Fig. 70: Gold model of a boat, Broighter, Ireland.

The story of Irish seagod  Mananaan's magic boat that used to sail to the paradise in the remote  West could also be taken to refer to the Gulf Stream.  The boat had the ability to travel without rudder, without sail, but by the wish of Mananaan alone. Naturally he always headed for the abode of half of his fellow De Danaans across the ocean. Legend has it that half of the Tuatha De Danaan went into the "hollow hills" of Ireland, the remainder went to the Blessed Isle in the Remote West. Hy Brazil (after which Brazil was named, and which the sixth-century Irish Saint Brendan the Navigator set out to find) was another name for this mythical land in the West.

Quetzlcoatl, the Feathered Serpent, is described in the Amerindian scriptures as being fair-skinned and bearded.  The Popul Vuh also tells us that Kukulcan came from "the place of the rising sun". Stories like this are, indeed myths. However, a myth can be interpreted historically or literally without diminishing its symbolic truth. There is scope in these complementary myths of Europe and America to explore possible cultural exchanges across the Atlantic, dating perhaps as far back as the Bronze age.