Great Epochs in American History, Vol. I | Page 9

we must needs take counsel together," said Karlsefni, "for
I believe they will visit us a third time in greater numbers. Let us now
adopt this plan: when the tribe approaches from the forest, ten of our
number shall go out upon the cape in front of our houses and show
themselves there, while the remainder of our company shall go into the
woods back of our houses and hew a clearing for our cattle. Then we
will take our bull and let him go in advance of us to meet the enemy."
The next time the Skrellings came they found Karlsefni's men ready
and fled helter-skelter into the woods. Karlsefni and his party remained
there throughout the winter, but in the spring Karlsefni announced that
he did not intend to remain there longer, for he wished to return with

his wife and son to Greenland. They now made ready for the voyage
and carried away with them much in vines and grapes and skins.
[1] From the "Saga"' of Hauk Erlendsson. Except for the Norse
discovery, the honor of being the first child of Anglo-Saxon race born
in America would belong to Virginia Dare. Virginia Dare was born in
Virginia during one of the attempted settlements under Sir Walter
Raleigh. An account of her is given in Volume II of this work. Children
of Spanish and French parents had, of course, been born in America
before the date of Virginia Dare's birth.
[2] By Skrellings the author means natives.

IV
OTHER PRE-COLUMBIAN VOYAGES[1]
BY HENRY WHEATON
No subsequent traces of the Norman colony in America are to be found
until the year 1059, when it is said that an Irish or Saxon priest, named
Jon or John, who had preached for some time as a missionary in
Iceland, went to Vinland, for the purpose of converting the colonists to
Christianity, where he was murdered by the heathens. A bishop of
Greenland, named Erik, afterward (A.D. 1121) undertook the same
voyage, for the same purpose, but with what success is uncertain. The
authenticity of the Icelandic accounts of the discovery and settlement of
Vinland were recognized in Denmark shortly after this period by King
Svend Estrithson, or Sweno II, in a conversation which Adam of
Bremen had with this monarch. But no further mention is made of them
in the national annals, and it may appear doubtful what degree of credit
is due to the relations of the Venetian navigators, the two brothers Zeni,
who are said to have sailed in the latter part of the fourteenth century,
in the service of a Norman prince of the Orcades, to the coasts of New
England, Carolina, and even Mexico, or at least to have collected
authentic accounts of voyages as far west and south as these countries.

The land diseovered and peopled by the Norwegians is called by
Antonio Zeni, Estotoland, and he states, among other particulars, that
the princes of the country still had in their possession Latin books,
which they did not understand, and which were probably those left by
the bishop Erik during his mission.
Supposing these latter discoveries to be authentic, they could hardly
have escaped the attention of Columbus, who had himself navigated in
the arctic seas, but whose mind dwelt with such intense fondness upon
his favorite idea of finding a passage to the East Indies, across the
western ocean, that he might have neglected these indications of the
existence of another continent in the direction pursued by the Venetian
adventurers.
At all events, there is not the silghtest reason to believe that the
illustrious Genoese was acquainted with the discovery of North
America by the Normans five centuries before his time, however well
authenticated that fact now appears to be by the Icelandic records to
which we have referred. The colony established by them probably
perished in the same manner with the ancient establishments in
Greenland. Some faint traces of its existence may, perhaps, be found in
the relations of the Jesuit missionaries respecting a native tribe in the
district of Gaspe, at the mouth of the St. Lawrence, who are said to
have attained a certain degree of civilization, to have worshiped the sun,
and observed the position of the stars. Others revered the symbol of the
cross before the arrival of the French missionaries, which, according to
their tradition, had been taught them by a venerable person who cured,
by this means, a terrible epidemic which raged among them.
[1] From Mr. Wheaton's "History of the Northmen," published in 1831.
Mr. Wheaton was a native of Providence, R.I., and died in Roxbury,
Mass., in 1848, at the age of 63. He was an eminent lawyer and
publicist and author of "Elements of International Law," a legal classic.

THE DISCOVERY BY COLUMBUS

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