{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_65103/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_65103","id":"gutenberg_65103","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/65103","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Archaeology & Anthropology","Category: History - Medieval/Middle Ages","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Geographical myths","Geography, Medieval","Geography, Medieval -- Atlantic Ocean"],"text":"Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this\n file which includes the original illustrations.\n See 65103-h.htm or 65103-h.zip:\n (https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/65103/pg65103-images.html)\n or\n (https://www.gutenberg.org/files/65103/65103-h.zip)\n\n\n Images of the original pages are available through\n Internet Archive. See\n https://archive.org/details/legendaryislands00babc\n\n\nTranscriber\u2019s note:\n\nText enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).\n\nA caret character is used to denote superscription. A\nsingle character following the caret is superscripted\n(example: y^a).\n\n\n\n\n\nLEGENDARY ISLANDS\nOF THE ATLANTIC\n\n\nAmerican Geographical Society\nResearch Series No. 8\nW.\u00a0L.\u00a0G. Joerg, Editor\n\n\nLEGENDARY ISLANDS\nOF THE ATLANTIC\n\nA Study in Medieval Geography\n\nby\n\nWILLIAM H. BABCOCK\n\nAuthor of \u201cEarly Norse Visits to North America\u201d\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n\n\nNew York\nAmerican Geographical Society\n1922\n\nCopyright, 1922\nby\nThe American Geographical Society\nof New York\n\nThe Conde Nast Press\nGreenwich, Conn.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n CHAPTER PAGE\n\n I INTRODUCTION 1\n\n II ATLANTIS 11\n\n III ST. BRENDAN\u2019S EXPLORATIONS AND ISLANDS 34\n\n IV THE ISLAND OF BRAZIL 50\n\n V THE ISLAND OF THE SEVEN CITIES 68\n\n VI THE PROBLEM OF MAYDA 81\n\n VII GREENLAND OR GREEN ISLAND 94\n\n VIII MARKLAND, OTHERWISE NEWFOUNDLAND 114\n\n IX ESTOTILAND AND THE OTHER ISLANDS OF ZENO 124\n\n X ANTILLIA AND THE ANTILLES 144\n\n XI CORVO, OUR NEAREST EUROPEAN NEIGHBOR 164\n\n XII THE SUNKEN LAND OF BUSS AND OTHER PHANTOM ISLANDS 174\n\n XIII SUMMARY 187\n\n INDEX 191\n\nThe following chapters are reprinted, with modifications, from the\n_Geographical Review_: III, Vol. 8, 1919; V, Vol. 7, 1919; VI, Vol. 9,\n1920; VIII, Vol. 4, 1917; X, Vol. 9, 1920; XI, Vol. 5, 1918.\n\n\n\n\nLIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS\n\n(_All illustrations, except Figs. 1, 15, and 23, are reproductions of\nmedieval maps. The source is indicated in a general way in each title;\nthe precise reference will be found in the text where the map is first\ndiscussed._)\n\n\n FIG. PAGE\n\n 1 Map of the Sargasso Sea, 1:72,000,000 28\n\n 2 The Pizigani, 1367 (two sections) 40\u201341\n\n 3 Beccario, 1426 45\n\n 4 Dalorto, 1325 51\n\n 5 Catalan map, 1375 58\n\n 6 Nicolay, 1560 62\n\n 7 Catalan map, about 1480 64\n\n 8 World map in portolan atlas, about 1508 (Egerton MS. 2803) 74\n\n 9 Desceliers, 1546 76\n\n 10 Ortelius, 1570 77\n\n 11 Ptolemy, 1513 82\n\n 12 Prunes, 1553 88\n\n 13 Coppo, 1528 97\n\n 14 Bishop Thorl\u00e1ksson, 1606 98\n\n 15 Map of the early Norse Western and Eastern Settlements\n of Greenland, 1:6,400,000 103\n\n 16 Clavus, 1427 104\n\n 17 Donnus Nicolaus Germanus, after 1466 105\n\n 18 Sigurdr Stef\u00e1nsson, 1590 107\n\n 19 Zeno, 1558 126\n\n 20 Beccario, 1435 152\n\n 21 Pareto, 1455 158\n\n 22 Benincasa, 1482 160\n\n 23 Representation of Corvo on fourteenth- and fifteenth-century\n maps as compared with its present outline 172\n\n 24 Buss Island, probably 1673 176\n\n 25 Bianco, 1436 179\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I\n\nINTRODUCTION\n\n\nWe cannot tell at what early era the men of the eastern Mediterranean\nfirst ventured through the Strait of Gibraltar out on the open ocean,\nnor even when they first allowed their fancies free rein to follow\nthe same path and picture islands in the great western mystery.\nProbably both events came about not long after these men developed\nenough proficiency in navigation to reach the western limit of the\nMediterranean. We are equally in lack of positive knowledge as to what\nseafaring nation led the way.\n\nThe weight of authority favors the Phoenicians, but there are some\nindications in the more archaic of the Greek myths that the Hellenic or\npre-Hellenic people of the Minoan period were promptly in the field.\nThese bequests of an olden time are most efficiently exploited, in the\nmatter-of-fact and very credulous \u201cHistorical Library\u201d of Diodorus\nSiculus,[1] about the time of Julius Caesar, who feels himself fully\nequipped with information as to the far-ranging campaigns of Hercules,\nPerseus, and other worthies. His identifications of tribes, persons,\nand places find an echo which may be called modern in Hakluyt\u2019s map of\n1587,[2] illustrating Peter Martyr, which shows the Cape Verde Islands\nas Hesperides and Gorgades vel Medusiae. But this, though curious, is,\nof course, irrelevant as corroboration. Diodorus himself was a long\nway from his material in point of time, but from him we may at least\npossibly catch some glimmer of the origin of the mythical narratives,\nsome refraction of the events that suggested them.\n\n\nEARLY ACCOUNTS OF BIG SHIPS\n\nSmall coasting, and incidentally sea-ranging, vessels must be of great\nantiquity, for the record of great ships capable of carrying hundreds\nof men and prolonging their voyages for years extends very far back\nindeed. We may recall the Scriptural item incidentally given of the\nfleets of Hiram, King of Tyre, and Solomon, King of Israel: \u201cFor the\nking had at sea a navy of Tharshish with the navy of Hiram: once in\nthree years came the navy of Tharshish, bringing gold, and silver,\nivory, and apes, and peacocks.\u201d[3] Tharshish is generally understood\nto have been Tartessus by the Guadalquivir beyond the western end of\nthe Mediterranean. The elements of these exotic cargoes indicate,\nrather, traffic across the eastern seas. No doubt \u201cship of Tharshish\u201d\nhad come (like the term East Indiaman) to have a secondary meaning,\ndistinguishing, wherever used, a special type of great vessel of ample\ncapacity and equipment, named from the long voyage westward to Spain,\nin which it was first conspicuously engaged. But this would carry back\nwe know not how many centuries the era of huge ships sailing from\nPhoenicia toward the Atlantic and seemingly able to go anywhere; with\nthe certainty that lesser craft had long anticipated them on the nearer\nlaps of the journey at least.\n\nCorroboration is found in the utterances of a Chinese observer, later\nin date but apparently dealing with a continuing size and condition.\n\u201cThere is a great sea [the Mediterranean], and to the west of this sea\nthere are countless countries, but Mu-lan-p\u2019i [Mediterranean Spain] is\nthe one country which is visited by the big ships.... Putting to sea\nfrom T\u2019o-pan-ti [the Suez of today] ... after sailing due west for full\nan hundred days, one reaches this country. A single one of these (big)\nships of theirs carries several thousand men, and on board they have\nstores of wine and provisions, as well as weaving looms. If one speaks\nof big ships, there are none so big at those of Mu-lan-p\u2019i.\u201d[4]\n\nThis statement is credited to only a hundred years before Marco Polo.\nOne naturally suspects some exaggeration. But a parallel account,\nnearly as expansive and very circumstantial, is given in the same work\nconcerning giant vessels sailing in the opposite direction some six\nhundred years earlier. It begins: \u201cThe ships that sail the Southern Sea\nand south of it are like houses. When their sails are spread they are\nlike great clouds in the sky.\u201d Professor Holmes, drawing attention to\nthese passages (which he quotes), very justly observes, \u201cwho shall say\nthat the mastery of the sea known to have been attained in the Orient\n500 A. D. had not been achieved long prior to that date?\u201d[5]\n\n\nTHE ATLANTIS LEGEND\n\nWe may be safe in styling Atlantis (Ch. II) the earliest mythical\nisland of which we have any knowledge or suggestion, since Plato\u2019s\nnarrative, written more than 400 years before Christ, puts the time\nof its destruction over 9,000 years earlier still. It seems pretty\ncertain that there never was any such mighty and splendid island\nempire contending against Athens and later ruined by earthquakes and\nengulfed by the ocean. Atlantis may fairly be set down as a figment\nof dignified philosophic romance, owing its birth partly to various\nlegendary hints and reports of seismic and volcanic action but much\nmore to the glorious achievements of Athens in the Persian War and the\napparent need of explaining a supposed shallow part of the Atlantic\nknown to be obstructed and now named the Sargasso Sea. Perhaps Plato\nnever intended that any one should take it as literally true, but his\nstory undoubtedly influenced maritime expectations and legends during\nmedieval centuries. It cannot be said that any map unequivocally shows\nAtlantis; but it may be that this is because Atlantis vanished once for\nall in the climax of the recital.\n\n\nPHOENICIAN EXPLORATION\n\nIt may be that Phoenician exploration in Atlantic waters was well\ndeveloped before 1100 B. C., when the Phoenicians are alleged to have\nfounded Cadiz on the ocean front of southern Spain; but its development\nat any rate could not have been greatly retarded after that. The new\ncity promptly grew into one of the notable marts of the world, able\nduring a long period to fit out her own fleets and extend her commerce\nanywhere. It is greatly to be regretted that we have no record of her\ndiscoveries. Carthage, a younger but still ancient Tyrian colony,\nfarther from the scene of western action, was not less enterprising\nand in time quite eclipsed her; but at last she fell utterly, as did\nTyre itself, whereas Cadiz, though no longer eminent, continues to\nexist. However, in her prime Carthage ranged the seas pretty widely;\naccording to Diodorus Siculus, she was much at home in Madeira,[6]\nand her coins have been found off the shore of distant Corvo of the\nAzores. But it cannot be said that any of the Phoenician cities, older\nor newer, has left any traces of exploration among Atlantic islands\nother than these or added any mythical islands to maps or legends,\nunless through successors translating into another language. The\ncrowning achievement of the Phoenicians, so far as we know, was the\ncircumnavigation of Africa by mariners in the service of Pharaoh Necho\nsome 700 years before Christ. This would naturally have brought them\n_en route_ into contact with the Canary and Cape Verde Islands, and\nthey would be likely to pass on to the Egyptians and Greeks a report\nof the attributes of those islands partly embodied in names that might\nadhere.\n\n\nTHE GREEKS AND ROMANS\n\nWe know that the Greeks of Pythias\u2019 time coasted as far north as\nBritain and probably Scandinavia and had most likely made the\nacquaintance still earlier of the Fortunate Islands (two or more of the\nCanary group), similarly following downward the African shore. Long\nafterward the Roman Pliny knew Madeira and her consorts as the Purple\nIslands; Sertorius contemplated a possible refuge in them or other\nAtlantic island neighbors; and Plutarch wrote confidently of an island\nfar west of Britain and a great continent beyond the sea where Saturn\nslept. Other almost prophetic utterances of the kind have been culled\nfrom classical authors, but they have mostly the air of speculation.\nIt cannot be said that the Greeks or Romans devoted much energy to the\nremoter reaches of the ocean.\n\n\nIRISH SEA-ROVING\n\nIreland was never subject to Rome, though influenced by Roman trade and\nculture. From prehistoric times the Irish had done some sea roving,\nas their Imrama, or sea sagas, attest; and this roving was greatly\nstimulated in the first few centuries of conversion to Christianity by\nan abounding access of religious zeal. Irish monks seem to have settled\nin Iceland before the end of the eighth century and even to have sailed\nwell beyond it. There are good reasons for believing that they had\nvisited most of the islands of the eastern Atlantic archipelagoes. We\ncannot suppose that this rather reckless persistency ended there in\nsuch a period of expansion. It is quite possible that we owe to this\ntrait the Island of Brazil, in the latitude of southern Ireland, as an\nAmerican souvenir on so many medieval maps (Ch. IV). It is certain that\nthe \u201cNavigatio\u201d of St. Brendan scattered St. Brandan Islands, real or\nfanciful, over the ocean wastes of a credulous cartography (Ch. III).\n\n\nTHE NORSEMEN\n\nA little later Scandinavians followed along the northern route, finding\nconvenient stopping points in the Faroes and Iceland, discovered\nGreenland, and planted two settlements on its southwestern shore\nin the last quarter of the tenth century (Ch. VII). Some of their\nruins, a less number of inscriptions, and many fragmentary relics and\nresidua are found, so that we can form a good idea of their manner\nof life. Such as it was, it endured more than four hundred years. To\ncontemporary and slightly later geography Greenland appeared most often\nas a far-flung promontory of Europe, jutting down on the western side\nof the great water; but sometimes it was thought of as an oceanic\nisland, with greater or less shifting of location, and seems to be\nresponsible for divers mythical Green Islands of various maps and\nlanguages.\n\nLess than a quarter of a century after their first landing the Norse\nGreenlanders became aware of a more temperate coast line to the\nsouthwest, the better part of which they called Vinland, or Wineland,\nbut all of which we now name America. Perhaps Leif Ericsson brought the\nfirst report of it as the result of an accidental landfall close to\nthe year 1000 A. D. Not long afterward, Thorfinn Karlsefni with three\nships and 160 people attempted to colonize a part of the region. The\nventure failed, owing chiefly to the hostility of the Indians at the\nmost favorable point. The visitors, however, made the acquaintance of\nthe typical American Atlantic shore line of beach and sand dune which\nstretches from Cape Cod to the tip of Florida with one or two slight\ninterruptions and one or two fragmentary minor northward extensions.\nThe Norsemen or some predecessor had observed and named the three great\nzones of territory which must always have existed. Among investigators\nthere has been general concurrence as to their discovery of Labrador\nand Newfoundland, to which most would add Cape Breton Island and more\nor less of the coast beyond. It has appeared to me that they made\ntheir chief abode in the New World on the shore of Passamaquoddy Bay\nbehind Grand Manan Island and Grand Manan Channel, with the racing\nocean streams of the mouth of the Bay of Fundy; and that they found\nthis site inclement in winter and tried to remove to a land-locked\nbay of southern New England but were baffled and withdrew. My reasons\nhave been pretty fully set forth in \u201cEarly Norse Visits to North\nAmerica.\u201d[7] For the present it is enough to say that the discovered\nregions seem sometimes to have been thought of as a continuous coast\nline, sometimes as separate islands more or less at sea. But they did\nnot get upon the maps in any shape until several centuries later.\n\n\nMOORISH VOYAGES\n\nThe Moors who conquered Spain took up the task of Atlantic exploration\nfrom that coast after a time. Its islands appear in divers of the\nArabic maps. In particular we know through Edrisi,[8] the most\ncelebrated name of Arabic geography, of the extraordinary voyage of the\nMoorish Magrurin of Lisbon, who set out at some undefined time before\nthe middle of the twelfth century to cross the Sea of Darkness and\nMystery. They touched upon the Isle of Sheep and other islands which\nwere or were to become notable in sea mythology. Perhaps these islands\nwere real, but they are not capable of certain identification now.\nThese Moorish adventurers seem to have reached the Sargasso Sea and to\nhave changed their course in order to avoid its impediments, attaining\nfinally what may have been one of the Canary Islands, where they\nsuffered a short imprisonment and whence, after release, they followed\nthe coast of Africa homeward. Edrisi about 1154 wrought a world map in\nsilver (long lost) for King Robert of Sicily and also wrote a famous\ngeography illustrated by a world map and separate sectional or climatic\nmaps. He devotes some space to Atlantic islands and their legends,\nshows a few of them, and believes in twenty-seven thousand; but the\nvery few copies of his work which remain were made at different periods\nand in different nations, and their maps disagree surprisingly; so that\nit is not practicable to restore with certainty what he originally\ndepicted. He seems to have had at least some acquaintance with the\nauthentic island groups from the Cape Verde Islands to the Azores and\nBritain. The fantastic legends he appends to some of them do not seem\nto have greatly affected the prevailing European lore of that kind.\n\n\nITALIAN EXPLORATION\n\nThe Italians of the thirteenth century undertook similar explorations\nand temporarily occupied at least one of the Canary Islands, Lanzarote,\nwhich still bears, corrupted, the name of its Genoese invader,\nLancelota Maloessel, of about 1470. On early fourteenth-century maps\nand some later ones the cross of Genoa is conspicuously marked on\nthis island in commemoration of the exploit. It was probably at this\nperiod that Italian names were applied to most of the Azores and\nto other islands of the eastern groups. A few of these names still\npersist, for example, Porto Santo and Corvo; but others, after the\nrediscovery, gave way to Portuguese equivalents or substitutes. Thus\nLegname was translated into Madeira, and Li Conigi (Rabbit Island)\nbecame more prettily Flores (Island of Flowers). About 1285 the Genoese\nalso sent out an expedition[9] \u201cto seek the east by way of the west\u201d\nunder the brothers Vivaldi, who promptly vanished with all their men.\nLong afterward another expedition picked up on the African coast one\nwho claimed to be a survivor; and it is probable that the Genoese\nexpedition attempted to sail around Africa but came upon disaster\nbefore it was far on its way. The thirteenth- and fourteenth-century\nItalians undoubtedly added many islands to the maps or secured their\nplaces there; but we have no evidence that they passed westward beyond\nthe middle of the Atlantic.\n\n\nBRETONS AND BASQUES\n\nThe Bretons shared in the Irish monk voyages, their Saint Malo\nappearing in tradition sometimes as a companion of Saint Brendan,\nsometimes as an imitator or competitor. Also their fishermen, with\nthe Basques, from an early time had pushed out into remote regions of\nthe sea. The Pizigani map of 1367[10] (Fig. 2) represents a Breton\nvoyage of adventure and disaster near one of _les \u00eeles fantastiques_,\nappearing for the first time thereon. Their presence on the American\nshore in the years shortly following Cabot\u2019s discovery is commemorated\nby Cape Breton Island.\n\n\nTHE ZENO STORY\n\nIt has been alleged that two Venetian brothers, Antonio and Nicol\u00f2\nZeno, in the service of an earl of the northern islands, took part with\nhim about 1400 A. D. in certain explorations westward, he being incited\nthereto by the report of a fisherman, who claimed to have spent many\nyears as a castaway and captive in regions southwest of Greenland. The\nZeno narrative, dealt with later (Ch. IX), was accompanied by a map\n(Fig. 19), which exercised a great influence during a long period on\nall maps that succeeded it, adding several islands never before heard\nof. Both map and narrative are recognized as spurious or at best so\ncorrupted by misunderstandings and transformed by rough treatment and a\npost-Columbian attempt at reconstruction as to be wholly unreliable. It\nis, indeed, possible that a fisherman of the Faroes made an involuntary\nsojourn in Newfoundland and elsewhere in America from about 1375 or\n1380 onward and that his story induced the ruler of certain northern\nislands to sail westward and investigate. But both features are very\ndubious, and at any rate nothing was accomplished except the confusion\nof geography.\n\n\nPORTUGUESE DISCOVERY\n\nThis brings us down to the rise of Portuguese nautical endeavor, which\nseems to have begun earlier than has generally been supposed but became\nmost conspicuous under the direction of Prince Henry the Navigator. Its\nachievements included the rediscovery of Madeira and the Azores, which\nin many quarters had been forgotten, the exploration of the African\ncoast, the accidental discovery or rediscovery of South American Brazil\nby Cabral, and the voyage of Vasco da Gama to India around the Cape\nof Good Hope. Perhaps we might insert in the list the discovery of\nAntillia. At any rate, it got on the map with a Portuguese name in\nthe first half of the fifteenth century, and several other islands\naccompanied it. They all certainly seem to be American and West Indian.\n\n\nCOLUMBUS, VESPUCIUS, AND CABOT\n\nIncidentally the Portuguese activity stimulated the enthusiasm of\nColumbus, guided his plans, and contributed to the eminent success of\nhis great undertaking. In Antillia it provided a first goal, which he\nbelieved to be nearer than it really was. He fully meant to attain it\nand probably really did so, but without recognizing Antillia in Cuba\nor Hispaniola, for he thought he had missed it on the way and left it\nfar behind. Vignaud insists that Columbus did not aim at Asia until\nafter he actually reached the West Indies but sought to attain Antillia\nonly.[11] However this may be, there is no doubt that he found in the\nisland a notable prompting to his supreme adventure.\n\nThe discoveries of Columbus, Vespucius, and Cabot, with their immediate\nfollowers, heralded the opening of an effective knowledge of the\nwestern world and the ocean world to the centers of civilization.\nThereafter the delineation of new islands did not cease but for a long\ntime rather multiplied; yet they had little significance or importance,\nbeing chiefly the products of fancy, optical illusion, or error in\nreckoning. One of the latest worth considering is the island of Buss\n(Ch. XII), reported where there is no land by a separated vessel of\nFrobisher\u2019s expedition near the end of the sixteenth century. Afterward\nit was known as the Sunken Land of Bus, or Buss, to the grave concern\nof mariners.\n\nWe are reasonably secure against such imposition now, though perhaps\nit is not yet impossible. The old mythical or apocryphal islands, too,\nare gone from standard maps and most others, though you may yet find in\ncartographic work of little authority one or two of the more tenacious\nspecimens making a final stand.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II\n\nATLANTIS\n\n\nAbout 2,300 years ago Plato wrote of a great and populous island\nempire in the outer (Atlantic) ocean, which had warred against Athens\nmore than 9,000 years before his time and been suddenly engulfed by\na natural cataclysm. According to his statement of the case this\nprodigious phenomenon, with all the splendor of national achievement\nthat shortly preceded it, had been quite forgotten by the Athenians;\nbut the tradition was recorded in the sacred books of the priests\nof Sais at the head of the Nile delta and was related by these\nEgyptians to Solon of Athens when he visited them apparently somewhere\nnear 550 B. C. Solon embodied it, or began to embody it, in a poem\n(all trace of which is lost) and also related it to Dropides, his\nfriend. It is probably to be understood that he further communicated\nit to this friend in some written form, for we find Critias in\na dialogue with Socrates represented by Plato as declaring: \u201cMy\ngreat-grandfather, Dropides, had the original writing, which is still\nin my possession.\u201d[12] If so, it has vanished.\n\n\nELEMENTS OF FACT AND FANCY IN PLATO\u2019S TALE OF ATLANTIS\n\nIt is evident that the Atlantis tale must be treated either as mainly\nhistorical, with presumably some distortions and exaggerations, or as\nfiction necessarily based in some measure (like all else of its kind)\non living or antiquated facts. Certainly no one will go the length of\naccepting it as wholly true as it stands. But, even eliminating all\nreference to the god Poseidon and his plentiful demigod progeny, we\nare left with divers essential features which credulity can hardly\nswallow. Atlantis is too obviously an earlier and equally colossal\nPersia, western instead of eastern, overrunning the Mediterranean until\nchecked by the intrepid stand of the great Athenian republic. The\nsupreme authentic glory of Athens was the overthrow of Xerxes and his\ngenerals. Had this been otherwise we must believe that we should not\nhave heard of the baffled invasion by Atlantis. Again, we are asked\nto accept Athens, contrary to all other information, as a dominant\nmilitary state more than 9,500 years before Christ, when presumably\nits people, if existent, were exceedingly primitive and unformidable.\nMoreover, the sudden submergence of so vast a region as the imagined\nAtlantis would be an event without parallel in human annals, besides\nbeing pretty certain to leave marks on the rest of the world which\ncould be recognized even now.\n\nThe hypothesis of fiction seems reasonably well established. We must\nremember that Plato did not habitually confine himself to bare facts.\nHis favorite method of exposition was by reporting alleged dialogues\nbetween Socrates and various persons--dialogues which no one could\nhave remembered accurately in their entirety. It is recognized that in\narrangement, characters, and utterance he has contrived to convey his\nown theories and conceptions as well as those of his revered teacher\nand leader, so that it is often impossible to say whether we should\ncredit certain views or statements mainly to Plato or to Socrates.\nPossessed by his meditations, he would even present as an instructive\nexample and incitement a fancied picture of an elaborate system of\nsocial and political organization, chiefly the product of his own\nbrain. He did this in the \u201cRepublic\u201d and apparently had planned a\nlarger partly parallel work of the kind in the triology of which the\n\u201cTimaeus\u201d and the fragmentary \u201cCritias\u201d are the first part and the\nunfinished second. A writer (Lewis Campbell) in the Encyclopaedia\nBritannica, article \u201cPlato,\u201d states the case very clearly.\n\n What should have followed this [the _Timaeus_], but is only\n commenced in the fragment of the _Critias_, would have been\n the story, not of a fall, but of the triumph of reason in\n humanity.... Not only the _Timaeus_, but the unfinished\n whole of which it forms the introduction, is professedly an\n imaginative creation. For the legend of prehistoric Athens and\n of Atlantis, whereof Critias was to relate what belonged to\n internal policy and Hermocrates the conduct of the war, would\n have been no other than a prose poem, a \u201cmythological lie,\u201d\n composed in the spirit of the _Republic_, and in the form of a\n fictitious narrative.[13]\n\nJowett takes substantially the same view in his introduction to the\n\u201cCritias,\u201d indicating surprise at the innocent, literal, matter-of-fact\nway in which the former existence and destruction of great Atlantis\nhave generally been accepted as sober declarations of fact and\naccounted for in divers fashions accordingly. Nor is this estimate of\nthe Atlantis tale as primarily a romance of enlightenment and uplifting\na merely modern theory. Plutarch, in a passage quoted by Schuller,\nlays more stress on Plato\u2019s tendency to adorn the subject, treating\nAtlantis as a delightful spot in some fair field unoccupied, than on\nennobling imagination, and avers the described magnificence to be \u201csuch\nas no other story, fable, or poem ever had.\u201d[14] But this, whether\nwholly adequate or no, surely emphasizes the recognition of romance.\nPlutarch adds a word of regret that Plato began the \u201cdelightful\u201d story\nlate in life and died before the work was completed. The precise motive\nof the fiction is only of minor importance to our present inquiry. It\nseems hardly possible that the development of the composition in the\nremaining two parts of the trilogy could have given it a more authentic\nhistorical cast. As the matter stands Atlantis is rather succinctly\nreported in the \u201cTimaeus,\u201d more fully and with mythological and\narchitectural adornments in the later \u201cCritias\u201d till it breaks off in\nthe middle of a sentence; but the two accounts are consistent. It seems\na clear case of evolution suddenly arrested but allowing us fairly to\ninfer the character of the whole from the parts that remain.\n\nIf there were any corroboration of the tale, it would count on the\nhistorical side; but it seems to be agreed that Greek literature and\nart before Plato do not supply this in any unequivocal and reliable\nform. Certain hints or contributory items will be dealt with below, but\nthey do not affect the character of the story as a whole nor tend to\nestablish the reality of its main features.\n\nWe do not need to ascribe to Plato all the fancy and invention in\nthe story. The romancing may have been done in part by the priests\nof Sais or by Solon or by Dropides or by Critias; or possibly all\nthese may have contributed successive strata of fancy, crowned by\nPlato. Practically we have to treat the tale as beginning with him.\nIts circumstantiality and air of realism have sometimes been taken as\ncredentials of accuracy; but they are not beyond the ordinary skill of\na man of letters, and Plato was much more than equal to the task.\n\n\nSIGNIFICANT PASSAGES FROM THE TALE\n\nThe Atlantis narrative has been so often translated and copied, at\nleast as to its more significant parts, that one hesitates to quote\nagain; but there are certain items to which attention should be drawn,\nand brief extracts are the best means of effecting this. The following\npassages are from the Smithsonian translation of Termier\u2019s remarkable\npaper on Atlantis reproduced by that institution. It differs verbally\nfrom the translation by Dr. Jowett but not in the broader features. Of\nthe two quotations the first is from the \u201cCritias.\u201d It is briefer than\nthe other, though forming part of a more elaborate and extended account\nof the island. Taking his appointed part in the dialogue, Critias says:\n\n According to the Egyptian tradition a common war arose 9,000\n years ago between the nations on this side of the Pillars of\n Hercules and the nations coming from beyond. On one side it was\n Athens; on the other the Kings of Atlantis. We have already\n said that this island was larger than Asia and Africa, but\n that it became submerged following an earthquake and that its\n place is no longer met with except as a sand bar which stops\n navigators and renders the sea impassable.[15]\n\nTermier quotes also from the \u201cTimaeus\u201d dialogue (Critias is repeating\nthe statement of the Egyptian priests):\n\n The records inform us of the destruction by Athens of a\n singularly powerful army, an army which came from the Atlantic\n Ocean and which had the effrontery to invade Europe and Asia;\n for this sea was then navigable, and beyond the strait which\n you call the Pillars of Hercules there was an island larger\n than Libya and even Asia. From this island one could easily\n pass to other islands, and from them to the entire continent\n which surrounds the interior sea.... In the Island Atlantis\n reigned kings of amazing power. They had under their dominion\n the entire island, as well as several other islands and some\n parts of the continent. Besides, on the hither side of the\n strait, they were still reigning over Libya as far as Egypt and\n over Europe as far as the Tyrrhenian. All this power was once\n upon a time united in order by a single blow to subjugate our\n country, your own, and all the peoples living on the hither\n side of the strait. It was then that the strength and courage\n of Athens blazed forth. By the valor of her soldiers and their\n superiority in the military art, Athens was supreme among the\n Hellenes; but, the latter having been forced to abandon her,\n alone she braved the frightful danger, stopped the invasion,\n piled victory upon victory, preserved from slavery nations\n still free, and restored to complete independence all those\n who, like ourselves, live on this side of the Pillars of\n Hercules. Later, with great earthquakes and inundations, in\n a single day and one fatal night, all who had been warriors\n against you were swallowed up. The Island of Atlantis\n disappeared beneath the sea. Since that time the sea in these\n quarters has become unnavigable; vessels can not pass there\n because of the sands which extend over the site of the buried\n isle.[16]\n\nWe have said that all fiction has some root in reality. Even a myth is\ncommonly an attempted explanation of some mysterious natural phenomenon\nor distorted narrative of obscure, nearly forgotten happenings.\nIntentional fiction, try as it may, cannot keep quite clear of facts.\nWe turn, then, to those salient features of the above excerpts which\nmay in a measure stand for real past events or puzzling conditions\nsupposed to continue. Beside the prehistoric grandeur and triumph\nof Athens, already dealt with, these are to be noted: the Atlantean\ninvasion of the Mediterranean; the vastness of the outer island which\nsent forth these armies; its submergence; and the alleged continued\nobstruction to navigation in that quarter.\n\n\nATLANTEAN INVASION OF THE MEDITERRANEAN\n\nThere seem to have been some rumors afloat of very early hostilities\nbetween dwellers on the shores of the Mediterranean and those beyond\nthe Pillars of Hercules. That geographical name bears witness to the\nsupposed exertion of Greek dominant power at the very gateway of the\nAtlantic, and the legend connecting this demigod with Cadiz carries\nhis activities a little farther out on the veritable ocean front. The\nrationalizing Diodorus, writing in the first century before Christ\nbut dealing freely with traditions from a very much earlier time,\npresents Hercules as a great military commander, who, having set up his\nmemorial pillars, proceeded to overrun and conquer Iberia (the present\nSpain and Portugal), passing thence to Liguria and thence to Italy\nafter the manner of Hannibal, much nearer to Diodorus and even better\nknown.[17] It is evident that the earlier part of this campaign must\ninclude warfare beyond the Pillars on at least the Lusitanian Atlantic\nfront. Furthermore, we are introduced to the western Amazons, who had\ntheir center of power on the Island Hesperia between Mount Atlas and\nthe ocean and invaded both the inland mountaineers and their seaboard\nneighbors, the Gorgons--also feminine, if no great beauties.[18] The\npoor Gorgons were subjugated but long afterward developed power again\nunder Queen Medusa, only to be disastrously overcome by the great Greek\ngeneral, Perseus. Both the Gorgons and the western Amazons seem to\nhave had their abodes on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean south of the\nStrait of Gibraltar, along the front of what we now call Morocco and\nthe region south of it. We cannot say how much of these tales belongs\nto Diodorus; but he certainly did not invent the whole of them and is\nnot likely to have contrived their most distinctive features. The myth\nof Perseus, like that of Theseus and the Minotaur, meant something\ndimly and distantly historic. We think we partly understand the latter\nafter the excavations in Crete. Similarly, the flights and feats of\nPerseus, as given in mythology, may be another way of saying that he\nmade swift voyages far afield and descended on his enemies with deadly\nexecution.\n\nThese tales as we have them from Diodorus do not represent the\nAtlantic coast dwellers as invading the Mediterranean; but some such\nincursions would naturally follow, by way of retaliation, the strenuous\nproceedings attributed to eastern-Mediterranean commanders, if, indeed,\nthey did not precede and provoke them. We need not picture a host of\nAtlantides pouring through between the Pillars; but piratical descents\nof outer seafaring people were probable enough and might be on a rather\nlarge scale--subject, of course, to exaggeration by rumor. Nor would\nany of the threatened people be likely to distinguish closely between\nforces from a mainland coast and those from some outlying island. The\nenemy might well embody both elements.\n\n\nLOCATION AND SIZE OF ATLANTIS\n\nThe location of Atlantis, according to Plato, is fairly clear. It was\nin the ocean, \u201cthen navigable,\u201d beyond the Pillars of Hercules; also\nbeyond certain other islands, which served it as stepping-stones to\nthe continental mass surrounding the Mediterranean. This effectually\ndisposes of all pretensions in behalf of Crete or any other island or\nregion of the inner sea. Atlantis must also have lain pretty far out\nin the ocean, to allow space for the intervening islands, which may\nwell have been, at least in part, the Canary Islands or other surviving\nmembers of the eastern Atlantic archipelagoes; still it could not have\nbeen too distant to prohibit the transfer of large forces when means\nof transportation were slow and scant. This rules out America, apart\nfrom the fact that America (like Crete) still exists, whereas Atlantis\nfoundered, and the further fact that America is continental, while\nAtlantis is described as merely a large island. Besides, what evidence\nis there that America could send forth armies or navies for the\ninvasion of Europe? Neither the Incas nor the Aztecs nor the Mayas were\ncapable of such aggressions, and we know of nothing greater in this\npart of the world before the very modern development of the white man\u2019s\npower.\n\nAs to the size of Atlantis, it is not quite clear whether we are to\ncompare it with Mediterranean Africa and Asia Minor individually or\ncollectively. Probably Plato merely meant to indicate a great area\nwithout any exact conception of its extent. If we think of an island\nas large as France and Spain we shall probably not miss the mark very\nwidely. The site of the mid-Atlantic Sargasso Sea would be about the\nlocation indicated.\n\n\nIMPROBABILITY OF THE EXISTENCE OF SUCH AN ISLAND\n\nNow, was there any such great island and populous magnificent kingdom\nin mid-Atlantic or anywhere in the Atlantic Ocean about 11,400 years\nago? If not absolutely impossible, it seems at least very unlikely.\nThrough the mouth of Critias Plato tells how the people of Atlantis\nemployed themselves in constructing their temples and palaces, harbors\nand docks, a great palace which they continued to ornament through many\ngenerations, canals and bridges, walls and towns, numerous statues of\ngold, fountains both cold and hot, baths, and a great multitude of\nhouses.[19]\n\nSuch advance in civilization, such elaboration of organization, such\nsplendor and power would certainly have overflowed abundantly on the\nislands intervening between Atlantis and the continental shore. It\nis not written that these all shared the same fate; and in point of\nfact the Azores, Madeira and her consorts, the Canary Islands, and the\nCape Verde group are still in evidence. Some of them must have been\nwithin fairly easy reach of Atlantis if Atlantis existed. There is no\nindication that they have been newly created or have come up from below\nsince that time. Even allowing for great exaggeration and assuming\nonly a large and efficient population in a vast insular territory\nwithout the ascribed superfluity of magnificence, such a people would\nsurely have left some kind of lasting memorial or relic beyond their\nown borders. Nothing of the kind has ever been found either in these\nislands of the eastern Atlantic archipelagoes or elsewhere in that part\nof the earth.\n\nThe advocates of a real Atlantis try to pile up proofs of a great land\nmass existing at some time in the Atlantic Ocean, a logical proceeding\nso far as it goes but one that falls short of its mark, for the land\nmay have ascended and descended again ages before the reputed Atlantis\nperiod. It is of no avail to demonstrate its presence in the Miocene,\nPliocene, or Pleistocene epoch, or, indeed, at any time prior to the\ndevelopment of a well organized civilization among men, or, as Plato\napparently reasons, between 11,000 and 12,000 years ago. Also what is\nwanted is evidence of the great island Atlantis, not of the former\nseaward extension of some existing continent nor of any land bridge\nspanning the ocean. It is true that such conditions might serve as\ndistant preliminaries for the production of Atlantis Island by the\nbreaking down and submergence of the intervening land; but this only\nmultiplies the cataclysms to be demonstrated and can have no real\nrelevance in the absence of proof of the island itself. The geologic\nand geographic phenomena of pre-human ages are beside the question.\nThe tale to be investigated is of a flourishing insular growth of\nartificial human society on a large scale, not so very many thousands\nof years ago, evidently removed from all tradition of engulfment and\nhence dreading it not at all but sending forth its conquering armies\nuntil the final defeat and annihilating cataclysm.\n\n\nTERMIER\u2019S THEORY OF AN ANCIENT ATLANTIC CONTINENTAL MASS\n\nNevertheless, inquiries as to an ancient Atlantic continental mass\nhave an interest. We may cite a few of the recent outgivings. Termier\ntells us of an east-and-west arrangement of elevated lands across the\nAtlantic in earlier ages, as opposed to the present north-and-south\nsystem of islands and raised folds. By the former there was\n\n a very ancient continental bond between northern Europe and\n North America and ... another continental bond, also very\n ancient, between the massive Africa and South America.... Thus\n the region of the Atlantic, until an era of ruin which began\n we know not when, but the end of which was the Tertiary, was\n occupied by a continental mass, bounded on the south by a\n chain of mountains, and which was all submerged long before\n the collapse of those volcanic lands of which the Azores seem\n to be the last vestiges. In place of the South Atlantic Ocean\n there was, likewise, for many thousands of centuries a great\n continent now very deeply engulfed beneath the sea.[20]\n\nLater he refers to\n\n collapses ... at the close of the Miocene, in the folded\n Mediterranean zone and in the two continental areas, continuing\n up to the final annihilation of the two continents ... then,\n in the bottom of the immense maritime domain resulting from\n these subsidences, the appearance of a new design whose general\n direction is north and south.... The extreme mobility of the\n Atlantic region ... the certainty of the occurrence of immense\n depressions when islands and even continents have disappeared;\n the certainty that some of these depressions date as from\n yesterday, are of Quaternary age, and that consequently they\n might have been seen by man; the certainty that some of them\n have been sudden, or at least very rapid. See how much there is\n to encourage those who still hold out for Plato\u2019s narrative.\n Geologically speaking, the Platonian history of Atlantis is\n highly probable.[21]\n\n\nFLORAL AND FAUNAL EVIDENCE OF CONNECTION WITH EUROPE AND AFRICA\n\nProfessor Schuchert, reviewing the paper of Termier above quoted,\nagrees in part and partly disagrees. He says:\n\n The Azores are true volcanic and oceanic islands, and it is\n almost certain that they never had land connections with the\n continents on either side of the Atlantic Ocean. If there\n is any truth in Plato\u2019s thrilling account, we must look\n for Atlantis off the western coast of Africa, and here we\n find that five of the Cape Verde Islands and three of the\n Canaries have rocks that are unmistakably like those common\n to the continents. Taking into consideration also the living\n plants and animals of these islands, many of which are of\n European-Mediterranean affinities of late Tertiary time, we see\n that the evidence appears to indicate clearly that the Cape\n Verde and Canary Islands are fragments of a greater Africa....\n What evidence there may be to show that this fracturing and\n breaking down of western Africa took place as suddenly as\n related by Plato or that it occurred about 10,000 years ago is\n as yet unknown to geologists.[22]\n\nTermier puts in evidence as biological corroboration the researches of\nLouis Germain, especially in the mollusca, which have convinced him of\nthe continental origin of this fauna in the four archipelagoes, the\nAzores, Madeira, the Canaries, and Cape Verde. He also notes a few\nspecies still living in the Azores and the Canaries, though extinct in\nEurope, but found as fossils in Pliocene rocks of Portugal. He deduces\nfrom this a connection between the islands and the Iberian Peninsula\ndown to some period during the Pliocene.[23]\n\nDr. Scharff has devoted some space and assiduous effort to similar\nconsiderations. He reviews the insular flora and fauna, pointing out\nthat some of the forms common to the islands, or some of them, and a\nnow distant continent could hardly have reached there over sea. He\ncomes to the following conclusion: \u201cI believe they [the islands] were\nstill connected, in early Pleistocene times, with the continents of\nEurope and Africa, at a time when man had already made his appearance\nin western Europe, and was able to reach the islands by land.\u201d[24]\n\nHe also points out that the Azores Islands were first known and named\nfor their hawks, which feed largely on small mammalia, that presumably\nwould have come thither overland, and also points out that some of\nthe islands were named in Italian on old maps Rabbit Island, Goat\nIsland, etc., before the Portuguese rediscovery in the fifteenth\ncentury.[25] Those names (on several fifteenth-century maps St. Mary\u2019s\nis Louo, Lovo, or Luovo--\u201cWolf Island,\u201d cf. Portuguese _lobo_) are\ncertainly interesting, but they may have been given for some supposed\nresemblance of outline or other fancy. There is this in favor of Dr.\nScharff\u2019s supposition: the name Corvo in its original form Corvis\nMarinis (Island of the Sea Crows) appears to have been prompted by\nthe abundance of birds of a particular species--possibly cormorants,\npossibly black skimmers--and not by any typical bird form of the island\nitself. Also Pico, now named for its peak, was called the Isle of\nthe Doves, and wild doves or pigeons are said to abound still on its\nmountain side. But, if we assume by analogy that Li Conigi (Rabbit\nIsland) and Capraria (Goat Island) were so named by reason of the\npre-Portuguese wild rabbits and goats, these may be the donations of\nearlier visitants or settlers--Italian, Carthaginians, or what not. We\ncannot well believe that wolves were voluntarily brought by man to Lovo\n(Lobo), now St. Mary\u2019s; but here there may have been some mistake, as\nof dogs run wild or some play of imitative fancy, as before indicated.\nIn any case these archaic island names are a long way from being\nconvincing evidence of former land connection with any continent, still\nless of the former existence of Atlantis.\n\nMore recently Navarro, in an argument mainly geological, has also\ncalled attention to the continental character of some species of\nthe fauna and flora of the eastern Atlantic islands, with the same\nimplications as his predecessors.[26] But there seems to be little real\naddition to the evidence of this nature; and no one has made it more\napposite to the existence of Atlantis Island 12,000 or so years ago.\n\n\nEVIDENCE OF SUBMERGENCE\n\nThe great final catastrophe of Atlantis would surely write its record\non the rocks both of the sea bed and the continental land masses. As to\nthe ocean bottom it would be the natural repository for vitreous and\nother rocky products of volcanic and seismic action occurring above it.\nTermier relates what he considers very significant indications at a\npoint 500 miles north of the Azores at a depth of 1,700 fathoms, where\nthe grappling irons of a cable-mending ship dragged for several days\nover a mountainous surface of peaks and pinnacles, bringing up \u201clittle\nmineral splinters\u201d evidently \u201cdetached from a bare rock, an actual\noutcropping sharp-edged and angular.\u201d These fragments were all of a\nnon-crystalline vitreous lava called tachylyte, which \u201ccould solidify\ninto this condition only under atmospheric pressure.\u201d He infers that\nthe territory in question was covered with lava flows while it was\nstill above water and subsequently descended to its present depth;\nalso from the general condition of the rock surface that the caving\nin followed very closely on the emission of the lavas and that this\ncollapse was sudden. He thinks, therefore, \u201cthat the entire region\nnorth of the Azores and perhaps the very region of the Azores, of\nwhich they may be only the visible ruins, was very recently submerged,\nprobably during the epoch which the geologists call the present.\u201d He\nbelieves also that like results would follow a \u201cdetailed dredging to\nthe south and the southwest of these islands.\u201d[27]\n\nIt will be observed that the whole of this very tempting edifice is\nbuilt on the declared impossibility of tachylyte forming on the sea\nbottom under heavy water pressure. But Professor Schuchert insists\nthat: \u201cIt is not pressure so much as it is a quick loss of temperature\nthat brings about the vitreous structure in lava. In other words,\nvitreous lava apparently can be formed as well in the ocean depths as\non the lands. What the cable layers got was probably the superficial\nglassy crust of probable subterranean lava flows.