The Site of the Lost Colony of Greenland Determined, and Pre-Columbian Discoveries of

America Confirmed, from 14th Century Documents

Author(s): R. H. Major
Source: Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London, Vol. 43 (1873), pp. 156-206
Published by: Blackwell Publishing on behalf of The Royal Geographical Society (with the
Institute of British Geographers)
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1798626
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AIAJORon the Site of tAze

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deternzsled,and
1II. lthe SzZeof thelost Colonyof G[reentctnd
Pre-ColumbianDtscoreies of Anxericaconfirncedfqossz14t71
F.S.A.,SecretaryR.G*S.
Docxments. BYR. lI. MAJOR,
Centql,ry

9th,1873.]
[Read, JUne
31wobjectin the presentpaperis to bringbeforeyou tvo geoofb
graphicaldocuments,one Yerletian,the other Greenlandie,
the closeof the fourteenthcentury:to demonstratefrominternalevidencethe authenticityof the former,which has beell
dollbtedandevendenied,and to proveby a geographicaldisof the latter,whicllhadbeell
coveryof my ownthe correctness
impugnedon a very vital point; and,havingestablishedtlle
to determinefrom
andvalidityof bothdocuments,
genuineness
them beyondall disputethe true site of the lost Greenland
Colony,andto showthat at that period,which^sasa hundred
yearsbeforethe greatsoyageof Columbusacrossthe Atlantic,

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44

JTOTYPE

thePre-Colu)lbianDiscoveriesof America.

1o(

tllerestill existedremainsof the ancientScalldinaviall

colonists
in ENorth
America. The outline of the Venetianstoryis as
follo^s: rToxvards
tlle closeof the fourteenthcentuly(the precise date lvill be matterfor specialconsideration
presently),
NicoloZeno,?1metnbelof oneot the noblestand most ancient
familiesin Venice,wentat llis Oll expenseon a voyage,rather
of curiositythanof discoselv,illtO the Northernseas. For a
long seriesof yearsbeforehis time,the Flandersxoyat,efrom
Vellice had beell a matterof annualoccurrence,
but chance
gaveto thisvoyayea *ely peculiarinterest. Nicolo Zeno^ras
wreckedOllwhathe describesas tlle islandof Frislanda,
andhe
and his companions
were rescuedfrom the wreckersby the
chiefof a neighbouring
principality,
narnedZichrnni,
who happened to be there,alld into lvlloseservicehe enteredin tlle
capacityof pilotofshisfleet. After remainingwithtlliscllieftain
a yearO1so,NicoloZeno *vrotehome to llis brotherAntonio,
invitingllim to join him,which he did. Nicolo surxrived
his
brother'salrival four yeals,and died in Frislanda. Antonio
renlailledten yeal.smoreill tlle serviceot Zichruni,
and then
returnedto ATenice,
lvherehe died,as faras we mayjudgefrom
tlle annals,aboutthe year1405Ol1406. It is fiomthe abovenentionedletter of Nicolo to Alltonio,and subsequent
letters
fiom Antonioto a third brother,Catlo (a verydistinguislled
manin Venetianhistory),tllat the narrativeof the movements
of the twoblothersis derived.
Aftel Antonio'sarrisal tlle t^robrotllers
accompanied
Zicllmni
in a victorious
attaekon wllatca e clearlyshowntO be the
511etlancl
group,althoughnamedEslanda. 'lahenarrative,
hovever, fortunately
treatsat greaterlength on tsso much more
importallt
subjects;viz.,a visit by Nicolo Zenoto (;reenland,
whicllhe callsEngloneland,
andthe observations
of soznefisheren in twopartsof Nolth America,calledrespectivelyEstoti]andand Drogeo,ShOWill3
the esistence at tllat period,more
thana centllrybeforethe tillle of ColumbusS
of the remainsof
thoseold Scandinavian
colcxnists
mentioned
by Adalllof Bremell
in tl-leeleventh,and Ordericus
Vitalis in the t+^telfth,
century,
arldaboutlvhomwe haveleallledso BlUCll ill tlle presentcentury fromthe DanisllantiquariosC. C.Rafn and others. The
wholestoryhad been writtenout by ArltontoZeno,louta descendantof his, namedNicoloZeno,bornin 1515,wheIla boy,
not knonving
the xralue
of thesepapers,tore themup, lout,sorne
of the letterssurviving,he wasableflotathemsubsequently
to
compilethenarrativeandpublishit, as wenow llawve
it, in the
year 1558. He foundalso in the palace a map,rottenwitl
age, illustrativeof tlle voyages. Of tlliS he nladea copr, Ullltlekilysupplying,fromhls own reaclint,of the narrative,
what

158 MAJOR
on tAleSite of the lost Colonyof Greenlandand

he thoughtxvasrequisitefor is illustration.The first to do

himselfhonourby-vindicatingthe truth of the Zenostorylvas
the distinguished
companion
of CaptainCook,JohannReinhold
iForster,
in his ' Historyof tlle VoyagesandDiscoveriesin tlle
North,'publishedin German,XFrankfort,
1784, Engl?>sh,
London,1786,4to; but the valueof his clissertation
is marredby
manywild conjectures.Eggers,in his well-knownprizeessay
on the ' TrueSite of the OldEast Greenland,'
Kiel,1794,8vo,
^tasanotheradvocateof the truthof the narrative. Earlyin
this centuryCardinalZurlawrotea lengthyworkin favourofM
the voyages,but was so far froln realisingthe fact that the
Frislandaof the Zenowasthe FseroeIslands,as is plainlyclernonstrable
frominternalevidence,that he concludedthat it
represented
someislandsincesubmerged.Zach,Buache,Malte
Brun,Walekenaer,
de la Roquette,andthe Polish geographer
JoachimLelewel,llaveall beenadvocatesof the narrative. In
1845,the Danishantiquary,
J. H. BredsdorS,
wrotea valuable
paperon the subjectin the third volumeof ' Gronland's
HistoriskeMindesmaerker,'
andhasbeenmoreaccurateand judiciousthanany of his predecessors
in his conjecturesandcommentariesoll difficultpoints. But what is wantedis not
conjecture
but demonstration,
and BredsdorS,
in commonwith
all the rest,hasfailedin detectingthosesimplefactsconnected
withthe historyof the documentwhichwouldhave led to inevitablecollelusions
in its favour. The deniersof the aut:henticityof the document
havebeennumerous,
andevenso late as
the presentyear,the distinguished
ProfessorKonradMaurer
hasprintedhis opinionthatthe Zellonarrativeis a compilation
of NicoloZenojunior'sfroma varietyof sourees. But of all
thosewhohavethrowndiscreditupon tlle document,
the most
conspicuous
is AdmiralZahrtmann,
the late Hydrographer
to
the DanishAdmiralty,who,in the year 1836,publishedin the
fifthvolumeof our Society'sJournal,an article of the most
learnedande]aboratecharacter
translatedfromthe Danish,the
objectof whichis to provetleatthe wholestoryis Z false" and
"a tissueof fiction,"emanatingfrom the pen of Sicolo Zeno
junior,in 1558. It wassaidwithgreattruthby a writerin the
'Nortll AmericanReviexv'for July 1838, after speakingof
the variousdistinguished
personswho have disputedor vindicatedthe credibilityof this narrative: " The most formidable
assailantof the Venetiantitle to the discoveryof the New
Worldis yet to be named. The essayof CaptainZahrtmann
of the Danish1lavy,originallypublishedin the Transactions
of
the RoyalAntiquarian
Societyof Copenhagen
in 1833,andsubsequentlycommunicated
to the LondonGeographical
Society,
is by farthe ablestatteinptever madeto shakethe authority

tltePre-Columbian
Discoveriesof America.

159

of the voyagesof the Zeni. l7Vemust say that our frst impressionsafterperllsingthat masterlyproductioll,
wereso strong
aOainsteven the possibletruth of the account,that we wellnighresolvedto abandonthe matteras beyolldall hope of surgerywithoutbestowinganotllerthou^,httlponit. The writer
bringssucha massof prftnctfacie
proofto bearuponthe subject, and discoversso mallyloose pOilltS and apparentinconsistenciesin the story,thatthe argumentcomesuponone with
the force of demonstration.At the samf3time, the perfect
freedomof the paperfromvituperativeremark,and the admirablecoolnessas well as skill withwlhich
theoperator
dissects
Iaisvictim,arefar fromdiminishingthe effect producedupon
tlle lnind. A more carefulexamination,
howevel;of this elaborateeffortfromthe penof so profound
a scholarhassuggested
severalideasthat cletract,to some extent,fromthe conclusive
character
of the argument,andleavea ray of hope to the san,uine admirersof Velletianprowess."I trustthat,if thereader
vill be pleasedto followme throughtllispaper,it will befound
thattllis "rayof hope" hasnowexpandedinto noon-daylight.
The resultof my investigationhas been to prove Admiral
Zahrtmanil,
eitherin his factsor hisdeductions,
wrongon every
point,andto convicthimof throwinguponan honollrable
man,
occupvingno less cLlistinguished
a positionthan that of one ot:
the Councilof Tenof the Republicof Venice,a seriesof aspersionsof the most ungenerous
character.The ' NorthAmerican' reviewerjust quotedcommendsAdmiralZahrtmann
for
refraining
fromvituperative
remark. "Falsehood"and"tissue
of fiction" appliedto differentpartsof the narrat;ve,
aretolerablystrongexpressions,but, if true,wouldle justifiablein
criticism. HowdiSerentwas the verdictof the illustriousand
far-seeingHumboldt,who, with his usual large-mindedness,
althoughhe had perceiveclthe difficultiesattachingto the
narrativeof the Zeni,said," Ony trouvede la candeuret des
clescriptions
detailleesd'objets,
dontrienen l'Europene pouvoit
leuravoirdonnel'idee." (Ezagrzen
Ctttigqbe,torn.ii. p. 122.)
True,the complications
and difficultieswhich surroundthis
narrative
aresuchas amplyto justifyveryseriousdoubtsin the
mindsof thosewhohave nevermadea specialanalysisof the
subject. AdmiralZahrtmarln,
howearer,
hasdevoteclXuery
speciat
attentson
to sllchan analysis,and yet hasfailedto perceivethe
factswhichshouldhaveavertedsuchopprobrious
epithets. Not
the least importantof these is, that, in fising the localities
writtendownby a Southerner,
fromthe lips of Northerners,
it is requisiteto followstrictlythe wordsof tlle narrative,
and
to see whatnamesin the route tally,nottn fornx,buttn sound,
withthosewrittendown. Thishas neverbeendone.

160

5iAJOR

on

theSiteof thelostColo)ly
of Greeltland
and

AdmiralZahrtmannsummariseshis esaminationof tlse salbject into the four folloxvingconclusions:" 1. That there neverexisted an island of Frislalld; but that
hat llas been represelltedly that name ia the chart of the
Zeni is the Feroe Islands.
" 2. Tllat the said cllart llas loeencolllpiledfromhearsayillformation,and not by any seaman wlwollad himself llavigated
in these seas for sevelal yeals.
" 3. 'lahatthe ' Historyof the Voya(resof the -Zelli,'moreparticulalzlythat palatof it xvllichrelates to Nicolo, is so leplete
vitll fiction,that it cannot loe looked to for tanyillfUrlllatio
whateveras to the state of the lloltll at that time.
" 4. That both the llistory and the cllart wele lnost probaloly
compiled lJyWicolo Zerlo, a descend.llltof tlle Zeni, who fOI'
brevity'ssake may be called ' Nicolo Zetlojuniol,' fromaccounts
vhichcameto Italy in the middleof the sixteentllcentury,bein
the epoch urheninformationrespectint,Greenltlllclfirst reached
that country,alld *vheninterest was awalened for the colony
which had disappeared."
Tllese propositiolas,alld the argumentson wllich they are
based,I proposeto deal witll ill such older as sllall seem best
calculatedto bring the series of details clearly beforethe mind,
and will commencely tlanscribill the first I)ropositionand its
argulllents
en bloojllst as tlley emanate from Admiral Zahrtmanrt'sen. The propositionstallds thus:1st. " That tllere lleverexistedall Islandof Frisland,but tlat
vhat llas been repleselltedby tllat name in tlle cllart of the Zeni
is the Feroe Islands;" andthe followingis AdmilalZahrtmann's
argument:" 1. The fist point ilas already been proved
Buache,
}?",gers,and Malte Brull, by arguments wlaicllI shall llot
repeat, nor shall I relate the voyage itself; a tasli already
performedby various others. I shall only adcla fexvremarles
on the subject.
" Of the identity of Denmark,Norxvay,Sxseden,andScotland,
there can be no doubt; as not only theil relative positions,.tlleir
-outlines,an(l the names of many places ill them, but also tlleil
propernatnesill Latin, are decisive ploofs of this. Of tlle five
groups,Greerlland,Iceland,Shetland,tlle FeroeIslmds, alldthe
Orkneys,we recognisethe propernames of the threevllich end
in 'land'; whereastlle tso last, called in tllose davsFar^eyar
and Orkn-eyar,are llot to l;e found,tllese sounds being difficlllt
to Italianise, or even to be at a11caught or retailledby anv
Italian ear. The name Gronlandiais appliecl,it is tlue, to
quite a wrongplace, svhereno land is to be found; but tllat the
Engronelandin the chart, which in Antonio Zeno'saccount is
l)\r

theEre-Coltlmbian
l)iscoveries
of Smeriecl.

161

moreovercalled Gronlandiacorrespondswith the present

Greenland,is provedso esidentlybv its shape tllat I cannot
conceivehowEggerscould entertaina momerlt's
doubton the
subject,or couldbelievethat it waslandon tlle oppositesideof
Baffin'sBay; the moreso, as it is nonvascertained
that in that
bay thereis no St. James'sIslandin existence. The identity
of Iceland is provednot only by the name; Islanda,'but further
ly the names of the bishops'seesnScalodinand Olensis; that
these two names,in particular,should be so easily recognised,
and shouldbear so close a resemblanceto tlle Latin namesof
the places, seems to indicatethat the accountsrespectingthem
were drawn from ecclesiastical sources. Though Shetland is
called Estland,yet, in the first place,tllis is only a triflingtranspositionof the name in the spirit of the Italian language,and
not exhibiting any greater deviation than is found in the
other appellationsgisen at diCerentt;nes to these islands,sllch

as Hialtla3ld,
Yealtaland,Yetland,Zetland,and Hetland;and
besidesS
we recogniseso manynameshere,that we arealmost
temptedto believethat this waspreciselythe partof the chart
bestknownto the author. WYe{;nd,forexample,Cledere,.e.,
QueendalSumbercouit(SumberghHead), St. MaOnus(St.
hlagnusBay),Scaluogi(Scalloway),Bristund(BrassaSound),
Itlallt (Fetlar), Lonibies(Lambness),Oulefort(Olna-Firth),
and Oloford(Onge-Firth).And, further,the placingof St.
BtaC,nus andScallouray
on the eastsideinsteadof the westside,
naturallyleads to the inferencethat these names were not
copiedfromany otherchart,but laid downfromxerbaldepositions. These point3 being adtnitted,the Orkneysmust
naturallybe lookedfor betweenShetlandand Scotland,and
this Egt,terslaasdone,but in my opinionnot in a very satisfactorymanner. iEIesupposesthat tlle nan:leContanismaybe
assumedas Continent,or,in otherwords,Alainlalld,
the largest
of the Orkneys. I, on the other hatld,considerbeyonda11
doubtthat it meansCaithness(formerlycalled Katanes),the
mostnortherncountyin Scotland,a provincewhich,fromthe
evidenceof the ancientcodeof lawscalledthe Gragas,we know
belongedin theMiddleAgesto tlle CrownofNorway. Theonly
nameI fiIldto havea resemblance
to any namerinthe Orkneys
is Podalida,not unlike Pomonia,the prirlcipalislandill the:
Orkneys,or Pentland(formerlyPetland),the nameof thestrait
which separatesthem from Caithness. Podalidacorresponds
withPomoniain this respectalso that it is represented
as a
largeislaIldsurrollnded
by severalsmallerones. This,however,
is not quite satisfactory:we llave therefore,two groups
remainingunaccounted
for, viz., the Orkneysand the E'eroe
Islands,oneof whichmustof necessitybe Frisland:unlesswe
VOL. XLIIt.

162

MAJOR

on the Site of the lost Colonyof

Greenland
and

wouldsupposethat a seaman,whohad for severalyearsnavigatedthe northernsea in all directions,

shouldhave remained
ignorantof the existenceof the Orkneysandthe :FeroeIslands,
andat the sametimeknonzrn
andlaid downa countrywhichhas
sincedisappeared,
andof which,moreover,
all theinhabitants
of
the northin those ageslladeverremainedin utterigoorance;
this appearsto me so very highly improbable,
that we may
safelypronounce
it to be impossible.If we subsequently
com.
parenamesalld positions,we shall find that Frislandcan be
nothingelse than the Feroe Islands;as the Rock hIonaco,at
the southerllpoint,exactlycorresponds
to the positionof the
Rock Munk,in respectto the Eeroe Islands,as the names
SuderoColfo,Streme,andAndefardmustof necessitybe consideredhomonymous
withSuderoSound,Stromoe,andAndefer;
and,finally,as the absolutegeographical
positionof Frisland
corresponds
betterto thatof the FeroeIslands,than is the case
with almostany of thoseplaceson the chart concerningthe
identityof whichno doubtcan be entertained.Thesouthend
of Fris;landfor example,is placedin the latitudeof the Feroe
Islands,wheleasthe northernextremityof Scotlandis placed
29,andall placesill Greenland,
Iceland,Shetland,Norway,and
Denmark,are placed about 6? too far northward. In like
manner,the easternextremityof Frislandis laid downexactly
as muchto the vestwardof the Naze as the westernextreinity
of the FeroeIslandsis distantfromthatpoint; whereasIceland
is placed109,andCapeFalewell20?of longitudenearerto the
Nazethanthey reallyare. Thiswas,therefore,
the placewhich
AntonioZeno,whoknewaslittle aboutFrislandaswedo,would,
accordingto hi.sbrother'sdescription,
be mostlikely to fall ill
withwhenhe wentill searchof him. It is furthermentioned,
that Estland (Shetland)lies betmreen
Frislandand Norway,
whichis its relativepositionto the FeroeIslands; and,finally,
it is expresslystatedthat Frislandwassubjectto the Wingof
Norway;but as lveknowwithcertainty,fromthe Grafflas
Code,
that no otherislandswerein this predicament
than those now
knownto us, it followsthat the countryin questionsrasthe
FeroeIslands."
Withtriflingexceptions,
I freelyaeceptallthatAdmiralZallrtmannheresaysas true: true,but not as a proofof the falsehood
of the voyagesof the Zeni,but of exactlythe contrary. It is
quitetruethattherewasno suchislandas Frislanda,
but,from
the namesadducedby AdmiralZahrtnlanrt
himselfas identical
in FrislandawiththoseoftheFeeroeIslands,it is equallyobvious
that the FneloeIslandswere represented
by the Frislandaof the
Zeno narrativeand map. We must take things as we find
tllem; andwhileimperfect
geography
olla mapof the fourteenth

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tAlePre-Columbian
I)iscoveriesof America.

