66 Windsor Castle. Imagine a Chinese | first words in use, may be the original Embassy, with the principal personage in root of this form. Many of the words in it explaining to Her Majesty that he is use are of unknown origin. In a numone piecey ambassador; that belongey ber of cases the English suppose them my pigeon. Emperor of China, one very to be Chinese, while the Chinese, on the muchy big piecey Emperor, &c." Clearly other hand, take them to be English. this style of talk is not likely to be used "Chow-chow" is one of these words. I for diplomatic purposes for some time. heard my own servant tell some of his countrymen that "Chow-chow" was the English for "food." It was on the bank of the Yang-tsee, near Nankin; they were country people, and as he could converse with me, he no doubt seemed to them a perfectly safe authority. A good many Chinese words are of course used, but the bulk of the vocabulary is English. 66 It is not very satisfactory to look forward even to the bare possibility of such a caricature of our tongue becoming an established language. Should this ever be the result, translations into it of our classic authors will become a necessity. Shakespeare and Milton turned into Pigeon English are fearful even to think of. There is a translation already in existence from one of our dramatists. It begins something in this way: My name belongey Norval, top- Pigeon English is as yet in such a very rudimentary form, that to talk of its grammar or vocabulary would only raise a smile among those familiar with it. When you hear it spoken it sounds like the utter defiance of all grammar; and yet if we are to remain in the country, as the Mahomedans did in India; if we are to retain our commercial camps — and our treaty-ports in that country are exactly such and if we, and the Americans at the same time, go on extending our commerce, a common language is an absolute condition of the case, and this new form of speech must progress. Already its idiomatic forms are becoming defined and understood. Chinese modes of expression are curiously mixed with English ones. The interrogative form is purely Chinese. Suppose you wish to ask a man if he can do anything for you, the sentence is put, "Can do? No can do?" and the reply is given by repeating whichever sentence expresses his abilities. It is the same with "Understand? No understand?" Piecey" is a word The Missionary "pigeon" will also in that is largely used, and clearly has its due time demand a translation of the origin in our own language of commerce Bible into this very vulgar tongue. which talks of "a piece of goods;" but Death has many consolations, and to the with the Chinaman everything is a number may be added this new one, "piecey." He does not say one man," "that before the consummation foretold but " one piecey man." There are a few above can be realized, we will have Hindostanee words in use, such as passed away, and our ears will be deaf "chit," for a letter, "tiffin," for lunch, to the hideous result. and "bund,” for a quay or an embank- Suppose any book for which you had ment. The word "Mandarin" is from reverence, or even a favourite piece of the Portuguese; "Dios" of the same poetry whose words your lips loved to language became "Joss," and is a well-repeat - imagine your feelings on hearknown word in China, Joss-house, or ing it converted into something like the God-house-meaning a Temple - being following. It is a translation of "Excelderived from it. "Savey" is from the sior" into Pigeon English. It may be Portuguese, and is always used as the necessary to explain to those whose edequivalent of "know." To have, or to ucation has been neglected in this Lan"topside " be connected with, is always expressed guage of the Future, that by "belongey." If you wish to say an means above, as the opposite of "bot"Galow" is untranslatable, article is not yours, you express it thus: tomside." "That no belongey me;" or if anything but added to "topside" the phrase beis not an affair of yours, you say, "That comes exclamatory, and is the nearest no belongey my pigeon." This terminal equivalent to Excelsior. "Chop-chop" ey of "belongey" is one of the forms means quick-quick, but anything such which is peculiar to this new language. as a stamp, monogram or device, would From it we have supposey," talkey," be called a "chop." Maskey" is an"walkey," "catchey," &c. The Portu- other of those words whose origin is unguese savey," which was one of the known. It has to do a great deal of 66 66 66 66 duty in Pigeon English. In the follow- | translation the reader will easily make ing it means "notwithstanding." To out the remainder of the piece. The "chin-chin Joss" is to worship God: moral, it will be noticed, is by the Pito chin-chin a person is to salute him.geon English translator. By placing the original alongside of the I W. SIMPSON. The