\u201d[28] If that be so,\nthere is, of course, no need to infer a descent of territory into the\ndepths in that region of the mid-Atlantic. This tachylyte matter seems\nenveloped in uncertainty.\n\nOn the other hand, it is well known that volcanic outbursts and\nearthquakes have been rather frequent and alarming even in modern times\namong the islands of the eastern Atlantic archipelagoes, especially\nthe Canaries and the lowest and middle groups of the Azores. In\nsome instances the nearest mainland also has suffered, as notably on\n\u201cLisbon-earthquake day,\u201d and the various occasions of disturbances\ncited by Navarro. Also, there is the memorable instance of a small\nisland that was thrust upward from the depths before the eyes of a\nBritish naval ship\u2019s crew and remained in sight for several days.\nChanges of a distinctly non-volcanic character have also occurred, as\nwhen an appreciable slice of cliff wall broke away from Flores and\nsank, raising a great wave which did damage, with loss of life on\nCorvo, some nine miles away. Moreover, Corvo was once considerably\nlarger than it is now in comparison with this neighbor, Flores (or Li\nConigi), if we may trust to the general testimony of fourteenth-century\nand fifteenth-century maps. But all these shiftings and transformations\nfor a long time past have been local and usually rather narrowly\nrestricted. It does not follow that no depressions or elevations of\ngreater extent have suddenly occurred in times before men regularly\nmade permanent records; yet it must be owned that the belief in any\nvery large sunken Atlantis derives no direct support from what we\nactually know of volcanic and seismic action in that region in historic\ncenturies.\n\n\nRELATION OF THE SUBMARINE BANKS OF THE NORTH ATLANTIC TO THE PROBLEM\n\nThere remain to be considered a small array of undersurface insular\nitems which seem germane to our inquiry. Sir John Murray tells us that:\n\n Another remarkable feature of the North Atlantic is the series\n of submerged cones or oceanic shoals made known off the\n northwest coast of Africa between the Canary Islands and the\n Spanish peninsula, of which we may mention: the \u201cCoral Patch\u201d\n in lat. 34\u00b0 57\u2032 N., long. 11\u00b0 57\u2032 W., covered by 302 fathoms;\n the \u201cDacia Bank\u201d in lat. 31\u00b0 9\u2032 N., long. 13\u00b0 34\u2032 W., covered\n by 47 fathoms; the \u201cSeine Bank\u201d in lat. 33\u00b0 47\u2032 N., long. 14\u00b0\n 1\u2032 W., covered by 81 fathoms; the \u201cConcepcion Bank\u201d in lat.\n 30\u00b0 N. and long. 13\u00b0 W., covered by 88 fathoms; the \u201cJosephine\n Bank\u201d in lat. 37\u00b0 N., long. 14\u00b0 W., covered by 82 fathoms; the\n \u201cGettysburg Bank\u201d in lat. 36\u00b0 N., long. 12 W., covered by 34\n fathoms.[29]\n\nAll of these subaqueous mountain-top lands or hidden elevated plateaus\nare conspicuously nearer the ocean surface than the real depths of the\nsea--so much nearer that they inevitably raise the suspicion of having\nbeen above that surface within the knowledge and memory of man. It is\nnotorious that coasts rise and fall all over the world in what may be\ncalled the normal non-spasmodic action of the strata, and sometimes the\nmovement in one direction--upward or downward--seems to have persisted\nthrough many centuries. If we assume that Gettysburg Bank has been\ncontinuously descending at the not extravagant rate of two feet in a\ncentury, then it was a considerable island above water about the period\ndealt with by the priests of Sais. Apparently the rising of Labrador\nand Newfoundland since the last recession and dispersion of the great\nice sheet has been even more. Here the elements of exact comparison\nin time and conditions are lacking; nevertheless, the reported uplift\nof more than 500 feet in one quarter and nearly 700 in another is\nimpressive as showing what the old earth may do in steady endeavor. It\nmust be borne in mind, too, that a sudden acceleration of the descent\nof Gettysburg Bank and its consorts may well have occurred at any\nstage in so feverishly seismic an area. All considered, it seems far\nfrom impossible that some of these banks may have been visible and\neven habitable at some time when men had attained a moderate degree of\ncivilization. But they would not be of any vast extent.\n\n\nFACTS AND LEGENDS AS TO SUBMERGENCES IN HISTORIC TIMES\n\nWestropp has made an interesting and important disclosure of the\nlegends of submerged lands with villages, churches, etc., all around\nthe coasts of Ireland. In some instances they are believed to be\nmagically visible again above the surface in certain conditions; in\nothers the spires and walls of a fine city may at times, it is thought,\nbe still seen through clear water. Nearly, if not quite, every one of\nthem coincides with a shoal or bank of no great depth, the upjutting\nteeth of rocks, or a barren fragmentary islet--vestiges perhaps of\nsomething more conspicuous, extended, and alluring. Westropp says:\n\u201cWhen we examine the sea bed, we see that it is not impossible (save\nBrasil and the land between Teelin and the Stags of Broadhaven)\nthat islands may have existed within traditional memory at all the\nalleged sites.\u201d[30] In some cases considerable inroads of the ocean\nare perfectly well known to have occurred within relatively recent\nhistoric centuries. The same on a large scale is certainly true of\nHolland--witness Haarlem Lake and the Zuyder Zee. Other countries,\nperhaps most countries, might be called as witnesses.\n\nIn these considerations of known facts and legends still repeated we\nare dealing mostly with events of periods not excessively remote, but\nthe same laws must have been at work and the same phenomena occurring\nin earlier millenniums.\n\nIf there were men to observe, the legend would follow the subsidence;\nand Phoenician or other voyagers would naturally bear it back to the\nEastern Mediterranean, to Plato or the sources from which Plato derived\nit.\n\nIn any such case the submergence would most likely be exaggerated\nand made a great catastrophe, but there were special reasons why the\nexaggeration should be enormous in this particular story. It is the\noffice of a myth or legend to explain. We see that in Plato\u2019s time\nthe Atlantic Ocean was believed, in part at least, to be no longer\nnavigable, and with some modifications this idea persisted far down\ninto the Middle Ages, involving at least a conviction of abnormal\nobstacles hardly to be overcome. The account of Critias is: \u201cSince\nthat time the sea in those quarters has become unnavigable; vessels\ncannot pass there because of the sands which extend over the site of\nthe buried isle.\u201d This item differs from the other features of the\nnarration put into his mouth by Plato, in that it related to a present\nand continuing condition and in a way challenged investigation--which\nwould have to be at a distant and ill-known region but was not really\nimpracticable. It must be evident that Plato would not have written\nthus unless he relied on the established general repute of that part of\nthe ocean for difficulty of navigation.\n\n\nREPORTS OF OBSTRUCTION TO NAVIGATION IN EARLY TIMES\n\nWe get further light on this matter of obstruction from the Periplus of\nScylax of Caryanda, the greater part of which must have been written\nbefore the time of Alexander the Great. Probably we may put down the\npassage as approximately of Plato\u2019s own period. He begins on the\nEuropean coast at the Strait of Gibraltar, makes the circuit of the\nMediterranean, and ends at Cerne, an island of the African Atlantic\ncoast, \u201cwhich island, it is stated, is twelve days\u2019 coasting beyond the\nPillars of Hercules, where the parts are no longer navigable because of\nshoals, of mud, and of seaweed.\u201d[31] \u201cThe seaweed has the width of a\npalm and is sharp towards the points, so as to prick.\u201d[32]\n\nSimilarly, when Himilco, parting from Hanno, sailed northward on the\nAtlantic about 500 B. C., he found weeds, shallows, calms, and dangers,\naccording to the poet Avienus, who professes to repeat his account long\nafterward and is quoted by Nansen, with doubts inclining to acceptance.\nIt reads:\n\n No breeze drives the ship forward, so dead is the sluggish wind\n of this idle sea. He [Himilco] also adds that there is much\n seaweed among the waves, and that it often holds the ship back\n like bushes. Nevertheless, he says that the sea has no great\n depth, and that the surface of the earth is barely covered by a\n little water. The monsters of the sea move continually hither\n and thither, and the wild beasts swim among the sluggish and\n slowly creeping ships.[33]\n\nAvienus also has the following:\n\n Farther to the west from these Pillars there is boundless sea.\n Himilco relates that ... none has sailed ships over these\n waters, because propelling winds are lacking ... likewise\n because darkness screens the light of day with a sort of\n clothing, and because a fog always conceals the sea.[34]\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 1--Map of the Sargasso Sea showing its relation to\nthe Azores, to illustrate its possible bearing on the medieval belief\nin the existence of lands or islands beyond. Scale 1:72,000,000. (The\nmap is also intended to help in locating the various existing islands\nof the North Atlantic.)]\n\nAristotle, as cited by Nansen, tells us in his \u201cMeteorologica\u201d that the\nsea beyond the Pillars of Hercules was muddy and shallow and little\nstirred by the winds.[35] In early life Aristotle was a pupil of Plato,\nand, though he afterward developed a widely different method and\noutlook, it is likely that their information as to this matter was in\ncommon, being supplied perhaps by Phoenician and other seamen.\n\nIn the passage quoted from Scylax and the first excerpt from Avienus\nthe courses referred to are apparently too near the mainland shore\nto approach that prodigious accumulation of eddy-borne weeds in dead\nwater which has long given to a great space of mid-Atlantic the name\nof the Sargasso Sea. But they show that huge seaweeds were very\nearly associated with obstruction to navigation in seafaring minds\nand popular fancy. Perhaps they may also have suggested shallows as\naffording beds of nourishment for so enormous an output of vegetation.\nIt would not readily occur to the early seagoing observers that the\ngreatest of these entangling creations floated in masses quite free,\nthough we now know this to be the case. In any event, it is evident\nthat some imperfect knowledge of conditions far west of the Pillars\nof Hercules had made its way to Greece. Somewhere in that ocean\nof obscurity and mystery there was a vast dead and stagnant sea,\npresumably shallow, a sea to be shunned. Gigantic entrapping weeds and\nwallowing sea monsters freely distributed were recognized, too, as\namong the standing terrors of the Atlantic.\n\n\nTHE SARGASSO SEA AS THE ANCIENT ATLANTIS\n\nIt would be idle and wearying to follow such utterances through the\nrather numerous centuries that have elapsed since those early times.\nWhen the Magrurin or deluded explorers of Lisbon, at some undefined\ntime between the early eighth century and the middle of the twelfth\nattempted, according to Edrisi, to cross the great westward Sea of\nDarkness they encountered an impassable tract of ocean and had to\nchange their course, apparently reaching one of the Canary Islands.\nLater the map of the Pizigani brothers of 1367[36] (Fig. 2) contains\nin words and a saintly figure of warning a solemn protest against\nattempting to sail the unnavigable ocean tract beyond the Azores. As\nwill be seen by a modern map (Fig. 1), this area includes the vast\nrealm of the Sargasso--a waste of weed, shifting its borders with\nthe seasons but constant in its characteristics in some parts and\nalways to be found by little seeking--one of the permanent conspicuous\nfeatures of earth\u2019s surface.[37] It is described by a writer in the\nEncyclopaedia Britannica as nearly equal to Europe in area, a statement\nhardly warranted unless by including all outlying tatters and fringes\nof Gulf weed floating free.[38]\n\nIt is one of the topics that tempt and have always tempted exaggeration\nand misunderstandings. The effect on a bright mind of current nautical\nyarns concerning it is shown by Janvier\u2019s \u201cIn the Sargasso Sea,\u201d a\nnarrative almost as extravagant as Plato\u2019s tale of Atlantis, in its own\nquite different way. One of the more moderate preliminary passages may\nbe cited:\n\n And to that same place, he added, the stream carried all that\n was caught in its current--like the spar and plank floating\n near us, so that the sea was covered with a thick tangle of the\n weed in which were held fast fragments of wreckage and stuff\n washed overboard and logs adrift from far southern shores,\n until in its central part _the mass was so dense that no ship\n could sail through it nor could a steamer traverse it because\n of the fouling of her screws_.[39]\n\nHe admits this theory of formation was inaccurate but later refers\nto \u201cthe dense wreck-filled center of the Sargasso Sea\u201d and makes his\ncastaway hero declare:\n\n What I looked at was the host of wrecked ships, the dross\n of wave and tempest which through four centuries has been\n gathering slowly and still more slowly wasting in the central\n fastnesses of the Sargasso Sea.[40]\n\nSir John Murray naturally gives a more moderate and scientific account,\nexplaining:\n\n The famous Gulf Weed characteristic of the Sargasso Sea in\n the North Atlantic belongs to the brown algae. It is named\n _Sargassum bacciferum_, and is easily recognized by its small\n berry-like bladders.... It is supposed that the older patches\n gradually lose their power of floating, and perish by sinking\n in deep water.... The floating masses of Gulf Weed are believed\n to be continually replenished by additional supplies torn\n from the coasts by waves and carried by currents until they\n accumulate in the great Atlantic whirl which surrounds the\n Sargasso Sea. They become covered with white patches of polyzoa\n and serpulae, and quite a large number of other animals (small\n fishes, crabs, prawns, molluscs, etc.) live on these masses of\n weed in the Sargasso Sea, all exhibiting remarkable adaptive\n coloring, although none of them belong properly to the open\n ocean.[41]\n\nFinally we have from the Hydrographic Office the official naval and\nscientific statement of the case. In the little treatise already\nreferred to, Lieutenant Soley tells us that the southeast branch of the\nGulf Stream \u201cruns in the direction of the Azores, where it is deflected\nby the cold upwelling stream from the north and runs into the center of\nthe Atlantic Basin, where it is lost in the dead water of the Sargasso\nSea.\u201d[42] As to just what this is the office answers:\n\n Through the dynamical forces arising from the earth\u2019s rotation\n which cause moving masses in the northern hemisphere to be\n deflected toward the right-hand side of their path, the algae\n that are borne by the Gulf Stream from the tropical seas find\n their way toward the inner edge of the circulatory drift which\n moves in a clockwise direction around the central part of the\n North Atlantic Ocean. In this central part the flow of the\n surface waters is not steady in any direction, and hence the\n floating seaweed tends to accumulate there. This accumulation\n is perhaps most observable in the triangular region marked\n out by the Azores, the Canaries and the Cape Verde Islands,\n but much seaweed is also found to the westward of the middle\n part of this region in an elongated area extending to the 70th\n meridian.\n\n The abundance of seaweed in the Sargasso Sea fluctuates much\n with the variation of the agencies which account for its\n presence, but this Office does not possess any authentic\n records to show that it has ever materially impeded vessels.[43]\n\nPerhaps these statements are influenced by present or recent\nconditions. It is obvious that giant ropelike seaweeds in masses would\nmore than materially impede the action of the galley oars, which\nwere the main reliance in time of calm of the ancient and medieval\nnavigators. Also it is hardly to be believed that small sailing vessels\ncould freely drive through them with an ordinary wind. If the weeds\nwere so unobstructive, why all these complaints and warnings out of\nremote centuries? In the days of powerful steamships and when the\nskippers of sailing vessels have learned what area of sea it is best\nto avoid, there may well be a lack of formal reports of impediment;\nbut it certainly looks as though there were some basis for the long\nestablished ill repute of the Sargasso Sea.\n\n\nSUMMARY\n\nFor the genesis of Atlantis we have then, first, the great idealist\nphilosopher Plato minded to compose an instructive pseudo-historical\nromance of statesmanship and war and actually making a beginning of\nthe task; and, secondly, the fragmentary cues and suggestive data\nwhich came to him out of tradition and mariners\u2019 tales, perhaps in\npart through Solon and intervening transmitters, in part more directly\nto himself. Of this material we may name foremost the vague knowledge\nof vast impeded regions in the Atlantic believed to be shallow and\nrequiring a physical explanation; then rumors of cataclysms and sunken\nlands in the same ocean; then legends of ancient hostilities between\ndwellers beyond the Pillars of Hercules and the peoples about the\nMediterranean; and finally the reflection of the Persian war on the\nshadowy ancient past of Athens--Athens the defender and victor, Athens\nthe Queen of the Sea.\n\nEvery solution of the Atlantis problem must be conjectural. The above\nis offered simply as the best conjecture to which I can see my way.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III\n\nST. BRENDAN\u2019S EXPLORATIONS AND ISLANDS\n\n\nTHE LISMORE VERSION OF THE SAINT\u2019S ADVENTURES\n\nThe fifteenth-century Book of Lismore, compiled from much older\nmaterials, tells us that St. Brenainn (evidently St. Brendan, the\nnavigator)\n\n desired to leave his land and his country, his parents and his\n fatherland, and he urgently besought the Lord to give him a\n land secret, hidden, secure, delightful, separated from men.\n Now after he had slept on that night, he heard the voice of the\n angel from heaven, who said to him, \u201cArise, O Brenainn,\u201d saith\n he, \u201cfor God hath given thee what thou soughtest, even the Land\n of Promise\u201d ... and he goes alone to Sliab Daidche and he saw\n the mighty intolerable ocean on every side, and then he beheld\n the beautiful noble island, with trains of angels (rising) from\n it.[44]\n\nThus far, in the rather redundant style of such literature, from the\nLife of Brenainn in the Lives of the Saints of this old manuscript.\nAfter a century and a half of disappearance this manuscript was\naccidentally discovered in 1814, in a walled-up recess, by workmen\nengaged on repairs.\n\nMr. Westropp holds that this Lismore version is the \u201csimplest and\nprobably the earliest;\u201d[45] but its full-blown development of certain\nmarvels (such as the spending of every Easter for at least five years\non the back of a vast sea monster as a substitute for an island) may\nwell awaken a question as to the validity of this conjecture.\n\nHowever, the suggestion of the voyage by a dream seems likely enough,\nand his mood was in keeping with the anchorite enthusiasm of his\ntime. Of course he promptly set forth to find his \u201cpromised land;\u201d at\nfirst, in a hide-covered craft, with failure in spite of long endeavor;\nafterward, by advice of a holy woman, in a large wooden vessel, built\nin Connaught and manned by sixty religious men, with final success.\n\n\nANOTHER VERSION\n\nAnother version gives the credit of the first incitement to a purely\nhuman visitor, a friendly abbot, St. Brendan\u2019s aim being to reach an\nisland \u201cjust under Mount Atlas.\u201d Here a holy predecessor, Mernoc by\nname, long vanished from among men, was believed to have hidden himself\nin \u201cthe first home of Adam and Eve.\u201d To all readers this was a fairly\nprecise location for the earthly paradise. The great Atlas chain forms\na conspicuous feature of medieval maps, running down to sea (as it does\nin reality) near Lanzarote and Fuerteventura, the innermost of the\nCanaries, which seem like detached, nearly submerged, summits of the\nrange.\n\nThis narrative is longer and more detailed than that of the Book of\nLismore and gives more plentiful indications of voyaging, especially\ntoward the end, in southern seas. In its picture of volcanic fires it\nrecalls occasional outbursts of Teneriffe and its neighbors. \u201cThey saw\na hill all on fire, and the fire stood on each side of the hill like\na wall, all burning.\u201d A visit is also recorded to a neighboring land,\napparently continental, which the adventurers penetrated for forty\ndays\u2019 travel to the banks of a magical river, whence they brought away\n\u201cfruit and jewels.\u201d This may well be meant for Africa, obviously quite\nnear these Fortunate Islands.\n\n\nATTEMPTS TO EXPLAIN THE ORIGIN OF THE BRENDAN NARRATIVES\n\nIt has been intimated that the narratives of \u201cSt. Brendan\u2019s Navigation\u201d\nmay have originated in misunderstood tales of his early sea wanderings\naround the coasts of Ireland seeking for a monastery site. He was\nsuccessful in this at least, being best known (excepting as a\ndiscoverer) for the great religious establishment at Clonfert, not the\nfirst which he founded in the sixth century but the most widely known\nand the greatest.\n\nAnother explanation casts doubts upon his real existence and supposes\nthe story of the discoveries to have arisen by confusion of language\nwith the well-known pagan \u201cVoyage of Bran,\u201d perhaps the earliest of the\nancient Irish Imrama, or sea sagas.\n\nIt has also been said that the origin of the Brendan narratives may be\nfound in \u201ca ninth-century sermon elaborated up to its present form by\nthe eleventh century.\u201d[46] A ninth-century manuscript is said to be in\nthe Vatican library.\n\n\nA NORMAN FRENCH VERSION\n\nA Norman French translation was turned into Norman French verse by\nsome trouv\u00e8re of the court for the benefit of King Henry Beauclerc and\nhis Queen Adelais early in the twelfth century and partly translated\nmetrically into English for _Blackwood\u2019s Magazine_ in 1836. It avers\nthat the saint set sail for an\n\n Isle beyond the sea\n Where wild winds ne\u2019er held revelry,\n But fulfilled are the balmy skies\n With spicy gales from Paradise;\n These gales that waft the scent of flowers\n That fade not, and the sunny hours\n Speed on, nor night, nor shadow know.[47]\n\nThey sail westward fifteen days from Ireland; then in a month\u2019s calm\ndrift to a rock, where they find a palace with food and where Satan\nvisits them but does no harm. They next voyage seven months, in a\ndirection not stated, and find an island with immense sheep; but, when\nthey are about to cook one, the island begins to sink and reveals\nitself as a \u201cbeast.\u201d They reach another island where the birds are\nrepentant fallen angels. From this they journey six months to an island\nwith a monastery founded by St. Alben. They sail thence till calm falls\non them and the sea becomes like a marsh; but they reach an island\nwhere are fish made poisonous by feeding on metallic ores. A white bird\nwarns them. They keep Pentecost on a great sea monster, remaining seven\nweeks. Then they journey to where the sea sleeps and cold runs through\ntheir veins. A sea serpent pursues them, breathing fire. Answering\nthe saint\u2019s prayer, another monster fights and kills the first one.\nSimilarly a dragon delivers them from a griffin. They see a great and\nbright jeweled crystal temple (probably an iceberg). They land on\nshores of smoke, flame, blast, and evil stench. A demon flourishes\nbefore them, flies overhead, and plunges into the sea. They find an\nisland of flame and smoke, a mountain covered with clouds, and the\nentrance to hell. Beyond this they find Judas tormented. Next they find\nan island with a white-haired hermit, who directs them to the promised\nisland, where another and altogether wonderful holy man awaits them, of\nwhom more anon.\n\nIn this version, as in others, there are passages--such as the mention\nof extreme cold and the account of a great floating structure of\ncrystal--which imply a northward course for their voyage in some\none of its stages. So greatly was Humboldt impressed by this and by\nthe insistence on the Isle of Sheep, which he identified with the\nFaroes, that he restricted in theory the saint\u2019s navigation to high\nlatitudes.[48]\n\n\nTHE PROBABLE BASIS OF FACT\n\nBut it is noticeable that every version gives St. Brendan the task\nof finding a remote island, which was always warm and lovely, and\nchronicles the attainment of this delight, though he finds other\ndelectable islands near it or by the way. The metrical description\nbefore quoted is surely explicit enough, but the Book of Lismore\noutdoes it in a very revel of adjectives. As though praises alone\nfailed to satisfy the celebrant, he introduces the figure of a holy\nungarmented usher--a living demonstration of the benignity of the\nclimate. He was \u201cwithout any human raiment, but all his body was full\nof bright white feathers like a dove or sea mew; and it was almost the\nspeech of an angel that he had.\u201d \u201cVast is the light and fruitfulness of\nthe island,\u201d he cried in welcome and launched forthwith on a prodigal\nexpenditure of superextolling words outpoured on their new delightful\nhome. It is all perfectly in keeping with the glow and luxuriance of\nsun-warmed shores and the unique airiness of his spontaneous raiment.\nClearly \u201csummer isles of Eden,\u201d and nothing that has to do with\nicebergs or wintry blasts, are called for in this case.\n\nAbout six centuries lie between St. Brendan\u2019s experiences and the\nearliest writing purporting to relate them and generally accepted as\nto date. Doubtful manuscripts and miscellaneous allusions--also often\ndoubtful--may lessen the gap; but at best we have several centuries\nbridged by tradition only, and that rather inferred than known. It\nseems likely that he really visited and enjoyed some remote lovely\nislands, not very often reached from the mainland, such as could in\nany age have been discovered among the eastern Atlantic archipelagoes.\nIn doing so he might well meet with surprising adventures, readily\ndistorted and magnified; and the first tales of them would be basis\nenough for the florid fancy of Celtic and medieval romancers, growing\nin extravagance with passing generations.\n\n\nTHE CARTOGRAPHIC EVIDENCE\n\nThat he found some island or islands was certainly believed, for his\nname is on many maps in full confidence. But as to the particular\nislands thereby identified we find that conjecture had a wide range,\nvarying in different periods and even with individual bias.\n\n\nTHE HEREFORD MAP OF CIRCA 1275\n\nProbably its first appearance is on the Hereford map of 1275 or not\nmuch later,[49] the inscription being \u201cFortunate Insulae sex sunt\nInsulae Sct Brandani.\u201d It is about on the site of the Canary group, and\nthe elliptical island Junonia is just below. The showing is uncertain\nand conventional; also the number six misses the mark by one; still\nthere can be no doubt that the Canaries as a whole were intended.\nConcerning them Edrisi[50] had observed, about 1154: \u201cThe Fortunate\nIslands are two in number and are in the Sea of Darkness.\u201d Perhaps he\nhad Lanzarote and Fuerteventura, the most accessible pair, especially\nin mind. The surviving derivatives of the last eighth-century Beatus\nmap[51] also bear the inscription \u201cInsulae Fortunate\u201d where the Canary\nIslands should be, but they assert nothing of \u201cSt. Brandan.\u201d Doubtless,\ndimly known, they had been reputed Isles of the Blest from prehistoric\ntimes. If St. Brendan found them, he found them already the \u201cFortunate\nIsles.\u201d\n\nA tradition long survived--perhaps survives still--in the Canary\narchipelago supporting this identification by the Hereford map. Thus\nFather Espinosa,[52] who long dwelt in Teneriffe and wrote his book\nthere between 1580 and 1590, avers that St. Brendan and his companions\nspent several years in that archipelago and quotes a still earlier\n\u201ccalendar,\u201d date not given, as authority for their mighty works done\nthere \u201cin the time of the Emperor Justinian.\u201d Even as late as the\neighteenth century an expedition sailed from among them for an island\nbelieved to be outside of those already known and to be the one\ndiscovered by St. Brendan.\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 2--Section, in two continuous parts, of the\nPizigani map of 1367 showing St. Brendan\u2019s Islands, Mayda, Brazil,\nDaculi, and other legendary islands. (After Jomard\u2019s hand-copied\nreproduction.)]\n\n\nTHE DULCERT MAP OF 1339\n\nThe second cartographical appearance of the saint\u2019s name seems to be in\nthe portolan map[53] of Angelinus Dulcert, the Majorcan, dated 1339,\nwhere three islands corresponding to those now known as the Madeiras\n(Madeira, Porto Santo, and Las Dezertas) and on the same site are\nlabeled \u201cInsulle Sa Brandani siue puelan.\u201d Since \u201cu\u201d was currently\nsubstituted for \u201cv,\u201d and \u201cm\u201d and \u201cn\u201d were interchangeable on these\nold maps, the last two words should probably be read \u201csive puellam.\u201d\nHowever the ending of the inscription be interpreted, there can be no\ndoubt about St. Brendan and his title to the islands--according to\nDulcert. And that this island group must be identified with Madeira and\nher consorts (though Madeira is named Capraria and Porto Santo is named\nPrimaria) hardly admits of any question.\n\nIf the identification of them with the Fortunate Islands especially\nfavored by St. Brendan were no more than a conjecture of Dulcert or\nsome predecessor, it still had a certain plausibility from the facts\nof nature and the favorable report of antiquity. Strabo may have\nborne these islands in mind when he wrote: \u201cthe golden apples of the\nHesperides, the Islands of the Blessed they speak of, which we know\nare still pointed out to us not far distant from the extremities\nof Maurusia, and opposite to Gades.\u201d[54] Apparently, too, Diodorus\nSiculus, writing half a century or so before the Christian era about\nwhat happened a thousand years earlier still, means Madeira by the\n\u201cgreat island of very mild and healthful climate\u201d and \u201cin great part\nmountainous but much likewise champaign, which is the most sweet and\npleasant part of all the rest;\u201d[55] whereto the Phoenicians were\nstorm-driven after founding Cadiz and which the Etrurians coveted but\nthe Carthaginians planned to hold for themselves. Even since those old\ndays there has been a general recognition of Madeira\u2019s balminess and\nslumberous, flowery, enticing beauty.\n\n\nTHE MAP OF THE PIZIGANI OF 1367\n\nDivers maps of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries do not contain\nthe name of St. Brendan (it is perhaps never spelled Brendan in\ncartography) and hence do not count either way. But the identification\nof the notable map of 1367 of the brothers Pizigani[56] (Fig. 2) is the\nsame as Dulcert\u2019s, the inscription being also given in the alternative.\nLike many oceanic features of this strange production it is by no\nmeans clear, but seems to read \u201cYsole dctur sommare sey ysole pone+le\nbrandany.\u201d Perhaps it is to be understood as the \u201cislands called of\nslumber or the islands of St. Brandan.\u201d There is at any rate no doubt\nabout the last word or its meaning. But, as if to place the matter\nbeyond all question, a monkish figure, generally accepted as that of\nthe saint himself, is depicted bending over them in an attitude of\nbenediction.\n\nThis map evidently does not copy from Dulcert, for the forms,\nproportions, and individual names of the islands all differ. It calls\nthe chief island Canaria, instead of Capraria or the later Madeira, and\nappends a longer name, which seems like Capirizia, to what have long\nbeen known as Las Dezertas, which appear greatly enlarged on it. Porto\nSanto is left unnamed on the map, perhaps because it lies so close to\nthe general name of the group.\n\n\nFIRST USE OF \u201cPORTO SANTO\u201d AS NAME OF ONE OF THE MADEIRAS\n\nA claim has been set up by the Portuguese that Porto Santo (Holy\nPort) was first applied to this island by their rediscoverers of the\nnext century in honor of their safe arrival after peril, but this is\nabundantly confuted by its presence on divers fourteenth-century\nmaps, notably the Atlante Mediceo[57] of 1351. Also the Book of the\nSpanish Friar,[58] dating from about the middle of that century,\ncontains in his enumeration of islands the words \u201canother Desierta,\nanother Lecname, another Puerto Santo.\u201d It would seem to have been\na familiar appellation about 1350 or earlier, and the suggestion\nnaturally occurs that it may have originated in the tradition of the\nvisit and blessing of the Irish saint. At any rate, the Portuguese,\nin the fifteenth-century rediscovery, can have had nothing to do with\nconferring it.\n\n\nANIMAL AND BIRD NAMES OF ISLANDS\n\nConcerning such names as Canaria, Capraria, etc., which, by reason\nof other associations, appear oddly out of place in this group, the\nmore general question is raised of the tendency to apply animal and\nbird names to Eastern Atlantic islands. Goat, rabbit, dog, falcon,\ndove, wolf, and crow were applied to various islands long before the\nPortuguese visited the Madeiras and Azores, finding them untenanted;\nthese names long held their ground on the maps, and some of them are\nin use even now. The reason for their adoption piques one\u2019s curiosity.\nIf they could be taken as throwing any light on the fauna of these\nislands in 1350, they might also instruct us as to the probability of\nprior human occupancy or previous connection with the mainland. But, of\ncourse, in any significant instances some fancied resemblance of aspect\nmay have suggested the name.\n\n\nMADEIRA\n\nMadeira, meaning island of the woods or forest island, is a direct\nPortuguese translation from the Italian \u201cI. de Legname\u201d of the Atlante\nMediceo and various later maps, and of the \u201cLecname\u201d of the unnamed\nSpanish friar who tells us he was born in 1305. It is sufficiently\nexplained by the former condition of the island, the northern part of\nwhich is said to preserve still its abundant woodland. Perhaps the\nmodern name of Madeira (or Madera) first appears on the map of Giraldi\nof 1426,[59] not very long after the rediscovery. But, with some\ncartographers, the Italian form of the name lingered on much later.\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 3--Section of the Beccario map of 1426 showing St.\nBrendan\u2019s Islands. (From a photograph in the author\u2019s possession.)]\n\n\nTHE BECCARIO MAP OF 1426\n\nThe alternative names, which had been given the Madeira group by\nDulcert and the Pizigani, commemorating both the general fact of\nrepose or blessedness and the delighted visit of St. Brendan, were\nclosely blended (in what became the accepted formula) by the 1426\nmap of Battista Beccario, which unluckily had never been published\nin reproduction. Before the war, however, the writer obtained a good\nphotograph of a part of it from Munich and herewith presents a section\nrecording the words \u201cInsulle fortunate santi brandany\u201d (Fig. 3).[60]\nThe first \u201ca\u201d of the final name may possibly be an \u201ce,\u201d having been\nobscured by one of the compass lines; but I think not. Beccario repeats\nthe same inscription in his very important and now well-known map[61]\nof 1435, substituting \u201csancti\u201d for \u201csanti\u201d by way of correction.\n\nWith no serious variations, this name, \u201cThe Fortunate Islands of St.\nBrandan\u201d (or Brendan), is applied to Madeira and her consorts by Pareto\n(1455;[62] Fig. 21), Benincasa (1482;[63] Fig. 22), the anonymous\nWeimar map formerly attributed to 1424 but probably of about 1480 or\n1490,[64] and divers others. In several instances (the Beccario maps,\nfor example) the words are almost as near to the most southerly pair\nof the Azores, next above them, as to the Madeiras below, and it is\npossible that the condition of special beatitude was understood as\nextending to the former also.\n\n\nTHE BIANCO MAP OF 1448\n\nAt any rate, the verdict of the fifteenth century for Madeira was by no\nmeans unanimous. The 1448 map of Bianco,[65] which is very unlike his\nearlier one of 1436 so far as concerns the Atlantic, was prepared after\nall the Azores had been found again by the Portuguese except Flores\nand Corvo. It shows the old familiar inaccurately north-and-south\nstring of the three groups of the Azores as they had come to him\nconventionally and traditionally, for evidently he did not dare or\ncould not bring himself to discard them. But it also shows a slanting\narray of islands farther out, arranged in two groups respectively of\ntwo islands and five islands each and much more accurately presented\nas to location and direction than the old Italian stand-bys. These are\nquite clearly the Portuguese version, brought down to that date, of\nthe newly rediscovered Azorean archipelago. But Bianco was obviously\nput to it to conjecture what islands these might be. He drew names\nfrom miscellaneous sources: in particular the largest island of the\nmain group, corresponding to Terceira, bears the title \u201cy^a fortunat\nde sa. beati blandan.\u201d Nevertheless, he shows and names Madeira, Porto\nSanto, and Deserta in their usual places. Evidently he had given up, if\nhe ever held, all thought of annexing St. Brendan\u2019s special blessing\nto them. He seems very confident of the St. Brandan\u2019s Island of his\nslanting series, for it is drawn heavily in black and contrasts with\nthe rather ghastly aspect of some neighbors. It has nearly the form of\na Maltese cross, with long arms, but there is no reason to suppose that\nthis has any significance.\n\n\nBEHAIM\u2019S GLOBE OF 1492\n\nAbout the same period a Catalan map[66] of unknown authorship,\nwithout copying details, adopted the same expedient of duplicating\nthe Azores by adding the new slanting series. It is quite independent\nin details, however, omitting mention of \u201cSt. Brandan\u201d in particular,\nthough Ateallo (Antillia?) is given in the second group but not in\nthe corresponding place. This may possibly indicate some confusion of\nAntillia with St. Brandan\u2019s Island, such as is more evident in the\ntransfer of the traditional outline of the former to the latter, little\nchanged, by Behaim on his globe of 1492.\n\nAs it stands, this globe undoubtedly gives an original and unique\nrepresentation of St. Brandan\u2019s Island far west of the Cape Verde group\nand emphasizes it by showing Antillia independently in a more northern\nlatitude and less western longitude and also of quite insignificant\nsize and form. But Ravenstein, who made a very thorough study of\nthe matter, tells us[67] that this globe has been twice retouched\nor renovated and that the only way to ascertain exactly what was\noriginally delineated is to treat it as a palimpsest and remove the\naccretions. In particular, he relates the story of an expert geographer\nwho found the draftsmen about to transpose St. Brandan\u2019s Island and\nAntillia; but they yielded to his protest. Of course, it is impossible\nto be quite certain that these map figures are such and in such place\nas Behaim intended or that they bear the names he gave. The presumption\nfavors the present showing, generally accepted as authentic. It gives\nthe saint only one island, but this a very large one, set in mid-ocean\nbetween Africa and South America.\n\nPossibly this location may be suggested by an undefined coast line\nshown by Bianco\u2019s map of 1448, previously mentioned, and, like Behaim\u2019s\nisland, set opposite the Cape Verde group. In Venetian Italian it bears\nan obscure inscription, which calls it an \u201cauthentic island\u201d and is\nvariously interpreted as saying that this coast is fifteen hundred\nmiles long or fifteen hundred miles distant. The map of Juan de la\nCosa (1500)[68] exhibits off the coast of Brazil, and with an outline\nsimilar to Behaim\u2019s, \u201cthe island which the Portuguese found.\u201d His date\nis too late to have influenced Behaim, too early to have been prompted\nby Cabral\u2019s accidental discovery of that very year. It is more likely\nthat he and Behaim both were acquainted with Bianco\u2019s work or that all\nthree drew from the same report of discovery.\n\n\nLATER MAPS\n\nFrom this time on there is never more than one island for St. Brendan,\nbut it indulges in wide wanderings. Especially as the attention of men\nwas attracted to the more northern and western waters, the map-makers\nshifted the island thither. Thus the map of 1544, purporting to be the\nwork of Sebastian Cabot and probably prepared more or less under his\ninfluence,[69] places the island San Brandan not far from the scene of\nhis father\u2019s explorations and his own. It lies well out to sea in about\nthe latitude of the Straits of Belle Isle. The Ortelius map of 1570[70]\n(Fig. 10) repeats the showing with no great amount of change. In short,\nthe final judgment of navigators and cartographers, before the island\nquite vanished from the maps, made choice of the waste of the North\nAtlantic as its most probable hiding place. Perhaps this westward\ntendency in rather high latitudes may be partly responsible for the\nhypotheses in recent times which have taken the explorer quite across\nto interior North America on a missionary errand. There is certainly\nnothing to prohibit any one from believing them, if he can and if it\npleases him.\n\n\nCONCLUSION\n\nIn general review it appears likely that St. Brendan in the sixth\ncentury wandered widely over the seas in quest of some warm island,\nconcerning which wonderful accounts had been brought to him, and found\nseveral such isles, the Madeira group receiving his special approval,\naccording to the prevailing opinion of the fourteenth and fifteenth\ncenturies. But this judgment of those centuries is the only item as to\nwhich we can speak with any positiveness and confidence.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV\n\nTHE ISLAND OF BRAZIL\n\n\nSo far as we know, the first appearance of the island of Brazil in\ngeography was on the map of Angellinus Dalorto,[71] of Genoa, made in\nthe year 1325. There it appears as a disc of land of considerable area,\nset in the Atlantic Ocean in the latitude of southern Ireland (Fig. 4).\nBut the name itself is far older. In seeking its derivation, one is\nfree to choose either one of two independent lines.\n\n\nPROBABLE GAELIC ORIGIN OF THE WORD \u201cBRAZIL\u201d\n\nThe word takes many forms on maps and in manuscripts: as Brasil,\nBersil, Brazir, O\u2019Brazil, O\u2019Brassil, Breasail. As a personal name it\nhas been common in Ireland from ancient days. The \u201cBrazil fierce\u201d of\nCampbell\u2019s \u201cO\u2019Connor\u2019s Child\u201d may be recalled by the few who have not\nwholly forgotten that beautiful old-fashioned poem. Going farther back,\nwe find Breasail mentioned as a pagan demigod in Hardiman\u2019s \u201cHistory\nof Galway\u201d[72] which quotes from one of the Four Masters, who collated\nin the sixteenth century a mass of very ancient material indeed. Also\nSt. Brecan, who shared the Aran Islands with St. Enda about A.D. 480\nor 500, had Bresal for his original name when he flourished as the son\nof the first Christian king of Thormond. The name, however spelled,\nis said to have been built up from two Gaelic syllables \u201cbreas\u201d and\n\u201cail,\u201d each highly commendatory in implication and carrying that note\nof admiration alike to man or island. Quite in consonance therewith the\nfifteenth-century map of Fra Mauro in 1459[73] not only delineated and\nnamed this Atlantic Berzil but appended the inscription \u201cQueste isole\nde Hibernia son dite fortunate,\u201d ranking it as one of the \u201cFortunate\nIslands.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 4--Section of the Dalorto map of 1325 showing\nBrazil, Daculi, and other legendary islands. (After Magnaghi\u2019s\nphotographic facsimile.)]\n\n\nANOTHER SUGGESTED DERIVATION\n\nOn the whole, this seems the more likely channel of derivation of the\nname; or, if there were two such channels, then the more important\none. For there is another suggested derivation, of which much has\nrightly been made and which we must by no means neglect. Red dyewood\nbore the name \u201cbrazil\u201d in the early Middle Ages, a word derived,\nHumboldt believed,[74] by translation from the Arabic _bakkam_ of like\nmeaning, on record in the ninth century. He notes that Brazir, one\nform of the name, as we have seen, recalls the French _braise_, the\nPortuguese _braza_ and _braseiro_, the Spanish _brasero_, the Italian\n_braciere_, all having to do with fire, which is normally more or less\nred like the dye. He does not know any tongue of medieval Asia which\ncould supply _brasilli_ or the like for dyewood. He suggests also the\npossibility of the word\u2019s being a borrowed place name, like indigo or\njalap, commemorating the region of origin, but cannot identify any such\nplace. His treatment of the topic leaves a feeling of uncertainty, with\na preference for some sort of transformation from \u201cbakkam\u201d which would\nyield \u201cbrazil\u201d probably by a figure of speech.\n\nThe earliest distinctly recognizable mention of brazil as a commodity\noccurs in a commercial treaty of 1193 between the Duchy of Ferrara,\nItaly, and a neighboring town or small state, which presents _grana\nde Brasill_ in a long list including wax, furs, incense, indigo, and\nother merchandise.[75] The same curious phrase, \u201cgrain of Brazil,\u201d\nrecurs in a quite independent local _charta_ of the same country only\nfive years later. Muratori, who garnered such things into his famous\ncompilation of Italian antiquities, avowed his bewilderment over this\nstrange phrase, asking what dyewood could be so called; and Humboldt,\nreconsidering the whole matter, was no more clear in mind. He calls\nattention to the fact that cochineal very long afterward bore the same\nname, but evidently without considering this any sort of solution, as,\nindeed, it could not well be, since it bears distinct reference to the\nSouth American Brazil, which was discovered and named centuries later.\nBut the facts remain that grain does not naturally mean dyewood of any\nkind or in any form, that its recurrence in public documents proves it\na well-established characterization of a known article of trade in the\ntwelfth century, and that its presentation is such as to indicate a\ngranular packaged material.\n\nPerhaps an explanation may be found in Marco Polo\u2019s experience and\nexperiments nearly a century later than these Italian documents. Of\nLambri, a district in Sumatra, he writes:\n\n They also have brazil in great quantities. This they sow, and\n when it is grown to the size of a small shoot they take it up\n and transplant it; then they let it grow for three years, after\n which they tear it up by the root. You must know that Messer\n Marco Polo aforesaid brought some seed of the brazil, such as\n they sow, to Venice with him and had it sown there, but never a\n thing came up. And I fancy it was because the climate was too\n cold.[76]\n\nThe seeds of that Sumatran shrub might well pass for grain in the sense\nof a small granular object, as we say a grain of sand, for example.\nBut, since the plant was not and perhaps could not be reared in Italy,\nit seems unlikely that the seed should be a valued item of commerce,\nregularly listed, bargained for, and taxed. We do not hear of its being\nput to use as a dye; and, indeed, the bark or wood of the plant seems\nfar more promising for that purpose. Like our distinguished forerunners\nin considering this little mystery, we must set it aside as not yet\nfully solved.\n\n\u201cGrain of Brazil\u201d is not repeated in any entry, so far as I know,\nafter the end of the twelfth century; but brazil as a commodity\nfigures rather frequently; for example, in the schedules of port\ndues of Barcelona and other Catalan seaboard towns in the thirteenth\ncentury, as compiled by Capmany.[77] Thus in 1221 we find \u201ccarrega de\nBrasill,\u201d in 1243 \u201ccaxia de bresil,\u201d and somewhat later (1252) \u201ccargua\nde brazil,\u201d the spelling varying as in the easy-going fourteenth- and\nfifteenth-century maps, the word being plainly the same. But the word\nand the thing were not confined to the Mediterranean, for a grant of\nmurage rates of 1312 to the city of Dublin, Ireland, uses the words\n\u201cde brasile venali.\u201d[78] This is pretty far afield and shows that\nthe knowledge and use of brazil as taxable merchandise was nearly\nEurope-wide. As a rule, it has been taken for granted that the word\nmeant either some special kind of red dyewood or dyewood in general.\nMarco Polo\u2019s account conforms rather to the former version, while\nHumboldt seems to lean toward the latter; but there is singularly\nlittle in the entries which tends to identify it as wood at all or in\nany way relate it thereto. Such words as _carrega_, _caxia_, _cargua_,\nshow that it was put up in some kind of inclosure, and perhaps give the\nimpression of comminution or at least absence of bulkiness. Most likely\nmany kinds of red bark, red wood suitable for dyeing, and perhaps other\nvegetable products available for that purpose were sometimes included\nunder the name brazil. People of that time were more concerned about\nresults and means to attain them than about exactness in classification\nor definition.