Many of those who were interested in Arctic research and the then unknown fate of Sir John Franklin, will remember the meetings at Lady Franklin’s house at Kensington Gore, and how greatly Mr. Grinnell’s exertions and enterprise were appreciated.

Mr. Laurence Oliphant, whom I had known in other parts of the world, was then living with his community upon the Southern shores of Lake Erie.

The last time that I saw him was at a LevÉe, held in St. James’s extreme Palace, in the year 1880, under circumstances which were in contrast with his daily life of labour at Brocton. I understood that he had come over to England to arrange some business matters connected with the affairs of his society.

America is the home of many groups of people endeavouring to carry out their various schemes of communistic life. I visited several of their settlements and found that their methods of management were very different. The prosperity and the harmony of the men and women, evidently depended upon their faith in their own strange forms of religion. It was also observable that, in all cases, the leaders were men of dogmatic character.

The question respecting the proportion of foreigners in the armies of the North came under consideration.

It had been supposed that a large number of the troops consisted of men of foreign nationalities, but an investigation that had been made into the subject has proved that the alien strength of the army had been the subject of much exaggeration.

Upon the examination of the numbers it will be seen, however, that the composition of the forces deserves attention. Their classification was as follows:—

National Americans include all emigrants who in consequence of having been five years in the States are entitled to become citizens.

Mr. Ticknor preceded Mr. Longfellow at Harvard University as Professor of Modern Languages. As an author he is well known by his History of Spanish Literature, and the biography of his friend Mr. Prescott, the historian.

Then Professor of Anatomy in Harvard College, and Curator of the Peabody Museum of ArchÆology and Ethnology.

Laura Bridgman was born in 1829 so, at the time that I saw her, she was forty years old.

In one of the many brilliant speeches made by this orator, the following graceful allusion to the mother-country may be mentioned here. “Great Britain,” he said, “had dotted over the whole surface of the globe with her possessions and military posts, whose morning drum-beat, following the sun and keeping company with the hours, circles the earth daily with one continuous and unbroken strain of martial music.”

The geographical conditions of the Atlantic seaboard are so favourable for the development of naval power, that it is evident that the United States have every possible natural advantage placed at their disposal to enable them to become a great maritime nation.

There is, however, a difficulty for them to surmount. Serviceable American-born men do not readily volunteer to join their ships of war, and, consequently, the crews are largely composed of foreigners, chiefly of English and German origin. The reasons for this disinclination on the part of the Americans to accept sea service seem to be caused by the fact that the prospects for success in life in other directions are sufficiently good to prevent them from seeking an employment in which they would be subject to discipline and have to sacrifice their habits of independence. It will probably be found expedient, ultimately, to adopt a system of entry and training for seamen similar to that which has been found to succeed in England. The systems followed on the European continent, and which are based upon conscription, could find no place amongst a people with whom all service must be essentially voluntary.

If the difficulties with regard to men can be overcome, the naval strength of the United States may be as great as Congress may deem desirable, for, with respect to the capacities of harbours and dockyards and the means available for the construction and armaments of ships, there is practically no limit to the power of fitting out and maintaining large fleets.

In the summer of 1870 I went to the village of Dighton to look at the inscribed stone in the river near that place.

Upon my arrival there it was high water and the rock was covered. The next day, when the tide was low, I hired a boat, pulled down the stream and stopped by its side, which was then fully exposed, and examined it with care. It was a boulder formed of hard close grained granite.

As the inscription was originally supposed by Danish and other antiquarians to have had some relation with the history of the arrival of the Northmen upon that coast, I traced the figures and rude characters with particular attention.

I have seen rolls of birch bark scratched in the same manner by Chippewas, for the purpose of giving information of the movements of their hunting parties, and I think that the figures on the Dighton stone were meant to represent similar events. As, however, the inscriptions are deeply cut, and as it must have taken some considerable time to execute them, it may be granted that the Indians wished to leave, near the mouth of the river, a permanent record which would be intelligible to others.

At many parts of this seaboard the New England tribes, as at Damariscotta visited the tidal waters to obtain food.

When afterwards passing through the forests near Palenque, in Central America, I observed that whenever the Indians found it necessary to quit the track, they immediately broke off small branches from the trees, and placed them on the ground over which they had trodden. As an additional precaution, they also made marks on the trunks with their hatchets. It was thus easy for them to get back to the place from which they had started. It is however evident, that this plan is only useful in those cases where the path is intentionally left. When the path is accidentally missed, it is of the greatest importance not to lose touch with the spot where you happen to be when your error is discovered. This position will necessarily be within a short distance by a straight line from the place from which you wandered. It has been ascertained that it is the tendency of men who have lost their way to unconsciously move in a circle, and thus much time may be wasted in trusting to personal judgment. It is a good plan to make a series of short tentative marches in different directions, in straight lines from your starting point, which should be considered as a central position to which you can always return if necessary. Such straight lines of direction can be made by marking trees, and keeping them as much as possible in line with each other. In dense forests a watch is not serviceable, as the sun does not penetrate them, and its bearing cannot be seen. A compass is useful to a certain extent, but the constant deviations that have to be made to avoid obstacles, tend to make the line of progress a succession of broken curves, and it becomes unsafe to rely upon the accuracy of the direction. Explorers have found it desirable to send men occasionally to the tops of the tallest trees to observe the nature of the country that is being traversed. When Cortes made his celebrated expedition from Mexico to Honduras, he maintained a straight march by the use of a ship’s compass, but in that case there was no difficulty, for the direction was followed by cutting down the trees that were in the line of the advance.

See “Report on the Geology and Topography of a portion of the Lake Superior Land District,” by I. W. Foster and I. D. Whitney. Washington, 1850.

The Jesuit Mission that was placed at Sault Ste. Marie, at the entrance of Lake Superior was, during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, one of the most important and influential of the missionary establishments in North America. Many of the Fathers who were attached to it had received a good mathematical education and were capable of making accurate geographical surveys. An excellent plan of Lake Superior and its islands was made by them in 1670, and the coast lines and bays were traced over a distance exceeding fifteen hundred miles. Amongst the distinguished men who worked at the mission were the Fathers Jogues, Allouez, Mesnard (who lost his way and perished in the forest when travelling across the Kee-wai-wona promontory), Dablon, and the well-known and devoted missionary, Jacques Marquette.

At Marietta, there still exists an ancient Indian mound or tumulus, about thirty feet high. It is situated near the south-east limits of the inclosures. When I saw it, it was under the care of the local authorities.

Morton’s Crania Americana, pp. 221.

