Supposing these latter discoveries to be authentic, they could hardly
have escaped the attention of Columbus, who had himself navigated in
the arctic seas, but whose mind dwelt with such intense fondness upon
his favorite idea of finding a passage to the East Indies, across the
western ocean, that he might have neglected these indications of the
existence of another continent in the direction pursued by the
Venetian adventurers.

At all events, there is not the silghtest reason to believe that the
illustrious Genoese was acquainted with the discovery of North America
by the Normans five centuries before his time, however well
authenticated that fact now appears to be by the Icelandic records to
which we have referred. The colony established by them probably
perished in the same manner with the ancient establishments in
Greenland. Some faint traces of its existence may, perhaps, be found
in the relations of the Jesuit missionaries respecting a native tribe
in the district of Gaspe, at the mouth of the St. Lawrence, who are
said to have attained a certain degree of civilization, to have
worshiped the sun, and observed the position of the stars. Others
revered the symbol of the cross before the arrival of the French
missionaries, which, according to their tradition, had been taught
them by a venerable person who cured, by this means, a terrible
epidemic which raged among them.

[1] From Mr. Wheaton's "History of the Northmen," published in
1831. Mr. Wheaton was a native of Providence, R.I., and died in
Roxbury, Mass., in 1848, at the age of 63. He was an eminent
lawyer and publicist and author of "Elements of International
Law," a legal classic.