the spell was intended to take effect in securing health to its possessor, or good luck in his business, or safety at sea, or victory over his enemies, or to bewitch and destroy the objects of his hate.

The Runic writing is very ancient, and the use of it was entirely discontinued in the fifteenth century-it having then been everywhere prohibited by law. Many inscriptions, however, in this character still remain in Norway, Iceland, and Sweden. They are made usually upon rude tablets of stone, set up over a cairn, or upon some huge rock or face of a precipice by the wayside.

The Runic inscription found in Greenland was discovered in 1824. The place where it was found was far to the north of the supposed situation of the early Norwegian colonies, and not many miles from the present Danish settlement of Upernavick, in latitude 73°.

The stone was taken to Copenhagen and deciphered there by the antiquarians and scholars. The inscription was found to be as follows:

"Erling, son of Sigvat and Enride Oddson, cleared this place and raised this cairn, on Friday after Rogation day, in .....

*Rogation is a festival of the church which occurs early in the season, usually in May. It commemorates the Ascension of our Saviour.

The date was indistinct. It was thought, however, that the stone must have been erected not far from the year 1100.

This stone, showing how far up the shores of Baffin's Bay the Northmen had extended their settlements at this very early age, is now preserved as a great curiosity in the royal museum in Copenhagen.

CHAPTER II.

COLUMBUS.

ADVENTUROUS SPIRIT OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY.

AT the beginning of the fifteenth century only about one-half the globe was known at all to the civilized nations of Europe. There then arose a great desire to explore and discover the remainder.

The nation which took the lead in this spirit of adventure and discovery was Portugal. The government of Portugal had been engaged during the preceding century in several wars with the Moors, in the course of which they had fitted out a number of naval expeditions to the coast of Africa. In prosecuting these wars the Portuguese made great improvements in the art of building ships and of navigating them. The situation of their own country, too—with numerous safe and excellent harbors along the coast opening out directly upon the broad Atlantic-was very favorable.

Previous to the time above mentioned the navigation of the world had been almost wholly confined to the Mediterranean sea, and the great cities

that were situated on the shores of that sea, such as Genoa, Naples, Venice, and others, conducted nearly all the commerce that then existed. The merchants sent their goods by ships to every part of the Mediterranean, and from the eastern shores of that sea they sent them by caravans to Persia, and finally to India.

DESIRE FOR A PASSAGE TO INDIA BY SEA.

The way to India overland, by caravans, was extremely long and tedious, and yet the trade was so profitable, and the accounts brought back by the merchants and travelers, in respect to the inexhaustible wealth of the country, were so exciting, that the European governments, especially those that ruled over kingdoms situated near the western confines of the continent, began to be extremely desirous of finding some way of reaching it by sea. A single good-sized ship, even such as were built in those days, would convey as many goods as a train of a thousand camels could carry, and would advance, moreover, at twice or three times the camel's rate of speed. There was also an enormous difference in the expense of land and sea transportation. Twenty or thirty men, who could take all their provisions with them, would be sufficient for conducting the ship; while a caravan of

camels, sufficient to convey by land the cargo of goods which the ship would contain, would require quite an army of drivers, packers, guides, soldiers for escort, and the like; and the provision necessary for the sustenance of this great troop would necessarily have to be purchased mainly along the line of the route, and often at very high prices.

It is not at all surprising, therefore, that the merchants in the western part of Europe became at length extremely desirous of finding a passage to India by sea.

TWO ROUTES TO BE TRIED.

One was

There were two routes by which an attempt might be made to reach India by sea. by following the coast of Africa, with a view of sailing entirely round the southern extremity of it, and then turning to the eastward and so proceeding to India. This way was at length discovered, and it is now the great route pursued by the East Indiamen of all the countries in Europe. These ships supply the whole western world with teas, silks, spices, and other East India productions, while. they carry thither, in exchange, the merchandise and manufactures of Europe, transporting cargoes which all the camels in the world could never succeed in carrying overland across the plains.