It is known that a communication between the south-western extremity of Lake Superior and the Mississippi Valley, existed from an early time. When I was at Toronto, Professor Daniel Wilson, to whom I was indebted for much information upon subjects relating to American archÆology, told me that it had been ascertained that the copper found in these mounds, was of the same character as that in the Lake Superior Mines: so that the question of its origin was practically settled. It thus seems probable that some of the small lumps of pure copper found in the forests and on the shores of the lake, near the Kee-wai-wona promontory, were brought into Ohio.

A mound that was opened near Lake Ontario, and whose contents I examined, was stated to have been twelve feet high. Within it were about twenty skeletons, some coarse pottery, a number of arrow heads made of a hard flinty stone and several flat rectangular stones, pierced with one or two holes, which had been used as breast ornaments, possibly denoting a certain rank. There were also stone gouges, some stone axes and many fragments of charred wood. This was probably an Iroquois grave.

In the valley of the Mississippi, especially in the northern part which had been occupied by the Dakotas, I afterwards saw many burial mounds, which, with the exception of the unusually great mounds near Miamisburgh and Wheeling, resembled in all respects those in Ohio. The methods of burial with the Sioux were evidently similar to those of the Mound Builders, with respect to the custom of conveying skeletons from considerable distances for the purpose of placing them together in one burying heap.

In several of the ancient burial mounds in Ohio, thin flat plates or slabs of mica are placed with the skeletons. This shining and silvery looking mineral appears to have been greatly valued by Indians. When I was on the coast of California, I happened to be present when a shell bank was cut open and a section of it examined. There was found, piled within it, a confused heap of skulls and shells, together with a larger quantity of rough pieces of mica. It is remarkable that the use of mica as an ornament should have been prevalent over such a wide geographical area amongst tribes dwelling so far apart.

I have seen a re-survey of the Newark inclosures made on behalf of the Smithsonian Institution, under the direction of Professor Cyrus Thomas. The results of this survey are very useful. The measurements have evidently been taken with much care. With respect to the Octagon, Professor Thomas observes that, “The angles at the crossings of the diagonals and diameters at the centre O, are so nearly right angles as to be worthy of notice in this connection. For instance, the angles at the crossings of the diagonals BF and DH, differ but 10´ from true right angles, while those at the crossing of the diameters AE and CG differ but 2´.”

As regards the Square he states, that, “This inclosure varies but slightly from a true square, the course of the opposite sides in one case differing but 31´, and the other but 6´. The greatest variation at the corners from a true right angle is 57´.”

The large Circle D is said to have a difference of diameters of twenty-six feet, these being respectively 1189 feet and 1163 feet.

The Observatory Circle, which is the inclosure connected with the Octagon, was found to have been made with remarkable correctness. “The widest divergence between the line of the survey and the circumference of the true circle is four feet. It is therefore evident that the inclosure approaches in form very nearly an absolute circle.”

Professor Thomas also states with reference to the Observatory Circle, that the radius is almost an exact multiple of the surveyor’s chain.

The geometrical accuracy of the lines of embankments and of the inclosed areas in earthworks of such great dimensions, covering such large spaces of ground, is not the least strange fact concerning these works.

ArchÆologia Americana, Vol. I. The plan of the Marietta Inclosures is a reduction of a part of the survey made in 1837 by Mr. Charles Whittlesea, and published by the Smithsonian Institution in 1848.

Fort Du Quesne was built about the year 1752. It was situated near the spot where is now the town of Pittsburgh. In 1731 the Indians who then occupied the lands near Marietta formed an alliance with the French, and obtained their assistance in protecting them from the attacks of hostile tribes. These were probably the Iroquois, who at that period had made a treaty with the English, and were their allies during the wars against the French in Canada and this part of North America.

ArchÆologia Americana, Vol. I.

See Plan.

Upon an examination of the map it will be seen that the Serpent is placed in the territory west of the Scioto, and that the Alligator is east of that river.

The mouth of the serpent is described as being opened wide. This peculiarity is observable with the serpent carved upon the walls of the Casa de las Monjas at Uxmal.

The valley below the Alligator is in the possession of a race of Welsh colonists who emigrated from Wales about the year 1802. At that time they did not speak English, and for many years refrained from learning that language.

The church services are held in their town of Granville.

These colonists were prosperous and contented. The majority of them bore the names of Griffith, Price, Lewis, and others which are usual in the seaboard counties of Wales.

The adjacent high lands are called the Welsh hills.

“Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley,” pp. 19.

Second Annual Report of the Geological Survey of the State of Ohio, 1838, pp. 269.

The earthworks thrown up between Gallipoli and the Gulf of Saros during the Crimean war in 1854–1855 had the appearance of considerable antiquity when I saw them nearly a quarter of a century afterwards in 1878.

According to Hakluyt, Madoc “prepared certaine ships with men and munition, and sought adventures by seas; sailing West and leaving the coast of Ireland so farre North, that he came vnto a land vnknowen, where he saw many strange things.

Of the voyage and returne of this Madoc there be many fables fained, as the common people do vse in distance of place and length of time, rather to augment than to diminish: but sure it is there he was.... This Madoc arriving in that Westerne countrey, vnto the which he came in the yere 1170, left most of his people there, and returning backe for more of his owne nation, acquaintance and friends to inhabit that faire and large countrey, went thither again with ten sailes, as I find noted by Gutyn Owen.

I am of opinion that the land whereunto he came was some part of the West Indies.”

Hakluyt’s Voyages, vol. iii, p. 21.

When examining the inclosures near Newark, I had with me the plan of the survey of Mr. Atwater, published in 1820 in the 1st Volume of the ArchÆologia Americana. The plan pp. 66 is, in its proportions, a reduction that I made of the survey of Mr. Whittlesea, but the inclosures are drawn according to the plan of Mr. Atwater.

The survey of Mr. Whittlesea is given at pp. 67 “Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley.” Some of the smaller earthworks and parallels no longer exist, having been probably removed by the plough.

With respect to the subject of ArchÆology in North America, I have to thank Dr. Baird, the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, for having placed in my hands the valuable and impartial work written by Mr. Haven.

See the Journal of Mr. Thaddeus Harris, pp. 54, published in Boston in 1805.

Florida was discovered in 1512 by Ponce de Leon, the aged governor of Porto Rico, who was then seeking for the Fountain of Youth, which, according to the statements of the historian of the voyage, was believed to have the power to rejuvenate old men, and restore to them the vigour of early manhood.

An expedition undertaken a few years later, in 1528, by Pamphilo de Narvaez had a disastrous termination. Many Spaniards were left behind, the majority of whom were probably tortured and killed. Others, in accordance with Indian customs, may have been chosen by squaws to be their husbands, and would have consequently taken part in the conduct of tribal affairs.

