast. He believed that if he were to sail to the right of this +cape he should have the continent on his port side for a thousand miles +and more, as far as Quinsay and Cambaluc (Peking). If he had sailed +in this direction and had succeeded in keeping to the east of Florida, +he would have kept a continent on his port side, and a thousand miles +would have taken him a long way toward that Vinland which our +Scandinavian friends would fondly have us believe was his secret +guiding-star, and the geographical position of which they suppose him to +have known with such astounding accuracy. But on this as on other +occasions, if the Admiral had ever received any information about +Vinland, it must be owned that he treated it very cavalierly, for he +chose the course to the left of Cape Mayzi. His decision is intelligible +if we bear in mind that he had not yet circumnavigated Hayti and was not +yet cured of his belief that its northern shore was the shore of the +great Cipango. At the same time he had seen enough on his first voyage +to convince him that the relative positions of Cipango and the mainland +of Cathay were not correctly laid down upon the Toscanelli map. He had +already inspected two or three hundred miles of the coast to the right +of Cape Mayzi without finding traces of civilization; and whenever +inquiries were made about gold or powerful kingdoms the natives +invariably pointed to the south or southwest. Columbus, therefore, +decided to try his luck in this direction. He passed to the left of Cape +Mayzi and followed the southern coast of Cuba. + +[Sidenote: Discovery of Jamaica.] + +By the 3d of May the natives were pointing so persistently to the south +and off to sea that he changed his course in that direction and soon +came upon the northern coast of the island which we still know by its +native name Jamaica. Here he found Indians more intelligent and more +warlike than any he had as yet seen. He was especially struck with the +elegance of their canoes, some of them nearly a hundred feet in length, +carved and hollowed from the trunks of tall trees. We may already +observe that different tribes of Indians comported themselves very +differently at the first sight of white men. While the natives of some +of the islands prostrated themselves in adoration of these +sky-creatures, or behaved with a timorous politeness which the Spaniards +mistook for gentleness of disposition, in other places the red men +showed fight at once, acting upon the brute impulse to drive away +strangers. In both cases, of course, dread of the unknown was the +prompting impulse, though so differently manifested. As the Spaniards +went ashore upon Jamaica, the Indians greeted them with a shower of +javelins and for a few moments stood up against the deadly fire of the +cross-bows, but when they turned to flee, a single bloodhound, let loose +upon them, scattered them in wildest panic.[563] + + [Footnote 563: Bernaldez, _Reyes Catolicos_, cap. cxxv. + Domesticated dogs were found generally in aboriginal America, + but they were very paltry curs compared to these fierce hounds, + one of which could handle an unarmed man as easily as a terrier + handles a rat.] + +[Sidenote: Coasting the south side of Cuba.] + +Finding no evidences of civilization upon this beautiful island, +Columbus turned northward and struck the Cuban coast again at the point +which still bears the name he gave it, Cape Cruz. Between the general +contour of this end of Cuba and that of the eastern extremity of Cathay +upon the Toscanelli map there is a curious resemblance, save that the +direction is in the one case more east and west and in the other more +north and south. Columbus passed no cities like Zaiton, nor cities of +any sort, but when he struck into the smiling archipelago which he +called the Queen's Gardens, now known as Cayos de las Doce Leguas, he +felt sure that he was among Marco Polo's seven thousand spice islands. +On the 3d of June, at some point on the Cuban coast, probably near +Trinidad, the crops of several doves were opened and spices found in +them. None of the natives here had ever heard of an end to Cuba, and +they believed it was endless.[564] The next country to the west of +themselves was named Mangon, and it was inhabited by people with tails +which they carefully hid by wearing loose robes of cloth. This +information seemed decisive to Columbus. Evidently this Mangon was +Mangi, the province in which was the city of Zaiton, the province just +south of Cathay. And as for the tailed men, the book of Mandeville had a +story of some naked savages in eastern Asia who spoke of their more +civilized neighbours as wearing clothes in order to cover up some bodily +peculiarity or defect. Could there be any doubt that the Spanish +caravels had come at length to the coast of opulent Mangi?[565] + + [Footnote 564: As a Greek would have said, [Greek: epeiros], a + continent.] + + [Footnote 565: Bernaldez, _Reyes Catolicos_, cap. cxxvii, Mr. + Irving, in citing these same incidents from Bernaldez, could + not quite rid himself of the feeling that there was something + strange or peculiar in the Admiral's method of interpreting + such information: "Animated by one of the pleasing illusions of + his ardent imagination, Columbus pursued his voyage, with a + prosperous breeze, along the supposed continent of Asia." + (_Life of Columbus_, vol. i. p. 493.) This lends a false colour + to the picture, which the general reader is pretty sure to make + still falser. To suppose the southern coast of Cuba to be the + southern coast of Toscanelli's Mangi required no illusion of an + "ardent imagination." It was simply a plain common-sense + conclusion reached by sober reasoning from such data as were + then accessible (i. e. the Toscanelli map, amended by + information such as was understood to be given by the natives); + it was more probable than any other theory of the situation + likely to be devised from those data; and it seems fanciful to + us to-day only because knowledge acquired since the time of + Columbus has shown us how far from correct it was. Modern + historians abound in unconscious turns of expression--as in + this quotation from Irving--which project modern knowledge back + into the past, and thus destroy the historical perspective. I + shall mention several other instances from Irving, and the + reader must not suppose that this is any indication of + captiousness on my part toward a writer for whom my only + feeling is that of sincerest love and veneration.] + +[Sidenote: The "people of Mangon."] + +[Sidenote: The Golden Chersonese.] + +Under the influence of this belief, when a few days later they landed in +search of fresh water, and a certain archer, on the lookout for game, +caught distant glimpses of a flock of tall white cranes feeding in an +everglade, he fled to his comrades with the story that he had seen a +party of men clad in long white tunics, and all agreed that these must +be the people of Mangon.[566] Columbus sent a small company ashore to +find them. It is needless to add that the search was fruitless, but +footprints of alligators, interpreted as footprints of griffins guarding +hoarded gold,[567] frightened the men back to their ships. From the +natives, with whom the Spaniards could converse only by signs, they +seemed to learn that they were going toward the realm of Prester +John;[568] and in such wise did they creep along the coast to the point, +some fifty miles west of Broa Bay, where it begins to trend decidedly to +the southwest. Before they had reached Point Mangles, a hundred miles +farther on, inasmuch as they found this southwesterly trend persistent, +the proof that they were upon the coast of the Asiatic continent began +to seem complete. Columbus thought that they had passed the point (lat. +23 deg., long. 145 deg. on Toscanelli's map) where the coast of Asia began to +trend steadily toward the southwest.[569] By pursuing this coast he felt +sure that he would eventually reach the peninsula (Malacca) which +Ptolemy, who knew of it only by vague hearsay, called the Golden +Chersonese.[570] An immense idea now flitted through the mind of +Columbus. If he could reach and double that peninsula he could then find +his way to the mouth of the Ganges river; thence he might cross the +Indian ocean, pass the Cape of Good Hope (for Dias had surely shown that +the way was open), and return that way to Spain after circumnavigating +the globe! But fate had reserved this achievement for another man of +great heart and lofty thoughts, a quarter of a century later, who should +indeed accomplish what Columbus dreamed, but only after crossing another +Sea of Darkness, the most stupendous body of water on our globe, the +mere existence of which until after Columbus had died no European ever +suspected.