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BEGINNING with the year 1492, the date of the first voyage of Columbus, necessarily leaves a great part of American history untold. Every nation’s story begins in the middle; back of Leonidas are the Homeric heroes; Romulus and Remus antedate the Tarquins. So, centuries before the clear glory of Columbus, we have tradition of various shadowy explorers whose strange barques visited our shores. Unless we grant the earliest inhabitants of America an autochthonic origin, it seems most reasonable to suppose that they came from Asia. Such authorities as Humboldt, Bancroft, and Prescott declare it their opinion that the monuments, the systems of cosmogony, the methods of computing time, etc., all point to an ancient communication with eastern Asia. It is certain that from time immemorial constant intercourse has been kept up between the natives of either side of Bering’s Strait, and it is very probable that the original immigrants came that way. There are other possible routes—the Aleutian Islands and Polynesia are the two next favored by the authorities.

There is a distinct trace of Japanese blood in many of the native tribes of the northwest coast, and we have too many modern instances of Japanese junks drifting upon the American coast, after floating for months at the mercy of the Pacific currents, to doubt the possibility of prehistoric visits of these people. What is known as the “black stream,” or Japan current, runs northward past the eastern coast of the Japanese Islands, then curves to the east and south, passing the west coast of America and moving toward the Sandwich Islands. This current, it is said, would carry a drifting vessel toward the American coast at the rate of ten miles a day.

The theory which supposes the people, or at least the civilization, of America to be of Egyptian origin is based upon analogies existing between the architecture, hieroglyphics, and various customs of the two countries. But even where these analogies bear the test of close examination, they can scarcely be said to prove anything. In western Asia the Phœnicians—those bold voyagers—and their children, the Carthagenians, are given the honor of settling America. The records of their travels show that they knew of a country lying far to the west. In the writings of Diodorus Siculus is an elaborate account of a wonderful island in the Atlantic Ocean, far beyond the Pillars of Hercules, and many days’ journey from the coast of Africa. This happy land, fertile of soil, beautiful of scenery, and perfect of climate, was accidentally discovered by Phœnician sailors, whose barque was driven thither by contrary winds. On their return they gave such glowing accounts of the new country that large colonies of Tyrians left their native land to settle there. This may have been America, but is more likely to have been the Canary Islands.

Volumes have been written to prove that America was settled by the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel.

In old Welsh annals there is an account of a colony established in the twelfth century by Madoc, one of the sons of Owen Gwynedd, prince of North Wales. After the death of this monarch, his sons waged war against each other for the sovereignty. Madoc became disgusted with contention, and determined to leave his native country and establish a kingdom of his own, as far away as possible from the quarreling of his brothers. He set sail, with what followers he could muster, and for many months bore westward. At length they came to a large and favorable country, and, having sailed for some distance along the coast, they found a landing-place to their liking and disembarked. Some years later, Madoc returned to Wales and persuaded a large number of his countrymen to join the colony. Ten ships were fitted out with all manner of supplies, and many families set sail for the new land. Of their further adventures the records are silent.

An Irish discovery of America is also claimed. St. Patrick is said to have sent missionaries thither. There is every reason to believe that Irish sailors could have reached, by accident or otherwise, the shores of our continent, but there is no reason at all to believe that they did.

But these are all speculations, fairy stories, myths. Coming down to sober facts, there are but two historical documents of real value bearing upon the discovery of America before Columbus. One of these documents is Chinese, the other Scandinavian.

The Chinese document is an extract from the official records, and sets forth the adventures of a Buddhist priest named Hwui Shin, the same being related by him after his return from a country lying very far to the eastward. This country is claimed by some to have been Japan, but others claim that it was America. The weight of evidence certainly inclines toward the latter theory. The historian begins his account with the statement that, in order to reach the new continent, it is necessary to set out from the coast of the province Leao-tong, to the north of Peking, reaching Japan after a journey of twelve thousand li—that is, about four thousand miles. Sailing northward seven thousand li, one reaches the kingdom of Wen-shin. Five thousand li eastward is the country of Ta-han. Twenty thousand li beyond is the new world—which the record names as the country of Fu-sang.

