Lexington, action at 56, 394 | Newspapers in New Jersey 523 Liberty, Indian notions of Map, first Mariage, laws respecting Massachusetts Indians Ogilby's America. 443 137 Onondaga country ravaged. do. in New York. 520 90 Night Walking, laws against 309 279 Northern Lights 476 137 Norridgewock Expedition 282 Oath, omission of 369 452 480 332 Quakers, persecution of, 44, 345 39, 164 44 do. in New Hampshire. 523 Records of Connecticut. Sabbath, when begun 397 427 85 485 218 359 Vermont, first settlement of 115 Verrazzano, discoveries by . 489 Vineyard, Martha's, discov'd 13 499 Wadsworth, Capt., death of 247 188 259 411 362 Washington, Fort, capture of 416 OUTLINE HISTORY OF THE NEW ENGLAND STATES. THERE are good reasons for believing that the first civilized people who visited New England, were a colony of Norwegians, or Northmen. The original Icelandic accounts of the voyages of discovery, performed by these men, are still in existence; and have been recently published by the Society of Antiquaries, at Copenhagen. The following suminary of events, and conclusions, respecting the discovery and first settlement of this country are drawn by the authors of that publication. "In the spring of 986, Eric the Red, emigrated from Iceland to Greenland, and formed a settlement there. In 994, Biarne, the son of Heriulf Bardson, one of the settlers who accompanied Eric, returned to Norway, and gave an account of discoveries he had made to the south of Greenland. On his return to Greenland, Leif, the son of Eric, bought Biarne's ship, and with a crew of 35 men, embarked on a voyage of discovery, A. D. 1000. After sailing sometime to the southwest, they fell in with a country covered with a slaty rock, and destitute of good qualities, and which, therefore, they called Helluland, (Slate-land.) They then continued southerly, until they found a low flat coast, with white sand cliffs, and immediately back, covered with wood, whence they called the country Markland, (Wood-land.) From here, they sailed south and west, until they arrived at a promontory which stretched to the east and north, and sailing round it turned to the west and sailing westward, passed between an island and the mainland, and entering a bay through which flowed a river, they concluded to winter there. Having landed they built houses to winter in, and called the place Leifsbuthir, (Leifs-booths.) Soon after this, they discovered an abundance of vines, whence they named the country Vinland or Wineland. Antiquarians have been much puzzled to know where Vinland was located, but the Antiquarian Society, to ANTIQUITATES AMERICANE, sive Scriptores Septentrionales rerum Ante-Colum bianarum in America. (Antiquities of America, or Northern writers of things in America before Columbus.) Hafnia, 1837, 4to. pp. 486. whose exertions we owe the above work, after the most careful examination of all the evidence on the subject, do not hesitate to place it at the head of Narraganset Bay, in Rhode Island. Every thing in the description of the voyage and country, agrees most exactly with this. The promontory extending east and north, corresponds closely with that of Barnstable and Cape Cod, and the islands they would encounter immediately upon turning west, would be Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard. Two years after, [1002,] Thorwold, the brother of Leif, visited Vinland, where he spent two years, and was finally murdered by the natives. Before his death, he coasted round the promontory, and called the north end, now Cape Cod, Kjalarnes, (Keel-Cape.) He was killed and buried on a small promontory, reaching south from the mainland, on the west side of the Bay, inclosed by the promontory of Kjalarnes, and which answers most accurately to the strip of land on the east side of Plymouth harbour, now called Gurnet's Point. The Norwegians called it Krassanes, (Crossness or Cross-land,) because the grave of Thorwold had a cross erected at both ends. In 1007, three ships sailed from Greenland for Vinland, one under the command of Thorfinn Karlsefne, a Norwegian of royal descent, and Snorre Thorbrandson, of distinguished lineage; one other commanded by Biarne Grimalfson and Thorhall Gamlason; and the third by Thorward and Thorhall. The three ships had 160 men, and carried all sorts of domestic animals necessary for the comfort and convenience of a colony. An account of this voyage, and a history of the country, by Thorfinn Karlsefne, is still extant, and forms one of the documents in the Antiquitates Americana. They sailed from Greenland to Helluland, and passing Markland, arrived at Kjalarnes; whence sailing south by the shore of the promontory, which they found to consist of trackless beaches and long wastes of sand, they called it Furthustrandir, (Wonder-Strand or Beach;) whether on account of the extensive sandy shore, or from the mirage and optical illusion so common at Cape Cod, it is impossible to determine. Passing south, they sailed by the island discovered by Leif, which they called Straumey, (Stream-Isle,) probably Martha's Vineyard, and the straits between, Straumfjothr, (Stream-Firth,) and arrived at Vinland, where they spent the winter. The Bay into which they sailed, they called Hopsvatn, and their residence received. the name of Hop, (English Hope, Indian Haup,) the identical Mount Hope, so much celebrated as the residence of King Philip.. After various successes, Thorfinn returned to Greenland, and finally went to Iceland and settled. From a comparison of all the remaining accounts of these voyages, the geographical, nautical and astronomical facts con tained in them, with the natural history and geography of this country when first settled by the whites, there can be little doubt that Vinland has been correctly located by the learned society. By similar evidence it also appears, that Markland was what is now called Nova Scotia; that Litla Helluland (Little Helluland) was Newfoundland; and that Helluland it Mikla, (Great Helluland,) was the coast of Labrador. We ought also to have observed above, that Straumfjothr (Stream-Firth) probably included the whole of Buzzard's Bay. Of the climate of Vinland the Northmen say, it was, when they were there, so mild that cattle would live out-doors during the year, that the snow fell but lightly, and that the grass continued to be green in some places, nearly all winter. Among the productions of Vinland, were, abundance of vines, a kind of wild wheat (maize,) a beautiful wood which they called mazer (Birdseye-maple, Acer Saccharinum,) a great variety of forest animals, eider ducks in great plenty, and the rivers and bays they describe as filled with fish, among which they reckon salmon, halibut, whales, &c. It is also said by the same historians, that the sun rose at half past seven o'clock in the shortest days, which is the exact time it rises at Mount Hope. Subsequent to this time, explorations were made to the south of Vinland, along the eastern shore, and judging from the fragments of voyages, it would seem that some penetrated as far south as Florida. The whole country south of Chesapeak Bay is called by them Hvitramannaland, (white-man's-land,) or Ireland it Mikla, (Ireland the Great.) In 1121, Vinland was visited by bishop Eric, and as there is no account of his return, it seems probable that he spent his days there."" Soon after the first settlement of this part of the country, a remarkable rock covered with hieroglyphics, was discovered in the present town of Berkley, since known as the "Dighton Writing Rock." This rock which has caused much speculation among antiquarians, is of fine grained gray granite, a few feet above the present low water mark, in Taunton river and is partially covered at every tide. The face of the rock is. eleven feet long, and rises from the ground about five: the inscriptions are apparently pecked into it, the channels of the letters or marks being about a half, or three fourths of an inch in width. For this summary account, the author is indebted to an article published in the "Chronicle of the Church," by A. B. Chapin, Esq. of New Haven, Con. |