found. The climate was mild and pleasant, but there were no inhabitants to be seen near the harbour, which "Zichmni" named "Trin."[1] After eight days the soldiers returned with news that they had visited the volcano and found wild men of small stature who dwelt in caves. There was a large river and a good harbour at this place, they reported. On this "Zichmni" conceived the idea of settling there, but his people were not willing, and wanted to go home; therefore he sent back Antonio Zeno with the ships, himself retaining the row-boats and a few of the people. On his homeward voyage Zeno sailed twenty days to the east, and then five days more to the south-east, when he came to the island of "Neome," which was beyond "Islanda," and subject to "Zichmni."[2] Hence in three days more he reached "Frislanda."
If the substantial truth of the narrative be accepted there are many difficulties to be explained away. What, for instance, was "Zichmni," an Italian, doing in these northern islands, and how had he obtained his sovereignty? How is it that the annals of Norway contain no reference to him? Such awkward questions are avoided by those who hold that Nicolo Zeno, the younger, misunderstood much and interpolated a little.[3] This does not necessarily involve bad faith on his part. Moreover, granted the truth of the Zeni's account, the voyages of the fishermen to "Estotiland" and "Drogio" — by far the most marvellous part of the story — are not necessarily true. Their authenticity has little to do with the Zeni voyages and must be considered separately.
First, as to "Zichmni." Northern names would naturally be somewhat distorted in the Italian attempt at a phonetic equivalent, and "Zichmni" is something like "Sinclair." Still, as the Zeni professed to have resided some years in "Frislanda," we should certainly have expected greater accuracy from men of considerable knowledge, who were, as it appears, well acquainted with Latin. Henry Sinclair, Earl of Orkney, is the only individual
- ↑ On the Zeno map "Trin" is marked as the extreme southerly point of Greenland, equivalent, in fact, with Cape Hvarf, or "turning point." Bredsdorff connects "Trin Prom" with Kuingingek ('Proc. Geogr. Society,' London, 1879, xlix. 410).
- ↑ "Neome" is by Forster identified with the island of Naalsöe, one of the smaller islands of the Faröe group. On the map it appears considerably to the west of "Frisland," midway between the latter and "Estland."
- ↑ Major, "unquestionable blunder" [of Nicolo], 'Zeni,' xxii.; "misplacement of localities," ib. xxiii.; "misreading," ib.; Nicolo, junior, "cause of all perplexity," ib. xxv.; "hyperbole," ib. xxviii.; "deplorable confusion," xxxvii.; "this excrescence work of Nicolo, junior," ib. xcix., etc.