163

or evenof the s;steenth cerltury,is no necessaryproofof its

inauthenticity,
the occurrenceof namesthereonwhichcan be
foundin no othercontemporary
map or document,butwhich
agree with the knowngeographyot to-day,is a very strong
proofindeedof its authenticity. But I have still furthereVlAenceto adduceill proofthat the Feroe Islandsa:ndFrislanda
wereidentical. A descriptionis givenin tha text of a soyage
made by NicoloZeno to Frislandato meet Zichlnnion his
return froma victoriousprogressthroughthe coulltry. By
carefullyfollowin;,the te:xt,we shallwith great facilitytrace
the routeon a luodernmap,andrealisetlleseveralpointsvisited,
and thereby,for thefirst {ime,removethe difficultieswhich
havearisenfromconjectures
as to whatthoseplacescouldbe
as representedby the quaintand distortedspellinggiven to
thembothin the ancientmapandin the narrative.It is oneof
tllosecaseswhichshonvthat apparenttriflesmayproveof great
moment. A moreinsignificant
transaction
than the
whichwe areaboutto trace on the mapof the F>eroeIslands
couldscarcelybe foundin history,andret it willgo farto settle
a difficultywhichhas perplssedthe mi:nds
of someof the most
distinguishedliterati of diSerentcountriesin Europe. WYe
commencethe routewithoutevena shadeof uncertainty.Tlle
wordsof the narrativeare,"They sailed to the westwards"
(whenceis not said,blltthe followingwoldsrenderthe omissionof :noimportance),
' andwith little troublegainedpossessionof LedovoandIlofe,andothersmallislands,in a gulfcalled
Sudero." The adjoiningzmap
will showbeyondall question
that SuderoGulf, or as we call it SuderoeFjord,lies between
the islandsof SuderoeandSandoeandthe islandsdescribed
as
LedosoandIlofe,&c. mustof necessitybe Lille Dimon Store
Dimon,andSkuoe; andwe have no diiqiculty
in understanding
llow fle VenetianZeno, hearingLille Dimon utteredby a
northerner,
shouldg;veto the soundwhichhe heardthebrm of
"Ledovo." A arerygood sut,gestionhas beenmadeby BredsdorfSin his article on the Zenovoyagesin CGronlands
HistoriskeMindesma3rker,'
thatthe';I "irtIlofehasbeenmistakenly
writtenby NicoloZeno,junior,foran"S,2'andthuswelnay see
that Skuoeeasilybecomeswllellwrittendownby thesoutherner,
Sloi. The text goeson to say, that;; in the Gulfof Suderoe,
in the harbouroi the countrycalled Sanestol,they captured
some small barksladen with fish." The harbourof Sandsbugt,ill the island of Sandoe(Sanestol),corresponds
e:xactly
withthe positionanddescrptionof this annamedharbour.The
trackthenceis thusdescribed:"Makingtheircollrsestill westwards,theycameto the othercapeof the gulf,"whicllcapecorrespondswith the south-westpoirltof Sandoe,as seen in the
passatfe

aeld
lostColoeyof Greertland
164 MAJORontheSiteof t1ze

modernmap; " thenturningagain,"thatis, roundiDg the cape,

c;theyfell in withcernorthwardS?
proceeding
andconsequently
fairl islandsand lalldswhichthey brought}nto possessionof
Zichmn. This seawas in a manner{;1llof shoalsandrocks.'
it is obviousthat ''tlle
Tlle coursebeingnownorthwards
in whichlie tl-le
alldtStromoe,
is thatbetweenSarldoe
mentioned
small islets of Trothoved,Hestoe,andIVolter. Afterpassillg
these,"the captairldeterminedto laladat a placecalledBonand the track whichthe fleet wasnowtakingleads
dendon,B'
the name of which
straightinto the harbourof S=orderdahl,
tlansmutedby the Venetian
thereis no difficultyin supposint,
Zichmni'sarrival;and
into Bondendon.There they a^^taited
nhenhe arrived,the narrative
aftertlle recitalof whatoccurred
manner
thencethey lventin triuml?hant
states that "departillg
towardsFrislanda,the chief city of tllat island,on the southeastof it, lyinginsiclea bayin whichthereis suchgreatal3unc1ance of fish,that luany ships ale laclentherewithto supply
Flanders,Britain(England,Scotland),Norwav,andDenanark
alldby this tradethey gathergreatwealth." Now,knowingas
xYedo the customwhlchobtainedill the MiddleAgesof giving
to the capitalof a countrythe nameof the coutltryitself,we
callhave little doubtthat Flislandawasnot tlle caDitalof the
islandonly,but of the countryto w]lic}lthat namewasgixen;
recot,
that is, the wholeFseroegroup;andin it weaccordingly
the positionof hich on the islandof Stromoe
niseThorshavn,
preciselytallieswiththatof Frislalldain thenarratis-e.Nearly
is a fisherman;andit is a verycurious
evely manin tRhorshasn
andsign;fieantfact that whereaswe knowthat in oleltinlesa
was carriedon withIceland
amountof commerce
considerable
sea'7

irom the English ports of Bristol, Scarborough,rc* we hare

here an indication that the FaeroeIslands, which lay on the
route fromEnglandto Iceland,werenot omittedfromthat intercourseat the close of the fourteenthcentury. Even if Admiral
Zahrtmannhad not alreadysatisictorily shownthat iErislallda
and the Fuloe Islands were identical, from the occurrenceof
such names as Andefjord, Stromoe, Alonaco, &c., that factwouldbe conclusivelyestablishedby the track which we have
now been following; for even although any one shollldbe disinclined to accept the suggested versions of the intermediate
names, their individualandrelative positionswouldnevertheless
remain ill harnlony^ith the language of the test, while the
entranceinto the Gulf of Suderoefrom the east at the commencementof itS and the position of Frislanda,the capitalof
the country,as the point of arr;ral at its close, correspondso
exactly with the modernulap as to leave no roomfor doubt.
Now, when we turn fromthe Eroe Islandsof the modernmap

thePre-ColZzmbiaz
Discoveriesof Smerica.

16o

to tlle Frislandaof the Zenomap,of whichthe copyheregiven

is a pllotographic
facsimile,^vefind indeeda single islandof
preposterous
size,possiblybecauseit hadto receivethe largest
numberof names;but it will also be seentllat,in spiteof the
abnolmaldelineation
of tlle island,the placesindicatedin our
route-track
occupyexactlycorresponding
positionsthereon.
As to the ^^rord
Fris]arlda,
as AdmiralZahrtmalln,
llimselfa
Daue, tells us tllat ill ol(l I)anish these islandsxverecalled
Ftroisland,tlle transmutation
is by no meansdifEcult. Beanwhile,the inevritable
fact remainsthat tlle Fseloe groupws
representedby NicoloZeno,senior,in the fourteentllcentury,
I)ythe word"E5rislanda,"
alldthatthe process,
whateverit may
llave beell,laust llave beeIleasy,is prove(lby tlle fact that
allotherltalian, the illustriousChristopherColulnbus,wrote
the samexvorddowrlill exactlythe sameformin a note preservedby his sonFerdinalld
in his father'sbiography,
wherehe
says tllat, " in February1477 I sailed a hundredleagues
.beyondthe islandof rTile,the southernpart of whichis not,as
somewill have it, si2zttr-tilree,
but seventv-three,
de^,reesfrom
the equinoctialline. It lies lnuchmoreto the westthanthe
^resterrl
lneridianof Ptolenly. Thisislandis as largeas Encrlalld,aIldthe English,especiallytlloseof Bristol,go tllerewitll
their m*rchandise.At tlle tiale that I wasthele the sea was
not frozen,but tlle tide l'U:llS SO higll as in someplacesto rise
ancifall twenty-sixfclthoms.It is truethatthe Tile luentioned
by Ptolemylies wherehe saysit does,andthis is calledby tlle
modernsFrislanda."
Nowit is quiteuselessto spelldtimein discllssingthe many
geo^,raphical
blunderseIllbodied
ill tllis sllortllote. It is quite
sufficientthatColumbus
givesthe WO1'4 ;; Frislallda" in exactly
the sameformas Zenodoes,>ancl
evenmentionsit as a generally
recognisednaule,and sillce it llas alreadybeen demonstrated
thatFrislanda
andthe FceloeIslandsareidentical,eventhough
in (Solumbus's
lulullderiIlg
1lotesomesort of confusion
hasbeen
luadebetweenIcelandandtlle FcoroeIslallds,his blunderdoes
not do caxvay
with tllat iclentity. hIeanlvhile,
tlle fact that he
talludes
to, of the menof Blistolcarryillgtlleir commerce
into
tllose seas (it is well krlowllthat tlley tladed lvith Iceland),
resents tv those who apploachtlle inquily ill tlle spiritof
seekint,howthe commutation
of the wold call possiblybe esplained,insteadof howit cannotbe, a voryleasonalule
explallation of tlae difficulty;but as it has l)eeIl olejected
by sometllat
Columbusmay have picLedup the name flom Zeno,it is
necessaryto state that not ollly wele the tllreemen Nicolo
Zeno,senior,of the closeof the fourteenthcentury;C:hristopller Columbus,of tlle close of the fifte,ellthcelltu1y; and

166

MAJOR

on tAleSite of the lost Colonyof Greenlandawld

Nicolo Zeno,junior,the editor of his ancestor'sworkin the

middle of the si:xteenthcentury-perfectlyindeperldent
of
each otherpersonally,but no one of them had the meansof
knolvingthe nameas comingfrom any otherof them. The
Zeno storylay in the Zeno palace,llnknownto anybodyand
unvalued,until foundby Nicolo Zeno,junior,when he was a
boy. He was born in 1515, and Columbusdied in 1506.
Nlcolo Zeno,junior,publisheclhis ancestor's"Frislanda"in
155S,lolagbeforeanybodyhadheardof Columbus's
allusionto
the samename; for the statementof the great nalrigatorill
xvhichthat namewasmentionedwasnotgiventothe worldtill
1571,whenthe Italianversionof his SOllBerdinand's
biography
of his fatherwasSrstprinted.
But, in the abovequotedargumentsof AdmiralZahrttnannn
+ e haveseell3:<ot
onlynamesadducedwhichidelltifyFrislanda
witll the FaeroeIslands;but also similarevidenceamplysupplied fromthe map -but,be it observed,
not fromthe narrative- of namesestablishingthe identityof Estlandwith the
Shetlandgroup. There is also very good reasoning,indeed,
respectingthe Orlineysalld Caithness,
the correctness
of which
mustbe fully acknowledged.But to thesereasonings
I would
wishto adclsomecorrobolative
observations
of my own.
It will have been observedthat Zicllmniis styledLordof
PorlandaanclOuke of Sorano. The languageof the text isy
"He [Zichmni]+^asa great Lord,and possessedsome islan(ls
ealled Porlanda7
near to Frisland,on the south;" and " besides the said small islarlds,:hewas Lord of the Duchy of
Sorano,lying of the land and facingtowardsScotland." If
we lookto the Zenomap,we finclthe lwamePorlandaplaced
against some islands between Suderoe[which mea:nsthe
southernisland]and the BIonk. Now, not only do no such
islalldsexist; but, as Zichmnisails fronz Porland,his own
domain,to attackFrisland,it is clear that the formerwasnot
i7 Frisland,but hasbeen placedthereby NicoloZeno,juniorS
1lndera misapprehension
of the mearlingof the statementof
tlle te2ztthat"it lay nearto Frislandon tlle south."
We haveto look elsewhere,
then,forPorlanda;andthe narrativetells us to look southward
fromthe Feroe Islandsand
tolvardsScotland,whereSorano,anotherpropertyof Zichmnie
lay, andthis pointsus directto the Orkneys,+^hichn
it willbe
observed,
arenot laiddownby theirpropernames,as+seshould
laavee2zpected
them to be on the Zeno map. We do, hoxvever,find "Podanda,"xvhiehis placedin the very direction
* The cross-strokeof the " d " ill this word is broken in the map, and looks like
" rl," nd was so read by Admilsl Zahrtmann; but it is really " d."

thePre-Columbian
Discoveriesof America.

167

indicated,andtherecan be litt]e doubtthatthe "Podanda" of

the map and the "Porlanda"of the text are identical,the
" rl "of the onebeing easilymistakableby NicoloZeno,junior,
for the "d" of the other. And now we shall see how this
fits in with other'facts. It is to the learnedJollannReinhold
Forsterthat we are inclebted
for the valuablesuggestionthat
Zichmniis the VenetianZeno'srenderin for Sinclair. It
vas in 1379 that Eenry Sinclairof Roslynwas investedby
HaconVI., Kingof Norway,with the earldomof the Orklleys
and Caithness. rThedeclarationof Sinclair'sfealty to the
King is given entire by Torfaeus
in his 'Historyof the Orkneys,'p. 174. It will now be seell how Zichmni,Lord of
Porlanda,
is Sinclair,Lordof the Orkneys. But whyPorlanda
forOrkneys
? In the aI)senceof certaintyI ventureon a suggestion. Throughout
the narrativethis chieftainis nevernlentioned by his title, but alwaysby his sur:name.Wllen once,
therefore,Zenohadmadea noteof the territorial
possessions
of
this chiefastheymightchancetobecommunicated
to him,there
wouldarisenothingin dailyintercourseto correctsuch memot
randumif it wereeitherinaccurateor inadequate. We will
suppose,therefore,Zeno
cruisingin thePentlandFrith,whichlies
bet+vixt
Sinclair'slordshipsof OrkneyandCaithness,andhe is
informedby the sailors that he is now in the midst of the
clomains
of his lordship. IIe thereupontakes note fromtheir
lips of the namesof those domainsas they lie respectivelyon
the northandon the south. Onthe northlle wouldhavePentlancl,lvhiehby misspelling,
misreading
fromthe old writing,or
by Venetiantransmutation,
becomes,finally,Podandaor Porlanda; we havethe islandof Swonain the PentlandFrith (in
exactly the positionindicatedbnrthe text: "fra terraposta
del]abandaserso Scotia"), xvhichbecomes+^Jritten
downin the
text Sorano,and on the south lve have Contanes,which is
beyondall questionCaithness,for it is foundunderthawt
form
in severalother documents. It is necessaryto dwell on the
exactcorrespondence
of Swonawiththe positionof the Sorano
of the text, in orderto establishits identityin spite of the
ridiculousepithet of "Duchea" which is attachedthereto.
Whetherthe use of the wordoriginatedin ignorance,or bombast,$or both,we mustrememberthat the portionof the test
in whichit occurswasa compilation
by NicoloZeno,junior,from
the letter3of his ancestralnamesake;t.hat the latter was
ignorantof the languageof the north,andwouldpick llp his
information
withdifficulty;andthat epistolarycorrespondence
* Tlle grandiloquence which could en]arge a rocky i31et into a Duchy is
characteristic of the narrat*e which will be treated of more specially presently.

