The name, says M. Malte-Brun, appears to be Scandinavian; "for Est-outland in English would signify land stretching farthest out to the east, which agrees with the situation of Newfoundland with regard to the continent of America.”* The same author observes, that the inhabitants of Estotiland appear to be the descendants of the Scandinavian colonists of Vinland, whose language, in the course of three ages, might have been sufficiently altered to be unintelligible to the fishermen of Feroe. The Latin books (of which Zeno speaks) had doubtless, he thinks, been carried thither by that Greenland bishop, who, in 1121, betook himself to Vinland to preach the Christian religion in that country; that Drogio, on this hypothesis, would be Nova Scotia and New England; and he concludes, that by bringing together under one point of view the discoveries of the Scandinavians in the tenth and eleventh centuries, and the voyages of the two Venetians in the fourteenth, we must be persuaded that the New World has been visited by the nations of the north as far back as the year 1000; and that it may perhaps be thought that this first discovery, historically proved, after having been confirmed anew in 1390 by Zeno, may have been known to Columbus in 1477, (1467) when he made a voyage

* Précis de la Géog. Universelle, tom. i. p. 405.

into the northern seas. At any rate, that the most prejudiced, on casting a glance on the map, must be convinced that nature herself had designed Newfoundland to be the first for receiving the visits of Europeans.*

With regard to Columbus, too little remains on record, concerning his voyage to the north, even for hazarding any conjecture to what part, (beyond Iceland,) or for what purpose, it was undertaken. The discovery, however, which has just been made on Newfoundland would seem to corroborate the conjecture, that this island is the Estotiland of Zeno. A party of English settlers, in proceeding up the river which falls into Conception Bay, a little to the northward of St. John's, observed, at the distance of about six or seven miles above the

bay, the appearance of stone walls, rising just above the surface. On removing the sand and alluvial earth, they discovered the remains of ancient buildings, oak-beams, and mill stones sunk in oaken beds. Enclosures resembling gardens were traced out, and plants of various kinds growing about the place not indigenous to the island. But the most decisive proof of these ruins being the remains of an ancient European colony was in the different kinds of coins that were found, some of ductile gold, which the inhabitants con

* Précis de la Géog. Univer. tom. i.

sidered to be old Flemish coins, and others of copper without inscriptions.*

The coins, which are said to be in the hands of many of the inhabitants of St. John's, will probably decide the question, whether these newly discovered remains of a former colony be that founded by Zichmni, in the latter part of the fourteenth century, or some attempt at the establishment of a colony by the descendants of Eric and Biorn from Iceland in the eleventh century. The Scandinavians were in the practice of coining money before the tenth century, stamped with the impression of a sun, a star, or simply a cross, but without any inscription; and they also trafficked even before that period with foreign money, which they received principally from the Flemings.† One circumstance would seem rather to militate against the supposition of the recently discovered ruins being the remains of a Scandinavian colony. These northern settlers on Iceland and Greenland build chiefly with wood in countries where no wood grows. The ruins in question are of stone, and on a spot where timber grows abundantly. The probability, therefore, is in favour of their -being the remains of the fort which Zichmni built on the banks of a fair river, if they may not be

*

This information is received in a letter from Captain Buchan, written at the moment of his sailing on the Northern Expedition.

+ Mallet's Northern Antiquities.

referred to a later date than either; for some of the old inhabitants, it seems, are impressed with the idea that Lord Baltimore had once intended to erect saw-mills in the neighbourhood of Port de Grasse, vestiges of which are said still to remain. It is an interesting subject, of which some more certain information it is to be hoped will speedily be procured.

The extraordinary discoveries of the Portugueze, but that of all others which opened them a route to India round the Cape of Good Hope, aroused the cupidity of some of, and the curiosity of all, the nations of Europe, and excited that spirit of enterprize in England, which, though it might sometimes languish, was never wholly extinguished; and which, indeed, is not likely ever to be extinguished so long as any part, however obscure or remote, of this globe we inhabit remains to be discovered. The Italians were the most skilful navigators of those days; and among the foreigners who had engaged in the Portugueze service was a Genoese by birth, named CHRISTOVAL COLON or CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, who, at the early age of fourteen, had betaken himself to a seafaring life, and had made considerable progress in geometry, cosmography and astronomy. His first voyage, after leaving the Mediterranean, appears to have been into the

northern seas, in which it is stated, in a memorandum written by himself, that he had visited Iceland, to which a considerable trade was then carried on, particularly by the northern nations and among others by England, principally on account of its valuable fisheries. It is even said that he proceeded beyond this island, and advanced several degrees within the polar circle, but on what service and for what purpose does not appear.* It would have been satisfactory to know whether it was a mere trading voyage, or a voyage of discovery, that led this celebrated navigator into those inhospitable regions; but there is little reason to hope that any further information will ever be obtained on this head. His subsequent grand discovery is too well known to be repeated, where it would be misplaced; but a word may be said on some recent attempts to rob this celebrated navigator of one of the greatest and most important discoveries recorded in the annals of navigation.

Doctor Robertson complains, and with a proper feeling for the honour of this great man, that some of the Spanish authors, with the meanness of national jealousy, have endeavoured to detract from the glory of his grand enterprize, by insinuating that he was led to the discovery of the new world, not by his own inventive or enterprizing genius, but by information which he had received from

* Life of Columbus.