CHAPTER I.
ANCIENT AMERICA.

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• The American aborigines 1
• Question as to their origin 2, 3
• Antiquity of man in America 4
• Shell-mounds, or middens 4, 5
• The Glacial Period 6, 7
• Discoveries in the Trenton gravel 8
• Discoveries in Ohio, Indiana, and Minnesota 9
• Mr. Cresson's discovery at Claymont, Delaware 10
• The Calaveras skull 11
• Pleistocene men and mammals 12, 13
• Elevation and subsidence 13, 14
• Waves of migration 15
• The Cave men of Europe in the Glacial Period 16
• The Eskimos are probably a remnant of the Cave men 17-19
• There was probably no connection or intercourse by water between ancient America and the Old World 20
• There is one great American red race 21
• Different senses in which the word "race" is used 21-23
• No necessary connection between differences in culture and differences in race 23
• Mr. Lewis Morgan's classification of grades of culture 24-32
• Distinction between Savagery and Barbarism 25
• Origin of pottery 25
• Lower, middle, and upper status of savagery 26
• Lower status of barbarism; it ended differently in the two hemispheres; in ancient America there was no pastoral stage of development 27
• Importance of Indian corn 28
• Tillage with irrigation 29
• Use of adobe-brick and stone in building 29
• Middle status of barbarism 29, 30
• Stone and copper tools 30
• Working of metals; smelting of iron 30
• Upper status of barbarism 31
• The alphabet and the beginnings of civilization 32
• So-called "civilizations" of Mexico and Peru 33, 34
• Loose use of the words "savagery" and "civilization" 35
• Value and importance of the term "barbarism" 35, 36
• The status of barbarism is most completely exemplified in ancient America 36, 37
• Survival of bygone epochs of culture; work of the Bureau of Ethnology 37, 38
• Tribal society and multiplicity of languages in aboriginal America 38, 39
• Tribes in the upper status of savagery; Athabaskans, Apaches, Shoshones, etc. 39
• Tribes in the lower status of barbarism; the Dakota group or family 40
• The Minnitarees and Mandans 41
• The Pawnee and Arickaree group 42
• The Maskoki group 42
• The Algonquin group 43
• The Huron-Iroquois group 44
• The Five Nations 45-47
• Distinction between horticulture and field agriculture 48
• Perpetual intertribal warfare, with torture and cannibalism 49-51
• Myths and folk-lore 51
• Ancient law 52, 53
• The patriarchal family not primitive 53
• "Mother-right" 54
• Primitive marriage 55
• The system of reckoning kinship through females only 56
• Original reason for the system 57
• The primeval human horde 58, 59
• Earliest family-group; the clan 60
• "Exogamy" 60
• Phratry and tribe 61
• Effect of pastoral life upon property and upon the family 61-63
• The exogamous clan in ancient America 64
• Intimate connection of aboriginal architecture with social life 65
• The long houses of the Iroquois 66, 67
• Summary divorce 68
• Hospitality 68
• Structure of the clan 69, 70
