the dawn of canadian history

7/27/2019 The Dawn of Canadian History

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-dawn-of-canadian-history 1/46

Title: The Dawn of Canadian History: A Chronicle of Aboriginal Canada

Author: Stephen Leacock

Editor: George ! "rong

H! H! Langton

#osting Date: $une %&' ())* +E,ook -.)/*0

1elease Date: arch' ())&

2irst #osted: 3o4e5ber &' ())%

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASC66

777 STA1T 82 TH6S #18$ECT G9TE3,E1G E,88 DA"3 82 CA3AD6A3 H6ST81;

777

#roduced by Gardner ,uchanan! HTL 4ersion by Al Haines!

CH1836CLES 82 CA3ADA

Edited by George ! "rong and H! H! Langton

6n thirty<two 4olu5es

#art 6

The 2irst European =isitors

THE DA"3 82 CA3AD6A3 H6ST81;

A Chronicle of Aboriginal Canada

,y

STE#HE3 LEAC8C

T8183T8' %*%>

C83TE3TS

6 ,E281E THE DA"3

66 A3 63 AE16CA



666 THE A,816G63ES 82 CA3ADA

6= THE LEGE3D 82 THE 381SEE3

= THE ,16ST8L =8;AGES

=6 281E1933E1S 82 $AC?9ES CA1T6E1

,6,L68G1A#H6CAL 38TE

CHA#TE1 6

,E281E THE DA"3

"e always speak of Canada as a new country! 6n one sense' of course'

this is true! The settle5ent of Europeans on Canadian soil dates back

only three hundred years! Ci4ili@ation in Canada is but a thing of

yesterday' and its written history' when placed beside the long

5illenniu5s of the recorded annals of European and Eastern peoples'

see5s but a little span!

,ut there is another sense in which the Do5inion of Canada' or atleast

part of it' is perhaps the oldest country in the world! According to

the 3ebular Theory the whole of our planet was once a fiery 5olten

5ass

gradually cooling and hardening itself into the globe we know! 8n its

surface 5o4ed and swayed a liuid sea glowing with such a terrific

heat

that we can for5 no real idea of its intensity! As the 5ass cooled'

4ast layers of 4apour' great beds of cloud' 5iles and 5iles in

thickness' were for5ed and hung o4er the face of the globe' obscuring

fro5 its darkened surface the piercing bea5s of the sun! Slowly the

earth cooled' until great 5asses of solid 5atter' rock as we call it'

still penetrated with intense heat' rose to the surface of the

boiling

sea! 2orces of inconcei4able 5agnitude 5o4ed through the 5ass! The

outer surface of the globe as it cooled ripped and shri4elled like a

withering orange! Great ridges' the 5ountain chains of to<day' were

furrowed on its skin! Here in the darkness of the prehistoric night

there arose as the oldest part of the surface of the earth the great

rock bed that lies in a huge crescent round the shores of Hudson ,ay'

fro5 Labrador to the unknown wilderness of the barren lands of the

Copper5ine basin touching the Arctic sea! The wanderer who stands

to<day in the desolate country of $a5es ,ay or 9nga4a is a5ong the

oldest 5onu5ents of the world! The rugged rock which here and there

breaks through the thin soil of the infertile north has lain on the

spot fro5 the 4ery dawn of ti5e! illions of years ha4e probably

elapsed since the cooling of the outer crust of the globe produced

the

solid basis of our continents!

The ancient for5ation which thus 5arks the beginnings of the solid

surface of the globe is co55only called by geologists the Archaean

rock' and the 5yriads of uncounted years during which it slowly took

shape are called the Archaean age! ,ut the word BArchaeanB itself

tells

us nothing' being 5erely a Greek ter5 5eaning B4ery old!B This

Archaean

or original rock 5ust necessarily ha4e etended all o4er the surface

of

our sphere as it cooled fro5 its 5olten for5 and contracted into the

earth on which we li4e! ,ut in 5ost places this rock lies deep under



the waters of the oceans' or buried below the heaped up strata of the

for5ations which the hand of ti5e piled thickly upon it! 8nly here

and

there can it still be seen as surface rock or as rock that lies but a

little distance below the soil! 6n Canada' 5ore than anywhere else in

the world' is this Archaean for5ation seen! 8n a geological 5ap it is

5arked as etending all round the basin of Hudson ,ay' fro5 Labradorto

the shores of the Arctic! 6t co4ers the whole of the country which we

call 3ew 8ntario' and also the upper part of the pro4ince of ?uebec!

8utside of this territory there was at the dawn of ti5e no other

BlandB

where 3orth A5erica now is' ecept a long island of rock that 5arks

the

backbone of what are now the Selkirk ountains and a long ridge that

is

now the 5ountain chain of the Alleghanies beside the Atlantic slope!

,ooks on geology trace out for us the long successi4e periods during

which the earthBs surface was for5ed! E4en in the Archaean ageso5ething in the for5 of life 5ay ha4e appeared! #erhaps 4ast 5asses

of

dank seaweed ger5inated as the earliest of plants in the stea5ing

oceans! The water warred against the land' tearing and breaking at

its

rock for5ation and distributing it in new strata' each buried beneath

the net and holding fast within it the fossili@ed re5ains that for5

the record of its history! Huge fern plants spread their giant fronds

in the dank sunless at5ospheres' to be buried later in 4ast beds of

decaying 4egetation that for5 the coal<fields of to<day!

Ani5al life began first' like the plants' in the boso5 of the ocean!

2ro5 the sli5y depths of the water life crawled hideous to the land!

Great reptiles dragged their sluggish length through the tangled

4egetation of the ungle of giant ferns!

Through countless thousands of years' perhaps' this gradual process

went on! 3ature' shifting its huge scenery' depressed the ocean beds

and piled up the dry land of the continents! 6n place of the 4ast

BContinental Sea'B which once filled the interior of 3orth A5erica'

there arose the great plateau or ele4ated plain that now runs fro5

the

acken@ie basin to the Gulf of eico! 6nstead of the rushing waters

of

the inland sea' these waters ha4e narrowed into great ri4ers<<the

acken@ie' the Saskatchewan' the ississippi<<that swept the face of

the plateau and wore down the surface of the rock and 5ountain slopes

to spread their powdered frag5ents on the broad le4el soil of the

prairies of the west! "ith each stage in the e4olution of the land

the

for5s of life appear to ha4e reached a higher de4elop5ent! 6n place

of

the seaweed and the giant ferns of the dawn of ti5e there arose the

5aples' the beeches' and other wa4ing trees that we now see in the

Canadian woods! The huge reptiles in the ungle of the Carboniferous

era passed out of eistence! 6n place of the5 ca5e the birds' the

5a55als'<<the 4aried types of ani5al life which we now know! Last in

the scale of ti5e and highest in point of e4olution' there appeared

5an!

"e 5ust not speak of the continents as ha4ing been 5ade once and for



all in their present for5! 3o doubt in the countless centuries of

geological e4olution 4arious parts of the earth were alternately

raised

and depressed! Great forests grew' and by so5e con4ulsion were buried

beneath the ocean' co4ered deep as they lay there with a sedi5ent of

earth and rock' and at length raised again as the waters retreated!

Thecoal<beds of Cape ,reton are the re5ains of a forest buried beneath

the

sea! ,elow the soil of Alberta is a 4ast ungle of 4egetation' a

dense

5ass of giant fern trees! The Great Lakes were once part of a 5uch

4aster body of water' far greater in etent than they now are! The

ancient shore<line of Lake Superior 5ay be traced fi4e hundred feet

abo4e its present le4el!

6n that early period the continents and islands which we now see

wholly

separated were oined together at 4arious points! The ,ritish islands

for5ed a connected part of Europe! The Tha5es and the 1hine were oneand the sa5e ri4er' flowing towards the Arctic ocean o4er a plain

that

is now the shallow sunken bed of the 3orth Sea! 6t is probable that

during the last great age' the ?uaternary' as geologists call it' the

uphea4al of what is now the region of Siberia and Alaska' 5ade a

continuous chain of land fro5 Asia to A5erica! As the land was

depressed again it left behind it the islands in the ,ering Sea' like

stepping<stones fro5 shore to shore! 6n the sa5e way' there was

perhaps

a solid causeway of land fro5 Canada to Europe reaching out across

the

3orthern Atlantic! ,affin 6sland and other islands of the Canadian

3orth Sea' the great sub<continent of Greenland' 6celand' the 2aroe

6slands' and the ,ritish 6sles' all for5ed part of this continuous

chain!

As the last of the great changes' there ca5e the 6ce Age' which

profoundly affected the cli5ate and soil of Canada' and' when the ice

retreated' left its surface 5uch as we see it now! During this period

the whole of Canada fro5 the Atlantic to the 1ocky ountains lay

buried

under a 4ast sheet of ice! Heaped up in i55ense 5asses o4er the

fro@en

surface of the Hudson ,ay country' the ice' fro5 its own dead weight'

slid sidewise to the south! As it went it ground down the surface of

the land into deep furrows and channels it cut into the solid rock

like a 5o4ing plough' and carried with it enor5ous 5asses of loose

stone and boulders which it threw broadcast o4er the face of the

country! These stones and boulders were thus carried forty and fifty'

and in so5e cases 5any hundred 5iles before they were finally loosed

and dropped fro5 the sheet of 5o4ing ice! 6n 8ntario and ?uebec and

3ew

England great stones of the glacial drift are found which weigh fro5

one thousand to se4en thousand tons! They are deposited in so5e cases

on what is now the su55it of hills and 5ountains' showing how deep

the

sheet of ice 5ust ha4e been that could thus co4er the entire surface

of

the country' burying alike the 4alleys and the hills! The 5ass of ice

that 5o4ed slowly' century by century' across the face of Southern



Canada to 3ew England is esti5ated to ha4e been in places a 5ile

thick!

The li5it to which it was carried went far south of the boundaries of

Canada! The path of the glacial drift is traced by geologists as far

down the Atlantic coast as the present site of 3ew ;ork' and in the

central plain of the continent it etended to what is now the state

ofissouri!

2acts see5 to support the theory that before the Great 6ce Age the

cli5ate of the northern part of Canada was 4ery different fro5 what

it

is now! 6t is 4ery probable that a war5 if not a torrid cli5ate

etended for hundreds of 5iles northward of the now habitable li5its

of

the Do5inion! The fro@en islands of the Arctic seas were once the

seat

of luurious 4egetation and tee5ed with life! 8n ,athurst 6sland'

which

lies in the latitude of F/ degrees' and is thus si hundred 5ilesnorth

of the Arctic Circle' there ha4e been found the bones of huge li@ards

that could only ha4e li4ed in the ungles of an al5ost tropical

cli5ate!

"e cannot tell with any certainty ust how and why these great

changes

ca5e about! ,ut geologists ha4e connected the5 with the alternating

rise and fall of the surface of the northern continent and its

altitude

at 4arious ti5es abo4e the le4el of the sea! Thus it see5s probable

that the glacial period with the ice sheet of which we ha4e spoken

was

brought about by a great ele4ation of the land' acco5panied by a

change

to intense cold! This led to the for5ation of enor5ous 5asses of ice

heaped up so high that they presently collapsed and 5o4ed of their

own

weight fro5 the ele4ated land of the north where they had been

for5ed!

Later on' the northern continent subsided again and the ice sheet

disappeared' but left behind it an entirely different le4el and a

different cli5ate fro5 those of the earlier ages! The e4idence of the

later 5o4e5ents of the land surface' and its rise and fall after the

close of the glacial epoch' 5ay still easily be traced! At a certain

ti5e after the 6ce Age' the surface sank so low that land which has

since been lifted up again to a considerable height was once the

beach

of the ancient ocean! These beaches are readily distinguished by the

great uantities of sea shells that lie about' often far distant fro5

the present sea! Thus at 3ach4ak in Labrador there is a beach fifteen

hundred feet abo4e the ocean! #robably in this period after the 6ce

Age

the shores of Eastern Canada had sunk so low that the St Lawrence was

not a ri4er at all' but a great gulf or ar5 of the sea! The ancient

shore can still be traced beside the 5ountain at ontreal and on the

hillsides round Lake 8ntario! Later on again the land rose' the ocean

retreated' and the rushing waters fro5 the shrunken lakes 5ade their

own path to the sea! 6n their foa5ing course to the lower le4el they

tore out the great gorge of 3iagara' and tossed and buffeted

the5sel4es



o4er the unyielding ledges of Lachine!

ighty forces such as these 5ade and fashioned the continent on which

we li4e!

CHA#TE1 66

A3 63 AE16CA

6t was necessary to for5 so5e idea' if only in outline' of the

5agnitude and etent of the great geological changes of which we ha4e

ust spoken' in order to udge properly the uestion of the antiuity

and origin of 5an in A5erica!

"hen the Europeans ca5e to this continent at the end of the fifteenth

century they found it already inhabited by races of 5en 4ery

different

fro5 the5sel4es! These people' who5 they took to calling B6ndians'Bwere spread out' though 4ery thinly' fro5 one end of the continent to

the other! "ho were these nations' and how was their presence to be

accounted for

To the first disco4erers of A5erica' or rather to the disco4erers of

the fifteenth and siteenth centuries Colu5bus and his successorsI'

the origin of the 6ndians presented no difficulty! To the5 A5erica

was

supposed to be si5ply an outlying part of Eastern Asia' which had

been

known by repute and by tradition for centuries past! 2inding'

therefore' the tropical islands of the Caribbean sea with a cli5ate

and

plants and ani5als such as they i5agined those of Asia and the 6ndian

ocean to be' and inhabited by 5en of dusky colour and strange speech'

they naturally thought the place to be part of Asia' or the 6ndies!

The

na5e B6ndians'B gi4en to the aborigines of 3orth A5erica' records for

us this historical 5isunderstanding!

,ut a new 4iew beca5e necessary after ,alboa had crossed the isth5us

of

#ana5a and looked out upon the endless waters of the #acific' and

after

agellan and his Spanish co5rades had sailed round the foot of the

continent' and then pressed on across the #acific to the real 6ndies!

6t was now clear that A5erica was a different region fro5 Asia! E4en

then the old error died hard! Long after the Europeans reali@ed that'

at the south' A5erica and Asia were separated by a great sea' they

i5agined that these continents were oined together at the north! The

European ideas of distance and of the for5 of the globe were still

confused and ineact! A party of early eplorers in =irginia carried

a

letter of introduction with the5 fro5 the ing of England to the han

of Tartary: they epected to find hi5 at the head waters of the

Chickaho5iny! $acues Cartier' nearly half a century after Colu5bus'

was epecting that the Gulf of St Lawrence would open out into a

passage leading to China! ,ut after the disco4ery of the 3orth

#acific

ocean and ,ering Strait the idea that A5erica was part of Asia' that



the nati4es were B6ndiansB in the old sense' was seen to be absurd!

6t

was clear that A5erica was' in a large sense' an island' an island

cut

off fro5 e4ery other continent! 6t then beca5e necessary to find so5e

eplanation for the see5ingly isolated position of a portion of

5ankindseparated fro5 their fellows by boundless oceans!

The earlier theories were certainly nai4e enough! Since no known

hu5an

agency could ha4e transported the 6ndians across the Atlantic or the

#acific' their presence in A5erica was accounted for by certain of

the

old writers as a particular work of the de4il! Thus Cotton ather'

the

fa5ous #uritan clergy5an of early 3ew England' 5aintained in all

seriousness that the de4il had in4eigled the 6ndians to A5erica to

get

the5 Bbeyond the tinkle of the gospel bells!B 8thers thought thatthey

were a washed<up re5nant of the great flood! 1oger "illia5s' the

founder of 1hode 6sland' wrote: B2ro5 Ada5 and 3oah that they spring'

it is granted on all hands!B E4en 5ore fantastic 4iews were ad4anced!

