The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1920-09-01

are many trees and where sthe =.
tives hunt game by means Of WIN.
falcons After ascertaininr thsss
picturesque facts he turned srnr,S
and came back to Denmark. srs
no more is heard Of him, Tia f-a
Portuguese noblemen, hova,ssv
were more impressed with Nm.
they had discovered. They I'M,
ried back to report to Henry n.
Navigator only to find that he IA "a
died in their absence. One csrs
help being sorry for poor Henri
He would have been so thrilled :.
the new vistas for explorat,or
which this discovery opened nm N
him. Also II he had lived the vhois
early history Of America mirst
have been different, as he ,undopht.
eddy would not have let the nav /
continent rest in peace.
For some reason this is what tha (
two Portuguese did. They report. !
ed the results of their voyage N
Alfonso. Henry's successor. but !,
they seem to have made little ~
the new land and to have kept the
discovery OF it secret, either for
political reasons or because thew
hoped to use their knowledge for |
private gain and the times were
not propitious for them to exploit
the new land.
Whatever their reason, they
dropped out Of sight with their Sc
cret, Hamem never to appear again
and Cortereal not until Columbus
had landed after his third voyage
Then, however. old Cortereal be.
stirred himself. He wrote letter
to Alfonso which is one of the most
important documents in DR.. Lar.
sens array Of proofs. In it he
asked for certain grants, rights
and privileges in the new land,
and says that he wants his two
sons to 60 over and rediscover the
continent which he had discovered
20 years before. This letter, says
Mr.. Bay, was probably the first
attempt to form a universal Amer
lean trust. Alfonso granted his re-
quests, whereupon he promptly
died.
His two sons went over in 1900
and reached the coast Of Labrador,
the part Of the country" com
ment the Portuguese archives,
where previously people came
from the northland, led by Captain
John Scolvo." One of the sons
died there, and the other. after re-
turning to Portugal, set out again
and was never heard from. 1t is
this snuffing out Of the family Of
Cortereal which accounts for the
fact that Scolvo's discovery Of
America dropped from sight in the
excitement of other and more
widely heralded voyages. 1t is not
believed, of course, that Columbus
knew anything of the earlier trip
to the western continent, so he
still may be regarded as discov-
erer of America. although, accord
ing to Mr.. Bay and other students,
he is not the discoverer.
TIE Urge to Discover.
Little is known of John Scolvo
except that he was a brave sea-
faring man. His name, Scolvo or
Scolf, an ancient Norwegian one
meaning man that lives in the
Iouter island" is appropriate in an
, other sense as we'll. He exists now
only on the outer border Of mans
consciousness. He has the shad-
owy, mythical existence which the
distant, undiscovered lands he
helped to find formerly had. In
fact, for hundreds of years he was
non-existent except in the old, bur
led archives which DR.. Larsen has
Just brought to light again.
Nevertheless, he stands FOR one
of the most romantic qualities OF
the human race, that urge which
drives men on through any hard
ship or danger, farther into the
unknown. 1t is Mr.. Bays theory
that mans discomfort with lie
around him. his desire to find
happy island, or a virgin lana
f, where he can begin all over again
unhampered by his own mistakes
and his ancestors, are the real
driving forces which urge men
over the earth's surface. II tbs
is so, it may be that America Is
not really discovered yet. We nave
made the land ours, but not unul
we have made it the happy coun.
try which so far exists only 10
mems hearts, will the true Amer
ca have been discovered.