The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1877-01-16
The Lost City of New England.

Three hundred years ago there stood ON
the banks of the Penobscot, we are assured
by the veracious chronicers of that time, a
city so rich that its humblest denizens fed
from dishes Of gold which were never used
twice, that its children played with diamonds
and pearls in place of common pebbles, and
tossed rubies to and fro in their games. The
houses had massive pillars of silver and crys-
tai. the streets were "broader than the streets
of London" About the town were groves of
nutmeg trees and other precious woods, and
the breezes that caressed the roofs of gold
and marble were heavily laden with spices.
1t kept its state for hundred years after it
became known to.the old world. Then, one
day in the infancy of the seventeenth cen
tury, i suddenly disappeared, and has never
since been seen. Upon its site is the modern
city of Bangor.
1t was in 1928 that the stories of its splen-
dor first reached European ears, and for a
century after that the fortune seekers of the
old world vainly sought its coud-capped
towers and gorgeous palaces. When first
known it was called Arambec, as Peter Mar
tyr records, but soon became famous under
the name of Norumbega. For hundred
years it was the golden fleece of the adventur-
GUS navigators who crossed the ocean and
explored the North Atlantic coast. Kings
gave the city to their favorites in considera-
tion Of their affection-and of moiety of its
vast wealth. Francis I made Roberval
GT ord IF -
bearing the commission of Elizabeth, sailed
in search of it and lost his life in the venture.
Those 10 whom its lordship was given were
never so happy as to enter into their king
dom: but there were men who saw the city.
An English sailor found there kings whose
robes were stiff with rubies six inches long,
and in many of the houses he saw
pearls to the amount of peck or more.
He brought no jewels away, however,
that being forbidden. Andre Theyet, a
monk much given to voyagng, ,-and to lying,
his friends said-visited the city and saw
there medicinal and aromatic drugs and va
rious riches of gold" In his chart he places
Norumbega near Cog and Magog, Greenland
Tartary, and Cathay. In the great French
map of 1913, a city of stately castles and i'm.
posing towers is seated on the banks of the
Penobscot and holds dominion over a vast
province which bears its name.
But Norumbega was as elusive as the
Island of ST. Brandon. Spanish freebooters,
French missionaries, English merchants, all
sought it in vain. Finally in 1904, Chamn-
lain sailed up the Penobscot to its site, but
the city had vanished,-and has never since
been seen of mortal eye. The Frenchman
found only huts made of pickets and covered
with skins of animals. The stately palaces,
the groves Of spice trees, the store of gold
and precious stones had disappeared. Champ
lain broke the charm of the place. The lost
city ceased to haunt the imaginations of men
and allure them to a wild and inhospitable
shore. Thereafter if they sought wealth in
Norumbega they won it by hard labor from
its dense woods, or ice-sheeted river, or gran
ite base. Yet the belief in its existence did
not easily die out, and as late as 1869, Heylin
in his Cosmography speaks, somewhat doubt
ingly, for faith in its reality was growing dim,
Of the ''fair city,"
The traditions of Norumbega are revived
by paper in the initial number of the Maga-
zine of American History, periodical de-
voted to historical research which has just
been started in New York. The paper is
rich in information, and those who wish to
know more of the lost city of New England
will consult it; but it is marred by the big
| oted skepticism which is the bane of our age
Its author holds that Norumbega never was.
The editor of the Magazine, Mr..
John Austin Stevens, is librarian of the
New York Historical Society, and it was his
duty to revise the papers, for he should know
not only that Norumbega once existed but
that 1t will exist again. 1t is a fact undis.
puted that all the famous missing cities are
not lost, but are only hidden from the eyes oil
men unworthy to look upon them. 1t is vel
known that they are enchanted, that to poss.
ess them is a delight, and that so great favor
isInever granted tothe wicked. Norumbegs
was one of these. Champlain, who broke its
charm had doubtless some great sin upon his
soul. But it is as certain as anything in the
future can be that Norumbega will sometime
gladden. the eyes Of men, and that it is only
the wickedness of those who dwell upon it:
site which postpones the happy hour. 1t be-
hooves the people of Bangor to forsake thei
evil ways and to become good. Then, somt
fair day they will awaken to find themselves
dwelling in the happy city embowered in it
groves of spice trees; and the old hall which
bears the enchanted name will be toweret
palace with walls OF marble and roof of gold
and chambers studded with precious stones
But it is greatly to be feared that the glad
some sight will never bless the vision Q
1 fbic