ZENI. 



ZEXI. 



916 



what the text really says. All that we know is compressed in twenty- 

 eeven pages of a very small and not very closely printed quai-lo 

 volume, printed at Venice, by Francesco Marcolini, iu 1558. The 

 narrative purports to have been compiled about that tim by a y 

 Nicol6 Zeno, who died in 1565, from the papers of Antonio Zeno. The 

 materials in the possession of Nicol6 the younger, at the time he wrote 

 his book, appear to have been only two letters from Antonio Zeno to 

 his brother Carlo, both written after the death of Nicol6. In one of 

 these Antonio mentions that he composed a work descriptive of the 

 countries he had visited or heard of, and their customs, a Life of his 

 brother Nicol6, and a Life of Zichmni. But this book and a number 

 of letters from Antonio had been destroyed by Nicol5 the youuger 

 when a boy : "These letters (the letters quoted in the book) were 

 written by Messer Antonio to Messer Carlo, his brother ; and it grieves 

 me that the book and many other writings ou the same subject have 

 perished wretchedly, I scarce know how ; for having come into my 

 hands when I was quite a boy, I tore and dispersed them, as boys will 

 do ('come fauno i fanciulli, le squarciai e rnandai tutte h, male'), as I 

 cannot now remember without much sorrow." Our knowledge of the 

 voyages of the Zeni therefore rests upon a book compiled about 150 

 years after the death of the longest liver of the two, from two of 

 Antonio's letters, and such vague recollection as the writer retained of 

 the contents of some manuscripts which had come into his hands and 

 been destroyed by him when a boy. He states, it is true, that the 

 map which accompanies his book was copied from an old and faded 

 map ("marica e vecchia") ia the family archives ; but he does not 

 assert that it was made by either of the brothers, or even that it was 

 made about their time. From this review it must be apparent how 

 little we know of the voyages of the Zeni, aud how much that little 

 has in all probability been disfigured. 



Down to the death of Nicol6 the elder, his descendant tells the 

 story in his own person : this part of the book relates the Vikingar 

 expeditious, in which Nicolo served under Zichmni. The rest of the 

 book consists in great part of a letter from Autonio to Carlo, in which 

 he rehearses the story of a fisherman who had been shipwrecked on 

 some far western land, and detained there many years, and adds an 

 account of an expedition, fitted out by Zichmni, to visit that country, 

 in which he had accompanied him. The last two pages are occupied 

 with a fragment of another letter from Antonio to Carlo, in which 

 he mentions the book or books he has composed, and adds that he will 

 write no more, as he hopes soon to communicate with him by word of 

 mouth. 



The part of the narrative which relates to Nicol5 contains the 

 history of three campaigns. In the first Frisland is subdued by 

 Zichmni, who commands the land forces, while Nicolo Zeno co-operates 

 with the fleet. Zichmni was lord of the island of Porland, half a day'-s 

 sail from Frisland, which he had wrested the previous year from the 

 king of Norway; and of the duchy ('duchea') of Sorano on the 

 mainland ('fra terra') on the side next Scotland. Frisland was an 

 island rather larger than Ireland. From the part of the coast where 

 Nicolo was wrecked, he conducted the fleet of Zichmni to the west, 

 and, after conquering several small islands, turned iuto a gulf called 

 ' Sudero, 1 and captured in a port called ' Saueatol' some ships loaded 

 with salt-fish. Here he was joined by Zichmni, who had marched 

 over-land. Zeno again set sail to the west, and reached the opposite 

 headland of the gulf: the sea, it is remarked, was full of shallows. He 

 next returns to a part of Frisland named Bondendon, where he learns 

 that Zichmni has conquered the whole island. He sails theiice to 

 Frisland, " the capital of the island, situated in a gulf on the south- 

 east, of which there are many in the island, in which fish are taken in 

 such abundance that many ships are laden with them, aud Flanders, 

 Bretagne, England, Scotland, Norway, and Denmark send there for 

 supplies, and are much enriched." In all this part of the narrative 

 the only hint given of the position of the countries is that Sorano 

 " on the main" is on the side opposite Scotland. Were it not for the 

 epithet 'island,' applied to Frisland, there is nothing incompatible 

 with the notion of the country so named being the Friesland of the 

 present day. There are even some points that coincide with it. 

 Sailing westward from the part of Frisland which he was thrown 

 upon, Zeno turns into the Gulf of Zudero (the Zuyder Zee?); aud 

 the capital of Frisland is situated within a gulf to the south-east (the 

 Dollart?). The Zuyder Zee is full of shallows (" pieno di seccagne"). 

 The bays of Friesland were at that time frequented by vessels from all 

 the countries enumerated, seeking for cargoes of fish. There are small 

 islands (' isolette ') in abundance between the Texel and the mouth of 

 the Ems. 



The second campaign was undertaken by Zichmui against Estland, 

 which is between Frialatad aud Norway (" sopra la costa tra Frislanda 

 e Norwegia"). The expedition does not reach Estland, but is driven 

 by a storm upon Grisland, a large but uninhabited island. No men- 

 tion is made of the relative position of Grisland to any of the other 

 countries mentioned, nor of its distance from them. From Grisland 

 an expedition is made against the islands and Island ("le islande" aud 

 " Islanda che medesimamente con 1'altre era sotto il Re di Norwegia"; 

 to the north. The expedition fails, but seven other islands iu the same 

 narrow seas (" negli stessi canali 1'altre isole, dette islande, che pono 

 sette") are conquered, a fortress erected in one of them, named Bres, 

 and Nicol6 Zeno left to winter there. Zichrani returns to Frisland. 



