EARLY ARCTIC EXPLORATION. 115 



CHAPTER XII. 



THE FIRST ARCTIC VOYAGES. 



Early History of Arctic Discovery The "Hardy Norseman" Accidental Discovery of Iceland Colony Formed A 

 Fisherman Drifted to Greenland Eric the Red Head Rapid Colonisation Early Intercourse with America Voyages 

 of the Zeni Cabot's Attempt at a North-west Passage Maritime Enterprise of this Epoch Voyage of the 

 Dominus VoMscumOt the Trinitie and Minion Starvation and Cannibalism A High-handed Proceeding- 

 Company of the Merchant Adventurers Attempts at the North-east Fate of Willoughby Chancelor, and our 

 First Intercourse with Russia. 



AND now, having noted the results attained by the latest expedition which has dared to 

 attempt the discovery of the North Pole,* let us glance at the progress of northern discovery 

 from the very beginning, and watch the gradual steps by which such discoveries were 

 rendered possible. We shall have to go back to a period when no compass guided the 

 mariner on his watery way, when sextants and artificial horizons were undreamed of, when 

 navigation, in a word, was but in its second stage of infancy. And although many of 

 the earlier discoveries were the result of pure accident, we shall see much to admire in 

 the enterprise and hardihood of explorers who ventured almost blindfold into unknown 

 seas, abounding in special obstacles and dangers. 



With the discovery of Iceland and Greenland virtually commences our knowledge of 

 the northern and Arctic seas. The Romans, even as late as Pliny's time, had no correct 

 knowledge of the North Sea and Baltic, and whatever they did know seems to have been 

 derived second-hand from the Carthaginians. In the days of our good King Alfred our 

 ancestors, did undoubtedly engage in the pursuit of the whale and sea-horse, but it is 



to the "hardy Norseman," whose 



" House of yore 

 Was on the foaming wave," 



that we are indebted for the first great discoveries. Conquering and ravaging wherever they 

 went, spreading not merely terror and ruin, but also population and some of the ruder 

 forms of civilisation, these Scandinavian pirates were the only rulers of the main in the 

 eighth, ninth, and tenth centuries, during which they incessantly ravaged our coasts, 

 penetrated the very heart of France, established settlements, and even levied tribute on the 

 reigning monarch. These bold Northmen ventured in vessels which now-a-days would be 

 regarded as unsuitable for the most trifling sea voyages. In the year 861, Naddodr, a 

 Norwegian Viking, bent on a piratical trip to the Faroe Islands, was driven by an 

 easterly gale so far to the north-westward that he reached an utterly unknown island. 

 Its mountains were snow-covered, and the first name suggested by this fact, and which 

 he bestowed on the island, was Sneeland (Snowland). Certain Swedes ventured there 

 three years afterwards, and on their return gave such a very lively account of its vegeta- 

 tion and soil that an emigration followed. One of the first adventurers thither was 

 Flokko. The secret of the magnetic power, as applied to the compass, although known 



* The recently-reported exploit of Professor Xordcnskjold, of which we have at present the barest 

 outlines, does not properly come under this category. It was in reality a successful voyage by the north- 

 west passage, and must eventually find its place in these pages. 



