The discoveries of America to the year 1525

Front matter

THE

TO THE YEAR 1 525

1/

Preface

It Is a fact that America in the early a^cs was one of the inliabitcd parts of the earth. The I'^gyptians, who were anionic tlie first of the peoples of the eastern hemisi^here to use letters and to write history, furnisli tlie earliest knc)wn acxount of tlui inhabitants of this continent. It is also a truth that some ancicmt geoc^raphers and pliilosophers, who had no pf;rsonal knowledi^e of the existence of a primitive people in the western hemisphere, reg-arded the information recorded by the Egyptians as fictitious and incredible. When Columbus proposed to g-o to this inhabited realm beyond the western ocean almost all the learned men of Portugal and Spain opposed the undertaking as visionary, and not a few of them asserted that the navigatr)r's opinions wen^ absurd, because, as they argued, no one of all the seamen who had lived since the creation of the world had discovered land beyond Ilibernia.

The discovery of the continent and the subsequent ex[;lorati(jns of the Spaniards not only confuted the fallacious arguments of the learned men of the middle ages but confirmed the statements of the E_i;^yi)tian records descriptive of the civilization of the Atlantic country. The tradition oi the peopling of the continent by thf: descendants of Euenor, tlie gocxl man l^egotten in the beginning from the ground, and of the residence of celestial beings among the inhaljitants peculiarly confirms the account in the Bible of the vi PREFACE.

creation of the first man from the dust of the ground and of his descendants having communications with angels.

The asserted discovery of America by the Northmen rests more upon conjecture than evidence. It appears that Columbus was not the discoverer of the continent, for it was seen in 1497 not only by Giovanni Caboto but by the commander of the Spanish fleet with whom Amerigo Vespucci first sailed to the New World.

The land of Francesca, discovered by Verrazzano in 1624, it will be seen, was early possessed by the French, who built a fort near the Indian villaee where now is the city of New York, and called the surrounding country La Terre d' Anormee Berge ; a geographical designation more significantly expressed in the phraseology. The Land of the Palisades.

The writing of this work required the personal examination of many old and rare books, manuscripts, and maps, besides the perusal of a large number of recent papers and publications relating to its subject. The task further demanded a careful review and comparison of the various statements of historical writers concerning the voyages of the persons whom they believed to have been the discoverers of certain parts of the coast of America, between Baffin's Bay and Tierra del Fuego.

It seemed to me that some of the inforn^ation con- . tained in the different works which I had examined should be presented in the language of the writers or in faithful translations so that the intended significance of the information could be perceived by the reader. I therefore have placed these excerpta before the general reader and the critic in the belief that the

PREFACE. vii.

citations will be appreciated. They will at least show my desire that the judgments of those who examine them should not be biased by any conclusions of my own. My researches were for the most part made in the General Library of the State of New York, in Albany. The generous personal interest taken by the State's distinguished librarian, Henry A. Homes, LL.D., in placing before me the large number of works which I desired to examine, was so constant and helpful that it is a great pleasure for me to mention and acknowledge his kind offices. I am also indebted to his assistant, George Rogers Howell, for many official courtesies. I also owe my thanks to George H.

Moore, LL.D., the erudite superintendent of the Lenox Library, in the city of New York, to Frederick Saunders, librarian of the Astor Library, to Jacob B. Moore, librarian of the New York Historical Society, and to Leopold Lindau, librarian of the American Geographical Society. The offices of L'Abbe A. N. Menard, vicar of the parish of St. Roch, Paris, France ; of Padre Antonio Ceriani, prefect of the Ambroslan Library, Milan, Italy ; of Jules Godeby, professor of French literature in the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York ; and of Dr. Titus Munson Coan, of New York City, place me under many obligations to these gentlemen. It is also a great pleasure for me to acknowledge the generous favors of E. Thompson Gale, of Troy, which permitted me to accomplish the purposes that I had in view when, eight years ago, I undertook my long-protracted task. The kind offices of my friend, William H. Young, of Troy, are also gratefully remembered.

Troy, N. Y., ArTHUR J AMES WeiSE.