It is not unlikely that some of these Spanish adventurers, would have taken advantage of any opportunity that may have occurred, to proceed into the interior of the new continent. Due consideration should also be given to the fact that the French may have assisted the Indians in the construction of their forts on the plains, at any period between the dates of their first partial occupation of Canada in 1541, and the final abandonment of their positions in the valley of the Ohio in 1758.

Amongst the various opinions that have been held with respect to the Mound Builders, there is one which attributes their origin to the northern part of Mexico.

Mr. Lewis Morgan, whose works upon the subject of the Indian races have placed him in the position of being a high authority upon all matters relating to them, wrote to me a letter upon the question of their migrations, in which he observed as follows:—“Any opinion as to who were the mound builders must be speculative. It is quite probable that they were village Indians from New Mexico, and having found the climate too severe for their type of village life, retired gradually from the country.” Although it has to be admitted that all theories as to the Mound Builders must be necessarily indeterminate, yet nothing has been found amongst the ornaments or weapons that were placed in their burial mounds, which supports the hypothesis that they were different in race or intelligence from the tribes that surrounded them.

The school teacher, Miss Maud Osborn, requested me to accept this spear head in memory of my visit.

The Missouri joins the Mississippi after having pursued a devious course from the Rocky Mountains, for a distance estimated to be nearly three thousand miles, of which the greater part is navigable at that season of the year when its waters are at their highest level.

Nauvoo was once brought into prominent notice in connection with the Mormons, as it was here that they built their first great temple.

Judge Williams had personally known Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, and Rigdon his chief colleague. Joseph Smith, he said, was an illiterate man, but, was remarkable for a kind of shrewdness combined with great insight into character.

Rigdon, who had been formerly a Baptist preacher, was well educated, and was generally employed in obtaining converts and explaining to them the meaning of Smith’s visions and the doctrines of the new religion.

He described Brigham Young, with whom he was also acquainted, as being a person of determined character, with a domineering manner.

When I was at Salt Lake City, in the following December, I had a long interview with that able and astute leader of men.

Within twenty years from the time when he conducted the flight of the Mormons across the deserts from Nauvoo to Utah, he had succeeded in establishing a highly satisfactory condition of good order and prosperity throughout the territories under his government; and controlled, with unquestioned authority, a community consisting of one hundred and forty thousand people.

As I looked at the cliff and the reflection of its shadow in the calm smooth waters of the lake, I recalled to mind a similar scene viewed from the deck of H.M.S. Racer when passing at sunset the promontory of Cape Leucate, in Santa Maura, the classical site of Sappho’s leap. There is a special interest attached to the fate of Winona, for it proves that Indian girls of Dakota birth are capable of higher degrees of sentiment with regard to their marriage, than those believed to exist among other tribes. She was not permitted for some tribal reason to marry the man she had chosen, and preferred death to marriage with the warrior to whom she was assigned by the command of her parents.

The accompanying illustration is drawn from a pencil sketch made by the author near this spot.

“I was greatly surprised,” states Captain Carver, “at beholding an instance of such elevated devotion in so young an Indian, and instead of ridiculing the ceremonies attending it, as I observed my Catholic servant tacitly did, I looked on the prince with a greater degree of respect for these sincere proofs he gave of his piety; and I doubt not, but that his offerings and prayers, were as acceptable to the universal Parent of mankind, as if they had been made with greater pomp, or in a consecrated place.” Travels in North America, pp. 62.

ArchÆologia Americana, Vol. II, pp. 128.

In Chapter xvii it will be seen that the Aztecs or Toltecs in Yucatan, also, in certain cases, killed the victim by a flight of arrows.

One of the best authenticated instances of this custom of torturing prisoners was witnessed by a Mr. James Smith who, during the time that he was a captive amongst the Delawares, was present when the English prisoners taken after General Braddock’s defeat were brought into camp by the Indians.

He states that, upon that occasion, about a dozen of the prisoners were stripped and tied to stakes, tortured with fire-brands and burnt to death.

The ferocity of the Indians towards their captives after battle was well known to the British and French commanders, and was one of the difficulties that attended their employment as allies. There is a subject indirectly connected with these Indian customs in war which may here be considered. It is that of cannibalism.

Investigations into this question lead to the conclusion that there is no evidence to show that any of the North American tribes were in the habit of following this revolting custom except under rare circumstances during the prosecution of a serious war.

I only know of two instances, seen and recorded, of Indians devouring human flesh. In both cases it is evident that the acts were committed in accordance with the usages of hostile tribes when engaged in war.

The first case is mentioned in a report made to his superiors, by the French missionary, Father Roubaud, who accompanied the Indian allies of the French troops during the operations against the British forces in 1757.

An English captive, who was believed to have been an officer, was cooked and eaten by the Ottawas under circumstances singularly repulsive. The Father Roubaud, who was present and witnessed part of the proceedings, was horrified by what he saw, and finding that he could do nothing to check the tribe in their savage feast was forced to withdraw to his tent.

The other instance occurred after the capture of the garrison of Michel Mackinac by the Chippewas. Mr. Alexander Henry, the same person who, at another time, undertook the mining operations on the shores of Lake Superior which are mentioned in a preceding chapter, was a captive. He states that one of the white prisoners was killed and divided into five parts which were cooked in five kettles and then eaten at a special feast.

Mr. Henry was of opinion, from what he observed, that this food was taken with repugnance. An Indian told him that what he saw was done to inspire the warriors with courage.

When I was at the village of San Domingo del Palenque in Central America, Dr. Coller, a resident there, told me he had carried out, during several years, a series of investigations to ascertain the reasons for the existence of large green savannahs in the heart of the adjacent forests. He had formed the conclusion that those open spaces were caused by the exceptional character of the ground which, he said, differed from that upon which the trees grew. The similar openings amongst the forests in Ceylon called patenas, are, I believe, also supposed to be the effect of the nature or poverty of the land.

It is noticeable that the forests usually skirt or surround savannahs in sharp well-defined outlines like an enclosing barrier, in the same manner as the meadows, formed by the consequences of the action of beavers, occur in Michigan.

After my return to England I happened to discuss this subject with Colonel Yule, who had just then completed his work of editing the Travels of Marco Polo. He told me that when he was in Burmah, Lord Dalhousie, who was at that time Governor-General of India, sent him into the interior to visit the forests of Aracan.

He found within them several large clearings, and observed that the new growths were of a different character from the old trees and were invariably bamboos. He also saw amongst the mountains many deciduous trees which were quite bare of leaves whilst their branches were covered with brilliantly coloured flowers.

