NORSE AND IRISH OMISSION OF NAME 67
Irish-speaking people, who gave it the commendatory name
Brazil. Naturally one inclines to ascribe such an unremitting
westward push to the powerful religious impulsion which,
according to Dicuil, carried Irishmen to Iceland in the latter
part of the eighth century and even bore them on, it is reported,
some two hundred miles beyond it. The date, however, may have
been much later. Yet it must have preceded Dalorto's map of
1325, whereon Brazil first appears by name.
Of evidence on the ground there is nothing; but what have we
now to show even for the perfectly attested visits to the same
region of Cabot and Cortereal? Their case rests on maps,
governmental entries, and contemporary correspondence, luckily
preserved. Earlier visits to Brazil have no epistles, no entries,
to show but must rely on the maps and the general tradition in
the British islands of such a western region across at least a
part of the great sea.