Chapter I. Page

Antiquity of the red race. An antediluvian people. Vestiges of an

ancient civilization in America. Records of Egypt. Manuscripts of Solon, the great Greek legislator. Origin of the aborigines of the western hemisphere. Founders of an empire. The tradition preserved by the Egyptians. Early navigation of the Atlantic Ocean. Isolation of the people of the western continent. The Northmen. Iceland found. Greenland explored. Saga of Eric the Red. Voyage of BJarni, Herjulf's son. Explorations of Leif, the son of Eric the Red. Tradition concerning Thorfinn Karlsefne. Discovery of Vinland. Its geographical situation. The stone tower at Newport. Dighton rock. Voyages of the Welsh adventurer Madoc. Discoveries of the Zeni brothers. Story of a Frisland fisherman. Estotiland. Drogio I_50

Chapter II

Arrival of three strangely clad travellers in Venice. Their surprising disclosures. The book of Marco Polo. Marvellous wealth of Cathay. Gold-covered palaces. Magnificent cities. Extensive traffic. The empire of the Grand Khan. The travels of Sir John Mandeville. Commerce of Europe restricted. Use of the mariner's compass. An age of superstition. Points of the compass-card. Geographical enthusiasm of Prince Henry of Portugal. Explorations along the coast of Africa. The astrolabe made useful to navigators. The Cape of Good Hope reached ......... 51-69

Chapter III

Christopher Columbus's conception of finding a short and direct way to India. His reasonable conclusions. Statements of ancient geogra phers. The known parts of the world. Circumference of the eanh. Inferences respecting pieces of wood and dead bodies cast upon the islands lying off the west coast of Africa. Island of the Seven Cities. Letter of Paolo Toscanelli. Distance to Cathay. Columbus's overtures to the king of Portugal. Bartolome Columbus visits England. Christopher Columbus seeks aid in Spain. The opinion of the learned men respecting his project. The friendly offices of Friar Juan Perez. Luis de Saniangel's proposals to Queen Isabella. Columbus commissioned to undertake a voyage to Cathay .... 70-93

X TABLE OF CONTENTS.

Chapter IV. Page

The object of Columbus's voyage. His journal. His intention to make a map of the lands of the ocean. The vessels of the fleet. They sail from the port of Palos. The fears of the sailors. Variations of the needle. The Sea of Sargasso. Incidents of the voyage. Discovery of land. Island of San Salvador. Columbus's description of the people and the islands. He believes that he had reached the continent of Asia, and that he was near the dominions of the Grand Khan of Cathay. He sends embassadors to the sovereign of the Orient. His letter to Rafael Sanchez. The high latitude to which he sailed. A fort erected at La Navidad, on the island of Espanola. The profits of the voyage. Columbus sets sail for Spain. Anchors in the Tagus. Visits the king of Portugal. Returns to Spain. Enthusiasm of the people. His reception at Barcelona . . 94-144 .

Chapter V

Territorial privileges of Portugal and Spain. A line of demarkation designated by Pope Alexander VI. The East and the West Indies. Columbus's second voyage. The Caribbees. The Villa de la Navidad burned. The town of Isabela built. Further explorations of the coast of Cuba. Depositions taken that Columbus had reached the dominions of the Grand Khan. The cemies of the people of Espaiiola. The homeward voyage. Ignorance of pilots respecting latitude and longitude. Columbus's compasses. Amerigo Vespucci's first voyage to the New World. Lands on the coast of South America. Describes the natives. The country of Lariab. Columbus's third voyage. He surveys the continent. Explores the coast of La Tierra de Gracia, Amerigo Vespucci's second voyage. Sails along the north coast of South Ameri-ca. Traffics for pearls with the natives. Returns to Cadiz. Columbus's last voyage. The edifices of Veragua. The evidences of civilization. Writes that he reached the province of Mango,, contiguous to Cathay. Dies at Valladolid. His nautical chart. Juan de la Cosa's great ox-hide map .... 145-1S5

Chapter VI

England sends ships to search for a navigable way to the Indies. The first voyage of Giovanni Caboto. Pasqualigo's account of it. Dis- • covery of the territory of the Grand Khan. The flag of England and that- of St. Mark planted on the coast of the new country. Prima Tierra Vista. The island of St. John. Caboto's second voyage. The dispatches of Pedro de Ayala to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain. The voyages of Sebastiano Caboto. His explorations along the coast of Labrador. La Tierra de los Bacallaos. Sebastiano Caboto's maps and manuscripts ....... 186-204

Chapter VII

The Portuguese reach the Indies. Land of the Holy Cross discovered by Pedro Alvarez Cabral. Caspar Cortereal's voyages. Letter of Pietro

TABLE OF CONTENTS. xi

PAGE Pasqualigo. Terra Verde. Amerigo Vespucci's third and fourth

voyages along the east coast of South America. Johann Ruysch's

map. Martin WaldseemuUer's suggestion. The name of America.