Upon another occasion Dr. Rae, who had passed much of his life in the Hudson Bay Territories and became known by his discovery of the relics of Sir John Franklin’s expedition, mentioned to me that he had frequently seen that when trees had been uprooted, raspberry bushes sprang up in their place thus showing that their seeds must have been in the ground. Dr. Joseph Norwood, Assistant Geologist, in his report of the survey of the region west of Lake Superior, undertaken in 1847, states that from facts which had come under his observation, he was led to believe that, “if after the clearing of the pine forests, the annual fires cease, a growth of oak springs up in some places and aspen in others.” (Owen’s Geological Survey, pp. 296). In British Columbia the ancient forest pines are often succeeded by cedars or alders.

The subject of the destruction of snakes is mentioned by Mr. Murray, in his “Travels in North America.”

When passing through a ravine in the territories of the Pawnees he observed, “I never should have believed it possible that so many rattlesnakes could have been assembled together as I saw in that ravine. I think there must have been nearly enough to fatten a drove of Missouri hogs,” and he adds in a note. “It is well known that in the Western States where rattlesnakes are still plentiful the hogs kill and eat them; nor is their bite formidable to their swinish enemy, on whom its venomous fangs seem to produce no effect. It is owing to this well-known fact that families resident in those districts conceive that hogs-lard must be a kind of antidote to their poison, and frequently use it (I believe successfully) as a remedy.” (Travels in North America, by Hon. Charles Augustus Murray, Vol. ii, pp. 42.)

An Englishman who had a large farm in West Virginia, told me that the hillsides were cleared of the snakes, which had previously infested them, by turning out pigs upon them.

A similar result took place in Minnesota and upon the prairies east of the Missouri.

“Etudes Philologiques sur quelques Langues Sauvages de L’AmÉrique,” Montreal, 1866.

In the EncyclopÆdia Americana (1886), the total Indian population is said to be (exclusive of Alaska) 264,369. The Dakotas are stated to number thirty-one thousand.

The Council building on the reservation was called the Long House, not on account of its size or shape, but in accordance with an ancient tradition.

When the separation of the Iroquois took place, it was decided by the Council that the expression Long House was to be used as a symbol, that the nations were theoretically under one roof, which extended over all the lands occupied by them. In pursuance of this theory, certain tribes were given particular duties. The Senecas had to guard the gates looking towards the sunset, and the Mohawks were to watch the approaches to the gates placed in the direction of sunrise.

As far as it is possible to form conclusions, with respect to the state of the Indian tribes in the sixteenth century, it appears that the Iroquois, in consequence of their league, had attained to a comparatively advanced state of warlike capacity, and had organised methods of conducting a campaign.

They also formed regular alliances, and made treaties which they faithfully executed.

In their treatment of captives they were cruel and barbarous, but they possessed in the highest degree the qualities of courage and endurance.

I should here mention that, when I was at Boston, I was much assisted in making investigations into certain characteristics of the North American Indians by Mr. Francis Parkman, whose researches upon all subjects relating to the condition of the aboriginal tribes in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, have placed him in the first rank of the historians of that period.

Mr. Parkman was personally well acquainted with the Dakotas, amongst whom he had dwelt for nearly two years.

He, on several occasions arranged, in the kindest manner, that I should meet those who were interested in the native races. Upon one of these occasions I met Mr. E. G. Squier, whose original surveys of the ancient earthworks in Ohio were published by the Smithsonian Institution.

The introductions given to me by Mr. Parkman to the distinguished archÆologists, Mr. Lewis Morgan and Professor Daniel Wilson, were also most useful.

In the prison at Omaha I saw three Pawnees named Blue-Hawk, Yellow-Son and Tall-Wolf, who had endeavoured to commit suicide in order to avoid being hanged. One of them, I think it was Blue-Hawk (Sha-to-ko), had managed to conceal a long piece of hard wood, one end of which he had rubbed down to a sharp point. He was employed in pushing this through his body, between the ribs, when he was observed by the warder and prevented from completing his purpose. Another prisoner had removed a brick from the floor and was trying to fracture his skull with it. All of them had torn away portions of their skin and cut themselves in many places with small fragments of glass which they had obtained secretly. The warder told me that he had taken every precaution to stop these desperate attempts of the Indians to destroy themselves. They seemed to be able to bear these self inflicted wounds without showing signs of distress.

The supernatural powers attributed to the “medicine men” are not worthy of attention, except so far as they illustrate the credulity of Indians, and show the influence of certain methods of imposture upon them. Their tricks are usually of a kind which are perfectly within the capacity of an ordinary juggler.

Their pretension of possessing the power of making rain is however a subject of a different nature.

This particular act is chiefly remarkable because there is no form of imposture which can be so readily detected. Nevertheless the Indian tribes throughout the western parts of North America usually have “Rain-makers,” in whose powers they appear to have confidence.

I met in California a young Englishman who had been living for several months with various tribes near the coast, between British Columbia and New Mexico.

He told me that he had been present upon an occasion when a successful attempt at rain-making occurred. The event took place upon a promontory in the southern part of California.

The tribe wanted rain, and their rain-maker declared that he could obtain what was desired. He proceeded to make upon an adjoining hill, a large bonfire which was kept well supplied with fuel and gave out dense volumes of smoke. The fire was kept burning for over twenty-four hours, and then the efforts of the rain-maker were rewarded by a good and sufficient fall of rain. Here, as elsewhere, the Indians employed fire and smoke as agents for producing rain.

See Chapter VI.

The offerings are sometimes made to appease the angry spirit dwelling in the serpent.

Occasionally the Dakotas sacrifice a dog to it.

“Indian Tribes of North America.” Vol. IV. pp. 51.

The remaining daughters were alive when I was in Minnesota. One of them was married to a man of the tribe. The other was the wife of a white man, who, Faribault said, was employed as a drummer at Fort Snelling.

With many of the Dakota and Chippewa tribes there existed a custom of placing upon the scaffolding a wand which was painted red, blue and white. They believed that the spirit of the Indian had to cross a river over which was a long log of wood. Upon reaching the opposite bank, the spirit met the spirits of his enemies. To one of them he would show the red, to another the blue, and finally he pointed to the white and then all enmities ceased.

The albatrosses in the Southern ocean which, like the pelicans, are birds of great size and weight (I have measured some which exceeded twelve feet across the wings) maintain for hours an equal height above the level of the sea.

In the high latitudes south of the Cape of Good Hope and the Crozet Islands there is always a strong gale blowing, and consequently by a very slight and imperceptible movement or inclination of the wings the albatrosses obtained the necessary pressure which enabled them to rise, descend, or maintain their hovering position.

In the case of pelicans moving rapidly in a perfect calm, the method by which they maintain their height in the air is not so easily understood.

The foreign residents living in Guatemala, included Mr. Corbett, our ChargÉ d’affaires; M. de Cabarrus, chief of the French legation; the Duke and Duchess de Licignano, Dr. Wynne, Mr. and Mrs. Hague, Mr. and Mrs. Hockmeyer, and M. Hardy: to all of whom I was indebted for much kindness and hospitality.

