THE EARLY HISTORY OF AMERICA.*
THE title of Mr. De Roo's book, History of America before Columbus, suggests an atmosphere of legend and romance ; and, indeed, though this first impression is unfair to the real value of the two large volumes, much of the knowledge col- lected in them is derived, through many historical and scientific authorities, from tradition of one kind or another. This is, and must be, among the richest sources of information for history hidden in such clouds as that of early America certainly. is It has become possible, however, to penetrate the darkness, and though the literature on the subject must be to a great extent guesswork, doctors differing on nearly every point, people of ordinary information will learn with interest that neither civilisation nor Christianity, to all appear- ance, was by any means first introduced by the European discoverers of the fifteenth century. These things, of course, have long been known to the learned, but have mostly been bidden in places generally inaccessible, such as the Vatican and other ancient libraries.
It is a wonderful story that Mr. De Roo unrolls before us, but it does not make a readable book. The authorities are so Many and so various that one can "hardly see the wood for the trees." Fact and fancy, history, legend and tradition, are mixed together in an almost inextricable tangle. The story begins with the earliest traces of brown mankind on American soil, and ends with the end of the fifteenth century, where American history generally begins. Kitchen-Middens, Cave- men, Mound-builders, Cliff-dwellers, Mayas, Pueblos, Linapis, —all these mysterious races follow each other; their place in civilisation, high in the case of some, is proved by scientific study of the remains they have left. And more than this ; their Biblical and even Christian traditions, as far as those of later date are concerned, seem to show that America was not the land unknown of Europe which Plato dreamed of, half suspecting perhaps, like sages long after, that some hidden world really held the place of his Atlantis beyond the ocean.
It is very difficult, among the dim and crossing lights which shine such a little way in media3val darkness, to reach clear • (1.) History of America before Columbus: according to Documents awl Approsecl Aullkors. By P. De Boo. 2 cols. VOL L. "American Aborigines " ; Vol. /1”. " European Immigrants." London : J. B. Lippincott Company. [306. net.] —(2) The .8nilin. Conquest in America. By Sir Arthur Helps. New Edition. Edited by M. Oppenheim. 4 vols. VoL I. London: J. Lane. [3s. ed. net.] conclusions about the first visits of white men to 'America. Mr. De Roo's untiring industry has indeed brought together an immense heap of materiauz pour Benin but we do not feel sure that historians will finally accept all the conclusions he is inclined to found upon them. As to North America, there is not much doubt about the very early visits of the Icelandic explorers, and the Linapi or Delaware traditions of white men in "big bird ships" are confirmed by many signs of Scandinavian colonising and teaching as far south as Massa- chusetts. This brings in all the interesting and romantic story of the early Church of Greenland, with its long list of Bishops, which perished mysteriously some time in the four- teenth century, and was forgotten for hundreds of years.
Mr. De Roo seems at first sight to be on less sure ground when he claims for the Irish nation a still earlier activity in discovering America and founding missions there. To him St. Brendan is something better than a legend. He has the authority of many ancient writers for thinking that Irish monks and colonists sailed across the Atlantic long before the tenth century, and settled upon the American shores to such good purpose that they left behind them those traditions of Christianity which always existed as a softening background, derived from the Toltecs, in the savage Aztec religion. The early Irish Church did a good many wonderful things, but if she had discovered and Christianised America, we cannot help thinking that some better record would remain than vague conjecture, legend, and tradition. All details are known of the Church in Greenland; it seems strange that the cloudy veil of the Dark Ages should have been drawn over such a wonderful and adventurous thing as the finding of America by the Church in Ireland. However, Mr. De Roes chapters on the subject show what can be found or guessed at by diligent study ; and certainly it is much more than ordinary intelligence would expect.
Scientific study of tradition has advanced a good deal since
Prescott wrote The Conquest of Mexico. Everybody who has
read that enchanting book will remember the introductory chapters on the religion of the Mexicans ; how strangely some of its beliefs, doctrines, and practices resembled those of
Catholic Christianity, while mixed up with human sacrifices and other horrors. Without attempting to explain this, Prescott contented himself with remarking on the family like- ness among religious beliefs all over the world. Of course this is so; and no subject is more curious or more interesting; but it seems by no means possible to conclude in all cases that these resemblances spring from original teaching. Yet there are instances in which this probability seems very strong, and the ancient Toltec religion is one of them. All over Central and Southern America, in monuments, records, and traditions, are found these vestiges of Christianity. The miraculous birth of a Saviour, His going about doing good, and finally ascending into heaven ; His Cross held in honour; baptism, the Eucharist, confession, penance, and other ancient religious institutions,—all this, more or less corrupted, is to be. found in the early religion of Mexico, Peru, and other parts of America. It has been thought that St. Thomas visited and taught in America, as well BA India. Some have identified him with Quetzalcoatl, the Mexican god or teacher to whom the milder side of this religion seems to be due. Mr. De Roo— we should say that his point of view is distinctly Catholic— does not absolutely contradict this idea. But he thinks it more probable, or at least possible, that St. Brendan, towards the sixth century, may have been the "first founder of Christian missions in America." Or, if not St. Brendan himself, tradition points to some mysterious white teacher, some apostle from beyond the seas, who appeared with a band of followers dressed as monks, spent years in civilising, re- forming, and Christianising the tribes who received him, was honoured and obeyed during his stay, and remembered with reverence till his teaching had so far faded that he was wor- shipped as a god. Readers of Prescott will remember how Quetzalcoatl was expected to return, and how the unfOrtn- nate Mexicans welcomed Cortes and his Spaniards in the idea that the day long expected had arrived at last. Here, in.Mr. De Roes first volume, we have all that is known or guessed about Quetzalcoatl, together with very curious arguments to prove, as far as such a theory can be proved, that he was an On the whole, the book is well mirth study; and if its ecclesiastical standpoint is made a matter of objection, it is to be remembered that science and history must necessarily work together among the puzzling labyrinths of the early world, and that, from the dawn of Christianity till the Renais- sanee, both science and history, but especially history, owe more to the Church than to any other agency. She dia. covered, she recorded ; her missionaries were sailors and teachers; it may well be that a few hundred miles of Atlantic Ocean did not frighten them.
Mr. John Lane has just published the first volume of a very welcome new edition of Sir Arthur Helps's Spanish Con- quest in America. The book, like all its author's writings, has a singular charm of its own. It catches that romance, that strange mixture of brightness and melancholy, which belongs to all early American history. The story cannot be written entirely from scientific facts with daylight upon them. The mists of the unknown background, spreading so far into the world we know, give an atmosphere of poetry. Sir Arthur Ilelps's literary enthusiasm and his charming touch were made to dealwith such a subject. We could have read the volume very happily, and enjoyed it rather more, without the intro- duction and notes in which Mr. Oppenheim has supplemented its information and remarked here and there on its mistakes of view. But these may be useful to readers who like their history up to date; the present writer has an old-fashioned prejudice in favour of unedited masterpieces. For instance, it hardly seems necessary to differ in a note from Sir Arthur Helps's personal estimate of Isabella of Spain. We must add, however, that the introduction is very interesting, deal. ing with some of those Atlantean traditions which this article has already touched upon, and that the maps, a new feature of this edition, are quite invaluable to a student of early American history.
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