A fountain of vivific water. Juan Ponce de Leon explores the coast

of Florida. Vasco Nuiiez de Balboa beholds the Pacific Ocean. The

coast of Yucatan explored by Francisco Hernando de Cordoba.

The discoveries of Juan de Grijalva. The country of New Spain.

The expedition of Hernando Cortes. The magnificent presents sent

him by Montezuma. The populated provinces of Mexico. Great

cities. Large temples. Decorated idols. Cortes enters the city of

Mexico. Its palaces, markets, and arsenals. The horrible sacrifices

of the Mexicans. The siege of the city ..... 205-274

CHAPTER Vni.

The discoveries of Alonso Alvr.rez de Pineda. The project of Francisco de Garay. An unfortunate undertaking. The discovery of the Mississippi River. The jurisdictions of Juan Ponce de Leon and Francisco de Garay. Another exploration of a part of the coast of North America. Chicora. Duharhe. Tall people. Habits of the natives. Tierra de Ayllon. The voyage of Fernam de Magalhaens. Discovery of the Strait of the Eleven Thousand Virgins. The Pacific Ocean. The Moluccas or Spice Islands reached. Voyage of Juan Sebastian del Cano. The sarth circumnavigated. The congress of Badajos 275-296

Chapter IX

France emulates Portugal, Spain, and England. Discoveries of the Bretons and the Normans. Exploration of the St. Lawrence River. Giovanni da Verrazzano put in command of a fleet to sail to Cathay by Francis I. The king of Portugal attempts to prevent the sailing of the vessels. Storm in the North Sea, Departure of the Dauphine. Verrazzano reaches the coast of North America. Designates his first landing-place Diepa. Fruitless search for a harbor. Friendly, savages. Description of the country. Palmetto trees. Sails northward. Explorations of the peninsula of Virginia. The Dauphine's anchorage at Sandy Hook. Verrazzano explores the bays of New York. The Grande River. Block Island. The Dauphine in Narragansett Bay. Description of the natives. Exploration of the coast of Maine. Five hundred and two leagues of land inspected, Francesca. Verrazzano's geographical explanation of his voyage. Arrival of the Dauphine at Dieppe 297-334

CHAPTER X. {Addenda.) Circulation of the news of Verrazzano's remarkable discoveries. Fernando Carli's letter to his father. The adverse opinion of the people concerning Verrazzano's undertaking. The navigator regarded as another Amerigo Vespucci, another Magellan. Three ships equipped to sail to the Indies under the command of Verrazzano. His third voyage xii TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE

to the New Land. The indomitable Florentine falls a victim to savage cruelty, liis body roasted and eaten, Ramusio's worthy tribute. The navigator's great parchment map. The Maiollo map. Hieronymus da Verrazzano's chart ...... 335-343

Chapter XI

{Addenda.) The French again search for a direct water-route to India. Voyages of Jacques Cartier. The names given to the natives of the New Land. Tlie peasants of New France. The Hudson explored in the sixteenth century. The French name for the Palisades. The country of the Grand Scarp. Manants Island. A small fort built by the French on the site of New York City. The chateau on Castle Island, near the site of Albany. The structure damaged by a freshet. The Mohawk Indians show the ruins to the Dutch explorers of the river in the seventeenth century. The Hollanders call it Fort Nassau. The opinion of the Dutch inhabitants of Albany respecting the people who built it 344-363

COPIES OF RARE MAPS.

■* I. — Delineation of the hyperborean regions by Sigurd Stephanius in

1570 22

"^ II. — A part of the map of the New World contained in the edition of

Ptolemy's geography printed in Strasburg in 1513. . . . 124

*J III. — .A part of the Cabot-map of 1544, in the Bibilotheque nationale,

N IV. — Map of the New World contained in Peter Martyr's " Legatio

Babylonica," printed in 1511. ....... 220

■\ V. — A tracing representing the limits of the discoveries of Juan Ponce

de Leon and Francisco de Garay. 1521 ..... 278

. VI. — A part of the map of the fourth part of the world contained in the Cosmographie Universelle by Andre Thevet, printed in Paris

A VII. — Map of Terre de la Franciscane in the cosmography of Jean Al-

phonse and Raulin Secalart, 1545 ...... 354

. VIII. — Map of a part of North America made by Giacomo de Gastaldi

A IX. — A part of the map of the world made by Gerard Mercator in Du-

-I X. — A part of the map of the world made by Juan de la Cosa in

■1 XI. — A part of the map of the world made by Johann Ruysch, contained in the edition of Ptolemy's geography printed in Rome in 1508 ......... cover-pocket

XII. — A part of the map of the world made by Visconte de Maiollo in

DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA.