\n\nIt may well be that both lines of derivation of the name meet in the\nBrazil Island west of Ireland, that it was given a traditional Irish\nname by Irish navigators and tale tellers and mapped accordingly by\nItalians, who would naturally apply to it the meaning with which\nthey were familiar in commerce and eastern story, so that the Island\nof Brazil, extolled on all hands, would come to mean along the\nMediterranean chiefly the island where peculiarly precious dyewoods\nabounded. We know that Columbus was pleased to collect what his\nfollowers called brazil in his third and fourth voyages along American\nshores;[79] that Cabot felicitates himself on the prospect of finding\nsilk and brazilwood by persistence in his westward explorations;[80]\nand that the great Brazil of South America received its final name as a\ntribute to its prodigal production of such dyes.\n\n\nFREE DISTRIBUTION OF THE NAME ON EARLY MAPS\n\nBut there is a curious phenomenon to be noticed--the free distribution\nof this name among sea islands, especially of the Azores archipelago,\nfrom an early date. Thus the Pizigani map of 1367[81] applies it with\nslight change of spelling not only to the original disc-form Brazil\nwest of Ireland and to a mysterious crescent-form island, which must\nbe Mayda, but to what is plainly meant for Terceira of the main middle\ngroup of the Azores (Fig. 2). The Spanish Friar, naming Brazil in\nhis island list about 1350, appears also to mean Terceira, judging\nby the order of the names.[82] His matter-of-fact tone indicates a\nlong-settled item. This carries us well back toward the first settled\ndate for the Irish Brazil in cartography. Further, the name still\nadheres to Terceira, though long restricted to a single mountainous\nheadland. The explanation remains a matter of conjecture. Perhaps the\nAzores islands that bore it borrowed from the older Brazil west of\nIreland. Perhaps also the word had gone about that islands were notable\nfor dyes--archil, for example--and the special dye name brazil has been\nloosely affixed in consequence.\n\nOn some of the maps certain alternative names are given, which do not\ngreatly further our investigation. Thus the very first one which shows\nBrazil--Dalorto, 1325--adds Montonis as a second choice (Fig. 4). This\nhas been understood to mean the Isle of Rams, linking it with Edrisi\u2019s\nIsle of Sheep, a quite ancient fancy, sometimes referred to the Faroes,\nbut of very uncertain identification. But Freducci,[83] 1497, makes\nit Montanis; Calapoda,[84] 1552, Montorius; and an anonymous compass\nchart of 1384,[85] Monte Orius. In all these the idea of mountains, not\nsheep, is dominant. The change from \u201ca\u201d to \u201co\u201d is easy with a not very\nvigilant transcriber, and it is most likely that Freducci preserves the\noriginal form and meaning.\n\nThe Pizigani map of 1367 is confused and enigmatic on this point, as in\nall its inscriptions. It seems to read (Fig. 2) \u201cYsola de nocorus sur\nde brazar,\u201d but it may best be set aside as too uncertain.\n\nEqually unenlightening is the \u201cde Brazil de Binar\u201d of Bianco\u2019s 1448\nmap.[86] If the \u201cn\u201d be read \u201cm,\u201d the inscription may mean \u201cBrazil of\nthe two seas;\u201d but the allusion is mystifying.\n\nFra Mauro\u2019s inscription before quoted merely bears testimony to\nBrazil\u2019s benign and almost Elysian repute and its connection with the\nGreen Isle in fancy.\n\n\nLOCATION AND SHAPE OF THE ISLAND\n\nThe circular form of Brazil and its location westward of southern\nIreland are affirmed by many maps, including Dalorto, 1325 (Fig. 4);\nDulcert, 1339;[87] Laurenziano-Gaddiano, 1351;[88] Pizigani, 1367\n(Fig. 2); anonymous Weimar map, probably about 1481;[89] Giraldi,\n1426;[90] Beccario, 1426[91] and 1435[92] (Fig. 20); Juan da Napoli,\nperhaps 1430;[93] Bianco, 1436 and 1448;[94] Valsequa, 1439;[95]\nPareto, 1455[96] (Fig. 21); Roselli, 1468;[97] Benincasa, 1482[98]\n(Fig. 22); Juan de la Cosa, 1500;[99] and numerous later maps. Probably\nthe persistent roundness is ascribable to a certain preference for\ngeometrical regularity, which sowed these early maps with circles,\ncrescents, trilobed clover leaves, and other more unusual but not less\nartificial island forms. The direction must stand for the tradition of\nsome old voyage or voyages.\n\n\nSIGNIFICANT SHAPE ON THE CATALAN MAP OF 1375\n\nBut the celebrated Catalan map of 1375[100] above mentioned introduced\na significant novelty, converting the disc into an annulus of land--of\ncourse, still circular--surrounding a circular body of water dotted\nwith islets (Fig. 5). The preferred explanation thus far advanced\nconnects these islets with the Seven Cities of Portuguese and Spanish\nlegend.[101] But there seem to be nine islands, not seven, and it is\nnot clear what necessary relation exists between isles and cities nor\nwhence the idea is derived of the central lake or sea as a background.\nMoreover, the Island of the Seven Cities was most often identified\nwith Antillia far to the south, and there seems no warrant for\nidentification with Brazil. All considered, this explanation seems\narbitrary, inadequate, and unconvincing.\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 5--Section of the Catalan map of 1375 showing\nthe islands of Mayda and Brazil. (After Nordenski\u00f6ld\u2019s photographic\nfacsimile.)]\n\nThe same ring form with inclosed water and islets is repeated by a\nmap of the next century copied by Kretschmer.[102] It varies only\nby showing just seven islets, if we may rely for this detail on his\nhandmade copy.\n\n\nPOSSIBLE IDENTIFICATION WITH THE GULF OF ST. LAWRENCE REGION\n\nNow, in all the Atlantic Ocean and its shores there is one region, and\none only, which thus incloses a sheet of water having islands in its\nexpanse, and this region lies in the very direction indicated on the\nold maps for Brazil. I allude to the projecting elbow of northeastern\nNorth America, which most nearly approaches Europe and has Cape Race\nfor its apex. Its front is made up of Newfoundland and Cape Breton\nIsland. The remainder of the circuit is made up of what we now call\nsouthern Labrador, a portion of eastern Quebec province, New Brunswick,\nand Nova Scotia. This irregular ring of territory incloses the great\nGulf of St. Lawrence, which has within it the Magdalens, Brion\u2019s\nIsland, and some smaller islets, not to include the relatively large\nAnticosti and Prince Edward. It has two rather narrow channels of\ncommunication with the ocean, which might readily fail to impress\ngreatly an observer whose chief mental picture would be the great\nland-surrounded, island-dotted expanse of water. The surrounding land\nwould itself almost certainly be regarded as insular, for there was\na strong tendency to picture everything west of Europe in that way,\neven long after the time when most of these maps were made. Even when\nCartier[103] in 1535 ascended the St. Lawrence River it was in the\nhope of coming out again on the open sea--a hope that implies the\nvery conception of an insular mass inclosing the gulf, not differing\nessentially from the showing of the Catalan map of 1375. The number of\nthe islands is immaterial. We may picture the Catalan map-maker dotting\nthem in from vague report as impartially as the far better known Lake\nCorrib is besprinkled with islands in most of the old maps--far more\nplentifully than the facts give warrant.\n\nBut it would seem that other observers were more impressed by the\nseparation of Newfoundland, due to the Straits of Belle Isle and Cabot\nand the waterway (of the gulf) connecting them behind the great island.\nAs a rule the maps presenting Brazil in this divided way adhere to\nthe accepted latitude, which does not differ appreciably from that\nof the St. Lawrence Gulf region. The dividing passage, mainly from\nnorth to south but slightly curved at the ends which join the ocean,\ncorresponds fairly well with the facts. The maps of Prunes, 1553[104]\n(Fig. 12), and Olives, 1568,[105] may be cited as instances of this\ndivided form of Brazil. No explanation seems yet to have been offered\nexcept Nansen\u2019s,[106] that the dividing channel represents \u201cthe river\nof death (Styx),\u201d and Westropp\u2019s,[107] that it may be owing to mistaken\ncopying of a name space or label on some older map. But the former\nlacks any better basis than conjectured fancy and the latter is refuted\nby the position of the channel on most maps and by the general aspect\nof the delineation. As a matter of fact, the showing of most of the\nmaps differs in little more than proportions from that of Gastaldi\nillustrating Ramusio in 1550,[108] when the Gulf of St. Lawrence was\nfairly well known to many, but appears as a rather narrow channel\nbehind a broken-up Newfoundland, extending from the Strait of Belle\nIsle to the Strait of Cabot. As in the much older map referred to, the\ndelineation of Gastaldi is perhaps to be explained by concentration of\nattention on the waterway and the ignoring of the wider parts of the\nexpanse. Absolute demonstration of the causes of the divided Brazil\nof some maps and the ring of land inclosing an island-dotted body of\nwater in others is, of course, impossible; but we can show that in the\ndesignated direction there is a region presenting both of these unusual\nfeatures, so that one of the visitors might well be especially taken up\nwith one set of characteristics, another with the other set, and might\ndepict the region accordingly. This is the more probable because the\nregion was peculiarly exposed to accidental or intentional discovery\nfrom the west of the British islands and is known, in fact, to have\nbeen the first to be reached therefrom of all North America in times of\nhistoric record.\n\nIt must not be supposed that Brazil was always thought of as relatively\nnear Europe. Nicolay in 1560[109] (Fig. 6) and Zaltieri in 1566[110]\nprepared maps which show a Brazil Island in distinctly American waters,\npractically forming part of the archipelago into which Newfoundland\nwas supposed to be divided, or at least lying between it and the Grand\nBanks. These presentations no doubt may have been suggested by American\ndiscoveries and later theories, especially as no navigator had been\nable to find Brazil at any point nearer Europe; but again they may\nbe at least partly due to surviving early traditions of the great\ndistance westward at which this island lay. The Brazil of Nicolay and\nZaltieri is, to be sure, a very small affair; but their maps were made\nabout two and a half centuries after the earliest one which shows this\nisland--ample time for many misconceptions to creep in. Their only\nvalue is in their illustration of locality.\n\n\nTHE CATALAN MAP OF ABOUT 1480\n\nMore important in every way is a Catalan map (Fig. 7) preserved in\nMilan and reproduced by Nordenski\u00f6ld in 1892,[111] but since copied\npartly by Nansen, by Westropp, and by others. It belongs to the\nfifteenth century--perhaps about 1480--and deserves clearly to rank as\nthe only map before Columbus, thus far reported, which shows a part of\nNorth America other than Greenland. The latter had long before appeared\nin the well-known map of Claudius Clavus, 1427[112] (Fig. 16), no doubt\non the faith of the early Norse narratives and subsequent commercial\nintercourse, for the Norse Greenland colony is known to have existed\nin 1410 and probably did not die out entirely until much later. The\nCatalan map of about 1480 shows Greenland also as a great northwestern\nland mass beyond Iceland, identifying it by name as Illa Verde (Green\nIsland). But just south, or west of south, of this Greenland at a\nslight interval and southwest of Iceland is drawn and named a large\nBrazil of the conventional circular disc form. Its position is that\nof Labrador, or perhaps Newfoundland, as it would naturally have been\nunderstood and reported by the Norse explorers. It can be nothing but\none or both of these regions of America with perhaps neighboring lands.\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 6--Section of the Nicolay map of 1560 showing, on\nthe American Side of the Atlantic, Brazil, Man, and Insula Verde, the\nfirst two transferred from the European side. (After Nordenski\u00f6ld\u2019s\nphotographic facsimile.)]\n\nIt is true that this map shows also another Brazil of the divided kind\n(in this instance with a channel crossing it from east to west) located\nin mid-Atlantic about where Prunes and others show their bisected\nBrazil. But this seems only an instance of conservation and deference\nfor authority, such as has often been manifested in cartography. Of\nsuch deference for authority perhaps there is no more striking instance\nthan Bianco\u2019s map of 1448, which places the rediscovered Azores where\nthey should be but also preserves them, on the faith of older maps,\nwhere they should not be--making a double series. The lesser bisected\nmid-Atlantic Brazil of the Catalan map may well be set aside as a\nsurvival without significance.\n\nBut the duplication by Bianco in 1448 raises a question of distance,\nwhich must be considered, for his Azores retained from the maps\nantedating the Portuguese rediscoveries are far nearer the coast of\nEurope than the truth at all warrants; and, so far as we can judge, the\nsame cautious underestimating was applied to all oceanic islands as\nreported. Corvo, for example, is actually nearly half-way across the\nAtlantic, yet on all the maps for a long time is brought eastward to a\nposition much nearer Portugal. We must suppose that the region about\nthe Gulf of St. Lawrence, if visited, would be similarly treated, and\nwe cannot tell how far the minimization of distance might be carried\nby some map-makers.\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 7--Section of the Catalan map of about 1480 showing\nBrazil Island and Green Island (Illa Verde). (After Nordenski\u00f6ld\u2019s\nphotographic facsimile.)]\n\n\nTHE SYLVANUS MAP OF 1511\n\nThe fact is, this matter does not rest in supposition only, for the\nthing has undoubtedly happened. The map of Sylvanus,[113] 1511, brings\nthe Gulf of St. Lawrence and surroundings as an insular body almost as\nnear Ireland as are many of the presentations of Brazil Island on older\nmaps. He shows in front a single large island; a square gulf behind it;\na bent shore line forming the border on the north, west, and south;\nand two gaps well representing the Straits of Belle Isle and Cabot.\nThe names given are Terra Laboratorum and Regalis Domus. Nobody doubts\nthat it illustrates the St. Lawrence Gulf region, though there has been\nmuch speculation as to what unknown explorer has had his discoveries\ncommemorated here, thirteen years before the first voyage of Cartier.\nWhy should not a like episode of discovery and imperfect record have\nhappened at a still earlier date?\n\nIt is not to be supposed that Brazil Island was generally conceived\nof by intelligent persons as no farther at sea than it appears on\nthe map of Dalorto, 1325, and divers later ones. Peasantry and\nfisher folk might, indeed, confuse it with the mythical Isle of the\nUndying--accessible only to a few chosen ones but vanishing from\nordinary mortal gaze--and thus account for Brazil\u2019s elusiveness, though\nso near at hand; but the sturdy explorers of Bristol[114] who kept\nsailing westward in search of the island, before and after Columbus,\nsometimes at least being away on this quest for many months together,\nmust often have passed over the very site given by Dalorto and far\nbeyond. They were looking for solid earth and rock and must have\nbeen convinced that the real Brazil was to be found in remoter seas.\nAlso, during a great part of the period in which Brazil appeared on\nthe maps off the Blaskets and Limerick and unduly close to Ireland,\nItalian traders were habitually following the Irish western coast and\ntrafficking in that port and others and must often have been blown out,\nor sailed out by choice, far enough for a landing on the island if it\nhad actually been where Dalorto and others pictured it. The total lack\nof any such happening must have been convincing to all except devotees\nof the occult and those given over blindly to seashore tradition. No\ndoubt the far westward showing of the fifteenth-century Catalan and\nthe much later Nicolay and Zaltieri maps accorded with the general\nexpectation of thoughtful and well-informed navigators.\n\n\nOMISSION OF THE NAME IN NORSE AND IRISH RECORDS\n\nIt may seem strange that the Norse sagas do not mention Brazil by that\nname, though its relation to the Scandinavian colony of Greenland is\nmade so conspicuous on the Catalan fifteenth-century map above referred\nto; also that there is no distinct Irish record of any voyage to Brazil\nas such, though the western ports of Ireland were natural points of\ndeparture and return for western voyages and though voyages to a far\nwestern Great Ireland are reported by the Norse from Irish sources.\nPerhaps there is no quite satisfactory answer to this. All narratives\nof the kind are fragmentary and more or less mythical, and the name\nBrazil may often have been used in the reports of Irish explorers,\nas it certainly was later the especial goal of the English, without\nhaving left any other trace than the name on the map and such hints as\nwe have mentioned. The Norse seem to have adhered to their own names\nMarkland and Vinland, only mentioning Great Ireland incidentally in\nthe same neighborhood and Brazil not at all unless the delineation of\nthe Catalan map be of their suggestion; but no really strong adverse\nargument can be founded on these matters of nomenclature and omission\nwhere all references and records are so meager.\n\nThere can be no certainty; but from the evidence at hand it seems\nlikely that the part of America indicated, i. e. Newfoundland and\nneighboring shores, was visited very early by Irish-speaking people,\nwho gave it the commendatory name Brazil. Naturally one inclines to\nascribe such an unremitting westward push to the powerful religious\nimpulsion which, according to Dicuil, carried Irishmen to Iceland in\nthe latter part of the eighth century and even bore them on, it is\nreported, some two hundred miles beyond it. The date, however, may\nhave been much later. Yet it must have preceded Dalorto\u2019s map of 1325,\nwhereon Brazil first appears by name.\n\nOf evidence on the ground there is nothing; but what have we now to\nshow even for the perfectly attested visits to the same region of\nCabot and Cortereal? Their case rests on maps, governmental entries,\nand contemporary correspondence, luckily preserved. Earlier visits to\nBrazil have no epistles, no entries, to show but must rely on the maps\nand the general tradition in the British islands of such a western\nregion across at least a part of the great sea.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V\n\nTHE ISLAND OF THE SEVEN CITIES\n\n\nThe mythical islands of the Atlantic (_les \u00eeles fantastiques_) on the\nold maps have had divers origins, instructive to study. Perhaps only\none of them derives its name and being directly from a real human\nepisode of a twilight period in history.\n\nWhen the Moors descended on Spain in 711, routed King Roderick\u2019s army\nbeside the Guadalete, and rapidly overran the Iberian Peninsula, it was\nmost natural, indeed nearly inevitable, that some Christian fugitives\nshould continue their flight from the seaboard to accessible islands\nalready known or rumored, or even desperately commit themselves in\nblindness to the remoter mysteries of the ocean. Such an event would\nafford a fabric for the embroidery of later fancy. A part of this has\nbeen preserved by record; and it is curious to watch the development of\nthe story, which takes several forms, not differing widely, however,\none from another.\n\n\nTHE ISLAND OF BRAZIL\n\nWhen Pedro de Ayala, Spanish Ambassador to Great Britain, found\noccasion in 1498 to report English exploring activities to Ferdinand\nand Isabella, he wrote:\n\n The people of Bristol have, for the last seven years, sent out\n every year two, three, or four light ships (caravels) in search\n of the island of Brasil and the seven cities.[115]\n\nThere is indeed one well-attested voyage of 1480 conducted by\nwell-known navigators, seeking this insular Brazil, and it was not the\nearliest.\n\nThe first appearance of that island thus far reported, as we have seen\nin the preceding chapter, is on the map of Dalorto[116] (dated 1325;\nFig. 4) as a disc of land well at sea, westward from Hibernian Munster;\nbut the Catalan map of 1375[117] (Fig. 5) and at least one other[118]\nturn the disc into a ring surrounding a body of water which is studded\nwith small islands--apparently nine in the Catalan map photographically\nreproduced by Nordenski\u00f6ld, though Dr. Kretschmer draws seven on\nthe other. These miniature islands have sometimes been thought[119]\nto represent the seven cities of the old legend; but islets are not\ncities, and there seems no reason why each city should require an\nislet. However, the coincidence of number, exact or approximate, is\nsuggestive.\n\n\nANTILLIA\n\nAntillia (variously spelled) was a home for the elusive cities more\nfavored than Brazil by cartography and tradition. In 1474 Toscanelli, a\ncosmographer of Florence, being consulted by Christopher Columbus as to\nthe prospects of a westward voyage, sent him a copy of a letter which\nhe had written to a friend in the service of the King of Portugal. Its\nauthenticity has been questioned, but it is still believed in by the\nmajority of inquirers and may be accepted provisionally. In it occurs\nthis passage:\n\n From the island Antilia, which you call the seven cities, and\n whereof you have some knowledge, to the most noble island of\n Cipango [Japan], are ten spaces, which make 2,500 miles.[120]\n\nThe name Antillia had appeared on the maps much earlier. As Atilae,\nor Atulae, it is doubtfully found in an inscription on that of the\nPizigani (1367;[121] Fig. 2), identifying a \u201cshore,\u201d not drawn, on\nwhich a colossal statue of warning had been erected. The location seems\nto be somewhere in the region where Corvo of the Azores should appear.\n\nWe meet the island name, for the first time unmistakably, on the map\nof Beccario (Becharius) of 1435[122] (Fig. 20). It is applied to the\nchief of a group of four large islands, comparable to nothing actually\nin the western Atlantic except the Greater Antilles, or three of them\nwith Florida (Bimini). They are collectively designated \u201cInsulle a Novo\nRepte\u201d--the \u201cNewly Reported Islands.\u201d Antillia itself is shown as an\nelongated quadrilateral having its sides indented by seven two-lobed\nbays of identical form, beside another and larger bay in the southern\nend. Several subsequent maps repeat the delineation with little change,\nand the map of Benincasa (1482;[123] Fig. 22) supplies local names for\nthe bays or the regions adjoining excepting only the lowest but one on\nthe eastern side, which bay is opposite the middle of the island name\nAntillia. The other names as read by Dr. Kretschmer are Aira, Ansalli,\nAnsodi, Con, Anhuib, Ansesseli, and Ansolli. It will be observed\nthat five of them borrow the first syllable of Antillia. Nobody has\nexplained these names, and they seem mere products of linguistic fancy.\nBut again the coincidence in number is impressive, although somewhat\noffset by the fact that the next largest island in the group, Saluaga,\nhas a similar arrangement of five bays of like form and carries the\nnames, similarly applied, of Arahas, Duchal, Imada, Nom, and Consilla.\nThey can hardly be extra bishops\u2019 towns. At least we are in the\ndark about them. The anonymous map sometimes attributed to 1424 and\npreserved at Weimar[124] shows in photographic copy traces of names, or\nat least letters, on the part of Antillia which it represents. Its true\ndate is believed to be about that of Benincasa\u2019s map above cited. But\nthe markings do not seem to be identical and are very meager.\n\n\nTHE LEGENDARY HOME OF PORTUGUESE REFUGEES\n\nHowever, there can be no doubt of Toscanelli\u2019s meaning at an earlier\ndate in the passage quoted. The same is true of Behaim\u2019s globe (1492),\nthough he discards the accepted form of Antillia. He appends a long\ninscription, translated by Ravenstein as follows:\n\n In the year 734 of Christ, when the whole of Spain had been won\n by the heathen (Moors) of Africa, the above island Antilia,\n called Septe citade (Seven cities), was inhabited by an\n archbishop from the Porto in Portugal, with six other bishops,\n and other Christians, men and women, who had fled thither from\n Spain, by ship, together with their cattle, belongings, and\n goods. 1414 a ship from Spain got nighest it without being\n endangered.[125]\n\nAgain, in Ruysch\u2019s map of 1508 there is \u201ca large island in the middle\nof the Atlantic Ocean between Lat. N. 37\u00b0 and 40\u00b0. It is called Antilia\nInsula, and a long legend asserts that it had been discovered long ago\nby the Spaniards, whose last Gothic king, Roderik, had taken refuge\nthere from the invasion of the Barbarians.\u201d[126]\n\nFerdinand Columbus, living between 1488 and 1539, says that some\nPortuguese cartographers had located\n\n Antilla ... not ... above 200 leagues due west from the\n Canaries and Azores, which they conclude to be certainly the\n island of the seven cities, peopled by the Portuguese at the\n time that Spain was conquered by the Moors in the year 714. At\n which time they say, seven bishops with their people embark\u2019d\n and sailed to this island, where each of them built a city; and\n to the end none of their people might think of returning to\n Spain, they burnt the ships, tackle and all things necessary\n for sailing. Some Portuguese discoursing about this island,\n there were those that affirmed several Portuguese had gone to\n it, who could not find the way to it again.[127]\n\nHe relates particularly how \u201cin the time of Henry infant of Portugal\n[perhaps about 1430], a Portuguese ship was drove by stress of weather\nto this island Antilla.\u201d The crew went to church with the islanders but\nwere afraid of being detained and hurried back to Portugal. The Prince\nheard their story and ordered them to return to the island, but they\nescaped from him and were not found again. It is said that of the sand\ngathered on Antillia for the cook room a third part was pure gold.\n\nGalvano tells of a still later visit; or possibly it is only another\nversion of the same:\n\n In this yeere also, 1447, it happened that there came a\n Portugall ship through the streight of Gibraltar; and being\n taken with a great tempest, was forced to runne westwards\n more then willingly the men would, and at last they fell upon\n an Island which had seven cities, and the people spake the\n Portugall toong, and they demanded if the Moors did yet trouble\n Spaine, whence they had fled for the losse which they received\n by the death of the king of Spaine, Don Roderigo.\n\n The boateswaine of the ship brought home a little of the sand,\n and sold it unto a goldsmith of Lisbon, out of the which he had\n a good quantitie of gold.\n\n Don Pedro understanding this, being then governour of the\n realme, caused all the things thus brought home, and made\n knowne, to be recorded in the house of justice.\n\n There be some that thinke, that those Islands whereunto\n the Portugals were thus driven, were the Antiles, or Newe\n Spaine.[128]\n\n\nANOTHER ACCOUNT\n\nThe Portuguese historian Faria y Sousa has yet another version.\nAccording to Stevens\u2019 translation:\n\n After Roderick\u2019s defeat the Moors spread themselves over all\n the province, committing inhuman barbarities. * * * The chief\n resistance was at Merida. The defendants, many of whom were\n Portuguese, that being the Supreme Tribunal of Lusitania, were\n commanded by Sacaru, a noble Goth. Many brave actions passed\n at the siege, but at length there being no hopes of relief and\n provisions failing, the town was surrendered upon articles.\n The commander of the Lusitanians, traversing Portugal, came to\n a seaport town, where, collecting a good number of ships, he\n put to sea, but to which part of the world they were carried\n does not appear. There is an ancient fable of an island called\n Antilla in the western ocean, inhabited by Portuguese, but it\n could never yet be found, and therefore we will leave it until\n such time as it is discovered, but to this place our author\n supposes these Portugals to have been driven.[129]\n\nIt is plain that Captain Stevens paraphrases with comments rather than\ntranslates. The original[130] avers that the fugitives made sail for\nthe Fortunate Islands (the Canaries), in order that they might preserve\nsome remnants of the Spanish race, but were carried elsewhere. It also\nspecifies that the legendary island which they are supposed to have\nreached is inhabited by Portuguese and contains seven cities--_tiene\nsiete cividades_.\n\nThis last account lacks positive mention of the emigrating bishops and\nfor the first time names a definite though rather remote goal as aimed\nat by their effort. But the movement from Merida is well accounted for,\nand a trusted military commander would seem a natural leader for such\nan enterprise of wholesale escape. The bishops, implied by the seven\ncities, might well gather to him at Oporto or be picked up on the way.\nOn the whole it seems the most easily believable version of the story;\nthough of course it does not necessarily follow that they really chose\nany land so remote as Teneriffe and its neighbors--if they knew of\nthem--for a new abiding place. Of course the continuance of Portuguese\nlanguage and civilization and the persistence of seven isolated towns\nthrough so many centuries must be ranked with the auriferous sands of\nAntillia as late products of the dreaming Iberian brain.\n\n\nMYTHICAL LOCATION OF THE SEVEN CITIES ON THE MAINLAND\n\nThe citations thus far given identify the Island of the Seven Cities\nwith some legendary, but generally believed-in patch of land afar out\nin the ocean--sometimes with the Island of Brazil, more often with\nAntillia. But the earliest of them dates six or seven centuries after\nthe supposed fact, and it may well be that a distinction was made\nat first, which became lost afterward by blending. In a still later\nstage of development the name of the Seven Cities becomes separate\nand strangely migratory, not avoiding even the mainland. We know, for\ninstance, what power the Seven Cities of Cibola had to draw Coronado\nand his followers northward through the mountains and deserts of our\nstill arid Southwest until all that was real of them stood revealed\nas the even then antiquated and rather uncleanly terraced villages of\nsun-dried brick which are picturesquely familiar on railway folders and\nin the pages of illustrated magazines.\n\nBut this was not the only part of North America on which the romantic\nmyth alighted. The British Museum contains in MS. 2803 of the Egerton\ncollection an anonymous world map,[131] (Fig. 8), forming part of a\nportolan atlas attributed by conjecture to 1508, which shows, somewhat\nas in La Cosa\u2019s map of 1500, the Atlantic coast distorted to a nearly\nwestward trend, with the Seven Cities (Septem Civitates), represented\nby conventional indications of miters, scattered along a seaboard\ntract from a point considerably west of \u201cterra de los bacalos\u201d and\nthe Bay of Fundy to a point nearly opposite the western end of Cuba.\nThe cartographer\u2019s ideas of geography were exceedingly vague, but\napparently he conceived of Portuguese episcopal domination for the\ncoastal country between lower New England and Florida as we know them\nnow. Perhaps, however, he merely meant to set down his cities somewhere\non the eastern shore of temperate North America and has strewn them\nalong at convenience.\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 8--Section of the world map in the portolan atlas\nof about 1508 known as Egerton MS. 2803 in the British Museum, placing\nthe Seven Cities in North America and the name \u201cAntiglia\u201d in South\nAmerica. (After Stevenson\u2019s photographic facsimile.)]\n\nIncidentally, this map is also interesting as one of a few which\ninscribe Antillia, with slight changes of orthography, on some part of\nthe mainland of South America. In this instance \u201cAntiglia\u201d occupies a\ntract of the northwestern coastal country apparently corresponding to\ncontiguous portions of Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.\n\n\nLATER REAPPEARANCE AS AN ISLAND\n\nBut the Island of the Seven Cities appeared as such on other maps and\nby this name only. Perhaps its most salient showing is on Desceliers\u2019\nfine map of 1546[132] (Fig. 9), that entertaining repository of isles\nwhich are more than dubious and names which are fantastic. He presents\nit off the American coast about a third as far as the Bermudas and\nmidway from Cape Breton to the Bay of Fundy. The size is considerable,\nthe outline being deeply embayed on several sides and hence very\nirregular, almost as much so as Celebes. Two islets lie near two of its\nprojecting peninsulas. It bears a brief inscription giving the name\nSete Cidades and indicating that it belongs to Portugal.\n\nThis choice of location would have been more venturesome a century\nlater. In 1546 there had been some exploring and much fishing in these\nwaters but no determined settlement near them, and they were hardly\nyet familiar. However, the Ortelius map of 1570[133] (Fig. 10), and\nthe Mercator map of 1587[134] find it more prudent to move this island\nfarther south and farther out to sea, reducing its area, but retaining\nits traditional name. Not long after this, except for a local name on\nSt. Michaels of the Azores, the Seven Cities disappear from geography.\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 9--Section of the Desceliers map of 1546 showing\nthe Island of Seven Cities and various other legendary islands. (After\nKretschmer\u2019s hand-copied reproduction.) The names are mostly upside\ndown because on the original south is at the top.]\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 10--Section of Ortelius\u2019 world map of 1570 showing,\nof the legendary islands and regions discussed in the present work, the\nIsland of Seven Cities (\u201cSept cites\u201d), St. Brendan\u2019s Islands, Brazil,\nVlaenderen, Green Island (Y. Verdo), Estotiland, Drogio, Frisland,\nIslands of Demons, La Emperadada, and Grocland. (After Nordenski\u00f6ld\u2019s\nphotographic facsimile.)]\n\n\nOCCURRENCE OF THE NAME IN THE AZORES\n\nThe exception noted is well worth considering. Just as Terceira retains\nher medieval name of Brazil to designate one headland, St. Michaels has\nstill its valley of the Seven Cities. Brown\u2019s guidebook presents the\nfact very casually: \u201cSt. Michaels. Ponta Delgada. Brown\u2019s Hotel. About\nten people. Among the chief sights are the lava beds coming from Sete\nCidades.... At Sete Cidades, which is worth a visit, there is a great\ncrater with two lakes at the bottom, one of which appears to be green,\nthe other blue.\u201d[135]\n\nThis na\u00efve incuriousness in the presence of something so significant\nof course has not been shared by a different order of observers.\nBuache[136] found here as he thought the genuine and only Seven\nCities of the legend. Humboldt[137] opposed this view with a reminder\nof the Seven Cities of Cibola. But it is fair to remember that New\nMexico was quite impossible for the Portuguese of 711 or thereabout,\nwhereas St. Michaels Island offered an accessible and tempting place\nof refuge. The name could not have been derived from settlement in\nthe former; but it might really be derived from settlement in the\nlatter. Granting that the fugitives might not be able to maintain\nthemselves there in safety for many years after the Arabs had begun\ntheir tentative and always uneasy incursions into the western Sea\nof Darkness, it still may be that the town or towns of this hidden\nisland valley might endure long enough and seem imposing enough and\nbe visited often enough by Christians from the mainland to supply the\nnucleus of the most picturesque and adventurous of legends; and this\ntale might follow any later migration into the unknown, or survive and\nfind new abiding places for the name and fancy long after the original\ncolony--archbishop and bishops and congregations, military commanders,\nand mailed soldiery--had all been somehow destroyed or had melted apart\nand drifted away. All that remains certain is the continued presence of\nthe name of the Seven Cities on that spot.\n\nSome ruins are said to have marked it formerly, but very little\nis visible now, if we may trust the following description by an\nintelligent visitor in the middle of the last century:\n\n Emerging from these sunken lanes, so peculiar to the island\n of St. Michael\u2019s, we come to the green hills which border the\n village and the valley of the Seven Cities.... From these dull\n evergreen mountains, stretching before us without apparent end,\n we speedily had an unexpected change. Suddenly the mountain\n track up which we were climbing ended on the edge of a vast\n precipice, hitherto entirely concealed, and at a moment\u2019s\n transition disclosed a wide and deeply sunk valley with a\n scattered village and a blue lake. The hills which hemmed\n them in were bold and precipitous, tent-shaped, rounded and\n serrated. Others swept in soft and gentle lines into a little\n plain where the small village was nestled by the water side.\n The lake was of the deepest blue and so calm that a sea bird\n skimming over its surface seemed two, so perfect was its image\n in the water. The clouds above were floating in this very deep\n lake, and the inverted tops of the hills on every side were\n perfectly reflected in its bosom. A few women on the shore\n seemed rooted there, so steady were their reflections in the\n water, and the cattle standing in the shallows stood like\n cattle in a picture.... The sides slope gradually from this\n part of the valley into the level ground where the village\n stands. It is a small collection of cottages, without a church\n or a wineshop or a store of any kind, and at the time I entered\n it was enveloped in clouds of wood smoke which rose from the\n fires used in the process of bleaching cloth. This and clothes\n washing are the chief occupations of the villagers....\n\n A portion of the lake is separated from the larger one by a\n narrow causeway. It is singular to notice the difference made\n in the two pieces of water by this small embankment; for, while\n the large lake is clear and crystalline, this is thick, green,\n and muddy, and as gloomy as the Dead Sea, with no clouds or\n birds or bright sky reflected in it.[138]\n\nPerhaps a little excavating archeology might not be amiss in the\nneighborhood of the causeway and the green dead lakelet. But at least\nit is satisfactory to have a good external account of the only site\nin the world, so far as I know, which still bears the legendary name.\nAs elsewhere used, this name has certainly wandered widely and been\naffixed to many places. Whether any of these represent real refuges\nof the original emigrants or their descendants or others like them\nno one can quite certainly say; but there is no evidence for it, and\nthe probabilities are against it. Certainly no Spanish nor Portuguese\ncommunity, of Moorish or of any pre-Columbian times, established itself\nin western lands for any great period to make good the aspiration of\nthe fugitives of Merida.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI\n\nTHE PROBLEM OF MAYDA\n\n\nOf all the legendary islands and island names on the medieval maps,\nMayda has been the most enduring. The shape of the island has generally\napproximated a crescent; its site most often has been far west of lower\nBrittany and more or less nearly southwest of Ireland; the spelling\nof the name sometimes has varied to Maida, Mayd, Mayde, Asmaida, or\nAsmayda. The island had other names also earlier and later and between\ntimes, but the identity is fairly clear. As a geographical item it\nis very persistent indeed. Humboldt about 1836 remarked that, out of\neleven such islands which he might mention, only two, Mayda and Brazil\nRock, maintain themselves on modern charts.[139] In a note he instances\nthe world map of John Purdy of 1834. However, this was not the end; for\na relief map published in Chicago and bearing a notice of copyright of\n1906 exhibits Mayda. Possibly this is intended to have an educational\nand historic bearing; but it seems to be shown in simple credulity, a\ncrowning instance of cartographic conservation.\n\n\nPOSSIBLE ARABIC ORIGIN OF NAME\n\nIf Mayda may, therefore, be said to belong in a sense to the twentieth\ncentury, it is none the less very old, and the name has sometimes been\nascribed to an Arabic origin. Not very long after their conquest of\nSpain the Moors certainly sailed the eastern Atlantic quite freely\nand may well have extended their voyages into its middle waters and\nindefinitely beyond. They named some islands of the Azores, as would\nappear from Edrisi\u2019s treatise and other productions; but these names\ndid not adhere unless in free translation. The name Mayda was not\none of those that have come down to us in their writings or on their\nmaps, and its origin remains unexplained. It is unlike all the other\nnames in the sea. Perhaps the Arabic impression is strengthened by the\nform Asmaidas, under which it appears (this is nearly or quite its\nfirst appearance) on the map of the New World in the 1513 edition of\nPtolemy (Fig. 11).[140] But any possible significance vanishes from\nthe prefixed syllable when we find the same map turning Gomera into\nAgomera, Madeira into Amadera, and Brazil into Obrassil. Evidently\nthis map-maker had a fancy for superfluous vowels as a beginning of his\nisland names. He may have been led into it by the common practice of\nprefixing \u201cI\u201d or the alternative \u201cY\u201d (meaning Insula, Isola, Ilha, or\nInnis) instead of writing out the word for island in one language or\nanother.\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 11--Section of the map of the New World in the 1513\nedition of Ptolemy showing the islands of Mayda (asmaidas) and Brazil\n(obrassil). (After Kretschmer\u2019s hand-copied reproduction.)]\n\nHowever, there is a recorded Arabic association of this particular\nisland under another name. It had been generally called Mam or Man,\nand occasionally other names, for more than a century before it was\ncalled Mayda. Perhaps the oldest name of all is Brazir, by which it\nappears on the map of 1367 of the Pizigani brothers (Fig. 2),[141] a\nform evidently modified from Brazil and shared with the round island\nof that name then already more than forty years old on the charts.\nThe Brazil which we specially have to do with bears roughly and\napproximately the crescent form, which later became usually more neat\nand conventionalized under the name Man or Mayda. It appears south (or\nrather a little west of south) of the circular Brazil, which is, as\nusual, west of southern Ireland and a little south of west of Limerick.\nThe crescent island is also almost exactly in the latitude of southern\nBrittany, taking a point a little below the Isle de Sein, which still\nbears that name. In this position there may be indications of relation\nwith both Brittany and Ireland. The former relation is pictorially\nattested by three Breton ships. One of them is shown returning to the\nmouth of the Loire. A second has barely escaped from the neighborhood\nof the fateful island. A third is being drawn down stern foremost by\na very aggressive decapod, which drags overboard one of the crew;\nperhaps she has already shattered herself on the rocks, offering the\nopportunity of such capture in her disabled state. A dragon flies by\nwith another seaman, apparently snatched from the submerging deck.\nBlurred and confused inscriptions in strange transitional Latin seem\nto warn us of the special dangers of navigation in this quarter; the\nstaving of holes in ships, the tawny monsters, known to the Arabs,\nwhich rise from the depths, the dragons that come flying to devour. The\nwords \u201cArabe\u201d and \u201cArabour\u201d are readily decipherable; so is \u201cdragones.\u201d\nPerhaps there is no statement that Arabs have been to that island,\nfor their peculiar experience may belong to some other quarter of the\nglobe; but the verbal association is surely significant. The name\nBentusla (Bentufla?) applied to this crescent island by Bianco in his\nmap of 1448[142] has sometimes been thought to have an Arabic origin;\nbut one would not feel safe in citing this as absolute corroboration.\nThe Breton character of the ships, however, may be gathered (as well as\nfrom their direction and behavior) from the barred ensigns which they\ncarry, recalling the barred standard set up at Nantes of Brittany, in\nDulcert\u2019s map of 1339,[143] just as the _fleur-de-lis_ is planted by\nhim at Paris.\n\n\nMAYDA AND THE ISLE OF MAN\n\nWe have, then, in this fourteenth-century island a direct recorded\nassociation with the Arabs, followed long after by what have been\nthought to be Arabic names. We have also a pictorial and cartographical\nconnection with Brittany and also an indication of relations with\nIreland. This last is fortified by its next and, except Mayda, its most\nlasting name.\n\nThe great Catalan map of 1375[144] (Fig. 5) calls it Mam, which should\ndoubtless be read as Man, for it was common to treat \u201cm\u201d and \u201cn\u201d as\ninterchangeable, no less than \u201cu\u201d and \u201cv\u201d or \u201ci\u201d and \u201cy.\u201d Thus Pareto\u2019s\nmap of 1455[145] (Fig. 21) turns the Latin \u201chanc\u201d into \u201chamc\u201d and\n\u201cAragon\u201d into \u201cAragom.\u201d On some of the early maps, e. g. that of\nJuan da Napoli (fifteenth century),[146] the proper spelling \u201cMan\u201d is\nretained, just as it is retained and has been ever since early Celtic\ndays, in the name of the home of \u201cthe little Manx nation\u201d in the Irish\nSea. That the same name should be carried farther afield and applied\nto a remote island of the Atlantic Ocean is quite in accordance with\nthe natural course of things and the general experience of mankind.\nNo doubt the name Man might be derived from other sources, but the\nchances are in this instance that the Irish people whose navigators\nfound Brazil Island (or imagined it, if you please) did the same favor\nfor the crescent-shaped \u201cMan,\u201d quite overriding for a hundred years any\npreceding or competing titles.\n\nAlmost immediately there was some competition, for the Pinelli map\nof 1384[147] calls it Jonzele (possibly to be read I Onzele, a word\nwhich has an Italian look but is of no certain derivation), reducing\nthe delineation of the island to a mere shred, bringing Brazil close\nto it, and giving the pair a more northern and more inshore location.\nAnother map of about the same period follows this lead, but there\nthe divergence ended. Soleri of 1385[148] reverted to the former\nrepresentation; and about the opening of the fifteenth century the\nregular showing of the pair was established--Brazil and Man, circle\nand crescent, by those names and in approximately the locations and\nrelative position first stated.\n\nIt is true that the crescent island is sometimes represented without\nany name, as though it were well enough known to make a name\nunnecessary. But during the fifteenth century, when it is called\nanything, with a bare exception or two, it is called Man. Its shape and\ngeneral location are substantially those of the Catalan map of 1375 on\nthe maps of Juan da Napoli; Giraldi, 1426;[149] Beccario, 1426[150]\nand 1435[151] (Fig. 20); Bianco, 1436 and 1448;[152] Benincasa,\n1467[153] and 1482[154] (Fig. 22); Roselli, 1468;[155] the Weimar map,\n(probably) about 1481;[156] Freducci, 1497;[157] and others--arguing\nsurely a robust and confident tradition.\n\n\nRESUMPTION OF NAME \u201cMAYDA\u201d\n\nOn sixteenth-century maps this island is still generally presented,\nthough lacking on those of Ruysch, 1508;[158] Coppo, 1528[159] (Fig.\n13); and Ribero, 1529;[160] but suddenly and almost completely the\nname Mayda in its various forms takes the place of Man, a substitution\nquite unaccounted for. There are hardly enough instances of survival of\nthe older name to be worth mentioning. Was there some resuscitation of\nold records or charts, now lost again, which thus overcame the Celtic\nclaim and supplied an Arabic or at least a quite alien and unusual\ndesignation? The little mystery is not likely ever to be cleared up.\nThe previously mentioned map from the Ptolemy edition of 1513 (Fig.\n11), which perhaps first introduces it, also presents several other\ninnovations in departing from the crescent form and shifting the island\na degree or two southward; and these changes surely seem to hint at\nsome fresh information. That there was no supposed change of identity\nis shown by the fact that succeeding cartographers down to and beyond\nthe middle of that century revert generally to the established crescent\nform and to nearly the same place in the ocean previously occupied by\nMan, while applying the new name Mayda. Thus an anonymous Portuguese\nmap of 1519 or 1520,[161] reproduced by Kretschmer, and the graduated\nand numbered map of Prunes, 1553[162] (Fig. 12), concur in placing\nMayda or Mayd at about latitude 48\u00b0 N., the latitude of Quimper,\nBrittany, and almost exactly the same as that given by the Pizigani to\nthe crescent island on its first appearance on the maps as a clearly\nrecognizable entity.