[571] If Columbus had now sailed about a hundred miles +farther, he would have found the end of Cuba, and might perhaps have +skirted the northern shore of Yucatan and come upon the barbaric +splendours of Uxmal and Campeche. The excitement which such news would +have caused in Spain might perhaps have changed all the rest of his life +and saved him from the worst of his troubles. But the crews were now +unwilling to go farther, and the Admiral realized that it would be +impossible to undertake such a voyage as he had in mind with no more +than their present outfit. So it was decided to return to Hispaniola. + + [Footnote 566: These tropical birds are called _soldados_, or + "soldiers," because their stately attitudes remind one of + sentinels on duty. The whole town of Angostura, in Venezuela, + was one day frightened out of its wits by the sudden appearance + of a flock of these cranes on the summit of a neighbouring + hill. They were mistaken for a war-party of Indians. Humboldt, + _Voyage aux regions equinoxiales du Nouveau Continent_, tom. + ii. p. 314.] + + [Footnote 567: See above, p. 287, note.] + + [Footnote 568: For these events, see Bernaldez, _Reyes + Catolicos_, cap. cxxiii.; F. Columbus, _Vita dell' Ammiraglio_, + cap. lvi.; Munoz, _Historia del Nuevo Mundo_, lib. v. Sec. 16; + Humboldt, _Examen critique_, tom. iv. pp. 237-263; Irving's + _Columbus_, vol. i. pp. 491-504.] + + [Footnote 569: That is to say, he thought he had passed the + coast of Mangi (southern China) and reached the beginning of + the coast of Champa (Cochin China; see Yule's _Marco Polo_, + vol. ii. p. 213). The name Champa, coming to European writers + through an Italian source, was written Ciampa and Ciamba. See + its position on the Behaim and Toscanelli maps, and also on + Ruysch's map, 1508, below, vol. ii. p. 114. Peter Martyr says + that Columbus was sure that he had reached the coast of + Gangetic (i. e. what we call Farther) India: "Indiae Gangetidis + continentem eam (Cubae) plagam esse contendit Colonus." _Epist._ + xciii. _ad Bernardinum_. Of course Columbus understood that + this region, while agreeing well enough with Toscanelli's + latitude, was far from agreeing with his longitude. But from + the moment when he turned eastward on his first voyage he seems + to have made up his mind that Toscanelli's longitudes needed + serious amendment. Indeed he had always used different + measurements from Toscanelli.] + + [Footnote 570: For an account of Ptolemy's almost purely + hypothetical and curiously distorted notions about southeastern + Asia, see Bunbury's _History of Ancient Geography_, vol. ii. + pp. 604-608.] + + [Footnote 571: See below, vol. ii. pp. 200-210.] + +Upon consultation with La Cosa and others, it was unanimously agreed +that they were upon the coast of the continent of Asia. The evidence +seemed conclusive. From Cape Mayzi (Alpha and Omega) they had observed, +upon their own reckoning, 335 leagues, or about 1,000 geographical +miles, of continuous coast running steadily in nearly the same +direction.[572] Clearly it was too long for the coast of an island; and +then there was the name Mangon = Mangi. The only puzzling circumstance +was that they did not find any of Marco Polo's cities. They kept getting +scraps of information which seemed to refer to gorgeous kingdoms, but +these were always in the dim distance. Still there was no doubt that +they had discovered the coast of a continent, and of course such a +continent could be nothing else but Asia! + + [Footnote 572: The length of Cuba from Cape Mayzi to Cape San + Antonio is about 700 English miles. But in following the + sinuosities of the coast, and including tacks, the estimate of + these pilots was probably not far from correct.] + +[Sidenote: A solemn expression of opinion.] + +Such unanimity of opinion might seem to leave nothing to be desired. But +Columbus had already met with cavillers. Before he started on this +cruise from Isabella, some impatient hidalgos, disgusted at finding much +to do and little to get, had begun to hint that the Admiral was a +humbug, and that his "Indies" were no such great affair after all. In +order to silence these ill-natured critics, he sent his notary, +accompanied by four witnesses, to every person in those three caravels, +to get a sworn statement. If anybody had a grain of doubt about this +coast being the coast of Asia, so that you could go ashore there and +walk on dry land all the way to Spain if so disposed, let him declare +his doubts once for all, so that they might now be duly considered. No +one expressed any doubts. All declared, under oath, their firm belief. +It was then agreed that if any of the number should thereafter deny or +contradict this sworn statement, he should have his tongue slit;[573] +and if an officer, he should be further punished with a fine of 10,000 +maravedis, or if a sailor, with a hundred lashes. These proceedings were +embodied in a formal document, dated June 12, 1494, which is still to be +seen in the Archives of the Indies at Seville.[574] + + [Footnote 573: "E cortada la lengua;" "y le cortarian la + lengua." Irving understands it to mean cutting off the tongue. + But in those days of symbolism slitting the tip of that unruly + member was a recognized punishment for serious lying.] + + [Footnote 574: It is printed in full in Navarrete, torn. ii. + pp. 143-149.] + +Having disposed of this solemn matter, the three caravels turned +eastward, touching at the Isle of Pines and coasting back along the +south side of Cuba. The headland where the Admiral first became +convinced of the significance of the curvature of the coast, he named +Cape of Good Hope,[575] believing it to be much nearer the goal which +all were seeking than the other cape of that name, discovered by Dias +seven years before. + + [Footnote 575: It is given upon La Cosa's map; see below, vol. + ii., frontispiece.] + +[Sidenote: Vicissitudes of theory.] + +It will be remembered that the Admiral, upon his first voyage, had +carried home with him two theories,--first, that in the Cuban coast he +had already discovered that of the continent of Asia, secondly that +Hispaniola was Cipango. The first theory seemed to be confirmed by +further experience; the second was now to receive a serious shock. +Leaving Cape Cruz the caravels stood over to Jamaica, leisurely explored +the southern side of that island, and as soon as adverse winds would let +them, kept on eastward till land appeared on the port bow. Nobody +recognized it until an Indian chief who had learned some Spanish hailed +them from the shore and told them it was Hispaniola. They then followed +that southern coast its whole length, discovering the tiny islands, +Beata, Saona, and Mona. Here Columbus, overcome by long-sustained +fatigue and excitement, suddenly fell into a death-like lethargy, and in +this sad condition was carried all the way to Isabella, and to his own +house, where he was put to bed. Hispaniola had thus been +circumnavigated, and either it was not Cipango or else that wonderland +must be a much smaller affair than Toscanelli and Martin Behaim had +depicted it.[576] There was something truly mysterious about these +Strange Coasts! + + [Footnote 576: Hispaniola continued, however, for many years to + be commonly identified with Cipango. See note D on Ruysch's + map, 1508, below, vol. ii. p. 114.] + +[Sidenote: Arrival of Bartholomew Columbus.] + +When Columbus, after many days, recovered consciousness, he found his +brother Bartholomew standing by his bedside. It was six years since they +had last parted company at Lisbon, whence the younger brother started +for England, while the elder returned to Spain. The news of +Christopher's return from his first voyage found Bartholomew in Paris, +whence he started as soon as he could for Seville, but did not arrive +there until just after the second expedition had started. Presently the +sovereigns sent him with three ships to Hispaniola, to carry supplies to +the colony; and there he arrived while the Admiral was exploring the +coast of Cuba. The meeting of the two brothers was a great relief to +both. The affection between them was very strong, and each was a support +for the other. The Admiral at once proceeded to appoint Bartholomew to +the office of Adelantado, which in this instance was equivalent to +making him governor of Hispaniola under himself, the Viceroy of the +Indies. In making this appointment Columbus seems to have exceeded the +authority granted him by the second article of his agreement of April, +1492, with the sovereigns;[577] but they mended the matter in 1497 by +themselves investing Bartholomew with the office and dignity of +Adelantado.[578] + + [Footnote 577: See above, p. 417.] + + [Footnote 578: Las Casas, _Hist. de las Indias_, tom. ii. p. + 80.] + +[Sidenote: Mutiny in Hispaniola; desertion of Boyle and Margarite.] + +Columbus was in need of all the aid he could summon, for, during his +absence, the island had become a pandemonium. His brother Diego, a man +of refined and studious habits, who afterwards became a priest, was too +mild in disposition to govern the hot-heads who had come to Hispaniola +to get rich without labour. They would not submit to the rule of this +foreigner. Instead of doing honest work they roamed about the island, +abusing the Indians and slaying one another in silly quarrels. Chief +among the offenders was King Ferdinand's favourite, the commander +Margarite; and he was aided and abetted by Friar Boyle. Some time after +Bartholomew's arrival, these two men of Aragon gathered about them a +party of malcontents and, seizing the ships which had brought that +mariner, sailed away to Spain. Making their way to court, they sought +pardon for thus deserting the colony, saying that duty to their +sovereigns demanded that they should bring home a report of what was +going on in the Indies. They decried the value of Columbus's +discoveries, and reminded the king that Hispaniola was taking money out +of the treasury much faster than it was putting it in; an argument well +calculated to influence Ferdinand that summer, for he was getting ready +to go to war with France over the Naples affair. Then the two recreants +poured forth a stream of accusations against the brothers Columbus, the +general purport of which was that they were gross tyrants not fit to be +trusted with the command of Spaniards. + +[Sidenote: The government of Columbus was not tyrannical.] + +No marked effect seems to have been produced by these first complaints, +but when Margarite and Boyle were once within reach of Fonseca, we need +not wonder that mischief was soon brewing. It was unfortunate for +Columbus that his work of exploration was hampered by the necessity of +founding a colony and governing a parcel of unruly men let loose in the +wilderness, far away from the powerful restraints of civilized society. +Such work required undivided attention and extraordinary talent for +command. It does not appear that Columbus was lacking in such talent. On +the contrary both he and his brother Bartholomew seem to have possessed +it in a high degree. But the situation was desperately bad when the +spirit of mutiny was fomented by deadly enemies at court. I do not find +adequate justification for the charges of tyranny brought against +Columbus. The veracity and fairness of the history of Las Casas are +beyond question; in his divinely beautiful spirit one sees now and then +a trace of tenderness even for Fonseca, whose conduct toward him was +always as mean and malignant as toward Columbus. One gets from Las Casas +the impression that the Admiral's high temper was usually kept under +firm control, and that he showed far less severity than most men would +have done under similar provocation. Bartholomew was made of sterner +stuff, but his whole career presents no instance of wanton cruelty; +toward both white men and Indians his conduct was distinguished by +clemency and moderation. Under the government of these brothers a few +scoundrels were hanged in Hispaniola. Many more ought to have been. + +[Sidenote: Troubles with the Indians.] + +Of the attempt of Columbus to collect tribute from the native +population, and its consequences in developing the system of +_repartimientos_ out of which grew Indian slavery, I shall treat in a +future chapter.