Author of “A New Survey of the West Indies,” published in 1648.

“Relation of what happened by the Will of God, on Saturday, the 10th of September, 1541, two hours after sunset in the town of Santiago de Guatimala.” Ternaux-Compans.

Historia Verdadera de la Conquista de la Nueva EspaÑa escrita por el Capitan Bernal Diaz del Castillo, uno de sus Conquistadores.

The substances thrown out from craters frequently differ in their character. Judging from the composition of the surface of portions of the land near the Guatemala volcanoes, especially upon the slopes of the barrancas, it is evident that large quantities of pozzolana were ejected. One of the latest eruptions that has occurred was at the Island of Santorin in the Grecian Archipelago in February, 1866. I was present when the new volcano emerged from the sea.

The inhabitants of Santorin, upon seeing volumes of steam and smoke issuing from the waters of the bay, apprehended some serious peril to be imminent. They feared the possibility of their town being overwhelmed by an eruption of ashes, and made a request that a ship of war should be sent to the spot to render any assistance that might be necessary. I immediately went there in the “Racer” and remained until all fears of danger had passed away.

The crater of the volcano, afterwards called Aphroessa, rose slowly from the surface of the water, and it was possible to observe the nature of the interior during the intervals between the eruptions. There was no lava or pozzolana, but only large cinders which, as they issued from the crater, were thrown into the air, and then fell upon the outer slopes, thus gradually forming an island.

It was a very remarkable scene; during the day there were heavy volumes of smoke and constant rumbling sounds, as the pent up forces below the mouth of the crater were gathering strength to throw forth the mass of cinders that closed them in. At night the glare caused by the reflection of the fire of the interior upon the dense clouds immediately overhanging it was very vivid. The surface of the surrounding waters was over-spread by running tongues of brilliantly coloured flames. The island was composed of cinders and ashes, whose porous nature could never permit any lodgement of water upon them. I examined several of the craters of the extinct volcanoes on the islands adjacent to Aphroessa, and there was no instance of any small pond or collection of water existing within them. The interior of the Volcan de Agua, possibly contained a thick substratum of water-bearing pozzolana.

An account of the volcanoes of Santorin was given by Sir Charles Lyell. “Principles of Geology.” Vol. ii, pp. 70.

“History of the Kingdom of Guatemala,” by Don Domingo Juarros, translated by J. Baily, Lieutenant R.M., pp. 384.

Bernal Diaz states that “PÁ-pa,” was the name given by the Indians in Yucatan to their chief-priests. The Spaniards were much surprised to find upon their arrival in America, that the Indian chief-priests were called by the same name as the Pope of Rome. “Kues” were temples or altars.

Quetzales are birds with bright green plumage, having their tail feathers of great length, and are found chiefly in the highlands of Guatemala.

Palacio’s Report was published for the first time in the original Spanish by Mr. E. G. Squier, in 1860. As it is important that the author’s meaning should not be misunderstood, I have translated it literally, as far as this is possible, considering that it is written in the Spanish of the 16th century.

Carved and polished ornaments made of hard stone of green colour.

Diaz observes that Guatimozin—who, after the death of Montezuma had become the Emperor of the Mexicans—sent the hands and feet of the Spaniards that had been sacrificed, together with the heads of the horses that had been killed, to the Indian chiefs who had formed a league of alliance with Cortes, and sent them messages to the effect, that the remaining Spaniards would soon be conquered, and that consequently those chiefs should submit to the Aztec power and send ambassadors to him. In the meantime, human sacrifices took place daily in the great temple, accompanied by the dismal sound of the drum, the discordant noises of the shell trumpets, and the horrible shouts and yells of the Mexicans. During the night large fires were kept burning on the platform, and on each night several Spaniards were sacrificed.

These ceremonies lasted for ten days, until all the captives had been sacrificed; and during this time the Mexicans made frequent and furious attacks upon the troops. Diaz relates, that the Indian soldiers told them that they were wretched creatures who would soon be all killed, and that their flesh was disagreeable to taste and bad to eat. “Vuestras carnes son tan malas para comer.”

The last Spaniard who was sacrificed was Christobal de Guzman.

Bernal Diaz, Historia Verdadera, chap. clii.

First Report of Pedro de Alvarado to Cortes, dated Utatlan, 11th April, 1524.

See the 5th letter of Cortes, to the Emperor Charles V.

Small black beans.

Juarros, Baily’s Translation, p. 457.

In Guatemala this prayer is called La Oracion.

This custom is familiar to those who have travelled upon the Italian coasts, or who have visited the western parts of Brittany near Carnac and in the Morbihan, where the faith of the peasants still remains strong.

The Indians living amongst the hills frequently assemble in considerable numbers, and, kneeling on the ground, worship outside the doors of their churches; and there is a singular resemblance in the manner of their devotion to what is to be seen at the “Pardons” of the Bretons, where the peasants come from long distances, light their candles, and kneel before the church door, the line of the worshippers often extending beyond the precincts of the churchyard.

A name given by Spanish priests to the ancient temples and shrines of the Indians.

Las Casas, who was Bishop of the adjacent diocese of Chiapas in the sixteenth century, mentions that it was the custom there amongst the lower classes to give a year’s service to the parents.—“Pero la gente comun tenÍa de costumbre de servir in sus labores un aÑo al padre de la que por mujer queria, de la manera que Jacob sirvio À Laban por sus hijas Rachel y Lya.” This was also the custom in Yucatan.

Long capes made of sackcloth.

When I passed through Mexico, the execution of the Emperor Maximilian and the unhappy fate of the Empress Carlotta, were subjects of discussion. It has often been a matter of surprise, that Juarez should have thought it necessary that the sentence of the court-martial should be carried out. The French troops, upon whom the stability of the empire depended, had been withdrawn, and the success of the National party was assured. An act of forbearance upon this occasion would have met with approval, and have been acknowledged as a wise exercise of superior authority. It was however otherwise determined, and the Emperor was shot outside the walls of QuerÉtaro.

In the American official book upon Mexican affairs, there is a memorandum of the conversation between Mr. Seward, the Foreign Secretary, and SeÑor Matias Romero, the Mexican Minister, at Washington. Mr. Seward stated, that England, France and Austria, had desired the United States to use their good offices for Maximilian, and further observed, that “Mr. Seward does not fear any contingency possible in virtue whereof any European power may attempt to invade or interfere in future in Mexico, or in any other Republican nation on this continent. For this reason he does not think that Mexico need fear any attempt at reprisals on the part of any European powers, as a consequence of any extreme decision which the Mexican Government may take; but at the same time, Mr. Seward also believes that a feeling universally favourable, conciliatory and friendly towards the Republic of Mexico and the other American Republics, would probably be the result of the act of clemency and magnanimity, which the United States have thought proper to recommend.”

