Page:American Historical Review vol. 6.djvu/810

Soo Reviews of Books Romans, and the alleged many early voyages to these shores, are all discussed at great length, but in a spirit of mingled dogmatism and credu- lity which sadly interferes with any proper judicial weighing of the au- thorities cited. The author states that the work has grown out of the labors of years in searching the Vatican Secret Archives "to obtain reliable information regarding the history of one of the Roman pontiffs, Alexander VI. , who is as much slandered as he is little known. ' ' The only real contribution to knowledge we have found in the work, consists in an appendix of about one hundred pages, comprising twenty-two documents from the Vatican archives, nine from the Lateran Archives, and nine from various libraries in Rome, all relating to the early Greenland missions. Perhaps the best indication of the spirit in which the work is con- ceived may be given by simply quoting the titles of some of its chapters : "The Bible known in ancient America ; " " Christ and his Cross known in ancient America; " "Baptism and Holy Eucharist known in ancient America." It is difficult to take seriously vagaries such as these, and we do not believe they will be countenanced by sober-minded historical students belonging to the same religious persuasion as the author. His liberal conception of what constitutes evidence may be inferred from his suggestion that there " be established a continental museum of American antiquities" to contain "ancient crucifixes, crosses and Christian books and relics discovered, or yet to be discovered, in our hemisphere" (I. 456); or from his expectation that "some Saga speaking of these countries, /. e., S. E. Greenland, may yet be found " (II. 441); or from his acceptance of the childish fable that Latin books were found in the king's library in the Estotiland of the Zeni (/. e., the New England states. New Brunswick and Nova Scotia) (II. 267). AVe will merely attempt to select a few nuggets as samples of the wonderful discoveries in ancient history to be found in these remarkable volumes. We are told that "the IMound-Builders' voyages across the Atlantic were rather from West to East than in the opposite direction . . . and that the Danish mounds are venerable monuments testifying to another discovery and partial settlement of the Old World by an Amer- ican nation " (I. 81). These " discoveries of Europe by ancient Amer- icans, if their numerous landings on European soil could be titled with this misnomer" are much insisted upon (I. 172). We are assured that " the aboriginal inhabitants of our hemisphere have not till this day re- ceived their meed for ancient bravery, nautical skill, and wonderful at- tainments in geography, and in every branch of material advancement, and of civilization generally" (I. 173). We are further instructed re- garding the very early beginnings of civilization upon this continent, which "were brought into America by the nearest descendants of the patriarch Noe, who had taken their course in an easterly direction, land- ing in America, either at Behring Strait or, after sailing through Poly- nesia, on the Western coast of Central America and Peru, as is plainly intimated by the ancient monuments of those countries " (I. 191). So