\n\n\nTRANSFERENCE OF MAYDA TO AMERICAN WATERS\n\nThe maps made after the world had become more or less familiarized\nwith the details of modern discoveries, in this case as in most others\nof its kind, indicate little except the dying out of old traditions,\nwhatever they may have been, and haphazard or conventional substitution\nof locations and forms or the influence of the new geographic facts\nand theories. Thus Desceliers\u2019 map of 1546[163] (Fig. 9), a museum of\nstrangely-named sea islands, makes the latitude of \u201cMaidas\u201d 47\u00b0 and\nthe longitude that of St. Michaels, but not long afterward Nicolay\n(1560;[164] Fig. 6) and Zaltieri (1566)[165] transferred the island to\nNewfoundland waters. Nicolay calls it \u201cI man orbolunda,\u201d and places\nit just south of the Strait of Belle Isle. It is accompanied by Green\nIsland and by Brazil, a little farther out on the Grand Banks where the\nVirgin Rocks may still be found at low tide. Taken together these three\nislands look like parts of a disintegrated Newfoundland. Zaltieri of\n1566 gives Maida by that name more nearly the same outward location,\nthough it is still distinctly American. Nicolay\u2019s name \u201corbolunda\u201d\nis one of the many puzzling things connected with this island. His\n\u201cMan\u201d may be either a reversion to the fifteenth-century name, or,\nmore likely, a modification of, or error in copying from Gastaldi\u2019s\nmap-illustration[166] of Ramusio about ten years previously, which\nallots the same inclement site to an \u201cisola de demoni\u201d and depicts the\nlittle capering devils in wait there for their prey. It is likely,\nthough, that Gastaldi had no thought of identifying it with Mayda. But\nthe neighborhood of the island of Brazil and Green Island seem nearly\nconclusive evidence that Nicolay intended I Man for Mayda and had\nascribed to it, by reason of evil association, the supposed attributes\nof Gastaldi\u2019s island. However, Ramusio himself in 1566,[167] the same\nyear as Zaltieri, set his \u201cMan\u201d south of Brazil off the coast of\nIreland. The only really important contributions of these maps are\ntheir testimony to the continued diabolical reports of Mayda, or Man,\nand the apparent conviction of Nicolay and Zaltieri that the island was\nafter all American; a suggestion that could have had no meaning and no\nsupport in the times when America was unrecognized. Evidently these\nmap-makers did not regard the inadequate western longitude of Mayda, or\nMan, in the older maps as a formidable objection. Presumably they were\nwell aware how many of the insular oceanic distances as shown by these\nforerunners needed stretching in the light of later discovery. But\ntheir views with regard to an American Mayda seem to have ended with\nthem, so far as map representation is concerned.\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 12--Section of the Prunes map of 1553 showing\nMayda (in latitude 48\u00b0), Brazil, and Estotiland (\u201cEsthlanda\u201d). (After\nKretschmer\u2019s hand-copied reproduction.)]\n\n\nPOSSIBLE IDENTITY OF VLAENDEREN ISLAND WITH MAYDA\n\nThere is another curious and rather mystifying episodical divergence\nin the cartography of that period, this time on the part of the great\ngeographers Ortelius and Mercator in their respective series of maps\nduring the latter part of the sixteenth century, for example Ortelius\nof 1570[168] and Mercator of 1587.[169] Ortelius presents as Vlaenderen\nan oceanic island which certainly seems intended for Mayda (Fig. 10),\nwhile Mercator shows Vlaenderen as lying about half-way between Brazil\nand the usual site of Maida. The word has a Dutch or Flemish look. Of\ncourse there must be some explanation of it, but this is unknown to the\nwriter. The natural inference would be that some skipper of the Low\nCountries thought he had happened upon it and reported accordingly.\nThis was what occurred in the case of Negra\u2019s Rock, now held to be\nwholly fictitious though shown in many maps; and also in the case of\nthe sunken land of Buss, now generally recognized as real and as a part\nof Greenland but recorded and delineated in the wrong place by an error\nof observation. It may be that Ortelius believed in a rediscovery of\nMayda and that for some reason it should have the name latest given.\nBut, in spite of the prestige of these great names, Vlaenderen did not\ncontinue on the maps, while Mayda did, though in a rather capricious\nway.\n\n\nPERSISTENCE OF MAYDA ON MAPS DOWN TO THE MODERN PERIOD\n\nThere would be little profit in listing the maps of the seventeenth,\neighteenth, and nineteenth centuries which persisted by inertia and\nconvention in the nearly stereotyped delineation of Mayda but, of\ncourse, with slight variations in location and name. Thus Nicolaas\nVischer in a map of Europe of 1670 (?)[170] shows \u201cL\u2019as Maidas\u201d in\nthe longitude of Madeira and the latitude of Brittany; a world map\nin Robert\u2019s \u201cAtlas Universel\u201d (1757)[171] gives \u201cI. Maida\u201d about the\nlongitude of Madeira and the latitude of Gascony; and on a chart of the\nAtlantic Ocean published in New York in 1814[172] \u201cMayda\u201d appears in\nlongitude 20\u00b0 W. and latitude 46\u00b0 N. But these representations have no\nsignificance except as to human continuity.\n\nThe evil reputation which was early established and seems to have hung\nabout the island in later stages, assimilating the icy clashings and\nnoises and terrors of the north as it had previously incorporated the\nmonstrous fears of a warmer part of the ocean, is surely a curious\nphenomenon. I have fancied it may be responsible for the probably quite\nimaginary Devil Rock, which appears in some relatively recent maps,\nperhaps as a kind of substitute for Mayda, much in the fashion that\nBrazil Rock took the place of Brazil Island when belief in the latter\nbecame difficult. The present view of the U. S. Hydrographic Office,\nas expressed on its charts, is that Negra\u2019s Rock, Devil Rock, Green\nIsland, or Rock, and all that tribe are unreal \u201cdangers,\u201d probably\nreported as the result of peculiar appearances of the water surface.\nWhether the possibility has been wholly eliminated of a lance of rock\njutting up to the surface from great depths and not yet officially\nrecognized, I will not presume to say; but it seems highly improbable\nthat there is anything of the sort in the North Atlantic Ocean except\nthe lonely and nearly submerged peak of Rockall, some 400 miles west of\nBritain, and the well-known oceanic groups and archipelagoes.\n\n\nPROBABLE BASIS OF FACT UNDERLYING THIS LEGENDARY ISLAND\n\nWhat was this island, then, which held its place in the maps during\nhalf a millennium and more, under two chief names and occasional\nsubstitutes, designations apparently received from so many different\npeoples? One cannot easily set it aside as a \u201cpeculiar appearance\nof the surface\u201d or as a mere figment of fancy. But there is nothing\nwestward or southwestward of the Azores except the Bermudas and\nthe capes and coast islands of America. The identification with\nsome outlying island of the Azores, as Corvo, for example, is an\nold hypothesis; and the grotesquery of that rocky islet seems to\nhave deeply impressed the minds of early navigators, lending some\ncountenance to the idea. But the Laurenziano map of 1351[173] and the\nBook of the Spanish Friar[174] show that all the islands of the Azores\ngroup were known before the middle of the fourteenth century, and\nCorvo in particular had been given the name which it still holds. Man,\nafterward Mayda, appears on many maps of the fifteenth century, which\nshow also the Azores in full. Perhaps this is not conclusive, for there\nare strange blunders and duplications on old maps; but it is at least\nhighly significant. If Man, or Mayda, were really Corvo or another\nisland of the Azores group, surely someone would have found it out in\nthe course of the fifteenth or sixteenth century, just as it came to\nbe perceived after a time that the Azores had been located too near\nto Europe and just as Bianco\u2019s duplication of the Azores in 1448 had\nfinally to be rejected. Mayda, if real, must have been something more\nremote and difficult to determine than Corvo.\n\nPerhaps Nicolay and Zaltieri were right in thinking that Mayda was\nAmerica, or at least was on the side of the Atlantic toward America.\nThe latitude generally chosen by the maps would then call for Avalon\nPeninsula, Newfoundland, often supposed to be insular in early days;\nor perhaps for Cape Breton Island, the next salient land feature. But\nthat is an uncertain reliance, for the observations of pre-Columbian\nnavigators would surely be rather haphazard, and they might naturally\njudge by similarity of climate. This would justify them in supposing\nthat a region really more southerly lay in the latitude of northern\nFrance--for example Cape Cod, which juts out conspicuously and is\ncurved and almost insular. Or by going farther south, although nearer\nEurope, they might thus indicate the Bermudas, the main island of which\nis given a crescent form on several relatively late maps. But we must\nnot lay too much stress on this last item, for divers other map islands\nwere modeled on this plan. We may be justified, then, in saying that\nMayda was probably west of the middle of the Atlantic and that Bermuda,\nCape Cod, or Cape Breton is as likely a candidate for identification as\nwe can name.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII\n\nGREENLAND OR GREEN ISLAND\n\n\nThe first account of Greenland given to the world, indeed the first\nmention of that region in literature, is by Adam of Bremen, an\necclesiastical official and geographical author.\n\n\nADAM OF BREMEN\u2019S ACCOUNT OF GREENLAND\n\nHe interviewed in 1069 the enterprising king Sweyn of Denmark, and\nacquired from him divers Scandinavian and other northern items which\nAdam embodied about 1076 in his work \u201cDescriptio Insularum Aquilonis,\u201d\nthe Description of the Northern Islands. Nansen quotes, with other\nmatter, the following passages:[175]\n\n ... On the north this ocean flows past the Orchades, thence\n endlessly around the circle of the earth, having on the left\n Hybernia, the home of the Scots, which is now called Ireland,\n and on the right the skerries of Nordmannia, and farther off\n the islands of Iceland and Greenland....\n\n Furthermore, there are many other islands in the great ocean,\n of which Greenland is not the least; it lies farther out in\n the ocean, opposite the mountains of Suedea, or the Riphean\n range. To this island, it is said, one can sail from the shore\n of Nortmannia [_sic_] in five or seven days, as likewise to\n Iceland. The people there are blue (\u201ccerulei\u201d, bluish-green)\n from the salt water; and from this the region takes its name.\n They live in a similar fashion to the Icelanders, except that\n they are more cruel and trouble seafarers by predatory attacks.\n To them also, as is reported, Christianity has lately been\n wafted.\n\nIt was in fact about seventy-five years since Leif, son of Eric the\nRed, according to the sagas, had effected that wafting from the\nChristian court of Norway to the still pagan Norsemen of his father\u2019s\nfar-western domain. For Adam clearly means these white people and not\nthe Eskimos, with whom they had not yet come in contact and of whom no\nwhisper had yet reached the European world unless it related to relics\nof former occupancy discerned on first landing. It is surely matter for\nastonishment to find the ruddy followers of hot-blooded Eric described\nas bluish-green and so conspicuous in this complexion that it gave\ntheir region its name. Perhaps there is no more curious instance to be\nfound of the inveterate human tendency to read into any unfamiliar name\nsome meaning that seems plausible.\n\nIt is not clear where Adam supposed Greenland to be located; perhaps\nhe, too, was not clear about the matter. The earlier of his two\npassages on the subject seems to call for something like the true\nlocation in the far west; but the later mention of the mountains of\nSweden has been understood by the most learned commentators to indicate\na site directly north of Norway. King Sweyn perhaps had a fairly good\nidea of the sailing courses for Iceland and Greenland, but his guest\nmay have assimilated the information rather confusedly. Adam seems\nconvinced that Greenland was a distinctly oceanic island, with no\nsuggestion of any near relation to any continent. In this respect he\ndiffers from certain maps of the fifteenth century with which we shall\npresently have to deal. We know now that the truth lies between these\nviews; that the highly glaciated mass which we name in its entirety\nGreenland is, indeed, an island and probably the largest of islands but\nan island with the aspect and attributes of a peninsula, being barely\nsevered from that polar archipelago which crowns our American mainland\nand being not very remote at one point from the mainland itself.\n\n\nITS INSULAR CHARACTER\n\nAdam\u2019s idea of oceanic insulation was accepted in many quarters, as\nthe maps disclose. Of course, they may not have derived it from him\nin all instances, directly or indirectly, but at least they shared\nit. Usually the name, slightly changed, becomes the equivalent \u201cGreen\nIsland\u201d in one or another of several languages. Thus, to take a very\nlate instance, the map of Coppo, 1528[176] (Fig. 13), discloses near\nthe true site of Greenland a mass of land elongated from east to west,\nbut clearly all at sea with no greater land near it, and labeled Isola\nVerde. There seems no room for doubt of the meaning or origin of this\nname. That any land found there should be an island of the sea was\nthe natural assumption of geographers at that time. Maps of the early\nsixteenth century generally show a scattering of islands south of North\nAmerica sometimes approaching an archipelago, sometimes more widely\ndistributed, and in either case being substitutes for what we now know\nas North America and its appendages.\n\n\nAS \u201cILLA VERDE\u201d ON THE CATALAN MAP OF 1480\n\nIn another well-known map[177] (Fig. 7), an unnamed cartographer,\nsaid to be Catalan, probably about 1480, delineates an elongated Illa\nVerde (using the Portuguese name for island), locating it southwest of\nIceland, which bears the name Fixlanda, but is easily identifiable by\nits outline and geographical features. His Illa Verde runs nearly north\nand south, approximating more closely than Coppo\u2019s island the true\ntrend of Greenland. It also by its greater bulk seems founded on more\nadequate information. It is equally at sea and remote from other land,\nexcept that off its concave southern end, with a narrow interval, lies\na large circular island named Brazil, our old mythical acquaintance of\nmedieval maps not often located so far westward but, as we have seen in\nChapter IV, apparently intended to represent the Gulf of St. Lawrence\nregion. These two islands strikingly resemble in general situation and\narrangement the Greenland and Estotiland (Labrador) in a map (Fig. 14)\nillustrating Torfaeus\u2019 early eighteenth century \u201cGronlandia,\u201d[178]\nexcept that the rounded outline of Estotiland is not completed, its\nproportional area is greater than \u201cBrazil,\u201d the strait between the\ntwo bodies of land is a little wider, and the lower end of Torfaeus\u2019\nGreenland is not made concave like that of Illa Verde. But again there\ncan be no doubt that the Illa Verde of the Catalan (if he were a\nCatalan) represents the Greenland of Adam of Bremen and the sagas.\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 13--Coppo\u2019s world map of 1528 showing Green Island\n(\u201cisola verde\u201d). (After Kretschmer\u2019s hand-copied reproduction.)]\n\n\nGREEN ISLAND ON SIXTEENTH-CENTURY MAPS\n\nTo the same origin, in a remoter sense, we may ascribe the rather\nlarge Insula Viridis of Sch\u00f6ner, 1520,[179] which is brought down to a\nlatitude between that of southern Ireland and that of northern Spain\nand something east of mid-ocean. It must seem that the map-maker had\nquite lost sight of any relation between this Latinized Green Island\nand the true Greenland of the northwest.\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 14--Bishop Thorl\u00e1ksson\u2019s map of Greenland 1606,\nshowing Estotiland as a part of America. Cf. with Fig. 18. (From\nTorfaeus\u2019 \u201cGronlandia antiqua,\u201d Copenhagen, 1706, in the library of the\nAmerican Geographical Society.)]\n\nThis is even more obviously true of Nicolay\u2019s map of 1560[180] (Fig.\n6), which carries Verde into the Newfoundland Banks, even nearer\nthan his Brazil to a broken-up Newfoundland; and of Zaltieri\u2019s map\nof 1566,[181] which plants Verde rather close to \u201cC. Ras\u201d (Cape\nRace), with only a narrow strip of water between. These cartographers\nundoubtedly indicated American habitats for their little island; but\nthey can have had no thought of confusing it with Greenland, which\nthey well knew and which Zaltieri distinctly shows as Grutlandia.\nThey would be far from admitting a common origin. Perhaps in most\nof such northern cases a conception like Coppo\u2019s of Greenland as\nan oceanic island is at the root of the derivation; but successive\ncopyings, modifications, and shiftings may have altered the area, form,\nand location, while the clue was gradually lost and only the name\nremained--hardly as a reminder, for it is of too general descriptive\napplication.\n\n\nVARIOUS \u201cGREEN ISLANDS:\u201d SHRINKAGE OF THE NAME\n\nThere is, indeed, one instance of a Green Island with which Greenland\ncan have had nothing whatever to do. Peter Martyr d\u2019Anghiera\u2019s sketch\nmap of 1511[182] shows a small tropical Isla Verde near Trinidad; it is\napparently Tobago. Doubtless its luxuriance of vegetation prompted the\nname.\n\nThis may have happened in other instances of warm climates or even in\ntemperate zones where grass and foliage grow freely; so that we in\nmany cases cannot distinguish on the maps the Green Islands, real or\nfanciful, which acquired their name as a remote legacy of Eric\u2019s land\nfrom those which were called \u201cgreen\u201d simply because they were green.\nBoth derivations may sometimes apply; but the islands of the far\nnorthwest bearing that name, like Coppo\u2019s island and the Catalan\u2019s Illa\nVerde, must naturally go into the former category.\n\nAs we have seen, Green Islands were scattered rather widely; but the\nname occurs most often in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in\nthe middle or eastern part of the ocean to indicate a small island,\nhaving Mayda (Vlaenderen) for its rather distant consort. Desceliers\nindeed, in 1546[183] (Fig. 9), shows it in the same longitude as\nthe tip of Labrador, but this is done by carrying Labrador too far\neastward. St. Brandan\u2019s Island is a neighbor on his map. Ortelius,\nin 1570[184] (Fig. 10) and Mercator, in 1587,[185] represent Y\nVerde west of Vlaenderen in the region north of the Azores. In the\neighteenth century it still held its ground west of France in the\neastern Atlantic as Isla Verde, Isla Verte, Ile Verte, Ilha Verde, and\nGreen Island. By the early part of the nineteenth century it had, after\nits kind, dwindled to Green Rock--Brazil Island similarly becoming\nBrazil Rock--as dubious rocks became easier to believe in than dubious\nislands. Perhaps the well-known actual instances of Rockall and the\nVirgin Rocks may have prompted credence in other spears and knolls of\nthe earth crust here and there reaching the surface.\n\nThe Hydrographic Office does not believe in any such Green Rock or\nGreen Island but supplies, in a letter to the writer, a mariner\u2019s yarn\nwhich is not without interest and may be evidence for the rock as far\nas it goes.\n\n\u201cCaptain Tulloch, of New Hampshire, states that an acquaintance of\nhis, Captain Coombs, of the ship _Pallas_, of Bath, Maine, in keeping\na lookout for Green Island actually saw it on a remarkably fine day\nwhen the sea was smooth. According to the story, he went out in his\nboat and examined it and found it to be a large rock covered with green\nmoss. The rock did not seem much larger than a vessel floating bottom\nupward, and it was smooth all around. The summit was higher than a\nvessel\u2019s bottom would appear out of the water, being about twenty feet\nabove the surface of the sea. Captain Coombs added that if the object\nhad not been so high he would have thought it to be a capsized vessel.\nA sounding taken near this spot shows that a depth of 1,500 fathoms\nexists there.\u201d\n\nSo Greenland, misunderstood and carried southward, dwindles to what may\nbe taken for a capsized vessel\u2019s hull, the existence of which is denied\nby those who best should know. Or, to take it the other way about, the\ntraditions of Green Island, dwindling, prompted the mariner\u2019s fancy to\ndevelop a Green Rock; and Green Island is in numerous instances derived\nmainly, even if remotely, from Greenland, reinforced sometimes by\nimplications of attractiveness.\n\n\nORIGIN OF THE NAME \u201cGREENLAND\u201d AND ITS JUSTIFICATION\n\nThere can be no doubt that the Down East sea captain, who was so quick\nto perceive green vegetation on his fancied Green Island, came nearer\nthe true explanation of Greenland\u2019s name than the good prebendary of\nBremen with his bluish-green Norsemen colored by the sea. It is pretty\nwell understood that about 985 or 986 Eric Rauda (Eric the Red, or\nRuddy), the first explorer and colonizer of this new region, applied\nthe name at least partly as an advertisement of fertility and promising\nconditions for the encouragement of Icelandic colonists. This is the\nway Ari Frode (the Wise), the best informed man of Iceland, puts it\nin his surviving Libellus of the \u201cIslendingabok\u201d about a century\nlater:[186]\n\n This country which is called Greenland was discovered and\n colonized from Iceland. Eric the Red was the name of the man,\n an inhabitant of Breidafirth, who went thither from here and\n settled at that place, which has since been called Ericsfirth.\n He gave a name to the country and called it Greenland and\n said that it must persuade men to go thither if it had a good\n name. They found there both east and west in the country the\n dwellings of men and fragments of boats and stone implements\n such that it might be perceived from these that that manner\n of people had been there who have inhabited Wineland and whom\n Greenlanders call Skraelings. And this when he set about the\n colonization of the country was fourteen or fifteen winters\n before the introduction of Christianity here in Iceland,\n according to what a certain man who himself accompanied Eric\n the Red thither informed Thorkell Gellison.\n\nThis last was an uncle of Ari, a man of liberal and inquiring mind and\none of Ari\u2019s most valued sources of knowledge as to the affairs of\nearlier generations.\n\nThe passage has been often quoted, but that Eric was largely justified\nin his nomenclature is less generally known. Greenland to the\nintending colonists would naturally mean not the ice-enshrouded waste\nof the almost continental interior nor yet the forbidding cliffs of\nthe eastern coast guarded by a nearly impassable floe-laden Arctic\ncurrent, but the really habitable thousand-mile fringe of uncovered\nland along the southwestern shore, on the average fifty miles wide and\noccasionally much wider. It was partly shut in by forbidding headlands\nand perverse currents, but feasible of access when the true course was\ndisclosed. Some parts of this region were, and still are, green with\ngrass and bright with summer flowers. Nansen, who certainly ought to\nknow, declares that the Greenland sites chosen would have seemed more\nattractive than Iceland to an Icelander. Rink, who was connected with\nthe Greenland government for a full generation, mentions certain places\nwith special approval and regards life in most parts of the inhabited\nregion quite contentedly.[187] Professor Hovgaard tells us:[188]\n\n\nICELANDIC SETTLEMENT\n\n It was on this strip of land that the Icelanders settled at the\n end of the tenth century. Though barren on the outer shores and\n islands and on the hills, it is covered at the inner part of\n the fiords on the low level by a rich growth of grass together\n with stunted birch trees and various bushes, particularly\n willows. On the north side of the valleys crowberries\n (_Empetrum nigrum_) may be found....\n\n Eric settled in Ericsfiord, the present Tunugdliarfik, at\n a place which he called Brattahlid, now Kagsiarsuk, in 985\n or 986. Two distinct colonies were founded, the Eastern\n Settlement, extending from about Cape Farewell to a point well\n beyond Cape Desolation, comprising the whole of Julianehaab\n Bay and the coast past Ivigtut, and the Western Settlement,\n beginning about one hundred and seventy miles farther north\n at Lysufiord, [i.e. Agnafiord], the present Ameralikfiord,\n comprising the district of Godthaab.\n\n The fiord next Ericsfiord in the Eastern Settlement was\n Einarsfiord, now Igalikofiord. These fiords were separated\n at their head by a low and narrow strip of land, the present\n Igaliko Isthmus. It was here, at Gardar, that the Althing of\n Greenland met, and here was also found the bishop\u2019s seat,\n established at the beginning of the twelfth century. There were\n as many as sixteen churches in Greenland, for almost every\n fiord had its own church on account of the long distances and\n difficult traveling between the fiords.\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 15--Map of the early Norse Western and Eastern\nSettlements of Greenland. Scale 1:6,400,000. (The inset below.\n1:70,000,000, shows the relation of Norway, Iceland, and Greenland.)]\n\nThe unfamiliar localities above named may be followed by the aid of the\naccompanying map (Fig. 15) copied from Finnur\n\nJ\u00f3nsson\u2019s maps,[189] which embody the results of the research of the\nbest experts and scholars with the aid of relics on the ground and\nsurviving records. It is apparent that from the first to last the\nheart of Greenland was about the low, fairly fertile, favorable tract\nnear the heads of the two fiords named for Eric and his friend, Einar,\nand not far from Eric\u2019s Greenland home. The Western Settlement was a\ncomparatively small offshoot, with four churches only, yet it contrived\nto maintain existence for between three and four centuries, being at\nlast obliterated, as is supposed, by the Eskimos. The main settlement\nwas still more enduring, having a continuous record of nearly half\na millennium, a history not surpassed in duration by some far more\npopulous and powerful nations.\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 16--Section of the Clavus map of 1427 showing\nGreenland continuous with Europe. (After Joseph Fischer\u2019s hand-copied\nreproduction.)]\n\nThis seems marvelous, if it be true that the entire population never\nexceeded 2,000 souls, as Nansen and Hovgaard have supposed. Rink, on\nthe other hand, estimated the maximum at 10,000.[190] Some intermediate\nnumber would seem more likely than either extreme, if we may hazard\na conjecture where doctors disagree. The prosperity of the colony,\nsuch as it was, seems to have been at its best in the eleventh and\ntwelfth centuries but was never conspicuous enough to get an outline of\nGreenland into the maps until about the time of final extinction.\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 17--Section of the world map of Donnus Nicolaus\nGermanus (after 1466) showing Greenland continuous with Europe. (After\nJoseph Fischer\u2019s photographic reproduction.)]\n\n\nGREENLAND AS A PENINSULA\n\nWe must remember, though, that during the earlier part of this period\nthere were not many maps extant which included the Atlantic, and\nof these the greater number were more concerned with theological\nconceptions and figures of wonder than with the sober facts of\ngeography, especially in remote places. About 1300 a remarkable series\nof navigators\u2019 portolan maps, revolutionizing this attitude, began to\nadd to the delineation of the Mediterranean, which they had already\ndeveloped with considerable minuteness, something definite of the\nouter European coasts, islands, and waters. Step by step they advanced\ninto the unknown or little known, but perhaps none of them, before the\nfifteenth century, can be confidently relied on as indicating Greenland.\n\nThis remained for the Nancy map of Claudius Clavus (Schwartz),\n1427[191] (Fig. 16). Greenland is, however, made distinctly continuous\nwith Europe, being connected thereto by a long land bridge, far north\nof Iceland, in accordance with an hypothesis then prevailing. The\nsecond half of the same century saw this conception of Claudius Clavus\ngreatly popularized. Divers maps[192] appeared, some showing Greenland\nas a prodigiously elongated peninsula of Europe, having its tip in the\ncorrect location (Fig. 17), while others ran up a perverse trapezoidal\nGreenland from the north coast of Norway.\n\nProbably one or more of the former kind suggested in part the memorable\nZeno map of 1558[193] (Fig. 19), professing to be a reproduction of a\nmap prepared by the Zeni of a past generation and carelessly damaged\nby the final editor in boyhood. If not a total forgery, it is at least\nuntrustworthy, as we shall see in Chapter IX, and the same is true of\nan accompanying narrative of experiences in Greenland about 1400.\n\nAnother map of somewhat later date, by Sigurdr Stef\u00e1nsson, probably\n1590[194] (Fig. 18), is a quite honest presentation of the traditional\nviews of Icelanders at that time and is distinctly more modern than\nthe Zeno map in the complete severance of Greenland from Europe and\nits union with the great western land mass which included Helluland,\nMarkland, and Vinland, supposed to be divided by a fiord from \u201cAmerica\nof the Spaniards.\u201d Of course, that union with the Western continent\nis not precisely accurate and the eastward trend which he gives his\ngreat peninsula is still less so; but his map, often copied, remains a\npeculiarly interesting production.\n\n\nLIFE OF THE ICELANDIC COLONY\n\nTo hark back to Adam of Bremen, the charges of special cruelty and\npredatory attacks on seafarers in the middle of the eleventh century\nawaken some surprise. The life of the people seems simple and innocent\nenough, as disclosed by their relics and remnants, which have been\nunearthed with great care. As seal bones predominate in their refuse\npiles, this offshore supply must have been their greatest reliance\nfor animal food; but they had also sheep, goats, and a small breed of\ncattle. They spun wool and wove it; they carved vessels of soapstone,\nsometimes with decoration; they milked cows and made butter; they\nexported sealskins, ropes of walrus hide, and walrus tusks; they paid\ntithes to the Pope in such commodities; they boiled seal fat and made\nseal tar; they gathered tree trunks as driftwood far up the coast\nand probably brought back cargoes of timber from Markland; they built\nsubstantial houses and churches, using huge stones in some cases. But\nthey had to import grain, iron, and many other articles from Europe;\nand the infrequent visits of ships from Iceland, Norway, and elsewhere\nmust have made a break in the monotony of their lives which they could\nill afford to forego. One would expect them to be especially kind to\nsuch visitors.\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 18--Sigurdr Stef\u00e1nsson\u2019s map of Greenland, 1590,\nshowing the severance of Greenland from Europe and its union with the\nwestern land mass which includes Helluland, Markland, and Vinland. Cf.\nwith Fig. 14. (From Torfaeus\u2019 \u201cGronlandia antiqua,\u201d Copenhagen, 1706,\nin the library of the American Geographical Society.)]\n\nOn the other hand, the belligerent spirit which kept up the bloody\nfeuds of Iceland would not quickly have lapsed from these transplanted\nIcelanders in their new home. Moreover, there were thralls among\nthem and the irritations growing out of thralldom. Also, while much\nof their daily routine was quiet enough, they were subject to savage\nweather and perils of navigation, of the fisheries, of hunting far up\nthe coast, where many of them maintained stations for that purpose at\nKrogfiordsheath and other points. Even in getting to Greenland Eric was\nable to carry through only about half of the ships that sailed with\nhim, and Gudrid and Thorbiorn, coming later, incurred ample experiences\nof storm and danger. These wild elements of life would tend to enhance\na certain recklessness; and the law must have been impotent to maintain\norder in remote fiords and headlands, even if it had sought to do so.\n\nIn the Floamanna Saga, dealing with events not long after the very\nfirst settlement, the thralls of Thorgils murder his young wife on the\neastern coast, where they had all been cast ashore together. In another\nof the Greenland tales there is a bloody contention, freely involving\nhomicide, over the claims of the church upon the contents of two ships\nwhich had come to grief. No doubt such instances might be multiplied;\nbut in the main we may believe that the lives of the Greenlanders\nwent orderly enough in common grooves of very primitive husbandry and\nfishing. Adam may have judged by reports of visitors with a grievance,\nnarrated at second or third hand.\n\nIf Greenland had a long history, it was that of a few people in a\nremote region and could not present many salient features. The colony\npossessed at least one monastery and the beginning of a literature,\nincluding, it is said, the Lay of Atli, revealing a curious interest in\nthe career of the great Hun Attila, on the part of a distant colonist\nhidden in Arctic mists and writing beside the glaciers. In art, as\ndistinguished from literature, they seem to have made few advances,\nif any, beyond mere ornamental carving or designing on a plane hardly\nsurpassing that of the Eskimos.\n\n\nEXPLORATIONS OF EARLY GREENLANDERS\n\nBut in seamanship and exploration their achievements, considering\ntheir numbers and resources, were really wonderful. All experts agree\nthat Eric\u2019s first exploration was daring, skillful, persistent, and\nexhaustive, according to the best modern standards, and that his\nselection of settlement sites was exceedingly judicious; in fact, could\nnot have been improved upon. Then followed in less than twenty years\nthe discovery of the American mainland by Eric\u2019s son Leif (or, as some\nsay, by one Biarni, followed by Leif) and a series of other voyages,\nincluding Thorfinn Karlsefni\u2019s prolonged effort to colonize, involving\nthe tracing of the American coast line from at least upper Labrador to\nsome point south of Newfoundland. The precise lower limit is matter of\ndispute, but, according to the better opinion, may be found somewhere\non the front of southern New England. These were followed in 1121\nby the missionary journey, as it seems to have been, of Bishop Eric\nGnupsson, who then sailed out of Greenland for Vinland, we do not know\nwith what result. Subsequent communication with parts of the American\ncontinent was probably not uncommon, as has been inferred from the\naccidental arrival in 1347 of a ship which had sailed from Greenland to\nMarkland and been storm-driven from the latter westward. It pursued its\ncourse to Norway.\n\nIn the opposite (northern) direction we know of at least two\nventuresome voyages up Baffin Bay, and, as the records have reached us\nalmost by accident, we may naturally conjecture many more.\n\nA British exploring expedition in 1824 acquired a small stone inscribed\nwith runic characters near some beacons on an island north of Upernivik\non the upper northwestern coast of Greenland. The original is lost,\nbut a duplicate of it is preserved in the Copenhagen National Museum.\nDivers copies[195] have been published. The inscription is thought\nto date from about 1300, translated by various runologists, with\ndifferences in detail. As given by Professor Hovgaard, it reads:\n\n Erling Sigvatsson and Bjarne Thordarson and Endride Oddson\n built this (or these) beacon(s) Saturday after \u201cGagnday\u201d (April\n 25th) and cleared (the place) (or made the inscription) 1135\n (?).\n\nThe year is reported with some uncertainty; and it must be owned that\nthe body of the text offers several alternatives. Such a memorial would\nmore naturally be put up by the men who built the beacons or those of\nabout their time than by a later generation to commemorate the not\nvitally important doings of those who were dead and gone. The year 1300\nseems a little late for venturing so far, as it was about the beginning\nof a period of decadence and less than forty years before the Western\nSettlement vanished altogether. The date 1135 would better accord with\nthe climax of Norse strenuousness and Greenland adventure. Perhaps the\nrunes were carved in the stone earlier than the runologists suppose.\nBut, whether the original visit took place in the twelfth century or\nthe fourteenth, and whether the stone denotes two Norse visits to this\nplace or only one, it is still conclusive that some Greenlanders had\nexplored well to the northward along the shore of Baffin Bay in the\ntime of the old colony.\n\nA more extensive exploration was undertaken in 1266 by the clergy,\napparently of the Bishop\u2019s seat, since they traveled home to Gardar.\nIt appears that certain men had been farther north than usual but\nreported no sign of previous occupancy by the Eskimos (who seem by\nthis time to have awakened some concern among the Norsemen) except\nat the unusually broad reindeer-pasture land and hunting ground of\nKrogfiordsheath, a little below Disko Bay. This made a good starting\npoint for the ship, which was thereupon sent \u201cnorthward in order to\nexplore the regions north of the farthest point which they had hitherto\nvisited,\u201d apparently with a special view of getting more light on the\nwhereabouts of the heathen and their line of approach. In these regards\nthe adventure was barren; but the narrative of one of the priests is\ninteresting so far as it goes:[196]\n\n ... they sailed out from Krogfiordsheath, until they lost\n sight of the land. Then they had a south wind against them and\n darkness, and they had to let the ship go before the wind;\n but when the storm ceased and it cleared up again, they saw\n many islands and all kinds of game, both seals and whales and\n a great number of bears. They came right into the sea-bay and\n lost sight of all the land, both the southern coast and the\n glaciers; but south of them were also glaciers as far as they\n could see.\n\nThat was their farthest point. They then sailed southward, reaching\nKrogfiordsheath again and eventually Gardar. On the way they had\nnoticed some abandoned Eskimo houses but no living Eskimos.\n\nThere is some attempt to indicate latitude by the way shadows fell in a\nboat. Also we are told, apparently meaning midsummer or a little later:\n\u201cat midnight the sun was as high as at home in the settlement when it\nis in northwest.\u201d But speculations as to their course and distance\nhave given varying results. Some think they may even have passed into\nSmith Sound; others that they may have crossed the Middle Water to\nthe western shore of Baffin Bay, seeing south of them the glaciers of\nnortheastern Baffin Land; others still that they did not get very far\nabove Upernivik; but, whatever the exact limit, it seems to have been a\nnotable bit of Arctic exploration, prosecuted rather at random and with\nscant resources.\n\n\nTHE ESKIMOS\n\nThe Eskimos (Skraelings) are referred to in this account as if already\nknown to the settlers, though uncertain as to their home quarters and\nmysterious in their coming and going. Probably there had been some\ncontact, not wholly friendly, between outranging members of the two\nraces. The Historia Norvegiae,[197] a manuscript of the same century\ndiscovered in Scotland, says:\n\n Beyond the Greenlanders toward the north their hunters came\n across a kind of small people called Skraelings. When they are\n wounded alive their wound becomes white without issue of blood;\n but the blood scarcely ceases to stream out of them when they\n are dead.\n\nWhatever may be thought of this magical oddity of surgery, it at least\nseems to imply authentically some experiments in piercing or slashing\nthe living. Whether such collision was a matter of the thirteenth\ncentury only or had first occurred in the twelfth or still earlier\nwe cannot say. The Eskimo race was the ominous shadow of the Norse\ncolonist from the beginning, though long unrecognized as a menace.\nApparently there had been a temporary movement of these people down the\nwestern coast about the tenth century, withdrawing before the first\nwhite men appeared. After that for generations, perhaps centuries,\nthe weaker heathen wisely kept out of sight, either beyond the water\nor at hunting grounds far up the Greenland coast. At last they moved\nnearer, and there was occasional contact while still the Norsemen were\nformidable. But by the fourteenth century Norse Greenland had begun to\ndwindle in power and population, with diminishing aid and reinforcement\nfrom Europe, and the danger drew nearer. Perhaps there was some special\nimpulsion of the uncivilized people which resulted in the obliteration\nof the Western Norse Settlement, always relatively feeble. Some rumor\nof its need having reached the Eastern Settlement, an expedition\nof relief was dispatched about 1337, or perhaps a little later,\naccompanied by Ivar Bardsen, then or afterward steward of the Bishop,\nwho tells the tale. Only a few stray cattle were found; presumably the\ncolonists had been killed or carried away.\n\nThe ground thus lost could not be regained. On the contrary, we\nmay suppose the Eskimos to be getting stronger and drawing nearer.\nIn 1355 an expedition under Paul Knutson came out to reinforce the\nNorsemen; but it returned home in or before 1364 and can have made\nonly a temporary lightening of the load. In 1379 there seems to have\nbeen an Eskimo attack, costing the Norsemen 18 of their few men. But\npeace may have reigned as a rule. At any rate, the ordinary functions\nof life went on, for it is of record that a young Icelander, visiting\nGreenland, was married by the Bishop at Gardar in 1409; and the last\nvisit of the Norwegian _knorr_, or supply ship, occurred by way of\nIceland in 1410.\n\nAfter that nothing is certainly known. There are two papal letters at\ndifferent periods of the century, based on very questionable hearsay\ninformation and indicating confusion and general falling away. There\nwas even a futile effort to reopen communication in 1492. Probably by\nthat time the Norsemen and Norse women were all dead or married to the\nEskimos. That particular form of primitive heathendom seems to have\nabsorbed them.\n\nGreenland was to be rediscovered and repeopled in due season; but\nfor the time being it had become in European knowledge only a\nhalf-forgotten figure on certain maps, sometimes given with fair\naccuracy of outline but sometimes also as an oceanic Green Island of\nonly indirect relation to reality and passing its name on to little\nislands and even fancied rocks far at sea, which owned nothing in\ncommon with the far northern region except a part of its name.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII\n\nMARKLAND, OTHERWISE NEWFOUNDLAND\n\n\nThe name Markland, meaning Forest Land, must be, in one language\nor another, among the oldest geographical designations known among\nmen. Nothing could be more natural to even the most primitive people\nthan to distinguish in this way any heavily overgrown region which\nespecially challenged attention, perhaps as a refuge or as a barrier.\nIts appearance in any form of record was, of course, very much later.\nAs to Atlantic regions, the earliest instance other than Norse may be\nthe \u201cInsula de Legname\u201d of certain fourteenth- and fifteenth-century\nportolan charts,[198] evidently given by some Genoese or other Italian\nnavigator to Madeira, the latter name being a translation of the\nformer, substituted by the Portuguese[199] after their rediscovery.\nThus we might say that this island was the original western Markland,\nbut for the fact that certain Greenland Norsemen had affixed the name\nlong before to a region much farther west.\n\n\nFIRST NORSE ACCOUNT, IN HAUK\u2019S BOOK\n\nThe earliest manuscript of the first distinct account of the Norse\nMarkland is included in the compilation known as Hauk\u2019s Book,[200]\nfrom Hauk Erlendsson, for whom and partly by whom it was prepared,\nnecessarily before his death in 1334, but probably after he was\ngiven a certain title in 1305. Perhaps 1330 may mark the time of its\ncompletion. Along with divers other documents, it copies from some\nunknown original the saga of Eric the Red, sometimes called the saga of\nThorfinn Karlsefni, an ancestor of the compiler, whose adventures as an\nearly explorer of northeastern North America constitute a conspicuous\nfeature of the narrative. Some parts of the saga of Eric the Red as\nthus transcribed, especially toward its ending, cannot be much older\nthan the time of transcription, but verses embedded in other parts have\nbeen identified as necessarily of the eleventh century; and the body of\nthe tale is, for the greater part, manifestly archaic.\n\n\nANOTHER ACCOUNT, IN THE ARNA-MAGNAEAN MANUSCRIPT\n\nBeside Hauk\u2019s Book, there is a corroborative, independent, but almost\nidentical manuscript copy of the saga--No. 557 of the Arna-Magnaean\ncollection at Copenhagen.\n\nThis saga[201] tells us:\n\n Thence they sailed away beyond the Bear Islands with northerly\n winds. They were out two _daegr_ (days); then they discovered\n land and rowed thither in boats and explored the country and\n found there many flat stones (_hellur_) so large that two men\n could well spurn soles upon them [lie at full length upon them,\n sole to sole]. There were many Arctic foxes there. They gave a\n name to the land and called it Helluland.\n\n Thence they sailed two _daegr_ and bore away from the south\n toward the southeast and they found a wooded country and on it\n many animals; an island lay off the land toward the southeast;\n they killed a bear on this and called it Biarney (Bear\n Island); but the country they called Markland (Forest Land).\n\n When two _daegr_ had elapsed they descried land, and they\n sailed off this land. There was a cape (_ness_) to which they\n came. They beat into the wind along this coast, having the land\n on the starboard (right) side. This was a bleak coast with\n long and sandy shores. They went ashore in boats and found\n the keel of a ship, so they called it Kjalarness (Keelness)\n there; they likewise gave a name to the strands and called\n them Furdustrandir (Wonder Strands) because they were so long\n to sail by. Then the country became indented with bays [or\n \u201cfiord-cut,\u201d as Dr. Olson translates] and they steered their\n ships into a bay.... The country round about was fair to look\n upon.... There was tall grass there.\n\nA very severe winter, however, drove them far southward to a\nwarmer bay, or _hop_, where they dwelt for nearly a year among the\ncharacteristic products of Wineland; but at last withdrew after an\nonslaught of the Indians.\n\nProbably it was from this narrative that Arna-Magnaean Manuscript 194,\nan ancient geographic miscellany, partly in Icelandic, partly in Latin,\nderived the following statement, generally ascribed[202] to Abbot\nNicholas of Thingeyri who died in 1159.\n\n Southward from Greenland is Helluland, then comes Markland;\n thence it is not far to Wineland the Good, which some men\n believe extends from Africa, and if this be so there is an open\n sea flowing between Wineland and Markland. It is said that\n Thorfinn Karlsefni hewed a \u201chouse-neat-timber\u201d and then went to\n seek Wineland the Good, and came to where they believed this\n land to be, but they did not succeed in exploring it or in\n obtaining any of its products.[203]\n\nThe foregoing view of the relative positions of these regions along\nthe coast is also illustrated in the well-known map[204] (Fig. 18)\nof Sigurdr Stef\u00e1nsson (1570, or 1590, according to Storm) which was\nevidently based on surviving Icelandic traditions.\n\n\nLATER DERIVATIVE RECORDS\n\nThere is great verisimilitude in the Karlsefni narrative and these\nlater derivative records. Their geography agrees convincingly with the\nfacts of the actual coast line from north to south--namely, first a\ndesolate region, cold, bare, and stony, the appropriate home of Arctic\nfoxes; secondly, a game-haunted and very wild forest land, untempting\nto settlement, unhopeful for agriculture, but a hunter\u2019s paradise;\nthirdly, the warmer country to the south, well suited to cultivation\nand even producing spontaneously various kinds of edibles, notably\nthe large fox grapes from which wine might be made. Helluland, the\nfirst, remains, as Labrador and perhaps Baffin Land, nearly unchanged\nexcepting some uplift of the shore line; Markland has suffered great\ninroads of the lumberman\u2019s axe, but still as Newfoundland contains much\nheavy timber in its western part; Wineland, the third, has become the\nchief seat of American civilization east of the Appalachian Mountains.\nBut in the time of the Norsemen and long afterward Newfoundland was a\nveritable Markland, a land of woods, down to its eastern front.[205]\nIts rediscoverers and earliest settlers found it so; and the maps of\nCantino[206] and Canerio,[207] both attributed to 1502 and certainly\nnot much later, exhibit the great island pictorially, under different\nnames, as a mass of woodland with tall trees standing everywhere,\napparently thus commemorating the most distinctive and conspicuous\nnatural feature of the land.\n\n\nLABRADOR AS MARKLAND\n\nSome have urged that the southern part of Labrador may have been\nMarkland; but its trees of any considerable size are to be found only\nby following up inlets far into the interior where the Arctic current\nhas less power to chill; there is nothing to indicate that conditions\nwere very different then in this regard; and to judge by the narrative\nitself we must not conceive of the Norse visitors as pausing to explore\ndeeply without allurement, but rather as hastening down the shore in\nquest of warmer regions and ampler pasturage for their stock which they\ncarried with them, also of a good warm site for settlement, such as\nLeif had already reported. They were primarily colonists, not explorers\nof the disinterested or glory-seeking type. It was most natural to sail\non; noting only what they could discern from the sea, or by a brief\nboat-landing. This would hardly give them the idea of a forest land in\nany part of hard-featured, ice-battered Labrador.