The Irish standard., 1908-05-09
the Irish and Danes.

the Irish and Danes.
The old sagas tell us of expeditions
fitted out to explore the western ocean,
Most of the explorers never returned.
1t is now we'll known that the Irish
discovered Iceland and the F'uroe Is.
lands, at least century before the
Danes. The Landnamabak which gives
the history and settlement of the early
inhabitants of Iceland-onc would al
most impagine it was lreland-makes
frequent mention of the names of Kor-
mack, Mai (NialD, Kjarval (CarrolD,
Medium, etc, etc., and Dicuil, the Irish
gcographer, who wrote, A. D. S25, says:
1T is now about 30 years since l was
told by some Irish ecclesiastics. who
had dwelt in Iceland from the 1st of
February to the LIST of August, that the
sun scarcely ever sets there in sum-
lner, but always leaves, even at mid
night, light enough to do ones ordin-
ary business And speaking Of the
Farce Isles, Dicuil says: "a certain
reached one Of them. by sailing for two
summer days and one night. st !"
In these islands for almost hundred
years there dwelt hermits who sailed
from our own Ireland, but now they
are once more deserted, as they We're
in the beginning on account of the
ravages of the Morse pirates"
We are told that st. Brendan pre-
pared "three vessels with 30 men in
each, some clerics, some layinen, and
with these he sailed to seek the West
ern Land over the wave-voice Of the
strong-maned sea, and over the storm
of the green-sided waves s s. where
they beheld abundance of the great
sea whales, and they found beautiful,
marvellous islands. * After some
time Brendan returned home where
his people brought him treasures and
God"
Brendans foster mother. st. TIA. now
advised him to find out more about
those marvellous islands and counseled
him to sail in a wooden ship, so Bren-
dan built himself a great marvellous
vessel. distinguished and huge. He
first sailed to Aran to consort with
st. Edna, but after month he heaved
anchor and sailed once more into the
West. He passed icebergs, visited is
lands on which We're talking birds
(parrots), arrived in a warm climate
off islands from which foated de-
licious perfume of flowers, sailed in
very clear waters in which the fish
might be seen swimming at a very
great depth, saw frightful volcanoes,
visited islands where white peopl"
lived who spoke Gaelic, and in fine
reached a. great land with mighty
river flowing to the west.
The land is described as radiant, fa-
nous, lovable; a land odorous, flower
smooth, blessed: a land of many melo-
dies, unmournful. The great ocean
tempted the adventurous spirit of the
Gael, and when they discovered Ice
land, and the Faroes they certainly did
not stop there. st. Brendan saw fright
full volcanoes and warm climate
might not that be Mount Pelee in Mar
Unique, or some other volcano in the
West Indies? He visited islands
where white people who spoke the
Gaelic language" showing that pre-
vious navgators had been there be-
fore him. The Inca says: Men might
possibly be carried westward by wind
and the equatorial current from more
southerly latitudes." OF course they
Western Land was called Hy Brazil,
called perhaps after the King of Brazil,
who in very remote ages went to dis
cover the Western Land, but never re-
turned. Did the present Brazil take
it's name from that tradition?
Considering that Fergil. who became
Archbishop of Salisbury and died in
7S5, taught the sphcricity Of the earth
and the doctrine of the antipodes-a
truth which. says DR.. Hyde seems to
have been familiar to Decuil-would it
not be strange if the Irish had made
no attempt to discover the land in the
Golden West? Perhaps when more Of
the old manuscripts in the Royal
Academy are translated we may learn
something further of those early Irish
explorers.
The Good Fellow Scamp.