0?ZtheSite(f
168 =NIAJOR

and
of Greenla7td
thelostColong

can scarcely be expected to embody the severe accuracy of

history. The acceptanceby nzanycomtnentatorsof tlli.s most
unquestionableblunder of placin Porlanda ill the Foroe
Islandshas led only to confusion; vhereas under this neXY suggestion a variety of unquestionablefacts are broughtilltO llal:moniouscombination. But now tllat we halre seen that tlle
Zeno map possessesthe merit of colltainin;,a sariety of names
of places in the Fseroe group whicll we migllt llope in vain tc
find in any othor mal),evell of the coulparativelylate periocl
(1558) when it ^sasell^,zavedand published places recognisable by the light of modern geography Set us turn and see
what absurdblundersit exhibits in the misplacementof localities throuth the nrantof that light by Sicolo Zeno,junior,tlle
very mazlto whom xveare indebtedfor the documentitself. It
rnaybe asked on what ground these bluudersare attlibuted to
llinz. The answer is lery simple. They are all of tlwemost
preposterouscharacter,unlike anvthing else on the map. Tlley
condthoseoEy, whicAocourtn the q?arraconsist of thosequaJBes,
ttre, and aq the bearin,s ill the narlative agree witll moder
,eographr, it follows,beyond all doubt,that the blundershave
arisen froul the misreadinCof it. rThenarrativegives an account of a second ictorious campait,n, this time directed
against Estland, which it describes as lying upon the coast
betweenFrisla:cldand Norwarr,alld wllicllunmistakably,therefore, is Shetland. " Here thev did rnucll damage; but hearin^,
that a fleet of the Willg of Norway's was comiIlg to oppose
them, they departed,but with sucll a gale of wind that they
lost several of their vessels,and the rest +veredliven on a large
lyirlt to the south."
but uninhabitedisland, called Grislanda-,
Nicolo Zeno, junior, misreading Esland for Iceland, places
Grislandaoff8the southcoast of tllat island,and, in pursuanceof
the same mistake, endows Iceland with a cluster of seven
islands on its eastern coast, wllich will presently be seen to
belong to Shetland. Now south of Slletland lie the Orkneys,
of whicllis called Hross-eyor Gross-ey,and just
the WIainland
as the Ftroe Islands or Fseroislandbecameto Italian ears Frislanda,so ould Gross-eyor GrossIslandbecomeGrislanda,alld
tllat this, whatever the process of derivatiollmay be, is really
correctwe sllall immediatelyhave proof. News came that the
enemy'sfleet had been entirely wreckedin the said storm and
that the Shetlalads(alreadydescribedas
fieeing
ZiChRr1I1i
and ca]led in the Italian " le
betweenthe :Feeroesand Arorxvay,
Islande" in the plural,consequentlynot Iceland, but evidently
(exactly tlleir
"the Shetlands") taynotfclr Gg to thenorthward
positionmrithrespectto tlle Orkneys),resumedhis purpose.
The first place that he approachedxvascalled Islanda, and
iyintz

of America.
:Discoveries
tAlePre-Col2embiaz

169

3ust as we llave seen that the word"Frislanda" nas used for

$hecapitalof Frislandaor tlle Fuloe Islands,so lvelnustinfer
tllat ;'Islallda" is herethe capitalof the "Islande" or SIletlane
lslands,lvhereverthat mayhave beetl. Lerwielvclidnot then
exist. He foundit so well plotectedtllat he removedllis
calledthe S]letattack to the otllerislandsin tlloseclaanllels,
lands,seven in number:rralas(Yelli) Broas(East andMest
Barras)Iscallt(Unst) Trans(St. Ronan'sIsle) htimant(Mainland) Datnbere(Hamna)andBres (Bressay). He took them
a11,and builta brt in lXres,wherehe left tlessire:Nicolowith
somevesselsand men and stores,and he llimselfretllrnedto
a proper
Frisland. Now,tllereis no doubtthat " Islancla" oTas
thereire eminentlycalculatedtc)mislead
blm forIceland,ancT
NicoleZeno,junio;butit is llopedthatfromthe positionof the
betsreenthe F>elo Islalldsand NoruTay,
islandsin questionn
fromtheir descrition as lyillg " in those channels"fromthe
of the individualnameswiththe islands,and
colrespondence
tlle plulal genericnalne';le Islande"for the group,no clollbt
will be left on the reader'smindas to the ';Islallcle" beingthe
ShetlalldIslandsandnot Iceland,andtllat Grislandaoccupies
tlle positionof Grosseyin the Orlineys,the wildcoastof which
to any onedriven
lvouldgive it tlle aspectof beinguninhabited
on it in a storrn. Yet it will have lDeenseen thatwhilethe
llarrativeis consistentwith itself andwith moderngeography,
the map places Grislalldato the soutll of Icelalld,and the
islandshich have beellidentifiedwithShetlandale engrafted
we havea proofthat
this fXact
on the eastcoastof lceland. I1w
WicoloZeno,junio; the restorerof the map,is the causeof all
the perplexity. But while tllis is a ploofof his ignoranceof
the geograplly,it is the greatestproofthat couldbe desired
-thathe couldllotpossiblyhavebeenthe ingeniousconcocterof
truthof which,wllencheckedby
the deinonstrable
a narrative,
lle couldthus ignorantlydistortuponthe
uloderngeographfr,
ace of a map.
of tlle Northin the middleof the
of the geography
Ignorance
sixteentllcenturycanllotbe lookedUpOll slS a reploachto him
al1dI dwellUpOlltllenl because
but it had its consequences,
now advancedfor
I claimthe argulllentas a demollstration,
and truth of tlle original
4;lle fil'St time, of tlle authenticity
ocumellts.

I -enture to Illaintaintllat tllis proofis so conclusivethat

it couldnot be invalidated,even if we wereunableto find a
solutionof someof tlle puzzleswllichthe narrativearldmap
is llappilynot the case. 7e
presentto us. Sucll, honvever,
based
shallfindthat all of themcan lJeulet lVit]lexplanations,
but on solid and substantial
not on mere faney ol opinio:n,

OfGreenlandand
on the Site of the lost Colon?y
170 MAJOR

argumentsandfacts; andthe resultis, thatwhenwe llaveollce

fromtlaatlvhichis
been able to detachthatwllichis erroneous
correct,we find that those portionsof the ancientstoryvllich
or unintele2raggeration,
has-enot beenmarredby rnisreading,
ligent interference,are, xvithone exception,which +rill be
spokenof hereafter,in harmonywiththe knowledgewhichve
possessin the presentday.
But we must not yet quit this subjectof the attackupon
Shetland,whichthe llarrativexvouldlead us to understand
involveda conflictwiththe King of Norway.
Zahrtmannsayson this subject:"As to the warassertedto
llave beenwagedbetweenZichmniand the }Vingof Norway,
is the less entitledto belief,fromthe circumstance
this assertion
that therewas no king irlNorway,that countrybeing at that
periodunderthe governmentof QueenMargaret. Forster's
opinion,that ZichmnimightlzavebeenHenrySinclair,Earlof
the Orkneys,is altogetherdestituteof foundation;as that lord,
on whomthe said earldomwas bestowedin 1380 [sayrather
1379]by KingEaagan,bothin 1388and1389-as a Norwegian
of State signedthe act by whichEricof Pomerania
Councillor
trueheirof the realnl,andthereforeat that
rvasacknowledged
time could not have been in rebellionagainsttlie Crown.
Neither is there anyreasonfor supposingthat his earldom,
Shetland,wasin the meantimeattacked
+shichcomprehended
and completelyravaged,and yet the Danishhistorymakeno
,xllusiollto any such circumstance;moreespeciallywhenwe
again,in 1397,findthat Jonas,Bishopof the Olkneys,signed
whichsho^ts
act of Ericof Pomerailia,
the coronation
in (Jal::nar
betweenthe islandsandthe mothercOllutly
tllat the connection
lladcontinuedwithoutinterruption."
is perfectlyjust ancl
This criticismof AdmiralZahrtmann's
of viewmostcertainly,
fromhis pointof viesv,a poi:xlt
reasonable
by the languageof the text. But is
prtmc6 facze, sanctioned
there no possibilitythat that languageitself may not be
perfectly correct? AVehave already seen how the editorial
interventionof Nicolo Zeno,junior,introducedinaccuraciesinto
the map, which have been a perplexity and a trap to commentatorsever since. Now, no one can read the text without
perceivingthat while he has fortunatelygiven us entire pieces
of original matter,he has himself supp]iedthe cement which
bindsthe xvholetogetlle].
NVehave also seen by the examp]eof the map that lle lvas
capable of incorporatin;,into his publicationhis own vie^rsof
the facts related in the docutnentswhich he had before him;
and yet there is no legitimate reason to doubt that this vas
done conscientiously. Now, as we shall presently see, the

the

of America.
Pre-Colembian
Discoreries

17R

narrative,as we have receivedit from him, exhibitsbeyond

misleadingto the critic
a qualityexcessively
all contradiction
and that qualityis
whotakes eachwotd ab pzedde la tetGre,
hyperbole:yet no oneit;maybe hoped,whois aquaintedwi$h
the geniusof the Southernmind,vouldcolldemna tendencytcs
a certainamountof hyperbole,especiallyin the recordof the
deeds of an ancestor,as involv;nganyconsciouswant of integrity. At the sametime it is evenquitepossiblethat some
or all of the inflationof the languagemayhaveesistedin the
originallettel. Of this we haveno meansof judging. Nico]cs
Zeno,Junior,we do know; N]coloZeno,senior,we do not, in
howeverblamelessof the matter
regardof the sophistication,
whichhas reachedour hands. But that hyperbolehas been
indulgedin by the earlySicolo, or the later,or both,maybe
judged from the followingsentence. When Wicolo'sfleet
"they heardto their great
reachedBondendon(Norderdahl),
satisfaction
that Zichmnihad foughta great buttle,andplltto
of whichvictoryy
flightthe armyof the enemy; ill consequence
alnbassadors
weresent fromall partsof the islandto yieldthe
countryup into his hands,taking downtheir ensignsin every
townandvillage."
striking
It wouldbe difficultto findin all literaturea a:nore
of so
andbombastin the description
exampleof grandiloquence
pettyan occurrence.Andyet it wouldbe as unwiseto condemn
the realityof the scene, on accountof the vividnessof the
of
colouring,as it wouldbe to utter a sweepingcondemnation
becausehe placeshis houseand
tlle hospitalityof a Spaniard,
underthe
all that he possessesat our disposal. :Nevertheless,
rigid exacteessof criticism,this hyperbolehas exposedthe
documentto the gravestsuspieions,simplybecauseall hyperboleis a deviationfromstricttruth. Not oulyis the scantiness
of townsand villagesand populationin the Ftroe Islands
utterlyat variancewith the strictletter of the abovedescrip
tion; butthe lzeowngentlenessof the peoplewouldlead,and
to my ownknowledgehas lecl,to a denialof the truth of the
on theirshores.
storyof the attackon Zeno,whenfirstwreEked
I obJectto this denialon the groundsalreadyadvanced,and
proofof the
submitthatas we llavealreadyhad unanswerable
generalauthenticityof the story,we n:ustacceptthe exaggerationsas merelythe huskwhichsurroundsa real and genuine
that the elder Nicolo
kernel. Nowit must be acknowledged
factsin the
Zenorana greatrisk of imperfectlyapprehending
of his ignoranceof the languageof those
simplecircumstance
may have been the
amongstwhom he moved. NVhatever
characterof Sinclair'sso-calledtriumphantexpeditionin the
FxeroeIslands,it appearsprettycertainthat there has been

17

MAJOR O}t theStteof thelostColosly

?f Greestland
and

great misapprehensionon the palt of WicoloZeno,seniorfas to

the motives o? Sinclair'smovelllentsin the Shetland Islands, ol
eise there hanrebeen botll misreadingand exaggerationon the
3?artof Nicolo Zeno,junior,in dressingup tlle story.
Exaggerationis patent enoughin the statementsthat " learing t.llatthe King of Norvay +sascomin against them with a
great fleet to drawtllem off frorn this attack, they departed
undel a terlible gale of wind,'>and that '*the lVingof Norxvay's
Xeet being caught in the same stolm, was utteIly wreclSed.'2
NVe can seareely suppose the lsing to have acted in such a
movemerltin person or that llis whole Keet lras vlecked, and
yet so notablean event be unrecordedin histoly. Exag(reratiOll,
however, i.s not the onlv difficulty in tlle *vayof our
comprehendingthis attack on tlle Slletland Islands. Adrniral
Zallrtmanntraly states that Sinclair's ' earldomcomprehended
Shetland.' Sir NVilliamDouglas tells us in his ' Peeraffleof
Scotland>'p. 337, that tho ealldom had come into the familv
by the luarriageof El:enrySinclair'sf:atherSir WVilliam
Sinclail
of hoslyn, X itll Isabelle, one of tlle dauthters and co-heiressot'
Yla.ise, 3arl of Strathern, Caitllness, and Olkney. rThelast
ScandinasianYall lvas ttagnus?tlle father of Malise'sfirst vife.
Amont, the chaltels of Robelt III., Sing of Scotland, is one
confirm;nga chaoterdated tlle 23rd of Aplil, 1391 by Henly
de Sancto Claro,Eall of Orkneyalld Lolfi of Roslyn to I)avitl
cle Sancto Claro his brotllel, of tlle lands of Newburgll and
Auchdaleill Aberdeellshire," pro suo llomagioet bono servitio
nobis inapenso,et pro toto temporevita3suse impendendlo,at
etiam pro suo jure et c]ameo aliquali in partibusOrcadictseu
Schetlalldin3sibi latione Isabell de Sancto Claro,matris suse,
aliquo luodocontingente."
By this we see that Shetland ^srasincluded in the earldonl,
and se also see tlle aml)i>,uous
positionin Yhich Henry Sinclair
stood witll lefereilce to the two soeleigus of Norway ancl
Scotla}d.
It was from tlle Ising of Normaythat Heury Sinclair had
eceived in 1379 the recognitionof 11isclaim to tlle Earldomof
Orkney,but llis investiturewas lourdelled
with ser7ere
conditrons.
He sras lJoundto serve the King witll a hundred^rell-armed
men whellesrerrequired,UpOLa
a llotice of tllree months; to
elefendtlle ()rLueysand Slletlalldagainst any-invasion,llot only
zvithtIle llfltiXre
folee, but witll the wlaoleporer of his house;
to assist tlle ItinO hen he attacked ans tolseignState; llot to
louildany castles or ports in the islandsivithout the royal consentvand to assist the :Kinga{rai:nst
tlle 13isllopof OrLney,wllo
13elongedvirtually to the Scottish CllllrchS+vitllother clause.s
u71lich
need not here l)e ellumerated.

Discoreriesof America.
thePre-Collusr2hiarl

173

XVellave in tlle ' Orcades' of Torfseus,pp. 174-7, Sinclair's

own Deelarationof Fealty to the Iiing of Norway,in which all
these pledges on his part are fullv detailed. If, therefore,we
toolz the Zeno narrative ax pied de 7a letZreas revards tlliS
attaclvupon Shetland,and understoodit as a real conflictwith
the King of Norvay, we should find ourselves in a dilemma
fiom which it ^ould be next to impossibleto escape,for by such
be forfeited.
a transactionthe earldomszrould
Now there is very strong reason for suspecting that, ill the
present case, exag3eration,employed only for the glorification
of the occasion,has, froma foreigner'sliability to misapprehend
the true state of tlle case, led to tlle introductionof a false
element into the story. Only let it be assumed that the same
l)ombasticstyle of descriptioll which introduced arlrliesalad
ambassadorsand taking do+znof ensigns in every town arld
village of the poor and scantily peopled islalld of Stromoe,has
+vithequal accuracy,in the present case, brought the :Kingof
Norwaywith a large fleet 1lpon tlle scene of action,and our
difficultywill disappear. I have an historicalincidentto adduce
avhich will not ouly present a reasonableexplanationof the
mistalKeinto wllich, under this assuroption,Zeno would have
fallen as to the politicalnatureof tlle conflict,but it tallies both
in time * andplacewith the Zenostory,and involvesno infringe]nent of Sinclair'sfealty to the H:ingof Norway. In Sinclair's
l)eclalation of Fealty (Torftus, 'Orcades,'p. 176) occurs the
followint,passage: " NVealso promisethat, since we have been
alreadypromotedby our Lord tlle KinOhimself to the earldoln
and lordshipaforesaid,our cousin tIalise Sperremust cease from
his elailn anclaltogetherlay aside his very claim itself, if it is
decidedthat he has any, to the said lands and islands,so that
our Lord the Wing,his heirs and successors,shall endure no
vexation or annoyancefrom him or frornhis heirs."t Then,at
occursthe followingentry: "AnnoMCCCXCI.,
ae 178 of Torfueus
C:omesOrcadensisoccidit Mallisium Sparriumin Hialtlandia
cum septem aliis. Juvenis autem quidamcum sex aliis,navean
fuga evasit." " In the
sex (stc) scalmorumnactllsin Norve^,iam
ear 1391 the Earl of Orklleyslew AIaliseSperrein Shetland,
xvithseven othels. A certaill youth, llowever,vith six others
procurecla vessel at ScalloN-ayand escaped to Norway." \Ve
* The question of date will be fully dealt with a few pages farther on.

t Item promittimus quia ad comitatulll et ad domillium sxepefatum,per ipsum

Dominum nostrum Regem sumu3 jam promoti, quod consanguineus noster
Malisius Sperre cessare debet a jure suo, et ipsuln jus suum omnirlo dimittere, si
quod ad ipsas terras et insulas hlbere dignoscitur, ita quod Dominus noster
Xex, hxredes sui vel successores, nullam ab eo, aut ab ejus haredibus vexationem vel snolestiam sustinebunt.

174

,MAJOR

on the Site of the lost Colonyof Greenlaszd

and

have seen howthe earldompassedby marriagefromtlle old

Scandinavian
yarls into the houseof Sinclair,andthe llameof
Sinclair'scousin,MaliseSperren
is suggestivethathe wasof the
Norse side of the family,andthat in that capacltyhe put in
the rival claim to the inheritance,of whichSincIairhimself
speaks. Torfousdoesnot informus of the immediatecauseof
-theconflictin whichSperrewas slainby Sinclairin Shetland,
but there can be little doubtthat tllatcausewasthe disputed
lordshipof Shetland,andthat Sinclair,ill the incidentrecorded
-byZeno,wastakingpossession
defactoof thatwhichhe already
possesseddej?l,re,wllilehis contestswith his Norserivalwould
easilybear to Zeno'sintelligencethe aspectof a conflictwith
fNorway. It mustbe bornein mindthatthe authenticityof the
Zeno documentbeing now fundamentally
established,
we are
not calleduponto do morethan showthe Sotbtlstyof anyof
the facts related,but in the incidentjust recitedit must be
vallonved
thatwe llavea case not of possibilityonly,but of the
llighestprobability.
We nowcometo AdmiralZahrtrnann's
secondproposition,
whichis couchedin the followingterms: " Tllatthe saidchart
has been compiledfromhearsayinformation,
and not by any
seamanwho had hilnselfnavigatedin those seas for several
years." Thelast clauseof this proposition,
of course,mllstbe
understoodto mean,"was not laid downfromactualsurvey."
Quite true. Now, seeingthat it was compiledfromhearsay
information;
that it suppliesus xvithnamesof placesin the
Shetlandgroup,and in the FeeroeIslands,&c.,rernarkably
in
badvance
of whatis laid downon anymap,evenof the comparatively late periodof NicoloZeno,junior's,pululication
in 1558lvhatcouldwe ask for morein harmonywith the statementof
the latterin thatpublication,
Ofthese3lorthpartsI have
thoughtgoodto drawa copyof the sailingchart,whichI find
that I still haveamon^,st
ourimily antiquities,
andalthoughit
is rottenwithage,I havesucceededwithit tolerablywell"?
WhenAdmiralZahrtmann
lecognisesthat "the old formsof
Faer-eyar
andOrkn-e+Tar,
whichare not foundon the map,are
difficultto Italianiseor even to be at all caut,lltor retainedby
any Italian ear,andthatnamesare transposed
in the spiritof
the Italianlant,uage,"
alldwhenhe draw3the justinference
that
thesenameswerenot copiedfromanyotherchart,butlaiddown
fromverbaldepositioIls,
howcan that inferencebe otherthan
confirmative
of the fact that the map,"rottenwithage,"containedthesenamesas tlleywerereceivedfromNortherntongues
bytheZenoof the fourteenthcentury,andwrittendownby 11irn
or themafterbeingdistilledthroughthe alemlzicof a Southern
mind? If this maphadbeell a compilationof NicoloZeno,
Xr;Zo

SC

of America.
Discoveries
Pre-Columbictn
tAle

175

would
junior,*om any otherchartor charts,this phenomenon
not havebeenexhibited,but the nameswouldhavebeencopied
fromthe Northernsourcesin theirnativeNorthernform. But
it mustneverbe forgottenthat the old chartwas " rottenwitl
age,"that NicoloZello,junior,had"drawna copyof it,"and,
as he flatteredhimself," had succeededwith it tolerablywell."
It is clearthat in this attempt,havinga desireto remedythe
damagesof the oldchartand to make his copyas completeas
possiblehe had recourseto the narrativefor guidance;but,
mapsat that earlyperiodwhichcould
not possessing
unhappily,
.sethimrightwh4nhe misreadthe narrative,his verylaudable
andhas,in fact,
confusion,
in the mostdeplorable
eSortlzesulted
and
lJeenthe causeof -ery nearlyall the doubtsanddiscussions
disbeliefto whicll this ill-starreddocumenthas given rise.
Hence, we have on the face of the same map to opposite
realities good geography,in advanceeven of the periodat
whichit waspublished,sideby sidewith the mostpreposterous
blunders. But the explanationis manifest,the goodwasof the
fourteenthcentury,gatheredby the ear on the spot; the bad
fromthe ancient
wasof the sixteenthcentury,misapprehended
narrative.

