Columbus and other heroes of American discovery

Front matter

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SOPYRliiHr DtPUSU fT!

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Chapter I

America known to the Ancients — The Island of Atlantis— Scandinavian Emigration

Eric the Red and Gunnbiorn — Bjarni Herjulfson and Leif the Lucky — Discovery of Vinland— Thorvald and the Skrrellings— A terrible Struggle— An heroic Amazon— Retreat of the Danes — Return of Freydis to Vinland — Massacre of Colonists by her Orders— Total Disappearance of Scandinavian Settlement— Madoc of Wales— The Brothers Zeni— Marco Polo— Early Life of Columbus— The Astrolabe applied to Navigation— A Hearing at last— Duplicity of John

'' II. — Columbus in Poverty and Exile — A generous Prior— Hope and Despair

Isabella is won over— Full Powers granted to Columbus— The Start from Saltos

—Discontent of Sailors— Variation of Compass— Mutiny— Land Ahead!—

Discovery of the West Indian Islands— Return to Spain— Second and Third

I Voyages— Death in Poverty and Disgrace— Amerigo Vespucci— The Cabots—

I First Landing in North America- The Cortereals— Breton Fishermen. . 7

CHAPTER IL

[The Spanish in the Gulf of Mexico— Vasco Nufiez de Balboa concealed in a Cask— I His Pardon— Shipwreck and Rescue of Explorers by Balboa— His Discovery of

j the Pacific— His Murder by Anias— Expedition of Ponce de Leon— The

Discovery of Florida and Search for the Fountain of Youth— Leon's Death from poisoned Arrows— Discovery of the Mouths of the Pacific by Francis Garay— Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon in Florida— His Cruelty to the Natives— Their Retaliation— Verrazano on the Atlantic coast of North America— The Invasion of Florida by Pamphilo de Narvaez— His Disappointment, Retreat, and Death— The Captivity and Escape of four of his Followers— The Expedition of Hernando de Soto — Meeting with Juan Ortiz — His romantic Story— An Indian burned alive— A native Princess— At the foot of the Apalachian Mountains- Southward to Mavilla— Struggle with Indians— Westward ho ! and Discovery of the Mississippi— De Soto in a new Character— His Death and Burial in the Mississippi— Escape of his Men under his Successor, Luis Muscoso de Alvarado— Murder of Louis Cancello, the Missionary— Expedition of De Luna. . 30

^ GonUiits.

Chapter III

Verrazano sent out by Francis I, — Discovery of the Hudson — Jacques Cartier in Canada, and his Discovery of the St. Lawrence — Touching Scene at Hocliehiga — Foundation of Fort Charles on the Site of Quebec — Kidnapping of Dounacona and other Natives, and return to Europe — Death of Indian Captives, a.id cold Reception at Hochelaga on the Return of Cartier without them — Break-up of the Colony and Flight of Cartier — Arrival of Robeval — Sad Fate of his People — Ribault and the French Refugees on the River of May — Return lioine of Ribault — Assassination of Pierria — Escape of Colonists in a crazy Pinnace — Their Murder of a Comrade for Food — Their Rescue by an English Vessel — Laudonniere's Colony on the May — Mutiny, and Troubles with the Indians — Famine, and Arrival of Ribault — Disgrace of Laudonniere — Arrival of Menendez — Massacre of French Huguenots by Spaniards — Escape of a little Remnant to Anastasia — Second and third Massacres — Gallant Bearing of Ribault — Foundation of St. Augustine — Vengeance of De Gourgues on the Spanish — • Murder of Missionaries in Florida — St. Augustine burned by Drake. . . 49

