558 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



ured it, and, holding it in my hand until 

 rested, I endeavored to induce it to squeak, 

 for it is one of a very few that has a voice ; 

 but it was not to be coaxed. It suffered 

 many indignities in silence, and so shamed 

 me by its patience that I gently placed it in 

 the brook. Soon black, shining whirligigs 

 the gyrinus suddenly appeared ; and a tur- 

 tle, as if wondering what might be the cause 

 of the commotion, thrust its head in the air, 

 stared angrily at me, and returned to its 

 hidden home. There was no dearth of life 

 in the brook, yet this is a winter day." 

 Equally numerous does he find the birds in 

 winter, and, in the right places, growing 

 plants, with an occasional flower, if the sea- 

 son happens to be open. He sees, too, the 

 meadow mice, skurrying back and forth in 

 their grass-walled, ice-roofed runways. In 

 spring, Nature's drama becomes more varied. 

 Under the name of this season, Dr. Abbott 

 discourses of the April moon, of small owls, 

 of apple blossoms, etc., and even draws en- 

 tertainment from such an unpromising place 

 as a meadow mud-hole. In summer, and 

 again in autumn, the scene changes, but all 

 under such delightful leadership is intensely 

 fascinating. Sprinkled through these pages 

 are bits of reminiscence of boy life, not 

 without its pranks, in a Quaker farmer's 

 family ; and digressions upon such topics as 

 old almanacs, weathercocks, " skeleton-lift- 

 ing,'* and fossil man in the Delaware Valley, 

 occur here and there. The material form of 

 the volume, with its narrow page and wide 

 margins, and its tastefully designed cover, 

 admirably fits the character of the matter 

 within. 



The Pre-Columbian Discovert of America 

 by the Northmen, with Translations 

 from the Icelandic Sagas. By B. F. 

 De Costa. Albany, N. Y. : Joel Mun- 

 son's Sons. Pp. 196. Price, $3. 



A scholarly and entertaining work is 

 this upon the Northmen and their Western 

 voyages. The author was doubtless instru- 

 mental in arousing interest in regard to the 

 Icelandic chronicles and literature by the 

 publication of the first edition of this book 

 in 1870, and he must view with satisfaction 

 the progress made since that time, which 

 has been emphasized in the erection of two 

 statues to Leif Ericsson. 



Fairly and candidly the author treats all 



evidence bearing upon the earliest knowl- 

 edge of the American continent, even ad- 

 mitting that many facts point toward the 

 Irish as the first to cross the Atlantic. Be- 

 ginning with references found in Greek and 

 Latin authors to " a vast island lying far in 

 the West and peopled by strange races," he 

 comments upon the exploits of Tyrian and 

 Phoenician navigators. Cadiz, in Spain, was 

 settled by Tyrian traders 1200 b. c. ; in the 

 ninth century there were colonies upon the 

 western coast of Africa ; and three hundred 

 years later the continent was circumnavi- 

 gated by the Phoenicians. A chart of the 

 Canary Isles was made by Sebosus, 63 b. c, 

 and a description of King Juba's expedition 

 is furnished by Pliny. It is regarded as a 

 possibility that the Phoenicians made trans- 

 atlantic discoveries : " From the Canaries to 

 the coast of Florida is a short voyage, and 

 the bold sailors of the Mediterranean, after 

 touching at the Canaries, need only spread 

 their sails before the steady-breathing mon- 

 soon, to find themselves wafted safely to the 

 western shore." 



The first chronicle of any voyage to 

 America is found in the Icelandic tongue. 

 This language was spoken by the Northmen 

 who settled in Denmark and the Scandi- 

 navian countries, but were at length op- 

 pressed in Norway by King Harold. Too 

 proud to brook any curtailment of their 

 power, the jarls sailed away to the frozen 

 shores of Iceland. Here, in 868, they found 

 Christian monks who would not affiliate with 

 the pagan new-comers, but promptly gave 

 up their icy retreat and " left behind them 

 Irish books, bells, and croziers, from which 

 it could be seen that they were Irishmen." 

 In 982 Eric the Red, banished from Iceland, 

 sought refuge in Greenland. Colonies were 

 soon established here, and only eight years 

 elapsed before Leif, the son of Eric, made 

 his first voyage to Vinland. The Ericssons 

 were a family of explorers. Thorvald and 

 Thorstein , brothers of Leif, and Freydis, a 

 sister, each undertook an expedition to the 

 new land. The most important voyage was 

 made by Thorfinn Karlsefne, an Icelander 

 of famous lineage, who, with three vessels 

 and one hundred and sixty men, visited Vin- 

 land and remained three years. Had it not 

 been for the observant habits of the Ice- 

 landers, who were taught to study " the di- 