We now cozneto AdmiralZahrtmane'salgumentson his

" That the said chalt has been compiled
secondpropositio:n:
and not by any seamanwho had
from hearsayinformation,
himselfllavigatedin tlsoseseasforseveralyears."
4'As to the secondpoint,"he says: "it is in the first place
llardlycrediblethata seamanacquaintedwiththenavigationof
the NorthernSeas shouldhae assignedso incorrecta relative
positionto the diSerentplaces. For exarnple,that Shetland
(fromwhichmay be seen the Orkneys,lying closeunderthe
coastof Scotland)shouldbe representedas situatednearNorway,far distantfromScotland,and withoutany intermediate
islands. Thesazuefault,however,is found,to a greateror less
degree,in all the maps publishedill the sixteenthcentury,
whichshowsthatthechartof the Zenii,s,in tllis respect,a copy.
with
fromthe Landnama-Book
MJE are perfectlyacquainted
of Icelandin the thirteenthcentury,and +XYe
every particular
knowthat it was then just the same as now; hoxv,then,is it
possiblethata seaman,whohadresidedthereforso longa tilue,
of severalconsiderable
shouldrepresentit like an archipelago
ignorantof the native
islands? Howcouldhe haverenzained
andhaveonly
of the harbours,
namesof the places,particularly
learnedthe Latin namesof the islandand its two dioceses?
How couldhe give it a shapewhich,thoughit is calledby
bonne
universelle,"'
inhis ' Precisde la Geographie
Malte-Brun,
in truth resemblesany
a l'exceptionde la partieNord-Ouest,"

176

MAJOR

on the Sife of tAlelost Colonyof Gree?21and

axld

other place as much as Iceland? How could he lay down to

the nortll-eastof Iceland a contillentupon which he pretendsto
llave been, wllen we lsnow that in tleatdireetionthere exists ncx
continent,but only the is]andof Jan Mayell? Alld finallfr,how
couldhe havebeen in the Feroe Islands,and yet representthem
as one large island surroundedby some smaller ones? The
mrholechart bearsthe most palpablemarksof havingbeen compiled by a personwllo had never been at the places tlemselves,
and wllo knew nothillg of either the language or the historyof
the North; for the Safflasand Sailing Directions prove that in
those (lays tlae illlaabitantsof the North had muchjuster i(leas
of the relativepositionof places,and that they lcnew,or example,
that a line draxvnfromPerren, betlveenSlaetlandand the Feloe
Istands?would pass about 60 geoglaphical miles to the south+rardod'Icelancl. The chart is dated 1380, an epoch at whicl
Zllrla has proved that both Nicolo and AntonioZeno were in
Italy; which sho+ssthat they had not drawn the chart at the
places themsels-es, for as to the possibilityof their having antedatea it, it is to be presumedthat in those days there lvas as
little inducementas tlaereis noxvfor the framerof a chart to
publishit as older th(lnit reallr was. Finally, t,hecomparative
correctnessof the delineationof Denmark and Norray is the
best ploof that the chart rvasnot drawn in 1380, but aboutths3
middle of tlaesisteenth cetltury. Zurla himself mentionsthat
in the Isolario of Belledetto Bordone, publishedat Venice in
1534, Norwayand Greenlanclare very erroneouslylaid down,a topic to which we shall have to return hereafter. The exiled
Archbishop of Upsala, Olaus Magnus Gothus, publisheclat
Venice, in 15oD,a map of the three Scandinaviankingdoms,
*vhicllI have not seen, as it appearsdoubtfulwhetherany copy
of it remainsin existence; but undoubtedlythis map,and those
published at Alatuerp, particularlytllo?e of Ortelius,were the
Jirst tllat gave a tolerably correct representationof these
coulltries,an accurateknowledgeof which it *vasimpossiblefor
the Zeni to have procuredat any of the places visited by them,
viz., Frisland,ZEstland,
Iceland, and Greenland."
With ^hat has been alreadvwrittenpresentto his mind, the
readerwill be able, it is hoped,to see how, with the exception
of the date, which lvill be dealt lvith presently,anszsrers
can be
given to the objectionshere broughtagainstthe authenticityof
the map. He will be able to see, what AdmiralZahrtmanndid
not see, that Iceland is, in truth,not broughtinto question at
all in the part of tlle narrativeunder revie^, but that Nicolo
Zeno, junior,through misreadingthe name,mistook Shetland
for Iceland,and addedto the latter tlae namesbelon;,ingto the
foriner. We calmotanswerfor hosPmuch of the map may be

of Al?lerica.
l)iscoveries
thePre-Columl)ian

177

due to his llandiwork,loutof tllis we may be sure, tllat information therein, which wasill advanceof the knowledgeof his day,
alld coincident with the knowledge of ollr oxvn,was derived
flom tlle early visit to the spot, while deviations from correctness, even thout,hnot his own, are no proofof inauthenticityin
a nzapof the fourteenthcentury.
The remainderof AdmiralZahrtmann'sfacts, commellts,and
illsinuations,are not so categoricallyarranged,but I have analysed them all, and forthe sake of clearnesshave groupedthem
in the order in which they bear upon the narrative and its
publication.

" It cannotbe denied,"says Zahrtmann," that the story has

been composedwith great ingenuity,but still it contains contradictions. We may ask, for e2zample,how was Nie,olo Zeno
informedthat Alltonio spent fourteen years ill Frisland, when
no mentionis made of this either in the last complete letter,
or in that fragrnentwhich was the last discovered,and in which
he ?ays he has only made some alterationsin the style and the
obsolete expressions,but not in substance? If it as fromthe
dates of the letters, he certainly could IlOt mistaketen years in
fixing the epochwhen the voyages were performed. Neither is
it to be believed that in a family like that of the Zeni, where
not less tilan three, viz., Jacopo,Ni(olo, and Pietro, each in his
century,publisheddescriptionsof the exploits of their ancestors,
the children should have been sufSeredto destroy the family
archives,or that recordssimilarto Antonio'sdescriptionof the
North should have been left unnoticed and unpublishedfor
more than a century-at a period,too, when Columbus'stranscendent discovery attracted universal attention to the NVest.
That the family could not have been ignorantof their contents
is provedby the circumstanceof Sicolo knowingwhat he had
destroyed,which,as he llimselfwas a child at the tirne,he collld
ollly have learlledat a laterperiodfromhis parents. Allowing,
however,that Nicolo, when a child, did really destroy the work
of his own direct ancestor,Antonio,it still remains to be explained how he had it in his powerto destroyseveral of tlle
letters, they being all addressedto Callo, the most respected
of the brothers,who survived all the rest, and whose direct
descendantsdid not become estinct till a whole cellturylater:
YiZ., in 1653. Even supposing that the whole of the family
archives vateredepositedwith the senior branch,the chance of
their falling into the youngerNicolo'shandsremainsas unlikely
as ever, inasmuchas he was descendedfromAntonio,the second
son, whose elder brother'slineage was not e2ztinctbefore the
year 1756."
The reply to all which is, that whateverpart of American
VOL. XLIII.

178 lbIaJoRon the Sateof the lost Colonyof Greenlandand

ill no sense
soil maybe referredto in tlle Zenonarratile, it wsras
connectedby NicoloZeno'sancestorswiththe idea of a transatlanticworlci,forit had been onlyregardedas a continuation
of Europe. We couldask no betterprooftllatllis parentsdid
valueto thesepapelsthanthe fact that
not attachthis extrenae
they did not securethem frombeillgtorn up bYa child,andit
couldtheycommuniis clearthat neitherthen norafterwards
cate to himwhattheyhad no idea of themsekres.Comparahowever,as these paperswould,therefore
tively unimportant,
i.l this sense,be to them,it is most easy of belief,and most
shouldhavereceived
natural,that Nicolo'sfatheror grandfather
the lettersaddressed
filoma cousin,one of (Sarlo'sdescendants,
theirvalue,
to Carlo,simplyas deseribingthe exploits,whatever
of his own directancestor. \Vhen,however,Nicolo Zeno approachedmanhood,North Arnericabeganto be known,an(l
by himof the value of the paperswhicl
llencethe recogllition
hadlainhithertoneglectedin the palace. Thatfamilypapers,
may fall into a child'shandsand be
nore or less important,
is too certainto needof argument;and
destroyedor daEnaged,
the chancesandchangesof this mortallife have not,we may
to the singleexclusion
suppose,been sentto all God'screatures
of the Zenofamily.
zaisesa greatquestionas to whichof
AdmiralZahrtmann
in theVenetianAnnalsat theclose
threeNicoloZenosmentiolled
of the fourteenth
centurysas the hero of the voyages. There
:lleedbe no questionat all on the subject. NicoloZeno,junior,
tells us in his genealogyat tlle beginningof the narrativethat
his own direetaneestorAntonio,andNieolo the (:avalier,the
heroesof the vova>es,werebrothersof the famous(:arlo,who,
the
in 1382,savedthe Republie,andtherebvso lnuehillereased
was,for
reputationof the :imily. This Nieolo the (Davalier
andin Muradistinetion's
sake,ealled" quondamSerDraeone,"
tome ssii. p. 779, we find
tori's' RerulnItaliearum23eriptores,'
him mentionedby this same designationas one of the three
sylldieswhowereeleetedon the 14th Deeember,138S,to take
llo
possessionof the eity of Treviso. Aftel this date,howewrer,
mentionof him oeeursin the VenetianAnnals,and as we ale
toldin the Zenonarrativethat he diedwhileoutin the North,
a vietimto the elimate,CardinalZurlavery justlysays that
this sileneerespeetillghim in the Annalsis in eonfollnitywith
fromhis eountryandengagedin the
the faet that he wasamray
voyagesas represented.NVehave,therefore,no rooinleft for
clouLtas to his identity. But,this being so, it is evidentthat
the clateof 1380,givenbothill the text and on the lnapamust
be erroneous,
and we shall presentlysee fromotherevidenee
that suehin verytruthis the ease,andthatthe datehasreally

Discoveriesof America.
tAlePre-Columbian

179

to le placedten yearslater. In dealingwitll this disclepancr

of ten yearsin Ssing the epochwhenthe soyageswere perindictmentagainstNicolo Zeno,
formed,AdmiralZahrtmann's
junior,takesthe followingshape.
"Accordingto CardinalZurla,"he says,"Nicolocannothave
left Venicetill 1390,andit is certainthat in 1406Antoniowas
alreadydead. Of that intervalAntoniois said to have spent
fourteenyearsin Frisland. Thererenlain,therefore,scarcely
two years forNicoloto have completedhis perilousvoyage,to
have beenwrecked,to have madehis firstbrilliantcampaign,
and to have reportedit
endingin the conquestof :Frisland,
to Antonio(whomhe actuallyinducedto performthe voyage
frornVenice),andfinallyto havediedthere,and all ithin the
intervalof two years. Even nowadaysthis xvouldscarcelybe
possible."

at such an assertion.
I cannotbut expressmy amazernent
SufSeringshipwreckis usually not a lengthy pro(ess. The
brilliantcampaignin Frisland,whichwe have followedin the
precedingpages,must have been a very lazy operationif it
occupieda week; so that if we deductthese eventsfromtwo
years,therewill be left "amplespaceandverge enough" for
of a letter between,
the twosoyagesout andthe transinissioll
and a greatdealof tilne to spareintothe bargain. To call the
crowdingof these events into two years an impossibilityis
simply absurd. On the strength,however,of such assumed
proceedsto say:AdmiralZahrtmann
impossibility
"Yet it is on the authorityof Antonio'sletters,whichNicolo
that he has
Zeno,junior,pretendsto havelladin his possession,
writtenthis narrative. lfrom the same lettershe rnusthave
his dates,anda solitaryerrorin thisrespectcouldeasily
fidralvn
havebeendetected,as therewereseveralletters. Now,as the
exactlywiththe timeat which
datesof theseletterscorrespond
Zurlahas clearlyprovedt}at the b;otherswere in Italy,it
or
followsthat the lettersfromFrislandwereeitherfabrications
that they neverexisted."
The date of 1380,it is true,standsin Romallnutneralson
the Zenomap,andis writtenout in full in the narrative. But
and indusfactsare stubbornthint,s,and if we conseientiously
conclusions,
triouslyresortto them insteadof to preconceived
we shallgenerallyarriveprettynearthe truthat last. Admiral
elsewhereshowshis perfectknowledgeof a remarkZahrtmann
able fact,wllich,if he hadbeenas anxiousto findwhereZeno
wasright,as wherehe mightbe madeout to be wrong,would
haverectifiedthe aboveerrorof 1380,and neutralisedall the
argumentsthat he foundsuponit.
xvrote,in
A relatis-eof the family,namedhIarcoBarlearo,
;N2

a?zd
of Crree?zla?2d
ontheSiteof thelostC0IO?2Y
BIAJOR

180

entitled ' DiscendenzePatrizie,'Oll

1536, a copious+sTorlc,
table of the
Venetiannoble families,and in the genealogical
makesthe followingentry under the name of
Zeno Manlily
AntonioZeno. ' Scrisseconil fratelloNicoloKav.li viaggidell'
Isole sottoil poloartico,e di quei scoplinlentidel 1390,e che
si portollel continente
per ordinedi Zicno,Re di Fl7islanda,
e che si fermo14nell'Americasettentrionale,
d'Estotilanda
anni in Frislanda,cioe 4 con suo fratelloNicolo e 10 solo."
"He wrotewith his brother,Nicolo the Cavalier,the voyages
of
of the islandsunderthe ArcticPole,andof thosediscoveries
1390,andthat by orderof Zicno,Wingof Frisland,he wentto
inNorthAmerica. Hedweltfourteen
thecontinentofEstotiland
yearsin Frisland,four xvithhis brother:Nicoloand ten alone."
Zurlafirstmentionedthis fact,anclI have verifieditS
Cardinal
an es:tractof the entryfromVenice,throughthe
by procuring
kindness of mv distinguishedfriend ttr. Rawdon Browll.
advertsto it, solelyto makethe followin^,
AdmiralZahrtmann
*

lnslauatlon:-

he, "that this workis a manusaBys

" It mustbe observed,"
script,andthat it is thereforeimpossibleto decidewhenor by
whomanyarticlein it was written,andas the familiesof Zeno
wererelatedto each otheranclon mostfriendly
andBarbaro
terlns,NicoloZeno,whowas the firstbornof the family,might
verywell havebeenintrustedwiththe drawingup of the family
genealogy"-itllplyillgtherebythatlittle trustwasto be placecl
ill a statemelltpossiblydrawnup by one whomhe, Admiral
as an impostor.13utIlere
hadmentallycondemned
Zahrtinanrl,
he overshotthe mark. Tllereis little doubtthatBarbarodtd
derivethis statementfromNicoloZeno,whohad so neally,but
not quite, destroyed,whena boy,the old papersorl xvhichit
vasbased. But in drawingup the saidstatementNicoloZeno
year3
showedthat he lvas coanisantin 1536, two-and-tsventy
beforethe Zeno narrativeand mapwereprinted,of that true
exactlywiththe evidenceof the
dateof 1390,whichcoincided.
annalsof his country.
fromhim,onewas
If boththe dates1380and1390emanated
andas *recanhaveno doubtwhichwasthe
clearlya nwistake,
one,wrehavein theerroritself,whethermadethrough
erroneous
carelessnessin either one or both casesby Nicolo,or by the
printer,or by the engraver,a proofthat Nicolowas not at least
the subtleand ingeniousconcocterof falsehoodsthatAdmiral
wouldrepresentllitn to be. WicoloZenoheld the
Zahrtmann
of the Councilof Tenof the Republic,
high positionof BIember
and had all his country'sannalsat his command.As the
historianof his family,he had those annalsintimatelywithin
his own cograisance.Did it never,therefore,strike*AdmiraL

of America.
17iscoveries
tAlePre-Columbicln
181

that if Zenohad been the cunningand laborious

Mahltmann,
impostorhe wouldInaliehimto be, therewasnotllinghe would
morecarefullyhaveavoided,or couldhaveavoidedwithgreater
ease,than the lapsusof giving an enemythe oppoltunityof
in the matterin question?
provingan atibi againsthis ancestors
'rheconclusionis evidentthereforethat 1380wasan error,and
that this dateis ritten abovethe luapin
it is considered
z^Then
numerals,thus: MCCGLXXX, it will be seen how easily
JSoman
eitherof the author,the editor
that easiestof all delinquencies
-the droppingof a final x, may have
o1 the engraver,
occurred. Theshortsentencein the narrative"this wasin one
threehundredandeighty,"mostcertainlyoccursin a
thousancl
partwrittenby NicoloZeno,j.unior,and the legendat the top
of the mapis manifestlyby hilnalso,so thattherais a common
however,
originfor both. IIolvthe blundermayhaveoccurred,
butelloughhasbeen saidto provcthat zt was
is all conjecture,
a blunder;andit may vell be askedwhether,on the strengtl
of sucll all accident,a noblelnanof high and ancientlineage,
flle melabersof whosefamilyhad manyof them so eminentIy
themselvesin the historyof their coulltryas to
distinguislled
standin rlo need of falsehoodsto add to their glory, llimself
as a concocter
of the Councilof Ten,is to be branded
; WIember
?
of falsehoods
That there is reasonin my suggestiollabout the possible
dloppingof all "X" ill the date is shownby a lemarkable
fact. Tile great AntwerpgeographerOrtelius,in recordints
this verynarrative,copiedthe Romannumeralsas they stand
at the top of the map,maLing1380, yet when ourHakluyt
ploducedthe same storyOllthe anthorityof Ortelius,he gave
the dateof 1390,thusprovingby a converseblunderhoweasily
tllis killdof errormayoccur.
But nowthat we llave1390 forNicoloZeno'sarrivali:nthe
in the ShetlandIslands(see
Feroes,and1391for the e2mploits
ante,page 173),in whichAntoniowas presentthere are but
forin tlle interval,the attack
to be a.ccounted
tllreetransactions
on the Feeroes,the transmissionof Nicolo'sinvitation,and
Antonio'ssoyage out,and to say that a year and a half,and
possiblymore,+:asnot sufficientfbr all this, +^ouldbe an
(^bsurdity.Withthesedatesalsobeforeussxvesee thatample
titneis left forAntonio'ssojournof fourteenyearsin the North,
his returnto Venice,anddeathbefore1406.
NVewill noxvpasson to anotherexalnpleof the mannerin
of NicoloZeno,junior,is impugnedby
whichthe trutlliuluess
AdmiralZahrtinann. Blost geographershave heard of the
famouscollectionof Voyagesand Travelsmadely the illustliOUS llarausio. A:owbecausethe Zeno narrative,lvhichwas
l7;Zn'