Our indications are here- still fainter. Proceeding on the supposition 

 ;hat the Frislaud of the Zeni may have been the country then and still 

 so called, Estland (the land to the east), between Frisland and Nor- 

 way, may have been the Danish peninsula. ' Islanda ' and ' islande ' 

 appear to be merely the eiugular and plural of the Teutonic word 

 .gland : the one cannot, and the other does not necessarily apply. 

 Iceland. Bres approximates to Breasay, the name of one of the 

 Shetland islands. 



The third campaign of Nicold Zeno was a voyage of discovery he 

 undertook from Bres. He set out in the month of July, and sailed to 

 ;he north (or north-west) till he reached Engroneland. The distance is 

 not given, but the whole description of Eugroneland applies to Iceland, 

 and is applicable to no other country. There are, the volcano ; the hot 

 springs ; the brief summer; the early introduction of Christianity and 

 the Latin language ; the commerce with Norway " Vengono molti 

 navigli dal capo di sopra Norvegia e dal Treadon" (Drontheim ?). The 

 _reater part of the priests we are told are "delle Islande" from the 

 islands ; another corroboration of the opinion that Islanda, as uvetl in 

 this narrative, is not the proper name of any one country. These 

 indications are extremely vague ; but there is nothing in them 

 incompatible with the notion that Friaiand is Friealand; Engrone- 

 land, Iceland : and the intermediate Bress, the Bressay of the Shetland 

 group. 



There remain Antonio Zeno's report of the story of the ship- 

 wrecked fisherman, and his account of Zichmui's expedition in search 

 of the lands described by the fisherman. 



The fisherman's story need not be minutely examined here. Anto- 

 nio's version of it is sufficiently near the truth to show that it is really 

 an imperfect account of one of the many accidental or premeditated 

 visits paid by the Northmen of Europe, iu these early ages, to the 

 northern regions of America ; but it is too succinct and dis6gured to 

 add anything to our knowledge of these expeditions : its only import- 

 ance is derived from its having beto the motive to Zichmni's voyage of 

 discovery to the west. 



This expedition, after labouring for many days among the islands 

 and shallows which were the scene of Nicolo Zeno's first campaign, 

 pushed out iuto "the deep sea" in the beginning of July. Scarcely 

 was the voyage fairly begun, when a tempest broke loose aud tossed 

 the vessels about for eight days, swamping some of them, and leaving 

 the surviving crews entirely ignorant of their whereabout. On tho 

 return of good weather, Zichmni steered to the west, and reached an 

 island which Zeno calls Icari, adding, that the inhabitants said the 

 name was derived from their first king, a son of Dedalus, king of 

 Scotland. Every attempt to make good a lauding on the territory of 

 the Scotch colony haviug proved unavailing, Zichmni continued his 

 voyage to the west for six days, at the termination of which he was 

 assailed by another tempest, and forced to scud before the wind till 

 he was driven to a land unknown to all on board. Here, as in tho 

 western voyage of Nicolo Zeno, the presence of a volcano appears to 

 indicate Iceland, but the adventurer had no intercourse with the 

 inhabitants, who are described as being of small stature, and inhabiting 

 caves. Here Zichmni resolved to winter, aud Antonio was sent to 

 Frisland with some mutineers who refused to remain. A voyage of 

 twenty days in an easterly and eight in a southerly course brought 

 him to Frisland. The ouly indication in this voyage that aids us iu 

 conjecturing the places named is the volcano, which points to L 

 If we assume Iceland to be its western termination, there is nothing 

 in the narrative incompatible with the assumption that Friesland \v<w 

 the point of departure ; and the bearings and the time occupied, as far 

 as they are given, rather favour this view. 



Confining ourselves to the narrative of Nicolo Zeno the youuger, 

 leaving out of view all that has been written by controversialists on 

 the subject, we have found nothing inconsistent with the idea that the 

 Frisland of the elder Nicol6 may have been the Frieslaud generally 

 known by that name, except that it is called an island ; and consider- 

 ing that the Zeni appear to have been acquaiuted ouly with a limited 

 portion of its shores, there is nothing extraordinary in their having 

 taken it for an island. We have paid no attention to the map pub- 

 lished along with the narrative of the younger Nicolo, for two reasons : 

 in the first place, it is impossible to look at it without feeling con- 

 vinced that its projection could not have been made so early as the 

 time of the Zeni ; iu the second place, it is in parts inconsistent with 

 the narrative. In his first campaign Niculo Zeuo is expressly said to 

 have sailed first from east to west, and then from west to east; accord- 

 ing to the map he must have sailed from north to south, aud from 

 south to north. There seems little doubt that the map is the compila- 

 tion of some later cosmographer. 



If we may assume Frisland to have been the country between the 

 Zuyder Zee and the Ems, the Estland between it and Norway would 

 naturally appear to indicate the more easterly Dauish peninsula ; ' le 

 islande,' the different island groups north of Scotland, of which Bressay 

 alone seems recognisable; and the Engroueland of Nicolo, and the 

 nameless island of Antonio Zeno, each with its volcano, Iceland. In 

 corroboration of this view may be recalled first, the time and bearings 

 of Antonio Zeuo's voyage from the island to Frisland; second, the 

 Scotch colony in the first island reached by Zichmni ; third, the resort 

 of vessels to Frisland from France, England, and the Netherlands for 

 fish; fourth, tho commercial intercourse between Engrouelaud and 