[579] That attempt, which was ill-advised and +ill-managed, was part of a plan for checking wanton depredations and +regulating the relations between the Spaniards and the Indians. The +colonists behaved so badly toward the red men that the chieftain +Caonabo, who had destroyed La Navidad the year before, now formed a +scheme[580] for a general alliance among the native tribes, hoping with +sufficient numbers to overwhelm and exterminate the strangers, in spite +of their solid-hoofed monsters and death-dealing thunderbolts. This +scheme was revealed to Columbus, soon after his return from the coast of +Cuba, by the chieftain Guacanagari, who was an enemy to Caonabo and +courted the friendship of the Spaniards. Alonso de Ojeda, by a daring +stratagem, captured Caonabo and brought him to Columbus, who treated him +kindly but kept him a prisoner until it should be convenient to send him +to Spain. But this chieftain's scheme was nevertheless put in operation +through the influence of his principal wife Anacaona. An Indian war +broke out; roaming bands of Spaniards were ambushed and massacred; and +there was fighting in the field, where the natives--assailed by firearms +and cross-bows, horses and bloodhounds--were wofully defeated. + + [Footnote 579: See below, vol. ii. pp. 433, 434.] + + [Footnote 580: The first of a series of such schemes in + American history, including those of Sassacus, Philip, Pontiac, + and to some extent Tecumseh.] + +[Sidenote: Mission of Aguado.] + +[Sidenote: Discovery of gold mines.] + +[Sidenote: Speculations about Ophir.] + +Thus in the difficult task of controlling mutinous white men and +defending the colony against infuriated red men Columbus spent the first +twelvemonth after his return from Cuba. In October, 1495, there arrived +in the harbour of Isabella four caravels laden with welcome supplies. In +one of these ships came Juan Aguado, sent by the sovereigns to gather +information respecting the troubles of the colony. This appointment +was doubtless made in a friendly spirit, for Columbus had formerly +recommended Aguado to favour. But the arrival of such a person created a +hope, which quickly grew into a belief, that the sovereigns were +preparing to deprive Columbus of the government of the island; and, as +Irving neatly says, "it was a time of jubilee for offenders; every +culprit started up into an accuser." All the ills of the colony, many of +them inevitable in such an enterprise, many of them due to the +shiftlessness and folly, the cruelty and lust of idle swash-bucklers, +were now laid at the door of Columbus. Aguado was presently won over by +the malcontents, so that by the time he was ready to return to Spain, +early in 1496, Columbus felt it desirable to go along with him and make +his own explanations to the sovereigns. Fortunately for his purposes, +just before he started, some rich gold mines were discovered on the +south side of the island, in the neighbourhood of the Hayna and Ozema +rivers. Moreover there were sundry pits in these mines, which looked +like excavations and seemed to indicate that in former times there had +been digging done.[581] This discovery confirmed the Admiral in a new +theory, which he was beginning to form. If it should turn out that +Hispaniola was not Cipango, as the last voyage seemed to suggest, +perhaps it might prove to be Ophir![582] Probably these ancient +excavations were made by King Solomon's men when they came here to get +gold for the temple at Jerusalem! If so, one might expect to find +silver, ivory, red sandal-wood, apes, and peacocks at no great distance. +Just where Ophir was situated no one could exactly tell,[583] but the +things that were carried thence to Jerusalem certainly came from "the +Indies." Columbus conceived it as probably lying northeastward of the +Golden Chersonese (Malacca) and as identical with the island of +Hispaniola. + + [Footnote 581: The Indians then living upon the island did not + dig, but scraped up the small pieces of gold that were more or + less abundant in the beds of shallow streams.] + + [Footnote 582: Peter Martyr, _De Rebus Oceanicis_, dec. i. lib. + iv.] + + [Footnote 583: The original Ophir may be inferred, from + _Genesis_ x. 29, to have been situated where, as Milton says, + + "northeast winds blow + Sabaean odours from the spicy shore + Of Araby the Blest," + + but the name seems to have become applied indiscriminately to + the remote countries reached by ships that sailed past that + coast; chiefly no doubt, to Hindustan. See Lassen, _Indische + Alterthumskunde_, bd. i. p. 538.] + +[Sidenote: Founding of San Domingo, 1496.] + +[Sidenote: The return voyage.] + +The discovery of these mines led to the transfer of the headquarters of +the colony to the mouth of the Ozema river, where, in the summer of +1496, Bartholomew Columbus made a settlement which became the city of +San Domingo.[584] Meanwhile Aguado and the Admiral sailed for Spain +early in March, in two caravels overloaded with more than two hundred +homesick passengers. In choosing his course Columbus did not show so +much sagacity as on his first return voyage. Instead of working +northward till clear of the belt of trade-winds, he kept straight to the +east, and so spent a month in beating and tacking before getting out of +the Caribbean Sea. Scarcity of food was imminent, and it became +necessary to stop at Guadaloupe and make a quantity of cassava +bread.[585] It was well that this was done, for as the ships worked +slowly across the Atlantic, struggling against perpetual head-winds, the +provisions were at length exhausted, and by the first week in June the +famine was such that Columbus had some difficulty in preventing the +crews from eating their Indian captives, of whom there were thirty or +more on board.[586] + + [Footnote 584: Bartholomew's town was built on the left side of + the river, and was called New Isabella. In 1504 it was + destroyed by a hurricane, and rebuilt on the right bank in its + present situation. It was then named San Domingo after the + patron saint of Domenico, the father of Columbus.] + + [Footnote 585: While the Spaniards were on this island they + encountered a party of tall and powerful women armed with bows + and arrows; so that Columbus supposed it must be the Asiatic + island of Amazons mentioned by Marco Polo. See Yule's _Marco + Polo_, vol. ii. pp. 338-340.] + + [Footnote 586: Among them was Caonabo, who died on the voyage.] + +[Sidenote: Edicts of 1495 and 1497.] + +At length, on the 11th of June, the haggard and starving company arrived +at Cadiz, and Columbus, while awaiting orders from the sovereigns, +stayed at the house of his good friend Bernaldez, the curate of Los +Palacios.[587] After a month he attended court at Burgos, and was kindly +received. No allusion was made to the complaints against him, and the +sovereigns promised to furnish ships for a third voyage of discovery. +For the moment, however, other things interfered with this enterprise. +One was the marriage of the son and daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella +to the daughter and son of the Emperor Maximilian. The war with France +was at the same time fast draining the treasury. Indeed, for more than +twenty years, Castile had been at war nearly all the time, first with +Portugal, next with Granada, then with France; and the crown never found +it easy to provide money for maritime enterprises. Accordingly, at the +earnest solicitation of Vicente Yanez Pinzon and other enterprising +mariners, the sovereigns had issued a proclamation, April 10, 1495, +granting to all native Spaniards the privilege of making, at their own +risk and expense, voyages of discovery or traffic to the newly found +coasts. As the crown was to take a pretty heavy tariff out of the +profits of these expeditions, while all losses were to be borne by the +adventurers, a fairly certain source of revenue, be it great or small, +seemed likely to be opened.