Читать книгу Under the Lily and the Rose - Arthur G. Sir Doughty - Страница 4

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Long, long ago in the shadowy past, according to the Saga of King Olaf, there lived a mariner bold who roamed the seas in quest of plunder. His name was Bjarne. His home was Iceland. In the course of his wanderings in the year 985 he stumbled upon an unknown shore which may have been the coast of Nova Scotia. To this he gave the name of Wineland. And so several writers have claimed that Bjarne was the first white man to set foot on Canadian soil.

But according to another Saga which appears to be as reliable as that of King Olaf, Lief, the son of Eric the Red, discovered Wineland in the year 1000. And so for the present we will leave the question of the discovery of Canada to the learned men who for years have tried to reconcile the legends of old with our present knowledge of this continent. For us the real story of Canada begins with Jacques Cartier, though we must say something about Columbus and Cabot.

The charming water-colour drawings by Colonel Cockburn were made during his residence in Canada one hundred years ago. The task of reproducing the illustrations has not been an easy one on account of the age and condition of some of the original drawings. To Miss Frances Beith I am under many obligations. She has kindly read the proofs and verified dates and quotations and prevented errors.

A. G. D.