As late as in %J(J a London clergy5an wrote a book which he called BA

=iew of the A5erican 6ndians'B which was intended to Bshow the5 to be

the descendants of the ten tribes of 6srael!B

E4en when such ideas as these were set aside' historians endea4oured

to

find e4idence' or at least probability' of a 5igration of the 6ndians

fro5 the known continents across one or the other of the oceans! 6t

5ust be ad5itted that' e4en if we supposed the for5 and etent of the

continents to ha4e been always the sa5e as they are now' such a

5igration would ha4e been entirely possible! 6t is uite likely that

under the influence of eceptional weather<<winds blowing week after

week fro5 the sa5e point of the co5pass<<e4en a pri5iti4e craft of

prehistoric ti5es 5ight ha4e been dri4en across the Atlantic or the

#acific' and 5ight ha4e landed its occupants still ali4e and well on

the shores of A5erica! To pro4e this we need only re5e5ber that

history

records 5any such 4oyages! 6t has often happened that $apanese unks

ha4e been blown clear across the #acific! 6n %J&& a ship of this sort

was dri4en in a great stor5 fro5 $apan to the shores of the ?ueen

Charlotte 6slands off the coast of ,ritish Colu5bia! 6n the sa5e way

a

fishing s5ack fro5 2or5osa' which lies off the east coast of China'

was

once carried in safety across the ocean to the Sandwich 6slands!

Si5ilar long 4oyages ha4e been 5ade by the nati4es of the South Seas

against their will' under the influence of strong and continuous

winds'

and in craft no better than their open canoes! Captain ,eechey of the

1oyal 3a4y relates that in one of his 4oyages in the #acific he

picked

up a canoe filled with nati4es fro5 Tahiti who had been dri4en by a

gale of westerly wind si hundred 5iles fro5 their own island! 6t has

happened' too' fro5 ti5e to ti5e' since the disco4ery of A5erica'

that

ships ha4e been forcibly carried all the way across the Atlantic! A

glance at the 5ap of the world shows us that the eastern coast of



,ra@il uts out into the South Atlantic so far that it is only

fifteen

hundred 5iles distant fro5 the si5ilar proection of Africa towards

the

west! The direction of the trade winds in the South Atlantic is such

that it has often been the practice of sailing 4essels bound fro5

England to South Africa to run clear across the ocean on a longstretch

till within sight of the coast of ,ra@il before turning towards the

Cape of Good Hope! All' howe4er' that we can deduce fro5 accidental

4oyages' like that of the Spaniard' Al4are@ de Cabral' across the

ocean

is that e4en if there had been no other way for 5ankind to reach

A5erica they could ha4e landed there by ship fro5 the 8ld "orld! 6n

such a case' of course' the co5ing of 5an to the A5erican continent

would ha4e been an etre5ely recent e4ent in the long history of the

world! 6t could not ha4e occurred until 5ankind had progressed far

enough to 5ake 4essels' or at least boats of a si5ple kind!

,ut there is e4idence that 5an had appeared on the earth long beforethe shaping of the continents had taken place! ,oth in Europe and

A5erica the buried traces of pri5iti4e 5an are 4ast in antiuity' and

carry us 5uch further back in ti5e than the final changes of earth

and

ocean which 5ade the continents as they are and' when we re5e5ber

this' it is easy to see how 5ankind could ha4e passed fro5 Asia or

Europe to A5erica! The connection of the land surface of the globe

was

different in early ti5es fro5 what it is to<day! E4en still' Siberia

and Alaska are separated only by the narrow ,ering Strait! 2ro5 the

shore of Asia the continent of 3orth A5erica is plainly 4isible the

islands which lie in and below the strait still look like

stepping<stones fro5 continent to continent! And' apart fro5 this' it

5ay well ha4e been that farther south' where now is the #acific

ocean'

there was for5erly direct land connection between Southern Asia and

South A5erica! The continuous chain of islands that runs fro5 the 3ew

Hebrides across the South #acific to within two thousand four hundred

5iles of the coast of Chile is perhaps the re5ains of a sunken

continent! 6n the 5ost easterly of these' Easter 6sland' ha4e been

found ruined te5ples and re5ains of great earthworks on a scale so

4ast

that to belie4e the5 the work of a s5all co55unity of islanders is

difficult! The fact that they bear so5e rese5blance to the buildings

and works of the ancient inhabitants of Chile and #eru has suggested

that perhaps South A5erica was once 5erely a part of a great #acific

continent! 8r again' turning to the other side of the continent' it

5ay

be argued with so5e show of e4idence that A5erica and Africa were

once

connected by land' and that a sunken continent is to be traced

between

,ra@il and the Guinea coast!

3e4ertheless' it appears to be i5possible to say whether or not an

early branch of the hu5an race e4er B5igratedB to A5erica!

Concei4ably

the race 5ay ha4e originated there! So5e authorities suppose that the

e4olution of 5ankind occurred at the sa5e ti5e and in the sa5e

fashion



in two or 5ore distinct uarters of the globe! 8thers again think

that

5ankind e4ol4ed and spread o4er the surface of the world ust as did

the 4arious kinds of plants and ani5als! 8f course' the higher

endow5ent of 5en enabled the5 to 5o4e with greater ease fro5 place to

place than could beings of lesser faculties! ost writers of to<day'

howe4er' consider this unlikely' and think it 5ore probable that 5anoriginated first in so5e one region' and spread fro5 it throughout

the

earth! ,ut where this region was' they cannot tell! "e always think

of

the races of Europe as ha4ing co5e westward fro5 so5e original ho5e

in

Asia! This is' of course' perfectly true' since nearly all the

peoples

of Europe can be traced by descent fro5 the original stock of the

Aryan

fa5ily' which certainly 5ade such a 5igration! ,ut we know also that

races of 5en were dwelling in Europe ages before the Aryan 5igration!

"hat particular part of the globe was the first ho5e of 5ankind is auestion on which we can only speculate!

8f one thing we 5ay be certain! 6f there was a 5igration' there 5ust

ha4e been long ages of separation between 5ankind in A5erica and

5ankind in the 8ld "orld otherwise we should still find so5e trace

of

kinship in language which would oin the nati4es of A5erica to the

great racial fa5ilies of Europe' Asia' and Africa! ,ut not the

slightest 4estige of such kinship has yet been found! E4erybody knows

in a general way how the prehistoric relationships a5ong the peoples

of

Europe and Asia are still to be seen in the languages of to<day! The

2rench and 6talian languages are so alike that' if we did not know it

already' we could easily guess for the5 a co55on origin! "e speak of

these languages' along with others' as 1o5ance languages' to show

that

they are deri4ed fro5 Latin' in contrast with the closely related

tongues of the English' Dutch' and Ger5an peoples' which ca5e fro5

another co55on stock' the Teutonic! ,ut e4en the Teutonic and the

1o5ance languages are not entirely different! The si5ilarity in both

groups of old root words' like the nu5bers fro5 one to ten' point

again

to a co55on origin still 5ore re5ote! 6n this way we 5ay trace a

whole

fa5ily of languages' and with it a kinship of descent' fro5 Hindustan

to 6reland! Si5ilarly' another great group of tongues<<Arabic'

Hebrew'

etc!<<shows a branch of the hu5an fa5ily spread out fro5 #alestine

and

Egypt to orocco!

3ow when we co5e to inuire into the languages of the A5erican

6ndians

for e4idence of their relationship to other peoples we are struck

with

this fact: we cannot connect the languages of A5erica with those of

any

other part of the world! This is a 4ery notable circu5stance! The

languages of Europe and Asia are' as it were' do4etailed together'

and

run far and wide into Africa! 2ro5 Asia eastward' through the alay



tongues' a connection 5ay be traced e4en with the speech of the aori

of 3ew Kealand' and with that of the re5otest islanders of the

#acific!

,ut si5ilar atte5pts to connect A5erican languages with the outside

world break down! There are found in 3orth A5erica' fro5 the Arctic

to

eico' so5e fifty<fi4e groups of languages still eisting orrecently

etinct! Throughout these we 5ay trace the sa5e affinities and

relationships that run through the languages of Europe and Asia! "e

can

also easily connect the speech of the nati4es of 3orth A5erica with

that of nati4es of Central and of South A5erica! E4en if we had not

the

si5ilarities of physical appearance' of tribal custo5s' and of

general

5anners to argue fro5' we should be able to say with certainty that

the

4arious fa5ilies of A5erican 6ndians all belonged to one race! The

Eski5os of 3orthern Canada are not 6ndians' and are perhaps aneception it is possible that a connection 5ay be traced between

the5

and the prehistoric ca4e<5en of 3orthern Europe! ,ut the 6ndians

belong

to one great race' and show no connection in language or custo5s with

the outside world! They belong to the A5erican continent' it has been

said' as strictly as its opossu5s and its ar5adillos' its 5ai@e and

its

golden rod' or any other of its aboriginal ani5als and plants!

,ut' here again' we 5ust not conclude too 5uch fro5 the fact that the

languages of A5erica ha4e no relation to those of Europe and Asia!

This

does not show that 5en originated separately on this continent! 2or

e4en in Europe and Asia' where no one supposes that different races

sprung fro5 wholly separate beginnings' we find languages isolated in

the sa5e way! The speech of the ,asues in the #yrenees has nothing

in

co55on with the European fa5ilies of languages!

"e 5ay' howe4er' regard the nati4es of A5erica as an aboriginal race'

if any portion of 5ankind can be 4iewed as such! So far as we know'

they are not an offshoot' or a 5igration' fro5 any people of what is

called the 8ld "orld' although they are' like the people of the other

continents' the descendants of a pri5iti4e hu5an stock!

"e 5ay turn to geology to find how long 5ankind has li4ed on this

continent! 6n a nu5ber of places in 3orth and South A5erica are found

traces of hu5an beings and their work so old that in co5parison the

beginning of the worldBs written history beco5es a thing of

yesterday!

#erhaps there were 5en in Canada long before the shores of its lakes

had assu5ed their present for5 long before nature had begun to

hollow

out the great gorge of the 3iagara ri4er or to lay down the outline

of

the present Lake 8ntario! Let us look at so5e of the notable e4idence

in respect to the age of 5an in A5erica! 6n 3icaragua' in Central

A5erica' the i5prints of hu5an feet ha4e been found' deeply buried

o4er

twenty feet below the present surface of the soil' under repeated



deposits of 4olcanic rock! These i5pressions 5ust ha4e been 5ade in

soft 5uddy soil which was then co4ered by so5e geological con4ulsion

occurring long ages ago! E4en 5ore striking disco4eries ha4e been

5ade

along the #acific coast of South A5erica! 3ear the 5outh of the

Es5eraldas ri4er in Ecuador' o4er a stretch of so5e sity 5iles' the

surface soil of the coast co4ers a bed of 5arine clay! This clay isabout eight feet thick! 9nderneath it is a stratu5 of sand and loa5

such as 5ight once ha4e itself been surface soil! 6n this lower bed

there are found rude i5ple5ents of stone' orna5ents 5ade of gold' and

bits of broken pottery! Again' if we turn to the northern part of the

continent we find re5ains of the sa5e kind' chipped i5ple5ents of

stone

and broken frag5ents of uart@ buried in the drift of the ississippi

and issouri 4alleys! These ha4e so5eti5es been found lying beside or

under the bones of elephants and ani5als unknown in 3orth A5erica

since

the period of the Great 6ce! 3ot 5any years ago' so5e 5en engaged in

digging a well on a hillside that was once part of the beach of Lake

8ntario' ca5e across the re5ains of a pri5iti4e hearth buried underthe

accu5ulated soil! 2ro5 its situation we can only conclude that the

5en

who set together the stones of the hearth' and lighted on it their

fires' did so when the 4ast wall of the northern glacier was only

beginning to retreat' and long before the gorge of 3iagara had begun

to

be furrowed out of the rock!

any things point to the conclusion that there were 5en in 3orth and

South A5erica during the re5ote changes of the Great 6ce Age! ,ut how

far the antiuity of 5an on this continent reaches back into the

preceding ages we cannot say!

CHA#TE1 666

THE A,816G63ES 82 CA3ADA

8f the uncounted centuries of the history of the red 5an in A5erica

before the co5ing of the Europeans we know 4ery little indeed! =ery

few

of the tribes possessed e4en a pri5iti4e art of writing! 6t is true

that the A@tecs of eico' and the ancient Toltecs who preceded the5'

understood how to write in pictures' and that' by this 5eans' they

preser4ed so5e record of their rulers and of the great e4ents of

their

past! The sa5e is true of the ayas of Central A5erica' whose ruined

te5ples are still to be traced in the tangled forests of ;ucatan and

Guate5ala! The ancient #eru4ians also had a syste5' not eactly of

writing' but of record by 5eans of ?96#9S or twisted woollen cords of

different colours: it is through such records that we ha4e so5e

knowledge of #eru4ian history during about a hundred years before the

co5ing of the Spaniards' and so5e traditions reaching still further

back! ,ut nowhere was the art of writing sufficiently de4eloped in

A5erica to gi4e us a real history of the thoughts and deeds of its

people before the arri4al of Colu5bus!

This is especially true of those fa5ilies of the great red race which



inhabited what is now Canada! They spent a pri5iti4e eistence'

li4ing

thinly scattered along the sea<coast' and in the forests and open

glades of the district of the Great Lakes' or wandering o4er the

prairies of the west! 6n hardly any case had they any settled abode

or

fied dwelling<places! The 6rouois and so5e Algonuins built LongHouses of wood and 5ade stockade forts of hea4y ti5ber! ,ut not e4en

these tribes' who represented the furthest ad4ance towards

ci4ili@ation

a5ong the sa4ages of 3orth A5erica' 5ade settle5ents in the real

sense!

They knew nothing of the use of the 5etals! Such poor weapons and

tools

as they had were 5ade of stone' of wood' and of bone! 6t is true that

ages ago prehistoric 5en had dug out copper fro5 the 5ines that lie

beside Lake Superior' for the traces of their operations there are

still found! ,ut the art of working 5etals probably progressed but a

little way and then was lost'<<o4erwhel5ed perhaps in so5e ancient

sa4age conuest! The 6ndians found by Cartier and Cha5plain knewnothing of the 5elting of 5etals for the 5anufacture of tools! 3or

had

they anything but the 5ost ele5entary for5 of agriculture! They

planted

corn in the openings of the forest' but they did not fell trees to

5ake

a clearing or plough the ground! The har4est pro4ided by nature and

the

products of the chase were their sole sources of supply' and in their

search for this food so casually offered they 5o4ed to and fro in the

depths of the forest or ro4ed endlessly upon the plains! 8ne great

ad4ance' and only one' they had been led to 5ake! The waterways of

3orth A5erica are natureBs highway through the forest! The bark canoe

in which the 6ndians floated o4er the surface of the Canadian lakes

and

ri4ers is a 5ar4el of construction and wonderfully adapted to its

purpose: This was their great in4ention! 6n nearly all other respects

the 6ndians of Canada had not e5erged e4en fro5 sa4agery to that

stage

half way to ci4ili@ation which is called barbaris5!