182

3IAJOR

oelthe Site of the lost Colonyof Greenlandand

publishedin 1558, was not inserted in the first edition of tlle

secondvolume of Balnusio,publishedin 1559, AflmiralZahrtInann would insinuate that this showed a ulistrust in Zeno's
probity,but as Samusio died in 1557, it is difficult to see in
what earthly way this omission couldimply any want of confidence on his part.
"In the third edition of 1574, llowever,''says Zahrtmann,
" the voyages are adopted to their full extent, together witl]
their splendid descriptionsof the riches of Estotiland,whicll
last part of the story, however,it was thought fit to leave out
of the fourth edition, published in 1583, Frobisher having in
the meanwhileperformeclhis voyages alld, as we all knowxrn
withoutfindingany gold."
alacl.
Now althoughFrobishermistooklfrislandfor GUreenland,
assumedthe existe:nceof a strait whichhis subseqilentvoyages
sllowed to be a mistake,this was not Zeno's fault, and what
Zahrtlnanll says of tlle consequent alteration in Ramusio is
simplynot the fact. Instead of the omissionin the 1583 edition
being an intentionalone, as it wolllclhave been if it emanated
fromthe editor,it is merelya case of a wholeline, neither more
nor less, having fallen out by the printer'scarelesslless,the full
page in the 1574 alad1583 editiolls exactly tallying, with tlles
exceptionthat the former has 54 and the latter only 53 lines,
in consequenceof the accident in question. rTheabsence of
intention is-shown by the utter nonsense,resulting from this
omission,in the sequence of the language. The passage runs
thus, the line in brackets being that nThichwas printedin the
previousedition of 1574 anclin conformity^^iththe Ze:notext9

butwhichhasfallenout in ths 1583edition:"Hannolingllae lettere separate,e cavano[metallid'o^,ni

sorte,e sopratutto abondanod'oro,e le lor pratichesonoill
di dove traggonopellerecciee zolfo e pegola.'>
Engroneland]
" They llave a separatelanguageand letters. They dig up
[metalsof everykind and aboundin gold. Their commerce

is with Greenland] whence they receive furs, brimstone,and

pitch."
Let the readerjoin the ts^olines bets een which the omission
occurs,and judge whetherthe editorof Ramusio adopted that
mode of showinghis mistrustof the Zenonarrative. It is true
that AdmiralZahrtinannadoptsthis mare's-nestfrom the words
of Mr. Biddle, the Americanauthor of the anonymousmenloir
of SebastianCabot,but it is difficult to believe that one wxrho
was so anxiousto showthat Ramusio mistrustedZeno, and urho
urasso intimately acquaintedwith the editions of Ramusio's
work,should not have had a copy of that work by whichhe
might verify the point for himself. One thing is certain that

the Pre-Colunabian
Discoreriesof Ameraca.

184

it was a boundenduty,.bothin BiddleandZallrtmann,

I)efore
pUtti]lgforththis insinuationagailestl;llecredit
of
Zeno,
that
eachshouldhavelnadesurefor hitnselfthat it wasfounded
o
a right basis,whereas
the readerhas seenthat the proofof tlae
exactcontrarylay opento viesvoll the verysurface.
But I mustnot here detain-ou with the difSerent
attelnpts
that AdmiralZiahrtmano
has made to impugnthe truth of
NicoloZeno. Arefutation
of themall willbebundill thevolulne
ashicllI am editingon tlle subjectfor the Ilakluyt
Societfr. I
will rnerelyhereremarkthatoneof AdmiralZahrtmannXs
principalendeavours
lYaS
to showthat WicoloZenowas mistrusted
by his fellow-citizens.
Ill one place,however,AdmiralZahrtmann that Zeno
wasso greata proficientill geography,that hissays
oxvncountryrnenlookeduponhimas the greatestgeo3rapher
of his tinle;
butherethe writerin the ' NorthAmericanReview
soimpressedwitll AdnliralZahrtlnanns"rnasterly who xwras
production
thathe lvellnighresolvedto abandonthe matteras beyond
all
hopeof surgery,"takes courageX
and very justlysays: "We
shallnot allowournauticalcriticto blowhot and cold in the
samebreath;in one passageto give the noble VenetiaIlthe
benefitof the lsespectability
he enjoyedas a
of scielace,
and
inanother,whenit bettersuits the drift ofman
his
argulnent,
to
denyhim the favoural)le
estimationof learnedmen aulongllis
contemporaries."
Ofthe estiinationin which
Zeno was
heldior probitytherecanbe no doubt. ThatNicolo
his geographical
knowleclge
may,for the periodin whichhe lived,have been
veryrespectable,
is quitepossiblen
aladthe reallyvaluablemap
whichcamedo^rnto himom his ancestors
mayhaveenhanced
hiscreditirlthat respect;but in verytruth,
he llad nQ
from
without,exceptthe narlative,wherebyto checlithemealls
graphy
of the map,andnoneat all wherebyto checkhis geoosn
misconceptions
of the geographyof the narrative.
Afterthe aSairin Shetland,Earl Sinclairleft N;coloZeno
ina fortwhichhe loadbuiltat Bressay,withsomesmall
vessels,
andmen,and stores;and 111the followingsulnmerZeno
resolved
to try his fortunein a voyageof discovery. He fitted
outthreesmallbarksin the monthof July,and sailing
:rlorth,
arrived
in Engroneland
or Greenland.
Herelle founda monastery
of Friars
anda church
ofSt. Thomas,closeby a voicallichill.Preachers,
There
was
also a hot
xvater
spring,whichthe mollksusedforheatingthe church
a:nd
the
entiremonastery,
andby xvhichthey cookedtheir meatand
baked
theirblead. By a judicioususe of this hot water,they
raised
in their small coveredgardensthe flowers,fruits,and
herbs
of moreterrlperate
climates,therebygainingmuchrespect

anff
184 AIAJOR
02 the Site of the lost Colonyof Greetaland
from their nei(rhbouls,lvho brought thern presents of meat,
chickens, Ac. They ale indebted, the narrative says, to the
volcanofor the very rnaterialsof their buildings,for by throwing water on the burninCstones while still hot, they convert
them into a tenaciousand indestructiblesubstance,hich tlley
use as mortar. They have not much rain, as there is a settled
frost all throughtheir nille mollths'winter. 'Theylive on sil(l
fowl and fish, +sllichare attracted by the warmth of that part
of the sea into +hich the hot vater falls, and which form,sa
commodiousllarbour. The housesare built a11round the hill,
and are circularin formancltaperingto the top, ss hereis a little
hole for light and air, the groundbelow supplyingall necessary
heat. In summer time they are visited by ships from the
lleighbouringislatlds and from Trondheim,xvhichbring them
corn, cloths,and otller necessariesin excllangefor fishandslsills.
Some of the monks are from NorwaysSweden,and elsewhere,
but mo$tof them floul Sl-letland. The harbouris gellerallyfull
of vessels, detainedby the freezillgof the sea, and waiting for
the spring to nlelt the ice. The fishermen'sboats are like a
weaver'sshuttle; tlley are made of the skins of fish, and son
together Witllfish bones in such a manner,that, in badweather?
the fishermancan fasten himself up in his boatandexpose hirnself to the wind and sea lvithoutfear,for they can stand a good
nzanybumps without receiving ans injury. In the bottom of
the boat is a kind of sleeve tied fast in the middle, and whe
nater gets i:ntothe boat tlley put it into one half of the sleeve,
close it abose +^ithtwo pieces of wood and loose the band
beneathso that the ^^aterruns out. Tlle friars are liberal to
workmell,and to those who bring them fruit and seeds,so that
many resort to them. Most of ttle monks,especially the principals and superiors,speak the Latin language. And this is all
that is known of Engroneland,as describedby lessire Nicolo
Zeno
Tllis interestingstory brin(rsus to the mucll-vesed question
of the site of the old Icelandic settlementsin Greenland.
Until the first quarterof the presentcenturythe almost universal opinionwas in favourof the east coast opposite Iceland.
'l'herewas much to encouragethis conclusion. 1'he names of
easily led to
the two settlements,Ostrebygdand \AlestrebygdX
the suppositionthat the formerwas seated on the east and the
latter on the west coast of Greenland. The preva]entidea too,
on the part of Icelandersin genelal, that this was the case, as
vell as certainexpre,ssionsin the ancient itineraries,whenseparately considered,seemedto lead very :ircibly to the same conclusion. The story of the Icelandic colonisationof Greenland
may be summarilystated as follows: In the beginning of the

of Americcc.
I)isco?:eries
tAlePre-Colum7)icln

185

the son of Ulf Krake,a celebrated

tenth centurv,Gunubjorn,
at some distancedue west from
lover,di,scovered
:5iorwegian
he namedafterhimself,GunnIcelandsomelargerocks,*azhich
still
an(l,in the salnesoyage,he also discoxrered
lejornarsker;
filrtherto the westan extensivecountry,but on xvhichhe does
xlotappearto havelanded. No attemptto exploretllis region
vas madefora verylong timesbutthe reportof the discovery
xvaspreservedin Iceland,andat lengthErickthe Red,son of
Jarl,who,togetherwithhis father,had
a Norvlregian
'llhorward,
,sonleyearsbeforebeellcompelledto flee to Iceland,after his
himselfoutlawedformurder,andresolvedto
father'sdeath+\cas
hadseen,andplomisedto return
seek the larldwhicllGunnbjorn
vith tidingsif he discoveredit. In 982 he sailedwestfrom
andfoundland,whichfrom.its heigllt he called
Sneefeldsnaes
knownas Blaeselkor Blue
nearthe placeafterwards
?\Iidjokul,
Shirt. Thencehe sailedalongthe shorein a southerlydirection,seekingfor the nearesthabitableland. rlhe first winter
he passedin Eriekseya,nearthe middleof wllatMclS aftersvards
calledthe Ostrebygdor easterncolony. 'llhe follonviIng year
wherehe fised his abode.
(A.D. 983) he cameilltO Ericksfiord,
'l'he same summerhe e:sploredthe westerndeselt and gave
amesto manyplaces. 1n 985 lle wentto Icelalld,and in the
summerof 986 beganto settle the land whichhe haddiscobecausehe said tllat the
he called GEreenland,
wered,mJIlicll
not like to movethitherif the landdid not have
peoplemrould
and
numbers,
a goodname. Colollistsfollowedin considerable
the chiefsgavetheirown namesto the bays and capeswhich
they occupied,followingthe exampleof Erick who dwelt-at
in Ericksfiord.In the year 999, Leif,Erick'sson
:23rattahlid
sailedto Norssay,and passedthe winterat the Courtof lVing
faith. Leif
theChristian
Olaus,^ho waszealousin propagating
receivedbaptism,and tbe next spriIngintroducedChristianity
takingwithhim a priestand severalmonksto
into Greenland,
Brattahlid. In courseof timechurcheswere built,and in the
hadlnultipliedto such
twelfthcellturythe numberof Ghristians
an es:tent,that they resolvedto endeasourto obtain a bishop
of theirown,and in 1126 BishopArnoldcanle to Greeniand,
andset up the episcopalseat at Wardar.fEromthe Griplawe
in the East
learnthatGardarwasat the bottomof Ericlssfiord,
Bygd,andthele wasa churchtllerededicatedto S1;.Wicholas.
Tl-lerelveretwelvechurchesin tlle EastBygd and fourin the
Bygd. The Episcopatecontinuedtill tIle beginlilingof
WVest
havingshown
tlle fifteenthcenturyProfessorFinn Alagnussen
at
tlwatAndreas,tlle ]ate Bishop,officiatedill tlle Cat;hedral
witll
Gardarin 1409; but after this period,communication
NorwayalldIcelandseemsto have been almosteIltirelygiven

186 MAJOR
on the Site of the lost Colonyof Greenlandand
up. An event, laowever,had occurredin 1349 of great intelest
to our subject,not only as regards the fate of the colony,but
the informationwitll respect to its position,which xve delis-e
from a contemporarychronicler. In that year a descent was
13y3d
made by the Skrellings, or Esquiulaux,upon the WNTest
alld it so happenedthat Ivar Baldsen, a Greenlandel,vllv had
been for :manyyears steN-ardor lay jtlsticiaryto the Bishop of
Gardar,was sent to convey succourto the sister colony, anclto
on arriving
drive away the Skrellings. Ile found, hosz7ever,
there, neither Christiannor heathen,but only solne cattle running wild, whichhis people took on board their vessels and returned home. Of this occurrence,Ivar Bardsen has himself
left a recordin a documentof verv great importance,of whicl
more will have to be said presently.
There is yet another docurnentestant whicl] throws light
upon the subsequentfate of the abaildonedcolonists. A letter
of Pope Nicholas V. to tlle Bishops of Skalholt and fIolar irl
Iceland, dated 144S, discoveredby ProfessorMallet early ils
this centuryin the Papal Archives,tells us that the Christians
had maintainedfor many centuries the Cllristian faith, established b- King Olaf in Greenland,and had erected many
churches and a cathedral, until, abollt thirty years ago (z.e.
about 1418), some heathensfromthe neighbouringcoasts came
upon them with a fleet, and laid waste the country and its
lloly buildings with fire alld sword, sparing nothing but the
small distant parishes,which they were preventeclfrola reaching by the intervening mowltains and precipices. The inhabitants of both sexes they carrie(-la^ay into slavery. NVhat
became ot the remnant of the colony of the East Bygd is a
mystery. Either like their brethrenof the WYestBygd, tlley
may have been esterminated by the Skrellings,or may havfe
mingled aviththe Esquimaux,ancl adopted their mannersand
custorus. At any rate, the consequencewas that Greenland
was for a long time forgotten,until at the beginning of the
sisteenth century, Erick Walkendorf,Archbishop of Trondheim, took pains to collect together all the ancient accounts
concerningit that he could, and submittedto the Government
a propositionfor the re-cliscoveryof the lost colony. Unfortullately, however,before his plan was developed,he fell
into disgrace with the King, and mrasbanished to Rome,
but subsequently dieci at Amsterdaln,in 1523. Since his
time a great many expeditions have been sent out by the
Kings of Denmark in search of tlle colony. Irl the reifflnof
Frederick II., Magnus Heinesen went out in 1578. In the
long reign of ChristianIV., from 1588 to 164S, were sent out
tlle e:xpeditionsof Godske Lindenow,and CarstenRickardsen

tA^e
Pre-Columbian
Discoveriesof America.

187

and Jens Munk:but all these attemptswerefruitless,as far

as concernedthe discoveryof GEreenlancl
to the east of CapeFarewell. The soyages of David Danell, in the reign of
FrederickIII., however,furnishsome useful data about the
East Coast. At length, in the beginningof the eighteentll
century,Hans Egede, a Norwegianclergyman,regardlessof
ridiculeor hardship,
persuadedFredericltIV. to send him out
as the missionarypriestof a newcolonyto be established
in
Greenland.lffisjudiciousconductsecuredhim the confidence
of the nativesof the West Coast; but being convincedthat
they coulelnot be descendantsof Europeans,
he determined
Oll
visitingthe East Coast,and set out for that purposewithtwo
bargeson the 9th of August,1723, but for want of sufficient
necessarieswas obligeclto put back on reachinglat. 60?20'.
Betweenthe 60th ancl61stdegreesof latitudehe discovered
at
Kakortok,in what is nowcalled Julianashaab,
a remarkable
ruinlvhichprovedthatthe Icelandershadformerlybeenthere.
Ill 1728 MajorPaarsand C.lptainLandorfwere orderedto
ride on horsebackfromthe West Coastto the East, but, as
may be supposed,with little success. In 1752 Peter Olsen
Valloe with four other Buropeansill a Greenlandskin-boat
exploredsexeralof the fjordsin the districtof Julianashaab5
andgavea descriptiollof some of the manyruinsto be found
there. He succeededin reachingthe southernshoresof th0
East Coastin lat. 60? 28t. The expeditionsof Lovenornill
1786,andof PaulEgedeanclRothein 1787,wereequallyuusuccessfulin attainingthe desiredobject. Not moresuccessful
thanthe Danishvoyagerswereourowngreatnavigators,
Davis,
Hudson,andothers,lvhoaimedat the solutionof this problem.
The attemptto approachthe landon the eastappearsto have
been abandonedas hopeless,until CaptaillScoresbyshowed
that evenin suchhigh latitudesas between70?and75?s., the
coastwas not altogetherunapproachable.
Indeed,Scoresby
eSectedmorefor geographical
sciencein a fewdaysthanhad
beendone in that directionfor centuries. His voyageappears
to have been the stimuluswhicll rousedthe DanishGovernmellt to the exertionof sendingouta vely ablenavalofficer,
of perseverance,
intelligence,and courage,not exceededby the
mostenterprising
officersof anycountry.CaptainGraahsailed
from Copenhageilthe 31st of March,1828, and leturnedin
September1831,but it wasnot till 1837that we wereableto
readin Englishthat excellentnarrativewithwhichmostof us
areso lvellacquainted.
The now well-knownfact that the ruinsof churchesand
otherbuildingshavebeenfoundin the districtof Julianashaab,
on the south-west
coastof Greenland,
maylead someto suppose

