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Higginson, Thomas Wentworth, 1823-1911

"Tales of the Enchanted Islands of the Atlantic"

The writings of the late Professor E.N. Horsford are well known, but his opinions are not yet generallyaccepted by students. His last work, "Leif's House in Vineland," with hisdaughter's supplementary essay on "Graves of the Northmen," is probablythe most interesting of the series (Boston, 1893). In Longfellow's "Sagaof King Olaf" (II.), included in "Tales of a Wayside Inn," there is adescription of the athletic sports practised by the Vikings, which aremoreover described with the greatest minuteness by Du Chaillu.XVII. NORUMBEGAThe narrative of Champlain's effort to find Norumbega in 1632 may befound in Otis's "Voyages of Champlain" (II. p. 38), and there is anotherversion in the _Magazine of American History_ (I. p. 321). The wholelegend of the city is well analyzed in the same magazine (I. p. 14) by Dr.De Costa under the title "The Lost City of New England." In another volumehe recurs to the subject (IX. p. 168), and gives (IX. p. 200) a printedcopy of David Ingram's narrative, from the original in the BodleianLibrary. He also discusses the subject in Winsor's "Narrative and CriticalHistory" (IV. p. 77, etc.), where he points out that "the insularcharacter of the Norumbega region is not purely imaginary, but is based onthe fact that the Penobscot region affords a continued watercourse to theSt.


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