[588] Columbus protested against this edict, +inasmuch as he deemed himself entitled to a patent or monopoly in the +work of conducting expeditions to Cathay. The sovereigns evaded the +difficulty by an edict of June 2, 1497, declaring that it was never +their intention "in any way to affect the rights of the said Don +Christopher Columbus." This declaration was, doubtless, intended simply +to pacify the Admiral. It did not prevent the authorization of voyages +conducted by other persons a couple of years later; and, as I shall show +in the next chapter, there are strong reasons for believing that on May +10, 1497, three weeks before this edict, an expedition sailed from Cadiz +under the especial auspices of King Ferdinand, with Vicente Yanez Pinzon +for its chief commander and Americus Vespucius for one of its pilots. + + [Footnote 587: The curate thus heard the story of the second + voyage from Columbus himself while it was fresh in his mind. + Columbus also left with him written memoranda, so that for the + events of this expedition the _Historia de los Reyes Catolicos_ + is of the highest authority.] + + [Footnote 588: "All vessels were to sail exclusively from the + port of Cadiz, and under the inspection of officers appointed + by the crown. Those who embarked for Hispaniola without pay, + and at their own expense, were to have lands assigned to them, + and to be provisioned for one year, with a right to retain such + lands and all houses they might erect upon them. Of all gold + which they might collect, they were to retain one third for + themselves, and pay two thirds to the crown. Of all other + articles of merchandise, the produce of the island, they were + to pay merely one tenth to the crown. Their purchases were to + be made in the presence of officers appointed by the + sovereigns, and the royal duties paid into the hands of the + king's receiver. Each ship sailing on private enterprise was to + take one or two persons named by the royal officers at Cadiz. + One tenth of the tonnage of the ship was to be at the service + of the crown, free of charge. One tenth of whatever such ships + should procure in the newly-discovered countries was to be paid + to the crown on their return. These regulations included + private ships trading to Hispaniola with provisions. For every + vessel thus fitted out on private adventure, Columbus, in + consideration of his privilege of an eighth of tonnage, was to + have the right to freight one on his own account." Irving's + _Columbus_, vol. ii. p. 76.] + +[Sidenote: Columbus loses his temper.] + +It was not until late in the spring of 1498 that the ships were ready +for Columbus. Everything that Fonseca could do to vex and delay him was +done. One of the bishop's minions, a converted Moor or Jew named Ximeno +Breviesca, behaved with such outrageous insolence that on the day of +sailing the Admiral's indignation, so long restrained, at last broke +out, and he drove away the fellow with kicks and cuffs.[589] This +imprudent act gave Fonseca the opportunity to maintain that what the +Admiral's accusers said about his tyrannical disposition must be true. + + [Footnote 589: "Parece que uno debiera de, en estos reveses, y, + por ventura, en palabras contra el y contra la negociacion + destas Indias, mas que otro senalarse, y segun entendi, no + debiera ser cristiano viejo, y creo que se llamaba Ximeno, + contra el cual debio el Almirante gravemente sentirse y + enojarse, y aguardo el dia que se hizo a la vela, y, o en la + nao que entro, por ventura, el dicho oficial, o en tierra + quando queria desembarcarse, arrebatolo el Almirante, y dale + muchas coces o remesones, por manera que lo trato mal; y a mi + parecer, por esta causa principalmente, sobre otras quejas que + fueron de aca, y cosas que murmuraron del y contra el los que + bien con el no estaban y le acumularon; los Reyes indignados + proveyeron de quitarle la gobernacion." Las Casas, _Historia de + las Indias_, tom. ii. p. 199.] + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: The third voyage.] + +The expedition started on May 30, 1498, from the little port of San +Lucar de Barrameda. There were six ships, carrying about 200 men besides +the sailors. On June 21, at the Isle of Ferro, the Admiral divided his +fleet, sending three ships directly to Hispaniola, while with the other +three he kept on to the Cape Verde islands, whence he steered southwest +on the 4th of July. A week later, after a run of about 900 miles, his +astrolabe seemed to show that he was within five degrees of the +equator.[590] There were three reasons for going so far to the +south:--1, the natives of the islands already visited always pointed +in that direction when gold was mentioned; 2, a learned jeweller, who +had travelled in the East, had assured Columbus that gold and gems, as +well as spices and rare drugs, were to be found for the most part among +black people near the equator; 3, if he should not find any rich islands +on the way, a sufficiently long voyage would bring him to the coast of +Champa (Cochin China) at a lower point than he had reached on the +preceding voyage, and nearer to the Golden Chersonese (Malacca), by +doubling which he could enter the Indian ocean. It will be remembered +that he supposed the southwesterly curve in the Cuban coast, the +farthest point reached in his second voyage, to be the beginning of the +coast of Cochin China according to Marco Polo. + + [Footnote 590: The figure given by Columbus is equivalent only + to 360 geographical miles (Navarrete, _Coleccion_, tom. i. p. + 246), but as Las Casas (_Hist._ tom. ii. p. 226) already + noticed, there must be some mistake here, for on a S. W. course + from the Cape Verde islands it would require a distance of 900 + geographical miles to cut the fifth parallel. From the weather + that followed, it is clear that Columbus stated his latitude + pretty correctly; he had come into the belt of calms. Therefore + his error must be in the distance run.] + +[Sidenote: The belt of calms.] + +Once more through ignorance of the atmospheric conditions of the regions +within the tropics Columbus encountered needless perils and hardships. +If he had steered from Ferro straight across the ocean a trifle south of +west-southwest, he might have made a quick and comfortable voyage, with +the trade-wind filling his sails, to the spot where he actually struck +land.[591] As it was, however, he naturally followed the custom then so +common, of first running to the parallel upon which he intended to sail. +This long southerly run brought him into the belt of calms or neutral +zone between the northern and southern trade-winds, a little north of +the equator.[592] No words can describe what followed so well as those +of Irving: "The wind suddenly fell, and a dead sultry calm commenced, +which lasted for eight days. The air was like a furnace; the tar melted, +the seams of the ship yawned; the salt meat became putrid; the wheat was +parched as if with fire; the hoops shrank from the wine and water casks, +some of which leaked and others burst, while the heat in the holds of +the vessels was so suffocating that no one could remain below a +sufficient time to prevent the damage that was taking place. The +mariners lost all strength and spirits, and sank under the oppressive +heat. It seemed as if the old fable of the torrid zone was about to be +realized; and that they were approaching a fiery region where it would +be impossible to exist."[593] + + [Footnote 591: Humboldt in 1799 did just this thing, starting + from Teneriffe and reaching Trinidad in nineteen days. See + Bruhn's _Life of Humboldt_, vol. i. p. 263.] + + [Footnote 592: "The strength of the trade-winds depends + entirely upon the difference in temperature between the equator + and the pole; the greater the difference, the stronger the + wind. Now, at the present time, the south pole is much colder + than the north pole, and the southern trades are consequently + much stronger than the northern, so that the neutral zone in + which they meet lies some five degrees north of the equator." + _Excursions of an Evolutionist_, p. 64.] + + [Footnote 593: Irving's _Columbus_, vol. ii. p. 137. One is + reminded of a scene in the _Rime of the Ancient Mariner_:-- + + "All in a hot and copper sky + The bloody sun, at noon, + Right up above the mast did stand, + No bigger than the moon. + + "Day after day, day after day, + We stuck,--nor breath nor motion; + As idle as a painted ship + Upon a painted ocean."] + +Fortunately, they were in a region where the ocean is comparatively +narrow. The longitude reached by Columbus on July 13, when the wind died +away, must have been about 36 deg. or 37 deg. W., and a run of only 800 miles +west from that point would have brought him to Cayenne. His course +between the 13th and 21st of July must have intersected the thermal +equator, or line of greatest mean annual heat on the globe,--an +irregular curve which is here deflected as much as five degrees north of +the equinoctial line. But although there was not a breath of wind, the +powerful equatorial current was quietly driving the ships, much faster +than the Admiral could have suspected, to the northwest and toward land. +By the end of that stifling week they were in latitude 7 deg. N., and caught +the trade-wind on the starboard quarter. Thence after a brisk run of ten +days, in sorry plight, with ugly leaks and scarcely a cask of fresh +water left, they arrived within sight of land. Three mountain peaks +loomed up in the offing before them, and as they drew nearer it appeared +that those peaks belonged to one great mountain; wherefore the pious +Admiral named the island Trinidad. + +[Sidenote: Trinidad and the Orinoco.] + +Here some surprises were in store for Columbus. Instead of finding black +and woolly-haired natives, he found men of cinnamon hue, like those in +Hispaniola, only--strange to say--lighter in colour. Then in coasting +Trinidad he caught a glimpse of land at the delta of the Orinoco, and +called it Isla Santa, or Holy Island.[594] But, on passing into the +gulf of Paria, through the strait which he named Serpent's Mouth, his +ships were in sore danger of being swamped by the raging surge that +poured from three or four of the lesser mouths of that stupendous river. +Presently, finding that the water in the gulf was fresh to the taste, he +gradually reasoned his way to the correct conclusion, that the billows +which had so nearly overwhelmed him must have come out from a river +greater than any he had ever known or dreamed of, and that so vast a +stream of running water could be produced only upon land of continental +dimensions.