THE PRE-REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD OF

AMERICAN HISTORY.

HE world was content for a time to date European knowledge

TH

for back only to the when

of the American continent back only to the day when Columbus and his adventurous companions discerned the new shore-line in the distant west, and so far as actual historical proof is concerned, no definite step can be taken beyond that point. But fearless investigation and the opening of new sources of information have revealed a more than possible past for America, that has broader foundations than the theories of the lost Atlantis, the migration of the American Indian from the west of Asia, or the visit of that Chinese explorer, Hwui Shin, to the far-off Fu-sang kingdom, which some say was Japan and some America. Evidence not altogether circumstantial has been advanced to show that the bold and hardy Norsemen, pushing westward with hearts that knew no fear, and restless cravings for motion that only the rocking of the dragonheaded boat upon the cold, white seas of the north, as it dashed onward into unknown regions, could satisfy, were the advance-guard of old-world discoverers, and planted foot upon the eastern shore of the far hemisphere long ere Columbus dreamed of a new road to India, or Catholic Spain had a thought of the proud possessions she should gain beyond the seas.

This reputed descent of the Northmen upon the American coast is by some relegated altogether to romance and speculation, while many historians of discernment and judgment have weighed all the evidence and given their decision in support of its truth. There is