• Origin and structure of the phratry 70, 71
• Structure of the tribe 72
• Cross-relationships between clans and tribes; the Iroquois Confederacy 72-74
• Structure of the confederacy 75, 76
• The "Long House" 76
• Symmetrical development of institutions in ancient America 77, 78
• Circular houses of the Mandans 79-81
• The Indians of the pueblos, in the middle status of barbarism 82, 83
• Horticulture with irrigation, and architecture with adobe 83, 84
• Possible origin of adobe architecture 84, 85
• Mr. Cushing's sojourn at ZuÑi 86
• Typical structure of the pueblo 86-88
• Pueblo society 89
• Wonderful ancient pueblos in the Chaco valley 90-92
• The Moqui pueblos 93
• The cliff-dwellings 93
• Pueblo of ZuÑi 93, 94
• Pueblo of Tlascala 94-96
• The ancient city of Mexico was a great composite pueblo 97
• The Spanish discoverers could not be expected to understand the state of society which they found there 97, 98
• Contrast between feudalism and gentilism 98
• Change from gentile society to political society in Greece and Rome 99, 100
• First suspicions as to the erroneousness of the Spanish accounts 101
• Detection and explanation of the errors, by Lewis Morgan 102
• Adolf Bandelier's researches 103
• The Aztec Confederacy 104, 105
• Aztec clans 106
• Clan officers 107
• Rights and duties of the clan 108
• Aztec phratries 108
• The tlatocan, or tribal council 109
• The cihuacoatl, or "snake-woman" 110
• The tlacatecuhtli, or "chief-of-men" 111
• Evolution of kingship in Greece and Rome 112
• MediÆval kingship 113
• Montezuma was a "priest-commander" 114
• Mode of succession to the office 114, 115
• Manner of collecting tribute 116
• Mexican roads 117
• Aztec and Iroquois confederacies contrasted 118
• Aztec priesthood; human sacrifices 119, 120
• Aztec slaves 121, 122
• The Aztec family 122, 123
• Aztec property 124
• Mr. Morgan's rules of criticism 125
• He sometimes disregarded his own rules 126
• Amusing illustrations from his remarks on "Montezuma's Dinner" 126-128
• The reaction against uncritical and exaggerated statements was often carried too far by Mr. Morgan 128, 129
• Great importance of the middle period of barbarism 130
• The Mexicans compared with the Mayas 131-133
• Maya hieroglyphic writing 132
• Ruined cities of Central America 134-138
• They are probably not older than the twelfth century 136
• Recent discovery of the Chronicle of Chicxulub 138
• Maya culture very closely related to Mexican 139
• The "Mound-Builders" 140-146
• The notion that they were like the Aztecs 142
• Or, perhaps, like the ZuÑis 143
• These notions are not well sustained 144
• The mounds were probably built by different peoples in the lower status of barbarism, by Cherokees, Shawnees, and other tribes 144, 145
• It is not likely that there was a "race of Mound Builders" 146
• Society in America at the time of the Discovery had reached stages similar to stages reached by eastern Mediterranean peoples fifty or sixty centuries earlier 146, 147