[595] This coast to the south of him was, therefore, the +coast of a continent, with indefinite extension toward the south, a land +not laid down upon Toscanelli's or any other map, and of which no one +had until that time known anything.[596] + + [Footnote 594: He "gave it the name of Isla Santa," says Irving + (vol. ii. p. 140), "little imagining that he now, for the first + time, beheld that continent, that Terra Firma, which had been + the object of his earnest search." The reader of this passage + should bear in mind that the continent of South America, which + nobody had ever heard of, was _not_ the object of Columbus's + search. The Terra Firma which was the object of his search was + the mainland of Asia, and that he never beheld, though he felt + positively sure that he had already set foot upon it in 1492 + and 1494.] + + [Footnote 595: A modern traveller thus describes this river: + "Right and left of us lay, at some distance off, the low banks + of the Apure, at this point quite a broad stream. But before us + the waters spread out like a wide dark flood, limited on the + horizon only by a low black streak, and here and there showing + a few distant hills. This was the Orinoco, rolling with + irrepressible power and majesty sea-wards, and often upheaving + its billows like the ocean when lashed to fury by the wind.... + The Orinoco sends a current of fresh water far into the ocean, + its waters--generally green, but in the shallows + milk-white--contrasting sharply with the indigo blue of the + surrounding sea." Bates, _Central America, the West Indies, and + South America_, 2d ed., London, 1882, pp. 234, 235. The island + of Trinidad forms an obstacle to the escape of this huge volume + of fresh water, and hence the furious commotion at the two + outlets, the Serpent's Mouth and Dragon's Mouth, especially in + July and August, when the Orinoco is swollen with tropical + rains.] + + [Footnote 596: In Columbus's own words, in his letter to the + sovereigns describing this third voyage, "Y digo que ... viene + este rio y procede de tierra infinita, pues al austro, de la + cual fasta agora no se ha habido noticia." Navarrete, + _Coleccion_, tom. i. p. 262.] + +[Illustration: Discoveries made by Columbus in his third and fourth +voyages.] + +[Sidenote: Speculations as to the earth's shape.] + +[Sidenote: The mountain of Paradise.] + +In spite of the correctness of this surmise, Columbus was still as far +from a true interpretation of the whole situation as when he supposed +Hispaniola to be Ophir. He entered upon a series of speculations which +forcibly remind us how empirical was the notion of the earth's rotundity +before the inauguration of physical astronomy by Galileo, Kepler, and +Newton. We now know that our planet has the only shape possible for such +a rotating mass that once was fluid or nebulous, the shape of a spheroid +slightly protuberant at the equator and flattened at the poles; but this +knowledge is the outcome of mechanical principles utterly unknown and +unsuspected in the days of Columbus. He understood that the earth is a +round body, but saw no necessity for its being strictly spherical or +spheroidal. He now suggested that it was probably shaped like a pear, +rather a blunt and corpulent pear, nearly spherical in its lower part, +but with a short, stubby apex in the equatorial region somewhere beyond +the point which he had just reached. He fancied he had been sailing up a +gentle slope from the burning glassy sea where his ships had been +becalmed to this strange and beautiful coast where he found the climate +enchanting. If he were to follow up the mighty river just now revealed, +it might lead him to the summit of this apex of the world, the place +where the terrestrial paradise, the Garden which the Lord planted +eastward in Eden, was in all probability situated![597] + + [Footnote 597: Thus would be explained the astounding force + with which the water was poured down. It was common in the + Middle Ages to imagine the terrestrial paradise at the top of a + mountain. See Dante, _Purgatorio_, canto xxviii. Columbus + quotes many authorities in favour of his opinion. The whole + letter is worth reading. See Navarrete, tom. i. pp. 242-264.] + +[Sidenote: Relation of the "Eden continent" to "Cochin China."] + +As Columbus still held to the opinion that by keeping to the west from +that point he should soon reach the coast of Cochin China, his +conception of the position of Eden is thus pretty clearly indicated. He +imagined it as situated about on the equator, upon a continental mass +till then unknown, but evidently closely connected with the continent of +Asia if not a part of it. If he had lived long enough to hear of Quito +and its immense elevation, I should suppose that might very well have +suited his idea of the position of Eden. The coast of this continent, +upon which he had now arrived, was either continuous with the coast of +Cochin China (Cuba) and Malacca, or would be found to be divided from it +by a strait through which one might pass directly into the Indian ocean. + +[Sidenote: The Pearl Coast.] + +[Sidenote: Arrival at San Domingo.] + +It took some little time for this theory to come to maturity in the mind +of Columbus. Not expecting to find any mainland in that quarter, he +began by calling different points of the coast different islands. Coming +out through the passage which he named Dragon's Mouth, he caught distant +glimpses of Tobago and Grenada to starboard, and turning westward +followed the Pearl Coast as far as the islands of Margarita and Cubagua. +The fine pearls which he found there in abundance confirmed him in the +good opinion he had formed of that country. By this time, the 15th of +August, he had so far put facts together as to become convinced of the +continental character of that coast, and would have been glad to pursue +it westward. But now his strength gave out. During most of the voyage he +had suffered acute torments with gout, his temperature had been very +feverish, and his eyes were at length so exhausted with perpetual +watching that he could no longer make observations. So he left the coast +a little beyond Cubagua, and steered straight for Hispaniola, aiming at +San Domingo, but hitting the island of Beata because he did not make +allowance for the westerly flow of the currents. He arrived at San +Domingo on the 30th of August, and found his brother Bartholomew, whom +he intended to send at once on a further cruise along the Pearl Coast, +while he himself should be resting and recovering strength. + +[Sidenote: Roldan's rebellion.] + +[Sidenote: Fonseca's machinations.] + +But alas! there was to be no cruising now for the younger brother nor +rest for the elder. It was a sad story that Bartholomew had to tell. War +with the Indians had broken out afresh, and while the Adelantado was +engaged in this business a scoundrel named Roldan had taken advantage of +his absence to stir up civil strife. Roldan's rebellion was a result of +the ill-advised mission of Aguado. The malcontents in the colony +interpreted the Admiral's long stay in Spain as an indication that he +had lost favour with the sovereigns and was not coming back to the +island. Gathering together a strong body of rebels, Roldan retired to +Xaragua and formed an alliance with the brother of the late chieftain +Caonabo. By the time the Admiral arrived the combination of mutiny with +barbaric warfare had brought about a frightful state of things. A party +of soldiers, sent by him to suppress Roldan, straightway deserted and +joined that rebel. It thus became necessary to come to terms with +Roldan, and this revelation of the weakness of the government only made +matters worse. Two wretched years were passed in attempts to restore +order in Hispaniola, while the work of discovery and exploration was +postponed. Meanwhile the items of information that found their way to +Spain were skilfully employed by Fonseca in poisoning the minds of the +sovereigns, until at last they decided to send out a judge to the +island, armed with plenary authority to make investigations and settle +disputes. The glory which Columbus had won by the first news of the +discovery of the Indies had now to some extent faded away. The +enterprise yielded as yet no revenue and entailed great expense; and +whenever some reprobate found his way back to Spain, the malicious +Fonseca prompted him to go to the treasury with a claim for pay alleged +to have been wrongfully withheld by the Admiral. Ferdinand Columbus +tells how some fifty such scamps were gathered one day in the courtyard +of the Alhambra, cursing his father and catching hold of the king's +robe, crying, "Pay us! pay us!" and as he and his brother Diego, who +were pages in the queen's service, happened to pass by, they were +greeted with hoots:--"There go the sons of the Admiral of Mosquito-land, +the man who has discovered a land of vanity and deceit, the grave of +Spanish gentlemen!"[598] + + [Footnote 598: "Ecco i figliuoli dell' Ammiraglio de' + Mosciolini, di colui che ha trovate terre di vanita e d' + inganno, per sepoltura e miseria de' gentiluomini castigliani." + _Vita dell' Ammiraglio_, cap. lxxxiv.] + +[Sidenote: Gama's voyage to Hindustan, 1497.] + +An added sting was given to such taunts by a great event that happened +about this time. In the summer of 1497, Vasco da Gama started from +Lisbon for the Cape of Good Hope, and in the summer of 1499 he returned, +after having doubled the cape and crossed the Indian ocean to Calicut on +the Malabar coast of Hindustan. His voyage was the next Portuguese step +sequent upon that of Bartholomew Dias. There was nothing questionable or +dubious about Gama's triumph. He had seen splendid cities, talked with a +powerful Rajah, and met with Arab vessels, their crews madly jealous at +the unprecedented sight of Christian ships in those waters; and he +brought back with him to Lisbon nutmegs and cloves, pepper and ginger, +rubies and emeralds, damask robes with satin linings, bronze chairs with +cushions, trumpets of carved ivory, a sunshade of crimson satin, a sword +in a silver scabbard, and no end of such gear.