The Project Gutenberg eBook of A Book of American Explorers
Title: A Book of American Explorers
Author: Thomas Wentworth Higginson
Release date: January 9, 2018 [eBook #56346]
Language: English
Credits: Produced by Richard Hulse and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
produced from images generously made available by The
Internet Archive)
A BOOK OF
AMERICAN EXPLORERS
Transcriber’s Notes
The cover image was provided by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.
Punctuation has been standardized.
Most abbreviations have been expanded in tool-tips for screen-readers and may be seen by hovering the mouse over the abbreviation.
This book has drop-caps at the start of each chapter. These drop-caps may adversely affect the pronunciation of the word with screen-readers.
This book was written in a period when many words had not become standardized in their spelling. Words may have multiple spelling variations or inconsistent hyphenation in the text. These have been left unchanged unless indicated with a Transcriber’s Note.
Index references have not been checked for accuracy.
Footnotes are identified in the text with a superscript number and have been accumulated in a table at the end of the text.
Transcriber’s Notes are used when making corrections to the text or to provide additional information for the modern reader. These notes have been accumulated in a table at the end of the book and are identified in the text by a dotted underline and may be seen in a tool-tip by hovering the mouse over the underline.
Rand, Avery, and Company,
117 Franklin Street,
Boston.
PREFACE.
IT has always seemed to me that the narratives of the early discoverers and explorers of the American coast were as interesting as “Robinson Crusoe,” and were, indeed, very much like it. This has led me to make a series of extracts from these narratives, selecting what appeared to me the most interesting parts, and altering only the spelling. The grammar is not always correct; but it would be impossible to alter that without changing the style of writing too much: so it has not been changed at all. Wherever it has seemed necessary, I have put a word of my own in brackets [thus]; but all else is the very language of the old writers, or their translators. Whenever any thing has been omitted, great or small, the place is marked by dots.… Some of the hardest words have been explained by footnotes.
One great thing which I have wished my readers to learn is the charm of an original narrative. We should all rather hear a shipwreck described by a sailor who was on board the ship than to read the best account of it afterwards prepared by the most skilful writer. What I most desire is, that those who have here acquired a taste for these old stories should turn to the books from which the extracts are taken, and follow up the study for themselves. Then they can go with renewed interest to the pages of Bancroft and Parkman, or at least to my own “Young Folks’ History,” for the thread on which these quaint narratives may be strung.
The explorers of various nations are represented in this book. There are Northmen, Italians, Englishmen, Frenchmen, Spaniards, and Dutchmen. Where the original narrative was in some foreign language, that translation has been chosen which gives most of the spirit of the original; and Mr. Cabot’s versions of the Norse legends were especially selected for this reason. It seemed proper to begin the book with these; and it is brought down to the time when the Virginia and Massachusetts colonies, with that of the New Netherlands, were fairly planted on the American shore.
Possibly, at some future time, I may recommence with the Massachusetts colonies, and tell their story, down to the Revolution; either in a book of extracts, like this, or in my own words.
T. W. H.
Newport, R.I., March 1, 1877.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
| I. | The Legends of the Northmen (985–1008) | |
| 1. | How the Northmen discovered North America | |
| 2. | The Voyage of Leif the Lucky | |
| 3. | Leif finds Vines, and goes back to Greenland | |
| 4. | Thorvald, Leif’s Brother, goes to Vinland | |
| 5. | Karlsefni’s Adventures | |
| II. | Columbus and his Companions (1492–1503) | |
| 1. | The First Letter from Columbus | |
| 2. | The Second Voyage of Columbus | |
| 3. | Columbus reaches the Mainland | |
| 4. | Columbus at the Mouth of the Orinoco | |
| 5. | Columbus thinks himself near the Earthly Paradise | |
| 6. | Daring Deed of Diego Mendez | |
| 7. | How Diego Mendez got Food for Columbus | |
| 8. | How Diego Mendez saved Columbus | |
| 9. | Appeal of Columbus in his Old Age | |
| III. | Cabot and Verrazzano (1497–1524) | |
| 1. | First News of John and Sebastian Cabot | |
| 2. | Sebastian Cabot’s Voyage | |
| 3. | Verrazzano’s Letter to the King | |
| IV. | The Strange Voyage of Cabeza de Vaca (1528–1533) | |
| 1. | The Strange Voyage | |
