11 



Chapter 



TO THEIR NEW HOMES 



K 



.ARLSEFNI and his company were the first — the first of 

 the milHons that were to follow. The first to find the new land good 

 and love it; the first to build homes and beget children here; the first 

 to be turned back — to lose the new life where others later won it. 

 What they lacked was neither purpose nor organization nor courage, 

 but powder and guns. The year was loio or a little earlier. 



Years went by — nobody knows how many — before the fishing fleets 

 from various countries in Europe began coming each summer to 

 the Grand Banks of Newfoundland. No doubt they came ashore at 

 various times for a place to dry and pack their fish and to obtain 

 wood and water, but there is no evidence that they attempted a 

 permanent settlement. 



Then in the early part of the sixteenth century the Spaniards 

 moved into the southern part of North America from the Caribbean 

 and from Mexico. They were determined men in armor and they 

 came in many ships with horses and guns and other weapons. Yet 

 many wandered, fought and died or failed and sailed away before per- 

 manent homes were built, children raised to manhood and towns 

 established in America. 



We shall see now how many different peoples from the beginning 

 contributed to the pattern of American culture and how the ways by 

 which they crossed the Atlantic often determined where they were 

 to settle in America. 



170 