\n\nIt is probable that, like some later navigators, they would not\nthink of the Strait of Belle Isle as other than a fiord or inlet,\nafter the pattern of the great Hamilton Inlet farther north; and if\nthey guessed Markland to be an island it would be on quite different\ngrounds--chiefly the natural tendency (which persisted until long after\ntheir time) to consider every western discovery insular; but they would\nat least be alive to the distinction between treelessness and an ample\nforest cover, and we see that in point of fact they did distinguish the\nregions on just this score.\n\n\nNOVA SCOTIA AS MARKLAND\n\nCertainly this might involve the inclusion of Nova Scotia in the\nsecond of the three regions; and there have been many to champion this\npeninsula as distinctively Markland. But other features of Nova Scotia\nattracted the attention of Karlsefni\u2019s party and gave parts of that\nland an individuality distinguished from that of the forest country.\nThe great cape Kjalarness, which seems to have been the northern horn\nof Cape Breton Island, and the exceedingly long strands, which may\nnow be represented in part by the low front of Richmond County, are\nduly recorded, with no suggestion of their belonging to Markland,\nthe region farther north. Also on the Stef\u00e1nsson map above referred\nto (Fig. 18), the name Promontorium Vinlandiae is applied to a long\nprotuberance apparently meant for this part of Cape Breton Island,\ncontaining the counties of Victoria and Inverness, and the much earlier\nstatement in Arna-Magnaean Manuscript 194 concerning the sea running in\nbetween Markland and Wineland seems to mark all south of Cabot Strait\nas belonging in some sense to the latter region. No doubt the name\nMarkland may sometimes have been used with vagueness of limitation;\nbut on the whole it seems most likely that Newfoundland was Markland\nalmost exclusively. It seems practically certain, at the least, that\nthe characteristics first noted in Newfoundland supplied the earlier\nregional name.\n\nIn many of the discussions of this exploring saga there has been too\ngreat a tendency to localize the territorial names, as though Wineland\nfor example must denote a small area or short stretch of coast.\nProfessor Hovgaard has even suggested that there may have been two\nWinelands--Leif\u2019s Wineland being much farther south than Karlsefni\u2019s,\nthe name in each case standing for some one site or place and the\nterritory immediately about it. This does not accord well with one of\nthe notes on the Stef\u00e1nsson map, which gives Wineland an extension as\nfar as a fiord dividing it from \u201cthe America of the Spaniard.\u201d That\nmay be read as meaning Chesapeake Bay and must at any rate be taken\nto suggest great extension for this region, since the Promontorium\nVinlandiae, as already stated, obviously marks its upper end. Markland\nneed not be conceived as of equal size, for in truth it represents at\nmost only the wild and wooded interval between the hopelessly void and\nbarren north and the great habitable, comfortable, and fruitful region\nstretching far below; but so much of parallelism holds as will forbid\nus to anchor the name to any one locality on the Newfoundland shore.\nDoubtless the long sea front of the great island as a whole is entitled\nto the name.\n\n\nINTERCOURSE BETWEEN GREENLAND AND MARKLAND\n\nNo doubt it is surprising, in view of the deep impression which\nMarkland obviously made on the Norsemen from near-by treeless\nGreenland and Iceland, to find so few subsequent references to the name\nor indications of a knowledge of the region. There is a well-known and\noften cited instance recorded in Icelandic annals--in one instance\nnearly contemporary--of a small Greenland vessel storm-driven to\nIceland in 1347, after having visited Markland, the latter name being\npresented in a matter-of-course way, much as though it were Ireland or\nthe Orkneys. This has sometimes been taken as evidence of a regular\ntimber traffic between Greenland and Markland during the preceding\nthree centuries and more. It shows at least that acquaintance with the\nmore southwestern country had been kept really alive thus long, and\nthat it was not a half-mythical figure on the frontier of knowledge, to\nbe doubtfully sought for, but territory that one might visit without\nclaiming the reward of new and daring exploration or causing any\nextreme surprise. What Markland had to offer was so decidedly what\nGreenland needed, and the repetition of Karlsefni\u2019s voyage thus far was\nat all times so feasible, that one must suppose the trips to and fro\nwere not wholly intermitted between 1003 and 1347. Only they have left\nno clear and unquestionable trace.\n\nPerhaps the nearest approach thereto is a fifteenth-century Catalan\nmap[208] (Fig. 7) preserved in the Ambrosian library in Milan, which\nas we have seen in Chapter IV, presents Greenland (Illa Verde) as a\ngreat elongated rectangle of land in northern waters, having a concave\nsouthern end. Below this, beyond a narrow interval of water, appears\na large round island, the direction certainly calling for Labrador\nor Newfoundland, probably the latter. The minimizing of the distance\nbetween these land masses may indicate some report of the ease with\nwhich the crossing was effected. At any rate, unless we are prepared\nto set aside the testimony of the map altogether as mere fancy work,\nwe must acknowledge that some one had a general impression of land\nin mass south or southwest of Greenland and reasonably accessible\ntherefrom.\n\n\nBRAZIL ISLAND IN THE PLACE OF MARKLAND\n\nThe name Brazil given to this island on the map and its disk-like form\nlink it to the long series, already discussed, of \u201cBrazil islands,\u201d\napproximately in the latitude of Newfoundland, on the medieval maps,\nbeginning with that of Dalorto of 1325[209] (Fig. 4). Usually, as in\nthis last instance, they have the circular form--sometimes, however,\nbeing annular, with an island-studded lake or gulf inside, and\nsometimes being divided into two parts by a curved channel. Usually,\ntoo, the station of this Brazil is pretty near southern Ireland, off\nthe Blaskets, but sometimes it is carried out into mid-Atlantic,\nand in the sixteenth-century maps of Nicolay[210] (1560; Fig. 6)\nand Zaltieri[211] (1566) it is taken clear across to the Banks of\nNewfoundland or a little nearer inshore. From various mutually\ncorroborative indications, I have been impressed with the belief that\nit is probably a record of some early crossing of the Atlantic from\nIreland; but whatever the explanation, Brazil Island remains one of the\nmost interesting of map phenomena. Its name was somehow passed along\nto Terceira of the Azores, where there is still a Mt. Brazil, and long\nthereafter to the largest of South American countries.\n\nIts appearance near Greenland and as a substitute for Markland is\nnot easily accounted for. The matter is indeed complicated on this\nfifteenth-century map by the appearance of a second Brazil (of the\nchanneled type) in the middle of the Atlantic. It may be that the\ncartographer was familiar with this form and kind of presentation in\nolder maps and did not feel warranted in giving up _that_ \u201cBrazil;\u201d\nbut had received convincing information of lands southwest or south\nof Greenland, with some suggestion of Brazil as a name traditionally\nassociated with such discoveries, and so drew and named it. Undoubtedly\nthe map is the work of a man well acquainted with the first disk form\nof Brazil and the later channeled or divided form, beside having some\nknowledge of later discoveries in Greenland and beyond.\n\nThere is a parallel to the two Brazils of his map in the two series of\nAzores on that of Bianco (1448).[212] The latter cartographer retained\nthe original Italian-discovered series, inaccurately aligned north\nand south, but showed also farther afield the islands of Portuguese\nrediscovery, properly slanted northwestward, omitting only Flores\nand Corvo, which the rediscoverers had not yet found or at least had\nnot yet brought to his notice. Another map of about the same period\nmakes the same double showing--certainly a curious compromise between\nconservatism and progressiveness.\n\n\nTHE ZENO NARRATIVE\n\nThere is perhaps no other news of Markland before it became\nNewfoundland, unless we may put some glimmer of faith in the\nmuch-discussed Zeno narrative[213] (Ch. IX), which embodies the tale of\nan Orkney islander wrecked on the shore of Estotiland (perhaps the name\nwas first written Escociland--Scotland) a little before the opening\nof the fifteenth century. He professed to have found there a people\nhaving some of the rudiments of civilization and carrying on trade with\nGreenland, but ignorant of the mariner\u2019s compass. The picture given\nis not incredible and perhaps receives some support from the really\nnotable works known to have been executed by the Beothuks[214] of\nNewfoundland in their later and feebler, though not quite their latest\ndays--such as extensive deer fences, to give their hunters the utmost\nbenefit from the annual migrations. Granted a certain infusion of Norse\nblood, or even without it, there is perhaps nothing stated of the\nEscocilanders which may not have been true. As to the name, it is no\nmore strange than Nova Scotia, which still occupies the coast just to\nthe south, and it may have been applied in the same spirit.\n\nVery early in the history of European colonization this Markland--which\nby its outjutting position was accused of being a New-found-land,\nagain and again with varying designations during the ill-recorded\ncenturies--took under the latter name the position, which it still\nholds, of the very earliest of the English colonies of the New World.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX\n\nESTOTILAND AND THE OTHER ISLANDS OF ZENO\n\n\nSome of the well-known mythical or dubious map islands of the North\nAtlantic make their entry into cartography very early indeed,\napparently as the contribution or record of otherwise forgotten\nvoyages, though we cannot say with certainty precisely when or how;\nothers, long afterward, were the products of mirage, ocean-surface\nphenomena, or mariners\u2019 fancies working under the suggestion of saintly\nor demoniacal legends amid the hazes and perils of little-known seas,\nthe precise time of their origin remaining uncertain. As a rule the\nlatter class were less persistent on the maps and are geographically\nrather unimportant.\n\nIn two cases, however, Estotiland and Drogio, we know the first\nappearance of their names before the public, which is very probably\nthe first use of them among men. They derive a special interest from\nbeing located in America and from an asserted journey by Europeans to\nthem more than a hundred years before the first voyage of Columbus.\nThe map which first shows them also displays divers other Atlantic\nislands, either of unusual name or unusual location and area, not\nconforming at all to the insular tracts of the North Atlantic basin as\nwe know them now. The fantastic exhibition as a whole had an immediate,\nlong-continuing, and considerable--almost revolutionary--effect on the\nmap-making of the world.\n\n\nTHE ZENO VOLUME\n\nIn the year 1558 a volume was printed by Marcolino at Venice,\npurporting to give an account of \u201cThe Discovery of the Islands of\nFrislanda, Eslanda, Engroneland, Estotiland, and Icaria made by two\nbrothers of the Zeno family, Messire Nicol\u00f2 the Chevalier and Messire\nAntonio.\u201d[215] Some of the islands named in the book are omitted from\nthis title; and the word \u201cDiscovery\u201d must have been used with willful\ninexactness, for Greenland (Engroneland) had been in Norse occupancy\nfor centuries, and Shetland (Eslanda, Estland, or Estiland) was as\npositively, though not as familiarly, known as Great Britain. But the\nindication of aim and scope was sufficient.\n\nThe name of the author, or, as he calls himself, \u201cthe compiler,\u201d was\nnot given; but he is generally recognized to have been the Nicol\u00f2 Zeno\nof a younger generation, a man of local prominence and a member of the\ndominant Council of Ten of the Venetian republic. In 1561 he edited for\nRuscelli\u2019s edition of Ptolemy, a subsequent edition of the map (Fig.\n19) which is the volume\u2019s most conspicuous feature. His account of the\nZeno book\u2019s origin seems to have been accepted generally and promptly\namong his own people, as also the general accuracy of its geography.\nBut, as Lucas remarks, \u201cAn adverse critic of a member of the Council of\nTen, in Venice, in the sixteenth century, would have been a remarkably\nbold, not to say foolhardy, man.\u201d[216] However, there are shelters and\nplaces of seclusion from even the most arbitrary power; and it would\nseem that the eminent younger Nicol\u00f2 would hardly have the effrontery\nto challenge the world in matters then easily susceptible of disproof\nconcerning his still more eminent ancestor and kinsman. Surely they\nmust have had some notable experiences in northern islands on the\nreports of which he could rely in a general way, however erroneous or\nfraudulent in some important features, though then first advancing the\ntransatlantic claim to discovery.\n\nMoreover, the dread of the Council could not overshadow distant\ngeographers like Mercator and Ortelius, whose maps of 1569 and\n1570[217] (cf. Fig. 10) almost eagerly embody the most distinctive\nZeno additions, giving them the greatest currency and implying some\nsense of the general probability of discoveries by members of that\nfamily. Estotiland and Drogio are very distinctly shown, the former\napparently as Newfoundland united to Labrador, the latter as a smaller\nand more southern island which may well be Cape Breton Island, pushed a\nbit offshore, but still not very far from the mainland.\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 19--The map of the northern regions by the Zeno\nbrothers, 1558, showing Frisland, Estotiland, Icaria, and Drogio.\n(After Lucas\u2019 photographic facsimile.)]\n\nThere has been much discussion as to whether the book should be\nregarded as wholly a forgery or not, as to the location of these\nregions, and as to the derivation and meaning of the names; but all\nagree that Estotiland and Drogio were not known before 1558.\n\nNicol\u00f2 the compiler reports: \u201cThe sailing chart which I find, I still\nhave among our family antiquities and, though it is rotten with age,\nI have succeeded with it tolerably well.\u201d Just what this success\ninvolved is an interesting question. It has been understood by his most\nreasonable advocates to include conjectural restoration, such as the\ndeficiencies of rottenness seemed to call for, and somewhat more.\n\nNicol\u00f2 the younger avers, further, that his ancestor Antonio wrote\na book recording his northern observations and many facts about\nGreenland, but that the compiler as a boy had thoughtlessly destroyed\nthe book with other papers and that the Zeno narrative as he gives it\nis made up from fragmentary letters of the elder Nicol\u00f2 to Antonio\nand of the latter to their brother, Carlo, remaining in Venice; which\nletters by good fortune happened to survive.\n\nNobody except the younger Nicol\u00f2 is asserted to have seen the map,\nthe letters, or any of the original documents; though his parents, it\nwould seem, must have been custodian of them before him, and he would\nsurely have been likely to display such precious evidences to some one\nafter awakening to their importance. But those were less critical and\nexacting times than the present, and conceivably it may have been felt\nthat any corroboration would be superfluous. Yet the fact remains that\nwe are not informed of any means of testing the accuracy of restoration\nor even of demonstrating that there was anything to restore.\n\n\nFIRST USE OF THE NAMES \u201cESTOTILAND\u201d AND \u201cDROGIO\u201d\n\nThe two names \u201cEstotiland\u201d and \u201cDrogio\u201d are supplied by a story within\na story, an alleged yarn of a fisherman, reporting to his island\nruler, whom the elder Zeno served. Obviously, the chances of lapse\nfrom truth are multiplied. Either the later Nicol\u00f2 or his ancestor of\nmore than a century and a half before may have wholly invented or more\nor less transformed it; or the first narrator may have created his\ntale out of no real happenings or have so distorted it by mistake or\nwillful imposture as to render it wholly unreliable. In its general\noutlines it is by no means impossible; but neither would it have been\nvery difficult to compose such a yarn out of nothing but fancy and\nthe American information at the command of the younger Nicol\u00f2. It\ncomes to us through the medium of an alleged letter of his ancestor\nAntonio, written home to the latter\u2019s brother Carlo near the end of the\nfifteenth century. With some slight compression, the narrative runs as\nfollows:\n\n Six and twenty years ago four fishing boats put out to sea,\n and, encountering a heavy storm, were driven over the sea in\n utter helplessness for many days; when at length, the tempest\n abating, they discovered an island called Estotiland, lying to\n the westwards above one thousand miles from Frislanda. One of\n the boats was wrecked, and six men that were in it were taken\n by the inhabitants, and brought into a fair and populous city,\n where the king of the place sent for many interpreters, but\n there were none could be found that understood the language of\n the fishermen, except one that spoke Latin, and who had also\n been cast by chance upon the same island.... They ... remained\n five years on the island, and learned the language. One of\n them in particular visited different parts of the island, and\n reports that it is a very rich country, abounding in all good\n things. It is a little smaller than Iceland, but more fertile;\n in the middle of it is a very high mountain, in which rise four\n rivers which water the whole country.\n\n The inhabitants are a very intelligent people, and possess\n all the arts like ourselves; and it is to be believed that\n in time past they have had intercourse with our people, for\n he said that he saw Latin books in the king\u2019s library, which\n they at this present time do not understand. They have their\n own language and letters. They have all kinds of metals, but\n especially they abound with gold. Their foreign intercourse\n is with Greenland, whence they import furs, brimstone and\n pitch.... They have woods of immense extent. They make their\n buildings with walls, and there are many towns and villages.\n They make small boats and sail them, but they have not the\n loadstone, nor do they know the north by the compass. For this\n reason these fishermen were held in great estimation, insomuch\n that the king sent them with twelve boats to the southwards to\n a country which they call Drogio; but in their voyage they had\n such contrary weather that they were in fear for their lives.\n\n ... They were taken into the country and the greater number\n of them were eaten by the savages.... But as that fisherman\n and his remaining companions were able to show them the way of\n taking fish with nets, their lives were saved.... As this man\u2019s\n fame spread ... there was a neighboring chief who was very\n anxious to have him with him ... he made war on the chief with\n whom the fisherman then was, and ... at length overcame him,\n and so the fisherman was sent over to him with the rest of his\n company. During the space of thirteen years that he dwelt in\n those parts, he says that he was sent in this manner to more\n than five-and-twenty chiefs ... wandering up and down ... he\n became acquainted with almost all those parts. He says that\n it is a very great country, and, as it were, a new world; the\n people are very rude and uncultivated, for they all go naked\n and suffer cruelly from the cold, nor have they the sense to\n clothe themselves with the skins of the animals which they take\n in hunting. They have no kind of metal. They live by hunting,\n and carry lances of wood, sharpened at the point. They have\n bows, the strings of which are made of beasts\u2019 skins. They are\n very fierce, and have deadly fights amongst each other, and\n eat one another\u2019s flesh.... The farther you go southwestwards,\n however, the more refinement you meet with, because the climate\n is more temperate, and accordingly there they have cities and\n temples dedicated to their idols, in which they sacrifice men\n and afterwards eat them.\n\n His fellow captives having decided to remain where they were,\n he bade them farewell, and made his escape through the woods\n in the direction of Drogio, ... where he spent three years.\n [One day] some boats had arrived. He went down to the seaside,\n and ... found they had come from Estotiland. [They took him\n aboard as interpreter.] He afterwards traded in their company\n to such good purpose that he became very rich, and, fitting out\n a vessel of his own, returned to Frislanda.[218]\n\n\nGEOGRAPHICAL IMPLICATION OF THE NARRATIVE\n\nIn spite of plain geographical indications in the above recital,\nEstotiland has been located by some random or oversubtle conjectures\nin the strangest and most widely scattered places, including even\nparts of the British Isles. But a region a thousand miles west of the\nFaroes or any other Atlantic islands can be nothing but American, and\nthe restriction of its commerce to Greenland, apparently as a next\nneighbor, points very clearly (as Estotiland) to that outjutting elbow\nof North America, which culminates in Cape Race, south of Greenland\nand thrust out toward Europe. The clear definition of it in the tale\nas an island, largely explored by the narrator, approximating the size\nof Iceland but more fertile, with mountainous interior, great forests\n(such as gave the name Markland to Norse tradition), and rivers flowing\nseveral ways, clearly indicates Newfoundland. The Zeno map accords with\nthis, and most of the later maps accept that identification--though\noften with a great extension of territory. Thus a French map in the\nUnited States National Museum,[219] having 1668 for an entry of\ndiscovery and perhaps dating from about 1700, presents the whole\nregion southeast of Hudson Bay in an inscription as called Estotiland\nby the Danes, Nouvelle Bretagne (New Britain) by the English, Canada\nSeptentrionale by the French, and Labrador by the Spanish; but here\nagain Labrador and Newfoundland may have been chiefly in mind.\n\n\nCONJECTURES AS TO THE DERIVATION OF \u201cESTOTILAND\u201d\n\nEvidently this map-maker attributed the name Estotiland to the Norsemen\nof Greenland on the faith of the fisherman\u2019s story, for no other\nScandinavians can be supposed to have fastened a name on the region in\nquestion. But, barring the last syllable, which is a common affix, the\nname has an Italian sound rather than Scandinavian. \u201cEast-out-land\u201d has\nbeen suggested as a derivation, but why in this instance should either\nNorse or Italian borrow an English name? Another suggestion requires\nthe use of the first three syllables of the motto \u201cesto fidelis usque\nad mortem\u201d making up \u201cEstofi,\u201d with the appendant \u201cland.\u201d But there\nseems no historic link of positive connection, and the letter \u201cf\u201d would\nnot readily change into \u201ct.\u201d Perhaps \u201cEscotiland\u201d or \u201cEscociland\u201d\n(Scotland) is a more likely conjecture (first made by Beauvois[220]),\nsince \u201cc\u201d often resembles \u201ct\u201d in older forms of handwriting and might\nreadily be misunderstood. The name may have been applied in the same\nspirit which has long affixed \u201cScotia\u201d (Nova Scotia) to a lower part of\nthe same Atlantic coast. That the name was ever really thus applied by\nthe Norsemen seems very unlikely; but Nicol\u00f2 Zeno may have used it to\nhelp out his fisherman\u2019s yarn as readily as he certainly adapted \u201cKing\nDaedalus of Scotland\u201d to help out his more mythical account of Icaria.\nOr \u201cEstotiland\u201d may be a modification of Estilanda or Esthlanda, a\nform sometimes taken by Shetland, for example on the map of Prunes,\n1553[221] (Fig. 12). In casting about for a name, it would be an\neconomy of effort on the part of Zeno or the fisherman to utilize one\nthat was familiar. But I do not know that this derivation from Estiland\nhas ever before been suggested.\n\n\nTHE ESTOTILANDERS\n\nOrtelius, in crediting the discovery of the New World to the Norsemen,\nseems to identify Estotiland with Vinland.[222] He was so far right\nthat the fisherman\u2019s account of the people of Estotiland was evidently\ncomposed by some one acquainted with the mistaken ideal of Vinland, or\nWineland, which pictured it a permanent Norse offshoot from Greenland,\nperhaps slowly deteriorating but still possessed of a city and library,\nletters and the ordinary useful arts of at least a primitive northern\nwhite civilization, trading regularly with Greenland though archaic\nenough to lack the mariner\u2019s compass, and in most respects fairly on\na par with the Icelanders, Faroese, Shetlanders, or Orkneymen of the\nfourteenth to the sixteenth century. We know that such Estotilanders\ndid not exist; that the ground was occupied by Beothuk Indians,\npossibly slightly influenced by Greenlanders\u2019 timber-gathering visits,\nwith Eskimos for neighbors on one side and Micmac Algonquins on the\nother; and that none of these could be thought even so far advanced in\nculture as some natives farther down the coast. But it is interesting\nto get the point of view of the narrator or reporter.\n\n\nDROGIO\n\nThe tale is of a prolonged residence among these alleged relatively\nadvanced Estotiland people, followed by a much longer wandering\nsojourn, mostly as a captive, in a great \u201cnew world\u201d southwest of it\nand a final escape. Drogio (also spelled \u201cDrogeo\u201d and \u201cDroceo\u201d on some\nmaps) was the region through which this continental territory was\nentered. It is plainly an island, to judge by the maps; but, according\nto the narrative, it should be close inshore, since no mention is made\nof water being crossed by the neighboring chief, who made war on the\nfirst captors and thus acquired the fishermen. This accords curiously\nwith the facts as to Cape Breton Island, which is barely cut off by\nthe Gut of Canso, being easily reached by any incursion from the\nmainland. It also lies southward from Newfoundland (Estotiland), but\nsailing vessels would ordinarily be required to get to it across the\nbroad Cabot Strait, where the conditions of storm and shipwreck might\nwell be supplied. It is, indeed, surprising, since the description of\ninhabitants and conditions is so far from the truth, that the geography\nof Estotiland and Drogio should be given so much more accurately than\nin some carefully prepared and useful maps of the same period, for\nexample Nicolay\u2019s of 1560[223] (Fig. 6) and Zaltieri\u2019s of 1566,[224]\nboth of which represent Newfoundland as broken up into an archipelago;\nand the same may be said of Gastaldi\u2019s map illustrating Ramusio.[225]\n\nIt has been generally surmised that the name Drogio represents some\nnative word, but there is a lack of evidence and a difficulty in\nidentification. Lucas thinks it may be a corruption of Boca del\nDrago,[226] a strait between Trinidad and the mainland South America;\nbut this seems a far-fetched and unsupported conjecture: All the\nother island names used by Zeno are of European origin, and Drogio by\nits sound and orthography suggests Italy. Perhaps the best guess we\ncan make would point to the Italian words \u201cderoga\u201d or \u201cdirogare\u201d as\nsupplying in disparagement a form afterward contracted to Drogio; for\nthe latter island, lower in latitude and elevation, was also, according\nto the narrative, inferior in the status of its population and might\nwell be spoken of derogatively. We have seen that a fairly high culture\nis imputed to Estotiland; whereas the natives of Drogio were sunk\nin mere cannibal savagery. Notwithstanding the plain implication of\nthe story as to the comparative nearness of the two regions and the\nconcurrent testimony of the Zeno map, Drogio has been located by some\ntheorizers at divers different points of our coast line from Canada to\nFlorida and even as far afield as Ireland--which is perhaps a shade\nmore extravagant than Lucas\u2019s South American derivation of the name.\n\n\nDISCREPANCIES IN THE NARRATIVE OF THE FISHERMAN\n\nThere is this to be said for the last-mentioned speculation and some\nothers, that the statements concerning the mainland natives are plainly\nprompted by Spanish accounts of certain naked and cannibalistic\ndenizens of the tropics, when not due to the experience of Cort\u00e9s and\nhis companions among the teocallis and ceremonial sacrifices of the\nAztecs. That any one starting from Nova Scotia or thereabout could have\nreached southern or at least central Mexico and returned alone must\nhave struck even Nicol\u00f2 Zeno the younger as incredible, if he had any\nconception of the distances and difficulties involved. But probably\nhe believed the area of temple building to extend farther northward\nthan it actually did and had little notion of the great waste of\nintervening interior. Besides, it is not explicitly stated that the\nfisherman saw these things; and to have gone far enough to encounter\na rumor of them, though a very improbable, would not be a quite\nimpossible, feat.\n\nAs regards the characteristics of the ruder inhabitants who nearly\ndevoured him, fought for him, and two dozen times shifted ownership\nof him from chief to chief, he must surely be understood to speak\nfrom personal observation; but there is a conspicuous failure of\ncorroboration from internal evidence. We know a good deal about the\nIndian tribes of northeastern America of a time not very much later,\nand hardly a distinctive characteristic which he gives will fit what\nwe know. To say that the Algonquian tribes and their neighbors had not\nsense to clothe themselves with the skins of the animals they killed is\nitself arrant nonsense; to assert that they habitually ate each other\nlike Caribs is an imputation without foundation. The total absence\nof metals among them is as untrue as the great abundance of gold in\nEstotiland, for many of them had at least a little copper. They did not\nlive wholly by hunting--at least south of Nova Scotia--but were partly\nagricultural, raising Indian corn and various vegetables. They did not\ndepend, in hunting, on wooden lances with sharpened points, though some\nbackward and feeble far-southern insular tribes are reported to have\ndone so. They were expert fishermen with weirs and nets and inducted\nmany of the white settlers into their secrets, so naturally would not\nextravagantly need nor prize the counsel of a white specialist in the\nsame line, though he might have some things to teach them. Finally,\nthe really distinctive features of the Indian race in these latitudes,\nsuch as bark canoes and the peculiarities of maize cultivation, are not\nmentioned at all.\n\nIn view of these discrepancies it is not easy to believe that the\nfisherman ever visited America or at any rate ever journeyed far\ninland. The nature of the errors rather points to Nicol\u00f2 Zeno \u201cthe\ncompiler\u201d as their author, since they embody observations made\nelsewhere, which the fisherman would not be aware of and which had not\nbeen made in his time, so far as now known. The landing by shipwreck\non Estotiland in the last quarter of the fourteenth century, though a\nstartling feature, cannot be called impossible or perhaps even wildly\nimprobable; and, once on this side of the Atlantic at that point,\nsome accident might take him across to Cape Breton Island, whence he\nwell might travel or be carried a little farther. This sequence of\nevents may be said to hang well together, and the geographic accuracy\nas to Newfoundland and Cape Breton Island may be taken diffidently\nas establishing a faint presumption that something like it really\noccurred. But farther than this we cannot go, for all other indications\nare adverse; and, even if we credit the incongruities to one of the\nZeni and suppose them to take the place of forgotten or disregarded\nobservations of the original adventurer, we are without these last,\nand it is only substituting a vacuum for incorrectness. Perhaps the\nonly thing that remains to be said in favor of the story is that if it\nwere wholly the invention of Nicol\u00f2 Zeno it would have been natural and\nquite easy for him to make his ancestor the discoverer, instead of an\nunnamed and insignificant fisherman.\n\n\nTHE ZENO NARRATIVE ITSELF\n\nFor the story above considered enters the Zeno narrative only as the\nincentive to a voyage of exploration which failed of its aim; and\nit is nowhere alleged, unless in the title, that either of the Zeno\nbrothers discovered anything American. Each of them, it says, visited\nGreenland, but that needed no discovery. Briefly summarized, the Zeno\nstory is that the elder Nicol\u00f2, being an adventurous wanderer like\nmany of his countrymen, was shipwrecked about 1380 on the island of\nFrisland and taken into the service of Zichmni, lord of the Orkneys,\nthen prosecuting the conquest of the former region. Zeno took part in\nthe warfare of this chieftain, chiefly against the King of Norway his\nfeudal lord, also in his various navigations, including a visit to\nGreenland, of which this elder Nicol\u00f2 writes quite fully to his brother\nAntonio in Venice, urging the latter to join him in Zichmni\u2019s service.\nAntonio did so, after many adventures and hardships and incidental\ndelay, and served with him four years, when Nicol\u00f2 died, and Antonio\nsucceeded to his honors and emoluments for thirteen years longer. About\n1400 the fisherman returned with his story of transatlantic experience,\nand Earl Zichmni resolved to attempt to reach Estotiland in person.\nInstead, he was storm-driven to Icaria, whatever that may be, and again\nvisited Greenland, exploring parts of its coast. Antonio Zeno went with\nhim and sailed home separately, under orders, slightly missing his\ncourse and first reaching Porlanda (Pomona) of the Orkneys and Neome\n(Fair Island) midway between the Orkneys and Shetland. He knew then\nthat he was \u201cbeyond Iceland\u201d (i. e. to the eastward) and readily found\nhis way to Frisland. He was never allowed to return to Venice but wrote\nhis brother Carlo what he had seen and heard, including the fisherman\u2019s\nstory.\n\n\nR. H. MAJOR\u2019S STUDY OF THE ZENO NARRATIVE\n\nMajor endeavored to end the long-standing discussion as to the\nauthenticity of the map and the narrative of voyages by an elaborate\nand ingenious study, on the hypothesis of an honestly intended\nreproduction, the various additions, interpolations, and changes being\ndue partly to misunderstandings by the original Zeno brothers, partly\nto injuries accidentally inflicted by the compiler and inaccurately\nrepaired, and partly to extraneous matter of illustration and ornament,\nwhich the later Nicol\u00f2 Zeno had not the self-control to withhold. This\nmethod of exposition leads to some curious experiences of prodigious\nexaggeration backed by a veritable genius for transforming words.\nThus when we read that Zichmni, ruling in Porlanda and conqueror\nof Frisland, made successful war on his feudal superior, the King\nof Norway, it means, according to Major, that Henry St. Clair (or\nSinclair), who was given the Earldom of the Orkneys in 1379, had a\nskirmish with a forgotten claimant to a part of his territory. A\nlittle later in the narrative a warm spring (108\u00b0 maximum) on an\nisland of a fiord in the inhabited part of Greenland, beside which\nsome ruins are found, evolves a monastery and monk-ruled village of\ndome-topped houses on the slope of a volcanic mountain far up the\nimpossible ice-bound eastern coast, with house-warming, cooking, and\nhothouse gardening by subterranean heat and a continual commerce\nmaintained with northern Europe--though all this had never been heard\nof before. It is true that Major was handicapped by a belief, formerly\nprevalent, that the eastern coast of Greenland was the site of the\nEastern Settlement of the Norsemen, though in modern times that coast\nis subjected to conditions which make life hardly practicable; whereas\nit is now conclusively established that both of the Norse settlements\nwere on the relatively pleasant southwestern coast, one settlement\nbeing more easterly and the other more westerly. But at the best\nsuch interpretations run the gauntlet of the reader\u2019s involuntary\nskepticism. It is often easier to discard the statements altogether.\n\n\nTHE WORK OF F. W. LUCAS\n\nLucas, writing some years afterward, with the benefit of recently\ndiscovered maps and information, has chosen this destructive\nalternative for nearly the whole Zeno narration: denying that Nicol\u00f2\nZeno had any map of a former generation to restore; styling his\nown keenly critical and exhaustive production \u201can indictment,\u201d and\nbranding the book under consideration as a forgery throughout--with,\nnecessarily, some true things in it. He has gone far toward making good\nhis case. Some things not fully accounted for suggest that there may\nhave been a basis of genuine material, a nucleus of truth; but it must\nhave been very slight.\n\nMajor and his preservative school relied chiefly on three points of\ncoincidence: a fairly good description of that most unusual boat, the\nkayak of the Eskimos; the hot water of the monastery already mentioned;\nand the general geography of Greenland, which is shown more accurately\nthan on many maps of the sixteenth century and later. But Lucas points\nout that the history of Olaus Magnus, or other northern sources, might\nhave supplied the kayak to Zeno the younger. This may seem rather\nfar-fetched in view of the wide interval between Italy and Scandinavia;\nbut intercourse was regular in 1558, and Zeno was a man of ample\ninformation and intelligence, using material from many sources and\nhaving his attention especially directed to the north.\n\n\nA MONASTERY IN THE ARCTIC\n\nThe Zeno account of the monastery of St. Thomas is very extended and\nparticular, going into details of daily life, artificial agriculture,\nand traffic. It is the sublimation of cultivation in hothouse\nconditions (of volcanic origin), located far up within the Arctic\nCircle at a particularly repellent point, where no man has ever\nlived or perhaps will live hereafter. Lucas tries to explain the\naccount--which is interesting in its own way with a certain wild and\npreposterous plausibility--by reminiscences of a favored Scandinavian\nfortress, the gardens of which were hardly ever frozen, enjoying \u201call\nthe advantages which any fortunate abode of mortals could demand and\nobtain from the powers above.\u201d[227] But this is manifestly vague, a\ngeneral picture of balminess and delightfulness, far removed from a\nspecific account of roasting food by subterranean heat, warming garden\nbeds to the forcing point by pipes naturally supplied, and carrying\non an extensive commerce from the polar regions by the aid of a tame\nvolcano. Certainly the warm spring of southwestern Greenland is not\nmuch more to the point; but neither fortress gardens nor flowing water\nshould be needed to stimulate a lively fancy in creating rather obvious\nmarvels. Nicol\u00f2 knew of volcanoes in Iceland (as well as Italy), may\nwell have surmised their activity in Greenland, and would be only one\nof many who have amused themselves with speculations as to what might\nbe accomplished by tapping the great reservoir of heat and energy below\nus. It is not necessary to find a precise earlier parallel, to be sure\nthat there is no corroboration for his tale of ancestral voyages in\nsuch fancies.\n\n\nTHE ZENO MAP\n\nA glance at the Zeno map (Fig. 19) discloses a good approximation\nto the general outline, trend, and taper of Greenland, with certain\nfeatures which imply information. For a long time it was thought that\nno earlier source existed from which this could have been drawn by\nZeno the compiler. But of later years other fifteenth-century maps\nshowing Greenland have been discovered in various libraries, notably\nfour by Nordenski\u00f6ld,[228] out of which or out of others like them\nZeno could certainly have gleaned all that he needed for judicious\ncopying. In particular the maps of Donnus Nicolaus Germanus (1466 to\n1474, or a little later; e. g. Fig. 17), elaborated from the map of\nClaudius Clavus (1427; Fig. 16), seem to supply the chief features of\nthe Zeno exhibition.[229] Sharing an error common to Clavus and all\nsuccessors of his school, Zeno connected Greenland to Europe. He also\nrepresented its eastern coast as habitable at the extreme upper end. It\nis true that a visitor to the real surviving Greenland settlement about\nEricsfiord probably would not learn the facts about these matters, so\nthat his misinformation is no disproof of the visits of the older Zeni\nto that country. On the other hand, it would be difficult to point\nto any convincing evidence that either of them was ever there. Kohl\nsuggests[230] that the fisherman\u2019s story may be a mere reflection of\nthe general American knowledge of Greenlanders, and this might call\nfor the presence of one of the Zeni in Greenland to hear the story.\nBut, if the Norse of Greenland knew anything about Newfoundland or\nLabrador, they could hardly have credited and passed along these word\npictures of cities, libraries, and kings. The only thing like internal\ncorroboration is in the geography of Estotiland and Drogio.\n\nAs Nicol\u00f2 Zeno followed the disciples of Claudius Clavus in outlining\nGreenland, so he took for his guide Mattheus Prunes\u2019 map of 1553[231]\nin dealing with the more eastern islands. Podanda or Porlanda (Pomona,\nthe main island of the Orkneys) and Neome (Fair Island) are in both\n(Figs. 19 and 12). Prunes displaces these islands to a position west,\ninstead of south, of southern Shetland (Estiland or Esthlanda), and\nZeno simply carries them both still farther west, while moving them\nsouthward; but his Neome is still in the latitude of the lower end of\nShetland. Long before the time of either of them, the Faroe Islands\nhad been shown as one territory--see the Ysferi (Faroe Islands) of\nthe eleventh-century map of the Cottonian MS. in the British Museum,\nreproduced by Santarem.[232] The main islands are in fact barely\nsevered from each other by a thread of water.\n\n\nFRISLAND\n\nIt was, and is, so common to use \u201cland\u201d as a final syllable for island\nnames (witness Iceland, Shetland, and the rest) that \u201cFerisland\u201d would\neasily be derived from the form of the name last given and would be as\nreadily contracted into \u201cFrisland.\u201d We find the latter (Frislanda),\nindeed, on the map of Cantino (1502)[233] and in the life of Columbus\nascribed to his son Ferdinand.[234] There seems no doubt of its very\nearly use for a northern island or islands; apparently primarily for\nthe Faroe group, often blended as one island.\n\nBut there seems to have been some confusion in men\u2019s minds between\nIceland and Frisland as northern fishing centers and neighbors of like\nconditions. Thus the portolan atlas known as Egerton MS. 2803, contains\ntwo maps[235] (one shown in Fig. 8) naming Iceland \u201cFislanda,\u201d and\nthe notable Catalan map of about 1480[236] (Fig. 7), first copied by\nNordenski\u00f6ld, which shows Greenland as an elongated rectangular \u201cIlla\nVerde\u201d and Brazil in the place later given to Estotiland, also depicts\na large insular \u201cFixlanda,\u201d which is surely Iceland, if any faith may\nbe put in general outline and the arrangement of islets offshore.\nPrunes (1553; Fig. 12) substantially reproduces it, with the same name\nand apparently the same meaning. Zeno (Fig. 19) follows him closely in\narea and aspect but draws also an elongated Iceland to the northward,\nthe latter island trending southwestward in imitation of Greenland and\nseeming to derive its geography therefrom. This version of Iceland was\nprobably suggested by one of the Nicolaus Germanus maps above referred\nto.\n\nThus Zeno has two great islands, Frisland and Iceland, the former being\nseveral times larger than Shetland and many times larger than Orkney.\nHis Frisland gets its name from the Faroes, its area and outline from\nIceland; it is located south of Iceland, where there never was anything\nbut waste water. No such large island, distinct from Iceland, ever\nexisted at the north. Certainly, as shown, it is a mythical island\nindeed.\n\nMajor stoutly argued that any derelictions of the map are to be\nexplained as the defects of age and rottenness, unskillfully cobbled\nby a later hand. This sounds reasonable to one who has seen how the\nchanges of time deface these old memorials and how easily outlines\nand much more may be misread. But in point of fact the map as we have\nit answers to the narrative singularly well. Any blurs or lacunae\nwhich needed restoration must have occurred in very fortunate places.\nIceland, Shetland, Greenland, Scotland, Estotiland, and Drogio are all\nnot very far from where they should be. The Orkneys and Fair Island, if\ntoo far west in fact, are only far enough to suit the tale, for when\nAntonio sails eastward he comes to them and knows he has passed east of\nIceland, a reflection more likely to occur if the interval were rather\nsmall than if it were very great.\n\n\nICARIA\n\nAgain, when Earl Zichmni and Antonio Zeno with their little flotilla,\nfired by the fisherman\u2019s American experiences, strike westward from\nFrisland for Estotiland they, indeed, do not reach that goal but do\nattain by accident the mysterious Icaria and find themselves where\nGreenland can be and is reached without much difficulty. Now, on the\nmap (Fig. 19), Icaria, about the size of Shetland, is the most westerly\nof all the islands not distinctly American. Draw a straight line from\nIceland to Estotiland and another from the center of Frisland to\nCape Hwarf near the lower end of Greenland, and Icaria lies at the\nintersection. Granting the rest of the story, it is shown where they\nmight very well have stumbled upon it in trying to go farther west.\n\nOf course, it is not there; nothing ever was there except an ample\nexpanse of sea. Where Zeno got the idea of Icaria is not known--except\nas an appended and unimportant myth from the Aegean; it certainly was\nnot supplied by the facts of the North Atlantic. Probably the initial\n\u201cI\u201d stands for island as usual, and \u201cCaria\u201d is a not impossible\ntransformation of either \u201cKerry\u201d (preferred by Major) or \u201cKilda\u201d--the\nlatter more likely, for southern Ireland was continually visited by\nItalian traders, whereas St. Kilda lay off the trade routes rather far\naway in the mists and myths of the ocean and might be a fairer field\nfor exaggeration and shifting of place. But, with every allowance, it\nis hard to see how this small ultra-Hebridean rock pile could become a\nlarge island territory just short of America. Perhaps it is as well to\ntreat Icaria as merely the unprovoked creation of the romantic brain of\nthe younger Zeno.\n\n\nINFLUENCE OF IMAGINARY CARTOGRAPHY\n\nIt may be true that the elder Zeno brothers served for a time under\nsome northern island ruler, whose name the later Nicol\u00f2 Zeno read\nand copied as the impossible Zichmni; that they then visited various\ncountries and islands, possibly including the surviving but dwindling\nGreenland settlement; that one of them heard in general outline the\nadventures of a fisherman or minor mariner cast away at two points of\nthe American coast; and that a futile attempt was thereupon made by\ntheir patron to explore the same regions. Every one of these admissions\nlacks adequate confirmation and is very dubious; yet they are all\npossible. But it is not possible that a map made about 1400 could bear\nat almost all points the plain marks of copying with slight changes\nfrom maps of the late fifteenth and sixteenth centuries; and, since the\nnarrative so well fits the map, the two as we have them must stand or\nfall together.\n\nEither Nicol\u00f2 Zeno of 1558 invented the whole matter, building up\nhis imposture by the aid of maps and information already existent\nand accessible, or he actually had some sort of old sketch map and\nfragments of letters and has recast them with more modern aids quite at\nhis convenience, leaving no certain trace of the original outlines or\nstatements. It comes to much the same thing in either case.\n\nAlso in either case his unscrupulous and misleading achievements in\nimaginary cartography remain as historic facts. For a century or more\nhe supplied the maps of the world with several new great islands; he\nshifted others widely into new positions; he adorned other regions\nwith new names that were loath to depart; and he presented a story of\npre-Columbian discovery of America which was long accepted as true and\nis not wholly discarded even yet.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X\n\nANTILLIA AND THE ANTILLES\n\n\nThere are two names still in common use for American regions, which\nlong antedate Columbus and most likely commemorate achievements of\nearlier explorers. They are Brazil and the Antilles. The former is\nearlier on the maps and records; but the case for Antillia, as an\nAmerican pre-Columbian map item, is in some respects less complex and\nmore obvious.\n\n\nANTILLIA\n\nA good many decades before the New World became known as such, Antillia\nwas recognized as a legitimate geographical feature. A comparatively\nlate and generally familiar instance of such mention occurs in\nToscanelli\u2019s letter of 1474 to Columbus,[237] recommending this\nisland as a convenient resting point on the sea route to Cathay. Its\nauthenticity has been questioned, notably by the venerable and learned\nHenry Vignaud,[238] but at least some one wrote it and in it reflected\nthe viewpoint of the time.