TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: Obvious errors in spelling and punctuation have been silently closed. [Illustration: A MAP OF CAPE COD AS IT APPEARED AT THE BEGINNING OF THE 17TH CENTURY. See page 30.] THE PRE-COLUMBIAN DISCOVERY OF AMERICA BY THE NORTHMEN, ILLUSTRATED BY Translations from Icelandic Sagas, EDITED WITH NOTES AND A GENERAL INTRODUCTION, BY B. F. DE COSTA. [Illustration] _ALBANY_: JOEL MUNSELL. 1868. PREFACE. The aim of the present work is to place within the reach of the English reading historical student every portion of the Icelandic Sagas essentially relating to the Pre-Columbian Discovery of America by the Northmen. These Sagas are left, in the main, to tell their own story; though, with the necessary introductions, notes have been added, either to remove misconceptions, to give information in regard to persons and places, or to show the identity of localities described. So long ago as the year 1838, a distinguished writer in the _North American Review_, in closing a valuable and appreciative article on the Sagas relating to America, said: "We trust that some zealous student of these subjects will be immediately found, who will put the Icelandic authorities into an English dress, and prepare them, with proper literary apparatus, for the perusal of the general reader." Nevertheless, no one in this country has really undertaken the task until now; for the dialogues of Joshua Toulmin Smith, however valuable they may have proved at the date of their publication, can by no means be regarded as constituting the strict historical work contemplated. The English treatise by Beamish was conceived in the right spirit; but, while encumbered with much irrelevant matter, it did not complete the subject, and, together with Smith's work, long since went out of print. Several of the brief Narratives are also given by Laing, buried in the appendix of his valuable translation of the _Heimskringla_; but the labors of these authors are not now available, and, if combined, would not meet the present want. The author has therefore improved a favorable occasion to present what may, perhaps, be regarded as an exposition of the whole question. In doing so he has freely made use of such material from the above mentioned writers as he considered valuable for the purpose. The brief translations of Laing, being well done, have been given entire, with the exception that particular expressions have been improved upon; but such portions of the unsatisfactory and not altogether ingenuous work of Smith as have been used have been somewhat thoroughly recast. A better use could have been made of Beamish's work, if the author had succeeded in obtaining a copy before he was on the point of closing up his work.