I spoke, that I should dwell there for a time. There ye shall bury me, and set crosses at my head and feet, and call it Krossanes30 henceforth.” Greenland was then Christianized; but Eirek the Red had died before Christianity came thither.
Now Thorvald died; but they did every thing according as he had said, and then went and found their companions, and told each other the news they had to tell, and lived there that winter, and gathered grapes and vines for loading the ship. Then in the spring they made ready to sail for Greenland, and came with their ship to Eireksfirth, and had great tidings to tell to Leif.
V.—Karlsefni’s Adventures.
[Karlsefni, a rich Norwegian, came to Greenland, staid at Leif’s house, married a wife, and was finally persuaded to bring a colony of sixty men and five women to Vinland.]
This agreement made Karlsefni and his seamen, that they should have even handed31 all that they should get in the way of goods. They had with them all sorts of cattle, as they thought to settle there if they might. Karlsefni begged Leif for his house in Vinland; but he said he would lend him the house, but not give it. Then they bore out to the sea with the ship, and came to Leif’s booths, hale and whole, and landed there their cattle. There soon came into their hands a great and good prize; for a whale was driven ashore, both great and good; then they went to cut up the whale, and had no scarcity of food. The cattle went up into the country; and it soon happened that the male cattle became wild and unruly. They had with them a bull. Karlsefni had wood felled, and brought to the ship, and had the wood piled on the cliff to dry. They had all the good things of the country, both of grapes, and of all sorts of game and other things.
ESQUIMAU BOAT.
After the first winter came the summer; then they saw appear the Skraelings, and there came from out the wood a great number of men. Near by were their neat-cattle; and the bull took to bellowing, and roared loudly, whereat the Skraelings were frightened, and ran off with their bundles. These were furs and sable-skins, and skin-wares of all kinds. And they turned toward Karlsefni’s booths, and wanted to get into the house; but Karlsefni had the doors guarded. Neither party understood the other’s language. Then the Skraelings took down their bags, and opened them, and offered them for sale, and wanted, above all, to have weapons for them. But Karlsefni forbade them to sell weapons. He took this plan: he bade the women bring out their dairy-stuff32 for them; and, so soon as they saw this, they would have that, and nothing more. Now this was the way the Skraelings traded: they bore off their wares in their stomachs. But Karlsefni and his companions had their bags and skin-wares, and so they parted. Now hereof is this to say, that Karlsefni had posts driven strongly round about his booths, and made all complete. At this time Gudrid, the wife of Karlsefni, bore a man-child, and he was called Snorri. In the beginning of the next winter the Skraelings came to them again, and were many more than before; and they had the same wares as before. Then Karlsefni said to the women, “Now bring forth the same food that was most liked before, and no other.” And, when they saw it, they cast their bundles in over the fence. … [But one of them being killed by one of Karlsefni’s men, they all fled in haste, and left their garments and wares behind.] “Now I think we need a good counsel,” said Karlsefni; “for I think they will come for the third time in anger, and with many men. Now we must do this: ten men must go out on that ness,33 and show themselves there; but another party must go into the wood, and hew a place for our neat-cattle when the foe shall come from the wood; and we must take the bull, and let him go before us.” But thus it was with the place where they thought to meet, that a lake was on one side, and the wood on the other. Now it was done as Karlsefni had said. Now came the Skraelings to the place where Karlsefni had thought should be the battle; and now there was a battle, and many of the Skraelings fell.
There was one large and handsome man among the Skraelings; and Karlsefni thought he might be their leader. Now one of the Skraelings had taken up an axe, and looked at it a while, and struck at one of his fellows, and hit him, whereupon he fell dead; then the large man took the axe, and looked at it a while, and threw it into the sea as far as he could. But after that they fled to the wood, each as fast as he could; and thus ended the strife. Karlsefni and his companions were there all that winter; but in the spring Karlsefni said he would stay there no longer, and would fare to Greenland. Now they made ready for the voyage, and bare thence much goods, namely, grape-vines and grapes and skin-wares. Now they sailed into the sea, and came whole with their ships to Eireksfirth, and were there that winter.
DUTCH MAN-OF-WAR.
BOOK II.
COLUMBUS AND HIS COMPANIONS.
(A.D. 1492–1503.)
RECEPTION OF COLUMBUS BY FERDINAND AND ISABELLA.
The following passages are taken from “Select Letters of Christopher Columbus,” published by the Hakluyt Society, London, 1847, pp. 1–17, 20–22, 27, 33–36, 40–42, 114–121, 129–138, 200–202, 205–210, 214–225. These letters were translated by R. H. Major, Esq., of the British Museum.
COLUMBUS AND HIS COMPANIONS.
I.—The First Letter from Columbus.
[This letter was written on board ship, by Columbus, March 14, 1493, “to the noble Lord Raphael Sanchez, Treasurer to their most invincible Majesties, Ferdinand and Isabella, King and Queen of Spain.” It was written in Spanish, but the original is supposed to be lost. Latin translations of it were made and published in different cities; and a poetical translation was made in Italian, and was sung about the streets of Italy.]
KNOWING that it will afford you pleasure to learn that I have brought my undertaking to a successful termination, I have decided upon writing you this letter to acquaint you with all the events which have occurred in my voyage, and the discoveries which have resulted from it. Thirty-three days after my departure from Cadiz, I reached the Indian Sea,34 where I discovered many islands, thickly peopled, of which I took possession, without resistance, in the name of our most illustrious Monarch, by public proclamation and with unfurled banners. To the first of these islands, which is called by the Indians Guanahani, I gave the name of the blessed Saviour (San Salvador), relying upon whose protection I had reached this as well as the other islands. To each of these I also gave a name, ordering that one should be called Santa Maria de la Concepcion; another, Fernandina; the third, Isabella; the fourth, Juana; and so with all the rest respectively. As soon as we arrived at that, which, as I have said, was named Juana,35 I proceeded along its coast a short distance westward, and found it to be so large, and apparently without termination, that I could not suppose it to be an island, but the continental province of Cathay.36 Seeing, however, no towns or populous places on the seacoast, but only a few detached houses and cottages, with whose inhabitants I was unable to communicate, because they fled as soon as they saw us, I went further on, thinking, that, in my progress, I should certainly find some city or village.
At length, after proceeding a great way, and