shades of night were falling fast, "Excelsior!" His brow was sad; his eye beneath In happy homes he saw the light "Excelsior!" "Try not the Pass!" the old man said, "O stay," the maiden said, "and rest, "Excelsior!" "Beware the pine-tree's withered branch! "Excelsior!" At break of day, as heavenward A traveller, by the faithful hound, From The Cornhill Magazine. commentators will have it that these were some of our own British ancestors IN our present state of geographical so be-painted and disguised with woad as knowledge there seems to be some dan- to be mistaken for eastern savages. Howger lest all the old travellers' stories ever this may be, the story reminds us of which amused our youth should perish another, told in modern times by Bembo and be forgotten. Yet there was always the Venetian historian, with reference to something pleasant, and even fascinating, the then recent discoveries of Columbus. in the fairy-tales of travel which had A French ship, sailing in the Narrow struck the imagination of our ancestors; Seas, is said to have picked up a canoe and there is still a charm in any evidence built of oziers and bark: in this were which goes to show that Pliny and Polo seven swarthy men, whose faces were and the author of Sindbad's voyages were peculiarly broad and tattooed or stained not liars, but romantic enthusiasts re- with a violet colour; their dress was of tailing a poetical and inferior kind of fishes' skins and their crowns were woven truth about facts which have since be- of reeds and twisted in the shape of ears. come familiar. It is fortunate, therefore," Flesh they eat raw and they drank blood that the industry of bookworms, and like wine." Six of them soon died, but perhaps the influences of national vanity, the survivor is said to have lived for a have kept alive some of the histories of long time in the retinue of the French discovery (valueless in themselves), which king. startled or amused our forefathers. Among these are the legends relating to American discoveries with which this sketch is concerned; and we may, perhaps, account for their preservation by the fact that the more modern the history of a nation, or the more meagre it may be in details of ancient greatness, the more eagerness will be shown to collect and elucidate the smallest scraps of legend which can give importance to the memory of older generations. It is proposed, in this essay, to describe very shortly, some of the principal stories about the pre-Columbian America, which in the hands of Danish and American antiquarians have acquired an exaggerated importance: their value lying, as it appears, midway between the indifference which they received at first, and the incredulity which afterwards prevailed as to the facts on which undoubtedly they were based. The existence of a world in the west had of course been suspected long before the discovery of America. We may put aside the legend of the great island Atlantis, which Plato heard from the Egyptian priests, and with which, in later times, were incorporated all the fantastic stories which were brought home by the first travellers among the negro tribes. But one or two of the stories which floated about in old times are curious enough to be still worthy of notice. An ancient German chief was reported to have sent as a choice present to the Consul Metellus certain Indians, who losing their course and being battered up and down with contrary winds were shipwrecked in the North Sea and taken alive. Some How legends of this kind originated it is not easy to say. Some, perhaps, were mere impostures, and others created by the desire of believing in the Fortunate Islands "lying beyond the sunset," like the enchanted land which Irish fishermen have professed to see shining on the horizon west of Arran. Some may have had a real foundation. Many secrets of the sea must have become known to the bold sailors who traded between Carthage and the Tin Islands and Amber Coast. They certainly claimed some knowledge of lands in the Atlantic, which, perhaps, were the Azores, and other discoveries may have been made When the Phoenician sailors far astray Had brought uncertain notices away Of islands dreaming in the Middle Sea. Their pilots were bold enough to explore the recesses of the ocean without compass or astrolabe, and fanciful writers have depicted the incidents of the possible voyage: "Ils continuaient dans l'Ouest durant quatre lunes sans rencontrer de rivages, mais la proue des navires s'embarrassait dans les herbes: des brouillards couleur de sang obscurcissait le soleil, une brise tout chargée de parfums endormait les équipages: et ils ne pouvaient rien dire, tant que leur mémoire était troublée." Wales was the home of other legends of this kind: and the bards were fond of singing of the famous voyages, which were called the Three Disappearances. The