A Book of Discovery

Conditions and Terms of Use INTRODUCTION Copyright © Heritage History 2009 "Hope went before them, and the world was wide." Some rights reserved Such was the spirit in which the exploration of the world This text was produced and distributed by Heritage History, an organization was accomplished. It was the inspiration that carried men of old dedicated to the preservation of classical juvenile history books, and to the far beyond the sunrise into those magic and silent seas whereon promotion of the works of traditional history authors. no boat had ever sailed. It is the incentive of those to-day with the wander-thirst in their souls, who travel and suffer in the The books which Heritage History republishes are in the public domain and are no longer protected by the original copyright. They may therefore be reproduced travelling, though there are fewer prizes left to win. But within the United States without paying a royalty to the author. "The reward is in the doing, And the rapture of pursuing The text and pictures used to produce this version of the work, however, are Is the prize." the property of Heritage History and are licensed to individual users with some restrictions. These restrictions are imposed for the purpose of protecting the integrity "To travel hopefully," says Stevenson, "is a better thing of the work itself, for preventing plagiarism, and for helping to assure that than to arrive." This would explain the fact that this Book of compromised or incomplete versions of the work are not widely disseminated. Discovery has become a record of splendid endurance, of In order to preserve information regarding the origin of this text, a copyright hardships bravely borne, of silent toil, of courage and resolution by the author, and a Heritage History distribution date are included at the foot of unequalled in the annals of mankind, of self-sacrifice unrivalled every page of text. We request all electronic and printed versions of this text include and faithful lives laid ungrudgingly down. Of the many who these markings and that users adhere to the following restrictions. went forth, the few only attained. It is of these few that this book tells. 1) This text may be reproduced for personal or educational purposes as long as the original copyright and Heritage History version number are faithfully "All these," says the poet in Ecclesiastes—"all these were reproduced. honoured in their generation, and were the glory of their times . 2) You may not alter this text or try to pass off all or any part of it as your own . their name liveth for evermore." work. But while we read of those master-spirits who succeeded, 3) You may not distribute copies of this text for commercial purposes unless let us never forget those who failed to achieve. you have the prior written consent of Heritage History. "Anybody might have found it, but the Whisper came to Me." 4) This text is intended to be a faithful and complete copy of the original Enthusiasm too was the secret of their success. Among document. However, typos, omissions, and other errors may have occurred the best of crews there was always some one who would have during preparation, and Heritage History does not guarantee a perfectly turned back, but the world would never have been explored had reliable reproduction. it not been for those finer spirits who resolutely went on—even Permission to use Heritage History documents or images for commercial to the death. purposes, or more information about our collection of traditional history resources This is what carried Alexander the Great to the "earth's can be obtained by contacting us at [email protected] utmost verge," that drew Columbus across the trackless Atlantic, Original Copyright 1920 by M. B. Synge 2 Distributed by Heritage History 2009 that nerved Vasco da Gama to double the Stormy Cape, that For the most part we are struck with the light-heartedness induced Magellan to face the dreaded straits now called by his of the olden sailor, the shout of gladness with which men went name, that made it possible for men to face without flinching the forth on these hazardous undertakings, knowing not how they ice-bound regions of the far North. would arrive, or what might befall them by the way, went forth "There is no land uninhabitable, nor sea unnavigable," in the smallest of wooden ships, with the most incompetent of asserted the men of the sixteenth century, when England set crews, to face the dangers of unknown seas and unsuspected herself to take possession of her heritage in the North. Such an lands, to chance the angry storm and the hidden rock, to discover heroic temper could overcome all things. But the cost was great, inhospitable shores and savage foes. Founded on bitter the sufferings intense. experience is the old saying— "A Passage Perilous makyth a Port Pleasant." "Having eaten our shoes and saddles boiled with a few wild herbs, we set out to reach the kingdom of gold," says For the early navigators knew little of the art of navigation. Orellana in 1540. "We ate biscuit, but in truth it was biscuit no longer, but Pytheas, who discovered the British Isles, was "a great a powder full of worms,—so great was the want of food, that we mathematician." Diego Cam, who sailed to the mouth of the were forced to eat the hides with which the mainyard was Congo, was "a knight of the King's household." Sir Hugh covered; but we had also to make use of sawdust for food, and Willoughby, "a most valiant gentleman." Richard Chancellor, "a rats became a great delicacy," related Magellan, as he led his man of great estimation for many good parts of wit in him." little ship across the unknown Pacific. Anthony Jenkinson, a "resolute and intelligent gentleman." Sir Walter Raleigh, an Elizabethan courtier, and so forth. Again, there is Franklin returning from the Arctic coast, and stilling the pangs of hunger with "pieces of singed hide It has been obviously impossible to include all the mixed with lichen," varied with "the horns and bones of a dead famous names that belong to the history of exploration. Most of deer fried with some old shoes." these explorers have been chosen for some definite new discovery, some addition to the world's geographical knowledge, The dangers of the way were manifold. or some great feat of endurance which may serve to brace us to For the early explorers had no land map or ocean chart to fresh effort as a nation famous for our seamen. English guide them, there were no lighthouses to warn the strange navigators have been afforded the lion's share in the book, partly mariner of dangerous coast and angry surf, no books of travel to because they took the lion's share in exploring, partly because relate the weird doings of fierce and inhospitable savages, no translations of foreign travel are difficult to transcribe. Most of tinned foods to prevent the terrible scourge of sailors, scurvy. In these stories have been taken from original sources, and most of their little wooden sailing ships the men of old faced every the explorers have been allowed to tell part of their own story in conceivable danger, and surmounted obstacles unknown to their own words. modern civilisation. Perhaps the most graphic of all explorations is that "Now strike your Sails ye jolly Mariners, written by a native of West Australia, who accompanied an For we be come into a quiet Rode." exploring party searching for an English lad named Smith, who had been starved to death. Original Copyright 1920 by M. B. Synge 3 Distributed by Heritage History 2009 "Away, away, away, away; we reach the water of which is Paradise as a circular island, with the four rivers and the Djunjup; we shoot game. Away, away, away through a forest figures of Adam and Eve. In the centre is Jerusalem. The world away, through a forest away; we see no water. Through a forest is divided into three—Asia, "Affrica," and Europe. Around this away, along our tracks away; hills ascending, then pleasantly earth-island flows the ocean. America is, of course, absent; the away, away, through a forest away. We see a water—along the East is placed at Paradise and the West at the Pillars of Hercules. river away—a short distance we go, then away, away, away North and South are left to the imagination. through a forest away. Then along another river away, across the And what of the famous map of Juan de la Cosa, once river away. Still we go onwards, along the sea away, through the pilot to Columbus, drawn in the fifteenth century, with St. bush away, then along the sea away. We sleep near the sea. I see Christopher carrying the infant Christ across the water, supposed Mr. Smith's footsteps ascending a sandhill; onwards I go to be a portrait of Christopher Columbus carrying the gospel to regarding his footsteps. I see Mr. Smith dead. Two sleeps had he America? It is the first map in which a dim outline appears of the been dead; greatly did I weep, and much I grieved. In his blanket New World. folding him, we scraped away the earth. The sun had inclined to the westward as we laid him in the ground." The early maps of "Apphrica" are filled with camels and unicorns, lions and tigers, veiled figures and the turrets and The book is illustrated with reproductions from old spires of strange buildings— maps—old primitive maps, with a real Adam and Eve standing "Geographers in Afric maps in the Garden of Eden, with Pillars of Hercules guarding the With savage pictures fill their gaps." Straits of Gibraltar, with Paradise in the east, a realistic Jerusalem in the centre, the island of Thule in the north, and St.

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