The Viking Age. Volume 1 (of 2) / The early history, manners, and customs of the ancestors of the English-speaking nations

by Paul B. Du Chaillu

OF NEW YORK.

To you, my dear Taylor, who, like myself, have travelled over many lands, and led the same adventurous life in days gone by, I dedicate “The Viking Age,” in remembrance of years of friendship, of the many pleasant days we have spent together, and especially of our wanderings in the Land of the Midnight Sun, in the home of the old Vikings, while I was engaged on the present work.

P. B. DU CHAILLU.

New York, September, 1889.

PREFACE.

While studying the progress made in the colonisation of different parts of the world by European nations, I have often asked myself the following questions:—

How is it that over every region of the globe the spread of the English-speaking people and of their language far exceeds that of all the other European nations combined?

Why is it that, wherever the English-speaking people have settled, or are at this day found, even in small numbers, they are far more energetic, daring, adventurous, and prosperous, and understand the art of self-government and of ruling alien peoples far better than other colonising nations?

Whence do the English-speaking communities derive the remarkable energy they possess; for the people of Britain when invaded by the Romans did not show any such quality?