CHAPTER II.
PRE-COLUMBIAN VOYAGES.

• Stories of voyages to America before Columbus; the Chinese 148
• The Irish. 149
• Blowing and drifting; Cousin, of Dieppe 150
• These stories are of small value 150
• But the case of the Northmen is quite different 151
• The Viking exodus from Norway 151, 152
• Founding of a colony in Iceland, A. D. 874 153
• Icelandic literature 154
• Discovery of Greenland, A. D. 876 155, 156
• Eric the Red, and his colony in Greenland, A. D. 986 157-161
• Voyage of Bjarni Herjulfsson 162
• Conversion of the Northmen to Christianity 163
• Leif Ericsson's voyage, A. D. 1000; Helluland and Markland 164
• Leif's winter in Vinland 165, 166
• Voyages of Thorvald and Thorstein 167
• Thorfinn Karlsefni, and his unsuccessful attempt to found a colony in Vinland, A. D. 1007-10 167-169
• Freydis, and her evil deeds in Vinland, 1011-12 170, 171
• Voyage into Baffin's Bay, 1135 172
• Description of a Viking ship discovered at Sandefiord, in Norway 173-175
• To what extent the climate of Greenland may have changed within the last thousand years 176, 177
• With the Northmen once in Greenland, the discovery of the American continent was inevitable 178
• Ear-marks of truth in the Icelandic narratives 179, 180
• Northern limit of the vine 181
• Length of the winter day 182
• Indian corn 182, 183
• Winter weather in Vinland 184
• Vinland was probably situated somewhere between Cape Breton and Point Judith 185
• Further ear-marks of truth; savages and barbarians of the lower status were unknown to mediÆval Europeans 185, 186
• The natives of Vinland as described in the Icelandic narratives 187-193
• Meaning of the epithet "SkrÆlings" 188, 189
• Personal appearance of the SkrÆlings 189
• The SkrÆlings of Vinland were Indians,—very likely Algonquins 190
• The "balista" or "demon's head" 191, 192
• The story of the "uniped" 193
• Character of the Icelandic records; misleading associations with the word "saga" 194
• The comparison between Leif Ericsson and Agamemnon, made by a committee of the Massachusetts Historical Society, was peculiarly unfortunate and inappropriate 194, 197
• The story of the Trojan War, in the shape in which we find it in Greek poetry, is pure folk-lore 195
• The Saga of Eric the Red is not folk-lore 196
• Mythical and historical sagas 197
• The western or Hauks-bÓk version of Eric the Red's Saga 198
• The northern or Flateyar-bÓk version 199
• Presumption against sources not contemporary 200
• Hauk Erlendsson and his manuscripts 201
• The story is not likely to have been preserved to Hauk's time by oral tradition only 202
• Allusions to Vinland in other Icelandic documents 202-207
• Eyrbyggja Saga 203
• The abbot Nikulas, etc. 204
• Ari FrÓdhi and his works 204
• His significant allusion to Vinland 205
• Other references 206
• Differences between Hauks-bÓk and Flateyar-bÓk versions 207
• Adam of Bremen 208
• Importance of his testimony 209
• His misconception of the situation of Vinland 210
• Summary of the argument 211-213
• Absurd speculations of zealous antiquarians 213-215
• The Dighton inscription was made by Algonquins, and has nothing to do with the Northmen 213, 214
• Governor Arnold's stone windmill 215
• There is no reason for supposing that the Northmen founded a colony in Vinland 216
• No archÆological remains of them have been found south of Davis strait 217
• If the Northmen had founded a successful colony, they would have introduced domestic cattle into the North American fauna 218
• And such animals could not have vanished and left no trace of their existence 219, 220
• Further fortunes of the Greenland colony 221
• Bishop Eric's voyage in search of Vinland, 1121 222
• The ship from Markland, 1347 223
• The Greenland colony attacked by Eskimos, 1349 224
• Queen Margaret's monopoly, and its baneful effects 225
• Story of the Venetian brothers, NicolÒ and Antonio Zeno 226
• NicolÒ Zeno wrecked upon one of the FÆroe islands 227
• He enters the service of Henry Sinclair, Earl of the Orkneys and Caithness 228
• NicolÒ's voyage to Greenland, cir. 1394 229
• Voyage of Earl Sinclair and Antonio Zeno 229, 230
• Publication of the remains of the documents by the younger NicolÒ Zeno, 1558 231
• The Zeno map 232, 233
• Queer transformations of names 234-236
• The name FÆroislander became Frislanda 236
• The narrative nowhere makes a claim to the "discovery of America" 237
• The "Zichmni" of the narrative means Henry Sinclair 238
• Bardsen's "Description of Greenland" 239
• The monastery of St. Olaus and its hot spring 240
• Volcanoes of the north Atlantic ridge 241
• Fate of GunnbjÖrn's Skerries, 1456 242
• Volcanic phenomena in Greenland 242, 243
• Estotiland 244
• Drogio 245
• Inhabitants of Drogio and the countries beyond 246
• The Fisherman's return to Frislanda 247
• Was the account of Drogio woven into the narrative by the younger NicolÒ? 248
• Or does it represent actual experiences in North America? 249
• The case of David Ingram, 1568 250
• The case of Cabeza de Vaca, 1528-36 251
• There may have been unrecorded instances of visits to North America 252
• The pre-Columbian voyages made no real contributions to geographical knowledge 253
• And were in no true sense a discovery of America 254
• Real contact between the eastern and western hemisphere was first established by Columbus 255

CHAPTER III.
EUROPE AND CATHAY.

