Mississippi. It was large enough to hold twenty families. Its construction was begun by planting in a circle a number of tall, straight trees, such as grow in swamps. Their tops were then bent inward, and lashed together. The whole structure was then covered with thatch, a hole being left in the top for the escape of the smoke. Twenty apartments, like stalls for horses, separated one from another by mat partitions, but open in front, were ranged in regular order around the inside. In these the families slept.

bow and arrow, were The latter was a stick stone hatchet, or piece With these weapons

6. The Indian's weapons, beside the the wooden spear and the tomahawk. two or three feet long, with a knob, or of deer's horn, fastened to its end. the Indian went forth to fight. Hunting was his daily labor, but war, it may be said, was ever his master passion. In fact, the tribes were at strife with each other so much that it is a wonder there was a single Indian alive when the "pale faces" came to take possession of his country. In the colder region and near the ocean coast, the Indian was not quite so warlike. He hunted the deer, speared the salmon, captured the cod, and trapped the beaver. In some parts of the land, the obedient and ill-treated squaws cultivated small patches of ground. "Working with hoes of wood and bone, among charred stumps, they raised corn, beans, and pumpkins."*

7. If we are not able to say when and how this continent received its first inhabitants, we are quite certain that there was a time when the people of the eastern continent had no

*"In 1696, the invading army of Count Frontenac, Governor of Canada, found the maize fields of the Iroquois extending a league from their villages. In 1779, the troops of General Sullivan were filled with amazement at their abundant stores of corn, beans, and squashes, and at the old apple orchards which grew around their settlements."-Parkman's Conspiracy of Pontiac.

6. What is said of the Indian's weapons? Of war among the Indians? Of hunt g? Of work done by the Indian women?

7. What theories have been advanced as to the first discovery of America?

of America.

knowledge whatever of this our western world. They did not then even suspect, as far as we know, that there was a First Discovery second continent. The question then occurs: Who, among their adventurers, was the first to learn the great fact? Or, as we are in the habit of putting it, Who first discovered America ? Did some unlucky vessel, as has been surmised, sailing out of the Mediterranean into the Atlantic, long before seamen had more than the sun and stars to tell them in what direction to steer their barks, encounter storms which drove it across the ocean to the strange shore? Not many years ago a book was published to prove that in the fifth century a party of monks wandered from the southwestern part of Asia to Japan, then sailed to the northern islands of the Pacific and crossed to America. Shall we believe another story-it has been told by more than one-of a Welsh prince, who, about the year 1170, discovered this continent, and seeing the land to be fertile, left a number of his party and returned to his own country? The tradition asserts that with ten ships, he sailed again for the new land, but was never afterward heard of.

8. Shall we believe the stories told by the Sa'-ga-men? The home of these story-tellers was in Norway, the people of

The Northmen's Discoveries.

which country, living so far north, were called Northmen, or Norsemen. A thousand years ago the Norsemen were a bold and hardy race. They built ships in which they made voyages to distant lands. They were the dread of all western Europe, for, being strong and fearless sailors, and fierce and daring soldiers, they made many conquests. By accident they discovered Iceland, one of their famous sea-rovers having been driven upon its coast by a storm (861). By a like accident, fifteen years later, they discovered Greenland. By a third accident, not unlike the others, they discovered the main land, the

8. Who were the Sagamen? The Norsemen ? What is said of the discovery of Iceland? Greenland? Where are these lands? Where was Vinland supposed to be?

continent itself (1001). Soon afterward they made voyages to the continent, so it is related in their sagas, or legends. At a place, supposed to be in Massachusetts, which they called Vinland, they made a settlement, but were driven from it by the Indians.

9. This name, Vinland, figures largely in the stories told by the Sagamen. Its origin is given thus: A captain by the

NORMAN SHIPS OF THE ELEVENTH CENTURY.

name of Leif (life), meaning the Fortunate, was in command of the settlement. One day he missed his servant, a little German. Fearing that he might be killed by Indians or by

9. Relate Leif's adventure with his German servant.

wild animals, Leif went with a few men to search for him. Toward evening the servant was met as he was coming back. "He was smacking his lips and talking. For some time he would do nothing but laugh, and talk German. When they got him to talk Norse, he explained that to his great joy he had found vines and grapes in great abundance." He led them to the spot, and Leif thereupon named the country Vinland.* (Read note 34, Appendix, p. 53.)

10. Iceland, called Snowland by its discoverers, soon gained quite a number of inhabitants, for the rule of Norway's king was so hard and oppressive that many of his chiefs, with their families, fled to it. Greenland, when first seen by the Norsemen, contained not a single human being. In the course of two centuries, so many Norwegians and Danes went to it that more than a hundred villages were formed within its borders. Strange to say, all these have disappeared. Not one of those old houses remains. Did an enemy, as has been asserted, sail to Greenland, and with fire. and sword lay waste the country? Or was the destruction begun by the dreadful plague, known as the "black death," and completed by fierce winds, terrible colds, and deep snows?

11. This story is strange, the more so when we learn that it slumbered hundreds of years after its alleged events took place. All knowledge of Greenland and of the Norsemen's

* An "old stone mill," used by the early English settlers of Rhode Island as a grist mill, and probably built by them for that purpose, was long a puzzle. Danish writers claimed that it was erected by Northmen. Its walls, still standing, and covered with moss and ivy, present a picturesque object. Newport's summer visitors look upon it, wonder, and speculate. "The first notice of it known to exist is in the will of Governor Arnold, of Newport, dated December 20, 1677. He therein directs his body to be buried at a certain spot 'being and lying in my land near the path from my dwelling house leading to my stone-built windmill !'"-Palfrey's History of New England.

10. Give the former history of Greenland. The condition of affairs there now. 11. What was Columbus's theory about getting to India?

discoveries south of it was entirely forgotten. When Columbus, in 1492, launched boldly upon the Atlantic, he did not know that there was any continent other than the one on which he lived. He had never heard of another. What grand idea did he cherish? He firmly believed the earth to be round-not a common belief

Theory

of

Columbus.

in his day-and on this opinion he built the theory that by sailing westward he would

get to India. In other words, he believed that the shortest way from Europe to India was across the Atlantic.

12. When the people of Europe spoke of India in those days they had no clear idea of what they were talking about. They had heard the marvelous story told by Marco Polo, a Venetian, who had been in the service of the Khan

CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS.

India.

of Tartary, and had visited many of the cities in eastern Asia. They had also heard the stories of travelers who had been in southern Asia. All these stories represented the far-off regions to be rich in gold, silver, precious stones, spices, and other choice objects of commerce. It may be said that India in the fifteenth century, included the southeastern part of Asia, with the islands in its vicinity.

13. Only two cities of Europe, Genoa (jen'-o-ah) and Venice, had thus far carried on any commerce with India.

12. State what you can of Marco Polo. What constituted India?

13. Where is Genoa? (See school map.) Venice? What trade did the Venetians have with India? How was the trade carried on? How, between Genoa and India ?