These Canadian aborigines see5 to ha4e been few in nu5ber! 6t is

probable that' when the continent was disco4ered' Canada' fro5 the

Atlantic to the #acific' contained about (()'))) nati4es<<about half

as

5any people as are now found in Toronto! They were di4ided into

tribes

or clans' a5ong which we 5ay distinguish certain fa5ily groups spread

out o4er great areas!

ost northerly of all was the great tribe of the Eski5os' who were

found all the way fro5 Greenland to 3orthern Siberia! The na5e Eski5o

was not gi4en by these people to the5sel4es! 6t was used by the

Abnaki

6ndians in describing to the whites the dwellers of the far north'

and

it 5eans Bthe people who eat raw 5eat!B The Eski5o called and still

call the5sel4es the 6nnuit' which 5eans Bthe people!B

The eact relation of the Eski5o to the other races of the continent

is



hard to define! 2ro5 the fact that the race was found on both sides

of

the ,ering Sea' and that its 5e5bers ha4e dark hair and dark eyes' it

was often argued that they were akin to the ongolians of China! This

theory' howe4er' is now abandoned! The rese5blance in height and

colour

is only superficial' and a 5ore careful 4iew of the physical 5ake<upof

the Eski5o shows hi5 to rese5ble the other races of A5erica far 5ore

closely than he rese5bles those of Asia! A distinguished A5erican

historian' $ohn 2iske' belie4ed that the Eski5os are the last

re5nants

of the ancient ca4e<5en who in the Stone Age inhabited all the

northern

parts of Europe! 2iskeBs theory is that at this re5ote period

continuous land stretched by way of 6celand and Greenland fro5 Europe

to A5erica' and that by this 5eans the race of ca4e<5en was able to

etend itself all the way fro5 3orway and Sweden to the northern

coasts

of A5erica! 6n support of this 4iew he points to the strangelyingenious and artistic drawings of the Eski5os! These drawings are

5ade

on i4ory and bone' and are so like the ancient bone<pictures found

a5ong the relics of the ca4e<5en of Europe that they can scarcely be

distinguished!

The theory is only a conecture! 6t is certain that at one ti5e the

Eski5o race etended 5uch farther south than it did when the white

5en

ca5e to A5erica in earlier days there were Eski5os far south of

Hudson

,ay' and perhaps e4en south of the Great Lakes!

As a result of their situation the Eski5os led a 4ery different life

fro5 that of the 6ndians to the south! They 5ust rely on fishing and

hunting for food! 6n that al5ost treeless north they had no wood to

build boats or houses' and no 4egetables or plants to supply the5

either with food or with the 5aterials of industry! ,ut the 4ery

rigour

of their surroundings called forth in the5 a 5ar4ellous ingenuity!

They

5ade boats of seal skins stretched tight o4er walrus bones' and

clothes

of furs and of the skins and feathers of birds! They built winter

houses with great blocks of snow put together in the for5 of a bowl

turned upside down! They heated their houses by burning blubber or

fat

in dish<like la5ps chipped out of stones! They had' of course' no

written literature! They were' howe4er' not de4oid of art! They had

legends and folk<songs' handed down fro5 generation to generation

with

the ut5ost accuracy! 6n the long night of the Arctic winter they

gathered in their huts to hear strange 5onotonous singing by their

bards: a kind of low chanting' 4ery strange to European ears' and

intended to i5itate the sounds of nature' the 5ur5ur of running

waters

and the sobbing of the sea! The Eski5os belie4ed in spirits and

5onsters who5 they 5ust appease with gifts and incantations! They

thought that after death the soul either goes below the earth to a

place always war5 and co5fortable' or that it is taken up into the

cold



forbidding brightness of the polar sky! "hen the aurora borealis' or

3orthern Lights' strea5ed across the hea4ens' the Eski5os thought it

the glea5 of the souls of the dead 4isible in their new ho5e!

2arthest east of all the ,ritish 3orth A5erican 6ndians were the

,eothuks! Their abode was chiefly 3ewfoundland' though they wandered

also in the neighbourhood of the Strait of ,elle 6sle and along thenorth shore of the Gulf of St Lawrence! They were in the lowest stage

of hu5an eistence and li4ed entirely by hunting and fishing! 9nlike

the Eski5os they had no dogs' and so stern were the conditions of

their

life that they 5aintained with difficulty the fight against the

rigour

of nature! The early eplorers found the5 on the rocky coasts of

,elle

6sle' wild and half clad! They s5eared their bodies with red ochre'

bright in colour' and this earned for the5 the na5e of 1ed 6ndians!

2ro5 the first' they had no friendly relations with the Europeans who

ca5e to their shores' but li4ed in a state of perpetual war with

the5!The 3ewfoundland fisher5en and settlers hunted down the 1ed 6ndians

as

if they were wild beasts' and killed the5 at sight! 3ow and again' a

few 5e5bers of this unhappy race were carried ho5e to England to be

ehibited at country fairs before a crowd of grinning yokels who paid

a

penny apiece to look at the Bwild 5en!B

Li4ing on the 5ainland' net to the red 5en of 3ewfoundland lay the

great race of the Algonuins' spread o4er a huge tract of country'

fro5

the Atlantic coast to the head of the Great Lakes' and e4en farther

west! The Algonuins were di4ided into a great 5any tribes' so5e of

whose na5es are still fa5iliar a5ong the 6ndians of to<day! The

ic5acs

of 3o4a Scotia' the alecite of 3ew ,runswick' the 3askapi of ?uebec'

the Chippewa of 8ntario' and the Crees of the prairie' are of this

stock! 6t is e4en held that the Algonuins are to be considered

typical

speci5ens of the A5erican race! They were of fine stature' and in

strength and 5uscular de4elop5ent were uite on a par with the races

of

the 8ld "orld! Their skin was copper<coloured' their lips and noses

were thin' and their hair in nearly all cases was straight and black!

"hen the Europeans first saw the Algonuins they had already 5ade

so5e

ad4ance towards industrial ci4ili@ation! They built huts of wo4en

boughs' and for defence so5eti5es surrounded a group of huts with a

palisade of stakes set up on end! They had no agriculture in the true

sense' but they culti4ated 6ndian corn and pu5pkins in the openings

of

the forests' and also the tobacco plant' with the 4irtues of which

they

were well acuainted! They 5ade for the5sel4es hea4y and clu5sy

pottery

and utensils of wood' they wo4e 5ats out of rushes for their houses'

and they 5ade clothes fro5 the skin of the deer' and head<dresses

fro5

the bright feathers of birds! 8f the 5etals they knew' at the ti5e of

the disco4ery of A5erica' hardly anything! They 5ade so5e use of

copper' which they chipped and ha55ered into rude tools and weapons!



,ut they knew nothing of 5elting the 5etals' and their arrow<heads

and

spear<points were 5ade' for the 5ost part' not of 5etals' but of

stone!

Like other 6ndians' they showed great ingenuity in fashioning bark

canoes of wonderful lightness!

"e 5ust re5e5ber' howe4er' that with nearly all the aborigines of

A5erica' at least north of eico' the atte5pt to utili@e the

5aterials

and forces supplied by nature had 5ade only slight and painful

progress! "e are apt to think that it was the 5ere la@iness of the

6ndians which pre4ented 5ore rapid ad4ance! 6t 5ay be that we do not

reali@e their difficulties! "hen the white 5en first ca5e these rude

peoples were so backward and so little trained in using their

faculties

that any ad4ance towards art and industry was ine4itably slow and

difficult! This was also true' no doubt' of the peoples who' long

centuries before' had been in the sa5e degree of de4elop5ent in

Europe'and had begun the intricate tasks which a growth towards ci4ili@ation

in4ol4ed! The historian 1obertson describes in a 4i4id passage the

backward state of the sa4age tribes of A5erica! BThe 5ost si5ple

operation'B he says' Bwas to the5 an undertaking of i55ense

difficulty

and labour! To fell a tree with no other i5ple5ents than hatchets of

stone was e5ploy5ent for a 5onth! !!!Their operations in agriculture

were eually slow and defecti4e! 6n a country co4ered with woods of

the

hardest ti5ber' the clearing of a s5all field destined for culture

reuired the united efforts of a tribe' and was a work of 5uch ti5e

and

great toil!B

The religion of the Algonuin 6ndians see5s to ha4e been a rude

nature

worship! The Sun' as the great gi4er of war5th and light' was the

obect of their adoration to a lesser degree' they looked upon fire

as

a superhu5an thing' worthy of worship! The four winds of hea4en'

bringing stor5 and rain fro5 the unknown boundaries of the world'

were

regarded as spirits! Each 6ndian clan or section of a tribe chose for

its special de4otion an ani5al' the na5e of which beca5e the

distincti4e sy5bol of the clan! This is what is 5eant by the Btote5sB

of the different branches of a tribe!

The Algonuins knew nothing of the art of writing' beyond rude

pictures

scratched or painted on wood! The Algonuin tribes' as we ha4e seen'

roa5ed far to the west! 8ne branch freuented the upper Saskatchewan

ri4er! Here the ashes of the prairie fires discoloured their

5occasins

and turned the5 black' and' in conseuence' they were called the

,lackfeet 6ndians! E4en when they 5o4ed to other parts of the

country'

the na5e was still applied to the5!

8ccupying the stretch of country to the south of the Algonuins was

the

fa5ous race known as the 6rouoian 2a5ily! "e generally read of the



Hurons and the 6rouois as separate tribes! They really belonged'

howe4er' to one fa5ily' though during the period of Canadian history

in

which they were pro5inent they had beco5e deadly ene5ies! "hen

Cartier

disco4ered the St Lawrence and 5ade his way to the island of

ontreal'Huron 6ndians inhabited all that part of the country! "hen Cha5plain

ca5e' two generations later' they had 4anished fro5 that region' but

they still occupied a part of 8ntario around Lake Si5coe and south

and

east of Georgian ,ay! "e always connect the na5e 6rouois with that

part of the stock which included the allied 2i4e 3ations<<the

ohawks'

8nondagas' Senecas' 8neidas' and Cayugas'<<and which occupied the

country between the Hudson ri4er and Lake 8ntario! This pro4ed to be

the strongest strategical position in 3orth A5erica! 6t lies in the

gap

or break of the Alleghany ridge' the one place south of the St

Lawrencewhere an easy and ready access is afforded fro5 the sea<coast to the

interior of the continent! Any one who casts a glance at the 5ap of

the

present Eastern states will reali@e this' and will see why it is that

3ew ;ork' at the 5outh of the Hudson' has beco5e the greatest city of

3orth A5erica! 3ow' the sa5e reason which has created 3ew ;ork ga4e

to

the position of the 2i4e 3ations its great i5portance in Canadian

history! ,ut in reality the racial stock of the 6rouois etended

5uch

farther than this' both west and south! 6t took in the well<known

tribe

of the Eries' and also the 6ndians of Chesapeake ,ay and the #oto5ac!

6t included e4en the Tuscaroras of the 1oanoke in 3orth Carolina' who

afterwards 5o4ed north and changed the fi4e nations into si!

The 6rouois were originally nati4es of the plain' connected 4ery

probably with the Dakotas of the west! ,ut they 5o4ed eastwards fro5

the ississippi 4alley towards 3iagara' conuering as they went! 3o

other tribe could co5pare with the5 in either bra4ery or ferocity!

They

possessed in a high degree both the 4irtues and the 4ices of 6ndian

character<<the unflinching courage and the diabolical cruelty which

ha4e 5ade the 6ndian an obect of 5ingled ad5iration and conte5pt! 6n

bodily strength and physical endurance they were unsurpassed! E4en in

5odern days the ener4ating influence of ci4ili@ation has not entirely

re5o4ed the original 4igour of the strain! During the A5erican Ci4il

"ar of fifty years ago the fi4e co5panies of 6rouois 6ndians

recruited

in Canada and in the state of 3ew ;ork were superior in height and

5easure5ent to any other body of fi4e hundred 5en in the northern

ar5ies!

"hen the 6rouoian 2a5ily 5igrated' the Hurons settled in the western

peninsula of 8ntario! The na5e of Lake Huron still recalls their

abode!

,ut a part of the race kept 5o4ing eastward! ,efore the co5ing of the

whites' they had fought their way al5ost to the sea! ,ut they were

able

to hold their new settle5ents only by hard fighting! The great

stockade



which Cartier saw at Hochelaga' with its palisades and fighting

platfor5s' bore witness to the ferocity of the struggle! At that

place

Cartier and his co5panions were entertained with grueso5e tales of

6ndian fighting and of wholesale 5assacres! Se4enty years later' in

Cha5plainBs ti5e' the Hochelaga stockade had 4anished' and the Hurons

had been dri4en back into the interior! ,ut for nearly two centuriesafter Cha5plain the 6rouois retained their hold on the territory

fro5

Lake 8ntario to the Hudson! The conuests and wars of eter5ination

of

these sa4ages' and the terror which they inspired' ha4e been su55ed

up

by General 2rancis "alker in the saying: BThey were the scourge of

God

upon the aborigines of the continent!B

The 6rouois were in so5e respects superior to 5ost of the 6ndians of

the continent! Though they had a li5ited agriculture' and though they

5ade hardly any use of 5etals' they had ad4anced further in otherdirections than 5ost sa4ages! They built of logs' houses long enough

to

be di4ided into se4eral co5part5ents' with a fa5ily in each

co5part5ent! ,y setting a group of houses together' and surrounding

the5 with a palisade of stakes and trees set on end' the settle5ent

was

turned into a kind of fort' and could bid defiance to the li5ited

5eans

of attack possessed by their ene5ies! 6nside their houses they kept a

good store of corn' pu5pkins and dried 5eat' which belonged not to

each

5an singly but to the whole group in co55on! This was the type of

settle5ent seen at ?uebec and at Hochelaga' and' later on' a5ong the

2i4e 3ations! 6ndeed' the 2i4e 3ations ga4e to the5sel4es the

picturesue na5e of the Long House' for their confederation

rese5bled'

as it were' the long wooden houses that held the fa5ilies together!

All this shows that the superiority of the 6rouois o4er their

ene5ies

lay in organi@ation! 6n this they were superior e4en to their kins5en

the Hurons! All 6ndian tribes kept wo5en in a condition which we

should

think degrading! The 6ndian wo5en were drudges they carried the

burdens' and did the rude 5anual toil of the tribe! A5ong the

6rouois'

howe4er' wo5en were not wholly despised so5eti5es' if of forceful

character' they had great influence in the councils of the tribe!

A5ong

the Hurons' on the other hand' wo5en were treated with conte5pt or

brutal indifference! The Huron wo5an' worn out with arduous toil'

rapidly lost the brightness of her youth! At an age when the wo5en of

a

higher culture are still at the height of their char5 and

attracti4eness the wo5an of the Hurons had degenerated into a

shri4elled hag' horrible to the eye and often despicable in

character!

The inborn gentleness of wo5anhood had been dri4en fro5 her breast by

ill<treat5ent! 3ot e4en the cruelest of the warriors surpassed the

unhallowed fiendishness of the withered suaw in preparing the

tor5ents



of the stake and in shrieking her toothless eultation beside the

torture fire!

"here wo5en are on such a footing as this it is always ill with the

co55unity at large! The Hurons were a5ong the 5ost despicable of the

6ndians in their 5anners! They were hideous gluttons' gorging

the5sel4es when occasion offered with the rapacity of 4ultures!Ga5bling and theft flourished a5ong the5! Ecept' indeed' for the

tradition of courage in fight and of endurance under pain we can find

scarcely anything in the5 to ad5ire!

3orth and west fro5 the Algonuins and Huron<6rouois were the fa5ily

of tribes belonging to the Athapascan stock! The general na5es of

Chipewyan and Tinne are also applied to the sa5e great branch of the

6ndian race! 6n a 4ariety of groups and tribes' the Athapascans

spread

out fro5 the Arctic to eico! Their na5e has since beco5e connected

with the geography of Canada alone' but in reality a nu5ber of the

tribes of the plains' like the well<known Apaches' as well as the

Hupasof California and the 3a4ahos' belong to the Athapascans! 6n Canada'

the Athapascans roa5ed o4er the country that lay between Hudson ,ay

and

the 1ocky ountains! They were found in the basin of the acken@ie

ri4er towards the Arctic sea' and along the 4alley of the 2raser to

the

4alley of the Chilcotin! Their language was broken into a great

nu5ber

of dialects which differed so widely that only the kindred groups

could

understand one anotherBs speech! ,ut the sa5e general rese5blance ran

through the 4arious branches of the Athapascans! They were a tall'

strong race' great in endurance' during their pri5e' though they had

little of the peculiar sta5ina that 5akes for long life and 4igorous

old age! Their descendants of to<day still show the sa5e facial

characteristics<<the low forehead with pro5inent ridge bones' and the

eyes set so5ewhat obliuely so as to suggest' though probably without

reason' a kinship with 8riental peoples!