Chapter I

The oldest scriptures, sacred and profane, attest the antiquity of the red race.' As early as the antediluvian period this division of the human family had taken possession of the islands and continent of the western hemisphere, where it founded an empire, the most famous and formidable of primeval times. Great in political power, its commercial, agricultural, and other economical interests were commensurably vast and unparalleled. The skill of its architects and engineers was exhibited in large and imposing edifices and in extraordinary and extensive public works. Aggressively belligerent, its armies overran parts of Europe and Africa, exacting tribute, deposing and substituting rulers.

When the Spaniards, in the sixteenth century, began to explore the interior of the continent of America for gold, silver, and precious stones, they found populated provinces, great cities, temples, palaces, aqueducts, canals, bridges, and causeways. The astonished adventurers also discovered the vestiges of an aboriginal people, among which were many massive tablets of stone covered with columns of strange hieroglyphics and antique images, picturing a past civilization for

^ The Hebrew for man is derived from the verb (DIN), to be red.

the rise and (growth of which modern archseoloeists have not yet satisfactorily determined dates.

In the early ages of the world the Egyptians recorded whatever they deemed important and worthy of preservation concerning the principal inhabitants of the globe. These inquisitive chroniclers of antediluvian traditions placed in their archives some remarkable information respecting the original people of the western hemisphere. The historical value of this information is enhanced by the fact that those parts of it which seem to be the most improbable are supported by similar statements in the Bible, while the less astounding are verified by the discovery, on the continent of the so-called New World, of such remains as those which are said to have existed in the country west of the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea.

About five hundred and seventy years before the Christian era, Solon, the celebrated legislator of Greece, visited Egypt, and while there became acquainted with some of the erudite priests of the country.^ When the latter communicated to him what they had learned from the records concerning the ancient peoples of the earth, the sage of Greece was so deeply impressed with the unquestionable value of this stj-ange informa-

' Solon, one of the seven sages of Greece, was born about the years, c. 639, and died about the year B. c. 558.

Herodotus, the Greek historian, writing in the fifth century before the Christian era, says • " When these were subdued, and Croesus had joined them to the Lydians, all the learned men at that time, especially those of Greece, resorted to Sardis, which had then reached a high degree of eminence. Among them was Solon, an Athenian, who, having made a code of laws for the Athenians at their request, absented himself for ten years, having sailed away under pretense of seeing the world, that he might not be compelled to abrogate any of the laws he had established : for the Athenians could not do it themselves, as they were bound by the most solemn oaths to preserve inviolate, for ten years, the institutions of Solon. Therefore, having gone abroad for these reasons, as well as to see the world, Solon had visited Amasis, in Egypt, and went trom there to Croesus, at Sardis." — Herodotus : Clio xxix, xxx.

tion that he committed it to writing, intending to use it in an historical poem which he had undertaken to compose.' On his return to Athens he was not permitted the leisure that was needed to complete his agreeable task.'' After his death, the compilations he had made in Egypt were, for a long time, preserved by his descendants, and at last became the property of Plato, the Greek philosopher.^ The latter, when a boy, had studiously perused his eminent ancestor's manuscript, and when he had reached the last years of his scholarly life he could not disengage his thoughts from the conviction that it was his personal duty to publish its rare information.'* In order, therefore, to give publicity to Solon's valuable compilations, Plato, a short time before his own death, wrote that part of the unfinished dialogue entitled "Critias, or the Atlantic," in which appears the earliest known account of the ancient people of the western hemisphere.^

" When Solon interrogated the priests, who were the most distinguished for their antiquarian knowledge, he became aware that neither he nor any of the Greeks knew much concerning the history of the first ages of the world. On one occasion, for the purpose

^Plutarch, the Greek biographer, says that Psenophis, the Heliopolitan, and Senchis, the Saite, the most learned of the Egyptian priests, were the persons who gave Solon this information. — Parallel Lives : Solon.