Perhaps we cannot do better than to present the original record, as translated by Professor S. Wells Williams:

“In the first year of the reign, Yung-yuen, of the Emperor Tung Hwăn-han, of the Tsi dynasty (A.D. 499), a Shaman priest named Hwui Shin arrived at King-chau from the kingdom of Fu-sang. He related as follows:

“ ‘Fu-sang lies east of the kingdom of Ta-han more than twenty thousand li; it is also east of the Middle Kingdom (China). It produces many fu-sang trees, from which it derives its name. The leaves of the fu-sang resemble those of the tung tree. It sprouts forth like the bamboo, and the people eat the shoots. Its fruits resemble the pear, but it is red; the bark is spun into cloth for dresses and woven into brocade. The houses are made of planks. There are no walled cities with gates. The (people) use characters and writing, making paper from the bark of the fu-sang. There are no mailed soldiers, for they do not carry on war. The law of the land prescribes a southern and a northern prison. Criminals convicted of light crimes are put into the former, and those guilty of grievous offenses into the latter. Criminals, when pardoned, are let out of the southern prison, but those in the northern prison are not pardoned. Prisoners in the latter marry. Their boys become bondmen when they are eight years old and the girls bondwomen when nine years old. Convicted prisoners are not allowed to leave their prison while alive. When a nobleman (or an official) has been convicted of crime, the great assembly of the nation meets and places the criminal in a hollow (or pit); they set a feast, with wine, before him, and then take leave of him. If the sentence is a capital one, at the time they separate they surround (the body) with ashes. For crimes of the first grade the sentence involves only the person of the culprit; for the second it reaches the children and grandchildren; while the third extends to the seventh generation.

“ ‘The king of this country is termed yueh-ki; the highest rank of nobles is called tui-li; the next, little tui-li; and the lowest, no-cha-sha. When the king goes abroad, he is preceded and followed by drummers and trumpeters. The color of his robes varies with the years in the cycle containing the ten stems. It is azure in the first two years; in the second two years it is red; it is yellow in the third, white in the fourth, and black in the last two years. There are oxen with long horns, so long that they will hold things—the biggest as much as five pecks. Vehicles are drawn by oxen, horses, and deer, for the people of that land rear deer just as the Chinese rear cattle, and make cream of their milk. They have red pears, which will keep a year without spoiling; water-rushes and peaches are common. Iron is not found in the ground, though copper is; they do not prize gold or silver, and trade is conducted without rent, duty, or fixed prices.

“ ‘In matters of marriage, it is the law that the (intending) son-in-law must erect a hut before the door of the girl’s house, and must sprinkle and sweep the place morning and evening for a whole year. If she then does not like him, she bids him depart; but if she is pleased with him they are married. The bridal ceremonies are, for the most part, like those of China. A fast of seven days is observed for parents at their death, five for grandparents, and three days for brothers, sisters, uncles, or aunts. Images to represent their spirits are set up, before which they worship and pour out libations morning and evening; but they wear no mourning or fillets. The successor of the king does not attend personally to government affairs for the first three years. In olden times they knew nothing of the Buddhist religion, but during the reign Ta-ming of the Emperor Hiao Wu-ti, of the Lung dynasty (A.D. 458), from Ki-pin five beggar priests went there. They traveled over the kingdom, everywhere making known the laws, canons, and images of that faith. Priests of regular ordination were set apart among the natives, and the customs of the country became reformed.’ ”

There are several other narratives which relate to Fu-sang, or to countries near it in situation. This, of them all, seems to describe most truthfully a real country. Fu-sang may have been Japan, or it may have been Mexico. Hwui Shin’s account differs very widely in some of its details, from our knowledge of either.

All the literature of the subject of Chinese discoveries of America has been examined and reviewed in Mr. E. P. Vining’s excellent book, An Inglorious Columbus. Mr. Vining believes Fu-sang to be Mexico, and the fu-sang tree, in his view, is the maguey.

When we come to the Scandinavian records, we find much that is not only plausible but indisputable evidence of the validity of their claims. We know that the Scandinavian vikings, splendid old rascals, in their many-oared galleys, often sailed far out into the waters of the Atlantic. In the year 860, one of these glorious cut-throats, Naddoddr (pronounce it if you can!), was blown upon the coast of Iceland. In 876 a similar experience befell another viking, and he reported having seen in the distance the coast of an unknown shore.

