CLAIMS TO THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume III, Issue 145, 11 February 1876, Page 7

CLAIMS TO THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA.

Peobablt no ai-cbtcological mystery is enshrouded with more interest and a greater charm, than the discovery of the Western Continent. The fact is attested by the devotion and zeal of a galaxy of men of genius, such as Humboldt, Kingsborough, Stephens, Rafn, and wellnigh a score of others. The various theories for the solution of this perplexing problem, many of them ingeniously spun, are too numerous for mention here. Only the principal claims to the discovery and colonisation can receive attention. Ancient America, with its noble monuments of a once grand civilization, is to us a laud of darkness, and its history one of uncertainty. In our inquiries, fact must, in a measure, be exchanged for conjecture. Very scanty are the records that come down to us from the ancients concerning their knowledgo of the Atlantic, and the islands hidden in its bosom, though those indomitable sailors, the Phoenicians, had passed the pillars of Hercules and established colonies on the western coast of Africa, in tho ninth cenluary before Christ. Three hundred years later (b.c. 570), according to Herodotus, Pharaoh Necho fitted out an expedition, manned by Phirnician sailors, and sent it around the entire coa9t of Africa. That the Canary Islands were discovered aud colonized by the Phoenicians, there is no doubt. Strabo, speaking of the islands of the Blessed, or Fortunate 1-lcs, as they were afterwards called, adds, " That those who pointed out tho-e things were tho Phoenicians, who before the time of Homer had possession of the best part of Africa and Spain." It is a well-known fact that these hardy adventurers of the seas were in the habit of preserving with the strictest secrecy the names and location u[ the di-tant lands with which they engaged in commerce. Where they sailed and traded, other than in the ports of the Indies aud of tho British ]-les, must remain unknown. Whether i'urni-hed by thi- nation oL sailors or not. the ancients eepiu to have hud some remarkable 1 information concerning an island or continent hidden in the Sea ol Darknes-, as the Atlantic was called. The first mention of this name is made by Thcopompous, a celebrated Greek orator ami historian, who llourished in the time of Alexander the Great. Hi* description ol" this distant island, of great dimensions, and inhabited b\ a strange people, is preserved m JElian's " Varia) Historic," written during the reign of Alexander Strums. — The ' Gala\\ ' for October.