• Why the voyages of the Northmen were not followed up 256
• Ignorance of their geographical significance 257
• Lack of instruments for ocean navigation 257
• Condition of Europe in the year 1000 258, 259
• It was not such as to favour colonial enterprise 260
• The outlook of Europe was toward Asia 261
• Routes of trade between Europe and Asia 262
• Claudius Ptolemy and his knowledge of the earth 263
• Early mention of China 264
• The monk Cosmas Indicopleustes 265
• Shape of the earth, according to Cosmas 266, 267
• His knowledge of Asia 268
• The Nestorians 268
• Effects of the Saracen conquests 269
• Constantinople in the twelfth century 270
• The Crusades 270-274
• Barbarizing character of Turkish conquest 271
• General effects of the Crusades 272
• The Fourth Crusade 273
• Rivalry between Venice and Genoa 274
• Centres and routes of mediÆval trade 275, 276
• Effects of the Mongol conquests 277
• Cathay, origin of the name 277
• Carpini and Rubruquis 278
• First knowledge of an eastern ocean beyond Cathay 278
• The data were thus prepared for Columbus; but as yet nobody reasoned from these data to a practical conclusion 279
• The Polo brothers 280
• Kublai Khan's message to the Pope 281
• Marco Polo and his travels in Asia 281, 282
• First recorded voyage of Europeans around the Indo-Chinese peninsula 282
• Return of the Polos to Venice 283
• Marco Polo's book, written in prison at Genoa, 1299; its great contributions to geographical knowledge 284, 285
• Prester John 285
• Griffins and Arimaspians 286
• The Catalan map, 1375 288, 289
• Other visits to China 287-291
• Overthrow of the Mongol dynasty, and shutting up of China 291
• First rumours of the Molucca islands and Japan 292
• The accustomed routes of Oriental trade were cut off in the fifteenth century by the Ottoman Turks 293
• Necessity for finding an "outside route to the Indies" 294

(p. xxviii) CHAPTER IV.
THE SEARCH FOR THE INDIES.
EASTWARD OR PORTUGUESE ROUTE.

• Question as to whether Asia could be reached by sailing around Africa 295
• Views of Eratosthenes 296
• Opposing theory of Ptolemy 297
• Story of the Phoenician voyage in the time of Necho 298-300
• Voyage of Hanno 300, 301
• Voyages of Sataspes and Eudoxus 302
• Wild exaggerations 303
• Views of Pomponius Mela 304, 305
• Ancient theory of the five zones 306, 307
• The Inhabited World, or Œcumene, and the Antipodes 308
• Curious notions about Taprobane (Ceylon) 309
• Question as to the possibility of crossing the torrid zone 309
• Notions about sailing "up and down hill" 310, 311
• Superstitious fancies 311, 312
• Clumsiness of ships in the fifteenth century 312
• Dangers from famine and scurvy 313
• The mariner's compass; an interesting letter from Brunetto Latini to Guido Cavalcanti 313-315
• Calculating latitudes and longitudes 315
• Prince Henry the Navigator 316-326
• His idea of an ocean route to the Indies, and what it might bring 318
• The Sacred Promontory 319
• The Madeira and Canary islands 320-322
• Gil Eannes passes Cape Bojador 323
• Beginning of the modern slave-trade, 1442 323
• Papal grant of heathen countries to the Portuguese crown 324, 325
• Advance to Sierra Leone 326
• Advance to the Hottentot coast 326, 327
• Note upon the extent of European acquaintance with savagery and the lower forms of barbarism previous to the fifteenth century 327-329
• Effect of the Portuguese discoveries upon the theories of Ptolemy and Mela 329, 330
• News of Prester John; Covilham's journey 331
• Bartholomew Dias passes the Cape of Good Hope and enters the Indian ocean 332
• Some effects of this discovery 333
• Bartholomew Columbus took part in it 333
• Connection between these voyages and the work of Christopher Columbus 334

CHAPTER V.
THE SEARCH FOR THE INDIES.
WESTWARD OR SPANISH ROUTE.