In the year 981, Eric the Red, an outlaw of Iceland, sailed in search of this coast, and, finding it, set a bad example to future real estate dealers by naming its bleak length Greenland.

Subsequent to this discovery, according to the sagas of Iceland, frequent visits to the south were made, and one Bjarni, distancing all previous explorers, found a fertile country to which he gave the name of Vinland. This was in the year 985, and, although the stories of these exploits are vague and untrustworthy enough in detail, there seems little doubt that Bjarni really visited the eastern coast of America at that date.

No attempt was made at colonization; indeed, it is not recorded that the galleys of Bjarni stopped at the new land at all. The wind which had carried them thither changed suddenly, and they were borne back to Iceland, where it is safe to presume that they all got uproariously drunk, and did a great deal of bragging on the strength of their adventure.

The second voyage to the new country was made by Leif, son of Eric the Red, about the year 1000. He touched first a barren land covered with icy mountains which he named Helluland. Spreading sail again he turned the prow of his vessel southward until he reached a level country with trees and grassy slopes. This he called Markland. Two days sailing brought the vessel to an island at which the sailors disembarked, for the weather was warm and the sight of land alluring. They stayed here for a few hours and then steered for the mainland. A river flowed out from a lake, and in this lake they anchored, carried the luggage from the ship, and built themselves houses. It was the most beautiful, the most fertile land they had ever seen, and they resolved to spend the winter there. One of the boldest of them left his companions to the enjoyment of the salmon fishing in the river and lake, and devoted himself to exploring the surrounding country. He found quantities of wine-berries (probably grapes), and with these berries and with some wood they loaded their ship and set sail for Greenland.

Seven years later another expedition was fitted out with three ships, and under command of this same Leif. They sailed far to the southward and finally came to a promontory, to the right of which lay a long, sandy beach. On this beach, or rather on a tongue of land that ran out from it, they found the keel of a ship. They called this point, Kjlarnes (Keel Cape), and the beach, Furdustrandir (Long Strand).

When the expedition set out, King Olaf Tryggvason gave Lief two famous runners, a Scotch man and woman, named Haki and Hekja. These people were set on shore shortly after they had passed Furdustrandir, and ordered to run to the south, explore the country and return in three days. At the end of the designated period they returned, the man bringing a bunch of wine-berries and the woman an ear of wheat. This was promising, and the expedition voted to continue the southward course.

Coming to a bay in which was an island around which flowed rapid currents, they gave it the name of Straumey (Stream Island). The island was so covered with the nests of eider ducks that it was difficult to step without treading on the eggs. Here they resolved to tarry, and, unloading the vessels, built habitations. Whether they stayed a long or a short time, and what adventures befell them, of good or evil, we know not.

A fuller record is that of Karlsefne, who with another hero, Snorro, and our old friend Bjarni, sailed southward a long time until they came to the river which ran out through the lake into the sea. The river was too shallow to allow the ships to enter without high water. Karlsefne sailed with his men into its mouth, and named the place Hop. Here were found fields of wild wheat, and on the high ground wine-berries grew abundantly. The woods were full of game and the men found plenty of amusement for a fortnight. The only remarkable thing they saw was a number of skin boats filled with swart, ugly people who rowed near the shore and gazed in astonishment at the Northmen. They had coarse hair, large, wild eyes and broad faces. They remained gazing at Karlsefne’s men for a little and then rowed away to the southward.

With these people the explorers soon established communication, trading red cloth, which the natives seemed to prefer to anything else, for skins and furs. They wished to purchase swords and spears, but these the Northmen refused to part with. As long as the red cloth held out their relations with the Skraelings, as they had named the natives, continued friendly. But one day, as the saga has it, while they were trafficking, a bull which Karlsefne had with him ran out of the wood and bellowed so fiercely that the Skraelings were frightened out of their wits, and fled in their skin boats, back to the southland.

Three weeks later great numbers of them returned, and, with loud cries, sprang on shore, prepared to do battle. Their weapons were slings, and very uncomfortable weapons they proved to be, but the Northmen stood their ground valiantly, until all of a sudden they saw the Skraelings raise on a pole something that looked like an air-filled bag of a blue color. They threw this at the enemy, and when it struck the ground it exploded violently. At this Karlsefne and his men retreated, never stopping until they gained a rocky stronghold, where they made another stand, and at length succeeded in vanquishing the Skraelings.

