Produced by Christine P. Travers and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net [Transcriber's note: Obvious printer's errors have been corrected, all other inconsistencies are as in the original. The author's spelling has been maintained. Unusual superscripts are shown as ^{xx}, e.g.: w^{ch} for which. Description of the characters not found in the Unicode tables: [=a] a with macron. [=e] e with macron. [=i] i with macron. [=o] o with macron. [=u] u with macron. [)i] i with breve. [-p] p with stroke. [~m] m with tilde. [~p] p with tilde. [~q] q with tilde. [=z] ezh. [ deg.u] u with ring.] THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA _WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF ANCIENT AMERICA AND THE SPANISH CONQUEST_ BY JOHN FISKE _IN TWO VOLUMES_ VOL. I. Then I unbar the doors; my paths lead out The exodus of nations; I disperse Men to all shores that front the hoary main. I too have arts and sorceries; Illusion dwells forever with the wave. I make some coast alluring, some lone isle To distant men, who must go there or die. EMERSON [Illustration: Editor's arm.] BOSTON AND NEW YORK HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY The Riverside Press, Cambridge 1897 Copyright, 1892, By JOHN FISKE. _All rights reserved._ SIXTEENTH THOUSAND. _The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U. S. A._ Electrotyped and Printed by H. O. Houghton & Company. TO EDWARD AUGUSTUS FREEMAN, A SCHOLAR WHO INHERITS THE GIFT OF MIDAS, AND TURNS INTO GOLD WHATEVER SUBJECT HE TOUCHES, I DEDICATE THIS BOOK, WITH GRATITUDE FOR ALL THAT HE HAS TAUGHT ME PREFACE.