Chapter IV

Sir Humphrey Gilbert's unsuccessful Voyages, and Death by Drowning — Sir Walter Raleigh's Renewal of his Brother's Patent — Grenville and others sent out to Virginia by Raleigh — First Settlement at Roanoake — Its Abandonment by White — Birth of Virginia Dare — Search for the lost Colony — Death of Bartholomew Gilbert — Gosnold's Expedition — Formation of the Southern and Northern Companies — Failure of the Latter to gain a Footing in Maine — Arrival in Chesapeake Bay of Colonists sent out by the Southern Company — Foundation of Jamestown — Smith's Visit to the Potomac — His Captivity among the Indians and Rescue from Death by Pocahontas — Smith chosen President — The Coronation of Powhatan — A new Charter obtained — Emigrants shipwreck — Smith wounded, and compelled to leave Virginia — Subsequent Troubles — Arrival of Sir Thomas Gates — The Colony reduced to sixty starving Men and Women — Jamestown abandoned — Arrival of Lord De La Warre — Return to Jamestown — Marriage and Death of Pocahontas — Gradual Growth of Virginia — Terrible Massacre of 162'-2, and the Results of that Massacre — Arrival of Lord Baltimore in Jamestown — First Settlement of Maryland — Father White. . 64

Contents. ^^

Chapter V

The French in Maine, and their Settlement at Port Royal — Jesuit Missionaries at Grand Manan — Destruction of French Colonies by Argall — John Smith and Thomas Hunt on the Coasts of Maine — Vines on the Saco River, and Dermer on Long Island — Early History of the Pilgrim Fathers — Arrival of the May-flower off Cape Cod — Preliminary Exploration by Miles Standish— Discovery of Plymouth Harbor, and first Landing on Plymouth Rock — An Indian Visitor — Arrival of fresh Emigrants — Complications with them and with the Indians — An Indian Chief saved by Englishmen — Indian Plot revealed — Ringleaders slain by Standish — Puritan Refugees at Cape Ann — Standish sent out against '.hem — Peace made by Conant — Conant's Settlement at Salem — The Dorchester Company — Endicott sent out by it to Massachusetts — Arrival of Winthrop with 800 Emigrants — Foundation of Boston and other Towns — Roger Williams expelled from Salem — His Settlement in Rhode Island, and Foundation of Providence — Visit of Indian Chief from Connecticut to Boston — Emigration to Connecticut — John Winthrop appointed Governor — Tearing down of Dutch Arms, and Foundation of Saybrook Fort — Hooker's Emigration to Connecticut, and Foundation of Bradford — Troubles ahead — Discovery of the Hudson — Fight with Indians — Discovery of Hudson's Bay and Death of Hudson — Foundation of New Netherland Company — Dutch Explorations in Delaware, etc. — West India Company founded — Settlement of Walloons at Albany — Foundation of New York — The Swedes on the Delaware — Disputes between them and the Dutch, and between the Dutch and the English. . 83

CHAPTER VL

Champlain in Maine — Foundation of Quebec — Discovery of Lakes Peter and Champlain — Foundation of Montreal — First Navigation of the Ottawa — Discovery of Lakes Huron and Nipissing — An Iroquois Execution — Canada taken by the English, and restored to the French — Death of Champlain — Fathers Breboeuf and Daniel on Lake Huron — Raymbault and Pigart on Lake Nipissing — Jogues among the Iroquois — His Murder — Capture, Conversion, and Execution of one of his Murderers — Terrible Iroquois War — Father Dreuillette among the Sioux — His Death in the Forest — Allouez on Lake Superior — Rumors of a great River on the West — Marquette discovers the Mississippi — Descent of the River in native Canoes — Arrival in Arkansas — Saved by the Pipe of Peace — Up the Mississippi to the Illinois — Across North-eastern Illinois — Death of Marquette on the shores of Lake Michigan — Expedition of La Salle — Loss of xii Contents.

the r/r/V////— Building of a new Vessel— Discovery of Lake Peoria— Down the Mississippi to tlic Sl'u— Second Expedition of La Salle— Fruitless Search for the Moulh of the Mississippi— Wanderings in Texas and New Mexico— Despair- Attempt to walk back to Canada— Murder in the Jungle— Murder of the Murderers— The Conreurs de hols in the North-west— Baron La Ilontan's Trip down the Mississipjii— Rumors of the Sea on the West— Journey of Father Charlevoix. .....«••• H*