first was the sailing of Merlin and his companions in the Ship of Glass; the second was the voyage of Gavran the Discoverer, who went in the fifth century to search the western ocean for the "gwer-over the Sea. These stories rested upon donau llion," the Green Islands famous the vaguest rumours, and would hardly in British songs. The third was the voy- have been worth mentioning if so much age of Prince Madoc, the hero of South- importance had not been attached to ey's somewhat tedious epic. He sailed them in the publications of the society of in the year 1170, and after some time Northern Antiquaries. One is amazed to came back with glowing accounts of the see the precision with which the boundanew world across the waters, so that many ries of these fabulous regions were laid ships were fitted out to accompany his down in the society's maps. All the second voyage; they never were heard lately confederated states are included of again, and this was the "third disap- within these boundaries, the coast-line pearance." The question regarding the running from the Potomac to the Rio fate of Madoc's crews was once consid- Grande, the Rocky Mountains forming a ered important enough to be discussed substantial western limit. The northern in councils of state. Queen Elizabeth's frontier was fixed by the evidence of a ministers are said to have debated wheth- very ancient Saga, mentioning the capture er a title to the Spanish Main might not by the Norsemen of certain Esquimaux be rested upon Madoc's occupation of children, who spoke of a country to the the new world. But the claim was never south of their own where the people prosecuted either from its inherent ab- "wore white dresses and carried poles surdity, or (to borrow the historian's with flags and lappets, shouting loudly as courtly phrase) "because the queen was they walked:" and Humboldt himself not of that kind to put her scythe into was half inclined to believe that this story another man's harvest." related to the Great Ireland, and afforded Many attempts were made in the last an indication of the existence of Chriscentury to find the lost Welsh tribe. In tianity in America at that early date. 1791 a Dr. Williams published a very The men in white carrying poles and learned inquiry into the discovery of shouting as they walked were of course America by his countrymen, and about taken to represent the Christian priests the same time the subject received a full walking in religious procession. To show discussion in several numbers of the Gen- the feebleness of the evidence which is tleman's Magazine, the source, as we may considered to be sufficient in matters of suppose, of Southey's inspiration. Some this kind, the southern limit of this leyears previously, Mr. Binon, a gentleman gendary country was fixed by the Danish of Glamorgan, penetrating to the junction antiquarians by reference to the evidence of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers, of an old Shawanee Indian who lived was fortunate enough, by his own account, somewhere in Florida about a hundred to see the lost tribes again. If we might believe the traveller's tale, they recognized their common nationality, and showed him a castle and a church and a roll of sacred books which neither he nor they could read. Soon afterwards the French governor of Canada sent some priests to visit the same Indians, and they returned with no fresh information, but with several of the Welsh Bibles which Mr. Binon had left with his friends. Several other expeditions were sent from Wales, of course without success. In the course of one of these the Missouri valley was thoroughly explored, and the travellers have left an interesting account of the scenery and of the great river "here winding softly through the plains, and elsewhere forcing its way and running furiously through hills and mountains full of mines." The Irish claimed the merit of similar discoveries, and as early as the tenth century legends were current concerning a "Whitemans-land," or Great Ireland years ago. His name was Black-hoof, which they have lengthened into the Roman majesty of Blackhoofus Indianus, and he is said to have heard in his youth that white men had come to Florida many hundreds of years ago and that is all. Sir Walter Scott translated another story about the Irish colony (in the Eyrbiggia Saga), and several other old books contain allusions to the legend. Importance has been attached to these tales as showing an ancient belief among sailors long before the time of Columbus "that a north-east wind would take a ship from Ireland to another country in the west; but it may well be doubted whether the least historical importance can be attached to any Saga which does not deal expressly with the acts of well-known chiefs or kings, or with events of real national importance. In composing the minor romances