The New York herald., 1879-11-16

mcnts OF Pythe3s ABOUT tho sea threw d1scredl upon
his voyage for ages. 'How palpably absurd" said
the critics. is the story of mixture of EARTH sea
ana air that stops ships in the midst of the ocean"
Pytheas was puzzled. no doubt. for he had never
seen ice before. aud had for it or knowledge
of it's nature. Bur it appears incredible that dis
tingushod men who have written learned treatises
upon geography and voyages have been so blinded
by prejudice not to recollec that ice existed in
the Arctic in the days of heas as in the nne-
teenth century. As specimens of the theories of
learned men regarding the marvellous obstructlons
met by Pytheas in the sea beyond Iceland the fol-
lowing quoted from works published in England
and America in 1885,:
The calmness and sluggish heaviness of the North
were remarked by Pytheas Perhaps the
strength and completely OF our tides. which oppose
serious oimculies 10 navigation along an indented
coast may nave lent some countenance to prejudces
founded III fable.
The supposition that tho tides were the obstruc-
tion met by Pytheas in his hey ond Thule
seems singuarly absurd when it is remembered that
Pytheas was the first man known who understood
the tides so we'll to ascbribe their cause to tho in
huence OF tho moon. His theory of tides is essen
TALLY that generally accepted at the present day.
Another learned author supposed fog was the
translucent. solid substance stopping the ship Of
Pytheas. Hewrote:--
Northern Sea Is often loaded might make peculiar
impression on one who had vcntured into this I'M
known ocean so far beyond the limit of former
CATION. They might make him prone to believe that
he had arrived at the arthest boundaries nature.
Could greater nonsense be uttered? How men
who had SO frequently road about the ice in the
Northern Ocean. should forget as they did, that in
ancient times it sometimes rendered navigation diff
icult and dangerous as it now does. is simply
astonishing Geographers have disagreed as to the
location OF Thule Dsregarding the positive state
ment by Pytheas that he sailed six days Unto the
depth OF the ocean. as some express it, some COM
nientators have maintained that THUS was
Jutland. where region is called Ihy-IAul.
Others have believed that part of Nsfway.
called Thele-Mark Tile-Mark. wa Ere
Tnyle Of Pytheas. Men have seemed ready Y ~.
heve anything rather than the simple fact G
great navigator saw Iceland. His descrp q,
clearly and unequivocally points to Icelar
argument seems unnecessary. No one appears to
question the fact that Garder. Flokko. Nsdodd and
othcrs successfully visited Iceland in later ages be-
fore its settlement by the Norsemen. But pytheas
could not reach Iceland because he was not North.
man.
ARISTOTLE. pLINY. TAcIrUs
Aristotle (born 3S4 B. C.) possessed large fund of
geographical knowledge He knew Of tho existence
Of tho Riphean Mountains at the North, and had in
formation OF Ierne and Albion Qreand and England)
He the first to call them. together, Britannica
PIiny (born A. d. 23) was acquainted with the
situation Of the Hebrdes. at the west from
Scotland. rs well Of Thule. and he was
the first to mention Scandinavia by name
He considered it an island Of great extent
Several medieval maps lay down Scandina-
via according to Pliny's limited view In ancient
times the Gothic or scandinavian people considered
their region distinct part Of the world. island
Of immense size. Some of the Morse sagas repro
sent the great Scandinavian peninsula the north
ern half Of the world. Norway called by Pliny
"Nergon." and he asserted that the people sailed US
far as Thule. II that the case. and there is no
to doubt the ability of the ancient Norsemon
to reach Iceland quite as well In the first in
the ninth century. the earliest monks of
Iona or the Irish were not. perhaps. the
first fishers or forgotten colonists at
that strange island. According to Tacitus an
expedition sent by Agricola conquered the inhabi-
tants OF the Orkneys and proceeded far into
the Northern Ocean even to see Thule uceland).
place of snow and wintry aspect This author states
thxs teyor8 tho laud Of the Svones (Scandnavians,
is . strangely languid and motionIess and that
the light Of the night is far greater than the lustre
the stars. The noise Of tho suns light when that
body below the horizon, could be heard and tho
gods could almost be seen as they moved about
crOWueo Will BlOrlOuS uButs mere We nave
. poetical account Of the aurora borcals. of the
peculiar rustling sound often heard during the most
brilliant exhibitions of the phenomenon of "north-
lights" suggestion Of tho remarkable bright
of the greater part OF the Arctic night. the
remarkable calmness Of the northern seas when
sprinkled with floating ice.
LISA. THOUSAND YEARS AGO.
Ptolemy born at Peesum. in Egypt A. D.. 10Y
In his great geography mentions Scania (Scanii-
navia). After Ptolemy in the second century. pre-
pared his geography little reported in regard
the northern regions Of the world for more than six
hundred years. King Alfred Of England who reigned
from 81 to 901. translated the geography of the
Spanish monk Orosius into the Anglo-Saxon Ian
guage. Orosius prepared his famous work in tho
nth century. Alfred added to his translation Of
Orosius tho narrative OF Norwegian noble named
Other. who had made q voyage for discovery and
walrus hunting to the North Cape of Norway. and
along the coast eastward to the White Soa. Other
was man of wealth and enterprising spirit. and
held the North Firms under tribute. His home in
Norway In the province Of Hslgoland. or Helgc-
land, the shores of what the Northmen
called ito distinguish 1t from the Baltic and
the great Gulf Of Bothnia at the east Of Sweden) }
the Western Sea. Others voyage extended past
uninhabited region ut the mouth Of Halgoland to
place then frequented by whale fishers, thence by
the locality Of the present town of Hammerfest ana
around the North Cape which he doubled at the end
of six days. From the region Of the present vardal
Warehouse he saled easterly for four days. when
he to extending toward tho south.
Thither he continued his voyage until ho reached
the country of the Beormians Bjarnians. In the
White Sea Other and his crew OF fishermen captured
about sixty horse whales. now called walrus. BY
the trustworthy relation OF Other it appears that tho
xvba Ash tad nj ofN
way u thousand years ago.
KING ALFONSO AND BULL FIGHTING.