“Brendan, having prosecuted his inquiries with all diligence, returned to his native Kerry, and from a bay sheltered by a lofty mountain, that is now known by his name, he set sail for the Atlantic land and directing his course towards the Southwest, in order to meet the summer solstice, or what we call the ‘tropic’ after a long and rough voyage, came to summer seas where he was carried without sail or oar for many a long day. This, it is presumed, was the great Gulf Stream and which brought his vessel to shore, somewhere about the Virginia Capes, or where the American coast tends eastward and forms the New England States. There landing, he and his companions marched far into the interior and came to a large river, flowing East and West, which was evidently the Ohio River. After some years’ exploration, the holy adventurer was about to cross the river when he was accosted by a person of noble presence (but whether a real or imaginary man does not appear), who told him that he had gone far enough in that direction and that further discoveries were reserved for other men who would in due time come and Christianize all that pleasant land. The above, when tested by common sense, clearly shows that Brendan landed on a continent and went a good way into the interior.” It is now supposed that St. Brendan and his companions soon returned to Ireland. Some writers state that he made a second voyage to this country, but there is no proof for that statement. In the sagas of Scandinavia, America is called Irland Mikla, or “Great Ireland.” The Scandinavian records contain an account of three voyages made to America after the time of St. Brendan and before the arrival of Columbus. Voraginius, the Provincial of the Dominicans and Bishop of Genoa in the thirteenth century, devotes much space in his “Golden Legend” to St. Brendan’s Land. Wynkyn de Worde, the first English printer, wrote a life of St. Brendan, which was published in 1483, just nine years before Columbus sailed from Palos. Several Italians, who wrote in the fifteenth century, had much to say about St. Brendan’s discovery, and it is to be presumed that the mind of Columbus was well stored with the traditions of America’s first discoverer, which had come down through the Middle Ages. Here are a few sentences spoken by St. Brendan on the banks of what is now supposed to be the Ohio River: “Behold the land which you have longed for so long a time. “The reason you saw it not sooner was that God desired to show you the secrets of the ocean.