As This Strange And Marvellous Story Was Confirmed By The Testimony Of The
Sailors He Had Brought Along With Him,
It gained full credit; and
accordingly Zichmni determined to send me, Antonio Zeno, with a fleet into
these parts; and
So great was the desire among the people to embark in this
expedition, that our fleet was well manned and equipped without expence to
the public. I accordingly set sail with a great number of ships and men,
but not commander in chief as I expected, for Zichmni went in person on the
expedition. Our great preparation for the voyage to Estoitland began in
an unlucky hour as, three days before our departure, the fisherman died who
was to have been our guide; yet Zichmni would not give up the enterprise,
but took for, his guides several of the sailors who had returned with the
fisherman from Estoitland. Shaping our course to the westwards, we passed
several islands subject to Frisland, and arrived at Ledovo, or the
Lewis, where we staid a week to refresh ourselves, and to provide the fleet
with necessaries. Departing thence, we arrived on the first of July off the
island of Ilofe, or Islay; and the wind being favourable, did not stop
there but stood on our voyage. Not long afterwards, being in the main sea,
we were overtaken by a dreadful tempest, which tossed us to and fro, at the
mercy of the winds and waves for eight days, so that we knew not
whereabouts we were. By the violence of this tempest, we lost many of our
vessels, but after the return of good weather, we collected the remains of
our shattered fleet, and having a fair wind, we stood on to the westwards,
and at length descried the coast of Estoitland, and arrived in a good and
safe harbour. Here we saw an infinite number of armed men running furiously
towards the shore, apparently for the purpose of defending the island. Upon
this, Zichmni commanded signs of peace to be made, and the islanders sent
ten men to us who could speak ten different languages; but we could
understand none of these, excepting one man who happened to be an
Icelander. This man was brought to our prince, and gave the following
account of the country; and people.
The land was called Icarta, and all its kings were named Icarus, after
the name, of its first king, who was the son of Daedalus king of
Scotland. This Daedalus had discovered and conquered the island, and
after instituting the body of laws by which they are still governed, had
left them his son to be their king. After this, Daedalus[1] sailed in
quest of farther discoveries, but was overtaken by a violent storm and
drowned. In memory of which, they named their island Icaria, the sea
surrounding it the Icarian sea, and all their successive kings Icarus.
He stated, moreover, that they were perfectly contented with the state in
which they had been placed by Providence, and not choosing to make the
smallest change in their manners and customs, would admit no strangers into
their land; and therefore requested the prince not to attempt violating the
laws of their king, of glorious memory, as any such attempt would turn to
his manifest destruction, since they were resolved to sacrifice their lives
in defence of their laws. They were willing, however, to receive one of
our men, who should be advanced to the rank of a chief, on purpose to learn
our language; having already received ten different men with that view
from ten different nations.
Upon this Zichmni sailed from the harbour, as if meaning to go away from
the island; but being in want of wood and water, he skirted along the coast
at some distance, and put into another harbour on the eastern side of the
island with all his fleet. Here the mariners went on shore, and procured
the necessary supplies with all possible speed, lest they might be attacked
by the natives. This precaution was by no means unnecessary, for the
inhabitants near this harbour made signals by fire and smoke to the rest of
the country; and taking to their arms, were soon joined by others, and came
down upon our men with bows and arrows, and other weapons, and in the
conflict, many of them were killed, and others dangerously wounded[2]. We
were therefore obliged to depart, and made a large circuit round the
island, always accompanied on the shore and on the hills by a vast number
of armed men to oppose our landing. Seeing that nothing could be done here,
Zichmni set sail to the eastwards with a fair wind; and after six days
sail, we came in sight of land, which we found to be a very good country,
with an excellent harbour. We descried a mountain at a considerable
distance, which emitted smoke, and Zichmni sent an hundred soldiers to
explore the country, and to inquire if it were inhabited. In the meantime,
we took in wood and water, and caught vast quantities of fish and sea-fowl,
and procured immense numbers of eggs; so that our people, before almost
famished, had now more provisions than they could eat. To this harbour, we
gave the name of port Trin, and the point that stretched out into the sea
was named Cape Trin. The soldiers who had been sent out to examine the
country, returned at the end of eight days, and reported they had been all
through the island, quite to the smoking mountain, and that the smoke we
saw proceeded from a fire at its bottom, where there was a spring of liquid
pitch which ran into the sea. They said likewise, that the interior of the
island was inhabited by a wild people, who were very short in stature, and
timid, and hid themselves in, caves.
On receiving this piece of intelligence, and considering that the island
was blest with a pure and wholesome air, good soil, fine rivers, and many
other advantages, Ziehmni resolved to people it and to build a town at Port
Trin, and took, great pains to discover the whole of it, and to explore the
seas on both sides of Engroveland, or Greenland.
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