PART II. A. D. 860-1777 THE EARLY DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA, AND THE FIRST BANNER PLANTED ON ITS SHORES, A. D. 860-1634. COLONIAL AND PROVINCIAL FLAGS, 1634-1766. FLAGS OF THE PREREVOLUTIONARY AND REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD, PRECEDING THE STARS AND STRIPES, 1766-1777. Far o'er yon azure main thy view extend, Formed with that pomp which marks the hand divine, Rich valleys wind, the sky tall mountains brave, Here empire's last and brighest throne shall rise, In wisdom's walks her sons ambitious soar, Tread starry fields, and untried scenes explore, And hark! what strange, what solemn breaking strain Timothy Dwight's Prophecy of America, written 1771-1774. PART II. THE EARLY DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA, AND THE FIRST BANNER PLANTED ON ITS SHORES, A. D. 860-1634. Expeditions to the shores of North America are said to have gone forth from the British Isles in very ancient times, and even in advance of the Northmen; first under the conduct of Madoc, a prince of Wales, and afterwards under the lead of Irish adventurers. No other than vague traditionary accounts of these expeditions have come down to us, but records of early voyages from Iceland have been found, which afford the strongest circumstantial evidence that the New England coast was visited, and that settlements thereon were attempted by Scandinavian navigators full five hundred years before the first voyage of Columbus. Naddod, a Scandinavian called the Sea king, in the year 860, and Gardar, a Dane, soon after, are said to be the first Northmen who, driven by storms, came in sight of Iceland, and reconnoitered it. The good news they brought home induced others to follow in their track, and the Northman, Ingolf, A.D., 874, was the first who settled there. He and his men found there the Christian Irishmen, the Papas or Papar, whom they dispossessed and drove out. In 877 another north-east storm drove one of these Icelandic settlers, named Gunnbjorn, to Greenland, which he appears only to have seen in the distance. It was a long time before any other adventurer followed in his track. At last, in the spring of 986, Eric the Red sailed from Iceland with the intention of seeking for Gunnbjorn's country. Having found it, he established a settlement he called Brattalid, in a bay which after him was called Eric's Fiord. He found the country pleasant, full of meadows, and of a milder climate than the more northern Iceland. He gave it the name of Greenland, saying that this would be an inviting name, which might attract other people from Iceland. Another adventurer, Heriulf, soon followed him, and established himself not far from our present Cape Farewell, at a place which after him was called Heriulfanäs. Heriulf had a son, Biarne, who when his father went first to Greenland, was absent on a trading voyage to Norway. Returning to Iceland in 990 and finding his father with Eric the Red had gone to the west, he resolved to follow them, and to spend the next winter in Greenland. Boldly setting sail to the south-west, he encountered northerly storms; after many days sail they lost their reckoning or course, and when the weather cleared descried land, but entirely unlike that described to them as Greenland. They saw it was a much more southern land, and covered with forests. It not being the intention of Biarne to explore new countries, but to find his father in Greenland, he improved a south-west wind and turned to the north-east, and after several days sailing by other well wooded lands bordered by icebergs reached Heriulfnäs. His return passage occupied nine days, and he speaks of three distinct tracts of land along which he coasted, one of which he supposed to have been a large island. The results of the expedition of Biarne may be stated to have been these: He was the first European who saw though from a distance and very cursorily, some parts of the coasts of New England, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. He also probably crossed the Gulf of Maine, without stopping however to explore its waters, or giving them names. When he returned to Nor way (probably in 994), he was blamed by many for not having examined the new found countries more accurately. much talk about undertaking a Leif, the son of Eric the Red, In Greenland, too, there was voyage of discovery to the west. the first settler in Greenland, having bought Biarne's ship in the year 1000, equipped her with a crew of thirty-five men, among whom was Biarne himself, and went out on Biarne's track to the south-west. They anchored and went on shore at what was probably Newfoundland, and after a brief delay pursued their voyage and came to a low wooded coast with shores of white sand, which they named Markland, (woodland) our present Nova Scotia. Continuing their course, in two days they again made land, a promontory projecting in a north-easterly direction from the main, corresponding pretty well to our present Cape Cod. Leif rounding this cape to the west, sailed some distance westward, entered a bay or harbor, and went on shore. Finding the country very pleasant, he concluded to spend the winter there, and formed a settlement which was called Leifsbudir (Leif's block house or dwelling). It is with a great degree of probability supposed that this settlement was on the south coast of Rhode Island somewhere in Narragansett bay, perhaps not far from Newport. Leif and his men made several exploring expeditions to the interior. On one of these, a German, named Tyrker, who had long resided with Leif's father in Iceland and Greenland, lost his way and was missing. Leif with some of his men went in search of him, and had not gone far, when they saw him stepping out from a wood, holding something in his hands and coming towards them, very much excited and speaking in German. At last he told them in true Norse "I found vines and grapes," showing them what he held in his hands. Leif, being an Icelander and Greenlander, had probably never seen fresh grapes, and asked "Is that true, my friend?” and then Tyrker said that he might well know they were real grapes having been born and educated in a country in which there were plenty of vines. The Northmen collected their long boat full of grapes, and from this circumstance Leif gave his new southern country the name of Vinland (the country of vines), which was afterwards extended to the whole coast as far north as Markland (Nova Scotia). During the winter Leif observed that the climate of Vinland was quite mild, and that throughout the year the days and nights were much more equal in length than in Greenland. On the shortest day in Vinland the sun was above the horizon from 7: 30 A.M. to 4: 30 P.M. This astronomical observation confirms the generally adopted view, that their settlement was in the southern part of New England. Filling their vessel with wood they returned to Greenland in the spring. Leif's brother, Thorwald, being of opinion the new country had not been explored sufficiently, borrowed Leif's ship, and aided by his advice and direction, commenced another voyage to |