Clemency is not a quality that naturally exists in the mind of a North or Central American Indian.

It recalled to my memory an old Spanish picture belonging to Dr. Pusey, which always held the principal place upon the walls of his library in Christ Church, Oxford.

The method of building their huts varies amongst different tribes, but the general principles are much the same. I have passed many hours of the day and night within them, and noticed their practical convenience in tropical climates; and although, according to civilised ideas of comfort, there is much that is wanting, yet for the purposes of the simple and solitary lives of these shy and inoffensive Indians, it would be difficult to contrive any shelter more suitable for their requirements.

I had previously observed when travelling in the Cyrenaica in the regions around Cyrene, that the Bedouins could perform a long day’s hard work and subsist upon a few handfuls of grains of wheat moistened with water.

Dr. Coller was surprised to see me. It was supposed that I was the first Englishman who had come to Palenque from the coasts of the Pacific, Mr. Stephens, my predecessor being an American. I am however under the impression that his companion, Mr. Catherwood, was an Englishman.

Dr. Coller’s hut at San Domingo del Palenque was not a Castle of Lirias, but probably the lines quoted by Gil Blas were often in his mind. Indeed there are many others who, if they saw that hamlet as I saw it in the month of March, would concur with him in saying:

In the final chapters, xix-xx, will be found the conclusions that I have formed with regard to the temple and tablet of the cross.

See frontispiece.

The areas occupied by the temples differed considerably in their extent. The largest of them which I measured was that of the Temple of the Cross.

Its interior dimensions were forty-three feet seven inches long by twenty-five feet four inches deep; the outer walls were three feet thick. Therefore the ground space covered by the building was nearly fifty feet in frontage and a little more than thirty-one feet in depth. Its exterior height was about twenty feet. The measurements of the temple on the adjoining pyramid were less.

A clear and instructive memoir by Professor Charles Rau, upon the subject of the interpretation of the Palenque hieroglyphs, is to be found in one of the Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, published in 1879.

Investigations have also been made in England, France and Germany. I believe it has been ascertained that a dot means one, a bar five, a bar with two dots seven, and two bars represent ten. It has also been discovered that the hieroglyphs are to be read from left to right, and from the top downwards. If this is correct it is a discovery of considerable importance. Upon an examination of the illustration in the frontispiece of the Palenque altar tablet it will be observed, from the position of the leading groups of figures on the left slab, that the heads are probably intended to represent the chiefs of the Toltec tribe.

The numerous explorations that have latterly taken place throughout Mexico, Guatemala and Yucatan have practically determined the positions and extent of all the ancient Indian ruins that still exist in those lands. Therefore it is not expected that any more discoveries of importance will be made. It is however possible that one or more small temples or structures may be found hidden among the forests in the line of direction between Ocosingo and Flores.

In the United States much attention is being given to the study of the Mexican and Maya manuscripts.

It is to be hoped that methods of interpretation will be established upon a sound basis, and that the characters written upon the codices, and the hieroglyphs graven upon the idols and stone tablets will be ultimately deciphered.

Some years after my return to England I had a long conversation upon the subject of alligators with Mr. Bates, who was then our Secretary of the Royal Geographical Society, and whose knowledge upon all matters concerning the habits of animals in tropical lands was very extensive. In his book “The Naturalist on the Amazons,” he mentions a case that happened at a place called Carcara.

An Indian, one of the crew belonging to a trading canoe, whilst in a half-drunken state went down to bathe in the lake and stumbled. A pair of gaping jaws seized him round the waist and dragged him under water; after a short lapse of time the brute came up to breathe and was seen with one leg of the man sticking out from his jaws.

Other instances of this kind have been mentioned by naturalists, but I do not remember any cases of men being seized when actually swimming in the water. Possibly my Indians may have known from hearsay or experience the truth of what they stated.

It has been said that alligators, owing to the formation of their throats, cannot swallow their prey in the water, but are obliged to go to the banks for that purpose.

It was not, however, upon the subject of the danger to men from approaching these reptiles that the conversation chiefly turned.

We discussed the question of their food supply. Mr. Bates said that they lived upon fish. I observed, with reference to that part of the river where I had seen them congregated in such amazing numbers, that it was impossible that the supply of food from fish alone could be sufficient, and also that in consequence of the filthy state of the water no fish could live in it.

Mr. Bates after some consideration said that their food must be fish, but he added, that it was probable that they could live in an almost torpid condition for long periods.

Mr. Bates felt assured that fish formed the food of alligators. It was not possible to feel quite satisfied with this solution of the problem, especially under circumstances where alligators abound in stagnant lagoons in which fish must necessarily be scarce.

In the unfrequented parts of the estuaries of rivers flowing into the Caribbean sea, it can be understood that at certain seasons of the year the supply of fish may be great, and we have the authority of that careful observer Mr. Bartram, for the statement that upon those occasions the numbers of alligators crowding the rivers in Florida were astonishing.

In 1853 the “Vestal” happened to be cruising off Cuba, and I was sent in charge of the boats to look for fresh water in Guantanomo harbour, at a spot which was reputed to have been a favourite haunt of pirates in the seventeenth century.

After some search we discovered a small stream, but the entrance was defended by such crowds of alligators that we had great difficulty in passing through them. If, as was possible, they were waiting for the arrival of fish from the upper waters, it may be inferred that a comparatively small supply of food suffices for their sustenance.

“Cartas de Hernan Cortes,” collected by Don Pascual de Gayangos, p. 407.

“Almaizal, a sort of veil or head attire used by the Moorish women, made of thin silk, striped of several colours, and shagged at the ends, which hangs down on the back.” Baretti’s Dictionary, 1807.

See “Landa’s Relacion de las Cosas de Yucatan,” edited and translated by L’AbbÉ Brasseur de Bourbourg.

See chapter vii.

Landa “Relacion de las Cosas de Yucatan.” p. 164.

See chapter xi.

The facing stones placed upon the walls of the ruins of Mitla, in the Mexican province of Oaxaca, are fitted, or bedded, into the mortar and rubble in the same manner as at Uxmal.

At one of the evening conversaziones given by the Royal Society at Burlington House, in the spring of 1892, I happened to discuss the subject of Palenque and Uxmal with Mr. Woolner, the sculptor. Some experiments had previously been carried out in France which had proved that with stone chisels it was possible to carve granite, limestones, and hard sandstones.

The investigations did not, however, make it clear how it could have happened that the Indian sculptors were able to work with such facility that they covered their buildings with deeply chiselled ornamentation. Mr. Woolner said that he thought it probable that the Indians may have been acquainted with some strong acids, and that they may have used these to soften the stone and make it more workable.