CHAPTER VIL

Expedition of Diego de ITurtado — Ulloa's Trip up the Gulf of California — Da Nizza in Arizona — The Cities of the Plain — Murder of Dorantes and his Companions — Da Nizza visits Cibola in Disguise — Expedition of Alarchon and Coronado — Discovery of tlie Mouth of the Colorado — Cibola taken by Coronado — Discovery of the Town of Quivira — Discovery of Cape Mendocino by Cabrillo — Viscaino's Trip up the North-west Coast — Numerous Deaths from Scurvy — Discovery of the Mouth of the Columbia — Death of Viscaino — Expedition of Juan deFuca — Supposed Discovery of Queen Charlotte's Sound — De Fonte and Barnardo in the North-western Archipelago — Father Kino among the Picture-Writers and Sun Worshipers — Discovery of the Mimbres — Establishment of a Mission on the Gila — Descent of the Apaches on the Settlements of the Whites — Expulsion of the Jesuits, and Murder of Natives — Pearl-fishers on the Californian Coast — The Jesuits expelled from Lower California — Exodus of Jesuits from Lower to Northern California — First Colony founded at San Diego — Discovery of the Bay of San Francisco — Decline of the Power of the Jesuits, and their gradual Withdrawal from California. ...... 140

CHAPTER Yin.

Murder of Captains Stone and Oldham — Massacre on Block Island — Intervention ot Roger Williams— The Last Stand of the Pequods — Emigration of Eaton and Davenport to Connecticut — Foundation of New Haven— First Settlement of Refugees in Carolina— Their Lands given to eight Noblemen — Arrival of Cavaliers and Planters— Misery of the Colonists— Relief at last— Oglethorpe's fii-st Settlement in Georgia— His Meeting with the Indian Chiefs— Pennsylvania granted to Penn— His Reception in Delaware— His Voyage up the River- Treaty with the Indians— Foundation of Philadelphia— Rapid Growth of Pennsylvania— Foundation of Ilarrisburg— The French and Indian War- Foundation of Pittsburg— The War of Independence— Freedom won for the Thirteen Original States of the Union— Declaration of Independence on the 4th July, 1770. . ...... 153

Contents. xm

CHAPTER IX.

P'Ib«rville's Arrival at the Mouth of the Mississippi — Foundation of the first French Fort on the Bay of Biloxi — English Expedition to the Mississippi — The Mississippi Scheme — Foundation of New Orleans — Bursting of the Bubble — Louisiana ceded to England — Boone's first Trip to Kentucky — Taken Prisoner by the Indians — Escape — Meeting with his Brother — Murder of Squire Boone's Servant — A White Man's Skeleton found in the Woods — Hunters on the Ohio and in Tennessee — First Settlers start for Kentucky — An Indian Ambush — Retreat — Boone in Despair — Fresh Hope — Boone's Third Trip at the Head of a Surveying Party — Purchase of Lands from the Cherokees — Foundation of Boonesborough — Influx of Emigrants acx-oss the Alleghanies — First Settlement of Tennessee, Ohio, Illinois, and the South of Michigan — The English supplant the French in Louisiana — Restriction of the Name of Louisiana to a small Tract — First English Settlements in Mississippi and Alabama — Acquisition of Florida — First Spanish and English Settlements in Texas — Acquisition of California, Arizona, and New Mexico — Gradual Retreat of the Red Men before the White Settlers. . . . . . 164

CHAPTER X.