The Athapascans stood low in the scale of ci4ili@ation! ost of the5

li4ed in a prairie country where a luuriant soil' not encu5bered

with

trees' would ha4e responded to the slightest labour! ,ut the

Athapascans' in Canada at least' knew nothing of agriculture! "ith

alternations of star4ation and rude plenty' they li4ed upon the

unaided

bounty of tribes of the far north' degraded by want and indolence'

were

often addicted to cannibalis5!

The 6ndians beyond the 5ountains' between the 1ockies and the sea'

were

for the 5ost part uite distinct fro5 those of the plains! So5e

tribes

of the Athapascans' as we ha4e seen' penetrated into ,ritish

Colu5bia'

but the greater part of the nati4es in that region were of wholly

different races! 8f course' we know hardly anything of these 6ndians

during the first two centuries of European settle5ent in A5erica! 3ot

until the eighteenth century' when 1ussian traders began to freuent



the #acific coast and the Spanish and English pushed their 4oyages

into

the 3orth #acific'<<the Tlingit of the far north' the Salish'

Tsi5shian' Haida' wakiutl<3ootka and utenai! 6t is thought'

howe4er'

that nearly all the #acific 6ndians belong to one kindred stock!

Thereare' it is true' 5any distinct languages between California and

Alaska'

but the physical appearance and characteristics of the nati4es show a

si5ilarity throughout!

The total nu5ber of the original 6ndian population of the continent

can

be a 5atter of conecture only! There is e4ery reason' howe4er' to

think that it was far less than the absurdly eaggerated figures

gi4en

by early European writers! "hene4er the first eplorers found a

considerable body of sa4ages they concluded that the people they saw

were only a fraction of so5e large nation! The result was that theSpaniards esti5ated the inhabitants of #eru at thirty 5illions! Las

Casas' the Spanish historian' said that Hispaniola' the present

Hayti'

had a population of three 5illions a 5ore eact esti5ate' 5ade about

twenty years after the disco4ery of the island' brought the

population

down to fourteen thousand 6n the sa5e way onte@u5a was said to ha4e

co55anded three 5illion eican warriors<<an ob4ious absurdity! The

early $esuits reckoned the nu5bers of the 6rouois at about a hundred

thousand in reality there see5 to ha4e been' in the days of "olfe

and

ontcal5' about twel4e thousand! At the opening of the twentieth

century there were in A5erica north of eico about .)&'))) 6ndians'

of

who5 %)J'))) were in Canada! So5e writers go so far as to say that

the

nu5bers of the nati4es were probably ne4er 5uch greater than they are

to<day! ,ut e4en if we accept the 5ore general opinion that the

6ndian

population has declined' there is no e4idence to show that the

population was e4er 5ore than a thin scattering of wanderers o4er the

face of a 4ast country! ooney esti5ates that at the co5ing of the

white 5an there were only about J./'))) aborigines in the 9nited

States' (()'))) in ,ritish A5erica' F('))) in Alaska' and %)'))) in

Greenland' a total nati4e population of %'%.J'))) fro5 the

ississippi

to the Atlantic!

The li5ited 5eans of support possessed by the nati4es' their

pri5iti4e

agriculture' their habitual disinclination to settled life and

industry' their constant wars and the epide5ic diseases which' e4en

as

early as the ti5e of $acues Cartier' worked ha4oc a5ong the5' 5ust

always ha4e pre4ented the growth of a nu5erous population! The

eplorer

5ight wander for days in the depths of the A5erican forest without

encountering any trace of hu5an life! The continent was' in truth'

one

4ast silence' broken only by the roar of the waterfall or the cry of

the beasts and birds of the forest!



CHA#TE1 6=

THE LEGE3D 82 THE 381SEE3

There are 5any stories of the co5ing of white 5en to the coasts of

A5erica and of their settle5ents in A5erica long before the 4oyage of

Christopher Colu5bus! E4en in the ti5e of the Greeks and 1o5ans there

were traditions and legends of sailors who had gone out into the BSea

of DarknessB beyond the #illars of Hercules<<the ancient na5e for the

Strait of Gibraltar<<and far to the west had found inhabited lands!

Aristotle thought that there 5ust be land out beyond the Atlantic'

and

#lato tells us that once upon a ti5e a 4ast island lay off the coasts

of Africa he calls it Atlantis' and it was' he says' sunk below the

sea by an earthuake! The #hoenicians were wonderful sailors their

ships had gone out of the editerranean into the other sea' and had

reached the ,ritish 6sles' and in all probability they sailed as farwest as the Canaries! "e find' indeed' in classical literature 5any

references to supposed islands and countries out beyond the Atlantic!

The ancients called these places the 6slands of the ,lessed and the

2ortunate 6sles! 6t is' perhaps' not unnatural that in the earlier

writers the eistence of these re5ote and 5ysterious regions should

be

linked with the ideas of the Elysian 2ields and of the abodes of the

dead! ,ut the later writers' such as #liny' and Strabo' the

geographer'

talked of the5 as actual places' and tried to esti5ate how 5any 1o5an

5iles they 5ust be distant fro5 the coast of Spain!

There were si5ilar legends a5ong the 6rish' legends preser4ed in

written for5 at least fi4e hundred years before Colu5bus! They

recount

wonderful 4oyages out into the Atlantic and the disco4ery of new

land!

,ut all these tales are 5ied up with ob4ious fable' with accounts of

places where there was ne4er any illness or infir5ity' and people

li4ed

for e4er' and drank delicious wine and laughed all day' and we cannot

certify to an ato5 of historic truth in the5!

Still 5ore interesting' if only for curiosityBs sake' are weird

stories

that ha4e been unearthed a5ong the early records of the Chinese!

These

are older than the 6rish legends' and date back to about the sith

century! According to the Chinese story' a certain Hoei<Sin sailed

out

into the #acific until he was four thousand 5iles east of $apan!

There

he found a new continent' which the Chinese records called 2usang'

because of a certain tree<<the fusang tree'<<out of the fibres of

which

the inhabitants 5ade' not only clothes' but paper' and e4en food!

Here

was truly a land of wonders! There were strange ani5als with

branching

horns on their heads' there were 5en who could not speak Chinese but



barked like dogs' and other 5en with bodies painted in strange

colours!

So5e people ha4e endea4oured to pro4e by these legends that the

Chinese

5ust ha4e landed in ,ritish Colu5bia' or ha4e seen 5oose or reindeer'

since etinct' in the country far to the north! ,ut the whole account

is so 5ied up with the 5iraculous' and with descriptions of thingswhich certainly ne4er eisted on the #acific coast of A5erica' that

we

can place no reliance whate4er upon it!

The only i5portance that we can attach to such traditions of the

disco4ery of unknown lands and peoples on a new continent is their

bearing as a whole' their accu5ulated effect' on the likelihood of

such

disco4ery before the ti5e of Colu5bus! They at least 5ake us ready to

attach due weight to the circu5stantial and credible records of the

4oyages of the 3orse5en! These stand upon ground altogether different

fro5 that of the di5 and confused traditions of the classical writers

and of the 6rish and Chinese legends! 6n fact' 5any scholars are nowcon4inced that the eastern coast of Canada was known and 4isited by

the

3orse5en fi4e hundred years before Colu5bus!

2ro5 ti5e i55e5orial the 3orse5en were a5ong the 5ost daring and

skilful 5ariners e4er known! They built great wooden boats with tall'

sweeping bows and sterns! These ships' though open and without decks'

were yet stout and seaworthy! Their re5ains ha4e been found' at ti5es

lying deeply buried under the sand and preser4ed al5ost intact! 8ne

such 4essel' disco4ered on the shore of Den5ark' 5easured F( feet in

length! Another =iking ship' which was dug up in 3orway' and which is

preser4ed in the 5useu5 at Christiania' was FJ feet long and %F feet

wide! 8ne of the old 3orse sagas' or stories' tells how ing 8laf

Trygg4esson built a ship' the keel of which' as it lay on the grass'

was F. ells long in 5odern 5easure' it would be a 4essel of about

*.(

tons burden! E4en if we 5ake allowance for the eaggeration or

ignorance of the writer of the saga' there is still a 4ast contrast

between this 4essel and the little ship Centurion in which Anson

sailed

round the world!

6t is needless' howe4er' to pro4e that the 3orse5en could ha4e

reached

A5erica in their ships! The 4oyages fro5 6celand to Greenland which

we

know they 5ade continually for four hundred years were ust as

arduous

as a further 4oyage fro5 Greenland to the coast of Canada!

The story of the 3orse5en runs thus! Towards the end of the ninth

century' or nearly two hundred years before the 3or5an conuest'

there

was a great eodus or outswar5ing of the 3orse5en fro5 their original

ho5e in 3orway! A certain ing Harold had succeeded in 5aking hi5self

supre5e in 3orway' and great nu5bers of the lesser chiefs or arls

preferred to seek new ho5es across the seas rather than sub5it to his

rule! So they e5barked with their seafaring followers<<=ikings' as we

still call the5<<often' indeed' with their wi4es and fa5ilies' in

great

open ships' and sailed away' so5e to the coast of England' others to



2rance' and others e4en to the editerranean' where they took ser4ice

under the ,y@antine e5perors! ,ut still others' lo4ing the cold rough

seas of the north' struck westward across the 3orth Sea and beyond

the

coasts of Scotland till they reached 6celand! This was in the year

JF.!

Here they 5ade a settle5ent that presently grew to a population offifty thousand people' ha4ing flocks and herds' solid houses of

stone'

and a fine trade in fish and oil with the countries of 3orthern

Europe!

These settlers in 6celand attained to a high standard of

ci4ili@ation!

They had 5any books' and were fond of tales and stories' as are all

these northern peoples who spend long winter e4enings round the

fireside! So5e of the sagas' or stories' which they told were true

accounts of the 4oyages and ad4entures of their forefathers others

were fanciful stories' like our 5odern ro5ances' created by the

i5agination others' again' were a 5iture of the two! Thus it is

so5eti5es hard to distinguish fact and fancy in these early tales ofthe 3orse5en! "e ha4e' howe4er' 5eans of testing the stories! A5ong

the

books written in 6celand there was one called the B3ational 3a5e<

,ook'B

in which all the na5es of the people were written down' with an

account

of their forefathers and of any notable things which they had done!

6t is fro5 this book and fro5 the old sagas that we learn how the

3orse5en ca5e to the coast of A5erica! 6t see5s that about *)) a

certain 5an called Gunnborn was dri4en westward in a great stor5 and

thrown on the rocky shore of an ice<bound country' where he spent the

winter! Gunnborn reached ho5e safely' and ne4er tried again to find

this new land but' long after his death' the story that there was

land

farther west still lingered a5ong the settlers in 6celand and the

8rkneys' and in other ho5es of the 3orse5en! So5e ti5e after

GunnbornBs 4oyage it happened that a 4ery bold and deter5ined 5an

called Eric the 1ed' who li4ed in the 8rkneys' was 5ade an outlaw for

ha4ing killed se4eral 5en in a uarrel! Eric fled westward o4er the

seas about the year *J)' and he ca5e to a new country with great

rocky

bays and fords as in 3orway! There were no trees' but the slopes of

the hillsides were bright with grass' so he called the country

Greenland' as it is called to this day! Eric and his 5en li4ed in

Greenland for three years' and the ruins of their rough stone houses

are still to be seen' hard by one of the little Danish settle5ents of

to<day! "hen Eric and his followers went back to 6celand they told of

what they had seen' and soon he led a new epedition to Greenland!

The

ad4enturers went in twenty<fi4e ships 5ore than half were lost on

the

way' but ele4en ships landed safely and founded a colony in

Greenland!

8ther settlers ca5e' and this Greenland colony had at one ti5e a

population of about two thousand people! 6ts inhabitants e5braced

Christianity when their kinsfolk in other places did so' and the

ruins

of their stone churches still eist! The settlers raised cattle and

sheep' and sent o hides and seal skins and walrus i4ory to Europe in



trade for supplies! ,ut as there was no ti5ber in Greenland they

could

not build ships' and thus their co55unication with the outside world

was 5ore or less precarious! 6n spite of this' the colony lasted for

about four hundred years! 6t see5s to ha4e co5e to an end at about

the

beginning of the fifteenth century! The scanty records of its historycan be traced no later than the year %.)*! "hat happened to ter5inate

its eistence is not known! So5e writers' 5isled by the na5e

BGreenland'B ha4e thought that there 5ust ha4e been a change of

cli5ate

by which the country lost its original war5th and 4erdure and turned

into an arctic region! There is no ground for this belief! The na5e

BGreenlandB did not i5ply a country of trees and luuriant

4egetation'

but only referred to the bright carpet of grass still seen in the

short

Greenland su55er in the war5er hollows of the hillsides! 6t 5ay ha4e

been that the settle5ent' ne4er strong in nu5bers' was o4erwhel5ed by

the Eski5os' who are known to ha4e often attacked the colony: 4erylikely' too' it suffered fro5 the great plague' the ,lack Death' that

swept o4er all Europe in the fourteenth century! "hate4er the cause'

the colony ca5e to an end' and centuries elapsed before Greenland was

again known to Europe!

This whole story of the Greenland settle5ent is historical fact which

cannot be doubted! #artly by accident and partly by design' the

3orse5en had been carried fro5 3orway to the 8rkneys and the Hebrides

and 6celand' and fro5 there to Greenland! This ha4ing happened' it

was

natural that their ships should go beyond Greenland itself! During

the

four hundred years in which the 3orse ships went fro5 Europe to

Greenland' their na4igators had neither chart nor co5pass' and they

sailed huge open boats' carrying only a great suare sail! 6t is

e4ident that in stress of weather and in fog they 5ust again and

again

ha4e been dri4en past the foot of Greenland' and 5ust ha4e landed

so5ewhere in what is now Labrador! 6t would be inconcei4able that in

four centuries of 4oyages this ne4er happened! 6n 5ost cases' no

doubt'

the stor5<tossed and battered ships' like the fourteen 4essels that

Eric lost' were ne4er heard of again! ,ut in other cases sur4i4ors

5ust

ha4e returned to Greenland or 6celand to tell of what they had seen!

This is eactly what happened to a bold sailor called ,arne' the son

of Herulf' a few years after the Greenland colony was founded! 6n

*J/

he put out fro5 6celand to oin his father' who was in Greenland' the

purpose being that' after the good old 3orse custo5' they 5ight drink

their Christ5as ale together! 3either ,arne nor his 5en had e4er

sailed the Greenland sea before' but' like bold 5ariners' they relied

upon their seafaring instinct to guide the5 to its coast! As ,arneBs

ship was dri4en westward' great 5ists fell upon the face of the

waters!

There was neither sun nor stars' but day after day only the thick wet

fog that clung to the cold surface of the hea4ing sea! To<day

tra4ellers e4en on a palatial stea5ship' who spend a few hours

shuddering in the chill grey fog of the 3orth Atlantic' chafing at



delay' 5ay for5 so5e idea of 4oyages such as that of ,arne Herulf

and

his 5en! These =ikings went on undaunted towards the west! At last'

after 5any days' they saw land' but when they drew near they saw that

it was not a rugged treeless region' such as they knew Greenland to

be'

but a country co4ered with forests' a country of low coasts risinginland to s5all hills' and with no 5ountains in sight! Accordingly'

,arne said that this was not Greenland' and he would not stop' but

turned the 4essel to the north! After two days they sighted land

again'

still on the left side' and again it was flat and thick with trees!

The

sea had fallen cal5' and ,arneBs 5en desired to land and see this

new

country' and take wood and water into the ship! ,ut ,arne would not!