| 2. | Cabeza de Vaca saved by Indians | |
| 3. | Cabeza de Vaca’s Captivity | |
| 4. | The Indians of the Gulf of Mexico | |
| 5. | Cabeza de Vaca’s Escape | |
| V. | The French in Canada (1534–1536) | |
| 1. | Cartier’s Visit to Bay of Chaleur | |
| 2. | Cartier sets up a Cross | |
| 3. | Cartier ascends the St. Lawrence | |
| 4. | How the Indians tried to frighten Cartier | |
| 5. | How Cartier reached Hochelaga, now Montreal | |
| 6. | The Festivities at Hochelaga | |
| VI. | Adventures of De Soto (1538–1542) | |
| 1. | How De Soto set sail | |
| 2. | De Soto attacks the Indians, and finds a Fellow Countryman | |
| 3. | The Story of John Ortiz | |
| 4. | De Soto discovers the Mississippi | |
| 5. | De Soto’s Vain Attempts to reach the Sea | |
| 6. | Death and Burial of De Soto | |
| VII. | The French in Florida (1562–1565) | |
| 1. | Jean Ribaut in Florida | |
| 2. | Alone in the New World | |
| 3. | Laudonnière’s Search for the Colonists | |
| 4. | Capture of Fort Caroline by the Spaniards | |
| VIII. | Sir Humphrey Gilbert (1583) | |
| IX. | The Lost Colonies of Virginia (1584–1590) | |
| 1. | The First Voyage to Virginia | |
| 2. | Visit to an Indian Princess | |
| 3. | Adventures of the First Virginia Colony | |
| 4. | The Second English Colony in Virginia | |
| 5. | Search for the Lost Colony | |
| X. | Unsuccessful New England Settlements (1602–1607) | |
| 1. | Gosnold’s Fort at Cuttyhunk | |
| 2. | Captain Waymouth explores the Penobscot | |
| 3. | The Popham Colony on the Kennebec | |
| 4. | Captain Gilbert’s Adventure with Indians | |
| XI. | Captain John Smith (1606–1631) | |
| 1. | The Virginia Colony | |
| 2. | The Colonists | |
| 3. | Captain Smith’s Capture by Indians | |
| 4. | Captain Smith and Pocahontas | |
| 5. | King Powhatan | |
| 6. | A Virginia Princess | |
| 7. | An Indian Dance in Virginia | |
| 8. | Indian Children | |
| 9. | “The Planter’s Pleasure and Profit” | |
| 10. | The Glories of Fishing | |
| 11. | Visit of Pocahontas to London | |
| 12. | First Buildings of the Virginia Colonists | |
| 13. | Captain Smith’s Recollections | |
| XII. | Champlain on the War-Path (1609) | |
| XIII. | Henry Hudson and the New Netherlands (1609–1626) | |
| 1. | Discovery of the Hudson River | |
| 2. | Indian Traditions of Hudson’s Arrival | |
| 3. | Hudson’s Last Voyage, and how he was set adrift in the Ice | |
| 4. | Dutch Settlement of the New Netherlands | |
| XIV. | The Pilgrims at Plymouth (1620–1621) | |
| 1. | Sailing of the Pilgrims | |
| 2. | Miles Standish at Cape Cod | |
| 3. | The First Encounter | |
| 4. | The Landing on Plymouth Rock | |
| 5. | Plymouth Village founded | |
| 6. | “Welcome, Englishmen!” | |
| XV. | The Massachusetts Bay Colony (1629–1631) | |
| 1. | Voyage of the Massachusetts Colonists | |
| 2. | The Puritans in Salem Harbor | |
| 3. | The Four Elements in New England | |
| 4. | A Sea-Adventure of the Puritans | |
| 5. | Governor Winthrop’s Night out of Doors | |
| 6. | The Privations of the Puritans | |
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
| 1. | Columbus at the Mouth of the Orinoco |
| 2. | A Norse Ship |
| 3. | Esquimau Boat |
| 4. | Dutch Man-of-War |
| 5. | Reception of Columbus by Ferdinand and Isabella |
| 6. | Fleet of Columbus |
| 7. | Ship of the Fifteenth Century |
| 8. | Portrait of Verrazzano |
| 9. | Verrazzano in Newport Harbor |
| 10. | Indians making Canoes |
| 11. | Cabeza de Vaca building the Boat |
| 12. | Portrait of Jacques Cartier |
| 13. | Cartier raising a Cross on the St. Charles River |
| 14. | Indians trying to frighten Cartier |
| 15. | Portrait of De Soto |
| 16. | Landing of De Soto |
| 17. | Burial of De Soto |
| 18. | Indians in Canoe |
| 19. | Ribaut’s Pillar decorated by Indians |
| 20. | Fort Caroline |
| 21. | Portrait of Menendez |
| 22. | Indian Village in Virginia |
| 23. | Baptism of First Child in Virginia |
| 24. | The Explorers looking at the Tree |
| 25. | Palisaded Town |
| 26. | Gosnold’s Fort |
| 27. | Captain Weymouth sailing up the Penobscot |
| 28. | Portrait of James I. |
| 29. | Old Print of Smith’s Capture |
| 30. | Facsimile Illustration of Pocahontas saving the Life of Smith |
| 31. | Indian Dance |
| 32. | Cod-Fishing |
| 33. | Portrait of Pocahontas |
| 34. | Portrait of Champlain |
| 35. | Champlain on the War-Path |
| 36. | Hudson in the Highlands |
| 37. | Indians on Board “The Half-Moon” |
| 38. | Settlement on the Hudson River |
| 39. | Delph’s Haven |
| 40. | “The Mayflower” in Provincetown |
| 41. | Portrait of Governor Winslow |
| 42. | Sword of Standish |
| 43. | Sunday on Clark’s Island |
| 44. | Landing of Mary Chilton |
| 45. | Meeting of Captain Standish and Massasoit |
| 46. | Governor Carver’s Chair |
| 47. | Portrait of Francis Higginson |
| 48. | Governor Endicott |
| 49. | First Church in Salem |
| 50. | Old Planter’s House at Salem |
| 51. | Portrait of Governor Winthrop |
| 52. | Famine among the Pilgrims |