Had not Columbus, some centuries later, braved both the
narrow-mindedness of men and the yet unmeasured tracks of the ocean, it
is probable that to-day we should know nothing of America, and of these
stones, the traces of our forefathers on this foreign soil."

"But, my dear Alette," exclaimed Harald in astonishment, "is it not then
clear as the sun, that without the Vineland voyages of the Northmen,
Columbus could certainly never have fallen upon the idea of seeking a
land beyond the great ocean? In the time of Columbus, the Northmen
sailed in their Snaeckor[11] about all the coasts of Europe; they made
voyages to Spain, and rumours of the Vineland voyages went with them.
Besides--and _this_ is worthy of notice--Columbus himself visited
Iceland a few years prior to his great voyage of discovery; and, as
Robertson says, rather to extend his knowledge of sea affairs than to
augment his property."

"But," said Alette, "Washington Irving, in his 'Columbus,' which I have
recently read, speaks indeed of his voyage to Iceland, but denies that
he derived thence any clue to his great discovery."

"But that is incredible, impossible, after what we here see and hear!
Listen now to what Aal says of the time when Columbus made his sojourn
in Iceland: 'In Iceland flourished then the written Sagas, and the
various Sagas passed from hand to hand in various copies, serving then,
as now, but in a higher degree, to shorten the winter evenings. Our old
manuscript Sagas thus certainly kindled a light in his dim conceptions;
and this must have so much the more brought him upon the track, as it
was nearer to the events themselves, and could in part be orally
communicated by those who were the direct lineal descendants of the
discoverers.'

"Is not this most natural and essential? Can you doubt any longer,
Alette? I pray you convert and improve yourself. Convert yourself from
Irving to Aal."

"I am disposed to take Harald's side," said now Mrs. Astrid, with a
lively voice and look. "Great, and for mankind, important discoveries
have never occurred without preparatory circumstances, often silently
operating through whole centuries, till in a happy moment the spirit of
genius and of good fortune has blown up the fire which glowed beneath
the ashes, into a clear, and for the world, magnificent flame. Wherever
we see a flower we can look down to a stem, to the roots hidden in the
earth, and finally look to a seed, which in its dark form cont