188 BIAJO1S
02-the Site of the lost Colonyof Greenla?-zd
a?ld
thatthe questionis therelJysettled- but it sllouldbe rememberedtllatthereis nothingin tlle zuinstllemselves,
apartfro
the testiz:nony
of ancientdocunzents,
to shonvtllat thev may
not have been those of the West Bygdl,whelseas
the pOillt At
issue is tlle site of tlle EastBygd,f1ll and asTaythe lnoreilnportantof the tro, and the seat of the bisllopric. It is tlue
that CaptaillGraallbelievedthe East Bygd to have been
situatedin Julianashaab,
a:rldlabouredto proveit; bt I
can conscientiously
assert that, after a careful study of his
book, I was still of opinioIltllat the }CastXygdwas oll t.he
east coast; and tllat I was not the olalyolaeunconvince(l
by
CaptainGraahsargulnentswill be seenbythe followin,:,
quotationfroma valuablework,erltitled;Icelancl,Greelllandn
and
the Fal03 Islands,'publishedin 1844, by Htlrper,of New
York:"Thevofrageof Graah,xvllicllhas leen rerardedas settling
tTledisptlte,is by no nleansdecisive. rThedifficultieshe had
to encoullterpreventedllimfromsurveyingthe slloreswiththe
requisiteaccuracv,and the interiorof tlle Solds, wherethe
ruinsof tlle colonymight be expectedto occur,lvele almost
unvisited. AIoleovel,lle llimself aclinowledgesthat before
goirlgout he was 'thorout,hlyconvincedthat tlle East Bygd
+vouldnot be foundon the east coast,'a state of mind not
the bestfittedto ensurestlecessor ellcourageesertioIl. While
thesethingslessent}levalue of his evidenceagaillstits existenceon the easterncoast,somefactsstatedby hitntendrather
to favourthe oppositeconclusion."
And,after havingwell weiglled(:al:)tain
Graall?s
arguments?
he says: "For these reasonsse are disposeclto regard
tllis point not only as still undecided,but one on whicll,
Tvithout
moreeviderlceit mrould
be prelYlature
to cometo aIly
conclusion."
It will have beell observedtllat I hantenot allowe(lmaself
to pause1lponthe detailsof ally of those explorations,
wllich
occupiedsome three centuries.and with good reason. 'The
pointin disputehas been an objectof irlquilyrlotforthe lVeel
andthe compassonly,but alsofor the pe:lln
andDanesandIcelandershaveforcenturiesstudiedold Sagasandchorographies,
in the hope of arrivingby dint of comparison,
analysis,and
digestiollat the solutionof a mysterywhicllseemedalnvays
to
slip aay fiole tlle graspof celtainty; and yet the wholeof
that tizuetheyhadthe bestpossiblemeansof settlingthe questiOll \\titllin

tlleir

pOSSeSSi011.

rl'hatsclrneIval Bardsenso mallyyearsstewardorjusticiarv

to tlle bishopricof Gardarin the East Bygd,was sellt out by
the bishopnith succours
to the NVestBygd+X-hen
the lattel was

tAlePre-Columbiarl
Discoveriesof America.

189

attackedby the Skrellings. No^wthis manlaasleft us sailing

directionsfor reachingthe East Bygd, botll fromBergenin
Norway,and fronlIceland,and he has also left us a chorographyof Greelaland
itself; and as he was himselfa Greenlander,andlonga residentill tlle East Bvgd knowingperfectly
all the placesof whicllhe speaks,I holdhis testimonyto be of
the highestvalueandnot to belightly disputed.
Thereis in Purchasa copyof tllis documentin English,the
resultof nlanytranslations,
uhich belongedto HeuryEudson.
It was tra:nslatedfrom a Germantranslationinto Dutch by
NVilliam
Barentz. TheDutchbelon^,ed
to PeterPlancius,who
lent it to Hudsoll,and he had a kesh translatiollmacleinto
English expresslyfor himself. A moreinterestinggroupof
nalnesin connectioll
witllonedocumelltcouldscarcelybe pro(luced. FortunatelY,
the learnedDallishProfessorC. C. Rafn
has given us in his extremelyvaluable'Antiquitates
Americanse,'publishedirl Copenhagen(1837, 4to), the test of azl
earlycopyof the document:lbund
in the ForoeIslands,with a
IJatilltranslation,by whichI have been able to correctthe
defectsof Hudson'smongrelcopy.
CaptainGraall, of whose gallantryas an explorer allc1
abilityas a writerI wouldneverwillinglyspeakwithoutthe
deepestrespect,is scarcelyconsistentwhenhe speaksof this
valuabledocument. He at one tilue says that 'the Chorographyof IvarBardsenis tlle onlyone we can at all depend
on in deczdingthe positionof the Ostrebygd'(see p. 155);
andwhenhe mistakenlysupposesthat it does not sufficiently
answerhis purpose,he says (p. 175),that "His sailingdirections are at best apocryphal;that they have been wlitten
downfromoral traditionaIld collectedand put togetherbfr
ArchbishopWalkendorfa centuryafter all intercoursewith
Greenland
hadceased."
I a]n reluctantlyobligedto say tllat this assertionis 1lof
compatiblewith commonsense.
How could oral traditions,
collectedby Archbishop
Walkendorfin 1516,be madeto be
one and the sane thingwitha collsecutivedescriptionof the
topography
of the countrymoreamplein detailthanany other
that exists,derivedfromIvarBardsen,who flourishedin the
fourteenthcentury,and xvhich,as will be presentlyshown
provesthe East Bygd to be on the sotlth-westcoast,while
NValkendolwf
and all those+xhomlaeconsultedwere convinced
it wason the east coast?
CaptainGraahhas given us anotherveryremarkableproof
tllat his criticaltreatmentof IvarBardsencannotbe blindly
accepted. In his sailingdirectionsIvarBardsentells us that,
4'in sail;nt,iionl Icelandto Greenland,you fir.stshapeyour

on the Site of tAlelost Colonyof Greenlandand

190- AIAJOR

Skerries,whicll
courseduewest till you cometo Gunnbiorn's
andin the ancient
lie midwaybetweenIcelandandGreenland,
but now
tiinesthis westerlycoursewas followedto Greenland,
the ice hasdrifteddownfromthe north,and set itself fast so
Skerries,that none withoutperil of life
near to Gunnbiorn's
canfollowit. Youthensail to the south-westuntil you have
Skerries,
;got past all the ice lying at andaboutGunnbiorn's
andmustthen steerto the north-westfor a dayand a night,
whicllwill bringyou to Hvarf."
driftingof the ice CaptainGraahremarks
Onthis downward
(p. 1aS): "Thiscanscarcelyhave been the leal cause,for the
was in all likelihood
ice along the east coast of Greenla:nd
muchthe samein the tenthcenturyas it wasin the fourteellth
andwis
now."
This,to meXunintelligibleremalk,readsoddlyby the side
Admiral
of theDanishhydrographer,
of thefollowingexpression
Zahrtmann.;'We learn,"he says, "*om CaptainGraah,*
that the ice is continuallyon the increa;sealongthis coast,
its thin populationto emigrateto the
therebynecessitatilag
westside,^rherethis increaseof ice and decayof the monumentsof antiquityarealsokeepingpacetogether."
Skerries,
Havingthusdisposedof the ice roundGunnbiorn's
CaptainGraah dealt with the Skerriesthemselvesin the
followingmanner. Not findingt]lem where Ivar Bardsen
he says
placestheln,midwaybetweenIcelandandGreenland,
that "the fact is disprovednot only by the experienceof
but by that alboof the
-theIcelandictradersand fisherme:n,
he applied
English and Dutch whalels,"and,proprio gqnot?,
Skelriesto somesmall rockscloseof
the nameof Gunnbiorn's
the coast of Greenland,in lat. 65?30', an artificialmode of
sailingdirectionsleadto the site where
makingIvarBardsen's
taptain Graahassumedthe East Bygd to lie. By such a
it is clear that CaptainGraahcannot
route to Julianashaab,
claim to be followillgthe guidanceand authorityof Ivar
Bardsen,but siruplyhis own conclusions.Theseconclusions,
thoughvery natural,threurdiscrediton the value of Ivar
Bardsen'sguidance,andyet, as we shall see, IvarBardsenwas
a faithfulguide who wouldhave led hila unerringlyto the
desiredspot.
IvarBaldsen'sdescriprocks,to haveanswered
Gunnbiorn's
size, and yet it is
tiOll, could have been of no ilasignificant
quite true that they were not to be seenwhereIvarBardsen
places thern. CaptainGraah,therefore,was in no sense to
that he callleto, butat the sametime
blameforthe conclusioll
Society'sJournal,'vol. v. p. 102.
* ' RoyalGeographical

Discoveriesof America.
the Pre-Columbian

191

Ivar Bardsenwas not at fault either It llas been my good

fortuneto make the discoveryof a fact wlth which neither
noranyof the disputantsin tllis casehavebeell
CaptainGUraah
but which entirelyvindiin the slightestdegreeacquainted,
cates the integrityof IvarBardsensdirections,andwill, it is
hoped,helpto removefromthe long-vexedquestionof the site
of the EastBygdthoseremainsof doubtwhichGaptainGraah,
with all his greatmerits,hasstill allowedto rest on the minds
of manyon this subject.
In the 1507editionof Ptolemyis a mostvaluablemap of
-tlle world,made by a GermannamedJohannRuysch,a map
whichavouldbe eminentlyremarkableas an engravedmap if
so fromthe
only forits veryearlydate,but it is pre-eminently
factthat it is the firstengravedmapon whichArnericais laid
down. Now,formorethana quarterof a century,I havebeen
awareof the fact that on this anapwas a legend recordingthe
destructionby a volcaniceruption,at an early date of an
island somewhereup in the north,andI recollectmanyyears
ago pointingout the fact to Sir John Richardson;but no
specialline of studyhadat that timeled him or me to the lecognitionof what tllis islandmigllt be. When,however,tlle
subjectof whichI am nowtreatingbeganseriouslyto occupy
of this legend came back to my
my attention,the e:xistence
mernoryand,on recurringto the old map,I foundmidway
as IvarBardsenlladdescribed
betweellIcelandandGreenland,
Skerries,thoughrathernearerto
the positionof Gunnbiorn's
a large island,againstvvhichstood
Icelandthanto Greenland,
hc annoDomini1456fuittotaliter
this inscription '<I:nsula
combusta.";'This islandin the year of our Lord 1456 was
of the fact,I found
cntirelyblownup;" and,in confirmation
by the remainsof the e:xplosion
o11latermapstlle shoalformecl
laid downin preciselythe same locality witll the name of
{; Gombar
Scheer,"a naluewhichit is impossiblenot to reeogSkerries.
nise as a sailor'sversionof Gunnbiol:n's
On one of these maps,etltitled"Pascaertvan Groenlandt,"
by JanvanKeulen,withouta date,but about1700,I had the
pleasureto findsoundingson the reef. The slloalwas repreto southfand about
siz?y mtles long from:rlorth
sentedas f?ffiM
at the north
-25miles broadfromeastto west. Thosoundings
and south ends were both 25 fatlloms,while the nearest
were70, 80, and 100 fathoms. It has
soundingsnorthwards
beenstated,that whilethisshoallies essentiallyin the position
describedbyIvarBardsen,midwaybetweenIcelandandGreenland, it is, if anything,somewhatnearerto Iceland a fact
which will, I conceive,froma nauticalpoint of view, give
of Ivar Bardsen'sdirecadditionalweight to the correctnes.s

and
of Greenland
theSiteof thelostCOIO?S
02Z
192 MAJOR
tions; fox the more easterlythe poillt at which the sailor
legarl to set his south-westcourse,the moreliLelywoulclhe
be, underthe influenceof the strongsouth-westcurrent,to
make sufficientsouthingto brin7 :hisvessel into a position
taclzto the north-west.
to makeCapeFarewellby a subsequellt
But T1OWthat IvarBardsen'ssailingdirectionsare restored
says. Of
to their integrity,let us see what lliS chorography
courseollly such extracts are given as are necessary. fIe
bringsus by sea to a hit,lllandnarnedHvarf,a wordwhieh
in tl-le
and is tlle same word+rhichy
meansa turning-point,
nolth of Scotland,has talcenthe shapeof CapeNVrath.
and
From this point IvarBardselltakesus first eastwards,
:named
by long leapsbringsus to tlvofiords,quiteuni:nhabited,
wlich n1eans"the
respectivelyBereHordand Oellum-lengri,
longestof all." It is scxlonfflthat he says"no oneeversaw
the end of it." It mayvery ea.silybe Franz JosephFiord,
Soldewey'sexpeditionin
Payer,in Captai11
whichLieuterlant
the Germaxiain 1870 ascertdedfor70 miles, and then from
indethe top of a peak,7000 feet high ssalvit still stretcl1ing
finitelywestward."Furtherto the east,"Ivar-Bardsensays,
andfurtherstill
Fillusbuda,
"is a greatmountainof ice 1lamecl
an island namedKaarsoe,beyondwhichnotllingcan be seen
on sea or lan(lbutice alld
He then brings us back to his startillg-poilltIIvarf,and
the diSerent
thence leads us westwards,describingseriatierw
f1ordsand localitiesin the East Bygd, about whose names
thereis no mannercf doult, as severalof them are lnentioned
And now xvhat
in the Sagasal1dthe otherclloroU,raphies.
followsis deservingof specialnotice. Afterleadingus from
to a fiordcalledEricksfiord
placeto placegraduallywestwards
aretwoarmsof tlle seae
fromEricksfiord
l1esays:"Northwards
lies BredenamedYdreviganclIndrevig. Nest, northwards,
and so on to
to the north,is :Eyrarfiord;
fiord;thence,fzueGher
IsefiordThichis the mostwesterlyfiordin the EastBygcl."
andtheWest13ygdwasa
IIe thensays,thatbetweenthe^East
country,
uninhabited
spaceof twelvenauticalmiles of e:ntirely
by sayingthat theWestBygdhad
andfinisheshis chorographxr
by the Skrellings.
beenutterlydepopulated
Nowit doesnot need much reflectionto see thatthis series
fromHvarfcannotpossiblybe on
of placesrunningwestwards
the east coast,forlet us placeHvarfOllthat coast wherever
-e may say,for argument'ssake, wherethe old IcelaIlders
that it lay irl aboutlat. 63?- everystep wethen
conjectured
taketo the west o.e. to our left hand,leadsus moreandmore
places
to the south,whileIvar Bardsenmakesthe last-named
irl the seriesgo moreand moreto the north. It is needless
snow.7'

tAle

Pre-Co12lR:bbiaRl

Discoreries
of Anlelica.

193

to say that on tlle sest coasttlle case is exactlyrevelsed. If,

theretore,+ e takeHvarfto be, as its namesould suggest,the
"turning-point
" of the east andwest coasts,tlle descriptiollis
ill hallnonynot only with commollsense7lout^7ithtlle real
trelldi:ng
of the landfirstxvest,thennortil,as latergeoOrapllical
researchllas sllownit to be,andthus,beyondall questioll,lve
have the East B^gd in the district of Juliallasllaab,
+sllere
CaptainGraah,by moreCil'CUitOUS but less conclusiveprocesses,
stroveto proveit to be.
'l'hissimpleexpositionis my strongpointfortile finalsettlemellt of tlle site of the East Bvgd, and I believeit to be
unanswerable.It may not urlreasonably
be ret,arde(las a
ma.tterof surprisetllat an ar,ument so conclusiveas this
should have escapedthe attentionof all the distillC,uished
commentators
wholla+e sougllt the solutionof this question,
fromArchbisllop
AValkendort
in 1516,andtlle learnedrlaorfus,
downlvards
to tlle plesentclay. A higllerauthoritytllanIvar
Bardsencould not possiblybe desired;a ulore explicit alld
luciddescription
collldnot be wi.shed;the conclusion
fromit is
utterlyinevitable;andy wtCaptainGraahhilllself,whosewhole
heart and soulwere ill tlle sllbject,andxvlloseverywordsare
"that the cholotrapllyof IvarBardsenis the only one nrecan
at all dependon in this matter,"wrotea mostableandlearnecl
appendisof twenty-one
octavopa(Yes
in smalltrpe to provellis
pointby ingeniousarguments
onthe applicatiol;
of almostevery
other ancientpassaOebut the one whicll+s-ould
have I)laced
unanseverable
demonstration
betweellhis fin(rers.
It maybe suggestedthat in the sisteenthand seventeenth
centuriesthey had no lnaps sufficientlytrustrorthyto help
tllem to such a conc]usion. Thereremains,however,another
processof reasoning,equallysilllple,lvllicllleaclsto tlle salue
result+vithout
the need of a map. If the seriesof placeseasSwardsfRomHvarfbringsus to where" onecaIlgo llo furtherfor
the ice andsnow,"^hicll are characteristics
of tlle lworth,
andif
the seriesof llameswestwclvds
terminatesalsolvithplacesmore
andyet moreto tlle north,it standsto reasonthatHvarfitself
must be a point at tlle south betweenthe two, and, consequently,the East Bygd, by Ivar Bardsen'sshowing,must of
necessityhave lain immediatelyto the west of the southern

point of Greenland. Although neither of these lines of thought

seems ever to have occllrredto any commentatorfor the last
360 years, they are not the less conclusivefor all that.
Andnolvlet us see howfal IvarBardsen'sand Zeno'sdescriptions are collfirmativeof each other.
After enumeratinga few places ^^rest
of Hvarf, Isar Bardsen
brings us to a place calledPetersvig,near lYhichis a great
VOL. SLIII.