The new-born Republic — Pike's Embarkation on the Mississippi at Fort Louis — Sledge Journey along the Banks of the Mississippi — A Chippeway Encampment — A Native Pictorial Record — A Member of the North-west Company — On Snow-shoes to Leech and Red Cedar Lakes — A Council of Chippeway Warriors — Back to St. Louis — New Expedition organized — The Osage Captives — Along the Arkansas — Arrival at the Head-waters of the Mississippi — Search for the Red River of the South — The Rio del Norte mistaken for it — The Explorers taken Prisoners by the Spaniards — Journey across Texas to Natchitoches — Lewis and Clarke embark on the Missouri at St. Louis — The Mouth of the Platte, or Nebraska — Among the Sioux — Difficulty with Indians at the Great Bend — The Mouth of the Yellowstone River — Encounters with White and Brown Bears — The two Forks of the Missouri — Long Hesitation as to which to follow — Lewis solves the Problem by the Discovery of the Great Falls — Terrible Storm, and Narrow Escape of Clarke — The Gates of the Rocky Mountains — Across the Mountains and Discovery of the Source of the Missouri — Search for Shoshones — Three Indian Women surprised — In the Shoshone Camp — Vain Attempt to reach the Source of the Columbia — On the Summit of the Rocky Mountain Range — Down the Pacific Slope to the lower Course of the Columbia — xiv Contents.

Construction of Canoes— Down the Columbia to the Great Falls — Successful Navigation of tlicni— In the Great Narrows— The Sea at last— Winter among the Flatheads — Home again. . . • • • . i<0

CHAPTER XI.

Discovery of liuhring Straits — Cook and Meares— Rescue from Starvation — Encounter with Natives — Vancouver on the Western Coast — Gray's supposed Discovery of the Columbia — Coxe's Survey of Hudson's Bay — James in Distress in Hudson's liay — Foundation of the Hudson's Bay Company — Discovery of Rupert's KivtM- — Disputes with the French — Knight's Voyage and his terrible Fate — Discovery of Relics of Knight and his Comrades — Moore and Smith in Hudson's Bay — Cession of Canada to England, and its Results — Heroes of the Transition Time — Ilearne's Discovery of Athabasca Lake and the Copperniine River — Massacre of Esquimaux — Discovery of the Arctic Ocean — Result to Geographical Science of that Discovery — Hearne's Return to Hudson's Bay — The Indian Exile wrestled for — Enthusiasm of the Company — The Rise of the North west Company — Mackenzie's Journey to the Slave Lake, and Discovery of the Slave, Athabasca, or Mackenzie River — His Voyage to Great Bear Lake — Return to Fort Clii])pewyan — Journey across Country to the North Pacific — The Work of all Exi)lort'rs united by his last Trip, ..... 200

CHAPTER XIL

The Pacific Fur Company — Voyage of the Tonquin — Foundation of Astoria — Massacre on the Tonquin — Terrible Revenge — The great Small-pox Chief — Start of the Land Expedition — An Ambush — Unevpectod Rescue — Treachery of an Interpreter — Among the Crow Indians — The Black Mountains — The invisible Lords of the Mountain — Arrival on the Banks of the Mad River — Across Country to the Henry River — Construction of Canoes — Embarkation on the Henry — A Cajiadian drowned — The Lion Caldron — Across Country again — Among the Akai-chies — News of the Astorians — Threatened Attack of the Natives — Arrival on the Bank:, of the Columbia — Along the River to Indian Encampment — News of Tragedy on the Tonquin — Down the Columbia to Astoria. , 230

CHAPTER XIH.

Cass's Voyage up the Mississippi— Long and James on the Platte, or Nebraska — Discovery of the two Sources of the Platte — Among the Mountain Passes — Eating of ])oisonous Berries— fleeting with a Bear — Ascent of Pike's Peak — Search for Head-waters of the Arkansas— The Canadian taken for the Arkansas, and followed to its June-lion with the latter River— Start of new Expedition

Contemn. xv

from the Ohio — Cannibalism among the Natives — The Apostle of the Indians — Across the Prairies to Lake Michigan — Through Illinois to the Mississippi — Up the Mississippi to the Minnesota — The Head-waters of the Minnesota — The primal Home of the Red River of the North, the St. Lawrence, etc. — Up the Red River to Lake Winnipeg — From Lake Winnipeg to the Lake of the Woods, and thence across Country to Lake Superior — Schoolcraft's Ascent of the Mississippi, and Discovery of its actual Source. . . . 233

CHAPTER XIV.

