THE EARLY EXPLORERS 



Madog. 



There are many people in Wales who still believe the story of 

 Madog, although it is to be feared that it receives little credence from 

 serious historians. This prince is supposed to have sailed in the latter 

 part of the twelfth century to avoid the constant enmity of his brothers, 

 taking his suggestion from the prophecy of Seneca as to the discovery 

 of a New World. This is supposed to have been in 1164, and finally he 

 made a landfall in Newfoundland. Leaving a guard of one hundred 

 and twenty of his people well fortified, he returned to Wales and 

 collected a number of settlers who sailed in ten ships and after a stormy 

 passage succeeded in finding the remnants of his colony. He was dis- 

 appointed of reinforcements, but his own people hung on and after a 

 time intermarried with the aborigines. Thus began the numerous 

 theories of Welsh Indians who were afterwards identified with the 

 Tuscaroras round about the present State of Missouri. This legend 

 received the support of such men as Southey and Humboldt, so that it 

 cannot be dismissed without examination, but investigation fails to give 

 the story very much support. Unfortunately later writers have added 

 so many embellishments to the story that the whole has become more 

 than suspect. 



Earliest Polar Exploration. 



The earliest recorded Arctic explorer was Other, a Northman from 

 Helgeland, near the modern Trondhjem, who sailed in the middle of the 

 ninth century and who deserves to have Alfred the Great as his 

 historian. He was the first to round the North Cape and brought back 

 the story of the Midnight Sun, which must have been a terrifying 

 spectacle to anybody as superstitious as the Viking. His feat stirred 

 the imagination of the Saxon king, whose Norse blood is shown in 

 nothing so much as in his eagerness for every record of travel and dis- 

 covery and his willingness to translate them himself for the benefit of his 

 people. It was an excellent way of developing the " Sea-Sense " which 

 he wanted badly for his Navy. 



Expeditions from the Orkneys. 



The Norse inhabitants of the Orkney Islands early became famous 

 as seamen, as was only natural from their blood. In 1150, according 

 to the saga, Earl Rognvald took a big expedition from the Orkneys to 

 the Mediterranean and Palestine in company with some Norwegian 

 galleys. The fleet consisted of fifteen vessels in all, with which they 

 skirted down the English, French, and Spanish coasts. They appear to 

 have been very late in starting and it is small wonder that they were in 

 danger of losing ships. In the Western Mediterranean six of the fleet 

 had already had enough and parted company to make for Marseilles. 

 The pilgrims appear to have mixed a desire to profit with their religious 

 motives, and meeting a Moorish ship oflf Sardinia they contrived to 

 capture her with very considerable booty and a number of slaves who 

 proved profitable. Thev wintered in Constantinople and Rognvald 

 appears to have returned home overland next year. 



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