So they held on their course' and presently a wind fro5 the south<

west

carried the5 onward for three days and three nights! Then again they

saw land' but this ti5e it was high and 5ountainous' with greatshining

caps of snow! And again ,arne said' BThis is not the land 6 seek!B

They did not go ashore' but sailing close to the coast they presently

found that the land was an island! "hen they stood out to sea again'

the south wind rose to a gale that swept the5 towards the north' with

sail reefed down and with their ship leaping through the foa5ing

surges! Three days and nights they ran before the gale! 8n the fourth

day land rose before the5' and this ti5e it was Greenland! There

,arne

found his father' and there' when not at sea' he settled for the rest

of his days!

Such is the story of ,arne Herulf' as the 3orse5en ha4e it! To the

unpreudiced 5ind there is e4ery reason to belie4e that his 4oyage

had

carried hi5 to A5erica' to the coast of the ariti5e #ro4inces' or of

3ewfoundland or Labrador! ore than this one cannot say! True' it is

hard to fit the Btwo daysB and the Bthree daysB of ,arneBs narrati4e

into the sailing distances! ,ut e4ery one who has read any pri5iti4e

literature' or e4en the Ho5eric poe5s' will re5e5ber how easily ti5es

and distances and nu5bers that are not eactly known are epressed in

loose phrases not to be taken as literal!

The news of ,arneBs 4oyage and of his disco4ery of land see5s to

ha4e

been carried presently to the 3orse5en in 6celand and in Europe! 6n

fact' ,arne hi5self 5ade a 4oyage to 3orway' and' on account of what

he had done' figured there as a person of so5e i5portance! ,ut people

bla5ed ,arne because he had not landed on the new coasts' and had

taken so little pains to find out 5ore about the region of hills and

forests which lay to the south and west of Greenland! 3aturally

others

were te5pted to follow the 5atter further! A5ong these was Leif' son

of

Eric the 1ed! Leif went to Greenland' found ,arne' bought his ship'

and 5anned it with a crew of thirty<fi4e! LeifBs father' Eric' now

li4ed in Greenland' and Leif asked hi5 to take co55and of the

epedition! He thought' the saga says' that' since Eric had found

Greenland' he would bring good luck to the new 4enture! 2or the ti5e'

Eric consented' but when all was ready' and he was riding down to the

shore to e5bark' his horse stu5bled and he fell fro5 the saddle and



hurt his foot! Eric took this as an o5en of e4il' and would not go

but

Leif and his crew of thirty<fi4e set sail towards the south<west!

This

was in the year %))) A!D!' or four hundred and ninety<two years

before

Colu5bus landed in the "est 6ndies!

Leif and his 5en sailed on' the saga tells us' till they ca5e to the

last land which ,arne had disco4ered! Here they cast anchor' lowered

a

boat' and rowed ashore! They found no grass' but only a great field

of

snow stretching fro5 the sea to the 5ountains farther inland and

these

5ountains' too' glistened with snow! 6t see5ed to the 3orse5en a

forbidding place' and Leif christened it Helluland' or the country of

slate or flat stones! They did not linger' but sailed away at once!

The

description of the snow<co4ered hills' the great slabs of stone' andthe desolate aspect of the coast con4eys at least a 4ery strong

probability that the land was Labrador!

Leif and his 5en sailed away' and soon they disco4ered another land!

The chronicle does not say how 5any days they were at sea' so that we

cannot udge of the distance of this new country fro5 the Land of

Stones! ,ut e4idently it was entirely different in aspect' and was

situated in a war5er cli5ate! The coast was low' there were broad

beaches of white sand' and behind the beaches rose thick forests

spreading o4er the country! Again the 3orse5en landed! ,ecause of the

trees' they ga4e to this place the na5e of arkland' or the Country

of

2orests! So5e writers ha4e thought that arkland 5ust ha4e been

3ewfoundland' but the description also suggests Cape ,reton or 3o4a

Scotia! The coast of 3ewfoundland is' indeed' for the 5ost part'

bold'

rugged' and inhospitable!

Leif put to sea once 5ore! 2or two days the wind was fro5 the

north<east! Then again they reached land! This new region was the

fa5ous country which the 3orse5en called =ineland' and of which e4ery

schoolboy has read! There has been so 5uch dispute as to whether

=ineland<<this war5 country where grapes grew wild<<was 3o4a Scotia

or

3ew England' or so5e other region' that it is worth while to read the

account of the 3orse saga' literally translated:

They ca5e to an island' which lay on the north side

of the land' where they dise5barked to wait for good

weather! There was dew upon the grass and ha4ing

accidentally got so5e of the dew upon their hands and

put it to their 5ouths' they thought that they had

ne4er tasted anything so sweet! Then they went on

board and sailed into a sound that was between the

island and a point that went out northwards fro5 the

land' and sailed westward past the point! There was

4ery shallow water and ebb tide' so that their ship

lay dry and there was a long way between their ship

and the water! They were so desirous to get to the

land that they would not wait till their ship floated'

but ran to the land' to a place where a ri4er co5es



out of a lake! As soon as their ship was afloat they

took the boats' rowed to the ship' towed her up the

ri4er' and fro5 thence into the lake' where they cast

anchor' carried their beds out of the ship' and set

up their tents!

They resol4ed to put things in order for wintering there' and they erected a large house! They did not

want for sal5on' in both the ri4er and the lake and

they thought the sal5on larger than any they had e4er

seen before! The country appeared to the5 to be of so

good a kind that it would not be necessary to gather

fodder for the cattle for winter! There was no frost

in winter' and the grass was not 5uch withered! Day

and night were 5ore eual than in Greenland and

6celand!

The chronicle goes on to tell how Leif and his 5en spent the winter

in

this place! They eplored the country round their enca5p5ent! Theyfound beautiful trees' trees big enough for use in building houses'

so5ething 4astly i5portant to 5en fro5 Greenland' where no trees

grow!

Delighted with this' Leif and his 5en cut down so5e trees and loaded

their ship with the ti5ber! 8ne day a sailor' whose ho5e had been in

a

Bsouth country'B where he had seen wine 5ade fro5 grapes' and who was

nickna5ed the BTurk'B found on the coast 4ines with grapes' growing

wild! He brought his co5panions to the spot' and they gathered grapes

sufficient to fill their shipBs boat! 6t was on this account that

Leif

called the country B=ineland!B They found patches of supposed corn

which grew wild like the grapes and reseeded itself fro5 year to

year!

6t is striking that the 3orse chronicle should na5e these si5ple

things! Had it been a work of fancy' probably we should ha4e heard'

as

in the Chinese legends' of strange de5ons and other a5a@ing

creatures!

,ut we hear instead of the beautiful forest etending to the shore'

the

5ountains in the background' the tangled 4ines' and the bright

patches

of wild grain of so5e kind ripening in the open glades<the 4ery

things

which caught the eye of Cartier when' fi4e centuries later' he first

ascended the St Lawrence!

"here =ineland was we cannot tell! 6f the 5en really found wild

grapes'

and not so5e kind of cranberry' =ineland 5ust ha4e been in the region

where grapes will grow! The 4ine grows as far north as #rince Edward

6sland and Cape ,reton' and' of course' is found in plenty on the

coasts of 3o4a Scotia and 3ew England! The chronicle says that the

winter days were longer in =ineland than in Greenland' and na5es the

eact length of the shortest day! 9nfortunately' howe4er' the

3orse5en

had no accurate syste5 for 5easuring ti5e otherwise the length of

the

shortest winter day would enable us to know at what eact spot LeifBs

settle5ent was 5ade!



Leif and his 5en stayed in =ineland all winter' and sailed ho5e to

Greenland in the spring %))% A!D!I! As they brought ti5ber' 5uch

pri@ed in the Greenland settle5ent' their 4oyage caused a great deal

of

talk! 3aturally others wished to ri4al Leif! 6n the net few years

se4eral 4oyages to =ineland are briefly chronicled in the sagas!

2irst of all' Thorwald' LeifBs brother' borrowed his ship' sailed

away

to =ineland with thirty 5en' and spent two winters there! During his

first su55er in =ineland' Thorwald sent so5e 5en in a boat westward

along the coast! They found a beautiful country with thick woods

reaching to the shore' and great stretches of white sand! They found

a

kind of barn 5ade of wood' and were startled by this first indication

of the presence of 5an! Thorwald had' indeed' startling ad4entures!

6n

a great stor5 his ship was wrecked on the coast' and he and his 5en

hadto rebuild it! He selected for a settle5ent a point of land thickly

co4ered with forest! ,efore the 5en had built their houses they fell

in

with so5e sa4ages' who5 they 5ade prisoners! These sa4ages had bows

and

arrows' and used what the 3orse5en called Bskin boats!B 8ne of the

sa4ages escaped and roused his tribe' and presently a great flock of

canoes ca5e out of a large bay' surrounded the =iking ship' and

discharged a cloud of arrows! The 3orse5en beat off the sa4ages' but

in

the fight Thorwald recei4ed a 5ortal wound! As he lay dying he told

his

5en to bury hi5 there in =ineland' on the point where he had 5eant to

build his ho5e! This was done! ThorwaldBs 5en re5ained there for the

winter! 6n the spring they returned to Greenland' with the sad news

for

Leif of his brotherBs death!

8ther 4oyages followed! A certain Thorfinn arlse4ne e4en tried to

found a per5anent colony in =ineland! 6n the spring of %))F' he took

there a hundred and sity 5en' so5e wo5en' and 5any cattle! He and

his

people re5ained in =ineland for nearly four years! They traded with

the

sa4ages' gi4ing the5 cloth and trinkets for furs! arlse4neBs wife

ga4e

birth there to a son' who was christened Snorre' and who was perhaps

the first white child born in A5erica! The =ineland colony see5s to

ha4e prospered well enough' but unfortunately uarrels broke out

between the 3orse5en and the sa4ages' and so 5any of arlse4neBs

people

were killed that the re5ainder were glad to sail back to Greenland!

The 3orse chronicles contain a further story of how one of

arlse4neBs

co5panions' Thorward' and his wife 2reydis' who was a daughter of

Eric

the 1ed' 5ade a 4oyage to =ineland! This epedition ended in tragedy!

8ne night the 3orse5en uarrelled in their winter uarters' there was

a

tu5ult and a 5assacre! 2reydis herself killed fi4e wo5en with an ae'



and the little colony was drenched in blood! The sur4i4ors returned

to

Greenland' but were shunned by all fro5 that hour!

After this story we ha4e no detailed accounts of 4oyages to =ineland!

There are' howe4er' references to it in 6celandic literature! There

does not see5 any ground to belie4e that the 3orse5en succeeded inplanting a lasting colony in =ineland! So5e people ha4e tried to

clai5

that certain ancient ruins on the 3ew England coast<<an old stone

5ill

at 3ewport' and so on<<are e4idences of such a settle5ent! ,ut the

clai5 has no sufficient proof behind it!

8n the whole' howe4er' there see5s e4ery ground to conclude that

again

and again the 3orse5en landed on the Atlantic coast of A5erica! "e do

not know where they 5ade their winter uarters' nor does this 5atter!

=ery likely there were te5porary settle5ents in both Barkland'B with

its thick woods bordering on the sea' and in other less pro5isingregions! 6t should be added that so5e writers of authority refuse

e4en

to ad5it that the 3orse5en reached A5erica! 8thers' like 3ansen' the

fa5ous Arctic eplorer' while ad5itting the probability of the

4oyages'

belie4e that the sagas are 5erely a sort of folklore' such as 5ay be

found in the pri5iti4e literature of all nations! 8n the other hand'

$ohn 2iske' the A5erican historian' who de4oted 5uch patient study to

the uestion' was con4inced that what is now the Canadian coast'

with'

probably' part of 3ew England too' was disco4ered' 4isited' and

thoroughly well known by the 3orse inhabitants of Greenland! 2or

se4eral centuries they appear to ha4e 5ade su55er 4oyages to and fro5

this B=ineland the GoodB as they called it' and to ha4e brought back

ti5ber and supplies not found in their own inhospitable country! 6t

is

uite possible that further in4estigation 5ay throw new light on the

3orse disco4eries' and e4en that undeniable traces of the buildings

or

i5ple5ents of the settlers in =ineland 5ay be found! eanwhile the

subect' interesting though it is' re5ains shrouded in 5ystery!

CHA#TE1 =

THE ,16ST8L =8;AGES

The disco4eries of the 3orse5en did not lead to the opening of

A5erica

to the nations of Europe! 2or this the ti5e was not yet ripe! As yet

European nations were backward' not only in na4igation' but in the

industries and co55erce which supply the real 5oti4e for occupying

new

lands! 6n the days of Eric the 1ed Europe was only beginning to

e5erge

fro5 a dark period! The 5ight and splendour of the 1o5an E5pire had

4anished' and the great kingdo5s which we know were still to rise!

All this changed in the fi4e hundred years between the foundation of

the Greenland colony and the 4oyage of Christopher Colu5bus! The



disco4ery of A5erica took place as a direct result of the ad4ancing

ci4ili@ation and growing power of Europe! The e4ent itself was' in a

sense' due to pure accident! Colu5bus was seeking Asia when he found

hi5self a5ong the tropical islands of the "est 6ndies! 6n another

sense' howe4er' the disco4ery 5arks in world history a necessary

stage'

for which the preceding centuries had already 5ade the preparation!The

story of the 4oyages of Colu5bus for5s no part of our present

narrati4e! ,ut we cannot understand the background that lies behind

the

history of Canada without knowing why such 5en as Christopher

Colu5bus

and =asco da Ga5a and the Cabots began the work of disco4ery!

2irst' we ha4e to reali@e the peculiar relations between Europe'

ancient and 5ediae4al' and the great e5pires of Eastern Asia! The two

ci4ili@ations had ne4er been in direct contact! ;et in a sense they

were always connected! The Greeks and the 1o5ans had at least 4ague

reports of peoples who li4ed on the far eastern confines of theworld'

beyond e4en the conuests of Aleander the Great in Hindustan! 6t is

certain' too' that Europe and Asia had always traded with one another

in a strange and unconscious fashion! The spices and silks of the

unknown East passed westward fro5 trader to trader' fro5 cara4an to

cara4an' until they reached the #ersian Gulf' the 1ed Sea' and' at

last' the editerranean! The ourney was so slow' so tedious' the

goods

passed fro5 hand to hand so often' that when the #hoenician' Greek'

or

1o5an 5erchants bought the5 their origin had been forgotten! 2or

century after century this trade continued! "hen 1o5e fell' other

peoples of the editerranean continued the Eastern trade! Genoa and

=enice rose to greatness by this trade! As wealth and culture re4i4ed

after the Gothic conuest which o4erthrew 1o5e' the beautiful silks

and

the rare spices of the East were 5ore and 5ore pri@ed in a world of

increasing luury! The Crusades redisco4ered Egypt' Syria' and the

East

for Europe! Gold and ewels' dia5ond<hilted swords of Da5ascus steel'

car4ed i4ory' and priceless ge5s'<<all the treasures which the

warriors

of the Cross brought ho5e' helped to i5press on the 5ind of Europe

the

surpassing riches of the East!

Gradually a new interest was added! As ti5e went on doubts increased

regarding the true shape of the earth! Early peoples had thought it a

great flat epanse' with the blue sky propped o4er it like a do5e or

co4er! This conception was gi4ing way! The wise 5en who watched the

sky

at night' who saw the sweeping circles of the fied stars and the

wandering path of the strange lu5inous bodies called planets' began

to

suspect a 5ighty secret'<<that the obser4ing eye saw only half the

hea4ens' and that the course of the stars and the earth itself

rounded

out was below the darkness of the hori@on! 2ro5 this theory that the

earth was a great sphere floating in space followed the 5ost

enthralling conclusions! 6f the earth was really a globe' it 5ight be

possible to go round it and to reappear on the farther side of the



hori@on! Then the East 5ight be reached' not only across the deserts

of

#ersia and Tartary' but also by striking out into the boundless ocean

that lay beyond the #illars of Hercules! 2or such an atte5pt an

al5ost

superhu5an courage was reuired! 3o 5an 5ight say what awful seas'

whatengulfing gloo5' 5ight lie across the fa5iliar waters which washed

the

shores of Europe! The 5ost fearless who' at e4ening' upon the cliffs

of

Spain or #ortugal' watched black night settle upon the far<spreading

waters of the Atlantic' 5ight well turn shuddering fro5 any atte5pt

to

sail into those unknown wastes!

