language. But likeness of found in a few words will not be deemed fufficient to eftablish the fact; efpecially if the meaning has been evidently perverted: for example, the whole penguin tribe have unfortunately not only black heads, but are not inhabitants of the Northern hemifphere; the name was alfo beftowed on them by the Dutch, a pinguedine, from their exceffive fatnefs: but the inventer of this, thinking to do honour to his country, inconfiderately caught at a word of European origin, and unheard of in the New World. It may be added, that the Welsh were never a naval people; that the age in which Madoc lived was peculiarly ignorant in navigation; and the moft which they could have attempted muft have been a mere coafting voyage.*

The Norwegians put in for a fhare of the glory, on grounds rather better than the Welfh. By their fettlements in Iceland and in Greenland, they had arrived within fo fmall a diftance of the New World, that there is at leaft a poffibility of its having been touched at by a people fo verfed in maritime affairs, and fo adventurous, as the ancient Normans were. The proofs are much more numerous than thofe produced by the British Hiftorians; for the difcovery is mentioned in several of the Hlandic manufcripts. The period was about the year 1002, when it was vifited by one Biorn; and the difcovery purfued to greater effect by Leif, the fon of Eric, the difcoverer of Greenland. It does not appear that they reached farther than Labrador; on which coaft they met with the Esquimaux, on whom they beftowed the name of Skrælingues, or dwarfish people, from their small ftature. They were armed with bows and arrows, and had leathern canoes, such as they have at present. All this is probable; nor fhould the tale of the German, called Tuckil, one of the crew, invalidate the account. He was one day mifling; but foon returned, leaping and finging with all the extravagant marks of joy a bon vivant could fhow, on difcovering the inebriating fruit of his country, the grape: Torfæus even days, that he returned in a state of intoxication. To convince his commander, he brought feveral bunches, who from that circumftance named that country Vinland. It is not to be denied, that North America produces the true vine; but it is found in far lower latitudes than our adventures could reach in the time employed in their voyages, which was comprehended in a very small space. There appears no reafon

If the reader, however, wishes to examine this curious queftion ftill farther, he will meet with all that can be faid upon the fubject, in WILLIAMS's Enquiry ante the truth of the tradition, concerning the Discovery of America by Prince Madog. 8vo. -See alfo IMLAY'S Account of Kentucky, page 377, ad Edit.

to doubt of the discovery; but as the land was never colonized nor any advantages made of it, it may fairly be conjectured, that they reached no farther than the barren country of Labrador. In short, it is from a much later period that we muft date the real difcovery of America*. Towards the clofe of the 14th century, the navigation of Europe was fcarcely extended beyond the limits of the Mediterra. nean. The mariner's compass had been invented and in common use for more than a century; yet with the help of this fure guide, prompted by the moft ardent fpirit of difcovery, and encouraged by the patronage of princes, the mariners of thole days rarely ventured from the fight of land. They acquired great applaufe by failing along the coaft of Africa and difcovering fome of the neighbouring iflands; and after pushing their researches with the greatest industry and perfeverance for more than half a century, the Portuguese, who were the most fortunate and enterprifing, extended their discoveries Southward no farther than the equator.

The rich commodities of the Eaft, had for feveral ages been brought into Europe by the way of the Red Sea and the Mediterranean; and it had now become the object of the Portuguese to find a paffage to India, by failing round the Southern extremity of Africa and then taking an Eaftern course. This great object engaged the general attention of mankind, and drew into the Portuguese fervice adventurers from every maritime nation in Europe. Every year added to their experience in navigation, and seemed to promife a reward to their industry. The profpect, however, of arriving at the Indies was extremely diftant; fifty years perfeverance in the fame track, had brought them only to the equator, and it was probable that as many more would clapfe before they could accomplish their purpose, had not COLUMBUS, by an uncommon exertion of genius, formed a defign no lefs aftonishing to the age in which he lived, than beneficial to pofterity.

Among the foreigners whom the fame of the discoveries made by the Portuguefe had allured into their fervice, was Chriftopher Colon or Columbus, a subject of the republic of Genoa. Neither the time nor place of his birth are known with certainty; but he was defcended of an

In the 2d Vol. of the Tranfactions of the Philofophical Society at Philadelphia, Mr. OTTO, in a Memoir on the Difcovery of America, ftrenuoufly contends,. that one BEHEM, a German, discovered the American Continent prior to its being difcovered by COLUMBUS. For the ingenious arguments in fupport of this ppinion, the reader is referred to the Memoir.