[599] An old civilization +had been found and a route of commerce discovered, and a factory was to +be set up at once on that Indian coast. What a contrast to the miserable +performance of Columbus, who had started with the flower of Spain's +chivalry for rich Cipango, and had only led them to a land where they +must either starve or do work fit for peasants, while he spent his time +in cruising among wild islands! The king of Portugal could now snap his +fingers at Ferdinand and Isabella, and if a doubt should have sometimes +crossed the minds of those chagrined sovereigns, as to whether this +plausible Genoese mariner might not, after all, be a humbug or a crazy +enthusiast, we can hardly wonder at it. + + [Footnote 599: Major, _Prince Henry the Navigator_, pp. + 398-401.] + +[Sidenote: Fonseca's creature, Bobadilla.] + +[Sidenote: Columbus in chains.] + +The person sent to investigate the affairs of Hispaniola was Francisco +de Bobadilla, a knight commander of the order of Calatrava. He carried +several documents, one of them directing him to make inquiries and +punish offenders, another containing his appointment as governor, a +third commanding Columbus and his brothers to surrender to him all +fortresses and other public property.[600] The two latter papers were to +be used only in case of such grave misconduct proved against Columbus as +to justify his removal from the government. These papers were made out +in the spring of 1499, but Bobadilla was not sent out until July, 1500. +When he arrived at San Domingo on the 23d of August, the insurrection +had been suppressed; the Admiral and Bartholomew were bringing things +into order in distant parts of the island, while Diego was left in +command at San Domingo. Seven ringleaders had just been hanged, and five +more were in prison under sentence of death. If Bobadilla had not come +upon the scene this wholesome lesson might have worked some improvement +in affairs.[601] He destroyed its moral in a twinkling. The first day +after landing, he read aloud, at the church door, the paper directing +him to make inquiries and punish offenders; and forthwith demanded of +Diego Columbus that the condemned prisoners should be delivered up to +him. Diego declined to take so important a step until he could get +orders from the Admiral. Next day Bobadilla read his second and third +papers, proclaimed himself governor, called on Diego to surrender the +fortress and public buildings, and renewed his demand for the prisoners. +As Diego still hesitated to act before news of these proceedings could +be sent to his brother, Bobadilla broke into the fortress, took the +prisoners out, and presently set them free. All the rebellious spirits +in the colony were thus drawn to the side of Bobadilla, whose royal +commission, under such circumstances, gave him irresistible power. He +threw Diego into prison and loaded him with fetters. He seized the +Admiral's house, and confiscated all his personal property, even +including his business papers and private letters. When the Admiral +arrived in San Domingo, Bobadilla, without even waiting to see him, sent +an officer to put him in irons and take him to prison. When Bartholomew +arrived, he received the same treatment. The three brothers were +confined in different places, nobody was allowed to visit them, and +they were not informed of the offences with which they were charged. +While they lay in prison, Bobadilla busied himself with inventing an +excuse for this violent behaviour. Finally he hit upon one at which +Satan from the depths of his bottomless pit must have grimly smiled. He +said that he had arrested and imprisoned the brothers only because he +had reason to believe they were inciting the Indians to aid them in +resisting the commands of Ferdinand and Isabella!! In short, from the +day of his landing Bobadilla made common cause with the insurgent +rabble, and when they had furnished him with a ream or so of charges +against the Admiral and his brothers, it seemed safe to send these +gentlemen to Spain. They were put on board ship, with their fetters upon +them, and the officer in charge was instructed by Bobadilla to deliver +them into the hands of Bishop Fonseca, who was thus to have the +privilege of glutting to the full his revengeful spite. + + [Footnote 600: The documents are given in Navarrete, _Coleccion + de viages_, tom. ii. pp. 235-240; and, with accompanying + narrative, in Las Casas, _Hist. de las Indias_, tom. ii. pp. + 472-487.] + + [Footnote 601: No better justification for the government of + the brothers Columbus can be found than to contrast it with the + infinitely worse state of affairs that ensued under the + administrations of Bobadilla and Ovando. See below, vol. ii. + pp. 442-446.] + +[Sidenote: Return to Spain.] + +[Sidenote: Release of Columbus.] + +The master of the ship, shocked at the sight of fetters upon such a man +as the Admiral, would have taken them off, but Columbus would not let it +be done. No, indeed! they should never come off except by order of the +sovereigns, and then he would keep them for the rest of his life, to +show how his labours had been rewarded.[602] The event--which always +justifies true manliness--proved the sagacity of this proud demeanour. +Fonseca was baulked of his gratification. The clumsy Bobadilla had +overdone the business. The sight of the Admiral's stately and venerable +figure in chains, as he passed through the streets of Cadiz, on a +December day of that year 1500, awakened a popular outburst of sympathy +for him and indignation at his persecutors. While on the ship he had +written or dictated a beautiful and touching letter[603] to a lady of +whom the queen was fond, the former nurse of the Infante, whose untimely +death, three years since, his mother was still mourning. This letter +reached the court at Granada, and was read to the queen before she had +heard of Bobadilla's performances from any other quarter. A courier was +sent in all haste to Cadiz, with orders that the brothers should at once +be released, and with a letter to the Admiral, inviting him to court and +enclosing an order for money to cover his expenses. The scene in the +Alhambra, when Columbus arrived, is one of the most touching in history. +Isabella received him with tears in her eyes, and then this +much-enduring old man, whose proud and masterful spirit had so long been +proof against all wrongs and insults, broke down. He threw himself at +the feet of the sovereigns in an agony of tears and sobs.[604] + + [Footnote 602: Las Casas, _Hist. de las Indias_, tom. ii. p. + 501; F. Columbus, _Vita dell' Ammiraglio_, cap. lxxxv. + Ferdinand adds that he had often seen these fetters hanging in + his father's room.] + + [Footnote 603: It is given in full in Las Casas, _op. cit._ + tom. ii. pp. 502-510.] + + [Footnote 604: Herrera, _Historia_, dec. i. lib. iv. cap. 10.] + +[Sidenote: How far were the sovereigns responsible for Bobadilla?] + +How far the sovereigns should be held responsible for the behaviour of +their agent is not altogether easy to determine. The appointment of such +a creature as Bobadilla was a sad blunder, but one such as is liable to +be made under any government. Fonseca was very powerful at court, and +Bobadilla never would have dared to proceed as he did if he had not +known that the bishop would support him. Indeed, from the indecent haste +with which he went about his work, without even the pretence of a +judicial inquiry, it is probable that he started with private +instructions from that quarter. But, while Fonseca had some of the +wisdom along with the venom of the serpent, Bobadilla was simply a +jackass, and behaved so that in common decency the sovereigns were +obliged to disown him. They took no formal or public notice of his +written charges against the Admiral, and they assured the latter that he +should be reimbursed for his losses and restored to his viceroyalty and +other dignities. + +[Sidenote: Ovando, another creature of Fonseca, appointed governor of +Hispaniola.] + +This last promise, however, was not fulfilled; partly, perhaps, because +Fonseca's influence was still strong enough to prevent it, partly +because the sovereigns may have come to the sound and reasonable +conclusion that for the present there was no use in committing the +government of that disorderly rabble in Hispaniola to a foreigner. What +was wanted was a Spanish priest, and a military priest withal, of the +sort that Spain then had in plenty. Obedience to priests came natural to +Spaniards. The man now selected was Nicolas de Ovando, a knight +commander of the order of Alcantara, of whom we shall have more to say +hereafter.