'"' If Solon * * * had not considered the writing of poetry a recreation, but had made it, as others do, an actual employment, and had completed the history which he had brought from Egypt ; and had not been forced to relinquish it by seditions and many other troubles in which he found his country involved, I do not think that either Hesiod, Homer, or any other poet would have acquired more extensive fame." — Plato : Timasus, or Concerning Nature.

^ Plato was born about the year B. c. 430 and died about the year B. c. 348. He traced his descent from Solon through his mother.

*" These very writings, indeed, were in the possession of my grandfather, and are now in mine, having been made the subject of much study during my boyhood." — Plato: Critias, or the Atlantic.

' Plato : Critias, or the Atlanlic.

of inducing the priests to relate some of their ancient traditions he began to narrate the early history of his own country. * * * Thereupon one of the eldest priests exclaimed : ' Solon, Solon, you Greeks are but children, and an aged Greek there is none ! ' Solon, hearing this, asked, ' What do you mean ? ' The priest replied : ' You are all youths in intelligence, for you have no old beliefs transmitted by tradition, nor any science hoary with age. * * * From the olden time we have chronicled whatever has happened in your country or in ours, or in any other region known to us, — any action, noble or great or in any other way remarkable, — and these records are preserved in our temples, whereas you and other nations have but lately been provided with letters and different things required by states. * * *

" 'Many and great exploits of your state, therefore, are here recorded, and call forth our admiration ; nevertheless, there is one in particular, which in magnitude and heroism surpasses them all. For these records relate that your state once checked the advance of a mighty force which threatened all Europe and Asia, moving upon them from the Atlantic Ocean. For at that time this ocean was navigable ; and beyond the strait [that of Gibraltar], which you in your language call the* Pillars of Hercules, was an island larger than Libya [Africa] and Asia put together.' At that time sea-faring men could pass from it to the other islands, and from them to the opposite continent, which ex-

' The so-called Pillars of Hercules were the two mountains, Calpe and Abyla, on the opposite sides of the Strait of Gibraltar.

" 1 wonder, therefore, at those," says Herodotus, " who have described the limits of and divided Libya, Asia, and Europe, for the difference between them is trifling : for in length Europe extends along both of them, but respecting width, it is evidently not to be compared. Libya shows itself to be surrounded by water, except so much of it as borders Asia." — Herodotus: Melpomene xlii.

tended along the real ocean. For the sea [the Mediterranean] inside the strait, which we have already mentioned, is like a bay with a narrow entrance, but the other sea is rightly called an ocean, and the land, which entirely surrounds it, may truly and correctly be called a continent. In this large Atlantic island a mighty and wonderful confederacy of kings was formed, which subdued the whole island and many other islands and parts of the continent. Besides this it extended its rule, on our side, over Libya as far as Egypt, and over Europe as far as Tyrrhenia.^ At that time the united forces of this power undertook to crush at one blow both your country and ours, and all the other countries lying within the strait. ' " ^

" ' In the beginning the gods divided the whole earth, here and there, into large and small portions, that they might obtain temples and sacrifices. In this way Poseidon received as his portion the Atlantic island, and begat children by a mortal woman (^'^^ ^rr/Tf/s yvvaiKOi)^ and placed them on a part of the island which we are about to describe.' " ^

Incredible as this information concerning the residence of a person possessing a divine nature on the earth and his matrimonial relationship with a woman seems to be, there are some remarkable statements in the traditions of the ancients respecting celestial beings dwelling among men, and, by marriage with their daughters, being the progenitors of an illustrious offspring. The Hebrew patriarchs, it is said, had personal communications with angels, at different times and places. It is related that three, in human form, partook of food given them by Abraham, under a

*Tyrrhenia or Umbria, in Italy, now Tuscany.

