A great variety of Collections of Voyages and Travels have been published at different periods, many of which are inaccessible from their scarcity, or from being in foreign languages: And such great numbers of Voyages and Travels to particular regions and countries have been printed, as to be Altogether unattainable by the generality of readers. Every thing, however, which could contribute to the perfection of this work has been collected, or will be carefully procured during its progress; and no pains or expense shall be withheld which, can contribute to render it as complete and comprehensive as possible. In the employment of the vast variety and extent of excellent materials, great care shall be taken to insert every useful and curious information, reduced, where necessary, to modern language; and nothing shall be omitted which is conducive to valuable information and rational amusement.
In our approach towards the present times, the multitude of particular Voyages and Travels increases prodigiously; and, in employing these, it becomes peculiarly necessary to make a selection of the best in every period, and especially of those best adapted for conveying just ideas of each geographical division and subdivision of the world; while those of less merit, but which contain useful notices of the regions and countries of which they treat, shall be carefully epitomized in illustration of the different subjects. Without the employment of discriminate selection and occasional abridgement, this work must have extended to an inconvenient and consequently expensive size, or must have been left unfinished and abrupt in some of its parts: But abridgement shall be very seldom employed and never without acknowledgment. Indeed, the grand object of the present work is to bring together a more complete and entire collection of Voyages and Travels, than has hitherto appeared in any language.
From the nature of the plan, it is utterly impossible to ascertain, with any precision, the exact length to which it may extend; but, so far as can be judged of at present, it is not expected to exceed eighteen or twenty volumes. Throughout the whole work, a series of Maps and Charts will be inserted in their proper places, carefully selected and constructed for the purpose of illustrating the various Voyages and Travels. At the close of the whole, a complete Index will be given to the entire series of volumes, so arranged as to form a regular Gazetteer of the whole world. In every article which has been adopted into this work, the original and accessory sources of all the materials shall be distinctly indicated. Notes of explanation will be given, wherever necessary; and, as many of these are drawn from various sources, the names of the authors from whom they are adopted shall always be acknowledged: Such notes as are marked by the letter E. are by the Editor of the work.
Owing to the indispensable nature of this work, it makes no positive claim to the character of an original composition, in the strict acceptation of that term; and he, therefore, who has undertaken the care of its collection and arrangement, assumes no higher title than that of Editor. In the discharge of that duty, however, the labour which he has necessarily bestowed, though always pleasing, has often been considerable, and sometimes arduous; and he trusts that the plan of the work, which is altogether original, will be found appropriately adapted to the end in view, and that the execution may appear not inadequate to the high importance of the subject. Without imputation of arrogance, he may be permitted to assert, that he has exerted the most unremitting attention and industry, in the collection, selection, and preparation of the several portions of the whole work, and in the arrangement and distribution of its parts. He has the satisfaction to add, that all his efforts have been seconded with the utmost readiness and liberality by the Proprietor of the work, who has spared no trouble, and withheld no expense, in procuring and supplying the necessary materials.
It is with much grateful satisfaction, that the Editor has to acknowledge his high obligations to the Curators and Librarians of the Edinburgh public libraries, belonging to the Faculty of Advocates, the University, and the Writers to his Majesty's Signet, for the communication of many valuable and scarce materials. Nor ought he to withhold his tribute of gratitude, on this occasion, from the liberal spirit of a private individual, the Reverend Henry White of Lichfield, who has most obligingly offered the use of his valuable Collection of Voyages and Travels, and other curious and scarce works connected with the subject, for assisting towards the perfection of this publication.
Having thus briefly announced the nature, plan, and object of the present work, of which this first Volume is now before the public, it only remains to say, that the Editor and Proprietor, each in his particular department, are resolved to exert their utmost endeavours, that nothing may be omitted which can contribute to render the work deserving of public approbation and extensive patronage.
PART I.
VOYAGES AND TRAVELS OF DISCOVERY, FROM THE ERA OF ALFRED, KING OF ENGLAND, IN THE NINTH CENTURY; TO THE ERA OF DON HENRY, PRINCE OF PORTUGAL, AT THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY.
CHAPTER I.
Discoveries in the time of Alfred King of England, in the ninth century of the Christian era.
INTRODUCTION.
In the midst of the profound ignorance and barbarism which overspread the nations of Western Europe, after the dissolution of the Roman empire in the West, a transient ray of knowledge and good government was elicited by the singular genius of the great Alfred, a hero, legislator, and philosopher, among a people nearly barbarous. Not satisfied with having delivered his oppressed and nearly ruined kingdom from the ravages of the almost savage Danes and Nordmen, and the little less injurious state of anarchy and disorganization into which the weakness of the vaunted Anglo-Saxon system of government had plunged England, he for a time restored the wholesome dominion of the laws, and even endeavoured to illuminate his ignorant people by the introduction of useful learning. In the prosecution of these patriotic views, and for his own amusement and instruction, besides other literary performances, he made a translation of the historical work of Orosius into his native Anglo-Saxon dialect; into which he interwove the relations of Ohthere and Wulfstan, of which hereafter, and such other information as he could collect respecting the three grand divisions of the world then known; insomuch, that his account of Europe especially differs very materially from that of Orosius, of which he only professed to make a translation.
Although Alfred only mounted the throne of England in 872, it has been deemed proper to commence the series of this work with the discovery of Iceland by the Nordmen or Norwegians, about the year 861, as intimately connected with the era which has been deliberately chosen as the best landmark of our proposed systematic History and Collection of Voyages and Travels. That entirely accidental incident is the earliest geographical discovery made by the modern nations, of which any authentic record now remains, and was almost the only instance of the kind which occurred, from the commencement of the decline of the Roman power, soon after the Christian era, for nearly fourteen centuries. And as the colonization of Iceland did not begin till A.D. 878, the insertion of this circumstance in the present place, can hardly be considered as at all deviating from the most rigid principles of our plan.
SECTION I.
Discovery