6t was the stern logic of e4ents which co5pelled the enterprise!

,arbarous Turks swept westward! Arabia' Syria' the 6sles of Greece'

and' at last' in %.>&' Constantinople itself' fell into their hands!

The Eastern E5pire' the last sur4i4al of the E5pire of the 1o5ans'perished beneath the sword of aho5et! Then the pathway by land to

Asia' to the fabled e5pires of Cathay and Cipango' was blocked by the

Turkish conuest! Co55erce' howe4er' re5ained alert and enterprising'

and 5enBs 5inds soon turned to the hopes of a western passage which

should pro4ide a new route to the 6ndies!

All the world knows the story of Christopher Colu5bus' his long years

of hardship and discourage5ent the supre5e con4iction which

sustained

hi5 in his ad4ersity the final triu5ph which crowned his efforts! 6t

is no detraction fro5 the glory of Colu5bus to say that he was only

one

of 5any eager spirits occupied with new proble5s of disco4ery across

the sea! 3ot the least of these were $ohn and Sebastian Cabot' father

and son! $ohn Cabot' like Colu5bus' was a Genoese by birth a long

residence in =enice' howe4er' earned for hi5 in %.F/ the citi@enship

of

that republic! Like 5any in his ti5e' he see5s to ha4e been both a

scientific geographer and a practical sea<captain! At one ti5e he

5ade

charts and 5aps for his li4elihood! Sei@ed with the fe4er for

disco4ery' he is said to ha4e begged in 4ain fro5 the so4ereigns of

Spain and #ortugal for help in a 4oyage to the "est! About the ti5e

of

the great disco4ery of Colu5bus in %.*(' $ohn Cabot arri4ed in

,ristol!

6t 5ay be that he took part in so5e of the 4oyages of the ,ristol

5erchants' before the achie4e5ents of Colu5bus began to startle the

world!

At the close of the fifteenth century the town of ,ristol enoyed a

pre<e5inence which it has since lost! 6t stood second only to London

as

a ,ritish port! A group of wealthy 5erchants carried on fro5 ,ristol

a

li4ely trade with 6celand and the northern ports of Europe! The town

was the chief centre for an i5portant trade in codfish! Days of

fasting

were generally obser4ed at that ti5e on these the eating of 5eat was

forbidden by the church' and fish was conseuently in great de5and!

The



5erchants of ,ristol were keen traders' and were always seeking the

further etension of their trade! Christopher Colu5bus hi5self is

said

to ha4e 5ade a 4oyage for the ,ristol 5erchants to 6celand in %.FF!

There is e4en a tale that' before Colu5bus was known to fa5e' an

epedition was euipped there in %.J) to seek the Bfabulous islandsB

ofthe "estern Sea! Certain it is that the Spanish a5bassador in

England'

whose business it was to keep his royal 5aster infor5ed of all that

was

being done by his ri4als' wrote ho5e in %.*J: B6t is se4en years

since

those of ,ristol used to send out' e4ery year' a fleet of two' three'

or four cara4els to go and search for the 6sle of ,ra@il and the

Se4en

Cities' according to the fancy of the Genoese!B

"e can therefore reali@e that when aster $ohn Cabot ca5e a5ong the

5erchants of this busy town with his plans he found a ready hearing!Cabot was soon brought to the notice of his august 5aesty Henry =66

of

England! The king had been shortsighted enough to reect o4ertures

5ade

to hi5 by ,artholo5ew Colu5bus' brother of Christopher' and no doubt

he

regretted his 5istake! 3ow he was eager enough to act as the patron

of

a new 4oyage! Accordingly' on arch >' %.*/' he granted a royal

licence

in the for5 of what was called Letters #atent' authori@ing $ohn Cabot

and his sons Lewis' Sebastian and Sancius to 5ake a 4oyage of

disco4ery

in the na5e of the king of England! The Cabots were to sail Bwith

fi4e

ships or 4essels of whate4er burden or uality soe4er they be' and

with

as 5any 5arines or 5en as they will ha4e with the5 in the said ships

upon their own proper costs and charges!B 6t will be seen that Henry

=66' the 5ost parsi5onious of kings' had no 5ind to pay the epense

of

the 4oyage! The epedition was Bto seek out' disco4er and find

whatsoe4er islands' countries' regions and pro4inces of the heathens

or

infidels' in whate4er part of the world they be' which before this

ti5e

ha4e been unknown to all Christians!B 6t was to sail only Bto the

seas

of the east and west and north'B for the king did not wish to lay any

clai5 to the lands disco4ered by the Spaniards and #ortuguese! The

disco4erers' howe4er' were to raise the English flag o4er any new

lands

that they found' to conuer and possess the5' and to acuire Bfor us

do5inion' title' and urisdiction o4er those towns' castles' islands'

and 5ainlands so disco4ered!B 8ne<fifth of the profits fro5 the

anticipated 4oyages to the new land was to fall to the king' but the

Cabots were to ha4e a 5onopoly of trade' and ,ristol was to enoy the

right of being the sole port of entry for the ships engaged in this

trade!



3ot until the net year' %.*F' did $ohn Cabot set out! Then he

e5barked

fro5 ,ristol with a single ship' called in an old history the

atthew'

and a crew of eighteen 5en! 2irst' he sailed round the south of

6reland' and fro5 there struck out westward into the unknown sea! The

appliances of na4igation were then 4ery i5perfect! Sailors couldreckon

the latitude by looking up at the 3orth Star' and noting how high it

was abo4e the hori@on! Since the 3orth Star stands in the sky due

north' and the ais on which the earth spins points always towards

it'

it will appear to an obser4er in the northern he5isphere to be as

5any

degrees abo4e the hori@on as he hi5self is distant fro5 the pole or

top

of the earth! The old na4igators' therefore' could always tell how

far

north or south they were! oreo4er' as long as the weather was clear

they could' by this 5eans' strike' at night at least' a course dueeast

or west! ,ut when the weather was not fa4ourable for obser4ations

they

had to rely on the co5pass alone! 3ow the co5pass in actual fact does

not always and e4erywhere point due north! 6t is subect to

4ariation'

and in different ti5es and places points either considerably east of

north or west of it! 6n the path where Cabot sailed' the co5pass

pointed west of north and hence' though he thought he was sailing

straight west fro5 6reland' he was really pursuing a cur4ed path bent

round a little towards the south! This fact will beco5e of i5portance

when we consider where it was that Cabot landed! 2or finding distance

east and west the na4igators of the fifteenth century had no such

appliances as our 5odern chrono5eter and instru5ents of obser4ation!

They could tell how far they had sailed only by Bdead reckoningB

this

5eans that if their ship was going at such and such a speed' it was

supposed to ha4e 5ade such and such a distance in a gi4en ti5e! ,ut

when ships were being dri4en to and fro' and buffeted by ad4erse

winds'

this reckoning beca5e etre5ely uncertain!

$ohn Cabot and his 5en 5ere tossed about considerably in their little

ship! Though they see5 to ha4e set out early in ay of %.*F' it was

not

until $une (. that they sighted land! "hat the land was like' and

what

they thought of it' we know fro5 letters written in England by

4arious

persons after their return! Thus we learn that it was a B4ery good

and

te5perate country'B and that B,ra@il wood and silks grow there!B BThe

sea'B they reported' Bis co4ered with fishes' which are caught not

only

with the net' but with baskets' a stone being tied to the5 in order

that the baskets 5ay sink in the water!B Henceforth' it was said'

England would ha4e no 5ore need to buy fish fro5 6celand' for the

waters of the new land abounded in fish! Cabot and his 5en saw no

sa4ages' but they found proof that the land was inhabited! Here and

there in the forest they saw trees which had been felled' and also

snares of a rude kind set to catch ga5e! They were enthusiastic o4er



their success! They reported that the new land 5ust certainly be

connected with Cipango' fro5 which all the spices and precious stones

of the world originated! 8nly a scanty stock of pro4isions' they

declared' pre4ented the5 fro5 sailing along the coast as far as

Cathay

and Cipango! As it was they planted on the land a great cross with

theflag of England and also the banner of St ark' the patron saint of

CabotBs city of =enice!

The older histories used always to speak as if $ohn Cabot had landed

so5ewhere on the coast of Labrador' and had at best gone no farther

south than 3ewfoundland! E4en if this were the whole truth about the

4oyage' to Cabot and his 5en would belong the signal honour of ha4ing

been the first Europeans' since the 3orse5en' to set foot on the

5ainland of 3orth A5erica! "ithout doubt they were the first to

unfurl

the flag of England' and to erect the cross upon soil which

afterwards

beca5e part of ,ritish 3orth A5erica! ,ut this is not all! 6t islikely

that Cabot reached a point far south of Labrador! His supposed

sailing

westward carried hi5 in reality south of the latitude of 6reland! He

5akes no 5ention of the icebergs which any 4oyager 5ust 5eet on the

Labrador coast fro5 $une to August! His account of a te5perate

cli5ate

suitable for growing dye<wood' of forest trees' and of a country so

fair that it see5ed the gateway of the enchanted lands of the East'

is

uite unsuited to the bare and forbidding aspect of Labrador! Cape

,reton island was probably the place of CabotBs landing! 6ts bal5y

su55er cli5ate' the abundant fish of its waters' fit in with CabotBs

eperiences! The e4idence fro5 5aps' one of which was 5ade by CabotBs

son Sebastian' points also to Cape ,reton as the first landing<place

of

English sailors in A5erica!

There is no doubt of the stir 5ade by CabotBs disco4ery on his safe

return to England! He was in London by August of %.*F' and he beca5e

at

once the obect of eager curiosity and interest! BHe is styled the

Great Ad5iral'B wrote a =enetian resident in London' Band 4ast honour

is paid to hi5! He dresses in silk' and the English run after hi5

like

5ad people!B The sunlight of royal fa4our broke o4er hi5 in a flood:

e4en Henry =66 pro4ed generous! The royal accounts show that' on

August

%)' %.*F' the king ga4e ten pounds Bto hi5 that found the new isle!B

A

few 5onths later the king granted to his Bwell<belo4ed $ohn Cabot' of

the parts of =enice' an annuity of twenty pounds sterling'B to be

paid

out of the custo5s of the port of ,ristol! The king' too' was la4ish

in

his pro5ises of help for a new epedition! HenryBs i5agination had

e4idently been fired with the idea of an 8riental e5pire! A

conte5porary writer tells us that Cabot was to ha4e ten ar5ed ships!

At

CabotBs reuest' the king conceded to hi5 all the prisoners needed to

5an this fleet' sa4ing only persons conde5ned for high treason! 6t is



one of the ironies of history that on the first pages of its annals

the

beautiful new world is offered to the cri5inals of Europe!

During the winter that followed' $ohn Cabot was the hero of the hour!

,usy preparations went on for a new 4oyage! Letters patent were

issuedgi4ing Cabot power to take any si ships that he liked fro5 the ports

of the kingdo5' paying to their owners the sa5e price only as if

taken

for the kingBs ser4ice! The BGrand Ad5iralB beca5e a person of high

i5portance! 8n one friend he conferred the so4ereignty of an island

to

others he 5ade la4ish pro5ises certain poor friars who offered to

e5bark on his co5ing 4oyage were to be bishops o4er the heathen of

the

new land! E4en the 5erchants of London 4entured to send out goods for

trade' and brought to Cabot Bcoarse cloth' caps' laces' points' and

other trifles!B

The second epedition sailed fro5 the port of ,ristol in ay of %.*J!

$ohn Cabot and his son Sebastian were in co55and of the younger

brothers we hear no 5ore! ,ut the high hopes of the 4oyagers were

doo5ed to disappoint5ent! 8n arri4ing at the coast of A5erica CabotBs

ships see5 first to ha4e turned towards the north! The fatal idea'

that

the e5pires of Asia 5ight be reached through the northern seas

already

asserted its sway! The search for a north<west passage' that

will<oB<the<wisp of three centuries' had already begun! any years

later Sebastian Cabot related to a friend at Se4ille so5e details

regarding this unfortunate atte5pt of his father to reach the spice

islands of the East! The fleet' he said' with its three hundred 5en'

first directed its course so far to the north that' e4en in the 5onth

of $uly' 5onstrous heaps of ice were found floating on the sea!

BThere

was'B so Sebastian told his friend' Bin a 5anner' continual

daylight!B

The forbidding aspect of the coast' the bitter cold of the northern

seas' and the boundless etent of the silent drifting ice' chilled

the

hopes of the eplorers! They turned towards the south! Day after day'

week after week' they skirted the coast of 3orth A5erica! 6f we 5ay

belie4e SebastianBs friend' they reached a point as far south as

Gibraltar in Europe! 3o 5ore was there ice! The cold of Labrador

changed to soft bree@es fro5 the sanded coast of Carolina and fro5

the

5ild waters of the Gulf Strea5! ,ut of the fabled e5pires of Cathay

and

Cipango' and the Btowns and castlesB o4er which the Great Ad5iral was

to ha4e do5inion' they saw no trace! 1eluctantly the epedition

turned

again towards Europe' and with its turning ends our knowledge of what

happened on the 4oyage!

That the ships ca5e ho5e either as a fleet' or at least in part' we

ha4e certain proof! "e know that $ohn Cabot returned to ,ristol' for

the ancient accounts of the port show that he li4ed to draw at least

one or two instal5ents of his pension! ,ut the sunlight of royal

fa4our



no longer illu5ined his path! 6n the annals of English history the

na5e

of $ohn Cabot is ne4er found again!

The son Sebastian sur4i4ed to continue a life of 5ariti5e ad4enture'

to

be counted one of the great sea<captains of the day' and to enoy anhonourable old age! 6n the year %>%( we hear of hi5 in the ser4ice of

2erdinand of Spain! He see5s to ha4e won great renown as a 5aker of

5aps and charts! He still cherished the idea of reaching Asia by way

of

the northern seas of A5erica! A north<west epedition with Sebastian

in

co55and had been decided upon' it is said' by 2erdinand' when the

death

of that illustrious so4ereign pre4ented the reali@ation of the

proect!

After 2erdinandBs death' Cabot fell out with the grandees of the

Spanish court' left adrid' and returned for so5e ti5e to England!

So5eha4e it that he 5ade a new 4oyage in the ser4ice of Henry =666' and

sailed through Hudson Strait' but this is probably only a confused

re5iniscence' handed down by hearsay' of the earlier 4oyages! Cabot

ser4ed Spain again under Charles =' and 5ade a 4oyage to ,ra@il and

the

La #lata ri4er! He reappears later in England' and was 5ade 6nspector

of the ingBs Ships by Edward =6! He was a leading spirit of the

erchant Ad4enturers who' in EdwardBs reign' first opened up trade by

sea with 1ussia!

The 4oyages of the ,ristol traders and the enterprise of England by

no

5eans ended with the eploits of the Cabots! Though our ordinary

history books tell us nothing 5ore of English 4oyages until we co5e

to

the days of the great Eli@abethan na4igators' Drake' 2robisher'

Hawkins' and to the planting of =irginia' as a 5atter of fact 5any

4oyages were 5ade under Henry =66 and Henry =666! ,oth so4ereigns

see5

to ha4e been anious to continue the eploration of the western seas'

but they had not the good fortune again to secure such 5aster<pilots

as

$ohn and Sebastian Cabot!