Wilkes' Survey of the Western Coast — Fremont's Ascent of the Kansas — Encounter with Arapaho Warriors — Arrival at Fort Laramie — A threatening Letter — Fremont's Reply^On the Sweet Water River — Discovery of Mountain Lake and Fremont's Peak — A winged Messenger — Back to Fort Laramie — To the Rocky Mountains again — On the Banks of the Bear River — Discovery of the Great Salt Lake — Embarkation on the Lake — Sudden Change in the Character of its Waters — From the Salt Lake through the Great Basin to Fort Hall and thence to the Columbia River — Attempt to return Home by a New Route — Lost in the Wilderness — Discovery of Lake Tlamath — Search for an Opening in the Mountains — Discovery of Pyramid Lake — Meeting wkh Snake Indians — Hunger — Salmon discovered in a Rivei- flowing into the Lake — News of White Men on the South — All Hope of reaching United States abandoned — Fremont resolves to cross the Sierra Nevada — First Peak scaled — Meeting with Indians — A Gap in the Mountains discovered at last — Ascent of the Californian Mountain — Opening a Path through tlie Snow — A terrible Prophecy — Flight of Guide — First Sight of Seaboard Range of Mountains- -Intense Excitement — ■ Down the Eastern Slopes of the Californian Mountain to the Banks of the Sacramento — Arrival at Sutter's Fort — Back to St. Louis by way of the South Pass — Fremont's third and last Journey. ..... 240

CHAPTER XV.

Early History of the Mormons — Murder of Smith — Expulsion from Illinois — Across the frozen Mississippi — Through the Wilderness — Summons to the War — Young Men sent to the Aid of the Republic — Arrival on the Shores of the Great Salt Lake — Building of Salt Lake City — Expedition of Stansbury — California ceded to the States — Discovery of Gold near Sutter's Fort — World-wide Excitement — Rush of 30,000 Emigrants Westward — Terror of Indians at xvi Contents.

Approach of the White Men — Sufferings in the Mountains — Jealousy of Settlers- Prairies set on Fire— Survivors of the 30,000 rescued by White Men from California. .....•••• 255

CHAPTER XYL

Cozene' Start from Merilla— First Encounter with Apaches, and Murder of Laws— A Bear Hunt — To the Ruins of Le Gran Quivara — Two Mules stolen — Back again to ^lerilla — Cozens and Cochise, an Apache Chief — Cochise offers to act as Guide to the Encainj)nient of his Warriors — The great Mirage known as Greenhorn's Lake — A Chaos of Rocks and Precipices — Following an Indian Trail — Down the Ravine to the Apache Valley — First Sight of Apache Village with Huts built on truncated Mounds — Excitement among the Apaches — Cochise explains Co.zens' Presence — Eager Welcome — Arrival of Magnus Colorado, the great Scalper — Trying Interview between Magnus and Cozens — Eternal Friendship sworn — A blood-stained Baby's Frock — Scalp Dance and its attendant Horrors — Back again to Mexico — Second and third Trips to the North — With Jim Davis the Emigrant's Friend, to the Navajoe Country — Ascent of the Sierra Madre — Encounter with a Panther — In the Zuni Valley among the blue-eyed Indians — Ruins of Zuni — Encounter with Navajoes — Jim Davis's Story^Re-capture of stolen Cattle — A fall of Three Hundred Feet — Marvelous Preservation of Cozens — Nursed by the Zunis — Murder of Stewart's Family by Aj)aches — Escape of Stewart to Zuni — His Death of a broken Heart — Return of Cozens to Mexico. . . .... 258

CHAPTER XVIL

<yrisis in British America — Consolidation of its various Parts into one great Colony — Decay of the Hudson's Bay Company — Establishment of an International Boundary Line — Journey of Palliser — Admission of British Columbia to the Dominion, and Conditions of that Admission — Surveys for Railway — Fleming's Expeditions — Dispute between the British Government and the United States — Joint-Commission sent out to determine ihe Boundary Line — Results obtained ^yil 2G9

HEROES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERY.

