It has always seemed to me that the narratives of the early discoverers and explorers of the American coast were as interesting as “Robinson Crusoe,” and were, indeed, very much like it. This has led me to make a series of extracts from these nar ... Read more

It has always seemed to me that the narratives of the early discoverers and explorers of the American coast were as interesting as “Robinson Crusoe,” and were, indeed, very much like it. This has led me to make a series of extracts from these narratives, selecting what appeared to me the most interesting parts, and altering only the spelling. The grammar is not always correct; but it would be impossible to alter that without changing the style of writing too much: so it has not been changed at all. Wherever it has seemed necessary, I have put a word of my own in brackets [thus]; but all else is the very language of the old writers or their translators. Whenever anything has been omitted, great or small, the place is marked by dots.… Some of the hardest words have been explained by footnotes. One great thing which I have wished my readers to learn is the charm of an original narrative. We should all rather hear a shipwreck described by a sailor who was on board the ship than to read the best account of it afterwards prepared by the most skillful writer. What I most desire is, that those who have here acquired a taste for these old stories should turn to the books from which the extracts are taken, and follow up the study for themselves. Then they can go with renewed interest to the pages of Bancroft and Parkman, or at least to my own “Young Folks’ History,” for the thread on which these quaint narratives may be strung. The explorers of various nations are represented in this book. There are Northmen, Italians, Englishmen, Frenchmen, Spaniards, and Dutchmen. Where the original narrative was in some foreign language, that translation has been chosen which gives most of the spirit of the original; and Mr. Cabot’s versions of the Norse legends were especially selected for this reason. It seemed proper to begin the book with these; and it is brought down to the time when the Virginia and Massachusetts colonies, with that of the New Netherlands, were fairly planted on the American shore. Possibly, at some future time, I may recommence with the Massachusetts colonies, and tell their story, down to the Revolution; either in a book of extracts, like this or in my own words. Less