[605] Suffice it now to observe that he proved himself a +famous disciplinarian, and that he was a great favourite with Fonseca, +to whom he seems to have owed his appointment. He went out in February, +1502, with a fleet of thirty ships carrying 2,500 persons, for the +pendulum of public opinion had taken another swing, and faith in the +Indies was renewed. Some great discoveries, to be related in the next +chapter, had been made since 1498; and, moreover, the gold mines of +Hispaniola were beginning to yield rich treasures. + + [Footnote 605: See below, vol. ii. pp. 435-446.] + +[Sidenote: Purpose of Columbus's fourth voyage.] + +But, while the sovereigns were not disposed to restore Columbus to his +viceroyalty, they were quite ready to send him on another voyage of +discovery which was directly suggested by the recent Portuguese voyage +of Gama. Since nothing was yet known about the discovery of a New World, +the achievement of Gama seemed to have eclipsed that of Columbus. Spain +must make a response to Portugal. As already observed, the Admiral +supposed the coast of his "Eden continent" (South America) either to be +continuous with the coast of Cochin China (Cuba) and Malacca, or else to +be divided from that coast by a strait. The latter opinion was the more +probable, since Marco Polo and a few other Europeans had sailed from +China into the Indian ocean without encountering any great continent +that had to be circumnavigated. The recent expedition of Vespucius and +Ojeda (1499-1500) had followed the northern coast of South America for a +long distance to the west of Cubagua, as far as the gulf of Maracaibo. +Columbus now decided to return to the coast of Cochin China (Cuba) and +follow the coast southwestward until he should find the passage between +his Eden continent and the Golden Chersonese (Malacca) into the Indian +ocean. He would thus be able to reach by this western route the same +shores of Hindustan which Gama had lately reached by sailing eastward. +So confident did he feel of the success of this enterprise, that he +wrote a letter to Pope Alexander VI., renewing his vow to furnish troops +for the rescue of the Holy Sepulchre.[606] It was no doubt the symptom +of a reaction against his misfortunes that he grew more and more +mystical in these days, consoling himself with the belief that he was a +chosen instrument in the hands of Providence for enlarging the bounds of +Christendom. In this mood he made some studies on the prophecies, after +the fantastic fashion of his time,[607] and a habit grew upon him of +attributing his discoveries to miraculous inspiration rather than to the +good use to which his poetical and scientific mind had put the data +furnished by Marco Polo and the ancient geographers. + + [Footnote 606: Navarrete, _Coleccion_, tom. ii. pp. 280-282.] + + [Footnote 607: The MS. volume of notes on the prophecies is in + the Colombina. There is a description of it in Navarrete, tom. + ii. pp. 260-273.] + +[Sidenote: Crossing the Atlantic.] + +[Sidenote: Columbus not allowed to stop at San Domingo.] + +The armament for the Admiral's fourth and last voyage consisted of four +small caravels, of from fifty to seventy tons burthen, with crews +numbering, all told, 150 men. His brother Bartholomew, and his younger +son Ferdinand, then a boy of fourteen, accompanied him. They sailed from +Cadiz on the 11th of May, 1502, and finally left the Canaries behind on +the 26th of the same month. The course chosen was the same as on the +second voyage, and the unfailing trade-winds brought the ships on the +15th of June to an island called Mantinino, probably Martinique, not +more than ten leagues distant from Dominica. The Admiral had been +instructed not to touch at Hispaniola upon his way out, probably for +fear of further commotions there until Ovando should have succeeded in +bringing order out of the confusion ten times worse confounded into +which Bobadilla's misgovernment had thrown that island. Columbus might +stop there on his return, but not on his outward voyage. His intention +had, therefore, been, on reaching the cannibal islands, to steer for +Jamaica, thence make the short run to "Cochin China," and then turn +southwards. But as one of his caravels threatened soon to become +unmanageable, he thought himself justified in touching at San Domingo +long enough to hire a sound vessel in place of her. Ovando had assumed +the government there in April, and a squadron of 26 or 28 ships, +containing Roldan and Bobadilla, with huge quantities of gold wrung from +the enslaved Indians, was ready to start for Spain about the end of +June. In one of these ships were 4,000 pieces of gold destined for +Columbus, probably a part of the reimbursement that had been promised +him. On the 29th of June the Admiral arrived in the harbour and stated +the nature of his errand. At the same time, as his practised eye had +detected the symptoms of an approaching hurricane, he requested +permission to stay in the harbour until it should be over, and he +furthermore sent to the commander of the fleet a friendly warning not to +venture out to sea at present. His requests and his warnings were alike +treated with contumely. He was ordered to leave the harbour, and did so +in great indignation. As his first care was for the approaching tempest, +he did not go far but found safe anchorage in a sheltered and secluded +cove, where his vessels rode the storm with difficulty but without +serious damage. Meanwhile the governor's great fleet had rashly put out +to sea, and was struck with fatal fury by wind and wave. Twenty or more +ships went to the bottom, with Bobadilla, Roldan, and most of the +Admiral's principal enemies, besides all the ill-gotten treasure; five +or six shattered caravels, unable to proceed, found their way back to +San Domingo; of all the fleet, only one ship arrived safe and sound in +Spain, and that, says Ferdinand, was the one that had on board his +father's gold. Truly it was such an instance of poetical justice as one +does not often witness in this world. "We will not inquire now," says +Las Casas, who witnessed the affair, "into this remarkable divine +judgment, for at the last day of the world it will be made quite clear +to us."[608] If such judgments were more often visited upon the right +persons, perhaps the ways of Providence would not have so generally come +to be regarded as inscrutable. + + [Footnote 608: "Aqueste tan gran juicio de Dios no curemos de + escudrinallo, pues en el dia final deste mundo nos sera bien + claro." _Hist. do las Indias_, tom. iii. p. 32; cf. _Vita dell' + Ammiraglio_, cap. lxxxvii. As Las Casas was then in San + Domingo, having come out in Ovando's fleet, and as Ferdinand + Columbus was with his father, the testimony is very direct.] + +[Sidenote: Arrival at Cape Honduras.] + +The hurricane was followed by a dead calm, during which the Admiral's +ships were carried by the currents into the group of tiny islands called +the Queen's Gardens, on the south side of Cuba. With the first +favourable breeze he took a southwesterly course, in order to strike +that Cochin-Chinese coast farther down toward the Malay peninsula. This +brought him directly to the island of Guanaja and to Cape Honduras, +which he thus reached without approaching the Yucatan channel.[609] + + [Footnote 609: In the next chapter I shall give some reasons + for supposing that the Admiral had learned the existence of the + Yucatan channel from the pilot Ledesma, coupled with + information which made it unlikely that a passage into the + Indian ocean would be found that way. See below, vol. ii. p. + 92.] + +[Sidenote: Cape Gracias a Dios.] + +Upon the Honduras coast the Admiral found evidences of semi-civilization +with which he was much elated,--such as copper knives and hatchets, +pottery of skilled and artistic workmanship, and cotton garments finely +woven and beautifully dyed. Here the Spaniards first tasted the +_chicha_, or maize beer, and marvelled at the heavy clubs, armed with +sharp blades of obsidian, with which the soldiers of Cortes were by and +by to become unpleasantly acquainted. The people here wore cotton +clothes, and, according to Ferdinand, the women covered themselves as +carefully as the Moorish women of Granada.[610] On inquiring as to the +sources of gold and other wealth, the Admiral was now referred to the +west, evidently to Yucatan and Guatemala, or, as he supposed, to the +neighbourhood of the Ganges. Evidently the way to reach these countries +was to keep the land on the starboard and search for the passage +between the Eden continent and the Malay peninsula.[611] This course at +first led Columbus eastward for a greater number of leagues than he +could have relished. Wind and current were dead against him, too; and +when, after forty days of wretched weather, he succeeded in doubling the +cape which marks on that coast the end of Honduras and the beginning of +Nicaragua, and found it turning square to the south, it was doubtless +joy at this auspicious change of direction, as well as the sudden relief +from head-winds, that prompted him to name that bold prominence Cape +Gracias a Dios, or Thanks to God. + + [Footnote 610: _Vita dell' Ammiraglio_, cap. lxxxviii.] + + [Footnote 611: Irving (vol. ii. pp. 386, 387) seems to think it + strange that Columbus did not at once turn westward and + circumnavigate Yucatan. But if--as Irving supposed--Columbus + had not seen the Yucatan channel, and regarded the Honduras + coast as continuous with that of Cuba, he could only expect by + turning westward to be carried back to Cape Alpha and Omega, + where he had already been twice before! In the next chapter, + however, I shall show that Columbus may have shaped his course + in accordance with the advice of the pilot Ledesma.] + +[Sidenote: The coast of Veragua.] + +[Sidenote: Fruitless search for the Strait of Malacca.] + +[Sidenote: Futile attempt to make a settlement.] + +[Sidenote: Columbus shipwrecked.] + +As the ships proceeded southward in the direction of Veragua, evidences +of the kind of semi-civilization which we recognize as characteristic of +that part of aboriginal America grew more and more numerous. Great +houses were seen, built of "stone and lime," or perhaps of rubble stone +with adobe mortar. Walls were adorned with carvings and pictographs. +Mummies were found in a good state of preservation. There were signs of +abundant gold; the natives wore plates of it hung by cotton cords about +their necks, and were ready to exchange pieces worth a hundred ducats +for tawdry European trinkets. From these people Columbus heard what we +should call the first "news of the Pacific Ocean," though it had no such +meaning to his mind. From what he heard he understood that he was on the +east side of a peninsula, and that there was another sea on the other +side, by gaining which he might in ten days reach the mouth of the +Ganges.