• Sources of information concerning the life of Columbus; Las Casas and Ferdinand Columbus 335
• The Biblioteca Colombina at Seville 336, 337
• Bernaldez and Peter Martyr 338
• Letters of Columbus 338
• Defects in Ferdinand's information 339, 340
• Researches of Henry Harrisse 341
• Date of the birth of Columbus; archives of Savona 342
• Statement of Bernaldez 343
• Columbus's letter of September, 1501 344
• The balance of probability is in favour of 1436 345
• The family of Domenico Colombo, and its changes of residence 346, 347
• Columbus tells us that he was born in the city of Genoa 348
• His early years 349-351
• Christopher and his brother Bartholomew at Lisbon 351, 352
• Philippa MoÑiz de Perestrelo 352
• Personal appearance of Columbus 353
• His marriage, and life upon the island of Porto Santo 353, 354
• The king of Portugal asks advice of the great astronomer Toscanelli 355
• Toscanelli's first letter to Columbus 356-361
• His second letter to Columbus 361, 362
• Who first suggested the feasibleness of a westward route to the Indies? Was it Columbus? 363
• Perhaps it was Toscanelli 363, 364
• Note on the date of Toscanelli's first letter to Columbus 365-367
• The idea, being naturally suggested by the globular form of the earth, was as old as Aristotle 368, 369
• Opinions of ancient writers 370
• Opinions of Christian writers 371
• The "Imago Mundi" of Petrus Alliacus 372, 373
• Ancient estimates of the size of the globe and the length of the Œcumene 374
• Toscanelli's calculation of the size of the earth, and of the position of Japan (Cipango) 375, 376
• Columbus's opinions of the size of the globe, the length of the Œcumene, and the width of the Atlantic ocean from Portugal to Japan 377-380
• There was a fortunate mixture of truth and error in these opinions of Columbus 381
• The whole point and purport of Columbus's scheme lay in its promise of a route to the Indies shorter than that which the Portuguese were seeking by way of Guinea 381
• Columbus's speculations on climate; his voyages to Guinea and into the Arctic ocean 382
• He may have reached Jan Mayen island, and stopped at Iceland 383, 384
• The Scandinavian hypothesis that Columbus "must have" heard and understood the story of the Vinland voyages 384, 385
• It has not a particle of evidence in its favour 385
• It is not probable that Columbus knew of Adam of Bremen's allusion to Vinland, or that he would have understood it if he had read it 386
• It is doubtful if he would have stumbled upon the story in Iceland 387
• If he had heard it, he would probably have classed it with such tales as that of St. Brandan's isle 388
• He could not possibly have obtained from such a source his opinion of the width of the ocean 388, 389
• If he had known and understood the Vinland story, he had the strongest motives for proclaiming it and no motive whatever for concealing it 390-392
• No trace of a thought of Vinland appears in any of his voyages 393
• Why did not Norway or Iceland utter a protest in 1493? 393
• The idea of Vinland was not associated with the idea of America until the seventeenth century 394
• Recapitulation of the genesis of Columbus's scheme 395
• Martin Behaim's improved astrolabe 395, 396
• Negotiations of Columbus with John II. of Portugal 396, 397
• The king is persuaded into a shabby trick 398
• Columbus leaves Portugal and enters into the service of Ferdinand and Isabella, 1486 398-400
• The junto at Salamanca, 1486 401
• Birth of Ferdinand Columbus, August 15, 1488 401
• Bartholomew Columbus returns from the Cape of Good Hope, December, 1487 402, 403
• Christopher visits Bartholomew at Lisbon, cir. September, 1488, and sends him to England 404
• Bartholomew, after mishaps, reaches England cir. February, 1490, and goes thence to France before 1492 405-407
• The duke of Medina-Celi proposes to furnish the ships for Columbus, but the queen withholds her consent 408, 409
• Columbus makes up his mind to get his family together and go to France, October, 1491 409, 410
• A change of fortune; he stops at La RÁbida, and meets the prior Juan Perez, who writes to the queen 411
• Columbus is summoned back to court 411
• The junto before Granada, December, 1491 412, 413
• Surrender of Granada, January 2, 1492 414
• Columbus negotiates with the queen, who considers his terms exorbitant 414-416
• Interposition of Luis de Santangel 416
• Agreement between Columbus and the sovereigns 417
• Cost of the voyage 418
• Dismay at Palos 419
• The three famous caravels 420
• Delay at the Canary islands 421
• Martin Behaim and his globe 422, 423
• Columbus starts for Japan, September 6, 1492 424
• Terrors of the voyage:—1. Deflection of the needle 425
• 2. The Sargasso sea 426, 427
• 3. The trade wind 428
• Impatience of the crews 428
• Change of course from W. to W. S. W 429, 430
• Discovery of land, October 12, 1492 431
• Guanahani: which of the Bahama islands was it? 432
• Groping for Cipango and the route to Quinsay 433, 434
• Columbus reaches Cuba, and sends envoys to find a certain Asiatic prince 434, 435
• He turns eastward and Pinzon deserts him 435
• Columbus arrives at Hayti and thinks it must be Japan 436
• His flag-ship is wrecked, and he decides to go back to Spain 437
• Building of the blockhouse, La Navidad 438
• Terrible storm in mid-ocean on the return voyage 439
• Cold reception at the Azores 440
• Columbus is driven ashore in Portugal, where the king is advised to have him assassinated 440
• But to offend Spain so grossly would be imprudent 441
• Arrival of Columbus and Pinzon at Palos; death of Pinzon 442
• Columbus is received by the sovereigns at Barcelona 443, 444
• General excitement at the news that a way to the Indies had been found 445
• This voyage was an event without any parallel in history 446