Chapter I. Columbus, His Pkedecessoes And His Immediate Successoes

ALTHOUGH the discovery of America used to be dated from the voyage of Columbns to the West Indies in 1492, there can be little doubt that this great hero was by no means the first explorer of our era to visit the

New World. The existence of land to the west of the Pillars of Hercules was even known to the ancients. Frequent mention is made by Greek and Roman authors of islands on the West, especially of the fair Atlantis, concerning which Plato gives many details, declaring it to have been of vast extent and great

Heroes of American Discovery.

beauty, but to have been swallowed up by the sea in pre-historic times. Some modern authors are of opinion that the Canaries are the only existing

remains of this Atlantis ; others that the so-called island was in reality the mainland of America. Leaving this question to those now studying it with the aid of the recent discoveries in the New "World, w^e pass on to find trustworthy accounts in the old sagas — of which the principal, recently discovered in an Icelandic monastery, are preserved in the Royal Library at Copenhagen — of the presence of Danish settlers in Greenland as early as 982 A. d. These were led thither by the great Eric the Red, who is supposed, however, merely to have acted on information left behind by an early settler of Iceland, named Gunnbiorn, a century before. Gunnbiorn was the true discoverer of Greenland, which he had sighted not

saerk, or the '' White Shirt," because of the perpetual covei'ing of snow worn by its highlands.

In a voyage from Iceland to

THE glacip:ks of GREENLAND. Greenland, four years after

the visit of Eric the Red to the latter country, a Danish navigator named

Bjarni Ilerjulfson was driven far out of his coiirse to the South, and saw

land stretching away on the West ; but he returned home without making though visited — naming it Hvid-

Heroes of Amej^icaii Discovery. 9

any exploration of the new territories, for whicli, says tradition, ' ' he was greatly blamed." His reports, however, of what he had seen, led to the fitting out and heading of a far more important expedition by Leif the Lucky, who, making direct for the most southerly point gained by his predecessors, reached the modern Newfoundland, which he called Hell uland, and, landing, found it to be "a country without grass, and covered with snow and ice."

From HeJluland, Leif sailed to the present Nova Scotia, which he named "Markland," or woodland, because of its extensive forests ; and thence he is said to have been driven by a contrary wind on to the coast of New England, but on what part of that coast there is no evidence to show, although it is generally agreed to have been in about N. lat. 41° 24', a little to the north of Rhode Island. Excursions inland revealed the newly-discovered district to be rich in vines and timber ; and loading his vessel with grapes and wood, Leif made haste to return home with his trophies, giving such glowing accounts of his adventures on his arrival, that a short time later his brother Thorvald started with a crew of thirty men for the land of promise.

Thorvald is supposed on this trip to have coasted along the shores of Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Long Island, and in the ensuing year, 1004, to have sailed as far north as Cape Cod (N. lat. 42° 5', W. long. 70° 10'), where he was wrecked in a violent storm. His vessel was not, however, materially damaged, and having repaired it, he coasted along the present Massachusetts till he came to what is now the harbor of Boston. There he landed, and wandering to and fro in the beautiful scenery with his men, he for the first ..time came upon some natives, probably Esquimaux, who were resting peaceably beneath their quaint skin- boats.

With the cruelty characteristic of the wild sea-kings of the North, Thorvald at once gave the signal for attack. The poor Skr^ellings, as he dubbed the natives, were quickly overpowered. One only escaped, and the others were foully murdered. No wonder that this was the beginning of the end of Thorvald' s enterprise. That very night, as he and his followers were sleeping peacefully, untroubled by any remorse for their evil deeds, they were roused by the war-whoop of the Skreellings, come at the bidding of the one survivor to avenge his comrades.

The white men took refuge in their ship, and all escaj^ed unhurt except Thorvald himself, who received a wound in the side, from which he shortly lO Heroes of America7i Discovery.

afterward died. He was buried within sight of the Atlantic, on what is now Massachusetts Bay, and his sorrowing followers returned home with tlie tt'rrible tidings in the ensuing spring.

