The glamour of enchantment was naturally first attached by Europeans toislands within sight of their own shores--Irish, Welsh, Breton, orSpanish,--and then, as these islands became better known, men'simaginations carried the mystery further out over the unknown western sea.The line of legend gradually extended itself till it formed an imaginarychart for Columbus; the aged astronomer, Toscanelli, for instance,suggesting to him the advantage of making the supposed island of Antilliaa half-way station; just as it was proposed, long centuries after, to finda station for the ocean telegraph in the equally imaginary island ofJacquet, which has only lately disappeared from the charts. With everystep in knowledge the line of fancied stopping-places rearranged itself,the fictitious names flitting from place to place on the maps, andsometimes duplicating themselves. Where the tradition itself has vanishedwe find that the names with which it associated itself are still assigned,as in case of Brazil and the Antilles, to wholly different localities.The order of the tales in the present work follows roughly the order ofdevelopment, giving first the legends which kept near the European shore,and then those which, like St. Brandan's or Antillia, were assigned to theopen sea or, like Norumbega or the Isle of Demons, to the very coast ofAmerica.
Pages:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25