194

and
of Greenland
ontheSiteof thelostCOIO?2Y
MAJOR

monasterydedicatedto St. Olaus and St. Augustille. He alsou

says that "in the inner recess of a neighbouringfiord,called
Rafnsfiord,is a cloister of Sisters of the Orderof St. Benedicte
Within the bay are some small islands half belonging to the
cloister and half to the cathedral. These islancls abound inbut in summer
water,sf3hot in winter as to be unapproachable,
temperateenoughto be used for washingand for the healing of
the sick."
VVehave a corroborationof this fact in the hot spri:ngsof
Ounartok,near which some remains of the buildingsof the old
colonists have been found. (DaptainGraah who visited thesey
tells us that there are three springsclose by one anotherat the
north-eastcorner of the island of Ounartok. The one nearest
the sea is insignificant,its temperaturebeingonly 26?of Reaumur
(91? Fahr.). The second,a few paces from it, forms a lake of
about 48 feet in circuit; its temperaturewas 27? (93? Fahr.)
The third is still larger,being about 70 feet in circuit,and its
temperaturefrom 32 to 332?Reaumur(104 to 108?Fahr.) Theg
Greenlandersstate that the wateris much hotter in winterthan
irl summer: an effect which probablyarises frornthe air
much coldel in winter, and the contrastaccordinglymore perceptible. This must be acknonrledgedto be, incidentally at
least, a very remarkableconfirmationby the old Greenlanders
of Zeno's interesting story of the monastery. That he makes
no referenceto the ingeniousapplicationso? the hot waterneed
occasionno surprise,for they may :nothave existed at the time
xvhenhe wrote,whicll was considerablybefore Ze:no'speriod;
and even if they did, they were items of detail whichwouldnot
necessarilybe inserted in a mere chorography. The diSerence
between the names of St. Olaus and St. Tomaso,given by the
two to the same monastery,is easily explainable. rllheNorthern
name of St. Olaf wouldbe as strangeas San.seritto the mind of
the Venetian, anclits Latinisedform of St. Olauswould soundl
to his ear like nothing so much as San Tomaso. As regardsr
his describing the monks as Dominicans instead of Augusx
tinians, ve have no alternative but to accept it as a misap-prehensionon his part, bearing no influence upon the question
either one way or the other.
iEtafn,to whose learning and untiring industrywe
E>rofessor
are so deeply indebtedfor the great amount of enlightenmentthat we now possesson the moveme:atsof the old Scandinaviansin Greenland,has endeavoured to fix the localities of thes
ancient settlements on the face of a modern map, and, as far
as may be judged fromIvar Bardsen's chorographytaken by
itself, the Professors map appears most admirablyand Judiciollsly dran up. A sketch map of the district flom a Danish
beingN

oQ

? O o

o '
a

t;

SKETCH CHART OF THE

SOUTHWEST
of

G R EE

N LAN

D,

from the fOanish Admiralty Survey,

corrected to 1873*
withProfessor RajfrKscptol,tJiony of tzh>3
cntz
S
frorn>IvorrBard<;cvnSs
CherograFhy

thePre-Columbian
l)iscoveriesof America.

195

Admiraltychart correctedto 1871,withRafn'sadaptationof

the ancientnames,is here given. At the t;ne that I hadtlle
honourof readingthis paperbeforethe Royal Geographical
Society I waseasilytemptedto concludethat tlle hot springs
referredto by Ivar Bardsen,whichseemedto tally with those
of Ounartok,
visitedanddescribedby CaptainGraah,werealso
identicalwiththe sourcesof the hot waterused in the monastery describedby Zeno. Subsequentreflectionhas causedme
to alter this opinion. The on]ymonastery
mentionedby Ivar
Bardsenis the Augustinianone dedicatedto St. Olausand as
far as I anl ableto forman opinionfromIrar Bardserl's
chorographyalone,I see no reasonto differfromthe conclusionof
Protessor
Rafn,whoplacesits sitenearthe lake whichlies ontlle
right-handsideof the in:nerrecessof the:Ejord
of Tessermuit,
in
lat. 60?26',in almostthe samelatitude,it is true,as Ounartok,
but separated
therefrombytwofjords,at themouthof thesecond
of which Ounartoklies. Moreover,the descriptionof the
islandsof Ounartokdoes nottally with that of the site of the
monastery,which,accordingto IvarBardsen,was.neara lake,
a conditionrealisedin the positionadoptedby Rafn.
It is true that Dr. Rinlc,the late Inspectorof SouthGreenland,has obliginglywrittento informme that he knowsof no
hot springsin the districtof Julianashaab,
besides those of
Otlnartol;butthereis enoughcapriciousness
in volcanicaction
to makethat fact far flom conclusiveas to the non-existence
of hot springsin anotherproximate
localityfive centuriesa,o.
Moreover,
thereis a remarkableexplicitnessin the deseription
of a phenomenon
whichourknowledgeill the presentday show3
to be periectlyacenrate. The text saysthat ';wherethe warln
water:lillsintothe seathereis a largeandwideharbour,
which,
fromthe heatof the boilingwater,neverfreezesall the winterg
andthe consequellce
is thatthereis such an attractionforseafowlandfish,thatthey arecaughtin unlimitedquantity."
In this description
we :havea pictureof far greatervolume
and activityin the hot springthan is conveyedby Captain
Graahs descriptionof the shallowpools,nowlleredeeperthan
a foot, at Ounartok.Yet this volulneandthis activityof the
thermalspringare requisitefor the eSect described,viz., the
attractionof the fish,so that we are compelledto assun-we
the
formeresistenceof a springnearthe monastery,
now:nolonger
known.
Thementionof the employment
of thepumiceandcalcareous
tufa in constructingbuildings,and makingthe mortarwhich
boundthemtogetherwouldalsoseemto implygreaterabundance of materialthan could be looked for in the pools at
Ounartok.In anycasewe cannotbut regardthe accountof

and
of Greenland
ontheSiteof thelostColow7y
19(; SIAJOR
the monasteryas one of those " descriptionsdetaillees d'objets
dont rien en l'Surope ne pouvoit leur avoir donne l'idee,"for
which Humboldt commendsthe Zeno narrative: while the
existence of the Ounartokhot sprinCsin the neighbourhoodat
tlle presentday, and the mention of such hot springs loyIvar
Bardsenabout the same locality, are evidences quite sufficient
to warrantouracceptanceof the credibilityof the Zenoaccount.
But the monasterywas not only llear a lake accordingto Ivar
Bardsen,but accordingto Zeno it was near a hill whichvomited
fire like Vesuvius and Etna, and whether it be an extinct
volcanoor not, there is Ollthe Dallish map, in a positioncorrewith that fixed l)y Rafn, a hill named Suilcarssuak.
spoAlding
Closelyconnecteclsviththis subject is one to which I at pacre
170 promisedto recur. It is to be noticed that both in the
map and in the nar1ativethere are two naines, " Grolanda,"or
"Grolandia,"ancl "Engronelanda,"which the test shows to
mean only one country. In one place, the word Grolandais
appliedby AntonioZenoto the countrydiscoveredby his brother
Nicolo, whereason a previouspage that sarnecountry is called
Engronelanda,arldwe have the clearest possible proof in the
Zeno map, that that countryis Greenland. From all extract
from Antonio Zeno's letter, in the text, we gather that the remarkabledelineationof Greenlalldon the map is derivedfrom
Sinclair,since the language takes the followingshape: " I llave
*vrittenthe life of my brother,the Chevalier,Messire Nicolo,
with the discoverywhich he made, and all about Grolanda. I
llave also written the life and exploits of Zichmni,a prince as
worthyof immortalmemoryas any that ever lived for his great
braveryand remarlzablegoodness. In it I have describedthe

on boGhstdesand the city thc6the

discoveryof Engrontlcond
founded."

The combinationof these two expressionsin one sentence

leads to the inference that the discoveryof Greenlandon both
sides was due to Sinclair. On page 170 I wrote as follows:
"Those portions of the ancient story which have not been
narred by misreading, exaggeration,or tInintelligentinterwhich will be spoken of hereference,are, wiShoneezeepGion,
after, in harmonywith the knowledgewhich we possessin the
present day."
We now come to speak of that exceptiol. As has been just
said, in the descriptionof Nicolo Zeno'svisit to Greenlandit is
by a htll,whze7
stated (p. 12), that "he founda monasteryhardX
and E{na,"and then the accountgoes
vomttedJ4reliAveVesql,vtus
on to speak of the spring of hot waterwith wllich the church
of the monasteryand the chambersof the friarswere heated.
Now although we know of thermal springs in Greenland,and

of Americ.
lViscoveries
thePre-Col2embian

197

to be the sate
in the verydistrictwhichllas beendemonstrated
of the ancientcolony,wehaveneverheardof anyactivesolcano
there. Nevertlleless,lve have at the closeof this verynarrafroman independentsourceof thi3 statetive a corroboration
ment respectinga solcarlo. When SinclairreachedGreento be detailedpreserltly,
land, after arLadxentureoff Irela:nd,
he entereda harbour,from which,Antoniosays, "we sasv
in the distaneca great mountainthat pouredforth
The harbourthey calledTrin,andwhetherrightlyor wlwont,ly,
thatis to say,whetherso staaldingon the old mapor inserted
of Trinis
by NietoloZeno,junior,the promontory
haphazard
of Greenlaud.A hundred
placedat the extremesouthPpoint
soldierssent out from the harbourof Trin to ez;ploretlle
countrySreturnedafter eigllt days and broalghtwordthat
';they had beenup to tlle mountain,alldtllatthe smolcewas
a naturalthing proceedingfrom a great :firein the bottom
of the hlll, and that there was a springfromwhichissueda
certaillmatterlile pitcI-lwhichranintothe sea."
testimonyto the existenceat that tiIYlE of a
Tllis t+Tofold
sloke-7

w-vlcanoin the south of Greenlandaof which we linoxvnotllino

at the presentdayXseems to place the subjectout of the rallDe
of those puzzles which have origirlated fros Nicolb Zeno

juniors misreadingor misap?rehension.Althoughno olle

yet as ir as I aul aware has detectedthe existencein this
localityof eitheran activeor an estinct volcano,it ulUstbe
the existenceof all
eoncededthat in a countrylike Greenland
both fisom
estinct solcanomayvery easilyelude observation,
of its peakby glacialaction,andfromthe snow
the dentldation
and ice collcealingwhat lies belowthem. hIeanwhilethe
known esistence of thermalsprings in the neighbourllood
of ouracceptin,,as accllratethe two
tlle reasonableness
f8avours
statemelltsof the test.
of Zenoby IvarBardsen;+\e
So muchfor the confirIllation
of Ivar Bardsenby Zfeno. In
nowconle to the confirmation
spite of a11the ridiculousblundersilnplante:lon it by Nlcolo
the Zeno map
of the narrative,
julliorvfromnzisleadings
Zenon
was basedon a genuineold map madeby his ancestor. As
such it is a most remarkablephenomenonin geographical
hi3tory,fol it containsgeot,laphyfal in advance:notonlfrof
what wasgenerallyknolvnat the time +^hell it was first laicl
downin the fourteenthcentul;ybut in adv}ee evenbygenerain the
tionsof wllatwas kIlownat the time of its publication
accuracyin the delineasisteenthcentllry. Tlle approsimate
tion of Greenlandunderthe nameof Engronelandhas been
tlle subjectof repeated notice. The reader'sattentionis
on that map llearits southpoint.
invitedto the lvord"A^rorf>'

and
of Greenland
lostColony
OntheSiteof tAze
198 MAJOR
It is a valuable nvord,for it proves a very great deal. There
call lDeno doubtthat it is the " Hxrarf" of Ivar Bardsen ancl
all the chorographies.XIn fact, in BjornJonsen'schorography,

is still moreapparent.
the ide:ntity
whereit is spelt;'Etafhvarf,"
iNearit also is the nameof "Af Plom,"7hich is doubtlessa
of
secondmodeof writingthe samething,viz. the promontory
Hvarf,by tlle makerof the old map. The positionof this
evidencefroma quarter
nameon thismapis a mostremarkable

where one wouldleast expect it; viz., fromthe chance visit of

a Venetian to the spot at the close of the fourteenthcentury,
East Bygd. Its spelling is another
of the true site of the loAst
example of the mode in which a Northernword can be represented by a Foutherner,,and its accordancewith the native
description of Ivar Bardsen is another proof of Nicolo Zeno
junior's ignorant reading of the text when he places the convent of St. Thomas in the preposterousposition in lvhich we
see itnon the remotest shores of the Frozen Ocean. liaving
first mistaken Bres, or rather Bressay, where his ancestorSs
brotherwinteredin the ShetlandIslands,for a place in Icelad,
and finding that in the spring he goes north to Engroneland,
lle places him up there.$
Anothernotable fact is that, in the Zerlomap all the settlements lie on the west and :nol;on the east coast. AYllile,therefore, these facts corroborateIvar Bardsen'schorographyand
the site of the East Bygd derived therefrom,they also, in the
most conclusivemanner, prove the genui:nenessof the original
narrativeand map of the Zeno and that the chief cause of the
doubt of their authentlcity has been Nicolo Zeno juniorSs
readingsof the narrativerepresenteclupon the face
blundering
of the map. rThisbeing so, we firtdourselvesin possessioncf an
interesting descriptionof the prospelousconditionof the East
of the NVestBygd
Bygd, betweenthe periodof the destructio:ll
and its own disappealancefrom lYlan'sknolvledge which we
possess in no other docuInentwhatever. The description of
the fishermen'sboats and tlleir contrivancesfor safety in those
dangerousseas is truly admirable. The mode of constructing
their hollses in this strange country, relat6d to us by an eyewitness,Sre hundredyears ago, and the use of potstone,a true
* One of Admiral Zahttma1le's insilluations, entirely unsupported by evidence,
is that Nicolb Zeno may hasTe derived frozn priests in Rome information sabout
Greenland which they had received from Archbishop AValkendorfduring his
e:sile. It is not likely for Walkendorf died in Amsterdam when Zello was eight
yeals old. His ulain object was to learn the way to the East Bygd, and Ivar
Bardsen's directions and chorography stood fiast and nzost impoltant alnong the
documents tllat he secured. If, tllco, Nicolo Zeno by any process gained posse3sion of WalkendorSs infolmatton, it was quite impossible tllat lle should place
the monastery of St. Thonlas where he has done on the map,

Discoveriesof America.
Pre-Columbian
tAze

199

Greenlandicprocluct,in their dotnesticutensils,have about

them an interestof a very rare character;and the plan of
heatingtheir dsvellingsand cookingtheir victuals xviththe
waterof the naturalhot springs,is but a curiouseally e:xample
donein latertimesat ChaudesAit,ues,in tlle
of whatllas beerL
wherethe waterfrointhe Par fountain
departmentof Ca:ntal,
conveysheat to somehundredsof houses,and is madeotherfordomesticpurposes.
viseserviceable
After the deathof Wicolo,Sinclairwouldnot allowAntonio
to makehimselflord
to returllto Tenice,but beingdetermined
to verify
to send him out to the westwards
of the sea,xvishecl
somerichand
whohaddiscovered
$hereportof sornefishelnmen
populouscountriesin that direction,vhich we shall presently
in a lette
whichlvasembodied
seeto beAmerica. Thenarrative,
frolllAntollioto llis brotherCarlo,is in briefas follows.
put out to sea,
Si:xand tventy yearsago four fishing-boats
a lleavystorlnwere drivenover the sea in
and encountering
utter helplessnessfor lnatlydays, and at length came to an
lying 1000 miles xvestof Frislancla.
island called Estotilanda,
tne of the boats was wreckedand its crewof six men xvere
bythe nativesintoa largeandpopulouscity andtaken
,brought
beforethe cllief,wllo sent for manyinterpletersto speakxvith
t}lem. Olllyone of these,lvhospokeLatin andhad alsobeen
cast loychanceuponthe island,could understandthem. On
learningwhothey were and wherethey caine from,the chief
desiredthat they shouldstay in the country,whichthey did
perforceforfiveyears,andlearnedthe language. Oneof thern
havillgseen much of the island,reportedthatit
in particular,
wasratllersinallertllan Iceland,but lnuchmorefertile,having
whenceflow fourriverswllich
in tlle luidcilea high mountain,
lvatertlle avholecountry. Theinhabitantsareveryintelligent,
librarywelefoundseveral
and possessmallyarts. In theIVing's
Latin boolSs,whichwere not at tllat time understood. 'Tlle
?eople had tlleir oxvnlallguageand letters,and in the south
therewasa greatandpopulouscountryveryricllin gold. Tlleir
whencetheyimported
waswitllEngronelalld,
foreigllintercourse
fulls,blilnstone,and pitch. They sowedcornand made beer,
xvhiellis "a kindof dlink thatnolthpeopletakeaslvedowine."
TIleyhadwoodsof immenseextentandmanytownsandlrillages.
They built small lsoats and sailed them,but knewnothingof
the compass. Hence these fishermenwereheld in high estimation, and were sent southwardswith twelve boats to a cotlntry
called Drot,io. They arrivedthere after a perilousvoyage,
but the inhabitants beinfr cannibals,most of tlle clelss R ere
were spaled because
.eaten. rl'llefishellmalland his companions
nets, and they wele so much plized
they could catcll fish +X-ith

and
O2Z
the Site of the lost Colo of Greeezlcl;Rzfl
200 MAJOR

on tlleir
oll tllis account that a neiC,hboulingchief made mTar
ulaster to get possessionof them, and beillg tlle stronger,succeesled. In this way they spent thirteen years,being fought
for and won by more than twenty-fivechiefs irl that tisne, a.nd
itl the course of his wanderingsthe fishermangainecl mucll
inforrnatioll. He clescribesthe coulltryas very lalge, and, as it
+vere,a nexv worlcl,the people verf rude allcl ullcultivated.
I'lley go naLeclalld suSer from the cold, loutllave not the sellse
to clothe themselves witll skins. 1'hey live by hunting,but as
they llave no nweta],they use lances of lvood,sharpelledat the
point ancllsoulldxvithstrillgs of hide. They fight fiercely,and
avhich
fterwardseat the conquered. They have chieSsanclla+^rs
differin the several tribes. They grow lllore civilised towarcls
the climate is milder,and they have cities
tlle south-west,+^rhere
and temples to their idols, in avllichthey sacrificemell and aftexvardseat tllem. In tllose parts they have knoxvledgeof gold
anclsilver.
At last tlle fisllerrnandetermined,if possible,to returnto llis
country,and fillally succeeded. He worhed his way to Drogio,
wherehe staed three years, whell some boats fromEstotiland
canae to the coast alld received him on board as interpreteO
Finally, he returnecIto Frisland, and gave an accoullt of tllis
to Sinclair.
importantcountr:,T
tThis appears to llave been, for the close of the fourteenth
century, a pretty good descriptionof the state of thin.s in
of the
Americaas fal dO\07ll as BSexico. It is evidentlya aesgqere
]nowleclge acquileclly tlle Northmen in their expeclitionsto
tlle xvestandsoutll-^Test.In additionto the informatiollgathered
I)y the fishermanduring llis oxvnlong stay in the country,lle
xvould,on his return to Greenlandor Iceland,hear much fiom
those lvho lveptup luercantile connectionxvithAmerica,to add
to the storeof knolvledgewhich he communicatedto Sinclair.
One of the first achievementsof the Greenlandcolonists+zas
the discoveryof Nolth Americaby Lief, son of Elic the Recl,in
tlle year 1001. Tlle tracts of country there cliscoveredwere
calleclHelluland,z.e., Slate Land,sllpposedto be Newfoundland,
supposeclto be Nova Scotia; and
Markland,z.e, NVoodlalad,
Vinland or Vineland. 'lnhereis much urlcertaintyabout the
situationof tlle two former,but the site of VivIlandis less prolDlematical. Oneof tlle old lvriterssays that on the sllortestclay
in Vinland the sun was above the horizon from Dagmaal to
Eikt, and as Dagmaal is ltllowllto have meant half-pastseven
it folloxvstllat
o'clockA.1}I., and Eikt half-pastfour o'clocltP.M*,
lline hours,which gives the latitude
tlle lengtll of the day +^ras
of 41?. This deductionis confirmedby a CUl'iOUS Coinci(]enCe.
Adam of Bremen, writin",in tlle eleventh century,states on the3