" Plato : Timseus, or Concerning Nature. * Plato : Critias, or the Atlantic tree, in the plain of Mamre.' Herodotus was told, by certain Egyptians, that " gods had been the rulers of Egypt and had dwelt among men ; and that one of them always had the supreme power." ^ Moses, " who was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians," describing the people of the antediluvian world, writes :

" It happened, as men began to multiply on the face of the earth and daughters were born to them, the sons of the Elohim (DTl^^^H ''^D) [literally, the sons of the eminent or mighty ones] saw the daughters of man (D"i^^n nU12) that they were fair ; then they took for wives among them all whom they loved. * * * There were giants (DvDJ) on the earth in those days, and also after that the sons of the Elohim went in unto the daughters of man and they bare children to them, the same became heroes (□"'"HD^) who were of old, men of name (Q^ ''S^^i^)." ^

" ' Toward the sea, in the middle of the island, was a plain,' the priest continued, 'which was very attractive and fertile. About fifty stadia from the centre of the plain was a mountain with sloping sides.* On this dwelt one of those men beo^otten from the s^round in the beginning (xaTa dpxaS in yr^'i av6p&)v ysyovoTGOv), Euenor by name.^ He lived there^ with his wife,

'Genesis xvi. 7 ; xviii. 1-8, 16-33 I xix. 1-22 ; xxxii. i, 2.

' Genesis vi. i, 2, 4.

" Soc. Do you know that heroes are half-gods ?

" Herm. What then ?

" Soc. All of them were doubtless begotten either from a god falling in love with a mortal woman, or from a mortal man [falling in love] with a goddess." — Plato : Cratylus, or Concerning the Correct Use of Words.

* A stadium is equal to 600 Greek or 625 Roman feet, or to 606 feet 9 inches English measure.

' Respecting the names of the persons appearing in the narrative Plato observes : " We must briefly warn you not to be surprised at hearing Hellenic names given to the barbarians ; the cause of this you shall now hear. Solon, intending to make use of tliis narrative in his poetry, made an investigation

Leucippe. They had an only daughter named Cleito. When this girl reached womanhood, her father and mother being- dead, Poseidon fell in love with her and made her his wife. He encircled the hill on which she lived with alternate girdles of land and water, greater and less, making two of land and three of water, each uniformly distant from the centre of the island, in order to render her habitation inaccessible to men, for at that time ships and sea-faring were unkno\Vn. Also by his divine power he beautifully adorned the centre of the island, causing two fountains to shoot upward from beneath the earth, one of cold and the other of hot water, and making all kinds of food to grow abundantly on the earth. He begat and raised ten male children, twins, and divided the Atlantic island into ten parts. He gave to the first-born of the eldest twins, his mother's habitation and the land surrounding it, this being the largest and the best. He appointed him king over the other children, making the latter princes, and giving to each the control of many people and extensive domains. He likewise gave names to all of his offspring; to the eldest, the king, the name of Atlas, in honor of whom both the island and the ocean were called Atlantic.^ To the twin born after him (who received for his portion the extreme part of the island toward the Pillars of Hercules as far as the region now called in that country Gadeirica), he gave the appellation, which we Greeks call Eumelus, but the people of that country Gadeira.^ He called the first of

mto the signification of the names, aad found that the early Egyptians who recorded these facts transferred these names into their own language ; and he again receiving the meaning of each name transcribed it into our tongue."

^ Gadeira, an ancient city built, it is said, by the Phoenicians, fifteen centuries before the Christian era, on the site of Cadiz, Spain.

the second-born twins, Ampheres, the second Eudsemon ; of the third pair, he called the first-born Mnesis, and the second, Autochthon ; of the fourth pair, the first Elasippus, and the younger Mestor ; and of the fifth pair, to the first was given the name of Azaes, and to the last, Diaprepes,

" ' For many generations these and their descendants were the rulers and the inhabitants of the islands in the ocean, and, as it has been said, they extended their authority over all the country as far as Egypt and Tyrrhenia. By far the most distinguished was the race of Atlas ; and the eldest king belonging to it always handed down in succession the government to his eldest son. All these kings in turn possessed immense wealth, such as was never known to belong to royalty or will be likely hereafter. They were provided with all things which, in a city or elsewhere, are worth having. Large revenues were received by them from foreign countries under their rule, but the greatest resources came from the island. First were such ores as are due in mines in a crude condition, or need to be smelted, particularly the metal orichalcum,'- which is now known only by name, but formerly was of great value. This was dug from the earth irt many parts of the island, being prized above all the metals then known, except gold. The island also produced an abundance of wood for building purposes, and furnished food for wild and tame animals. Vast numbers of elephants were on the island, for there was abundant subsistence for all animals which feed in marshes and along lakes, on mountains and plains, and likewise for this animal, which by nature is the largest and most