We were looking at some photographs exhibited by Mr. Maudslay, who had lately returned from Palenque, and the question of the method of carving the outlines of the figures on the stone slabs of the courts came under consideration. Mr. Woolner thought that the subject was very difficult, but that it was possible that the figures had been previously traced and then worked with acid as he had already suggested.

When I heard of this Indian practice my thoughts went far away from the forests of Palenque. Memories of the Eton playing fields were recalled and an old Eton Latin grammar, and the familiar line, “Pallida mors Æquo pulsat pede pauperum tabernas regumque turres.” With Indians, as with others, the fatal footstep cannot be turned aside.

For a description of this ceremony see Landa, chap. xxvi. “Manner of baptism in Yucatan. How it was celebrated.”

See “Historia de la Guerra de Castas de Yucatan,” p. 77. Merida, 1866.

As the little Aguinaga was timidly seeking for an anchorage, I remembered a far different scene in which I had taken part in 1853, seventeen years earlier.

The Vestal, a twenty-six gun frigate in which I was then serving, had captured three slavers off the north coast of Cuba. One of them was a fast sailing vessel called the Venus. She had become notorious for her success in evading our cruisers and landing large cargoes of slaves.

When we arrived off the mouth of the port of Havannah we formed our fleet of prizes into line and passed between the castles in triumph: our movements being watched by thousands of the Spanish inhabitants as we took up our anchorage in the centre of the harbour.

“Work in Mound Exploration of the Bureau of Ethnology,” by Cyrus Thomas, Washington, 1887.

“The Mounds of the Mississippi Valley, Historically Considered,” by Lucien Carr, Assistant Curator of the Peabody Museum of American ArchÆology and Ethnology, Cambridge, Mass.

See Note, chapter iv., p. 69.

In the sixteenth century, the Cherokees occupied the lands in that part of America where the States of North Carolina, Alabama and Georgia border upon the State of Tennessee.

See chapter v., p. 94.

Merida now occupies the site of Tihoo. The stones, with which were built the pyramids and temples, were used in the construction of the new city.

Relation des choses de Yucatan, p. 351.

According to Humboldt, the Toltecs arrived in AnÁhuac (Mexico) A.D. 648, and reached Tula in 670. The pyramids of TÉotihuacan, a few leagues north of the modern city of Mexico, were built by them. They afterwards raised the great pyramid of Cholula, and on its platform built a temple for the worship of Quetzalcoatl. From Cholula, colonies of the Toltecs went to Tabasco and Yucatan.

The Aztecs arrived in Mexico in 1190, and found there the pyramids which they believed to hive been the work of their predecessors the Toltecs, who had obtained a knowledge of hieroglyphics and of methods of computing time by calendars. The Aztecs founded Tenochtitlan (the city of Mexico) in 1325.

The custom of confining captives or slaves in wooden cages for the purpose of being prepared for sacrifice, was supposed to have been established by the Aztecs about a century after they had settled in Mexico.

There is reason to believe that in consequence of their being surrounded by enemies and engaged in constant wars, they considered it necessary to propitiate the war god in the most terrific manner. Thus when the great Teocalli, erected for the worship of Huitzil-pochli, was completed, many thousands of victims were sacrificed as propitiatory offerings. When colonies of the Aztec race were advancing in the direction of Tabasco and Yucatan, similar sacrificial ceremonies were performed.

Bernal Diaz saw, in one of the Indian towns that had been captured by the Spaniards, three large cages full of prisoners who were waiting to be sacrificed. They were fastened by collars to prevent their escape. They were taken out of the cages and sent back to their own tribes. He elsewhere observes that the Indians devoured human flesh after the victims had been sacrificed, in the same way as the Spaniards devoured oxen. It is evident that great numbers of the aboriginal natives must have been kept in slavery and, in time of war, were killed and eaten by the Aztecs.

Bernal Diaz, chapter xxix, and Landa, p. 12.

It was noticed soon after the Spanish conquest that the Indians died rapidly from causes of a mental character. They died because they did not wish to live. The conditions of slavery they were forced to endure had such an effect upon them that they gradually lost their strength. After submitting for a time to the hardships imposed upon them they appeared to become resigned to their fate. Life was a burden. They lost heart and died from misery. This was particularly the case in Cuba and Hispaniola.

The Indians in Yucatan, had a chief priest who had a general control over all matters relating to the priesthood. He nominated the priests to the villages, examined them in their sciences and ceremonies, provided them with books and sent them to attend in the service of the temples.

According to Landa “they taught the sons of other priests and the younger sons of the chiefs that were brought to them for this purpose when they were children, if it was observed that they were inclined towards this office. The sciences which they taught were the computations of the years, months, and days, the festivals and ceremonies, the administration of their sacraments, the days and times that were fatal, the manner of divinations and prophecies and coming events, the remedies for sickness and things concerning antiquities, and to read and write with their books, and characters with which they wrote and with figures which explained the writings.”

In Yucatan, as in Mexico, the calendar was carefully constructed. The year consisted of three hundred and sixty-five days and six hours. Landa observes that the months were of two kinds. One was lunar and was regulated by the movements of the moon. The other method of computation was formed by dividing the year into eighteen divisions or months, each consisting of twenty days and there were five days and six hours over. Of these six hours one day was made every four years. For these three hundred and sixty-six days they had twenty letters or characters by which they were named. (Relacion de las cosas de Yucatan, pp. 42; 202).

Las Casas observes in his ApologÉtica Historia, chapter cxxi, that “the year of the Mexican people consisted of three hundred and sixty-five days divided into eighteen months and five days. Each month was twenty days, and the week was thirteen days of which they had constituted a calendar, and for each day of the week, of the month and of the year they had its idol with its own name, and these names were of men, or of women which they held or had held as gods; and thus all the days were filled up with these idols and names and figures in the same manner as our breviaries and calendars have for each day its saint.”

The illustration of the calendar stone is from a photograph taken from the original stone in the city of Mexico. This great astronomical record was discovered in the year 1790, buried several feet below the surface, in the spot where stood the chief pyramid and temple of the Aztecs. It is made from a large mass of basalt, and the circular part has a circumference of more than thirty-eight feet. It is probably one of the earliest and one of the most elaborate of the sculptured works of the Toltecs. It will be observed that the points have a singular resemblance to those of the mariner’s compass. The head placed in the centre has been supposed to represent the Mexican god of the sun. It is possible that it may have been intended to represent Quetzalcoatl, the traditional teacher and originator of the Mexican knowledge of astronomy.

The fact of men wearing beards would be considered extraordinary by the American Indians. Landa states that “Cucul-can raised several temples, established regulations for the maintenance of good order, and then left Yucatan and proceeded towards Mexico.”

