the empress Catherine. He has thus made a collection of similar sounds, which at first sight wear a somewhat imposing aspect. Professor Vater,* however, by collecting these into one point, has, in my opinion, triumphantly refuted the inference attempted to be drawn from them. The resemblances amount in all to about fifty-five; but they are by no means of any one language to any other language. One correspondence, for instance, is between the Samoiede and the Delaware language; the next between the Ostiak and the Algonquin. Upon the whole, upwards of thirty Asiatic and the same number of American languages are employed in bringing out this very slender amount of coincidences; making an average of not quite two words to each language. It seems somewhat odd, that a greater number of similar sounds should not have been the result of mere chance. It is also very singular, that the most remote Asiatic countries, those which seem most beyond the reach of intercourse with America, contribute as liberally as those which are in the closest contiguity with that continent. Professor Vater, however, after overthrowing the work of his predecessor, has not hesitated to undertake a similar fabric of his own, and, by immense labour, has actually raised the number of resemblances to a hundred and four; but, to obtain this result, he has been obliged to bring into requisition more than thirty other languages, including those of Europe, Africa, and Australasia; so that * Untersuchungen uber den America's Bevolkerung, p. 47-55. his results are quite as futile as those which he had previously subverted.* Lastly, M. Malte Brun, taking Asia and America only, collecting all that had been done by his predecessors, and adding a few of his own, has made out about a hundred and twenty; but for this purpose he has been obliged to bring into play upwards of sixty languages in each world; so that it seems somehow impossible to pass the fatal average of two words to a language.+ The resemblances being so inconclusive, in consequence of the smallness of their number, it may seem superfluous to criticise that small number very severely; and yet they afford considerable room for criticism. Almost all the striking agreements consist in the natural sounds,-Ata, Baba, Papa, Mama, Ana, which, being the first usually uttered by the infant organs, are employed in all languages to express the tender relation which exists between the parent and child. Of the others, many really appear excessively faint. The similarity of kekackquees to kuk, -pappoos to pup,-peechten to paschi,-keesq to kus, metzli to muts,-mequarme to mik, appear to be the reverse of striking. - There really is something mysterious in this total absence of all analogy between the languages of the old and new world. It appears the more singular, when we observe that all the languages of the numerous nations of the civilized world spring from one or two original stocks, which have also close ana * Untersuchungen, &c. 156-74. + Universal Geography, v. logies with each other. It should seem, that the speech of wandering tribes, who migrate to distant regions, and have neither written record nor traditionary poetry to preserve any fixed standard, undergoes by degrees a total change. Even the provincial dialects in the remoter districts of England diverge so widely from the genuine standard as to be absolutely unintelligible to the speaker of pure English and to the inhabitants of other provinces. Hence we may wonder less at a still more entire change taking place in cases of wider and longer separation. The extraordinary number of languages which exist within America itself, and their faint analogies to each other, tend to confirm this supposition.* * Vater, Untersuchungen, &c. 195-203. Humboldt, Personal Narrative, vi. 359. BOOK I. DISCOVERY AND COLONIZATION OF NORTH AMERICA. CHAPTER I. EARLY VOYAGES TO THE AMERICAN COAST. Discovery of North America.-John and Sebastian Cabot.Various Accounts of their Voyage.-Ponce de Leon, Discovery of Florida.-Verazzani-His Voyages along the American Coast -His tragical Fate.-Cartier discovers the Gulf of St Law-Canada-Montreal-Roberval. rence It is not here intended to enter into any detail of the grand discovery by Columbus. That event (the best. known of any in modern times) has been received into the domain of history, and has been recorded by Robertson with an eloquence and interest with which I should reluctantly enter into competition. Still more, since Mr Irving has given new force to the character of Columbus, and painted the shores of the new world in such magic tints, the writer would be daring who should attempt to tread in such footsteps. This work, besides, relates to North America, and Columbus only saw the southern, and did not, at any point, come into contact with the northern part of that mighty continent, which he had been the instrument of discovering. Henry VII. of England narrowly, and somewhat hardly, missed the glory of attaching to his name and that of his country, the discovery of the transatlantic world. Columbus, finding his negotiations at the courts of Spain and Portugal in an unpromising state, sent his brother, Bartholomew, to treat with Henry, who, notwithstanding his cautious and penurious habits, appears very readily to have closed with the proposition.* Before, however, Bartholomew returned to Spain, his brother, under the auspices of Isabella, had sailed on the voyage, from which he returned triumphant. Henry, though he had missed the main prize, continued still disposed to encourage those who were inclined to embark in the brilliant adventure. An offer was soon made to him from a respectable quarter. Such are the vicissitudes of human destiny, that the English, who were to become the greatest maritime people in the world, ventured not then to undertake distant voyages but under the guidance of Italians,a people whose vessels are now never seen beyond the Mediterranean. Finding encouragement, however, from the rising spirit of the nation, John Caboto, whom we call Cabot, a Venetian, came over with his three sons to settle in England. By him a plan was *Hackluyt, i. 4. |