6n the first place' it see5s that the fisher5en of England' as well

as

those of the ,reton coast' followed close in the track of the Cabots!

As soon as the Atlantic passage to 3ewfoundland had been robbed of

the

terrors of the unknown' it was not regarded as difficult! "ith strong

east winds a ship of the siteenth century could 5ake the run fro5

,ristol or St alo to the Grand ,anks in less than twenty days! 8nce

a

ship was on the ,anks' the fish were found in an abundance utterly

unknown in European waters' and the ships usually returned ho5e with

great cargoes! During the early years of the siteenth century

English'

2rench' and #ortuguese fisher5en went fro5 Europe to the ,anks in

great

nu5bers! They landed at 4arious points in 3ewfoundland and Cape

,reton'



and beca5e well acuainted with the outline of the coast! 6t was no

surprise to $acues Cartier' for instance' on his first 4oyage' to

find

a 2rench fishing 4essel lying off the north shore of the Gulf of St

Lawrence! ,ut these fishing crews thought nothing of eploration! The

har4est of the sea was their sole care' and beyond landing to cure

fishand to obtain wood and water they did nothing to clai5 or conuer the

land!

There were' howe4er' efforts fro5 ti5e to ti5e to follow up the

disco4eries of the Cabots! The 5erchants of ,ristol do not see5 to

ha4e

been disappointed with the result of the Cabot enterprises' for as

early as in %>)% they sent out a new epedition across the Atlantic!

The sanction of the king was again in4oked' and Henry =66 granted

letters patent to three 5en of ,ristol<<1ichard "arde' Tho5as

Ashehurst' and $ohn Tho5as<<to eplore the western seas! These na5es

ha4e a ho5ely English sound but associated with the5 were three

#ortuguese<<$ohn Gon@ales' and two 5en called 2ernande@' all of theA@ores' and probably of the class of 5aster<pilots to which the

Cabots

and Colu5bus belonged! "e know nothing of the results of the

epedition' but it returned in safety in the sa5e year' and the

parsi5onious king was 5o4ed to pay out fi4e pounds fro5 his treasury

Bto the 5en of ,ristol that found the isle!B

2rancis 2ernande@ and $ohn Gon@ales re5ained in the English ser4ice

and

beca5e subects of ing Henry! Again' in the su55er of %>)(' they

were

sent out on another 4oyage fro5 ,ristol! 6n Septe5ber they brought

their ships safely back' and' in proof of the strangeness of the new

lands they carried ho5e Bthree 5en brought out of an 6land forre

beyond

6relond' the which were clothed in ,eestes Skynnes and ate raw fflesh

and were rude in their de5eanure as ,eestes!B 2ro5 this description

written in an old atlas of the ti5eI' it looks as if the 2ernande@

epedition had turned north fro5 the Great ,anks and 4isited the

coast

where the Eski5os were found' either in Labrador or Greenland! This

ti5e Henry =66 ga4e 2ernande@ and Gon@ales a pension of ten pounds

each' and 5ade the5 BcaptainsB of the 3ew 2ound Land! A su5 of twenty

pounds was gi4en to the 5erchants of ,ristol who had acco5panied

the5!

"e 5ust re5e5ber that at this ti5e the 3ew 2ound Land was the general

na5e used for all the northern coast of A5erica!

There is e4idence that a further epedition went out fro5 ,ristol in

%>)&' and still another in %>).! 2ernande@ and Gon@ales' with two

English associates' were again the leaders! They were to ha4e a

5onopoly of trade for forty years' but were cautioned not to

interfere

with the territory of the king of #ortugal! 8f the fate of these

enterprises nothing is known!

,y the ti5e of Henry =666' who began to reign in %>)*' the annual

fishing fleet of the English which sailed to the A5erican coast had

beco5e i5portant! As early as in %>((' a royal ship of war was sent

to



the 5outh of the English Channel to protect the Bco5ing ho5e of the

3ew

2ound 6slandBs fleet!B Henry =666 and his 5inister' Cardinal "olsey'

were e4idently anious to go on with the work of the pre4ious reign'

and especially to enlist the wealthy 5erchants and trade co5panies of

London in the cause of western eploration! 6n %>(% the cardinal

proposed to the Li4ery Co5panies of London<<the na5e gi4en to thetrade

organi@ations of the 5erchants<<that they should send out fi4e ships

on

a 4oyage into the 3ew 2ound Land! "hen the 5erchants see5ed

disinclined

to 5ake such a 4enture' the king Bspake sharply to the ayor to see

it

put in eecution to the best of his power!B ,ut' e4en with this

sti5ulus' se4eral years passed before a London epedition was sent

out!

At last' in %>(F' two little ships called the Sa5son and the ary of

Guildford set out fro5 London with instructions to find their way to

Cathay and the 6ndies by 5eans of the passage to the north! The twoships left London on ay %)' put into #ly5outh' and finally sailed

therefro5 on $une %)' %>(F! They followed CabotBs track' striking

westward fro5 the coast of 6reland! 2or three weeks they kept

together'

5aking good progress across the Atlantic! Then in a great stor5 that

arose the Sa5son was lost with all on board!

The ary of Guildford pursued her way alone' and her crew had

ad4entures strange e4en for those days! Her course' set well to the

north' brought her into the drift ice and the giant icebergs which

are

carried down the coast of A5erica at this season for the 5onth was

$ulyI fro5 the polar seas! 6n fear of the 5o4ing ice' she turned to

the

south' the sailors watching eagerly for the land' and sounding as

they

went! 2our days brought the5 to the coast of Labrador! They followed

it

southward for so5e days! #resently they entered an inlet where they

found a good harbour' 5any s5all islands' and the 5outh of a great

ri4er of fresh water! The region was a wilderness' its 5ountains and

woods apparently untenanted by 5an! 3ear the shore they saw the

foot5arks of di4ers great beasts' but' though they eplored the

country

for about thirty 5iles' they saw neither 5en nor ani5als! At the end

of

$uly' they set sail again' and passed down the coast of 3ewfoundland

to

the harbour of St $ohnBs' already a well<known rende@4ous! Here they

found fourteen ships of the fishing fleet' 5ostly 4essels fro5

3or5andy! 2ro5 3ewfoundland the ary of Guildford pursued her way

southward' and passed along the Atlantic coast of A5erica! 6f she had

had any one on board capable of accurate obser4ation' e4en after the

fashion of the ti5e' or of 5aking 5aps' the record of her 4oyage

would

ha4e added 5uch to the general knowledge of the continent!

9nfortunately' the 6talian pilot who directed the 4oyage was killed

in

a skir5ish with 6ndians during a te5porary landing! So5e ha4e thought

that this pilot who perished on the ary of Guildford 5ay ha4e been

the



great na4igator =erra@ano' of who5 we shall presently speak!

The little 4essel sailed down the coast to the islands of the "est

6ndies! She reached #orto 1ico in the 5iddle of 3o4e5ber' and fro5

that

island she 5ade sail for the new Spanish settle5ents of San Do5ingo!

Here' as she lay at her anchorage' the ary of Guildford was firedupon

by the Spanish fort which co55anded the ri4er 5outh! At once she put

out into the open sea' and' heading eastward across the Atlantic' she

arri4ed safely at her port of London!

CHA#TE1 =6

281E1933E1S 82 $AC?9ES CA1T6E1

"e ha4e seen that after the return of the second epedition of the

Cabots no 4oyages to the coasts of Canada of first<rate i5portancewere

5ade by the English! This does not 5ean' howe4er' that nothing was

done

by other peoples to disco4er and eplore the northern coasts of

A5erica! The #ortuguese were the first after the Cabots to continue

the

search along the Canadian coast for the secret of the hidden East! At

this ti5e' we 5ust re5e5ber' the #ortuguese were one of the leading

nations of Europe' and they were specially interested in 5ariti5e

enterprise! Thanks to Colu5bus' the Spaniards had' it is true'

carried

off the grand pri@e of disco4ery! ,ut the #ortuguese had rendered

ser4ice not less useful! 2ro5 their coasts' utting far out into the

Atlantic' they had sailed southward and eastward' and had added 5uch

to

the knowledge of the globe! 2or generations' both before and after

Colu5bus' the pilots and sailors of #ortugal were a5ong the 5ost

successful and daring in the world!

2or nearly a hundred years before the disco4ery of A5erica the

#ortuguese had been endea4ouring to find an ocean route to the spice

islands of the East and to the great 8riental e5pires which'

tradition

said' lay far off on a distant ocean' and which arco #olo and other

tra4ellers had reached by years of painful land tra4el across the

interior of Asia! #rince Henry of #ortugal was busy with these tasks

at

the 5iddle of the fifteenth century! E4en before this' #ortuguese

sailors had found their way to the adeiras and the Canary 6slands'

and

to the A@ores' which lie a thousand 5iles out in the Atlantic! ,ut

under the lead of #rince Henry they began to grope their way down the

coast of Africa' bra4ing the torrid heats and awful cal5s of that

euatorial region' where the bla@ing sun' poised o4erhead in a

cloudless sky' was reflected on the boso5 of a stagnant and

glistening

ocean! 6t was their constant hope that at so5e point the land would

be

found to roll back and disclose an ocean pathway round Africa to the

East' the goal of their desire! ;ear after year they ad4anced

farther'



until at last they achie4ed a 5o5entous result! 6n %.JF' ,artholo5ew

Dia@ sailed round the southern point of Africa' which recei4ed the

significant na5e of the BCape of Good Hope'B and entered the 6ndian

8cean! Henceforth a water pathway to the 2ar East was possible!

2ollowing Dia@' =asco da Ga5a' lea4ing Lisbon in %.*F' sailed round

the

south of Africa' and' reaching the ports of Hindustan' 5ade the5ariti5e route to 6ndia a definite reality!

Thus at the 5o5ent when the Spaniards were taking possession of the

western world the #ortuguese were establishing their trade in the

redisco4ered East! The two nations agreed to di4ide between the5

these

worlds of the East and the "est! They in4oked the friendly offices of

the #ope as 5ediator' and' henceforth' an i5aginary line drawn down

the

Atlantic di4ided the real5s! At first this arrange5ent see5ed to gi4e

Spain all the new regions in A5erica' but the line of di4ision was

set

so far to the "est that the disco4ery of ,ra@il' which uts outeastward into the Atlantic' ga4e the #ortuguese a 4ast territory in

South A5erica! At the ti5e of which we are now speaking' howe4er' the

#ortuguese were intent upon their interests in the 8rient! Their

great

ai5 was to pass beyond 6ndia' already reached by da Ga5a' to the

further e5pires of China and $apan! Like other na4igators of the

ti5e'

they thought that these places 5ight be reached not 5erely by

southern

but also by the northern seas! Hence it ca5e about that the

#ortuguese'

going far southward in Africa' went also far northward in A5erica and

sailed along the coast of Canada!

"e find' in conseuence' that when ing anoel of #ortugal was

fitting

out a fleet of twenty ships for a new epedition under da Ga5a' which

was to sail to the 6ndies by way of Africa' another #ortuguese

epedition' setting out with the sa5e obect' was sailing in the

opposite direction! At its head was Gaspar Corte<1eal' a noble5an of

the A@ores' who had followed with eager interest the disco4eries of

Colu5bus' Dia@' and da Ga5a! Corte<1eal sailed fro5 Lisbon in the

su55er of %>)) with a single ship! He touched at the A@ores! 6t is

possible that a second 4essel oined hi5 there' but this is not

clear!

2ro5 the A@ores his path lay north and west' till presently he

reached

a land described as a Bcool region with great woods!B Corte<1eal

called

it fro5 its 4erdure Bthe Green Land'B but the si5ilarity of na5e with

the place that we call Greenland is only an accident! 6n reality the

#ortuguese captain was on the coast of 3ewfoundland! He saw a nu5ber

of

nati4es! They appeared to the #ortuguese a barbarous people' who

dressed in skins' and li4ed in ca4es! They used bows and arrows' and

had wooden spears' the points of which they hardened with fire!

Corte<1eal directed his course northward' until he found hi5self off

the coast of Greenland! He sailed for so5e distance along those

rugged



and forbidding shores' a land of desolation' with agged 5ountains

and

furrowed cliffs' wrapped in snow and ice! 3o trace of the lost

ci4ili@ation of the 3orse5en 5et his eyes! The #ortuguese pilot

considered Greenland at its southern point to be an outstanding

pro5ontory of Asia' and he struggled hard to pass beyond it westward

toa 5ore fa4oured region! ,ut his path was blocked by Benor5ous 5asses

of

fro@en snow floating on the sea' and 5o4ing under the influence of

the

wa4es!B 6t is clear that he was 5et not 5erely by the field ice of

the

Arctic ocean' but also by great icebergs 5o4ing slowly with the polar

current! The narrati4e tells how Corte<1ealBs crew obtained fresh

water

fro5 the icebergs! B8wing to the heat of the sun' fresh and clear

water

is 5elted on the su55its' and' descending by s5all channels for5ed by

the water itself' it eats away the base where it falls! The boatswere

sent in' and in that way as 5uch was taken as was needed!B

Corte<1eal 5ade his way as far as a place which was in latitude /)

degreesI where the sea about hi5 see5ed a flowing strea5 of snow' and

so he called it 1io 3e4ado' Bthe ri4er of snow!B #robably it was

Hudson

Strait!

Late in the sa5e season' Corte<1eal was back in Lisbon! He had

disco4ered nothing of i55ediate profit to the crown of #ortugal' but

his sur4ey of the coast of 3orth A5erica fro5 3ewfoundland to Hudson

Strait see5s to ha4e strengthened the belief that the best route to

6ndia lay in this direction! 6n any case' on ay %>' %>)%' he was

sent

out again with three ships! This ti5e the #ortuguese disco4ered a

region' so they said' which no one had before 4isited! The

description

indicates that they were on the coast of 3o4a Scotia and the adacent

part of 3ew England! The land was wooded with fine straight ti5ber'

fit

for the 5asts of ships' and Bwhen they landed they found delicious

fruits of 4arious kinds' and trees and pines of 5ar4ellous height and

thickness!B They saw 5any nati4es' occupied in hunting and fishing!

2ollowing the custo5 of the ti5e' they sei@ed fifty or sity nati4es'

and crowded these unhappy capti4es into the holds of their ships' to

carry ho5e as e4idence of the reality of their disco4eries' and to be

sold as sla4es! These sa4ages are described by those who saw the5 in

#ortugal as of shapely for5 and gentle 5anner' though uncouth and

e4en

dirty in person! They wore otter skins' and their faces were 5arked

with lines! The description would answer to any of the Algonuin

tribes

of the eastern coast! A5ong the nati4es seen on the coast there was a

boy who had in his ears two sil4er rings of =enetian 5ake! The

circu5stance led the #ortuguese to suppose that they were on the

coast

of Asia' and that a European ship had recently 4isited the sa5e spot!

The true eplanation' if the circu5stance is correctly reported'

would

see5 to be that the rings were relics of CabotBs 4oyages and of his



trade in the trinkets supplied by the 5erchants!

Gaspar Corte<1eal sent his consort ships ho5e' pro5ising to eplore

the

coast further' and to return later in the season! The 4essels duly

reached Lisbon' bringing their capti4es and the news of the 4oyage!

Corte<1eal' howe4er' ne4er returned' nor is anything known of hisfate!

"hen a year had passed with no news of Gaspar Corte<1eal' his brother

iguel fitted out a new epedition of three ships and sailed westward

in search of hi5! 8n reaching the coast of 3ewfoundland' the ships of

iguel Corte<1eal separated in order to 5ake a diligent search in all

directions for the 5issing Gaspar! They followed the deep

indentations

of the island' noting its outstanding features! Here and there they

fell in with the nati4es and traded with the5' but they found nothing

of 4alue! To 5ake 5atters worse' when the ti5e ca5e to asse5ble' as

agreed' in the harbour of St $ohnBs' only two ships arri4ed at the

rende@4ous! That of iguel was 5issing! After waiting so5e ti5e theother 4essels returned without hi5 to #ortugal!