ApologÉtica Historia, chapter cxxiii.

With respect to the ancient Indian structures it is expedient to give a brief consideration to those that were raised at Copan and Quirigua. The earliest account of the sculptures existing at Copan was given by Palacio in 1576. In his Report to the King of Spain he mentions that within the ruins was a stone cross three palms high, and beyond it “There was a statue more than four yards high, sculptured like a bishop in his pontifical robes with his mitre well worked and with rings in his hands.”

After describing other large statues and the ruins overlooking the river, Palacio observes, “I enquired with all possible attention for any traditions from the ancient people as to what people lived here, and if anything was known of their ancestors, and whether there were any books concerning these antiquities ... They say that anciently there came there a great chief of the province of Yucatan who made these edifices, and after several years he went back to his country, and left them solitary and unpeopled.... It also appears that the style of the said edifices is like what was found in other places by the Spaniards who first discovered Yucatan and Tabasco, where figures of bishops were seen and armed men and crosses, and since such things have not been found in other regions it can be believed that those that made them were probably of one nation.” (Report of the Licentiate Dr. Don Diego Garcia de Palacio to the King of Spain, 1576.)

It is recorded by Juarros that in the year 1700, Fuentes, who wrote the Chronicles of Guatemala, stated with respect to Copan, that the figures, “both male and female were of very excellent sculpture, which then retained the colours they had been enamelled with; and what was not less remarkable, the whole of them were habited in the Castilian costume.” The same author relates that at “a short distance, there was a portal constructed of stone, on the columns of which were the figures of men likewise represented in Spanish habits, with hose, ruff round the neck, sword, cap, and short cloak”....

“All the circumstances,” observes Juarros, “lead to a belief that there must have been some intercourse between the inhabitants of the old and new world at very remote periods.”

The information given traditionally by the Indians living at Copan, is singularly in accordance with the traditions of the priests and caciques in Mexico and Yucatan with respect to the arrival of a stranger who commanded temples and pyramids to be built and then went away and never returned.

It is remarkable that, in the first interview between Montezuma and Cortes, a singular tradition was mentioned by that Emperor. Cortes in his second letter (Segunda carta-relacion) dated 30th October, 1520, relates that Montezuma spoke to him as follows:—“We know from our writings that we received from our ancestors, that I and all those who live in this land are not the natives of it. We are strangers and came into it from very distant regions. We also know that our nation was led here by a chief whose vassals all were. He afterwards went back to his native country. Afterwards he returned and found that those he had left had married the native women (mujeres naturales) and had many children, and had built villages where they lived, and when he wished them to proceed with him they did not want to go, or even receive him as their chief and therefore he went away.”

The author of the Popol Vuh, does not mention the tradition about Votan.

Las Casas in commenting upon the subject of the Cozumel cross, mentions that it was ten palms high. In the course of the extensive explorations carried out by M. DesirÉ Charnay, in 1880–82, a similar stone was discovered at TÉotihuacan. It is considered to be the emblem of Tlaloc, the god of rain.

Professor Rau in his memoir upon the Palenque tablet, states that it is his belief that the Maya language, or a kindred dialect, was spoken by the builders of Palenque.

With regard to this subject it has to be observed that when the Toltec tribes, or the tribe that built the temples, settled at Palenque they had possibly forgotten their own original language, which may have been a Pawnee or Dakota dialect.

It would naturally happen after their wives had been taken from among the aboriginal race, that the children would speak the dialects of their mothers. It has been mentioned by an early Spanish writer that the Aztecs, when they settled in Mexico, endeavoured to establish their own language, but without success.

Vol. iv., p. 333.

According to Gibbon, the Goths under the command of King Roderick, were defeated by the Saracens on the plains of Xeres in the neighbourhood of Cadiz, upon July 19–26, A.D. 711. This great battle decided the fate of Spain. It was supposed that Roderick was drowned in the river but it was not known with certainty what became of him as his body was never found.

Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, chap. li.

The subject of the flight of the bishops, was afterwards brought into notice by a report of the discovery of the island where they had settled. This fabulous report was believed, in the fifteenth century, to be true. An historian states that:—

“In this yeare also, 1447, it happened that there came a Portugal ship through the Streight of Gibraltar; and being taken with a great tempest, was forced to runne westward more than willingly the men would, and at last they fell vpon an island which had seuen cities, and the people spake the Portugall toong, and they demanded if the Moores did yet trouble Spaine, whence they had fled for the loss which they had received by the death of the King of Spain, Don Roderigo.

The boatswaine of the ship brought home a little of the sand, and sold it unto a goldsmith of Lisbon, out of the which he had a good quantitie of gold.

Don Pedro, understanding this, being then gouernor of the realme, caused all the things thus brought home, and made knowne, to be recorded in the house of Justice.”

The Discoveries of the World, by Antonio Galvano.

Antilia appears as a large island in the Atlantic in the rare maps of Andreas Bianco (1436) and Bartolomeo Pareto (1454). On Martin Behaim’s globe (1492) it is placed about eighteen hundred miles west of the Canaries. In the earliest maps published after the return of Columbus to Spain, Antilia is placed near the newly discovered islands of the West Indies.

The legend upon the accompanying map may be rendered as follows:—

“The island of Antilia was, at some period, discovered by the Lusitanians, but the exact time is not known. There have been found there in it families who speak Spanish as it was spoken in the days of Roderick, who was the last King of Spain in the time of the Goths, and they are supposed to have fled to this island from the face of the Barbarians who had then invaded Spain. They have here one Archbishop with six other Bishops, each of whom has his own proper city, hence it is called by many the island of the seven cities. The population are strict Christians and abound in all this world’s wealth.”

In the first voyage of Columbus the vessels left the Canaries on the 6th of September and arrived off Guanahani on the night of the 11th of October, having been thirty days at sea. They had traversed a distance, according to the Admiral’s journal, of 1,092 leagues or 3,276 miles. On the second voyage from the Canaries to Dominica they left on the 3rd of October and arrived on the 3rd of November. Upon the last voyage, Columbus left Ferro (one of the Canary islands) on the 26th of May and reached St. Lucia in the West Indies on the 15th of June. This was a quick passage and only occupied twenty days.

In the Vestal, a sailing frigate of 26 guns, we left the island of Gran Canaria in the year 1852, on the morning of the 27th of September, and passed between Antigua and Guadeloupe at noon on the 16th of October after a voyage of nineteen days, having sailed over a distance of 2,800 miles. During the whole of this time we were running before the wind with our studding sails set, steering West. A favourable N.E. wind prevails from Florida to Yucatan and the Mexican coast. With respect to Columbus’s first voyage it should be observed that his landfall at Guanahani was four or five days’ sail further west than the islands of Dominica and St. Lucia.