of Northern Europe, the sole object seems to have been to while away with dramatic fables the long winter nights; and the domestic audience was unlikely to be severe in demanding more 763 car recesses of the east coast of Greenland, where they are supposed to remain ages in revenge for the ruin of their anrying on a perpetual war with the savcestors." But this is a mere fancy which has been gradually disproved, and except in the books of the antiquarians and the vague rumours of the seas, the memory away. of Old Greenland has long since passed ascribed the honour of having colonized To the first settlers in Greenland is Their adven tures are detailed in eight long chapters of an old Icelandic Saga, and have formed the subject of many learned books in modern times, of which the most remarkable is the Antiquitates Americanæ, a sumptuous folio published by Professor Rafn for the Society of Northern Antiquaries. The story may be very shortly a ship's crew had noticed land to the In the voyage to Greenland south-west, which some of the colonists determined to explore. Starting from Baffin's Bay, they soon came to an island bare of all vegetation, "and there were great snow mountains up the country, but field of snow, all between them and the shore was a flat place." This they named Helluland or and it seemed a worthless Flat Country, and little interest would ever have been excited by the discovery if the modern savants had not chosen to include in its boundaries, all that is now Labrador and Newfoundland; and this seems the more absurd when we consider that the Labrador coast includes the grassy slopes of Hamilton Inlet and the larch-covered hills of Sandwich Bay, which bloom like a garden in the summer months. We have much more precise information as to the visits of the early Greenland colonists to the continent of America. It was indeed doubted at one time whether Old Greenland itself was not a creation of Scandinavian romance. the actual remains of the colony have been But brought to light, and modern discoveries have verified the ancient descriptions of the country, its climate, and products. the American continent. Besides the foundations and walls of houses, now overgrown with dwarf willows and scurvy-grass, large churches and portions of graveyards have been found in the situations mentioned in the ancient Icelandic records. In one plain, once a meadow, but now overgrown with dandelions and juniper-brush, many fragments of coarse bell-metal, parts of church-bells, summarized. were picked up by the natives and hoarded as specimens of gold. Runic inscriptions have been found as far north as the Woman Islands in lat. 72° 55m, and the most recent expeditions have confirmed the existence of all the natural landmarks mentioned by the chroniclers. "veins of gold" are shown to be deposits Their of iron pyrites; the warm winds in winter, which seemed so marvellous to the ancient colonists, have been described by Sir L. M'Clintock, and the hot springs of Onartok confirm the old Norseman's account of the boiling fountains at which the monks in Greenland cooked their food. Greenland was colonized at the end of the tenth century, and the settlement prospered for four hundred years. After the devastations of the Black Death the settlers had to recede gradually before the advance of the Esquimaux or Skrælings," and a valuable account of story) sailed on for three days and arThe voyagers (to return to the ancient the state of the country just before the rived at a flat well-wooded coast, which time when intercourse with Europe they named Markland: "the shore for a ceased, is to be found in Purchas' Pil- great distance was formed of a white grims. Ivor Bardson, high steward to sand, sloping gently from the sea." This the bishop, was sent to the northern parts country has been identified with the of the colony to drive back the Esqui- whole of Nova Scotia, in order that the maux. "There," he wrote, "is still Norsemen may have the credit of having standing a church where formerly our seen as much of America as possible in bishop dwelt but now the wild Skrol- the time of their visit. Then sailing ings have all that land, and there are south-west for two days with a fair wind, many cattle but no people, Christian or they are said to have reached a coast heathen, but all have been carried off by trending east and west, and passing bethe enemy the Skrælings." That is the tween an island and a projecting headlast which was heard of the doomed col- land to have run up a river with great ony, and no one knows the fate of the last shoals at its mouth. "They towed the handfuls of settlers. have been fond of imagining the migra- they anchored, and set up their tents on Danish writers ship up the river and into a lake, where tions of their countrymen to the icebound | the land. They resolved to winter there, |