\n\nNordenski\u00f6ld in his elaborate and invaluable \u201cPeriplus\u201d declares: \u201cAs\nthe mention of this large island, the name of which was afterwards\ngiven to the Antilles, in the portolanos of the fourteenth century,\nis probably owing to some vessel being storm-driven across the\nAtlantic (as, according to Behaim, happened to a Spanish vessel in\n1414), those maps on which this island is marked must be reckoned\nas Americana.\u201d[239] The word \u201cfourteenth\u201d is probably an accidental\nsubstitute for \u201cfifteenth.\u201d The reference to Behaim undoubtedly means\nthe often-quoted inscription on his globe of 1492, which avers that\n\u201c1414 a ship from Spain got nighest it without being endangered.\u201d[240]\nThis seems to record an approach rather than an actual landing. But at\nleast it was evidently believed that Antillia had been nearly reached\nin that year by a vessel sailing from the Iberian Peninsula. Little\ndistinction would then have been made between Spain and Portugal in\nsuch a reference by a non-Iberian.\n\nRuysch\u2019s map of 1508 is a little more vague in its Antillia inscription\nas to the time of this adventure.[241] He says it was discovered by\nthe Spaniards long ago; but perhaps this means a rediscovery, for he\nalso chronicles the refuge sought there by King Roderick in the eighth\ncentury.\n\n\nPETER MARTYR\u2019S IDENTIFICATION OF ANTILLIA\n\nBoth of these representations show Antillia far in the ocean\ndissociated from any other land, but in the work of Peter Martyr\nd\u2019Anghiera, contemporary and historian of Columbus, writing before\n1511, we have an explicit identification as part of a well-known\ngroup or archipelago. He has been narrating the discovery of Cuba and\nHispaniola and proceeds:\n\n Turning, therefore, the stems of his ships toward the east, he\n assumed that he had found Ophir, whither Solomon\u2019s ships sailed\n for gold, but, the descriptions of the cosmographers well\n considered, it seemeth that both these and the other islands\n adjoining are the islands of Antillia.[242]\n\nPerhaps he meant delineations, like those we have yet to consider, and\nnot descriptions in words; or writings concerning these islands may\nthen have been extant which have since vanished as completely as the\ncelebrated map of Toscanelli.\n\nAmong \u201cthe other islands adjoining\u201d we may be sure he included that\nisland of Beimini, or Bimini (no other than Florida), a part of which,\nthus marked, occurs in his accompanying map and has the distinction\nof owning the fabled fountain of youth and luring Ponce de Leon into\nromantic but futile adventure. Perhaps only one other map gives it the\nname Bimini; but its insular character is plain on divers maps (made\nbefore men learned better), with varying areas and under different\nnames.\n\n\nOTHER IDENTIFICATIONS\n\nPeter Martyr was not alone in his identification of the \u201cislands of\nAntillia.\u201d Canerio\u2019s map,[243] attributed to 1502, names the large West\nIndia group \u201cAntilhas del Rey de Castella,\u201d though giving the name\nIsabella to the chief island; and another map of about the same date\n(anonymous)[244] gives them the collective title of Antilie, though\ncalling the Queen of the Antilles Cuba, as now. A later map,[245]\nprobably about 1518, varies the first form slightly to \u201cAtilhas [i. e.\nAntilhas] de Castela\u201d and shows also \u201cTera Bimini.\u201d This is the second\nBimini map above referred to.\n\nIt is true that the name Antillia, often slightly modified, was not\nrestricted to this use but occasionally was applied in other quarters.\nBeside Behaim\u2019s globe and Ruysch\u2019s map already mentioned, a Catalan map\nof the fifteenth century (obviously earlier than the knowledge of the\nPortuguese rediscovery of Flores and Corvo)[246] presents a duplicate\ndelineation of most of the Azores, giving the supposed additional\nislands a quite correct slant northwestward and individual names\nselected impartially from divers sources. One of these is Attiaela,\nrecalling the doubtful \u201cAtilae\u201d of the warning-figure inscription on\nthe map of the Pizigani of 1367[247] (Fig. 2), which may have suggested\nit, being applied in the same or a neighboring region. The islands\nremain mysterious, perhaps merely registering a free range of fancy at\ndivers periods.\n\n\nAN ANTILLIA OF THE MAINLAND\n\nAgain, at a much later time, when the exploration of the South American\ncoast line had proceeded far enough to demonstrate the existence of a\ncontinent, some one speculated, it would seem, concerning an Antillia\nof the mainland. One of the maps[248] in the portolan atlas in the\nBritish Museum known as Egerton MS. 2803 bears the word \u201cAntiglia\u201d\nrunning from north to south at a considerable distance west of\nthe mouth of the Amazon, apparently about where would now be the\nsoutheastern part of Venezuela. Also, the world map[249] in the same\natlas (Fig. 8) bears \u201cAntiglia\u201d as a South American name, in this\ninstance moved farther westward to the region of eastern Ecuador and\nneighboring territory.\n\nBut these aberrant applications of the name Antillia in its various\nforms were mostly late in time and probably all suggested by some novel\ngeographical disclosures. The standard identification, as disclosed\non the maps discussed below, at least from Beccario\u2019s of 1435 to\nBenincasa\u2019s of 1482, was with a great group of western islands; as was\nPeter Martyr\u2019s, much later.\n\n\nTHE ORIGIN OF THE NAME\n\nNaturally the origin of the word has been found a fascinating problem.\nEver since Formaleoni,[250] near the close of the eighteenth century,\ncalled attention to the delineation of Antillia in Bianco\u2019s map of\n1436, discussed below, as indicating some knowledge of America, there\nhave been those to urge the claims of the suppositional lost Atlantis\ninstead. The two island names certainly begin with \u201cA\u201d and utilize\n\u201ct,\u201d \u201cl,\u201d and \u201ci\u201d about equally; but \u201cAtlantis\u201d comes so easily out of\n\u201cAtlas,\u201d and the great mountain chain marches so conspicuously down to\nthe sea in all early maps, that the derivation of the former may be\ncalled obvious; whereas you cannot readily or naturally turn \u201cAtlas\u201d\ninto \u201cAntillia,\u201d and there is no evidence that any one ever did so.\nAs to geographical items, both have been located in the great western\nsea; but that is true of many other lands, real or fanciful. Something\nhas been made of the elongated quadrilateral form of Antillia; but\nHumboldt points out[251] that in the description transmitted by Plato\nthis outline is ascribed to a particular district in Atlantis, not to\nthe great island as a whole, and that, even if it could be understood\nin the latter sense, there seems no reason why a fragment surviving\nthe great cataclysm should repeat the configuration of Atlantis as a\nwhole. There seems a total lack of any direct evidence, or any weighty\ninferential evidence, of the derivation of Antillia from Atlantis.\n\n\nHUMBOLDT\u2019S HYPOTHESIS\n\nHumboldt, in rejecting this hypothesis, advanced another, which is\npicturesque and ingenious but hardly better supported.[252] His choice\nis \u201cAl-tin,\u201d Arabic for \u201cthe dragon.\u201d Undoubtedly Arabs navigated to\nsome extent some parts of the great Sea of Darkness, and these monsters\nwere among its generally credited terrors. The hardly decipherable\ninscriptions in the neighborhood of an island on the map of the\nPizigani of 1367[253] (Fig. 2), as we have seen (Ch. VI), seem to cite\nArabic experience in proof of perils from _fulvos_ (krakens) rising\nfrom the depths of the sea, coupling dragons with them in the same\nlegend and illustrating it by a picture of a kraken dragging one seaman\noverboard from a ship in distress, while a dragon high overhead flies\naway with another. It is even true that Arabic tradition established\na dragon on at least one island as a horrible oppression, long ago\nhappily ended, and that another island (perhaps more than one) was\nknown as the Island of the Dragon. But in all this there is nothing\nto connect dragons with Antillia, and that most hideous medieval\nfancy is out of all congruity with the fair and almost holy repute of\nthis island as the place of refuge of the last Christian ante-Moorish\nmonarch of Spain in the hour of his despair and as the new home of the\nseven Portuguese bishops with their following.\n\nIn passing, we may note that Antela, the version of the Laon globe\nhereinafter referred to, is identical with the name of that Lake Antela\nof northwestern Spain which is the source of the river Limia, fabled\nto be no other than Lethe, so that Roman soldiers drew back from it,\nfearing the waters of oblivion. But as yet no one has taken up the\ncause of Spanish Antela as the origin of the island\u2019s name. Probably it\nis a mere matter of coincidence.\n\nHumboldt admits that Antillia may be readily resolved into two\nPortuguese words, _ante_ and _illa_ (island). He even cites several\nparallel cases, of which Anti-bacchus will serve as an example. But\nhe objects that such compound names have been used in comparison with\nother islands, not with a continent. In the present instance, however,\nthe comparison would be with Portugal, not with all Europe, and the\nother member of it would be a map island which, he says, is as long\nas Portugal and seems curiously to borrow and copy Portugal\u2019s general\nform and is arranged opposite to that kingdom far beyond the Azores\nacross a great expanse of sea. It must be remembered that _illa_ is the\nold form of _ilha_, found in many maps, that either would naturally be\npronounced \u201cillia,\u201d and that you cannot say \u201canteillia\u201d or \u201cantiillia\u201d\nat all rapidly without turning it almost exactly into Antillia. The\n\u201cisland out before,\u201d or the \u201copposite island,\u201d would be the natural\ninterpretation. The latter seems preferable. Notwithstanding the great\nimportance which must always be attached to any opinion of Humboldt\u2019s,\nthere really seems no need to let fancy range far afield when an\nobvious explanation faces us in the word itself and on the maps.\n\n\nTHE WEIMAR MAP\n\nNordenski\u00f6ld, practically applying his test of the presence of Antillia\nand arranging his materials in chronological order, heads his list\nof \u201cThe Oldest Maps of the New Hemisphere\u201d[254] with the anonymous\nmap preserved in the Grand Ducal library in Weimar and credited to\n1424.[255] But it seems that this map does not deserve that position,\nfor it is not entitled to the date; Humboldt, inspecting the original,\nmade out certain fragments of words and the Roman characters for\nthat year on a band running from south to north between the Azores\nand Antillia; also, in more modern ink, the date 1424 on the margin.\nWhatever the explanation, he was convinced of error by subsequent\ncorrespondence with the Weimar librarian and admitted that it was\nprobably the work of Conde Freducci not earlier than 1481. Apart from\nall considerations of workmanship and map outlines, the use of \u201cinsule\u201d\ninstead of \u201cinsulle\u201d and of \u201cbrandani\u201d instead of \u201cbrandany\u201d in the\ninscription concerning the Madeiras marks the map as almost certainly\nbelonging to the last quarter, not the first quarter, of the fifteenth\ncentury.\n\n\nTHE BECCARIO MAP OF 1426\n\nThe second map on Nordenski\u00f6ld\u2019s New World list is \u201cBecharius 1426,\u201d\na Latinization of the surname of Battista Beccario and at least not\nso weird a transformation as Humboldt\u2019s \u201cBeclario or Bedrazio.\u201d\nApparently the year of this map has not been doubted, but there is a\nlack of first-hand evidence that the original contains Antillia. No\nreproduction of this map had been published prior to the writer\u2019s paper\non St. Brendan\u2019s Islands in the July, 1919, _Geographical Review_,\nnor, so far as is known, has its extreme western part been copied in\nany way. The section there reproduced, and herewith reprinted only\nslightly curtailed (Fig. 3), is one of several sent me in response\nto arrangements, made before the war, for a photograph of the map,\nbut by some mistake the very portion that would have been conclusive\nwas omitted, and all attempts to remedy the error have failed. But,\nif there were any inscription concerning recently discovered islands\nlocated as in his later map, some part of it at least would probably be\nseen on what I have; and for this and other reasons I do not believe\nthat Antillia is delineated or named on the Beccario map of 1426.\n\n\nTHE BECCARIO MAP OF 1435\n\nThe addition to fifteenth-century geography of a great group of large\nwestern islands roughly corresponding to a part of the West Indies and\nFlorida rests mainly on the testimony of the following maps now to\nbe discussed: Beccario 1435, Bianco 1436, Pareto 1455, Roselli 1468,\nBenincasa 1482, and the anonymous Weimar map probably by Freducci and\ndating somewhere after 1481. Of these the most complete as well as\nthe earliest is Beccario\u2019s[256] (Fig. 20). He gives the islands the\ncollective title of \u201cInsulle a novo rep\u2019te\u201d (newly reported islands),\nwhich may refer to the discovery recorded by Behaim for 1414 or to\nsome more recent experience. The interval would not be much greater\nthan that between the first landing of Columbus and the narrative of\nPeter Martyr beginning with equivalent words. It is likely, however,\nthat some lost map or maps preceded Beccario\u2019s, for the artificially\nregular outlines of his islands, though in accord with the fashion\nof cartography in his time, seem rather out of keeping with a first\nappearance. The type had somehow fixed itself with curious minuteness\nand was repeated faithfully by his successors. In spite of these\nimpossibly symmetrical details and some discrepancies as to individual\ndirection of elongation and latitude, the fact remains that in the\nAtlantic there is no such great group except the Antilles and that\nthe general correspondence is too surprising to be explained by mere\naccident or conjecture. Surely some mariner had visited Cuba and some\nof its neighbors before 1435.\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 20--Section of the Beccario map of 1435 showing\nthe four islands of the Antilles, St. Brendan\u2019s Islands, Daculi, and\nothers. (After Uzielli\u2019s photographic facsimile.)]\n\nThis map of Beccario had been somewhat neglected, with misreading of\nthe names, before it was taken in hand by the Italian Geographical\nSociety and reproduced very carefully by photo-lithography. As regards\nthe island names in particular, this eliminated some misunderstanding\nand confusion and made their meaning plain. Thus rendered, the map\naffords a convenient standard for the others, which, indeed, differ\nfrom it very little as to these \u201cIslands of Antillia.\u201d\n\n\nTHE FOUR ISLANDS OF THE ANTILLES ON THE BECCARIO MAP\n\nThis group, or more properly series--for three of them are strung out\nin a line--comprises the four islands Antillia, Reylla, Salvagio, and I\nin Mar. All these names have meaning, easy to render.\n\n\nANTILLIA\n\nThe largest and most southerly, Antillia, the \u201copposite island,\u201d\nwhich I take to be no other than Cuba, is shown as an elongated, very\nmuch conventionalized parallelogram, extending from the latitude of\nMorocco a little south of the Strait of Gibraltar to that of northern\nPortugal. As Humboldt says, it is about a third as wide as it is long;\nand in this respect it is singularly even throughout its length. In\nits eastern front there are four bays, and three in its western. The\nintervals on each side are pretty nearly equal, and each bay is of a\nthree-lobed form resembling an ill-divided clover leaf. In the lower\nend there is a broader and larger bay nearly triangular. The artificial\nexactness of these minute details is in keeping with the treatment on\ndivers maps of the really well-known islands of the eastern Atlantic\narchipelagoes, except that the comparative smallness of a Teneriffe, a\nTerceira, or even a Madeira, offered less opportunity. The slant of the\nisland is very slightly east of north, obviously quite different from\nthe actual longitudinal direction of the even more elongated Queen of\nthe Antilles.\n\n\nREYLLA\n\nBehind the lower part of Antillia, much as Jamaica is behind the\neastern or lower part of Cuba, and about in similar proportions of\nrelative area, Beccario shows a smaller but, nevertheless, considerable\nisland, pentagonal in outline, mainly square in body, with a low\nwestward-pointing broad-based triangular extension. He gives it the\nimpressive name of Reylla, King Island, not ill suited to the royal\nbeauty of that mountainous gem of the seas.\n\n\nSALVAGIO\n\nNorth of Antillia and nearly in line with it, but at a rather wide\ninterval, he shows Saluagio or Salvagio (\u201cu\u201d and \u201cv\u201d being equivalent),\nwhich has the same name then long given to a wild and rocky cluster of\nislets between Madeira and the Canaries, that still bears it in the\nform Salvages. Wherever applied the name is bound to denote some form\nof savageness; perhaps \u201cSavage Island\u201d is an adequate rendering, the\nsecond word being understood. This Salvagio imitates the general form\nof Antillia on a reduced scale, being, nevertheless, much larger than\nany other island in the Atlantic south of the parallel of Ireland.\nLike Antillia, its eastern and western faces are provided with highly\nartificial bays, three in each. Its northern end is beveled upward\nand westward. I think this large island probably represents Florida,\nsimilarly situated to the northward of Cuba and divided from it by\nFlorida Strait. Its area must have been nakedly conjectural, as much\nlater maps show its line of supposed severance from the mainland to\nhave been drawn by guesswork.\n\n\nI IN MAR\n\nThe inclined northern end of Salvagio is divided by a narrow sea belt\nfrom I in Mar, which has approximately a crescent form and a bulk not\nvery different from that commonly ascribed at that time to Madeira.\n\u201cI,\u201d of course, stands for Insula or one of its derivatives, such as\nIlla, a word or initial applied or omitted at will. \u201cIsland in the Sea\u201d\nis probably the true rendering, though formerly the initial and the two\nwords were sometimes blended, as Tanmar or Danmar, to the confusion of\ngeographers. A larger member of the Bahama group lying near the Florida\ncoast would seem to fill the requirements, being naturally recognized\nas more at sea than Florida or Cuba. Great Abaco and Great Bahama\nare nearly contiguous and, considered together, would give nearly\nthe required size and form; but it is not necessary to be individual\nin identification. Possibly Insula in Mar as drawn was meant to be\nsymbolical and representative of the sea islands generally rather than\nto set forth any particular one of them.\n\n\nTHE ROSELLI MAP OF 1468\n\nThe Roselli map of 1468,[257] the property of the Hispanic Society of\nAmerica, New York City, is nearly as complete as the Beccario map of\n1435. It lacks only the western part of Reylla (a name here corrupted\ninto \u201croella\u201d), by the reason of the limitations of the material. These\nmaps were generally drawn on parchment made of lambskin with the narrow\nneck of the skin presented toward the west, perhaps as the quarter in\nwhich unavoidable omissions were thought to do the least harm. Because\nof the island\u2019s position on the very edge of the skin, its outline,\nalthough unmistakable, is faint and in a few decades of exposure of\nthe original might have vanished altogether. This raises the question\nwhether certain outlines, now missing but plainly called for, on other\nmaps of the same period, have not met with the same fate. Probably this\nhas happened. Antilia--spelled thus--is plain in name and outline;\nso is the island next above it, spelled Saluaega. The \u201cI\u201d is omitted\nfrom I in Mar, as was often done in like cases, and the words \u201cin\nMar\u201d are uncertain, but seem as above. The island figure is correctly\ngiven by Beccario\u2019s standard, and in general the representation of the\nisland series is almost exactly the same. Perhaps the most discernible\ndifference is a very slight northwestern trend given to Antillia,\ninstead of the equally slight northeastern inclination in Beccario\u2019s\ncase.\n\n\nTHE BIANCO MAP OF 1436\n\nThe Bianco map of 1436[258] (Fig. 25) was the first of the Antillia\nmaps to attract attention in quite modern times but has suffered far\nworse than Roselli\u2019s in the matter of limitation. The border of the\nmaterial cuts off all but Antillia and the lower end of Salvagio, to\nwhich Bianco has given the strange name of La Man (or Mao) Satanaxio,\ngenerally translated \u201cThe Hand of Satan\u201d but believed by Nordenski\u00f6ld\nto be rather a corruption of a saint\u2019s name, perhaps that of St.\nAnastasio. It remains a mystery, though one hypothesis connects it with\na grisly Far Eastern tale of a demon hand. The initial \u201cS\u201d is all that\nSatanaxio has in common with the names for this island on the other\nmaps that show it; and, as nearly all of these present very slight\nchanges from Salvagio, easily to be accounted for by carelessness or\nerrors in copying, the latter name is fairly to be regarded as the\nlegitimate one, while Satanaxio remains unique and grimly fanciful,\nperhaps to be explained another day. The most that can be said for its\ngenerally accepted meaning is that it corroborates Salvagio in so far\nas it intensifies savagery to diabolism. One is tempted to speculate\nas to whether any very cruel treatment from the natives had formed\npart of the experience of the visitors along that shore; but there is\nno known fact or assertion upon which to base such an idea. As to the\ndelineation of the islands, it is quite evident that Bianco showed the\nsame group as Beccario and Roselli so far as circumstances permitted;\nand there is no reason to believe that the islands for which he had no\nroom would have differed from theirs in his showing, if admissible, any\nmore than his Antillia differs; that is to say, hardly at all.\n\nHumboldt was so impressed by this map of Bianco that he took the pains\nof measuring upon it the distance of Antillia from Portugal, making\nthis about two hundred and forty leagues: an unreliable test, one would\nsay, for the distances over the western waste of waters probably were\nnot drawn to scale nor supposed to approach exactness. For that matter,\nthe interval between Portugal and the Azores, as shown on maps for\nnearly a hundred years, was greatly underestimated, and the discrepancy\nbecomes more glaring as the islands lie farther westward, Flores and\nCorvo being conspicuous examples. We should naturally expect to find\nthe West Indies reported much nearer than they really are by anyone\nmapping a record of them. Perhaps the explanation lies in a disposition\nof cartographers to expect and allow for a great deal of nautical\nexaggeration in the mariners\u2019 yarns that reached them. A careful man\nmight come at last to believe in the existence of an island but doubt\nif it were really so very far away.\n\n\nTHE PARETO MAP OF 1455\n\nPareto, 1455, has a very interesting and elaborate map[259] (Fig.\n21) showing Antillia, Reylla, and I in Mar (the latter without name)\nin the orthodox size, shape, and position, but with a great gap\nbetween Antillia and I in Mar where Salvagio should be. Very likely\nit was there once. Perhaps this is another case of fading away. One\ndoubts whether the loss might not still be retrieved by more powerful\nmagnifying glasses and close study of the significant interval. Pareto\nis unmistakably disclosing the same series of islands as the others.\nIt may be that from him Roselli borrowed the inaccurate \u201croella\u201d for\nReylla, since Pareto is earlier in using a similar form (Roillo).\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 21--Section of the Pareto map of 1455 showing\nthe Antilles, St. Brendan\u2019s Islands, Daculi, and others. (After\nKretschmer\u2019s hand-copied reproduction.)]\n\n\nTHE BENINCASA MAP OF 1482\n\nBenincasa\u2019s map of 1482[260] (Fig. 22) presents Salvagio as Saluaga,\nand I in Mar without name, but omits Reylla, both name and figure.\nThe islands shown are in their accepted form and arrangement, except\nthat Saluaga has but two bays on the western side, and his map adds\na novelty in a series of names applied to the several bays, or the\nregions adjoining them, of the two larger islands. These names (Fig.\n22) are twelve in number and seem like the fanciful work of some\nPortuguese who was haunted by a few Arabic sounds in addition to those\nof his native tongue. Several of them, like Antillia, begin with\n\u201cAn,\u201d perhaps another illustration of the law of the line of least\nresistance. I cannot think that there is any significance in these bits\nof antiquated ingenuity, though, as we have seen in Chapter V, some\nhave believed they found in them a relic of the Seven Cities legend.\n\n\nTHE WEIMAR MAP (AFTER 1481)\n\nThe Weimar map,[261] though long carefully housed, has suffered\nblurring and fading with some other damage in its earlier history.\nIt is evidently a late representative of the tradition and begins to\nwander slightly from the accepted standard. It has been curtailed also\nfrom the beginning, like Bianco\u2019s map of 1436, by the limitations of\nthe border, which in this instance cuts off the lower part of Antillia,\nthough the name is nearly intact; but enough remains to indicate a\nreduced relative size and a greater slant to the northeastward than on\nBeccario\u2019s map. There is, of course, no room for Reylla, and there is\nnone for I in Mar; but\n\nSalvagio is given plainly and fully, with the letter S quite\nconspicuous. I cannot read more of the name on the photograph; but\nthe Weimar librarian reads San on the original, being uncertain as\nto the rest. This map bears traces of local names arranged in places\nlike those of Benincasa but fragmentary and illegible. Perhaps these\nnames tend to show that the maps belong not only to the same period,\nbut to the same general school of development. The other differences\nbetween this map and its predecessors are trivial. The general idea\nof the island series is the same so far as it is disclosed, and it is\nhardly to be doubted that all elements of the islands of Antillia would\nhave been presented in the main on this map as they are by Roselli and\nBeccario, if there had been room to do so.\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 22--Section of the Benincasa map of 1482 showing\nthe Antilles, St. Brendan\u2019s Islands, and others. (After Kretschmer\u2019s\nhand-copied reproduction.)]\n\n\nTHE LAON GLOBE OF 1493\n\nThe Laon globe,[262] 1493, though mainly older, certainly had room\nenough, but it appears to have formed part of some mechanism and to\nhave had only a secondary or incidental, and in part rather careless,\napplication to geography. It shows two elongated islands, Antela and\nSalirosa, undoubtedly meant for Antillia and Salvagio. Perhaps the\nglobe maker had at command only a somewhat defaced specimen of a map\nlike Bianco\u2019s or that of Weimar, showing perforce only two islands, and\nmerely copied them, guessing at the dim names and outlines, without\nthinking or caring whether anything more were implied or making\nany farther search. This is apparently the last instance in which\nthe larger two islands of the old group or series, marked by their\ntraditional names or what are meant for such, appear together.\n\n\nOTHER MAPS\n\nIt may seem strange that certain other notable maps, for example\nGiraldi 1426,[263] Valsequa 1439,[264] and Fra Mauro 1459,[265] show\nnothing of Antillia and its neighbors. Perhaps the makers were not\ninterested in these far western parts of the ocean, or the narratives\non which Beccario and the rest based their maps had not reached them;\nmore likely they were skeptical and unwilling to commit themselves.\n\nIt is also true that the Antillia of Beccario and others is made to\nextend nearly north and south instead of east and west; that I in Mar\nis placed north of its greater neighbor instead of east; and that\nthe whole chain of islands is moved into considerably more northern\nlatitudes than the group which we suppose them to represent. Thus the\neastern, or lower, end of Cuba is actually in the latitude of the\nlower part of the Sahara, and a point above the upper end of Florida\nwould be in the latitude of the upper part of Morocco; whereas in the\nmaps discussed the average location of the chain from the lower end\nof Antillia to the most northerly island, I in Mar, would run from\nthe latitude of northern Morocco to that of southern France. There\nare slight individual differences in this matter of extension, but I\nbelieve Antillia always begins below Gibraltar and ends above northern\nSpain and a little below Bordeaux. But some dislocation, of course, is\nto be looked for in mapping exploration in an unscientific period. The\nchanges of direction and extension are not greater than in the American\ncoast line of Juan de la Cosa\u2019s very important map of 1500,[266] not to\nmention even more extravagant instances of later date; and the shifting\nof latitudes may partly be accounted for by ignorance of the southward\ndip of the isothermal lines in crossing the Atlantic westward. Thus a\nPortuguese sailor on reaching a far western island or shore having what\nseemed to him the climate and conditions of Gascony would be likely to\nsuppose that it was really opposite Gascony, though in fact it might be\nmore nearly opposite the Canaries; and the same cause of error would\napply all down the line. Cuba is not really directly opposite Portugal\nbut may easily have been believed so.\n\n\nIDENTITY OF ANTILLIA WITH THE ANTILLES\n\nA more difficult question is raised by the absence of Haiti and Porto\nRico from these maps, with all the more eastward Antilles. But it is\npossible that they may not have been visited or even seen. We can\nimagine an expedition that would touch Great Abaco, coast along\nFlorida and Cuba, and visit Jamaica, returning out of sight, or with\nlittle notice, of the Haitian coast and barely passing an islet or two\nof the Bahamas, which, if not sufficiently commemorated in a general\nway by Insula in Mar, might well be disregarded. A report of such an\nexpedition, adding that Antillia was directly opposite Portugal and of\nabout equal size, would account fairly for the map which for half a\ncentury was faithfully repeated even in details by many different hands\nand evidently confidently believed in.\n\nUnless we accept this explanation, we must assume an uncanny, almost\nan inspired, gift of conjecture in some one who, without basis, could\nimagine and depict the only array of great islands in the Atlantic.\nCertainly the outlines of Cuba, Jamaica, Florida, and one of the\nBahamas will very well bear comparison with Scandinavia or the Hebrides\nand the Orkneys as given on maps of equal or even later date. Some\nglaring errors are to be expected in such work, as notoriously occurred\nin the sixteenth-century treatment of Newfoundland and Labrador.\nApplying the same tests and canons and making the same allowances as\nin these cases of distortion of undoubtedly actual lands, we may be\nreasonably confident that the Antillia of 1435 was really, as now, the\nQueen of the Antilles.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XI\n\nCORVO, OUR NEAREST EUROPEAN NEIGHBOR\n\n\nFar at sea from Portugal, straggling in a long northwestward line\ntoward America, lies the archipelago sometimes called the Islands of\nthe Sun or the Western Islands but now generally known as the Azores.\nThat line breaks into three divisions separated by wide gaps of sea:\nthe most easterly pair, St. Michael and St. Mary; the main cluster of\nfive islands, Pico being the loftiest and Terceira the most important;\nand the northwesterly pair, Flores and Corvo. These last make a little\nfar-severed world of their own, sharing in none of the tremors and\nupheavals which from time to time more or less transform parts of the\nother two divisions. The remote origin of the pair was volcanic, and\nCorvo is little more now than an old crater lifted about 300 feet above\nthe surface; but the fires have long been dead, and in historic times\nthe lower strata have never shifted suddenly to produce any great\nearthquake. There have been changes, but they must be attributed for\nthe most part to gradual subsidence.\n\nThese two islands, though almost as near to Newfoundland as to any\npoint in Portugal, cannot be classed as American; yet Corvo in\nparticular seems to have impressed the imagination of ancient and\nmedieval explorers with a sense of some special relation to regions\nbeyond, though possibly only to the entangling Sargasso Sea of weeds,\nwhich would lie next in order southwestward (Fig. 1), and the menacing\nmysteries of the remoter wastes of the Atlantic. It may have been felt\nas the last stepping stone for the leap into the great unknown.\n\n\nORIGIN OF THE NAME\n\nFlores, the island of flowers, thus prettily renamed by the\nPortuguese, is referred to as the rabbit island, Li Conigi, in the\nfourteenth-century maps and records; but Corvo has always borne, in\nsubstance, the same name, one of the oldest on the Atlantic. Probably\nthe very first instance of its use is in the Book of the Spanish\nFriar,[267] written about 1350 (the author says he was born in 1305),\nrather recently published in Spanish and since translated for the\nHakluyt Society publications by Sir Clements Markham. After relating\nalleged visits to more accessible islands of the eastern Atlantic\narchipelagoes, from Lanzarote and Tenerife of the Canaries to S\u00e3o Jorge\n(St. George) of the Azores, he continues: \u201canother, Conejos [doubtless\nLi Conigi], another, Cuervo Marines [Corvo--the sea crow island], so\nthat altogether there are 25 islands.\u201d\n\nThis account may not actually be later than the Atlante Mediceo\nmap,[268] attributed to 1351--may even have been suggested by it, as\nsome things seem to indicate. The Friar\u2019s voyages are perhaps merely\nimaginary, their variety and total extent being hardly believable.\nThis very important map has been best reproduced in the collection\nby Theobald Fischer; on it the same name (Corvi Marinis) seems to\nbe applied to both islands collectively, the plural form \u201cinsule\u201d\nbeing used to introduce it. Both names appear on the Catalan map of\n1375.[269] It is more than probable that they date at least from the\nearlier half of the fourteenth century.\n\nPossibly the name Corvo had been carried over by a somewhat free\ntranslation from the older Moorish seamen and cartographers, who\ndominated this part of the outer ocean from the eighth century to the\ntwelfth. Edrisi,[270] greatest of Arab geographers, writing for King\nRoger of Sicily about the middle of the twelfth century, tells us,\namong other items, of the eastern Atlantic:\n\n Near this isle is that of R\u00e2ca, which is \u201cthe isle of the\n birds\u201d (Djaz\u00eerato \u2019t-Toyour). It is reported that a species\n of birds resembling eagles is found there, red and armed with\n fangs; they hunt marine animals upon which they feed and never\n leave these parts.\n\nThis statement recalls the cormorants, which are supposed to be meant\nby the sea crows, \u201ccorvi marinis\u201d of the later maps. They would\nnaturally flock about the submerged ledges and the wild shore of Corvo\nand may be held to suggest either the crow or the eagle, though not\nclosely resembling either. Everywhere they are the scavengers of the\ndeep seas. Edrisi mentions a legendary expedition sent by the \u201cKing of\nFrance\u201d after these birds. It ended in disaster. The pictorial record\non the Pizigani map of 1367[271] (Fig. 2), of Breton ships in great\ntrouble with a dragon of the air and a kraken, or decapod, on the\nextreme western border of navigation, may conceivably refer to this\nexperience.\n\n\nANCIENT MEMORIALS\n\nBut Corvo has even more ancient traditions and associations, Diodorus\nSiculus,[272] in the first century before the Christian era, wrote of a\ngreat Atlantic island, probably Madeira, which the Etrurians coveted\nduring their period of sea power; but the Carthaginians, its first\ndiscoverers, prohibited them, wishing to keep it for their own uses. If\nthe Etrurians were thus well informed concerning one island of these\neastern Atlantic archipelagoes, it is a fair conjecture that they had\nvisited the others.\n\nHowever this may be, it seems that the Carthaginians left memorials\non Corvo. At least this is the most reasonable explanation of\nthe extraordinary story repeated by Humboldt[273] in the \u201cExamen\nCritique,\u201d apparently with full faith in its main feature at least,\nnotwithstanding the fascinating atmosphere of romance and wonder which\nhangs about the details. In the month of November, 1749, it appears, a\nviolent storm shattered an edifice (presumably submerged) off the coast\nof Corvo, and the surf washed out of a vault pertaining to the building\na broken vase still containing golden and copper coins. These were\ntaken to a convent or monastery (probably on some neighboring island).\nSome of them were given away as curiosities, but nine were preserved\nand sent to a Father Flores at Madrid, who gave them to M. Podolyn.\nSome of them bore for design the full figure of a horse; others bore\nhorses\u2019 heads. Reproductions of the designs were published in the\n_Memoirs of the Gothenburg Royal Society_[274] and compared with those\non coins in the collection of the Prince Royal of Denmark. It seems to\nbe agreed that they were certainly Phoenician coins of North Africa,\npartly Carthaginian.\n\nIt has been suggested[275] that they may have been left by Norman\nor Arab seafarers, who certainly journeyed among the Azores in the\nMiddle Ages. But, as Humboldt points out, that these should have\nleft a hoard of exclusively Phoenician coins, so much more ancient\nthan their own, without even a single specimen of any other mintage,\nappears very unlikely. On the other hand, it is true that Phoenician\nvessels sailing northward in the tin or amber traffic would hardly\nbe likely to be storm-driven so far northwestward as Corvo; St.\nMichael would have been a more natural involuntary landfall. This\nobjection does not apply, however, if we suppose the deposit to be\nthe work not of accident, but of full intention and deliberation, as\nthe alleged edifice and vault would certainly tend to show. If these\ncoins were deposited by Phoenicians who erected permanent buildings,\nthe remoteness of the island would be only an added reason for\ncommemoration. The coins might have been immured in the vault for safe\nkeeping or might have been enclosed in the corner stone, in accordance\nwith the general custom of placing coins and records in the corner\nstones of notable structures.\n\nOf course these details cannot be confidently accepted. As Humboldt\nsuggests, it is to be regretted that we are without information as to\nthe period or character of the edifice in question. But at least it\nseems most probable that Phoenicians occupied or at any rate visited\nthis island and deposited coins of Carthage.\n\n\nEQUESTRIAN STATUES\n\nFurthermore, Corvo is one of several Atlantic islands reputed to have\nbeen marked by monuments generally of one type. Edrisi[276] knows\nof them in Al-Khalidat, the Fortunate Isles--bronze westward-facing\nstatues on tall columnar pedestals. There are said to have been six\nsuch in all, the nearest being at Cadiz. Tradition places an equestrian\nstatue also on the island of Terceira, as repeated in a much more\nmodern work.[277] The Pizigani map of 1367, it will be remembered,\nshows (Fig. 2) near where Corvo should be the colossal figure of a\nsaint warning mariners backward, with a confused inscription declaring\nwestward navigation impracticable beyond this point by reason of\nobstructions and announcing that the statue is erected on the shore\nof Atilie. But perhaps the best and most apposite account is that of\nManuel de Faria y Sousa in the \u201cHistoria del Reyno de Portugal:\u201d\n\n In the Azores, on the summit of a mountain which is called the\n mountain of the Crow, they found the statue of a man mounted\n on a horse without saddle, his head uncovered, the left hand\n resting on the horse, the right extended toward the west. The\n whole was mounted on a pedestal which was of the same kind of\n stone as the statue. Underneath some unknown characters were\n carved in the rock.[278]\n\nApparently the reference is to the first ascent of Corvo after its\nrediscovery between 1449 and 1460. The mention of \u201ccharacters\u201d recalls\nthose found in a cave of St. Michael, also by rediscoverers, during\nthe same period, as related by Thevet[279] long afterward, most likely\nfrom tradition. A man of Moorish-Jewish descent, who was one of the\nparty, thought he recognized the inscription as Hebrew, but could not\nor did not read it. Some have supposed the characters to be Phoenician.\nThere is naturally much uncertainty about these stories of very early\nobservations by untrained men, recorded at last, as the result of a\nlong chain of transmissions: but they tend more or less to corroborate\nthe other evidences of Phoenician presence.\n\nIt may be possible that the persistent and widely distributed story\nof westward-pointing equestrian statues marking important islands\nmay have grown out of the ancient mention of the pillars of Saturn,\nafterward Hercules, and Strabo\u2019s discussion[280] as to whether they\nwere natural or artificial in origin; but this puts a severe strain on\nfancy. We know that the Carthaginians did set up commemorative columns;\nand that the horse figured conspicuously in their coinage. Nothing in\nthe enterprising character of the Phoenician people is opposed to the\nidea of incitement to exploration westward. It seems easier to believe\nthat they set up these statuary monuments on one island after another\nthan that the whole tradition has grown out of a misunderstanding.\nSuch statues might well vanish subsequently as completely as the great\nsilver \u201ctabula\u201d map of Edrisi and many other valuable things of olden\ntime.\n\nCorvo has no statue now; but it is reputed to hold a statue\u2019s\nrepresentative. Captain Boid (1834) relates:\n\n Corvo is the smallest, and most northerly of the Azores,\n being only six miles in length, and three in breadth, with a\n population of nine hundred souls. It is rocky and mountainous;\n and on being first descried, exhibits a sombre dark-blue\n appearance, which circumstance gave rise to its present\n name, whereby it was distinguished by the early Portuguese\n navigators.... It is not known at what period this island was\n first visited, though from a combination of circumstances,\n it is supposed, about the year 1460. The inhabitants are\n ignorant, superstitious, and bigoted, in the highest degree,\n and relate innumerable ridiculous traditions respecting their\n country. Amongst other absurdities they state, with the utmost\n gravity, that to Corvo is owed the discovery of the western\n world--which, they say, originated through the circumstance\n of a large projecting promontory on the N. W. side of the\n island, possessing somewhat of the form of a human being,\n with an outstretched arm toward the west; and this, they have\n been led to believe, was intended by Providence, to intimate\n the existence of the new world. Columbus, they say, first\n interpreted it thus; and was here inspired with the desire to\n commence his great researches.[281]\n\nCaptain Boid was wrong in his derivation of the name Corvo, as we have\nseen; wrong also, in another way, in despising the \u201csuperstitions\u201d as\n\u201cabsurd\u201d and refusing them record, for they might embody some valuable\nsuggestion. Humboldt thought, however, that the story of the pointing\nhorseman might have grown out of this natural rock formed in human\nsemblance. No doubt this is possible; but it would not account for\nlike stories of the other islands nor the general similitude of their\nfigures. Perhaps an equally valid explanation might be found in the\nformer presence of such artificial figures, leaving a certain repute\nbehind them and causing popular fancy to point out resemblances which\nwould not have been noticed otherwise.\n\nA more recent mention of this pointing rock occurs in \u201cA Trip to the\nAzores\u201d by Borges de F. Henriques, a native of Flores. He says:\n\n Another natural curiosity which has been defaced by the weather\n and the bad taste of visitors is a rock resembling a horseman\n with the right arm extended to the westward as if pointing the\n way to the new world. Some insular writers deny the existence\n of this rock.[282]\n\n\nNEED OF EXPLORATION\n\nThere seems still a good deal of vagueness about the matter, and Corvo\nmight well be given a thorough overhauling for vestiges of ancient\ntimes. This naturally should be extended to the submerged area close\nto the shore, for the outlying reefs and ridges may mark the site of\nlower lands where human work once went on and where its traces and\nrelics may remain. In expanse the island probably was not always what\nwe find it now, six miles in length by at most three in breadth (seven\nsquare miles in all, as most accounts compute it) with fringes of rock\nrunning off from the shore, \u201clifting themselves high above the water in\none place, blackening the surface in another, and again sinking to such\na depth that the waves only eddy and bubble over them.\u201d Mr. Henriques\nsays elsewhere: \u201cIn many of the islands, but especially in Flores,\nthere are vestiges clearly indicating that formerly as well as lately\nparts of the island have sunk or rather disappeared in the sea.\u201d He\ncites for instance a notable loss of land in the summer of 1847.\n\nThere is reason to believe that Corvo has dwindled in this way much\nmore, proportionately, than Flores. One striking indication is found\nin the comparison of the present map with those of the fourteenth and\nfifteenth centuries. For convenience sketches of these are appended\n(Fig. 23). The relative position of the islands is about the same in\nall. The form of Corvo varies from the pear shape of the Laurenziano\nmap (1351),[283] and another shape[284] not much later slightly\nresembling an indented segment of a circle, to the three-lobed or\nclover-leaf form which was accepted as the final convention or standard\nand first clearly appears in the great Catalan atlas[285] of 1375,\nrepeated by Beccario 1435[286], Benincasa 1482[287], and others; but\nall agree in making Corvo the main island and Li Conigi (Flores)\na minor pendant. Corvo seems in every way to have commanded chief\nattention, and in size the difference was conspicuous and decisive.\nThe difference certainly is great enough now, but conditions and\nproportions are reversed. Corvo has but one-eighth the area of Flores\nand less than one-tenth the population. In all ways it lacks advantages\nand conveniences, taking rather the place of a poor dependent.\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 23--Representation of Corvo on fourteenth- and\nfifteenth-century maps as compared with its present outline. (The\nsources may be identified from the text.)]\n\nThere is no good reason for discrediting so many of the old maps. Their\nmakers sometimes went wrong; but they tried to be accurate and would\nhardly, through a century or two, persist in making the northern island\nthe greater one unless it was at first really so. Of course the most\nnatural solution of the difficulty is that Corvo\u2019s border has sunk or\nthe sea has risen over it, completely drowning the territory which made\nthe lobes or curved outline of the island form in the medieval maps\nand leaving only above water its rocky backbone, with the crater for a\nnucleus. Apparently those lobes and their contents are just what might\nbe most profitably dredged for and dived after.\n\nPerhaps the island has not greatly changed since Mr. Henriques wrote\nhis little sketch of it in the sixth decade of the last century:\n\n The first part of the ride to it [the crater] is through steep\n and narrow lanes walled in with stones. Over those walls you\n can sometimes see the country right and left, which is divided\n into small and well-cultivated compartments by low stone walls.\n These small fields form narrow terraces, one above another,\n looking from the sea like steps in the hills. An hour\u2019s ride\n brings you to an open mountain covered with heath where browse\n flocks of sheep and hogs, and about an hour and a half more\n to the crater on the summit, now a quiet green valley, with a\n dark, still pond in the center....\n\n The Corvoites, particularly the women, are a happy and\n industrious people and have strong and healthy constitutions.\n The men in trade evince a remarkable shrewdness, proverbial\n among the other Azorians, but in private life their manners\n are simple and unassuming.... They are like a large family of\n little less than a thousand members, all living in the only\n village on the island.[288]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XII\n\nTHE SUNKEN LAND OF BUSS AND OTHER PHANTOM ISLANDS\n\n\nBeside those legendary Atlantic islands that may cast some light on\nvisits of white men to America before Columbus or have been at some\ntime linked therewith by speculation or tradition--notably Antillia\nand its consorts, Brazil, Man or Mayda, Green Island, Estotiland and\nDrogio, the Island or Islands of St. Brendan, and the Island of the\nSeven Cities--there are numerous others, quite a swarm indeed, excusing\nPtolemy\u2019s and Edrisi\u2019s extravagant estimate of 27,000. Sometimes, but\nnot always, they are of more recent origin and are explainable in\nvarious ways.