Shortly afterward the expedition returned to Greenland. Many other Northmen visited Vinland, according to the sagas, but no effort was made at colonization. It is a matter of conjecture as to the exact location of the country explored by them. Some writers believe it to have been Labrador, and others place it as far south as Rhode Island. The Skraelings, as they are described in the sagas, certainly resemble Esquimaux more nearly than Indians. But then we have no positive proof that the Northmen ever actually visited America at all. The presumption is that they did, but all matters of detail must necessarily remain doubtful, even if we accept their narratives in the main as true.

But whatever credit is to be given to the Asiatic, Norse, or other early discoverers of America, or whatever knowledge of this hemisphere may have been possessed by Europeans in classic times, to Christopher Columbus must be ascribed the honor of opening the Western World to actual settlement by civilized man. This illustrious man was born in 1436, in all but the lowest rank of life. His father was a woolcomber of Genoa. But the education of the lad was made as complete as the scanty means of his parents and the limited knowledge of that day would permit. At an early age he learned to read and write, and obtained some knowledge of arithmetic, drawing, and painting. Then he was sent to the college at Pavia, one of the best institutions of learning of those times. Here he studied grammar and the Latin language; but his attention, fortunately for the world, was directed principally to studies bearing upon the maritime profession, which he intended to follow. He was instructed in geometry, astronomy, and navigation. Like many of the young men of Genoa, he had an irresistible inclination toward the sea. This was but natural, as that city was one of the chief ports of the world. Later in life, Columbus ascribed this inclination to a direct impulse from God, but this was only after his career had been crowned with such brilliant success.

Geography was at this time the fashionable fad of the day. The world was just beginning to recover the lost geographical knowledge, limited as it was, of the Greeks and Romans. Monks and churchmen were still splitting hairs over absurdly unimportant problems: How many angels could stand on the point of a needle? whether a lie, under certain circumstances, was not truth? whether black might not, in certain cases, be truly called white? and other questions of equal vitality. But Arabian philosophers, at the same time, were measuring degrees of latitude and calculating the circumference of the earth. Their studies and achievements inevitably found their way to the minds of many Christians in Europe, who, although detesting the religious creed of the Mohammedans, were able to see that their science was not to be despised. The works of Ptolemy and Strabo had also just come into popular circulation, and created as much of a sensation as any realistic novel of the present day. Prince Henry of Portugal had made voyages of important discovery along the African coast, and thus had inspired all the nations of Western Europe with the hope of lighting upon some yet unknown region of fabulous wealth.

All these circumstances made the time particularly fitting for the most important event of the ages since the Christian era. The hour had come and the man also. At fourteen years of age Columbus left the school at Pavia, and began the life of a sailor. This simply meant to cruise from one port of the Mediterranean Sea to another, half as a merchantman, half as a man-of-war. Every vessel was hourly exposed to the attacks of pirates, especially those of the Barbary States, or of the war vessels of hostile countries. In the midst of such dangers and difficulties Columbus spent his early years. But the coarseness, ignorance, and violence with which he was surrounded did not degrade his noble mind. He had within him the seeds of greatness, a fine tone of thought, an ardent imagination, and a loftiness of aspiration. Every leisure hour was spent in study and profitable observation, thus improving the too meagre educational advantages of his brief school life.

The year 1470 found Columbus at Lisbon, drawn thither with hundreds of other navigators and scientific men by the fame of Prince Henry’s discoveries. Strange tales were told of unexplored regions in the fiery South, where the rocks were red hot and the water of the ocean forever boiling. Even to these extravagant tales Columbus gave some heed, but his thoughts were principally fixed on the possibility of finding a new world far to the west. Our hero was now in the prime of life, a tall, muscular man of commanding aspect. His light brown hair was already prematurely gray, and his expression of countenance was grave and scholarly. He was simple and abstemious in his diet, affable and engaging in his manners and a devout Roman Catholic. But under this exterior was concealed a nature of the most ardent enthusiasm, not less energetic than that of Peter the Hermit or Ignatius Loyola. His religious temperament led him often to the services of the Church, and it was there that he first met a lady of high rank who soon afterward became his wife. She was the daughter of Don Bartolomeo Monis de Palestrello, an Italian cavalier, one of Prince Henry’s most distinguished officers. The use of his father-in-law’s