the volumes less repulsive to the general reader, than collections of historical societies usually are. The plan of preparing the matter in the order of time, will conduce to this, and entitle the volumes to the name which will be given them of 'Annals of Virginia.' Before publishing those annals, it has been thought best that there should be a preliminary volume giving an account of the discoveries in this western hemisphere until the invasion of Mexico in 1519; and of the voyages to and along the Atlantic coast of North America down to 1573. The chairman of the executive committee, from whom this account was desired, had, otherwise, ample occupation for all his time. To execute in a manner satisfactory to himself, the important work entrusted to him and his able coadjutor by the general assembly, namely, the revision of the general statutes of Virginia, he had found himself under the necessity, during its progress, of diminishing considerably his professional business. For him, at such a time, to compile what the committee wished, was, to say the least, extremely inconvenient. He saw no way in which it could be done, except by his taking for it, in lieu of other relaxation, a part of each night for several months. In this In this way he has accomplished the volume; it goes from him now to the members of the society, prepared as well as his other engagements would permit. A good deal of matter not generally known, will, it is thought, be found in it. Nearly all the accounts which it contains, of voyages to Florida, and some of the other accounts, have been translated from "Voyages, relations et mémoires originaux pour servir a l'histoire de la découverte de L'Amérique, publiés pour la première fois en Français, par H. Ternaux." From 1837 to 1841, twenty volumes were published in Ternaux's Collection, all of which have been examined in the preparation of this volume, so far as their connection with the subject made it proper. RICHMOND, AUGUST 1848. CONTENTS. Of the alleged discovery of America by the Northmen in the eleventh, by the Welch in the twelfth, and by Nicholas and An- Of Christopher Columbus; his plan for reaching India by a route to the west; the fate of his applications to the Court of Por- tugal from 1470 to 1484, and afterwards to the Court of Spain Of the application of Columbus, through his brother Bartholo- mew, to Henry the Seventh of England; the arrival of Bartho- Of the departure, in the absence of Columbus, of some of the malcontents for Spain; state of hostilities; bold exploit of Alonzo de Ojeda; Indian prisoners sent to Spain to be sold as slaves; the interposition of Isabella for them; and the suffer- Of the arrival at Hispaniola of Juan Aguado as commissioner in 1495; the return of Columbus and Aguado to Spain in 1496; Of the discovery of North America by Sebastian Cabot. Expla- nation of the difference between the legal year as used in Eng- land before 1752, and the year as generally used in historical chronology. Under a license which issued in February of the legal year 1497, Cabot having discovered North America in June following, that June shewn to be in 1498, and the disco- Of the accidental discovery of Brazil by the Portuguese in 1500; the voyage of Americus Vespucius, under the King of Portu- gal, to that province in 1501; the voyage of Cortereal in the same year to the northwest; and the patents obtained from Of the fleet and orders sent out with Ovando to Hispaniola in 1502; the voyage made the same year to the northern coast of |