\n\nSeveral are linked to the idea of volcanic destruction or seismic\nengulfment. Of course the colossal and classical instance of Atlantis\ncomes first into mind, it being the earliest as well as in every way\nthe most imposing. Most likely the well-known story, repeated, if not\noriginated, by Plato, developed naturally, as we have seen, from the\ninsistent need to account for the obstructive weedy wastes of the\nSargasso Sea beyond the Azores and recurrent facts of minor cataclysms\namong them.\n\nThe next oldest instance, perhaps, is supplied by Ruysch\u2019s map of\n1508,[289] an inscription on which avers that an island in the sea\nabout midway between Iceland and Greenland had been totally destroyed\nby combustion in the year 1456. We do not know his authority for this\nstartling announcement. The spot is where one would naturally look\nfor Gunnbj\u00f6rn\u2019s skerries of the older Icelandic writings; and no one\ncan find them now, unless they were, after all, but projecting points\nof the eastern Greenland coast. Also Iceland is at times tremendously\neruptive; and this islet, or these islets, would not be far away. The\nassertion is not in itself incredible, but there seems no corroboration.\n\n\nTHE DISCOVERY OF BUSS\n\nThe \u201cSunken Island of Buss\u201d presents a suggestion of engulfment on\na more extensive scale. The whole episode is of rather recent date,\nBuss being the latest born of mythical or illusory islands, unless we\nexcept Negra\u2019s Rock and other alleged and unproven apparitions of land\non a very small scale, which may not have wholly ceased even yet. Buss\nis, at any rate, the one moderately large phantom map island the time\nand occasion of whose origin are securely recorded. For, as narrated\nby Best and published in Hakluyt\u2019s compilation, on Frobisher\u2019s third\nvoyage (1578), one of his vessels, a buss, or small strong fishing\ncraft, of Bridgewater, named _Emmanuel_, made the discovery. In his\nwords:\n\n The Buss of Bridgewater, as she came homeward, to the\n southeastward of Frisland, discovered a great island in the\n latitude of 57 degrees and a half, which was never yet found\n before, and sailed three days along the coast, the land seeming\n to be fruitful, full of woods, and a champaign country.[290]\n\nBest must have had his information at second or third hand, with\nliberal play of fancy in the final touches on the part of his informant\nor himself. His was the first account published, but not long afterward\nappeared that of an eyewitness, \u201cThomas Wiars, a passenger in the\n_Emmanuel_, otherwise called the Busse of Bridgewater,\u201d repeated\nin Miller Christy\u2019s admirable little treatise on the subject.[291]\nWiars says they fell with Frisland (probably a part of Greenland) on\nSeptember 8 and on September 12 reached this new island, coasted it for\nparts of two days, and considered it 25 leagues long. There was much\nice near it. He gives no suggestion of fertility, woods, or fields.\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 24--Map of Buss Island from John Seller\u2019s\n\u201cEnglish Pilot,\u201d probably 1673. (After Miller Christy\u2019s photographic\nfacsimile.)]\n\n\nITS DISAPPEARANCE FROM THE MAP\n\nThe only other witnesses to the visual existence of the island, so\nfar as recorded, were James Hall (probably by honest mistake) in 1606\nand Thomas Shepherd (gravely distrusted) in 1671.[292] Nevertheless\nan impressive insular figure grew up in the maps, bearing the name\n\u201cBuss\u201d to commemorate the vessel that first found it. In some instances\nit was made a very large island indeed. Shepherd\u2019s map, reproduced\nherewith (Fig. 24), was accompanied by a brief descriptive narrative\nwhich may be attributed to a fancy for yarning, with no strong curb of\nconscience on the fancy. Buss remained an accepted figure of geography\nfor considerably more than a century.\n\nQuite naturally, however, the efforts of reliable searchers failed\nto find this island again, for it was not really there. A theory of\ncataclysm seemed more acceptable than to discard outright what so\nmany maps, books, and traditions had attested. Van Keulen\u2019s chart of\n1745[293] led the way with the inscription \u201cThe submerged land of Buss\nis nowadays nothing but surf a quarter of a mile long with rough sea.\nMost likely it was originally the great island of Frisland.\u201d So the\nname \u201cSunken Land of Buss\u201d passed into general use with geographic\nsanction. After much disturbance of mariners\u2019 and cartographers\u2019 minds\nnot only the phantom island but its legacy, the supposed line of\nbreakers and dangers, vanished altogether from the records. There is\nno \u201cBuss\u201d to be found on maps after about the middle of the nineteenth\ncentury, though the preceding hundred years had been prolific in them.\nProbably we must suppose a later date for the cessation of current\nmention of the sunken land of that name, in recognition of what,\naccording to belief, once had been but existed (above water) no longer.\n\nIndeed, even after the opening of this twentieth century the same\nhypothesis has revived,[294] with scientific support of a submarine\nrange in 53\u00b0 N. and 35\u00b0 W., really ocean-bottom mountains 8,000 feet\nhigh between Ireland and Newfoundland, reported upon in 1903 by Captain\nde Carteret of the cable ship _Minia_. They are not on the same spot\nand would still require a great lift to reach the surface. Of course\ntheir past sinking is not impossible, but there is no need to explain\nBuss by cataclysm any more than Mayda or Brazil Island, Drogio or\nIcaria.\n\n\nISLANDS OF DEMONS\n\nSomewhat allied by nature to these reported isles of destruction and\ndisappearance are the islands of imported diabolism, appearing on\nmaps now and then through the centuries. Bianco\u2019s \u201cThe Hand of Satan\u201d\n(1436[295]; Fig. 25), if correctly translated (see Ch. X, p. 156), is\nprobably the first to present this quality. He locates the sinister\nisland well to the southward; but the most pictorial appearance is\nGastaldi\u2019s (for Ramusio) \u201cIsland of Demons,\u201d[296] with its eager and\ncapering imps at the bleak and savage northern end of Newfoundland. The\npreferred site, however, would seem to be yet a little farther north.\nRuysch, in the map referred to above, which announces the burning up\nof Gunnbj\u00f6rn\u2019s skerries, exhibits two Insulae Demonium near the middle\nof the dreaded Ginnungagap passage between Labrador and Greenland.\nThere is no suggestion of volcanic action in their case, and it does\nnot appear that any real islands occupied the spot. The reason for the\ndelineation and the name is still to seek.\n\nThe map of 1544, attributed to Sebastian Cabot,[297] makes a single\nisland of them, \u201cmarked Y. de Demones\u201d, and brings it nearer\nthe eastern front of Labrador below Hamilton Inlet. Agnese[298]\nin the same century enlarges it greatly but still keeps it just off\nthe Labrador coast. The Ortelius map of 1570[299] (Fig. 10) shows\nthe insular haunt of devils, plural again in form and name, but\nretains approximately the site chosen by Cabot. Mercator\u2019s world\nmap of 1569[300] keeps the islands plural beside the upper tip of\nNewfoundland, approximating Gastaldi\u2019s position. There seems to have\nbeen a pronounced and general concurrence of belief in diabolical evil\nin the northeastern coast of America, perhaps because it is there that\nthe Arctic current brings down its tremendous freight, and tempests are\nat their wildest, and all barrenness and bleakness at their worst.\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 25--Section of the Bianco map of 1436 showing\nthe Island of the Hand of Satan and Antillia. (After Kretschmer\u2019s\nhand-copied reproduction.)]\n\n\nSAINTLY ISLANDS\n\nMuch farther south, on the lines followed by Columbus and his Latin\nsuccessors and in the tracks of vessels plying between the eastern\nAtlantic archipelagoes and the West Indies, what may be considered\nas a contrary impulse--that of exultant religious enthusiasm--came\ninto play in island naming. The Island of the Seven Cities (Ch. V)\nwill be recalled but needs no further consideration here. St. Anne,\nLa Catholique, St. X, and Incorporado (in the sense of Christ\u2019s\nIncarnation) are among the more conspicuous instances. The second-named\nwas always in low latitudes. It occurs in the latitude of the tip of\nFlorida, in mid-Atlantic in the Desceliers map of 1546[301] (Fig. 9);\nalso as \u201cLa Catolico\u201d on Portuguese maps, with similar situation.\nDesceliers shows Encorporade (Incorporado) about east of Cape Hatteras\nand south of western Newfoundland; but he also has Encorporada Adonda\nnot far from Nova Scotia. Thomas Hood (1592)[302] makes a wild and\nunenlightened transformation of Incorporado to \u201cEmperadada\u201d and puts\nit about opposite the site of Savannah, but not so far east as the\nconsiderable outjutting of the coast which must be meant for Cape\nHatteras and its neighborhood. However, this location is not very\ndifferent from that usually given it. Desceliers has two islands\nmarked St. X, one being in the longitude of St. Michaels and latitude\nof Bermuda; the other in the longitude of eastern Newfoundland and\nlatitude of the Hudson. In about the same latitude as the latter, and\nmore than half way between it and the Azores, an island called St.\nAnne is shown. There seems nothing real to prompt the derivation of\nthese religiously named islands. Perhaps they are merely the offspring\nof optical delusion, fancy, and fervor.\n\n\nDACULI AND BRA\n\nOn the other side of the Atlantic the much earlier map island Daculi\nmust be reckoned as of kin to them, since its map legends deal with\nbeneficent wonder working or magical medical aid, and its name may be\nidentical with or have originated the saintly one which still denotes\nan outlying Hebridean island. Though less renowned than the island of\nBrazil and less significant, Daculi shares with it the record for first\nappearance of mythical islands on portolan maps.\n\nDalorto\u2019s map of 1325[303] (Fig. 4) already indicated as the earliest\none of much interest in this special regard, presents many islands of\nfamiliar or unfamiliar names near Ireland and Scotland. Nobody can\nmistake the rightly located Man, Bofim, and Brascher (the Blaskets).\nInsula Sau must be Skye, though with the outline of the Kintyre\npeninsula. Sialand seems to be Shetland. Tille may be Orkney displaced.\nGaluaga or Saluaga probably stands for the main body of the Long Island\n(Harris, Lewis, etc.) of the outer Hebrides. Bra is no doubt Barra and\nhas generally been thus accepted, though out of line with Galuaga and\ntoo far eastward. Brazil, as already reported, is naturally farther at\nsea opposite Brascher. Finally our subject for present consideration,\nDaculi, lies off the northwestern corner of Ireland, north of Brazil\nIsland and west of Bra, with which last it has in later maps a curious\nlegendary association. With Insula de Montonis, as Brazil is also\ncalled on Dalorto\u2019s map, it may be linked in another way by their\nItalian names, for Daculi seems capable of that derivation, \u201cculla\u201d\nbeing \u201ccradle\u201d in that language, plural \u201cculli,\u201d easily modified to\n\u201cculi\u201d by careless speech or writing. The introductory preposition \u201cda\u201d\nin one use has an especial relation to nativity; thus Zuan da Napoli\nmeans John born at Naples, that is John of Naples in this sense. The\nblending of preposition and noun in one word, \u201cDaculi,\u201d is no more than\nsometimes happened on the maps to the article and noun \u201cLi Conigi,\u201d the\nRabbit Island, making it \u201cLiconigi,\u201d now long known as Flores. This\nexplanation would interpret Daculi as the \u201cIsland of the Cradles,\u201d\nor \u201cCradle Island.\u201d Some other derivation may indeed possibly be as\ndefensible; but it should be borne in mind that Italian traders ranged\nvery early up and down the Irish coast, and that name would curiously\ncoincide with the tradition at least afterward current concerning the\nisland.\n\nTo review a few later but still very early maps:--Dulcert, 1339,[304]\nshows some irrelevant changes farther north and east; but his Hebridean\nislands repeat very nearly the form given them by Dalorto (believed by\nmany to be the same man), and there is no significant change in Bra or\nDaculi, though the first syllable of the latter becomes Di.\n\nThe Atlante Mediceo, of 1351,[305] makes more changes than Dulcert\namong these islands and leaves unnamed the one which by position seems\nmeant for Bra, or Barra. Daculi is largely expanded and named Insul\nDach indistinctly.\n\nThe Pizigani map of 1367[306] (Fig. 2) modifies many names. Daculi\nbecomes Insuldacr in one word; but its place remains nearly as in\nDalorto\u2019s map, though most of the other islands are drawn closer to\nIreland, so that Bra is nearly stranded thereon. A line of inscription\nseems to relate to Bra--\u201cIch sont ysula qu--[possibly pronominal\nabbreviation] abitabi hon\u00f5 qu\u00f5 morit may.\u201d Perhaps some of these words\nshould be read differently, and \u201cabitabi\u201d needs some recasting. I will\nnot attempt to interpret but should infer that Bra had its troubles.\nThey do not seem to have extended to Daculi.\n\nPareto\u2019s fine map of 1455[307] (Fig. 21) applies the following more\nextended and significant legend to Daculi: \u201cItem est altera insulla\nnomine Bra in qua femine que in insulla ipsa habitant non pariuntur\nsed quando est eorum tempus pariendi feruntur foras insulla et ibi\npariuntur secundum tempus.\u201d From this we may gather that the outer\nisland Daculi was believed to afford especial aid in childbearing to\nwomen carried thither after being baffled on the inner island Bra,\nand we see readily the appositeness of the name \u201ccradle\u201d applied to\nthe former. Beccario\u2019s map of 1435[308] (Fig. 20), though without the\nlegend, had already adopted in \u201cInsulla da Culli\u201d almost exactly the\nform of the name which we have divined, with apparently that meaning.\n\nSt. Kilda seems to me the most plausible original for Daculi that has\nbeen suggested. It is true that Barra is actually south of the parallel\nof latitude of that most lonely western sentinel of the Hebrides,\nand there is no obvious link of relation between them. Also the rock\nislet of North Barra is about as far above it, equally unconnected and\nnot likely ever to have maintained much population. But so simple a\nmisunderstanding on the part of the old cartographers would be no more\nthan what happened to them all the time, and exact identity of latitude\nis unimportant. There is, in fact, no land on the site given Daculi in\nany of these old maps; and Bra, as noted, is absurdly out of place for\nBarra. How the tradition grew up we do not know. Perhaps it was some\ntale picked up by coasting Italian traders, partly misunderstood and\npassed on by them to the map-makers at home. St. Kilda, lost in the\nmists and mystery of the Atlantic, of holy name and miracle-working\nassociations, and out of touch with most tests of reality, seems a\nlikely place to be linked to some less abnormal island by a fanciful\ncontribution of saintly white magic, a rumor originating nobody knows\nhow.\n\n\nGROCLAND, HELLULAND, ETC.\n\nOn the western side of the Atlantic there are divers instances of\nisland names given of old--sometimes with considerable changes of\nlocation, area, or outline, or of all three--to regions which we\nknow quite otherwise. Some of these have been dealt with extensively\nalready. Greenland has a lesser neighbor, Grocland, on its western\nside in divers sixteenth-century maps; which I take to be a magnified\npresentation of Disko or possibly a reflection of Baffin Land brought\nnear. It appears conspicuously in Mercator\u2019s map of the Polar basin\n(1569),[309] the Hakluyt map of 1587 illustrating Peter Martyr,[310]\nand the map of Mathias Quadus (1608).[311]\n\nThis is not the place to enlarge on the Helluland, Markland, and\nVinland of the Norsemen beginning with the eleventh century, as this\ntheme has been dealt with elsewhere.[312] But they were often thought\nof as islands, as shown by the notice of Adam of Bremen. Perhaps\nthere was never any great clearness of conception as to extent or\nform. But in a general way they may be identified respectively with\nnorthern Labrador, Newfoundland, and the warmer parts of the Atlantic\ncoast. Great Iceland, or White Men\u2019s Land, seems also to have been\nunderstood as what we should now call America. Eug\u00e8ne Beauvois located\nit conjecturally about the mouth of the St. Lawrence River.[313]\nDr. Gustav Storm, on the other hand, thought it was merely Iceland\nmisunderstood.[314]\n\n\nSTOKAFIXA\n\nPerhaps the latter explanation is the best yet given of the mysterious\nisland Scorafixa, or Stokafixa, in Andrea Bianco\u2019s map of 1436.[315]\nIt has sometimes been understood as Newfoundland, which bore long\nafterward the name Bacalaos, the equivalent in a different tongue of\nthe northern \u201cstockfish,\u201d our codfish. But it would naturally be freely\napplied to any island in rather high latitudes which was conspicuous\nfor that fishery, and Stokafixa seems near of kin to Fixlanda, which\nfigures on divers maps as a combined suggestion of Iceland and the\nimaginary Frisland but with geographical features mainly borrowed\nfrom the former. The first-named identification may be tempting as\nestablishing another pre-Columbian discovery of America, but it quite\nlacks corroboration; and Iceland was a great center of codfishery,\ndistributing its name and attributes rather liberally in legend and\non the maps. Humboldt incidentally mentions \u201cl\u2019\u00eele des Morues (\u00eele de\nStockfisch, _Stokafixa_)\u201d on the seventh map of the atlas of Bianco,\n1436. I do not clearly make out the name on T. Fischer\u2019s facsimile\nreproduction;[316] but from position and appearance the island seems\nmeant for Iceland.\n\n\nOTHER MAP ISLANDS IN THE NORTHWESTERN ATLANTIC\n\nThe Grand Banks and other banks of Newfoundland, with the Virgin Rocks\nand perhaps other piles or pinnacles rising from that bed nearly to\nthe surface so as to be uncovered in some tides; Sable Island, a\nrather long way offshore; Cape Breton Island and fragments of the main\nshore--may be held responsible for some map islands such as Arredonda\nand Dobreton, Jacquet I., Monte Christo, I. de Juan, and Juan de Sampo.\n\nThere are still other islands mostly north of the latitude of Bermuda\nand between it and the Azores or northeastern America, but far at sea,\nof which one can make little, except as probably complimenting some\npilot, skipper, or other individual, or commemorating some incident\nwhich has nevertheless been generally forgotten. Thus Negra\u2019s Rock,\nwhich has hardly ceased to appear on the maps, does not really exist\nbut may keep us in mind, by its rather sinister and mythical sound,\nthat a certain Captain Negra once thought he saw something solid in\nthe great liquid and reported accordingly. Of such origin, perhaps,\nare I. de Garcia, Y Neufre, Y d\u2019Hyanestienne, Lasciennes, and divers\nothers scattered over various maps and offering no promise of reward\nfor hunting down their pedigrees or history. All these distinctly\npost-Columbian islands are quite too recent and casual to throw any\nlight on the earlier historically and geographically significant\n\u201cmythical islands\u201d or on what these reveal.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIII\n\nSUMMARY\n\n\nIt seems neither practicable nor desirable to recapitulate minutely\nin this final chapter the rather numerous distinctive features of the\npresent work; but attention may properly be directed to some of its\nsalient conclusions. In stating them positively as below, here or\nelsewhere, I do not mean to be offensively dogmatic but to present\nconcisely my own deductions from evidence which I have been at some\npains to gather.\n\nAtlantis was a creation of philosophic romance, incited and aided\nby miscellaneous data out of history, tradition, and known physical\nphenomena, especially by rumors of the weed-encumbered windless dead\nwaters of the Sargasso Sea. There never was any such gorgeous and\ndominant Atlantic power as the Atlantis of Plato, able to overrun and\nconquer more than half of the Mediterranean and contend with Athens in\na struggle of life and death.\n\nSt. Brendan did not cross the Atlantic nor discover any island in its\nremoter reaches, where some maps show islands bearing his name. He\nseems, however, to have visited divers eastern Atlantic islands, now\nwell known; and it is quite likely that most of the portolan maps of\nthe fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries are right in linking his\nname especially to Madeira and her neighbors.\n\nBrazil Island is a conspicuously complex problem. Probably it\nrepresents the region around the Gulf of St. Lawrence, brought on the\nsame parallel unduly near the Irish shore. Thus understood, it would\nbe, presumably, but not necessarily, the cartographic record of some\nearly Irish voyage far to the westward. It does not appear on any\nextant map before 1325, but maps showing the Atlantic and its remoter\nislands (apart from the hopeless distortions of Edrisi and certain\nmonks) can hardly be said to have existed earlier.\n\nMan, or Mayda, is frequently a more southern and western companion of\nBrazil Island on the old maps and may stand for Bermuda or for some\njutting point, like Cape Cod, on the American coast. Some indications\nconnect it with the Bretons, some with the Arabs. It has borne divers\nnames. We cannot tell who first found and reported it.\n\nThe Island of the Seven Cities derived its name from a very credible\nSpanish and Portuguese tradition of escape from the Moors by sea early\nin the eighth century. It may first have been localized as St. Michaels\nof the Azores, where a valley still bears the name. Afterward it was\nconfused for a long time with Antillia and still later was distributed\nrather widely over sea and land, the Seven Cities not always insisting\non being insular but appearing now just back of the American Atlantic\ncoast line, now in the far and arid Southwest.\n\nOf the Norse discoveries in America at the opening of the eleventh\ncentury, Helluland represents the northern treeless waste of upper\nLabrador and beyond; Markland represents the forested zone next below,\nnotably Newfoundland, with probably southern Labrador supplying only\ntimber and game; and Vinland, or Wineland, represents all that immense\nregion where the climate was milder and wine grapes grew. Straumey was\nGrand Manan Island; Straumfiord, Passamaquoddy Bay with Grand Manan\nChannel; Hop, Mount Hope Bay, R. I., or some bay of the eastern front\nof southern New England; the Wonderstrands, some part of the prevalent\nAmerican coastal front of unending strand and dune. It is needless to\nparticularize further.\n\nAntillia is Cuba; Reylla, Jamaica; Salvagio, or Satanaxio, Florida; I\nin Mar, one or more of the Bahamas. Early in the fifteenth century some\nIberian navigator, probably Portuguese, visited these islands and made\nthe report that resulted in the addition of these islands to divers\nmaps. They, in turn, were among the inciting causes of the undertaking\nof Columbus.\n\n\n\n\nFOOTNOTES\n\n\n[1] The Historical Library of Diodorus the Sicilian, in 15 Books, to\nwhich are added the fragments of Diodorus, and those published by H.\nValesius, I. Rhodomannus, and F. Ursinus, transl. by G. Booth, Esq., 2\nvols., London, 1814; reference in Vol. 1, Bk. 3, Ch. 4, p. 195, and Bk.\n4, Ch. 1, pp. 235 and 243.\n\n[2] A. E. Nordenski\u00f6ld: Facsimile-Atlas to the Early History of\nCartography, transl. by J. A. Ekel\u00f6f and C. R. Markham, Stockholm,\n1889, p. 131.\n\n[3] I Kings, 10: 22.\n\n[4] Chau Ju-Kua: His Work on Chinese and Arab Trade in the Twelfth and\nThirteenth Centuries Entitled Chu-fan-ch\u00ef, transl. and annotated by\nFriedrich Hirth and W. W. Rockhill, St. Petersburg, 1911, p. 142.\n\n[5] W. H. Holmes: Handbook of Aboriginal American Antiquities, _Bur. of\nAmer. Ethnology, Bull. 60, Part I_, Smithsonian Instn., Washington, D.\nC., 1919, p. 27.\n\n[6] Historical Library, Vol. 1, Bk. 5, Ch. 2, p. 309.\n\n[7] _Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections_, Vol. 59, No. 19,\nWashington, D. C., 1913. See also: Recent History and Present Status of\nthe Vinland Problem, _Geogr. Rev._, Vol. 11, 1921, pp. 265\u2013282.\n\n[8] Edrisi\u2019s \u201cGeography,\u201d in two versions, the first based on two,\nthe second on four manuscripts, viz.: (1) P. A. Jaubert (translator):\nG\u00e9ographie d\u2019Edrisi, traduite de l\u2019Arabe en Fran\u00e7ais, 2 vols. (Recueil\nde Voyages et de M\u00e9moires publi\u00e9 par la Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 de G\u00e9ographie, Vols.\n5 and 6), Paris, 1836 and 1840; reference in Vol. 2, p. 27; (2) R.\nDozy and M. J. De Goeje (translators): Description de l\u2019Afrique et de\nl\u2019Espagne par Edrisi: Texte arabe publi\u00e9 pour la premi\u00e8re fois d\u2019apr\u00e8s\nles man. de Paris et d\u2019Oxford, Leiden, 1866.\n\n[9] M. d\u2019Avezac: Notice des d\u00e9couvertes faites au Moyen Age dans\nl\u2019Oc\u00e9an Atlantique ant\u00e9rieurement aux grandes explorations portugaises\ndu quinzi\u00e8me si\u00e8cle, Paris, 1845, p. 23.\n\n[10] [E. F.] Jomard: Les monuments de la g\u00e9ographie, ou recueil\nd\u2019anciennes cartes europ\u00e9ennes et orientales ..., Paris, [1842\u201362], Pl.\nX, 1.\n\n[11] Henry Vignaud: The Columbian Tradition on the Discovery of America\nand of the Part Played Therein by the Astronomer Toscanelli, Oxford,\n1920.\n\n[12] Benjamin Jowett: The Dialogues of Plato, Translated into English\nwith Analyses and Introductions, 3rd edit., 5 vols., London and New\nYork, 1892; reference in Vol. 3, p. 534.\n\n[13] Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th edit., Vol. 21, p. 823.\n\n[14] Atlantis, the \u201cLost\u201d Continent: A Review of Termier\u2019s Evidence,\n_Geogr. Rev._, Vol. 3, 1917, pp. 61\u201366; reference on p. 62.\n\n[15] Pierre Termier: Atlantis (transl. from _Bull. l\u2019Inst. Oc\u00e9anogr.\nNo. 256_, Monaco), _Ann. Rept. Smithsonian Instn. for 1915_,\nWashington, D. C., pp. 219\u2013234; reference on p. 222.\n\n[16] _Ibid._, pp. 220\u2013221.\n\n[17] The Historical Library of Diodorus the Sicilian in 15 Books, to\nwhich are added the fragments of Diodorus, and those published by H.\nValesius, I. Rhodomannus, and F. Ursinus, transl. by G. Booth, Esq., 2\nvols., London, 1814; reference in Vol. 1, Bk. 4, Ch. 1, p. 234.\n\n[18] _Ibid._, Vol. 1, Bk. 3, Ch. 4, p. 195.\n\n[19] Jowett, _op. cit._, Vol. 3, pp. 536\u2013539.\n\n[20] Termier, pp. 228\u2013229.\n\n[21] _Ibid._, pp. 230, 231.\n\n[22] _Geogr. Rev._, Vol. 3, 1917, p. 65.\n\n[23] Termier, pp. 231 and 232.\n\n[24] R. F. Scharff: Some Remarks on the Atlantis Problem, _Proc. Royal\nIrish Acad._, Vol. 24. Section B, 1903, pp. 268\u2013302; reference on p.\n297.\n\n[25] _Idem_: European Animals: Their Geological History and\nGeographical Distribution, London and New York, 1907, pp. 102 and 104.\n\n[26] L. F. Navarro: Nuevas consideraciones sobre el problema de la\nAtlantis, Madrid, 1917, pp. 6 and 15 (extract from _Rev. Real Acad. de\nCiencias Exactas, Fisicas y Naturales de Madrid_, Vol. 15, 1917, pp.\n537\u2013552).\n\n[27] Termier, pp. 226 and 227.\n\n[28] _Geogr. Rev._, Vol. 3, 1917, p. 66.\n\n[29] Sir John Murray: The Ocean: A General Account of the Science of\nthe Sea (Home University Library of Modern Knowledge, No. 76), New\nYork, 1913, p. 33.\n\n[30] T. J. Westropp: Brasil and the Legendary Islands of the North\nAtlantic: Their History and Fable, _Proc. Royal Irish Acad._, Vol. 30,\nSection C, 1912\u201313, pp. 223\u2013260; reference on p. 249.\n\n[31] E. L. Stevenson: Portolan Charts, _Publs. Hispanic Soc. of Amer.\nNo. 82_, New York, 1911, pp. 5\u20136.\n\n[32] A. E. Nordenski\u00f6ld: Periplus: An Essay on the Early History of\nCharts and Sailing-Directions, transl. by F. A. Bather, Stockholm,\n1897, p. 8.\n\n[33] Fridtjof Nansen: In Northern Mists: Arctic Exploration in Early\nTimes, transl. by A. G. Chater, 2 vols., New York, 1911; reference in\nVol. 1, p. 38.\n\n[34] _Ibid._, pp. 40\u201341.\n\n[35] Nansen, In Northern Mists, p. 41.\n\n[36] [E. F.] Jomard: Les monuments de la g\u00e9ographie, ou recueil\nd\u2019anciennes cartes europ\u00e9ennes et orientales ..., Paris, [1842\u201362], Pl.\nX, 1.\n\n[37] J. C. Soley: Circulation of the North Atlantic in February and in\nAugust [sheet of text with charts on the reverse]. Supplement to the\nPilot Chart of the North Atlantic Ocean for 1912, Hydrographic Office,\nWashington, D. C.\n\nOtto Kr\u00fcmmel: Die nordatlantische Sargassosee, _Petermanns Mitt._, Vol.\n37, 1891, pp. 129\u2013141, with map.\n\nGerhard Schott: G\u00e9ographie des Atlantischen Ozeans, Hamburg, 1912, pp.\n162\u2013164 and 268\u2013269, Pls. 16 and 26.\n\n[38] Kr\u00fcmmel (paper cited in footnote 26) suggests applying the name\nSargasso Sea to the area limited by the curve of 5 per cent probability\nof occurrence on his map (our Fig. 1). This area amounts to 4,500,000\nsquare kilometers, or somewhat less than half the area of Europe.\nSchott (see footnote 26), p. 140, gives 8,635,000 square kilometers as\nthe area of his natural region Sargasso Sea, which is based not only\non the occurrence of gulfweed but also on the prevailing absence of\ncurrents and on the relatively high temperature of the water in all\ndepths.--EDIT. NOTE.\n\n[39] T. A. Janvier: In the Sargasso Sea, New York, 1896, p. 26.\n\n[40] _Ibid._, p. 27.\n\n[41] Murray, pp. 140\u2013141.\n\n[42] Soley, column 2, lines 3\u20135.\n\n[43] Reprint of Hydrographic Information: Questions and Answers, No. 2,\nJune 2, 1910, Hydrographic Office, Washington, D. C., p. 17.\n\n[44] Anecdota Exoniensia: Lives of the Saints, from the Book of\nLismore, edited, with a translation, notes, and indices, by Whitley\nStokes, Oxford, 1890, p. 252.\n\n[45] T. J. Westropp: Brasil and the Legendary Islands of the North\nAtlantic: Their History and Fable, _Proc. Royal Irish Acad._, Vol. 30,\nSection C, 1912\u201313, pp. 223\u2013260; reference on p. 230.\n\n[46] Westropp, Brasil, p. 229.\n\n[47] The Anglo-Norman Trouv\u00e8res of the 12th and 13th Centuries,\n_Blackwood\u2019s Edinburgh Mag._, Vol. 39, 1836, pp. 806\u2013820; reference on\np. 808.\n\n[48] Alexander von Humboldt: Examen critique de l\u2019histoire de la\ng\u00e9ographie du nouveau continent et des progr\u00e8s de l\u2019astronomie nautique\naux quinzi\u00e8me et seizi\u00e8me si\u00e8cles, 5 vols., Paris, 1836\u201339; reference\nin Vol. 2, p. 166.\n\n[49] R. D. Benedict: The Hereford Map and the Legend of St. Brandan,\n_Bull. Amer. Geogr. Soc._, Vol. 24, 1892, pp. 321\u2013365; reference on p.\n344.\n\n[50] Edrisi\u2019s \u201cGeography,\u201d in two versions, the first based on two,\nthe second on four manuscripts, viz.: (1) P. A. Jaubert (translator):\nG\u00e9ographie d\u2019Edrisi, traduite de l\u2019Arabe en Fran\u00e7ais, 2 vols. (Recueil\nde Voyages et de M\u00e9moires publi\u00e9 par la Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 de G\u00e9ographie, Vols.\n5 and 6), Paris, 1836 and 1840; reference in Vol. 2, p. 27; (2) R.\nDozy and M. J. De Goeje (translators): Description de l\u2019Afrique et de\nl\u2019Espagne par Edrisi: Texte arabe publi\u00e9 pour la premi\u00e8re fois d\u2019apr\u00e8s\nles man. de Paris et d\u2019Oxford, Leiden, 1866.\n\n[51] Konrad Miller: Die Weltkarte des Beatus (776 n. Chr.), with\nfacsimile of one derivative, Heft 1 of his \u201cMappaemundi: Die \u00e4ltesten\nWeltkarten,\u201d Stuttgart, 1895. The 9 other derivatives on Pls. 2\u20139 of\nHeft 2 (Atlas von 16 Lichtdrucktafeln, Stuttgart, 1895).\n\n[52] The Guanches of Tenerife: The Holy Image of Our Lady of Candelaria\nand the Spanish Conquest and Settlement, by the Friar Alonso de\nEspinosa of the Order of Preachers, translated and edited, with notes\nand an introduction, by Sir Clements Markham, _Hakluyt Soc. Publs._,\n2nd Ser., Vol. 21, London, 1907, p. 29.\n\n[53] A. E. Nordenski\u00f6ld: Periplus: An Essay on the Early History of\nCharts and Sailing-Directions, Stockholm, 1897, Pl. 8.\n\n[54] The Geography of Strabo, literally translated with notes: the\nfirst six books by H. C. Hamilton, the remainder by W. Falconer, 3\nvols., H. C. Bohn, London, 1854\u201357; reference in Vol. 1, p. 226.\n\n[55] The Historical Library of Diodorus the Sicilian, in 15 Books, to\nwhich are added the fragments of Diodorus, and those published by H.\nValesius, I. Rhodomannus, and F. Ursinus; transl. by G. Booth, Esq., 2\nvols., London, 1814; reference in Vol. 1, Bk. 5, Ch. 2, pp. 308\u2013309.\n\n[56] [E. F.] Jomard: Les monuments de la g\u00e9ographie, ou recueil\nd\u2019anciennes cartes europ\u00e9ennes et orientales ..., Paris, [1842\u201362], Pl.\nX, 1.\n\n[57] Theobald Fischer: Sammlung mittelalterlicher Welt- und Seekarten\nitalienischen Ursprungs, 1 vol. of text and 17 portfolios containing\nphotographs of maps, Venice, 1877\u201386; reference in Portfolio 5\n(Facsimile del Portolano Laurenziano-Gaddiano dell\u2019 anno 1351), Pl. 4.\n\n[58] Book of the Knowledge of All the Kingdoms, Lands, and Lordships\nThat Are in the World, and the Arms and Devices of Each Land and\nLordship, or of the Kings and Lords Who Possess Them, written by a\nSpanish Franciscan in the middle of the 14th century, published for\nthe first time with notes by Marcos Jim\u00e9nez de la Espada in 1877,\ntranslated and edited by Sir Clements Markham, _Hakluyt Soc. Publs._,\n2nd Ser., Vol. 29, London, 1912; reference on p. 29.\n\n[59] Theobald Fischer, Portfolio 8 (Facsimile del Portolano di Giacomo\nGiraldi di Venezia dell\u2019anno 1426), Pl. 4.\n\n[60] First published by the author in the _Geogr. Rev._, Vol. 8, 1919,\nPl. 1, facing p. 40.\n\n[61] Gustavo Uzielli: Mappamondi, carte nautiche e portolani del\nmedioevo e dei secoli delle grandi scoperte marittime construiti da\nitaliani o trovati nelle biblioteche d\u2019Italia, Part II (pp. 280\u2013390)\nof \u201cStudi Bibliografici e Biografici sulla Storia della Geografia\nin Italia,\u201d published on the occasion of the Second International\nGeographical Congress, Paris, 1875, by the Societ\u00e0 Geografica Italiana,\nRome, 1875; reference on Pl. 8 (the second edition, Rome, 1882, does\nnot contain the plates).\n\n[62] Konrad Kretschmer: Die Entdeckung Amerika\u2019s in ihrer Bedeutung f\u00fcr\ndie Geschichte des Weltbildes, 2 vols. (text and atlas), Berlin, 1892;\nreference in atlas, Pl. 5.\n\n[63] _Ibid._, atlas, Pl. 4.\n\n[64] W. H. Babcock: Indications of Visits of White Men to America\nbefore Columbus, _Proc. 19th Internatl. Congr. of Americanists held at\nWashington, Dec. 27\u201331, 1915_, [Smithsonian Institution], Washington,\nD. C., 1917, pp. 469\u2013478; map on p. 476.\n\n[65] Theobald Fischer, Portfolio 11, Pls. 3 and 4.\n\n[66] _Ibid._, Portfolio 13, Pl. 5.\n\n[67] E. G. Ravenstein: Martin Behaim, His Life and His Globe, London,\n1908, p. 59.\n\n[68] Kretschmer, atlas, Pl. 7.\n\n[69] S. E. Dawson: The Voyages of the Cabots in 1497 and 1498; With an\nAttempt to Determine Their Landfall and to Identify Their Island of St.\nJohn, _Trans. Royal Soc. of Canada_, Vol. 12, Section II, 1894; map\non p. 86. The map is also reproduced by Jomard, in the work cited in\nfootnote 13.\n\n[70] A. E. Nordenski\u00f6ld: Facsimile-Atlas to the Early History of\nCartography, transl. by J. A. Ekel\u00f6f and C. R. Markham, Stockholm,\n1889, Pl. 46.\n\n[71] Alberto Magnaghi: La carta nautica costruita nel 1325 da Angelino\nDalorto, with facsimile, Florence, 1898 (published on the occasion\nof the Third Italian Geographical Congress). Cf. also: _idem_: Il\nmappamondo del genovese Angellinus de Dalorto (1325): Contributo alla\nstoria della cartografia mediovale, _Atti del Terzo Congr. Geogr.\nItaliano, tenuto in Firenzi dal 12 al 17 Aprile, 1898_, Florence,\n1899, Vol. 2, pp. 506\u2013543; and _idem_: Angellinus de Dalorco (_sic_),\ncartografo italiano della prima met\u00e0 del secolo XIV, _Riv. Geogr.\nItaliana_, Vol. 4, 1897, pp. 282\u2013294 and 361\u2013369.\n\n[72] James Hardiman: The History of the Town and County of Galway from\nthe Earliest Period to the Present Time, Dublin, 1820, p. 2.\n\n[73] [M. F.] Santarem: Atlas compos\u00e9 de mappemondes, de portulans, et\nde cartes hydrographiques et historiques depuis le VI^e jusqu\u2019au XVII^e\nsi\u00e8cle ... devant servir de preuves \u00e0 l\u2019histoire de la cosmographie et\nde la cartographie pendant le Moyen Age ..., Paris, 1842\u201353, Pls. 43\u201348\n(Quaritch\u2019s notation); reference on Pl. 46.\n\n[74] Alexander von Humboldt: Examen critique de l\u2019histoire de la\ng\u00e9ographie du nouveau continent, 5 vols., Paris, 1836\u201339.; reference\nin Vol. 2, pp. 216\u2013223. See also Fridtjof Nansen: In Northern Mists:\nArctic Exploration in Early Times, transl. by A. G. Chater, 2 vols, New\nYork. 1911; reference in Vol. 2, p. 229.\n\n[75] L. A. Muratori: Antiquitates Italicae Medii Aevi, 6 vols., Milan,\n1738\u201342; reference in Vol. 2, pp. 891 and 894.\n\n[76] Sir Henry Yule: The Book of Ser Marco Polo the Venetian Concerning\nthe Kingdoms and Marvels of the East, 3rd edit., revised ... by Henri\nCordier, 2 vols., London, 1903; reference in Vol. 2, p. 299. See also\npp. 306, 313, and 315 (note 4).\n\n[77] Antonio de Capmany: Memorias historicas sobre la marina, comercio,\ny artes de la antigua ciudad de Barcelona, 4 vols., Madrid, 1779\u201392;\nreference in Vol. 2, pp. 4, 17, and 20.\n\n[78] T. J. Westropp: Early Italian Maps of Ireland from 1300 to 1600.\nWith Notes on Foreign Settlers and Trade, _Proc. Royal Irish Acad._,\nVol. 30, Section C, 1912\u201313, pp. 361\u2013428; reference on p. 393.\n\n[79] Humboldt, Examen critique, Vol. 2, p. 223.\n\n[80] See Soncino\u2019s second letter to the Duke of Milan, published in\nmany works on John Cabot; e. g. in \u201cThe Northmen, Columbus, and Cabot,\n985\u20131503,\u201d edited by J. E. Olsen and E. G. Bourne (Series: Original\nNarratives of Early American History), New York, 1906; reference on p.\n426.\n\n[81] [E. F.] Jomard: Les monuments de la g\u00e9ographie, ou recueil\nd\u2019anciennes cartes europ\u00e9ennes et orientales ..., Paris, [1842\u201362], Pl.\nX, 1.\n\n[82] Book of the Knowledge of All the Kingdoms, Lands, and Lordships\nThat Are in the World, and the Arms and Devices of Each Land and\nLordship, or of the Kings and Lords Who Possess Them, written by a\nSpanish Franciscan in the middle of the 14th century, published for\nthe first time with notes by Marcos Jim\u00e9nez de la Espada in 1877,\ntranslated and edited by Sir Clements Markham, _Hakluyt Soc. Publs._,\n2nd Ser., Vol. 29, London, 1912, p. 29.\n\n[83] A. E. Nordenski\u00f6ld: Periplus: An Essay on the Early History of\nCharts and Sailing-Directions, transl. by F. A. Bather, Stockholm,\n1897, Pl. 22.\n\n[84] _Ibid._, Pl. 26.\n\n[85] _Ibid._, Pl. 15.\n\n[86] Theobald Fischer: Sammlung mittelalterlicher Welt- und Seekarten\nitalienischen Ursprungs, 1 vol. of text and 17 portfolios containing\nphotographs of maps, Venice, 1877\u201386; reference in Portfolio 11\n(Facsimile della Carta nautica de Andrea Bianco dell\u2019 anno 1448), Pl. 3.\n\n[87] A. E. Nordenski\u00f6ld, Periplus, Pl. 8.\n\n[88] Theobald Fischer, Portfolio 5 (Facsimile del Portolano\nLaurenziano-Gaddiano dell\u2019 anno 1351), Pl. 5.\n\n[89] W. H. Babcock: Indications of Visits of White Men to America\nbefore Columbus, _Proc. 19th Internatl. Congr. of Americanists, Held at\nWashington, Dec. 27\u201331, 1915_ [Smithsonian Institution], Washington, D.\nC., 1917, pp. 469\u2013478; map on p. 476.\n\n[90] Theobald Fischer, Portfolio 8 (Facsimile del Portolano di Giacomo\nGiraldi di Venezia dell\u2019 anno 1426), Pl. 5.\n\n[91] The section of which the author has a photograph (first published\nin the _Geogr. Rev._, Vol. 8, 1919, opposite p. 40, and here\nreproduced, Fig. 3, somewhat curtailed) does not extend far enough to\nshow the island of Brazil.\n\n[92] Gustavo Uzielli: Mappamondi, carte nautiche e portolani del\nmedioevo e dei secoli delle grandi scoperte marittime construiti da\nitaliani o trovati nelle biblioteche d\u2019Italia, Part II (pp. 280\u2013390)\nof \u201cStudi Bibliografici e Biografici sulla Storia della Geografia\nin Italia,\u201d published on the occasion of the Second International\nGeographical Congress, Paris, 1875, by the Societ\u00e0 Geografica Italiana,\nRome, 1875; reference on Pl. 8 (the second edition, Rome, 1882, does\nnot contain the plates).\n\n[93] In the Kohl collection of maps relating to America, No. 17, in the\nLibrary of Congress, Washington, D. C.\n\n[94] A. E. Nordenski\u00f6ld, Periplus, Pl. 20; Theobald Fischer, Portfolio\nII, Pl. 3.\n\n[95] Original in Majorca. A good copy is owned by T. Solberg, Register\nof Copyrights, Washington, D. C.\n\n[96] Konrad Kretschmer: Die Entdeckung Amerika\u2019s in ihrer Bedeutung f\u00fcr\ndie Geschichte des Weltbildes, 2 vols. (text and atlas), Berlin, 1892;\nreference in atlas, Pl. 5.\n\n[97] E. L. Stevenson: Facsimiles of Portolan Charts Belonging to the\nHispanic Society of America, _Publs. Hispanic Soc. of Amer. No. 104_,\nNew York, 1916, Pl. 2.\n\n[98] Kretschmer, atlas, Pl. 4, map 1.\n\n[99] _Ibid._, Pl. 7.\n\n[100] A. E. Nordenski\u00f6ld, Periplus. Pl. 11.\n\n[101] _Ibid._, p. 164.\n\n[102] Kretschmer, atlas, Pl. 4, map 8.\n\n[103] Justin Winsor: Cartier to Frontenac, Geographical Discovery in\nthe Interior of North America in Its Historical Relations, 1534\u20131700.\nWith Full Cartographical Illustrations from Contemporary Sources,\nBoston and New York, 1894; reference on p. 28.\n\n[104] Kretschmer, atlas, Pl. 4, map 5.\n\n[105] A. E. Nordenski\u00f6ld, Periplus, Pl. 29.\n\n[106] Nansen, In Northern Mists, Vol. 2, p. 228.\n\n[107] T. J. Westropp: Brasil and the Legendary Islands of the North\nAtlantic: Their History and Fable, _Proc. Royal Irish Acad._, Vol. 30,\nSection C, 1912\u201313, pp. 223\u2013260.\n\n[108] Winsor, Cartier to Frontenac. p. 60.\n\n[109] A. E. Nordenski\u00f6ld, Periplus, Pl. 27.\n\n[110] Kretschmer, atlas, Pl. 19, map 3.\n\n[111] A. E. Nordenski\u00f6ld: Bidrag till Nordens \u00e4ldsta Kartografi.\nStockholm, 1892, Pl. 5. Also (reduced) in Nansen\u2019s \u201cIn Northern Mists,\u201d\nVol. 2, p. 280, and in T. J. Westropp\u2019s \u201cBrasil.\u201d Pl. 20, facing p. 260.\n\n[112] A. E. Nordenski\u00f6ld, Periplus. p. 90; also discussed by Joseph\nFischer: The Discoveries of the Norsemen in America, With Special\nRelation to Their Early Cartographical Representation, transl. by B. H.\nSoulsby, and London, 1903.\n\n[113] Winsor, Cartier to Frontenac, p. II.\n\n[114] See Ayala\u2019s letter to Ferdinand and Isabella, copied in many\nCabot narratives; e. g. in the work cited above in footnote 10, p. 430,\nand at the beginning of the next chapter.\n\n[115] G. E. Weare: Cabot\u2019s Discovery of North America, London, 1897, p.\n59.\n\n[116] Alberto Magnaghi: La carta nautica costruita nel 1325 da Angelino\nDalorto, with facsimile, Florence, 1898 (published on the occasion\nof the Third Italian Geographical Congress). Cf. also: _idem_: Il\nmappamondo del genovese Angellinus de Dalorto (1325): Contributo alla\nstoria della cartografia mediovale, _Atti del Terzo Congr. Geogr.\nItaliano, tenuto in Firenze dal 12 al 17 Aprile, 1898_, Florence,\n1899, Vol. 2, pp. 506\u2013543; and _idem_: Angellinus de Dalorco (_sic_),\ncartografo italiano della prima met\u00e0 del secolo XIV, _Riv. Geogr.\nItaliana_, Vol. 4, 1897, pp. 282\u2013294 and 361\u2013369.\n\n[117] A. E. Nordenski\u00f6ld: Periplus: An Essay on the Early History of\nCharts and Sailing-Directions, transl. by F. A. Bather, Stockholm,\n1897, Pl. 2.\n\n[118] Konrad Kretschmer: Die Entdeckung Amerika\u2019s in ihrer Bedeutung\nf\u00fcr die Geschichte des Weltbildes, 2 vols. (text and atlas), Berlin,\n1892; reference in atlas, Pl. 4, map 8.\n\n[119] E. g. by Nordenski\u00f6ld, _op. cit._, p. 164.\n\n[120] Ferdinand Columbus: The History of the Life and Actions of Adm.\nChristopher Columbus, and of His Discovery of the West-Indies, Call\u2019d\nthe New World, Now in Possession of His Catholic Majesty. Written by\nHis Own Son, transl. from the Italian and contained in \u201cA Collection of\nVoyages and Travels, Some Now First Printed from Original Manuscripts,\nOthers Now First Published in English,\u201d by Awnsham Churchill and John\nChurchill (6 vols., London, 1732), Vol. 2, pp. 501\u2013628; reference on p.\n512.\n\n[121] [E. F.] Jomard: Les monuments de la g\u00e9ographie, ou recueil\nd\u2019anciennes cartes europ\u00e9ennes et orientales ... Paris, [1842\u201362], Pl.\nX, 1.\n\n[122] Gustavo Uzielli: Mappamondi, carte nautiche e portolani del\nmedioevo e dei secoli delle grandi scoperte marittime construiti da\nitaliani o trovati nelle biblioteche d\u2019Italia, Part II (pp. 280\u2013390)\nof \u201cStudi Bibliografici e Biografici sulla Storia della Geografia\nin Italia,\u201d published on the occasion of the Second International\nGeographical Congress, Paris, 1875, by the Societ\u00e0 Geografica Italiana,\nRome, 1875; reference on Pl. 8 (the second edition, Rome, 1882, does\nnot contain the plates).\n\n[123] Kretschmer, atlas, Pl. 4, map 1.\n\n[124] W. H. Babcock: Indications of Visits of White Men to America\nbefore Columbus, _Proc. 19th Internatl. Congr. of Americanists, Held at\nWashington, Dec. 27\u201331, 1915,_ [Smithsonian Institution], Washington,\nD. C., 1917, pp. 469\u2013478; map on p. 476.\n\n[125] E. G. Ravenstein: Martin Behaim: His Life and His Globe, London,\n1908, p. 77.\n\n[126] A. E. Nordenski\u00f6ld: Facsimile-Atlas to the Early History of\nCartography, transl. by J. A. Ekel\u00f6f and C. R. Markham, Stockholm,\n1889, p. 65 and Pl. 32.\n\n[127] Ferdinand Columbus, p. 514.\n\n[128] Antonio Galvano: The Discoveries of the World from Their First\nOriginal unto the Year of Our Lord 1555, _Hakluyt Soc. Publs._, 1st\nSeries, Vol. 30, London, 1862, p. 72.\n\n[129] Manuel de Faria y Sousa: The History of Portugal, transl. by\nCapt. John Stevens, London, 1698; reference in Bk. 2, Ch. 6, p. 112.\n\n[130] Manuel de Faria y Sousa: Epitome de las Historias Portuguesas, 2\nvols., Madrid, 1628; reference in Part II, Ch. 7, p. 257.\n\n[131] E. L. Stevenson: Atlas of Portolan Charts: Facsimile of\nManuscript in British Museum, _Publs. Hispanic Soc. of Amer. No. 81_,\nNew York, 1911, folio 1b.\n\n[132] Kretschmer, atlas, Pl. 17.\n\n[133] A. E. Nordenski\u00f6ld, Facsimile-Atlas, Pl. 46.\n\n[134] _Ibid._, Pl. 47.\n\n[135] A. S. Brown: Guide to Madeira and the Canary Islands (with notes\non the Azores), 5th edit., London, 1898, p. 148.\n\n[136] N. Buache: Recherches sur l\u2019ile Antillia et sur l\u2019\u00e9poque de\nd\u00e9couverte d\u2019Am\u00e9rique, _M\u00e9moires de l\u2019Institut des Sciences, Lettres,\net Arts_, Vol. 6, 1806, pp. 1\u201329, following p. 84 of Section entitled\n\u201cHistoire\u201d and appended list. See p. 13.\n\n[137] Alexander von Humboldt: Examen critique de l\u2019histoire de la\ng\u00e9ographie du nouveau continent et des progr\u00e8s de l\u2019astronomie nautique\naux quinzi\u00e8me et seizi\u00e8me si\u00e8cles, 5 vols., Paris, 1836\u201339; reference\nin Vol. 2, p. 281.\n\n[138] Joseph Bullar and Henry Bullar: A Winter in the Azores and a\nSummer in the Baths of the Furnas, 2 vols., London, 1841; reference in\nVol. 2, pp. 242\u2013247.\n\n[139] Alexander von Humboldt: Examen critique de l\u2019histoire de la\ng\u00e9ographie du nouveau continent et des progr\u00e8s de l\u2019astronomie nautique\naux quinzi\u00e8me et seizi\u00e8me si\u00e8cles, 5 vols., Paris, 1836\u201339; reference\nin Vol. 2, p. 163.\n\n[140] Konrad Kretschmer: Die Entdeckung Amerika\u2019s in ihrer Bedeutung\nf\u00fcr die Geschichte des Weltbildes, 2 vols (text and atlas), Berlin,\n1892; reference in atlas, Pl. 12, map 1.\n\n[141] [E. F.] Jomard: Les monuments de la g\u00e9ographie, ou recueil\nd\u2019anciennes cartes europ\u00e9ennes et orientales.... Paris, [1842\u201362], Pl.\nX, 1.\n\n[142] Theobald Fischer: Sammlung mittelalterlicher Welt- und Seekarten\nitalienischen Ursprungs, 1 vol. of text and 17 portfolios containing\nphotographs of maps, Venice, 1877\u201386; reference in Portfolio 11\n(Facsimile della carta nautica di Andrea Bianco dell\u2019 anno 1448), Pl.\n3. See also Kretschmer, text, p. 184.\n\n[143] A. E. Nordenski\u00f6ld: Periplus: An Essay on the Early History of\nCharts and Sailing-Directions, transl. by F. A. Bather, Stockholm,\n1897, Pl. 8.\n\n[144] _Ibid._, Pl. 11.\n\n[145] Kretschmer, atlas, Pl. 5.\n\n[146] Listed as No. 17 in Justin Winsor: The Kohl Collection (now\nin the Library of Congress) of Maps Relating to America, Library of\nCongress, Washington, D. C., 1904, p. 27.\n\n[147] A. E. Nordenski\u00f6ld, Periplus, Pl. 15.\n\n[148] _Ibid._, Pl. 18.\n\n[149] Theobald Fischer, Portfolio 8 (Facsimile del Portolano di Giacomo\nGiraldi di Venezia dell\u2019 anno 1426).\n\n[150] The section of which the author has a photograph (first\npublished in the _Geogr. Rev._, Vol. 8, 1919, opposite p. 40, and here\nreproduced, Fig. 3, somewhat curtailed) does not extend far enough to\nshow the island.\n\n[151] Gustavo Uzielli: Mappamondi, carte nautiche e portolani del\nmedioevo e dei secoli delle grandi scoperte marittime construiti da\nitaliani o trovati nelle biblioteche d\u2019Italia, Part II (pp. 280\u2013390)\nof \u201cStudi Bibliografici e Biografici sulla Storia della Geografia\nin Italia,\u201d published on the occasion of the Second International\nGeographical Congress, Paris, 1875, by the Societ\u00e0 Geografica Italiana,\nRome, 1875; reference on Pl. 8 (the second edition, Rome, 1882, does\nnot contain the plates).\n\n[152] A. E. Nordenski\u00f6ld, Periplus, Pl. 20.; Theobald Fischer,\nPortfolio 11, Pl. 3.\n\n[153] A. E. Nordenski\u00f6ld, Periplus, Pl. 33.\n\n[154] Kretschmer, atlas, Pl. 4, map 1.\n\n[155] E. L. Stevenson: Facsimiles of Portolan Charts Belonging to the\nHispanic Society of America, _Publs. Hispanic Soc. of Amer. No. 104_,\nNew York, 1916, Pl. 2.\n\n[156] W. H. Babcock: Indications of Visits of White Men to America\nbefore Columbus, _Proc. 19th Internatl. Congr. of Americanists, Held at\nWashington, Dec. 27\u201331, 1915_, [Smithsonian Institution,] Washington,\nD. C., 1917, pp. 469\u2013478; map on p. 476.