Cape Vincent, without the satisfaction of seeing the circumnavigation of Africa. In the Italian republics it began to dawn upon the merchants and traders that the monopoly of their commercial intercourse with the East, which was the source of their supremacy as well as of their opulence, was now in real danger. And in the whirligig of events which then, as now, formed food for the cynic and the scoffer, it was perceived that the maritime republics were being drawn upon for the materials which would, in all probability, be the means of transferring their maritime supremacy to the growing power of the Western nations.

And eventually Christopher Columbus, a Genoese, and John Cabot, "another Genoese, like Columbus,' were the men whom fate had selected for those enterprises which eventually destroyed the supremacy of the Italian republics.

CHAPTER I

IN the fifteenth century, as the outgrowth of numerous traditions which appeared at intervals in various forms, and were frequently the subjects of new variations, an idea had become fixed in the minds of all sorts and conditions of men in several of the kingdoms of Europe, that certain islands known as St. Brandon, otherwise "St. Brandan," or "St. Brendan," or "St. Brendon," or island of "San Boranden"; "Brasil," otherwise "Brazil," or "O'Brasile"; Antillia," or Antilia," otherwise "The Seven Cities,' or "The Island of the Seven Cities," that these and other islands,1 some with and some without

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1 One of the phantom islands, which was called Satanaxio, or Satanatio, was supposed to be an island connected with the hand of Satan. The origin of the belief has been attributed to an ancient Italian legend, to the effect that in a part of India a great hand rose every day from the sea and carried off a certain number of persons to the depths of the ocean. The Arabians have, so it is said, a similar tradition. In all probability the story permeated through Europe from some Eastern source.

In the Ptolemy map of 1482, published at Ulme, in the Sexta Tabula Asiæ, there appears an island of Demons, "Insula Demonum." Later on this island was found a place in the newlydiscovered American Waters. Biddle, in his Memoir, pp. 250, 251, says: Ortellius, on whose map the 'Insula Demonum' figures with St. Brandon, etc., places it not very far from Hudson Strait. Ramusio, in his text, would give it a local habitation about half-way between that strait and Newfoundland, but in constructing the map which accompanies his third volume he seems to have thought a great

names, had an actual existence in the Atlantic Ocean. Some of these traditions may be traced back to a distant period of time. They were believed in alike by princes and paupers, philosophers and fools, landsmen and seamen, map makers and chart constructors, practical men and romantic women. Exaggerated unrealities had taken firm hold of the popular mind.

It was

possessed by a dream that these visionary Hesperian islands were situated in a delightful tropical region of perpetual summer; that they were lands which contained untold gold, precious stones, and sparkling gems; elysian fields, cool and refreshing groves, streams and fountains of water 2 which conferred perennial youth and vigour; precious trees, aromatic perfumes and spices, gracious beauties and exquisite felicities—a blissful mundane paradise! gulf a much fitter place, and it therefore occupies a conspicuous station in the 'Golfo Quadrado,' or St. Lawrence. It is about five times as large as Newfoundland, from which it is divided by a narrow strait. On it demons are seen, as well flying as on foot, with nothing to protect them from a climate, so little suited to their former habits, but a pair of wings and a ridiculously short tail; yet they are made, poor devils! to appear happy, and even sportive.'

2

1 "Where falls not hail, or rain, or any snow,

Nor ever wind blows loudly; but lies

Deep-meadow'd, happy, fair with orchard lawns
And bowery hollows crown'd with summer sea."

According to a popular tradition as to the "Garden of the Hesperides," there existed a fountain of perpetual youth the waters of which restored to bloom and vigour all who bathed therein, be they ever so old or wrinkled.

It was the supposed existence of an island which contained a fountain, by bathing in the waters of which perpetual youth would be acquired, that prompted Juan Ponce de Leon, a Spanish cavalier, to set out in search of the imaginary island, with the result that he made what was then supposed to be the discovery, but which in reality was the re-discovery of a portion of territory to which he (Juan Ponce de Leon) gave the name of Florida, because it was discovered at the time of the floral feast of the Roman Catholic Church (Pascua Florida).

Herein may probably be discerned a trace of the influence which Marco Polo's revelations had exercised on the credulity of Europeans. He states that near to Khatai, "bounded by the Eastern Ocean," there existed a happy and blissful land "where strange men and women, who migrate thither, cease to grow old." The credulity of the period affords an object-lesson as to the great influence which the development of a whimsical storyby additions of details and by reiterations-may have upon the popular mind. No truth was ever received with the avidity with which statements as to "islands" in the West were swallowed. Peter Martyr, the historian, says: "There is an island . . on which is a never-failing spring of running water, of such marvellous efficacy that when the water is drunk, perhaps with some attention to diet, it makes old people young again!" 1 And he adds, "not only all the common people, but also the educated and the wealthy believe it to be true." 2

It will hereafter appear that the men of Bristol placed so much confidence in the current stories regarding these islands, that in the year 1480 (twelve years before Columbus embarked upon his first voyage for the purpose of finding the lands of the "Great Khan") an expedition went out from Bristol in quest of "the island of Brasylle," and

1 The mythical Prester John knew of a fountain, the source of which "is hardly three days' journey from Paradise, from which Adam was expelled. If any man drinks thrice of this spring, he will from that day feel no infirmity, and he will, as long as he lives, appear of the age of thirty."

2 De orbo novo decades, dec. ii. cap. x.

that between 1480 and 1497 at least seven expeditions left Bristol, at the risk and expense of townsmen, "in search of the island of Brasil and the seven cities."1 Although these voyages have not commanded much attention, it cannot be denied that the outcome of such chimerical enterprise was an event than which, in the history of the world, there is none of greater interest to the human family. Poetic fancies and legendary lore suddenly became actual facts. The shores of a mysterious land, and a landscape of thrilling and absorbing interest, were presented to the gaze of those who had embarked upon a search for the phantom isles. The discovery of the continent of North America was the direct consequence of the persistent efforts of the townsmen of Bristol to find certain "islands" which, although actually named and marked in maps, had no real existence. Visions of Eldorado, of fabulous summer islands, and of delectable delights-and a new continent of vast extent was ultimately revealed! It was the unveiling of a fairy scene on the stage of the world.

It is necessary to state a few facts to explain the illusions which obtained with regard to the phantom isles. In the Geography of Strabo," the author, writing with reference to Homer, says: "He portrays the happiness of the people of the West, and the salubrity of their climate, having no doubt heard of the abundance of Iberia,3 which had attracted the arms of Hercules, afterwards of the Phoenicians, who acquired there an extended rule, 1 Infra, pp. 58, 59. 2 Bohn's edition, vol. i. p. 3.

3 Spain. Gosselin remarks that in his opinion Strabo frequently attributes to Homer much information of which the great poet was entirely ignorant,