honourable family, though reduced to indigence by various misfortunes. His ancestors having betaken themfelves for fubfiftance to a fea-faring life, Columbus difcovered, in his early youth, the peculiar character and talents which mark. out a man for that profeffion. His parents, instead of thwarting this original propensity of his mind, feem to have encouraged and confirmed it, by the education which they gave him. After acquiring fome knowledge of the Latin tongue, the only language in which fcience was taught at that time, he was imtructed in geometry, cofmography, aftronomy, and the art of drawing. To these he applied with fuch ardour and predilection, on account of their connection with navigation, his favourite object, that he advanced with rapid proficiency in the study of them. Thus qualified, in the year 1461, he went to fea at the age of fourteen, and began his carcer on that element which conducted him to fo much glory. His early voyages were to those ports in the Mediterranean which his countrymen the Genoele frequented. This being a sphere too narrow for his active mind, he made an excurfion to the northern feas, in 1467, and vifited the coafts of Iceland, to which the English and other nations had begun to refort on account of its fishery. As navigation, in every direction, was now become enterprifing, he proceeded beyond that ifland, the Thule of the ancients, and advanced feveral degrees within the polar circle. Having fatisfied his curiofity by a voyage which tended more to enlarge his knowledge of naval affairs, than to improve his fortune, he entered into the fervice of a famous fea-captain, of his own name and family. This man commanded a small squadron, fitted out at his own expence, and by cruifi.. fometimes against the Mahometans, fometimes against the Venetians, the rivals of his country in trade, had acquired both wealth and reputation. With him Columbus continued for feveral years, no lefs diftinguished for his courage, than for his experience as a failor. At length, in an obstinate engagement, off the coast of Portugal, with fome Venetian Caravels, returning richly laden from the Low Countries, the vessel on board which he ferved took fire, together with one of the enemy's fhips, to which it was faft grappled. In this dreadful extremity his intrepidity and prefence of mind did not forfake him. He threw himfelf into the fea, laid hold of a floating oar, and by the fupport of it, and his dexterity in fwimming, he reached the shore, though above two leagues diftant, and faved a life referved for great undertakings.

As foon as he recovered ftrength for the journey, he repaired to Lisbon, where many of his countrymen were fettled. They foon conceived fuch a favourable opinion of his merit, as well as talents, that they warmly folicited him to remain in that kingdom, where his naval skill and experience could not fail of rendering him confpicuous. To every adventurer, animated either with curiofity to vifit new countries, or with ambition to diftinguish himself, the Portuguese fervice was at that time. extremely inviting. Columbus liftened with a favorable ear to the advice of his friends, and having gained the esteem of a Portuguese lady, whom he married, fixed his refidence in Lifbon. This alliance, inftead of detaching him from a seafaring life, contributed to enlarge the fphere of his naval knowledge, and to excite a defire of extending it still farther. His wife was a daughter of Bartholomew Pereftrello, one of the captains employed by Prince Henry in his early navigations, and who, under his protection, had difcovered and planted the islands of Porto Santo and Madeira. Columbus got poffeffion of the journals and charts of this experienced navigator, and from them he learned the courfe which the Portuguese had held in making their discoveries, as well as the various circumftances which guided or encouraged them in their attempts. The study of these soothed and inflamed his favourite paffion; and while he contemplated the maps, and read the descriptions of the new countries which Pereftrello had feen, his impatience to vifit them became irrefiftible. In order to indulge it, he made a voyage to Madeira, and continued during several years to trade with that island, with the Canaries, the Azores, the settlements in Guinea, and all the other places which the Portuguese had discovered on the continent of Africa.

By the experience which Columbus acquired, during fuch a variety of voyages, to almoft every part of the globe with which, at that time, any intercourse was carried on by fea, he was now become one of the moft fkilful navigators in Europe. But, not fatisfied with that praife, his ambition, aimed at fomething more. The fuccefsful progrefs of the Portuguese navigators had awakened a fpirit of curiofity and emulation, which let every man of science upon examining all the circumftances that led to the discoveries which they had made, or that afforded a profpect of fucceeding in any new and bolder undertaking. The mind of Columbus, naturally inquifitive, capable of deep reflection, and turned to fpeculations of this kind, was io often employed in revolving the principles upon which the Portuguese had founded their schemes of difcovery, and the

mode in which they had carried them on, that he gradually began to form an idea of improving upon their plan, and of accomplishing difcoveries which hitherto they had attempted in vain.

To find out a paffage by fea to the Eaft Indies, was the great object in view at that period. From the time that the Portuguefe doubled Cape de Verd, this was the point at which they aimed in all their navigations, and in comparifon with it, all their difcoveries in Africa appeared inconfiderable. The fertility and riches of India had been known for many ages; its fpices and other valuable commodities were in high request throughout Europe, and the vaft wealth of the Venetians arifing from their having engroffed this trade, had raised the envy of all nations. But how intent foever the Portuguese were upon discovering a new route to thofe defirable regions, they fearched for it only by fteering towards the fouth, in hopes of arriving at India, by turning to the caft, after they had failed. round the farther extremity of Africa. This courfe was still unknown, and, even if discovered, was of fuch immenfe length, that a voyage from Europe to India muft have appeared, at that period, an undertaking extremely arduous, and of very uncertain iffuc. More than half a century had been employed in advancing from Cape Non to the equator; a much longer space of time might clapfe before the more extenfive navigation from that to India could be accomplished. These reflections upon the uncertainty, the danger and tedioufnels of the courfe which the Portuguese were pursuing, naturally led Columbus to confider whether a fhorter and more direct paffage to the East Indies might not be found out. After revolving long and feriously every circumstance fuggefted by his fuperior knowledge in the theory as well as practice of navigation, after comparing attentively the obfervations of modern pilots with the hints and conjectures of ancient authors, he at last concluded, that by failing directly towards the weft, across the Atlantic ocean, new countries, which probably formed a part of the great continent of India, muft infallibly be difcovered.

Principles and arguments of various kinds, and derived from different fources, induced him to adopt this opinion, feemingly as chimerical as it was new and extraordinary. The fpherical figure of the earth was known, and its magnitude afcertained with fome degree of accuracy. From this it was evident, that the continents of Europe, Afia, and Africa, as far as they were known at that time, formed but a fmall portion of the terraqueous globe. It was a fuitable idea concerning the wildom and beneficience of the Author of Nature, to believe that the vaft space, ftill unexplored, was not covered entirely by wafte