Damourette has announced the discovery of what purports to be a log of the voyage of Christopher Columbus, cast into the sea when storms threatened the three tiny Foe gr which had carried the little band of explorers to the New World, A description of the journal has been printed by the Seattle "Post-Intelligencer," which, however, refuses to vouch for its authenticity, Scientists have examined it, but they, too, are chary of giving an opinion.' Dr. Dasiourette is the only one of the host that has viewed it who unqualifiedly insists the mollusk-crested _parchment contains the original story of the discovery of America.
The doctor tells an interesting story of how the little volume came into his possession. A Swiss sailor one Berrant out fishing for clams on the gulf coast of Mexico one day in 1918 was attracted by an earthen jug, tied to a raft of logs, lying on the beach just above the high water line. Breaking open the jug, he found the book, Dr. Damourette says he obtained the document from the Swiss by paying off a ulortgage of 3900 on the home of the sailor's father.
Writres tx German Versse.
As to the genuineness of the volume, all who have examined it are agreed there are certain features which tax credulity. For instance, the account of the voyage is versified in German. Columbus is generally believed to have been a Genoese but all known documents' pertaining to his voyage and written by him have been in Spanish.
And in the construction of the verse itself is the greatest cause for doubt. A professor of German in the University of Washington has pronounced it to be entirely without flaw in spelling, grammar, punetuation, metre or rhyme. The writers of the 15th century were not sticklers for linguistic accuracy. Written in Columbus's time, the German of the log should be the /German of Martin Luther. In reality it approaches much nearer to the classical German of modern times.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.