Undaunted by the fate of his brother, another son of Eric, Thorstein by name, set out for Vinland in 1005, but he failed to find it, and returned home, stricken with mortal sickness, in tlie same year. On his deathbed, however, he prophesied that his widow, Gudrid, would marry again, and hinted that a great career of discovery and conquest was before her future children. He was right in the first part at least of his speech, for two years hitfr we lind Gudrid, as the wife of a sturdy Icelander named Karlsefne, forming part of the largest expedition yet sent out from Greenland to Vinland— an expedition consisting of no less than three ships, and one hundred and forty men and women.

That an important colony was founded by the new adventurers there apj>ears no reason to doubt, although it is impossible to fix its exact locality. Booths were erected, stores were laid in for the winter, and amicable relations were opened with the Skra^llings, who came in great numbers, first to stare at the intruders, and then to trade with them, exchanging valuable furs for red cloth, etc.

A slight and almost ludicrous incident w^as the first thing to break up what had appeared to be the beginning of a long course of successful colonization. A bull belonging to one of the leaders of the expedition rushed suddenly among tlie buyers and sellers, so terrifying the natives, who had never before seen an animal of that description, that the^'' tied to their kayaks, or skin-boats, in the greatest confusion, returning some weeks later in greatly increased numbers, and armed with bows and arrows, to revenge themselves for what they took to be an intentional insult.

Fierce indeed was the struggle in whicli they were now involved, and, overwhelmed by superior numbers, the colonists seemed likely to be exterminated, when the tide was turned by the courage of Freydis, a daughter of Kric the Red, who, imbued with the brave spirit of her father, suddenly faced the savages, and brandishing a sword whicli she had taken from a dead warrior of her own race, she invited the enemy to come and slay her if they would, even tearing (^jien her dress to make clear her meaning.

The Skra'l lings, perhaps taking these strange gestures for the signs of superhuman agency, gazed for a moment in awe-struck silence at the lonely figure standing thus unprotected among the shiin, and then, with cries a§

Heroes of American Discovery. n

wild and weird in the ears of the Northmen as those of their champions to the nuxives, they one and all turned and fled.

The terrible slaughter among their men had, however, so disgusted the leaders of the colony, that they soon afterwards returned to Greenland ; and, but for the ambition of Freydis, the history of the Scandinavian colonies in North America would have ended then and there. Unable to forget her triumph, and eager for yet further distinction, this remarkable woman did not rest until she had organized a new expedition, which, under the leadership of two brothers named Helgi and Finnbogi, set sail in 1011, and, landing in Vinland without molestation from the natives, took possession of the booths erected by their jDredecessors. AH seemed likely to go w^ell, wdien the overbearing conduct of Freydis, wdio w^as not one to shine in the peaceful work of colonization, led to dissensions among the explorers. By a crafty artifice she managed to pick a quarrel with the two brothers, and, with the co-operation of her husband, Thorvard — who, though naturally a mild and inoffensive man, appears to have been entirely under the control of his stronger- minded wife — she succeeded in effecting their massacre, and that of all who were inimical to her supremacy. The survivors, terror-struck by the fate of their companions, yielded without a struggle to the rule of Freydis, who, first binding them all by an oath never to tell of her conduct at home, set them at work to cut timber and collect the curiosities and valuables of the country. Then, when she had acquired enough to insure her w^ealth for the remainder of her life, she embarked for Greenland with the little remnant of the original party. The Icelandic sagas, already referred to, tell how the iniquity of Freydis gradually leaked out, and how, though she herself escaped unpunished, her sins w^ere visited upon her children.

With her return home the attempts at American colonization by the Northmen appear to have ceased, but tradition tells of many a trip by contemporary adventurers of other nationalities ; for, between the fitful excursions from Greenland — wiiich, as we have seen, left no real or permanent impress on the people or districts visited— and the well-organized expedition of modern times, we hear of Arab sailors of the 12th century having sighted land in the unknown Western Ocean, graphically called, from its real and imaginary horrors, the Sea of Darkness ; and of a voyage made in 1170 by Madoc, son of the Prince of North Wales, who, after sailing for many weeks away from his native land, came to a country, supposed to have been the modern Virginia, differing in every respect from any European land.