A Book of American Explorers. Thomas Wentworth Higginson
I. —The First Voyage to Virginia.
II. —Visit to an Indian Princess.
III. —Adventures of the First Virginia Colony.
IV. —The Second English Colony in Virginia.
V. —Search for the Lost Colony.
BOOK X. UNSUCCESSFUL SETTLEMENTS IN NEW ENGLAND. (A.D. 1602 – 1607.)
I. —Gosnold’s Fort at Cuttyhunk.
II. —Captain Waymouth captures Indians, and explores the Penobscot river.
III. —The Popham Colony on the Kennebec.
IV. —Captain Gilbert’s Adventure with the Indians.
BOOK XI. CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. (A.D. 1606 – 1631.)
I. —Captain John Smith in Virginia.
III. —Smith captured by the Indians.
IV. —Captain John Smith and Pocahontas.
VII. —An Indian Dance in Virginia.
VIII. —Indian Children in Virginia.
IX. —“The Planter’s Pleasure and Profit.”
XI. —Visit of Pocahantas to London in 1617.
XII. —First Buildings of the Virginia Colonists.
XIII. —Captain John Smith’s Recollections of his own Life.
BOOK XII. CHAMPLAIN ON THE WAR-PATH. (A.D. 1609.)
BOOK XIII. HENRY HUDSON AND THE NEW NETHERLANDS. (A.D. 1609 – 1626.)
I. —Discovery of the Hudson River.
II. —Indian Traditions of Henry Hudson’s Arrival.
III. —The Last Voyage of Henry Hudson, and how he was set adrift in the Ice by his Men.
IV. —The Dutch Settlement of the New Netherlands.
BOOK XIV. THE PILGRIMS AT PLYMOUTH. (A.D. 1620 – 1621.)
I. —The Sailing of the Pilgrims.
II. —Miles Standish at Cape Cod.
IV. —The Landing on Plymouth Rock.
BOOK XV. THE MASSACHUSETTS BAY COLONY. (A.D. 1629 – 1631.)
I. —The Voyage of the Massachusetts Colonists.
II. —The Massachusetts Bay Colonists in Salem Harbor.
III. —Fire, Air, Earth, and Water in New England.
IV. —A Sea-Adventure of the Puritan Colonists.
V. —Governor Winthrop’s Night out of Doors.
VI. —The Privations of the Puritans.
BOOK I.
THE LEGENDS OF THE NORTHMEN.
(A.D. 985–1008.)
These extracts are taken from two Icelandic works called Tháttr Eireks Rauda (the piece about Eirek the Red) and Graenlendinga Thátt (the piece about the Greenlanders). These passages were translated by J. Elliot Cabot, Esq., and were published in “The Massachusetts Quarterly Review” for March, 1849.
It is now the general belief of historians, that these legends are mainly correct; and that the region described as Vinland was a part of the North-American Continent. Beyond this we do not know. The