\n\n[157] A. E. Nordenski\u00f6ld, Periplus, Pl. 22.\n\n[158] Kretschmer, atlas, Pl. 9, map 3; also in A. E. Nordenski\u00f6ld:\nFacsimile-Atlas to the Early History of Cartography, transl. by J. A.\nEkel\u00f6f and C. R. Markham, Stockholm, 1889, Pl. 32.\n\n[159] Kretschmer, atlas, Pl. 14, map 5.\n\n[160] _Ibid._, Pl. 15.\n\n[161] _Ibid._, Pl. 12, map 2.\n\n[162] _Ibid._, Pl. 4, map 5.\n\n[163] _Ibid._, Pl. 17; also A. E. Nordenski\u00f6ld, Periplus, Pl. 51.\n\n[164] A. E. Nordenski\u00f6ld, Periplus, Pl. 27.\n\n[165] Kretschmer, atlas, Pl. 19, map 3.\n\n[166] Justin Winsor: Cartier to Frontenac: Geographical Discovery in\nthe Interior of North America in Its Historical Relations, 1534\u20131700,\nwith Full Cartographical Illustrations from Contemporary Sources,\nBoston and New York, 1894, p. 60.\n\n[167] A. E. Nordenski\u00f6ld, Periplus, Fig. 76, p. 163.\n\n[168] A. E. Nordenski\u00f6ld: Facsimile-Atlas, Pl. 46.\n\n[169] _Ibid._, Pl. 47.\n\n[170] Copy in map collection of American Geographical Society.\n\n[171] Atlas universel, par M. Robert, G\u00e9ographe ordinaire du Roy, et\npar M. Robert de Vaugondy, son fils, ... Paris, 1757, Pl. 13.\n\n[172] [E. M.] Blunt\u2019s New Chart of the Atlantic or Western Ocean, New\nYork, 1814.\n\n[173] Theobald Fischer, Portfolio 5 (Facsimile del Portolano\nLaurenziano-Gaddiano dell\u2019 anno 1351), Pl. 4.\n\n[174] Book of the Knowledge of All the Kingdoms, Lands, and Lordships\nThat Are in the World, and the Arms and Devices of Each Land and\nLordship, or of the Kings and Lords Who Possess Them, written by a\nSpanish Franciscan in the middle of the 14th century, published for\nthe first time with notes by Marcos Jim\u00e9nez de la Espada in 1877,\ntranslated and edited by Sir Clements Markham, _Hakluyt Soc. Publs._,\n2nd Ser., Vol. 29, London, 1912, p. 29.\n\n[175] Fridtjof Nansen: In Northern Mists: Arctic Exploration in Early\nTimes, transl. by A. G. Chater, 2 vols., New York, 1911; reference in\nVol. 1, pp. 192 and 194.\n\n[176] Konrad Kretschmer: Die Entdeckung Amerika\u2019s in ihrer Bedeutung\nf\u00fcr die Geschichte des Weltbildes, 2 vols. (text and atlas), Berlin,\n1892; reference in atlas, Pl. 14, map 5.\n\n[177] A. E. Nordenski\u00f6ld: Bidrag till nordens \u00e4ldsta kartografi,\nStockholm, 1892, Pl. 5. Also (reduced) in Nansen (Vol. 2, p. 285),\nand in T. J. Westropp: Brasil and the Legendary Islands of the North\nAtlantic: Their History and Fable, _Proc. Royal Irish Acad._, Vol. 30,\nSection C, 1912\u201313, pp. 223\u2013260; see Pl. 20, opp. p. 260.\n\n[178] Thormodus Torfaeus: Gronlandia Antiqua seu veteris Gronlandiae\ndescriptio, Copenhagen, 1706; Tabula I, facing p. 20.\n\n[179] Kretschmer, atlas, Pl. 13.\n\n[180] A. E. Nordenski\u00f6ld: Periplus: An Essay on the Early History of\nCharts and Sailing-Directions, transl. by F. A. Bather, Stockholm,\n1897, Pl. 27.\n\n[181] Kretschmer, atlas, Pl. 19, map 3.\n\n[182] A. E. Nordenski\u00f6ld: Facsimile-Atlas to the Early History of\nCartography, transl. by J. A. Ekel\u00f6f and C. R. Markham, Stockholm,\n1889, p. 67.\n\n[183] Kretschmer, atlas, Pl. 17.\n\n[184] A. E. Nordenski\u00f6ld, Facsimile-Atlas, Pl. 46.\n\n[185] _Ibid._, Pl. 47.\n\n[186] Quoted by Nansen in his \u201cIn Northern Mists,\u201d Vol. 1, p. 260.\n\n[187] Henry Rink: Danish Greenland, Its People and Its Products,\nLondon, 1877, pp. 306\u2013312 and _passim_.\n\n[188] William Hovgaard: The Voyages of the Norsemen to America\n(Scandinavian Monographs, Vol. 1), American-Scandinavian Foundation,\nNew York, 1914, pp. 25 and 26.\n\n[189] Finnur J\u00f3nsson: Gr\u00f6nlands gamle Topografi efter Kilderne:\n\u00d6sterbygden og Vesterbygden, _Meddelelser on Gr\u00f6nland_, Vol. 20 (text,\npp. 267\u2013329), Pls. 2 and 3, 1899.\n\n[190] _Op. cit._, p. 27.\n\n[191] A. E. Nordenski\u00f6ld, Facsimile-Atlas, p. 49. Also copied by Joseph\nFischer: The Discoveries of the Norsemen in America, With Special\nRelation to Their Early Cartographical Representation, transl. by B. H.\nSoulsby, London, 1903, p. 70.\n\n[192] Joseph Fischer, Pls. 1\u20138. See also the map of Henricus Martillus\nGermanus (1489) in E. G. Ravenstein: Martin Behaim, His Life and His\nGlobe, London, 1908, p. 67. The name Greenland does not appear on the\nlatter map, but the peninsula is there.\n\n[193] Kretschmer, atlas, Pl. 4, map 4; better facsimile reproductions\nin the works by Major and Lucas cited in footnotes 1 and 2, Ch. IX.\n\n[194] Thormodus Torfaeus: Gronlandia Antiqua, seu veteris Gronlandiae\ndescriptio. Copenhagen, 1706, Tabula II, after p. 20. Also reproduced\nby Gustav Storm: Studies on the Vineland Voyages, _M\u00e9moires Soc. Royale\ndes Antiquaires du Nord_ (Copenhagen), N. S., 1884\u201389, pp. 307\u2013370 (map\non p. 333); by Fridtjof Nansen: In Northern Mists, Vol. 2, p. 7; and\nby W. H. Babcock: Early Norse Visits to North America, _Smithsonian\nMisc. Colls._, Vol. 59, No. 19, Washington, D. C., 1913, map facing p.\n62; by Hovgaard, _op. cit._, opp. p. 118. These are two versions, the\none appearing in Torfaeus (1706), reproduced herewith (Fig. 18) and\nby Nansen, the other a copy of about 1670 belonging to Bishop Thordr\nThorl\u00e1ksson, now preserved in the Royal Library of Copenhagen (Old\nCollection, No. 2881, 4to), of Stef\u00e1nsson\u2019s original map, which was\nlost. The earlier version is reproduced by Storm, Babcock, and Hovgaard.\n\n[195] Hovgaard. p. 39.\n\n[196] Often quoted, e. g. by Hovgaard, p. 37.\n\n[197] Pp. 69\u2013124 in Gustav Storm: Monumenta historica Norvegiae,\nChristiania, 1880; reference on p. 76. In English, e. g. in Hovgaard,\np. 167.\n\n[198] Portolano Laurenziano-Gaddiano, 1351; see Pl. 5 of facsimile in\nPortfolio 5 of Theobald Fischer: Sammlung mittelalterlicher Welt- und\nSeekarten italienischen Ursprungs, 1 vol. of text and 17 portfolios\ncontaining photographs of maps, Venice, 1877\u20131886.\n\nCatalan atlas, 1375, Pls. 11\u201314 in A. E. Nordenski\u00f6ld: Periplus: An\nEssay on the Early History of Charts and Sailing-Directions, transl. by\nF. A. Bather, Stockholm, 1897.\n\nPareto map, 1455, Pl. 5 in atlas accompanying Konrad Kretschmer:\nDie Entdeckung Amerika\u2019s in ihrer Bedeutung f\u00fcr die Geschichte des\nWeltbildes, 2 vols. (text and atlas), Berlin, 1892 (our Fig. 21).\n\n[199] M. A. P. d\u2019Avezac: Notice des d\u00e9couvertes faites au Moyen-Age\ndans l\u2019Oc\u00e9an Atlantique ant\u00e9rieurement aux grandes explorations\nportugaises du quinzi\u00e8me si\u00e8cle, Paris, 1845, pp. 8\u20139. See \u201cI de\nMadera\u201d on Benincasa map, 1482, in Kretschmer, atlas, Pl. 4 (our Fig.\n22).\n\n[200] Fully set forth in A. M. Reeves: The Finding of Wineland the\nGood, London, 1890; summarized in W. H. Babcock: Early Norse Visits to\nNorth America, _Smithsonian Misc. Colls._, Vol. 59, No. 19, Washington,\nD. C., 1913, pp. 64 _et seq._\n\n[201] Reeves, pp. 42 _et seq._ This work gives facsimiles of the pages\nin Hauk\u2019s Book dealing with the saga of Eric the Red, as well as the\nprinted text in Icelandic, also a translation and notes distinguishing\nslight divergencies of Arna Magn\u00e6an MS. 557. I have followed the latter\nas slightly preferable and equally authentic and archaic in substance.\nWilliam Hovgaard (The Voyages of the Norsemen to America, New York,\n1914, p. 103) translates a little differently from Reeves in details\nbut gives much the same purport.\n\n[202] For example by Joseph Fischer: The Discoveries of the Norsemen\nin America, With Special Relation to Their Early Cartographical\nRepresentation, transl. by B. H. Soulsby, London, 1903, pp. 7\u20138.\n\n[203] Thus quoted in Reeves, p. 15. See also Hovgaard, p. 79, where the\nobscure phrase in quotation marks above is rendered \u201cKarlsefni cut wood\nfor a house ornament.\u201d\n\n[204] Thormodus Torfaeus: Gronlandia Antiqua, seu veteris Gronlandiae\ndescriptio, Copenhagen, 1706, Tabula II, after p. 20. See also footnote\n20, Chapter VII.\n\n[205] Fridtjof Nansen: In Northern Mists: Arctic Exploration in Early\nTimes, transl. by A. G. Chater, New York, 1911, 2 vols.: reference\nin Vol. 1, p. 323. Cf. R. Whitbourne: A Discourse and Discovery of\nNewfoundland, London, 1622.\n\n[206] E. L. Stevenson: Maps Illustrating Early Discovery and\nExploration in America, 1502\u20131530, Reproduced by Photography from the\nOriginal Manuscripts, text and 12 portfolios, New Brunswick, N. J.,\n1906; reference in Portfolio 1.\n\n[207] E. L. Stevenson: Marine World Chart of Nicolo de Canerio\nJanuensis, 1502 (circa), 2 vols. (text, 1908, and facsimile in\nportfolio, 1907), Amer. Geogr. Soc. and Hispanic Soc. of Amer., New\nYork, 1907\u201308.\n\n[208] A. E. Nordenski\u00f6ld: Bidrag till nordens \u00e4ldsta kartografi,\nStockholm, 1892, Pl. 5. Also (reduced) in Nansen: In Northern Mists,\nVol. 2, p. 280, and in T. J. Westropp: Brasil and the Legendary Islands\nof the North Atlantic: Their History and Fable (_Proc. Royal Irish\nAcad._, Vol. 30, Section C, 1912\u201313, pp. 223\u2013260), Pl. 20, facing p.\n260.\n\n[209] Alberto Maghaghi: La carta nautica costruita nel 1325 da Angelino\nDalorto, with facsimile, Florence, 1898 (published on the occasion\nof the Third Italian Geographical Congress). Cf. also: _idem_: Il\nmappamondo del genovese Angellinus de Dalorto (1325): Contributo alla\nstoria della cartografia mediovale, _Atti del Terzo Congr. Geogr.\nItaliano, tenuto in Firenze dal 12 al 17 Aprile, 1898_, Florence,\n1899, Vol. 2, pp. 506\u2013543; and _idem_: Angellinus de Dalorco (_sic_),\ncartografo italiano della prima met\u00e0 del secolo XIV, _Riv. Geogr.\nItaliana_, Vol. 4, 1897, pp. 282\u2013294 and 361\u2013369.\n\n[210] A. E. Nordenski\u00f6ld: Periplus, Pl. 27.\n\n[211] Kretschmer, atlas, Pl. 19, map 3.\n\n[212] Theobald Fischer, Portfolio 11, Pl. 3.\n\n[213] R. H. Major, transl. and edit.: The Voyages of the Venetian\nBrothers, Nicol\u00f2 and Antonio Zeno, to the Northern Seas, in the XIVth\nCentury, etc., _Hakluyt Soc. Publs._, 1st Ser., Vol. 50, London, 1873;\nand F. W. Lucas: The Annals of the Voyages of the Brothers Nicol\u00f2 and\nAntonio Zeno in the North Atlantic, etc., London, 1898--representing\nopposite sides of the discussion.\n\n[214] George Cartwright: Journal of Transactions and Events During a\nResidence of Nearly Sixteen Years on the Coast of Labrador, 3 vols.,\nNewark (Engl.), 1792. Republished as \u201cCaptain Cartwright and His\nLabrador Journal,\u201d with an introduction by W. T. Grenfell, Boston.\n1911; reference on pp. 16\u201325.\n\n[215] R. H. Major, transl. and edit.: The Voyages of the Venetian\nBrothers, Nicol\u00f2 and Antonio Zeno, to the Northern Seas, in the XIVth\nCentury, etc., _Hakluyt Soc. Publs._, 1st Ser., Vol. 50, London, 1873.\n\n[216] F. W. Lucas: The Annals of the Voyages of the Brothers Nicol\u00f2 and\nAntonio Zeno in the North Atlantic, etc., London, 1898, p. 152.\n\n[217] _Ibid._, Pls. 13 (Mercator\u2019s large-scale world map, 1569) and 14\n(Ortelius\u2019 large-scale world map, 1570). Ortelius\u2019 small-scale world\nmap, 1570, of a section of which our Fig. 10 is a reproduction, is\nfacsimiled in A. E. Nordenski\u00f6ld: Facsimile-Atlas to the Early History\nof Cartography, transl. by J. A. Ekel\u00f6f and C. R. Markham, Stockholm,\n1889, Pl. 46.\n\n[218] Major, pp. 19\u201324.\n\n[219] Recently on exhibition, but not accessible at present.\n\n[220] Eug\u00e8ne Beauvois: La d\u00e9couverte du nouveau monde par les\nirlandais, Nancy. 1877, p. 90.\n\n[221] Konrad Kretschmer: Die Entdeckung Amerika\u2019s in ihrer Bedeutung\nf\u00fcr die Geschichte des Weltbildes, 2 vols. (text and atlas), Berlin,\n1892; reference in atlas, Pl. 4, map 5.\n\n[222] A. M. Reeves: The finding of Wineland the Good. London, 1890, pp.\n94\u201395.\n\n[223] A. E. Nordenski\u00f6ld: Periplus: An Essay on the Early History of\nCharts and Sailing-Directions, transl. by F. A. Bather, Stockholm,\n1897, Pl. 27.\n\n[224] Kretschmer, atlas, Pl. 19, map 3.\n\n[225] Justin Winsor: Cartier to Frontenac: Geographical Discovery in\nthe Interior of North America in Its Historical Relations, 1534\u20131700,\nwith Full Cartographical Illustrations from Contemporary Sources,\nBoston, 1894, pp. 60\u201361.\n\n[226] Lucas, p. 124.\n\n[227] Lucas, p. 74.\n\n[228] A. E. Nordenski\u00f6ld, Periplus, text maps 34 and 35, on pp. 85 and\n87, and Pl. 32; _idem_: Facsimile-Atlas, Pl. 30. The first three maps\nare also reproduced in _idem_: Bidrag till Nordens \u00e4ldsta Kartografi,\nStockholm, 1892, Pls. 3, 1, 2.\n\n[229] Joseph Fischer: The Discoveries of the Norsemen in America with\nSpecial Relation to Their Early Cartographical Representation, transl.\nby B. H. Soulsby, London, 1903, pp. 71 and 72 and Pls. 1\u20136.\n\n[230] J. G. Kohl: A History of the Discovery of the East Coast of North\nAmerica, Particularly the Coast of Maine, from the Northmen in 990 to\nthe Charter of Gilbert in 1578 (Documentary History of the State of\nMaine, Vol. 1). _Colls. Maine Hist. Soc._, 2d Ser., Portland, 1869, p.\n105.\n\n[231] Kretschmer, atlas, Pl. 4, map 5.\n\n[232] [M. F.] Santarem: Atlas compos\u00e9 de mappemondes, de portulans, et\nde cartes hydrographiques et historiques depuis le VI^e jusqu\u2019au XVII^e\nsi\u00e8cle ... devant servir de preuves \u00e0 l\u2019histoire de la cosmographie\net de la cartographie pendant le Moyen Age ..., Paris. 1842\u201353, Pl. 9\n(Quaritch\u2019s notation).\n\n[233] E. L. Stevenson: Maps Illustrating Early Discovery and\nExploration in America, 1502\u20131530, Reproduced by Photography from the\nOriginal Manuscripts, text and 12 portfolios, New Brunswick. N. J.,\n1906; reference in Portfolio 1.\n\n[234] Ferdinand Columbus: The History of the Life and Actions of Adm.\nChristopher Columbus, and of His Discovery of the West-Indies, Call\u2019d\nthe New World, Now in Possession of His Catholic Majesty. Written by\nHis Own Son, transl. from the Italian and contained in \u201cA Collection of\nVoyages and Travels, Some Now First Printed from Original Manuscripts,\nOthers Now First Published in English,\u201d by Awnsham Churchill and John\nChurchill (6 vols., London, 1732), Vol. 2, pp. 501\u2013628; reference on p.\n507.\n\n[235] E. L. Stevenson: Atlas of Portolan Charts: Facsimile of\nManuscript in British Museum, _Publs. Hispanic Soc. of Amer. No. 81_,\nNew York, 1911, folios 1b and 8b.\n\n[236] A. E. Nordenski\u00f6ld: Bidrag till Nordens \u00e4ldsta Kartografi,\nStockholm, 1892, Pl. 5.\n\n[237] E. g. in [Henry Harrisse]: Bibliotheca Americana Vetustissima:\nAdditions, Paris, 1872, pp. xvi-xviii; and Ferdinand Columbus: The\nHistory of the Life and Actions of Adm. Christopher Columbus, and\nof His Discovery of the West-Indies, Call\u2019d the New World, Now in\nPossession of His Catholic Majesty. Written by His Own Son, transl.\nfrom the Italian and contained in \u201cA Collection of Voyages and Travels,\nSome Now First Printed from Original Manuscripts, Others Now First\nPublished in English,\u201d by Awnsham Churchill and John Churchill (6\nvols., London, 1732), Vol. 2, pp. 501\u2013628; reference on p. 512.\n\n[238] Henry Vignaud: The Columbian Tradition on the Discovery of\nAmerica and of the Part Played Therein by the Astronomer Toscanelli,\nOxford, 1920, pp. 9\u201310; and _idem_: Le vrai Christophe Colomb et la\nl\u00e9gende, Paris, 1921, Ch. IX.\n\n[239] A. E. Nordenski\u00f6ld: Periplus: An Essay on the Early History of\nCharts and Sailing-Directions, transl. by F. A. Bather, Stockholm,\n1897, p. 177.\n\n[240] E. G. Ravenstein: Martin Behaim: His Life and His Globe, London,\n1908, p. 77.\n\n[241] A. E. Nordenski\u00f6ld: Facsimile-Atlas to the Early History of\nCartography, transl. by J. A. Ekel\u00f6f and C. R. Markham, Stockholm,\n1889, p. 65 and Pl. 32.\n\n[242] Pietro Martyr d\u2019Anghiera: The Decades of the New World or West\nIndia, transl. by Rycharde Eden, London, 1597, First Decade, p. 6. For\na modern edition of this work see \u201cDe Orbe Novo: The Eight Decades of\nPeter Martyr D\u2019Anghera,\u201d transl. by F. A. MacNutt, 2 vols., New York,\n1912.\n\n[243] E. L. Stevenson: Marine World Chart of Nicolo de Canerio\nJanuensis, 1502 (circa), 2 vols. (text, 1908, and facsimile in\nportfolio, 1907), Amer. Geogr. Soc. and Hispanic Soc. of Amer., New\nYork, 1907\u201308.\n\n[244] Konrad Kretschmer: Die Entdeckung Amerika\u2019s in ihrer Bedeutung\nf\u00fcr die Geschichte des Weltbildes, 2 vols. (text and atlas), Berlin,\n1892; see atlas, Pl. 8, map 2.\n\n[245] Friedrich Kunstmann: Ueber einige der \u00e4ltesten Karten Amerikas,\npp. 125\u2013151 in his \u201cDie Entdeckung Amerikas, nach den \u00e4ltesten\nQuellen geschichtlich dargestellt,\u201d with an atlas: Atlas zur\nEntdeckungsgeschichte Amerikas, aus Handschriften der K. Hof- und\nStaats-Bibliothek, der K. Universitaet und des Hauptconservatoriums der\nK. B. Armee herausgegeben von Friedrich Kunstmann, Karl von Spruner,\nGeorg M. Thomas, Royal Bavarian Academy of Sciences, Munich, 1859;\nreference on Pl. 4 of atlas.\n\n[246] Theobald Fischer: Sammlung mittelalterlicher Welt- und Seekarten\nitalienischen Ursprungs, 1 vol. of text and 17 portfolios containing\nphotographs of maps, Venice, 1877\u201386; reference in Portfolio 13\n(Facsimile del planisfero del mondo conosciuto, in lingua catalana, del\nxv secolo), Pl. 5.\n\n[247] [E. F.] Jomard: Les monuments de la g\u00e9ographie, ou recueil\nd\u2019anciennes cartes europ\u00e9ennes et orientales ... Paris, [1842\u201362], Pl.\nX, 1. In Santarem\u2019s atlas (cf. Ch. IX, footnote 18), Pl. 31, the name\nis interpreted as \u201cAtullis.\u201d\n\n[248] E. L. Stevenson: Atlas of Portolan Charts: Facsimile of\nManuscript in British Museum, _Publs. Hispanic Soc. of Amer. No. 81_,\nNew York, 1911, folio 9a.\n\n[249] _Ibid._, folio 1b.\n\n[250] Vicenzio Formaleoni: Description de deux cartes anciennes tir\u00e9es\nde la Biblioth\u00e8que de St. Marc \u00e0 Venise, pp. 91\u2013168 of the same\nauthor\u2019s \u201cEssai sur la marine ancienne des V\u00e9nitiens,\u201d transl. by the\nChevalier d\u2019Henin, Venice, 1788; reference on p. 122 and Pl. III.\n\n[251] Alexander von Humboldt: Examen critique de l\u2019histoire de la\ng\u00e9ographie du nouveau continent, et des progr\u00e8s de l\u2019astronomie\nnautique aux quinzi\u00e8me et seizi\u00e8me si\u00e8cles, 5 vols., Paris, 1836\u201339;\nreference in Vol. 2, p. 193. The other mentions of Humboldt in this\nchapter refer to the same volume, pp. 178\u2013211, except allusions to his\ncorrespondence with the Weimar librarian.\n\n[252] _Ibid._, p. 211.\n\n[253] [E. F.] Jomard: Les monuments de la g\u00e9ographie, ou recueil\nd\u2019anciennes cartes europ\u00e9ennes et orientales..., Paris, [1842\u201362], Pl.\nX, 1.\n\n[254] Periplus, p. 177.\n\n[255] W. H. Babcock: Indications of Visits of White Men to America\nbefore Columbus, _Proc. 19th Internatl. Congr. of Americanists, Held at\nWashington, Dec. 27\u201331, 1915_, [Smithsonian Institution,] Washington,\nD. C., 1917. map on p. 476.\n\n[256] Gustavo Uzielli: Mappamondi, carte nautiche e portolani del\nmedioevo e dei secoli delle grandi scoperte marittime construiti da\nitaliani o trovati nelle biblioteche d\u2019Italia, Part II (pp. 280\u2013390)\nof \u201cStudi Bibliografici e Biografici sulla Storia della Geografia\nin Italia,\u201d published on the occasion of the Second International\nGeographical Congress, Paris, 1875, by the Societ\u00e0 Geografica Italiana,\nRome, 1875; reference on Pl. 8 (the second edition, Rome, 1882, does\nnot contain the plates).\n\n[257] E. L. Stevenson: Facsimiles of Portolan Charts Belonging to the\nHispanic Society of America, _Publs. Hispanic Soc. of Amer. No. 104_,\nNew York, 1916, Pl. 2.\n\n[258] A. E. Nordenski\u00f6ld, Periplus, Pl. 20. Cf. also Kretschmer, atlas,\nPl. 4. map 2.\n\n[259] Kretschmer, atlas, Pl. 5.\n\n[260] Kretschmer, atlas, Pl. 4.\n\n[261] See footnotes 18 and 19.\n\n[262] A. E. Nordenski\u00f6ld, Facsimile-Atlas, p. 73, map in text.\n\n[263] Theobald Fischer, Portfolio 8 (Facsimile del Portolano di Giacomo\nGiraldi di Venezia dell\u2019 anno 1426).\n\n[264] Original in Majorca. A good copy is owned by T. Solberg, Register\nof Copyrights, Washington, D. C.\n\n[265] Theobald Fischer, Portfolio 15 (Facsimile del Mappamondo di Fra\nMauro dell\u2019 anno 1457 [1459]).\n\n[266] Kretschmer, atlas, Pl. 7.\n\n[267] Book of the Knowledge of All the Kingdoms, Lands, and Lordships\nThat Are in the World, and the Arms and Devices of Each Land and\nLordship, or of the Kings and Lords Who Possess Them, written by a\nSpanish Franciscan in the middle of the 14th century, published for\nthe first time with notes by Marcos Jim\u00e9nez de la Espada in 1877,\ntranslated and edited by Sir Clements Markham, _Hakluyt Soc. Publs._,\n2nd Ser., Vol. 29, London, 1912; reference on p. 29.\n\n[268] Theobald Fischer: Sammlung mittelalterlicher Welt- und Seekarten\nitalienischen Ursprungs, 1 vol. of text and 17 portfolios containing\nphotographs of maps, Venice, 1877\u201386; reference in Portfolio 5\n(Facsimile del Portolano Laurenziano-Gaddiano dell\u2019 anno 1351), Pl. 4.\n\n[269] A. E. Nordenski\u00f6ld: Periplus: An Essay on the Early History of\nCharts and Sailing-Directions, transl. by F. A. Bather, Stockholm,\n1897, Pl. 11. Our reproduction (Fig. 5) does not extend far enough\nsouth to show the islands.\n\n[270] Edrisi\u2019s \u201cGeography,\u201d in two versions, the first based on two,\nthe second on four manuscripts, viz.: (1) P. A. Jaubert (translator):\nG\u00e9ographie d\u2019Edrisi, traduite de l\u2019Arabe en Fran\u00e7ais, 2 vols. (Recueil\nde Voyages et de M\u00e9moires publi\u00e9 par la Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 de G\u00e9ographie, Vols.\n5 and 6), Paris, 1836 and 1840; reference in Vol. 1, p. 201; (2) R.\nDozy et M. J. De Goeje (translators): Description de l\u2019Afrique et de\nL\u2019Espagne par Edrisi: Texte arabe publi\u00e9 pour la premi\u00e8re fois d\u2019apr\u00e8s\nles man. de Paris et d\u2019Oxford, Leiden, 1866, pp. 63\u201364.\n\n[271] [E. F.] Jomard: Les monuments de la g\u00e9ographie, ou recueil\nd\u2019anciennes cartes europ\u00e9ennes et orientales ..., Paris, [1842\u201362],\nPl. X, 1. Also W. H. Babcock: Early Norse Visits to North America,\n_Smithsonian Misc. Colls._, Vol. 59, No. 19, Washington, D. C., 1913,\nPls. 1 and 2.\n\n[272] The Historical Library of Diodorus the Sicilian, in 15 Books: to\nwhich are added the fragments of Diodorus, and those published by H.\nValesius, I. Rhodomannus, and F. Ursinus, transl. by G. Booth, Esq., 2\nvols., London, 1814; reference in Vol. 1, Bk. 5, Ch. 2, pp. 308\u2013309.\n\n[273] Alexander von Humboldt: Examen critique de l\u2019histoire de la\ng\u00e9ographie du nouveau continent et des progr\u00e8s de l\u2019astronomie nautique\naux quinzi\u00e8me et seizi\u00e8me si\u00e8cles, 5 vols., Paris, 1836\u201339; reference\nin Vol. 2, pp. 237\u2013240.\n\n[274] _Det G\u00f6theborgska Wetenskaps och Witterhets Samh\u00e4llets\nHandlingar_, Vol. 1, 1778, pp. 106\u2013108, and Pl. 6. See also Moedas\nphenicias e cyrenaicas encontradas em 1749 na ilha do Corvo, _Archivo\ndos A\u00e7ores_, Vol. 3, pp. 11\u2013113.\n\n[275] Conrad Malte-Brun: Pr\u00e9cis de g\u00e9ographie universelle, 8 vols.,\nParis, 1810\u201329; reference in Vol. 1 of that edition, constituting\n\u201cL\u2019Histoire de la G\u00e9ographie,\u201d 1810, p. 596.\n\n[276] Edrisi, (Dozy and De Goeje), p. 1.\n\n[277] S. Morewood: Philosophic and Statistical History of Inventions\nand Customs, ... Inebriating Liquors, Dublin, 1838, p. 322.\n\n[278] Humboldt, Examen critique, Vol. 2, p. 227.\n\n[279] Andr\u00e9 Thevet: La cosmographie universelle, 2 vols., Paris, 1575;\nreference in Vol. 2, p. 1022.\n\n[280] The Geography of Strabo, transl. by H. C. Hamilton and W.\nFalconer (Bohn\u2019s Classical Library), 3 vols., London, 1854; reference\nin Vol. 1, pp. 255\u2013257.\n\n[281] Captain Boid: A Description of the Azores, or Western Islands,\nLondon, 1834, pp. 316\u2013317.\n\n[282] Borges de F. Henriques: A Trip to the Azores or Western Islands,\nBoston, 1867, pp. 35\u201336.\n\n[283] Theobald Fischer, Portfolio 5, Pl. 4.\n\n[284] _Idem_, Portfolio 7, Pl. 4.\n\n[285] A. E. Nordenski\u00f6ld, Periplus, Pl. 11 (not shown on Fig. 5).\n\n[286] Gustavo Uzielli: Mappamondi, carte nautiche e portolani del\nmedioevo e dei secoli delle grandi scoperte marittime construiti da\nitaliani o trovati nelle biblioteche d\u2019Italia, Part II (pp. 280\u2013390)\nof \u201cStudi Bibliografici e Biografici sulla Storia della Geografia\nin Italia,\u201d published on the occasion of the Second International\nGeographical Congress, Paris, 1875, by the Societ\u00e0 Geografica Italiana,\nRome, 1875; reference on Pl. 8 (the second edition, Rome, 1882, does\nnot contain the plates). Also Babcock, Early Norse Visits to North\nAmerica, Pl. 4. See our Fig. 20.\n\n[287] Konrad Kretschmer: Die Entdeckung Amerika\u2019s in ihrer Bedeutung\nf\u00fcr die Geschichte des Weltbildes, 2 vols. (text and atlas), Berlin,\n1892; reference in atlas, Pl. 4. See our Fig. 22.\n\n[288] Borges de F. Henriques, pp. 35\u201336.\n\n[289] A. E. Nordenski\u00f6ld: Facsimile-Atlas to the Early History of\nCartography, transl. by J. A. Ekel\u00f6f and C. R. Markham, Stockholm,\n1889, Pl. 32.\n\n[290] E. J. Payne, edit.: Voyages of the Elizabethan Seamen to America:\nSelect Narratives from the Principal Navigations of Hakluyt, Ser. 1,\nHawkins, Frobisher, Drake, 2d edit., Oxford, 1893, p. 183. Cf. also E.\nW. Dahlgren\u2019s note in _Proc. and Trans. Nova Scotian Inst. of Sci._,\nVol. 11, 1902\u201306, p. 551.\n\n[291] Miller Christy: On \u201cBusse Island,\u201d in C. C. A. Gosch: Danish\nArctic Expeditions 1605 to 1620, Bk. I: Expeditions to Greenland,\n_Hakluyt Soc. Publs._, 1st Series, Vol. 96, London, 1897, Appendix B,\npp. 164\u2013202; reference on p. 167.\n\n[292] Miller Christy, pp. 171 and 173.\n\n[293] Nieuwe wassende zee caart van de Noord-Oceaen, med een gedeelte\nvan de Atlantische, etc., Amsterdam, 1745 (as cited by Miller Christy,\n_op. cit._, p. 178, footnote 1).\n\n[294] H. S. Poole: The Sunken Land of Bus, _Proc. and Trans. Nova\nScotian Inst. of Sci._, Vol. 11, 1902\u201306, pp. 193\u2013198. See also: Sir\nJohn Murray and R. E. Peake: On Recent Contributions to the Knowledge\nof the Floor of the Atlantic Ocean, Royal Geogr. Soc., London, 1904;\nreferences on pp. 8 and 10 and inset \u201cSoundings Taken by S. S. Minia,\n1903\u201d of the accompanying chart.\n\n[295] A. E. Nordenski\u00f6ld: Periplus: An Essay on the Early History of\nCharts and Sailing Directions, transl. in F. A. Bather, Stockholm,\n1897, Pl. 20.\n\n[296] Justin Winsor: Cartier to Frontenac: Geographical Discovery in\nthe Interior of North America In its Historical Relations, 1534\u20131700,\nwith Full Cartographical Illustrations from Contemporary Sources,\nBoston and New York, 1894, pp. 60\u201361.\n\n[297] Konrad Kretschmer: Die Entdeckung Amerika\u2019s in ihrer Bedeutung\nf\u00fcr die Geschichte des Weltbildes, 2 vols. (text and atlas), Berlin,\n1892; reference in atlas, Pl. 16.\n\n[298] Kretschmer, atlas, Pl. 23.\n\n[299] Nordenski\u00f6ld, Facsimile-Atlas, Pl. 46.\n\n[300] Drei Karten von Gerhard Mercator: Europa--Britische\nInseln--Weltkarte: Facsimile-Lichtdruck nach den Originalen der\nStadtbibliothek zu Breslau, Geogr. Soc., Berlin, 1891; reference on\nWeltkarte, Pls. 3 and 9. See also: [E. F.] Jomard: Les monuments de la\ng\u00e9ographie, ou recueil d\u2019anciennes cartes europ\u00e9ennes et orientales\n..., Paris, [1842\u201362], Pl. XXI, 2.\n\n[301] Kretschmer, atlas, Pl. 17.\n\n[302] Friedrich Kunstmann: Die Entdeckung Amerikas, nach den\n\u00e4ltesten Quellen geschichtlich dargestellt, with an atlas: Atlas zur\nEntdeckungsgeschichte Amerikas, aus Handschriften der K. Hof- und\nStaats-Bibliothek, der K. Universitaet und des Hauptconservatoriums der\nK. B. Armee herausgegeben von Friedrich Kunstmann, Karl von Spruner,\nGeorg M. Thomas, Royal Bavarian Academy of Sciences, Munich, 1859;\nreference in atlas, Pl. 13.\n\n[303] Alberto Magnaghi: La carta nautica costruita nel 1325 da Angelino\nDalorto, with facsimile, Florence, 1898 (published on the occasion\nof the Third Italian Geographical Congress). Cf. also: _idem_: Il\nmappamondo del genovese Angellinus de Dalorto (1325): Contributo all\nstoria della cartografia mediovale, _Atti del Terzo Congr. Geogr.\nItaliano, tenuto in Firenzi dal 12 al 17 Aprile, 1898_, Florence,\n1899, Vol. 2, pp. 506\u2013543; and _idem_: Angellinus de Dalorco (_sic_),\ncartografo italiano della prima met\u00e0 del secolo XIV, _Riv. Geogr.\nItaliana_, Vol. 4, 1897, pp. 282\u2013294 and 361\u2013369.\n\n[304] Nordenski\u00f6ld, Periplus, Pl. 8.\n\n[305] Theobald Fischer: Sammlung mittelalterlicher Welt- und Seekarten\nitalienischen Ursprungs, 1 vol. of text and 17 portfolios containing\nphotographs of maps, Venice, 1877\u201386; reference in Portfolio 5\n(Facsimile del Portolano Laurenziano-Gaddiano dell\u2019 anno 1351), Pl. 4.\n\n[306] [E. F.] Jomard: Les monuments de la g\u00e9ographie, ou recueil\nd\u2019anciennes cartes europ\u00e9ennes et orientales.... Paris, [1842\u201362], Pl.\nX, 1.\n\n[307] Kretschmer, atlas, Pl. 5.\n\n[308] Gustavo Uzielli: Mappamondi, carte nautiche e portolani del\nmedioevo e dei secoli delle grandi scoperte marittime construiti da\nitaliani o trovati nelle biblioteche d\u2019Italia, Part II (pp. 280\u2013390)\nof \u201cStudi Bibliografici e Biografici sulla Storia della Geografia\nin Italia,\u201d published on the occasion of the Second International\nGeographical Congress, Paris, 1875, by the Societ\u00e0 Geografica Italiana,\nRome, 1875; reference on Pl. 8 (the second edition, Rome, 1882, does\nnot contain the plates).\n\n[309] Drei Karten von Gerhard Mercator, Berlin, 1891; reference on\nWeltkarte, Pl. 13.\n\n[310] Nordenski\u00f6ld, Facsimile-Atlas, map 82 on p. 131.\n\n[311] _Ibid._, Pl. 49.\n\n[312] Early Norse Visits to North America, _Smithsonian Misc. Colls._,\nVol. 59, No. 19, Washington, D. C., 1913; Recent History and Present\nStatus of the Vinland Problem, _Geogr. Rev._, Vol. 11, 1921, pp.\n265\u2013282; and Chapters VII and VIII, above.\n\n[313] Eug\u00e8ne Beauvois: La d\u00e9couverte du nouveau monde par les\nirlandais, Nancy, 1875.\n\n[314] Gustav Storm: Studies on the Vineland Voyages, _M\u00e9moires Soc.\nRoyale des Antiquaires du Nord_ (Copenhagen), N. S., 1884\u201389, pp.\n307\u2013370.\n\n[315] Alexander von Humboldt: Examen critique de l\u2019histoire de la\ng\u00e9ographie du nouveau continent et des progr\u00e8s de l\u2019astronomie nautique\naux quinzi\u00e8me et seizi\u00e8me si\u00e8cles, 5 vols., Paris, 1836\u201339; reference\nin Vol. 2, p. 107.\n\n[316] Theobald Fischer: Sammlung mittelalterlicher Welt- und\nSeekarten italienischen Ursprungs, 1 vol. of text and 17 portfolios\ncontaining photographs of maps, Venice, 1877\u201386; reference in Portfolio\n9 (Facsimile dell\u2019 Atlante di Andrea Bianco dell\u2019 anno 1436), Pl. 7.\n\n\n\n\nINDEX\n\n\n Adam of Bremen, 106;\n on Greenland, 94\n\n Anghiera. _See_ Martyr, Peter\n\n Animal and bird names, 44\n\n Antela, 149\n\n Antiglia, map opp. 74, 75, 147\n\n Antilles, 144;\n identity with Antillia, 162\n\n Antillia, 188;\n as an early map item, 144;\n Atlantis and, 148;\n on Beccario map of 1426, 151;\n on Beccario map of 1435, 70, 151;\n on Benincasa map of 1482, 70, 159;\n on Bianco map of 1436, 156;\n Humboldt\u2019s hypothesis of origin of name, 148;\n identity with the Antilles, 162;\n on Laon globe of 1493, 161;\n of the mainland, 147;\n Martyr\u2019s (Peter) identification, 145;\n origin of the name, 148;\n other identifications, 146;\n on Pareto map of 1455, 157;\n on Roselli map of 1468, 155;\n on Ruysch map of 1508, 145;\n Seven Cities (island) and, 69, 188;\n spelling of the word, 146;\n unmentioned on certain notable maps, 161;\n on Weimar map, 150, 159\n\n Arctic monastery, 136\u2013137, 138\n\n Ari Frode, 101\n\n Arna-Magnaean MS. No. 194, 116, 119\n\n Arna-Magnaean MS. No. 557, on Markland, 115\n\n Athens and Atlantis, 1, 33\n\n Atlantic continental mass, theory of Termier, 19\n\n Atlantic submarine banks, 24\n\n Atlantis, Antillia and, 148;\n improbability of existence, 18;\n invasion of the Mediterranean, 16;\n location and size, 17;\n Plato\u2019s account, 3, 11, 32, 187;\n Sargasso Sea as, 29;\n submergence, question of, 22;\n Termier on, 14\n\n Avezac, M. A. P. d\u2019, 8, 114\n\n Avienus, 27\n\n Ayala, Pedro de, 65, 68\n\n Azores, description, 164;\n floral and faunal indications of mainland connection, 21;\n Mayda and, 92;\n names of islands, 21;\n occurrence of name \u201cSeven Cities\u201d in, 78;\n two series on Bianco map of 1448, 122\n\n\n Babcock, W. H., \u201cEarly Norse Visits,\u201d 6, 115, 172, 184;\n \u201cIndications of Visits,\u201d 46, 57, 71, 86, 150\n\n Baffin Land, 111, 184\n\n Bahamas, 155, 163, 188\n\n Barra, 181, 183\n\n Basques, 8\n\n Beauvois, Eug\u00e8ne, 131, 184\n\n Beccario map of 1426, Antillia on, 151;\n reproduction of a photographed section (ill.), opp. 45;\n St. Brendan\u2019s Islands on, 45\n\n Beccario map of 1435, Antilles, four islands, on, 153;\n Antillia on, 70, 151, 153;\n Daculi on, 183;\n reproduction of section (ill.), 152\n\n Behaim globe of 1492, St. Brendan\u2019s Islands on, 47\n\n Benedict, R. D., 38\n\n Benincasa map of 1482, Antillia on, 70, 159;\n reproduction of section (ill.), 160\n\n Beothuks, 123, 131\n\n Bermuda and Mayda, 93, 188\n\n Bianco map of 1436, Antillia on, 156;\n reproduction of section (ill.), 179;\n Stokafixa on, 185\n\n Bianco map of 1448, St. Brendan\u2019s Islands on, 46;\n two series of Azores, 122\n\n Bimini (Beimini), 146\n\n Bird names, 44\n\n Birds, isle of, 166\n\n Blaskets, 181\n\n Blunt, E. M., 91\n\n Boid, Captain, 170\n\n Book of the Spanish Friar, 44, 55, 92, 165;\n on the Azores, 165\n\n Bourne, E. G., 55\n\n Bra, 181\n\n Brazil (island), on Catalan map of 1375, 58;\n on Catalan map of about 1480, 61;\n on Dalorto map of 1325, 50, 56, 121;\n early maps, occurrence, 55;\n location and shape, 57;\n in place of Markland, 121;\n Mayda and, 83;\n on Nicolay map of 1560, 61, 121;\n Norse and Irish omission of name, 66;\n St. Lawrence, Gulf of, and, 59, 187;\n Seven Cities (island) and, 68;\n on Sylvanus map of 1511, 65;\n two on the same map, 121\u2013122\n\n Brazil (word), derivation, 50, 52;\n spellings, 50;\n various applications, 121\n\n Brendan (Brandan; Brenainn), St., adventures, Lismore version, 34;\n explanations of Brendan narratives, 35;\n exploration, 34, 48, 187;\n probable basis of fact in narratives, 38\n\n Brendan\u2019s (St.) Islands, 34;\n on Beccario map of 1426, 45;\n on Behaim globe of 1492, 47;\n on Bianco map of 1448, 46;\n on Dulcert map of 1339, 42;\n Hereford map testimony, 38;\n on later maps, 48;\n on the Pizigani map of 1367, 43\n\n Bretons, exploration, 8, 84\n\n Brown, A. S., 78\n\n Buache, N., 78\n\n Bullar, Joseph and Henry, 79\n\n Buss Island, 174, disappearance from map, 177;\n discovery, 175;\n map (ill.), 176\n\n\n Cabot, John, 10, 55\n\n Canary Islands, mainland connection, question of, 21;\n tradition concerning St. Brendan, 39\n\n Canerio map, 146\n\n Cape Breton, 118\u2013119, 127, 132, 135, 185;\n Mayda and, 92, 93\n\n Cape Cod, Mayda and, 92, 188\n\n Capmany, Antonio de, 54\n\n Carthaginians, Corvo and, 167;\n statues and coins, 169\n\n Cartier, Jacques, 59\n\n Cartwright, George, 123\n\n Catalan map of 1375, Brazil (island) on, 58;\n Mayda on, 84;\n reproduction (ill.), 58\n\n Catalan map of about 1480, Brazil (island) on, 61;\n Fixlanda (Iceland) on, 141;\n Greenland on, 62, 96, 120;\n reproduction of section (ill.), 64\n\n Catholique, La, 180\n\n Cerne, 27\n\n Chau Ju-Kua, 2\n\n Chesapeake Bay, 119\n\n Christy, Miller, 175, 176, 177\n\n Churchill Collection, 140\n\n Clavus map of 1427, Greenland on, 105, 139;\n reproduction of section (ill.), 104\n\n Coins found in Corvo, 167\n\n Columbus, Christopher, 10\n\n Columbus, Ferdinand, \u201cLife of Christopher Columbus,\u201d 69, 71, 140, 144\n\n Conigi, Li, 8, 165, 172, 182\n\n Coombs, Captain, 100\n\n Coppo map of 1528, Greenland on, 96;\n reproduction (ill.), 97\n\n Corvo, 22;\n ancient memorials, 166;\n comparative representations on maps (ill.), 172;\n equestrian statues, 168;\n Mayda and, 92;\n origin of name, 164;\n Pizigani map of 1367 and, 168\n\n Cuba, 153, 162, 163, 188\n\n\n Daculi, 181;\n on Pareto map of 1455, 183\n\n Dalorto map of 1325, Brazil (island) on, 50, 56, 121;\n mythical islands on, 181;\n reproduction (ill.), 51\n\n Dawson, S. E., 48\n\n Demons, 37, 89;\n islands of, 178\n\n Desceliers map of 1546, Greenland on, 99;\n Mayda on, 87;\n reproduction of section (ill.), 76;\n saintly islands on, 180;\n Seven Cities (island) on, 75\n\n Devil Rock, 91\n\n Diodorus Siculus, 1, 4, 16, 42, 166\n\n Disko, 184\n\n Dragons, 37, 83, 149\n\n Drogio, first mention, 124, 127;\n meaning, 133;\n region designated, 132;\n spelling, 132;\n on Zeno map of 1558, 126\n\n Dulcert map of 1339, St. Brendan\u2019s Islands on, 42\n\n\n Edrisi, \u201cGeography,\u201d 7, 39, 166, 168;\n on the isle of birds, 166\n\n Egerton MS. 2803. _See_ World map in portolan atlas of about 1508\n\n _Emmanuel_ (ship), 175\n\n Emperadada, Encorporada, Encorporade (Incorporado), 180\n\n Equestrian statues, 168\n\n Eric the Red, 101, 108, 109, 115\n\n Eskimos, 110, 111\n\n Espinosa, Alonso de, 39\n\n Esthlanda, 131\n\n Estotiland, 122; derivation, conjectures, 130;\n first mention, 124, 127;\n on Prunes map of 1553, 131;\n region designated, 130;\n on Zeno map of 1558, 126\n\n Estotilanders, 131\n\n\n Faria y Sousa, Manuel de, 73;\n on Corvo, 169\n\n Fischer, Joseph, 61, 105, 116, 139\n\n Fischer, Theobald, 44, 45, 46, 47, 56, 57, 84, 86, 92, 114, 122, 147,\n 161, 165, 172, 182, 185\n\n Fixlanda, 96, 185;\n on Catalan map of 1480, 141\n\n Flores, 8, 171, 172, 182\n\n Florida, 146, 155, 163, 188\n\n Formaleoni, Vicenzio, 148\n\n Fortunate Islands, 38, 39.\n _See also_ Brendan\u2019s (St.) Islands\n\n Freducci, Conde, 150\n\n Frisland, 136, 175, 185;\n Buss Island and, 177;\n confusion with Iceland, 141;\n occurrence of name, 140;\n on Zeno map of 1558, 141\n\n\n Galvano, Antonio, 72\n\n Germain, Louis, 21\n\n Germanus, Donnus Nicolaus, world map (after 1466), Greenland on, 105,\n 139;\n reproduction of section (ill.), opp. 105\n\n Ginnungagap, 178\n\n Gnupsson, Eric, 109\n\n Gosch, C. C. A., 175\n\n Grand Banks, 185\n\n Grand Manan, 188\n\n Great Abaco, 155, 162\u2013163\n\n Great Iceland, 184\n\n Greeks, early exploration, 4\n\n Green Island, 95;\n on sixteenth-century maps, 97;\n various islands;\n shrinkage of the name, 99\n\n Greenland, Adam of Bremen\u2019s account, 94;\n on Catalan map of about 1480, 62, 96, 120;\n on Clavus map of 1427, 105, 139;\n on Coppo map of 1528, 96;\n on Desceliers map of 1546, 99;\n on Germanus (D. N.) map, 105, 139;\n insular character, 95;\n intercourse with Markland, 119;\n life of Icelandic colony, 106;\n on Nicolay map of 1560, 98;\n Norse settlements, 137;\n Norse settlements (with map), 103;\n origin of name, 101;\n on Ortelius map of 1570, 99;\n as a peninsula, 105;\n on Sigurdr Stef\u00e1nsson map, 106;\n Thorl\u00e1ksson map of 1606 (ill.), 98;\n on Zeno map of 1558, 105, 139\n\n Greenlanders, early explorations, 109\n\n Grocland, 184\n\n Gunnbj\u00f6rn\u2019s skerries, 174\n\n\n Haiti, 162\n\n Hall, James, 177\n\n Hand of Satan, 156, 178\n\n Hardiman, James, 50\n\n Harrisse, Henry, 144\n\n Hauk\u2019s Book on Markland, 114\n\n Hebrides, 181, 182, 183\n\n Helluland, 115, 116, 188\n\n Henriques, Borges de F., 171, 173\n\n Hereford map of 1275, St. Brendan\u2019s Islands on, 38\n\n Himilco, 27\n\n Holmes, W. H., 3\n\n Hood, Thomas, 180\n\n Hovgaard, William, on Icelandic settlement of Greenland, 102, 109,\n 110, 115, 116;\n suggestion of two Winelands, 119\n\n Humboldt, Alexander von, on Antillia, 148;\n on Bianco map of 1436, 157;\n on Corvo, 167;\n \u201cExamen critique,\u201d 37, 52, 55, 78, 81, 148, 167, 169, 185\n\n Hydrographic Office, 30, 31, 32\n\n\n I in Mar, 155, 188\n\n Icaria, 136;\n on Zeno map of 1558, 142\n\n Iceland, confusion on maps, 141;\n Great Iceland, 184;\n Greenland discovery and relations, 101;\n on Zeno map of 1558, 141\n\n Illa Verde, 96.\n _See also_ Greenland\n\n Imagination in cartography, 143\n\n Incorporado, 180\n\n Ireland, submerged lands about, 25\n\n Irish sea-roving, 5\n\n Island of the Seven Cities. _See_ Seven Cities (island)\n\n Islands, cataclysms, 174;\n mythical and scattered, 174\n\n Italians, exploration, 8\n\n\n Jamaica, 163, 188\n\n Janvier, T. A., 30\n\n Jomard, E. F., 8, 30, 43, 55, 70, 83, 147, 149, 166, 179, 182\n\n J\u00f3nsson, Finnur, 102\u2013103\n\n Jowett, Benjamin, 11, 18\n\n\n Karlsefni, Thorfinn, 109, 115, 116;\n geography of narrative and later records, 117\n\n Kilda, St., 142, 183\n\n Kjalarness, 116, 118\n\n Kohl, J. G., 139\n\n Kohl collection, 57, 85\n\n Krakens, 149\n\n Kretschmer, Konrad, 45, 48, 57, 58, 60, 61, 69, 70, 75, 82, 84, 86,\n 87, 96, 97, 98, 99, 105, 114, 117, 121, 131, 132, 140, 146,\n 157, 159, 162, 172, 178, 179, 180, 183\n\n Kr\u00fcmmel, Otto, 30\n\n Kunstmann, Friedrich, 146, 180\n\n\n Labrador as Markland, 117\n\n La Catholique, 180\n\n La Man Satanaxio, 156, 178\n\n Laon globe of 1493, Antillia on, 161\n\n Legname, 8, 114\n\n Leif Ericsson, 109\n\n Li Conigi, 8, 165, 172, 182\n\n Lismore, Book of, 34\n\n Lucas, F. W., 122, 125;\n on Drogio, 133;\n on the Zeno narrative, 137, 138\n\n\n Madeira Islands, as the Fortunate Islands of St. Brendan, 42;\n name, 44, 114\n\n Magnaghi, Alberto, 50, 69, 121, 181\n\n Major, R. H., 122, 124, 129;\n study of the Zeno narrative, 136\n\n Malte-Brun, Conrad, 167\n\n Man or Mam, 83. _See also_ Mayda\n\n Maps (ills.), Beccario of 1426, opp. 45;\n Beccario of 1435, 152;\n Benincasa of 1482, 160;\n Bianco of 1436, 179;\n Buss Island of 1673, 176;\n Catalan of 1375, 58;\n Catalan of about 1480, 64;\n Clavus of 1427, 104;\n Coppo of 1528, 97;\n Corvo representations, 172;\n Dalorto of 1325, 51;\n Desceliers of 1546, 76;\n Egerton MS. 2803, opp. 74;\n Germanus (D. N.), after 1466, opp. 105;\n Greenland, Norse settlements, 103;\n Nicolay of 1560, 62;\n Ortelius of 1570, 77;\n Pareto of 1455, 158;\n Pizigani of 1367, 40\u201341;\n Ptolemy of 1513, 82;\n Prunes of 1553, 88;\n Sargasso Sea, 28;\n Stef\u00e1nsson of 1590, 107;\n Thorl\u00e1ksson of 1606, 98;\n Zeno of 1558, 126\n\n Marco Polo, 53\n\n Markland, Brazil (island) in place of, 121;\n Hauk\u2019s Book account, 114;\n intercourse with Greenland, 119;\n Labrador as, 117;\n name, 114;\n Newfoundland as, 114, 188;\n Nova Scotia as, 118;\n on Sigurdr Stef\u00e1nsson map, 116;\n Zeno narrative and, 122\n\n Martyr, Peter, d\u2019Anghiera, \u201cDecades,\u201d 145;\n identification of Antillia, 145\n\n Mayda, Azores and, 92;\n basis of fact about, 91, 188;\n Brazil (island) and, 83;\n on Catalan map of 1375, 84;\n \u201cMan\u201d and, 84;\n modern maps, persistence on, 90;\n name, spelling and origin, 81;\n on Ortelius map of 1570, 90;\n on Pizigani map of 1367, 83;\n on Prunes map of 1553, 87;\n problem of, 81;\n on Ptolemy map of 1513, 82;\n transference, on maps, to American waters, 87;\n Vlaenderen and, 89\n\n Mediterranean Sea, Atlantean invasion, 16\n\n Mercator, Gerhard, world map of 1569, 125, 179, 184\n\n Miller, Konrad, 39\n\n _Minia_ (ship), 178\n\n Monastery in the Arctic, 136\u2013137, 138\n\n Montonis, 56, 181\n\n Moorish voyages, 7\n\n Morewood, S., 168\n\n Mount Hope Bay, 188\n\n Muratori, L. A., 53\n\n Murray, Sir John, 24;\n on the Sargasso Sea, 31\n\n Murray, Sir John, and R. E. Peake, 177\u2013178\n\n\n Nansen, Fridtjof, 27, 29, 60, 61, 94, 101, 117\n\n Navarro, L. F., 22\n\n Navigation, early obstruction, 27\n\n Negra\u2019s Rock, 90, 91, 175, 186\n\n Neome (Fair Island), 136, 140\n\n Newfoundland, 185; as Markland, 114, 117;\n on Nicolay map of 1560, 132\n\n Nicolay map of 1560, Brazil (island) on, 61, 121;\n Greenland on, 98;\n Mayda on, 87;\n Newfoundland on, 132;\n reproduction of section (ill.), 62\n\n Nordenski\u00f6ld, A. E., on Antillia, 144;\n \u201cBidrag,\u201d 61, 96, 120, 139, 141;\n \u201cFacsimile-Atlas,\u201d 1, 48, 71, 75, 90, 99, 105, 125, 145, 161, 174,\n 179, 184;\n \u201cPeriplus,\u201d 27, 42, 56, 57, 58, 60, 61,69, 84, 85, 86, 87, 89, 98,\n 114, 121, 132, 139, 145, 150, 156, 165, 172, 178, 182;\n on the Weimar map, 150\n\n Norsemen, early exploration, 5;\n early settlements in Greenland, 103 (with map), 137;\n Eskimos and, 111\n\n Nova Scotia as Markland, 118\n\n\n Olsen, J. E., 55\n\n Ortelius map of 1570, demon islands on, 179;\n Greenland on, 99;\n Mayda on, 90;\n reproduction of section (ill.), 77;\n Seven Cities (island) on, 75;\n Zeno additions on, 125\n\n\n Pareto map of 1455, Antillia on, 157;\n Daculi on, 183;\n reproduction of section (ill.), 158\n\n Payne, E. J., 175\n\n Perseus, 16, 17\n\n Peter Martyr. _See_ Martyr, Peter\n\n Phoenicians, Corvo and, 167;\n early explorations, 1, 3\n\n Pizigani map of 1367, Corvo and, 168;\n Daculi and Bra on, 182;\n Mayda on, 83;\n reproduction (ill.), 40\u201341;\n St. Brendan\u2019s Islands on, 43\n\n Plato on Atlantis, 3, 11, 32, 187\n\n Podolyn, Johan, 167\n\n Poole, H. S., 177\n\n Porlanda (Pomona), 136, 140\n\n Porto Rico, 162\n\n Porto Santo, 43\n\n Portuguese discovery, 9;\n refugees and Seven Cities island, 71\n\n Promontorium Vinlandiae, 118, 119\n\n Prunes map of 1553, Estotiland on, 131;\n Mayda on, 87;\n reproduction of section (ill.), 88;\n Zeno islands on, 140\n\n Ptolemy map of 1513, Mayda on, 82;\n reproduction of section (ill.), 82\n\n\n Ravenstein, E. G., 47, 71, 105, 145\n\n Reeves, A. M., 115, 116, 131\n\n Reylla, 188;\n on Beccario map of 1435, 154;\n on Roselli map of 1468, 155\n\n Rink, Henry, on Greenland, 102, 104\n\n Robert, M., 90\n\n Rockall, 91, 100\n\n Rocks, sunken, 91, 100\n\n Romans, early exploration, 5\n\n Roselli map of 1468, Antillia on, 155\n\n Runic inscription in Greenland, 109\u2013110\n\n Ruysch map of 1508, Antillia inscription, 145;\n island destroyed by combustion, 174\n\n\n St. Anne, 180, 181\n\n St. Brendan. _See_ Brendan\n\n St. Kilda, 142, 183\n\n St. Lawrence, Gulf of, possible identification of Brazil (island)\n with, 59\n\n St. Michael, (Azores), 78, 168, 169, 188\n\n St. X, 180\n\n Saintly islands, 180\n\n Salvagio, 188;\n on Beccario map of 1435, 154\n\n Santarem, M. F., 52, 140\n\n Sargasso Sea, 3, 18, 187;\n as Atlantis, 29;\n map (ill.), 28\n\n Satanaxio, 156, 178, 188\n\n Scandinavians. _See_ Norsemen\n\n Scharff, R. F., 21\n\n Schott, Gerhard, 30\n\n Schuchert, Charles, 23\n\n Schuller, Rudolph, 13\n\n Scorafixa, 185\n\n Scylax of Caryanda, 27\n\n Seller, John, 176\n\n Seven Cities (island), 68, 188;\n Antillia and, 69;\n Brazil (island) and, 68;\n on Desceliers map of 1546, 75;\n home of Portuguese refugees, 71;\n later reappearance as an island, 75;\n mainland location, 74;\n name in the Azores, 78;\n on Ortelius map of 1570, 75\n\n Shepherd, Thomas, 177\n\n Shetland, 131, 181\n\n Ships, early, 2\n\n Skraelings, 111\n\n Solberg, T., 57, 161\n\n Soley, J. C., 30, 31\n\n Spanish Friar. _See_ Book of the Spanish Friar\n\n Stef\u00e1nsson (Sigurdr) map of 1590 (?), Greenland on, 106;\n Helluland, Markland, and Vinland on, 116;\n reproduction (ill.), 107\n\n Stevens, John, 73\n\n Stevenson, E. L., \u201cAtlas of Portolan Charts,\u201d 74, 141, 147;\n \u201cFacsimiles of Portolan Charts,\u201d 57, 86, 155;\n \u201cMaps Illustrating Early Discovery,\u201d 117, 140;\n \u201cMarine World Chart of Nicolo de Canerio Jannensis,\u201d 146;\n \u201cPortolan Charts,\u201d 27\n\n Stokafixa, 185\n\n Stokes, Whitley, 34\n\n Storm, Gustav, 111, 184\n\n Strabo, 42, 169\n\n Straumey, 188\n\n Straumfiord, 188\n\n Submarine banks, 24\n\n Sylvanus map of 1511, Brazil (island) on, 65\n\n\n Tachylyte, 23\n\n Termier, Pierre, on Atlantis, 14;\n theory of ancient Atlantic continent, 19, 21, 23\n\n Thevet, Andr\u00e9, 169\n\n Thorl\u00e1ksson map of 1606, reproduction (ill.), 98\n\n Tobago, 99\n\n Torfaeus\u2019 \u201cGronlandia,\u201d 96\u201397, 98, 106, 107, 116\n\n Toscanelli, Paolo, 69, 144\n\n Trouv\u00e8res, 36\n\n Tulloch, Captain, 100\n\n\n Uzielli, Gustavo, 45, 57, 70, 86, 151, 172, 183\n\n\n Valsequa map of 1439, 57\n\n Van Keulen\u2019s chart of 1795, 177\n\n Vespucius, 10\n\n Vignaud, Henry, \u201cColumbian Tradition,\u201d 10;\n on the Toscanelli letter, 144\n\n Vinland, 188;\n Hovgaard\u2019s suggestion, 119\n\n Vlaenderen and Mayda, 89\n\n\n Weare, G. E., 68\n\n Weimar map (after 1481), Antillia on, 150, 159\n\n Westropp, T. J., \u201cBrasil,\u201d 26, 34, 36, 60, 61, 96;\n \u201cEarly Italian maps,\u201d 54;\n on submerged lands near Iceland, 25\n\n Wiars, Thomas, 175\n\n Wineland the Good, 116. _See also_ Vinland\n\n Winsor, Justin, 59, 60, 65, 85, 89, 132, 178\n\n Wonderstrands, 116, 188\n\n World map in portolan atlas of about 1508, Antiglia on, 147;\n Iceland on, 141;\n reproduction of section (ill.), opp. 74;\n Seven Cities (island) on, 74\n\n\n Yule, Sir Henry, 53\n\n\n Zaltieri map of 1566, 61, 87, 98, 132\n\n Zeno, Antonio and Nicol\u00f2, 9, 124\n\n Zeno, Nicol\u00f2, the younger, 124, 134, 135, 143\n\n Zeno map of 1558, Finland and Iceland on, 141;\n Greenland on, 105, 139;\n Icaria on, 142;\n reproduction (ill.), 126\n\n Zeno narrative, account of the book, 124;\n brief summary, 135;\n discrepancies of the fisherman\u2019s story, 133;\n geographical implication, 129;\n Lucas\u2019 study, 137;\n Major\u2019s study, 136;\n Markland and, 122;\n narrative quoted, 128\n\n\n\n\n * * * * * *\n\n\n\n\nTranscriber\u2019s note:\n\nPunctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a\npredominant preference was found in the original book; otherwise they\nwere not changed.\n\nSimple typographical errors were corrected; unpaired quotation\nmarks were remedied when the change was obvious, and otherwise left\nunpaired.\n\nFootnotes originally were at the bottoms of pages. Here, they are just\nbefore the Index.\n\nIllustrations in this eBook have been positioned between paragraphs\nand outside quotations. In versions of this eBook that support\nhyperlinks, the page references in the List of Illustrations lead to\nthe corresponding illustrations.\n\nThe text in some maps is in different orientations, and sometimes\nindecipherable. Transcriber could not determine the correct orientation\nof the map in Fig. 7, and chose one that made some of the larger words\nupright.\n\nThe index was not checked for proper alphabetization or correct page\nreferences. Redundant hemi-title \u201cIndex\u201d removed by Transcriber.","title":"Legendary Islands of the Atlantic: A Study of Medieval Geography","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":64093}