l)iscoveriesof America.
tAlePre-Columbian

20l

of
autholityof Svein Estridsonliing of Denmark,a rlephe+x
Canutethe Great,that Vinlandgot its name from the VillE
growingwild tllere,and for the same reasontlle Entlisll reVineyardto the large
discoverersgave the nameof SIartha's
island,closeoffthe coast in latitude41?23'.
rTheolcl clocumentsa]so mentiona countrycalled HuitraIrlanclit MiLlaola
Land,otherxvise
or Whiteman?s
manllalallcl
GleatIrelancl,supposedto includeNorthandSouthCalolina,
GeorgiaallclFlorida. Thereis a traditionamongtheSlaawanese
Indians,whoemigratedsouleyearsago fromFloridaandsettled
ill Ollio,tllat}'lorida+^asinhabitedby xvhitepeoplewllo possessediron instluments. It is ?urtherrecordedill the allcient
Erick wetltover to Vjnlancl
LElishop
tllat the Greenland
Mi1SS.,
ill the yeal 1121,andthat ln 1266a sovageof discoveryto the
aleticleoionsof Americawaslnadeunderthe auspicesof sonze
Bishopric. Tlle n est recorflecl
clelgylneIlof the Greerlland
Helgason,tro
by AdalbrandallclThorwald
discoverywasTllade
Icelalldicclergymen,in the ear 1285,the countryfoundbeinC,
The last recordpleservedin the
sllpposedto be Ne^7foundland.
to BIarls
oldIcelandictrss. relatesa noyage fiomGree:aland
ly a cresvof seventeenmell in tlle frear1347.
land,performecl
nille yearsafter the
by a contemporary
The accountxYrittell
andvisited
as a coulltrystill knoxvIl
eventspeaksof iA[alkland
tlle latest documentthat
in tllosedaysnanclit was,until no+^?,
and
of intercoulsel)etsveenGreenland
spokeof tlle mailltenance
however,we havethe vely
Aluerica. In the Zeno clocument,
latestevidencekno^n in literatureof the colltinuedexistencr3
clownto the closeof the fourteentllcenturs-,
of thatintercourse
a hundredyearsbefolethe timeof Columbus;fOlaltiloughthe
wascompreservedin Copellhagell,
valuableCodexiFlateiensis,
withthat of the Zen;,
pletedat a periociesactlycontempolary
it doesnot recorclsuchlate detailson this illterestingsubject.
of tlle old IcelandicMSS. sufficielltlyesThe descript;olls
plain hoxvLatill books,whichllad been talSenover by tile
priests,sllouldbe foulldin the chief'spossession.Tlle woocls
of iinmenseestellt tell their oun story. 'llhe importanceotx
of the nativesancl
catchingthecodfishwithnets,tlle description
theirhabits,tlle reportof a countryto the southl7icllirlgolclm
arepointsin the Zenonarrativein harmonywith ourplesent
andthetestimonyof the Icelandicrecords Pellha?s
kno+sledge
of Scandinavian
as showingthe e:xistence
the mostiIlteresting,
is the statelllent
peoplearldcustomsin Americaat that perioclS
of theirmaklllgbeer,w]licb,as Zenosays,is "a hindof drillk
of
aswe do svine." Of the antiqvlity
thatNorthernpeopletalKe
the
bee-clrinkingill the North,lve llave larooffiomSeemullcl
Learned,xvhoin tlle eleventllcenturylllacletllat collectionof

and
of Greenland
ontheSiteof thelostColony
:202 AIAJOR
poemskllownas "the Poetic Edda.'7 In the " Lay of the Dwarf
" Ale it is called by men, but by
Alvis " occurs$he e:xpleSsion,
tlle JEsir (gods) biorr.' In the C:openhagenMuseumare llorns
used of old by the Tikings for dlinking beer. We have already
had remarkableevidencethat an inflated boinbasticstyle may
rbeused in tlle narrationof a true story. When therefore in
-the descriptiollof a more remotecountrylike America,we nleet
with such expressionsas " the king's library,"and '; cities and
temples,"svhich mit,ht awaken misgivings as to the soundness
of the story, we maF revert to Zeno'saccountof the conquestof
the Ftroe Islands,and, recognisint,the same iIlflated style as
commonto the stories,acknowledgethat it would be unreasonable on that scoreto throw rlloredoubt upon the one than upon
the otller.
Itwillbeoleservedthatin the Zeno nalratives;Estotiland"
is described as an sland and ;4J)rogio' as a country. The
formerwas somewhatless than " Islanda,"andas the description
of it very fairly agrees with NewfoundlandI have here rendered the wordIslallda " Iceland"and not ccShetland" as it is
translatedill those other partsof the narrative,wherethe latter
was obviouslynleant. That I am justified in this selectionof
the larger of the two localities bearingthe name of ;' Islanda"
to n:leettlle comparisonwith Newfoundlandas to size, will be
see:a by an expression neal the end of the test,, where it is
.shownthat the book plepared by Antonio Zeno, but torll up
by Nicolo Zeno, junior, containeddescriptionsof bothIceland
and Shetlalld,althoughthe formeris left unnoticedin the text
as *senow have it, whicllwas put togetllerfrom tlle surviving
letters of the ancient soyagers. Drogio subject to such sophisticationsas tlle +sordmay have undergone in its perilou3
transmission frolll tlle tongues of Indians via the Northern
fi.sherman'srepetition, to the ear of tlle Vene$ian,and its subsequenttransferto paper, appears to have been a native name
for an extensive tract of Nortll Aluerie,a.
At length $he expedition is organisedfor the verificationof
the fisheiman'sstatements,and as the story of its adventuresis
that part of the Ilarrativewhich has caused the greatest perit iS here given in full:plexitfr,
for thevo-age to Estotiland sere
';Our gleat preparatiorks
beCunin an unlucky hour,for, three days beforeollr departure,
the fishermandied xvhowas to have been our guide; nevertheless Zichmniwould not give up tlle e:aterprise,but, in lieu of
-the fisherman,took some sailols that had come out with him
fronlthe island. Steerillgwestwardswe discoveredsomeislands
subjecstto Frislanda,andpassingcertainslloals,cameto Ledovo,
^rhele+Testayed seven days to refiesh ourselvesand to furnish

thePre-Columbian
Discoveriesof America.

203

Utllefleetwithnecessaries.Departingthencemrearrived,on the
lst of July, at the Islandof Ilofen and as the windwasfull in
-ourfavoulwe pushedon; but not long after,whene wereon
the opensea,therearoseso greata stolmthatforeightdayswe
werecontinuously
kept in toil, and drivenwe knewnot where
anda considerable
nuinberof the boatsxverelost. At length,
whenthestormabatedwegatheredtogetherthe scatteredboats,
and sailingwith a prosperous
wirldwe discoveredlandon tlle
mrest.Steeri:llgstraightfor it, we reacheda quiet and sate
llarbour,
in whichwe sawan infiniterlumberof armedpeople,
whocamerunningfuriously
downto the waterside,preparedto
defe:nd
the island. Zichmninowcausedhis lnen to makesigns
of peaceto them andthey sent ten mento us whocouldspeak
ten languages,but we couldunderstand
noneof them,e2zeept
o:llethat was from Shetland. tIe, being broughtbeforeour
prince,and askedwhat was the nameof the islandaandlvhat
peopleinhabitedit, andwho was the governor,answeredthat
the islandwascalledIcalia,andthatall the kingsthat reigned
therewere calledIcari,afterthe firstking, xYhoas they said,
wasthe son of Daedalus,
Kingof ScotlandS
whoconquered
that
island,left his son there for king,and garrethem those la+vs
that theyretainto the presenttime; that afterthis, whengoing
to sail {ulther,he was drownedin a great tempest;and in
memoryor his death that sea was called to this day the
IcarianSea, and the kings of the islazidwere calleAIcari;
that they werecontelltedwith the state whichGod hadgiven
them,andwouldneitheraltertheirlawsnoradmitanystranger.
Theythereforerequestedour princenot to attemptto interfele
with their laws, which they had receivedfromthat king of
worthymemorSandobservedup to the presenttiine: t:hatthe
attemptwouldlead to his own destructiol:l,
for they wereall
preparedto die ratllertllan rolaxin any waythe use of those
laws. Nevertheless,
that we :mightnot think that tlley altogetherrefusedintercourse
withotEler
men,theyendedby saying
that they rould willinglyreceiveone of our people,and give
him an ho:nourable
positionarnonfflst
them if only forthe sake
of learnillgmy languageand gainillg informationas to our
customs,in tlle same sPayas they llacl alreadyreceivedthose
otherten personsfromten differentcountries,who had come
into theirisland. To all this ourprincelnadeno reply,beyond
illquiringlvherethere was a goodharbour,alld nlakingsigns
that he intended to depart. Accordingly,sailing round about
the island, he put in with all his fleet in full sail, into a harbour
+rhichhe foundon the easternside. Tlle sailors went on sllore
to take ill wood and water,wllicll they did as quickly as they
eould, for fear-they nlight be attacked by the islanders; ancl

204

BIAJOR

lost Colonyof Greenlanda?2d

on the Site of tAze

not without reason,for the inhabitantsmade sigllals to their

neighbourswith fire ancl smoke,and talvingto their arIIas,tlle
otherscoming to their aid, they a11carnelunning doxvnto tl,el:
so that lllany xvele
seaside upon our mell, lvitll boxrsand arroavs,
made signs of peace
slain anclseveral ^ounded. Althou^,h+^7e
to them,it zvasof no use, for their rage increasedmoreandmore,
as though they +^7elefighting for their own very existence.
LBeingthus compelleclto depart, we saileclalong in a great
circuit al)outthe island.beinfflalwaysfollowed on the hill-tops
alld along the sea-coastsby arl infinite numberof armed lllello
came
At length, doubling the northerncape of the islancl,s^Je
UpOll many shoals, amongstwllich wre^verefor ten daysin con
tinual danger of losillg our whole fleet; loutfortullatelyall that
while the weatllerwas very fine. Al1 tlle ^raytill lve cartleto
tlle east cape, +ve salv tlle inhabitants still oll the llill-tops
and by the sea-coast, lQeepingwith vls, lwoulillgand shoutillg
at us from a distance to show their animosity towarcls us
WYetherefole lesolvecl to put into sozne safe llarbour,ancl
see if lve might ollce again speak lvitll the Shetlander,
but we failed in our object; for the people, more like beasts
tllan men, stood constantly prepareclto beat us lack if we
Zicllmni,seeinr
should attemptto coIlle on land. NVllereforethat lle could do nothing,and that if he +vereto lersevere in
tooh his
his attempt, the fleet would fall short of prourisions,
anclsailed sis days to the westlvarcls;
departure+\itha f:air+^7ind
and the sea
but the ^ind aftersrardsshifting to the south-+vest,
becomingrough, we sailed four days with the xvindaft, and at
lengtll discovereclland."
Icaria has been supposedby many commentatolsto replesent some part of America. JohannReinholdForster was tl<e
first to suggest that it meant Kerry, and I am convincedthat
he was right, althoughfor reasonsthat Forsterhas not adduced.
The name, the point of arrival,the conduct of the natives, ancl
the movement,sof the fleet after leaving the island,all lead tcs
this conclusion. The expressionin the original" scoplimmocla
Porlenteterra" is susceptibleof two meanings,either that they
came upon an islancl" to the westward" or " upon its westere
side." But as, when repulsedby the natil es, they sailed roulld
aboutthe island, and came into a harbouron its eastern side,
it is manifest that the harbour which they first entered wcls
with hich that of Rerry exactly
on the west, and ill a pOsitiOll
corresponds.
The signals by fire and smoke,the pursuitalonOthe hill-tops7
are Irish all ovel.
and the ho+vlingof the strangersoff the coaast,
The sailing of the fleet sis days to the westwardwith a fair
winda*er leaving the north point of the islanclwithout seeing

theP;rc-Collembian
Discoveriesof Ameaica.

205

land,is a factwllicllaccordswith the situationof Ireland,but

rlot Witllanypart of Americaor anyother countryotherwise
answering
the conditions.
AdmiralZahrtmann
says: "As to the fabulousparts of the
llarrative,
it is difficultto select one passagein preferenceto
anotllerforrefutation,the wholebeinga tissueof fiction."
Atowit happellsthat there is no roomfor selectionin the
natter,forthele is onlyone piece of f2wble
in the lvholestory,
andonecannotforma tissueoutof a single thlead. That olle
pieceof fable(it must be ulderstoodthat mere exaggerations
<3fleal eventsale llot fables)is the storyof the Wingsof Icaria
beingcalledIcariafterthe firstking,whoxvasthesonof Dtdalus, iKingof Scotlalld,in memoryof whosedeath by drowning
tlat sea wascalledto this daythe IcarianSea. I am stronglv
of opinionthat this exerescence
on the narlativeis the handyworkof NicoloZeno,junior,andfolathe followingreason. 'rhe
form of the nalue Icaria was a very reasonableone for a
Sollthernerto give to the Northernnameof IVerry,but tlle
Northerners
fromwhomZenoreceivedit, wouldbe little likely
to tell hiinsucha storyas that wllichweherehaveof Daedalus
and tlle IcarianSea, whicll manifestlytakes its originfrom
the formwhichthe wold had tahen underthe Southerner's
pen. On these groundsI suggestthe reasonableness
of the
conclusiontllat Nicolo Zeno,junior,found in his ancestor's
letterthe nameIcariaorlly,withouttlle f:able. But as, during
t.lle very tiine that illtervenedbetxveenhis discoveryof the
letters whenhe urasa botralld his publicationof them,his
fellow-citizen,
Bordone,
broughtouttwoeditiollsof his"Isolario,"
in xvhichthat wellknownfableis told of the islandof Nicaria
(oFXb
Icaria)in tlleGgean Sea,it seemshighlyprobable
thattiliS
sut,gestedto his mindthegraftingof thestoryonthe namewhich
he hadfoundtransmitted
by his ancestorunderthe sameform.
Afterthe fleetlladsailedsis daysto therwestwardfromIrelalld,the lvindshiftedto the south-westand carriedthem to a.
larbOUr ill Greenlalld.To tllis harbour
andthe lleadlandnear
it theygavethe nameof Trin,and here Sinclair,being taken
witllthe purenessof the atinospllere
andthe aspectof the country, conceivedthe ideaof makinga.settlement,or,as Zenocalls
it, "foundinga city." As, however,his people^vereansiousto
get home,he merelyretainedthe row-boatsand such of the
snenas wereinclinedto stay with hitn,and sent all the rest
awayunderthe commandof AIltonio. Aftertwentydays'sail
to the eastwardandfiveto the south-east,
Zeno foundhimself
on Neome -a loGalitysThichI need not trouble myself to
speculateupon-an(lin three days reachedFrislaredor Thorshavn,andso endsthe story.

206

in Sinai andPalestine.
BecentSurueys
WILSON'S

all this toil of

Now the questionmaybe asked: Cfxiborl,o
in
so unimportant
analysisandresearchdevotedto a docume:xlt
sizeandof suchlimited contents? The facts mayanswerfor
themselves.
1. If the realitieswhichllave been hele laid barehad been
detectedally timednringthe lastthreecenturiesanda quarterS
so that the site of the lost East Colonyof Greenlandhad been
insteadof beinga matterof opinion,*
provedto demonstration
the liings of Denmarkwouldhavebeensparedthe necessityof
expeditions:and
sendingout a greatnumberof unsuccessful
by some of the mosk
2. A nuinberof learneddisquisitions
super
illustriousliteraZi in Europewouldhave been re:ndered
fluous.
3. The Zenodocumentis nowsllownto be the latest in existence as faras we know,givingdetailsrespectingthe important
lost East Colonyof Greenland,which has been so ansiously
soughtfor.
4. It is the tatestdocumentin existence,as far as mreknowy
giving details respecting the Europeansettlers in North
great voyage
America-althougha centurybe.foreColumbus's
that they still survivedat
acrossthe Atlantic-and showinffl
thatperiod.
5. Thehonourof a distinguishedman,whoseonlyfaultsas
regardsthis ancientstorynfruitfulill mischiefas they have
knowledge
that he did not possessthe geographical
been,^Tere
of to-day,andthat he indulgedin the glowingfanciesanddiction
of his sunnycountry,hasbeenvindicated:and
6. The bookwhichhasbeendeclaredto be "one of the most
be no
puzzlingin the wholecircleof literature' will henceforth
puzzleat al].
Sxrveystn StnatanZPatestine. By Majora. w.
IX. RecenG
R.E.
WIL8QN,
[Read, June 23rd, 1873.]

are few countriesin the worldwhich,withinthe same

THEBWE
area,presentso manyfeaturesof generalinterestas Sinaiand
* There can be no better proof of the correctness of th;s statement than the^
fact that while the true site was correctly believed iIl by Eggers in 1794,
Captain Graah was sent out ill 1828 to learn, if possible, whether the site were
on the east or the west coast- and even thoufflh he himself correctly helieved in
the true site, his pleas, on behalf of his convictions, were so inconclusive, that
the learned author of ' Iceland, Greenland, and the Faroe Isltds,' in 1840, after
well weighing the argtlments, says: "For these reasons we are disposed to
regard thist point not only as still undecided, but one on which without moro
endence it would be premature to come to any conclusion."