[612] By proceeding on his present course he would soon come to a +"narrow place" between the two seas. There was a curious equivocation +here. No doubt the Indians were honest and correct in what they tried to +tell Columbus. But by the "narrow place" they meant narrow land, not +narrow water; not a strait which connected but an isthmus which divided +the two seas, not the Strait of Malacca, but the Isthmus of Darien![613] +Columbus, of course, understood them to mean the strait for which he was +looking, and in his excitement at approaching the long-expected goal he +pressed on without waiting to verify the reports of gold mines in the +neighbourhood, a thing that could be done at any time.[614] By the 5th +of December, however, having reached a point on the isthmus, a few +leagues east of Puerto Bello, without finding the strait, he yielded to +the remonstrances of the crews, and retraced his course to Veragua. If +the strait could not be found, the next best tidings to carry home to +Spain would be the certain information of the discovery of gold mines, +and it was decided to make a settlement here which might serve as a base +for future operations. Three months of misery followed. Many of the +party were massacred by the Indians, the stock of food was nearly +exhausted, and the ships were pierced by worms until it was feared there +would be no means left for going home. Accordingly, it was decided to +abandon the enterprise and return to Hispaniola.[615] In order to allow +for the strong westerly currents in the Caribbean sea, the Admiral first +sailed eastward almost to the gulf of Darien, and then turned to the +north. The allowance was not enough, however. The ships were again +carried into the Queen's Gardens, where they were caught in a storm and +nearly beaten to pieces. At length, on St. John's eve, June 23, 1503, +the crazy wrecks--now full of water and unable to sail another +league--were beached on the coast of Jamaica and converted into a sort +of rude fortress; and while two trusty men were sent over to San Domingo +in a canoe, to obtain relief, Columbus and his party remained +shipwrecked in Jamaica. They waited there a whole year before it proved +possible to get any relief from Ovando. He was a slippery knave, who +knew how to deal out promises without taking the first step toward +fulfilment. + + [Footnote 612: Navarrete, _Coleccion de viages_, tom. i. p. + 299.] + + [Footnote 613: _Vita dell' Ammiraglio_, cap. lxxxix.; Humboldt, + _Examen Critique_, tom. i. p. 350.] + + [Footnote 614: "Nothing could evince more clearly his generous + ambition than hurrying in this brief manner along a coast where + wealth was to be gathered at every step, for the purpose of + seeking a strait which, however it might produce vast benefit + to mankind, could yield little else to himself than the glory + of the discovery." Irving's _Columbus_, vol. ii. p. 406. In + this voyage, however, the express purpose from the start was to + find the strait of Malacca as a passage to the very same + regions which had been visited by Gama, and Columbus expected + thus to get wealth enough to equip an army of Crusaders. + Irving's statement does not correctly describe the Admiral's + purpose, and as savouring of misplaced eulogy, is sure to + provoke a reaction on the part of captious critics.] + + [Footnote 615: A graphic account of these scenes, in which he + took part, is given by Ferdinand Columbus, _Vita dell' + Ammiraglio_, cap. xciii.-cvi.] + +[Sidenote: A year of misery.] + +[Sidenote: Last return to Spain.] + +It was a terrible year that Columbus spent upon the wild coast of +Jamaica. To all the horrors inseparable from such a situation there was +added the horror of mutiny. The year did not end until there had been a +pitched battle, in which the doughty Bartholomew was, as usual, +victorious. The ringleader was captured, and of the other mutineers such +as were not slain in the fight were humbled and pardoned. At length +Ovando's conduct began to arouse indignation in San Domingo, and was +openly condemned from the pulpit; so that, late in June, 1504, he sent +over to Jamaica a couple of ships which brought away the Admiral and his +starving party. Ovando greeted the brothers Columbus with his customary +hypocritical courtesy, which they well understood. During the past year +the island of Hispaniola had been the scene of atrocities such as have +scarcely been surpassed in history. I shall give a brief account of them +in a future chapter. Columbus was not cheered by what he saw and heard, +and lost no time in starting for Spain. On the 7th of November, 1504, +after a tempestuous voyage and narrow escape from shipwreck, he landed +at San Lucar de Barrameda and made his way to Seville. Queen Isabella +was then on her death-bed, and breathed her last just nineteen days +later. + +[Sidenote: Death of Columbus.] + +The death of the queen deprived Columbus of the only protector who could +stand between him and Fonseca. The reimbursement for the wrongs which he +had suffered at that man's hands was never made. The last eighteen +months of the Admiral's life were spent in sickness and poverty. +Accumulated hardship and disappointment had broken him down, and he died +on Ascension day, May 20, 1506, at Valladolid. So little heed was taken +of his passing away that the local annals of that city, "which give +almost every insignificant event from 1333 to 1539, day by day, do not +mention it."[616] His remains were buried in the Franciscan monastery at +Valladolid, whence they were removed in 1513 to the monastery of Las +Cuevas, at Seville, where the body of his son Diego, second Admiral and +Viceroy of the Indies, was buried in 1526. Ten years after this date, +the bones of father and son were removed to Hispaniola, to the cathedral +of San Domingo; whence they have since been transferred to Havana. The +result of so many removals has been to raise doubts as to whether the +ashes now reposing at Havana are really those of Columbus and his son; +and over this question there has been much critical discussion, of a +sort that we may cheerfully leave to those who like to spend their time +over such trivialities. + + [Footnote 616: Harrisse, _Notes on Columbus_, New York, 1866, + p. 73.] + +[Sidenote: "Nuevo Mundo."] + +There is a tradition that Ferdinand and Isabella, at some date +unspecified, had granted to Columbus, as a legend for his coat-of-arms, +the noble motto:-- + + A Castilla y a Leon + Nuevo mundo dio Colon, + +_i. e._ "To Castile-and-Leon Columbus gave a New World;" and we are +further told that, when the Admiral's bones were removed to Seville, +this motto was, by order of King Ferdinand, inscribed upon his +tomb.[617] This tradition crumbles under the touch of historical +criticism. The Admiral's coat-of-arms, as finally emblazoned under his +own inspection at Seville in 1502, quarters the royal Castle-and-Lion of +the kingdom of Castile with his own devices of five anchors, and a group +of golden islands with a bit of Terra Firma, upon a blue sea. But there +is no legend of any sort, nor is anything of the kind mentioned by Las +Casas or Bernaldez or Peter Martyr. The first allusion to such a motto +is by Oviedo, in 1535, who gives it a somewhat different turn:-- + + Por Castilla y por Leon + Nuevo mundo hallo Colon, + +_i. e._ "For Castile-and-Leon Columbus found a New World." But the other +form is no doubt the better, for Ferdinand Columbus, at some time not +later than 1537, had adopted it, and it may be read to-day upon his tomb +in the cathedral at Seville. The time-honoured tradition has evidently +transferred to the father the legend adopted, if not originally +devised, by his son. + + [Footnote 617: _Vita del Ammiraglio_, cap. cvii. This is + unquestionably a gloss of the translator Ulloa. Cf. Harrisse, + _Christophe Colomb_, tom. ii. pp. 177-179.] + +[Illustration: Arms.] + +But why is this mere question of heraldry a matter of importance for the +historian? Simply because it furnishes one of the most striking among +many illustrations of the fact that at no time during the life of +Columbus, nor for some years after his death, did anybody use the phrase +"New World" with conscious reference to _his_ discoveries. At the time +of his death their true significance had not yet begun to dawn upon the +mind of any voyager or any writer. It was supposed that he had found a +new route to the Indies by sailing west, and that in the course of this +achievement he had discovered some new islands and a bit or bits of +Terra Firma of more or less doubtful commercial value. To group these +items of discovery into an organic whole, and to ascertain that they +belonged to a whole quite distinct from the Old World, required the work +of many other discoverers, companions and successors to Columbus. In the +following chapter I shall endeavour to show how the conception of the +New World was thus originated and at length became developed into the +form with which we are now familiar. + +[Illustration: Sketch of Toscanelli's map, sent to Portugal in 1474, and +used by Columbus in his first voyage across the Atlantic.] + +[Illustration: Claudius Ptolemy's world, cir. A. D. 150.] + +[Illustration: John Fiske.] + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Discovery of America Vol. 1 (of 2), by +John Fiske + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA *** + +***** This file should be named 27253.txt or 27253.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/7/2/5/27253/ + +Produced by Christine P. Travers and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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