(p. xxxiii) CHAPTER VI.
THE FINDING OF STRANGE COASTS.

• The Discovery of America was a gradual process 447, 448
• The letters of Columbus to Santangel and to Sanchez 449
• Versification of the story by Giuliano Dati 450
• Earliest references to the discovery 451
• The earliest reference in English 452
• The Portuguese claim to the Indies 453
• Bulls of Pope Alexander VI. 454-458
• The treaty of Tordesillas 459
• Juan Rodriguez Fonseca, and his relations with Columbus 460-462
• Friar Boyle 462
• Notable persons who embarked on the second voyage 463
• Departure from Cadiz 464
• Cruise among the Cannibal (Caribbee) islands 465
• Fate of the colony at La Navidad 466
• Building the town of Isabella 467
• Exploration of Cibao 467, 468
• Westward cruise; Cape Alpha and Omega 468-470
• Discovery of Jamaica 471
• Coasting the south side of Cuba 472
• The "people of Mangon" 473
• Speculations concerning the Golden Chersonese 474-476
• A solemn expression of opinion 477
• Vicissitudes of theory 477, 478
• Arrival of Bartholomew Columbus in Hispaniola 478, 479
• Mutiny in Hispaniola; desertion of Boyle and Margarite 479, 480
• The government of Columbus was not tyrannical 481
• Troubles with the Indians 481, 482
• Mission of Juan Aguado 482
• Discovery of gold mines, and speculations about Ophir 483
• Founding of San Domingo, 1496 484
• The return voyage to Spain 485
• Edicts of 1495 and 1497 486, 487
• Vexatious conduct of Fonseca; Columbus loses his temper 487
• Departure from San Lucar on the third voyage 488
• The belt of calms 489-491
• Trinidad and the Orinoco 491, 492
• Speculations as to the earth's shape; the mountain of Paradise 494
• Relation of the "Eden continent" to "Cochin China" 495
• Discovery of the Pearl Coast 495
• Columbus arrives at San Domingo 496
• Roldan's rebellion and Fonseca's machinations 496, 497
• Gama's voyage to Hindustan, 1497 498
• Fonseca's creature, Bobadilla, sent to investigate the troubles in Hispaniola 499
• He imprisons Columbus 500
• And sends him in chains to Spain 501
• Release of Columbus; his interview with the sovereigns 502
• How far were the sovereigns responsible for Bobadilla? 503
• Ovando, another creature of Fonseca, appointed governor of Hispaniola 503, 504
• Purpose of Columbus's fourth voyage, to find a passage from the Caribbee waters into the Indian ocean 504, 506
• The voyage across the Atlantic 506
• Columbus not allowed to stop at San Domingo 507
• His arrival at Cape Honduras 508
• Cape Gracias a Dios, and the coast of Veragua 509
• Fruitless search for the strait of Malacca 510
• Futile attempt to make a settlement in Veragua 511
• Columbus is shipwrecked on the coast of Jamaica; shameful conduct of Ovando 512
• Columbus's last return to Spain 513
• His death at Valladolid, May 20, 1506 513
• "Nuevo Mundo;" arms of Ferdinand Columbus 514, 515
• When Columbus died, the fact that a New World had been discovered by him had not yet begun to dawn upon his mind, or upon the mind of any voyager or any writer 515, 516