Two Corte<1eals were now lost! ing anoel transferred the rights of

Gaspar and iguel to another brother' and in the ensuing years sent

out

se4eral #ortuguese epeditions to search for the lost leaders' but

without success! The #ortuguese gained only a knowledge of the

abundance of fish in the region of the 3ewfoundland coast! This was

i5portant' and henceforth #ortuguese ships oined with the 3or5ans'

the

,retons' and the English in fishing on the Grand ,anks! 8f the

Corte<1eals nothing 5ore was e4er heard!

The net great 4oyage of disco4ery was that of $uan =erra@ano' so5e

twenty years after the loss of the Corte<1eals! Like so 5any other

pilots of his ti5e' =erra@ano was an 6talian! He had wandered 5uch

about the world' had 5ade his way to the East 6ndies by the new route

that the #ortuguese had opened' and had also' so it is said' been a

5e5ber of a shipBs co5pany in one of the fishing 4oyages to

3ewfoundland now 5ade in e4ery season!

The na5e of $uan =erra@ano has a peculiar significance in Canadian

history! 6n 5ore ways than one he was the forerunner of $acues

Cartier' Bthe disco4erer of Canada!B 3ot only did he sail along the

coast of Canada' but did so in the ser4ice of the king of 2rance' the

first representati4e of those rising a5bitions which were presently

to

result in the foundation of 3ew 2rance and the colonial e5pire of the

,ourbon 5onarchy! 2rancis 6' the 2rench king' was a 4igorous and

a5bitious prince! His eploits and ri4alries occupy the foreground of

European history in the earlier part of the siteenth century! 6t was

the obect of 2rancis to continue the work of Louis M6 by

consolidating

his people into a single powerful state! His 5arriage with the

heiress

of ,rittany oined that independent duchy' rich at least in the

seafaring bra4ery of its people' to the crown of 2rance! ,ut 2rancis

ai5ed higher still! He wished to 5ake hi5self the arbiter of Europe

and

the o4er<lord of the European kings! Ha4ing been defeated by the

eually fa5ous king of Spain' Charles =' in his effort to gain the



position and title of Holy 1o5an E5peror and the leadership of

Europe'

he set hi5self to o4erthrow the rising greatness of Spain! The

history

of Europe for a uarter of a century turns upon the opposing

a5bitions

of the two 5onarchs!

As a part of his great design' 2rancis 6 turned towards western

disco4ery and eploration' in order to ri4al if possible the

achie4e5ents of Colu5bus and Cortes and to possess hi5self of

territories abounding in gold and sil4er' in sla4es and 5erchandise'

like the islands of Cuba and San Do5ingo and the newly conuered

e5pire

of onte@u5a' which Spain held! 6t was in this design that he sent

out

$uan =erra@ano in further pursuit of it he sent $acues Cartier ten

years later and the result was that 2rench do5inion afterwards'

pre4ailed in the 4alley of the St Lawrence and seeds were planted

fro5which grew the present Do5inion of Canada!

At the end of the year %>(& $uan =erra@ano set out fro5 the port of

Dieppe with four ships! ,eaten about by ad4erse stor5s' they put into

harbour at adeira' so badly strained by the rough weather that only

a

single seaworthy ship re5ained! 6n this' the Dauphine' =erra@ano set

forth on $anuary %F' %>(.' for his western disco4ery! The 4oyage was

prosperous' ecept for one awful te5pest in 5id<Atlantic' Bas

terrible'B wrote =erra@ano' Bas e4er any sailors suffered!B After

se4en

weeks of westward sailing =erra@ano sighted a coast Bne4er before

seen

of any 5an either ancient or 5odern!B This was the shore of 3orth

Carolina! 2ro5 this point the 2rench captain 5ade his way northward'

closely inspecting the coast' landing here and there' and taking note

of the appearance' the resources' and the nati4es of the country! The

4oyage was chiefly along the coast of what is now the 9nited States'

and does not therefore i55ediately concern the present narrati4e!

=erra@anoBs account of his disco4eries' as he afterwards wrote it

down'

is full of picturesue interest' and 5ay now be found translated into

English in HakluytBs =oyages! He tells of the sa4ages who flocked to

the low sandy shore to see the 2rench ship riding at anchor! They

wore

skins about their loins and light feathers in their hair' and they

were

Bof colour russet' and not 5uch unlike the Saracens!B =erra@ano said

that these 6ndians were of Bcheerful and steady look' not strong of

body' yet sharp<witted' ni5ble' and eceeding great runners!B As he

sailed northward he was struck with the wonderful 4egetation of the

A5erican coast' the beautiful forest of pine and cypress and other

trees' unknown to hi5' co4ered with tangled 4ines as prolific as the

4ines of Lo5bardy! =erra@anoBs 4oyage and his landings can be traced

all the way fro5 Carolina to the northern part of 3ew England! He

noted

the wonderful harbour at the 5outh of the Hudson' skirted the coast

eastward fro5 that point' and then followed northward along the

shores

of assachusetts and aine! ,eyond this =erra@ano see5s to ha4e 5ade

no



landings' but he followed the coast of 3o4a Scotia and 3ewfoundland!

He

sailed' so he says' as far as fifty degrees north' or al5ost to the

Strait of ,elle 6sle! Then he turned eastward' headed out into the

great ocean' and reached 2rance in safety! 9nfortunately' =erra@ano

did

not write a detailed account of that part of his 4oyage which relatedto Canadian waters! ,ut there is no doubt that his glowing

descriptions

5ust ha4e done 5uch to sti5ulate the 2rench to further effort!

9nhappily' at the 5o5ent of his return' his royal 5aster was deeply

engaged in a disastrous in4asion of 6taly' where he shortly 5et the

crushing defeat at #a4ia %>(>I which left hi5 a capti4e in the hands

of his Spanish ri4al! His absence crippled 2rench enterprise' and

=erra@anoBs eplorations were not followed up till a change of

fortune

enabled 2rancis to send out the fa5ous epedition of $acues Cartier!

8ne other epedition to Canada deser4es brief 5ention before we co5e

toCartierBs crowning disco4ery of the St Lawrence ri4er! This is the

4oyage of Stephen Go5e@' who was sent out in the year %>(.! by

Charles

=' the ri4al of 2rancis 6! He spent about ten 5onths on the 4oyage'

following 5uch the sa5e course as =erra@ano' but ea5ining with far

greater care the coast of 3o4a Scotia and the territory about the

opening of the Gulf of St Lawrence! His course can be traced fro5 the

#enobscot ri4er in aine to the island of Cape ,reton! He entered the

,ay of 2undy' and probably went far enough to reali@e fro5 its tides'

rising so5eti5es to a height of sity or se4enty feet' that its

farther

end could not be free' and that it could not furnish an open passage

to

the "estern Sea! 1unning north<east along the shore of 3o4a Scotia'

Go5e@ sailed through the Gut of Canso' thus learning that Cape ,reton

was an island! He na5ed it the 6sland of St $ohn<or' rather' he

transferred to it this na5e' which the 5ap<5akers had already used!

Hence it ca5e about that the B6sland of St $ohnB occasions great

confusion in the early geography of Canada! The first 5ap<5akers who

used it secured their infor5ation indirectly' we 5ay suppose' fro5

the

Cabot 4oyages and the fisher5en who freuented the coast! They 5arked

it as an island lying in the B,ay of the ,retons'B which had co5e to

be

the na5e for the open 5outh of the Gulf of St Lawrence! Go5e@'

howe4er'

used the na5e for Cape ,reton island! Later on' the na5e was applied

to

what is now #rince Edward 6sland! All this is only typical of the

difficulties in understanding the accounts of the early 4oyages to

A5erica! Go5e@ duly returned to the port of Corunna in $une %>(>!

"e 5ay thus for5 so5e idea of the general position of A5erican

eploration and disco4ery at the ti5e when Cartier 5ade his 5o5entous

4oyages! The 5ariti5e nations of Europe' in searching for a passage

to

the half<5ythical e5pires of Asia' had stu5bled on a great continent!

At first they thought it Asia itself! Gradually they were reali@ing

that this was not Asia' but an outlying land that lay between Europe

and Asia and that 5ust be passed by the na4igator before Cathay and



Cipango could rise upon the hori@on! ,ut the new continent was 4ast

in

etent! 6t blocked the westward path fro5 pole to pole! "ith each

4oyage' too' the resources and the nati4e beauty of the new land

beca5e

5ore apparent! The luuriant islands of the "est 6ndies' and the

A@tece5pire of eico' were already bringing wealth and grandeur to the

5onarchy of Spain! South of eico it had been already found that the

great barrier of the continent etended to the cold te5pestuous seas

of

the Antarctic region! agellanBs 4oyage %>%*<((I had pro4ed indeed

that by rounding South A5erica the way was open to the spice islands

of

the east! ,ut the route was infinitely long and arduous! The hope of

a

shorter passage by the north beckoned the eplorer! 8f this north

country nothing but its coast was known as yet! Cabot and the

fisher5en

had found a land of great forests' swept by the cold and leaden seasof

the Arctic' and holding its secret clasped in the iron grip of the

northern ice! The Corte<1eals' =erra@ano' and Go5e@ had looked upon

the

endless panora5a of the Atlantic coast of 3orth A5erica<<the glorious

forests draped with tangled 4ines etending to the sanded beaches of

the sea<<the wide inlets round the 5ouths of 5ighty ri4ers 5o4ing

silent and 5ysterious fro5 the heart of the unknown continent! Here

and

there a painted sa4age showed the bright feathers of his headgear as

he

lurked in the trees of the forest or stood' in fearless curiosity'

ga@ing fro5 the shore at the white<winged ships of the strange

4isitants fro5 the sky! ,ut for the 5ost part all' sa4e the sounds of

nature' was silence and 5ystery! The wa4es thundered upon the sanded

beach of Carolina and lashed in foa5 about the rocks of the iron

coasts

of 3ew England and the 3ew 2ound Land! The forest 5ingled its 5ur5urs

with the wa4es' and' as the sun sank behind the unknown hills' wafted

its perfu5e to the anchored ships that rode upon the placid boso5 of

the e4ening sea! And beyond all this was 5ystery<<the 5ystery of the

unknown East' the secret of the pathway that 5ust lie so5ewhere

hidden

in the bays and inlets of the continent of silent beauty' and abo4e

all

the 5ysterious sense of a great history still to co5e for this new

land

itself<<a sense of the 5ur5uring of 5any 4oices caught as the

undertone

of the rustling of the forest lea4es' but rising at last to the

5ighty

sound of the 4ast ci4ili@ation that in the centuries to co5e should

pour into the silent wildernesses of A5erica!

To such a land<<to such a 5ystery<<sailed forth $acues Cartier'

disco4erer of Canada!

,6,L68G1A#H6CAL 38TE



The 6celandic sagas contain legends of a disco4ery of A5erica before

Colu5bus! ,ena5in de Costa' in his B#re<Colu5bian Disco4ery of

A5ericaB' has gi4en translations of a nu5ber of these legends! 8ther

works bearing on this 5ythical period are: A! ! 1ee4esBs BThe

2inding

of "ineland the GoodB $! E! 8lsonBs BThe =oyages of the 3orth5enB in

=ol! 6 of the B8riginal 3arrati4e of Early A5erican HistoryB' editedby

$! 2! $a5eson 2ridtof 3ansenBs B6n 3orthern istsB and $ohn

2iskeBs

BThe Disco4ery of A5ericaB! A nu5ber of general histories ha4e

chapters

bearing on pre<Colu5bian disco4ery the 5ost accessible of these are:

$ustin "insorBs B3arrati4e and Critical History of A5ericaB

Charle4oiBs BHistoire et description generale de la 3ou4elle 2ranceB

%F..I' translated with notes by $! G! Shea %JJ/I Henry HarrisseBs

BDisco4ery of 3orth A5ericaB and the BConuest of CanadaB' by the

author of BHochelagaB!

There are nu5erous works in the Spanish' 2rench' 6talian' and Englishlanguages dealing with Colu5bus and his ti5e! #re<e5inent a5ong the

latter are: 6r4ingBs BLife of Colu5busB "insorBs BChristopher

Colu5bus

and how he 1ecei4ed and 65parted the Spirit of Disco4eryB HelpsBs

BLife of Colu5busB #rescottBs BHistory of 2erdinand and 6sabellaB

Cro5ptonBs BLife of Colu5busB St $ohnBs BLife of Colu5busB and

aorBs BSelect Letters of Colu5busB a Hakluyt Society publicationI!

Likewise in e4ery i5portant work which deals with the early history

of

3orth or South A5erica' Colu5bus and his 4oyages are discussed!

The literature dealing with the Cabots is uite as 4olu5inous as that

bearing on Colu5bus! Henry HarrisseBs B$ohn Cabot' the Disco4erer of

3orth A5erica and Sebastian' his Son a Chapter of the ariti5e

History

of England under the Tudors' %.*/<%>>FB' is a 5ost ehausti4e work!

8ther authoritati4e works on the Cabots are 3icholsBs B1e5arkable

Life'

Ad4entures' and Disco4eries of Sebastian CabotB' in which an effort

is

5ade to gi4e the chief glory of the disco4ery of A5erica not to $ohn

Cabot' but to his son Sebastian DawsonBs BThe =oyages of the Cabots'

%.*F and %.*JB' BThe =oyages of the Cabots' a SeuelB' and BThe

=oyages

of the Cabots' Latest #hases of the Contro4ersyB' in BTransactions

1oyal Society of CanadaB ,iddleBs Be5oir of Sebastian CabotB

,ea@leyBs B$ohn and Sebastian Cabot' The Disco4ery of 3orth A5ericaB

and "eareBs BCabotBs Disco4ery of A5ericaB!

A nu5ber of European writers ha4e 5ade able studies of the work of

=erra@ano' and two A5erican scholars ha4e contributed 4aluable works

on

that eplorerBs life and achie4e5ents these are' De CostaBs

B=erra@ano

the Eplorer: a =indication of his Letter and =oyageB' and urphyBs

BThe =oyage of =erra@anoB!

6n addition to the general histories already 5entioned' the following

works contain 5uch infor5ation on the 4oyages of the forerunners of

$acues Cartier: #ark5anBs B#ioneers of 2ranceB ohlBs BDisco4ery of



aineB "oodburyBs B1elation of the 2isheries to the Disco4ery of

3orth

A5ericaB in this work it is clai5ed that the ,asues antedated the

CabotsI DawsonBs BThe St Lawrence ,asin and 6ts ,orderlandsB

"eiseBs

BThe Disco4eries of A5ericaB BThe $ournal of Christopher Colu5busB'

and BDocu5ents relating to the =oyages of $ohn Cabot and GasparCorte<1ealB' translated with 3otes and an 6ntroduction by Sir

Cle5ents

1! arkha5 and ,iggarBs BThe #recursors of $acues Cartier'

%.*F<%>&.B! This last work is essential to the student of the early

4oyages to A5erica! 6t contains docu5ents' 5any published for the

first

ti5e' in Latin' #ortuguese' Spanish' 6talian' and 2rench dealing with

eploration! The notes are in4aluable' and the docu5ents' with the

eception of those in 2rench' are carefully though freely translated!

2or the nati4e tribes of A5erica the reader would do well to consult

the BHandbook of A5erican 6ndians 3orth of eicoB' published by the

,ureau of A5erican Ethnology' and the BHandbook of 6ndians ofCanadaB'

reprinted by the Canadian Go4ern5ent' with additions and 5inor

alterations' fro5 the preceding work' under the direction of $a5es

"hite' 2!1!G!S!

the dawn of canadian history

Documents